Lighting up the Darkness
Recently acquired a gadget to play with…
Seven Sword System + G
Continuing from the intro of the base body last time, 007S/G will now show off its awesome array of weaponry…
The main attraction of this kit, the Seven Sword System was first dubbed in the 1st season of the Gundam 00 TV anime series, when Ian explained Exia’s full armament of GN Sword, GN Sword Long, GN Sword Short and a quad of Beam Sabres as the Triple S (Seven Sword System)…
A Couple ’0′ Drive Ignition
About this time frame last Moon, an impulsive acquisition landed me with a set of Gunpla, something that I’ve ever touched ever since the adoption of me raburi Tama-chwan…
Spent the next half-a-Moon after on and off assembling and used up a total of 3 cans of Top Coats just for this thingie… orz
That really brings back my memories of them old Gunpla dayz… :3c
Code: 007
A couple of days ago, I was struck by a sudden moya moya feeling that made me anxious for the whole fine Sunday…
This anxiety kinda made me uneasy for the whole day, even as I tried to relax by lazing around watching and rewatching new and old anime series…
In the end, instinct threw me into my vehicle and I drove to the nearest mall for a walk, impulsively got myself a certain acquisition I’ve tried very hard not to get so soon ever since the adoption of Tama-chan… >,<
And with a shop name like, guess what I’ve got? >w<
Fully Busted with Seven Armaments
It feels so long, long time ago since my last Gunpla-ing… ^^;
Perhaps it’s due to the lack of interesting MGs announced lately (Not interested in Gundam W series MGs at all…), coupled with extreme fund allocation on my new Servant…
However, this one particular Gunpla caught my attention…
Raising the Twin Rings of Lighting!
Ever since the commencement of Unlimited Installment Works, I’ve been on a slight hiatus on Gunpla-ing… >,<
[Tsun tsun mode] It’s… It’s not that I’ve lost interest at Gunpla at all…!
Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted…
April 1st, is the birthday of Kinomoto Sakura and Syaoran Li; April 1st, it’s kanji is the surname of Watanuki Kimihiro;
April 1st, the date we all love to hate, as we’re constantly duped, pranked, mami’d, cheated, mindfcuk’d and so on by mischievous friends and loved ones… ^^;
Not even half of the day, many familiar sites I visited have already had their own celebration of this Baka no Hi in the Month of 4! XDc
Gandum Telur Dua Biji: A Weakening of a Troll’s Blazer
Imagine the Gundam 00 movie dubbed in the Bahasa Malaysia (Melayu/Malay) language!
Aired just several hours earlier on Malaysian station TV3, the Gundam 00 movie got itself mutilated by the sheer awkwardness of bad dubs and VA choice… ^^;
Jinxed for a Quarter Moon
A week full of unpleasant surprises… >,< But it’s all done now… The pain subsided and I can finally fully floored my foot into walking stance instead of zombie-dragging… 0_0 Do not underestimate the healing power of A Certain Horo’s Nuigurumi… XD
That aside, my latest MG Gunpla, GN-X was completed just before the jinxed event, but wasn’t documented up until yesternite… This report will be short so take heed… ^_^
GN-X, or so called Jinx due to its pronunciation, is one of my fave non conventional MS designs in the 00 series…
As a cannon fodder of the series, its overall feature emits sleekness and intimidation, with a hint of feral-ness on it… :Dc
The drive is installed onto Jinx’s hollow chest via the drive’s quad sets of attached screw-nuts and a single peg underneath the chamber…
A comparison between the two drives, each docked onto their respecting display base…
Note that the base for GN-T can dock with one another to form a huge bunch, if you have more Jinx kits at your disposal… XD
Length-wise, GN-T Drive is longer than the GN Drive… The cone-shaped end of GN-T is also pointier…
Note that the grey parts of both drives are identical to each other, for each can hold a couple of Light Units to imitate the ignition of the drive itself…
Unfortunately, the kit doesn’t come with the Light Units themselves, instead you’ll have to pre-order a couple from Bandai by yourself… 0_0
The PO will only start on the 28th of this moon, but I’ve managed to secure mine thru HLJ’s Gunpla parts request system… :Dc
Stealing green GN Particles from the genuine drive! XD…
While it shines brightly on one end, the claustrophobic structural design of the other end of GN-T kinda blocks most of the GN Particles from coming out, making the drive glows dimmer than the likes of GN Drive… ^^;
Searchlight thru the chest! See how brightly it shines? :D
I can’t wait for the red Light Units to reach my den… :3c
As always, a look at some of Jinx’s basic articulations…
There’s a certain restriction to the movements of the shoulders as Jinx’s arms are built onto a large ball joint… Elbows and Hand units face no problems…
The chest armour pieces at either side slide according to how the shoulder moves…
Quite restrictive as the armour pieces are pretty huge… >,<
Jinx’s waist can rotate 360 degrees at its pivot, while its body can move at a certain degree forward and backward…
Sideway rotation is slight tho…
The rear skirt armour pieces are adjustable at various points…
Kinda resembles that of an aircraft’s fins and verniers…
The most attractive part of the whole MS is perhaps the Jinx’s head…
It is hunched at the neck, so whenever you tilt its head it would appear as if the Jinx is glare at you…
Sideways motion is blocked by the chest binder fins, tho… ^^;
Notice that the rear head armour piece moves accordingly with the tilting of Jinxed head…
Unlike the conventional positioning of a pilot’s seat as seen on many MS designs, Jinx’s cockpit is located at the crotch of the MS, similar to Turn A Gundam… ^^;
The huge binder fins at each side of the cockpit is adjustable… Taking the whole thing apart, one can imagine the whole cockpit being an escape craft… ^^;
Beneath the huge thigh armour is a compartment for storing Jinx’s Beam Sabres, one on each thighs…
A pretty unconventional way of stashing away one’s Sabres… XD
Huge armour pieces around the legs prevent healthy articulations all round… ^^;
The cockpit’s binder fins also contribute to the inability of wide hips-leg range of movements… ^^;
Only two accessories are available to Jinx besides its Beam Sabres…
The Beam Long Rifle and the Shield…
The barrel of the Beam Long Rifle can be detached to reveal a much shorter sub-machinegun-esque Beam Rifle…
Between the two modes I prefer the short one… ^_~
The rotary fins on the Shield can be raised into position to form Deflects Rod capable of boosting the defensive capability of a Jinx…
Similar to the ones utilised on Enacts and Union Flags… XD
Some shots of the Jinx in action… ^_^
An omake to celebrate the imminent release of Red Frame Kai in several more days… :D
Blue Frame 2nd Revise pulling a Delta Form! XD
News of upcoming MGs has been released just this noon… MG Musha Mk II coming in May and MG Wing Gundam (Neither the Wing Zero Version KA nor Wing Zero Custom Endless Waltz Version…) TBA… XD
Wallet Squeezer
A quad of new piccies for the upcoming 1/60 PG 00-Raiser…
I’m still not convinced tho… >,< Price at a hefty 25,000 yen, it’s too expensive for my taste, lacking the mechanical details unlike the Astray Red Frame I got earlier this year… But it looks like the GN Drives’ lights can reach the vents of the wings of 0-Raiser to create a glowing engine gimmick… ^_^
Exia, Exterminating Targets~!
Woke up quite early this morning… After some refreshment, I returned to my last spurt on the assembly of my MG kit… Just barely reaching noon, I’ve managed to put final touches on my latest Gunpla entry… :3
When compare to its earlier multiple 1/100 incarnations, this version of Exia is much better proportioned and slimmer, albeit many of the parts and overall design are pretty much similar between the two… ^_~
As a Master Grade however, Exia is no doubt the pinnacle of the Gunpla technology, incorporating the best of the previous advancements introduced on various predecessors as well as adding new elements, making this kit one step closer towards being a smaller, cheaper Perfect Grade. :P Tricky poses like the above can now be done with Exia, which is not quite possible on other MG kits…
Below are piccies of various angles on the melee use Mobile Suit with its Triple S (Seven Sword System) attached… ^_^
With all the Dry Transfer Decals and Clear Stickers applied on the final product, Exia Ignition Mode looks incredibly cool with the markings and all, adding depths to its overall physique…
The new clear stickers also able to withstand much of my brute force during posing, staying intact unlike the ancient clear stickers as seen on the older MG kits that tends to rip off easily and stands out too much after application…
I especially adore those blue stripes markings on the stark white outer armour pieces as well as the weaponry… :3 Kinda reminds me of the decal whore that is Version KA kits… X3
Now let’s have a look at some of the features on the weaponry and the lower body of the Mobile Suit… For a look at upper body instead please step in here… ^3^
GN Shield has a minor side extending gimmick, which doesn’t quite makes sense to me as it doesn’t get any broader than that… o.0 Unless it spits out Beam Shield after the extension, then it’s another story… *_*
There is a mechanism on the GN Sword which allows its rifle gun to be holstered near the shield part when not in use. However, whilst nice to the eyes, this makes the whole weapon a little unsteady on Exia’s arm as the GN Sword is connected onto the arm with only a small connector…
Instead of parts swapping as seen on the 1/100 version, MG Exia has a built in sliding dock at each side of its hips, allowing GN Long Blade and GN Short Blade to be safely attached at the hips…
However once docked the blades kinda in the way of the legs during posing…
Incorporated on most of the latest of the MG Gunpla kits, Exia too possess the adjustable pelvic joints, allowing you to move the calves up and down individually at a certain range on both sides of the legs, helping you to do the otherwise impossible poses… ^_^
Unfortunately, disappointment assured at the knee area, which is pretty much a direct copy of the 1/100 version… -_- And here I was thinking they might improve the range of bending at the knees when I was assembling the 1/100 Exia Trans Am Extra Finish Version moons ago…
Further down, you’ll notice the double joints ankle as well as the inclusion of the toe joint as seen on RX-78-2 Gundam Version 2.0… :3
Due to the lack of armour pieces hindering the joints, one can actually bend Exia’s foot at an absurd angle! XD However, the toe joint does nothing much as the movement range around the whole foot is kinda restrictive…
Exia kidou shimashita! Action pose galore! ^_^ A sense of déjà vu at some of the posings… XD
On side note, the skirt pieces seem a little loose, especially the rear ones. The same can be said on the grip points that hold the Beam Sabres and Beam Daggers in place…
Omake time! :3 Conversion in progress…
Stripping the parts (Quite a lot of the armour pieces are jettisoned… >_<) and swapping with RE parts, this Ignition Mode package offers the option to switch the normal Exia into its Second Season appearance Exia Repair.
I’m pretty much prefers this version more than the original or the later Repair 2 (RE2) version… A great excuse to showoff the MG’s inner frame as well… XD
A couple of complains tho. Bandai should have make the mantle soft rubber instead of semi hard PVC… Just doesn’t feel right… >,<
On the other hand, parts swapping process are too much of a chore. Why didn’t they include parts for the whole head instead of just a cheek plate?
Anyways, Exia RE’s overall physique reminds me of a character in a classic Jin Yong‘s Wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes… The protagonist Yang Guo also lost one of his arms during the course of the story… :)
Looking at Exia RE’s face, two things came into my thoughts… Terminator (Hence TerminExia… XD) and Two-Face (Harvey Dent, a villain in Batman comic/movie/animated series)… :D
This is a summary of my verdict on the MG kit…
Pros
• Bling bling blades; Shiny…
• Over-the-top poseability thanks to the advancement of MG Gunpla technology… :P
• Exia RE conversion ^_^
• adjustable pelvic joints
• Clear stickers (Unlike the old ones that tends to rip off easily)
• Eye candy markings (Love the blue stripes…)
Cons
• No bling bling on Exia RE’s blade of GN Sword
• Range of bending at knee area
• Obstructive design at elbow area
• Loose skirt pieces
• Loose Beam Sabre/Dagger grip points
• Design of holstered rifle on GN Sword
• Unnecessary extending gimmick on GN Shield
• Sharing too many parts from the 1/100 versionLooking forward to an MG Astraea, if there is one… ^_^
Arms Installation is Complete…
Sounds familiar? This is Danny’s infamous quote for all of his give-away contests… ^_^
Another couple of days have passed, utilising the time frame after work, I’ve managed to finish the arms for Exia along with its pelvis…
Did manage to complete the parts for Exia RE too via part swapping… It’s quite a tedious chore as you’ll have to remove the parts needed from the normal Exia and exchanged it with the battle damage Exia RE parts…
And so Exia RE floats lifelessly across the vacuum after exhausting all its power… ~_^
I was rather pleased by the clear stickers given, which look and feel like water slide decals at best… :3 This helps me a lot as I’m a total klutz at water slide decal application…
Yet another déjà vu… Wait a minute~! Did Sunrise stole my design I did years ago!? X3
Poseability and flexibility of this MG kits is top notch, nothing much to say here… XD
Reaching for Beam Sabre underneath shoulder armour? Check… ^_^ Grabbing Beam Dagger at hips? Check… ^_^
Unfortunately tho, the design of Exia’s forearm armour piece kinda hinders the overall elbow flexibility…
On the other hand, or pelvic area if you please, extended connector for the front skirt greatly increases its range of movements. This will help a lot with Exia’s poses once I finish with the legs tomorrow… :D
Range of movements around the shoulder joints is incredibly flexible as well.
Exia seems to utilise similar body system introduced in RX-78-2 Gundam Version 2.0, as it can easily bend its body at will…
And of course the MG type hand unit… Too bad Exia uses the hand system introduced in Zeta Gundam Version 2.0 instead of the one in RX-78-2 Gundam Version 2.0, which have double joints for each fingers instead of the usual single joint ever since the beginning of the MG kits…
There’s a stub on the palm where you can lock your weapons firmly in place…
Test Drive
I’m totally in trance when I arrived at my den after work yesterday, seeing that my package has arrived… Unfortunately, my expression quickly turned sour when I saw a dent on the package… ^^;
Luckily, when I opened the danbooru, the content is safe as there are layers of sugar papers protecting the prize… Stupid postal service…
You should’ve seen my various expressions during that time… I guess we Otaku are quite expressive in many ways… ^_~
This marks my second attempt to review a GunPla kit, you can read the 1st one on PG Astray Red Frame + Special Custom Set…
In just a couple of nights, I’ve managed to finished up Exia’s head and torso, along with the GN Drive of course… While assembling the MG, I’m getting déjà vu as I’d built a 1/100 version of Exia Trans-Am Extra Finish Version before, due to both kits sharing various similar parts…
Let’s have a look at the GN Drive first… This MG kit comes with a couple of LED Light Units, which requires a couple of chibi button batteries LR 41 each for power.
The GN Drive itself features a pretty nice gimmick as an on-off switch, in which you rotates the front and back portion of the Drive to activate the greenish GN Particle emission effect from the drive… :P
BTW, the Ignition Mode kit also comes with this GN Drive holder stand for display purposes, much like PG Astray Red Frame’s sword rack… ^_^ I’m not sure if the vanilla Exia kit have this stand included as part of the bargain… or not, tho… ^^;
As the GN Drive is to be installed onto the chest part of the torso, Exia’s chest compartment is hollow. A red cover piece is given to plug up the space when GN Drive is uninstalled… :D The tri-arms at the back serve as locking mechanism to hold the GN Drive or the cover in place…
Unfortunately tho, Bandai seems to have decided to leave out the double neck joints usually found on MG kits, leaving Exia’s head in limited range of movements… -_-”
Similar to that of the 1/100 version, the shoulders of Exia have a generous range of movements. Notice the gap underneath the right chest? Yes, there’s a limited rotation around the chest as well… ^_^
Being an MG kit, of course Exia have a cockpit hatch gimmick, which is located at the abdomen just beneath the GN Drive compartment…
The chest pieces can also be flipped outwards to reveal the massive GN Drive Emitter on the chest…
With GN Drive installed onto the torso, Exia is alive! :3 Nice glowing words gimmick on the GN Drive Emitter, altho I cannot make out the wordings at all… ^^;
Part of the GN Drive can be extended slightly to create the Particle Burst effect… X3
The First and the Last
Doki doki, waku waku indeed…
All piccies are procured from Happinet Online…
Zaku to ha Chigau no da yo… Zaku to waaaa~!
Coming this month is the MG Gouf with version 2.0 frame, as well as the re-re-release 1/100 00-Raiser… >,<
While the box art for MG Gouf 2.0 is incredible, the kit’s base colour and overall design failed to impress me… Will probably wait until Gouf Custom 2.0 instead… XD
As for the designer’s colour version of 1/100 00-Raiser… Since I’ve already own the 1st release of 00 Gundam and 0-Raiser, along with the water slide decals, I’ll probably just order those extra parts for GN Sword III, the beam effects and the clear neck joints (For the light-up eyes gimmick, my own mod on the neck seems a little fragile…) from HLJ instead… I like its simplistic box art tho… Nice and elegant…
MS-07B Gouf
End game baddies
Offical 00 site updated with end season enemy units…
Gaga
A light and dark mobile suit colored purple with black, the Gaga are meant to be used as suicide weapons. Because of this, the Gaga possesses very little weapons and are produced in massive numbers for an army of Bring Stabity and Divine Nova clones to pilot. The machine itself was built and designed by Billy Katagiri to have high speed mobility and easy control for the pilot. The Gaga is also equipped with a Trans-Am system, but possesses the same time limit as the Susanoo.
* Straying from conventional Gundam series designs, this ugly little duckling has arms for legs…
GNZ-004 Gaddess
* Anew’s ride that was worth only an episode… >,<
* The colour scheme screams for a GunPla adaptation… Hopefully of the 1/100 scale… >,<
* The design resembles that of an upper torso of a Mobile Suit, which I thought would combine with another unit to form a Mobile suit mode… But alas it was not… >,<
* Heavy upper body, short legs… XD I was hoping for a docking sequence with Empruss into a Mobile suit mode that’s easier to the eyes but… oh well…
Rise of the Innovators
* Double agent detected! Anyways, she looks and feel identical to Feldt in many ways…
GNR-010 0 Raiser
The 0-Raiser is a mobile weapons platform to support specifically the GN-0000 00 Gundam. It can combine with 00 Gundam to form the 00 Raiser. On a side note, the 0 Raiser looks very similar to the GN-Sefer. The 0 Raiser helps stabilize the 00′s Twin Drive system and has the ability to amplify 00 Gundam’s Trans Am System. On its own, the 0 Raiser is equipped with GN-Micro Missiles, GN-Beam Machineguns, and GN-Vulcans. The pilot of the 0 Raiser has been confirmed to be Saji Crossroad.
* Sleek, pointy and stylish, this Mobile Armour support platform for 00 resembles the likes of an X-Wing fused with the cloak-shaped TIE Interceptor of Star Wars fame…
An Innovator with lilac-coloured hair who is shown in the opening sequence in a tube next to Tieria and Regene. It is possible that he shares his DNA with Anew Returner, one of Celestial Being’s mechanics. Revive joins the A-LAWS as the pilot of the GNZ-003 Gadessa, with the rank of Captain. Although he is given permission to operate as a one man army like Mr. Bushido, he tells Kathy Mannequin that he promises to follow her orders. After interfacing with Veda after a mission, Revive is surprised to see that Bring has also joined the A-LAWS, and is further shocked when he hears that the Memento Mori is being activated, commenting on Ribbons’ decision to finally put it to use.
Voiced by: Miyuki Kawasho
A member of the Innovators, not much is known about Healing other than the fact that she is identical to Ribbons Almark (perhaps sharing the same DNA as in Regene and Tieria’s case) and appears to be somewhat fond of him. She first appears at the A-LAWS party in which she shoots at Tieria, who had pulled his own gun out on Ribbons. After Tieria’s escape, she tells Ribbons that she wants a debut as a mobile suit pilot, claiming that she is useful only for combat purposes.
* What’s up with the names of these Inovators anyways!? This one… umm… expert on medical and rescue?
Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu
An Innovator of very few words, Bring is considerably more stoic than his fellow Innovator comrades. Like Revive, Bring also joins the A-LAWS. He confronts Setsuna as a warning to Celestial Being, quickly overpowering the 00 Gundam in his own GNZ-005 Garazzo unit. He later meets Revive at an A-LAWS base, and tells him that the Memento Mori is being activated.
* Yeah right… Bringing stability to the world…
This green mobile suit was first mentioned by Innovator Revive Revival to have already been rolled out. It is armed with a large, triple-barreled cannon mounted on its back (GN mega launcher). Innovator Revive Revival is the pilot of this suit. This unit was offered to the A-LAWS. According to Arba Rindt, the Gadessa’s ability greatly surpasses the Ahead and according to Ribbons the unit also surpasses the 00, although this statement may merely be based on Ribbon’s own assumptions as opposed to reality.
2′s a charm!
The Celestial Four in their cool new pilot suits, along with their respective Gundam units… I like those new uniform better than the ones in 00-S1…
Tieria Erde and Seravee
“Celestial Being’s new mothership. Though the previous Ptolemaios was basically unarmed, the Ptolemaios 2 seems to be equipped with weapons everywhere.”
* The new transport ship now sports many enhancements when compared to her older sibling, especially on the defence systems… The bridge side of the ship looks similar to the designs of Argama, the Gundam transport from Mobile Suit Z Gundam Series… Looks kinda like an oversized GN Arms as well…
More MS belonging to the Earth Sphere Federation…
“Arrows’ latest main model mobile suit. It’s form and armament are derived from the GN-X, a characteristic that can be seen in the drive on its back.”
* Oh my this is one ugly hulk of a Mobile Suit! Looks like a cross between Tieren with Jinx…
“A unit deployed as the main MS of the Earth Federation army that includes improvements to the model brought about 4 years prior by the guardians.”
Armament: GN Lance (a lance with a built-in rifle used for shooting and assault)
* Closely resembles the mecha design from Code Geass series, like a medieval age knight soldier, especially since its main weapon is a lance… Now, where’s the horse? It made its appearance during the epilogue of 00-S1… XD Anyways, I wonder where is Jinx II, a design failure during reverse engineering of the 1st Jinx?
Late comers…
Base weight: 54.0 t
Pilot: Tieria Erde
Armament: GN cannon, GN beam saber, GN beam rifle, GN sword
* The femme fatale hidden underneath Virtue, with long hair-like cords hanging about her head…
Overall width: 37.9 m
Overall height: 42.6 m
*It’s Byg Zam without legs! Fear my huge cannon and crabby claws! XD
Base weight: 69.2 t
Pilot: Alejandro Corner
*Totally lost to the gallant Hyaku Shiki (Mobile Suit Z Gundam) in terms of design and overall physiques… Shame on its ugly wings… >,< What, you’re trying to become Wing Zero Custom (New Mobile Report W Gundam: Endless Waltz) with that twin rifles of yours?
