Got a couple of HGUC 1/144 Dra-C recently. These guys will be my latest addition of my grunt units after Jestas and Dreissens of the Gundam franchise.
Dra-C art by raybar on pixiv
Dra-C is a bit of an odd hybrid between an MS and an MA, with the upper body made out of Zaku F2 and the lower body constructed from Gattle fighter-bomber parts.
The Dra-C, which was produced after the One Year War and had mainly participated in Delaz Conflict (i.e. Gundam 0083) as well as other conflicts in smaller numbers such as Haman Karn's forces (as seen in movie version of Zeta Gundam), represents an interim solution of some sort for keeping Zeon remnant forces equipped well enough as an effective fighting force, using spare parts and salvaged from other damaged or obsolete units in order to make a new one.
I bought 2 Dra-Cs rather than 3 due to two reasons: One is the increasing prices of pretty much everything these days so I am conserving a bit of money for my other purchases this coming month (one will be mentioned below, while the other would be the figma Racing Miku 2011). The other reason is that the incompletness will also represent the ragtag nature of remnant forces whose equipment tend to be incomplete or some sort of compromise. I may think of getting a Zeon Zaku F2 to complement them though (I do have an EFSF version to go with my GM Kais).
Unfortunately I'm still waiting for my replacement parts for my GM III to come, which is taking a long time to come from Japan. Once they have arrived (hopefully this month) I can resume progress on them after months of hiatus for these guys.
On the other hand, should I be away or not active in blogging this coming month this would probably be the reason:
Gundam Extreme Vs will be out on 1st December. So if I am not shooting down planes on Assault Horizon, then I'd be blowing up some MS on this instead.
However, a scan from recent Famitsu magazine shows downloadable contents (DLCs) for Gundam Extreme Vs. In the image The-O, Gottrlatan, Freedom, and Arche Gundam are hinted to be some of the DLC units. I guess DLCs are now something that is a bit hard to avoid these days, but that's the way it is. I just hope they won't be too expensive for me to consider unlike those in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, where the prices really put me off (480 Yen for an alternate aircraft skin and at least 720 Yen for a new playable aircraft).
Got a lot to do this December. I hope I have the time to get around them all!
The Dra-C looks like a weird MS, but considering it's background I guess that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThat art looks so real. Interesting get, and I know exactly what you mean about games with DLC these days. Just be glad you're not paying Busou Shinki Battle Masters prices (600 for a girl and 1400 for their gear, I think, haven't looked in a while)
ReplyDeleteHmmm... Dra-C kinda look like Neue Ziel but of course got that big ballish shoulders. Really interesting design. A bit too big shoulders though, otherwise I'd be really interested, but it's a good thing because I got a lot of gunpla to make >.>
ReplyDeleteSomeone tried to tempt me to get Gundam VS Extreme, but I got a few I haven't played, so it didn't work on me XD
I haven't played Assault Horizon for a while haha. Community still going strong?
ReplyDeleteThe Dra-C is the Zeon remnant's "solution" in building their fighting force to a "considerable" standard with lacking of important resources. As it is a leg-less unit, the joint for the stand is some-what advanced compare to ANY HGUC kits. Some might even bought the kit just to get the gattling gun. XD
ReplyDeleteMe, I give it a miss.
As of the game, I'll stick to my FreeSpace 2 SCP. =)
@ Nopy:
ReplyDeleteDra-C is definitely unusual for an MS design in Gundam franchise as it was more like a hybrid between an MS and MA and has no proper legs. The background info behind it sounds pretty convincing, which is something what I like about the "real robot" part of Gundam.
@ Persocom:
Hm Shinkis don't sound very cheap either hearing from what you've said there. I have recently read that the DLC of The iDOLM@STER 2 was pretty steep too. The monthly DLC packs (which include clothes, accessories, songs etc) for PS3 were roughly 10k Yen each!
@ Lightning Sabre:
Dra-C does have some resemblance to the Neue Ziel of the same series. The shoulders do look a little oversized, though it looks like that can be substituted with ordinary Zaku shoulders which will be an interesting idea.
I still have a lot of backlog items to clear, be it gunpla, games, or anime. Ah free time isn't easy to come by though ^^;
@ Tom:
As far as I know there are still a good number of people playing on Capital Conquest, but other modes are relatively scarce in players. I still play co-op from time to time, but even that suffers from a lack of players too. :\
@ bd77:
Dra-C is a bit of a weird one. I ended up getting it because of the unusual design and the concept behind it. I can see the beam gattling gun being an attraction for the kit; the instructional manual even suggests arming a Zaku F2 with it XD
Oh FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project... The game really reminds me of Homeworld 2, but older. The fact that it is mod friendly sounds like something I should try one day... Hopefully once I clear some of the other games in my backlog ^^;