Eye Spy the Fourth

Eye Spy peers at... Master Chief errr. Master Grade RGM-79C GM Type C!

Cheers for: 

• Inadvertantly unique color scheme
• Excellent details
• Waterslide decals
• Cool accessories

Jeers for: 

• Blocky feet
• Limited poseability

Details in the form of praises and criticisms can be found after the break.

Eye Spy the Third

Eye Spy peers at... Tomato Samurai errr... Master Grade Marasai

Cheers for:

• Awesome Samurai reminiscent design.
• Sweet poseability
• Vibrant colors

Jeers for:

• Over-sized Bell Bottoms
• Boring weapons
• Missing accessories

Details in the form of praise and criticisms can be found after the break.

MG Geara Doga W.I.P.

Full disclosure, I'm not a big fan of W.I.P. posts, however since I've been highly inconsistent with blog content I've decided to begin the practice in hopes that it'll lead to more regular posts. I don't intend to post every bit of progress, rather I'll post milestones leading up to the Geara Doga's completion. After that it's review time!

While it's no Sazabi Ver. Ka the Geara Doga has a good number of parts and unlike my previous painted build - MG GN-X - there are very few pieces that can be put together and painted as a whole. This is owed to the orange energy cables that are integrated into nearly every limb. 

The energy cables are rubber as opposed to plastic, so I'm not sure how they'll take to my Tamiya Acrylics. To find out I've snipped part of the runner and primed it in preparation for test painting, which won't be happening for at least a week.

You may have notices all the bags in the previous picture and wondered what was going on? Well that's my method for organizing my parts. I use cheap sandwich bags and label them according to what's inside and what color they'll be painted. This one says "Waist Parts Thrusters Flat Earth II, this means this bag contains two waist thruster parts that will be painted with Tamiya's Flat Earth. Another example would be the shoulder armor (not pictured) which is labeled, "Shoulder Armor Parts White & Orange I". 

Frosted glass looking decidedly defrosted.

And here is the first batch of primer blasted parts. Technically this is the second batch of primered parts however, this is my first crack at applying primer via the airbrush and as is my habit this first attempt hasn't gone perfectly. My disappointment is tempered by the reality that I've already begun improving and expect my technique will become more refined as I continue along. 

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! That shield is going to need a bit more work.

Alright so that's all for this W.I.P., unless something dramatic occurs the next installment likely won't come until the colors get applied. Till then keep them sprue bits flying folk!

Who Knew Ugly Could be so Beautiful

Usually a broken, scratched, incomplete thing is utterly abominable but this battle damaged MG Hyaku Shiki by Dunpeel is absolutely masterful. I mean look at it, that battle damage is something wonderful. I'm going to put it out there right now, this is beyond my current skill level and wll worth a looksee. Also that LED enabled I has quite the sinister air to it if I do say so myself.

Shout out to Gundam Guy blog for shining their light on this amazing peace, head over to the artists page for the full gallery of excellent images.

Model Kit Musings - Fenice Rinascita

Not Ricardo Fenice sold separately.

5184 yen. 5,184 yen. Five Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Four Yen!

Wing Gundam is my favorite mobile suit of them all and anything resembling it is right up my alley, so it goes without saying the Fenice Rinascita is definitely on my radar but what's up with that price! There's no way translucent plastic costs that much, right? I doubt it true but perhaps this price means the inclusion of the Meteor Hopper (which actually belongs to the Wing Gundam Fenice). I'd pay 5,184 yen for  an MG version of the Honoo any day but I'm going to have to wait on a sale for this kit, I simply don't see the value for what's largely little more than a re-skin.

Surely these aren't worth the extra yen?

I know times are hard at Bandai (not really) with the taxation increase and whatnot but is this kit really worth more than the Exia Dark Matter (5,000 yen), Wing Zero Proto Zero (4,800) or the Astray Blue Frames (4,800 and 5,000 yen respectively)? I can't help but think this is a by-product of the popularity of Build Fighters, the cost of these kits has risen with each release from the 4,200 yen of the Build Strike Full Package to 5,000 yen for Sengoku Astray and Exia Dark Matter. Regardless of the reason I'm not pleased with this price, that said it's still possible there's more material not being shown that more than makes up for the price. Here's hoping, till next time peeps.

All images courtesy of Gundam Guy Blogspot.

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.

Eye Spy the Second

Eye Spy peers at... Master Grade Rick Dias Quattro Bajeena Custom.

Cheers for:

• Cool weapons
• Great feel (I'll explain)
• Unique design
• Competent hands
• Options 
• Awesome engineering
• Sweet color scheme

Jeers for:

• Wonky shoulder armor
• Limited leg pose-ability

A in-depth review can be found after the break.

Kaisuke Jr. rushing to the battlefield!

First post in a long time and its not Gundam related? Madness!

Okay so maybe it's not as mad as it seems, you see I simply love Aldnoah Zero and it's main character Inaho Kaisuke. The show has a coherent and nuanced story that provides sufficient intrigue to make it a compelling aside to the awesome action sequences. Perhaps most importantly Aldnoah Zero doesn't make me wonder why the characters choose certain actions, and in so doing avoids straining its credibility. Within the show and it's universe there is a reason for everything and rarely is that reason, "because it looks cool". Anyhow I'll leave my analysis of the show at that since this post is about Plamo!

A while back Collection DX outed an action figure version of this mobile suit known as the KG-6 Sleipnir. Given my adulation for the source material my interest was naturally piqued. However, when it comes to robots I for some reason - perhaps it's their mechanical nature - prefer to build them, so such action figures hold no real appeal for me. 

This however (potentially) changes the game, Collection DX has returned to out a Kotobukiya produced model kit! Perhaps model kit is too shallow a term for this Plamo that is many things? More than a model kit the Sleipnir is a mobile suit from a series I love. The suit of my favorite character from that series. A uniquely mobile suit design and a 200 (7000 vs. 6800) bargain over the action figure. 

Now it should be pointed out that all this excitement could just as soon shrivel into revulsion if the color prototype is the wrong shade of orange or has ugly nub marks. It's always a bit reckless to be enthused about grey scale marketing pieces such as this, that said it's almost certain that I'll be buying this kit and experiencing firsthand any joy or disappointment. Anyone else among the reading populous interested in this kit or am I alone in my bubbling excitement? Sound off below.