Nope, this isn’t a screenie. This is the real deal. Here are some photos of what my office desk looks like, with all the toys that I’ve decided to bring to the office. Do note that this isn’t EVERYTHING! Prime’s missing and so is the EVA Type F. I don’t even have my model kits here. Nevertheless, this is quite a lot already and I think some of the directors from Germany were a bit surprised when they came looking for me the other day (I was in another room meeting up with my Europe team) and they saw nothing but dollies and robots on my desk. Heheh!

Yes, my walls are purple.

On my monitor, you can see my current desktop layout. I'm quite happy with it so I'll probably stick to it for the next couple of months. ^_^

I was with Chil all day today in good ol’ Greenhills, doing some window shopping, food tripping and a round of games at the arcades.

I visited my usual toy spots there and found some stuff that I’d consider buying:

• Revoltech Fraulein Pocco – art by Shunya Yamashita
• Turn A Gundam – MG 100~!
• Gundam ver. OYW TV colors – to replace the one that our former househelp broke (now you know why she was fired)
• tons of Transformers stuff but I’d still prefer to get MP-4 Optimus Prime/Convoy with trailer car
• although I would consider getting a nice version of the movie Prime
• Force FX Yoda lightsaber – Chil actually chose this over Prime (but…but…it’s Prime! No? Ok… *twiddles fingers*)
• Revoltech Starscream, Megatron and Rodimus Prime
• 00 Region Gundam Exia – this one looked really sexy and I loved the redesign on the legs, definitely worth buying
• 1/100 Alteisen – ok, I didn’t really see this but it’s definitely on my wishlist
• Ken Nomura’s Blitz Skyline GT-R – scale model of the popular D1GP Skyline GT-R
• Kureha figurine – Chil loved this but she says she wouldn’t let me buy her one
• Mushabellies~!
• HCM Pro Hi Nu Gundam – it’s like having a 1/200 version of the MG Hi Nu, and all painted and detailed already, just smaller
  
• HCM Pro SP Gundam Exia – nice make, to be honest…Bandai seems to be getting at this small action figure business
• hobby magazines, hobby magazines, hobby magazines

I’d want to buy more but that would be extremely irresponsible of me already, money-wise. Just one of these items can already drain my pockets. What more if I buy the whole bunch.

Oh yeah, nice to see Keroro Gunsou plushies in Korea’s drama series Coffee Prince.

Saw this image in a forum where there was an entire thread going on about the Transformers Movie action figures using revolver joint technology on their toy line and this toyline is Hasbro’s. I know Revoltech Prime didn’t sell that well in the US because of Hasbro’s licensing issues but this is just outrageous. What a ripoff if this is true. Now I’m not sure if Kaiyodo and Hasbro had an agreement to use this but it’s highly unlikely. But damn, look at those joints. Other than connecting rods which sport a different surface, they look exactly the same as those seen on Kaiyodo’s Revoltech line.

What I’m thinking right now though is that for a big company like Hasbro, I’d assume that they wouldn’t get themselves in deep shite like ripping off someone’s tech illegally. But at the same time, with Takara and Hasbro’s size, one would think that they’d have significant R&D funds to develop their own joint technology instead of getting something from a small company like Kaiyodo. The revolver joint technology is the very backbone of the Revoltech action figures. It’s what makes them unique. If you own a Revoltech action figure, you will see from the box alone that it’s not even the design of the action figure that they’re bragging about but the very joint that keeps all the other parts together in the aciton figure.

So on one side, I doubt Hasbro’s stupid enough to rip off Kaiyodo’s tech and get sued for it. On the other side, I’m not so sure if Kaiyodo’s all that willing to trade off the tech that made them popular in exchange for worldwide fame…under the shadow of Takara and Hasbro.

mecha, revoltech, hasbro, kaiyodo, toys, transformers, movie, news
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Yeap! It’s the much-awaited metal composite Gundam Fix Figuration! It’s their first 1:100 action figure and as I mentioned earlier, it’s cast in metal. The detail is almost exactly like it’s 1:144 version. Really nice decals, excellent paint and panel lines. It’s a display figure though so don’t really expect that it should look like what you see in the pictures when your purchase it and pull it out of the box. Pictures from GFF Maniax. Just click on the image above to see more!

[digg=http://digg.com/offbeat_news/PG_Strike_Clear_Pearl]

I was at Greenhills last weekend with my brothers and my fiancee and we were going around looking at toys, particularly Gundam model kits. We were at Greattoys when my brother noticed that they were selling PG Aile Strike in a blue box. I only recall having seen three PG SEED merchandise: PG Strike, PG Aile Striker Pack + Skygrasper and PG Aile Strike Rouge which comes in a large and hefty red box. So were quite surprised to see another box with the PG Aile Strike name on it. What was even more surprising was the price: Php15,000+. My PG Strike cost me Php7,700 and the PG Aile Striker Pack that I will be purchasing would be nearly 3,000. The PG Aile Strike Rouge is around Php12,000+ at the most. So we were wondering why this one was so bloody expensive.

Continue Reading

Since I featured an evo mod of the Strike Freedom already, might as feature another evo mod that I fell in love with just recently (thus me ordering a MG Gundam Mk. II ver. 2.0 AEUG colors from Wasabi Toys). Just click the image to visit Kirarin’s website and view all the pictures.

I’ve come across evolved model kits before. I didn’t think someone can make the Strike Freedom look this awesome. But Mesarion was able to do so with his version of the MG Strike Freedom. This model kit is up for auction at Yahoo! Auctions and it comes with modified beam sabers, action stand and DRAGOON bit mounts plus a glass base with the Strike Freedom name in gold print. Looks pretty awesome. Click on the image below to go to Mesarion’s page showcasing this well-done model kit.

Before that though, I dropped by Danny’s blog and he was talking about he’ll be redesigning his blog because the new features weren’t fitting the current UI. Personally, I find his blog very clean and fresh…and citrus-y. Keep it up, Danny~! (image is from Danny’s blog)

In other news, my daily visit to Gunota Headlines lead me to Gundam Base to get a good gander at some really nice updated pics of the up-and-coming MG Hi Nu Gundam. For those who don’t know, the Hi Nu Gundam is the upgrade of Amuro Ray’s Nu Gundam which he used to duel with Char in Gundam: Char’s Counterattack. Char’s mobile suit was upgraded from the Sazabi to the Nightingale. The MG Sazabi is already out and Ngee Khiong has some pictures of him building his own Sazabi. I’m hoping my fiancee would be the one to give me the Sazabi. The box of the MG Sazabi is as large as the PG Strike and the leg alone is slightly taller than an MG Strike. The model kit is that huge. The Nu Gundam is taller than the RX-78 and it is expected that the Hi Nu is even bigger than the Nu Gundam. I’m posting the entire set of pictures from Gundam Base here.

Box art: looking really coolsome. Continue Reading

Happy Valentine’s Day, bee.

And in other news…

I’m putting this article underneath the tulips because I want THOSE to be seen first.

I dropped by Figure.fm today and I saw this picture of the box art of the upcoming 1:100 Akatsuki Full Set. Strike two for Bandai in the SEED model kit set. First was the Gundam Astray Gold Frame Amatsu where they lost the “s” and now this. First mistake, they misspelled Akatsuki by missing the “s” again. What’s wrong with keeping the “s”? I don’t think there’s anything immoral with typing the letter “s”. There’s no federal law that bans the “s” from product names…but then Bandai has no “s” after all. :p Also, they called it a Gundam. It’s not a Gundam. I know it was designed after the tech specs of the Strike but it’s not a Gundam. It looks like one but it’s not. This mobile suit was also considered as a tribute to the Hyaku Shiki of the UC timeline. And yet there on the boxart, in large white font with gold strike is the word Gundam. Check MAHQ for the details about this mobile suit. It’s not a Gundam.

Could it be that Bandai’s sacrificing quality for quantity with regards to their HG 1:100 model kits? I hope not.

Taken this afternoon when the sun was high and radiant…

Edit: To cut down on my image host’s bandwidth, I placed the pictures and the comments into a gallery. Click here or the image above to view the rest of the images.