Nope. Only in MG and it's an ancient ver 1.5.

The Char custom Rick Dom is pretty badass - only in MG form as a standalone kit, although there's the combo pack HGUC that comes with the plain jane G3. Bigass beam bazooka is cool but not easy to pose.

HiNu with Nu's colors. Looks better than the boring white-bright blue scheme although the HiNu should be white-indigo with blending present at the funnels. Not sure how Bandai's gonna do that without decals unless it comes pre-painted.

Nu is not just higher than HiNu, but has a larger head and its torso is bulkier as well.

If you're going for HGUC, take the Nu as it has 6 fully functional funnels. The HiNu only has 2, while its weapons do not have colour seperation unlike the Nu.

If you're going for MG, the HiNu might be better as it has the Amuro insignia stand and funnel effects. Much more costly though.

Meh. Buy HGUC Sazabi instead for pure awesomeness.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 11 2011, 05:00 PM

There shall be no antidote.

Am I the only one who's not excited by Bandai's Shizouka showcase?

MG Epyon - still meh. The beam sabre effect is appalling. Too much mucking around. Face is just not fierce enough. Full marks for boxart though.

Other W series MGs - we have yet to see anything concrete although it's likely that they will release all of them one by one. Katoki's MGs can be hit or miss - Epyon looks weird while Deathscythe's proportions are off; yet WZC remains a classic and Shenlong doesn't look half bad. Katoki's Tallgeese is quite different from the anime version, but I'd scream if he leaves out the faceplate and the red gladiator crest.


HGFC Master Gundam - good package especially when it comes together with the horse. But not really a huge fan of G.

MG 00 - good kit, lots of stuff, but probably will only attract 00 fans. $$$$$ as well.

MG Delta Plus - this ought to tickle my fancy, but I'm sticking to my "no Hyaku Shiki Kai rifle/Delta Gundam shield, no love" principle.

HGUC GMIII + GM cannon II - nice kits, but not EFSF fan.

HGUC Dreissen - the only one that I'm interested in. Eyeing its bazooka for my Sinanju actually. And come on, release Jesta quickly.

RG Zaku - meh I've got ver 2.0

[/spoilsport mode]

I'm gonna get an Aegis instead to add to my red army.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 12 2011, 09:34 PM

hell.... Optimus Prime is sexyyyyyy... Got inner frame somemore.... If only they would release the original Convoy/Optimus Prime in this grade.

oh yeah.. aegis and black tristar zaku is on the way... will take another 4 weeks of eager anticipation T_T

Because Zaku I comes with more accessories, went for black tristar version for additional coolness although the top part of the feet are in wrong colours.

And yeah, I'm not that into Strike either. RG Aegis please Bandai.

beli beli jgn tak beli.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 13 2011, 09:43 PM

Reviews reviews !!

HGUC Sinanju:

Pros:
1. Big, red, badass. Elegant regal look, yet menacing and devilish with those spikes. Hell yeah.
2. Near full load of arsenal available. Still lacks the bazooka of course, but even the MG doesn't come with it.
3. The combined beam axe-sword is probably one of the longest HGUC weapons. The rifle might be a wee bit too skinny, but its length makes up for it.
4. The gold foil stickers aren't too bad, in fact they fit pretty well to the black pieces. Its darker shade of gold fits the yellow vents better compared to the light gold of the MG which contrasts too much from the orangy-yellow vents. Gotta be careful with the waist and knees as the movable parts might scratch the stickers.
5. Relatively wide range of articulation for the shoulder/hip/knee joints given its bulky armour. The hips can go sideways much more than the Sazabi without the latter's tendency to pop out.

Cons:
1. Hardly visible monoeye.
2. The lack of a movable neck joint prevents it from having dynamic head poses.
3. Bulky forearm armour hinders the hand movements and hence can affect posing with the rifle.
4. Underside of the shield is ugly. Why can't they include a black piece like the Sazabi's shield?
5. Bandai still likes to put nub marks at obvious places - left side of the horn, lateral sides on the rear thruster armours. Fortunately red pieces are easy to clean.
6. With so many weapons, it's a pain to have to spilt open the hands to change them (a bane with many HGUCs).

HGUC Rick Dom II:

Pros:
1. Huge weapons FTW. The 380mm bazooka makes many others look wimpy. The 90mm machine gun too is larger than the F2's. The Dom Tropen has a "880"mm version although I'd like to think it's Bandai's typo as they pretty much have the same calibre in gunpla form.
2. It's a decent sized HGUC given its bulky armour. Not as huge as 0093 and beyond mechas, but it makes 0079 mechas look anorexic. The GP02 (without the huge thrusters) doesn't look as intimidating when standing beside it.
3. Awesome hands !! Movable thumbs allow switching weapons without having to take apart the hands, and it holds the weapons very snugly. The old Wing series have similar hands but their function isn't as well-executed as this. Not sure why Bandai refused to incorporate this into later HGUCs.
4. Kudos Bandai for actually giving us a separate colour piece for the beam scattering chest gun. The (newer) Dom only comes with a yellow sticker despite having better overall articulation. You'll still need a dab of paint for the smaller nozzle, which I've painted red as shown above.

Cons:
1. Piss poor articulation means the Rick Dom II ends up standing upright most of the time. No swivelling shoulders, very restricted ankles, no neck, no ball joint for the waist, not even a proper monoeye. The heat rod ends up being useless as you can't make proper slashing poses without movable shoulders. I can forgive these due to the age of this model although one can't help but think better joints will make this kit even more outstanding.
2. The shoulder armour has the clip-on design like the 1/100 Astrays - which means it'll pop off with the slightest touch. Should have been designed to be attached to the upper arms instead.
3. No mounts for the Strum Faust, unlike the Dom Tropen which has many for carrying its ammo clips and rockets.
4. The bazooka's nozzle is not hollow... meh.

My desk is running out of space. Gundam and MKII are still in a box, and I've got Aegis and Zaku I flying in from Japan... a few more older Seed kits and Deathscythe are stashed up in boxes back home in Msia. T_T


This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 14 2011, 07:30 PM

Actually my bad, it's not movable "thumbs" but movable "trigger finger" instead. Yet it's still an awesome design which allow easy weapon swapping. The front and side skirts are movable, rear skirt however is fixed. And note that I put the Strum Faust in the heat rod holder due to the lack of weapon racks. Heat rod lies hidden in my stash of unused gunpla accessories

HGUC Sinanju vs MG Zaku II ver2.0. This emphasises how big mechas from 0093 and beyond are.


HGUC Sinanju vs HGUC Sazabi. The Sazabi still triumphs in terms of size but only slightly.


This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 14 2011, 07:27 PM

Welcome to the club of red monoeyes. HGUC Zgok shall be the fastest kit you'll ever build. I finished it in slightly over 2 hours... Sinanju took me around 10 while typical MGs takes 15 or more. I take my own sweet time.

Pretty much. It's around 15-16cm tall in 1/144 scale, in fact the Sinanju gives an impression that it's larger than the F91 due to the huge thrusters.

Not entirely.
Green RG ZakuII is an F type while Char pilots an S type. In the anime they only vary in colours, but in gunpla form there are subtle differences. The S type has 3 rear thrusters on each leg and a slightly larger backpack, and of course is almost always seen with a commander horn.

Green or red depends on your preference. You want grunt or Char?

That's one of the fun parts of building gunpla... you'll notice the little differences in each kit.

Not really.

OYW shares a similar leg skeleton design as the ver1.5. It also lacks a core fighter which is one of the main defining features of the Gundam. However it's a reasonably cheap yet highly articulate model which looks more 'realistic' with a lighter shade of red-white-blue and multiple plates, panel lines, and vents throughout its body. It even comes with movable chest vents.

For ver Ka, Katoki redesigned it with his own details which make it pretty different from the Okawara one - 4 rear thrusters, flatter feet, bulkier shoulder armours, beam sabre handles with little protruding ends, shield without a cross, and vertical vents at the face that makes it look squished. ver Ka's biggest flaws would be the lack of a full skeleton and crappy old-tech hands. I'd recommend staying away from this version unless you're a huge Katoki fan.

I'm probably the only one, or at least the very few that likes the ver2.0; and (given my bias) I would say it's the best RX78 around given its funky look, best articulation (although it has a fixed waist), being the most stiff and solid, and a full set of arsenal. The ver2.0 G3 is also available for those who dislike the traditional red-white-blue. I doubt many will go for the combo pack ver2.0+G-fighter as it'll burn a hole in your pocket and G-fighter isn't exactly the most popular kit around. Someone already posted Full Armour ver2.0 - awesome addons but kinda cheating as it uses stickers to incorporate the additional armour pieces rather than actual peg/clip attachments.

But for those who can't stand the retro look, the OYW is the way to go... either the PS game version or the anime-color version will do, depending on whether you want subtle and more realistic, or bright and eye-catching.

Meh screw RX78.... go monoeye, go Zaku !!!

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 16 2011, 07:27 PM

My bad again. It actually can, although not much as the centre piece of the rear skirt blocks further rotation. Now it's officially the best ever RX78 version.
This only shows how long has my ver2.0 slept in its box... time to bring it out for posing.

I would say for the stripes, apply it first before attaching the armour; for the warning signs/symbols I always leave them till the end and I don't always follow the recommended labels either. My ZakuII ver2.0 has the Zeon logo and MS-06 sign on its chest instead of on the backpack which I won't be able to see most of the time.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 16 2011, 08:26 PM

They do whatever they want.

MG Astraea would be a good package given its similarity to Exia and truckload of accessories. Surprisingly even a grunt like GN-X got an MG release and yet none of the other 3 protagonists got any love, nor the popular Graham suits.

It's easy to speculate what's going to be released when there is an ongoing anime/OVA/movie/manga/video game that Sunrise is promoting, best examples being the 00 movie, Gunpla Builders, and Unicorn. Yet for the HG 1/144 it's unpredictable. X and X Divider were released without any current X-franchise, unlike the ver Ka W MGs, yet the DX/Airmaster/Leopard are nowhere to be seen. Bandai also decided to finally release the HGUC ZZ despite ZZ antagonists (Bawoo/Zaku III) being the very first few HGUCs a decade ago, and also reviving the 0083 HGUC line in recent times.

As for other upcoming MGs.... expect some from Unicorn (Banshee is inevitable, just a matter of time), lots from ver Ka W, possibly some from 00 (Astraea/Avalanche Exia still remains feasible), unlikely any more from Seed. Given my current indulgence in HGUCs, the only MGs that would be of any interest would be Aegis and Tallgeese due to their interesting configurations. Bandai you lost me there with the nerfing of Delta Plus

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 19 2011, 06:41 PM

http://schizophonic9.com/re/hguc_dreissen_p.html
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/taka421jp/53741679.html

Cute chubby fella.

Shame about the lack of a proper monoeye like many other HGUC Dom variants, but surprisingly it comes with an actual neck! The forearm gatlings and huge armour as expected hinders some of the hand movements, but it's amazing to know that the Dreissen can actually grasp the bazooka's handle with its left hand.

And hell yeah.. loads of details such as vents and thrusters; but given its HGUC it means they are not colour-separated and will need lots of paint.

Must get.

The commander crashes the party !


The Sinanju is able to do that because the tip of the bulky forearm guard provides an additional support point. The usual MG palm isn't exactly capable of a full 90 degree extension (more like 85) and it simply isn't strong enough. In fact your own hand won't be able to do so unless you forcifully hyperextend it but it isn't sustainable. I can foresee you trying that now on your own hand now

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 21 2011, 07:54 PM

Why cannot?

But this is the way the MG Astray should have been. Fat, chunky legs instead of the skinny ankles.

Honestly for those who cannot afford the MG version, or hate the ridiculous backpack, the normal 1/100 Red Frame is more than enough to satisfy your cravings. MG articulations at HG prices, the only things lacking are movable neck, actual fingers, and functioning cockpit. The Blue Frame however is quite a disaster and should be avoided; I got it as an impulsive purchase.

Let's see whether an MG Amatsu will be released... with the giant backpack and bling bling parts it'll cost a bomb.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: May 23 2011, 04:53 AM