War in the Pocket

Thanks to the ToysDaily forums and loyal reader akum6n, we have pictures of the unpainted pre-production figures of the NEO 3 lineup. These confirm the list posted previously. Enjoy!

A Japanese hobby magazine, and Japanese fansite Tin Woodman's Collection, have revealed the lineup for NEO3. I couldn't find a release date, but my guess would be January or February.

1. MS-07B Gouf (poseable)
2. RX-78-2 Gundam (likely poseable, designed to stand with Gouf)
3. MSM-03 Gogg
4. XXXG-01W Wing Gundam (from Gundam Wing)
5. XXXG-01S Shenlong (from Gundam Wing)
6. XXXG-01SR Sandrock (from Gundam Wing)
7. OZ-00MS Tallgeese (from Gundam Wing)
8. OZ-06MS Leo (from Gundam Wing)
9. RGC-80 GM Cannon
10. MS-06M Zaku Marine Type
    
11. MS-07H Flight-Type Gouf
12. MS-07H Flight-Type Gouf (Federation colors, from Zeta Gundam)
13. ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice Gundam (from Gundam SEED Destiny)
14. MVF-M11 Murasame (from Gundam SEED Destiny)
15. MS-14F Gelgoog Marine (from 0083)

I'm glad we finally get a new Gouf figure, the one from Vol.2 was pretty lame. This volume is heavy on the One Year War re-releases and Gundam Wing figures... SEED Destiny only gets a token showing and G Gundam is MIA. I'm not sure we needed another Gogg or Zaku Marine, but maybe they'll have cool poses. Actually, since they are making a blue Federation colors Gouf Flight Type, I imagine the Zaku Marine will be colored the same. As for secret figures, my guess would be the Tallgeese II and Cima's Gelgoog Marine Commander Type.

HobbyLink Japan is showing DX3 as "in stock", right on schedule. Strangely, HLJ still claims they don't have NEO2 in stock...

I received my DX3 figures from my friend in Hong Kong over the weekend. Don't ask how he got them... but he's got more for sale in the forum. Anyway, here are some pictures with commentary, click on the thumbnails for larger images.

Like the Psycho Gundam in DX2, the Devil Gundam is the rarest figure in DX3 - as rare as secret figures in the regular volumes. I have the regular version... even more rare is the alternate version, with "Devil Fingers" extended, and as you can image the "secret" version, the floating-head mobile armor mode, is almost impossible to find. Oh well.



The Gundam Wing Endless Waltz figures are pretty nice. I highly recommend getting both versions of Nataku if you can, because the arms are interchangeable, meaning you can make a version with both claws extended and one with neither claw extended, as I show below. The Sandrock with cloak is also a nice figure.



Hamma Hamma and Palace Athene with beam sabers:



Gaplant with beam saber... this is actually a pretty nice figure, but it has an awkward stand which is why we never got any good pictures of it.



I think this is a first: The Xamel figures includes both variants. As shown below, the Xamel comes with two versions of its main gun, one stowed and one deployed. It's a nice feature, and it saves us the trouble of buying two Xamels, though it will be very easy to lose those itty-bitty extra pieces...



Perfect Zeong is to scale, and it's pretty nice. You can see in the pictures that the Perfect Zeong measures up nicely against the Queen Mansa, and is about the same height as the not-quite-to-scale Psycho Gundam. Do you think it bothers Bandai that their 1/400 scale versions of the 30 meter tall Zeong and the 40 meter Psycho Gundam are the same height? It'd better! The Zeong upper body is identical to the one from DX1, except the two large rockets are removed... you can see in the picture it even has the hole for the DX1 Zeong's stand. Also, the Perfect Zeong's feet do contain rockets, as they should, but I'm a little annoyed they stuck the holes for the base right next to then... couldn't those have been integrated into the rocket somehow?



Other than a few nit-picky complaints, I am very pleased with DX3. The figures look great.

Here are pictures of the two known secret figures from DX3... Asshimars with a dark paint scheme and a mobile armor (floating head?) version of the Devil Gundam.

According to the Bandai-Hobby.net release schedule, Gundam Collection DX3 has been delayed until November 21. It also appears this date is only tentative - I have heard from a friend in Hong Kong that DX3 is not expected there until early December. We do not know why DX3 has been delayed.

Speaking of delays, HobbyLink Japan is still showing Gundam Collection NEO2 as an "Oct. Release", even though it was released more than a week ago in Japan and Hong Kong. Has anyone received a shipping notification for NEO2 from HLJ?

More pictures of the NEO2 figures are appearing online, including variants and secret figures. This Japanese site has pictures of all of them - just click the link in each cell of the table to see each picture. This list confirms there are the usual glow-in-the-dark versions of the SEED Destiny Gundams, and confirms the Shining Gundam has two gold Hyper-Mode variants, only one of which is considered rare.

  

Mark Simmons reports that the December hobby magazines in Japan have revealed the figure variants for DX3 - thanks Mark! Here is a list of the figures and their variants:

1. Wing Gundam Zero - two beam rifles / two beam sabers
   
2. Gundam Deathscythe Hell - wings extended / one wing folded down as a shield
3. Gundam Nataku - right Dragon Fang extended / left Dragon Fang extended + beam trident
4. Gundam Sandrock - heat shotels / heat shotels + armored cloak
5. Perfect Zeong - arms attached / arms extended
6. Devil Gundam - Devil Fingers retracted / Devil Fingers extended (they're giant claws that pop out of its shoulders)
   
7. Gaplant - empty hands / beam saber
8. Palace Athene - two-barreled beam gun / beam saber
9. Hamma Hamma - right claw extended / beam saber + shield

That leaves Heavyarms, Tallgeese III, the Xamel and the two Asshimars with no variants. I guess we are stuck with the cheesy "missile-firing" effect on Gundam Heavyarms... oh well. But the good news is that since the Xamel has no variant listed, and yet has been pictured with its gun both stowed and deployed, I think we can assume the Xamel's gun will be able to fold up somehow. And that's pretty neat.

[Updated 2:44 PM] I fixed the list per Mark's comments below. Also, if anyone can find pictures of these figures or can scan the magazine for us, please post a link in the comments or post the pictures to the forum. Thanks!

The official Japanese site at Bandai-Hobby has posted an image gallery for NEO 2. The gallery has pictures of all the regular figures and a few of their variants. Check it out!

The NEO 2 collection has been released, though HobbyLink Japan is not listing it as "in stock" just yet. We will post pictures of the figures as they become available... please post any pictures you find to the News section of our War in the Pocket forum. The secret figures for NEO 2 have already been revealed, as we reported previously.

According to Bandai-Hobby, DX3 is set to be released on November 4th, much earlier than the usual end-of-the-month release dates we've seen for the other sets. I guess NEO2 and DX3 really are meant to compliment one another. No word yet on what the "secret figures" will be for DX3... I am putting my money on the Hajime Katoki version of Wing Gundam.