Realm of Darkness 2024 Wrap Up

 

 It has been about a week since this Blog posted anything which may appear unusual considering Realm of Darkness recent pace, and it has to do with me returning to my Hometown for end year family gathering. 

Anyway in this post I would like to do some wrap up for Realm of Darkness in 2024 just like what I did several times before. For those who kept visiting this blog, I would like to thank you as this blog will not flourish without the visitors support. 2024 is quite a big deal for me as I found some semblance of stability in my job thus It also reflects with this Blog's productivity as well. 

Took me around 13 years to surpass my highest Blog Posts yearly record back in 2011 when I was still doing my College degree at Sydney and overall I am quite satisfied with the quality of my Blog posts this year which tend to have more short posts but 2024 probably saw some of the most extensive articles that Realm of Darkness ever brought up.

My proudest achievement for Realm of Darkness in 2024 would be settling some of my old debts as well as completing some of my personal projects from finishing my Final Gear, Sakura Taisen 2 and Kannazuki no Mechatalk then completing my Lufia series journey and making Lufia 2 Full Article. Lastly I am also happy that Realm of Darkness Review section getting some revival even though I don't really have enough time for a Full Fledged reviews that I used to do.

Realm of Darkness has existed for more than a decade as a repository for my pop culture passion which are always been Mecha and High Fantasy with many things in between. I never care about this Blog's monetization since it is never the purpose but If anyone could found something worthwhile to read at this blog, It will be my pleasure. As for 2025, I will try keep this Blog's productivity around the same level with this year as well as completing some more Mechatalk projects starting with Super Mecha Champion and hopefully some of ther Sakura Taisen 4 main heroines articles could be finished in near future.

Considering Blogger's chat system are rather antiquated , I never expect the blog will have many interactions. But if anyone have particular request for Blog Posts or any feedbacks, feel free to leave a reply in this post.

Genshin Impact Nendoroid Doll Venti Song of the Wind

 Just as Genshin slowly pick up the slack from their hubris over past 3 years, Of all things we got ourselves a Nendoroid Doll for Anemo Archon, Venti! Dubbed under Song of the Wind title, Nendoroid Venti is scheduled for October 2025 release with 11500 Yen Price Tag.

 A rather peculiar choice by Mihoyo to decide for new Genshin Impact Product which feature Venti in his casual outfit. Considering Genshin Impact is still in intense drought merchandise phase due to mismanagement by the Genshin team for quite some time. And of all characters, Mihoyo decide to pick Mondstadt character that is not particularly the most popular anymore given the current size of the roster of Genshin Impact. Nevertheless the outfit design that Mihoyo decide to give upon Venti is intricate which will certainly attract female demographics of Genshin Fanbase which serve as the majority of Nendoroid Doll lineup anyway. Hopefully this random GSC Genshin merchandise do show Mihoyo's intention to pick up the slack and release more Genshin merchandise in faster pace especially the figma lineup.

SRW OG Super Minipla Astranagant

 Never thought Bandai is so invested toward SRW OG series as the Super Minipla are kept coming! Of all SRW Mecha, Bandai decided to throw a whopping surprise P-Bandai stuff for the keeper of Void, Astranagant! Considering this guy is one of this blog's mascot, I am not going to overlook this guy and make a featured article for him. Scheduled for May 2025 Release, Super Minipla Astranagant will be sold for 22000 Yen Price Tag

Not exactly SRWOG this time considering Astranagant only ever make proper appearance in SRW Alpha, but Who cares with this very cool sinister looking mecha getting a proper physical product! As expected with P-Bandai SRW Minipla, just like Banpreios, Bandai did a very impressive job in replicating Astranagant's gimmick that Kotobukiya even unable to reach a decade ago, Ranging from tons of effect parts for Astranagant's signature attack from the Gun Slave to its iconic Ain Soph Aur finisher. Truly Astranagant is one of the underused cool looking mecha which perhaps future SRW OG remake could address this issue. I will still patiently wait a finished product action figure and hopefully the candidate like Sentinel didn't charge a Kidney for it. Lastly Bandai actually go completionist route for Ingram as R-Gun Rivale and Wildschwein was available as P-Bandai Minipla which could be featured some other day.

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.

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Secret Level

 
 Short Animation videos are not something that I usually discuss but given this one's special circumstances, this will be an exception. It has been 5 years since Astartes Fan Video came out which is a literal touch of magic that brings forth 40k Universe into full life and we haven't got anything ever since as the Animator was brought into the fray by Games Workshop themselves.

Fast Forward to end of 2024, we got ourselves a Short animation video of Warhammer 40k featuring Ultramarines as part of Amazon Prime Secret Level series. For those 40k Fans who loved Astartes video will be on a whole lot of a treat because the Astartes animator contribute to this series where you get to see a full glimpse what a 40k Space Marine is capable of.

Separated into two parts, Space Marine Secret Level features an animation narrating a particular mission that Captain Titus takes which requires him escort a psyker and accompanied by 3 Battle Brothers. The viewers will get to see Captain Titus and his squads pitted against Chaos Cultists in the first part and Chaos Sorcerer in the second one. These Two parts video served a good contrast to showcase what a Space Marine is capable of possessing a power akin to Demigods yet show their limitations at the same time against the horrors that lurk in 40k Universe. This Space Marine Secret level is a good signal that Games Workshop are planning something very big in store in near future and Top Tier animation featuring Astartes animation is just part of it. As much as western pop culture are in decline, Warhammer 40k is still shining brightly as the ultimate male power fantasy and the fanbase will do play a part to prevent this series to be corrupted by Slaanesh worshippers.

Saint Seiya Figuarts Zero Touche Metallique Sagittarius Seiya

 
 I don't post much Saint Seiya too much in this blog since Realm of Darkness focus more on Mecha and High Fantasy stuff instead of mainstream Shonen. But from time to time if there are noteworthy stuff I will still share one. Bandai's Saint Cloth Myth might not be produced so much lately which cause the aftermarket price remains consistently high. But In a rare occassion, Saint Seiya got a Figuarts Zero featuring Seiya in Sagittarius Gold Cloth! Scheduled for December 2024 release, FZ0 Seiya will be sold for 20000 Yen Price tag.

Bandai rarely make Scale Figure for Saint Seiya series but perhaps for some reason they want to offer a substitute for Saint Seiya Fanbase to consider apart from existing products such as Tsume Studio. Since I am not exactly very well versed in Saint Seiya series, all I can say is that FZ0 Sagittarius Seiya offers a Dynamic Pose version of the main character in his Shiny Gold Saint Cloth which even the original SCM unable to achieve, certainly a good item for collectors who just want a very good showpiece in their collections. Recently Blokees do release several Saint Seiya products but so far it would not be a serious competition with Bandai until they are making a product with Diecast parts.

Genshin Impact Apex Toys 1/7 Ganyu Plenilune Gaze

 
 Most likely the last Review for Realm of Darkness for this year before 2025 and I have considered several candidates before but end up choosing Ganyu 1/7 PVC Figure from Apex Toys. I got this Ganyu figure around this time last year and did some photoshots for her early this year on Instagram.

 In my opinion, this Cryo Half Qilin waifu, Ganyu is still the best waifu from Genshin Impact to this day which is quite a feat considering Cryo team has plenty of Top Tier waifus to choose from including Citlali from Natlan which will be joining Genshin as playable character in 2 weeks, With her gentle and caring personality, It is not hard to see Ganyu being a fan favorite including myself and this Cocogoat had remained my steadfast Main since early 2022 and she still nukes many enemies easily that are not immune to Cryo Element.

I picked Ganyu as the review candidate in this timing as my way to celebrate her birthday which is on December 2nd early in this month.As for myself, I am still waiting for her Figma or any 1/12 equivalent action figure which are not anytime soon given Mihoyo's Department for Genshin are rather out of touch to this day. Perhaps this time's review will be as basic as it gets since I am highly considering some retake sessions with proper setups once I moved to a larger place.

SRW OG HG Ashsavior

 Bandai took their time with this Personal Trooper's product prototype for some reason, but finally we got the picture reveal for HG Model Kit Ashsaver / Ashsavior! This is quite a big deal because It took about 20-25 years for one of the cooler SRW Real Robot to ever get a proper physical product and it certainly worth celebrating! Scheduled for June 2025, HG Ashsavior will be sold for 4500 Yen.

My first exposure with Ashsavior is in GBA SRW OG2 where this Mecha is a secret unit that Lamia could obtain if Players managed to meet the criteria. But I only got the opportunity to use Ashsavior in SRW A Portable because it was my first pick with Axel as my main character and that game is such a bad experience to spend with this cool mech. In SRW OG, Ash Savior is an Elite Mecha used by Shadow Mirror faction which had its armaments named after melee weapons with Automated weapon called Sword Breaker being its strongest armament. 

Unfortunately Ashsavior is completely overshadowed by other Shadow Mirror Mechas like Soulgain and Vysaga just because it is a mere Real Robot. However with Ashsavior's release, I felt optimistic that Laz Angriff which is SRW expy for Dougram could make it as well while Sentinel will handle the Super Robot department. On last note, the recently discussed Kainar Asytac did bear many resemblance with Ashsavior which is not likely a coincidence and I will see the comparison myself when I have both on my collection.

52 Toys Beastbox Mechabeast BMM-01 Psychotrain

 Another Great Beastbox creation by 52 Toys and this one even transcends the usual format! Beastbox has been always very interesting Toy Product that features Mechanized Animals that has neat transformation gimmick to compact cubes. This time 52Toys braving themselves to venture into new area by introducing new Spinoff lineup called Mechabeast with the first one having a codename Psychotrain. Released for retail already, Mechabeast BMM-01 Psychotrain is sold for 50 USD Price tag.

Jinroh: The Wolf Brigade

 One of the IG Studio Classic anime movie that I only managed to watch recently. Back then I came upon this series called Jinroh from a short animation clip on youtube where a group of Elite Soldier heavily clad in Iconic Gas Mask and armed with MG42 mowed down a group of terrorists in Tokyo's sewer with ruthless efficiency. Overall Jinroh is a good movie but not the exact thing I am expected to get for its genre.

Taken place in alternate future of Post WW2 Japan, There is a Counter Terrorist Elite Special Task Force called Wolf Brigade that watched over Tokyo. What I expected to be an Action packed movie turns out to be a Slice of Life with Suspense thriller. The plot of this Jinroh movie is basically the aftermath story of a member of a particular young and talented Wolf Brigade member after witnessing a young girl blowing up herself in a successful Counter Terrorist operation and his immediate encounter with another young girl who bears resemblance with the one that he witnessed her death.

Overall Jinroh Movie is a good movie-length anime that properly wrapped up its story properly within the time duration it is given, though I felt that there are more things could be done with Jinroh. What I expected to be a full action movie ends up to be Counter-espionage Suspense Thriller which somehow did worked out. Seriously the Wolf Brigade Kerberos Panzer Armor design is a Top Notch for a modern period Elite Soldier especially for the Terror Factor. Practicality issues aside, The Jinroh Squad is certainly not the sort of enemies you would like to face with its imposing Jet black armor and Iconic Gas mask which seemingly hid a savage beast inside signifying  its status as Ruthless efficient killing machine. I am still waiting for a proper Action figure collectible for Jinroh's Kerberos Panzer Armor and in the future I might even consider the Korean movie adaptation if felt eager enough to spend some time on it.

Girls Frontline 2: Exilium

 Not long after one week since the release in early December, I gave a try with Thus new hottest Triple A Gacha Game released on Global server, Girls Frontline 2: Exilium. This game definitely live up to the hype from its fanbase and I do find myself have an easier time to enjoy this game compared to Nikke. Finally I find something that can serve as a good gateway to GFL series with this fancy production value. Seriously Exilium have some really good 3D models which are very crisp and will give even Genshin a run for their money. 

Genesis Climber Mospeada Riobot 1/48 AB-01H Tread

 Took quite sometime for Sentinel to release this after Legioss but Mospeada's Valkyrie Fighter buddy, AB-01H Tread is now available for Preorder. The COVID Pandemic definitely play a part for this guy's release delay for up to 5 years. The hype definitely have cooled down significantly after such a long time and the odds aint good, but Sentinel still fulfilled their end of bargain to release Legioss best partner. Scheduled for July 2025, 1/35 Tread will be sold for 42000 Yen Price Tag.

Gladiator 2

 
 The year 2000 Gladiator Movie no doubt is one of the most memorable movie over past 25 years and this year, Hollywood attempted to revive the Legacy of  Rome with the help of Ridley Scott once again. As a result Gladiator 2 Movie come out on Winter 2024 as sequel of this legendary blockbuster movie which come with obvious mixed results. Overall Gladiator 2 is a decent movie, but compared to its predecessor, it is completely didn't lived up to for many reasons.

Joytoy Warhammer 40k Dark Angels 1/18 Lion El Johnson Review

 
 Today is a rather special occassion, thus I think it is the right time for me to churn out some of my Joytoy Warhammer 40k collections in this blog. For this one of the fastest growing Warhammer 40k collectible Review series, I will start with the Primarch of Dark Angels, Lion El Johnson! 

Firstly, I feel that kickstarting this Joytoy 40k review series with a Primarch will be a good one and I feel the Primarch of the first Loyalist First Founding Space Marine Chapter, Lion El Johnson is the most fitting candidate despite he is not the first Primarch that I obtained ! In terms of personality and MBTI I happen to be the most similar with Lion even though I developed a personal admiration toward Perturabo and Konrad Curze. Even So, Lion has plenty of admirable qualities that many can look up to such as a very strong conviction to to the right thing and his Unwavering Loyalty towardEmperor of Mankind because he saw his Father really devote himself for betterment of mankind.

As for Joytoy rendition of the Dark Angels Primarch, the sculpt quality is unquestionable and probably some of the best that Joytoy devote for their Warhammer 40k Lineup. While there are still Minor hiccups such as unremovable sidearms and mediocre articulations, Joytoy Lion El Johnson is still a truly well made Collectors product and a worthy addition for Dark Angels fans. In near future I will probably follow up with some group shots for Lion with his Dark Angels Retinue.

Fate/Grand Order Nendoroid Rider Iskandar

 It has been more than a decade since Fate/Zero airing and It took another 9 years after FGO JP released that we got to see one of the old friend from Fate series make it as Nendoroid. Easily one of the popular character from Fate/Zero, Rider Iskandar aka Alexander the Great finally make it as Nendoroid along with Waver Zhuge Liang! Scheduled for June 2025 release, Figma Iskandar comes in Regular and DX version which will be sold for 7300 and 11800 Yen respectively.

For a 4500 Yen price difference, Iskandar got himself a Bucephalus as the extra accessory. But for a Price tag that almost cost as much as a Figma, Nendoroid Iskandar feel rather not worth it. Probably it has to do with Japan's weakening economy but back then we probably could have got the Chariot of Heaven as extra accessory for this kind of price 6-7 years ago. Consdering even Lartoria and her Alter DX version was still under 10000 Yen with their steed as accessory. With Iskandar got his Nendoroid, I think Berserker Lancelot still have a good shot too given he had even more collectibles before. Even if I feel this one rather overpriced, Might considering getting this one if Iskandar happened to be the GSSR that I got in the upcoming new year lucky bag.