Consolidated Megazone 23 Toy/Model Thread for 2017-2018

[daBlah!]

Great price for the ES Gokin version! I managed to snag one a few months back for just a little be more than that after some searching. Great piece to display. With your link I'd be tempted for a dual mode display!

I remember contacting Hiroshi Imizu about there being any chance he could sell me each of the Garlands but was pretty set hard on them being WF only releases. 😭

[MKT]

This is the 2nd or 3rd time HLJ put the ES Gokin on heavy discount. Earlier this year, a bunch of it was on Mandarake at the 20k yen range as well.

Each time I had to hold back pulling the trigger for the 3rd time.  

[Bobby]

Speaking of Altelier + ES Gokin (had posted this awhile back)...

And I know the ES Gokin got beat up pretty bad in some reviews for what you got for the price but that HLJ sale is totally worth it in my opinion as this Garland's got dynamic angles...

Edited September 17, 2021 by Bobby

[MKT]

After owning it for a while & some of the initial shine has passed, as a display piece I still love the ES Gokin for many of its individual things: the metal, the deep candy red & dark silver paint, the sculpt on each individual parts, the mechanical details and greebles on the surfaces that comes with a nice wash.

The downside is when stepping back & looking at the sculpt as whole - the lanky torso in Slave, Bike-mode's huge front wheel fender gap & leg pods angle (viewed from top, the leg pods are not straight ahead like the anime Garlands, but more of arrow like). Thankfully, all these can be mitigated with choice poses.

Looking at the pics of development prototypes, I think some of these sculpt issues were not so pronounced, but they probably couldn't get the perfect transformation right as it was, hence the long delay and releasing it with the changes we get. One thing that still irritates slightly is the continued use of development prototype pics in the sale posts, instead of the actual released product. In these pics, Bike mode's front wheel fender gap is almost non-existent, giving it a sleeker hunkered down look.

But yeah, the huge discount now at HLJ is really a boon.

[RavenHawk]

Seriously tempted to order from HLJ, but once I add in over $100 in shipping it's hitting a pain point for me, since this is really going to be a standalone piece.

[Alex GS]

13 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

Seriously tempted to order from HLJ, but once I add in over $100 in shipping it's hitting a pain point for me, since this is really going to be a standalone piece.

yep that's the cost for me as well with EMS shipping, that's why I leave it there in the HLJ warehouse, I think in maybe 15 to 20 days will process the shipment.

[RavenHawk]

A few questions for anyone who might be more in the know than I am:

1) Has anyone heard any updates on the Arcadia Hargun? Seems quiet from them on that front, since pre-Covid.

2) I came across the military coloring Garland on HLJ, supposedly a preorder due now, but don't recall seeing anything anywhere else, ever. Does anyone know if this is anything other than HLJ jumping the gun? https://www.hlj.com/1-24-scale-megazone-23-die-cast-model-garland-autonomous-army-color-ver-acamrk821566

3) Does anyone have any leads for buying an Arcadia Proto-Garland for a reasonable price? Another one of those items I thought I pre-ordered, but then somehow missed. The usual sources seem to be sold out or asking excessive amounts... but I haven't seen Arcadia doing re-releases.

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, RavenHawk said:

A few questions for anyone who might be more in the know than I am:

1) Has anyone heard any updates on the Arcadia Hargun? Seems quiet from them on that front, since pre-Covid.

2) I came across the military coloring Garland on HLJ, supposedly a preorder due now, but don't recall seeing anything anywhere else, ever. Does anyone know if this is anything other than HLJ jumping the gun? https://www.hlj.com/1-24-scale-megazone-23-die-cast-model-garland-autonomous-army-color-ver-acamrk821566

3) Does anyone have any leads for buying an Arcadia Proto-Garland for a reasonable price? Another one of those items I thought I pre-ordered, but then somehow missed. The usual sources seem to be sold out or asking excessive amounts... but I haven't seen Arcadia doing re-releases.

1) No new updates since 2019.

2) This was mentioned back in Page 16. It used to be an exclusive to Arcadia Online Shop. It looks like HLJ's the only one who has it too. For some reason, I think HLJ lately is the only one carrying initial Arcadia Online Shop releases outside of other Japanese online shops. Also, its release got pushed back to October from August.

3) Mandarake has some listings for it: https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1155055355&lang=en

 

[treatment]

2 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

A few questions for anyone who might be more in the know than I am:

1) Has anyone heard any updates on the Arcadia Hargun? Seems quiet from them on that front, since pre-Covid.

2) I came across the military coloring Garland on HLJ, supposedly a preorder due now, but don't recall seeing anything anywhere else, ever. Does anyone know if this is anything other than HLJ jumping the gun? https://www.hlj.com/1-24-scale-megazone-23-die-cast-model-garland-autonomous-army-color-ver-acamrk821566

3) Does anyone have any leads for buying an Arcadia Proto-Garland for a reasonable price? Another one of those items I thought I pre-ordered, but then somehow missed. The usual sources seem to be sold out or asking excessive amounts... but I haven't seen Arcadia doing re-releases.

 

Not sure about the Hargun, but here are their last tweets regarding MZ-23 toys (regular and army):

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1415962682822299648

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1427877832215064576

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by treatment

[RavenHawk]

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

1) No new updates since 2019.

2) This was mentioned back in Page 16. It used to be an exclusive to Arcadia Online Shop. It looks like HLJ's the only one who has it too. For some reason, I think HLJ lately is the only one carrying initial Arcadia Online Shop releases outside of other Japanese online shops. Also, its release got pushed back to October from August.

3) Mandarake has some listings for it: https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1155055355&lang=en

 

 

28 minutes ago, treatment said:

 

Not sure about the Hargun, but here are their last tweets regarding MZ-23 toys (regular and army):

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1415962682822299648

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1427877832215064576

 

Thank you both.

[daBlah!]

3 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

A few questions for anyone who might be more in the know than I am:

1) Has anyone heard any updates on the Arcadia Hargun? Seems quiet from them on that front, since pre-Covid.

2) I came across the military coloring Garland on HLJ, supposedly a preorder due now, but don't recall seeing anything anywhere else, ever. Does anyone know if this is anything other than HLJ jumping the gun? https://www.hlj.com/1-24-scale-megazone-23-die-cast-model-garland-autonomous-army-color-ver-acamrk821566

3) Does anyone have any leads for buying an Arcadia Proto-Garland for a reasonable price? Another one of those items I thought I pre-ordered, but then somehow missed. The usual sources seem to be sold out or asking excessive amounts... but I haven't seen Arcadia doing re-releases.

I've been waiting to hear even a small bit of news about the Hargun as well.

I know 1/12 scale hargun was for sale last weekend during WonderFest for 35000 yen. Wondering does that have some bearing on Arcadia's release, since its the same designer isn't it?

[treatment]

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1450051677726199814

 

[treatment]

apparently, there has been some improvement on the reissue...

https://ameblo.jp/arcadiaac/entry-12705260202.html

sample:

 

Wondering now if they also actually did improved their upcoming YF-19 reissue as well...

Edited October 22, 2021 by treatment

[treatment]

Army-color Garland release delayed to 12/2021...

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1452878054078910467

 

[jenius]

On 10/21/2021 at 6:40 PM, treatment said:

apparently, there has been some improvement on the reissue...

https://ameblo.jp/arcadiaac/entry-12705260202.html

sample:

 

Wondering now if they also actually did improved their upcoming YF-19 reissue as well...

What does this actually improve? 

[no3Ljm]

14 minutes ago, jenius said:

What does this actually improve? 

As per the blog link posted above by Arcadia it explained that it will snap properly.

Quote

マニューバクラフト時の安定感に！  

収納状態の手首部分と、股関節部分の噛み合わせが改善されております！ 具体的には…

(For a sense of stability during maneuver crafting!  )

(The engagement between the stored wrist part and the hip joint part has been improved! In particular…)

これにより、クラフト時がよりカッチリしました！

実はこの部分、プロトガーランド生産時に金型から改善しております。

(This makes crafting more snappy! )

(Actually, this part has been improved from the mold when producing Protogarland.)

しっかり入ります！

(Enter firmly!)

Based on the blog photos, it looks like that fixed mold on the arm joint will 'snag' properly on the white body area.

Edited October 26, 2021 by no3Ljm

[RavenHawk]

19 hours ago, treatment said:

Army-color Garland release delayed to 12/2021...

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1452878054078910467

 

Now to figure out how to get my hands on one...

[daBlah!]

Finally managed to land some 1/48 scale Megazone 23 kits from Imizu Hiroshi. These are even smaller feeling now when I have them on hand! Next task is getting time to build them.

Edited November 1, 2021 by daBlah!

[oshanmacross]

Wow, those are cast in colored resin.
Congrats!

That is quite an accomplishment scoring those especially if you are in the US and never attended WonderFest.

[daBlah!]

15 minutes ago, oshanmacross said:

Wow, those are cast in colored resin.
Congrats!

That is quite an accomplishment scoring those especially if you are in the US and never attended WonderFest.

It certainly presented me with some challenges to order and ship, glad they arrived. There's one more Hagan outstanding to arrive. I popped on piece out of the box there to hopefully show the scale against an Arcadia Garland. The screws are absolutely tiny with it!

I don't know if getting my hands on the Proto Garland or GR-2 will be something that would happen in the future.

 

[RavenHawk]

47 minutes ago, daBlah! said:

It certainly presented me with some challenges to order and ship, glad they arrived. There's one more Hagan outstanding to arrive. I popped on piece out of the box there to hopefully show the scale against an Arcadia Garland. The screws are absolutely tiny with it!

I don't know if getting my hands on the Proto Garland or GR-2 will be something that would happen in the future.

 

Congrats. Love to see the Hagan when it arrives!

[daBlah!]

19 minutes ago, RavenHawk said:

Congrats. Love to see the Hagan when it arrives!

I've one Hargun in hand at the moment, the second is on its way from Japan most likely next week. Should be able to recreate a scene with the transporter, garland and 2 harguns then. Some of those details in the Hargun box baggies are so small. The Arcadia Hargun and transporter might be released and bought before I manage to build these 🤣 

[oshanmacross]

I'll never build all the things I got
Sometimes the best part is looking at the pieces and enjoying the engineering.

[Bobby]

Congrats daBlah! Great finds!

 

16 minutes ago, oshanmacross said:

I'll never build all the things I got
Sometimes the best part is looking at the pieces and enjoying the engineering.

Lol ... that is sooo true!

 

[Bobby]

On 11/1/2021 at 11:54 AM, daBlah! said:

I've one Hargun in hand at the moment, the second is on its way from Japan most likely next week. Should be able to recreate a scene with the transporter, garland and 2 harguns then. Some of those details in the Hargun box baggies are so small. The Arcadia Hargun and transporter might be released and bought before I manage to build these 🤣 

If you don't buy the Transporter kit can you still convert the bike fully into slave mode?

[daBlah!]

58 minutes ago, Bobby said:

If you don't buy the Transporter kit can you still convert the bike fully into slave mode?

Yes the Hargun can still be converted without the Transporter.

Can see the pieces I've laid out from the box here.

Edited November 6, 2021 by daBlah!

[Bobby]

That is frame-worthy!

Thanks and hope you can build it soon ... looks simpler than the Garland (less transformation since arms/legs will snap on)

[oshanmacross]

Totally Jealous!
I'll never have a color cast kit
 

DM me if you have one for sale

[MKT]

It's fun to hunt for older figures. I had the Organic original Garland for a while, and wanted the rest of the set.  As I understood, they were shelf warmers when they were released due to rather high MSRP for essentially non-transforming, trading-sized figures then. But finding the rest of the set was tough in past year or so, until recently:

 

 

If I'm not wrong, the GR-2 and Harguns are till date the only toy representations of them available? Pretty happy when they finally arrived; these should make great filler displays against the larger transforming Garlands.

The brochure is also a recent arrival, a fan-made Garland catalogue by R-Area:

 

 

 

1000hp transforming bike anyone? For rather low price of only less than $90k 

 

[RavenHawk]

5 hours ago, MKT said:

It's fun to hunt for older figures. I had the Organic original Garland for a while, and wanted the rest of the set.  As I understood, they were shelf warmers when they were released due to rather high MSRP for essentially non-transforming, trading-sized figures then. But finding the rest of the set was tough in past year or so, until recently:

Congrats, and great find!

I lucked into finding the full set of all of them for around $60 a couple years ago, all NIB, and have to say I love them decorating my display shelves.

The Hargun is front and center in my display, because, like you said, it's the only mass-produced one, and a nice contrast to the others.

Still haven't gotten around to building any of my resin kits of the rarer ones, though.

[MKT]

22 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

Congrats, and great find!

I lucked into finding the full set of all of them for around $60 a couple years ago, all NIB, and have to say I love them decorating my display shelves.

The Hargun is front and center in my display, because, like you said, it's the only mass-produced one, and a nice contrast to the others.

Still haven't gotten around to building any of my resin kits of the rarer ones, though.

I found the set for about the same price as well, at eBay for approximately $10 each. Kinda strange to not find it anywhere else, and suddenly this seller has a bunch of them as if he hoarded them all these years, or picked up a forgotten crate of them somewhere. I'm observing his stock comes in and out, he lists a few, and when they sell out he puts up a fresh batch.  

Perhaps pick up a second set, especially the Harguns..

[daBlah!]

On 11/15/2021 at 9:47 AM, MKT said:

The brochure is also a recent arrival, a fan-made Garland catalogue by R-Area:

 

The R-Area released books are definitely nice pieces to pick up just to look at the images alone. Only picked up the brochures and book last month to add to the collection. Used it as a backdrop just now for the Hargun.

I finally got time to roughly get the arms and legs together for slave mode in the Hargun. Some adjustments for the fitment and the small detail pieces to go together yet. Really impressed with the kit. I did manage to break 2 small pieces by no respecting the fitment tolerances when putting the joints together.

[Bobby]

HARGUNNNNNN!

You found the time 😎 ... looks awesome!

[MKT]

15 hours ago, daBlah! said:

 

Although Hargun is a partsformer in the show, it gives us a great looking lithe bike. And now that your put the Ride Armor bike side by side with it, it only dawns upon me just how massive the M23 bikes are in comparison.

But i suppose it does make sense. Ride Armor bikes should be smallish (although not always portrayed as such in the anime) since they fold into a backpack for the rider, while M23 bikes need to be large to encase its riders within its chest. Seeing them together just highlights the size differences even more..

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by MKT

[treatment]

Arcadia's Army-colored Garland officially delayed to Jan/22 releaes:

https://twitter.com/ARCADIA_Co_Ltd/status/1462639601965678594