PG Strike Rouge

The only word i can describe this PG is "Awesome!!!" the Forth? Fifth PG? in my built list, this is the best among all. Even better then PG OO Raiser and of course, the ultimate PG Strike Freedom. There are so many positive thing comes out from my mind when i build it, paint it and pose it. For those who new to gunpla or gundam world, this is the PG Strike Rouge from Seed and Seed Destiny series. Although the actual mobile suit in the anime does not show out how strong it is be but in the gunpla world, this is "Kamisama". Not going to introduce much about this mobile suit but gonna focus more on the gunpla kit itself. First, lets check out the box, manual and the contents.

Please behave, Bootleg suppoter!!!

Alright, another hateful post? yes it is. 

This time is about "bootleg". If any of you reading this and don't know what it mean by 'bootleg" gunpla, well it mean any gunpla then not made by Bandai but using the same or similar design are consider as "bootleg" (I'm not sure about G-system, but anyone who possess that can be really proud of it). 

My concern is not about the actual physical "bootleg" gunpla itself, not the manufacturer or the re-seller but what really concern about is the one who bought it or the supporters. First of all, what is the reason of purchasing gunpla? we worked on it and then we keep it for display as well as collection. "Collection" which the most important word here. Lets just think about if we want to keep something as collection, will we go for original or the pirate version? Second, where all these original gunpla coming from? Third, what happen if the bootleg gunpla took over the original gunpla market? If you are mature enough, I'm sure you know the answers for 3 questions above. 

I, myself purchase bootleg before too and even now sometime I will ask from my regular supplier to update me but only for few reason that I bought bootleg gunpla.

• P-bandai or Dengeki magazine special item which is extremely rare until can't even get one on hand with extra money
• It is an total re-design with better proportion and articulation kit
• never release in that scale. 
• for spare part or special part only come with bootleg

Other than that, there is no other reason that I will ever purchase bootleg. Yes, sometime it was quite emotional when we see "damn, it P-bandai again, I'm going to wait for chinese version and buy that as protest". But I will still not help to promote bootleg nor i proud of having it. So, its time to start with the bashing part. (not kitbash but is people bashing)

What irritate or annoying me the most (again is from some gunpla facebook group) is some people does't really understand whats gunpla mean for and coming up to post all those bootleg related stuff. 

We start with the stupid one, the most stupid question "should i buy the original Bandai or the Daban version", The most stupid comparison i ever heard. If you not hit the four reasons that i had above you go for the original Bandai even if you can't afford or poor then you don't f**king buy that kit at all and yet still ask and compare, "mohon pencerahan" such a attention seeker.

That was before buying and here comes the after buying part, posting the picture like how proud you just got the Daban MG Sazabi. Gosh, remember about this post, "gunpla is gunpla, gunpla is not", if i'm holding a fake prada, I will hide the logo and use it as a normal bag without letting anybody know that i'm using a fake prada. What so proud of having a bootleg?

I was wondering do you all know the more you support bootleg, it will some how affecting the original Bandai market. Imagine one day that the bootleg market really took over the original market till the original maker is making loss in the business and decided to close down or stop the business or worse still, not import to our country, wonder who will be the one suffer then. Please, use your F**KING brain and think about it. Don't argue on the price of original and bootleg. R&D is definitely expensive then copy. Again, if you can't afford it, you don't belong to here. 

Gunpla is gunpla!!!!! Gunpla is not Prada!!!

With exclamation marks on the title, its seems a bit emotion and it does seems not mean anything much. I think I'm back for writing here again, as two post per-month seems quite a lot compare to previous month (haha). Alright, lets get to the right topic ( the title still relevant). The intro is gonna be brief (i promise). 

Recently I've been joining several group or fanpage in Facebook. All you need is type any gun*** related word and it will appear. Following the flow of the trend seeing people post about gunpla kit, interesting topic and, suddenly the change of the trends seems getting more and more off topic. Here comes the negative part (Yes, I'm going to bash somebody and he/she gonna feel it without mentioning who are them). 

Why "Gunpla is gunpla"? The question was asked because gunpla is not cloth, handbag, accessory or your pants. We use to post a lot of our kits online, whether its uniquely done or just a straight build but the main purpose is to share what we build, the experience of building the kit and what can we improve to make it better. Please, I REPEAT AGAIN, PLEASE!!! Stop asking stupid question like, "I don't know which one to buy, can you pick for me?" WHAT!!! IF YOU CAN'T PICK THE COLOR OF THE SKIRT, I CAN HELP BUT NOT GUNPLA, BITCH!!!!! (yes, i'm insulting those who answer this question." Why? every gunpla kit is unique and if can we as the "real" modeler would like to taste every kit in the market. We know you might have the money to afford it but you know what, "WE DON'T FUCKING CARE WHAT YOU GONNA BUY AND GOT NO TIME TO BUILD AND START SHOWING OFF YOU BACKLOG". Every experience modeler will have backlog, what the big deal that you're having your backlog, sharing for the purpose of "showing off" and keep asking the "erm, which one should i build, pick for me? or vote it". "Vote" WHAT? for the next coming election? asking in the fanpage or to group member to pick what you gonna build next. OH BITCH PLEASE!!! " IF YOU ASKING ME WHAT YOU GONNA WEAR, JUST STAY NAKED AND I'M ENJOY THAT", "WHAT TO BUILD NEXT?" if you are pro-modeler asking this question for your next masterpiece, your question is valid but a pro-modeler build masterpiece based on inspiration and not the "comment or like" from your post like an attention seekers. 

Bought a model kit, telling the whole world you going to starve for that later due to that. Sounds like you have putting a lot of efforts saving money to buy that kit but the next thing you know, you screw up the kit while building it and I'm gonna laugh at you. "Oh dear, you just pour coffee on your new Prada and the stain is gonna be there forever". You get what i mean now. We do enjoy of people announcing their new project (without asking the whole world), work in process post and of course the complete masterpiece. Don't be a dick, this can be a luxury hobby and we are not looking down on you but someone mature will differentiate whats prior first. If you're going to sacrifice your need for this hobby, you shouldn't be in this hobby at all. At the end of the day, we just build the kit, might won some trophy if you are pro enough and enjoy every experience of it. Gunpla bringing you a bowl of rice is rare. Come on guys, you can seek the attention and compliment as a contributor if you going to post something "useful". (well, we don't mind if you are showing us your new loots with a very good rate and remember to share where to get)

Last but not least, backlog photos. You might you just sharing (and mentioning, oh gosh i got no time to build all of it, then why the hell you going to buy that much, idiot) but we all know what is your real intention. Remember, achievement in gunpla means a really great masterpiece but not a storeroom full of gunpla. We don't mind to see how people organize their storage and provide some useful info for other modeler as we face one common problem "space".

I guess that's all for the first part, the next part gonna be more "piss off". Enough of bashing today but I'm, not curse you yet. 

Before ending this post, just for some clarification. Those who I bash here, I don't see their post from Hong Kong, Japan, Europe or Western part of the world. Unfortunately, from South East Asia. Not all of it but we do have "distortion" here.  

Not officially leave nor officially here

So, how long was it from the previous post I was wondering. 3 months plus, 4 month to be exact it should be. I'm not dumping this blog or stop writing yet. I do follow lots of gundam page in facebook, gundam news from various site and of course, the latest gundam series. As we grow older, many things happen. It affect us financially and...... emotionally. We do have more money for more kits now but the time to build our back log seems getting faster than the time we build the kit. Although I'm still siting on the same place writing the same blog but everything around is changing. I guess, that's life.

Recently read an emotional post from Waylander, write about his gunpla life and the story evolve around it. Some other people might just felt " it just a hobby, how could it affect our real life". In fact, I was having the same thought when i read the title till i read the content and it feel totally different. I put a comment there " I know how it feel, bro". Did I? Forget about it. But seriously, is that real? Very true story.

I went through that as well although I didn't post much about it in here. Reason? emotionally affected the mood of working or enjoying this hobby. It can't be said, when we're young we know less about the real world which we can focus more on our day dream hobby which is fun but when times goes by where we facing more and more cruel truth in the real world, everything seems scattered.

My first hard time was building an PG OO raiser, my first PG kit. I was devastated and the worse part is, I was at the sanding process which is the most boring process. The good thing is, to neutralize all this bad feeling I numb myself to keep on chasing to complete the process. The kit end up quite good and I was healing close to completion.

The second hard time was worse and yet, it was another PG, one of the most challenging PG I ever build which is the PG Strike Freedom. It fall on the same process again and I did the same thing. The project was complete and delivered but for me, not heal nor solve and still stuck in the same problem again. Until now, what was the problem I face in my hard time? Well, for a male there will always two things in chinese, either money or the other " you know what i mean". I was not in the relationship at all actually, a loser start in a lose match and keep on losing. It might nothing much to loose or maybe it just an good opportunity but emotion, Bang!!! that was hurt.

And now, I'm building an PG Strike rough and guess what? I think i'm into the third time of this situation. With previous experience, it still affect me but it can be handle. It was another problem.
Damn it, sanding process again.

I was wondering will the sad or bad feelings produce a good kit? Honestly, I don't know but I think if I'm going to customize a kit with pla-plate or kit bash will definitely an disaster. Stick with a clean build with basic painting should be the best I guess. So, wondering whether I'm still here? This site is still alive and I'm assure that. Good life or bad life, as long as we can afford time and money, gunpla for life.

an sentimental post, please ignore it if it's not interesting. I was just, release some gas.. ssssss. :)

Gunpla Mid Year Challenge 2015 Malaysia at Main City Mall

As usual, I'm late again. Almost two weeks the event over and i'm only able to write this post now.

So, this year it held in a completely new place. Guess they are taking the advantage helping some of the mall to create some activity and bring more crowd. The venue was in main place city mall, somewhere in between Puchong, Shah Alam or Subang. Public transport to here seems difficult and feel sorry for those who are not local. Frankly speaking, I still feel IPC was the best place in terms of space, crowd and location but no matter where it held, it not going to stop modeller to participate and visit for this great show. 

The display was updated as from last time, means better lighting and space. I was quite lucky to visit there on the first day as i was able to take photo of some entries before they have the glass on. In terms of activity, it will be the usual Q&A contest, speed building and the organizer will offer some freebies. Professional builders demonstration was there as well ( Don't afraid to ask them for guidance as they really quite friendly to share unless it really some stupid question that waste not just theirs time but other who want to ask). 

PG Strike Freedom

 Not the first, not the second and this is the third perfect grade. And its painted. I must be crazy when i paint my first PG and i'm still painting them, no straight build and yes, this was pretty bad. Since last year, i've been practicing the basics. The result does payoff from the previous 2 MG which are the MG Blitz and MG Mk2 Ver.2 but when things getting bigger and complicated especially trying with some new paint, lot of thing can be happen.

As praised (for the kit) and hated by many people (for the "holy jesus yamato" as what they mentioned), i guess there is no need to introduce this kit. Let just start with my own version of review or, it just my opinion about this kit.

When it release, i'm sure i'm not the only one who get overexcited but as usual, disappointment does found from "Perfect" grade due to its size, complication of the structure and weight. Bandai does improve a lot since PG OO raiser with the "locking" joint thing but the tremendous weight of a PG kit really unavoidable. From me to Bandai "if you know carbon fibre in LFA, please make something similar to PG kit which should light but tough". Metal doesn't solve the problem as the joint won't sustain the weight for long term. This is my favorite MS and come in "Perfect Grade" but i'm not sure why i complain so much. Anyway, i got another one. Guess i need to be careful on the second build.

When we talk about details, articulations and proportions of this kit, lets start with detail. Another complain that I heard a lot about the details of this kit especially on its "plain" armor. Compare to PG Astray or OO raiser, yes that this kit looks a bit plain but this "plain" thing doesn't apply to the inner frame and this i'm going to start with the articulations. As the current PG kit, mostly or can be said all using socket joint except the neck joint but again, the weight kill everything. No lock for the joint like in PG OO raiser. As for the proportion, so far everything is good but it can be improve such as increase the length of the neck and torso. Other are just great.

Gimmick, the wings, LED light for the head unit and the bling bling inner frame. Start with the wings, it looks great in the box, manual and even the complete unit from others right. One press at the dragoon and it will slide out, sound wonderful. Lets look at the "dark side", super back heavy, fragile main joint for the wing to the backpack (Back thruster), super annoying auto pop-slide dragoon unit and lastly, super complicated structure that only provided minimal expansion lock. LED unit, i ignore it. Bling Bling inner frame, the MG version have create the expectation. The entire inner frame doesn't come with shiny gold which can be said good to those who will paint it cause cutting the gold plate part out without sanding the nub marks is really paint in ass.

Its seem lots of frustration from me to this kit. Alright, lets enjoy the picture and i'll be back with positive comments. Ah, before that you may have a look on the paint list:

- Mr.Surfacer 1200
- Mr Surfacer 1500 black (as the base for the gold)
- Gold                       -                    Mr.Color Gold mix with Mr.Color Gold GX
- White                     -                     Mr.Color Flat White, Super White
- Blue                        -                    Mr. Color Blue, Character Blue and Metallic Blue
- Red                         -                    Mr. Color Metallic Red
- Dark Blue               -                    Mr. Color Black mix with the blue mixture above
- Dark / Grey            -                    Mr. Color Black  (mix with normal white for a bit gloss effect and                                                          mix flat white for mat effect)

Some painting feedback, remember to coat the gold color because i'm not sure why there is some rusty effect came out pretty badly.

Other application include panel line and stickers, there is no dry transfer decal for this kit.