I don’t really talk about Master Grades on this blog since I’m more of a 1/144 person, but they did have a couple of interesting announcements for Hobby Next Phase, well at least one is, the other… Let’s check them out!
MGSD Freedom Gundam
We all know Bandai Spirits is planning to do a Master Grade SD (or MGSD) line months back thanks to a leaked trademark application. But outside that, we knew next to nothing. Now, we have a good detail of what this line is about, and we’re not getting the RX-78-2 as the first release. We’re getting the MGSD Freedom Gundam, I mean not the most inspired of choices, but it does look great.
One question that came into my mind upon finding this out is how tall MGSD kits would be? Especially if they contained all the details you would see in a normal MG kit? Well, it’s around the size of a typical HG. For the MGSD Freedom, that’s around 115mm as seen above. While I don’t have any references for comparison, you could ballpark this to around the same height as the SDCS releases.
Oh, and did I already mention how it looks really good, because it does. It’s got two tone plastic colors, at least for the white parts, and features both reflective translucent plastic and “real metallic” gloss injection parts for the inner frame. You can check out more details on the special page on Bandai Hobby’s website or check out the video they released below.
MGSD Freedom Gundam
January 2023 / ¥3,900
MG 1/100 Zeta Gundam Ver.Ka
2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the MG Ver.Ka line and many were taking guesses as to which kit would mark this occasion. And to the excitement of some or the disappointment of some, we are getting the MG Zeta Gundam Ver.Ka as the next in this line of kits with overflowing caution markings.
As far as the 1/100 scale is concerned, we already have three base Zeta Gundam kits, not counting recolors or special versions. The first one was released during the broadcast of Z Gundam in 1986, followed by the first Master Grade back in 1996, then followed by the MG Ver.2.0 in 2005 — which many still consider as a great kit despite its age. And this is also the reason some people are asking if we really need an MG Ver.Ka of this mobile suit.
If you have been a Gundam or Gunpla enthusiast for a good while, then you know that the Zeta Gundam-to-Waverider transformation isn’t exactly the easiest to accomplish without some use of replacement parts. Case in point Bandai Spirits’ last attempt being the Real Grade, which many now consider as a plastic grenade waiting to explode when you transform it.
To know more about what sorts of engineering are going to be present in this kit, you can check out the special page over at the Bandai Hobby Site linked here or watch the video they also released below.
MG 1/00 Zeta Gundam Ver.Ka
February 2023 / ¥6,500
As for me, I’m not getting any of these, but would still check out reviews to see if these are worth the hype Bandai Spirits wants us to feel.
