I'd love to see a Hi-Zack or a Gerbera Tetra (in Kirara colors) Maybe even redesigns of all the Endless Waltz High-Grades (lord knows I could go for another Heavyarms)
GM and Zaku II are top of my wishlist, and it still confuses the ever living crap out of me when Bandai fails to deliver a new GM with each subsequent new mold of the Gundam. Probably a pipe dream, but I'd like to see a Guncannon MP follow the new one. A more poseable Hi-Zack and Zaku III would raise my desire to further fill out my Zaku shelf too.
Went back to my local hobby shop and understood why there are mixed feelings toward the RE/100 line. The Gundam Mk-III and Gundam GP04G Gerbera (and the upcoming Dijeh) are priced at 3,500 yen. In comparison, they're more expensive than most older MG kits, priced the same as the recent MG Zaku II Gundam AGE-1 kits, and only 300 yen cheaper than the MG Gundam X and majority of the Gundam Wing kits. Hell, the fact that they're 300 yen more expensive than the MG RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. OYW is a major disappointment, considering the engineering advancements of that kit. Even worse is that the Nightingale a 8,000 yen is the same price as the MG Sazabi Ver. 1.0. The only way to actually get value from the RE/100 line is to buy the kits at Yodobashi Camera, which sells Gunpla at up to 30% off retail. At least the price range of the RG line is justifiable in comparison to HGUC.
The gundams my friend is offering me are an MG Hyaku Shiki v1 for $30, a MG Strike Rouge for $40, and a HG Banshee Norn for $15. If you have one of the MGs, can you tell me how the kit is in terms of build, look, quality, ETC before I take the plunge? I'm already planning to take him up on his offer for the Norn, I just want opinions on the MGs. I have been looking at reviews online, but I believe having someone to ask about these kits directly is better than reading a simple review. Thanks in advance.
I'm rather mum to recommend either of the MG kits. Hyaku Shiki 1.0 is maybe one of the better old-style MGs, from what I understand, but it's essentially a glorified HG kit, with hollow construction and lack of inner frame. The original MG Strike and the Rouge are decent kits, but they've been superceded by the version RM ones. Biggest flaw with the older ones are that the facial proportions are very off-model, if that's a concern for you.
Banshee Norn is awesome. The orange of the Psycho-Frame really pops against the dark Navy Blue of the armor pieces. Heck, the one I've got was clipped with nail clippers and it's the most gorgeous of my amateur Gunpla builds (ie, the ones I built before I bought the tamiya modeling kit). Bit of warning, though, the rear skirts tend to fall off, as does the crest. Your best bet is to glue those parts on. And for $15, that's a deal and a half.
I'm mainly planning on getting one of the MGs for display purposes, so I'm not too worried about the designs being different from the show. The one being offered is the MG Strike Rouge OOtori ver RM. The Norn is the HG 1/144 version and I'm already planning on grabbing that to compliment my HG Destroy Mode Unicorn Gundam.
Here's my current RX-78-2 Gundam family. Will be picking up the HGUC Revive when it arrives, as well as one of the older MGs (either OYW or 2.0).
EG was only for the Southeast Asian market. Only four kits were made (RX-78-2, Strike, Exia, and 00) and they were under US$5 each. They are Chinese-made (still official) FG kits molded in white, blue, and red, and there are no elbow or knee joints. Needless to say, the EG line bombed, thankfully.
I've decided on the MG Strike Rouge to go with the HG Norn. The pink doesn't bother me too much, and the fact that it also comes with a stand and a backpack for only $40 is good considering my local gunpla store has it as $42 on their site. The MG Shiki v1 doesn't look that appealing to me at all, despite the nice contrast its gold coloring could have against my MG Banshee. $40 MG Strike Rouge + $15 HG Banshee Norn Destroy Mode (vs $22 local) + 1 $6 action base for the HG isn't bad, right?
Ah, just assumed it was the original Strike Rouge MG. If it's the Ootori, that's the updated kit, and you're good.
Might want to negotiate that price on the HG action base. I can get the bigger MG action base for that much before shipping on amazon.
Action Base price is based off memories of when I got my last one from the local store seven months ago. If I were to get it from Amazon, then the price + shipping would be considerably larger than local.
They don't look half bad considered what they are. I have seen far uglier official product from Bandai China
Someone help me get a broken peg out of my HG Gundam Unicorn. My cousins decided to visit my home this evening. Unfortunately, they brought their four year old, who they let roam freely for a few minutes while we adults talked. In the five minutes he was unsupervised, the kid found my gunpla display and decided to play with my HGUC Gundam Unicorn, which came with the 1/48 transforming head display base. I heard the sound of plastic hitting wood and rushed into the room to find the display stand on the floor. Fortunately, he didn't drop my RX-0. Unfortunately, it looks like he hit the stand on the frame of the shelf and broke the connecting peg, so now I got a piece of plastic I can't remove from Unicorn's waist. Now, in my head, I've thought of trying to force a small nail through the hollow part of the lower waist, but I can't tell for certain if that goes through all the way to the other side. My last resort right now would be taking a tiny drill bit to go through part of the peg, then pulling it out, which I'm very sure none of you would recommend. tl;dr : broken peg stuck in Unicorn's ass.
Take a small drill bit and drill slowly into the part by hand. Don't take it out. Once its torqued in there a little you should be able to pull it out with it stuck to the bit. If you don't care about saving the peg, just get a bit that size and annihilate it.
