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.