RGM-79G-E9 GM E-Rustler

A build made mostly to make a dumb pun with the name (say it out loud). The GM Command Colony Type is fairly unimpressive for an HGUC - it has a lot of outdated parts layout which was a big disappointment at the time since I had mostly built more "user friendly" HGs.

When I look back at this kit now, I think about one thing - how over weathered it is and how sloppy the weathering is applied. At the time I was only concerned with making things dirty and had not thought about the "reality" of how wear and grime would gather mechanically on a robot. I had not really gotten a full grasp on oil paint weathering when I built this and I think that really shows. While I would hardly call myself a master or expert of oil paints now, I like to think I've progressed a decent amount in learning how subtlety always works better.

The design of the GM command s actually quite sleek - Yutaka Izubuchi seemed to have brought a lot of influence from his Patlabor work over to 0080, and it's very present in the curved swooping lines of the updated War in the Pocket GMs. It's pretty interesting to think that 0080 was the first time that original One Year War designs had gotten an update - nowadays we are so used to Ver. Ka's, Origin versions, MG 2.0/3.0's, etc. It's a shame the HG kit is a bit of a wet dog.

While this build finished up less than ideal - it did get a happy home in the end: I gifted it to someone who has been tattooing me for a while (who is also a bit of a Gundam fan!). It now stands guard over his tattoo station, so I'm thankful it still got out there in the world.