Transformers Powercore Combiner Smolder

I'd been meaning to write this review sooner, but I contracted bronchitis and had been bed bound with a high fever and coughing and spluttering out gobs of phlegm for a whole week. Worse still, even after I'd recovered, I still wasn't feeling 100% for the next few weeks after that - so while I was able to maintain some semblance of normalcy, it wasn't quite normal. Amazing how debilitating a simple cold can be. All that while worrying about the work piling up on my desk at the office. Then I got nearly 30 Transformer toys appear on my doorstep over those 2 weeks (including the Wave 2 PCC commanders) - and not being able to get round to testing them out. Quite a miserable fortnight indeed. But enough excuses aside, on with the show.

A small change in the review format - rather than a thoughts/summary section, I thought I'd sum it up succinctly with answering whether I liked it enough that I'd definitely buy a double or repaint. To me, that's a good indicator of how much I enjoy the toy.

Powercore Smolder

Vehicle Mode

Powercore smolder's alt-mode is a fireman's utility pickup. Rather than putting out fires, he sets fires. It's fairly decent but is ruined somewhat if you look at the back, where Smolder's head is exposed.

Robot Mode

Smolder's robot mode, thanks to his head, reminds me a lot of Inferno. This is because the helmet resembles Inferno's, but with a bit of a WW1/2 German soldier's helmet styling to it as well. Of course he's a Decepticon, so Smolder's only a Smoulder - not an Inferno. Another way of describing his head (and G1 Inferno) is that it looks Mickey-Mouse-ish. Not saying it doesn't.

Overall, robot mode is what I'd probably call average-good. Not bad, but not outstanding either. His shoulders are rather huge, and the extended roof plates on the back  restricts some shoulder articulation. Despite this, it still has some very good shoulder and elbow articulation thanks to the double-jointed with ball joint elbows. Legs are fairly basic.

Not a lot of vehicle kibble unless you count the shoulder pylons, the grill kneecap guards and the combiner pegs.

Smolder has standard 6mm pegholes in his fists holding weapons - which is noteworthy because standard weapon pegs in the fists for holding weapons appear to be declining in scout class figures.

The minicon peg in the middle of the chest is quite nicely detailed too, so you can pretend it's a chest cannon. There is an additional minicon peg on his right shoulder plating at the back, which is used for his alt-mode weapon interface. Might seem useless, but attached a rocket launcher or gun type minicon or Energon weapon to it, flip shoulder forward and raise forearm to look like he's supporting it, and bam, a big shoulder weapon.

I also feel he looks too much like a good guy to be a Decepticon - but then again a lot of the cooler or more heroic looking bots are Decepticons, while some evil looking bots turn out to be Autobots. The alignment generally sorts itself out with future repaints, of course!

Gestalt mode

Shown here with a combination of the Aerialbot and Combaticon drones.

It's not terribly bad, but one thing that I think may put some folks off is the fact he's so wide in respect with his shoulders. Hardly any vehicle kibble on it though except for the grills at the knees.

Now, to break away from the official mode, you can instead pretend his gestalt modes' shoulders start at his original shoulders. It does mean his elbows are always akimbo, but it does provide for some dramatic fighting stances, especially with the Combaticon tank drones as arms. Or to be more precise - forearms.

My main complaint about gestalt mode however is the fact that when you are using the the gestalt mode head, there's nothing left inside the chest cavity to prevent it from moving backwards. This makes the chest cover looser than it should be, so the whould head and chest section aren't secure as when in standard robot mode.

Transformation

Not overly complex, and easy enough to do without the instructions. There is one little bit when transforming to and from alt-mode when transformign the arms and the siding to make it easier. Releasing the arms or storing them away is a two step process. Either way you are going, first bend the arms at the elbow to 90 degrees. Then either close or open the vehicle side panels.

Combiner pegs

They stick out like a sore thumb by clashing against his red, but you could imagine them being water tanks even though water isn't naturally baby blue. His blue Protectobot repaint however will blend well with the blue.

Summary : Will I buy a double/repaint?

On a scale from No! to Yes!, he resides at a "yeah maybe". If he's cheap and/or has extras or a better minicon to make it worthwhile.

Transformers Powercore Combiner Searchlight

Welcome to the first of a short series of articles where I mumble on about the Transformers Powercore Combiner toys. I'm planning this to be 4 articles in total, covering the wave 1 Commander 2 packs known as Search Light & Backwind, Smolder & Chopster and Huffer & Caliburst. I will be doing short reviews of Searchlight, Smolder, Huffer followed by the three minicons. I'm treating the minicons independently because they're going to do a reshuffle of the pairings with the recolours in a later wave.

Each short(ish) review will be broken down into smaller segments just to add a bit of structure to them. They will cover:

- Vehicle Mode
- Robot mode
- Gestalt Mode
- Combiner Pegs
- Transformation
- Summary and Thoughts

This first article will cover the rescue helicopter known as Searchlight.

Searchlight

Vehicle Mode

To sum up the alternate mode: Searchlight is a gray and blue rescue helicopter.

Except for the visible thighs on the underside, it's a fairly decent alternate mode. There is a minicon peg on the underside of the cockpit, as well a the retractable peg on underbelly of the helicopter. My only major criticism of this mode is the lack of landing gear to support the helicopter when it is at rest. It has to sit at an angle. It's made worse when minicon weapons are attached to it.

One small observation: the rotor blades are not identical. The one with the smallest diameter has four blades while the larger one has three. I would have thought that it would be easier to recycle one rotor blade to make a symmetrical pair for the windmill shoulders on the gestalt mode.

Robot Mode

Before I go on, I just want to highlight one aspect of some of these new PCC commanders have that I find to be absolutely brilliant: The retractable minicon peg on the chest. This gives them a place to install minicons to act as a chest-plate, but can also have retracted when not in use. You could even pretend that they're a chest-gun of some sort. Pity not all of the commanders have one, but it's a great idea all the same, and one that would've been really useful when powerlink pegs were introduced in the Armada line. But I digress.

Searchlight's robot mode is in my opinion his weakest mode thanks to his shoulder assembly and thin legs. I do like the impression of a 5 o'clock shadow on his face. It makes him look worn and tired. Actually reminds me of the junkyard robot in Season 3 of G1 for some reason.

His weakest point, in my opinion, his the shoulder/back assembly with the helicopter cockpit halves. They are loose and the whole shoulder and sides rotate freely. The cockpit 'coat tails' don't really have anywhere to go and hang loose behind him. These aspects aren't too good, but are still workable. Now comes my main fussy point - the shoulder interface. They are just flaps with the ball joint attached to it. This does gives great articulation but it does not look very good at all. It makes it look like his shoulders floating away independently of the torso.

He has beefy arms with, but very thin legs that are mostly made up of thin helicopter siding. Being top heavy, his toes need to be spread out to take most of his weight when standing upright. The combiner pegs on his knees also give him very large kneecaps. Transformers with fairly hollow legs have been around, but they generally make up for it by disguising the hollow legs to make them look stocky, such as the ones on Animated Jazz or G2 Hero Prime. Searchlight manages that from the sides, but try not to look at his inner leg too much.

Articulation-wise, he's very good. The elbows have double-joints, with one being a ball joint on the lower arm. His shoulders are ball jointed and the plate that holds the ball joint has a bit of motion. This gives him excellent arm articulation. Head is on a standard bal joint. Hips are not ball jointed (a step backwards in the right direction in my opinion - they often get it wrong with the hips when they use ball joints)but instead use a good old 2 axis joint that holds firm. The hip also rotates mid-way. The knee is a fairly standard joint offset a little to allow the whole lower leg flip back for its alt mode and gestalt mode hip mode.


To go beyond the official modes (one should never confine themselves just to the official modes): one thing I would suggest to disguise his offset shoulders is to deploy his gestalt mode chest plate siding. They hide the shoulder interface. Again it's a facade, but it makes Searchlight look less unfinished.

As for the cockpit tailcoat, the minicon peg is wasted on it. Consider tipping the shoulder pylons forward a little and clip both cockpit halves together. This gives you a central minicon peg on his back where you can install a weapon minicon of your choice.

Finally, the rotor blades seem to be neglected in the instrucions and don't appear to have anywhere to go. Common senses dictates that they be used as weapons. They can be plugged back into their sockets to give Searchlight a pair of spinning arm blades, which he can use to mow down enemies - and maybe trim the treetops. The pegs on the rotor blades don't seem to be quite the right dimension for his fists, but can be put in. I would recommend sticking to the arm slots instead.

Gestalt Mode

Note, as I couldn't find my set of instructions for writing this review, I think I may have the normal arms set up in the wrong position in this photo. Also featured in the photo are the Aerialbot drones.

Most of my concerns from his shoulder siding in the robot mode translate across to the combined mode as well. The negative points are that his thighs amount to really thin legs with facades. Just looking at them from the side ruins the image somewhat. The windmill shoulders bother me - partly because they're not functional and partly because I feel like the instructions are just including them there simply as somewhere to put them.

Now for the good points. As mentioned earlier, Searchlight's gestalt mode comes with its own chest plate, which is actually part of his sides for his small mode. The head flippy gimmick where you swap his head works really well - better than Smolder's. Also the big head has a small resemblance to Animated Ultra Magnus, which earns it a few extra points from me. Clear plastic is used for the eyes, but there's no light piping block at the back of the head - this works on the similar principle as the light piping used in the deluxe Cybertron Red Alert toy. It works by viewing it from the side.

Now, if we go beyond the official modes, take away the shoulder windmills, you can actually use his normal arms as an extra set of manipulators, giving you a four armed robot. That can let you arm this bot with more guns and other weapons that the large arms cannot carry.

Transformation

Fairly simple but also interesting. I quiet like the way the arms fit into the roof. They are polar aligned, so you have to make sure you get the right arm in the right direction otherwise they won't clip into the legs or cockpit halves.

Combiner Pegs

Because of the colour scheme, the baby blue pegs actually fit into the whole thing seamlessly and don't stick out like a sore thumb. They still protrude in most cases.

Summary and Thoughts

My verdict? Well, as I was writing this review, my impression of Searchlight started to improve somewhat as I discovered the ways to mitigate the few sore points I had with him. However, my verdict will have to be that Searchlight is an average minus. Probably the weakest of the three of the wave 1 PCC 2-pack commanders, but certainly not the worst toy ever made.

I would say get him if he's on special, but to concentrate on the other two wave-1 2-pack commanders before Searchlight. But that's just my opinion - yours may differ somewhat once you have him in your hands.

Now, I do rate his minicon - Backwind - quite well, and I will cover Backwind on the 4th installment. However  I wouldn't recommend getting Searchlight just to get the Minicon. There will be repaints and reshuffling of the drones and minicons with a few recolors in Wave 3, and one will have an Autobot repaint of the Bombshock Mold paired with the Backwind minicon. That would be the best time to get it.

If you want to see the larger 640x480 versions of the photos used here (I had to have the blog shrink them otherwise they were being hidden by the sidebar), you can see them under the PCC Searchlight section no my Photobucket account.

Some Heavy Metal thoughts

Still writing notes about all these funky new Transformers I've bought recently, and learning how to use my brand spanking new Fujifilm camera (with so many options, buttons and knobs and dials, I'm feeling rather lost). Also last month - well, mostly the month before - I was busy with a little project repainting a Gundam kit to enter into a Gundam contest hosted by Hobbylink Japan and Tomopop.com. No,  didn't win, but it was a great experience all the same, and the results were absolutely stunning. Will post about it - after my promised article on the first wave of PCC Transformers.

In the interim, I busied myself with a console game. Well, I do that all the time, but this time I picked up a rather entertaining title called Brütal Legend, partly because of some good recommendations and because it was reduced in price. If you've ever played the Lucasarts adventure game known as Full Throttle, you'll really enjoy this as the same chap responsible for Full Throttle has his name on this game. Heaps of well known voices and even heavy metal rockstars contribute their voices in this project. It does have decapitations (of which they are only singificant in the intro and outtro) and foul language (which I am not a fan of, but I don't mind it at all), none of which were present in the more family friendly Full Throttle. They're toggleable too - and I just left them on. A generous dose of humour in it too. Played it from start to end on the hardest available difficulty level right from the word go too - I think this is becoming a bit of a trend that I've adopted since playing the X-COM series.


Of course, this article is not about Brütal Legend - it's about the genre of music known as heavy metal. The game has well over 40+ heavy metal songs in it, in addition to a few of the original instrumentals made for the game. By the games end, by clearing many of the side quests and hunting for various buried relics, and whatnot, you practically end up with a jukebox of actual heavy metal titles that you can play while riding your car, the Deuce. So, in a matter of a few weeks, I've been inundated with more heavy metal music than I have in all 30 years of my life. And it has dispelled as well as confirmed a few misconceptions of my own that I've had of the genre.

One of the things that this experience has taught me is that there are a lot of great metal tunes out there, which are unfortunately ruined once the vocalist opens his mouth. Then there's this very common use of a guttural voice (imagine the Orc voices from Warcraft 1/2) that works against the great tunes. Not all of them are bad, of course.

The themes that are often touched on are incredibly broad as well. A lot of them appear to be fantasy based and a good chunk of them also lean towards the macabre (think: horror films, and Halloween). In fact, I almost felt like they were singing about some sort of Dungeons and Dragons session half the time.


The spikes, dark leather, skulls, chrome, horror props, etc are just a style. That's it. Nothing wrong with it, though I can also see how it would concern the parents! Or, I suppose, the cops.



Finally I never knew there a slow version of KISS's God of Thunder. I've only ever heard the ones that were played or similar to the versions on the Kissology (Vol 1.) Guess you learn something knew every time it seems.


So am I heavy metal convert? Nah, not exactly. I always liked the various sub genres of rock. Now, just so you know where I stand, I enjoy listening to any type of music as long as it's catchy. With such a broad range of music that I enjoy , this has unfortunately left me unfamiliar with many of the singers/bands or types of sub-genres that are available. I don't know my Bach from Led Zepplin from Weird "Al" Yankovic from Hatsune Miku. Well, a bit of exaggeration there, but I just mean I'm not that knowledgeable about music.


On one last note: Just got try Brütal Legend. It's fun. It's available on various platforms like the PS3 and XBOX 360.

New Zaku additions to the family

Being a special month for me, I took a week off work. It's my first real extended break from work since the end-of-year batch of statutory holidays.

Over this time, I did all sorts of things, like get my provisional drivers license. In addition to that, I promised myself that I would build at least 5 of the robot model kits I've been collecting. Frankly I've got a lot of them now that are just waiting to be built. 21 or so off the top of my head. I've been holding off on them for various reasons. Probably weariness caused by work. However, I managed my quote. I said five, and I built six. Five of them were Zaku's, one was a GM. The GM is complete as far as construction is concerned, but there's custom paintwork I've got planned for it.

Of Zakus, there were two different Zaku II v2.0's, a 1/100 Zaku II F2, a 1/144 Zaku II F2 (EFF) and a 1/144 Zaku I Sniper. For some photos of them, they can currently be seen on my  Photobucket account. That link will take you directly to them, along with a few other items I've purchased in June 2010.

The one I want to show off is the third addition to the White Ogre platoon I've slowly built up. This time, White Ogre #3 will be called - using completely original and not deliberately descriptive nomenclature: Air Ogre (w/ crystal eye)

Made up from parts of a Zaku II MS06-R1 "Shin Matsunaga Custom" and a MS-06 J "White Ogre" custom to make it look like a White Ogre with all the necessary flying parts, as well as the customized skirting, elbow armour, shield with extra joists, detailed spiked shoulder armour and a right shoulder with vents. Also the prototype Zaku Bazooka that looks partway between a Zaku Bazooka and a Big Bazooka.

Note, I've not used any of the markings for the White Ogre on any of the kits so far as I don't want to relate these White Ogres to the proper "White Ogre" custom used by Elmer Snell from the MS Igloo 2 series.

The reference to a crystal eye just means that I've not painted the mono-eye camera in its head. I've always painted them with clear colours like red, blue, green, orange, etc. However, this is the first time I've built a Zaku 2.0 kit without painting the eye, and it looks quite nice for a change. You could say I was just being lazy, but I wanted to use an eye colour that I hadn't used before as I've gone through the entire range of Tamiya clear colours so far - with the exception of clear and smoke.Clear would be redundant, and smoke would just make it darker. (I did use a clever combination of pink food colouring and Klear floor wax (that's Future to those in the US) for the Zaku II F2 to get pink).


I also spent a bit of time detailing the randsel jet pack as well as the vernier bell thrusters on the legs with  chrome silver and metallic red marker pens.

I usually only use chrome silver to paint the inside of the bell as well as dab the edges of the thrusters to make it look like the darker paint peeling away from the inner-metal surfaces. I like small shiny and metallic details like this in small quantities. This time though, I decided to do something different. Gundam models often have the inside of the thrusters in red (or in some cases yellow such as on the Kampher). I don't find myself particularly fond of that, so I went with a compromise. I've used a red ring around the edges. Not entirely sure of the significance of it, but it has resulted in a nice effect. I particularly like the effect it has had on the legs:

It's a pity though that you're not generally inclined to look at the feet or anywhere that far down when viewing  a completed model kit that is on display, so you lose out on these details unless it's on a display arm in a flying pose.


And here are the left over parts from the White Ogre and Shin Mastunaga Custom - enough to make another Zaku II MS06J. Has black pipes, gray chest sides, white  knees and cockpit and gray soles. I may use this for a complete repaint job one of these days. The white knees, surprisingly enough, were surplus parts in the Shin Matsunaga custom set.

Note: This photo is not flipped horizontally. I deliberately swapped the positions of the spiked and shield shoulder guards - though I suppose it wouldn't matter either way.


That certainly looks like a lot of weapons (spare from the other 3 White Ogres that aren't being used) - but certainly as many as I could have it displayed with if had borrowed the weapons from my other Zakus. I did learn a cleverly new way to clip the bazooka and machine guns over the shoulders. Similar to how they are stored in the Target in Sight PS3 game. Done by simply popping the arm off and slipping the handle on the shoulder joint, and putting the arm back on. That's given me two more places to clip weapons in addition to the weapon mount ratch on the back armour skirting. 


In my next article, I'll have a short natter about Transformers - since that consumes  as much time, if not more, than general robot model kits! Not sure what I'll talk about at the moment, but I'll think of something. Might make a few mention or do quick review of the Powercore combiners that have recently been released, and my mixed reception of them.

Let there be pie!

And as a haute cuisine type chef would say: Ukulele!

My very first pie! The first real bit of cooking I've ever done that doesn't involve omelettes, boiling (ala instant noodles) or just plain heating up. It looks malformed, but otherwise didn't turn out too bad for my first ever pie, and proved to be a very filling lunch. Learned plenty of lessons on what I should do next time and what to improve on.


Filling consists of chicken mince, reduced cream, mixed veg. and cheese on the inside and a few sprinkled on the top for decoration.

Now, this entire article seems a little pointless, but so is the direction I've taken with this particular blog. 

I can drive!

Well, as of today, I have crossed another of life's stepping stones towards independence. I have passed my practical driving test and am no longer a learner driver. I'm not a full driver as of yet, but I can now drive around town unsupervised by a qualified driver.

I've dithered long enough but have at least achieved this before 30. It will have its fair share of problems - but I'll worry about them when I get to it.

"Asymmetric"

What does it mean? Well, without referring to a dictionary, I'll try and explain it off the top of my head. Something is said to be symmetric when both sides are equal. Therefore, Asymmetric means the opposite, where both sides are not. A persons face for example is (often) symmetric. If the hair is brushed to the side for example, then the face is no longer symmetrical. It is said to be asymmetric. Enough with the explanation.

Now that's a word I am fond of. Quite a useful word to use when describing toy robots, as the terms are useful for describing the symmetry of the toy's appearance. However it is a word that I am constantly forgetting whenever I get to an appropriate point that it can be used.

The brain is a funny thing. You will often know something, and be very confident in your knowledge of this subject. But, at the critical moment, perhaps due to some brain activity that's related to stress, the pathways that lead to all this information seize up or get blocked. Thus you are at a loss to remember what it is at the critical moment. Later on, when the information is not particularly relevant at the time, it may come flooding back in great detail.

This is why I often did very badly during school exams. It's this pressure introduced by the time limitations (and lack of access to reference materials) that often made me forget something that I otherwise knew very well. If it was an easy question that I could do in my sleep, that was fine. But if it was something I wasn't too certain on, but knew the answer, then the numbness of the mind occurs.

Stage fright is also caused by this. Only that has the added stress of having you feeling nervous while being observed by many. The worry that you will fail, the prejudging, etc. All the little stresses don't just stack up, they come in an tidalwave, as you're being observed by many. If you don't go on stage often, your confidence can quickly get shattered and start doing mistakes.

But again, the mind is a funny thing. It might recall snippets of a song at sudden moments and you get a part of the song playing in your head all day long. a terrible thing to happen if it's a song you don't like. Me? I don't particularly mind it when I recall the Badger chants. (Badger, badger, badger..etc)

Oh hang on, what was this about? Oh yes, the word Asymmetric. And Symmetric. They're fun. Look them up some time and find an excuse to insert them into your everyday conversation!

Tracking numbers!

If you are regular consumer of on-line retail shops like myself, it's a most exciting experience when the parcel finally arrives and you get to rip it open to see what treasures await in the (recycle-able) cardboard box. It's like Christmas every time.

But then there are occasions where the parcel never arrives. Tracking down where the fault is along the line is one headache. One thing that helps this laborious chore immensely is to have some means of tracking the parcel. Mainly by way of a tracking number.

I'm currently experiencing one of these moments. No, I've actually got 2 - 3 parcels I'm waiting on. I have since discovered, with the help of the only parcel that has a tracking number that my local postal service attempted delivery but failed, sent the parcel back to the depot and left a note-to-call. I have never received the note-to-call, so would have never known whether they'd attempted to send it or otherwise. But with the help of the tracking number, I might yet be able to recover the parcels. Well, one of them at the very least.

The lesson learned: tracking numbers are handy. Most well established sellers like Amazon.com and many on-line shops will have a tracking number as a standard part of their deliveries. But for personal sales such as those made through on-line auction sites, it may pay to pay a few extra dollars for the safety of a tracking number.

Bovril is not Bovril anymore?

Warning: This blog entry may not be suitable for extra-hard-core vegetarians since it's mainly just me babbling on about a product derived from beef extracts. Beyond that I have nothing against your diet lifestyle of choice - but that's beside the point.

Growing up, I used to enjoy a product known as Bovril, which I understand might not be familiar to everyone. It's similar to products like Marmite or Vegemite. Only it's made of beef extracts. If your country was previously colonized by Britain some time in its past when all the major world powers went mad and tried to lay claim to most of the world, you might have it in some local grocery stores. If not, perhaps it'll be in shops specializing in imported foodstuffs from Britain.

Back to where I started, I used to have this product when I was growing up. Either as spread in cheese sandwiches (toasted or plain), on plain crackers, as flavour for rice porridge or even as a nice broth by just mixing it with hot water.

Though I do like beef, I do not eat it very often. In fact, I hardly have anything resembling a beefsteak at all during the course of a year. This is because one of my parents has an allergic reaction many meats and seafoods, thus the whole family's diet follows suit. Thus I used to enjoy having Bovril for its beefiness - even if isn't really meat nor can it substitute for a piece of leather.

Suddenly, a new turning point in my life, I leave college and fly to New Zealand to live and as well as continue my studies at University. Bovril turns out to be not a particularly common product in the local supermarkets. More prolific are Vegemite and Marmite. Marmite being the local speciality, and Vegemite more Australian than Kiwi. Still, they were the major source of the salty dark pasty non-meat extracts spreads, and they are just as delicious. Once or twice I've found real imported Bovril in shops (a South African goods shop, actually) and took advantage of them. It's probably a decade now since I've really had a good taste of Bovril.

Just a few days ago, I saw one in my local supermarket. I took it off the shelf thinking it would be a nice change for a spread. Then something on the label caught my eye. 'Suitable for Vegetarians'. For a moment there I was left a bit confused. Bewildered even. Then after reading the label, my world shattered.

There's no beef in it. Not even just the extracts. I must admit though that I did not check if had any imitation beef flavouring. Bovril is now just another Vegemite or Marmite.

Now, I can only assume the worldwide Mad Cow problem we not too long ago may very well be responsible for the removal of the beef.. I might just be overreacting, but what's bothering me the most at the moment is why are they still calling it Bovril? Where's the Bovine in it?

That's my aimless rant for the day. And I bid you a good night.



edit: I might give up on the e-mail posting if this keeps up. It seems to play havoc with the text formatting and inserts carriage returns that were never there. Or it might just by my e-mail options. Might give it a few more tries. In the meantime - manual edits! There, all fixed.

The never ending battle against Technology

I'm trying out this new Technology doohicky (which probably has been around since the stone ages, but I've only discovered recently) whereby blogs can be updated by e-mail.

Amazing stuff. Doesn't help that I often make new posts and then spend the rest of the night editing and revising it and then re-publishing it before I'm finally satisfied. If this works, then perhaps more frequent blog updates would be forthcoming. Pictures and formatting may require direct intervention, but simple text such as this should be no problem.

Take that technology, you have not bested me this round!

edit: on second thought, maybe I have been bested. My screen is showing some odd paragraph formatting. Next time I'll go with a plain text e-mail.

Closet anime fan surfaces?

I love animé - I grew up on bad dubs of things like Transformers Masterforce and Doraemon and what have you so it has been instilled in me since childhood. I just haven't been very vocal about it in my net dealings. Just haven't had a great need to do so rather rather than anything else. Just for the record: I like robots, fantasy, comedy and combinations thereof. Don't like overly serious stuff (like EVA). However I have been trying other genres that I would normally never try to associate with (like Kanon, Clannad and Air), and finding myself thoroughly enjoying them. Also, to peg me into what type of western Anime category I am: I listen to the original audio and use subtitles (to assist - my ears and brain do the bulk of the interpreting). Nothing against dubs if done well, but I am a purist at heart and don't like any of the material changed if at all possible. Even cultural/pop culture references. It's a bit elitist, but while I was quite happy with what they did in, say, Last Exile (which was very good, by the way in either language), you'd have to try listening to the English dub for Dragon Ball (the original first series) and compare it to the story that is told by the original Japanese audio and its subtitles. The difference was at such an extreme level that they were completely different stories. I practically stopped watching my anime through both languages after that. Mind you, I shouldn't have been surprised by that as Westernizing anime and completely changing the stories has been an age old tradition. Look at Robotech, the various Voltrons and Saber Rider and the Star Sherrifs. They share little in common with their source material. Anyway, enough aimless rambling about my personal preferences (it's boring).

Thought I'd list a few quick shows I've watched or rewatched recently (mix of new and old) and my thoughts on them.  

el Cazador de la Bruja - Bounty hunters, genetically engineered witches, secret organizations, shifting loyalties, a good dose of fun and drama, likeable and imperfect protagonists and loopy bad guys that are more messed up in the head than bad to the bone. Great stuff. Highly enjoyed it. Not the greatest show ever, but great viewing all the same if you'd like a good yarn.  

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - Imagine a cross between a world martial arts tournament style stories (like the original Dragonball) and toss Gundams in. Mix well. Definitely not 'Gundam' as far as Gundams go (even the creator says so in the notes), but still extremely enjoyable. Along with shows like War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team, it's fun viewing. Do note that they did change a few Gundam names to soften the blow a little for Western aesthetics.  

Shattered Angles - Fans of UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie and Steel Angel Kurumi might get a kick out of this for some of its references. The image of Val for example shows up as a Steel Angel. Mixed feelings about it, but I wouldn't say it's bad. Will need to watch it a few more times to truly get a fix on it.  

Princess Tutu - Slow start, but this was quite a good series once it started to pick up. Has the typical magical girl type theme, but not so much in the combat sense as many shows in this genre go. The main protagonist mainly solves problems by dancing. Has bittersweet conclusions and plots twists just like some of the ballets and other stories that are used throughout the series. But I guess it's as herr Drosselmeyer says that perfect heroines (referring to the main protagonist) are boring. I really dislike the way some subtitles are handled, particularly with changing what is said by the characters (like names). You watch enough anime in its original language and you do tend to learn a few words, so things like this irk me to no end. However this story is one case where keeping the subtitles as close to the original source material would have caused some puns to not work. The main character for example is called Ahiru, which is Duck in Japanese. As it also happens, she is also a duck. So it would make sense for Duck to be a duck in the English subtitles and dub. Beyond a few name changes, it's fine. Oh, did I say I adore the main character's voice? Don't know why but the squeaky voice and awkwardness of the character is quite an appealing combination. Note, minor nudity but nothing to froth at the mouth about. That's not the point of the show.  

Baldr Force EXE - exploding heads. Didn't like it. The whole premise of having a virtual entity is that it's virtual. Yet here we have the virtual body being erased and your real life body bursting like an overripe watermelon. Matrix with virtual mecha. OVA format, and way too short and thus felt as though they rushed through everything. Only got it since it was on special, so no skin off my back. What next? Who knows, I have a small library of shows to rewatch over the rest of the year - on top of the new ones. Mainly looking forward to starting on Slayers Revolution as soon as Slayers Revolution R is out. In the meantime, may try to rewatch Kaleido Star and Rune Soldier Louie.

The new 1/144 Zaku II F2

I was poor on cash last month so didn't have much of a capacity to buy much for myself bar the essentials. However, it gave me a chance to work on some of the model kits I had been collecting but not building. This consisted of a bunch of Gundam kits involving various High Grade 1/144 GM's. GM's are the mass-produced Gundam units used by Earth Federation Forces/Space Forces, and function solely for the Zeon army to destroy by the handful. Basically it's the EFF/EFSF version of the Zaku II in function. But that's just a bit of useless information. In addition to the GM's, I was especially excited to try Bandai's brand new 1/144 Zaku II F2 kit, which is the Zaku variation that appeared in the 0083 Stardust Memory series. Not to be confused with the good old Master Grade 1/100 model. This new kit is fairly recent and was released about a month or two ago of this posting. There are two releases of this, the Zeon and the EFF version. Built here is the green Zeon version. I haven't had much of a chance to construct the other, but is otherwise identical bar a tan paint scheme. The MS-06F2 appears to be a rather a heavily armoured variant of Zaku II MS-06F, with heavier plates on the arms, chest and loops to secure the piping around the waist. Though lacking in double jointed elbows, which seems to be the standard in the more recent model kits (like the Gundams and the Zaku I circa 2006 and onwards), this model is a vast improvement over the previous High Grade Zaku II offering. In fact, I dare say it's almost tries to mimic the shoulder and hip articulation found on the Master Grade v2.0 Zaku's, particularly with the shoulder and hip assemblies. The head is a bit smaller than in the previous 1/144 Zaku II, the proportions look a whole lot better, and almost matches its 1/100 v2.0 counterparts. There are actually three helmet variants available during assembly. The standard (as above), commander's antennae and one with three armoured plates along the forehead. The 1/100 Master Grade EFF Paintball version of this chap had these armour plates that you can glue onto the helmet. The only thing that I find that is missing from this kit is the 280mm Zaku Bazooka, which is practically a standard fitting on most Zaku II model kits as is the obligatory 120mm Zaku machine gun. The 120mm Zaku Machinegun is present but with a different stock and under-barrel grenade launcher attachment. The Zaku Machingun even comes with the alternate ammo magazine used by the EFF Zaku's during Paintball practice. It is molded into the rifle, so you only need to remove the standard ammo drum to reveal it. Other accessories include theHeat Hawk (axe, and also the second obligatory weapon next to the Zaku machinegun) , a pair of triple tube rocket launchers that fit on the legs and a 90mm heavy machine gun as seen in the top picture. The only real major complaint I have about this kit is the clip that holds the Heat Hawk to the armour skirting. Rather than the usual round peg and peghole setup, it's a rectangular recess that you have to fit a flat diagonal peg into. It doesn't like to stay in very well. An undocumented and probably unofficial use of the axe holder is to slot it between the 'open 'optional hand to make it look like the Zaku is handling the axe in a more casual manner. Overall I must say that I do highly approve of this new Zaku, though it could use double jointed elbows and a better axe holder. Now I'm crossing my fingers in hope that they release the humble Zaku II in Bandai's new RG (Real Grade) series, which I am lead to believe is like cross between the level of detail or complexity of a Master-Grade scaled with the usual High Grade scale (1/144). First up in the RG line is the iconic RX-78 Gundam, which I may actually cave in and try out one of these days when it is finally released.

Building Zaku II v2.0's the hard way

Sometimes I challenge myself and do some really hard things just for the heck of it. This might be partly due to the X-COM series, which some of you who know me, am a fan of. The first three games in the series are very harsh on beginners. So hard that many new players will often have to rely on save/reload to beat it. Nutters like myself, who want to make it harder, make occasional self-imposed challenges to just plain make it harder for the heck of it. From time to time I appear to extended this idiosyncrasy (or perhaps a case of masochism?), just for the heck of it, on other aspects of my life. Mostly on other computer games. But now, I've attempted it with model kit building. For the first time ever, I've built two 1/100 Master Grade MS-06J Zaku II v2.0 model kits completely without once referring to the manuals. Welcome MS-06F #2 and MS-06J "White Ogre" #2 (Blue Eye) to the family. Note: The photo for the MS-06F may appear to be cut in half if viewed from the main Blog window. Just click on it to open the full image directly from my Photobucket account. Now, I will admit that I have had practice in the past. At least 10 variants of these guys so far, so it's not as if I started blindly. Also their basic frames are the same and differ only in minor details. There are still hundreds of bits of pieces to put together and it's been months and months since the last build. The one thing I found about this fun feat was that the entire build process was so much faster. Normally I can take about 8 hours to build one. I think I only took 5 - 6 hours this time. After this, there are still five v2.0 Zaku's, 1 v2.0 Gouf (based on the Zaku 2.0 frame), a 1/100 and 1/144 MS06F2 that are waiting to be built. Still need to get a Geara Zulu, which is very Zaku-ish. I do declare that I have a serious case of Zaku-Zaku-mania. I suppose it is better (and probably cheaper) than alcohol addiction.

Fishing pictures up

Too long to be a tweet - the Fishing Gallery is up. Only half a dozen photos at the moment, but they are some of the better (non blurry) ones. Next up, I'll throw in some of the boring pre-production photos.

"Fishing"

As is probably apparent with my ramblings so far on this blog, I like robots. Indeed. But I also like whimsical things. So where possible, I combine them. The result was a diorama of a 1:100 scale Master Grade Zaku II v2.0 (the very same one in the first photo of the last blog entry) with a fishing rod. Yes, a Zaku-sized fishing rod. A Brief Brief If the question buzzing through your head at the moment is: "Why?", then my answer would be "Why not?" The title of this diorama is "Fishing". I know, a rather dull title, but it works. This was entered into competitions at my local Japanese toy hobby store (Hobby One) and to a competition in Japan with the Hobby Japan monthly magazine. I must thank Yoshi, who runs Hobby One, who assisted with my entry submission and also a fellow competitor. I didn't win either of the two, but that's fine as I only entered for fun and basically for the learning experience. It was a blast. It humbles me to admit that the competition was fierce - there are tons of great modellers out there. If you manage to pick up a copy of the February 2010 issue of Hobby Japan, you can find my entry misspelled "Fvishing" amongst the many non-winning runner-up entries. Unfortunately the photo selected was not one of the better shots to use in a thumbnail. Alas, can't complain! It's exciting enough for a novice like myself to have been selected amongst the runner ups. On the photo Today I'm presenting one of the photos I was able to amass for this project. I'm no great photographer, but this is arguably one the better images in the collection, and also an accident. The best received amongst all those I've shown it to, at least. This accident I am referring to is a visual illusion that extends the diorama beyond its boundaries. Observe the near portion of the river. The uneven surface of the clear resin (done by prodding the surface with a brush while it was setting) combined with the reflection of natural sunlight results in the illusion of foam on the surface. This makes it look like there are currents in the water. Next observe the lake and the bank on the far side. These don't exist. Or rather, they do exist, but they're not part of the diorama. The diorama ends where the water changes from light to dark. Observe the horizontal bar of light close to the far bank. That's really a clear strip of plastic that I used to contain the river. If you look at the part of the photo closest to you, you'll see the other strip of clear PVC sheet containing the other side of the river and bank. Notice how that part of the photo looks like a 3d cutaway of the river. One thing I like about this photo is how the sun and shade play off the Zaku, the fishing rod and the terrain. Though silhouetted (and thus masking all the details), the lighting results are almost artistic. The overall picture works very well to viewers that glance at it for the first time. If you inspect it too much, or if you've been reading my comments here, you'll discover that it's just an illusion. If you squint your eyes, you'll probably even see the tiny pilot that's by the Zaku's right shoulder shield. Just under the diamond shaped light reflecting off the shield. Don't worry if you do not - the pilot's not the focus of the photo. When I get a chance, I'll put up higher-res version of all the better photos on my Photobucket account.

An uninformed ramble on the Zaku II

Today's mindless rambling is about the mono eyed beast known as the Zaku. More specifically it is the Zaku II. Please note that as per the title, I know very little of the source material not having watched the original series the Zaku originates from. Most of what I know I've gathered in bits and pieces from various sources so please take everything I say in here with a grain of salt. Corrections obviously welcome for those that are better versed in the history and origins of the Zaku II. As a semi-related preamble to this: The real purpose I'm bringing this up is because I just plain like this mecha. However, the other reason is that I had a diorama project I was working on mid to late last year mentioned in last years blogs, but didn't really elaborate on it too much. This was partly due to the fact I had put it into two model making competitions, one local and one in Japan (purely for fun, I assure you!), so wasn't at liberty to disclose too much of the details. Now that the competitions are over - and naturally I did not win (though did end up amongst the many great honourable mentions ) - I will be putting up some photos of the results in the near future. As the key figure in this diorama is a Zaku II, I thought I'd give a brief overview of what it is, from my uninformed perspective. Right, enough o that. What is a Zaku II? Well, this chap in the photo below is a Zaku II - taken from a few snaps I took a few years back called "Zaku II On the Lawn".

To those that know what these guys are and want more specific details on the Zaku in the photo, this is a MS-06F Zaku II. That probably doesn't mean much to most folks. The MS-06 is the model numbering system that Zeon (the side that uses these mobile suits) assign to their various mobile suits. The F marks this as as a variation of the MS-06 with modifications that allow it to be used in space. A MS-06J for example would be the ground type that doesn't have the extra rocket boosters on the legs and backpack. There are many-many other variations. The Zaku II is a type of mobile suit in the Gundam universe. The best way I could describe them is that they look a bit like an American footballer with spikes on one shoulder pad and a shield replacing the other.

Like a large majority of the mobile suits that feature in this series, its sequels and its spinoffs, they have a single camere "eye" on the head (main camera). Zakus are the mass produced staple mobile suits used by the Principality of Zeon (the alleged 'bad guys') against the Earth Federation Space Forces (the alleged 'good guys'). They technically exist solely to be blown up in very large quantities by the EFSF. They are the counterpart to the GM (pronounced Jim) used by the EFSF, which in turn is blown up in large quantities by Zeon. It's interesting to point out that the name Zaku closely resembles the Japanese word Zoku, which can be interpreted as vulgar or common. That technically describes them quite well. I think a better term was Zako - but I can't seem to find the translation in my dictionary - or maybe my imagination made up the word.

These guys first featured in the 1979 anime Mobile Suit Gundam, and I understand were designed by Kunio Kawara, one of the mecha designers for the show. Despite being the blow-me-up-now mecha for the show, they turned out to be more popular than the titular mecha for the series, the Gundam. The plastic model kits for the Zaku outsold the Gundam at a ratio of 2 to 1! They were originally sold in the standard mass produced green colour and the Char's custom Zaku II which is essentially a red repaint that came with a command antennae on the head.

As the years have gone by and the Gundam mythos continues to expand, many variations of the Zaku have emerged. And I'm speaking of the Zaku II alone, and not the other Mobile Suits that appear to be Zaku spinoffs like the Marasai in Zeta Gundam and the Geara Doga in Char's Counterattack and the Zaku's featured in Seed Destiny. The Zaku, is in a way, the basis for many later mobile suits. (The white Zaku in the photo is an unpainted "White Ogre", a personalized Zaku II from the Igloo 2 series. Note the antennae on the head. That generally signifies that the Zaku II is used by a commanding officer and the whole suit is calibrated to be something like 20% better than the normal suits piloted by the soldiers.)

If you were to ask my why the Zaku did better - I wouldn't have a clue except that I am just as hopelessly fascinated with them. The Zaku is actually quite simple looking monster and is not as intricate in overall detail as the Gundam. There are more curves than straight lines on the limbs, torso and head. Perhaps it's the simplicity of it that assists much of the Zaku's appeal. In a way, for the model kits, this simplicity lends itself greatly to easy customization of the paint work or for etching your own details in.

One aspect of the Zaku that may put mecha fans off is the fact that they are asymmetrical thanks to the shoulder armour consisting of one round pad (with spikes) on the left arm and a shield on the right arm. I quite like the asymmetry - but I do agree that it's a matter of taste. But if you think about it, these are only bits of protective armour. From a model kit perspective, there's always the option of buying two kits and swapping the shoulder pads.

According to the specs of these mobile suits that you get on the instructions for the model kits, Zakus can weigh up to 80 tonnes when fully kitted with their basic equipment (including 100mm machine gun, a 280mm bazooka and an axe known as heat hawk). If you can imagine the amount of weight these guys are swinging about and the amount of momentum they can possibly achieve with that much weight, it's mind boggling. Heavy metal indeed! 'tis a shame they're made to blow up so easily.

Since the start, Zaku model kits have been released and re-released in various sizes such as 1:144, 1:100 and 1:60, and come in various grades classified as High Grade (HG), Master Grade (MG), Perfect Grade (PG) and numerous other types including assembled action figures and other fun items. The recent Master Grade 1:100 scale Zaku II v2.0 releases (from 2006 onwards) are quite breathtaking model kits that are very intricate kits to put together with probably about 5 - 8 hours of construction time depending on how much effort you put in.

Once done, they are excellent to fiddle with and pose thanks to their highly articulate frames as well as offering a feature present in many master grade kits with removable armour plates that let you view the inner mechanical details.

I'll simply close this article off with a personal recommendation by saying that even if you don't plan to immerse yourself in the Gundam universe but would like a fun mecha model kit to put together, definitely give this chap a try. I highly recommend any one of the v2.0 master grade kits - they're well worth it and oodles of fun. However don't limit yourself to the Zaku II - they're just the focus of this blog article. I can heartily recommend the Master Grade 1:100 Gundam Mk II v2.0 kit (either in the AEUG or Titans colour schemes) as well if you'd like to try a Gundam instead, which features equally good articulation and features an interesting sliding armour system to facilitate the articulation without the armour getting in the way. If you don't have any local shops that sell these kits, you can try places like ebay or online shops like Hobbylink Japan.

"Live Fats Die Yo Gnu"

Title is a quote borrowed from Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Soul Music (ISBN 0-552-14029-5). On Sunday morning I woke up to the news of a tsunami warning. As with any other major events or natural disasters that have happened over the years, especially those that may directly influence me, this was quite something to take in. The estimated time of the arrival of the waves was about 10.30-11-ish in the morning. That passed and all seemed fine. That was a good relief. For then, you never know if there were going to be aftershocks. Either last year or the year before, we had a similar impending tsunami warning, reported by the media. Our Civil Defence department took a rather lacklustre attitude towards that potential disaster and was heavily criticized by the public, media, politicians, etc. Obviously everyone had a right to be angry about that - our lives could have been in danger. Luckily it turned out all right and wasn't too major a catastrophe. This time, Civil Defense seemed to be on the ball. Warnings were issued, the media did frequent coverage of the impending disaster. Even residents in some seaside communities were given phone calls or cellphone txt message warnings. Good on them - better show than last time. Then, later that evening, I found it both amusing and horrifying to learn at how so many people ignored the warnings and pretty much flocked to the beaches for a paddle and a sunbathe or go out on a boat ride. Like candles, humans live short but bright lives. As if often advised, we should "live for the moment". That's not really a bad bit of advice. If you're going to get killed by a tsunami, why not get in one last swim on an otherwise great day or at least be amongst the first to see the surge of water arriving in person? Why not indeed? I don't think it was ever implied that you had to live in the moment recklessly. I think I'd rather opt to forgo a nice day at the beach and live long enough to see many more. But that's just me. Yes, it turned out okay in the end, so all's well that ends well. But is that really a fine thing? What if it hadn't? I don't like to think too deeply about things like the meaning of life and whatnot (to be honest, it bores me to sleep), but this event was an interesting insight for me into what it is to be human. We're a stubborn species.

The Last Piece Syndrome

This is probably not true at all places, but is something I've noticed in my workplace. We have a trolley that sits in the middle of the office which is mainly used as ... well, a trolley of course. However it is frequently used as a communal food table where snacks or other types of food are put on for everyone to share and enjoy. It's one of the office customs we've had that keeps morale up and helps socially- goodness knows we need all the positive things we can get. It's a different matter when it comes to potato chips, but for foods like biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, etc, whenever there's one piece left on the plate it'll remain on the plate for a very long time. It is as if it has become invisible. Why is this I wonder?