After announcing it earlier this summer, Sunrise is finally premiering Gundam Breaker Battlogue, a six-part short film based on the characters and (barebones) story of the old PS4 game Gundam Breaker 3 and active mobile game Gundam Breaker Mobile. They also, of course, announced a bunch of High Grade Gunpla as tie-ins.
But there was one more model kit Bandai had in store, one that isn’t listed in the link above, and which that completely took me by surprise. It is seen in the very first episode of Battelogue, which takes place in the midst of the final match of the “13th Gunpla Battle US Championship”. For a split second, you can see a giant, Star Spangled Gundam in the center of the stage:
And, well, you know the rules - any mobile suit that appears on screen is fair game for turning into a model kit. And so Bandai did exactly that. They took one of the most popular and iconic symbols of Japanese pop culture - a figure of national pride - and draped it in another nation’s colors.
And then they sold it as an exclusive to Target (which I also didn’t see coming).
About the Entry Grade Gunadam MURICAN' FREEDOM ROBOT
I am stunned that Bandai went ahead and made something like this. Historically, when it comes to anything Gundam, Bandai and Sunrise take the Surly approach to things:
But then again, they’ve also been doing a lot in recent years to make Gundam more accessible internationally. They put various Gundam shows and films on their Youtube channel for free, in many different languages. They’ve built more manufacturing capacity to meet international demand for Gunpla. They licensed all of the Gundam back catalogue to Rightstuf/Nozomi so they could create physical discs of every show, film, OVA, etc, and they keep putting more shows on streaming.
Furthermore, modern Gunpla instruction manuals have corresponding english translations for nearly every bit of Japanese text. Life is much better now for a western Gundam fan than it was, say, ten years ago, and that’s entirely due to the fact that Sunrise and Bandai have made it easier to engage with the content.
So maybe it isn’t too much of a stretch that they’d make something to appeal directly to US fans. But still, a red/white/blue themed Gundam with stars and stripes and eagles? That still seems a bit much, don’t you think? A bit … insulting to both Japan and America? Why sully a national icon to try and sell some kits to a bunch of dumb Americans who will by anything that’s flag themed?
Answer - because it’s Bandai. Of course they’d do something like that. And they’re right to do so, because I certainly fell for it!
Exclusivity
I mentioned this already, but it bears reiterating - this is a Gunpla that is not being sold in Japan. In fact, at the time of writing this, Bandai is still figuring out if they're going to change their minds about that. I'm not going to say that this is the first time a Gunpla hasn't been sold there, but it can't be very common. It is certainly noteworthy.About the Model Kit
In terms of parts and design, this model is exactly the same as the Entry Grade Gundam.
The only differences are:
- The colors of the plastic
- This time we actually get a decal sheet:
I’m not sure if I should be impressed or embarrassed that they even included some eagle iconography. Americans an be played like a fiddle with this stuff.
Because the build is the same, I’m not going to cover it in detail, though I will show all the finished parts so we can examine them in detail.
Other Thoughts
So I guess Target is pretty serious about selling Gunpla, huh? Crazy to think that they went from selling a few kits last fall to selling a worldwide exclusive.
Reddit also confirms that Target will be selling the other Battelogue kits through the winter - in fact, some are already selling them ahead of street date. So “Gunpla in Target” will remain a thing for at least a little while longer.
On a similar note, apparently this model’s been hard to find in some regions thanks to scalpers. I was really hoping they wouldn’t invade my hobby, but they seem to come for everything good and cool in the world.
(I can confirm that the one I got was the last one at my local store, and that all the other stores within a 30 minute drive are sold out, though there are a few that are not much farther than that that have inventory. I can thank Mrs. Wolfe, as she ordered it for store pickup before I could even decide if I wanted it).
Lastly, I wanted to share this Reddit user’s take on the model, because it’s hilarious:
let's be honest. This is not America's Gundam. There are definitely not enough guns, the only gun it has is not big enough, and overall design is too basic.This is the 1970s comic book Bucky Barnes Gundam, that nobody asked for, and the 1980s GI JOE/Gundam crossover, that sadly never happened. It's the Fortnite skin Epic tries selling you around the 4th of July, without asking Bandai for the permission. This version looks like the Gundam knockoff you find at Dollar Tree, called Giant Patriot Robot Attack Droid made by BADNAI. It's the discount Tom Brady, in his away jersey, of gunpla. It looks like it's a Trump Rally exclusive and later a Walmart blue light special...
And can anyone explain why it has a singe red stripe on it's right leg? Is that suppose to be a garter? and if so where do I get the tiny dollar bill decals to make it look like it's earning back the money I spent on it?