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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Sakura viewing nendoroid Miku

This is not news exactly, and it's slightly out of season too since it's now no longer the sakura (cherry blossom) viewing period, but Mikatan of Good Smile Company has a nendoroid Sakura Miku viewing real sakura as a teaser of some sort last month, and I found that I can't be kept silent about it forever. :P


Front


Back


Concept art of Sakura Miku


Sakura Miku next to real sakura


Similar to Snow Miku, Sakura Miku's twin tails will have some sort of two-colour gradation


A cherry butterfly knot is attached at the back of the shirt


Sakura flowers replace the standard earphones for Miku


Sakura Miku doing hanami (花見, literally "flower viewing)

No release date or price have been announced yet, so we are still left in the dark as for how this nendoroid Sakura Miku will be released. Hopefully it's not a limited one like its puchi (mini) version, which was concert limited only.

I am forseeing this version to appear soon or later. While I like the colour scheme of Snow Miku a little bit more, this pink seasonal Miku fits the theme of sakura pretty well too. Yes I am a bit of a sucker for Miku's design(s), though not as much as some other fans (you know who you are!).

Funny how before this is announced bootleg version is already spotted in various packages. I saw this in a local stationery shop near my friend's home as early as Chinese New Year this year ^^;;;


Pictures are from Mikatan's blog
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Gundam OYW Gallery 3

After looking through some of the pictures in my old laptop, I noticed that it's been more than 2 years since I've shared out the One Year War-related art from Unverisal Century of Gundam universe.

We had Zeon MS in triumph in the last one, so it's the Federation's turn this time!

Note: All images belong to their respectful artists.









And finally a showdown picture to close this post:


Hope you enjoy the gallery this time!

Previous Gallery:

Gundam OYW Gallery

Gundam OYW Gallery 2

Gundam OYW Gallery 3
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Into the Depths of Hell

Artwork from battle.net

Diablo III is coming out on 15th May. Just like StarCraft II, its previous game was released nearly 12 years ago.

While I watched others play the previous games in the past, I hardly ever got my hands on this series. With a lot of urges from friends and relatives, I'm going to give this latest instalment a go ^^;

For those who want to add me, you can find me with the BattleTag Qbicle#3750. See you on the field! Read More!