MG Force Impulse Gundam

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

So... yeah... I bought it.

I don't know... I don't know why I was so taken with this thing. But I've been thinking about it a lot for a long time and decided that I'll go for it. No regrets! Even though I've got a whole bunch of other things that I haven't finished yet. I just need to inject something fresh into the mix. Wasn't sure about what type of colour scheme I wanted to go with but when I opened the box it all came to me. Gonna keep it a secret for now. It's gonna be sweet though and I'm really excited about it. I'm going to try and really push the build process on this one. I want to hammer it out ASAP for some reason. Don't know why. I don't know why but I thought this thing was retailing for 5000 yen or so but I got it for 3800.

They showed some cool pics in the manual of this Impulse separated into its component parts and each one had an action base linked together. Looked really cool but don't think I'd do it for myself. I like it combined together too much. Comes with a ticket inside so you can watch a special Phase Force Impulse video on the JP website. Haven't looked at it yet though.

The kit has a fair amount of parts and a couple of gimmicks. A lot of it I probably won't use but even still. I might go for the complete look for this one. Not sure... The internals are really nice and I want to paint them but what’s the point if they're going to be covered up. wtf... I'm going to go for it. Do this model some justice. I think it deserves it.

MSN-001A1 Delta Plus

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

This suit also made quite an impression on me. It reminded me so much of what I liked about the Hyaku Shiki. The feeling of speed and lightness. The exposed leg frame. The pipes and tubes. The wing binders. I like the grey as well. The monochrome scheme suits the design I think. Or is that just my personal preference talking again? Well take a look at this silver custom Hyaku Shiki "Cannon".

Does that not look cool or what? The gold is nice but damn…

Unfortunately this Delta Plus model doesn't transform because I’d love to see it in “wave rider" mode. It’s like a combination of the Zeta and Hyaku Shiki. If there’s one thing that I'll always love about Zeta Gundam it’s that it was the series that brought us the MSN series of suits. Another one of my favourites but I have to withhold my judgement on this suit until I see it in wave rider mode. From what I understand the Hyaku Shiki was supposed to be THIS suit but couldn't be developed at the time do to the weak frame so they just made it into the non transforming Hyaku Shiki. The project was re-opened later and about 10 years after the Hyaku Shiki the Delta Plus was finally realized but had trouble being placed in squadrons due to its uniqueness. It’s a prototype for mass production purposes so I think there are a couple of these suits floating around. Maybe 4. Don't quote me on that though.

MSN-06S Sinanju

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

My apologies for the recent lack of posting. Some of you know that I've recently celebrated a birthday that's somewhat of a milestone in my life. A lot of stuff has been going on. I spent a lot of time preparing the next couple of posts so you can expect them to come in quick succession for this U.C. 0096 series after this one. Preparing these double layout spreads takes a bit of time, as I have to scan them, crop and sometimes rotate, then place them together, then crop again, then change the image size and reduce the file size a bit. It takes time but I'm pleased with the end result. Especially when it's a work of art like this.

MSN-06S Sinanju

Return of the Red Comet. Scratch built from various different kits. MG Hi-Nu, Unicorn, Black Tri-Star Zaku v.2, and Gouf but most of it is from the Hi-Nu, particularly the frame. I like this suit because it looks like something made for an ace. It reminds me of the first Tallgeese in a way because it contains a certain "majesty" that other suits don't really have. That and the massive rifle. It looks strong. It looks fast. It looks like it's not a suit that'd be wasted on a B rank pilot. It was made for an ace and it commands respect. There will be no mass produced versions of this suit. I like how the Neo Zeon MS have designs that reflect the uniforms of the pilots with the more powerful suits having more detailed "embroidery" for lack of a better term. I'll be including some action poses of this suit but won't for the others. There were only action pose photos of this and the 4x Gat Unicorn in the magazine. I've never been a large fan of Zeon MS but if this one every gets a MG version made out of it, I'd definitely buy it. I'm not holding my breath though. There are so many things about this suit that I like that it'd hard to pin point what it is that I love about it. The subtle molding of the thrusters on the outer legs and skirt. The fuel tanks that are stark white on the red yet somehow don't distract from the design and seem to totally fit the frame a problem I've had with many MS that use fuel tanks. Particularly Hi-Nu. The suit seems to be a work of art, that blends function with design. A truly fearsome opponent. I know I'm probably in the minority but for once, I like the antagonists suit more than the protagonist in a U.C. series. Never been a fan of red MS as a lot of you know but I am quite fond of this suit. Naturally, like I think of most MS... I feel it would be better in black.

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam w/ Beam Gattling Guns x4

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Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

This thing... is a monster.

I love it.

If the Unicorn came with the all of this I'd have bought it easily. Unicorn channeling Heavy Arms Custom. Really sweet. From the June issue of Hobby Japan. I took a look at this months Dengeki Hobby as well but thought that the Hobby Japan issue had cooler stuff. And it's cheaper. For the next little while I'm going to be getting away from OO stuff and getting more into the U.C. 0096 Era suits. This issue has some GREAT scratch build suits. I love the U.C. 0096 designs. Particularly the Neo Zeon suits but more on that later.

Gundam Bar - Side 3

A friend was riding through town and called me when she found this place. She sent me the link afterwards.

A couple of days later I ended up going there with another friend who knew absolutely nothing about Gundam but she got a long well with the staff regardless. The staff are really nice folks. The manager and the shop owner are quite... eccentric. The owner introduced himself to me wearing a Darth Vader mask! And instead of 'Cheers' they'd say Zieg ZEON! Wow. It was a lot to take in for a regular person. More so for a Gundam fan. There are models EVERYWHERE. Gifts from the customers! 1/60 Strike Freedom and Exia were given to them as gifts? Wow. Again. It was cool though, I could play with the MG GP02 as I was drinking, and Gouf Custom and blahblahblah. There was A LOT of stuff there. I was playing with 1/60 Exia last night actually and I really liked it.

The menu was crazy. Take a look.

I'll translate some of the "Gundam Cocktails" for you.

The Federations "White Thing"
Red Comet
Black Tri Star
Cinderella Four
Nightmare of Solomon
Stardust Memory
White Fang
Moonlight Butterfly
Blue Cosmos
Pink Princess

And if you're not a cocktail drinker you can always get the Hyaku Shiki Beer. The manager showed me a picture on his cell phone of a customer dressed up in Quattro's costume drinking that beer! Hilarious!

Of course most of the people there are Gundam fans but not all. It's on a street that's full of shops but most of them close at 6pm and this place is open until... well I'm not sure really.

It's narrow. Haven't gotten a chance to see the upstairs yet. I noticed that at the back they had a little raised tatami area. Don't know about tatami? Check here. 4.5 Mats. 6 people were sitting at a table playing a DS game linked together. Couldn't see what game it was but I asked if they were all playing the same game together and they lady said 'Yes'. I passed them on my way to the washroom.

The washroom was plastered with Gundam posters.

I think it was at that point that I realized that I probably won't be able to find a place like this anywhere else. I felt like I fit in this place (yeah just the toilet haha). But at the same time not. I could talk about modelling and Gundams freely with people who knew more about it than me. Really it was quite a special day in my life when I usually go through it with people having no idea about Gundam or having the 'otaku' stigma attached to it. Not here. It's embraced openly. I'm somehow relieved when I come across those Gundam fans who are more extreme than me.

Gundam OO DVD's are running constantly. People are coming in and out constantly. There were a lot more women there then I thought would be.

It was fun but a bit on the expensive side, not to mention the Japanese is a bit tough for me. A lot of the folks use a strong regional dialect so it's a bit hard to understand sometimes but they took it down a notch for me. Lot's of quoting from animations. Dragonball. At one point in the night everyone in the bar repeating a line from G Gundam simultaneously! Shook the walls! Nice place and I'm really glad I found it. I'll come back for sure.

More pics with write up's here.

Jumbo Zeta, Teruhisa Tajima, Uniqlo, Gundam T-Shirts and... a Gundam BAR?!

I want to tell a story. In order to do it properly I have to actually start a couple of weeks ago with Jumbo Grade Zeta and the works of a man named Teruhisa Tajima. Weeks ago when I'd first gotten the May Dengeki Hobby I saw a very cool picture of Jumbo Zeta holding a steel rod next to some electrical pylons. It's was called "Primitive Weapon" and I was quite impressed with the double entendre. I liked the photo more because of the title.

Teruhisa is a photographer who photoshops images of model Gundams into his photos.

I saw that some of his work was going to be made into T-Shirts for a fashion company here called "Uniqlo" which I suppose is the Japanese equivalent of American clothing shop "Old Navy". I really liked the Guncannon "Smoke gets in my eyes." shirt but it only comes in pink and... I don't wear pink shirts.

I saw that the shirts were going to start to be released sometime in late April. So one day I just happened to be out for lunch with my co-workers and as we were walking back to the office we passed by Uniqlo and everyone wanted to go in and check it out. Sure enough there were a lot of Gundam themed T-Shirts there. Take a look!

I wanted to get the light blue one with the two Goufs but they were sold out of that so I went for the good old RX-78-2.

I wore it underneath a polo shirt I was wearing when I went out later on that week. That night I end up going to Gundam themed bar. A lot of people were surprised and I think maybe even impressed when I pulled up my polo shirt to reveal the helmet of the RX-78. But I'm a bit of a maniac I think. I even have a picture of the MG OYW I built as my cell phone wall paper. That also provoked similar cries of astoshiment from the people present when they saw it. Not to mention I knew the names, pilots and model numbers of almost all the models there. But more on the Gundam Bar later.

1/144 GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh

I actually like the Nadleeh design more than Virtue's. I like the thin look but I don't really like the hair. I know it's part of the design... but as I was looking at it I was thinking of what it'd be like to turn Nadleeh into more of a "manly" looking suit (as I'm prone to do I've realized). The general design is nice. I'd change the feet. Make them a bit longer. Scrap the hair. Or maybe just the facial hair. Put the rest in a pony tail? haha I think I like the colour scheme though. I have a hard time imagining it looking any other way. I like the white because it's more suitable for a mech inside of a mech. Nadleeh wouldn't be something that'd have a lot of weathering or battle damage I think. But I guess that's what makes the possibility of it that much more intriguing.