The latest Gashapon news...

We have a number of new developments on the Gundam Gashapon stage. While we still don't know anything about the follow up to Senshi Forte the team has surprised me by releasing a seventh P-Bandai figure in the Senshi Forte line. And what exactly is this figure? Uh... let me go trawling on the GundamWiki for a bit...

 Ah, yes... there we have it. This is the Shodai Shou Gundam, together with its battle partner, a great tiger. Together they combine into the Harimao Special Mode. This is definitely a fresh face to the modern SD Gundam series of figures spread out over Gashapon NEXT, DASH and Senshi Forte, and it will be a cool addition to the crew. I just wonder when (if ever) they will start working on the Zeonic mobile suit characters... :)

Shodai Shou Gundam is scheduled for release in March 2020 and has a Premium Bandai price of ¥2970. You can pre-order it here.

Next up we have another P-Bandai special for the Gasha Portraits figure series. This series features various anime girls and has been running for about two years now. Ordinary these volumes include three different figures in soft plastic but this Gundam SEED Destiny special will feature only two figures. These will also be improved with hard ABS plastic to prevent them from deforming (something that happens quite easily with the regular Gasha Portraits figures).

The Bandai development lead says that while these two Hawke sisters figures are released to commemorate the 15th anniversary of SEED Destiny they are just as much a means to try and find new demand for figures of this type. And further on, if they perform well the team is not averse to releasing more figures "regardless of Anniversary or not", which I interpret as an anything goes as long as it sells-attitude. This has me very intrigued. I have long wished for more Gundam Gashapon figures of all the overlooked characters just begging to be released. No, we don't need yet another Lacus or Sayla, it is time for Jerid Messa and Mu La Flaga to shine now. :)

The Hawke Sisters special is also scheduled for March next year and sells through the Premium Bandai program only. The prices is listed as a whopping ¥6600 and I am going to assume that this is for a box of 8-10 figures or so, as the regular Gasha Portraits figures sell for ¥500 per piece. Pre-order is here.

Next up we have yet another EX figure for the Mobile Suit Ensemble range. It is getting really difficult to keep up with the many EX figures slated for the coming months but there is a grim reason for why Bandai keeps churning them out. The development lead speaks on the Gashapon blog about how the regular figures basically do not generate enough money and many series end up in the red, so it is up to the P-Bandai suckers to bring in the money. At the same time they encourage people to preorder early and faithfully in the hopes that the P-Bandai designs can come down in price as circulation increases.

Enough talking about finances, the Ensemble EX15 figure will be the LM314V23/24 V2 Assault-Buster Gundam with Wings of Light effect parts. Now, I really should know better here, but as I am yet to fully explore the Victory figures already released in the Ensemble line, are we not able to build the Assault-Buster from the figures already released (minus wing effects of course)?

Volume five LM314V21 Victory 2 Gundam as well as further parts options and volume six featured the LM314V24 Victory 2 Assault Gundam with even more parts in the equipment set. I had just assumed that we had enough parts in between them to construct both the LM314V23 Victory 2 Buster Gundam as well as the Assault-Buster but I really do not know since I haven't yet tried it. In any which way, the Assault-Buster will open for preordering this September but I do not yet know the price or planned release date.

The dev team also hints that an Ensemble EX16 is in the works: