Showdown
A screencap from Konami’s Busou Shinki Diorama Studio software featuring the CG models of Knight Xiphos and Fort Bragg.
One of the neatest things about the Busou Shinki line is the way it brings together action figures and PC software. There is, of course, Battle Rondo, which is a straightforward online PvP game, but Diorama Studio is the more intriguing of the two Busou Shinki programs. Diorama Studio essentially puts an action figure on your PC and it’s mindboggling how the concept could be expanded further. The only drawbacks of the program are the language barrier and the steep learning curve but the concept is full of potential.
Can you imagine an MMO that ties-in with an action figure line? Buy a figure or an accessory pack and you get access to a new character, weapons or armour in the online game. The figure, of course, would serve as an offline representation of your character and with interchangeable parts, you could mix and match to create a customised avatar in the game.
Ah, the possibilities …
Toy links
ROM Spaceknight custom.
bohnded’s custom figure of the toy turned comic character.
Yotsuba rocks.
ebty shows how the Revoltech Yotsuba figure and the MediaFactory Beck Guitar Collection 2nd Stage 1/12 scale guitars go awesomely well together.
Shinki balance.
master takamura apparently didn’t use any tricks to put his Busou Shinki MMS figures in these incredible poses.
Lego Darth Vader.
Lego made only six of these scaled up and glued creations. More pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4.
SigmaCore’s pixelart.
Mostly Transformers with a few Microman and Diaclones ones.
The myths of Made-in-China toys.
“All of the products recalled so far in 2007 amount to about nine-tenths of 1% of the 3 billion toys sold in the United States each year.” The piece is by Allan G. Hassenfeld, a former CEO of Hasbro.
In the dark, she watches you
A photo by karo666. (Creative Commons-licensed.)
In Optimus Prime We Trust
(See also.)