Thursday, June 30, 2011

Filler: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal Generation Force Booster Pack (Japanese)

To be perfectly honest, this was a random get since a friend of mine happen to have thechance of getting some booster packs while he was at a Yu-Gi-Oh! competition over at Miri (IRC) a few months back. Just got it from him just now and kept it nicely after seeing the contents. Nothing much so I'm happy with the standard set of cards I got. :3 (Not gonna suddenly start collecting the cards anytime soon due to current budget plans BTW.)

Had to borrow one beam part from the HGUC, yes, HGUC beams are FULLY COMPATIBLE!
If you're wondering why this sudden random post, it is because I can't finish the photo-shoot of the Gundoom just yet (waited for the sun to be up and around for the WoL shots, for best effect). A lot of shots I wanna take still haven't been taken (being particular about it). I might even add some more minor decals after the review (as some parts feel a little bare after taking the shots but I don't want to re-shoot them so as said, after review).

Until the next post. Phew, lots of stuff need to be done. Haven't even touched the RG Aile Strike even. ^^;

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

McModel HG 1/144 Hi-Nu Gundoom Decal Teaser

Just a little preview as I haven't done any real photo-shooting for the finalized Hi-Nu Gundoom. At any rate, here are two blurry preview shots of things to come. I'll admit early that I didn't do the decal work very well this time so you'll see some inconsistencies in the final part of the review soon enough.

Just putting this up here as well.

VS Bandai HGUC 1/144 Hi-Nu Gundam.

VS Bandai NG 1/100 00 Gundam.

That's all for this additional teaser post~

Max Factory Figma KOS-MOS Ver. 4 Review

Price: 4800 Yen

This will be my first ever Figma review so it probably won’t be as good as those who has handled them much more than me. I decided this to be my first Figma, in fact, since the first time I saw her promotional shot. Some would call this “love at first sight” in a way. ^^;

Otherwise, let’s see how this figure fares.

Read more!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Filler: Evening Drive Out

I don't drive enough even though I've obtained my license a little over 2 years ago. Thus, today, I decided to go out to "un-rust" myself with the better vehicle in the house. After driving the Toyota, I feel like the Proton(s) I used to drive were, well, crap comparatively. At any rate, I should drive more often. For the benefit of my moving freedom that is. :P
I hope to get a car soon, even if it'll be the new secondary family car at that point. With that possibility, I'll be given a few driving responsibilities. Still a while for that to happen however.

I'll be doing the water-slide decals on the Hi-Nu Gundoom tomorrow if I'm not too busy. There isn't any decal instruction as far as I've looked through the manual so I'll have to be creative for most of it. The only one I'm sure where to put is the Amuro Ray insignia. XP

Thought I could filter through the 705 shots I took of her, yes 705 shots. I'll see if I can do that successfully tomorrow. O.o I'll be posting her review over at the WP blog due to the possible length as it is my first Figma review and all. Can't think of an omake at the moment. Lacking proper hentai character... should I make Unicorn fish again? :P

That's all for this filler post. More coming up in the next one, hopefully tomorrow. Tired~

Friday, June 24, 2011

HG 1/144 Seravee Gundam GNHW/B Review - Part 1

Price: 1800 Yen

Bought this a long while already but only decided to build it quite recently - during the Kyan!me 2011 event as a live build. I didn't complete the whole kit there but built the Seravee Gundam finish there nonetheless (and dragged out my Seraphim Gundam to accompany it as I was too lazy to build the dummy at that point).

As for the live build, I was shaking at first as it was the first time I did this in public. There weren't many people on the first day as it was still a weekday so not much pressure was on me then. Gotta give my hats off to Fabian who build a total of three kits (IIRC) during the event, MGs some more.

Specifications
GN-008GNHW/B - Seravee Gundam GNHW/B (GN Heavy Weapon Spec B)
Pilot: Tieria Erde
Height: 18.2m
Weight: 67.2t
Armaments: GN Bazooka II, GN Cannon (4), GN Beam Saber (6), GN Beam Cannon (2), GN Field/Barrier
Interesting fact about Seravee/Seraphim is that the beam sabers are insert in the arm guard so they can be pulled out rather fast. I think it is most advantageous for such a bulky suit.

PS: Reading the review on my HG Seraphim Gundam is advisable.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

HGFC 1/144 Nobell Gundam [Berserk Mode]

September 2011 Release
Price: 1500 Yen
Source: GundamGuy

Look at this, Bandai is on a variation roll! Not just any plain ol' variations, variations that SELL. Thanks a lot for the tight month Bandai, thanks a bunch.

Looking at the early mold so far, looks like we're getting another one piece hair. Other than that, a standard beam saber. So, does that mean we won't be getting the beam ribbons anymore or we get both the beam ribbons and beam sabers? That would be great.

That's all for now. Nobell fans, get or no get Berserk Mode?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

MG/SD 00 Gundam 7 Sword/G

Bandai: KEIKAKU DOORI!
September 2011 Release
Price - MG: 5500 Yen, SD: 800 Yen
Source: GundamGuy

FFFF YES! It is G some more! So it will or at least should come with the yet un-shown GN Sword II Blaster. Sadly, considering my current savings route, I think I'll settle with the SD first. :P
Looking at the photos, I do hope the MG can hold the GN Buster Sword up later on considering how heavy it will be, especially when the HG has issues (after a while, it holds it up gloriously freshly built). I'm hoping for an inclusion of an action base like the MG Astray Blue/Red Frame for it here. The sparkle action base won't hurt Bandai. ;)

I have nothing else to say except I feel glad that I decided to skip the MG 00 Raiser (due to saving purposes but still). :D

Oh yeah, Gundam AGE-1 is released around the same time. >.<
Wallet: I can't perform that many miracles bub.
Me: Oh darn.

EDIT (Saw Tsukinari's blog post got updated so I'll update mine as well. ^^;)
There, a shot at the GN Sword II Blaster! The MG 007SG can also hold the large GN buster Sword, with two hands, without the need of a support! As far as the promo shot tells. There goes the idea of anincluded action base like the MG AB/RF. ^^;

Also... is that the the GN Katar being able to connect to the GN Drives besides just the legs? Oh snaps, that makes having TWO MG 007SG worthwhile now. o.o

*Calculates possibility of having 5500 Yen *2 by the time it comes around locally.*

McModel HG 1/144 Hi-Nu Gundoom Review - Part 1

This will be a long review as evident as it is for me to post another review over on my WP blog instead. Took me a while to build it due to events popping out left and right. To this very moment of typing this part, I haven’t put on the decals for the Gundoom. Before continuing on, some explanations are in order.

McModel (Model Comprehend) is a China based company. The kits they make can be considered a bootleg yet not so. They are model kits of resin kits for certain Gundams made prior. As such, they aren’t official or anything. There is some copyright issue on that but I wouldn’t want to debate on it. So, please, don’t thrash it because of the kit’s bootleg status as I shall review it as a kit. For this particular Gundoom, it is based on this resin kit.

I bought the kit from Heng Kim Trading for about RM11X. Not as cheap as other sources but I decided to support the local shop on this one as well as keeping my reservation promise. IIRC, you can get it as low as RM80 from certain forums which directly challenges the price of a Bandai HGUC 1/144 Hi-Nu Gundam which can be obtained at about the same price range. As such, it can be summarized that, the McModel and Bandai HG of this particular Gundam are “priced the same“.

Read more!Link

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Gundam AGE-1 Fan-Art + Figma KOS-MOS Ver.4 GET + HG Seravee Gundam GNHW/B & McModel HG 1/144 Hi-Nu Gundoom COMPLETE!

A quick rough sketch I did after seeing the promotional video of the series. Not so accurate but it has the basic silhouette of the Gundam AGE-1. I drew Frite yesterday as well... o.o

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Figma KOS-MOS Ver.4 from Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra
I got her on Tuesday night. More expensive than I expected but I luckily made an estimation if that happens so here she is. My very first Figma GET! Review on her after the following Gundam and Gundoom.

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HG 1/144 Seravee Gundam GNHW/B & HG 1/144 Seraphim Gundam
After months being in the box, quite ignored, I finished it as a "live build" during the Kyan!me 2011 anime convention held last week at The Hills Shopping Mall. Technically I finished it up at home but did most of it at the Sarawak Gunpla Meisters booth with some help from my friends' tools (markers mostly). Just in case you can see it clearly, yes, that is Seraphim on top. You'll need to buy it separately for the full experience unfortunately... a rather simple review for this later.

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McModel HG 1/144 Hi-Nu Gundoom
Finally finished it! I thought I could do that last week but time flew by faster than expected and I had to prepare myself for the Kyan!me event. At any rate, review on this up next, after I put some decals.

That's all for this simple "what's up" post. Another post to come shortly, hopefully by tomorrow, for the Gundoom.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Kyan!me 2011 Ends, Age of a New Gundam

Phew, the weekend went by quickly than I thought but I'm very tired after spending most of my Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Hills for the Kyan!me 2011. The event was alright but quite a number of hiccups happened throughout the event which the MCs had to apologize heavily to the audience most of the time. I'll talk about that more once I upload the videos over at Youtube. (FB side is almost done.)

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Gundam AGE.





Let's talk about Gundam AGE. More about it at GundamGuy, as usual. And thanks to Tsukinari as well for poisoning me with Gundam AGE-1. Credits to both of them for posting material as well.

As far as the promotional video of the series, I like it. You can argue about the "aliens" AKA UE but from how they have shown to act, they could be not what we thought exactly or could be. Who knows?

Technically speaking, the main purpose of "Gundam" is to end wars as what the various series have shown. In a forceful way, you can say it is to end war by winning it. Otherwise, even with introducing non-human enemies, it can still be Gundam as the main character, Frite, wants to end the war after loss of his mother.

It has a more "childish" feeling to in terms of design. That I can admit but we'll see how that fare when we see it in full motion when the anime hits in October later this year.

This is also the first time a Gundam "can grow" but that can be attributed to what Gundam 00 shown to us in its final moments. Even machines can "grow". How the story explains that, in a more logical explanation, is yet unknown. It may not be as far fetched as some may think. But that could just me being accepting of the new Gundam series.

About the merchandises (card games, etc) and slew of model kits coming out for the main Gundam (AG, HG, GB, MG and MZ), please don't take it too hard. You're not in any way or form being forced to get them at all. Some may be tempting, like the Mega Size 1/48 Gundam AGE-1... @.@

In a way, the whole series is being targeted at a younger audience... or is it? What has Tomino shown us in the past for a "Children's toy commercial"? More may meet the eye. If I were you, I stay tune for until the series starts and leave any negative initial impressions on the low for a while. Well, I can say I'm loving the design of the Gundam AGE-1 so far. The model kit sealed the deal for me. ^^;

So what are your thoughts? Or will you wait before you say something?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Finals End, E3, Gundoom & Real Grade

My finals are finally over! Although I'm supposed to announce that on Monday afternoon earlier this week. I hope I did alright since my last paper wasn't done all as great as I hoped, tricky one that day. For the best. ^^;

Right after the last paper ended, I went back home and rested for the afternoon. Then I read my FB and other usual sites and realized the E3 live broadcast was gonna start at 12.30AM Tuesday (for M'sia time). I quickly made a search and found GameTrailers.com. Since I' talking about it, let me discuss about some of the highlights for the three big game companies, Microsoft (Xbox 360), Sony and Nintendo (Nintendo's one was on the 2nd day ofE3).

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But before that, since I don't think most of you wants to read a post full of E3 ramblings, I finally started on the McModel HG 1/144 Hi-Nu Gundoom.
Photo taken with a Samsung Champ Phone Camera @ 1.3MP at night with a too bright lamp for the sensor.

So far so good. The color accuracy is a bit off for silver parts mostly and the overall build was a smooth ride. Be careful of some wrong instructions in the manual such as the "I#" is actually "H#". I'll be talking more on it once I finish it later today or tomorrow.

Photo taken with a Samsung Champ Phone Camera @ 1.3MP at night.

I went to Heng Kim Trading last night for a Sarawak Gunpla Meisters meeting for the Kyan!me later this week at the Hills. It was practically a PSP party with some added randomness which made it fun to hang out with people. :)

Before I left the place, I bought a RG 1/144 Aile Strike Gundam and curiously bought a GaoGao action base. I'll blog about the base to see if it is good enough to mass buy for mass base usage.

Watch out for Kyan!me 2011 later this week from 9th June (Exhibition), 10th to 12the June at the Hills shopping mall in Kuching!

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Read on for a long post with lots of links regarding my E3 impressions! (Mainly just Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo TBH.)

Warning, you might not get what I'm saying, so how about reading the latest news up at Kotaku first beforehand? I'll be using Kotaku as a reference here, easier for me. :P (Read up other sites, even video sites to get a more clear idea of the event!)

Note: I didn't paste every single link available from Kotaku since some aren't from the keynotes themselves (I added a few for reference's sake though). It should be easy to find nonetheless.

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