Baby TheEnd's Gunpla and Toy Review

MG Gundam Mk.II 2.0 HD Titans Colors

2012-02-08T13:30:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, I've got a kickass Master Grade Gunpla review for you! We're going to be looking at the MG Gundam Mk.II kit, specifically the limited edition HD Titans Colors version. Those of you familiar with the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam multiverse know that the Gundam Mk.II comes from the Zeta Gundam series. In celebration of the series releasing on Blu-Ray with more vibrant colors and animation touch-ups, Bandai released this version of the Mk.II 2.0 as well as three other MG kits in HD colors. Now that that's all out of the way, let's take a look at this awesome kit!

For a MG, the Mk.II isn't lacking in articulation at all, and this is even further pronounced by the "version 2.0" inner frame. There are parts of construction with this kit [specifically the legs] that really just blew me away at the amount of detail and thought put into how each moving part fits together.

The head is ball-jointed to the neck, which is ball-jointed to the collar/shoulders

The vulcan pod can be detached from the head [which I've done for the next set of pictures]

Torso can bend forward, back, and side to side at the stomach area

The Titans Mk.II uses a different piece to connect the torso to the waist, which allows the torso to rotate a little bit
Cockpit hatch can open up

Backpack's thrusters are slightly movable

The two tall thrusters that the beam sabers sit on are on ball joints and can move
Beam sabers are [obviously] detachable

The arms attach onto the torso with a large peg

Pretty good range of up and down movement at the shoulder attachment point
The backpack is the only thing hindering the arms from rotating 360˚
The arms have a great range of motion at the shoulder joint
Elbows are double jointed and have a bit of "armor sliding" on the forearm

Hands are pretty typical MG hands

Ball-joint into the forearm
Wrist piece clips onto the palm
Fingers are all ball-jointed, but only the thumb and index finger are independent

The front and side skirt armor pieces can all move around

Back skirt is stationary but has a fold-out bazooka clip
Hip joints can be brought forward or backward

Legs can rotate and move around quite nicely at the hips

Thighs have a awesome armor split as the knee bends

The knees bend in two places with a ton of armor movement and sliding
The shin armor can slide up and down depending on how the ankles are moved
The feet are ball-jointed to the ankle with functional pistons as well

Feet can pretty much bend in half

Quite an impressive list of all of the different articulated points, but it just doesn't capture how posable the Mk.II really is.

The HD Color water transfer decals that come with the kit look pretty spectacular when you put all of them on~!

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

The Mk.II comes with a pretty modest amount of accessories, but before we get to the big stuff let's check out the beam sabers.

It really makes me so happy that the Mk.II can reach for and grab the beam sabers with no trouble at all; it looks totally natural. The beam sabers are pretty normal for MG kits though: they fit over a tab on the hand and then you just pop the effect part right in!

Next up is the Gundam Mk.II's beam rifle. I don't have anything particularly special to say about it except that despite what the manual says, you definitely can't attach it onto the side skirt armor easily >__> The ammo packs are removable and swappable, but I don't see myself ever needing to do that.

The two spare ammo packs for the beam rifle are stored on the back of the shield, which can fold and condense in on itself. It's got a really solid connection, and I like that the joint they use for the shield is the same type of joint used on the HG Advance of Zeta kits since the Mk.II is a Titans prototype suit, so it would share a lot of qualities with other early Titans mobile suits.

And finally, the bazooka. There are some more shiny HD decals on the bazooka that really give it a much cleaner and exciting look than, say, the RX-78-2 Gundam 2.0's bazooka. As I mentioned earlier, the bazooka can clip onto the back skirt, but be careful not to damage the water transfer decals at all!

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

I don't think I need to beat around the bush at all: the MG Gundam Mk.II is a fantastic kit and one of the best constructed Master Grades available. Whether you like the Titans colors or the AEUG colors version, I highly recommend picking one up [though keep in mind that the Titans colors version has that extra bit of waist articulation]. The MG Gundam Mk.II HD Titans Colors retails for around $45, but as this is a limited kit they're becoming more scarce [though not NEARLY as scarce as the MG Hyakushiki HD Colors] now is the time to buy one! :D

See you all later, I've got some more Gunpla photos to take~!

What's on the Table

2012-02-07T18:55:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, I want to apologize for still not posting a review up yet. With my new major at school, I've been pretty consumed by the myriad of drawing projects. In light of that, let me tell you about the stuff I'm currently working on!

~*~BUILD PROGRESS~*~

I'm currently juggling a few different kits right now, and though I went through somewhat of a Gunpla lull a few weeks back I've been building whenever I have a few hours of free time.

First up is the HG Zudah which is almost done. Painting all of the darker blue markings on it has taken a lot of the build time, and so far I think it looks pretty good. The white trim has been a nightmare to get right, but luckily the end is in sight!

I've been making slow progress on the MG Full Armor Unicorn Gundam as well. I'm forcing myself to take this build slowly though, because I want it to be as close to perfect as it can get. I'm also on the same mindset for the MG Ex-S Gundam that I'll be painting Deep Striker colors, but due to the generally cold weather of winter I can't work on it much.

All three of the resin kits are here at school with me as well, but since they take a considerably longer amount of time to get any work done, I'm waiting for a weekend >__>;;

~*~DECALS~*~

I've almost got the HG 00 Qan[T] Full Saber finished up in terms of decals. This was my first attempt at water transfer decals, both from Bandai and SamuelDecal. Most of them went on without any problems, but the long skinny ones for the GN Sword Bits were nothing short of a nightmare to position.

I also have some decals to put on the Hi Nu Gundoom, but it needs a clear coat first =\

~*~PHOTOGRAPHY~*~

While I haven't upgraded the camera I've been using for this blog, many of you may have noticed that I changed backdrops and lighting for photos quite a few times. Now, though, that problem is no more, for I am the proud owner of a Sunpak eBox Studio photobox! I'm really excited to break it in~

~*~COSPLAY~*~

I made a decision [on a whim] to make a complete Gundam TR-1 Hazel Custom cosplay from cardboard and whatever other relevant materials I'd need. I haven't started construction yet, since I still need to figure out what needs resizing to fit me [I don't have the same proportions as a Gundam, after all!], but when I do start I'll keep you posted on that to the best of my ability!!

BLOG STATUS

2011-12-31T15:53:00.000-05:00

Hi readers, long time no chat! I just want to quickly let you all know that I will be making more posts soon. A problem I've been looking to fix for a while has been the quality of my photoshoot area, but I've purchased a lightbox that I'll be able to set up on January 8th or so. Around then, I should be able to give you guys a good review with proper photos!

Until then~

TT Hongli and You

2011-10-18T14:52:00.001-04:00

As a blogger of the Gunpla community, I feel like this post would have come up sooner or later. I don't plan on making this long-winded or anything, and by no means am I calling anybody out on anything. These are simply my opinions, and should be regarded as such.

~*~Baby TheEnd's Views on KO [knock-off] Gunpla~*~

To put it bluntly, KO Gunpla companies are absolutely in the wrong. Considering each product is meticulously designed by Bandai, to be reproducing these kits using cheap labor and cheap plastic, and then selling them at a fraction of the intended price doesn't sit well with me. Gunpla is by no means an inexpensive hobby, and as harsh as this sounds, if you don't have the money for it then you're out of luck. It also goes without saying that there are plenty of cheap Bandai kits out there, and while these do tend to be the older kits [and SD kits, if you're into that] they still serve their purpose. And with pretty minimal effort, these [and all other] kits can be modified to have improved articulation, more detail, and so on.

However, with all hobbies you need to know how to restrain yourself from going overboard. If I bought every kit I wanted as soon as it came out, I'd never have any money. Period. The fact of the matter is that, especially for new kits, they aren't going anywhere, so you have plenty of time to save up some money to buy them.

But back to the KO Gunpla products, I can't say I'm ok with buying these fake model kits. Again, Bandai was the one who originally designed them, and giving your money to anyone else for their design seems almost like theft. I've heard of people using these kits specifically to get certain parts they need for a custom build or something similar, and I'm not sure if I'm 100% accepting of that or not. However, spare parts are quite difficult to obtain, so at the very least I can sympathize with those people.

Now, there is one company in particular I'd like to talk about: MC Model. This company really blurs the line of what a knock-off kit is. MC Model seems to be a pretty new company that takes Bandai Gunpla kit with resin conversion parts attached to it and creates a regular plastic model kit using the modified Gunpla. To avoid trouble, they change the word "Gundam" to "Gundoom," and this is really the only part that I'm sure I'm not alright with. Name change aside, the line is blurred as to what this kit is, as I said earlier. I fully realize that a Bandai Gunpla kit was used as a base for the resin conversion parts, and then all of this was re-cast using plastic. However, the quality of the four kits that MC Model has produced thus far are absolutely superb. The plastic feels a little cheap, but these kits can hold together well, there are tons of option parts [extra hands and stuff] included, and the water transfer decals are [reportedly] superior to the ones Bandai produces.

Let's look at this from another perspective for a moment. Resin conversion parts are resin recasts of a modified Gunpla kit which is used at the master prototype. By creating multiple copies of the modified kit's new design, would this be considered a KO resin kit? What about full resin kits, rather than resin conversion parts? Does making multiple plastic model recasts of a Bandai kit with resin conversion parts count as a KO as well? This is where the definition of what you consider a KO kit would likely begin to get a bit fuzzy.

All of this is definitely a very complicated matter, and I definitely don't consider myself a master of the subject by any means. In the end, though, what it really comes down to is peoples' demand for the continued production of these cheap KO kits. They'll no longer be a thorn in Bandai's side [and a blemish on the Gunpla community] when people who insist on purchasing these fake kits cease to do so, putting the money in Bandai's pocket where it should be.

HG Extreme Gundam

2011-10-16T17:51:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone, I've got another Gunpla review comin' at ya~! Today we're going to look at the HG Extreme Gundam, a unique mobile suit designed for the game Gundam VS Gundam: Extreme VS. I'm not quite sure what role it plays in the game, but as a model kit it does a pretty great job of measuring up to the more recent HG kits! So without any more chatter, let's dive right in!

Extreme Gundam has pretty standard articulation, so let's go through a quick rundown of that.

Head is on the double ball-jointed polycap and can move around pretty well

The neck could have been a little higher up so the head can move easily over the clavicle armor
The rear face is, unfortunately, not displayable :(

Torso uses the ball polycaps to allow for movement at the stomach area

Can rotate 360˚ around [don't know why you'd need that though >__>;; ]

Backpack's thrusters can move up and down
Beam sabers are removable, but not usable as actual beam sabers =\
Shoulders are ball-jointed into the torso and can swing forward and rotate well
Arms peg into the shoulder armor and can rotate at that connection

Elbows are double jointed
Standard HG ball joint hands included~
Clear blue parts on the forearms can be moved to attach the shield

Skirt armor... psh, what skirt armor?
The legs connect to the waist via a T-shaped ball/socket connection

Knees are double jointed but can only bend about 90˚
Ankle armor is attached in the same style as HG 0 Gundam

Feet are connected to the legs with ball joints, and can move around a good amount

One thing that really pops out at me about this kit are the clear blue parts. It's a very unique look, and I quite like it. I know the clear parts thing has already been done plenty of times before, but this time it's kind of refreshing and new.

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Beam saber comes first! Unfortunately, this time around Bandai cheaped out and gave us a full beam saber molded in solid blue =\

Next up is the very unique beam rifle! Since Extreme Gundam's pilot is voiced by Gackt, I guess they thought making the rifle look like a guitar would be fitting. It definitely adds some interesting flair to this Gundam xD

And what better place to store a guitar beam rifle than in a guitar case-shaped shield!

I really don't like how... open it is. It just looks kind of awkward, I guess.

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

With clear blue parts adorning its otherwise normal look, a beam rifle guitar and guitar case shield and a face on the back of its head, Extreme Gundam is, without a doubt, an interesting mobile suit. Retailing for around $20, it's definitely a fun kit and I'd recommend picking Extreme Gundam up if you're looking to add something familiar yet unique to your collection. And if you're a fan of Gackt, then this is really his official mobile suit! xD

See ya later, everyone! Hope you enjoyed the review~

HGUC Sinanju

2011-09-02T23:44:00.003-04:00

Hi there everyone, get ready for a great Gunpla review to kick off the huge hiatus I was on! Like I mentioned in the post earlier today, this is the review of the HGUC Sinanju, Full Frontal's customized mobile suit in Gundam Unicorn. This fella was one of several I purchased at Anime Central, a convention I attended in Chicago this May. As per usual, everything you see is hand painted, including the gold emblems! :O. Well, let's get to it~

Sinanju is about equal in size to Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode], so he's pretty tall for a HG. It's also got a heap of articulation, so let's take a look at that! From the top down:

The head is on a ball joint, but can't move too much because of the large collar armor
The shoulders peg into the torso, and can rotate as much as the large back thrusters will allow

The spiked thruster flaps on the sides can move up and down to accommodate for more movement at the shoulder

The arms can bend upward at the shoulder to about a 90˚ angle, and at the elbow to about the same
The legs can do about 90˚ forward and back, becoming hindered by the large skirt armor

The knees bend in two spots, but only to a combined total bend of about 90˚ :(
The side calf thrusters can be pulled out slightly and turned
The rear calf armor can be pulled out to reveal yet another thruster

The ankle joints on Sinanju are kind of strange, and it'll take some time to get it properly balanced
The large back thrusters can turn horizontally and vertically thanks to the small arms that attach them to the backpack

The red armored parts on both thrusters can be "opened"
The fuel tanks are ball jointed into the back, and can be removed

Let me know if that new articulation rundown works for you or not~! Anyway, because of Sinanju's unfortunately lacking leg articulation, I feel that ground poses are limited. Sinanju seems like more of a space-type mobile suit though, so pop it on an action base if you've got a spare!

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Before we get into the big stuff, let's start with the beam sabers! There's no place on the HG to store them, but they'd usually go right here.

Next up are the beam axes. These monster beam weapons are stored on the inside of the shield when not in use, and can be given long or short blades. They're also connectable at the hilts!

Alrighty, now it's time for Sinanju's signature weapon, the beam rifle. Sinanju's rifle is powered directly by the suit's power generator rather than e-cap clips, making it a much more efficient beam weapon.

And to add even more firepower, the rifle can also be outfitted with a grenade launcher on the bottom!

And finally, Sinanju's awesome gold-trimmed shield. As I mentioned earlier, the beam axes are stored on the inside when not in use, and the grenade launcher is stored at the narrow end to give it some emergency firepower.

And because the beam axes technically still can function while attached to the shield, you can get some really crazy beam shield sword things going~

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

The HGUC Sinanju is simply a must-have for fans of Char Aznable. Though he doesn't actually pilot the Sinanju, it has a very Char feel to it, almost like a thinned down Sazabi. All of the parts that are gold on mine were painted, so they'll either require stickers or be molded in an orange-yellow color. Like all HGs, if you take the time to get the extra details just right, it really makes the final kit look that much more fantastic. It took me at least 3 hours total to do all of the gold emblems, but damn does it look nice! This kit retails for $23 or so, depending on where you shop, but this fearsome-looking red mobile suit will certainly not disappoint!

And that's the end of this review, everyone~! Make sure to tune in next Friday for another Gunpla review! Until then~

Summer's End: The Return of Weekly Updates

2011-09-02T15:09:00.000-04:00

Yep, that's right! I'm sorry for not updating at all over the summer, but I was painfully busy between taking an art class, hopping between odd jobs, and spending time with my friends back home. Not that that's an acceptable excuse or anything though... >___>

ANYWAY, I thought I'd give you guys a little heads up as to what's on my plate right now.

~*~KITS TO BUILD/REVIEW~*~

Since I'm back at college, I don't have access to all of my wonderful Gunpla, but I do have the MC Hi-Nu Gundoom, the HG 00 Qan[T] Full Saber, the MG Gundam Mk.II HD Titans Color, the MG 00 Qan[T], the just-finished HG Extreme Gundam, and the HGUC Sinanju, in no particular order. On top of that, I've got the HGUC Hyakushiki + Mega Bazooka Launcher, the HG 0 Gundam, and the behemoth MG Ex-S Gundam to assemble!

I've got quite a bit to go through, and even more back home to rotate in during breaks ^__^;; Today's review will be of the HGUC Sinanju, just in case you were wondering~

~*~OTHER THINGS I'VE BEEN UP TO~*~

I've recently [since early Spring or so] taken up a few extra things to do for fun, the first being the Pokémon Trading Card game. I collected the cards when I was a lot younger, back when Pokémon was really still taking off in the US, but it was mostly that: a collection of cards that ended up sitting in bags in my basement. Over the course of this past year, though, my roommate Seraphim and I have been attending the local Pokémon TCG club and, as a result, have bought tons of new cards to satisfy our different playing styles. It's honestly a fun card game, my only complaint being that every so often card sets will get phased out, rendering those cards illegal in tournament play which carries over into the club, of course].

My other new addiction is a fledgeling free MMO called Spiral Knights. Produced by Sega and Three Rings, it's an incredibly simple and fun game that has a Legend of Zelda feel to it. I really could go on and on about this, but I'd rather not [at least right now :P]. I'll finish up with this: for those of you who do play Spiral Knights, you're welcome to add me in-game! If you want to add me, my name is Hazel-Rah, and just let me know that you're a reader of my blog so I don't think you're some random stranger trying to friend me xD

And that's all for now! Time to get to work on this review~

HG Brave [Standard Test Type]

2011-06-30T15:49:00.000-04:00

Hi there everyone! Baby TheEnd here with a new Gunpla review [FINALLY!]~. Today's review is on the HG Brave [Standard Test Type]. The Brave makes an appearance in the Gundam 00 Movie, A wakening of The Trailblazer, but don't show up until about halfway through. Combining the transforming capabilities of the Flag/ENACT and the form factor of the Masurao/Susanoo, the Brave is one of my favorite mobile suit designs. Let's get this started~!

The Brave's posability is vastly improved from the HG ENACT and HG Susanoo, though because of its transformation some of the joints are a bit strange. The head is on a ball joint, and can move around very well. The chest can open up as part of the transformation, and the shoulders pull out for the change to mobile armor mode as well. The shoulder armor parts are on ball joints and can rotate around the main shoulder piece. The shoulder joints themselves are on a short peg with ball joints on both ends, and can move around pretty well. The limiting factor in the arms, though, is the upper arm-to-shoulder connection. Because it's such a tight fit, the arms become a bit of a hassle to pose. The elbows only bend in one place, and the hands are ball jointed onto the arms. The wing arms ball joint into the lower back and can move around at the connection point, and the binders ball joint onto the other side of the wing arms and can rotate and fold up.

As for the lower body, the front waist armor ball joints into the front of the waist, but can't move around all that much. The torso ball joints into the top of the waist, and can lean back and twist around. The hips are very strangely shaped, and take their design from the HG Flag/ENACT kits. They ball joint right into the top of the legs, and can rotate around a horizontal peg on the waist. The upper leg armor is ball jointed onto a ring that covers the top of the leg and can turn around the leg for the transformation. The knees can bend at two points, and can bend very well at that. The feet [clearly inspired by the Masurao/Susanoo] ball joint into the bottom of the legs and can rotate and bend at the round ankle joint. The foot pads are attached to the foot column thing via a ball joint.

The Brave is a pretty posable kit, but the arms are a bit difficult to work with sometimes. This guy's also REALLY tall, but with the very lanky build it doesn't have a very imposing presence among other kits on the shelf. Whether it's on an action base or not, though, it always looks so awesome and dynamic~!

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

The first of the Brave's two accessories is the custom beam rifle, the Drake Howling. The Drake has two handles that can be attached stored or down, so you can make the Brave right or left handed :D. The Drake's barrel can stay closed, be opened or be totally removed for a "short barrel shotgun" sort of look.

The other accessory the Brave carries is the beam saber. The entire part is molded in white, so some orange paint will be necessary if you plan on using it at all. The hand pulls apart in the middle, and the saber handle fits right in.

The Brave looks so powerful in this pose; the beam saber makes for a very strong-looking accessory~

Baby TheEnd, Brave Standard Test Type, heading into the battlefield~!

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

Simply put, the HG Brave is an awesome kit. If you're a fan of the more lanky and tall kits, then the Brave is definitely for you. I didn't show much of the mobile armor mode, but the transformation is very straightforward and looks pretty darn cool~. It requires a fair bit of painting to make it look accurate, but it's well worth the work. The Commander Test Type version is the exact same kit with a few small aesthetic changes, so either version is worth buying. The HG Brave retails for around $17, and is a fantastic green addition to any Gunpla collection~!

And that's all for this review! See you next time, Gunpla fans :D

HG Gaddess

2011-05-16T16:29:00.000-04:00

Hello readers, Baby TheEnd here with another awesome Gunpla review! Today we're gonna be looking at the HG Gaddess from the Gundam 00 HG line. This kit was a birthday gift from Seraphim, and has made an awesome addition to my ever-growing arsenal of HG Gundam 00 kits. Enough chat though, let's start this review!

The Gaddess is quite a limber mobile suit, especially despite the huge shoulders and skirt armor. From the top down, the head is on a double jointed neck and can move around pretty well, though the shape of the head will limit how far up the Gaddess can look [because of the large collar armor]. The escape pod/GN Drive mount is on a swing joint, and the little wing parts are also able to swing out. The shoulders, despite looking huge and simple, actually have a few joints inside that allow for the shoulder-to-body connection to move around, the shoulder armor itself to move, and the shoulder-to-arm connection to be mobile as well. The arms are single-jointed at the elbow, and they can't bend much further than 90˚ or so =\. The hands are your standard HG ball-jointed hands.

The waist is on a simple peg joint, so it can only rotate [no bending or anything fancy]. The side skirts are on ball-peg polycaps, but because of their shape they can't move around much. The back skirt is stationary, and the front skirt can swing forward a little bit. The hips are ball jointed, but like the Garazzo they can't move around too much because of the joint design. The legs are double jointed and can bend quite nicely, and the feet... are a mess, just like the Garazzo >___>

I quite like the look of the Gaddess, especially the head. The color scheme is also a huge plus for me, since there are really too few green mobile suits [I'm counting teal as a green in this case :P ]. The only major downside to the Gaddess is that, with all of the GN Sword Bits attached [as you'll see later], it gets a bit heavy and the side skirts impede leg movement a lot.

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

The Gaddess only has one accessory, the GN Heat Saber. The red parts were painted on [and are actually starting to chip off a bit], so it's a simple sword, but it looks awesome!

The Gaddess looks even more menacing with all seven of its GN Sword Bits equipped, fully ready for combat! Unfortunately, I lost the clear display parts to have six of them floating off of the shoulders :(

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

The Gaddess is a pretty simple kit, honestly. This means, though, that it doesn't take too much work to make it look good, since it looks pretty snazzy already~. For collectors of the Gundam 00 Innovade suits, fans of the design or those with a desire to add some more vibrant colors to the sea of red, white, blue and yellow, the Gaddess is definitely for you. It retails for around $18, and it's a fun build and pairs up quite nicely with the HG Cherudim Gundam!

And that's all for this review! See you later, readers~!

HG 00 Qan[T]

2011-04-23T17:27:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone, Baby TheEnd here! I know this has been long overdue, but here it is: the HG 00 Qan[T] review! Like I said before, though, this review is in video format instead of my usual photo/text style. I've embedded the video below, and if the video doesn't show up then you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

Doing a video review was fun, honestly. I don't think it's my thing, but if enough people like it maybe there'll be more in the future! At any rate, see you later, Gunpla fans~

Updates, VOL. 4

2011-04-20T12:54:00.000-04:00

Due to lack of a lot of blog activity right now, I think maybe another volume of Updates from the desk of Baby TheEnd might be a good idea. This'll be a good update, I promise. I'll be showing you some of the stuff I'm working on right now, planned kits, and I'll also take a look at some of the upcoming Gunpla releases. So, let's start this off~!

~*~CURRENT WORK~*~

I've got a few projects going simultaneously right now, but I'm quite excited for each one's completion!

The first one is the MG V2 Gundam Ver.BTE. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is using the MG Wing Gundam Ver.Ka's inner frame and modifying the old HG 1/100 V2 Gundam parts to fit onto the frame, all the while giving it my personal touch. I've probably given it a good three days or so of work now, and I think for my first kitbash it's going well. The head is basically done, I just need to figure out how to secure the face inside the head.

The upper body is maybe halfway finished right now. I still need to figure out how the iconic V2 chest will all fit together, as well as fine-tune the attachment of the core fighter's nose cone to the back. And, of course, I need to make the thrusters as well~.

The waist is almost done. I just need to do the side skirts [which should be incredibly easy] and the back skirts. With the back skirts, though, I cut them apart because I didn't like that ugly plastic bit connecting them. However, since they are meant to move together [that is, moving as if they're attached to each other] I'm going to use the Wing Gundam's back skirts as a base and go from there.

Another project I'm working on is this badass right here, the Hi Nu GUNDOOM kit produced by MC Model. I was able to pre-order this awesome kit from Gundam Central** and now that it's here, I've got some good ideas for it. Rather, since I don't have a blue paint similar to the Hi Nu's blue, I bought a can of Tamiya Light Blue spray to personalize the colors a little bit. For the most part, though, I'm going to try to paint this as close as I can to the art in the manual. It's just so pretty~! J has already completed his, and from what I've heard it's absolutely worth buying, but we'll explore that more during the review of this kit.

The third project I'm working on [and almost done with, actually] is a Lego version of V2 Gundam. The original model was made by Torraires, and since I wanted to re-create it, I downloaded and slowed down his videos and fired up Lego Digital Designer~! Unfortunately, LDD isn't that smart, so I had to leave some parts detached and substitute some pieces as well.

~*~FUTURE PLANS~*~

I've got a whole backlog of kits to build, both resin and Gunpla, but I also have a list of custom kits I'd like to make. Hopefully some of those will be showing up here over the summer~

The first one is the Gundam TR-1 [Hazel Owsla]. This one shouldn't be too difficult to build, since I've already got the Primrose parts needed for it. All I need now is the actual Hazel kit and some primer and I'll be in business!

I also want to make a different iteration of the TR-1 with my own creative input. Right now what I'm thinking is a Hazel Custom as the base kit with the Primrose/Owsla upper body and the Gaplant TR-5 [Hrairoo]'s shoulder-mounted support binders attached to the booster pod with two mega particle cannons attached. I'm sure there's more, but I'll come up with those other details as I start to plan it out.

Yet another Advance of Zeta design I want to make is the RX-121-3C Gundam TR-1 [Hyzenthlay]. The Hyzenthlay is essentially a Hazel Owsla with most of the Gundam TR-6 [Woundwort] attached on a few hardpoints. It's got quite a unique look, and I'd really like to have one on my shelf. There's also a 1/144 scale resin kit version at this website so perhaps I'll invest in that.

**While I definitely suggest checking out what Gundam Central has to offer [and, if you can, picking up a Hi Nu GUNDOOM] I feel I should note that most of their stock is composed of TT Hongli and similar China-brand Gunpla. I don't agree with or support TT Hongli and those similar China-brand Gunpla producers. Gunpla is an economic hobby; that is, if you don't have the money to purchase Bandai Gunpla then that's too bad. While I feel this may be a little harsh, one must also consider the fact that last year Bandai sued TT Hongli, which means that Bandai is cracking down on knockoff kit creators.

Review Update: HG 00 Qan[T]

2011-03-27T11:19:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, Baby TheEnd here! I'm sure you're probably wondering where the review for the HG 00 Qan[T] is. The truth is, I've been bogged down with homework these past few days [and wanted to build the MG GN-X, so that's taken care of] so I don't have anything prepared D:

HOWEVER, I think I'm going to try doing a video review instead of my usual text/photo reviews. This will give me a chance to branch out from what I've been doing since the blog's first post, and who knows? Maybe more of you awesome readers will like the video reviews better! Either way, expect to see that coming up here soon. And if enough of you like what I do with the video reviews, maybe there'll be more in the future~!

I do have a quick question for you guys though: would you prefer that I upload it to YouTube or use my Vimeo account? Leave me a comment and let me know your preference, alright? :D

Well, I'll see you all soon with a review of the HG 00 Qan[T]! Until then~

MG ReZEL

2011-03-18T21:11:00.000-04:00

Friday means review day, woo! Today's review is on the MG ReZEL, a transforming mobile suit from Gundam Unicorn. I was taken pretty quickly by its awesome design, and simply by the fact that it's turquoise! While the mobile armor mode does look a bit goofy, it's got an impressive transformation and it's incredibly sturdy [more sturdy, I'm told, than the MG Zeta's transformation]. So, let's get this started~

Let's do a quick 360˚ view of this awesome transforming mobile suit~! Because of how huge the backpack is, it's a bit tricky to get the ReZEL to stand up straight. Mine also suffers from slightly weak lower knee joints, but it's not too big of a deal.

Moving on to some posability now, starting with the head! It's on a ball joint and had a good range of rotation and movement, but since it's also on an "elevator joint" [the head pushes down when transformed], there are no additional moving parts for the neck. Next is are the arms, which have quite a range of motion. The elbow is double jointed, and while it can't do a full 180˚ bend, what merit does that give to a giant transforming robot? xD The arms are on a huge peg and can rotate below the shoulder, and the hands are your standard MG hands: individual thumb and index finger with the other three attached as one piece. The shoulder-to-torso attachment is a peg on a swivel joint [a key part of the transformation], so unfortunately the shoulders cannot be brought forward all that far. The shoulder armor is built right onto the shoulder itself and needs to be repositioned whenever you move the arms, which really isn't the worst thing ever, right? The ReZEL's backpack has the nosecone and main thrusters on a small joint arm which can move back and forth depending on the mode that the ReZEL is in.

Moving along, the front skirt armor is on a ball joint and can move around very easily. The side skirts are on a little swivel joint system that's pegged right into the hips, so those armor parts move with the rest of the leg. The hips ball-joint right into the waist, and the legs can rotate a little bit right below the hip joint. The knees are double jointed, and as you can see the ReZEL has no issues sitting Japanese-style or kneeling. Finally, the feet are built around the ankle joints, which are on a sliding mechanism for the transformation. The front part of the feet can bend down, but once again, this is simply for the transformation ^__^;;

Because the MG ReZEL can't take too wide of a stance, though, its ground poses are somewhat limited. However, the ReZEL can even just stand in a boring pose and still look awesome, and that's only enhanced when the decals and a flat top coat are applied [not to the clear parts though!]~

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

The MG ReZEL doesn't come with all that many extras, but that makes perfect sense since a transforming spaceplane thing could only carry so much. First up is the shield, which simply pegs into either forearm. I've seen it equipped either way, and while it does seem to sit on the arm better, I like that the spare ammo packs are easily accessible when the shield is equipped like so:

Next up are the beam sabers, which are stored in an awesome little wrist rack. You need to use the shield to slide the rack forward [there's a sliding mechanism inside the arms], and then both beam sabers are easily accessible!

The other arm mount houses two grenades, but these are way less exciting than beam weapons xD

After that, the awesome beam rifle! Despite the size, the ReZEL has no problems holding it unassisted, though sometimes the back section with the ammo pack gets in the way.

And just like its predecessor, Zeta Gundam, the rifle can also be used as a beam saber! [I'll take better pictures of this, I promise >_>;; ]

A few shots of the fully equipped ReZEL...

~*~TRANSFORMATION AND MOBILE ARMOR MODE~*~

The transformation for this guy is kinda tricky, and although it's quite sturdy in both modes I don't think I can do many mid-transformation shots like I could with Unicorn Gundam. That being said, the mobile armor mode definitely looks blocky for something meant for streamlined space combat, but I guess since there's no drag in space the designers were more worried about how to get all of the thrusters to the back of the transformed suit xD I also like that despite lowering the head and covering most of it with the nosecone, the red visor is still visible at the right angle.

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

Despite being a transforming MG kit, the ReZEL did not strike me as a difficult build at all [the backpack assembly was probably the most frustrating part]. Straight-building it will net you an awesome turquoise transforming mobile suit developed from the Zeta Gundam itself, and adding the decals and a flat top coat of paint will only increase that awesome look. I decided to go a step further, though, and paint some of the detailing under the clear red parts silver so they'd stand out and add more mechanical detail to an otherwise clean-looking mobile suit. The MG ReZEL retails for anywhere between $45-55, and I think you definitely get what you pay for, especially if you do a good job detailing it and whatnot. Need to break up the flood of kits with the standard Gundam colors? Want an awesome transforming mobile suit that really has a unique feel to it? Collecting Gundam Unicorn kits? Then the MG ReZEL is definitely something worth picking up~!

And just as quickly as it started, that's the end of this review! See you next week, readers~! :D

--More Delays--

2011-03-14T14:12:00.000-04:00

Hey there everyone, Baby TheEnd here! You might notice that I haven't posted anything new for the past 3 weeks or so, and I've got a whole list of explanations for that, but more than likely you're more concerned as to whether or not there will be a post this week.

And rest assured, my wonderful readers, there will be a review this week! In fact, here is my plan for reviews for the next few weeks:

THIS WEEK: MG ReZEL
NEXT WEEK: HG 00 Qan[T]
WEEK AFTER: HG Gaddess

I'll see you this Friday, everyone! Expect some awesome pictures and an awesome review~!

Updates, VOL. 3

2011-02-17T23:28:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to my third installment of updates! Unfortunately this will replace the review for this week, but I'd consider that a good thing since I didn't have a review ready [I've been quite busy with school, and finals are next week DX ]. With that said, let's dive right in, starting with...

~*~Advanced Hazel-Rah~*~

I ended up deciding to snap some pictures of this guy for you all to see. The Hrududu resin parts took a while to fix up, and I actually had a part that was cast improperly, but Tatsu Hobby took care of that with no problem :D

So here you go! The RX-121-2A + FF-X29A Gundam TR-1 [Advanced Hazel Rah]:

~*~Backlog~*~

Doesn't look too bad, right? That's just the backlog I have immediate building access to. This backlog photo doesn't include:

-UNBUILT KITS BACK HOME
--MG Sinanju Titanium Finish
--MG Strike Freedom Gundam
--HG Hyakushiki with Hyper Mega Launcher

-UNPAINTED/COATED KITS
--MG 00 Qan[T]
--HG 00 Qan[T] + Full Saber
--MG ReZEL
--HG Brave [Standard Type]

~*~Current WIPs~*~

Right now I'm working on the Harpuia resin kit that Tatsu Hobby is selling. I was so excited to see that they would be selling him, as Harpuia is my favorite character of the Megaman Zero series :D. So far I've got all of the parts cleaned up, but there are a few that have holes in need of puttying, which means I'll need a good green paint to go over it. And then there are the holes to drill and eyes to paint...

There are two other things that are WIP, but neither has actually been started. The first one is for a custom HG kitbash I want to do using all of the spare parts I've accumulated [and possibly scratch-building some new ones], custom color it, and call it Chimera Gundam. I still need to plan out what I want this thing to look like, but I assure you it will not disappoint. Beam sabers and GN Drives everywhere~ :D

The second unstarted WIP is the MG V2 Gundam Ver.Ka + ash. This project was actually inspired by this thread at T3 Arc Forums, and the "+ash" at the end there is for the person who thought this up. What this entails, for those who are too lazy to read the linked thread is the following:
-Obtain HG 1/100 V2 Gundam and MG Wing Gundam Ver.Ka
-Build Wing Gundam's frame
-Carve up and kitbash the V2 parts onto the Wing Gundam frame
-Paint it so it looks nice, deck it out with Katoki markings
-End up with a V2 Gundam Ver.Ka style that is MG scale and MG quality

I'll be keeping a WIP post for this guy [and a separate one for Chimera] once I start them, as I've done for Rasiel [which I haven't really worked on at all D: ]. With my luck, this will be the year that Bandai announced a MG V2 Gundam >__>. For those of you who are curious, here's Rasiel:

And I believe that is everything I wanted to cover! As always, feel free to comment, and I'll see you next Friday everyone~! :D

MG Zeta 2.0 White Unicorn Ver. Review by J

2011-02-04T16:26:00.001-05:00

Alright, today’s review is the MG MSZ-006-3 Zeta Gundam 2.0 “White Unicorn” version. The Zeta Gundam was an advancement in mobile suit technology at the time of its deployment during the Gryps conflict. It was designed by Kamille Bidan, who took the Gundam Mk.II’s movable frame and adjusted it to being a transformable frame. This design impressed the engineers at Anaheim Electronics so much, that they volunteered to build it for Kamille. Once completed it became one of the strongest mobile suits during the war. However, the Zeta being reviewed today is none other than Amuro Ray’s own personal Zeta Gundam which he used during his time with Karaba. Although this Zeta never appears in the series, it appears in the CG short “Green Divers” and Gundam Evolve 9.

To start things off, the first you notice is the color scheme for this Zeta which is dominantly white with gray, as opposed to the blue and white of the regular Zeta Gundam. Also worth noting are the pink markings all over the body including the oh so recognizable “A” on the left shoulder signifying it is Amuro’s Gundam.

The head is on a ball joint and can move left and right, side to side. The neck can also swing back and forth. The arms are on ball joints, but the ball joints themselves are clipped on to the side, which in turn is also clipped on to the “body” since the arms will have to rotate forward when transforming it. The body itself is actually hollow. The chest part with the cockpit cover the empty inside, while the “abdomen” are just to separate pieces that cover what the chest doesn’t. This also explains why the ball joints for the arm clip on to what’s really the back of the Zeta. It’s also hollow inside because that’s where the head will sink into during wave rider. The arms themselves are pretty standard and can get almost a 180 bend. The wrist swings back and forth and the hands are o the clip on ball joint allowing the hands more freedom. The fingers are the usual- thumb and index are free, while the other three fingers are stuck together. I separate the three fingers in order to have individual moving fingers. Shoulders are pretty standard, except you can move the thrusters back and forth. The waist is pretty interesting because it has to be able to allow transformation. As a result, the pegs for the legs are not directly on the main waist block, but are on ball joints attached to the main block. The side skirts are inserted though the pegs for the legs as opposed to the usual ball joint on top of the waist. Then there’s a piece that keeps the leg pegs locked to the waist, because once the legs are attached, they will flop about (which is annoying when transforming it). The Legs almost get the 180 as well but can bend forward over 90 degrees. The legs don’t have a full frame, but rather it stops knee really. The rest is 2 halves kind of deal. The feet are also different in that at the bottom of the leg there’s a part for you to attach the ankles to which you put plug in the front of the foot and the heel. Lastly, the wings are attached to the lower back, with ball joints on the sides to attach to the tail stabilizer, which can bend in two places to straighten out during wave rider. Also worth mentioning is that this kit has a lot of clip on pieces to allow parts to swing and rotate about for the wave rider. As such one has to clip on a lot of pieces, and some require a lot of force. My fingers hurt from pressing into plastic so much.

On to the weapons

The Zeta comes equipped with you standard beam rifle that can retract for when its wave rider, and uses E-Packs. The one really cool feature is that the tip can be used as a beam saber. As such you can put the beam blade on the tip of the rifle and it will stay there. It think it’s pretty cool, because it means the Zeta has three beam sabers, and give the rifle some use after all its E-Packs run out. The beam rifle has a two-sided peg attach to the arm (like a shield) or the tail stabilizer when in wave rider.

Next we have the Zeta’s shield, which is different from the usual rectangular-ish shield mobile suits carry. The shield can retract, making it smaller in size similarly to the Mk.II’s shield and is worn upside done, with the nose pointing back. I suppose you can put it pointing forward, but then it just looks weird. The shield attaches to the bottom of the Zeta when in wave rider form, covering up the Zeta Gundam’s head. The shield has an opening in the middle for the Hyper Mega Launcher to attach to.

The Zeta sports 2 beam sabers on each side skirt which actually double as beam rifles when in wave rider form. The handles are black as opposed to the usual white for most beam sabers.

The Zeta also has grenade launchers in its forearms which can also fire cables that shock whatever they hit. One can plug the grenade packs where the shield normally goes and by pushing the attached grenade pack forward, the grenades in the arm move up to become more visible. Unfortunately the shield cannot be attached at the same time as the grenade pack, so I tend to keep the shield in one arm, and a pack on the other arm.

Lastly we have the Zeta’s Hyper Mega Launcher or BFG. The HML is basically a compacted Mega Bazooka Launcher, which the AEUG developed after seeing it being tested by the Titans. As such they completed a MBL used by the Hyaku-Shiki and made a portable (ironic, given the fact it’s as tall as the Zeta Gundam) for the Zeta. The only thing to say about this really, is that it’s a BFG and blows up a lot of things. Oh and it can be attached to the shield for when the Zeta is in wave rider.

Display Stand

Yep, the Zeta 2.0’s all bring this display stand which doubles as a run-way for when MS launch. Its large base offers a lot of sturdiness and the connector can be adjusted to angle the Zeta in different ways. Bonus is also included the stand attachment so you can plug it to the MK.II 2.0. Actually, the MK.II’s own display base can connect to the Zeta’s to have them side by side. What’s also neat is the fact that when doing the run-way display, you can store the connectors on the bottom of the base, along with the grenade packs. The stand is definitely one of those very welcomed goodies that are included with models.

Wave Rider

I was originally not going to transform it because I was worried I’d break something. But I thought “what the heck? I transformed it once, so why not again?” and so I transformed it.

First thing you notice is how there’s really no body, just a hollow space for the head. The two abdomen parts just come together to make space for the arms.

Although I didn’t show this, this is the step where the very first time I tried transforming it I quit and turned it back to MS. Remember the crotch lock I mentioned before? Well the first time I couldn’t unlock it for fear of breaking something, but once it came off the legs just flapped about, since at this point their pegs were attached to small ball joints. Once the legs are flapping about, you peg the flaps to peg on the inside of the back skirt and sort of clip the top of the flap to something on the back simultaneously. Then you just rotate and move the legs so that they end up like the picture. Rotate the arms forward and that part is done.

Hmm I suppose I should’ve snapped a more in between steps here, given that there are 3 places where the wing attachments rotate to get it into place to cover up the front and become most of the wave rider’s base. Also there is the fact that the wings have their own little mechanism to extend.

But once you get it to this point, all that’s left is to cover up the face with the shield that actually attaches to like 5 positions just to stay on without falling off.

Lastly from the completed wave rider, you can see the legs do some crazy bending to get into place. With that the Zeta Gundam is now in its wave rider form. And of course you can attach its weapons to it. I put the beam saber to illustrate the idea of the Zeta using them as blasters.

Finals Thoughts:

Before praising this kit, I will offer what I think are its drawbacks:

Hard to pose around, especially the legs because when you try to swing them out, they will not want to, and if they do, swinging them back will be a pain. It also feels like it’ll break because in wanting to swing the leg out, the peg flap wants to come out, which is being held in place by the crotch lock.
Kind of back heavy, I have a really hard time getting it to stand up straight.
Legs are weird to work with dues to the way the legs bend.

Aside from that, this is a wonderful kit to work with. I actually like this Zeta particularly because of its color scheme and markings throughout the body, which were very easy to work with. The stickers weren’t the regular clear stickers, but weren’t dry or water transfers. In fact they felt like paper and its adhesiveness would remain even after two or three screw ups that required me to peel it off. Also since this is a 2.0, you know it’s going to be wonderful to build. This was one of those kits that made you say “I want it...now, I don’t care if it’s a pain to get” which is exactly what happened to me with this kit. After seeing a review on it on another blog, I decided I had to have it and as such proceeded to find out that this was one of those limited edition kits; and as such would have a hard time finding. When I finally found it…it was $40 more that it should’ve been, but with the help of BabyTheEnd I was able to purchase it. That’s when the second part of this story kicks in: I had to wait 3 months to get it because the seller didn’t really have it in stock, but instead ordered it from its suppliers. But I finally got it and loved building it. Do I recommend this kit? Yes, yes I do. The Zeta 2.0 is a solid model that looks awesome on its display stand. I you like the White Unicorn Zeta as opposed to the regular Zeta then good luck finding it. Otherwise get the regular Zeta 2.0; you won’t be disappointed!

MG RX-78-2 Gundam 2.0

2011-01-28T09:05:00.000-05:00

Hi there, Baby TheEnd here with the first review in quite a while ^__^;;. It's gonna be a good one today though, I promise. Today we've got the MG RX-78-2 Gundam ver. 2.0, which should look familiar to any Gundam or Gunpla fan. This is, after all, the Gundam. Loads of accessories, loads of posability, and some awesome gimmicks as well, so let's get right on to the review!!

By itself, it's kinda plain, which is understandable since this is the first Gundam ever, before all of those fancy GN drives and satellite cannons and whatnot. But even so, it looks pretty cool by itself [and the awesome matte coat job makes it look even better!]. I also found the stark lack of panel lines to be an interesting touch, as it really adds to the simplicity of the Gundam.

It's posability time! The head is on a double neck joint thing, and can move around pretty well. The front cockpit hatch can swing open, and there's also a little panel that can slide open as well. The torso can wiggle to allow for some leaning of the upper body. The beam saber attachment points [chargers?] can close when the beam saber isn't plugged into it, which is pretty cool. As for the arms, I really can't begin to describe the insane range of motion you get, so I'll let the pictures talk for me~

Now for the waist. This is one of the more frustrating parts of the kit, because the skirt armor is all attached in a strange fashion that makes them prone to popping off [especially the front skirts]. The piece that the skirt armor parts attach to can lean back and forth, allowing for even more upper body posing. The hip joints are plugged into holes in the waist section, as per usual with Gunpla. The legs can rotate at those hip joints, and the knees are double jointed, allowing for a 180˚ bend. The ankle armor is attached directly onto the feet, and it feels like it gets kind of loose sometimes =\. The feet can bend at three points, which is just crazy. I never would have thought that simple feet like that could be so posable. One other issue I have with the feet is the armor plate that "clings" to the ankle armor attachment points. It doesn't directly attach, so it feels prone to falling off all the time, which is quite annoying...

Overall, it's really posable, ~~but those front skirts are incredibly limiting, which really sucks~~ Scratch that, turns out I just had them positioned wrong all along! Oh, the simple blunders of Gunpla~...
Quite honestly, though, this MG is about as close to perfect as you can get. There really aren't any issues with it other than some minor stuff.

While I don't think it deserves its own section, the core fighter is crucial to the operation of Gundam; without it, it's not going to move D: The core fighter can transform from fighter mode to core block mode, at which point it gets inserted into Gundam's chest cavity, like so:

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

So many @_____@. First up, let's go with the beam sabers.

Like previously mentioned, the charger mounts can fold in when there's no hilt in it. I also quite like that Gundam can actually reach and grab them!

And using the beam saber hilt, you can also make the beam javelin!! [I haven't had the chance or materials to paint it pink yet >__>;;]

Next up is the hyper bazooka. Nothing too special about this, just a huge bazooka ^__^;;

Following that is the gundam hammer. Aside from the fact that it's a Gundam-sized flail, you can get some really awesome dynamic shots at the right angle with this weapon~

And to finish up, I'm going to do the beam rifle and shield together.

The beam rifle doesn't do anything fancy, but you can attach the Super Napalm to the barrel, though it does require some removal of parts to get it on.

As for the shield, the grip can slide up and down, as can the sight protector thing. There are also two little pegs on the inside of the shield that allow you to attach the beam rifle/bazooka to the shield [for storage or something].

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

I originally bought this kit because I felt it was time to own some version of the original Gundam [this was before I got the RG]. A little pricey, perhaps, but absolutely worth it. It's really one of the most intricate Gunpla I've ever built before, and at the same time everything makes sense and it's relatively simple. It's got wonderful posability, comes with 6 accessories, and it really looks awesome amongst my collection. The MG RX-78-2 Gundam 2.0 retails for anywhere from $35-50, depending on where you look. If you can find it for a low price, then by all means grab one!!

And that's all I have to say about the Gundam that started it all. See you later, readers~!

~Plans for 2011~

2011-01-03T14:35:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! First of all, Happy New Year! :D. I hope that 2011 will be a year of triumph and good things for everyone ^__^

Now that I'm back from break, I can get back into the swing of my Friday blog posts, so never fear, this week you will not be disappointed! I've also made a little list of gunpla-related goals, which are:

-More custom colored HGs
-At least 1 custom colored MG
-Try out a resin conversion kit for a MG
-At least 2 kitbashed custom kits
-Branch out [how-to videos?]

I really hope I can fulfill all of these goals ^__^;; And that being said, I'm thinking of doing a "Let's Build!" video soon. Would you guys be interested in something like that? Would you rather see a sped-up process of how I build, or would you want a regular speed, this-is-how-I-do-everything style? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Something else I'm thinking about doing is a gunpla photo contest. I'm not sure how I'm gonna do it, but expect to see a contest around here soon~!

Now, how about some blog stats? I think it's pretty interesting to see where people are reading the most~

So far, January already has over 400 page views! I think now that this blog has somewhat of a fanbase, the group of people who reads it is pretty steady in terms of number of people~

PG 00 Raiser is still in first, which is understandable since it's a PG :D. I'm quite surprised that the "My Apologies ^___^;;" post is so high up, but it does have the pictures of the ridiculous 00 Qan[T] variation.

Hahaha, do you guys just click the banner at the top instead of clicking back? xD. And thank you Z of Gunpla Inochi, GG of Gundam Guy, and Tsukinari of To Aru no Shumi Tsukinaru! :D

Other than the US, every country on this list is a huge surprise to me xD. I didn't know there were that many people in Australia or Malaysia that have checked out my blog :O

And with that, my readers, I once again wish you a happy new year! See you Friday!!

HG Beginning Gundam

2010-12-12T16:01:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Another Baby TheEnd gunpla review comin' at ya!! Today is the first of the Gunpla Builders Beginning G line, the Beginning Gundam. "Piloted" by Haru Irei, this interesting Gundam looks kind of like a cross of Turn A and V2 Gundam with a whole bunch of triangles on it xD

As you might already be able to see, Bandai decided to pull a fast one on us and require a heck of a lot of painting to make it look accurate to the box art, despite being a HG. It's a wonderful kit though, as you'll see throughout the review :D

Posability time!! Beginning Gundam's head is on a double jointed neck, but the bottom part is buried in the top of the body, so the head really just has one point of articulation. The waist-to-hip connection is a ball joint, and if you lift the body up a little it can rotate freely without problems. The shoulder joints on the body can swing back and forth a little bit, but they were initially INCREDIBLY loose [which was promptly fixed with some krazy glue]. The shoulder joint goes through a little hole in the shoulder armor and plugs into the top of the arm via a polycap joint. The arms can rotate 360˚ at the shoulders, and they can rotate below the shoulders. The elbows are single jointed, bending to about 90˚. The hands ball joint in, but it's a bit difficult to move 'em around because of the wrist armor. The little grey panels on Beginning Gundam's back [which are apparently magnetic thrusters] can also move around a little bit on their ball joint.

The skirt armor can all be separated, and it's all ball jointed into the waist and small enough/easy enough to move that it never gets in the way. Ever :D. The legs peg into a T-joint thing similar to HG 00 Gundam. The legs can rotate right below the hip connection, and the knees are double jointed. The ankle armor is actually on Beginning Gundam's foot, but it doesn't move all that much. Bandai, for some reason, gave Beginning Gundam the most bizarre ankle joints ever. Pictures to follow~

Beginning Gundam needs to be in action though! His many triangles will stand for nothing less than super exciting!

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Beginning Gundam has some pretty basic accessories. Let's start with the shield!

It's an interesting looking shield that kind of reminds me of Hi-Nu Gundam's shield~. Three beam sabers [molded as one piece] can be stored on the inside of the shield, and the shield itself just pegs right into the arm!

On to the next accessory, the beam saber! Beginning Gundam has six beam sabers on its back, but only includes one clear yellow beam effect :(. The beam sabers also require a surprising amount of work to make them accurate [I think this is the first time I've had to paint a beam saber hilt...].

Next up is my personal favorite...

THE BEAM CLAW! Beginning Gundam pulls this ace out of his sleeve at the end of Part A of the OVA. Why another Gundam pilot didn't come up with this before is beyond me...

Last but not least, Beginning Gundam's beam rifle. I understand that this rifle works like the F91's VSBR [Variable Speed Beam Rifle]; that is, the output can be altered so you can have a shot as powerful as a standard solid bullet to something that could shoot a hole through the moon [with enough power, of course].

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

The HG Beginning Gundam is definitely an awesome build, despite only being a HG. If you don't like foil stickers, though, prepare for a lot of work to make it look nice, especially the beam claw. I like it, though; it's a very different looking mobile suit and although it does sport the stereotypical Gundam colors, it still looks quite cool among other kits :D. This guy retails for around $20, and it's totally worth it!

See you later, my wonderful readers!!

Disconnected Thoughts and Questions

2010-12-08T14:43:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! Today I've got a few things I'd like to discuss with you, and a few questions to ask as well~ Let's get started!

First, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FOR THIS BLOG~ :D Baby TheEnd's Gunpla and Toy Review turned one year old on December 2. I'm so happy that I've been able to keep going this long, and I'm even happier that I've developed a reader base too :) Hopefully one day I'll be as popular as Ngee Khiong EX or Gunpla Inochi ^__^;; Is there anything you guys want me to do/re-do for an Anniversary Post? Leave a comment with your ideas~

On to the next item now. These next few weeks [the next month, really] is gonna be kinda crazy for me, and I'm not 100% sure that my reviews will be posted on time. School is requiring a lot of my time, and in a bit more than a week I'll be out of town. I'll try to get them done ASAP and have the system auto-post them at the proper times. The side bar with all of the links and the individual category pages are things I'll have to update myself. I've got a huge backlog, and that honestly bothers me a lot >____> Perhaps I'll do some sort of mass post bonanza~

Alright, now for something that's a bit more important. My friend Seraphim has his blog monetized by Google a while ago, and has made some money off it [not a lot, but more than a few dollars]. That lead me to thinking that maybe I should monetize my blog as well. The money could easily be funneled into new gunpla, so in a way the site would end up paying for itself~. HOWEVER, money would only be made by placing ads on my blog, which then would have to be clicked. There are definitely other ways to earn money to pay for gunpla, but I thought I'd ask my readers since you guys are gonna end up being the ones who have to deal with the ads [and click on 'em once in a while to get me some money :D ]. Let me know what you think!!

I've also been thinking about trying to do some video reviews too. It seems like they take much less time, and it'll be far easier to convey what I'm trying to show you with pictures~

Alright, so let's go over this:

~*~Is there anything you want me to do for an anniversary post?
~*~Should I put ads on this blog that might get a bit invasive but will earn me gunpla money?
~*~Should I try my hand at video reviews?

And that's all! See you on Friday!!

HG 1.5 Gundam

2010-12-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! Today I've got a pretty cool review of the HG 1.5 Gundam [pronounces "eyes" Gundam] from the Gundam 00 HG line~. This fella shows up in the 00I, 00P, and 00V Senkai side stories! The 1.5 Gundam is pretty much the step before Reborns Gundam, which is 1 Gundam with a GN Cannon fused into its back. But I'm sure you all just wanna see the pictures, so here we go!

So here we go, the 1.5 Gundam. This guy was high up on my list, since I loved Reborns Gundam and the purple color scheme was very unique. There should be more purple Gundams ^__^

Before I get into articulation, I'm going to take off the binders so you'll just be seeing 1 Gundam. For some reason, the binders add the other 1/2 xD

Anyway, from the top down, 1.5's head can move around very well and is on a double jointed neck polycap. The torso can bend back and forth a bit to allow for some more dramatic posing. The shoulder attachments on the body are supposed to be stationary, but they can pull out a little bit and let the arms swing forward or backward a little. The shoulders themselves are polycapped onto the body, and the main shoulder armor piece is attached to the top of the arm, and the cover things are attached to the main piece. The arms can rotate just above the elbow, and you can get about a 80˚ bend with the elbows. The arms can also rotate a little bit below the elbow joint as well, similar to Reborns Gundam. The lower arm portion, though, has far less mobility than its successor does, which is a bit unfortunate D: The hands are ball jointed in, same as always, and the beam saber mounts can swing back and forth.

On to the lower body! All six pieces of the skirt armor are able to move around [if you separate the front skirts and the back skirts, as they come molded as one part]. The legs peg right into the waist, and can move around really well since the skirts are good at getting out of the way xD. The knees are double jointed, and are actually the same knees as Reborns Gundam [seeing a pattern here? :P ]. I glued the calf armor split thing shut though, since it's not supposed to split and I didn't really like the gimmick in the first place >__> And as with Reborns Gundam, the feet are really tough to get into a good ground pose, but they're very mobile and can still flatten out.

1.5 Gundam is honestly just a recolor of Reborns Gundam with a different backpack ^__^;; However, I really love the colors, and the fact that it has a very "prototype" feel to it. More pictures woo!

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

1.5 Gundam has a few pretty cool accessories, but before I hit those I want to talk about 1.5 Gundam's binders. They're capable of a bunch of different modes to aid it in combat, which i think is pretty cool :D The different modes are Standby Mode, Flight Mode, High Speed Mode, Attack Mode, Defense Mode, Rifle Mode, and Alvaaron Cannon Mode~

High Speed Mode

Flight Mode

Alvaaron Cannon Mode

Standby Mode

Ok, with most of the modes out of the way, onto accessories! First are the beam sabers! Pegged into the back of the elbow, they look a bit awkward to get to, and the kit only includes one clear beam effect :(

Now for the shield. The binders can rotate to the arm the shield is attached to and boost the GN Field created by the shield. On the kit, the shield is tough to pose with because it's really big~

Defense Mode

Next up is 1.5 Gundam's awesome GN Beam Rifle. It clips onto the bottom of the arm, and then the handle goes into the hand. It can be equipped on both arms, but I like my Gundams being righties like me :P

Attack Mode

Rifle Mode

Fully equipped and ready to kick some ass! 1.5 Gundam, launching!!

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

After all is said and done, is the HG 1.5 Gundam worth it? Honestly, if you've got Reborns Gundam already, it really isn't. Unless you like the color scheme or the binder attachment thing, you're really just getting the same kit again. Would I still recommend it to people? Of course! It's sleek, posable, and purple! :D It brings an appropriate amount of accessories, and can even have them all equipped at the same time. 1.5 Gundam usually retails for around $20, and the base color scheme is a much lighter purple [I went over it with some TS-24 Purple though :3 ] but it's still an awesome build and looks especially cool next to Reborns~

And that's all for this review. See you next time, everyone~!

Delays, Breaks, and Resin

2010-12-01T00:27:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, just a quick update before I get to bed~ ^__^;;

I'm really sorry about the lapse in reviews D: I was on break between quarters, so I was incredibly busy trying to pack as much fun with friends in as I could before school started back up again. I'll have this week's review up a bit early, as I'm going home this weekend again [for my brother's Bar-Mitzvah! :D ]. But yeah, the next month or so is gonna be pretty tough for this blog =\. Lots of traveling, places without computer access, etc so hopefully I'll be able to have a few reviews finished up so there isn't a huge lull for December.

One kit you probably won't be seeing a review of, though, is this fella. The HGUC Advanced Hazel + Resin G Parts Hrududu, combined to make the Advanced Hazel Rah! I put a hell of a lot of work into it, but it still could have come out better. If only I could find an original Hrududu kit...

And that's all I've got for you for right now, so I'll see you when my next review is up [should be in the next day or two~]

HG Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode]

2010-11-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Baby TheEnd review! Today's review is on the HG Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] that also included the 1/48 scale Unicorn Head Display Base! You'll see some of the display base at the end of the review ^__^. For now, UNICORN GUNDAM TIME!!

This is one of those kits that really looks wonderful just standing there, in my opinion. Since it's permanently in Destroy Mode, you don't have to worry about the more fiddly bits falling off, which is quite nice :D

Time for some articulation~. Unicorn's head is on a ball joint and can rotate and move nicely [only being impeded by the beam sabers on the backpack]. The neck is on two pegs and can swing upward, allowing for some cool mid-flight posing. The shoulders are hinged and, as you can see in the first picture below, can kind of fold in to allow for better shoulder movement ^__^. The torso itself has a ball joint inside it, but it doesn't offer movement so much as to keep the body together. The arms though, are probably my one gripe with this kit's design. The shoulders are nice, can rotate 360˚ at the shoulder connection point and just below the shoulder. The elbow joints are just poorly designed. They're basically two halves of the joint sandwiching a polycap, making it quite easy for the arm to split apart at the elbow =\. In addition, there's no sort of limiter to keep the arms from bending ways they're not supposed to... so they can D: The beam saber racks can be removed and repositioned [as you'll see later] in a similar manner to the MG Unicorn Gundam. Also, the hands are your standard ball joint connection ^__^

Unicorn's side and front skirts are pegged in and ball jointed, respectively, allowing for some movement. The back skirts, like with most HG kits, are totally immobile =\. The legs ball joint into the waist on a little hip piece, and the skirt armor allows for some nice movement [until you try to bend it back too far =\]. The knees are double jointed, but suffer from the same problem as the MG Unicorn Gundam: they can still only bend about 90˚. The ankle armor doesn't really move much [and it's only that little flap on the front anyway]. The ankles are double jointed, and the feet can't move around all that much because of the extra armor bits sticking out everywhere D:

Honestly, I found Unicorn Gundam to be a very underwhelming build. I always try to point out the positives, but frankly the whole build and general functionality of the kit sums up to a resounding "meh." It does, however, luck out in that it has the very dynamic look that Unicorn has when posing, and the design of Destroy Mode is gorgeous :D

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Let's start with the accessories Unicorn has at all times: the beam sabers!!

Quite an awesome photo ^__^. The arm sabers can be a bit fiddly and fall off easily, but something tells me they weren't designed to do this >___>. What really bugs me, though, is that Unicorn's hands are actually too open to hold the beam sabers...

Next up, the shield!! It's pretty, without a doubt, but it doesn't do much ^__^;;. Fun fact: that grey circle in the middle is a I-Field Generator, a device that offers complete protection from beam-based attacks!

The shield comes with two pegs: one that can clip onto the arm, and one so it can be stored on Unicorn's backpack.

Finally, Unicorn's beam magnum! I had to glue the hand on there because it wouldn't hold the beam magnum properly otherwise D:

The design stays faithful to the MG [thankfully], though it does require some painting to make it look totally accurate.

Unicorn also brings a spare e-pac clip for the beam magnum, which also requires some painting [and puttying to fill in the back] to make it look nice~. Like on the MG, the e-pac clips onto the back skirt.

~*~UNICORN HEAD DISPLAY BASE~*~

Like I said earlier, I managed to snag the bundle of Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] and the 1/48 Unicorn Head Display Base ^__^. It's a very quick assembly, but painting it is not an option: it needs it. Being just a head, it can't really move much at all, but I'll show you both forms :D

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

HG Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] is not all that difficult of a build, and it doesn't seem to use some of the more advanced HG technology that Bandai has been cranking out lately. That being said, it's still a phenomenal kit that looks awesome just standing there, and looks even better in an action-y pose. Another plus is that you don't have to worry about the nub marks, as they're either white or covered by the other armor parts [except for the backpack D: ]. By itself, Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] retails for about $18, but with the Unicorn Head Display Base expect to pay close to $30 for it. It's a very clean looking kit that will add a much-needed white and pink mobile suit to any gunpla enthusiast's collection! :D

And that's all for this week! I'll have another review for you next Friday, like always :D

Limited Edition Play Arts Kingdom Hearts II Sora [Final Form]

2010-11-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

Welcome to another Baby TheEnd review~. This week I've got an awesome review set for you guys, but a bit of backstory first. Near the end of Summer '09, my awesome girlfriend and I went to a small anime store owned by a crotchety Japanese guy living out of the back of the store so he wouldn't have to pay rent or something. I saw that he had this figure perched up on a high shelf, and after wishing I could get it we left. With my birthday coming up, my amazing girlfriend went to that store to buy me this figure. And more times than you can count on one hand, the store was inexplicably closed which meant a wasted trip and a lot of frustration. After weeks of this ridiculous nonsense, I caught wind of what she was doing and went with her to get the guy to open his damn shop so she could buy my present [I know that sounds greedy of me, but I wasn't doing this for my sake, I promise D: ]. After pounding on the glass for what seemed like hours, the guy finally came to the store front and asked us if we knew what we wanted. She said "yes, that one up there" and he let her in. She left the store a few minutes later with a smile on her face and my birthday present: one of 3000 limited edition Sora [Final Form] figures. And let me tell you, I was ecstatic. Kingdom Hearts is easily one of my favorite games [it's quite easy to ignore the haters and bizarre pairings ^__^;; ]. So, without further delay...

Simply owning this figure is a privilege to me, really. Yes, it's not SUPER POSABLE WOAH, and yes, OMG IT FRUM KINGDUMB HARTS LOLOL. Neither of those things bother me though. Final Form is easily the coolest of Sora's many costumes, and I honestly like the keyblade choice. Yes, Oathkeeper and Oblivion would have been cooler, but nothing's perfect~

As far as articulation goes, the shoulders can move with no problems, as can the elbows. Strangely, only one arm is ball jointed at the shoulder, and I made the mistake of forcing the other one to the point that I twisted it off. It took me a while and a lot of superglue, but now he's good as new :D. Sora's legs are also bendable, and even his feet bend halfway to allow for some dynamic poses. His neck, wrists and fingers also move~

The paint job on Final Form Sora is pretty damn fantastic and 100% accurate to the game. There are a few tiny mistakes, but that's to be expected of anything painted in a factory.

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Final Form Sora comes with two keyblades, Sleeping Lion and Hero's Crest. They are both molded and colored perfectly, Sleeping Lion's keychain is removable and Hero's Crest's keychain is an actual chain. They're definitely cool keyblade choices for Final Form, though I would've preferred Ultima Weapon and Oathkeeper :P

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

Final Form Sora is definitely one of my most valued collectibles, and I love my girlfriend so much for getting me this for my birthday :3. Honestly, though, I'd only recommend Final Form to those of you who are either hardcore KH fans who are willing to drop $80+ on Final Form [since he's limited] or collectors of everything Play Arts. Or if you just really like the way it looks, that'd work too :P

And with that, my friends, I will see you later. Have a good day~

MG Turn A Gundam

2010-10-29T21:28:00.002-04:00

Hello readers, happy Friday! Today I've got a review for you on the MG Turn A Gundam. I'm not gonna lie, the first time I saw it, I absolutely hated it. Nothing about it looked appealing to me. Slowly, though, it grew on me to the point that I liked it enough to buy the MG. Assembling it was pretty neat, but the right chest flaps all broke so I had to glue them on. They're both removable, but the left one's flaps are the only ones that work ^__^. Anyway, review time!!

Just taking a quick look, you can see that unlike Turn X, Turn A Gundam is perfectly symmetrical. It's also a panel lining nightmare XD. It looks great when it's done, but my fingertip was quite blackened from the gundam marker~

Articulation time~. Turn A's head is on a ball joint that's attached to a little neck piece, so I suppose he's got a double jointed neck. The chest compartments can both be removed, and the three blue flaps can swing open to reveal some missiles [nukes?] in storage. Turn A's torso can bend at each two places [or each red part of the torso]. There are also some vents that can open up on Turn A's back, but they're a pain to open sometimes D: The waist itself has no moving parts except for the side skirts. The front skirts move as well, but technically they're not part of the waist, but part of the cockpit. The cockpit can also detach and transform into the core fighter [though it's not much of a core fighter since it's exposed like that ^__^;;].

Turn A's shoulders are the strangest shoulders I've ever seen. Rather than having conventional shoulder armor, the back face is stationary and the front section [the top and front] rotates about the shoulder connection. There are some flaps on the back of the shoulders that can swing open a bit, but otherwise they're immobile. The beam saber mounts sit vertically and can rotate 360˚ and the beam sabers can slide out. Turn A's arms are pretty simple: they peg into the body at the shoulders and can rotate at the shoulder joint. The elbows are double jointed, and can also rotate at the top elbow joint. The wrists are ball jointed onto the arms, and the hands are ball jointed onto the wrists, and each finger can move independently [though they're not jointed fingers like on 2.0 MG kits].

Now for the legs. Turn A's legs are fantastic: they look great and they're incredibly flexible. The hip joints can swing out and the legs can rotate when pegged into the waist. The knees are double jointed and can do a total 180˚ bend. In addition, when you bend the top joint the grating [which I believe is Turn A's thrusters] comes out a little bit for a cool mechanical effect. The shins also have a little joint that allows them to swing forward a bit, revealing some more mechanical detail on the calves. There isn't any ankle armor on Turn A because of the incredibly unconventional design. The bizarre high-heel feet ball joint right into the ankles, and the front and back parts can fold up for a more streamlined flight mode thingy.

Turn A's articulation, in conclusion, is wonderful. There really isn't much to complain about or dislike [unless Turn A's design as a whole :P ] except for MAYBE the shoulders, which can be a bit annoying because of their unusual design. But other than that, it's fantastic. Nothing gets in the way of anything else, allowing for some awesome poses [which are further enhanced by Turn A's dynamic design]~

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Turn A Gundam only three accessories, not counting the beam sabers. But let's start with those first ^__^

Reeeeeeally thin beam effect parts for the beam sabers, but they look strangely appropriate on Turn A. Awesome posing time go!

Next up is the shield. Every time I look at it, all I can think of is ProtoMan xD. It's a cool shield, though, and has little clamps on the sides to allow for more stability when on the arm. It's also got a little siding mechanism, which is nice because the shoulder often gets in the way so I have to slide it down D:

GUNDAM HAMMER TIME >:D. This is the same hammer included with the MG RX-78-2 Gundam 2.0, and boy is it a pain to clean the parts Dx. It's worth it though, Turn A looks awesome with the hammer~

Finally, the beam rifle. This strange rifle can be held three ways: like a conventional rifle, like a suitcase, and like a beam cannon launcher thingy. Unfortunately, part of the handle for launcher mode broke, so it's tough to pose him with it in that mode. Overall, though, it looks cool, but the HUGE back of the rifle makes it tough to pose sometimes =\

The shield and rifle have little parts that allow them to be mounted on Turn A's back for some cool looking "after battle" or "reaching for weapons" shots :D

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

Simply put, Turn A Gundam is an awesome MG kit. The articulation is fantastic, the parts are well designed and don't hinder anything, and it looks wonderful just standing there. MG Turn A retails for around $45 dollars [more or less depending on where you look] and if you like the design and don't already have one, then I highly recommend picking this bad boy up. It does require a little bit of paint and a painful amount of panel lining, but it's worth the work. It's definitely not an artistic masterpiece or anything, but it offers a nice variety to the more traditional Gundam designs.

And that's it for this week! See you next Friday with another Baby TheEnd review~ :D

J's Gunpla - HG Zaku II FZ

2010-10-22T17:50:00.003-04:00

Like I mentioned yesterday, today's review is coming from my good buddy J, who offered to write up a review on the HG Zaku II FZ. So let's jump right into it!!

My review for today is the HGUC Zaku II FZ or Kai if you prefer (Kai sounds cooler than FZ: D) that appeared in the MS Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket OVA, piloted by Bernard “Bernie” Wiseman. This Zaku belongs to the Zaku “F” series, and towards the end of the One Year War, Zeon decided to improve its designs by incorporating similar technologies and features across various production lines. Thus the Zaku F was upgraded to the Zaku FZ (Kai), which had an improved cockpit system and much more thrust power. This made the Zaku Kai much more effective, but at the cost of half the usual operation time, since all that thrust would drain it. As a result only a handful was produced and saw limited combat at the end of the war. Ever since I had watched the OVA I had decided this was my favorite Zaku variation, and as such decided to get the HGUC kit. I mean besides the fact that Bernie was my favorite character in 0080, he goes toe-to-toe with the NT-1 Alex Gundam and wrecks it pretty bad before dying against it (;_____; you have to watch the OVA it’s so sad…)..Using the Zaku Kai.

To jump right into the review, the Zaku Kai is nice sturdy little kit with a nice amount of detail. The head is on a ball joint and can turn its head side to side. It can probably go as far as a 360 degree turn, but the power tubes obstruct it, and will probably cause the head to come off XD. The ball joint can swing a bit to the front and back, so the head moves forward and back a bit. The arms are attached on pegs that scan swivel a bit up, down, forward, and back. The arms themselves can bend at 90 degrees and the left shoulder armor and shield on the right are attached via ball joints. The torso can rotate very little due to being obstructed by the power tubes (again -_____-) but it can swing back and forth a bit. The front skirt armors are attached together but can be lifted up with almost no problem to allow the leg so swing forward. The waist itself is pretty simple, BUT the pegs where the legs attach to can swing forward! Usually this is implemented on MG’s as a way to make the legs swing forward even more, so for a simpler one to be done on an HG is a really neat feature. This allows it for it to be able to be posed sitting on the floor sort of laying back. Of course because this a simple feature, the pegs tend to swing very easily when any of the legs are moved, but it’s not a big deal as it will not cause any problem while standing it up. The legs are nice and sturdy and are double jointed, but it cans still only het about 90 degrees when bended, and no; the power tubes aren’t what impede more bending XD. Lastly the feet are on a ball joint so it can move around and also the feet can swing out a bit more forward, a nice little detail.

Accessories

In terms of accessories, the Zaku Kai doesn’t have much. It carries the generic Zaku heat hawk which can be mounted on the butt plate via a piece that clips on to the heat hawk, and pegs into the butt plate.

Although not technically an accessory, it brings three grenades that are molded together and attached to the right skirt armor on the waist.

Then there’s the MMP-80 90mm Machine gun. I personally think it looks better than the generic Zaku machinegun, plus this one sports a grenade launcher (noob-tubing anyone? >:D) and just generally looks like a much more badass machine gun to carry around.

Not much to say about the shield though. It’s attached to the right shoulder so the Zaku doesn’t have to physically hold it with its hand. Other than that there’s nothing else to say...it’s a light shield that shields against…stuff. Although it would be interesting to say that maybe this Zaku should’ve had a bigger shield given it was produced towards the end of the one-year war. I mean at first Zaku’s didn’t need heavy shields since the Earth Federation didn’t really have anything strong enough to really damage a Zaku.

Lastly there’s the B-type helmet. Not sure if you could count this as an accessory, but it was an extra head none the less. I really don’t like it because of the way the helmet is. I would have preferred the traditional Commander’s horn thing instead.

There aren't really many cons to this kit. It’s an HG so you can’t expect perfection. Everything is articulated nicely. I guess an only con would be that the power tubes often obstruct Zaku pose ability.

Overall this is a fantastic HG and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes Zaku’s or HG’s as a matter of fact. It’s simple yet sturdy design allows you to play with it at will to get some really interesting poses in. Plus you can get this guy for ~$13, a really nice and affordable price for an HG!

And there you have it! Personally, I quite like the Zaku II FZ's design [Zakus as a whole have really grown on me :D ]. It looks like a pretty nifty kit, but I much prefer the B type helmet over the regular Zaku head xD. But that's really all I've got to say on the HG Zaku II FZ! See you all next Friday~!

I'm not dead, I promise~

2010-10-21T12:36:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!!

I just wanted to let you know that I am indeed still here, and there will be a blog post tomorrow. My reasons for not posting one last Friday are that several projects and large homework assignments kept me from taking any pictures. While my blog is important, grades come first. However, now that things are a bit more under control, I can get a post out tomorrow with no problem at all! Though technically, it'll be J's post... xD

See you all tomorrow!! :D

PG 00 Raiser

2010-10-08T10:23:00.001-04:00

Here it is, everyone, my first Perfect Grade :D. I'd like to give a little bit of backstory on this guy, though, since the PG 00 Raiser really has a special place in my heart. I got it in August, after about 8 months of telling my friends how much I wanted it xD. Assembled and planned by my awesome girlfriend, everyone threw me a surprise party because, as my birthday is in the armpit of summer, it's usually pretty dull. But this party was the most amazing thing anyone had ever done for me, and I got to celebrate it with all of my closest friends :3. And then when present opening time came around, I was presented with a massive box. Its contents? I think you can guess that~. Now, let's get this review going! :D

~*~00 Gundam~*~

This is my first Perfect Grade ever [both interacting with one and owning one], and I've gotta say, I'm quite pleased with 00 Gundam's PG version design. The only thing about it that kind of bugged me was the color of the inner frame. It was originally molded in a very dark grey, almost black. Two cans of Tamiya AS-27 Gunship Grey later, it looked infinitely better, and has a pseudo-Designer's Colors look to it now :D

Right, articulation time. From the top down, the head is on a double neck joint type thing and can move around very nicely. The white part of the chest can slide forward and a little hatch is openable to reveal the cockpit with a 1/60 scale Setsuna figure inside. The two chest vents can swing out for some bizarre reason, and the yellow fins can move up and down. The torso can bend forward and backward and move side to side as well. As for the waist, the front skirt's two plates can move a little bit, but they're generally out of the way and don't need to move. The side skirts are polycapped onto little arms on the sides of the waist, which can move up and down, and the skirts themselves can move around as well. The middle plates can slide down so the GN Sword IIs can attach. The back skirt is capable of splitting into three sections but can't move otherwise, similar to the HG version. On the PG, though, the beam sabers can swing upward!

Moving back up, the shoulders can swing forward and lift up and are connected via a peg to socket connection. The shoulder armor can lift up to allow access to the joint lock inside the shoulder. Obviously, once the joint lock is disengaged [by pressing down on it], the shoulder can move around very well and the armor is good about not hindering movement ^__^. The arms can rotate below the shoulder and are attached on by a peg. The elbows are double jointed, having another joint lock hidden behind the GN Condenser and a ratchet-like joint on the lower part of the elbow. The wrists can move up and down a little bit and are held in place by a third joint lock hidden behind the GN Condenser. The hands can rotate and bend at the wrist, and as a standard for PG kits, each finger is individually articulated :O

00 Gundam's backpack even has some articulation [though it's not much more complex than the HG ^__^;; ]. The arms that hold the GN Drives can swing backward and forward and lift up and down and can rotate about their attachment point as well! The GN Drives can rotate on the arms of the backpack, and can pull out a little to extend the amount of rotation. And obviously, the GN Drives can spin and light up and be awesome >:D

Down to the legs now! The legs are attached to the waist on a peg and can rotate and spread out with no problems at all. The knees are double jointed. The top joint is another ratchet-like joint that makes an unnerving clicking noise when moving it ^__^;;. The second part of the knee is a joint lock behind the GN Condenser. The leg can bend as well as the HG version's, but it can't spread as far as its 1/144 counterpart can. The front ankle armor can move forward to allow the foot to come forward more. The ankle joint is shaped like the HG one, but doesn't offer nearly as much articulation; the foot can only move forward and backward [and side to side] a little bit =\. The feet can bend at two points, though, and bending them causes the white armor to slide forward, which is pretty cool :D

Wow, that's quite a bit of articulation! Before I continue on about colors and awesome poses, though, I'd like to give my say on the joint lock system that Bandai decided to implement in the PG 00 Gundam. It can definitely be a bit troublesome, but the only locks that tend to give me any trouble are the ones concealed by the shoulder armor, and that's just because the armor is in the way ^__^;;. Other than that, though, I think it's a smart decision, as 00 Gundam is deceptively heavy, and if you didn't get the First Edition version that came with the stand [or shell out $30 for the stand like I did :P ] it really needs the locks to hold its ground poses, ESPECIALLY if the 0 Raiser is attached. I kind of wish Bandai had put one into the torso somehow because the upper body tends to list backward a bit with the 0 Raiser attached [more on this later though].

That's probably enough information on 00 Gundam's articulation to write a whole paper with xD. Anyway, action pose time!! I feel that the clear + matte coat really helps bring out the colors, but gives it that awesome dulled finish at the same time~

~*~0 Raiser~*~

Now we come to the 00 Gundam's most important support on the battlefield! When Saji comes to aid Setsuna in the 0 Raiser, season two of Gundam 00 really picks up. I haven't really got much to say about the PG 0 Raiser because, well, it's a space plane thingy ^__^;;. It looks pretty awesome by itself, but it doesn't really do much. The fin parts can move up and down, and the blue parts of the fin can swing out [for when it attaches to 00 Gundam]. The grey part on the inside of the wing binders can be pulled out to reveal an awesome cannon, and as you do that the blue part on the opposite side moves out to reveal missile pods! Another cool gimmick is that if you pull on the tail part, it fans out into five separate pieces. I'm not sure why this gimmick was included, but it's awesome nonetheless xD

Some other features of the 0 Raiser are that the landing gear can come down, which allows you to actually rest it on a flat surface as if it's landed there. Also, on the top of the 0 Raiser, the cockpit hatch can open to reveal a 1/60 scale Saji figure inside. There's also another hatch that opens up to show what looks like either a docking beam thingy or a little cockpit for a Haro :O

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Hoo boy, PG 00 Raiser comes with quite a few accessories! Let's start with the GN Shield~

The shield comes in two halves, and each half can be mounted on the back of 00's arms [which, when equipped like this, can double as katars]. The white parts on the shields can extend out, and to combine the two halves you simply flip the connector bits out, slide the grey part on the inside of both halves up, and connect them! It's as simple as that! The shields can also attach to the GN Drives for some cool lookin' wing things, and can attach to the 0 Raiser's wing binders as well~

Next up are the beam sabers. While they are stored on 00 Gundam, they're still an accessory xD. Like previously mentioned, the beam saber hilts can swing to the side so 00 can reach it easier. The beam parts are HUGE :O. The photos tell all~

Now for the GN Sword IIs. At first I was kind of against having the chromed blade parts, but they're really grown on me. Like the beam sabers, the GN Sword IIs tab into 00 Gundam's hands and can be held without a problem!

To change the swords to rifle mode, you turn the blade part 90˚, swing the blue part forward, and swing the front half of the handle down. For added stability, you can also pull the little connector bit out and plug that into 00's forearm.

To combine the swords, all you need to do is swing one of the little connector bits out from the end of the handle and slide it into the back of the other handle, and voila! As you can tell, the combined GN Sword II is HUGE. It's almost 3 feet long with the beam effects!!

And the final and most important accessory, the GN Sword III. This behemoth of a sword pegs into 00's hand and then firmly attaches onto the forearm. The GN Sword III doesn't do all that much other than look absolutely awesome, either in rifle or in sword form >:D

And, using a special attachment part, the GN Sword III can attach to the bottom of the 0 Raiser. And it's even got its own landing gear!

~*~00 Raiser~*~

サジ　クロッスロード、　オーライザー、行きます！

ダブルオーガンダム、刹那　F　セイエイ、出る！

サジ！　GNソードIII　はいぶ、ドッキング　する！

了解！

/whoooosh~

/docking noises

/FLASH

ダブルオー　ライザー！

I hope you enjoyed that little bit ^__^;;. As you might have guessed, the 00 Raiser is INCREDIBLY back heavy, and the upper body ends up leaning back because of the weight of the 0 Raiser. The binders are also a bit fiddly sometimes, and trying to rotate them will often set off the GN Drives. I think that after this review, I might take the batteries out so the energy isn't wasted by accident D: Other than those little things, though, the PG 00 Raiser is GLORIOUS. Picture time~!

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

I'm just going to say this right now: the only other PG kit I've interacted with is the PG Strike [which will inevitably show up here xD], but the 00 Raiser is a fantastic behemoth of a Gundam kit. The details are amazing, having a huge 00 Gundam is fantastic [as I'm a fan of Gundam 00 ^__^ ] and the display base for it is wonderful. I can't quite make a recommendation like I can for a MG or HG and be all, "You should definitely pick this kit up when you have the chance" because I doubt many people have $270 to shell out for the PG 00 Raiser D: However, if you do get the chance to get one, then take it. It's a sturdily built gunpla that looks awesome just standing there, almost having a GFF effect to it. If the frame being molded in too dark of a grey bothered you like it did me, though, then be prepared to put a lot of work into re-coloring the frame. The end result is definitely worth it though. To sum up, I really can't recommend the PG 00 Raiser enough. It's an awesome kit that really deserves a spot on any fan's shelf.

And that, my friends, is the end of my first Perfect Grade Gunpla review. See you next Friday~ :D

[Cripes, some of these pictures are a bit blurry. I'll re-take 'em ASAP]

Ngee Khiong: The End

2010-10-04T18:14:00.002-04:00

Ever since I got into gunpla back in the summer of '09, I've been checking Ngee Khiong daily for updates on upcoming gunpla releases and other cool pictures. On October 1st, Ngee made a public announcement that he would be shutting down the major part of his blog [and ultimately decided to keep Ngee Khiong EX around]. In his penultimate post, he stated that his final post would be quite lengthy and clearly state his reasons for ending his service. Today, on October 4th, that lengthy post hit the internet. Being a dedicated follower of Ngee, I checked his blog and read the whole thing. It was really interesting to see what he thought of what the gunpla community has become. It was also a bit upsetting to read, because, well, it's the last post that will ever happen on Ngee Khiong's main page. A page that I, among countless other gunpla fans, went to at least once daily to check for new goodies from Bandai.

At any rate, I thought I'd do a little post of my own. I have absolutely no intention of quitting, but I'd like to share my thoughts in a manner similar to how Ngee did. Know now that I mean none of this maliciously.

Rather, there are a few key points I'd like to touch on. The first one is the "UC Fans VS 00 Fans VS SEED Fans VS any other fans" thing. Regardless what the topic is, as long as there are multiple groups under that topic, human nature will kick in and we will declare one to be "the best" and believe that anything else is not worthy of gracing our computer screens/TVs/whatever. This definitely applies to me too: I'm a big fan of Gundam 00, and don't really enjoy watching SEED or any of the side stories. However, I have enough self control to not let that consume what I think of the other series. I feel like people take their fanboyism to the extreme to the point that they're actually hating people who don't share common views as them. I'm aware that regardless of the scenario, this is bound to happen, as we're only human. That is still no excuse to blind ourselves to other people's views. I have plenty of friends who prefer SEED to 00, and I respect that. If they find some hilarious re-dubbing of a certain scene, then I'll watch it. There's nothing wrong with any particular series: they all have their ups and downs, and people [jeez, I'm being so general DX ] need to accept that not everything is perfect. So you're a UC fanboy? Prefer Turn A Gundam to everything else? That's fantastic for you. Don't try to shove your ideals down my throat.

The next topic on my little list are the blog-goers themselves. The fact of the matter is that the folks who commute through their regular blogs every day are helping out the owners of those blogs by giving them someone to write to. I'm incredibly gracious of every one of the people who visit my blog every day [though most of them are anonymous, but that doesn't matter!!], and I'm glad that nobody has had a reason to impersonate me on other blogs to make me seem like a bad person. There are a few people, though, who I feel have overstayed their welcome. They are the people who hop from blog to blog and make comments like "Your reviews need more of X in them. I stopped following your blog for a while because there was too much Y and not enough X." To those people, I have an open challenge for you:
Make your own blog. Try to keep a regular schedule like some of us do. See how easy it is for us to include every little detail we can in every single review. Now throw school and personal life into the mix. Suddenly a week doesn't seem like all that long of a time frame to review a MG kit, does it? Don't criticize others's work without knowing what it's actually like to do it yourself. You want to see more inner frame stuff? Too bad, go to dalong. That's not how I do things here. I find that kind of behavior is rude and disrespectful to the blogger.

Which leads to my next point, which is how I do do things on Baby TheEnd's Gunpla and Toy Review. Since I started blogging, I've kind of developed a template for how I write up posts, the same way dalong or Hobby no Toriko does. I build the kits for my own amusement, and I blog about them for my own amusement. I even go so far as to treat each of my kits with respect. I put a lot of time and effort into each one, so why would I not take care of them? I don't think it's right to request that someone who already has a set blogging style to change it so drastically for their own personal gain. I have no intention of ever removing the armor from any of my kits to show you how the internal frame moves. To me, doing so kind of ruins some of the surprises of buying a Gundam kit in the first place. The only prerequisites that I look for when buying a new kit are:
-is it a fair price?
-do I like the design?
-how much extra detail work do I need to do on it?
-would it look awesome among my other gunpla?
I feel that the design and extra work are the more important of the four requirements. I've heard from many people that the MG Acguy is an amazing MG kit, requires no painting, and is not only incredibly posable but a total chick magnet too xD. That's all fine and dandy, but I really don't care for the design much, and I don't think it's going to grow on me over time like Turn A did.

While, yes, I do check dalong a few times a week to check out what future purchases I may want, I generally do not look at the newly released kits until I've decided whether or not I plan on getting it. A lot of the fun in building a Gundam kit is seeing how everything goes together, and something like having a whole section on the inner frame, to me, ruins a lot of that aspect. Yes, it's interesting to see and it allows me to make a better choice as to whether or not I want the kit, but building it and figuring out the little gimmicks and whatnot on your own makes it all the more satisfying. When I was building my first kit ever, the MG Exia, I was amazed at all of the sliding mechanisms and opening hatches and all of that. I thought that being able to remove the GN Drive was the coolest thing ever. I like to keep those little surprises unknown until I'm actually building the kit.

And yes, this site has become predominantly gunpla at this point, I recognize that. Honestly, it will probably stay that way too, as I find gunpla to generally be more worth the money. On occasion there will be a few action figure purchases [and most of those will likely be figma or Robot Damashii]. I don't intend on changing the name of the blog, regardless, because I feel I've already made a name for myself and I'd rather not alter it.

And that's all I've got to say about that. I really hope that most of you bothered to read through the wall of text, but if you didn't then it's no skin off my back. I just wanted to get my opinion on a few things out in the open. Will people give me crap for this? Undoubtedly. There's always someone who violently disagrees with you. I will take it in stride though. I don't plan on shutting down because the community I'm a part of is "crumbling." I blog because I want to, and the people who read my blog are just getting that much more insight into the stable bits of the gunpla and toy community.

Thank you for listening. As a reward for reading through all of this [or as a free picture for skipping down to the end to see if there's any pictures xD] I give you this:

Updates, VOL. 2

2010-10-01T10:22:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone, since I'm working on a monumentally huge review, I thought I'd take this week for the second of many upcoming updates. I've still got a huge backlog of reviews to do, I know, and they'll all get done! At least for right now I'm not being distracted by building anything ^__^;;

~*~RG RX-78-2 Gundam~*~

I went off and bought my own, since I loved the design of it, I felt I needed to get the first RG kit ever, and honestly, who doesn't have enough shelf space for another RX-78-2 Gundam? xD. At any rate, I thought that now that I've got my own I'd give my little schpeal on it.

Incredible is really the only word that comes to mind when thinking about this kit. The Advance MS Joint frame was a brilliant idea on Bandai's part, and the different shades of every color used on the RG makes it look all the more awesome. After applying the decals, it definitely needs a clear coat to keep everything on and to make the shiny bits more shiny :D

However, I do have a few minor complaints. First of all, the hands. Maybe I just didn't assemble it right, but for some reason the pegs from the beam rifle/bazooka/beam saber don't fit into the hand slot all the way, which means the thumb ends up popping off if I try to make it look like it's holding the accessory like a MG kit would. After having the right thumb pop off a few times, though, I realized that it's easier to just position it downward, like so:

One other thing that bugs me are the front and rear skirt armors. I just feel like they could've done something better than a ball joint into a shallow hole thing =\. Granted, it's not like the RG is meant to be played with like a HG kit would~

Also, I'd like to point out that the beam effects that are included with the RG are the same effects that come with the MG RX-78-2 Gundam 2.0, but a darker shade of pink ^__^

~*~Feedback~*~

I know I can put up polls, ask questions in the chatbox, and set up little logs of what's going on review-wise, but I'm never going to get many replies to those xD. So I'd like to know your opinion of how my blog is doing right now :D. Of the backlog of reviews right now, which ones do you want to see first? In general, do you prefer reviews of MGs or HGs? Would you like to see more anime figures popping up here? I can blog on and on about whatever, but in the end a blog is nothing without its readers :)

~*~Video Games~*~

I'm quite capable of droning on about non-gunpla stuff though~. I recently became aware that there was a Megaman Zero Collection that had been released for the DS, and promptly snagged it. Out of all of the Megaman games I've played, as well as all of the GameBoy Advance games I've played, the Megaman Zero Series is, without a doubt, my favorite of both categories. Each game has a fantastic story, amazing artwork, and the gameplay really never gets old ^__^;;. I'd like to find a Gundam kit that I could make look like Megaman Zero xD

~*~Teaser~*~

It's gonna be one hell of a review~

MG Hi-Nu Gundam

2010-09-25T15:38:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I know I'm a day late getting this review to you, but bear with me, it'll be a good one. My pal Seraphim, after putting it off for over a year, finally finished building his MG Hi-Nu Gundam. I've been quite anxious to see it in person, and I've gotta say I'm quite pleased with pretty much every aspect of it. This time around, though, I won't be the one blathering on about it, as Seraphim was nice enough [read: I forced him] to write up the review for this fella. So without further adieu, let's see what Seraphim has to say~!

Alright, so I was guilted into writing this while being harassed by my boyfriend to play Pokémon cards with him D: I'm not used to writing about model kits so please excuse my limited knowledge of your gunpla vernacular; I'm more specialized to write about cross-dressing Asians who make crappy music. SO HERE IS MY FIRST REVIEW READY GO:

As far as I know, the Hi-Nu is a more recent Master Grade model kit. I bought it about a year ago but never actually finished it until a few weeks ago. This is the first time I actually paid any attention to cutting off the nubs from the runners with a razor and nippers (usually I just break them off and use scissors to get rid of the big chunks) but since I'm living with Baby TheEnd, I was told that that is unforgivable [BTE: it absolutely is, you should always clean nubmarks D: ]. The model is fairly accurate in comparison to various fan art of the mobile suit variant. The Nu Gundam has been one of my favorites since I bought Char's Counterattack way back in middle school since I think Newtypes are awesome, but when I learned of Hi-Nu from the Char's Counterattack Technical Manual I fell in love with it for a lot of reasons. Here's a few: I like the blue / white color scheme better than the white / black / yellow, the funnels are attached in a cooler manner, it has bigger weapons and it comes with external fuel tanks like the Sazabi, meaning it can kick ass for longer.

The posability of this model is pretty good, though I don't really know of a kit that I would consider having terrible articulation. The arms are double jointed and the knees have cool mechanical parts in them that slide back and forth when you bend them. The two complaints I have about the design of MG Hi-Nu are the feet and the head / cockpit. The front half of the feet are only attached to the back part by a U-shaped joint that clips onto a horizontal rod. This makes the front of the feet fall off easily, as they tend to unclip. As for the head / cockpit, the hatch that slides open to reveal the pilot is a bit awkward. It doesn't open up all the way and it covers the face when it does so since you have to lift the front half of the torso to do it. That casing is also attached to the runners along the neck near the start of the shoulders, making it impossible to move the head while it's open. Head motion is also limited because of this "feature." Gosh, I sound like Java now: "They're not glitches, they're features!"

The funnels are pretty cool. They attach semi-easily but fall off twice as fast [BTE: and I noticed in every picture I took I had the funnels attached backwards, so please excuse that ^__^;; ]. The effect parts are a serious pain to fit in and it usually takes me a good 5 minutes to get it to work properly after bending the plastic several times. However, when it all works, the display stand with the funnels flying out looks awesome. A cool feature about the funnel stand is that the kit comes with decorative blue flame effect parts to add to the back of the funnels. This gives your model a "fighting in space" feel to it, and the flames are easily attached or removed to change between modes [BTE: I couldn't put Hi-Nu on the stand for this photoshoot, though, as part of the locking mechanism in the top of the stand snapped, so it had to be glued in place at an awkward angle]. With that being said, the kit comes with its own custom Amuro Ray stylized "A" shape stand, as well as plastic tubes to attach the funnels to. Once bent, however, the tubes are not able to be reshaped and playing with them too much causes them to break. The "A" stand comes with 4 unfolding arms with 3 holes in each to place the tubes, giving you 12 different funnel tube placements.

In terms of "anime accuracy," which I heard is quite important to some people for some reason, I think this kit meets that expectation pretty well even though it isn't featured in any sort of anime but whatever (I just hope those people don't play Yu-Gi-Oh and watch the first US season of it...). The kit does blend the silver parts well with the whites of the legs and body and it is featured mostly in the thrusters, main body casing, and small details. There isn't a lot of panel lining on this kit so if you dislike doing that then this kit would please you. This is my first time ever panel lining a kit and I was told I did a pretty decent job for my first time. In case anyone was curious, I used a Gundam Marker on the blue parts and a mechanical pencil for the white parts. This is also one of the first kits I've made that I didn't break while building or posing, which is another personal victory, but Hi-Nu here has already undergone some reparative surgery. What happened, you ask? Well, let's just say he was overworked as a model. He did receive some emergency hip replacement parts from a friend and is doing just fine now.

D: AHH I'm being rushed now. Quickly, weapons! The kit comes with a few beam sabers, all clear blue plastic, a beam rifle that is white and silver, and a bazooka with a color scheme similar to the rifle's. Since it's a Gundam, it naturally comes with its own shield that has an awesome Z-shaped pattern made out of blue and white parts. I panel lined mine and I'm quite proud of how it came out 8D. The shield can be attached to the little blue part on Hi-Nu's left arm. Last thing, the beam sabers can be stored inside the wing-looking parts.

Alright, now I have to go lose at Pokémon cards. I hope I did well for my first review :D *product placement* Be sure to check out my blog for other fun Japanese culture writings-desu. It's the gif banner with all of the drag queens on it. *product placement* Byyyee~

*~†~*Seraphim*~†~*

Well, that was certainly an interesting review ^__^;;. I'll go ahead and add my say now, though Seraphim already covered most of the important stuff. The MG Hi-Nu Gundam is a really awesome kit, and my only big complaint is that the funnel attachment system is quite weak. The way the hips move is also a bit strange, as the pegs that the legs plug into do not allow for rotation. Instead, the entire peg swings back and forth. For those of you wondering, I was the one who broke Hi-Nu's hip joint, but thanks to some quick thinking and my buddy Lupes the problem was solved within a week :D

Other than that, there really are no problems with the MG Hi-Nu, and if you've got ~$70 to pony up for it, then by all means get it! It makes a very unique addition to anyone's collection~

And that's all Seraphim and I have to say about this awesome kit. See you Friday~ :D

~Blog Stats~

2010-09-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd share how my wonderful blog has been doing since the STATS tab for blogger was added in June ^__^

Pageviews almost exactly doubled from July to August, which is awesome! :D. And September is going pretty darn well too, which makes me quite happy :)

Looks like, so far, the 1/60 Freedom Gundam is quite popular ^__^;;. I'm pleased to see that the HG Turn X has been getting some love too, it's a really awesome kit despite its age and I'd really recommend it!

I'm sorry for the misleading Perfect Grade tab, I promise there'll be something in there soon!! It also seems that people quite like the Master Grades, so I'll put a few more MG reviews up :D

Woo! Thank you for all of the redirects, Z! I didn't screencap it, but there were a hell of a lot of readers joining me from the Philippines, which I think is really cool :D

So there you have it! Just thought I'd share some of this with you. I'll keep you posted on this stuff, so if anything monumental comes up, like a million page views, I'll tell you right away. After all, the readers are what make all of this possible! Thank you so much for your support~!

And I'll see you all Friday~ :D

HG Gundam X

2010-09-17T20:45:00.001-04:00

Hey there everyone! Today's review is on the HG Gundam X kit. I picked this fella up over the summer on the suggestion of a friend, and I've really grown to like it :D. And it's got a nice amount of purple on it, too, which is a huge selling point for me. There aren't enough purple Gundams out there... anyway, no more rambling! On to the review~!

It did take quite a bit of touching up paint-wise to make it look as nice as it does, but it's worth it. It really strays away from the traditional Gundam colors [white, red, blue, yellow].

Moving right along, we come to articulation. Because of Gundam X's backpack, there are a lot of moving parts but it's not quite as daunting as it seems ^__^;;. From the top down, the head is on a ball joint and can rotate and move around nicely. The v-fin, though, kind of gets in the way of the Satellite Cannon [more on that later]. The shoulders are polycapped into the torso, and have a pretty remarkable range of motion. The arms are attached to the shoulder armor at the usual place and can bend out nicely. The arms can also rotate just below the shoulder and have a single joint at the elbow. The hands, like all HG kits, are ball jointed into the wrists. The waist is ball jointed but seems like it's there mostly to keep the upper and lower body together =\

Moving back up to the backpack, the gatling gun on X's left shoulder can swing down and serve as a more high-powered source of physical bullets than the usual forehead cannons. The mechanism that the gatling gun is attached to can also swing out of the way, as it's on a polycap-like joint on the backpack. The Satellite Cannon system [the huge gun and the panels] are all attached to an arm on the backpack that can rotate pretty freely. X's beam rifle can also attach [and swing back and forth] to the bottom of the backpack.

Gundam X's waist has two ball joints where the legs can plug in, and those two ball joints are on a little piece that can rotate a little bit, allowing for more dynamic posing. The front skirts can move very nicely and aren't ever a problem, and the same goes for the side skirts. Like most other HG kits, the back skirt is totally immobile. The legs can move at the hips very well, though it is somewhat limited because it's a ball jointed connection instead of a peg to polycap connection. The knees have two bend points, but you can really only get about a 90˚ bend out of them =\. The feet are very free moving, despite the huge ankle armor, and they have no trouble supporting the rest of Gundam X.

And Gundam X can kneel! And not look awkward doing so! Really, my only complaint about the kit is that the knees are quite "meh" compared to some of the other recently released HG kits.

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Gundam X has a few accessories that can all be stored on his handy dandy backpack :D. Let's start with the [very unconventional] beam saber!

Attached to the back end of the Satellite Cannon, Gundam X's beam saber looks more like a cutlass than an actual beam saber xD. It also includes a very vibrant neon green beam effect that is molded quite nicely~

Next up is Gundam X's beam rifle, which, as I mentioned before, can store right on his backpack! You just need to attach the handle, lift up the target sensor, and extend the barrel, and BAM!

The rifle can also transform into a shield. Why they chose to have a perfectly good beam rifle turn into such a silly looking shield is beyond me D:

And the last and definitely most important part of Gundam X is the Satellite Cannon!!

When I have better lighting I'll take a better picture of Gundam X with the Satellite Cannon deployed, I promise D: It's awesome to look at. The huge cannon and the big shiny moonlight collection panels definitely do not disappoint~

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

Well folks, that pretty much wraps up this review of the HG Gundam X [I've been so tempted to type Turn X this whole time Dx ]. It's a very solid kit that flaunts untraditional Gundam colors incredibly well, and just generally looks cool~. Gundam X retails for around $17, so if you find one at a hobby shop or online, I'd definitely recommend picking it up! It's an awesome build, and if you choose to paint up the finer details on it you can really make it look amazing! :D

And that's it! See you next Friday, my loyal Gunpla fans~! :D

Revoltech Enki

2010-09-10T08:36:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! It's Friday, which means another Baby TheEnd review comin' at ya! Today I'm going to be talking about... actually, for the first time in a while it isn't gunpla, but instead a Revoltech figure from Kaiyodo. Revoltech figures are all well known for their ratchet joint system that allows for study joints and fantastic posability. With that being said, let's take a closer look at the ganmen called Enki~

Quite an interesting looking robot, isn't he? It kinda reminds me of a samurai :O. Enki is the first ganmen in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann to have two faces, though I wouldn't exactly call the brown markings on his head a face...

And now, for articulation. From the top down, Enki's head is on a revolver joint, as are his shoulders and the weird eyebrow part on his chest-face xD. There are also revolver joints in the elbows and wrists, and there's a huge one in the chest to allow the torso to bend. The shoulder joints are placed at a really bizarre angle, though, so it takes some getting used to before you can maximize posability. The torso to hip connection is not on a revolver joint but can still rotate a little. The front and side skirts are all on revolver joints, and the hips, knees and ankles have joints as well. Revoltech figures are usually nothing but revolver joints xD

Revolver joints are really fantastic because, like I said, they're sturdy and quite posable. Enki looks pretty awesome doing just about anything, as you can see~!

~*~ACCESSORIES~*~

Enki has a few accessories that really can't be viewed by themselves; that is, they need to be attached to Enki to look like anything. Let's start with the missile packs and mega chest cannon.

The missile packs plus in to Enki's shoulders, but for the chest cannon you have to remove the eyebrow part and stick the cannon piece onto the revolver joint. I'm pretty sure that Viral uses this crazy barrage attack once with Enki before Gurren Lagann kicks its butt xD

Enki also includes a broken head crest, which is broken by Lagann drilling through it and stopping Enki's super laser attack thing.

And now for Enki's best accessories, his swords. He's got special hands to hold the swords, the sheaths plug in to the side skirts, and the sheer amount of badassery is so great that I'm just going to let the pictures do the talking~

~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~

The Revoltech line definitely has its ups and downs, as I've heard of many cases where the quality of the figure was horrendous [original Fraulein Asuka, for example]. However, Enki is definitely a diamond in the rough. It looks awesome, the articulation is superb and I never have to worry about the joints loosening because of the way they're designed. Unfortunately, Revoltech Enki is quite difficult to find these days, but once upon a time he retailed for $25-$30. If you can find one, then definitely go for it! Especially if you like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the Revoltech Enki is a real gem to have on my shelf :D

See ya next Friday, everyone :D. Until then, thank you so much for all of the support you've given me~! I hope that you'll continue to be a fan of my blog~