When I eagerly opened the long-awaited Gundam Calibarn Chogokin from Bandai, I admit to being nervous. I love the mecha from Gundam Witch, I think the flare for design by numerous contributing mechanical designers gave the series a varied and interesting look. It was a sympathetic approach to the fact that the G-Witch world was populated by numerous industrial companies competing for contracts, all of which would have their own design ethos and mechanical skills.
Of course, the hero Gundams are the Aerial, Aerial Rebuild and the Calibarn, all of which share thick thighs, the signature Gundam V Crest and the ability to use and integrate GUND-BITS. These were Gundams I wanted to invest in, and with the Rebuild Chogokin skipped in favour of Calibarn, I wanted to grab the figure and pair it with Aerial as soon as I could.
And yet, after the first enticing promo-shots dropped, we started to see in-hand pictures, and the outlook wasn't good. Far from the matte, off-white shades we were used to, Calibarn was... bright white? Was it white in the show? It's certainly been off-white/light grey in its kit and figure releases, so why the stark, glossy finish? Why did it look so... cheap?
To quote Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels... Alarm bells are ringing, Willy.
Early promo shots suggested a matt, off-white look.
Meeting the Monster
And so Calibarn arrived thanks to Yoyakunow, a firm in Tokyo that helps me acquire limited edition releases at a reasonable cost. I was nervous as I really wanted to love this figure. I pulled out the little polystyrene coffin, cut off the cardboard top and... well, shit.
Now you have to take this as one collector's opinion, but first site of Calibarn was pure hatred. It was very white. It was also very shiny - not in a lavish, glossy way, but in a cheap Chinese plastic used on KO shiny. I rolled it around in my hands to appreciate the significant weight of the piece, a trademark of the Chogokin/Metal Build line I've dedicated so much cash to. The sculpt was sharp, in particular the head was lovely, layered panels giving it a sharp and intimidating look. It had the clear bits which just lit up out of the box, because the Japanese are classy enough to throw in a few cheap batteries with a near £300 toy. But none of it mattered, because to look at, it was a crushing disappointment. All that money on something that felt like £300 but looked like £30.
It's a subtle but important difference in shading that makes one toy look legit and the other like a KO...
In my review on the UK Anime Network I opined that this was the first time I felt like selling a figure on straight away. I hadn't fallen in love with it, as I had with the Aerial, or the Metal Build SEED figures. Hell, it wasn't even as good as the (admittedly superb) Metal Robot Spirits figures. It was crushing.
Lets get Practical
Clearly I needed to take some action. Happily all the concerns could be dealt with in one move, but let's identify the two big ones:
It's hard to show in photos, but there's a lot of thin, cheap looking white plastic - the chest and thrusters in particular look quite poor
The latter point is a real worry - my hideously expensive YF-30 Chronos Valkyrie and the YF-25 have both yellowed horribly. The YF-31's are starting to go the same way. Bandai is not good at plastics, they must know this and yet do nothing about it. Even my Hi Metal R figures have all yellowed, that's literally thousands of pounds of premium collectables self-destructing.
This is why the finish and colour is so important - none of my Metal Build or Metal Robot Spirits figures, many of which I've had longer than the Macross figures, have yellowed. This is a combination of whites being painted or off-white, so that they don't have the same issue. I am aware that some non-white plastics also have issues, but to nowhere near the level of white plastic.
Initially I berated the Chogokin Calibarn for its lack of tampos, but I'm now seeing that as a bonus - it means that I can spray paint any white plastic that yellows and not lose detail. It's hard to tell what is and isn't painted on this figure, and I'm hoping all the panels have been painted, but if not I feel I can repair the figure to display condition.
Before we get to that though, let's look at what we can do to preserve what's there. Storing it away from sunlight is a no-brainer, so it sits at the back of the office where the sun can't reach it. Nor is it in a lit cabinet. So storage - check.
Secondly, the shiny finish. It needs to be matt. This will accomplish two things; firstly, it'll unify the finish so that it doesn't look scuffed or worn in parts. The second is to enrich the colour. It sounds odd I know, but adding a matt varnish really helps to enrich the underlying colour as it absorbs light and adds a pleasing layer of depth. It also feels really nice in hand, it's a far more tactile experience than bare plastic, so it both looks and feels its money.
We also need to seal the plastics, so logically we use a UV protective matt varnish spray and go nuts. I'm using Krylon, but Mr. Hobby is also a very good choice. Having disassmbled as much as I could in terms of GUND-BITs, weaponry and shiny permet plastics (so anything that isn't white or needs to remain shiny), it all got several coats of matt varnish.
End result? The cheapness is gone.
Krylon and Mr Hobby are a sound investment
The Aftermath
So now that the figure looks its money, how do I feel about it? Mostly frustrated, but certainly better.
I'm annoyed that the figure didn't look like the strategically lit promo photos. I'm baffled by the choice of colours that hasn't been used, from what I can see, anywhere else. I expected an upscaled, die cast version of the Robot Spirits figure, and in all but colour, that's what I got. I'm worried about what will happen to it in the future, but also somewhat reassured that the lack of paint and tampo detail means that even with my very mid-tier skill-set, I can get it looking fresh if I really need to.
What really irks though is how such poorly thought-out design choices affect these premium products. These are not cheap, therefore I expect the materials and the finish to reflect what I'm paying. I want these products to last, not rot away like fruit. If I want to buy a YF-30 Chronos, it'll set me back £300 (I originally paid about £150 in Japan) and I've no reassurance that it won't self destruct. There's no real remedy either, even using chemicals will only lead to it yellowing again, it's just in the materials. As a collector, I will pay more for white paint that won't suffer yellowing if it means the product isn't worthless in a few years.
I deliberately avoid buying white figures now. I trust the Metal Build line as it's proven reliable over time, but any other Bandai product in white scares me. I feel duped with the Calibarn as it was a limited item I had to pay up front for, and never would have done so had I known it was going to be white and look so cheap. Therefore as much as I get pleasure from looking at it now, I also feel a pang of resentment. When is it going to turn on me and start rotting away? It's a shit feeling and not one I appreciate paying for.
Anyway, the point of this long, rambling piece is that if you do find yourself with a white plastic collectable, do yourself a favour and invest in some spray varnish to protect your investment. Keep it out of the light and treat it like Dracula.
Or do what I do and just try and avoid white plastics in any high-end collectable. It'll only lead to heartbreak in the end.
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