Gundam Rogue Orbit's chainsaw macuahuitl model kit is doing serious convincing work

Gundam Rogue Orbit — Bandai Namco's mobile suit action game — has had a skeptic in its corner since the June announcement, mostly because the game leans on giant monster fights rather than the psychic child soldier drama that defines classic Gundam. But the 2026 All Japan Model & Hobby Show just revealed something hard to argue with: the HG 1/144 Bau Bahlam, a model kit based on a mobile suit appearing in the game, and it is genuinely impressive.

The Bau Bahlam was briefly visible in Rogue Orbit's September release date trailer, but the model kit renders are the first proper look at the design. It's a mono-eye suit — a lineage that includes some of the most beloved mobile suits in the franchise — and it carries a chainsaw macuahuitl, a giant robot-scale take on the Mesoamerican obsidian-edged weapon with one side replaced by a running chainsaw. The kit even includes a mock pull-cord so you can pose it mid-rev. Spiked knuckle plates round out the loadout, because apparently a giant robot's fist needs extra encouragement. The September trailer also showed mecha customization, which suggests players may be able to equip the Bau Bahlam's parts — including, hopefully, that macuahuitl — on their own suits.

Gundam as a franchise has always split between its Universal Century roots — war, trauma, Newtypes, political allegory — and spinoffs that push the formula in wilder directions. Rogue Orbit sits firmly in the latter camp, and purists have reason to raise an eyebrow. But strong mecha design has always been one of the series' core selling points regardless of the story surrounding it, and the Bau Bahlam lands squarely in that tradition. The Gouf comparison is apt: a close-quarters mono-eye suit with an unusual melee weapon is a very specific kind of Gundam cool.

Gundam Rogue Orbit launches on Steam on March 4, 2027. The HG 1/144 Bau Bahlam kit doesn't have a firm release date yet but is expected sometime in 2027.