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All posts for the month April, 2020

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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REVIEW – MEDICOM LUPIN THE THIRD KUBRICKS (SERIES ONE AND TWO)

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 13, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , .

The Castle Of Cagliostro is a Japanese Anime action/comedy released in 1979 and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It follows master thief Lupin The Third as he and associates Jigen and Goemon attempt to find the source of counterfeit bills, but in doing so ends up rescuing the princess held by Count Cagliostro and uncovering the hidden treasure that the Count is after.  

Name: Lupin the third – Castle of Cagliostro (series 1 and series 2)
Line: Kubrick
Manufacturer: Medicom
Released: 2003
Price: Then: recommended retail price 504 YEN .  Now:  varies depending on figure
Scale: 3.5 Inches in height
Accessories: Various (depending on figure)

Medicom make a lot of different products, one such product they are known quite well for are Kubricks. For me the Kubrick figure is a type of toy/collectible I would only ever associate with Japan, even although it shares similarities with Lego, the design is still what I would call ‘very Japanese’ so much so that if I were to put together a short list of toys that instantly make you think of Japan Kubrick would be one of them.

Their simplicity is one aspect that really appeals to me, how a character is broken down to about as basic as it can be, but still is a great representation of the character, is definitely part of the Kubrick charm in my opinion.

Back in late 2002 and early 2003 Medicom released two series of Kubricks based upon the classic anime film, Lupin The Third: The Castle Of Cagliostro. listed below is a breakdown of each series and the ratio of figures per batch of 24, these were blind boxed so you never knew what figure you were going to get, on top of that Medicom loves to throw in chase figures which are really rare and can be quite hard to come by.

Series 1 consists of the following figures:

Lupin The Third (5:24)

Daisuke Jigen (4:24)

Goemon Ishikawa (4:24)

Fujiko Mine (in disguise) (2:24)

Lady Clarisse (in wedding dress) (4:24)

Gustav (1:24)

Kage (Cagliostro assassin) (4:24)

Series 1 CHASE Figure: Archbishop (assortment ratio unknown)

Series 2 consists of the following figures:

Count Cagliostro  (3:24)

Lady Clarisse (4:24)

Inspector Zenigata (4:24)

Police Riot Officer (6:24)

Fujiko Mine (4:24)

Lupin The Third (in wetsuit) (3:24)

Series 2 CHASE Figure: Count Cagliostro (in Cagliostro wedding ceremony attire) (assortment ratio unknown)

The Castle Of Cagliostro was one of the first Anime films I watched when I was younger, at one time, one of our local TV stations (SBS) had a weekly screening of classic anime films and along with Akira, Ghost in the shell etc  The Castle of Cagliostro was one of them and after first viewing I found myself wanting to watch it and others again ( so it was a short trip to the video store for me!)

Also if anyone knows the full list of anime movies SBS screened during that time, let me know as I’m curious about what the full list was!

Needless to say, these movies left a big impression on me and made me a fan of anime from there on.

Now, when it comes to these particular Kubricks, on my first trip to Japan I picked up just Lupin by himself from Liberty 7 (back before they got raided for all their Kubricks) (and from the sounds of it, I should be placing the blame well and truly on that little box, if the stories are true from their blog page)

As I obviously recognized him and was also won over by the Kubrick charm at the same time I could see he was from a set, but decided just Lupin was enough for me at the time, However each trip I would slowly pick up a new figure or two from each series, until it was starting to look pretty much complete outside of Gustav, the Archbishop and the chase figure of Count Cagliostro. (Thanks to Nakano, Osaka and other various Japanese stores selling Kubricks)

Thankfully as luck would have it I was able to snag all three from eBay from a Japanese seller who had them up for sale (series 1 in a complete set and the count by himself) after being able to do some research on the chase figures through Mandarake’s sold listings on their website (it’s almost like an archive after all!)

Seeing that there’s so few info on this set I’ve decided to review it as part of my ongoing effort to cover toys and figures that don’t get as much love as they should (pretty much my blog’s mission statement anyway!)

SCULPTING

Kubricks are made using a base body and then adding extra pieces to them to make up a character, the base body consists of smooth flat surfaces it works well as a blank canvas for the character to be created on. Each figure is a pretty great representation of each character as they appeared in the anime, each with their own specific accessories. They all look great, even if some of the extra chest pieces look a little soft and a little oversized. (Fujiko, for example)

PAINT

The paint application is the other part of the puzzle to really make Kubricks look great! Most of these figures are not too heavy with the paint applications, it’s quite minimal in all honesty. Still, it’s all very neat with little to no slop.

ARTICULATION

Kubricks will in most cases share the same amount of articulation unless hindered by an accessory (the Alien space suits for example) Kubricks have the following basic articulation: swivel head, ball-jointed shoulders, swivel hands, swivel waist and ball-jointed hips. These joints are meant to mirror human movement and they accomplish that quite well for each joint’s simplicity. You can get some decent poses if the extra parts don’t interfere too much. But, In most cases, the neutral arms down by the sides, legs straight AKA straight out of the package pose works best.

ACCESSORIES

Each Kubrick comes with appropriate accessories and Medicom really did a great job with these. As you can see in the photos each character has the appropriate gun or sword, but some of them don’t come with anything at all as that’s perfectly fine too as some of them didn’t have anything to begin with. (Lady Clarisse for example)

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Not too many things I can think of. Perhaps, losing the tiny accessories or even the hands as they can come out fairly easily. These are made for collectors however, so they should be well taken care of.

PRICE

Good thing most of the characters in these two series aren’t going to be very expensive if you happen to come across them. only the chase figures or ones that are short packed will have a higher asking price. So it just depends on how much of a completionist you are.

OVERALL

Kubricks in general are always going to be cool. The designs are that perfect combination of simplicity and detail and I think Medicom have pretty much covered all the characters they possibly could from the movie. I think this is easily the most complete set of Lupin merchandise you are going to come across let alone from the Castle of Cagliostro. If you are a big fan of this movie like me, the two series of Kubricks are a nice set to have. it was fun for me to track down the complete set, even if it did take a bit of time to do so, but there was a lot of toy store hunting in Japan, with eBay ultimately filling in the last few gaps. Medicom have done an excellent job as usual.

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RETRO REVIEW – KENNER CORP. HICKS

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 12, 2020
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , .

Kenner’s line of ‘Aliens’ Space Marine toys was fairly short-lived. After only 1 & 1/2 series of figures, the Marines were dumped in favour 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. Corporal Hicks, a fan favourite character that appeared in the Aliens film franchise, also received a figure in this toy line.

Name: Corporal Hicks
Line: Aliens
Manufacturer: Kenner
Released: 1992
Price: Then: $10-$16.  Now: $10 – $26 MOSC or less if loose
Scale: 4 -5 Inches in height
Accessories: Rocket Launcher, Claw, Two Alienator Missiles  

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 were 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 toyline, I still like what Kenner did with about 90% of the figures they made.

Hicks was the one figure we would never see at the store, besides the Panther Alien, maybe they were short-packed? So neither I nor my brother owned him when the toyline was originally released.

It wasn’t until later in life where my brother finally picked one up. (He is the bigger fan of Corporal Hicks out of the two of us, even if I think he’s pretty cool in general, I always preferred Hudson over Hicks.)

SCULPTING

For the most part, I’d like to think Kenner did a good job of taking the source material and putting their own spin on it. Apparently, there was going to be a cartoon to tie in with the toys so that would make sense changing the characters a bit. I think Corporal Hicks looks pretty good, It’s a passing likeness and he’s not an accurate match to the Aliens movie, but ticks a lot of the boxes of what you’d expect from a Corporal Hicks figure in my opinion for the time period.

PAINT

Generally, the paint on Kenner’s products was always to a fairly high standard. The paint application on this particular Hicks is quite good, no bleed, no slop. The quality of the older toys sometimes puts a lot of newer companies to shame. Plenty of greens and blacks make up Hick’s uniform the tan looks a little out of place but the gold/silver mixture looks excellent.

ARTICULATION

Hicks has the typical amount of articulation for a toy of this time period, Swivel everything! Swivel head, swivel shoulders, swivel waist, and swivel hips. You can move his joints but you can’t really do a lot with him besides simple poses. It’s decent articulation, but nothing to write home about.

ACCESSORIES

Hicks comes with a rocket launcher, Some kind of Claw/gun arm weapon and two missiles for the rocket launcher. The firing action on the rocket launcher is quite good the claw/gun arm is a bit miss-placed it just clips on his arm and that’s it. It would have been cooler if he came with a Pulse Rifle like Vazquez did, as I think that would be a more appropriate weapon for the character.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

None that I can think of;  Corporal Hicks is rock solid. What would you expect from an early 1990’s toy?  Just make sure your one has a good paint job before you buy it.

PRICE

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

OVERALL

The Corporal Hicks figure lacks the fun action feature many of the other Aliens Space Marines have, but it’s made up for with a missile-firing rocket launcher, this doesn’t make the figure as great to play with as Ripley or Drake, for example. Hicks is still an important character in the Aliens universe and this is his first real toy/collectible figure made of him, it’s worth picking him up, if you are a Kenner completist of their Aliens line or if you like Corporal Hicks in general.

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RETRO REVIEW – TYCO DINO RIDERS ANKYLOSAURS WITH STING

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 11, 2020
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , .

RETRO REVIEW – TYCO DINO RIDERS ANKYLOSAURS WITH STING

Dino Riders was a short lived toy line by Tyco started in the late 1980s; it also had an accompanying cartoon series and combined very detailed dinosaur models with futuristic weaponry. Each dinosaur came with its own unique armour which, depended on the size of the Dinosaur included 1-3 small humanoid figures, in scale with the dinosaur.

The Ankylosaurs’ role for its Rulon masters, was to be used as infantry support weapon with a crossbow mounted on its back which fired a ‘high explosive projectile’. Being a small toy, it didn’t have any action feature or motorised walking action. 

Name: Ankylosaurus with Sting
Line: Dino Riders
Manufacturer: Tyco
Released: 1988
Price: Then: $7.00 – $ $17.00 MIB Now: At least $20.00 Loose
Scale: 1:24
Accessories: One Rulon mini figure, one mini figure weapon set.

The Ankylosaurus was one of those toys I vividly remember receiving as a child. The closest toy store my parents would take me and my brother to was the Big W in Chullora. (which is still open today) we were bought all manner of toys from there, Lego, Transformers, Toy Biz wrestling figures and even Dino Riders.

I remember seeing the shelves stacked with the many Dino Rider toys, my brother and I came away with an Ankylosaurus each and did end up receiving a few larger ones for Christmas and Birthday gifts. That memory for whatever reason has stuck with me all these years. So, of course I plan to review most of the Dino Rider toys that were made. (Even if it takes a while to do so)
Also this Ankylosaurus is one of the many of Tyco’s Dino Rider toys that fall under the “Colours may vary” label as the prototype shown in the toy box art and catalogue is orange as opposed to the released figure which is grey.

LIST OF PARTS

Inside the box you get the following items:

One Ankylosaurus dinosaur

One Sting Rulon mini figure

One Brain box and harness

One crossbow

One mini figure weapons set

PACKAGING

The artwork on the front of the box features a very colourful battle scene portraying the Ankylosaurus engaged in battle the Dino Riders. Upon lifting the flap, you are able to view the toy inside the box as well as a number of pictures listing the highlights of the product.  A cropped section of this artwork is displayed on both sides of the box, with the back of the box showing all products from the current series engaged in battle with each other.

The excellent graphics do a great job of attracting you towards the box. (This was one thing I loved about Dino Riders when I was a child.)

SCULPTING

Tyco have done a great job with the amount of detail on not only the dinosaurs in this series but the mini figures too. There are lots and lots of great details all over the Ankylosaurus’ body, it looks great!

The Rulon mini figure looks excellent too and has the same body as the other standard Rulons; he also has the same head type as Antor. For a small scale figure, it is very detailed and has many creases in the clothing as well as smooth armour sections.

PAINT

Besides paint on the Ankylosaurus, the paint applications have been kept to a minimum. I really think Tyco tried very hard to get the best application possible on all the Dinosaur toys. The end result is wonderfully blended multi-toned grey colours for the Dinosaur. The colours work really well to contrast with the plastic grey and purple of the armour and weapons!

Sting has a little bit of paint application – mainly just for extra details on his costume or on the toys head. It’s all nice and neat. The rest of the figures parts are cast in the colour they are meant to be, which is perfectly fine as this works really well for the toy.

ARTICULATION

The Ankylosaurus has very limited articulation being his four legs with are all swivel joints, it’s not much, but this is a basic figure after all and it still helps to add plenty of play value to the toy.

Sting has the same amount of articulation that all the other Rulon figures have: swivel head, swivel arms – where the arm meets the body, swivel legs – where the legs meet the body and hinge joints at the knees.

For an older figure, this is more than enough for it to not only work well with the accessories but be put into a number of poses too.

Obviously, articulation has come a long way since then, but you still get quite a lot with Sting.

ACCESSORIES

All the Rulon toys in the first series came with the same weapons: one crossbow, one binocular, one shield, one bazooka, one electronic whip or ball and chain and one ladder. You get a good number of weapons for each Rulon and I really like the red colour it’s been cast in, it really pops!

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

I would be careful with the brain box/harness when you are taking it off as you can potentially create plastic stress marks on parts of it due to the age of the plastic. Otherwise just avoid samples that have been yellowed.

Series 1 Mini Comic

PRICE

Depending weather, it’s MIB, MISB or loose will affect the price you pay. However, from time to time you can grab a bargain on eBay.

OVERALL

This is one of the more basic figures that Tyco released in their Dino Riders line, obviously the cheaper price point for children whose parents wouldn’t buy them the larger toys, I have fond memories of not only receiving the Ankylosaurus, but plenty of hours playing with it and the other Dino Rider toys my brother and I were lucky to get as children. It makes for a great army builder, I actually have about four of these myself and in a group, they look pretty impressive. Worth picking up if you really want to have a complete Dino Riders Collection.

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REVIEW – TAKARA TOMY MASTERPIECE SERIES LASERWAVE (SHOCKWAVE)

Posted by Mighty Mike on April 10, 2020
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , , .

Shockwave has a cold, brutal, scientific approach to war. His thought process is ruled by logic. He sees emotion as a weakness and a distraction. He also seeks to overthrow Megatron as leader of the Decepticons. He transforms into a powerful Cybertronian laser gun and can fly in either gun mode or robot mode.

Name: Laserwave (MP-29)
Line: Transformers Masterpiece
Manufacturer: TAKARA TOMY
Released: 2016
Price: 12,000 YEN
Scale: Roughly  21 cm in height
Accessories: Numerous hands and gun hand and mini Laserwave gun.

I don’t know if I’ll get to reviewing every toy and/or figure featured in my “Best of 2016” list But, I’ll try my best to get through most of them at some stage.

Shockwave/Laserwave made that list and is a pretty awesome figure, even if I don’t actually own it myself, my brother is the bigger Shockwave fan, so naturally he was the one to buy him. But, that means I still have access to the figure to do a review as it’s a pretty good addition to the Masterpiece lineup.

SCULPTING

Both robot and gun mode look great! But, out of the two modes, robot mode is easily my favorite. I really think that Takara Tomy has done an excellent job in matching the look of the character from the cartoon series and translating that into toy form.

The figure in hand looks amazing and it towers over most of the Autobots. (Even if some fans have complained about the height, the show bible height chart tends to suggest otherwise.)  There are plenty of nice little details all over the figure, If I had one complaint, it’s that the lower legs don’t stay together as well as you’d like.

PAINT

I’m pretty sure Laserwave has hardly any paint application if anyone him, I’m going to assume the feet have been painted grey and maybe the outside panels on the legs, but I think that’s about it.

Otherwise, everything has been cast in the colour it’s meant to be and that’s just the way I like it! It’s a very nice shade of purple, I wouldn’t say show or vintage toy accurate, But it suits Laserwave well enough.

ARTICULATION

With the Masterpiece Transformers figures, they really have a decent amount of articulation, but some of that articulation is to assist with the transformation. So I’m not really going to try and list every joint and joint type with these kind of toys.

With that said Laserwave is still quite fun to pose and play around with. He has standard joints like ankle pivot and knee joints, elbow joints etc. Most of these joints are ratchets so you know they aren’t going to loosen up on you over time.

ACCESSORIES

The Type of character Laserwave was in the cartoon, you knew he wasn’t getting too many accessories, also it didn’t help that his design he didn’t really need anything either. (Hand? Check. Gun hand for a weapon? Check.)  You get a few different hands/gun hand and you get a mini version of Laserwave in gun mode, which for some weird reason he used as his own handgun in the cartoon.

So to combat that Takara Tomy has included purple clear parts so that you can turn him into the vintage toy version as well! This is a nice touch and I really do like the look of that clear plastic.

His gun hand and gun barrel both light up and his backpack also turns into a stand for the gun, which I think is quite neat.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

I can’t see there being too many problems with Laserwave, besides some sections like the legs being a bit dodgy in terms of how well they hold together he’s still a solid release. Just make sure you put those Decepticon logos on straight!

PRICE

Amazon JP is the place to go if you want to get the best price for Laserwave, you can pick him up for about 12,000 YEN and that’s a pretty good price for what you get if you ask me.

OVERALL

Laserwave is a welcome edition to the Transformers Masterpiece Decepticon ranks. He may be lacking in accessories, but more than makes up for that in awesomeness and cartoon accuracy alone.  He is a great example of taking the original toy and updating it. If you are collecting the Masterpiece line you need to pick up this Laserwave/Shockwave figure, you won’t be disappointed that you did!

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