Shout Out to Hype.Tokyo!

I don't know about you all, but one of my greatest moments of consternation comes shortly after opening a new kit. Once the box opens my initial excitement is always replaced by worry there will be missing runners and delay my building.

Well that worry was finally realized about 11 or so days ago, when I received a MG Crossbone Gundam Full Cloth from (what I think is) a relatively new retailer by the name of Hype.Tokyo. This kit dashed my excitement by arriving sans the F runners. As you can imagine I was quite unhappy with this predicament, especially since the Crossbone wasn't purchased through an approved western distributor, which meant I couldn't simply order replacement parts.

After taking a minute (it was actually a couple of hours) to scour the internet for backup plans I finally sent an email to Hype.Tokyo and explained the situation. I'm going to be honest I was surprised by their response, I expected a bit of XBox style customer support run around but there was none to be found. Instead they immediately offered to provide the missing parts, asking only that I verify my mailing address! Retailers (not named Amazon) aren't usually so trusting or accommodating, I'd actually expected them to suggest I ship the product back on my dime for a refund.

Oh but it gets better, no only did they ship my replacement parts for free at a faster rate than the original model was shipped, but they also included a free Action Base! I had no idea the Action Base would be included and even though it's a 1/144 scale base - y'all know HG's ain't my jam - it's a very nice gesture that has earned Hype.Tokyo a shout out from this builder.

About Hype.Tokyo

• Numerous sale item
• Free shipping on orders over $35 - includes tracking
• Large selection of Gunpla.
• Additional anime related products on offer.

Also there are pictures: 

Highball

I'm sure I missed it because there's absolutely no way this mock up hasn' been a part of the Build Fighters series. Awesome in its simplicity this kitbash by Yamoto 24 would make for a great grunt suit in that universe, wonder how I could pull this off with a couple of MG's...

Shout out to Master File for giving this kit a landing pad.

Oh So Much Better

The G Lucifer is a fine suit any way you slice it but Sukesuke 72 has applied a custom paint job and taken that to an entirely different level. I'm really hoping we start seeing Master Grade kits from Reconguista in G soon, there are some awesome designs in that series.

Hop on over to Master File and take in the full gallery at your leisure.

It's Like Vampire Hunter D the Mecha!

It's not often that I get excited about High Grade kits the upcoming Gundam The End certainly has my attention. While it may be professional modeler magic, the detail on this 1/144 scale kit is absolutely delightful. I do have questions about pose-ability and structural integrity that can't really be answered by promotional images. Unless something changes for the worse I very much expect to pick this kit up when it releases in May of this year. What's your opinion intrepid web surfers, any of you plan on picking this up?

All images courtesy of Gundam Kits Collection. 

Caw Caw!!!

I realize that while I regularly profess my love for the Master Grade line, I very rarely show love to the HG line beloved as it is by many a modeler. I'd apologize but I don't wanna. Instead I'll simply treat you to a super sexy custom Gundam Fenice Rinascita dubbed "Apollo" by it's creator, modeler Nerav.

 
Additonal HG sexiness can be witnesses at Gundam Kits Collection. 

HG Try Burning Gundam

So far I'm mostly enjoying Gundam Build Fighters Try, though not nearly as much as the previous Gundam Build Fighters series, but enough to anticipate the new episodes which air every Wednesday on Youtube. That said I've been largely unimpressed by most of the Gunpla in this show. While I understand the Build Fighters franchise largely exists for the same reasons Transformers existed in the days before it became Michael Bay explosion-fests (I can't that's too subtle I dislike the Transformers films), it still seems weird that there would be so few interesting Gundam design and few if any would belong to the heroes.

A bit of housekeeping before we go any further, this is not a review of the model kit which I do not own. Rather it is the inspired opinion of the design based on internet pictures, which continues after the break.

Cautiously Optimistic

I'm really impressed by the design of the Gaeon and although I'm looking forward to its HG release, I still have my reservations.

Purdy right?! Here's the rub despite my excitement over the awesome spectacle of beam saber spider limbs, there remain concerns about the sturdiness of those arms. I don't have a lot of confidence this suit will be able to support those arms in any suspended poses. There's also the question of how back heavy this kit is going to be, that's a lot of plastic built into that backpack. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out when this kit releases in February 2015?  Until then Gundam Guy and Master File have plenty of images to tide you (and me) over.