Serotonia

So my current-most-favorite-band-of-all (Highly Suspect), has released a new music video for a song they wrote about moving from Brooklyn to California, and how their lives have changed with their new success. Thing is, I've heard this song before. They played it at Aftershock last year, and I wasn't sure if they were actually going to release it. Needless to say, I'm excited they did. Give it a listen.

Most Wanted #10: OZ-12SMS Taurus

So, I know, it's not nearly as cool as the Rozen Zulu or the Hambrabi, or even the Bolinoak Sammahn. But damn it I need a grunt mobile suit for all of my Gundam Wing kits to beat up on. I had considered the Virgo mobile doll unit, but ultimately settled on the Taurus as just being a cooler mobile suit to make into a model kit.

The Taurus was developed by OZ to take over space combat duties for the aging Leo space combat variant. When OZ successfully set their coup d'etat in motion against the Earth Sphere Alliance, the Taurus easily won them control of space with its impressive speed and maneuverability.

There are some good reasons why this would make a great 1/100 scale kit. It's transformable, which is always a great gimmick to include (even though I'm typically not fond of the idea). It's got a great, unique silhouette. It has several options for re-colors (OZ black, Sanc Kingdom white, and White Fang brown). And it comes from one of the most popular gundam series, especially internationally. These all serve as reasons to include the Taurus on this list over the Leo. The only drawback to the Taurus, especially when compared to the Leo, is its lack of armaments. The Taurus comes standard with a beam rifle. Optionally, it can wield a two-handed beam cannon, and the Sanc Kingdom variant also includes a beam saber or two.

 I've always been a fan of this mobile suit, and it's unfortunate both that there isn't a kit out there for it already, and that I don't really have much more to say about it.

Most Wanted: Honorable Mentions

I've been thinking about what gundam model kits could be released in the MG scale which would most quickly part me with my hard-earned money, and I think I've got my entire top-10. But before I start handing out those awards, here's the best of the rest: why I want them, why they would make great kits, and why they (probably) won't happen. Also, take note that I tend to favor the Universal Century Timeline and Gundam Wing over many of the more recent series. I don't care at all for Gundam G-Fighter, nor Build Fighters (the show was fine, but I'd rather have original kits than fake kit-bashed kits).

OZ-06MS Leo

Robot Damashii

I've always loved grunt suits and the Leo is one of the first mobile suits I ever saw, so there's definitely some nostalgia. To me it is the perfect mass-produced mobile suit: it still looks particularly gundam-brand, but totally lacking in any of the flourishes that so often make you wonder whether a military would invest in that type of artistic design. This is a no-nonsense suit and would make a fantastic master grade. The reasons it would make a great kit? 1. It should be supremely posable. Not alot of bulky or high-designer armor to interfere with movement. 2. There's a lot of room for re-colors: the original olive green, the desert brown/tan, the space purple, etc. and 3. You could make it a really cheap kit with lots of accessories. If you could pack it with the shield, dober gun, machine gun, bazooka, space pack, beam sabers, etc. Or, you could sell separate accessory packs for it. It would probably make for a fun kit to kit bash with. Also, give it room for an LED. Plus, Bandai has already made it in HG and Robot Damashii form, to some pretty impressive and fun results. If they managed to put it in the $35-45 range, I'd probably get multiples. But that doesn't overtake the main reason this kit won't be put into production: there's probably just not much demand for it.



PMX-002 Bolinoak Sammahn

Robot Damashii

Paptimus Scirocco sure had an interesting imagination when it came to designing unique mobile suits. This was his second design and it's a fun and unique looking weapon. It's from my personal favorite and probably overall best gundam series in Z Gundam. This suit holds true to the style of the gundam universe while looking nothing like an actual gundam. The green would help it stand out on the shelf (I would certainly go with an otherwise obnoxiously bright lime-ish green). It's got great details all over it, and I really think that the pincer would be a big draw. The recent master grade of the Turn-X gives me hope that there might be some willingness to make a kit like this, but I just don't know that there'd be enough demand to make it worthwhile for Bandai.


RX-110 Gabthley

 

HG 1/144

Another Scirocco designed suit, I was never that impressed by it visually in the series itself, but the Gabthley always cuts an impressive figure in lineart and smaller-scale models. I love the brown, green and gold, and I love the shape of the legs on this thing. While I'm not big on transformations, it seems that most others like that type of gimmick, and this one has some interesting transforming abilities. The head has an awesome Y-shaped visor that will definitely help it stand out among other kits. Plus there's the opportunity for variation in the Hugin/Munin forms (love the Norse reference). But, alas, again there's probably not enough interest in the fan base to justify producing a master grade of this particular kit.


RX-139 Hambrabi

HGUC 1/144

These weren't meant to all be from Z Gundam, I promise. But the Hambrabi has been a significant member of the gundam lineup for a long time and I'm amazed that it hasn't made MG yet. The Hambrabi, and more notably pilot Yazan Gable, shot down several key mobile suits/members of the AUEG including Reccoa Londe in the Methuss, Katz Kobayashi in the G-Defenser, and Emma Sheen after she left the Gundam Mk. II. Yazan Also destroyed the battleship Radish. This suit may be more responsible for character deaths than any other mobile suit in a full series. It also has one of the cooler looking transformations, basically turning into a stingray. It's got a unique silhouette and some fun weapons. And it's probably got a decent amount of fan recognition even in the US after appearances in Gundam Build Fighters and Dynasty Warrior Gundam. This really should be a Master Grade right now, and probably belongs by all rights in my top-10 list (I've just still got a grudge over the Emma Sheen thing...).


YAMS-132 Rozen Zulu

 

HGUC 1/144

So here's the most recent design to make it onto my list of honorable mentions, and to be honest this probably should knock another one of my top-10 down into the honorable mentions, except I foresee an issue with this kit in MG form: It looks like it would be incredibly top-heavy and therefore lack posability without an action base (those dainty-looking legs...). That said, it is a truly awesome design and I love the purple/magenta/black/gold color scheme on this thing. The HGUC version really makes use of its interesting weapon payout and it would be even cooler to see in MG form (again, assuming we can compensate for what I imagine would be some weight issues). The only possible issue is that Unicorn Gundam is still not incredibly well known in the US, and this suit plays a fairly minor role in the OVA. Either way, Bandai, please make it happen. It'll look fantastic on the shelf with my Sinanju and my Sazabi.


MS-08TX/S Efreet Schneid

 

Custom built 1/144 (LINK)

I have to admit, between the time I put this on my list and the time I wrote up this post, Bandai announced a RE/100 version of the Efreet, so I feel like this particular kit could be seeing a 1/100 build pretty soon. This suit from the Unicorn OVA is much cooler than the original (and quite obscure) Efreet, and made a pretty badass impression -- a lot like the Gouf custom in 08th MS Team (which is fitting because that's the kit people are using to custom build this guy). The suit was developed during the One Year War, but never went into full production. This particular suit was passed down and continually upgraded until it could play a role in the Zeon Remnant raid on Torrington Base in Unicorn Gundam. This guy would be a great addition to any shelf, but we have yet to even get an official 1/144 scale, so it feels like a RE/MG version is probably a ways off.


YMS-16M Xamel

Custom built 1/144 with Zaku I

 This particular mobile suit appeared in only one episode (maybe two?) of 0083: Stardust memory, but boy did it make a visual impression. Its a hovercraft artillery piece, and it is giant. This will probably never get a MG (or even an HG based on its limited screen time -- it did apparently appear again in Build Fighters Try), but it would dominate pretty much any display. Perhaps it could be made as a RE/100? It couldn't be much different in size than the Nightingale.

MG GP02A "Physalis"

So this is one of my older kits. It's the RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis," which is a mouthful to be sure. While this suit was basically the villain of the mini-series 0083: Stardust Memory, it was truly the star of the show. It is, to be sure, one of my favorite gundam designs of all time.

This mobile suit was stolen from the Federation by Anavel "The Nightmare of Solomon" Gato. He targeted this particular suit because it was armed with a nuclear warhead, fired via a giant bazooka (because of course it is). It also includes a giant shield.

This kit definitely shows its age. It has definite faults and lacks posability, in part because of its bulkiness. The rocket binders quickly begin to sag under their own weight if you try to display it in flight mode. It cannot actually hold its shield, but rather needs to just lean the shield up against it.

As far as positives go, it looks absolutely awesome. The head is unique and well executed. The bazooka is large and impressive compared to many other suits bazookas, yet folds neatly away in two parts, one stored within the shield. The shoulder binders have a great system to keep all of the thrusters aligned.

I know its not one of the most popular suits, but I really hope that someday we'll get a re-design of this model.

New Arrivals and Works in Progress

So after Christmas I decided (with some prodding from certain friends and family members) to pick up a kit and paint the whole thing myself. I ultimately decided to go with one of the big ver. ka's, and picked up the Full Armor Unicorn Gundam. I did this for several reasons, one being that the suit was totally white and would allow me to recolor it without any kind of bias toward a certain color scheme. The other reason being all the awesome weapons and accessories.

Well, while building and painting the kit (which has been extremely slow going due to weather), I started to feel slightly distressed about my decision to paint it. I'm not a very good painter, and I also started to think it would have been nice to have the Unicorn in its original white colors.

So I started thinking about what to do about this feeling that kept creeping into my head every time I thought about working on the kit. Should I buy a bunch of paint stripper and try to undo all the work I've already done? No, I do still actually like the color scheme I've started. Plus it would be an expensive way for me to admit outright failure -- if I could even get all of the paint off. So I started thinking of buying just a basic Unicorn gundam and having one in blue and one in white. I started shopping around, and found that they only come that way with the red psycho frame, which I like better than the green, but I wanted to make the shields swappable between the suits. So do I start stripping the paint off of the psycho-frame parts and try to swap those out? I may still do that, but there's about half of them already painted and assembled.

So I started shopping online for an alternate Unicorn and I think I found my best possible solution. I found that some people were still carrying the HD Color + MS Cage variation of the Unicorn, and for cheaper than the original price. I plopped down an extra $70 bucks on it, to go with the $80 FAUG, and the probably $60 worth of paint. But here's where I start to feel like everything is worth it...

Now I have 2 different versions of the suit and pretty much every possible accessory for it. The new kit comes with the MS Cage, which is probably the coolest hangar display stand ever created in the 1/100 scale. And with the old kit I get a plethora of weapons including 2 beam halberds, six gatling guns, and two bazookas, among others. Also with the old kit, I have a base-jabber, which is basically a transport vehicle for the gundam. So all-in-all, I can now recreate any scene I want from the OVA.

It still remains to be seen whether I try to swap out the psycho frames, but I'm leaning away from it at the moment. I really love the red-frame, and I'm starting to feel that the green on the shields won't clash too badly with it. We'll see what happens upon completion.

Black Series Commander Cody

Since the release of the Force Awakens product lineup, I've finally bit the bullet and started collecting the Black Series of Star Wars figures. The first wave since I've started has been all characters related to Episode VII, but when I was shopping Amazon for an unrelated item, I decided to see what was affordable. I had been looking for a Darth Vader, Darth Maul, or Boba Fett, but predictably, they were all far too expensive. I did, however, find a Clone Commander Cody figure. So I plopped down the money for him.

Commander Cody appeared in Episode III, fighting alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi on Utapau before receiving Order 66 and turning on the Jedi. His story was further fleshed out in the Clone Wars animated series, where he became a recurring character.

Eyes Set to Kill

We were talking about concerts at work the other night which led me to think back to an interesting summer in which we saw that band Eyes Set to Kill four times. The first time was at Warped Tour down in the Bay Area. We saw their set and then found out that they were doing a signing. We were among the first in line, but noticed that the line kept growing. As they were signing for us, we asked if we could get a picture with the band when they were done signing. We didn't really have anyone else we wanted to see for a few hours, so we figured we could wait. The line kept on growing and the band members asked several times if we wanted to cut back in and take our photo, but we told them we didn't want to hold up the line. After about an hour and a half, one of the (now former) singers, Cisko, walked up to us. "I'm tired of signing, and you guys seem pretty cool," so we talked for about 40 minutes before finally getting our picture.

After that we saw them at another Warped Tour stop, and twice in small clubs in the Sacramento area. For each show, we made sure we fought our way up to the front. And at each one of those shows, Cisko managed to do a stage dive right near us. I got kicked in the head by Cisko at three consecutive shows.

MG Zaku II F2 Zeon Colors

The Zaku II is the original bad guy mobile suit, and is actually the first mobile suit ever shown in a Gundam series. This particular version comes not from the original One Year War timeline, but the 0083: Star Dust Memory OVA. In this series, the Zakus are pretty much obsolete and we see some of them being used as training suits for new federation pilots, which is why we have to stipulate that this is the Zeon version of the suit.

This particular version of the Zaku is designated as the MS-06F-2 Zaku II, a late production model of the backbone of the Zeon forces. It included an upgraded reactor and thicker, yet lighter, armor which allowed for more energy efficiency. This made the suit more maneuverable and allowed it a longer operational window.

When I bought this kit, it was a tough decision for me. I remember talking it over with my roommate and debating which of the many variations of Zaku II model I would get. The particular drawbacks of this model being that it lacked two of the most iconic weapons of the Zaku line of mobile suits: the original Zaku machine gun and the "heat-hawk" axe. Eventually this kit won out because it was one of the more recent releases at the time (2002), and because of its large payout of other weapons. This kit includes a Zaku SMG, a bazooka, a sturmfaust RPG, and two leg mounted missile pods. It also helped ease the pain that I eventually got a zaku machine gun from another kit.

This kit is unspectacular, which is to be expected from a Zaku. It looks beautiful in its way, and every contour of the armor is entirely perfect. It's very stable, but is old enough that it doesn't feature many of the more flexible joints which have since become standard. For example, the shoulder joints pivot up, but can't really pivot forward or backward to help flexibility. He's plenty posable for most ground poses, and really, that's all I want him for.

I guess one of these days I'll pick up a 2.0 Zaku II in Char's colors or perhaps a Johnny Ridden or Shinn Matsunaga, but until then, I am perfectly happy with my F2.