War in the Pocket

JoJoFans on the ToysDaily Forum has posted a picture of the NEO4 lineup from the June issue of Hobby Japan. The picture confirms the lineup we posted earlier, and also confirms the multi-colored transparent figure variants.

So anyway, here is my theory about the stupid transparent figures. I am thinking that with 14-16 different figures released in boxes of 15, Bandai has found the NEO sets don't sell well enough. It is too easy for a casual collector to buy one box and get a single copy of every figure he'd want. I, for one, was planning on buying just 1 box of NEO4 and I figured I'd be satisfied (I don't collect SEED figures and I am going to cut back on Z, ZZ and Wing). By adding the transparent variants, Bandai has increased the odds that I won't get every figure I want - I'll get a Heavyarms, certainly, but it'll be a stupid clear version so I'll need another box or two to get everything I want. I don't know if that is really their motivation, but I suspect it is. Between this new scheme and the repeats of unpopular figures like the Zaku Tank and Zaku Marine, plus the overly diverse lineup within a single release (MSV, Z, ZZ, SEED, Wing, and Turn-A all in one box... oh my!), I am a little annoyed with these more recent NEO collections. Just my two cents...

Whew, it's been quite a while since my last post! There has not been much to report recently - it seems that after that big burst of activity from October to March, it was time for a vacation at Bandai's Gundam Collection division. Last week I too was on a much-needed vacation in Oregon and Washington. ;-)

Anyway, the latest issue of Hobby Japan has printed a list of the NEO4 figures, which were posted on the Japanese site TinWoodMan's Collection:

1. RX-78-2 Gundam, with G-Hammer (Original Gundam)
2. MS-06R-1A High Mobility Zaku, Black Tri-Stars colors (MSV)
3. MS-06V Zaku Tank (MSV)
4. MS-13 Gasshia (MSV)
5. MSZ-006Z Zeta Gundam (Z Gundam)
6. MSZ-006A1 Zeta Plus A1 (Gundam Sentinel)
7. MSZ-010 Double Zeta Gundam (ZZ Gundam)
8. RGM-86R GM III (Zeta Gundam)
9. AMX-117L Gazu-L (ZZ Gundam)
10. AMX-117R Gazu-R (ZZ Gundam)
11. AMX-109 Kapool (Turn-A Gundam)
12. ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam (Gundam Seed Destiny)
13. ORB-01 Akatsuki (Gundam Seed Destiny)
14. AMF-101 DINN (Gundam Seed)
15. XXXG-01H Gundam Heavyarms (Gundam Wing)
16. XXXG-01D Gundam Deathscythe (Gundam Wing)

[Update] TinWoodMan also reports that almost all of the figures (Gundam, Zaku Tank, Zeta gundam, ZZ Gundam, GM III, Gazu-L, Kapool, Akatsuki, DINN, Heavyarms and Deathscythe) will have a "clear color" alternate version... I am not sure what the point of that is.

I have to say, I am a little disappointed with this lineup. The MSG/MSV figures are half duplicates (did we really need another Zaku Tank??), and now we see that even with the ZZ, Zeta, Seed Destiny, Sentinel, and Gundam Wing releases far from over, they are starting into Turn-A Gundam. Turn-A Gundam! These sets are getting far too diverse for my taste... Anyway, there are some cool figures so we'll have to watch out for this set in, I think, June.

If anyone finds a picture of the lineup online, please post to the comments. Thanks.