1/10 Rockman Unboxing and Mini Review

I just finished my Rockman kit, and I have to say: this kit is bloody fantastic! The parts count isn't particularly large, as you can tell in the photos. In total, there were about 11 runners and the build was rather quite simple. It only took me a couple of hours to finish this bad boy. The model kit stands a bit shorter then a Figuarts, and it's somewhere around the same height as a 1/1144 High Grade Gundam kit. I wouldn't have known it was a model kit if I wasn't told before hand! Any fan of Megaman owes it to themselves to pick this kit up!

Planned for future release is Protoman/Blues and Roll-chan..I already had plans on picking up Protoman, and now I'm considering Roll as well.

Pros:
Easy to assemble, takes no time at all...so long as you pay attention to the instructions
Highly articulated and highly detailed, this thing looks good just straight out of the box!

Cons:
The kit includes some water slide decals, and they are a PAIN to mess with.

An unexpected Christmas Present!

In my house, we don't really celebrate Christmas but we still give gifts to each other none the less, sometimes we get them early and sometimes we're allowed to pick our own items as gifts. Anyways, as you can tell by the pic I posted I did indeed get something extra yesturday, an item I've been eagerly waiting to get my hands on: the 1/10 Kotobukiya Rockman kit! This gift came from my sister, and I can't wait to dive into this baby!

Shopping Trip 03

On a whim, I decided to go out toy hunting today, I wanted to see if I could find any of the Genorations Wave 2 Deluxes, which includes War For Cybertron Megatron, Soundwave, and Red Alert which are the three that interests me. I know my stores must've gotten them in cause I found Dark Mount last time I was there...I had no luck, sadly...but as you can tell by my photo, I didn't go empty handed! I ended up taking home with me Hunt for the Decpticons Scout Class Breacher! Breacher is going to be my first new Scout Class figure, and my first figure that uses the clip weapon system, I can already tell I'm gonna enjoy him.

Figmas Strike and Sting

I saw these new photos of Strike and Sting over at HJU this morning. So far, there looking quite good, they did a really good job of hiding the joints on this figure. Sting really temps me, despite the fact that he was one of the riders I didn't care for in Dragon Knight...I'm keeping my eyes on these two, but I'm reserving judgement till I mess around with the Dragon Knight I got pre ordered.

MG Figure Rise Heat Metal

Saw photos of the MG Figure Rise Heat Metal today, from the photos the thing looks really, really good. The metal shaft looks like it might be extendable too!

I'm highly considering getting the thing now that've seen photos of it now...I'm not looking foreword to building the hands though...man those were a pain

Shopping Trip 02: China Town

We had some business to take care of downtown, and while I was waiting for my Mom I decided to walk into this video game store in one of the Asian Malls there. I couldn’t really tell you the name of the store to be honest, I don’t know what it’s called but I do know it was in China Town Center, right beside the washrooms. Anyways, so I go in there and I managed to get a hold of this:

Valkyire Profile Lenneth on the PSP. Now, I’d take a photo of the cover but unfortunately  the game didn’t come with the actual case, it came in one of those plain Gamestop cases. The best part is: the game was 15$! I played the original PS1 Valkyire Profile and liked it quite a bit, this game is hard to come by these days so case or no case I’m just glad to actually own a copy. 

MG W Mini-review

Finished the MG W this morning, I’m not gonna go too in-depth with these reviews, but this was a pretty nice kit and very fun to build all things considered. Oh boy, did this thing give me some trouble...nothing major, but they were more like minor annoyances. As stated in my pervious blog entry, the pegs on the arm socket ended up snapping on me, fortunately it wasn’t a big problem, the armor hugged around the socket tight enough so that it doesn’t move around.

Secondly, the fingers...my god, the fingers are a PAIN to put on, I ended up loosing one of the fingers a couple of times, and there tiny pieces so finding them was easier said then done. After all that trouble though...I really, really dig this model kit! It has a few tricks and details that the S.H.Figuarts doesn’t such as the working W Driver and the removable Gaia Memories, the detailing on something so small as the Gaia Memories really impress me, and I’m in love with the mini-W Driver. The stickers are a bit of a pain to put on, and they don’t adhere very well, so you might wanna keep a glue stick handy. 

You can choose to paint this kit of you so choose, but really this thing looks pretty damned good right out from the box. 

In conclusion: If you’re a fan of W there’s no reason why to pick this up, even if you already own the S.H.Figuarts this model kit is just...gorgeous. The build itself isn’t really all that difficult, but I would advice treating it delicately as parts CAN break on this thing. All in all, a very nice model kit. 

You can purchase this model kit from HobbyLinkJapan, though if you have any stores near you that sell model kits, might wanna check there first: 

http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN964495 

Keep an eye on Hobby Link Japan, as it does go on sale sometimes! 

MG W Progress Report

Spent most of yesterday building this guy and I'm half way done, here's what I have done so far. So far, I'm enjoying this kit, it's definitely a real interesting build and rather unique...this is my first time diving into a humanoid Model kit. The Cyclone side was giving me a bit of a hard time...more specifically, the fingers and the joint which connects the arm....the pegs on the part where the arm socket is actually broke on me on the cyclone side, but luckily the armour hugs it tight enough so that it's not a real big issue....which is a good thing cause it nearly gave me a heart attack.

Stickers are PAIN to put on and don't like to stay on very well, you might wanna have a pair of tweezers or a glue stick handy case you mess up....at the pace I'm going, I should be done either today, or tommarow depending on how much I want to work on it.

MG Figure Rise W Mini unboxing

In my last blog entry I mentioned acquiring the MG Figure Rise W Cyclone Joker, and I figured I might as well do a semi-box opening, to show off all the parts and runners that are included.

All together, including the runner to build the stand there are about 15 trays of parts. If you're reading this, and you're interested in purchasing this product, but you've never built a model kit in your life don't feel intimidated, as shown in this picture here:

Despite being a Japanese product, the instruction manual is well pictured and shows you exactly what you need to get the job done...though the only thing I use for these kits is a pair of tweezers and scissors. Now if you excuse me, I have some work to do....

Shopping Trip: Pacific Mall

Every Wednesday, my dad gets the day off, so if we don’t have errands to run elsewhere, we usually go shopping to Pacific Mall, for those that don’t live in Toronto, Pacific Mall is a huge Asian-run mall, and my family frequently goes there. I like shopping around this place because you can find so much stuff there. Due to the abundance of stores that sell cell phone related products, my friend The Emperor and I  always call it Phone Mall. 

My spoils from this week’s trip there comes from My Toys: 

Master Grade Figurerise Kamen Rider W Cyclone Joker Form! Having just watched T JOmega's review of this product a few days prior, you could say that he sort of influenced me to pick this item up. While, I already own the Figuarts CJ, and I have a rule to only buy one type of figure of a character, but there are exceptions to this rule, depending on how much I liked the character, or how much I liked the show, and it just so happens that I love W, it’s one of my favrioute Kamen Rider series. Now, I should make a mention that it’s not every day that I find Toku related items that aren’t cheap looking crappy knock offs. The only place I can think of that stocks anything Toku related in the GTA are the toy shops in First Markham Palace. In fact, I’m convinced that if this item wasn’t a Master Grade model kit produced by Bandai, the stores probably wouldn’t have bothered ordering these. 

As a model kit enthusiast and a fan of W, this item tickled my fancy I’m looking foreword to cracking into this model.  I am considering getting the other MG Figurerise Kits, I definitely want Heat Metal and Luna Trigger, so I can do a custom Heat Trigger, and I am thinking about getting Fang Joker so I can do a couple of custom Riders out of them, again it depends on how much I enjoyed Cyclone Joker...and if the local import stores will get them in.

Samurai WTF?

A few weeks ago, Bandai of America released photos of their toys for Power Rangers Samurai: The upcoming adaption of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger....I saw these designs for the 4 inch figures and I laughed my ass off, these designs are so horrid, it’s not even funny...actually it’s more sad then funny...I mean seriously BOA? Seriously? Are you people even TRYING to make decent looking toys any more? The Nanashi looks decent, but that’s about it...

These designs are a joke, an absolute joke! The rangers looks NOTHING like their actual suit designs! I mean seriously, the boys look TOO buff, and the girls looks like they haven’t eaten anything for months on end. For the record, I don’t collect many Power Rangers figures myself, as I’m only really interested in the Mecha, I have a Super Legends White Ranger figure and while it’s...okay? It still pales in comparison to any of my S.H.Figuarts. 

I suppose it is nice that the weapons are painted, but seriously...I cannot give Bandai of America my support knowing that they keep turning out garbage like this year after year, after year...whomever’s in their engineering department needs to be FIRED ASAP. 

Now I understand BOA works on a tight budget and make these figures as cheap as possible so the parents will buy them or their kiddies, but that’s NO excuse for making something that looks like absolute rubbish, look at figures like 3.75 Inch Movie Iron Man, or the scout Class Figures from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, those work on a budget, but don’t look like garbage at least! It’s funny, because right around the time these were released, Bandai of Japan opened up pre orders for the S.H.Figuarts Shinken Red and Shinken Gold, it’s almost like they planned for this...knowing that these figures will be absolute rubbish... 

If you are interested in pre ordering these, you can place your order for these and other PR: Samurai toys here:

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=342&company=951

Figma and Kamen Rider?

When I first heard that Max Factory was introducing Figmas based on Kamen Rider characters, it came as a bit strange and surprising at first. For those completely unaware, the Figma figures a bit like Bandai’s S.H.Figuarts: Highly detailed and possible figures, Max Factory usually releases figures of anime and video game characters, and most of the time they release figures of female characters. What sets Figma apart from most toy lines I collect however is the fact that they not only give you a stand but also each swappable hand comes with attached to a hand rack, and a plastic ziplock bag, which really helps in the organization of each figure in the long run. What makes this unusual for me and I’m sure a lot of people is the fact that Max Factory is stepping into a realm that’s usually handled by Bandai. 

Currently, Rider Figmas from the TV show Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, an American adaption of Kamen Rider Ryuki. Released later this month is the titular character of the series: Kamen Rider Dragon Knight/Ryuki, and Wing Knight/Knight is do out sometime next month. Up for pre order now is Kamen Rider Inscissor/Scissors, and Torque/Zolda, and as of this blog posting, Raia/Sting and Strike/Ouja have just been announced, and it’s only a matter of time before we see Femme/Siren, Ryuga/Onyx, Odin/Wrath, and Alternative/Advent Master. 

From the photos that I’ve seen online, the Figma Dragon Knight and Wing Knight appear to be miniaturized versions of the RAH Medicom figures, and it makes sense seeing as how these figures is a collaboration between Max Factory and Medicom. I already have Figma Dragon Knight on pre order, and I have plans on picking up Wing Knight and Strike as well, maybe I’ll get Torque who knows? It really depends on how I feel after messing around with Dragon Knight. One thing I have noticed though: It seems as though every new figures to come out that are based on the Ryuki design have been under the Dragon Knight name, so what does this mean for the S.H.Figuarts line? Does this mean Bandai will join in the bandwagon and release them under the Dragon Knight name as well? And what else does Max Factory have in store for this line? Contract Beasts and Mirror Monsters perhaps? Who knows other then the Excects and Max Factory, but I shall remain hopeful for a Figma  Release of General Xavaix...

You can get the Dragon Knight Figures from:

www.hlj.com 

http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english

First ever blog entry

So here it is, my first ever blog entry ever, I've wanted to get a blog for the longest time now...well, I finally decided to get off my lazy ass and create one...still trying to figure out what everything on this site does though. First, a little about me I suppose...my real name is going to remain on a need to know basis, I'm 22 years old and I currently live somewhere in Canada. I have various hobbies which include:

I play video games, I play mostly JRPGs, the occasional shooter, and anything else that grabs my attention, I currently own all the current generation systems, though my 360 is dead, and I rarely ever touch my Wii any more.

I collect toys and various action figures, mainly Japanese made toys and robots the lines I'm into are: Gundam Model kits, Kamen Rider S.H.Figuarts, Transformers, and occasionally Figmas...as you can tell, most of my money ends up going to Bandai. I'll keep this blog updated with my weekly/monthly hauls, and various other things that may come into mind.