Anime: Psalm of Planet Eureka 7

I was playing Super Robot Taisen Z for quite some time now. This is the latest game produces by Banpresto, which features a lot of new mecha series - Gravion (1st & 2nd), Big-O, Genesis Aquarion, Overman King Gainer, Eureka 7, Gundam Seed Destiny, Baldios, and God Sigma, with the ever popular Mazinger series, Gundam (UC series, X, and Turn A), Getter Robo, and with the Banpresto original.

Currently I'm following the storyline of Eureka 7, of which I started to spark interest in this series. Eureka 7 was broadcasted in late 2005, and it spanned for 50 episodes. I noticed about this series from the Sunrise official website, but yet I was not interested to watch it at that time. I tried to search for it on the Internet, and found that some one has actually put it on in flash video format.

I watched from episode 25 onwards, and I found that the story line is nicely done. Wikipedia stated that this series has been voted with the best anime of 2006, which I think that it does deserve that title, 'coz the story line is indeed very captivating, fantastic. I took the trouble to visit Anime Tech to try my luck if I could find the whole DVD box set of this series, and walla!!! I found it and without any hesitation, I purchased it, and watch it until 6 o'clock in the morning. It's a really good series, and the character design is modest, not too much of 'flamboyant' movement on the female character, if you know what I mean.

The mechanical design of this series is done by Shoji Kawamori, from the fame of Macross series, Cyber Formula series, and Genesis Aquarion.

MG's Modelling Update

It's been a while since my last posting about Chogokin Godmars. The Godmars has been out for about a year now, yet I was not able to even own one. Despite of that, here's what I've been up to in partial detail.

1. MG 1/100 Strike Freedom Full Bust Mode

I haven't finished with the construction of this kit yet. The parts are all being processed, meaning cutting out from the runners, sand down the surface, putty the necessary place, and even use cement to glue together the parts that needed to. I tried to follow some advice of Dengeki Hobby magazine dated 2007 on how to modify this kit, and I would say that it's difficult for me to do so since I don't have the necessary tool at that time, and I don't think I have the confidence to do so.

2. MG 1/100 Hi-Nu Gundam

The status is the same as Strike Freedom. In comparison with the Strike Freedom, I'd say that it's harder to deal with the surfaces of this kit, since there's a lot of linings that needed to get rid of.

3. MG 1/100 Strike Noir Gundam

Same as the above. This kit is basically a kit uses most of the MG 1/100 Strike Freedom parts for the body, thus although it's newer than the above, the articulation is not as good as the above, especially with the hip part. When I was working with the parts, I've purchased certain modeling tools from Hobby Link Japan, which are mainly scribers (Tamiya Scriber and Hasegawa Needle Scriber), files, and sponge file. The files especially is useful to sand down the gates/the cemented extra.

4. MG 1/100 Unicorn Gundam

Same as the above, but with much more detail being done on the surfaces, by having the line to be engraved deeper. I would say that I'm not a good craftman, 'coz there are some lines that I tried to engrave have become a disaster, which I needed to correct it by applying putty. I tried to apply the epoxy putty, but it hurts my skin, and it doesn't stick anymore, thus I need to give it up and use the Gunzo Sungyo Pre-Thinned Putty instead.

I'm trying to proceed with my latest acquisiation - the MG 1/100 Inifinite Justice, while trying to save money to purchase an airbrush set to apply the color.

Roku Shin Gat Tai - God Mars

Oh yes, this is another toy that I'm looking forward to collect. It cost about RM800. I can't afford to pay that much of money in one shot because of my other commitment, what a shame. But anyway, it's very nice for Bandai to come out with this toy again after 20 years or more. I could see that they have really put in effort to re-design the whole toy to make it looks more closely to the anime design. I like it.

I used to own the original Godmars (might be a fake one) about 20 years ago. I like it very much because it feels solid, and the combination gimmicks. Godmars is one of the combination robot toys that I owned 20 years ago. The others that I could remember are Godsigma, Baxinger, GoLion, and Transformer Victory's Leo Caesar.

As compare to the original Godmars, this latest chogokin from Bandai is much more closely resembled the Godmars from the animation, better articulation for posebility, and better combination. Good job, Bandai.

Latest Modelling Update

It's been quite a while since I started to work on my Gunpla. First, I have finished to cut out and sanding the parts for MG Strike Freedom Special Edition. Then, I have the Fin Funnel, weapons, and the thrusters that have yet to be done for my MG Hi-Nu Gundam. After this, I would continue to do the same on both MG Strike Noir and MG Unicorn Gundam.

The reason for me to process only the parts and not assemble them is because I'm saving money to purchase a new airbrush set. I have purchased an airbrush from a local art shop recommended by my friend, and I'm currently saving for the compressor that would cost a lot of money.

I used to favour the Tamiya spray can, but because of the amount of works involved in making the Gunpla is slowly increasing, it's about time to invest in some tools that would help to improve the expanses. Yet, it would cost a lot more at the initial stage, but 1 bottle of color costs only RM 7.00 to RM 10.00, of which it could be used to color a few Gunpla (if I'm not mistaken). Plus, with the airbrush, I would like to learn some Gunpla coloring techniques like shadowing and weathering.

The Origin of Valkyrie

I found out from Bandai's Tamashii website that they have come out with a series of Macross toys, named The Origin of Valkyrie. Unlike the nice looking, high priced Yamato's Macross series, this is based on the very first Macross toys produced by the company that made it during the early 80's. I could recognize that the design is indeed the very first Valkyrie. Why? Because I used to own the original Roy Foker's VF-1S and Hikaru Ichijo's VF-1J from that time (although mine is probably fake).

I have not own any of the latest Yamato's Valkyries, so I can't make any comparison between the 2 in term of the playability. But, as judging from the design, one could see that the Yamato's Valkyries are actually more closed to the original design as compare to its counterpart, especially the VF-1J, where the mouth and chin portion are missing.

I still remember that the original Valkyrie is made with plastic and some die cast metal, of which I think they still preserve this judging from the picture. As for playability, I'm not sure whether it will still be the same. I still remember that the transformation of the Valkyrie between different mode is very solid, not fragile, and I don't have to worry that I may break anything.

The price is cheaper as compare to the Yamato's version with less goodies and smaller box. VF-1J and VF-1S are available for sell at Hobby Link Japan. Max and Miria verions of VF-1J will be released in the coming month.

MG Unicorn Gundam

Forgot to say about this: I got my hand on a MG Unicorn Gundam. First glance at it - it's all white, and it's pretty hard to build, and there's a lot of transformation gimmick with translucent red plastic parts, which means it's really hard to build.

Yet, I haven't have time to build it yet partly because I'm trying to finish the easy to build Gundam Exia (relatively), and partly because I'm waiting to get my hands on an airbrush compressor set from Tamiya - the new Revo Compressor with HG trigger double action airbrush that cost a lot. I'm not really a fan in using airbrush initially because I found that it's hard to get the color. Yet, it's time for a change because it's pretty easy to get Mr Color here, and I'm moved by the fact that there's a lot of tricks can be done perfectly with airbrush. So, I'm going to wait for that, probably endlessly...

Goodby to Squier

I sold my Squier Strat 1 week ago for the reason being that I felt it's a waste on money to get something that I'm not going to use it anytime soon, and is sitting there collecting dust. So I sold it to Cash Exchange instead, and only got like less than 25% back from the original price that I bought.

Yet, my friend who's into guitar said that I could get at least 50% - 70% from the price that I purchased if I sell it through guitar forum. Honestly, I don't really like to join any forum at all because I just don't like it.

Guitar: Squier Stratocaster

I bought a Squier electric guitar on last Saturday. It is a strat model. I'm an amateur in electric guitar, so I may give mis information on what is a strat model. A strat model is an electric guitar that bears similar appearance as the Fender Stratocaster, which normally has a pickup configuration of Single Coil - Single Coil - Single Coil. Other electric guitar models that I know of are:

1. Tele - Something like the Fender Telecaster
2. Les Paul - Something like the Gibson Les Paul

Squier is a subsidiary of Fender. It basically produces the same electric guitars like it big brother, but with cheaper material to reduce the production cost. A Fender Stratocaster would cost about RM 2000++, and my Squier cost only RM 500++.

I tried the sound with the ZOOM practice amplifier (15W) that my friend gave me. It sounds great with the pickup sets to neck & mid position, with some chorus & some delay. As compare to playing an acoustic guitar, I personally find it that it's much more enjoyable to play with an electric guitar because of the sound that it created. Not to say that acoustic guitar doesn't sound nice, and I really wanted to get a new acoustic guitar too, and top of my list would be the McPherson acoustic guitar (USD 4400, about RM 16000++); it is the array of sounds that an electric guitar can produce that I really appreciate. After all, I'm struggling to get the right sound to accompany in a church worship setup, because my Fender Stratacoustic (acoustic electric) can't produce the same fill as nice as the electric guitar when I'm playing with another acoustic guitar.

At first my friend doesn't really like to buy anything below RM 1000 because of the quality. Yet, after trying out my Squier, he's amazed by how much it could accomplished with RM 500 nowadays as compare to 10 years ago. Well, face it, as years go by, technology is advancing to a state where it will be getting cheaper and cheaper to obtain the things that are impossible to be owned 10 years ago.

Even though my Squier could produce the nice sound, I still prefer a Parker Fly/NiteFly. Yet, I don't want to spend so much money into buying such expensive guitar at first place (Parker Fly - USD 3000/RM 12,000, Parker NiteFly - USD 1500/RM 6,000) because I won't be able to harness the potential of the guitar if I don't really have the skill to play it. So hopefully I could play well on my Squier that I would feel like to change it to a Parker next time :)

MG Strike Freedom - Starting

Just started to work on the assembly of MG Strike Freedom. It is going to be a hard one because there are a lot of smaller parts that needed to deal with. Despite this, after reading the manual for MG Hi-v Gundam, I changed my opinion on this gunpla because MG Hi-v Gundam is much more harder to built thanks to all the gimmicks. Even though both are hard to build, it still worth the effort to see it to be completed :D

Starting from Strike Freedom, I wanted to give it a change by not using the Tamiya spray paint anymore. The reason is because I have bought a lot of spray can until now, and the amount of money that I spent can be used to buy an entry level Tamiya Basic Spraywork unit. I have set my goal to get this Tamiya HG Spray-work Compressor Revo w/HG Airbrush Trigger that due to release in March. Still, I have other things to deal with before I could get my hand on this unit.

I thought that it will be better for me to start to snap out the parts from the runners and to prepare it for assembly. This way, it will save me a lot of times. What I have done up until now is that I gathered the parts into different plastic bag; the head parts in 1 plastic bag, the upper torso in 1 plastic bag, left arm in 1 plastic bag, right arm in 1 plastic bag, etc. I have done until the left leg. Right now I'm waiting for another time to do the sanding on the parts for the right leg, and then the lower torso.

Plus, I may try to follow some advice from Dengeki Hobby to process certain parts. I wanted to try to increase my skill to another level, so why not give it a try? With that currently underway, my list of Gunpla that still in the line would be:

1. MG Hi-Nu Gundam RX-93-2
   
2. MG Strike Noir
   
3. Armored Core
   
4. Gundam 00 1/60 Gundam Exia
   

I haven't bought any new Gunpla lately because I don't have any extra cash to spare :-(. But it's no harm to have a wish list :D. Here it is:

1. Soul of Chogokin - God Mars (First in the list, because this can stop production anytime with very limited unit, and it's the most expensive one - about RM 800 without pre-order)
   
2. MG Turn A Gundam
   
3. MG Destiny Gundam Extreme Burst Mode
   
4. MG Unicorn Gundam
   

MG X-1 Crossbone Gundam Finale

Finally, I have finished with this MG Crossbone X-1. My comment on the kit is that it is of good design, and it's pretty much Katoki Hajime's signature of slim & balance proportion.

Articulation is not as great as compare to the MG F-91 due to the reason of the waist armors that tend to restrict the legs movement, while trying to pose it squadding. The thighs tend to break easily, so it has to be handled with care. Then there's the core fighter that can attaches and detaches from the main torso. This is another part that needs to be handled with care as well because taking out the core fighter from the main torso with incorrect force can break the internal structure of the torso. The Beam Sanber is really hard to be grabbed because of the circular bar around the handle that forms something like a fencing sword handle. As for the cape, one will have to be very patience in order to make it looks like the picture in the manual; it is really hard to put it on.

Overall it is a great design despite the articulation and some posing difficulties. Still, I have 3 small minor things to fix, the daggers and a small part of the Beam Sanber because the colour don't match with the overall body.

Next on the list:

1. MG Strike Freedom (Have to postpone until I purchase the colour)
2. MG Hi-Nu Gundam
3. MG Strike Noir
4. Armored Core
5. HG Gundam Exia 1/60