1/7 Jeanne Alter Dress

 Jeanne Alter is one of the most popular FGO Servant out there so she definitely gets a lot of merchandise! In Shinjuku Arc, for once Jalter cast off her cold demeanor and puts her feminine charm into play, wearing gorgeous dress for a dance in the final parts of the story. Her dance scene no doubt this captures a lot of FGO players affections toward Her. In no time Max Factory took the opportunity to capitalize Jalter since last year and they finally announced the release for her Dress version PVC Figure. Released on March next year with the price tag of 16500 Yen. For that kind of price you could get an Alter Quality figure already and i doubt Max Factory's Sculpt would be as good. For 16500 Yen price tag of this figure i think you are mostly paying for the premium of having one of the most popular character in the series in her most gorgeous form. Despite being pricey as usual i will get this particular Jalter Dress figurine for a reason. I made a bet with myself that i will be getting this figurine if i managed to pull her in the recent Da Vinci which i did at the cost of 90% of my SQ reserve. I think my FGO SSR Roster is halfway done by now with the addition of Jeanne Alter and my priority for next SSR would be Archer or Caster class.

Legend of Galactic Heroes Novel

 Finally managed to get the LOGH novel into my collection which i had already planned even since a western publisher picked the series up. Legend of Galactic Heroes still remain the best anime i have ever watched and i am doing what i can to support this Masterpiece. I recall the Novel had around 10 Volumes and so my collection is still halfway to go, the publisher is working up to 8th Volume now and i hope they will commit till the end. I think each volume of the Novel worth about 10-15 episodes of the original OVA. For now i have just finished the first volume which roughly cover until the conclusion of Amlitzer/Amritsar battle. Compared to the Novel, i think the OVA fleshes out more at some aspects for instance the OVA expands on the Schenkopp Recruitment and the Iserlohn Capture part. Reading the novel makes me appreciate the OVA even better since they perfected the novel which has been really good already. Anyway i think i will enjoy my experience reading through the novel.

Plastic Memories

 Got interested with this anime since Sora Amamiya starred on this one before her role as Aqua in Konosuba. Turns out Plastic Memory is not so bad but still an unfinished product since it abandons its world building halfway. As a teenage romance, the series did a great job but due to the lack of world building, the tragedy parts doesn't really hit the mark. The essence of the Plastic Memories is about making the most out of the available opportunity even if it is a short one. If i would make the comparison, Plastic Memories is somewhere in between Chobits and Noboru Sora. I think there are plenty of things that the animating studio wanted to explore with this series but i think i this is one of those anime that got budget constraints thus limited option. I think i will give the PSVita game an opportunity considering i do like Sora Amamiya's role as Isla in this series.

Metamorforce Black Sarena

 After more than a year from the announce release we are getting the announce release for Black Sarena which ends up in Metamorforce lineup. The toy will be released around mid year which is about the same time like Baikanfu Last year costing 37000 Yen which is very pricey. Since i had Kotobukiya kit alrd i wont be getting this one but even if i don't have the former i won't be getting Metamorforce because Sentinel's price is too high. Out of all Black Sarena Toy no doubt Sentinel's would be the best in terms of sculpt but it doesn't Justify  the price is almost triple the amount of a Gokin toy released years ago which have the armor purge gimmick and i doubt articulation would be stellar either. I am rather curious what makes Sentinel set their price this high since Bandai could make one for half of the price if they really want it. Black Sarena holds quite a special place since i played ACE 3 and its Armor Purge gimmick is a huge plus too. So it really pains me that these kind of mecha find difficulty to get their toys released and would be pricey if they had one due to the market model. In any case i think Gravion would cost about the same as well and i wonder what Sentinel had in store after Gravion.

Pacific Rim: Uprising Thoughts

 Got a ticket for the Premiere yesterday since my company helped to set up the Toy display booth at one of the Cinema in Jakarta. I was quite hyped with the second Pacific Rim since i liked the first movie but i kinda overhyped on this one. Overall the formula of the Pacific Rim Rising stays the same with the original with minor tweak here and there. however in the end it falls behind the First Movie. The main problem of the second movie falls on the supporting characters, Jaeger Design and battle scenes. While the Main Character is fine, using Teenager as Jaeger Pilots kinda tones down the seriousness of the series. The first movie had better Jaeger Design Overall and as usual in the second movie, Gipsy Family always got the main attention. My favorite Jaeger in Uprising would be Ajax November but unfortunately that one doesn't have much screen time. But what Pacific Rim Uprising did better than The first Movie is setting up the possibility for a Sequel though by this time i look forward more to an Animated series than a Movie since Movie format had too much restriction. So in the end Pacific Rim Uprising falls on mediocre side as it kinda waste much of its opportunities.

Said Pacific Rim Toy Booth

Starting Konosuba PS Vita VN

 Well Japanese PSN Got some sale on 5Pb titles and i used this opportunity to buy Konosuba Visual Novel which is like 50% off. With 3rd season of the series having a long way to go, the game provides some decent temporary relief. Since i had played couple of VNs in Japanese before, it is not that hard for me to read Konosuba since it falls on easier side for a Japanese VN though the readability is still around 60-70%. The premise of Konosuba VN is about Kazuma finding a cursed ring that makes him unconsciously steal girl's underwear and the shenanigans he do to gather enough money to undo the curse before the Heroines kill him. The story won't be anything special but the game is very good at fanservice as expected. Since i am a fan of Aqua, i will be aiming for her route on my first playthrough, hoping her ending would be worthwhile.

Small World Storage Solution

 Small World is one of the more colorful Boardgame out there as it is a territorial control game jam packed with assortments of Races competing to be the dominant ones. With its popularity, Small World got plenty of Expansions and thus the original box will not able to contain all of the components once you starting to collect expansions.

Figma 390 Jeanne Alter

 Well that was quite fast after Wonderfest, being one of the most popular servant in FGO does help after all! Jeanne Alter Figma will be released on September this year with a whopping price tag of 8000 yen. Jalter is the Avenger Class servant in the FGO which has been around for 2 years alrd on JP server and apparently she is the top waifu material with her tsundere personality. Jalter is going to appear soon on FGO NA server which made the release timing of her Figma aligned better somewhat with FGO NA server. Apparently the Shinjuku event is one of Jalter's brightest moment that boost her popularity rather significant which will be in a year available on NA Server. Despite her pricey price-tag, it is likely that i will get her for the sake of completion of my FGO set in Figma Lineup.

MG 1/100 Gundam F91 2.0

 F91 is one of my favorite since it packs a punch despite being a small sized Mobile Suit. In a way it represents the epitome of efficiency in Gundam Design boasting great firepower while being staying fast. So it is a great news for me that Bandai is releasing 2.0 version of the MG which will be released on May this year with 4000 Yen Price tag. I had Harrison's F91 MG back then and while it is a good model kit, it is plagued with issues mainly related to its stiff internal frame which makes it easily break off if handled improperly. I think the 2.0 version of F91 will fix the issue one way or another and i had secured myself a copy. I still wonder why Bandai havent released the RG yet despite it is modestly popular model. In any case i will look forward when my copy arrived

February 2018 Loot

 Last month got plenty of generous promotions in Tokopedia with Chinese New Year within the month. Since i got some pocket money, i went on quite crazy shopping spree around this time and bought stuffs off my wishlists. Saved myself around $100 through the generous promotion by Tokopedia which 8 out of 9 included Cashback Promotions. Through the shopping spree i got myself couple of rare stuffs whether it is Model Kit, Action Figure or Figurine.

Finally I bought myself Shinguji Sakura Figurine which is a must have as a Sakura Taisen Fan despite Sakura is not my favorite Heroine, As for Tieria Erde i decided to get her just because she is 50% off with further cashback some more. I also bought a second copy of VAH Rahxephon which i regretted not buying it earlier and hopefully i can get Raideen as well. For a long time already i also have been eyeing Kotobukiya's Black Sarena, because Sentinel's will definitely cost an arm and a leg despite looking promising. As i find SRC to be decent lineup to invest on, i decided to complete Big Order Room Set now as i got Hyoryu and Enryu, i still got two left and it is the hardest part to complete i would say. From GSC Product i got myself Nendoroid Estelle, Figma Caster and Parform Momohime. I think it is one of these days for me to complete Sora no Kiseki and Figma is probably the best lineup to invest for FGO despite they cost almost $100 nowadays.

I think it will be a while again before i am pulling off crazy shopping spree like this again but this time it is mostly too secure stuffs for my collection before they go out of market.

Jakarta Toys Fair 2018

 This is the second time i came to this event, if last time i went here as visitor this year i work as a part of exhibitor. The experience participating an Event as visitor and exhibitor is quite a contrasting one. But this year's JTF is quite different with last year due to Tokopedia's participation in the event which shakes things up abit!

Yami's Winter Wonderfest 2018 Highlights

 When it is February, it is always a flood of temptations from the Winter Wonderfest! As for this year's i think there are less mecha stuffs that catches my attention since the new products are flooded more from non mecha series each year. So lets see which products that catches my attention!

Freeing 1/4 Kanzaki Sumire Bunny Ver Figure

 I never expect Sakura Taisen is getting more figures being a series forgotten by Japan. While it is not Kotobukiya 1/7 Figurine, this time Kanzaki Sumire from Teikoku Kagekidan is getting 1/4 Figure treatment by Freeing! The figure will be released around september this year with over 20000 Yen Price tag which is kinda expected for 1/4 scale. In Sakura Taisen, Sumire is the ojou-sama type of Heroine who appears to be haughty toward Ogami at first but kinda sweet girl when she opened up to him, in battle Sumire uses Koubu equipped with Naginata and specialise in Crowd Control attack. To be honest Sumire or Maria are the one who likely to get their figure treatment after Sakura considering their Popularity and i guess Maria will likely be getting one in near future. I will skip this one since 1/4 is out of my target but if there are 1/7 Figure being made, there is a good chance i will be getting it. Speaking of Sakura Taisen, i kinda procrastinate on the second game for three months already, gotta keep up i suppose.

Pokemon Gashapon Machine Toy Mini Mini Gacha Poke Machine XY&Z 19th Movie Version Review

 Japan has plenty of varieties for Gashapon toys but the ones that piqued my interest the most are compatible with 1/12 Scale figure as i start collecting figmas. One of those Gashapon Toys that i bought are Pokemon themed Mini Gashapon Machine which are made by Takara Tomy. These miniature Gashapon Machine make very nice addition if you are making Game Centre themed Diorama. This particular one is from 6th Generation Pokemon based on the 19th Movie of the series.

Sampling on some Kotobukiya Kits

 Being the company's resident gunpla guy, i sometimes got assigned to assemble Sample model kits. This time Kotobukiya sent some of their model kits for my company to promote their products which i get hands on some of them. This time i am assembling Asra Ninja from Megami Device and as for  MSG Gigantic Arms lineup, i get to make Convert Carrier and Rapid Raider.

Since Mecha Musume is off my radar, i never collect Frame Arms Girl and its Equivalent. For Megami Device i think it is FAG offshoot lineup that is intended with more liberty on its design since it doesn't rely on Frame Arms for its aesthetics. While i think Megami Device's face sculpt is not as good as FAG, it is still miles ahead from Bandai's with their Fuminas. Just as usual, Kotobukiya's model kit require painting to look good but the flesh sculpt is not too shabby. Personally i feel that Megami Device would benefit more with removable armor system instead of parts swapping.

 I haven't been keeping in touch with Kotobukiya kit for a long time already and now their MSG lineup include mecha accessories alrd. The Gigantic arms model kits are intercompatible for Kotobukiya 1/12 Frame Arms Girl and 1/24 Hexa Gear figure use which are very versatile. Between Rapid Raider and Convert Carrier i really like the latter more because the Carrier has more modification potential. Though i think the Rapid Raider can be still compatible for Figmas with some minor alteration.

After trying these model kits, i think i will look more into the Hexa Gear Lineup as they have rideable Robot model kits now.