Archive for the ‘Bandai’ Tag
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE is the current Gundam franchise incarnation, and it is pretty great. The AGE-1 Normal is also a recent entry in Bandai’s Mega Size model kit line of 1/48 scale mobile suits, which are also great. I did a comprehensive review of the kit over at CollectionDX, and it is worth a read. Bandai is really pushing the limits of what you can do out of the box, including making the entire kit tool-less. The engineering is pretty incredible, and the result is a gigantic (~15″) tall action figure model kit that is chunky, posable, and rugged.
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So, I wrote this review for CollectionDX without realizing that we’ve already covered this figure. I didn’t want what I put together to go to waste, so I figured I’d post it here for my own edification.
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When I posted the finished shots of my Master Grade RX-78-2 Gundam painted with Monster Kolor, Matt Walker aka Dead Pre$idents asked me if he could display it at the booth he was sharing with Max Toy Co at Winter Wonder Festival in Japan. Monster Kolor paint has been a huge success for Matt, and he is always looking for demonstrations of its use in new and creative ways. My MK on plastic Gundam model fit the bill, and was shipped off to Japan for display at the show. These pics of the booth come courtesy of Kaiju Korner Andy, who has been providing the best English-language coverage of Japanese shows and festivals out there for a couple of years now. Go check out the rest of his extensive WonderFest coverage here. He took a gazillion photos, and there’s more still to be posted.
Here’s a shot of the whole Max Toy Co and Friends booth! My Gundam was in good company. I think it’s giving Max Toy Co’s new micro Kaiju Negora sculpt a bit of a shakedown!
Bandai’s Master Grade RX-78-2 Gundam ver. 2.0 is a heck of a kit. The design is clean and ‘doughy’ in a way that manages to capture the feel of the anime very well. The sharp and clean design made the perfect subject for a Monster Kolor powered airbrushed paint job. I wanted to do something more original than a clean white Gundam, so I followed a scheme similar to the original Clover Gundam toys, which were silver instead of white. Obviously I could not leave it just clean and smooth, because that would be boring, so I proceeded to apply the entire waterslide decal sheet Bandai sells for this kit, making for some interesting contrast against the clean sculpt. Katoki would be proud.
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Reorganized some shelves while waiting for new arrivals. Here’s my 1/60 scale mecha lineup, featuring Macross, Dougram, Dorvack, Patlabor, Votoms, Gundam, and Mospeada. Basically, all of my favorite things. Click the top image for a bigger panorama.
Head to the Store because the MFV missiles are ready! Complete those vintage classics and finally get to enjoy their best feature. Every missile is marked for authenticity and indetifiability, and has been test loaded and fired in Getter-1 here. Let me tell you, loading and firing twenty-odd missiles multiple times and at various things to test their loading and durability is pretty darn fun!
There’s a new Page in the Menu bar at the top of the site, and I am proud to announce a new resin product that will soon be available, reproduction Bandai Missile Firing Vinyl missiles! The Bandai MFVs are some of the most iconic vintage Super Robot vinyls, but missiles are in great demand (mostly because these were toys designed for children, and those children probably spent all their time shooting the missiles at their younger siblings and pets until they lost the missiles), but I am pleased to soon be able to offer an affordable reproduction missile! Big thanks to my friend Sanjeev (mastermind behind Brownnoize Productions) for lending me some vintage missiles, no mean feat! I am figuring out pricing and ordering, as well as working on some stock, so check back for details soon!
Last night we had a big CollectionDX meet up, and I got to pick up this fantastic figure. The Bandai Missile Firing Vinyls are phenomenal pieces of vintage vinyl, with great big chunky sculpts. I don’t have any missiles right now, but the launchers should work when I do get some. Until then, this guy is just a 10″ tall behemoth of mechanical justice, stamping out the evil of standard-sized kaiju wherever they may rear their hideous maws!
In Armored Troopers: VOTOMS (Vertical One-man Tank for Offensive Maneuvers), Fyana is the early show antagonist and mysterious Phantom Lady, who pilots the powerful Brutishdog custom machine. The Brutishdog is a fearsome design, armed with its massive rotary cannon and brutal shearing claw, with an upgraded roller dash system for enhanced speed and maneuverability.
I finished this kit about a year ago and somehow never got around to photographing it (and a companion piece to come later). I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the excellent Bandai 1/20 VOTOMS plamo kits. On one hand, they are the most detailed and best articulated VOTOMS kits ever produced, but at the same time, they have a dearth of moving parts and are a bit delicate when painted up without care. I have broken a couple of the armor flaps after handling this kit for a year, but it is still one of my favorite models, and the kit really is solid, even if there is a large amount of stuff on the kit that got painted and will never be seen again on the interior and structural skeleton.
The regular pink and off-white Brutishdog has always seemed a bit boring to me, so I wanted to spice up the design with this kit. I added a two-tone pink disruptive scheme to add some interest, along with a large number of decals and some really controlled weathering to depict Fyana in her element, blowing up machines and roller-dashing rings around her enemies. If I ever get around to detailing up my Yamato 1/12 Brutishdog, I will finish it the exact same way.
My current shelf setup… a combination of real robots in scale and the vintage super robots I’ve been accumulating lately, along with some vinyls and vintage Transformers.
