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In Asia, are these considered more along the line of toys rather than static models?
All gundams are, at heart, toys. The HGs, MGs and even PGs are all snap fit and designed to be posable. This means that they cater for a very large audience as there are a number of ways that they can be finished.
1. Snapped / glued and stickered.
2. Snapped / glued and painted with markers (basically painting pens used to touch up details).
3. Glued and painted in a fixed pose with the movable joints fixed in place.
4. Glued and painted, but still fully posable.
Most kids in japan and some fans of the series itself will just go with stage 1 or 2 only. Serious kit builders will often go through stage 1 to finalise a pose for stage 3. Stage 4 is, of course, the hardest to accomplish as it requires all parts to be painted in the event that a certain portion of the kit becomes visable when the pose is changed. Stage 4 is usually used on kits that will see publication or display as the final pose will be played around with as the display or photography requires.
Let me give you some links to a few YouTube videos that demonstrate different finish levels.
Bandai MG RX-78 NT-1 Alex & MS-18E Kämpfer Tutorial 1/9 Bandai HG Dunbine Leprechaun Tutorial 1/6Bandai MG AMX-004 Qubeley Tutorial 1/2Bandai MG MSM-04 Acguy + Diorama Tutorial 1/6Bandai MG MS-05 Zaku I Tutorial 1/2Bandai MG RX-178 Gundam Mk-II Titans Ver. Tutorial 1/2 Bandai MG Gundam RX78-2 Ver. Ka Tutorial 1/2Bandai MG MSM-07 Z'Gok + Diorama Tutorial 1/2Baindai MG MS-09RS Char's Rick Dom Tutorial 1/2Bandai MG MS-07B-3 Gouf Tutorial 1/2That's about 6 hours of Gundam kit building videos!
As you can see, some are fixed, some are free to move and some serious modellers get their hands dirty on what are generally reguarded as toys is most other circles. They really straddle the line. Of course kids will always try to twist them around, but that's kids. I hope no damage was done...
Note: A word of caution on the subject of Bandai plastic.
While it is nicely molded and very high quality stuff, parts that are under tension, i.e. that have been pressed hard to fit in certain areas and then left snap fitted or glued in place, can crack when treated with mineral or similar thinners. On more than one occasion with my kits, a part that had been undercoated and painted would crack under an oil wash because it had been forced into place and glued. Basically it was under too much tension and when the thinner attacked it, the part gave way.
I would suggest that anyone wanting to take a Bandai Gundam kit, or indeed any Bandai kit to a high level of finish by applying pin washes and pigment fixers, make sure that during the construction stages, any parts requiring force to be fixed in place are modifies to fit with as little force as possible. This really applies when building MG and PG kits as the number of parts increases drammatically and some do require a certain ammount of pressure. Of course, certain parts can be painted off the model and later pressed into place, but some cannot.