9 Unreleased Gunpla Bandai Promised But We Never Got

Here at Gunpla 101, we love checking out upcoming releases to anticipate which Gunpla kits we will be building a couple of months from now (provided that we can preorder them in time! Unfortunately, these previews don’t always pan out. Now, contributor Scott Wachter has rounded up nine of the most interesting Bandai rejects for your perusal. Read on to learn about the unreleased kits that time forgot. Which ones do you miss the most?

As Char Aznable said: “One does not care to acknowledge the mistakes of one’s youth.” To which I reply, “Bandai does not care to acknowledge that they once advertised these kits.”

Over the years, there have been plenty of hobby shows and fan conventions and with each one Bandai has taken advantage of the audience to announce upcoming products, but sometimes those announced products never actually showed up.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane: look at all the previews we never got to view, consider what we might have got in their steads, and ponder whether or not we should hold out hope for them returning to store shelves near you.

1) MG Most-of-the-Shuffle Alliance (and Friends)

At the 41st Shizuoka Hobby show in 2002, Bandai showed off painted mock-ups of some of G-Gundam’s most memorable kits: the Dragon, Maxter, Nobel, and Rising Gundams all using the same inner-frame as the Shining, God, Master, and Spiegel Gundams. Fans looked forward to rounding out their G-Gundam dioramas with even more of the show’s iconic suits.

What We Got Instead:

Unfortunately for G-Gundam fans, we didn’t get much until recently. The Nobel got a release in both modes in the HGFC line, P-Bandai has released the Maxter and Rose in High Grade this year.

Should You Hold Out Hope?

I wouldn’t be shocked to see more HGs as P-Bandai releases, and the RG God could be a sign of a Master. But given that this is a major anniversary year for Mobile Fighter G-Gundam and we haven’t seen anything yet, I think these have been eliminated from the release bracket.

2) MG Zaku Tank

This little guy was announced at the 47th Shizuoka Hobby Show in 2008, and we have heard nothing about him since.

What We Got Instead:

We’ve never had a shortage of Zakus in MG form. In 2009 we got the White Ogre, and 2016 gave us the Psycho Zaku from Gundam Thunderbolt, never mind everything in between in HG and RG.

Should You Hold Out Hope?
This feels like something that could pop up in P-Bandai at any time, but maybe the better question is do you want it? The MG Guntank’s treads and the 2.0 Zaku’s head on one kit sounds like a terrible set of chores.

3) MG GN-X IV

The 50th All Japan Plamodel Hobby Show 2010 gave us a peek at a mass-production unit from season 2 of Gundam 00 alongside color and movie variants of HG00 grunts.

What We Got Instead:

The High Grades all came out the next year, and since then we got Celestial Being’s suits from season 1 of 00 in MG more recently.

Should You Hold Out Hope?

I think the GN-X might be jinxed, better off hoping for an Arche or the S2 Celestial Being lineup in MG.

4) RG Gouf, RG GM and RG Ground Gundam

Alongside the promos for the RG Destiny at Gunpla Expo World 2012 was this poster showing some One Year War classics, presumably built on the RG Gundam frame, for the GM and RX-79G; and the RG Zaku frame for the Gouf.

What We Got Instead:

2016 gave us a new HGUC Gouf, the Cucuruz Doan’s Island movie gave us new HGs for GMs and the Ground Type got a P-Bandai with a new backpack. 

Should You Hold Out Hope?

All signs point to maybe. The RG line is about to drop a 2.0 of the RX-78 Grandpa Gundam, and with that will come a 2.0 Zaku which means another shot for these three.  

5) MG AGE 3 Normal, MG AGE FX and MG Gafran

The Gunpla Expo World Tour 2012 Japan in Akihabara, Tokyo hosted a number of kit announcements related to Gundam AGE, Gundam Unicorn, and Gundam SEED Destiny including Master Grades for the AGE 3, the Age FX, and the Gafran the Vegan drone unit for the first half of the TV series Gundam AGE.

What We Got Instead:

Gundam Build Divers gave us the AGE-II Magnum in HG and MG.

Should You Hold Out Hope?

No way, Ryu José. Gundam AGE launched with a lot of merch support, an absurd amount really, but by halfway through, most of the product lines tapered off. We’ll probably never get an explanation, but it’s probably sales related. On a long enough time scale the series might get reevaluated like Gundam X did and the MGs might come back, but that’s a maybe.

6) MG Nightingale

This is the rumored kit that kicked off this article. I swear I can recall a grey prototype of this kit sometime in 2007 or ‘08 to go with the original MG Hi-Nu Gundam, but all photos have disappeared from the internet. Maybe I just hallucinated the whole thing.

What We Got Instead:
The RE/100 Nightingale version from 2014.

Should You Hold Out Hope?
The RE/100 Nightingale is one of the largest, most expensive RE/100 kits ever made, and an MG would be a mass of plastic to surpass the Master Grade The O. So probably not.

7) The Rest of Operation Meteor in RG

At the 2014 All Japan Model & Hobby Show in Tokyo, this image emerged showing the Endless Waltz versions of the Deathscythe, Sandrock, Altron, and Heavyarms on the MS Joint 9 frame.

What We Got Instead:

High Grades of these versions were released on the P-Bandai eShop, and at MG the Wing Zero Ver Ka.

Should You Hold Out Hope?

Next year is the 30th anniversary for Gundam Wing, and the RG line has been kind to the After Colony timeline with all the Tallgeeses (Tallgooses? Tallguys?) and the Epyon, which have all been represented already. I’d budget for pre-orders soon.

8) The 2015 All Japan Model and Hobby Show Lineup of Prospective RE/100 Kits 

This poster gave us previews of the Efreet, GM Sniper, Barzam, Jegan, Kshatria, Gundam Xi, Leo, Gaia Gundam, Reborn Gundam, and Rig Contio (it’s from Victory and we all totally remembered that without a lot of searching).

What We Got Instead:

The Jegan got an MG, we’ve got more Efreet variants than you could gin up in multiple scales, the Xi got a great HG, and there are multiple Leos in HG (though some are P-Bandai).

Should You Hold Out Hope?

Never say die, but I think the RE/100 line is dead. There hasn’t been a new product release from it in 5 years, which is an eternity in release time. We’ve also seen Bandai launch the Full Mechanics line with SEED baddies, which could mean the Gaia Gundam could have a home there. But on the other hand, the RE/100 line was very kind to Victory, so maybe they dust it off for a P-Bandai Rig Contio, which we all remembered Chronicle piloting at the end of Victory. It’s a highly memorable suit that we all love and would like to see.

9) This Action Base 2

It’s yellowish. It was shown off at the Shizuoka Hobby Show in 2007.

What We Got Instead:

So many stands, in so many colors.

Should You Hold Out Hope:

Seems really weird it never came out, but that also means it could just pop up at any time.

Keep in mind that this is by no means an exhaustive list of announced products that never came. For example Bandai once announced a Gundam base exclusive twenty-four karat gold colored (ie not actually gold plated) finish version of the HGUC RX-78-2, and there are a large number of planned non-graded 1/100 and 1/60th kits related to the first season of Gundam 00 that never made it to shelves. This was just a slice of what I thought was interesting or odd today. I’m just a fan making guesses, and am always happy to be surprised about what comes out next.

Scott Wachter is a freelance content creator. In the past he’s been a contributor to RPGamer.com, you can also listen to his Gundam review series, The Recap From Mercury or his retro anime podcast Is That Some Kind of Japanimation Thing.