Micromatsing: Toyworks: 15 years ago...

so... Fifteen Years ago i had this thing in my shelf display. out of the numerous SD Musha i had this is the one i remember them most. why? i don't know, maybe it's because he's 80% blue, or maybe it was because he looked so different from the rest (the GP02 Physalis was always one of my favorite designs) . one thing was for sure, once i saw him for sale at Great Toys Greenhills it took me a while to snatch this kit up. because aside from the nostalgia factor i swore a few posts back i'd quit Gunpla.

shows how much i can stick to my words. hah! :P

anyway, back then i was so into these things. mom tells me she bought me a kit--it was a ZOID i can't remember which one it was-- when i was just around 4. i pissed her off because she knew the toy needed assembly and she also knew she would become the one to do it, so she offered me a deal: she'd buy the kit but i'd have to build it. i agreed. and i built it. she was impressed--she reassures me of this, and ever since then i've been building stuff.

this kit is something of a full circle for me. see 15 years ago my assembly regimen was:

open box
tear open plastics containing sprues
gnaw the pieces out with my teeth
follow the instructions while searching in a futile way for ANY trace of english
shabbily put together the robot and apply the stickers that would either not fit or get torn
pat myself on the back for a job well done
play with my new toy along with other stuff i had.

i never realized how i knew so little (aside from #7 which is a Must for EVERY toy out there). well now i feel i'm gonna at least TRY to make this thing look like the Box art. so without further ado, here's a picture heavy post about this kit.

funny thing, up to now i STILL don't know the kit's name. i should teach myself Japanese one day. but until then he will be known as '98'.

98's Instruction booklet--and for that matter ANY SD Musha instruction Booklet--is one of my most favorite things, where else will you see the art of comics combined with Instructions to build the model? it makes you appreciate the work put into these thing s more.

aaaand like 15 years ago i still can't read shit. :/

but as with anything i enjoy it's dominated by pictorial representation. which is very, very sweet. i can tell the models here are custom conversions of standard SD-UC kits, i can still see the mecha detailing under all that warrior trim. hell even that light blue Nu Gundam custom there looks shockingly like the non-Musha G-generation re-issue kit i had back in 02'. these Japanese Plamo artists are simply inspiring. making their own ideas come alive from the stock models readily available. i mean just LOOK at that Zeong warlord custom. very creative interpretation :)

and here be the parts, standard snap-fit construction, foil backed paper stickers, and the one thing i really liked about the old SD lines...

FUCKING CHROME PARTS! remember when you were a kid and you got distracted by shiny things? can't get any shinier than this! xD some kits even had more than half of their sprue construction dedicated to chromed over parts. sure it made painting them even more of a bitch but who cares? shiny n' shit! :D

here's 98' pre-built. some parts are glued and sanded down some are not, for ease of painting and such. he comes with removable helmet of awesomeness and shoulder armor, his broadsword which if i'm looking at it right looks a lot like a Chinese Dao. come to think of it the overall theme with this kit seems to be some sort of Chinese warrior. it even comes with a Dragon Horse. i'll never know for sure unless i can get someone to translate the instructions for me.

here he is riding (or standing on) his steed... looking at this thing and looking at the recent BB Senshi Sangokuden horse kit... man have they upgraded!

here he is armorless. i really love-hate the amount of detail in this thing. yeah it's pretty to look at, but more work for me. not that it matters to you, dear reader, the pictures do not do justice to it. :(

some Size comparisons thrown in for good measure...

with finished Masaru GM

with my WIP SD Musha Gundam

another old school favorite of these things: build it yourself launchers! hell yeah! back then this gave me the feeling that i was like some sort of weaponsmith making working guns for my robots. :D

98' comes with six missles that look rather phallic.

here's the basic components. the spring is WAY easy to lose if you're not careful. more than one occasion i built "dud" guns. it disappointed me a little but the swords and spears were enough play-value for me.