D-Arts Zero 2nd Version Announced

The long-waited deuteragonist of Rockman X / Mega Man X game series Zero is finally announced in Bandai's D-Arts line, and unlike the "1st version" released last year the 2nd version is the one that many fans are familiar with; one with the Z-Saber!




Images are from Tamashii Web's item page. According to the content list, there will be two Z-Sabers available, as well as an effect part and a Zero Buster for the right arm.


A sample was first displayed in Tamashii Nation 2011 back in November. Image is from Hobby Stock Blog.

Zero 2nd version will be released in May for 3500 Yen.

I am looking forward to it! It is a definite get for me~ ^^
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Olympus PEN EP-2 keychain

Approximately half a year ago Olympus has been promoting its PEN series cameras in the form of supplementary key chains that comes with several Hong Kong magazines, i.e. bonus goodies.

I got myself a EP-2 one after hearing several local doll enthusiasts have bought one or two on twitter and forums. I haven't got a doll back then, but as I heard people talk about it here and there I thought I'd buy a magazine and see how it looks like. They were gone within less than half a day! @_@;

With all that said, let's see how this miniature camera keychain really fares as a magazine bonus goodie. :o


Front cover of the box with a tagline "It's Love; It's PEN".


There are several pages of models posing with the camera, as well as spec data of EP-2 and ELP-2 with a few info on the lenses compatible with the cameras.


All the stuff that come in the box - the main camera itself and two lenses


For something that is barely over 2cm long, the details are not too bad already. The bubble on the film representing the screen is a small eyesore, but otherwise it's not bad for a magazine supplement goodie.


Camera equipped with the shorter lens.


Camera equipped with the telescopic lens


With enough lighting and in the correct angle one can see an additional lens inside the telescopic lens, which is a nice touch on the details.


And the camera in the hands of my Black Rock Shooter doll. It seems to fit fairly well in terms of size, but I have a feeling that it is not in the same scale as the doll itself.


Let's give it to the girl and see how things go; she finally gets to have something to interact with.


Taking picture of a 1/72 scale Tiger II tank. Tried putting a 1/144 scale one but it appeared way too tiny, so a bigger toy is needed for a "demonstration" ^^;


Taking pictures of smaller toys. Here shown are HGUC 1/144 Ball, a dolphin keychain as a  gift from Singaporean dollfie hobbyist WinterKnight, and nendoroid nekomimi Shana


Let's show off your new camera then~

Hm.... The black body of the camera blends into the black gloves of BRS.


Maybe that's a tad better? But I can't get my camera to focus on both the face and the miniature camera itself...

Maybe I really need to get a better camera soon or later orz


And finally BRS posing with a gold Pentax k-r DSLR gashapon. It's a lot bigger, and at least the colour stands out a bit better this time.

That concludes my small review of the keychain. Although my Stylus 1030 SW has been serving me well for more than 3 years, it struggles to take good pictures of dolls. After doing this post, I am a little tempted to look more into this series of camera ^^;
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Happy Chinese New Year

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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FREEing ex:ride American Bike

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. ^^;


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).





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.


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


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


Racing Miku posing for the bike


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.


Pass the finish line!


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


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


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:


FEAR THE BALL BIKER AND THE CANNON ON ITS HEAD!
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AKB48 x Nobel Gundam

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.


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!


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


3rd from left:Tomomi Kasai (河西智美)


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:


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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Cosmo Fleet Collection Gundam Act 6

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.


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.


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.


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).


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


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.


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


Kshatriya


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


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


Gundam F91


The Space Ark.


Also from Gundam F91 is Zamouth-Garr and Vigna Ghina


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


Zamouth-Garr, flagship of the Crossbone Vanguard.


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


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


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.


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


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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