4 days ago
Wonder Festival Spotlights ‘Evangelion' Amidst Blazing Summer Heat
The Japanese summer heat was no joke. Ollie Barder
Following the winter edition of Wonder Festival earlier this year, the summer version focused on promoting Evangelion , while we all melted from the heat.
As always, Wonder Festival is split into two main parts: commercial and fan-based. The former had very noticeable absences, with the likes of Kotobukiya, Good Smile Company, Bandai, and Takara Tomy lacking their typically large stalls.
While Bandai and Takara Tomy did have some small showings, it was more the new Chinese manufacturers that were showing off their impressive wares.
Specifically, the likes of CCS Toys and POSE+, with the former's upcoming Ultimate Dancouga from Super Robot Wars 30 looking incredible up close (shown below).
The upcoming Ultimate Dancouga from CCS Toys is very impressive in the flesh. Ollie Barder
However, the main focus this year on the commercial side was Evangelion , with a large area dedicated to new and upcoming merchandise as well as more esoteric elements.
One highlight was seeing the original artwork used in Newtype magazine back in the 90s to originally promote the TV series (shown below).
Following the commercial side of things, the fan-based offerings were enormous as usual, with a still steady stream of fan-made Armored Trooper VOTOMS kits, as well as some Layzner and Galient kits thrown in for good measure.
There was also more Armored Core stuff this year, although not so much for Armored Core VI , but more for the older games that have seen a recent resurgence in popularity online. Not least due to the digital re-releases of the first three Armored Core games on PlayStation.
Seeing the original cels to make the promotional art for 'Evangelion' was fascinating. Ollie Barder
In addition, there was an awful lot of Virtual On kits on show, with one stall offering enormous papercraft versions of things like the mid-game boss Jaguarandi from Virtual On Force .
Talking of Virtual On Force , one stall had every variant from the game, which made for a rather marvellous sight.
One notable point on the fan side was that there was almost nothing from Gundam GQuuuuuuX or Requiem for Vengeance , which is definitely curious, as there were other Gundam offerings, albeit sparse
As with all things Wonder Festival, it's always more interesting to see what the fans are up to, as that tends to influence the commercial side of things a few years down the road.
In any case, it was another great Wonder Festival and reinforced my love for this event, which never fails to impress and intrigue. Although I much prefer the winter event, the current Japanese summer is pretty brutal.
Wonder Festival 2025 Summer Ollie Barder
Wonder Festival 2025 Summer Gallery
Date: 27th July 2025
Entry: 3,500 yen
Follow me on X , Facebook and YouTube . I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
