An Old Belgian Otaku: gachapon

Posts tonen met het label gachapon. Alle posts tonen

dinsdag 30 mei 2023

Turn A Gundam 1/400 scale gachapon

Time for another gachapon gundam to be added to the pile for MechaTop and the likes, and this time it is the mighty Turn A Gundam.

While a rather weird anime at the time of airing compared to the Gundam series before it, especially before the "dots are connected" with all the suits having same looks but different names, this was a pretty good series.

And that Moonlight Butterfly effect...

So, that of course meant I had to have a "moustache gundam" in the collection, and this is one of the Pepsi bottlecap figures of which I own a stack. Painting of those sorts of models is pretty straightforward, as they don't have that much of a dynamic pose going on, so with my two tones sort of painting this takes about a week of on and off short sessions in the evening to complete.

Now, let's put the White Doll on the field of battle!

woensdag 10 mei 2023

MSM-04N Agguguy 1/400 scale gachapon

Time to show off another completed, repainted gachapon model in 1/400 scale for MechaTop, and it is one of the ZZ Gundam suits this time.

And for some reason, I end up with a heap of aquatic suits finishes, probably because their often comical look subconsciously attracts my attention...

The Agguguy as said debuted in anime during the ZZ series, and looks like a bulked out version of the Acguy aquatic mobile suit, of which it is a development. His bulk comes from his heavy armour, and was designed for close combat with it's main armament of dual heat rods.

There weren't that many build actually according to the lore, as their construction plant was destroyed by Char early in the One Year War, to some ended up with the Tigerbaum colony civilians as seen in ZZ.

The model itself was fun to paint, as the big plates allow for some smooth and easy painting, yet the end result gives a unified, solid look. And the brown is a welcome change after the usual frequent colours of either white / blue / red or mostly greens for most mobile suits from the Universal Century.

Maybe one day I should run a force of only aquatic suits in a game of MechaTop and see how that goes...

donderdag 4 mei 2023

MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam

The titular suit from the anime series of the same name, this bulky successor to the elegant Zeta Gundam is the next gachapon to roll off the painting table.

Now to be honest, I wasn`t that really a fan of the suit or the "good guys" in the series, but it did have some good storyline wrap ups.

The model itself is another soft plastic by Bandai, and I didn`t get the barrel stretched though even with the hot / cold method. Luckily, it is not THAT noticeable when the model is on a table between scenery and all so I`m good with it.

Following the usual colourscheme of a titular series Gundam, this one had a lot more details though, with all the small exhausts on it's legs in different colours, so it took some finebrushing this time round.

But he turned out pretty okay for gaming, now to get all those ZZ bad guy suits painted in the coming weeks.

maandag 10 april 2023

RX-78GP01 Gundam Zephyrantes 1/400 scale gachapon

The first gachapon for MechaTop I finished this year, it is a variation of the original Gundam, the RX78GP01 Zephyrantes.

Piloted by Kou Uraki, this Gundam was the main suit of the Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories series, a 13 episode series linking the original Gundam to Zeta.

A bit of an upgrade aimed at ground combat of the classic RX78-2, he differs a lot in tabletop looks due to the white and blue instead of red shield, giving him a totally different asthetic.

The figure is as usual one of the many 1/400 scale gachapon I own, repainted for the tabletop to look better then the bland one tone scheme the soft plastic figures come in.

Painting of these models always goes rather smooth, the panels usually being the hardest part on them, bar of course the (not always totally succesful) trick of hot water cold water to try and unbend parts that got deformed from being stuck in a plastic ball for a long time.

But that is the first one for this year's batch completed, now to keep the momentum and start on the next model soonish!

zaterdag 7 januari 2023

The opening of the 2022 Gashapon!

Remember last year december when I talked about the plan of filling a huge christmas ball tube with gashapon?

Well, the time has come to see what was in there, as it is time to crack open all those balls at last.

So, remember this huge, nearly empty tube?

This is it now, let's open it up in this (sorry about the sound) video!

So that means, a lot of plastic balls to open and (re)discover what fun stuff is inside them, together with Noshi. In the end, it contained no less then about 30 balls of all sorts of stuff and anime franchises.

So, the figures have been placed on the relative shelves, and for the keychains and straps I have pimped my "manga shelf" to display hang them.

So a nice haul for sure, and now it is time to start saving up balls for the next year's video!

woensdag 14 december 2022

Nobel Gundam 1/400 scale gachapon

As I recently completed the Shining Gundam from G Gundam, I couldn't forego of course to paint up that other known Gundam from the series, the Nobel Gundam of Sweden.

Which was designed in a time Sailor Moon was incredibly popular, earning it the nickname of the Sailor Gundam here and there, with it's uncanny resemblance to the antagonist of that series.

The models is a very dynamically posed 1/400 scale, and she is leaping and saluting forward.

So that is probably the last one I'll get finished this year for MechaTop, I won`t have achieved my goal of 15 models for the game painted, but we did make some progress at least this year.

Now to work on some kits in the near future first...

dinsdag 13 december 2022

Shining Gundam 1/400 scale gachapon

This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! It's loud roar tells me to defeat you! Take this! My love! My anger! And all of my sorrow! Erupting... burning... FINGER!

Yes, it is finally time to paint the Shining Gundam, Domon Kasshu's martial arts Gundam from the G Gundam excellent series.

The first series to come out in a seperate timeline, it featured Gundams representing several nations of the world, in a tournament to become the leading nation of Earth. And the Shining Gundam, with it's excellent protagonist Domon, was the suit send to fight for Japan.

So of course, when I had the bottlecap figure ready, I couldn't forgo the well known quote in the series, which is probably as famous as Heero's "I`ll kill you" or Setsuna's "I am Gundam" within the community. Except it is way longer and far more epic.

A lovely model in it's simplicity, and a good piece in the game as well!

maandag 5 december 2022

Zeta Gundam 1/400 scale gachapon

Zeta Gundam, or Z Gundam for short, is probably my third favorite gundam series after SEED Destiny and 00.

So it was more then normal that I painted up the titular suit for use in wargames.

This 1/400 scale bottlecap figure as such got the touch up treatment, and now it is ready to bring justice to the solar system at the hands of Kamil Bidan, perhaps the most tragic hero of the whole franchise, ending mentally wrecked as we see in ZZ Gundam afterwards.

I aways liked the design of this mecha, with it's elongated faceplate and how it's transformation parts blend in nicely in the mecha form.

So that is another one finished to play MechaTop with, bar a octagonal base, but those aren`t uber necessary, just handy to help out measuring arcs after all.

woensdag 26 oktober 2022

Gundam Mk II Titans

The latest gachapon figure to get painted (I actually might make the goal this year... might) for MechaTop in scale 1/400, is the Mk II Gundam, in the Titans colour scheme.

A welcome change I might add, in it's dark colours compared to the usual white of Gundams.

The model was a bottlecap figure, which was then painted over in two layers. I find this a very simple yet easy method to make the model stand out on the detail level for such small figures (they are comparable in size with a Space Marine, but far less bulky).

And it also adds some "evil" models to the collection, as most Gundams are of course the good guys. Though in Gundam, good and evil is very often a matter of perspective to be honest, especially in the older series where you had political threeways.

So, with 6 done now this year, onwards to the next, and what better suit then it's opponent in the Gundam Z series, the Zeta Gundam itself.

donderdag 25 augustus 2022

Gachapon 1/400 scale Victory Gundam

The next, and fifth of the year, completed gachapon model for gaming is the Victory Gundam.

Now, in all honesty, that was one of the Gundam series I personally liked less, and the suit itself is pretty basic as well.

Okay, it can`t split up in the Core Fighter and leg craft like in the anime, deducting from it's awesomeness, but it really didn`t rock my boat like the Zeta or the Freedom did.

But, never the less as I had the model, we are painting it up for use in the games, and I did it with the same two tone colouring way I always did.

It's a bit of a boring suit in my opinion, but let's see if it is any good on the tabletop!

dinsdag 23 augustus 2022

Gachapon 1/400 scale Gundam F91

The latest gachapon Gundam I completed for wargaming, is the Gundam F91 from the movie of the same name.

A smaller type of mecha compared to other Gundam, this suit was mostly renowned for it's high speed and power output compared to it's smaller frame.

Piloted by Seebok Arno, I always liked it's "racey" outlook, so it was only a natural thing for me to paint one up and use it in MechaTop or other likewise game systems.

Using my regular two tone style, the model was already based on a round, the hexagonal base will be something to be added in the future, but for now he is already game suitable.

This was a fun model to paint, and I look forward to put him out there on the fields of battle for certain!

zondag 13 maart 2022

Akiba Leuven store visit

As me and Noshi just arrived back from a city trip to Leuven to finally have some post Covid RnR, we also visited the local Akiba store there.

Now, I am (very) familiar with the store in Antwerp, already being a customer there when he was just open in the Central Station, but the store has been expanding with new venues in the past two years.

And Leuven was a bit pinpointed by us for the trip just for the store. Because, gachapon machines! You buy special Akiba coins there, who become cheaper if you buy more, and then the wheels can be cranked.

So I got a nice pile of gachapon to add to the tube, to be opened at the end of the year in a special unboxing video on my YouTube channel.

The store is a nice and decent size (tbh, the Antwerp one is tiny), with a great selection of manga, merchandise, figures and snacks.

They also have 2 UFO catchers, one with Rem's and Ram's, the other unfortunatly not really stacked up as it contained only a single plushie. I refrained myself though from playing them hehe. I did take along the second volume of the JK Haru series though, so it was a nice little loot pile that came back from this store visit.

And it also comes with a selfie wall to make sure you can record your visit there!

So when in Leuven, make sure to check the store out in the shopping district, it's a fun place with a very positive vibe to it.

And as such, that is one more store of my "to visit" list this Old Belgian Otaku can scratch of his bucket list.

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