Gunota just posted a link to a publicity shot of the Gundam Unicorn. It looks very ambitious. The conversion from normal mode (the the unicorn horn) to "hyper-mode" (for lack of a better term) looks like it can be done without part swapping. I haven't found too much information about the novel, but the mecha design looks interesting. I will probably pick one up if the conversion can be done without part swapping.
I am not sure your attempt to compare marketing potential in 1979 to 2007 is a fair one. The introduction of the MG line in 1995 changed the face of gunpla in that previously, you had a series of models produced for a single anime, and that was it. The MG series was the first to market directly to the kids that started building Gunpla from the early days and as a result, had more complex and expensive kits. Bandai then realized that a market for pre-painted stuff was also viable and that the Pokeman craze had created suckers...buyers who were willing to shell out money for cheap plastic as long you made them randomly packaged. I think these 2 elements combined to create the market conditions we see today. I am interested in how quickly a MG of GU came out. Considering how long it took them to get a decent model out of the Hi-Nu. I remember seeing pictures of the Hi-Nu when I was a kid and desperately wanting one. I got the 1/220 kit from B-Club in college but that was small. I was exited about the 1/100 kit until I saw pictures of it. I think it should be at least as tall as the Nu Gundam. To me, it looks to short. Oh well. On 10/4/07, Dr. Core <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Reynolds, Jason M. wrote: > > http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10064235 > > A bit redundant to have a Ver Ka kit for an MS that was designed by > Katoki > > if you ask me... > > This is to prepare the stage for the Gundam Unicorn Ver. Ok. ;-) > > BTW, is there a logic behind the lack of MG G00 kits along with MG > being the one-and-only (?) merchandise from Unicorn (henceforth > abbreviated as GU?) > > Also want to point out G00 is the series with the earliest > merchandise, by a LONG stretch, in the over 10,000 Yens price range. > Right? The closest should be Seed, was the HGUC Meteor Unit the first > one? No that's only 8000 Yens. That should leave the PG Strike Gundam > as the first >10,000 Yen merchandise, which was released after the > show finished. More than 1 year after the show finished, right? > > Perhaps you might count First Gundam... which brings the question > what's a fair comparison between 1979 and 2007 pricing. I've always > wondered how to compare say, a 1/60 Gelgoog kit (2500 Yens) in 1979 to > the >10,000 Yens merchandise of 2007. Finance taught me to expect a > doubling every 7 years. But that kind of feels wrong, it would mean a > 2000 Yens goodie in 1979 is equivalent to 16,000 Yens goodie today. > So finally today I check the consumer price index for Japan. Turns > out in 1979 CPI was 69.7, 2004 it's 98.1 (year 2000 was defined as > 100.0). Meaning pricing has only gone up 41% in 25 years. BTW for > USA it's 160%, for Hong Kong it's 292% (I might have made a mistake > correcting for a change in accounting in 1990). > > Anyway... That means a 10,000 Yens merchandise should be compared to a > 7100 Yens price tag in 1979. So First Gundam didn't come anywhere > close to Seed's, G00's and GU's ability to sell high price goodies > during or soon after the show. > > Hmm I kinda made 3 topics out of this post, eh? > > -- > Dr. Core > -------------------------------------------------- > The Gundam Mailing List MK-II [email protected] > > Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml > Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in > the BODY: help list >
