HY2M 1-12 Scale Gundam RX-78-2

According to Noda-Ya Online Shopping, Bandai is going to release the model above by the end of this year. This whopping giant will be 1.5 meter tall, weighing 40kgs! The materials used for the kit is hard PS-type plastics, with metal parts for the joints. Each part is individually molded, ready to be assembled. Equipments include the standard beam saber, beam rifle and shield. The model also includes electronic parts for sound effects and LEDs for some lighting effects on its head and body as well.

And the price? Well, you will need 320,000 Yen (RM 10378.77) to lay your hand on this babe, and the price is exclusive of tax and transportation fee. Seriously, unless you’re super-rich, tell me when you want to buy this model and I will give some slaps to wake you up. ^O^

Funny Gundam Pics

You probably have seen some of the Gundam pictures edited for fun on my Friendster site. Here are some more "abusive" images of my models, this time edited heavily using Adobe Photoshop CS2. Hope you'll have some laughs. ^O^

MG Gyan: Stunning Actions

Here are some absolutely gorgeous photos of the upcoming MG Gyan, makes this cameo MS looks absolutely cool and on par with the previously released MG Gundam OYW.

PLAMO Review 5: SD Gundam NT-1

I finally gave a little bit of thoughts to some of the reviews and comments on my Gundam models and decided to create a category in my blog, so that these babbling of mine will look a bit more organized. For those of you who are visiting my blog for the first time, there have been four previous posts about my Gundam collection, including:

PLAMO Review 1: HG 1-144 Astray Red Frame
PLAMO Review 2: HGUC Zeong
PLAMO Review 3: HG 1-144 Gaia Gundam
PLAMO Review 4: HG 1-144 Calamity Gundam

Feel free to visit read these posts as well through the links provided above, or you can search through the archive. By the way, PLAMO stands for PLAstic MOdels.

For Review number 5, I will share a bit about the SD Gundam NT-1. SD stands for Super Deformed, and is another category of Gundam models produced by Bandai. Aimed at children below 10, these models have big head and small body, that’s why they are called ‘deformed’. They are extremely easy to assemble, usually the total parts of a kit is not more than 50. However, there are trend in Bandai previously, to make the line of SD models to match the complexity and playability of HG models, for example Tekki Musha Psycho and Strike Full Weapon System. This model, Gundam NT-1 fits the first category.

Gundam NT-1 comes from UC0080: War in a Pocket, a six-episode OVA series. I watched that series and cried at the end. The ending is just so sad. It shows that Gundam anime can be more than just robot fights but a lot of emotional elements as well. Anyway, Gundam NT-1 is the main character of that anime. Unlike later series with a few Gundams in the same story, he is the only one, which made him pretty outstanding among GMs, and Zaku IIs.

As mentioned before, even your five-year old niece can get this model done in an hour. But the details were traded off for the simplicity and ease of assembly. Colors on the legs, thrusters, beam saber and some parts of the body are not available. So some paint work is needed for this fella. Inking is a must; else you can’t see the profile well. In terms of equipments, NT-1’s beam rifle is not included, which is a surprise, since that’s his special weapon. But the gatling gun on his forearms are available. The armor pieces of NT-1 are included as well, which allows you to turn him into the FA mode as seen in the anime. One extra mask is included, which makes him look so evil :-)

Another special equipment is the BB Armored Tank, which is the combination of all his armors into a tank-like vehicle. This is only available in SD version, and I’m quite sure it’s the company’s plan to lure more kids to buy this model. Anyway, after painting and inking, this model looks very close to what you get in the anime, which is really cool. The ability to convert from normal mode into the FA version is also quite cool. Now all I need is his arch-enemy, Kampfer.

1-144 Scale Calamity Gundam

Calamity Gundam appears in Gundam SEED. It is one of the three Gundams developed by OMNI halfway through the anime to counter the forces of ZAFT. The other two are Forbidden and Raider. In terms of design, I think it is the best as compared to the other two mentioned, although it’s the only one without a MA mode (Forbidden can turn into a crab-like MA for close-combat, and Raider can transform into an eagle-like MA for added mobility and firepower in atmospheric combats). Calamity features two beam cannons on his backpack, called ‘Schlag’ (meaning impulse), chest cannon ‘Scylla’ (name of sea serpent), dual cannon on its shield ‘Kaefer Zwei’ (war beetle) and a handheld bazooka ‘Todesblock’ (The Way of the Dead). So, the combat module of Calamity is not about melee attack or one-on-one fight, but devastating mass destruction with all the beam cannons it has, just as the name of this mecha suggests. I like that concept very much; as there are few other mecha with similar design (another one is Buster).

I assembled this model around a year ago and as with all the HG models from the SEED series released by Bandai, all the parts are molded in colors accordingly. So there is no need for paint work. Although inking the lines on the model is a must to show the details and the silhouettes. In terms of playability, it’s slightly less interesting since there’s no other weapon for him other than his bazooka and shield. Normally, Gundams are equipped with beam sabers or some form of close-combat armaments, but not for this fella, as I mentioned earlier on. Also, how many poses you can have with the bazooka anyway?

However, I still stick with my comment just now about Calamity being my favorite among the three Gundams of OMNI. I’ve seen people assembling Raider and Forbidden without painting them, and they look so ugly (so sorry for those who own these two models and don’t paint them). Raider’s color scheme is black, red and light purple (which is supposed to be white) while Forbidden’s color scheme is green, and light green, and that doesn’t work for me either. Anyway, my favorite mecha from SEED is Duel, piloted by the aggressive Yzak Jule. Check out this mecha on MAHQ.

Childhood Nostalgia 2 – White Tiger Megazord

Go Go Power Rangers!!

1996 was a very important year for kids in Malaysia, as TV1 aired Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 1, featuring dinosaurs and dragon as the components of their Megazords. My parent must hate the series for sure, as I forgot how many times I nagged them to buy me the toys from the series.

Season 2 was about the emergence of Lord Z, the evil villain with an iron staff with a huge letter Z on top of it. The Megazord of the Power Rangers becomes some mystical eastern beasts including the Red Dragon, Black Lion, Yellow Griffon, Blue Unicorn, Pink Phoenix and the White Tiger. My parents hated that series as well because I nagged them for buying me the toys as well. Finally they gave up and bought me this White Tiger Megazord.

My parent bought this from India Street, and yes, it’s not the genuine stuff from Bandai. Actually I didn’t know that there is any difference back then. So unfortunately this fella can’t transform as it can magnificently in the cartoon. I remembered how disappointed I was with the lack of its ability to transform. That’s the problem when your parent have difficulties understanding how a tiger turn into a robot, and later some other animals come and combine with him and form an even bigger robot. It can be hard to be a kid sometimes.

Anyway, only the leg components (the Griffon and the Unicorn) can transform. The good thing about this fella is the size: it’s around 30cm tall, about the height of a PG Gundam model. When I was a kid, who has never seen such a big toy, it’s quite a thrill to even hold it with some envious eyes from some of my other friends.

Together with the robot comes the figurine of the White Ranger. The figure can pose with some basic movements, and is ‘transformable’ between a masked Ranger and the unmasked version. It’s such a hoof to think that the company which produced the toy has no idea who is the White Ranger, or probably they are confused with the gender of Tommy who is the White Ranger since he has long black hair. The face revealed for the figure is actually a girl! Well, you can’t expect much when you know it’s not the real stuff, can you?

Anyway, I don’t think you can get any of the toys of the previous Power Ranger series anymore, since the company have halted production on them a long time ago to give way to the new series. So, transformable or not, the White Tiger Megazord I have becomes extra valuable now.

Childhood Nostalgia 1 - Vico transformer toys

Since a kid, I fancy robots as toys, especially those which can transform. I guess it’s quite natural since most boys like this kind of toys. I got to watch them during cartoon time every evening, plus the only thing I talked about with the neighborhood kids in school was all the robots I watched. Because of the interest, I did many drawings and sketches of my own robot design, including some which can transform. I even sketched the transformation sequence in details, which was really fun. Unfortunately, most of them are lost now.

I remembered how hard it was for me to get the robot toys I like. My parent believed that if I indulged too much into these toys, I was not going to do any of my homework, plus I liked to demolish the toys after playing with them for a short while (I was looking for some hidden functions or stuff like that in those toys). So my parents bought me very few toys when I was young. So when I did lay my hands on a few, they became the treasures of my life, which I kept until today.

When I started this blog, I was thinking of sharing about my Gundam collection. After a while, I remembered my treasure chest, with all the childhood toys I maintained. So here’s a chance for all my childhood collection to come out from the closet and see the cyberspace.

I guess it must be 1995, when Vico debuted in the market. Back then, everyone was drinking either Milo or Oval tine. Vico gave out a lot of gifts to sell their products, and the first ones to be given out were transformable robots aimed to catch kids salivating for them. Just buy the 1.5kg Vico and you’ll get one of them. I must have drank a hell lot of Vico to get a few of these toys. I remembered I have four or five of them, but manage to keep only three. Frankly, I don’t really care whether Vico is better than Milo in terms of the flavor, but I’ll go for Vico anyway since they gave out free robots.

These two have their name as well. One is called Ram Jam, and the other one Trailblazer. Both can transform into fighter jets, and the transformation is similar to Robotech. The trademark of these robots is the V pose on their left hands, telling you they fight for the company producing the chocolate beverage you are drinking at that moment. The playability is amazingly high, since the parts between Ram Jam and Trailblazer are interchangeable. I had some really fun time with these fellas. These toys are made from plastic and the colorful ornaments on the body of the plane are just stickers.

After these transformable toys, Vico gave out pencil cases for kids, which I managed to get my hand on one as well. The cover is the conceptual design of Trailblazer, with the trademark V on the left hand. I never used this pencil case because the space inside is too limited for me to bring all the stationeries I need to school. Anyway, I still think it’s cool until today.

Watch out for more of my childhood collection review in the future.