The "What made you happy today" thread!

Caldwin

Eorzean Idiot
Citizen
Last night I see I only have a couple days worth left on a couple of my meds. I haven't gotten any notice that I'm about to get a refill. Fine, I'll just go to the pharmacy after work and see if they can refill them. May have to wait around for a while, but I need to get them.

Today I get a text early in the morning before I can call or do anything. My prescriptions are ready for pickup.
 

The Mighty Mollusk

Scream all you like, 'cause we're all mad here
Citizen
So, a nearby (well, semi-nearby, about an hour and a half drive) Gundam store holds a yearly Secret Santa. Buy a kit worth at least $25, get a random kit in exchange. I've been entering for the last few years. Usually I just get a High Grade kit (around $25-$30), but hey, the fun's in just getting something I probably wouldn't have bought otherwise, right?

Well, couldn't make it to the drawing last Saturday because no way in hell was I making that drive right before Christmas. Went today to pick up my gift, and....

XWV5BSK.jpeg


Yeah. Got a Perfect Grade (sticker price about $165) this year. Dayumn.
 

The Mighty Mollusk

Scream all you like, 'cause we're all mad here
Citizen
To be fair, Perfect Grades are also complicated, loaded with extra features like opening mechanical hatches and lights, and pretty big. Obviously I can't use the Strike for comparison since I just got it and haven't had time to crack it open yet, but just for an idea of it.....

ZPIKbNE.jpeg


The original RX-78-2 Gundam, in High Grade (1/144 scale), Master Grade (1/100 scale), and Perfect Grade (1/60 scale), and a can of Dr Pepper (1/1 scale).
 

Thefakelink

Active member
Citizen
Nice score. I got the Strike a few years ago. It’s a satisfying build.

EDIT: one thing to watch out for is the sword. It’s one big piece of chromed plastic and mine came bent out of the box, due to the way it was packed.
 
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Axaday

Well-known member
Citizen
I have never caught the bug on building model kits. I have built more than a dozen of them and usually a long while apart. I watched through Gundam Wing 23 years ago and bought all the main character mechs in the 1/144 scale or whatever the little one is and I built them all because at the time it was the only option. I don't really understand it. I have picked up a few complete Gundam figures over the years. I know there aren't NONE of them, but I don't understand why some properties they just decide this one is for model kits.

I presume that there are people who PREFER it because they want to do the craft, but to me I just feel like I paid for a toy and now I have to build it myself and it is likely enough that I'm going to break something and I'm definitely not doing paint because I won't do a good job.
 

Echowarrior

Well-known member
Citizen
I've always wanted a Perfect Grade Wing Gundam Zero from Endless Waltz. Never worked up the nerve to buy one.

Anyway, getting back on topic. The last week has been a mess, but today gave me a little bit of good news despite the crazy. A package that was supposed to be delivered a week ago via FedEx finally reached me today, intact and with nothing missing. I needed that, given the headache I had trying to track the damn thing down...and the fact that I was robbed of a day off from work.
 

Thefakelink

Active member
Citizen
I have never caught the bug on building model kits. I have built more than a dozen of them and usually a long while apart. I watched through Gundam Wing 23 years ago and bought all the main character mechs in the 1/144 scale or whatever the little one is and I built them all because at the time it was the only option. I don't really understand it. I have picked up a few complete Gundam figures over the years. I know there aren't NONE of them, but I don't understand why some properties they just decide this one is for model kits.

I presume that there are people who PREFER it because they want to do the craft, but to me I just feel like I paid for a toy and now I have to build it myself and it is likely enough that I'm going to break something and I'm definitely not doing paint because I won't do a good job.
I’m totally guessing here. It may have been that Gundam’s target demographic wasn’t kids who play with toys, but older teens/young adults who built scale models. I’m guessing that the Gundam toys came later once they had enough brand recognition.
Personally, I have never been able to get into any Gundam series. I remember trying watching Wing when it aired but it was just boring. No kid appeal aside from the big robots in bright colors. But I love building the models and I’ve been doing it for almost 30 years.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
It's one of those things that made sense at the time and just stuck around as a tradition. Take a look at the original Gundam toy and you'll understand it. Today there's no particular reason Gundam has to stick to model kits. But back then there was a wild dichotomy between toys and model kits. Gundam found an audience that preferred a level of accuracy that toys just weren't even trying to achieve yet.

Quite a few franchises later went through a phase where they'd take an old model kit and sell it already assembled and painted, because they were too cheap and lazy to make a new toy, and because those 20 year old model kits were thought to be about as good as what a new toy could be expected to achieve anyway. It... didn't go well. Meanwhile Gundam just stuck to what was working because it was still working.

Transformers is really the oddball here, because we never had that dichotomy between toys and model kits. It's been toys all the way through, and it's been enough.
 

The Mighty Mollusk

Scream all you like, 'cause we're all mad here
Citizen
As I recall, when the original Mobile Suit Gundam aired in Japan, the show was considered too mature for the kids the toys were aimed at, while the toys were too childish for the audience that actually watched the show, which naturally didn't work so well for a show intended to sell toys. So they decided to try selling model kits instead, thinking that appealing to the model-building older audience might work out better. 45 years later, looks like they were right.
 

wonko the sane?

You may test that assumption at your convinience.
Citizen
I made a fairly big order from BBTS on jan sixth.

Today, I am headdesking because they haven't ******* shipped yet...
 


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