Since Mobile Suit: Gundam first rolled out its initial anime in the 1970s, there has been one piece of merchandise that has garnered hundreds of millions of sales for Bandai Namco. The Gundam Plastic Models, aka Gunplas, have long offered Gundam enthusiasts the opportunity to collect recreations of some of the franchise’s biggest mechs. Unfortunately, Bandai Namco had some bad news for those that routinely purchase the figures and assemble them as a new report has been released hinting at price increases. If you’re looking to pick up any Gunplas in the future, now might be the best time to do it.
Videos by ComicBook.com
If you’re wondering when the first Gundam Plastic Model was released, it arrived in 1980 and was modeled from the first mech of the franchise, the RX-78-2 Gundam. Since this release, the Gunplas have taken the world by storm and Bandai Namco has sold an astonishing hundreds of millions of the figures worldwide. Thanks to the Gundam franchise’s ability to create new mechs via different stories, realities, and timelines, there are more than enough mechs to bring to the real world via Gundam Plastic Models. With the series continuing to explore new worlds with each passing year, Gunplas will continue to have plenty of ground to cover.
RELATED: Disney’s Mickey Mouse is Getting a Gundam (And It’s Glorious)
The Gundam Price Increase is Nigh
In a new statement from Bandai Namco President and Representative Director Hiroshi Sakakibara, the company revealed that prices will be increasing for many Gundam Plastic Models beginning in April of next year. Here’s the official statement from the mech producers, “For over 40 years, we have striven to maintain the prices of our platic model products. However, due to recent increases in raw material and packaging material prices, as well as rising logistics costs, we have determined that it is difficult to maintain our current pricing structure. Therefore, we will be gradually revising the prices of some products that we will resell after April 2025. We will continue to strive to provide safe, secure, and high-value-added products to our fans around the world. Thank you for your understanding.”
Bandai Namco also released a handy breakdown of the products that will be affected overall and the corresponding dates:
- General Retail Sales:
- Some products sold from April to June 2025
- Products with revised prices from July 2025 onwards will be announced quarterly on the Bandai Hobby Site.
- Premium Bandai Hobby Online Shop
- Some products shipped after April 2025
- Price changes for products will be announced on the Bandai Hobby Site when pre-orders for each product begin.
- Gundam Base Limited Edition/Event Items:
- Some products sold after April 2025
- Price changes for products will be announced on the Bandai Hobby Site quarterly from around February 2025.
Gundam’s Upcoming Anniversary Plans
Gundam is preparing not only for its forty-fifth anniversary but its fiftieth as well, promising to unleash new anime projects and other surprises for mech fans over the coming years. Recently, the series has been riding high with its recent Netflix release, Gundam: Requiem For Vengeance, which presented a brand new spin on the original anime universe that kicked the franchise off. Netflix is also currently working on a live-action Western adaptation of the Gundam series via an upcoming movie, meaning that the mech series is planning to take quite a bit of the entertainment world by storm.
Want to see what the future holds for the Gundam franchise, good and bad? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on the Mobile Suit franchise and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.
Related Posts
-
Bandai Namco Filmworks
