End Year 2025 Loot

Wrapping up the end of 2025 with a bang! there’s really no better way to close out this year's rollercoaster ride with a proper loot post! This entry is a particularly big one, as it represents the accumulated hauls from the past three months, with equally solid from both Chinese and Japanese hobby products.

As you may have noticed, this loot photo was taken at new place, making it the first haul post after completing the move into my new apartment, an exciting milestone in its own right. It feels especially satisfying to unpack and photograph everything in a new space.

Overall, this is a very solid haul. While the May loot still  the most wallet-breaking one, this one is no less impressive in terms of both quantity and quality. The undisputed stars of the haul are the 1/7 Aniplex Arcueid and CCS Studio Alteisen. Close behind are the Apex Studio 1/7 Chen Alter, Gattai Granbird, and Yolopark Shurato Ryoma, all of which make a strong showing. On the Chinese hobby side, Soskill B-Duck is every bit as massive as expected, and JoyToy’s 1/24 Mecha stands out with particularly unusual packaging this time around. I’m curious to see whether future releases will follow this same design direction.

Lastly, I’m very glad I managed to secure the 30 Minutes Fantasy Liber Lancer and Wizard kits at a relatively affordable price, especially since preorders were unavailable for reasons still unclear. With the move now complete, I’m hoping this new transition will free up a bit more personal time—though, as usual, my work life remains as hectic as ever.

Realm of Darkness 2025 Reflection Post

As 2025 draws to a close, it feels like the right moment to pause and reflect on the year, for Realm of Darkness as well as for my personal life. This has been a true rollercoaster year, marked by a series of sharp highs and difficult lows.

On a personal level, 2025 was far from smooth sailing professionally. A drastic shift in my work circumstances forced me into an unfamiliar and often uncomfortable transition. Persevering through that period was not easy, but it proved to be the right decision. By December, I did finally begin to see tangible results, with my performance recovering and a long-awaited sense of clarity appearing at the end of the tunnel.

Despite these professional setbacks, 2025 turned out to be a remarkably fruitful year for my personal development. This is an aspect I rarely share on Realm of Darkness, but much of my free time has been devoted to studying history and philosophy as an extension of my interest in the liberal arts. I am deeply grateful that this year marked significant progress in my self-directed Great Books journey, and I am always happy to offer guidance or exchange thoughts with readers who share similar interests.

This inner growth has also shaped the evolution of Realm of Darkness itself. In 2025 starting from April, I began posting on a near-daily basis, and the impact was immediately visible. The blog experienced a notable spike in visits, growth that once took 13 years to achieve now happened in less than two. This progress would not have been possible without the continued support of loyal readers, for which I remain sincerely thankful.

Beyond work and writing, 2025 also marked a major personal milestone: moving into a new apartment that will likely become my long-term home for the foreseeable future. It represents stability after a year of constant motion.

Looking ahead to 2026, my hope is to maintain the consistency and momentum I managed to build for Realm of Darkness in 2025. As a Horse zodiac, I expect my share of obstacles in the coming year, but obstacles are meant to be faced. I wish the same resilience and clarity for all visitors of this blog as we each confront the challenges that 2026 has in store.

Ad Astra per Aspera – through hardships, to the stars

Fate/Grand Order Kotobukiya 1/7 Caster Anastasia

During the peak of Fate/Grand Order, the franchise received a generous number of premium scale figures including Kotobukiya. Among those releases, one solid entry I initially overlooked was Caster Anastasia, the lead Servant from Lostbelt No. 1. Sculpted in her Caster outfit at 1/7 scale, this PVC figure was originally priced at ¥17,800 and hit the market in November 2020.

With the Christmas season rolling in, it feels like the perfect moment to revisit this particular figure of Anastasia even if my relationship with FGO these days is complicated. While I have plenty of frustrations with how the developers handle the game, I still genuinely appreciate many of the character designs. And Anastasia’s is one of the few that truly deserves the spotlight.

Given how crowded the Caster class, especially within the SSR tier, has become in FGO, it’s easy for Anastasia to get overshadowed. Yet she remains a dependable AoE DPS, capable of performing remarkably well when delegated on right missions. In figure form, her voluminous winter-style royal dress translates beautifully. Kotobukiya’s sculpt captures her elegance with surprising value, especially considering that a figure like this would probably retail closer to ¥25,000 if released in today’s market.

I may have missed my chance to grab this particular version, but hope isn’t lost. There’s always the possibility of picking up her eventual Nendoroid or perhaps Kotobukiya will treat fans to a re-release someday.

Fate Grand Order Lostbelt 6.5 Traum Clear!

Usually, I don’t bother sharing my FGO progress on the storyline unless there’s something truly noteworthy. This year, however, the Christmas event locked the welfare servant; Santa Captain Nemo behind late-game content, specifically Lostbelt 6.5: Traum. Since this meant clearing Traum just to access the event, and given the amount of effort I had to put in over the past few days, I figured it was worth sharing my progress and overall thoughts on this singularity.

There were moments when I seriously considered giving up on FGO altogether, but clearly, I’m still attached enough to marathon story content just for a welfare servant. In this post, I’ll also take the opportunity to briefly reflect on my 8th year with FGO, especially since the game has already deprived itself of the privilege usual yearly report post due to its own nonsense.

Transformers War for Cybertron Earth Rise Titan Scorponok

Ever since I stumbled into Transformers last year, thanks to a chance encounter with Blokees.I’ve been hunting for worthy additions to my growing collection. As a lifelong mecha fanboy, my sweet spots have always been the Combiners and the big, imposing titan-class characters. Naturally, names like Trypticon and Fortress Maximus grabbed my attention early on. But a recent turn of events led me toward another iconic giant: Scorponok.

And as it happens, one of the best modern renditions of this massive Decepticon comes from Hasbro’s War for Cybertron: Earthrise line.

Released in 2020 with a $200 USD SRP, the Earthrise Scorponok is truly a behemoth. I usually don’t gravitate toward Hasbro releases, but a lucky Black Friday encounter last month changed everything. Standing over 40 cm tall, Scorponok is an absolute centerpiece figure complete with three transformation modes, including the one that instantly hooked me: a mobile fortress. I’m a total sucker for fortress or base-form mecha due to growing up with micro machines, so this checked all the boxes.

With a bit of help (and a very fortunate deal), I managed to secure one at a great price. Now I’m eagerly waiting to get this giant in hand someday soon. I hope to find a proper Fortress Maximus and Trypticon to stand proudly alongside this massive scorpion battle-fortress.

Departing from Uma Musume Pretty Derby Global server

It has been about six months since the Uma Musume Global server launched. I joined the bandwagon quickly, but it turns out my stay was never meant to last beyond that period. Much like my experience with the JP version which only lasted over 18 months, I eventually burned out here as well.

While the Global version has made an earnest effort to roll out QoL updates as humanely as possible, they still aren’t fast or substantial enough to retain gacha players like me, especially those who no longer have the time to devote hours each day to gaming. The game’s insistence on what feels like Saturnian demands, pushing players to spend nearly two hours daily, ultimately undid my attachment to Uma Musume and set me free from it.

There’s no denying that Uma Musume is a high–production value product in the gacha game market. However, its obsession with keeping players locked into long, repetitive grinding sessions really needs to be reassessed. I may have tolerated similar nonsense in Fate/Grand Order, but Uma Musume simply isn’t special enough to earn that level of patience from me.

Even so, I’ll still keep an eye on the franchise in less time-consuming ways and appreciate the experience for what it was while it lasted. Playing the Global version allowed me to reach a Top 50 S-Rank guild and obtain Uma Musume characters I failed to get back then. Overall, I’m genuinely glad I managed to get Priestess Grass Wonder, and I might have endured longer for her New Year version, if only Uma Musume hadn’t chosen to play the role of Saturn.

Saint Seiya Saint Cloth Myth SCM EX Sagittarius Aiolos Review

This week’s Thursday Review coincides with Christmas 2025, so it feels like the perfect time to feature something special: reviewing my copy of SCM EX Sagittarius Aiolos. I’m not exactly a diehard Saint Seiya fan, but owning the figure of my zodiac constellation feels satisfying and I’m glad that constellation happens to be Sagittarius.

Steel Gunner 1 & 2

Wrapping up my series of light-gun articles for this month, I’m returning to the roots of this blog: Mecha. And to do that, I’m highlighting a long-forgotten Namco arcade shooter: Steel Gunner.

In the mid-to-late ’90s, Namco became famous for its wildly successful Time Crisis series. But a few years earlier, back in the early ’90s, the company experimented with a futuristic, mecha-flavored rail shooter that has since slipped into obscurity: Steel Gunner.

Steel Gunner features a buddy-cop storyline set in a near-future city where the protagonists don power armor to combat terrorist threats. The series produced two games before vanishing entirely, for reasons that remain unclear. My memories of the story are fuzzy, but the first game involved rescuing kidnapped scientists from terrorists wielding a giant “Metal Gear–style” robot, while Steel Gunner 2 had the heroes facing off against what I can only describe as a kind of robot wizard as the big bad.

To be honest, both games were classic arcade coin-guzzlers; punishing, flashy, and designed to drain your pockets as quickly as possible. But despite that, what made Steel Gunner stick in my mind was its mechanical design, especially the police power armor worn by the protagonists. The suits are peak late-’80s mecha aesthetics, and it still surprises me that Namco never revisited or reused these designs in later titles.

You’d think Bandai Namco might eventually re-release Steel Gunner as part of their classic arcade library if only to make some quick bucks. But decades later, it remains untouched. It makes me wonder whether licensing issues or internal red tape have buried this series for good.

While not a direct successor, Namco’s Lucky & Wild carries a bit of that same buddy-cop energy, and is worth trying if you’re curious about earlier Namco shooter experiments.

Vtoys Gravity Garden 1/12 Silvermoon Knight

Since I never got into Souls series, I never really have any attachment to Knight action figure. However, their recent Knight Action figure simply dubbed Silvermoon Knight caught my attention. This one is an offensive oriented Knight action figure whose aesthetics remind of Dark Souls Artorias. Scheduled for Q3 2026 release, this 1/12 Silvermoon Knight will be sold for 75 USD SRP.

Silvermoon Knight comes with a pair of longsword, greatsword and kite shield as its main armament. The collector could pose it in several configuration mainly offensive stance with dual wielding long sword or great sword or perhaps balanced setup of the classic sword and shield.

This particular caught my attention for Vtoys and upon brief search, turns out it is a Shanghai hobby company and their portfolio are actually quite decent. Apparently, they focus on premium 1/12 warrior action figure that often comes with generous amount of Fabric parts and they even made mecha musume called Muse which looks quite decent. I might talk about their previous portfolio which maybe could help their longevity in some way.

Metal Slug Anthology

Metal Slug is undoubtedly one of SNK’s most celebrated titles, alongside their iconic fighting games. This classic run-and-gun shooter dominated the 90s arcade scene and holds a special place in the hearts of gamers who grew up during that era. Over the years, SNK has made several attempts to keep the series relevant, but few efforts matched the impact of their late-2000s releases.

Enter Metal Slug Anthology, arguably the best Metal Slug compilation to date! Covering Metal Slug I through VI, it was released on multiple platforms, including PS2, Wii, and PSP. The version I personally experienced was PSP one and I did enjoy the run even if never giving it a complete run. While it doesn’t include Metal Slug 7, the Anthology still offers the most comprehensive single-package experience of the series.

Despite being such a well-crafted compilation, SNK has yet to re-release the Anthology on modern consoles, even as peers like Capcom and Konami have revisited their classic libraries. Here’s hoping SNK decides to bring this legendary collection to a new generation of players soon.

Genesis Climber Mospeada Moderoid Ride Armor Stig & Ray

Mospeada has always been the series that I am personally fascinated ever since I was exposed the anime series as Shinji Aramaki’s Motorcycle Power Armor design always captivate me. After strings of manufacturers taking on Mospeada series, Goodsmile felt they are ready to take on this classic 80s Mecha series with Moderoid Lineup. Starting the series with the iconic ride armor, Moderoid Mospeada is releasing Ride Armor Stig and Ray for their first batch. Scheduled for September 2026 release, Moderoid Ride Armor Stig/Ray will be sold for 8500 Yen.

Compared to Sentinel’s ride armor, I think moderoid’s version follows more 80s Aesthetics having overall blockier power armor. GSC took the safe approach by releasing both Mospeada’s main character as the first batch, the professional soldier Stig and wasteland wanderer Ray.

Personally, I am really curious how Moderoid’s Ride Armor transformation gimmick works whether it will be parts swapping or seamless transformation like the action figure version. I think Moderoid will be great choice if I consider to add companion for Stig.