I'm almost on the homestretch now. Progress would have been much faster if I didn't hav to go back to work on weekends. But I did manage to squeeze in an odd hour or two of assembly time during my late evenings (depending only on an otaku's will power to stay awake), so it's still progress.

 Few things I'm not happy with :

• A lot of nub marks are very visible this time round. A combination of impatience and slip of the razor were the reason for this sloppiness.
• The British Green (Tamiya TS9) I bought, didn't turn out to be the color I wanted. It's actually a dull shade of green, very similar to Dynames green, which I hated.
• I feel like kissing Bandai for taking the effort to include all the itsy bitsy details into the plastic parts, making things look fabulous. But I also want to KILL Bandai for moulding all those detailing for the parts in one single part, making painting it a nightmare. Example, the 'wrapper' mesh for the Bazzooka barrel.

The silver part was hand painted on since it's impossible to mask using tape.

Speaking of the Bazzooka, this is one weapon I trully adore. It's BIG for an MG part. Super easy to build, yet full of gimmicks.

Example... if you think it's still not BIG enuf... you can slide it out... making it almost double in size.

Can't wait to see how the Unicorn is gonna wield this hugeass weapon and remain standing.

One more thing which is driving me insane is the amount of decals this kit came with. As usual, Katoki's decal fetish is giving gunpla fans like me a splitting headache coz each part needs to be plastered with like a gazzilion CAUTION labels.

I mean, just look at the torso of the Unicorn... can you believe the amount of red labels on the damn thing? This haven't yet include the labels which are hidden within the armor, which will be revealed when the Unicorn goes NT-D mode. It's just ridiculous.

But absurdness aside... it does make the damn thing look much more interesting instead of just the plain vanila white scheme. And yes, I did sharpened the unicorn's horn till it's as sharp as Sakurada's nips...  ;)

Aside from my mis-adventures with the damn X-Acto knife which kept demanding blood sacrifice every few days or so... I'm extremely pleased with the progress made this week. Taking the entire week off was the best damn decision I made in quite a while. It gave me time to work on things I enjoy instead of sloggin away in my cubicle doing things I abhor day after day and being bitter all the time... I found out I'm actually still capable of being happy  ;)

The bulk of the work is done. All runner trimmed, prepped and painted; except for the weapons coz I forgot to purchase Tamiya olive green and metallic black during my shopping spree. These will have to wait. I kinda cheated this time round by not washing the parts with soapy water before spraying the parts. I thought since I'm not working with candy paint this time round, I can get away with it. And I did.

I absolutely hated the way Bandai colored the psycho frame parts... it came in a really fuggly pale pink shade which screamed "PANSY". I originally intended to paint these parts metallic red. However, I'm glad I ended up deciding to keep the translucent look of the parts and just coated it with a layer of clear red.

I absolutely luv how the parts look. The clear red totally changed the look of the psycho frame and now they look like pieces of intense ruby when viewed under direct light.  This is one of the few times when things go right and the results are totally satisfactory.

Ya-ta!!!

Got too excited to start workin again on the MG RX-0... first thing I did was to accidentally stab my thumb with an X-Acto knife when my grip slipped while shaving off nubs. And you know how fookin sharp those thingies are.

Fook.

Fook.

褔. 褔. 褔...

Oh... Happy CNY everyone.

All systems... GOGOGO.

Come bek to this space in about 5 months... coz I hav absolutely no idea where I'm gonna find the time to put this together... lol...

As mentioned before, the MG Sinanju was going to be the last project I work on this year. And I'm going to make good on that promise by ensuring that's the case.

However... 

I never mentioned anything about not stocking up on new items for the upcoming future. So here're what I will be working on in 2010 (if I find the time...) :

• 1/100 MG Unicorn Ver. Ka (which I think look super elegant)
• MG Astray Blue Frame 2nd Revise Limited First Edition (which just came out fresh off Bandai's oven)

Can't wait  ;)

I never had a proper place to put my collection of gunplas since I started this hobby some time ago. But that finally changed when I got myself a proper display cabinet (el cheapo one la...) a while back.

Which is a rather welcomed relief coz I no longer have to dust these buggers every month or so. Lint sticks to plastic like glue, and I have to clean them with wet wipes to keep the surface in tip top condition. With the cabinet, I guess I can cut down on this boring task. Yes... I'm a lazy bugger when it comes to chores.

Anyways... after arranging all the gunplas in the proper shelves... I found I still have one rather unoccupied slot. Which is a real eyesore. I guess you know wot is going to happen next right? Nyek... nyek... nyek...

What do you get when you cross a smooth french speaking waiter who's also the owner of a western style backery, a flamboyantly talented gay patissier with an irressistable "Demonic Charm", a retired young boxer with a huge sweet tooth and a hopelessly klutzy but handsome young male who wears a pair of shades all the time?

You get Seiyō Kottō Yōgashiten; or Western Antique Cake-Shop in English.

When I laid my hands on this anime, I thought this was another one of those run off the mill food-themed anime along the lines of Yakitate!! and Chūka Ichiban! I couldn't have been more wrong. Antique Bakery is actually based on a shojo manga; which is primarily targeted at the younger female audience. It also touches a great deal on homosexual relationships; but not exactly in a bad light. On a contrary, it deals more on the social implications from such situations and provide an insight on life from their perspective. And it's one heck of a complicated one.

The animation quality fluctuates from episode to episode, but overall, the art direction is asthetically very pleasing. The world of Antique Bakery is forever basked in this light halo like glow which lends a sense of surrealness. It's a short anime, at only 12 episodes. And I'm already at episode 6 in 2 nights. You can tell by now that I actually enjoy this anime.

It can get queasy at times (I don't deny I have a hint of homophobic tendencies; given that I'm as straight as a TNB power pole), but I try to keep an open mind. And when I do, it's suprising how amusing and liberating this anime is. It's been a fun ride so far, and I believe it will continue that way all along till the 12th episode. Can't wait  ;)

I'm a relatively newcomer to the world of Miyazaki's work at Studio Ghibli. But after catching a few of his animations, I can easily say I'm captivated by his amazing imagination and quirky story telling skills. Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea is the latest work by this wonderful man, and I finally caught it last night.

Ponyo is the story of a young fish,  which is the child of a human father and a mother who's somewhat a goddess of the sea (I think... the sub-titles weren't fantastic). She decides to see the outside world one day, and fate has it... she stumbles into a boy called Sosuke. A friendship builds and eventually... Ponyo yearns to be part of the human world as well. 

If I compare the animation style of Ponyo with Miyazaki's earlier works like Totoro and Spirited Away, this one seems to be a little bit more pared down. Not only that, the story doesn't seem as complex either as the character count in this animation is rather paltry. But this is where the beauty of Ponyo lies. The simplicity of the whole package.

It's very easy to follow, the characters are instantly likeable and the story flows smoothly just like the water which Ponyo swims in. This is what Miyazaki does best. Creating feel good animations which brings out the inner child in you. After watching all those angst-driven, revenge-based animes... it's nice to watch something as simplistic as this. It's definitely a breath of fresh air.