June 2025 Loot

 
 It is the end of the month, managing to score Hat Trick for a full month activity and time for some loot Post! Not particularly flashy compared to the hauls from past 3 months but still a very solid overall hauls. As usual it is a mix of Mecha, Warhammer 40k and some Mecha musume stuff. 

This haul is mostly dominated by Chinese loots but by this time you won't really notice the difference in packaging quality which is a proof how developed Chinese Hobby industry by this time. The best of the haul is easily the Degenerator Industry B'T X which look promising indeed. But my personal favorite will be Earnestcore Anubis and Cang Toys Samael, seriously the Cang Toys Zodiac series do look really promising. 

As for Warhammer 40k, finally I decided to obtain a Tempestor for relatively affordable price to command my Tempestus Scion Squad along with Custodes Terminator. I never expect myself to consider expanding my Custodes squad but I am considering to do so due to their recent entry to Warhammer Tacticus. Overall a solid haul but I will consider to seriously cut down my collection for anime figurines that are not related to FGO or Mecha in the future.

Takara Tomy T-Spark Altered Nano 1/18 AN-EX Alt Frigate & AA-Cavall Set

 
 Out of Takara Tomy factory, a truly rare collaboration between Yoji Shinkawa of Kojima Production and Shinji Aramaki bore a very interesting 1/18 Scale Sci-Fi Toy product. Both designers are well known veterans in Mecha design and Altered Nano is the result of the synthesis of these Two mecha veterans mastercraft! Scheduled for November 2025 release, the first of Altered Nano lineup called Alt Frigate and AA-Cavall will be sold for 13000 Yen SRP.

Megalomaria Unlimited Universe Zirconia

 
 Kotobukiya Megalomaria features Humanoid model kits that blurs the line between a Human and Android and the lineup got another product that catches my attention. To me Megalomaria ventures slightly further into Uncanny valley when it comes proportion which makes it distinct to Kotobukiya's mainline Megami Device and Frame Arms Girl. This time they make something called a Zirconia that appears to be Pale White young adult male figure that caught my attention for many reasons. Scheduled for November 2025 release, Megalomaria Zirconia will be sold for 6500 Yen.

Compared to Ghillie Due, Zirconia comes with barebone equipment, mainly having Skeletal armor structure and an Arm blade as its equipment. The value of this product lies in its Protagonist Aura since appearance-wise Zirconia really resembles Raiden from Metal Gear Solid on first glance. With some suitable extra accessories, you got yourself a Cyborg Ninja in action again. Personally I would see the value of Megalomaria Zirconia could be enchanced even further if Kotobukiya consider making some dedicated accessories for this fellow in near future.

Nokia N-Gage Ashen

 
 Nokia N-Gage introduced me to many game genres and FPS is one of them. I got a taste of FPS through Call of Duty Mobile and Ashen, the latter was abit special. Among the limited N-Gage Library, Ashen is quite a special one being a Survival Horror. N-Gage do have some dark fantasy game in its library like Requiem of Hell, but Ashen is the one that truly embrace the horror vibe, In essence it is a Mobile Doom Shooter game.

In Ashen you play as a character who tried to save his Sister in a City that suddenly infested with mysterious energy emitting Black horror creatures after a particular otherwordly experiments go wrong. Split over several stages, the player explore the city turned into Hellscape in Ashen with assorted weapon selections similar to Doom. When I was at High School, I do feel the horror vibe from Ashen as you have to fight against hellish creatures with limited ammo that are carried out through the stages and you will have hard time on certain parts if you run low on ammo for the best weapons. I also remembered quite well that I used a particular Yellow Orb gun as my main weapon since it has regenerating ammo. Lastly the environment designs in Ashen is heavily similar with House of the Dead 2 with its Rustic Europe Canal City which probably help in making a lasting impression not to mention a sprinkle of Lovecraftian horror incorporated in this game in particular Mountain of Madness. 

By present standard, Ashen doesn't seem to be anything special. But for mobile game in mid 2000s, the Quality graphic was ahead of its time and the FPS experience is rather decent. If you like Horror shooters like Doom and wished to give N-Gage a try, Ashen would be a decent choice for your game library.

Moshow Progenitor Effect 1/72 Lancelot of the Lake Review

 
 It has been quite sometime since I reviewed some higher end stuff from my collection and might as well use this opportunity to review one of my Big ticket collection. This time I proudly present Moshow 1/72 Lancelot! This is my first ever Moshow Diecast Toy that I got into and as expected the value doesn't disappoint for its price point! Even so considering I usually only collect 1/100 Scale mecha, Moshow 1/72 Lancelot is rather stands out in my collection but I will allow an exception for this fellow since it is a very good Fantasy Mecha design.

Considering Moshow released 1/100 Diecast Lineup, It is rather unlikely for me to obtain any more 1/72 Scale Progenitor. It is just a matter of preference since value-wise Moshow Diecast are no inferior compared to Metal Build despite proportionally cheaper.

30 Minutes Fantasy - Dragonia Lord

 After a series of classic JRPG class, 30 Minutes Fantasy ventured on Special Class! This time they brought something that is closer too monster class yet still a cool one. After Liber/Rosan Wizard, 30 Minutes Fantasy introduce Dragonia Knight class which is akin to Lizardman/Dragonborn fighter along with Dragonia Lord Class Up item. Scheduled for November 2025 release 30 Minutes Fantasy Dragonia Knight and Class Up Dragonia Lord will be sold for 2500 and 1000 Yen respectively.

 Armed with massive cleaver and 2 handed sword, on first glance Dragonia Knight looks like a Lizardman Fighter with a touch of Berserker class which gives Neutral/Evil vibe. But this 30 MF model kit still mostly leans on the Neutral side especially when using Dragonia Lord Class Up item. The Dragonia Knight might look like a grunt level unit but the makeover from Dragonia Lord truly gives a presence that cannot be ignored. I am quite sure Bandai could make a Good/Evil variant out of this 30 MF class and might consider add some bulk as well in the process.

Bloodstained - The Scarlet Engagement announcement

 
 It has been like 6 years since Bloodstained Ritual of the Night got released and Koji Igarashi decided he still got the game and decided to make a sequel! Dubbed as Bloodstained The Scarlet Engagement, this Igavania will be released on 2026 with Multiplatform release on Modern consoles and PC, No Nintendo Switch 2 yet but I reckon the likelihood will be still high considering Ritual of the Moon got Switch Physical release. 

From what has been revealed so far, Scarlet Engagement will take on a century before Ritual of the Moon thus serving as some sort of prequel. But what stands out for me from this Bloodstained is the return Dual character tag team gameplay which is from Portrait of Ruins. This is quite big deal for me because among Nintendo DS Igavania, Portrait of Ruin had the best gameplay experience for me. 

To me, Bloodstained Ritual of the Moon is not exactly the best ever Metroidvania game but it is decent enough to satiate the thirst for Igavania and sufficient to make me invest my attention toward this particular Sequel. Hopefully Koji Igarashi will deliver a good Igavania experience with Scarlet Engagement and if things go well, we could still expect a 3rd Bloodstained main series in the future.

Soulingtoys 1/12 Daytime Meteor

 
 I thought Chinese mecha musume lineup are impressive enough with manufacturers like MS General or Nuke Matrix. But another manufacturer called Soulingtoys come to join into the fray and chip in their new designs which is Mecha Musumes with Dragon mount. Dubbed as Daytime Meteor, this mecha musume will be sold for 288 RMB with Q3 release schedule.

Back then we did have some Chinese Mecha Musumes with Dragon like the Xiwanshe's but for once we got something more like western traditional dragon. As a mecha fan, The selling point of this Daybreak Meteor is due to its perfect replication of BT'X vibe featuring female knight with her majestic dragon mount. Seriously ever since the 70cm Dragon Model kit, Chinese hobby manufacturers do keep to try one-upping themselves like this Daybreak Meteor. While the mecha musume unit in this model kit doesn't really look particularly special, the Dragon model kit will look quite well to complement with another Mecha musume like Animester Galahad. I am quite sure that there are markets for Mecha Musume animal mount that Chinese Manufacturer could try to fill in the demand gap, since millenials collectors like myself would love to still have something to fill in the BT'X nostalgia vibe.

Nikke Hyper Body Cinderella

 
 It is undeniable that Nikke Merchandising team is one of the best in Gacha game department and they surprise their fans once again with Hyper Body Cinderella! Less than a year since her debut as Nikke's 2nd Anniv featured SSR character, Cinderella made it as Hyper Body action figure! She is truly getting some preferential treatment as the main heroine, Rapi herself haven't got one. Scheduled for July 2026, Hyper Body Cinderella will be sold for 18500 Yen SRP.

For almost 20000 Yen price tag, Hyper Body Cinderella is armed to the deck compared to another Nikkes from similar lineup, considering she is one of the most powerful Nikke being a former heretic after all who reformed due to main character's charm. In Nikke, Cinderella is a Rocket Launcher type Nikke who fires barrages of Missile through her shield like contraption and one of the meta Nikkes upon release. 

Given my exposure to Nikke series, I have been considering to get at least 5 Nikkes action figures as part of my Nikke roster collection. Cinderella would have been a very good candidate if not for me giving up on Nikke due to her Banner despite I still got a copy in the end. Not exactly her fault, but I just simply unwilling to put up with what Nikke have to offer with their rates. Will still look forward to Scarlet Black Shadow and D Killer wife along with other Nikke candidate though

Sembo Blocks Wandering Earth series Part 2

 After I covered the first part of Sembo Wandering Earth series Brick Models, It is time for me to continue onto the second part of this series which is kinda long due. This follow up post shouldn't have taken this long but I guess real life priorities did make it overlook this one.

I am not sure which Wandering Earth series this particular Brick Model lineup belong to since Wandering Earth 2 does not appear to have this sort of design. But the Mecha designs from this lineup is interesting enough for me to deep dive into Wandering series. The mecha that caught my attention the most is definitely this Bipedal Walker Mecha on this cover page which is called White Death God which just scream Warhammer 40k Tau's Stormsurge Battlesuit. 

I could have included the lineups in the first Sembo's Wandering Earth series. But given the stark difference in design philosophy as this one fully featured Futuristic Military Tank weapons while the First Wandering Earth is more like Planetary exploration stuff. Personally I am do curious with the thought process from Wandering Earth creator on how Space Travel Scifi series transition into Mecha action stuff which perhaps future Wandering Earth 3 could provide an answer for. 

In this Sembo's Part 2 Wandering Earth Brick Model series, I will included the chinese name for all of the Seven lineups if anyone wish to personally dig more information of the series even further. 

Revisiting Jigoku Sensei Nube

With the recent Jigoku Sensei Nube anime remake, I decided to pay a visit to one of my favorite Shonen manga in my teenage years once again after putting the series into backburner for so long. Despite Hell Teacher Nube being one of my favorite Shonen manga at some point as I owed my fascination toward Youkai genre through this series, I never really did complete reading for this series, considering Jigoku Sensei Nube fan translation back then did stuck around 50% for quite some time.

But over past few years Nube’s fan translation do reach around 75% and it is more than enough to allow for a complete reading experience of the series for me. As I did have physical copies to complement the gap for the current missing chapters from Online translation. Given that my old article for Jigoku Sensei Nube in this blog was written when I was about halfway through the series. In this opportunity I would like to write a full-fledged article with broader perspective as a proper homage to Jigoku Sensei Nube after I did a complete revisit.

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.

Final Fight ONE

 
 Final Fight being one of the popular Capcom beat em up that literally being the pioneer of this genre obviously had received many ports whether dedicated for TV or Portable consoles and I do have my share of the versions that I have played. But among the many Final Fight ports, one that truly stood out for me is this games port for Gameboy Advance called Final Fight One.

Compared to the PSP and Switch Final Fight port, Final Fight One features more home console experience of this classic Capcom Beat em Up. Final Fight One is given overall QoL upgrade treatment like additional anime style presentation. On top of that, Final Fight One is the only Final Fight game that I ever came across that features some sort of progression which offer unlockables that encourage players to keep playing the game. But the best thing that come out of this GBA Final Fight is having Street Fighter Alpha version of Guy and Cody as unlockables. Final Fight One QoL upgrades are overall quite pleasant, but having the Street Fighter rendition of the main characters as Power Up is overall very fun experience. My favorite character in Final Fight One is obviously SF Alpha Guy and this game contribute alot for my fascination toward the character. But I do have my equal fun in Piledriving the thugs with Haggar. Seriously if you are Beat em Up fan especially Capcom's, consider pay a visit of this GBA port of Final Fight.

Diaclone Transformers x Zoids Synergenex Shield D Prime

 As a collector have you ever curious what happen if Takara toys lineup ever had any crossover which resulted in a High end collector item? Takara recently obliged to humor the idea by presenting Synergenex Shield D Prime! What appears as the hybrid of Transformers Optimus Prime and  Zoids Shield Liger is a High End Diaclone product that unifies Three of Takara Tomy popular mecha toy product. Scheduled for February 2026 release, Synergenex Shield D Prime will be sold for 38500 Yen Price tag.

Pacific Rim Infinity Studio Heavy Mecha Gipsy Danger

 

After Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha, this year Infinity Studio finally releasing Preorders for Pacific Rim Poster Boy, Gipsy Danger! This would be the second time that Gipsy Danger released in its Diecast glory after Bandai Soul of Chogokin which for some reason decided not to continue. Scheduled for Q4 2025 release, Heavy Mecha Gipsy Danger will be sold for 1380 RMB Price tag.