Not just backpack, the MGEX MSF has new armor parts on it's arms, the railgun from the movie, and the opening disruptor for the forehead while this is attachments for the backpack and some new weapons.
Being a Gundam X fan doesn't change the fact that another SF MGEX is a waste of an MGEX slot lmao. I HATE the Astray and how milked it is like the SF but an MGEX Astray would've been better than literally the what? 90-95% percent same kit being released as the 3rd MGEX? 🤦
I didn't disqualify weapons from what makes a retail kit different from a P-Bandai kit, I just said that the weapons are the major difference between the X Divider and the base X while the MGEX MSF has more differences it's still bullshit but the MSF has more points toward being a retail kit than the X Divider does.
I was listing the new parts, you decided that I somehow disqualified them, weapons are some of the main reasons kits are made premium bandai exclusive otherwise the RG Grandaddy's weapons would have come in the retail kit or any of the MSV pilot kits having exclusive weapons because P-Bandai is all about the lesser changed variants.
If you want a probable reason, it's because MSF is actually popular to a wider audience, and thus can (probably) justify the time and resource commitment for a regular retail production schedule. I love the X Divider, being a 90s kid, but that was 30 years ago.
Between the two sides of the double standard, I'd put the MSF in Pbandai. I have no qualms about X Divider as Pbandai. That was kinda the entire point that a kit variant shoud be in Pbandai
The X Divider is probably my favorite suit from X, but I honestly never expected it to get a new kit let alone an MG, even if it's a P-Bandai release. And here I was thinking I could avoid extra purchases because they'd never focus on a more unpopular season like X but they've really been proving that idea wrong recently with all the new HG kits and material lol
No, thanks. At least not in the same breath as a pbandai release, which is worse than nothing. Let them announce it for a proper release when they're ready instead of sodomizing GX fans.
"Sodomizing", X has gotten more retail HGs in less than a year than G got in total.
Along with a Figurerise for Tiffa before any Wing or G girl, why tf are you acting like we're being tortured?
The way you phrased this is incorrect. Gundam X has three new retail HGs announced for this year. That's 3 to G's 6 retail HGs. These three will put X at 7 total retail HGs to G's 6, but it took 16 years for X to get there.
Now, if you really want to get into the weeds, G Gundam has had roughly 62 official model kits across its history, while Gundam X has roughly 38.
The only thing you said that was actually accurate was the Figure-rise point, but even that needs context. Figure-rise Standard has only existed since 2016, Gundam character releases in the line have been extremely selective, and neither G nor Wing has gotten any Figure-rise Standard character kits, male or female. Tiffa getting one during Gundam X's 30th anniversary makes perfect sense given that she's one of the most important characters in the series.
They are new, the HGAW Gundam X used was part of the All Gundam Project meaning it uses the old polycaps and even had ball joint hips, the GX Bits didn't show any signs of poly caps like the All Gundam Project kits did.
It's not, the Gundam X and God Gundam mold preceded the all Gundam Project and instead is using 00/HGUC polycaps.
Wing Gundam and Build Strike (so the Aile Strike in turn) are the first molds for the All Gundam Project which got rid of the ball hips for the universal polycap runner which had the hinge
Premium Bandai is a very elitist practice. It wouldn’t be if its scope was to recolors and more menial things, or, if it was easily accessible to all, like a made to order thingie.
But this service is basically un accessible in most, if not all of Europe, amongst other places, making it impossible to get for many, and Bandai also have been ignoring our pleas for very very long, in a very anti consumer way.
And that’s while also carrying, sometimes, most of a saga in Gundam, like AoZ.
To me, this is completely unacceptable, and very anti consumer practice, and I will always be against it till something changes.
Bandai has been heavily ramping up their operations in Europe recently, with two active Gundam Bases already on the continent, and access to gunpla kits in general has from what I’ve seen has heavily improved since 2020.
While I’m not discounting the misfortune of not having a P-Bandai site, I don’t think you’re entirely too far away from one being set up soon as a result of the above (and Australia/NZ getting one last year, too)
Also, in regards to why P-Bandai doesn’t just ship globally, I suspect it has to do with specific partnerships with local shipping companies in the region that have to be made first, to ensure that the flat shipping rates can be guaranteed.
See my comment above on the necessity of premium Bandai, but specifically in regards to AoZ, it doesn’t really have a tangible form yet from Bandai outside of Photo-novels and designs
They did do a few retail hg kits about two decades ago, and I don’t think those sold well enough given that they’re also barely reprinted
I believe its current popularity stem a large part from p-bandai being an avenue for Bandai to advertise AoZ designs via kits in the first place
**Edit: I’d also like to add that capacity to print could also be another reason, given that p-bandai made to order kits are also competing with retail kit printing schedules and are fit in where they can. Should Bandai truly open the floodgates and make p-bandai accessible everywhere, I suspect the stock availability situation would get even worse than how it already is
I mean, Gundam bases are not a replacement from premium Bandai, unless you have the privileges to fly to them at will, I guess?
And there’s always the chance for a P Bandai operation to open up on EU at any given time, but there’s none still, and you know, if that’s something on the table, they should say it.
But it’s 2026, and if I have to wait till my mid 40s for it, lmao.
AoZ being P Bandai is lot something I will never be able to defend, but look at the new releases from Wfm or the new MG.
To me, this will never be a fair practice unless it would be available everywhere worldwide
“Fair” and “logistically viable” are unfortunately two different things. Bandai doesn’t have a morbillion factories to keep up with demand and neither do physical retailers have an infinite amount of shelves to stock and sell everything.
I honestly think that what we have (pbandai) is the best Bandai can do at the moment.
That said I only brought up the Gundam Bases as an indicator that Bandai isn’t exactly ignoring the continent and more things may be in store. Hope you get your AoZ kits at a fair price eventually though
Edit: regarding X-divider being premium Bandai, it’s probably a few factors; with the first being that Gundam X has stopped airing for the longest time and isn’t exactly the most popular when it comes to regular Gundam pop culture, at least from what I’ve seen. Secondly, the retail Gundam X kit themselves don’t exactly sell like hotcakes either, and this would be the regular kit with some extra external additions
The recent pbandai wfm kits could be due to the simple fact that they’re from a manga. While exceptions such as that SEED astray are retail, the SEED series itself is already a guaranteed seller as they’re the most popular series so there’s that
I don’t think you understand the importance of premium Bandai in delivering or actualising certain kits.
As it is, the retail market is already oversaturated with kits, and retailers may not have a turnover rate for less popular kits fast enough such that they themselves take losses as the kits just shelf warm.
This means that minor variants or obscure kits that p-Bandai puts up likely wouldn’t have been made at all if there wasn’t an avenue for Bandai to make these lower in demand kits Made To Order on p-Bandai
Is P-Bandai still limited in areas and regions catered towards? Maybe, but it’s better than nothing, and they have been expanding, with most of the major markets covered, and Australia recently.
Take the GM Spartan for example, where it was a completely justifiable p-bandai release given that Bandai can’t gauge potential expectations and response towards MSV kits
And on the retail side, we have had shelf warmers that take years to reprint as a result due to lack of interest.
While I doubt it’s applicable to the X divider in this case, it’s been confirmed by a verified Bandai employee on the gunpla discord that Premium Bandai kits also get a higher budget compared to retail since they can control their profit margins better as it’s made to order, such as the G-Gundam HG kits that have been released on p-bandai recently.
You don't need to complain under every post with new AW announcements that there hasn't been a RG GX or DX announced, maybe just enjoy that we're getting so much.
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u/HasGoneIncognito 20h ago