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.

Link Travelers: Infiltration of Blueville - SIDE:G

 When I missed out the Gashapon Quest Candytoys lineup last year, It appears that Bandai is opening yet another opportunity for me to give this particular interesting lineup a try. Packaged in a new series, Gashapon Quest took a modern post apocalyptic fantasy turn and comes under new lineup called Link Travellers. There are about 6 series to be planned up in 2025 release and one of the available for Preorder is the SIDE:G Lineup featuring a female heroine and a Maid robot as the character roster. Scheduled for June 2025 release, Link Travelers SIDE:G will be sold as 500 Yen Gashapon with 13 Variants and Boxed version available.

Fate/Grand Order 1/6 Ruler Summer Melusine 1st Ascension

  Still one year to go for FGO 8th Summer, but Goodsmile already have something in hand to prepare for this anticipated yearly occassion and it is the beloved Dragon Waifu Melusine who is getting the turn! Quite sure there were several Summer 8 Servants merchandise already but this might be the first one for the PVC figure to come out. Being the most popular Morgan's Tam Lin Knights, It is given that Melusine will be getting the Prime Spot if not Caster Morgan or Berserker Castoria. Scheduled for September 2025 release, Summer Melusine in her 1st Ascension Ruler Class will be sold for 18500 Yen in 1/6 Scale.

For its value, actually this version of Melusine PVC figure price range is quite reasonable for a 2024 product given how bad Japanese economy is performing right now. The Figure certainly capture the slender physique of this beloved Dragon Waifu and the character's bratty behavior who wants to monopolize Chaldea Master's attention for herself even if it means NTR'ing her own lord, Morgan. Personally I liked Summer Melusine 2nd Ascension the most and next year's gauntlet will be a brutal one yet again. I will probably wait for Summer Morgan figure if she ever get one, since she is my main target for FGO Global 8th Anniv Gauntlet banner and she deserves all the love from FGO fans with what she had went through in LB6.

Kannazuki no Miko Mechatalk: Part Three – Ame no Murakumo & Orochi

Took almost a month after Take no Yamikazuchi’s mechatalk due to real life commitments which is rather hectic lately. But I proudly present the Third and Final Kannazuki no Miko mechatalk! This one will be dedicated to the true main respresentation of the force of Good against Evil in the series, Ame no Murakumo and Orochi. After laying some groundworks with other characters that played a role in Kannazuki, I would believe that these 2 eternal adversaries serve as the fitting final destination of this Mechatalk series. While it won’t be as extensive as Take no Yamikazuchi, I will still do some proper job for this one.

Arknights Alter 1/7 Dusk Figure

 Sui Siblings are some of the better waifu Designs that Arknights ever come up with and Dusk one of the younger siblings got another Premium figure treatment by Alter! So after Schwarz, Alter decided to make another Arknights figure and designated it for Dusk. While not as expensive compared to 1/7 Schwarz, as expected from the leading PVC Figure maker, Alter's 1/7 Dusk is a premium collectible for Arknights Fans. Scheduled for December 2025 release, Alter 1/7 Dusk will be sold for 34980 Yen.

While this is not exactly the first Dusk Figure made since I recall Apex and other manufacturer did make some for her which match up the number with her older sister, Nian. In Arknights Nian is the second Sui siblings featured in limited banner as a AOE Caster class. Dusk is a skilled yet reclusive painter who lived in her painting world until Nian decide to drag her out joining the Rhodes Island in her story. Overall she is a good waifu designs from Sui Siblings but her kit and class as AOE Caster just make her underused compared to her other siblings. I am quite sure Dusks sisters, Ling and Shu will get PVC figure as well in near future given their relative popularity. I am also still waiting for these Sui Siblings getting their Nendoroids which more likely starting from Shu  and more than willing to complete the collection in this format. Playing Arknights for almost 5 years, this game still offers the best overall gacha experience which makes fans like myself looking forward to their future merchandise.

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.

Mobile Suit Gundam Robot Spirits Big Zam Anime ver

  Tamashi Nation really dropped a literal big ticket item for Gundam series in Robot Spirits format this time! What would have been impossible due to being prohibitively expensive for its size, Tamashi Nation announced Preorder for Robot Spirits Big Zam, obviously as Premium Bandai Item. Scheduled for May 2025 Robot Spirits Big Zam will  be sold for a whopping 50000 Yen.

 Created in 1/144 Scale just like the High Grade scale, Robot Spirits Big Zam towers over 50 Cm tall which is a sight to behold for one of the largest Mobile Armor from One Year War Era! Obviously for the price tag, Robot Spirit appear to come with LED for the Mega Particle Cannon and Dozle mini figure to replicate the Last stand part. With the expensive price tag, Robot Spirits Big Zam are certainly catered for Diehard Classic Gundam series who will be likely in their middle ages by this time. Truly a premium item that will cost 80-100k Yen for the prospective collectors from overseas.

30 Minutes Fantasy - Liber Lancer

This month’s Bandai reveal for Gunpla lineup might be lacking but the 30 Minutes Fantasy lineup are still going strong with 2 new Class being revealed. This time I will be covering for Liber Lancer which yet another addition for the 30 MF Frontline Fighter. Scheduled for April 2025 release, 30 MF Liber Fighter will be sold for 2200 Yen

Armed with Lance and Shield, 30 MF Lancer class is the designated tanky unit. Though compared to Liber/Rosan Fighter, Lancer is still rather scrawny in body build similar to Knight class. Just like the Archer Class, Liber Lancer got no upgrade kit in this one, so perhaps we could expect some more support for this guy like a steed for instance. Surprisingly the Liber and Rosan variant of Lancer Class does not have much differences due to similar palette swap and overall imposing look. Nevertheless either of them are still a worthy addition for 30 Minutes Fantasy collection.

Genshin Impact Nendoroid Raiden Shogun

 After Zhongli announcment last month, the third Archon and ruler of Inazuma; Raiden Shogun makes her turn joining Nendoroid lineup! Scheduled for June 2025 release, Raiden Shogun will be sold for 7500 Yen. Obviously Nendoroid Raiden Shogun will come with Ei and Raiden Shogun faceplate.

While the release announcement gap is not as bad as with Venti to Zhong Li, Mihoyo has mismanaged their Genshin IP too long for me to be interested with their products not to mentioned the cake box packaging that will come with Ei. Regardless, The Nendoroid itself is pretty good product though as Raiden Shogun comes with generous amount of accessories such as the Engulfing Lightning spear and even the Musou no Hitotachi in 2 variants. Raiden Shogun is easily my favorite archon and likely remains the favorite Waifu for many Genshin players. But Mihoyo's shitty treatment on Genshin IP really makes it hard to support them especially there are no promised QoL improvements to be seen even after Natlan chapter has passed over 2 Patches. 

So far, I still see Mihoyo haven't humbled down and prefer to maintain their hubris with the very slow merchandise release for Genshin. While I think all of the 7 Archons will get their Nendoroids eventually with Nahida being next. I think the fanbase will have to wait for very long time before their favorite character to get Nendoroid release despite people are willing to spend money for them. It is definitely a suffering to be a fan for a game that is severely neglected by their own creator.

Fruity Robo Yilichuangwan Mandarin Berserker

 Yilichuangwan is very fast on this one! This year after releasing Pineapple and Apple Fruity Robo, a month before 2024 wraps up, they come up with the Third Fruity Robo and it is the turn for Mandarin Berserker! Scheduled for Q4 2024 this one will be sold for 99 RMB just like the other 2 Fruity Robo model kit which is literally a steal for its value.