HGGundam Build Fighters Try

Lightning Back Weapon System Mk-II

An 800 yen backpack that turns any HG on your shelf into a walking arsenal.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Lightning Back Weapon System Mk-II · 1/144 · 2015

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2015

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I did not expect an accessory kit to be this much fun, but the Lightning Back Weapon System Mk-II earned its spot on my shelf.

It is not a mobile suit, it is a weapons rig built for the Lightning Gundam from Build Fighters Try, and once I understood that going in, I judged it for what it is instead of what it is not. As a cheap add-on with real engineering behind the swap points, it delivers a lot more than its size and price suggest. It just is not a kit you buy as your only kit.

Best for: HG collectors who like kitbashing and want a cheap, well engineered weapons rig to bolt onto an existing Gundam

The full review

What it is

This is a Build Custom line release, meaning Bandai designed it from the start to bolt onto other HG kits rather than stand alone. It ships in a small box for about 800 yen and gives you a backpack unit with a big cannon, an 8-tube missile pod pair that can swap out for beam cannons, and connector joints clearly borrowed from the GP01-FB Full Burnern look. I built mine straight onto a spare HG frame in under an hour, no cement needed, and the moment I clicked the missile pods onto the shoulder mounts I understood why this line has a following. It reads as a genuine upgrade module, not a toy afterthought.

The catch

It comes molded in color with stickers handling the finer markings, which is normal for an 800 yen accessory kit but means panel callouts are not painted or molded detail. Because it is a Build Custom part rather than a full figure, you need a donor HG kit (ideally the Lightning Gundam it was designed around) to actually pose it doing anything, so factor that extra purchase into the real cost. The connector pegs are tight on a first assembly, loosen slightly with repeated swaps, and a couple of the smaller missile fins are easy to lose track of on the runner because they are barely bigger than the nub itself.

Who it's for

If you already collect HG kits and like swapping backpacks and weapons between them, this is a cheap, well made way to add real firepower variety without buying another full figure. Builders who enjoy the Build Fighters aesthetic of mixing and matching parts across different suits will get a lot of mileage out of the attachment points here. Skip it if you want a kit that stands on its own out of the box, or if you have no HG in your collection built to the scale and shoulder width this system expects, since then it is just an expensive backpack with nothing to wear it.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

Gate placement is clean for a budget accessory kit, nubs sit on flat surfaces that are easy to clip and sand without leaving marks on the visible cannon housing. The snap-fit connectors take a firm push on first assembly, which had me double checking alignment before committing, but nothing cracked or stress-whitened on my build. Sticker application is the fiddliest part since the missile pod markings are small and curved.

The standout here is the swap system itself, missile pods to beam cannons in seconds without tools, and the shoulder mount lets the whole backpack angle up or down a few degrees rather than sitting locked at one pose. For the part count and price band this is a strong value pickup for anyone already invested in HG scale customizing, and it displays with real shelf presence once mounted on a suit rather than sitting flat in its own tray.

Lore & trivia

01The Lightning Back Weapon System first appeared as equipment for the LGZ-91 Lightning Gundam, Yuuma Kousaka's Gunpla in Gundam Build Fighters Try, itself built around the Re-GZ frame from Char's Counterattack.
02Bandai released this Mk-II version as HGBC #020 in February 2015, part of the Build Custom line meant to combine with a wide range of other HG kits rather than one specific suit.
03Its silhouette and shoulder-mounted weapon layout deliberately echo the GP01-FB Gundam Full Burnern backpack from Mobile Suit Gundam 0083.
04A follow-up, the Lightning Back Weapon System Mk-III, was later released as HGBC #028, continuing the same swap-and-combine design philosophy.