december 2024 | the beginning (and hopefully not the end)

so here we are, the very first entry into the blog!! WAHOOEY!

now, we are absolutely gonna have some growing pains as i decide on format, layout, as well as most importantly: length. but, we're here now so let's get to it!


a month in summary

christ, what a year. for context, since i don't have the other 11 months of blogs but i had to have a revision of an ongoing surgery on valentine's day of this year, as well as having a breakup shortly after- so needless to say it was a rough start. but come december now, i'm mostly out of the weeds and am now in a very happy relationship!

i would also like to take a second to thank my google calendar, bereal and my gallery for keeping any sort of record since i have a SHOCKING memory when it comes to these things. but a very good month, even if not that eventful, filled with a lot of new movies watched, a lovely solstice party and a decent hiatus from my ongoing pathfinder 2e game. now, my rehab has not been so good- now it's mostly due to my difficulties with routine and executive function considering my main issue is simply going to the gym for an hour and not leaving because i'm bored, but especially now that i'm approaching my final milestone assessment i'm feeling a lot better than in the beginning, but my strength leaves a lot to be desired. but let's get onto the good shit! the plastic robots babeY!

gunpla!

FOUR builds in a month! pretty good! and at this rate my backlog might be reasonable in a few months- and speaking of which! let's see the backlog as it stands:

10 kits! just a little more and i'll be back in the single digits- and speaking of gunpla i really do wanna do a cool little library page of all my kits as well as photo albums for each of them, but! scope creep be damned! we put a pin in it for now.

HG jesta

the hg jesta was a really fun build, of course i've been spoiled by WFM hgs and the like so seeing a polycap always makes me a little scared- but shockingly for a 2011 kit this thing is really sturdy. the articulation leaves something to be desired across the board, but for how gorgeous this design is plus the sturdiness of a 2011 kit- it's a tradeoff i'm willing to make.

in honesty, i haven't watched unicorn or even zeta yet (oops) but as much as i dislike the unicorn and banshee gundam designs, the jesta is such a fantastic grunt suit that holds a lot of design elements from the mass produced GMs which is just incredible worldbuilding frankly. aside from the obvious GM spartan (thanks pbandai hell) the jesta is probably the closest thing to a halo spartan kit that i know of, and while posing and building this thing i was just making sound effects and putting it in all sorts of military poses. this thing rules and is a very welcome addition to my shelf.

HG oltlinde (pbandai)

here it is, my first pbandai... this kit has been on my wishlist since before i even started building gunpla properly- the sleek feminine design with that one-of-a-kind mint colour and a fucking FROGMOUTH HELMET?!?! are you KIDDING? just on the frogmouth helmet alone i HAD to have this thing. i was really skeptical with this being a hg ibo kit which are notoriously fragile, but aside from the shoulder shield- this thing is solid. the build itself was very straightforward and basically no issues, and it being my first pbandai kit (that i spent a little TOO much money on) i made sure to really give it the care and attention that i usually reserve for an mg/rg kit. it can hit some really dynamic poses and the fact it can stand on its own with heels is crazy to me.

i think this kit speaks for itself truly, it has such a unique colour scheme and rides that line of fantasy armour and mecha that i find is really hard to achieve. this kit truly just leaves me wishing that the ibo gunpla line just had some more time to cook in the oven because the designs that emerged from a series that focussed on concussive and kinetic mech warfare with almost no beam weaponry/space magic are truly special and it's a shame this and the MG barbatos are probably two of the only kits i'd feel comfortable handing to someone to even touch.

RG tallgeese

rg tallgeese! this was another kit that was love at first sight, the moment a friend even told me this kit existed i simply needed to have it. the build for this thing was... odd? the construction for the bottom of the leg armour had this weird clip system that required you to assemble around it and after clip it on to fasten everything? honestly it feels really solid but it definitely threw me for a loop. but unfortunately the other build quirks of this kit don't have the same benefit of being helpful. the back thrusters for one are gorgeous when fully opened, but keeping them open is truly a sisyphean task and almost every pose i try with them, i find them closed minutes later. the advanced MS joints in this thing aren't actually terrible either, but my BIGGEST gripe with this kit and frankly it seems the internet can't give me an answer- is the skirt armour. it has this odd connector that's meant to affix it to the outside of the leg armour but even if i try to pose it perfectly for it, the peg doesn't go in and just pushes on the armour. in writing this, i realise i should just cut the peg off, that's how useless it truly is.

now the aesthetics? just look at it. the roman plume helmet design, the round shield and borderline wing thrusters? this kit is an absolute stunner on my shelf. which is funny that i say that as this was also my first attempt at something more than just waterslides and a topcoat- as you can clearly see, i did a bit of weathering on it! now, i will completely come clean that the decision entirely came from the panel liner being a nightmare to clean from the topcoat but the way it bled onto the white armour looked really nice and so i ran with it (though i was planning on weathering some day, i just was anxious about screwing up a perfectly good kit).

the weathering was pretty much just three techniques:
1: i would basically use a q-tip loaded with a silver gundam marker as a drybrush and that's what you see on the gun itself (i'm very proud of this, the result is stunning especially on the detailed rg weapons)

2: i loaded a different q-tip with grey panel liner and would just dab it across the surface, then using a clean and dry end to basically very intensely rub it across the surface to give this streaky effect

3: with a metal marker, i dumped some paint on my pallet and used the splintered back end of the wooden skewer i usually use for waterslides to just dip into the paint and scratch across the surfaces to give that 'chipped paint' look and it turned out really well, especially once it catches the light. you can see most of it on thes hield, knees, and the plume itself.

HG hyakuren

all the love in my heart, as much as i love ibo and the designs that came from it- the mechanics of the hg ibo kits REALLY try my patience. the build for this kit was honestly fine? but the moment i had to take a few posed photos of this thing, its flaws really started to surface. for one, one foot is completely limp in my kit, and i genuinely have no idea and have to just figure that i got a fault joint which is a shame because due to the slot design of the ankle connection, you can't do the easy joint fix of applying plaplate or some plastic cement to pad out the joint. but a design issue with the kit is the skirt armour which basically removes 50% of the leg manoeuvrability which is espeically frustrating as the connectors on the skirt armour is extremely flimsy and for each pose i've had to wrestle with and reattach the armour dozens of times, and you can't even reattach it after posing as aforementioned, the skirt greatly hinders the poses this model can hit.

now onto the nicer things about this kit, the design is really nice (are you seeing a theme with the kits i get) and i love the japanese inspiration on the leg and skirt, reminding me of hakama pants and banded samurai armour respectively. and as always, massive props to bandai whenever they make a kit that leaves absolutely zero spare parts in the box- the hyakuren comes with two fist weapons which are attached to the ends of the skirt armour, a machete/cleaver that comes with its own holster that clips onto the mobile suit's rear, and its signature rifle.

things i've been playing/doing/listening to/watching


barotrauma

now, at the time of writing this (11/01/25) i do have 292 hours clocked and that's almost exclusively with three friends in a few campaigns we've had, so this is hardly a 'december only' thing but i thought i'd mention it as it's been a large part of my month.



so as we're playing with the neurotrauma mod and our last doctor graciously let me shadow him before he stopped playing with us, i've been the only person on this crew of three people and like five bots that knows how to do any medical treatment whatsoever. now of course, because i am a little silly i have made it my mission to physically enhance our security ('G.U.N.N.A.R.') to the utmost limits of our modlist, this includes a complete removal of all organs and limbs, and having them replaced with cybernetic alternatives- as well as genetic endocrine boosters out the asshole. now, our captain is not the biggest fan as i have a tendency to forget to suture up patients after i discharge them, leading them to either cause me material hemmorage as i try treat the causes (not realising they're opened up) or for them to promptly die. but regardless, my campaign continues and i have essentially turned the three non-bot crew into immortal killing machines that can only be stopped by a skull fracture or an untreated bullet to the lung. incredible.



cyberpunk 2077

i've been putting this one off for a while, mostly due to the lukewarm reception to the game itself and the notorious bugs on launch. however, a few friends in a discord i'm in have been playing it a lot and seeing it on sale with some time to kill, i thought why the hell not.



i'll gladly say i had an absolute blast in the beginning, seeing the lay of the land, collecting cute outfits and messing around with the photo mode a little too much. the combat felt pretty snappy and running a 80/20 reflex/int build was such a joy when i was infiltrating buildings, hacking cameras and assassinating gonks and basically teleporting out of any sticky situation with a few swings of a machete and a dash. but as i get further in the story, i find myself less and less attached to a whole lot going on and especially with how much i dislike the main character of V- it's starting to become a bit of a slog. taking photos and cruising down cramped city roads at 120km/h on my bike is still absolutely kicking ass but i've slowed down my playtime as the game seems to be giving me very bland missions and not a whole lot of infiltration missions which my whole character is built around.



space station 14

oh boy, space station 14. where do i even begin. unfortunately i've had a bit of an issue finding a dedicated MRP/HRP server active during my australian hours that isn't just an abhorrent experience but i've had a few good rounds, even if i'm basically unwilling to venture further than being a courier/janitor/serviceperson.



basically space station 14 is a survival game. you're on a space station with often 50-100 other players while trying to survive the shenigans of the traitors onboard, incompetent science teams, as well as whatever goon has stumbled upon a cursed relic that threatens a black hole. now, my first few games i was a librarian who was trying to organise a game of dnd for 5 or so crewmates, which eventually lead to the warlock putting on the killer clown's nose and ushering in the end times- which was brought about on the space station by a dragon invasion. now the library was one of the last bastions from what i could tell on the radio, but our time listening to the screams and explosions while playing dnd was cut short by a polite dragon going "sorry.." and hurling a fireball into the room, killing us all instantly.

another notable game was when i was satchel, a mousefolk courier in charge of delivering people's mail and ordered packages. i was picking up the job decently, making some decent cash for the cargo department- until i noticed that medical had amassed such a large stack of mail that i was growing frustrated and impatiently tapped on the stack until a surgeon came out seeing my blunt force injuries from some freak rollerskating accidents. he took me into the theater only saying "surgery." i listened, and was promptly stabbed 12 times in front of three other doctors all looking among themselves wondering what is happening- i was dead for about a minute until another doctor barged in and took me into a vent to resucitate me. i escaped, heading to security screaming that i had just been murdered and brought back- which they thought was insane, and told me they would "look into it". fucking acab man. so i did the only reasonable thing and went to the bar, drinking my sorrows away and drunkenly ranting to anybody that'd listen about the failing security department, my murder, as well as the scars to show for it. after passing out and sobering up i went back to work, instead of gently handing over letters, i was now pelting them into the pigeonholes of any recipients and glaring at anybody daring enough to call me rude. unfortunately my deep character arc was also cut short by the religious department being blown up by a bomb and shredding the space station in two. gg.