Gundam MK-V Core Works v.2 Coming in January!

I was in San Jose's Japan town this afternoon and I stumbled across this little dusty old store that happened to have a small anime section with a few toys. They also have a decent variety of Japanese magazines and books. I have been looking for Hajime Katoki's book called Fix Figuration. It was the book that started the whole toy line. It's a classic and pretty hard to find. I have seen it for as high as $98 online so when she had a copy for $28, I immediately snatched it up.

As I flipped through the book, I was very familiar with almost all of the Gundam figures showcased, but there was one that has not been made it to the Fix Figuration line: Gundam MK-V. I don't think I have ever seen this version before. I fell in love immediately. Awesome Katoki design in this vibrant blue color. I can only hope Bandai makes a Fix Figuration version.

When I got home, I wanted to check if the MK-V was on any kind of pre-order list on Hobby Link Japan or something. I'm pretty up to date with the upcoming Fix Figuration releases, and I hadn't seen the MK-V. However, whilst I was doing my research, I stumbled across an interesting site called Hobbyfan.com that had the 1/100 MK-V Resin Kit. This kit is available for pre-order and should be deliverable in January, 2006 for around $90.

Hobbyfan.com is a site for hardcore resin kit builders. I can't even make the Bandai Master Grade kits which come molded in full color and snap-together look very good. Resin Kits are a whole 'nother level. These guys are more artists than model builders. Master Grade kits are the "paint-by-numbers" versus the Picasso of resin kits. Resin kits come with colorless resin-parts that somehow get attached together with metal pins and glue or something. After you somehow figure out how to put them together, you have to paint them. I have no idea how these guys get these kits to look so good. I bought a small resin kit one time, and I could NOT even build the thing let alone paint it. No kidding.

What is cool about Hobbyfan.com is that I saw a number of kits of Gundam Robots that I have never seen before. Some of these are pure resin kits, but some of them are conversion kits which are resin parts that convert the Bandai Master Grade kits into new versions with new weapons and accessories. They aren't cheap either at around $100 each. So you actually pay more for a kit that is much more difficult to build and paint?! Insult to injury if you ask me.

In any case, there were a few outstanding models shown here that I really wish they would make into a Fix Figuration version for us lazy and un-talented bastards.