Gunpla Expo Philippines 2017

Good day plamo nerds! It's been an action packed month on the blog indeed, and with a new post coming out every week you'd think this was a full time job. Should I take a break then? Nope. Otaku on a budget has no chill! Besides, there's this thing called the Gunpla Expo, and it's in town for the first time ever. What self-respecting plamo blogger would sit this one out?!  I happily dragged my wife and son against their will to Mall of Asia on Day 1. Jump in if you'd like to know my impression of the event, and for some poorly taken photos of the stuff on display...

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Master G233 Airbrush - Review

A pleasant day to you all my lovely plamo nerds! After almost a year of using the Master G233 airbrush, I think it's about time I did a review. It's not a new model by any means, but I think it deserves some attention, even with all the other generic Chinese airbrushes flying around. This was the airbrush I used on the Boros, and if anything it at least made the daunting task of painting the model a little less stressful by never giving me any problems, which - as far as cheap airbrushes go - is saying a lot. There's a video at the bottom of the post if your millennial instincts tell you anything less than an animated GIF is boring.



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Hobbiworkz Airbrush Cleaning Pot - Unboxing / Review

Greetings and salutations plamo weeabs! Here's a quick unboxing and review of the Hobbiworkz Airbrush Cleaning Pot. There's a video review at the bottom of this post so you can skip down to that if you prefer listening to my sexy bedroom voice, but for the KB conscious, I took a bunch of pics as well.

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Mecha Musume - Ezia Tori

Happy hearts month plamo weeabs! I'm sure many of you are taking a break from your WIPs and have been cutting back on plamo expenses in preparation for Valentines day. Despite being the brutish and barbaric men of macho manliness that we are, I know for a fact that we all cave for our special someone on the 14th - and anyone in a relationship who claims otherwise is a big fat liar.

But for the members of the lonely hearts club, don't drown your sorrows in paint thinner just yet, because this feature post just might cheer you up!

If I asked you to imagine a girl's room, the first thing that comes to mind is pink, right? A dresser littered with beauty products, bottles of nail polish, and an assortment of makeup equipment. Shelves would be stacked with either stuffed animals, a collection of barbie dolls, or Nicholas Sparks books, depending on her age.

Although our guest for today does have a penchant for pink things, take a closer look at her room and you will quickly realize that there's something unique about this girl. In place of nail polish, model grade paints adorn her desk. Instead of fuzzy bears and mushy novels, an army of mecha stands guard on her shelves. Ladies and gents, please welcome our featured Mecha Musume for today - the founder of Gunpla Girls herself - miss Ezia Tori!

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Talyer Talk

Good day plamo nerds! I've finally finished relocating all my plamo stuff to the new place, and I'm super stoked (that's what the kids say these days) to get back to work on my mecha projects. But before I pop the cherry of this brand new mecha "talyer" (english: shop), I thought I'd talk about it a little bit and share some photos while it's still a "virgin" so to speak. I've been working out of a plastic bin for years and never really had a dedicated work space up until this point, so you'll have to indulge me a moment as I show off my shiny new cabinet. May she be a vessel of creativity, a fortress of frugality, and a dependable ally as I voyage into the outer reaches of the plamo universe - my very own beast of possibility.

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Featured Seller - Kim's Gundam Store

Good day plamo nerds! January was a blur. We kicked the year off strong with some great new content, and just like that we're in February, with the blog showing no signs of slowing down.  Today we'll be taking a closer look at another online hobby shop that, in just a year's time, has quickly grown into one of the most trusted and reliable sources of gundam related goodies in the country: Kim's Gundam Store!








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Mecha Musume - Evon Tan

What's up my fellow plamo nerds? I'll tell you what's up...our visit count that's what! The blog is nearing the 300k mark - and although that number is just loose change compared to the traffic on blogs that cover mainstream subject matter like fashion and food, I consider it a major milestone for a home-based, plamo-oriented one. I'd like to thank you all for supporting Otaku On A Budget. What started as a personal journal on my adventures as a mecha modeler has blossomed into something much larger - and I owe it all to you guys and gals! 

Speaking of gals, where mah gurls at?! I know you're out there...lurking in the forums and facebook groups, maybe too shy to speak up or show off your talents in the male-dominated mecha community. 

I only say dominated because guys in this hobby probably outnumber girls 5:1, maybe even 10:1 - But that's not to say they are out-skilled. No sir-ee they are most definitely not! And for that reason it's about time the ladies had the spotlight. Today we kick off a new series entitled Mecha Musume!

Now now boys, let me make this perfectly clear. Our version of Mecha Musume refers to female mecha modelers. If you're expecting armor-clad girls in bikinis, leave now. And for heaven's sake, can we be mature about all this? Seriously, if anyone so much as leaves an inappropriate comment, the perpetrator WILL be fed to the social media wolves. It's those creep advances that discourage girls from taking up the hobby in the first place, so please, take your excess testosterone elsewhere.

In this series we have a casual chat with a female modeler, and find out how and why she got into what many believe is a male-oriented hobby. I'm hoping these interviews will help break that very cliche, and inspire more females to get into plamo. I sent out the invites a few days ago, and what a pleasant surprise it was to find that almost every single modeler I contacted responded positively.

The first to heed the call for this noble cause has already been sharing her work online for some time. She's an illustrator and model by profession who likes to spend her spare time applying her many talents to mecha modeling. Ladies and gents, let's all welcome Evon Tan!


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The 3rd Party Revolution

Greetings and salutations plamo nerds! Unless you live under a rock like Patrick Star, you're probably aware of the new 3rd party (aka bootleg, knock-off) kits that have recently hit the mecha market. I'm talking about Daban and Dragon Momoko's Strike Freedom, both based off of Bandai's Metal Build version, and the Providence Gundam by a new company called DevilArts. All three kits do not currently exist in Bandai's lineup, further blurring the line between what is original and what is a knockoff. It's been going on for some time now, but I think a major phenomenon is happening in the mecha modeling world. It's similar to how nearly every consumer product out there, from cars to computers to clothes, right down to the very underpants you're wearing (or not wearing) at this very moment, came to exist today.





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Featured Seller - Hobby Toys Laguna

Happy new year plamo fanatics! Let's kick of 2017 with an excellent store feature! Still hanging onto those holiday bonuses? I'm about to make it a little more difficult, particularly for those residing south of Manila. Allow me to introduce you all to Hobby Toys Laguna, a home based operation that has been making waves in the mecha community with it's recently concluded anniversary build-off event, boasting a great selection of kits both in stock and for pre order, and a wide array of  hobby tools and supplies. Learn more about the shop and the services it provides by clicking on the Read More link below!

2016 Wrap Up

Happy new year plamo nerds! It's been such an incredible year for the blog, my adventures in plamo and my personal life. I thought I'd do some reflecting as we jump into 2017, looking back on what I learned, my achievements and failures in the past twelve months - and hopefully commit some of those lessons into long-term memory.

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Fantastic Builds and How to Find Them

I've never been to Japan. Well, technically I have set foot in Japan but connecting flights through Narita don't really count as visits. I don't speak or read Japanese, and my vocabulary is limited to about a dozen words and phrases that I've picked up from anime, such as "sugoi!", "nani?!?!", "kusoo.."  and admittedly, "yameteeee!" . But in my quest to uncover the ultimate mecha modeling techniques I found myself in the Japanese cyberspace wonderland.

For a while I was lost - It seemed like every link I clicked on led to strange fetish porn (what is up with all that goo?!), or an ad for pills that claim to grow your junk a couple of inches. Eventually I learned to adapt - and I began to find blog after blog, website after website of mecha plamo at it's finest... and there I came to realize the truth - the best mecha modelers are from Japan, and no one can ever convince me otherwise.

I began following Japanese modelers on social media. Many even maintain their own blogs, some of which I've already featured in the Superbuilds series. Their pages are treasure troves of information and mecha eye candy that will keep you browsing for hours. The formats differ and the layouts can be quite confusing to navigate, but all you need is patience and persistence - and modelers such as ourselves already have those two traits in spades.

Will you choose to stay within the confines of facebook, and continue to believe that the best builds in the world can already be found in mainstream competitions such as the GBWC - or will you take the time and effort to dig deeper? The choice is yours.

"You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. 

You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes..."

-Morpheus (The Matrix)

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Meijin Modeler - Win Eiam Ong

For many of us, upgrading to an airbrush is the logical choice if we intend to get better at painting our models...But once in a while an artist comes along with enough talent to succeed using the most humble of tools - a good old fashioned paintbrush. He has conquered Thailand's GBWC twice in a row with his mind bending concepts and excellent craftsmanship, and went on to take home the title of GBWC grand champion for 2015. His entry this year is just as awesome if not even better, and he is off to Japan once again to compete with the rest of the world's plamo elite. Ladies and gentlemen, today we get to know more about the one they call The Paint Pusher...our featured Meijin Modeler, Mr. Win Eiam-Ong!

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