Titans Week part 2: HGUC GM Quel
by Mel Joelle
Welcome to part two of two of Titans week! I’d like to make this “event” go on longer but I don’t have enough stuff to continue this much longer. For the second part I’m covering a suit that got very little exposure until just a few years ago-The GM Quel. Originally only appearing for about five seconds in the end of Gundam 0083, this suit got a lot of “screentime” in the Advance of Zeta concept and photonovel series, with a few cameo appearances in the Zeta Gundam movies. Until the HGUC was released, the only notable Bandai kit released of it was the Master Grade, which looks severely dated by today’s standards.
The GM Quel was released under the Advance of Zeta banner as opposed to the 0083 banner mainly due to the popularity of Advance of Zeta at the time. This kit was built of the body of the Gundam Hazel kits, sort of the opposite of how it worked in the story! As a result, this kit’s very nice and poseable and sturdy.
As much as I love the GM Quel, and enjoy the poseability of this kit, there’s one thing I have to address first-I cannot STAND the look of this kit. You see, because this kit was based on the Hazel mold, it’s in the Advance of Zeta artstyle, as opposed to the 0083 style, which I annoys the crap out of me. This s characterized by the really fat lower legs and the comparably tiny head. Thankfully, Bandai’s B-Club released a resin upgrade kit that puts it in the 0083 style, but I can’t see myself blowing $50 on legs and a head…
Pet peeves about the design aside, let’s go into the breakdown…
Despite the grievance about the size of the head, it’s pretty nicely-detailed, including a clear plastic visor. What I like to do with visors is paint the back of them silver, so it makes the color “pop” more when you’re looking at the kit head-on.
The torso and waist are your basic construction, and yes, you have to split the skirt armor, but there’s one really nice detail about the AoZ kits-they’re modular! So, you can swap backpacks and gear and all sorts of stuff between them, and even the backpack from the Gundam Mk. II can be thrown on. Kitbashing is fun!
The arms on these kits are very nice too, because they come with that one thing I’m always clamoring for-double joints! This hinge system allows for a really nice range of movement, and it looks pretty neat and robotic.
The hands, however, are really odd. Instead of your standard right trigger hand, right fist, and left fist, you get left AND right trigger fingers, a semi-open left palm, and a right “saber hand”-no fists. The left trigger finger combined with the shield mount are neat because they allow you to make a “lefty” GM Quel like that classic GM from the original series episode, but it seems silly with the beam saber still being mounted on the other side.
The legs and feet are sort of a disappointment after the arms, and I’ve already mentioned how ugly I think the legs are. No special joints here, just a typical 90 degree knee movement with ball-jointed feet, and no neat double-joint like the Mk. II had.
Weapons include the “GM Rifle” that a lot of suits from that era had, the 0080-style shield, and a beam saber. This kit included two beam saber blades, even though it had just one saber. I guess you can give the other one to some other kit that needed it…
In the end, if you can get past the ugly legs and accept it for the civilian-oppressing Titans GM that it is, it’s a nice kit. I would like for them to use the parts to make a GM Custom kit, however. Also included with the kit are a very nice array of stickers, including numbers, “Titans” and “Titans Test Team” logos to help personalize yours. The modular parts shared between this, the Hazels, the Mk. II, and the Gaplant Hrairoo allow for some very cool custom possibilities, and I say let your imagination run wild.
Click here to read the rest of HGUC GM Quel. If you enjoyed this article, you also might like our other stories about Comic Books.
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Some Natural Solutions for Lower Back Sciatica
by Danovan Kulhur
If you have lower back, hip or thigh pain it may be caused by sciatica. Sciatica is the name used for pain caused by your sciatic nerve. Your sciatic nerve runs from your spinal cord, to your buttocks and all the way down your legs to your feet. Your lower back pain can be caused by a herniated disk that is applying a constant pressure on your sciatic nerve. It can cause your muscles to have spasms, numbness, sharp stinging pain, and sometimes loss of movement of your legs. It can be quite painful if you suffer from any of the listed pains. Simple everyday tasks from walking to sitting can greatly alter the pain you feel.
Eating is very important, you want to make sure to maintain a healthy weight by eating properly. If you are over weight it puts more pressure on your back causing more pain than you would normally experience if you were at a healthy average weight. Being overweight means making your body carry around the extra burden of those gained pounds by eating unhealthy.
When walking it is important to always maintain proper posture. Walk upright with your head held upward. One way of teaching yourself the proper posture when walking is to get you back against a wall so that your head heels and your buttocks touch the wall and walk outwards maintaining that exact posture. When you sit it is good to remember to keep your thighs parallel with the floor and sit in an upward position and slouch back slightly. Sleeping is always one of the key ways to maintain a day free from lower back pain caused by sciatica. If you wake up pain free you are more likely to have a pain free day. The best way to sleep at night is by sleeping in fetal position with a pillow in between your knees.
Although as the sciatic nerve continues down the back, it branches off into both legs, it is common for only one leg to be much more symptomatic. Patients have described a sensation that is similar to feeling as though their leg is on fire. A painful sciatic nerve can create discomfort that ranges from being mildly inconvenient to becoming almost intolerable in nature. The basis of the symptoms that develop as a result of an inflamed sciatic nerve are primarily attributed to some kind of irritation to the nerve, or of the nerve being pinched or impinged upon. With even a slight injury, the sciatic nerve can become inflamed, swelling can result, thus the nerve tends to become pressed and pain results. The problem with having sciatic nerve pain can become so exacerbated that the nerves and muscles that control a persons bowel and bladder functions may become affected. In such cases, the patient should immediately seek medical attention.
Treatment for sciatica is directed towards maximizing mobility and your independence. The nerve problem should be classified and treated the right way. Some people with this need no treatment, and heal spontaneously. If there was no evidence of nerve degeneration, no history of trauma, sudden onset of the pain, no difficulty moving, then conservative treatments are the most effective.
A natural supplement called Sciatol is among the latest remedies proven effective in helping alleviate the pain and discomfort of sciatica. Formulated using six powerful herbal ingredients, Sciatol Back Formula is among the most effect ways how to cure sciatica. Sciatol helps relieve the pain associated with sciatica and targets the overall healing of the sciatic nerve, the nervous system and the spine.
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Ancient Poetry — An Original Expression
by Ben Mester
Ancient poetry has always been meaningful to me. The perspective from which the ancients saw the world and expressed that fascination through poetry is so different from the way people view the world today. In today’s world, of technology and science, every corner of our world is being explored and explained. There is hardly any mystery left in the wide world, hardly any unexplored places for people to wonder about and imagine. But to ancient man, the world was still a vastly unknown and undiscovered place. That’s what I love about ancient poetry. That fascination and perspective is expressed through their poetry in a way that cannot be expressed the same way today. Plus, ancient poetry is extra special simply because it is ancient. You’re reading something many hundreds, even thousands of years old, that still have the capacity to stir your heart. That’s pretty amazing if you ask me! I’ve tried to take samples of ancient writings and poems from all over. Some come from ancient China, some from ancient Persia, and some from ancient Israel. I hope you’ll find the same love that I did.
The very first excerpt is nothing more than a small piece of advice that’s still very applicable today:
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.” Tao Te Ching
This next excerpt is a nice pairing of bits of wisdom. It’s really cool:
“Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.” Tao Te Ching
This is my favorite ancient poem. It’s an ancient love poem from Persia:
“The intellectual is always showing off, the lover is always getting lost. The intellectual runs away. afraid of drowning; the whole business of love is to drown in the sea. Intellectuals plan their repose; lovers are ashamed to rest. The lover is always alone. even surrounded by people; like water and oil, he remains apart. The man who goes to the trouble of giving advice to a lover gets nothing. He’s mocked by passion. Love is like musk. It attracts attention. Love is a tree, and the lovers are its shade.” Rumi - The Intellectual is Always Showing Off
This is a list of ancient questions from China. Very poignant:
“Can you coax your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness?… Can you love people and lead them without imposing your will?” Tao Te Ching
Another love poem from ancient Persia. Very excellent:
“I am a sculptor, a molder of form. In every moment I shape an idol. But then, in front of you, I melt them down I can rouse a hundred forms and fill them with spirit, but when I look into your face, I want to throw them in the fire. My souls spills into yours and is blended. Because my soul has absorbed your fragrance, I cherish it. Every drop of blood I spill informs the earth, I merge with my Beloved when I participate in love. In this house of mud and water, my heart has fallen to ruins. Enter this house, my Love, or let me leave.” Rumi - I am a sculptor a molder of form
A description of love from the Bible, the Old Testament, in the book Song of Solomon:
“For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” Song Of Solomon Chapter 8
A description of the human condition from the Tao Te Ching:
“He who stands on tiptoe doesn’t stand firm. He who rushes ahead doesn’t go far. He who tries to shine dims his own light. He who defines himself can’t know who he really is. He who has power over others can’t empower himself. He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures.” Tao Te Ching
One of the most beautiful ancient poems from the Bible, describing the state of all life:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes Chapter 3
Thanks for reading my article about ancient poetry. For more in poetry and the like, check out my other articles.
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