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mikeszekely

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Everything posted by mikeszekely

  1. mikeszekely
    I'd think that, as someone who's worked with alclad, you'd have a better idea than someone like me who makes a colossal mess with a tiny paint brush. But personally, I'd think that the Nu would have too many colors for a real head-to-toe job, though it'd probably look good on the inner frame and the black parts of the torso, legs, and arms. And yeah, I'd think Turn X would work. Looks like a MG GN-X, from Gundam 00.
  2. mikeszekely
    Ah, but therein lies the rub. I've gone "out of the lines", so to speak, adding a few details to some of my Transformers with a silver Sharpie. I'm pretty sure if I tried to do anything serious on a nice Gundam model I'd just muck it up. You mean besides the obvious Hyaku Shinki or Akatsuki? Maybe Delta Plus. You could go for either a gray metal look, or you could repaint it in gold as the original Delta Gundam.
  3. mikeszekely
    Hey, you guys know those Variable Fighter Master File books we all drool over? I just discovered today that there are at least four Mobile Suit Master File books, too. RX-78 Gundam RGM-79 GM MSZ-06 Zeta Gundam RX-78GP01 Zephyranthes. I'm mentioning this for two reasons. One, if you're like me, you maybe didn't know these existed. And two, if you did know that they existed, maybe you could tell me if there's more than those four?
  4. mikeszekely
    I'd be lying if I said it didn't sour me on them a little, but like I said, it's not really their fault. I ordered Mania King and preordered the Hegemon reissue, and Hegemon was supposed to ship in July. Now they don't even have Mania King on their site anymore, so I'm stuck here while they have my money and (hopefully still) my Mania King while I wait for Hegemon. I did send them a tweet. Supposedly Hegemon was delayed at the factory. So who knows.
  5. mikeszekely
    Well? Did you like is as much as I thought you would?
  6. mikeszekely
    So I've heard. It's not their fault, I guess, but the only order I've ever done with CP, paid for back on 6-7, has been pending a preorder ever since. The preorder item is still up for preorder, with an estimated ship date of last month.
  7. mikeszekely
    That sounds intimidating. But I might like to try my hand at customizing, one day. Maybe start with a Shin Matsunaga Zaku, and beef it up as my personal OYW MS.
  8. mikeszekely
    Well, I finished my GP01. After my experience with Zeta, I was a little worried that the Core Fighter gimmick would negatively impact this kit, but I gotta say it came together really well at the end. If I have a complaint about this kit, it'd be the lack of stickers. The sticker sheet seems quite a bit smaller than all of the other RG kits I've built, and it's weird because there are spots where some color is actually needed. Specifically, the knobs on the top of the shoulder armor should be yellow/gold, and there should be gold triangles on the rounded raised sections on the front of the skirt armor. Curiously, there's a hole in the white part that shows the blackish part underneath that's sort of triangular with the corners cut off... it makes wonder why they didn't just put little triangles on the A runner that could have fit into the front of the skirt through the hole before you clip it to the back. I'm tempted to look into those metallic Sharpies... is the gold more yellow or brownish? Also, aside from the front of the left shoulder, the shoulder armor is pretty bare. I'd have liked an Albion marking or even an EFSF marking for the right shoulder. Still, at the end of it all the GP01 still looks pretty fantastic. I'm not as big a fan of the Kawamori-designed Gundams as some people are (I know, blasphemy on a Macross board) and didn't have very high expectations, but as of right now I'd rank it just behind the Zaku as the third-best RG kit. And, minor complaints about the appearance aside, it's not hard to tell which is the Real Grade and which is the no-grade, is it?
  9. mikeszekely
    All of them.
  10. mikeszekely
    In my personal head fanon, Spacebrick was born with a defective CPU. He runs around Autobot headquarters, buggering his fellow Autobots from behind and yelling, "Me am leader!" The only reasons why they tolerate him is because he's related to Optimus, and because his armored form is bigger than a Dinobot and just as prone to smashing Decepticons.
  11. mikeszekely
    More Spacebrick watch (and I can't believe Gakken hasn't posted this already) via Twitter
  12. mikeszekely
    The director basically says "F* the source material," but hopes are high? I'm having a hard time believing that this is even going to be better than the 2005 version.
  13. mikeszekely
    Did you paint that copper on the vernier in his shoulder armor? What paint did you use? I know, I know, I keep saying I suck at it, but I have half a mind to replace all the copper foil stickers with that paint on all my RG kits. I guess the mirrored silver is harder to do with paint, though.
  14. mikeszekely
    Really? They seem pretty secure. The yellow parts are good and secure on the chest intakes, too, in Gundam configuration. Problem is, now the white part is loose on the side... enough to wiggle, but not enough to come off. Another bummer... the joints in the inner frame of the left leg were really tight, so instead of moving, one of the moving parts came off above the knee. Some of the plastic nub that grips into the socket on the knee looks damaged, and it didn't want to go back together. I wound up trimming some of the damaged area, and putting a little glue on the nub, but GP01 might not have as dynamic a pose as some of the other kits. Anyway, I should finish GP01 some time tomorrow. For a kick, I have a no-grade 1/144 GP01, one of the first models I ever painted (because without paint, the entire torso, shield, and both hands were blue, the entire head was white without even eye stickers, and all of his limb parts including all of his feet were white). He looks... well, not too bad considering how long ago it was and how terrible my painting skills are, but still really bad. It'll be fun to see them side by side.
  15. mikeszekely
    Won't be long now, then. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it when it's done.I started the GP01. Not much to say except that it's kind of irritating the way they direct you to build the intakes one way, then take them apart and flip them around to make the chest vents. I have no idea what Kawamori was thinking for the actual Gundam, and I don't care if it's not Core Fighter II accurate, but I'm leaving them in the chest vent position now.
  16. mikeszekely
    At least Quess gets what's coming to her, while Jar-Jar goes on to appear and even star in several episodes of The Clone Wars.
  17. mikeszekely
    I see. Yeah, that sounds about right. If giggling at the notion of Strike mugging my other models at knifepoint is wrong, I don't wanna be right. Once I started getting back into Gunpla (listen to me, talking about a few weeks ago as if it were years), that's one of the things that surprised me. I know Syd over at Gaijin Gunpla often mentions that he hasn't watched a particular show when he's building a kit from it. I think one of the neat things about Gunpla is how it can attract people who just like cool robots, and have never seen the show. No, you're confusing Gundam with Robotech. And, as someone who's seen basically all of Gundam (even G-Saviour... *shivers*), most of it more than once, and who actually prefers Gundam to even Macross *ducks for cover*, my tastes and how I chose to modify (or more accurately, not modify) my kits is undoubtedly shaped by that. But again, that's the beauty of Gunpla, how it can be different things to different people. After all, Sei's Star Build Strike surely wasn't a straight Strike build, right? I think it's awesome the way that people customize their kits, and some of the really talented modelers out there really blow me away with their work. I tend to go more for the straight builds, though, because to me I'm building a character in a show I love. Although, as my skills improve, maybe one day I'll buy a HGUC Zaku and some of the Build parts and make my own personal Zaku Custom...
  18. mikeszekely
    I mean, I guess if lean is your think, Strike is definitely the leanest RG kit I've built so far. Like I said, though, I'm really more into the UC designs, and SEED/SEED Destiny are generally some of my least favorite designs. I'm just really into the RG line, and from that point of view, Strike's very good, but less so with the Aile Striker. I'm starting to seriously consider getting the Skygrasper, then displaying Strike as Sword Strike. As for Exia... I don't know, when I ordered him, I was really excited to build him, but now I'm not as much. I think I might actually start the GP01 tomorrow. Oh, and I ordered Freedom and GP01fb, too, so that'll just leave Skygrasper and Char's Z'Gok before I've got them all. Depending on when they come, I might move Freedom up to the top of the list. What can I say... I've been rewatching SEED (yes, I still think it's the worst Gundam series, but bad Gundam still beats most other stuff). I've got about four episodes left, and I kind of want to build Freedom while the show is fresh in my mind. Justice probably gets to jump ahead in line for the same reason. Well, the pieces pop out pretty easy. I can't say that they won't leave some marks, but if you're careful its not like you'll have thick lumps of plastic on the sides of the segments. It helps a little if you start from the furthest segment out and twist at little when you pop it out. Other than that, I don't really know what to tell you. I'm a fan of the Zaku series of mobile suits in general, and I wound up really liking the RG version. If you're not really into Zakus, though, its definitely a little different than building a Gundam. If it were up to be, we'd get RG versions of the Hizack and Zaku III, but something tells me not to hold my breath. As for the rifle drum... Yeah, it'd have been cool if they'd have thrown it in, especially when Zeta and the Mk-II both come with extra packs for their rifles, and especially because the drum clips onto the Zaku's skirt. But I think it's a bigger disappointment that there's no place to store the Zaku's rifle, or that he doesn't come with a cracker that could be stored on the skirt armor. *EDIT* Oh yeah, I almost forgot, can you elaborate on why you don't like Strike's knives? Is it the concept, or the execution? Because I can see how giving a mobile suit a couple of knives when everything else in that show is shooting energy beams galore is a little silly, but considering that it's in the show I rather like the execution on the model kit. Strike can grip them fairly well with the RG-style hands, and they store in the skirt armor much more snugly than Zeta's beam saber hilts.
  19. mikeszekely
    Strike And Strike with the Aile Striker pack. Some thoughts on my last two builds... the Zaku was actually pretty fun. I thought that the hoses would suck, since (as I think Hikuro mentioned) each segment of the hose is a separate piece. While they're not as pleasant as the Mk-II's, they're actually not too bad as long as you follow the instructions and feed the inner piece through the segments while they're still on the runner. The result, especially on the legs, seems sturdier and more flexible than on the hoses on the HGUC Gouf Custom. On the downside, a lot of the inner black piece can show in between the segments. I also like it that the Zaku gives you a lot of options for customizing... there's two pieces for the top of the head, one that's smooth and one with a notch for attaching a crest... of which you get two. The stickers also give you three different Zeon emblems for each of the three locations the instructions say they go, and a bunch of rank insignias, numbers, and letters. My only gripe there is that there's only one of each letter, and only one of each of the big numbers. The Zaku comes with a machine gun, bazooka, and a heat hawk... no leg missiles, sturmfaust, crackers, or Top cannon. The bazooka can be stored on the rear skirt armor, the magazine for the machine gun can be stored on the rear or on side skirt armor, and the heat hawk can be stored with an optional clip on the rear or side skirt armor. The Zaku doesn't seem to have a place to store the rifle when it's not in use, though, which is a bit of a letdown since every other RG kit I've build does, except for Strike. It might have been because it was so different after building RG Gundam after Gundam, or it might be because the RG "if it existed in real life" style really gives a lot of detail and life to what was a pretty simple animated design, but I think the Zaku II might be my favorite RG kit after the Mk-II. As for Strike, he's got a some gimmicks I like. There's the tiny Armor Schneider knives, which fold up and store in the side skirt armor, for one. There's also the way that you build the entire cockpit as one unit, then stick it onto the frame and build the rest of the torso around it. The result is pretty solid by RG standards. The stickers also come with a few options. In the default build, you have the O.M.N.I. insignia on the front of the right shoulder, and the model number on the left. Since the RX-78, Mk-II, Strike Freedom, and Zeta I already built have their assigned ship on the right and the model on the left, I opted to put an Archangel sticker on the front of Strike's right shoulder. The stickers also give you three "110" stickers, but I couldn't find anywhere that indicated where to use them, so I put the O.M.N.I. shoulder sticker on the back of the left shoulder, and one of the 110s on the back of the right, and the second 110 on the left rear skirt armor. The third 110 (which is white instead of gray) went onto the black part of the Aile Striker's right wing. Finally, for some reason you're given two of the sticker that goes in the center of the shield. Since it's a white O.M.N.I. insignia, and since I didn't have one on the front of Strike, I cut part of it off and put it on the front left of Strike's chest. I think my enjoyment of Strike actually goes down with the Aile Striker. Sure, it's basically the default version of Strike, but like the other SEED kits it suffers from being too back-heavy, plus the Aile Striker seems to interfere with Strike's ability to turn his head. I suppose it's not as big a deal if you put them on Action Bases, but to me it just reminds me how the older Gundam designs are a little more like almost believable military hardware while the SEED designs are just over-the-top and flashy.
  20. mikeszekely
    So he's going to be a big pointy Spacebrick. Since I'm not familiar with Victory, is it normal for him to be a lot bigger than Prime? Although, I think Prime was dead in that series... By the way... Optimus Prime very nearly was a Green Lantern. IDW and DC were in talks to do a Transformers/Justice League crossover, and IDW editor Chris Ryall wanted to make Optimus a Green Lantern in it. Plans for the crossover were scrapped, though, when DC decided to reboot with the New 52.
  21. mikeszekely
    It's a quirk of the Universal Century that everyone seems to be on a first name basis. It's always "Amuro," "Commander Char," "Sovereign Degwin," or "Captain Bright", never "Ray," "Commander Aznable," "Sovereign Zabi," or "Captain Noa." Hey... I'd like to think he made it through the One Year War, laid low for a few years, hooked up with the AEUG, defected back to Axis, made it through the first Neo Zeon War, skipped the second Neo Zeon War because, while he's all for Zeon's independence and the rights of Spacenoids in the face of a corrupt Federation, dropping Axis on Earth is a little extreme. Maybe he hooks up with the Sleeves, maybe he as adventures after 0096, but he's retired on a nice colony by 0123. And you know why he lives, while Tomino is killing everyone else? Because he has the good sense not to screw with Gundam pilots. I don't think we need a separate thread. The RGs are my favorite, but Gunpla is Gunpla. If someone wants to show off a PG they build (*cough cough Hikuro cough*), I'm still going to admire it. Besides, it's not like this thread gets a ton of action, like the Transformers thread or the something. Do it! Pics? Half the fun of Gunpla is showing it off later. Speaking of...
  22. mikeszekely
    Oooh... I wouldn't mind a 1/144 Unicorn Destroy Mode for my own collection. By the way, my Zaku pilot has a name.
  23. mikeszekely
    Why would you want to use a controller for Mass Effect on PC, when you have a perfectly good mouse and keyboard? It's like asking nails to work better with a screwdriver when you already have a hammer.
  24. mikeszekely
    I use minimal amounts of paint on HG kits, because I really suck at painting models, and zero on the RG kits. As for panel lining, I haven't done any because I'm afraid that I'll suck at it as much as I do at painting, but I can see how they'd make a HG kit pop. My Gouf Custom is pretty monochrome. I don't really see the need for it on the RG kits, though. The armor already has enough seems and what not, and they have a realistic sort of "if I built a 15m tall robot war machine, it'd look like this" way. Drawing panel lines on an RG kit is sort of like adding a cartoon detail. Of course, the thing that's great about Gunpla is that everyone can do it however they like! Paint it, don't paint it, draw panel lines, don't draw panel lines, build lots of MS in one scale or build your favorite MS in many different scales, be a fan of RG or be a fan of MG, Gunpla has options for everyone. Ok, the size I can see, maybe. I mean, I'd have to see the real tank with a person next to it, and maybe the little Amuro piece next to the model tank. But they weigh the same? How light is Luna Titanium supposed to be?
  25. mikeszekely
    Three months? I'm hoping I get three weeks out of it. I'll probably order Freedom, GP02fb, and Char's Z'Gok in a week or two, then start on a couple of HG kits of mobile suits I really want in my collection, but aren't likely to get a RG kit any time soon. Stuff like the Zaku III. Not sold on the Skygrasper. An OCD part of me wants to do all the RG kits, but even on Amazon it's $25+ for a dinky plane and some add ones for Strike when I know I'm going to pose him with the Aile Striker pack anyway. As for what I'll do first... I kind of wanted to do Exia. But, I have two RG Zakus, so I might do one first and one last... especially since, of all the models I have built, the only ones that aren't Gundams are a Zaku I (Black Tri-Stars) and a Gouf Custom. I could use more Zeon suits.
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