As part of Bandai Namco’s effort to further expand the Gundam brand in China, the widely received Gunpla-based anime, Gundam Build Fighters, is going to get a Mandarin dub release this October. Several HGBF kits will also get reissued with slightly redesigned Chinese packaging.
And yes, if you’ve been in the hobby long enough, then these can easily pass as a bootleg kit at first glace. I’ve included the redesigned box arts below.
I’m also inclined to think that along with the new package design are new, or at least translated, instruction manuals.
And then there’s this guy.
Along with the announcement of the reissues is a new 1/144 Build Strike Gundam, which many assumed as an Entry Grade kit. I mean the assumption makes sense given they had the mold coming from the Entry Grade Build Strike Exceed Galaxy from Gundam Build Metaverse. Well, this ain’t one as this is more akin to those RX-78-2 Gundam Workshop Ver. kits being given at Gunpla caravans.
Shown here is a fully painted and detailed copy of the kit, and it looks really nice. That said, I believe the intended demographic of this kit are those new to the hobby and would want to try building a kit based on the Chinese dubbed version of Build Fighters, and I don’t expect them to do any painting. So here’s a quick comparison between the out-of-the-box builds of this kit and the HGBF version.
The 1/144 China-exclusive has more accurate colors out of the box, most notable being the gray sections on the arms and legs. But if you factor key features of the kit, then I’d suggest looking at the runners below.
As you can see above, the runners show an interesting compromise between getting the most color accruacy, articulation, and the relatively lower price point. It’s still able to do decent poses when completed though limited by how the parts are laid out. It won’t have wrist swivels, single hinge knee joint, and non-functional beam saber handles on the side skirting armor. But again, the target demographic won’t be that particular with articulation specifics and gimmicks.
As seen in the runners, the beam saber would need to be totally painted as it will come as a single red piece. The beam rifle is also molded as a single piece given how thin it looks, and I’m inclined to think the other side would have hollow sections as they’ve been showing the same side for all the images in the solicitation.
If you already have the HGBF Build Strike Gundam Full Package, or just the HGBC Build Booster, then the booster itself is compatible with this kit. Added options I guess?
1/144 Build Strike Gundam
October 2025 / RMB 49.90
I really appreciate how Bandai Spirits is doing more localized releases of kits, from these ones to the regular retail versions of the upgraded Gundams from Gundam Wing (I would love to get my hands on at least one of those regular retail boxes). I still find it funny though that these China-exclusive versions look like bootlegs despite being totally legit. That’s the effect of seeing bold Chinese text as the names in these packages.
