The (not so very) latest MS Ensemble news...

This will likely not be news to most of our readers since these announcements have been out in the Twittersphere for quite a while by now. The Bandai Gashapon blog has been a pretty good source of news but lately it has been running pretty dry. In fact the whole post reads like a list of excuses but I am not really one to talk since have been just as slow on my end... Let's just get into the figures instead.

Ensemble EX 19: GT-9600-D Gundam Leopard Destroy and GW-9800-B Gundam Airmaster Burst

First up we have Ensemble EX 19 which brings two rarely seen mobile suits into figure form. They both hail from the After War Gundam X series and will be a great complement to the Gundam X, DX, Virsago and Ashtaron released thus far. Both suits have some gear option gimmicks and the Airmaster Burst can actually transform into fighter mode which begs the question do I have to buy two boxes now...

Ensemble EX 18: GX-9901-DX Gundam Double X and GS-9900 G-Falcon

The second release is a decidedly more "meh" as far as I am concerned. Because making a return as EX 18 we have the Gundam DX and G-Falcon pair originally released as EX 07 in dreaded "Marking Plus" form. Seriously... I haven't even got around to assembling the original figures so forgive me for not boarding the hype train.

In fairness the new figure has a couple of upgrades and will also allow the G-Falcon to integrate with both the Leopard Destroy and the Airmaster Burst which is nice but it would have been even cooler if I could buy a couple extra G-Falcons on the side.

The new pair of EX releases have been priced to reach ¥9500 if you purchase both of them as if that was supposed to be some kind of deal. I dunno, Ensemble seems to be losing its way. If you have to resort to inflating sales volumes by pointless upgrades to existing figures you have a problem. Customers only have that much money to spend. Perhaps it would be better to axe some of the parallel running Gashapon and Shokugan series that are effectively competing with each other. I mean, the new Senshi Forte figures are practically miniature Ensemble figures now. Together with the MicroWars and Gframe series we now have four budget model kit-lines masquerading as collectibles. I think these days only Gundam Converge can claim to be actual prepainted figure line. Oh, how I miss the 1:220 STANDart line...