Kimi The Builder

The Gunpla releases from the Shizuoka Hobby Show 2023! Part: 4 Gundam Build Metaverse edition.

HELLO! We’re back! 

In today’s 472nd edition of our Let’s Talk Gunpla segment, we’ll continue where we left off last week with the Shizuoka Hobby Show 2023 Gunpla release announcements. But instead of covering all of the release announcements we had left to cover, we’ll talk about the other two HGBM kits.

We’ll end our coverage of the other two big announcements in the upcoming blog post.

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

HG 1/144 Gundam 00 Diver Ark (HGBM)

Release Date: December 2023

Estimated price: JPY 2,750 (MYR RM 90.56* / USD $ 19.72* / EUR € 18.35*)

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

Out of all the Gundam designs from the Build series that we’ve seen, the ones we’ve seen from the Build Divers are the ones that we are not a big fan of here.  

However, we admit that when compared to the EGBM Lah Gundam, the HGBM Gundam 00 Diver Ark is one of the better-looking ones. 

Based on the HGBD Gundam 00 Diver Ace, this version does look like a minor upgrade. Which is weird considering, if we’re not mistaken, doesn’t it have the 00 Sky series? A much better upgrade to the 00 Diver series?

Even though we admit that we’re more inclined to the 00 Diver series design but at the same time, we do wish that Bandai would show us a much more improved design instead of just showing us something similar. 

But enough ramblings from us. 

Let us now talk about what we think of this kit. 

As we said previously, this is definitely one of those kits that we find to be good-looking since it inherited many of the good traits of the HGBD 00 Diver Ace. 

The other thing we liked about it is that instead of getting the two original 00 physical melee/beam rifles and the slightly modified version of the 00 weapons, it now comes with the two 00 original physical melee/beam rifles and tons of beam melee weapons. Best of all, the beam melee weapons that it gets look fantastic! Even the beam effect parts look badass!

The other changes are on the chest unit, waist, shoulder armor/GN Drive, and head unit.

Honestly, despite what we feel about the HGBM Diver Ark being more and less the same as the HGBD 00 Diver Ace, we admit that the more we look at the HGBM 00 Diver Ark design, the more the idea of getting it is starting to grow on us. 

We wouldn’t be surprised if we were to Preorder in the coming weeks.

HG 1/144 Plutain Gundam (HGBM)

Release Date: December 2023

Estimated price: JPY 2,530 (MYR RM 83.32* / USD $ 18.15* / EUR € 16.88*)

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

Funnily enough, out of all the HGBM kits that Bandai revealed, the Plutain Gundam is the only one out of the bunch that looks like a massive update from its original iteration, the Nepteight Gundam (the final support unit for the Core Gundam II).`

Bandai made so many changes to the looks that we struggled to find anything familiar. But after we spend time with this, we can confirm that it still retains some elements of the HGBDR Nepteight, like the base core Gundam II, chest, shoulder armor, and leg unit.

Even the weapons set looked nothing like we’re familiar with. Yes, it might have elements of other Gundam from that series like, for instance, the shoulder armor blade/wing-like attachments that were inspired by the Magnum AGE’s, the scythe-like melee weapon that looks like a combination of design from the Love Phantom Gundam and the Impulse Gundam Lancier’s weapon design.

But best of all is its color scheme. 

Why?

Well, it’s because it looks beautiful AF. The dark purple, black, blue, and white color tones match well with each other. And honestly, it has been quite a while since we saw a kit with a beautiful color combo like the HGBM Plutain Gundam. 

But even with that said, admittedly, we are a little bit torn with this one. One side of us LOVES how this kit looked, and out of all the HGBM kits we saw, this is the only one we think looks badass. But the other side is not a fan of the Core Gundam design and its attachments. Because it always feels like an incomplete design to us. Not to mention, the whole thing looks a bit flimsy. 

But then again, maybe we should give this one a chance. There is a possibility that the HGBM Plutine Gundam would be the one that would change our perspective on the HGBDR Core Gundam kits. 

So, we should be coming in with an open mind on this one. 

And that concludes our 472nd edition of the Let’s Talk Gunpla segment. Now all that is left to talk about is the SD releases, and there is one SD release that we are looking forward to talking about, and we are sure you guys would know which one we’re referring to.  

But alas, we might save that one for next week since it does look like the P-Bandai side has been quite busy announcing new stuff recently, so we might cover the P-Bandai side this coming Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, yes, we’ll return this Saturday with a new blog post. So, 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 also open to 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 sincerely hope this post will inspire all of you to pick up on the hobby. Or better yet, reignite your love and passion for the hobby.

We shall see all of you again soon, and we hope all of you here have a splendid day and week ahead! Oh, before we go, please have an excellent time building your awesome gunplas there and until next time.

Ciao!