51st All Japan Model & Hobby Show (Part 1)
November 15, 2011 at 17:04 | Posted in Events | Leave a commentTags: Bearguy, Dra-C, Full Armor Unicorn, Gundam AGE, gundam seed, Gundam Unicorn, gundam wing, Gunpla Builders, HGUC, MG Heavyarms, MG Sandrock, MG Unicorn, RG Freedom, RG Strike Gundam, Strike Rogue, Zee Zulu
I should’ve posted this sooner, but there were other things that require attention. Anyway, after missing the last two, I decided to pay this year’s hobby show a visit. FYI, you can get a 300yen discount on the entry ticket by printing a coupon from the hobby show website. I’ll start off with some Gunpla stuff and in the next post I’ll put up a gallery of other stuff from the show.
So to kick things off, here’s some pics of Bandai’s latest Gundam anime, Gundam AGE. From what I’ve seen so far (the anime & gunpla), I’m definitely not interested. But for those of you who are, there’s plenty of AGE gunpla for you:
The above are the HG releases, but it didn’t take too long for them to release a 1/48 mega size scale:
Here’s some stuff from the Gunpla Builder’s section, some of which were published in Hobby Japan magazine:
And here’s some Limited edition stuff on sale for the Gunpla Expo in Akihabara. Too bad I couldn’t attend it. From what I saw there’s a RG Strike Rogue, a pink Bearguy, clear RG RX-78 & Exia, a shiny AGE and PG RX-78. Hmm, not so interesting…
But here’s something I might look forward to: weapons set in 1/144 scale. Currently there’s the gattling guns for the Unicorn & some Zaku machine guns. Also, a fancy display base will also be on sale soon. It seems to fit 1/144 scale models, but it can expand to accomodate the smaller MGs (Wing series, Crossbone).
Next is the Gundam Unicorn section. From the HGUC series, there’s the Zee Zulu and Dra-C, and you can see them in action on Vol.4 of Gundam Unicorn. Hopefully Bandai will release a remake of the Kapool. There’s also clear versions of the Sinanju and Ksatriya, but I’m not sure if they’re limited items or not.
Then there’s the MG Full Armor Unicorn. The amount of weapons attached is bordering on the ridiculous. For sure assembling all of them will keep you occupied for quite some time.
Moving on to the Gundam SEED section, where there’s been a sort of a revival. The first few SEED Gundams (Strike, Aegis, Buster, Duel, Blitz) will be re-released with some minor changes: 1) The box art will be different; 2) an adapter peg for the Bandai Action Base will be included; 3) the color of the plastic will be slightly different; 4) marking stickers will be attached.
But the main attraction is undoubtedly the RG Freedom. If I didn’t already have a MG Freedom, I would have bought this RG version. I’ll probably skip this one and wait what’s next on the RG production line. A Zeta perhaps?
Here’s some B-club releases: Turn-X, Nemo & Gelgoog
And finally here’s some pics from the Gundam Wing section. Headline news is the already released MG Sandrock, which looks cool. Might get one in the future. But my main interest is in the upcoming MG Heavyarms. I already have the HG 1/100 from the Endless Waltz OVA, but I’m definitely getting this MG version. What’s next on the line? A MG Tallgeese perhaps?
And there you have it. All the Gunpla-related items from the 51st All Japan Model & Hobby Show. Photos from other exhibits can be found in Part II here.
RG Aile Strike Gundam
May 25, 2011 at 12:12 | Posted in 1/144 scale, Model kits | 10 CommentsTags: Aile Strike Gundam, エールストライク, ストライクガンダム, リアルグレード, gundam seed, Real Grade, RG, Strike Gundam
Introduction
I bought this out of curiosity actually, as I never had an RG model kit yet. The other two RG kits looked interesting, but I was looking for something else other than a Gundam or a Zaku. I bought the 1/100 Aile Strike kit and a HG Strike Rouge kit a long long time ago and basically they’re junk now. Anyway, burning with curiosity, I immediately started building it as soon as I got home.
Materials & Methods
This thing boasts a complete inner frame, although most of it already came pre-assembled on the runner, kinda like the legs for the RX-78 Ver1.5 and OYW versions. When put together, the inner frame does look a bit thin and fragile on its own. But when you put the armor on, it all starts to look magnificent. The amount of parts are staggering, and at times felt a bit unnecessary.
As for the color scheme, at first I thought of sticking with the original colors, but then again I wanted it to look unique. So to look for some inspiration for a custom color scheme, I browsed through some hobby magazines. A white & grey color scheme came to mind, before I decided for white, grey & yellow colors, just like the Nu-Gundam. Hardly original, I know. Heck, I’ll just call mine the Nu-Strike. Having decided on the colors for the body, I opted for an aircraft kinda feel for the Aile Pack. I decided to try for a camouflage look using different shades of gray spray cans I have available.
The kit comes with decals on a blue-colored sheet. Don’t be fooled, they’re not water-slide decals, just plain ol’ stickers. I didn’t use any of them, except for some of the shiny bits. For the most part, I used my inventory of water-slides, but I didn’t have many in 1/144 scale. Some of them were old and tore quite easily so I had to be extra careful.
Discussion
My final comments on this kit: it looks absolutely gorgeous. Its design and range of movement are reminiscent of the PG version.The details are intricate and color separation is well thought out. If there’s any negative point about this kit, is that the legs feel a bit short. Maybe it’s just me. I’m very impressed with it and hopefully other RG releases will be just as good, or even better. The only down side is, after being served with such a treat, building my next HG kit would feel like a total downgrade. If this were a review, I’d give it a 9/10.
Gundam Big Expo
October 25, 2009 at 20:33 | Posted in Events | 3 CommentsTags: diorama, g gundam, Gundam 00, gundam 30th, gundam anniversary, gundam big expo, gundam seed, gundam wing, gundam x, odaiba gundam, turn-a, Unicorn gundam, universal century, victory gundam
Yes, I know it was a few months back and I’m fully deserving of the title slowpoke. I just haven’t had the time to organize the many photos I’ve taken over the past few months and this event unfortunately was my lowest priority. But anyway, better late than never right? This expo was one of the many events Bandai has prepared in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of Gundam. If i recall correctly, they divided the expo into several sections: anime, gunpla, games, stage, books and merchandise sections. Only the merchandise section had no entrance fee, the rest required ~1000yen for entry.
At the books section they had, well…gundam books. Mangas, magazines etc.
Even Tomino has his own book
And just beside the books section were some Gundam artwork by artists unknown to me, but they look nice anyway
The gunpla section is actually just a small row displaying gunpla from the first clunky bits of plastic from the 70’s to the sleek design of today’s MG. I actually like the boxart of those old kits
There was also a dedicated section for the 1:1 scale Gundam in Odaiba. They have a PG-sized model of the 1:1 scale model of the RX-78. Man, they really love the RX-78. They also displayed some components of the gundam, including the mold for the v-antennae. The last 2 pics are the real 1:1 scale gundam I took from the train on the way back.
As I entered the anime section, some posters of the anime series caught my attention. You can see my bias for U.C stuff, as I didn’t take any photos of other series’s posters :P
The anime section started off with 0079 U.C and in the middle was this massive diorama with HGUC models (lots of em)
And then there’s other dioramas involving the RX-78…
The rest of the anime section included the rest of gundam series that ever existed. And each section had the respective mechas and/or dioramas. Here they are in no particular order:
And also, for each anime subsection, there were big scale models of the ‘hero’ mobile suits..
And that’s about all the photos I took. There was the stage event where they had some famous gundam related celebrities, mostly the voice actors. I recall the voice actor for Gihren Zabi giving his Zeon speech and following that the crowd went “ZIEG ZEON!!!” That was cool. There’s also a screening booth for a short CG animation called ‘Ring of Gundam’. Nothing interesting actually. Just after the exit was the merchandise section but I didn’t really fancy buying anything, plus the queue was long. So that’s it, and as always enjoy the pics.
Modelers-G
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
Kusakusa Gunpla 