Gundam SEED 1/144 HG Stargazer Gundam

Put this one together last weekend, this was one of the first gunpla i bought back in April but haven't built it since then as i was more interested in the Universal Century.



Really nice kit to assemble, comes with two types of sticker that can be applied, black one for when the Stargazer is turned off and metallic gold which i used as there pimp which is for space flight mode.



Quite a cool mobile suit and really enjoyable to put together, this suit caught my eye when i first had a look in gundam modeling because of the big ring, which was cool to put together and marker up.

Ring rider....



Think the ring looks awesome once markered up.



Not a fan of these green rings which go around Stargazer.



In the OVA Stargazer has no gun but one is included any ways.





Ian

The Clone Wars - Captain Rex

Received this guy on Monday after a 2 week wait, seems there a postal strike on somewhere in the country so post is being super delayed.

Captain Rex is the main face of the clone in The Clone Wars being under the command of Anakin Skywalker. This guy seems to be alot dirtier than Commander Cody who Rex has fought along side with a few time. Just like Cody Rex seems to be a great presentation of the character in the series with accurate weapon and marking and a cool removable helmet.



My favorite clone from the series esepeacially as he's a ARC Trooper who i really like, was mean't to be Alpha from the Clone Wars comics but George Lucas changed his name after there was a realisation the the main character would form the A-Team, Anakin, Asoka, Artoo and Alpha.

Duel weilding goodness.



Still would like to get a few more but the cost of them put me off, £7.99 is quite expensive, same price as some of the Gunpla ive bought.

Ian

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

One of my favorite animes i was watching from the current season which finished last week. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is story which resolves around what might happen if Tokyo was to experience a a earthquake of magnitude 8.0 with it being predicted that a 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale hitting Tokyo in the next 30 years, scary stuff.

Stared out as a 6/7 out of 10 anime but the last 2 episodes where up there with a 10/10, i had quite a few manly tears in my eye, very sad but a great ending.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 - Operation V

Took some photos of all 3 Earth Federation Operation V mobile suits together, not the greatest qulity photos or poses, going to have ago at taking some more.





Trying to copy the pose on from the box art.



Ian

Gundam MS Igloo 2 - The Gravity Front

Got the sequel to the awesome MS Igloo watched super quick as it only a 3 episode OVA. Gundam MS Igloo 2 - The Gravity Front refers to the Zeon offensive which took the war from space and the colonys to earth after Operation British and this time take the point of view of the solider from the Earth Federaton instead of Zeon like in the first series which i was expecting.



First episode is the start of The Gravity Front Shoot at that Death! Zeon is invading earth a in German World War 2 Bliztrieg styli with the feddies running away after the Zaku II dominate the battle field. Then it up to a feddie officer to take on 3 Zaku with some missile launcher which is quite a feet to take on. Not much of a happy ending for anyone Zeon or Federation but some awesome mecha action.



Second episode is a half way into the Gravity Front offensive, King of the Land, Forward! Zeon are kicking but with there Zakus while the Federation are stuck with the EFGF’s Type-61 which is one cool assault tank but not much against a mobile suit. Big baddie of this episode is Zeon ace Elmer Snell’s with hi cool looking white Zaku, White Ogre. Good guy is feddie veteran Hermann Yandel with is customed Type 61. Brilliant episode with awesome duel between tank and zaku, no happy ending again.



Third and finale episode is the last great battle in The Gravity Front, Odessa, Iron Storm! Zeon are about to get kicked back into space with this super epic episode. The heroine this time is a Federation office is accused of being a spy, Arleen Nazon who pilot an really wicked looking RTX-440 Ground Assault Type Guntank in Operation Odessa. Has alot of action in this one with alot of weapons and mobile suits, Zaku 1 and 2's, GM's, Gaw carriers, Type-61's, Big Tray Class Command Vehicle, Zeon hover bikes, Skygrasper, Gouf, Rik Doms and this big ass Zeon ground command vehicle Dabude. Was a truly awesome episode but then again no happy ending.

Has 2 character who appear in all 3 epsiode The War God of Death or it could be Death God and Federation officer Corremata, both of which i find creepy.

Great watch and recommend if you want to watch some great mecha action with no massive plot which look great it the CG, kinda weird expression on the human character's, not quite sure anime overreaction work with realistic looking CG people.

Only dream my gunpla could look as good as the suits in this.

Ian

Bandai HG 1/144 Action Base

Picked this up last weekend at a local toy shop which i was surprised to have some gunpla item for sale, this was the only thing that interested me and they only had one when i would have liked to get quite a few to display the mobile suits on.

Already broke the connector for the newer HG Gunpla which is a pain but will have to get some new ones when i get the chance so i can have a cool aeriel battle display. The kit comes with various connector for different kit only used 2,not sure what the others are for.

Managed t get a nice pose of of Char's custom Zaku II, but still could not do that cool looking pose where the Zaku is aiming the gun while holding it with both hands.



Ian

Chara-works 1/144 Macross Valkyrie VF-1A Hayao Kakizaki

Got the last Valkyrie without super parts from Do you remember Love? completed and of course the last guy to get painted up is poor Hayao Kakizaki.



Exact same modeling done to this as the other one except i used from Pro-modellers Wash on this which turned out to be a bit of a mistake, a black wash looks great on any colour except white. Think if i used it on white again i would put alot more protective coats onto the paint work so that the wash is more easily removed.







Someone here made a amv of Kakizaki buying both in the TV series and DYRL?, did'nt even get to have his steak, love that jazzie music.

District 9

Went and watched this last night and it was great, like unexpectedly great. Really had no idea what the film was about because i intentionally avoided reading any articles and reviews so that i didn't ruin what i was going to see.

I watched the short film Alive in Joburg a long time ago so i knew that it would be about alien refugees living in slums, which gave the film a super realistic looking backdrop.



The aliens where really quite amazing and so realistic, the way there eyes looked kinda reminder me of Transformers Bumblebee, especially the child, which for some reason i seamed to notice straight away. They love cat food, which i hate, smell of the stuff to me is blah!.

All the alien weapons i the film where really cool if not a bit nasty to the guy which get shot, they all felt like the weapons that you get a computer games which do nasty things to your enemy.

And there was a Mecha, which was one of of the highlights, that makes 3 films this year with mecha in Transformer 2, Terminator Salvation and now District 9. Like the weapons this looked like it also could be in a computer game with its awesome array of weaponry and it has anime style missiles, not alot which i was hoping for but still very cool to see upon the big screen.

Entire film where South African and aliens of course, which i think is the first time ive watched a movie set there, really unique accent they have, a cross between English and Dutch. Got to wonder if the place is as dirty as the film looked.

Ian

Here's the original which i watched again after seeing the movie, hope the film gets a sequel, District 10 maybe.

Bandai HGUC 1/144 RX-77-2 Guncannon

Final mobile suit from of the Operation V trio which i completed this weekend. Really like this one, it went together perfectly and has the best hidden seam where the plastic went together because of the black go fast strips over the entire suit. Took quite some time to put together, started it on a evening last week and finished it up a couple days after.



Comes with 2 different kinds of weapons to mount on the shoulder, the cannons and the white missile launcher which i don't remember seeing it the anime, really like the look of them.



Wonder of you could have both on at the same time, missles and a cannon could be deadly or would both fire and a missle hit a cannon shell right in front of the suit.



The lying down pose which did'nt see that much off after Kai started to learn how to fight, thought Kai was a cool character. recently watched the intro for Gundam Zeta which im looking forward to, get to see alot of the White Base crew back again even for a few episodes.



Something about the backpack that i think is cool looking.



Has a sticker for the eyes, which at first i was'nt sure would look any good but looks fantastic.



Going to get all 3 suit together for a group shot soon.
Ian

The Clone Wars: Commander Cody

Never thought i would ever get a another 3 3/4 inch star wars figure ever again after i spent so much of money on them years ago then having a mssive collection that was too big to be displayed and a paint to dust.

But i traded this with a fellow star wars fanboy for one of the many double of the 1/144 vehicles i have.



Really a nice looking figure and a massive improvement over the ones i uses to own. Looks like he jumped off the screen, reckon the hasbro used the computer 3D model to create this guy.

Has a cool removable helmet with a excellant portrait of Cody underneath with scars. Was expecting more aticulation, can't really pull off any cool battle poses but i guess if more joints where added the overall look of the figure would no longer look the way the clones look in the series.



Traded another 1/144 item for Captain Rex which should arrive soon and want to get Commander Gree but will have to buy him, only trouble with Gree is the cost £7.99, for a Star Wars action figure seems alot to me, thats more than most of the gunplas i purcahsed.

ian

Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO

Now that im watching all the Universal Century Gundam in chronologincal order next up is MS Igloo, both The Hidden One Year War and Apocalypse 0079. Both are OVA with 3 episodes each which follow the same cast. Basic plot is about Zeon engineers who go out and test new weapons at various stages of The One Year War.

Thought they were really great, get to see the war from the orderery solider piont of view and get to see some of the parts only mentioned i other series like The Battle of Loum which made Char famous and the start of Operation Brtiish when the colony is about to be dropped and The Earth Drop Operations.



Mecha in it were the best part, they looked awesome.

Ian

Bandai HGUC 1/144 RX-75 Guntank

Got the Guntank built up really fast compared to the Gundam, this one i think i built in about an hour then maybe 15 minutes with the marker doing the panel lines.

Think it a really strange mobile suit myself, when everything else has got legs and a head that looks like a robot this has tracks and a head that looks like a cockpit. The big cannons on the shoulder look right out of place as well, doubt it could fire and reload on its hinged at the very bottom of the cannon, just seems out of place when the other suits look like they could actually exist.



Read that you could make dull the plastic down and make it look more realistic if i spray it with some protection seal like i use to protect my paint work but for some reason got all this really bad frosting that i can't seem to get rid of. Bit of a shame but means i can't paint it up and hopefully look quite good. it did dull the plastic down though.



Only the Guncannon to put together now.
Ian