So here's the deal. Since October 2006, I've moved back to Jakarta, Indonesia. I got a job here and well, being Indonesian and all, I figured it's a good time to return to the 'motherland'. I've sold my home in Singapore which means my hobby room of old is now kaput. Sigh...

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I've always been a fan of the mecha designs of Char's Counterattack so I'm excited that Bandai has finally decided to turn their HGUC attention on them. First up is the Jagd Doga. Normally I don't really fancy non-Federation mecha, but Char's Counterattack mechas hold a special place in my heart so I may break tradition and get this one. Besides, it looks pretty good.

And then there's now pics of the upcoming Revoltech Valkyrie figure. The first in what I assume will be endless variants is the VF-1J. It also comes with the Super FAST packs and missiles. Damn. Here I thought I am able to resist getting anymore Revoltech figures...

This has to be seen to be believed. Frankly, I'm speechless. It's not totally anime-accurate but what the heck man... imagine the dedication needed just to make this thing possible. It even transforms for pete's sake.

No scale provided but I'm pretty sure it's not 1/72. The Macross mecha (and Transformers) figured littered around it are thoe vinyl Gashapon deals. Geez... it's still so amazing to see though...

Tim, the site owner fo Child of Mecha, has just announced that on July 21, 2007, he is shutting down the site. If you asked me, it was just a matter of time, seeing as how things were going with it.

The forum community associated with CoM was ahead of its time. When Gunpla in general wasn't such a big deal in the US yet, it was already a thriving community of Gunpla lovers. At its height, it was the English gunpla forum to hang out in, with excellent works and up-to-the-minute news.

I personally think a combination of ambivalence on the part of the site owner (which was quite obvious if you hang out there long enough), general lack of interesting content and the surge of other forums on the 'net contributed to its demise.

I must say though that it was fun while it lasted.

Wow... it's been almost exactly 1 year since I last touched this kit, no wonder the others in the so-called groupbuild kept harassing me no end over this one Hahahaha

So anyways no pictures but I was busy last night sanding and rescribing some of the problem areas. I must say it's quite fun to be able to do model kits again heh...

I fixed some of the problems on the bottom of the kit too. Even though they were at the bottom of the kit, and no one would be able to see them, I do suffer some form of 'I know it's there' syndrome. Besides sanding the intake area, I also added more putty to the major problem areas, namely the bottom of the wing, where the missile rails would have been on an operational aircraft. The aggressor usually doesn't have the rails mounted.

Gundam hasn't made me excited for a while now but this one has piqued my interest: Meaningless War 0091: Mobile Suit Gundam Another Story. This manga series is actually a couple of years old and not having been translated into English, it hasn't gained much attention. Until that is, Mechascientific and GEARS Online came along and decided to translate and showcase this series. Here's a summary taken from GEARS Online:

Taking place in the early UC 0090’s, before the events of Char’s Counter Attack. On one side we have the EFF members, consisting of officers who previously belonged to A.E.U.G. and the Titans. On the other side we have a Neo-Zeon reconnaissance force working with and anti-Earth Federation groups much like the New Summer Project’s Colorde forces. All three groups end up confronting a mysterious group called Neue Getter and their formidable mobile weapons.

It sounds a bit too similar to the Gundam Sentinel series but I must say, the MS featured here sure look pretty cool. They have a mechanical and industrial look to them that's a welcome contrast to the super-robot-ish look that has been prevalent in the Gundam franchise lately (cough... Gundam SEED... cough... Gundam OO)

I'll be following the two sites closely as more is revealed about this series. I do wonder however, whether it's actually considered canon.