Gashapon Senshi Zero: Another new brand enters the fray

A reader comment introduced me to Bandai Namco's latest effort in the string of Gashapon super-deformed format. The couple of centimetres tall charming compact figures with large heads have been around for more than 25 years at this point but the past decade have seen them gradually perish into obscurity. The producer of the Senshi Forte line did his best to keep that line going for as long as it could but it lived its life in the shadow of the axe due to its high production costs - especially for painting. I would also hazard a guess that the increased complexity of the figures - as more and more joints and articulations were introduced - may have had something to do with it. Personally, I would like to see the return of the old simplistic SD Gundam Full Color format with tiny but decently painted figures without any articulation if need be, there are so many Gundam series that have been released since those days to add to the line-up after all.

I guess you could say that the newly unveiled Gashapon Senshi Zero brand is scratching that itch to an extent. The figures are clearly a step down in complexity from their Senshi Fortre ancestors but look at that first line-up. Are you telling me there will be fifteen figures out of which only three will be fully-painted? What am I supposed to do with the other red and blue junk (some of which are also copies of the painted figures by the way)? I think it would have been more sensible to release a smaller but fully-painted set with higher individual prices - maybe with A- and B-version equipment to force customers to spend more of their hard-earned cash but hey, what do I know? Senshi Zero seems doomed to fail from the start. The series debuts in the Japanese Gashapon arcades in late March.


On another note Capsule Index is apparently finally getting its third volume this July. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty convinced the brand had been terminated already; there were two sets in July and November last year and all quiet since then. I wouldn't be surprised if the third set will be its last hurrah, Bandai often kills off a series after the initial three volumes. The line-up consists of the Xi Gundam (again?), the Gustav Karl Type 00, a Destiny Spec II (which is also everywhere right now) and the White Gundam from GQuuuuuuX. Not a terrible line-up but not particularly novel either.

Good tidings from Japan Post

In January 2026 the popular Small Packet Airmail service was discontinued and Japanese mailorder companies had to switch to pricier alternatives like Air Postal Parcel, EMS and DHL. Postage prices quickly jumped to a new level where it became an even harder balancing act to put together orders that stayed within certain limits depending on size and weight. The past couple of months I found myself fiddling with putting items into or out of the cart whenever something would push the postage cost into the next bracket, jumping from 3600 to 6000 yen for example. Now, finally the replacement for the SAL service is being rolled out. I was pleased to see it on Mandarake today for the first time and I'm sure other companies are introducing it as well.

The new service is called International ePacket Light and allows for airmail parcels up to 2 kgs and total dimensions of 90 centimetres. A package that I was just working on suddenly dropped from 3600 to 2000 jpy for example, but there are many weightbands depending on the region you are in as per the chart below.

The ePL was supposed to be introduced in mid-December last year but apparently there was some kerfuffle about it and it is now being relaunched again this March so keep your eyes peeled.

Visit the Japan Post website for additional information: Linky

A late Christmas present from Japan Post

If you've recently been attempting to import items directly from Japan you may have noticed that shipping prices are going up. Specifically, on smaller parcels distributed through Japan Post. This is due to the discontinuation of the AIR SP small postal parcel registered service for international customers starting January 2026 - something that has been a mainstay in my own traffic for years. It used to be good value filling up a 66cm or even 90cm box with a shipping cost usually around ¥2600-¥4000. Now you will find that sellers redirect you to the AIR Postal Parcel service instead where shipping costs will quickly rise up to ¥6000 if you put a larger figure in the box. Suddenly, EMS and DHL enter the range of competitively priced services.

Remember to optimize your orders based on what you are shopping for; small and heavy items can often be shipped at a reasonable cost using DHL while larger and lighter products are better serviced by EMS and in some cases AIR Postal Parcel.

If you - like yours truly - are always on Mandarake, take a minute to play around with the shipping calculator by putting together test orders and notice how much you can stuff into a box. DHL is suitable for products like small die-cast cars while EMS and AIR PP is better suited for lightweight products in oversized packages like your typical anime figurines. What will really suffer however is lightweight items like trading cards. If you chuck a single Pokemon card onto a Mandarake order now for example, the AIR PP postage cost will begin at ¥3850 and the cheapest option offered is DHL at ¥2500. Previously, AIR SP would have you covered for I can't remember exactly, ¥1290 perhaps. May as well order a cheap trading figure while you are at it...

Gashapon hunting in Kansai region

Recently I spent a couple of days in the Kansai region travelling back and forth between Osaka and Kyoto. While this was not a dedicated figure hunt as such there are just so many opportunities to encounter Gashapon machines in these large cities and I figured I'd discuss the topic a little.


Here are some of the current Gundam-themed Gashapon currently in circulation. We see the most recent set of Mobile Suit Ensemble (Part 29) as well as the currently reprinted batch of Part 12 which first appeared in January 2020. The last couple of years have brought several of the early sets back to market which is a great opportunity for recent collectors to catch up on the MSE's history. Nowadays the series is mainly bogged down in expensive premium releases so attention can definitely be pointed in this direction. Also seen in this photo are the first two sets of the newest incarnation of the super-deformed legacy - the awkwardly named Capsule Index - as well as some tiny gold and silver-style minis that look back even further into the earliest days of SD Gundam figurines.


The great thing about Gashapon is that you can turn a corner and just suddenly bump into a tower of dispensers sitting around outside a random shop or inside a building. Here is an example of some random machines installed on the platform at Kyoto central station among other vending machines and bento shops. You should bear in mind though that Mobile Suit Gundam has a rather small presence in the Gashapon scene, there are just too many brands competing for the space. Still, you never know what you will find and I made it a thing to stick my nose into any shop where they could be spotted (and those were quite a few).


Here is a typical "UFO Catcher" shop dedicated to the selling of current Gashapon. This particular shop is located in a block between the very tourist-centric Nishiki Market and the more pleasant Teramachi Shopping Street in Kyoto. Shops like these sometimes also feature some claw machines although they are not as crazy and loud as the dedicated arcades. Inside, expect narrow passageways crowded with curious eyes looking for the next Gashapon fix.


One step up we have Capsule Planet "C-Pla" which are a chain of stores that sometimes look completely identical inside. The one you see on the image here is one of several located within the Shinsaibashi shopping arcade near the popular Dotonbori-area of Osaka.


C-Pla shops look small on the outside but venture deep into the building, typically sectioned off in up to three long and narrow rooms chock-full of vending machines. Some of them are also multistorey with up to three floors of goodies in total. As for Gundam-machines however you usually find the handful of them on the ground floor, often close to the entrance. Some shops organize the Gashapon vending machines by genre while others are a bit more randomly distributed. The general atmosphere is crowded and narrow but clean and neat. You will find coin exchange machines here and there inside the shops which normally accept 1000-yen bills and return ten 100 yen coins, of which you typically need to spend 300-500 per pull depending on the product. In one shop I visited the machine did not recognize the most recent crop of 1000-yen bills but there the staff could assist in switching newer bills for older ones.


Then we have the ultimate bosses of Japan; the mega-stores. I'll let them be represented by the Yodobashi Camera department store in Umeda, Osaka. These stores have pretty much everything. Electronics, beauty products, home appliances, clothes, camping gear, you name it. The toy-sections are amazing and unlike anything I have ever seen. It really has to be experienced in person.


What do you think mate, enough Gacha machines for you? There must be thousands of them here. Granted, not every machine is unique, there are plenty of duplicates around but they are scattered about and not located next to each other. Still, popular sets tended to be sold out whenever I came across them, no Japanese police cars for me for example.


This is one aisle of machines in the slightly smaller Gashapon section of Yodobashi in Kyoto. Still, your memory will be tested when you make the journey to the coin exchange machine, will you find your way back to the prize?


The absolute majority of Gacha-dispensers we encountered were these Bandai-type machines. Usually with white stickers when encountered in the wild but with black backgrounds inside the C-Pla shops which honestly starts to tire the eyes after browsing corridor up and corridor down. Your senses are constantly assaulted with a ton of colours and patterns and it really overwhelms you after a while as everything starts looking more and more indistinct and similar.


This was a rare find of multiple Gundam-themed machines neatly organized into a larger section. You can see here a random distribution of Ensembles and Capsule Index figures mingling with more gimmicky stuff like acrylic sheets and those Mechanical Bust display pieces that I simply don't fancy. Notice the bin in the bottom left corner, these are intended for chucking away unwanted Gashapon balls. I filled up my bags and carried them all the way back home just to photograph them, I imagine the security screening staff at the airport had a giggle as the bag passed through x-ray.


Let's take a quick look at what is on offer, shall we? Here we have two Mobile Suit Ensemble sets currently on offer. I had hope to be able to find slightly older sets like the Hatsune Miku-collab, the special Requiem for Vengeance set or the very rare Gundam Mecha set from last summer (which features U.C.0079-era vehicles) but no such luck. I only stumbled on a couple of boxed Hatsune Miku-figures in a random hobby store in Osaka that was selling all sorts of collectables.


Here are some of the more gimmicky stuff; two sets of acrylic sheets with various characters from the Witch From Mercury and a really random set of Haros and that quirky RX-78F00/E Gundam from Next Future Pavilion. I didn't bother with any of these, the F00/E was released in Converge earlier this autumn but I have yet to be able to find one on the secondary market.


I was not aware of the fact that the Hatsune Miku-collaboration was also released in a realistically proportioned Gashapon set. The Capsule Action series is a premium Gashapon-series that has so far produced a handful of not too exciting representations of the RX-78-2 and the MS-06S, I think there is also a RGM-79 in there. These figures are modifications of existing sculpts featuring four different figures to collect; two solid colour and two translucent variants, just like in the Mobile Suit Ensemble series. While they intrigued me a little I decided against purchasing any, 1500 yen (almost 10 USD) for a random figure is too much of an investment in trying to complete the set from a vending machine but I may pick them up on the secondary market at some point if the price is reasonable.


I was surprised at the dearth of Pokemon-themed Gashapon for sale. I am a huge fan of the cleverly sculpted Pokemon range from Takara Tomy A.r.t.s. but I could only find half-a-dozen or so machines among the thousands I scanned in Kyoto and Osaka. This series of leaning and sleeping Pokemon for example is now into its 8th set already. I bought two as I walked past the machine on the way to lunch in the Isetan department store at Kyoto station, and when I backtracked to try my luck some more afterwards they were sold out. I revisited the same machine two days later but it had not been restocked (granted this was over the weekend). However, you will find Takara Tomy's excellent "mainline" Pokemon figure series in most well-stocked toy- and department stores but whenever I come across such a big selection I just get sensory overload and walk away. I prefer to discover them one at a time on the secondary market...


While she did mostly roll here eyes at first, my wife got into the addiction when she discovered the Tamagotchi-themed figurines. These were in very high demand and more often than not the machines were sold out. In the places we discovered the machines we often had to take turns with other people looking to complete their sets - or perhaps empty the machines for possible resale? It was here that I got my first look at the "pros" of the Gashapon circuit. I have never before seen someone able to chuck in three coins into the machine in quick succession using only a single hand. I saw people with flashlights shining into the machine to try to determine which figure was next in line. We also witnessed backpack-carrying customers who would twist and turn the handle of the machine both clock- and anti-clockwise to try to manipulate which capsule would fall into the slot. At least there were no occurrences of fisticuffs like we see on the videos from Walmart. :)


That could have gone better... Bandai Namco recently relaunched the old Tamagotchi-phenomenon and these things were sold out in almost every store we visited.


Before wrapping things up; here is a quick shot of the Mandarake branch in Kyoto. This is a relatively small shop as far as Mandarake goes and there is not much Gundam goods inside. Besides a decent selection of model kits the section covering figurines, action figures and the like was a simple corner section of a single shelf with a couple of HCM Pros and the odd Ensemble figure. In practice, the different Mandarake branches have different specializations and the Kyoto store usually has a good selection of Pokemon trading cards and a very nice selection of Zoids for example. You will not find the store in the street, instead you must walk into the Takashimaya department store and head up to its eighth floor.


Here we are inside the toy section of Yodobashi in Kyoto. Schleich is a German toy manufacturer that has an extensive range of domesticated, wild and even fantasy creatures. Their main range is in the 1/24 scale. Those dragons on the top shelf really caught my eye.


This was an impulse-buy. I had never seen the Schleich figures before and they had several beautiful looking dragons. This one stood out however, with its intelligent and sinister gaze. I had to bring him home with me. :)


The Tomytec Diorama-collection is engineered towards N-scale trains and features an extensive range of buildings, scatter-terrain and even trees and people. Rated at 1/150 they are pretty much ideal for your average HG scale Gundam kit although I personally think they work fine with many smaller ranges as well. I have never really liked the 18 meter standard for mobile suits and think they could do well with being downsized a bit. This photo and the following ones come from the Yodobashi department store in Osaka.


Fellow or rather competitive model train brand KATO also serves up a great selection of trains and scenery. Here we look at various vehicles and containers in N-scale of which I picked some up for diorama use.


TOMIX is the model railway brand from Tomytec and here I picked up a couple of straight rail sections, also for use in future photography set-pieces.


Before we go, let's just take a quick look of some of the Gashapon we carried back with us from Japan. My wife who is a diver fell in love with the Frogfish and we had to hammer the machine with a lot of coins before it decided to spit one out. Then I decided that we should try to obtain a crab as well whereupon it chucked out another two Frogfish and we gave up. I kind of wish I had milked the machine a bit further though because the set is really nice. Notice how each figure comes with its own pamphlet, most Gashapon tend to have a generic booklet only.


The wife also picked up a plushie-nudibranch and was happy enough with the first pull so we walked away with a single item from this set only.


This is half a set of pretty hideous-looking Minecraft-themed figures to be handed out as gifts to the younger generation. I'm too old for this stuff.


The wife managed to score four out of the five Tamagotchi-Gashapon with only a yellow one missing. Presumably, the lady with the flashlight jinxed us with her previous antics. Overall though, in general I felt like I did get a fairly good selection of figures out of the machines. I would have expected to see a lot more doubles but I suppose we were just lucky.


I pulled the full set of Capsule Index Part 2 which is thankfully limited to four pieces. It started out badly though with me scoring three Red Gundams in a row but then the other three figures followed one by one. You'll see them in a dedicated review on here before too long I hope.


Here is another set of Sanrio character figures to hang as accessories from your bag, phone or whatever. The wife bought one, proceeded to put it on and within an hour it was lost. I took her back to the machine and we fed it old 1000-yen bills until I had completed the full set with only a minimum of duplicates. However, upon closer inspection one of the figures is completely without a painted face - I have never seen anything like that before. I will try to work my magic with a marker pen on the poor creature.


Here is something that really bugs me. I discovered a machine with the third set of sitting SD-Gundam figures and made three pulls from it. Unfortunately I never came across one of these machines again, I guess it was already quite old. Had I considered this I would have kept pumping coins into it to get the missing Gouf as well; maybe it will pop up one day on Mandarake. Pfff... Anyway, hope you had fun following us around in the Kansai region. Unfortunately we did not have time to take on Den Den-town with its many shops and the two Mandarakes in Osaka - you just will never have enough time, money or suitcase space on a trip to Japan. :)

Random Zeta Gundam encounter in the wild

Recently I stumbled onto a set of miniature Zeta Gundam figures in a second-hand store in Bangkok that I have never encountered before. Naturally, I had to pick them up for closer examination and also wanted to present them here to see if someone has more information about them. As you can see we are dealing with soft PVC-based super-deformed designs from the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam television series. Each figure is a solid little statue without articulation and is attached to standardized round base.


Not much information can be gathered from the bases, we have a generic copyright claim for SOTSU/Sunrise and each figure has a sequence number in what I presume to be one giant set. the Hizack figure has two numbers on the base, I guess there are two versions in Titans and E.F.F. colours that utilize the same base. The figures I found have the following numbers:

1 : MSZ-006 Z Gundam
7 : MSA-005 Nemo
8 : MSK-008 Dijeh
9 : MSA-005 Methuss
10-11 : RMS-106 Hizack (E.F.F.)
12 : RMS-108 Marasai
14 : RX-139 Hambrabi
15 : NRX-055-2 Baund Doc
18 : AMX-004 Qubeley

As you can see, this is a really big series, containing at least 18 figures, maybe more. I have a huge gap in the start of the series where I presume we would find the Gundam Mk-II, Hyaku-Shiki and Rick Dias among others, and there are also lots of enticing gaps that make me wonder if there are Gaplants, Gabthleys or Asshimars out there, really making me curious to find out more.


Size-wise these figures are a little bit taller than the older (and taller) generation of SD Gundam Full Color Figures but the main difference is that the proportions are entirely different. Actually the proportions vary greatly between these figures based on the original design, traditional shaped mobile suits have been given big (and rather ugly) bobble-heads whereas more exotic designs like the Hambrabi and the Baund Doc look better.


These figures appear rather modern; both the sculpts and the paint applications are very detailed and the proportions remind me of the type of artsy collectibles that are in vogue right now with brands such as Pop Mart, and it wouldn't surprise me if these figures are sold as expensive random boxes with chase figures in the set. If anyone has more information about the origin of these figurines (and if they are actually legitimate) I would be curious to learn more as I expect it unlikely I will encounter more of them anytime soon.

SD Revival Part 2 : Gundam Superior Define

A couple of weeks ago we saw the introduction of a new capsule toy series in the cherished super deformed format called Capsule Index. The first wave is a 4-figure set of pre-painted figurines in a size that appears to be roughly similar to the Senshi Forte height but with the twist of them being in static poses (separate post here). I'm looking forward to their introduction and just hope it won't be too difficult to find them.

Well, Bandai's Shokugan division doesn't want to miss out on the fun and have decided to launch a super-deformed series of their own, with the catchy twist "Superior Define" to the name. However, their idea about how things should be done is completely different.


At first glance this looks like an offspring from the Gundam Artifact mini-model kit line. The announcement features no photographs showing how the figures will be delivered but I guess they will come on single colour-sprues in yellow-beige colour similar to the Artifact line (perhaps there will be a hidden secondary colour variation as well). I presume the figures will have to be built and they look to follow the same design philosophy as Capsule Index in that they will come in static poses, perhaps offering some limited amount of articulation.

The first set features the following mobile suits:

1. XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero (Endless Waltz)
2. Musha Seita Gundam Kirinji Special Edition
3. GF13-017NJII God Gundam
4. RX-124 Gundam TR-6 [Woundwort]
5. MSM-03C Hygogg

As an aside, I find it interesting that a Hyper Mode God Gundam is up for release August in the Mobile Suit Ensemble line but there it goes under the PC alternate name "Burning Gundam"...)


To further aggravate consumers the figures will be released together with a set of twelve different metallic stickers in a style that somewhat resembles the old SD trading card game format. It is not immediately clear how these will be packaged together, presumably each figure will come with a single random sticker. 5 figures and 12 cards is a weird ratio however, I think it lends further proof to the theory that each figure will come in two colour forms (let's say a solid and a translucent colour variant for example) and perhaps the set will also include a secret sixth figure?

I think I will be sticking to Capsule Index myself thank you very much but I would consider picking up the stickers on the secondary market if they will be traded there separately. Superior Define will hit the stores in August and each figure has an MSRP of 500 yen (550 incl. VAT).

The Super Deformed Rise Again

Well, well... look what the cat dragged in. We have yet another new product announcement and this time in the super-deformed family. After increasing complexity over the years and through the various product ranges it seems the SD figures are now returning to their origin. The new product line Capsule Index (really... what is it with the unimaginative product names lately?) showcases larger figures without articulated parts. The focus seems to be on presentation rather than playability and I am all for it.

The new figure range is intended to be in the 50mm category which is pretty much on par with Senshi Forte. The initial wave features three suits from SEED Freedom and (of course) the GQuuuuuuX in what appears to be a flying pose so I guess some kind of stand will also be included. Looking forward to learn more about these figures as they land in the Gacha machines this summer. Release is scheduled for July in Japan and the price expected to be ¥400 (plus tax I assume).

Newtypes, assemble!

Well, well, well... look what the cat dragged in. Bandai dropped a short teaser video on the official GundamInfo channel introducing a new miniatures game a little while ago. First a new card game targeting global customers and now this? Someone at headquarters has definitely decided to ride the tiger. "Gundam Assemble" is not the most enthralling title but there is a definite clue in the name; the game is associated with the Gunpla brand and so you can look forward to putting together and painting the figures yourself...


While not conclusive from the video it seems figures showcased appear to be rigid without articulation but may contain limited moving parts or optional limbs with different weapons equipped. Judging from the size they appear to be somewhere in the same league as the Seika sharpener figures, the 1/300 Strategy of Gundam or even Gashapon HG. You could probably play this game in any scale you like using whatever figures you fancy since the set-up appears to make use of an arena-style play area with a hex-grid.


Gaming with Gundam figures is not something new, the best example being the Gundam Collection miniatures game which was developed for the extensive range of 1/400 Gashapon figurines that were sold between 2004 and 2010. I guess I can now officially abandon all hope that Bandai would revisit this excellent figure series and expand on it with more suits from the newer franchises. The game survives among enthusiasts to this day and you can find a community around it on Facebook.


There isn't a whole lot more to say about the game at this point. If the demo is anything to go by it looks like a fairly simplistic arena free-for-all, mixing units of all types and series. Certain grid cells appear to give various boons such as repair actions. Something tells me this "game" exits mostly to convert people into kit-builders so that Bandai can retire all the pre-painted Gashapon once and for all. :)


One thing that also struck me is how similar these figures are to the recently announced Kinder-surprise style chocolate egg range. It would probably make sense from a marketing point of view to lure kids into the game via the candy-route. Any way, while I remain highly sceptical about the longevity of this product I am looking forward to learn more about it in the coming weeks, months, whatever it may be.