Posted on March 10, 2010

by Christopher Troy

Sorry for the delay folks, had some server issues and Final Fantasy 13 dropped, so I was busy the last 2 weeks. But as promised, here’s the first installment of assembling Unicorn kit I previewed in my first entry.

Those are my tools of trade, something I picked up about a year ago. Forbidden Planet should have these in stock relatively soonish, and they contain pretty much everything you need to get you started on building Gunpla. Those of you new to the hobby may be saying to yourself, “Chris. these are import kits, aren’t the instructions all in Japanese?”

Yes, yes they are. And like most of you, I speak little to no Japanese. However, that really isn’t an issue, as the instructions themselves are pretty simple to follow….

The beauty of this kit is that is requires no painting to look good, so it’s really a simple snap together job, making it an idea kit to start with. From the tool kit, I’m primarily stuck with the wire cutters to free the various pieces from their plastic jails, and the tweezers/filer to smooth down the edges of excess plastic. Once each piece of the respected step was cut and cleaned, it was just a matter of snapping the pieces together…

That completes the first chapter.  Each installment will cover a page of the instruction manual, so look for me to upload page 2 next week, with the final installment and thoughts on the kit the week after.

Category: Action Figures and Toys, Gundam, anime | No Comments »
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Posted on March 6, 2010

By Loran

Today (3/6) is a very special day. It’s not the birthday of Gundam’s creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, the day the first Gundam kit was released, or the day the first episode of Gundam aired. In fact, this day is mostly significant to those of us living in the United States.

It’s the day Gundam Wing first aired on Toonami.

While yes, it was not the first Gundam fiction, (that distinction goes to the novelization of the original series), or even the first piece of Gundam animation available in English, it was the first time any Gundam series had been shown in the West since the infamous Italian broadcast during the early 80’s, but that’s another story.

I was unfortunately not there from the first episode-I caught it after a friend told me about it on the playground. He mentioned two shows to me called “Dragonball Z” and “Gundam Wing”. I’d seen advertisements for the toys on TV, but had no idea what either of them was about. Wing was my first encounter with human-piloted robots, aside from Power Rangers and that horrendous CGI Voltron cartoon from the 90’s. My ten-year-old mind was astounded by these themes of war, character drama, romance-things I’d never seen before-well, with giant robots anyway. It was like… the storytelling I’d grown up with in movies like Star Trek and Star Wars that shaped my childhood became combined with the robots I’d come to love from Transformers.

Wing was not my first encounter with Gundam, however. A year earlier, I had those comic-book style manga issues they released for Pokémon, and one of them had an ad for the “Mobile Suit Gundam 0079” manga that was running at the time. I remember they had some really cheesy tagline like, “One boy. One robot. One change to save the Earth from civil war”. My response was something really stupid like, “They didn’t have robots back when Abraham Lincoln was around!”. I wasn’t the most perceptive kid…

One of the things that got me most intrigued by this series was the toys, and they were what fully got me interested in it. They were model kits-not just action figures! I could BUILD my own poseable robot! Admitted, as a kid, I wasn’t too big on building models, probably because I was just not that into cars and planes and stuff, but robots… now there was something new. I didn’t get my first kits until that fall, Wing Gundam and Tallgeese (both at 1/144 scale), and I remember breaking the Tallgeese like a day or so after getting them. Either way, I discovered not just a new thing to collect, but a new obsession that would last to this day.

I’m going to be honest-Wing is FAR from the bes, in my opinion-in fact it’s one of my least favorite Gundam series. Regardless of how good it is in my mind or yours, it still holds a special place in many of hearts. Like Robotech and Voltron some fifteen years before, it was this series that led to the birth of a new generation of mecha fan. Because of this, Gundam Wing, I tip my glass to you, and say, “Thank you.”

“IT’S A GUNDAAAAAM!”<

Category: Comics, Gundam, anime | No Comments »
Tags: Cartoon Network, Damn Chris feels old. Toonami, Gundam, Gundam Wing, Gunpla

Posted on March 4, 2010

By Devin T. Quin

Maybe you’ve noticed the lavishly designed films by Guillermo del Toro or you’ve glimpsed the iconic red character design by creator Mike Mignola, either way you can’t be a comic book fan without having seen Hellboy.

Here’s a handy “What-What” guide to comicdom’s most celebrated devil.

WHAT IS HE?

Hellboy is an honest to god devil born of a high-ranking Lord in hell and a witch mother from England. He was summoned back to our plane of existence by Rasputin as part of a Nazi occult ritual in the 1940’s to raise the apocalypse beast. Due to poor calculations on the Mad Monk’s part, they DID raise the beast, just in a nearby field occupied by a special paranormal team of allies lead by Trevor Bruttenholm. The hell beast is only a year old. He’s large and red with horns and a tail, as well as a gigantic stone right hand.

A soldier attached to the division nicknames him “Hellboy,” and the name sticks.

Trevor then founds the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, or the B.P.R.D., a government subsidized occult focus group and begins to raise Hellboy as his own son. Through Trevor, Hellboy meets with the greatest minds of the Twentieth Century while being raised on American values (and pancakes). He becomes the greatest monster smasher of them all and soon looks to his teammates at the B.P.R.D. as family.   Got that? He’s a devil turned good guy who punches monsters for Uncle Sam!  

ARE THOSE GOGGLES?

Sigh. NO, they’re not goggles. Hellboy shaves down his horns so he can blend in better with humanity… well, maybe not “blend in” per se. The guy is almost eight feet tall and has a tail. Let’s say he shaves them down so he can go in and out of doors easier.  

SO HE’S GONNA’ END THE WORLD?

To Hellboy’s chagrin, it looks like he just might.   See, that weird stone hand is an important magical item, the key to the gates of hell and a powerful totem to unite and lead the armies of the damned. Hellboy’s dad as well as Rasputin, the Goddess Hecate and many others try to convince Hellboy to come back to the dark side and pick up his “Right Hand of Doom” to begin the end, but Hellboy is just an apple-pie loving “all American” who tries desperately to put the kibosh on Revelations once and for all.

THE B.P.R.WHAT?

Hellboy’s supporting cast are the other paranormal kooks working with him at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

One of Hellboy’s pals in the B.P.R.D. is Liz Sherman, a young lady pyrotechnic who discovers that her magical abilities to control fire are the result of her being a powerful fire elemental. Another is Abe Sapien, a mysterious Fish-Man who’s bizarre past makes Liz Sherman look like a reject on “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!”

In the AMAZING graphic novel Hellboy: Wake the Devil the team discovers a new friend, that of Roger the man-made Homunculus. As a living creature that doesn’t quite fit the human bill, Hellboy and Roger instantly bond. Controversies over Roger’s rights as a person force Hellboy to quit the B.P.R.D. before another colorful member, the shambling ectoplasmic man Johann Kraus, joins the team.

When Hellboy leaves the comic book world of Hellboy splits. Hellboy continues to have his own adventures in his eponymous comics while the rest of the team fights for the survival of humanity in a book called B.P.R.D.  

SO THERE’S TWO HELLBOY COMICS?

Well, technically there are three, sometimes more. The Hellboy universe is a thriving world, and more books get published to satisfy reader demand. Books such as B.P.R.D. 1945 and B.P.R.D. 1946 follow a young Trevor Bruttenholm as he travels the world fighting post-war nasties, all the while raising the fledgling Hellboy. Spin-off books for supporting characters like Abe Sapien and 30’s crime fighter turned ghost Lobster Johnson abound.

Currently there are the two core books: Hellboy, which publishes sporadically, and the ongoing B.P.R.D. Trade paperbacks of each title are plentiful and easy to catch up with.

SO WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Every once and a while a comic book comes along that changes EVERYTHING in comic book publishing. Hellboy’s art look under Mike Mignola’s pen became the indy flavor du jour, and its blending of humor, supernatural horror and action had far reaching effects. EVERYBODY wanted to be publishing Hellboy, and comics changed as a result.

Subtle changes such as strengthening team dynamics and bigger changes to themes and pacing were felt throughout the entire industry. Why? Because Hellboy is a masterful comic book! It’s fun, it’s funny and it was like NOTHING that had come before it.

EVERY comic book fan should read the core Hellboy titles. Like Jack Kirby or Carl Barks, Mignola proved he was a true master of the medium and showed an entire generation where comics could go.   You owe it to yourself to read Hellboy. The characters, settings and style are as original as comics get! Drop on by the Forbidden Planet and get your toes wet in the horror universe that NEVER fails to deliver the goods!   Make mine Hellboy!

Category: Comic Books, Devin T Quin, Unkiedev, dark horse | No Comments »
Tags: Abe Sapien, B.P.R.D., Guillermo del Toro, hellboy, Liz Sherman, Lobster Johnson, Mike Mignola

Posted on March 4, 2010

So I should probably start this review by saying that I am not normally a snapper, which means I don’t normally just build a kit as is right out of the box. I usually prefer to take my time and paint my kits up very nice, however Bandai has come along way from the old Gundam Wing high grades that came out back when I was in high school and first getting in to the hobby. So after seeing some pics online of this kit built right out of the box, I decided it might make a fun little build, to pass the time.

There are so many good things to say about this kit I really don’t know where to start. The first thing I noticed was how few stickers came with the kit, which means almost everything is molded in the color it needs to be. The only stickers it comes with are the usual eyes, metallic green for the gun sight and the crest of the head, and it came with two white stickers for a piece atop the shoulders. The pink energy frame was very impressive and “gives it a really striking look” as my wife would say. This thing looks like a mini mg kit almost. All in all with no painting it looks almost exactly as it does in the box art. (more…)

Category: Gundam | 2 Comments »
Tags: Gundam, Gunpla, Model Kits, Unicorn

Posted on March 3, 2010

By Unkie Dev

Lloyd Kaufman. To some he’s a film god, the David to Hollywood’s Goliath providing sharp, urbane horror and comedy to a public tired of the white-washed crumbs of the mainstream cinema. To others he’s a crass schlockmyseter, a sad, self aggrandizing turd polisher who couldn’t even reach the levels of Corman or Myers as an auteur but who’s publicity eclipses them both.

I think that’s the way he likes it.

To me, Lloyd Kaufman will always be the second worst boss I’ve ever had. For two months in the fall of 2004 I was Lloyd Kaufman’s personal assistant. He goes through them like tissue paper. By Lloyd’s own admission “I’m a terrible boss to work for. I’m doing you a favor for firing you!”

Lloyd’s visit to the store for a midnight Blu Ray release of Poultry Geist: Night of the Chicken Dead scheduled for Monday the 22^nd has me nostalgic for those wild days of yesteryear. The coolest thing about Troma, hands down? The office!

TROMA FIRMA

THIS is AMAZING! Drop by sometimes, they’re all pretty friendly, if not busy, and will let you peek-a-boo if you’re a fan! Movie props abound, as well as Troma memorabilia from the good times and the bad. (more…)

Category: Comic Books, Unkiedev | No Comments »
Tags: comedy, horror, Lloyd Kaufman, Poultry Geist, Sam Kieth, Troma

Posted on March 3, 2010

By Mat K.

Welcome boys and girls to the first release week of March, and it all belongs to Viz. The Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat go flying this week and I’m sure you’ll be getting a little giddy. First on my “things I’ve been waiting for” list is Tegami Bachi Volume 2. It’s a little annoying that it’s going to be taking so long to release the indiviudal volumes, but that’s the price we pay when a series is also being run in Shonen Jump magazine. WaqWaq and Tegami Bachi both released they’re first volumes at the same time. And while WaqWaq itself has not been entirely punctual, as much as I love it, at least it has made it as far as the third book already. Now we finally get to see the second book of Tegami Bachi, and I’m ready for more of it’s twilight watercolor style, (that’s twilight as in the time between sun and moon). (more…)

Category: Jump Comics, Manga, Mat. K, Recent Releases, Shibuya-cho | No Comments »
Tags: bleach, Cactus Secret, Osamu Tezuka, Shonen Jump, Tegami Bachi

Posted on March 3, 2010

By Unkiedev

IMPORTANT NOTE: Shipping this week is DC’s Nemesis The Imposters #1. Just so we are clear this is NOT the new Mark Millar comic from Marvel staring modified versions of DC’s Batman and the Joker. Let there be no confusion: the Marvel comic featuring evil Batman will be called Nemesis, too. I mean Nemesis #1, not Nemesis #1 from DC. That makes perfect sense, right?

ON TO BUSINESS

I’ve been honorably discharged from the Military! RATS! Up till now I’ve had a cushy desk job reading comic books on Uncle Sam’s dime. That’s right: ever since the 1950’s the government has secretly paid a red blooded American male a living salary to sit at a desk and read every single comic book that ever gets released. I guess it was all part of a study to determine if Wertham’s “Seduction of the Innocent” held any water.

I found the job through that “Government Grant Money” book. Ya’ know, the one on TV that is sold by the guy who looks like the Riddler? (more…)

Category: Comic Books, Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Recent Releases, Unkiedev, dark horse | No Comments »
Tags: Batman Confidential, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chew, dark horse, DC, Green Hornet, hulk, Jughead, marvel, Nemesis, She-Hulk, Ultimates

Posted on March 2, 2010

By Mat K.

That’s right boys and girls, the real Mega Man Manga finally comes to the states courtesy of Udon Comics and Manga-ka Hitoshi Ariga. You all might remember Mega Man NT Warrior the Manga, and I know all the new kids these days got a kick out of it, but to anyone who remembers the old cartoon, and used to put cardboard tubes on their arms pretending it was a blaster, this is the real Mega Man. Featuring of course Doctor Light (the good doctor), Doctor Wily (the bad doctor), Roll (Mega Man’s sister), Rush (that’s his dog) as well as the bad boss robots you know and love. I know I’m a little bit thrilled about it.

And I would just like to take a moment to poke fun at the names of all the robot masters. Of course the naming was spot-on and overly simplistic, but how can you not love names like Heat Man, Spark Man, Quick Man, Flash Man, Top Man, Hard Man, and Wood Man (vulgarity aside, I always thought to wooden robot was some weird oxymoron). Of course there are plenty more in this volume alone, which just goes to show how awesomely jam-packed it is. (more…)

Category: Manga, Mat. K | No Comments »
Tags: dark horse, future diary, kurosagi corpse delivery service, Manga, mega man, udon comics

Posted on March 1, 2010

by Mat K.

Okay, before I get into the manga spiel for the week, let me start with talking about the new Pokemon set. As most of you Poke-Fans out there know, the new game “Heart Gold Soul Silver” is set to release. So of course there is the brand new card expansion bearing the same name. Just as with the first Diamond & Pearl set, the new Heart Gold Soul Silver features three new decks instead of just 2. The decks feature new awesome art editions of Meganium for the Growth Clash deck (grass and fighting), Feraligator for the Mind Flood deck (water and psychic), and Typhlosion on the Ember Spark deck (fire and electricity). (more…)

Category: Manga, Mat. K | No Comments »
Tags: Manga, pokeman, shonen

Posted on February 24, 2010

by Loran

Hey there! My name is Sophie/Loran, whichever you prefer. I’ve been a Gundam fan since Gundam Wing first aired on Toonami, and have been building Gunpla since September 2000. I’ve effectively been a fan for half my life now. My favorite series is Turn A Gundam (obviously!), and I primarily build 1/144 scale kits from the Universal Century.

It takes a lot of tools to build a Gundam model. Sure, you can just slap it together right out of the package, but what if you want to make it look like it actually does on the package, or like those crazy professionally-built kits in those magazines? Well, here are the basic tools that can get you on the road to being a pro!

(more…)

Category: Gundam | 3 Comments »
Tags: Gundam, Model Kits, Tools