Here's my checklist of SD Gundams to add to my collection :) Here's their names from top to bottom, left to right: Aegis, Hyaku-Shiki, RX-178 Gundam Mk.II (Titans), Cross Bone, RX-78 GP04, Freedom, Gundam GP-03D + Dendrobium, Blitz, MS-06F Zaku II, MS-06S Zaku II & Dom. There is probably a few others, but I only liked these ones which I found on the Hobbyco website, Hobbyco being the place I get them from.

There aren't many downsides to this model. All I can say is that in Launcher mode, the gun is WAY to big and as you can see in the picture Strike has to have his arm out straight to hold the gun & limits the arm movement. There are only about 5 colours of plastic, so if you want it in all its glory a paint job would be recommended, especially the aircraft (its just one piece of light blue plastic), and finally (but this is stretching it a bit) the legs don't have a knee joint. Its just hip to ankle, which isn't to bad because after all he is SD. I recommend the SD model series because you could buy 4-5 SD small models for the price of 1 HG model, they don't take up much shelf space, apart from my comment on the limited ammount of colours they dont lack detail/quality & basically are just plain awsome!

Real life Gundam!!! This is a must see for robot fans who are visiting Japan. I should note down the location of this giant, if it is still avaiable for public viewing. It doesn't quite look to scale... it might be, dunno.

This Bandai 1/144 scale Forbidden Gundam [Mobile Suite: GAT-X252] snap-together model kit [#15] from the Gundam Seed universe looks pretty good, however the $11 price tag compared to the $30 Zeta Gundam I bought a couple weeks before, probably explains a lot. This kit and probably all the kits in this range have very little articulation. On the robot itself [excluding the backpack thing] it has 7 points of limited movement. The head is probably the most moveable, followed by the ankle joint. The legs can't move much at all, unless you want the model to loose balace and fall over [the skirt around its waist doesn't move to compensate for lots of leg room] and the shoulder joint is a bit of a joke. You can move the arms slightly away from the sides of the body, but you risk them coming out of the socket joint. They can however move forward and back rather well. The back pack thing is ok... not a lot of function here though... just eye candy. Also you need to give it a paint job. The Zeta kit is bearable as it has a larger variety of coloured pieces however this one only manages about 3-4. It comes with 3 frames and a couple of smaller ones [joint pieces]. A green frame with a very small section of red [1 piece], a mixed colour frame containing more green parts as well as some black and yellow, and of course a light grey frame. So to obtain the same look as the image above you best buy some paint while your out. The only good thing about the kit is that its cheap [so you can practice your painting skills], and it looks good. So I wouldn't suggest you spend your pennies on these kits unless you don't care much for articulation, otherwise they're a bargin. I'd save your $11 and add another $20 to it and buy one of the much more detailed and more poseable kits.

The HG 1/144 scale "MSZ-006 'Zeta Gundam' A.E.U.G. Prototype Transformable Attack Mobile Suit" is a Bandai snap-together kit, which is similar to the ZZ gundam below. All the pictures above are the ones I saw in HobbyCo, well most of them... I would have grabbed the Kampher or the Heavy Arms Custom if I saw it. Anyway these snap-kits are pretty good and not too expensive. They range from about $12AUS to about $80+AUS, it depends on the size and "quality" of the model. For example the MG [master grade] model is more expensive than a HG [high grade] model. Mine was $37.95AUS, but there was a sale so I got it for $29.95AUS. This also contributed to my choice of mecha [not were all on sale see :)].

Anyway here's my review: They come in a box with cool artwork and pictures of it on the front. Oh and lots of japanese writing. None of these models are in english so some basic understanding of the japanese language may help, but its not essential. It came with stickers/decals and instructions, which is always good. It had 5-6 plastic frames of pieces of mecha to snip out and clean up. I used a pair of small wire cutters to snip each piece from the frame and then I used a scalpel to trim off the excess [WARNING!! It depends on how you wield your blade, but I have many cuts and niks on my thumb :( I recommend using a large thimbal or wrap your thumb up with a bandage or something before hand]. All the pieces are simply pushed together, no glue is required, but there is a piece or two that is a little too loose and could do with a wee bit. Oh did I mention these models are poseable? So yeah they are like a model kit figurine... kind of. Also you may have notice the name of mine that it "transforms". Well my high hopes of a cool "transforming" gundam was let down as it doesn't really transform. You have to pull the thing apart and rearrange the pieces to create this flying space craft thing. To make it even worse it doesn't even use all the parts. To "transform" mine I have to remove the neck/head, wings, most of the skirt and the legs and then rearrange them on another piece of plastic which isn't even on the mech.... So I am left with the torso, arms and head sitting all by its little lonesome. I thought this was pretty stupid and it could have been designed better. It should have been like the ZZ gundam below which is fully transformable. It also has a massive gun, and I mean massive. Its like the same height of the whole mech, which makes it hard to hold and balance the mech. It has a smaller rifle gun which I prefer. It also has a sheild on its arm and an interchangable hand which has a sword. So apart from the "transforming ability" and the massive gun, it's like a Stikfa on steroids. Also as a 'model kit' it would look its best if it were given a paint job. Straigh out the box it looks good, but there those minor details that stickers just won't cut. I might buy some hobby paint of the colours given in the instructions and make it look a million bucks. I'd buy them again, but next time I'll be wary about the transforming ones :)

From left to right: Buster, Calamity, Justice and Aegis Strike Gundam. Kampher, Heavy Arms Custom, GP03, NT1 and Sandrock Custom.

Transformable Uber ZZ Gundam found at ToyboxDX. [Theres that Hyakushiki again!!]

The somewhat simple looking Gun Cannon and Kampfer. There are paper models on both these guys heads. I might attempt making a model of the Gun Cannon... dunno just a thought.