May 2025 Loot

 
 Another Full post for this month and time to wrap up with Loot post! I never thought the recent record for my monthly haul upper limit could be broken within short period of time, but this one gotta be taking the new record. Whether it is good or bad luck, over past three months my quality of hauls had significantly higher than usual as most of my big ticket Preorders arrived during this period which obviously also hurt my wallet in the process.

Overall this month's haul is a very solid Mecha collections as good stuffs congregate in this batch spread all over price range. In this month I got most of my 30 Minutes Fantasy Job class which are pretty good stuffs. I also got myself some Blokees Defenders full box which might be handful in anticipation for Blokees Devastator which I might prepared some dedicated article down the road. The main star of the show is obviously on the right column with some heavy weights as The Gattai Fighbird and Archecore Knight Killian made it which are some top tier Mecha stuffs that I won't imagine able to obtain during my College years.

The star of the show is obviously Amakuni King J-Der which are quite heavy despite it is not exactly that big compared to Soul of Chogokin Gaogaigar. This one is easily my second most expensive collectible I obtained as collector after Riobot SRX and hopefully I got the time to unbox this behemoth in near future, more likely once I managed to move to a bigger apartment.

Soskill x B.Duck Hip Hop Duck

 
 After releasing their gigantic Duck themed Mecha Model kit Spa Duck last year including a special edition, Soskill is now ready to release their second product for their Rad themed mecha, Hip Hop Duck! This time we have literally a Coca Cola Hip Hop themed Duck Mecha that comes with a new look after a hot spring trip. Scheduled for July 2025 release, SoSkill Hip Hop Duck will be sold for 238 RMB price tag.

52Toys Beastbox BB-17 Sharkira Review

 
 Shelfing out my older photo collections for the Review once again and it is 52 Toys Beastbox! With this, I only have around 2 more Products that had their Reviews long due. I always have been fascinated with 52 Toys Beastbox lineup and slightly ashamed that I never do much to contribute for this hidden gem of Chinese toys. Given the change in 52 Toys policy, I havent been able to get newer 52 Toys Beastbox items, But i still actually have plenty of these stuffs queued for review.

In this occasion, I will pull out review for Sharkira which was supposed to be the last of Beastbox Deep Sea Creature series to be reviewed as I have covered Leviathan and Deepwave couple years ago. Considering it is last of the Deep Sea Creature edition review for Beastbox lineup, this review will also include group shot of this lineup Beastbox. 

Personally I quite like Sharkira since a Mecha Shark are always good stuff and I am quite surprised the toy of this size could transform perfectly into 5x5 cm cube, albeit with slightly more difficulty. There was an alternate color of Sharkira which resemble a real life shark called Great White which went past my attention since I focused on Mechanical gimmicks for this lineup back then. If Captain Shark from Brave Goldran ever comes out, Beastbox Sharkira will complement that mecha quite well.

Savage Hero

 
 R18 Fantasy mangas are relatively common in the present Japan pop culture industry but there is another one that is slightly cut above and caught my attention. This particular manga is called Kichiku Eiyuu which is translated as Savage Hero in english is another one of those Isekai Power Fantasy manga with a healthy dose of fanservice. Isekai manga with Mary sue protagonist is pretty much common by this time, but Savage Hero had it the main character superpower is literally being an incubus who gains and grants power depending on the waifus he slept with.

As expected from its Kichiku moniker, Savage Hero is yet another manga that is heavily influenced from Rance series. Having Waifu Power Up through physical intercourse trope is a dead giveaway. Savage Hero provides a glimpse of what sorts of Fantasy Adventure that Demon King Rance would have before he lost his sanity in Isekai format. The story itself so far are not particularly special but Savage Hero's Mangaka is another one of those Top Notch talent who are equally skilled at depicting extreme violence and ecchi stuff. 

Savage Hero setting could have been a very Grimdark one as humanity have many opponents to if not for the presence of the main character who is literalled overpowered enough to literally wipe out monster hordes by himself and save the day. While the future of Savage Hero is rather uncertain as the manga got axed once, Savage Hero is still an amusing read while the show last.

MS General Seven Deadly Sins 1/10 Sloth

Just not long after Envy getting the Japanese release, MS General now released another of their Seven Deadly Sins Mecha Musume products! This time it is the Sloth Cardinal Sin to be featured as their product and they got some big Stuffs combined with cute things! Scheduled for Q3 2025 release, MS General Sloth will be sold for 399 RMB.

Compared to previous MS General entries for this lineup, Sloth overall aesthetics truly stands out taking the cutesy design compared to sinister theme that the likes of Envy and Gluttony represents. Despite the kawaii theme, Sloth is accompanied by rather large mechas as part of her escort having Bear and Rhinos mecha decked with heavy firepower as her bodyguard. Not exactly original design for the Bear and Rhino mechas as you can see traces from Gundam Gusion and Zoids Red Horn, but the size itself is impressive enough. I would say the size could even rival the mechas escort from Envy and Greed which makes me wonder what the remaining Seven Deadly Sins lineup by MS General have in store. With 4 of the Cardinal Sins being represented, all that remains are Pride, Wrath and Lust which we could expect things that will exceed expectations from MS General.

Genshin Impact Myethos 1/8 Citlali Obsidian Opalstar version

Genshin impact may be having rather lousy track record when it comes to their merchandising release pacing, but one of the latest Natlan waifu Citlali got her 1/8 Scale Figure on the courtesy of Myethos! Debuting early this year as SSR waifu char, Citlali is getting quite a special treatment by Mihoyo that even Mavuika isn’t having one! Scheduled for January 2026 release, Myethos 1/8 Citlali will be sold for 9900 Yen price tag.

Breaking the tradition of 5* Sword Maiden waifu from the past Five Teyvat regions, Citlali is the Male traveler’s token waifu of Natlan continent being a 5* Cryo Catalyst user cementing the Cryo Supremacy in Genshin yet again! Citlali character design and depiction of her storyline easily makes an easy favorite for male fans of the game. Considering Mihoyo through Citlali, really make good use of Ever youthful Maiden priestess archetype who finally find a perfect partner from her encounter with Main hero. To this day, I never regret picking Cryo as my favorite element because most of the Genshin top tier waifu design like Ganyu belong to this category and I wouldn’t be surprised if in near future Mihoyo have something special for Skirk who appears to be 5* Cryo Sword user. In any case Myethos 1/8 Citlali offer a relatively affordable collectible figurine which are relatively uncommon for Genshin Impact, perhaps hinting a shift for their marketing strategy.

Wandering Earth - 流浪地球

 
 At strange turn of event, a chance encounter from the Sembo Brick Model early this month lead me to this Chinese Blockbuster Scifi Movie called Wandering Earth. I never expect Mainland China could produce a rather interesting Sci Fi series with the strict regulation of their government, but this movie proved that there could be exceptions. 

Giving up on Wizardry Variant Daphne

Usually I don’t even bother to write any long winded article when I make an exit from a Gacha game for any sorts of reason. But given the recent great blunder made by Drecom for their Wizardry Daphne game and refusal to make any meaningful subsequent follow up action or make any amends after significant period of time has passed. Therefore, I decided to write an extensive Blog post to articulate the issues that I had with Wizardry Daphne which ultimately make me decide to quit the game after sticking around for almost 6 months.

My main grievances toward Wizardry Daphne stems from the mismanagement of Blade & Bastard collab which is supposed to be the high point of this game, yet the Devs never even bother to fix the issues over a month duration of this game. It was folly of me to stick around a little bit longer to expect Wizardry Daphne change to be a better when I should have just quitted as Drecom’s Blunder with Blade & Bastard event was a massive red flag. Ultimately, these accumulations of massive blunders along with minor ones make me deem Wizardry Variants Daphne to be managed as Kusoge and unworthy successor of Wizardry series legacy and conclude in making me decide to make a departure out of it.

This article will contain my criticism toward Wizardry Daphne which is bad enough to make an old-timer Gacha player ragequit and make a scathing commentary on it. This is actually quite an achievement since not many games could make me do the latter action apart from Netease with their shitty treatment on Super Mecha Champions. Even so, my primary driving force to write arguably what can be considered as hit piece and harshly criticize Wizardry Daphne is due to the lousy management by Drecom. As the owner of this game that will ultimately ruin Wizardry and deny its rightful potential with their arbitrary Greedy pricing policies.

Nokia N-Gage King of Fighter Extreme

 
 Considering I covered Joytoy KOF lineup few days ago, I might as well feature the King of Fighters game that served as my gateway to the series. Most people likely have KOF 98 as their first game considering it is the best title of once 2D Fighting game giant by SNK in Arcade scene. But being a hipster kid I was, I got into KOF series with this obscure N-Gage port simply called KOF Extreme.

 N-Gage King of Fighters Extreme is essentially a mobile port of KOF EX2 Howling Blood from GBA, featuring 7 Team of 3 Rosters of Popular and New characters. KOF Extreme might be just a port version, but it was one of the two Fighting games available on N-Gage apart from one. Not exactly the definitive experience of KOF, but it is a decent fighting game where I learnt my fundamentals of 2D Fighting game from here. My favorite character in KOF Extreme is the Korean Taekwondo Champion Kim Kaphwan which remains my go-to character in subsequent KOF game. But what I noticed from KOF Extreme is that It got several characters like Moe and Reiji who are Kyo Kusanagi's teammate that somehow never appear in the future KOF game anymore for some reason. If I have the time in the future, I might visit GBA KOF EX1 just to see more of the characters exclusive to this spin-off series.

Zao Workshop 1/100 Oracle Review

When it comes to Consistency, Chinese Model kit products track record have been quite a mixed bag as some of them didn’t deliver much with their end product. While Zao’s workshop Redeem model kit is rather mediocre product, they literally redeem themselves with their next product; Oracle. This Diecast Model kit is a literal behemoth being the larger variant of 1/100 Scale Model Kits.

 While not exactly the most original design being a Chinese derivative of Advance of Zeta Hrairoo, Zao Workshop 1/100 Oracle do fill the niche which Bandai refuse to tread into for 2 decades and provide collectors an alternative if they wish for larger size Hrairoo. Not to mention the price point of the Zao Oracle Workshop is really great value for money, at least for anyone who managed to secure early preorder price.

The only turn-off from Zao Workshop Oracle for me is the Transformation mode which just looks too forced and lack of any Aerodynamic aesthetics. If this thing put to the test with laws of Physics, It will just end up as a brick, looks decent enough from a distance nonetheless. If you wish for another great Diecast Model kit after having Bailu, Oracle is a good candidate.

King of Fighters Joytoy 1/18 Kyo Kusanagi

 After making so many Warhammer 40k Action figures over past two years, Joytoy finally decide to expand their portfolio starting with SNK’s popular IP, King of Fighters! Obviously the first pick goes to the main protagonist no other than KOF series poster boy, Kyo Kusanagi! In this batch, Joytoy decide to create a 1/18 Rendition for Kyo Kusanagi in his KOF 98 version and tagged along with his Japan Team teammates, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon. Scheduled for August 2025 release, Joytoy Kyo Kusanagi will be sold for 30 USD.

As expected by Joytoy with their experience in handling popular IPs, their rendition of Kyo Kusanagi is a well made one as it pretty much includes the effect parts for the Kyo’s signature moves including the finishers. Joytoy probably had the ability to go for the extra miles with this particular series compared to Figma lineup. While there are several manufacturers like Storm Toys made plenty of action figures for SNK popular characters with great quality before, Joytoy open a new avenue for affordable SNK series collectibles with decent quality. This is a great news for casual fighting game like me who are interested with collectibles from popular 2D fighting series but not too eager to shelf out 80 USD per character. If this lineup goes well, I am quite sure that Joytoy could expand to other SNK popular series like Samurai Showdown or Metal Slug and might even expand to Capcom series which 52Toys didn’t quite manage to achieve any success.

MS General Seven Deadly Sins 1/10 Envy

Having been released in Mainland China early this year, MS General now make their latest 7 Deadly Sins edition Mecha Musume, Envy available in Japanese market! Unlike Greed which was released under the wings of Kotobukiya, seems like MS General goes with another part and as a result the pricing is closer to the original Chinese version! Scheduled for July 2025 release, MS General 1/10 Envy will be sold for 8800 Yen.

Transformers Blokees Soundwave Action Edition

  Soundwave has always been one of my favorite Transformers design, maybe due to the vague childhood memory of having a version of the knockoff toys at some point. Being one of the most popular Decepticons transformers, obviously Soundwave is one of the prime candidate of getting the Action edition by Blokees which was available on Mainland China since 8^th May 2025.

Standing 18cm tall with 45 points of articulation, Action Edition is one of the high end lineup by Blokees offering a Master Grade equivalent for Transformers series. Not sure in the west, but Blokees Transformers Action edition in SE Asia has been relatively affordable. Considering Blokees did try to make the best rendition for Soundwave, personally I am very highly interested with this product and wouldn’t mind to double dip despite I have a copy of Soundwave MPM myself, considering the Casseticons gimmick are pretty good for its price points. Apparently there is a transformed version of Shockwave available as addon for Blokees Soundwave Action edition though I will need to do further check on how to get one. To wrap up this post, I will just leave the reference picture for Blokees Soundwave Action Edition Contents. In near future, I wouldn't be surprised if Shockwave or Starscream will be the one to get an Action edition from Blokees.

Diaclone Agres Versaulter Daedalus Unit

 

 Diaclone returns again with a killer product yet again! Dubbed as Agres Versaulter Daedalus unit, this time Takara make a versaulter unit that will easily surpass any of its previous Versaulters unit being literally armed to the teeth. Scheduled for October 2025 release, Agres Versaulter will be sold for 16800 Yen.

From the first glance, Agres Versaulter is a powered up version of Hawk Versaulter, a Space type Versaulter unit. Having double of whatever armaments that the Hawk had, practically making Agres Versaulter essentially a Heavy weapon variant of the latter. But what makes this new fellow special among the versaulters is literally the amount of transformation forms that it had whether being a White Glint OVB version of Diaclone, Slightly monstrous version or a Space Voyager type vehicle. The amount of the gimmick almost reminded me of the recent Diabattles, making it a cheaper variant and I would be sure that there will be more of this sorts for the Diaclone Versaulters down the road.

To close off this post, I will just leave the reference picture for the transformation gimmicks that this Agres Versaulter has.