Zeta Gundam

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Otaku Evolution Episode 264 – Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Part 2)

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is definitely my favorite Gundam title. The mechanical designs, the complexity of the competing factions, the mood and atmosphere, the characters and themes, all make this my favorite mecha series, period. Even above Evangelion, which features my favorite penguin! (But favorites positions are subject to change over time.)

But I don’t think Zeta Gundam is perfect, and in this video, I go over some of the problems with it, and especially the disappointing movie trilogy they made. read more

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Otaku Evolution Episode 263 – Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Part 1)

Welcome back to Otaku Evolution! It’s 2025 and boy have I got things planned for you, the viewer! Assuming I’m not just screaming out into the void, that is.

Speaking of screaming, there sure is a lot of that in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Maybe not as much as in G Gundam, but there’s plenty. Everybody seems to be a little on edge, which is one of the reasons I like it (but also a reason some people dislike it). Characters might just fly off the handle completely at any time. It’s neat! read more

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BSC 1/35 Zeta Gundam Bust – Short Review
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BSC 1/35 Zeta Gundam Bust – Short Review

Welcome to my short review of the 1/35 scale Zeta Gundam bust from BSC. This is the third kit from BSC I’ve built and reviewed, starting with the 1/35 Unicorn Bust and the 1/35 Sinanju. The latter being one of the best third party kits out there and easily the best bust kit available.

In comparison, the Zeta Gundam bust is disappointing. But before I become a Negative Nancy, let’s start with the good. FIrst off, it’s a fantastic design and looks great. It’s a smart take on the Zeta with just enough colour separation and a lot of external and internal detail. More so than the previous busts – this one is a detailers dream. There are are a few panels that open up to reveal detail or make the kit look like it’s being worked on. Would’ve been nice to have had some 1/35 scale figures and wires to hold them up over some of the other gimmicks. In addition the cockpit opens up to reveal the pilot. BSC, if you’re reading this, maybe have an optional head piece without the helmet so we can detail paint up Kamille’s face for display. The wings and the rear nose piece also fold up, though there are no lights on the extended wings which would’ve been nice. read more

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Zeta Gundam Memorial Box – Part I

Over the past few years I’ve seen a couple folks share images of their Laserdisc Zeta Gundam Memorial Boxset and I eventually picked up a set for myself. Laserdisc? Well, apparently it has all the original openings and endings in great quality without some of the issues on the US DVD release. Don’t ask me, I have no plans of picking up a Laserdisc player to find out. I got them for the really cool artwork and, to me, collector value. They ended up being away more impressive than I originally thought so I figured I’d snap a bunch of photos and share ’em for anyone interested. read more

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Hyaku Shiki 2.0 Project – Pale Rider
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Hyaku Shiki 2.0 Project – Pale Rider

Come with me if you want to live.

Here’s a fun, relatively quick, project I started on following an inspirational post by Gamera Baenre on r/Gunpla. Turns out the new MG Hyaku Shiki 2.0 is actually a milky clear transparent plastic underneath the gold plating. I love quirky little projects like clear MGs allow for so I figured I’d strip the Shiki and detail up the internal frame for fun. If you’re interested in stripping your own kit here’s how.

Wanting to reuse some paints I had on hand I ended up going with a tame palette of blues, gray-ish blues, and gray up against an inner frame of light gunmetal with gold, silver, and copper details. I also applied some regular gunmetal to the frame in an attempt to add a bit more depth here and there. Unfortunately Light Gunmetal is so similar to regular Gunmetal and Silver and those details didn’t really pop like I had imagined. There’s not a lot of contrast between the different blues on in the torso, or the blue-gray and gray used on the gun (Sazabi ver. Ka’s over sized gun for fun as well). It’s just enough of a subtle contrast such that it looks good in person, but has the tendency to get washed out in photos or casual viewing. That was the point of the kit at least, as the project was originally called “Ghost.” Something subtle and spooky compared to the brilliant gold original. One of these days I’m going to do something in bright, contrasting primary colours for a change. read more

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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #4: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

 

Director(s): Yoshiyuki Tomino
Script: Akinori Endo, Hiroshi Ohnogi, Miho Maruo, Minoru Onoya, Tomoko Kawasaki, Yasushi Hirano, Yumiko Suzuki
Music: Shigeaki Saegusa
Zeta Gundam my favorite Gundam– no, favorite mecha anime- of all time. Why, you ask? Well, first of all, it outclasses the original series in quality of storytelling and concepts. You get the feeling you’re watching a real, fleshed out tragedy. No Gundam title does as good a job as Zeta does in showing how truly desperate people are in a war situation. All of the characters lash out to fulfill a sense of helplessness or to control the world around them through others’ helplessness. This means the characters are all predators or prey. In a swirl of desperate madness, the characters play outo a tragedy that claims lives and chews dreams, and spits the characters out broken, flawed, but intensely interesting. The characters are tempered in raw desperation, raw despair, which makes some of them heroes and some of them monsters. Now, I know there are flaws. Some awkward, unnatural dialogue, characters who act irrationally with little reason to, plot elements that seem to crop up at inopportune times. But I think the pluses far outweigh the minuses. In the end, you understand the tremendous price to be paid for a better future. 
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Grunt MS Group Build – Purple Nemo FIN

This is a participating project in GAF’s Grunt MS Group Build

 

At last, she is finished, and I’m pretty damn happy.


Click to Enlarge | On Flickr

 

Okay, before I get into the photos, how about some info on the project? 

The scheme I followed on this kit is actually quite simple; all of the purple pieces would receive white decals and black detailing, all of the white parts would receive silver decals and silver detailing, and all of the silver parts would receive gold details and black lining. The brilliance is in its simplicity while the challenge was sticking to it. Here and there I thought of adding a little bit of this here, or a bit there, but keeping things consistent definitely paid off in the end. read more

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Grunt MS Group Build – Purple Nemo WIP 3

This is a participating project in GAF’s Grunt MS Group Build

 

Time to take a break from FFXIII and share some WIP shots of my purple Nemo. It’s coming along quite well, though there are a few issues. One of the things I was worried about was getting the kit from green to a proper white. Several parts look good but there are two that could have used a few more coats of primer. Unfortunately I couldn’t tell by looking at them during the painting stages, but now that they’re together along side an appropriately painted counterpart, it’s pretty obvious. Luckily they don’t seem to show that evidently in my photos. read more

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