When Bandai Spirits released a new HG Sirbine kit in 2021, it was intended to go alongside the old High Grade Aura Battler kits released 20 years ago in 2000, which they also reissued around the same time. Obviously, they won’t look good together thanks to the significant differences in proportions, engineering, and construction. At least the old HG Heavy Metal kits they reissued for the new HG L-Gaim Mk-II had some tweaks to make them better.
This is probably Bandai Spirits admitting that what they did was lazy and felt guilty for the disservice they did to Dunbine and decided to correct this with a new HG Dunbine kit to *properly* match the HG Sirbine kit.
From the get-go, you can clearly see improved proportions and details with the new kit. To further illustrate this, let’s do a quick side-by-side comparison with the old 2000 HG kit.
Admittedly, the older kit has a lot of rougher edges which could make for a more realistic insectoid-based mech, but the smoother curves and better lines of the newer kit just looks infinitely better. The thicker black channels on the appendages are also thicker though I’m not sure if they will come in black straight out of the box. But at least painting them accordingly would be much easier.
Same goes for the red accent parts which I believe would be actual colored plastic instead of needing paint application.
For articulation, they are quick to highlight the additional swivel points in both arms, which should allow for better sword-wielding poses. They also highlighted each articulated digit on both feet, which I believe was an issue with the old kit as they were too loose to support even simple standing poses.
From simple standing to deep knee bends, this kit can do both and more.
An aspect carried over from modern HG Gunpla kits is being able to accurately build the head unit through really clever parts separation and layering and minimize painting to what would be small sections. The listing mentions using five plastic colors just for the head, which is ridiculous if you ask me.
Speaking of colors, they also want you to focus on the special pearlescent plastic used in the wings. Besides the organic shapes and sculpted details, the use of this pearlescent plastic should allow for a variety of ways for light to reflect on them. The canopy pieces also utilize a new technique they refer to as “Half Mirror Plating” where they basically act as one-way mirrors. You’re unable to see in the insides of the cockpit while if there’s someone piloting within the model, they’re still able to see outside. That’s quite clever and I’m looking forward to seeing the same technique used in Gunpla.
For weapons and accessories, the new HG Dunbine comes with the standard equipment loadout of the Dunbine from the series. These include a pair of arm-mounted Aura Shots, the Aura Sword with its sheath, a part of replacement hand parts, and a display base adapter for flight poses.
For my collection, I’ll still with my Robot Spirits versions as they are quite great figures, despite being several years old already. That being said, I understand the frustration of those who got the newer HG Sirbine kit and had to deal with a much inferior version of the Dunbine. It might’ve been too late but at least Bandai still decided to make a new one.
HG 1/72 Dunbine (2023)
November 2023 / ¥3,500
Premium Bandai Exclusive
