I’ve built a number of female coded Gunpla before, but on a certain level today’s build might be the girliest of the bunch:
This is the ZAKU Warrior (Live Concert Version), from Gundam SEED Destiny, AKA “The Pink Zaku with stars and love hearts”.
I first saw this years ago on Premium Bandai, and thought it was the cutest thing ever. So did my kids, who got very excited at the prospect of a “Pink Zuka”. Unfortunately I missed the preorder window, much to our sadness.
It’s been reprinted at least once (maybe twice?) since then, but I was always too late. I’m not quite sure I’d say it was a white whale, but it’s definitely been on my radar.
About the Mobile Suit
This mobile suit comes from a show I haven’t watched yet - and probably never will watch - but I’ve absorbed enough general knowledge about Gundam SEED through cultural osmosis that it wasn’t too hard to research.
In Gundam SEED, there’s a character named Lacus Clyne, who is not only a diplomat, leader, and central character, but also a pop star.
During the events of Gundam SEED Destiny, one of the military factions recruits another woman to get cosmetic surgery and impersonate Lacus in order to use her to spread propoganda and the like:
During an episode of SEED Destiny, there is a scene in which Meer performs a concert for the troops, in which she uses a pink version of the Zaku Warrior (which as far as I know is just the SEED version of the Zaku II) as a stage prop:
And that’s really all there is to it. It’s a one and done little gag that was turned into a model kit (and thank goodness they did. How could they not?!?!?).
About the Model Kit
This model kit is based on the Master Grade version of Lunamaria Hawke’s custom ZAKU Warrior:
As far as I can tell, this is the only other version of the ZAKU Warrior in Master Grade form. Any other Warriors in 1⁄100 scale are part of the old No Grade SEED line. That was a bit disappointing to learn; I remember the days when grunt suits were still considered worthy of the MG treatment.
Looking at photos of the Lunamaria version, it appears to have a lot of cool weapons. I’m curious to see whether or not any of them come in the box for this pink one. It would be pretty awesome to have a girly pop mobile suit packing heat.