Friday, February 24, 2017

Yami's Winter Wonderfest 2017 Highlights


Kinda late for one but here are some of the prototypes shown in the Event that i find noteworthy. This year's wonderfest got too many moeshit stuffs but at least the mechas are not dying yet. Firstly from Kotobukiya finally Raftclans is going to join the SRW plamo lineup which means one of my SRW kit wishlist ticked down and definitely keep a watch on it.



 While Frame Arms Girls seems to be the most selling Kotobukiya's lineup at the moment, Their HMM lineup will always be the best when it comes to quality and another 2 Zoids will join the lineup, Liger Zero Empire and Storm Sworder! With the empire side CAS coming out i guess Zero X will have a good chance to follow as well.




 I think the one who takes the crown for the best mecha lineup on this year's winter Wonderfest is Sentinel with their several toy lineups for several awesome under-represented mecha series. While we got Black Sarena and Baikanfu Toys before, it appears that Sentinel is going to one up Bandai with their prototypes especially Baikanfu which seems going to incorporate full fledged Pile Formation. Also it seems that we are going to get God Gravion complete with the gattai gimmick. Lastly that Mospeada power armor is going to be awesome. If the price for these prototypes are not too expensive i might be getting some of them.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Robot Damashii Ver Ka Huckebein


 Well well this is quite a surprise, The Vanishing Trooper is back! Considering Bandai's stance towards Huckebein in the past where they try to get rid of them for being a threat to their Gundam. Nothing much revealed about this product right now other than being in development we got good chance for this thing to be released around the end of this year. It is kinda irony that Huckebein got Katoki Treatment considering it was originally Katoki's design in the first place but everything is good with the Blackhole Cannon.

 Out of all Huckebein, The First Huckebein is the one with least blocky design and potentially most powerful in terms of Raw Firepower. In SRW series Huckebein was mostly well known to be powerful prototype Personal Trooper but highly volatile due to usage of Tronium Engine which makes piloting this unit is akin to playing russian roulette. I suppose this announcement was in conjunction with Huckebein's Cameo in SRW V but i hope Kotobukiya would consider to reboot their SRW line soon with their recent success with Frame Arms Girl. This is no doubt the best current version of Huckebein Mark 1 so far and perhaps even one day Bandai would even consider to release Huckebein Boxer.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Saya no Uta Wing 1/7 Saya Figurine


 At long last we finally got a proper figurine for one of the best Horror VN in Nitroplus Library which is no other than for the Mysterious Saya from Saya no Uta! The figure is scheduled for July 2017 with hefty price tag of 17800 Yen but nevertheless it is very beautiful figurine. Nothing perfectly captures the theme of Saya no Uta other than by a stark contrast with innocent and pure looking Saya floating on a grotesque landscape. This version of Saya with Angelic Wings is her final stage in one of the ending where she is ready to propagate her kind supposedly creating a better world for Fuminori. . Back then there were also some decent Saya no Uta figurines as well but kinda inaccessible for General consumer. While the figurine is kinda expensive i might consider to get it to complete my lovecraftian heroine set and place it beside Al-Azif.

 At its core, Saya no Uta is a love story between a deranged man and a Shoggoth that begets the beginning of the end. But the way of this Horror VN is written is just Beautiful yet Twisted as you see the Journey of a man abandoning His Humanity for the sake of his love. Truly a Masterpiece of Lovecraftian Horror by Japanese standard despite it doesn't use much of the theme. Seriously if you havent read Saya no Uta you are missing one of the best VN that shows good VN can be a short one too.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Figuarts Zero Kingdom Shin Review


 Bought this figure in Hongkong last year in an Expo for 50 HKD since i really like Kingdom and thought might as well support the series by purchasing this figure. The Japanese version was around 3000 Yen but this Hongkong version is legit copy definitely. Shin is the main protagonist of Chinese Warring States Period Manga Kingdom, who is a Qin peasant fighting his way through to be the best General in the middle kingdom. He is your typical hotheaded shonen protagonist but a better one.









  This Figure Rendition of Shin is the version where Shin had become 1000-unit General after performing a great achievement during Qin campaign against Wei where he defeated one of Renpa's Retainer. Kingdom is not famous for its drawing but it is a great manga due to the sheer amount of emotions that the manga able to portray. This figure of shin is portrayed taking stance ready to take on any opponent overcoming any odds. Given the popularity of the manga probably someday we will have another Shin Figurine where he had become the Great General. And Seriously Kingdom is one of the best recent Shonen Manga even though it had some shaky beginning.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Jakarta Toys Fair 2017 Field Report


 Last weekend i happened to attend this Toy Event in Balai Kartini as i come to Jakarta last week for some errand. Jakarta Toy Fair is a yearly toy convention in Jakarta where the local hobby stores gather up and sell both Japanese and Western Toys. In terms of Display the convention got some nice stuffs considering companies like Lego and Bandai also participate the event. As for the shopping experience i find most of the stuffs sold in the event are rather pricey though there are some rare stuffs around if you are willing to pay for it. I am rather surprised that Bandai didn't raise a fuss at the event that there are vendors selling bootleg stuff. At the moment I find Jakarta Toy Fair still needs improvement to become a noteworthy event but i believe it will get better next time.





Jakarta's Infamous Governor Ahok Figurine up for preorder!
Hot Toys Everywhere!




Daizengar Mecha Musume!
Indonesia's Kamen Rider called Satria Bima X which actually looks cool even though i dont follow tokusatsu

My catch from the event!

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Capcom Figure Builder Mizutsune


 With Monster Hunter Generation release it is bound to happen that the flagship monster will get figure treatment though i never thought Mizutsune had a good chance for its figure to be made. Slated for may release with over 12000 Yen price tag with two different versions. Normally this amazing lineup cost around 6000-8000 Yen price range but i still wonder why Mizutsune fetch such a high price. In MH Gens, Mizutsune or Tamamitsune is one of the 4 Elemental Flagship Monster representing Water Element. This Fox wyvern is capable of producing bubbles from its skin which helps it to pull off fast and elusive maneuver as well as trapping hunters with it. Personally i think Mizutsune's theme is the best from the Elite 4 and considering 2 of them already got a figure treatment is still wonder if Gammoth and Astalos will catch up? Nevertheless they will eventually get the smaller version eventually.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Starting SRW Z 2nd Playthrough


 Wow it has been like almost six years since the last time i played SRW Z! I guess i was in the mood to play this game once again as a preparation for the SRW V arrival and hopefully managed to finished it before i got my copy. Since i used Setsuko for my first playthrough, this time i used Rand who pilots Gunleon which Gaogaigar would look like if he changed job to healer. For the second playthrough basically my units roflstomped anything that they encounter so far due to generous amount of carryover money. To this day i still wonder why Banpresto decided to abandon such nice platoon system that SRW Z had.