Perfect Grade Astray Red Frame

I’m probably the last one to blog about this but I’m still blogging about it even though most Gundam-related blogs have mentioned it already. I’m happy that Bandai is releasing this particular Gundam into the Perfect Grade line. For me, the Astray is one of the more contemporary Gundam designs of its time. It came out when Kunio’s work in SEED was getting too common and most of it felt like it was being forced to be designed simply to cater to the merchandise that it will be selling. The other designs felt like there wasn’t much though done in their conceptualization. Just slap on some cannons and a big-ass melee weapon and we have an enemy unit already.

The Astray, for me, was what saved the franchise by coming out as a fresh design, deviating from the common looks the other ones had. Most of the SEED Gundams had a reference or a nod to some other older Gundam series. The Astray was a Gundam in itself. It had a really nice two-color scheme and an awesome body design. Plus it sported a large katana. Picked up from a junkyard! How cool is that?

That’s why I’m really happy that this is being given the PG treatment. Yes, I know some of you are rolling your eyes and probably thinking Bandai’s just saving up on design expense by using the PG Strike frame and just slapping on a different armor. Well, to be honest, you should have seen that coming already especially if you owned a PG Strike. In the MG line, when the OYW frame broke new ground in MG articulation, they started creating ver. 2.0’s of all the other UC MG releases. Even some of that articulation was included in the later releases of MG SEED and SEED Destiny model kits.

The PG Strike frame was also a change from the previous PG builds. The hands came in a single piece already. No more painful moments of putting finger joints together. Just cut them out of the runners and you’re good to go. The articulation and detail is already a step ahead of the previous builds. And the manual showed that the PG Strike frame is essentially the same frame used on other Morgenroete mobile suits, one of which was the Astray Gundam Red Frame (also they had the same hardpoints so if the Astray wanted to use the packs, it should be able to mount them, theoretically speaking). So it’s not surprise that they used the same PG Strike frame and slapped on Astray armor on top of it. And it’s designed by BEECRAFT. I’m happy with their work so I’m definitely looking forward to this kit.

I noticed a lot of people were complaining about the price. It’s a PG for crying out loud. Of course it’s supposed to be expensive. The PG Strike was expensive too. To think that its first release didn’t have the Aile Strike Pack which you had to buy separately so essentially that’s an added cost. The PG Astray is up for pre-order here in the Philippines from one of my local suppliers and it sells for around Php10,000. I’m not surprised. I was even expecting it to be 11 or 12K to be completely honest.

Either way, I’m definitely getting this kit. As to when I can cough up 10K, I’m not sure. I’m most likely just buying this off the shelf instead of preordering it.