Mini Review (Ha, get it?): Action Base Mini

Hey Builders, 

Instead of a new build for you today, I have something else that I thought would be interesting to you, my faithful readers. 

I don't know about you, but I found myself at a point where I was buying a lot of kits, and I ended up having to decide which kits got action bases, and which would look OK in a standing pose. Buying the Action Bases from Bandai were just too costly, for something like that, but also too much of a hassle to put together each and every time. I still have 2 or 3 action bases sitting in my backlog that I haven't built. While they are still pretty nice, I can be lazy at times, and I just wanted a decent stand to prop my gunpla up on my shelf; think back to the Gundam SEED HG kits from the 2000s that came with those black action bases for example, or more recently, the AGE-2 and 3 kits. 

I happened to stumble upon something that I thought was interesting while perusing GundamPlanet for some "revenge gifts"* for my friends. 

*revenge gifts are defined as gifts you buy for your friends because they blindsided you and bought you an unwarranted gift for whatever reason, and in order to get back to equilibrium, you must buy them a gift, so as to not feel guilty. 

Anyways, the new "Action Base Mini" completely went past my radar, have you guys heard of these? I haven't heard any news of them until I saw them. 

They seem to be marketed more towards SD kits, and lighter HG kits. They have a very simple design, and are also fairly cheap. My friend picked me up a pack for just under $5 USD. They come in packs of two as well, so if you can imagine, thats about $2.50 each! Not bad. 

Let's take a look!

Upon opening the plastic bag (just like the other action bases) you are met with two identical runners, with 3 pieces each. You have one V shaped base, with two parts for the actual stand that plug into each other. 

Takes about a minute to cut them all out, and put them all together. No hassle cutting out multiple pieces, screwing them together, etc. Very simple!

When you put them together, you have a few options. Refer to the image above this one, and you can see that the piece that connects to the base has three holes, which corresponds to the two holes on the top piece, which holds your gunpla. You can do a straight up pose, up to three levels high. What is pictured is the highest point. You can also do a forward tilt, similar to the action base #2, but without the second joint to tilt it even further, or compensate. For this tilt, you can only put the pegs into the top hole. You adjust the height by choosing the top or bottom peg on the top piece. 

The reason this kit reminded me of an SD stand, is because of this. Very similar in shape and size, very simple. The action base here comes from the SD Sinanju. 

As you can see, the stand holds the Sinanju without a problem. 

You can also tilt it forward. 

The stand still holds a heavier, larger HG kit like the ReZEL Defenser without too much of an issue. I would be more hesitant to do this though, especially if you lean it too much to one side, I'm sure it could pop out. 

It can definitely lean forward, but at the highest point, even though I could get it to stay, it kept wanting to fall forward. Definitely not recommended. 

I would keep it at the lower peg, to keep a lower center of gravity. This didn't give me any issues. However, I would be wary of the lean to the side where it could fall off again. 

I actually liked this stand for the Barbatos. It is a lighter kit, and you can get some good poses out of it. I think I like seeing the Barbatos come swooping down from the sky with its melee weapons. 

Here's another look. These stands are probably best reserved for lighter HG kits. 

They also can connect, so that you can pose multiple kits together. This will definitely prove useful, as you can probably counter balance kits using this method. Keep in mind, each pack comes with 2, so you can build up your collection fairly quickly!

They aren't, however, compatible with the action base #2, which is disappointing. I was hoping that they would fit inside the new action base mini, similar to the 00 Raiser base. 

I personally think this stand is right up my alley, as it is very simple to build, and fulfills most of my needs. I have a lot of HG kits, and now I can put most of them, if not all of them on action bases. Its cheap enough that you won't break the bank getting a large amount. 

However, I don't trust its structural integrity for larger HG kits, but you may find a way to make it work. It also only has the peg insert for kits, and probably will not work with older kits that do not have the hole in the crotch. (teehee). One good thing about the Action Base 2, was that it had multiple adapters. 

 Definitely something to at least look into for your kits!

Until next time!

DISCOUNT DOUBLE REVIEW: HGIBO...HGIO... HG Iron Blooded Orphans 1/144 Barbatos & HG Iron Blooded Arms CGS Mobile Worker Option Set #1

Take a quick breather, because that title is a mouthful.

Good?

Awesome, because today I am doing a rare double review of the HG Barbatos and the Iron Blooded Arms (didn't know that's what it was called) CGS Mobile Worker Option set. If you couldn't already tell from the title that is...

If you're a fan of Gundam, you probably recall that teaser months ago that slowly revealed different aspects of a new Gundam week after week. I, like many of you, was very interested in this new unique design. After the full unveiling, however, I was left a little unsure. A fairly primitive looking mobile suit, unfinished in design with a giant mace and a... whoa snap, hold the phones it has a katana!

Is it too early to make some comparisons to the oh-so-popular Astray designs from Gundam SEED, with the physical weapons and exposed frames? Maybe

After watching following the series upon its release, I started to fall in love with the Barbatos because of what it embodied. Sure, some suits have design quirks and aesthetic draws, but for the Barbatos, it represents that primitive grit that I mentioned before. It's supposed to look unfinished, because its supposed to have more and more added on from the spoils of its victims. It's supposed to have those primitive bludgeoning weapons and not be technologically advanced. Its a war relic being used by child soldiers fighting a desperate battle that children shouldn't be in, and the Barbatos captures that beautifully. 

But does this kit?

Parts

As you can see, this kit doesn't come with that many runners. This is mainly a product of the fact that this kit is very skinny, for lack of a better term, and supposed to look fairly incomplete. It comes with two A runners, A1 and A2 which are grey. It comes with a B runner in white, a C runner in yellow, a D runner in red, and an E runner in blue. Finally a polycap runner and foil sticker sheet round out whats in this box. 

The CGS mobile workers option set also comes with two runners, both in grey. (not pictured)

Size Comparison

I thought that the Barbatos seemed kinda short and skinny, but compared with the Build Strike, they're about the same height. The Barbatos seems a bit beefier in its chest and shoulders, knees and waist, but its limbs are skinny. 

Weapons and Manipulators

From left to right: 

Mace - included with Barbatos kit

Long sword - included with Barbatos kit

Lance - CGS option set

300mm Smooth bore gun - CGS option set

Submachine Gun - CGS option set

Shield - CGS option set

Mobile worker - CGS option set

All these weapons are molded in grey, and look pretty darn bland. The only extra color is on the smooth bore gun, where you can add stickers. 

I'm a little disappointed that they didn't include any open hands for this kit. I think they would have complemented the weapons very well for posing purposes. 

I really like the mobile worker, though it is so tiny! I want to give it a nice desert paint job. Maybe I'll call upon Gundariumsmith again... 

Gundariumsmith did a great job on my SD Loto, which to this date has been the smallest "kit" I own. In actuality, it was included with the SD Kshatriya. 

Articulation

The arms on this kit can reach out past 180 degrees, because of the orientation of the polycap in the torso. Instead of having the polycap rotate forward and back so that the arm can be brought forward more, the polycap is oriented so that it rotates upward and downward so the arms can be brought higher. 

The shoulder armor is set on its own joint connected to the top of the shoulder, and can shift freely from the rest of the arm. However, this doesn't really do much, as the arm cannot rotate up as high as the armor can shift anyways. 

The arm rotates from the shoulder to the bicep. Also, you don't get a full bend on the elbow, as the forearm design won't allow it. Even if you decide to build the asymmetrical design with the gauntlet, you get pretty much the same amount of bend. 

The upper chest can pivot slightly on the rest of the exposed torso. This is interesting, but I don't think it provides enough movement to actually do any drastic poses. Maybe it will help shift some weight around?

The skirt armor comes up, but still gets in the way of the leg, so you won't be able to bring it up for a full kick. The knee does have a nice double joint, for a good bend, but its a little wonky when you try to put it back into place. Also the front section of the foot bends freely, so you can move that around for some better stability in ground poses. 

Color and Quality

Above, you can see the Barbatos with the original C runner molded in yellow, and the foil sticker sheet. I knew going into it that this kit was going to have some cartoonish yellows and a whole ton of seals. Instead of using that, I decided to paint up the yellow parts with gold, and paint the sections that required seals. 

As you can see, I painted the red markings, and also painted the vents and V-fin gold. I also decided to add a little more color to the exposed sections of the frame, by painting the pipings gold, and also adding color to the pistons. 

Even the weapons suffer from lack of color. The gauntlet, sword and mace are all a bland dark grey. To alleviate some of this, I decided to dry brush them with steel colored paint, to give it a scratched metal look. All in all, I was happy with the results. 

In terms of quality, I'd say the construction is pretty good for a kit that has an exposed torso. The kit has some semblance of a frame inside it, which allows you to pop on the armor pieces without popping in polycaps everywhere. It stands firm, but there are some areas that don't work too well in the arms. The shoulder joint tends to pop out, and the shoulder itself sometimes separates the two round pieces that make it up. 

CGS Option Parts

The shield is supposedly for use on the Graze and not the Barbatos. It is also supposed to be green, but alas it is all grey. What else is there to say? Its a shield. It doesn't really make me want to paint it a different color either...

The Submachine Gun is also for the Graze, but it's pretty cool. I think the Barbatos has enough large outlandish weapons, and should have a smaller, low-profile weapon...

...which ultimately can combine with the lance, which is also for the Graze. The lance is cool too, another atypical Gundam weapon. This one I might actually consider painting in white, and adding some details to, because how often are you going to have a lance!?

The Smooth-bore gun is interesting. This one is actually for the Barbatos. Its big, its cumbersome, and its meant to be held by one hand apparently...

Thankfully the Barbatos comes with a separate arm mechanism which connects to the backpack and the gun for added support. 

When not in use, you can take apart the gun and "fold" it, and attach it to the backpack. Along with this, you can interchange these claws to hold the mace and the long sword on the back as well. 

Finally, this little guy. The mobile worker is awesome. Its so simple, and I absolutely loved the mobile workers battle against Gjallarhorn. Definitely going to paint this guy up, but its a very simple design.

Fear me!

Verdict

This kit is really interesting. I think I have a soft spot for it now, because of the effort I put in. This is a great kit for beginners, as you could probably put it together in 1-2 hours, and still have a really nice looking kit (albeit with stickers). For more advanced builders, you could take this as a challenge to really make those weapons pop, paint on those details, and make it look great. The same goes for the option parts. Its really simple, but unfortunately will take some work to make it look great. I'm not sure I would've loved the kit if I just built it out of the box and left it as is. 

Some nice things about this kit are that it gives you extra parts to build a symmetrical arm, so that you can have it resemble the fourth form in the anime, where it looks more complete. I opted to keep the gauntlet and add the shoulder armor. I really dig that asymmetrical look. 

Currently, I have another CGS option set, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I actually got the kits for this review from my Secret Santa, but I had bought a CGS option set with the Schwalbe Graze so that it could have the lance. Do I just keep both and have a second awesome mobile worker, but then also have redundant weapons? 

Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to building the Graze, and also definitely looking into the new 1/100 models for the IBO line. 

Until next time,

Happy Gunpla-mas!

Review: HG 1/144 AGE-FX

Hey Builders, 

It's been awhile since I have uploaded to this blog, but its for good reason. I have recently entered into a competition hosted by goodguydan, and Model Grade, through Reddit at /r/gunpla. The theme this year was a Halloween Build. After getting a new airbrush, I was ready to embark on a new custom build!

I was very excited for this, as I had purchased two kits from my New York trip over the Summer. One was the Beargguy F, which I used for the Halloween Build, and the second was the HG AGE-FX which we will be looking at today!

Here's a little peek at what I did: 

for more images, check it out here!

Anyways, onto the review!

Many people don't really care for Gundam AGE as an anime series, but for me it holds a very special place in my heart. My Freshman year in college, I was really bored and decided to snoop around for a new anime to watch. Lo and behold a new Gundam series had just started! I ended up watching it, as it had been years since I had seen a Gundam series. Sure, Gundam AGE suffered a lot, character development-wise, and plot-wise it was really rushed at the end, but the suit designs (at least for the good guys) and fight scenes really drew me in. There were also a lot of memorable characters that you couldn't help but root for, like Asemu and Woolf. 

I ended up falling in love with the main protagonist suits, and now have completed my collection of the four main suits. I plan on getting some Master Grades too!

Many people also draw connections from the original Mobile Suit Gundam series up through ZZ to Gundam AGE. Unfortunately, AGE tried to compress what had happened in those three series into one. Typically people say that the AGE-1 is the RX-78-2, the AGE-2 is the Zeta Gundam and that the AGE-3 is the ZZ Gundam, and likely so, as you can definitely see some similarities. If that is true, then that must mean the AGE-FX is the Strike Freedom... wait...

So you're trying to tell me that the main character is some whiny pacifist child-like pilot who's naive enough to believe that he can win a war without killing the enemy? You really expect me to believe that the pilot of this SUPER SUIT with brain controlled funnels that could literally decimate opposing legions of mobile suits is going to be used strictly to target areas of the suit to prevent the pilot's death and merely disable the suit from fighting? You want me to think they would create ANOTHER KIRA YAMATO!? 

Uh... yeah... if you haven't watched the 3rd arc of Gundam AGE, that's kinda what happens...

so... review time?

Parts

So I actually started to build this kit before I took the picture of the parts... But basically you will get runners A-F, a polycap runner and a sticker sheet. Runner A is multicolored in blue, yellow, dark blue and grey. Runner B is all white, Runner C is grey and contains the action base. Runner D is the clear green funnel effect pieces. Runner E is all clear parts, and contains the stand for the effect funnels. Runner F is grey and contains the rifle parts. 

The cool thing about this kit is that it comes with the core fighter, which plugs directly into the back of the suit, just like in the anime!

Size Comparison

The AGE-FX is about the same size as the AGE-3, as it is based off of it. The thing I like about it, is that it isn't as bulky as the AGE-3, but still carries a lot of width with all those funnels sticking out.

Weapons and Manipulators

This kit comes with 14 C-funnels, 6 are large, and 8 are small. Each of the small funnels require you to put stickers on them to give them that blue section on it. The kit also comes with 5 hands: 2 fists, 2 hands for holding weapons, and 1 open palm. It also comes with its Stungle Rifle, with Daidal bazooka attachment. 

The large C-funnels really perplexed me. On one side, the kit instructs you to pop on that dark blue plastic part, but then you have to put a sticker on the other side... really?

Articulation

This is about as far as the arm can bend up. As you can see the white armor pieces meet. 

You can lift the shoulder armor fairly high because of the connection between it and the torso. This allows the arm to reach straight out to the sides. 

The leg gets a fairly good bend, despite how bulky the armor is. As you can see, the knee has two bending points.

You can lift the front skirts up, individually, and bring the leg all the way forward.

The side skirts are a different story, as the C-funnel gets in the way of the leg doing a full split. 

Color and Quality

This kit looks pretty bland when you finish building the main suit. It has some good color separation with the blues and whites, and a little bit of yellow in some places. Of course, the real draw of this kit is when you pop on all those C-funnels across the armor. This kit goes from fairly bland, to literally shining. This is what the kit will look like when you follow the instructions on where to place the funnels, however, there are additional points across the kit where you can pop them in too! You just have to use your imagination.

For example, I decided I wanted a close combat mode, where the funnels would act as sabers on the arms, and also provide additional thrust from the legs. The ability to mix and match where these funnels go really makes this kit superb!

However, there are some drawbacks. The funnels tend to pop off from some of the areas, and also get in the way when you move the kit around, which can be annoying. I haven't really dealt with them falling off too much, but it does happen. Another thing that confuses me, is that the head pops off a lot. I'm not sure why...

Pros and Cons

This kit is really really cool. All those green funnels really make it pop, and add a lot of posing and play opportunities. The kit even comes with its own action base, and clear base for posing with the funnels deployed. With the stand and all the places you can stick the funnels, you'll probably find yourself reposing this kit and creating awesome scenes.

But again, these funnels kind of get in the way, and also can pop off from different areas. Thankfully, they don't pop off the clear stand unless you don't push it in all the way. I was disappointed in the lack of additional weapons, like beam sabers, but I think I have enough extras that it isn't too big of an issue. The biggest concern, is the amount of stickers you need. If you count the 8 small funnels, and putting stickers on one side of the 6 larger funnels, that's already 19 stickers you need to place, and it can get really boring really fast...

Another thing is that this kit seems to be fairly hard to find at a good price, which is baffling. I guess $35 from Amazon isn't too bad, but I usually don't find this on most of the major gunpla retailers online. 

Verdict

This kit is probably one of my favorites right now. I'm a sucker for an HG kit with so many play opportunities, and that comes with so many effect pieces! The lack of weapons, and amount of seals is kind of disappointing, but really once you get done with it, I have to say it might just be worth it. I haven't yet had to deal with the stickers peeling off, which I dread, but right now this kit just looks too good. I forget if this is true, but I think it might be getting restocked? But who knows, if you can find it in a store like I did, pick it up! You won't be sorry!

Did I mention that the stand has various pivot points, so you can create cool action shots with it??

Until next time!