Just when I was almost forgetting about both of these anime-sequels-as-movies, their trailers get released.

Let’s talk about Eden of The East: King of Eden first. The trailer started airing on the official site only a few days ago, with a promise of a second movie being released next year, on 9 January 2010, though be prepared to be disappointed: the release date for the first got pushed back to 19 December 2009 instead of 28 November as mentioned in the trailer below:

I’m looking forward to this one, since the original had such a gripping storyline it kept me watching all the way to the end. It even managed to mislead me during the first episode until the few minutes before the ED theme song ended. Can’t wait to see who the other 4 yet-to-be-seen Selecao are.

For those of you who haven’t watched the series, I highly suggest you watch it. It won’t disappoint you, though it could do without all the random Johnny jokes. =_=

Also, the Gundam 00 “unofficial” movie trailer, after the series left us off with a warning of something to come. Awesome Gundam designs are awesome. Tieria’s Raphael clearly has the coolest weapons, while Setsuna’s Quanta (if that’s what you call it) having Fangs was a big surprise. Then again, considering the past series…I ‘m not too surprised.

Some people don’t seem to like Quanta’s design (or at least the fact that it uses Fangs), but hey, you can’t please everyone.

[Via The Banzai Effect and Zh3us’ tweet]

It turned out to be figure + mecha photoshoot though. Not that it’s a bad thing.

So early Sunday (yesterday) morning, I dragged myself out of bed and headed over to Clarke Quay together with my Kagamine Rin Nendoroid, where LEon and a whole bunch of other people were waiting in Liang Court. Here’s the full listing with links to their posts/galleries (if any):

• LEon
• Katsuden
• Zh3us
• Yuki-To
• ScorchNRoses
• Ederuferuto
• Hexlord
• XS27

We grabbed a bite to eat at the McDonald’s there before taking a group figure shot right there and then. Not all the figures ended up in my sharpest shot, though, so I guess this one will have to do. =_=

Cut3ness from the sidelines~

Miku looks really scary in this shot. Just floating there, expressionless. O_o

We headed outside and officially started the shoot. For me, it was the first time having a real shoot (without Fariz hogging the camera), and I came as a complete beginner too. Hexlord familiarised me with camera concepts, and I quickly got the hang of it. Thanks man!

I’m still not that experienced in figure photo composition though, so most of the pictures I took framed the figure on one side. I guess I was too focused on training my camera skills then. ^.^;

Also, how far would you go to get a good shot? I certainly wouldn’t dare doing this, since I don’t want my waifu to end up swimming with the fishes.

Ah, Yuki-To’s Fatina. Quite a sexy figure, and fierce to boot. Didn’t finish watching the Sword of Druaga anime though.

Don’t point that staff at me~! ( *A*)

Another Lily Saber Nendoroid. IIRC there was at least 2 of them during the photoshoot. I guess it’s expected though; it’s an extremely cute figure.

I’ve always been intrigued by the technique of getting Nendoroids to sit on ledges. I was told that the skirt acts as a “stand” to keep Saber (and similar Nendoroids) up there, but for skirt-less figures like Rin, one would have to resort to other methods.

So I tried some Blu-tack (guess where it is btw, and you get a cookie), courtesy of LEon. This is pretty much one of my favourite shots, though it came at a price: Rin fell off eventually, smashing into the ground. Thankfully Nendoroids aren’t so fragile to the point that they shatter into pieces upon impact from such a height, but Rin did get damaged anyway.

At first I was surprised there wasn’t a dent in her head or anything, but soon I noticed that some portion of her left shoe had been chipped off. I’m not sure whether they’re related, since it seems unlikely Rin had landed on her left foot (with a big head and all).

My other favourite shot of the day. The only thing keeping her there is the plant itself. Thanks to the rest for the tip!

Used too much Blu-tack in this shot. Oh well.

A flower for me~? You shouldn’t have!

By the way, this face isn’t Rin’s; it belongs to the Kagamine Len Nendoroid in fact. The expression appears to fit her though. ^.^;

There is a better shot, but it got overexposed thanks to a sudden burst of direct sunlight. I should have compensated. orz

Later we decided to head to Raffles Place and ruin an otherwise boring sculpture we found there. I bet we were making a lot of art/heritage purists mad.

Then again, lots of people were freely climbing up on the other side and taking photos of themselves while we were doing our photoshoot. XD

Rin appears to enjoy her time on the ship though. The grooves in the “ground” help to keep her standing.

Meet Zh3us’ Tsukasa MK II! They sure are happy to see each other.

Temple visit episode! Sadly there was no miko costume for Rin.

Rin hanging out with the locals.

But what’s this? Saber has turned rogue, and is attacking the city with Masked Rider Den-O as her right hand man!

The city (on the opposite side of the sculpture) calls for reinforcements!

They take their positions! Ending is for you to imagine.

I was messing around with aperture and shutter speed, and it seems that low aperture works best for this shot. Blurry backgrounds ftw.

I’ve always wondered how collectors transport their figures around for their photoshoots. Personally, I take my figs in their own boxes, though Yuki-To has advised me to simply use the plastic casing inside to avoid damaging the pretty box.

Seems to me that most figure collectors use boxes bought from Daiso for a couple of bucks. Maybe I’ll give it a shot.

Drossel wants a hug! D’awwwww

Some collectors simply use bubble wrap, though I guess it’s fine for Den-O and Urataros since they’re real action figures, built for abuse.

And to end the day (and post), some fanservice! Metal-on-Metal love~

We headed to China Square Central after that to check out the figures and toys there. LEon took the opportunity to show and explain me a lot of the stuff. I was thoroughly impressed.

After a trip to another McDonald’s and some interrogation of my animu knowledge (while the others played Monster Hunter) we went our separate ways again.

It’s obvious, though, that there’s a lot of room for improvement. I gotta learn to be more dynamic in my poses and composition, and have to (somehow) cure my shaky hands, which is why many of the good photos didn’t make it in this post. ;_;

Ironically, while we had planned for a morning photoshoot to avoid shooting annoying people, a tour bus showed up and began unloading right behind us. Some tourists gathered nearby and started talking about us. There was even a Japanese guy who was explaining to some people about our figures. LOL

But all in all, I had fun, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next outing. \o/

I am still impressed with what Blizzard has done on April Fool’s Day, especially on Starcraft 2.. So what am I talking about? Well, it is Blizzard’s “new” unit for the Terran, the “TERROR-TRON”.. Its quite simple actually, it is not actually a true transformation, just that it is a merge of most of the Terran buildings, from the Supply Depot to the Command Centre..

For the previous April Fool’s Day, Blizzard did a report on the “drafting of the Taurens into the Terran army” for Starcraft 2.. Although it was a joke by obvious reason, it was quite fascinating that Blizzard puts in alot of effort to make up a story of the “Tauren Space Marine” and also showed a battlescene with them inside.. xD

Here is what Blizzard said on their site regarding the Terra-Tron:

“To create a truly comprehensive defense for high-priority, mineral-rich regions such as the volcanic uplands of Redstone, the terrans needed to devise an entirely new concept in battlefield strategy. Terran military engineers, led by Goraion Systems’ head of development Dr. Ron Volt, have been working day and night to design a new kind of base for the terran armies: the titanic Terra-tron.”

Before I carry on talking, I would like to show you the 2 videos released by Blizzard on the Terra-Tron.. Enjoy~

Terra-Tron Transformation:

Terra-Tron Attacks City:

Blizzard posted some great screenshots of Terra-Tron in combat, its pretty amazing how nice it looks.. I love how they made it animates.. Other than that, I like its weapon, from his right hand being a laser gun to his head shooting bullets to his left hand being a giant cutter.. Not to mention the units that can come out of its torso.. xD

Although it is an April Fool’s joke, I am once again impressed at how creative Blizzard is to come up which such radical thing for an April Fool’s joke.. I do hope it will be one of those secret units on a single map, just for lulz..

To see more about Terra-Tron, do visit Terra-Tron’s page on the Starcraft2 page here.. I hope you’ve enjoyed Blizzard’s madness in creating the awesome Titan just for kicks.. ^^

Yesterday, I had some free time to attend an event held at Plaza Singapura (Or what some ppl call it, “PlazaSing”).. The latest event to be held this week is called Comic Connection Fiesta ( C.C.F. ) and it is the first time Comic Connection organised such an event.. I was there to watch a movie with some of my friends so since I was at the location, might as well take a look at the event..

The event is currently ongoing from 23rd to 30th March.. Since I went there on a weekday, I must say that there were quite a number of people to attend the Fiesta.. You can say that it is more of a bazaar where Comic Connection would like to sell most of their stuffs away.. There are games, mangas, magazines and even toys to buy.. More on that later on..

I managed to find this after a quick search through the internet.. Yeah, here is the list of some of the offers that you can find during the Fiesta.. There are also some special events such as the EA Games Challenge (28th March), Gundam Model Kit Building Workshop (28th – 29th March) and a Cosplay event too (28th March).. o.O

So first up, let us talk about the Bandai section.. Bandai took a small plot of the atrium to promote their mechas, mostly from Gundam Seed to Gundam00.. Well, thats not to say that there are other mechas from Gundam Unicorn to Gundam SD.. xD

Bad thing is that they brought along the illuminating cabinet which was spotted during AFA08.. So due to the bright lights, I couldn’t take any wonderful shots of the mechas on display, including 2 limited edtions gundams.. ^^;;

The highlight from Bandai is actually the 1/60 PG (Perfect-Grade) Gundam Astray Red Frame.. Unfortunately, someone “toppled” it.. I still like the sword though, very nice indeed..

Since I am a mecha fan, I will show you some other pictures of the Gundam Astray from Bandai themselves.. The gundam comes with a holder to hold the 2 swords the Gundam Astray has.. Enjoy the pictures~

Next up, this product isn’t a mecha but it still a product of Bandai.. Picture seems familiar don’t you think?

Well, it is of course a Haro!! I expected a 1/1 scale Haro but this one is more 2/1 scale version.. Apparently, this Haro is sort of a bin where you can put your stuff inside it.. Too bad it can’t talk to you though.. =3

Back to the 2 limited Edition gundams I was talking about, they are from the Gundam Seed series.. What so special about the limited editions is that they come with transparent body kits, most of it.. Some will find them quite nice.. I was quite impressed on how the mecha really looks like..

The 2 gundams are, 1/100-Scale Gundam Astray Blue Frame and 1/100-Scale Blitz Gundam.. Here are the pricing on the 2 gundams respectively..

There are other gundams on sale like I said before so do come down to the Fiesta if you are thinking of buying one.. ^^

Other than just Bandai, there is also a spot for EA.. They set up some game stations, about 8 if I could recall.. The games being showcased are Mirror’s Edge, NFS: Undercover, Burnout Paradise and Fifa09.. There is a new PC game which EA showcased but I forgot what it is called.. =x

The other side of the game stations area…

Here is another product that intrigues me, “Tuttuki Bako” (or “Poking Box”).. The thing about this product is that you…. to put it bluntly you stick your finger in the hole in the side of the box and prod a variety of virtual characters.. Thats all.. At least there was a test product on display so I gave it a try..

I find it quite interesting as this item also acts as an alarm clock too.. If you are slightly bored then you can pick up this product.. BTW, this is by Bandai too.. xD

Here are some videos I found about the product.. Enjoy~

Tuttuki Bako – Octopus

Tuttuki Bako – Alarm Clock

Last but not least, I realized that during the Fiesta, World of Warcraft T-shirts are sold.. Some of the designs are very nice indeed, especially the ones with the different classses (Mages, Warlocks and others)..

Well, thats all I have about the event.. If you have some free time, do drop by and see whether you want to buy anything from the sale.. Some of the products on sale are good bargains indeed.. On one hand, I find this event quite so-so..

About the Cosplay event held on Saturday, I prefer going for KuroBara which is going to be held at Liang Court 2morrow.. Seriously I find the stage at Comic Connection Fiesta quite small… I doubt it will be 4 hours too.. Oh well, maybe the part about Jackie Chan coming to Plaza Sing on 30th March sounds better.. ^^

Another week passed and another event is currently ongoing in Japan.. Called the Tokyo Anime Fair (TAF) ’09, this event will sure tempt you with more wonderful pictures of upcoming and also some new figurines/mechas.. Although its an anime event, there are some figure and mecha companies that are there such as Good Smile Company, Wave and Bandai..

As said earlier on, the event is still ongoing, starting from yesterday (18th March) and it will end this Saturday, 21st March.. Well, I would like to present some pictures that were taken during the event.. Enjoy the pics.. ^^

Lets begin with Max Factory, starting with Figma Mitsurugi Meiya from Muv Luv..

Followed by Figma Golgo 13 from the anime series Golgo 13..

Figma Sonsaku Hakufu from Ikkitousen Great Guardians..

Good Smile Company once again surprised us by showcasing the Vocaloid Nendo Puchi set.. Back then, only the Nendo Puchi Megurine Luka was displayed..

So in the set you can get Hatsune Miku,

Meiko,

Megurine Luka,

And of course Kagamine Rin,

and Kagamine Len.. I still wonder why Kaito wasn’t included.. =3

The next few pictures are all by Good Smile Company, some of them are very lovely IMO though I can’t afford anymore figurines.. ;_; Lets begin with..

Nendoroid Riannon from Tears to Tiara..

Nendoroid Asakura Otome from Da Capo II…

1/8 Scale Sakurai Kanade & 1/8 Scale Sakurai Yukino from Candy Boy..

1/8 Scale Akashiya Moka Awakened Ver. ..

Nendoroid Dorcell from Fireball..

1/8 Scale Kaaya, and

1/8 Scale Fatina from Tower of Druaga by Alter..

Yoko Real Image Ver. from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann by Max Factory… First time I see Max Factory doing a scale figurine.. xD

VF-25G (Gunner/Sniper version) in Battroid Mode from Macross Frontier, Piloted by Mikhail Blanc..

RVF-25 (Reconnaissance version) in Fighter Mode from Macross Frontier, Piloted by Luca Angelloni..

RVF-25 in Battroid Mode..

The Gundam “Life-Sized” statue that Japan is going to build in Odaiba’s Shiokaze Park as part of the “Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project”.. Click here for details..

Seriously, this is totally wrong.. /UNSEE

1/10 Scale Nia Swimsuit Ver. from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann by Wave…

Nendoroid Zange-chan, and

Nendoroid Nagi from Kannagi by Good Smile Company..

Nendoroid Kagamiku from Lucky Star OVA by Good Smile Company..

Now this is another great news.. GSC has finally announced that the “World Is Mine” Miku will be appearing on the market soon.. Back then, it was Mikatan who gave a sneakpeek of the figurine itself.. ^^

During the TAF’09, there was CM by GSC about Black Rock Shooter and what it seems to be a glimpse of “World Is Mine” Miku.. Thanks to Akiba Hobby for the video..

Without further ado, here is the video of the CM itself during the event.. Enjoy~~

GSC’s “BRS & World Is Mine” CM

Next up is the 1/8 Scale of Hatsune Miku CM Ver. by Good Smile Company..

Ranka Lee Limited Ver., and

Sheryl Nome Limited Ver. from Macross Frontier by Ichiban Kuji…

Well, thats all I have about the figurines.. I will end this entry with this wonderful picture of cosplayers spotted during the event.. Hope you enjoyed some of the pictures during the event..

To see the rest of the wonderful pictures, do visit Akiba Hobby(1,2) and Hobby Stock (1,2,3,4,5) and Mikatan’s Blog.. Thanks to Jon (Wcloudx) for this info.. ^^

Another great event called Miyazawa Model Exhibition recently held and there are quite a number of figurines and mechas that are showcased there, some of them are already opened for pre-orders while some of them are on display for the first time after Wonder Hobby 9 and 9.5..

The good news about this event is that there are alot of cool figurines on display to collect, not just by major companies like Good Smile Company or Max Factory but also other companies like Yamato and even BanPresto..

Alot of sites have already posted on the event and lets say that I will also join in the bandwagon as well, so enjoy the wonderful pictures.. xD

Mecha-Type + Nurse = Super MOE!

The 3 new Macross Frontier figurines by Banpresto of Ranka Lee,

Sheryl Nome, and

Klan Klein.. >.<

Wave’s Hiiragi Kagami & Tsukasa School Uniform Ver.. Looks just like the characters in the anime.. xD

One of my favourites, Black★Rock Shooter..

Konata and her mum, Kanata.. Both figurines are by Wave..

Rei and Asuka Meido Ver.

Apart from just figurines, there are also some mechas displayed there and I find some of them quite interesting..

Example is firstly the Perfect Grade [PG] Gundam Astray Red Frame.. I think it comes with 2 versions, one is the standard one with some translucent parts..

The other would be the ARX-7 Arbalest by Alter.. Looks quite interesting to get..

Now back to more figurines action starting with the figma Mikuru.. xD

This one is seriously not what I had in mind.. =3

Another favourite, Nendo Lily Saber..

Upcoming 1/8 Scale Subaru Nakajima by GSC.. More info coming soon..

MegaHouse’s Limited Edition Aludra from Queens Blade..

Duel Maid series.. I forgot her name though.. Click here for details..

1/6 scale Iroha by Yamato..

1/7 scale Shana Brunette Clear Ver. by Griffon Enterprises.

Kotobukiya’s Shigure Asa ‘Special Version’.. Looks quite pretty..

To end it all, a shaking hip for everyone to see.. Well, I don’t know the purpose of this though.. Maybe a inspiration for future figurines to have that?? @_@

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the Miyazawa Model Exhibition 2009 event.. I am happy to see some of the wonderful figurines on display.. Some of them look quite amazing.. Well, everyone will have to wait for the announcements of them opened for reservation.. xD

You can view more amazing pictures of the event by visiting Hobby Stock’s Blog, Akiba Hobby, Mikatan’s Blog, and Amiblo ( 1, 2, 3 ).. Thanks to Jon (Wcloudx) and Panther for this info.. ^^

Yesterday marks a great event in Macross History.. An outing was organised by Terrence at Hong Lim Park to commemorate the launching of the SDF-01 (Super Dimensional Force) ship from Earth [In Macross Timeline].. Yes, even though the exact date itself of the launch was on 9th February, there were quite a number of people who attended the event to coincide with the one that was also held in Akihabara.. ^^

So Hong Lim Park (Known mostly as Speakers Corner) is located in Clarke Quay near the CENTRAL’s SOHO & Shopping Centre.. It was quite a nice and warm day to do such an event..

As told before, there were quite a number of people who attended the event, photographers to of course Macross fans.. xD

Well, we gathered there at around 10am to find a nice place to settle down before we begin the event.. After that, it was all system go.. First up, Terrence was kind enough to bring along his old toy of the SDF-01 Command Ship itself…

Yes, it is the first ship that went into Space and accidently folded itself to Pluto’s space, together with the 2 UN seagoing ships, the landing vessel Daedalus and the aircraft carrier Prometheus.. Although the toy was quite old, it was still able to have it’s arms twisted to positions that was shown in the Macross show..

I simply love this pose of the SDF-01…

It happened when the ship landed on Mars, about to reach the Earth.. The CD is one of the many cd albums of Macross that Shawn collects ( Do tell me if I got the name wrong.. )..

Later on he took out a board which he got in Orchard’s Kinokuniya…

Upon closer look, it was a drawing of Lynn Minmay with a signature of Haruhiko Mikimoto, the original artist for the Super Dimensional Force Macross series… They said it was only 1 out of 3 pieces (Each are different from one another) that are available in Singapore..

Then Shawn later took out alot of classic Macross albums which would be pretty rare to find even in Singapore, maybe even Japan..

One fine example is the music album of Macross 2, autographed by Haruhiko Mikimoto himself…

After awhile, we got to see the SDF-01 ship transformed to its final form which is the Battroid Form.. Times > 9000 of that size and you know how cool it would look like.. ^^

Close-up shot of SDF-01 in Battroid Form..

Battroid SDF-01 with the CDs and the picture of Lynn Minmay..

Ouh yeah, Collateral Damage Studious (CDS) was even there to hand out some Macross Frontier postcards to everyone who attended the event.. It was a picture of Ranka and Sheryl and it looks pretty nice indeed..

Apart from the showcasing of Macross-related items, some of which are rare, there was also some singing during the event.. At the beginning of the event, we sang the “Macross” theme song.. Nearing the end of the event, we then sang “NiangNiang Medore” (Tokumori ver.) and ended the event with the song “Runner”.. Everyone was so happy and enthusiastic when they sing the song..

Apart from those, there was also a discussion period where we talked about the timeline of the Macross series from the first Macross show all the way till Macross Frontier, topics like the battlecruisers and stuff to of course the love triangles which most of you all knows so much about the show..

This is our leader for the day, Terrence..

The event ended at around 1pm and from there on we packed up and went for lunch.. Unfortunately I didnt follow them for lunch due to my dad being sick and I had to take over the driving for my mum who needs to urgently deliver some stuff to her friend’s house.. ^^;;

Although it is quite a pity that I didnt get to talk much with Terrence and share interest about Macross, I had my fair share of fun during the event.. I hope those who attended the event love it.. ^^

P.S.: If you don’t want any picture to be shown here (due to good reasons of course), you can place your comments about it and I will take them down ASAP..

After a few days of blogging, I finally found some free time to review the last of the figurines that I’ve got from the Anime Festival Asia 08 (AFA08) event.. Well, you have seen my short review about the Sega Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin a few weeks back (Click here to read the entry..). Now it is time to review about the Alter Tsuzaki Aoba and the mecha she is piloting; Moribito TYPE2.. ^^

The original price for her is about 6500 yen which is about SGD$100 but during AFA08, she was sold at only SGD$50 (which later reduced to a good price of SGD$40).. I got this chance since I watched the show back then..

Tsuzaki Aoba and Moribito TYPE2 are actually from a manga series which later became an anime series called Jinki;Extend.. It is about two girls who end up piloting giant humanoid robots called “Jinki” (which translates to “man-machine”)..

Here is the OP of the show:

Well, let us begin with the review then.. So I was pretty impressed with how neat and tidy the figurine + the mecha were packaged inside the box.. They are also arranged nicely so that people will be impressed when they open the flap of the box..

I took a good look at the 1/8 scale Tsuzaki Aoba and I fell in love with her.. She comes in her torn and tattered “plugsuit”, showing that she just came back from battle.. This makes her look more manly than she is.. xD

Front-view shot of Tsuzaki Aoba..

However, the suit looks like it is integrated with Tsuzaki’s skin, making the whole battle-worn effects abit weird.. At least that is compensated by her pose and her MOE face.. ^^

Front-view of Tsuzaki Aoba..

Side-View shot of her..

Rear-view shot of Tsuzaki Aoba..

Well, her base is quite simple; black in style which allows Tsuzaki to take the attention like most figurines do.. Her leg is nicely detailed too with abit of shine..

Well, what makes this figurine special (and expensive) is that she comes together with her mecha during the Venezuela arc, Moribito TYPE2.. Well, its not even 1/100 or even 1/144.. Since its not stated on the box, I will just say the scale is about the same as the SD Gundams, though the head is not that big.. xD

I would like to hand it to them, the mecha really looks very detailed, down to it’s edges.. The mecha comes with 2 blades, one for each hand, a rifle and a shield.. Due to time constraint, I’ve only managed to take pictures of it weilding the 2 blades..

Seriously, they both look quite good together though I prefer the mecha to be slightly bigger than the current one.. Apart from that, I simply love them very much.. ^^

Though I can add that Moribito TYPE2 is more than meets the eye.. xD

Caught red-handed.. Now I know why the mecha is made that small.. XP

Well, thats it for this review.. I hope you enjoyed the shots I took using my N82.. I am still amazed at how clear the pictures are even under dimmed lighting.. But I would prefer having a dSLR camera of my own to take some great shots.. I wonder if my current pay is enough.. =3

Well, as for now, I would like to take a good rest and prepare myself for a good run in Dead Space… That game is totally awesome.. ^^