Invitations in hand, several hundred people gathered in the UDX Building's Akiba Square hall for Bandai's Tamashii Nation 2009 Autumn Pre-Opening Reception, held the day before Tamashii Nation opened to the public.

Livening up the festivities were Hiroshi Tamura and Akira Kawashima, the comedy duo Kirin. After Tamura had some fun with the lifesize "Saint Seiya" items adorning the stage, Bandai President Kazunori Ueno joined them to officially open this special preview.

The crowd was guided first into the Saint Seiya History hall, where we admired original art by "Saint Seiya" creator Masami Kurumada (from the future--dated the next day!) and cels used in Toei's "Saint Seiya" animation.

The history of Bandai's Saint Seiya toys lined the walls. There was much more than we're showing here! Seeing these beefy boys with their clunky joints and original boxes from the latter half of the '80s really brought back memories. (Maybe we shouldn't admit that...)

The Land Saint, Sky Saint, and Marine Saint--we hadn't thought about those in years! A neat touch was that the cassette tape that came with the big playset, ready to accompany your figures in acting out the action, was playing on a sound system.

Toy-making technology has made huge advances since those days, and examples and explanations of modern-day design and molding made a great segue from the Saint Seiya History area to the Saint Seiya Myth Cloth Exhibition area.

We then filed into the dazzlingly shiny Saint Seiya Myth Cloth Exhibition! Figures filled showcases set into Gold Lightan-hide walls that surrounded a brilliantly mirrored centerpiece.

Seeing those gathered Myth Cloths out of their packages and in all their glittering glory was really impressive! These photos show just a small fraction of what was there!

Of course, Saint Seiya Myth Cloth figures can do more than shine--much more, as an array of dioramas in this section showed! This scene is called "Flight of Pegasus."

The dioramas were created by Capucin Team, a group of French fans. "At Each Plot" is the title of this masterful one.

Here are two more of Capucin Team's striking dioramas. So c'mon, Myth Cloth collectors--let your figures out to play!

As we made our way along the displays, Bandai staff had their hands full ahead, having hustled the lifesize Libra cloth from the opening stage to a spot near the end of the Myth Cloth exhibit. They put the final touches on it just as we got there--to stunning result!

Bringing the exhibit to a jaw-dropping close was this lifesize Sagittarius cloth! It first stood sentinel at Tamashii Nation 2008, and is every bit as impressive today!

Next up was a selection of recent custom works created for the S.I.C. Hero Saga diorama story that appears in "Hobby Japan" magazine. Here are Kenji Ando’s diorama sculptures of Kamen Rider Den-O Wing Form on the left and Denliner passengers on the right.

The enormous diorama on the left captures Hibiki, Todoroki, and Ibuki tackling a giant crab makamou! The one on the right shows Kamen Rider Den-O and Kamen Rider Zeronos ready to take on a group of Imagin and other Kaijin.

Two of the most breathtaking dioramas showcased were these impressive masterpieces by legendary sculptor Takayuki Takeya! The creation on the left portrays the birth of Kamen Rider Black, while the one on the right captures Apollo Geist with his master King Dark!

Having feasted our eyes on the glorious exhibits, it was time at last to enter...the display area of upcoming products!