Gunota Headlines
Friday, February 29, 2008
Some upcoming figure news
From Hobbynet:
GFF Full Armor Mark III - June, 5,775 yen
MSiA Tieren - June, 1,890 yen
In Action!! Offshoot Gloucester - Cornelia custom, June, 2,625 yen
Gunpla jewelry
Net mailorder site Mitsubai Tokyo is selling 52,500 yen necklaces made from Gunpla. Available in versions using RX-78 Gundam, Zaku II, or Hyaku Shiki parts, the "Zaku Kiri!" necklaces are reproductions of works seen in last year's Space For Your Future exhibit at the Museum Of Contemporary Art Tokyo. The artist, Mikiko Minewaki, is known for creating custom jewelry made from everyday plastic items.
Gundam 00 DVD Vol. 2 first week sales ranking
Oricon has the 2nd volume of Gundam 00 as the 3rd highest selling DVD on the overall weekly DVD sales charts and the 2nd on the anime weekly DVD charts. Reports from 2ch put the estimated sales at 19,927 copies.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Emblem Of Gundam tidbits
Game Star mentions in addition to the already known info that the game will cover First Gundam, 08th MS Team, War In The Pocket, Stardust Memory, and Zeta Gundam. They also say the simplified combat system is deep enough to accommodate one-on-one fights between ace pilots or large scale 100 vs. 100 battles.
Gundam 00 novelization begins
Kadokawa's site lists the first volume of the Gundam 00 novelization by Noboru Kimura as going on sale April 1.
Bandai to raise price of Gundam model kits
ITmedia News reports Bandai is looking into a mark-up on the price of Gunpla. According to the news, the reason for this is a steep rise in the cost of materials as a result of high oil prices. When the change in pricing might occur, exactly what merchandise it will affect, and how much it will be is not known. Bandai's PR department is quoted as saying, "The details haven't been decided but there is a change in merchandise specifications which has added cost to new parts & booklets for Gunpla and we will be repricing."
A week ago, Aoi Model Shop, a blog said to be run by an employee in a hobby shop on the outskirts of Akihabara, claimed there would be a 10-20% increase in HGUC and MG kit prices beginning around May. Oil prices were cited as the reason. Furthermore, the site said it looked as though old merchandise would also be marked up as it was reissued. As with the official news, it was said there were details yet to be settled.
Gundam.Info Dengeki Hobby feature 8
Gundam.Info posted the last of its look at SEED Frame Astrays custom built kits as seen in Dengeki Hobby: Alec Ladd's Kerberos BuCUE Hound.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Toru Furuya to release tribute album
Neowing lists "Heroes ~to my treasure~", a CD by Toru Furuya, coming out March 26. The 7-song disc is a tribute album paying respect to famous characters the voice actor has played over the years.
Bandai aims high with merchandise sales estimates
Some figures of interest from a Sankei News article regarding various Gundam merchandise coming out in the next month or so: Bandai anticipates they'll sell 10,000 Jumbo Grade Zeta Gundams (28,140 yen) by the end of March next year with their target audience of 20 to 30-year-olds. In the same amount of time, they plan to sell 100,000 Super HCM-Pro Char's Zakus (7,140 yen) and, a press release states, 50,000 Gundam 00 Mascot Robo Haros (4,800 yen, target: Gundam fans and women).
Bandai x UT Gundam Project site update
Gundam Perfect Web opened the official site for their collaboration with clothes retailer Uniqlo, mentioned near the beginning of the month, with sections for Kids and the Gunpla Contest, featuring the FG Gundam Exia White Version.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Gundam 00 site update
-UN Forces-
MS:
GN-X GN-X
Head height: 19.0 m
Base weight: 70.4 t
Pilot: UN Forces pilot
"A solar furnace-equipped model of mobile suit manufactured by means of data leaked from Celestial Being. The furnace is the same GN Drive[T] as the Gundam Thrones'. Ace pilots were chosen from the three superpowers but, transcending organizational boundaries, they're utilized as 'UN Forces'. They're overwhelming in number and can fight more than evenly with a Gundam."
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
This month's hobby mag news
MG Gelgoog Ver. 2.0 - mass-production type, April
MG Strike Gundam + Sword Striker & Launcher Striker - April, 5,250 yen
HG Gundam Nadleeh - April, 1,260 yen
HG Gundam Throne Drei - April, 1,680 yen
BB Senshi Sangokuden Koumei Re-GZ - April, 630 yen
In Action!! Offshoot Guren Mk II - Summer
In Action!! Offshoot Gloucester - Cornelia custom, Summer
GFF Gundam Mk III - May
Gundam 00
GN-X - New model MS equipped with a GN Drive, 10 of which were each given to the Union, AEU, and HRL. First appearing in episode 20, the HRL's 10 GN-Xs repel the 3 Gundam Thrones. Design by Kanetake Ebikawa.
Emblem Of Gundam details
Happinet Online has details about the mysterious Nintendo DS game Emblem Of Gundam, the existence of which has been known since September but with virtually nothing revealed about it other than a few screenshots:
Going on sale May 1, it's a simulation game that depicts the Gundam world through a historical approach completely different from that seen in the Gihren's Greed and G Generation series. By choosing "batons of history" in each stage, players can change the historical perspective and advance through a variety of episodes. The game's province-style combat map is divided up according to geographical features, making it easy to grasp at a glance. Famous parts from the anime are recreated with the large number of event scenes. Pre-orders come with an Official Guidance Book.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
00, 00F Vol. 1
Kadokawa's site has the first collected volumes of Kouzo Oomori's Gundam 00 manga and Koichi Tokita's Gundam 00F both going on sale March 26.
SHCM-Pro Char's Zaku updates
The Super HCM-Pro official site has a "Zaku II Simulator" showing off various details of the figure.
Akiba Hobby also found a display version at SuperModelers.
Sangokuden Asia merchandise
Today's entry on Bandai Hobby Center's Space Diary Of The Captain talks about the development of BB Senshi Sangokuden merchandise outside of Japan. The Sangokuden Snacks that went on sale in Hong Kong at the end of last year will also be available in other Asian countries. Additionally, they show a snapshot of a Sangokuden Corps set that is presently planned to be available only in Taiwan, China, and South Korea.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Battle Of Sunrise pics
Famitsu.com has many screenshots of the game, including pics of its original characters: 18-year-old test pilot/college student/protagonist Shin Minakata (Seiyuu: Yoshimasa Hosoya), 20-year-old granddaughter of the president of North America's largest defense contractor Ingrid Hald (Akemi Okamura), and Shin's 14-year-old adoptive sister Irina Austen (Asuka Tanii).
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Namco Bandai Holdings 3rd quarter financial figures
Namco Bandai Holdings' English site posted a PDF of financial highlights for the 3rd quarter of their fiscal year (which ends March 2008). Their #1 character franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam, has already accounted for 34.8 billion yen in sales (Bandai Namco Group total) for the first 9 months (13.8 billion yen of that is credited to their Toys and Hobby divisions) and is forecast to wind up at the end of March with 48 billion yen, with 18 billion of that from Toys & Hobby. Note this is lower than the 60 billion yen in Gundam sales originally aimed for, as reported back in July.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Banpresto May through September prize items
From GA Graphic at AOU 2008:
Gundam Special Creative Models ~Ramba Ral Team Edition~ - Last week of July
Gundam Special Creative Models ~Gundam & Zaku~ - Last week of August
Kibamushaden Real Type Figures 3: Musha Mark II - Last week of July
Head-shaped Sound Keyholders 2 - Last week of July
Large Size Keyholders ~Zaku Development Edition~ - Second week of September
Weathering & Light Figures ~Zeon Army Special Assortment~ - Second week of September
Further coverage is up at Akiba Hobby.
FG O Gundam pics
The Gundam 00 official site put up some pics of the FG 0 Gundam in its Products section. On Bandai Hobby's 00 Gunpla site, the extra something randomly chosen people will receive during the 0 Gundam Get Campaign (mentioned previously) will be revealed in a "big announcement" on March 7.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Gundam Vs. Gundam at AOU 2008
Gigazine posted pics and 4 Youtube vids of Gundam Vs. Gundam at the AOU Amusement Expo 2008.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Upcoming merchandise pics
From The Gundam Base.Side 1:
HG Gundam Throne Zwei
MG Zaku Minelayer
HGUC Nu Gundam
Edit:
Keroro Gunsou Plamo Collection Dark Keroro
Keroro Gunsou Plamo Collection God Keron
Mascot Robo Haro (00 Style)
HCM-Pro Tieren Ground Type Set
Edit 2:
SHCM-Pro Char's Zaku
Gundam Unicorn official site update
The official site posted a summary for Palau Capture Battle 2, a mini event report of recent signing appearances by author Fukui, and a profile of the RGM-89S Stark Jegan (translation by Mark Simmons at Mecha Talk).
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Gihren's Greed: Menace Of Axis first week sales
GameSpot Japan posted Media Create numbers for the past week, showing Gihren's Greed: Menace Of Axis for the PSP as the #2 game with 123,000 copies sold (the figures include the Special Pack set with custom colored PSP). The numbers improve on the previous PSP Gihren's Greed first week 4 times over.
Battle Of Sunrise
Game Star posted details for the just-announced Battle Of Sunrise, a new simulation RPG from the staff of Sunrise Heroes coming for the PS2 on April 10. The Sunrise Interactive game features more than 200 mecha and characters from eight Sunrise anime:
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
Panzer World Galient
Metal Armor Dragonar
Armored Trooper VOTOMS
SPT Layzner
King Of Braves GaoGaiGar
Zettai Muteki Rajin-Oh
Round Vernian Vifam
BoS features realtime special move scenes, hidden elements (storylines, character, mecha), some original characters & mecha, and other RPG standards. Pre-orders come with Battle Of Sunrise Visual File, nine visual sheets featuring the main mecha drawn by Gundam SEED's chief mecha animation director, Satoshi Shigeta. Famitsu says the game is 70% complete.
"Ash Like Snow" first week sales ranking
Oricon's Pick-Up Title column has the brilliant green's "Ash Like Snow" selling 29,000 copies in its debut on the weekly singles chart, making it #8.
Gundam.Info Dengeki Hobby feature 6
Gundam.Info posted pics of a custom Strike E+ IWSP (Lukas O'Donnel custom).
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Upcoming merchandise pics
From The Gundam Base.Side 1:
1/100 Gundam Virtue
Bandai Hobby Sales Manual March
Monday, February 11, 2008
Gundam for theater fans
Mainichi Mantan Web has a write-up about the fourth public appearance of Gekidan Gundam, an Osaka-based theatrical troupe who do short skits, live storytelling, and music performances based on Mobile Suit Gundam. The group, self-described as "For fans of the theater who don't know Gundam, for Gundam fans who don't know theater", has had their shows attended by Yoshiyuki Tomino and novelist Harutoshi Fukui.
Their most recent performance featured a skit (pictured in the article) in which female actors portrayed the Bits of the mobile armor Elmeth as well as a parody of Seven Samurai entitled "The Beak Of The Grabro", about seven soldiers hired to protect a village being harassed by Zeon remnants. Minamihankyu Kyokudo, who performs his routine from on top of a Dodai YS-shaped platform, says he began doing Gundam kodan (traditional Japanese style of storytelling) so he could expose young people to the kodan tradition and that he wants to try doing kodan based on videogames.
A digest video of one of their shows can be seen on Minamihankyu's Youtube channel.
Gundam World 2008
Amusement park Greenland in Arao City, Kumamoto will be holding Gundam World 2008 from March 15 through June 29. Featured will be an exhibit devoted to Char Aznable and the premiere of a large Gundam 00 diorama.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Do Roku: The Album
Neowing lists "39 Do Roku" coming out March 26. The 3-disc set is a collection of 39 songs from shows that occupied the Saturday 6 pm MBS/TBS anime timeslot over the past 6 years: Gundam SEED, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam SEED Destiny, Blood+, Ayakashi Ayashi, Toward The Terra, and Gundam 00. It comes with a 72-page booklet and 7 jacket-sized poster cards. The album is a thank you to the timeslot that made so many hit songs and will only be produced for a limited three month time period.
The track list contains most of the opening and ending themes for the anime mentioned though notably missing are tracks by See-Saw and Mika Arisaka (T.M. Revolution's insert songs for SEED and Destiny are included) and only L'Arc En Ciel's "Daybreak's Bell" appears from Gundam 00.
Gundam 00 DS site update
The 00 DS official site updated its Privilege page with pics of the Gundam Exia Rollout Color version, both in Gunpla and in lineart by Kanetake Ebikawa.
Many more screenshots are up at DengekiOnline.com and Game Watch. The game's Gunpla Navi mode comes with a Gunpla catalog and four lessons: 1) Assembling the FG Gundam Exia, 2) Simple detailing & Gundam Markers, 3) Assembling the 1/100 Gundam Exia, 4) Methods of painting with plamodel-custom painting tools.
Gundam Musou SP site update
The official site updated with an MS page and a Movie page.
DengekiOnline.com and Game Watch have more pics of the scenarios for the Musha Gundams.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
T.M. Revolution for New York Comic Con
T.M. Revolution will be a Guest of Honor at the New York Comic Con, which takes place April 18-20.
Upcoming merchandise pics
From Amiami:
HCM-Pro Gouf Custom
HCM-Pro Tieren Ground Type Set
SHCM-Pro Char's Zaku
SG Zeta Gundam
SG God Gundam
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Bandai Hobby Sales Manual pics
Akiba Hobby and Moe Yo! Akibajin snapped up photos of Bandai Hobby Sales Manual solicits for March being shown off at Asobit Chara City.
Gundam.Info Dengeki Hobby feature 5
Gundam.Info continues on with their Dengeki Hobby features with another round of pics of custom-built plamodels, this time from SEED Frame Astrays. First up, Rudolf Wittgenstein's Gouf Ignited.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
"Friends" first week sales
Oricon has Stephanie's "Friends" ranking #8 on the weekly singles chart with sales of 14,113 copies.
Edit: Oricon's Pick-Up Title commentary mentions this is Stephanie's highest ranking single and her first top 10 hit.
Bandai & Uniqlo team-up to sell Gundam apparel
Bandai put out a press release announcing their collaboration with clothes retailer Uniqlo for the sales of Gundam T-shirts. Starting in mid-March, Uniqlo stores nationwide will carry a Gundam 00 T-shirt + FG Gundam Exia (white version) set for 1,500 yen aimed at kids while at the end of April, the first of several MS Gundam design T-shirts for men will also go on sale for 1,500 yen.
The limited edition colorless Exia plamodel is a tie-in for a Gunpla Coloring Contest for kids. Prizes will be handed out in 4 categories (Bandai prize, Uniqlo prize, Kerokero Ace prize, and Gundam 00 prize) and winners will be announced at the end of June on Gundam Perfect Web and in Kerokero Ace.
Upcoming merchandise pics
From Hobby Search (some images not up yet):
MG Zaku Minelayer
MG Zaku II F Type Ver. 2.0
HGUC Nu Gundam
HG Overflag
HG Gundam Throne Zwei
HG GN Arms + Gundam Exia
HG Civilian Astray DSSD Custom (Leons Graves custom)
HG Gundam Astray Green Frame (Trojan Noiret custom)
SG Zeta Gundam
SG God Gundam
SHCM-Pro Char's Zaku
HCM-Pro Gouf Custom
HCM-Pro Tieren Ground Type Set
SD G Gen Series Char's Counterattack Set
From Hobby Shop Midori:
HG GN Arms + Gundam Exia
HGUC Nu Gundam
From Amazon Japan:
FG Gundam Exia (Rollout Colors) - comes with pre-orders of Gundam 00 DS
Monday, February 04, 2008
Do roku becomes Nichi go
In a post announcing various programming changes, TBS officially confirms their famous Saturday 6 pm anime timeslot on MBS is being moved to Sundays at 5 pm with the premiere of the second season of Code Geass on April 6. After the first season of Gundam 00 ends its run on March 29, the Saturday nights 5:30 pm to 6:50 block will be home to the news program "Houdou Tokushuu".
The original timeslot, known as "Do roku" (土6) to Japanese fans, became a popular spot for anime & defacto Sony Music showcase with the arrival of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED in September 2002 and continued in the following years with Fullmetal Alchemist and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Ratings for the slot began to decline most noticeably with Blood+ in 2005 and was similarly followed by the prematurely-cancelled Ayakashi Ayashi the year after. The replacement, Toward The Terra, failed to improve the situation. Additionally, the debut of Major on NHK in 2004, also on at Saturdays 6 pm, is said to have heavily cut into viewership. Currently, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is drawing the best average ratings for its network in the timeslot since before Blood+.
Super HCM-Pro Char's Zaku pics
GA Graphic has shots of a Super HCM-Pro Char's Zaku prototype. Happinet Online says it'll feature 1) an opening & closing cockpit cover & cockpit hatch slide plus molded & colored internals, 2) pearl mat coating and over 100 markings, 3) maintenance cables and a docking bay display base for storing weapons, 4) metal parts used in the verniers on the bottom of the feet, 5) removable armor for showing off the internals, and 6) 25 points of articulation, surpassing the number on the SHCM-Pro RX-78.
Figure Soul HCM-Pro questionnaire results
Figure Soul.com finally posted the long-delayed results to their poll asking what people want to see in HCM-Pro's Blue Label (non-Gundam) line (some series were listed more than once for unknown reasons):
1) L-Gaim
2) Zegapain
3) Tekkaman Blade
4) Macross
5) Code Geass
6) Medarot
7) Super Robot Wars
8) Gasaraki
9) Patlabor
10) The Big O
11) Innocent Venus
12) VOTOMS
13) Dougram
14) Nadesico
15) Dragonar
16) Virtual-On
17) Vifam
18) Eureka Seven
19) Brain Powerd
20) Super Sentai series robots
21) SPT Layzner
22) Jinki: EXTEND
23) Xabungle
24) Full Metal Panic
25) Xenogears
26) Overman King Gainer
27) Vifam
28) Five Star Stories
29) Wataru
30) Argento Soma
31) GaoGaiGar
32) Mazinger Z
33) GUNxSWORD
34) Gurren-Lagann
35) Fafner
36) Godanner
37) iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia
38) Digimon
39) Mars Daybreak
40) Anubis: Zone Of Enders
41) Galient
42) Gunparade March
43) Virtual-On
44) Ideon
45) Demonbane
46) Tobikage
47) Yuusha Raideen
48) Aquarion
49) Armored Core
50) Muv-Luv
51) GunGriffon
52) Orguss
53) Dangaioh
54) Plawres Sanshiro
55) Daitetsujin 17
56) Kurogane No Line Barrel
57) Masked Rider
58) Transformers
59) Mospeada
60) Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure
61) Getter Robo
62) Wares 1092
63) Escaflowne
64) Galatt
65) Rayearth
66) Gigantic Formula
67) Megazone 23
68) Machine Robo
69) Front Mission
70) Appleseed
71) Zoids
FG 0 Gundam Campaign details
Hobby Shop Midori reveals the specifics of the promotion: From the middle of February through May 31, sending in two proofs of purchase found on FG kits plus a 500 yen money order will get you a First Grade 0 Gundam kit. Additionally, it's hinted that randomly chosen people will get some additional perk. Those who send in their order before March 31 will be sent the 0 Gundam at the end of April, while the rest will be sent out at the end of June.
Famitsu.com 00 DS and Menace Of Axis articles
Famitsu.com has a pair of articles on upcoming games: an introduction to enemy characters in Gundam 00 DS and how the maps look when you choose each of the three Zeta Gundam factions at the start of the game in Menace Of Axis (green areas = AEUG, blue = Titans, magenta = Axis).
Edit: And one more for Gundam Musou SP.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Friday, February 01, 2008
Bandai February hobby merchandise
From the Bandai Hobby Site and their English site.
Edit: An examination of the pulldown menu for March's merchandise reveals an HCM-Pro Gouf Custom is coming.
