Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween from Marvel!

ROTF Arcee & Chromia


I really love this pair, hopefully the third sister will also be released. Their transformations are pretty complicated, but really well thought out. It just amazes me that these can transform into scale looking bikes.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Model Town Music Video

Check out this really cool music video!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Transformers Animated: Blurr

Last TFA I have to open, but this time it's an Autobot! Uh-oh!



SIC Kiwami Tamashii Autovajin Pictures

I know what I am getting for Xmas! Faiz + Autovajin! Can't wait!

Transformers Animated: Swindle

Trick or Treat?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Transformers Animated: Soundwave

Another Decepticon to join the party! I added a coat of clear nail polish onto the knee joints of Soundwave since they were very loose and he kept toppling over. Now it's all good!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Lights on!

Something I finished up just before school started. Anybody recognize what part this is?



Sunday, October 18, 2009

Transformers Animated: Waspinator

Opened another TFA during a break I took from typing up a paper. For some reason, the more work I have, the more I tend to procrastinate. However, my efficiency increases when working under pressure. So it all plays out in the end LOL

Waspinator:
Driven crazy by years locked in an AUTOBOT prison, WASPINATOR is determined to take revenge on the robot who put him there - BUMBLEBEE. Now, after bizarre experiments conducted by BLACKARACHNIA, he finally has the power to make his vengeance a reality. He has come to Earth hunting the AUTOBOT speedster and he will not stop until BUMBLEBEE is a pile of smoking scrap.

Galactic Powers & Abilites:
* Energy stinger paralyzes other robots.
* Can survive even after being blown to pieces.
* Was an Autobot before his time in prison.


So he's indestructable! Just watched the last part of "Predacons Rising" again, love the ending where Blackarachnia wakes up and see the animals infront of her (Beast Wars). Wouldn't it be cool if Beast Wars return, but in animated style? I know for sure that I would need ALL the toys in that line if ever! lol



Nice figure though! I really like his animated look, good homage to his Beast Wars look. Transformation is really simple, he basically stands up from his insect mode and folds his insect head down. Would have been nice if he was a bit bigger, like voyager size or so because right now he is the same size as Blackarachnia. I just love the animated line though, I like them even if they have simple transformation. But for other more "realistic" lines, I hate it when the transformation is really simple.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Souchaku Henshin: Kiva Basshaa form

Okay, finally opened this guy up. First, the packaging is awesome! No twist-ties, no rubber bands, all parts are held within the bubble tightly. The toy includes 3 extra pair of hands for different poses. The separate pieces included are actually armor pieces that have to be installed onto Kiva. All the armor pieces are diecast metal so they make Kiva quite hefty. Articulation-wise, it is very good, double jointed knees and elbows, etc. It looks like most, if not all, of the joints are metal, which is a huge plus!!! Just in case you are wondering, the armor on his lower left leg is also diecast! Overall, really really nice figure!

By the way, can anyone recommend a stand to hold these figures for posing?


ROC: Storm Shadow

Cool figure, only thing is his leg articulation is hindered by his jacket.

Patrick Boivin: Jackson vs Bean

He's back again with another awesome toy animation!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2010 Toy Preview

I'll probably only pick up the original team and the megazord, the deluxe stuff looks...retarded LOL! And even so, I doubt I'll have to worry about getting them once they are released. I have a feeling that these will become the new peg-warmers of 2010.

TFA: Blackarachnia

Good figure, only thing she needs are swivels on her wrists, then she would be perfect!








To be continued...

ROC: Snake Eyes

Opened SE tonight just because I want to open something. I like him! He's pretty cool, articulation is alright, would like a swivel on top of the legs though. Still looks great though! He will join in on the cross universe battle soon haha

3.75" Iron Man 2 figures

Click here to continue over to Marvelousnews.com

I have one question with the current 3.75" trend though, what's with all the oversized guns?

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Play or Display?

After this weekend's toys opening and my various picture scenes, I have been thinking about this, do you play with your toys? I think this is an interesting topic for discussion. In my opinion, the term "Play" can include a large variety of activities; such as posing them and taking pictures, making comic strips, pose and display, transforming, even making gun sounds or acting out some dialogues, etc.

I am pretty sure most of us will at least fiddle around with a brand new toy upon opening them and most likely even pose them and take pictures to show off our new toy. But what do you do after this process?

Put the toy back in the box for storage or put them on display? For those that display them, how do you display them? Are the figures just standing in an upright pose or do each figure have their own unique pose or maybe even pose them in a battle scene?

After storage/display, do you take them out to re-pose them and in general just to fiddle around with them or do they stay in storage/display after the "New toy picture process"?

For those with Transformers, do you display them in vehicle form or robot form?

Lastly, do you have any toys on your desk right now to play with?
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I'll go first.

My type of play only involves posing them and taking pictures, and transforming for transformers. I think my brain lacks the imagination I had when I was a kid to really get into playing with them. Sometimes I wish I could play with them like old days, but it just doesn't 'work' anymore.

I am pretty sure all my toys that have been opened are on display. The only ones that are in storage are the NIB one that will eventually get opened. Most (99%) of my displayed toys are in upright position due to the lack of room, but there are some exceptions, like my Dragon 1:6 figure is currently in a Kamen Rider Kuuga henshin pose LOL (will add picture later). Also my recently acquired Star Wars toys are posed in a battle configuration on my shelf at the moment. All my transformers are displayed only in their robot mode, mostly because they look cooler, but it also saves space.

After they go into display, I rarely take them out to play with again. Even if I do, it's most likely to take out a transformer and transform it once, then put it back on display. The only time that I would take them out of display and repose all of them is when I am cleaning the shelf/display case. But occasionally, 'old' characters do come back to my picture scenes.

And right now I have Tread Bolt on my desk. He's just sooo cool to transform.

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If you would like to share your answers to these questions, write them in the comments section! I look forward to seeing your replies!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Result of Merging Universes

Today's Haul

Got a pair of Droideka's today. I thought about getting only one of them, but it felt awkward. I guess it's because you always see them in pairs or more on the screen. Pretty cool figures, would look a lot better with some paint touch ups though to pop the details.

Transformers Universe: Tread Bolt









Treadbolt is an awesome figure, transformation is quite lengthy which I enjoyed. His forms include: vehicle, super vehicle, robot, and super robot. He is much cooler than I expected!

Freeze!



Sure feels good to open some toys!

I have to say though, the articulation on these Star Wars toys are disappointing. Well, I knew ahead that they are not that good in the articulation department, but I thought they at least would have knee joints (the clones do though). They do make up for it with the details though, the paint on the Magnaguard is very nice. Even with the lack of articulation, I actually quite adore them. Messing around with the clones reminds me of something though, we haven't seen our friend Joshua over at The Stormtrooper Effect for a while, I miss reading his posts!

On a side note, I finally got a tackle box for parts storage. Now I will finally start opening those Revoltechs I have been collecting. I've been holding off on opening them because they include many accessories and I was scared of losing them without proper storage. Problem solved!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Just a passing by Kamen Rider...









Decided to open the Obi-wan Kenobi I got from jacobot after messing around with Hibiki. The Jedi didn't stand a chance though...

Although in theory, Kenobi would probably just cut Hibiki up easily. But while Kenobi was taking off his helmet, Hibiki stole his lightsaber and...ya.

Also, the articulation on Kenobi SUCKS big time! Not even knee joints? Comon!

Review: SIC Kiwami Tamashii Vol. 1 Hibiki


I was really excited to get this figure so he was the first one I opened. What I really like about the packaging of this series is that they are resealable. After I finish messing around with it, it went straight back into the packaging and looks brand new again. I really like this since I want to play with it, but I really like how they look new in box too.

I thought I'd try something different this time with the pics since I have tons of them.
(Click to enlarge)




Really nice details on a figure this size, I am really impressed. The price is similar, probably just a bit more expensive than a Marvel Universe here. But it is cleared which is the better bang for the buck. One thing I forgot to do here is put the devil heads that are on the ends of his Ongekibou Rekka which are attached to his other set of hands, on the piece on the back of his waist. These for for when he is using his normal hands (empty) and his Ongekibou Rekka is in the holder. Other accessories include his henshin tuning fork and his disk animals. Another interesting thing to note is that the heads on his Ongekibou Rekka are different; one is smiling and one is frowning (at least that's what I think).




Articulation is awesome, best I've seen at this scale. The only thing I would add is a toe joint, but that's just being picky.



Overall, I am very impressed with this figure. The details are amazing and the articulation is very good at this price point (1000 yen). Although I have to note that other volumes in this series seems to be a bit more expensive (1200 yen), it's probably because they have more accessories. I got this figure during the free shipping offer from HLJ so I didn't have to pay shipping, but I think shipping would be around 500 yen for the figure. And I did end up having to pay taxes and handling fees, so that probably brought the figure up to around $20. It's still not bad for the price considering Marvel Universe are already $12~ and their detailing and articulation are nothing close to this. I can't wait to get Faiz when it comes out, but I'll probably order him along with a few others to save on shipping.