AMX-009 Dreissen

I kind of like old model kits. They're quaint in thier own way and they have the more interesting designs. Take for example this one: Bandai's 1988 1/144 scale AMX-009 Dreissen from Gundam ZZ. Designed by Yutaka Izubuchi, it's the ultimate evolution of the Dom series of MS and only available in this incarnation.

I know how troublesome Bandai's old kits can be; shitty articulation, massive painting to be done, non-snap-fit construction, but I wasn't complaining. I always liked the design of the Dreissen and this old kit would really test my abilities in airbrushing.



Pleasantly surprising, this was up to Bandai's legendary quality. The parts fit snugly with little reconstrauction work to be done and the mold quality was good, with no pits in the plastic. I also used Gunze's Mr. Base White as a paint primer and this worked exceptionally well, as you can see in the painting on the torso.



I also tried my hand at doing my own custom masking, though this wasn't as good as I hoped for with the letters slightly askew. Glue construction too was weak, with the model breaking apart a few times when it fell to the floor... Still, It's a great, solid classic kit. I'll be getting more from this series. (I apologize for the shittly green-tint pics. Someone pinched my camera.) More here: http://flickr.com/photos/genosider/sets/72157594462892083/

Model number: AMX-009
Code name: Dreissen
Unit type: mass production general purpose mobile suit
Manufacturer: Neo Zeon
Operator: Neo Zeon
First deployment: UC 0088
Accommodation: pilot in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 23.4 meters; head height 22.0 meters
Weight: empty 36.7 metric tons; max gross 66.8 metric tons; mass ratio 1.50
Construction: gundarium alloy on monocoque frame
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 2380 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 2 x 21400 kg, 4 x 9800 kg, 3 x 8600 kg; vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 16
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 1.61 G
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 13100 meters
Fixed armaments: 2 x 3-barrel beam cannon, power rated at 2.8 MW, mounted in forearms; 3 x tri-blade, melee throwing weapon, stored on racks on backpack, hand-carried in use
Optional hand armaments: beam lancer, power rated at 1.7 MW, powered by rechargeable energy cap, can be combined with beam tomahawk; beam tomahawk, power rated at 0.92 MW, powered by rechargeable energy cap, can be combined with beam lancer

Arsenal: Tri-blades and assorted beam tomahawks and beam saber


Front view:












It's the axe murderer...

The definition of insanity

Well, not to a die-hard gundam fan at least.

Check this out: A Hong Kong company specializing in making optional parts for gunpla is releasing this; a full-scale converison kit for the MG Ex-s Gundam to turn it into the Plan 303E Deep Strike MA variant. Stuffed full of feature, it boasts ABS plastic parts, photo-etch decals, aluminium parts, optical fibres, LEDs... the works. Not to mention a massive stand to hold this monster up. Check out the price too; USD 290 which would put it at near RM 1000, right up in the neighbourhood with the HGUC GP03D.



While this might seem like an example of insane indulgence, One can see that this thing is well, as much as a piece of art as one of those Michaelangelo statues. Check out their site: http://www.g-system-shop.com Holy shit; a cornocupia of the very best in mechanical beauty... I'd like to get one too if buying one would'nt wipe out a month's worth of my salary.

You know that I have voiced my aversion to Gundam Seed kits, but from time to time I am forced to swallow the bitter pill of hypocrisy, or just give leeway to my principles. Currently here in Malaysia, it has never been a better time to be a modeler. We call it the ‘Happy Time’.

The combination of an explosion of collectible hobby shops and the emergence of Gundam to the mainstream has resulted in a massive price drop in Gunpla. Previous prices have now dropped down to Yen price, and if you’re lucky you might find one of even less. That mean previous ones of RM 79.70 or 89.90 can be found for RM 50 or less. Unless you’re stupid enough to go buying for these in department stores. It’s a price war that is going on kids, and that’s the beauty of a market economy. Go to hell communism.

Anyway, this story begins way back before the price war. I was looking for a kit to test out my modeling skills when I stumbled across a kit of the MVF-M11C Murasame from Seed Destiny… It was simple-looking, not too fancy, simple color scheme, being a transformable MS made it a plus too, and it was cheap, (by the standards of that time) so I bought it. (Later, to my chagrin, it would be sold for half the price…)

Review time! Construction-wise, it’s simple and solid, what a modern Bandai kit would expect to offer. It seems that the designer was going for the half-Zeta Gundam half-VF-1 Valkyrie look, because that is what it is. Even in the anime it’s supposed to be quite powerful as Andrew Waltfield makes it his personal suit and a force of 3 was able to take down the Chaos Gundam. Design wise, like many Seed suits it’s simple and unimaginative but it’s plane mode is where it shines. Clever, and I do have to admit, kind of cool. Much fun to be had posing this around. Coloring the thing was kind of poor; this was my first time spray painting and some parts I used too much paint or did a piss-poor job, so it was basically a trial and error/ touch and go thing. Still, it’s not half-bad, and I did learn some lessons that I would use in my next kit.

And here are some mobile suit facts for you!

Model number: MVF-M11C
Code name: Murasame
Unit type: mass production transformable mobile suit
Manufacturer: Morgenroete, Inc
Operator: Orb Union
First deployment: unknown
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 17.82 meters
Weight: max gross weight 46.88 metric tons
Construction: unknown
Powerplant: ultracompact energy battery, power output rating unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: 2 x M2M5D 12.5mm CIWS, fire-lined, mounted in head; 4 x M2M5D 12.5mm CIWS, mounted on wings, operable only in mobile armor form; Type 70J Kai beam saber, stored on hips, hand-carried in use; Type 72 high-energy beam cannon, mounted on back, operable only in mobile armor form; anti-air missile launcher (4 x Type 66A air-to-air missile "Hayate"); shield, mounted on left arm in mobile suit mode
Optional hand armaments: Type 72 Kai "Ikazuchi" beam rifle, power rating unknown

More pictures can be seen here: http://flickr.com/photos/genosider/sets/72157594462894411/

Arsenal:


Front view:






MA mode:


VS Chaos Gundam. just like the anime!

How giant robots changed my life

I was 7 years old. We were just entering Primary 1 (that’s the 1^st grade for you Americans) and the Pencilbox wars were in full swing…

What was the pencilbox wars, you may ask? Well, as kids, we were always attracted to gimmicks; pencilboxes included. And between the doldrums of class, crying pants-wetters and stupid spelling lessons, we would pretend that our pencilboxes were battlestations or tanks, engaging in maneuvers rivaling the ferocity of the Gulf War. Rubbers became tanks, pencil sharpeners became hurricane emitters, pencils were now ICBMS… Even I was caught up in this madness. Eventually my parents got me one to placate my tantrums, but little did I know it would change my life forever. It was a picture of a robot.

It was a picture of a robot on my pencilbox, to be exact. A white shining metal giant, armed to the teeth with laser cannons and emblazoned with the words ‘Gundam’ on it, it would stay in my psyche for the next few years… Fast forward to my 10^th birthday. This ‘Gundam’ robot had been backburning in my mind now, and since this was the days before the Internet, little means existed for me to find out more about it.

It was around this time I got into plastic modeling. My first affairs were rather sad, misshapen, glue-encrusted things. Obviously, at that age, I had absolutely no idea what I doing. They weren’t cheap too, being the massive plane kits from Revell and Monogram. So it was by no surprise that my parents initially balked when I innocently requested for a Gundam model for my birthday.

But when they did get me one, man, was I blown away by what I saw. Instead of the sad grey the plane kits usually came in, this one was molded in full color… It had loads of weapons and nigh posability, before the week was out I had already worn out its joints. I was hooked. I had to have more! My teenage life was then dedicated into getting into Gundam, finding out more about the myriad series it had, watching the crappy Chinese dubs whenever I could, eking out my pocket money savings to get more kits… which I promptly built crappily. By that time, my encyclopedic knowledge of Gundam made me a minor celebrity among some other like-minded individuals that I managed to get into this genre.

It’s now the 21^st century. By now, I've been doing this for over 10 years. I'm older, still girlfriend-less, and more cynical somewhat... Gundam has grown big, and currently, the world of Gundam is split into two; the ever-enduring Universal Century (UC) and the shitty Gundam Seed franchise. Why did I call Gundam Seed shitty? I’ve got oodles of reasons, but I’ll leave those for another time. As for Gundam models, or Gunpla, as the chic like to call them now, I currently travel three paths; HGUC, vintage, and again shitty Gundam Seed.

Let me tell you about my preferences. I’m kind of an Out Of Box (OOB) fan; I don’t really modify my kits. Also, I’m a 1/144 scale builder. This is where the majority of Gunpla kits reside so the variety is large. Besides, I don’t have the resources to build a MG 1/100 kit. Coming back to the kits, HGUC stands for High Grade Universal Century, which feature classic UC designs done up all with the most advanced model technology Bandai can field. Vintage is those old kits way before the High Grade standard, hard to build, but having a quaint feel to them. And finally the Seed kits. I have mixed feelings for this line. There’s a large pool of kits, but the down side is that the designs are really fucking unimaginative. UC designs are the culmination of the works of some of the industry’s greatest talents, like Kunio Okawara, Yutaka Izubuchi, Mamoru Nagano and God himself, Hajime Katoki, but the Seed MS design are basically cookie cutter copies of themselves; minimalist, flat and spindly. And what the fuck is up with engrish acronyms like ZAKU, GOUF and DOM? Unimaginative idiots.

Still, beggars can’t be choosers and I usually end up buying them, but rarely and only those designs I feel strongly about. Here in Malaysia, Gunpla building is quite big, with a few major contests within a year. I’ve joined the main forum there, Zero-G. There’s a lot of talented people there that can give a pointer to the budding modeler or so, so do pay them a visit.

So as now you can see, Gundam has become a very important part of the fibre of my being. It's something that I can't live without and can't get away from. Problem is, girls don't really like guys who do these types of stuff...

Picture of the Day 2

Evening! I like these two the best.

Ultraman review 2: Shoot the Invaders!

Episode 2: Shoot the Invaders!

Here comes the second episode… It’s now time for the cosmic side of the equation as the Science Patrol attempts first contact with aliens...

The Science Patrol is hanging out as usual in their base, when Fuji tells Ide there’s a call for him. But for some reason, Fuji finds there’s something very funnily wrong with him despite the obliviousness of the rest of the SP. But wait, what’s that on his face? It’s an impossibly large black eye! Ide notices this and tears the fourth wall right down; Characters don’t usually go around breaking reality like that so to sate out interest, he’s going to tell us why, where, when and how he got that. “It all began 38 hours ago…” He intones….

The scene switches to exactly 38 hours ago, which was right in the middle of the night. Poor Ide mumbles and counts sheep in his bunk in the SP base, kept awake by Arashi’s sleep apnea. For some reason the two of them are dressed in their orange suits and bunking together… probably pulling night watch, are we?

Ide can only continue to whimper; after all, it would be nuts to wake up a sleeping bear. Suddenly the alarm rings and Arashi is quickly up. What the hell? Has he really been logging it all night? If not, he’s just unnaturally alert. But wait, there’s another thing wrong… just look at the picture below…

Tights! Holy shit, men in tights!!! I always knew that their pants were strangely slim, but this confirms it! Whatever happened to the cool overalls that the later teams sported? What protection do tights offer against the elements? They look like nylon too. Do you know what burning synthetic material can do on your skin? Try dripping some burning plastic on yourself and see. Men in tights… that’s kinda gay… I guess I’ll have to overlook this fashion faux pas; it’s Ultraman after all. Ide continues whimpering and after getting their act together, the both of them slide down a conveniently-placed fire pole to the control room below where Captain Mura and Fuji are waiting.

Apparently an unidentified object has penetrated the airspace and Ide deduces it’s an UFO… Mura reveals that Hayata is already at an army base tracking it down and he gives the location of it being right in the city! The SP’s Paris HQ calls for some reason as well. Don’t really understand the next few sentences spoke; there. Too much advanced Chinese spoken here, and as I mentioned earlier, my Chinese is moderate at best.

Capt Mura summons Arashi to get ready and coughs in anticipation. It takes a few seconds for Arashi to pathetically notice that he’s wearing his night slippers instead of regulation boots. His face here really made me laugh. Arashi, all fired up to kick alien ass, only to find himself doing it in slippers. What a cockblock. Welcome to Dimsville, population-you, Arashi. Ide gets a kick out of this; revenge for the sleepless night! Instead, Arashi kicks Ide’s foot in retaliation sending him in pain. Raw flesh winning over leather boot? This and his other exploits serve only to show his musclery over mind.

The next day, Arashi is out and about in the official SP car, to the Scientific Technical Centre where reports of a UFO and strange beings roaming around. Suddenly Hoshino appears in the back seat with his stupid red cap… WTF? How did he get there? Arashi just acts like the concerned adult here but you can tell what’s really going on in his mind. Hoshino you fucking brat! I’m not going to take responsibility if the aliens disintegrate you! Sometimes it’s hard to be the older figure. Hoshino says he’s there to help, but to punish him for his nosiness, Arashi drifts the car, sending Hoshino’s unseatbelted ass all over the place.

Arashi arrives and does the usual ‘guard the car’ routine with Hoshino. It seems that the staff inside the STC is frozen in some green light. Arashi radioes to Hoshino to warn the SP and goes in to investigate. He sees the culprit, but is shot in the face and frozen too! That lobstery disposition, that fwo-fwo-fwo laugh… Congrats Arashi. You’ve been given the distinction of becoming one of the first victims of Ultraman’s infamous arch-enemy- Alien Baltan!

Hayata appears with some army muscle; the SP has to depend on them for their heavy artillery, while Hoshino gets chewed out by Fuji. Inside, two soldiers are quickly eliminated by Alien Baltan. Hayata finds Arashi’s body and Alien Baltan, which he proceeds to have a shooting battle with. The Supergun is useless as usual. It’s time to regroup.

Meanwhile, the Army heads and Mura sit down for a discussion; some nuclear fire is in order. Mura pleads for them to reconsider. After all, this is a First Contact situation, and there could be misunderstandings. The rest of the generals shut his ass down for being a pansy and after hearing the meeting out the head general nods at Mura in acknowledgement… Man that scene was scary. It’s like implying that he and Mura were shower room buddies or something. Eventually, the SP is given some leeway; they have a chance to negotiate with them before the Army launches cones of destruction (missiles) at them.

That night, the missiles are prepped at the Army base while the Army and the SP siege the STC. Hayata and IDe lead the charge, with Ide wielding the Spider-shot in memory of Arashi. But at the last minutes at the entrance Ide chickens out; Does the Spider-shot have enough energy? What to do when the alien appears? Will Hayata back him up? Of course, silly. He’s fucking Hayata.

However inside it’s Hayata’s turn to chicken out, saying he’ll guard the lower floor while the whimpering Ide goes up. Grow a pair Ide. Up you go! Ide gains some courage after an encounter with a mirror and soon finds Alien Baltan. Alien Baltan is ghosting around so Ide tries out his dumbass moonspeak to try to communicate with it. Hey, I’m all out for supporting the goofy secondary characters, but Keep that retarded stuff Ide, and I might have to change my focus. Poor Ide is left dumbfounded while Alien Baltan continues to ghost all over the place, fwo-fwo-fwoing in his face as if to say to Ide ‘Ha Ha! You’re fucked now!’ Ide is captured and turned into Alien Baltan’s bitch-er-prisoner, and is taken up to the rooftop. From out of the shadows steps out a figure… Zombie Arashi!

Alien Baltan has possessed Arashi and used him as a translator; man does Ide feel dumb for spouting out that retarded moonspeak earlier. Hayata suddenly appears as well and the negotiation begins in earnest. It seems that the Baltan homeworld in the M240 galaxy tanked from one too many nuclear tests. While looking for a new home, their UFO encountered engine trouble, so they went out looking in the STC for spare parts. Finding Earth to be kinda ghetto, they decided they’ll take it for themselves! Yu can see how this goes down with the rest of them. Hayata says fine, if they’ll observe earth laws, but that’s absurd. Zombie Arashi adds as well that there are approximately 6 billion of them, shrunk to microscopic size, waiting in the UFO. Mars is considered an alternative, but they decline ‘No fuck you, it sucks there.’ Eventually they decide that time for bullshitting is over and grow to giant size to begin the invasion.

Alien Baltan’s first act is to sideswipe Hayata, causing butterfingers to drop the Beta Capsule on a ledge. The Army launches their missiles, knocking Alien Baltan down. Alien Baltan just sheds its skin, and shrugs it off. The gloves are off now; it’s pissed! Alien Baltan proceeds to blow up the area with its claw cannons and flies off to resume to the invasion. Back at the STC, Hayata does a leap of faith, grabs the beta and transforms into Ultraman for a boring and uninteresting battle…

When I say boring and uninteresting, I mean it. For one, they decided to go with an aerial battle instead of the usual tussle, which means watching two poorly-made models getting thrown around on wires. Secondly, its at night, which means watching two poorly-made models getting thrown around on wires in the dark. I can see why aerial battles were shunned in the old series. With the advent of CGI, it was only then they could be fully realized. Also, the director screwed up the lighting. You can see absolutely shit, save for the light glinting off Alien Baltan’s lacquered body. Double fail. Lazy Mura and Fuji too just watch the carnage through the viewscreens back at base.

Ultraman and Alien Baltan chase each other down and struggle in the air… He manages to snap off Alien Baltan’s claw but despite thatm Baltan still manages to shoot after Ultraman’s ass. Eventually, Ultraman manages to Specium Beam Alien Baltan and its flaming body falls down to the Earth. Next comes the question of all the other Baltanians in the UFO. Ultraman finds it using his eye beams and carts it off. Puzzling is fact that the next scene shows dawn and a burst of light and the sound of explosion is heard. I bet I know the question in your minds right now; did Ultraman just commit mass genocide?

Now that was a great big red herring. Coming back to the true story of the episode, how Ide got that big fucking black eye, Ide explains that after the battle, he went back to sleep… This time however, Ide is the snorer while poor Arashi struggles. The boot’s on the other foot now Arashi! But poor Ide in his sleep rolls off his top bunk and slams his face on the floor… and that’s what caused the black eye. Moral of the story here folks: Whoever snores first wins. Just make sure you don’t fall down.

Many consider this a classic episode and I can see why. In my knowledge, this is the first one not to take itself seriously. It’s rare to see an Ultraman episode as light-hearted as this. The mystery twist in the later part of the story and Alien Baltan’s close-up suit effects was cool as well. It’s probably the success of these type of episodes that led the second series, Ultraseven, to be an almost entirely space alien fare. Now the battle, like I said sucked. Maybe they spent all the money hiring the extras and renting the building so they had to skimp? Maybe the Alien Baltan suit’s detailing cost too much? In any case, they probably learnt their lesson. Shit like this wasn’t seen again in a long time. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll complain like hell if the only action I see is two guys in a suit spinning crazily around.

Monster & Space Alien review: Alien Baltan

The apparently called space ninja, Alien Baltan has a shitload of weapons on him to reflect that statement. Teleportation abilities, size changing, paralyzing rays, claw cannons, bodily possession… the list goes on. I guess when the episode was conceived, Alien Baltan’s design was for shock value: If you encountered a lobster being with glowing yellow eyes staring at you, fwo-fwo-fwoing, who wouldn’t piss themselves? It’s these things you saw as a kid that made it this popular. Well, maybe in the 60’s at least.

This one is more of the goofy incarnations of Alien Baltan. Later ones like Alien Baltan II and Psycho Baltan are inherently more menacing. Strangely, enough, some people also find the design of Alien Baltan… cute. Yes, look hard enough and you can find plushies of him. Although I’m a fan of Ultraman’s space alien designs (Ultrazeven & Ultraman Ace are my favourites) my sense of reality is not that warped. Alien Baltan does the job, serving to showcase what other galactic fiends Ultraman will face in the future.