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Stripping the Hyaku Shiki

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Recently the great Gamera Baenre posted to /r/Gunpla about how he was stripping the gold coating from the new Hyaku Shiki 2.0. He didn’t post a full tutorial on the process, and since I just used the same process on a my upcoming Hyaku Shiki 2.0 build, I figured I do a quick tutorial myself for folks with questions.

The process is really easy. All you need is…

  • 1 gallon jug of Purple Power (roughly $18 on Amazon)
  • Plastic tub in which to soak the parts (I used a 12qt dishpan, $6 on Amazon)
  • Dish washing gloves, or any other waterproof glove ($4-$10 on Amazon)

Oh, and you need the Hyaku Shiki too. Per Baenre the original plated Shiki was clear plastic below as well. Why is it clear plastic? Well guessing that milky white is just the base manufacturer color. Makes sense, why spend more on a coloured frame folks won’t see? read more

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Otaku Evolution Episode 42 – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya


Otaku Evolution Episode 42 – The Melancholy of… by ellbell01

 

Don’t panic! It’s a mostly harmless 42nd episode of Otaku Evolution, where I cover The Hitchhiker’s Guide to High School. I mean, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

 

So wait… is Haruhi Zaphod? Itsuki is Ford, Mikuru is Trillian, and Yuki is Marvin. Maybe I’m trying too hard to make this fit.

 

– Penguin Truth

(2015)

 

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PG Unicorn Gundam – The One Week Build

Last weekend I started out on an ambitious build. Well, the build itself wasn’t so nuts, the time frame was. The goal was to build a PG Unicorn in one week. Here’s how things turned out…

o why only a week? It didn’t start off that way. Up until now it’s been awhile since I’ve painted a kit. Lots of straight builds, but nothing since I finished my White Glint back in January. I’ve been trying to decide which kit I should do a simple job with, just to scrape off some of the rust, when I wound up with a second PG Unicorn. As I was thinking about how to paint it, figuring I’d get it knocked out relatively quickly, another project landed in my lap. With two kits I wanted to get done in short time, and a schedule conducive to tackling the Unicorn, I figured I’d try a super quick build. That eventually morphed into a weekend-to-weekend build, then into a Sunday-to-Saturday express build from hell. read more

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Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie Trailer

I’m looking forward to this. Arise gets a bad rep, but that’s just because it isn’t SAC. Or maybe because it’s too much like SAC, and yet isn’t. I sort of understand, but they’re both good, and I think people just dismissed it out of hand because neither Oshii nor Kamiyama were handling this. But it honestly looks like it’ll be even better than the previous Arise entries at the very least.

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After the Cel Shading – Inside Out

Wow, feels like forever since we’ve seen a Pixar movie, especially one with the creative spark that defined its most memorable stories. After a trifecta of mostly eh from 2011 to 2013 (Cars 2 was Cars 2, Brave can go die in a fire, and Monsters University while likable was highly unnecessary), Inside Out breaks that streak with its incredibly creative premise and Pixar’s deft hand in tugging heartstrings. I believe we’re finally back, baby.

So apparently deep in our heads we are manned by a quintet of emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. They help us react to the world around us and in turn maintain important memories as well as keep up the foundations of personality (manifested in various island worlds). In one particular girl, Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), things are awry due to a family move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Unsure of the situation, her emotions (Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Bill Hader, and Mindy Kaling respectively) are at odds with how to make things work. However, before they can do any of that, Sadness (who is always kept at bay by Joy) causes a situation where she and Joy are jettisoned away from where the emotions man Riley’s disposition, along with her most important memories. So now it’s up to them to get back in time before the three remaining emotions, despite their best efforts to aid her, lead Riley to inadvertent self-destruction. read more

Juu-kuchiby Juu-kuchi•
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After the Cel Shading – Gundam Build Fighters Try

 

Go back to the beginning and Try again, show.

In the final episode of Gundam Build Fighters Try, there was a contest where the winner was chosen based on his or her peerless design and craftsmanship of their own Gundam plastic model (Gunpla). At the end, it came down to two finalists: one of the three protagonists and his rival. Their numbers were 6 and 9 respectively. Initially the victor was thought to be number 9, but it turns out that the card was upside down, and the protagonist was the true victor after all. read more

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A Tale of Two Zoids: HMM Geno Breaker and HMM Berserk Fury

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I wanted to take a few minutes out to discuss the latest Zoids HMM builds I’ve gone through, specifically the HMM Geno Breaker and HMM Berserk Fury (or Berserk Führer if you didn’t grow up with the Americanized Zoids New Century). I picked up both thinking they would be pretty similar builds that would look good side by side in my collection. Well, one was a delightful build… the other not so much.

Frankly, the Geno Breaker is not a good kit. There aren’t any major issues with the build, just lots of minor ones which add up. The HMM line of Zoids kits is from Kotobukiya, a model manufacturer whose build quality has been pretty hit and miss over the years. Typically this means poor engineering choices, poorly designed joints, bad seam lines, that sort of thing. Every now and then you encounter a kit fit issues, the Geno Breaker is one of them. There are quite a few pieces throughout the kit that don’t fit too well. They’re either too loose or too tight such that they’re quick to fall off or would be a huge pain in the ass if you ever had to dismantle or paint the kit. Often these fitment issues run-a-muck of bad engineering which exacerbates bad seam lines, makes poseing the kit a bitch sketchy, or simple leaves weird and unsightly gaps here and there. read more

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After the Cel Shading – Rolling Girls

 

"Rambling, Failing, Scrounging Girls. For others. For themselves. Even if they’re destined to be a ‘mess’"

What a fucking waste of time this was.

No… really. That’s how I felt once I finished the final episode.  It’s always the promising ones that getcha feeling like this. They have an interesting concept, a number of factors of high quality and promise, but then they squander it in ways that surprise. Initially you’re perturbed and all: “Huh, I’m not sure about this, but maybe something will come from it.” Then those shows end their runs and you’re left in a state of confusion about what happened and how to think/feel about it. When you finally come to your conclusion, you are left in a state of anger and disappointment that the show you just watched could’ve been SO much more. Such is the case with Rolling Girls. read more

Juu-kuchiby Juu-kuchi•
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Otaku Evolution Episode 40 – Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa

It’s my 40th episode and first year anniversary of Otaku Evolution! Ah, I remember when I first started barely audibly reviewing anime with the one or two sprite poses I used a year ago, with my four-part FMA review. So it was appropriate, then, that this episode was for the movie follow-up, wherein Edward Elric fights a snake dragon, meets Fritz Lang, and basically starts his own little war with the help of his brother. So enjoy this beautiful, flawed, beautifully flawed and entertaining movie, Conqueror of Shamballa. read more

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