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sparkywolfI know you've been waiting for this, especially you, kael. :P So I decided to kill what battery life my iPhone had to bring you the following pics from my toku and anime collection. Dad wouldn't let me add any more, or else this pic-spam would be even more epic, so *ahem* I look forward to filling up all that empty space you see with SH Figuarts, but for now, this set up will do. XD
Please, step into Sparky's mini Bandai Japan Toy Museum exhibit. x3 Admission is free! :DDDDD All pictures have been resized, so feel free to zoom in for a closer look. ^^b
We're gonna go from left to right here. First up, Transformers Beast Wars Neo Corada! Guy transforms from a cobra to a cowboy looking dude wearing his snake head as a poncho over his body, with a very nice looking conquistador hat to boot. His mouth opens to reveal a small weapon which can be used to squirt water at lazy people unable to get out of bed in the morning. He's also very realistic looking down to the scales, and can twist in all sorts of positions. He can even be posed rearing up like a real cobra about to spit at you...but don't worry, water isn't poisonous, last I checked. ^^;
Next to him is my favorite SH Figuart, Kamen Rider OOO, Tatoba Combo! Standard Figuarts articulation on this guy. Elbow, wrist and YES, toe joints (do you want to see him tiptoe? He can do that! >:P) make him very pose-able and worthy of your collection. What my phone fails to show you is his beautiful green compound eyes that really do shine when light strikes it at just the right angle. Just be aware that if you pick him up (literally) be careful, as his wrist claws can literally poke you...hard. Trust me, they're capable of drawing blood and should not be played with by the ignorant kid! Also be aware that the hinges on the shoulders may flap about too, as they're quite loose to enable rotation at the shoulders. His sword, beautifully reproduced and lacking very little detail from its full sized, screen used counterpart, is also pointy and can stab an eye out. It's also useful for slicing open taped packages in the event you lack a knife. XD I wouldn't recommend using it for that purpose though. One thing you have to be aware of is that he does have loose accessories, like that Scanner he's holding, ready to do a Triple Scanning Charge to finish off an unsuspecting big snake in his path. It pegs onto his belt but can be easily loosened with a little nudge. I cannot count how many times I've had to crawl around the floor looking for it. UUUUUGH.
And you know Eiji. He's almost never seen without his trusty, handy (LOL) friend, Ankh. Yes, Ankh is literally just an arm (if you've seen the show you know why) that floats around molesting children and stealing Popsicles (only, it's Japan, so you have to call them ice candy) from stores and fridges everywhere. That, and Medals. Lots and lots of Medals. Since an arm only has one point of articulation, that being the wrist, Ankh can't do much, hence why he comes with a stand so that you can mimic him floating around the place. Unfortunately this is not a very show accurate toy and you'll need to purchase a separate, more show-accurate and colorful set to get the accessories he should have come with, like a stand with a huge pile of Medals for him to nom on, hands holding the Tatoba Medals and 3 ice candies, and a curved "RAWR" hand where he looks like he's going to grab you, as shown above. But while I'd like to have a better looking arm ready to scare people the moment they walk into my room, I do like the fact that this guy came with an exclusive stand that says "Don't mind the song!" on it. (This refers to the fact that whenever OOO transforms into Tatoba or any one color combo, the transformation belt sings, and he's telling you to NOT mind the fact that superheroes must have very talented voices to look and sound cool. ;D ) The other set only has a blank Tamashi Stage stand, which just looks BLAH without the Medal accessories attached.
Now we come to the first Megazord I've ever owned in my entire life, the Jungle Pride Megazord. Who doesn't like wild cats? I do like the fact that while it has the standard Power Rangers Zord articulation, it does have the ability to extend its arms lengthwise like in the show for a battery powered Savage Spin feature. Yes, it can make you dizzy, but fear not! It does not have lights in its claws that will cause dizziness and possibly seizures. Other than that, it is exactly the same as its Japanese counterpart, and if you girls ever want to um, pet a "cool cat," just flip up the blue Jaguar's sunglasses to reveal its actual eyes and stare into their dreamy gaze for hours. The mouths of the cats are also quite tight, have imprints of tongues on the inside, and can be used to hold sticky notes of vital importance for the stressed out college bound student. (I used to write my To-Do list on sticky notes and make them hold them, lol, until I could finish the chores.) Just...don't put the Tiger on your printer like I did. It looks cool that way, until you realize you use the scanner function of your printer WAY more than necessary, and have to keep putting it down on the floor for annoyed roommates to trip over every time they come back from the dining hall with arms full of popcorn and Fritos and the occasional Jenga container. ^^; (Unfortunately for me my dorm furniture was TINY, and sophomore dorms did not come with a shelf designed for midget females. So I had to set my toys on my printer due to the lack of room and inability to utilize extra shelf space. :P)
Attached to this set is the Rin Lion and Chameleon SP set. As they're movie-exclusive mecha for the most part, they were quite costly (You must be a die-hard fan like I am to want to pay $65 for this.) Many fans imported, fearing it would not make it to the States, until it did, at the last minute. And for those of you wondering what the differences between the American and Japanese ones are, it is...NONE. I believe that Rangerboard members reported that there is no difference (even the Japanese logo and Toei logo can be seen in the American set. Those of you who have Titanus from MMPR may also want to flip over your toys if you haven't already and go "OMG OMG OMG" when you see that the original Zyuranger logo is on the bottom of your childhood mecha. Bandai America used to import stuff without modifying the molds, hence why some of your toys may actually be the Japanese versions, just covered with crappy American stickers with a shit-load of lightning bolts that look, well, yucky. Fortunately, for those of you wishing to "Japanify" your old MMPR toys with show accurate stickers, Reprolabels can ship you a set or two, or three (how they managed to get a good scan of the original Japanese toy stickers, I have no idea, as a yet to be stickered Daizyujin, Dragon Caesar, or King Brachion is very hard to come by. Why not? After all, I do think those lightning bolts were a bit too much. -_-" Don't settle for BOA's crappy stickers. KILL THEM. KILL THEM ALL WITH FIRE!!!)
I LUV PONIES. Nuff said? I just wish they had included Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash in the set, and for heaven's sake Hasbro, if I see one more Pinklestia I will scream. Other than that, I do like their show accurate looks (though why is the cutie mark on only one side?) and this is the only set that has Spike in it so yes, you will need this if you want a Spike figure for your collection. The lack of articulation doesn't bother me in the slightest here, though I wonder why girls' toys rarely have moving parts. >_>" Injustice! *goes off to shake her fist and rant Wufei-style* This is also the only set on my dresser that's not manufactured by Bandai, tee hee.
Sparky would be silly if she did not take this set out to ring in the Year of the Dragon. Rider And Monster Set Kamen Rider Ryuki and Dragreder are ready to Rider Kick the New Year to a great start here. Let's start with Ryuki, being the boring one of the set because he's just, well, an typical action figure with all the joints you'd expect to see in an action figure and absolutely no gimmicks. Unlike the Figuarts version, Ryuki does not come with a moveable Dragvisor on his arm and there's no belt sliding gimmick that will enable you to recreate the henshin sequence. And he doesn't have any diecast parts, despite what the silver paint there might indicate otherwise. The various circular slots on his body serve as anchor points for various parts of his dragon, which can be disassembled to give him special weaponry. (Tail=sword, legs and silver belly armor become shoulder armor/guards, head=fireball throwing action *Note: Toy does not replicate everything its screen used counterparts can do*)
Dragreder, on the other hand, is beautifully recreated in toy form using his various CGI models from the show. He's missing some paint, notably the red on his horns and the black on his tail/Ryuki's sword, but is a nice looking Chinese dragon shaped Mirror Monster. Since this set came from China, it's not surprising that the paint job is just so sloppy that it chips off really easily, as is visible above on his silver belly. D: And his removable parts are really loose. Fortunately the white looking stripes you see along his sides are really metallic stickers and the white is really reflective (yes, you can check to see if you have pimples by looking at him. I even have used him to see if my hair is straight in the mornings before I go out. XD). And it sticks. I was worried about peeling stickers but it is not the case here. Overall, great, great looking figure. Like Corada, he'll twist in almost any direction you want to put him in and all his individual segments can be rotated 360 degrees. He's also capable of balancing on only two of the multiple segments that make up his body if positioned right for the most awesome looking ready to chomp your hand or head off pose. A Tamashi stand would serve me well here to prevent further paint chipping and to keep him aloft, but I like him as he is right now...proud, regal, and ready to defend his master in the face of danger.
Only available to certain lucky people in Japan, my Kyogre keychain-turned-shelf-warmer just looks purdy. If only he came with a wave effect piece to make it look like he's breaching like a real humpback whale. D: Other than that I believe he's very show accurate and while the paint job on the other side is kind of sloppily done for a lucky draw item, he still looks pretty cool. ^^b The fins and flippers are made of a softer plastic than the rest of the figure so they can bend a little, but other than that, this thing lacks articulation. It'll just sit there looking purdy on my shelf until I decide to take it down.
We now move on to the prized jewel of my collection and yes that is Twilight's butt in the way. <_<" *nudges her aside* Scoot, little pony. GoTaurus (known to some as the Torozord from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy), looks mighty regal with its shiny silver stickers, chrome shoulder armor, and even chrome hooves. (the American version of this toy shared the same mold but lacks the luster the Japanese version has, save in the shoulders, which have no gold stickers to cover up two very large gaping holes, presumably to show you just how hollow its limbs are. The hollowness is good, because this thing is DARN heavy. Yes, you can use this guy as a dumbbell if you lack the exercise materials you need in gym. He's that good for building up muscles, especially when lifted with his partner, Bull Black (Magna Defender). XD) The back hooves are hollowed out as well, but are diecast metal, and so can be used to gauge how cold a room is, since they're very temperature sensitive. I have been able to roughly tell how cold outside is just by touching those! *nods*) Articulation is limited to the hooves, which can rotate 360 at the "ankles" and shoulders. The legs can be straightened for transformation purposes and also rotate 360 (so that it gains about an inch in height in Megazord mode).
Overall, the bull is a chogokin (this meaning that it has die cast metal in it) brick, but his rider sure isn't! Bullblack has nice leg movement at the crotch (don't think anything pervy now! D:) and he can turn his toes completely downward without screaming in pain. XD He also has elbow and wrist articulation, which is more than most chogokin toys in the early days have, I think. All the black you see on him is metal, so he's much more heavy than you'd think. Unfortunately his stickers are peeling from constantly being molested (hey, he can't spread his legs himself, so someone has to do it, and forgive me if I suddenly caused anypony to think naughty thoughts!), so I'm going to have to find some way of gluing them down. >_>"
I hope you've enjoyed your stay in Sparky's Bandai/Hasbro Toy Museum. I hope to see you again for the next exciting tour! ^_^
Please, step into Sparky's mini Bandai Japan Toy Museum exhibit. x3 Admission is free! :DDDDD All pictures have been resized, so feel free to zoom in for a closer look. ^^b
We're gonna go from left to right here. First up, Transformers Beast Wars Neo Corada! Guy transforms from a cobra to a cowboy looking dude wearing his snake head as a poncho over his body, with a very nice looking conquistador hat to boot. His mouth opens to reveal a small weapon which can be used to squirt water at lazy people unable to get out of bed in the morning. He's also very realistic looking down to the scales, and can twist in all sorts of positions. He can even be posed rearing up like a real cobra about to spit at you...but don't worry, water isn't poisonous, last I checked. ^^;
Next to him is my favorite SH Figuart, Kamen Rider OOO, Tatoba Combo! Standard Figuarts articulation on this guy. Elbow, wrist and YES, toe joints (do you want to see him tiptoe? He can do that! >:P) make him very pose-able and worthy of your collection. What my phone fails to show you is his beautiful green compound eyes that really do shine when light strikes it at just the right angle. Just be aware that if you pick him up (literally) be careful, as his wrist claws can literally poke you...hard. Trust me, they're capable of drawing blood and should not be played with by the ignorant kid! Also be aware that the hinges on the shoulders may flap about too, as they're quite loose to enable rotation at the shoulders. His sword, beautifully reproduced and lacking very little detail from its full sized, screen used counterpart, is also pointy and can stab an eye out. It's also useful for slicing open taped packages in the event you lack a knife. XD I wouldn't recommend using it for that purpose though. One thing you have to be aware of is that he does have loose accessories, like that Scanner he's holding, ready to do a Triple Scanning Charge to finish off an unsuspecting big snake in his path. It pegs onto his belt but can be easily loosened with a little nudge. I cannot count how many times I've had to crawl around the floor looking for it. UUUUUGH.
And you know Eiji. He's almost never seen without his trusty, handy (LOL) friend, Ankh. Yes, Ankh is literally just an arm (if you've seen the show you know why) that floats around molesting children and stealing Popsicles (only, it's Japan, so you have to call them ice candy) from stores and fridges everywhere. That, and Medals. Lots and lots of Medals. Since an arm only has one point of articulation, that being the wrist, Ankh can't do much, hence why he comes with a stand so that you can mimic him floating around the place. Unfortunately this is not a very show accurate toy and you'll need to purchase a separate, more show-accurate and colorful set to get the accessories he should have come with, like a stand with a huge pile of Medals for him to nom on, hands holding the Tatoba Medals and 3 ice candies, and a curved "RAWR" hand where he looks like he's going to grab you, as shown above. But while I'd like to have a better looking arm ready to scare people the moment they walk into my room, I do like the fact that this guy came with an exclusive stand that says "Don't mind the song!" on it. (This refers to the fact that whenever OOO transforms into Tatoba or any one color combo, the transformation belt sings, and he's telling you to NOT mind the fact that superheroes must have very talented voices to look and sound cool. ;D ) The other set only has a blank Tamashi Stage stand, which just looks BLAH without the Medal accessories attached.
Now we come to the first Megazord I've ever owned in my entire life, the Jungle Pride Megazord. Who doesn't like wild cats? I do like the fact that while it has the standard Power Rangers Zord articulation, it does have the ability to extend its arms lengthwise like in the show for a battery powered Savage Spin feature. Yes, it can make you dizzy, but fear not! It does not have lights in its claws that will cause dizziness and possibly seizures. Other than that, it is exactly the same as its Japanese counterpart, and if you girls ever want to um, pet a "cool cat," just flip up the blue Jaguar's sunglasses to reveal its actual eyes and stare into their dreamy gaze for hours. The mouths of the cats are also quite tight, have imprints of tongues on the inside, and can be used to hold sticky notes of vital importance for the stressed out college bound student. (I used to write my To-Do list on sticky notes and make them hold them, lol, until I could finish the chores.) Just...don't put the Tiger on your printer like I did. It looks cool that way, until you realize you use the scanner function of your printer WAY more than necessary, and have to keep putting it down on the floor for annoyed roommates to trip over every time they come back from the dining hall with arms full of popcorn and Fritos and the occasional Jenga container. ^^; (Unfortunately for me my dorm furniture was TINY, and sophomore dorms did not come with a shelf designed for midget females. So I had to set my toys on my printer due to the lack of room and inability to utilize extra shelf space. :P)
Attached to this set is the Rin Lion and Chameleon SP set. As they're movie-exclusive mecha for the most part, they were quite costly (You must be a die-hard fan like I am to want to pay $65 for this.) Many fans imported, fearing it would not make it to the States, until it did, at the last minute. And for those of you wondering what the differences between the American and Japanese ones are, it is...NONE. I believe that Rangerboard members reported that there is no difference (even the Japanese logo and Toei logo can be seen in the American set. Those of you who have Titanus from MMPR may also want to flip over your toys if you haven't already and go "OMG OMG OMG" when you see that the original Zyuranger logo is on the bottom of your childhood mecha. Bandai America used to import stuff without modifying the molds, hence why some of your toys may actually be the Japanese versions, just covered with crappy American stickers with a shit-load of lightning bolts that look, well, yucky. Fortunately, for those of you wishing to "Japanify" your old MMPR toys with show accurate stickers, Reprolabels can ship you a set or two, or three (how they managed to get a good scan of the original Japanese toy stickers, I have no idea, as a yet to be stickered Daizyujin, Dragon Caesar, or King Brachion is very hard to come by. Why not? After all, I do think those lightning bolts were a bit too much. -_-" Don't settle for BOA's crappy stickers. KILL THEM. KILL THEM ALL WITH FIRE!!!)
I LUV PONIES. Nuff said? I just wish they had included Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash in the set, and for heaven's sake Hasbro, if I see one more Pinklestia I will scream. Other than that, I do like their show accurate looks (though why is the cutie mark on only one side?) and this is the only set that has Spike in it so yes, you will need this if you want a Spike figure for your collection. The lack of articulation doesn't bother me in the slightest here, though I wonder why girls' toys rarely have moving parts. >_>" Injustice! *goes off to shake her fist and rant Wufei-style* This is also the only set on my dresser that's not manufactured by Bandai, tee hee.
Sparky would be silly if she did not take this set out to ring in the Year of the Dragon. Rider And Monster Set Kamen Rider Ryuki and Dragreder are ready to Rider Kick the New Year to a great start here. Let's start with Ryuki, being the boring one of the set because he's just, well, an typical action figure with all the joints you'd expect to see in an action figure and absolutely no gimmicks. Unlike the Figuarts version, Ryuki does not come with a moveable Dragvisor on his arm and there's no belt sliding gimmick that will enable you to recreate the henshin sequence. And he doesn't have any diecast parts, despite what the silver paint there might indicate otherwise. The various circular slots on his body serve as anchor points for various parts of his dragon, which can be disassembled to give him special weaponry. (Tail=sword, legs and silver belly armor become shoulder armor/guards, head=fireball throwing action *Note: Toy does not replicate everything its screen used counterparts can do*)
Dragreder, on the other hand, is beautifully recreated in toy form using his various CGI models from the show. He's missing some paint, notably the red on his horns and the black on his tail/Ryuki's sword, but is a nice looking Chinese dragon shaped Mirror Monster. Since this set came from China, it's not surprising that the paint job is just so sloppy that it chips off really easily, as is visible above on his silver belly. D: And his removable parts are really loose. Fortunately the white looking stripes you see along his sides are really metallic stickers and the white is really reflective (yes, you can check to see if you have pimples by looking at him. I even have used him to see if my hair is straight in the mornings before I go out. XD). And it sticks. I was worried about peeling stickers but it is not the case here. Overall, great, great looking figure. Like Corada, he'll twist in almost any direction you want to put him in and all his individual segments can be rotated 360 degrees. He's also capable of balancing on only two of the multiple segments that make up his body if positioned right for the most awesome looking ready to chomp your hand or head off pose. A Tamashi stand would serve me well here to prevent further paint chipping and to keep him aloft, but I like him as he is right now...proud, regal, and ready to defend his master in the face of danger.
Only available to certain lucky people in Japan, my Kyogre keychain-turned-shelf-warmer just looks purdy. If only he came with a wave effect piece to make it look like he's breaching like a real humpback whale. D: Other than that I believe he's very show accurate and while the paint job on the other side is kind of sloppily done for a lucky draw item, he still looks pretty cool. ^^b The fins and flippers are made of a softer plastic than the rest of the figure so they can bend a little, but other than that, this thing lacks articulation. It'll just sit there looking purdy on my shelf until I decide to take it down.
We now move on to the prized jewel of my collection and yes that is Twilight's butt in the way. <_<" *nudges her aside* Scoot, little pony. GoTaurus (known to some as the Torozord from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy), looks mighty regal with its shiny silver stickers, chrome shoulder armor, and even chrome hooves. (the American version of this toy shared the same mold but lacks the luster the Japanese version has, save in the shoulders, which have no gold stickers to cover up two very large gaping holes, presumably to show you just how hollow its limbs are. The hollowness is good, because this thing is DARN heavy. Yes, you can use this guy as a dumbbell if you lack the exercise materials you need in gym. He's that good for building up muscles, especially when lifted with his partner, Bull Black (Magna Defender). XD) The back hooves are hollowed out as well, but are diecast metal, and so can be used to gauge how cold a room is, since they're very temperature sensitive. I have been able to roughly tell how cold outside is just by touching those! *nods*) Articulation is limited to the hooves, which can rotate 360 at the "ankles" and shoulders. The legs can be straightened for transformation purposes and also rotate 360 (so that it gains about an inch in height in Megazord mode).
Overall, the bull is a chogokin (this meaning that it has die cast metal in it) brick, but his rider sure isn't! Bullblack has nice leg movement at the crotch (don't think anything pervy now! D:) and he can turn his toes completely downward without screaming in pain. XD He also has elbow and wrist articulation, which is more than most chogokin toys in the early days have, I think. All the black you see on him is metal, so he's much more heavy than you'd think. Unfortunately his stickers are peeling from constantly being molested (hey, he can't spread his legs himself, so someone has to do it, and forgive me if I suddenly caused anypony to think naughty thoughts!), so I'm going to have to find some way of gluing them down. >_>"
I hope you've enjoyed your stay in Sparky's Bandai/Hasbro Toy Museum. I hope to see you again for the next exciting tour! ^_^
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-15 11:21 am (UTC)Kamen Rider, Zoids, Dragons, Pokemon and Ponies!!!! :D
How cool!!! I bet you will get more as time goes on too. ^O^
There the sort of thing that you just have to handle because theres so many things to move! XD
no subject
Date: 2012-01-15 03:41 pm (UTC)If I wind up moving out of here, yeah, there's a lot of boxes to move. And whaddya know, I still have most of the boxes my stuff came with. It's just easier to move stuff when they're in their original packaging. I hardly throw out my toy boxes, especially the ones from Japan.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-15 03:46 pm (UTC)*O*
Its good that you keep the original boxes.^^ And nice too! :)
Though I imagine that it must be hard trying to work out how to get the things back in the boxes again sometimes. XD
no subject
Date: 2012-01-15 03:51 pm (UTC)I wouldn't dare throw out my BOJ stuff. The boxes just look way better than their American packaging, and they're sturdier too.
And yes, it is hard trying to put stuff back sometimes. XD Especially if I don't remember how things looked when I first opened them! Thankfully most of the plastic inserts have very detailed outlines of the accessories, so I have little trouble remembering where everything should be stored.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-15 03:41 pm (UTC)