Just when you thought Wufei has once again gotten the shortest stick when the G Gundam HG kits started getting released, Bandai Spirits reminded us he’s not forgotten with the announcement of the HGAC Altron Gundam. That’s right, the mid-season upgrades for the five Gundam pilots are now complete once this kit is released. I wanted to say “once this kit hits shelves” but unfortunately, it’s a Premium Bandai exclusive.
We all saw glimpses of this kit during the run of Gundam Build Divers with the HGBD Gundam Jiyan Altron and thought to ourselves that the vanilla Altron is just a matter of when. I just didn’t expect the wait to be too long that the HGAC Gundam Deathscythe Hell, which is a retool of the HG Gundam Livelance Heaven got released first.
As expected from any modern High Grade kit, the proportions and details are captured really well. And for a mobile suit with a primarily melee combat style, this kit should be able to provide great articulation. The question will of course boil down to color accuracy, especially since the HGAC Shenlong Gundam has those green shoulder jewel parts that were supplemented by color-correcting stickers.
For weapons, the kit does have everything you remember from the series. These include its signature Twin Beam Trident, its tail-like Beam Cannon, and the shield that’s seen here mounted on the left shoulder armor. Given that both arms are now Dragon Fang units, I don’t think you can mount the shield on the forearm, hence this connection.
Speaking of the Dragon Fangs, they will function in the same way as the Shenlong Gundam’s. Both arms can be folded in and out of the shoulder armor and you can make them even longer with additional extension parts.
I mentioned in the post title how I wanted to paint over the green-blue parts on this kit. This is because I really liked the more traditional Gundam colors used in Shenlong, or the “tri-color” as it’s referred to. So much so that I made this color study just to see how it will look.
I tried getting Altron in the same shade of blue as Shenlong, but at least you are getting what I’m attempting to do once I get the kit. Speaking of which, I was fortunately able to secure a pre-order via our local Premium Bandai shop. I honestly feel the chances of getting a pre-order is like a gacha draw. The other day I attempted to get the Advance of Zeta Gundam Decal DX set and it was immediately sold out. I guess it’s really a matter of how fast you click on the buy now button.
HGAC 1/144 Altron Gundam
October 2024 / ¥2,640
Premium Bandai Exclusive
