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The Great Gunpla Census of 2018

 

While I’m fairly opinionated about many things, including Gunpla, I always wondered what the general consensus was about the best and worst kits of the line. I can answer pretty easily for MG and PG kits, but because I’ve decided to focus my collection with those grades I can’t say much about HG while most of my RG thoughts are all second hand. Thus became the impetus behind the Great Gunpla Census of 2018. While planning things out I decided to add a few more questions to get a general idea of what the franchise fan base was thinking. After a few weeks of being called out on r/Gunpla and r/Gundam the census was completed as best possible by 839 fans. While parsing numbers and fixed answer questions is easy, trying to produce simple takeaways from open ended questions not so much, so I didn’t want to go crazy and find myself with a 15,000 collection of answers to sort through.  read more

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Otaku Evolution Episode 120 – Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory

Time to exorcise another evil spirit from my anime fandom and shove Gundam 0083 in the wood chipper where it belongs. Sure, it’s pretty, but it’s also as dumb as a sack of knobs. It’s quite possibly the worst entry into the Universal Century timeline in terms of characters and plot. The characters? Most of them are insufferable. The plot? Goes further than it needs to. Maybe it’s best to watch this by fast forwarding through most of the dialogue to the action bits. Or, you know, watch War in the Pocket or 08th MS Team instead. read more

Bandai 1/48 Mega Size Unicorn Gundam – Review
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Bandai 1/48 Mega Size Unicorn Gundam – Review

As a Unicorn aficionado I was pretty excited to hear about the 1/48 scale Mega Size Gundam Unicorn. My wallet not so much, because you just know there’s going to be half a dozen variants Bandai can release now. Anyhow, just wanted to spend some time reviewing this kit ’cause honestly, as a straight build, it’s sort of meh… but as a “beast of possibility” this kit has more going for it than any previous Unicorn release. PS. this kit is only Destroy mode, you cannot transform into Unicorn mode. read more

CuteCube 1/100 Wondwart Review
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CuteCube 1/100 Wondwart Review

If you can’t tell by the opening photo, fuck this kit.

I was fairly excited to hear that CuteCube, yet another Chinese third-party/illegal Gunpla manufacturer, was going to release a 1/100 Wondwart, one of the magnificent Advance of Zeta designs that have thus far received very little love from Bandai. I knew when it was announced that it was going to have issues. Some pieces that don’t fit here and there, some flashing over there, etc. Given its provenance these sort of things are to be expected. And CubeCute’s kit doesn’t disappoint. There are some pieces that just don’t fit right, either too tight or too lose. There’s flashing issues… everywhere. Okay, no big deal. Like I said, it’s to be expected, right? So why the big stink? read more

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Otaku Evolution Episode 91 – Mobile Suit Gundam III (Movie)

Live (taped) from a secluded Antarctic base’s officer’s club, it’s my review of the final movie in the original Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy! Featuring state-of-the-art animation techniques (lol) and all-star cast of nobodies! I talk a bit about Newtypes, call out Sayla Mass for her lack of awareness, show a mess of clips from the Gundam franchise, all of which I had to shorten frustratingly, and actually utilize more than two sound effects! So strap into your mobile suits and step onto the launch platform, it’s time to finish off the One Year War! read more

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Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 25 [FINAL] – A Rustaling of the Jimmies

SPOILERS

I had a feeling that I was gonna use the article title a week ago when I came up with it. I just did not expect to see it come to light in the way shown in the final episode.

The entire first half is dedicated to the last stand of Tekkadan, with the tunnel successfully made, with the remainder of the family sans Akihiro and Mika escaping by the skin of their teeth. Despite being the finale to a Gundam show, the ultimate bookending battle is bereft of any ideological waxing of various ideas like understanding one another and becoming a better humanity. It is just Akihiro and Mika laying waste to the myriad grunts of Gjallarhorn as they delay them long enough for their comrades to escape. Due to this lack of high-falootin’ conversations, it means a long winding episode of this battle is not in the cards, and pretty much ends when Rustal lets loose one final barrage of Dainsleif weapons on their base. Once you see the Barbatos and Gusion damaged from this one attack, the battle is pretty much over. Yet within all the well-done one sided killing, there is some catharsis to be had. Akihiro crushes Iok to death after recognizing who he was, and thus gives us *A* scalp to have despite the aftermath ending with Julieta killing Mika, decapitating the Barbatos and showing the head off as a trophy for all to see. read more

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Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 24 – The G-Wrekketsu-ning

SPOILERS

I don’t know why I even bother really. Every time an emotional event happens in this show, I expect it to be the ONE Mika has a reaction similar to everybody else breaking down and weeping. Within minutes after the opening occurs (which was led into by Mika being informed of Orga’s fate), Mika instead has his own St. Crispin’s Day speech. Despite Mika’s lack of flair, it is filled with determination, rallying the remainder of Tekkadan to follow through and escape while he and a small contingency of MS delay Gjallarhorn’s advance. Yes you can see a bit of sadness in Mika’s eyes, but his moments in this episode show how he doesn’t really harbor much delusion that he’s totally useless without Orga. read more

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Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 23 – Viva Orphans Namida

SPOILERS

Welp, despite the surrounding of their base by Gjallarhorn, Orga remains undeterred in his plan to get all of Tekkadan out of Mars. After watching this episode, and thinking about what I said this past week, I think I am in error in my perception of conviction then running away. Tekkadan for better or worse may be fighters, and will kill with impunity, but they are not conquerors. Even during Orga’s “I’m gonna be King of the Martians!” phase he is never shown to succumb to greed and ambition, nevermind the rest of Tekkadan. The title is merely a means to an end, and unfortunately for Tekkadan, that means is no longer viable in the long run. read more

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Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 22 – Final Pitstop on that Road to Renewed Strength and Promise?

It’s a bit vaguer in this episode given the circumstances of the plot details. The events of the past few weeks have been a bit more impactful than had already been revealed. However, it is kinda confusing because we ended the last episode with Orga and Mika brandishing some great resolve to do whatever it takes to bring peace…

…Yet it deflates rather quickly moments after they arrive back on Mars. While McGillis and Mika go off to do their thing (the former gets a pass because the head Gjallarhorn guy on Mars owes him one), Orga is faced with more financial hurdles. Accounts are frozen, nobody wants to talk to them, and news of their involvement with McGillis is broadcasted. Orga being Orga of course, buckles under the pressure and instead of giving a St. Crispin’s Day-esque speech about taking down Arianrhod, announces a chance for any and all reluctant Tekkadan members to leave. A lot of them are outraged at this, yet at least we see Zack’s bellyaching go somewhere when he announces he’s leaving. read more