A Price Analysis of Full Mechanics Gunpla model kits
Hi all, and welcome to what is already the fifth edition of our price analysis blog series. We’ve already reviewed the more common grades (HG, RG, MG, and PG) in previous editions, so if you’ve missed any previous edition be sure to take a look here. And with these out of the way, we thought this’d be the perfect time to have a closer look at the Full Mechanics range of Gunpla.
The first Full Mechanics kit, featuring the Calamity Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, was released during the summer of 2021. Since then number of FM kits has grown steadily to 16 as of the time of writing. Still, its relative novelty means that the number of options in this line of Gunpla are somewhat limited compared to other, more established grades. The Full Mechanics kits we’ve seen from Bandai so far, however, are all quite stellar and we’re curious to see what the future holds.
As always, let’s start with some more background information on the dataset that we used to conduct this deep dive into the pricing of FM kits. As of now, we’re tracking the prices of 16 distinct Full Mechanics models. We track a total of 122 offerings spread across 19 Gunpla vendors from the US. Our first observation in this regard, however, is that many vendors offer a very limited range of FM kits, with just a few vendors that have more options available. These include Mecha Warehouse and Newtype.
Regarding some key price statistics, we’ve calculated that the average price of a Full Mechanics kit is about $50.35. The price of a typical FM kit (the mean price) is slightly lower, coming in at $48.99. Both the average and median price are a bit lower as compared to Master Grade, although MG kits generally do offer a somewhat higher level of detail.
The most expensive (non-limited edition) Full Mechanics kit out right now – featuring an average price of almost $72 – is that of the Forbidden Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, which was piloted in the series by Shani Andras and was first sold during the summer of 2023. This is followed by the FM model of the Raider Gundam, also from Gundam SEED, which was introduced by Bandai during May of 2022. The average price of the Raider Gundam across 17 vendors is about $61.50.
For those looking for more budget friendly options, we have to turn to a personal favorite of mine: the Gundam Barbatos. The Full Mechanics kit that reflects the first iteration of the Barbatos design has an average price of just below $26. Another FM kit at a friendly price is also from Iron-Blooded Orphans, featuring the Gundam Kimaris Trooper as piloted by Gaelio Bauduin. The latter kit costs about $31.50, although it’s relatively rare for vendors to sell this specific Gunpla model.
Because of the prior observation, we wanted to try and see if we could determine the Gundam series with the lowest and highest average prices for Full Mechanics kits. However, this is difficult to say regarding the limited number of kits that are available for each. For example, the average price of a FM kit from The Witch from Mercury (slightly under $50) appears at first glance to be lower than those from IBO (about $37.85). Unfortunately, this picture is rather distorted due to TWFM only featuring one Full Mechanics kit at the time of writing (although the FM kit of the Gundam Aerial is definitely very good!). Taking these limitations into account, the Full Mechanics kit from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED nonetheless appear to be significantly more expensive at an average price of over $65.
We’ve also got some good news, however. If we take a look at the potential savings resulting from a comparison of vendor prices (calculated by subtracting the cheapest price of a given kit from its average price), we find that one can save almost $5.30 on average. As we’ve seen with other grades, this comes down to a savings rate of about 10% simply. Considering that it takes only a minute to check out the different vendors’ offerings on our website, that’s not bad at all.
And with that bit of a positivity, it’s time to wrap up the fifth edition of this blog series. Like we just mentioned, the next time you’re in the market to purchase a Full Mechanics kit, be sure to take a quick look at our website and profit from that 10% average savings rate. Lastly, if you’re curious about our next – entry – in this series, well… we’ll leave you to figure it out.