Bandai Spirits has started their four-day announcement spree of new hobby products slated for Q3 2024 release. As expected, I don’t usually find interesting kits during day one, but they decided to throw a curveball and tease HG 1/144 kits from the upcoming six-episode mini-series Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance. I remember reading a lot of discussions surrounding the Zaku and Gundam designs so let’s take a look.
First is the HG Gundam EX which was portrayed as the literal white devil in the teaser video. We can see that it ditches the standard Gundam tricolor and goes for a more muted palette, dominated by whites with splashes of bluish-gray and red. There’s also a lot of surface detail, which is something you can only get with visuals generated using Unreal Engine. The head unit, in particular, has similarities with the Gundam Ez8, not to mention that the unit is operated by the EFGF. Kinda makes me wonder if there’s some connection.
On a more candid note, I’m immediately reminded of this YouTube video attempting to document all the Gundams from the One Year War period.
Then we have this bad boy, the HG Zaku II Solari and boy, the gribbles on this kit are off the roof! The amount of surface detail here is like those you’d see from recent Gundam SEED Master Grades, plus more. I’m inclined to think this is a commander unit we saw in the trailer with its salmon pink color scheme and red highlights. Not to mention it has twin fins on the head instead of the usual single commander fin. I probably won’t buy it, but the kit looks really cool.
I mentioned these kits being curveball to the current Q3 announcements because both are slated to be released in Q4, and aren’t counted as part of the six Gunpla kits they’ll reveal this week, two of which are from Gundam Build Metaverse. I wanted to say Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance is going to hit Netflix around the same time as these kits will be available, but no official premiere dates have been revealed. Regardless, I am getting the Gundam EX.
Before I forget, Tamashii Nations is also releasing the Gundam EX as part of the Gundam Universe line. I know they usually go the Robot Spirits route, but for a production that’s primarily targeted internationally, this choice makes more sense.
