Gunpla - A Review
Preface: So ... what's it all about? Initially it seemed like it's the thing I was missing in my life. In regards to what I could do - myself - as in: Making my problems about me rather than externalizing them. And it's not really problems. But, yea - sometimes the words we have at our disposal don't offer as much nuance as we'd like them to have. And I guess that's a brief summary of the final verdict here also.With in about the same weighting. Like ... words are words - they do what words do ... for better and for worse.
I mean, for once, when asked for what my Hobbies are - there usually wasn't much of an answer I could give outside of things I kind of do, like ... with my "spare time". Things like Movies, Video-Games, Drawing and Programming. Or, well, exactly those. That might be good enough as an answer for someone who doesn't actually care to have some in-deth knowledge of what I do with my time and such - but it always bothered ME, that I couldn't actually ever give a REALLY straight answer.
And ... Gunpla seemed to fit in perfectly. It's something I could sink some time into - something that isn't a constant commitment or just a consequence of downtime. Something I'd have to invest in to do stuff; And something that also offers more - or contains more depth - than just what it might seem like on the surface. Something to maybe get creative with.
I mean, I do have Acrylic paints for instance because I figured I might get more into painting. It's something I enjoy, but ... actually ... it's something that never really clicked with me when I was just on my own. Mostly perhaps because I don't have the talent, or the passion. Like ... I don't actually want to pain. I'd just do it, on and off, per the occasion.
After this had dawned upon me - I started to get really giddy. One problem being the dire situation of my finances. The trip to Munich because of my operation and some aggrovating onslought of Bills made it ... so I had to really flip my pennies twice. Or thrice. But then, me and money ... it's like ... . I know it doesn't grow on trees - I know ... I only have a finite amount and it's not like I don't know how much that is or will be; And still ... I act as though it would. Sort of.
Anyway ... all the Kits I was interested in weren't available or if so, just really overpriced via Amazon. I thought it was cool - placed some order, hoping that by the time it arrived I had the money for it - but it wouldn't let me go. So I looked for some Entry Grade kit that was available - and was satisfied. That is ... before it actually arrived. Or more so, at ease. Once it arrived I kind of immediately went on to build it - getting a feel for working with the parts and tools while going for progressively less catious methods.
Anyway - I was satisfied ... sortof ... until I had money again and ... well, the same thing happened again.
So, the thing is that I set out to have at least one kit of every grade. Maybe to have a first hand understanding of what the differences are - but maybe more so to have an excuse to have a few. And ...
Gunpladiction. A.k.a. ... maybe it's the will of the Universe.
Gunpla in Action
I was a little bit disappointed at first, given that this:
And that's a bit of a funny thing about this. A lot of the joints feel more like mere suggestions. Basically there will be joints all over the place, but then all this stuff comes around that leaves just enough room to sortof maintain some movability. Outside of the important joints of course. Similarly, the things that look like they're attached to the ankles aren't actually attached to the ankles. They're attached to the front of the foot via some extension that retracts from the front-side. But yea, this is Entry Grade. Everything is really basic and simple. There aren't a whole lot of parts to this.
The Full Mechanics Aerial on the other hand ... well. It does the same thing with that foot/ankle protector. You can see that it certaintly doesn't pretend like it sits anywhere in particular.
By virtue of having more joints consisting of more parts, this one has a lot more range of motion - but definitely also has it's limitations. You can see that the hands here couldn't really bend a lot, though there's just enough to make it look as though they could.
But yea, this isn't rubber.
It's solid plastic, for better and for worse.
And ... well, yea - it should be obvious. But the thing is, there is a surprising lot that is possible - so ... it's a mixed bag.
A pleasant Disappointment? A disappointing Pleasure?
I mean - these are Model Kits and not Toys, for once. And yet, they seem a lot more like toys; Which also is owed to the fact - I think - that they do look good enough, out of the box, without any further effort put into them - to exist outside of this whole model-building sphere. To make them really look good one might still want to put on some decals and panel lining or ... hmm ... well; With them almost looking too good to do any of that.Either way - for the most part they only have to look good. For the rest, they have to do so in more than just one way. Because ... what else?
On the other side of seeming like toys, there's a certain flimsiness to them that could cause some minor disappointments. And yea, that gets amplified when the model can't actually quite pose in this or that way that you might want them to. A comprehensive way to put this might be that for the amount of motion they have, they often lack the degree of articulation required to make it all work out. By that I mean, that getting both feet flatly onto the ground can be a bit difficult for instance. Like, getting it to sit like this
Also, these things are a little bit on the cheap side. I mean, literally. Generally these things will cost you less - maybe even by a lot - than a WOTC Secret Lair drop. And it kind-of shows somehow. Here and there. I mean, I've put some of the stickers on and it looks OK ... but given that there are better options ... certainly doesn't make it feel 'first class'. And I think that's also the most consistently shared complaint I've heard so far.
Beyond that ... some of the things - the way how certain things are solved or executed upon - are just ... definitely a lean into the "it's only supposed to look good" aspect. The bits with the yellow on the shield
Another aspect to this is that some things are somewhat flimsy. Though often enough some of the question marks that formed in my head were positively resolved, a lot of it just feels 'illegal', by Lego standards. Which also goes for the proportions of some of the finer aspects such as the head decor.
Like ... compared to Lego, there don't seem to be any standards like that. The best example for what I mean is that in both models I had things get a little loose. So, the twisty parts on the arms of the little RX-78(-2) originally sat pretty tight, but one of them has gotten really loose now. Same with that one bit on the shield. And there just wasn't a whole lot of use to speak of.
So, I guess that the ideal state of a Gunpla is somewhat suspended in wishful thinking.
Is it a (good) Hobby?
I mean ... I don't want to really be positive here. I however also haven't built a Real or a Master Grade kit yet. And while I do suspect that some of the issues persist - even if to an even lesser degree, at least in some cases - that seems to be part of what "irks" me.So, that while building the "Lah Gundam" (that's this RX-78 variant's official ID) I wished it had more going on. Which is definitely a reasonable expectation, along the lines of metal parts and functional thrusters. For an Entry Grade that cost me like 17 bucks (12~ish discounting for shipping).
I don't want to really be positive here because I haven't been perfectly happy just yet. Which is a totally reasonable standard I suppose.
But no. Sincerely ... as I've heard, the quality of the different kits differs; And just like that do I think it's weird to base the quality of a hobby on any particular aspect of it. And I don't want to write about any one specific Kit, but Gunpla in general. I may thereby already be guilty of scooping a little bit too much from the ether - but generally I also only think about the Lah Gundam for comparison; With the FM Aarial being from what I've heard one of the higher quality Kits. Although only comparing to Master Grades in size.
Anyway - I think there's also a lot of things that just need to be excused. As per the nature of the thing. And between what a Gunpla is supposed to do - and what it can do - there's a lot that CAN be excused. I mean, it's basically on par with other Model Stuffs were a bad review would sound a bit like: "I give this a bad rating because that one nipple that nobody is going to notice but actually would be right here is missing (not from the box, but the design)" - like something being the wrong shade of Yellow. Yea, sucks - I feel ya; But ... so what's a huge deal within a given hemisphere also sits next to things that are readily excused in a way that might seem crazy to an outsider.
Like so I guess that some of the images here are what some might consider shots from a crime scene; But I don't think I'm done yet.
Anyway ... the issue is ... also that when everything you say is put onto a Gold scale, you have to own up to a lot more than the ordinary person. And based on the ideal of what a Gundam is, the reality of Gunpla is just ... not really there.
But all that's a bit beside the point. From the moment I started to feel like I had an actual Hobby, I also started to feel something akin to Guilt. Like ... how could I justify having one; When I'm basically existing on social benefits while also Kids are starving while getting bombed by like ... Western Money? It stinks!
Beyond that ... the amount of Plastic in those boxes is almost Sinful. Or just ... flatout Sinful, if there were any climate protection regulations in the Bible. Without that it's just almost Sinful - which is a way of saying that it might be bad enough.
And then maybe one has to think of sustainability. Like, how many Gunpla could I realistically build - before I'd have to stow some away in a Kellar or ... worse?
Those are concerns; Which maybe mean that we couldn't have anything like this in Communism. Or would we have to say: 'Conservative Communism'?
Whatever the case may be - having been raised Seventh Day Adventist there's always that kind of Conservative sentiment entering my thoughts. I mean, E.G. White "famously" said, that owning a bike was a sin. Like, there are like 5 million bicycles in Beijing alone - "hello???"! Who's gonna pay/work for all that?
But yea, I suppose that take was rooted in a very Capitalistic understanding of the world.
But anyhow. Poor is poor, I guess.
It's the same reason I can't just go and buy a can of primer - because there's so much other stuff I'd rather have.
Which is I guess another problem. I probably should be spending time coding right now; Instead this whole thing has me now ... rant about Gunpla of all things.
Or more so, it's moral or ethical value.
Which is ... probably a thing people want to hear about. So ...
The thing about ethics and what's defensible or not is ... difficult. E.G. White (generally called Ellen G. White) (By the way: eLLen goVLD VVhIte (roman numerals) also amounts to 666) saying that it's a sin to own a bicycle aligns with that narrative, where anything that you could call bad, IS bad. Which Scriptures technically also defend whenever they imply as much as that only God is (truly) good. From there we don't only get to draw that we're sinners, but also that we're deserving of nothing. Like, the moment we deem ourselves entitled to anything we become "of the world", which are people who by virtue of that don't have nothing - but eventually they'll go to hell so it's fine. I must assume.
This kind of thinking then also kind of disenfranchises us. Like, if we're not supposed to own anything - with everything we might have being better donated to someone who might need it - we can consider ourselves free of the world although I'd be curious how that's possible without going totally off grid. But sure, on the other side of the extreme ... we have the other side of the extreme.
We might call everything in-between a slippery slope then. Which might go both ways as well.
So, where do we draw the line?
Well, categorically ... we might start with outlines. I know, drawing more than just one line might seem weird - but it has been done before. We can do this!
Sorry.
But ... the thing with what is and what isn't defensible is often enough some unspoken moralistic belief. I mean, how often do we encounter people that will just assume that a certain thing is good or bad? Well, that's the whole thing with "Buzzwords". So, Words that are inherently a good or a bad thing depending on where you say them. Like a person that wears a MAGA hat and thinks its weird that not everyone is applauding him for it. What a weird world we live in.
But yea, at a certain point someone's beliefs just might be so baseless that their entire moral compass is dictated by what Buzzwords they've been conditioned to respond to in which way. Due to how the brain works they might appear as though there is some kind of logical reasoning or critical thinking going on - but on and off we see that when challenged to do actual logical reasoning or critical thinking, we get erratic behavior. Maybe violent outbursts, anger. So, problem solving routines that do however not entail logical reasoning or critical thinking.
So, saying that it's a sin to own a bicycle is the drawing of a line - though it presents itself as though it were merely derived from lines already drawn. So, the term 'sin'. To say that something is a sin implies that there's this ultimate line that has been drawn; Yet by calling something a sin you generally only draw a line around something, even if so in a really dramatic manner.
We can then wonder "why" it is a sin - and understand that its maybe a waste of money, money we could rather donate, it's possibly a luxury item - such and such. From here we can then assume that these make sense - that these are 'sins'. By accepting that, we might feel as if we accepted the statement that owning a bicycle is a sin, though generally we just drew another circle around the initial statement; Now including all those other things that then inform our moral compass.
To stand against that, we'd have to argue how wasting money or owning "luxury" items is NOT a sin, and NOT how owning a bicycle might actually be good. Of course did no Seventh Day Adventist I ever met enforce this idea that owning a bicycle is a sin - because it's a stupid statement - but it sure begs that same ol question of what merit there is to any kind of "holy rule" they DO enforce.
The reason why people would generally think that this statement is stupid could be that generally we allow ourselves to have things we deem necessary. So, we draw a bunch of lines around things that we deem necessary - and similar to that the concept of human rights has been conceived - so that we might laugh at everyone who tries to make us get rid of them.
Some people might abreviate this as "Fuck You" - but that's a little bit too blunt here.
So, on the other side of that, there are people who draw lines around stupid things. Uhm, I mean ... who stupidly draw lines around things. Hmm, anyway - same thing, different ... thing.
Clothing for instance. Clothing is necessary ... check. Throwaway clothing however ... is just bad clothing. But ... it's good for the fashion industry, maybe. Right here I suppose the stand in for "the Economy".
So, here we have a conflict. And if we're thinking in absolutes, that means that only one of those lines can persist. Though in actuality those are the nuances that need their own set of lines to be drawn.
When it comes to Gunpla, there's a lower margin. So, to have any Kit ever, there needs to be a factory. It needs the machines to produce them and the resources to produce with. It needs people to operate the machines and people to design the models. Further we can add that each kit produced also contains an amount of trash - things that are a product of the manufacturing process. So, beyond feeding the people involved we also have to consider the energy cost and the amount of resources spent.
If we had to go entirely cold turkey, such that we don't have circumstances make it so for us, it wouldn't seem right to have any of that. And in extension we might say, that having Hobbies is a sin.
With that kind of thinking however, a whole lot of arts would have to ... be sacrificed. And it's around that axis where we might ask whether or not civilization is inherently decadent.
It's like ... what degree of clothing should we be able to "demand". Like, should we call a bunch of potato bags the upper limit because ... nothing else can be justified?
And I think ... it would definitely take a major catastrophe to make us abandon ... 'everything'. Also ... we don't really have the social or political mechanisms to just do it. The closest thing, outside of eco-terrorism, to getting there, would still require vast global support for us to slowly reduce our dependencies. Step by step. Consciously. So, we start with a thing - dial back production, knowing that we're now going to have less of this and that.
On the other hand there are things we probably need. Like, when it comes to plastics and the arts of working with it - there's some good stuff we definitely want to keep; And a looooot that could or should go before we say bye bye to Gunpla.
But yea. When it comes to Hobbies, Gunpla might not be the ... best. Or easiest to accommodate. We could make a lot easier case for RC Vehecles or electronics in general - while we might have to further distinguish between toys, hobbies and vanity.
Anyway ... as for now ... "you do you". For the time being at least, I build Gunpla - and that's that.
