Kimi The Builder

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An 11 years wait for the final version.

HELLO! We are back! 

In today’s 318th edition of our Let’s Talk Gunpla segment, we will be looking at the other two P-Bandai kit release announcements besides the MG Maneuver Striker’s release announcement that we talked about recently. 

So, without further ado, let us get into it, shall we? 

HG 1/144 GN-011 Gundam Harute [Final Battle Ver.](HG00)

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Release Date: November 2021

Estimated price: JPY 2,970 (MYR RM 115.01* / USD $ 27.13* / EUR € 22.86*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

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Let’s start with this, the most impressive of the two. 

Seriously, as magnificent as the standard HG00 Harute was, its Final Battle version is one that we find to be the best version. We are sure that many of you here that are fortunate enough to see the final version of the Gundam Harute in the awakening of the Trailblazer movie think the same way as well. 

We do not understand why they decided to take this long to release this version, but we are glad that the Final Battle version of the HG00 Harute finally sees the light of day as an HG00 kit. 

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But the thing that we are not happy about is that this version of the HG00 Harute gets the P-Bandai treatment. Because to be honest, we know for a fact that this is definitely going to be a P-Bandai HG kit that is going to be quite hard to justify getting due to the price. Although, at the same time, we can understand why this gets the P-Bandai treatment. 

For one, there is no new mainline anime under the 00 universe made, which also, unfortunately, means that that there is no new merch for the retail side’s HG00.

Secondly, we already had the standard Harute as a regular release, so regardless of our feelings about it, it makes sense that it gets the P-Bandai treatment. 

But enough about what we feel about this release, let us now shift our focus on the kit, shall we? 

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Although it is really obvious to us all here that the Final version still does share many of the same parts as the standard release, admittedly, combined with all the new bits made for this version, they somehow managed to make it look even better here. 

You might be wondering, what is new here? 

Well, this new Final version of the Harute gets new leg units and a new head unit. On paper, those updates may not sound impressive. But in reality, those changes was enough to make the final version of the Harute look considerably different from its Retail counterpart. At the same time, it does make for a good reason for a fan and a collector to get this P-Bandai HG 00 kit.

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But the question remains, are we ourselves interested in getting this P-Bandai HG00 kit? We admit that is a good one because you do get a lot of gunpla in this. But at the same time, we all know that the price for this kit is a bit hard to justify getting if we factor in the P-Bandai tax that this kit is getting. Especially when this kit is will be priced higher than Entry level/early 2000’s MG’s and close to a mid-tier MG kit.

So yeah, that is why we can see a hardcore fan or a Gunpla collector interested in getting this. Because of the price alone, it’s hard for an ordinary Gunpla builder to justify getting this when they know that they could’ve spent the same amount of money to get an MG kit or a decent modern RG kit. 

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Although we would be lying if we say that we are not thinking of getting it? Because to be honest, we are really taken by how badass this kit looked.

So yeah, we might still consider getting this one if we are lucky enough to find someone selling this for cheap.    

HG 1/144 GN-010 Gundam Zabanya [Final Battle Ver.](HG00)

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Release Date: November 2021

Estimated price: JPY 2,750 (MYR RM 106.49* / USD $ 25.12* / EUR € 21.16*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

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Yes, besides the Harute getting the ‘Final Version’ treatment, P-Bandai also decided to give the Zabanya the same ‘Final Version’ treatment. 

But unlike the Harute, the Zabanya’s final upgrade doesn’t look as impressive. Because, unlike the P-Bandai HG00 Harute’s upgrade, the P-Bandai HG00 Zabanya’s update still keeps its overall original look. 

The only difference this version has over its retail counterpart is that it comes with 4 Beam Sniper II in bit form and more weapon holster/shield bits. 

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But even with that said, it is not to say that we do not like what we see here. Because the fact of the matter is, we do like what we see here. Why? Well, that is because we are already fans of the retail HG00 Zabanya’s look. But like the P-Bandai HG00 Harute Final Version, it’s hard to justify getting this, especially when it doesn’t get a significant update like the P-Bandai HG00 Harute Final Version. 

But even with that said, admittedly, that the ‘new’ stuff that the P-Bandai HG00 Zabanya Final Version gets here does help to improve its looks further. Which does make us wonder, why didn’t P-Bandai instead consider releasing this as an expansion? We’d feel that would be better overall. 

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But whatever the reason may be, we admit P-Bandai at least did it right with the promotional materials. Because honestly, they at least managed to succeed in making us interested in the idea of getting this P-Bandai HG00 kit by just making us look at all the badass shots that P-Bandai took to promote the HG00 Zabanya Final Version.

Dangnamit, they really got us by the balls here. 

And just like, the P-Bandai HG00 Harute Final Version, we might consider getting this IF we can find someone selling it for cheap. Or if we mistakenly stumble on it in our travels. Or if any of us wins a lottery ticket.

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That is a lot of ifs, we know. But again, looking at how things are going, getting this at that P-Bandai taxed state will be one that is hard to justify in this climate.

With that concludes our 318th edition of the Let’s Talk Gunpla segment for today. Finally, we managed to cover all the new Gunpla release announcements from P-Bandai. We get to see a lot of new OO Merch announced too recently, which does make us wonder if Bandai/Sunrise is planning for something new here? 

Hopefully, all of this would indicate that we get to see a new 00 Anime project from them soon. Or, at the very least, a new manga series.

Anyways, we will be back again this coming Thursday (hopefully) with a new blog post. So, please do look forward to that! 

Oh, one more thing before we go, it would be a tremendous help to us all here in the blog if you guys were to leave a like on our posts and subscribe to the blog if you find yourselves enjoying our gunpla/plamo related posts. We would appreciate it if you guys would take the time to show your support by leaving an upvote on our R/Gunpla posts and by leaving a like on our Facebook and Instagram posts or pages! 

We are as well open to any good and bad feedback, so feel free to write away.

Hopefully, by sharing our love and passion for building and writing about gunplas or other plamos here, we hope that it’ll help to inspire all of here to pick up on the hobby. Or better yet, reignite your love and passion for the hobby.

Anyways, we shall see all of you again soon, and we as well hope that you all here have a splendid day and week ahead! Oh as well, do have an excellent time building your awesome gunplas there and until next time.

Ciao!