BANDAI: SUPERIOR GUNDAM

Report by Douglass Kern
Click here for the Toy Fair Gallery.
Click here for promotional pictures from Bandai.

Superior Defender Gundam is the new expansion of the Gundam brand in North America. Based on the old Super Deformed-style Gundam toys, Superior Defender is a whole new series being worked on right now. The animation duties, like previous Gundam shows, are being handled by Sunrise.

The story behind Superior Defender ("SD") Gundam focuses around the armies of the evil Dark Axis, who is dead set on conquering everything in front of him. To stop him, three robots from different worlds have joined forces. They are the Mobile, Knight and Musha Defenders. The upcoming line is going to get a huge push from Bandai, with figurines, action figures, playlets, vehicles, models, comic and a card game all set for release.

The Show

The nicest part about Bandai's Superior Defender Gundam presentation was that we were allowed to preview some clips of the upcoming show! Snippets included clips of the various characters, some fights and lots of SD Zaku II's. No dialogue from in show was present, however.

The show appears to use cel-shaded CGI, similar to the battle scenes from the Zoid series. Both the MS's and human characters were present, and the MS's were clearly characters of their own, as evidenced by their ability to talk. Dark Axis was shown moving his mouth vent like he was talking; he also threw a temper tantrum.

Lots of battle scenes were shown, with cute little hapless Zaku II's attempting to mow down the good guys with volleys of machine gun fire, and some close up combat, including a very nasty Gouf Custom-esque design trying to first blow away his opponent with a gatling cannon, and then attacking him head on, not with a heat saber or heat rod, but a nasty looking bladed claw.

While the Mobile, Musha and Knight seem to be the main core Gundams, there is a good chance others will join them as the show progresses. The SD Burning Gundam is shown prominently in the promo art, and an upcoming SD Master Gundam figure was on display.

Everything was bright and colorful, and it definetly had that Gundam feel, right down to shots of UC style space colonies. The new show is being aimed at a younger market than previous US-aired shows have, but there is a good chance it will have wide appeal. It will be airing on Cartoon Network's Toonami later in the fall, and it will also be released on DVD.

The Toys

Of course, what would a Gundam show be without Gundam toys to accompany it? Bandai has a ton SD Gundam product coming, both imports of previous product released in Japan as well as totally new merchandise. The packaging will be similar to the the style used in the Gundam line, with the exception of red and yellows being used as the background color instead of blues.

First up are little 1.5 inch figures. These appear to be the old PVC style figurines sold in Japan. They will be sold five to a pack, like the Digimon PVC sets. They seem to cover a wide rage of Gundam series. Each pack will sell for $4.99

To complement these little guys, Bandai is releasing playsets. The playsets in most cases appear to be vehicles that open up to become bases and action areas, like the Ra Cailum that was on display. Shown in playset mode was a Rewloola who is packed with an Alpha Azieru, Sazabi and Schnider's Geara Doga. The other sets will also have three pack in figures. The sets will sell for $9.99

In addition, larger fully articulated figures are coming for the toy line, in two types of assortments. The first are standard action figures, complete with accessories; each figure will have a unique action feature. The other type are the Deluxe editions, which will either transform or be "battlesided". On display I noticed Dark Axis, the Gouf design from the show, Master Gundam, and mock up packaging for some of the Gundams. A transforming Wing Zero Custom was also visable. Both of these assortments will sell for $5.99 each.

Mimicking the standard Gundam assortments, Superior Defender Gundam will also feature figures packed with vehicles. The example shown was a really spiffy looking Destruction Dom packaged with a companion Gallop vehicle. A packaging mock up for a Tallgeese Knight and Pegasus mount was also shown. This assortment will sell for $12.99.

Models

To coincide with the toys, Bandai is also bringing over numerous SD kits from Japan. They will be priced from $7.99-$12.99, and will have the same peg hanging style packaging the standard smaller Gundam models will have. Bandai had the Perfect Gundam, Dendrobium, and Musha Gundam with Mobile Horse, on display.

Card Game

The card game had a mock up on display. Not much was said about it, but it will feature art from the show in it with emphasis on the characters.

The Superior Defender Gundam presentation was extremely well done. It is wonderful, albeit a bit unexpected, that it is making its way over here from Japan. Such flood of great product will be coming out here, all affordably priced -- it's fantastic. Another great fact about the SD Gundam line is that it will definitely stand out; "different" can hardly begin to describe it. The line is so unique, that Bandai can't help but look forward to adding new figures to the line in the coming years.

ASM would like to extend many thanks to the wonderful folks at Bandai for their courtesy and for the promotional pictures.

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