Gundam Unicorn Bang!

The game is rough, and I threw it together fairly sloppily. Currently it is only the base game, with room for expansions with more cards, and also into other universes very easily.

The game follows the same idea of Bang as having different roles that are unknown to each player.

The premise of the game is very simple, there are two main sides, Nahel Argama, and the Garencieries. Both sides have their Protagonist (or sheriff in Bang) Each player will randomly choose a "Character Card"

http://i.imgur.com/S1Ns1mF.jpg

One by one, without revealing who they have selected, unless they have chosen Banagher or Full Frontal. If the first person to choose a "Protagonist" was Full Frontal, for example, that character is the sheriff for the round, and the other character, Banagher, becomes a normal hidden player, and vice versa.

The goal of the game is, lets say Full Frontal is the Protagonist of this round. The Garencieries team must destroy the Nahel Argama team, and protect Full Frontal. The Nahel Argama team only has to destroy Full Frontal. If the Entire Nahel Argama team is defeated, and Full Frontal survives, the Sleeves win.

If Full Frontal is defeated, the Nahel Argama wins.

The other Character, is Riddhe Marcenas, who for this game, will be considered the Mercenary. His job is to kill everyone, but most importantly, he must kill the protagonist last.

The only known character is the first protagonist chosen, and he must figure out who his allies are, and who his enemies are.

After choosing characters, each player will randomly draw a Mobile Suit. These suits do not depend on team affiliations, such that someone on the Nahel Argama can pilot a Sleeves mobile suit, and vice versa. The only dictated suit is for the protagonist. If Banagher is the protagonist, he uses the Unicorn, and Full Frontal the Sinanju. Each mobile suit has an ability which can be utilized in game.

http://i.imgur.com/e47zwrB.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lbQCqeu.jpg

Players will use a combination of cards during the game to attack, defend, etc.

White cards are single play

Blue Marked cards are permanent unless destroyed by other cards.

http://i.imgur.com/CjFRWSH.jpg

Bang is used to shoot other players

Miss is to dodge bang cards

Mechanic is to repair 1 life point

Panic is to steal a card from another player

Funnels acts as the "indian" card as each player must play a bang to shoot it down or you lose a life.

The Hangar is the General store card

Snipe is Cat Baillou, where you can destroy any card of another player

Gatling is still gatling, basically a bang targetted at everyone

http://i.imgur.com/6BhBa9A.jpg

Convoy allows you to draw 2 cards

Diner replenishes everyone's health by 1

Full Armor allows you to draw 3 cards

Duel is still duel, each player exchanges playing bang cards until one fails to do so.

Shield is the Barrel card, where if you draw a heart, it counts as a miss during a bang

Stand by is the Jail card, where you must draw a heart to be free.

Base Jabber makes other players see you at a distance of +1

Scope makes other players seen at a distance -1

You can also equip weapons, which each add to your range, or allow you to play more than 1 bang card.

http://i.imgur.com/JaSFsVb.jpg

The Haro cards are your life points, (dictated by your mobile suit)

The cards haven't been designed with playing card numbers/suits yet, but this is just a general outline. I hope to duplicate cards and add the playing card aspect in.

HGUC 1/144 RGM-89S Stark Jegan Review

Hey Builders!

I've been pretty lazy lately, staying up late playing video games, watching Netflix, and then waking up really late, not leaving me a lot of time or motivation to work on any of my Gunpla. Today, however, I was able to work on the HGUC Stark Jegan. You might remember this guy from the first episode of Gundam Unicorn fighting the Kshatriya. I purchased this kit from a fellow Redditor who gave me a really great deal on this kit. $16 + free shipping. This kit normally retails at 2000 Japanese Yen, and I've seen it from anywhere between $23-$30 in US markets.

I'm very excited to review this kit for you, but first:

If you know the Jegan you will know that it has many variations. If you're interested in a review of the RGM-89 Jegan check out my friend and affiliate, Gundariumsmith's blog here:

http://gundariumsmith.blogspot.com/2014/05/quick-review-jegan.html

And be sure to follow him to check out the cool things he has got going on over there!

On to the review!

Parts

This kit comes with 10 runners. A, B, C, D (2x), E (2x), F, Polycaps, and Beam Sabers

It doesn't have too many parts to it, but interestingly enough has two runners molded in multiple colors of plastic, the A and B runners. 

Weapons and Manipulators

Weapons: 

1x Bazooka

1x Beam Rifle

1x Beam Saber w/ 2x Beam effect parts (1 short 1 long)

Manipulators:

2x Standard holding hands

1x Trigger Finger

Size Comparison

The Stark Jegan is a good sized HG kit, coming in around the same height as the Jesta Cannon. However both are fairly short in comparison to the Unicorn Destroy Mode and Sinanju of the same scale and grade. 

The Stark Jegan is fairly wide, given the missile pods mounted on its shoulders, and it has a little more beef added to its legs with the thrusters.

Articulation

Arms:

Because of the shoulder mounted missile pods, you will have some trouble moving the arms. 

The elbow joints only achieve a 90 degree bend. 

The shoulder armor moves freely from the rest of the arm, so you can maneuver them out of the way for better movement of the arms. 

Legs:

The front waist skirt does not move up very far before the middle piece pops off, so you won't get too much of a kick from the legs. 

The armor on the legs takes away from some of the bend, and you'll get slightly more than 90 degrees there. 

 Color/Quality

Let me first start off by saying it is great that they gave us the red pieces for the missile pods. I was half expecting them to just give you a big chunk of gray plastic and say "There you go, missiles" but I'm very glad they included a separate red piece to insert into the launchers. 

It really makes it pop. 

As for the rest of the kit, the main body is going to come in a mint green color (much more dull than the standard Jegan, with very little color separation. They do not include stickers for details, which is a little odd, but it forced me to do a little painting. The vents, which are supposed to be yellow, are all molded in green all over the armor. I painted them yellow, and then added some black detail. 

This kit can get a little boring with all the green and gray being the most prominent colors on the kit, but with a little touch up, as you can see here on the thrusters, you can make it look a lot better. 

This kit really needs some extra work to make it not just gray and green. The only other parts that are colored are the clear blue visor, the missiles in the missile pods, the red crotch piece, and the chest vents, which don't really stand out too much. 

One of the things I did to make this kit look a little better was panel line some of the gray parts with red, just to make it stand out. I also painted the verniers with silver paint to give it some contrast from the rest of the armor. 

I also painted the V in the crotch piece yellow, or else it wouldve been all red, and added some blue on top of the missile pods. 

 As for quality, this kit is your standard modern HGUC. Feels sturdy, not too many weight issues, and looks great with some work. There weren't many pieces that stood out to me as being overly flimsy, or prone to break. 

The only problem I had was with the leg armor. They are separate pieces from the leg, so you can take them apart easily, but that also means they can fall off. They wrap around and connect to each other, but sit loosely on the shin. I've found myself squeezing it over and over to tighten it up, and then accidentally knocking it loose as I pose it. 

Pros and Cons

Pros: 

This kit looks very nice, and it is fairly unique in its design. It was also very easy to build. You will have a lot of extra time to detail it, and paint up some parts that they don't give enough color on. Most of the steps in the instructions were doubled, so you're basically just building the same part twice. 

Cons:

Unfortunately, there are a good amount of cons for this kit. The color separation is almost nonexistent, and if you just want a straight OOB build with not a lot of work, this kit isn't for you. You'll need to get your paints/markers and get to work on this guy to really bring out his full potential. The militaristic style of this Mobile Suit really plays against it, in giving you very dull colors, without any separation, or seals to cover it up. It also is fairly bulky, and can be a hassle to get into the right pose, especially without an action base. With loose armor pieces, you might find yourself annoyed at things not being pointed the right way, or constantly becoming looser and looser. 

The kit doesn't come with a lot of hands, or weapons either. All in all its a very simple kit.

Verdict

Honestly, Bandai could've done a better job with this kit, at least with some more color or seals to give it a little pop. Instead, we are left to paint it and detail it ourselves. However, that being said, having to do all of that, really made me appreciate this kit that much more. Yes, it would've been a very dull blob of plastic if I didn't add any color to it, but having to do so made this kit look even better. 

If you're looking for a project and you want a kit that you can paint and have options to detail, this is for you. However, be warned, I would not pay full retail price for this kit, especially for >$20.

I really had fun building this kit, but more so making it my own. If you like the Jegan and you're looking to put in some effort, go pick up this kit!

Oh and did I mention, the Jesta Cannon's pack is compatible with him? Stark Jegan Cannon anybody?

Until next time!

NG 1/100 GNY-001 Gundam Astraea

Hey Builders! 

I just got back from a short weekend trip to New York City. I decided to spend a bit of my time searching for Gunpla stores. When I was younger, I used to pick up a few kits while visiting Chinatown with my family. That is how I ended up getting my HG 1/100 Altron, NG 1/144 Collector's Blaze Zaku Phantom, HG 1/144 08th MS Team GM, and NG 1/100 Strike Freedom. 

Most of these broke...

I haven't been back since 2009, and I heard a lot of the stores I used to visit had closed down. I ended up finding two stores, Da Shop and Image Anime based on references from Reddit. 

Da Shop was located in Chinatown, across from the Elizabeth Center (where I used to get my kits). Their prices were pretty marked up, so I didn't pick anything up. I picked up the Astraea from Image Anime which was closer to my hotel, and I could walk there. It was only a $3 mark up from the Amazon price, $6 including taxes. 

Parts 

The kit comes with  12 Runners, A, C, E, F, H, I, J, K, L, M, SB, and PC. Many of these runners draw from the NG 1/100 Exia and looking at the leftover parts, you may be able to turn this guy into its successor. It comes with one small sticker sheet as well. 

Weapons and Manipulators

Manipulators:

2x Open

2x Holding

Weapons:

1x GN Beam Rifle 

1x GN Launcher

1x Proto GN Sword 

2x GN Beam Sabers with 2x Short Blades and 2x Long Blades

1x Shield

Size Comparison

Here is the Astraea next to my other 1/100 Gundam from 00, the MG 00 Raiser. The 00 is noticeably taller, and also more slender than his No Grade predecessor. The legs on the Astraea are a bit bulkier, and not as sleek as the 00. 

Articulation

Arms:

The arms bend fairly nicely, but in the 3rd picture, the arm will pop out at the elbow if you bend it all the way 180. The shoulders are independent of the arms, similar to the MG 00, and can rotate freely from the arms. 

Legs/Ankles: 

The legs also have fairly good bend, but cannot achieve a full split. The knee has a double joint which allows it to bend farther. The ankles are on ball joints and has some side to side movement. The foot is in two pieces, where the toe can bend forward via polycap. 

 Color/Quality

The Astraea comes in White, Blue and Red plastic, with off white/purplish rubber pieces that accent certain parts. It provides you with green stickers for the rifles, the chest piece, and the head piece. It also provides gray stickers to detail certain areas. I opted to paint a few areas with silver paint and metallic green (like the chest) instead of using a sticker. 

Unfortunately, the white isn't true to the off white of the Astraea's line art. It looks very nice and clean, but the line art has hints of light light gray and maybe even slight purple. 

The GN sword is all gray, so I painted the outer edges with Tamiya Acryllic Titanium Silver. The sword guard also needs gray stickers as well. The shield comes in gray, blue and white pieces. 

The guns come in all gray, and use a clear piece with a green sticker on it to create the sight. They could use some paint. 

All in all, this kit is of very good quality for a NG. The joint pieces are definitely a step up from the NG SEED/SEED DESTINY line, and are much much better than the Wing line. Even so, the plastic still has that thin feel to it. Some of the armor pieces pop into place, like around the knees/thighs without any pegs and are just asking to pop off. Not sure why they would do that. Other pieces are meant to come off, like the spikes on the neck area, so you can mount the launcher. 

The kit offers a lot of panel lining and spots for detailing. If you don't, the kit can end up looking very plain with just the white plastic. The panel lining really makes it pop. However, the kit also has a lot of seam lines that need to be taken care of, especially around the ankles as well. 

Pros and Cons

This kit looks great. If you put in the TLC that it deserves (and needs) it'll look great on your shelf. With all the detailing that you can put in, you can really make it stand out. The weapons are really cool, and attach to the forearms so holding is much more secure. The multiple beam sabers are pretty unique, and you can have a bunch of play styles and poses. 

Besides that, this kit has a very awesome design in its own regard. There aren't too many color mistakes, and it looks very clean upon finish. It's not heavy, and it even comes with an action base adapter so you can pose it on an Action Base #1

Its not a difficult kit, but it still has a lot of parts and will take up a good amount of time to finish, especially if you put in all that effort to detail and make it look good. That being said, it is not a frustrating kit to build. Its easy, will take up a good chunk of time, and will look great when you're finished. 

Unfortunately this is still a NG 1/100 kit. It has similar problems to the other NG 1/100 kits. Even though it has some very nice improvements to its predecessors, I found some annoying pieces that might turn you off from this kit. 

Some sections that require a polycap clamped between two pieces won't fit together properly, or will take a lot of fidgeting to get it right, (hopefully before you crush one section of the polycap connection...)

The hands pop off fairly easily on the ball joints, and don't seem to flush deep enough into the wrists. 

The legs pose fairly well, but cannot maintain lower crouched poses without a lot of adjusting. 

The thigh joints are fairly loose and can cause the kit to split when trying to pose. 

Some armor pieces pop off because they don't connect well. 

Verdict

I would totally get this kit because of its design, and how unique it is. Until Bandai releases an MG Astraea this is the best you're going to get. With all of its problems, once you get it just right, it'll look awesome, and it gives you an adapter to alleviate some of its posing issues. If you like big swords like me, and the 00 line, this is a great kit to add. Once I finish my MG Exia I'll be looking forward to having my lineage up to the 00 Gundam. 

 Additional Comments/Photos

The Sword is probably my favorite thing, having an underslung blade is just too awesome.

The Beam rifle also deviates from the norm, and looks pretty unique attaching to the arm as well.

You can get some cool poses, but then you can also end up getting some derpy ones, bending joints in certain ways to try to reach weapons or whatnot. 

Here are the leftover pieces that I suspect you may be able to fashion together the Exia, only without its weapons. 

I'm glad I got this kit, but I'll be disappointed in it if they release an MG... But i'm very happy with my purchase. 

Until next time!