The Energon Pub

I think I'd like to get the "plain" versions of the Meisters' Gundams of Season 1 and for Season 2, I'm thinking of getting the GNHW versions. I like the Thrones so they're on my list as well as Reborns Gundam. The 1/100 kits are very nice but I think I'll stick to 1/144 for now to keep things in scale.

Blurrz wrote:The Seed/Astray suits are pretty sweet, basically MG quality when you take into account that they have decals. Should be interesting when I head back to the mainland.

The SEED/Astray suits are very cool. I'd like to get either the 1/100 Gale Strike or the Regen Duel. The Mirage Frame looks cool but I want to wait and see how the Mirage Frame Second Issue turns out. Its alt mode looks very Zoid-ish!

Speaking of decals/special markings, I noticed these showing up more frequently in the more recently produced HG/HGUC 1/144 kits. I have the 1/144 Civilian Astray DSSD Custom, which looks like the GN Archer's brother, and it comes with a whole sheet of clear stickers called "special markings" in the instruction book. The various Hazel and the Blue Destiny kits also have these.

I assembled the HGUC Zudah this past Sunday and boy, does it come with a bunch of these special markings. The level of detail in the sculpt combined with all the clear stickers really make it look like a mini MG model. Here's a scan of the markings diagram from the instruction manual:



The Zudah looks very "Ver. Ka" from all the markings you can apply. I think it may be the current HG kit with the most special markings.

I think the MG GN-X will be great and I definitely want to get it so my MG Exia won't be all alone. I kind of wish that there weren't already 1/100 versions of the Meister Gundams because it seems that would decrease the need to bring them into the MG line up any time soon. An MG Reborns Gundam would be very cool.

pt206 wrote:***Warning from HLJ on PG 00 Raiser's clear parts and if true is disappointing.

In order to build a Perfect Grade 00 Raiser using all of the clear armor parts, an unbuilt 00 Raiser kit is needed. (In other words, you have to add the parts as you build, and cannot add all of them later once the model has been assembled.)

I was kind of expecting this after seeing photos of the clear parts for the PG 00 Raiser. It seems like it's a full outer frame clear piece set so it's cool BUT...it's going to be a hassle disassembling a PG kit of the 00 Raiser's complexity in order to switch from the normal pieces to the clear pieces or vice versa. I also think that most people wouldn't want to disassemble/reassemble a PG kit too often because that's risking damage and wearing down of components. The PG Astray Red Frame doesn't have as many clear pieces but it has most of the outer frame in clear and the head, which looks like you need to take the whole head apart to put in the clear pieces.

The Geara Zulu is coming out in HGUC so that's very cool. I can't wait to see the Sinanju make its HGUC debut. I'd like to get the MG RX-0 and Sinanju some day. I really like how the RX-0 has a GM look in Unicorn Mode and a proper Gundam look in Destroy Mode.

So do you think Setsuna will be portrayed in the 00 movie to have a relationship? Do you think it will be with Feldt or Marina?

Blurrz wrote:So do you think Setsuna will be portrayed in the 00 movie to have a relationship? Do you think it will be with Feldt or Marina?

Between the two, I'd have to say Feldt. Marina is leader of a Federation-allied country, it wouldn't exactly be in her or her country's best interests to be in a relationship with a known fugitive.

marina is more like a mother-figure to Setsuna since she reminds him much of her. However, Feldt is more in the same age bracket as Setsuna and both he rparens being Gundam meisters, so its no surprise she'd get invovled with one as Setsuna is the only viable one with Niel dead, Hallelujah being taken, and Teria being human/now a hologram. She has clearly shown an interest in him but the rest is up to Setsuna. And I think Setsuna is more concerned about elimanating conflict completely and dealing witht he ghosts form his past. Even though A-Laws and the Federation has been reformed, conflict will continue to exist as many will not easily forget the oppression they faced during the time skip and season 2. I think Marina will show up in the movie, but probably nothing more than a very small role. If she and Setsuna were to have gotten together, Adzakistan would have had to remained a territory of the Federationa dn she go on to have a singing career. The potential has come and gone. Her stuff was more or less resolved by the end of season 2. I want to say Saji and Louise's story is over but I got a feeling Saji's invovlement with CB is gonna come back and bite them.

Blurrz wrote:So do you think Setsuna will be portrayed in the 00 movie to have a relationship?

I definitely hope so because the character's development has been moving towards something like this. Consider the growth of Setsuna from the beginning of Gundam 00 to the end of season 2. He began as a one note character with a traumatic past, borderline fanatical in his anti-war sentiment. However, we see him mature, especially when we get into season 2. He goes beyond the simple desire to stop war and contemplates the reason why he wants to stop war and it's more than just than the trauma of being a child soldier.

Blurrz wrote:Do you think it will be with Feldt or Marina?

I think it'll be Marina but I hope it'll be Feldt. The reason why I think it'll be Marina is that the writing of the TV series indicated that there was a desire to make Setsuna and Marina involved in a romantic relationship, however, it kept it mainly as a tease throughout the series. So I'm thinking the writing staff will say "Hey, let's tie things up between the two in the movie.". However, I think it's a cliched direction and I hope that Setsuna develops a romantic relationship with Feldt because it would make a little more sense. They've been around each other for years and their friendship could develop into a romantic relationship more naturally.

Setsuna and Marina are of two different walks of life. There's no way they could be in a functional relationship without one or the other abandoning their choice of life. Both have work to do that they feel is vitally important but they must accomplish their goals in different ways. There's no way to make a romantic relationship work between them without shoe horning them into the role.

Also, to be honest, I simply like Feldt better as a character than Marina.

While we're on the topic of the 00 movie, does anyone know if any indications of what the shot of Jupiter means at the end of the season 2?

I watched a fansub of Gundam 00 and I remember one of Aeolia Schenberg's intentions was to prepare humanity for future dialogue in space or something to that effect(since it was a fansub, I'm not sure how well it was translated). I mean, that's what Innovators seemed to be designed for. Basically the next step of human evolution to suit travel in outer space(very much like Newtypes). So...does that mean there are implications that either there are going to be aliens in the 00 movie(I hope not since Gundam stories have stayed away from aliens as far as I know.) or that Aeolia had taken a group of humans and created something like a colony on Jupiter that will be basically Innovators/Innovades?

The spot of light/glow that we see in Jupiter before the camera zooms out, is that an indication of a solar furnace production plant or something?

Convotron wrote:Also, to be honest, I simply like Feldt better as a character than Marina.

Yeah, I really do not like Marina. It's one thing to avoid conflict and fighting, it's something else entirely to refuse to defend yourself and the children you're supposed to be taking care of, against an enemy that's shown that they're okay with killing pretty much anyone.

Convotron wrote:While we're on the topic of the 00 movie, does anyone know if any indications of what the shot of Jupiter means at the end of the season 2?

It may take place around Jupiter. Jupiter has always been kind of important in Gundam, depending on the series.

Convotron wrote:I watched a fansub of Gundam 00 and I remember one of Aeolia Schenberg's intentions was to prepare humanity for future dialogue in space or something to that effect(since it was a fansub, I'm not sure how well it was translated). I mean, that's what Innovators seemed to be designed for. Basically the next step of human evolution to suit travel in outer space(very much like Newtypes).

The whole point is so humans won't look like a bunch of primitive jerks when we make first contact with an alien being. Likewise, Innovators aren't designed, they just happen. Innovades are designed, they're basically living concept art of what an Innovator could be like. (Immensely effeminate and androgynous, as well as psychotic egomaniacs? Probably not what Aeolia had in mind)

And yes, the comparison to Newtypes is more than appropriate, since Innovators and Newtypes share many similar abilities. That would also make the Super Soldiers and Innovades Cyber Newtypes.

Convotron wrote:So...does that mean there are implications that either there are going to be aliens in the 00 movie(I hope not since Gundam stories have stayed away from aliens as far as I know.) or that Aeolia had taken a group of humans and created something like a colony on Jupiter that will be basically Innovators/Innovades?

Well, there was Evidence-01 in Gundam SEED, which was a huge part of the backstory. However, if I remember right, Andy Waltfeld and a few other expressed doubt that it may have been faked. Incidentally, it was found near Jupiter.

Convotron wrote:The spot of light/glow that we see in Jupiter before the camera zooms out, is that an indication of a solar furnace production plant or something?

That makes sense. Jupiter was also used to get helium-3, which powered pretty much everything in UC. A ship that looked nearly identical to the Jupitris from Zeta Gundam (Scirocco's personal ship, also used for mining helium-3) was found orbiting Jupiter in one flashback in Gundam 00. Perhaps they mined helium-3 for weapon production before they used Jupiter to make GN Drives?

While we're on the subject of Gundam movies, whatever happened to that Gundam SEED movie they were making?

Shadowman wrote:Yeah, I really do not like Marina. It's one thing to avoid conflict and fighting, it's something else entirely to refuse to defend yourself and the children you're supposed to be taking care of, against an enemy that's shown that they're okay with killing pretty much anyone.

I really didn't like the way the character's ideals kept overriding the immediate needs of survival in the "real world". I definitely recognize the need to stick to your ideals but she was unwilling to compromise at all and came off as holier-than-thou because of that. Her development was the opposite of Setsuna's in that her views didn't grow/change/evolve at all throughout the series as far as I can recall.

Shadowman wrote:It may take place around Jupiter. Jupiter has always been kind of important in Gundam, depending on the series.

Hmm, very interesting.

Shadowman wrote:The whole point is so humans won't look like a bunch of primitive jerks when we make first contact with an alien being. Likewise, Innovators aren't designed, they just happen. Innovades are designed, they're basically living concept art of what an Innovator could be like. (Immensely effeminate and androgynous, as well as psychotic egomaniacs? Probably not what Aeolia had in mind)

And yes, the comparison to Newtypes is more than appropriate, since Innovators and Newtypes share many similar abilities. That would also make the Super Soldiers and Innovades Cyber Newtypes.

Oh, gotcha. So Ribbons and his bunch were Innovades and Setsuna was a true Innovator.

After I watched MS Gundam, I could see all the nods and references I missed when I first watched Gundam 00. I began to read up on Newtypes and stopped myself when there was references to Newtypes or similar concepts in other Gundam stories like Co-ordinators. I don't want to run into any spoilers, hehe.

Shadowman wrote:Well, there was Evidence-01 in Gundam SEED, which was a huge part of the backstory. However, if I remember right, Andy Waltfeld and a few other expressed doubt that it may have been faked. Incidentally, it was found near Jupiter.

Shadowman wrote:That makes sense. Jupiter was also used to get helium-3, which powered pretty much everything in UC. A ship that looked nearly identical to the Jupitris from Zeta Gundam (Scirocco's personal ship, also used for mining helium-3) was found orbiting Jupiter in one flashback in Gundam 00. Perhaps they mined helium-3 for weapon production before they used Jupiter to make GN Drives?

Ah, so now I'm seeing the importance of Jupiter in various Gundam stories!

Convotron wrote:I began to read up on Newtypes and stopped myself when there was references to Newtypes or similar concepts in other Gundam stories like Co-ordinators. I don't want to run into any spoilers, hehe.

While Coordinators are supposed to be the SEED analogue of Newtypes, they're a bit closer to the anti-Colonist sentiments from Zeta. Likewise, though they're never called such, and it's only shown very briefly, certain SEED characters (Mu la Flaga in particular) are definitely Newtypes. It's not too much of a spoiler since it's not really a plot point.

Shadowman wrote:While Coordinators are supposed to be the SEED analogue of Newtypes, they're a bit closer to the anti-Colonist sentiments from Zeta. Likewise, though they're never called such, and it's only shown very briefly, certain SEED characters (Mu la Flaga in particular) are definitely Newtypes. It's not too much of a spoiler since it's not really a plot point.

Very cool. It seems like many Gundam stories involve Newtype-esque concepts. I had come across the term of Coordinators from watching the Red and Blue Astray Frame shorts(but I didn't know what the heck a Coordinator was in the context of Gundam at the time as it was after I watched Gundam 00 but before I watched MSG and learned about Newtypes.).

I just had to share this:



I found this 1/100 "Full Action" scale model kit of the Hi Nu Gundam when I was cleaning out my closet today. It must have been there for a good 12 years or so as that's when my uncle, who bought me the kit and the 08th MS Team HG kit, last visited. Re-discovering this was like winning the lottery, hehe.

It's not an MG model as the year of production according to the box is 1988(talk about a relic!) but it's a pretty neat kit. The hands look like they possess articulation and the eye component is molded in clear green plastic. So even though it's an old kit, it looks like it's going to be a good model. I think I'll work on it over the holiday break. I must have put it away when I received it from my uncle because I can imagine being intimidated at the prospect of putting together a model at the time. I'm going to wash the runners later tonight to get rid of the mold release for the first phase of prepping the parts.

Convotron wrote:

Shadowman wrote:While Coordinators are supposed to be the SEED analogue of Newtypes, they're a bit closer to the anti-Colonist sentiments from Zeta. Likewise, though they're never called such, and it's only shown very briefly, certain SEED characters (Mu la Flaga in particular) are definitely Newtypes. It's not too much of a spoiler since it's not really a plot point.

Very cool. It seems like many Gundam stories involve Newtype-esque concepts. I had come across the term of Coordinators from watching the Red and Blue Astray Frame shorts(but I didn't know what the heck a Coordinator was in the context of Gundam at the time as it was after I watched Gundam 00 but before I watched MSG and learned about Newtypes.).

In case you didn't read it, Coordinators are genetically modified humans, they learn faster, react faster, never get sick, all that fun stuff. These attributes are passed onto their children, grandchildren, and so on, though it's noted that fourth generation coordinators suffer from sterility. The non-modified Naturals have a tendency to resent, fear, or hate Coordinators, and this racism is the main theme of SEED.

Shadowman wrote:In case you didn't read it, Coordinators are genetically modified humans, they learn faster, react faster, never get sick, all that fun stuff. These attributes are passed onto their children, grandchildren, and so on, though it's noted that fourth generation coordinators suffer from sterility. The non-modified Naturals have a tendency to resent, fear, or hate Coordinators, and this racism is the main theme of SEED.

Sounds like Coordinators have it made except for the sterility at the fourth generation! I'm currently watching Turn A Gundam and I plan on going to Gundam SEED afterwards.

Convotron wrote:

Shadowman wrote:In case you didn't read it, Coordinators are genetically modified humans, they learn faster, react faster, never get sick, all that fun stuff. These attributes are passed onto their children, grandchildren, and so on, though it's noted that fourth generation coordinators suffer from sterility. The non-modified Naturals have a tendency to resent, fear, or hate Coordinators, and this racism is the main theme of SEED.

Sounds like Coordinators have it made except for the sterility at the fourth generation! I'm currently watching Turn A Gundam and I plan on going to Gundam SEED afterwards.

Ah, I wouldn't say "made." Some Naturals, particularly extremist faction Blue Cosmos, hate Coordinators for even existing. The war in SEED was started after Blue Cosmos lead an nuclear attack on a Coordinator space colony, killing over 200,000 people just because they were born differently. So it's not just the sterility, it's also the genocidal racism some Naturals feel towards them.

Wing still is one of my favourites for some reason. Maybe it's because it was so... passionate.

Shadowman wrote:Ah, I wouldn't say "made." Some Naturals, particularly extremist faction Blue Cosmos, hate Coordinators for even existing. The war in SEED was started after Blue Cosmos lead an nuclear attack on a Coordinator space colony, killing over 200,000 people just because they were born differently. So it's not just the sterility, it's also the genocidal racism some Naturals feel towards them.

Wow, I guess Coordinators don't have it made! Well, if the murder of 200,000 people isn't a good reason to go to war, I don't know what is.

Blurrz wrote:Wing still is one of my favourites for some reason. Maybe it's because it was so... passionate.

I still have to watch Wing! I have vague recollections of it airing when I was a kid. The Mobile Suits I remember are Wing, Heavyarms, and Sandrock.

Convotron wrote:

Shadowman wrote:Ah, I wouldn't say "made." Some Naturals, particularly extremist faction Blue Cosmos, hate Coordinators for even existing. The war in SEED was started after Blue Cosmos lead an nuclear attack on a Coordinator space colony, killing over 200,000 people just because they were born differently. So it's not just the sterility, it's also the genocidal racism some Naturals feel towards them.

Wow, I guess Coordinators don't have it made! Well, if the murder of 200,000 people isn't a good reason to go to war, I don't know what is.

Even worse is that ZAFT, the military formed by the collective Coordinator colonies, is made out at first to be the bad guys. At least at first. Remember, in Gundam, any faction whose name includes the world "Earth" is probably corrupt.

Shadowman wrote:Even worse is that ZAFT, the military formed by the collective Coordinator colonies, is made out at first to be the bad guys. At least at first. Remember, in Gundam, any faction whose name includes the world "Earth" is probably corrupt.

Hmm, now I'm going to be suspicious of any factions with "Earth" in its name.

Just a heads up to anyone interested in HLJ's current Holiday Blowout Sale(Free EMS shipping on sales items and all in stock items if you buy 1 or more of their specially marked sales items and pay with Paypal's Billing Agreement option), there are a few Gundam related items on sale. I just purchased the 1/100 Seravee Gundam Designer's Color Ver., which is one of the designated holiday sale items, for just under 2730 yen/$30 USD(normal price is 4200 yen/$46 USD).

There's a review of the PG 00 Raiser at dalong.net.

I can't wait to get back to Edmonton.. and buy my heart's desire of Gundams

Blurrz wrote:I can't wait to get back to Edmonton.. and buy my heart's desire of Gundams

What's on your hit list?

Gonna get the Gadessa for sure. Sword mecha are my favourite. That also means I probably need to try out Seed Astray's new 1/100 series... Gale Strike.

And If I'm really feeling it.. PG 00 Raiser.

I like the GN sword and GN Fangs it has. The colour scheme is cool too. The Gale Strike looks very imposing with the two wing saws.

If you like the RX-0 design and don't have the MG model, I recommend the HGUC version. I have the Unicorn Mode version right now and plan on getting the Destroy Mode version. The details of the sculpt are very nice. It's another example of how much progress the HG model kits are making and getting closer towards MG level sculpting. The grooves of the panel lines are very deep. It doesn't need panel lining but if/when I panel line it, I'd like to use red or fluorescent red/pink paint to simulate the glow of the concealed Psycoframe.

One detail I really like about the model is how the neck isn't simply a ball joint, it includes a swivel component that moves with the RX-0 to allow it to look up without exposing a pencil neck:



It would be very cool if Bandai continued to implement this neck component design in future HG models.

Here's the moneyshot of the RX-0 in all its full frontal(wink nod) glory.

Good news Convotron.. MG Red Astray!

Blurrz wrote:Good news Convotron.. MG Red Astray!

Very good news!

I can't wait to see how it looks compared to the NG 1/100 and PG versions. I guess the "Astray Red Frame Kai" is going to be like the Astray Blue Frame 2nd Revise in that, hopefully, it'll have some upgrades to its appearance.

I also read that the 00 Gundam is getting another HG model, "Seven Sword/G". I was going to get the 00 Raiser + GN Sword III but now I may get the Seven Sword/G instead...decisions, decisions.

Too many decisions mate... but I've always told myself, if Red Astray got a modern release that is affordable, I will get it. And what can I say... that's exactly what we see here!

I think that the MG Astray Red Frame design will definitely benefit from having a PG and a NG 1/100 versions of the design come out first, to kind of work out design issues. I'm hoping that some of the design concepts from the PG version will get used in the MG kit.

The MG version will be great for those who want/wanted the PG but couldn't afford it and thought that the NG 1/100 didn't offer enough, though I think it's a pretty darn spiffy NG model.