Sangokuden Discussion

Recently Bandai announced the Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors Blu-Ray Disc set which came with Shin Chou-Sen Qubeley, one of the more important kits which the original series missed out. So what else did Bandai miss out? Let's take a look...

First up I'll go through the kits which I'm hoping for. In the picture is Gien MK II from the Senjin Kettou Hen series. Gien was a companion of Kochu and both of them were based off of the Gundam MK II, albeit in different colour schemes. This seemed like an obvious choice for Bandai but somehow they didn't go for it. Chou-sen Qubeley is about to be released, but I find her really creepy so I'll pass on this one.

Kouten The - O. Combined form of the Chou Brothers of the Yellow Scarves. This one is a pretty obvious choice amongst the fandom but sadly did not get to see the light of day. Maybe the combination just didn't work?

The Chousa four riders who were Sonken Zephyrantes oldest and most trusted generals: Somou, Kantou, and Teifu, based on some variant of the GM, and Kougai, based on the Gouf, which is out pretty soon. The GM doesn't get a lot of love in Sangokuden, the only kit remotely close to the GM's design I can think of is the Jyoukou Serpent. The designs of Sonken's generals seem pretty elaborate already, why not give them a chance and release them as a three-pack?

Kougetsuei Gun-EZ. This was based off Huang Yue Ying, wife of the famous Zhuge-Liang from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I really like this character, and I think this would have a decent chance of release since she is about to be featured soon in the Brave Battle Warriors anime, during the Red Cliff arc. She plays a more active role in Senjin Kettou Hen though.

And now for the rest of the ones who I don't really care about, but have not seen a release yet (or ever):

Ganryou Gazu-L and Bunshuu Gazu-R. The characters they were based on, Yan Liang and Wen Chou, were simply worfs for Guan Yu's massive kill list in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In Sangokuden, however, they were done in by the Kako brothers in Sousou's army. Probably because Kan-U was awesome enough already.

Kayuu Zanneck. Another worf for Guan Yu's kill list. This one's actually pretty interesting as it served to introduce Guan Yu's prowess before anyone knew who he was. According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Kayuu (Hua Xiong) was challenging the generals of the Rebel Alliance and killing them off one by one. Guan Yu volunteered to be the next challenger after nobody else dared to, and went off without even drinking the wine offered before the battle. He came back with Hua Xiong's head while the wine was still warm. In the Sangokuden series, this again did not happen and depending on the version of the story, was killed by Sousou or Sonken Zephyrantes.

Chinkyuu Mercurius and Koushun Vayeate. I don't know who Koushun (Gao Shun) was based on, but I do know Chinkyuu (Chen Gong), and his backstory in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was pretty interesting. I wish they had gone a bit into that instead of making his characterisation dependent on the appearance of his other 'twin' in the Ryofu team, not that they had much characterisation to begin with.

Saibou Agguguy and Kouso Zogok. Another interesting pair in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. They were involved in a nice 'just as planned' strategem from Zhou Yu during the Red Cliffs faceoff. They look really ugly in Sangokuden form though.

Suikyou Guntank and Roshoku GM Cannon. One being Koumei's teacher, the other Kousouzan and Ryubi's teacher. I don't know why these don't have a model kit form yet, too awesome?

Teiiku Wise Wallaby and Kouseki Turn-X. Kouseki Turn-X has been released in the Shin form but I hoped he were released in a more readily available form rather than packaged with a game that is never going to get localised.

So what are the chances of these kits being released? It depends on the popularity of the Brave Battle Warriors anime series really. According to the blu-ray release, it is only going up till 51 episodes meaning the end of the Red Cliff chapter. If so, they are totally missing out on the Senjin Kettou Hen and the awesome characters it introduces, and a chance to release kits in Shin form which were missing from the original. This however, may also be a good thing as it suggests the end of the Sangokuden series and a new direction for BB Senshi. Maybe they will come up with a new series of G-Generation? One can only hope...