With the Universe Booster complete, it’s time to build its counterpart - the Galaxy Booster from Gundam Build Fighters Battlelogue:
About the Galaxy Booster
The Galaxy Booster does not show up in Gundam Build Fighters, since that show already features the Build Booster and the Universe Booster.
Nor does it even show up in GM’s Counterattack, a brief epilogue episode meant to bridge the gap between Build Fighters and its sequel, Gundam Build Fighters Try.
Rather, it shows up in Build Fighters Battlelogue, a series of shorts from 2017 featuring various characters from Build Fighters and Try.
Specifically, it shows up in the final short, Gunpla is the Greatest!, which depicts a friendly bout between Sei Iori and his sempai/rival Tatsuya Yuki.
We learn that Sei has just finished upgrading the Build Strike Gundam Cosmos - the Gunpla he used during the events of GM’s Counterattack - into the Build Strike Galaxy Cosmos.
And just like with all his previous Build Strikes, the Galaxy Cosmos comes with a special detachable backpack, in this case the Galaxy Booster:
Unlike the Build Booster and the Universe Booster, the Galaxy Booster has no onboard weapons. According to the Gundam Wiki, it’s sole purpose while docked is to use its wings as antennae to amplify, control, and direct Plavsky particles to enhance the performance of the Galaxy Cosmos.
As soon as the battle between Sei and Yuuki starts, the Galaxy Booster docks with the mobile suit:
And when the going gets tough, it unfurls its twelve - count them twelve - wings to help the Galaxy Cosmos power up:
But it doesn’t take long for the Galaxy Booster to be destroyed, and that’s the last we see of it until its reappearance in Build Fighters Metaverse, where it comes once again to dock with the Build Strike Exceed Galaxy.
In both form and function, the Galaxy Booster is arguably the lamest of all of Sei’s Booster Packs. It has no guns, and visually it looks like an oversized drone. Even its name is a downgrade - galaxies are smaller than the universe after all.
But let’s put it together and see how it looks in real life.
The Build
There’s not all that much here - not a lot of parts, not a lot of decals, etc, especially when you consider that one of the runners is made up almost entirely of the stand. But let’s see how it comes together.
(You’ll have to excuse some of the following photos. I built this in a different room than I usually do, and as you’ll see, the table isn’t in the greatest shape)
We start with the rear wings. Each has two individual blades, and as you can see, they can move in a scissor-like manner.
This then attaches to the rear half of the body:
There are a few things to mention here, for which I’m going to pull out the manual. Here is the simple hinge joint that the wings attach to:
This is one of the tightest joints I’ve ever encountered, to the point where I had to apply immense pressure just to make the connection flush. Technically speaking, it is a joint, and it should allow you to move the wings up or down. But I’m kind of afraid that I might break something trying to do it.
Next, we see that the wings are connected to the main body with what I’m going to now label as a “sandwich joint”:
On my model, one of these joints is much looser than the other. I’m not certain, but I think I may have caused some sort of damage to it while playing around with it. For now though, it still manages to stay in place, and as long as that’s the case then I don’t care if it’s a bit loose.
Now we move to the front wings (forgive the blurry photo):
These have three blades, with the third resting above the other two.
These both attach to the front half of the main body, where we also see the decal for the cockpit:
When you put the two halves together, it kind of looks like a bird:
Now we get to the two vertically oriented wings:
The kit comes with decals for the black bit on the bottom, and I did try to use them. But ultimately they didn’t look so hot, so I painted them instead.
Finished
Now we fold and bend everything in place, prop it on a stand, and tada! - we have a Galaxy Booster:
I will say this: despite not having any guns - not even having thrusters really - it still manages to look decent. Maybe that’s just because it’s so big, or because it has such an impressive wingspan, or because it somewhat resembles a real aircraft.
Whatever the reason, I don’t hate it.
Compared to the Build Booster, while it may lack weapons, the Galaxy Booster competes well on size.
Compared to the Universe Booster, it certainly isn’t as colorful, or quite as intricate looking:
But on the other hand I’d argue that it looks more like a proper Booster Pack.
Gimmicks
On its, the Galaxy Booster’s only real gimmick is the ability to unfurl its wings:
But let’s get it on a mobile suit and see what else it can do. Thankfully, the model comes with an adapter piece that plugs into any 1⁄144 Gunpla with a “standard sized” backpack port. That doesn’t include every High Grade, but it should account for a lot of them.
It also accounts for some Entry Grade kits, as you can see below:
After playing around like this, I came up with a theory. I’m not sure if the Galaxy Booster was ever designed to look cool in plane form, or as an accessory to the Build Strike Galaxy Cosmos. Rather, I think it was designed primarily to work well as a flexible, adaptable set of wings for use on as many Gunpla as possible.
I say that because, as you can see in the photos below, there are a lot of ways you adjust the Galaxy Booster, either be moving or rotating the wings, or even by taking some of them off:
I believe this may be a case where form took a backseat to function, and after seeing all these different configurations, I think it might have been the right call:
Conclusion
I specifically bought the Galaxy Booster to use with the Exceed Galaxy, but who knows? Maybe I’ll repurpose it to use with other models down the line.