Japanese toy review roundup
The following reviews are in Japanese but they include a generous amount of photos so they’re well worth checking out.
(Please do not hotlink images on these sites.)
Alfes reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Alternity Nissan GT-R Convoy (Ultimate Metal Silver version) figure.
Alfes and Koshihara Hitoshi review the Takara Tomy Transformers Disney Label Mickey Mouse Trailer figure.
Yuki Bune and Transformers Baka Ichidai review the Takara Tomy Transformers Henkei C-15 Inferno figure.
Alfes reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Henkei C-14 Ratchet figure.
Alfes reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe Beast Wars series Voyager class Leo Prime figure.
Tom reviews the Volks A3 Mecha Action Figure Series Muv-Luv Alternative Type-82R F-4J Kai Zuikaku limited figure.
Tom reviews the Volks A3 Mecha Action Figure Series Muv-Luv Alternative Type-82F F-4J Kai Zuikaku limited figure.
Toyhunter reviews the Bandai Mugenbine Enryuukibines Monkeybine, Elephantbine, Leobine, Cobrabine, Wingbine, Hornbine and the Ryufirebine combiner trading figures.
Gamu reviews the Bandai S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) Kamen Rider X (original version) Masker World exclusive figure.
Kaz and Mondo (part 2) review the Bandai S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) Kamen Rider Den-O Liner Form and Kamen Rider Zeronos Zero Form set. (See also.)
Gamu reviews the Yamato Macross Kanzen Henkei VF-1D (TV version) 1/60-scale figure.
Ken Murasame reviews the Bandai In Action Offshoot Glasgow/Burai (Kallen type) Tamashii Web exclusive figure from Code Geass.
Damien Sancho reviews the Bandai Mobile Suit in Action (MSIA) Gundam Kyrios (Clear Color Edition) mail-order figure from Gundam 00.
Damien Sancho reviews the Bandai Mobile Suit in Action (MSIA) Gundam Dynames (Clear Color Edition) mail-order figure from Gundam 00.
Damien Sancho reviews the Bandai Mobile Suit in Action (MSIA) Gundam Virtue (Clear Color Edition) mail-order figure from Gundam 00.
Mondo reviews the Kaiyodo Revoltech Assemble Borg Barrels Speeder toy. (See also.)
Satocchi reviews the Bandai Tamashii Spec XS-11 Falguen figure from Metal Armor Dragonar. (See also.)
Mojya reviews the Megahouse Variable Action Queen Cideron figure from NG Knight Lamune & 40. (See also.)
Gamu reviews the Hasbro Transformers Animated Deluxe class Blurr figure. (See also.)
Gamu reviews the Hasbro Transformers Animated Deluxe class Swindle figure. (See also.)
Mojya reviews the Max Factory Figma Shana (black hair version) mail order figure from Shakugan no Shana II. (See also.)
Kuronuko Yamato reviews the Max Factory Figma Chunichi Dragons Mascot Doala (visitor version) figure. (See also.)
Yuki Bune reviews the Bandai Saint Myth Cloth Kido Saori mail-order campaign figure from Saint Seiya. (See also.)
G.S.R. reviews the Bandai Samurai Gattai DX Shinken Oh set from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. (See also.)
Nekonekokoara reviews the Hasbro Star Wars The Clone Wars Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress figures. (See also.)
Gun0826 reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe Cobra Night Viper G.I. Joe Collector’s Club exclusive figure. (See also.)
Gun0826 reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe Stuart “Outback” Selkirk G.I. Joe Collector’s Club exclusive figure. (See also.)
Retro reviews
Red reviews the Takara Transformers Super Link SC-02 Hot Shot figure.
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Transformers Super Link Inferno figure from the SS-01 Hot Shot and Inferno set.
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Hasbro Transfomers Robots in Disguise Basic Optimus Prime figure.
Nekonekokoara reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary Buzzer figure. (See also.)
Toy links
Get away from her, you …
Scroll way down to see a Lego MOC inspired by Aliens.
Variable Roader.
Another transforming BJPM creation by misodrill inspired by a vintage Microman vehicle.
Drax the Destroyer.
A fine custom inspired by a Marvel character.
47.
A custom inspired by Hitman series.
Lego business card. [via]
“When LEGO employees get a business card like this, they even try to match the look of the minifig (gender, hair, glasses) to the person.”
Danbo in the spring.
A pretty photo by Stanford.
Cherish your life.
A photo by Liam Manic.
Diamond Select Toys on Flickr.
“… if you have any special requests for photographs of any upcoming or new Minimates, just say the word here!”
Made in China.
“… China will remain the primary source of toy manufacturing for the next 25 years at least.”
Digirama
The term “digirama” comes from the Japanese portmanteau word for “digital diorama.” Making a toy digirama involves taking a photograph of a toy and digitally compositing it into a new background to cool, amusing or surreal effect.
The best digiramas require time, patience, planning, photography skills, Photoshop (or equivalent) skills, an appreciation of lighting and a whole lot of artistic ability. Perhaps understandably, toy fans who do digiramas on a regular basis seem to burn out quickly. We can only thank them for leaving us with memorable imagery. Never have toys appeared so vivid, so beautiful, so majestic.
Here are some fine examples …
Tamaki’s Little Treasure.
One of the oldest Japanese digirama sites still coming up with neat digirama. (The older archives.)
Omopura.
The site hasn’t been updated in over a year but the archives remain amazing. Be sure to see this remarkable sequence showing a cheap, bland figure turned into a work of art.
WalkerMachine.
These properly capture the sense of awe and wonder a super robot or titanic mecha would evoke. (More.)
J. Thomas Tantiangco.
Fanmode has featured this Flickr user a lot over the past few weeks and given his prolific output, we expect he’ll continue to feature heavily.
Edward Lee.
Someone buy this man a Flickr Pro account.
Dion.
The DC Direct figures look unnatural and awkward in digiramas featuring action poses but when simply standing still, superheroes (and supervillains) rarely looked more heroic (or villainous).
Hock.
A lot of cool 1/6-scale digiramas here.
Flickr: Toy Digirama group.
There are a lot of “wow” moments to be had browsing the pool.
Toy links
Empress Flame.
A Lego MOC inspired by Five Star Stories.
Minicomic.
“I had an idea about redoing old comic covers with Minimates. This is a recreation of The Incredible Hulk #181, first appearance of Wolverine.”
Dai-Cyber.
A multi-vehicle Assemble Borg combining fanmode by moromisox. (Click on the image for a better look.)
Astral Armour Professor X.
This glennwebman69 custom will blow your mind. (See also.)
Kamen Rider Sasword.
It’s good to see Killing Monkey is still coming up with fantastic S.I.C.-style customs.
Balder the Brave.
A custom from the pages of The Mighty Thor.
The Onion reviews Toy Monster.
“… clearly a hatchet job that favors some targets over others.”
Designing dolls.
“Perceived value sells! Don’t skimp on the quality of materials that you use.”
Toy review roundup
Michael Crawford reviews the Hasbro Marvel Legends Icons Dark Phoenix, Colossus, Daredevil and Nightcrawler figures. Excerpt: “At twenty bucks a piece, I’m not going to complain too much.”
Monkey Boy reviews the Hasbro Spider-Man Venom (Mac Gargan version) figure. Excerpt: “Venom is just a solid, well-sculpted, well-articulated figure with a lot of play value.”
yo go re reviews the Hasbro Star Wars Comic Packs Grand Admiral Thrawn and Talon Karrde two-pack from Star Wars: Heir to the Empire. Excerpt: “Both these guys deserved new figures (or a first figure, in Karrde’s case), and you can get them for a good price with this two-pack.” (See also.)
Engineernerd reviews the Hasbo Star Wars The Legacy Collection Jawa and WED Treadwell Droid set. Excerpt: “… overall a well done pair.”
yo go re reviews the Mattel Masters of the Universe Classics Faker New York Comic Con and Mattycollector.com exclusive figure. Excerpt: “… if there’s any one character who’s meant to look malformed, screwed up and just generally wrong it’s this bungled clone.” (See also.)
Thomas Wheeler reviews the Mattel DC Universe Classics Sinestro figure. Excerpt: “… he comes up pretty short on Green Lantern.” (See also.)
Corey Tincher reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe G1 Series Deluxe class Starscream figure. Excerpt: “Starscream is a rarer breed of Transformer, one that looks good in both of his forms.” (See also.)
yo go re reviews the Hasbro Transformers Titanium War Within Prowl Toys ‘R’ Us exclusive figure. Excerpt: “… he’s not a perfect translation of this pre-Earth design, but he’s still a good Transformer with two decent modes.” (See also.)
Darren Cilenti reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe G1 Series Legends class Beachcomber figure. Excerpt: “A good Legends toy …” (See also.)
Updatedude reviews the Bandai Motion Revive Series (MRS) Monster Hunter Kado Karyudo G Kirin X (A variant) trading figure. Excerpt: “I just happen to like the original paintjob more, but the mold is still great and Kirin A’s accessories are tops.”
Retro reviews
Updatedude reviews the Megahouse Perfect Model Robonimal Panda-Z (silver version) figure. Excerpt: “The silver gives off a real nice metallic feel, which coupled with the nice heft the toy has, almost makes it seem like diecast. Which of course, it isn’t.” (Related.)
Darren Cilenti reviews the Takara Transformers Car Robot C-025-S Super Mach Alert (clear version) figure from the Super Car Robo 3 Brothers (clear version) Osaka Toys Land and Super Festival exclusive set. Excerpt: “I _do_ prefer the original Mach Alert and regular Super Mach Alert, but this is by no means a poor variant.” (See also.)
Toy links
I’m not bad. I’m just customised that way.
An M1 custom.
da man’s Darkhawk.
“Poor Darkhawk has yet to get his own toy and with his new appearance in War of the Kings, I could not resist doing his new costume.”
Why so Lego?
A Johnny Tang MOC.
Man-at-arms.
An Assemble Borg fanmode by chikuwabu. (Click on the image for a better look.)
We got a heavy rep.
A photo by Jason Jerde.
Like what? Make baby bottles.
A photo by Cindi G.
The Damaged Goods Collection.
“… an interactive Hulk doll we can pretend to befriend but then subtly torment by leveraging ‘body issues,’ or an insecure ThunderCat we can destroy by conducting a very public affair with Dynomutt.”
Japanese toy review roundup
The following reviews are in Japanese but they include a generous amount of photos so they’re well worth checking out.
(Please do not hotlink images on these sites.)
Mondo reviews the Megahouse Action Works Gerd Blassreiter (Spirits of the Dead) MegaHobby Expo 2009 exclusive figure.
Ken Murasame reviews the Megahouse Action Works Gerd Blassreiter figure. (See also.)
Mondo reviews the Kaiyodo Revoltech Hokuto No Ken Revolution Uighur figure.
Kanon and Ramuna review the Volks N.E.X.T. Linebarrel (Volks version) Volks exclusive 1/144-scale figure. (See also.)
Mojya reviews the Bandai S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) Kamen Rider Den- O Liner Form and Kamen Rider Zeronos Zero Form set. (See also.)
Mojya reviews the Bandai S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Ketaros figure from Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love. (See also.)
Machu reviews the Max Factory Figma Ryomou Shimei figure from Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians. (See also.)
Alfes reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe G1 Series Deluxe class Starscream figure. (See also.)
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Change Car Robo GearArc Arc III toy. (See also.)
Ramuna reviews the Takara Tomy Zoids 25th Rebirth Century HRZ-010 Tiga Godos 1/72-scale kit. (See also.)
Ebi reviews the Bandai Hiden Saiseitou Shinkenmaru and Hiden Disk Buckle role-playing toy set from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. (See also.)
Retro reviews
Tom reviews the Banpresto Special Creative Model (S.C.M) Ex Zeta Gundam with Hyper Mega Launcher prize figure from the Z Gundam series. (See also.)
Red reviews the Takara Transformers Beast Wars Neo C-31 Stampy figure.
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Transformers C-314 Hotspark figure.
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Transformers Car Robot C-007 Wars figure.
Toy links
Homemade playsets.
“The play sets are modular and can be built in many different ways, they can also be stored in fairly small spaces as the larger walls and backdrops fold and are reversible so can be used for different sets and scenarios.” (Instructions and decal sheets.)
Assemble Borg Antares.
A fanmode by Vintage combining Assemble Borg and Revoltech parts.
Gagaga Gagaga Gao Shinki.
“Behold my latest creation, the Queen of Braves, GaoRenGar.”
Airmaster Asuka.
Gullwing combined the Busou Shinki Fighter Asuka figure with Gundam Airmaster parts for this.
Inferno custom.
This cool repaint by frenzy_rumble of the Universe Inferno figure really brings out the details. (More.)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Mushroom.
By Tugen.Wang.
For me, it was Tuesday.
A fine portrait by Rob D.
Toy review roundup
Koh Yong Qiang reviews the Medicom Toy Real Action Heroes Street Fighter Chun-Li 1/6-scale figure. Excerpt: “Medicom had sculpted all-new leg parts for her to recreate the ‘Thunder Thighs’ that the First Lady of Fighting Games is so famous for.” (See also.)
Poe Ghostal reviews the Mattel Masters of the Universe Classics Faker New York Comic Con and Mattycollector.com exclusive figure. Excerpt: “… he’s just a repaint …”
Michael Crawford reviews the Mezco Toyz Cinema of Fear Leatherface (stylised version) figure from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Excerpt: “There’s something goofy yet gruesome about the design, creating an almost cute look but without losing the basic gory concept.”
Rustin Parr reviews the JUN Planning Nightmare Before Christmas Pumpkin King figure. Excerpt: “… NECA’s really outshone JUN’s … Still, I cannot not love this figure!”
Jeff Parker reviews the Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Iron Man Iron Man Mark III 1/6-scale figure. Excerpt: “… this is faultless.” (See also.)
Corey Tincher reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe G1 Series Deluxe class Cyclonus with Nightstick set. Excerpt: “… he’s as fun as they come.” (See also.)
Corey Tincher reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe Beast Series Deluxe class Cheetor figure. Excerpt: “He really must be a fast maximal, because he quickly lost my attention.” (See also.)
Darren Cilenti reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe Deluxe class SE-02 Special Edition Megatron figure. Excerpt: “The colours and paint job make this a wonderful tribute toy …” (See also.)
yo go re reviews the Hasbro GI Joe Firebat Jet with AVAC set. Excerpt: “… Hasbro’s gone all out.” (See also.)
Philip Reed reviews the Lanard Toys The Corps! Rapid Assault Attack Fighter set. Excerpt: “… You can buy three Attack Fighters for the price of one Firebat (Cobra may want to have a talk with Destro about what they’re paying for weapons).”
Updatedude reviews the Bandai S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii Kamen Rider Hibiki figure. Excerpt: “Truly terrific.” (See also.)
Erin Snyder reviews the Bandai Blue Dragon Jiro & Blue Dragon Projection Light and Shu & Minotaur Projection Light figures. Excerpt: “These are well suited for a variety of customization projects …”
Retro reviews
Erin Snyder reviews the NECA Nightmare Before Christmas Cyclops set. Excerpt: “If I had been reviewing this a few years ago, back when it came out, I’d probably have given it a higher rating.”
Darren Cilenti reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe Shadow Striker Official Transformers Collectors Convention 2003 exclusive figure from the Shadow Striker and Roulette set. Excerpt: “… quite attractive with a daring set of colours that work well, and the retooled head is a great touch, even if the pink lips are slightly cheesy.”
Darren Cilenti reviews the Hasbro Transformers Universe Roulette Official Transformers Collectors Convention 2003 exclusive figure from the Shadow Striker and Roulette set. Excerpt: “While this is a busy colour scheme it blends well and looks good.”
Toy links
Ho!
Cool customs by agimatoys.
Boskoes Toys’ The Wrestler.
“… I’m a big fan of Micky Rourke so this custom was kind of a no brainer for me.”
Einhänder.
Kanon’s Assemble Borg fanmode is a homage to a Square shooter. (Click on the image for a better look.)
It’s-a Mario.
A Lego MOC by facu.cario08.
AT-AT.
A fascinating photo by Axel Bührmann.
Optimus Prime is art.
See also.
Optimus Prime sells out.
“I am going to end your hunger once and for all.”
My Little Slave.
Mari Kasurinen. Need we say more?