Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Hobby Round 2

The second Hobby Round event was held on 20 September 2009 in Sunshine City's convention hall in Ikebukuro. The first event was initially organized as as a two-day event but Volks decided to only run it for one day beginning with this second event and moved it to a larger venue instead of the small place they had in Akihabara. My coverage of the first Hobby Round event can be found here.

I was expecting some really big new announcements but most of the stuff on display there had already been shown at recent hobby events like Wonder Festival and Chara Hobby. Their first Five Star Stories exhibition for the event wasn't as exciting and filled with mecha awesomeness as I had anticipated. Quite a disappointing and boring show for me really. There were about 400 people waiting in line before the opening with most of them aiming to purchase event exclusives. I got out of the event in less than 2 hours after the 11am opening time and headed straight of Akiba instead.

Volks is now going into the scale aircraft industry with the announcement of their upcoming 1/32-scale Super Wing Series Shinden plastic model kit. Due out on 15 January 2010 and retailing for 8,190 yen. Only available through Volks online shop and retail stores in Japan.

These were basically what they had on display for their first Five Star Stories exhibition at Hobby Round, with just a handful of their FFS resin kits displayed on the right next to a counter selling reissues of their FFS resin kits.

1/35 Schpertor Knight of Gold

Parts of the Twin Tower resin kit

1/35 Knight of Gold Joker3100

I think I've seen this diorama somewhere before.

Extremely thin limbs and torso. The robot would collapse under its own weight in real life!


Detail is absolutely incredible! Would love to own one but too bad it's a resin kit, and priced at 123,900 yen! >_<

Up for charity auction was the Volks 1/4 KOS-MOS kit professionally assembled and painted. Starting bid at 120,000 yen. Not sure how much it went for as the auction closed at 3:30pm. I was already on my way back home on the bus at the time. How much would you have offered for this stunning work of art?

Rear view of KOS-MOS! ^^

Second completed model up for charity auction. Mecha is from Muv-Luv. Starting bid at 40,000 yen. I highly doubt it went for much.

Third item up for charity auction was the E=X Garland from Megazone 23 III. Starting price at 80,000 yen. All proceeds from the charity auctions went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Volks' original manga Duel Knight gets some statuesque releases of the mechs.

Not too bad. But would look much nicer in color.

I have the power! (He-Man reference for those who didn't get it. ^^)

Same Linebarrels lineup shown again so I didn't bother taking individual pics.

Next N.E.X.T. Demonbane mecha action figure announced. Anyone know the name of this mech?


More of the same stuff shown that were announced at previous events.

1/6 Elizabeth Blanctorche in 1P and 2P colors

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann planned for a pre-painted statue release. Most probably made of polystone. Info on price and release date still TBA. Anyone excited about this announcement? I know a few people who would love to get it as a completed statue.

1/4 Kanu Unchou to be offered as a pre-painted statue due out this Autumn and limited to only 300 pieces. Only available through Volks online shop and retail stores in Japan, of course. Pre-order begins on 10 October 2009. Sure to sell out within minutes.

Traditional Japanese garagara lottery whereby one spins the wheel and whoever gets the yellow ball wins a prize of their choice. Check out the stack o' prizes behind counter. Free try for those with the flyer to the event.

Volks' mascot Bokko-chan and cat mascot. They're a resin kit set that lucky winners might get playing the garagara lottery.

1/6 Horo PVC with packaging. Due out end of October 2009.

K-On! PVC figures in the works! Can't wait! ^^

1/7 Remedia Color PVC on the left and 1/7 Franmel Hazumi PVC on the right.

Koihime Musou PVC figure and trading figures.

A very limited quantity of their Miku Hatsune PVC figure were sold at the event. I counted roughly 40 pieces or less behind the counter and it was sold out in less than an hour after the start of the event.

Nanoha, Hayate, Fate, and Vivio PVC figures. I have a complete set of all four for sale. Contact me for details!

Their complete lineup of Muv-Luv mecha action figures were on display at the event. They look almost the same to me except for some color differences. ^^

One of many custom figures that fans brought for display at the event.

Strike Noir Gundam-inspired Muv-Luv mech! Awesome!

Very creative custom of a Muv-Luv mech to look like Nirvash from Eureka Seven!

Some more cool Muv-Luv customs displayed at the event. Most of them were crap though ... ^^;

Nanoha-inspired Muv-Luv mech! They had Hayate and Fate customs too but this was creepy enough so I skipped on taking pics of those. The guy was still setting them up for display.

Here's a look at some of the past FFS resin kit releases that were on display and sold at the event. This one here is the glorious Knight of Gold, of course.


View more and larger pics in my flickr gallery set linked below:

Hobby Round 2 event coverage gallery

10 comments:

Johnson Huang said...

Hey Joseph,

Thanks for the coverage. Any plans on attending Hobby Round SR during October (10-12)? If so, do you know if they will they be reselling 1/4 KOS-MOS as resin kits?

Unknown said...

Wow nice, can't wait to see how the K-on figures will be !

Guy said...

Koijime Musou PVC figure is pretty cute. Very nice Holo :)

Tokyo Hunter said...

There's a possibility that Volks might make the KOS-MOS resin kit available again for the Hobby Round Showroom event in October. Not sure if I'll be able to make it to the event though as I have other plans. Will be attending Treasure Festa on 12 October. I might be able to make it to Hobby Round SR on the 10th.

Johnson Huang said...

Hmm ok well I'll keep my eyes peeled for any upcoming information regarding this.

Thanks for the quick reply.

LEon said...

Nice Coverage! 1/4 Kos-MOS is very well done. I hope they raise lot of money for charity thru her.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the report! Couldn't help but laugh at the Muv-Luv Nanoha, funny.

Tasunke said...

1/4 Kanu Unchou is amazing, shame that it's Volk's online limited...

glemtvapen said...

If Volks ever plan to sell the 1/4 KOS-MOS or the 1/4 Mai Shiranui as statues for the general public, I'll buy it in a heartbeat.

Chewy. said...

Nice coverage!!

Their mecha series are so expensive but so badass.

I will definitely look out for that Kanu.^^