Company: Bushiroad Creative / Konami
Release: November 2023
Size: +/- 11 cm
Main distribution: Japan
These are Gachapon to celebrate Bomberman’s 40th anniversary, made by Bushiroad Creative, and exist out of 6 different Bomberman figures. They are also capsule-less, because the capsule is Bomberman’s head.
They come from a Gachapon machine and are wrapped in plastic.
The head doubles as the capsule, so there is no further wastage. You instantly know which one you got as well because of this. When you open it up, you’ll find the remaining parts of the figure in plastic, and a little leaflet.
6 different coloured Bomberman can be collected; White, Black, Blue, Red, Green and Gold.
I got 1/6.
Red Bomberman
Red Bomberman is his iconic red colour, with a blue belt and green hands and feet. His expression is neutral, with 2 vertical stripes for eyes. His limbs can’t move, but he can turn his head.
There are no markings on the outside of the figure, but there’s one inside his head / capsule on the back part. It reads in raised font © Konami.
By pure chance I stumbled upon a new Gachapon shop in my nearby city. It also does bubble tea and other vending machines, and seems unmanned. I had almost missed the gachapon machines had my husband not pointed them out. They’re very new-age with digital screens and card swipe payments.
Not only was I happy to have found another spot to get gachapons, they were from other brands than Bandai (the only ones I could find here), like Tomy and lesser known of. I was especially surprised to find these Bomberman ones, so of course I had to get one!
They are quite expensive, and with swiping your card instead of converting to special coins first, the sting feels extra apparent, even if they can end up costing the same amount. The knob to turn also seemed decorative, as the machine gave a capsule once payment went through. This detracts from the novelty a bit in my opinion.
I wanted of course the white Bomberman, but I ended up with red. I was surprised how big they are once built. I usually don’t like the capsule head figures, as they can end up very deformed and chibi looking (like the Pokémon ones), but it works for Bomberman here (and this Kirby line). The quality also looks great, although they can feel a bit cheap and light due to the plastic and hollowness.
I loved the Super Bomberman series so much as a kid, and Bomberman 64 was also great fun. But there isn’t much Bomberman merch to get here, so to finally have a figure is amazing to me. I might go get some more of these, despite their cost.
If you like Gacha or Bomberman you’ll love these.
Got any more details / information you think I should add? Or did I get something wrong? Do you own any Bomberman figures? Which one is your fav? Do you agree or disagree with my findings? Let me know in the comments below!