Gunpla #31 - HGUC Zeta Plus A1 (Unicorn version) Review

I was thinking, while building HGUC Zeta Plus C1 (C1) last month, that it would be probably great to have its brother unit, the A1, posing together with it. That's why I decided to build the A1. 

Well, since ZPA1 is actually the normal release kit and it's basically the same unit with ZPC1, Nevertheless, It probably looks funny to review a limited kit before the normal release kit, thus I didn't expect anything special from it. Anyway, I finally realized more differences other than I mentioned on previous post about the ZPC1. I noticed the blue on the sides of the head and feet is darker than ZPC1. Other than that, the eyes and sensors on the head and shield have red color instead of blue of course. The weapon of ZPA1 is also a standard ReZEL beam rifle which is almost similar with HGUC Delta Plus, except for a special peg at the end of the rifle. I suppose, the main purpose of the peg is to connect the beam rifle on the top of waverider mode, as mentioned by many reviews out there. 

But tell the truth, compared to C1, the A1 looks much more menacing with those red eyes ... 

I don't have much time to write the review this time, but I notice that A1 has less articulation compared to the C1 due to its beam cannon design. While A1's beam cannons look cooler than C1, the front armor of the beam cannons greatly limiting the leg movement of the kit. If we move the legs forward, they will bring the beam cannon forward as well. Of course, there's trick to avoid it, but I still think its troublesome.

The A1 also comes with less transparent stickers, with only ZPlus and EFF marking available, compared to the C1, and unfortunately, there are no unit number markings which are usually provided for HGUC mass production kits. Therefore, I put the spared unit number sticker from C1 for this kit. On the other hand, accessories for this kit is basically the same with C1, with only trigger right hand for the extra hand and a pair of beam sabers.

Due to my preparation study for the exam, I haven't tried to transform this kit into waverider mode, hence I can't say anything about it now. But I think it should be awesome as C1 and Delta Plus. For now, I just put the three on my desk, in their mobile suit mode. Standing together, they look totally awesome!

Zeta Plus A1 (right) with Zeta Plus C1 (left)

With A1 and Delta Plus

I will make more detail review with more pictures soon. Anyway, I could say that, similar to ZPC1, this kit is pretty expensive for a HG. If you check the price, it's just 600 yen less then MG ZPA1. Of course, the HG version provides more stability since it's a partsformer. In the end, it will depend on you whether to buy this kit or not. If you like a smaller-solid-partsformer Zeta Plus kit than bigger-transformable one, than this kit is for you.  

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MSZ-006A1 Zeta Plus A1 (Unicorn version)

Pros:

• Amazing design, nice detail and cool color schemes
• Solid kit with pretty good articulation

Cons:

• Less marking sticker than ZPC1. No number marking.
• Expensive HG compared to MG of the same kit.

   

Gaijin Story #6 - How to Transfer Money from JP Bank ATM to Rakuten Account

What I would like to write this time is about the procedure to transfer money from JP Bank account to a Rakuten account (e.g. for online shopping) by JP Bank ATM. Of course, it could also be applied for money transfer to any other Japanese bank accounts, with slight modifications. 

Please keep in mind, that the deposit type I will mention is an ordinary deposit, and you should already have JP Bank account. Therefore, prepare your passbook or cash card beforehand. Another important thing to remember, the money transfer have to be done by using Japanese menu on the ATM. It may sound ridiculous, but the ATM doesn't provide remittance to other bank account other than JP by English menu. Why? I don't know.

Oh, one more funny thing. Most ATM in Japan don't operate 24-hours. They're usually only available during weekdays (Monday-Friday) and work hours (9 AM-5 PM). Some ATM may be available overtime, or even during weekends or holidays at crowded places, for example train stations or convenient stores, but mostly are not. In regards with the remittance on this post, the transferred money will arrive at the destination account only on weekdays. That means, for example, if you transfer money on Saturday, the money will be received by the Rakuten account on Monday. The same thing applies for holidays. So, consider your timing before transferring money.

Without further ado, lets start.

1. Firstly, select Remittance (Gosoukin ご送金) on the menu of the ATM. It's the button on the left third row of the screen. The next screen will show you the warning of fraud (in Japanese), just proceed.

2. Select remittance to another bank account (Takou kouza e no go soukin 他行口座へのご送金). It's on the last row button.

3. Insert your passbook or cash card, and type the PIN number.

4. You'll see bunch of bank names on the screen. Select show next (Tsugi o hyouji 次を表示). It's on the low right corner of the screen.

5. On the next screen, select other (So no hoka その他). It's on the last row button. 

6. The next screen will ask you to enter the first letter of the bank name in Katakana. In this case, select "Ra" (Katakana: ラ) for Rakuten. As soon as you choose the katakana, the screen will show a button with the name of Rakuten Bank (Rakuten Ginkou 楽天銀行). Proceed by selecting the button.

You will be asked again to enter the first Katakana of the name of Rakuten branch. Select "Ra" again as previous step.

7. The next screen will ask you to select the Rakuten branch. For example, if you want to pay for Rakuten online shop, select Rakuten market branch (Rakutenshijou Shiten 楽天市場支店). It's on the right hand side of the screen. Important: this is just an example, please check your own destination Rakuten branch.

8. Select ordinary deposit (Futsuu Yokin 普通預金). It's on the uppermost button showed on the screen.

9. Type the destination account number. If it's correct, proceed by confirm by pressing the green button (Kakunin 確認). If you want for correction, press the orange button (Teisei 訂正).

10. Type the amount of money you want to transfer. For example: 1661, then press the green button (Yen 円). The ATM will ask you again if you sure with the money amount. If yes, select green button. If not, select the orange one and you will be asked to retype the amount of money again.

11. If you transfer money on weekdays, proceed to step 12. Otherwise, as I mentioned above, if you transfer the money on weekends or holidays, the ATM will inform you that the transferred will be completed on the closest weekday. You can proceed by pressing the green button or cancel (by pressing the top right corner button with "X" sign).

12. The next screen will ask if you want to use your registered name at JP account. If you agree, select Yes on the green button (Hai はい). If you want to add another information on your name, select No on the orange button (Iie いいえ).

13. The next screen will ask you to enter your phone number (without hypen "-"), for example: 07011112222. Select green button to confirm or orange button for correction.

14. The next screen will ask you to check again the destination account information (which will be shown next) before confirming the money transfer. The remittance could be failed if you put wrong account number (in which the transfer fee would not be refunded). Select green button to proceed.

15. The next screen will show the transfer information including the name of destination bank, the branch, destination account number and its name, the amount of money will be transferred, as well as your account information. Check again very carefully. You can correct the information by selecting orange button next to each information. For transfer amount below ￥50,000, the transfer fee is ￥216, higher than that the transfer fee is ￥432. If you agree, proceed by selecting green button.

16. The next screens is just optional. It informs you if you want to save the destination account (for future transfer, hence you don't need to reenter same information next time). It can save up to 10 accounts. Another screen will also inform about the importance of passbook update you if you use cash card for money transfer).

Save your transaction destination?

Passbook update request

17. It's finished. Take your card/passbook and receipt.

Gunpla #30 - HGIBO Gundam Flauros (Ryusei-Go) Review

I'm sure many people will agree that Iron Blooded Orphans (IBO) is one of the best Gundam series ever. As much as I love the anime, however, I've never tempted to buy any IBO plamo kits, well, simply because I'm a UC fan and I felt that HGIBO kits have cheaper quality than HGUC. Nevertheless, I would like to try something new this year, and finally, I got a HGIBO kit as present from my wife. That lucky kit is Gundam Flauros.

If you watch IBO anime, you should probably know that Flauros is the latest Gundam of Tekkadan, piloted by the eccentric, Norba Shino. Flauros is quite different from any Gundam frames activated so far due to its special artillery role and transformation mechanism. It has a pair of 'Dainsleif' rail gun, one of the most powerful weapons during the calamity war era. The weapon is so powerful, it can even pierce nano laminate armor and considered inhuman by Gjallarhorn hence their use was prohibited. I am personally a fan of artillery-type mobile suits thus I felt delightful for having Flauros as my first kit of 2017. Furthermore, its color scheme was a reminder of my first kit, RG Justice, which I built 4 years ago.

The box contains 5 runners in total: A for inner frame, B for body armor, C for arms and backpack armor, D for weapons and a polycaps runner. As expected, there's no decal sticker, only foils and there are many of them. The largest foils are intended for the rail guns on the backpack, while the rest are for the eyes, head sensor, some parts of shoulder armor and of course the ryusei-go's trademark eyes on V-fin and back armor.

On my previous post of HGUC Zeta Plus C1, I've mentioned about English translation of manual it has and now, I'm pretty sure that Bandai have started to provide bilingual manual for every new kits they release. In my opinion, it's a great decision since gunpla is currently worldwide recognized and Bandai should pay more attention to the international customers.

The building process of Flauros was quite simple, but the detailing itself was quite a pain since there are many panel lines existed. I initially didn't like the look of the face of Flauros. I felt the eye sticker is too big, making the face looked more like a skull than a war machine, thus I trimmed the eye sticker a bit to give Flauros smaller eyes, hence giving more menacing looks as depicted on the manual artworks. Another tricky job was putting foils on the rail guns part. Seriously, Bandai should be able to provide rail gun part on runners instead of giving us that ugly foils. I don't mind to pay more for the parts than having cheap kit with lots of foil stickers.

The fully assembled Flauros is truly awesome. I like the details on the inner frame, especially the waist. It's so sexy. The backpack looks fantastic and despite the enormous size, I have no problem with it (which was complained by several reviews). No wobbling and it's sturdy because the waist and feet are strong enough to hold the weight of backpack. The articulation of this kit is really great. All body parts could move freely, including the backpack which has its own articulation.

Another downside of this kit is the lack of accessories. No extra hands, you only get standard hands to grab the rifles. Well, I think that's why the price of IBO kits are so cheap.

The major feature of this kit is its transformation mechanism to Shelling Mode, where Flauros changed to quadruped form. While it looks pretty similar with Gundam Gaia of SEED Destiny, the true intention of this form is to absorb the rail guns recoil by having more grip to the ground. In my opinion, it much more similar with Siege Tank in Starcraft game. The transformation is quite simple and easy, thanks to the great articulation.

So now the verdict.

This kit is great, and I truly say it as a UC fan. The proportion looks beautiful, articulation is superb, backpack and big guns are fantastic, it's sturdy, solid and pretty detailed. While I hate the number of foil stickers, I think they're still forgivable and of course, you can paint them instead. The price is slightly more expensive than typical HGIBO kits, thanks to the enormous backpack but the end result is not disappointing.

Overall, I feel happy for having this kit and I really recommend it for any gundam fans, especially the fans of IBO series.

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ASW-G-64 Gundam Flauros (Ryusei-Go)

Pros:

• Greatly detailed with lots of panel lines
• Nice proportion, sturdy and superbly articulated
• Fantastic guns and backpack
• Pretty cool and easy transformation mechanism

 Cons:

• Foil stickers!!
• Quite lame color (if you hate pink)  

Gunpla #29 - RG Gundam Mk-II AEUG Review

Gundam Mk-II AEUG version from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is the third RG kit I had. I like this version better than the Titan counterpart due to the more distinct color separation, despite lacking option parts of its counterpart. RG Gundam Mk-II kit is probably the best RG I've ever built. It excels on details, colors, articulation and accessories. Furthermore, it's a solid kit, not fragile as other RG kits in general.   

The building of this kit is fun. You'll start the assembling from its inner frame before putting the outer armor parts. The feet are so sexy with slightly exposed inner frame and protruding "hosts" behind the knees. Looking from the back, you will realize that Mk-II has one the best backpacks in the gundam history. The detail is so amazing, the color separation looks beautiful, yet not too much exaggerating as gundams from SEED or Wing series. The kit's articulation is also fantastic. The joints is so solid, thus making cool pose an easy task. I should even remind myself that it's a RG kit that I'm posing.

There are bunch of accessories come with this kit. You'll get a beam rifle (with nice color separation) and extra bullet packs, a hyper bazooka (with two extra clips), a variable shield which could host the extra bullet packs, two beam sabers, a vulcan pod and Kamille Bidan figurine. Other than two RG hands, you'll get two closed hands and one open hand. The decal stickers, as much as other typical RGs, it's also blend well with the color of the kit (it's one reason I choose AEUG version than Titan version).

So here's the verdict: RG Mk-II, either the AEUG or Titan version, is probably one of the best RGs ever released by Bandai. I recommend you to buy this kit over the HG (original or revive) Mk-II, because the price is not so much different. If you want more accessories, choose the Titan version since it provide extra test part options. But if you prefer lighter and better color separation, go with the AEUG version.    

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RX-178 Gundam Mk-II

Pros:

• Highly detailed kit with fantastic color separation.
• Highly articulated and solid joints.
• Lots of accessories

Cons:

• Lacks the test part options of Titan version