Malaysian Master Modelmaker's Mecha Manages Global “Gunpla” Win

"Gunpla" refers to what's a passionate hobby for many people; building scale models of the futuristic mechas from the popular Japanese science fiction series Mobile Suit Gundam. Now there is an official competition for these enthusiasts.

First prize went to Malaysian Ho Yick Yin, who has been working on these models for six years. He says his winning entry took over six months to put together.

According to one of the event organizers, the technical level was high all around, but Ho won because his creation was so expressive.

Other competitors hailed from Japan, Italy, Australia and the Philippines, with twelve entries in total.

[Ho Yick Yin, Gunpla Model Champion]:

"This one basically the original is from space time. Most people I see are using the space time. So I tried to make it different a bit, so I make it like the ground (Earth) time, so using the four leg. So I think there is a punch there."

Gundam creator Bandai put together this first-ever "Gunpla" world competition, and plans to make it an annual tradition.