exciting features, but rubbish looks
HELLO! We are back!
In today’s 552nd edition of our Let’s Talk Gunpla segment, we’ll continue where we left off with our Retail Gunpla discussions, but today, we’ll cover kits that we’re impressed by but have yet to become interested in.
So, without further ado. Let us get into it, shall we?
HG 1/144 Black Knight Squad NOG-M2D1/E Cal-re.A (HGCE)
Release Date: October 2024
Estimated price: JPY 4,070 (MYR 123.24* / USD 26.13* / EUR 24.09*)
*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation
The more we learn about this particular release, the more impressed we become with Bandai’s work with this HGCE kit. Bandai went to an insane level to ensure this kit looked color-accurate! It has been quite a while since we saw one section of a kit come with three separate sections for one bit so it would look as color-accurate as it can.
It looked so good that we are starting to believe the HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A will be one of the most color-accurate HGCE kits from the HGCE SEED FREEDOM lineup we’ve seen to date!
Looking at how good this is, we wonder why they couldn’t put the same effort into other HGCE SEED FREEDOM releases. But then again, it’s not like we do not know why they didn’t even bother with the other releases because, unlike the other HGCE releases, the HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A is quite pricey. Pirce-wise, we even go as far as to say it is as expensive as the HGCE Moon.
But if you’re getting a kit that already looked as accurate as its anime counterpart out of the box, it’s not that bad.
But why are we not interested in getting this?
It’s because it looked like a bootleg version of the Strike Freedom.
Yes, we know that the designers purposely designed it to match the design of the Strike Freedom because it was heavily inspired by that design. In the movie, we can see it quickly go toe-to-toe with the Strike Freedom Spec II. But somehow, even seeing how badass it is, it still doesn’t make us interested in getting this.
We are okay with the other Black Knight Squad MS designs but are not interested in this one. It’s a shame because we can see that Bandai is pulling all the stops to make this look as color-accurate as possible.
It’s just unfortunate that we don’t find it appealing.
So, we’ll give this one a pass.
HG 1/144 PMX-002 Bolinoak Sammahn (HGUC)
Release Date: October 2024
Estimated price: JPY 3,520 (MYR 106.51* / USD 22.59* / EUR 20.83*)
*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation
‘Brilliant but rubbish’ is what went through our minds when we saw the HGUC Bolinoak Sammahn for the first time.
Why?
Well, it’s because this release has things that we love and that will improve future HGUC kits, but it also has bits that we just don’t like.
Let’s first talk about what we love about this kit. We’re admittedly quite impressed that Bandai designed an articulation system that could work well with something this ‘meaty’ (or bulky). Heck, we can see that Bandai designed the HGUC Bolinoak Sammahn’s articulation system so well that it makes some of the articulation on some ‘thinner’ HGUC kits we worked on previously look bad.
Not to mention, some bits here and there make us think it would be one of the most color-accurate kits in the HGUC lineup, too. We can see in some section-by-section breakdowns that Bandai used the correct colored parts in some bits instead of using color-correcting stickers. If this is how it will be out of the box, color us impressed.
Even with that said, the looks of this kit might be the weakest bit of this release announcement, which brings us to the ‘rubbish’ part of this release.
Despite Bandai’s best efforts to make the look palatable, it still looks terrible. Just by looking at it, we can already foresee that the HGUC Bolinoak Sammahn will not be on anybody’s wishlist for this year, especially when you see how funny it looked with that shiny balding head feature that this kit comes with.
Even we struggle to imagine ourselves going to the stores to get this kit when better-looking ones are out there. Plus, it doesn’t help that it is expensive for an ugly HGUC kit. It’s a shame, too, because it comes with many very interesting features.
But honestly, despite not liking this kit’s looks, we think we’ll still get this one.
Why?
It’s not every day that we see the retail side taking risks by releasing something like this, and Bandai deserves to be rewarded when they do. Hopefully, by seeing how well this sells would indicate to Bandai that there is a market for kits like this on the retail side, not the P-Bandai side.
If seeing how well this sells would encourage Bandai to keep taking risks with Gunpla releases for the retail side, we do not mind supporting this to encourage Bandai to keep doing so.
Hopefully, we will see more exciting kits made for the retail side instead of the P-Bandai side.
That concludes our 552nd edition of the Let’s Talk Gunpla segment. Admittedly, the kits we write about here might not be attractive enough for us to PO them outright. However, despite our feelings about their looks, we still see ourselves getting them to encourage Bandai to keep supporting the Retail side with more Gunpla releases.
Even with that said, the same isn’t true for the other releases we have yet to discuss.
Don’t worry; we’ll discuss them in the upcoming release.
Anyhow.
We’ll return in the upcoming segment next Thursday (hopefully) with a new blog post! Yes, we won’t be back this weekend since we will be taking a weekend off this week and will be on a short holiday.
But worry not; we will pick up where we left off next week since we have much to discuss in the next blog post. So, do look forward to that.
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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!
Kimi The Builder 