beamknight87blog

50 Myth Cloths!

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:19:00 +0000

Holy shit, just got this, much earlier than what I originally planned.

Thank you very much, saintren, be sure that your Poseidon ROE is now in good hands and I will take care of it accordingly.
And with this, my grand total of figures finally reaches the magic number of 50! 20 more to go...

Power of Repaint

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Bandai, oh you...

Haha, oh wow!
I knew the Myth Cloth figures would soon fall prey of the "Zaku repaint syndrome" and here is the proof. A golden Pegasus V2 "Power of Gold" just like we saw it during the Poseidon saga for sale exclusively in Japan just like the Andromeda God Cloth OCE through webstores (don't bother, unless you IP is Japanese, you can't purchase this thing).
But how shameless, the figure is sporting an old G1 body and they merely slapped in the head of the Pegasus V3, fuck you Bandai, at least you could have given the figure a G3 body like the Pegasus Broken version or added an extra or something else to make it worth it but no... whatever, it supposedly costs 4,775 yen, but dealers all over the net are already placing preorders for 10,000 yen! WTF, I would suggest using that cash to get the Poseidon ROE at least or even better, the Pegasus Genealogical Gold (which has REAL gold all over it) in HLJ for that price.
Does this mean we will be getting the other 4 Bronze Saints in golden armor as exclusive items? I would dare to say yeah, most probably. For me, this is a joke, I'm already satisfied with my V2 Bronzes using spare G2 bodies and they look awesome with the weapons from Libra. Are you willing to sell a kidney, an eye, a lung or even your liver for this shit? Certainly I do not.

Figures, Figures, Figures...

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000

I wanna ramble this time about certain figures that have caught my eye recently. First of all, Dragon Ball action figures that doesn't suck ass?! Impossible!

I remember when I started to watch Dragon Ball about 12 years ago. Back then I couldn't imagine how long the series was supposed to be, with Dragon Ball Z becoming one of my most favorite series ever. Still, during all those years I couldn't find any DECENT action figure of the series, which was kind of weird given how popular the show was.
Until now.
These S.H. Figuarts of Piccolo and Super Saiyan Goku look incredibly badass and extremely detailed. More importantly is their reasonable price (about 3,500 yen, seems fair to me). I always wanted a Goku figure and so far I'm sold for this one (although I think his RAGE face is a little bit too exaggerated). Scheduled to be released in January I still wanna wait to see a review before purchasing it but I bet it will be a great display item.

Hopefully Bandai will release more of these little gems. Personally I would gladly buy figures of Super Saiyan Vegeta, Super Saiyan Mirai Trunks and Gohan in his Super Saiyan 2 transformation (when he fought Cell).
Next, I bet that if you collect Myth Cloths you already know of this beauty: Armor Plus Rekka no Ryo from the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers series (also known as "Los Cinco Samurais" here in Mexico).

...
.......
..............
HOLY SHIT!!!!!
MASSIVE NOSTALGIA BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!
While it shared some vague similarities to Saint Seiya, this series had its own charm and of course, the appeal were the armors the heroes invoked to fight. Goddamn, I gotta search for my old beta videotapes to watch this again lol. It appears Bandai decided to spawn the Armor Plus lineup from the Myth Cloth format, as this figure is almost identical to the later lineup (with diecast pieces, exchangeable hands and accessories). Guess I will end up buying these guys too, which fortunately, are only 6, compared to the 70 or more Myth Cloths I plan to collect...
Finally, if Bandai decided to create action figures of such an old series, my hopes of seeing them doing a similar thing to another memorable anime has just risen:

Of course, I'm talking about B't X. The Betas should be superfucking easy to do now, as they are practically the Objects of the Myth Cloths! They could easily made them of both plastic and diecast pieces and there would be a great variety of them. I would have written all over the face the phrase "Bandai, plz rip me off" for them to release at least the stellar Betas of the heroes: X, Neo X, Shadow X, Je T'aime, Raidō and Max. Come on Bandai, I know you wanna do it, be sure that a lot of people will gladly spend their money if they decide to start a B't X lineup.
Well, for the moment that is all I wanted to talk about. In the meantime, I should keep saving some money, as 2010 looks like it will be a expensive year...

Leo Reborn

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Finally, it was a little expensive but I think it is worth it, given how the price of this Appendix has literally gone nuts and the almost null chances of Bandai doing a restock.

The reason why I have been searching desperately for it was that my old Leo got busted due to a fall and goddamn, I had to get both the figure and the Appendix again because a good chunk of the Cloth was damaged. Doesn't matter, I already ordered 1 Leo Myth Cloth from the January restock HLJ will have, so it is only a mater of time before my favorite Myth is as good as new.

Sea Double Trouble

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:34:00 +0000

With the arrival of my Poseidon Myth Cloth getting closer with each passing day I want to ramble a little bit about a certain issue of this figure which caused quite a lot of debate back then when it was released one year ago.
The reason for this was because Bandai actually released TWO versions of the Emperor of the Seas, the anime vanilla version which is blue haired and sports a color on his Scale similar to his Sea Generals. It looks great and I'm sure it is a superb figure:

BUT, then we have the Royal Ornamental Edition or ROE for short, which is based supposedly in the Poseidon that appears in the manga, which is blond. More importantly, this edition is about twice as expensive as the vanilla version (a whooping 10,000 yen!) and it packed all the missing extras of the "standard" figure which are his throne and the tunic Julian wears during the first episodes of the Poseidon saga. These 2 features are really meh in my opinion, but the real appeal for me of the ROE is the color of the Scale:

As you can see, it is a reddish-copper like tone (which I insist, it is the color they should have used for the WHOLE Poseidon setup) which looks damn cool... if it not were because of that horrible hair color (iz dat sum Hyoga? lol). You see, I grew up watching the series and if Poseidon doesn't have blue hair, then it isn't Poseidon for me. Period. I know it may sound silly or stupid but that's just me. The problem I think, is that the color of the Scale of the vanilla version is too plain, to the point that if you didn't knew who he was, you could mistake Julian for just another Sea General, while this reddish tone makes the Scale distinguish itself from the rest of the Generals, which should be the point as this is actually the armor of a God. To make it short, this is what I am aiming for:

A blue haired Poseidon wearing the Scale of the ROE. I think it looks damn good but to get this result Bandai obligates you to purchase BOTH versions of the figure. Geez, thanks a bunch Bandai, why couldn't you just release the anime version with those worthless extras instead of making a cooler repaint whose only worth is the Scale? Then we wouldn't be having this dilemma.
Since technically I'm only missing Hypnos and the Andromeda God Cloth to finally catch up with all the Myth Cloth releases (screw the secondary Bronze Saints, Pegasus Broken version and Crystal), I think I can still postpone those two in favor of the Poseidon ROE, given that being the sucker I am, I know I will end up buying it (HLJ, please make a Sale of the ROE, 30% off would be great! I know you want to do it, heck, you put the Pegasus Genealogical Gold on Sale!) but that will be for the next year, as the Aquarius Surplice that I ordered that is already on its way will be my last acquisition of 2009 since I don't want to risk losing a figure given the craziness and mayhem December provokes in the mail service.

Myth Cloth Review 49: Saori Kido

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:35:00 +0000

The Goddess who is in charge of protecting the Earth from being consumed by Evil commands an army of 88 youths of great strength and courage that have never known defeat!

The beautiful Goddess will always defend the Earth with her Saints!

Athena reincarnates whenever the Earth is about to be consumed by Evil. Unlike the other deities like Hades or Poseidon, she returns to Earth as herself, without the need to possess the body of a human. She comes to Earth with her own soul and body, but she usually has no real knowledge of her divine origins or mission until a certain event triggers those memories and reveals her mission and destiny to her.

Her mission during every one of her incarnations is to restore peace and bring hope, destroy the agent of evil and protect Earth. To do so, she has been assisted since the age of myth by an army of 88 youths of great strength and courage, whose fists rend the skies and whose kicks split the earth, who don radiant holy armor called Cloths, and who are known as the Saints of Athena.

In her incarnation during the 20th century, the current Athena was found as a newborn baby in the Sanctuary in 1973. Her return to Earth was an omen of great battles that lay ahead, and was received with joy and preoccupation. Grand Pope Shion, survivor of the Holy War of the 18th century, took good care of her until he was murdered by Gemini Saga. After usurping Shion's title, Saga, afflicted by his evil split personality, schemed to kill Athena and steal her attributes Nike and Ægis shield, to overthrow Zeus, Hades and Poseidon, and rule over Earth with an iron fist.

Such schemes came to a halt temporarily the night Saga attempted to murder Athena, who by then was just around one year old. Disguised as the Pope, he came to Athena's chambers, and tried to stab her with a golden dagger but was stopped by the heroic and devoted Gold Saint Sagittarius Aioros, who was the guard in charge that night. In disbelief, Aioros tried to persuade the Pope to come back to his senses, but failed. Evading Saga's renewed attack, Aioros was able to unmask him, and discovered that the Grand Pope was not Shion, but an impostor. Realizing his plans had been thwarted, Saga attacked Aioros and Athena with murderous rage, causing the unfortunate Aioros to break through a wall after receiving the full force of Saga's attack to protect Athena. To avoid being discovered by the rest of Sanctuary, Saga used Aioros as a scapegoat to cover his deeds; he told everyone that the Sagittarius Saint had tried to murder Athena, and that he had to be captured and immediately executed for grand treason.

Aioros fled Sanctuary, swearing to protect Athena, even if it meant his death. Facing overwhelming opposition, Aioros fought valiantly against hordes of Sanctuary soldiers and was gravely wounded. Aioros was not given a chance to explain what was really going on. Finally, he found a terrible opponent in the mighty Gold Saint Capricorn Shura, his former best friend, who had been informed that Aioros was a traitor. Believing Saga's every word, Shura attacked Aioros without mercy, mortally wounding the Sagittarius Saint.

Aioros was able to escape Shura's unrelenting attack and abandoned the Sanctuary, managing to protect Athena and keep her safe. The next day, he was wandering in the nearby ruins of Athens, where he found an old man who was visiting Greece as a tourist. That man was the Japanese philanthropist and billionaire Mitsumasa Kido, owner of Asia's largest foundation, the Graude Foundation.
With his last ounce of strength, Aioros revealed to Mitsumasa the origins and destiny of the baby he was carrying, and entrusted her to him. Aioros not only gave her to the old man, he also entrusted him with the mighty Sagittarius Gold Cloth that someday would protect her again during the fierce battles she would have to fight in the future. Realizing that he had accomplished his mission to protect Athena and justice, and smiling at Mitsumasa's promise to take care of her and raise her until she could fulfill her destiny, Aioros died in peace.
Mitsumasa took the baby Athena and the Gold Cloth with him back to Japan, and adopted her as his granddaughter. Giving her the name Saori Kido, he was able to hide her from Sanctuary for thirteen years, until it was the time for her to fulfill her destiny and overthrow the agent of evil that threatened Earth's peace.
In the first arc of Kurumada's manga, the unsuspecting Saori Kido completes her grandfather's dream of hosting a tournament of Saints to find a warrior worthy of donning the legendary Sagittarius Gold Cloth, in 1986, 13 years after incarnating in Sanctuary.

100 orphans were sent to the far corners of the globe to be trained as Saints and bring back the Cloths as proof of their Sainthood. After 10 of the orphans successfully became Saints and returned, the tournament was set to begin. As it was later revealed, the true purpose of the tournament was to lure out the evil regent of Sanctuary, the Grand Pope, and announce the existence of Athena to him, as well as her intentions to overthrow him to restore peace and order to Sanctuary.
The Galaxian Wars tournament was never completed, due to an unexpected chain of events that ended in the kidnapping of Saori by servants of the Grand Pope, also out to steal the Sagittarius Golden Cloth. Fearing that his scheme would never come to fruition, the Grand Pope Saga also tricked the Silver Saints and the Gold Saints into thinking that Saori Kido was an impostor and usurper of Athena's name, and as such, had to be kidnapped and killed. Most of the Silver Saints and Gold Saints were fooled by Saga and mistakenly made Saori their prey. She was rescued from her kidnappers by five of the Bronze Saints: Pegasus Seiya, Cygnus Hyoga, Dragon Shiryu, Phoenix Ikki and Andromeda Shun.

It is interesting to note that Saori grew up as Mitsumasa Kido's spoiled granddaughter, reason why at first she did not get along well with the children who would eventually become her protectors. Though all of them they were her grandfather's children, she treated them like slaves. Seiya was among the few who resisted such treatment.
When she learned the truth about her origins from her dying grandfather, Saori had already matured, renouncing to her spoiled lifestyle and facing both her duty as the Kido heiress and the crisis in Sanctuary with the support of the children who by then had become Saints. They helped her reluctantly at first. For example, she had to lure a distrustful Seiya in by promising to help him find his sister Seika (although eventually, the relationship between the two grew so much to the point to heavily imply a certain romantic attraction that goes beyond Seiya's duty as a Saint to protect Saori, this can be appreciated in a certain scene where Saori is about to kiss an unconscious Seiya after he saved her from Crow Jamian or the whole "Legend of Crimson Youth" movie, where Seiya desperately seeks to return to Saori's side), but the chain of events that followed convinced them that she was the incarnation of Athena and that the change in her was genuine. They slowly found their devotion and dedication to her, and forgot the grudges they had against her for her abuses in the past; swearing to protect her at all cost.

After several adventures, Athena traveled to Greece, accompanied by the Bronze Saints ,to solve the crisis in the Sanctuary and issue a formal challenge to the Grand Pope. Upon arriving to Greece, Saori was greeted in the Sanctuary by a servant of the Grand Pope, who stated he wanted to meet with her. In a moment of carelessness, the servant revealed himself to be the Silver Saint Sagitta Ptolemy, and attacked her and the Bronze Saints with the Phantom Arrow, a series of illusions that resembled arrows. However, the one real arrow was directed at Saori, and hit her fully in her chest.
Attacked by Seiya, Ptolemy was defeated and revealed, before dying, that no one but the Pope had the power to extract the arrow. They would have 12 hours to bring the Pope and have him extract it, or the arrow would bury itself deeper and deeper with each passing hour, and would then pierce Athena's heart, ending her life. Lying on the ground, Athena accepted this and urged the Saints to go find the Pope, since it was her turn to endure pain for them.

The Bronze Saints were forced to go through the 12 Temples of the Zodiac in the Sanctuary, each guarded by one of the powerful Gold Saints. Some of the Gold Saints (like Aries Mu and Libra Dokho) already knew of the evil intentions of the Pope, and helped the Bronze Saints in their endeavors to save Athena. Others, such as Scorpio Milo, opposed them, since they considered Saori an impostor and the Bronze Saints traitors to Athena; however, as soon as they were defeated, these Gold Saints acknowledged their losses and let the Bronze Saints go ahead. In once case, Leo Aiolia, knew about Athena's origins and had accepted her as the Goddess, but was brainwashed into attacking the Bronze Saints anyway. Finally, there were those, like Cancer Deathmask and Pisces Aphrodite, who knew the truth about the Pope and Athena as Mu did, but sided with the Pope anyway.
Even though she lay wounded, Athena encouraged the Bronze Saints and helped them to defeat the seemingly invincible opponents they faced. Several times, she sent part of her Cosmo to her Saints when they were in pinches, reminding them of their missions and giving them the strength to pull through. Meanwhile, she was guarded by the loyal Aries Mu and his pupil Kiki, and later by Tatsumi and the other Bronze Saints (Unicorn Jabu, Wolf Nachi, Hydra Ichi, Lionet Ban and Bear Geki), who had trained hard to regain their places as Saints.

After the fierce and bloody battle through the 12 temples, only Seiya and Ikki were finally able to reach the Pope, who was actually the Gemini Gold Saint Saga. The battle that ensued was a fierce one, and none of the Bronze Saints was able to defeat Saga, until Seiya discovered that it was not Saga who would be able to save Saori, but her Ægis shield that had such power (in fact, a temporarily sane and remorseful Saga pointed that out, but then reverted to his evil personality and attacked Seiya before he could take the shield). Reaching for the shield, Seiya took advantage of a moment in which Saga's two personalities were clashing in his mind, making him hesitate and struggle; as Seiya wielded the shield and pledging for it to save Athena, it vanquished the evil in the approaching Saga and removed the arrow from Athena's heart with the shield's divine radiance. The Goddess was saved, and the Saints in the Sanctuary recognized her as Athena and confirmed their loyalty to her by bowing. She immediately headed for the Statue of Athena, worried about the Bronze Saints.
Upon reaching the statue she finds Saga bowing before her, claiming that there was no way he could make up for the evil deeds he had done and therefore commits suicide by piercing his own heart. In his final moments, Athena admitted that she believed he was a good man and let him die in peace. It was then that she finally accepted that her regular life was over and that her fight as a Goddess had just started.
In the anime adaptation, this same event occurs, but all the Bronze Saints are conscious and Saga actually commits suicide using Athena's Nike staff after his evil side tried to attack Athena, and finally dies peacefully in Saori's embrace.

Aries Mu revealed that the whole crisis in the Sanctuary was a test imposed on Athena by destiny. The crisis would be overcome only if she was the true Goddess. In the end, with Saga's defeat, order came back to the Sanctuary and Saori proved that she was indeed the true incarnation of the Goddess of wisdom and protector of Earth.
In the following arc, less than a month after the events of the battle of the twelve temples, Athena and her Saints would travel to Asgard and confront Hilda and the God Warriors, whose goal was to defeat Athena in order to take control of the Sanctuary and rule the world. Given that Hilda allowed the ice of the Pole to melt, Saori tried to use her power to prevent it while Seiya & co. recovered the Odin Sapphires in order to get the Balmung Sword and destroy the Nibelung Ring that controlled Hilda. Like in the battle of the Sanctuary, Athena lent her Cosmo to her Saints several times in order for them to grasp victory. Eventually, the crisis was solved but to everyone's horror, a gigantic Cosmo created a tidal wave that swallowed Athena to the depths of the ocean.

The reason for this was that after 2000 years of sleep, Poseidon was ready to return. He was determined to take revenge on Athena for having defeated him in their last battle, and wanted to cleanse the Earth of humankind, which he considered evil and unworthy of the blessing of the gods. Taking possession of Julian's body, Poseidon started his scheme by sending heavy flooding and rains on Earth. Non-stop rains were causing havoc worldwide. Still, Poseidon proposes her to marry him, and then to cleanse the Earth of humans, who have caused so much harm to it. Athena refuses Poseidon's proposals and instead issues a challenge: she offers herself as a sacrifice to delay the punishment on Earth, by receiving it herself. Poseidon accepts and then locks Athena away in the Main Breadwinner, which was the main supporting column of the Seven Seas, telling her that she would be able to delay the eradication of humans, but she would ultimately lose her life in the process. She remains confident that she'll be able to stop Poseidon's ambition, and that her loyal Saints will assist her in protecting Earth, and bringing hope and justice.
Sensing Athena's ordeal, the Bronze Saints find the Underwater temple and promptly get to work on solving the new crisis. There, Thetis explains them that to be able to stop Poseidon, they would have to drain Earth's flooding water by demolishing each one of the Seven Mammoth Pillars, the columns that supported each one of Earth's oceans. To do so, they would have to defeat first each one of the Guardians of the Mammoth Pillars, the deadly and mighty Marina Generals, who have assisted and protected Poseidon since the age of myth, and whose power was equal to that of a Gold Saint.

Accepting the challenge, the Bronze Saints were able to defeat each one of the Marina after terrible and bloody battles, and were helped by Ophiuchus Shaina and Kiki, who brought them the mighty Libra Gold Cloth that they used to be able to demolish each one of the seven Mammoth Pillars.
The Gold Saints were forced to remain at Sanctuary, since they knew that the resurrection of the true enemy of Athena, Hades, was soon to occur. So they had to keep themselves from dying to be able to overcome Hades threat, and could help only by encouraging the Bronze Saints and observing the events. As in the previous conflicts, Athena encouraged the Bronze Saints and gave them strength to continue their battle.
After demolishing the seven Pillars, the MainBread Winner still remained; Athena was being held there as prisoner. The Saints would have to demolish it to bring her to safety, and end Poseidon's flooding of the Earth. They were unable to demolish it, and were confronted by Poseidon himself, who attacked them mercilessly, and after being fully awaken was bent on killing the Saints without contemplation.

Gravely hurt and being no match to the power of a God, the Saints faced certain death. Until it was revealed by former Gold Saint and Sea Dragon Marina, Gemini Kanon, who was responsible for Poseidon's return, that the only way to defeat Poseidon was to seal his soul again within Athena's Amphora, an urn that she had used 2000 years ago to hold his spirit and force him into an eternal slumber.
In their despair, drawing strength from their undying devotion to Athena, the Bronze Saints were able to stop momentarily Poseidon with the help of the sacred legendary Gold Cloths of Sagittarius, Aquarius and Libra. Gathering their collective Cosmo, Shiryu, Hyoga, Ikki, Shun, Shaina and Kiki, imbued Seiya with its maximum strength, making Seiya's Cosmo ablaze. This granted him incomparable power, that, after being propelled toward the Main Breadwinner, was more than enough to shatter it as if it were glass.
Athena was pulled out of the Main Breadwinner by Seiya, bringing the Amphora. Wounded, tired and utterly overpowered, yet facing Poseidon with admirable determination, Athena opened the Amphora and after a fierce battle with the mighty God of the seas, was able to imprison his soul again in the Amphora. Poseidon's ambition was stopped, and without his Cosmo, his Undersea Temple began to crumble. Julian Solo was taken back to land by the faithful Thetis, no longer being possessed by Poseidon's soul and free to return to his former life.
Athena took her Saints with her back to Japan and with Poseidon's soul resting once again within the Amphora, the flooding and rains on Earth stopped. Peace and order had been restored once again by the Goddess and her Saints, the messengers of love, hope and justice.

In the third act, Athena was staying at the Sanctuary to recover from her recent battle with Poseidon, which had occurred no more than a month ago. She was feeling uneasy since she knew that the resurrection of her true enemy, was near. That enemy was Hades, whom she had fought since the age of myth, and she had barely defeated in the last battle they fought during their previous incarnation, 243 years before.
As feared, Hades had returned to Earth, and this time he was being helped not only by his personal army, the 108 Demon Stars known as Specters, but by former servants of Athena, deceased Silver and Gold Saints that had pledged their loyalty to Hades in exchange of resurrection.
The mission of the Specters and revived Saints was to bring Athena's head to Hades. They would walk through Athena's Sanctuary until they reached her chambers and kill her. Such task wouldn't be easy since her Gold Saints would spell death to all those who wanted to harm the Goddess.

As she thought they wouldn't be of any help, Athena had forbidden all the Bronze Saints and Silver Saints from taking part in the new Holy War against Hades. Paying no attention to such restriction, the Bronze Saints arrived to Sanctuary from Japan when they felt an ominous evil Cosmo. They took part in the battle against Athena's will, and helped defeat the Specters. Along with fellow Gold Saints, they were shocked to discover that former Gold Saints Deathmask, Aphrodite, Shura, Saga and Camus, with 18th century Grand Pope, Aries Shion, had joined Hades army.
Later, it was revealed that their true intentions wasn't killing Athena, as they had Hades believe, but to help her. Posing as Specters, their secret mission was to reach Athena's giant statue, that lied beyond the Pope's quarters. Their purpose was to revive the statue with Athena's blood so it could transform into Athena's mighty Divine Cloth, to help her in her battle against Hades. The former Saints forsook their honor and by joining Hades army, accepted to be labeled as traitors, for the sake of their Goddess.
Realizing their true intentions, Athena tried to relieve the former Saints of this burden. Asking Milo, Mu and Aiolia to return to the Pope's chamber and bring her and object hidden under the Pope's throne, Athena knew the time for her to face Hades had come. The object was the same golden dagger Saga had used when he attempted to murder Athena, 13 years ago. Having received from Virgo Gold Saint Shaka the message that only by reaching the 8th sense, a being could travel to Hades realm, the Underworld, without being subject to its laws, Athena wielded the dagger and seeking to relieve the former Saints from their suffering, took her own life. She fell before the horrified Saints, who didn't understand her actions.

Minutes later, it was revealed by former Pope Shion, that she had reached the 8th sense so she could travel to the Underworld and kill Hades. Using the spilled blood of the goddess, Shion revived Athena's Cloth and imbued the Bronze Saints Cloths with great power and endurance. Before returning to his eternal slumber, along with Saga, Shura and Camus, Shion entrusted the Bronze Saints the mission of delivering Athena's Cloth to their goddess and assist her in the defeat of Hades. Hades had caused a Great Eclipse to darken the Earth, and when the eclipse was complete, all life on Earth would perish.
Athena traveled the Underworld with Shaka trying to find Hades, to make him stop the Eclipse, even reaching Elysion, the dwelling place of the Greek Gods, beyond the Wailing Wall. Unable to find him there, they returned, and found him at the palace of Giudecca. Hades, who needed the purest human being as a vessel for his soul each time he reincarnated, had surprisingly chosen shy Andromeda Saint Shun as his vessel in the 20th century.
Athena had to free Shun from Hades influence in order to kill him, and was able to do so by using her blood. Hades soul was expelled from Shun's body and fled to the Elysion, where his true body, the offspring of the union between gods Chrono and Rea, lied since the age of myth, to avoid harm.

When Hades soul took control of his body, he was able to defeat Athena and trapped her within a huge urn, where she would bleed to death. In despair the Saints of Athena tried to find a way to destroy the huge Wailing Wall that separated the Underworld from the Elysion. The only way was to open it with sunlight, and the only way to make sunlight shine in the Underworld was with the Gold Cloths, since they represent the constellations in the ecliptic of the sun. Burning their Cosmo to the extreme, the Gold Saints released the sunlight that the Gold Cloths had stored within themselves since the age of myth, sacrificing their life in the process, but being able to demolish a part of the Wailing Wall. The Bronze Saints now had a way to reach Athena and help her in the battle against Hades, by delivering her Cloth.
Upon reaching the Elysion, the Saints faced the opposition of the God of slumber Hypnos, and the God of death Thanatos. Barely defeating them by making their Cloths reach their divine states, in the same way Saints of the ages of myth that fought them had done, the Saints proceeded to find Athena. After releasing her from Hades Urn, they delivered her Divine Cloth. By donning it, Athena was ready to face in battle Hades, her fiercest enemy since the age of myth.
A terrible battle ensued, with the Saints being unable to defeat the dreadful god of the Underworld. Barely breathing, the Saints joined Athena in a last explosive effort, by imbuing her Nike staff with their collective Cosmo combined with Athena's, and powered by a tremendous force Hades never thought possible, the greatest strength possessed by humans: Love. Charging at Hades, the Nike staff, symbol of victory, was granted enough power to pierce through Hades's Surplice and body. Hades, himself the God of death, stood in disbelief that he had been defeated once and for all, by his mortal enemy, and her Saints, who were simply humans.

With the defeat of Hades, Athena stopped the Greatest Eclipse. Having saved all life on Earth, and finally bringing her millennia-old struggle against Hades to an end, Athena left the collapsing Underworld with her Saints, returning to a world filled with light.
Since she is a deity, Athena has capabilities that surpass those of humans by far. She is a simple young woman, untrained for battle, mostly unable to fight physically, but her Cosmo is immense and surpasses human Cosmos infinitely. She is a being of total compassion and love, and she will stop at nothing to protect Earth and its living creatures.
Athena has great endurance against pain, unfailing courage and persistence, and unbreakable willpower, greatly augmented by her full trust of her Saints. As Saori, she possesses a brilliant intellect; she is also a capable handler of money and strategist, as she is the head of the Graude Foundation and has been ever since Mitsumasa Kido's death. In fact, before Saori came to know she was Athena, she had become a very successful and admired businesswoman in her own right.

Athena's attributes include Nike, the Goddess of victory, represented as a golden staff she always holds in her right hand, and the Ægis shield, which is impervious to any kind of attack. Also, as a Goddess, she is capable of donning her powerful Divine Cloth, which rests in the form of a giant statue in her image at Sanctuary until it is revived with her blood.
Athena has also exhibited great mastery of her Cosmo, as she is able to use it to generate abilities with various effects. She channels her Cosmo mostly through her body or through her Nike Staff. In both the manga and anime adaptations, several techniques have been revealed: healing auras, defensive shields, teleportation, the Seal of Athena (used on both Hades and Poseidon to seal them away), and Misopethamenos, a divine gift bestowed upon Libra Dohko. Her Nike Staff can be used as a weapon when her Cosmo is channeled through it; the staff becomes a piercing weapon, which she used to kill Hades. Athena also managed to awaken her Cosmo to the Eight Sense; thus she is able to descend to the Underworld without being subject to its laws.

Whoa, I guess that's all the info regarding Saori, as expected since she is a major character in the series although, for being the Goddess of War and Wisdom she spends too much time acting as the damsel in distress... whatever, that's the whole point of Saint Seiya I guess, but let's get on with the figure.
First, Saori is not a regular Myth Cloth release, like with the Grand Pope, Pandora and Hades-Shun, she is a Premium release that you could originally get in Japan by sending the coupons some other regular Myth Cloths had. Eventually an HK version appeared which was easier to get and here it is. What surprises you the most is the box. It is white and XBOX HUEG, it's about the same length as the one of the Pegasus God Cloth and Thanatos but much more wider than those two. The reason? All the extras she comes with.
Out of the box, Saori is actually a petite figure, slightly smaller than you average Myth Cloth, wearing a silk like dress that unlike Pandora, in order to take it off you must remove the ars but well, unless you are a major perv there is no reason to do that...
First, we have her throne. Pretty detailed and almost as big as the one of Hades-Shun. It even comes with a few steps integrated, nice! However, I would have preferred a metallic gold color instead...

As for Saori, well, she comes obviously with her Nike staff which sports a very nice combination of golden and metallic green. She can hold it with no problem at all. You also get a second face with her eyes closed, a bracelet, two different chokers, two belts and a little tiara for making her look more feminine I guess with all those jewels.
The special circular stand the figure comes with is worthy of mention, as it is a must if you want to display Saori, since SHE CAN'T STAND ON HER OWN FEET. That's right, given how little and weak are the joints of the ankles, forget about trying to make her stand up, it's impossible. They also give you the Amphora which Saori uses to seal Poseidon. It is quite small but pretty detailed, how nice! I'll be displaying it next to Poseidon once I get him.

The other extra is pretty lame, as it is the urn into which Hypnos sealed Saori almost at the end of the Hades Chapter. While they give you a hair specially molded to be displayed when she is captured, the problem is that you are supposed to use Saori's body and put it inside the urn, what a waste. I decided to just leave the face with her eyes closed over the urn but with the expression of her face... it looks like she's enjoying a sauna instead of having her blood sucked dry out of her body lol.

Well, that pretty much sums up all regarding the contents of this Premium, which, is the best released so far. The sculpting of Saori's hair and face is remarkable given how faithful it is to the series, along with all the extras she packs, although there are a few complains I must talk about. First of all, the obvious balance problem of Saori not capable of standing up, it can get on your nerves after a while. Second, the arms don't look any aesthetic at all but I guess that was to be expected, as that is a feature that every other Myth Cloth has but is covered by the arm guards, which are absent in Saori and therefore expose the ugly joints. Finally, WHY SHE DIDN'T COME WITH HER DRESS OF THE BATTLE IN THE SANCTUARY???!!! I mean, that's how pretty much every fan remembers her, seriously Bandai, WTF.

In the Lost Canvas manga, Sasha is the previous (sexier and hotter BTW) incarnation of Athena in the 18th century. She spent her childhood with Alone and Tenma in a small village in Italy and is later "adopted" by the Sanctuary in Greece. Before leaving for the Sanctuary, she gives Alone and Tenma bracelets made from flowers as a charm that will hopefully reunite them one day. In the Sanctuary, she meets Tenma again as a Saint and later encounters her brother Alone as an enemy. Although being in different positions, Sasha wishes to live with Tenma and Alone again, remembering their promise.
After the death of many of her Saints and her discovery that Alone could bring his Spectres back to life, Sasha raises a barrier with her Cosmo covering all Sanctuary to prevent the Specters in the area from being revived. However, as long as the barrier remains active, her Cosmo will be drained, weakening her. During the invasion of the Sanctuary by Alone and his Specters, Sasha and the Pope attempted to seal him after seeing Alone trying to kill Tenma, but he manages to escape.
Currently, Athena's divine power remains sealed by the intervention of Acheron Charon.

Well, that's pretty much all about this figure, which makes me sure that Bandai won't be using this body if they decide to release the feminine Saints given how bad the balance is. A much more sturdy body is needed and let's not even talk about Athena's Cloth, which is a freaking tank that will need some serious development before it is even announced (how is she supposed to raise her gigantic shield escapes me).
In conclusion, Saori is a very nice figure that is highly recommended and a must if you are Myth Cloth collector. You have to be retarded for not even considering her as she is pretty much the boss of the Saints. Believe me, the sight of her together the five V3 Bronze Saints is priceless so get your ass moving and purchase your Goddess, you will not regret it.

Día de Muertos

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Screw Halloween.
This Mexican tradition is richer and a great expression of the diversity and culture that roams all over the country. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 1st and 2nd and traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, as well as visiting graves with these as gifts. It kinda shares some similarities with the Japanese Obon Festival.
This is also the only time of the year when you can go to any bakery to get some delicious "pan de muerto" (a sweet egg bread made in various shapes) and when one can't help but to ponder how he/she will be remembered after passing away.
Have you honored your dead recently? Remember that no matter what, we all share that destiny.

P.D. In case anyone is interested, I just ordered the Aquarius Camus Surplice Myth Cloth thanks to some extra cash I was able to get recently, so I should be completing the black tri-stars by the end of November.

The Goddess of War and Wisdom Appears!

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:46:00 +0000

SAORI-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, now she can command all the Saints in my shelves. I was pretty surprised to find her at a reasonable price, so I didn't think twice to buy this figure even though I had to spend some extra money I was planning to save for Xmas. Whatever, I'm sure as hell it was worth it. Expect the obligatory review, that is, only if the weather improves soon of course.

Myth Cloth Review 48: Phecda Gamma Thor

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:14:00 +0000

The God Warrior whose love for Hilda was only matched by his enormous physique. The powerful strike from his Mjöllnir Hammer will crush anyone who dares to threaten the woman he swore to serve and protect with his life!

This giant will block anyone's path with a power that matches his size!

He was the first God Warrior that Seiya and the rest had to face when they arrived to Asgard. Before being bestowed with the Gamma God Robe, Thor met Hilda when he was captured by the guards near the Valhalla Palace when he was hunting for food in order to feed the people from his village. The guards wounded him in one arm and were ready to execute him for trespassing the sacred grounds but Hilda appeared and stopped them, healing Thor's wound with her warm Cosmo. Since their brief encounter, Thor fell in love with Hilda's kindness and swore his loyalty to her and to protect her with his life.

Pegasus Seiya was the one that fought him. During the whole battle, the Bronze Saint tried to convince Thor that Hilda was under the evil influence of the Nibelung Ring but the God Warrior refused to believe him, blinded by his duty to protect Hilda. Using his mighty physical power given his corpulence, he dominated most of the fight but in one moment of the battle he doubted, realizing how Hilda's warm Cosmo had changed now into a cold, hostile one.
During the battle, Seiya managed to see through Thor's attacks with the help of Athena's Cosmo, making the God Warrior jealous of the support that Athena gave to her Saints. This was enough for Seiya to use his RyuSeiKen to finally beat the giant warrior. During his final moments, Thor wished Seiya that he could recover the old, kind Hilda he fell in love with.

His massive size is already one serious advantage Thor has over his opponents. He is probably the strongest God Warrior in terms of raw power. His techniques are "Titanic Hercules", with which he focuses all the power of his Cosmo into his fist to deliver an extremely powerful blow, which, by the way, left Seiya with a severe injury during the rest of the whole Asgard battle. The pair of twin axes he carries are called "Mjöllnir Hammers", which he can use to attack by launching them to create a powerful wind gust or merely swinging them to smash his opponent. It must be noted that whenever Thor launches his axes, they always return to his hands.

What does the Gamma God Robe represents? Come on, it's more than obvious (that is if you know a bit of Norse mythology, if you don't, I seriously suggest you to give it a try, surely you will like it). It is Jörmungandr, also known as the "Midgard Serpent" or the "World Serpent", as it grew so big that it was able to surround the Earth and grasp its own tail (seems like an echo of Ouroboros to me... or is it the other way around?). During Ragnarok, this monster fought against Thor and in the end, they killed each other.

Something very curious about this God Robe is that it also appeared in one movie: "The Heated Battle of the Gods" (which, by the way, spawned the whole Asgard saga), in which Midgard (lol), who was actually a heavily disguised and brainwashed Hyoga, used it to pose as a God Warrior and beat the living shit out of Shiryu in a very, very interesting battle:

Well, that's all regarding this God Warrior, which ironically was the last one to be released in the Myth Cloth format even though he was the first one to fight during the Asgard saga. Enough with the character info, let's get on with the figure. The first thing you will notice about this guy before even opening the box, is the box itself! It is quite big, as its width is equal to that of the Gemini Gold Cloth given the massive size of Thor.
Second, and probably the most appealing factor of Gamma, is how BIG it is. Yeah, this is one BIG motherfucker, making everyone else in the entire collection look like midgets next to him. Jesus, I mean, just take a look at the comparison shots between him and Seiya or even Aldebaran!

The color of the Robe is extremely cool, a deep metallic purple with spots of metallic blue all over it. I especially like the detail of the snake scales in the right arm and the helmet, which is quite appealing in my opinion, one of the best designs of the entire collection actually. The shoulder armors are quite special, as unlike many other figures they go directly attached to the shoulders, not to the chestplate. The only other Myth Cloths that have this feature are Cygnus V2, Andromeda v2 and Andromeda V3. Interesting.

Something that I consider a flaw is that the thigh and biceps armors are made of plastic, something very unusual, as in every other figure these are made of metal. Frankly I don't understand the reason for this, as those parts wouldn't be that heavy at all and would have made Thor perfect. Well, whatever, once you have this guy in your hands you can forget about that given how awesome this monster is.
Anyways, aside that, the back skirt armor, 50% of the side skirt armors, the belt/stomach armor and the helmet are made of plastic, the rest is metal. Thor's face is quite remarkable given how accurate it is to the show, you can even see the bandanna he wears in his forehead! The hair is also worthy of mention, given how similar it is to Hagen's but in Thor's case you can see it was better modeled. Should I mention that he is the only bearded Saint Seiya character?

Extras... there is not much. You get the 2 axes Thor uses in the series. The handles are made of plastic but the blades are metallic, so they are quite heavy. You can place them either on Thor's hands or in the side skirt armors. The other extra is very original, as you can use the back of the head of the snake Object as if it was some kind of small shield. Neat, as that feature never appeared in the series. I can't help but think about vikings when I see Thor wielding that shield in one hand and an ax in the other.

Well, that's pretty much all regarding this figure, which doesn't seem to be a kind one in terms of choosing a pose, given that the articulation of the arms "squeak" all the time, so I fear they may deteriorate too much or even worse, that they may break. Still, it looks damn impressive by just standing there along his other 6 comrades where you can see the size difference. Sweet. Congrats Bandai, you really pulled off an awesome figure with Thor.

In conclusion Thor is a excellent Myth Cloth, easily one of the best of the entire collection. Not only because of its massive size which is his distinctive feature, but also because of the overall quality of the figure, simply perfect. A must have for any collector as the sight of him together with the other God Warriors is priceless. Now we are only missing the Odin's Robe to complete the colorful set of the frozen lands and I hope I'll be getting that figure by February.

Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas 6

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:40:00 +0000

The beautiful warrior withers away after finishing his mission...

Minos admires Albafica's resolution to keep fighting despite his wounds and having his movements restricted. He further tries to provoke the Pisces Saint by saying that his men will kill all the villagers but Albafica merely laughs, as the "Bloody Roses" he released ended p killing the Specters by absorbing all their blood.

Minos finds this amusing, making the fight even more fun to him and continues torturing Albafica, who manages to launch his "Crimson Thorn". Sadly, Minos is able to defend from the attack. Surprised that someone as beautiful as Albafica had such a strong fighting spirit, the Judge finally delivers the killing blow and defeats Pisces.

Meanwhile, at the village, Agasha, the little girl who received a rose from Albafica wonders if something bad happened to the Gold Saint. Her father tells her not to worry, as Albafica is one of the most powerful warriors of Athena. Still, Minos has finally arrived at the village and begins to destroy it. Agasha's father gets injured by some falling debris and asks her to go to the Sanctuary for help.

Heading to the Sanctuary, Agasha is sure that Albafica will come to help them. She remembers how when the rain surprised her while she was collecting flowers to give them to the Pope, Albafica gave her his cape to cover herself from the rain. Before she could thank him, the Pisces Saint asked her not to approach. Commenting the incident to her father, she learned about the poison in Albafica's blood and the reason of his cold demeanor.

Before she reaches her destination, Minos appears in front of her, pissed by seeing yet again, the rose Agasha has with her as Albafica's memento. Minos prides himself for having defeated a Gold Saint, but Agasha responds him that Athena's Saints will never lose against Hades' army. Before Minos blows the whole place up, Shion appears and repels the attack. Agasha is surprised by the Gold Cloth but realizes that is not Albafica who arrived.

Minos uses his "Cosmic Marionation" and looks like Shion will also be defeated but suddenly, the invisible strings are cut off by a black rose. Indeed, it is Albafica who finally arrives, badly wounded, but still willing to fight, much to everyone's surprise.

Minos offers Albafica the chance to escape, saying that he can't stand to see how someone as beautiful as the Pisces Saint gets covered by blood and dirt. Albafica gets enraged by how Minos keeps using the word "beautiful" to describe him, not considering his pride as a warrior, since it doesn't matter for him if he was born beautiful or not, he will always be a Saint first. With that, he launches his "Crimson Thorn" again.

It appears the attack doesn't affect Minos, but Shion notices the abnormal amount of blood and power Albafica is using, making him wonder if Albafica is gonna sacrifice himself by using all his blood.

Albafica finally falls to his kness and Minos challenges Shion, but the Aries Saint states that there is no need for him to fight against an enemy that is already done for. Minos finally notices the rose that stabbed his chest, a "Bloody Rose" into which Albafica poured all of his blood when he launched the "Crimson Thorn", meaning that he managed to inject his poisonous blood directly into Minos.

Royally pissed for underestimating Albafica, Minos tries to use his "Gigantic Feathers Flap" to wipe out the entire village but Shion uses his "Crystal Wall" to contain the attack. Finally suffering the effects of the poison, Minos falls dead. Suddenly, a whole ton of rose petals start to fall down. These are from the flowers Minos destroyed. Albafica stares at them and comments that after living his whole life among those flowers, it was not until now that he finally found them beautiful. With that, Albafica expires.

While Shion is heading back to the Sanctuary with Albafica's body, Agasha manages to caught up with him and asks crying if the Saints will keep dying if the war continues just like Albafica, stating that she doesn't want to see the Saints get hurt. Shion merely says that they don't fight just to die, rather, they live in order to accomplish their duty: to protect the love and justice of the Earth. Even if only death or something worse awaits them, they will go on until their lives are extinguished.

Shion is interrupted by a young boy named Atla that came from Jamir, who says that if they don't hurry, Albafica's sacrifice will be in vain. The reason is obvious, being the God of the Underwold, Hades can summon back his Specters by merely painting them. Shion is shocked by learning this, but the Pope tells him that for the moment, Athena has erected a barrier around the Sanctuary, so the Specters defeated by Albafica can't revive, but that represents a lot of strain to her. To that, Atla says that if they manage to resist one more day, the tide of the battle will change along with the return of the Pegasus Saint.

Best episode so far and probably it will also be the best out of all the OVAS, as the next chain of events in the manga are not that exciting, at least not untill the fight between Kagaho and Aldebaran. Whatever, we will not be seeing OVAS 7 and 8 until Xmas...

Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas 5

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:50:00 +0000

It is Pisces turn to fight!

Hades keeps killing stuff when he is interrupted by Pandora, who tells him that the Mandragora Specter was defeated, apparently by Pegasus, but she says that must be a mistake, as Hades himself killed him.

Meanwhile, Tenma, Yato and Yuzuriha are heading to another part of the Underworld. Tenma wonders what exactly are they gonna do but Yuzuriha says that she will explain it later, so they better hurry up, as their mission will change the tide of the Holy War against Hades.

Near the Sanctuary Gryphon Minos has defeated several Saints who tried to stop the Specter's advance, however, they are not match for one of the 3 Judges. Minos and his men continue to advance but they surprised to see a immense field of roses right before reaching the Sanctuary. 2 Specters try to cross the field carelessly but to everyone's surprise, they suddenly fall dead. Niobe Deep explains to the Specters that those are Demon Roses, whose perfume is able to kill a person by merely sniffing it.

The responsible is none other than the Gold Saint Pisces Albafica. Minos wonders what the heck is the last guardian of the Sanctuary doing here and also notices how beautiful the man clad in golder armor is.

Pisces invites anyone who wants to die to get down to the field of roses, or they can just retreat like the losers they are. Enraged, some more Specters attack, only to be defeated by the "Royal Demon Rose" technique of Albafica. Niobe deduces that the reason why the Pisces Saint doesn't suffer any effects from the perfume of the roses is that he too is poisonous.

At the Aries temple, Shion and Dohko discuss about how are the defenses of the Sanctuary going. They spot a red mist in the distance, which means that Albafica went ahead to stop the Specters. Regarding the Demon Roses, Shion comments that the the stairs between the Pisces temple and the Pope chamber are covered by them, reason why the Pisces Saint must be able to resist their poison. In other words, Alfabica's own blood is a extremely lethal poison, which is why despite his beauty which gains him the appreciation of the people, he has such rude manners towards others and appears to be a extremely cold and solitary man in order to not let anyone get close to him and therefore, die.

Niobe Deep decides to challenge Albafica, who is a little bit surprised to see that the Specter is able to resist the perfume of the roses. Niobe attacks, but Pisces counters with his "Piranian Rose", a storm of black roses that are able to destroy anything they touch. The Specter manages to cover himself and appears to be cornered, but he releases his "Deep Fragance", a perfume that makes the roses whither away. Albafica notices how quickly the poison is expanding, so in order to protect the Rodorio village he absorbs all of it.

A little girl in the Rodorio village carrying a rose remembers when Albafica rudely gave it to her as a gift and how he promised to protect them before heading to the battle, which is why she believes he will not abandon them.

Niobe is in deep shit, as Albafica managed to resist his poison like it was nothing. The Pisces Saint explains that since he has lived along the Demon Roses for so long, his own blood has become poison. With that, he releases his "Crimson Thorn" attack, which makes the red mist that appeared in the battlefield (which is Albafica's own blood) to become thousands of needles that obliterate the Specter.

Minos finally decides to fight, eager to turn Albafica into his puppet. He begins releasing his "Gigantic Feathers Flap" attack, which destroys the whole field of roses. Minos is now confident that without the field, Albafica is easy prey. He uses his "Cosmic Marionation" to restrict all of Albafica's movements and orders the remaining Specters to go and kill all the people in the Rodorio village first. Struggling against Minos' technique, Albafica breaks his right arm but swears that even if the Judge breaks his arms, legs or face, he will not let the Specter advance.

After 2 months of waiting we have more Lost Canvas episodes to enjoy. While I did really like this one I must insist, the OST is plain boring, I could think of a lot of songs from the original series that could have been used to make the episode much more exciting. Also, I was pretty surprised by Albafica's voice (none other that Tieria Erde from Gundam 00 LOL), it fits the character perfectly. I'll probably watch the next episode until tomorrow, meanwhile, I'll check out again this part of the Lost Canvas manga, which is one of the best fights in the entire story so far and goddamn, it makes you gay for the Pisces Saint!

Odin's Preview

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Oh man, I think I'm love.

Awesome scan of the final piece that will crown the Asgard God Warriors.
The Odin's Robe is breathtaking in my opinion. The color of the armor, along Seiya's face and hair is great. Furthermore, we can see that the shoulder armors use the same hook system as Saga Specter & co. in order to allow a variety of poses using of the Balmung Sword, which also looks very nice (will it be made of metal or plastic?).
Still, I detect some quirks, most noticeable of course the tiara. I mean, just look at that, its fucking BIG. In the series it was smaller and much more aesthetic. In my opinion that piece should have been around the size of the tiaras of the Bronze Cloths. Also, the side skirt armors look... rachitic is the word I'm looking for.
Whatever, it surely will be one heck of a figure. I can't wait to have it commanding my God Warriors in the shelf.
Also, sorry if anyone has been expecting the Gamma review (more than myself? Impossible!) but lately, the weather has been horrible during the afternoons and has not allowed me to take any proper shots, while in the mornings I'm at either school or work and that is the best moment for taking pics so... yeah...with any luck I'll do a proper photo session during a weekend.

The Lord of Asgard Approaches...

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:51:00 +0000

The official pics of the Odin's Robe have just been released and goddamn, it looks extremely sexy.

Those eyebrows... mmm... at least the face is not the one from the Pegasus V3 figure, which I feared Bandai may just recycle shamelessly. This time Seiya has a very serious expression and the head actually looks like a combination of the Pegasus God Cloth and Pegasus Appendix faces.
It certainly looks better than the figure we saw in the Tamashii Nation however, Bandai tends to make heavy use of Photoshop for these pics (coughHagencough) so maybe the actual release doesn't look like this... I hope this is not the case and we get exactly what we are seeing here.
This God Robe looks beautiful although I still think the tiara is a little too big but that's ok I guess, the color is awesome. I can't wait to have this figure in order to place it in front of the 7 God Warriors...
Also, I finally got my camera back. Here is a little pic of Thor, just to check out the difference of his size:

The Giant From Asgard Appears!

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:11:00 +0000

After 22 days of waiting I finally obtained the last God Warrior I was missing, the almighty Thor!
Holy cow, BIG is the only word I can think to describe this guy. Its size is simply incredible once you have the figure in your hands, not to mention the obligatory comparison against Aldebaran and the average Myth Cloth like Seiya.
I like it. I like it A LOT. Without a doubt this is one of the best Myth Cloths ever released so far and I can already tell you that it is a must have if you are a Saint Seiya fan.
Excuse that the picture is not mine, as for the moment I don't have my camera with me but I expect to do the obligatory photo session of this figure soon.
Meanwhile I'm already on the move to get a certain God I've been looking for but I couldn't purchase back then. Care to guess who I'm talking about?

The Terror

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Holy shit.

About a week ago I was able to purchase this book and man, I literally got hooked given how damn good it is.
The novel is a fictionalized account of Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror under Captain Sir John Franklin to the Arctic to force the Northwest Passage in 1845-1848. All the characters featured in the novel are actual members of Franklin's crew, whose unexplained disappearance has warranted a great deal of speculation of what really happened, as the official record states that no one survived that expedition.
What makes this history so good is the ability of the author with his narrative to make you imagine yourself as part of the tortured crew in the middle of the frozen desert, plagued by constant starvation, a supernatural monster that stalks and brutally murders the sailors ever since the boats get trapped by the ice and the threat of a imminent mutiny always present, not to mention cannibalism as one last desperate attempt to survive.
If you can, check out this title, I'm pretty sure it will not disappoint you.

HLJ Golden Saint Sale

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:26:00 +0000

So... in the end the Tamashii Nation didn't show anything else more interesting besides those 2 Silver Saints prototypes and all the stuff I talked about in the previous post. Well, whatever, frankly, the less figures get announced the better, so I can begin to save according to my priorities, especially now that we are in what looks to be the beginning of the final run for what you can call the "classic" Myth Cloth series simply because they have released almost all the major characters and almost all their different Cloths. 2010 surely will be a remarkable year for us Myth Cloth collectors, I'm sure of that. Expect a Lost Canvas rush soon.
In other things... HLJ recently brought up yet another Myth Cloth Sale that frankly, disappointed me a bit, as I was expecting they would put on Sale the Aquarius Surplice but it was not the case. They do however, are announcing a January restock of LEO and ALPHA, two of the most difficult figures to find right now at a decent price so you better go and order them (I already ordered a Leo) before they disappear like smoke.
Something very curious is that they also have the Pegasus Genealogical Gold Myth Cloth on Sale at a relatively good price (9750 yen). I was actually expecting them to do this, since this figure has not been out of stock EVER despite its so called "exclusivity" (20,000 units in the world my ass, heck, there are even Indonesian versions of this thing).
Back when it was released it was all the rage, given that it REALLY IS coated with 18k gold and everyone was sure it would be out of stock immediately. Strangely it was not the case, so either the fans hate Seiya (lol) or there are quite a fuckton of Genealogical Gold Pegasus out there. Most probably the later is the case.

So shiny!

I can't negate it looks simply beautiful and would be the gem of the crown among my collection but I think it is still too expensive... and yet it is also too cheap given its composition, what it represents and how it looks. Ah man, decisions, decisions, I may end up flipping a coin in order to know what to do about this.

Whatever, my Gamma should be arriving during the next few days, so I can forget about this Sale a little bit... for now...

Tamashii Nation Autumn 2009 First Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:25:00 +0000

Well, the first day finally came and we got an avalanche of news. Perhaps the most striking photos were these:

In case you are wondering who these guys are, they are Lizard Misty and Argol Perseus respectively, the 2 most popular Silver Saints in the series given the trouble they gave to Pegasus Seiya and Dragon Shiryu before the Bronze Saints could manage to defeat them. These photos show very advanced prototypes, only the color of the Cloths is missing and so far, they look really good, so I guess we will be seeing them in the market very soon.
Frankly I'm not interested at all even if Bandai decides to release these guys and all the other Silver Saints that appeared in the series (that would be like 15 or 20 more figures), but the interesting fact is that Misty and Argol recently got released in the Vintage format (like those old Saint Seiya figures from the 80's) and now they received the Myth Cloth treatment. Myu Papillon, one of the best looking Specters out there also got released in the Vintage form not too long ago... perhaps we will be seeing him in the future in Myth Cloth form? Now that is something I would be glad to buy, the Butterfly of the Hades.

The Dragon God Cloth doesn't look too good to me. The color is too pale in my opinion and Shiryu's hair is gonna be one heck of a problem given how it gets in the way of the wings. One nice surprise was the Pegasus V1, as they showed its black version, one of Ikki's Lieutenants which Seiya had to defeat in order to recover one piece of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth at the start of the series.

Finally, the figure I was the most interested in, the Odin's Robe. The color is freaking amazing and the Object looks damn good but the face... argh, here we go again with the Asgard syndrome. Seiya's face is too damn... plain, it has no expression at all, not to mention that the tiara looks extremely big. If this is really the final product we will be getting in December then it will be very disappointing, especially after we saw how magnificent Alberich and Thor were.
Anyways, that was just the first day. Hopefully we will get more surprises during the rest of the event.

Yes, V1 Bronze Cloths at Last

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:05:00 +0000

I just woke up and found this info and I couldn't help but to scream of joy:

Yes, what you see in the lower left corner of the scan are two advanced prototypes of a pair of awesome Myth Cloths: Pegasus Seiya V1 and the Dragon God Cloth!In this other scan we get the confirmation of both, the Cancer Deathmask Surplice and Alcor Zeta Bud Myth Cloths for January 2010. The rest of the images are regarding different Original Color Editions (OCE) figures that seem like a royal waste to me but whatever. Couldn't be happier, even more so given I made some efforts and already ordered my Phecda Gamma Thor, so the giant of Asgard will be soon joining his 6 companions on my shelf.

V1 Bronze Cloths at Last?

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:50:00 +0000

A series of strong rumors from Figure Ou have started to circulate through the net just two days ago, stating that the Myth Cloths of Cancer Deathmask Surplice and Alcor Zeta Bud will be released on January of 2010. That by itself is awesome, but the other rumor is waaaaay more interesting, as it says that the V1 Bronze Cloths are already on planning and development.

Does that mean that these Cloths, the ones with which we met Seiya & co. during our childhood will finally be released? I sincerely hope so, because gentlemen, if you consider yourselves Saint Seiya fans these will be a MUST HAVE no matter what. Personally these are my favorite versions of all the 5 Bronze Saints so I wonder how awesome these will be given the perfection the figures have reached during the last years.
Meanwhile, we can only wait for the official confirmation and the next Tamashii Nation that will take place in just 2 more weeks, which will revolve around the Saint Seiya Myth Cloth figures.

On Stand By

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:43:00 +0000

Well, I guess I have not posted anything in quite a couple of days, but I guess that's thanks to both school and work which leave me with barely any spare time at all and as if that wasn't enough, lately my funds have been quite short so getting anything Myth Cloth or gunpla related is simply a no-no for the moment and most probably, will be until December (although I already preordered Odin's Robe, that's for sure).
Whatever, decided to dust some of my games after finally getting sick of G Gen Wars (final boss is totally lame, while 00 Raiser GN Sword III is fucking broken). I'll be tackling P3 Fes all over again. Goddamn, I had forgotten how enjoyable this gem was.

Rurouni Kenshin

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Another masterpiece and one of my most favorite series ever. Given how successful it was I would be surprised if you have never heard about it.

The story takes place during the early Meiji era in Japan. It tells the story of a peaceful wanderer named Himura Kenshin, who was known during the Bakumatsu war as none other than Hitokiri Battousai, a ruthless killer whose sword was vital in order for the construction of the new Japan during the revolution. Swearing to never kill again after such bloodshed, Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin using a sword with a reversed blade that doesn't allows him to kill. When he arrives to Tokyo in the 11th year of the Meiji era (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who is attempting to chase down a murderer who claims to be Hitokiri Battousai. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battousai. Even though she finds out that Kenshin is the real legendary assassin, she still offers him a place to stay at her dojo as she notes Kenshin is actually a very gentle person. And so, the history of this samurai with an X shaped scar on the face begins, constantly being chased by shadows and enemies from his bloody, mysterious past...

Simply put, this manga created by Nobuhiro Watsuki is a masterpiece given the depth and charisma he forged for all of the characters (such as Shishio Makoto, perhaps the best villain I've ever encountered so far), a extremely well elaborated plot and the accurate historical depiction of the setting. If you have not read it yet, do so, surely you won't be able to stop until you devour the 28th volume (yes, the manga is that long).
The anime series was also really good, as it was a excellent adaptation of the manga, with great animation and perhaps one of the best OST's out there (the multiple EDs are some of the best songs I've ever heard). Unfortunately, a divergence with the manga was inevitable given how quickly the anime was produced, leaving out the most interesting arc of the history (the revelation of Kenshin's past) as the manga wasn't even finished yet. So, we got only a couple of filler episodes that, frankly, were quite disappointing before the series was finally canceled. A real shame.
Whatever, try to check this title out if you still have not done so, surely you will enjoy it a lot. Now I leave you with the most epic moment in the entire story:

The Lost Canvas 146

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:01:00 +0000

Interesting, we will get to see Libra Dohko finally using the Libra weapons for the first time in combat. Surely Minotauros Gordon and Alraune Queen are gonna get shredded to pieces.

Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas 4

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:41:00 +0000

Yato's only shining moment in the entire history lol

Sasha has a dream in which she sees her brother Alone, crying tears of blood, suddenly wearing Hades' Surplice and carrying Tenma's corpse. She wakes up pretty agitated and hears Shion's report about the battle. The whole village was destroyed and a strange barrier appeared around Hades' castle. Shion confirms that Hades is indeed Alone. Sasha asks the name of the Saints that died in the fight and reluctantly, Dohko answers: Unicorn Yato and Pegasus Tenma. Much to the Gold Saints astonishment, instead of breaking down, Sasha shows her determination as Athena and decides they need to reinforce the Sanctuary defenses.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Yato manages to pull out Tenma's body from the rubble in which he is buried. A mysterious wanderer appears and Yato attacks, thinking it is a Specter, but the woman in question easily overpowers the Unicorn and order him to calm down, otherwise they will attract the enemy. She reveals herself as a warrior from Jamir, Yuzuriha, who has orders to track down the Pegasus Saint.

Yuzuriha manages to teleport herself and the two Saints to Jamir. Reluctantly, Yato follows her to the tower, only to find remains of destroyed Cloths. Thinking he got tricked, he attacks her again but this time, it is her master, Hakurei, who stops him. Yato still doesn't trusts them and demands an explanation, to which Hakurei removes Yato's Cloth and explains that it is already dead. The only way to repair it is to use the blood of a Saint. Yuzuriha wounds her own arm to spill her blood over the Unicorn Cloth, allowing Hakurei to completely repair it in order to continue the battle.

Hakurei then explains that Tenma is not exactly dead, thanks to the flowers he wears on his wrist. Athena's Cosmo lies on them and managed to prevent Tenma's soul to fully enter the Underworld, but it is only a matter of time before they wither off and their effect disappears. Yato offers himself to do anything for Athena's sake, so Hakurei takes out a sword and gives it to Yato, telling him it was blessed with Athena's blood in the previous Holy War and it will protect him in the Underworld, as no living human being can dwell there (at least, not without the Eight Sense, Arayashiki). He then proceeds to send Yato to the Underworld with his technique Sekishiki Meikaiha (if case you are wondering, Hakurei was the Cancer Gold Saint). Yuzuriha soon follows the Unicorn, embarrassing him by saying she will protect him from any danger.

Meanwhile, Tenma awakes in a prison, where a Specter, Mandrake Fedor, explains his weird situation of still being alive. Yato and Yuzuriha soon manage to sneak in but are discovered and the fight ensues. Fedor appears to have the upper hand until a pissed off Tenma breaks free from his chains and uses his Suiseiken to defeat the Specter. In the aftermath, Yato explains to him that once all the petals from the flowers in his wrist fall off, he dies. Tenma also remembers what Fedor said, that one of the Three Judges is heading to attack the Sanctuary, so they have to hurry up, but Yuzuriha intervenes, stating they too have an important mission here in the Underworld, one that will greatly affect the course of the Holy War.

I'll be honest with you, while so far the adaptation of the manga has been great and the animation is really good, the OST is plain boring and I think I will never like how the Gold Cloths look here. They were much more awe inspiring and majestic in the Hades Chapter Sanctuary OVAS.
Whatever, now we have to wait 2 more months to see the debut of the Gold Saints with Pisces Albafica and his fight against Minos, which is one of the best battles in the whole manga so far.

Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas 3

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:06:00 +0000

After two months of waiting, 2 new Saint Seiya OVAS have finally been released.

The battle between the Gods has just started.

A group of Silver Saints was sent to Italy in order to fight some Specters that have been roaming the area and are able to decimate most of them. However, when they chase the last surviving Specter to a cathedral, they fall right into a trap where Pandora and a whole lot more of Specters ambush them.

They return to the Sanctuary to give their report, unfortunately, the truth is that they were killed and also became Specters at the service of Hades. Suddenly attacking Athena, Shion and Dohko defend her, becoming surprised at the sight of the Surplices the former Silver Saints now wear and the increase of power they have now. Not holding back both Gold Saints attack, terminating the evil trio. Before they disappear, the Silver Saints admit they only wished to return to Athena's side to keep fighting for her.

Enraged by the insult, both Gold Saints ask for permission to return the favor. The Pope allows them to take a few Bronze and Silver Saints with them to Italy and find the cathedral Cerberus mentioned were he and his companions were killed. With any luck, chances are that Hades might be there.

Gathering a few Saints, Shion and Dohko explain the mission, reminding the squad to hold on their lives, as that is the most important thing they have and it would be a waste to go to just get killed.

Back in Italy, Tenma and the rest watch a great shining coming from the direction of Pegasus hometown. Separating from the rest, Tenma rushes in just to find the whole village in flames and in his old house, the corpses from his friends back when he was still at the orphanage. Lycaon appears and uses his Howling Inferno against Tenma, who, full of rage, merely stops the attack with his bare hands and counterattacks with his Ryu Sei Ken, killing the bastard.

Yato gets his ass owned by none other than Alone, shocking Tenma at the revelation that his old friend is in fact, Hades.
Flashback time, we get to see Sasha, Alone and Tenma right before Sasha was taken away. She makes a set of flower bracelets for the 3 of them, so no matter what, if they wear them they will always be linked together.

Alone takes out the painting of Tenma he promised to finish once his friend came back as a Saint and using the color red from the blood of the victims of the town, he draws a huge "X" in the portrait, which has the effect of destroying Tenma's Cloth and kills him. With that act, Alone has finally succumbed to Hades' will and his golden hair turns pitch black. A enraged Dohko attacks Hades but before he can even hit the God, he is stopped by Bennu Kagaho, who is able to match his power.

Shion appears and tells Dohko to stop the fight, as it is meaningless to continue like this, especially when the Holy War has just started. Hades gathers all of his forces and shows his Specters a planetary, where all the constellations of the sky are visible. He asks his warriors to defeat each and every one of the Saints in order to render black the whole sky and bring salvation to the world. Gryphon Minos, the strongest of the Three Judges is ordered to conduct a full frontal attack against the Sanctuary.

Yato pulls his ass out of the rubble in which he was buried and spots both Hades' castle and Tenma's corpse, which he tries to also take out. In the distance, a mysterious wanderer is amused at the sight of some survivors...

Great adaptation of the manga and visual quality, although the OST is just plain boring. I wouldn't be surprised to see some fans editing these OVAS in order to replace the music with Seiji Yokoyama's pieces, which will ALWAYS be the best Saint Seiya music. Also, I didn't like at all the voice they used for Kagaho (Lelouch from Code Geass = FACEPALM), man, that character deserved a much more MANLY voice than that... oh well, whatever.

Kara no Kyoukai 06

noreply@blogger.com (beamknight87) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:28:00 +0000

Meh, so far this one was pretty boring compared to the previous movie. Could have used some more action or drama.

Meet Azaka "I wanna fuck my brother's brains out" Kokutou, who gets forced to work together with Shiki in order to solve a mystery case in her school. I have never managed to understand what's the deal about creating little girls sickeningly in love and obsessed with their big brothers with more than obvious incestuous tendencies (does that even happen at all...?)

Whatever, superb animation and OST as always. Can't wait for the next and final movie.