25 January 2012

Happy Chinese New Year

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Image of Huang Lingyin from Infinite Stratos (IS) by Aoi Masami (蒼まさみ), via e-shuushuu

It's a bit late, but Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it!

2012 is the Year of the Dragon, which is the only animal in Chinese Zodiac that is a legendary one; all others are real animals.

I've been taking a bit of a break for myself and catch up with some sleep. It's good to have a bit of a quiet moment to oneself now and then ^^

Let us hope that this year will be a good year for us and to our hobbies!

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22 January 2012

FREEing ex:ride American Bike

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As seen previously in figma Racing Miku review, here is FREEing's ex:ride American bike.

I wanted to get a black one for my figma Black Rock Shooter originally, but could only find a gold one as other colours were sold out when I wanted to look for one. ^^;

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The FREEing's ex:ride is a series of transportation accessories that mainly complements Max Factory's figma action figure line. However other 1/12 scale figures will go well with them too.

This is the 7th of the line - the American bike. Three colours are available: gold, red, and black.

There is not much stuff that comes in the box - just the bike and the stand (as well as a decal sheet).

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4 views of the bike with the bike stand on the rear wheel. This is a cruiser, where some of its distinctive features include foot pedals at the front and the handles pretty high up compared to other types of motorbikes.

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The handle can be raised or lowered, as well as rotated upwards or downwards to suit the rider's height

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A kickstand can be swiveled out so that the bike can stand on its own

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Racing Miku posing for the bike

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figma BRS with Rock Cannon. I personally think that she suits well with the appearance as a biker. The coat of her kind of gets in the way, so she can't sit too comfortably unfortunately.

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Pass the finish line!

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There is a hole at the bottom of the bike for you to plug a figma stand on it...

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... So you can pull off a wheelie or any other fancy things with it

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There is a sheet of water transfer decals for you to decorate the bike with. The most ideal place to stick them would be on the white spot on either sides of the bike.


For 1900 Yen, this is not bad for a big accessory to give to a figma or other similarly scaled action figures, such as Revoltechs. Some parts like handles and pedals are a bit fragile and may break if handled carelessly.

And last but not least, one extra picture to conclude the post:

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FEAR THE BALL BIKER AND THE CANNON ON ITS HEAD!

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19 January 2012

AKB48 x Nobel Gundam

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A group of modelers from RRM (Real Robot Modelers) used 12 HGFC Nobel Gundam to make members of AKB48 girl group based on the "言い訳Maybe" album cover.

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12 "girls" all lined up in a row. Each of them have their own characteristic traits by their hairstyle or other accessories such as hats or ribbons. Since I don't know the members very well, it would be much appreciated if you can recognise some of the ones listed below!

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1st from left:Atsuko Maeda (前田敦子)
2nd from left:Tomomi Itano (板野友美)

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3rd from left:Tomomi Kasai (河西智美)

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1st from left:Minami Takahashi (高橋みなみ)
2nd from left:Mayu Watanabe
(渡辺麻友)
3rd from leftAmina Satou (佐藤亜美菜)


And here are the two in comparison:
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The Nobel Gundams resemble the AKB48 girls don't they XD


This work is called Project 12, and it was inspired by AKB48 coming to Fukushima for a live concert after earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, and the modelers' homes in Fukushima were especially affected due to it being close to the epicentre of the earthquake, as well as the fact their home was under threat by the radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor. Seeing the idol group coming to sing for disaster relief, it brought hope and lifted the mood for the modelers.


Even though I am not big into AKB48 at all, it's pretty funny when I first saw the pictures. It was only until I read into their backgrounds have I found a bigger meaning behind the reasons for making this. They made this as a tribute and as a big thank you of some sort to the idol girl group for coming to help out on the disaster. One way or the other, that sure is a lot of effort and passion that the modelers made for this tribute, and I'll give them that for sure! :O


More on Gizmodo & Kotaku

RRMオラザクチーム2011
Pictures from RRM (Real Robot Modeler)

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15 January 2012

Cosmo Fleet Collection Gundam Act 6

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The Cosmo Fleet Collection Gundam Act 6 is the sixth series for Gundam warship shokugan toys. As the name suggests this is the 6th set of the line, where it focuses on ships from Gundam UC OVA, Gundam F91 movie, and Crossbone Gundam side story manga.

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A whole set comes in 5 boxes. As the outer box is mostly for shops to display the boxes, the lid can be folded back and become a label of some sort.

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The first one in the box is Nahel Argama and Sinanju from Gundam UC. The two are not in the same scale, or else Sinanju would have to be much smaller or vice versa.

Most of these ships are about 5-7cm long.

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The Sinanju. It's about the size of a small coin, and it's pegged onto one of the arms of the base. It's not too well painted, and it can be explained by its small size I suppose (though I have seen miniature toys with much greater details and better paintwork before in similar sizes).

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The Nahel Argama damaged by Sinanju. A normal version was available in Act 4 set which comes with Unicorn Gundam instead of Sinanju.

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The stand has several joints for you to position the ship and the accompanying MS. The bottom is a peg for 360 oscillation, whereas there are two ball & socket joints for the arm connecting the ship and the stand.

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The second one is Garencieres and Kshatriya also from Gundam UC.

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Kshatriya

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Garancieres. Due to its shape it is supported by a clear holder with two prongs attached to the main stand.

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Moving on to Gundam F91. Here we have the space practice ship Space Ark and the eponymous Gundam F91.

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Gundam F91

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The Space Ark.

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Also from Gundam F91 is Zamouth-Garr and Vigna Ghina

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Vigna Ghina. Personally I think this is the best looking painted MS in this box set so far.

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Zamouth-Garr, flagship of the Crossbone Vanguard.

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The last ship in the box is Mother Vanguard and Crossbone Gundam X-1

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Crossbone Gundam X-1. Facial work looks a bit odd (almost like Shining Gundam in Super Mode ^^;)

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Mother Vanguard. It has pretty good colouring (with gold paint on the prow, where there is a figurehead just like on some of the earlier ships between 16th and 19th century). The beam flag has to be attached on the ship by hand.

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And finally the special item: The MA Rafflesia from Gundam F91. Each petal comes in one of the boxes, so one must have all 5 boxes in order to assemble the Rafflesia. Like

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The Rafflesia has a peg just like other MS so it can be pegged onto a base. One can reenact the final battle between Rafflesia and F91 with Vigna Ghina.


The ships come fully assembled this time, whereas previous series need you to cut out the turrets and other finer parts out of runners and assemble them by hand, which can be a little hard due to their small size. However, the trade-off is that the turrets cannot be rotated for these ships while the older ones can.

Overall, like the previous series, the ships have pretty good paintwork and details for their sizes, while the accompanying MS tend not to do as well. The very first set featuring ships from Gundam 0078 was pretty good though, and I have the Magellan which comes with a Ball. The next series will be ships from Gundam 0083. Being shokugan toys, I won't be surprised if people don't know this line very well, but it's a nice collection to have for warships if you are interested, and are nice to have on a desk or something as they don't take up much space.

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11 January 2012

Coming Soon…

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"Ships ahoy!"

Been taking a break from the Internet recently since New Year's Day, and with the start of a new year I got myself a few stuff that I plan to review this month. Some of them are pretty new, while some have been around for quite some time. Hope I do get around to get through them and not procrastinate anymore! ^^;

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I actually had the bike for some time but haven't got around to talk about it until the Racing Miku review. Maybe more about it sometime this month.

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My doll may finally have something in similar scale to interact with.

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Part of a bigger picture

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I really gotta finish building these 2 Dra-Cs, they have been left like this for 2 weeks!


That being said, looks like I got a lot of catch-up to do after staying away from the Internet just for a few days. Anything you look forward to particularly? :o

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