Revoltech Professor Layton Review

Posted in professor layton, review, Revoltech, toy, Toy Reviews on July 2nd, 2010 by VitaminZinc

Here’s a Revoltech figure of Professor Layton, from the series of the same name. So far, we have Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. We also have another game coming out sometime in the next year to further his adventures in puzzle-solving. The games are great, so it makes sense they’d make a figure of this amazing character.

We get what we’d expect from a Revoltech at this point. He’s about 5 inches tall, comes with a variety of hands and 2 interchangeable faces. One’s serious, the other’s with an open mouth. All things considered, and how serious of a guy he is in the games, this is all you need. He even comes with a small table and a some accessories for it. You get some tea cups, a book that opens and that he can hold, and some other really British stuff.

I apologize for the pictures being so horrible, and this review being so short, but this was one of the toys I took pictures of ages ago. I just wish I’d have taken more effort on getting some quality out of the shots!

Either way, I certainly recommend this figure. It’s a fun little desktop piece. The cost is right at $37 on bbts.com, if you’re wondering. Soooo, for the breakdown…

Pros:

  • Accurate representation of the figure
  • Highly posable.
  • Many accessories.

Cons:

  • Price. (might be an issue to some)

Tokyo Marui Biohazard / Resident Evil Samurai Edge Std. Mod Airsoft Gun Review

Posted in airsoft, biohazard, Game Related, Prop / Replica, resident evil, review, samurai edge, tokyo marui, Toy Reviews on June 29th, 2010 by VitaminZinc
airsoft_samurai_edge_std_-_gunYou can apparently get an Airsoft gun, depending on the type, for fairly cheap. And then there’s the Tokyo Marui guns which are accurate even to the feel of the weight in some cases. They cost a bit more. In fact, while I was impulse-buying this beauty, my cousin said, “You know, for the price, you could almost just buy a real beretta…” Quite true, but real berettas don’t say “S.T.A.R.S” and “RPD” on them. Just saying. It’s spring-loaded, so everything clicks in place. The safety works. The slide slides. The ammo clip release is in the same spot as a real gun. When you pull the slide back, it locks in place til you pull the trigger. Again, I don’t know a lot about guns, so I can’t say exactly how accurate any of this is–but you could certainly fool me with it.

Let me just start this review off by saying that I have never used a real firearm in my life. I’m sure the process of picking one up and getting it ready to fire is quite easy. That being said, I still really have no interest in owning a real gun. This is about as far as I’ll go. AND LET ME TELL YOU, THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!

As a huge Resident Evil fan, this gun is sweet. Again, I’ve never actually fired a real handgun, so I don’t know how accurate this thing is, but you could certainly fool me with it. Well, minus the massive amount of orange paint that was on the tip. This is placed there as a legal matter since these are so realistic that they could easily be mistaken for real guns. It made the gun look gaudy and dumb. Very fake, which is the purpose.

Of course, with some google-love, I was able to find an article that said the easiest way to remove the paint was mineral spirits, or paint thinner, goo gone, or nail polish remover. I read some that said that nail polish was only a good idea if the such-and-so was metal, but not on plastic. Who knows. I went with nail polish remover and it worked pretty well. But let me tell you, for as well as it works, it’s not a magic “orange-removing chemical” you have to really work at this to get the paint out of some of the nooks and crannies. Mine still has some orange on it in those hard to reach areas. I’m actually considering going over some of the areas with some flat black or gunmetal black paint just to get rid of that orange.

This airsoft gun is exactly as you’d expect it. It says “Racoon Police – S.T.A.R.S” on the handle engravings. On the slide it says “Mod. Samurai Edge. Law Enforcement Only” on one side, and “S.T.A.R.S. RPD Special Team” on the other. I really couldn’t ask for a more accurate piece of work without owning a real gun. My hat’s off to Tokyo Marui for this excellent airsoft gun.

Pros:

  • Very accurate.
  • Very awesome!
  • Fun to play around with.

Cons:

  • Nearly as much as a real gun ($150)
  • Might get you shot for real.
  • Not very useful against real zombies.

Alternity Prime / Convoy (Vibrant Red) Review

Posted in alternators, Alternity, convoy, prime, Toy Reviews, Transformers, vibrant red on June 28th, 2010 by VitaminZinc
IMG_0219Alternity Prime (or “Convoy” as he’s called in Japan) is Optimus Prime as a car. Shocking. The Alternity line was created as an extension of the Alternators line of toys, although these weren’t released stateside. The only way to get them is to import through your “plastic crack” dealer of choice. However, I didn’t get into this line until far too late in the game. The red Alternity Prime was a rarity and cost an arm and a leg to get. I was able to snag one at $90 and thought that was a great deal. Of course, this was a few months back. Now, they’re re-releasing this figure since the demand is so high. So, grats to those of you who are getting him for the semi-reasonable price of $60. I say “semi-reasonable” because these toys are about the same size as a normal Deluxe figure. They’re just as detailed and complex as the Alternators and have some die cast parts, but they’re kind of small.

I was fairly certain I had reviewed this a while back, since I’ve had it for well over half a year now. But, apparently I didn’t. I just took pictures and completely forgot to mention anything about it. So, here I am, writing up a short little blurb on a toy I haven’t touched in months. This should be fun, interesting, and probably disheartening!

The detail on this particular piece is really great. When I first heard that Prime was a car I wasn’t convinced it would work. Even looking through picture galleries I thought it looked off. But, honestly, this works. I was a bit leery of it being die cast, and pieces scrapping together and paint chipping off, but thankfully they designed it so the metal pieces don’t really touch like that, so you’re safe for the most part. It’s still very possible to chip off paint, but you don’t have to treat it like it’s made of glass like many of the Alternators.

The transformation is a bit awkward if you’re following the instructions since some of the diagrams don’t make sense until you figure it out. It would probably help if I could read Japanese moonspeak, but I can’t, so when all else fails, there’s always youtube videos. There are also times when you really feel like you’re going to break pieces. Since some pieces are die cast, they can take much more stress and are VERY SECURELY locked in place. It’s not so much of an issue with this particular figure, but Cliffjumper/Bumblebee is especially prone to feeling like you’re on the verge of breaking something.

Over all, for a Transformer as poseable and highly detailed as this, it’s easy to see why it’s $60. Unless you fully understand that this toy is DELUXE size and will seem quite small in comparison to most, I might pass on it. One of the biggest complaints of this line is that the toys are much smaller than people expect them to be–especially for spending as much as you are.

Pros:
* Prime / Convoy (it’s Prime… come on. That’s a pro)
* Complex transformation
* Detailed figure

Cons:
* Cost ($60 — or closer to $100 if you got it aftermarket before they decided to re-release it)
* Very small for a $60 toy, if you’re not expecting it.

Er, oops!

Posted in Random Rants on June 27th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

Yeah, ok, so I’m the only person who visits this site regularly, and I was just updating some stuff and cropping pics when I realized I have 8 things I need to add to the site. Reviews for EIGHT things. I don’t even think I remember what I was going to say about them now. So this should be pretty epically bad. I at least have some half-assed pictures of them, so maybe they’ll jog my memory…

Hopefully, I’ll be adding them soon enough. No promises, though.

Bioshock EVE Hypo Injector Replica Review

Posted in bioshock, eve, Game Related, hypo, Prop / Replica, review, toy, Toy Reviews on June 22nd, 2010 by VitaminZinc
Hm, ok, so this review isn’t really going to be much of a review since I didn’t take many pictures. In fact, I only took one picture. It looks mysteriously  like the thing from Bioshock. It was mass produced by NECA, who make the most non-posable action figures ever (They still look really cool, just more like statues–but less like statues than DC’s Warcraft figures… but I digress…) This little prop is pretty cool, though. It costs right at $15 on bbts.com.It has an LED light that activates when you push the injector at the top. It nicely clicks in place so you can leave it on. That’s about all it does… seriously. Waste of money, I’d say. But, I waste lots of money so it seems like a worthy investment to me!

I should have some more reviews up soon. I got in a TON of stuff since my pile-of-loot from BBTS was starting to look imposing. I was actually waiting for the Fansproject Bruticus add-ons to come out, but that’ll have to wait til July. ;-;

Til then, though, I’ll have some reviews up on the Alternity Skywarp, Animated Blackout, Revoltech Mari, Revoltech Jack Skellington, and some other stuff I may have forgotten to review.

Knight Morpher Commander KM-01 Review

Posted in custom, knight morpher commander, optimus prime, review, steampunk, toy, Toy Reviews, Transformers on April 9th, 2010 by VitaminZinc
IMG_0475
When I first saw pictures of “Knight Morpher Commander,” I couldn’t help but think how cool this looked. It’s based off “Hearts of Steel”–which is a comic about Transformers from IDW Publishing. It’s an elseworld of the Transformers universe if it happened in the industrial age instead of the modern day. I’ve never actually read it, so I don’t have a lot to compare this to. However, Optimus Prime never actually appeared in this comic (so says the internet… Gotta be true, right?), so it gave the creators of this toy a lot of room for creativity.

This figure is very steampunk in nature. So, if you’re into Transformers, and if you’re into steampunk, then this was made just for you. It’s a steam train, and it’s Optimus Prime. In his robot mode, he’s got a kind of medieval vibe–hence the “Knight” part of his name. A part from the cannon inside of the trailer pulls out and forms his lance. And one of the walls from the front of the trailer can fold out and make his shield. The transformation is fairly simple, but it works. I didn’t feel cheated by the simplicity of it at all. I didn’t even need to refer to the instructions either. By the way, included in the same baggie as the instructions is a visor piece for him. It makes Prime extra “Knighty.”

I like the fact that the trailer section is a decent homage to the G1 series and that it has a gun inside. It’s sort of like Roller–minus the car thing. I think they could have upped the ante a bit by putting a Roller-like vehicle inside that was a hand-cart. Just for lawls. It does come with a Matrix of Leadership, which is removable. I thought that was a nice touch. The part that comes out to form the lance from the cannon is oh-my-god-fragile feeling. The plastic that this whole toy is made of feels like the same grade of plastic as a Gundam model. So, it’s very thin, light, fragile plastic. The tip of the lance is cool and all, but I didn’t want to have this out longer than it needed to be. I was especially wary of putting the cannon back together with the lance inside. I’m actually afraid of breaking this toy. …and that was a sensation that stuck with me throughout my entire experience with it. I almost feel like displaying it in any way, aside from safely in the box, would expose it to the dangers of breaking.

The paint apps are decent, but nothing I couldn’t have done myself. There’s a few mishaps here and there, which makes sense since it’s a custom mass-produced piece. The thing I don’t like is there’s obvious signs of when they molded this toy and broke it away from the frame or whatever. Well, that’s what it looks like to me, anyway. It’s got the whole “I got this gundam kit and I really wanna put it together quickly” feel. Like, which small stabs on pieces, or slight indents where too much was taken off. Basically, the same thing that happens when you pull any plastic piece of a model away from the frame. It seems tacky.

There are a lot of very small things wrong with this figure that kind of ruin the overall experience for me. I still like the toy, but I don’t think it was worth what I was charged for it. This could be me being spoiled by Fansproject, though, so don’t mind me. I really am not a fan of the color of the cowcatcher. I understand that some trains in that time period were very bright. I wish this one wasn’t. I think it looks dumb this way. In fact, I kind of wish they’d have made it silver. The red just doesn’t make sense to me.

Pros:

  • Original Steampunk Design
  • Easy to Transform

Cons:

  • Price ($85)
  • Quality of plastic seems a bit fragile.
  • Paint application is a bit hit-or-miss.

Final Verdict:
There’s nothing about this that screams “GOTTA HAVE”. It comes down to “Do I like this character? Do I like this design?” For this toy, it has to be both, otherwise you’re probably not going to feel justified in the least with spending nearly $100 on this thing. As far as the quality of materials goes, it doesn’t feel like $100 toy. For a casual fan, I’d certainly say for you to pass this.

Fansproject Warbot Defender ("Springer") Review

Posted in custom, defender, Fansproject, review, springer, Toy Reviews, Transformers, warbot on April 7th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

IMG_0492Warbot Defender is a custom Transformer by Fansproject. They’re the same customizers that made the City Commander (Ultra Magnus add-on), and the Aerial Appendage Add-On (Superion Add-On). I have to say that I’m amazingly impressed by this figure. Well, that is, after I spent 30 minutes trying to figure out the damned arms. But, I will get to that later.

The price on this figure is $85 or something like that. Plus shipping. So, it’s a bit expensive for the average Joe to pick up. To those that are used to the higher prices of custom toys, and know how much these things go for in the after-market when they’re all sold out, then you know it’s worth the $90. Of course, that being said, I’m sure that BBTS will never run out of these and it will always be that price and will go on clearance and I’ll be sad and out of money I could have saved. Cause that’s just how things go with me. (Seriously, I’m supposed to be saving cash for Botcon in roughly 3 months. Holy shit!)

As far as the quality is concerned, this is a very very VERY nicely done figure. I have to give props to the QC team for Fansproject. On my particular figure, everything looks perfect. There’s no smudges, no badly applied paint, or issues whatsoever. This looks like a professionally painted figure. The box it even comes in looks amazingly professional. It’s much like the Alternity figures plastic boxes. You can open it, mess around with it and then put it back in the box and feel okay about it. (Although some people love to keep their toys in the box… I don’t know how, but they do it…)

The toy itself is an obvious likeness of the G1 character ‘Springer’. Hasbro probably isn’t ever going to go back to that figure, so Fansproject felt the need to give this classic figure a worthy representation. He was an Autobot triple-changer. Robot mode, car mode, and helicopter mode. The car mode on this is more likened unto a tank, which is an acceptable change. And, just like the G1 version, the vehicle modes are very Cybertronian.

Out of the box, you get it in robot mode. You also get 2 pistols and a collapsible sword/copter blades. The guns feel very solid and like they’ll last forever. The blades, however, are a bit on the thin and flimsy side. I feel like they could break at any moment. So, I’ve been treating them with a lot of caution.

There’s a short comic that gives the ‘story’ of this guy, and then it goes into a comic-style set of instructions on how to transform him. The instructions really didn’t make sense to me at all until I figured out how the pieces were supposed to be. Then, it was just a matter of moving things around til they fit in place. Let me mention, the only issue I had was with the arms. There’s so many swivels and such required for the transformation that it can get a bit confusing. Especially since the shoulder sits on a double-hinge sort of thing. If you pick this toy up, maybe that’ll help you to some degree and save you some time.

Size wise, it’s about 6 inches tall. About the size of a deluxe-class figure. It fits in very nicely with the size of Ultra Magnus’ City Commander Armor, as far as scale goes. It does have some issue standing up, which I think could have been fixed by adding a heel of some sort. But, if you pose him right, it’s not an issue. He just can’t be standing straight up or he topples. This figure also has die-cast on him. Which, when I heard about that, I was very worried. I had some flashbacks to Alternators and how scratched-to-hell they would get. Ugh. BUT, you really can’t tell which pieces are die-cast on Defender at first glance. I assume they added the die-cast to balance it somewhat. I’m not really sure, but it works. I can’t complain about it. Btw, the die-cast pieces are the chest and the tail-fins. In helicopter mode, the tail-fins click together to form the… tail… obviously. But, there’s luckily a piece of plastic between them to keep the metal from rubbing together.

Pros:

  • Accurate representation of Springer.
  • Solidly built and painted toy (as is always the case from Fansproject)

Cons:

  • Price is a bit high at $85 (but so worth it~)
  • Blades are kind of thin.

Final verdict:
I really like this figure. I think it’s a very good tribute to “Springer.” Despite being a custom, I don’t feel like I’m going to break it, which is a plus. If you’re a fan of the G1 toys or of the character of “Springer,” then I think this is a solid buy.

Snow Pictures

Posted in 2010, Art, charleston, pictures, snow on February 14th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

It doesn’t snow in Charleston often.  I also don’t take pictures often, but snow is an occasion to brave the elements. I got some pretty decent shots, but I kind of wish I had a better camera. Oh well. Enjoy.

Motoko Kusanagi: Stand Alone Complex – Variable Motion Figure (VMF) Toy Review

Posted in figure, ghost in the shell, kusanagi, motoko, review, sac, stand alone complex, Toy Reviews, variable motion, vmf on February 4th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

I really like this toy. Really. It was worth every bit that I paid for it. That being said, I got it for $75 off Amazon. My normal source of toys, BBTS.com, was sold out of it and has been for the longest time. Also, I think I got it about $5 cheaper off Amazon, too. So cheers to me!

She stands at about 8.5 inches tall, and is fully articulated. She can make about any pose you can think of. I was even able to get her into some crazy Kung Fu poses and was able to balance her with it on one foot. The joints are tight as hell–which explains why she’s able to do such crazy poses. The problem with that is, the joints like to pop out. Mainly the hips and shoulders. But, I’d rather they be too tight than too loose.

She comes with an extra pair of upper arms so you can switch them out when she’s not wearing the jacket. Oh, by the way, the jacket’s removable. You also get the choice of a handgun, or the big rifle thing–which comes with a silencer piece that can be added. With the awesomeness that this figure is, I’d kind of disappointed in a lack of hand options. I understand the fact that she only has one head. She’s not a very emotional character. So, it works with just the calm face. She also comes with a small circular base to stand her on. Although, it’s not very necessary considering how solid her stances are.

Over all, I can say that this is one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time. I’m glad I did it.

Pros:

  • Very articulated.
  • Good representation of the character.

Cons:

  • Price. $75 – Although it’s not an issue to me, since it’s a very quality figure, I can see where someone else would think it’s a con.
  • Lack of interchangeable hands.

Armor Plus Ronin Warriors: Ryo of Wildfire Toy Review

Posted in armor plus, figure, review, ronin warriors, ryo, toy, Toy Reviews, wildfire on February 4th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

IMG_0348To start off, I was quite stoked to hear they were remaking Ronin Warriors toys (or ‘Samurai Troopers’ to others). The figures were even available for preorder on some sites, and even solicited in Previews. However, this was not to be. All orders were canceled, and the only way to get the toy was to import it. So, that means sellers on eBay, generally. I don’t like that idea at all, so I used BBTS.com–who I use all the time. They were nice enough to honor the preorders for the toy, but at a higher cost since they had to import it as well. I’d rather pay a couple of dollars more to KNOW I’m getting my product.

I was on the fence for a long time on this, since the price was right at $90. That is a lot of money to me. I really liked Ronin Warriors, though. But, I’m not a fan of Ryo. I actually think he was the lamest of all of them. But, knowing my luck, they’d come out with all of the rest of them, and I’d be missing one and have to pay even more to get it. Of course, now that I’ve bought the toy, they’ll obviously release a cheap American version for half the price. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t!

On to the toy itself– it’s ok. For the price you pay for it, you’d expect it to be a little more sturdy. I started off very excited about it because of all of the extras it came with. It’s basically the perfect representation of Ryo of Wildfire. He comes with 2 heads (angry/open-mouthed, and calm), and and 3 sets of hands (fists, open hands, and holding swords). He even comes with a black armor dummy to put the armor on for display purposes while the main figure… does whatever he does.

It also has 2 helmets–one with the face showing, and one with the mask down. It’s interchangeable, just like the faces. So, you can have it however you like. You can also have it with the swords in the sheaths, swords in hand, OR the swords together as they are in the final attack.

IMG_0301I originally started taking lots of pictures for this, but then got very very frustrated with how the armor is put on. Specifically, the shoulder armor. The white shoulder-piece comes off its hinge, and the hinge of the red shoulder piece goes in its place. It took me about 10 minutes to get ONE shoulder on. I think it was more of just my particular figure having the defect, but there’s a lot of room for problems. I think they could have engineered the combination a little better. There also aren’t any instructions to speak of. You just kind of have to figure this out as you go. Maybe it was supposed to have instructions and mine didn’t have them…?

Now, parts of the armor are die-cast! It makes the figure very heavy for the size. Which, by the way, it’s about 6 inches tall. It makes sense that it would cost as much as it does, knowing that it’s got metal parts and all sorts of options to go with. While I do really like the figure, it’s not really one that I want to mess around with. The pose it’s in now is the pose it will be in forever.

I do look forward to future releases of the Ronin Warriors figures if they continue to make them. I’d be more happy to pay this price for them instead of Ryo, him being my least favorite.

Pros:

  • Very accurate representation of the character.
  • Die-cast armor.
  • Lots of options for poses. Heads, hands, swords, etc.

Cons:

  • Price is a bit high.
  • Difficult to switch armor. It’s a chore.
  • Kinda heavy.