When the Gundam the Witch from Mercury – PROLOGUE special dropped in mid-2022, several aspects stood out. Outside of Eri and every instance of the “Happy Birthday” song becoming harbinger of death in the Ad Stella timeline, there was the Gundam Lfrith Pre-Production Model. And with the release of the HG Gundam Lfrith, all of us speculated that the Pre-Production Model will likely be a Premium Bandai exclusive.
The series came and went, we got a couple of kits from the side-story manga, but none of the Pre-Production Model. Then fans started speculating about possible challenges in producing such a kit with how the parts of the original Lfrith were laid out in the runners. But all those speculations can now be laid to rest as the HG Gundam Lfrith Pre-Production Model is now official, and it’s Premium Bandai as expected.
The Pre-Production model is, for all intents and purposes, mostly a straight recolor of the original Lfrith, except for the much substantial backpack unit, and possibly extra runners just for the yellow chest vents. The white parts in the mid-torso and the chest vents share the same color in the original Lfrith so they will likely include a yellow runner just for that part.
Many were also reminded of the RX-94 Nu Gundam Mass Production Type with the colors of the Lfrith Pre-Production Model.
The main highlight of this kit is, of course, the backpack containers that can store multiple GUND-Bits. Note that each kit comes with a pair of containers, with each housing 10 GUND-Bits, five on each side. So, each kit will include 20 GUND-Bits in their default state and green indicators, and three in explosive states and red indicators.
Being a Premium Bandai exclusive meant this kit doesn’t use an in-molded part for the Shell Unit part and will just rely on a smoke clear part and foil stickers underneath. You can also see above how the GUND-Bits are stored inside the backpack container units.
You can display all 20 GUND-Bits with The Witch from Mercury Display Base, sold separately, though I’d imagine needing multiples to display all of them deployed at the same time.
As much as I want to get a copy or two of this kit, I’ll probably just wait until it gets released and then hop on to Buyee or something. I’m quite sure the pre-order allocation for this kit will sell out in mere minutes.
HG 1/144 Gundam Lfrith Pre-Production Model
May 2024 / ¥2,200
Premium Bandai Exclusive
