Following last year’s focus on Aura Battler Dunbine, Tamashii Nation 2025 finally does justice to the Nirvash from the classic anime Eureka Seven.
Hosted across various locations in Akihabara, this year’s Tamashii Nation had a lot on show. However, there was some padding of past releases, but we had a decent amount of new toys to look at.
The first area covered Gundam GQuuuuuuX, and featured the Robot Damashii Kikeroga, which is now available to pre-order via Premium Bandai in Japan, and the huge Hyper Gundam from the show’s finale.
The latter was also a nod to Aura Battler Dunbine, as Yoshiyuki Tomino had the titular aura battlers go “hyper” and increase massively in size when the pilots lost control of their aura. The latter being loosely the case in how it happened in GQuuuuuuX, too.
Following that, we had the various cloaked versions of the Gundam Wing mecha from the Operation 30th video, which commemorated the 30th anniversary of the series. The Gundam Wing Zero Cloaked Custom is also now available for preorder via Premium Bandai in Japan, but this is not to be confused with the version from the Frozen Teardrop manga.
There were also some new updated versions of the classic Dunbine and Zwarth, which seem to be a way for Bandai Spirits to extend the toy line somewhat. Mainly because, by this point, they’ve literally done a toy for every aura battler anyway.
The upcoming Metal Gear Rex chogokin also continues to impress, even though it’s a little on the small side, and the Time Train chogokin from Back to the Future Part III was on full display, showing off all its lights and motorized gimmicks. I still think the latter is a weird choice for a chogokin when the DeLorean is so much more iconic.
The Macross showing was a bit sparse this time, and more focused on Macross 7. However, a re-boot of the old 80s toy of the VF-1J Valkyrie will be out next year, with added articulation in the legs and head. This may be a nod to Takara Tomy’s new Missing Link toys for Transformers. The only downside is that due to the current licensing situation with classic Macross, this will be a Japan-only release.
Then, finally, we got to the Metal Build Nirvash toy from Eureka Seven (shown above). While it is a bit stylized over the original design by Shoji Kawamori, this is easily the nicest looking Nirvash toy we’ve ever had, and it will be full of diecast parts to boot.
Considering how popular Eureka Seven was back when it aired in Japan, I am genuinely surprised it has been so poorly serviced over the years. Kawamori’s mecha designs continue to be very popular, and the Nirvash is definitely one of his best.
Finishing up, there was a lot on show for Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, with the previously reported Gundam Marchosias toy looking lovely and the new Metal Build Gundam Barbatos being impressively large with a wide array of articulation, it seems.
Overall, this year’s Tamashii Nation was a solid showing of toys, both new and current. I really do hope that Eureka Seven gets more Metal Build releases after the initial Nirvash offering, but I suppose we shall just have to wait and see how it sells.
Location: UDX Akihabara, Bellesalle Akihabara, Tamashii Nations Store Tokyo
Opening Date: November 14th 2024
Entrance: Free
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