ASTROTRAIN G1 DELUXE EDITION

Recently, me and my wife went to a mall somewhere in makati (manila philippines). Then i saw a regular toy store named "Kids Station", actually we went in there to by my niece a birthday present. After roaming around for like 45 minutes, I stumbled into a Transformer section. Then i saw this ASTROTRAIN figure....

It really caught my attention because it was on sale, 50% off dudes! Anyway, this ASTROTRAIN DECEPTICON figure have some special features. First, it can transform in 3 ways: Robot Form (of course), a NASA space shuttle and a bullet train. it's about 3 or 4 inches tall, highly detailed sculpture and paint design, good for display and IT's TRANFORMERS man!!!

It really captivated the original design of ASTROTRAIN, it is an enjoyable toy and anyone can appreciate it! Even the people who doesn't know the series will definitely like this figure

MY COMMENT: Just buy it! that's all!

IRON MAN ROCKS!!!!

TF Classics StarScream Masterpiece

First announced when the THS-02 Hybrid G1 convoy was released in early 2006. Multitudes of STARSCREAM fans eagerly anticipated this new edition to the premium Masterpiece line. Later on crazed STARSCREAM fans rejoiced when they received an announcement that the new STARSCREAM will be designed by MACROSS co-creator and original pre-Transformers Diaclone designer, Shoji Kawamori. This new mold as everyone was predicting was ripe for repainting to create the other seekers and coneheads.

Later, when the beta pics began leaking over the internet, everyone was crazed as STARSCREAM's robot mode looked exactly like he did in the old Generation 1 cartoons. Until a month later when the painted samples were revealed, everyone wondered why their favorite Decepticon Air Commander was painted blue, and his robot mode was only 10" tall. This led to some solid fans deciding to skip MP-3 altogether and wait for a show accurate version. Much like what they did to the G1 re-issue Transformers collection Starscream who was repainted to match his anime cartoon version.

FORGE COMICS BY CROSSGEN

Perhaps one of the infamous graphic novel in the comic world... The Forge Comics..
I saw this comic book in a local bookstore near at our village, It really caught my eye because of it's pocket book feature. We all know that there are comic books out there that are compiled like a book novel (i.e. Manga Comics), although these kinds of comics are not colored and they are drawn in an anime style. Of course there several DC and marvel comics that are hard bounded and stuff but they are all too expensive!

The forge comic collection is a cheap one, for only $7.95 (but now it's on sale so it's about $2 now).
It doesn't have much value like DC, IMAGE, and MARVEL comics but it's quite fun to read. It features 5-6 totally different stories, Interesting characters and the artwork itself is perfect, Similar to Jim Lee's artworks.....

The only bad catch here is... It's not quite worth a show to die-hard comic collectors, these collections are only good for your bookshelf and for past times and stuff...

My Comment? Well the price is cheap than DC or MARVEL... hmmm.... It's up to the readers if they'll like it or despise it...

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance Iroquois Pliskin Figure

I'm a very big fan of solid snake, throughout the years since the 8-bit era, i've been into solid snake's legacy.
One time i was on my way home I accidentally ran into a hobby toy store, then i saw this eye capturing item... An Iroquois Pliskin Solid Snake table top figure, an actual figure from the game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Substance. it's about 2.1 inches tall, with a polygonal stand.
The sculpture and paint are well made, even Snake's sideburns are good. This hot item is for certified metal gear fanatic, You will not appreciate this kind of collectible if you haven't played any MGS games especially the Sons of Liberty episode.

My Rating? 9 out of 10.... This figure is for exclusive metal gear freaks!!!

Devil May Cry Coin Top Figure

For "Devil May Cry" fan out there, these coin top figure set is for you!... The complete collection consists of 6 figures:
Dante A, Dante B, Trish, Lucia and 2 monsters from devil may cry 2. Every characters have their own sets of weapons, Dante A and B got his famous ebony and ivory dual 45 caliber action pistols, a bazooka, and his 3 swords used from the game. While, trish carries a big sword and .45 dual action pistols, and finally lucia carries 2 daggers and 2 shurikens.


Except for Lucia, the figure sets also include a blast effect thing that goes with the gun barrels and on the monsters. This helps the design to go more realistic as possible.

These toy collections can do various poses, especially Dante A and B. You can make these toy figures more fancy than the game itself!
The only catch here is, the toys are so small... You can lose it in an instant. For a small toy set, these collections are quite expensive. You can avail the complete set for at least $20 or php1,000.

My Comment? You have to be a Solid Devil May Cry freak to appreciate these toy collections. By the way these have very strong toy values because these are the only Devil May Cry 2 figure sets that's been released...

Batman Dispaly Figure (Deceiving)

Look at this photo, it's a Batman Begins Display figure, as you can see it has a full detailed sculpt, good paint and the stand looks awesome. But did you know that this display figure is not authentic? This figure is just hand painted! It came from a local company here in the philippines that makes hand painted DC characters. I bought this for only $2!! it's not on sale by the way, it is sold in it's original price.

This toy does not have any value or something. It's good only for display for your desk or cabinet.

My comment? Buy this display figure if you're only a true batman fanatic or if you have a passion for display kits and not caring about the toy value.

4D Puzzle Model Kit Collections

My wife is a Fighter plane fanatic... She's into fighter planes so much, she actually collects every fighter plane model kits that she sees from hobby shops and some department stores (in the toy section). Then one time, we saw these bizarre puzzle model kits in a Toy section from SM (Shoe Mart) department store here in the philippines. It's Called the 4D Puzzle. the model kit contains 25 or more pieces of plane parts and other stuff. The 4D puzzle model kits comes in Fighter Planes, Helicopters, Pirate models, Animals, etc....

We bought this F15 model kit, about 3.5 inches long from tail to nose, comes with stand and it's packed in a helmet case, it only cost around $3, it's so cheap you can buy multiple planes in a week.
By the way the design sculpture is great, it looks real!

My comment? Hmm... Not bad to invest on, the price is very cheap, you can complete these collections in a month!

Star Wars Snowspeeder display kit

I bought another item here in the philippines, The STAR WARS Battle packs Unleashed Snowspeeder Assault. I got this toy 50% off!!! it's on a pull-out sale as well, like my GI JOE SIGMA 6 Snake Eyes with Timber action figure i posted the other day.

This display kit contains 3 items, the Snowspeeder, a Snow figure stand with a crash point hole, and a mini figure of luke skywalker dressed as a rebel pilot. This toy shows an exact replica of the battle in planet hoth from episode 5 "Empire Strikes Back". The sculpture of the snowspeeder is excellent, it features an opening cockpit, Opening Hatches on both sides and a landing gear at the bottom. The paint looks awesome, plus the harpoon launcher on the back looks real.

The Snow crash point figure looks cool too, you can alternate the poses of the snowspeeder, you can either display it in a flying pose, or the crash landing pose.. It comes with a transparent stand by the way....

uuhh... The Luke Skywalker figure is ok, not that great but it looks ok. It features a lightsaber that looks like a bluish jelly thing, and his perfectly crafted rebel pilot uniform... Well it matches the whole theme anyway so i would say this Display kit is a must buy item... Especially for Star Wars fans out there.

My Rating? hmmm.... GET ONE NOW!!!

Armored Core AC-001 Mirage C01-GAEA

Recently kotobukiya released a series of model kits based on the very popular video game Armored Core 3 for the playstation 2 console. Kotobukiya has always been know for it's highly detailed and perfect execution of action figures and statues, so the expectations are high for this new line of model kits. As if that weren't already enough, the structural design of the robots come from the one and only shoji kawamori, The mechanical designer of Macross and Masterpice Starscream.
AC-001 mirage C01-Gaea model kit, or AC-001 to make it short, is an armored unit based on the design of the mecha with the same name. AC-001 is a Snap-on model kit, which particularly means no glue is required to stick the parts together. The model kit comes in a sealed box. Inside are 12 sets of spruces ( 11 for parts and 1 for the connector ) and a detailed manual that will help you assemble the armored unit.. the only catch is it's written in japanese, but you don't have to worry about that matter because you do not required to learn how to read japanese because the illustrations are well detailed.
You can move the parts of the armored unit, so that you can choose poses you want.
The Sculpture is excellent, it's better than the one you see in the game plus it looks really really cool!

My conclusion:
This model kit is for hardcore robot hobbyist, or for solid armored core fans. You must have an experience in modeling and maintenance, You don't want to waste a fortune right?!

GI JOE sigma 6 Snake Eyes Action Figure

Probably one of the best sculptures i have ever seen in the line of GI JOE toy series. The Snake Eyes GI JOE sigma 6 says it all, the sculpture design totally captures the one from the cartoon itself, complete with katana blade, shurikens, a snow board and his old pal timber. this toy looks a lot like GRAY FOX, the cyborg ninja from hideo kojima's masterpiece METAL GEAR SOLID from the playstation 1 console.....

I had this in the philippines for only php700.00 ($15) only.. well actually, its on a "pull-out" sale hehehe, so i took the opportunity of buying it! anyway, there's a blinking red light on it and i don't really know what's that for, actually all of the sigma 6 figure has it.

And talk about the box design, Man! you'll feel bad taking it out of the box. The box is very well made, coverings and design are all top notch and not only that, the 2 ends of the box can be also a weaponry case....

My overall rating is... just two words................
BUY IT!!!!

War Within Optimus Prime

Titanium transformers is one of the newest line of transformers toys to be released in the toy industry, The toy line features die-cast built with a good number of articulations. one of the first figures to be released is the long awaited war within optimus prime. Ever since Don figueroa drew the art for dreamwave comic's transformers war within, there was never an action figure to represent optimus prime. Sure, there was a statue and recently a small 3 inch die-cast figure, but there were no transforming yet. and what is a transformer that can't transform.. well.. that is not a transformer that's for sure. For the reminder of the review, this toy will be referred to as WWOP ( War Within Oprimus Prime )

Upcoming Metal Gear 4 Guns of Patriots

Konami and Kojima productions certainly made a big break, The Metal Gear series. We have all followed Solid Snake's adventure from The original metal gear from nintendo NES until the metal gear portable ops from PSP.
Solid Snake and The Big boss' tales were very very intriguing, and now the whole world is now waiting for the much anticipated METAL GEAR SOLID 4 = Guns of the Patriots.

This episode features the events after the Big shell incident in new york... The trailers shows how solid snake turned into a grumpy looking old man, and by old i mean he can now collect his monthly pension *lol*

Anyway, i think this "Last episode" will be the end of the line for snake, one trailer showed snake putting the gun into his mouth. this is very very exciting don't you think? Especially the raiden part, He doesn't look like so girly anymore, in fact he looks like a cyborg ninja and fights incredebly.
DAMN! i should get a freakin' PS3, cmon its METAL GEAR 4 for crying out loud.

Perfect Transformation Valkyrie VF-1 Macross

i'm an avid toy collector and a big fan of the japanese anime series MACROSS. i just recently bought a valkyrie VF-1 action figure, it's about 3.5 inches tall, complete transformable features: the Battroid (that's the robot form), The Gerwalk, and of course the tradition Fighter plane form.
It's a great collectible, although my only complain here is it is not that quite durable, i mean the parts of this robot can be detached easily and its quite hard to put 'em together. anyways the sculpture is quite good especially for a average sized toy, It really emulates the main valkyrie used by rick hunter, UN SPACY's best valkyrie pilot.

This is definitly a must have collectible toy. be sure to avail one!