Bandai Gashapon HG Mobile Suit Selection 11

Turn-A Gundam is not only a difficult title for a Gundam but also the name of a one-off television series that aired in Japan between 1999-2000. It produced a fairly limited range of kits and figures before disappearing back into obscurity. On the Gashapon scene, Bandai supported it in 1999 with a SD figure set containing six different mobile suits as well as this HG Mobile Suit Selection set. Interestingly, both of these sets were released as Turn-A themed figures only, and both were released as volume 11 in the respective series.


This is probably one of the weirdest HG Selection sets you will ever open and it has a lot of bizarre components in it. The PVC plastic is of a softer and rubbery variety and you may come across pegs that prefer to flatten and expand sideways rather than inserting as expected. Just take things slow and methodical to avoid damaging components.



FLAT-L06D FLAT


Alright, let's begin. You know you are in for a weird experience when you start by assembling the FLAT. This figure actually looks better in disassembled form because the pose here is incredibly awkward. What is even going on here? One arm is stretched forward and the whole body is listing to one side and leaning forward in a rather unbalanced fashion. I think this is the first time I have seen a Gundam figure with a more interesting paintjob on the back than on the front too. If you are a fan of the show you can purchase a second figure and paint it red to join in with the Inglessa Militia.






WD-M01 System-A99 Turn A Gundam


Easily the best known design from Turn, the "moustached" Turn-A Gundam figure is also the most conventional looking of this lot. It even has a paintjob vaguely reminiscent of the average white Gundam you see across most franchises. Not a bad figure I think even if the colour scheme is a bit bland and that doesn't do it any favours as a figure.






JMA-0530 Wadom


I'm not sure which design is the weirdest to come out of Turn but the Walking Dome is a strong contender. This beast stands 40 meters tall, more than twice the height of the average mobile suit. While the lower part of the figure leaves a bit to be desired I am really enjoying the head and the look of its menacing monoeye. In fact, the head can probably be kitbashed onto a completely different body where it would look truly dangerous. As it stands now, the pose of the figure is really hapless but I am still glad it was included in the set.






Socie Heim


Bandai have shaken things up with this set and earmarked the last three slots for miniatures of some of the main characters of the show. While it is not a bad idea I would prefer it that the series stayed true to its roots as a mobile suit figure collection. I guess if you are a real Turn-A fan however these might be really appreciated. First up i Socie Heim in a pose very similar to the official character artwork down to the silly pose and all. Without having seen a single frame of animation I can immediately guess the character of this person. Notice the large circular bases used for all three characters, one of many unique designs used for figures across the years.






Loran Cehack


Next up is Loran/Rolan, our Turn-A Gundam pilot. One amusing controversy surrounding this character is if his name is actually Loran or Rolan. The Gundam Wiki has some lines about this in the trivia section and seems to have concluded that the proper spelling is Loran, however you will still come across "Rolan" in a lot of Japanese sources, such as this booklet for example. :)






Kihel Heim


The last person is Kihel Heim who appears to be some kind of Lacus Clyne-type character. Notice the cylindrical peg on the edge of the base plate. I guess the idea is that it is to provide additional support for the figure by letting the dress lean on to it but the two did not connect at least on my figure.


I must say while I have never felt any specific desire to seek out this television series due to its quirky style there are nice artwork pieces like below that do intrigue me. Perhaps I'll get around to watching it one day.






Conclusion

There is not a whole lot to say about this set; if you like Turn-A Gundam you will be happy to find a cool little set of figures neatly contained here 8except the Turn-X Gundam which is also available in the larger boxed Mecha Selection figure series. Conversely, if you could care less about Turn-A you can easily step past HGMS volume 11 and you will be all good. As for me personally I think they could have at least produced a second set to flesh out the line a bit; I wouldn't mind seeing the cool little Armadillo/Walking Dumpling micro-suit and why not the Silver Sumo and Gold Sumo for example?

B-Club Prepainted Polystone Collection - Emma Sheen 1/7

I've featured the Popy B-Club Polystone Collection on the blog a couple of times before; these are basically figures made from a mixture of plastic resin with a filler material that creates a stonelike feel. The first reaction I usually have to these would be similar to artifacts made out of ceramic or porcelain - "shit, don't break it!". I'd lie if I say I was a fan of the material but there are many rare Gundam character figures out there who haven't showed up in more durable materials like PVC so what are you to do? This figure is an excellent example; when was the last time you saw Emma Sheen in her Titans uniform? That's right - never! It is almost always that boring green and white outfit she wore onboard the Argama (and Bandai seems content with upping her chest size for each new release as the main improvement).


The figures in the Polystone series come in boxes with no clear window section for you to peek inside, but you will at least get a very clear illustration of what you should expect to find in there. Looking at the box it appears the figure had an original MSRP of 12800 yen which is quite pricy for a figure 20 years ago. Nowadays the price seems less impressive with MegaHouse pushing the upper limits for what a mass-produced Gundam character figure can cost all the time, we are somewhere in the 40000-range already). I picked this figure up second hand for ¥5000 back in 2021 which I thought was quite a lot back then, today I would consider it a steal. I am convinced the secondary market prices will have risen significantly since then too. As always though, the main problem is to actually find one for sale. There are many rare characters released in Polystone that I have only ever seen for sale once in a blue moon every ten years or so. There is no point trying to actively collect these but just count your blessings if you get the opportunity to pick one up at all.


The packaging is typical for the Polystone Collection figures I have seen. The product is packaged neatly in a styrofoam insert with a separate pocket for the base. An additional protective layer on the form of a bag helps to further avoid paint chipping damage. There are no loose parts or accessories.


Here we see the figure out and about. One foot has a long and sturdy peg that goes into a drilled hole in the base. The fit is quite loose and you can easily rotate the figure on the base and so special care must be taken when handling it, hold on to both base and figure or separate them when moving it around. The character designs of Zeta are overall exceedingly slim and the figure matches the show's art direction well, actually my first thought was "Oh Emma, why are your feet so big?". I guess there are reasons many uniforms don't have brightly coloured boots but what is a girl to do? I love all of the Titans uniform types but maybe the boots should have been dark with a red accent instead but Zeta is a child of the 1980s after all.


The shoulder patch isn't entirely straight on but it looks really good overall, lots of bright colouring and the uniform itself has some nice shading effects and creases too.


Alright, now to address the elephant in the room. This figure is not a portrait of Emma Sheen but creepy vampire with a strange nose trying to hypnotize you. The proportions of the face aren't even close to what is displayed on the box cover where the face is rounder and at least a little bit looking like the character is supposed to. This lady is a generic member of Paptimus Scirocco's entourage that he charmed away while visiting some Titans military base a year ago or so presumably. As a generic Titans office it looks great, but if you want an Emma Sheen figure this is unfortunately not your thing.


I'll close out with a comparison of two other related figures from the smaller PVC-ranges. First we have Sarah Zabiarov, also a member of Paptimus' fail-army dressed in a common Titans uniform (released around the same time in December 2005 as part of the Bandai EF Collection Zeta Gundam Heroines Vol. 2) and Emma in her best likeness in my opinion, in an A.E.U.G. flightsuit (released in April 2006 in the EF Emotive Figure Collection Z series).

I was hoping to do a headswap on a Zabiarov figure but the scales of the two are not close enough. I might have the A.E.U.G. flightsuit repainted into Titans colours though, that should prove fairly successful compromise I think. There are a maybe half-a-dozen or so other figures of Emma in her classic civilian green and white outfit but none of them stand out as superb likenesses in my opinion. I'm still waiting for someone out there to do the Titans crew justice in figure form, MegaHouse stop fawning over GQuuuuuuX already and do a sweet Zeta Gundam 40th Anniversary set instead...

Bandai Namco Mobile Suit Gundam Arsenal Base GQuuuuuuX Release Commemoration Card

It is late September and the next Gundam Card Game starter pack "Iron Bloom" is scheduled for release here in Europe on Friday. I probably won't be able to jump in on it at this time and so I am amusing myself by opening up an old Arsenal Base promo card-package I have had lying around here instead. If you are not familiar, Arsenal Base is a Gundam-themed Arcade Game powered up by collectible unit and pilot cards, similar to older games like Tryage before it. Cards are typically obtained through playing the game on the machine itself although from time to time Bandai release smaller "booster packs" and absolute tonnes of promotional cards tied to various events. This particular promo-item was released on January 17 to commemorate the premiere of GQuuuuuuX and was handed out in cinemas in Japan at the time.


The card comes in a typical Arsenal Base promo-pack and is packaged together with one of the nicer illustrations that have been used to push the GQuuuuuuX-series. The set consists of only two cards, you can either get PR-288 which is the GQuuuuuuX or PR-289 which is the Red Gundam (0085). Inside this package I found PR-288 and a separate paper that talks wonders of the Arsenal Base game and also has an illustration of the arcade machine on it (to learn more about the game, hit up the official Japanese site). You can see the various stats and performance of the card itself on its backside, I won't be going into detail about its relevance in the game. At the moment I don't have the Red Gundam-card but once I find a copy I will go back to this review and update it accordingly. Unlike the muted style of the Gundam Card Game foil cards, Arsenal Base cards often have very flashy and shiny foil effects and these cards are no exceptions.


I'll close out this mini-review with a closer look of the spectacular poster-style illustration that accompanies the card, the tone and style of it is really something extra in my opinion. :)

Bandai Namco Mobile Suit Gundam Capsule Index 01

The super deformed Gundam Gashapon figure has been an institution for some 30 years but the situation is pretty bleak in 2025. With the quiet fold of Gashapon Senshi Forte in December 2022 (with a set that took me one and a half year to even get my hands on, review pending....) we have been left with Mobile Suit Ensemble to fly the flag and its output has taken a bit of a nosedive in recent years as well. However, all is not lost. Bandai have been busy throwing out new figure series in 2025 and Capsule Index is the perhaps best bet going forward. Released in July 2025 this set of four figures appeared pretty much side by side next to another fresh offering - Superior Define - an unpainted model-kit take on the SD format which mostly looks like a dumbed down version of the Gundam Artifact line. At the side we also have Mobile Suit Gundam bitlot, a series of articulated mascots sporting both mobile suits and characters.


Here is a look at the two sides of the booklet when folded out correctly. Since these are Gashapon machine figures there is no external packaging available which is a bit boring, it would have been nice to see packaging similar to what was used for Senshi Forte or even Gundam Converge but hey, at least I don't have to store more empty boxes in a cupboard so there is that...


Box packaging or not, the figures do come in compartmentalized plastic bags which are very similar to the method used for the Gundam Converge figures. My immediate reaction at this stage was that oh, it seems we have to deal wit a lot of soft and bendy plastic components and there are also no supporting cardboard pieces inside the bags as is normally the case with the Converge figures (not that they do a terribly good job a lot of the time but at least they tried...).


Here you can see packaging with barcode which I believe is the online order packaging solution if you go through the Premium Bandai preorder channel. We've seen this rather barcode-focused packaging used for many different figures, Mobile Suit Ensemble, Bandai Gasha Portraits and Bandai Aqua Shooters spring to mind immediately. The colour-coding is a nice touch that I haven't seen before.



CPID : 001 - ZGMF/A-262B Strike Freedom Gundam Type II


Let's kick things of with figure number one, and immediately we see what Capsule Index is all about. We have here the Mighty Freedom in a static pose made out of bendy PVC plastic but pretty good paint applications all around. The figure comes in a flying pose and so a little circular transparent stand is provided which has a stick with a shaped peg inserted into the mobile suit's groin area and a simple ball joint attaching to the base which will give you the option to lean the figure a bit in different directions. I don't know if I think fancy suit designs with thin wings and swords to be the right fit for a PVC figure series, this material seems better fit for bulky suits like the Zaku, Dom or Qubeley. You'll have to bring out your hairdryer or hot water bath to straighten this bird out.


Parts-wise there isn't a whole lot going on here. Assembly is minimal and the various components all have distinctly shaped pegs that only match one place and can only be inserted one way so you will have to start abusing the parts if you wish to come up with custom poses. So far there are also no option parts available for Capsule Index and in my opinion it is best if it stays that way, let this be a simple series of expressive poses and that's that. By the way, I don't know what it is about that sculpt but the golden fins look like fingers so much that it becomes a bit distracting to my eye.


Here we have side-by-side comparison of the Mighty Freedom next to its larger cousins from Gundam Converge #25 (combination of figures 291+292) and Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 28 (combination of figures 185+186).






CPID : 002 - NOG-M2D1/E Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A


The clumsily named Cal-re.A is another fancy design ready to go toe-to-toe with the Freedom in the looks department. It has lovely gold-accented armour and jewel-like purple and turquoise detail sprinkled into its overall off-white armour. When the hocus-pocus Levitators activate to provide lift the suit is lit up by a red angelic-wing effect that immediately draws the eye. While our SD figure retains a fair bit of painted detail especially on the head and shoulders the rest of the body is of course a bit toned down. If anything the mobile suit designers should know better when they bring their ideas to life - be a bit mindful of the restrictions of a factory assembly line too would you?


Save for the much larger Mobility Joint Gundam figure (which I still haven't assembled or reviewed, oops...) this is the second instance of the Cal-re.A in Gashapon form and it is looking pretty great. I am tempted to hand it over to a commissioned painter to touch it up even further. The stand could have benefitted from a few more millimetres of height as the figure is almost dragging its blades along the ground unless you tilt it backwards. She is about to be released in Ensemble Part 29 this September but I haven't yet seen any announcement for Converge.






CPID : 003 - ZGMF-MM07 Z'Gok (SEED Freedom ver.)


And now for something completely different, a compact and stubby suit without fancy wings and elongated blades to swing around, how does this fare in Gashapon form? Well, predictably, much better. We have a bit of a bend on the horn of the Justice that is peeking out at the top there but otherwise she's in great shape. Beautiful paintjob on the arms there even though I do detect the odd smudge or stain here and there it overall looks really crisp and clean. I notice that black colour has been applied all around the head, something Gashapon figures often skip on Z'Gok figurines but not here. The pose is very dynamic, perhaps a little bit too dynamic for my taste, it looks more like part of a dance routine than a concerted effort to strike someone.


This being the only grounded mobile suit of the bunch it has a base with two pegs that insert into the figure's feet. On a sturdy Z'Gok this is not a problem although the slight warp of the legs means it doesn't sit perfectly on the base without treatment. Not a big deal and the figure will stand unaided perfectly fine as well - something that may well be preferable as its wide stance has the feet reaching outside of the edges of the base anyway. I am still pleased that Bandai decided to keep the footprint of the figures conveniently small, I can't stand oversized round bases on larger prize figures.


When Capsule Index was first announced it seemed to me that the figures may well be compatible with the previous generation of SD figures; that is Gashapon NEXT, DASH and Senshi Forte. However, as you can see here the Capsule Index figure towers over the Senshi Forte (Universal Century-type) Z'Gok while in turn being dwarfed by the Converge representation which also comes loaded with a M2X32E Volantes flight pack.






CPID : 004 - gMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX (Omega Psycommu Activated)


The funkily named GQuuuuuuX - a name that so often confuses online translation tools that tend to rename it into Sieg Axe (which is a fantastic moniker btw) - has been relegated to the jumbo slot of this set which surprised me a little; you'd think it would be plastered all over the promotional material as SEED freedom is already yesterday's news. And while the figure may not be as flashy as its winged colleagues it sure does its own thing. I'm trying to figure out exactly what is going on here; are we flying or running, attacking or parrying? This pose is absolutely wild and unlike anything I have ever seen before.


I'm not sure why but the GQuuuuuuX figure comes across as much smaller than its SEED Freedom companions. It may be related to the drastic pose where it is leaning forward heavily and the left arm nearly disappears from view completely but it definitely feels one size smaller. It doesn't matter though as long as future Capsule Index figures stay in their respective series' scale.


The style of the Gundam Converge figure that released around the same time in June is night and day different from the CI-design. Where the SD figure is given space to shine in a really dynamic slash the bigger figure looks stocky and stiff in comparison. The colours are more vibrant on the GC figure and of it also has a bit more detail but overall both figures are painted very well.






The future?

All in all a decent showing for the first instance of Capsule Index. Bandai has already teased the second volume which will feature another two suits from SEED Freedom plus the Aerial from Witch and the Red Gundam from GQuuuuuuuX. I wouldn't mind it if this series continued to focus on new franchises such as these, allowing itself to dig deeper into each IP. We really don't need anymore incarnations of Universal Century evergreens, let this Gacha series do its own thing for as long as it lasts (which, presumably, won't be that long...).