This series is currently a bit of a tease and I am unsure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It almost seems as if Mika, Akihiro, and the rest of Tekkadan would really go full force against the Mobile Armour in an arena-like battle this episode, nevermind Macky and Isurugi against Vidar/Galli-Galli. Yet nope, Tekkadan is relegated to strategery once again this episode, thanks to an unanticipated safety precaution in the Gundam Frames, and Vidar instead leaves, delaying the face off against Macky for another time, but not without making his existence known to him. In fact the true final battle with the Mobile Armour will take place next week, alongside the results of its fallout.
gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 11 – MAGA
Before I allow you all to kick my ass for such an article title, that’s shorthand for:
Mobile
Armours’re
Great
Again
When was the last time a massive mobile suit/mobile armour in a Gundam series generated such a sense of ominous dread? I mean yeah, Build Fighters had the Giant Zaku, but nobody was gonna die from that; Gundam SEED Destiny had an alright thing going with the Destroy before it became a mass-produced grunt unit alongside other Earth Alliance MAs; Ein was only fine in the first season of this; and Gundam Age.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 10 – Demons on Mars
Just when I think the episode will play as one big gigantic battle on Mars where Tekkadan and Macky get one big bloody nose, the series drops on the lore. Then, in lieu of an omnipresent narrator aware of past history (the one heard these days in the prologue only goes so far as last week), we have the characters in the show world building for us again. It has been a while since it dropped some major points in the past during the Calamity War, so what occurs in this episode must be welcomed with open arms.
Dragon Momoko 1/60 PG Unicorn Gundam – Project Start & Initial Review
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The next in another long line of “screw it, I’ll build another Unicorn” is Dragon Momoko’s 1/60 Perfect Grade Unicorn Gundam. As a huge proponent of buying official Bandai kits wherever possible, you’re probably wondering why I’d bother with a standard bootleg Unicorn. Dragon Momoko’s Unicorn kit unlike the other Chinese copies out there in that comes redesigned with a plethora of added detail to the outer frame.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 09 – Tekkadan Into Darkness
Ugh, the scene I got this picture from invokes all sorts of dread for the upcoming future episodes. It bookends the episode, and we see a glimpse of what makes this Agnika Kaieru mean so much to Maccy. The political philosophy of this person is not only the foundation of the original Gjallarhorn, but one meant to create a way to maximize the happiness of the human condition. Unfortunately, this seems to also imply norms like child marriage and love with large enough age disparity can be made acceptable, given Almiria’s reaction after Maccy tells her this, as well as his response.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 08 – Earthxit
As per a usual intense episode with a lot of emotionally-crippling losses at hand, we get a wound licking episode the following week. And as per usual Iron-Blooded Orphans, it always has something interesting to be had with all its characters. We’ve ANOTHER timeskip (one month since the last episode), and the next moves are still being planned by both sides. It’s a nice enough dynamic in showing a lengthy passage of time, whereas in earlier Gundam shows it would either be a pretty linear day-by-day endeavour (the original, SEED, G, etc.) or as a big dramatic impact by way of a large time gap (00, Age).
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 07 – Catharsis
Now this is the kind of balls to the wall action I wanted around the time of episode 3. The intensity and great choreography is there, but more importantly it has the emotional core and tension I thought was missing in the space battle. The initial fight, which had Maccy go up against Takaki and Aston, and be BESTED by both of them is a very good affair, and almost had me think at the time how he would taken down a peg and set back a few spaces by injury, capture, or maybe death.
Alas though, the timely rescue by Mika and the rest of the Tekkadan crew puts the kibosh on those developments. This is fine, as well as their victory over Galan and his mercenaries. Battles where losses are sustained and they only get out of it by the skin of their teeth make for the right kind of excitement and entertainment. After all the foreshadowing in the past few episodes, we now see who dies in this one: Aston. Predictable to be sure (although I was certain Takaki would die too), but his death is handled well. There is a bit of similarity here to how Akihiro tried to save Masahiro after being taking a fatal blow, but it shows how old habits of broken Human Debris die hard even after the first season. All that resentment, all that reconditioning to feel after being told not to for so long, gets to a person. However, Takaki and Aston part on good terms.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 06 – Battle of The Plains of Alberta
Like the Edmonton battle before it, the battle in this episode starts in media res, taking place two weeks after the events that transpired in the previous show. Unfortunately for Takaki, Aston, and the rest of the Earth-based Tekkadan members, they’re smack dab in the kind of warfare they are not familiar with. It turns out I was wrong last week when I said the bearded man is another name for Kamen Galli-Galli, but the guy who’s now heading Tekkadan’s battle operations, Galan Mossa.
Brilliant strategery abounds this episode, and well-timed since it gives the audience something to look forward to in terms of tension, and stops the series from becoming an Orga-y of Maccinations (I regret nothing). You do feel for Takaki and Aston, who despite doing their best, are still completely unaware they are being played by Galan. The man uses throughout this episode psychological conditioning to subvert the chain of command, carrot-and-sticking them into constant battles. It’s one thing if Tekkadan were a bunch of younger to middle-aged adults, but now their success is being used against them. It’s one thing to be manipulated while being young and poor, but what happens when you’re in a position of power? Shit’s getting awful and you just know it whenever Takaki and Aston opine in this episode. I’m finding Galan and Radice to be MUCH worse than Maccy. Sure what Maccy has done and is going to do is horrible, but then again at the same time Rustal and the rest of Gjallarhorn are just as bad as he is, if not worse. Plus Radice is a spiteful little man who betrays Tekkadan not out of some desire (misguided or not) to reform it, but of envy, and that’s always the worst kind of betrayal.
Heaven & Hell, a MG Unicorn Project – Hell Redux
Back in 2014 I swapped out the pyschoframes of a MG Unicorn Gundam and a MG Phenex Gundam. While I had intended to paint them, they unfortunately got set aside as different projects popped up. Now, over two years later, I’ve picked up the project again, starting with Hell.
Not too much to say about this project. For the most part things went well, though I was delayed a few days as I sanded and repainted a few times to get the gold coat as I could reasonably hope to obtain. There are a few pieces that I would’ve reworked a few more times, but I set myself up to get the kit completed by October 31st for a r/Gunpla group build. Paint wise, I used four different golds; Tamiya Titanium Gold, Tamiya Gold Leaf, Model Master Gold, and Valspar Brilliant Metal Gold. The red is Tamiya Flat Red and the frame Tamiya German Gray. To keep the gold looking gold, I didn’t use any top coat on the gold pieces.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 05 – Cool Hand Chad
I do believe what we have here is a “failure to communicate” on this week’s episode. It is not just the distance between Mars and Earth that Tekkadan has to struggle with, it is also the fact they’re still fairly innocent about the world. Oh don’t get me wrong, their lives sucked before they started wearing the big boy pants, yet this impacting line by Takaki defines what I believe will be a prevailing arc this season:
“What will happen if we can’t even trust family?”