SDCC 2010 Its A Gundam Display
 

Is the Casval's Gundam and G-3 the long awaited Robot Damashii versions?

The MK-II looks really good. Hell, this all looks really good to me.

I was amazed by this booth. Bandai had to be my favorite booth at the con display wise (Except for Tron...that was awesome).

To me the display was overwhelmingly awesome because I know nothing of the product. A lot of the Gundams there just looked like cool ass robots, but I don't know a thing about them...Same with the Chogokin and Kamen Rider stuff :(

Well, I'll be drooling over those pics for a few weeks.

Unfortunately no, the Casval and G3 are the 1/100 GFF Metal Composite versions. The bad thing about those is that the panel line ink(pre-applied at factory), tends to run and RUINS the matte finish! At least that's what happened to my Amuro version. I was like what the hell is this stain? Wait where did that other one come from? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise, the figures feature excellent sculpts and presentation, the printed markings and matte detail are neat. The diecast content(not really too visible), adds good heft. The G3 comes with the G Fighter, and the Casval and Amuro are available separately(the 1st Amuro release has the G Fighter too). I think the solo Amuro has the Gundam Hammer included.

Articulation is decent, you can tell that the figures are primarily meant for display. For posing fun, the inevitable Robot Damashii SIDE MS and previous MSiA! are your best bet. However, IMHO, the ultimate RX-78 figure so far is the SCHMpro. Holy crap is that thing articulated. I bought one from HLJ's sale a few months back and GOOD GOD it is more articulated than the many of the super articulated Spiderman figures. Even comes with a display stand where you can STORE.ALL.OF.THE.PARTS!

As for Metal Composite, the 0 Gundam and repaint(both I think are Tamashii web exclusives), as well as the Unicorn Gundam are far more articulated than Metal Composite RX-78's. Until the Damashii SIDE MS 78's come out, SHCMpro is your best bet for a highly poseable RX-78 figure.

Or you could opt for the SCM EX crane prize figures by Banpresto, which HLJ offers for less than $20. RX-78 "Real Type Colors" and Black Trinary Zaku II are up next.

Ah..for Kamen Rider we have TM2 Dbot...over at TFW there is a HUGE thread on Kamen Rider too. The only thing I know about it is that it looks cool. I saw some episodes in the Philippines of the original, and it looked beast. The newer ones look awesome and the SH Figurarts, SIC, and MG Figurise versions all look great.

I know a little about KR, but I give credit to Vangelus and Omegus Prime for introducing me to KR and getting me to watch the shows.

The current series, Kamen Rider W ("Double") is a good intro to the series, since it's more light-hearted than some of the others and has a great story so far (it's still in production). I would also recommend Kuuga, Agito and Decade (especially since the last one has crossovers with Double and the previous Riders).

Haven't picked up any toys yet, but I've certainly been keeping tabs on them. The best available right now is the SH Figurarts line, but it can get rather expensive since everything is imported.

Ah yeah... I remember the GFF ones. Man, I have more RX-78's than I can shake a stick at, but when those Robot Damashii ones drop I'm all over it. The SHCM is amazing indeed, but I don't have the cash for it. I wish I would've been able to capitalize on that sale too, but it just wasn't in the cards at the time.

I did see a few episodes of the one with the main dude who is in red with a dragon or something. Looked awesome.

Would like to get some Figurarts but yea it is pricey, even before shipping!

Robot Damashiii RX-78 will KICK ASS. Wondering why Bandai is taking their time with it. I have 7 swords 00 Gundam MSV and it is amazing. I would LOVE to see a Full Armor FA-78 in Robot Damashii SIDE MS. Speaking of which, MSV is a great series to look into or Robot Damashii SIDE MS.

Can't wait to see the GM Sniper released!

Thanks dude.

So start with W? How do I see these? Is it something on TV in the US or do I need to track down fansubs or something?

The one figure that REALLY caught my eye at SDCC that I want to get is the Kamen Rider Decade figuart figure (thanks to Vangelus for giving me the lowdown on that one).

Need fansubs man, wait...there is a Kamen Rider here..or last year, think it was called Masked Rider Dragon Knight or something like that..or maybe they kept the Kamen Rider name...in any case the toys here by Bandai USA are...yeah go with the Japanese ones man.

Right on. Thanks man.

I will begin that search tonight when I get home from work! :)

So I just got a chance to see a Bluefin booth and display, similar to what Deefuzz saw at SDCC. The 1/48 Gundam is HUGE. Holy shit. From what eriku told me, it is simple to build. It's as tall as Unicron from Transformers Armada...taller I think. Not to mention its build quality is very toyetic, meaning very durable!

The cost I saw for them was $94. Not bad considering that if you order from Japan, the price is similar to MSRP+shipping.

Saw the Real Grade 1/144 Gundam up close too, and good lord ALL of that detail AND an internal frame on a tiny model! IMPRESSIVE! Bear in mind folks, the higher the amount of small parts the higher the cost. More parts to mold=higher cost. It's like a min-Perfect Grade kit!

Also saw the MG Figurerise Dragon Ball Z kits for the 1st time and GOD DAMN they are WAY bigger than I thought! Basically 8-9" figures upon completion! Yeah...definitely want some in the future, especially if Vegeta is made. Would kick ass if Bandai uses this as an opportunity to make FIGHTING GAME CHARACTERS!

Damn...all this Gundam goodness makes me miss gunpra!

Haha. Tony bought the SSJ Goku one at SDCC, it looked pretty badass. But since neither of us know anything about Bandai or Gundam type stuff we didn't know that the Goku was actually a model kit.

I told him that I would probably buy a Vegeta if they made one. But now I see that there are some DBZ Figuarts, so I might just go that route and hope they keep pumping out more DBZ characters.

Ah, that's either KR Ryuki (JP) or Dragon Knight (US). It's the second Kamen Rider series to be adapted for US markets (The first, Masked Rider, is based on KR Black). This time around they were able to keep the original main title, though. Haven't caught any of the US version, but I've heard it wasn't as good as Ryuki.

The upshot is since Dragon Knight was a US show, TRU has the toys for cheap. They're not SH Figuarts quality by any stretch, but they're better than DCIH figures (IMHO).

Definitely stick with fan-subs of the original series.

Cool! I might pick one up later this year. It will be interesting to see how the Figurise kits stack up. The last Dragon Ball thing I built was Bandai's Full Action Models from the 90's. Those were the smaller predecessors in a way, to the Figurise versions.

SH Figurarts is cool too, but I do prefer the bigger size of Figurise. Nonetheless, I'll probably get both.