Nekko Basara

Not that anybody cares, but I grabbed three of the Minis and did a little painting to make this trio:

Please rotate your head unit and cough.

Aquarion crossover or AKB0048 crossover - which is scarier?

That's a great place to start! Your first Gundams will have a home and display space waiting for them.

For what it's worth, a pair of those bases were also among the first things that I built about a year and a half ago, when I got back into models through Gunpla. In the intervening time, I've built almost all of the standard RGs, a few MGs, and a pile of assorted other kits. You'll pick it up fast!

(P.S. so jealous of all those exclusive RGs you have!)

Not saying I agree, but I think the key idea is that the concept of air support has changed. Previously, it was necessary to have an aircraft that could get "down and dirty" with the troops, because identifying friendly/enemy forces required getting in close, and delivering munitions with the necessary accuracy when troops were closely engaged meant getting right on top of the target. Now that lower-cost, smaller precision munitions are in widespread use, and ground troops may even have the ability to designate targets for their air support, it's not necessary for an aircraft to get down in the mud. It's just a delivery system for smart munitions, so tacticians can focus on the get-in, get-out approach to survivability without (theoretically) undermining an aircraft's ability to perform effective ground support. If that's the paradigm, then, yes, an F-35 - with stealth, speed, and altitude - is far more survivable than an A-10 that loiters over the battlefield and flies right up the nose of enemy air defenses.

The question I don't feel the F-35 answers is battlefield availability. Loiter time was a major factor in the A-10's design, because the best air support is the air support that's on-hand when you need it. An F-35 isn't going to provide that. I feel as though, if the paradigm I described above is valid, the better model for modern air support is relatively cheap and plentiful stealthy drones that can orbit the battle space with smart munitions ready to go.

Here's what Greg Goebel's Air Vectors has to say about the Crusader folded-wings story:

"The operational history of the F-8 Crusader has an interesting distinction. In August 1960, a US Navy pilot took off from Naples, Italy, and climbed to about 1.5 kilometers. When he leveled off, he found he needed an unusual amount of pressure on the stick. Looking around for the cause, he discovered that he hadn't unfolded his wings! The pilot was obviously cool-headed, since he decided to investigate how the aircraft handled in this configuration while he dumped what fuel he could. After about 24 minutes of flight he came back in for a landing, which was fast but otherwise uneventful. He reported no particular problems flying the aircraft. Vought engineers were very pleased when they heard the story, though Navy brass was far from happy with the incident.

This is said to be the first case where an aircraft took off with folded wings and safely landed again, but Crusaders took off with folded wings at least seven more times afterward. Unsurprisingly, it usually happened at night. One pilot managed to waggle the aircraft and get the wings back down in flight. In response to the posting of an early version of this document on the Internet, the executive officer of the French Aeronavale squadron operating the Crusader, Antoine Guillot, said one of his pilots had pulled the same trick at an airshow in Belgium. Under such circumstances, the pilot might have been able to claim he did it on purpose, as a stunt."

Hehe, I knew I was borrowing a term from the south Pacific, but I didn't think anybody was gonna call me on it. Thanks for the education!

Yeah, good luck identifying a MiG-31 when it's at 50,000ft...

That's a gripe I had with the original article. It says RAF jets were scrambled after Russian bombers were "seen" off Cornwall. The headline makes it sound like some geriatric WWII coastwatcher was out there with impossibly huge binoculars and called in to his local aerodrome.

I'm guessing a more accurate headline would be something like, "RAF jets scrambled after Russian aircraft approach Cornwall after being tracked on radar for an hour."

You could mention how virtually every fantasy air combat anime ever made, especially ones featuring open-cockpit designs or floating battleships with massive deckspaces, almost entirely ignore the problem of decreased air temperature or oxygen levels with altitude. As far as air combat manoeuvres go, theres also the "Immelmann turn" in "Last Exile", which you could point out shouldn't be called an "Immelmann turn" in-universe as its named after a real world pilot.

Oh man, that drove me crazy, too! Especially how the crazy Dilandau guy gets so wrapped up in it that he starts referring to the protagonist as "Immelman" all the time. And it wasn't even a proper Immelman turn! An Immelman is really sort of a hammerhead-turn at a lower inclination, but what they were talking about was the reverse of a split-S. Ugh, that show...

Amusingly, the Pugachev Cobra was featured by name in the episode of Gundam Build Fighters TRY that aired yesterday. I'm not sure if that would fit your theme, since it was accomplished with a transformed mobile suit rather than a real aircraft, but it gave me a good chuckle.

I got a package from Jungle today!

(Sorry for the picture spam, but she is too adorable!)

I generally watch reviews more for entertainment than specifically to evaluate potential purchases. My purchasing logic is more like, "Is it RG? Then I'm buying it."

Having said that, I've been enjoying Mecha Gaikotsu's videos recently. The gunpla content is a bit light (I go more for the figma reviews), but he speaks clearly and enthusiastically, has a consistent format, and he goes FAST. You get a lot of well-considered info in a review that is generally under 10 minutes.

Okay, so this isn't a Gundam, but I did a crazy-fast build this past weekend (fast for me, anyways) and got this:

Nineball from the original Armored Core series.

(Because the Power of Rock is always serious.)

Sinanju is looking sharp! Glad to hear you are back in action with it.

There is nothing more serious than the Power of Rock.

thanks for the pics. i also noticed the instruction booklet included with the kit linked is the aile strike booklet. it's just weird that's there's a stand alone kit that's has less parts than the aile strike that's a web exclusive. i would think it would be the other way around.

Yeah, that is very bizarre. I guess that there was either a time or a market where the Aile Strike kit wasn't available but the Skygrasper was? Although, as the Aile is RG #03 (released 4/11) and the Skygrasper is RG #06 (released 2/12), I'm having trouble understanding how that might have happened. Maybe the first run of the Aile had become scarce by the time the Skygrasper came out, and this "Limited" version in 3/12 was plugging the gap.

i got the aile strike and sky grasper together sitting on my table.

i found this

and was wondering if it's the same thing as the aile strike just without the aile pack or is it different?

I didn't know this existed until your post, but as far as I can tell Googling around and looking at the sprue shots, it really is the standard RG Aile Strike minus the Aile pack (at a much higher price). Check the comments here, for example.

20 bucks on Amazon with a month wait isn't what I call amazing either.

Krylon Crystal Clear seems like a good alternative at almost half the cost and more readily available I think. I'm about out of what I use so maybe it's time to try something different!

Yeah, I have my eye on the Krylon acrylic Crystal Clear and Matte (although, if I want gloss, I can just use Future - it self-levels well amazingly well, even when brushed on). Reviews I've seen have been mixed, but I should be able to get some locally at Walmart and just try it out.

As far as the Mr.Hobby stuff goes, I did find ebay sellers that will ship within the US for about $8-$10 per can, but that's still more than I'd like to pay.

That's really cool how (now that we know) we can see the extra parts to the Winning Gundam's real mode stored in the SD. And, likewise, you can see how the SD head becomes the fighter/backpack. The only bit I can't figure out is where the real mode head comes from, but maybe it is just inside the SD head.

Yeah, the RG Strike is great... until you put the Aile pack on him, and he becomes a back-heavy mess. Pretty much the only reason I want the overpriced RG Skygrasper is so I can switch Aile Strike to Sword Strike.

My gripes with it are more that the shoulders and head look oddly detached, and the overall proportions strike me as more awkward than heroic. I think it's a result of Bandai building the Strike on a frame that is really designed for the RX-78-2. I don't have the same concerns with the other Seed RGs, but they use a different frame.

Personally, I have no concerns with the back-heaviness of the Seed designs in general. They aren't ground suits, and when they wear their various packs they are generally flying, often in space; I see the packs as more supporting the weight of the suits than the other way around. For that reason, I'm totally alright with needing a stand to get a natural look from them in model form. Having said that, the MG Strike Rouge seems to defy physics by being able to stand naturally with its Ootori pack attached and unsupported. I think it's a combination of excellent balance (it doesn't rest all its weight on the heels, the way most RGs do) and very stiff joints.

Perhaps another reason is the debate on whether or not to retain the same voice actress that played Sei. Seven years is a lot for male characters to change their voices from their early teens. Female characters can easily get away with having the same voice actresses after several years; hence we have Yui Ishikawa reprising her role as China.

In the case of Sei, having Mikako Komatsu play a 20+ year-old Sei will be very awkward. At the same time, casting a male actor to play Sei may not connect well with fans of the previous season.

That's a really good point!

Just finished the MG Strike Rouge + Ootori. I am tremendously impressed with its solidity and overall look compared to the RG Aile Strike. It is also the first kit I have fully top-coated, due to its use of so many dry-transfer markings. Rather than spraying down the completed kit, I finished and coated all of the external armor parts separately, leaving the frame pieces (even where exposed) uncoated. I used Mr. Hobby Semi-Gloss, which gave a great finish but was prohibitively expensive; I'm seeking a good alternative that is cheaper but still acrylic, so my panel lining won't run.

P.S. - UN_MARINE, I love the "flame-treated" look on your boosters!

My theory (maybe guess is a better word) is that the reason we didn't see a grown-up Sei in the original teaser, and they won't have him in the show, is that they don't want to design a "grown up" Sei because it would hurt self-identification that younger fans built with him. He was sort of the "this could be you" self-insert character of season 1, but he has necessarily grown up much faster than viewers have, so showing him as a grown-up would be jarring to young fans. The same argument could be made for the other season 1 protagonist, Reiji, who is similarly absent.

Whatever the reason, I'm annoyed, too. I love to see China back in the show, however briefly and implausibly (they don't have courier services in their world?), but I want Sei back as well!

I'll let you decide how high you feel my horse is, and whether I have dismounted or not, but...

I'm not talking about Sei/China, or Reiji/Aila for that matter, or anything that happened in season 1. I'm talking about season 2, where Fumina - who is the intelligent, independent backbone of the team and the best character in the season - turns into a tired anime cliche in specific, contrived circumstances. Setting aside why she should be so infatuated with a weird red-headed kid whose (forgive me) balls clearly haven't dropped yet, we have to ask, "Does Fumina realistically act like she has a crush on Sekai?"

I'd say, no. She has no trouble talking to him in normal contexts, whether out casually or in their club activities. She doesn't get all shy or stumble over her words or do any of that nonsense. Neither is she seeking out chances to be with him, or trying to get his attention. She doesn't seem at all concerned with how he feels about her, or getting him to express it. Likewise, she doesn't seem either inclined or reluctant to express her feelings to him. I admit it's been a long time since I was that age, but these are all things that real adolescents, as well as anime characters, do.

No, the only time we see Fumina have romantic feelings about Sekai are when - over and over - another girl arrives on the scene and the writers get to pull the raging jealousy gag. It's unrealistic and it's also redundant; Gyanko already exists in the show for that purpose - and no other, as far as I can tell. I'm not saying this is "ruining" Fumina, it's just creating these annoying out-of-character moments for an otherwise excellent female protagonist.