1/100 "No Grade" Union Overflag: Part 1

This took me a while to write, so it's a day late. Bah, Humbug.

No, I haven't forgotten about my "Lunazaku". I just got bored with it. I'll get it done at some point, but for now I have bigger fish to fry. Like 1/100 scale fish, for example. This particular model was so awesome that even my 1/100 Tieren Ground-Type had to be pushed aside. I speak, of course, of the 1/100 "No Grade" Union Overflag. The Lunazaku may be a cool looking Mobile Suit, but it's not a Flag. End of discussion.

If you can't remember anything about the Zaku, click here.

And so, without further ado....

First of all, I believe some background information would be most helpful. The SVMS-01O Overflag is The Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations (let's just call them The Union, shall we?) response to Celestial Being's Gundams. They are armed with much more powerful weapons than the mass production SVMS-01 Union Flag, and are also slightly different in shape. Overflags, like their older "cousins", are capable of transforming from Mobile Suit mode into a Mobile Armour/fighter plane.

The Overflag is a flight type Mobile Suit, and it looks the part. In fact, even the box shows it in an airborne pose. This is unusual for the box of a No Grade 1/100, which usually show the Mobile Suit in a static, sometimes even boring, pose.

Even in the Boxart, he's still doing the Graham Aker Special

The variant on the front of the box is Graham Aker's Overflag, which can be identified by the fact that the inner barrel of the Linear Rifle is blue, not the standard silver. Graham also holds his rifle left-handed, for some reason (now that I think of it, most of his Mobile suits are predominantly left-handed). I myself am a "Lefty", but being a traditionalist, I chose the standard colour scheme for my 1/100.

The completed Overflag, as yet unpainted

I have to admit, even without any paint, it looks pretty good. The silver inside the rifle and behind the visor are the only parts that need to be painted before assembly. If you're to lazy to paint, you can always use the foil stickers. These are surprisingly detailed, compared to the stickers on a 1/144, which I try to avoid using at all costs. I actually used some foil stickers when working on this kit, but those may be removed and replaced with paint, if I feel that would improve it.

Wow, that picture came out great. I'll stop gloating now.

Seriously though, I'm very happy with most of these photos. How is that relevant, you ask? Simple. The Overflag is black and a mix of greys. Put those against a white (or light grey) backdrop, and you get every photographer's worst nightmare. It was so difficult to get the exposure just right, that every time I was even slightly off, it would become just a black shape against a searingly hot background. But in the end, determination, skill with a digital camera, and a whole lot of enhancing made my work nearly as impressive as the professionals.

That being said and done, you can actually see it here, and it is once again obvious that the Overflag was meant for aerial combat. It has very little armour, relying instead on agility and superior firepower to win the day. It looks relatively light, and certainly aerodynamic. The defense rod on the left arm can be detached to further decrease the Suit's weight.

But perhaps my favourite thing about the Overflag, and the Flag series in general becomes apparent when examining its face. The flag possesses traits from the "bad guy" machines of two of the more popular Gundam timelines, Universal Century (U.C., popular for Gundam, Gundam Zeta, etc.) and After Colony (A.C., Gundam Wing, although some would argue this is not popular). It not only has the "visor" seen on many A.C. Mobile Suits, but also the classic "Zeon Eye" made famous by the original Gundam series (albeit this one is red instead of pink).

Sieg Zeon?

Well, I think that's enough for today. Coming soon, Sonic Knives and Mobile Armour Mode!

Visit the gallery here for all the pics I didn't have time to cover.

Anime Review: Gundam 00 Season 1

What could be more appropriate for the first review of this blog than one of the best Gundam series of all time?

I'm talking, of course, about Gundam 00.

For the sake of readers who haven't seen the series, I'll try not to give too much away, but it's hard to write a review without a few spoilers. For the time being, I'm not going to cover season 2, but a review will be coming, so you'd better watch it soon!

Gundam 00 is the first Gundam series set in the Anno Domini timeline. 2307 AD, to be precise. The Earth's fossil fuels have become severely depleted, leading to the creation of three massive orbital elevators, which are used for solar energy collection. These are controlled by several large groups of nations. The Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations (The Union), consists of America, Canada, Mexico, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The Advanced European Union (AEU), comprised of Europe, Greenland, Iceland, and Africa. And finally, the Human Reform League (HRL), consisting of Russia, China, India, and much of the rest of Asia. These three groups compete against each other and the Middle East's oil reserves in the hopes of controlling the global energy market. This often leads to conflict, and innocent lives lost. Now the private paramilitary organization "Celestial Being" has begun armed interventions with the use of the mobile weapons called "Gundams", in the hopes of ending conflict forever.

The story on this series is brilliantly written, keeping you in the dark not only about the plot, but about the main characters histories as well. Just as you begin to guess where the plot is going, it takes a massive twist, usually for the worse.

Everything about the series is designed to give it a very "modern warfare" feel. The themes of religious conflict, terrorism, discrimination, and government corruption run rife throughout the first season. Even the main character, Setsuna F. Seiei, is a former child soldier. Forced to commit unforgivable atrocities, Setsuna is outwardly cold and unshakeable, but on the inside he's a pretty torn up and guilt ridden character.

"I am a Gundam!"

Unlike the previous series, which featured garish and impractical Gundam units, the Gundams in 00 have a distinct air of realism about them. They are angular and unrefined, and compared to the original RX-78-2 Gundam, barely human. This actually makes them more appealing in my opinion, because it helps add to the "real world" theme.

Exia, Setsuna's Gundam

The other Gundams: Dynames, Kyrios, and Virtue

The other Mobile Suits in 00 fit this more modern theme as well. Unlike most of the vast majority of Gundam series, everything actually looks how it should for the job it's required to do. The Union and AEU units resemble conventional fightercraft, even in their alternate humanoid form. This is most obvious in the Union's Flag model, with a lightweight frame and a myriad of wings and jets built into its' back. The AEU Hellion is another such example. These Mobile Suits are built for flight, and aerial dogfights are preferred to the brutality ground combat. On the other hand, the HRL's Mobile suits are, for lack of a better term, walking tanks. The mainstay of the HRL forces is the MSJ-06II-A Tieren ground-type. These units focus more on armour and firepower than maneuverability. For me, the Tieren is the Mobile Suit that best represents the "modern" style.

Overflags and Tieren GTs: Two sides of the same coin.

But perhaps my favorite part of 00 is the Gundam Throne units. I'm sure that at least some of you have played the ever popular Armored Core™ series. Every aspect of the Thrones resemble AC's, most likely this was done as a tribute to the series. Take their physical appearance, for example. The Thrones have elongated torsos and a simple body frame, complete with double jointed legs and boxy, irregular armour. Even their weapons are an almost perfect match, from the shoulder-mounted High-Mega Cannon, right down to the grip of the Throne Eins' beam rifle.

The Thrones: Bringing Sexy and Armored Core back.

So, what's the verdict? Well, out of ten (ten being the highest)...

Story: 9/10

Characters: 8/10

Mobile Suits: 10/10!

Other Units (Tanks, Mobile Armours, etc.): 7/10

Voiceover (JAP): 9/10

Voiceover (ENG): 6/10

Visual Effects: 9/10

Sound Effects: 8/10

Soundtrack: 10/10!

Theme Songs: 7/10

Overall: 9.5/10

Definitely one of the best Gundam series so far.  And guess what, season 2's even better!

As a side note, the new Last Exile Complete Series boxed set came out yesterday, but I had trouble finding it at the major stores. It turns out that the only place around here that had it was a smaller dealer with one, and only ONE, copy in stock. So I rushed over there and bought it. Now I'm broke, I need a job. XD

Shiiiiinnnyyyyy....

The artwork on this series is amazing.

Looks like a user's manual. :)

Last Exile is quite possibly my favourite series. It's fun, but still serious, and the characters and environments are amazingly put together. I've always been a fan of the Steampunk genre, and Last Exile is one of the best Animes of its kind. If you've never seen this series, I suggest you get your hands on a copy. Even if you have seen it, you'll definitely want to watch it again.

Well, that's it for now, but I'll be back soon with more!

Up and Running!

Welcome to The Gundam Spartan: A Canadian Otaku! This is my first attempt at writing an Anime, Halo, and General Sci-Fi blog, so here's hoping I don't screw it up....

Let me start this blog off with the simple question, what is an Otaku?

For those of you who don't know (and I'll assume that most of you do), an Otaku is a fan of Japanese anime, manga, or culture. It's a great hobby for people in Japan or the United States, where there is a large market for Gunpla (Gundam Model Kits) and such products.

However, I happen to live in Canada. And not even in a major city, I might add. Not a city like Toronto or Vancouver, or even a moderately well known place like Montreal or Sudbury, but a small city named Burlington, that most people just drive through and never even notice.

Desolate, isn't it?

Seriously, it's a nice place to live (especially now that the blisteringly cold winter is over), but there's just no market for anime related products around here, mainly because it's such a small city (and because Canada has, like, a quarter of the number of people the U.S. has).

Some "skyscrapers" downtown.

The nearest store that sells Gunpla is a good twenty minute drive away (and that's assuming the highway traffic is under control), which means that, even when I'm ready to buy a new kit, I may have to wait weeks, even months, just to get to the store.

So, the point is, this isn't a news blog. I'm relatively cut off from most of the world where I am, and it doesn't help that I make very little money. I'm not from Japan, and I can't speak (or read) a word of Japanese. So it stands to reason that it's at least a year before I see most new anime series. To tell the truth I've only been able to watch a few Gundam series and a smattering of others, like Appleseed and Last Exile (can't really call myself an Otaku, can I?). At least the situation is improving, slowly....

What can you expect to find here, in that case? To tell the truth, even I don't know yet. But you can expect to see plenty of model kit reviews, action figure reviews, reviews in general, Star Wars, Halo, Gundam, and other Sci-Fi, because that's what interests me the most.

Pretty long first post, isn't it?