Revoltech Optimus Prime (a.k.a. Convoy)

I had not been this excited for a Revoltech figure since the last Evangelion Revoltech releases. Kaiyodo brings us none other than the Autobot leader Optimus Prime in Revoltech form. The first thing that I noticed is that Optimus Prime is kinda smaller than its previous predecessors. The Eva Revoltech look bigger to me, either way it is still a nice little figure. Possability is not as great as previous Revoltech figures. The problem lies with Optimus being somewhat thick in the arms and legs. Still you can achieve some decent poses. Design wise, Kaiyodo took some liberties, Optimus actually has a neck in its Revoltech incarnation, and he also looks more modernized. This one arrived today but I am still awaiting the arrival of "Ultra Magnus". I"ll post pics of the white re-paint when I receive it.

"Autobots transform and roll out..."

"...Hey look!! It's a big statue of me..."

Sword Calamity Custom Parts Kit w/ DVD

I managed to snag another one of these Sword Calamity custom kits via a trade off. This one is the best out all the ones I have, it still has the tape and has never been opened. Since I have a third I think I will be selling one, keeping one, and building one. Two have the DVD and 1 only has the parts but at least they are all boxed. By the way if you are interested on getting a copy of the DVD I can make one for you, just e-mail me.

MG Strike I.W.S.P.

My second Strike I.W.S.P. arrived today which completes my Strike collection for now since the MG Strike Noir will come out in March. I need to start building all of these models, they are all piling up.

New Release - Gundam SEED Destiny Vol 6 Special Edition

So we are halfway through Gundam Seed Destiny in the US with Bandai's release of Gundam SEED Destiny volume 6 on DVD. I was excited with this release since Bandai was going to release it in both a regular and special edition. The regular is well, the regular with just the DVD in it. The special edition comes with a T-shirt and a box to hold the DVD and the shirt. The artwork for both the DVD and the box is outstanding. It follows an Athurun theme, with a pose of the Saviour on one side and a commanding pose of Athurun on the other.

What struck me as odd with this release was the choice of box that Bandai picked. I have tons of anime DVD boxes ranging from wood to metal but I had never seen one like this. When you look at the top of the box you can see that it is clearly divided in two sections. The thin section holds the DVD and the thicker one holds the T-shirt. At the bottom of the thick section, its marked with the word "pull". So you have to pull the T-shirt out in order to get the DVD out, its kind of a neat contraption but I am just worried about how long it will take before the whole thing falls apart.

My only complaint is that when you put the DVD back in the box, something is catching onto the cover of the DVD therefore messing some of your artwork up. I took the first one I got back to the store and got another and it has the same problem. Aside from that I am pretty pleased with what Bandai finally did for this release. Its the first time the Gundam line here in the US gets a special edition DVD.

Coming Soon - MG Strike Noir, 1/100 Akatsuki

The hottest news in the Gundam modeling world straight from Japan is the announcement, by Bandai, of their March line-up. First up we get the MG Strike Noir from C.E.73 Stargazer. Yea, yea, yea, I know.... Its another Strike, the 4th MG Strike to be precise. If you look at Bandai's record lately, you'll notice that most of their releases are just re-hashed versions of previous models (i.e. Blue F91, Strike IWSP, GM Sniper) but the Strike Noir was a cool design in my opinion and well worth the MG treatment. Look at the bright side of it, there won't be any more MG Strikes since there are no more Strike designs.

The other big March release is the 1/100 Akatsuki. I wish this would have been the model that was getting the MG treatment but something is better than nothing. The 1/100 Akatsuki will come with both packs, the SHIRANUI & OOWASHI packs. Hopefully this one will be mirror gold plated like the Hyakushiki and not the MG Strike Freedom's version of gold plating. The only downside of the 1/100 Akatsuki is the price. It will retail for 6000JPY which is the highest I have seen for any non-MG kit. I'm sure it will be well worth it since it is coming with both packs. Bandai has now paid attention to what the SEED fans really want. Nothing will ever top the Universal Century but we need a break from it from time to time when it comes to modeling.

MG Strike Noir

1/100 Akatsuki

RAHDX Lunamaria Hawke

Like I had stated before, Lunamaria Hawke is one of my favorite gals from Seed Destiny. Got this figure last year and was my second anime figure after Kasumi . Lunamaria is in a simple pose and has a removable arm holding the ZAFT jacket. Megahouse has done a good job of making Lunamaria look as close as possible to her anime counterpart. Aside from this one, the other Destiny figures that I have are, Lacus, Meer and another version of Lunamaria in her pilot suit.

Out Now - Revoltech Ultra Magnus & optimus Prime

Kaiyodo has been doing an amazing job with their inexpensive and highly articulate Revoltech figures. Focusing mainly on mecha characters, it was no surprise that they would be releasing a Revoltech figure based on the Transformers franchise. After many Evangelion figures and Mazinkaiser, it is now Optimus Prime's turn to perform super poses.

Some may not like this figure because of its inability to transform. I really don't mind since you can pose it any other way. Hey, I have a Masterpiece Optimus Prime and I have never transformed it!!! Also alongside Optimus Prime we also get Ultra Magnus. I really don't know the story behind this but Ultra Magnus looked different here in America. Mine are on their way from Japan as we speak, also take note the Hobby Link Japan lists the Ultra Magnus Revoltech as discontinued.

1/100 Destiny Gundam

This was the model that inspired my model collection, the 1/100 Destiny. I actually had the chance of getting this when it had originally been released but passed on it. When I went to Otakon 06, a pretty big Anime convention in my area, I searched everywhere for this but never found. After a couple of months of searching on Ebay I found it. I paid quite a little bit for it, more than what it had originally retailed for.

Way before the Bandai Action Base had been announced and I had already gotten the 1st issue release of the Destiny, I managed to find a seller that had the stand by itself on Ebay. Thats when I decided to start collecting models and I have been getting two of each since. One to build and one to collect. The stand that I got for the Destiny seems like a recast of the original stand. Although I don't know how they would pull off the clear plastic, it doesn't look like an original.

The differences that I have noticed are that the clear parts are darker on the second set are darker than on the original parts. The limited edition Destiny has a red stand while the other one has more of a pink color to it. The extra parts for the waist also don't seem to fit right. Finally the extra parts for the hip and the stand parts are packed in different packaging in the original release while the other one is all packaged together. If I knew that an Action Base was coming out then I would have definitely not picked up the extra stand but I still would have bought the limited edition Destiny and paid dearly for it :D Now that we have a MG Strike Freedom all we need is the MG Destiny.

1/100 Gunner Zaku Warrior - Lunamaria Custom

I don't know about you guys but my favorite gal from Destiny is none other than Lunamaria Hawke followed by Lacus Clyne. So in honor of that I got her Gunner Zaku Warrior, plus it also reminds me of my idol's mobile suit, Char's zaku. Although she pretty much never does anything in the series with this Zaku, she is still my favorite gal.

The model is pretty much your standard 1/100 model. Possability is not that great but with an Action Base you can probably make it look better. Also a little bit of painting will be required to make it look as acurate as possible. I wish this would come to us in a Master Grade. Bandai is usually shy of putting out Master Grades from the SEED universe, I mean, we need a new MG such as the Destiny or the Legend or even better, the Impulse. Only time will tell.

Gundam Musou

The most talked about Gundam news has been the announcement of Gundam Musou. Gundam Musou is a pretty interesting approach to the Gundam videogame franchises. Instead of the usual gameplay style as Climax UC and Alliance vs. ZAFT, Gundam Musou plays like the Dinasty Warriors line of games. If you haven't played Dinasty Warriors then think of Ninety Nine Nights. The screenshots released so far show pics of the RX-78-2 Gundam, Zeta Gundam, and ZZ Gundam sorrounded by a ton of Zakus.

Koei is handling the development of this game so its likely that it will play 99.9% like Dinasty Warriors. The official release date for Japan is March 1st. Thats less than two months away!!! Hopefully it won't be as horrible as its predecessor Crossfire (a.k.a. Target in Sight). Ill update you with impressions when I receive my copy of the game at the beginning of March.

Out Now - Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid Vol 2

Kadokawa Pictures USA via Funimation Productions brings us Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid Vol 2. The last volume came out not too long ago with the box. Thats about the only thing that I appreciate about Funimation Productions, they release their stuff fast. This volume contains episodes 5 through 7. The packaging is great, it has a nice picture of Mao and behind her is an Arm Slave and it comes with a shiny slipcase.. The back is unique since its the only DVD in my collection that displays the information sideways. I can't wait for the series to wrap up which should be soon since Kadokawa Pictures is putting it out fairly quick. Look out for volume 3 March 6th.

1/6 Kasumi Blue

I have always been a fan of the Dead or Alive series. Pretty much everybody is a fan of the Dead or Alive series because of one reason and thats the voluptuous ladies. Everyones favorite including DOA creator, Tomonobu Itagaki, is Kasumi. Today I bring you the most popular Kasumi figure out there. This one is similar to Ignis, almost everyone has one. Actually almost everyone has three of them because there are three color variations of this figure.

The one I got was the "player 1" blue version. I got it from a US retailer for about $45 and this was my first figure/statue that I had purchased. The white version (which I had no understanding of at the time, otherwise I would have that one) was never released here in the US. I could have gotten it from Ebay but lets say that would have been a bad idea. This figure was popular enough to catch botleggers attention. It's really risky buying this Kasumi figure from Ebay as you might get stuck with a fake one. The ways to determine if yours is a fake is her hair strand isn't split into two, and the strings on her sword are really short. The fake also have a bending problem were over time the figure starts tipping forward. This page might also help determine if you have a fake one or not.

Luckily mine is real and you can see from the hair strands and strings on her sword. The figure itself in my opinion is great and looks better than the recently released Bome line of Kasumis. My only complain is that she looks a little too animeish with a really pointy nose. Otherwise the voluptousness of the figure is something that you will admire and will drwa away from the animeish look. Although I am not certain of the availability of this figure now, you should check it out and get it if possible.

Got MG Strike Freedom?

Its official, The MG Strike Freedom is the kit that I have bought the most. Because I pre-ordered at so many different places when it was announced I ended up with alot of them. A lot of places did not guarantee my pre-order so thats why I pre-ordered at various different Japanese retailers.

They all ended up honoring the pre-orders and telling me that they would terminate business relations with me if I didn't pay them. So here I am with 4 MG Strike Freedom Full Burst Mode and 2 regular MG Strike Freedom. Since the MG Strike Freedom Full Burst Mode been discontinued I decided to list them on Ebay. I have two on sale and I will be adding a couple of Bandai Action Bases to sell as well. If you are interested or any of your friends are, please direct them to my auctions.

MG Strike Freedom for sale!!

MG Strike Freedom for sale!!

1/6 Ryu Hayabusa

I was never a big fan of Ninja Gaiden until I played Ninja Gaiden Black. A good friend of mine is a huge Ninja Gaiden fan and he had told me about this Ryu statue. It had originally been released back in 2003, and by 2005 the price on Ebay had skyrocketted. People were paying near $300 for this statue. When it was announced that it was being re-released my friend and I immediately jumped on it in hopes that it will be that valuable again.

The figure itself is huge coming at 1/6 scale, Its bigger than the masterpiece Optimus Prime that I have. Details on the figure are amazing and it retails in the US for about $33. Importing from Japan might cost a little bit more if you can still find it. I never understood why figures released in the US market are cheaper when they are exactly the same figure. Even the packaging is the same. Take the Bome line of figures, here in the US they retail for about $20 while importing one from Japan will cost you about $50. I really don't mind since it saves me a lot of money. =) I also have Ayane which I will be posting about later.

MG Strike IWSP

To start off the new year, I headed to my hobby shop to see what they had in stock. I found the MG Strike IWSP, I had been wanting to get this kit for a long time now but never had the chance. I have seen the Strike Rouge IWSP MSV, but i had never seen a regular strike with the IWSP pack. Not sure if its from a manga or whatnot. The IWSP is interesting since its armed to the teeth. My only complaint about this kit is the crappy stand that was included. Bandai decided to include the MG Wing Zero stand. Its a stand and you can pose the kit, but you can get better poses out of the one included with the original MG Strike. All in all the kit is great and I have added it to my backlog of builds.