Saya sempat ragu dengan game Gundam yang akan datang dari Bandai Namco—tapi kemudian saya melihat chainsaw macuahuitl dari kit model ini

Doctors have confirmed it: It's physically impossible for me to turn my nose up at a mecha action game. But despite this dire prognosis, I've been suspicious of Gundam Rogue Orbit—Bandai Namco's mobile suit action game coming in spring—since it was announced back in June.

The problem is the giant monsters. I'm a Gundam traditionalist. Gundam, to me, isn't about fighting aliens—it's about traumatized child war pilots becoming so psychic that their brains explode. But this week, Bandai found a way to coax me off my high horse: With an extremely sick model kit.

My time at PC Gamer has coincided with my steady descent into Gundam model kit obsession: I'm currently at the stage of manually re-scribing mold lines, so the outlook is grim. As a result, I was particularly prone to react when yesterday, as part of its reveal lineup for the 2026 All Japan Model & Hobby Show, Bandai announced the HG 1/144 Bau Bahlam—a model kit incarnation of a mobile suit we'll see in Rogue Orbit. Look at this thing:

The Bau Bahlam was briefly visible in Rogue Orbit's release date trailer back in September, but these model kit renders are the first time I've properly taken in the design. Here's what jumps out at me:

• It's a mono-eye suit: It's factually proven that Gundam's best guys pilot mono-eye mecha, and the Bau Bahlam feels a lot like a spiritual successor to the Gouf—the classic close-quarters mobile suit first seen piloted by Ramba Ral, also known as the realest moustachioed man in the Universal Century.
• It has a CHAINSAW MACUAHUITL: If you're not familiar, the macuahuitl is a very cool, sword-like Mesoamerican weapon, consisting of a wooden body with obsidian blades embedded along its sides. The Bau Bahlam iterates on that design by swapping out one side of its giant robot-scale macuahuitl with a chainsaw, and the model kit includes a mock pull-cord so it can be posed like its revving the weapon's motor.
• And, for good measure, it's got spiked knuckle plates, because apparently being punched by a giant robot doesn't hurt badly enough on its own.

It's impressively menacing, and—if the mecha customization shown in the release date trailer is any indication—we'll probably be able to use its various bits on our own robot. Hopefully that includes the macuahuitl. It'd be cruel not to.

I still reserve the right to be obnoxious about Rogue Orbit's departure from the traditional Gundam conceptual palette once it actually launches, but rolling out impressive mecha designs like these is an effective way of softening me up in the meantime. Surely, a game willing to give its robots giant Mesoamerican chainswords has to have its heart in the right place.

Gundam Rogue Orbit launches on Steam on March 4, 2027. The HG 1/144 Bau Bahlam kit doesn't have a release date, but it's expected to be available sometime in 2027.