The Gunpla Builders World Cup (GBWC, Gunpla World Cup), a contest to determine the world's best Gunpla builder from the Gundam anime series, held its 13th Tournament finals on February 7th at Gundam Base Tokyo (Koto Ward, Tokyo). Just like the previous tournament, the strength of the Chinese team was evident. The progress of female builders from around the world was also notable.
◇Japan national team also puts up a good fight
GBWC is an international competition that began in 2011, where participants compete in Gunpla construction, painting techniques, and ideas. The 13th GBWC was held in 16 countries and regions, including Japan, Australia, Canada, Europe & the Middle East, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK, the US, and Vietnam. There are three courses: the OVER-21 course for those 21 years of age and older, the U-20 course for those 15-20 years old, and the U-14 course for those 6-14 years old.
The OVER-21 course was won by "Another V" (MENG YU) representing mainland China, the U-20 course was won by "KIRA KIRA" (haru) representing Taiwan, and the U-14 course was won by "FLY, SKYLARK Z GUNDAM!" (ZHOU HAOXUAN) representing mainland China. Last time, mainland China also won the world championship in the OVER-21 and U-20 courses, and the Chinese team has been performing remarkably well in recent years.
Japan's representatives performed well, with "Creation" (by Jin) coming in second in the OVER-21 course and "It Won't Scatter at Jaburo!" (by Gunpla Mana-kun) coming in second in the U-14 course, but just missed out on becoming world champion. Japan has not been world champion since "Gundam Exia Repair II -Stirring-" (by Utsugi) in the Open Course in 2018, so we're looking forward to seeing how they do next time.
◇ The 14th session will review the course and regulations
The competition also showed the strength of female modelers. Five of the representatives from Indonesia in the OVER-21 course, Indonesia in the U-20 course, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines in the U-14 course were women.
In the past, a female Singaporean representative in the junior course at "GBWC2019" and a female Japanese representative in the junior course at "GBWC2014" were world champions, so it's not that there haven't been any female builders, but in all my years of reporting, I've never seen five female builders selected as representatives. Of course, it's anachronistic to say that just because they're women... However, given the strong image of an overwhelming number of male builders, I feel that Gunpla may also be entering an era of diversity.
It was also announced that the 14th event will be held in 2027, after a gap of about a year. Yasunaga Akihiko of Bandai Spirits, who will serve as the head of the judging committee, explained about the 14th event, "We want to ensure there is ample time for production. We want to review each course. New regulations may also be announced." Details are not available at this point, but as Gunpla popularity spreads around the world, it may be time to change the rules of the competition. We hope to see even more excitement. (Anima Mitsuru/MANTANWEB)
