RE/100 1/100 Bawoo

 With RE1/100 Lineup i know it is bound to happen that one of those Mobile Suits from ZZ Gundam got their plamo made and it happens to be Bawoo that gets one first. Slated for later November this year Bawoo will come with price tag of 3500 Yen. I haven't watched ZZ Gundam but i had this guy in 1/144 scale back then and certainly would love to get one again. Bawoo is probably one of the more distinct MS in early UC era for being one of the few combiner transforming MS which become a trend on V Gundam period. In G Generation i remembered this guy for all rounder elite grunt unit that had its mega particle cannon on its shield to be its strongest attack. I think the RE/100 wont have much difference compared to the 1/144 and to be honest it is one of the cooler MS from ZZ Gundam.

1/8 Al-Azif Review

Necronomicon now comes in Gothic Lolita flavor~

Nendoroid Nyaruko Review

 My Cosmic Horror can't be this cute!

Funko POP! Cthulhu Review

 Happy Halloween! and as part of the celebration i will be doing couple reviews in the spirit of Halloween and this is the first part. I don't really collect Funko since they are too expensive to collect outside USA but i do make exceptions for some including Cthulhu. There were two versions of POP! for Cthulhu and i happen to purchase both version during my trip in Singapore. Apparently the cranky version of Cthulhu is supposed to be glow in dark but mine doesn't really work

In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming

  The first time i really got exposed to Cthulhu Mythos is when i played my first run of Arkham Horror years ago and got hooked instantly afterwards. Cthulhu is the most well known creature from Lovecraftian Horror because of its distinct Winged Humanoid appearance topped with Octopus Head and one doesn't simply face this guy since a single mean look from him will make you die from insanity. In the lore he is introduced as gigantic alien creature who is sleeping under his sunken city R'lyeh in Pacific Ocean. He had fishmen creatures called Deep Ones do his bidding and they had significant colony in a rural American fishing village called Innsmouth from the unholy interspecies mating between the creature and human. Apparently Cthulhu is powerful enough that he is capable of destroying earth when he is fully awakened but for now he will dream until the day comes.

 Cthulhu: ZZZZZ

 Nyaruko: Taste my space CQC >:)

Cthulhu: Are you trying to disturb my sleep Nyarlathotep?!

Nyaruko: Nope, Nothing~~~ :P

  In my opinion POP! doesn't really worth $20 pricetag but my admiration toward Cthulhu mythos warrant me to get some for Cthulhu since they are the most decent looking and accessible version of this guy. What makes Cthulhu Mythos appealing for me is the potential of the genre to bring out the greatest amount of despair which is important for horror in my opinion considering one does not simply face Cosmic Horror. During Halloween after more than 3 years getting into the hobby, i think playing Boardgame is the best way to celebrate since there are tons of quality Halloween materials in this medium and here is my playlist for this year.

Monster Hunter Double Cross Announced!

 From the recent Nintendo Direct, Capcom announced a new monster hunter title named Monster Hunter Double Cross serving as the Grank version of MHX/Monster Hunter Generations. The game will be scheduled to be released on March 2017 and so far here are the main things that have been revealed:

• 2 New Hunting Styles, one has been revealed as Brave Style which seems to be capable of dishing tons of damage once you build up your power bar. The other style has not been revealed yet but it appear to involve lots of bombing.
• New Hunting Arts, but nothing much revealed at this point
• Prowler mode will have some boost for melee option including adept style dodge and aerial jump
• New Map, one is revealed as mountainous type, reminding me of part of Great Forest map from Unite
• The G-Rank Quest Hub will be revealed as Airship
• 2 New Monsters revealed so far, One is Devil Blos which will likely join the Deviant Group and other one is Silver colored wyvern which seems to be the agile type

I think more information for MH Double Cross will be revealed later on considering the current stuff is lackluster for an expansion game. I think with the recent popularity of MH in the west it is possible we will get the English version of Double Cross on late 2017 probably around 6 months after the Japanese release. I am still crossing my hands on this one since the current new features does not convince me enough to get a copy and to be honest i am rather burned out with MH on Nintendo Platform.

1/60 ARX-7 Arbalest Renewal ver

Years ago Alter made Quality figure for Arbalest long before they made one for M9 Gernsback and this time the toy come with more improvements i suppose. The Renewal version of Arbalest will be slated for  release on May next year with price tag of 14800 Yen and Arbalest will still come in 1/60 Scale. While the toy will be smaller than the plamo version made by Aoshima a while ago, the Alter's version of Arbalest come with more accessories no doubt. I wonder if the decision made by Alter to renew the series coincide with some plans to reboot the series in the future? Considering the anime got into some complicated license dispute back then, A reboot is certainly a nice thing to have considering FMP is one solid Real Robot series. I think i should repaint my FMP kits too.

Shura no Toki

 An old battle manga but this is really awesome mix of history and martial arts title. As far as i know Shura no Toki is the spin-off series of the Author's previous work narrating the tales of the protagonist's ancestors. They were known as Mutsus and while they were not recorded in the history, they are well known for their undefeated status as martial artist fighting anyone with their fists and win anyway. With their prowess, they inevitably got themselves involved with famous people throughout Japan's History like Nobunaga or Yoshitsune and the series strong point is how the author blend the fictional part with real history seamlessly. So far the manga had 17 volumes already which are partially translated and back then there was even an anime for this series. I would really love to see someone pick the translation for the prequel since it looks interesting enough.

Union Creative Monster Hunter Revo Glavenus Blademaster

 It appears that one of the Monster Hunter action figure that had the prototype shown got a release date at last and it is the Glavenus Blademaster Set. The Action Figure will be released on January 2017 around 6000 Yen pricetag. Compared to the Revoltech Figurine, it seems the the Union Creative lineup will stand around 18cm taller with 31 Articulations. The Glavenus Blademaster Action Figure will also come with the matching Greatsword and SnS though the latter doesn't have the shield part show up. From the shown sample it seems that the Revo series will be better quality compared to the previous Revoltech Figurine and for the quality it offers it seems more worth it compared to Figma.

 This Reddish Blademaster Armor is made from Glavenus or Dinovaldo in Japanese which is one of the Flagship monster in Monster Hunter Generations and in the game the armor grants its wearer more power when they polish their weapons. Stature-wise Glavenus is quite similar with Deviljho with its Blade-like tail as its most prominent feature. Despite its size, Glavenus is very agile and wield its tail dexterously and occasionally imbue its tail with fire element. This guy is very capable of sending new hunters to Kitty cart with its signature 360 degree Spin Slash which has huge coverage. I wonder if Union Creative will make the Hellglaive repaint of this guy considering they did the same thing with Rathalos Blademaster.

Figma Makoto Yuki

 Took long enough for Max Factory to announce the release but we got the release date for this guy Finally! Announced around the mid of last year, Figma Makoto Yuki will be released on April next year with almost 6500 Yen Price tag. As i expected the figma version of Makoto Yuki did cost as much as Yu Narukami considering the popularity of the series and from the sample the figma will come with the signature Evoker and a main weapon. While i think the figma is overpriced i might just get this to complete my collection along with D-arts Thanatos and Elizabeth which would make an awesome set altogether. I have watched two of the movie so far and might as well finish the rest before the Figma comes out.

Chaos in the Old World First Session

 It has been more than Three years since i begin collecting Boardgames which by now rival my toy collection. Personally i find boardgames are one of the few things worth to collect from the west as each box directly represent an idea of the creator and usually it is a good one! I tend to play thematic games whether it is Euro or Ameritrash though recently i get to appreciate Eurogames better.

Plamax Gipsy Danger

 Another Max Factory Plamo kit lineup after Dougram and we got Pacific Rim this time! Now we got a substitute for NECA for those who want more customizable version of the Pacific Rim Jaegers. For the initial release, Max Factory show the prototype for Gipsy Danger and Cherno Alpha as the first batch of Pacific Rim Kits. The Gipsy Danger kit will come in 1/350 scale which will be around 20cm in height and sports the price tag of 8800 Yen. Plamax Gipsy Danger also comes with LED Unit and effect parts such as the cannon arm and wrist blades. In the Pacific Rim movie, Gipsy Danger is the poster boy Jaeger of the series representing USA piloted by the Main Character and his twin brother in the beginning of the movie sporting the most well rounded stats among the jaegers. I hope Striker Eureka will get a release eventually which is going to be likely if the first batch are popular enough.

Misadventures of Tron Bonne

 My first entry to Megaman Legend series and arguably leaves me more lasting impression as i never get to finish the game until now. Tron Bonne was a fun game but unfortunately i raised my expectation too high due to Nostalgia factor. For a time the PSX copy was a highly sought after collector item but fortunately you get this game on PSN without paying hundred bucks.

Fall of Ming

 One of the Chinese movie i watched and as a fan of Chinese History, i am really pleased with the Movie. Taking place at the twilight of Ming Dynasty, Fall of Ming try to illustrate the bleak condition of China that eventually lead to the downfall of the last Han Dynasty by Manchu. The movie narrates its story through a Civilian Doctor whose life got involved with an Army General and A scholar turned rebel as he. While the movie focus more on the relation between the Doctor and General, the doctor relationship with the Rebel expand more on how three men who lead different life met their own different end. Despite Fall of Ming is not that heavy on the action department, the movie perfectly capture the image of China plunged into Chaotic period as peasants forced to rebel due to Famine and Heavy Taxation while any decent men from the government failed to do the right things due to rampant corruption by officials and merchant. I really like the General Sun Chuanting in the movie who's portrayed as a person who really try his best to save his nation and doing the proper thing but met so many obstacles due to corruptions and impatient leader. To me Fall of Ming Dynasty is one of the most regretful things that happened in Chinese history as the Succeeding Manchu lead a regressive reign after few decent emperor which leads to the defeat of China by western force by 19th century and perhaps Ming could have survived longer if Yongle didn't forcefully take the throne and moved the capital to Beijing. In any case this movie is a good watch for those Chinese History fans out there.

MH Generations N3DS XL GET!

 Never intended to play MH Generations but after some goading by my friends, in the end i gave in. As my old 3DS got worn out from thousands of hours from Monster Hunting, i decided to get a new 3DS and thought might as well buy a new 3DS. There were 2 candidates for my new 3DS which were the Animal Crossing Home designer version N3DS and MH Generations N3DS XL which in the end i picked the latter. While i think the Limited edition for MH4U N3DS XL was cooler, the MH Gens limited edition doesn't look too bad with Glossy exterior and Matte interior. Surprisingly the data transfer between the 3DS is much less complicated than what i would have thought.

Since i have clocked few hours in MHGens prior to the Data Transfer, i might as well share my first impression about the game. I was on the fence with MHGens due to some mess that Capcom did with 4U and it appears that Generations did fix some of them. The most apparent one is in the Palico system such as acquiring Equipment for Palico doesn't rely on annoying minigame anymore and Weapon variations doesn't get too redundant with the new forging mechanics. I hate to admit it but Capcom did a good job on hooking older players into this game with the nostalgia factor and certainly the solo experience on this game felt better than 4U. While Generations lack of G-Rank, the game will bombard you with high number of quests so it will take a while to complete all of the quests. As of now, i managed to reach 6* Village and the new Flagship monster is not half bad. As always i am still a Lancer and i use Guild style since i like the versatilty that this style provide even though i know that most people are probably using Striker style. I will share my overall thoughts about this game again once i reached the endgame with my First char.

ACI Toys Greek Hoplite 2.0

  When i saw the pictures for this year's Hongkong Toy Show highlights, a company called ACI Toys caught my attention with their product. It appears that they make high-end 1/6 Scale posable figures comparable with Hot Toys lineup. One of their featured products in the exhibition is their Greek Hoplites which looks gorgeous and soon will be available in 4 different styles. The Hoplite comes with Linothorax Armor along with Xiphos and Greek Shield as the armament. When i check the ACI website for the Hoplite 1.0, Hoplite 2.0 is designed as another variation of 1.0 which come with Cuirass and Javelin. Apparently they will sell the Hoplite's Equipment separately from the figure for some reason, probably because of production cost. Even though i am not to familiar with High-end toys like Hot Toys, but i think the Hoplite 2.0 will cost around 100-200 USD.

 Hoplites were the  Heavy Infantry of Greek in classical period which are mostly composed of Free Citizens of Greek City States and have been used as mainline infantry through the famous battles in Classical Period. Usually They fight with Spear and Shield and when 2 Forces of Hoplite fight against each other, the sight looks like 2 Porcupines sticking out on each other . Some of the more outstanding tactics using Hoplite in the period were the Oblique Formation used by Theban General Epaminondas and the Hammer&Anvil tactics by Alexander the Great. The Linothorax armor itself are rather interesting piece of equipment, made of layers of Linen Cloth, the armor provide better comfort than cuirass and at the same time capable of protecting the user from arrows in the period. The armor also had been featured in Homer's Iliad and seen to be worn by Alexander the Great on a famous mural. Nevertheless the depiction of the Hoplite's equipment looks accurate enough for a history amateurs like me and the Hongkong based company deserved a praise for putting respectable amount of effort on their research.

 Apart from the Hoplite 2.0, ACI Toys also made the figurine of famous Greek character based on Troy movie which starred Brad Pitt and i do see Paris and Achilles prototype from the exhibition which looks gorgeous. However the ones that i look forward the most is ACI Toys prototype for Sengoku Period famous Warlord, Shingen Takeda which is spot-on in terms of looks which will wait for its preview.