Volks A3 F-14 AN3 Mindseeker Review

Some Muvluv goodness after a long time!

Recent Muvluv Hauls

 It has been more than 3 years since i got any Merchandise related to Muvluv. I suppose it has to do with the recent re-release for Official Muvluv Alternative VN which i decided to do my part to support this series. The Muvluv goods i got are the consolidation from my purchase on last month and this month. I got the Sumika and Vita copy of Muvluv Alternative earlier and then the Volks A3 followed up last week which i got from last month. I got the Volks A3 around 1000 Yen each but due to the Proxy service, the price for them went doubled, but still a good haul nonetheless. I really want to get cracking on the Muvluv Alternative soon though i need to finish my SRW V second run first.

While i am indifferent with the series nowadays. I did really like Muvluv series back then due to the potential it had as mecha series and it was no doubt still the best one coming from VN. But my attachment with Muvluv dies down as Age wasted opportunities after another with their half baked adaptations post Alternative. I would love to see a proper mecha action game out of Muvluv series one day even though it is rather unlikely to happen in the present.

Singapore Trip Loot

 Last week i visited Singapore mainly to attend AFASG 2019 and here are some hauls i got from the trip. Due to the insane amount of the crowds in AFA, my motivation to find any bargain over there took a nose dive unsurprisingly. Nevertheless i do find some good deals over the Hobby shops that i visited during the trip. As usual my loots are Mecha or FGO related which I got myself Chocobo Coin Bank, Funko Space Marine, Sumika PVC Figure and FGO Desktop Army. Surprisingly the most expensive of all loot is the FGO Desktop Army 2 which cost me around 80 SGD which is about the same with FGO Desktop Army 3 that i bought not too long ago. As for Sumika PVC i got her for 60 SGD from carousell which will complete my recent Muvluv merch acquisition. I didn't intend to get the Chocobo Coin Bank but 28 SGD is a steal for this item because i knew the Preorder Price for this item was even higher two years ago. Lastly i got myself Funko Ultramarines to complement my Funko Blood Angel from my last SG trip and i had to say it is a decent and affordable 40k Collectable. I think the review for Funko and Sumika figure will be able to come up sooner out of all these loots.

Hauls from AFA SG 2016

 Since this is my first time attending AFA i suppose i purchase too many stuffs on impulse from my shopping spree and spent like around 200 SGD in 2 Days visit. Compared to SMASH! AFA definitely have more things to purchase since they have some actual good bargains hanging around. I acquired my loots pretty evenly from Vendors, Artist Circle, Lotteries, Showbags and Freebies. From my acquisition this year i managed to get the Frame Arms Girl T-Shirt from Janken contest on Kotobukiya booth which fleets in a moment. 

 
 Spent like 65 SGD for One Figurine and 2 Nendos. Bought Miku Acute Version since i dont have any vocaloid figurine. Bought Two nendoroids from La Tendo despite never a big fan of the lineup but for $20 each it was a steal. The Two Nendoroids are Cryska from Muvluv and Mirai Suenaga from Danny Choo. Not a follower of Danny Choo but might use the props.

 Bought two showbags from AFA and glad not to buy more, While $15 for each Showbag is still acceptable the content in general are mostly unusable. I dont think even the Showbags sold by the bigger vendor worth the price tag.

As i mentioned earlier i spent quite abit on Ichiban Kuji which are some kind of paper lottery. Each tries mostly cost around $10 SGD depending on the series and Pokemon seems to be the most popular one for this year's AFA. As for me i tried Neko Atsume which i did 6 tries though my luck is not good on this one.

 From the Artist Circle all i get is Tamamo's poster and some Gundam Badges. Fortunately there is at least one Circle selling mecha stuff. While i am not a big follower of Gundam i supported the circle so that they continue their passion on mecha and perhaps they will make more stuffs other than Gundam.

From this year's shopping lesson i will probably shop smarter and might as well raise my budgets for next year's AFA.

Some shots for Shiranui UN version

 I accidentally deleted my photoshots on Shiranui UN for stupid reason and here are some of what i can salvage from. I intend to do another take on this guy which i will do once i finished reading Muvluv Alternative which i intend to do in near future despite 6 months of procrastinating. This time i will do it with better setups compared to last time since these pictures are taken with Digital Camera instead of DSLR. Anyway case here are some of the shots that were taken for the Review.

Muvluv Schwarzesmarken

Perhaps my opinion toward Muvluv was rather low after Alt Chronicle 3, but after watching Schwarzesmarken i guess i slightly regain my faith toward the series. By no means the anime version of Schwarzesmarken is the definitive version of the series but at least it fulfills its purpose successfully. Though at very least i think you should read Muvluv Alternative beforehand in order to appreciate what Schwarzesmarken Anime could offer.

MIG-21 Balalaika is quite awesome

 Schwarzesmarken is a spin-off story of Muvluv series revolving around the Elite East German 666 TSF Squadron who specialize in suicidal missions. The series Roughly taking place 10 Years after the first BETA landing where the world are fighting losing battles against BETA while still manage to bicker with each other due to cold war mentality. If Alternative is a story of man fight to save humanity, then Schwarzesmarken is the story of a man fight to preserve his sliver of hope toward humanity.

Initially i was rather skeptical toward Schwarzesmarken due to fanservices but overall i think the series plots are decent enough to breathe a fresh air into Muvluv series. After multiple Blunders from other spin-offs, at least Schwarzesmarken managed to get the setting Grimdark enough which was one of the major selling point of the series. Compared to Alternative most of the "grimdark"ness of Schwarzesmarken come from the political intrigues while it still got decent amount of deaths.

Fluff-wise Schwarzesmarken Anime does contribute alot to Muvluv-verse. The anime shows more detailed view on how TSF Squadrons deal with BETA in the transitional period between 1st and 2nd Generation TSF as well as the sheer horror of these Alien creatures bring to the frontline. It certainly sucks if you fight as footsoldier in the frontline against hordes of those Tank Classes trying to have piece of you. At the same time the series also provide good insight how the cold war tensions between the Nations cost them dearly by the time of Alternative.

F-14 Jolly Roger Squad with the Phoenix missiles

On the end note, Schwarzesmarken succeed to show a different sides for Muvluv series while maintaining the appeal of the series. Despite the Anime appeared to be minimalistic, it managed to get me interested to look into the original Light Novel or VN which to me the anime succeeds at its goal. I will definitely look forward for the localization of Schwarzesmarken VN which hopefully is not just pure re-telling of the story especially more insight on how the protagonist of this series end up in the circumstances of his in TE. Also i still hope one day we get some Muvluv action game since it is a sin for such delicious mecha designs do not have such treatment. Perhaps for now i will just re-read Muvluv Alternative.

Early March Loot

 Lol what a way to celebrate my return to Beijing for the last time with Impulse spending on Taobao. For this time i bought myself Kotona Nendoroid, YS7 Adol Figurine and Volks A3 Type 00 A&R Takemikazuchi. Overall i got the price of the items on par with Mandarake's price tag which are still compared to buying from Mandarake when Shipping is taken on consideration since i only pay like 3$ for the shipping when i buy from China. I bought both Volks A3 for 220 RMB each which is around 3700 Yen which is really good deal for the Blue Takemikazuchi as it is the 2nd most expensive Type 00 after Yui's. Originally i didn't intend to get the White Takemikazuchi considering it was abit higher than the average price but bought on impulse anyway since i guess Ikaruga would be lonely without someone to boss around. Also i have been looking around for Adol Figurine but the only decent one i get is the UFO catcher grade figurine which got nice sculpt overall save for the face. It is hard life for collector when your favorite character is male since the Japanese figure market didn't make much of those most of the time. In any case it will be a while before i reviewed these items considering it will be like 4 months before i returned to hometown.

Non Scale EF-2000 Typhoon Wilfried Eichberger Custom

 If i ever get an EF-2000 Typhoon kit to build i will probably pick this version. A while after the first EF-2000 Typhoon got released Koto released this version of Typhoon  in black color scheme which included the Fort-Class Killer sword as well. In the Muvluv series this Customized Typhoon belongs to one of the best German's Ace Eishi with the nickname Black Konigswolf, Wilfried Eichberger who serve as the Captain of Cerberus team. Wilfried appeared briefly in the Muvluv Alt Chronicles 2 Adoration chapter where he greets the Seijuurou for joint training program with the Cerberus Squad. In the muvluv series Wilfried is kinda like ATX team equivalent of Kyosuke considering he gives similar distant and imposing aura while partnered with Love interest who's good at Ranged combat. The kit's price was rather stiff as well but one of these days i will probably find the cheap one. As for the White Konigswolf version there was a web exclusive for the kit but i think it is easy enough to just get the regular Typhoon and paint it with its custom color scheme.

Non Scale Type-94 Shiranui Isumi Valkyries

It has been like 4 Years after the first release of Non Scale Shiranui and it appears that Kotobukiya intended to release the definitive version later this year. Released around June this year with the price tag of 6800 Yen The kit comes with complete accessories to emulate all 4 different roles in Isumi Valkyries Squad. Personally i find the kits price tag is rather high considering the 2000 Yen difference is to include the Missile Pod and 2 Sniper Rifles only which you could have got from other Muvluv Kits. If You have bought other Muvluv Kits before probably you won't find the kit to be appealing but it does make a good choice for the first Muvluv Kit. In any case i will be crossing my finger if i ever need another new Shiranui.

Shiranui UN Finished!

Welp it was almost 4 years since the last time i worked on the kit and i just finished working on the kit with the Painting supply i recently get. Back then the kit was 90% finished and all i do this time is handpainting some details and topcoating the kit. As it is my first kit i ever handpaint on, the result is rather sloppy but it will definitely get better eventually as i get hang of it. Will be posting review once i got my DSLR considering my mobile phone camera won't cut for it.

Reassembled some of my Kits

 It took me two days for me to sort these kits from the box as i packed everything in one box back when i moved out from Sydney which causes the nightmare. More or Less i am still glad that majority of my kits are still mostly intact despite the rough journey even though i won't be able to treat them as toys anymore because these kits get brittle as they ages. To me these kits represents the culmination of my skills in Modelling when i was getting into the hobby for 3-5 years. While i messed up some and wasted plenty of good kits, at very least i won't repeat the same stupidity that i did in the past when i get back to the hobby again which will be soon enough. All of these kits have been reviewed before and if you can name all of them without seeing my reviews, your /m/ power level should be pretty good.

Another batch of loots here!

I think i have spent abit too much over the Chinese golden week early this month getting rare stuffs from Taobao yet again. I spend almost 1000 RMB getting some MH and Persona stuffs as well as a Muvluv Kit. Overall i still get these items slightly cheaper than the official japanese price and some i might spend abit much but still in the end turns to be cheaper than getting them shipped from Japan because domestic shipping in China is really cheap.

For the loots this time i got CFB Rajang with DXF Lagiacrus X which makes decent pair then D-Arts Elizabeth and Thanatos from Persona which is Asian copy distributed by Bandai Hongkong which the sculpt looks legit enough which is acceptable for me since it is kinda hard to find the Japanese copy of the figurine without breaking a leg. I will definitely get P3 Protagonist Figma and i would imagine the chinese "Official" Good Smile Company would stock up one eventually. Lastly i also get Type-00C Takemikazuchi and i got it for around 250 RMB which is like 5000 Yen which is still reasonable enough and definitely will have it painted one day.

I won't be reviewing any of them anytime soon like my previous loots since i don't have the proper props at my current place but probably i will take some shots for the Lagiacrus X in few days.

Muv-luv Integral Works

Should have posted this when i finished Alternative but seeing the recent kickstarter attempt by Age to bring Muvluv series to the west makes me kinda want to write a post about this. While now i still hate the series since it was ruined by fanservice and ultranationalist pandering, but i do still like mecha designs which are the best part of the series in my opinion. The series do have the artbook specifically for the TSFs called Integral Works which contained most of the TSF designs, personally i find Ni0 did good job on designing the mecha for the series. The book has been out for a long time already and cost around 4000 Yen, would have got one if i could find cheap copy though prolly i will save the opportunity till i went to Japan. Probably i have said this many times but Muvluv as series went well till Alternative even though it is not the most original thing ever. But afterwards the series just went downhill went it goes tryhard route and things gets rather derpy and adding balloon tits along with "Japan is the Master Race" attitude just make things even worse. Nevertheless i will still collect the Volks A3 and the Koto kits

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien

It has been few years since i read Muvluv but i think i haven't discussed about Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien which is some of the reason that makes me go read Muvluv. I don't really exactly remember this anime anymore but certainly it leaves a memorable remark on me. Unlike Muvluv which got Lighthearted Drama, KGNE had very heavy duty Love Triangle and Mature drama which sets it apart from other Slice of Life. The story is basically about 2 best friends Haruka and Mitsuki who had a crush on the same person but Mitsuki let Haruka confess to Takayuki. While her relationship is abit rocky at first, Haruka gets on really well with the Takayuki until one day she got into serious accident that leads her to coma. Long story short years passed as Mitsuki become Takayuki's lover in Haruka's stead which started when Takayuki goes very Heartbroken due to Haruka's accident and now Haruka awake again from her long years of coma which starts the stormy love triangle that no matter how it ends up everyone will always get hurt and thats what makes KGNE so appealing.

For a Slice of Life the drama in Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien is quite heart wrenching and tearjerking sometimes and you can find it easily relevant because the cause and effect of the decision in this series are rather realistic. The songs too from the anime are very emotional and i think Minami Kuribayashi best songs are from this series. Again in this post i will use the opportunity talk abit about Muvluv, considering KGNE had some ties with it even though not directly related. I used to like Muvluv until it becomes piles of abomination that is tryhard and pretentious which what the series become after Alternative. Extra/Unlimited is very enjoyable experience and Alternative too though it is the point where it begins to show up its defects. Anyway if you read Muvluv before you should go watch KGNE if you haven't and don't skip the OP and ED to experience a journey full of emotions! Also watch the OVA if u want Haruka Ending

Edge of Tomorrow

Never planned to watch this movie but since i heard good things about it, i decide to give it a go just like other thing. It was surprisingly entertaining movie unlike hollywood adaptation stereotypes which usually end up being terribad. I have read the All you need is Kill manga which shared the same base material with this one and compared to the manga the movie had happier end and less shonen tone. I find the main reason why the movie did really well is mainly because of the base material is good to boot with and rather easy to convert to suit tastes. It still makes me wonder how Tom Cruise looks still so young until now considering he has been active before he played in Top Gun

What makes me include the Muvluv in the header is that because it shares the same template with the source material of Edge of Tomorrow, in a way you can say that Muvluv is All you need is Kill with Giant Robots. Basically the main protagonist is a weak guy but gets stronger after going through loop after loop while dying in the process and in the end the main heroine is the cause why the guy can't get through out of loop. Depending in on what perspective you see Muvluv Alternative either inspired by All you need is Kill (which came earlier btw) or plagiarize it which i think Muvluv borrowed "a little bit too much". I used to like Muvluv series back then but got abit sick of it lately due to poor continuation of the series that goes nowhere which gave me the impression is that Alternative is too unoriginal. Nevertheless i believe the novel probably borrow the inspiration somewhere as well which at the moment i didn't know yet but i believe eventually i will. So Muvluv borrowed heavily on Blue Gender and All you need is kill what else the series borrowed at the time Alternative came to light?

Wonderfest 2014

I think it has been couple of years already i do limited coverage for Wonderfest which is one of the major event where the companies in hobby industry showing some future release for their products. I always pay attention to Kotobukiya and maybe Megahouse or Bandai and as always lots of stuff to be shown but not the one i look forward to. Shingeki no Kyojin and Nintendo as well as Kancolle products are shown a lot  in the wonderfest.

 
From Kotobukiya section there are couple of new SRW kits from OGs2 but no Masoukishin. It appears Kotobukiya will be going to release AS Belial kit as Laevatein follow up soon which indicate there is a chance that FMP series will be reignited in some way  considering Z3 is coming up which Bandai also even prepare a Metal Build for Laevatein. Muvluv got some new 1/144 kit but for non scale, Takemikazuchi got 1.5 version which probably address the issues of the former version. The upcoming Frame Arms is also being displayed which are 2 knight esque model which indicate that Frame Arms are likely to take different directions than it used to be.

I was expecting Sentinel going to show their new RIOBOT lineup but i guess they plenty already last year. Megahouse is going to release something for Orguss which is likely to be action figure and as for Max Factory, i am quite surprised that they catch up with Dougram lineup quite fast as numerous grunt units models are shown. The notable one is Soltic and Iron Foot which is the MP version of Dougram. Guyver figma is confirmed for this year at long last and Archer from FSN is getting figma though i am not too interested due to the figure size. That's all my coverage for this year's wonderfest and hopefully i will still do the next year.

Blue Gender

This is one of those few animes that got interesting concepts but the ending totally ruined the series and make it forgettable. Marathoned the series on December and i can see how Blue Gender got its reputation of grimdarkness and how it ties with Muvluv series. From what i know Ryosuke Takahashi served as the creative director for Blue Gender but he is not the main director in charge which is why i can see the outcome of the series. The story of the series basically about humanity fighting giant insect creature called Blue(basically mix of Radam and Starship troopers bug) to reclaim Earth as their home with some kill'em all and gore thrown here and there.

Blue Gender really strong lead heroine and protagonist with good potential as well as great Real Robot mecha concepts. I think that the concept of the main heroine regaining her humanity while the protagonist slowly losing his is an interesting one but Blue Gender didn't properly pull it off until the end to make any impact. Also another problem from the series, is that it kills way too many side characters for any good story development which at least have some of them survive until the end. The first half of the series is done quite well but from the second half, Blue Gender slowly decline and the ending probably drive the last nail to the coffin. The movie could have create a change but in the end it is even worse than the TV series.

As the header of this post implies, Muvluv does take plenty of inspiration from Blue Gender, mainly for the TSFs and BETAs. The Assault Rifle, Servo Arms and couple of bits from TSF are based on Armor Shrikes parts and you can see F-22's spiky kneecaps is a homage to Armor Shrikes in a way. While Blue doesn't have many similarities with BETA when it comes to appearance, the concept does. From the Hives and how BETA make humans as their raw material is likely inspired from Blue Gender, i think that Sadogashima Hive Spire is also inspired from this series as well. There is one Blue strains that is probably the inspiration for Ruitare or Destroyer class which i can't find the picture but it is shown in the early episodes. With this much similarities you can see how Blue Gender influence Muvluv and in a way you can say that Muvluv is the more commercially successful version of Blue Gender. Unfortunately from Alternative onwards, the series have been stagnating too much.

Blue Gender probably makes a good SRW material with gruntish mecha like Votoms and the OP theme definitely will make an awesome theme in SRW. I still wonder why there are no single plamo or two ever comes out from the series. If you like Muvluv, i think Blue Gender worth to have a watch to see one of the series source inspiration.

Muvluv Alternative Chronicles 3

Since Muvluv Alternative Chronicles 4 is coming up i think i should write a coverage about Muvluv Alternatives Chronicles 3 but more like the TDA segment since i haven't read the 2nd story of Alt Chronicles 3. I will also cover some part of the story in TDA 01 from Alt Chronicles 2 since i haven't covered them in my previous posts and it doesn't make any sense if i jumped straight through TDA 02. Overall TDA 02 is really weak story and the action sequence is subpar compared to Alternative but hopefully Alt Chronicles 4 would be less disappointing.

Please consider that this post will contain some spoiler and tread with your own discretion.

Wonderfest 2014

This year's wonderfest is not as interesting as previous years for me but at least i can always expect something from Kotobukiya. Other booths in the this year's wonderfest doesn't really pick my interest and i was hoping some MH or Dougram stuffs. From this years Wonderfest, Koto shown the non scale version of F-22 Raptor TSF which going to be the Infinities color scheme it seems. The kit will be released sometime next year but i expect it is going to be released around the same period like the EF-2000 Typhoon this year.

Also D-Style lineup got some solid addition as Kotobukiya added Votoms series to their lineup and we got the Scopedog, depending on the kit's popularity  i think we may get the fully armed version as well. SRW has been really slow this year but it seems there will be some model kit for Awakened version of Cybuster which first show up in Masoukishin 2 and  i will be looking forward to it. With this i think the other Masoukishin will have better chance to get their kits someday and i will wish Granveil will come first if it happens.  Like usual i will update this post if i find anything worth to add.

Volks A3 F-15E Strike Eagle Review

The leading 2nd Gen TSF is here!