Monday, September 26, 2016

The Best $10 I've Ever Spent At Epcot

If you know Disney's Epcot then you're probably familiar with Mitsukoshi, the Japan pavilion's famous mega-store. It has everything from anime toys to Japanese candies, and is THE shopping destination of the World Showcase.

Anyway, last time I was there I stumbled across this:

 

And while I know nothing about Gundam, much less Gundam models, this was friggin' adorable and ONLY COST $9.99, so heck yeah it came home with me.

Very little of the box was in English, so I had no idea what to expect insideor if I'd need glue or paint or special tools. Worst case, I figured it was a $10 gamble.

Inside: four sheets of snap-out plastic pieces, and a sheet of tiny stickers. 
And as it turns out, that's all you need. (Yay!)


The pieces twist out easily from their plastic frames, and then snap together, no glue needed. 

And what really blew my mind? There are plastic ball bearing joints, so the Gundam is completely articulated! You can twist and pose his feet, legs, arms, hands, waist, and head.

Snapping the plastic pieces together is easy, so the only part that requires actual skill are the teensy tiny stickers:

Some were so small - and fit into such tiny nooks and crannies - that I had to smooth them with a toothpick. The metallic blue ones look amaaazing, the solid white ones, not so much. (If I do another, I might leave the white off.)

The kit instructions are an Ikea-like map of numbered illustrations, so nothing a good squinting-and-staring won't (eventually) decipher.
 
Since I love jigsaw puzzles and those tiny Metal Earth models, this little Gundam kit hit all the right buttons for me. I put it together in two sittings of maybe an hour each, so this is easily a one-night build.

Ready to see the finished product?

Ta-daaa!

(ERMERGERSH HE'S SO CUTE)

 I figured there was no way the figure would look as nice as the box art, so color me pleasantly surprised:

Size reference:
 I have wee Hobbit hands, so this guy's pretty small!

 He's holding a removable flame missile, btw; there is a second hand under there.


More glamour shots:


Best of all for those of you who can't pop over to Epcot anytime soon, I found the same kit on Amazon! In fact, it's a little LESS than $10 over there, and has Prime shipping, so now I'm off to see if they sell any more styles.


Any of you like models kits and/or puzzles? I find them soothing, though I'll admit to a little cursing over the more complex Metal Earth kits. Anyway, I'd love to try more new stuff, so lemme know what you'd recommend in the comments!

32 comments:

  1. My absolute favorite was Ecto II that came out with Ghostbusters II. Each little piece on the roof rack was individually stickered and glued. I cherished that thing for years. Then one day a window shear blowing in the breeze knocked it off the shelf and it exploded into a million pieces. Someday I'll pull it out and see what's salvageable.

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  2. I'm a LEGO gal, that's my puzzle-like activity. I just did the Buckingham Palace and Big Ben Architecture sets yesterday. I love dumping out the bags of jumbled LEGO and piece by piece, turning them into something cool. :-D

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  3. https://smile.amazon.com/Wind-powered-Animaris-Ordis-Parvus-Strandbeest/dp/B00AM6W76W/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474930979&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=straandbest If you can complete this, you're a better person than I am. I'm finding it really challenging at the moment, so I took a few days off, but when you see these things move (the little ones and the IRL sculptures by Theo Janssen) they are COOL.

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  4. On occasion I've done some paper folding and this is always fun... http://www.cubeecraft.com/blog/official-princess-bride-game-cubeecraft/

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  5. My husband always brings these back from his trips to Hong Kong. We have a whole shelf full of them. I built one too!

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  6. Back when I was hardcore into anime, I had models of most of the suits from Gundam Wing (I think most of them are in the attic, now, but I still have a few favorites on a shelf). They were so much fun and there's nothing more satisfying than finishing something like that.

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  7. http://etsy.me/2dfER3y
    Chek out this Etsy store.

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  8. You totally need to try a ZOIDs kit. Not only are they assemble-as-you go, but then (for most kits) the pieces fit together into a wind-up robot critter.

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  9. I got a 'sticker by numbers' book at my local Michaels. It's the equivalent of paint by numbers, but with solid colored stickers. For someone who likes the adult coloring books, but can find choosing the "right" color a little paralyzing, stickers are a fun alternative.

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  10. I love the Metal Earth kits- I have Poe's X-wing, and Vader's TIE fighter, but require tweezers to get them done! Though, the effort required makes me all the more proud.

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  11. That's is cute! The pricetags on models have always made me flinch, but this is something I can really appreciate!

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  12. Quick not-model-related-but-Epcot-Japan-pavilion related-question: once upon a time Mitsukoshi had what my son and I referred to as the "Great Wall o'Pokemon." Over time, it has shrunk into the "smallish shelves of Pokemon," which makes us sad (but wealthier, because I've spent a ton on that stuff). Has the Pokemon Go phenomena resulted in larger offerings of related product or is it still the same as it's been for the past couple of years?

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  13. I can't show my husband this. We went to Disney Thursday and ran out of time going between EPCOT and MK to stop in Japan. I know he was bummed :( But this is super cute and he'd want it!

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  14. I can't show my husband this. We went to Disney Thursday and ran out of time going between EPCOT and MK to stop in Japan. I know he was bummed :( But this is super cute and he'd want it!

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  15. Oh how cool! I may need to tag those for ordering. I love doing mini builds with my boys and they'd love these!

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  16. Strandbeests (I'm sure I misspelled that) Adam Savage (of Mythbuster's fame) is obsessed with them and makes tiny kits of them. I'd so love to try it but it looks soooo complex. But ones that actually work maybe worth it :D

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  17. LOVE Gundam Kits. Very detailed, and often very intuitive to assemble. Toys R Us stocked something similar by Bandai for a while, Spru-kits, which were DC, Pokemon, and Ninja Turtle figures that were posable without needing painting or glue.

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  18. I do the Metal Earth kits and love them...I pick them up on Ebay. My husband got me two Transformers first and I was hooked. This little guy could pass for a Transformer if you removed that yellow thingy... ;)

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  19. Have you seen the new metal earth kits at Disney? I built the castle. Now i am hooked.

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  20. Have you seen the new metal earth kits at Disney? I built the castle. Now i am hooked.

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  21. There used to be a whole line of these things, but they were larger. My ex-boyfriend was obsessed with them in 01-03ish and we had a collection of them around our apartment.

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  22. I was just at Epcot, wearing my Leia Epbot button. Got LOTS of nods.
    : )

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  23. Disney just came out with Metal Earth versions of some of their attractions! I saw them on the Shop Disney App.

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  24. I am known as The Aunt Who WILL Steal Your Legos if Given the Chance. But now I am a Nano Brick gal. One quarter the size of Legos and can be tricky to make, but what fun!

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  25. https://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Nobell-Gundam-Beserker-Century/dp/B0058KSCT8/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1475086287&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=nobel+gundam+kit

    It's a bit bigger, but the best Gundam. It's a Sailor Moon inspired Gundam. This particular Gundam series had awful, ridiculous builds. A windmill Gundam? Check. An American-football inspired Gundam that could surf? Check. G Gundam is timeless and cheesy.

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  26. If you like the articulation of the model, you should check out Lego Bionicle or Hero Factory kits. All the parts are interchangeable so the possibilities are endless. My boys have oodles of sets and none of them look like what was on the box anymore. They both get "creative" and make up their own robots.

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  27. Replies
    1. Second vote for UGears! They had a kickstarter but are on amazon now. I usually ask for the models as gifts because they are a little more expensive ($30-40), but they tick and whirr and move and I still can't believe I can actually make something that cool!

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  28. Gundam models are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Wait til you get better and move up to higher grade models. They get trickier but look so much COOLER!
    I personally have a preference for the "bad guys" because they tend to come in darker colors and I'm not all about the red/white/blue color scheme. My two favorites are Epyon and Deathscythe, they're both from the same series and are on opposite sides so I do like one "good guy."

    Oh man, you're gonna get addicted and start modifying them and coloring them they way you want and you'll soon have an army of steampunked Gundams I just know it. I can't wait to see pictures from that day.

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  29. I just saw Sankei papercraft kits on another blogger's site. Those look amazing and you can get them on Amazon. -Becky

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  30. For the white stickers, you could paint them with a bit of metallic acrylic paint (or maybe nail polish?) before you install them!

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  31. I've been meaning to comment on this since you posted, but kept forgetting! My fiancee loves building gundams--he panel lines and airbrushes the pieces and everything. It's not really my thing, especially because I never watched any gundam shows, BUT I will definitely recommend the new-ish show Gundam Build Fighters. The characters build the gundam models and then "fight" with them. It's so much fun, even without any prior gundam knowledge! You can watch it free (and good quality) on youtube, though I think it's subbed. The second season isn't as good, but is still fun.

    Season 1 playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9H1u1zFVNc&list=PLJV1h9xQ7Hx-0WipavLDd3mFSLJL1r2XQ

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