If it’s one thing I love, and have a hard time resisting, it’s mech kits. This is made manifestly clear if you look in my stash: I have at least 150 different mech kits to build, and the bulk of them are Gundams. In May, 2015, a new store, Hobby and Toy Central, opened in London. They are serious about hobbies and were bugged by many local residents to get in some Gundams. This wasn’t a line with which they were familiar, but since McCormick’s had just closed, there was no where for Gundam fans to get their fix. The staff decided to try it out, and it seems like they’ve been a big seller.
From their distributor, Plamod, they got a number of cards for the Gundam Mid-Year Campaign. This is a contest in which you can win even more Gundam kits! The cards have a code on them, and you can sign up at Bandai’s Gundam site and enter the code. You then have to chose a prize you want. If your code is a winner, and I believe of the correct prize you chose, then you win! If you have a winning card, but chose the wrong prize, you don’t. I think that’s the way. You only get one shot, too… Winning can be very difficult.
Well, this is where beginner’s luck comes in. I purchased a few Gundams from Hobby and Toy Central, got my cards, and one lazy August morning, decided I should enter them, just to see. Well, I chose right; the first code I entered matched with my choice of prize, and thus I was a winner of the HG Build Fighters Try Special Set! This is a set of the first 20 models released in the Build Fighters Try series. Amazingly, I’d only bought 6 to that point, and hadn’t seen the rest!
I was extremely excited, needless to say! Prizes were to be delivered sometime after October, 2015. However, no fixed date was given, By Christmas, 2015, I’d somewhat given up on ever seeing my prize. With January’s “blahs”, I discounted the prize’s arrival completely. However, on January 26, 2016, my 16.7lb box of Gundam kits arrived at my door! It had taken almost a week to get from Burnaby BC to my home in Ontario; not bad, really!
One interesting fact: There were only 82 of these prizes IN THE WORLD. That’s pretty darn cool. I do indeed feel like the father in Christmas Story, with his “major award”. Even though these Gundams aren’t as front-window-worthy as a leg lamp, they do require some glue, and they are art, so I think I’m in the same league!
This is the “Major Award” box. it’s one of only 82 in the world, and it’s BIG! Almost 17 lbs of Gundams await within. Yes, that’s the same couch as seen in the Dragonar Buffet above, too. Good couch for mecha, it seems…
How big is the box? My Nephew, Everett, adds a sense of scale. He’s just over 2′ tall. He’s almost as excited as I am. Future Gundam builder? I hope! There’s certianly no lack of kits for him to build if he raids my stash!
This is the first six of the Gundams in the box. Every kit in this prize is awesome. My favourite in this shot; the Cardigan, I think. (Won’t you be my neighbour?)
The next eight. There’s a lot of sprue in that crate. A favourite here? Hmm… I think the R Gya Gya; it’s like a Gundam crossed with something from Escaflowne.
The final six. My favourite here is probably the Hi-Nu Vrabe. I don’t know what a “Vrabe” is, but I love the funnel arrangement! The SxDxG is the only kit in the assortment I’m only kind of ‘meh’ on, but it might grow on me.
That’s a big load of Gundam kits. So many, in fact, it’s longer and wider than the hearth on my fireplace! On that note, check out my cool classic fan, too.
This is a more compact arrangement. For anyone else who’s won this set, but hasn’t gotten it yet; keep up the faith! Eventually, it seems, the prizes in the Campaign will get to you. Good things come to those who wait, and all that!
The Sprue Lagoon 