Supanova 2011 Saturday 19/6/11

I went to this year's Supanova which happened to be my first. Although its not an exclusively anime event it was easily the best convention I've been to in recent years. Firstly the foremost reason being scale it was held at The Dome in Olympic Park which meant that the event would be HUGE. In recent years anime conventions had been depressingly small I am still waiting for the day when they will be similar to scale to the ones in Japan and America... Supanova even!

With a crew of four we tackled the crowds to get into the door which took a good half an hour even with advanced tickets! The funny thing was being Agam's first convention he gave into some serious internal struggling wrapping up the day spending close to $200 in goods. The day for me was just being our teams photographer and liason with the cosplayers so that we can take their pictures without looking like creepy stalkers. I was largely impressed with the cosplay!

Amber from Suckerpunch

Red Ranger

Captain Jack Sparrow

Black Cat

Spiderman

 

OMG she killed Elmo!

I liked how this kids Iron Man cosplay made everyone look like they had huge heads this is not photoshopped

Vamperella

Its... Lady Gaga??!!!

Old school Optimus Prime

The girl was dressed as Saber but I loved her Yoda bag.

Poison Ivy

Logan

Emma Frost the White Queen

Catwoman

Baby Doll

King Kong

What the F is Bandai thinking?!!! Gundam Age looks so FAIL!!!

OMG I cant believe that after my hiatus the first post that I put on the blog is a rant!!! So here we are waiting for a new Gundam series... teased by a very mean looking silhouette then they drop this bomb shell man what is Bandai thinking. The pilots look like they are twelve at the most!

Well at least I wont be investing in Gunpla for this series...more money in my pocket!

WIP 1/144 HGUC Gouf Custom with battle damage

I ran out of Rubber Black which is a key colour for the PG Strike Freedom's undercoat so using the paints I have on inventory I started a side project.  This is the first time I dealt with battle damage or defacing in general The process of scarring the model is actual quite fun!

Last year for BAKUC I experimented with the concept of adding a silver underlay to the model which ended up being used by Kenji and Sok for BAKUC. The silver underlay would be used as a metallic layer for express battle damage. However as they were under time constraints the model wasn't scarred as planned. I have adopted the method now for a model of my own, The HGUC Gouf Custom! I wasn't planning to do battle damage at first until I saw the box art... however I went overboard with my one LOL!

I started to appreciate the concept of pre assembling certain parts recently I found that I could really save on paint from doin this. Okay the below shots highlight the silver underlay afterwards the colour gets sprayed on. so each piece gets three coats a grey undecoat, a silver underlay and a colour layer.

To get this damage get a sander and sand lightly for scratches that reveal silver lashings for gouge and burn marks scratch deper and colour in the central area with a black gundam marker and rub in the ink. Updates for this project will be presented parallel to the Strike Freedom.

RG Gundam photoshoot

I was a bit bored today since Cat is away in the Gold Coast so I decided to get some photography done! The subject was my latest achievement the RG Gundam. I love this kit its amazingly detailed and small. I'm beginning to build more HG and RG 1/144 series. So far I have the folllowing 1/144 kits left to build after the PG Strike Freedom

1. RG Char Zaku            

 2. HGUC Gouf Custom

I also have the HGUC Unicorn in mind.

If any of our readers have a particular model they want to see in particular from the list then feel free to comment your preference. Okay onto the photoshoot. The weather today was slightly overcast but the light was still good these shots were shot at ISO400 4F3.5



Japan Foundation- Kingdom of Characters

A free exhibition will be on in Sydney at the Chifley Plaza from the 6th April to the 25th May. Aptly named the Kingdom of Characters it entails the Japanese characters that became global phenomenons since the 1950s. Tell your friends about it because I really believe it would be quite a fantastic exhibition.

Im surprised DragonBall isn't in these pictures but I'm pretty sure that it would be there. Perhaps I might go twice once after I get my DSLR (Canon EOS 600D) and twice to listen to Dr Craig Norris' lecture on the 24th May.

Dr Craig Norris

Craig Norris is a lecturer in the Journalism, Media and Communications program at the University of Tasmania. He graduated with a PhD from the University of Western Sydney in 2004, and studied at Tokyo University from 1999-2001 on a Monbusho research scholarship. His doctoral thesis examined the spread of Japanese manga and anime through Western fandom. His current research interests are in transmedia content and fan cultures. He has published in the area of global media and the dissemination of Japanese popular-culture goods.


Cult Media Pilgramages to Japan's Kingdom of Characters.


Japanese cities crave the attention that comes from being home to a popular culture icon like Godzilla, Ultraman, Astro Boy or Hello Kitty. Western fan pilgrimages to Japanese locations associated with these cult media texts have been variously construed as fads or underground activities. More recently there has been a trend to consider cult media tourism as increasingly incorporated into commercial and state tourism branding and promotion strategies. This talk outlines how fans and industry ‘play’ with Japanese popular culture to experiment with various surroundings and location and will discuss examples such as fans travelling to locations made famous through live-action shows such as Godzilla or Ultraman, video-games like Yakuza, and manga and anime like Lucky Star.



Resources were derived from Japan Foundation, Sydney

New Gundam PSP game on the horizon- Memories of the Battlefield

Another game is on its way! It allows the player to choose three gundams to duke it out in battle and swap machines akin to Tekken Tag and Marvel vs Capcom. The line up is pretty cool so far we have got the following confirmed.

    ・機動戦士ガンダム- Gundam 0079


　・機動戦士Zガンダム- Zeta Gundam

　・機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア- Char's Counterattack

　・機動新世紀ガンダムX- Gundam X

　・新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz- Gundam Wing Endless Waltz

　・機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY- Seed Destiny

　・機動戦士ガンダム00- Gundam 00 TV series (both seasons)

　・劇場版 機動戦士ガンダム00 -A wakening of the Trailblazer- Gundam 00 Movie

　・機動戦士ガンダムUC- Gundam Unicorn

Metal Build 0 Raiser

Coolskis! Straight after the release of the Metal Build 00 7 swords the 0 Raiser that compliments this awesome figure will also be released soon! Metal 7 sword 00 anybody? It sounds inticing actually but ah well I got PG already. I would like to see this one in the flesh it looks HOT!

RG Aile Strike Box Art!

Its awesome! I so cant wait for Kenji to do a model review when he gets this!

Transformers Dual model kits

I kep a close eye on these two since they were announced and I have to say they look sick! So far we have got Optimus and Bumblebee in the line up I so cant wait to see Dark of the Moon!

With all these comic releases this year including Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America I wonder if French Connection will add to their comic line of T Shirts So far I am comfortably buying one a year!

SD Gundam Review: Nightingale

I saw this independently developed SD at Dream yesterday. Curious about how the kit looked in the flesh I resorted to Youtube and Im impressed I want one!!!

RG Strike shows its colours....

LOL about time the Phase Shift was activated. Fresh from CyberGundam is a sample of the RG Strike coloured!!

Ichiban Boshi- Hiroki's, Kenji's and Kyousuke's ramen choice

In response to all the people searching ramen and end up on this page I have got my recommendation for you... and that is Ichiban Boshi! I go here once a week and absolutely love it my standard order is a Nori Ramen with extra pork (sometimes Tantanmen) and an iced lemon tea it always hits the spot! So if you want to plunge into the awesome ramen world I would totally recommend it you wont ever look back! Just ask my friend Kyousuke he has a few bowls a week... Im not joking.

Ichi-Ban Boshi's Tantanmen ITADAKIMASU!

Opening Hours : Everyday 11am - 9pm

Phone : +61 (02)9262 7677

Address : Level 2, Galeries Victoria Building,

500 George Street,

Sydney NSW (Next to Kinokuniya bookstore)

Seating / Drinks : 70 / Fully Licensed

The restaurant doesn't take reservations and the queues are long but its well worth the wait!

1/144 Gundam UC Dreissen

Ever since UC0079 I have been a great fan of the DOM and the Black Tri Stars. I was pumped when I found out that this classic beast was revamped in the third Unicorn movie- The Ghost of Laplace. If only they had three of them for a reenactment of the famous Jet Stream Attack. The mobile suit is quite interesting it has the traditional bazooka, beam gatling, beam sabre and these cool blade funnels like the Razor Bats that the Green Goblin from Spiderman uses.

PG Strike Freedom WIP- Shoulders

The parts are coming together now! The shoulders so far have been the easiest part. I have to say although simple they are pretty neat! The top half has an inbuilt lever so that when you push outwards the mechanisms spring outwards. After wasting many decals I have finally settle with something I liked. This ZAFT theme was harder than I thought repect for the guys at the hobby centre who actually do this for a career.