Geeking Over Gundams

 Seeing the giant Gundam in Tokyo has been a bucket list item for such a long time.  I wanted to visit back in 2015, but couldn't work it out with all the other things my brother Michael, sister-in-law Krista, and I wanted to do.  With this latest trip my Mom, brother Steven, his boyfriend Ty, and I were already planning on visiting the teamLab Boarderless museum, so we were going to be a short walk to the Gundam.  I'm glad I live in a family of nerds, because they were all excited to check it out.

 Was seeing a full size Gundam statue worth the wait and hype? Yes!!

What a silly question. :P

It was fun. And I totally geeked out.  It's so big!  Apparently there's a store, which I would have loved to see, but we were planning on doing so much that there wasn't time.  But for every anime fan/nerd/geek/whatnot, seeing the giant Gundam in Diver City is totally worth it.

(Photos either by Sarah, Robin, Steven, or Ty.

They all got mixed up while working on a project)

Just a Girl Being a Nerd: Gundam Wing

 Have you seen something when you were younger that you really, really wanted, but couldn't get?  And, for whatever reason, wanting it never left your mind?  Heh, not sure what you're thinking, but for me this happens with silly, little things.  In the late 90's I was a huge Gundam Wing fan.  It's still my favorite anime, though it's been awhile since I've seen this Gundam show.

I didn't collect too many things from the series.  My brothers got the Gundam models.  I wanted Wing Zero, but never got around to buying one.  One day, around 2002 or 2003, I was wearing a Gundam Wing t-shirt I bought at a Dark Horse comic store on Universal CityWalk at Universal Studios Hollywood--that's a mouthful--while at Walmart.  This Japanese guy did a double take while I was shopping the produce area and kept staring at me.  Was he surprised an American was wearing a Gundam Wing shirt?  Or that a girl was?  I wore that shirt out.  It was a thing of beauty.

Sometime in the early 2000's I found a set of Gundam Wing character figures.  I wanted it so bad!  But didn't have the money and had to pass.  Now and then, later on, I checked Ebay, and for years I couldn't find it for sale.  Then a few years ago I noticed this set starting to pop up, but still I couldn't splurge.  Then, last week, I found it for $30 with free shipping.  I had to do it!  And now it's sitting on a shelf.

The box is damaged.  There's sun bleaching.  This set has probably seen a few things, or not while collecting dust in a box.  Still, I had to momentarily take the figures out to examine.  For now I'll display them in the box.

The nerdy girl in me is happy to have these Gundam Wing figures.

Thank You Pikachu For Making Me Feel Old

For starters I feel really quite young.

 When I was a kid and would look up to 30-somethings I would think, "Man that's old!"  For goodness sake it was a couple months before my 9th birthday when my Mom turned 30, which--Oh my goodness, I just realized this--I was 13 when my Mom was my age.  How's that for perspective?  Maybe being single at 34 with a boat load of questions about my life makes me feel young.  I don't know.  But then people are constantly mistaking me for 25, which I'll take as long as I can.

And then life throws a bucket of cold water on you to remind you that time is passing whether you like it or not.  For me I got soaked with ice water when I found a toy at Walmart showing the number 20.

"Why the freak is the number 20 on a Pokemon box!!??" I didn't exclaim this out loud.  Instead I screamed this within the confines of my mind.  A quick Google search later and I found out that the game Pokémon Red and Green came out on February 27, 1996, a year before the anime.

It wasn't until my senior year of High School, 1999, when I learned about the phenomenon through my obsessed three younger brothers.

We watched the show.  We collected cards.  They actually played, I just like collecting things.  I had many debates with my friends whether Pokemon is a legitimate anime, because a lot of purest wanted nothing to do with these Pocket Monsters.  Kiki's Delivery Service is the first anime I watched.  Miyazaki was gaining huge popularity in America.  Gundam Wing came out in March of 1996 as well, making strides on Toonami with 1992's Sailor Moon.

Yes, Sailor Moon is 24 years old. (Technically Sailor Moon was a middle schooler, so 12+24= 36.  Let that sink in.)

Most of the cards I've collected I've given to my siblings.

I've kept some of the holos.

This is my all time favorite card: Promo Holo Ancient Mew.

Scanning the card into a JPEG made it really dark.

Here's a picture that better shows the colors.

From ToyWiz.com: "Pokemon promo card ancient Mew - given issued out to attendees at the Pokemon Movie in 2000. Ancient Mew is Holographic on both sides and has an amazing illustration of the elusive Mew on the front of the card. The back of the card is wonderfully illustrated with energy balls consisting of grass, fighting, and fire, water, colorless, lightning and psychic."

Apparently it's an ultra rare.  Cool.  I got two on opening day.

Still Pikachu's 20.  20!!  Where is the time going?

Nerd Tuesday! Just Because

I've decided that today is Nerd Tuesday!

Why?

Why not.

I'm tired and it seems like a Brilliant idea . . . 

. . . though technically everyday should be Nerd Day.

Anywho!

it's crazy how things have changed in just the last few years thanks to the book wars.  The dominance of Amazon and online shopping is to thank for that, and I'm just as much to blame, because I find myself ordering online time and again for a good discount.

But there have been consequences, such as the closing of Borders Book.  I still reminisce about Borders and how much I miss it.  I still have the rewards card.  (Don't judge!)  But I do miss that store, both the random meet ups with my siblings, which, for some reason, never carried over to Barnes and Noble.  And I miss the three story Borders store in Santa Barbara.  It's so funny, because my family would visit Santa Barbara, and instead of hanging out all day at the beach, we would spend hours in Borders.  Books are magical and that was a magical store.

With all these changes Barnes and Noble has changed their format as well.  Instead of being filled entirely with books and magazines, there's now a large assortment of board games, puzzles, toys, and nerd collectables such as Doctor Who, etc.

Honestly I'm cool with these changes.

And the other day I noticed they created display cases for some of the figures you can buy.  Being the nerd that I am I had to take pictures to share.

 Sailor Moon.  The memories!  Sure brings back some good times watching toonami with my brothers and reading the mangas.

 D.C. vs Marvel.

Marvel wins by default, thanks to the Green Lantern.

And Gundams!

Gundam.

As much of a fan that I am, it's a wonder that I don't own my own tiny mecha.  I should save up and buy a Wing Zero, and then have fun putting the model together.  I haven't put a model together since I was a kid!  Good times.

Gundam Wing = Pure Happiness

Gundam Wing = Pure Happiness?

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration . . .

No, no it's not an exaggeration.  I was wondering the aisles at Barnes & Noble when I found these Gundam Wing model kits.  It was like stepping back in time!

And the awesomeness made me giggle.

 You even get a miniature Heero and Duo in the kits!

How cute is that?

I actually think that's pretty cool.

And for the record: I really need a Wing Zero for my collection.

Just saying.

Sailor Neptune's Mirror in Real Life

I regard the above mirror as a family heirloom.  It's not that old, yet it is very special.  My Mom found it in 1987 at a French flea market in Paris.  I was five when she brought this back, so it's part of my childhood.  Often I would go into my Mom's room just to look at it, and because I loved it so much she gave it to me.

Fast forward to the year 2000.  My last semester of High School was when I was first introduced to anime through Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.  Escaflowne and Card Captors were running on Fox, though I don't think the English versions ever finished their run.  Then there was Cartoon Network with their Toonami lineup.  Thanks to Toonami I was introduced to my favorite--and still overall favorite anime--Gundam Wing.  But Toonami was also responsible for introducing American audiences to Sailor Moon.

Of course I got obsessed, which included getting the manga (Japanese comics) as well.  While reading I discovered something quite extraordinary: Sailor Neptune had my Mom's mirror!  The details are so close that Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi had to have had one of her own, which she modeled Neptune's mirror on.

It's fun to think that a 1987 treasure from France was imitated in a famous anime/manga.  While searching for pictures I found the below image, which is the first time since 2000 I found someone else with the mirror, so I'm not the only person who thinks this!      

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Overly silly, I know, but I've always found this quite fun.  BTW, Sailor Moon is behind one of the worst mistakes I made in college.  There is a live-action version of the show called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.  I found it during the first week of one of my college semesters, and I managed to watch all 49 episodes in 4 days.  -_-;; I went to class, but got behind in my class work.  It was sadly addicting.  

On another note my niece LE learned a very sad truth on New Years Eve: Manga are not coloring books.

Sarah

K-Pop Invasion: Gangnam Style

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Last night, on the way home from a class, I about died: On 103.9 FM (The Mix 107.9), a Utah radio station that plays adult pop/alternative favorites, I suddenly heard an Asian pop song.  At first I thought the song was called Gundam Style (if you know anything about Japanese culture, you'll know a little thing about the amazing giant mechas called Gundam . . . Gundam Wing, till this day, is my most favorite anime.)  And then it became a game of "what language is that?"  I'm addicted to J-pop (Japanese pop music), so that was out.  But halfway through the song he says "Korean," so that was a sure giveaway.

The name of the song is called Gangnam Style sung by K-pop (Korean Pop) artist PSY.  I've never heard this song before last night!  But Korean, on an American radio station, was being sung!  You know what a big deal this is?  Huge!

The music video (which is at the bottom of this post) has gone viral, and as I post this there are close to 284,000,000 hits.  Amazing.

I've been a fan of J-Pop/K-pop songs for years.  It's a J-pop song from the Escaflowne movie that gave me the desire to learn Japanese.  And a few years ago I started getting into K-pop after watching some Korean Drama's (which are very good, BTW.)

If you like this song, and want to hear some more Korean music, I recommend BoA's (Beat of Angel) album "Copy & Paste."  You can download this album off of iTunes along with many of her J-pop hits.  That album has some really cool beats, and "Implode" is such a sweet song.

Enjoy some Gangnam sytle!!

Okay, I have the station on right now, 12:43 PM, and the song is playing AGAIN!!!!!  Two times in less then 24 hours!!!