beamknight87blog

GM Sniper II

2018-09-09T17:30:00.003-05:00

Truly a elite mobile suit!

It's been months since I last updated this site, even though I'm still working on the random model kit and receiving new stuff but whatever, here is the latest kit I built in order to have an actual sniper mecha in the collection.

The GM Sniper II is supposed to be a high-performance machine that unfortunately, jobbed pretty hard in the 0080 OVA. Nevertheless, the machine got itself a very nice model kit with a superb inner frame for maximum mobility. That crouching pose feels so natural and smooth. In comparison, many other Gundam kits and figures have a really hard time to even begin to kneel.
The shoulder articulation is also worthy of mention, as it has a great range of extension in order to properly hold the rifle in the sniping pose.

There's not much to say about this. It was a straight out of the box job, with some minor paint applications, mostly silver and gold for the pistons in the inner frame, and some silver and gray for the vents and thrusters in the backpack and legs. End the deal with some flat topcoat for a smooth look.

The main feature is of course the sniper rifle, which is a bit small for my liking. I used black grey for the stock and some details in the surface, as well as metallic black for the scope and barrel.

The head has a very cool feature that allows the visor to slid down and cover the main camera for additional use of sensors for maximum precision and targeting.

Overall, this a very simple and straightforward kit that anyone can give a try if you want a glorified grunt. The only quirk I can point out is that the ankle connection between the legs and feet is rather loose, making quite easily for the feet to suddenly slide out when you are moving the kit. Just be careful with that.

Raftclans Aurun

2018-05-13T18:43:00.003-05:00

Knight-themed mechs with the ability to stop time. What's not to like?

The Raftclans is the elite unit developed by the Fury and is only assigned to the Fury Knights, pilots of exceptional skill and rank that also serve as commanders of their military forces. This one in particular is the personal unit of Al-Van Ranks, the strongest Fury Knight, whose sword techniques and theme song leave Sanger Zonvolt in the dust.

As expected from a SRW Kotobukiya kit, there are a lot of parts and pieces that serve to form each limb and section of the mech. The idea is that with so many parts, you don't have to use paint at all for an accurate reproduction of the unit. Nevertheless, a bit of paint yields much better results, and in some section it is a must, due to some glaring decisions or mold errors.

I used black paint on the sections around the yellow thrusters to give them a sense of depth. Similarly, I had to use pale greyblue in the borders of that part beneath the thigh, as it comes molded entirely in dark green. That model decision seems rather strange given how big the piece is, especially when the skirt armors DID come with separate grey pieces. Weird.

The back skirt armor and the thrusters there also needed some grey and black paint for accuracy. Then we have the oversized weapons.

First we have the Orgone Claw. Normally, this is a slender shield that serves to defend or to bash enemies with. When activated, the bottom part splits open in five separate hooks, replicating a vicious hand/claw to crush enemies with.

Then we have the main weapon, the Orgone Sword. It reminds me of the Tactical Arms from the Astrays of Gundam Seed, as the weapon has multiple forms to attack. The standard sword mode can also serve as rifle. I used some stickers for the sensors in the scope and the cannon in the middle of the sword. Unfortunately, as it is case with almost every figure/model that comes with a bigass sword, it has problems to hold it up due to the weight. The hand has a very difficult time to do so.

The sword also comes with a pair of clear blue parts that you can put around it so simulate the Orgone energy crystal used to deal maximum damage to the enemies. Unfortunately, when you attach those, the sword becomes so heavy the hand can't even lift it up. You will need a support stand for the sword alone if you ever decide to use those parts.

The other extras include a second pair of hands that can hold the sword in a slightly different angle and a piece that goes in the chest to simulate the cannon for the MAP attack it uses in the OG game.

Overall, it is a rather sharp looking kit that would only recommend for SRW fans, given that it is rather expensive and a bit smaller than the usual MG. Still, the claw and the sword certainly make it distinctive enough from any other mech.

VF-19EF/A Caliburn

2018-04-08T16:59:00.002-05:00

The stellar machine back from Macross Plus is still one sleek machine.

This is a particularly great Hasegawa kit, very straightforward and friendly with the modeler due to how simple it is. Straight out of the box, paint requirement is minimal. I used metallic black for the gunpod and machine cannons that go above it, gunmetal for the feet, a bit of silver and black for some details at the fuel tanks in the legs and the cockpit frame along clear blue and clear red for the clear parts. The tiny pilot figure was a bit more troublesome since it needed blue, black, gray and purple for the visor of the helmet.

It is kinda sad that you can barely see the turbines hidden at the feet, which actually have some vector movement. Meanwhile, the ones at the air intakes at the front were painted with chromed silver... unfortunately, the covers in front of them require glue to assemble, so that particular detail will remain hidden forever.

The step in which I invested most of the time was with the decals. There are lots of them and while the tiny ones are no problem, you definitely want to use some softener on the bigger ones, like those in the stabilizers at the back, the black stripes at the wings and behind the cockpit.

Here is it together with the VF-0S. Even though they are the same scale (1/72), the Phoenix looks much bigger and chunkier than the Caliburn.

As I said before, I decided to skip the massive booster rockets that go in the wings, mostly because I don't like how they look on this particular VF, besides the fact that they require A TON of work, since the seamlines in those parts are rather nasty.

Anyways, this is a Macross kit I highly recommend if you want to have Isamu's ride but don't have the cash to spare on the Arcadia or Bandai toys.

VF-19EF/A WIP 1

2018-04-01T20:09:00.005-05:00

Even though he appeared for like 5 seconds in the Frontier movie, that guaranteed Isamu a model kit.

This is another 1/72 Hasegawa kit. Apparently, it is the old YF-19 kit from 2002 or something, just with additional pieces to recreate the Super Parts and the SMS markings.

Unlike the Armored VF-0S, the color of the parts this time was pretty accurate for me with that light sand and the green brown color for the Super Parts.

Taking as reference the previous VF-0S kit I built, this was actually MUCH easier and also smaller. The kit is divided in two major parts: the main fuselage and the legs with the wings. Nothing hard, save maybe for the legs, as they are split in halves and you have to glue them together, which results in some nasty seamlines, thankfully, those are pretty much hidden in the Fighter mode.

I went all out with the decals this time and was surprised to find that none of them ripped despite their size (I thought those black stripes were going to be a nightmare but it all went like a charm).

It s still missing the air vents, the gunpod and the giant boosters of the Super Parts that go in the wings. Those are quite ridiculous and I think 'm going to skip them. Depends, as I don't even have a proper display base yet for this beauty.

Reactive Armored VF-0S

2018-03-04T17:46:00.002-06:00

The first VF shows how armored modes were back then in the day.

I quite look the result: bulky and simple. As the Macross series continued, the armor parts for the VFs kept getting more and more ridiculous, to the point that you have to wonder how they can even move with so much stuff attached. The VF-31 is the clear example of that ridiculousness.

I would have liked to give this model the gunpod, unfortunately, the armor at the arms makes impossible for the hand to even hold it.

I remember being a bit intimated by this thing when I first opened it and saw all the parts and decals, thinking how much work it would need. Nevertheless, all that effort paid off.

So here is it, the Reactive Armored VF-0S kit in all its glory. As expected, the missiles were a bit tiring to wok on, since there are so many and I went as far as painting the heads with a fine brush in order to make them stand out even more. The same for the inner faces of the missile bays, but the flat finish makes a nice contrast with the shiny blue armor.

Don't be fooled by the looks. Despite its menacing bulk, the kit is actually very light, to the point that a strong breeze would make it fall over. Thankfully, since I built the legs almost a year ago, I put inside each of them a massive screw, so the extra weight helps to prevent the kit from falling over and makes it easier to balance.

The head is a tricky part. Besides painting the visor with clear green, it needs multiple decals that serve you as guide to paint the black stripe at the forehead. I even drilled holes at the tips of the antennas, as those are also beam guns.

As expected, this thing can barely pose, mostly due to the poorly engineered hips, which are already quite loose. The armor at the arms and shoulders are also a problem, as they tend to clash with the armor at the back and the chest of the kit. Since I don't want to ruin the paintjob with a scratch, I decided to leave it in a single pose, firing away its payload.

You also get some extra parts to display the missile bays closed... but that would neglect the point of this kit, besides, changing back and forth between them is very troublesome, as the parts are very small, prone to break and go in sections that are hard to reach.

I can't recommend this kit unless you really want an armored VF and are willing to pour a lot of effort on it. Even if you can easily snap fit it, paint is a must at least. There is also the fact that this kit has been out of stock for ages, so you will need to get it as a second hand item.

VF-0S Reactive Armored WIP 3

2018-02-25T16:10:00.001-06:00

Oh boy, this is turning out great.

The arms were more bothersome than I thought, mostly due to the way the armor parts go around them, it was damn hard for the halves to fit and I was sweating bullets in the process, thinking I was going to ruin the paintjob.

I cheated with the shields. The outer border is supposed to be blue, but the whole thing comes molded in light gray. Already sensing the headache it was going to be to try to mask the damn things, I said "fuck it" and painted that section with a blue metallic marker. The result is not perfect, but it is enough for me.

The backpack, on the other hand, came out great. I love the result I got. Perhaps the only detail I can complain about is that clear green sensor. You can barely see it, maybe I should have used clear yellow instead.

It is now time to work on the front chest armor with all its missiles, as well as the shoulder containers.

VF-0S Reactive Armored WIP 2

2018-02-18T18:15:00.002-06:00

After months of neglecting this kit, I finally decided to continue working on it.

The torso is definitely the most complex section due to all the stuff going on here: the stored wings at the back, the small backpack and the hardpoints at the front for the massive armor parts, which I have yet to complete.

One reason I kept postponing this thing was due to the MASSIVE amount of waterslides you are supposed to apply, but as I was working on the kit, I was also testing just how many of them would be visible once you attach the Reactive Armor and for my relief, the answer was: very few. Therefore, I decided to just place the biggest ones, such as the skull marks and the black stripes in the wings.

That is why there's barely any paint or decals in the torso, as the whole thing will be covered once I attach the armor. This definitely saves you a lot of time and speed things up.

A neat detail is that you can still flip open the wings despite the armor parts, that's so cool!

Still, I have to point out some gripes of mine I've come across so far:

- First and most important, the color. Instead of the pure white you get in the Fighter form of this kit, this thing comes molded in a weird off-white yellowish color. At first I thought it was an issue of my own kit, since it is rather old, so I went and purchased the armorless version thinking I could use its pure white parts... only to find out to my disappointment that it was molded in the exact same color! Oh well, at least I got the parts required to build a gunpod for this kit.

- See the black armor part in the middle of the torso? It was supposed to be gray, but the terribly glaring vertical seamline all over it made me go and paint it metallic black to try to make it less visible. I did try to seam weld it, but the irregular surface made that almost impossible.

- The joint hips are doomed to become super loose if you move this thing too much, as they are mere pegs in which you put spherical polycaps and then insert the cavity of the legs there. Such simple mechanism is quite shaky and makes the kit shake like jelly everytime you touch, so caution is advised.

- Finally, just recently found out that Arcadia is going to rerelease the 1/60 VF-0S. The reason I bought the kits of the VF-0S in the first place was because that figure was impossible to find... until now. However, the price is just damn insane, over 40k yen for the damn thing! It would be the most expensive toy I've ever purchased and that's without even taking into account the extra amount I would surely have to pay due to customs!

Nevertheless, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on that one, what the hell.

SD Dygenguard

2018-01-07T19:00:00.001-06:00

The mightiest samurai giant robot!

The Dynamic General Guardian, or Dygenguard as named by Sanger is perhaps one of the trademarks of the SRW series, as it dates back to SRW @2 and has become a staple in the games ever since then.

It is one of the best units in all the games it has appeared due to its high attack power, Sanger's great stats and the fact that it gives you access to one of the most ridiculously awesome combination attacks ever: the Tornado Blade.

Just like the other SRW kits, once completed the model looks exactly as it appears in the games with the SD proportions. It even details accurately the 5 thrusters of this robot, 2 at the back and 3 under the turtle shell shaped back skirt armor.

Surprisingly, the paint you need to apply is minimal, I only used gold over the yellow pieces along silver and metallic black for the Zankantou. After that, I applied some flat topcoat.

As it has been the case since the Alteisen Riese, you get clear parts for the eyes. I put a holofoil sticker right behind them, however, the crest of the Dygenguard's face casts a perpetual shadow over them, thus the light can not really get through to get the shiny effect. A shame.

Regarding extras, the kit is bare-bones, it only comes with 2 pairs of hands, of which only the right hands are able to hold the sword, as one left hand is a closed fist and the other is spread open. The kit also includes a second face, which has the mouth open just like when the Dygenguard roars. It requires some painting though.

You also get 2 Zankantous, one in the katana form and the other, which is the main highlight of course, is the massive broadsword we all love. Unfortunately, the size and weight of the sword makes it impossible for the model to hold it up and while it has a hole hidden under the back skirt armor so you can attach it to display base, the mediocre articulation, along the lack of a proper left hand, makes you unable to replicate a proper swinging pose of the blade.
Still, the neutral pose of resting the sword over the shoulder is still quite impressive, since the blade is 25cm long!
In any case, if you are a SRW fan you might want to get this kit. It's very easy to assemble and the only real detailing is required for the sword.

2017 Builds

2018-01-01T13:33:00.000-06:00

Happy new year 2018! Just like last year, let's begin this one with a recollection of the kits I worked on during 2017:

Some thoughts for each:

- The Asurada kit was pretty hard and demanding, but it was good break from the usual gunpla. It's far from perfect and full of flaws, mostly due to the masking, since the blue paint bleed a little, but I still love it. I really recommend it to any Cyber Formula fans.

- After so many years, I got the MG Sinanju and went all out for the shiny look. The Titanium finish requires you to be very careful due to the nubs. Coupled with the metal parts, it is one of the best pieces of my collection.

- The VF-0S was a very hard kit. Requires tons of work, but the effort is worth it and a good option if you can't afford the Arcadia figure.

- The Providence was much simpler after the previous 3 kits.A straight OOB that looks great with the effect parts for the remote weapons.

- Finally, the nonofficial Woundwort was very disappointing due to all the faults and problems it has. At least it looks good once complete.

Only 5 kits compared to the 10 I managed to complete in 2016. That was mostly due to my job consuming so much of my time during the last months of the year, leaving me too tired to even consider assembling the pieces of a model. I'll try to complete the backlog I have during the first months of this year.

A Pair of Garo Figuarts

2017-10-28T18:22:00.003-05:00

I was really looking forward to this pair for a while.

I think I have never mentioned it before in this blog, but I'm a fan of the Garo franchise, being Makai Senki my favorite series of the live action show. The fact that JAM Project does the OP songs of the shows also helps quite a bit in its popularity.

Sadly, most of the figures of the Golden Knight and the other Makai Knights are rather scarce and belong to the Makai Kado lineup, which besides being a bit expensive, is a little too heavy in the surface detailing for my liking. Fortunately, there are some Figuarts as an option, even though they were released as web exclusive items.

First we have León Luis, the protagonist of the animated series, Honoo no Kokuin, a fantastic show I suggest you to watch if you haven't already. It is simply great.

And so is this figure which corresponds to the Garo armor he wears during the first half of the show. It is really good, as it faithfully reproduces every detail of the armor, although the limbs and torso are perhaps a bit too thin, making it look smaller than it really is.

The pale yellow gold looks awesome under the sunlight with the silver highlights all over the armor. Nevertheless, I have some complains, first, the range of movement of the legs is somewhat limited due to the thigh armor.

Second are the extras, or rather, lack of. You only get two extra pairs of hands. That's it. Quite cheap considering the prototype of this figure had a roaring head, which is actually the expression León had most of the time. Also, said prototype had another pair of tassels in dynamic motion. The one you get is not so bad, but since they can't move besides the rotating point to which they attach at the back, they look rather stiff if you try an action pose.

The sword is also absurdly huge, almost as tall as the figure itself, which can make it a bit difficult to pose

Next we have the Lost Shine version of the Garo armor, which Ryuga Dogai uses through almost the entire The One Who Shines in the Darkness series. According to the story, the gold shine of the Garo armor had to be sacrificed along a previous user in order to stop a great evil, thus rendering it almost completely black and much weaker.

While the concept of that series was good, the show was not, at least for a while, mostly due to the fact that unlike previous Garo series, they used CG animation for the armors, making their appearances rather dull.

Nevertheless, the Figuarts is really good, since besides its appealing color scheme, all the black sections of the armor are of different shades and textures, making it quite striking.

The sword is much smaller than León's, however, the Lost Shine Garo looks much more muscular and quite beefy in comparison. This is very noticeable in the torso and legs.

Both are great figures and a must have for any Garo fan. I hope we get another Figuarts with the currently airing Vanishing Line Garo anime.

RX-124 Gundam TR-6 (Woundwort)

2017-10-22T14:25:00.002-05:00

A rather curious mobile suit that despite its popularity, Bandai has denied its fans a proper model kit.

Due to the above, you can guess how excited people were for this non official kit made by a company called CuteCube. I sure was, but the more I worked on it, the more disappointed I was with it.
It has A LOT of issues that make the build process rather unpleasant. I'll just list the more important ones I encountered while I was working on it:
- The polycaps are EXTREMELY hard, making the pegs that are supposed to be inserted in them prone to breaking.
- Not only that, they all need to be widened.
- The parts at the side of the thighs with the blue sensors fall off very easily.
- The horse-like hooves this thing has instead of proper feet make it impossible to stand on its own. For that, you need to deploy a heel that is hidden at the back of the legs, right under the calves. However, the mechanism for that is extremely loose and I had to glue it, meaning the display base is a must.
- The bee-like ass thing is super heavy and will sag down. I had to fill the gap underneath the connector to the waist with paper in order to avoid this problem.
- The Composite Shield Booster - Long Beam Rifle/Claw is MASSIVE. Over 30cm long and therefore, too heavy for the arms to even think about lifting it.
- Finally, the greatest problem I encountered: The ball joint that connects the torso to the waist snapped due to how hard the polycaps are, so I had to cement the whole torso, rendering this thing immobile.

And that's without even mentioning the rest of the problems: lots of flash in the parts, fitting issues in almost all the sections and overall, rather fragile connections all over the place, making this kit quite delicate. At least the decals were really cool and easy to apply.
Honestly, I wouldn't recommend this kit unless you absolutely need to have a Woundwort and even so, you need to be very careful, patient and put a lot of effort on it.
Personally, I think Bandai will never grace this lady with a proper model kit.

New S.H. Figuarts Riders

2017-08-26T20:01:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since I bought a Rider Figuarts and man, these are so much better than the original releases.

I barely paid any attention to these renewal figures of Kamen Rider, that is, until I noticed that Skull got released a week ago or so. Since Double was my favorite series I decided to check it out, along the CycloneJoker and Accel releases and man, I was really blown away.

For starters, the boxes are really nice. Simple and minimal cover design, seems like something Apple would release.

Next are the figures themselves. Their proportions really, really make the older releases of these guys look pretty bad and outdated. The extras are also worthy of mention, as they went as far as including tiny replicas of the Gaia Memories that can actually fit in the belts and weapons, talk about crazy!

Double's design means Bandai will milk the fuck out of it with all its possible combinations and repaints, but I think I will skip them and wait for Xtreme, FangJoker and Accel Trial. We are even getting Eternal this January!

MG Providence Gundam

2017-08-11T20:01:00.000-05:00

The final boss from SEED is here!

The Providence is one of the sister units of the Freedom and Justice, but this one is drastically different from the rest of the ZGMF series, as not only it is heavily armored, it also incorporates the DRAGOON System. This gives it access to the highest firepower around, as the 11 remote weapons sport a total of 43 beam guns, making virtually impossible to escape this death machine.

I was finally able to finish this kit after months of waiting the effect parts set, which came with some pretty cool waterslide decals that make the Providence shine.

This was basically an OOB build, although I had to paint some small details all over the model, such as the vents with black and silver. The DRAGOONS themselves also needed some work, as I painted all the beam guns with silver and the small ones need a bit of red paint. The decals came with a nice silver and red metallic finish. After that, I gave the kit a flat topcoat finish.

I think the effect parts are a must for this model. The ones you get from the actual kit simply don't cut it and you really want to display this thing launching its remote weapons.

In these pictures I only used one of the transparent arms you get for each DRAGOON, as you could attach another piece, allowing you to give the weapons further angles and poseability. However, they are already too heavy for the side and back skirt armors, so the DRAGOONS there will sag down. The ones for the huge turtle backpack don't have this problem.

The other weapons are really unwieldy. The Judicium beam rifle is too big for the kit to hold it properly. It is supposed to rest against the shoulder, but even so, you will have a hard time to make the hand hold it just right.

This was painted with gunmetal and later recieved a semi-gloss topcoat. It was funny to see that you actually put inside that huge weapon the smaller Lupus beam rifle of the Freedom and Justice.

Finally, we have the Composite Armed Shield. It is unlike any other shield as it looks more like a glove or a gauntlet. By itself it is pretty heavy, but if you attach the huge beam effect part, the arm will sag down. I painted the pink blade with clear red to make it stand out more.

Overall, the Providence is a really good kit. As one of the few evil Gundams out there it is quite a display piece, but if you get it, I really recommend you to also go for the effect parts. They are worth it.

VF-0S Phoenix

2017-07-30T17:28:00.000-05:00

The granddaddy of all Variable Fighters is still one impressive machine.

I'll be honest, this kit was almost driving me crazy by the end. It needs A TON of work since in first place, eveything comes molded in white. Similarly, there are a whole lot of decals. I did not apply all of them although I was close to doing so. Guess I got lazy in the legs section, as you are supposed to put over 50 of them there but fuck that.

The most difficult decals were the long black stripes and the skull insignias. Since they are so big, they are prone to tear very easily, so you have to be super careful when handling them to avoid a disaster.

Despite being an out of the box build, I am very pleased with the result, even though it is not perfect. There are some really nasty seamlines in the bottom of what are the arms and legs of the battroid mode, but they are pretty much invisible in fighter mode so that's ok.

Perhaps the most elaborate thing I did was to drill holes in the air brake right there behind the cockpit.

The whole fighter got a flat topcoat as a finisher. The exception are the feet, which were painted with gunmetal.

The gunpod was painted with metallic black and then I used clear topcoat to make it pretty shiny, along the chrome silver - clear red combo for the sensors.

I'm a bit disappointed by the head. I put a lot of effort on it, going as far as using chrome silver and then clear green to make the visor super shiny but when you attach the part, it is hidden entirely by the body of the plane, sigh.

There are also some clear parts which require either clear red or blue. The frame of the cockpit was painted with black and I also even painted the whole inside of the cockpit and the little pilot figure you get!

I'm very proud of the result. Even more so as this was actually a gift I built for my father and his face once I presented it to him was well worth the effort. Nevertheless, I don't think I'm going to touch another Hasegawa plane kit in a while.

New Loot

2017-07-29T14:36:00.001-05:00

Add another Metal Build and that Woundwort model Bandai refuses to make a single model of.

It will be a while before I even open the model kit, I still have to work in those VF-0 kits.

VF-0S Reactive Armored WIP 1

2017-06-18T18:30:00.000-05:00

So far so good.

I managed to get some progress with this kit. Gotta love those bulky legs. Right off the bat it seems the base Battroid kit was intended for more experienced modelers since there are lots of seamlines all over the place. Fortunately, the Reactive Armored add on covers almost all of them, saving you a ton of work.

I will try to keep this simple. The gray parts will just be detailed with some panel lining, decals and flat top coat. Some of the highlights will be hand painted with Vallejo black and black grey. As for the armor I'm using Tamiya TS-53 Deep Metallic Blue followed by a layer of clear topcoat to keep the nice, shiny texture, although it ends up becoming a magnet dust.

For the feet I used gunmetal, it will be the only section with said color. Also, they are extremely tiny, making me feel they will have a hard time holding the massive kit once assembled. A bit of research showed some modellers leaving inside the massive hollow legs some random metal parts to add weight and balance to them, so I decided to do the same. Inside each leg is a massive metal screw.

Another Macross Loot

2017-06-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

Probably the last one for a while.

The VF-0S that appears in Macross Zero is another sexy machne. I would have liked to get the Arcadia figure but it seems I was a bit too late for that, as it is only available in the aftermarket for crazy prices of 50k yen or more, and that's without the Reactive Armored set!

So I decided to settle with the Hasegawa kits, a MUCH CHEAPER option, but that seem to require quite a lot of effort to pull off, especially the one in Fighter mode. Nevertheless, after the Asurada kit from Aoshima I kinda know what to expect.

Macross Frontier Loot

2017-05-27T14:40:00.002-05:00

Oh boy, I'm super excited for these arrivals!

That VF-19 got a release despite appearing for 5 seconds at best as a cameo in the last Frontier movie. Not that I complain about it, besides the hefty price tag. A quick peek made me appreciate how sleek the fighter mode is, although there are lots of noticeable gaps that the promotional shots conveniently erased, mmm. Also, the transformation is A LOT more complicated than that of the other Valks I have so far.

As for the VF-25 parts, the Super set is quite modest, evidenced by how thin the box is. Only the extra boosters look a bit chunky. The Armor set is another story, the box itself is as big as one of an actual DX Valk figure and the add on itself is massive. The 25F will look like a dreadnought once I attach them.

MG Providence WIP 1

2017-04-30T17:31:00.000-05:00

An update on this evil Gundam.

Despite being a brother unit of the Freedom, the inner frame is fairly different, especially the whole legs, but I guess that is due to all the vents and thrusters this thing has, which are there for max mobility and agility despite having one of the largest SEED backpacks out there.

I won't complete it for a good while, as I definitely want to get those effect parts for this kit that even come with the proper waterslides. The problem will be where to display it launching all the DRAGOONS.

Providence and Persona 5

2017-04-13T11:19:00.000-05:00

Got some stuff to keep entertained during the Holy Week.

Hard to believe the MG Providence is finally real after all this time. I'm sure it will look great once completed. I'm even thinking about getting the special effect parts set that is scheduled to be released next June.

Then we have yet another game that moved me away from SRW V.

P5 seems like an amazing game in every way. It oozes style all over the place and the take one they decided to go with this time, using social outcasts and pariahs makes a very memorable experience. I only have two complains so far: the game takes a good while to properly begin, as the whole introduction is really, really long. Second and most important, fuck the damn cat for not letting you do stuff. There a tons of things to do at night but you can't because the damn furball orders you around and that is kinda lame.

SRW V Thoughts

2017-04-02T22:55:00.001-05:00

After giving major priority to NieR: Automata I was finally able to go back and end my first lap of this game.

First of all, unlike Moon Dwellers, the English translation this time is much better. Save some typos here and there, the translation is really good and allows you to understand everything that is going on.

The plot is rather messy, as it resorts to dimensional travelling to explain pretty much all the nonsensical events that keep happening.

The gameplay itself makes this one of the easiest SRW games out there, mostly due to all the damage modifiers the game gives away like freaking candy, which will allow you to breeze through the first half rather easily. Only the very end game bosses barely reach the 100k HP mark and by that time, you will be one shotting almost everything. Combine that with the fact that prior every enemy encounter, you are able to use Spirit Commands and the game becomes even easier.

As for the newcomer series, some random thoughts about them:

- Space Battleship Yamato 2199: it is the series that carries the main plot of the game and boy, the Yamato is one heck of a battleship, to the point of making you ask yourself "what they were thinking?" Simply put, the Yamato is one of the best units in the game due to its high defense, barriers and powerful all range attacks. Don't be afraid to bring it directly to the frontlines.

- Cross Ange: Embryo takes the role of one of the main villains, but it is so scummy that even Leonard from Full Metal Panic betrays him for being such an asshole. Oh, he also get BTFO by EVERY female on your side, yes, even Rei from Evangelion.

Anyways, Ange and her Villkiss are the main stars from this show and she is pretty good, as she is almost untouchable and carries a nice MAP attack. Just give her the Ignore Size skill to be able to get the most out of her tiny unit. It is funny how the rest of the characters point out how Ange resembles the hotblooded Super Robot pilots like Ryoma and Tetsuya for being so eager to fight.

The rest of the cast is rather lackluster due to their crappy units and animations. Perhaps the only exception is Tusk, who serves as one of the best support units in the game for repairing and resupplying units.

- Might Gaine: the other key series for the plot. Standard heroic super robot, Might Gaine is one great unit, but among the supers, it gets really outclassed by four ridiculous shitwreckers. I'll talk about them in a moment.

While it was nice to see Crossbone and Hathaway's Flash included, their plots were pretty much ignored and serve as units only, which is a shame. I was expecting them to do at least the Steel 7 plot but we didn't even get that. Anyways, on with the best units the game offers you:

- Evangelion Unit 01: remember the god mode thing from the second Rebuild movie? You can use it here at will anytime, although it requires you to invest heavily in Shinji, as he needs to reach 170 Will and over 90% of Sync Ratio. Once you do that, you get the option to use the awakened mode and holy shit, talk about a murder machine. It only has 3 attacks, with one of them being a MAP and consumes EN like a damn sponge, but its damage output is ridiculous and is only held back due to Shinji's base stats not being as high.

- Majin Emperor: Tetsuya finally got the upgrade Great Mazinger needed so much after all those years. The Emperor is top tier material thanks to its high defenses and massive attack power. Combine them with Tetsuya's natural high stats and you get a staple you will always deploy. Nevertheless, even if his damage output is quite good, he still gets a bit overshadowed by the other two monsters you have.

- Shin Getter 1: As expected, Ryoma carries one of the best Ace bonuses in the game, as when he reaches 170 Will, he will deal 30% more damage. Combine that with all the damage modifiers in the game and his Prevail skill and you will be killing everything in one hit with this bad boy. Shin Getter 1 is perhaps the most damaging unit in the game.

- Mazinger ZERO: this is it. Possessing the highest attack power of the rooster, ZERO is another damn monster that makes you wonder what the hell the devs were thinking. It can solo pretty much anything, so you can just make Kouji break the enemy formation, build his Will to activate the transformation and laugh when it kills everything in the counterattack.

The final boss was also rather disappointing, as the only difficulty lies when it first appears, as it spawns 25 copies of itself with 33k HP each only. The problem lies is that they all are level 75 when you are barely scratching the 50-60 mark, but let any of the four bastards I mentioned above score a few kills with the double EXP gain command and they will be one hit KOing the rest of them in a single turn.

Anyways, time for the second lap and collect all those missing trophies.

DX VF-25F Get

2017-04-01T17:57:00.001-06:00

Lurking in the second hand market, I managed to snatch this other DX figure for a decent price.

Only the front of the box looks super faded, the figure itself is in pretty good shape. I just had to get it since the F is my absolute favorite variation of the VF-25.

Now I'm tempted to to try to get the Armored and Super parts for the F and A fighters respectively, but the former is really, really expensive, so I think I'll save money for two or three months before I decided to purchase it.

NieR: Automata Impressions

2017-03-19T20:38:00.002-06:00

Wow.

As I said before, this game really impressed me. While the gameplay and OST are great, perhaps the tale it tells was the strongest point for me.

The above due to how clever the storytelling was, as you play the game and achieve the ending of a pretty standard story around the whole "what if machines became sentient?" premise. The first ending could actually be considered a happy one considering how grim the setting is and all the tragic and creepy events that happen during the adventure.

Then you tackle the New Game+ through the POV of the sidekick and discover certain tidbits of info that completely shatter many of the assumptions you made while playing the game for the first time. And then, you unlock the continuation of those events and boy, shit goes down hard and fast. 2B, the android that was advertised as the main protagonist since she was revealed and instantly became super popular thanks to her appealing design and outfit, was merely a false protagonist all along.

9S is the true main character of the game and it is really something to see him go down a spiral of revenge against the machines and the extremes he is willing to take to do so. It is a mixture of madness and hatred as a result of not having anything left to lose. It is really hard to describe how well managed the narrative was in the last part of the game, as you begin to switch control between two characters as they climb the same area in different ways faster and faster until both reach the top and the final confrontation ensues.

And then you have the multiple endings, while some of them are truly tragic, at least one is somewhat hopeful and brings a proper closure to the story. Anyways, I still have stuff left to do to unlock everything the game has to offer, but I can say it truly is a memorable game that anyone should play. It is one of those nowdays rare titles that show that it wasn't a mere shameless cashgrab and that its staff really put their heart into it so you can enjoy it.

NieR: Automata

2017-03-12T01:45:00.001-06:00

Well, this game is certainly something else.

The demo that came out months ago sold me on this, and the actual game after beating it for the first time to unlock ending A, vastly exceeded my expectations.

- Plotwise, the story is pretty depressing and has tons of outright creepy moments, as the macabre degeneration of the sentient machines spirals out of control.

- The game itself combines several features that guarantee you will have a lot to do, starting by mastering the combat mechanics: its fast-paced and very chaotic and while the dodge button can be abused to hell and back to take on everything the game throws at you, having to wait for the correct timing to successfully dodge and counter with a devastating attack is not that simple.

- In a similar fashion to the Demon/Dark Souls games, if you die, you have to look for your body in order to recover your equipment. If you die a second time, you are screwed and will lose some pretty valuable goodies.

- I especially like how the gameplay keeps dynamic all the time, as besides the standard hack and slash, lots of sections are bullet hell scenarios straight out of Gradius, while others combine 2D and 3D perspectives.

- Nothing stops to you to immediately tackle the main story of the game and ignore everything else, but I would not suggest to do that, since enemies quickly become a lot stronger and can wipe the floor with you very easily. The sidequests can be a bit of a chore, but the rewards are good enough to properly level up both your character and weapons.

- The first upgrade you should do is invest in the chip capacity, as these little trinkets provide active and passive abilities that can be quite useful, but at the start you can only equip the most basic ones. The only thing that hinders you to do this is money, as each expansion becomes more expensive, but it is definitely the most important.

- Finally, the soundtrack. Holy shit, all the songs are GODLY.

In short, I was blown away. NieR: Automata is shaping up to be one of my most favorite games ever.

MG Sinanju Titanium Finish

2017-03-05T21:15:00.001-06:00

The Red Comet is complete!

The MG Sinanju is probably one of those kits that every gunpla fan should have. It is pretty imposing and quite a view once complete. However, this Titanium Finish version takes it to a whole new level due to how shiny it is.

As i said in the previous posts, the metallic red armor is the easy way out for those that want a bright, colorful Sinanju but don't feel like wasting extra time priming and painting the parts themselves. Be aware that the finish is very fragile, so sanding parts to remove nubs is out of question. Your best bet is to try to cut them off as cleanly as possible with a knife and cover the spot with some paint. In my case I used a metallic red Gundam marker, although maybe clear red paint may also do the job.

It also helps that even if the kit is not undergated, many of the resulting nubs end up covered by other parts or plain out of sight. The exception are the shoulders, parts of the backpack and unfortunately, the commander antenna.

Despite the metallic red finish, I still did some extensive painting myself: Almost the entire inner frame was painted with gunmetal. I said almost, because I skipped parts where pegs are inserted to serve as connectors for the joints. This was because the whole frame is made of ABS and the extra layer of paint only increases the friction, making pegs prone to break. I'm sure this is the reason why so many people warn of the infamous waist connector of this kit.

I also used metallic black for all the black parts of the kit, along silver, gold and copper for some details all over the model.

For the sleeves and emblems I ended up using the stickers. I was originally planning to paint those or even use the waterslides, but their shiny look is perfect for the metallic red armor, so I decided to go with those. Still, they are far from perfectly placed, especially the ones in the knees, but the result was pretty good.

Finally, the metal parts. Ever since I ordered this kit I knew the thrusters you get simply were not going to cut it, so I ordered the set in advance to complete the whole deluxe shiny look. It isn't really hard to install them, you just need to cut off a bit of some pieces, drill the required holes and apply some glue. However, they are fairly expensive ($30 plus shipping),but I can assure they were worth every penny.

I love how the weapons came out. I painted the rifle with metallic black and silver. I also painted the clear scopes with a metallic green Gundam marker.

As for the shield, the inner frame was painted with gunmetal. The grenade launcher was painted with metallic black and I used silver for the emitters of the beam blades. Unlike the RG, this MG can hold up the shield with no problem at all.

Finally, I did not use any markings at all for fear of fucking up the metallic finish with some kind of topcoat, even the clear type. That and I think the Sinanju is one of the few suits that does not really need them, as the whole thing screams "ARISTOCRACY", making it pretty distinguishable.

Another reason I got this was to have one red model to go together with my MG Nu and Hi Nu Gundams, not to mention to add one "villain" mobile suit to my collection, which actually lacks those. Fortunately, my next purchase will be that awesome MG Providence that comes out this month, so I'll have at least an evil duo soon.