The Gashapon market has been without solid Gundam representation for quite some time now. The last "serious" attempt was Gashapon Senshi Forte which drew its last breath back in 2022 and since then we have seen a couple of more gimmicky figure sets come and go. Capsule Index is one of the latest of these and premiered earlier in July - this second volume hit the scene in November. Together with the "Machiboke Gundam" series of mobile suits sitting-waiting poses it makes up the current base of prepainted Gashapon Gundam figurines together with its bigger cousins in Mobile Suit Ensemble and Capsule Action series.
For once I had the rare opportunity of living the true Gashapon experience. I kept bumping in to these machines every here and there during a recent trip to the Kansai region and of course I was not going to leave empty-handed. Each hit on the machine costs 400 yen and I was reasonably lucky obtaining the four figures in six attempts. I have to admit I was a bit discouraged when the first three pulls each produced a Red Gundam in quick succession but the luck turned for the better after that.
Each figure has its own distinct capsule colour which is not always the case. This of course helps the cheeky Gashapon raiders that are stalking the machines with flashlights and trying to see which figure is next on tap...
I really don't like these square-type booklets that both Bandai and Takara Tomy have been using for a while now. Not only are they unsuitable as banner images for the blog but they also tend to be rather crumpled and nowadays are full of disclaimers for a lot of foreign markets. Meh...
As you can see, the packaging sizes vary widely depending on each figure's needs. Each figure comes in a multi-part sealed plastic bag of a type similar to the one used with Gundam Converge.
There is a bit of assembly required but most components have shaped pegs and can only be assembled in one particular way. Capsule Index is all about setting up crazy poses and so articulation can be sacrificed for a tighter and more natural looking sculpt without bulk elbow connectors and the like. The figures are unable to stand up on their own and require basing of some sort. Bandai provides you with clear circular bases and a ball-joint that attaches to the figure's lower area offering a very limited bit of posing choice.
CPID:005 - XVX-016 Gundam Aerial
So far, Capsule Index has been strictly focused on more recent mobile suit designs. To date there has been no Universal Century representation, instead we have had machines from SEED Freedom and GQuuuuuuX but now Witch From Mercury also joins the ranks with the base Aerial. It is a good example of what Capsule Index is all about, oversized heads and arms or legs flailing in all directions in an attempt to look like a superhero. It is a nice looking design with clean and crisp paint applications and if Capsule Index lives on I hope to see some rivals for it to combat. I'm pretty sure the Bandai designers already have prototypes ready to go but I am yet to see an announcement of Capsule Index 03 so it is possible the series might come to an abrupt halt already. Fingers crossed.
CPID:006 - STTS-808 Immortal Justice Gundam
The first wave of Capsule Index figures had a SEED Freedom representation of 75% and this time they still steal two of the four spots. The Immortal Justice seems like no-brainer with the Freedom and Z'Gok already rolled out. It comes unarmed, presumably due to having the large M2X32E Volantes flight pack included in the capsule. I say unarmed, but it does appear that Shinn is deploying one of the Wieselnagel Beam Boomerang weapons as a Unicorn horn rather than a handheld close-range weapon. It looks completely stupid but I guess it suits his hot-headed character to stick his neck out in a fight offering a vanity kill for his enemy. The wings on the flight pack will need some straightening out, you can expect some bent soft plastic parts here and there with the Capsule Index figures in general.
Side by side with the Strike Freedom from Capsule Index 01. I kind of wish they would have gone for the blue and white Rising Freedom figure instead, there are too many variants of the Freedom in my collection by now.
CPID:007 - NOG-M1A1 Black Knight Squad Shi-ve.A
Finally something new; the Black Knight Shi-ve is a brand new mobile suit to hit the prepainted figurine market and I wouldn't be opposed to see it also in Converge and Ensemble. This is a peculiar looking mobile suit with a red cape and very stylized wings on its helmet-like head. The overall concept of the suit is pretty dumb however, and it is almost exclusively designed for close-combat. I'd gun it down with a platoon of GINNs from afar. Anyway, the pose of the figure is certainly... unusual. We've seen variants of the Infinite Justice doing kicks before with its peculiar shin-mounted slicing weapons but here we have an enormous beam blade protruding from its toe. I mean, I want to like it but it looks ridiculous.
One thing that is very clear to me after playing around with the Capsule Index figures is that they are not meant to be posed on their own like in a traditional display. Instead you are encouraged to set up miniature battles with two or even more of them going toe to toe (quite literally in this case).
CPID:008 - gMS-a Red Gundam
The set closes with a wildly posed EVA Unit-02 - I mean Red Gundam - swinging its Hyper Ham.... I mean its "Gundam Hammer" medieval weapon. You spend a bazillion space credits on developing space and atmospheric-flying machines with advanced sensor packages, shielding technology, long-range projectile weaponry and then you say "screw it" and toss the guy an iron ball on a chain. Granted, it is a very big ball and the spikes are blue (I kind of expected those to be beam weapons at first) so I can't see any fault with this plan. Let's just hope the enemy doesn't have a long stick to poke at you or something... I know I shouldn't take this seriously and that is also why I can't. Still, I guess it fits in perfectly with the rest of the Capsule Index cage fighters. Now that I think about it the Aerial Gundam in this set should have been wielding a beam saber instead, allowing for more interesting figure combos.
While it really confused me at first, the pose of the GQuuuuuuX from the first Capsule Index volume actually makes perfect sense when posed together with the Red Gundam.
Here is the currently Capsule Index family all together. I have to admit I am a bit worried for the series going into 2026 but perhaps we will see some news of future sets in the coming weeks. Having said that, I won't be too sad to see this series go but I can still admire and give credit to the vision behind it. If you are looking for a continuation of the traditional super deformed Gundam mini-figures this ain't it, but if you would just like some cool looking mobile suits beating each other up on your desktop these should be right up your alley.
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