5 Gundam Review

From Gundam00, Kyrios and Arios 1/100. Arios is the Designer Color version.

I've always been partial towards the "transformers" in Gundam. In ship form, I love Arios way more than Kyrios. Arios in ship form looks right, and is very firm. Kyrios isn't as streamlined and is flimsy.

In robot mode, things are quite the opposite. It's here where Arios is too bulky and has too much excessive mass. Kyrios on the other hand looks quite normal. His articulation is typical of Gundams. His hands pop out of the sockets way too easily though. Other than than little annoyance, I like Kyrios robot mode way more.

Also from Gundam00, Dynames 1/100.

In Gundam Seed, I grew to love the extra-long canon wielding Buster Gundam. I pretty much instantly loved this long range sniper Gundam in 00. His shielding looks lame, so I only keep the two smaller panels of it on. His thrusters make his backside look bulky. I like the beam handles being recessed into the thrusters though. Dynames overall is pretty good.




From Gundam Wing, Wing Zero Custom 1/100 Master Grade. Pearl Gloss version.

I've bought a Wing Zero Custom 1/144 as part of my first couple of Gundams. A 1/60 Perfect Grade is too big for my liking, so I wanted a Master Grade. This Master Grade is the first time I ever saw one, and even though the white parts all look like "lotion," I had to have it.

This is the second Master Grade I've built. Destiny from Gundam Seed Destiny was the first. Even though this was a Master Grade kit, I was expecting the build to be loose and finicky as the other Gundam Wing models I've built before. It didn't disappoint. I broke a small piece that was supposed to be on the head. His arms were also so loose, that it couldn't hold the rifles in any of his iconic positions. The smaller wing pieces pop off quite easily when I try to reposition them. The rubber feathers also pop off easily.



Despite all it's flaws, it's still quite awesome. Like many others, I just love it's wings. Both the big and small wings can spread out and look amazing.

From the Gundam Seed series, Strike E with I.W.S.P. 1/100 Master Grade. Lukas O'Donnell colors.

The best for last. The best looking and most fun accessories because of the I.W.S.P. I did break a piece off of one of the guns on the I.W.S.P. Other than that blip, it was a solid build. Like Destiny, it has some cool moving parts on the legs. After doing only panel lines, stickers, and decals, it is the best looking Gundam out of all the ones I've built. The I.W.S.P. is the best looking weapons pack of any Gundam. It can only be posed with the I.W.S.P. on a stand because it makes it back heavy. With it off, it's firm and can hold some nice positions.

I'd highly recommend this Gundam.

Anime Expo 2010

I got back from Anime Expo last night. I feel reintegrated with the normal home feeling now. So now for some Anime Expo 2010 thoughts.

Some good things this year:

• Nokia Theatre was back.
  
• Tickets for main events had a booth that was available on Days 0-3. You could pick up all the tickets at once.
• This year had a ton of Guests of Honor.
• Yui Horie had a very entertaining video message for Closing Ceremonies. She spoofed Terminator, putting on sunglasses and fading the video with a red glow in her eye.
• Yoko Kanno made a surprise appearance at one of the concerts.
• I never had to wait in line to get into the Exhibit Hall.
• Free Magic the Gathering mini-deck inside attendee bags.
  

Having the Nokia Theatre meant seats were awesome no matter where you were seated, and no waiting in long lines to get into a Main Event. Letting people get tickets all at once meant no waiting in long lines to pick up tickets. Aside from Opening Ceremonies, they were assigned seating.

Some bad things this year:

• Opening ceremonies and the AMV contest were the only Main Events to be free of charge. All the concerts and Masquerade cost $20 to guarantee a seat!
• Yoko Kanno made a surprise appearance at a concert I did not go to!
• Yui Horie's panel was too short because they showed an episode of ToraDora!
• No Wizards of the Coast booth.
• Less exhibitors in the exhibit hall.
  

With having a free MtG deck in the attendee bag, I thought Wizards of the Coast would at least have a booth in the exhibit hall. There was a noticeable drop in attending exhibitors in the hall. It was definitely smaller, and yet attendance only got higher. I overheard exhibitors complaining about the cost of their booths, and I hope next year AX lowers their fee. I need more options to buy stuff!!!!!

This is the first year in which the Masquerade and concerts were paid only tickets. Before, if you had a badge and were willing to wait in line, you could get these tickets with out paying anything. I wasn't planning on going to any of the concerts or Masquerade when I read that they were charging for these tickets. Then they ended up passing out free tickets right when the events began. I ended up going to the Mell concert and got into Masquerade for free. I can see why they decided to do this. It will basically get AX the most money from people who need to get that guaranteed seat. I think it's wrong to have charges on these tickets, but if they continue to do pass out whatever is left over at the start of the events for free, then it might not be so bad.

My friends went to the concert where Yoko Kanno showed up. I did not. Had I known she would be there, I would have bought a ticket when they were first available. I cannot believe AX would not advertise that Yoko Kanno would be at a concert this year!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!

Yui Horie is my favorite voice actress/singer in all of anime. I went to the panel expecting to have a lot of fun, but before it began they wasted time showing the first episode of ToraDora! Why the fuck would they waste precious Q & A time with that?! There was a whole US premiere event for it already!! Why did you take time away from Yui Horie to interact with her fans?! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The good was, in the little time she did have at her panel, she was cute and entertaining. Her closing ceremony video message really showed how much fun that could of been had with her having a whole hour for her panel. I really hope she comes back next year.

The Loot:

$48 Gundam Wing Zero Endless Waltz - Master Grade (pearl gloss wings)
$28 Gundam00 Arios - 1/100
$20 Gundam00 Kyrios - 1/100
$24 Gundam00 Dynames - 1/100
$54 Gundam Seed Lukas's Strike + I.W.S.P - Master Grade
$20 Yuffie - Playarts Final Fantasy VII version
$20 Tifa - Playarts Final Fantasy VII version
$35 Emiya Shirou - Figma
$27 Tonfas - red oak
$30? 2 Final Fantasy XII H-doujins featuring Ashe
$10 MtG random box
$10 Gurren Lagann Drill necklace
$40 Zelda and Link fanart
FREE Lightning fanart

I was able to walk away from the charity auction without buying anything!

Pricing reference:

PoP Mihawk - $75
PoP Shanks - $60
Figma Lelouch - $100
Revoltech Yoko - $40
Trafalgar Law - $30 (6" Box figure)
Revoltech Rin - $10
Revoltech Prof. Layton - $40

Misc:

1 Pizza
4 Cup of Noodles
4 Denny's entrees
1 Curry House plate

The A-Team!

A-Team figures and vehicle by Jazwares. Cost: Figures - $5.99 each Vehicle - $24.99

I first heard about these on /toy/. I also heard that they had been sighted at Target on /toy/. These are toys I've been waiting to own for twenty years. Albeit they are not of the original cast, they are a fine substitute.


Here, the A-Team figures are flanked by a Marvel Universe Hydra soldier and a Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker. The figures are okay. They are simple things with simple paint apps. Nothing extraordinary about them. With the exception of Hannibal with his silver machine gun, they all have the exact same handgun and machine gun pieces. Articulation is mostly typical of this size. The feet are connected by a ballpeg and it only swivels horizontally. The legs are attached by ball and socket. It gives it more freedom than a regular Star Wars figure, but not as much as a Marvel Universe figure due to the way its molded. The upper body articulation is about the same as a Star Wars figure. Out of the four, Face is my favorite one. The suit just looks good. I might have to get another so I can put Hannibal's head on it.

The first thing I noticed about this toy was the sliding door. It simply looks like shit. I pretty much knew I wasn't going to be pleased with this.

After taking it out of the box, my fears were confirmed. The door is crap.

They even have a sticker on there explaining how shitty the door is. The back doors hide the sound electronics and don't open. I really wanted to be able to use the back doors. They really should have forgo the sounds and put more into the engineering of the door(s). The two front doors are fine. They open wide enough to fit the figures in. The figures fit fine inside the van.

The front of the van has a rubber bumper which is warped to hell. Why the fuck wasn't this made plastic?

The red stripe is poorly painted around the van.

Overall, this is a terrible A-Team van toy. The figures are simply alright.

Beggars can't be choosers, so this is all I can have until they decide to make new toys out of the original TV series. And if that happens, maybe I can get a proper A-Team van toy then.

Marvel Universe: Iron Man (Extremis)

Iron Man (Extremis version) 3.75" Marvel Universe by Hasbro. Cost: $7.99. Hyped by Internet and had to buy. First Iron Man in 3.75" scale. Third Iron Man figure over all.

Browsing /toy/, I came to read that Extremis Iron Man had a head joint that could look all way up. For that alone, I decided to pick him up after passing him the first time thinking it was just another Iron Man. The paint job on this figure is pretty vibrant. The joints are annoyingly loose though.



Marvel Legends Icon Iron Man was my first Iron Man figure, and the first pose I put him in was him charging a kamehameha wave up. I added the blast pieces after a moment of laughing and continued after. So it is appropriate that I put this Iron Man to the same test. The 6" Movie figure failed horribly. The 3.75" passes, but just barely. It fails the other pose tests though. The shoulder guards are molded on and restrict it from a proper Randy Orton pose. The lack of a good wrist joint makes it impossible for a good Masataka pose. It does however pass an important pose that was the reason I bought it.



This head joint is awesome. The third figure I own without hair, this figure could look up if it wanted. It is the only one who can though. War Machine and Deadpool's heads don't have this head joint. I hope future figures will use this head joint wherever possible.

This Iron Man comes with a blast piece that is embarrassingly bad. Ms. Marvel showed me that blast pieces could be properly made and attached without it looking stupid. I would think they would have continued that excellence here. Sadly, it's just stupidly clipped on and looks all kinds of wrong.



Seriously, what the fuck were they thinking when they made this piece?! I really wish they had done what Toy Biz did with their Legends Icon figure and just put small blast pieces with pegs. Then at least, they could use it as a repulsor blast on either the hands or feet.

Ignoring the idiotic accessory, this Iron Man figure is still pretty nice to look at and is a little more posable. I like it.

Marvel Universe: Black Widow and Thor

Black Widow and Thor 3.75 Marvel Universe 2010 Series 2 by Hasbro. Cost: $7.99 each. Impulse buy. First Black Widow figure I've bought. First Thor figure I've bought.

The new series finally came into the store today. I decided on these two to add to my collection. I passed on Luke Cage. I may or may not get Bucky if he's still on the shelf next week. The last Marvel Universe figures I bought were Ms. Marvels. They didn't come with stands, so it was very nice to see these included. These stands have TWO pegs!!!! These figures are meant to be in a standing position, and I'm glad to see that they have done this for these stands. The last 3.75 figure I bought was comic War Machine, and it was the first 3.75 Marvel figure I bought that came with a stand. The stand that came with it was disappointing. It had only one peg and had a lame card gimmick.

Black Widow comes a gun that fits her trigger hand poorly. So poorly, I have her holding it in her left hand by the handle on top instead. Her belt is a loose piece hanging on her hips. I have no clue why they did this. It doesn't look any better than if they had just molded it on and painted it. Her face sculpt isn't incredibly sexy, and yet it's not ugly either. Overall, she's an average figure.



Thor on the other hand is a magnificent figure to behold. He comes with Mjöllnir which is easily held. His sculpt from helmet to boots is beautifully detailed. From the 3.75 line of toys, this is easily the most satisfying one that I own. Overall, Thor is an epic figure. I can only hope that Emma Frost, Mach IV, or Songbird get made as well as Thor has been.

FFXIII Play Arts Lightning

Lightning figure from Play Arts. Cost: $39.99. Impulse buy. Third Play Arts figure I've bought.

Upon unboxing Lightning, I noticed a fancy looking stand. It looked like an over sized Figma stand at first glance. Instead of a nut and screw, like on the Figma stands, Play Arts decided to use a plastic push-pressure thing. It feels pretty flimsy and is no where near firm enough. Play Arts' stand continues to use a clamp, instead of the much better joint into the back, to hold the figure.

Lightning comes with a folded sword that fits into her sheath, a folded out sword, and two open positioned hands to interchange with the closed fists that are already attached to her. Both swords have a tiny hole to attach to her right open hand. The left open hand does not have a joint for the swords to be attached. Lame. The folded sword has bits that can fold out for a gun look. These bits are rubbery and also feel very flimsy. I felt I was close to breaking it as I fiddled with it.



As for the figure itself, it's huge. Not Marvel Icon's huge, but still pretty damn big. Most of her clothes are rubber molds, which are very nice. Another nice touch, her cape has a joint. Articulation is almost typical Play Arts. There are two extra things Lightning has that my Play Arts Yuffie does not have. One, her knees are double jointed and they are awesomely poseable and still stiff. The other thing is her waist is also double jointed, and thus way more flexible. Lightning passes the "Randy Orton pose" test, but she fails the "Masataka pose" test. Only just barely though because of not having good wrist joint.



I think they failed to capture her hair. It's too pink and the hair looks awful. I would've liked it a lot if there were more hand choices. Interchangeable faces would've also been very nice.

Overall, it's still a nice figure. Her poses look lively, apart from her emotionless face. I like it.