I have had my issues with bootlegs before. I started the hobby in a good note. Primarily Bandai for the Gunpla Kits and Tamiya on the scale models.However, I'm not well off and still have to contend with schooling so I have to squeeze my budget allowance very tight if I want to get the kits I want and still survive the rigors of school. For such reason that I have to be very choosy in getting the kits I want. It should be worth every penny i spent.
The first time I got introduced on bootlegs was when I stumbled upon a kit variation of Gundam Hydra. I was never aware that I was getting an imitation, I never knew then that unless its a Bandai logo in the box, I'ts not the real thing. I was hooked at first because of the cheap price. I got three kits for the price of a one original Bandai. It was Hydra (1/144), Leopard (1/144) and Deathschythe (1/144). Cannot remember the manufacturer, did not care then and besides, the text is in indecipherable Mandarin or something.
[OT: Just a backgrounder on the HYDRA, one of me fevorit antagonist MS that have not seen any Gundam animation - next to the Nightingale and the Hi nU that have already had their exposure - thanks to "Gunpla Builders"-]
... as taken from http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/printthread.php?t=18980&pp=100&page=274
Today we have a look at the principal mobile suit of the "Dark General of Destruction", Valder Farkill, from the side story manga Mobile Suit Gundam W Dual Story: G-Unit, welcome the OZ-15AGX Hydra Gundam.
As you very well be aware, a Hydra, a mythical beast of legend possesses many heads, and the Hydra Gundam, while only have one "true" head/face, has an additional 3 mock faces surrounding it's head as you can see here remaining true to the foretold legend all while being intimidating at the same time. It truly is unlike any other mobile suit design penned.
Hydra was developed by the Romefeller Foundation as a means of hunting down the five rebel Gundams (no, not the ones you're thinking, nor the pilots for that matter) and destroying them without hesitation. It was designed as a high-speed attacker, a "Blitzkrieg" if you will, but simply because it was intended to attack at speeds the eye couldn't keep up with doesn't mean it didn't have the weaponry necessary to attack from afar. Armed with a pair of shoulder claws mounted with a single beam cannon (per claw) that could operate on the mounting arms, or detach and effectively become a wire-guided range-free attack unit...the Hydra could attack from afar without you having ever laid an eye on it. Or it could attack up close and personal with either of it's shoulder claws, or it's Buster Gun and two beam sabers.
Hydra was also outfitted with a unique EMF Shield which could block and/or negate attacks by emitting a dense force field of energy, and despite it's relatively petite size it could cover a vast area. Weighing in at a relatively light weight of 21.7 metric tons (47,840.31 pounds) it was blisteringly quick (as all "hacked" mecha from GW are; I'm talking in excess of 4G...even for the weakest mass produced suit. The Gundams and other high performance suits themselves vary around 7-9G+), and with the ruthless hand of Valder in the pilot's seat, the Hydra was as much of a threat as it's intentions and stance suggests. Valder himself served under Zechs in OZ Specials, and racked up more kills on his own against the UESA (United Earth Sphere Alliance) than his entire unit combined. Earning him the nickname "Dark General of Destruction".
Assuming control of OZ sometime in AC 195, his reign and seemingly perilous might would come to an end at the hands of Odin Bernett and his Gundam Griepe. Odin put an end to Farkill December 24th, AC 195 - how's that for a Christmas Eve?
Gundam Leopardby *MrDream
@http://mrdream.deviantart.com/art/Gundam-Leopard-123048198
When I began my build at first with he Hydra, it was then I noticed the glaring issues with the molds, the plastic, the manual...pretty much everything, then it dawn upon me that I got a "pirated" version of the kit. Eventually with a bucket load of patience, I've managed to make the parts fit and stand on its own. I have to be very careful while even holding it else some parts will fall off, moving it to a pose will have leave it crooked in several positions or worse - something breaks.... that's how it is with the bootlegs then. From then on I swore I wont buy such worthless crap again, Might as well cash in some Bandai originals than throw half my money away on something I'll definitely regret buying.
After almost 5 year hiatus in the Gunpla hobby
(my time and money then was spent on CCG - Sports/Non-Sports card collecting & Comic Books) - I began again my Gunpla collecting starting with the 1/100 - "Shining Gundam". It was 2003 and SEED is already making the rave in the Gunpla community. I am not a fan of G-Gundam, in fact of all the anime series, this is the series I have really no intention of collecting. I watched some of the anime particularly the end parts but I was not impressed with the design of the mobile suits... I find it cheesy and campy comparable to that of the 60's Batman. I got the Shining gundam out of curiosity because of all the gundams there, this titular mobile suit is the only one I feel deserves notice.
(aside perhaps from the Nobel Gundam)...... and...It always make me smile whenever I hear its penultimate attack...."BURNING FINGER!!!!! LOLOLOL
OK... moving on...
..."snap! -assemble!"... ahhh... a real kit.... the best engineered plastic kit out there.... beats out the glue and trim kits I've used to do with Tamiya and Dragon. Now, when I bought the Shining Gundam, I also bought a heavy arms bootleg and a Hasegawa 1/72 Macross Valkyrie
(sorry Ryan - "It does not transform" LOL).
The Macross is a return back in the days of my Aircraft kits plus - its Macross. That was the first time I saw a Macross kit on the superstore (Robinsons) I usually buy my kits so I bought it. My only frustration was - yep - does not transform, but I still dig this, Its an aircraft, I'm used to doing this and the Swing Wing! as well :D. The kit is part snap and part glued a big change from the ususal vehicle kits I use to assemble. Did not paint it tho, just some weathering. How I wish I had photos of these all back then.... how lucky todays' kids are...
Now for the bootleg H-Arms custom, its 1/144. As expected, the plastic and the molding were very far off from the quality of the Bandai stuff. I bought this since I had extra dough from the 2 kits and I want to find out if there's been any difference since the last time I had a bootleg. But noticeably, there were a bit of improvement. I completed the H-arms in a as much an about two and a half hours, after several tweaking and gluing some parts here and there. It stood well (yey!), the joints hold well also, but the color is a bit dull. Just perfect for a no nonesense painting with whatever I have. The finish?.... dont ask... took bout 3 months displayed on the shelves before I willingly gave it away to some friends.
Now 2012, a decade since I was in the hobby. I have work, I have the money, some available spare time...time to get back in the mix.
The first bootleg kit I had was actually given to me as a gift by a friend whom I got the opportunity to meet in Vietnam. He found out I was into this stuff, not knowing the difference between original and imitation, he gave me an MG Zaku II from TT Hongli he bought from a mall in Hanoi.
When i got around to build it, I was pretty impressed, for an MG, this kit is a winner. There are still glaring issues typical to what you can have with imitation kits. I have the same MG Zaku II so its easy for me to compare. First is the color of the plastic, the next is the "feel" of it which is more smoother (shinier?) than the Bandai. Another is the plastic itself which is softer I think. Outside of that and the excess plastics and nubs - well, the kit is well made I must agree. With the kind of quality these China companies is churning out (I am closely following all sorts of reviews on bootlegs now together with the regular sites I visit) - I might get myself some of these better made imitations since I am also planning now on doing mods, some "kit-bashing" and finally have my longtime wish of paint brushing my kits. I would not want to crash and burn my Bandai stuff, its expensive and I'm not a rich man not to regret losing precious hard earned cash on something like this, so .... i guess "bootlegging" is a good way to go.
On the other side of things, some bootleg companies have finally got around to sell some "original" kits
(well... it still depends how you look at originals anyway). One company - MC models have been in the resin production for quite some time now and have released several garage kits of resins from the popular Gundam and other Mecha based brands. Another company - RC (Regulation Center) also from China, have recently released a plastic kit based on the iconic MS Nightingale. As one of those who have been dreaming of owning a Nightingale outside of the expensive resins, I immediately bought one (pre-ordered).
Going back to MC, one of their plastic kit releases is the Hi-Nu Gundoom, an obvious take on the Gundam of the same design and MS code. I saw this one before in my venture in trying to find some store shops here in Vietnam. Did not bother at all upon learning its not from Bandai - but there's this "itch" - a hobbyist itch you may call it, that craves for this kit. Curious, I searched the internet for any review of this kit and lo' and behold! - seems that this kit is garnering good raves in the community. That alone made me decide and buy it finally - nevermind if its a rip-off, its design is way better than the original Hi-nu (well except for the chest vents)....and the 'wings of light!" ... that alone sold me...when I finally got the kit, thats the first thing I checked.... and whadaya know... its as sheen and shiny (Prismatic I think is the correct term) as the videos and pics have shown me.
Here's some pic of the Box - opened it already to check the contents but still have not assembled it yet....
( I still have many kits on the line-up waiting for me to start with.)
The outer Box (This guy has two boxes!... nice packaging indeed!)
...notice the "wings of light?"... yep... that's how it is once built... its huge!
...and the inner box
Bootleging...i'ts in as much of the essence piracy. To the economic side of things, piracy as we know it damages the economic dictates of an established system by robbing the rights of property and income from those who trully deserves the right to own them. (I wont do a moral stand on this issue really- not in this blog) :)
The debate is actually between purist and the BL users. Purists who has the right to make voice cries "foul" in the proliferation of pirated kits in the online community against hobbyists who caters to BL with much gusto and fanfare.
The recent boom in the gunpla market is actually akin to the heyday of PlayStation (1) when units sold on one year - more than the SNES units combined in almost half a decade. PS users became numerous for one single reason. Pirated games.
Did it do good on the gaming scene? YES & NO. Yes because PS units flew off the shelves, a lot more gamers graduated from pirated stuff to looking for the original thereby creating a vast market in the buy&sell stuff. Peripherals experimenting and pushing the unit capability that are not Sony owned (third parties) makes up the rest of the market choice. And then in the game development - it was a NO - reason is that revenues thou tilted heavilly on unit sales was not comparable to the game sales itself. but in the end -hey, the market survived and became bigger than it was a couple of years ago.
Same scenario with BL stuff. The gunpla community fueled by social media is now at its peak, and boxes are flying out of shelves faster than i can remember (ever) since i began with the hobby. Its as healthy now as it will ever be - perhaps the healthiest it will ever be. all because of these so called BootLegs in the market that are cashing on the trend, and helping create a more vast market of plamo hobbyists who eventually graduates to much better kits that are BANDAI now and then.
NOT ALL IMAGES INCLUDED HEREIN ARE BY NO MEANS THE PROPERTY OF THIS AUTHOR. SOME IMAGES USED HAVE THEIR RESPECTIVE CREDITS WRITTEN TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF THE IMAGE CREATORS.
I DON'T OWN ANY INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS TO THEM.
