RETRO REVIEW – HASBRO/TAKARA THE TRANSFORMERS – SLIVERBOLT

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 22, 2026
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

Sliverbolt is the leader of the Autobot Aerialbots team and transforms into a Concorde SST jetliner. He is also afraid of heights and tries his best to overcome this fear. As commander of the Aerialbots he is a mature and responsible leader and can reach speeds of Mach 1.9 and forms the main torso and head for Superion.

Name: Sliverbolt
Line: The Transformers (G1)
Manufacturer: Hasbro/Takara
Released: 1986
Price: Then – $11.99 USD Now – $30 – $300 USD
Scale: 20.3 cm in height in robot mode.
Accessories: Gun and multiple parts to make Superion
Motto: “Don’t look down, look straight ahead.”

I was fortunate enough to have Sliverbolt when I was a kid; most of transformers I had were from the European Classics line. My brother and I were lucky to have all the original “Scramble City” combiner teams when we were young, as well as a few Autobots and Decepticons between us. I definitely remember having a lot of fun playing with the combiner team toys. They are definitely some of my favourite toys put out by Takara, and I’m glad they found a home after the Diaclone line finished because the concept of putting together teams of robots that combine to make a larger robot that you can swap the limbs of with each team is a very fun one, in my opinion. 

SCULPTING

Sliverbolt has excellent sculpting details as a robot; he has plenty of panels, vents and line work. As a plane, he looks great and is fairly proportional, too. He’s very detailed and visually interesting, too, and he’s got a pretty unique face sculpt, too. He’s a great-looking toy.

PAINT

Not a lot of paint on Silverbolt. I guess you could count the vac metal as paint, perhaps? Sliverbolts’ details are made up with stickers mostly. If you are buying a used condition piece, make sure to check the chrome condition of its arms and legs.

ARTICULATION

Like most transformers any articulation with these first transformers toys are going to be part of the transformation process. His arms move about 90 degrees, and his head can look down. That’s about it. He is definitely a brick with questionable legs to stand on. The legs have always been a bit weak and flimsy – even when brand new as I remember the one I had as a child having loose legs right out of the box.

His transformation is quite easy, as you are mainly flipping and folding parts of his plane mode around onto his back, and a little bit tricky leg transformation can be annoying, but it does seem fairly unique. 

ACCESSORIES

Sliverbolt comes with his electrostatic discharger rifle, a ramp and all the parts to help you build Superion (head, chest pieces and two hands and feet) all are nicely detailed and well-made. Obviously, the parts are great because they enable you to assemble a larger robot if you have the other Aerialbots.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Sliverbolt can have a fair few problems even when it’s almost brand new. The biggest problem being you can break his legs if you are really unlucky. This was the fate of the first Sliverbolt my brother and I received as kids. Other than normal wear, yellowing of the off-white plastic can be a big problem, too. I would say he definitely feels delicate and best to handle him with care. But, also be aware of misplaced or wrongly placed stickers as well!

PRICE

I was happy with the price I paid, but I did pay collector’s prices. You can find Sliverbolt in various conditions, which will affect the price. Just pay what you are comfortable with.

OVERALL

Sliverbolt has its fair share of problems and design flaws. However, I still think he’s a great addition to anyone’s G1 transformer collection. He looks great as a robot, transforms into a neat-looking plane and combines with his fellow Aerialbots to form a larger robot. There’s definitely a lot to like about the amount of play value you get with this toy. Just make sure you handle him carefully.

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RETRO REVIEW – KENNER LT. RIPLEY

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 18, 2026
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

Please note: Originally posted back in April 2014, but I’ve gone back and retaken the photos so it matches the most recent Kenner Aliens figures photo sets!

Kenner’s line of ‘Aliens’ Space Marine toys were fairly short-lived. After only 1 & 1/2 series of figures, the Marines were dumped in favor of Predators instead to do battle with the Aliens. What marines we did get, however, were quite cool and in most cases had action features to add more play value. Ripley, the main character in the Aliens film franchise, also received a figure in this toyline.

Name: Ripley
Line: Aliens
Manufacturer: Kenner
Released: 1992
Price: Then: $10-$15.  Now: $15-$25  mint on card,  less if loose
Scale: 4 -5  Inches in height
Accessories: Flamethrower, Small gun, set of stickers and comic

I really can’t remember why my brother and I decided to collect the Kenner Aliens toys when we were kids – being a toyline based off an MA 15+ series of movies – but they did look cool. The Alien designs were nice, and there was a variety of figures. But you can’t just have Aliens… You need Marines as well! Regardless of what collectors at the time and collectors now think of this toy line, I still like what Kenner did with about 90% of the figures they made.

SCULPTING

Kenner’s sculpting has always been pretty solid. There other lines of figures like Jurassic Park or Star Wars featured good, if not great, sculpting. The Aliens line and Ripley figure is no different. What I like the most about this sculpt is that, even though it’s not a very good likeness to actress Sigourney Weaver, I believe it still captures the feel of the character. Also, this is one of my favourite female head sculpts for a small-sized figure.  The rest of the figure is also well done, albeit that she’s stuck in the one pose. But this is mainly due to the action feature the toy has.

PAINT

Not too much paint here. It’s mainly used for detailing on the figure, and that’s about it. The paint application is fairly crisp; minimal to no slop on this figure. One thing to look out for is the placement of the eyes. They seem to be a bit of hit and miss, and in some cases, really aren’t applied very well at all.

ARTICULATION

Here, we have fairly standard Kenner – and to an extent, most 1990s articulation – swivel head, arms, waist and legs. Due to the figure needing to hold a two-handed weapon, most of the articulation suffers due to the need to cater for this function. The action feature is quite neat and works well. On the flamethrower there is a small red peg, which is placed into the yellow pouch on Ripley’s leg, when you turn Ripley’s upper body, the flame “shoots” out of the end of the flamethrower. I always liked the action feature. It does its job flawlessly by adding more than enough extra play value to this figure.  Below is a scan of the instructions that came with the figure, showing you how to use the action feature.

ACCESSORIES

Ripley comes with a small number of accessories. The big ticket item is of course, the flamethrower. It’s slightly oversized and not really a good representation from the movie. But, It looks great in its own right. The other accessories are a small gun and a comic (the comics weren’t very good, but did help establish the characters a little bit as there was no TV show tie-in for these toys). There are also stickers included, but my problem with these are they don’t tend to stick very well.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

I can’t see there being too many problems with this figure, beyond getting one with a bad paint application. It’s well-made and durable, nothing really too fragile here.

PRICE

I was happy with $10 + shipping costs; however, I wouldn’t pay too much for this figure, as she is not worth a large amount of money.

OVERALL

I have fond memories of playing with this figure and the other marines/aliens/predators from this line. I feel the figure itself, although limited in some aspects, still stands up fairly well today for children’s toy standards. From a collector’s point of view, this is only worth picking up if you want to reclaim your childhood or like having a variety of Aliens collectibles, both old and new, in your collection.

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This post was originally published on April 24, 2014.

REVIEW – JADA TOYS ULTRA STREET FIGHTER II: THE FINAL CHALLENGERS – E. HONDA

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 11, 2026
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

E. Honda is a Japanese sumo wrestler with lightning-fast strikes and powerful throws. His signature moves are the Hundred Hand Slap and flying headbutt attack. He first appeared in Capcom’s Street Fighter II and numerous other sequels. Honda is focused on becoming the greatest sumo wrestler of all time. He entered the Street Fighter tournament to prove that sumo wrestlers rank among the greatest fighters in the world.

Name: E. Honda
Line: Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers
Manufacturer: Jada Toys
Released: 2026
Price: $50 AUD
Scale: 1:12
Accessories: Multiple interchangeable parts

I was never really a big fighting games fan back in the day. Mainly because I don’t think I’m any good at them and prefer team-based games. But I do remember playing Street Fighter II on Mega Drive at a friend’s house and definitely loved how excellent the gameplay was. I’m definitely a fan of the character designs from the game, so I’m mainly going to buy my favourite characters from the game.

SCULPTING

The sculpting is excellent! You can tell a lot of effort has been put into getting Honda just right by Jada Toys. It’s definitely easily recognisable as E. Honda and has all the details you would expect and bulk that E. Honda needs in good proportion.

PAINT

Paint for Honda is kept to a minimum, and that’s just how I like it! What paint there is, is clean and neat. The paint on the Yukata is great, and the face paint looks amazing!  

ARTICULATION

This figure has a stack of articulation! Butterfly shoulders, double-jointed elbows and knees, good range of motion in the ankles and same goes for the neck and torso. You can get Honda in a number of great poses, but you are restricted by the yukata and it does make some pose and leg positions difficult. But, overall he’s a joy to pose.

ACCESSORIES

E. Honda comes with the following accessories: Hundred Hand Slap effect piece, a pair of open palm hands and an alternate head sculpt. The Hundred Hand Slap effect piece is great! It’s done really well. The extra “angry” head sculpt is excellent. The extra hands are a nice addition and helps vary the poses you can do. I do wish we got maybe one more pair of hands to use, though.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

The only issue I’ve had is that some of the joints are a bit tight (the arms) and the ankle joints are a bit too tight. I was wary of changing the hands out as the pegs are quite small, but the plastic feels pretty strong. If in doubt I’d just heat them up with a hair dryer.

PRICE

I paid $50 AUD for my E. Honda and I was happy about that price and supported a local business at the same time. Obviously, if you can get him for a cheaper price, all the better. But, considering the exchange rate for these figures it can get pricey sometimes.

OVERALL

This is an excellent figure and another home run for Jada Toys and their Street Fighter II series of figures. I really feel they are doing a great job at making quality well-made figures at a good price point. If you aren’t already buying these figures its definitely time to jump on board. E. Honda is amazing and is really fun to play with and looks great with the other figures from the series.

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Back again

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 28, 2026
Posted in: Blog. Tagged: .

Hi everyone, my website has been on hiatus for a long time. I’ve decided to start from scratch and start posting content again. I’ll also get around to slowly reuploading previous reviews back onto the blog.

And with a little bit of luck, posting content on YouTube as well. Hopefully, I can post more regularly and share my passion for toy collecting again.

– Mike

REVIEW – TAKARA TOMY MASTERPIECE SERIES INFERNO

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 19, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , , .

Inferno first appeared in the original Generation one cartoon in season two, with no explanation what-so-ever as to how he arrived on earth. But proved himself a competent and helpful fellow Autobot whether fighting Decepticons or a blazing fire. Although his eagerness to engage in combat sometimes distracts him from his rescue job. His character had a memorable southern style accent and featured in a number of season two episodes after his initial appearance. He Transforms into a red Mitsubishi Fuso fire truck with ladder and has Ceramic plated armour to resist the extreme heat he has to deal with.

Name: Inferno (MP-33)
Line: Transformers Masterpiece
Manufacturer: TAKARA TOMY
Released: 2016
Price: 11,990 YEN
Scale: Roughly 22cm in height
Accessories: Blaster Rifle, Water Spray Effect, Fire Hose, 3 Chest Plates, 2 Heads, 4 face Plates, 2 Nozzles/Wrist Blasters and 2 Wrist Communicators

Firstly I’ll address the elephant in the room. If you have already checked out my Best Of 2016, then you already know this figure is a home run as far as I’m concerned. So, in a lot of ways, it makes writing this review a bit redundant. However, I really loved taking photos of this figure, even if he was a pain to light correctly without any horrible glare from the light reflecting off the red. I eventually got into the mood after taking more photos of him (You’d think I’d have taken all my photos of him back when I did my list, but no, I’m not THAT organized or committed!)

As a child, I was lucky enough to own the original G1 Inferno along with Sideswipe and Beachcomber among others. Unfortunately, I ended up giving away both Inferno and Sideswipe after losing many of their accessories as you do when you are a small child with these type of toys. I never regretted the decision as I reasoned at the time, ‘Where would I be able to get the parts I needed?’ (pre-internet and all that) However, once aware of the power of the internet I did go out of my way to get a sample of both original G1 figures I was happy with.
With that said Inferno was always one of my favorite Autobots and favorite Transformers in general.

With the announcement of Masterpiece Inferno I was quite excited as the prototype images of Inferno, looked really amazing. Also, he was scheduled to by released in November when I would once again be over in Japan. So the prospect of having him on release day was pretty exciting too! (Even if it was two days before I left Japan, but I got him none the less!)

SCULPTING
I’m really happy with the amount of effort it appears Takara Tomy are putting into their Masterpiece Transformers. Inferno in hand is breathtaking, I love the size of the fire truck and it just oozes detail and quality. It really took me back to when I was young and my memories of receiving a G1Transformer that came in a proper box with numerous accessories. I spent a good 10 mins just pouring over the fire truck mode and all of its details. Upon transforming Inferno a lot of these details are carried over to robot mode. The face plates and helmets are on point and Inferno matches the animation model almost flawlessly, even if this makes him quite boxy in appearance. I love that the ladder disappears into his chest in robot mode. One minor nitpick with Inferno’s sculpting is that there was a bit of excess molding on the eyes on the faces plates which I ended up trimming off. The factory should be doing this, not me.

PAINT
I’d like to assume most of Inferno is cast in the colour its meant to be. But, I’m pretty sure some parts a painted and matched to those plastic parts. I’m not going to take Inferno apart to find out. One thing Takara Tomy can work on is their paint applications, you don’t call your line of high-end Transformer toys “Masterpiece” and then drop the ball on quality sans MP Thundercracker. In my experience, the paint applications have always been hit and miss, but thankfully most of the time hit.
For example, the blue eyes on the yelling/screaming face plate have been rubbed a bit and need a touch-up or on Inferno’s left shoulder there’s a little bit of red paint/scuff mark on the grey shoulder part. These are minor nitpicks, but sour my confidence in Takara Tomy with each new release I receive.

ARTICULATION
Inferno has a lot of thoughtful articulation, some of it because of the transformation technique and some of it is just designed that way. He has lots of satisfying ratchet joints that make you feel confident that he will hold the pose and not have much trouble with his joints loosening up over time. Even though these Transformers look great in the heroic “museum pose” as seen in some of my photos you can still get very dynamic poses with Inferno if you want and he still looks great doing it and doesn’t look awkward.

ACCESSORIES
Inferno comes stacked with oodles of accessories Takara Tomy shows everyone how it’s done (Bandai and Hot Toys, I’m looking at you) with useful and even cartoon episode-specific accessories. I had a lot of fun playing around with the many different chest pieces and hand/arm blaster combinations you can have. The options are almost endless and you can find a mix your happy with (to make it clear as if it’s not already, my go to is: animation model head and toy truck parts for the chest and arm). Plenty of posing options with the water spray effect for example.
I’m really satisfied with the amount of accessories Takara Tomy have done an excellent job here.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
Besides minor paint app and factory molding clean up issues Inferno is pretty much problem free. I guess try not to loose some of those small accessories by keeping them in the box and all that jazz.

PRICE
Amazon JP had a great price for Inferno of 11,990 Yen and this was me being late to the pre-order party too (not so for MP Megatron 😉 ) Most other retailers will have him for this price or around that depending on exchange rate, so shop around if you feel the need to. Just pay a price you are happy with, but he’s really an awesome figure so he’s easily worth it.

OVERALL
Inferno definitely lives up to the title of “Masterpiece” he is another great example of how far Takara Tomy have come with their MP line since it was rebooted and another great addition to my ever growing Masterpiece display, his larger bulk and height make him tower above the standard Autobot cars and he commands my attention when I glance over at the display. With Grapple on the way, the Decepticons are starting to look a bit outnumbered!

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REVIEW – NJPW FIGURE COLLECTION – YUJI NAGATA

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 18, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , .

Yuji Nagata is known mainly for his time spent in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He is the longest reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion with a reign of 392 days. He is also the only wrestler to have won all of Japan’s biggest single tournaments and, notably, spent a few years wrestling for American wrestling promotion WCW during 1997 and 1998. He is known for his stiff, shoot-style wrestling technique.    

Name: Yuji Nagata
Line: Super Star Figure Collection 44
Manufacturer: NJPW/Tohkon Shop
Released: 2001
Price: Then: Unknown, Now: 1500 Yen MOSC
Scale: 5-6 inches in height
Accessories: None

There’s no particularly interesting story behind buying this figure of Yuji Nagagta. I just bought it online for a pretty reasonable price, but I have been a Yuji Nagata fan since his days in WCW, but mainly due to Japanese wrestling video games that I’ve played. Still, if you’re collecting Japanese wrestling figures, you tend to buy your favourites first and normally get sucked in after you find out how badass all the other wrestlers are.


SCULPTING

This is easily the best part of the figure, the great thing about these Japanese wrestling figures is that they appear to have 3-D scanned the whole wrestlers body and added minimal articulation, it’s definitely the biggest draw card these figures have as it makes them very realistic and as close to match thing wrestler in real life as possible, so with all that said, with is a very real looking figure of Yuji Nagata!

PAINT

Paint is kept to a minimum and where it is used, it’s normally very neatly applied, this is one area you will seldom have to worry about for these figures, unless it’s loose as it might have been roughed up a bit. With earlier releases in the series you would get the card backer rubbing off some of the paint on the rear of the figure, but, later releases fixed this issue.

ARTICULATION

A grand total of three points of articulation for Nagagta: swivel joints at the shoulders and waist. That’s not really that much and you can’t do too much with the figure beyond it’s pre-set sculpted pose, but you can get some nice, slight variants to that pose, by simply moving the arms or waist a little bit.

ACCESSORIES

Yuji Nagata unfortunately doesn’t come with any accessories; some different arms would be nice, but this figure is as basic as Japanese wrestling figures get.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

The only problem you are going to encounter with these figures is plastic discolouration, which can happen depending on how the figure has been looked after; even MOSC samples can have problems if left out in the sun in a shop display. So, be very careful when buying any of these types of figures.

PRICE

I paid 1300 YEN using a bidding service to get one for myself and a heap of other figures, so it worked out to be pretty cheap. There are a few Japanese websites that sell this type of wrestling figures and there are also a couple of great stores in Tokyo, too!

OVERALL

This is a great figure if you know what to expect from it: It’s going to look amazing, but it will have very limited articulation, and you are pretty much buying a realistic statue. There are also a few variants of Yuji Nagata, so it can be fun chasing down the other ones if you are a big fan of the wrestler. It’s a bit of a niche market for Westerners, but they are still fun to collect!

Greatest Tag-Team ever! If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

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REVIEW – HOT TOYS STORMTROOPER (STAR WARS IV A NEW HOPE) 1/6 SCALE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 17, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , .

The Imperial Stormtrooper is one of the most iconic and distinctive movie soldier designs ever, which is instantly recognisable to even non-fans of Star Wars. The elite soldier us the main ground force of the Galactic Empire and an ever-present reminder of the power of Emperor Palpatine. 

Name: Stormtrooper
Line: Movie Masterpiece Series
Product Code: MMS267
Manufacturer: Hot Toys
Released: 2015
Price: $190.99 – 199.99 USD
Scale: 1/6
Accessories: Various hands and weapons.

I initially wasn’t going to buy this particular figure, don’t get me wrong, I do love me some Stormtrooper figure goodness, but, 1/6 scale figures do take up more space than their smaller action figure counterparts.

However, as luck (or fate) would have it, I happened to be picking up some orders from a friend, who just received the two pack set among some other goodies. After watching him unbox them, I knew then and there, I must have them!  They just oozed quality, it was plain for me to see even with them sitting in the box, these were lovingly made figures.

So, I went home and did just that, ordered at least one figure for myself. Self-control be damned! ( Thanks, Ev! Damn it all! Haha)

LIST OF PARTS

Inside the box you get the following items:

One Stormtrooper figure
Seven interchangeable hands
One blaster rifle
One blaster pistol
One display stand

SCULPTING

As far as sculpting goes, this figure is excellent. I would never consider myself an expert when it comes to Stormtrooper helmets but, in my eyes, this is the best version made in 1/6 scale to date, it looks like Hot Toys used the “hero version” of the helmet for their reference material too as it matches that version the best. Everything is just the right size and shape. All the armour fits nice and snug on the body, it’s really like it walked off the screen and into your hands.

PAINT

Well, we all know by now that Hot Toys do an excellent job with their paint application; and this particular figure is no exception. The paint on this figure is mainly small details on the helmet and chest armour. As per usual, it’s nice and neat. I really love the gloss finish on the armour, it makes it look and feel amazing in hand.

ARTICULATION

The Stormtrooper presumably has the standard amount of articulation that the normal True Type body would have, being: Ball jointed neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, double jointed elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, ball jointed chest, swivel waist, swivel/hinge hips, double jointed knees and ball jointed ankles,

Now, the outfit can restrict this articulation a little bit, especially around the shoulders and crotch. Otherwise, you can get him into plenty of Stormtrooper type poses with little-to-no difficulty, in most cases the “standing to attention, museum pose” works best and looks so damn cool.

OUTFIT

Technically, the whole figure is the outfit, I’ve already raved about the armour, the black body suit underneath is fine, it’s stretchy, well-tailored and doesn’t restrict the joints.

ACCESSORIES

Just a small amount of accessories with this figure, something that’s really becoming the norm for Hot Toys releases as many fans and reviewers alike have made mention of.

You get a number of hands in different poses and two types of blasters, the standard one we all know and love and one only seen in promo shots, so Hot Toys attention to detail is pretty good in this instance.

I like the variety of hands they are all pretty useful to get a good variety of different poses and expressiveness out of the Stormtrooper.

Lastly, you get what I’ll call the “standard Star Wars base” with the figure, I’m not a fan of it, it’s the classic black display stand for me.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Not really too many things to watch out for, perhaps the odd factory paint blemish? Perhaps the pleather holster tearing or deteriorating over time? The quality in this particular figure is top-notch.

PRICE

I paid about $190 USD plus shipping from Animarket, and I was happy with that. He’s a little bit more expensive on the secondary market these days, but if you can find a deal, more power to you!

OVERALL

If you want that classic Stormtrooper in 1/6 scale, then this is the figure to get, it’s simply put, the best 1/6 Stormtrooper to date and puts all other attempts to shame. I’m pretty sure if you are a Star Wars, Stormtrooper and Hot Toys fan, you already have this figure and you know what I’m talking about; if you still haven’t scratched that Stormtrooper itch then what are you waiting for? Buy this figure! It’s that simple.

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RETRO REVIEW – TAKARA TRANSFORMERS GOD MASTERFORCE RANGER

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 16, 2020
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , , , .

After the original Transformers US cartoon series ended in 1987, A Japanese exclusive series The Headmasters continued the story and was followed up in 1988 with Super Godmasters. The series had a very human-centric story where humans connected with Transector bodies to become the power source and personality of the Transformer and also included the more traditional Transformer characters as pretenders.

Name: Ranger C-305
Line: Super-God Masterforce
Manufacturer: Takara
Released: 1988
Price: Then: 1,980 YEN.  Now: 45,000 YEN more or less.
Scale: 5 1/2 Inches in height
Accessories: Godmaster Transtector, Napalm Blaster

Variations:  Joyride (The powder blue plastic is replaced with green)

When it comes to G1 Transformers there are a lot of toys to be collected if you want to go all in, then you have a choice of if you want to collect the Japanese exclusive repaints of the tail end of G1 (basically recolours of toys released by Hasbro in the US and in my opinion the Japanese versions got the better colour scheme too)

The only problem in doing that is not only are they harder to come by, but the price increases quite a lot too! (Especially if you are looking to buy Minerva or Grand Maximus among others)

I’ve been lucky enough to acquire most of these toys over the years and decided I’d at least cover one in my blog seeing I’m sure lacking a lot of Transformer based reviews, for being such a big fan. Tonight I’m looking at Ranger from the Godmaster series of Transformers first released back in 1988!

SCULPTING

Most G1 Transformers are quite blocky looking toys and Ranger is no exception. He’s quite square and chunky. His dune buggy car mode has a lot of nice details, like his suspension etc. Plenty of smooth surfaces too. Not too much detail in robot mode, these later toys relied more on their stickers for the details than anything else. He has a pretty nice face sculpt too.

PAINT

The only paint on Ranger I can see is on his face. it’s neatly applied and a yellowy brown colour. other than that he’s got plenty of stickers to make up the details on him. and everything else has been cast in the colour it’s meant to be. His body is a really nice powder blue, with red arms and legs and a bit of grey here and there. Really nice colour choice I have to say pretty much screams Autobot.

ARTICULATION

As with most G1 Transformers, his articulation is due to his transformation which is just his arms have any real movement. he can bend his elbows and partly swivel his arms at the shoulder and that’s about it! pretty much the definition of a ‘brick Transformer’. His Transector has more articulation then Ranger does.

ACCESSORIES

Ranger comes with his ‘Napalm blaster’ and his Transector and that’s all he really needs right? A gun and his engine (not necessary required to transform the toy, however.)

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

He’s a pretty rock solid toy, if you are taking the plunge, I would make sure you are buying one that hasn’t yellowed (if you look at mine, in the pictures one of his mirrors and his suspension are slightly discoloured.) Other than that be prepared to potentially pay through the nose.

“I have the POWER!!!”

PRICE

Ranger commands decent prices on the secondary market I picked up mine for about $450 AUD about 5 years ago, he was pretty much unused and in great condition. I would expect you would be paying more if you happen to find one Mint in sealed box after all.

OVERALL

I like the colour scheme of Ranger a lot more then Joyride, I can appreciate this toy a lot more than I would if I had just bought Joyride instead. Also, it helped that I watched the original Godmaster cartoon series as well so at least I was familiar with his character too. It’s really up to you if you want to buy him or not, just be happy with the decision as you can pay quite a lot for a simple repaint, but in my opinion, the colour scheme is far superior and makes the toy look a hundred times better.

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REVIEW – MEGAHOUSE ONE PIECE P.O.P NAMI (SAILING AGAIN)

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 15, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Nami is the Straw Hat Pirates’ Navigator and one of the first to join Luffy’s crew. Initially forced to serve the fishman Arlong as his cartographer, Luffy frees Nami from their service, after which Nami decides to permanently join the Straw Hats. Nami is obsessed with obtaining large amounts of money, and her dream is to draw a complete map of the Grand Line.    

Name: Nami (Sailing Again Ver.)
Line: Portrait Of Pirates (Excellent Model)
Manufacturer: MegaHouse
Released: 2011
Price: Then: 5,700 YEN, Now: about the same if bought in Japan
Scale: 1/8
Accessories: Base

Originally my wife and I (who is the bigger One Piece fan out of the two of us) were going to watch the Anime together, that was until we reached the end of what Madman had put out here in Australia and are waiting for more DVDs to be released.

In the meantime, my wife bought herself the complete comic series up to the most recent book. (All in Japanese obviously) so I don’t know if we will continue watching the DVD or if she will just read the books herself.

Either way, I’m quite happy to buy the characters I like the most in statue form which the two of us can both appreciate together.

SCULPTING

One thing I always tend to find about Japanese toy companies is they will always understand the characters which originate from Japan stylistically better than western or other Asian countries.

They just seem to have a better grasp of how to go about making the character look like it walked off the screen and into your hands and P.O.P Nami is no different. There was a little bit of hit and miss with the first figures in the series but MegaHouse has really upped their game with every new release.

This particular version of Nami is after the series time-jump, where Nami has grown up a bit and filled out (to paraphrase Sin City) and in a lot of ways has now become fan service and a lot more sexualized then she appeared before the time-jump.

There are things I like about the design (longer hair, more mature, proportioned body) and things I don’t (bust size is a bit over the top and she could wear better fitting clothes).

With that, all said it’s still an excellent representation of how Nami now looks in the Manga and Anime. MegaHouse have done a great job of translating those drawings into 3D and not losing the things that make Nami look unique. (Even if a lot of Anime/Manga female characters look pretty similar, to begin with.)

PAINT

As expected nice and neat, the highlights for me are the hair, which has a translucently near the tips and the jeans which have some subtle blending of colours. Besides that, everything is up to standard and you have little to nothing to worry about.

ARTICULATION

Nami is a statue and there fore has no articulation at all.

ACCESSORIES

Nami comes with a base to help her stand up and that’s about it, it’s cast in a bright orange plastic and feels like it’s quality plastic in hand.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

You aren’t going to have any issues with Nami, unless you bought a fake (hopefully not) or bought a really bad second hand one. (Once again, hopefully not)

PRICE

I bought my Nami, just like Nico Robin from my mate who was down grading his collection so I got her for a really good price (about $40 AUD, if I remember correctly) and if you can make it to Japan you will be able to find her in various conditions for decent prices. Obviously the place to go is Japan, Mandarake among others always has a seemingly endless supply of One Piece P.O.P and the prices are always great, plus you know it’s not a knock off too.

OVERALL

As far as character representations go I’m quite happy with this particular version of Nami and that’s what it comes down to if you are going to collect MegaHouse P.O.P ‘Excellent Model’ series, just buy whichever ones you like the best, they all tend to work together in a display cabinet, even if they are from different parts of the overall One Piece story.

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REVIEW – REAL X HEAD/GOCCODO BEAR OTTOMAN (BEAR OSMAN)

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 14, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , , , .

Bear Ottoman (Bear Osman) is made by Real X Head, which is a small Japanese company run by Mori Katsura, who makes vinyl toys. Over the years there have been a number of figures and variations released as well as collaborations with other people or stores. Bear Ottoman is a larger size 8” adult sized figures from Real X Head, which is in collaboration with Goccodo and have proven very popular variant with Sofubi collectors!

Name: Bear Ottoman Taipei Toy Festival 2016 Exclusive
Line: N/A
Manufacturer: Real X Head/Goccodo
Released: 2016
Price: First released – 6000 – 10,000 YEN (guestimate)
Scale: 8 Inches in height
Accessories: None.

I bought this particular Bear Ottoman or Bear Osman online about a week ago, it’s not really an exciting story as it was pretty much a case of add to cart, wait to see if it was in stock and then pay kinda order. However, my journey to obtain a Bear Osman I was really happy with has spanned a  few years since I started collecting Real Head figures.

I originally wanted to obtain a “Crazy Colours” version of the character, as at the time, this was the colourway I liked the look of the most. But, understandably, had no luck trying through various channels (I knew this particular figure would be very hard to track down regardless) and resided myself to being happy owning a grey and black Bear Osman.

That was until I noticed this particular variant online, in my opinion, this one even eclipses the crazy colour one, so much so, I have no desire to own it anymore, I’m quite happily satisfied with this one now it’s in my hands.

SCULPTING

I’ve talked about the base body of this type of figure plenty of times before in previous reviews do I’m not going to repeat myself again and again and again. It’s still a great body and has held up well over time. The new parts here are the head and right arm, which are unique to Bear Ottoman.

The Head sculpt is just outstanding. The amount of fine detail is simply amazing, a lot of work went into this head and it is easily one of my favorite head sculpts from Real Head, the bear claw-like arm is awesome too, there’s also plenty of great detail there as well, with finely sculpted hair all over it.

PAINT

This is one thing about the figure that determines for me whether I like it or not, the colour scheme and design of the paint application. For the longest time, I had a Bear Osman which was molded in grey plastic and had a black rub over the top. It was pretty cool and really showed off the details in the sculpting, but was still quite boring to look at.

This particular Bear Ottoman is quite the opposite it has a pretty electric colour scheme and it really pops. I also love that it has been cast in phosphorescent (glow-in-the-dark) vinyl which adds another layer of cool to the figure. (I do love me some glow in the dark figures!)

The paint is expertly applied and has some really nice blending and airbrush work. I really love the pink/blue and black colour choices too, it really contrasts well with the phosphorescent vinyl.

ARTICULATION

The larger sized Real Head figures all have the same amount of articulation, which tends to be the following: Swivel Head, Swivel shoulders, swivel waist and swivel forearms.

For the type of figure, this is it’s a good amount of articulation. You can pose the figure a bit, but normally the “museum pose” is the default pose I keep my figures in. It’s just nice to have the option to pose it differently if you wanted instead of this being a solid statue type of figure.

ACCESSORIES

No accessories, unless I would want to include the vest he comes with. It’s pretty cool looking and beefs up the torso a lot. It’s a really nice touch and I think really makes the figure stand out from the rest of the Real Head figures I have that have the same body.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

There isn’t anything to worry about with these types if figures.

PRICE

Here’s the part where it can get a little crazy, especially if you are buying Bear Ottoman on the secondary market and to be honest if you are looking to buy one of these figures and not living in Japan, this is the only way whether its from toy reseller stores or Yahoo Auctions JP the price mark up can be quite high.

Even this particular Bear Osman wasn’t cheap and being an exclusive to a toy show not even held in Japan, you know you are going to be paying a lot of money to get one unless you went to the show. So be prepared to spend big when acquiring this particular figure type.

OVERALL

I really wanted a Bear Osman in my Real Head collection I was really happy with and this one is it. I can finally stop my searching and feel satisfied that I have a really amazing variant of the Bear Ottoman character after a few years of searching (or waiting perhaps) for one I really liked.

The price for this particular character is normally quite high, so if you want one, make sure you are happy with the paint application and are comfortable with the price you paid. Even although I paid a bit for this figure I am really happy with it and it’s one of my prized vinyl figures now.

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