Gunpla - About Color Variants

Custom color schemes are a time honored tradition among model kit builders. Whether you’re trying to improve on the existing palette, or you simply want to see how it looks in your favorite custom colors, a good repainting can breathe new life into a tried and true model.

But recolors are not exclusively within the purview of hobbyists. Bandai themselves can and will issue official color variants. Sometimes these are purely promotional, such as the models themed after 7-Eleven and Japanese baseball teams:

Or exclusive variants sold at the Gundam Base:

And sometimes they’re based on an actual, in-universe alternate color scheme used by a specific pilot:

One thing that (most) of these official color variants have in common is that they’re usually not intended for wide release. They’ll either be sold in a specific shop, or via Premium Bandai, etc.

But sometimes they are sold in wide release, such as the recent line of kits released to promote the web series Gundam Breaker: Battlelogue. The series features recolors of several classic mobile suits, and sure enough, there are models of them. And while I believe they are being sold by P-Bandai in Japan, for some reason they decided to sell them as standard commercial releases in North America.

My opinion on these kits has gone back and forth ever since they were announced. It’s been something like this:

Why not just make more of these kits in their original colors, and let builders decide if they want a recolor?

Well, I guess not everyone has the equipment or skill or interest in doing it themselves. It’s a lot easier when the plastic itself is recolored, and you don’t have to actually paint anything

But on the other hand, these color schemes are kind of lame. Except for that Wing Zero - that one’s great.

*Finally, a version of Wing Zero that I like*

Are they really that lame though? In some cases it looks like they did more than just swap all the colors on each runner. Some sections that were originally uniform in color now look two-toned …

… Actually, no, I think they did just swap all the colors on each runner.

Still, Maybe you should give them a chance. Maybe they’re better in person than they look in screenshots.

Nah, I’ve got enough to build.

But what if you change your mind later, and they’re all out of print?

*sigh* … here we go again.

So now I have some color variants.

I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself here - I have the regularly colored Gouf Custom already, but I haven’t built it yet. That means this Gouf Custom Crimson is going to have to wait. But the Urban Combat Ground Gundam is fair game. In fact, I built that one during Home Alone 2019, so it is all too appropriate to revisit it during Home Alone 2022.

Conclusion

I guess the thing about color variants is that, just like “regular” model kits, each one is going to be interesting (or not) to different people on a case be case basis. And since not everyone can easily recolor an entire model on their own, it’s nice to have the option to just buy one that’s been done already.