In our right hands, visuals. In their left hands, music. Humanity, I bring you… CULTURE!

Gale: Who… who are you? Where… am I?

Man: You don’t need to know who I am. You do need to know, however, that Amie Cassidy is  now in the ICU. You are in the West Branch Hospital. Do you remember what happened?

Gale: Amie… in the ICU? I… I need to see her now… see her now…!

Man: Lie down. You’re not going anywhere with third-degree burns all over your own body.

Gale: Who… did this…? W… Why…? Your… name…?

Man: I am Admiral Cassidy. Amie might never be able to make a full recovery. I… offer you a chance at revenge. Will you hunt down the people responsible for this?

Gale: Consider t… the job… m… mine…!

T.I.T.A.N. Project: OPERATION OVERLAND ~ Night Of Remembrance

 

That’s right. The Singapore Wind Symphony Concert held at Temasek Polytechnic Convention Hall is finally over. Wonder who though of combining a short Flash CS3 video with the AWESOME MIGHT OF SONG equated to a unique concert-going experience, but there’s no denying that our eyes enhance what we hear, and vice versa.

 

With that said, this means that my Fridays(sort of no lectures there) and weekends are finally free again. Time to clean out the rust on my files and grab the Altarlion, because AFA ‘o9 is coming and I SURE AS HELL AM READY TO SACRIFICE MY LOVELY DAUGHGTERS 50-BUCK NOTES TO BANDAI FOR THEIR NEWEST MODEL KIT/ROBOT SPIRITS/GACHAPON KEYCHAIN SET.

 

Meanwhile, amuse yourselves as I thus declare the Light/Lelouch shipping to be ABSOLUTE CANON, NO EXCEPTIONS.

*ahem* Genteelmen? FUTAMI.

Nina: Tell the technicians to clear the deck! I’ll open the back hatch and shoot down the FAF-32s with the 95mm autocannon!

Steve: Those are jets at Mach 4.5! They’ll get a missile in faster than you can shoot them down!

Nina: They’ll blow the T.I.T.A.N. carrier apart if we don’t do something! Between fifty-five deaths and our chance at victory, I’ll take the chance.

I’m a member of the 119th Scorch Hounds A.S.B. The word “failure” is not in my vocabulary.

T.I.T.A.N. Project: Steel Warriors ~  The Federation Marches [Part 1 Of 5]

No more corn. Also, no more time.
- Singapore Wind Symphony concert is in one week’s time.

- Smart for whoever was in charge of semester planning to squeeze three terms worth of lessons into two.

- Files used for Gunpla and model kits are rusted here and there. Require immediate cleaning.

- No time for even simple Gunpla straight-assembly.

At least someone was kind enough to recently add 50 episodes worth of GaoGaiGAR to Megavideo Megafail, as observed by other people.

Now with over 9000% more EPIC!

Kai: Can you see it? Right behind Jupiter…

Maryanne: I don’t see any- Oh. Oh, oh.

Kai: They’re back. Our brothers, our sisters… our kin are back. Now we can reb…. rebuild… the Earth together…….

Maryanne: What… hey, Kai! Dammit, the air leak in his suit isn’t sealing even with the cast patch! Are you reading this, Base Command?! I need immediate pickup! Hello? Someone! Anyone! PLEASE! I NEED HELP!

T.I.T.A.N. Project: The March of Terra [外伝]: Side of Humanity ~ Welcome Home

When it comes to the awesome stuff, I’ll let the awesome do all the talking.

KIIIIIIING! KIIIIIIIING! KING GAINER!

“I guess this is the mindset of the people of Domepolis…”

Exodus Specialist Gain Bijou, Overman King Gainer

Well, truth be told, I don’t know what to say.

The first time I got wind of Overman King Gainer, I immediately linked it to Eureka 7. It was until much later that I learnt that the only similarities both series had was that they both had the same character designs, with explained the uncanny resemblance. Nevertheless, the link stuck in some small buried form because after watching both, I felt that King Gainer was a bit lacking. Not lacking as in “this makes sense… NOT” lacking, but “hey i just blinked and did X shoot Y” sort of lacking. You see, the action is TOO FAST.

The story is such: Gainer Sanga is your average teen living in a not-so-average world; in the distant future, Earth is uninhabited.

To be specific, large portions of it are uninhabited; back in the past, an environmental disaster of epic proportions occured due to mankind’s rapid advancement in civilization. Realizing their mistake of taking too much from the land, the survivors gathered their comrades and left their homes to live in the most inhospitable areas ever in order to let wildlife and nature recover in the equator and other areas, in specially constructed cities called Domepolis (plural Domepoli); think the Sahara Desert or freezing Siberia. The overall management of the Domepoli are headed by the London IMA (International Management Authority, according to the Sage Wiki) and the enforcement of laws in the Domepoli are tasked by Saint Regan, a branch of the IMA.

This is where the meat of the story comes in. Saint Regan is the law enforement arm, but the supplying of the Domepoli (seeing that the limited space in the structure and the harsh environment outside allows for pathetic crop-growing opportunities) with essentials and other supplies are handled by private firms. The story starts with one Domepolis where Gainer Sanga, an orphan, and the Siberian Railroad Company, a large private firm with a monopoly over what is most likely a large number of the Domepoli in Russia.

Of course, people have unpredictable emotions; after an unstipulated amount of time possibly spanning at least a century or two, people have begun to desire to leave the Domepoli in movements called Exodus, to go back to their ancestral lands (the Exodus the series focuses on is on its way to J- I mean, “Yapan”). The London IMA and the private firms, presumably profiting from the people’s reliance on them, are fiercely reluctant to allow such Exoduses, and spread propaganda about the environment-harming effects of Exodus on the environment, as well as putting down any movements they might find.

The entire series puts the viewer in a roller coaster from the very first minute; Gainer Sanga is a lone kid and a pro gamer of all pro gamers who spends much of his time hooked to the internet (or whatever passes for that). He still, however, goes to school and such, and this is when the roller coaster flies off its tracks a la Final Destination-style. Moments into his school day, Gainer is arrested by the Siberian Railroad Patrol, an arm of the Siberia Railway Company, for involment in an Exodus. He is thrown into a cell alongside other innocents, and one not-so-innocent Gain Bijou, a real Exodus member. When Gain breaks out Gainer goes with him, and he gets sucked up into the entire mess when he gets to pilot an Overman, a mech of days past. The Overman, who Gainer names King Gainer(ego much?) is key to helping the pro-Exodus people of that Domepolis escape in huge moving blocks of the city by completely showing the Siberian Railway Patrol people who’s the boss of who. The show continues with “monster of the Week”-like encounters with the Railway Patrol, but as it progresses the series gets a bit more intense in terms of action and reveals some hard truths about the past of the planet.

The cast of Overman King Gainer, while diverse, focused on only a few people; namely, Gainer, Sarah, his friend and a pro-Exodus member, Gain Bijou and his 1337 skills as an Exodus specialist, and Princess Anna, daughter of the duke of the Domepoli they are escaping from. Most characters hardly show any development, but the plus side is that all of them are pretty colourful to begin with, which solves that particular part of the show. The few that do develop have humorous scences and touching scenes to accompany that dialouge, making it all the more better to watch.

In terms of animation Overman King Gainer was, for the most part, cool and fine. No troubles here, and fight scenes that mattered ( for example Gainer/King Gainer V.S. Cynthia/Dominator) were given the utmost attention to make them truly breathtaking.

The backstory is fine, utlizing a fairly well-known but hardly-used plot involving the environment setting civilization back by a few notches. The show could have used a bit of time from their monster-of-the-week episodic encounters with the Railway Patrol to elaborate more on the origins of the Overmen though, as it is clear that they are not common items as most people and pilots drive Silhoutte Machines, bolt-and-nut real robots with ammunition weapons and metal joints. What makes the Overmen a step up from these is their ability to utilize a Photon Engine, which basically allows them to create force fields and projectiles among other things, from sheets of light emmited by the engines termed “Photon Mat”, or so I’m told by the English dub of the anime. The Overmen also use biomechanical fibres called Muscle Engine, which mimics real human muscle and of course, gives the Overmen much higher performance than other clanky robots in the series. While some Overmen are man-made and mass-produced in some way, the show makes mention of “early Overmen”, clearly machines of incredible power and a certain self-autonomy. The final boss of the series turns out to be one of these, and the mid-boss of the series was the cast’s first encounter with an “early Overman”. No other information has been presented about the past of the Overmen since then, however.

Despite being a bit rushed at the start and near the end, Overman King Gainer is a should-watch series, one notch up from if-you-have-time. It might not compare up to Eureka 7 or Mobile Suit Gundam where the story and character development is concerned, but the lighthearted tone of the story for the most part and the way characters wise up to their new situations quickly will leave you wanting to know more, rather than having to dread sitting through the next episode of bitch-slapping from the captain. The only problem is, sometimes things are so poorly explained and happen so fast, you might want to keep a ready finger on the rewind button if you’re watching the DVD version.

We’re jumping onto White Base… AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Fuyo: Grab my hand! Come on!

Touya: I can’t. There is still something I have to do.

Fuyo: No! Don’t waste your life on something like that! It’s… it’s not worth it!

Touya: Captain Shikai, when I’m gone… once I’m gone… I leave the Star Wolves and the Earth in your care. It was nice working with you.

T.I.T.A.N. Project: The March of Terra ~ The Children of Ragnarok

There was a Gundam Fiesta at Compass point today in celebration for the 30th anniversary of the Gundam series… though it’s not so much as a “fiesta” than a small fair. Nevertheless, it is a mecha event, and it would be sacrilege in the least if I were to spend the day at home Dwarven Sniping rather than soaking up the Gundam series’ latest mechanical war machine, questionable design notwithstanding.

Let’s start with the front door… at least from my arrival direction.

Guardian statues... should not be like the middle one.

The infamous pair right at the doorstep, waiting to welcome you.

Straight in is a timeline of the Gundam metaverse, plastered across the temporary wall. Quite a lot in just 30 years, seeing as various series were the work of various people. There can be no doubt thought that without Yoshiyuki Tomino, there would be no Gundam. At the very least, the real robot genre would not be as developed as it is now.

A memory lane spanning 30 years.

It would take a year if you rush-watched this, and we’re leaving the novels and other assorted backstory material out of this… for now.

As if the picture description wasn’t enough, Bandai throws in a section displaying mostly MG kits, right from the RX-78-2 to the Turn A, all involved series sharing the ending of Turn A as Tomino saw fit.

First six from left to right, top to bottom.

RX-78-2 Gundam, MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam, FA-010S Double Zeta Gundam, RX-93 v Gundam, RX-78NT-1 Gundam “Alex”, and RX-78GP-01Fb Gundam Full Vernian  “Zephyranthes”.

Second batch, same format.

F91 Gundam F91, LM314V21 Victory 2 Gundam, GF13-017NJ Shining Gundam, XXXG-01W Wing Zero Gundam, GX-9900-DV Gundam X Divider, and finally the RX-79[G]Ez-8 Gundam Ez-8.

Wait a minute, the Victory 2 and Wing Zero have no MG!

The last two...

XXXG-00W0 Wing Zero Gundam Endless Waltz Version, SYSTEM ∀-99 (WD-M01) Turn ∀ Gundam.

Of course, no anniversary celebration would be complete without cracking the ice-box and bringing out the old, preserved stuff. The organizers did not disappoint. If you thought Victory Gundam kits were old stuff, take a look at the really old stuff… as in, 1980s model kits “old stuff”.

Even in the old days, the money-making potential of a seperate weapons set was evident.

Oh-so-delicious coporate gimmicking. Nevertheless, it’s a good gimmicking.

There is something I must say here however. An old 1/144 RX-78-2 kit from way back has more articulation than a modern NG 1/144. Is Bandai trying to tell us that the limited color palette on the NG 1/144 kits actually help it sell better than articulation… or that they can’t afford to keep it cheap if they added both?

To counterbalance, right next to “Memory Lane” as I dub the entrance section with the two doorguards are displayed Bandai’s newest products, 1/100 NG model kits of the Gale Strike and Hale Buster from the new SEED vs Astray manga spin-off of the Gundam SEED universe.

Bad pair Number 1.

Hale-tan (to the right) has been the unfortunate reciever of many internet comments about his design and original color scheme, some well-intentioned and a minority of others being trolling BS. Same goes for Gale-tan, to the left.

Bad Pair Number 2.

Well, looking at the designs for these units I must say that whatever the designers were tasked to do, it certainly didn’t include “be creative”. I mean, reusing designs for storyline purposes are one thing, but in the case of Nix-san and to a certain extent the others, I think they took it a bit too far.

But enough about new-age products! Let’s return to the fan favourites.

The talk of the town.

No matter if it’s a resale of a previously released model, there’s no doubt that this is going to turn out an excellent kit. If Bandai doesn’t pull a fast one on me by releasing the Blue Frame Third in some 1/100 form, then I might get this to seal my Astray collection (well, thus far anyways).

The plot for SEED V.S. Astray.

Well now, where have I heard this before…?

Like any big-name company out to sell their products to customers of all ages, Bandai has mad a foray into environmentally-healthy products. Aside from the usual procedures and measures they take to reduce waste plastic in the making of model kits (not to mention using solar panels to power their factories LOL), Bandai has introduced a new line of Gunpla called Ecopla. Supposedly they’re made from waste plastic…

I suppose they decompose faster if you left them out in the rain...?

This is a model kit of Bandai's Gunpla making factory at scale 1/... what?

While the display isn’t for sale, the small machines in it certainly are! What better way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Gundam franchise than to buy a scale model of a machine that makes Gunpla?

And now, on to the section for 00 Season 2 kits!

1/100 kits of the famous four in the second season.

00 Gundam’s looking a bit short there, eh?

Other 00 Season 2 kits not fortunate enough to make the 1/100 NG line.

Basically, just about EVERYTHING except for the aforementioned four.

You know why people buy SDs? They've great playability!

A great alternative to the supremely expensive Robot Spirits line, isn’t it?

And on Robot Spirits, it seems that Gundam models of that line (or those that I’ve seen) are significantly cheaper than their other counterparts. A Side[MS] Robot Spirits model is 2/3 the price of a Side[LFO] model! Wonder if there’s something to this…

A winning entry made by one Benjamin Wong.

I’m not sure what to call this… diorama? But anyways, amazing details if you ask me, and that’s not saying the background. There was another original submission beside it featuring the Regnant’s arm and an 00 Raiser Gundam, but I forgot to snap a shot of it. T_T

UC MG kits.

Situated a short while away from the 00 kit display section were MG kits. There’re a hell lot of ‘em, so I’ve choosen a representative picture to represent them. Basically they had every MG kit made up on display, or at least close to all of them(how many remakes did they do?).

MG Hi-v Gundam.

Never knew they had this guy.

Right next to the MG section are more original works on display. Some were first-prize contenders from previous competitions, but there were others I’ve never seen before…

The Hildolfr, from the MS Igloo movies. Haven't watched any one of them yet.

… Like this. You’d expect something like this out of Armoured Core, but this is even better.

Legs are redundant on this.

The Perfect Zeong has a white elephant for a lower body, if you ask me. Nonetheless this is an awesome piece of work.

Type-61 MBT

Still… simplicity is the best.

Next in the display line were Unicorn kits and new releases.

The very sexy (and very time-consuming to build) MG Sinanju.

New to the HGUC line is the Kshatriya.

So much plastic!

Quite obvious from here that there’s a balancing problem in the making.

Gachapon at an event like this?!

Well the top half were what seems to be like it. The bottom introduces to us the 1/144 HG Rib- I mean, Reborns Gundam, the Seravee Gundam GNHW/R and the 0 Gundam Rollout Colors. All newly minted, and some not even yet.

Had to be seen to be believed.

The thing that caught my eye, however, was this very awesome diorama of a battle between United Nations forces and Celestial Being from Gundam 00. The Union Flag, Tieren and Enact mods have to be seen to be believed.

Ok, this time it’s a bit short. The space for the event was, according to a poster, close to the same size as the display area of the RX-78-2’s back in Odaiba (They had a foot imprint on the front entrance). Basically (I went twice) the entire area was covered in a half-hour, first with Ebon Headquarters, then Gen. Raisha. This is basically a summary event of Gundam since 1979, showcasing what it has, what’s it going to have, and what it will have. They were selling kits there, but the 1/144s weren’t what I was looking for and the 1/100s were either Unicorn kits with too hefty a tag for me to foot on the spot, or they were old  NG 1/100 kits.

Come to think of it I could have used a NG 1/100 Blitz…

Ah, well.

I remember an entire section dedicated to SD Gundams. I don’t really dig those, but I did see some nice 1/100 scale kits of former SD Gundams… Probably Musha Gundam conversions?

Well in a nutshell, I skipped the SD section. I have close to zero photos for it, I have no knowledge about it, and I do hope that none of you mind that.

There was another event there, a competition for kids to see who could assemble their Gunpla the fastest. I tell ya, some of them have killer fingers with their NG 1/144 Kyrios competition sets… I would take at least twice as long to assemble one. Slowly position my hand and cut a piece out, leaving some extra plastic to file down at the end, blah blah blah… Well, each to his own.

The good thing is, I didn’t get any loot this time. The better thing is…

I’ll get a second, better chance to get what I want. Ami/Mami figures, you’re mine(hopefully)!