IT'S NOT A TOY, IT'S NOT JUST A ROBOT, IT'S GUNPLA

“Greetings, my fellow earthlings”. Today I will be talking to you about a hobby that I so love (or as for now, ‘I so once loved’ and will “soon to be” loved once more) to do especially during the summer break or during Christmas season. Today I’m going to talk you about my “seasonal-addiction” of GUNPLA’s.

So what is a GUNPLA?

Well, GUNPLA is generally the term used to name or describe any gundam model (or kit) that is in plastic form or is in plastic composition. The name itself is a portmanteau word made by combining the words “GUNdam” and “PLAstic”. Never heard of the word Gundam? Click this link then

I’ve always despised the stereotypical and ignorant notion of people that Gunplas are “toys”. For goodness sake, THEY'RE NOT TOYS, THEY ARE MODELS. If you closely on the box of a Gunpla model, it says there “ n scale model ” (where n is the scale number). IT'S A MODEL NOT A TOY, got it? Ok, now that we’ve got that all cleared up let’s continue to our topic here.

You might ask why I love these Gunplas but if you ask me that, you’re already missing the good part. You see Gunplas, unlike other scalar models-slash-figures-slash-collectables, are not ‘ready-made’. These Gunplas are to be assembled yet, and assembling these bad boys is the part that I LOVE THE MOST.

Assembling one isn’t really that hard, unless you have no patience at all. Assembling one takes time and effort but in the end, it’s all the worth it. Usually, smaller scale models (those with bigger denominator value e.g. 1/144) are easier and more convenient to build albeit the resulting figure isn’t as satisfying and as beautiful as those with higher scales (smaller in denominator value e.g. 1/100, 1/60). Also, there is FREEDOM in assembling these figures, that is, you can customize them in any way you want and be creative as much as you want to and paint them in whichever colour you like.

The problem with this though, in doing this (and in collecting such) is that these models can be pretty pricey. Yes, true (especially those that are of higher scale quality). These models can cost so much that I never ever answer the questions and inquiries of people regarding their prices

But for me, their price is worth the time they give – the time and moments of delight that I get from these bad boys are incomparable, and in that reason, ‘cannot be bought or exchanged for anything’. You wouldn’t buy a gunplay unless of course you WANT that Gunpla. And for these past six years of hunting and collecting these “amusing” machines of mass destruction and warfare, never had I had any regret buying any of these Gunplas.

For some more pictures, here's a link to an album of my "not-so-great" (small) collection of Gunplas.