Monday, February 26, 2007

Back from Chinese New Year

Today's the 9th day of Chinese New Year, everyone's pretty much back to their work and studies after a whole week of fun. Actually, many people in the private sector, like my father, started working since last Thursday. As compared to the first two days of Chinese New Year, the sense of celebration for the annual festive seems to be decreasing faster and faster by each year.

Before I go on more with talks about my Chinese New Year experience, I must apologize for not updating my blog as frequently as before. The last entry was 6 February, which was two weeks ago. Since then, I was being busy cleaning out the house (Chinese: 大扫除) for the New Year. It's to get rid of any unwanted old stuff so that new ones can come in (Chinese: 除旧迎新), for the belief of getting blessing of course.

During the Chinese New Year, most Chinese, including my family were busy welcoming coming guests to our house, or to make our friends and relatives busy by visiting them :-) Anyway, everyone's enjoyed themselves since this is the biggest event for Chinese, plus there were a few days of public holidays not to be wasted.


Food at Mindy's house


Mindy (center) at Mindy's house :-)


Lulu at Selena's house


Lulu wishes a Happy Chinese New Year to you~

Many things happened during my period of absence from blogging, for example my computer was under virus attack, and my laptop’s mouse is dead ToT Very unfortunate for me, because this must be the 4th mouse broken by me in two years. This despairs me a great deal, since my Chinese Zodiac is the rodent, and I can’t take care of my mouse. As absurd as it might sound to you, it does mean quite a bit for me.

In the world of Gundam, most GUNPLA lovers are busy building Master Grade Hi-Nu Gundam I assume. If you're planing to get one, check out Dalong.net (completed) and Gunplablog (in progress) for their reviews on the kit. Hi-Nu Gundam is also the 99th entry in the MG line, meaning to say that the next one to come out will be MG No. 100. It does seem like No. 100 will be Zaku II Ver. 2.0. Personally, I think it’s just fair that Bandai showing more emphasis to the Zeon’s MSs after so many Gundam-type models. Just look at the recent MGs: F91/ Harrison’s F91, Crossbone Ver. Ka/ Full Cloth, Strike Gundam IWSP, Strike Freedom/Full Burst and Hi-Nu. Where did the bad guys go? And, want to bet who’s going to be MG No. 101? My guess is Char’s Zaku II, the green and the red always come out one after the other.


MG Hi-Nu Gundam - Image from The Gundam Base Side 1

Also, the so-called Gundam Fix Figuration Simplified Dendrobium is finally out. Definitely not impressive for me. Don’t be surprise if you can’t find much difference between the new GP03S and the ones from the anime or HGUC and MG models. Hajime Katoki, the designer for GFF is the one who created GP03S for UC0083: Stardust Memory. I think it would be quite agonizing for him if he were to refine his creation, without having to contradict the one everybody is familiar with from the anime, and not to stray too much from the mechanical line of UC0083 MS.


GFF GP03 - Image from Amiami

For those of you who love Japanese Idols, the annual Wonder Festival was held in Japan several days ago. Not the event for hardcore Gundam fans like me since there are almost no Gundam to be seen, but some figures will make the guys salivating all over. Check out HK DMZ Plus, Toycan and Danny Choo's Blog.


Haruhi's figure! I also want ^o^ - Image from HK DMZ Plus

A brand new season of Sentai series, better known as Power Rangers outside Japan, called Juuken Sentai Gekiranger is out. My kanji is close to nil, but Juuken can roughly be translated into “animal fist”, so I assume there will be a hell lot of punching, boxing, and Bruce-Lee-Jet-Li type Kung-Fu stuff in the series. These days, Sentai series are getting more and more violent (for a kid like me who came for the olden days :-) Three Rangers this time: red, blue, and yellow which are boringly the same as what we get at the start of the previous Magiranger, Abaranger and Hurricanger. Well, it would be easier to extend the gang in the future, plus more room for character development. Their robots, better know as Zoids if you follow the Power Ranger series, consists of a tiger, a cheetah and a wolf, and features the extension system, where new animal robots can be joined with the Zoid for special abilities. Cool, but nothing new really, since the original idea of this extension system came from Gaoranger, which must have been five or six seasons ago.


The Juuken Gattai from Juuken Sentai Gekiranger - Image from Robot Japan

On a personal account, my blog’s visits has just pass 10,000! Not a big thing for super bloggers like Danny Choo or Gunota Headlines, but definitely meaningful for me. I thank you for your support, and will Gambatte more for more updates in the future.


HGUC Bawoo wishes you a prosperous year of the boar

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

MG Zaku II Ver.2.0 ?!

A lot of images of upcoming Gundam merchandises this time, six that are being mentioned earlier on, and another 12 new ones, including those which will be featured in April.

The most significant announcement for me is MG Zaku II Ver. 2.0 to be out in April. Check out all the poses possible with the new design. Although the price will be much higher than the first release more than ten years ago, what Ver. 2.0 can offer looks really promising. I suppose Bandai will throw in all sorts of gimmicks for Zaku II as well, like a launch platform, a whole array of weapon, etc.

For fans of HCM-Pro, I'm not sure if you'll be angry with Bandai for re-releasing a few of the earliest models like RX-78-2, Guntank, Zaku II and Rick-Dom in their so-called "Repainted" version, even though the only new stuff I notice are those clear stickers and a new packaging. Freedom Gundam will get its long-awaited HCM-Pro treatment in April as well.

All images are from Hobby Search. Click on the names for more information (in Japanese) from the website, and click on the image of a larger view with more details.

MG Strike Noir - March, 4725 Yen



HGUC Mass Production Type Gelgoog / Gelgoog Cannon - March, 1680 Yen



Ex Model 1-144 Hildolfr - March, 7140 Yen



HG 1-100 Akatsuki Full Equipement - March, 6825 Yen



HCM-Pro Kuspen's Gelgoog - March, 3100 Yen



HCM-Pro Mass Production Type Gelgoog - March, 2100 Yen



HCM-Pro Char's Rick Dom (Special Painted Version) - March, 3150 Yen



HCM-Pro Gundam RX-78-2 (Repainted Version) - March, 1890 Yen



HCM-Pro Guntank (Repainted Version) - March, 1890 Yen



HCM-Pro Zaku II (Repainted Version) - March, 1890 Yen



HCM-Pro Rick Dom (Repainted Version) - March, 1890 Yen



HCM-Pro Freedom Gundam - April, 2625 Yen



HCM-Pro Ground Type Gundam - April, 2625 Yen



MG Zaku II Ver 2.0 - April, 3675 Yen



HGUC Blue Destiny Unit 2 - Aril, 1575 Yen



Ex Model 1-144 Oggo - April, 3675 Yen



SD Verde Buster - April, 630 Yen


Friday, February 02, 2007

Hi Price GFF

It seems to me that GFF nowadys are getting more and more expensive. The metal composite Gundam Ver. Ka mentioned in the previous post is worth a PG model, and each of the next two releases are more expensive than a MS Ex-S Gundam. It either because Bandai is very confident with the market, or maybe they want to test the market at how well it can afford these kind of stuff.

On the other hand, GFF models are very beautiful. Their design, paint scheme, and markings are really well done. Most of them feature quite a lot of action-ability and posability as well, but I don't think I would take them out of the box if I buy one.

Anyway, here are the images of the two GFF mentioned from Hobbynet Online:

GP03 with simplified Dendrobium - maybe a complete Dendrobium next time? Will be out in March, 8190 Yen.



Zeonography Black Tri-Star Set - same content different name, GFF or Zeonography, we know they are of the same product line. Zaku I, High Mobility Zaku II and Dom from some of the previous Zeonography releases given the Black Tri-Star paint scheme. Another rip-off for Bandai, but really cool aren't they? Will be out in late February, 8190 Yen.