Realm of Darkness - Super Mecha Champions Ultimate Archive

 
 Should have done this when I finished my last SMC Mechatalk series but I proudly present this post as dedicated portal for Super Mecha Champions! Netease treatment to SMC is abhorrent to the extent they change their name on some game they publish likely to hide in shame. Even so Super Mecha Champion is still a good game that deserved respectful treatment.

 This post will serve as the portal for SMC Mechatalk and SMC related Sluban Brick model reviews for easier access of readers who wish to navigate SMC related content in Realm of Darkness. This might be the last post for SMC at least until there are noteworthy development related to this series.

Shakugan Robot Spirits Big Tony Review

 
 Last post for July and instead of the usual loot post it will be a review this time! One of the long due review for one of the Robot Spirits that I took photoshots back then which is Big Tony from Sakugan series. Perhaps it is due to my disappointment toward Netease with their treatment to SMC which make me forgot this fellow but Sakugan series itself was rather forgettable due to being a mecha anime based on unfinished works.

While I don't really have much things to say about the series, the titular mecha of the series Big Tony do caught my attention which made me bother to get a copy of the Robot Damashii despite having low expectation toward the series. The main reason Big Tony caught my attention is due to this mecha shared heavy resemblance with Gustav from Tron Bonne series, Capcom's Megaman Legend spin off. Not exactly a carbon copy but If you played Tron Bonne you will know what I am trying to convey.

For a mecha action figure from forgotten series, Big Tony has quite good gimmick and playability. Articulation is top tier expected from Tamashi Nation but Big Tony also comes with Cockpit gimmick along with transformation capability, a rarity for Robot Damashi but a big win for me. Due to the lack of popularity of Sakugan, you can probably Roda Big Tony for under 5000 Yen in Japan which I would recommend to get if you do look for a mecha with alternative aesthetics.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Qbricks Group Shots

 
 A very short review this week just to wrap up the last bit of my SMC Qbricks Review with the Group Shots as the final part. Might as well post these materials instead of them going to waste and maybe a reminder to keep spiting Netease in the process. With this, I am more at peace before moving onto Mecha Break which apparently will make it this year. This is as far as I go for SMC Qbricks, perhaps there will be other collectors who can give full coverage of this lineup.

JAKI Super Mecha Champions Brick Model

 I never thought I would revisit Super Mecha Champions this fast as I have worked with all of materials I had with this series. But a noteworthy occasion still deserve to be given a spotlight! SMC might be completely abandoned by Netease and forced to close down its service early this year, but It doesn't mean that Chinese Manufacturers will stop making any new products for this hidden gem of Mecha game. From my random browsing on reddit, I come across new brick model products for SMC Mecha and this time it is from a manufacturer called JAKI or 佳奇 and they make 2, not 1 awesome SMC Brick Model for SMC new and fancier Mecha skins!

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Qbrick - Firefox Review

After slightly delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, Finally I can proudly wrap up the SMC Q-bricks Review Miniseries that started from February! As I started with the best and I save the last one with the best and I proudly present SMC Qbricks Firefox! Initially I planned this Mini Review series to serve as a send off for Super Mecha Champions when it officially closes the service on January 20^th, but the alternate turns out just fine as well. With this Realm of Darkness coverage for SMC will almost wrap up with one more article to go, unless Netease decide to turn good and allows the series for a Comeback.

Among SMC Qbricks that I have, Firefox is one of the best specimens available around along with Trio of Enders as it got better sculpt and playability due to base design and doesn’t come with the Big Head design for some mechas which can be off putting at times. In SMC, Firefox is one of the starters mech along with Arthur which is a beginner ranged unit based on Overwatch D. VA’s mecha design armed with Twin turrets and Missiles as its armaments. While Firefox performance in Battle Royale PVP is rather lackluster, Firefox is quite powerful on PVE mode as it is essentially a mobile gatling turret providing consistent firepower with right Power Ups.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Qbrick - Skylark Review

 
 4th SMC Qbricks review is here and one more to go! I tend to save better thing for the last and the rules apply in this instance! Skylark is my last Large Head SMC Qbrick to be reviewed and this one is the better specimen compared to Andromeda and Hot Steel. For a Sleek design mecha that had rather pointy feet design, surprisingly the Qbrick version of Skylark is quite stable due to the Sluban's Ingenuity in its design with the tail parts served as Stabilizer. I am not particularly fond of the Big Head SMC mecha from the Qbricks but Skylark is the most tolerable one.

In SMC before it closed down, Skylark is one of the more agile mecha and served as the starter unit piloted by the postergirl of the game, Iori. While not being the fastest mecha in SMC, Skylark had really good maneuverability and excel in harassment type of combat. Paired with Iori as the pilot, Skylark is good at whittling down enemies slowly while it has capability of self regeneration and quick retreat.  Back when SMC was alive there were plans of Kaiyodo making some sort of merchandise for Skylark but it appears that the negotiation fell through and left us with Qbricks as the only available product for this Jehuty distant niece.

Super Mecha Champions Mechatalk: Part 5

 
 At long last after almost 5 months,  I am able to put a wrap for this Mechatalk series that was supposed to conclude within 2 months. At first I only planned to cover the mecha parts only for SMC series, but given how badly this series treated by its own creator, I decide to make a full fledged SMC Mechatalk series that included the pilot as the part of this mini project's scope. After I have covered several SMC Pilots in the 4th SMC Mechatalk, I will be posting the remaining SMC Pilots in this 5th and Final part of SMC Mechatalk.

 While the Pilots with most costumes has been covered in the previous Mechatalk, this one will make up with the quantiy. Overall there are 18 Pilots to be covered in this Super Mecha Champions Mechatalk as well as the WIP Pilots that never made it even if the Mecha was already available. Netease does not have manpower issues to sustain SMC but they are just simply unwilling to allocate the proper resources for their game to have it thrive after a single moment they see their game going Downhill

Despite not being properly cared enough by its parent company, at least there are fans who cared enough for Super Mecha Champions and willing to contribute their effort to preserve the memory that this series had. While this will be the last of SMC Mechatalk, there will be a little bit more SMC contents before Realm of Darkness properly concluded with this series.

Without further ado, I proudly present the 5th and Final SMC Mechatalk!

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Qbrick - Andromeda Review

 
 About halfway through in wrapping up SMC Qbricks here. Out of the five Sluban's Super Mecha Champion Qbrick brick model, Andromeda is easily the weakest entry that I acquired. Being one of the starter Mecha in SMC and the first of the feminine mecha model in the series, Andromeda just simply had the misfortune to be shoved in the Qbricks lineup.

Being Joanna's Signature mecha, Andromeda is a ranged support unit specializing in harassment enemy units through midair with energy Crossbow as its main armament. To fit its Valkyrie vibe, Andromeda is also equipped with Javelin as sub weapon that is capable of stunning the enemies, depending on the module equipped. 

Despite being a decent mecha design, Andromeda is simply ill fitted to be included in Qbricks because it is extremely blocky medium just doesn't suit the sleek design of Andromeda. Interestingly Qbricks Andromeda comes with the Javelin instead. Sluban could probably have made a full fledged Brick model for Andromeda considering the slimmer model mecha like Snow Mirage turned out just fine. But given the tragic fate of Super Mecha Champions on the hands of Netease, I really doubt we will ever see any physical incarnations for Andromeda anymore.

Super Mecha Champions Mechatalk: Part 4

 
 Took me about a month to resume this activity due to being preoccupied with real life matters. But as a part of homage to this once great Mecha series, I present you the continuation of Super Mecha Champions Mechatalk! With the SMC Mechas has been properly covered in the first 3 SMC Mechatalks. SMC Mechatalk Part 4 and 5 will feature the SMC Pilots along with their notable available skins. Part 4 will cover the Pilot characters that I managed to obtain during the game lifetime which there are about 10 of them with Jaka being my personal favorite and Silver Deacon being my last obtained character. But I got to say Iori had the best overall skins from this list as expected from the SMC mascot character.

While the first part of SMC Pilots mechatalk won't have as much pilots compared to the next one, Most of the notable skins will be found in here considering Netease is very generous towards the Starter pilots in the skin department.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Qbrick - Hot Steel Review

 
 The 2nd set out of 5 Sluban SMC Qbricks review is here. While I planned to have a chronological release for this Lineup review, I decided to alter the sequence a bit for this series review to conclude in higher note. 

 Back then, I was quite obssessed with finding the Brick Model for Hotsteel which is the only I missed out of Sluban SMC Brick Model lineup. But in in a way this is actually a blessing in disguise considering Sluban's brick models are not exactly ideal for playability thus I resort to getting the Qbricks instead. For under 5 USD, you can get yourself a 300 Pcs+ brick model representation of Mechas from Mecha Pubg game that is left to its demise by Netease. 

Just like the Full Size Brick Model, Playability is not the best suit of SMC Qbricks and Hotsteel is one of the many variants of the SMC Qbricks that come with Oversized head which is a glaring flaw in my opinion. But for it's value for money, Sluban still do respectable job to justify the worth of this product.

While I am not really into Hotsteel back in SMC, I do quite like its design as Imposing Juggernaut mecha to the extent of purchasing the UR Skin. To me Hotsteel had too much odds stacked against it in PVP due to its type of weapon that designate its role. This Orange Juggernaut is not meant to fight enemies similar to its size especially the ones with better mobility. Instead it is meant to to punch through anything above its weight class just like Armored Core with Rocket weapons.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Qbrick - Trio of Enders Review

It has been a month since SMC officially closed its server but my homage process for this Mecha series that had its Potential wasted by Netease will not end. Around December last year, I have been acquiring some SMC Qbricks to see what the worth of this particular lineup that managed to run for 2 Waves.

All in All, I managed to acquire 5 of these SMC Qbricks which have some merit for its value and I will be presenting the first out of the five which is Trio of Enders which is one of the better specimen from the lineup. Till the end of SMC Run, Trio of Enders remain my favorite Mecha in SMC with its utilitarian Kit that offers respectable Firepower and Burst damage capability when required. Not particularly flashy, but It will get the job done. I will promise that SMC Qbricks review series will make its regular appearance likely until April 2025.

Super Mecha Champions Mechatalk: Part 3

 Super Mecha Champions have officially closed down but I haven't forgotten my Promise! I have gathered the necessary assets for SMC Part 3 before the game closed down, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I don't have access with the files until now. SMC Part 3 will feature the Mechas in the game that I was unable to obtain when the game closed down and in terms of roster number, this one will be easily the biggest one which consist of 19 Mechas. Back then I was only able to secure 18 Mecha which is only half of the playable rosters as I only have less than One year worth of time to farm for in-game currencies. While this part will conclude the Mecha side of SMC Mechatalk, I will also commit for the Pilot side as well since I want to do a proper send off for this underrated series that had misfortune being owned by a Soulless Corporation that only cares about profit.

Farewell Super Mecha Champions

 Well, the inevitable has arrived and Super Mecha Champions today officially down its server and end its service. Another mecha game bite the dust without any sendoff which is really a sad thing. But like many fans who loved this game, at very least I did my part of sending off SMC by playing a last game on the final day.

Once again I would like to say that Super Mecha Champions met its demise due to Netease negligence whom never put the proper amount of effort for this game in the right direction. I have to admit that Mainland Chinese company's extreme pragmatic approach for their product do bear good results. But personally at times companies Netease take this methodology way too far. Comparing to growing a crop, sometimes you really need more than Top Grade Soil, Fertilizer and Insecticide to let the Crop bears the greatest amount of Yields and Netease doesn't put enough care for SMC and simply consider this game outright as a failure when it is unable to deliver the result they desired. Seriously there are things that cannot be seen if you don't have any love for it.

With SMC's Demise, I will not be touching any Netease products anymore at least until they tried to make any amends for SMC by making a revival of some sort. As for myself, I will still commit to complete the sendoff for SMC with full fledged Mechatalk which will also include the Pilots database. This is the least can do for Fans to have something to reminisce with the series just like Final Gear last year.

Super Mecha Champions Mechatalk: Part 2

 10 More days before Super Mecha Champions officially closes down. Apologies that it took more than a month for the SMC Mechatalk to continue but I will assure that the Mecha part for SMC Mechatalk will be completed before the Server closedown. After covering the Starter mechs in SMC Mechatalk part 1, this time I will cover the Non-Starter Mechs that I managed to unlock before the server closedown. In my opinion, this is probably the best on for the Mecha Parts of SMC Mechatalk series since I unlocked some of the Mechas that struck my Fancy and some of them are given generous amount of skins by Netease. Without further ado, here is the Part 2 of SMC Mechatalk!

Early December 2024 Loot

  A rather modest Acquisitions compared to the usual time since this one arrived around early this month while the bulk of the Hauls will be coming in few days. Overall Pretty solid hauls which remained aligned with this Blog's interest in Mechas. Got myself couple of SMC Qbricks since I am considering additional review material when the Game inevitably closes down which is within 4 weeks of time.

The best of the haul are no doubt the Pumpkin Princess Mecha Musume which I will look forward to Unbox and couple of 52 Toys and 30 MF which my local distributor had trouble securing the products lately. I also finally got my copy of Hexagear Bui Tohru which definitely will take some time to be assembled given my current backlog. For the rest of the hauls, I will probably assign it in January loot post.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Brick Model - Hurricane Sonic Rocket Review

 All good things must come to an end eventually and Sluban Super Mecha Champions Full Brick model shall end with the Hurricane in SS-Rank Sonic Rocket skin as the final review! At least I am glad to complete this Review series before SMC Server officially closedown thus part of my sendoff contribution for SMC is finished. 

I picked Hurricane as the final review candidate for Sluban SMC Brick Model series because it is one of the two SMC Brick Model that came in alternate Skin apart from Ranger with its Safeguard Skin. Hurricane is also probably one of the most ambitious attempt by Sluban for SMC series as its Top Heavy Bipedal design do have its share of challenges for a Physical product. Ultimately Sluban failed to deliver with this one despite it is not their fault as it has difficulty to stand properly without proper base support considering this is probably the most expensive Sluban product from SMC that probably rivalled only by Hotsteel. 

Regardless of its glaring flaw, Sluban SMC Hurricane is still a good display piece that comes with Transform gimmick and you will still have fun time constructing this 1000+ block count brick model.

Super Mecha Champions Mechatalk: Part 1

 
 As we still got about less than 2 months before Super Mecha Champions shut down due to Netease's neglect, As promised I will be making SMC Mechatalk articles within the limited timeframe to preserve anything noteworthy that ever created in this series. I would expect the Super Mecha Champion Mechatalk will span over 4-5 articles as I will make some for the Mechas and the Pilot as well.

In this first part of SMC Mechatalk, I will be covering the Six Mechs of the Starter characters which are Arthur, Firefox, Caramel, Andromeda, Hot Steel and Skylark which I will include the noteworthy skins and any concept Art that I got. Considering these mechas have been around since the inception of SMC series, they tend to be the receiving end of generous amount of skins by the dev and there are plenty of Good SS Skins belong to this group. In my personal opinion, the Top 3 Mech with best skin in this batch are Arthur, Skylark and Hot Steel in this particular order and slightly regretted that I didn't spend more for the Fancy skins when I had the chance.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Brick Model - Ranger Safeguard Review

 Super Mecha Champions demise may have been set in place with Netease total neglect, but it doesn't mean that you can't stop enjoying this series and appreciate whatever things that this already had. This time I will present you the 6th of the 7 Sluban SMC Brick Model Review. This time I am proudly Ranger in its Safeguard Skin version, 1 out of the 2 Sluban SMC variants that were made in their alternate skin. If you have followed my blog, you will likely know that Ranger is my first Sluban Brick Model that I got for SMC and the rabbit hole goes down further from that point on. 

Out of the 7 Sluban SMC Brick model that I obtained, Ranger was the cheapest one. But it comes with somewhat decent transformation gimmick that turns the unit into car just like the unit's gimmick in the game. Considering this one of the last few Reviews for this particular series, this one obviously got something more special included in the review.

Super Mecha Champions Official End-of-service announcement

  Well I am supposed to reserve today's post for my FGO 7th Anniversary but something else deserves the priority this time. Given the Super Mecha Champion has been constantly teetering since Mid of this year with the game end up in maintenance mode for almost 6 months, Netease has finally decided to pull out the plug and announced the online service for SMC will be officially terminated in 20th January 2025. This is quite expected as SMC Chinese counterpart, Mobile City Alpha had announced their service termination last week. The recent money laundering scandal by some of Netease execs most likely accelerate this game's demise along with many other Netease games. Regardless the poor treatment of SMC by Netease really make me greatly disappointed yet again.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Brick Model - Snow Mirage Review

 5th Sluban Super Mecha Champions Brick Model review is here and we are now getting into some of the better stuff from this lineup! With only 2 remaining of this particularly underrated lineup left, I present the Review for Snow Mirage! Pound by pound, Snow Mirage is probably the best Brick Model made by Sluban for SMC series because the Top tier value with its Size and Weapon Accessory and comes with the least amount of build issues.

In SMC closely based on Gundam Dynames, Snow Mirage is one of the true dedicated Sniper Mecha who can snipe enemy from the distance with its large Sniper Rifle. In the lore, Snow Mirage is a patrol mecha roaming around polar region and piloted by character called Villar who was the last pilot addition before SMC goes to maintenance mode. Gameplay-Wise despite coming with got a pair of Pistol and Camouflage Cloak, Snow Mirage is not really suited for Solo combat due to its pure Sniper role which only got couple of potshots before the enemy close in and punish it in close combat. In Team combat, Snow Mirage is a great asset for team support in capable player's hand, landing painful Sniper shots while enemy got distracted by other team members. Considering I mostly play solo mode, I rarely had the chance to use Snow Mirage but this unit is very popular for newer players which obviously unable to use this Mecha. 

While Sluban version of Snow Mirage does not come with the Sniper Mode due to the limitation of Brick model format. If you have to pick only one from Sluban SMC Brick Model, either Arthur or Snow Mirage are the best candidate when it comes to overall value.