Interview with Bandai’s Hobby Division on the state of Gunpla

Q: will the V2 voted #1 in the MG survey come out this year?
A: It may seem like the technology for V2 MG is there, but they are not fully ready yet. They don’t want to come out with a product that they will regret, so we should not see the V2 MG at least this year.

Q: What are we going to see in the future of HGUC?
A: the 0083 Federation lineup in HGUC is pretty complete now and we will also have the Zeon suits coming. The Dra-C appeared in the Unicorn anime could also be made. Dreissen and GMIII related suits in unicorn could also be available later.

Q: At this time how come there are less MG kits coming out?
A: during the current economy down turn the MGs are fairly expensive, so even if we come out with more MGs there is going to be people that can’t follow them. whether or not HG will past the 2000 yen avg price also depends on the current economy.

There are no MG for July because we have a lot of products coming out, so there’s a lot of issue we have to deal with the development not just Gunpla. We also don’t want it to overlap with the release of the RG too much.

Q: Isn’t 2011 the 15th anniversary for Gundam X?
A: I’m afraid we won’t have time this year, we came out with a lot products last year including HGFC G Gundam related products and based on sale last year we will focus on the G series this year. The HGAW Gundam X did not do so bad either and will be in our plan. We will have the G Gundam for HG and W Gundam for MGs because of the manga. Tt will be tough for us to bring out any Gundam X kit this year, but once the G and W comes to a close we will very likely to start with the X line.

Q: there are PG release every year recently, will there be a PG this year?
A: we might and might not, at this moment i cannot tell you.

Q: will there be a PG Unicorn?
A: say if we set the issue is with the price, the pyscho frame will probably have the glowing gimmick similar to the “1/700 Tokyo sky tree”. In order to make the articulation + transformation gimmick perfectly it will probably drive the price pretty high.

All the recent PG release are pretty popular because of their anime. People also can’t wait for a PG Unicorn, but if we say that there will be one it might lessen the interest and anticipation. The fans of Gundam UC are of a higher age group and we believe they can also afford the higher price. It’s not the time for us to take risk from now on and we hope we can have it out before the tax goes up.

Q: will there be a MG Delta Gundam?
A: Right now I can only say there is no plan. as for the MG Delta plus in August, the “HyakuShiki 2.0” and “Delta Gundam” could be ideas that’s worth paying attention to. If there is a HyakuShiki 2.0, the Delta Gundam is also a possibility. We have a MG Hyaku Shiki next to the MG Delta plus in the display, maybe the Hyaku Shiki 2.0 is in the works??

Q: What about a MG Kshatriya?
A: Even if it’s the MG we might have to use metal frame to support the binder because of the size, but right now it’s not the time to think about it because the economy is still very tough at the moment.

 

Source: Gtoys blog and Hobbyfanatics

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