Revoltech round-up

Kind of a backlog but here's my collection of Patlabor Revoltech. The sci-fi comedy-drama of the Mobile Police have been sorely lacking in publicity over the last 10 years since the movies (and W-XIII had very little to do with anything at all). So I was thrilled to find out that the mecha from that franchise would be included in the Revoltech toy line.

Please feel free to ignore the jumbo vinyl Ultraman Tiga back there... and the 1/2-scale Kamen Rider helmet. That turned out to be a pretty big table and it looked funny with just the Revoltech figures lined up there.

This is the guy I picked up today. Details are available at CollectionDX as they got their hands on it when it was first released a couple of months ago. I choose to support the local shops by waiting for them. I tend to agree with CDX - it's a little disappointing that the "Aqua Unit" version really just the same damn figure as the "Flight Unit" version. Why couldn't they just include underwater pack as an accessory in a different mecha?

In the deeper backlog, here are the earlier "Fraulein Revoltech." That's Ayanami Rei from the classic Neon Genesis Evangelion with Tohsaka Rin from Fate/Stay Night.

Late X'mas - Round 1

Picked up a package at the postal outlet today. One of those "mystery packages" that customs won't touch with a 10-foot-pole because they'll never be able to repack it when they're done inspecting it. Here's why:
For one, there is no box. This is the way we roll in Hong Kong, brother.Rolled completely in bubble-wrap, yo. I swear, the world's supply of bubble-wrap comes from Hong Kong.Look like 100 kilos of drugs or something until you star peeling back the tape... anyway, here's what was under all that. My self-purchased X'mas goodies.The funny thing is, the thing that prompted me to place this order was because I found a place that offered the Japan-only exclusive red version of the Brokken figure. But I wound up padding my order with this unusual trinket.
It's a 1/2 scaled helmet from Kamen Rider The First. Now I'm not a huge fan of the franchise, but I did enjoy the theatrical remake of the original show and what better way to celebrated it than with yet another outlandish prop piece in my house.

Revo: GR-2

I have gone retro retro-anime. Some of you may be old enough to remember Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot. It was a dub of a tokusatsu show actually called Giant Robo. Well, back in the early 90's (just a couple of years before anime hit it big in mainstream North America) Giant Robo was remade into a retro-styled anime with martial artists doing impossible stunts and larger than life robot smashing action. Revoltech paid tribute to this 7-part OVA with Giant Robo and his nemesis GR-2.

Actually, as I blogged before, I had Giant Robo a full two weeks ago (and it's been out for much longer). But you know, until today, it didn't make the jump from moderately interesting all the way up to "total coolness." That's because GR-2 actually comes with an additional piece of the most memorable scene from the Giant Robo show...

...but before I get there, here's a closer look at GR-2...
...and that's about it, because, really, GR-2 is a rather plain action figure.

The scene I'm talking about was that after several episodes of crazy robot fighting, we had already seen Giant Robo fire storms of rockets and missiles. We had seen that Giant Robo was studded with enormous cannons. But that wasn't all there was... fans were treated to his ultimate weapon: his flight-pack turned out to be a gigantic bazooka!

I distinctly recall watching this in a darkened room at the University of Quebec in Montreal with members of Club Animate. And although everyone had their personal favourite (including people who didn't necessarily like Giant Robo), the crowd erupted with thunderous applause and laughter and cheering. I mean, really, that was on the level of watching the Death Star blow up for the first time.

Anyway, without rambling on further, here's a closer look at the extra pieces that came with GR-2 that make for the "deployed bazooka":So anyway, here's a final photo of what Robo looks like stock for comparison:

Tubes Backlog for July

List stuff I'm too lazy to put up decent posts for.

Civil War: Wolverine TPB
Got this cheap through Amazon. It's an awesome story proving that from time to time, a tie-in can be done right despite the nebulous nature of big events. Wolvie goes AWOL and does what he does best: hunts down Nitro (the guy who blew away Stamford, thus kick-starting Civil War). Along the way he also uncovers a bigger plot behind Civil War. All this plus groovy Humberto Ramos art.

Revoltech: Giant Robo
I'm on a revivalist kick lately and finally started hunting down the DVDs of "The Night the Earth Stood Still." This figure is typical quality for Revoltech - chunky PVC goodness. And the paint job is fantastic: on such a small head there are actually eyes on the facial details. Johnny Socko would've been proud.

Hellboy Director's Cut DVD
Arrived in the mail from eBay. 2004 doesn't seem so long ago but damn, I forgot how much I enjoyed it. The 3-disc set presents a new interpretation of "cast commentary." It's not a commentary track: it's actually a video for you to watch them watch the movie. Lots of other goodies too.

Bunch of Warhammer40k stuff
I don't usually do this but I'm giving a shout-out to Maelstrom Games. They're a UK outfit dealing in tabletop-games at bulk pricing and free shipping. I just got a paint set retailing $40CAD for only $20. That's a no-brainer. I also got the Cities of Death expansion rulebook so I can't wait to read it and try some urban warfare scenarios.

Monsieur Bome 22: Rin Tohsaka
I said I'd stop getting these. It wasn't bad in the beginning when they came out once every 6 months. But now, forget it. I don't have the money or space to get them all. However, I'm making an exception for Rin because... I'm in love. She's comes off a little cold in the anime version of Fate/Stay Night, but gradually warms up throughout the series. And yes, I'm such a loser.

Cutey Honey Live-Action DVD LE
I haven't had a lunch box in 20 years. But the LE version came in a tin featuring an embossed image of Eriko Sato as Honey and I couldn't resist. Loved the movie from the first fansub I downloaded years ago, but seeing it in a full DD5.1 mix is awesome. The dub was tolerable too (the mix is a little clearer in English than on the Japanese track).

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's
"Shootin' at the walls of heartache, Bang Bang!!" It's GH2 all over again but with less bonus features. However the set list is way better. It's tough to play a music game when you aren't enjoying the music. But for this edition, even when I'm not familiar with the tune, I'm still having loads of fun. My PS2 has been the longest-lasting console investment I've ever made.

Mix'n'Match Saber head!

As I posted previously, my absolute favourite selling point with the Saber Revoltech was that she's got a really awesome head. It's cute, has a relatively neutral expression good for a variety of "body language" poses, and it's got a great paint job... But the best is that its scale makes for a fun ani-manga "big-head" SD look when it's attached to a smaller Revoltech!! Enjoy the combinations I came up with. ^_^;



I can only hope that they do more "people" Revoltech models. I might be pursuaded to grab the "Evil Saber" repaint if only to get the alternate head...

Revoltech Saber

It's time for another weekend haul redux. (There's something to be said for getting more mileage by blogging it piecemeal!)

Tonight I'm showing off the "Generation 2" Revoltech Saber. Saber is a featured character in a story project known as Fate/Stay Night (originally just an interactive novel). I don't need to get into the details but Saber quickly warmed fans' hearts with her quirky (and anachronistic) mannerisms... besides which, she happens to be a rather cute in her own way. And that's before we get to her no-nonsense capacity with a sword.

As the story progresses we learn that she wields the legendary Excalibur. In Sabers hands, it's an invisible blade...

Appropriately, Kaiyodo saw fit to include a clear plastic version of the sword. But despite its inherent coolness, I had to get this picture of her inspired by the closing credit roll of the anime series..

.

If there's only 1 thing that bugs me about this set was that the optional sword was the only accessory in the box. Other than that, she's all there is to it. What makes for a Generation2 Revoltech, you ask?
Firstly, she's somewhat larger than the other Revoltech figures we've seen before. She stands nearly a head taller than the Type J-9 Griffon and as you can tell by her proportions, is somewhat bulkier. It's not just the armoured skirt that gives her bulk, either. Her legs are fully jointed allowing for much more dynamic poseability than the conventional Revoltechs. Same goes for the shoulders - replacing what was a cleverly angled swivel, it is now also a Revoltech-joint to simulate a ball-socket joint. Coincidentally, the introduction of ball-socket movement to the shoulder means that a revoltech-joint could be eliminated from the elbows... it's now a swivel joint and so the arm mimics actual human range of motion (prior to this, the upper arms acheived human-range by twisting the upper arm in odd contortions).

I think my absolute favourite feature turns out to be the sheer scale - which allows for a much more detailed face sculpt. Its perfection at a roughly 1/8 scale is stunning. Kaiyodo needs to do more of these Fate/Stay Night figures for the Revoltech line-up.

Type-Zero comments

Revoltech is slowly building up steam on the local scene. The local specialty shop has always been a few weeks (if not a whole month) late with getting in the latest releases but they're doing better and have even been ordering in multiple boxes of each. Yesterday afternoon I finally got my grubby paws on one of my all-time favourite mecha: the Shinohara Heavy Industries "Type-Zero" from the Patlabor movie.

I have mixed feeling about this toy however. My first 3-dimensional encounter with this mecha was back when the movie first came out (well, not really, but close to anyway): it was a Bandai model kit in the vein of their 1/100 scale Gundam kits, except it was labeled as 1/60 because Patlabor mecha are intended to be much smaller machines. Well, I like to think I did a pretty good job on it. But the limitations of the kit were obvious... for once thing, you couldn't built it in just any action pose a large number of the joints were either impractical or were simply fixed in a straight position.

Anyway, so now I finally have a multi-jointed Type-Zero... but it doesn't quite work the same way as Kaiyodo's "Ingram" pieces. The first obvious tweak is that the sculpt has a "T-crotch" instead of a "V-crotch." That means you can't easily spread-eagle the legs. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seemed the Ingram model could achieve more dynamic poses... And I'm a little disappointed with the head which by nature of its sculpt and the typical Revoltech neck-joint makes for a very awkward look: his head doesn't really turn, but sort of tilts... as if asking me a question. It's hard to explain.

On the plus column, the shield is lovely and is able to handle the "anime-magic" by being somewhat adjustable (it's attached via yet another Revoltech joint). And it does come with brand new hands sculpted just for this piece (including extras for "attack" mode, etc). Very nice.

...just wish that picture turned out a little better: the angle makes him like a bit like a midget! :)

Weekender: haul list

You'd think I was desperately trying to make up for a week of being in small-town Quebec or something. Here it comes in bullet form.

• Marvel "Civil War": read the first 2 chapters - I don't know what's to hate. But it might be the horrible scheduling job Marvel had going. Heh - I guess I'm good to have it all in a collected edition. Detailed blog when I'm finished.
• Pack of Star Wars Minis "Champions of the Force" set - I have the worst luck. This morning I made a count of the hows and whys I stop collecting a given set and CotF is the set I have the least playing pieces of... because in my first 3 packs I got the same no-name generic character! And then Fate steps in and 2 packs I buy 4 months apart subsequently had Darth Maul in them. Go figure.
• Pack of Star Wars Minis "Starship Battles" - another Imperial Star Destroyer ...not so bad. Can always use more of these babies.
• Revoltech Type J9 Griffon: oh yes - the local shop finally got one of these in. Revoltech doesn't seem to sell very well around here so I'm just happy they get new ones in at all.
• Deck of UFS cards: not a new game but new to me. Hopefully I'll find someone to play with. My deck features Taki from Soul Calibur III... I think I'll grab a Chun Li deck from Street Fighter some time. And or Terry Bogard from King of Fighters. This all depends on whether or not I actually like the game once I get around to learning it and playing it.

And now some random pics of stuff... and you can see, living on my own has quickly transformed my kitchen into an all-purpose workshop.

Today's minis...

The Griffon:

Photo-blogging

Yup - the courier delivered my new camera yesterday (but I wasn't home, so I went to pick it up at the depot today; I wish they'd default to a location a little closer tho - I drove across town because my postal code happens to be considered Gloucester even tho I live closer to Nepean.

So here I am playing with the hi-res shots... too hi-res, in fact. I've shrunken the image size down to 25% in order to be more web-friendly. Click on them to take a look at the actual images. First up, the big 18-inch Ultraman I got very recently (my old 1.3mp camera would never have been able to capture this close-up).


Now some of those mini "Revoltech" series figures I got a few months back...

The shelves... - I've posted this sort of thing before, but never with close-ups with this kind of resolution.

New-skool-old-skool redux

Changing topics up a bit but remember a while ago I was blogging about a little-known series called "Revoltech?" Well, apparently the line is alive and well and one of the featured licenses that Kaiyodo is flaunting is the venerable Patlabor franchise. And those who know me well enough will recall that I'm a sucker for anything branded Mobile Police Patlabor.

Revoltech's are like a really hi-end "trading figure." They feature an innovative joint mechanism that although approximates a ball-joint, is not actually a ball-and-socket at all and can be removed and mixed-and-matched (but I clearly do not have the imagination or creativity for that application). Instead, I just marvel at the photos posted by others... here are some of the upcoming figures due VERY soon.


Yep, that was Schaft Enterprises Japan's Type J-9 Griffon. Arguably one of the coolest mecha of the 90's. It didn't feature in the movies but had a very popular story-arch in the television series and later a follow-up in the second "New Files" OVA series.
And that was Type-Zero ...the next-gen mecha that was intended to replace the Ingram design. Shinohara Heavy Industries screwed up big time, if you'll recall when they installed the Hyper-OS into its systems triggering a country-wide crisis that only the misfits at Second Unit could solve...

I can't help but starting budgeting for collecting these little babies. ^_^;

*sigh* I really ought to watch the first movie again this weekend when I've got time.

Sunday haul: procrastinating

Now that I'm in the 'burbs, heading into town for the old hauls isn't quite the same anymore. I used to be able to make a whole day of walking into downtown from my apartment. Now it's... different.

Here's a pic of one of the goodies I decided to grab tho. It's new school on the old school. Patlabor remains one of my all-time favourites and the design of the Ingram is something that will stick with me forever. So when I heard the latest "Revoltech" craze of tiny collectible figures with a revolutionary joint system for articulation was going to include some mecha from Patlabor, that was a $30 already spent. ^_^;
So far I'm loving it too considering how long ago it was that I built those MG class model kits (they had loads of moving parts like opening compartments and all, but hardly the same story). I hear the company behind these are also going to do a Type J9 Griffon mecha as well and perhaps a "unit 2" Ingram also. Sweet. Did I mention how affordable these are?

You might also notice the shiny new wireless router behind him in that photo. Grabbed that today too. Not to sound like a frickin' advert, but Staples is having a huge sale on netowrking hardware (don't know how much longer it'll last, today might've been the final day). At $55, the price was right for a 108Mbps wi-fi unit. Now I can sit in my "throne room" and surf the web using my PSP! Plus my brother doesn't have to hog my PC when he visits - he can just log into the router on his laptop.

And no haul list would be complete without a pile of comics to entertain myself with. Haven't read them all, but I'll be sure to mention these later on:
Ghost in the Shell 1.5 #1 - the "lost" chapters of the GitS saga - the story reads like an episode of the Stand Alone Complex series. I'm liking it so far. It's got me thinking I should dig out the GitS manga I collected a few years back and rereading those too.
Legion of SuperHeroes #24: I don't know where this series is going, and I'm actually considering dropping it if this Supergirl angle doesn't resolve itself soon. The questions have been dragging on too long, IMHO. Will blog this later.
Supergirl #11: yes, it's actually last week's issue but like I said, I haven't been to the shops in a while. Again, lots of unanswered questions and there's hardly any continuity between issues in this series... WTF is happening in the DCU?
Wonder Woman #3: ah - yes, where were we? Oh yeah, there was that appearance of the DCU's version of Hercules in the previous issue... 2 months ago. I'm not really liking this bi-monthly schedule. The series started out really promising but... geez, that was back in July!
Noble Causes #25: this series hasn't disappointed me in forever. Looking forward to reading this extra-large issue!
Fathom #11: suffered from Wonder Woman syndrome for a while... I don't even remember what was going on in issue #10. But I'm glad it's finally over. Also can't wait to read this one.

Anyway, sorry, but I STILL haven't taking photos of that Morning Musume book I talked about before... Sheesh, I suck.