I found out about Animerica's 2002 Mecha Challenge in mid-october '02. With a final submission date of Nov. 30 there wouldn't be a lot of time to work, but the task of creating a Gundam Fighter was just to enticing to ignore. I spent a lot of time thinking about and going over the line art of the MS that appeared in the show. I wanted my design to mesh well with what had gone before but at the same time not just parrot the previous designs.

By analyzing the subject I was able to form some guidelines when it came to weeding out ideas. The design should be quirky, but not a joke. I wanted something that would be identifiable and positive concerning the country it was based on, but not nationalistic or to reflect negatively on the people of the country. As the weeks went by and I worked on the designs you see presented here, I would have sudden changes of heart. For instance, after the Commissar Gundam, I rewatched some of the G-Gundam anime and realized that I just need to get sillier with my designs which led to the Oktoberfest. A week or two after that I got to thinking that the 'fest was too insensitive and needed to be tamed...anyway I kept going back and forth, this is too serious, now it's too silly, etc, etc. Next thing I know, I'm running out of time and I only have a week to get something together.

Looking back, I realize that once I had the Matryoshka idea, I should have stayed with it and given myself more time with it. After all, the Matryoshka matched everything I wanted in my design. I guess sometimes we can't recognize how good something is at first but have to live with it and see it at different angles before we appreciate it. Well, the Animerica staff judges appreciated it, because I won the "Most Creative" award (thank you for that.)

Regardless of the outcome, I had a blast doing this. I love facing a design challenge and I am happy with what I came up with. Now if only Bandai would approach me about a Matryoshka model.....

even a B-club kit.....