OZ-00MS Tallgeese | Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz【Part 1 of 2: Unboxing & Pre-Assembly Review】

 While I'm aware I had said there wasn't going to be anymore 'Unboxing & Pre-Assembly Review' blog post uploads, yet here we are ... yet another such post, this time on the Bandai Real Grade plastic model kit of my all-time favourite mecha from the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz series i.e. the OZ-00MS Tallgeese. Well, technically I prefer a later variant called OZ-00MS Tallgeese Flüegel, which has wings on its back. But that's a post for another day. What we have here is the base variant.

1/144 scale Tallgeese EW | Mobile Suit Gundam Endless Waltz 0Z-006MS (front box art)

Bandai's 28th plastic scale model kit from their Real Grade line (side box art, short end)

Images of a fully-assembled Real Grade Tallgeese EW (side box art, long end)

Info about the characteristics of a Real Grade Tallgeese kit (side box art, other long end)

 With the kit being a more recent one - it was released in 2018 - there are at least some English translations for the Japanese instructions (see below). But the kit is old enough that the backstory write ups are still only in the Japanese language. The later kits have more English translations on their instruction booklets but this 28th Real Grade scale model kit isn't one of them.

Front cover of the instructions booklet showing a head-shot of the Tallgeese

Back cover of the booklet showing decal placement suggestions and a color guide

A snippet of the assembly instructions as well as backstory/information boxes

 Below are the runners/sprues included with the Bandai Real Grade plastic scale model kit of the OZ-00MS Tallgeese EW. Descriptions of the runners/sprues will be included in the picture captions.

Runner/Sprue A: Multi-colored parts - white for the side/back skirts, mid/lower torso armor, rocket vernier/thrusters casings, head and side waist armor; dark gray for fin on head, leg joints, metal bits on torso; yellow for the back rocket verniers/thrusters, wrist, bits on the lower legs and groin section

Runner/Sprue B: Dark gray 'Advanced MS Joints' comprising complex pre-assembled mechanically moving parts for the Tallgeese's arms, legs, and feet.

Runner/Sprue C: White parts for the shield, upper torso, more side/back skirt armor, shoulder/neck armor, more casings for the rocker verniers/thrusters as well as a 1/144 scale figure of Zech Merquise

Runner/Sprue D1: Orange yellow parts that make up the stripes on the shield and shoulder armor, vent-like parts for the chest/head, and sub-parts for the rockets

Runner/Sprue E1: White armor parts for the Tallgeese's head, arms, elbows, legs, feet, rocket fins, waist, knees, ankles as well as parts used as the beam saber handles

Runner/Sprue E2: Duplicate of a section of Runner/Sprue E1, excluding parts for the head

 Quality-wise I'm mightily impressed with the glossy finish on the white armor parts, which form the prominent sections on the Tallgeese EW scale model kit. At this early stage, I believe it's good enough to be displayed as is, without having to be painted. And while the non-white parts look good too, some will require painting. For example, the gray parts that are supposed to make up the metal sections of the mecha will have to be repainted in metallic paint to increase realism, among others.

Runner/Sprue F: Dark blue parts for the weapons i.e. the Dober Gun; weapon connector pieces that attach the gun to the shoulder; as well as parts for the shoulders, hands, feet, etc.

Runner/Sprue G1: Gray parts for the joints, shield, weapon ammo clip as well as the inner frame for the body, limbs, and rocket verniers/thrusters

Runner/Sprue G2: Duplicate of a section of Runner/Sprue G1, excluding parts for the shield, waist, etc.

Runner/Sprue H1: Clear part options for the beam sabers, which are good for use in a custom paint job as well as clear lenses for the mono-eye and Dober gun

Runner/Sprue H2: Red part that forms the plume on the head armor

Runner/Sprue SB-12: Clear red parts for the beam sabres, which are the usual options found in most kits

 If you have been following my scale model kit projects, you would already know how I feel about sticker decals. I hate them. I prefer either water decals or dry transfer decals. And while I don't object to foil stickers, they can be hit-or-miss at times. On a reasonably flat surface, foil stickers can work wonders. However they tend to peel off when the surface they attached to are overly curved or round. For the Tallgeese, I plan to do what I usually do with Bandai's Real Grade kits i.e. use a combination of third party water decals and the foil stickers that came with the kit.  

Sticker and foil stickers for the Real Grade Tallgeese EW scale model kit

 Below is the video upload on my YouTube channel (FourEyedMonster Miniatures) of the unboxing and pre-assembly review on the Bandai 1/144 scale Real Grade OZ-00MS Tallgeese EW plastic scale model kit. If you prefer to see the parts in close detail, then please check out the video below.

 Just so you know, the only reason I'm still doing an unboxing blog post is because I had forgotten about the photos of the runners/sprues that I had taken earlier. Since half the work was already done, with only the write up left to do, I decided to upload this unboxing post of the Tallgeese. In future, I'll still post such content for some if not all the scale model kit projects I'll be working on.

 As with all Bandai Real Grade plastic scale model kits, they are a tad complicated. And I'm making things harder for myself by attempting to paint a selection of the parts before assembly. But it's something I have to do as my hobby-related OCD tendencies refuses to accept toy-like or plasticky finishes to a scale model kit project. There's lots of work to do so I had better get started. Until we meet again in the blogosphere, enjoy your weekend, be well, and be happy!

Kaguya, Chika, and Ai【Kaguya-sama: Love is War】Furyu BiCute Bunnies Figures

 As someone who, at this age still watches romantic comedy animes and lots of them, Kaguya-sama: Love is War stands out as my favourite one so far. It's has a unique take on the genre in which the main protagonists are in love with each other but are hell bent to get the other to confess their love first. It results in hilarious over-the-top situations that had even the missus laughing out loud.

 Below are three Unboxing & Review videos of the main female protagonist and the two main supporting female characters namely Shinomiya Kaguya, Fujiwara Chika, and Hayasaka Ai.

 All the pre-painted figures above are from the Furyu BiCute Bunnies Figures line. It's a product line based on the concept of putting popular anime characters into bunny costumes. While it falls under the budget-friendly prize figure category, I have so far found the bunny figures to be of high quality, far exceeding expectations of figures sold at its price point. I hope you'll enjoy the videos I have done for the trio. Until my next post next year - 2024 is days away - I wish you love and happiness.

Psychic Sisters Tatsumaki & Fubuki | One Punch Man

 After putting together my first scale model kit in a long while, I'm now back to blogging about unboxing and review videos of my pre-painted figure collection. What we have today are the Psychic Sisters from the One Punch Man anime/manga series i.e. Fubuki (aka Blizzard of Hell) and Tatsumaki (aka Tornado of Terror) in their Banpresto Espresto Shapely pre-painted figure form.

 Below are the unboxing and review videos of Tatsumaki and Fubuki, both of which can also be accessed via my YouTube channel FourEyedMonster Miniatures.

 Pre-painted figures from the One Punch Man series are pretty rare, so it was a relief to get two budget-friendly prize figures from Banpresto that was pretty good. One sister was better than the other (to see which please check out the videos above), but overall both were fairly decent. While there are much better figures of the duo, they are the more expensive scale painted figures, which would be out of reach of most beginner figure collectors.

All in all, if you are a fan of the series, then by all means go ahead and add the Psychic Sisters to your figure collection. Anyway, that's it for this short write-up as most of the content are covered in the videos embedded above. Until next time, be well and be happy!

Evangelion Unit-08a [Completed & Post-Assembly Review] - Bandai Real Grade Plastic Model Kit

 Another straight-out-of-the-box build of an EVA Unit is now complete, with the Bandai Real Grade 1/144 scale Evangelion Unit-08a finally fully-assembled with some additional work along the lines of the application of foil stickers, third party water decals, as well as selected top-coating, and panel-lining. Absolutely no re-painting was done on any of the parts seeing that the majority of the kit was covered in pink and white parts that had an excellent matte finish to them. So much so that they looked like painted parts, and not just the plain molded plastic they actually are.

 If pushed to chose what I would do differently than just a straight-out-of-the-box build, perhaps I would've re-painted the yellow parts with lacquer paint. Of all parts, those were the ones that look the most plasticky and toy-like. But in the end I did not go down that path because in the overall scheme of things, the yellow parts didn't look too bad, mostly because there wasn't that many of them.

 There is, however, one thing that's non-negotiable in a straight-out-of-the-box build. And that is to replace the subpar sticker decals with third party water decals. The former always ends up looking horrible in the final build. It's the least you could do to ensure best results for a non-painted build.

 While the Evangelion Unit-08a scale model kit had also included other standard weapons such as the palette knifes and the 209mm Assault Rifle, I decided against showing any of them here as the EVA Unit-08a is mostly associated with using a pistol (weapon not provided) as well as the sniper rifle (see photos immediately above this paragraph). At least that's what I remember seeing from the Neon Genesis Evangelion  3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time anime movie.

 Now the clear transparent base that you see the Evangelion Unit-08a attached to wasn't provided together with the kit. In fact no base displays were provided together with the kit. As such, what you see in the photos is actually a display base kit called Action Base 6 [Clear Color] that's sold separately by Bandai Spirits. It's a display base that's worth getting for use with Bandai's Real Grade Evangelion scale model kits. But because the action base wasn't made specifically for these kits, the fitting between the base's peg and the hole at the back of the EVA Unit isn't perfect. In fact, it's a bit loose. That being said, it's an acceptable compromise seeing that the base has a small footprint, which is always a good thing if you are a collector for whom display space is at a premium.

 Below is the 'Completed & Post-Assembly Review' video of the Real Grade Evangelion Unit-08a scale model kit that can also be found on my YouTube Channel i.e. FourEyedMonster Miniatures.

 As I work on more and more Gunpla, I have come to depend on a paint strategy that comprises a mixture of painting and top-coating rather than a straight-out-of-the-box-build. I didn't apply that strategy here because the majority of the model kit already looked pretty good unpainted. But in the future, especially for the Real Grade kit of the Evangelion Unit-02, it is likely that I'll apply the aforementioned strategy because EVA Unit-02 is mostly in red, and parts with in-mold red color tends to look extremely plasticky and toy-like. To avoid that, I'll have to finally paint a Real Grade Evangelion scale model kit. But that is in the future. For now, this is another project done and dusted. Let me just revel in that, and wish you dear reader, to be well and happy!