PG 00 Raiser - Received!!
Looks like I managed to survive the trip home ahaha. XD
Warnings:
-Lousy and mid-quality webcam photos TT__TT
-LOOOADS of photos
-tl;dr lmao XD
My first contact with PG 00 Raiser? July 17th, when dijeh brought it to my attention. Since then, it has been a long wait of 4 months, 1 week and 2 days to its release on 26th November, and then another week till today, when I finally picked it up. I've been waiting 4 months, 2 weeks and 2 days for you, PG00R! Of course, as soon as I received La Tendo's notification email saying that the PG had arrived, I sought to go there asap to obtain it.
On my way to La Tendo, a downpour started in Dhoby Ghaut, confirming my worst fears. OTL Luckily, by the time we reached Kallang, the downpour had mostly thinned so it was only drizzling. XD One worry down!
Cross the road, take the escalator, pass Donut Empire and the food court...and we reached La Tendo!
After the guy had confirmed that I was one of the pre-order customers and handed me my first Perfect Grade kit + stand in a giant red plastic bag, the time was 2:15 pm, 04 December 2009.
Remember how I was joking about getting a poncho for the PG kit so that it wouldn't be drenched in the rain? XD Well, the plastic bag was big enough to contain it, but because the box was so wide, I had trouble holding the bag by the handles. The guy suggested using the handle on the box they already gave, and I turned the plastic bag into an improvised poncho by cutting a slit in its side for the handle to go through. :D :D Note to self to carry stationery around because you never know when they'll come in useful.
May I say that the PG is very heavy. La Tendo estimated it at 1 kg [and interestingly, HLJ placed it at 4.37 kg], so effectively, I was lugging around 1 kg and then some for an hour and a half. My arms now feel a lot stronger, and tomorrow, they'll start cramping up. Hooray. xD
Anyway, enough rambling and on to the pics! :P
GN-0000 00 Gundam + GNR-010 0 Raiser - Perfect Grade 1/60
There it be. ♥ It's beautiful. ;_____; Well, we know it's 'huge', but just how 'huge' is 'huge'?
Pictures paint a thousand words. From the left, we have a PPP [4 cm], a Calendar Figurine [6 cm], a HGIF figurine [10 cm], a Portrait figurine [12 cm], a non-scale SD, and a HG 1/144 on a display base. Yeah, it's huge, all right.
A more meaningful comparison for gunpla modelers. From the left, a NG 1/100, the same HG 1/144 and the same SD from earlier. Hooooly.
BROS.
Past and present! Successor meets predecessor. I hope to bolster my collection with a certain MG one day. :B Also, I didn't have a chance to take a comparison pic of my PG box and Regnant's box, but if I remember correctly, Regnant's box should be slightly taller than the PG. XD
Look at the difference of the widths lmao. Also a hopefully better view of the height difference between the two kits, since the above image doesn't show that difference clearly, or at all.
And the black box is the display base! It's as other people have said - the box is about the size of a small HG kit like, say, a GN Archer. While the cashier was handling the payment and checking of lists, the guy taking my PG 00R didn't take this out and for a moment I wondered if by some weird error, I had missed out on the base. o_O;;; So I asked for the base and it turned out the base were already arranged in a stack behind him. XD XD The stack was blocked from view by the counter, so I didn't see them. |D
More comparison. I chose a Keropla because it was a kit owned by several people I know from Wordpress. More emphasis on HUGE etc.
...yeah, this is really the width of the PG box. The PG box is thicker than the height of a small Keropla kit. ): FFFFFF
Unboxing
The contents of the display base box! Nothing fancy. The parts are surprisingly heavy for their small number. And the shiny silver seal that you get to paste on the SIDE [and not the front] of your base...! :D;
The base. IT'S HUGE. And there's that mini-runner thing on its top which you need to remove. :|a Why not just produce the base on its own without that mini-runner? Setsu PPP makes an appearance!
And yep, it is bigger than a 1/100. XD
The GN Drives! Admittedly, one of the reasons why I wanted to get the PG when it was announced was because I wanted the chance to assemble the GN Drives. A Perfect Grade GN Drive...how would it and its components look like? And then came the news that the insides are capable of rotating, which effectively threw the notion of DIY assembly out of the window, lol! Not gonna lie, when I first found out that the GN Drives are going to come pre-assembled, I was kind of upset, but then a Taiwanese modeler took apart the GN Drive and showed how the contents look like, and, well, I understand why Bandai chose to pre-assemble them. People had enough trouble with PG Wing Zero's wiring, I imagine trying to wire this would drive people crazy with frustration. XDD;
I don't have a video at hand, so I can't give you the obligatory UNLIMITED SPINNING GN DRIVE WORKS video. xD;; I like that they've specifically labelled [on the box cover, at least] which GN Drive is O Gundam's, which one is Exia's.
Don't know if anyone took photos of the back of the box. I was pretty surprised to see that the other side of the box was not a blank side but was also printed with something. xD Nothing too fancy. Just a "GN DRIVE SYSTEM etc".
I did plan to take out the GN Drive, but they're packed so snugly that I was sure I would have problems replacing them back. :/ So all you get is a comparison with a PPP ahaha...maybe when I'm finally building it months down the road, I'll do a better comparison. And there're already a lot of comparison pics out there, so it's not a big loss. About the GN Drive, it's just as BIG as everything else in this box. It's only slightly shorter than the PPP, which stands at 4 cm. XD Setsuna, with Exia's GN Drive! For the record, a GN Drive from 1/100 00R measures slightly less than 2 cm, and one from the HG version stands at less than 1.5 cm. So, yeah. The GN Drives are huge.
Box A, which contains 00 Gundam's parts. The height is a no-brainer - similar to the box it came in.
This is a bad photo because I had to rotate it, but as for its width, it doesn't seem to be any bigger than MG Exia Ignition Mode. I really like the box cover. Linearts and designs adorn the box, and it's as if they've taken Ian's papers and then reprint them all over the box. XD Simple, and pretty. <3
Contents of Box A. The green parts are VERY BIG. I forgot to take comparison pics, but I had quite the shock seeing them. O_O; And yes, the giant white parts are all there too. So are the ridiculously long beam saber effects. OTL
OTL OTL OTL Yeah, foil stickers. I didn't think people would be able to see those stickers after they've been covered up by the green parts, but apparently, they're still slightly visible. Interesting. The stickers are big, like everything else. And big stickers are hard to get right...
Box B, which contains 0 Raiser's parts. I'm not too sure why the lighting changed. xD;; Box A is right behind it, to show you the difference in length. They're both equally wide and tall. rrobert184 from gundam.tk remarked that the box made it look like a blueprint, as if O Raiser is being rolled out, and I agree with his opinion. The box is a very gorgeous shade of blue.
Contents of Box B. More giant white parts, and DO YOU SEE DAT TRANS-AM SWORD EFFECT.
Yeah. Yeah. ): It's insane.
Just for kicks, I decided to stack up the parts to see how tall 58 runners stacked on top of each other would be. XD My answer is 50 cm-ish, give or take. And you see that the runners aren't really sizeable. They're no more larger than MG Exia IM's runners, I think, and most of them come with giant parts.
One last look before it's wrapped up and stored away! I hope to see you guys again in a year or so. XDDD And yeah, unfortunately, I won't get to build them any time soon, because I have ZERO SPACE to display it. My parents said no to installing shelves, and I'd rather get something like a cabinet so that the kit won't get too dusty. As of right now, it's been all wrapped up in a giant plastic bag and placed on top of the wardrobe in my room. XD;;; Talk about being so near and yet so far...but it's a test of patience. XD If I can live with not touching my MG Exia for 4 months, then surely this won't be too much problem. It's regrettable, yes, but I'll live. :D
This has been a hell of a roller coaster ride, with me being buffered from side to side by mostly disdain for the kit. To be frank though, I'd happily go through it all over again to obtain the PG kit anyway even if I were given a chance to return to the past. After all, if you love something, wouldn't you also do whatever it takes [legally XD] to get it too? That's the fun in collecting!
And that ends my little report on the PG 00R. Since I was using the webcam, I decided that I might as well take a few pics to show you how far my PPP collection has come.
When I first saw these PPPs, I thought they looked like aliens, but when I got the 2nd Season set, I couldn't get enough of them and tried tracking down the rest!
Total Strength: 9
All I lack is the Wana!Setsuna, which was a gift from NEWTYPE long ago. They pop up once in a while on Yahoo!Japan Auctions, and they could go for 2500Y~5000Y. OTL So yeah...unless someone is selling it for really cheap, which I highly doubt, I won't be getting it. Not actively searching for that either.
And here are the newbies!
The PPP at the most right is the Innovator!Setsuna from the 30th Anniversary set. :D Got it off eBay.sg for a GREAT price of SGD6, which at that time worked out to lower than the retail price in Japan.
The one at the most left is the casual!Setsuna from the very first PPP set. I've been looking for it for a long time ever since I got the season1!pilotSetsu PPP off an LJ seller, but they never appear on eBay anymore and getting one of Yahoo!Japan Auctions is expensive. >_< So when this was sent to me by chuukoku as a birthday gift, I was surprised and delighted; thank you, Chuu!!
And the one in the middle---wait.
Seeing double?? I had all but given up hope for these because they always appeared whenever I was short on cash, and then chuukoku and nopan sent them to me as birthday gifts!!! ;_; The one on the left is from Chuu, and the one on the right is from Marie. ♥ I love them both very much and I've displayed them in the front row of my Setsu compartment. <3333 Look at their tiny hats!! ;____; THANK YOU, YOU GUYS!!! ♥
And a comparison between S2!pilotSetsu and Innovator!Setsu. Innovator!Setsu's eyes aren't a very bright gold... xD
This post is GIANT. ;_; Thank you for reading all the way here!! I wanted to share my joy at getting my first PG kit with you guys first, and yes, I promise that the PG 00 spam will be greatly reduced from now on, now that it's safe in my hands. XD
Warnings:
-Lousy and mid-quality webcam photos TT__TT
-LOOOADS of photos
-tl;dr lmao XD
My first contact with PG 00 Raiser? July 17th, when dijeh brought it to my attention. Since then, it has been a long wait of 4 months, 1 week and 2 days to its release on 26th November, and then another week till today, when I finally picked it up. I've been waiting 4 months, 2 weeks and 2 days for you, PG00R! Of course, as soon as I received La Tendo's notification email saying that the PG had arrived, I sought to go there asap to obtain it.
On my way to La Tendo, a downpour started in Dhoby Ghaut, confirming my worst fears. OTL Luckily, by the time we reached Kallang, the downpour had mostly thinned so it was only drizzling. XD One worry down!
Cross the road, take the escalator, pass Donut Empire and the food court...and we reached La Tendo!
After the guy had confirmed that I was one of the pre-order customers and handed me my first Perfect Grade kit + stand in a giant red plastic bag, the time was 2:15 pm, 04 December 2009.
Remember how I was joking about getting a poncho for the PG kit so that it wouldn't be drenched in the rain? XD Well, the plastic bag was big enough to contain it, but because the box was so wide, I had trouble holding the bag by the handles. The guy suggested using the handle on the box they already gave, and I turned the plastic bag into an improvised poncho by cutting a slit in its side for the handle to go through. :D :D Note to self to carry stationery around because you never know when they'll come in useful.
May I say that the PG is very heavy. La Tendo estimated it at 1 kg [and interestingly, HLJ placed it at 4.37 kg], so effectively, I was lugging around 1 kg and then some for an hour and a half. My arms now feel a lot stronger, and tomorrow, they'll start cramping up. Hooray. xD
Anyway, enough rambling and on to the pics! :P
GN-0000 00 Gundam + GNR-010 0 Raiser - Perfect Grade 1/60
There it be. ♥ It's beautiful. ;_____; Well, we know it's 'huge', but just how 'huge' is 'huge'?
Pictures paint a thousand words. From the left, we have a PPP [4 cm], a Calendar Figurine [6 cm], a HGIF figurine [10 cm], a Portrait figurine [12 cm], a non-scale SD, and a HG 1/144 on a display base. Yeah, it's huge, all right.
A more meaningful comparison for gunpla modelers. From the left, a NG 1/100, the same HG 1/144 and the same SD from earlier. Hooooly.
BROS.
Past and present! Successor meets predecessor. I hope to bolster my collection with a certain MG one day. :B Also, I didn't have a chance to take a comparison pic of my PG box and Regnant's box, but if I remember correctly, Regnant's box should be slightly taller than the PG. XD
Look at the difference of the widths lmao. Also a hopefully better view of the height difference between the two kits, since the above image doesn't show that difference clearly, or at all.
And the black box is the display base! It's as other people have said - the box is about the size of a small HG kit like, say, a GN Archer. While the cashier was handling the payment and checking of lists, the guy taking my PG 00R didn't take this out and for a moment I wondered if by some weird error, I had missed out on the base. o_O;;; So I asked for the base and it turned out the base were already arranged in a stack behind him. XD XD The stack was blocked from view by the counter, so I didn't see them. |D
More comparison. I chose a Keropla because it was a kit owned by several people I know from Wordpress. More emphasis on HUGE etc.
...yeah, this is really the width of the PG box. The PG box is thicker than the height of a small Keropla kit. ): FFFFFF
Unboxing
The contents of the display base box! Nothing fancy. The parts are surprisingly heavy for their small number. And the shiny silver seal that you get to paste on the SIDE [and not the front] of your base...! :D;
The base. IT'S HUGE. And there's that mini-runner thing on its top which you need to remove. :|a Why not just produce the base on its own without that mini-runner? Setsu PPP makes an appearance!
And yep, it is bigger than a 1/100. XD
The GN Drives! Admittedly, one of the reasons why I wanted to get the PG when it was announced was because I wanted the chance to assemble the GN Drives. A Perfect Grade GN Drive...how would it and its components look like? And then came the news that the insides are capable of rotating, which effectively threw the notion of DIY assembly out of the window, lol! Not gonna lie, when I first found out that the GN Drives are going to come pre-assembled, I was kind of upset, but then a Taiwanese modeler took apart the GN Drive and showed how the contents look like, and, well, I understand why Bandai chose to pre-assemble them. People had enough trouble with PG Wing Zero's wiring, I imagine trying to wire this would drive people crazy with frustration. XDD;
I don't have a video at hand, so I can't give you the obligatory UNLIMITED SPINNING GN DRIVE WORKS video. xD;; I like that they've specifically labelled [on the box cover, at least] which GN Drive is O Gundam's, which one is Exia's.
Don't know if anyone took photos of the back of the box. I was pretty surprised to see that the other side of the box was not a blank side but was also printed with something. xD Nothing too fancy. Just a "GN DRIVE SYSTEM etc".
I did plan to take out the GN Drive, but they're packed so snugly that I was sure I would have problems replacing them back. :/ So all you get is a comparison with a PPP ahaha...maybe when I'm finally building it months down the road, I'll do a better comparison. And there're already a lot of comparison pics out there, so it's not a big loss. About the GN Drive, it's just as BIG as everything else in this box. It's only slightly shorter than the PPP, which stands at 4 cm. XD Setsuna, with Exia's GN Drive! For the record, a GN Drive from 1/100 00R measures slightly less than 2 cm, and one from the HG version stands at less than 1.5 cm. So, yeah. The GN Drives are huge.
Box A, which contains 00 Gundam's parts. The height is a no-brainer - similar to the box it came in.
This is a bad photo because I had to rotate it, but as for its width, it doesn't seem to be any bigger than MG Exia Ignition Mode. I really like the box cover. Linearts and designs adorn the box, and it's as if they've taken Ian's papers and then reprint them all over the box. XD Simple, and pretty. <3
Contents of Box A. The green parts are VERY BIG. I forgot to take comparison pics, but I had quite the shock seeing them. O_O; And yes, the giant white parts are all there too. So are the ridiculously long beam saber effects. OTL
OTL OTL OTL Yeah, foil stickers. I didn't think people would be able to see those stickers after they've been covered up by the green parts, but apparently, they're still slightly visible. Interesting. The stickers are big, like everything else. And big stickers are hard to get right...
Box B, which contains 0 Raiser's parts. I'm not too sure why the lighting changed. xD;; Box A is right behind it, to show you the difference in length. They're both equally wide and tall. rrobert184 from gundam.tk remarked that the box made it look like a blueprint, as if O Raiser is being rolled out, and I agree with his opinion. The box is a very gorgeous shade of blue.
Contents of Box B. More giant white parts, and DO YOU SEE DAT TRANS-AM SWORD EFFECT.
Yeah. Yeah. ): It's insane.
Just for kicks, I decided to stack up the parts to see how tall 58 runners stacked on top of each other would be. XD My answer is 50 cm-ish, give or take. And you see that the runners aren't really sizeable. They're no more larger than MG Exia IM's runners, I think, and most of them come with giant parts.
One last look before it's wrapped up and stored away! I hope to see you guys again in a year or so. XDDD And yeah, unfortunately, I won't get to build them any time soon, because I have ZERO SPACE to display it. My parents said no to installing shelves, and I'd rather get something like a cabinet so that the kit won't get too dusty. As of right now, it's been all wrapped up in a giant plastic bag and placed on top of the wardrobe in my room. XD;;; Talk about being so near and yet so far...but it's a test of patience. XD If I can live with not touching my MG Exia for 4 months, then surely this won't be too much problem. It's regrettable, yes, but I'll live. :D
This has been a hell of a roller coaster ride, with me being buffered from side to side by mostly disdain for the kit. To be frank though, I'd happily go through it all over again to obtain the PG kit anyway even if I were given a chance to return to the past. After all, if you love something, wouldn't you also do whatever it takes [legally XD] to get it too? That's the fun in collecting!
And that ends my little report on the PG 00R. Since I was using the webcam, I decided that I might as well take a few pics to show you how far my PPP collection has come.
When I first saw these PPPs, I thought they looked like aliens, but when I got the 2nd Season set, I couldn't get enough of them and tried tracking down the rest!
Total Strength: 9
All I lack is the Wana!Setsuna, which was a gift from NEWTYPE long ago. They pop up once in a while on Yahoo!Japan Auctions, and they could go for 2500Y~5000Y. OTL So yeah...unless someone is selling it for really cheap, which I highly doubt, I won't be getting it. Not actively searching for that either.
And here are the newbies!
The PPP at the most right is the Innovator!Setsuna from the 30th Anniversary set. :D Got it off eBay.sg for a GREAT price of SGD6, which at that time worked out to lower than the retail price in Japan.
The one at the most left is the casual!Setsuna from the very first PPP set. I've been looking for it for a long time ever since I got the season1!pilotSetsu PPP off an LJ seller, but they never appear on eBay anymore and getting one of Yahoo!Japan Auctions is expensive. >_< So when this was sent to me by chuukoku as a birthday gift, I was surprised and delighted; thank you, Chuu!!
And the one in the middle---wait.
Seeing double?? I had all but given up hope for these because they always appeared whenever I was short on cash, and then chuukoku and nopan sent them to me as birthday gifts!!! ;_; The one on the left is from Chuu, and the one on the right is from Marie. ♥ I love them both very much and I've displayed them in the front row of my Setsu compartment. <3333 Look at their tiny hats!! ;____; THANK YOU, YOU GUYS!!! ♥
And a comparison between S2!pilotSetsu and Innovator!Setsu. Innovator!Setsu's eyes aren't a very bright gold... xD
This post is GIANT. ;_; Thank you for reading all the way here!! I wanted to share my joy at getting my first PG kit with you guys first, and yes, I promise that the PG 00 spam will be greatly reduced from now on, now that it's safe in my hands. XD