Author: Falldog

Posted in

Three Episodes In – Last Exile – Fam, The Silver Wing

Last Exile – Fam, The Silver Wing is a sequel to the 2003 series Last Exile. Featuring Gonzo’s terrible CGI and Range Murata’s iconic character designs, the original went onto become beloved by many. Fam, The Silver Wing takes place after the original with a few direct ties. The synopsis from the Last Exile wiki, To the Sky…

Set as a sequel to the original Last Exile that aired in 2003, Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- (ラストエグザイル～銀翼のファム～, Rasuto Eguzairu Ginyoku no Famu) is a story about great air battles with flying machines, powerful armies, and mysterious organizations. The main character is Fam Fan Fan, a fifteen-year-old girl who gets caught up in a war between two nations. Ades, the antagonist, wants the princess of Turan dead. With the help of Dio Eraclea, Fam and her friend Giselle Collette try to thwart the efforts of Ades.

So how does Fam look after three episodes?

It’s been a long while since I’ve watched the original Last Exile, Fam may be the catalyst that gets me to dust off the box set. One thing I remember is that the story wasn’t exactly the simplest things to follow. As I understand it, the series takes place on a giant space colony meant to house the inhabitants of Earth while it rejuvenates. Certain elements on the colony seek access to Exile, which turns out to be a large spaceship meant to ferry folks from this space colony back to Earth. Fam, as far as I can tell, takes place further in the future where Earth has once again become populated by those who left (and they’re at war with those who stayed). Up in the night sky they can see five crescent shaped moons, which are apparently other exiles, including the original (which is apparently still making round trips). read more

Falldogby Falldog•
Posted in

Three Episodes In – Guilty Crown

I wanted to take some time to talk about the new anime series, Guilty Crown, whose third episode just aired in Japan. While this little review doesn’t contain much in the way of spoilers, I suppose it’s geared toward those who have already seen an episode or two. For those who haven’t, here’s the synopsis, straight from Wikipedia…

Guilty Crown’s setting begins in 2029 when an unidentified "Apocalypse Virus" spreads and plunges Japan into a state of emergency in an chaos known as the "Lost Christmas". An international organization known as the GHQ intervenes with martial law and restores order to Japan at the cost of its independence.
Ten years later in 2039, Shu Ouma, a 17-year-old high school student who keeps to himself in school, meets Inori Yuzuriha, the lead singer for Egoist, while visiting one of his favourite places on his way home from school. Shu is a big fan of Inori, a singer who has taken the Internet world by storm. However, he also discovers the other side of her, which is that she is a member of "Undertakers", a resistance group that aims to liberate Japan from the GHQ. Shu starts taking a part in the actions of "Undertakers" and the "king’s mark" appears on his right hand. This "mark" bestows on him the power to reach inside another person’s body and extract and materialize a weapon from it.

Watching the first couple episodes I felt that the show had a Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex feel to it, and no wonder. Guilty Crown is another beautiful looking series by Production I.G. Thus far the episodes have been featured incredibly detailed designs, most noticeably the backdrops. It’s almost oppressive and distracting in a sense. While Tiger & Bunny’s detailed backdrops faded into the background those in Guilty Crown seem to lack that same sort of depth.
Thought beautiful, the potential for overwhelming is not my main concern when it comes to the animation. Instead, it’s the sustainability. The third episode seems to show the structure crumble just a bit. Random shots here and there come off as pretty plain in comparison to highly detailed shots just few seconds prior. Maybe it’s just me, but I wonder how long it can last (Tiger & Bunny hasn’t left a good mark). read more

Falldogby Falldog•
Posted in

MG Delta Plus – WIP Update 01

It’s been quite the while since I’ve posted anything Gunpla related around these parts. Part of that has been due the frustratingly slow progress on my MG Delta Plus.

I’ve been working on her since I finished up my review of the kit. The first bit of trouble was September. It rained for most of the month and whatever free time I did have wasn’t conducive to painting. Things picked up a bit recently but I ran into trouble on several of the parts. Initially I had intended to give this a WWII German inspired night bomber scheme. Black, gray, and a bit of yellow. While the general scheme is still going forward a large aspect, the camo, has been giving me nothing but trouble. Initially squiggly, the tests weren’t good enough and I figured I would go with sharp angles instead. Following some mighty frustrating paint issues I’m back at square one on a lot of parts. They’re getting sanded back down and primed for a new, solid coat. I’m probably going to use a slightly different shade on them as well to add another level to the project. It probably won’t be very noticeable on camera though. I still haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to proceed forward with my German theme as a whole, namely the decals I ordered. read more

Falldogby Falldog••0
Posted in

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Reviewed – Everything you heard is true

I’m not sure if we’ve ever had a game review here on OR but I felt it necessary to vent about Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. I’ve been a fan of the series since Ace Combat 4 for the PS2, and despite my better judgment, ended up purchasing this game. I should have canceled my preorder after playing the demo.

The most common criticism you hear about this game, the plethora of comparisons to Modern Warfare, are completely true. It’s as though Project Aces and Namco looked at the success of the franchise specifically and said, “Well fuck, we want to make that kind of money too!” Besides taking the game into the ‘real world’ they’ve pulled the same enemy: militaristic nationalist Russian fringe groups. They’ve even gone as far to include an extremely similar C-130 Spooky support mission and define approach vectors ala HAWX. read more

Falldogby Falldog•
Posted in

SD 00 Gundam Seven Sword/G – Review on GGIN

 

A snippet from the review…

 

In my reviews I try to present the kit as how a proper straight build would look, aka nothing more than some simple nub removal and whatever main stickers are required to ‘finish’ the kit. Since this snap out method is new to me I figured I’d give it a shot. The results, for better or worse, you can see in the photos. All this, though, wraps back to my thoughts regarding SD kits. In my opinion they are both the easiest kits to build, and the hardest. read more

Falldogby Falldog••0
Posted in

HG Shining Gundam – Reviewed on GGIN

 


A bit from the review…

 

Before I go much further I need to mention that it’s been an incredibly long time since I built a HG kit. In fact, the only 1/144 scale kit I worked on in the past four years has been the RG Strike. Heading into this project I have some reservations. I remember a time when the HG kits weren’t the most impressive models, laden with questionable joints and countless stickers. With trepidation I began building this kit and found out very early on that it was… fun!
2011 started with one extremely complicated project, the PG Strike Freedom. With that troubling time still fresh in my memory I found Shining Gundam’s simplicity and ease of construction refreshing. Not only was it a fun build but it’s a fun to own. While there are a couple issues here and there it’s incredibly posable, a necessity for a kit built around hand to hand combat. read more

Falldogby Falldog••0
Posted in

MG Detal Plus – Foot Fix

In my earlier review of the Delta Plus I mentioned that the feet have a habit of collapsing forward due to the weight and a loose joint in the foot. Since then it seems that I’m not the only one to experience the issue and figure it worthwhile to offer up some suggestions. I’m sure there will be more advanced solutions from the more experienced community members but what I offer are quick fixes. Nothing spectacular, nothing glamorous, but more than enough to mitigate the issue. read more

Falldogby Falldog••0
Posted in

MG Delta Plus Review [Updated x2]

 

The MG Delta Plus was an instant day one purchase. Another in the line of fantastic designs from Gundam Unicorn, the Delta Plus is a worthy descendant of Kazumi Fujita’s famous Zeta Gundam. Like him, or hate him, I think Hajime Katoki’s Delta is fantastic. Design wise it’s hard to argue against the aesthetics, but how would it fare as a Master Grade kit? As any Gundam modeler will tell you Bandai doesn’t have the greatest of track record when it comes to transforming kits, both within and outside of the Zeta inspired lineage. So how well does this newest addition hold up? Let’s take a look… read more

Falldogby Falldog••0