Sword Against Sword: Red Frame vs. Exia

Took pictures of Red Frame and Exia with the spotlight... i like the light reflections ^_^ (no photo editing, except for the last one which I cropped)

Destiny... raw beauty

When I got back home and got the chance to catch up with a few friends, I told Mark that I was finally into Gundams too. He then told mo of the places where I can get them at good prices (thanks sir!) And he was absolutely right! the place in Festival Mall seemed like a playground for me! They had 10% discounts on old stocks and the prices of the regular items we'rent that bad either. Its now one of my happy places :D

I think I spent around an hour looking through the store. I bough a 0.03 panel line marker and found Destiny Gundam... it was just soo beautiful! :)

The following weekend me and my 2 younger brothers hanged out for the whole day building Destiny :) and here he is... (with my baby brother's teddy ^

Motivation... getting my 00 degree

I've never watched a gundam series completely. I've only seen G Gundam a few times with my younger brother when it was shown in the local TV 12 years ago. I think I actually liked it XD but I can barely remember anything. So my knowledge about Gundams is practically dog poop and can be summed up with the following:

• Gundams are robots piloted by people.
• Gundams have humanoid forms.
• Gundams have models you can build in real life.

I then decided to watch at least the 1st season of 00 before i start building exia. I figured that watching the anime and knowing about the characters would make building exia more fun and make me a bit more passionate at what i'm doing XD. So before I started on exia, before i even bought the cutter, I had went to CHA (Chong Hock Academy) to get my Computer Based Training DVD's and jump start my 00 education.

After us guys had lunch at McD, me and Wilson went to CHA and I bought the 1st season of 00. Here they are...

I've finished the 1st DVD and started on the 2nd one. I must say after watching Code Geass... I dont think any story line can match up to it but i'm still enjoying watching 00. I feel like i'm getting to know exia XD

Next Post:Arm of Exia: The Sands of Time...

Waiting in excitement turns off reasoning

After getting the box from Wilson, I tried cutting off one piece from the runner using an ordinary scissor. Why would I do that? Coz its one of the things I said to Wilson... that I can build a gundam using only a scissor and 2 grids of sand paper.

The following day I was asking Wilson if I can borrow his gundam cutter, which he replied with "How about NO! Hmmm scissor eh... ha ha ha!" I then asked Willie if I could borrow his cutter which he generously obliged. The next morning the big guy forgot to bring it! and it was the last day of our work-week T_T (Thursday). I was really looking forward on starting to build the Exia on my long weekend.

Before I really didn't want to buy any cutter because i knew i would only use it once... for Exia. But I was too excited! I've already waited a few days in anticipation for this long weekend. So I then decided to get the cutters. Friday afternoon me and Fred set out for the mall to get groceries, walk around the mall and me to get the cutter but we ended up watching "How To Train Your Dragon" XD hehe the movie was awesome!

Ok, so Saturday I really went to the shop in Tungku to get the cutters. I wanted to start on Exia so badly that practically nothing else was on my mind but the cutter! Cutter! Cutter! Cutter! I marched into the store and walked right in front of the owner.

Owner: *Working on an RC model for the other customer sitting in front of him.

Mac the Cutter boy: Cutter! Cutter! Cutter!

Owner: Oh you need a cutter sir?

Mac the Cutter boy: Cutter! Cutter! Cutter!

Owner: Oh ohkay (dot dot dot) *walks to the other side, pulls out the cutter and hands it to Mac.

Mac the Cutter Boy: Cutter! Cutter! Cutter! *takes the cutter looks at the price.

Mac the Cutter Boy: Cutter! Cu... $33.90? Do you have anything cheaper.

Owner: We have a tool set for 41 and the cutter is already included.

Mac the Cutter Boy: *Thinks for a second... Cutter! Cutter! Cutter! The moon is made out of green cheese. Cutter! Cutter! Cutter!

Mac the Cutter Boy: I'll take the cutter.

I went home happy and started working on Exia ^_^

Here are pictures of the Cutter:

I managed to finish the body of exia within 2 hours but I hadn't used sand paper yet. I didnt take pictures when I started building so I'll just post someone else's exia XD

The photos below are from http://gunpla-inochi.com/mg/mg-gundam-exia-ignition-mode/ I hope he didnt mind XD

I really like building the body. The details are exellent! There are lots of pieces that make up the body alone. I was joining the pieces together, not knowing what they would turn out to be and just followed the instructions closely. And when i finished it i'd say, "oh so thats what it is!". I particularly liked 4 main aspects of the body:

1. The details on inside hole for the GN Drive.
2. The 2 yellow vents on the chest have transparent moss green back-pieces (and are movable).
3. The shoulders can move up and down while the waist from side to side.
4. The blue door on the abdomen opens up and you can see a little Setsuna sitting inside.

Despite of the expensive cutters, building the Exia's body was fun enough to make the my weekend great ^_^

Next post: Motivation... getting my 00 degree...

A new beginning

I have always been fascinated by mecha kits especially gunpla and wanted to have it as a hobby. However their cost was enough to keep me at a safe distance from any cashier with a gundam box on hand. Until one day me and my colleagues went to a hardware shop after lunch because Wilson wanted to get several grids of sandpaper for his Gundam. After that, things will never be the same again.

I asked Wilson why he bought so many types of sandpaper just to sand a Gundam when he could have just got 2, a rough grid and a find grid? He then replied matter-of-factly that to make it smooth you would need to sand it with different grids, gradually flattening the cut leftovers to avoid scratching the other areas of the part and also make it as smooth as possible. And he said all that with his semi-brit accent. Wilson! you're a Malaysian! hehe just kidding dude ^_~. Me being the asshole to him that I am I told him that I can do it with only 2 grids of sand paper, which he responded with his "o rly?" . The next thing I knew I was asking him through msn (yes within working hours) what Gundams he recommends. He then gave me a list of URL of his suggested models of which I chose the following:

• Red Frame Astray
• Gundam Unicorn
• I actually forgot the 3rd one

Luckily, Wilson tried to convince me to get Exia (Ignition Mode) instead and started to show me a blog with the reviews of Exia's posability. With the first few images, I was sold. The geek knows his Gundam XD. So with that, I asked my good friend Wilson Jiun Voon Lim to purchase the Exia for me when goes to Thailand the following week. Theres actually a good story behind purchasing the Exia and I will just leave it to Wilson to tell the story (please do tell us the story again Uncle Wilson).

The following Monday, I never thought I would be so excited to see Wilson's face in the morning and yet I was. I've even changed my wallpaper to Gundam 00 and my msn pic toExia's profile to psyche me up. Surprisingly, William our Team Lead messaged me and said, "I hate your new profile pic" saying that Gundam 00 was a disgrace to the franchise. Apparently he's also a big fan of Gundams particularly Gundam Seed. At that moment I unplugged my mouse looked William in the eyes and threw the mouse at his face!!! hehe no I wouldnt do that XD and besides William is cool... wassup bro?! When Wilson finally arrived and handed me the box, I messaged William (who was sitting at the row behind me) to look as I raised the Gundam box while saying to myself, "look what I got... in your face man!" William then laughs at me and lifts up his own box of Gundam Freedom! That bastard geek also bought him one from Thailand!!! It was also Will's 1st Gundam. This is how the war between Exia and Freedom began. (More posts to come from this war)

Anyways, below is the box of Exia Ignition Mode.

Next post... "Waiting in excitement turns off reasoning"