Here is something different, a custom item I stumbled across in a used-toy shop during a recent visit to Bangkok. There aren't a whole lot of official accessories for Bandai's Shokugan figures - come to think of it the only thing I can recollect is that 9-figure display box they released for the Converge 10th Anniversary. The Bandai designers did come up with stackable display stands for the reinvented Gashapon Senshi Forte line which was neat, and it looks like this item has been inspired by it. I have no idea how old it is however, it is possible that it even supersedes the Senshi Forte stand. It is however an unofficial piece of kit, a part of the current 3D-printed revolution if you will.
Whoever designed this stand was nice enough to also box it with a two-sided full-color instruction sheet. It gives off a rather nice semi-professional vibe unlike some 3D-printed figures that just come in a crusty plastic bag. The box itself is all blank except for the label placed on the front side.
I thought the printing quality of this hangar was a bit rough and there were lots of hair-thin strands to clean up and the overall texture is a bit rough. Besides the main bay we have an optional raised stand, pegs and hangers for gear as well as extra clips used to combine multiple bases together, a feature similar to Senshi Forte although that series used pegs instead.
The instructions will give you a clear idea of the features of this kit and how they are intended to work. Since I only have one stand I cannot show several bays joined together but if the rest of the features of this kit is anything to go by it should work well but might require a bit of clean-up or sanding down of some parts.
Rather than just being a 3D-object to display next to your figures the designer has given some thought of how to integrate the stand with the figure bases, to lock them in place. I guess he is also tired of figures falling off the shelf every now and then. Here you can see how the new Converge bases are intended to be slid into place and held securely. Unfortunately most Converge figures have a tendency to fall off their bases anyway but if you really wanted to I guess you might glue them on. Personally I don't care about the base plates and thankfully they are not needed to display the figures here. Out of the box the Converge base was not going to slide into this locking mechanism without brute force and or sanding down of the bay parts. I guess eventually you will get it to work but for me personally I don't want to have the Converge stand as part of the display anyway.
I picked a random Converge figure and placed it on the stand without its base. The scale seems a bit off, it will "improve" if the figure stands on its base or as in this case on the extra podium used by the Ensemble figures (and some presidents I can think of...). You'd want to put a tall Converge figure in there for best effect.
Next up we come to Ensemble. Here you can again see the ingenuity of the design. You are supposed to take your average Ensemble figure clear stand and stick it into one of the given combinations of peg holes. Again, this did not work straight away and you would have to widen the chosen peg holes somewhat. After that you use the extra stand and thread it over the clear base to lock it into place. This will create a very stable foundation for the figure to attach to, but I personally will never use these stands on Ensemble figures due to the risk of the connecting peg breaking and remaining in the figure's groin. Still, you get the idea and if you do use these bases it should work well.
View of how the adapter system will work for Ensemble. Notice that I haven't pressed the clear part all the way into the peg holes and so the flat gray base on top of it is not pushed all the way down either. I won't be using this set-up and so didn't want to mess with it unnecessarily, but you get the idea.
The Mini Hangar display seems better scaled for your average Ensemble figure rather than Converge. This display looks perfect and I think it would be a good way to display some of your choice figures on a line. The main problem would be deciding which figures that should get the honours. Luckily I do not display the figures at all so that is a brain burner I don't have to deal with.
Two types of gear hangers are provided, that snap onto the sides of the hangar bay. We have pegs intended for accessories such as Ensemble rifles with holes drilled into them and L-shaped rests on top of which you can place other items without peg holes. I didn't bother with trying these out as I can imagine the pegs will again require some extra work to fit the weapons properly. These hangers also seem to interfere with the combining bays together feature, perhaps you can turn them around to let the gear hang on the inside instead.
The last part of this review will be just showcasing the stand with some figures of other similar sizes, to give you an idea if the base might be something of interest for them. First up we have a Converge Plus figure. These have larger bases which do not fit inside the bay, so you will be a bit restricted here since some of the figures require the bases to display properly. You may find some figures better suited to display like this than the average Converge figure, since they will fill out the bay area to a greater extent.
Next up we have a Mobility Joint Gundam figure. These are larger and bulkier than the Ensemble figures, some of them like this Geara Doga fit well but others like the tall ReZEL will struggle. Still, it might be a viable option, especially if you are putting together a mini-diorama.
The hangar is perfect size for the old Micro Wars figure line. You will have some issues with displaying the figures in the opened up position however, the GM here is hitting the ceiling if opening up completely but I still think these two are a great match.
Next we have a 1/300 scale Strategy of Gundam RX-78. The hangar bay looks a little oversized, especially since the S.O.G. figures have a lot of small detail on them, which makes the bay look a bit rough in comparison. Not the best fit I think, but it could work.
We're scaling up to about 1/285 size and the Gashapon HG line, this is also a good size-match for the bay. Many of the HG figures have action poses however which can make them less suitable but if you pick the correct figures you could get a nice display thing going.
So what 1/220 figures? Now we are nearing the ceiling limit of the hangar bay and you will find some of the taller figures out of bounds but this FW STANDart 00 Qan[T] fits really nicely. The STANDart line is the best fit since pretty much all of them are standing to attention with weapon at the side, the hangar bay could work really well here.
The last figure I wanted to test out is a Bandai Ultimate Luminous G-3 and here the base is too small. Forget about larger figures like the 1/200 HCM Pro, Mobile Suit in Action or 1/144 scale model kits.
All in all I think this item is a neat concept and while a bit rough to handle could definitely be of use as a diorama accessory, perhaps more so than building a giant figure display wall. So where can you find it? Well, as far as I know it is currently only offered through the Shopee online store, a clone of sites such as Aliexpress or Wish that is popular in Thailand. I cannot even open the website here in Europe so I have no idea if you can go around its limitations via VPN and ask the seller to ship abroad. It is probably doable if you are interested in jumping through some hoops. The asking price is currently 169 Thai Bath which is approximately 4.5 USD/EUR. [Link]
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