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.

A lone Transformer for when my attention isn't drawn elsewhere

Just when I thought I was done with playing visual novels for awhile I found out a partial for Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru Episode 8: Twilight of the Golden Witch was released (and that's not even factoring in the recent release of Demonbane), but before I got started on Episode 8 I've been busy replaying Episode 7 as lead in to it (the Tea Party is still the highlight of it for me).

Other than that, there was a single arrival that came my way.


Tuesday (last week), Kapow Toys, I received Generations Warpath.

I'll admit I was that hyped about Warpath when I first saw him, but after getting the toy in-hand I'm actually quite impressed with him. I think my favourite part about him is the transformation itself, and I especially like the head reveal from pushing in the turret. There isn't anything really negative I can say about it.

A long awaited purchase is finally here!

I've near enough finished playing Kotori Love Ex P now (I only need to get the remaining CGs and scenes in D.C.P.C. when I can be arsed to do so). Although I do wish they added some more depth to Ayumi's involvement in KotoriPlus (I was hoping for one least one RAGE ending dammit!).

Anyway, time for this week's arrivals.


Tuesday (last week), figure_house, I received S.H.Figuarts GARO.

This Figuart of GARO really beings home the fact I've been in this collecting game for a good many years now.

The first GARO I got was the Souchaku Henshin pretty soon after I watched the series, and it was a good representation of GARO too. However, the armour pieces did have a tendency of falling off when you least wanted them to do so.


Wednesday, xxliloandstitchxx, I received Animated Blackout.

Like Lugnut before him, Blackout is a big Decepticon with a toy far smaller than he deserves. Even so, the only real let-down of it for me is the lack of outward poseability in the arms.


Friday, boomingisland, I received CLANNAD ~After Story~ Complete Collection.

The continuation of CLANNAD, and I was quite vocal about it too when the series was airing in Japan.

One thing about the set that baffles me though is they swapped the play order of the Summary Episode and Kyou Arc OVA, but the menu shows the two episodes in their correct Japanese release order.

Another addition to the Rodimus addiction

My lateness in posting this is more due to the usual habit of getting too engrossed in playing a new VN.

The VN in question this time is Kotori Love Ex P, a compilation of Kotori's routes from various VNs such as D.C.P.C., D.C. White Season, D.C. After Seasons and C.D. Christmas Days (grouped together as Kotori LOVE!), along with a expanded version of D.C.I.F. (referred to as Kotori EXTASY!) and of course the new KotoriPlus (menu listed as Kotori PLUS!).

But that's enough about that as a few items did arrive for me this week.


Saturday, h1130315 and markh, I received...

• Animated Black Rodimus
• Dark Designs trade paperback
• Rage in Heaven trade paperback
  

Animated Black Rodimus was a toy I wanted to get since the first images of it appeared. They took the already awesome as hell Animated Rodimus mould (that I own in various forms) and gave it a very Shattered Glass-esque colour scheme (it should go without saying that it is now my favourite version of the toy).

Dark Designs and Rage in Heaven were a couple of TPBs I've been interested in getting for awhile cos I've heard the old Generation 2 comics were actually pretty good.

I have a Transformer with my name on it!

It made a nice change to have a week where I mostly received nothing but Transformers related arrivals.


Tuesday (last week), @darkageis, I received Reveal the Shield Windcharger.

Windcharger is quite the awesome little Scout. He has a nice looking vehicle mode, a fun transformation, and a decent robot mode. Since his arrival he's been a permanent fixture besides my PC.

Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing a few repaints of this guy (I'd especially like to have Rook).


Thursday, FansProject, I (firstly) received Blesser.

Blesser is a very special addition to my collection because FansProject made it as a sign of support to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan by starting a campaign in which contributors who donated $15.00 or more to the Red Cross and provided them with proof of their donation(s) would receive a Blesser (an inverted colour Sidearm limited to 1500).

What makes this even more special is that the tech spec card was personalised to each contributor by having their name printed as the human partner of Blesser.


I decided to have Shadow Scythe wield my Blesser as I felt I should keep these treasured FansProject items together (although it does kinda go against Blesser's function as a rescuer to be paired with this corrupted Protector).


Thursday, Frankie (a.k.a. toyspark), I (secondly) received...

• United Autobot Set
• United Decepticon Set
  

What originally drew me into wanting these sets was the blue crystal Hot Rod (I have a thing about collecting that Rodimus mould), but after transforming Scrapheap (the new head mould is nice), Cyclonus (always an awesome toy no matter what colour its in) and Scourge I'm really liking the other redecos in these sets (especially Scourge, he's the highlight of the crystal Decepticon trio).


Saturday, Kapow Toys, I received...

• Generations Wheeljack
• Generations Thundercracker
• Kup 01 Head Kit
  

The main item of interest for me here was the replacement heads for Generations Kup. Once you've attached the new head it makes Kup look so much nicer than he did before with the official head.

The waiting for Eas has finally come to an end

Quite a few items arrived for me this week, a couple of which I wasn't expecting to see just yet.


Tuesday, AmiAmi, I (firstly) received S.H.Figuarts Shinken Gold (with Kuroko).

The next Super Sentai character to get a Figuart release after ShinkenRed was none other than ShinkenGold. However, I was not as blown away by him as I was with the aforementioned figure, but he does come with some cool pretty cool accessories like the Sakanamaru, DaiGoyou and the Ika and Ebi Origami.


Tuesday, Fan2Fan, I secondly received...

• Animated Optimus Prime Elite Guard Ver.
• S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Joker
  

This is the Elite Guard version of Optimus Prime that required the purchasing of the Animated Encyclopedia (which I bought last year) in order to obtain it. I have yet to open it cos I'm weary after what happened to the tab on my Black Optimus Prime.

There's not much to say about Kamen Rider Joker (that I haven't already mentioned on different occasions). The figure is pretty much the same as the other uses of the mould barring a few minor differences like the Lost Driver and lack of the silver striping in the middle.


Wednesday, TFsource, I received...

• Causality CA-01 Warcry
• Causality CA-02 Flameblast
  

Even though I own Explorer and Munitioner, this'll be my first proper handling of these moulds outside of using them as limbs (cos they've remained that way since the day I got them). Although when I first heard these were getting repaints I was hoping they'd come with the combiner parts so I could have attached them to my Super Link Bruticus.


After opening them and having a bit of tinker with them, I've found they're quite pleasing as standalone toys. But if I had to pick one over the other, I'd probably say Flameblast is my favourite (the dude just looks menacing as hell).


Thursday, hiro_suri, I received S.H.Figuarts Eas.

I very nearly almost gave up on ever getting Eas cos it took so damn long to get here, but to be fair the seller wasn't really at fault (for some reason it got returned to him after he originally posted it out to me).

Nevertheless, this figure was worth waiting for as it gives me the villainous version of Setsuna before she became Cure Passion.


Saturday, I received Universe Classics War of the Waves.

Now these were given to me as an Easter present by a couple of friends who popped over briefly for a visit. And even though I have the original releases of these moulds, I'm still very happy to have them.

Without Muv-Luv I might not have got this

Another week of arrivals for me to post about (even though I'm late in doing so again).


Wednesday, all_your_music, I received Rumbling Hearts The Complete Series.

Just so we're clear, I'll be referring to this series as Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (or simply KimiNozo) from this point on.

Anyway, I've mainly known of KimiNozo from playing Muv-Luv (and seeing Akane play a role of importance in both Muv-Luv Extra and Muv-Luv Unlimited), but it wasn't until I played through the rest of Muv-Luv Alternative and saw Haruka and Mitsuki show up that I decided to get the anime (as the KimiNozo visual novel hasn't been translated yet) so I could learn more about these characters and better understand some of the references made to KimiNozo.


Saturday, wonderonlinestore, I received figma Nodoka Manabe.

Nodoka was the only K-ON! character I didn't have the figma of as I unfortunately missed the deadline in being able to order one last year, and the secondary market prices were pretty high too.

But thanks to a couple of eBay vouchers I was finally able to get one for roughly half the cost.

A GunBuster for the palm of my hand!

No items arrived for me last week, but I did have a couple of things which kept me busy for awhile.

Firstly, I had recently found out there was a leaked patch that translated almost all of Muv-Luv Alternative (and playing that to completion was an utter joy).

Secondly, I've also started playing through the epilogues on Sharin no Kuni, Yuukyuu no Shounenshoujo (never thought I'd see those translated after the Houzuki route standalone was released last year) and have already finished the epilogues for Sachi and Touka.


Tuesday, AmiAmi, I received Revoltech GunBuster.

I haven't had much of a chance to properly check out GunBuster yet, but from I can see of it inside the box looks rather impressive.

Not to mention it's nice to have a GunBuster I can easily fiddle with (my Soul of Chogokin GunBuster is far too valuable for that).


Thursday, supermart_usa, I received CLANNAD The Motion Picture.

Another re-imagining movie by TOEI, but unlike the Air movie I found this one to be really enjoyable even though it differs from the series.