Here's two more black repaints for the collection

I guess my visual novel habit has taken a firm hold of me once again cos for the last week or so I've been rather engrossed in playing Koihime Musou (I still have my anime and toku backlog to get through dammit!). I did try starting the game on my old PC originally, but unfortunately that was around the same time the damn thing was beginning to give me various problems.

We then had another long ass power cut on Tuesday that lasted for over six hours (you can probably imagine how pissed off I was at that) which delayed my write-up on posting about the following items.


Monday (last week), AmiAmi and Amazon.co.uk, I received...

• S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider OOO TaJaDol Combo
• S.H.Figuarts Cure Sunshine
• Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance

The TaJaDor Combo (I'm more used to seeing it spelt that way in the fansub I watch) was the one form of Kamen Rider OOO that made me want the Figuart after it made its début in the show. But having said that I do think it's bloody annoying that Bandai are selling the wings and other accessories as a Tamashii Web Store exclusive.

Cure Sunshine was the next PreCure to appear in HeartCatch PreCure after Cure Blossom and Cure Marine. Like I said when I got those two, I have the urge to get every character they release as a Figuart from this show (I already have Cure Moonlight on pre-order).

I've seen the second Rebuild of Evangelion movie a few times already thanks to it being fansubbed when it was released on Blu-ray in Japan (although I had to wait for a SD encode of the movie before I could watch it properly as that old PC of mine absolutely sucked when it came to watching stuff in HD), but I did plan on buying the DVD release of the film as soon as it was available for purchase in the UK anyway.


Tuesday (last week), HobbyLink Japan and BigBadToyStore.com, I received...

• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Black
  
• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Black RX
  
• S.H.Figuarts Shadow Moon
• Clear Protector

I do own the original Shouchaku Henshin figures of Kamen Rider Black, Kamen Rider Black RX and Shadow Moon, but these Figuarts don't really feel like much of an vast improvement when compared to them to be honest. Even so, they do look a hell of a lot better than before, but apart from their appearance there isn't that much of a drastic difference in the actual design of the figure.

I pre-ordered the Clear Protector (I don't get why they're calling it clear, its crystal dammit!) soon after it was announced as I feared at the time that might be as limited as Shadow Scythe, but from looks of things now that doesn't appear to the case.

Luckily I already had a Henkei Sons of Cybertron Rodimus ready to attach the armour onto before it arrived so I didn't need to face any unnecessary hassle in trying to obtain one now.


Saturday, ehobbybase, I received United Darkside Optimus Prime & Darkside Megatron.

War for Cybertron Optimus Prime getting a black repaint was something I had been wanting since I first got the toy, but I wasn't that interested in the black repaint of War for Cybertron Megatron until I saw images of the finalised product.

Darkside Optimus Prime has more of a Black Convoy colour scheme than the Nemesis Prime colour scheme Hasbro uses, but unlike a lot of Black Convoy repaints Takara-Tomy have done lately this one is actually a Decepticon instead of an Autobot.

As for Darkside Megatron, holy shit! The colour scheme here is pretty similar to that of Animated Shadow Blade Megatron and it looks bloody awesome.

Out with the old PC and in with the new PC

I made the decision last week to replace my 7 year old PC and I did just that as I'm now in procession of a brand new Acer Aspire M3400 (which cost me £400, but it had to be done really). Unlike my old PC this one is vastly more powerful and has no problem meeting my current computing requirements (another reason for choosing it was the fact it can play Blu-ray discs).


Tuesday (last week), AmiAmi, I received...

• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Faiz Blaster Form
• figma Kamen Rider Onyx
• Revoltech Danboard Yoku Dekimashita Ver.
  

I do own the Shouchaku Henshin of Faiz in his Blaster Form, but the S.H.Figuarts release a vastly improved representation of it. One notable addition is the massive pink blade of doom that you can attach to his sword to make it look far more imposing.

figma Kamen Rider Onyx (a.k.a. Kamen Rider Ryuga) is a very nice figure in its own right (I'm a bit disappointed there was no changeable head with glowing red eyes though), but for me S.H.Figuarts is still the preferred choice when it comes these type of figures (if there's a S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Ryuga on the horizon, I am so gonna get it). However, I do favour the figma stands over those from any of the S.H.Figuarts I've acquired.

This version of Revoltech Danboard is a re-release of the figure with a 'Very Well Done' mark slapped on both it and the base. I've had a fondness of this figure since it originally came out and even went to the trouble of getting the Amazon.co.jp and 7-Eleven versions of it too.

More robots should come with a trident

There's one thing I'm gonna have to consider real soon, and that's buying myself a new PC. My current PC has served me well these last 7 years (I originally got it in the tail-end of 2005), but it has now got to the point where it can't even handle what I usually do on it effectively as before without giving me some serious gripes.


Tuesday (last week), AmiAmi and biginjap, I received...

• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider NEW Den-O Strike Form Trilogy Ver.
• S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider SkullCrystal
  

I've been wanting a figure of Kamen Rider NEW Den-O for quite some time (since his début appearance in fact), but the last S.H.Figuarts release of it was a Tamashii Web Store exclusive and as such commanded a high price on the secondary market.

Kamen Rider SkullCrystal is basically a re-release of Kamen Rider Skull with some minor differences and some new accessories (like the little plastic caps which aid to prevent you from scratching the paint on Skull's head when he's wearing his trademark fedora).


Thursday, kooldealz2005 and perfect_entertainment, I received...

• Hunt for the Decepticons Terradive
• Masked Rider The First

Terradive wasn't a Transformer I was too interested in getting at first, but the appeal of the trident had me looking for it on eBay and I think you can probably guess the rest.

I decided on buying Kamen Rider The First somewhat on a whim cos I saw it listed for £8.32 including shipping on Amazon, that is all.

Sometimes it's good to be a cheapskate

Since my last post here I've finished the partial patch for Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru Episode 8: Twilight of the Golden Witch, successfully added (after much customisation) a related posts widget to both this blog and The Nerdsphere's blog, and listened to the Shut Up and Watch This! commentary for Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (I learned a few things about that film that I never knew before).

I also got a fair amount of arrivals during the week too.


Tuesday (last week), Amazon.co.uk, I received Code Geass Complete Season.

Code Geass was a series I came across mostly by word of mouth (I forget the exact details of how and where I discovered it) a few years ago. At the time I likened it to as Death Note with robots, and in some ways that impression still stands.

I had been tempted many a time to get the previous box set releases for this series, but the cost of them coupled with the fact it'd no doubt appear on the Anime Legends label at some point resulted in me waiting until now to finally have it on DVD.


Wednesday (last week), TFsource, I received...

• Timelines Dion
• Kup 02 Head Kit
  

Dion, the IRN-BRU coloured turd. I heard the Universe Classics Hot Shot mould had some problems, but damn, this shit is bad. The Mini-con, Cop-Tur, is a worthless piece of shit that can't even stand in robot mode unless you hunch it over. And Dion himself has one of the worst cases of kibble around the shoulders I've ever seen.

There's not a lot said about the Kup heads. They're the same as before, but painted to match the e-Hobby United Kup.


Thursday, theentertainertoyshop, I received Hunt for the Decepticons Starscream.

I happened to see Starscream listed at a reduced price of £25 and decided that was a good price for him.

After opening him (and injuring my finger cutting the bloody twist ties) I soon proceeded to transform him for the first time without using the instructions, and by doing so I think I have a greater appreciation for this toy. If you were to get only one movie iteration of movie Starscream, this is the one to go for in my honest opinion.


Friday, kerrisontoys, I received...

• Power Core Combiners Bombshock + Combaticons
• Power Core Combiners Crankcase + Destrons
  

I never really took that much notice at the Power Core Combiners until I saw all the attention they were generating on Twitter recently. I chanced upon an auction that was selling two of the 5-packs (using pictures of Skyburst and Stakeout that didn't match the description) for under £19 including shipping and thought why not.

Crankcase was the first to be opened and left me with a positive impression of the drone gimmick. Bombshock on the other hand has a few issues like the drones not wanting to stay attached and falling over a lot which does annoy me.