Supes

I'm gonna veer away from my usual mech posts to give way to Big Blue himself, Superman.

I finally got him, after three long years since the initial release in the SDCC. The greatest superhero of all time. I don't care what others may say, but he IS the greatest. Ever.

What put me off in buying action figs was the quality. Sure, I had action figs during my youth... I had He-Man and some Joes (which are coming back big this year, which is its 25th anniversary)... but their quality with regard to detail sucks! I know you KNOW just what I mean. Even as a child, I knew the quality of the toys I had sucked. No, they weren't bootleg copies, ok?

Even though their detail quality leaves much to be desired, the sturdiness of 'em toys is top-notch. Stomp on them, bury them in the dirt, make them brawl with other figures, or throw them with all your kid-might into the wall and they'd just come back for more.

I don't know what happened within the next decade or so (I outgrew toys and moved on to more adult hobbies ^_^) but DC Direct brought Alex Ross' version of some of our favorite heroes to life, albeit minutely. DC brought justice (pun intended) to the art of Alex Ross.

I think that's enough nostalgia for now lest I bore you to death.

I rounded the stores in Shoppesville (about four or five of 'em still carry the Series I Supes) twice or thrice just to make sure that I get the cleanest figure. Each time I would look at the paint, the bleeding (or lack of it), and for the presence of smudges. I guess it took me all of 3 hours before I finally decided which to get.

The others either had paint smudges, bleeds, or lack of detail. I had to pay a premium (not that much, though) just to get this one. Let's just say that with a few hundreds more in pesos, I could get the Justice League boxed set (of Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and, of course, Superman.)

Here he is... MY Superman.

Needless to say, I went home a VERY happy camper and as of this time, I don't want to take him out of his box for more pics! LOL! ^_^

I just hope I don't buy DC Direct figs the way I bought Gundam kits -- with reckless abandon... on second thought, they don't need any building or assembling, do they? ;-)

Pink! More pink! The MG Infinite Justice

More pics of the upcoming MG Infinite Justice from Infinity Wonderland.

The modeler did an excellent job on painting the kit, especially the colors. Unlike the ones featured in Hobby Japan, which is bordering on being crimson, this one is a lot closer to pink... at least the legs are. ^_^

Click on the images for larger versions.

What I want for Christmas, the MG Sinanju

The title should've been one of the things I want for Christmas! ^_^

Anyway (you've probably seen this image from other blogs by now) this came from SRW Hotnews. A scan of Gundam Ace magazine features the MSN-06S Sinanju designed by Hajime Katoki. Yes! Just like the RX-0, it's a Ver. Ka!


Now, come December, my Unicorn will have a playmate!

Onward to a bit of a comparo:

The Unicorn is has a head height of 19.7 meters (21.7 meters, if you include its horn), while the Sinanju has an overall height of 22.6 meters. The Sazabi has a head height of 23.0 meters (overall, 25.6 meters).

Why the stats, you ask? Well, unless Bandai doesn't do another dwarfing (you can still remember the MG Shin Musha, right?), expect the tip of the MG Sinanju's horn to be about a centimeter higher than that of the MG Unicorn, and around 3 centimeters lower than that of the Sazabi's horn. The Sinanju should be taller than the Unicorn, and I expect that to be the case. I can not imagine displaying the two side-by-side wherein the Sinanju would not tower over the Unicorn.

If the MG MSN-06S wouldn't dwarf the Unicorn by at least 0.9 centimeters, I probably wouldn't buy it. I'd rather get the conversion kit from NeoGrade which uses the MG Hi-Nu Gundam as the base model. Otherwise, it will be a great Christmas this year! ^_^

The stats are from MAHQ.net.

Boxes and backlogs

As of May, 2008, these boxes have accumulated in one area of my room:


If you're interested with the kit each box contains, follow the numbers:


1. MG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam
2. MG MBF-02 Strike Rouge
3. MG ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom
4. MG ZGMF-X56S/Alpha Force Impulse
5. MG RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. Ka
6. MG RX-78GP01 Zephyranthes
7. NG 1/100 Gundam Exia
8. FG (I think) Blue Duel Gundam for my fiancee's nephew
9. SD Strike Gundam Striker Weapons System (SWS)
10. SD Justice Gundam
11. SD Strike Freedom
12. SD Blaze Zaku Phantom (Heine Westenfluss custom)

The numbers colored in green are kits that I have completed. Orange colored numbers are currently works-in-progress, while red colored ones are still untouched kits. ^_^

I know, I know -- I should buy less and build more. Hey, I'm not the only one with this predicament.. and that is a fact. Besides, I love seeing these boxes stacked up like this. In my opinion, it's akin with some collectors buying 2 units (sometimes even more) of DC Direct figures... one to play around with, and the other one to keep in MISB condition. I even saw one collector get 5 units of Bandai's SOC Voltes V when it was released. How's that for crazy?!?

Don't you worry, I WILL finish all these kits. It's just a bit frustrating when all I can devote (gee, a pretty heavy word for li'l plastic thingies) to 'em is around 2 hours max per night. That means I'm almost an exclusively-on-weekends-hobbyist. I wouldn't wanna say modeler because I do not consider myself as one... yet.

I promised myself that I wouldn't get another kit until I finish one among the stack, but as they say, "promises are made to be broken" and-all-that-crap. I got another MG a couple of weeks after I took this pic, and just recently, I bought three more SDs to add to my ever-growing BB collection. What can I say, SD Gundams are such cutesy-pansy entities! I'll post the pic in the next few days. ^_^

Good thing Bandai is churning them kits out faster than I can buy them. ^_^

While I'm at it, I'm gonna push this thing as far as I can. The following are my must-buy kits (yes, I'm not finished buying, and yes, I can't help it) for this year:

1. Bandai's VF-25F Alto Saotome Valk (it's on top and you prolly know this by now)
2. MG Infinite Justice (I'm a Seed/Seed Destiny fan)
3. Bandai's VF-25S Ozma Lee's custom Valk (the Skull Squadron leader's ride, need I say more?)
4. GFF Gundam MKIII (this GFF is gorgeous)
5. NG 1/100 Astraea Type F
6. PG Strike, which I will AB as the Strike Rouge... I don't wanna shell out the extra moolah for the Sky Grasper/Aile Striker... the base model Strike is fine with me
7. some DC Direct figs in between kits

Let's see if I can cross out some of the items in this list before the year ends. =D

The next hotcake? MG Infinite Justice

Now I know why, Alto's VF-25F wasn't listed on online hobby shops on the day of its release. It was simply sold out. Yes! Sold out!

Hobby Link Japan, has it currently as a back-ordered item (out-of-stock).
Rainbow Ten has a notice on its website that the said kit is sold out.
Hobby Search's stocks are also out.

Bandai has struck a goldmine with the current Macross series.

There has been news that some people who pre-ordered the kit still haven't had the chance to lay their eyes upon their own VF-25F boxes... and those people include me. ^_^

Anyway, since my kit is yet to be delivered, let's talk about what could be the next Bandai hotcake -- the MG Infinite Justice.



If there's one thing I've noticed off-the-bat with these scans of Hobby Japan's pages, it is the color of the IJ. The kit featured surely looks painted so I guess Bandai went on a slightly (yeah, right) different tone for the predominantly pink MS. So I guess being anime-accurate in terms of colorway isn't the thing for this hotcake... which means I'm gonna compare its colors with my own translation from a few months back... once I get my hands on it.

The Seed/Seed Destiny MGs are slowly, but surely (I can't believe I'm using this cliche) realized.

By the way, the MS found on the lower right of the second page is the MG Strike Freedom Extra Finish Version.

You can click on the images for slightly larger scans.

Now, the question is -- could Athrun's MS do what Alto's Valk did? Can it sell out during its October release? I highly doubt it. Not even Shinn's MG Force Impulse was sold out in its first day. In that case, either Bandai made hundreds of thousands of MG Force Impulses or the VF-25 was just too hot... make that unbelievably sizzling!

Not bad for a geisha-portraying-actor-turned-SMS-pilot's customized ride, eh? ^_^

Images (published in Hobby Japan) were originally from Toys Daily.

The next MG, Strike Milking The Money Cow, or something...

While I was sleuthing for online traces of possibly purchasing Alto's VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie, I chanced upon Bandai-hobby.net's offerings for the month of September, 2008.

There were several interesting (for me, at least) releases for the current month, including the following:

1/100 V2 Gundam (1,575 yen)
1/100 V2 Assault (1,890 yen)
1/100 V2 Buster Gundam (1,890 yen)

I can't believe what I saw a few rows after the V2s...

MG Strike Extra Finish Ver. (10,500 yen)
MG Z Gundam Coating Version (4,200 yen)

Never mind the Z Gundam, Bandai's releasing another Strike! ^_^

Although the Strike Gundam, specifically the Rouge, is my uber-favorite (I told you I wouldn't get tired of saying it) mech, aren't the current variants enough already? I'm counting five on the current master grade roster:

Aile Strike Gundam


Strike Rouge


Strike Gundam + I.W.S.P.


Lukas's (sic) Strike E + I.W.S.P.


Launcher/Sword Strike Gundam


You'll need more than one hand now if you are gonna include the Strike Noir.


Now here comes the Strike Gundam Extra Finish Version. It sure looks like Bandai's got that milking-the-Exia-cow mode turned on pending the release of its MG Strike Freedom Extra Finish Version.

I'm willing to bet that there are no extra parts other than that of the original Strike (which will now be covered like candy). And what's with the price?!? 10,500 yen?!? That's 500 yen more than the candied-up MG Strike Freedom, which definitely has more parts than the MG Strike. Why don't they just make a better frame for the Strike so that it would have better articulation? Dang!

Make a MG Strike Ver. 1.5, or MG Strike Ver. Evolve, or something!

Or probably I'm just sulking 'coz I only have one of the six above... and with the addition of another one, my MG Strike percentage is going to drop further! LOL! ^_^

Seven hours before the 18th is over

It is slated for a September 18, 2008 release by its manufacturer, Bandai.
Hobby Link Japan marks it for a September release.
Rainbow Ten does not have it listed yet.
Hobby Search pegs it to be available by mid-September.

I'm talking about this one



Bandai's 1/72 VF-25F Alto Messiah Valkyrie.

As of this writing (16:42 September 18, 2008), the kit is not yet available for purchase in any of the online shops I've mentioned above.

Or maybe their online product administrators are not just fast enough. C'mon guys!!! ^_^

Images are from the Macross Frontier blog.

Poor man's Gunpla - Scribing panel lines

Something new comes up every single day... and now, I'm blogging even on weekends. I'm starting to like this blog thingie. It also helps if you've got a beer in hand and Doritos on the other... which I'm sharing with my pet Shih Tzu -- Sassy.

As I've said, something new comes up everyday. This afternoon, I tried my hand at scribing panel lines on my current work-in-progress, the MG Strike Rouge. I only have the faintest idea on how to go about the process. All I know is one needs a line scriber (which I don't have), thick adhesive tapes as guides (which I don't have), and some patience (oooh, I have lotsa those!) May the Gunpla gods have mercy on me on my first try.

I've got in my hand my first can of beer. San Miguel Beer Pale Pilsen to be exact.

I want my MG Strike Rouge to be a bit different from the other Strike Rouges that have been built. If you've been following my previous posts for some time, you would know by now why that is the case... and I would never tire of saying it -- Cagalli's MS is my favorite.

I am quite a brave chap... or probably a stupid one at that. I didn't practice scribing on trees/sprues/runners or spare parts... I'd have none of that. Instead, I went ahead and did it on my Rouge. If something goes wrong, there's always Tamiya putty. ^_^

On to the task at hand. First of all, I needed a plastic line scriber (which I don't have) for scribing the part -- a piece of armour on the Rouge's forearm. I used my X-acto knife for this purpose. I replaced the #11 blade with a spanking new one. My lack of a line scriber and the use of my X-acto knife makes it official -- this post should be a part of my "Poor man's Gunpla" collection.

Now I needed a thick adhesive tape. You know, those Dymo self-adhesive labeling tapes? The ones where you can emboss your name onto? Yes, the thick ones... and yes, I don't have 'em too... I just used Tamiya masking tapes today... although I will get those Dymo tapes soon.

I didn't have a hard time imagining the design of the extra panel lines. I looked into the perfect grade version of the Strike/Strike Rouge for inspiration. I've always adored the design of the PG Strikes, so that's where I started.

Step 1: Nothing special on the following image, I just used a pencil to outline the panel line I am going to scribe.


Step 2: I used Tamiya's masking tape as guides for the blades of my X-acto knife. Gingerly scribe lines on to the part using the back of the knife. There's no need to rush things now. It is better to run the blade tens of times over that part rather than use brute force. You're not trying gut the part you know. Think of yourself as a graceful, well, grave digger. ^_^ You need not remove 6 feet of earth all in one digging, right?


After scribing the guide lines, you can remove the tapes and proceed to deepen the panel lines. The tapes would just be a hindrance once you are in the stage of deepening the lines. If you find yourself making wayward lines, don't worry, we'll take care of that later.


Step 3: After digging the grave, err, scribing the line. Use a grit-800 sandpaper to clean up the new panel line and to remove the wayward strokes of your knife. In my case, I used 3M's Ultrafine sanding sponge for the job. Here's how it looked like after the clean-up. Not bad eh?


I'm now on my third can of beer... damn, I'm too slow tonight!

For a little comparison, the scribed part is on the left while the unscribed one is on the right.


For good measure and an attempt to be faithful to the Evolve design (even though in panel lines only), I added more panel lines to the armour.


That's it! I survived my first try at scribing panel lines! Now you know why I'm drinking! ^_^

The only downside to this is that it takes up sooooo much time! I think it took me a couple of hours (pardon the newbie, please) to scribe that piece of armour.

I'm now on my fourth beer and it's time to wrap up this thing.

It's gonna be a long road ahead for me and my Rouge... and we'll be there at the end.

The ladies of Series 8

I'm going out of my blog's way to pitch figures by the master himself, Alex Ross. Reportedly released by DC last August 20, 2008, the Justice Series 8 figures can be bought individually, or as a set.

This may get me in trouble with collectors posing as purists, but, I couldn't care less about Cap'n Cold and Toyman. I might as well buy a set and give those two with Y-chromosomes away.

Unless you've got a big "S" nor a flying rat emblazoned on your chest, I'm not interested... at least not at the moment.

Oooohkay, back to the ladies.

Thumbnails and smaller images just wouldn't do justice (Oops, unintentional pun) to the details in these two fine figures (Damn! Another pun!) So for argument's sake, I'm posting the original images as borrowed from DC Direct.



I fell in love with the two upon sight immediately! If I was a toddler who didn't have the moolah to buy them, I wouldn't stop crying my lungs out until my parents give in and get Kara and Barbara for me. I'm dead serious about that one! Really!

Just look at their faces... ok, their bodies too. They are two of the best (if not the best) sculpts I've seen in figures shorter than 7 inches. Japanese female toy figures are longer than 7 inches right? ^_^

Do I even need to say that Ms. Zor-el and Ms. Gordon are must-buys for me? I didn't think so.

BTW, click on the images above to go straight to DC Direct's pages.

Bry and Tessa (get well soon you two!), yes I'm blogging at 3 in the morning while listening to bossa nova versions of VST songs! Potah! ^_^

A snowball by Roy Fokker

Here's a little secret -- I have always been a fan of Macross. Ever since I saw the first episode of Macross/Robotech in local television back in the 80's, I was hooked. There I was, a kid so amazed at these fine machines that I couldn't wait for the next episode to be shown. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the entire series. For one reason or another (I was probably out, playing in the streets), I just wasn't able to witness what had happened.

In fact, I was only able to watch the entire series a little more than six months ago. Seeing the Valks turn into Gerwalks and Battroids again was just like a dream. As far as I'm concerned, I can only describe the fact of finally being able to finish the series in one word -- snowball. A snowball rolling down from an imaginary mountain with unfathomable height.

I would like to thank Roy Fokker for that snowball. Sure there was Rick (Hunter), his protege... and who could forget Max, who is perhaps the most skilled person ever to sit on a VF (Alto-kun's quickly gaining ground on this one). But Roy... he was a bad-a$$! The poor bastard died and fell a few episodes too short, I know. But you've gotta admit -- he's DA MAN!!!

His VFs? The VF-xS? Second to none. Equal only to Roy. The Skull. Jolly Rogers. The Tomcat lineage. Perfect. The VF-1S is wicked... but the VF-0S he used in 'Zero is my all-time fave Valk... and I don't need a particular reason to explain why. It just is.

It's his VF that started my snowball. Thanks to the VF-1S, I am now into Gundams too, as you may know very well by now... and pretty soon, hopefully, I'll be showing some DC Direct figures. That frikkin' snowball's starting to burn holes in my pockets! ^_^

Aaaaaanyway, I made the image composite above as, well, sort of an homage to the Skull squadron leader. I took a pic of my Revoltech VF-1S and laid it on top of a coupl'a images -- a CGI planet and one of Hubble's pics. Boy, was I surprised by the reaction it got (and is still getting) on Flickr. I never knew so many people were/are Macross junkies! Robotech forever! ^_^

With the advent of Alto's VF-25 (soon to be released by Bandai on the 18th of the current month, September), I just found it fitting to share the image with you guys. And yes, you can click on it for a slightly larger image. :)

Have a great weekend ahead! :)

Good or bad

A friend of mine, Bryant, sent some interesting links when one wants to gauge his/her blog.

First up, the blog readability test which determines the level of education that is required to understand one's blog.

I guess I should treat the result above as a compliment, right? After all, one doesn't need a high SAT score to understand pretty much what I'm talking about. This makes me wonder -- if I include words such as kittens, playground, cereals, flowers, dolls, or even diapers in my keywords, would the result be "Elementary School" or even "Day care?"

Another test... the film rating test. Here's what my blog got

According to the script, this rating was determined based on the presence of the following words on my blog: shoot (26x), crappy (10x), and gun (2x).
This test almost made me fall off my comfy chair here at the office (yes, I'm blogging at the office right now.)

I'm blogging mostly about Japanese mechas whose primary function is to cut each other's guts out... what do you expect? You figure it out. It's a good thing Blogspot wasn't the airport or else I'd be held by the guards (like some hopelessly dumb actors who mention the word "bomb" in the checking area.) ^_^

Finally, the Cuss-o-meter.

3.3 percent?!? Perhaps I should be more like Al Pacino and do a Tony Montana from this point on... or say expletives like Beavis and Butthead. ^_^

I think it would be better if they listed the cuss words that I've used.

Try 'em quizzes out. They're like a box of chocolates -- you'll never know what you're gonna get and all that shit. Oops, I think my cuss-o-meter just went up a notch.

By the way, if you know of other blog gauges, meters, or grading widgets, kindly let me know. :)

Behind the scenes - SD Strike Rouge

Remember my WIP - SD Strike Rouge? Here's a bit of background into it.

If you have read the post, my SD Strike Rouge is actually BB # 259 Strike Gundam Striker Weapons System. So it is basically a Strike with a colorway to match that of the Rouge's. Bandai has yet to release the Strike Rouge in SD form. :(

I build the SDs for my fiancee in between my WIPs of 1/100s. I need to break the monotony of building and painting bigger kits... or else I think I'd go insane. In fact, I sometimes pay more attention to these little cutesies than my 1/100s! ^_^

Anyway, here's the snap-built Strike... complete with un-nibbed gates and all --


Here's another angle with the gates more prominent.


After a few minutes of gate-nibbing and sanding, here's how he looked like --





I really love to pose Gundam kits this way -- looking mean with some attitude. ^_^


Strike Gundam to Strike Rouge? Heck yeah! As posted before --


I've always been vocal that the Strike Rouge is my favorite Gundam and I treat this SD version without any difference. In my drive to achieve the best look I probably can for it, I have painted it twice, stripped its paint once, and I'm guessing that I will strip its paint again until I get the look I want.

Working with SD kits can be a labor of love (What the?!? Where'd that come from?!?). I mean the masking process involved with SDs are really tedious. The torso, the shoulders, the legs, the feet... they all come in a single piece! Just take a look at the shield... it involves three different colors! Proper masking (with lotsa patience) is really the trick with these guys if you want to make it look like the ones in the side of its box. I don't even want to start yakking about the panel lines. ^_^

This WIP has been put on hold right now (I'm currently working on its big sister -- the MG Strike Rouge), and I would probably forego in painting the Aile Striker and Sky Grasper. I can't begin to imagine the hours required to mask and paint the two. ^_^

Come to think of it, I'd probably paint the SD simultaneously with the MG so they'd get matching colors. :)

White beast

I finally came out of my lazy stupor to realize the long overdue photo shoot of my RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. I was afraid that Red might overtake it (posterity-wise) if I wasn't going to do something about it.

Again, I set-up my ultra-quick-30-minute-DIY-crappy-studio in just 35 minutes! Can you imagine that?!? I patted myself on the back a couple of times thereafter. ^_^

As you may already know, the Unicorn Gundam has two modes -- the Unicorn mode, as shown in the following photos, and the Destroy mode... which will not be seen anywhere in this site. I find the Unicorn mode more menacing than the Destroy. The Destroy mode is more like a sea creature who changes its colors (and size) just to scare away predators... while the Unicorn mode is all business. It has an air of class and refinement while retaining the "... mess with me, and I'll shove your head so far up into your ass, that you'll see your own throat" attitude. So there... no Destroy mode for this white beast. Unless, I get a couple of those Unicorn gattling guns that are so damn hard to find!

Before you flame me and say "Awwww, the Destroy mode can whup the Unicorn mode's butt anytime!"... don't even start. This is my blog and I can say what I want. If you want to rant about what I said above, rant in your own blog. Just kidding! You can speak your mind via the CBox over to the right... just below the Blobs and just above the flag counting thingie.

But I will tell you this -- once I get my hands on two of those Unicorn gattling guns, I will get another RX-0 kit for the Destroy mode.


I changed the paint scheme a teensy-weensy bit. Where? Don't ask me... I won't tell. ^_^


The "ankle" issue regarding the Unicorn is true. It does have weak ankles, so I did a lot of re-posing to the legs in between shoots. It's quite understandable though... since the RX-0's ankles got tons of parts.


If you're not careful in posing your Uni, it will lose its balance and fall flat on its face. Trust me. It will. Get an action base or something if you want to permanently display it in one of your cabs.


The Unicorn sure looks waaaaay cool if you're going to slap on all of its weapons... and to think that my Unicorn doesn't have its beam sabers out yet. ^_^


Notice the sharp horn? I'll post a tutorial later on how I did it... easily... in less than 5 minutes. Did I tell you to get an action base so as not to break the horn? Get one. Now.


Even the Unicorn must have a shield for protection. Whatta wuss ^_^


Ready to rock and roll.


Destroy mode what?!?


After around two hours of posing it and shooting, I tidied things up and grabbed some beer... Oktoberfest has already started in the Philippines, ya'know! SMB!!! Inuman na!!!

By the way, the images are hosted on Flickr, so click on 'em for slightly bigger pics. :)

Kit: from Greattoys in Shoppesville, Greenhills
Paint: Tamiya Enamel.