So conflicted right now…

Money is a bit tight for me right now, so I have to make my online purchases sparingly. Now though, I’m conflicted on what I should order next.

Right now, its a choice between either SDN48’s debut single along with Momoiro Clover’s upcoming single…or Gundam Unicorn Episode 2.

Oh, why do I have to choose? I think its a no brainer though, as sad as it may be. As much as I would love to start supporting SDN and continue supporting Momoclo, I think Gundam will win out again. The Unicorn series is just to good for me to pass it up. Anyone who’s seen the first episode will agree with me.

New Arrival – HG G Gundam

My last gunpla purchase for awhile (at least until HG 00 Quan[T] is released in the fall) arrived today; HG G Gundam.

For the longest time, G Gundam has been one of my favorite Gundam mecha of all time, only now being surpassed in my personal rankings by Exia and Unicorn. I believe my first encounter with it was in the old Gundam Battle Assault Fighting games, where it was one of my constant favorites. Considering how it fights, its perfect for games like those, in my opinion. In the more recent Gundam Musou games, its without a doubt my favorite unit to play as.

The main thing I’ve always loved about it is how such an over the top machine, one that can do Dragonball Z style energy attacks and all sorts of other crazy super robot stuff, can look so sleek, streamlined, and appealing to the eyes. In short, its a super robot that doesn’t look very much like a super robot. Its very Gundam, I suppose.

As soon as it was announced that an HG kit of the G Gundam was on its way, I knew I had to have it, and finally, here it is. Hopefully this weekend, I’ll have some pics of it, assuming I can get around to building it, that is.

Some upcoming projects

Here’s just a quick overview on some things I’d like to do on this blog in the coming month or two:

AKB48 Team B 4th Stage Final Show review:
While the final show hasn’t been announced yet, it should be coming quite soon, seeing as K5 just had its final show the other day. Considering this is the last time we’ll see the current Team B together, its defenitly a big thing for me, so I’d like to do a bit of an overview of the final show. It won’t be so much about the songs, considering I already covered them in my B4 review, however, it will mostly focus on anything special that happens and the girls themselves, especially since it is likely to be a tad emotional.

AKB48 Team K 6th Stage review:
So like I said previously, the last show for K5 was the other day, and according to some of the girls blogs, they’ve already started practices for K6, meaning it should be starting quite soon. Since this will be the first stage show to feature one of the new teams, I’ll defenitly be reviewing this one.
*Update*
The Stage is now officially set to start on March 12, and is appropriately titled “RESET”.

Gundam Unicorn Episode 1 review and synopsis:
The first episode of this 6 part series came out on the Playstation Network the other day, and the English Blu-Ray is set to be released very soon, so as soon as I can get my hands on a copy of the Blu-Ray, I intend to do a full synopsis/review of this highly anticipated Gundam series. I for one can’t wait to see it.

The “Best of” and “Worst of” – 2009 Edition

Sure, 2009 was, in all fairness, a pretty crappy year, primarily due to all that bad economic crap that went down, however, there were actually a lot of great things about this 2009, lets take a look shall we?

AKB48/SKE48
Best of:

Team B’s 4th Stage “Idol no Yoake”

Team B once again proved they are the best team in AKB48 (who says I’m biased 🙂 ) with their 2nd original Stage, Idol no Yoake. This stage has a bit of everything in it, rock, pop, nice ballads, and that’s why I think it stands as one of AKB48’s best stages yet. Its also the last stage for the original Team B, so its a bit bittersweet as well. Kinda sad that the original Team B only got TWO original stages, whereas A and K got 5. That’s hardly fair.

Iwake Maybe

Iwake Maybe was a breath of Fresh air in regards to AKB singles. The previous single, Namida Suprise, ranks up there with crappy singles like Baby!Baby!Baby! and Aitakatta (sorry, I just CANNOT stand that song), so Iwake was a nice followup. I think for me, having a similar sound to Oogoe Diamond really is what makes it a favorite of mine. You all know how much I love OD, so Iwake having a similar sound and feel just works for me. The other thing that makes this a great single is the fact that for once, the B-side is actually…good. I haven’t been a fan of too many of AKB’s b-sides (a majority of them being familiar stage songs and nothing really new) so an equally awesome original b-side song was also nice. This single has also introduced the concept of having separate groups for both songs, something I see them sticking with for future singles (just PLEASE ditch that whole Undergirls name)

RIVER

River is, without a doubt, the best AKB48 single at the moment. Its got just a badass rock sound to it, and is defenitly a unique single compared to past singles. The whole military theme is also pretty awesome. Nice to see its not just another school-girl themed single. The only downside to this single would be that they used Hikoukigumo as an accompanying song. Its just not that good, nor is it an original song. But that aside, everything else about RIVER is awesome, and it is defenitly AKB48’s best single of the year, and the sales will back up that statement.

Team S’s 2nd Stage “Te wo Tsunaginagara”

I originally didn’t like this stage, but that’s what you get when you listen to crappy previews of only a few of the songs. After listening to this stage in full, I came to one conclusion. SKE48 Team S fucking kicks ass! For their first original stage, Team S debuted with a bang. This stage has a mix of everything, which for me is great, as it means your not sticking to one style of song all the way through, which gets tedious and boring FAST (much like A1, A2 and A3 did, and is the reason I don’t care for those stages much). This stage also has a very different feel to it than AKB48 stages. I can’t pin-point it exactly, but I really like SKE’s style so far. Its just…different, and it works.

Team S’s 3rd Stage “Seifuku no Me”

While I haven’t heard all the songs for this stage as of yet, I can already tell this stage is going to be even better than S2. It seems to be carrying on with that distinctive SKE sound, and it also seems to be expanding on it as well. I will obviously have more on this stage once we have more of it (like an LoD performance…please?) So stay tuned. So far, though, its looking awesome!

SKE48’s Debut single “Tsuyokimono yo”

Let me get this out of the way first; AKB48 had 2 horrible debut singles. Their indie release, Sakura no Hanabiritachi, is just outright boring, and not my thing. Their official debut single, Aitakatta, is just plain bad and horribly annoying. One of the few AKB songs I REFUSE to listen too. SKE48 fared a whole lot better. Tsuyokimono yo is an outright baddass, awesome song. Now this is what I call a debut. If this is what we can expect from SKE48 regarding their singles, we are in for some awesome songs.

Worst of:

Team K’s 5th Stage “Saka Agari”
Yeah, I really don’t care for Team K’s latest stage. Its got a couple of gems, but overall, its lackluster and a complete disappointment. I can’t really say anything else about this stage. Its just not my cup of tea I guess. Though I seem to be in the minority about K5. Everyone else seems to love it (or it could be that Team K fans just can’t stop talking about it…I don’t know…), but I just can’t get over how bland it is.

Team Shuffling
This is likely the biggest news in regards to AKB48 this year, and likely in the groups entire 4 year history. At the time of the announcement was when I was taking my little break from the group, and even then it hit pretty hard. Now, the fandom has begun to cool off about the news and is slowly coming around to accepting it (face it, its happening) and I for one am excited to see the new stages with the new teams. However, one thing I am not looking forward too is more new girls getting pushed to the front because of this shuffle. A lot of former research students have been promoted to full team members, and already people are talking about them being front girls.

No thank you, not until some of the less popular girls (especially ones who have the talent and DESERVE to be in front) have their time to shine. And even then, these new girls shouldn’t be put to the front because their new and fresh. That unfair to the girls who have been there far longer and have yet to have their chance in the spotlight. Heck, I’m already pissed about a certain new Team B member being promoted at all, when she obviously has a lack of talent and stage presence, and she seems to be promoted a lot lately.

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World of Warcraft
Best of:

Secrets of Ulduar, Call of the Crusade and Fall of the Lich King

This year along, we have had treated to the 3 main content patches of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Patch 3.1, Secrets of Ulduar brought us the awesomeness that is the Ulduar Raid. I myself have never fully completed the raid, but I have experienced a bit of it, and of what I did go through, I loved ever minute of it. The beginning vehicular battle through the gauntlet is very fun to play through, and having a boss ( The Flame Leviathan) you fight while in said vehicles is actually a rather intense, yet enjoyable and manageable fight. The lore behind the raid is deep and exciting, especially when you finally come face to face with the man himself (or rather the mouth himself), the old god Yogg-Saron. Call of the Crusade was somewhat of a letdown when compared to Ulduar ( in regards to the raid instance), but it did introduce some great things; new five man instance, new daily quests and corresponding rewards, new loot, etc. The final WOTLK patch, Fall of the Lich King, is due out anyway day now and is bringing even more big things, among them a totally revamped Dungeon Finder system, which will make it much easier to find groups for raids and dungeons. Also coming, of course are new instances; a new 3-part 5 man dungeon and of course, the Icecrown Citadel raid, which will culminate in the final showdown with Arthas. A ton of other small but useful changes are coming as well. Of all the 3 patches for this expansion, this one has me excited the most.

Worst of:
Constant whiners and complainers – Every single day it seems like more and more people come out and complain about SOMETHING about WoW. Its something new everyday; “its too easy to get gear now”. “my class keeps getting nerfed”..blah blah blah…its annoying. Seriously, can these people not realize that its a game? If you don’t like what Blizzard is doing, stop playing the game. That way those of us who enjoy it can be rid of you and your constant bitching. It gets infuriating to read some of the various WoW forums and see nothing but complaint after complaint after complaint. I think Blizzard is doing a phenomenal job with WoW, but I guess there are those people who will never be satisfied until the game is exactly the way THEY want it. Again, all I can say is that if you don’t like it, don’t play it, its that freaking simple.

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Gundam
Best of:

Announcements of the Gundam 00 Movie and Gundam Unicorn OVA series

So yes, while these are not technically “out” yet, they were announced this year, and its the hot topic of the Gundam community at the moment. 2010 is not only giving us the hotly anticipated Gundam Unicorn OVA, its also giving us a Gundam 00 movie. How awesome is that? I’m highly anticipating both of these. Gundam Unicorn will be the first animated UC series of any form in quite some time, and its nice to return to the Gundam universe that started it all, and its nice to finally see the immediate aftermath of Char’s Counterattack. And a Gundam 00 movie is just the icing on the cake. 00 is likely my favorite AU series and one of my top fav series of all time, and I’m curious to see where the movie will take it.

Worst of:

Too much merchandise, not enough money
Yup, thats my only complaint about Gundam this year. So many awesome new model kits, DVD’s figures, etc have been released this year, and its too much for my poor wallet to handle. Ease up on the merchandise Bandai…please?

Games and Gunpla

So first up for today are some recently announced Gunpla kits, ones I’ve been eagerly awaiting for awhile now:

– HG Arche Gundam – May release, 1,680 Yen (inclusive of tax).
– HG O Gundam – Release date & price TBA.
– HG Susanoo – July release, 1,260 Yen (inclusive of tax).

– HGUC Schuzrum Dias – May release
– MG G Armor – June release
– HGUC Hi-Nu – Release date TBA

(info from Ngee Khiong blog)

Of these new kits, All 3 of the OO ones and HGUC Hi Nu are the ones I’m very excited for. I”m defenitly glad they decided to release Susanoo over Masurao, as the Susanoo just looks better overall. I also wonder what colors the HG O Gundam will be in. I’m hoping for its RX-78-2  color scheme, though I honestly wouldn’t be disappointed if its in its Roll-out colors. HG Arche should also be pretty awesome as well, and it would go great alongside my HG Throne Zwei.

Now HGUC Hi-Nu has me very excited. Its been one of my favorite UC Gundams ever since I laid my eyes on it, and it will be nice to have a kit of it that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg like the fantastic looking MG. I also hope the HGUC retains the MG’s slimmer build. While I do like the original, I like the less bulky style of the MG better.

Now on to some other Gundam news, this time about video games. In a disappointing move, it seems the 0081 series I posted on earlier will not in fact be a series, but will in fact be a new Gundam video game for the PS3, called MS Gundam Battlefield Record U.C 0081. While I am disappointed that we won’t be getting a new UC series, the game does actually look pretty good. And its supposedly a game in the vein of Gundam Lost War Chronicles, which I’ve been told is a very well designed game. The reason I mention this is that Gundam games are not usually of the highest caliber, so hopefully this game turns out great.

In other Gundam game news, the sequel to Dynasty Warriors Gundam has been pushed back to next month. This sucks as it was supposed to be released in North American this weekend. Hopefully this is the last time they push it back.

More Gundam 30th Anniversary news – New Universal Century Series

So some new info has surfaced since I posted the scan of the Rx-78-7 Gundam. Seems it is indeed the MS of a new Universal Century series. Here’s all the info we know abotu at the moment:

(info courtesy of Gundam|News)

Title: Unknown

Mechanic Design: Katoki Hajime
Character Design: Suzuki Tatsuya

Mobile Suit: Phantom Gundam Unit No.7

EARTH FEDERATION PHANTOM SWEEP TEAM

Hughes Curro: Male. Age 32. A veteran officer who leads the Phantom Sweep special forces unit charged with hunting for Zeon remnants. He has a bitter experience in which his unit was annihilated in the past.

Sherry Allison: Female. Age 24. She was serving as a test pilot but was assigned to the special forces unit as a replacement.

ZEON FORCES INVINCIBLE KNIGHTS

Erik Blanque (Blank): Male. Age 20. A young officer whose family is a distinguished family in the Principality of Zeon. He takes command of the “Invincible Knights” in order to execute a counterattack operation against the Earth Federation Forces.

Story: The time is Universal Century 0081. It’s been one year has passed since the war. Although the world was regaining order, small-scale battles continued in various places by the Zeon remnants who still continued to resist. During the situation, an veteran soldier of the Earth Federation Forces is appointed to a cleanup operation of the Zeon remnant forces. Feelings mix on the battlefield as the young Zeon officers promote the top-secret strategy for the revival of Zeon…

Am I excited…damn right I am. Its about time a new UC series started. And it will be interesting because the time period between 0079 and Zeta is a time period not fully explored in depth yet (aside from the Advance of Zeta manga/photobook series)

I’ll bring you more news as it surfaces.

New project for Gundams 30th Anniversary

A big event is coming up soon; the big 30th Anniversary of everyones favorite mecha anime; Gundam. There’s been a lot of speculation on what the new series will be for this big event. One speculation common amongst fans is an animated version of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn…something I’d personally love to see.

We haven’t gotten much info on what the big project for the anniversary will be, but today, a new scan related to the 30th Ani was revealed today:

Now at first, I thought this was a redesigned RX-78 Gundam, but I’ve come to learn that it in in fact the RX-78 7th Gundam, redone by Hajime Katoki. The original, shown below, was of course designed by Kunio Okawara:

The RX-78-7 also has two variations, a full armor variant and a heavy full armor version:

It will be interesting to see if these two versions get redesigns along with the base model.

So what does this all mean? We don’t know yet. I guess we will have to wait and see if this redesigned RX-78-7 is put into a new series, or if its just a new model or figure or something. Fortunately, we should learn of the new series when Gundam OO ends, which is very soon.

New Gundam 00V MSV and some new Gunpla updates

Its like in the last 10 minutes, we Gundam fans have been hit with a flood of new Gundam model kit info and a new OOV variation (for those unaware, OOV shows different MS and variants that don’t show up in the TV series)

Lets start with the latest OOV:

Cherudim Gundam Saga

(Translation from Gundamnews)

Unit Type: close combat equipped mobile suit
Head Height: 18.0m
Unit Weight: 62.7t (Saga Equipment Weight: 3.8t)
Armament: GN Assault Carbine x 1, GN Sub Machine Gun x 2, GN Beam PIstol II x 2, GN Beam Pistol x 2, GN Small Shield x 1, GN Missile Pod (front section) x 4, GN Missile Container (back section) x 1
Affiliation: Celestial Being

Summary: Special equipment for the Cherudim. SAGA is an abbreviation for Special Assault GUNDAM Arms. Assumed to be used for base attack missions. Therefore, all guns are changed to short barrels, and it’s equipped with as many as seven guns (on its person). Ian Vashti, who was in charge of design kept in mind the “Seven Sword” of the Exia and actually referred to the Cherudim as the “Seven Gun” because of the number of guns it has in the development code. For close range combat, it is equipped with a crystal sensor in its head. Abandoning GN Shield Bits because they are unsuitable for battles in small areas, it instead carries a convenient GN Small Shield. On it’s back it has a GN Drive and added armor to make up for the lack of GN Shield Bits. The top section contains a GN Missile container.

Next up is some upcoming models kits:

The HG O-Raiser is something to look forward to if you bought the HG OO Gunda, as it will include the GN Shield and the part that allows you to connect the OO’s GN Sword II’s. I myself will be getting it as a display piece, as my 1/100 O-Raiser will be connected to my 1/100 OO Gundam in OO Raiser congif. The other big noticble is the HG GN Archer, which we finally get to see in MS mode. This is a defenite buy for me, as I find the MS mode quite appealing. Its somewhat of a cross between the Powered GM from 0083 and the DSSD Astray from GSD Stargazer.

We also have a first look at the 1/100 Arios, and its looking fantastic, as is the 1/100 Cherudim. Also shown is the latest GN-XIII kit (in federation blue colors) and the Trans-Am versions of the season 1 Gundams.  Also shown is the HD version of the MG Zeta 2.0, and the HGUC Rezin Schnyder Geara Doga, along with some new SD kits.  However, the biggest news here has to be the revelation of a PG Astray Red Frame! Its been quite some time since the last Perfect Grade Kit was released (I believe it was Strike Gundam, or perhaps the Skygrasper, I forget) and for them to choose the Red Frame is just epic. It will defenitly be something to look forward to.