The Gunpla Builders World Cup (GBWC) is the grand stage for those who want to test their Gunpla construction against the world’s greatest mecha modelers. But how exactly did the GBWC start? And how did Gunpla modeling contests begin in the first place?
The arrival of Gunpla in 1980 sparked a model kit boom in Japan. Other toy manufacturers like ARII and Takara followed suit with their franchises, like the Macross and Orguss kit lines. The relative availability of these products gave birth to a new kind of otaku: the model kit otaku.
These model otaku would go beyond the instruction manual and modify the parts to their choosing, resulting in works of art that other modelers wish to achieve. This phenomenon gave birth to hobbyist magazines like B-CLUB and Hobby Japan. Magazines were the primary way fans could check out each others’ building processes because before the 1990s, no such thing as model kit contests existed as far as the documentation is concerned.
The first documented model kit contest was held in 1992 at the Japan Fantastic Convention (JAF-CON). Contestants brought their model kits to JAF-CON to be displayed inside the event hall for attendees and the judges. The earliest photos of the convention’s annual model kit contest that I was able to find were from JAF-CON 2000.
The introduction of the 1/100 Master Grade line in July 1995 helped increase the number of people who started a hobby. The enlarged size and increased complexity of the Master Grade line turned out to be fertile ground for modelers’ creativity. Around this time, there was an uptick in both new magazine modeling tutorials and documented modeling competitions.
See also: 3 Things to Include With Your Gunpla at a Competition
In March 1996, the monthly magazine Hobby Japan launched the One Year War Retrospective competition. The contest coincided with Bandai’s Master Grade debut and its regulations supported the new line: the publication limited the entries to 1/100 scale Gunpla kits. Unlike the JAF-CON contests, contestants would take pictures of their Gunpla model kits and send them to Hobby Japan offices in Shibuya. According to one of the contest judges, this method of entry submission had turned some Gunpla fans off from joining the contest.
Even so, the competition proved to be popular. So in an effort to recreate the hype, Hobby Japan followed up with the All Japan Ora-Zaku Championships in 1998.
This follow-up competition was also limited to 1/100 scale model kits. Hobby Japan’s then editor-in-chief, Tadahiro Sato, stated in the March 1998 issue that 1/144 scale Gunpla would be difficult to judge because it would be hard to take photos of them.
See also: How To Build Gunpla For A Competition
Another rule the contest enforced was that only Mobile Suits from the One Year War were eligible for contest entries. This ruling aligned with the catchphrase: “My Zaku is the best in the world!” Hobby Japan removed the rule in 2000, expanding the availability to include kits from other Gundam timelines.
Judges determined who won the top prize based on the quality of the photos sent by the contestants. Starting from the 2004 edition, Hobby Japan switched to a system still in use today: the judges now use a 10-point scoring system instead of a roundtable discussion as to who wins the top prize.
The contest gained widespread popularity amongst the Japanese Gunpla community. When the organizers opened the contest to all Gunpla kits from all timelines in the Gundam franchise, entries increased from 323 in 1998 to 1,336 in 2000. By the mid-2000s, the contest became popular in countries outside Japan. Nearly 20 years later, in 2018, Chinese Gunpla builder Ray, more known for his Ray Studio YouTube channel, became the first person located outside of Japan to win first prize with his GM Sniper Pro.
Japan is not the only country that holds Gunpla building contests. As Gundam popularity spread worldwide, Gunpla builders and, to some extent, Bandai and local distributors held mini-building contests. One such contest is the Gundam Model Kit Caravan in the Philippines, organized by Ban Kee Trading. Ban Kee usually holds these events during cosplay conventions. In a recent competition, contestants were handed an Entry-Grade Gunpla kit and a time limit to build and design their entries.
The same thing occurred at US anime conventions, most famously the country’s largest anime gathering—Anime Expo. The Anime Expo Model Contest was a tradition that started in 1999. Although this contest is not exclusive to Gunpla modeling, it became a gateway for Western Gunpla model kit enthusiasts to show off their talents.
See also: 6 People That You Should Talk to at a Gunpla Competition
For years, these contests were exclusive to their specific countries. That norm was broken in 2011 when Bandai introduced the Gunpla Builders World Cup. The Gunpla Builders World Cup, or GBWC, aimed to unite Gunpla builders worldwide.
The first iteration of the competition had two levels: Open (for ages 15 and up) and Junior (ages 14 and below) throughout 13 locations: Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, the United States, and Italy. Later iterations of the contest would include France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and the Middle East.
See also: How To Find And Enter Gunpla Competitions
Like Ora-Zaku, the GBWC requires contestants to submit photos to GBWC officials to join the contest. Unlike Ora-Zaku, however, certain regions can conduct in-person qualifying competitions. One example would be the 12th edition of GBWC’s Philippine regional qualifiers, where contest entries were displayed at a popular mall called Robinsons Magnolia. The GBWC also has stricter requirements for its Gunpla work entries than Ora-Zaku.
Each regional winner can then progress to the finals to compete for the top global prize in each of the two levels. The finals are usually held at the Gundam Base in Tokyo, where the champions of their respective levels are given RX-78-2 trophies.
While the GBWC is now considered the de facto Gunpla modelling contest, competitions such as Ora-Zaku have not disappeared. In fact, these competitions have garnered even more recognition following the introduction of the GBWC. Pre-GBWC, the highest number of submissions for Ora-Zaku was 1,401 in 2001. After the introduction of GBWC, the highest number of entries in the magazine for the contest was 2,314 for the 2022 edition.
This shows that when we say, “Gunpla is freedom,” we mean it. Whether we compete in a local contest or go for the gold in the GBWC, we express our creativity and love for Gundam by the way we build, sculpt, design, paint, and decorate our model kits.
Bibliography:
- Hobby Japan Issue Number 345 (March 1998)
John Carlo Rayas is an anime fan that dabbles in Gunpla. He also has a website that talks about Philippine otaku culture.
