Pacific Rim was 'fine', I prefer my Anime with cyberpunk ninjas, Tau don't float my boat in 40k, and I only own Battletech because Pete is trying to bully me into playing it.
Obviously, I was into Transformers (and their cheap knock-off cousins the Gobots) in the 80s, although I only owned three proper Transformers, Ramjet, Grimlock and Slag.
All of which makes me most recent purchase a bit odd.
I've gone Gundam, or Gunpla, or whatever the correct terminology is.
Why?
Well, I'm starting to find that social media influencers actually have an ability to, well, influence me (although I'm not at the buying bathwater point...yet) and several videos suggested that building these things is fun.
So I thought I'd give it a go.
I picked up an Entry Grade (Beginner) 1/144 Lah Gundam for a tenner at Hobbycraft as I figured I don't dmt want to go too deep down the rabbit hole to begin with.
It's all very Airfix when you open it, but just a moments perusal and you start to notice that not only is there quite a lot of plastic for ten quid (at least by GW standards), but there's different coloured plastic...on the same sprues!
Sorcery!
There's an extremely well laid out bilingual instruction booklet that also comes with a bit of background about the model and the builder that is a little confusing about whether it's talking about in world information or a profile of a real designer.
I only figured it was the former when the builder profile started talking about battling against Mask Lady.
The instructions suggest a lack of need for any glue or clippers, and although technically true, I was only two parts in when I decided having clippers on hand would help prevent sprue marks.
However, the sprues are laid out really well, numbered parts are in sequence, most pieces pop straight off and slot together perfectly with almost zero mould lines.
There are one or two companies that could learn a thing or two from Bandai.
Before long, I'd put together the head with pretty much zero fuss.
It's a bit like building a Lego kit. It's relaxing following instructions and slotting brightly coloured plastic into place and watching a model come to life before your eyes. It's almost meditative.
Fortunately, unlike Lego, I didn't need to sell a kidney to join in.
I know this is a beginner kit, but the level of engineering in making it have multiple articulated joints is fascinating. I can only imagine what the more advanced kits are like.
There's also a limited degree of customisation available, even in a cheap kit like this. Alternate backpacks, helmets, knee joints and crotch plates mean that you could easily buy the same kit a second time.
However, this was the one failing if the instructions as they don't always make the options clear and it's only one thing I worked out at the end of the process.
Before long I had a fully poseable mini just waiting for its weapons: a halberd, a rifle and a shield...a combination that doesn't feel like it works together.
I like the halberd best as it has a glowy blade made of semi-transparent plastic and breaks in half to slot on his backback.
All in all, I really enjoyed this process. It was quite therapeutic, especially because I don't now have to paint the bugger.
I will admit that I'm not a massive fan of the look of Gundam robots or their primary coloured aesthetic, and so I'm not sure I'll suddenly become a massive collector of them.
However, I will now keep my eye out for affordable kits that might prove useful.
For now, this chap might actually be destined to turn up in a game of 7TV fairly soon.
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