Photos from Doll Carnival 2012

My wife has uploaded the photos we took from Doll Carnival 2012 to her Flickr and you can view the full set here.  I will post some highlight photos below.

This photo is not of a doll! It is a life-size (well, about 140cm) Pullip Pere Noel at level 1 of Matsuya Ginza shopping mall. Lots of shoppers were taking photos with her.

1:1 scale RX-78-2 Gundam in Odaiba

During our recent holiday in Tokyo, wife and I visited the 1:1 scale RX-78-2 Gundam in Odaiba. (OK, it was more like me who wanted to go!) It is located in front of the new DiverCity Tokyo Plaza shopping mall.

Review: tokidoki Pullip Luna

Wife and I were privileged to be holidaying into Tokyo when Pullip Luna was launched on 19 December at Groove's Doll Carnival. My wife is a huge tokidoki fan, so Luna is definitely a must-get doll for her!

Usually we don't bother to keep the doll boxes, but Luna's has cute tokidoki characters all over! We'll be keeping this one.

Merry Christmas Miku!

Wishing all readers a very Merry Christmas 2012! May your day be filled with love, joy, warmth, and lots of good food!

Doll Carnival 2012 - new releases

Wife and I attended the Groove Doll Carnival again this year, but this time it is different from previous years. Instead a one-day event on its own, this year the doll exhibition is on display for several weeks at Matsuya Ginza department store.

Groove had a lot of dolls on sale there, old and new, including the popular re-releases like Regeneration Pullip Paja, 10th anniversary Cinnamoroll Dal, and the Dal 6th anniversary Jouet. Some special dolls were also released at the event like Pullip Pere Noel (Matsuya Ginza 2012 Christmas promotional model), Pullip Rche (Doll Carnival 2012 exclusive), Taeyang Hide, Pullips Nanette, Princess Knight and tokidoki Luna.

Red Alert! Got my MP-14

I didn't intend to get MP-14 actually. Although I really like the Lamborghini Countach LP500S car, Red Alert is just a secondary character in the Transformers universe.

It so happens I'm in Tokyo for holiday now, went into an Akihabara shop and saw MP-14 being sold at a good price. Oh what the heck, I will never get that price locally or online, so I bought it! (together with a Takara Tomy AM-29 Fall of Cybertron Shockwave).



I'm still on holiday now, so will only review it when I return. I did open up to check, and from this visual inspection the paint application is not flawless but much better than my MP-12 Lambor/Sideswipe. The white paint is applied evenly and I don't see any paint pooling that some folks reported with their MP-12.



By now most online shops would've shipped out their orders, so you folks should be receiving your MP-14s soon!

Review: FansProject Warbot Assaulter

FansProject has to be credited with pioneering the whole Transformers third-party market and spawned a bunch of other such companies. Their latest release is yet another masterpiece - WB-003 Warbot Assaulter

Review: Pullip Harley Quinn

When I first saw the preview pics of Pullip Harley Quinn, I knew I wanted her. But the fact that she's a comic con exclusive, and limited to only 400 pieces (according to Groove's website) I didn't dare to habour much hope. Thankfully I managed to get her!

tokidoki x Pullip! Oh my!

I'm supposed to be posting a review and photos of my newest Pullip doll, but this latest doll news from Groove takes precedence. Wife and I like Pullips dolls and tokidoki apparels (and their characters too!) So what happens when Groove announce a tokidoki x Pullip crossover doll? We die-die must get!

Introducing... tokidoki collaboration Pullip Luna!

Teaser: My newest doll

Guess who? Bah, it's a dead giveaway LOL



I will post a review on her soon!

More Sideswipes!

Posting more photos of my (all red!) Sideswipe collection. :)

Comparing my latest Sideswipe - Masterpiece MP-12 - with the two closest in size, Alternators and Classics. My first impression was What?! Masterpiece is smaller than an Alternator/Binaltech??

Review: MP-12 Lambor / Sideswipe

The latest Transformer to receive the Masterpiece treatment is Sideswipe (known as Lambor in Japan). It was released just last week and I got mine already!

First Look: MP-12 Lambor / Sideswipe

I got my Masterpiece MP-12 today! In Japan he is known as Lambor, but we know him better as Sideswipe.

Here's a first photo of the box contents, except the coin and silver pile drivers which are separate. The coin is Asia exclusive, and the pile drivers are Amazon.jp exclusive.



I'll post more photos and my review later. Watch for it!
  

Review: iGear PP05 (part 3)

Continued at Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Sorry it took so long to post this last part for iGear's PP05. Here are their bot modes. I don't care if these are not official Transformers product. This is THE best G1 version of these two characters to date.

Preview: Pullip Harley Quinn

Continuing their series of DC characters, Groove will be releasing another one this month: the villainess Harley Quinn!

Legoland Malaysia - Miniland photos (part 2)

Continued at Part 1 | Part 2

More photos of Legoland Malaysia's Miniland, showcasing buildings and landmarks from Asia countries.

The famous Angkor Wat from Cambodia

Legoland Malaysia - Miniland photos (part 1)

Miniland - THE highlight of the park for me! This Miniland in Legoland Malaysia features buildings and landmarks from Asia countries.

Firstly, some iconic landmarks from Singapore!

Legoland Malaysia photos (part 3)

Continued at Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 

Legoland Malaysia has opened to the public last Saturday, 15-Sep-2012. So I better finish sharing all my preview photos LOL! (Click on thumbnails to see bigger.)

Legoland Malaysia photos (part 2)

Continued at Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Photos of the more-thrilling rides and the Lego Kingdoms area.
(Click on thumbnails to see bigger.)

            

            

Legoland Malaysia photos (part 1)

I was lucky to win preview tickets to the new Legoland Malaysia on 6 Sep 2012. It is bigger than I expected, and even though not all the rides and attractions were opened that day, wife and I still enjoyed ourselves exploring the whole park.

I took many photos there, and will divide them into several posts to share them. Here's the first batch. Enjoy!
(Click on thumbnails to see bigger.)

Preview tickets to Legoland Malaysia

I was lucky to win preview tickets to the new Legoland Malaysia! It was valid only on 6 Sep 2012, so wife and I took leave yesterday to visit that place before the official opening.



It was a good feeling to tour the park with so little people. Practically no queues for rides. When tired from walking or want to cool down in air-con, drop in any of the restaurants and have lots of seats available. Of course all these will change when the park opens to the public on 15 Sep 2012.

We took lots of photos and I will post some later. In the meantime, here's a photo of our Legoland Loot!

Review: iGear PP05 (part 2)

 Continued at Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

It's been awhile since I was this excited over a Transformer toy. Even with my high expectations, I'm glad to say I'm not disappointed with the actual product. 

iGear PP05M & PP05W van alt modes. I'll probably remove the crash bar for PP05M (Ratchet) and add some silver to the windscreen linings and wipers.

Striker Optimus Prime to be reissued

Robot Kingdom announced on their Facebook page that Striker Optimus Prime will be reissued as an 'Asia Premium Series' version - APS-01. Difference with the previous DA-28 is this new version will have chrome parts, brighter colours and the battle blades are included.


 

Robot Kingdom has also opened this for pre-order on their website here. The price is a little high, and since I already have DA-28 I won't be pre-ordering. Let's see when (if?) this reach local shops, if the price is lower, then I might consider getting.

 

Review: iGear PP05 (part 1)

It was in May/June 2011 that iGear - one of the many companies producing third-party Transformers products - announced they will be releasing own their version of G1 Ironhide and Ratchet. Check out their teaser poster below:



They then release prototype pics showing the bot and alt modes, and the assortment of weapons and accessories. Unlike iGear's previous products like the PP01 Leaders and PP03 Seeker jets, PP05 is a new, original design. I was impressed and very excited to get them both!

Custom Revoltech G1 Jetfire

I did this custom back in 2009 (before starting this blog!) when I was very into Revoltechs. They had just came out with the Marcross Valkyries, and I knew I wanted to custom one into G1 Jetfire.

Review: Jet Vehicon

Readers might remember I got my shipment of Takara Vehicons from RK beginning of this month. Well, due to lots of distractions (ie. work) I haven't opened them... until now. We finally have some national holidays and I managed to take some photos of AM-16 Jet Vehicon during the break.

Asia Exclusive Sixshot (2012)

My latest Transformer acquisition: Takara Tomy Asia Exclusive Sixshot - metallic colour redeco with exclusive coin. I already have the reissue Sixshot from 2002 actually. Decided to also get this 2012 reissue because of the chrome metallic colour.  :)

Decepticon S.T.A.G. (Solo Transformer Assault Group) aka SIXSHOT

Kabaya Fortress Maximus

A bit of an impulse buy for me. Now I gotta find time to fix him up and apply the stickers. Don't think I'll be consuming the gums though.  ;)



Add this to the list of toys for me to take photos and review.  -__- "

Takara Tomy Vehicons

Me and a friend pre-ordered some Takara Tomy AM-14 Vehicons and AM-16 Jet Vehicons from RobotKingdom.com a few months ago. Since the Jet Vehicons are Japan-only release (unless Hasbro change their mind later) we order a couple more of those.

After a long wait, our shipment of Vehicons finally arrived. Let the troop-building begin!



I think I have all versions of the Decepticon Vehicons now, except for Takara Tomy First Edition. (I do have the Hasbro FE though.) Maybe I'll do a version comparison in a future post...
 

The Avengers on SIA Krisworld

I just took a Singapore Airlines flight back from Sydney. First thing I usually check out is what movies I can watch during the long flight. When I saw the Krisworld magazine I was delighted! So, any guess which movie I chose to watch in-flight? ;)

Yup, The Avengers of course! (Of course I watched other movies too like Battleship.) In case you are wondering: Yes, it has the shawarma scene after the credits! So SQ flyers can look forward to watching this movie again before the Blu-ray/DVD releases in September 2012.

Oh, I managed to pause and take this scene where they confronted Loki at the end. Anyone knows where I can find a high-res version?

 

Review: Weaponizer Optimus Prime

Among the Transformers Prime Autobots, the only character I haven't bought a toy for is... Optimus Prime! I guess I knew there will definitely be more versions and repaints released in the future, and was waiting for one that will really wow me.

When I had the opportunity to buy the Weaponizer version at "cheaper than retail even after 20% discount" price, I jumped at the chance to finally own a TF Prime... erm, Prime!

Cybertronian Optimus Primes

Continuing from my review of Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime, I compare this latest Cybertronian Optimus with the previous two from War for Cybertron (Generations/United series) and The War Within (Titanium series).

Review: Fall Of Cybertron Optimus Prime

After having reviewed Fall of Cybertron Jazz and Shockwave, here's the final figure of the first wave: Autobot leader Optimus Prime!

Review: Fall Of Cybertron Shockwave

After getting Fall of Cybertron Jazz, I wasn't able to find FOC Shockwave in retail initially. It seems that in recent series the Decepticons are more popular than the good guys? Then one day I managed to find a few of it at 20% discount!

The first photo idea that came to me is this homage to the cover of issue #5 - The Transformers (Marvel comics)

THE TRANSFORMERS...

Review: Fall Of Cybertron Jazz

The first wave of Fall of Cybertron toys started to hit our local shelves. Shockwave was wiped clean, and I find Optimus too small. So I only picked up Jazz. From all the Jazzes I saw, most of them had the Autobot logo tilted or off-centre. I only managed to find one that is somewhat straight and centre.

FOC Jazz bot mode, as usual wearing 'shades'. "Do it with style or don't bother doing it."

10th anniversary Cinnamoroll Dal

Groove Inc has announced another reissue of a previous released doll. This time it is Cinnamoroll Dal! As this year is the 10th year anniversary of the Cinnamoroll character from Sanrio, Groove will commemorate this by reissuing Cinnamoroll Dal with some new clothes and accessories.