The Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011 begins this July!

Beginning this July, Bandai Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Kazunori Ueno, Headquarters: Taito-ku, Tokyo) will launch the “Gunpla Builders World Cup 2011” in 13 locations worldwide including Japan, to determine the greatest Gunpla builder in the world. This is the first ever global Gunpla tournament hosted by Bandai Co., Ltd. ('Bandai').

Builders will pit their building skills, painting techniques, and ideas against one another in two age brackets, the Open Course for contestants aged 15 and over and the Junior Course for contestants aged 14 and under. Regional meets begin in July in locations worldwide, and the champions from each location will compete in the “Gunpla EXPO World Tour Hong Kong 2011” world championship in December.

Details about the contest are available at “GUNDAM.INFO*” the official Gundam information portal.

Gunpla’s Global Popularity

The Gundam model kits known as Gunpla first emerged in July 1980. As of the end of March 2011, 406,000,000 units have been sold in Japan. Overseas, Gunpla is currently sold in 12 countries and regions around the world, with total sales of more than 28,000,000 units between January 2000 and December 2010. Gunpla enjoys a strong fan base both in Japan and worldwide, especially in Asia!

* Find the latest Gundam news at “GUNDAM.INFO” （http://en.gundam.info/), the official Gundam information portal. Information is available in Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), and Korean.