Space Battleship Yamato Action Movie

Space Battleship Yamato Movie, Takuya Kimura as the lead actor

The other important casts in the movie

Meisa Kuroki as Yuki Mori, Space Battleship Yamato's Tactical Unit's Black Tiger Team

A live action movie of a 26 episodes anime that was released back in 1974

If you like to have a model kit of Space Battleship Yamato, this is one that was released recently by Bandai

For toy collectors, you may go for this trading box parts. Collect'em all to assemble a complete Space Battleship Yamato

Power house collectors can go for Soul of Chogokin Space Battleship Yamato for the metal andweigh

I will be interested in this Susumu Kodai's jacket

Managed to catch the live-action movie of 'Space Battleship Yamato' with my friends, on big screen after much anticipation and having heard that this movie actually topped box office in Japan when it was released December last year. I guessed I have pinned my hope too high. I'm familiar with the ship's design since it didn't change much from my impression I get from magazine and toys. The CGI of this movie is similar or better than those recent Ultraman movies but it's still some steps behind 'Transformers' Movie, at least this is how I felt. The movie started off pretty cool with battle scenes in space and all goes well when Space Battleship Yamato managed to escaped earth until their first 'Warp' aka space fold (Very Macross feel to me). At some points halfway through the movie, the direction kind of lost focus with cheesy scenes simmered into it, which explained the lengthy movie of more than two hours. At the cinema, it's probably half filled with galz who know nothing about sci-fi war movie but there just to see Takuya Kimura. There were always commotions from those galz whenever Takuya was in intimate scenes, oh gosh! As a whole, I think the movie is fairly decent and worth my money.

E.F.S.F GM Water Decal

Time to polish up my skills on waterslide decal! I recently come across this online shop 'Akocreation' that sells fantastic decals and conversion parts. They even have this set of decal that's dedicated to Earth Federation GM. With some practice, I kind of managed to overcome the phobia of applying water slide decal by following these simple instructions like cut out the section carefully with art knife then dipped the cut up portion in water (allowing it to submerge in water for 2 to 3 seconds before taking it out) before finally bringing the portion near to the area you want it to be and carefully transferring the decal by sliding the decal of from the sheet. Once the decal is in place, all you need is to dip dry the area around the decal with tissue or cotton bud.

Full Metal Panic! Anime

I just finished watching 'Full Metal Panic!' on YouTube and I never imagine it to be soo... good. The mecha design of AS (Automatic Slave) aka mobile suit in Gundam, Gernsback M9 was awesome and every mission and fight scenes are stunning. The anime also contained a lot of humor seeing Sousuke Sagara being such a dumbass going undercover bodyguard as Japanese high school student plus on top of his insensitiveness towards Kaname Chidori (She' hot!). It's a short anime of 24 episodes with continuation in 'Second Raid'. Another OVA will be 'Fumoffu' which has the same characters presented in a more hilarious way. After watching the anime, I'm now in search of its code 1 DVD boxiest as well as Gernsback M9 toy/kit. Robot Damashii version seems out of my budget so I think I would settle for a simple kit first.

Macross 7: Fire Valkyrie Miniature Figure

I probably don't need these but I sure won't mind having these Macross 7 Fire Valkyrie gasaphon on my study table so I got fondle with them when I'm bore (Sounded erotic right? Ha! Ha!). The set of gasaphon in three modes of VF-19 Fire Valkyrie released by Bandai, give great sense nostalgic when I found in a basket of sale items at fleamarket selling only at S$2/-. The card was badly battered so I decided to open the toy.

World Invasion: Los Angeles Movie

This is what I went through earlier in the cinema

For those who enjoy movies related to alien colonization plus marines defending their motherland with guts & glory, this is the movie you certainly must not missed. I would say the development of the story is well-organized and the director cleverly does most of the explaining through the marines tuning in to media broadcast on the situations. It's a rather straightforward plot which to summaries, it's like a search & rescue mission that ended up in a mess where everyone struggle to survive. The thing I like about this movie is that it realistically combined the elements of actual gunfire and sci-fic battle. Once the action was triggered, it kind of didn't stop. It's has been quite a while I enjoyed science fiction movie this much and in my opinion, this movie is better than 'Avatar'.

The other thing I would like to share is the movie experience I had earlier at 'Golden Village' cinema, which to me was one of a kind. The movie screen was green on a half (refer to last pic) towards the end of the movie which I first thought the director wanted to show a night vision effect. The green image started to get distracting after almost ten minutes until the screening hang. I could then hear people in the background commenting that this was like watching movie on pirated dvd. Well, the manager did do damage control by coming in to apologize. The movie continued after some hooray hooray but unfortunately, the management didn't play back the part from where the problem started. After the movie ended, pre-recorder audio messages were played to apologize again and everyone was given a coupon to redeem free popcorns for their next visit. I'm not so bothered over the ordeal but this is really first time such thing happened to me in a cinema. Wonder how would you react?

SD Astray Gundam

Ok! This SD Astray Gundam belongs to William but it's a joint project by 'A and D' Production (Alfred and Dennis). It's our maiden joint project so we start on a mini one. Hee! Hee! Alfred did most of the snapfit using his '5 level up Gunpla builder cutter' and I took some time off my regular GM project to touch up this adorable Astray Gundam. Well! I did the usual panel lining first before painting the beam rifle with silver paint. 

More paint jobs were required on the shield and beam saber as they came completely white. The 'Lone' emblem on the shoulder was a stroke of genius by cutting out the printing on the side of the box, reduced it thin and then having it stick on, using double-sided-tape. The final process definitely was the overcoat. Now that is done, I thinking if could we send this SD Red Astray Gundam to participate in Bukuc World Cup Challenge under Group Category. If not, under Junior Category also can! Ha! Ha! I'm spouting nonsense of course!

Record of Lodoss War – Parn Figure

I have this figurine a long time ago but had never seriously blog about it. Record of Lodoss War is such an epic anime series of knight-fantasy and it’s rather unfortunate that there are hardly any figurines on the characters from this classic anime from almost two decades ago. One of those few ever released was this 6″ action figure of the main hero ‘Parn’. The figure was manufactured by ‘Tomy’ that hardly gets export out of Japan. I should consider this figurine more as a statue cos it’s in a fixed pose and there isn’t any point of articulation. The sword is the only accessory (Not even a shield) and it's not able to holster into the scabbard. Still, I'm very grateful that I at least have this rare figure.

1/144 RGM-79G GM Command Ground Type (Vintage)

Got this vintage 1/144 scale vintage GM Command (Released in 1989) on eBay that was already snap-fitted. There's had been some natural weathering but not too obvious on this dull colored MS . All I did was to give it my usual touch-up. I had made a comparison between this and the HG version. Unlike the HG version, the chin of this vintage kit didn't come red in colour and so I had to self paint it. In addition, I had used some spare decals from previous kit on it. Both the size of these 1/144 scale GM Commands didn't differ much beside the old kit looking less proportional due to the thicker waist and boarder torso. Nevertheless, this kit is still look charming in my display cabinet with more GM to join him soon.

Hobbylink Japan Sale Till 8th April 2011

Most of you who had browsed the internet or tuned in to TV/radio will know about Senai earthquake and tsunami. The perilous state of Fukushima’s reactors also had raised concerns to radioactive hazard. Natural disaster of such magnitude had claimed thousands of lives beside stand-stilling human activities. Let us all pray for the dead and give our support in every possible way to those going through this difficult time. Inevitably, the emergency in Japan had also affected the industries related to anime & manga. I had just visited the website of 'Hobbylink Japan' and gotten to know that their warehouse had experienced tremors. Thankfully their staffs are all safe.

However, 30% to 40% of their inventory had ended up on the floor. For those who had ordered toys & Gunpla from Japan, please understand that the items would take longer to come and let's not be fussy on the box condition. This is nothing compared to those suffering from the disaster right now. To lift up your spirit a little, Hobbylink Japan 'HJL' is now having sale up to 80% on most Yamato toys, gasaphon & figurines. I had placed my order for 1/24 Scale USA Patlabor Ingram CLAT which is going @ 65% off. Good deal and it seems my patience paid off.

Cawaii Koohii Maid Cafe

It has been rather enjoyable this week visiting Maid's cafe this week and chilling out with friends by the beach. I'm currently watching Gundam Wing (for the second time) and reading 'Gundam Lost Chronicles' manga during spare time. Well, 4th March marks the day I first stepped into a maid cafe in my thirty-three years of my living life. Lol.... That's something that I won't dare to do lonely. It was Eric who asked me to come along to experience dining at maid cafe. As we entered the cafe, the maids welcomed us with greetings in Japanese language. The cafe isn't big but it's rather cosy with few other male otaku, I presumed. Cawaii Koohii didn't have many main dishes or rather they serve a few easy-to-prepare Japanese curry rice. What the cafe focuses on would be mocha, dessert and mocktail. Some of the signature mocktails are named after anime characters like Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome. It's optional to add vodka to the mocktail for additional cost. Eric and I had ordered cakes and we couldn't help laughing at how kawaii the cakes were presented on the plate. It's served in a big plated created with candy, chocolate, fresh cream, M&M and Pocky. Each time the maids were about to leave our table after taking orders or serving, they would take a bow, courteous way of excusing themselves. There are monitors screening cosplay video in the cafe to entertain patrons. Before we left, I had requested to take a picture with the maids as a souvenir (for a cost using their poloraid camera). You know the rules? No phototaking in the cafe using own camera. Too bad Alfred couldn't join us that day cos he had an important meeting to attend. No worries bro, they shall CHEONG another maid cafe the next time when you are free! Sugoi ne!