Kinkeshi Avalanche! Gacha Series 4+5! Premium 5+6! Noir!

Happy New Years, everyone!

I do want to apologize again for being largely ghost-like in 2017, and I hope posting like this is a good sign for things to come for 2018.  Honestly, although I think I brought this point up briefly in a previous post, I feel I could have done a little better last year, especially near the tail-end of it all.  The fact of the matter is: I could have, but being so absent from the scene for so long, it was increasingly harder to find the perfect spot to jump back in, although a hundred of hundred people will tell you there is no perfect spot, just jump in whenever.  Be that as it may, missing a laundry list of convention news and releases, from all the new products coming from Super 7, down to all the independent work I wanted to cover, it added the problem of coming back with now the extra question of why.  What could possibly shake me out of this hiatus if the stuff that just whizzed by my head couldn't?  That was the question that circled in my head, although I figure now it's a silly one to really consider a moment of thought.  That's the stupid thing about stupid thoughts.  You can throw some bad food in the trash or a bad drink down the drain and that's that, but a poisonous thought can keep coming back, haunting you with its broken logic and unreasonable demands, breaking down your common sense until you finally give in.  Assuredly, that's something of a over-dramatic look at it all, but I'll tell you one project that isn't missing one step: Bandai and Kinkeshi.  And what they are doing, just might be the boot to the ass I was looking for.

Last April, I covered Bandai's Premium Kinkeshi Volume 3 Set, but since then, they have exploded in new products, for both serious collectors and newbies with just a few coins in the pockets.  Missing the news and release of their new Gachapon series, which appear to be a micro set of new sculpts, exclusively found in Japanese vending machines, they have expanded that, or at least working on expanding, to Series 4 and 5, that look to hearken back to the wrestling move posed heroes and villains.  There appear to be some added surprises in there as well, so keep your coins close.

But if you're the sort that has a little more than loose change, you might be more interested in the Premium sets releasing sometime in the near-distant future.  Sadly, Series 4 came, went, and was shipped to happy customers, without so much of a mention from me, so for that, I'll have to go back and check out what I missed.

Moving forward, however, Bandai released some images showing off a few new series to the ever-expanding awesome resurgence of Kinnikuman and Kinkeshi.  For one made and released just for someone like me, the "Noir: The Best" set seems to be a re-release of some of the favorites from previous sets, just for those who have been hiding under a rock, but now in a cool dark-grey colorway.  Pretty awesome stuff for us clueless collectors, as well as completionists who now have a new colorway to add to their collections.


But I wouldn't be calling this a Kinkeshi Avalanche if it was really just that.  As partially-spoiled above, Bandai is also working on the release of both Premium Volumes 5 and 6.  Aiming to come out during this winter, and possibly the next couple months, these guys are home-runs after home-runs.  It's absolutely amazing to see how well these guys are looking and how thriving their comeback has been.

Keep an eye on the link below for more information on release time and price, as well as any more surprise releases, because of this is just the first of the year.  What else does Kinkeshi have planned for 2018?

http://p-bandai.jp