#i got it from daiso 😁

[bidamonalbarn]

the pen is pretty good! it's gel ink so I'm obsessed with the ink - relatively fast-drying it's not gonna smudge when writing. it's 0.5mm so a little thinner than I normally like my gel inks but still very nice. I just have an obsession with gel ink ballpoints I fear..

also I purchased new pens I'll let u guys know how that goes

[golvio]

My interest in ball-jointed dolls and Made-to-Move Barbies has led me into the Gunpla Zone, as kit models also offer a fantastic degree of articulation. After seeing random Gundam models as shorthand for “This Character Is A Nerd” for years, it was really interesting to finally see how the metaphorical sausage gets made. I didn’t even realize you had to assemble the figures yourself at first.

I got curious about kit building when I saw the VOLKS Fiore “Cosmos” kit while doing research into Dollfie Dream dolls. I loved her design, but I was nervous about how complicated the assembly process looked from a distance. Some of my fear was reduced by watching Adam Savage’s walkthrough of a “perfect grade” kit. It turned out you didn’t need a whole bunch of tools if you weren’t planning on customizing or repainting the model, and the assembly process is less overwhelming if you take things one step at a time.

The directions themselves are primarily visual, which is super friendly to my particular flavor of ADHD. I’ve also got these cute little snack storage containers from Daiso that I’ve been using to sort the parts based on the flowcharts in the instructions, so it’s super easy to keep track of all the pieces and snap things together as I go. My method is assembly so far is assembling each of the regions of the body separately, starting with the head, then sticking them all together once I have everything finished. It makes me feel like I’m working an android assembly line just as much as disassembling my ball-jointed dolls to dress them up for the first time.

I started off with some 30 Minute Missions models because I thought the Acerby-Type robots were really cute. In retrospect, that was a good call. The 30 minute series markets itself as builds a skilled expert can assemble in only half an hour, so there are less parts and the directions are simpler than higher grade models for bigger mechs. I ended up finishing the base body of my Acerby Type A over the weekend! She’s so poseable that she even passes the BJD “sit test!” 😁

But, yeah! Once I got over being precious about stress marks and figured out how to sand things down, putting her together was a lot of fun! Gunpla is definitely a hobby for autistic people by autistic people. 😆 It’s very relaxing to zone out while smoothing down the plastic leftover nubs from the snipped runners while listening to music or a podcast. Using the Xacto knife for precision nub trimming is also much less scary than I thought it would be. My early work might be a bit rough, but with practice I should be ready to finally fulfill my dream of assembling Cosmos very soon!

Now my biggest problem is rearranging my bookshelf to give these guys some display space as I finish cranking them out. 😅