Monday, September 28, 2009

Nintendo DS: Scribblenauts



I've been playing this game recently and I must say, this is one awesome game! The concept is simple, but very addicting. The goal in each level is to obtain a "Starite". These can appear after you complete a certain objective or it can be there right from the start and you have to reach it. The best part about this game is the "Scribbling", you access your notepad and you can either write (letter recognition) or type anything you want, then the object will appear in the game for you to use. So for example, you type helicopter, a helicopter will appear and you can pilot it to your objective. I am not sure how many objects are in the game, but I discover new ones everyday. Some cool ones that worked are: mech, dragon, phoenix, ninja, vampire, monster truck, and a whole lot more!

I think there are 10 worlds in total, each world consists of about 12-15 normal levels, then after you beat the normal levels, you unlock the explosive levels. So there are plenty of stages to go through. The first few worlds are sort of a breeze through, but it does get more tricky as you progress further into the game. The thing is there is no one "right" way to reach an objective. You can go as crazy as your imagination takes you.

I highly recommend anyone with a NDS to try this game out!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

X-Men Evolution

I've been watching X-men Evolution ever since Decade ended. I watched the first two episodes of Kamen Rider W, but I am just not digging it. Don't remember how I stumbled upon X-men Evolution. But it's been really good so far. I am already on Season 3 of the series. Been watching 1 or 2 episodes everyday after school, and sort of went on a marathon today LOL. I've been watching the series on youtube uploaded by MARVEL. Check them out, there are tons of Marvel stuff on their youtube channel.

MARVEL youtube

[09/27/09] Just watched Season 4, Episode 1. Don't know what happened to the rest of season 4, but I can't wait to see it!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Transformers Universe: Vector Prime (Part 2)

Upon releasing Vector Prime from his plastic prison, I was surprised to see all the little details on this mold. There are TONS of detailing on him and it makes him look even cooler up close! His vehicle is some type of galactic battle cruiser sort of thing. On the front piece, you can see all the little molded gears, I am guessing it's to depict his age since he is one of the first transformers ever created. I know I said before that I am not too fond of his colors, but it's starting to grow on me. All it needs is a bit of detailing to make the little details pop out. The slot in the tip of the front is for a missile that shoots out when you slide the blue button in front of the cockpit.

This mode reminds me of ROTF Soundwave vehicle mode.


He also comes with a minicon called Safeguard, which can transform and combine with his spaceship mode.




Transformation is really simple, only takes about 10 seconds to complete. He basically folds out to his robot form. I was somewhat disappointed with the simple transformation. He does have a backpack kibble, but it's proportionally sized and looks pretty cool because of the details on it, plus it's storage for his sword.





On top of each of his "arm guard", there is a slot for mounting minicons. He has rachet joints on most of his articulation points, which lets him hold his pose sturdily. His sword is made of a flexible plastic, similar to his "wing panels" in his spaceship mode.



He also comes with a Cyberkey, but it does nothing when it's inserted into the key slot. On the Cybertron versions of this figure, the Cyberkey activates the sound effect gimmick. I am not a fan of sounds, so I didn't mind. It would be cool is it lights up his eyes though. Too bad his eyes does not have light piping though. The key sort of reminds me of Kamen Rider Decade LOL



On the underside of his backpack, there is a battery compartment used in the previous versions of Vector Prime. It was held on by a hinge type screw. Although the compartment is still here, there are no battery contacts inside. But I have taken care of that problem already. Will work on it again when I have time.

Replaced with an almost stripped screw borrowed from my RC parts box for now.


I am still thinking of what I can do with the Cyberkey. I've taken his torso apart and there is plenty of room in there since that's where they probably put the sound unit on the previous versions. I definitely want to do a repaint of this, or at least add in some color to make the details more visible. But that will have to wait until Xmas or something when I am not busy.



Overall, I really like this figure, I like it even more than I had expected mainly because of all the details on him. At first when I saw pictures of this figure online, I had already like the mold, but I had thought that the colors were lacking. But when you see him up close, all the details will make up for his brown and black color scheme. The gears and all his "exposed" details on him sort of reminded me of Jetfire from ROTF. My pictures do not do him justice, he actually looks better under less lighting because then all the shadows make the details pop up much better.

Here's an attempt to take a picture of Vector Prime under less lighting, my camera doesn't do too good in low light situations. But I think he looks better in this picture than all the above ones.

Transformers Universe: Vector Prime (Part 1)

I am not too familiar with the background behind Vector Prime, but I do like the mold. And for $10, why not? However, I am not too fond of the colors of this repaint. The Cybertron Vector Prime and the Cybertron Galaxy Force Vector Prime have way better colors than this one. I have also read on forums that the Cyberkey included in this Universe version doesn't do anything (no lights and sound). I've never really like sound gimmicks, but I do like the lights.

I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but the packaging looks superb! Normally we'd just get the generic packaging with no character info on the back and no character art on the front and side of the box. Maybe it's because this one is a 25 anniversary item.

More pictures coming soon!


Look at the specs on this guy! He's very powerful indeed!

Walmart's False Advertising

Today was the start of Walmart's Part 2 15th Anniversary sale. In their flyers, the Universe Voyagers and Animated Voyagers were advertised for $10, regular price being $30. I was really excited for this sale because I wanted to get a bunch of TFA voyagers since it is afterall, my favourite series at the moment. I have gotten most of the Deluxe class I wanted in this series, still have to hunt down a few more. Leader class, I still need Ultra Magnus. But voyagers-wise, I have none of them. I was hoping to get in on an Optimus Prime, Blitzstorm, Lugnut, and Starscream on this sale.

Being so excited for this sale, I decided to drop by Walmart before going to school since my classes starts at 10am today. Upon arriving, I found Optimus Prime, Blitzstorm, and Lugnut on the shelf. So I grabbed them and scanned them on the price checker, it scanned at the regular price at $30.

I had a chat with one of the employees there and she gave me the most ridiculous replies in trying to convince me that what I am holding are in fact, not "Animated Voyagers". It was an interesting conversation because the advertisement consisted of a page dedicated to the toys on sale, with exactly 10 toys surrounding a label "10 great toys for $10". I showed her the flyer and read out the label for her. She proceeded to count the toys surrounding the label,

Walmart employee (WM): "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...and these don't count."

I paused for a moment because I was surprised at her response. Then I pointed to the "Save $19.92, Reg. Price $29.92" print under the toy description. Then she told me,

WM: "Yes, regular price is $30."
Me: "But it says save $19.92, so that makes it $10"
WM: "No, it's because the regular price is $50."
Me: "But I thought you just said the regular price is $30, and it's clearly printed that the regular price is $30 on the flyer."
WM: "No, this just means the price right now is $30, and the regular price is $50."
Me: "..."
WM: "Okay, let me input the SKU in to show you."
*Data pops up on scanner*
WM: "Oh! It is $10! What did I do wrong?!"
Me: "...so it is $10?"
WM: "No, these are different size, these are not Animated Voyagers. These are $30."
Me: "But it says here on the box..."
WM: "No, it's not the same, this one is bigger."
Me: "...Alright, thanks anyways."


I couldn't waste anymore time trying to argue with her because I had to catch the train to school. But I just find it amazing that Walmart would not honor their own advertised price. Maybe it's just that one store, since I've always had problems with that store because the employees there are generally quite rude (not really referring to this case).

Anyways, I ended up grabbing 2 more TFU Infernos(1 for a friend) and 1 more Vector Prime so I could have one NIB and one to open. These were scanning at $10, but these were scanning at $10 last week even though the sale should officially start today.

Also got 2 Star Wars figures last week at Toys R' Us since they had a 2 for $10 sale (Reg. price $10 each). I wanted to get a regular clone trooper, but couldn't find any of them. I've wanted a Magnaguard before, but they were always nowhere to be seen because they sold out very quick. The Shock Trooper looks awesome as well. I was wondering why the Shock Trooper helmet looked different from the Clone Trooper Officer I got from jacobot in a previous post. Did a quick google search and found out that the CTO was a phase 1 armor clone, while the Shock Trooper was the phase 2 armor. I like the phase 2 armor more because it looks similar to the Storm Troopers.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Papercraft: Life-size Link by Haywan



Oh man...this is like the ultimate papercraft, I didn't think this was even possible to make such a detailed statue with paper! Check out the following link for more pictures and progress videos!

Papercraft Museum - Life-Sized Link by Haywan

TF2: ROTF Wheelie

While browsing my usual "Go-to" sites today, I saw on tfw2005.com that some company is auctioning off the ROTF movie props. Then I see the picture of the radio-controlled ROTF Decepticon Wheelie. I remember a while back, after I watched the movie, I said that Wheelie was actually a Tamiya F350. But with this larger image, I can tell that it is in fact not the Tamiya model, but a "Wheely King" from HPI Racing with a Tamiya F350 body mounted on it. The chassis does look a bit different than the stock model because it seems to be upgraded with a variety of alloy components from what I guess to be Integy. I thought that was quite interesting since the Wheely King is probably where the inspiration of the name "Wheelie" came from.

(Click picture to enlarge)

Friday, September 18, 2009

Lucky Coincidence

I read online a few weeks ago that on the night of September 18, 2009, we'd be able to see, if I remember correctly, the milky way across the sky. I had always love looking up at the stars at night, it relaxes me and is my favourite stress relieving method. I've been looking forward to tonight for the past week.

At 10pm, I checked on my Stellarium computer program which has my coordinates inputted so I can see what is above my head in the sky if there were no light pollution. And surely there was the milky way streaking across from the east end to the west. I didn't really expect to see it since it was quite faint even without the light pollution. First I head out to my backyard, but many houses have been built behind us and there wasn't much of a view. So I decided to drive to the local public school since there were less houses in that area. I went to the field because it was the darkest area, and man! What a view! I didn't see the milky way, but without all the houses and lights getting in the way, I could see many many stars in the sky. It was like looking up inside a dome. I could actually see the curvature of the Earth when I focused straight up into the sky.

Wanting more, I decided to drive up more towards the north direction since it is more of a rural area up there. There was a plaza consisting of a Walmart and several smaller stores up north that still had construction going on, so I thought their lights might not be on in that area yet. It was totally the opposite, there were so many lights there that I could see the projected lighting even before I got there.

I'd thought, well since I am here already, why not check out what this Walmart has. I got there at around 10:45pm, ask the clerk and was told that they close at 11pm. So I quickly went to the toy department to look around, and what do I see?

A shelf full of Transformers Universe voyager Inferno, Vector Prime, and Tread Bolts. What makes this surprising is that this Walmart never gets anything new, and this is my first sighting on these TF's here. I didn't even know these were released here already except for comic stores that wanted $50 each for them. What makes this even COOLER is that they were $10 each...yes...$10!!!

So I brought home one of each! I have been wanting these for a long time and even when they are released, I would wait for a sale before buying them. I probably would only get one of them only too. So I am really psyche with this coincidental "run-into". I later found out on the local forum that a handful of Walmarts in the area have put these on sale as well and these were really the first sightings of them in the area. Anyways with this purchase, my Transformers Universe 2.0 collection is completed, I've already got all that I wanted.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Surprise package

Got a surprise package from member jacobot on the Canadian forum ActionFigureNews.ca today.





For Star Wars figures, I only have a Darth Vader with little to no articulation. So these are pretty much my first SW figures. I've always wanted some clones. Thanks jacobot!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Tamiya RC: Team Studie GLAD BMW Z4 Hatsune Miku Update


TamiyaUSA.com just updated the webpage with a picture of the upcoming Hatsune Miku BMW Z4. It's one attractive car!

Related post:
Coming Soon from Tamiya: Team Studie GLAD BMW Z4 Hatsune Miku (Updated)

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Transformers (and more) Papercrafts

Soundwave, Ravage, Mazinger papercrafts...check out PAPERINVADERS for more!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Iron Man 2 figures to be in 3.75"


Saw this on Marvelousnews.com and it reminded me of a discussion with fellow bloggers The Stormtrooper Effect and Open the Toy whether the upcoming Iron Man 2 figures will be in 6" or 3.75". Well, the answer has actually been out for a while, but I didn't come by it until now. They actually look pretty nice! There's actually another picture with a 4"-ish Iron Monger, not sure why they would do this as the one in the 6" line right now would probably be in scale with this new line. However, at $11 a figure, I'll wait for a sale before picking any up.

Here are some more pictures of the 3.75" IM2 line.
Clicky

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Lego Toy Story

Check out these upcoming Toy Story Lego sets! I'd like some of those Lego figures please!

Click here for Lego Toy Story pictures

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Upcoming Kyosho Autoscales

These two upcoming Kyosho Autoscales are one my MUST GET list!!! Finally something to look forward to again in the RC world.



Monday, September 7, 2009

Marvel/X-Men Paper Toys

Stumbled upon a fellow blogger of "My Paper Toys" on a toy forum The Fwoosh. All the models are available for printing to DIY too! Too bad my color printer is out of ink right now or I'd make an Iceman too!

Check out My Paper Heroes for more!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Kamen Rider W

Just watched the first episode of Kamen Rider W tonight. I have to say that I am just not feeling it. Not a fan of W's henshin, but the fact that each partner controls half of the rider is pretty interesting. At the moment I still like Decade more than W. However, I will continue to watch a few more episodes though to see if I'll catch on later.

My dog - Bobo

Here's a brand new pic of her after she came back from grooming today. Isn't she just adorable?

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Coming Soon from Tamiya: Team Studie GLAD BMW Z4 Hatsune Miku (Updated)

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[EDIT] Thanks to Shinka in the comments section for notifying me the correct 2009 livery for this car. The picture have been updated.

Hmmm...I like this one even better than the '08 one!

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Just spotted on the Tamiya's "Coming Soon" list:

RC Team Studie GLAD BMW Z4 - TT01E Hatsune Miku

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Specs & Features

1/10 R/C assembly kit of the Hatsune Miku Studie GLAD BMW Z4.
This model features the livery seen at the 2009 Super GT opening race at Okayama.
Polycarbonate body of the BMW Z4.
Includes side mirrors, rear wing, and metal-plated light cases.
Shaft driven 4-wheel drive TT-01 Type-E chassis.
Comes with slick tires snf BBS style mesh wheels.
2 red and 2 yellow 5mm LEDs and LED Light Control Unit TLU-01 (Item 53909) included.
TEU-101BK ESC and type 540 motor included.
2-channel R/C system, battery pack & charger are separately required.
Add the separately available LED Light Control Unit TLU-02 (Item 53937) to allow control of up to 16 pairs of LEDs (total 32 LEDs).
A wide variety of Option Parts are available.
For more information on Hatsune Miku, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid or the official website for Hatsune Miku:http://www.crypton.co.jp/mp/pages/prod/vocaloid/cv01.jsp

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Normally I probably wouldn't have noticed this and would just pass it up as another body variation release of the TT01 chassis. But having seen an entry on Hatsune Miku by fellow blogger Open the Toy recently, the character's name caught my eyes. Did a quick google search for the Hatsune Miku livery and came up with this:



I think it looks pretty nice! Pretty sure the body will come prepainted or it would be a PITA to paint and decal. Also I think this is the first time we've seen an anime livery on Tamiya RC cars, which is pretty cool indeed! I am actually pretty interested in acquiring a prepainted body of this for my onroad chassis.