Sunday, May 29, 2011

Char's Zaku Motorcycle

Still hoping to ride a gundam someday? 


Then why not ride this customized MS-06S Zaku II from the Mobile Suit Gundam anime and feel like you're Char Aznable, the famous nemesis of Amuro Ray.










The Yahoo! Auctions Japan is hosting an auction by user "katsudouka" who launched it on May 23, 2011 and it will end on May 30, 2011.  This is customized out of a Suzuki Address V100 Alba model with a custom sponge rubber antenna and other decorations, and it is located in Yokohama City in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan.  Katsudouka apologizes for not being able to moped this gundam inspired motorcycle to push beyond its normal capabilities.  As stated in the first Gundam series, Char's MS-06S Zaku II is "three times faster" than a regular Zaku II.


The auction attracted three bidders, with the top bid price of 112,000 yen (US$1,380).


Maybe as a male gundam fan, pink can be a bit daring but who cares.  Go out on a cosplay and ride this baby, you'll be a big hit.  Although female gundam fans will surely like this too.


Goodluck bidders!

pictures and information from: gunjap

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Anime Review: Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Type: TV
Episodes: 25
Duration: 24 min. per episode
Aired: Oct 6, 2007 to Mar 29, 2008
Directed by: Seiji Mizushima
Studio: Sunrise
Licensed by: Bandai Entertainment, Beez Entertainment
























Image Source: 

Monday, May 23, 2011

Gunpla Tutorial: Hobby Japan Magazine



              This is not literally a tutorial, but rather a discussion about gunpla magazines. Ever since I started doing gunpla, I've been curious on this magazines that involves gundam models. I kept asking myself if their useful and if their worth buying. One of this popular magazine is the Hobby Japan Magazine. It just so happen that they release the Feb. 2011 issue together with the GN Sword IV. I really want to get that sword to make my HG 00 Qan[T] perfect. So I was tempted into buying the magazine just to get the optional part. The GN Sword IV is definitely great. But what I want to focus on is the magazine itself. I want to share my personal opinion about it's contents and I'll also be showing some of the pictures inside.


GN Sword IV from the Hobby Japan Mag Feb.,2011 issue

Instruction on how to build the GN Sword IV

Designs of the GN Sword IV

Tips on customizing the GN Sword IV

(MG) Gundam 00 Qan[T]

Modified gundams

Models from the Gunpla Builders series

(PG) Strike Freedom

(Mega Size) Zaku II

SD Gundams


OTHER SCANS

Various events and Gundam Expo

Monster Hunter collectibles

Other mecha figures

Kamen Rider action figures

Video game and anime figures

Sexy model figures

               Sorry if some of the scans were blurry. I tried my best to take good pictures. I have to admit Hobby Japan is genius in selling their magazines. Adding a product together with the magazine is a great marketing strategy. But the magazine itself is interesting. You will definitely learn a lot about gunplas and there are a lot of cool stuff inside. The Feb., 2011 issue focuses on the Qan[T]'s Full Saber. The first few pages shows how to build the GN Sword IV and what are it's uses. While the following pages features model kits from different scales. There are also some modified gunplas. It includes some guide on how to improve your gunplas.

               Even though I couldn't understand the words since its in japanese, I can still appreciate the great pictures of each gunpla model. Other than gunpla, this magazine also features other hobby products coming from Kamen Rider, anime and video games. This magazine is really great. My only concern is the price. Its too much form me. These magazines are fun to collect if you have the money to spend. But if your on a budget and want to be practical like me, you can always surf the internet for scans of the magazine. I probably won't buy another one, unless the issue comes with a package that I want. This concludes my discussion on Hobby Japan magazine. Thank you for reading and I hope you found it useful. Check out also my other gunpla tutorials.


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Friday, May 20, 2011

Gunpla Checklist: Gundam F90 / F91 / Silhouette Formula




              This is a gunpla checklist for the Gundam F90 / F91 / Silhouette Formula series. I made this post to help those gunpla collectors in knowing how many model kits are there in the series and what models are available for each scale. This is the first time I saw a gunpla series that doesn't have a 1/144 scale. Almost all of the model kits are 1/100, except for one 1/60.  As of now there are a total of 23 model kits for the this series. If you like large scale models, then this is the gunpla collection for you.


1/100 NG (19)
- Gundam F90
- Gundam F90-P Type
- Gundam F90 II-L Type
- Gundam F90-V
- Hardygun
- Neo Gundam
- Gundam F91
- Gundam RXF91
- Gundam RXF91 Custom
- F90Y Cluster Gundam
- Vigna Zirah
- G Cannon
- G Cannon Magna
- Bigina Gina
- Guntank R-44
- Dagi IIs
- Heavy Gun
- Denan Zon
- Berga Giros

1/100 MG (3)
- Gundam F91
- Gundam F91 (w/ Clear Kit)
- Gundam F91 (Harrison Madin Custom)

1/60 NG (1)
- Gundam F91


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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Gunpla Tutorial: How to build Gunpla

Masked BAKUC (also means Bandai Action Kit Universal Cup) is an International mysterious masked man who has made it his mission is to promote Gunpla and Bandai Action kits through BAKUC.  

It's an entertaining tutorial video, you can learn a thing or two.  It also shows you the basic tools needed in Gunpla.

First clip demonstrates the following:
  • Pre-assembly of the Bandai Action Kit
  • Assembling part of the Bandai Action Kit
  • Color panel lines on a Bandai Action Kit

Part 1

Second clip demonstrates the following:
  • Coloring a Bandai Action Kit
  • Scribing Panel Lines on a Bandai Action Kit
  • Detailing a Bandai Action Kit



Part 2

credit to:  counterespy 

Monday, May 16, 2011

Super Robot Wars Z 2




Also Known As: Dai-2-Ji Super Robot Taisen Z Hakai-hen
Developer: Banpresto
Publisher: Namco-Bandai
Platform: PlayStation Portable
Genre: Strategy, Turn-Based
Language: Japanese
Release Date: April 14, 2011




















Review:


                      At last another robot game that involves gundams is released on the PSP. This is the 2nd installment of the Super Robot Wars Z series, following it's first 1st volume on the PS2. There are already a lot of super robot war games and your probably wondering what makes this one special. The Z2 is divided into 2 game chapters, 1st is the Destruction chapter and the 2nd one is the Regeneration chapter. This version of the super robot wars features a lot of robots coming from popular animes, such as Gundam 00, Code Geass, Eureka 7, Gurren Lagann, and many more. For those who are new to this kind of genre, this is a combination of rpg and strategy where you will give orders to your units and engage the enemies. Most of the mission's objectives are simple. Just make sure that atleast one of your units survive while wiping out the enemy's army. It will take some time for you to fully understand the game since it's in japanese. But you will really enjoy the game once you get the hang of it. Anyway you can always refer to the internet to answer your questions.


                      Like most super robot wars, you will start the game with a single unit. But you will gain more allies as you progress through the story. Most of the missions are scenes taken from the robot's anime. After each mission, you will get some reward money that you can use to upgrade your robots or restore robots that were destroyed in combat. You can also modify your robots by attaching some optional parts to make it stronger. Like the money, you will also get this parts as rewards in missions. What I like best about this game is the 2D graphics. A high quality battle animation will occur everytime you encounter an enemy. The animation changes depending on what kind of attack you choose. Of course you have the option to turn off the animation if you want to save time and finish the battle quickly. Another thing I like are the sounds. The background music changes depending on which robot you control. Each robot has it's own unique music theme taken from it's anime show. Thats it for the game's features. You can see that theres almost no change from the past super robot war games.

                        I don't see anything negative for this game. Super Robot Wars has always been good in maintaining it's games. But I can see that improvements are necessary for it's future games. A great addition to the gameplay would be the combo assist. I've seen this in other strategy games where two units would combine their powers to unleash a powerful attack. I believe the super robot war series should really make a big step to compete with other robot games. Overall, I like this game and I'm excited to play the 2nd chapter. Lets hope the chapter 2 has a lot of surprises for us. I wish the season 2 of Gundam 00 would be in it. It would definitely make the game even better. I highly recommend this game to the super robot war fans. Its one of the best game in the series. The animation is great and the robot line up is one of the biggest roster I've seen in the history of the series. This concludes my review for Super Robot Wars Z 2. I hope you found it useful. Check out also my other gundam related game reviews.


Rating: 4 out of 5


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Monday, May 9, 2011

Unbox: HG 1/144 - Arios Gundam






































































































































































Expectations:

        Just seeing the front cover excites me as this would be my first time to build a gundam that can actually transform into a plane.  It's interesting that the HG version of this gundam has a change mode once finished.  Still, I'm really not fond of its choice of color.  I am curious how the mechanism would be to turn it into a plane.  I hope that it won't break off easily.  So I'm really expecting after finishing this model that the plane would look as it is exactly on the cover.