It’s that time of year again, and Good Smile Company has revealed its upcoming mecha model kits and toys, with some genuinely surprising additions.
The biggest surprise was the reveal of the Hagane Works Ultimate Dancouga. This was a new design featured in Super Robot Wars 30. What’s interesting about this design is that until now we didn’t know the name or form of what Dancouga combined with to form Ultimate Dancouga.
Well, now we know, and it’s called Dairyuga and like the other Dancouga machines, has multiple forms. This new Hagane Works Dairyuga will also combine with the suitably massive Hagane Works Dancouga toy, which is already a majestically impressive figure.
Following that, we had a veritable ton of Moderoid model kit surprises. From the addition of Giant Gorg and the often overlooked Beagle tank, the latter having a fascinating design history involving Mamoru Nagano. Not to mention the inclusion of Xardion, a fabulous design by Moriki Yasuhiro and being the titular mecha in the SNES game of the same name.
Then there’s the inclusion of mecha from Wares Blade, a table-top role-playing game with a very dedicated following and designs by Hiroyuki Hataike. As well as all the lovely Bang Bravern toys and upgrades, including Superbia.
I am genuinely impressed with the lineup here. Good Smile Company is offering some fascinating and very varied model kit and toys options for mecha fans and that’s entirely great. As always, I’d hope to see more chogokin type toys, but I think the inclusion of Ultimate Dancouga here is a pretty big deal in that regard.
In any case, it’s clear that Bandai Spirits has a solid competitor in the mecha toy and kit collector space and that’s going to make things increasingly interesting.
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