As the great Meijin Kawaguchi III always says. or hot-bloodedly shouts, Gunpla is freedom. But surprisingly, Bandai Spirits doesn’t sell a whole lot of custom and option parts dedicated to Gunpla. What I mean is every now and then, they sell dedicated parts as tie-ins to particular series. Like when Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans came out, there was the High Grade IRON-BLOODED ARMS line, or for several Gundam Build series, there were High Grade Build Custom kits released. This is illustrated in the image below.
The caveat is that if these kits are not being sold or reissued because their respective main High Grade lines are not being reissued, then Gunpla builders are limited to the option parts available at a given moment. And so, they did the best thing, which is to create a dedicated option parts line that they could sell anytime, and along with a unified branding that’s agnostic to any mainline Gunpla brand.
What’s more, both upcoming option kits, and old ones getting reissues, like the High Grade Build Custom kits, are going to be sold/reissued under this unified brand. And the Dec. 20, 2023 new hobby products announcement, they revealed four new Option Parts Set kits.
First, and as you’ve seen in the photos above, they are going to release an Aile Striker option parts set. This is primarily meant for the Entry Grade Strike Gundam but as you’ll see below, you can use it for basically any compatible kit sans modifications. Besides the Aile Striker itself, this set will contain parts to also build the bazooka seen from that one underwater battle in Gundam SEED, the Grand Slam from Gundam EVOLVE ../ 8, an anti-aircraft shotgun, and a particular set of energy packs, which we’ll delve later.
As the Strike Gundam and any of its variants, uses a single axis joint for connection, and isn’t compatible with the standard double axis joint, they’ve of course provided adapter parts for both.
In addition, they’ll also provide a 90-degree double axis joint connector to provide further compatibility with non-Gundam SEED kits, like the Entry Grade RX-78-2 Gundam seen here as an example. They also explain the construction of these kits can utilize both 3mm or c-clip connectors. And for the Aile Striker here, it has better color separation than the HGCE kit that would require you to paint the red areas of the primary wings.
1/144 Option Parts Set – Gunpla 01 (Aile Striker)
May 2024 / ¥1,100
Order via HobbyLink Japan
The second Option Parts Set they revealed is also for the Entry Grade Strike Gundam, the Launcher and Sword Striker. Now some people may ask if these are just repackaging of the old HG (Remastered) Perfect Strike Gundam parts and it doesn’t appear to be the case. As this is also primarily for the Entry Grade Strike Gundam, I am hoping these will also have great color separation, something the HG (Remastered) set didn’t have.
Like the Aile Striker set, the Launcher/Sword Striker set will also come with single and double axis joint adapters to maximize compatibility with other 1/144 scale Gunpla.
The Launcher Striker will utilize both ball and 3mm joints to allow the widest range of articulation for the connecting arm of the 320mm Hyper Impulse Cannon.
The same is also true for the Sword Striker parts, but with the addition of a poseable wire to display the Panzer Eisen when deployed. It will also come with several beam effect parts for the Anti-Ship Sword. Like the Launcher Striker, I am also hoping for great color accuracy for this kit.
1/144 Option Parts Set – Gunpla 02 (Launcher Striker & Sword Striker)
June 2024 / ¥1,100
Order via HobbyLink Japan
But what is arguably the best use of both kits is being able to build a 1/144 scale Perfect Strike Gundam utilizing the best of modern engineering and without having to spend more on the Real Grade version, something I was planning on doing prior to this announcement. As you saw above, the Aile Striker set will come with extra parts and joints to connect the Launcher and Sword Striker parts to build the Multiple Assault Striker, including the four extra battery packs needed to power all those weapons.
With how structurally similar the Entry Grade and HGCE versions of the Strike Gundam, I’m thinking of purposing these parts for the HGCE kit, or even buy doubles of each set so that I will have dedicated Launcher, Sword, and Multiple Assault Striker packs. But let’s see once pre-orders have opened for these kits.
Two more Option Parts Sets were also announced, both being package refreshes of the Edge and Round versions of the Build Hands set from Gundam Build Divers. As with other Gunpla reveals, more information was released for the MG Narrative Gundam Ver.Ka, and the announcement of the MG Sinanju Stein (Gundam Narrative) Ver.Ka. At least MG collectors can look forward to 2 kits next year, though those don’t quell the drought of regular MG releases we’re currently experiencing.
I’m also surprised we’re not seeing more HG ‘Revives’ for the old Gundam SEED series kits given that we are getting a new movie in January. Not sure if those are something to be revealed later or Bandai Spirits will just trickly them like what they’re currently doing with the main G Gundam kits.
