PRIMUS CONCEPTS

Ultraman Seven ver 7.3

2020-07-23T13:36:00.001+08:00

Recently, I was one of the #100 lucky contestants to win a 12" Ultraman Seven vr 7.3 by Dimension Studio. All this is thanks to Yolopark, so a big shout-out to them!

This is Dimension Studios' 2nd Ultraman model kit.

The model kit includes LED parts for the head & chest to light up. If you have owned the first one, there are similarities to a certain extent.

The inner leg/knee frame, hands/fists & foot have identical molds. This means you can interchange hand gestures between the first Ultraman as well as their 3rd kit, Ultraman Ace.

Once assembled, the kit stands very well among your 12" figures, if you're a Hot Toys collector. If you take your own time, you should be able to finish the kit in 3-4 days. In addition, it also comes with water decals for you to make the kit look more realistic.

There are 2 versions for this kit, one would be in light grey & then you'll also have a metallic silver version.

In terms of articulation, the figure stands pretty well. You should be able to pose Ultraseven in many ways.

Lastly, Ultraseven comes with a huge number of accessories! You'll have 2 beam swords which can either be attached into the hip. The kit also comes with an interchangeable part for you to hold the swords at the thigh instead, entirely up to you.

You'll also have a pair of machine guns that is attached to the upper back. This extension, if not used can be taken apart & is not permanently attached to the back. Lastly, Ultraseven comes with a pair of massively huge claws! The claws have individually moving pincers that can also be retracted back.

This kit was a totally fun build. The box is considerably larger than the first Ultraman because it has alot more accessories & will totally be awesome if displayed next to your other 1/6 figures.

Once again, a final thanks to Yolopark again for this awesome kit!

Feel free to check them out at: www.yolopark.com

2014 - HAPPY NEW YEAR

2014-01-01T18:21:00.000+08:00

Primus Concepts wishes all the followers a happy & great 2014!

GAOFIGHGAR

2013-12-27T10:30:00.000+08:00

I hope most of you enjoyed yourself during Christmas. Since that this is the final post for 2013, let's all end this year with a Big Bang! From the Series 'The King of Braves GaoGaiGar FINAL', I present to you GaoFighGar! If you're contemplating about watching the anime series, well my suggestion to you is that you should just watch it. I had a great with this series.

Firstly, this huge robot is manufactured by CMS Corporation & the size of the box is pretty huge & heavy. There are very minor components of the toy made out of die-cast while the rest of it is majority plastic.

When you take the huge foam packaging out of the box, you'll realize that it actually consists of two layers. There's one cool factor however that bags the trophy.

The toy actually comes with a glove. I felt that the manufacturers wanted to give this toy a sense of quality, fragility & a sense of rarity all at the same time. It just makes you want to slap on the glove & handle the toy with extra tender care when transforming & fiddling around with the figure.

Lets have a closer look at the first component, the DrillGao II. This component is actually made of 2 drill vehicles combined together. The vehicles can be separated to attack the enemies individually.

The DrillGao II can actually be combined with GaoFar as a pair of arm drills.

Next, we have the LinerGao II. This vehicle comes in the form of a rocket ship. The LinerGao II can actually detach the rocket boosters to open up into what looks like a futuristic bullet train, with small flaps at the front. Either that, or a long submarine with a couple of outlets ready to fire upon some heavy missiles.

Here we have the StealthGao III, which is basically a futuristic rendition of the current stealth bomber. Besides looking triangular & flat, the StealthGao III actually has 2 booster intakes at the bottom of the jet.

If you look closer, the toy comes with an extra set of air vents. One pair comes in closed position & the other in open position.

This would be the main component of it all, GaoFar. GaoFar is actually the merger of Evoluder Guy (pilot) & the PhantomGao (vehicle). I'm not sure what sort of a description I can give for this space craft except that it has 2 portions sticking out in front, as well as 2 so called shields at the upper sides of the vehicle.

Here's a close-up of GaoFar.

Some of the components are actually made of die-cast, which makes this figure quite solid & heavy in certain ways. In addition, the weight gives stability to the figure both in individual robot mode, as well as the combined form which I'll show in a bit.

This would be when all the components combine. It's the stage of Final Fusion! All you have to do is to flip the arms to the back & shift the rear waist forward to form the groin area of GaoFighGar. Also, don't forget to fold the toes inward.

One cool aspect of the toy is that the center of the chest actually flips inward to reveal a mirror-like piece, just like in the anime cartoon. This is when GaoFar activates the combination system to summon all the other Gao components.

First, we slide in the DrillGao II units to form the feet.

Since GaoFar's side torse now has an opening, that's where we slide in LinerGao II. Once the LinerGao II is in place, you'll hear a soft clicking sound. Then, you can pull down the arm components from LinerGao II.

The toy comes with 2 heads. One for GaoFighGar & the other is the original GaoGaiGar head. For the purpose of this review, I'll just be using GaoFighGar's head.

Lastly, by attaching the 3rd & final component the StealthGao III, we finally have the complete version of GaoFighGar. I have to say that this figure is indeed very stunning & ferocious in many ways. You'll have to arrange the connector to clip onto the rear shoulders of GaoFar as well as the clips on the side, connecting to the underarm of the robot.

The sides of StealthGao III component can actually flip out to give GaoFighGar an extra boost when launching to flight. The toy also comes with 2 transparent green components to attach onto that part of the wing.

There is a button at the bottom of the knee that you can press to slightly lengthen the drill bit. This is to represent one of the signature attack moves of GaoFighGar, which is the Drill Knee.

GaoFighGar also comes in a variety of hand gentures for you to customize your ideal display position.

The toy even includes a clutched pair of hands representing the signature attack method of this robot, the Heaven & Hell punch.

Next up, we have the Protect Wall defensive mode of GaoFighGar. This set even comes with a transparent pink barrier that attached to the hand snugly. This protective barrier reminds me of another anime, Evangelion.

The Gatling Driver is another component that comes with this kit. It can be attached onto the arm of GaoFighGar.

By using the same piece, all you have to do is swap the tip of the chrome claws for a buttered knife, better known as the Dividing Driver.

Overall, I'm more than happy that I purchased & own this toy. It's well worth the money spent. If you ever stumble upon this figure, even if you have no idea about the anime & you're looking for a great piece to display, trust me you won't go wrong with this. There is so much articulation in this figure & the accessories that come with it allow you to constantly keep your imagination running wild with dozens of ways to pose this beast.

On a lighter note, I can foresee that my schedule in 2014 would be pretty packed & I fear I may not have the luxury of time to put my heart into my toy blogging. Perhaps I may not have as many posts as I have had this year. Nevertheless, do drop by from time to time. Until then, have a great New Year's Eve & a great cross-over party!

WARRIROS OF MINAS TIRITH

2013-12-21T10:30:00.001+08:00

Today we take a quick look at the Warriors of Minas Tirith. I have about 16 figures on hand that I have previously painted. Perhaps I did not paint in greater detail, but the figures mostly look like they come in plain silver armor.

Here we have the archers in various poses.

The spear men are an interesting lot. I had to keep my hands still when painting the detail of the tree design on the shields.

Some of the swordsmen come in two different shield designs. I'm not sure of their exact rankings but their armor plating are also different.

Overall, these are one of the easiest figures to paint in the whole Lord of The Rings line as they are mainly done with silver & black paint. From here, all I had to do was to put in the detail of skin color, brown weapon parts & a dash of blonde hair to do the job.

OVERRIDE GTS

2013-12-15T10:30:00.000+08:00

From the Transformers Cybertron series, today we have Override GTS.

Override comes in the form of a futuristic sports car. The two prominent red headlamps in front resembles a serpent's fang to me.

When you attach the Cybertron Key into the rear of Over-ride, two small laser guns flip out from the side.

Here's something unique about the transformation this toy. When you pull forward the black piece in front of the car, the centerpiece flips to the back & the arms flip out from the side.

This is Override in robot mode. Although the legs & torso look pretty sleek, the two black bars protruding from the back makes this bot look funny.

Here's a close-up of Override GTS.

Override, fully equipped with the twin laser guns, that looks like it's attached to an engine or something.

Articulation on this figure is pretty good. The feet can be bent as well as the upper thigh, just before the hip. I just hope that the white/grey on the figure doesn't turn yellowish in the future.

TYGRA [CLASSIC]

2013-12-09T10:30:00.000+08:00

A blast into time brings us back to a vintage character. His name is Tygra from the prominent ThunderCats cartoon series. This is the latest version & very different from the vintage toy.

If you look closer, Tygra now has many more points of articulation allowing for great poseability.

Here are some examples. Lion-O's sword doesn't come with this figure just so you know. He does come with an extra right hand for you to hold his whip. This set also comes with two whips, one fully extended & another one in dormant mode.

Those days in the cartoon, Tygra would spin the whip around himself to be invisible & hide from the enemies.

It's a pity they only manufactured Tygra & Lion-O in vintage style, while the rest of the latest ThunderCats figures are the newer version ones.

2013 PURPLE NOVEMBER

2013-12-03T10:30:00.000+08:00

November was an amazing month for me & I'll tell you why in just a bit.

A couple of months ago I started to keep track of my hauls on a monthly basis & this has become sort of a routine for me, & a good one in fact. At least I can keep track & remember what I have bought for the whole month. Believe me, I actually missed out 2 items in the midst of compiling this list. So anyway, here are the things I have recently purchased.

I picked up my second MP-02 Acid Storm because it was going on sale in Toys R Us. I intend to keep this second unit in MISB condition & will probably sell it off or trade it away in the near future. Then, I picked up 3 few accessories to be used as add-on for my toy shootings. The first was a Heavy Weapons Unit Spiral Crusher from Kotobukiya. The other 2 items are custom diorama effects from LBX series.

Next, Sandstorm came at a bargain at Tesco (surprisingly), followed by an unreleased limited run Nike Calvin Johnson Megatron which uses the current IDW Megatron/Dradwing mold. The only difference about this version is that the feet has mini red crosses "+" for design & the figure also comes with a purple American football which bears both the Nike & Decepticon logo. On the front left chest of Megatron, you will see the signature of Calvin Johnson that looks like a kid scribbling a couple of 'zeros' repetitively. From the same seller on eBay, I also managed to pick up an exclusive Gari-Robo Kun (Grape) version later on last month. This transformable ice-cream is actually still in the midst of being shipped to me.

Unexpectedly, both the rare Transformers Go! arrived on my shore last month. Gekisoumaru Kurojishi Ver., is the black version of the purple lion that I have yet seen in retail & there is also the Kenzan Kuromusha Ver., of the previously launched blue police car. At the same time, I picked up the Guren Dragotron which is basically the recolored version of ultimate class Beast Fire Predaking that comes in orange. The main difference on Dragotron is the transparent red wings that may not be that obvious in pictures that you may have seen.

Then, I also picked up a Roadbuster Ultra Magnus, which is part of my ongoing Elite Guard project. I have yet to decide whether I should custom it or leave it as it is.

Since the local Aeon store was having a sale, I picked up the Alex Hunter Armor with Breakdown, to further expand my base diorama in the future. I need more Decepticon bases to be combined together, before they become outnumbered by the Autobot forces.

Sometime in August, I pre-ordered 3 sets of Knock-Off FansProject Causality Insecticons. 1 for me & 2 for a friend, so please don't be alarmed at the 9 set of figures. The toys finally arrived & I must say that the quality is actually pretty good. I'll definitely post a review on the in the future.

Last month, I also spotted a knock-off G1 Thunder Clash. Not only the original G1 mold is hard to come by these days in good condition, but how often do we come across or hear about the knock-off version. I was initially skeptical & did some homework before clicking on the item on eBay. Besides being a rare knock-off, besides being curious about the quality of it, I didn't mind getting this because i'm actually killing 2 birds with 1 stone. The trailer can compliment my Wings of Honor Thunderclash (Energon Rodimus repaint), & also open up into a base for my base collection diorama!

Towards the end of the month, I paid Tesco another visit & found myself a complete set of Cyberverse figures to complete Abominus from the Beast Hunter series. Along with that, I claimed some promotional stickers for 2 of the following bobble-heads. Apparently you can press the feet up to reveal a pen in each of the figures.

The downside to these figures is that they are all sealed & randomly packed. However I spoke to the gentleman nicely & they were kind enough to rummage through the packaging to get me what I wanted. I asked for Captain America & Woody. To my surprise I'm actually quite impressed because even if you open the box up, each of these figures are sealed in a black bag. Being the experts themselves, they had to rely on 'feeling' which was the right toy.

While catching up for drinks with some collectors, I stumbled upon the ThunderCats Sword of Omens & I managed to get a good price for it at the flea market. I have been eying this toy for over a year since it came out, but I wasn't willing to pay retail price for it knowing that this toy is being thrown at dirt cheap prices in the States. But opportunity came & I thought of getting it, to have a little recollection of my fun childhood memories.

Lastly, I want to share my GREATEST Transformers haul to date. I present to you one of the Holy Grails, the almighty Black Zarak!

This figure is in mint condition & I wont it over a bid on Ebay. The condition was loose, but it's in great shape. The chrome on the chest is fantastic & the paint job on the face was in awesome condition. However curious you may be, I won't tell you how CHEAP I bought this item from Japan. It is truly a holy grail indeed.

However once I shared my haul upon arriving in my hands, some close collectors asked about a 'GPS'. This term was new to me & after researching further I found out what it means. GPS stands for Gold Plastic Syndrome. It's a syndrom that occurs only to some old toys & it doesn't mean that this syndrome happens to toys that came in golden bronze mold. It's just the name. When I inspected the toy at first glance, I dare say it was 'perfect', not a single dent, or any signs of fragility or stress marks. I was convinced that this Black Zarak has only been touched by very few hands.

However, after fiddling with the toy a few more times, the connector that holds chrome chest popped off. I had to fix the part back with super glue. It looks fine from the front & the small glue park is only obvious if you at the toy closely at the sides. Another GPS syndrome occurred when I was packing the figure & tucking it into my throne room when I discovered a small flat golden piece on the floor. I got frantic & finally discovered the missing piece to be part of the leg. Thankfully, after gluing this peice back on, it's in no way obvious at all due to the shape & position of the chipped-off piece. Although I paid pennies for this figure (Believe me, i know alot of people would pay a bomb for this), I'm thankful that the GPS syndrome only occurred in strategic spots. If I paid a whole lot more for this toy, I'd probably be having a major rampage by now.

If you want to know my upcoming plans, remember the KO Megazarak I bought in October? I'm arranging for a friend of mine to customize the parts to compliment Black Zarak. All i need to do from there is to hunt for the sacred Very-Hard-To-Find red spear (not important to me), & the face plate (negligible since I intend to display it in robot mode).

With that, I'll leave you with a hilarious image of myself with all 3 versions of Scorponok on top of me. (Megazarak, KO Megazarak & Black Zarak). Until then, thanks for constantly following my posts. Cheers.

KM-06 STORMER

2013-11-27T10:30:00.000+08:00

This is the 3rd Seeker installment by Mastermind Creations. The first one was a limited edition pure white version known as KM Awakening while the second version was KM-05 Screecher (the supposed Starscream). As you can clearly guess, Stormer is a rendition of Thundercracker.

The toy comes with a short train track as well as a series of plastic blue caps, for you to seal off the screw head openings. Hence if you take a look, you will hardly see any screw openings.

I have applied gold markings on parts of the figure. Also, the only extra detail on the toy is the green markings as can be seen above. I really appreciate the efforts of Mastermind for such a small part of the figure.

Stormer comes in the form of a 3-winged plane from the steel ages. It resembles the early inventions of the Wright Brothers. There's one main factor why you will never see toys like these bring produced by mainstream toy manufacturers & that's because of the safety issue. If you're wondering whether the wings & propellers of the plane are sharp, they are pointy sharp alright! You could probably use the wings as a letter opener if you wanted to.

A closer look shows Stormers face resembling that of Thundercracker.

One main weakness of these third party toys is the plastic quality. You gotta be really careful when you transform them as they do feel a little fragile at times. Also try not to have sweaty palms when you're transforming Stormer, you don't wanna hurt yourself from the sharp edges.

The rear wings can actually be spread open giving Stormer a larger wingspan when flying I suppose. Even though the rear or Stormer looks bulky, the figure is actually quite sturdy.

Various other poses of Stormer.

The additional wings tucked along the waist can actually be removed to become fighting blades. Alternatively, you can also combine both of them together to form a huge scimitar.

Here's one cool thing I found out from another blog that the instruction manual doesn't show. You can actually combine both the blades along with the rear wings, to form a gigantic shuriken.

I'm sure Stormer is going to need a whole lot of strength to even flip that at someone. Having said so, wouldn't something as huge as that be bloody visible for the opponent to have plenty of time to evade? Go figure.

Lastly, here's a concept art of the early designs of the three Seekers. Although they're not the same, they do bear a lot of resemblance.

To me this has been a fun piece to look at & appreciate. I really do look forward to upcoming figures from Mastermind. One to mention would be Hexatron, which I have yet to purchase.

CYBERTRONIAN OPTIMUS PRIME

2013-11-21T10:30:00.000+08:00

Arguably one of the best Optimus Prime molds that I have seen in a very long time is this Cybertronian Optimus Prime from the Transformers game War for Cybertron.

In vehicle mode Optimus Prime comes in a sleek & futuristic form. This mold is somewhat similar to a lot of concept car designs that you would see at an auto show.

Here's a close-up of Optimus.

Although this version of Optimus is only in deluxe class, the transformation process of this bot is rather complex I would say. There are many small steps that you would need to perform to get the transformation right. Unlike many of the other deluxe class toys, we probably would remember the transformation process for this Prime after numerous transformations. The design of the beam rifle is also quite cool. It is spring loaded, making the rifle turret flip out into a longer rifle for use in robot mode.

Given that this bot requires many complex steps for transformation, one difficult part is to transform it back into vehicle mode. It's a real pity that the toy makers didn't design this bot for the voyager line. I'm sure there would be much greater detail & articulation given to Optimus.

PROJECT ELITE GUARD - WINGS OF HONOR (ONGOING)

2013-11-15T10:30:00.000+08:00

It was around the middle of 2013 that my dad decided to pay my sister a visit in Adelaide, Australia during her university break. I took advantage of that time frame to see what I could hunt on eBay Australia for my dad to bring home. So happened, during that time, there we a couple of great, & I mean great deals! However, due to baggage space restriction I decided to settle on ordering 2 items. The first item was a loose but complete supreme class Constructicon Devastator from the Transformers ROTF line. The second item was a deal too sweet to miss. It was the 2009 Wings of Honor BotCon box set.

A few months thereafter, I started doing my own research on "Wings of Honor" (WoH) & found out that it was actually the term for this particular Autobot insignia. The emblem consists of an Autobot logo, followed by 3 red wings at the side. Soon, I discovered that this insignia was worn by the Transformers Elite Guards (EG). Not long after that, the addiction to hunt down the members of the Elite Guards bearing the WoH insignia kicked in.

To make things easier, this major project is being split into three smaller parts. First I'll be looking at Transformers Animated, then Wings Universe & finally other aligned universes (currently only Transformers Prime).

1.0 Transformers Animated

Theoretically speaking, the EG first appeared in the Transformers Animated series, a series that I was never fond of, no offense to my readers. I just didn't like the anime-styled designs as I prefer the figures to look more robotic. However, my findings showed that the EG timeline was later on expanded to the Wings Universe line & has also spilled over to the latest Transformers Prime series.

In the midst of all this research, I dug up some of my TF Animated toys that I have just to take a closer look. Much to my amazement, I saw the huge WoH insignia sticking out like a sore thumb from Ultra Magnus! In addition I also had the jet twins Jetstorm & Jetfire. They too had the WoH logo on! Since I already had some head start, I decided to hunt down the EG one by one, to find the robots bearing the WoH emblem. I reckon this would be a mid to long term project to complete depending on how good of a deal I can find for each of the WoH bots, so stay tuned.

2.0 Wings Universe

The Wings Universe series is a documentation of events that occurred loosely around the early G1 cartoon continuity. The comics were published by Fun Publications. In the comics, this special task force was originally founded by Magnum, a member of the Autobot High Council to be a special strike force within the Autobot army.

Having said so, the hunt started to get a little complicated. As I look through the list of the EG members, not all toys are currently available. Also, not all EG members that are available in the market bear the WoH insignia. Based on comic pictures from IDW Publishing & Fun Publications the search just expanded into a whole new world. Hence, this would have to be a long term bot-hunt for me to get hold of the pieces required.

Take a look at what I mean below:

With the help of another blogger, the names of all 31 Elite Guard members are as follows:

From the pictures, you can see that there are a handful of familiar faces. The entire EG crew is actually made of a combination of robots from various past series such as Action Masters, G1, Robot Masters, Universe, Fall of Cybertron, Victory, TFCC, BotCon & a few that have yet been ever produced.

I actually researched further & found that there are numerous EG teams. They are as follows:

Main Officers -
Big Bang, Sentinel Major

Alpha Team [BotCon WoH box set] - COMPLETE
Thunder Clash (leader), Flak, Kup, Landshark

201st division Strike Team - WIP
Metalhawk (leader), Dion, Iron Fist, Over-Run

Special Ops Team (Combaticons) [Universe & Fall of Cybertron] - COMPLETE
Onslaught (leader), Blast Off, Brawl, Swindle, Vortex

45th division Stealth Team [Action Masters] - WIP
Powerflash (leader), Rumbler, Sprocket, Tap-Out

116th division Artillery Team [Figure's don't exist yet] -
Halonix Maximus, Windsail, Clear Out, Paddock

Fast Attack Team [Victory] -
Ranger, Blacker, Braver, Laster

349th division Recon Team -
Crosscut, Delta Seeker, Rest-Q, Roadfire

If you're interested to find out more, you can also look out for this:

3.0 Other Aligned Universes

i. TF Prime-

In the cartoon series, both Smokescreen & Ultra Magnus are depicted as being members of the Elite Guard while they were still on Cybertron. Smokescreen is seen with the WoH insignia on the shoulder (ep. 44) while Ultra Magnus reflects on the past military ways back in Cybertron as an EG (ep. 61).

I would like to share this ongoing project of mine with my readers as part of the fun in collecting them. In order to limit & simplify my current project, I have narrowed my search down to a few criteria:

i. Complete the Transformers Animated EG line
ii. Collect the other toys from various lines with the WoH insignia
iii. Attempt to collect all the other 31 bots from the EG poster above

I'm assuming that not many people are keen on the Transformers Animated line. Hence I should be able to find some of the WoH easily. There are still plenty of Animated Sentinel Primes, Blurr & Jazz lying around in the market, so I'll keep these aside for now & hunt for the harder ones first. My main concern for now would be Animated EG Prowl & OP. TFCC's Dion was not in my list back then due to the rarity & price of the figure.

Here is the current status of the project:

Aug '13:

AM-26 Arms Micron Smokescreen

Animated EG Bumblebee (Picked it up at dirt cheap price)

Animated TA-01 EG Optimus Prime (Going on clearance price at BBTS)

Sept '13:

Beast Hunter Smokescreen (VHTF alternate mold, found it at the airport! In the near future I plan to get the WoH decals from Reprolabels to revamp this figure)

Oct '13:

TFCC Dion & Mini-Con Cop-Tur (Going at a great deal on eBay)
TA-05 Animated EG Prowl (By luck, I stumbled upon this at a local store. I calmly asked for a discount & the guy agreed. Double jackpot!)
Striked a deal with an old time seller for the following 2 items:
TA-30 Animated Blurr
TA-14 Animated Decepticon Shockwave

Nov '13:
Action Masters Over-Run (Loose but complete, minor restoration needed)
Animated Roadbuster Ultra Magnus (Going on clearance)

With that, stay tuned for future updates on this project. There will come a day where I will be able to snap a group picture of all my Elite Guards together!

GOLD BUMBLEBEE

2013-11-09T10:30:00.000+08:00

Today let's take a look at Gold Bumblebee from Reveal The Shield (RTS) series.

This is a legend class figure & instead of the usual bright yellow, Bumblebee comes in dark gold.

The transformation process is too easy & here we have a close up of the face.

There is only six point of articulation & this was part of a set of other legend class (RTS) series that I purchased.

This toy would go well with large diorama bases such as the all new Metroplex, or compliment older base series such as Micromasters.

OCT 2013 SPOOKY HAUL-OWEEN

2013-11-03T10:30:00.000+08:00

Let's see what we have here for the month of October. Hmm, now wasn't I suppose to have cut down on my hauling this final quarter?

At the beginning of the month, it appeared that there was a restock on TG-20 Ratbat. I intend to cut down on my hauls by avoiding deluxe class figures for now, but since Ratbat was a limited run item, I though it would be a good to watch the price go up in the future.

Then, the long awaited limited edition Linkin Park Soundwave finally arrived in October. Initially a friend & myself were waiting for our stock from Singapore. Since it arrived on home ground first we decided to pick the stock up locally, hence the 3 boxes.

Another item that arrived in October was Masterpiece Prowl. Since most of us have already seen the molds of upcoming Sreak (Silverstreak) & Smokescreen, I decided long ago that I would only go for Prowl & Smokescreen. To me, Silverstreak is just like MP-10 Masterpiece Lambor, they're just made up of solid colour.

A couple of dudes started posting some pictures of the latest Custom Kreons on Facebook. Apparently, they were being sold in some of the Tesco hyper marts. Boy did I hunt for them high & low. It was a pity that I couldn't find them. What's great is that the full set of 6 Custom Kreons were seen shortly thereafter in Toys R Us! The funny thing however, was I didn't have my Toys R Us Star card with me that day & I wanted to convert some of my existing points for vouchers. So I told the staff to reserve the items for me & that I would come a couple of days later to pick them up.

Somewhere around the middle of the month, Isetan had a Japanese fair & not many people knew about it yet. I read on a Facebook thread that there were a couple of good offers going on. At first, I headed over to the Bandar Utama outlet, but couldn't find anything. The deals were only available at the main Isetan outlet in KLCC. When I made my way there, I was surprised at some of the great deals that were on offer. Since I didn't want to overspend, I only picked up a few items. I settle for the Platinum Series Year of the Snake Optimus Prime that was going for over 50% off, Arms Micron Stunt Wildwider for the unique 'elephant shaped' Arms Micron & Arms Micron Final Battle Megatron for the Dark Energon Saber combination.

One evening while doing grocery shopping with my wife in Tesco, I stumbled upon the full FOC Ruination set. I was hesitating intially, but then I casually took 1 out of the 5 to the nearest bar-code scanner. The scanner showed that it was going for 30% off. What else can I say right?

My sister's coming back from Adelaide for a short break sometime in November so I had to make use of the opportunity. I found a good deal for a G1 Action Masters Over-Run on eBay Australia. It needs to be fixed & has some minor paint chip, but I know what I want to do with it.

The TFCC Timelines Dion that I ordered last month finally arrived.

Met a fellow collector for a drink last month & decided to check on some stuff at one of the toy shops. To my surprise I found an Animated Prowl (white edition) which was becoming more rare, something I must have.

I've been hunting for some Transformers Animated & found Blurr & Shockwave being sold by an old supplier of mine. I negotiated for a lower price since this line is dwindling away & not many people are after these anymore.

Towards the end of the month, the G1 Megazarak (KO Version) finally reached our shores. You don't really need to think twice to purchase these things. The first time I saw the actual thing was back in September when I was in Beijing. To date, I have to say that this figure is a great replica of the original one that I have. The only setback is that it comes with a missing piece. I've spoken with the toy store owner to request the said parts from the supplier. We'll just have to see what he can do for me.

Finally, on the last day of October I managed to pick up the 3 Kreon Micro Changers Wave 2 (Defensor, Abominus, Piranacon) that was going on sale.

Well that sums up how I ended up with all these hauls for the month of October.

ARCEE WITH ARMS MICRON ARC

2013-11-01T10:30:00.000+08:00

Today, let's take a look at Arcee, from the Arms Micron (TF Prime) line.

Next to Arcee, is First Edition Arcee from the Transformers Prime line. Both of these figures look very identical, however their transformation style & end result is slightly different.

This is Arcee up close.

This robot looks very sleek & aerodynamic in robot mode. The mold is in proportion & the rear wings aren't heavy at all. There are two pegs at the rear of both wings for you to attach more Arms Micron onto.

Here we have Arcee with Arms Micron Arc.

In weapon mode, Arc comes in the shape of a blade.

Arc's alternate mode is of course a miniature robot.

Lastly, here we have a sample of Arcee with a bunch of additional Arms Micron weapons. The figure is very sleek & lightweight. Besides, the joints are not obstructed & this gives Arcee ample movement.

LEGOLAS

2013-10-27T10:30:00.000+08:00

Today's LoTR review is on the figure Legolas. This elf was one of the early batches of figures that I owned. Hence, the paint job probably wasn't up to par.

The ends of the arrows are painted white to be made to look like feathers. The fine linings are then outlined with gold ink.

Lastly, here's Legolas for size comparison standing next to Gimli.

DESTRUCTICON BLUDGEON

2013-10-22T10:30:00.000+08:00

Today we take a look at Destructicon Bludgeon from the Robots in Disguise series. One thing unique about this toy is that it comes packed in a Transformers Armada line packaging.

In vehicle mode, Blugdeon comes in the form of a tank.

This toy has been on display in my shelf for many years now. It was until recently that I fiddled with the toy, to take it out for review purposes that I noticed the hairline cracks on the rubber tube.

Transformation only takes a few simple steps. In robot mode, you can see a huge Decepticon insignia right at the lower chest of Bludgeon.

Here's Bludgeon with the huge rocket. This toy comes with two rockets but I'm only using one for review purposes. The other one is tucked somewhere in my stash of missiles.

The legs are not flexible, hence giving Bludgeon limited posability.

Much to my resentment, just as I was about to end the shooting session, the rubber tube actually broke off. This was a real bummer for me. Right now, I'm leaving Destructicon Bludgeon in robot mode, with the tube glued on for good. This goes to say that the air firing mechanism won't work anymore.

ARMS MASTER OPTIMUS PRIME

2013-10-17T10:30:00.000+08:00

It's the month of September & my birthday's coming up. What more than to kick the month off with a cool post!

Today we're going to take a look at Arms Master Optimus Prime from the Transformers Arms Micron series. This post is packed with loads of images & you'll know why shortly. If it takes a while to load, my sincerest apologies as I hope you can bear with me.

I would say that this would be the leader class version of Optimus Prime from the TF Prime series. Prior to this there were a couple of deluxe class Primes as well as a whole load of various voyager versions.

As you can see, thie Prime carries the huge Matrix at the back of the truck.

Here's a gimmick that the truck pulls off. First, you'll have to loosen the grill of the truck in front just a little. Then all you have to do is to press down the grey button at the top of the cab. This will cause a pair of spinning blasters to literally roll out. However, as cool as the picture look in the blog & on the box, the rolling out mechanism isn't smooth at all. Almost 10/10 times the blasters get stuck half way & you would have to manually drag them out.

Here's different angles of the truck with the blasters fully rolled out.

Being a leader class figure, transformation is very simple. Prime stands all high & mighty until you start realizing that Prime looks like he's suffering from a hunched back when you view the toy from the side.

Do take note of the yellow button at the kidney area of the robot. Once pressed, the spinning cannons are drawn out.

Here we have the spinning guns in robot mode. Just like in vehicle mode, 10/10 times the blasters get stuck half way out.

With both blasters out, Prime now looks more formidable.

Now let's see what the Matrix can do.

Prime's chest opens for you to clip the Matrix onto the main body. If you look closer at the picture above you can see a small reflective mirror at the centre of the body. Now I wonder what you can do with it?

Here's prime with the Matrix & his Arms Micron R.A. (Blue). The original Arms Micron weapon first came together with Ratchet.

Posture is a little difficult as the legs are huge & bulky.

Here's the other cool thing about the Matrix. It can be twisted & folded to form part of a large blade that can be attached together with AM R.A (Blue).

Now Prime looks a whole lot better than having the silly huge Matrix sticking out like a sore thumb attached to the chest.

In case you haven't known, I've actually been collecting this series heavily because I've been quite obsessed with the Arms Micron weapons. This was proven many years ago when I was collecting the Armada / Micron Densetsu line where I was hunting high & low for rare Mini-Cons.

Being the largest figure in this series, I reckon that Prime would be equipped with many more holes & pegs for me to attach the AM weapons onto him. Below is a chronological order of how I kept increasing the number of AM weapons to be attached onto Arms Master Optimus Prime.

Arms Master 50 - OP Mark 1

Here's the charged up version. Presenting to you, the making of AM74 - OP Mark 2

Step 1 - Shoulders, Rear thrusters, Hand weapons

Step 2 - Fists

Step 3 - Shoulder pads, Leg shields

Step 4 - Matrix, Chest shield

Step 5 - Jetpack

Here after combining all the different sections of the Micron sets, we have the final product.

Even though there are seventy four Microns on this figure, I've attached them proportionately & the figure wouldn't topple to the back. The main reason is because of the rear thrusters. This serves as a back up stand to prevent the figure from falling backwards.

In conclusion, to date, I've yet to find any other combination that I can maximize & fully utilize all the Arms Microns. As I am blogging about this figure, I have just obtained another set of exclusive Arms Micron from the Transformers Go! series. However, I'll leave that for another time.

SARUMAN THE WHITE

2013-10-12T10:30:00.000+08:00

Behold, today's review on Saruman the White. Next to the figure is Gandalf the Grey as comparison.

A simple figure to paint, all I had to do was to mix some light brown & dirt to give the robe a light wash to make the figure look more realistic.

The hair is painted in white, with black primer to give it more depth. It was really fun to paint these figures back when I was still studying in university as I had plenty of time to paint the figures individually. As our lifestyles change & advance we start to run short of time to spend on the toys that we invest in.

TOMICA 146: BATMOBILE

2013-10-06T10:30:00.000+08:00

Tomica toy cars have been in the market ever since God knows when. It was only until recently that these cars caught my attention. It all started with this Batmobile & an Optimus Prime truck.

This die cast car lies about two inches long & is actually quite heavy.

You can see the details of the car even in such small scale. Apart from the details the paint job seems to be great with no errors on the Batmobile.

At the bottom of the car it dates to 2012 & is manufactured in China. This is the first Tomica that I'm reviewing on my blog & to date I have already purchased four more in which I will review in the future.

2013 Q3 TOY HAUL REVIEW

2013-10-01T00:28:00.000+08:00

Reflecting on Q3 of 2013, I realized that I managed to purchase a handful of interesting & highly wanted toys. Some of them were deals that you just couldn't resist, while others were new launches in the market. Here's taking a look into the mind of a fellow collector.

1) TF Go! Conbiner Set

The tipping reason that made me buy this set was the limited edition Mini-Cons.

2) Hasbro Warehouse Sale

Hoarded whatever I could grab my hands on while the better deals were already taken up earlier by other haulers.

3) Australian Hauls

ROTF Devastator & BotCon 2009 Wings of Honor box. I got a shock when I actually had the box on hand & never expected it to be that big. It was after getting this box that I started doing more research on "Wings of Honor" in the Transformers line. Indeed, it has caught my attention as you'll see later on I have started to hunt down the other Wings of Honor figures from other series. This will indeed be a cool collection to display as I have a slightly upper hand by already owning the 2009 BotCon set.

4) Random local hauls

Chanced upon some Transformers Tomica toys & a TF Beast Hunter Shockwave that was becoming very rare in the market. For a mold collector like myself, it doesn't really matter if i own the Takara or Hasbro version. Then, I went off track for a while hunting for a few other Tomica cars, Batman's Batmobil in particular.

Later on, I picked up a few new toys in preparation for the upcoming Titan class Metroplex & finally managed to get my hands on a pair of large Lego base plates to display my Kreons.

5) Cybertron Con

The name itself sounds cool for one, not to mention the leader class size of BH OP made me want to get this giant. A week thereafter, I realized it was an impulsive buy as there were many more units still stacked up at toy stores. This could only mean one thing, the price will come down in the future.

6) BotCon Galvatron

The itchy fingers of mine stumbled upon a BotCon figure at a good price one night & I just had to click on the deal to own it.

1) MP-02 Soundwave

An impulse buy after a round of discussion over a few pints with a fellow collector.

2) MP Thundercracker

With the aid of a new friend, he managed to bring this jet back from Singapore where it was going on promotion at their local Toys R' Us (of which I'm really thankful for). After this piece, I started thinking of collecting the remaining MP birds. EXCEPT the green MP3 Starscream. For me, it doesn't make sense to own 2 different Starscream since I already had the white version.

3) MP Ghost Starscream & TF Arms Micron Smokescreen

One to fill my MP birds collection & the other for being a 'recruit' of the Elite Guard team (Wings of Honor).

4) Jet Power Upgrade Kit

This kit arrived long overdue from one of my local toy stores.

5) Metroplex

The Titan finally arrived in my shores. Managed to brainwash another collector as I picked 2 up at one go in fear that the market will have shortage of this figure. A very satisfying figure to be placed as the main attraction of my diorama display collection.

6) Elite Guard OP

While the market here was pushing the price of this figure up, I managed to find great deals over at the States, inclusive of shipping. One major hurdle down, the next is to find TF Animated Elite Guard Prowl (white version) at a great price. The rest of the Elite Guards should be a lot easier to find.

7) Elite Guard Bumblebee

This was a steal at the toy store owner didn't want this.

8) Random local hauls

More legend class figures in preparation for the Metroplex base diorama, Sea Monkeys for my wife & a Tomica Honda Fit in commemoration of my new hybrid car.

1) ACG-Con Metroplex

Another must buy. Owners of this figure know that there is every reason to get hold of this figure. The color scheme is a lot better, the box is uber cool & the toy comes with a set of smaller decoys.

2) MP-01 Acid Storm

I saw an unexpected deal on this just as I was about to fly off to China & I had to get it! Fortunate for me the seller was kind enough to deliver the toy right at the doorstep of my house. How cool is that?

3) TF Go! Golden Helmet

This was available on eBay & I paid a slightly higher premium for it.

4) Takara FOC Blaster

Since I already have Soundwave & Soundblaster, it's best if I just buy it & not think about it rather than to worry about this figure high & low in the years to come.

5) Beijing hauls

MATRIX OF LEADER

2013-09-27T10:30:00.000+08:00

It was by chance that I stumbled upon this in one of the online blogs. However, I noticed there were a few variations that were available in the market. I was trying to find out which was the best one in my opinion & not long after I ended up with this.

This matrix is manufactured by Junkion Blacksmith, hence the code J-08 Matrix of Leader. It comes in a solid black box with some paper inserts inside to keep the matrix in place.

The toy comes in 2 main pieces, the matrix & a display stand.

Inside the kit is also provided with a certificate in the form of a card & an Autobot emblem sticker.

The certificate shows '1856', out of 2010 sets worldwide.

Here's what the stand looks like after applying the emblem. From the image, you can see that the matrix comes in gold & silver chrome finish. However, in reality, the matrix is actually very light.

Additional images of the matrix. From the top you can see there is actually a latch for you to clip a string through it in order for you to hang it around your neck.

Here's the cool factor. The matrix is actually spring loaded and you can actually pull the matrix apart to make it light up!

Overall, this toy cost me less than USD80 inclusive of shipping if you where to get it. I'd say it was well worth the money. This toy serves as a great display unit in your cabinet surrounded by Optimus Primes, or even Rodimus.

SOUNDWAVE (FALL OF CYBERTRON)

2013-09-22T10:30:00.001+08:00

One thing I must say is that I couldn't be happier to know that Soundwave was going to be released again, but this time in voyager class. The initial Soundwave was released under the War for Cybertron line & it came in deluxe class.

This time around it's bigger! But we'll see if bigger equals better shortly.

I never had the chance to play both the Transformers game War for Cybertron & Fall of Cybertron but this toy is based on the video game series.

Upon closer inspection, there seems to be what looks like a seat at the top of the vehicle that fits a human figure from the Dark of The Moon, Human Alliance toy line.

In vehicle mode, the 'chair' on the roof works as a lever for you to push the roof forward. This action will force a disk out from front cabin of Soundwave. The disk actually transforms into Laserbeak.

Here's Soundwave in robot mode.

Different angles here show that the design of Soundwave is well-rounded & everything seems to be in proportion. Unlike the G1 version, the shoulder missile launcher cannot be stored at the back.

I was surprised that I managed to find an angle to make Soundwave stand on one feet without falling off the table.

Here's a closer look at the disk. From this angle you'll see that you can probably fit another disk in the chest compartment.

From the side view, all you have to do is push the protruding lever inward to push the disk out.

Here's taking a look at the disk from various angles. There is a small black button that is pressure sensitive. All you have to do is to push it lightly & the disk will automatically transform into a robotic bird.

A closer look at Laserbeak.

There are additional disks sold separately but they weren't out in the market yet when I started taking pictures of Soundwave for reviews. Perhaps I'll review the other disks along with Fall of Cybertron's Soundblaster.

It's a pity that Laserbeak doesn't have any legs to stand up right or to perch onto Soundwave's shoulders.

BEIJING TRIP - SEPT 2013 HAUL

2013-09-18T20:29:00.000+08:00

Being my third visit to Beijing, I decided to do some homework to find out where I can pick up some toys. I finally found a mall towards the Southern part of town. When I arrived, I was happy to see that quite a handful of toy stores there are actually wholesalers as well. In China, there is a very popular online store known as Taobao & most of the store owners use it. It's the equivalent of eBay in China. Anyway, this mall consists of 4 floors & connects to another mall next door that sells mainly clothes.

Behold, the stuff that I managed to purchase from the various stores in the mall include:

Fansproject Function-X1 - 元460

Fansproject Function-X2 - 元450

JB-00 Infinity Warfare - 元50

JB-06 Infinity Warfare II - 元50

Autobot insignia sticker sheet - 元5

Decepticon insignia sticker sheet - 元5

Revoltech Mini Danboard (Tamiya Vr.) - 元48

Beast Hunter Smokescreen - RM64.90 (KLIA Terminal)

Besides squeezing some discount out of the store owner, I manged to get a few copies of the G1 checklist that we can hardly see these days. This dude has a whole stack of'em!

I didn't bring enough cash, otherwise I'd have purchased a whole lot more. There was only 1 store that accepted Credit Card & all i purchased from that store was a measly Danbo. Nevertheless I'd like to share my finding on the price of other toys that were available there so that you'll have a better gauge on the cost of these toys before purchasing them in your home country wherever you are. Prices negotiated are as of Sept 2013 if you so happen stumble upon this post in the future.

They are as follows:

KO G1 Scorponok - 元780

Toyworld TW-H01 Hardbone - 元550

Hasbro Sandstorm - 元180

Takara MP12T Tigertrack - 元320

KO Takara MP14 Alert - 元150

CHMS KO Botcon Punch/Counterpunch - 元85 each

KO Animated Arcee (Pink/Green/Blue) - 元35 each

Hasbro Alternators Hot Rod (factory reject) - 元50

Optimus Prime with Trailer (DOTM Movie Trilogy Series) - 元60

TF Prime Dark Guard Optimus Prime - 元240

ACG-Con Metroplex - 元990

KO G1 Weirdwolf - 元190

KO G1 Aerialbots/Menosaur/Protectobots - 元265

Justitoys WST Dinorobots Vintage Edition - 元480

TRU MP-02 Soundwave - 元1280

Some of these prices are after attempted negotiations, while others are fixed as they are already dirt cheap. Bear in mind, only cash terms. There was only 1 store selling Transformers/Spawn that accepted credit card. It's on the 1st floor, next to the escalator. If you want to visit this place, here's how to get there.

Where is it: Beijing International Toy Centre (北京国际玩具城)

Address: 77, Nanshanhuan Zhonglu

Chinese address: 南三环中路77号

Nearest subway: Line 5 - exit at Liujiayao & take a 15 minute walk

Happy hunting!

THRUST (DOTM)

2013-09-17T10:30:00.000+08:00

Today let's take a look at Thrust, a Decepticon jet from the Transformers Dark of The Moon movie series.

This vehicle wasn't part of the DOTM movie & is actually part of the extended toyline. As you can see, I've applied silver linings & marking on the jet. Otherwise, it would look very dull entirely in maroon.

Up close, here's the head of Thrust. It's actually tucked in the cockpit of the vehicle. From pictures that you see online & in this blog, the head looks pretty decent. However take a closer look at more images below.

You'll see that the head is actually still hidden in the cockpit of the vehicle. It's as though the face is embedded onto the upper chest of the robot.

Although the robot's arms are not symmetrical, the design is still alright. There is a small gattling gun mounted onto the right arm of Thrust.

Lastly, I have to say that the 'gorilla toes' stand out quite a bit. However I find that the design is perfectly fine. The presence of waist joints allows Thrust to be posed in an array of manner.

DARK SKYFIRE

2013-09-12T10:30:00.000+08:00

A remake of Jetfire, today let's have a closer look at Dark Skyfire from the Transformers Henkei line.

Dark Skyfire resembles an F-14 Tomcat jet. The only thing that looks out of place for now would be the cone of the jet. Instead of being rounded & pointed, the cone is triangular in shape.

The wings can open up as seen in the picture above.

Here's Dark Jetfire with the add-on booster pack. The booster pack draws its resemblance to the Transformers G1 Jetfire, as well as the early Macross/Robotech era.

A pair of laser blasters actually flip out from the booster packs.

Now let's have a closer look at Dark Jetfire in robot mode.

Transformation is easy & in robot mode, Dark Jetfire actually looks like a black butterfly. The only thing that I don't quite like about this figure is that it just seems too 'dark' & boring. It would have been nicer if I applied more lining on the figure. If you take a closer look at the images below, You'll notices that I have used a silver pen to mark some of the linings on this robot to give it more depth.

Posing this figure is easy. Being a Takara figure, the joints are very sturdy & they don't loosen up that easily as compared to Hasbro's version of Jetfire.

Now we have the powered-up mode of Dark Jetfire. Here's the additional helmet that comes with the figure. This mask really gives Dark Jetfire a Macross Valkyrie-ish look with the twin antennas on both sides of the head.

Behold, Dark Jetfire, all powered-up with the booster packs attached onto the back.

The booster pack can be flipped down as shoulder blasters to attack enemies from the front.

Among other poses of Dark Jetfire as you can see. Somehow, I never saw this figure as an exclusive or a limited edition toy. I found it easily & at a bargain I must say. The only thing exclusive about this figure I reckon, is the black & white box design. Nevertheless, beggars can't be choosers. Although this may just be something ordinary to me, but to others out there, it could be a rare gem.

HALDIR

2013-09-07T10:30:00.000+08:00

Here's a quick look at today's LoTR miniature figure, Haldir.

The color of the robe & armor is a combination between gold & shades of yellow.

I believe I left the arrows black, which was the primer color that I applied on the figure before painting any color onto it.

There was one problem that I had with this figure. I wasn't too sure how to glue a thin thread onto the bow, making it a little more realistic. Nevertheless, a fine addition to my small collection of Elves.