Plamo-Kyoshiro

Plamo-Kyoshiro (プラモ狂四郎) is a 1982 manga belonging to the Gundam franchise, written by Hisashi Yasui and illustrated by Koichi Yamato. It was published from August 20, 1982 until December 17, 1986 in Comic BomBom magazine of Kodansha publishing house, receiving eventual reprints. This was the very first production of the Gundam franchise in its entire history, that showed idea of battles with customized Gundam Plastic Models. This idea has proven to be a very powerful concept, and has been used later in other productions of the franchise, such as Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G, Gundam Build Fighters and Gundam Build Fighters Try.

Plot
The manga is aimed to the audience of Plastic model fans., The story of Plato-Kyoshiro's is about Shiro Kyoda, a young man from Tamiya city and a student of the Bandai Elementary School. Shiro is great enthusiast of Plastic Models and Plamo Battles. Shiro's dream is to become the representative of Japan in the World Simulation Tournament and be able to fight in the finals in the Battle of Hobbytopia. In addition to that, the comic had original Mecha designs that gave rise to the series of Mobile Suit Variations and BB Senshi.

Plamo Simulation
In Plamo Kyoshiro, the Gumpla Battles are known as Plamo Simulation. (The word Plamo comes from PLAstic MOdel ) The players put their kits into the dome, sit on the seats and put on a specialized helmet. They dive into the virtual field on the a unison exclamation of the ‘Simulation Go!’ command. The battle is directly imaged in the players’ minds while spectators view it on screens. The damage in the battle is replicated on the real kits by lasers and mechanical arms. Mods done on the kits can affect the battle, like using a different material to build the parts or adding gimmicks like springs and tasers.

For the World Simulation Tournament, the Biochip Plamo Controller (BCPC) is used. The BCPC is housed in a huge facility called the ‘Plamo Simulation Center’. It seems to be an extension of the standard simulation but with an additional biochip which has the player’s biodata. To win the battle, the biochip which will be hidden in the kit must be destroyed. In this system psychic power is used to channel the player’s spiritual energy to control the plamo.



Characters

 * Shiro Kyoda
 * Futoshi Kurata
 * Midori Kurata
 * Ken Maruyama
 * Koichi Kida
 * Tomita
 * Akira Yamane
 * Muraoka
 * Hiroshi Fujii
 * Iwaki Tetsuo
 * Sacky Takeda

Plamo (Mobile Suits)
(this list is enunciative, but not limitative- there are more models-)

Plastic Models of other Franchises
Trivia:The Gunpla Battles only Focuses on 'Gundam Models'. The Plamo Battles focuses in all types of plastic models no matter the origin. That's why, in the comic has shameless appearances of models from other series / franchises, such as:

Production Notes
Plamo-Kyoshiro was written by Hisashi Yasui and illustrated by Koichi Yamato. In 1981 Kodansha had released the first issue of its magazine Comic Bom Bom. At that precise moment, the publisher was planning to launch a manga adaptation of the Mobile Suit Gundam movies, but the publisher was unable to get Sunrise's authorization on time. As an alternative plan, the publisher contacted Hisashi Yasui to create a new series. That's how Plamo-Kyoshiro was born.

In 1979 was released Mobile Suit Gundam, the first series of the Gundam franchise. In 1980 The toy company Bandai began to penetrate for the first time on the sale of plastic models, a hobby quite widespread in the world, but hardly known in Japan at that time. To publicize this new product, Bandai sponsored events and specialized magazines in the hobby of Plastic models along with other advertising techniques. The Plamo-Kyoshiro manga was created as a tool to publicize the plastic models that Bandai was launching at the time.

The story of the Manga and the idea of Plamo Battles were concepts specially designed to arouse the interest of the readers for the hobby of Plastic models. In the manga, the characters appear buying plastic models of Gundam Series and from other famous anime series, TV series and feature films, as well as models of airplanes tanks and other models of vehicles to use them in the simulation. In addition, the characters appear customizing and creating their own original models of  Vehicles and Robots. Apart from this, the characters can be seen using branded products from companies dedicated to the Plastic model industry and numerous references to famous companies, products and people related to this hobby.

Manga
The original edition had 15 volumes and was in publication from August 20, 1982 until December 17, 1986 in Comic Bom Bom magazine by Kodansha. In 1989 a Single Volume was published entitled Plamo-Kyoshiro-Musha Gundam Version; This volume deals with the episode in which the Musha Gundam appeared. In 1990 a second edition of 11 volumes was launched. In 1999 a 6-volume Deluxe edition was published. Between 2002 and 2004 an Economic Version of 13 volumes was published and in the year 2008 a paperback edition of 10 volumes was published. All the Plamo-Kyoshiro publications, from the original 1982 until the last of 2008 have all been published by Kodansha The manga has also received several sequels and derivatives:

The success of Plamo Kyoshiro marked a trend at the time of its publication and several publishers wanted to have a manga on battles of plastic models. Coro Coro Comic launched a few similar-themed manga such as Plamo Tensai Esper Taro, 3D Koshien Plamo Daisaku, Majin Eiyuuden Wataru and Majin Kaihatsu Daisakusen. Hobby Boy Hitto-kun was another manga that was published in Terebi Magazine2 (a sister magazine of Comic Bom Bom ). It was not a new manga, but a derivative of Plam Kyoshiro. The protagonist of this series is Hitto Ebara and is about his simulation battles with Kyoshiro.

Publication History
The volume numbers can be confirmed on the cover The volume numbers can be confirmed on the cover
 * Original Issue 1982-1986
 * SPECIAL ISSUE
 * Plamo-Kyoshiro Musha Gundam Version
 * Reprint of 2008

Chapters

 * Episode 1: Gundam vs. Zaku
 * Episode 2: Gundam vs. Big Zam-Acguy
 * Episode 3: Gundam vs. Gouf
 * Episode 4: Rick Dom-Gelgoog Cannon vs. Cancer
 * Episode 5: Gundam vs. Zeong
 * Episode 6: Gundam vs. Agg
 * Episode 7: Tiger I vs. Magella Attack
 * Episode 8: F-15 vs. Tomcat
 * Episode 9: X-Wing vs. Core Booster

List of Mobile Suits

 * Devil Change Gouf
 * Bloody Mary
 * Dokuro Zaku
 * Guncarrier
 * FA-78-1 Gundam Full Armor Type
 * FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam
 * Mobile Animal
 * Mobile Trooper
 * Musha Gundam
 * Musha Gundam Mk-II
 * Mush Zeta Gundam
 * OMAX-02 Zeong II
 * Original Zeta Gundam
 * PF-78-3 Perfect Gundam III "Red Warrior"
 * PF-178 Perfect Gundam Mark II
 * PF-78-1 Perfect Gundam
 * Perfect Zaku
 * Perfect Zeong Mark II
 * RX-78-2 Gundam
 * Semi-armored Gundam
 * Triple Zeta Gundam
 * Wooden Gundam

Sequels

 * Shin Plamo-Kyoshiro (1987–1988) - by Hisashi Yasui (Story), Koichi Yamato (Illustration)

VideoGames

 * SD Gundam G Generation Series
 * SD Gundam G Generation F (PlayStation)
 * SD Gundam G Generation F-IF (PlayStation)
 * SD Gundam G Generation NEO (PlayStation 2)
 * SD Gundam G Generation SEED (PlayStation 2)


 * Another Century's Episode Series
 * Another Centurys Episode 3 THE FINAL (PS3)


 * Gundam Extreme Vs. Series
 * Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost
 * Gundam Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost


 * Gundam War
 * Gundam War :Colectible Card Game

Toys, Figures and Models
This series combines classic Gundam characters in SD form with ‘cloth’ armor representing their iconic Mobiles Suits. This was the seventh release in the series. it was launched in 1989.
 * SD Gundam Cloth Musha MKII

This is a Master Grade plastic model of the Perfect Gundam (パーフェクトガンダム, Pāfekuto Gandamu), the first model customized by that Shiro Kyoda. this model was released in 2003. the model includes a little statue of Shiro at 1/20 scale with some artwork from the manga related to the model.
 * 1/100 MG Perfect Gundam

The Kyoshiro Maniax label is the result of the joint collaboration of mecha designer Hajime Katoki and the staff behind the "Plamo Kyoshiro" manga to produce Gundam FIX Figuration-style action figures and trading figures of Mobile Suits from the manga. This first trading figure lineup features miniature Mobile Suit figures with two color variants each of Full Armor Gundam, Career Suit, and Bloody Mary, plus three variants of Dokuro Type Zaku (each sporting a different numbered forehead) and one secret, for a total of 10 possible types to trade and collect. The figures' heights range from 9-11cm. Sold by the randomly packed box of 12.
 * Kyoshiro Maniax Mini Figures Vol.1 & 2 


 * Gundam Fix Figuration