My Certificate of Proficiency in English result!

Current status: F-in ecstatic! I have f-in struck f-in gold!
Currently listening to: "Friends" by Stephanie, the second ending theme to Gundam 00. Great 90s-like song.
Quote of the day: "There is only one Goddess, though she has many aspects. And there is none greater than she who bore the aegis long before Zeus claimed it for himself" - Hanno, a Lybian from Lindsay Clarke's The Return from Troy, about Athena and Neith.

Hell yeah! After waiting about one f-in month and a half, I finally have my CPE result! To my amazement, I, a Romanian from Romania, have managed to get an A! Anyway, here's a screenshot of my Candidate Profile:

From what I can see, I fared very well at Reading and Use of English, rather well at Listening (must've been the shaorma), well at Speaking (I guess I must've annoyed the Romanian lady I talked to) and almost Borderline at Writing. Guess reviewing The Last Samurai was a bad idea... At any rate, a great result, WOO-HOO!

... I can go on translating the Super Robot Encyclopedia to English, now that I am proficient. Damn, it sounds well! Also, I needn't worry anymore about the ambitious persons who aim to get 10's and A's wherever they bloody want, just because they have nothing better to do and than screw their life for a career that will end early, due to old age. Now, at least, I have proven that I am just as good as the desperate creatures who despise anything that stand in the way of their learning. Did I say learning? Sorry, I was wrong. They learn nothing. They want no knowledge. They want glory They care nothing for culture or feelings. They care only for their career. One damn good reason not to want to be anything else than a Latin teacher! I want to know, not to get more money. I don't go around screwing with people, telling them that I don't know anything and that I am a failure, only to end up being vastly better in results. Yes, I am arrogant, but I'd rather be arrogant than mental. If, by chance, someone recognizes him- or herself in this portrait, then he/she is not the target of this criticism, but rather a certain category of persons I despise. No worries, if you've made it so far, you're probably not among them. ^_^

*Phew* Definitely felt like letting that out. At any rate, I'm faring quite well. I have a Sehr Gut (Very Good - A) in ZMP (Zentral Mittelstuffe Prüfung - German's C1 exam) and an A in CPE, I have a second prize in this year's national Latin contest (not too far from the winners) and another second prize in this year's Greek contest (actually, I was first, but you need at least 9,50 to get first prize. 9,10 doesn't cut it). I've also participated in the international Latin contest dedicated to Cicero in Arpino (no good results, I kinda screwed my translation. I was third in the nationa; qualifiers, though. Yes, I know there were only 20 or so). At any rate, the above national contests have earned me a nice warm place in our proud Bucharest University, among other Latin students. Also, I had 9,21 in this year's Baccalaureate, but hey, it's not like I was fighting for a 10, like others-- whoops, sorry 'bout that. Not too shabby.

Sorry for the above, I am feeling a tad arrogant. Oh well, can't have'em all. It's either that or telling people I suck at everything. No thank ye, very happy with meself, I am. Signing off, yours truly.

Personality test results.

Current status: Much better.
Currently listening to: "Interception", a BGM from Gundam 00, with some ominous chorus. Lovely battle theme.
Quote of the day: "The Gundam Meisters are not alone!" - Allelujah Haptism (Laugh), one of the main characters of Gundam 00, with a split personality called "Hallelujah" (Laugh again), which can be distinguished according to the eye covered by his bangs. If it's the right one, he's Allelujah, if it's the left one, he's Hallelujah. One is peaceful, one is homicidal. The Gundam Meisters are members of Celestial Being, a paramilitary organisation that aims to erradicate war through force. At least, that's what they intend for now.

This is a short post, about my results in a personality test. Here they are:


My Personality

Neuroticism	32
Extraversion	39
Openness To Experience	99
Agreeableness	98
Conscientiousness	86

You very rarely feel depressed and are usually in a good frame of mind, however you experience panic, confusion, and helplessness when under pressure or stress. You lead a leisurely and relaxed life. You would prefer to sit back and smell the roses than indulge in high energy activities. As a person who is open-minded to new and unusual ideas, you love to play with and think about ideas. You also like to debate intellectual issues and often enjoy riddles, puzzles and brain teasers. You see no need for pretense or manipulation when dealing with others and are therefore candid, frank and sincere. People find it relatively easy to relate to you, however you dislike confrontations and are perfectly willing to compromise or to deny your own needs in order to get along with others. You take your time when making decisions and will deliberate on all the possible consequences and alternatives.

Take the Personality Tests now or view the full personality report. Pet Gifts

Also, I have solved the scans problem. The moron replied that it's still against rules, so I made another blog, inaptly named "My scanlations".

Signing off, yours truly.

Deviantart amazes me.

Current status: Very angry.
Currently listening to: "Daybreak's Bell", the opening theme to Gundam 00.
Quote of the day: "i don't know if you mis interpreted this site or not

scanning art in a book, magazine, or other media is not allowed, unless it is your own art.
please remove those images.

this site is for displaying works of art that you, yourself, have put time into and created, not a website to display someone elses art." - azahlia, member of deviantart, an American who is unable to spell "misinterpret", about my Super Robot Encyclopedia scanlations.

Well, where to start. Let's see...

Three or four years ago, I started an almost impossible project, which was translating a Japanese book about mecha anime from 1972 until 2004. This was one of the reasons for which I tried to learn the language better. In the last year, I've managed to translate some 30-40 pages, editing and everything. Usually, I'd use imageshack, but as of late, these images were too large and had to be resized. As such, I made a deviantart account to host my work (which I would then post on SRWG-W.org, a forum I visit a lot). All went fine until some files started vanishing. I thought it was because I had forgotten to upload them, and then I saw, to my horror, that some of my older files had been deleted. Today, as I was going to upload a new page, I noticed that I had some new messages. The majority of them was from deviantart, telling me about copyright infringement. It was bizarre out of several reasons:
1. They had deleted only some images, and they weren't even licensed series. Heck, one was almost obscure.
2. I had clearly specified that all I did was translate them.
3. They mentioned that they were reported by someone.

So I scrolled down, and found this idiot. This sad excuse of a human being sent me the above message, which revolted me far more than the neutral and automatic message from the host. It's the feeling of being reported by a goodie-goodie. The kind of goodie-goodies that deleted Gundam articles on Wikipedia. The kind of goodie-goodies that ban fan-videos using anime footage from video sites. This was most unfortunate, as there were users who appreciated my work. Of course, nobody gives a damn. It's better to be a man who respects every rule and never hesitates to meddle and tell a higher authority of some "crime". What was this called? Theft?

Yes, according to this moron, I was just posting scans that I had never contributed to. Probably that his brain failed to notice the fact that every page was edited. That in the corner, there were clear Japanese characters, which, amazingly, did not look like the rest of the text. I have spent hours of my life translating this book, for the sake of some anime fans out there. Maybe this "wannabe novelist" fails to understand how hard it is for a Romanian to translate from Japanese to English for the sake of others. Wouldn't it have been easier if I had just kept it to myself? Yes, but I wanted to contribute to this community I am trying to enter in. It was too much to ask. I suppose this is how things will work from now on. It's a terrible world.

At any rate, I'll probably start another blog to host the images. Expect some updates.

Signing off, yours truly.

Exam in 2 hours. Comments

Current status: Scared. Humiliated by the comment thing.
Currently listening to: "Ai wo torimodose" ("Get love back") sung my Masaki Endoh, the legendary opening theme to Fist of the North Star. (YOU wa SHOCK!!)
Quote of the day: "Hi there!

This may be the first comment I'm actually posting here, but I have to confess I've read your blog before...

I can totally understand your reasons for writing in English (my LiveJournal account is entirely in English as well), and I, too, was a bit disappointed by Romania's football team... (yes, I watched the last match...) But c'est la vie!

Good luck for the next two weeks, and trust me on this: after your first *real* exam session (at university), the Bac will seem just a piece of cake! Fingers crossed anyway! " - A should-have-been comment on the previous post. Before I realized my settings didn't allow everyone to post.


Well, what is there to say. Exam, exam, scare, scare... I'm trying every trick to get myself motivated. Let's hope nothing will ruin that. I'll need every bit of morale I can get. I'd quote one of the luck wishes I got last night, but hey, privacy. I can assure you, it was bloody original. It was perhaps the best description of how kids these days cope with the crap the Ministry gives us.

***

Also, about the comments: I'm an idiot. If it weren't for the commenter above, I'd be waiting for someone with a Google account to write. Whose bright idea was it to filter them like that? At any rate, now everybody can comment. Including porn site advertisers. The joys of internet.

***

I'll be back in the afternoon, to share impressions about this first exam. No matter what others say, this is not a piece of cake. To quote a "300" parody: "THIS IS DELICIOUS!" "Delicious? THIS! IS! CAKETOWN!!".

Signing off, the same guy.

One day till the exam begins

Current status: Oh, slightly worried by the following 2 weeks, nothing special. Other than that, happy that Russia won last night 3-1 after extra time!
Currently listening to: The Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 soundtrack. Instrumental versions of cheesy robot anime themes. Ain't it nice?
Quote of the day: "If he'd read communist poetry, Titu Maiorescu (famous Romanian critic who promoted our would-be great classics and started the association known as "Junimea") would roll in his grave." Never knew our Romanian teacher had such a sense of humour, even in his manual.

Someone once complained that my blog is written in English. Now, I don't necessarily consider this language to be the best or the classiest there is, but I like it: it has its charm, I guess. Why am I not writing in my own language? Romanian's nice too. It's a beautiful language born from Latin, Dacic and Slavic. And others. Including Turkish (like "baclava". I love those things). Problem is that very few people understand this wonderful language ("very few" is an understatement: even our bloody leaders have trouble with it). Bad enough that this blog has only one comment, the last thing I'd want would be for it to be even less read.

Another argument is that if I write in English, I can control my formality a little more. I'm quite convinced that if I were to write in Romanian, I'd end up swearing about some teacher or some classmate. Not you, you manipulative patriot, don't worry. At any rate, even if I do swear in English, it's not as effective as in Romanian. (Maybe because our people use the letter "P" a lot. Believe me, it adds quite an effect. In case you forget what you were gonna say, you can just spit him. Still a "P") On the other hand, if I were to write in Romanian, I'd probably censor myself in a silly way. I've seen the opposite in school, actually. Some girls were mentioning... err... you know. That-which-they-lack.

Lastly, it's a fact that Japanese cartoons use English terms. For example, Great Mazinger's melting beam called the Breast Burn (because it's fired from a V-shaped breast plate) Can you call it "arsura de piept" without laughing? No. Engrish (Japanese attempts at writing in English) is funny. Lomanian might not be. At any rate, I hope I've convinced you why I chose this blog to be in English.

***

Romania has left Euro 2008. After waiting 8 years to qualify to such a competition, we were close to getting out of an impossible group. We had to face France, Italy and the Netherlands. France being the finalist of the 2006 World Cup, Italy being the winner and Netherlands being the team we'd beaten in the qualifiers. What happened?

France-Romania 0-0. We defended like crazy and ended up having no chances on goal. As someone would say, we put our asses in front the goal.
Netherlands-Italy 3-0. Scary stuff. World champions lost badly. A simple calculation would lead us to think we'd beat Italy.
Italy-Romania 1-1. I was having private classes when I heard a shout of happiness. Romania scored! Within a minute, Italy equalised. Italy had a goal cancelled. Romania had a penalty. Adrian Mutu shot it. And what do you know, he missed. Everybody called him an idiot on the Messenger, but I defended him: it was he who scored the other goal too.
Netherlands-France 4-1. Chances were high. The former were qualified, which meant they had no reason to beat us in the last match. All we had to do was beat the Netherlands, or draw (if neither France nor Italy won).
Netherlands-Romania 2-0. We failed.
Italy-France 2-0. France failed too.

The aftermath: Raymond Domenech is going to get fired. Mutu got press-raped. Piturca got press-raped. Ionut Lupescu realised we don't have experience. The Dutch lost 3-1 to the Russians in the quarter-finals. Poetic justice? No. The neighbor's goat has just died. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Amen.

***

Ah, yes. The dreaded baccalaureate. Tomorrow, I'll be discussing with a woman near her menopause about the wonders of communication and, likely, some literary current. How lovely. Wednesday, I'll be talking German, in a sea of nincompoops or geniuses. That's what you get when there's just eight of you. There's no middle class here, folks. Friday, the indispensible Romanian writing paper. Ooooh, boy.

And that's just the first week. Second week has History, Latin and Psychology. In three days. Great. I'll be taking my leave then... Signing off, yours truly.

SRWZ and Giant Robo episode 1 review (part 1)

Current status: Very happy, for very various reasons

Currently listening to: Overman King Gainer from the series with the same name. I just can't believe Yoshiyuki Tomino could write such a hotblooded song.
Quote of the day: "Can't happiness be obtained without sacrifices?" - Kusama Daisaku from Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still.


Today I'll start with the announcement that Super Robot Wars is getting another episode for the PS2. Its name is Super Robot Wars Z and features the following series:

• Overman King Gainer (NEW): By Yoshiyuki Tomino. All I've watched is episodes 1-4 so far. Weird mech designs, catchy theme... Sounds promising.

• The Big O: Featuring Roger Smith the Negotiator and R.Dorothy Wayneright. Nicknamed 'Batman with mechs', The Big O was a bigger hit in the States than in Japan. And it has a Queen-ish opening. Was in SRW D for the GBA.
• The Big O 2nd Season (NEW): We should thank Toonami for this gem. Due to US success, Toonami asked the Japanese counterparts to make a new season. Finally, we'll see some real Action. It's Showtime! Especially since it has much more plot than Season 1. And more mechs. And [SPOILER] TOMATOES! [/SPOILER] I'm not kidding.
  

• Invincible Superman Zambot 3: Tomino's super robot returns. How can one not love a fat enemy called "Killer the Butcher"? That's really discrete, Tomino... Reaaally discrete. Last seen in SRWR for the GBA (and in Advance Portable, technically). Also of note is that [SPOILER]they kill everyone, and I mean everyone. Even the dog. Oh, right, the main character survives. And this is a kid's show?[/SPOILER]. I remember that in SRW4 they made a major route split on whether you were quick enough to save some kids from being bombed by Butcher. Needless to say that I failed majorly. Not much of a tragedy, I couldn't understand anything they said (I had that infamous translation patch. "Ogilk iscu" for the win!!

• Invincible Iron Man Daitarn 3: Roger is not the only rich guy in SRWZ. Banjou is back with his 120m tall bot. And with a new voice, I suppose, considering his original one died about a year ago. Last seen in SRW Alpha 3 and Advance Portable. I hope we get to fight the Meganoids again. Daitarn's plot was actually original in that aspect. Banjou is the son of a scientist, who created the Meganoids, robots with an ego. For that, Banjou can never forgive neither his daddy, nor them robots. In fact, [SPOILER] in the last episode, his father talks to him in his mind, cheering on him to win. Banjou tells him to he road, that he doesn't need his dad's help, and beats Don Zauser with his Sun Attack.[/SPOILER]. Awesome.

• Combat Mecha Xabungle: "Xabungle wa otoko no ko!" (Xabungle is a boy!) yells Jiron while piloting the 2-part real robot. One of the comebacks from Alpha Gaiden, this series had one attack involving Xabungle's upgrade throwing a giant missile at the enemy. Yes, that's right. Throwing it. P.S. Not a great cut-in...
  

• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation: One of Kill'em all Tomino's masterpieces, albeit graphically and plot-wise updated. "Believe in the sign of Zeta, beyond the hard times from noooow!" (from the first opening theme). It's been shown in SRW so much, that describing its plot is useless.

• Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack: Char and Amuro, Universal Century Gundam's biggest rivals, duke it out one last time, with the Earth's fate at stake. Philosophy, passion, mobile suits with funnels, drama... Except that Terada (the producer) announced that the plot won't be used. Again. It's here just for the mechs. Pictured is the Nu Gundam, Amuro's custom mech. I have a figure of it! ^_^
  

• After War Gundam X: Considered a failed series because it was cancelled after 39 episodes. In fact, it had a good plot and better yet, it had a reaaaally strong mech with an obscene MAP attack. Gundam X and Gundam Double X can use their Satellite Cannons only when the full moon is out (since the beam is fired from a moon satellite, onto the Gundam). Last seen in SRWR, was in Alpha Gaiden as well.

• Turn A Gundam: A moustached Gundam, a post-apocalyptic 19th century-like society, a pilot who's a talent at crossdressing, a samurai in an ancient mobile suit and most importantly, Moonlight Butterflies. Another Tomino work, with bizarre mecha and only one appearance in SRW - Alpha Gaiden again.

• Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny: The Fukuda (I know you're thinking of the same dirty word) couple's sequel to Gundam Seed. Fans hate it for its many flashback episodes (one is as late as episode 40ish) and for the sudden change of main character and sides (Shinn Asuka becomes an Anakin-like bad guy when Kira Yamato, Seed's retired hero comes back). Memorable for Shinn's beating of Freedom Gundam and killing of Kira. And Kira lives. Again. And gets a bigger shinier mobile suit. And kicks Shinn's sorry ass. We get to see Freedom's stabbing in the preview, which means Banpresto liked it. And the fans liked it. Worst case scenario, we'll replay some missions.

• Mazinger Z: Grandpa Zed is back again. And he looks chubby, like in the '72 series. Initiator or piloted mecha series, of super robots and of female robots with breast missiles (Believe me, there's a lot of them out there). There, I've said it. Hope we get to play its plot, he's been shafted these last few years.

• Great Mazinger: Z's worthy successor, piloted by a highly trained orphan pilot called Tsurugi Tetsuya. Initiator of angst? At any rate, what can be cooler than a robot that directs lightning through its finger and fires it at the enemy?
  

• Getter Robo G: Strangely enough, this is all we get this time around. I suppose we'll be fighting the Hyakki Empire. At any rate, I like the mech, and its finisher, the Shine Spark, kicked major ass. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a post-movement Getter Change Attack. Compact 3 and MX really kicked us in the teeth with that one.

• UFO Robo Grendizer: My childhood hero is back to kick ass, yay! He'll make good friends with Marin from Baldios. Heck, they could even be from the same Solar System or something.

• Space Emperor GodSigma (NEW): A 3-robot combiner, powered by new miracle energy called Trinity Energy. Like all things miraculous, aliens want it badly. The Eldars, led by a lady general (yay!) want to get their grimy hands on it, and GodSigma won't let them do it. Notable that it has a crapload of sword techniques. Let's see how cheap Banpresto will be.

• Genesis of Aquarion (NEW): A CG-mecha anime, more of a tribute to Getter. Oh, and they fight angels (not an Eva reference). And whenever the Get Machin... errrr, Vectors combine, the pilots get an orgasm.... Neat, huh? Also, this is perhaps the sickest twist to the classic Rocket Punch yet. A fist that extends and follows the enemy in a pure Itano Circus manner (a name for the Macross missile massacre - basically, when swarms of missiles follow a mech, moving at unlikely angles). Can reach the moon (Fly me to the moon... er-hem. Not an Eva reference) and is called Mugen Punch (Infinite Punch).

• Eureka Seven (NEW): I don't know a lot about it, but I've heard it's really good. And it has mechs on surfboards. Woo-hoo.
  

• Super Dimension Century Orguss (NEW): Made by the creators of Macross, this series has a plotline about dimensional problems. Sounds like a plausible way to bring so many wacky series together.

• Space Warrior Baldios (NEW): The other plausible way to bring them together. Marin, the pilot, is brough to Earth because of a hyperspace problem. And is followed by the enemies. Marin wants to save his second home from these bastards. I'll bet they'll go hand in hand with Dizer's Vegans.

• Gravion (NEW): Finally, Klein Sandman and the Gran Knights join the ever-larger and wackier SRW Universe. I don't think I'd mind any of the themes, frankly. "Gran Knights no shoukun, gasshin se yo!" (Gentlemen of the Gran Knights, combine!)
• Gravion Zwei (NEW): And the sequel to it, featuring even more Super Robots. And some Brave Series tributes. Yay!

***

Time for a review now.

First off is Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still. We'll start with Wikipedia's description.

Giant Robo is an homage to Mitsuteru Yokoyama's career. The series features characters and plotlines from the manga artist's entire canon of work, effectively creating an all-new story. The events take place in the near future, ten years after the advent of the Shizuma Drive triggers the third energy revolution. The series follows the master of the titular Robo, Daisaku Kusama, and the Experts of Justice, an international police organization locked in battle with the BF Group, a secret society hell-bent on world domination.

The OVA is recognized for its "retro" style and operatic score. The character designs emulate Yokoyama's drawing style and the mechanics are inspired by steampunk literature. The action set pieces are influenced by Hong Kong action cinema, specifically the new school of wuxia and the 1970s kung fu wave.

The first installment of the series, "The Black Attaché Case," was released July 22, 1992. Originally intended to finish within 36 months, the seven volumes series was ultimately released over the span of six years. "The Grand Finale" was released January 25, 1998.

This is the translated version of its Super Robot Encyclopedia entry (credits go to me for the translation and editing)

My first encounter with the titular Robo was in Super Robot Wars 64 and Super Robot Wars Alpha, for the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 respectively. I'll have to admit, Daisaku's voice sounded so annoying, that I considered this series to be weak and for kids. Sure, I made the same mistake when I first heard Shishioh Gai's (The King of Braves GaoGaiGar) voice in Alpha 2 for the PlayStation 2.

Luckily for me, I was wrong in both cases. You might recall I reviewed some of the GaoGaiGar FINAL episodes earlier in my blog (still incomplete, but I'll attempt to finish it). GaoGaiGar turned out to be a heart-warming story about courage, friendship and perseverance. And big bots kicking ass left and right.

Giant Robo, however, amazed me. First, with its opening theme. The narration really fits the orchestral melody. Here, we find out about the rise of a new type of energy, the Shizuma Drive, about the 2 groups fighting each other (the BF Group and the Interpol) and about the titular Robo. Nothing special so far, apart the fact that the theme was the only thing that wasn't retro-style.

Episode 1: The Black Attaché Case (55:26)

The episode kicks off with the disappearance of Dr. Shizuma. Then, during a thunderstorm, we are introduced to the (still unnamed) villains: Genya (the long-haired leader), Koenshaku (his silent samurai-like guard), Alberto the Shockwave (one of the Magnificent 10) and Ivan of Russia (with his huge nose). It seems they are gathering 3 "samples", of which they only have 2 (both in suitcases), much to Ivan's dismay.

Then, we see somebody running in the dark. In fact, it's Dr. Shizuma, running on top of a caterpillar-like train, holding on to his suitcase. Calmly following him is Q-Boss, a dandy-looking fellow with a sock-like mask (like all BF Groupies). Upon asking Shizuma to give him the case, the scientist replies "Never! Do you know what'll happen to the world once I give this up?". Q-Boss laughingly tells him that it all started with him inventing this drive-system. Shizuma explains that this is why he is trying to pay for his sins with his own life. Q-Boss just wants the case and takes his gun out. As Shizuma prays to God to protect his case, Q-Boss replies that he should have prayed to 10-years ago self (this is significant, as we'll find out later). We hear a gunshot as the train enters a tunnel. We see blood dripping, and it's apparently coming from Q-Boss, as Shizuma is still cowering at the end of the train. Someone has apparently shot Q-Boss's hand. It looks like a tall robot-like being, holding a gun. This someone has come to save Shizuma. As Q Boss wonders where it had been hiding, we hear someone yell for "Ginrei!". The yeller is dark-skinned muscle-man Tetsugyu (translatable as "Iron Ox"), standing on another train, coming on a parallel line. Shizuma's saviour takes the costume off, revealing long-legged China dress-wearing beauty, Ginrei ("Silver Bell"), who jumps off the train, along with Shizuma. Tetsugyu seems kind of disappointed to have caught just the professor, and not the girl. Q-Boss's train had bunches of helicopters stored inside the wagons (what?). Ginrei disposes of one of them via gun (they just don't seem to make helicopters like they used to... ^_^;;). She seems to want to use some kind of power, because there's no end to this enemy. Tetsugyu asks her to leave it to him, because she shouldn't use that power. He fights the enemy, while having the professor and the case on his back. He disposes of quite a number of helicopters using his axes (which are extendable, nevertheless) and a technique called the "Black Whirlwind". That doesn't change the fact that Ginrei calls him a stupid ox (name pun), because he put Shizuma in danger. Their train is destroyed by Q-Boss, whose train turns into a caterpillar-like robot, with a giant drill for a nose. A kid tells Tetsugyu via telecommunication to run faster, which makes him angry. Ginrei is contacted as well (via ring) and is told to keep running straight ahead (where there is a bascule bridge). When they get there, it parts, due to a ship coming that way. They jump, followed by Q-Boss. Suddenly, a giant hand (coming out of the ship) catches them and punches the robot. The train bot flies off, and Q-Boss tries to make it move (uselessly). We can see a gigantic silhouette moving in the distance (steps SFX and all). It's a huge pharaoh-headed robot, and next to its head is a boy. It's... Giant Robo! Q-Boss does a desperate attack "for Big Fire", and the boy, Kusama Daisaku orders Robo to punch it. Q-Boss flies off, saying this is impossible (tell me about it... one hit kill punch?). Tetsugyu and Ginrei recognize Daisaku, as Giant Robo takes off, holding them in its hand. We hear Ginrei's voice-over. "Come to think of it, this was my first encounter with Daisaku-kun. I think it was the first day of the incident. Yes, the seven days that nobody can ever forget."

Unfortunately, due to the length of the episode and to my lack of time, I'll have to halt the review here. So far, so good. This is a battle that can be seen in either SRW appearance Giant Robo has had. Incidentally, in SRW64, Q Boss doesn't stay dead, whereas in SRW Alpha they mass-produce that machine (which does get a name, not that I would remember it). I'll give my marks when I finish the review.

***

This should've been the part where I reviewed my new toys, but it's been almost 2 months since I was supposed to do that. At any rate, I have a new camera, so I'll even take photos of each one of them. Here's a tentative list of the following review-posts.

1. Revoltech Getter 1 (from New Getter Robo)

2. HCM Pro Nu Gundam (from Gundam: Char's Counterattack)

3. Revoltech Shin Getter 1 (from Change!! Getter Robo: The Last Day of the Earth)

4. HCM Pro Sazabi (from Gundam: Char's Counterattack)

5. Revoltech Mazinkaiser (from Mazinkaiser and Mazinkaiser vs the General of Darkness)

6. HCM Pro Force Impulse Gundam (from Gundam Seed Destiny)

7. Revoltech Giant Robo and GR-2 (from Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still)

8. HCM Pro Freedom Gundam (from Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny)

9. HCM Pro Strike Freedom Gundam (from Gundam Seed Destiny)

10. HCM Pro Destiny Gundam (from Gundam Seed Destiny)

***

Before I sign off, I'd like to express my thanks to my high-school classmates. Thanks for these 4 years, thanks for the wonderful prom, thanks for being the crackpots they are and hopefully will always be. This particular screwball will never forget you! (You get a cookie if you guess which one I am)

Signing off, yours truly.

Gundams, vampires and friends, oh my!

Current status: Doing a victory dance after completing my new figures. Damn they're smexy!
Currenly listening to: Swat On Dekaranger, from a sentai anime, Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (Special Investigation Squad Dekaranger), the inspiration for Power Rangers: S.P.D. A nice hot-blooded song to celebrate my first ever MS figures.
Quote of the day: A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired. - Some anonymous guy on Wikichan

Today, I picked my figures up from the post. First thing to note is that the boxes are bigger than those of the Revoltechs, although the figures are a few centimeters smaller (my camera is busted, so I'll post pictures later). The robots themselves are already built, but their weapons and accessories aren't. You need a knife or scissors to cut them free from the plastic support. Easier said than done. Earned me a cut finger (my middle finger, too... Daaaaamn, now I can't show it to anyone anymore...) and another cut (on the same finger. Neither was fatal... I think). Took me a whole hour to build Nu Gundam's signature Fin Funnels (long range remote-controlled beam launchers o' Doom), mainly because they were neatly matched on to another and ignoring the instructions would make the whole process useless. I also discovered that I am completely blind, not understanding the drawing that clearly showed the Funnel's connection to the figure. Nevertheless, Nu Gundam looks awesome with his beam saber and bazooka. They could've given him a stand, though. There's no way of displaying the Nu Gundam in flight, surrounded by the Funnels (same goes for Sazabi. It's a pity, really). The Sazabi was less of a pain to assemble, and even gets more weapons, I think. Also, you have 3 funnels, but I have NO idea how I'll display them or at least avoid losing them. I'll try hanging them from the ceiling. Anyway, let's see what accessories you get for each.

Nu Gundam
1x shield with Amuro's custom logo, containing 3 missiles. Attachable to arm
3x beam sabers: one is off (stored in the left arm), one is lit on one end, one is lit one both ends (though the second end is quite small)
1x beam rifle: even has ammo
1x bazooka: also has ammo, as well as an adjustable handle
6x fin funnels: can be stored on back
2x open hands
2x closed fists
2x holding fists

Sazabi
1x shield with Neo Zeon logo, containing 3 missiles. Attachable to arm
2x beam sabers: both are identical.
1x beam tomahawk: one-sided
1x beam tomahawk: two-sided
1x beam shotrifle: like a shotgun
6x closed funnels: immobile, stored on backpack.
3x open funnels
2x open hands
2x holding fists

All in all, I can give them 5/5 on mobility, 4/5 on accessories (why don't they have a stand?), 5/5 on design. Final score: 4.66/5 to these two figures. Now I can reenact Char and Amuro's final battle. Yay!

A new Hellsing chapter (91) has been released, and Hirano claims we are heading towards the end. Basically, nothing happens. Seras joins Integra to fight against Major, but we knew that since chapter 90 (2 months ago). All Major does is gloat over his wonderful victory against Alucard. He's really reminding me of Mojo Jojo. Finally, Integra orders Seras to shoot, but only on the last page. On the other hand, the fight between Walter and Heinkel continues. Walter tells Heinkel to shoot at him, only to slash his arm and leg off. Heinkel had become nothing more than a vengeful ruin, bent on killing Walter. On the other hand, Walter is close to his end, and attacks the zeppelin with his Deadly Floss o' Doom. What's he up to? Someone in the LJ Hellsing community thinks that Hirano initially wanted to kill him off this chapter, but he made up his mind. All I can hope is that Alucard comes back, because the manga series is crumbling to a disappointing ending. In fact, ever since Anderson died, nothing has been working like before. Let's just hope Hirano has one trick left for us... Unlikely, since he seems to make it up as he goes on.

The point of the quote is that it sounded very familiar. I've been through this quite a few times, and I'm getting sick of it. Sometimes you'd just want a girl who'd stop appreciating you and would just love you. Is it too hard? Well, if you want brains AND feelings, you're knocking on the wrong door. The best you'll get is their friendship. If you do get their love, it's almost never because you liked them in the first place. I do hope some persons recognize themselves in this portrait and act more carefully along boys. Who aren't perverts and assholes of their own choice. It's girls like these who make them like that. I do hope I won't hear anymore gossip about my inconstant choices. I'd gladly settle for one girl, if she'd stop saying that I'm such a "good friend, end of story". To quote Friends: friend zone = dead zone. I dare you people to prove me wrong.

That would be all for today. Signing off, yours truly.

Otaku

Current status: Ecstatic. My newest order from Hobbylink Japan has arrived! Tomorrow I'll go get them!

Currently listening to: TWO-MIX - Last Impression. The ending theme to Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, the sequel OAV (and movie remake) to the popular Japanese mecha anime, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing. The song combines slow, ambiental vocal with very dynamic, rock-like instrumental every now and then. Kitsch? Who cares?
Quote of the day: "As long as people like you exist, there will be need for soldiers like us!" - Heero Yui, Gundam Wing's protagonist, in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2, when fighting against Neo Zeon units.

Being in my last high-school year and all, I have 2 large problems. One is that of love and stuff, which I haven't developed on this blog, for fear of snoopy classmates. The other is that of the upcoming exam. Regarding the first, all I can say is that I am sick and tired of the soap operas surrounding my and everybody's love-life. Who needs cable when you have twenty-f***ing-eight girls around you? I have seen everything. Absolutely everything. It's enough to make men go gay, sometimes. Till you realize you'll be forced to become a bit girly, which can have horrendous results. Mind you, I've known decent girls, and quite a few of those. Just that the majority has little pity for my braincells, which have been fried over and over.

The exams? Lessee... Romanian literature and non-literature, oral and written? Check. History? Check. Latin? Check. German oral? Check. Psychology? Check. 6 exams. Thank God I'm not Hungarian, else I'd have one MORE exam. Lots of work, stress and more work. Oh, and your friends and colleagues are of no help. Think you're calm, with your mind clear as a mirror and still as the water? (Copyright G Gundam) That's too bad. Everyone around me, except for pathological cases, is worried. "Will I pass?" "Will I get all 10s?" "How did you solve this Economy problem?" "Is this a subjective or a predicative clause?" "How am I gonna rephrase this?" "I haven't learned anything, I'm DOOOOOMED!" "I'm gonna die!!" "Tell him about Barbu's poem!" "HELP ME WITH THE LATIN QUIZZES, MIKE!" "YOU'LL NEVER PASS! "YES I WILL!". And so on, and so forth. The ministry helped us a lot too. They gave us all possible variants on the Internets (to quote Bush). 100 complete subjects, each containing 3 exercises. For the written exams, that's a total of 1200 exercises. And 200 published ones for oral. And 200 more that are unpublished. 1600 exercises. Stick'em up your asses, darlings.

There are two solutions. One is working all day, all night. That's what my classmates do. Look at them. Sure, I did it too, but in another way. I'm going to 3 national contests, all taking place in the same city, during Easter holiday. 3 more exams, in 2 days. French, Latin and Old Greek. Wish me luck, since I'm an arrogant bastard who wants to get some prizes. It's not like anybody else even reached the national phase. And, as if this performance wasn't enough, I don't need a college entry exam, being an international contestant in Latin. In your faces, people!

There's the other solution, much more peaceful: being an otaku. Yes, I mean manga and anime, not pornography. More specifically, mecha anime - anime with and about robots. I enjoy certain robot series because they're formulaic. You know that by the end of the episode, the good guys will use the big bot to beat the baddie of the day. And if they don't beat him, you know they'll get a bigger bot or a bigger gun. How can you not like that? This is why I play Super Robot Wars. This is a crossover game, almost 20 years old (since 1991), with many new versions. It's all about putting some mecha series together, combining their plots, making their characters interact and fighting their enemies. Sometimes, the story modifies the original plot, so that you can save some of the ones who die, especially in Gundam series. Playing a few of these games has reintroduced me to a childhood idol, UFO Robot Grendizer, a 70s anime about Duke Fleed, an alien prince who escapes his conquered planet with the invaders' robot, Grendizer. He is followed by the Vegans (the baddies), who are bent on conquering Earth as well. Duke (adopted by a scientist, under the name of Daisuke Umon) must give up his peaceful life to protect Earth. I'll give more details another day.

The main point of this post is action figures. I already possess 2 Revoltechs (highly articulated 6-inch figures), one of Getter 1 (from the 2004 New Getter Robo) and one of Shin Getter 1 (from 1998's Change Getter Robo: The Last Day of the Earth):

I received them in January, when I went to get them, despite my toenail surgery. I hope to make a similar photo for the HCM Pro Nu Gundam and HCM Pro Sazabi, both scale 1/200.

These are some photos of the two figures in action. As I said, they are highly posable. (In the third picture, you can notice Dr. House, by the way).

Tomorrow, I'll go pick up the two HCM Pro figures. Here are some pictures of them (credit goes to Hobbylink Japan).

Kore ga shouri no kagi da! - This is the key to victory!, to quote the narrator from The King of Braves GaoGaiGar.

I do hope I'll be able to keep posting here from now on. If anyone (among the ones I may or may not have insulted) feels offended, well... that's too bad. The last thing I'd want is censor myself in a blog.

Fellow otaku, Lion of Genesis, signing off once more.