Nemmy got lucky with Grand Theft Auto!

I should have posted this earlier, but I got very engrossed in playing through Grand Theft Auto IV & Episodes From Liberty City and have only just now finished the story missions in those games.

While we're on the subject of GTA, I chanced upon an awesome deal on Steam where they were selling Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes From Liberty City together for £4.99.

I know I lost out on getting GTA IV & EFLC cheap, but being able to own the third era trilogy again for a fiver was enough of an incentive for me!

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Setting foot in Liberty City once again!

Since my last post I've been busy playing (and completing the Campaign mode of) War for Cybertron (it reminds me of the Armada game in some ways), but it should be noted that I had to purchase a Xbox 360 control pad for my PC as trying to play games with the keyboard and mouse just wasn't gonna work for me (sorry, but it's too damn awkward!).

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Never thought I'd be playing this on my PC!

Another change I've enabled for the blog is Dynamic Views, this feature will be entirely optional (as I don't feel like changing the current template I'm using) and can be selected by clicking on either the image of Sakura Matou or the link just above her on the left sidebar.

Personally, I'm not too keen on these new views (they lack customising options for one thing), but they are available for those who wish to use them.

Other than that, I've played and finished Sono Yokogao wo Mitsumete Shimau ~A Profile Kanzenban~ (or as it's more commonly known, A Profile). And I've also added Symphonic Rain to my ever growing visual novel backlog.

Speaking of games...

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The GoBot, The Bootleg and The Chaos Bringer

You may have noticed a few of the changes I've made to this blog (and to The Nerdsphere as well) in the last few weeks like the implemented jump break that can be seen in this very post (I'm planning on using this quite a bit from on), the new numbered page navigation, the use of LinkWithin for related posts (it gives more varied results than the previous method did) and the switching to dlvr.it for posting updates to both Twitter and Facebook (which saves me from needing to use Twitterfeed and RSS Graffiti to achieve the same result).

These changes should make the blog both easier to browse (especially if you're viewing this on a mobile as I've now enabled the template for it, but it currently lacks the options to customise it to my liking) and less problematic to maintain on the social networking front.

Other than that, I've played and completed Rin ga Utau, Mirai no Neiro and I'm currently working my way through Go! Go! Nippon! (which reuses BGM tracks and background images from Edelweiss and Kira☆Kira to a rather shocking degree). And I also have the fully translated YU-NO to play when I find the time (it might be a rather old game, but I've heard good things about it).

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Clearing another backlog of arrivals!

Welcome to yet another very delayed post from yours truly!

Again, I've been very engrossed in playing various visual novels such as Little Busters! (just waiting on the Rin2 and Refrain patch so I can finish this awesome game), We Love Master!, Princess Eris and MangaGamer's new re-translation of Edelweiss (I'm also replaying Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia for total completion sake).

And that's not counting the patches for Hanabira 5 (I haven't even finished Hanabira 3 and Hanabira 4 yet), Shikkoku no Sharnoth and Muv-Luv Alternative (I originally finished it using the leaked patch) which have been released and waiting to be played.

Hell, I even managed to play and complete the highly controversial R***Lay (it should be bloody obvious WHY I'm partially censoring the name of this particular game) in my spare time.


Friday (August 12th), newtownvideo, I received Angel Beats! Complete Collection.


Saturday (August 20th), HobbyLink Japan and junkshopu.s.a., I received...

• chibi-arts Eas
• Dark of the Moon EZ Collection Darkside Optimus Prime

Wednesday (August 31th), AmiAmi, I received...

• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Ixa
• S.H.Figuarts Cure Moonlight
• Revoltech Muv-Luv Alternative Takemikaduchi Type-00R
• Super Robot Chogokin GaoGaiGar (with bonus Overload Effect)
• Super Robot Chogokin Key Of Victory Set 1
  

Friday (September 2nd), envywolfe, I received Timelines Side Burn.


Tuesday (September 6th), the_unbelievable_store, I received Hunt for the Decepticons Tomahawk.


Saturday (September 10th), Yokatta Shipping Service, I received...

• Revoltech Muv-Luv Alternative Takemikaduchi Type-00F
• S.H.Figuarts Shinken Red Kaoru Shiba
• S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider OOO TaJaDol Combo Effect Parts Set

Nemmy is back with a backlog of arrivals!

It has been awhile since I last posted anything on this blog, and the reason for that was mostly a combination of laziness and getting distracted by other things like playing Koihime Musou (which I finally finished), Imouto Ijime (short, but fun) and Yukkuri Panic: Escalation (how the fuck do I get that last scenario unlocked on the 'Qix' based game? I completed the main story mode already!).

Other than that, I've been getting used to TheTF.Net's new forum (the old forum has now been locked and archived) that went live to the masses last week. It's a bit of a bummer having to start over from scratch again, but there is fun to had in doing that I think.

Oh, and I'm now on Google+ too (thanks to Fudgecrumpet sending me an invite).


Monday (three weeks ago), Zavvi.com, I received Claymore The Complete Series.


Thursday (three weeks ago), Argos (Lewes), I received Dark of the Moon Sentinel Prime.


Tuesday (two weeks ago), 276470, I received Dark of the Moon Shockwave.


Friday (two weeks ago), gzoop, I received Death Note Complete Series.


Friday (last week), Toyz And Gamez, I received Dark of the Moon Jetwing Optimus Prime


Friday, TFsource and figure_house, I received...

• Casuality Thundershred
• S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Birth

Saturday, Yokatta Shopping Service, I received S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Faiz Axel Form.

This is all I'm posting here for now, but I'll be further editing this post with better descriptions for the above items later.

A perfect example of pleasure and pain

No toys arrived for me this week, but I did get some DVDs and Blu-rays.


Monday (last week), HMV.com, I received Eden of the East The King of Eden The Motion Picture.

Here's the first of my Eden of the East DVD purchases that I made when I saw HMV selling the series for £5.99. To me that was a bloody good deal for a series I've heard about but never actually seen, so I decided to buy both that and this movie along with it.


Tuesday (last week), Amazon.co.uk, I received...

• Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance Collector's Edition
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 Collection

If I had the option of playing Blu-rays sooner, this is the the version of Evangelion 2.22 I would have bought to begin with as it contains the same DVD I got a couple of weeks ago (hell, this is pretty similar to what happened when Evangelion 1.11 was released last year).

I know I'm still getting used to this whole Blu-ray deal, but even I can tell when a film looks visually stunning in HD (and this is certainly one of those films). You could say it has tempted me into possibly getting the first film again on Blu-ray at some point (if HMV still have their Collector's Edition version of it, I'd be very interested in that one).

As for the second season of Haruhi all I can say is I must be fucking crazy for buying it. If you're asking yourself why, you're possibly one of the lucky few who has yet to experience the pain and misery that is Endless Eight. I don't hate the story behind it, I just hate the fact they dragged this shit out for eight fucking episodes! And considering I first watched these new episodes as they were being aired in Japan that torture lasted for eight fucking weeks!

I think the only saving graces of this box set are the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody episode (cos it ties into The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie for one thing) and The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya and Nyoron! Churuya-san mini-episodes on the bonus disc (even though I feel they cheaped out by only putting half of both on it). I actually find Haruhi-chan more enjoyable to watch than the second season itself (seeing Nagato play visual novels is awesome)!


Friday, HMV.com, I received Eden of the East The Complete Series.

Like I said above, I saw this series going for £5.99 and bought it.

What better way to get started on Blu-ray than with Akira?

Some of my arrivals this week are Blu-ray related as this is first opportunity I've had to actually watch anything on that format thanks to my new PC (it might not be the fanciest method around, but it's all I've got for now).


Tuesday (last week), Amazon.co.uk, I received Summer Wars / The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

I had no intention of getting these movies on Blu-ray as I already own the DVD releases of both, but if you saw Amazon selling this double pack for as little as £7.47 you'd be forgiven for succumbing to the urge of purchasing it there and then without thinking twice about it.


Wednesday, Amazon.co.uk, I received...

• Gurren Lagann Complete Collection
• Akira The Collector's Edition
  

I've wanted to own Gurren Lagann on DVD for a long time, but I was not prepared to splash out roughly £75 for the three box sets that were originally available. Hence why I bided my time for the inevitable Anime Legends release that was more agreeable to the wallet.

Akira is a film I first came across when I was still at school and was able to see roughly half of it when some of the older kids happened to watch it one evening. But when it came to seeing the of it I was told no cos it was a 15 which annoyed me as I was really getting into it.

As the years went on I was finally able to get it on DVD for myself (the version I had was the one with both the original and rerecorded English dubs). However, I seem to have misplaced it somewhere since then and that's where this version comes in. I knew they were doing an HD remaster of Akira, but I had little interest in it until the new PC came and thought "why not test it out with that?" and proceeded to order the Collector's Edition (it was the same price as the standard Blu-ray release and included a booklet, DVD and steelbook case to sweeten the deal).

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.