Gundam AGE not doing well in Japan?

Mobile Suit: Gundam AGE has been unpopular with Gundam franchise fan ever since its annoucement. Now that it has been aired for 5 episodes, it appears that that its unpopularity is proving itself with Gunplas not selling out well.


どーすんのよこれ！？日野さん！
(What to do with this?! Hino-san (director of Gundam AGE)!)
ガンダムAGEプラモ見切り処分
Gundam Age [plastic models] throwaway sale


HG Gafran is going for 777 Yen (retail price is 1200 Yen exlcuding tax)

Both pictures appears to be taken from the same hobby shop.

299 Yen for a model kit is quite something, though it does not imply which ones are getting such "discounts" ^^; For a Gundam TV series that is now airing and its merchandise to fall in prices drastically like so, this is pretty shocking even for a series that is unpopular. I remember Gundam SEED Frame Astray was doing pretty bad too as I have managed to buy HG 1/144 Leon's Arms Astray PMC Custom for 500 Yen only in Akihabara (HG 1/144 Alec's Kerberos BuCUE Hound was selling for the same price too), but that was for a manga side story. Later that summer Ngee Khiong also blogged about other SEED Destiny Gunpla in some shops were going from 500 Yen upwards too.


On the other hand, the view rate in Japan is not doing spectacular either, with an overall rate hitting 2.5% for all ages by episode 3. Ironically despite the series' main audience is targeted to be children, there are very few children who are actually watching it, in fact even fewer than adults. Apart from Gundam SEED, SEED Destiny, and 00 statistics available for comparison above AGE, the other two series being compared at the bottom are Kamen Rider Fourze and Danbouru Senki, of which both are airing at the moment and have children view rate in two-digit percentage.


Most people I know who are watching Gundam AGE are just watching it to see how bad it can really get. I am watching it because it's a Gundam series. While initial observations show that overall reception is leaning on the negative, it's perhaps still a bit too early to start judging it (which is a tempting thing to do). I originally put some thoughts in this post, but after a bit of retrospective look I decided to take them back. Who knows, this series might get epic later on? Well I will leave them as it is here.



Well, at least Yurin is a character many viewers have taking a liking of, and some even calling her Yamada due to her similar appearance to the said character in Working!!. At least there are some gems that makes people to look forward to the future episodes ^^


Sources:
2channel
via オタク.com & 大斗ポスト
My Game News Flash
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Dollfie Dream Black Rock Shooter

I know this may be a very profound contrast to what I have for my usual hobbies, but yes the one in my mosaicked teaser post is actually a doll. A Black Rock Shooter doll to be precise.


Please note that this is not an official Black Rock Shooter doll as there is no such thing at the moment. The resin head, eyes, wig, and costume are available as a set made by a group called SQ-LAB. The main body has to be purchased separately, and in this case it's a Volks Dollfie Dream II body with small bust part.

Some items are only available on their Yahoo! Auction Japan page, and this is one of them, which means proxy service is the main way to get it.


A blue flame part is available as well, which can be stuck on the eye with ordinary blu-tack.


Lying down. There are metal wires in the coat down the zipper lines so the coat itself can be posed in a limited way.


A full body shot


A closer shot of previous picture. The eyes, despite being opaque, gives this illusion as if they glow when sufficient light is available.


A different angle of the same pose.


So yes I have fallen for this Dollfie bandwagon too. 3 months ago actually as I have been putting it in the dark except for a couple of tweets on twitter. Put Black Rock Shooter together then it's one fad combined with another (if you want to put it negatively that is, and I know some will glare at me like so by now).

I have to admit that this is quite a stunt I've pulled off. Not everybody finds this kind of thing appealing; some will find them creepy too, especially with the eyes. Dolls or Volk's Dollfies are no action figures, which means they are not expected to do anything dramatic or dynamic; their restricted joints (especially those of Dollfies) will prohibit such poses anyway, so the main concern is more about how to pose like human beings, and how to take pictures of them. The latter has been a bit of a challenge for me since I have always been so casual on photography with a point-and-shoot, and taking pictures of dolls requires a lot of lighting setup or better equipments which I really don't have to make the pictures look particularly good. But with a little bit of workout I am happy with the results I have made so far, especially those taken on the bed.


I actually almost decided to go for Dollfie Dream Fate T Harlaown almost exactly a year ago, but didn't do so at the end because of the face sculpt and the potential nightmare of staining from darker clothings, which is a well known problem for Dollfie Dreams. Then one day I bumped into an auction page of the BRS doll set via posted links in a local forum, and I fell for it. While I actually had little hope of winning it in the first place due to its ridiculous bidding prices, I won one eventually with a price that was within my budget, and so I have to claim it. I was actually quite worried how it would be like since this is no official stuff, and I have seen no pictures from other hobbyists despite a number of them have been sold. The end product actually looks pretty nice, and I am quite glad that things worked out at the end.

Despite all that, like military-related hobby I think I won't plan to talk very often about doll(s) here, as I worry I may lose track and head off in a very different direction for my blog. I have no plans or intentions to have this become my main hobby, or it to replace my other toys such as figma; they all have their own places in my opinion, though some people don't think so and I'd leave them as so.

Last but not least, I want to thank SQ-LAB on making the character set and their help on my inquiries, as well as friends and fellow hobbyists in the online community for the kind support! It's interesting to see it myself how it is like to own such big "toy" there as an outsider and in an attempt to understand it better (rather than to judge something downright ignorant without knowing much about it in the first place). This hobby is still a fairly niche one, and with its massive price tag this is no ordinary thing to jump into. Go in only if you have something that you really, really, really want.


Ack, with all that revealed out, I am actually pretty worried how the response will turn up. Well, I am just sharing things out afterall - that is what blogging is about, right?
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Boxes

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes.


Boxes of Gunpla underneath my bed... Some have yet to be started too. Ack the everlasting backlog is something that Gunpla fans tend to worry about ^^;


Figure boxes. I hesitate to throw them away in case I have to pack the figures away in the future for whatever reasons.


Boxes of figma and a couple of Revoltechs as well. All unused accessories are still stored in them rather than in bags.


Current state of my shelf.

I personally dont like putting things into shelf for display, because I won't get to interact with them as often, or worse if they get too crowded I worry that I may even start to forget them. This is the reason why the shelf still looks relatively spacious compared to... Say, Yui's collection ^^;


Posting this is some sort of a reminder for me to start to be more cautious for future purchases; space is limited and is always an issue for any sorts of collection, but we as collectors often try to defy this statement nonetheless. One extreme example would be this guy's collection which I have blogged about sometime last year. Well, I still have the space to sleep at least!

I know a lot of collectors throw their boxes away because they take up a lot of space. I keep mine just in case I have to pack my stuff away again for whatever reasons in the future. Do you keep your boxes or not?
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Triple Jestas

At last, my 3 units of Jestas are ready to roll out! Apart from the slight colour changes and the markings, these ones I've built are pretty much a straight build without modifications.


The HGUC 1/144 Jesta was released in mid-September for 1600 Yen. An advanced version of the Federation's ordinary grunt Jegan, the Jesta will make its debut in a team of 3 in the upcoming 4th episode of Gundam UC OVA.


Jesta with beam rifle (which is known as a beam carbine), which is an advanced variant of the Jegan's original beam rifle.


The shield can be connected to the backpack via an option of 2 different connecting arms; one that is contracted and the other expanded.


The expanded arm piece (as seen on the left Jesta above) can allow rotation of the shield, whereas the contracted one (as seen on the right Jesta above) will have the shield restricted to face backwards only.


The shield is derived from that of the original Jegan. The shield missiles are still present but both pairs are now on the same side rather than being laid out symmetrically on each side.


The beam sabre is tucked in beneath the left arm, whereas spare beam rifle magazines are store beneath the right arm. The Jesta can reach it with its right hand as shown in the picture above. Two open palms are used in this picture as well.


Charging forward with the beam sabre.


The side skirts are grenade racks just like the ordinary Jegan model.


Three Jestas in action.


Fighting in unison and professionally. These guys are no ordinary grunts.


Jesta in comparison with Stark Jegan. Despite being derived from the same original Jegan the two do look very different here.


In case those who are curious about the white stars on the left shoulders and the shields of the Jestas, they actually spare paper stickers from 1/8 GSC Black★Rock Shooter -animation version-. The original figureb had a missing star on the coat, so GSC sent a set of 8 white star stickers to the customers. I thought that I would use some to make them stand out a bit in terms of markings.


Previous WIP posts can be found here and here.

My sloppy pictures aside, the HGUC 1/144 Jesta is quite a complete model kit there; at least there are no parts that you have to borrow from other kits unless you want to swap out the backpack with other Jegan models. The overall design is dark and sleek, giving the Jesta an overall impression that it is no ordinary grunt unlike most of Federation's mass production mobile suits.

A big thanks to BMecha for hosting this Jesta group build! It's been fun doing this and seeing what others have tried on their own Jestas. Mine is a bit ordinary out of the bunch, but I suppose simplicity also has its own beauty too right? ^^
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Snow Miku Magic Show

Snow Miku wants to do a magic show! This comes at good timing as I am busy with other stuff at the moment. Well, let's have her take the stage this time shall we?


Before the show starts, an assistant Ball hands over the trusted leek to Snow Miku.


The leek magically turns into an icy leek, much to the Ball's surprise~ Well, I guess the show has already begun!


With her icy touch Snow Miku will demonstrate her magic on the 1/144 Nashorn and Tiger II.


Poof, and both have gone white!


Next thing Snow Miku will try will be on a HGUC 1/144 Kampfer.


A white Kampfer appears!


Last but not least Snow Miku will test her magic on figma Black★Rock Shooter, without the latter's prior knowledge of what's going on at this moment...


... And with that figma WRS has been summoned. Probably a bad move. Oh dear that didn't go too well now did it? ^^;


For those who are interested my Snow Miku review can be found here


This post is to also be made for a local forum posting game where one has to make their own thread with pictures of Q-version toys (i.e. chibi). While I have very few of such toys, the game suddenly gave me some inspiration with what I have in my collection, and I came up with this post. Hope you've enjoyed this silly but lighthearted post though!

It feels good digging up some older toys even if it's just for a quick snapshot. That way they don't feel forgotten as you interact with them now and then :o
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