Gundam Unicorn OVA 2 - Thoughts

First let me say this to make myself perfectly clear.  It's awesome.  It's frigging awesome.  I was lucky enough to watch the HD dubbed version and the quality was just spectacular.  The level of animation, the sounds, the voices, the story... everything was top notch. 

One note on the voices.  I found the Japanese voices to have a bit more of an 'adult' tone.  With the voices and with the type of language used.  The English voices make the characters sound younger, which they are.  Also the anime itself uses a lot of English for the written text that appears.  The English voices fit this.  I also liked the voice acting as well.  In general I prefer Japanese voices for Japanese anime but they did a good job with this.  It doesn't feel strange at all.  Not to me at least.

I honestly don't mind waiting a whole season if this is the type of quality they're going to produce.

It's really no different than making a model.  A lot of people speed through the process just to get it done and maybe they take a couple shortcuts and in the end it isn't as good as they'd have hoped but it's something they can show off but it might not be something they're necessarily proud off.  I aim to never do that with any of my models, which is basically why I don't finish anything! haha

But my point is that when this is all done... let's say 2012, when we're all looking back on this and the series is finished, what we'll be left with is an extremely high quality OVA that will stand the test of time for years to come and that's priceless.  That's worth waiting for.

I ended up watching the first episode again to remind me of what's going on and I was also pleasantly reminded of just how good that first episode was too.

Putting the technical things off to side... I have to stay that even though the story is intentionally quite vague right now, they way that things are being done and how they're being presented is very well done in my opinion.

One of the problems I've always had with Gundam is how unrealistic it is and how ridiculous some of the premises are but this episode in particular does a very good job of expanding on the ethos and principles of the main characters and once this is done you're left with a complex array of charaters whose motivations are believable.

Not only that but they're managed to bring this eras issues of war, terror, oppression and lack of political representation into a 30 year old storyline thus infusing a modern sense of relevance to a very old story.  This was excellently done by the writers.  As a life long Federation supporter I found myself for the first time really sympathizing with the Neo Zeon fighters and felt that I'd finally fully grasped on an emotional level their motivations, desires and frustrations.

Speaking not only as a Gundam fan but also a fan of anime, I have to say that this may be one of the best I've seen.  I have no complaints what so ever.

I'll end this post with a quote from Full Frontal.

"As I am now I consider myself nothing more than a vessel, a vessel for the hopes of those abandoned in space."

It almost makes me want to shout of "Zeig Zeon" myself.  Excellent, excellent animation.  Very entertaining, very well executed and extremely well done.  Highly recommended.

Loving the Unicorn's Transformation Sequence

At around 1:40.

This animation is going to be GOOD. I can feel it.

Dengeki Hobby vs. Hobby Japan

I'm starting to get agitated by this. Why is Dengeki Hobby so much cooler than Hobby Japan? FA MG Unicorn vs. Armoured Messiah? I know which one I'd rather see. Seriously... that FA Unicorn has got to be one of the coolest models I've seen in a long time.

Don't get me wrong I love the Armoured Messiah as well but... I just feel that Dengeki Hobby is a better magazine. Higher caliber of models and execution, better photos...

Did I get a subscrition to the wrong magazine? It certainly is looking that way. I do like the Gunpura LOVE sections in Hobby Japan though. And the FIX lineart posters... Oh well. Maybe I should have just gotten a subscription to both of them!

MSN-06S Sinanju - Work Log 7 - Armour application complete

uc0096
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Very hard session tonight as I could finally start to see the finish line. Last night and today I did the 2nd coat of paint on the leg and waist armour pieces. I decided to push it and just put all the armour on. I have the base colour down so I can get a good idea of what it looks like... and it looks awesome if I do say so myself haha! I am in love with this kit! I should say I'm in love with my kit because of the things I've done to it. The re-colour was a good idea.

But I think it all hit me when I attached the finished wings. Then the true majesty of the kit really struck me. The armour fits together perfectly. It's intricate but not overly complex. This kit was designed with symmetry in mind. There's no distiction between left and right parts until you put the armour on. I was really impressed with that aspect of the design. It would make things a lot easier to make production wise. A couple things become redundant in the process but... it would definitely save on manufacturing time on the whole. This is my first Ver.KA kit so I don't have a frame of comparison but if they're all like this... wow.

Everything is very sturdy. No problem holding poses. It is heavy though, which should be expected from a kit like this. I must say... this kit is a joy. Beautiful in so many aspects. If I had paid for it I'd say it's worth the money. But more importantly... it's worth the time. Beautiful. And the time you put in to it will be rewarded with the time you spend looking at it and the feeling that it gives you. Then you can change the pose and the accesories and feel it all over again haha. I'm just so... impressed!

I'm broken my work method down into stages:

Stage 1 - Washing, priming, 1st coat of paint
Stage 2 - Frame assembly
Stage 3 - Armour application, 2nd coat of paint (not always in that order)
Stage 4 - Detailing, Fine Tuning
Stage 5 - Decaling

I'm almost finished Stage 3. I'm going to do Stages 3-5 at the same time on each individual part. So I have the basic look down but I'm going to work on each part individually now. Feet, legs, waist, body, arms, shoulders, and backpack. The head is already done.

It was quite ambitious of me to think that I could get this all done before work on the 5th. There's no way. But I'm not going to rush it. If the kit looks this good now then it's going to look way better once I get everything the way I want it.

This kit will be my masterpiece so I'm going to give it the time to get it right.

I will not be posting pics of my WIP henceforth, so I'm going to get back into my regular routine of magazine pics and scans. I'm going to start with spreads of other U.C. 0096 suits and then back to the Rasiel/Sefer stuff that I initially wanted to post about before my life got consumed by this kit.

Sticking with the U.C. 0096 theme here is the poster spread from the February issue of Dengeki Hobby. I really hope a Unicorn animation is released eventually. It seems like it would be such a great series!

Year in review

uc96
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

Happy New Year's everyone. I end 2008 with this majestic shot of the two main suits for Unicorn Gundam. Perhaps Gundam 00 overshadowed this series but I'm pretty sure the most popular suit of 2008 was the Unicorn Gundam.

This year (Gundam wise) has been an exceptional one for me.

I started this blog in January, and proceeded to get deeper and deeper into the Gundam scene as time progressed. I bought all 4 HG versions of Althun Zala's Gundams which, almost one year later, are still not even built yet.

In February I assembled my GM Custom which I bought in 2007. Finished up working on my beam rifle for the RX-78-2 OYW and concentrated heavily on content about the Plutone from Gundam OOP.

March - The biggest thing for me that month was finally finishing the OYW. The first Gundam (or even model for that matter) that I was really serious about. Custom paint scheme, lined, repaired and decaled. A milestone for me.

April - Getting excited for the MG Impulse. Consider getting limited edition FG 0 Gundam but decide it's not worth it.

May - Start going to the Gundam Bar more, getting more in U.C. 0096 designs, start work on MG Impulse

June - Reflections on women making Gundams. I officially become a Miyuki Uehara fan.

July - Working really hard on the MG Impulse

August - One of the best vacations I've had in a while. No posts but not Gundam free. Re-unite with my old model kits back in Canada. Brought two back to Japan with me. Have barely touched them. Like I need more kits to work on! lol

September - 2nd half of the year starts. Big month. News of MG Infinite Justice is released, finish my Impulse and I'm introduced to the Red Warrior for the first time. Working on my G04 Gundam occasionally.

October - I get a subscription to Japan Hobby, G04 is stil in the mix, and I toss HG GNX-III in there too. MG Infinite Justice takes priority near the end of the month.

November - Just working on a bunch of projects. MGIJ gets assembled but that's as far as I go.

December - Rasiel and Sefer are on my mind a lot, but really just waiting for Sinanju to come. It does and I sink my teeth into it pretty hard. Highest post count since March and shattered records for both my highest monthly and daily hits. Awesome news is the PG Astray will be released in March... I am so happy about that one. Post count for the year: 129.

And that's the year! Time sure does fly doesn't it? 1 year doesn't really seem that long but... it is. If you're not careful time can really get away from you. There just never seems to be enough. That's why it's so important that we treasure the time we have. Enjoy yourself and enjoy your life! Don't waste your time on bull**** and haters because it's not worth it! Just keep doing the stuff you love! and in my case... in OUR case, it is GUNDAM!!!

Happy New Year's everyone. Stay safe, don't hurt yourselves and dont hurt anyone else! Much peace and love!

Sayonara 2008! Helluva year.

Best Unicorn Gundam ever

rx-0
Originally uploaded by Busterbeam

As far as I'm concerned this one takes the cake. Best mods, best concept, best execution. It is perfect.

And apparently a lot of you are taken with it as well. It's one of the more popular items on my flickr so I've put a couple more pics up.

But don't settle for what I have. Go straight to the source. Erix93 has done an awesome job. Check it out. I've been following his WIP for some time and I was VERY pleased with the end result. Truly a masterpiece.

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam w/ Beam Gattling Guns x4

rx-0
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.