Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Devourer of Worlds

After a year, I have finally acquired this figure that I've been wanting for a loooong time. These were not available at retail for us Canadians here so the only way to get them were online or from comic stores. After tax, these were almost $100 at the comic stores so I never got one. Recently I was introduced to Super Power Collectibles on the local forum. Marcio, the owner of Super Power Collectibles, is a collector himself and strives to provide lower prices for toy collectors. The Galactus is my first order from him since he was selling them at $54.99 which is the cheapest I have ever seen being sold locally. The shipping was fast and Marcio even included a written note in the order to thank you for the order which I think is very nice. I know I will be going back to him for many more toys in the future!

My massive Spiderman finally has a new friend!
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Looks sweet displayed on top of my display case!
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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Review: Joint Gattai Zyuranger Megazord

As requested by Super Duper Toy Box, here's the review on the Joint Gattai Zyuranger Megazord I just received from my July Amiami haul.

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Zyuranger, also known as, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in North America is the Power Rangers I grew up with. I remember watching it in Cantonese in Hong Kong and then again in English here in Canada LOL! The Megazord in MMPR is still my favourite Megazords out of all the series of Power Rangers. The one from Shinkenger is a close second for me.

On the back of the packaging you can see all the configurations this Megazord can combine into. One thing I was surprised about this toy is the ability to form the individual zords that combine into the Megazord.
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On the side of the box you can see the individual zords corresponding to their rangers.
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Here is what is included, unfortunately a sword is not included.
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This is a very basic figure, but it still looks great!
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The mold is very simple, this actually feels more like a candy toy to me, except the details are paint and not stickers.
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All the joints on this toy are swivel joints, so don't expect to put this Megazord in any dynamic poses. That leads me to the next point...
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The "playability" of the Joint Gattai series is the ability to mix and match pieces from different Megazords in the series together to create your own Megazord. However, I only have this one so I am not able to take advantage of that. There are many pegs on the figure to allow for added components. This actually reminds me of the Mechtech system from the current Transformers DOTM line.

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The pieces above can also be assembled into the Dinozords.

Tyrannosaurus
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Mastodon
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Triceratops
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Sabertooth Tiger
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Pterodactyl
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They can also combine into their tank mode which is how it is displayed in right now.
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Overall I really like this toy, it is a good representation of the MMPR Megazord and has a lot of playability. There are many pegs and slots so you can make some crazy configurations as well or mix and match with the other zords from the existing lineup to create your own. The only gripe is that I wished it came with its sword so it looks a bit more complete in robot mode. Not a big deal though as this toy is not really meant to be an action figure, but more of just a fun robot building toy.

Review: Robot Damashii Wing Gundam Zero

I finally decided to open and review the Robot Damashii Wing Gundam Zero I got from my June Amiami haul. This is a long overdue review requested by RiP666. Although I am glad I did end up opening this tonight because I had a lot of fun playing with it! It is my first Robot Damashii and after this experience, it sure will not be my last! Anyways let's get onto the review...this is going to be a long one!

Gundam Wing is my first exposure to Gundam when I was a kid and to this day it is still my favourite Gundam series. I remember back when Gundam Wing was on TV, Bandai came out with a series of figures which were quite detail, but most only had standard articulation. Even though the figure looked really nice, they wouldn't be able to get in any good poses. Now comes Robot Damashii first figure for the Gundam Wing series, this particular Gundam model is from the Endless Waltz movie which I have watched many times already because I just LOVE IT!
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Back of the box with the most memorable pose of Wing Zero Custom with his twin beam rifles.
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Along with the figure, there is the wings assembly which attaches to the back of the torso via 3 pegs. There are also 2 extra pair of hands, one pair for weapons holding and the other are open hands. For weapons, there are 2 beam rifles and the beam for his beam saber.
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A display stand is also included. The stand resembles the stands you can get for the Gunpla model kits.
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This is one good looking figure. The wings assembly is almost as heavy as the figure itself so the stand is required for most of the poses. In addition to the heavy backpack on the figure, the torso-to-hip joint on my figure is quite loose, so posing without the stand is very hard. It is not impossible, but it will require some balancing of the wings and it might fall over very easily.
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As I mentioned earlier, there is a beam for the beam saber included. The handle of the saber is actually attached to part of the wing assembly just like in the movie. Unfortunately, only one beam is included but there are two saber handles.
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The weapon holding hands holds the beam saber alright, it is not a snug fit, but it is good enough with most poses.
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Let's take a closer look at the figure itself. I notice the design of the figure is very similar to the design of a HG Gunpla kit in terms of parts assembly. For those of you who have had experience with Gunpla, you will see the similarity. Although one thing that I did not like is the green sphere on his chest is not clear plastic, instead it is just plastic painted in metallic green. A translucent green plastic piece would make it look much nicer.
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The articulation in the legs and the skirts are exactly what you would expect in a Gunpla kit, except this is more durable for play than Gunpla.
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What I am really fascinated by is the wing assembly on this figures. There are so many articulation points in this assembly alone, allowing it to adapt to any pose you like.
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Double ball joints on each individual "feathers".
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The rear wings have three extensions.
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The wings are connected to the backpack via multi-jointed extensions.
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The flexibility in the wings allow for many different poses, I am just amazed at the number of articulation they packed in this figure.
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And of course, there are also the dual beam rifles.
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The famous pose with the combined beam rifles can be reproduced easily.
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Overall, I had tons of fun playing with this figure. It felt exactly like playing with a HG/MG Gunpla kit without the pieces falling off part. This is my first Robot Damashii and I am certainly more interested in this line after messing around with this figure. I usually open a figure and mess around with it for 15 minutes or so before putting them in my display. But with this figure, I must have played around with it for an hour or two because it was simply just so fun to play with. There are tons of little joints in the figure so it can take on a lot of poses. I really hope they will be doing other characters from the Gundam Wing series in the future, I would LOVE a Deathscythe Custom as a Robot Damashii figure! I highly recommend this figure to anyone who likes Gundam Wing as this figure will not disappoint for sure!

Monday, August 15, 2011

July Amiami Haul

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This arrived a little late because figma Strength was released at the beginning of August and Amiami was nice enough to hold onto the order a bit longer to include her since she's been previously delayed already. The Death Note figures (Light and Ryuk) were both delayed for a month as well and I am really glad they are released now since they look amazing! I think this is the first time I've seen action figures for Death Note, I hope they will be doing the other characters later (L, Misa, Rem). There's also Danbo's buddy that I missed out on several times, too bad this summer set does not come with his translucent blue water gun though. And since I missed out on the Disney exclusive Mighty Morphin Power Ranger Megazord here, I figured I could try out this Joint Gattai one from Bandai Japan. Each individual bot seems to be able to transform, as well as combine together to form several configurations of the Megazord, so I am looking forward to playing with that one.

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The pair of Vocaloid dolls are for my sister's birthday present. And got several vinyl figures (Green ranger from MMPR and Doraemon figures).

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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Transformers Animated Display

Decided to rip open the rest of my NIB Animated figures (Jetfire, Jetstorm, Blitzwing, Lockdown, Starscream) and add them to my Animated display.

Finally, I can say it's complete. (Wreckgar and Ironhide on the bottom shelf since they are the "extra" characters. Don't have Arcee or Blackout, but I felt like I didn't need them to complete my collection.) Although now that I look at it, I think I do need an Arcee...
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Monday, August 8, 2011

Weekend haul

Bought this on the weekend when I was over at a friend's house in Downtown, Toronto. While walking there, I noticed that there was a comic store within 5 minutes from the condo! And doing as any other collector would have done, I decided to drop by and I am glad I did! The store was called 401games, they had a pretty good selection of figures. As with most comic stores, there was a small markup in figures that were available in retail. But the comic store only figures like the NECA figures, Marvel Select, Play Arts were priced really well. Most were around $5-$10 cheaper than stores I go for my comic figures. It's really too bad that this store is so far away from home or else I'd be going here for all my figures from now on.

But I did manage to score this Play Arts Kai Sneaking Suit Snake that I've wanted for a long time! I was looking for this figure at the Toy Expo last week, but they only had him in his Jungle outfit from MGS3. This sneaking suit is of Snake in his suit that was in MGS2 which is still one of my favourite games.

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Friday, August 5, 2011

Transformers Animated - Shockwave

Finally opened this TFA Shockwave that I've been keeping NIB for a long time because I didn't have the room to display him. But now that I got my new display shelf, he can finally break out of his package and join his comrades.

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The Animated line is still one of the best packaged lines in my opinion, I just love the colorful look of it.
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This is his Decepticon vehicle mode which is some sort of tank with a beam cannon.
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And then simply prop up the tracks and flip down the cannon and he is now in his Autobots spy vehicle mode, which looks sort of like a crane.
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Here's Longarm, the Head of the Intelligence Division of the Autobots team. He looks quite friendly doesn't he? The funny thing is that his Decepticon symbol can be seen under his legs lol!
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Little does the Autobots know, he is actually the spy Shockwave from the Decepticons!
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I am really glad I have finally open him, I LOVE the Animated line and he is no exception. The design is awesome and I am still sad that they decided to end the show so early! Animated is still my favourite TF line ever!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Marvel Universe Iron Man 2020

Finally cracked opened these 2 Iron mans I got from last weekend's Toy Expo. I have already told myself that I am going to stop buying these Marvel Universe figures, but I am still a sucker for Iron man figures.

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The design of these two Iron mans are very futuristic.
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The paint apps on the IM 2020 seems cleaner than the other one. But the right IM has a new mold.
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The design of the IM 2020 is very familiar, in fact, it has the same mold as this earlier MU IM release, only with a few added armor pieces and a new face.
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As a result, this IM doesn't have a whole lot fo articulation since I think this older IM mold is from pretty early in the series.
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On the other hand, this new IM has some pretty amazing articulation for a MU. One thing that I am very impressed with is the ankle joints. The addition of the cut thighs and ankle joints introduces a whole bunch of possible poses with this figure, like this one.
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Seeing the improvement in articulation in these new MU figures have put some faith in me back in this line. With the re-introduction of Marvel Legends from Hasbro as showned in SDCC, I was pretty sure I was going to jump boat and go back to ML. But with all the upcoming releases for the MU line and these improvements in articulation, I might just have to stay on this ship afterall haha!