Reflecting on Year 2018

 Well even 2018 is coming to a wrap and it is another of those Post for me doing evaluation for the year. The end of this year marks my second year(almost) working in Hobby Industry and i have learned even more things compared to last year and at the same time reached significant milestones in the career. I guess having a full time job does compromise my time to create content for Realm of Darkness but i will keep my commitment for this blog. Overall i am quite satisfied with my hauls for this year as i scored another great deal of rare items yet no time to review them ironically. Out of all the hauls, I think the Figmas are the one seeing some significant rise in numbers. 2018 also saw me getting commited to Fate/Grand Order more than i expected, Nevertheless i will still try my best to keep Mecha Contents in balance because it is still heart and soul of Realm of Darkness as i envisioned. No Doubt 2019 will come with more uncertainties especially to Indonesia's Hobby industry but let's just hope for the best while doing everything within our capacity. At some point i might even share some tidbits on my job considering it is quite relevant with the content of this Blog. For 2019 i will try to keep my promise to deliver more Quality Reviews and probably next month you will see some Fate Figmas Review popping up!

Quite happy that i can gather all of these within a year!

Cowboy Bebop

 One more post before wrapping up this year! I think it is the 20th anniversary of Cowboy Bebop and couldnt be happier to complete this series in time. Bebop is a showcase what an anime can pull off with its storytelling capacity and a top one at that. It is inevitable that the Anime nowadays are mostly created only to pander the consumers but back then there was more opportunity for anime to do its own thing and Bebop is a prime example. Cowboy Bebop had your typical Space Outlaws as premise with bunch of misfits doing their own things, I have watched Baccano and Coyote Rag Time which felt most similar to this one. But Bebop is a Space Outlaw anime with 26 Episodes of solid story and are not afraid of to pull some tragic stories. No Doubt this series is the all time favorite of Western anime fan because it is definitely a timeless masterpiece. If i want to get my fix for Space Outlaws again, i will be moving onto Dirty Pair and Outlaw Stars.

December 2018 Loot

 By far this is likely my most expensive haul for a month but it is definitely worth it! Christmas are usually associated with shopping spree and it rings true for me this year. With discounts flying around , the time was ripe for me to snatch stuffs in my wishlist. While my shopping bills rack worth about 2 or 3 Full Price of Soul of Chogokins i do get some items in bargain rates. The best haul in of the bunch are Max Factory Chamber and Megahouse Marida which are rare items and got them for discount rate. Suisei no Gargantia offered a solid mecha concept and thats why Amy and Chamber joins my collection. I scored myself quite a number figma as well with Nero finally joining rank in FGO Servants figmas after i accidentally missed the Preorder. I also got myself some Pokemon Gashapon and Bandai's Coonuts lineup seems to be a promising start. Overall my loot this month have sizeable amount of FGO merchandise and the trend will likely continue in the future but i am quite satisfied with my gain this month.

Ichiban Kuji Fate/Extra Last Encore 1/8 Saber Nero Review

 This is another Fate series PVC figure that i have from Banpresto's Ichiban Kuji. In Japan you normally get this figure by purchasing lottery tickets called Kuji that features certain series and these figures are the grand prize. But since Japan thought that their Kuji Lottery won't work out overseas they do sell the Figure outside Japan. Nero was not particularly my favorite servant but the Emperor of Rose definitely deserves her spot as Main Heroine.

FW Gundam Converge 15

 I have started collected Converge full set since the 10th volume and the lineup definitely goes for a steady pace. As usual the full box of 10 Pcs will cost 5000 Yen and i will likely get one. The Roster this time mainly features Gundam X which  will likely make recurring appearance on next two volumes. As usual Bandai had a bad habit of putting Old Zeon MS as duds for each box which is Z'Gok this time. The coolest one out of the bunch is the RXF-91 in my opinion but i welcome those Gundam X MS into my collection!

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

 At last my journey to Universal Century come to a full circle as i get to finish watching Victory Gundam! This series is no doubt the most depressing one in whole gundam timeline but quality wise it is very mediocre. Victory strongest point is its undiluted portrayal of the bleakness of war which it still reigns at the top of all Gundam Titles. Where your average Gundam series glorify war to some extent with most of the main protagonists side mostly unscathed, V Gundam doesn't hesitate to kill most of the characters from both sides, sometimes dying meaningless deaths showing a good view on Horrors of War.

Code Hardcore 1/100 MFX 0-2T Thunderbolt

 Couple years ago there was this Mecha Game Kickstarter made by Chinese Dev called Hardcore Mecha which looks promising. The game is basically Assault Suit Valken with SRW style animation which will be wonderful if it actually got released. So in this year's Tokyo Game Show, The Dev made an appearance again with the update on the game which comes along with some Toy Prototypes for the Mechas. One of them is the 1/100 Diecast Action figure equivalent with Metal Build for the series posterboy, Thunderbolt. The Action figure will be sold for 145 USD with Mid 2019 release schedule and i am getting one as an investment for the series. Thunderbolt is not the most original design but it definitely fits the bill for a Protagonist Mecha. The Action figure is made by manufacturer called ShowZ which seems to have good track record on Transformer, so i think the finished product should be all right. The Devs promised Code Hardcore will be delivered by this year but by this point i rather doubt it can happen. In any case i will get copy of the game if it got Switch Release and hope the best for the Devs because the series had potential.

FW Gundam Converge #10 Review

 Early this year i began collecting Gundam Candy Toys once again which are mainly Converge, Forte and Ensemble. For the cheapest option i need to get the whole box each time and then sell the excess variants. Unfortunately Bandai had a bad habit of shoving the Old School MS from the first gundam in these Candy Toys lineup which are difficult to get rid of if you dont want them. Luckily so far my Converge leftovers are quite easy to sell off as long as i bundle the SSRs with the Duds. I have collected several Converge from previous Assortments but the 10th Edition is the first one i managed to get complete Set.