Shewsbury Land

Tomica Limited - Nissan Fairlady Z432

2012-02-10T08:00:00.003+08:00

Nissan S30 (sold in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and in other markets as the Datsun 240Z, then later as the 260Z and 280Z) was the first generation of Z GT two-seat coupe, and later (beginning in the 1974 model year) also 2+2 hatchbacks produced by Nissan Motors, Ltd. of Japan from 1969 to 1978.

It was designed by a team led by Mr. Yoshihiko Matsuo, the head of Nissan's Sports Car Styling Studio. HLS30 was the designation of the left-hand drive model and HS30 for the right-hand drive model.

The 240Z and 260Z used twinturbo, variable venturi Hitachi one-barrel side-draft SU-like carburetors. The carburetors were changed beginning with model year 1973 to comply with emissions regulations, but the earlier carburetors were far superior for performance. Fuel injection (L-Jetronic electronic fuel injection, designed by Bosch) was added for the 280Z in 1975 for the US. This was primarily in order to cope with the difficulty faced in getting enough power using carburetors while still meeting US emissions regulations.

Due to its relatively low price compared to other foreign sports cars of the time (Jaguar, BMW, Porsche, etc.), it became popular in the United States and was a major success for the Nissan Motor Corporation, which at the time sold cars in North America under the name Datsun. The 240Z also broadened the image of Japanese car-makers beyond their econobox success.

Continuing through the 1975–1978 model years, other non-USA markets still received the 260Z coupe and the 260Z 2+2 hatchback — the two-door, four-seat model. The S30 240Z is essentially unrelated to the later 240SX, which is sold as the Silvia in Japan, although initial advertising for the 240SX mentioned the S30.

This is now the replica of this popular car and personally for me, after watching the anime - Wangan Midnight, I really wanted to have the scale model for this car and after over a year searching high and low, I finally got it with a decent price - I'm a happy bunny...

This item is produced by Takara Tomy thru their "Tomica Limited" series/brand intended for matured collectors.

The box/packaging;

And now... out of the box/packaging;

Just like any other Tomica Limited models, the logo/emblems are accurately placed and the overall looks is quite pleasant - almost like real.....

The wheels design and colors also matched those from the actual models in the old days;

As an added bonus, openable doors;

I like the black interior color, exactly what I want it to be, though I don't really fancy this light brown color, but then again, I guess that is one of those actual classic color available for this model back then.

Overall, I'm glad that I finally got the scale model of this car. The painting finishing is quite remarkable, the detailing is highly commendable - exactly what I expect from Tomica Limited.

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Takara Tomy - Toyota Axio

2012-02-09T08:00:00.000+08:00

Toyota Axio is one of the models available from the 10th generation of Toyota Corolla series (E140) sold by Toyota under the Corolla nameplate.

There is a model called "Corolla Axio apr GT (E141)" though I'm not sure if this is the particular replica of that car but then again, this is the only Axio available from the local Toy's R Us in their Takara Tomy section.

I bought this car because in a way it looks "almost the same" as the car that I usually drive - Chery A520 which I nicknamed as Chery Wong A5 - The Blue Dragon LOL.... nonetheless, I did say "almost the same" thus it's not really the same actually....

Features wise, not much, you can see some the logo on the front grill, I guess it's "Axio" logo while on the rear side here you can see the name Axio and Toyota logo and letter "G".

Perhaps the only most prominent features is the openable doors;

Interior looks OK, I like the color of the dashboard which is in black, and for this particular car, I don't mind the seat and the rest of the other interior are in lighter color - perhaps the only other thing I would like to be in black is the steering wheel... just a personal taste...

Overall, just like any Corolla - this is a neat and simple car at miniature size. I don't know much about the "Axio GT" but it would be exciting to have such car with typical family sedan size but with the engine power, performance and sporty looks.

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Tomica Limited - Toyota Celica 2800GT

2012-02-08T08:00:00.001+08:00

This is a miniature die cast car model at 1/64 scale as a replica for the mesmerizing Toyota Celica 2800GT (Toyota Celica XX) produced by Takara Tomy, available thru their Tomica Limited series.

Toyota Celica XX (pronounced as "double X") is the Japanese domestic market name of the MKI and MKII Toyota Celica Supra. It was offered in Japan during the years 1978–1986, with it being redesigned in 1981. The Supra was sold as the Celica XX only in Japan at Japanese dealership sales channels called Toyota Corolla Store.

The 2000GT was the flagship model of the XX range. Featuring the smaller 2.0-litre 6-cylinder DOHC 24-valve 1G-EU, Yamaha took the base 1G-EU and improved it, resulting in the 1G-GEU significantly upping the output of the engine, which also served in the 1985 Toyota Soarer. The smaller-capacity engine meant taxes were less than the bigger 5M-GEU of the 2800GT. 1G-GEU made 160 PS (118 kW) at 6400 rpm.

The 2800GT was the most powerful of the range, featuring the 2.8-litre 6-cylinder DOHC 5M-GEU making 175 PS (129 kW) at 5,600 rpm.

The Toyota Celica name is ultimately derived from the Latin word "coelica" which means "heavenly" or "celestial". It's kind of tradition of Toyota those days for using words starting with "C" on most of the car models like this Celica and you will also noted about Corolla, Corona, Carina, Crown, Cressida, Camry and so on.

Throughout its life span the Celica has been powered by various four-cylinder engines. The most significant change occurred in August 1985, when the car's drive layout was changed from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive. During the first three generations, American market Celicas were powered by various versions of Toyota's R series engines.

The four-wheel drive turbocharged model (designated All-trac in the United States or GT-Four elsewhere) was produced from 1986 to 1999. Variable Valve Timing came in late 1997 Japanese models, and became standard in all models from 2000 on.

Through seven generations, the model has gone through many revisions and design forks, including the Toyota Celica Supra (later known as the Toyota Supra). The Celica was available as notchback and liftback coupes, as well as a convertible.

Since 2001 Takara Tomy has produced the TL series for matured collectors. These models are made with higher details.

In the case of the new MINI Cooper, the model was first released for the TL series in 2004 but in 2006 included in the regular line as no. 43. Model numbers started at 0001. Each model is produced for a limited period of time, so models with smaller numbers are discontinued while new models with higher numbers continue to appear. These models are packaged in open cardboard boxes surrounded on four sides with a transparent plastic sleeve.

This series (Tomica Limited) are are actually targeted for the car enthusiast and adults that collects or plays with Tomica when they were kids. The original intention was to make historically important cars - at least from Japanese and Takara Tomy point of view.

Most of the Tomica Limited models are based on the regular Tomica assortment that have been produced/released previously but on several occasions new casting were made and introduced through the Tomica Limited line and more attention to details such as realistic overall looks, tires and wheels, actual paint and color schemes and logo/emblems.

Now, let's see this car;

The box/packaging;

This particular model was release in 2011 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Tomica Limited series;

And now, finally out of the box/packaging;

I can't help but thinking that in a way, this car have the looks of the popular Toyota Trueno AE86 from that Initial D anime, though the front parts are more like the Levin ^__^

Features of this car.... first that visible sun roof;

On the front side here, you can see those logo/emblems of Celica - I'm not sure what is that 5178 number but I don't care anyway LOL;

Somewhere on the sides also you can see the tiny red Celica logo and it's nice that we can see the rear screen wiper;

And again on the rear part here, you can see the typical nice logo/emblems for this model - and of coz that number 5178;

I can detect some imperfection on this part of the corner here;

Openable doors on both sides;

The interior is kind of "subtle" - nothing great about it, in fact it is quite simple. I'm happy that this comes with the original Japanese style right hand steering wheel though I personally dislike the color scheme of the interior.... would be better if it's just in pure black.....

Overall, this is not really as perfect as I would hope for but it's 90% close to my ridiculous expectation, so I'm quite happy still. My only complains are on the interior color scheme - I prefer it to be in black or any dark color and lastly I detected some imperfections on 1 corner side of the car which is not so bad but still visible if you really look closely.

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Takara Tomy - Toyota 2000GT - New Year/Spring 2012 Gift Set Version

2012-02-07T08:00:00.007+08:00

This is Takara Tomy - Toyota 2000GT 2 Models (New Year 2012 Gift Set) also known as Tomica Shou Shun (Early Spring) = 初春トミカ頌春（しょうしゅん）

First we will have a look at the beautiful box;

The front of the box - as you can see from the above picture, you have to read it from Right to Left and then from Top to Bottom - and this is the translation;

On the first column on your right = "Hatsu Haru Tomica (Early Spring Tomica)"

On the middle column, the 2 big characters = "Shou Shun" (something like Wonderful Spring or Great Spring or something like that)

On the last column on your left = "Heisei 24th year" (the current common Western year of A.D. 2012 is basically the 24th year of Japan under the rule of Emperor Heisei - the current emperor of Japan. If you are one of those Kamen Rider series fans, you should familiar with those terms of Showa Riders and Heisei Riders - something like that)

I asked my friend to do the translation for me - he was in Japan for 3 years so he know this stuff. I just brought the box to him and tell him to explain to me the meaning of all those Japanese characters coz I have no clue about it apart from the number of 24 which is similar to Chinese characters ^__^

Now onto the inner part of the box....

On the "Blue Side" (your Left), it says the same thing as on the cover but this time they follow the typical ABC style, from Left to Right.

While on the "Red Side" or is it light red or maybe orange - what ever, I prefer to just call it "Red Side" LOL (on your Right) - it says "Heisei 24th Year - Dragon". In Japanese dragon is "ryu" while in Chinese Mandarin, dragon is "long".

So that means this part is referring to the 24th year of the current emperor "ruling" Japan and this year 2012 is the year of the dragon for Chinese and I think should be the same for Japanese as well. I don't know much about the "Lunar Years" animals or beast symbol for Japanese but for Chinese, I do know for sure that there are 12 and Dragon is one of them.

And now further look on the exterior of the box;

Since this is my first ever Takara Tomy/Tomica stuff with such special and purely Japanese orientated box/packaging - I'm totally blown away with it - I personally feel that this is awesome to the max level.... I would love to always get such item if I have the opportunity for it. This is emphatically mesmerizing and exceptional.....

But now, it's time to see the contents;

The color scheme or the decals scheme on these cars are based on "kimono" - the traditional Japanese costumes - you've probably seen a lot of it if you ever watched tradition/historical based Japanese anime/movies like "George of The Jungle" or maybe "Iron Man" LOL...... that's not it, but surely you know what I mean.....

Now a little bit of information about the legendary "Toyota 2000GT";

The Toyota 2000GT is a limited-production, front-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-seat, hardtop "coupé grand tourer" designed by Toyota in collaboration with Yamaha. The 2000GT was manufactured under contract by Yamaha between 1967 and 1970 and only 337 units were produced within that period timeline.

The 2000GT is the father of Japanese "super cars" and in a way, the father for the current super car from Toyota under their luxury "Lexus" brand, the magnificent "Lexus LFA".

This car proved (at that point of time period) that Japanese auto manufacturers could produce a sports car to rival those from Europe like Ferrari, Porsche and so on.

Today, the 2000GT is an expensive collectible Japanese car and I think you do need to have lots of money to be able to get it and other that you may need extra money for transportation to your home, maintenance and spare parts can be problematic but then again, if you have the money, you get the honey.... LOL.

Much of the work was done by Yamaha, with many credit the German-American designer Albrecht Goertz, a protégé of Raymond Loewy, as inspiration for the car. He had gone to Yamaha in Japan in the early 1960s to develop a two-seater sports car for Nissan. A prototype was built, but Nissan decided eventually not to pursue the project. Yamaha also worked for Toyota, then perceived as the most conservative of the Japanese auto makers. Wishing to improve their image, Toyota accepted the proposal, but employed a design of their own penned by Toyota designer Satoru Nozaki.

The 2000GT design is widely considered a classic in its own right. Its smoothly flowing bodywork was executed in aluminium and featured pop-up headlights, as well as large plexiglas covered driving lamps on either side of the grille similar to those on the Toyota Sports 800. The design scarcely featured bumpers at all, and the plexiglas driving lamp covers in particular are rather easily damaged.

The car was extremely low, just 45.7 in (116 cm) to the highest point of the roof. In 1969, the front was modified slightly, making the driving lamps smaller and changing the shape of the turn signals. The rear turn signals were enlarged at the same time, and some alterations were made to modernise the interior.

The last few vehicles were fitted with air conditioning and had automatic transmission as an option. These cars had an additional scoop fitted underneath the grille to supply air to the A/C unit. Two custom open-top models were built for the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice", but a factory-produced convertible was never offered during the car's production run.

The interior offered comfortable, if cramped, accommodation and luxury touches like a rosewood-veneer dashboard and an auto-seeking radio tuner.

The engine was a 2.0 L (121 in³) straight 6 cylinders (the 3M) based on the engine in the top-of-the-line Toyota Crown sedan. It was transformed by Yamaha with new double overhead camshaft heads into a 112 kW (150 hp) sports car engine. Nine special MF-12 models were also built with the larger but SOHC 2.3 L 2M engine. The car was available with three different final drives. Fitted with a 4.375 ratio axle, the car was said to be capable of reaching 135 mph (217 km/h).

The engine was longitudinally mounted and drove the rear wheels through a five-speed manual transmission. A limited slip differential was fitted as well as all-round power-assisted disc brakes - the first for a Japanese car. The typical emergency brake gripped the rear disc directly.

Naturally, not many of us can afford or willing to buy the real version of this car now but then again, thanks to Takara Tomy, we can at least buy the "free maintenance" miniature die cast car model version of "Toyota 2000GT" at affordable price ^__^

So for now, let's see this miniature replica produced by Takara Tomy and we start with the one that have green color scheme on it - "Shou" - the meaning, is the same as I mentioned earlier.

Features of this car (in fact both of the cars) are those unique decals on their body with those Japanese characters on it;

The Japanese word or character "Shou" but only on this part of the door, not on both sides... I don't know why....

The openable door on both sides of coz;

Some decent interior though I dislike the white color scheme. I personally prefer it to be in black coz the white color make it feel so "toys"....

Both cars are at 1/59 scale;

And now we have a look at the "Shun" with the almost red or maybe maroon color scheme;

Same features - unique decals and with Japanese characters/wordings on the car;

The other external detailing is quite good.....

The identical gimmick of openable door;

The interior color for this one is maroon... again, not to my liking... but that's that, like or not, live with it....

Overall, as I mentioned earlier, for financial and logical and logistic reason, not many of us can afford or willing to buy the real "Toyota 2000GT" but somehow we can still owned the toy version of it without breaking the piggy bank.

As a gift set for "New Year 2012 - The Dragon Year", from toys or die cast car collectors point of view - I think this is extremely amazing. If I ever get such item as a gift, I think I will shout out loud "Yahoooooooooo!!!!!" - then again, that is just a pure fantasy coz I don't get this as gift but rather have to buy it accordingly and in a way I still consider my self as lucky for being able to obtain this item at all. Most of the time, this item is "finished" by now and the only place you can get it is thru those "shark seller" from E-Bay.... LOL

I'm really impressed with the box and the packaging style. The theme of the gift and the selection for the car's decals/colors scheme is quite unique and all the more make this item interesting. The final finishing of the 2 cars are outstanding and adhere to the typical high standard of Takara Tomy of Japan.

If you are lucky to suddenly found this item on any of your local toy or hobby shop, don't hesitate, just buy it coz it will take another 11 years before we go thru another "dragon year" and probably by that time, they may have different design of packaging and decals again. Additionally, if you are one of those collectors who love to buy and sell it later after several years of keeping it, I can assure you that the value for this item will increase further though personally for me, I don't really like to sell my own collections unless if I really have too many of it and lost love for it, otherwise, I don't really like to sell for a mere profit reason.

And apparently, if you really want to buy this as a gift item, you can also download the wrapping paper designed by Takara Tomy from their website below;

http://takaratomy.co.jp/products/tomica/new/images/1201/02.pdf

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Fast Lane - Nissan Fairlady 350Z

2012-02-06T08:00:00.001+08:00

To wrapped up our latest findings on Fast Lane brands, this is now the 3rd Japanese car model that I bought together at the same time with Honda S2000 and Toyota Soarer. This is none other than the overly popular Nissan Fairlady 350Z at around 1/50th scale produced by the relatives of "Toys R' Us" outlets - the "Fast Lane".

The price is a mere SGD 2.95 (USD 2.40) and at that time, they have this buy 2 free 1 promotion - extremely good deal especially if you get all your favorite Japanese cars ^__^

The packaging;

It seems that the packaging color scheme choice of this Fast Lane mimicking the color of our blog - Shewsbury Land.... LOL....

Nonetheless, let's see the "Fairlady" in yellow;

The Nissan 350Z (known as Nissan Fairlady Z Z33 in Japan) is a two seat sports car that was manufactured by Nissan from 2003 to 2009 and marks the fifth generation (codename: Z33) of Nissan's Z-car line.

After the Nissan 300ZX was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1996, Nissan initially tried to keep the Z name alive by re-creating the 240Z the following year. The car was conceived by Nissan's North American design team in their free time, and the concept was introduced in a four state Road Show in July 1998 to various car media, dealers and employees. Yutaka Katayama, regarded as the "Father of the Z" unveiled the Z concept sketch to the public when he received a motor industry award.

The 350Z is a front-mid engine rear-wheel-drive two door,two seat, sports car designed by Ajay Panchal of Nissan Design America(San Diego, California).

The vehicle features the long-hood short-deck design common to the Z-Car family. Currently, external design highlights include: sloping fastback style roof line, unique brushed aluminium door handles, high waistline, and bulging fenders that are pushed out to the corners of the vehicle.

Interior cabin design is straight forward with brushed aluminium accents. The main gauge pod is mounted directly to the steering column allowing their movement to coincide with steering wheel adjustments. Additional gauges are mounted in a center triple gauge cluster (similar to the 240Z/260Z/280Z). Touring models are equipped with the Bose sound system get a 6 CD changer and 8" Bose sub mounted behind the drivers seat. The 350Z’s interior does not have a conventional glove box, instead it makes use of various storage compartments located either behind or between the 2 seats.

Just like the Fast Lane cars that we reviewed previously, not much external features to be highlighted apart from the painting and the decals for the car manufacturer and model name. In this case, you can see the Nissan logo on the front as it supposed to be;

The "Z" logo on the side;

And another Fairlady and Nissan emblem on the rear;

And that is all.... no more no less....

Overall, Nissan Fairlady 350Z is a tremendously popular car and brand for Nissan and the sales performance of this model is quite successful for Nissan due to the it's long history associated with the "Fairlady and Z" name. Locally here, nowadays I've seen lot's of this car (either the 350Z or the latest 370Z) here and there more than my personal favorite Nissan Silvia (S15).

As for this die cast car model from Fast Lane, it's quite good, I'm happy with the decent finishing though obviously it is not as great as those from Takara Tomy. It comes with the original Japanese style of right hand steering wheel which is important for my personal taste and most of all, the interior, though I can't really show it to you in this review (since I don't plan to open up this car) is surprisingly good. They sealed the whole interior of the car but if you happen to have this car and when you look closely and compare them to those from Hot Wheels, I can assure you that it is better than those from Hot Wheels.

This is now all my special sudden findings from Fast Lane brand for this 3 models of exciting sports cars from the 3 big brand of Japan - Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

The red and yellow color is so Shewsbury Land..... LOL

Last but not least, we shall protect them from those naughty dust....

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Fast Lane - Toyota Soarer (Lexus SC430)

2012-02-05T19:41:00.007+08:00

This is a die cast car model of Toyota Soarer (in Japan) - also known as "Lexus SC430" in some other countries at 1/56 miniature scale produced by Fast Lane available from all "Toys R' Us" outlets with attractive retail price on only SGD 2.95 (USD 2.40)

The Toyota Soarer was a personal luxury GT coupé sold by Toyota in Japan from 1981 to 2005. It débuted with the Z10 series, replacing the Mark II Coupe, and took the form of an angular two-door coupé. In 1986, the Z20 series was launched, based on the then new A70 Supra platform. In 1991, the third generation (Z30 series) Toyota Soarer premiered in Japan, while its Lexus equivalent, the SC 300/400 débuted in the US market.

While externally identical to the Lexus SC, the Z30 series Soarer lineup offered different powertrain specifications and multiple unique vehicle configurations. In 2001, Toyota introduced a convertible-only successor which appeared in Japan as the fourth generation (Z40 series) Toyota Soarer, and elsewhere as the Lexus SC 430. In contrast to previous series, the fourth generation Soarer and Lexus SC were based on a single model and were largely equivalent. In 2005, following the introduction of Lexus in Japan, the Soarer name and emblem were discontinued and the Z40 became the Lexus SC 430 in common with worldwide markets.

In its home market the Soarer was a competitor to the Nissan Leopard, and Mazda Cosmo coupes. All versions of the Soarer featured a unique winged lion emblem (often mistakenly called a Griffin) as the logo throughout the vehicle.

I do have a 1/43 scale fully racing version of this car produced by the "big brother" Bandai - but then that one is a plamokit and at 1/43 scale and most of all it's not a "street legal" type LOL - there is always excuse to get extra ^__^

You can read the review of that item below;
1/43 2007 Houzan Tom's SC430 - GT500 #01 Toyota Team Tom's from Bandai

Nonetheless, for today, we will look at this Toyota Soarer / Lexus SC430 from Fast Lane.

The packaging;

And now out of the packaging;

Not much features on this car to talk about but for what is worth, you can see the "Toyota" logo on the front grill there;

At the rear, you can see the car's model name/number "SC430" and of coz the name "Soarer" on both sides (front and back) car registration plate space.

As an extra bonus - for a choosy person like me - this car comes with the right hand steering wheel (typical Japanese/British style)...

One particular thing that I like about the die cast cars from this Fast Lane is that they always choose a simple straight forward color like this yellow or red or purple or green or what ever - pure simple 1 tone color, no additional line or fire decals or what ever like those from Hot Wheels. Eventually, for the manufacturer, this means lower production cost for them - keep it simple - and thus they can sell their products with slightly lower price than those from Hot Wheels. In this case, the final retail price is 18% lower than Hot Wheels and with that they already enjoy some profits (or so I thought).

Furthermore, their scale is slightly bigger than those from Hot Wheels, Maisto and the rest - at around 1/56 or 1/59 - while the other brands always consistent at 1/64 scale - though nothing wrong about it, in fact I do like the consistency of the other brands as well. At the end, it's a matter of business module and strategy and the way they created their products. For typical collectors like us, if we happy with the product and the price, we will buy anyway.... simple as that.

Overall, I personally think that this is a decent miniature die cast model of Toyota Soarer/Lexus SC430 from Fast Lane. The simplicity matched those products from Takara Tomy and the painting finishing is quite decent though not necessarily at the same level of Takara Tomy but then again the cheap price is another factor that needed to be taken into account as well.

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Fast Lane - Honda S2000 (Hard Top)

2012-02-03T18:18:00.007+08:00

While not even dreaming about it earlier, I suddenly found this car in the assortment from the Fast Lane cars corner in the local toy shop and immediately I grabbed it. It's quite difficult to get his particular car from Takara Tomy and Hot Wheels... they do have it but you are lucky if you can get it - always sold out very fast!!!

The Honda S2000 is a roadster that was manufactured by the Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company. It was launched in April 1999 and was created to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary.

The car was first shown as a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1995, following which it was launched in world markets in 1999. The S2000 is named for its engine displacement of 2L, carrying on in the tradition of the S500, S600, and S800 roadsters of the 1960s.

Several revisions were made throughout the car's lifetime, including changes to the engine, gearbox, suspension and interior and exterior. Officially two variants exist: the initial launch model was given the chassis code AP1, while the AP2 designation was given to vehicles produced from mid-2003 onwards. Though cosmetically similar, the AP2 incorporated significant changes to the drivetrain and suspension. Production of the S2000 ceased in June 2009.

Till today, Honda S2000 is still my most favorite sports car of all time apart from McDonald's Big Mac Happy Meal.... LOL...

If you can take this car somewhere where it can sing and dances like on the racing circuit or empty mountain roads, it's really and impressive machine - for everyday use in a big city, you won't really feel much of the power but surely it makes you looks pretty cool LOL....

The packaging;

This item is produced by Fast Lane a close relatives of the popular toy shop brand in Asia (Toy's R Us) owned by Toys Li Fung group.

I don't know much about them but one thing for sure is that they see the good potential of profits from this miniature 1/64 scale die cast cars segment which is dominated by big brands like Hot Wheels, Takara Tomy, Maisto and many others.... thus, they decided that they should joined the party and make the best use of their distribution networks - Toy's R Us..

Their approach are quite simple - they use a standard same packaging for all the cars, hell I don't even know what is the model of that red car that they choose to be their "poster car" on the label LOL... more importantly at such low retail price SGD 2.95 (USD 2.40) the end result of their cars thru their "simple approach" that almost mimicking "Takara Tomy" style are indeed quite good and some are surprisingly good....

And now the Honda S2000 (hard top type) - out of the packaging

I had several Honda S2000 model cars but all of them are convertible type (no roof) and this is the first one I had with hard top roof.

Honda logo on the front there;

S2000 name on the side as it suppose to be;

And another Honda logo at the back... that's it for the decals.... simple as that...

This how it looks like down there - just like Hot Wheels, they also use the "rivets";

This Honda S2000 is at 1/56 scale and not 1/64 scale as I thought earlier...

Size comparison with the other cars at 1/63 and 1/64 scale;

Overall, I'm happy with the price and the finishing of this item. Fast Lane, a relatively new player in this industry seems to be doing pretty well and off to a promising start. I look forward to see more exciting cars from them in the future. As for this Honda S2000 - it's red - and yeah, I love it so much....

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Takara Tomy - Toyota Crown Comfort Taxi

2012-02-02T17:23:00.005+08:00

This is Toyota Crown Comfort Taxi or what I called as "Japanese Black Cab" produced by none other, the popular Takara Tomy - I personally prefer to identify them "Mr. T" LOL....

Apparently, I bought this car as a Christmas present for my self LOL....

The Toyota Crown is a line of full-size luxury sedans by Toyota. The range was primarily available in Japan and some other Asian countries, originally designed to serve as a taxi. Throughout the Crown's production, there has always been available a minimal-content Crown in the sedan bodystyle platform used as a taxi, and in the mid 1990s, Toyota created an offshoot of the Crown sedan to serve specifically as a taxi, called the Toyota Comfort.

In Japan, the Crown also serves as a police car nationally, as well as transporting government officials at all levels. It is only available at Toyota Store dealership retail channels. The Crown is Toyota's oldest sedan still in production. It is outranked only by the Century and the Majesta in social status. The Crown is used by many Japanese companies as the company limousine.

In many markets the Crown had become very expensive and was replaced by the Cressida in some international markets when it became available for export in the early 1980s. Most models are distinguishable by a unique "Crown" badge on the front grille, in place of the normal stylized 'T', but the normal Toyota badge is usually used on the rear.

It was sold in the United States during the late 1950s and up until 1971. Exports to Europe began in 1964 with the first cars going to Finland. Other European countries which saw imports of the Crown included the Netherlands and Belgium. The United Kingdom was another market until the early 1980s. It was also exported to Canada for a few years—1965–68. Australia was another important export market for the Crown—to the extent that it was manufactured there from the mid-1960s until the late 1980s using many local components. Trinidad and Tobago was also another country where the Toyota market had a successful run, which saw some productions between 1960 and 1980.

The Crown has existed in some form post World War II, and Toyota uses the "Crown" name as inspiration for their primary sedans, the Corolla which is Latin for "small crown", the Camry a phonetic transcription of the Japanese word kanmuri that means crown, and the Corona which is Spanish for crown.

I think this particular model that we reviewed here is a replica from the 10th Generation (S150 Model: 1995-1999).

The box;

Out of the box;

Features of the car.... mmm, not much actually, but they a great job on the detailing though, I love the front grill;

Nice and neat "TAXI" label;

Simple and neat decals on the door side;

Another decal showing the brand and model name at the rear here;

Strange but true, the main gimmick is only 1 openable door on this particular side;

No such options for the other doors.....

This is how it looks like down there;

This cab is simply black and simple and yet looks neat all over....

Overall, I personally feel that this is an excellent replica at miniature size of the popular Toyota Crown Comfort Taxi. The finishing is extremely brilliant. I have no complain what so ever, perhaps maybe it would be nice if "Mr. T" can make similar car but the normal version (not taxi version). Toyota Crown and Cressida from the past remains my favorite car of all time due to their spacious interior.... feels so comfortable when you are inside it... if I have extra money to be wasted, I don't mind buying one of those Toyota Crown or Toyota Cressida from the 80's or 90's era ^__^

end

Takara Tomy - Mitsubishi Canter Sakai Moving Service

2012-01-31T17:53:00.006+08:00

This is another Christmas presents that I got from a good friend of mine last Christmas.

"Mitsubishi Canter Sakai Moving Service" truck produced by Takara Tomy.

The box;

Out of the box;

And now finally out of the plastic wrapper;

This truck comes with some gorgeous features like those gorgeous decals - I love that Panda;

And to make it sweeter, the cargo storage door is openable;

That's how it looks like in there;

Overall, this is a brilliant miniature replica of the "Mitsubishi Canter Sakai Moving Service" truck with the usual great painting and finishing from Takara Tomy and the Panda is certainly an attention grabber that make it looks gorgeous!!!! This truck shall join the rest of the majority "Japanese stuff" down there on our liquor cabinet......

end

Fourze Module Change Series 04 - Kamen Rider Meteor

2012-01-27T15:35:00.016+08:00

This is Kamen Rider Meteor action figure from from "Fourze Module Change Series" action figures/toys line up based on the current Kamen Rider Fourze tv show in Japan. This figure is produced by "the big brother B" - Bandai, thru their long term collaboration with Toei (and in directly Ishimori Productions)

It seems to be common since the last few years ago that the main Kamen Rider hero and series will have some sort of "side kick" or "secondary protagonist" just like Batman who have Robin as his bitch LOL...

Kamen Rider Decade have that blue and black guy - Kamen Rider Diend. After that Kamen Rider W (or Double) have his few other friends with several colors followed by Kamen Rider Ozu with his pal Kamen Rider Bitch..... I mean Kamen Rider Birth.... LOL... and now it's the time for Fourze to have his own bitch to kick around as well LOL....

Anal sex is really a difficult act to perform without full consent and thus let's start with this figure review LOL;

The box;

Eventually, prior to browsing around our official online hobby shop (HLJ) I never really look around the world wide web about this Meteor guy. I haven't watch a single episode of Kamen Rider Fourze anyway and I don't know much info about the development of the series but I do know exactly when the new action figure available for pre-order in (HLJ) - thus I never expected that this "FMCS04 Kamen Rider Meteor" is a combination of the action figure and the motobike..... certainly a pretty nice bonus....

And frankly speaking, I only knew about it last week when payment is due and (HLJ) are about to send the item, when I click the link again and wow... I see the picture... a figure and a bike - I'm amazed...

Some photos from the backside of the box/packaging;

Out of the box... you will get these stuff;

And of coz, the manual is there as well if you need them;

Now let's have a look at this figure;

And a little bit of close up looks on the design, sculpt, painting and finishing;

My impression on this Meteor guy figure is that the design and detailing is quite brilliant, the glossy finishing is nice while the face/head/helmet design - my oh my - way much cool or better than the face/head/helmet design of Kamen Rider Fourze. It's like some sort of blue flames keep on burning and shining brightly on the head.... awesome....

This is the "Meteor Galaxy" gauntlet and basically this is Meteor sole weapon;

In fact, so far, this is the one and only thing that I dislike about this figure... they fixed the left hand pointing figure to be this way and thus you can't really do the "punching" or "grabbing" articulation act on the left hand...

I guess it has something to do with the intention of the designing team so that we can achieve this kind of pose;

And oh... maybe this is one of the other reason why they designed it that way... so that this guy can do this "pressing a button" act on his "Meteor Galaxy" gauntlet at his right arm, something like this;

I don't really know why but maybe that is the trademark of this cock sucker so it's quite important to have his finger to be that way LOL....

Articulation wise, no problem what so ever.... this joint system of this figure is so fantastic and dynamic and thus you can perform lot's of action pose that you can think off;

Now let's see the bike;

Not much I can say about it, I'm not really a bike fan of bike and not much I knew about bike either but I think it's quite nicely detailed and they did their best to replicate the actual bike as seen in the tv show. From the design and looks of this bike, I think this bike is those "motocross" type of bike - Honda XR250 - the designed motif is those artificial satellite. The name of this bike in the tv show is "MBM3000X".

A little bit of pose with the Meteor guy on his "MBM3000X".... faster than any other Vespa in this planet LOL....

Vroom... Vroom... Vroooooooooommmmmmm....

I don't know much about this Kamen Rider Meteor guy but you can read more about his pervert personality from Wikipedia = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Meteor

Nonetheless from the little that I knew after reading that articles and from what I can see on the back of the box, Kamen Rider Meteor can summon Cosmic Energy to harness the power of the planets. When the Meteor Switch is inserted into the Meteor Galaxy's Switch Socket, it initiates a Rider Punch Limit Break known as the Starlight Shower.

Thus, with my poor skills of photo manipulating... I did a few of these to copy what I saw on the box;

All the results above were created from Photoscape which you can download from here; (http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php) and it's legally free....

Overall, this is a good action figure of Kamen Rider Meteor coupled with that fascinating bike - a wonderful 2 in 1 packaging and they are not heavy at all. The design, detailing and finishing are nice and my only personal dislike about it is only on that left hand pointing finger but in fact that is not really a big problem - in a way you could say that it's unique to be that way.

In my opinion, if you can afford it and lucky enough to collect all figures available from this Fourze Module Change Series, then by all means, get all of them, but if you wanted to be choosy and selective, I think you can just get the FMCS01 Base States and this FMCS04 Meteor. The again, at the end, it's up to you what you want really, this personal preference matter is just like sex fetish, some people like anal sex, some don't... simple as that LOL....

You can order this thing from HLJ = http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN970300

end

Digirama - Simple Formula V5 (Rules of Engagement)

2012-01-26T11:00:00.000+08:00

* Shimatta = you can find the meaning here = http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shimatta

Hot Wheels - Nissan Datsun Bluebird 510

2012-01-20T13:18:00.011+08:00

This is a classic Nissan Datsun Bluebird 510 produced by Hot Wheels.

Back then, several decades ago, this model seems to be popular even in the US of A and thus Hot Wheels decided that the miniature scale model of this car is worth to be produced and the sales opportunity is quite good - certainly Hot Wheels was right about that decision.

It's kind of hard to get this car you know, you may find 3 or 4 or more toy shops or those big departmental stores selling Hot Wheels cars but that doesn't guarantee that you can or will find this model easily amongst all those assorted Hot Wheels cars that they have in store. This particular one, I managed to get it from a fellow collector of Hot Wheels who being so kind to sell it to me at his cost price.

The Datsun 510 series was launched in August 1967 and it was it was one of the most comprehensive Bluebird ranges in terms of body styles with two-door sedan, a four-door sedan and later a five-door station wagon

The "510" enjoys considerable fame in the USA. The 510 Bluebird line was also imported into New Zealand as a single 1.6-litre, four-speed manual Deluxe model, assembled from CKD kits by Campbell Industries (later Toyota New Zealand Thames assembly plant). Local content included glass, radiator, upholstery, carpet, paint, wiring and numerous other items.

A few automatic and twin carburettor SSS versions were imported built-up from Japan, primarily for buyers who had access to funds overseas and could utilise the country's 'no remittance' new car purchase scheme to avoid lengthy waiting lists.

An automatic gearbox model was also available for the deluxe range. The factory also made two versions of the 2 door coupe. They were a 1600GL and a 1800GL. The 1600GL had a single carb or twin carbs and 1800 cc cars had twin carbs The 1600sss were also used in motorsport as test cars for Nissan Japan. The cars were used in numerous motorsport rallies by Ewold van Bergen from Pretoria, South Africa, who was a test engineer for Nissan Japan.

Now, let's review this miniature car;

First the packaging;

And now, out of the packaging;

This seems to be a racing or rally car, I don't know, but they include some decent decals on it;

Overall, this seems to be a nice replica of the Nissan Datsun Bluebird. If you not fussy, then I guess everything is fine on this particular car but I'm a little fussy and thus I'm gonna do a little bit of customization on this one....

But first, let's have a look at the interior;

I will remove that bar thingy as I'm wanna make this car like a normal road version and still with some decals on the body ^__^

The next thing I did is changing the steering wheel from left to right.... this is Japanese car after all ^__^

Just cut it and then use those Tamiya plastic cement or super glue and stick it on the right, simple as that;

After that, I painted the whole interior with black color;

And done with the interior work.... next the body work.....

I do love the default red color of this car but after I watched that music video of Secret for their song "Love is Move" from their latest album, I noticed that the blue and black combination is quite gorgeous and thus I decided to dedicate this Nissan Datsun Bluebird to that fantastic music video of Secret - Love is Move.

Secret is "Shewsbury Land Band of The Year 2011" so I think it would be nice to dedicate this car to them ^__^

You can see their music video below;

They are gorgeous!!!!! I love those legs.... never failed to give me erection when ever I watched it LOL.....

Apart from that, the model name of this car is "Datsun Bluebird" after all, so why not, let's give it a black and blue treatment....

And within just 3 hours, I completed everything, it is quite fast for my standard....

This is now the result, this car now is know as "The Blue Shark of Akina Speed Stars - A tribute to Secret Love is Move" - LOL quite long for a name right ^__^

After looking at the final result... I kind of like it even more than the original color scheme. AT least now I can say that this car is perfectly customized in accordance to my personal taste. Now it's time to take the car out for some test drive and we will beat those Toyota Vios and Toyota Corolla easily LOL

end

Fast Lane - London Bus

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000+08:00

This is a decent London Bus from a Chinese brand "Fast Lane" available from local stores for a mere SGD 5.00 (just around USD 3.00 plus something like that). I don't know much about this "Fast Lane" brand but I tend to believe they are a Chinese brand with their own factory in China and they also have those 1/64 scale die cast car models like what you can get from Hot Wheels, Maisto, Matchbox etc. with slightly cheaper price than those Hot Wheels, locally here it's SGD 2.90 while typical Hot Wheels price is SGD 3.50

I like London Bus, in a way, it's one of those popular London icons, I never been to London and that means I never had the chance to be on the open-air top floor of such bus in Asia but at least I can buy this replica at a decently cheap price.

The box;

Outside the box;

Since they use screw, we can separate the body and chasis and observe the interior further;

But before we do that, let's just see what we can see easily;

And now, let's have a look at the interior from the bottom floor;

Nothing great actually... simple as it could be....

I would love to paint all those white parts into black, I guess it would be more nicer with dark color;

And that's about it.... overall, this is a nice London Bus replica at reasonable size and price. It doesn't promise anything spectacular, you get what you pay - a simple London Bus, nice for display.

end

Matchbox Ice Cream Van

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000+08:00

Saw this cutey pinky Ice Cream Van from Matchbox in one of the local toy shop and without further delay, I bought it simply because of it's cuteness LOL...

The packaging;

Out of the packaging;

Features wise, this is just a simple van, Matchbox don't even mentioned who is the maker and I don't care anyway. This van is all about beautiful pink ice cream van with all those creamy decals LOL

On the backside you can see the ice cream operation unit;

Surprisingly though this van comes with right hand steering wheel (British/Japanese style);

And that's about it....

Overall, as I mentioned earlier, this van is all about pink ice cream van - plain and simple - in a way it reminded me of the time when I was a lot younger as a kid and we always "being alert" about the ice cream van when it comes to our neighborhood. I was from a very poor family back then and I think I only bought the ice cream once..... but then again, now when I'm old enough, I realized that those sweet ice cream is not really good for kids and certainly not to be eaten often. If you ever watched the Eddie Murphy talk show "Delirious" you would remember the ice cream joke story that he told us (the viewers) which also interconnected with the story of his family LOL...

I m lazy to do any further customization on this particular pink ice cream van, I think it's better to leave it as it is in original state - plain and simple - gorgeous and sweet ^__^

end

Hot Wheels - GMC Motorhome

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000+08:00

In response to the emergence of many ganbangers group around America, GM introduced this pikey's (gypsies) friendly vehicle LOL called the Motorhome LOL....

"Motorhome" is a type of self-propelled "recreational vehicle" or RV which offers living accommodation combined with a vehicle engine. The term "motorhome" is most commonly used in the UK, United States, and Canada.

Usually "Motorhome" comprises sleeping accommodation for between 2 and 8 people. Each sleeping place is called a berth. Each berth is either fixed or converts from another part of the motorhome's interior.

A kitchenette area will contain cooking equipment. The type of equipment included differs depending on the motorhome make and model, but generally a kitchenette has an oven, grill, hob and sink. More luxury models may also provide a microwave. A separate washroom will be housed in the motorhome. Each washroom will have a flushing cassette toilet, shower and basin. The cassette toilet sometimes swivels to provide extra room and can be accessed from outside the motorhome for easy emptying. More recent motorhomes will have a separate shower cubicle.

A motorhome will also have a cab area with a driver and passenger seat. These seats often swivel to become part of the living space. A dinette area provides a table and seating space typically used for eating meals. A lounge may also be included, consisting of either a u-shaped sofa located in the rear of the motorhome or a side lounge.

More importantly, if you are one of those gangbangers like Evaritus Lau - LOL - this car is ideal to perform group sex ceremony (also known as orgy) while keep moving on the road - just make sure that the driver can focus on the road and traffic while waiting for his turn LOL....

Let's have a look at this model, first the packaging;

And now, out of the packaging;

Feature wise, apart from those "fire" decals and glossy painting scheme, I think the only other external features we could mention is the 3 tires each on both side LOL...

Now, let's have a look at the interior... we need to use those soldering iron;

And this is it;

Looks quite roomy but the white color scheme make it difficult to analyze;

I'm quite happy with this Motorhome, we don't have this vehicle in South East Asia - or so I think, but if I have the chance to own it, I would love to have this Motorhome - you can go to the beach, do some barbeque and picnic stuff and have some sort of comfort that is almost like home or you can just hang out till late night in the middle of the big city and sleep in the vehicle - maybe have sex as well... LOL...

Gangbanging or orgy is now much easier and mobile thanks to this GMC Motorhome LOL...

And eventually I decided to customized this Motorhome as I dislike those "fire" decals.... but first we will look at the painted interior;

With this "pinkies" color scheme and a little black and grey, it is much easier to observe the interior details.

And this is now the body color... nothing fancy, just a simple old school blue - a low profile color sheme and thus you can continue doing the sex orgy inside without grabbing unwanted attention from outside LOL

end

Hot Toys - Resident Evil After Life 3D - Alice - Part 4 of 4

2012-01-14T21:59:00.012+08:00

Direct continuation from Part 3

If you haven't read it already, you can check out the Part 3 (CLICK HERE)

Or you can start from the very beginning, click the link below;

Part 1 (CLICK HERE)
Part 2 (CLICK HERE)
Part 3 (CLICK HERE)

Otherwise, you can proceed as you pleased;

In this final part, it's time to do some action pose.......... I won't say much, just have a look at the picture below, hope you enjoy them... the photography part of this review took me 4 hours >__<

I do learn something new as well from doing the review photography of this figure, when it comes to the head/face shot, you need to be at certain angle and then and only then, you can have the most out of the face and it will look exactly like the real Alice/Milla Jovovich;

We started with all those guns;

And now those Nepal knife;

And my favorite part - Alice with sword..... for me, lady with sword is kind of awesome!!!!

Trying the Uma Thurman Kill Bill standing pose... Hot Toys, please make that figure, I will buy!!!

The baton;

And last but not least.... time to put on this jacket;

The finishing is fantastic... it's hard to imagine how difficult it is to produce such items at such size;

I don't really remember Alice wearing this in the Resident Evil AfterLife movie... correct me if I'm wrong or if I forgot.... anyway, since Hot Toys included this nice jacket, I guess it's a good value added stuff for our money... I have no complain about it and certainly love it;

In fact, after a while, I prefer to see this figure with this jacket rather than without it;

I just love this combination so much - jacket and sword ^__^;

And finally... Alice find a new home for herself inside that liquor cabinet of Shewsbury Land;

Overall, this is a brilliant 1/6 scale (12 inches) figures of Alice (Milla Jovovich) of Resident Evile AfterLife 3D from Hot Toys. I love the wonderful price that I paid for it (MISB condition), I love the beautiful face sculpt many weapons supplied with this Alice and that jacket is a wonderful bonus. Apart from the ass that I mentioned, I have no other complain what so ever. I am happy with this Alice. If you are a fan of Hot Toys stuff or Alice (Milla Jovovich), then you should grab this figure.

If you want to, you can read the review all over again from the link below ^__^

Part 1 (CLICK HERE)
Part 2 (CLICK HERE)
Part 3 (CLICK HERE)
Part 4 (CLICK HERE)

end

Hot Toys - Resident Evil After Life 3D - Alice - Part 3 of 4

2012-01-14T21:50:00.013+08:00

Direct continuation from Part 2

If you haven't read it already, you can check out the Part 2 (CLICK HERE)

Otherwise, you can proceed as you pleased;

In this part, we will focus on the weapons - you will get all these stuff;

First we will focus on the 2 machine gun;

Not much to say, no gimmick what so ever but all looks real - just in a smaller size;

The next weapon is this mind blowing sword... another reason why I wanted this Alice figure;

Other than that, you will also get 2 Nepal knife and a baton, they looks great but not much gimmick;

And now finally the 2 pistol and the 2 shot gun - these guys have a little gimmick though :-)

The 2 pistols... it looks beautiful;

The gimmick is that you can do something like this;

Yeah you can see those small 6 bullets.... this kind of pistol is fun coz you can do some sort of "Russian Roulette" thingy....

That thing, something like switch or lock (sorry I don't know much about pistol LOL) at the rear also can move, look at the pictures below;

And the 2 shot gun;

The gimmick on this one is that you can do this;

And see the 2 bullets;

And you can even take them out (and if you are careless, you might lose them also LOL)

Continue to Part 4 (CLICK HERE)

end

Hot Toys - Resident Evil After Life 3D - Alice - Part 2 of 4

2012-01-14T21:44:00.010+08:00

Direct continuation from Part 1

If you haven't read it already, you can check out the Part 1 (CLICK HERE)

Otherwise, you can proceed as you pleased;

In this part, we will focus on the body and the clothing/uniform;

It is quite impressive that they can copy the actual clothing/uniform that we saw on the movie, OK maybe now 100% perfect but I guess you can't do any better than this anyway...

The mixture of materials within that apparel is jubilant;

The attention to details is impressive.... that is why we have to pay such a premium price....

And finally now... this is the issue that I have with this figure... I personally feel that the ass is a little too big than it should be....

With such chubby ass.... it's like make me thinking that Alice is just a typical normal woman who just sit at home and watch MTV while eating vegetable salad....

I don't actually really observe the ass of Alice in the movie, how big or how small it was, but when it comes to figure and proportion issue, I just feel that the ass is slightly a little big to my liking... in a way, this reminded me of that S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Faiz that we reviewed here last time.... the same a little too big ass issue LOL...

It's not really a big problem though, probably I observed and think a little too much... the pervert Woody certainly love it LOL;

Moving on to the legs and the shoes, not much more I can say, it is quite great;

And we come to that articulation point segment and this is quite tricky.... Hot Toys figures does have decent articulation and pivot points for simple and basic action pose although this is also depending on the individual design of each figure/character.

However, you can't expect them to be like those action figures from Figma or Revoltech or S.H. Figuarts.... that is totally a different price points although they certainly offer a higher degree of articulation fun.

The joint of Hot Toys figures are more or less like many other figures that you have seen in the market, just maybe different size, but then again, same same but different. Hot Toys never promised wonderful action pose and dynamic articulation like many other action figures (usually smaller size) but they promised extremely better details and materials, simple as that.

Thus, the usual kneeling pose that we do for almost all of figure review cannot be done on this Alice, this is the best we could get;

Anyhow, no complain about it from me, I do know a little bit about this thing on Hot Toys figures and I never expect any miracle on this articulation segment. I am happy still.....

They said, just like camera - no camera is perfect and similarly no action figures is perfect either, there is always something for us to like or dislike....

Continue to Part 3 (CLICK HERE)

end

Hot Toys - Resident Evil After Life 3D - Alice - Part 1 of 4

2012-01-14T21:28:00.015+08:00

There are 3 known Milla in Shewsbury Land;

The emphatic Mila Kunis from the popular comedy series of That 70's Show;

The wonderful super-hero Milla Jovovich from that Resident Evil movies;

And that old footballer from Cameroon, Roger Milla LOL;

Obviously, we will now talk about the 1/6 scale (12 inches) premium action figure of Milla Jovovich or rather Alice from that Resident Evil AfterLife movie produced by the Hong Kong based company Hot Toys.

For those of you who have been following Shewsbury Land since a few years ago, you would certainly know that this is the first ever 1/6 figures from Hot Toys to appear in Shewsbury Land and rightly so coz this is indeed my first (and maybe the one and only - unless if they produce Uma Thurman from that Kill Bill movie in the future ^__^ I will sell my kidney and lung to get that figure LOL)

Being a pervert, I love any movie or anime that features a female super hero - example, Kill Bill movies, Ghost In The Shell anime, Appleseed and maybe a few others out there that I don't remember or don't know at all....

I've been craving for this 1/6 scale collectible figures from Hot Toys for a very long time now and I was hoping that my first one will be either Deunan Knute, this Alice or Uma Thurman.... turn out to be, I suddenly got the Alice.... not so bad though... at least she is in my wish list...

As many of you know (or if you don't already know), those wonderful Hot Toys figures are quite pricey, usually in the region of near USD 200.00 (about SGD 260.00) and move all the way up to the ceiling. Being a toy collectors and reviewers and pervert and fantastic vagina kisser, I put a limit of SGD 200 for any single toy/figure items that I want to buy.... I wish I can afford more, but just like many of you out there, we do have our sensible limit and we stick with it and make the most out of it although there are once in a while that we do exceed that limit and this is one of those time for me and Shewsbury Land ^__^

However, recently, a fellow collector offer this item up for grabs for a mere SGD 180.00 (about USD 140.00) and knowing that the basic price for this item is actually USD 165.00 (about SGD 213.00) that price is certainly excellent and it's a wasted opportunity if I don't grab it.... thankfully I did and I am a happy bunny now....

So let's review the figure.... first the box;

Usually the photo on the box is on vertical mode but this Alice comes in horizontal mode.... I'm not really an expert about Hot Toys therefore I'm not sure if this is the only one or if there are a few others with the same concept out there.... I don't care anyway LOL...

The box/packaging of Hot Toys figures is certainly awesome, worth every dollar you paid for it...

The face sculpted by the beautiful and talented Korean artist - Song Hye Yun ^__^

Now let's take them out out that box/packaging;

And thee shall get all these stuff;

Inside that small plastic is some sort of extra joints - maybe as a spare if you need them in the future...

As usual, let's have a look at the figure;

The body and costume design is quite brilliant though I managed to detect 1 thing that I don't like for now.... will discuss that later....

Moving on, the face sculpt is quite emphatic, I think it's one of the best from Hot Toys so far;

Comes with 2 sets of hair design;

You can changed them accordingly as you pleased;

This is the different looks by using the 2 different hair cuts/design;

Continue to Part 2 (CLICK HERE)

end

Majorete Major City Large - Mini Cooper Cabrio

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000+08:00

This is Major Ciry Large from Majorete featuring Mini Cooper Cabrio - and the car is the main absolute reason I bought this item :-(

The price is SGD 16.90 (about USD 13.00 / 1,000 yen) and as a whole package, I think it's quite a great value for money though eventually you do need to buy more LOL....

The box;

Out of the box - you will get all these stuff;

I like this beautiful sky background, I can use it for figure photography as well...

Something like this;

So now, let's have a look at all the stuff again;

Apart from what you see in the above picture, they also gave some extra stuff inside this plastic packaging;

And these are all the stuff inside the plastic packaging as seen in the above picture, I don't know much about them all but they looks cute;

And now, let's have a look at the car - Mini Cooper Cabrio in metallic blue color scheme;

The painting finishing of the car is quite excellent, I'm certainly happy with it, no scratches or dented, all is fine.

The interior detailing is quite brilliant as well, although they chose the American/French left hand steering wheel (I would love it if we can get the British/Japanese right hand steering wheel) but more importantly the dashboard detailing is quite pleasing to the eye. Just have a look at the close up pictures we provided for you to see below;

I'm really happy with this car, certainly no regrets and no complain what so ever, brilliant - absolutely brilliant!!!

And now, since this item comes as some sort of city building diorama thingy, I guess we try to make the best out of it - at least for this review reason;

The very first one I could think off - the basic set up we've seen from the box;

And then, we try other combination but since we only have 1 building, not much really we can do.... as I mentioned earlier, it would be great (and obviously that's what the producer wants) if you buy all sets available from this particular series line up and after that, with some additional extra creativity and efforts, you could really do some exciting diorama.....

The Mini Cooper Cabrio complements my not so great "Mini Collections" inside my alcohol display cabinet ^__^

At first I just wanted to put all cars with right hand steering wheel only (British/Japanese style) on this section but.... oh well, sometimes due to space limitation issue, we do need some compromise ^__^

From what you can see on the above picture, only the Mini Cooper Shewsbury Custom and this featured Mini Cooper Cabrio that we review here today comes with left hand steering (American/French style)

And this Mini Cooper Cabrio should be resting here, near the "Mini Gang";

Overall, I'm happy with this item as a whole package. For about 1,000 yen (SGD 16.90 or about USD 13.00) this is certainly a great value for money with the options to complete the whole "city" diorama as long as you don't mind to keep on buying the others within the series. Unfortunately, I only wanted the car so the building diorama stuff, I just donate it to my staff, she love it so much as she also kind of casual car model collectors....

end

Maisto All Stars Haulerz

2012-01-12T08:00:00.001+08:00

This is a wonderful long truck or rather "haulers" from "Maisto All Stars Haulerz" series at 1/64 scale. I don't really fancy those bog long truck/haulers but the decals and finishing of this particular item is mesmerizing and thus I cannot ignore it either. I guess there is always the first time so this is indeed my first ever long vehicle - though due to the size, I hope it is also my one and only - due to space issue, I don't rally want to have more of this item ^__^

So first and foremost, let's have a look at the packaging;

The local price here from one of the popular major Chinese departmental store is only SGD 21.00 (about USD 16.00 / 1,200 yen) and if you happen to buy this during those special holiday sales, you can get a nice 15% discount plus another 10% extra discount if you are a customer of certain banks ^__^

And now... out of the box;

Even at 1/64 scale, this haulers is exceeding 30cm in length, end to end... >__<

The main selling point or attraction for me on this item is those wonderful "Pro-Rodz" label here and there.... it is absolutely brilliant;

There are some eye catchy decals also available on the front part here;

Another fun features of this haulers is the openable "engine" hood;

And thus, you can see the "engine".... cool isn't it?

Big tires and chrome wheels - very nice....

Now, let's have a look at another important feature of this haulers;

The openable rear cargo compartment unit door;

Trust me, after all that lengthy size, if this feature is missing, I (and maybe also you) will be very disappointed with this item.... thankfully though, it's there;

And with that.... you can add in some fun by trying to put in those 1/64 scale cars in there;

Maximum 3 cars at 1/64 scale can fit inside....

And lastly, let's have a look at the interior detail of the driver's cockpit;

This is it;

Pretty simple but I guess I can live with it... I don't plan to do any touch up what so ever on this one....

Overall, this is an extremely exciting "Haulerz" from Maisto. The painting finishing, the decals and marking, the features and the price are lovable. I'm happy to finally have my first ever "haulerz" and as I mentioned earlier, I hope this is the one and only. Apparently they offer several other models with different variety of colors, decals and marking flavors for you to choose, Apart from this black, I love the other one in red color scheme.... but no, this is enough ^__^

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Maisto Custom Shop - 1969 Corvette Coupe

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000+08:00

This is a beautiful 1/64 scale model of 1969 Corvette Coupe (a.k.a. Stingray) from Maisto thru their exciting "Custom Shop" series.

This is from the Third Generation (C3) of the series which spawned from 1968 to 1982. The third generation Corvette, patterned after the Mako Shark II concept car, was introduced for the 1968 model year and lasted until 1982.

C3 coupes featured the first use of T-top removable roof panels. It introduced monikers that were later revived, such as LT-1, ZR-1, and Collector Edition.

The Corvette's 25th anniversary was celebrated in 1978 with a two-tone Silver Anniversary Edition and an Indy Pace Car replica edition. It was the first time that a Corvette was used as a Pace Car for the Indianapolis 500. Engines and chassis components were mostly carried over from the C2, but the body and interior were new.

Now, let;s have a look at this item;

The packaging;

Out of the packaging;

From my experience driving the fun Porsche Boxter model 2007, I believe this car is quite fun to drive as well. I would love to own this car but then it is only a "dream talk" - it can be pricey plus this model is usually only available in The Americas region.

It's interesting though that this particular color scheme is the same from another item from Maisto that we reviewed here last year, the 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28;

You can check out that review from the link below;

http://www.shewsbury.com/2011/11/maisto-custom-shop-1971-chevrolet.html

Features of this car includes those wonderful decals and the big number 69 - reminded me of that intercourse position called "The 69" ^__^

And there is a name at the back here = Joe Shack, I don't know who the heck is Joe Shack but just like any other man, I guess he would love to watch porn movies as well ^__^;

The sporty rubber tire design with yellow colored wheels and of coz that "Firestone" label there;

Openable engine hood;

And thus you can view "the engine";

That's how it looks like down there;

Now, let's have a closer look at the interior details;

I think the interior detail is one of the best I've seen so far from Maisto Custom Shop;

And now without doubt, it is one of the best interior detailing I've seen for a 1/64 scale car model... I love every bits of it.... well done, Maisto.

Overall, this is a brilliant 1969 Corvette Coupe (Stingray) from Maisto Custom Shop. I can detect some imperfection of painting finishing on the front side (the engine hood) but apart from that the overall finishing and detailing is highly respectable. I will certainly keep this particular unit as it is and there will be no further customization at all.

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Hot Wheels - '69 Mercury Cougar Eliminator

2012-01-10T09:00:00.001+08:00

This is a beautiful customized 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator from Hot Wheels. I don't

As some sort of "counter attack" from rivals like Camaro Z28 and the SS Camaro and in fact Ford's own "Boss 302" and Mach 1 Mustangs, Ford introduced the Eliminator in April 1969 with variety of options available to attract the attention of the possible buyer/owner.

From the very moment I look at the car, without any hesitation I say this is damn nice!!! and so I grabbed it....

The packaging;

Out of the packaging;

Features of this particular item are those lovely Cranston Fire Engine decals and "fire" color scheme;

Rear spoiler;

Oh well, that's about it.... this particular model is all about pleasing the eyes...

Overall, this is a beautiful classic Mercury Cougar Eliminator at 1/64 scale from Hot Wheels. The finishing for this particular unit is brilliant, I'm lucky I guess. However, even though I don't deny that the color scheme is beautiful but I tend to dislike it and thus I decided to do some work to make this car look typical old fashion and simple....

And this is the result;

Just a personal taste of mine... you may or may not like it... I don't care LOL.... it's my car...

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Maisto Custom Shop - 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

2012-01-09T14:36:00.007+08:00

I got this Christmas gift from a good friend of mine - Double H they call him - so nice of him and I happen to like this car and the color scheme as well.

This is Maisto Custom Shop - 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T.

This is from the first generation - 1970. The Challenger was described as Dodge's "answer to the Mustang and Camaro."

It was one of two Chrysler E-body cars, the other being the slightly smaller Plymouth Barracuda. "Both the Challenger and Barracuda were available in a staggering number of trim and option levels" and were intended "to compete against cars like the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang, and to do it while offering virtually every engine in Chrysler's inventory.

Nonetheless, let's have a look at this car model;

The packaging;

Out of the packaging;

Features of this cars includes those rubber tires with Firestone logo on it;

Openable engine hood;

And thus you can view the engine;

That's how it looks like down there;

And now, let's have a look at the interior;

The interior is oretty neat and simple, not much to brag about but I like it...

Overall, this is a beautiful 1/64 scale model of 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T in an old school orange color. The finishing is quite good and I'm quite happy with it. This is one of those that I will keep in original color - no customization what so ever. Thanks to Double H for this wonderful Christmas gift.

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Android Mini Collectible - Standard Edition

2012-01-08T09:00:00.001+08:00

This is a collectibles figure of the popular Android OS that slowly penetrate the mobile devices and gadgets since 2010 and slowly keep on growing especially within the smart mobile phones world.

Being a loyal Google customer for several years now and an Android user for several months now, I've been wanting to get this figure for quite some times now but I just don't know where the hell to get it and that is when finally a friend of mine B-Mecha or locally known as "Basir Musa" suddenly out of the blue offered me this Android because he happens to have several units extra - he got it from some popular Asian-based online shop.

Nonetheless, let's have a look at this Android..... first the box;

Designed in New York but made in China ^__^

Out of the box;

And out of that plastic wrapper;

This is just a simple figure with absolute minimal features and articulation;

However, you don't buy this item for features or articulation.... this green robot is a popular icon, a must have for Android fans;

The arms can move a bit and the head can turn 360 degrees and that's about it... nothing more, nothing less....

The other citizens of Shewsbury Land are more than happy to get new "android" friend;

A group family photo together for memory ^__^;

Overall, this is a simple figure as the main icon of the iconic Android OS. The price is quite decent (depending on from where and who you bought it), it doesn't promise any wonder of the world or unexpected sexual excitement but for what is worth, it's nice to see and nice to have - especially for Android OS fans. Apparently, they are plentiful of other design and color variations of this Android but many people doesn't seems to be interested with the others, maybe they are some who did but not many - in fact many people prefer this original green colored one.... I personally don't fancy green color except for certain few items and this green Android is one of the items I don't mind (and in fact I love it) to be in green color.

With the leadership of Google, I hope Android OS will grew and mature further in the near future so that many people can get the benefits of it's exciting features and technologies at affordable price coz not everybody can afford some premium OS provided by certain companies who seems to be doing well with their premium items and premium market share and start suing and screwing their competitors coz they believed that they invent everything.

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