BLUEFIN ANNOUNCES 2015 NORTH AMERICAN GUNPLA BUILDERS WORLD CUP CHAMPION

Annual Worldwide Contest Held In 13 Countries To Determine The World’s Best Gundam Model Builder; North American Finalist Selected For The Contest’s Championship Round To Be Held In Japan In December

Irvine, CA, November 19, 2015 – Bluefin, the leading North American distributor of toys, collectibles, and hobby merchandise from Japan, Hong Kong and more, has announced the finalists of the North American qualifier for the 2015 GunPla Builders World Cup (GBWC). 

The Bandai GunPla Builders World Cup is an annual contest sponsored by Bandai Hobby to determine the world’s best Gundam model builder who is awarded the title of GunPla World Cup Champion. Qualifying rounds for the 2015 tournament have been held across 13 countries that include North America, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, and Italy.

Bluefin is the leading North American distributor of GunPla (Gundam Plastic Models) and hosted a series of live qualifier events across the country this past year. 

North American GunPla Builders World Cup finalists include:

·         Kevin Zhang for his original creation “Dash’s Legendary Mobile Suit Mixcoalt”

·         Nate He for his customized “MG Jesta HAVOC”

·         Michael Wine for his diorama titled, “Officer Down”

Kevin Zhang who won the New York qualifying round was selected to represent North America in the GunPla Builders World Cup Finale being held in December in Japan.  Zhang wins a free round trip to Japan and the opportunity compete against the world’s finest Gundam model builders.

Gunpla fans everywhere are invited to check out the complete list of competitors and winners of each regional event for the 2015 GunPla World Cup North American qualifiers on the Bluefin website that also features links to interviews with each of the winners at: www.bluefincorp.com/catalog/gbwc2015.

The Gundam anime series was created by Sunrise studios and features giant robots (or "mecha") called "Gundam.” The original series debuted in Japan in 1979 and spawned a substantial and massively successful franchise that continues to this day and has produced multiple TV series, feature films, and OVAs as well as a wide array of manga, models, toys, apparel, video games and other consumer products. The worldwide popularity of Gundam has made it a multi-billion dollar franchise. The Gundam Plastic Model, called “GunPla,” from Bandai Hobby are available in multiple sizes and levels of build complexity and are renowned for the wide variety of kits, their innovative construction, and high level of detail.

For more information on a wide array of Gundam model kits available from Bluefin, please visit: http://www.bluefincorp.com/catalog/gundam-models.html.

About Bluefin

Based in Irvine, CA, Bluefin built its reputation as a leading distributor of Japanese toys, collectibles, novelty and hobby products. In recent years, Bluefin has grown to include a range of high quality collectible lines from the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and established itself as the official North American consumer products and retail development partner for Studio Ghibli. Selling to thousands of specialty, chain and independent stores, Bluefin is an official North American distributor for Bandai Hobby, Kotobukiya and Capcom, is the sole provider of Bandai Tamashii Nations products, and is also the exclusive and official distributor for Hero Cross, Beast Kingdom, Comicave, Mr. Hobby, SEN-TI-NEL and X-Plus. Bluefin also represents TruForce Collectibles products worldwide. Additional information is available at: www.bluefincorp.com.