Anyone into gunpla - Japanophiles unite to share tips on painting our toys (GUNPLA IS FREEDOM)

[EyelessMC]

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
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The doll is throwing me for a loop. That's a shoop, right? No one is actually selling mongoloid looking "I Can't Breathe" dolls, right?
That being said, I think buying or painting a black Zaku and putting that underneath the knee would be funnier and more appropriate. That's a great deep blue but it needs to knee-neck a mecha not a doll.
With how freakish that doll looks you may as well have a Muv-Luv mech kneeing its neck.
You know. Cause aliens.
that doll is seriously unnerving me I'm not kidding

The whole "gray morality" thing only got added into the franchise later, since to be blunt all that Mobile Suit Gundam is based on is World War II to the point it all but declares this when Degwin tells his own son that he reminds him of a certain other dictator (basically all but stating he's Hitler II right down to the insane one-off super wonderweapons like the Big Zam).

That part was unintentionally funny when Degwin asks Mr. Patricide about Hitler and his son asks, "He's from the Middle Ages, right?"
Something something forget history something something repeat it

And Hitler is pretty much the closest the world has ever gotten to a legit evil supervillain with mad scientist weapons trying to take over the world.

I was gonna mention Mao or Stalin but you're right, especially when it comes to super weapons, supervillain aesthetic and being diabolically industrious. Didn't the Nazis make one of the most, if not the most (for the time) dangerous naval ships ever invented? It was so dominant it needed a collective force to ambush it out the gate and even then it would have made the high seas its bitch if not for a lone good shot blasting one of its rudders and leaving it to swim in a circle as it was picked off. Can't remember the name of it.

I mean, the Zeons are pretty blatantly the space Nazis right down to using a variation of the same flag and having the same development problems (I.E.

Spoiler

in real life, the BF 109 was far superior to anything the rest of the world had, so Nazi Germany rested on its laurels and so when their enemy suddenly started whipping out far more advanced shit like the P-51D which absolutely tore up the Luftwaffe, the Nazis were suddenly behind the technological curve and while they did achieve the technological edge again with things like the stronger FW-190 and the revolutionary ME-262 Schwalbe jet fighter, it was too little too late. In the context of the Universal Century, replace BF-109 with "Zaku II" and FW-190 with "Gelgoog").

History-buffs who are also anime fans make the best posts. I never would have made those connections (the space Nazi thing, yeah obviously, but not those specific details). Adds that much more depth to the anime. Makes it more fun to look back on in hindsight.

The only difference really is that there isn't the dropping of a nuke...and that's why Stardust Memory exists because it's literally a purpose-built war machine flying off to nuke Kunepei Island (Fed-controlled Solomon). Sound familiar?

lol I didn't know that. Good stuff, man. I wonder what aspect of the war inspired Tomino for Hathaway's Flash. Guess we'll see once the movie's released.

 

[RollerGator]

The doll is throwing me for a loop. That's a shoop, right? No one is actually selling mongoloid looking "I Can't Breathe" dolls, right?
That being said, I think buying or painting a black Zaku and putting that underneath the knee would be funnier and more appropriate. That's a great deep blue but it needs to knee-neck a mecha not a doll.
With how freakish that doll looks you may as well have a Muv-Luv mech kneeing its neck.
You know. Cause aliens.
that doll is seriously unnerving me I'm not kidding


That part was unintentionally funny when Degwin asks Mr. Patricide about Hitler and his son asks, "He's from the Middle Ages, right?"
Something something forget history something something repeat it

I was gonna mention Mao or Stalin but you're right, especially when it comes to super weapons, supervillain aesthetic and being diabolically industrious. Didn't the Nazis make one of the most, if not the most (for the time) dangerous naval ships ever invented? It was so dominant it needed a collective force to ambush it out the gate and even then it would have made the high seas its bitch if not for a lone good shot blasting one of its rudders and leaving it to swim in a circle as it was picked off. Can't remember the name of it.

History-buffs who are also anime fans make the best posts. I never would have made those connections (the space Nazi thing, yeah obviously, but not those specific details). Adds that much more depth to the anime. Makes it more fun to look back on in hindsight.

lol I didn't know that. Good stuff, man. I wonder what aspect of the war inspired Tomino for Hathaway's Flash. Guess we'll see once the movie's released.

George Floyd Toys Official | Collectible anti-stress toys and pillows

georgefloydtoysofficial.com

The guy who makes them is foreign, and gets a kick out of when people put George in funny poses.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I was gonna mention Mao or Stalin but you're right, especially when it comes to super weapons, supervillain aesthetic and being diabolically industrious. Didn't the Nazis make one of the most, if not the most (for the time) dangerous naval ships ever invented? It was so dominant it needed a collective force to ambush it out the gate and even then it would have made the high seas its bitch if not for a lone good shot blasting one of its rudders and leaving it to swim in a circle as it was picked off. Can't remember the name of it.

The Bismarck. It was the strongest German warship of its day and really made a name for itself when it hunted down the HMS Hood, the largest British battleship and effectively pride of the fleet, and after that moment spent literally the rest of its service life on the run from the entire British Navy.

Which is why how it ultimately was taken out is pretty hillarious because it was a little too advanced for its own good. See, there was one critical oversight: the guns couldn't aim below the exterior deck. And so what happened is a flight of Swordfish biplanes launched from the carrier HMS Ark Royal and flew so slow and so low that the Germans literally could not configure their anti-air to hit them.

Even more embarrassingly, of the sixteen torpedoes fired at the Bismarck, only one hit, but it was a fatal blow because it hit one of the rudders. Not even enough to actually blow off the rudder, but it jammed it. That's why the Bismarck was stuck going in circles, it literally defeated itself by its own compromised steering system from a single hit from a biplane.

Later, a small group of ships engaged and successfully disabled the Bismarck of all its main armaments through destruction of its control systems. To prevent the British from boarding and capturing the vessel, the Germans scuttled it, though experts agree the damage it sustained from the British would have sent the ship to a watery grave in the end anyway.

History-buffs who are also anime fans make the best posts. I never would have made those connections (the space Nazi thing, yeah obviously, but not those specific details). Adds that much more depth to the anime. Makes it more fun to look back on in hindsight.

The German connection is even more obvious when you consider the alternate helmet for the Zaku II FZ Kai, which is literally a WWII German soldier helmet.

lol I didn't know that. Good stuff, man. I wonder what aspect of the war inspired Tomino for Hathaway's Flash. Guess we'll see once the movie's released.

The WWII connection only goes so far as the One Year War and even then the OYW itself isn't exclusively WWII as there's the 08th MS Team which is actually based on the Vietnam War (excluding the whole "nuke Jaburo by parking a walking Death Star over it" and the existence of the final episode which makes no goddamn sense if you ask me). Hathaway's Flash is post-Char's Counterattack.

 

[Appletun]

i return to this thread, forgot it existed. anyways, the holiday seasons have allowed me to grab a ton of kits for cheap, and ive just ordered paints to begin painting my kits instead of just snapbuilding.

also, just finished F91, what should i watch next?

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

i return to this thread, forgot it existed. anyways, the holiday seasons have allowed me to grab a ton of kits for cheap, and ive just ordered paints to begin painting my kits instead of just snapbuilding.

also, just finished F91, what should i watch next?

Depends on what you've seen up until now and what's your interest. You can go the whole chronological UC watch order, relevant series to whatever kit you're building, or just pick whatever has the coolest mecha. When I was building the RG Destiny I threw on my SEED dvds, since I don't own Destiny, and let it play in the background to enjoy the 10/10 original dub.

If you haven't watched yet then Build Fighters might get your passions burning for painting your kits, whole series is full of love for gunpla. Series is what got me back into building after I burned out, super fun with a lot of heart and some great action. Avoid the second season Try at all cost.

I know some people will recommend IBO, but I can't since it actively killed off my interest in Gundam for several years within its first several episodes that didn't come back until marathoning through Unicorn last year.

 

[EyelessMC]

I know some people will recommend IBO, but I can't since it actively killed off my interest in Gundam for several years within its first several episodes

What did IBO do to make you hate it? It's not an uncommon opinion, either, since I always see people who either love it or hate it in threads online. I hear that the show has a rough start, great middle and then a miserable depressing ending which is what really sours most people.

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

What did IBO do to make you hate it? It's not an uncommon opinion, either, since I always see people who either love it or hate it in threads online. I hear that the show has a rough start, great middle and then a miserable depressing ending which is what really sours most people.

Think it was a combination of things, mostly what was coming out of the gundam series at that time and the IBO characters (mainly Mika). I was one of those weirdos that enjoyed Gundam AGE until it shit the bed in the last arc which got me to drop the series and left a sour taste, it didn't help that fairly soon after that was the absolute garbage Try. I absolutely loved Build Fighters and was excited for the next season, which made it being bad feel so much worse. IBO was just the breaking point in my growing disappointment with the franchise. Reason that GReco isn't mentioned is because I was waiting for it to fully air so I could marathon it, but by the time that happened I was already burned out.

As for the show itself, I personally felt like Mika was a cheap rip-off of Sestuna without the charm and I couldn't bring myself to like anyone else. Story also didn't hook me and I felt no excitement to keep up with it with the depressing tone it was building and knowing that Mari Okada was writing it. I checked back later and the threads for ending episodes basically guaranteed I'd never watch the series.

I probably put too much hatred on the show itself given my issue was with the franchise as a whole back then, but IBO felt like the exact opposite of what I wanted during a time where the last several series greatly disappointed me. On the flip side, the emotional connection I made with Unicorn reinvigorating my love of gundam has made me a very strong defender of the series despite how many would call it flawed or outright awful.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Personally, I think IBO is actually great, it's pretty much Gundam except everything's fucking Dark Souls.

However, the show goes into a complete vertical nosedive immediately after the Mobile Armor fight in Season 2. There are some highlights but the plot just completely bottoms out and squanders its potential.

Also, if you want to look into the Build Fighters/Build Divers, then you may want to just entirely skip Build Divers. The show treats the audience like they're brain dead and Riku is so one-dimensional he makes Sonichu look like he has depth (you think I'm joking, but I'm dead serious, that's how bad a character Riku is). Re:Rise in comparison actually has plot, stakes with gravitas, and isn't a GN Drive Trans-Am wankfest.

 

[Appletun]

yeah i heard that build divers is godawful, but i was mostly hoping to figure out how to consume the moon gundam series, cause i own that kit now, but i have no idea where to find the manga or an anime, if there even is one. as for the next series other than that, IBO was probably gonna end up being the next one i'd watch because i have a kimaris vidar as the third kit i ever built, and i love that thing a lot

 

[EyelessMC]

If anyone knows, which Zeta Gundam kit would you recommend despite their seemingly common flaws?

I'm about to get into Zeta Gundam full-on and I wanted to get a Zeta Gundam kit, but it seems they are all problems for the similar reasons (the transformation and how it ruins the build quality). I don't think I'll be getting the RG since it's the very old kind of RG and everyone says it sucks the worst. Plus I think another it's the same price as the MG which comes with little (albeit helmeted) pilot figures and a proper stand. I might go for the MG but paying modern MG price for a flimsy 15yr old kit might be too much, stand or no.

It'd be nice to have a ver Ka. Zeta or a 3.0 but it seems Bandai's going in a different direction with their announcements for this upcoming year.

Personally, I think IBO is actually great, it's pretty much Gundam except everything's fucking Dark Souls.

That explains some of the designs

However, the show goes into a complete vertical nosedive immediately after the Mobile Armor fight in Season 2. There are some highlights but the plot just completely bottoms out and squanders its potential.

That's what I find most people saying about IBO who don't love it front to back. I've never seen it and I'm not too interested overall since I already have my fix of child soldier plots with Wing. so [ spoiler ] it if you would. What really goes downhill? The characters? The overall plot? Why is the ending such a huge point of contention? Is it because the hero dies?

 

[Optimus Prime]

If anyone knows, which Zeta Gundam kit would you recommend despite their seemingly common flaws?
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I'm about to get into Zeta Gundam full-on and I wanted to get a Zeta Gundam kit, but it seems they are all problems for the similar reasons (the transformation and how it ruins the build quality). I don't think I'll be getting the RG since it's the very old kind of RG and everyone says it sucks the worst. Plus I think another it's the same price as the MG which comes with little (albeit helmeted) pilot figures and a proper stand. I might go for the MG but paying modern MG price for a flimsy 15yr old kit might be too much, stand or no.

It'd be nice to have a ver Ka. Zeta or a 3.0 but it seems Bandai's going in a different direction with their announcements for this upcoming year.

I would recommend the HGUC Zeta Gundam "G.E.P." (HGUC #203), it's the latest version of the kit, not too expensive and overall is a nice, tight package. Transformation for Zeta is, unfortunately, going to revolve around partsforming with a core block by disassembling the MS mode and reattaching most of the parts on the core block.

A vital resource with Gunpla is the dalong.net website, it's in Korean but pretty much everything that's normal retail (no P-Bandai stuff) gets a gallery here. I'll link you to the GEP Zeta page so you can see for yourself.

http://dalong.net/reviews/hg/h203/h203_i.htm

That explains some of the designs
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That's what I find most people saying about IBO who don't love it front to back. I've never seen it and I'm not too interested overall since I already have my fix of child soldier plots with Wing. so [ spoiler ] it if you would. What really goes downhill? The characters? The overall plot? Why is the ending such a huge point of contention?

So, during S2, the whole build up is leading to an all-out confrontation between Gjallarhorn a.k.a. IBO's version of the EFSF, and Tekkadan the protaganists.

Spoiler: What goes down after the mobile armor

McGillis, the Char Clone of the series, has orchestrated the demise of a bunch of important people all through S1 including his best friend, all so he can get more power, ultimately getting the "super illegal" augmentation of nanomachines with a fancy name I can't spell - known as AVS for short - which in turn allows him to pilot Gundam Bael, the first Gundam and icon of the founder of Gjallarhorn.

Unsurprisingly, this not only doesn't really have the effect he wants, but it turns out his best friend didn't die and ALSO has AVS, albiet a psuedo-version using the brain of this legitimately insane motherfucker from the previous season who literally was grafted into a giant mook suit at the end of S1.

Where things just completely go off the rails involves the supposed 'main' bad guy; Rustal Ellion, the current leader of Gjallarhorn. This dude's a real piece of shit who is 100% okay with committing warcrimes left and right to oppose Tekkadan and nobody even fucking stops this guy. He straight up authorizes the use of in-universe WMDs that were banned after the apocalyptic Calamity War, which is a key issue with why IBO drops in quality because 'Danslief' as they're known - think the nuclear warhead equivalent of flak cannons that spew shitloads of shrapnel everywhere and are launchable from orbit onto a planetary surface - are simply so OP that there really isn't a hard counter.

Oh, and his two main underlings are A) a morale-boosting idiot who also comitts warcrimes left and right, including blindly activating the Mobile Suit by doing the one thing he was told not to do which was drag mobile suits anywhere near the hibernating abomination, and the worst he suffers until the pentultimate episode is house arrest until Rustal simply handwaves it all away, and B) Julia fucking Julis, the most hypocritical whore to ever exist because she constantly whines about how 'AVS' created a monster that made Gjallarhorn look bad at the end of the previous season...all the while piloting basically the exact same thing in concept except larger, not to mention it looks pretty fucking stupid in my opinion as it's trying to be an upgraded successor to the melee-focused Grimgerde - the coolest non-Gundam in the whole show - and fails completely because it has 1/3rd of its mass dragging around off its legs for literally no reason. And she also completely handwaves the fact Rustal's breaking 300-year old rules of human civilization by spamming Danslief and murdering innocents all simply to make an example of Tekkadan - she's vocal about it but is openly complicit in carrying out his plans through to the end of the show.

And on top of all that, the show desperately tries to make her seem like an ace pilot, going so far as to name the visual eye cancer that is her suit the Reginlaze Julia after her...and she can't win a single fucking battle in the entire anime without somebody else having to do the heavy lifting. This goes into the final battle, which is the ultimate insult in my book, because essentially Tekkadan's been destroyed and Mika and Akihero are making suicidal last stands so everybody else can escape to safety...and what happened but Rustal literally spammed Danslief all over the battlefield from orbit. So you have Barbatos in its final demonomic form missing an arm and Mika's bleeding to death, and yet it isn't even a real battle because Julia isn't even fucking trying. She still can't even fight remotely on the level of a dude who is literally missing an arm and dying. And she gets all the glory of "defeating" Barbatos...which only happened because Mika literally fucking dies first from the Danslief impaled in his body, she did FUCKING NOTHING except stand there and take blows like the bitch she always was.

Oh, and McGillis and his best friend have a fight which ultimately is also unsatisfying, because the best friend even in a max upgraded Gundam Kimaris Vidar and fake-AVS really always was kind of a shit pilot and McGillis only loses because he thinks true AVS makes him a god, so he leaves one opening, takes ONE blow, and then the fight's over. Which is even worse because against the same pilot in the same Gundam without AVS on either side, McGillis absolutely dismantled Kimaris Trooper (a previous build of Kimaris) with the Grimgerde, which had nothing but a pair of swords. Bael itself is basically supposed to be an 'upgrade' to Grimgerde because it uses the same swords, but inexplicably it performs far worse than Grimgerde despite the supposed massive power advantage in having dual Ahab reactors.

And speaking of the Grimgerde, it inexplicably is rebuilt to resemble one of its sister units, the Helmwidge (the full name being Helmwide Reincar because it's the reincarnated Helmwidge), which itself is the complete opposite in combat strategy by favoring the biggest sword any MS uses in the whole show, over the hit-and-run style of the Grimgerde. And the Helmwidge Reincar is known as 'the sword holder with limbs' because it does literally nothing but stand around holding a sword. And then it gets destroyed really, really easily by Gundam Vidar (disguised Gundam Kimaris)

So, ultimately, the bad guys get away with mass murder atrocities and spamming in-universe nukes (except for Iok Kujan, the morale-boosting idiot, who gets possibly the most satisfying death sentence ever when his own self-congratulating ends up allowing Akihero to identify his suit and with his last breath, crush the motherfucker with giant scissors to death in his own cockpit Akira style), nobody seems to notice, the final battles were significantly under par for how deliciously brutal they got at any other point in the show (Barbatos Lupus 'unchained' vs Mobile Armor Hashmal is basically the best because its like Dark Souls meets Metal Gear Rising and is the only time a Gundam ever is allowed to showcase true full power as would have been required during the Calamity War).

And the ending is literally 'and everybody who survived lived happily ever after. Except that one minor bad guy who put the hit out on Orga, because Ride spends a few years tracking him down and then shoots him to death in a bathroom stall.'

The problem with IBO after the Mobile Armor arc isn't even that the protaganists are all largely dead, it's that the show bends over backwards to simply curbstomp Tekkadan left and right with a mary sue ace pilot, castrated fights that heavily handicap the protaganists for dumb reasons, and Rustal freely ordering WAR CRIMES with zero repercussions because he ends up simply dissolving the Seven Stars council at the head of Gjallarhorn and becomes the sole leader of the organization. With the only major act he does differently from how Gjallarhorn was being run before being ordering actual effort in stopping the wide spread child enslavement practices on the fringes of civilization, and THAT comes off less as actually being motivated by good morals and more simply trying to prevent Tekkadan from being resurected. It's all just so unsatisfying.

 

[Appletun]

im looking to finally assemble my moon gundam next, but im stuck on figuring out what i want to do for the head details

i only work with acrylics atm, so i was wondering if tamiya's light green, or AMMO by MIG's lime green is a better choice. if anyone knows of anything else though, let me know

 

[Gar For Archer]

Well I tried out the metallic sharpies and can conclude that they're not really suitable for adding detail to inner frames. The tip is just too thick to get into small spaces without getting marks in unwanted areas. For easily accessible areas however, it works fine and the result looks quite nice. I think for the inner frame details nothing beats the precision of hand-painting with a tiny brush.

 

[Poyo Sato]

I made a stop motion video with the Entry Grade Gundam. If anyone interested, you can watch it here on my channel. No need to subscribe, like or anything. I uploaded it on YouTube because I think it would be easier to share.

 

[Half Mast Erection]

"Into it" is kind of a vague descriptor. Like, what does "into it" mean? For me, I'm "into it" in the sense that I'm willing to buy more, and build, but I don't go too far with it past building it, since I don't have the money to spend on the equipment, and just like having things that I can pose, and put on a shelf. Also nice to have something I can put in a youtube video, as like, a secondary character in a script.

I especially love the Real Grade Nu Gundam. Best gunpla I managed to scrounge up the money to buy. The one gunpla that can do a full dab, that I bought. My bar for measuring the basic standard of "yep, this is it", is if they can do a full dab. The rest is history. This guy is like if you put Jackie Chan into toy form, and he could kick fucking ass.

If I had the time, or money, or whatever, I'd probably at least try to paint and do all that shit, but it's one of the least things that I'd say is a fucking priority. I just wanna build mainly.

 

[Serbian Peacekeepers]

I've mostly stuck to armor kits for my model kits , but gunpla has always been in the back of my head gnawing at me, What would be a good kit for someone with some model kit knowledge?

 

[Appletun]

I've mostly stuck to armor kits for my model kits , but gunpla has always been in the back of my head gnawing at me, What would be a good kit for someone with some model kit knowledge?

really, i have no idea, ive basically been told that the way to start on this is to just pick one you like, and start there. (my first kit was a kimar vidaris)

 

[Gar For Archer]

I've mostly stuck to armor kits for my model kits , but gunpla has always been in the back of my head gnawing at me, What would be a good kit for someone with some model kit knowledge?

Agree with Appletun, just go to your online retailer of choice, pick out some kits you like the look of, and look up some reviews. If there's any major issues with the kit, there'll be people talking about it.

 

[Appletun]

yes, ALWAYS google some reviews. i hate to shill another site here, but the gunpla thread on 4chan's /toy/ board is where i'll ask about kits im unsure on. they're *usually* pretty helpful.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I've mostly stuck to armor kits for my model kits , but gunpla has always been in the back of my head gnawing at me, What would be a good kit for someone with some model kit knowledge?

Honestly? Any HG Gundam Origin Zaku II - specifically types C/C-5, C-6/R-6, or the MS-06S [Red Comet]

They're all variations of the same kit, and it's the definitive Zaku II. The only difference between the first two I listed are purely option parts for minor variations like chest doors and attached weapons, and you get one of two variation options per kit so you can customize to a small degree.

The MS-06S [Red Comet] version is Char Aznable's personal machine and the only difference is the red paint job and unique sticker options.

The Origin Zaku II is a phenominal kit and I think you'll enjoy it as a way to get into the hobby.