Yamato Toys at the Wonfes 2011 Summer

Update: Up for pre-order already at some online hobby shops.

Just saw this today at Amiami Blog in their coverage of the Yamato Toys booth at the 2011 Summer Wonder Festival (Wonfes).

1/60 DX Chogokin VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie Alto Custom Renewal Ver Pre-Order

Update: I see it being sold at Amazon for $178.20

Was excited by the news this July that Bandai was doing a version 2 of the DX Chogokin 1/60 VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie of Alto Saotome that originally came out in December 2008. The version 2 is scheduled to be released by October of this year, pre-order had already started in some online hobby shops based in Japan.

Bandai 1/100 VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie Alto Custom English Manual & Color Guide

1/100 Fighter mode only rendition of the venerable VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie of Alto Saotome from the Macross Frontier anime. This is a great desktop model that you can keep in your workplace because its small enough to not clutter up your desk and can be easily stowed in your drawer to save it from being stolen *snicker* I just love the design of the VF-25 Messiah by Shoji Kawamori, never gets old for me and kinda makes me want to boom de yadah boom de yadah...hehehe

Bandai HG 1/144 RGM-86R GM III English Manual & Color Guide

GM III that came out in the second episode of Gundam UC OVA and was made into a 1/144 High Grade kit by Bandai. GM's are the cannon fodder units in the Gundam universe that make the bad guys like good whenever they blow them up. This is as opposed to the Zaku, which makes the good guys look good *snicker*

Takara Tomy 1/35 Dual Model Kit Bumblebee English Manual & Color Guide

Posted before that the DMK Bumblebee and Optimus Prime by Takara Tomy at the 50th Shizuoka Hobby Show was what stole the show for me. As a model kit builder I have no qualms about the Bumblee Bee model kit not being able to transform to car mode. Because usually after I finish building a robot model kit I wouldn't dare to transform it. Least I scratch the paint job that took a very long time to finish (what with the drying and the countless layers of paint applied.

Takara Tomy 1/35 Dual Model Kit Optimus Prime English Manual & Color Guide

Dual Model Kit (DMK) Optimus Prime Model Kit by Takara Tomy from the Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie. I'm not really a fan of the Transfomer Movie Toys released but this version of the iconic Optimus Prime by Takara Tomy caught my eye. Was truly impressed with the realistic rendition of the model kit in keeping with the design in the movie.

Dark Knight Rises

Official Trailer to the Dark Knight Rises movie was released recently to wet our appetities. According to the trailer the movie will be shown in the Summer of 2012. Still a year off for fans of Christopher Nolan's interpretation of the Batman franchise.

Sale on Yamato Toys at HobbyLink Japan

Announced today was a sale on Yamato Toys products at HobbyLink Japan. Sale will last till August 8, 2011 at 6PM JST.

Gratitude

You hear the word "giri" a lot in samurai related films or anime as it means duty, honor, an obligation, debt of gratitude, sense of decency and social obligation. This word has been floating around in my mind a lot lately. My father once told me to always be cautious about what you receive from others as it will always entail something in return.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Coming this December is Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. A sequel to the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie that was bannered by Robert Downey Jr (Holmes) and Jude Law(Watson). And with this trailer I finally get to know that Jarred Harris will play Holmes' arch nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Of course in the first movie the appearance of Moriarity was already foreshadowed so that the audience already conditioned to think that a sequel was indeed coming out.

MegaForce

Looking at the movie now from my age, I can't help but note how cheesy it was. But in the eyes of a grade schooler, the 1982 movie MegaForce was Academy Award material *snicker* A 2.9 rating in IMDB won't faze me... hehehe

Blender Tutorials at BlenderCookie

Spending my weekend free time today watching getting with started Blender Tutorials at Blender Cookie. What better way to spend one's weekend than by picking up something new to learn.

Kotobukiya 1/72 HMM DPZ-10 Dark Horn English Manual & Color Guide

Dark Horn from Zoids made into a 1/72 HMM model kit by Kotobukiya which was released September of 2010. I just realized that I'm naturally inclined to Zoids because of two things it has in it that tickles my fancy: mecha and dinosaurs. Judging from the design of the Dark Horn, I'm assuming that its design was based on a Monoclonius. Compared to the earlier released Red Horn, the Dark Horn is more heavily armed, packing a plethora or guns, cannons and missiles all over its body.

Reservoir Dogs

Just finished watching Reservoir Dogs last night, 19 years after it first came out, and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. This film was Quentin Tarantino's directing debut. Reservoir Dogs tells the story of a botched robbery where the remaining survivors of the crew of robbers try to get to the bottom of the mystery of the identity of the gang member who betrayed them.

MG OO Gundam Seven Sword /G for Pre-Order

I'm a bit late in posting about this but most online hobby shops have already put up for pre-order the announced Master Grade OO Gundam Seven Sword /G of Setsuna F. Seie from Gundam 00 Season 2. Announced release date of this is on September 2011.

VF-25A Messiah Valkyrie Cannon Fodder/Mass Production version

Was looking at some old pictures in my computer and found this screen capture I made when I was watching an episode of Macross Frontier. Though its designation was never mentioned, I'm assuming that the cannon fodder variant of the Messiah would be known as a VF-25A. This is the cannon fodder variety of the VF-25 Messiahs being used by SMS squadron.

Shapeways starts shipping locally in the US

Here's some welcome news from the Shapeways blog for people living in the United States. An announcement that they started shipping locally in the United States from the city of New York. I guess that means that they already have a set of 3D printers there to print out your 3D models The benefit of this is that if you are living in the United States and order to have your 3D model printed out at Shapeways you don't have to pay import duties and extra shipment charges charges.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is in my opinion the second greatest book ever written (the first is the Bible for me). Written by the famous Chinese general, Sun Tzu it is considered to be one of the oldest military strategy books ever written. It is considered mandatory reading in some military colleges and was said to have been carried by Napoleon and Chairman Mao during their respective life times.

Design & Build Your Own Model Kit by using a 3D Printer

Been doing some research lately on the internet and I've realized that one can easily jump right into the garage kit business without any sculpting skills. Where you can make your own model kits for sale or personal use using the currently available technologies and services. Definitely you'd need drawing, spatial relation skills as well as a fertile imagination. How is this possible? Well by means of outsourced 3D printing services available right now and a little design skill on your part (well you can outsource that too if you like)

Patton 360

Currently watching Patton 360 right now which came out in the History Channel. Patton 360 is a 10 episode documentary by Flight 33 Productions on the life of famous World War II General, George S. Patton Jr.

MG Figurerise Fang Joker English Manual & Color Guide

Fang Joker from the Kamen Rider W series. This is one of the variants of Kamen Rider easily distinguishable with its Black and White motif and the bad ass saber it possesses as a primary weapon. The saber in the model kit comes in the form of the Shoulder Saber, Arm Saber and the kick-ass Maximum Saber!

1/100 VF-1J Battroid Hikaru Ver by Wave English Manual & Color Guide

1/100 model kit rendition by Wave of the iconic VF-1J Valkyrie of Hikaru Ichijo from the original Superdimension Fortress Macross that came out during the 80's. This model kit is only in Battroid mode, something to watch out for when buying this kit. This model kit came out around June of last year.

Doing Good has its Rewards

Slightly off topic from the regular fare of this blog but I think its a story worth writing about. This happened a couple days back and I'm posting about it only now. Last week our neighbor knocked on our house and told us that she found a baby heron scampering about on her way home. She didn't know what to do with it and didn't want to leave it where she found it because the local cats would most likely feast on it.

MG Figurerise Kamen Rider Skull English Manual & Color Guide

Kamen Rider Skull from the Kamen Rider W series that was made into a 1/8 scale MG Figurerise Bandai. Off the bat I have to say that I like the macabre design of Sokichi Narumi's Kamen Rider Skull suit. And the added touch of elegance and class with the torn fedora hat and flowing white scarf.

MG Figurerise Kamen Rider Accel English Manual & Color Guide

Released around March of this year was the Kamen Rider Accel figure as part of Bandai's MG Figurerise line of model kits. Kamen Rider Accel comes from the Kamen Rider W series of the long running Kamen Rider franchise. Aside from the hot metallic red color, the thing that really appeals to me with this action hero is his ability to transform into a bike. And kudos should also go to Bandai for having made a very accurate 1/8 model kit of Kamen Rider Accel in the form of this MG Figurerise rendition

Kotobukiya 1/10 Rock Man English Manual & Color Guide

As a child growing up in the eighties I was exposed to the video game Rockman via the Nintendo Famicom. So I was happy to see that Kotobukiya decided to make a 1/10 model kit of this iconic character from the 80's. This kit came out in the latter part of last year.

Killer Elite

Scheduled to be out by September this year, Killer Elite. It is based on the book The Feather Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes and features an all star cast: Robert De Niro, Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Yvonne Strahovski from Chuck fame.

Kotobukiya 1/72 HMM RZ-010 Pteras Bomber Jamie ver English Manual & Color Guide

Came out last May, Jamie Hemeros' Pteras Bomber from Zoid New Century Zero as a 1/72 HMM model kit by Kotobukiya. This was the air attack component of the Blitz Team in the anime series. Sadly though the timid nature of Jamie Hemeros also reflected on the effectivity of the Pteras Bomber during combat. As the series progressed, Jamie Hemeros switched from flying the Pteras Bomber to the more agile Raynos.

1/60 VF-19 Kai Fire Valkyrie Sound Booster by Yamato Toys for Pre-order

Along with the announcement of the release of Basara Nekki's 1/60 VF-19 Kai Fire Valkyrie from the Macross 7 anime series by Yamato Toys was an announcement for a 1/60 Sound Booster for the said 1/60 VF-19 Fire Valkyrie.