May 2010 Hong Kong Trip

Hi Folks

Long long time since you've seen a post from me. I blame my hectic work schedule and general laziness :P Anyways, just came back from Hong Kong a few days ago and I thought it would be good to share some of my buys from this great place.

Basically what you see here are bought from the Mongkok area in HK. I did visit the causeway bay area shops but found there were more treasures in Mongkok. I got from stuff from

• Sino Center
• CTMA Center
• Richmund Building

Anyways.. enough talk.. here are my buys.

Had to pack everything into a box and check-in this carton.. lucky I brought minimal luggage over...
This carton weighed in at around 10kg :P

Had to hand carry some stuff too as the carton couldn't fit everything...

Heres everything unpacked... problem is...where am i going to store them... :P

And here is a breakdown of the toys and where i got them

From the left- top down.. we have

Most Wanted GDX-01 Gaiking
Most Wanted GDX-02 Raiking
Most Wanted GDX-03 Balking
Got all 3 from CTMA Basement 2 at a steal. I could have bought the GDX-C01 GAIKING COMPLETE BOXSET if i wanted but the shopkeeper advised (and showed me) that the gold accents on the separate boxes were brighter. Besides the brighter gold accents, the boxset and separate boxes are totally similar.The three robots combines to form Great Gaiking (image courtesy of Most Wanted official page as I haven't opened mine yet)

Next we have (left to right_ top down)
Nendoroid Sumomo Akihime+Nintendo DS game of Nanatsuiro Drops (Sino Center 2nd Flr)
Kaiyodo Revoltech Danboard Mini Amazon.co.jp Box Version (Sino Center 3rd Flr)
CMS Brave Gokin 27 Linebarrels Mode B (CTMA 2nd Flr)
Yamato Planetry Robot Danguard Ace [Plated Version] (CTMA 2 Flr)

And finally (top down)
Bandai Soul of Chogokin GX-41B Black Raideen (Sino Center 3 Flr)
Mysterious Black Box (more on this later)
Megahouse Deformer SRW Alteisen (CTMA 2nd Flr)
Megahouse Deformer SRW Weibritter (CTMA 2nd Flr)

So what is in that stupid black box??!!!??
It is actually the best buy of my whole trip.... A painted resin figure of Gurren Lagann in its final form
TENGA TOPPA GURREN LAGANN!!!
I always wanted this figure. The original one from Volks was a pre-painted cold cast statue and cost a BOMB. E2046 also had a pre-painted resin figure but costed a bomb also and has long since sold out.
So when i saw this at Richmund Building, my eyes lit up instantly and I knew I had to get it. Admitedly the paintwork is probably not up to par to Volks or E2046 standard, but for the price I was getting it for.. I had no complains. And the guy was airbrushed this did quite a nice job IMHO.

These are some pics I took of the figure when i was in the shop.
I still have to use contact adhesive to join the main parts together for mine (it is still a kit).
I Love this figure :D

On the whole, it was a fulfilling and very enjoyable experience toy hunting in Hong Kong. There was lots to see and buy and the price was Great! I spent slightly less then HKD4000 (~SGD$720) for all the toys you see above.

Will try to do a post with maps, descriptions and general tips when toy hunting in HK soon.

Until then

Cheers
Surge

[Random Toy Post] 11 Sept 2009

Heres another random toy post. This time its an absolutely stunning resin figure of Kos-Mos from Xenosaga. This will be at 1/4 scale so its nice and big. The colors and detailing are absolutely stunning. And that huge gun looks amazing.

E2046 has start taking pre-orders for this beauty.
Check it out HERE if you have skills and can airbrush her yourself.
Or HERE if you are like me a talentless lazy bum who must buy fully painted. :)

Credits:http://www.e2046.com/product.php?products_id=10381
Cheers
Surge

[Random Toy Post] 26 August 2009

I decided to start a new series of posting just randomly posting nice toys I see when I troll the internet. May also include great bargains I find.

To kick this off.. heres a very nice rendition of Moka from E2046.
Fully painted Resin cast with Semi-Transparent Black Dress :)

Moka Akashiya Special Version - Clear

Also very nice is this rendition of the Guges-D landmate from AppleSeed Ex Machina (not released yet)

GUGES

Cheers
Surge

Review:E2046 Pre-Painted Dark Magician 1/6 Resin Figure

We have a yet another special Guest Reviewer to review the E2046 Pre-Painted Dark Magician 1/6 Resin Figure.
Special thanks to SilentHill for doing this excellent detailed review.This review was actually done a while back but I never got the time to put it up. Apologies to SilentHill :P

You really got to admire the effort and time that went into this review though. Attention to detail and great pics are the order of the day...
SO lets get on with it.. :)

***********************************Start ofReview************************************

My preoder from E2046 - Ori workshop came in two boxes 1 inside of the other for protection and the main box - their trade mark black "shoebox" - was double wrapped in bubble wrap to protect both the box and the contents inside

Opening the box reveals the wonderfully neat packaging by the E2046 staff.All parts are snuggly packed with Styrofoam so that there is absolutely no moving of the parts which would result in damage.What impresses me is that the Styrofoam have obviously been individually cut with a Styrofoam cutter i.e. hot wire and having done such activities in the past for school projects (ahhh...those were the days) more than a decade ago, i can vouch for the labourious nature of such work.

Now onto the actual Dark (Elf) Mage Resin Figure iteself...
The entire product comes in a few parts:
1) Actual Figure
2) Detachable robe / skirt / dress (magnetic)
3) Left arm and forearm
4) Orange staff + hand
5) Silver staff + hand
6) "mirror polish" acrylic base
All parts are wrapped in plastic to protect from scratches during the packing process.




Unwarpping everything, it is time to inspect the handiwork of the E2046 - Ori artists...
Some slight assembly required of course for the robe/skirt/dress, left arm/forearm and the staff of your choice. Undoubtably, most would chose the orange flame coloured design one instead of the silver...

Moreever, being silver, it would be possible to add some colour to it for a customised individual piece of artwork by those who have some aspirations of painting, i suppose.

All parts fit well with little effort.

However, i noticed 2 things:

1) The left arm/forearm joint on the main body seems a little too "short" and hence, when the arm is connected, it does not seem overly secure. When i want to change the staves/hands, a slight pull on the hand will detach the arm from the body. Possiblilty of the entire arm dropping is there.

2) The cloak/skirt/robe magnet is not overly strong and will droop. There is a need to "squeeze" it past the hips of the figurine which may result in a little of the black paint coating rubbing off on the figurine iteself.

No sweat there, just use a pencil-tip eraser to remove the "stain(s)" [taught to me by my buddy Issac] and my personal advice is to use a micro-fiber cloth (or if you lazy like me, your finger) and gentlely rub the edge of the cloak/skirt to clean any residue whcih might be there. That way, less chances of staining.





All i would like to add is that the figurine is solid, hefty and constructed out of resin. There are NO visible seams at all which is the best part of the construction.
Paintwork is natural, unsmudged with no "running" of the paint as well as neatly done lines and no rough blobs of dried paint. Figurine collectors will know what i mean.
Shading is done well to accentuate certain features of the figurine and appropriate usage of high gloss black paint breathes both class and a certain "sexiness" to the costume of the figurine (if you find pvc leather boots and corsets sexy a la "dominatrix style")
My favourite parts in terms of the paint job are the eyes, the intricate gold runes/seams designs of the cloak/skirt/robe, bustier and boots. As mentioned, no running and no blotches, just clean beautifully painted lines.

Great Job overall by the both the sales & admin staff (for speedy delivery) and the artists at E2046 - Ori.

Pictures paint a thousand words so i will let the following images speak for themselevs.

***********************************End ofReview************************************

Cheers
Surge

Studio Half Eye Gaofighgar and GoldionHammer

Wallet burners Studio half eye has opened this up for pre-order on their website.
From the Genesic Gaogaigar anime comes this Gaofighgar and GoldionHammer.

As usual, studio half eye creates this with a Perfect transformation which is no easy feat considering the many parts involved in the gaogaigar transformation. The thing is also packed with gimmicks and accessories as usual.
Price is..well... also dazzling.. Well for those who can afford it.. 2nd round pre-orders are open (apparently there was a first round) for those with a grand to spare on resin mecha :P

SPECS
Price: ¥79,800 (~SGD$1259)
Total height: 16cm/full-width: Approximately 200mm
Prototype production: Hajime Takashima
Sale start time: 2009 late February schedule

GaoFighgar

FINAL FUSION!! Gimmicks

GoldionHammer



Exclusive S.H.E Shop Item Gatling head

Credits: http://www.studio-halfeye.com/works/gfg-gld/gfggld_top/gfggld_top.html
Cheers
Surge