Gundam Fiesta Visit 1

I visited Gundam Fiesta 2009 on Friday after work. The exhibition took up less space than I expected. There was a series of static display panels showcasing the history of Gundam from the beginning. The history of Gundam is also available online at:
OficialGundam.com
Gundam Wiki

I have been a fan of Gundam eversince my childhood days. Gundam was never shown on local television but I remember the cheap plastic models sold in my neighbourhood stores. These were relatively cheap for a schoolboy (relative to Star Wars Kenner figures of course). I remembered fixing them up unpainted and wondering what the anime was like. It was much later when I rented the Gundam OVA anime video tapes that I realised the actual story. Of course, when the internet came about, a whole lot of information on Gundam was made available. Of the entire Gundam universe, I am particularly fond of the Universal Century (U.C.) based stories. Gundam is credited to be the first anime to depart from the old "revenge" style giant robot stories with a monster a week. Instead, it presented a very long story about Amuro Ray (pilot of the prototype RX-78 Gundam) and the crew of White Base (a prototype mobile suit carrier).

The timeline of the first Gundam TV series was the year U.C.0079 and this was followed by Gundam Z and Gundam ZZ which showed events after that first series. Later releases were divided between those that deviate from this timeline or those that keep to the original timeline. However, central to all these releases was the idea of Newtypes.

All I had was my Nokia 6220 Classic; nevertheless, here are some shots of the event.

Main entrance of Gundam Fiesta 2009

RX-78 Gundam (Pilot: Amuro Ray)

MS-06 Zaku II (Pilot: Char Aznable)

History of Gundam Anime

Odaiba, Japan, 1/1 scale Gundam (life size in other words)

A life-sized foot print of the RX-78 Gundam was on display to provide a sense of scale

A model of the Odaiba Gundam

The first Gundam ainme - Mobile Suit Gundam

Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the pocket

Gundam RX-79 NT-1 from War in the pocket

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

I believe these are the master wooden models for making the metal molds

The metal molds for injection molding

Prototype produced by Stereo Lithography; done with a kind of 3-d printer

Raw plastic

The first Gundam model

It's cool that they brought in these

A model of Bandai's injection molding factory

SD Gundam done in the Sanguo style. These are SD Gundams depicting characters from the Chinese novel The Three Kingdoms.

Bought some of these limited editions - will probably be back for more when they are released next week

Grado Prestige Series Model SR60i

Bought a pair Grado Lab Prestige Series Model SR60i headphones for those times when I cannot blast my speakers. These are retro looking headphones but are often rated highly by various sources - just do a Google on Grado SR60i. Made in Brooklyn, New York.

They cost S$120 (excluding GST) in Singapore. I bought them from Jaben Network, Adelphi. The shop is run by a bunch of friendly folks who allow you to sample various headphones and headphone amps. After trying out both the SR80 and the SR60i, I found the SR80 sounded pretty powerful and has a wider feeling but not much different from the SR60i. I decided to get the SR60i as I found the sound to be "good enough" for my ears and save a few dollars - $50 to be exact.

Now, I am at home playing my collection of music and the clarity is amazing! The bass is punchy without sounding muddled. They fit well on my head and I found the full sponge to be comfortable. I can listen to this all day! I'm loving these headphones and would highly recommend them.

My wife loves them too. I wonder if I need to get another just so we won't fight for em.

The box is rather big but flat.

The box is sealed and opens like a flat cake box. You find the headphone with its thick soft cable, 3.5mm gold plated jack-plug and 6.3mm gold plated adaptor, foam padding and warranty sheet.

The retro looking can.

How it looks like out of the box. Looks old school but sounds amazing!