Gundam Age afterthoughts

Watched the 49th episode of the series two days ago which marked the end of the series. Got to say i got mixed feeling about Age, As a gundam series i think Gundam Age is probably one of the weaker Gundam Tv series but definitely not to the point to be crowned as the worst Gundam series. I feel Age shoots itself on the foot from the beginning since it targets children as the main demographic while tries to appeal the existing Gundam fanbase at the same time. In my opinion the main problem with the story of Gundam Age is that the 3rd Gen arc is rather weak despite it got some good potential, partly caused by transition of the 2nd Gen to the 3 Gen isn't handled well which subsequently lead to slower buildup of the character despite it has plenty of time to cover itself. Another problem is the conclusion of the series is rather weak with the antagonist faction which are slightly hard to symphathize with.  Despite Age's story script is rather unpalatable, what i think the main weakness of Age as a Gundam series is that it doesn't really have memorable overall mecha design unlike other Gundam TV series which makes its feels less "Gundam" compared to its predecessors.

Despite its obvious shortcomings of the series, Animation quality and soundtrack are pretty solid. Age also probably conceived one of the better Gundam protagonist, Flit Asuno who i find to be quite well written character despite he had rather slow start. Like some people says, Gundam Age doesn't deserve Flit as a savior who probably fits better somewhere in UC era. Kio is probably unbearable sometimes but his greatest weakness for me is that he doesn't have strong enough conviction to justify his motive to match with his Grandfather. In Conclusion Gundam Age is does okay but probably will be one of the least memorable Gundam series. With the Gundam Age ended, Sunrise probably need to think over really well before they make the next Gundam series or otherwise there won't be much future anymore for Gundam.

Replaying Symphony of the Night

Few days ago i got some sudden urge to play Symphony of the Night. Previously i managed to finish the game 4 years ago which i played the one from Dracula X version in PSP. This makes the 2nd time i played this game and this time i tried to accomplish what i didn't managed to do in my previous run. In my first playthrough, i didn't do much weapon hunting and just went straight ahead to Count Dracula with Alucard Sword. However this time i try to do the opposite and managed to get some exotic weapons for Alucard like Heaven Sword, Mablung Sword, Mourne Blade or even the infamous Crissaegrim(i have 2 of them!). Got to say with these weapons, Dracula's castle is walk in the park for Alucard. My favorite one is the Heaven Sword, while Rune Sword is much better, when you get 2 of this weapon Alucard can pull some really cool moves which is similar like Gate of Babylon. In this playthrough i also managed to level up my Muramasa to have more than 100 Atk points which i used Dark Octopus to bleed from which is less time consuming compared to slicing those Medusa Heads.

SotN is best known for its influence of Castlevania series as it starts the whole Metroidvania stuff that bring the series to another level. For me i have to admit that this series is my personal favorite mainly because Alucard the most badass Castlevania protagonist(he would have mop the whole castle in Dawn of Sorrow by himself if he got his SoTN gears). Out of all Metroidvania that i have play, i can't say Symphony of the Night have the finest gameplay compared to later titles but i can guarantee SotN got the best fun factor. my only disappointment with SotN would be not enough strong enemy like Demon Lord since most of them died in few hits by the time i got the awesome weapons. This game or Aria of Sorrow is the best gateway for the series if you are interested with Metroidvania titles.

1/35 ASS-117 Valken A (Jake version)

I haven't been much interested in Plum until recently i touch Assault Suit series game which the manufacturer happen to produce some kits for the series. One of the kit is ASS-117 Valken from SNES Games called Assault Suit Valken or known as Cybernator in the west. I am particularly interested with Assault Suit series after i played Assault Suit Leynos 2 from Saturn(which is awesome!) and at the moment i am playing Assault Suit Valken. In my opinion this series is one of the best representation of Mecha genre in gaming platform particularly for Real Robot Aspect. Anyway about the kit, it is priced for 6500 Yen which is quite expensive compared with average Bandai or even Koto kits. The kit is 15cm in height and comes with Vulcan Pod and Shield as accessory. Valken is a grunt mech used by main protagonist named Jake in the game who sees through Space colony infiltration to preventing Orbital drop until surviving atmospheric entry. Valken can be considered pretty versatile mech for its size as it can be deployed on Space and Earth without significant problem. I really recommend mecha fans out there to try Assault Suit Valken preferrably the Japanese version which got some decent fans translation(since the american version is butchered) because it is one of the awesome mecha game out there. I am looking forward to Gunhound which will see some port release at the end of this year on PSP which seems to have similar gameplay with Assault Suit series.

Some sneak peek of the original game

1/100 MG Marasai Review

Hmm i am sure getting pretty inactive recently but i suppose it will last for some while. Anyway this is the latest repaint work of mine which is MG Marasai in Karaba Color Scheme which i used for group build in GAF 2 months ago. i suppose it will be a while before i am getting back to work on my kits again as well as active on this blog but rest is assured. Probably you will notice some similarities of my Marasai color scheme with Dijeh which is my intention though i still need to get a Beam Naginata to make Marasai look like one XD.

 

 Apologies in advance if the review is shorter than usual since i don't really have much to say about Marasai. One interesting note about Marasai is that it is one of the MS in UC Era that is inspired with Samurai design. For some reason the head shape of Marasai kinda remind me of Alteisen due to the horn which resemble Alteisen's heat horn. Some advice for those who is planning to get this kit, the articulation of Marasai MG is rather limited mainly due to the thickness of the armor because inner frame does fine. Ballute system looks the best on Marasai and you can get one for reasonable price from newer MG Hyaku Shiki rather than buying it from Bandai Webshop. As a closure i will be adding some more pics once i get the Beam Naginata.