RGMobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray (Cosmic Era), also featured in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

Shiranui Pack

A P-Bandai add-on that turns the RG Akatsuki from gold showpiece into a fully armed battleship of a Gundam.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Shiranui Pack · 1/144 · 2024

GradeRG

Scale1/144

Released2024

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I'll say this up front: the Shiranui Pack is not a Gundam, it is a weapon system, and once I accepted that framing I had a genuinely good time with it.

This is a backpack expansion for the RG Akatsuki Gundam that adds twin beam turrets, a deployable space equipment frame, and hookup parts for the HG Zeus Silhouette, and every one of those pieces is engineered with the same small-scale trickery RG is known for. It rewards people who already own the base kit and want to push it further, and it has almost nothing to offer anyone who doesn't.

Best for: RG Akatsuki Gundam owners who want the full Shiranui loadout and are willing to hunt down a P-Bandai exclusive

The full review

What it is

The Shiranui Pack is an accessory expansion, not a standalone mobile suit kit. It clips onto the back of the RG 1/144 Akatsuki Gundam and adds the Shiranui space equipment: a pair of beam turrets that swing from a rear-mounted travel position into forward-firing cannons, an extendable frame that lets the whole assembly deploy outward for a wide, battleship-like display pose, and connector parts that let the Akatsuki mount the Zeus Silhouette from the HG Destiny Gundam Spec II kit. Handling it feels like getting a transformation gimmick usually reserved for MG scale packed into RG-sized parts, and the turret-swing action alone made me grin the first time I ratcheted it into cannon mode.

The catch

This is a P-Bandai Hobby Online Shop exclusive, so it isn't sitting on a regular retail shelf and you're paying exclusive-tier pricing (around $29-30 USD) for what amounts to a backpack and two guns. It does absolutely nothing without the separately sold RG Akatsuki Gundam underneath it, and the Zeus Silhouette hookup requires yet another kit, the HG Destiny Gundam Spec II, so the full combined display is a three-box purchase. The small connector joints on the deploy frame are the kind of tiny RG hardware that's easy to stress or lose track of if you're not careful during assembly.

Who it's for

If you already have the RG Akatsuki Gundam built and love it, this is close to a must-have, it's the piece that makes the kit look and feel like the character's iconic space-combat loadout instead of a stock gold Gundam. If you're chasing the full Zeus Silhouette combination for display, budget for the HG kit too. Skip it if you don't own the base Akatsuki, you don't care about the Gundam SEED Destiny Astray side-material designs, or you're not willing to track down a P-Bandai exclusive. This one lives and dies on how much you already love the suit it's built for.

What works

Beam turret swing mechanism goes from rear travel mode to forward cannon mode with a satisfying, sturdy motion
Deployable frame gives the Akatsuki a genuinely different, wide-stance display pose instead of just bolting on static armor
Includes real cross-kit connector hardware for the HG Zeus Silhouette, which is a nice bit of Bandai actually supporting a combo most fans only imagined

Worth knowing

Requires the separately purchased RG Akatsuki Gundam to function at all, this is not a standalone build
P-Bandai exclusive pricing and availability for what is ultimately a backpack and two turrets
Full combined Zeus Silhouette display means buying and building a third kit on top of this one

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The build story

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

Runner cleanup follows standard RG practice, small gates on small parts, so a sharp side cutter and some patience around the turret housings and the deploy-frame joints pays off. Nothing here fights you the way a full RG inner frame can, since there's no leg or torso engineering to wrestle with, but the hinge points on the extending frame are tight enough that I test-fit before committing to final assembly.

The turret-rotation gimmick is the standout piece of engineering, a compact ratcheting joint that holds position in both the folded travel pose and the deployed firing pose without feeling loose. Color separation on the turrets and frame is handled well in molded plastic rather than stickers for the main panels, and the Zeus Silhouette connector parts are a genuinely clever bit of forward compatibility that most accessory packs don't bother including.

Lore & trivia

01The Akatsuki Gundam and its Shiranui and Oowashi equipment packs originate from the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray B manga, where they were built as a mobile testbed platform rather than a standard military mass-production unit.
02The Shiranui Pack is specifically the space-combat loadout, with beam turrets and a deployable frame, distinct from the Oowashi Pack's atmospheric flight configuration for the same suit.
03The Akatsuki Gundam and its equipment packs got a high-profile return to screens in the 2024 theatrical film Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, which is what drove Bandai to bring the RG line, including this pack, back into production.
04The kit's connector parts for the HG Zeus Silhouette let builders recreate a suit combination from the Destiny Gundam Spec II lineage that previously had no official kit-to-kit hookup hardware.