After the recent release of the excellent styrene rendition of the 1/20 GrosserHund, that will keep Ma.k modelers busy for some time, I am wondering what the next Maschinen Krieger kit from Hasegawa will be. This is of course only the realm of pure speculation for me as I don’t have any insight on the plans of Hasegawa, but nevertheless, considering the recent history and the designs in the genre, let’s see what the options are.
First of all, Hasegawa has never released a manned suit (the likes of SAFS or Melusine for example) and I don’t believe they will any time soon. This seems to be a segment already well covered by Wave and 3Q and there doesn’t appear to be a large enough market for multiple kits of the same suit. The same goes for the other designs that are currently in the portfolio of 3Q and Wave (Krote, Super Jerry, Gans, Hornisse and their variants). So I don’t think they’ll go for one of these designs.
Second, all previous releases from Hasegawa cover a subject that was never previously released in Styrene (at least in that scale) and that was very popular and with great versions produced by the Garage Kit industry. Think about the Falke, previously released in resin by Futch and Rainbow Egg, The Lunadiver and Nutrocker (Nutrcracker) available from D3Works and the latest GrosserHund again from Rainbow Egg. It is true that Hasegawa never did a simple copy of the resin version (think about the slightly different hull shapes of the Nutcracker or the size and shape differences of the GrosserHunds), but they probably took inspiration from those versions to better understand the design and details of the model and to get ideas on the engineering of the kit.
So what will be their next pick?
I believe it will be a design that has never before been released as Injection kit, one that has proven popular at Wonderfest in its previous resin incarnations, one that can fit in a reasonable size box and that is not priced at a point that will make it too expensive for most to purchase.
In my opinion some possible candidates that fall within the above criteria are
- the 1/20 Gladiator, (iconic Ma.k design, previously released by Bomvol Und Zionel and by another GK producer that I don’t remember the name of),
- the 1/20 SturmKafer (a resin kit of this great design was made by Love Love Garden),
- the 1/20 Dollhouse (there are a few of versions of this and the most recent release was done by the GK vendor Saikido)
I am afraid that the Konigs Krote and the other large walker: the Camel (two dreams of many Ma.k fans) may be out of the plans: they are both very large and considering the recent trend of both Hasegawa and Wave to revise the size of their models to be a bit larger than the previously released GK versions, these seem unlikely to sit within reasonable sized boxes and within an affordable price-range.
I would also leave out of the candidates the 1/35 F-Boot (GK from T.H.A.T) and the 1/35 Elefanten (there is a fantastic resin version of this currently available from Rainbow Egg), but for different reasons. The former one is not as popular a design as others (Gladiator for example) while for the latter Katoo San recently released a new variant and I believe that Hasegawa won’t step over him on this (but they may reach an agreement and who knows? 
)
Other designs are also possible, some less, some more popular than others. One of these is the Eggeater in 1/35 scale to counteract the Lunadiver, however I am not aware that any garage kit of the Eggeater in that scale was ever released.
These are obviously only speculations based on my personal views and I am just as curious as many Ma.k fans to see what Hasegawa will come up with for their next Ma.k Kit. Only time will tell.
Thanks for reading!
