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...).

Vinyl Chloride Spirits Full Color SD Gundam The Pop3

A couple of weeks back we looked at a pair of self-distributed publications covering the history of Bandai's various Gashapon SD figurines, or rather, some of the brands in this long running series. The first book went through the original SD Full Color series while the second volume focused on other issues and mainly the overseas editions from Bandai USA. Still, neither edition covered some of the other major series, the most glaringly obvious example being the SD Gundam Full Color Custom successor series. I don't know what caused the author to skip over this series but I do recall reading how the book series expanded wildly beyond his plans and so it probably became an impossibility on the current budget. I suppose there is the possibility that he might actually not have access to all the FCC figures but that seems highly unlikely.


Whatever the reason might be, we have a third volume in this series with a completely different title, format (landscape instead of portrait) and concept. "The POP3" is a much smaller tome clocking in at 60 pages, where the original two books were 156 and 74 pages respectively. And where the previous books went into covering each figure with detailed photographs this book is a simple collection of Gashapon mounts; those stiff cardboard sheets that go into the front slot of the Gashapon vending machine.


If you are unsure what the purpose of this book might be a quick glance on the first page will tell you everything about it immediately. Here we see images that grazed vending machines in October 1997 and February 1998 and the first two SD Full Color Stages went and became part of Gashapon history. The price of ¥100 for a figure permeates through all the sets you will see in this book - the two exceptions being the two larger SD Full Color DX sets - it wasn't until Gashapon Warrior NEXT came around that ¥200 became the new norm. Prices continued to climbed with Gashapon Warrior DASH upping to ¥300 which was then true for most of the Gashapon Senshi Forte period until the last two volumes that spiralled to ¥400 and ¥500 before the saga was concluded.


There isn't a whole lot to say about the contents of this book really, each image speaks for itself. It is barely even useful as a figure identification tool, since the images are quite tiny but acts more like a collection of memorabilia to feed the nostalgia of us older collectors. Seen above are Stages 8-10 of the Full Color Series, with volume 10 being the first of two "revival" sets that reprinted older figures (the other such set being Stage 17).


As the Full Color series soldiered on, the mounted artwork became more pronounced and eye-catching. The early sets feature photographs of figures in action but these were later replaced with fancy expressive artwork with images of the figures itself almost added as an afterthought. Here we see some wild Mobile Fighter G Gundam battles taking place on the artwork for Stages 32 and 33 and the special 200th figure release in Stage 34.


More cool artwork on display here for Stages 47 through 49 and Stage 51, which was a Zaku Special release. What happened to Stage 50 you might wonder, well flip the page and scroll down a bit...


As you can see there are two different styles for the artwork made for Stage 50, which was a special jubilee edition which also included little coin-like bases for the figures. I don't know why the two different styles exist or if they existed side-by-side or one after the other. Notice also the promotional images of other special releases, the infamous Colony-can filled with Zakus (that I have never seen) and the clear-colour version of the Falmel Musai-class spacecraft playset.


The original Full Color Series ends with Stage 63. However, there was one additional SP release promoting the Bonds of the Battlefield arcade game released several months later. The set recycles older figures and the artwork focuses on showing off the slick arcade cockpit set-up for the players.


Next, the book shows off the handful of Full Color Extra-series released that were released interspersed between the regular Full Color waves. These sets show off Gundam characters from the various SD cartoons and games.


On the right hand page you can see the images for the two DX-figure sets that feature larger figures like mobile armours and vehicles. Each figure also comes with a tiny pilot figure which makes them very collectable.


Here then finally we have the only documentation so far of the SD Gundam Full Color Custom series in these books. I don't know if there are other books out there that cover these in detail but so far this is the only book I have managed to find myself. Maybe our intrepid author will come back in the future with additional volumes in this excellent series of publications?


As the Full Color Custom series drew to a close the later releases were loaded up mostly with single colour translucent figures, mostly in red, black or blue with other colours much less frequent. The mounted artwork also places focus on playability and encourages buyers to pull the figures apart and reassemble them into fantastic creations of their own.


We have some nice coverage of the smaller sets that followed Full Color and Full Color Custom as well. Seen here are the first three volumes of SD Gundam Impact which is an odd and short-lived - pretty abysmal too if I am being honest - series of tiny figures with very basic paintwork and presented in stiff action poses.


Impact was followed by another short-lived experiment called Bind which features two types of figures. Half the set would consist of tiny fully painted mobile suits in official colours and the other half being single colour figures of mobile suits where a limb or other part would have been swapped out into something fantastic. The idea was to collected the full set of these and then combine pieces from all of them into a single large monstruous creature of sorts. The single-colour figures would typically be variations of the figures that were painted up in normal colours although they would typically not be present in the same volume. Seen here are the Gashapon mounts for Bind volume 3 and 4 on the outer left and right. The two centre panels showing off full artwork are intended to be displayed as additional artwork on the top and/or sides off the vending machine based on what the text above the image explains.


Here we have some more images of the crazy Bind-series of figures, showing off waves 5 through 7. The last panel depicts the first of the last of the classic SD Gundam figure sets; Brave Battle Warriors which can also be seen below.


After the four volumes of brave warriors - complete with horses and companion soldiers - the book closes out with a couple of art panels that are supposed to go on top off and on the sides of the Gashapon vending machine. I can't really get my head around if these were created specifically for the book and if so, how you are meant to use them (since you couldn't cut one out without damaging the other). I'll have to assume this is simply documenting promotional material of some kind. All in all, this book does a decent job of closing the gap regarding the missing content in the author's previous books but I really do hope we get to see a fourth volume that goes into the uncovered figures in more detail in the future!