The latest Gashapon news...

Alright, we have a couple of Gashapon news from the Komagata Information Bureau. The first SP set for Mobile Suit Gundam MicroWars is announced. The SP sets are Bandai recyclings of old figures repainted into something else. There are no shocking surprises here; real-type color versions of the RX-78, GM and Zaku II and then a mass-production type Z'Gok at the end. If you think these look familiar it is because the real-type color RX-78 and the Zaku II popped up as Converge CORE figures only a few weeks ago. The Z'Gok released in Converge #17 the other day and we have already seen the real-type color GM in Ensemble not that long ago. Still, it saves me the trouble of repainting a white RX-78 and a Z'Gok which I had saved up for later conversion...

The MicroWars SP set is also novel in that pilot figures are now boxed together with the mobile suits instead of being bundled with vehicles. I wonder if this heralds a future where the vehicle figures will be dropped from the line and the pilots will start going directly with their mobile suits. We shall see... MicroWars SP is scheduled for March 2020 and appears to be selling as regular singles at ¥500 per figure.

Not really new is Mobile Suit Ensemble volume 12, which was announced quite a while ago. However it was never mentioned on the Bandai Gashapon blog until now, so here is a nice clean image of the set. It is a fine set if a bit meh. In the greater scheme of things however, with upcoming EX figures of both the G-Self (with the Perfect Pack) and the FA 7th Gundam (Heavy Equipment set), I think the figure recycling is quite tedious. I foresee the Black Tri-Star figure becoming exceedingly rare compared to the others and it will be frustrating trying to collect three of them... Ensemble volume 12 is scheduled for release in January.

We also got a couple of teasers of upcoming Ensemble figures. The poster child for Ensemble volume 14 looks to be the XXXG-01W Wing Gundam which is another one of those "too big for a capsule but that won't stop us" figures much like the upcoming S-Gundam in volume 13. We shall see how that plays out. The identity of the other figure eludes me. The author hints at Gundam Maxter but with all those spikes going on I don't know exactly what it is, some kind of Death Army adaptation? It performing a special move? Hopefully someone with insight will drop by in the comments field. : )

The Gundam Collection is finally here...

The 1:400 scale Gundam Collection Gashapon series is one of the premier choices for those of us who enjoy large scale action and mobile suit squadrons. The series contains hundreds of different figures - all more or less in scale - making it one of the best choices for completist collectors, only really rivaled by series such as the SD Full Color figures or perhaps Gundam Converge. The latter two series are deformed designs however but the Gundam Collection very accurately depicts the mobile suits as they were intended.

I wanted to build a check list for this series for so long, but it also meant having to go through and re-arrange my entire collection. This project has been on a slow burn since July but now it has finally reached a state where the first version can be published. I have actually managed to misplace some of my rarest figures but they will have to be added to the list once I figure out where I stashed them. :)

You can find the check list in the tabs section or by following this link.