Music - Minstrel Boy

I was watching Black Hawk Down over at the cable channel (AXN, ch19) for the 6th (or more, I lost count) times tonight. Incidentally, I did not see it at the big screen because during the screening then, I was not into war movies, and I thought it was just another war movie. But after seeing it (less than a year or so later) on DVD, I was hooked onto it.

The movie got me into it mainly due to actors that I could recognise (eg Ewan McGregor, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, etc), the cold reality of war portrayed, it being based on the novel, which is in turn based on a true story, and the overall story and characters. If you have not seen it, please do pick it up and have a look. It is a good movie.

Near the end of the movie, there were 2 songs that captured my attention. One was played when the rest of the pack was running back to the U.N. camp, and the other was played during the end credits. The former is called Gortoz a ran - J'Attends, and the latter Minstrel Boy.

An emotionally stirring and inspirational song, The Minstrel Boy was written by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) who set it to the melody of The Moreen, and old Irish aire. It is believed by many that Moore composed the song as a memorial to several of his friends he had met while a student at Trinity College and who had participated in the 1798 rebellion of the United Irishmen. One died in prison, another was wounded, and a third captured and hung. The song originally consisted of two verses. Due to its popularity, the song was a favorite of the many Irishmen who fought during the U.S. Civil War, primarily on the Union side. Original article can be found here.

Buy the soundtrack, and listen to them. Both are very nice songs. Lyrics to Minstrel Boy:

The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone
In the ranks of death you will find him;
His father's sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him;
"Land of Song!" said the warrior bard,
"Tho' all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!"

The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's chain
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;
And said "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and brav'ry!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free,
They shall never sound in slavery!"

Haul of the Day - 25 June 2007

Went down to Far East Plaza again today to get a haircut (in preparation for my incamp training tomorrow) at It's Hairy. This has become my regular place to get a haircut. Even though it is a bit on the high side, I am far more at ease than my previous places at the neighbourhood Malay Barbershop. At the end of the session, I never get what I asked for. At It's Hairy, I do not need to ask. I just go in and get a cut, trusting that Laurence (the owner) will give me what I need. And I also like his devotion to get a best cut for his customers. If you are at Far East Plaza, do check out his salon at #04-100, Far East Plaza, 14 Scotts Road, S(228213).


Ok, on to the haul. Today I just went to TFH to pickup the 2 heavy weights I left there ages ago - Hottoys ED-209 and Fewture Getter-3. While I was there, I also picked up a Transformers movie Scorponok at a pre-sale price of S$15 (cool !). And thanks to Roy for the free set of 4 Fun Factory Post Pet Kubricks and Clifford for the set of Marvel Legends comics. No pictures today as the camera run out of juice (Update 1 Jul: Picture uploaded).

Plug - Omnitrixland

Please do checkout my newphew's blog at http://omnitrixland.blog.com/. He is a big fan of Ben10, the animated show, that is currently showing on the local cable's Cartoon Network.

Though not as good as Justice League or Nickelodeon's Spongebob SquarePants or Avatar: Legend of Aang, it is nonetheless one of the better shows out there. There is also variety in the show, with new developments on the omnitrix. Do check it out if you can. I am beginning to get hooked as well.

Haul of the Day - 24 Jun 2007

Had to drag my butt down to TFH to pickup some stuff that are long overdue, due to coming down with fever and cough. Spent over S$50 and visited 2 different doctors, and the condition has improved only slightly.

Only managed to collect the following, with the Transformers Movie Sector 7 basic figures and Revoltec INOUE Toro out of stock at the moment.

Marvel Legends Fearsome Foes boxset, a warehouse find by the good folks. Without them, we would have never seen the lights of this boxset, except from evilbay. Through the help of shaun who help me secure a set of BBI 1/6 Female Perfect Body (Caucasian and Hispanic) for some custom down the road. Oh, and do checkout the customs that he did of Wonder Women first take, Wonder Women second take and Mary Jane. And lastly, the bubble warpped figure which you cannot see anything is actually a HyperHobby magazine mailaway Kamen Rider No.1 Sakurajima version.

Will be making another trip tomorrow to retrieve 2 heavy weights that had been at the shop for ages, due to space constraint at home. Have to bring them babies home as the folks are going to move out of the Far East outlet to their new Waterloo location soon.

DC Comics for September 2007

I am back again this month to look at some of the comic covers solicited by DC for the month of Sep 2007.

First up, from last month's recommend BATMAN/LOBO: DEADLY SERIOUS miniseries, comes the cover for #2. The colours are nice on Batman, but the proportions seem to be really off. It looks like Sam Keith did not put in effort in this series. I am having second thoughts about this series. It's now on the wait and see list.


Next is the cover to GREEN ARROW: YEAR ONE #5-6, also introduced last month. Another colourful and great piece by Jock.


A new cover for this month is from METAL MEN #2. I must have missed the cover for the first issue. Surprisingly, this series is written and drawn by Duncan Rouleau. He is a great artist. I noticed his artwork when he was doing some work for Marvel's DR DOOM and VENOM series. His work is in the likes of Skottie Young and Humberto Ramos. But I did not know that he is a writer as well. And incidentally, he is also one of the creators of the animated show BEN 10.


Another missed title this month - THE PROGRAMME. It's not mainstream superhero stuff, which is why I had overlooked it. But the cover to issue 2 is very striking, with the nice usage of black and white, and a dash of red to bring out the image. The art and cover is drawn by CP Smith. His name rings a bell, but I just cannot place it. Maybe I might have mistaken him for Matthew Smith. Anyway, this guy's art is incredible. He also did the art on a standalone issue of WOLVERINE #61. Do check it out.


The last 2 covers, from ROBIN #166 and GREEN LATERN CORPS #16, have one thing in common - they are drawn by the artist Patrick Gleason. Nothing special about the covers, but the style of this artist reminds me of Jason Pearson. I hope he goes on to do more interior artwork.

TV - Heroes

Just watched the season finale of NBC's Heroes, and what a great show. Even though some parts are not what people are expecting due to the way the story had to be written, it was still a great ending. Can't wait for the filler Heroes: Origins and the next season to start again in September 2007.

The last few episodes, that were used to build up to the season finale (ep 21-23), were very entertaining, and so were ep 21-22. I enjoyed them (plot, directing) more than I had for Lost season 1.


The final Showdown.

Movies - Spider-man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 Thoughts

Caught the 2 movies, coincidentally both third installments, over the past few weeks. Generally, both were much of a disappointment. They were good, but not what I was expecting.

There is a lot of hype about Spider-man 3, and great reviews and boxoffice sales. But personally, I just did not find it as good as the first and second installments. I was going in to see an action packed movie, but it turned out to be more of a romance drama. Also, I think maybe there were too many characters to focus on, and loose ends to tie up. Packing all these in 2 hours might be a tough job for the director Sam Raimi.

Some camera shots, like zooming into the crowd's facial reaction worked well previously, but somehow in this movie, it got pretty meaningless. The part where Peter turned "bad" was too long. It could have been shorten, and more time devoted to the villians.

The action sequences were so fast, that I could not keep up with what was going on. Also, the computer graphics, except for the Sandman transformation (which was the best part of the movie), were quite rough.

Overall, it is still a good movie to watch, but it does not deliver in terms of action.

I only managed to watch the first part of The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, when going into the third sequel. It seems that you need to have some background information of Deadman's Chest to understand what was going on in the beginning of World's End.

So I was lost throughout the movie on the exact plot and storyline(s) of the third installment. And the heavily accented dialogue did not help either. I had to read the Chinese subtitles to understand what they actors were talking about.

The special effects (not just the computer generated ones) and set designs, on the other hand, were impressive. The Flying Dutchman and the crew of Davy Jones and Jones himself were good eye candy. The rock crabs were cute.

Chow Yuen Fatt's role was not that strong and impressive as I would have been made to think though.

Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow steals the whole show once again. He is as hilarious as ever.

Overall, this is a good movie to watch, if you have watched the previous 2. Even if you have not, you can still go and watch it. Oh, and it is lasts more than 2hours by the way.

My recommendation if you had to choose between wither one, go for Pirates 3. It was more entertaining and value for your hard earned money.

Transformers Movie - Fast Food Toys

Just got this with the morning papers today. Looks like it is fast food for the next few weeks, again !

DC Comics for August 2007

Some cool cover art from DC Comics' August 2007 solicitations.

I never really like Tim Sale's art because he makes Batman and Hulk look like monkeys. But the way he drew the cape from BATMAN ANNUAL #26: HEAD OF THE DEMON looks kind of cool.

The next cover has 3 things that I like - Lobo, Batman and Sam Kieth. And it's great to see the main man back in action, and better still, against another of my favourite comic characters. This will be on the shopping list.

BATMAN/LOBO: DEADLY SERIOUS #1
Written by Sam Kieth
Art and cover by Kieth
Get ready for an action-packed 2-part tale teaming up the Dark Knight with the interstellar madman, as only Sam Kieth can deliver! Batman, transported to an alien vessel by a mysterious figure, is asked to help cure a plague that has infected its inhabitants. Lobo, who has also been shanghaied, finds himself in the same boat. Now, Batman and Lobo, two incredibly unlikely companions, must somehow find a way to work together — and find out the real reason for their abductions — before they kill each other!

Update 27 May 2007: Newsarama has put up a preview here. I just hope this artwork is only for these pages, and not throughout the entire 2 issues. It does not look like Sam Kieth had put a lot of effort into them.

The third cover by the master himself Alex Ross, from JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #8 just speaks for itself.

Next to the gorgeous Power Girl cover, is work from the hot new artist Jock, on GREEN ARROW: YEAR ONE #3-4. Jock first came into the limelight with his work on DC's Losers. Now his work can be seen widely, mainly covers and one shot deals. Jock's style is along the likes of Jae Lee, Ashley Wood, Ben Templesmith, etc. The simple, edgy black and white lines/tones, together with a fine tone of colour is simply amazing. Another shopping list item.

And lastly, SUPERMAN/BATMAN #39, by Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs, has a similar style to Jock. I like the overall composition of the colours and the characters, and the straight lines, especially on Batman (reminds me of Mike Mignola). Though Superman's hand seems to be out of place, if he is supposedly choking Bats.

Oh, yes. One more thing to get in Jan 2008, that is part of Aug's orders.

Nuff said.

Book Haul of the Day - 20 May 2007

Made good use of the 20% discount offer (20 - 21 May 2007) at the local Japanese bookshop Kinokuniya and got meself the follow:

• Essential X-men Vol 2 (continuation of John Bryne's early artwork)
• Batman: Secrets TPB (artwork by Sam Kieth)
• Lore 2 TPB (artwork by Ashley Wood)
• Swallow 3 (artwork by multiple artists)
• Gear (artwork by Doug Tenpal)
• Sunrise Brave Series Toy Collection

Haul of the Day - 18 May 2007

Picked these babies up during lunch time. Woohoo !


Transformers the Movie figures deluxe class Wave 2, S$26.90 each.
Skipped on Bumblebee and Scorponok. Scorponok looks good in alternate mode, but the robot mode sucks. Bumblebee is not interesting enough to pick up at the moment.

Each carton consists of 2x Bumblebee, 2x Jazz, 1x Barricade, 1x Wreckage, 1x Brawl and 1x Scorponok. The carton indicates that these should not be on the shelf earlier than June 02, 2007 though.

Haul of the Week - 13 May 2007

Marvel SuperHero Squad - cute little super-deformed characters from the Marvel universe. The Fantastic Four is the latest series, while the Avengers is from an older series. S$10 each from local Toys R Us.


Thanks to my nephew for picking these up at the local department store. He's a great kid, and being a good uncle does payoff (I think I have to get him the Ben10 action figures). The Batman Shadowtek Man-bat (a repaint) and DC Superheroes Black SuperGirl.

Haul of the Week - 06 May 2007

Stuff I picked up this week, after a hiatus of 2 weeks while working in Shanghai.

Top left to right, bottom left to right:

• Kaiyodo Revoltech #24 Gaiking (TFH)
  
• Titanium Transformers War Within Megatron (TFH)
  
• Titanium Transformers G1 Ultra Magnus (TFH)
  
• Star Wars Heroes Hand and Luke Stormtrooper disguise (Takashimaya)
  
• Kaiyodo Revoltech #25 Megatron (TFH)
  
• DC Superheroes Mongul (Metro Sengkang, courtesy of shaun)
  
• Transformers the Movie Preview Starscream Protoform (Metro Sengkang, courtesy of shaun)
  
• Transformers the Movie Preview Optimus Prime Protoform (Metro Sengkang, courtesy of shaun)
  
• Hottoys 12" Terminator Endoskeleton (TFH)
  
• Konami Busuo Shinki EX Cannon Fort (courtesy of cosmicbaby)
  
• TakaraTomy Beast Wars Reborn TM-9 Rhinox (TFH)
  
• TakaraTomy Shoe Label 01 Optimus Prime and 02 Megatron (TFH)
  
• Mcfarlane Toys Spawn Series 30: The Adventures of Spawn: Omega Spawn, Spawn X, Codename:Cy-Gor (Takashimaya clearance sale, S$10 each, what a bargin)
  
• Loose Marvel Legends Phasing Ghost Rider, with a broken leg rest, S$10 (TFH)
  

Magazine haul:

Video - Naruto Shippuuden Opening 3rd Version

This is an small updated version of the Naruto Shippuuden opening, starting from episode 12 (or at least I noticed). The differences are very minor - background colour changes when the hand counts down, and the ending, where more people are assembled instead of just Team Kakashi.

Video - Naruto Shippuuden Opening update

This is an updated version of the Naruto Shippuuden opening, starting from episode 8, to tie in with a new chapter of the storyline. Can you spot the differences ?

Video - Hero's Come Back

Finally !!! Here's the newly released PV Hero's Come Back by nobodyknows+. This is the first opening theme from Naruto Shippuuden series.

Haul of the Day - 11 Apr 2007

Thanks to shaun, managed to get the repaint Darkseid from the latest DC Super Heroes.

Haul of the Day - 07 Apr 2007

Toy haul from TFH.

• SOC GX-36 Ideon. This figure is huge, and heavy. Japan edition.
  
• SIC Vol 37 Blade (Jack form) and Leangle. Japan edition.
  
• Star Wars Saga Collection Elite Corps. Japan card.
  
• Star Wars 30th anniversay Treachery on Saleucami Battlepack. Hasbro.
  

Book haul from Kinokuniya.

• TV-Magazine, April edition. Comes with a DVD with 40 minutes of Transformers material, to commemorate the rerun of Beast Wars and re-releasing of Beast Wars toys.
  
• International Artist, April/May edition. I think I might have missed the previous issue. The price tag is S$14.90, but I noticed that the price has changed to S$17.00 (goodness, what's the deal with all these escalating prices even before the July 2007 GST hike) after the sales girl restock the shelves with new copies.
  
• Japanese magazine on comic drawing, character design and story telling.
  

AMKHub

Went down to the new shopping mall at Ang Mo Kio called AMKHub to do some shopping and also take a look at all the excitment about this new mall.

It certainly is a refreshing change. The mall is still not officially opened, but I think about 80%-90% of the space has been taken up and most shops have opened for business. Like any shopping mall, it has almost everything you need, supermarket, fashion, music, DVD, food, and services.

NTUC FairPrice supermarket (called FairPrice Xtra) was the first to open in the basement. It has a Carrefour Suntec feel; large space, racks full of stuff.
Not much of a toy section though, but essentially everything you need for your daily necessities.

The mall is stock full (and mainly) of fashion shops, from little boutiques to big labels like Levis. Besides clothings, there are also accessories and jewellery shops.

I only found one shop selling DVDs, VCDs, and CDs, and many selling handphones. Xpressflowers also had a shop there, and DBS and Citibank were the 2 big banking players, taking up a large space on the top levels. Citibank seems to setup a regional office based on the space.

In terms of food, you have big players like NewYork NewYork (surprising that they open one in a hdb heartland, but seems that this is the way to go), Fish&Co, Pepper&Lunch, Dian Xiao Er, Soup Restaurant, Mos Burger, etc. There are also smaller shops serving snacks, like a durian pancakes, fried vegetable cakes. It was too crowded to try them, so I might give them a try during one of the weekdays when I am off from work. A foodcourt on the top level is still work in progress.

The connection to the bus interchange is completed, but the buses have not yet moved to this new location.

The concept is similar to Compass Point, but the shops are similar to Jurong Point.

There is also a nice centre stage for shows.

AMK itself is a matured estate, having common establishments like cinemas and bookshops scattered all over the central. So having these shops here would not make sense though.

Overall, it was a nice shopping experience. I'll be back again.

Haul of the Day - 30 Mar 2007

Transformers field day, courtesy of the great folks at TFH.

• MP-5 Masterpiece Megatron

• e-Hobby Exclusive Kissplay Cassettes 3-Pack
  
• 6" Titanium Fallen (Dreamwave comics)
  
• 6" Titanium Cheetor (Beast Machines)
  

Takara Beast Wars Reborn 10th Anniversary

• TM-01 Optimus Primal
  
• TM-02 Megatron
• TM-03 Cheetor
  
• TM-04 Waspinator
  
• TM-05 Dinobot
  
• TM-06 Blackarachnia
  
• TM-07 Corada
  
• TM-08 Arcadis
  

And thanks again for dinner guys !

Haul of the Day - 18 Mar 2007

Took a stroll down to the local library to get borrow some books on effective management and leadership, and picked up a Series 1 Spirit Aang for S$11.92 (20% discount off S$14.90) along the way.
See previous article on the animated series. And due to some fluke with the local credit card company, I still have not purchased the Book One: Water DVD boxset.

Book Two: Earth, or Season 2, is currently broadcasting locally on SCV channel 32 every Sat (11am, repeat) and Sun (5pm). Season 2 was aired in the US exactly one year ago.

Book Three: Fire, is scheduled to air this year 2007 in US. M. Night Shyamalan is also signed on 08 Jan 2007 to write, direct and produce a trilogy of live-action films based on the series. Big things happening for the Avatar.

Haul of the Day - 11 Mar 2007

• Transformers Classics Minicons Dirt Digger Team, Predator Attack Team, Clear Skies Team (OG People's Park)
  
• Gundam Universal Century High Grade Hy-GoGG model Kit on clearance (Seiyu Bugis)
  
• some Weapons series (CSC)
  
• Star Wars 30th Anninversary Coin Series Super Battle Driod (OG People's Park)
  
• Batman #663, the Secret #1 (G&B)

Managed to find the elusive Batman #663 and picked up the Secret #1 because of the art by Jason Alexander. Now have to hunt down issue 2, as it was released on Mar 02, 2007.

Video - Nagareboshi ~Shooting Star~

Here's the newly released PV Nagareboshi ~Shooting Star~ from Home Made Kazoku. This is the first closing theme from Naruto Shippuuden series.

Movie - 300

Just watched the movie premier of 300, a film by Zach Snyder, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. The graphic novel is losely based on The Battle Thermopylae, in which Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the last man against Persian King Xerxes and his massive army of one million soldiers.

The movie itself is a close (shot-for-shot) adaptation of the graphic novel, so there should be no complaints from comic readers.

I have not read the graphic novel, but the movie does look like a live-action comic. The movie is basically set in sepia/gold/bronze colour, with the red cape adding the contrast (those who have seen Sin City should be familiar with the style).

The story is simple, the battle scenes are a visual treat, the rock music accompanying the battle scenes was a good combination, and the dialogue is sometimes cliche but tacky, and not hard on the ears.
Overall, I would say that this is a should-see movie.

Note that due to nude scenes, some sexuality and scores of visual carnage (that's how my friend put it), the film has a rating of M18 in Singapore.

Oh, and this was the goodie bag. Nothing worth shouting about.

Haul of the Day - 04 Mar 2007

Top, left to right:

• Medicom RAH Clone Trooper (TFH)
  
• Art Asylum DC Minimates Superman/Luther 2-pack (Alaric's)
  
• Art Asylum DC Minimates Batman/ODAC 2-pack (Alaric's)
  
• Konami Busou Shinki Series 4 MMS EX Weapon Set Type Fort Bragg
  
• Weapon series from Dragon Quest and some samurai manga (Ng's Collection)
  
• Mezco Hellboy Comic Series 2 Alien, Johann and Roger. Managed to get all 3 except Rocket-pack Hellboy, which I already have loose (Alaric's)
  

A couple of magazines I picked up on the way:


And a cool tote bag from Ng's Collections, which was given if you purchased more than S$100.

Haul of the Day - 21 Feb 2007

Picked these up today at Bricksworld and TFH after work. And this is like the first time in probably one year plus that I left the office when the sky is still bright. Yes, quite sad actually.

Star Wars Lego Clone Troopers battle pack 7655 and e-HOBBY Japan exclusive black version (The Hybrid Stlye)T.H.S.-02 Convoy.

Video - nobodyknows+

Was searching in youtube hoping to find the music video for Naruto's new anime opening, but found these music videos from the same group nobodyknows+ instead:

Ultraman in love ??


Kungfu Hustle ?

Happy Chinese New Year 2007

Naruto: Shippuden begins

Naruto fans will rejoice as the filler episodes come to a closure and the anime picks up the pace with the manga.
The next chapter of the adventures of Naruto continues in the Shippuuden, or Hurricane Chronicles. Time-skip: It is 2 plus years after the failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru. Everyone has grown up, and some like Naruto has undergone training during this period of time. For more information, refer to this link.

With the start of a new series, the show kicks off with new opening and closing themes. As with most of the Naruto themes, they are great.

Opening theme, Hero's Come Back by nobodyknows.

They have a "loud" and fast rap theme to kick off this series, but somehow it just does not connect with the animation, especially the pencil-like sequence. The animation is great, though not as fast pace. The first 20 and last 10 seconds are great though.

Closing theme, Shooting Star by Home Made.

The closing theme, usually a slower song, is awesome.

Video - Swindlers and You

Checkout this cool animated music video from an indy band called Atomic Swindlers. The catchy song is called Float (my electric stargirl).

The owl is the coolest ! hahaha.

It has a Aeon Flux feel, set in a Samurai Jack environment.
The animation is done by Joel Trussell. Checkout his site. This guy is great !

Next up, is a video from the anime Initial D. This is the ending/closing theme to the Second Stage (or second season or series). The group responsible for this sweet song is a JROCK group called Galla. They also did the ending/closing theme for the First Stage. The song is called Kimi Ga Iru.

I could only find the TV edit version of the song.
I actually only heard this song in the Stage Three movie (if I remember correctly). It was played as a background music near the end, and it blended very well with the anime, as each of the characters moved on with their own paths. It left a deep impression on me, that I started to look high and low for this song.

Toy Review - Machine Robo Mugenbine Candy Toys

Saw this set at a Japanese toy site, and was intriged by the articulation, and of course, the gattai (combine) aspect. The usual MRM toys sold at department stores are made of better plastics, and packaging, but lacks the articulation that are built into these candy toys.

The same goes for the other Bandai's Sentai series. I am not sure how Bandai can pack the articulations into these candy toys, but not include them into the other higher end toys.

This gattai set comes with 5 figures, with a robot figure (Mugenroid) acting as the central body for the rest to attach to. This is the basic concept since the Machine Robo Rescue series.

Besides the Mugenroid, the rest of the figures have 2 modes, a Dragon mode and a Weapon mode. From the packaging, this seems to be some sort of Legends of 4 Dragons series.
(Note: After Machine Robo Rescue series, I have not been actively catching up with the later Machine Robo series. As such, I have not much information with regards to the later series.)

This set comes with the following figures:
01. MugenFlameDragon
02. MugenThunderDragon
03. MugenEarthDragon
04. MugenWaterDRagon
05. MugenRoid
- the usual Earth Element themes.

The box contains the toy, catalog, a separate instruction sheet for combining the figures, sticker sheet, a candy and as usual, the actual instructions for assembly and stickers is located inside the box. Nowadays, the toy comes almost pre-assembled, which is a good thing. I am lazy to have to remove the parts from the sprues and assemble them. Even putting the stickers is a chore. haha.


The toys come moulded in their basic colours, and there are some basic colours (eg, eyes) however little, added. The rest of the colours are complemented by the stickers. The toys in Dragon mode.


The toys in their Weapon mode. They have to be taken apart to form the alternate mode, and not transformed.

The weapons can use used by the Mugenroid, or the other higher end MRM figures.

The toys in the gattai mode. Again, the toys are taken apart and reassembled. The instructions are given in a separate sheet included. Some parts form the sword and shield.


The combined mode.

Articulations can be found at the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle. Though they are just basic articulations, they enable they figure to spot cool action poses. Each figure costs S$6.00, totally at S$30.00 per set. Given the playability of the figure, it is worth the S$30.00.

The other aspect of this toy is that Bandai made it in scale with the higher end series, so you can combined with them as well. Also the concept of building blocks from Bandai is great for instilling imgaination and creativity. Kudos to them.

Toy Review - Final Fantasy III Trading Arts Mini

I have never been good with luck. Usually when I play with blind boxes or those gapshapon machines, I will end up getting those figures that prayed I will not get. Just me or it happens to everyone ? I guess it is really random or blind luck.
This time round, I managed to get something which I hoped to get.


The lady at CC was correct. These mini figures had top notch quality. The paint application is ok, there is a flat coat over the figure, which does not make it look like cheap or knock off figures. The sculpting is nice. I have no knowledge about these characters, but I believe they should be a good representation of the game equivalent.

Now the question is whether to get the whole set ? Not really, as the other figures, besides the winged brown armour figure, I have no liking for the rest. Maybe I will try my luck again.

Haul of the Day - 10 Feb 2007

After another session with the financial planner today, I headed down to the local Comics Connection branch at Northpoint to see if anything new has come in.

Bought the latest candy toys from Bandai's Machine Robo Mugenbine series and a Square Enix Toys Final Fantasy III Trading Arts figures. Got the whole set of MRM (you have to anyways), but only bought a random box of FFIII to try out the quality. The lady at CC asked if I want to take a set, and mentions that the quality is tops. See first lah.

Comics - The Hero Initiative's "Ultimate 100"

...a very special fundraiser coming from The Hero Initative. More than 80 artists were asked to participate by drawing a custom sketch on the blank cover of a specially produced "Ultimate Spider-Man #100," with 100 total custom covers created.
Proceeds from the auctions will benefit the Hero Initiative's efforts to "provide a financial safety net for yesterdays creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life and an avenue back into paying work."

Coolness. A gallery of most of the 100 covers can be found here.

My favourite of the lot if I had to pick 5:
1. Alan Davis
2. Jimmy Cheung
3. Joe Quesada
4. Michael Golden
5. Todd McFarlane