Yesterday a video tape, now a DVD

Watching the new version of Hunter x Hunter anime series (which has been airing since October 2011) often makes me want to rewatch parts of the first anime series from 1999 for comparison. Seeing Wing-san holding what appears to be a DVD (or even a Blu-ray disc) in 2012 then him holding a video tape back in 1999 reminds me how much things have changed these days, even from these little details.

I remember watching the first anime series of Hunter x Hunter back in 1999, and while it didn't feel that long ago in my memories, it in fact has been more than 10 years ago already.

Time sure flies, and technology is a clear tell-tale sign of how much things have changed over the years, as they are some of the distinctive aspects that move on the most. Sometimes I wonder, if we are to look back at today's anime in, say, 10 or 20 years' time, will we find a lot of objects or aspects a little odd or out of place?

That's something interesting to think about there. Read More!

False Gundam News

False news. We get these now and then, even on Gundam-related ones. Some are more convincing than others, and here are a few I remember that got circulated around before in the past. Let's see how many you've seen them before!


HG 1/144 Alvaaron, the "Gold GM" that appears at the end of Gundam 00 Season 1.

Gotta say that this image fooled a lot of people back in the days. While a HG model did not materialise at the end, there is an action figure from Robot Damashii, which has similar size to that of an HG model.


HGUC 1/144 Messala from Gundam Zeta

Here is a comment from Ngee Khiong quoted from his old blog:

See the price? It says 2,400 Yen without tax and 2,448 Yen inclusive of tax. But it should be 2,520 Yen instead. Bandai would never make that kind of mistake, when it comes to pricing. ^^;

Also, the image was later found out to be based on a scratch built model.


MG Gundam X, of which the image actually uses the exact format as that of MG GN-X's when it was first announced ^^;


1/1 Gundam statue in Shizuoka, which "suppoedly" collapsed after the earthquake in March 2011. Due to the widespread destruction the earthquake and the consequent tsunami caused to the east coast of Japan, a lot of people really believed that the Gundam statue collapsed. The image was actually based on an older picture where the Gundam was still under construction in Odaiba back in 2009.


Oh, and has anyone heard of this "Gundam SEED Fortune", which was "supposedly" the third season of Gundam SEED that takes place 5 years after Gundam SEED Destiny? It caused quite a stir back in 2006. And I wonder whether the movie sequel will actually take place in the future?


I am sure that there are more such news that may trick us in the future. What if you see one and think it's a little suspicious? Look around on the Internet and possibly those on more reliable sources. I personally go to sites such as 早耳ガンプラ情報局, CYBERGUNDAM, and GUNDAM GUY for information, though there are more that you can rely on I'm sure. If there are a lot of pictorial evidences or that a lot of people are talking about it in certainty, then you may be heading for the right direction, otherwise take a pinch of salt and observe carefully!
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1/6 WWII Diorama Photos

Kampfgruppe Von Abt is a modelling group dedicated to building 1/6th scale military models and taking diorama pictures with them. The use of action figures of such scale, along with the great number of props and vehicles scratch built for the dioramas is really quite breathtaking!




























Behind the scenes - the village buildings were really built from scratch to replicate the scenes as if it were in a war movie!


The group also managed to make a 1/6 scale of the Dora railway gun, and look at the size of it compared to a man!


And here's one in a diorama shot.


As someone into WWII weaponry, I really love these diorama photos. Not only that the use of soldiers and props make things look very atmosphere, but the way the photos are blurred deliberately in some of the photos gives the sense of that the pictures were taken at that time period, or as if it's in a war movie.


Do check out more of their photos galleries here, along with their 1/30 scale dioramas in a separate section!

All pictures are from Kampfgruppe Von Abt modelling group
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New Gunpla in 51st Shizuoka Hobby Show

New Gunpla kits have been announced at Bandais' booth from 51st Shizuoka Hobby Show last weekend!


MG 1/100 Buster Gundam, September release, 4200 Yen


MG 1/100 Gundam AGE-2 Normal, August release, 4410 Yen



Models of what appears to be Warlock and Snow White (yes that's its name) from Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop novel, based on this particular illustration. New MG project is currently being planned for this year.


HG 1/144 Gundam AGE-3 Orbital, August release, 1890 Yen


HG 1/144 Dark Hound, July release, 1575 Yen


HG 1/144 G-EXES Jackedge, July release, 1260 Yen



HGUC 1/144 Hambrabi, August release, 1785 Yen


And more of those that have been announced earlier but now in colour:



HGUC 1/144 ReZEL C Type (Defenser B-Unit, General Revil deployment unit), June release, 2730 Yen


HGUC 1/144 Zaku Mariner, July release, 1470 Yen


HGUC 1/144 Base Jabber, July release, 1050 Yen


A relatively new side line, called Builders Parts (ビルダーズパーツ), will have a lot of model support parts such as hands, verniers, and effect parts for both 1/100 and 1/144 scale Gunpla


This year's stuff don't seem to give as much of a "wow" feeling compared to last year's. Even though they have already been anticipated in the first place, AGE-2 Normal and Buster will be something for fans to look forward to along with MG Marasai that is to be released soon. Now with MG Buster reaveled, only MG Aegis is left that has not been announced yet from the first 5 Gundams in Gundam SEED, though this will probably use a very different frame from Strike's, which is also adopted by Duel and most likely Buster too.

Personally I think that the nicest surprise would be Hambrabi, of which the only other model form it appeared before was one released back in 1994. The rumours of Byarlant Custom & Aqua didn't happen though, of which I won't mind getting either of them.

There are not so many grunt units announced compared to last year's event, which was I was quite excited for. The new Gundam AGE Gunplas and MS designs aren't bad looking though, especially those from Visidian space pirates which are to make appearance in the next episode this coming Sunday.

The Builders Parts seem to be very similar to WAVE's modelling support parts. The effect parts does grab some of my interest though. While I'm not so sure how many I'm interested in this year's event, maybe things will become more certain as more info is released and that more Gunpla is announced in the future months. :o

Images from Gundam.info & GA Graphic
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Cosmo Fleet Collection Gundam Act 7

Cosmo Fleet Collection Gundam Act is a series of spaceships shokugan collecibles that are featured in various series of Gundam. While the last set I blogged about (Act 6) covers ships from late Universal Century, Act 7 covers ships from Gundam 0083 OVA.


Just the all previos sets, a whole set comes in 5 boxes. As the outer box is mostly for shops to display the boxes, the lid can be folded back and become a label of some sort.


Act 7 is half a re-release as some of the ships such as Albion and Birmingham appeared in Act 2. Unlke Act 6, these earlier shokugans have parts (mostly turrets) that you have to cut off from runners and stick them on the ships.


The first one is (one of the) main cast Albion and Gundam GP01 "Zephyranthes". The two are not in the same scale.


Gundam GP01 "Zephyranthes" with a bent shield. -_-; In Act 2 set the Albion is accompanied with the "upgraded" version Full Vernier, which is suited for space combat, while this particular version in Act 7 is an "ungraded" version originally for ground combat on Earth.


The Albion itself. The "wings" are a bit fragile, and one of them was already half broken when I opened the box. Luckily it could be fixed with some modelling glue and a bit of patience.


Next is Birmingham and Gundam GP02 "Physalis".


Gundam GP02 "Physalis". The big atomic bazooka can be clearly seen.


Birmingham capital ship. It looks a bit plain, but all double-barrel turrets can be turned.


Moving on to the grunt ship Salamis Modified (aka Salamis Kai) accompanied by a grunt unit GM Kai.


GM Kai. It's a GM alright.


Salamis Modified. Out of this whole set I personally like the details on this ship the most. The little launchers and turrets are very small and not easy to plug in though.


Now we're onto Zeon ships. The 4th ship is Lili Marleen of Zanzibar II-class along with Cima's Gelgoog Marine, whom its pilot is the leader of the ship and the Zeon Marines-turned space pirates.


Cima's Gelgoog Marine. Simple, but recognisable.


Lili Marleen. It's rather simple looking with two movable turrets.


And the last ship is Peer Gynt of Musai-class with a Zaku II F2. Alternately you may get a reddish-brown tinted version of this (called Nibelung) with a Gelgoog Marine instead of this green version with Zaku.


The Zaku II F2.


The Peer Gynt. The main turrets can be turned, but are rather stiff compared to the Federation ships.


With a small fleet of ships available, it is possible to reenact one of the most memorable scenes in Gundam 0083, the nuking of Federation ships (the blue ones are Magellans from older sets) by GP02:


"ソロモンよ！ 私は帰ってきた！！！"
"Solomon! I have returned!!!"


Finally, the bonus item in this set is GP03 "Dendrobium", which consists of 5 parts scattered in each of the 5 boxes, which means normally you need to buy a whole set in order to build the GP03. As a scale on how big this thing is supposed to be, the tiny blue bit in the middle is the chest of GP03 Gundam "Stamen" itself.


GP03 next to Albion. I think they are *roughly* in the same scale so this is an interesting comparison of the sizes between the crazy mobile fortress and a spaceship.


Unlike the previous set I mentioned, the ships in Act 7, especially those of the Federation, reqiure a bit of assembly in parts. The parts are rather small so care is needed to cut them out and plug them into the holes.

This set Cosmo Fleet Collection Gundam Act 7 covers a good deal of ships that appear in Gundam 0083. Like most of the previous sets the details of the ships are not too bad, while the quality of hte accompanying MS is, well, not acceptable for everybody. Overall it's nice as something to display on a desk due to its small size, and if you really are up for it, you can even consider making a small fleet of them XD
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