It’s currently Boxing Day as I’m posting this, and while Japan doesn’t celebrate the occasion, they perfectly timed the packaging reveals for the first Gundam SEED FREEDOM kits today, namely the Rising Freedom Gundam and Immortal Justice Gundam. Both kits are High Grade Cosmic Era releases so they should be sharing the same layout with the rest of the “unified” HGUC line, just like the Gundam Hathaway releases some years ago.
But I guess they wanted more hype for these two kits as they made some slight change to the standard layout as you’ll see below. So be ready for some packaging over analysis.
HGCE 1/144 Rising Freedom Gundam
January 26, 2024 / ¥2,400
Order via HobbyLink Japan
HGCE 1/144 Immortal Justice Gundam
January 26, 2024 / ¥2,400
Order via HobbyLink Japan
The new packaging still has the same layout, with the front featuring a letterboxed illustration, albeit with thinner black bars. Outside of the logo placements, the main difference is how the “lower thirds,” or the section the name is located, looks. For comparison, here’s the current HGCE packaging using the HGCE Strike Freedom Gundam as reference.
The lower thirds typically use a condensed typeface with a colored square on the left, with the color representing the series it comes from. For Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED DESTINY, it’s this particular shade of blue. I have to admit the layout looks a little old school, that’s because it is based on the layout of the original High Grade line from 1990, case in point the HG RX-78 Gundam seen below.
To conclude my over analysis, I can only think of two reasons for the packaging update. Either it’s just specific for Gundam SEED FREEDOM or they are using this layout for the unified HGUC line moving forward. In the case of the former, then how come they didn’t do the same with the kits from Gundam Hathaway, case in point the HGUC Xi Gundam below?
If it’s the latter, then I’m all for it. The use of an expanded typeface similar to the recent Gundam Build Metaverse kits really gives a modern feel. Not to mention the color-coding scheme is still carried over with the colored gradient bars behind the names. Notice how this bar on the “Rising Freedom Gundam” text is in the same shade of blue as the square on the left of the “Strike Freedom Gundam” text?
And since we didn’t have any regular retail HGUC or HGCE kit last year, not counting the Premium Bandai exclusives, then doing a package refresh with the Gundam SEED FREEDOM kits timed well.
