Non Scale Raftclans Model Kit

 With Moon Dweller Release back then, Raftclans did have a good chance for a Model Kit Release and Kotobukiya just did it. The Raftclans Prototype shown from Wonderfest didn't fail the expectation and we got the release date shortly after the Summer one. With Al Van's Colors scheme, Raftclans Model Kit will be released around the end of this year with 8800 Yen Price tag. The kit comes with most of the Raftclans Gimmick save for the Orgon F Sword effect part which i find to be the coolest feature of the mecha. I have been expecting Raftclans will cost around 7000 Yen but as Kotobukiya Improvement of their Model Kit overall quality, i guess we won't see SRW Kit under 5000 Yen anytime soon.

 
 In SRW series, Raftclans begin as Original unit in SRW J and mainly used by game original Antagonists factions; The Fury. The units serve as the Fury Ace Pilot Mechas though it was unlockable as secret unit once you complete the Game with all three Original unit. In terms of specs Raftclans is strong in both Close and Ranged Combat and can perform further on either type depending on the pilot's Preference. Personally I find SRW J to be rather mediocre title at best, but Raftclans was what drives me to commit 4 Playthroughs and it was well worth it. You can bet that once i got the kit in my hand, i will just repaint it into Touya's color scheme.

SD Gundam G Generation Genesis Platinum

 I think it is almost 6 Months since i started Gundam Genesis and at last i managed to score a Platinum Trophy on this one. Roughly Speaking Gundam Genesis Heavily focus on UC Period around OYW and Post CCA Timeline because thats what i see where the Resources are poured in. In terms of Gameplay, i find Genesis lack in couple department such as Poor Battleship Selection and how the OYW are quite Handicapped in Late UC stages. Personally i find Gundam Genesis is not really my cup of tea as it is mostly Glorified Ads for Gundam Unicorn as the series pretty much hog the spotlight.

Battle of the Toys 2017

 My first time for this event and first time working here too. Taking a week after AFAID 2017 Battle of the Toys is another of those run of the mill pop culture convention but more focused on Toys considering it was hosted by the biggest toy seller in Indonesia, Multitoys. In terms of event quality, i can't say it is better than AFAID by far margin but at least in this event you get more things to see and getting some good bargain for toys.

Legend of Galactic Heroes ARTFX 1/8 Yang Wenli

 Kotobukiya is quite fast on this one,  shortly after the finished prototype shown in Wonderfest Last month we got the release detail for ARTFX Yang Wenli. Slated for January next year, the figure come with the price of 9000 Yen. Posed with holding his beret while showing gentle smile, Kotobukiya captured the character of Yang Wenli's character really well with the figure. In the series, leading the 13th Fleet Yang Wenli is mostly known for being the only person who can fight toe to toe with the future Galactic Emperor, Reinhard von Lohengramm. But what i admire from Yang's character is his virtue of Wisdom and willingness to fight for his ideal even though he serve dying nation rife of corruption like Free planet Alliance.  I will definitely preorder this figure and likely get Reinhard and Kircheis because i just really respect LOGH as a series and doing my part to contribute. I think Reinhard's Artfx will come with slightly higher pricetag but as for Kircheis, it will roughly cost the same with Yang Wenli.

AFAID 2017 Thoughts

 This is my first time i attend AFA in Jakarta and i will not visit again next year. For an event with International standard, AFAID comes with substandard quality as if the Organizer doesn't put enough effort with the event or plainly lack of proper budget. The main issue with this event is the lackluster content of the exhibition and far pales in comparison to the Singapore one and definitely way behind SMASH. This year's AFAID did got interesting guests like Amuro's VA and one of the Iron Blooded Orphans protagonist VA but the poor exhibition hall quality makes me cares less about them. If AFAID didn't get ahold of themselves properly, probably there wont be another one in next few years.

Sampling on some Star Wars Kit

 Over past three days i have been assembling these kits as a part of assignment from my company as they need these for upcoming exhibition. Since i don't belong to Generation X, i am not really crazy with Star Wars series but i am having good experience while building these kits. For this assignment i just do straight build on the kits and applying some decals since that what i am instructed to. Bandai did good job on the details with these kits but i think in terms of pricing the star wars kit are rather pricey compared to Hasegawa's Macross model kit, something to do with the licensing cost i guess.

Out of 11 Star Wars kits consists of 7 1/72 Scale and 4 Miniplas, i think i had the most fun working on Bobba Fett's 1/72 Slave I surprisingly. As for the hardest one to build it is definitely the Y-Fighter since the Model kit got so much finely shaped wire to attach though Applying decals for the X-Wings could be frustrating too. If this was personal project i would have painted these kits especially the X-Wing since the decal are just horrible substitute for the unpainted parts of the kit. If i got opportunity in the future i don't mind building some TIE Fighters or 1/48 X-Wing

Touch My Katamari 100% Completion

 One of the first few games that i bought for my Vita and just managed to complete it now. Seriously the last trophy is very time consuming and the game doesn't have platinum either. Out of all Katamari series Touch my Katamari for Vita is definitely the weakest. The game are riddled with issues like uninspiring level design and half of the levels locked behind some kind of Paywalls. The game have currency called Fan Damacy which is used to unlock DLC Levels and you can either grind or pay for it. While some of the DLC levels are decent they don't worth real money to unlock since you can get all those Fan Damacys while grinding for Candies for the last item. Some of the more interesting DLC levels are Maid Heaven, Athlete Abyss, Great Journey and Pacman which ironically i unlock most of them near the end of my playthrough. For the candies i mostly grinded on the 50 Objects level since it is the quickest one to complete and earns decent amount of Candy which makes it good level to grind for Fan Damacy too. Personally i find Me&My Katamari still to be my personal favorite and would love to play Katamari Forever someday

Wonderfest Summer 2017 Highlights

 As usual i always do coverage about Wonderfest whenever they appear. Compared the one earlier this year, The summer 2017 doesn't seem as exciting to me as you see more of the Manufacturer's progress on their prototype from the Winter Wonderfest. As always only mecha related stuff that piqued my interest and stay away from moeshits like a plague. In any case Kotobukiya and Sentinel seems to fill my expectation again this time.

Elder Sign Storage Solution

 Fantasy Flight Games is one of the Boardgame Publisher who is notorious for chugging out Expansions after Expansions for their Base Game. This naturally makes the Original Boardgame box unable to contain all of the expansion components at some point and thus people their own storage solution for this issue and here is mine.

 For my storage solution i use Plano Box to contain the tokens, Cloth Bags for Monster Tokens and ordered some custom made wooden boxes for the Cards. So far my current suitcase for the Elder Sign able to hold all of the expansions up to Omens of the Deep just fine but i will need to find another if new expansions coming out. Overall i am quite satisfied with the storage solution that i do for Elder Sign. I had one as well for Elder Sign but havent got any time to give the final touch up for it.

Cross Ange

 Watched this series as part of my preparation for SRW V. Cross Ange is mediocre at best but at least it is still better than Valvrave. Interestingly Cross Ange is one of the series that is directed by Fukuda after a long time break as a producer thus you see a lot of homage from the previous series he directed Especially Gundam SEED considering the main Heroine Mecha is in Freedom Gundam color scheme anyway. The concept of the Ragna-Mail mecha is cool with Motor Cycle cockpit reminding me of a certain vertical shooter game in late 90s. As for the story it is tolerable if you dont take it seriously as the worldbuilding got some nice twist if watered down by excessive fan service. My least favorite thing about Cross Ange is the Grimderp route that it takes in the beginning as the character deaths in the first few episode only serve as Shock Value. Personally i never like the main heroine because her personality too selfish but i guess she kinda serve as strong willed Female Heroine in opposite of Beta Kun Male protagonist. Out of the Para-mail design i guess i like Tusk's since his is pretty much Justice Gundam version of the series and i am Athrun Zala fanboy. If i can find a bargain, i think i will get a Vita copy of Cross Ange game someday.

1/500 Yamato 2199

 Ever since i become follower of Space Battleship Yamato through Yamato 2199, i have been looking for a definitive Physical representation for the badass Battleship and now finally find one! The one that will be added to my collection is the 1/500 Model Kit of the Yamato 2199 made by Bandai. It cost around 10000 Yen but it is 60 cm size model so the price is worth it. The Model kit comes with the miniature model of the Cosmo Ace and Falcon but have no LED gimmick. For this kit with this magnitude, i will definitely put an effort to install the LED for the Cannon, Bridge and the Booster. Apparently the 1/500 Yamato have expansion kit to add more details but i think the Base Model is more than enough for me. Apart from The 1/500 Yamato the other Kit that i will definitely get is Katou's version of Cosmo Falcon. Speaking of the series i think i should give the 2199 Movie and Warriors of love a watch soon.

Helldivers

 Played this game few days ago and instantly hooked into it! Helldivers is a coop top down shooter game but it has a perfect ingredients for its genre. One of the coolest feature in this game is that your results contribute to something greater. The current game is great but it has more potential. The instant i saw this game, i can see how easily it can be translated into Warhammer 40k considering the Over the top Propaganda style of the game and Helldivers enemy factions can be easily translated into Tyranids, Ork and Eldar/Tau Hybrid. I really look forward to this someday and might even get Gauntlets if it ever land on Vita.

Some Recent loots

 Working in a toy company can be both a blessing and a curse at the same time. You got to get first dibs on discounted stuffs or new toys but also got you to commit Impulse buy even more. Here are are some stuff that i bought from my workplace over past few months which include variety range of stuffs. I got myself my first Figma and Yamato Figurine which have some nice discounts. Watching Iron Blooded Orphans also make me get some of the 1/100 IBO Gunplas and probably snatching 1/100 Bael one of these days too. My company also happen to have now rare Full Metal Panic Figurine from Atelier Sai which would complement well with my Aoshima FMP Kit. I doubt i will be able to give proper review this year like my other toys but should have plenty of time by next year.

Full Metal Panic new anime season announced!

 Took long enough but finally Full Metal Panic got the anime continuation that it deserves after a year or two rumor. Titled Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory the series will be airing on Spring 2018. The Animation should continue where Second Raid took of and easily close the curtain of the series if the length will be 2 Cours. It took 10 years for the series to get a continuation due to stupid licensing issue but in a way the delay was a blessing itself. Because the animation quality could be potentially better so we are able to see Laevatein and Belial in full action. It appears that 2018 will be the year for Mecha after all with Heavyweight title like FMP and LOGH airing. Coming along with the new FMP season, we should expect more FMP merchandise flooding in and i hope Tessa and Chidori got a good quality figurine. Though i would look forward more to Aoshima's Laevatein and wonder if Kotobukiya is still going to release Belial model kit after 3 years.

Legend of Galactic Heroes Figurine announced!

 Wow this completely caught me off guard! It seems that the attempt to reboot Legend of Galactic Heroes might be real after all. There is no release date so far but Kotobukiya is announcing some figure for LOGH Characters in ARTFX J Lineup. So far Only Yang Wenli got the Prototype shown but Reinhard and Kircheis is going to get one as well. Up until now Legend of Galactic Heroes still remains the best anime when it comes to Politics and Philosophy as well as an effective commentary upon present society. Kircheis and Yang Wenli will be instant grab buy for me because i will not spare money for this Masterpiece and going to keep on tab for these figurines. Studio IG wil be in charge for the reboot and since they look genuinely serious enough, i will give the series a watch from get go. Depending on how successful the series is, i think we are getting model kits for LoGH Flagship as well.