The Depressing Dream

 Hello and happy Sinterklaas to you all! The Saint has left Holland to go to spain. His replacement is that nice chubby guy the Americans replaced him with. And what did Nicolas leave me as a gift? diabetes? No he's not that of an ass. But I did receive and horrid dream or rather a nightmare that I had for several time when I was young. I blocked it out, and my o my is it DEPRESSING!! let me count the ways before we move on to a gift less depressing lol

The Dream:
First off all as in some dreams I have, I get an info dump kinda like Neo had in the Matrix. So suddenly it feels like that is the life I lived and that this is how I feel about it. This can happen at any time in my dream, almost always when I actually need to remember something. Any way my dream starts with a kid who's in an apartment. The few memories I still got of it is that he's in America and that the flat is akin in its state of decay as my old house was. Only we don't get sick of killer mold. The kid had some problems I would later have at school. Everybody is picking on him. Except for one girl, of course it being my dream the girl is japanese and her dad barely speaks English. The boy is there because he was invited, to this stay-over of like 7 teen girls who do nothing but blablablabla. But the party is going well, and the girls seem to accept the boy. After they leave he decides to help with dinner and after the dad notices that there's not much good to eat in the fridge and tries to explain it, He leaves for take-out I guess. The girl and boy are alone and decide to watch some telly on a brick of a tv, then someone knocks on the door and the girl says her dad has a key so they should not open the door. As she says that the door gets kicked in, and there's these 2 gang members who are so 80's they make Bebop and Rocksteady look dignified. And the only reason they bust in is... To shoot the girl. Nothing else, they leave the building with these douchebag smiles and let the kid watch her dying on the couch with her blood covering half the floor quickly. Suddenly we pass a few months and it turns out she had indeed died, and the crooks though familiar got away scott-free to party and slaughter, that's where my dream ends.

Emotions: 
The feeling I got from this where so clear with every passing second, of this dream that you might as well call it a dream on itself. First the sadness of being picked on again, Then the mixed feelings of being with a friend but also with people I don't particularly trust. Hunger when wanting to make dinner. Impatience when the dad leaves. Joy and calmness when watching the tv. angst when when there's some one at the door in a shady neighbourhood. Shock when the door gets knocked down and the shots are fired. Sadness and helplessness as the girl slips away and blood covers the floor. And anger and loss when the ones who did it got away.


My Say:
This is my dream and I had it like 3 times now, Ever since I was 6. I always get depressed when I have it. But it doesn't feel like my story, But it the feels are there. And even though this time it was a lucid dream and I got the gun before it fired, I still feel unsatisfied when I woke up. Its just a depressing dream that is the total opposite of the one where I actually meet a cute girl at a congress building. That dream felt good, And I am using the memories of that dream to block out the suck of the dream I just had, With little result really. The loss is the worse, I really can't deal with it at any time of the day, I hope not to have this dream again. Either way the real gift is actually not blocking it out right away but to write about it and get it of my chest. Best Sinterklaas gift ever.

KyoRyuger                         

Yay! They are here!! This cheers me up a little! They look AWESOME!! And no yellow this time. Its been a while... Kaku if I am correct. But even better no White or Orange either. The team looks good, I hope to buy the Figuarts and mini-pla next year. :)

(Not)Shochaku Fire Dragon Hero Figure.

Back to Armor Hero! It took a while for this to get here But it was worth the trouble for sure!! This time is its an actual figure. I took to long ordering one of these. Mainly because the older ones where unpainted pieces of crap.

The box is... alright... It survived the trip but on the way to Delft it got a bit bended. Nothing to worry about. Also nothing to say about it either. Its pretty much the same as all those other boxes from this series.

The First thing you notice is the bare naked Hero. Yep its one of those sets. Much like the Shochaku Henshin and the short lived Ryukendo lines this hero is all armor! Just happy he doesn't have one of those creepy tiny heads like the Shochaku ones had lol

 And boy how much parts he got. Pretty much everything can be taken off. Even the knee pads and the knobs on the side of his belt (which are back in the box. I am not losing them.) Lots of metal parts here. Just to bad the ridges down on the sides of the legs there aren't metal. It distracts from the colour scheme on the arms and feet. The knees should have been metal too IMO.

With the armor on he look great! and his articulation is ALMOST unhindered. His head is stiff and if you move it to the side to much it looks like he's a hunchback. I tried to fix this but the head just keeps falling back in place. He has an extra neck joint but its hard to get to with that dumb collar.

He also slouches a bit forward due to the diecast chest plate and his slender build compared to the Shochaku line. He also has a decent midriff joint, But this is again hindered by the armor. Honestly when I try to pose him I keep thinking he's got some well hidden rubber bands somewhere.

Moving down those we see those awesome diecast feet which even though they got pretty good ankle articulation, I keep getting worried that he's just going to fall over. Not that this matters because for some reason he keeps falling backwards. lol His legs are decent compared to the typical Chinese figures I have come across. I wish he had that SHF hips that freak everyone out. It would have worked fine on this one. Since compared to other toku heroes these guys hunch down more then Kiva. The ball joints work fine though.

Fire Dragon's main weapon out of the 3 he got. Its a bitch for him to hold in the way he uses it in the show. This is due to those damn hands! Instead of a package of multiple hands he got these articulated ones, but they aren't tight at all and it usually takes me 10 minutes to make him hold it like he should.

This feature is directly stolen from... Guess who? :P So yeah its nice to have this. But its SO DAMN easy to lose these parts. I'd rather keep them in the box. Speaking of losing stuff... I kinda find it weird how they didn't include that weird bow weapon thing he uses to shoot fire with. But then again with those hands he'll keep dropping them any way.

With his main weapon out of the way here's his boomerang. Which kinda saddens me because I keep noticing how the chest plate doesn't have those awesome horns near the eyes. Those would be spiky, But could have easily been made of the softer rubber used for the spikes on his shoulder and back. Like his main weapon he does hold on decently but it takes me more then 6 minutes to hold them in place lol

He is a little bit bigger then an S.H.Figuarts, But I find that he looks extremely awesome next to one.

Overall its a decent figure with good articulation which is almost on par with S.H.Figuarts. And even though it does hinder it so much, the Diecast just makes it look SO DAMN GOOD!! And with that I am so getting the other two figures! Soon or later...

So I am getting back on track. I am just behind on photo shoots right now. Hopefully It will be better picking stuff out to blog about when I am actually done doing that. Bye :)

KO Magiking

O goody I get to this on now! This has been a long time coming. And its been a while since my last bootleg Megazord :D

First of all the box was HUGE!! The bootleggers got the bright idea to pack Magi dragon and Magi Phoenix separately instead of forming Magiking.... Fail! Also despite the horrible waste of cardboard this box is still a blisters... So as soon as I opened it I could throw it away. It did protect my keys from disappearing though. So that was a +.

First off Magi Phoenix. Its does look allot like the DX version. Though it has its faults. The plastic is cheaper and the paint is on the verge of flaking off on some parts. Also there's allot of untrimmed edges so when transforming I have to check that I don't get caught on these edges because using to much force with that might easily break it. Also this thing keeps falling down due to the tabs used on in his legs.

 Magidragon is great and so huge. Though it initially fell apart when I took it out of the box, I did piece it together again. Again the plastic is cheap. the grey parts almost have this green glow to them in the right lighting. I just how the thing doesn't literally rot away on it shelf xD. The mouth kept falling open and the tail kept failing off. This is due to the black plastic being allot heavier then the green stuff. Though still as fragile.

It took me allot of tries but I finally got the phoenix to stick to the dragon. But it took so much space I didn't bother with it for longer then 5 minutes. This was an annoyance.

Magi Garuda is my favourite of the 5. It is the most balanced. Well painted and it actually looks cool!

Especially when you stretch out his wings. Man these are so epic. They also look sharp too. And even with these this thing is keeping itself up pretty neatly. 10+

What would seem like the best zord to many is actually quite a disappointment. It can pose sure but the joints are shit. And the parts on the back keep coming loose as they are only held in place with friction. I consider this the brick for now... It is painted well though.

Magi Fairy, Not to much to say about her. She has decent paint that doesn't chip off. But I do want to say that the wings are annoying. they where bend when I took them out and it only got worse with time. I wonder if the actual DX version has better ones?

Magi Mermaid is a bitch to make her keep standing and the fin gimmick doesn't work. Like at all. And it got this ugly split in the middle I tried to fix it but nothing works.

Moving on to the combined mecha... Man this thing is fat! is the DX version also this fat? Its like two Megazords back to back! And the wings aren't helping either! I know I positioned the legs wrong but this is to save space on my shelves.... Its still fat.

In from its decent though. The paint is 90% accurate to the already badly painted DX version. Sure you have the red part breaking up the ''M'' emblem but that will be fixed in due time. The hat is annoying. It just keeps wanting to split apart. Speaking of splitting apart the sword is just as annoying. The parts have nothing to keep them in place. I constantly try to fix this to no avail.

  MV made by TheIchipai  ©Toei LTD

All and all this is a good bootleg. But one I should have know the faults off. It was cheap but it does take allot of space on my shelf. I hope the next DX mecha I buy will be either DaiKaiOh or GorZyuJin. Or an Super Robot Chogokin maybe :)

DX Gasshinjo Daisazer Chinese ver.

Out off all the Toku boxes that I got out of China this thing was the most well preserved. It was neatly packed in bubble wrap and set to the side where the box go the least damage

 So this thing look great!! I am so happy this got through okay. The individual ChouSeiShin are mostly bricks but they look good enough

Dolcruz is the most bricky off all. 4 by 2 with nothing to move but its cannon arms and bug legs

Garuda however got its wing which can fold in and out and its two feet to give it an impression of lift-off.

But the best is probably Gunceasar. Which can move its four paws, 2 cannons, tail and jaws. Sadly due to most of his weight being in the back it constantly tips over, if the front legs aren't place right.

My favourite is still Leviathan, Its simply the only one that looked okay to me. Even though its main function is to change in to the right arm and tail. It got lots of options here. given a Tamashii stand its tail has 2 joints to move up an down. And you can even extent the tail for more motion. love this thing.

And here's the main attraction.

This Guntras is allot smaller then the Japanese DX version. But it does share every bit of pose-ability of that versions. Sadly these are mostly inhibited by joints that are either being hella tight or paint around the joints being to thick. nonetheless its still a pretty good version of this ChouSeiShin.

The 5 Star Gods transform in to the awesome Daisazer!

Man this thing has lots of issues. Starting at the feet was the annoying feet of Gunthras which needed to be put down to create the feet of Daisazer. It was like they where welded in place. Then up to the Dolcruz parts. The cannons kept falling off. I had to steal some nail polish to keep them in place. The Leviathan parts where fine. But Gunceasar's arm formation kept falling out of its place. I had to fix some screws even so crappy. At the rest are fine till we get to the head. First of you'll need to out the neck of Daisazer, But good luck with that. At first it was stuck, then it kept falling back in to its head position. When I opened it up it was revealed that nothing is actually keeping it up. Only luck and friction. Speaking of friction. The membrane that is formed from Garuda's front part is also kept with friction. Good luck with keeping it in place... When I finally finished this transformation, I was so happy to complete it and the result was worth the trouble

Because despite being a bootleg this Daisazer is pretty true to the original DX version. It got a good balance to it, I never felt like it was going to tip over or just fall apart (aside from Gunceaser) If there on more problem I have to mention aside from its poses being hindered is the cannons. Frankly they are to short and don't bent to the front that well. you barely notice them from the front.

Regardless of all these faults I am happy that I bought this thing. And it only being €25 shipped didn't hurt either :D

I got so much to choose from now that I got all my Chinese stuff and my Japanese stuff is underway. I really don't know where to start xD

Takara Tomica Hero-Pro Ryukendo

The second big Hero from a big Toku Trilogy is here!! Ryukendo is the unofficial first entry to the Tomica Hero trilogy and still my favourite of the 3 instalments!!

MV by Rubelch ©Takara Tomy

I bought this thing from China, But again they where lazy! They didn't even bother to put a Chinese calligraphy sticker any where... They just slapped on a sticker to the side. So this box is 99% Japanese.
Moving on from the box to the figure is the main state of this figure. This blank state has the poseability that borders from a ballerina to a yoga instructor. It even has 2 toe joints and an extra leg joint!! Which is pretty good for a figure from 2006.

Buuuuuut that is not the reason to buy this cheap figure. Nope you buy it because you can give it this Armour to make him Madan Senki Ryukendo!!

He even comes with his partner and arms GekiRyuKen. Who might be thick and stubby. But I can see where they where going with this. This way its more durable. The side of this thing fixes the problem anyway since it looks pretty much al right in this pose. Even though he's missing paint. Also I don't think I'll paint this, as I don't see how I could keep the paint on with this figure's damn hands! It keeps falling off and I usually spend 3 minutes getting it to stick! S.H.F takes not even half a minute! Damn those hands!

Aside from that it does look good though. It can even grab his key holder, which can turn btw (no madan keys sadly) so it can at least look like he's going to summon a JuuOh. Speaking of summoning:

It comes with the Ryu Knuckle!! The weapon that's actually used by all 3 Madan Senki. It looks good and comes in both modes. But the problem here is that its a bitch to place in the figures hand. First you need to take off the dragon emblem of the arm pad. and replace it with the knuckle. Easy enough. But the hand keeps block it. and even if you put it in the hand first its a bitch to put back. Either way it looks great.

Overall this thing is great. This 6+ year figure is almost up-to-date with earlier S.H.Figuarts molds and it looks great.  The main good thing is its price. Only €16.84 or rather $21.99 free of shipping. It can be bought here: http://bit.ly/QZTJgZ. The main pain though is that this line stopped with Ryukendo. Instead of releasing RyuGuno and RyuJino they decided to make the Microman line in to the new the main line. All characters have been released and are cheap. Though Ryukendo is hard to find and thus a bit more expensive. I am still sad though. Because I would have loved to own a Ultimate Ryukendo of this line. :-/

My collection is growing. I am planning to get 6 more figures by the end of the year. Mostly Ultra-act, SHF and Action Works. I am planning to at least get each of the first heroes from each Franchise. So by the start of 2013 I'll only need S.H.Figuarts Akaranger xD

©Takara Tomy

This was fun to write. Hopefully I get to pick up those new figures soon :D

Sazer Tarious and the Fire Tribe

I set out to get at least one poseable action figure from each great toku franchise. As such I looked to the ChouSeiShin Trilogy to see if they got what I wanted. What I found is a Korean Sazer Tarious Figure from 2006....

Scratch that Korean part... and the 2006 part while you are at it! Those lazy Koreans just took leftover Gransazer figures from 2003 and slapped a Korean sticker on each side!! (I removed the one on the front) This thing is a TOTALLY new 9 year old figure. I am so happy with this.

As for posing its still trial and error for me and this fig. It does have ball joints in his thighs and for his feet. But they are still waaaaaay to tight, I am going to look in to how to fix this but I doubt I'll succeed lol

Moving on to scale, its a decent 5.11 inch figure, this means its kinda out of place next to Figuarts but not so much that you are going to call bull and customize a Figuarts till its a Tarious lol.

It does come with its bow and it looks great with it. My concern though is the soft layer of paint Konami put on it. When I put it in his hand the pay just scratched off easily revealing the red moulding underneath. so that's a thing to look out for.

It strikes the Howling Falcon pose great. Even without the leg joint working perfectly. I got no real complaint about this figure, Its a 9 year old €11.38 figure and it was totally worth the money :)

Plus I got the 2 bootleg Gransazer figures I personally painted. Combined Tarious, Mithras and Lion form the Fire Tribe of Chousei Shin Gransazer!!

Sadly looking decent and leaning in the back ground is all they can do. These bootleg got their feet molded wrong. So they can't even stand straight. Sad but true...

How ever in the moment I got them to not fall over I did get to re-enact this scene

Chouseishin Garuda!!

One of the 4 ChouSeiShin I got from China. It looks decent but it was missing allot of paint. So excuse my horrible paint job on this thing xD. This one is the 2nd best out of the 4 I bought. It got almost nothing wrong! in this mode...

In robot mode its sadly another case... The figure's feet got moulded wrong again and while can stand it does have the tendency to fall, ALLOT!

I got all of these for cheaps but I am happy with them for all their faults. I hope to one day buy an DX Garuda from Mandarake or something :)

Next up will be a hero from another great Toku trilogy... If I don't get to lazy. Till then bye :D