Vintage Tonka Grader

I don't know why I had the sudden urge to hop onto Ebay and look for a vintage Tonka Grader toy. Maybe it was the sudden longing for a cherished childhood memory. I actually found one that resembled the toy I had when I was growing up in the late 70's. I initially asked for an Excavator toy because I was so much into construction toys at that time. When my mom came home she brought with her the Tonka Grader toy instead because she couldn't find an excavator.

Bandai HG 1/144 G-Bouncer English Manual & Color Guide

Released this February by Bandai was the 1/144 High Grade G-Bouncer from the ongoing Gundam AGE anime series targetted for a much younger and newer demographic of Gundam fans. Wolf Eniacl dumps his G-Exes to pilot the G-Bouncer in the next installment of Gundam AGE and in the process leaves a hole in our pocketbooks and a fleeting sense of contentment in our hearts *snicker*

Bandai HG 1/144 Adele English Manual & Color Guide

Max's and Arisa's Adele Mobile Suit from the Gundam AGE anime series was launched this month by Bandai as a 1/144 High Grade model kit. The Adele is a mass production mobile suit of the Earth Federation Forces. It carries on the proud tradition of the venerable GM from the very first Mobile Suit Gundam anime series that was also a mass production mobile suit.

Video of Lego Millennium Falcon Build

Saw this first at an article at CNET. Its an amazing video of Francisco Prieto that took 3 years to make. This is a video of the building of Han Solo's Millennium Falcon using Legos. Trully amazing.

1/60 VF-4G Lightning III information page at Yamato Toys

Yamato Toys posted via twitter yesterday that the information page for the 1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-4G Lightning III from Macross VFX is already up in their website. It is basically the same information they posted at their WonderFes booth. They will however update the information from time to time.

Bandai MG 1/100 Duel Gundam Assault Shroud English Manual & Color Guide

Released this February by Bandai is Yzak Joule's Duel Gundam with Assault Shroud. This was released as a 1/100 Master Grade model kit. The Duel Gundam was from the Gundam Seed anime. It was part of the group of Gundams stolen by the ZAFT commando unit comprising of Yzak Joule, Arthrun Zala, Dearka Elsman and Nicol Amalfi. Other Gundams stolen by the command unit were the Buster, Blitz and Aegis.

Transformers 4 Movie Confirmed

Was surprised to find out via (very old) this Huffington Post article that Transformers 4 is a Go, as confirmed by Director Michael Bay. It's slated to be released by June 29, 2014. I wonder how they'll pull that off, considering that a lot of the characters were already killed off in the 3rd movie? I hope Ironhide comes back though.

MakiBox A6 - $300 3D Printer

Interesting proposition from Hong Kong based Makible, they're looking for funders for the $300 ($350 actually for the base donation) 3D printer that they are developing. You can read more about it here, here's the page where you can fund the project , for the minimum amount of $350 you will receive a Makibox A6 Kit. I'm assuming that shipping cost is not included in that donation?

Happy Birthday Shoji Kawamori

According to his wikipedia entry (English, Japanese), today is Shoji Kawamori's 52nd Birthday. Otanjoubi Omedetou Gozaimasu Kantoku-sama! Original picture is from Danny Choo's site.

1/60 VF-11B w/ Super Pack by Yamato Toys Transformation English Manual

Released in 2009 was Isamu Dyson's 1/60 VF-11B w/ Super Pack by Yamato Toys from the Macross Plus OVA. I already made of a review of the 1/60 VF-11B w/ Super Park and you can find it here. It's truly a superb toy in it's class and really upholds the reputation of Yamato Toys as artisans in the field of collectors with the inventiveness and attention to detail that they put in their 1/60 Macross line of toys.

Happy Birthday Aya Endo

Today is Aya Endo's 32nd Birthday. If you are Macross Frontier Fan then you will probably know her as the very talented voice actress behind Sheryl Nome (speaking part only, May'n does the singing). She posted her Thank You's to the fans at her blog.

Changing a Shock Absorber

One of my car's shock absorber got busted. Instead of a taking it to the shop I'm planning to fix it myself. I pulled out that busted shock absorber early one day and bought a replacement during a lunch break. Because of this I suddenly remembered a friend from the old days.

Addicted to Kingdom Rush

Addicted to IronHide's online Flash Game, Kingdom Rush. You can play it online for free here, where its hosted at Armor Games. Its currently selling for $0.99 at the Apple Appstore for the Ipad. If you are playing online, the games are saved as long as you enable the browser settings to allow cookies.

1/60 Macross Gunpod Size Comparison

Looking at the 1/60 scale VF's in my display case, I couldn't help but notice how large the Gunpod of the 1/60 VF-11B is for its size. Which just begged the question, who has the bigger gun? Well this isn't a complete comparison because I don't have any of the 1/60 Macross Zero VF's by Yamato Toys nor most of the DX Macross Frontier line of Bandai, but I guess this is close enough.

Happy Valentines Day

Am not one to post about Valentines day but I just had to post about how profound the video on google's home page right now is with regards to love and relationships. Google usually changes the header of its home page to celebrate the day's special occasion, this time its valentines day.

Bandai HG 1/144 Zedas R English Manual & Color Guide

Released last month by Bandai is the Zedas R, from the lastest Gundam anime, Gundam AGE. This model kit is a 1/144 High Grade kit. Prior to this model kit, Bandai released also the 1/144 HG Zedas in November of last year. Like its predecessor, the Zedas R is a transforming mobile suit that can acquire a flying mode form. In the anime the Zedas R is piloted by Zehato Gareto.

1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-11B with Super Pack by Yamato Toys

Transformation Manual for the 1/60 VF-11B was translated to English and can be found here.

Got this last month from HobbyLink Japan, the 2009 released 1/60 VF-11B with Super Pack from Yamato Toys. The VF-11B Thunderbolt was first seen in the opening segment of the first episode of the Macross Plus OVA. Macross Plus is considered as the successor to the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime that came out in the early 80's.

Bandai HG 1/144 Dorado English Manual & Color Guide

Another mech from the Gundam AGE anime series was released by Bandai this month and this was the 1/144 High Grade variant of the Dorado. One thing I found interesting about this mech design is the beam rifle that's mounted on a tail at the back. In a mechanical sense it acts as a support for firing and can be quickly stored at the back for travel, quite novel actually. Somebody at Bandai just loves scorpions *snicker*

Matchbox Armoured Cyclone Photos

Just playing around with the camera settings again and using my Matchbox Armoured Cyclone as a model.

1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-4G Lightning III by Yamato Toys Schematics

Yamato Toys posted on their twitter account that schematics of the VF-4G Lightning III from Macross 2012 will be available at GA Graphic, here. The VF-4G is being released as part of the celebration of Macross' 30th Anniversary.

1/60 VF-17 Super Pack by Yamato Toys and more

Yamato Toys just announced today that they are unveiling a Super Pack set for the recently released 1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-17 Nightmare at their 2012 Winter Wonfes Booth. Interesting development indeed. Not sure either if it is a limited release web exclusive or a regular item.

1/100 MG RMS-099 Rick Dias Photos

Just taking some test shots with the camera in different settings while using my MG RMS-099 Rick Dias as a model. This was my first ever Master Grade kit and the Rick Dias is my most favorite mecha design from the Gundam Universe.

Marvel Superheroes Role Playing Game by TSR

Found this while rummaging through my stuff. Its my collection of the Marvel Superheroes Role Playing Game made by TSR. TSR is the same company that brought you the Dungeons and Dragons Game. I got this around 1986. I got the Basic Set and the Advanced set, along with some two other optional reference books. What was different between the Basic & Advanced set?, the rules were a little bit more complex for the advanced set.

Bandai HG Gundam AGE-2 Normal English Manual & Color Guide

The next evolution of the Gundam AGE-1 mobile suit is the Gundam AGE-2 Normal. This 1/144 High Grade kit was released this month by Bandai. Unlike the original Gundam AGE, the Gundam AGE-2 normal can transform to a wave rider like mode from its robot mode.

Removing Batteries from Stored Toys to Prevent Damage

I've been meaning to do this ever since I stored my Leader Class Starscream in my display case. Which is to remove the two AA batteries in the toy that are used to power its voice box. After having a lot of electricity powered devices destroyed by leaking batteries in the past I've been obsessed with making sure to remove batteries when storing electronic devices.

Bandai 1/100 MG Gundam Heavyarms EW Ver English Manual, Color Guide & Paint Conversion Chart

Trowa Barton's Gundam Heavyarms was released this month by Bandai as a 1/100 Master Grade kit. The Gundam Heavyarms was one of the primary Gundam Mobile Suit's of the Gundam Wing anime series. And like its name, this Gundam packs quite the punch with a Beam Gatling Gun and an array of missile launchers draped all over its body. It also has a small beam saber hidden in its arm as a backup weapon.

The Pacific

Just finished my movie marathon of The Pacific which first came out in 2010 and was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. This is an accompanying series to the 2001 released Band of Brothers. This is my second time to watch this as I first watched it when it came out in 2010. The series comprises of 10 episodes being about 50 minutes long.

Curious about Cubify

I was curious about the announcement of 3D systems for Cubify in this article. According to the post its going to directly compete with Makerbot's thingiverse, but it seems that it also has its sight set for Shapeways. Its still in its beta phase however.