There are new Gundam gashapon collectibles on the way. But there's one key difference between these and your typical capsule toys: no capsules.

The new collectibles, three Zaku head variants, are specially manufactured to fold up into spheres. Rather than being dispensed in the traditional plastic capsules, they pop out of the machine as you see here. When you open them up, you find the rest of the parts, as well as instructions for transforming the sphere into the toy.

The end result is one of three recognizable mech heads, measuring approximately 100mm front to back and 65mm tall (with the exception of Char's, which is 100mm tall when completed):

Available figures are MS-06 Char's Custom Zaku II, MS-06F Mass Production Zaku II, and MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type. The gashapons will be 500 yen each, and will be available in machines around Japan starting in mid-February.

Source: Anime! Anime!

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Kara Dennison is responsible for multiple webcomics, runs social media and interviews for (Re)Generation Who, and is half the creative team behind the OEL light novel series Owl's Flower. She blogs at karadennison.com and tweets @RubyCosmos.