I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - when your significant other buys you a model kit, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I had a rough week, she wanted to cheer me up, and she saw this at Target. The price was nice ($22 for a $25 kit), and so it came home with her:
This here is the Gundam Astray Red Frame Inversion, as featured in Gundam Breaker Battlelogue.
About the Astray Red Frame
This model kit is a pallette swap of the Gundam Astray Red Frame, which comes from a Gundam SEED manga aptly named Gundam SEED Astray. I’ve not read it, nor have I watched either of the SEED TV shows, but as far as I know the Astray only shows up in that manga, as well as a single short teaser animation.
Here is what the Gundam Wiki has to say about the mobile suit (this is a paraphrase of the important points):
The MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red Frame is one of five identical prototype mobile suits developed by Orb using stolen data from the Earth Alliance's G-Project. Its original concept was to be a MS that could be piloted by Naturals, and it was eventually loaded with an incomplete Natural-use OS.Most of the technology from the G Project is successfully copied with the exception of Phase Shift armor. In its place, the Gundam Astrays' designers made the machines out of a lighter foam metal compound, with minimal armor over the frame.
The Red Frame initially had the same armament as the other prototype Gundam Astrays, but the Red Frame's pilot, Lowe Guele, eventually acquired another armament - the "Gerbera Straight" katana.
The Red Frame can also be fitted with a Flight Unit.
So there you have it. The Astrays began as near-Gundam quality mobile suits for use by Naturals, and one fell into the hands of a pilot/mechanic who souped it up a bit.
Why Does Everyone Love the Astray Red Frame?
Despite its manga-only provenance, the Astray Red Frame is by far one of the most popular mobile suits to come out of any Gundam SEED media.
They’ve made High Grades of it:
They’ve made a Real Grade:
And a Master Grade:
And a freaking Perfect Grade, the rarest of all grades:
And don’t forget the Hi Resolution figurine:
And the SD kits:
And the action figures:
It’s also the basis for one of the main mecha in Gundam Build Fighters:
To say the Astray Red Frame is a fan favorite is to put mildly.
So here’s the million dollar question - why is it so popular? What is it about this mobile suit that is so appealing that people know of it, love it, and build models of it despite it never having seen it on screen?
I’m sure everyone has their own personal answer, but I’d say that the simplest explanation is that it’s a Gundam with a giant f-ing katana. That’s it. Gundams already look an awful lot like robot samurai, but very few of them have a cool samurai sword. It completes the illusion so to speak.
Or, to put it another way, it’s basically the Weeb Gundam. Even Sunrise themselves admit to as much. In Gundam Build Fighters, the Sengoku Astray is piloted by the biggest Weeb character in the franchise.
Another Point of View
I once found a Reddit discussion in which a user related how his friend once described the Astray Red Frame as looking "athletic". I like that explanation a lot. The red of the arms look a lot like muscles, while the legs are nicely bulky, almost as if it's wearing football pads. It at once looks tough, strong, and quick.About the Red Frame Inversion
Like the Gundam Ground Type Urban Combat, the Red Frame Inversion is one of several virtual enemies created by the villain of Gundam Breaker Battlelogue. It’s a palette swapped version of the Astray Red Frame piloted by an AI based on Mr. Bushido (another Gundam weeb).
In regards to its coloring, it’s not an inversion in the “open it up in photoshop and click the ‘invert’ button” sense. It’s more of an “evil” version of the Red Frame, one that swaps white for black, and red for a weirdly sinister looking pink. It fits this particular mobile suit startlingly well.
Accessories and Stuff
This model kit has quite a lot of goodies, including:
- Two Beam Sabers
- A Beam Rifle
- A shield
- The Flight Unit
- Gerbera Straight katana
- The Astray uses the head of a BuCue as a hand gauntlet, acting essentially as a double bladed lightsaber
Hopefully it will lead to a lot of posing potential.
About the Model Kit
I’ve never built any version of the Astray, so I have no idea if this has any modifications from any of the previous High Grade kits. If it’s anything like the Ground Type Urban Combat, there may be a few new joints to bring it up to modern standards, but everything else should be the same.
Other Thoughts
The five Astray prototypes eventually led to the creation of a mass production unit:
This mobile suit actually did show up in the Gundam SEED anime (I think). Having not seen it, I have no idea if their performance is better or worse than any other grunt.