Mechatalk Final Gear: Nia - Nematode Outsider

I think this is one my most active month over past few years so far and I am still able to hold to my own promise for Final Gear Mechatalk series. For the 4th Final Gear Article I will be covering for Nia, A Sniper Pilot belongs to Hexel Faction who also happens to be one of the close confidants of Hexel's Faction leader herself.

Tsukihime Figma 612 Arcueid Brunestud

 Tsukihime Fans will be eating good for these years to come! Tsukihime remake is one thing, but ever since Arcueid's appearance in Fate Grand Order JP as part of 7th anniversary we are seeing the momentum for the merchandise being on full throttle. After Nendoroid and several PVC Figures, the vampire princess Arcueid Brunestud is making it into Figma! Coming in regular and DX version, Figma Arcueid Brunestud will be scheduled for May 2024 release with 9800 dan 12800 Yen price tag.

 For 3000 Yen Price Tag difference, Figma Arcueid only comes with alternate Skirt outfit made out of fabric to replicate her classic look. But this is a big deal for Old Typemoon fans like me because this is the look that i remembered for the Moon princess whose Visual Novel served as my gateway to Typemoon series. So I will try my earnest to get a hold of DX copy for myself because that's the least I can do to this beloved Typemoon series. I will also definitely be saving for Arcueid's banner for FGO Global next year.

Mobility Joint Gundam FF Nu Gundam & Sazabi Set

 Mobility Joint is one of Bandai's Gundam Candy Toys lineup that has been on a rise lately this year with their last volume and now they are making some good stuff with their P-Bandai item. Over past one year, Bandai have been actively promoting the alternate version of CCA Main stars, Nu Gundam and Sazabi which have always been some of their best money maker with the Posterboy treatment. Previously released in other formats notably RG Model Kit, Fin Funnel edition of Nu Gundam and Sazabi will make appearance in Mobility Joint lineup as P-Bandai release. Scheduled for November 2023 release, Mobility Joint FF Nu Gundam & Sazabi will be sold for 4800 Yen excluding Tax.

 This Mobility Joint Set comes with tons of goodies for both of Bandai's darling from Gundam series, apart from the new weapons, these guys come with the weapon loadouts for the Vanilla version too which is quite generous by Bandai. It doesn't look much for Sazabi except for the Lobster Claw weapon but you can get regular Nu Gundam in FF color scheme. Usually these kind of P-Bandai sets can be sold for 7000 Yen which people won't even bat an eye and still buy. However Bandai seems to be serious on promoting these new variants of CCA Superstars, who knows they are planning some big animation revival on the series.

Ray'z Arcade Chronology

 Nintendo Switch is a paradise for Bullet fans as it has plethora of Top Arcade era games like Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun hailing in this platform. Once part of Taito Arcade titles which was warmly received during its era, The futuristic shooter Ray series made it into Nintendo Switch bundled as Ray'z Arcade Chronology. The game is available on Eshop for 50 USD and also come with limited Physical Run including the limited edition for 140 USD+. This Ray'z Bundle include 3 Ray series titles of Rayforce, Raystorm & Raycrisis along with its derivatives. Out of the 3 Ray Series, based on my experience playing these games on Vita, Raystorm would be the best out of the titles having tons of Cool mechas as the bosses to fight such as the Zeta A1/S Gundam Hybrid which I will show at the end of the post. Personally I would love to see a more affordable Asia Region version of this game to join my part of collection since I am just a Casual Shmup fan who owned a digital copy previously. As someone who was raised in 90s Arcade scene, I would love to see more of Raizing Shmups and Parodius to make it onto switch next.

Odallus

 One of my older switch game that I finally cleared from my backlog and it is truly a bang for the buck metroidvania game. Odallus is a lite metroidvania game that tries to incorporate some of the best elements from Classicvania and Igavania. This game is basically a metroidvania with Rondo of Blood stage structure, 6 main stages along with many secrets where the main protagonist basically cleaves away the sinister force of evil in order to save his son like Simon Belmont. 

 As a Metroidmania game, Odallus leans more on classicvania platformer aspect with light RPG elements sprinkled on it for the maximum retro experience. The story is as barebone as it gets since Odallus focus all out on action part. In terms of difficulty the dev made it just right for casual gamer albeit with some insane difficulty spike at the endgame. For those hardcore gamer, they can always seek extra challenge from no upgrade run and it will be goddamn hard without some patience. The Final Boss is one of the harder metroidvania out there if you don't resort the cheese strats since you will fight him in 3 phases with no breaks. As for me I rely on Axe Charge Sub for the 1st phase, Torch Charge Sub for 2nd Phase and then Torch+Spear Charge sub for the final form. The 2nd phase is easily the most troublesome one if you try to fight the boss the normal way. Overall I managed to clock 5 hours for Odallus which would have cut in half if not for 100% completion. If you are classic metroidvania fan like myself, I strongly recommend to grab this game whenever it is on bargain on eshop. 

Mechatalk Final Gear: Renata - Polar Night

 Trying my best to uphold the promise to myself to keep making Final Gear Mechatalk Article until this game inevitably ends once the maintenance mode finished its run. This time the mechatalk post will talk about Renata one of the rarer SSR Shooter pilot who is a Top Tier for its class barring UR Contender. In terms of the design, Renata is pretty much what if Lappland decide to ditch her swords and pilot a mecha instead added with a healthy dose of Warcrimes.

Vordum: Price of Death

 Usually I don't talk about Claymation which is basically Stop Motion using Plasticine models, but this Russian made production by animator team called Susco Volkov is just on a whole another level! thus deserve more recognition. Vordum: Price of Death is a movie length claymation which is Dark Fantasy story where a group of warriors fought in a Mysterious Arena pitted against monstrous creatures to get their wish granted. These band of ragtag fighters will need to rely on each other to stay alive against the carnage and who knows how many of them will survive by the end of this sinister ordeal?

Youtube have plenty of good free Claymation videos notably Klay World series but Vordum is totally a different beast especially if you enjoy the carnage level of Doom or Diablo series . For its medium, Vordum's model details are very impressive and you can really feel the intense bloodsheds the protagonist went through literally hell as they constantly fight for their life against series of evil creatures culminating in a showdown with a Bloodthirster/Diablo expy. Normally Claymation level of violence are kept at cartoonish but Vordum decides to step up, If blood and gore is what you seek, then blood and gore is what you will get! The Animator really know his craft to pull out this level of work and Vordum would have shine even more with proper dubbing, but given it is distributed for free, The production value is just more than enough. You won't regret watching Vordum if you seek some fix for Dark Fantasy but try to find a mainstream alternative.

Warhammer 40k Joytoy 1/18 Chief Librarian Mephiston

 Just right after Ultrasmurfs Termies, Joytoy is releasing some more 1/18 Action figure for 40k named character and this time it is the Chief Librarian Mephiston from the vampiric loyalist Space Marine Blood Angels chapter! Scheduled for end of Q3 2023 release, Joytoy Mephiston will be sold for 70 USD SRP price tag.

 Every Space Marine Chapters have their share of Psyker Space Marine known as Librarians but Mephiston is rather special even for Blood Angels chapter which have some skeletons in their closet too. Blood Angels possesed some genetic flaws within their geneseeds akin to a curse known as Red Thirst and Black Rage in which the latter affliction proved so fatal that the Blood Angels afflicted with this curse are consumed with insatiable rage that they are permanently put into Suicidal Squads known as Death Company until they find death on battlefield. Then we have this Mephiston guy being the only Blood Angels officially known to overcome the Black Rage and channel the fury of the curse toward the foes of Imperium. Surviving Black Rage curse and claiming the awesome title Lord of Death for himself out of the ordeal, Mephiston is no doubt a certified badass who will inspire his fellow Blood Angels battle brothers. Lastly despite being a Psyker, Mephiston is a Close Combat monster who can dish some serious punishment with his Sanguine Blade and trusty plasma pistol.

 As much as I like Mephiston's fluff and consider him as very badass character, I might skip Mephiston since i am not fan of Blood Angel's Baroque Vampire theme aspect and need to conserve my budget for Chapter Master Dante who is another Blood Angels badass.

Onmyoji 1/5 Animester Shiranui 離火燼舞 Ver

 And so I thought Shiranui from Onmyoji series couldn't get any more luxurious treatment but this deluxe 1/5 Premium Figure by Animester proved otherwise. Looks like Shiranui is Onmyoji's greatest darling outpacing Yotohime who was the former top waifu with far margin by this time. Dubbed as "離火燼舞" version which is translated as "dance of embers or flickering flame", 1/5 Shiranui will be scheduled for June 2024 release and sold for whopping 75000 Yen, a price tag that can easily get you 1 or 2 good non-Bandai Diecast Robot.

 This Premium Shiranui's Figure do capture the image of the title it used for the figure, as Shiranui embodies the concept of a tragic existence who uses up all of her fire of life to shine brightest at the brink of having that same fire being extinguished. I think the China Onmyoji fanbase got so many Shiranui devoted fans that She kept getting good merchandise and even luxurious Skins in Onmyoji Arena. Seriously early this year Shiranui already got the most expensive Royal Skin in OA and within this week she will get another Legendary Skin from meta-cognitive series. But seriously Shiranui is easily the best of Nao Touyama's waifu role so there's that.

Speaking of Animester, this hobby company do have some good portfolios in waifu PVC Figures and even make Premium one for Onmyoji Senhime. I am sure that they have better shot at greater success with this Shiranui for their Onmyoji portfolio. Seriously that face sculpt just captures the image of divine beauty perfectly.

Mechatalk Final Gear: PN26 Illeheath - Black Blossom

 Proceeding according to schedule, as a part of pet project of mine to have some kind of relic archive for Final Gear before its eventual end-of-service. I will be doing a series of Mechatalk Post for Final Gear and for the second Mechatalk, The mysterious Gasmask wearing Redhead beauty, PN26 is the candidate I picked this time. This also will be the first of the several UR units that will be covered in this blog post series

Cangdao Model SV-001 Metal Slug

 One of the great product released by Cangdao Model last year that arguably secured the company's place in the Hobby Industry. This item is basically a take on the Iconic tank from Metal Slug arcade shooter series and make it a transformable mecha. Usually this kind of stunt will be a miss, but Cangdao do make something that can be considered an engineering masterpiece from a Chinese company. Not only the tank Rendition is relatively faithful to the original design, The transformed mecha form is very solid in terms of  Sculpt. Articulation and Gimmick. 

Currently you can still find this product widely available for 80 bucks though i expected the Chinese SRP is in 300-400 RMB which is still worth it. You would be hard pressed to find a Diecast Robot with comparable quality with this kind of pricing. If this product to be released by a Japanese company, they will cost at least around 20000 Yen. Satisfied with my copy of Cangdao Metal Slug, I will look forward to the next rendition of Metal Slug Vehicle by Cangdao which should be warmly received should they make another one.

June-July 2023 Loot

  Not as extravagant compared to the previous haul but still another quite great catch nonetheless. I think by this time my collections begin to have demographic shift as the influx of Chinese made toys are starting to take over the Japanese counterpart because the Chinese didn't let go of their momentum. What's notable from the loots over these past two months are my Joytoy 40k is growing significantly yet again and my completion toward the portfolio is getting nearer. Also from this period's loot, this is the first time I obtain a collectible from WWE series which is Mattel's action figure Bret "The Hitman" Hart. I have been watching several classic WWE match videos over past 2 months, and Bret Hart's technical performance in the squared circle really captivated me. Bret Hart truly lives up to his moniker as "Excellence of Execution" combined with his illustrious career in WWE that is cut short by foolish corporate politics makes him really shines in the Pro Wrestling industry thus His collectible deserved to join into my collection.

 For my 200 USD worth of Joytoy new addition, my Collection saw addition of Battle Sisters and some heavy duty stuff for Imperium of Man. I still wish Joytoy would be more active for Tau Faction which I hope they could continue after finishing their affairs with Ultrasmurfs once Space Marine 2 got released. Seriously their lineups over past few months will always have the Blue Berries every month denying the slot for other factions though it is partly due to Geedubs policy for the upcoming 40k AAA game. I still look forward to see my completion of my First Founding Loyalist team which should came into fruition by the end of this year.

Precursor Kainar Cangdao Models 1/100 CD-FA-04 Full Armor Dussack

 Since Japan is at the moment kinda on dry spell with any newsworthy Mecha related products, I will cover another Chinese Diecast which the industry have been quite on a roll over past two years. This is yet another of Cangdao Model product released before Tianwei and certainly catches people attention with the saturation it offer. Apparently this mecha called Dussack is one of the design from Precursor Kainar which is one of the older Chinese Model Kit series that somehow survived until this day and rise to get its own Diecast Toy. Assuming the overseas store cost Cangdao 1/100 Dussack is probably sold around 600 RMB in mainland with Q3 release schedule.

For a Diecast MetalBuild of its price, Cangdao Dussack comes with tons of weapon accessories that certainly pose a threat to the Metal Build counterpart. The Mainland Chinese really do live by the Adage of "一鸣惊人" when it comes to carve a territory for themselves trying to wrestle for the market dominance away from Japanese. At the first glance the current version Dussack looks like a combination of IBO Grimgerde and Heimweig Reimcar sprayed with the elements from Gundam Exia, Gerbera Tetra and a Slap of FMP Blaze Raven for the Japanese element. Compared to the Model Kit counterpart which I will include at the end of the post, Dussack certainly got very good makeover from a Avalanche Exia copy to a very choppy and shooty Red Samurai mecha.

Mechatalk Final Gear: Eloise - Victoria

 As a part of celebrating Realm of Darkness 1 millionth milestone, I will be reviving Mechatalk series after 7 years of inactivity and this time is specifically for Mecha Gacha Game Final Gear. This game remains my favorite that I currently play despite recently the game got its abrupt Death Knell as the Devs announced this game's final update and transition toward maintenance mode. Through this turn of unfortunate event, I believe that I must return something for Final Gear before the eventual server closure and thus I will contribute some blog post for this game. While it probably won't change the ultimate fate of Final Gear, at very least the google search for this series won't be completely saturated by Garbage.

Baowang Model 3rd Party Pose+ Gaogaigar

 China surprised people yet again with their Diecast Toys yet again! Though this time, it is a knockoff from an already existing model from Artstorm Pose+ series made by a Chinese Manufacturer called Baowang which its chinese name translated into "Explosive King". Originally cost 58000 Yen, Baowang Model apparently able to sell this product for 598 RMB which is roughly 1/5th of the original product cost, while it is not certain if the replica will hold the water compared to the original counterpart, the pricing is good enough to catch people's attention.

Compared to the SOC Counterpart, POSE+ version looks more Heroic with increased amount of details compared to the toyish counterpart and Baowang certainly capitalise the unfulfilled demand for this product due to pricing and limited availability. I won't be surprised if Baowang will consider move onto Amakuni's Gaogaigar Diecast toys should they have nobody going after them with this stunt.

Realm of Darkness 1 million visit milestone

This will be a short post, but 14 years is such a long way for sure and I would like to say thank you for everyone to make this obscure blog made it this far! What started as a pet project of mine in College days is still going strong despite I don't have as much time due to my professional commitment but i am still grateful that my passion toward mecha has not die down yet which keeps this blog still updated to this day. To be honest, maybe Realm of Darkness could reach this milestone way earlier should I chose the mainstream path, but sticking true myself is one of the reason that motivate me to keep this blog going.

To celebrate this fortituous moment, I shall be reviving the mechatalk section in some limited fashion in near future, so stay in tune! Once again I would like to say thank you for making this blog reach this point.