GSC 1/8 Ultimate Madoka preview

Good Smile Company (GSC) has recently shown off their 1/8 Ultimate Madoka figure in full colour, which is now available for pre-order.







Be it the long, pink flowing hair, or the transparent wings with pink tint, or that the white long dress with star dust inner lining, this figure is quite spectacular by the looks.

The figure is reportedly around 33cm tall (25cm head height), and there will be an option of equipping Madoka with the magical arrow or not. I personally like how the heavy back side of the dress also serves as the stand for the figure itself, which gets rid of any unsightly looking poles or other similar objects to "hold" the figure in place.

Ultimate Madoka, as the name suggests, is the ultimate form of Madoka in the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and this form appears in the very last episode. Since how this form appears involves a lot of plot (i.e. spoilers), I would not spoil the beans for those who haven't watched it; it's only 12 episodes long so one can give it a quick blast at it.

The figure is available for pre-order at GSC web shop for 14800 Yen (up to 5 per order and 2000 Yen shipping for areas), as well as other online stores such as Hobby Search, HLJ, and AmiAmi. The web shop offers a B3 size poster as a bonus, while other online shops offer a lower price.

Even though I am not a big fan of the character designs in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the Ultimate Madoka that appears at the end of the series does stand out among the rest of the characters. She appears very briefly in the TV anime series, but perhaps this form will make a comeback in the future movies?

I'm not getting it even though it looks like a promising figure; I am not big into the series despite it's worth a watch and that it's not the usual "magical girl" series that one would normally anticipate. I need to think very carefully about remaining spaces, which is always a problem for collectors and toy fans ^^; Well, if there is an action figure for it then I *may* consider, but we'll see.

So, who's going to go for this?
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D-Arts Zero Type 2 Review

After a more than a year's waiting since I got D-Arts Mega Man X, the long-anticipated D-Arts Zero Type 2 action figure with the symbollic Z-Saber is finally here!


D-Arts Zero Type 2 is released in end of May for an official retail price of 3500 Yen, or 3675 Yen with 5% Japanese sales tax included.

Zero is a character from the Mega Man X video game series (also known as Rockman X). He is seen as a deuteragonist and a second playable character in most of the game series. Despite not being the protagonist of the series he first makes his debut appearance, his popularity can be more than a match to the titular character, which is a bit like how Fate Testarossa / Fate T Harlaown has a huge fanbase as the deuteragonist of the Nanoha series, where Takamachi Nanoha is the main character... Well I put that just for an analogy, but the two do have some aspects in common such as the fact that they are both close combat-oriented and how both had troubled pasts.

Story-wise, while X is Dr Light's ultimate work, Zero is Dr Wily's counterpart of X as his final masterpiece. He is X's best friend and comrade-in-arms. While D-Arts has released a Type 1 version based on his appearance in the first Mega Man X game, this Type 2 is based the games thereafter, where he now has his symbollic Z-Saber for close combat.


Zero comes with 3 face expressions, 3 pairs of hands (closed fists, open palms, and hands for gripping the Z-Saber), a normal right arm, 3 Z-Sabers with different effect parts, and an open barrel for the Zero Buster.


Front


Back


Zero with Zero Buster on his right arm (also known as Z-Buster). He has several different transparent coloured "gems" on his body, such as the red ones on his Buster arm and helmets, as well as blue in the centre of his helmet.


As a contrast to X, Zero has green gems rather than red on various parts on the body, such as underneath the feet.


The 3 different expressions of Zero. Similar to X's, they all look serious.
The face part was very hard to remove at first with the helmet in the way; it took me a very long time just to get it out for the first time.


There are two barrels for the Zero-Buster: One with the red gem when Zero-Buster is not firing, and the other one with a hole so that effect parts from X or Zero Type 1 can be inserted into it to imitate the Buster firing shots.


Zero with Zero-Buster


Firing pew pew shots with X's effect parts


A normal right arm with corresponding hand parts is available for Zero; just swap out the Zero-Buster and insert the right arm in.


Now onto Zero's signature weapon: The Z-Saber. 3 Z-Sabers with different effect parts are available - a normal one, one with a rather pointy end, and one with a fluid slashing effect.


The Z-Saber can be stored at the back. Remove the effect part for one of the two normal looking Z-Sabers and insert the peg into the hole at the back near the left shoulder.


Now for some action shots: Readying to unsheath


Mission start!


Gatotsu, Saitou Hajime style from Rurouni Kenshin.


Falling downward stab, a recurring technique throughout the series.


Half moon slash!


Rising upward slash, another recurring technique.


Standing next to his partner X. Zero has more colours and details than X, who looks rather plain in comparison.


The two Maverick Hunters fighting side-by-side again, just like the old times.


To the best of my knowledge, there were no action figures available for Zero of the X series before this one apart from some early Bandai plastic model kits and the Type 1 version released last year (which is the Mega Man X1 game with round shoulders and no Z-Saber), which are pretty rare to find by now. A lot of the colours on the action figure are straight from the plastic itself rather from paints (hence giving Zero a bit of a "plastically look" on some areas...), and that some of the painted areas could have done a better job, especially on the Zero-Buster. The joints aren't stiff so it's very easy to pose around straight from unpackaging, though the arms seem to have difficulty holding the Z-Saber with fluid slashing effect, or the heavier charged shot effects from X, where they have a tendency to sag downwards as I was about to take the photo. On the other hand, I tend to have difficulty seeing Zero's eyes, especially with his default face. Maybe his eyes seem a little small, or that the front section of the helmet seems to cover up the face more than I have anticipated.

Apart from the painting and slight joint issues, I would say that this is recommended for fans of the game series, as there are no other ones available at the moment. At least it's great to see something finally getting materialised from the childhood memories!
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Yesterday a video tape, now a DVD

Watching the new version of Hunter x Hunter anime series (which has been airing since October 2011) often makes me want to rewatch parts of the first anime series from 1999 for comparison. Seeing Wing-san holding what appears to be a DVD (or even a Blu-ray disc) in 2012 then him holding a video tape back in 1999 reminds me how much things have changed these days, even from these little details.

I remember watching the first anime series of Hunter x Hunter back in 1999, and while it didn't feel that long ago in my memories, it in fact has been more than 10 years ago already.

Time sure flies, and technology is a clear tell-tale sign of how much things have changed over the years, as they are some of the distinctive aspects that move on the most. Sometimes I wonder, if we are to look back at today's anime in, say, 10 or 20 years' time, will we find a lot of objects or aspects a little odd or out of place?

That's something interesting to think about there. Read More!

False Gundam News

False news. We get these now and then, even on Gundam-related ones. Some are more convincing than others, and here are a few I remember that got circulated around before in the past. Let's see how many you've seen them before!


HG 1/144 Alvaaron, the "Gold GM" that appears at the end of Gundam 00 Season 1.

Gotta say that this image fooled a lot of people back in the days. While a HG model did not materialise at the end, there is an action figure from Robot Damashii, which has similar size to that of an HG model.


HGUC 1/144 Messala from Gundam Zeta

Here is a comment from Ngee Khiong quoted from his old blog:

See the price? It says 2,400 Yen without tax and 2,448 Yen inclusive of tax. But it should be 2,520 Yen instead. Bandai would never make that kind of mistake, when it comes to pricing. ^^;

Also, the image was later found out to be based on a scratch built model.


MG Gundam X, of which the image actually uses the exact format as that of MG GN-X's when it was first announced ^^;


1/1 Gundam statue in Shizuoka, which "suppoedly" collapsed after the earthquake in March 2011. Due to the widespread destruction the earthquake and the consequent tsunami caused to the east coast of Japan, a lot of people really believed that the Gundam statue collapsed. The image was actually based on an older picture where the Gundam was still under construction in Odaiba back in 2009.


Oh, and has anyone heard of this "Gundam SEED Fortune", which was "supposedly" the third season of Gundam SEED that takes place 5 years after Gundam SEED Destiny? It caused quite a stir back in 2006. And I wonder whether the movie sequel will actually take place in the future?


I am sure that there are more such news that may trick us in the future. What if you see one and think it's a little suspicious? Look around on the Internet and possibly those on more reliable sources. I personally go to sites such as 早耳ガンプラ情報局, CYBERGUNDAM, and GUNDAM GUY for information, though there are more that you can rely on I'm sure. If there are a lot of pictorial evidences or that a lot of people are talking about it in certainty, then you may be heading for the right direction, otherwise take a pinch of salt and observe carefully!
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1/6 WWII Diorama Photos

Kampfgruppe Von Abt is a modelling group dedicated to building 1/6th scale military models and taking diorama pictures with them. The use of action figures of such scale, along with the great number of props and vehicles scratch built for the dioramas is really quite breathtaking!




























Behind the scenes - the village buildings were really built from scratch to replicate the scenes as if it were in a war movie!


The group also managed to make a 1/6 scale of the Dora railway gun, and look at the size of it compared to a man!


And here's one in a diorama shot.


As someone into WWII weaponry, I really love these diorama photos. Not only that the use of soldiers and props make things look very atmosphere, but the way the photos are blurred deliberately in some of the photos gives the sense of that the pictures were taken at that time period, or as if it's in a war movie.


Do check out more of their photos galleries here, along with their 1/30 scale dioramas in a separate section!

All pictures are from Kampfgruppe Von Abt modelling group
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