Building model kits is so relaxing. The best calm evening after a day of work is to sit down with a good Twitch vod and methodically put together a model kit. The instructions are clear, building them isn't hard (usually), and you can have a conversation with your friends as you do it!

Now, putting decals on a model kit is a whole different story. There are no rules or guidelines (...usually), and you have to make it look detailed but not too busy. I'm...still getting used to it. I'm in the process of decaling all my existing kits, but it's taking a surprisingly long time to actually finish them all up. You gotta get out the little cup of water and the little cup of rubbing alcohol, and the exacto knife and the cutting pad and the tweezers and the stack of Q-tips and all the decal sheets and you gotta partly disassemble the kit and-

Sigh. Yeahhh, I'm still getting used to it. I'll update the unicorn pic below once it's done being decaled and panel-lined!

Photo of two Haro model kits: one is lavender and resembles the Gundam 'Ball', and the other is a classic green Haro.
My first two Haropla! They are perfect. The green one opens his mouth and bites. The lavender one is a Ball Haro, which I think is just fantastic. These were my first entry into anything like Gunpla, so they sit on my desk and I cherish them.


Photo of a Haro model kit: the Haro is in a white mech suit, its mouth slightly open, and is pointing a large gun directly at the camera.
My latest Haropla, which is a cute two-toned Haro that has a mech and widdle cat ears. The gun was a wonderful addition by my girlfriend, from one of her Transformers.


Photo of an SD Hi-Nu Gundam model kit. One of its funnels is in an action pose and the Gundam is holding a gun and a shield.
The newest addition to the Gunpla collection: SD Hi-Nu Gundam! I absolutely loved bulding the MG Hi-Nu (below) and when I saw pictures of this tiny kit I just couldn't resist. So tiny! So cute! What a good design! It's little funnels can pop off! What a joy!


Photo of an MG ReZEL Commander Gundam model kit. It is holding a shield up with its left arm and is holding its right arm straight forward to point its arm rockets.
My first full-fledged Gunpla kit! This one is the MG ReZEL Commander Type. I picked this one out because it's a nice blue and has cool green transparent plastic bits in its visor and shoulders. I really like that it's pointy all over and is designed to look like a jet even in mech form. I transformed it into a full jet once and that was enough for me - it's just a little too flimsy in that mode. The jet kibble looks so cool in its mech form though! Unfortunately since this was my first big kit, I wasn't very good about removing the nub marks - don't look too close hahaha.


Photo of an MG Hi-Nu Gundam model kit. It is posed holding its shield up and holding a gun.
I. Love. Bots. With. Wings! So I love the MG Hi-Nu! I'm especially in love with how the wings look - they're so neat! I love that it has a white and gray double V fin on its helmet, and that it has shiny silver bits out of the box, and that it has copper bits on the canisters on its back! There are just so many nice little touches that make this kit a joy to build and to look at.


Photo of a PG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. It is posed in Destroy Mode with a curled fist held upwards.
The pride of the pack - the PG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. This was an impulse purchase because I got an exorbitant gift card to Amazon and I wanted to spend it all at once so that I wasn't tempted to use that website again and again*. I have never regretted it for a second. It came in a box at least twice the size of my PC and I was enraptured then and there. It was so so fun to build - at every step there's usually a transforming bit that you can play with, so you can figure out the transformation bit by bit. It's also 90% white and transparent plastic on the outside, so it's very forgiving of nub mark removal. Thankfully by the time I built this one I had picked up a little skill from my MGs and my girlfriend's tips so I didn't have much trouble with them anyways, but it never hurts to have white plastic in case your exacto blade slips! I would recommend looking up more pictures of this one online, it's very cool and has a lot of little details. It transforms from a pure white mode that has a unicorn horn on the helmet (thus the name) to this "destroy mode" which shows off all the cool transparent plastic in the kit. It really is perfect!!


*Not saying that there is such a thing as ethical consumption under capitalism! I just personally try to avoid purchasing things off big horrible companies like Amazon and/or giving them my money, my personal data, and ad revenue. I am a small drop in the ocean for these companies, but I am a paladin so I have to create some kind of ruleset for myself to follow.