The Energon Pub

I was lookin through Ngee Khiong and came across this with images of a new 00 movie trailer.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/4832729590_e3f3cbe55f_b.jpg

Wonder if they'll pull an Exia at the end or if this will be featured early in.

The image below is old, but it shows an old resin conversion kit for the 1/100 Deathscythe Hell Custom. Until i saw this it never really occured to me just how similar the Custom and KA versions were. Seeing this... Well i'd be willing to bet that the Master Grade Deathscythe Hell Custom is one of the first kits we see in 2011

Oh it's a good year for Gundam..

Aluus wrote:
EDIT: I'm kinda considering getting the new MG Deathscythe, even though the white head on the KA version looks weird to me. Dunno, anyone think it would look weird painted black so it looked more like the anime version? That's really my only beef with the kit

I honestly prefer the white head. However, I think it will still look great if you choose to paint it black.

I see a white Gundam head and I want to paint black..

Blurrz wrote:I see a white Gundam head and I want to paint black..

Lmao...

i hear what u did there.

I'm not overly impressed with the MG release of Deathscythe. I think it might look a lot better if it were painted and had subtle decal detail.

Aluus wrote:I don't know about the size. In truth the kit isn't that much bigger than a MG FAZZ.

It's bigger and bulkier than MG FAZZ.

http://www.himitsu.com.cn/mg/mg100726.html

Convotron wrote:The price of the MG The O kit is certainly partly due to the sheer size of the kit but I think it's just part of Bandai's trend of ever increasing price tags for their products. Look at the steady rise of HG kit prices where now it seems like 1600 yen is the average and we're seeing more in the 1800 yen or above range down the road. Then take a look at their high end action figure products like S.H. Figuarts, Hi-Metal, S.I.C., and so on. However, some of their products are very well priced like their S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii figures, which are remarkable 3.75"-4" figures that are between 1000 and 1200 yen on average. I compare that to a $10 3.75" Hasbro Marvel figure, which is great but doesn't come close to what the S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii figures offer.

For the most part you are comparing products made in China to products made in Japan. It's an impossible comparison due to labor conditions and the cost of workforce.

I've only purchased one kit I felt was overpriced and that was PG OO. The quality normally justifies the price for me. It's all subjective though. One persons treasure is another's junk. I think the MG Deathscythe is a waste of perfectly good plastic.

pt206 wrote:For the most part you are comparing products made in China to products made in Japan. It's an impossible comparison due to labor conditions and the cost of workforce.

I've only purchased one kit I felt was overpriced and that was PG OO. The quality normally justifies the price for me. It's all subjective though. One persons treasure is another's junk. I think the MG Deathscythe is a waste of perfectly good plastic.

The only thing that Bandai makes in Japan that I know of are their model kits. All of their action figure products, low end to high end, are made in China. Their S.H. Figuarts and S.I.C. figures have "Made in China" stamped right on them. Hasbro's 3.75" Marvel figures are also made in China. So...I'm comparing things made in China to other things made in China(S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii vs. Marvel 3.75" action figures).

Real Grade has arrived...will this be Bandai's next significant step in gunpla evolution?

Convotron wrote:Real Grade has arrived...will this be Bandai's next significant step in gunpla evolution?

I'm excited to see where the RG's lead us. Unfortunatley, i will probably skip this one as I find the rx-78 to be rather dull.

who knows, it may be an impulse purchase.

Convotron wrote:Real Grade has arrived...will this be Bandai's next significant step in gunpla evolution?

I'm tempted to buy one just to see what they are made of! Now if only it was the Gundam Mk. II in Titans colors

I've finished the legs and pelvis of the RG RX-78-2 so far and I must say that I'm extremely impressed by the model kit. It's no MG-lite model by any means. This is definitely MG level design and engineering at 1/144 scale.

The multiple components that make up each part of each limb is numerous but it's a solid build so far. The legs have shifting armour components that move when you bend the knees but they have no looseness problems. The joints are pleasantly tight, which will be beneficial for holding poses for extended periods of time.

The colours of the plastic for the model kit are very interesting. Rather than the usual "Gundam Red", Bandai has chosen to use a very dark and deep crimson instead. The traditionally white portions of the RX-78-2 are now composed of white, light grey, and light brownish grey parts.

I believe Bandai has delivered on the hype and this first RG model kit is just a glimpse of amazing potential for future gunpla.

Here are some photos of the legs in various poses to demonstrate the model's basic posing ability, which I'm sure I haven't fully exploited.



















This is Bandai's model kit of the year. As good as any other model kit that comes out in 2010, I don't think they can equal what the RG RX-78-2 achieves, which is what is essentially a MG kit scaled at 1/144.

Convotron wrote:The only thing that Bandai makes in Japan that I know of are their model kits. All of their action figure products, low end to high end, are made in China. Their S.H. Figuarts and S.I.C. figures have "Made in China" stamped right on them. Hasbro's 3.75" Marvel figures are also made in China. So...I'm comparing things made in China to other things made in China(S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii vs. Marvel 3.75" action figures).

Actually, you specifically talked about model kits made in Japan and their pricing increases which is what I was referring to when you including action figures (how did they even enter a discussion of Gunpla pricing?) made in China for what is commonly slave wages. I was simply pointing out model kits have no comparison to those action figures. The best comparison with Gunpla is probably Kotobukiya kits. Bandai is generally cheaper and better designed.

We could discuss the myriad of reasons behind increasing prices for days on virtually any product although it would probably bore the majority of posters on the board.

Convotron wrote:The price of the MG The O kit is certainly partly due to the sheer size of the kit but I think it's just part of Bandai's trend of ever increasing price tags for their products. Look at the steady rise of HG kit prices where now it seems like 1600 yen is the average and we're seeing more in the 1800 yen or above range down the road.

We diverted from the topic of The O's pricing. It seems, from the pictures we've seen, the plastic content justifies the price in my opinion...at this point. It makes the MG FA RX-78-2 look tiny. I'm eagerly awaiting the first actual video reviews of The O. One of the positives of purchasing in the west is we get time to see tons of reviews before the products reach the stores.

Grats on the RG. I have no interest in 1/144 personally, but it looks like a great kit at a great price. You going to paint it or keep it an OOB build?

pt206 wrote:Actually, you specifically talked about model kits made in Japan and their pricing increases which is what I was referring to when you including action figures (how did they even enter a discussion of Gunpla pricing?) made in China for what is commonly slave wages. I was simply pointing out model kits have no comparison to those action figures. The best comparison with Gunpla is probably Kotobukiya kits. Bandai is generally cheaper and better designed.

We could discuss the myriad of reasons behind increasing prices for days on virtually any product although it would probably bore the majority of posters on the board.

Edit: Oh, I just saw where I think you got the impression that I was comparing models vs action figures, pt206...suffice it to say, my long response below goes into clarifying my previous post, hehe.

The bold portions of my post, which I've quoted below in its entirety, should make it clear that I'm not simply talking about model kits made in Japan:

Convotron wrote:The price of the MG The O kit is certainly partly due to the sheer size of the kit but I think it's just part of Bandai's trend of ever increasing price tags for their products. Look at the steady rise of HG kit prices where now it seems like 1600 yen is the average and we're seeing more in the 1800 yen or above range down the road. Then take a look at their high end action figure products like S.H. Figuarts, Hi-Metal, S.I.C., and so on. However, some of their products are very well priced like their S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii figures, which are remarkable 3.75"-4" figures that are between 1000 and 1200 yen on average. I compare that to a $10 3.75" Hasbro Marvel figure, which is great but doesn't come close to what the S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii figures offer.

I didn't specifically talk about model kits made in Japan. I specifically talked about Bandai's model kit pricing trend increase and how it is part of an overall price increase trend for their products. I could have gone into more detail with my action figure examples such as stating that the first S.H. Figuarts figure(Kamen Rider V3, released in November 2008) was priced at 2200 yen while the latest S.H. Figuarts figure(Kamen Rider Exceed Gills, released this month) is priced at 3300 yen. In under 2 years, Bandai has made the average price of SHF figures go from roughly 2000 yen to 3000 yen. One can verify my claim by going to HLJ's web site, which lists SHF figures, and most other products, with MSRP and their release dates.

Now how does action figures enter a gunpla pricing discussion? Well, it's the same company (Bandai) who makes these products and I've shown how this company is raising prices in their more successful products(gunpla, Kamen Rider action figures). Bandai is raising the prices of many, if not most, of their products, which is why their action figure products or other products of theirs are relevant to a discussion regarding the price increase of gunpla products as it is one fraction of an overall price increase trend by Bandai.

My post regarding Bandai's price increases should clearly show that the only comparison I make is my opinion that S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii figures are superior to Hasbro's Marvel 3.75" figures while being at a similar price point. Aside from that, I simply list some Bandai non-model products for the purposes of my claim that they are not isolating price increases to their Gundam model kit product lines.

As far as Kotobukiya's products, they are, unfortunately, far overpriced for what one gets. The only saving grace Kotobukiya's model kit lines have are the variety of interesting licenses they have to draw from for model kit products. They're a decade behind Bandai's model kit engineering. And I say this as someone who enjoys some of Kotobukiya's model kit products. Incidentally, Kotobukiya has been steadily increasing the prices of their Super Robot Wars and Armored Core model kits(arguably their flagship lines for their model kits, and definitely their most prolific model kit divisions) over the past few years as well.

pt206 wrote:Grats on the RG. I have no interest in 1/144 personally, but it looks like a great kit at a great price. You going to paint it or keep it an OOB build?

The kit is very impressive. As I said earlier, it is a MG level kit but at 1/144 scale. Since Bandai is able to achieve this level of engineering at the 1/144 scale, I hope to see some extra steam behind their MG and PG lines with respect to design innovation, especially PG. I hope the next PG kit is far better than the 00 Raiser. That isn't to say the PG 00 Raiser is bad, not at all, it's just not something that seemed up to snuff for the PG line.

I'm going to keep this one an OOB build and I'll be buying another to paint in custom colours or perhaps modify with a conversion kit if someone makes one for it down the road.

Needless to say, you'll have full pics for us once it's completed right? =3

As cool as the RG line is looking so far, I am kind of hoping it fails. It seems to me like a way for Bandai to justify a further price-hike in their Master Grade line, similar to how a HG 1/100 costs more than a HG 1/144 typically.

That being said, how many runners of parts? IF you have some time to kill, I wouldn't mind seeing a picture of the parts you have left on runners. It would give me an idea of the build of the kit. Any major areas where they've molded parts in the wrong color, REQUIRING paint to fix?

Aluus wrote:Needless to say, you'll have full pics for us once it's completed right? =3

Ask and you shall receive.

Aluus wrote:As cool as the RG line is looking so far, I am kind of hoping it fails. It seems to me like a way for Bandai to justify a further price-hike in their Master Grade line, similar to how a HG 1/100 costs more than a HG 1/144 typically.

RG shouldn't affect the pricing of any other line of gunpla.

1/100 HG kits previously could be justified in being more expensive than 1/144 HG kits due to engineering improvements and simply extra material required. However, the current level of engineering in 1/144 HG kits, especially HGUC, surpasses 1/100 HG kits.

It seems like Bandai is focusing their efforts on the 1/144 scale for the HG line this year. The only 1/100 HG kits they've made within the last two years are Gundam 00 kits and SEED kits. The last 1/100 HG kit they've made is the 1/100 Astray Mirage Frame 2nd Issue, which came out in February of this year. Everything else Bandai has done for gunpla this year has been 1/144 HG kits and 1/100 MG kits.

Aluus wrote:That being said, how many runners of parts? IF you have some time to kill, I wouldn't mind seeing a picture of the parts you have left on runners. It would give me an idea of the build of the kit. Any major areas where they've molded parts in the wrong color, REQUIRING paint to fix?

There are 10 runners, which is a healthy number of runners and certainly more than most 1/144 HG kits. Just looking at the number for the runners may not impress some who have worked on things like the HGUC Nu Gundam and HGUC Sazabi, both of which I believe have 15 or so runners. However, if you look at the parts count of the runners, the RG kit has over 300 parts(I can't remember the exact number but it was higher than any HG kit ever produced and rivaling MG kits)

The armour of the model is in accurate colours, no paint or stickers are necessary to correct the appearance. The inner frame does require either paint or the included stickers because this model is based on the design of the 30th anniversary RX-78-2, which has metallic coloured inner frame parts like copper on the bolts of the knees.

The colour of the plastic of the kit are: two shades of blue, two shades of red, white, light grey, light brown/beige grey, clear plastic, yellow, black, and dark grey. Rather than just the A runner possessing multi coloured plastic injection, the C runner also has multi coloured plastic injection.

Now the only parts I have left on the runners are the weapon and shield parts so they won't give you a great indication of the build but check out this photo of a CAD diagram of the leg construction:



Now note that the diagram shows a fully constructed leg, which has a pre build inner skeleton with inner frame parts attached to it. Yet even with that already built, consider the numerous parts of armour that attach on top of that leg's inner frame structure(23 parts, I believe).

The RG kit's build is more extensive than most master grades in that each part must be built up. For example, the MG RX-78-2 ver2.0 has a sleeve for the forearm that you slip on over the forearm's inner frame. The RG RX-78-2, however, requires several components to make the forearm armour over the inner frame. Despite the complexity of the parts involved, the completed forearm is a solid unit.

ok here's the clencher for me and the RG. Can it do a shooting pose with one knee down to the ground?

Gutter Bunny wrote:ok here's the clencher for me and the RG. Can it do a shooting pose with one knee down to the ground?

Indeed it can:

Not a big fan of the RX but this looks like something every Gundam Model Kit Builder should own...

Blurrz wrote:Not a big fan of the RX but this looks like something every Gundam Model Kit Builder should own...

*sigh* how long before they re-release the 00's in this scale?

Well 00 Gundams are already at the scale of 1/144 - to be traditioned under the RG technology, might take a year or two. However by that time, 00 Gundam will already be gone and done with.

Blurrz wrote:Well 00 Gundams are already at the scale of 1/144 - to be traditioned under the RG technology, might take a year or two. However by that time, 00 Gundam will already be gone and done with.

That's good. I was worried about buying a kit and then 6 months later *surprise* better version comes out.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Blurrz wrote:Well 00 Gundams are already at the scale of 1/144 - to be traditioned under the RG technology, might take a year or two. However by that time, 00 Gundam will already be gone and done with.

That's good. I was worried about buying a kit and then 6 months later *surprise* better version comes out.

LOL... atleast you weren't into 00 Gundam S2 when it was going strong.. Both 1/144 and 1/100 scales had an initial wave of gundams, then half a year later they released better versions with upgraded armor/paint jobs.

Blurrz wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Blurrz wrote:Well 00 Gundams are already at the scale of 1/144 - to be traditioned under the RG technology, might take a year or two. However by that time, 00 Gundam will already be gone and done with.

That's good. I was worried about buying a kit and then 6 months later *surprise* better version comes out.

LOL... atleast you weren't into 00 Gundam S2 when it was going strong.. Both 1/144 and 1/100 scales had an initial wave of gundams, then half a year later they released better versions with upgraded armor/paint jobs.

Great now if I go for a season 2 kit I gotta make sure it's a "good" one. The only one I'm really interested in is the 00 Raiser kit but not at $300 US. Having built the 1/60 Exia I'm thinking of getting the smaller scale version to go with my other kits. Either 1/100 for the Kyrios and Dynames or 1/144 to go with Butters 0 Gundam