Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011

Coverage photos for Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011 are now up! Known as Gundam Expo Hong Kong in the past few years, this year's Gundam Expo is renamed as Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011. I went with AstrayP03 to check the event out on Sunday. Too bad the finalist entries for Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011 as they will be shown from Chistmas Day. Will put captions later in the day.


A brief introduction on Gunpla at the beginning of the "Gunpla History Tour"


A huge poster showing the evolution of Gunpla (using RX-78-2 Gundam as example) over the years.















History of Gunpla - it's impressive to see how far they have advanced over the past few decades :o


G Gundam Gunpla. Nobel Gundam fell down ^^;


HG 1/144 Extreme Gundam from Gundam Extreme Vs (arcade & PS3 game).
Despite being a boss "character", Extreme Gundam never fights in this form.


The GMs released in 2011. This year really is the year of the GM~


MS that appear in Gundam UC OVA


MG 1/100 Astray Red Frame, Astray Blue Frame, and Strike Freedom Gundam


MG 1/100 Zaku II Ver 2.0 & RX-78-2 (OYW ver?)


MG 1/100 Unicorn Gundam & ReZEL


MG 1/100 Delta Plus & Sinanju


MG 1/100 Gundam 00 series and Gundam Wing series


RG 1/144 Aile Strike Gundam


RG 1/144 Freedom Gundam


RG 1/144 Char's Zaku II


RG 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam


RG 1/144 Zaku II


The PG 1/60 Gunpla kits...


... And the even bigger 1/48 Mega Size Gunpla


BB Senshi Strike & Force Impulse. I don't build BB Senshis but I miss how they have elbow joints in the past as the ones nowadays don't have such feature.


BB Sensh 00 Raiser & 00 Gundam Seven Swords/G


BB Senshi Wing Gundam Ver. Ka - one of the most detailed BB Senshi kits IMHO


Gundam UC BB Senshi Gunpla


A wall of displays dedicated for 1/144 Gundam UC Gunpla


Sample display of yet to be released HGUC 1/144 Unicorn Gundam Banshee in Unicorn & Destroy Mode


A diorama of Unicorn Gundam and Sinanju


Sample display of MG 1/100 Full Armour Unicorn Gundam


Another display of Full Armour Unicorn Gundam.
Personally I think it should be called Full Arms Unicorn Gundam as there are no extra armour for this upgrade, but rather extra armament!


AG 1/144 Gundam AGE kits. Unlike older beginner 1/144 kits these have much closer resemblance to their HG 1/144 brothers thanks to advance in technology.

1/48 Mega Size Gundam AGE-1 Normal


A wall of display showing kits of Gundam AGE released so far


HG 1/144 Gundam AGE-2 Normal revealed


Another display model of Gundam AGE-2


Prototype sample of MG 1/100 Gundam AGE-1 Normal


Prototype sample of MG 1/100 Gundam AGE-1 Titus

Prototype sample of MG 1/100 Gundam AGE-1 Spallow


A diorama display showing a custom built 1/144 Diva warship and the Gundam fighting the UE MS


HG 1/144 Gundam AGE-1 Normal on display with various display-only effect parts.


A re-enactment of the scene in first episode of Gundam AGE


Huge wallpaper of RG1/144 Freedom Gundam boxart


RG 1/144 Freedom Gundam diorama. I think there are supposed to be the full burst beam parts on the guns (as seen in 51st Japan Model Hobby Show here) but I have a feeling that they got snapped and broken during transport ^^;


MG 1/100 Duel Gundam and Assault Shroud equipments


MG 1/100 Duel Gundam


Beam rifle, shield, and bazooka for MG 1/100 Duel Gundam. It's nice to see that the bazooka is included as it was stolen for Astray Gold Frame to use in the side story, so Duel never got its hand on this weapon.



The outer armour parts and weapons for Assault Shroud of Duel Gundam


RG 1/144 Sky Grasper with Sword and Launcher striker packs


RG 1/144 Strike Gundam with Launcher and Sword striker packs


Strike Gundam vs LaGOWE


Upcoming HG 1/144 LaGOWE


Overhead posters showing what's updated for the re-released versions of Gundam SEED Gunpla. Apart from slight colour changes, there are more stickers and markings available, as well as having an extra joint part included for Action Base 2 stands that are sold separately.


Overhead posters showing the new upcoming HG 1/144 LaGOWE and upgrade parts for HG 1/144 Strike Gundam (including a Grand Slam sword) that will come with 2012 April issue of Hobby Japan. With that said, the localised Chinese version should have this as well.


SD Sangokuden Gunplas on display


New BB Senshis Gundam AGE Gunpla on display.




Many different colour variations of Bearrguys XD








Various Gunplas on display that are made by fans and people who have particpated in the Gunpla Builder World Cup. Some of them have appeared in ACGHK 2011 as well.


HG 1/144 Beginning J & Beginning D Gundam


The Gashapon area


Children playing on the Gundam AGE arcade machines. Apparently there are some in Hong Kong (and not just these 2 machines here), but I have not taken notice of them yet.


Children building AG 1/144 Gafran in a Gunpla workshop


Effect parts for re-released versions of HG 1/144 Gundam SEED Gunplas, which will be available around end of December.


The event shop



Album set:

Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011
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Kanji of Year 2011 - Kizuna

This year's kanji of the year is 絆 (kizuna), which means "bond", as in link / connection between people.


Image from Business Recorder

Kanji of the year is chosen annually by the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society.


Image from BBC News

This year's choice of word is quite fitting in my opinion. There has been a great earthquake an tsunami that has drastically affected the nation in March, and people stand up for each other in spite of the natural disaster. Some support by donations, while others give spiritual support by sending out words of good will and drawings to keep up the morale. It impresses me to see how people remain to be very organised and seeing infrastructure getting repaired and rebuilt in just months. The kanjis 震 (shin, i.e. quake) and 災 (sai, i.e. disaster) have already been listed in 1995 and 2004 respectively, and it's nice that people have responded to the bad stuff with positive attitude this year.

On a side note, the character of the year in Chinese is 控, which means control. In a contrast the same character in Japanese means "to restrict" or "to withdraw".

And what does 絆 mean in Chinese? Funny enough it is actually "to stumble" or "to trip (on something)". Quite a difference isn't it? ^^;
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Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011 Finalists & Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011 Preview

UPDATED: Added pictures for Malaysia entries


The upcoming Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011 will take place in Discovery Park in Tsuen Wan from 15th to 27th December.

Date: 15th - 27th December 2011
Time: 11am - 8pm
Venue: Discovery Park - Shopping Centre
Free admission


The regional champions of Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011 will also gather up as finalists for the World Cup Final, of which the grand champions of the competition will be announced on 25th December (which would be a nice Christmas present from Bandai wouldn't it? ^^).

Below are the confirmed entries (open course and junior course) set to appear in Hong Kong so far for next week. Unfortunately due to the recent flooding Thailand is not able to participate in the finals. The English names of the entries are rough translations, and if anyone knows the names of the entries from other regions please do let me know!

KOREA:

PG Hybrid gundam rx-78-2 by KIM SO RI


Mk II AEUG by YOUN TAE HO

CHINA:

三国争霸图 - the hegemony map of the Three Kingdoms by GUO TIAN YOU


心灵对话 - Spritual Dialogue (Conversation by Heart) by LAO JIA HONG

HONG KONG:

冥王．剎帝利 - Hades Kshatriya by KONG YIU MAN


第四空間中的二次大戰 - The 2nd great war of 4th dimension by YUENG WONG YIP

TAIWAN:

那些年我在幽谷的日子 - Those times I spent in AEUG by LIN ZIH-CIAO


00Q by LIN TSUNG-HAN

AUSTRALIA:

Custom Built 1/100 MG Rickdom by MARK CARLISLE


Custom Built 1/100 MG Hi-Nu plus 1/100 MG Nu by DARRYL CHOW

NORTH AMERICA:

Sazabi's Final Mission by Gamera Baenrae aka CLEMENT ENG (thanks gundamjehutykai for the info!)

ITALY:

RX-78-2 Gundam - Close Combat Mobile Suit by DOMENICO FEBBO

INDONESIA:

Kshatriya by BUDI SALIM


Fishing in a wrong day by ALLEN FEBRIANTO

SINGAPORE:

The Sazabi by ONG POH THEAN


Zaku F2000 “Omen” by TEO ZHI SHENG

PHILIPPINES:

Buster Impulse by MICHAEL T. COSTA


MOSAZ by ELIEZER B. QUIRONG

MALAYSIA:

Kshatriya IV by HO YICK YIN


Frozen Hero by TEOW JIAN LIM

JAPAN:

願い - Wish by 山口達彦（TATSUHIKO YAMAGUCHI）


ザクとの戦い - Fighting against the Zaku by 畑めい（MEI-HATA）



Event exclusive items have been announced but prices will be confirmed on a later date. They are of the following:

MG 1/100 Char's Zaku II Clear Colour Ver.

MG 1/100 00 QAN[T] Clear Colour Ver.

HGUC 1/144 Z Gundam Clear Colour Ver.

HG 1/144 Gundam AGE-1 Normal Full Colour CoatingVer.

HG 1/144 Pink Beargguy

BB Senshi Ryuubi & Hakuhin Ryuuseiba Clear Colour Ver.


Notable displays will include upcoming HGUC Unicorn Gundam Banshee (Unicorn and Destroy Mode), MG 1/100 Gundam AGE-1, as well as new MG kits (e.g. Duel Gundam) from Gundam SEED.


Unlike the past 3 years the annual Gundam public event is renamed from Gundam Expo Hong Kong to Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011, and BAKUC (Bandai Action Kit Universal Cup) being Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011 this year. The event has also been moved back to Tsuen Wan for the first time since 2008, which was the first event I went back then.

The location is a bit far this time, but I think I will spend an afternoon there one day like previous years. We have finalist entries from a lot more places this year, so it will be great to see them in person~ Have you got any favourites in your mind? So far the winged Sinanju of the Japanese entry and the Hades Kshatriya from Hong Kong has caught the most of my attention. :o

Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011:
http://bandai-hobby.net/GBWC_JAPAN/GBWC2011.html

Gunpla Expo World Tour Hong Kong 2011:
http://www.bandai-asia.com/gunpla-expo2011/index.html

GA Graphic:
http://ga.sbcr.jp/mgundam/018895/
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Hatsune Miku Wedding Dress Figure sold for 389,000 Yen

A modified and repainted Hatsune Miku figure in wedding dress has been sold for astounding 389,000 Yen (~5000 USD or 3741 EUR) on Yahoo Auction Japan.

The figure had 96 bids from 1 Yen to the final bidding price over the course of 6 days (4th November to 10th November). Despite this being a month old the news only spread recently over the Internet.


Front


Back

The figure is actually a hybrid of two existing figures with a bit of touchup. The two figures are:


Max Factory 1/7 Hatsune Miku Tony Taka version, released in March 2011 for 8800 Yen


New Line 1/6 ToHeart2 Tamaki Kousaka -Marriage-, released in October 2010 for 9800 Yen

More pictures found from other sources:












So the idea was to use a head of a slightly smaller scale on top of a wedding dress figure (Kousaka Tamaki in this case) to create an image of an adult Miku ready to marry off to someone.

Apart from the repaint, there are minor modifications such as the head bands. According to the descriptions there are apparently also stuff that we cannot see from the pictures, such as miniskirt beneath the wedding dress (as the figure can be cast off, i.e. dress can be removed to reveal what is underneath) and decal markings for Miku.

It's... Impressive how the final bidding price for this Miku wedding dress figure ended up at 389,000 Yen, especially when it was modified from existing figures. This price utterly dwarfs that for my biggest stunt and most expensive purchase of the year. That being said, I won't comment directly whether the figure really worths that much of a price, but I am sure we all have our own opinions on this. Let's just say that some people sure have a lot of love for the characters they like ^^;


Sources:
Yahoo Auction Japan item page (page will be expired approximately after 6 months)
オレ的ゲーム速報
http://blog.livedoor.jp/insidears/archives/52510212.html
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