//I.BUILT-A::ROBOT

First of all...

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

I hope this new year will treat you well ! I'm glad you're still here, virtual traveler This is my first blog post of the year, so I'll try to make it epic. Today I want to talk about my new achievement : I built a robot ?!

Ok maybe not exactly, I might have clickbaited you a little bit with this title...

In short, I started a new hobby, model kits !

"What's a model kit ?"" You may ask...

For those who don't know, model kits refer to plastic models (either of real-life objects, or characters) that you have to assemble yourself. Think of it like Lego ! Some kits are meant to be assembled once, and stay like this. But other models (the ones I'm interested in) can be taken apart, upgraded with accessories, and combined infinitely. The hardcore hobbyists will paint the kits whole new colors, add special effect paints like silver/chrome, add stickers and decals... But I'm just starting out so I'm sticking to assembling ready-made kits

So I present to you... the first robot I've ever built !

Isn't she ADORABLE ?? I love her so much... I assembled her in only one evening, so it is definitely easy.

This is how she looked before I assembled her.

It looks a bit scary but it's actually extremely easy. You only need very basic supplies if you're starting out : Some nippers (the sharper, the better) to cut the pieces out of the "frame", and a nail-file or sandpaper to smooth out the little mark left where the frame was connected to the piece (technically, this step is entirely optional if you have really good nippers that make a perfect cut, or if you don't care about the marks). Pretty beginner-friendly if you ask me.

Then the rest is extremely easy, if you've already built Lego sets before, it's essentially the same : You follow the manual step-by-step. The manual will tell you to get the frame "A" and look for the piece number "3" and number "4". Since the letters/numbers are written next to each piece on the frame, you just take them off the frame, and snap them together as instructed. I have to say the little [clicks] you hear when snapping pieces together is extremely satisfying. If you want to see more, I made a short tiktok video about building her.

The kit I have (which is called 30 Minutes Missions - Acerby Type-C) retails for 1780 yen in Japan, which is about 11 USD/EUR. I got it for around 20 bucks outside of Japan.

So I've been totally sucked-in by this new hobby... I've already ordered some really cool accessories for her. Like, some mecha wings and some cat ears because that's ADORABLE!

I also ordered a few other model kits to build because I'm already addicted Take a look at them, I'm so excited to receive them in the mail ! I plan to add a ton of accessories to the 2 "simpler" girls. They're used as a base to add stuff to.

So now you maybe understand why I've developed this hyperfixation... I'm slowly starting to paint my robot, and I ordered some decals to further customize her. You can definitely expect some more blog posts about this, see you next time !