Clockwork Machina!

Revoltech Expo

Great! Now I have to sink more money to my Revoltech addiction. Tokyo Hunter made a trip to the Revoltech Expo this past weekend and snap a load of pictures to titillate you upcoming years fancy of Revoltech line. I just posted the ones that I’m drooling over like the Alien, Jack Skellington and the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. Allow me to go grab some paper towels to wipe my desk while you take a look at these pictures!

Oh I forgot to mention, they’re also releasing fully transformable Valkyries.

Odaiba Gundam Visit!

Just got back from Japan! Finally was able to unload my photos onto the computer. Here are the pictures I took of the Gundam while there. It’s simply unbelievable and amazing to think that if this was real, North Korea would be screwed….or the Japanese are just as crazy as we think they are! The Gundam does move but only the head and it shoots mist from its vents. So here’s just a orgy of pictures that I took while there. Enjoy!

Updated: Added image of stuff bought at Odaiba and video.

Here’s the some schwag I bought from the event:

Tote bag for groceries, pin and commemorative book.

Video I took of the Gundam moving:

Odaiba Gundam! from CMWilly on Vimeo.

Odaiba Gundam

Went to see the Gundam today! Well worth it not going to Comic Con for. I felt like a little kid going to a toy store for the first time. More picutres to come when I get back to the states!

Panson Work’s Nintea

Being a big fan of Panson Works, a friend introduced to me a new line of characters in collaboration with Toei, Nintea. These cute ninjas are the latest merchandise line to come from the same people who have been revamping the Kinnikuman and Gegege no Kitaro into cute and stream-line vinyl figures. The nonsensical story of the Nintea revolves around ninjas that enjoy drinking tea and working hard for their employer. What they do for their boss is anybody’s guess.

As of right now, Nintea promotional items can only be found in Japan at the “Toei Animation X Panson Works Shop” which is currently touring around Tokyo and online at the Toei Online Shop which I doubt ships internationally. The physcial shops are temporary establishments that are held in department stores for a limited time and then moved to another location. The merchandise for Nintea consist of handbags, keychains, shirt and other cool knick-knacks. You can see what they have to offer as well as other Panson Works items here. For more information about Nintea, you can visit Toei’s press release.

I was lucky enough to procure on single item through a friend. I wish they would start making figures like they did with the Shonen Jump 50th anniversery figures like they did with Luffy from my previous post. A friend of mine was able to take a picture of all the Nintea products she had. Enjoy the photos!

Cell phone straps.

Tea Time is POWWWWAAAA~!

Something for the bags? Seriously…I think I’m blind. It’s a key cover.

Thanks Enna!

Japan 2008: Good Smile Company Visit!

Another awesome place I got to visit during my adventure in Tokyo was the Good Smile Company office! One of the few figure companies dedicated to the molding of plastic miniature girlfriends.^^

The entrance hall had a couple of figma displays showcasing most of their current line.

Beautiful Saber Lily exclusive form the PS2 fighting game Unlimited Codes.

Miku.

SOS団.

Lulu and Suzaku with their respective Lancelots.

Miku oh, poor Miku what have they done to you! From what I was told, this Miku was built by a fan for a festival and Good Smile asked if they could have it. The stick that you see coming out from her hand is where the negi is suppose to go. Yes, her arms move if you were wondering.^^

A peek inside the meeting room where they displayed there line of delicious figures. Behind the meeting we got a tour of the office, unfortunately I was too in awe of the process that I completely forgot to take pictures….ORZ. Sorry! But I can promise that it was definitely cool. They showed us the modeling tools, RPMs and 3D printers that were used to make the figures. After the short tour we ended up at the GSC owned Indian restuarant Indotei.

They seriously need to make a figure of the elephant mascot…..

So that’s pretty much my trip to GSC, I did see a couple of figures that have yet to be announced and ones that were just released. One of them was the recent Black Rock Shooter that I’m debating to get….?

Japan 2008: Super Festival 48

While in Japan, I got a chance to check out another event, Super Festival 48. This event mainly focused on toys and figures, which is another hobby of mine. I first heard about this on Toybot Studios blog and decided it would be cool to check out before returning back to the States. SF48 had all types of toys ranging from American to Japanese kaiju to nostalgic items. Here are a couple of pictures I took at the event:

Some of the booths were selling garage kits.

Others were displaying their skills. Caught this pretty cool plug unit from Eva.

The model was so detailed that you could clearly see the pilots.

Here’s a shot of the attendees buying toys. Seems like there’s a small market for American toys. The booth in the picture were selling Transformer Animated figures.

Popsoda’s Many Many Many Mey Dynamite Custom Show.

Overall, I enjoyed my first figure event. It was the complete opposite compared to comiket, small, low key and less crowded. Hopefully, my next trip will allow me to go to another figure event like WF…if it comes back. You can check out the rest of the images at the bottom gallery. Enjoy!

Japan 2008: Miyajima and Hiroshima

Update: Found and inserted images of the hypocenter and memorial.

After the New Year we headed down to the Kansai area. On one of the day trips, we went down to Miyajima and Hiroshima. I’ve been to Japan a couple times already, and Hiroshima has always been on the wish list.

The first part of the trip was heading to the island of Miyajima located off the coast of Hiroshima. You may recognize Miyajima from it’s famous Itsukushima shrine tori gate located on the shore of the island. When the tide is high, the gate looks like it’s floating in the water. Miyajima also has a couple of other interesting tourist attractions as well….

…such as killer deer.

Delicious oysters! Hiroshima is famous for their oysters. So good, so good.

World biggest rice spatula.

And of course the Istukushima shrine.

We didn’t get a chance to see all of Miyajima since we had to rush back to Hiroshima for the Peace Memorial Museum aka The A-bomb Museum.

By the time we got to the front door, the museum was about to close. So we pretty much blitzkreig as much of the exhibits as we could with only 30 minutes to spare. Even within that short time, the museum had a strong effect amongst our party. There were many sad, intriguing and educational displays shown in the museum. The one that comes to mind the most is a piece of concrete left with a imprint of a mans shadow from the atomic explosion. It is truly a eery sight to see in person.

Exiting the museum, we strolled around the Peace Memorial Park looking at the memorials built in honor of the victims. They’re were many monuments donated by various countries, each honoring a tragedy to the victims of the A-bomb.

The above image is a small plaque informing visitors this was the exact spot where the bomb dropped on that fateful morning. After the hypocenter, where the bomb actually landed then re-routed back to see the Peace Dome.

The time spent in the area was a very somber atmosphere. Traveling with both Japanese and American people together, each of us were experiencing a different kind of emotion. Being American, you can’t help but feel some kind of guilt for such a atrocious act made by your country. After the park, went to go fill our bellies with okonomiyaki which is another famous delicacy in the region. The two types of okonomiyaki which compete against each other are the Hiroshima style and Osaka style. Once done with dinner, we jumped on the shinkansen back to Kobe. Sleeping all the way home.

Here are the rest of the pictures of the trip!

Japan 2008: A Visit to Sunrise Inc!

During our trip, we got a chance to visit Sunrise, makers of such series as Code Geass and Gundam!

The day started out rather rainy and cold. By the time we reached our destination, the weather was drenching. Sunrise is actually located off the Seibu-Shinjuku line in Kami-Igusa which is about 20 minutes northeast of Shinjuku.. The town is littered with Gundam and Sunrise shows. It also host a animation museum that is not walking distance friendly though the studio is. Our meeting destination with our friends, the amazing director Hiroshi Nagahama and Desk Atsushi Umezaki,was in front of the train station. Immediately right when you walk out you can see anime related items plastered all over the town.

In front of the station there is RX-78 statue.

Across the street, most of the store shutters have this SD Gundam mascot on them.

A small map of the town.

Haro!

The walk to Sunrise was very short, it was about a 4 minute walk from the station. It seems the studio itself is divided into many different buildings. Each having a different project or staff member working on various different series.

The first stop was the lobby where they had various decorations and promoting new shows on the screens behind it.

I want one of these!

Lulu’s Mask

A pretty awesome RX-78 model.

After the lobby, we headed to building No. 3. No. 3, is where Gundam 00 is made. At the time, the studio had a influenza bug floating around. So even though we got a chance to go into the studio, we were quickly hustled out due to the biohazard level of the floor. After building No. 3, we headed to Building No. 7 and just hung out with Nagahama-san and Umezaki-san. The time was short for me as I had to rush over to Danny Choo’s house for a small shinenkai party for dinner.

つつ”く。。。

Japan 2008: Comiket Day 3

So the day of reckoning! We literally had no idea what we were doing at all! In the morning we met up with Shingo from HD and Andrew at the station. We then all headed to into the Big Sight.

We got the west hall and underneath a table we found a cardboard box. When we opened it, this is what we found.

300 copies of our hardwork and labor! The quality of the book was everything we could ask for. We were thoroughly happy with the end product result.

The rest of the event was us selling the books and me running around procuring books like a chicken with it’s head cut off. During the event, I had a couple of friends visit us and took me to the industry booth where they introduced me to Good Smile and Max Watanabe! Max Watanabe puts the Max in Max Factory. After the introductions, I got a chance to take a couple of snapshots of GSC latest selection of Nendroids.

At the end of the day, we were too tired to take pictures or have any images to document or day. All that remains were our memories, scoring a tour of the GSC’s office (seperate post) and Junpei catching the flu.^^;

Overall, we loved the experience of making a doujinshi. We learned from the mistakes we made and will apply them to future books when we make them. Our next intended date for attending Comic Market is C77. So please look forward to our next book!

Japan 2008: Comiket Day 1

If you saw the Queue report post, this post is the continuation of what happened after we got into the Big Sight.

Most of the time was just walking around and scoring a couple of new books here and there. Most of the time we just walked around and took some pictures. Once the frenzy was soaked up, we decided to take a walk into the cosplay area and take a couple of pictures.

Once everything was bought, we headed out of Ariake and decided met with Shipon for the first time and definitely not the last! We ended up in Shinagawa afterwards looking for a place to accomodate 8 people for a small nomikai to celebrate the end of our first day at Comiket. Walking around we finally ended up at a small izakaya.

Afterwards, we headed down to Tsukiji for the most wanted dish since last years trip. You would think it would be sushi right? Nope, it was for the best tasting curry udon you will ever taste in your life.

Every year I come to Japan, this is my most must have dish in all of the trip. The restaurant, which I can’t recall, is tucked away in the alleyways of Tsukiji’s many restaurants and is simply amazing.

This pretty sums up the first day!

つつ”く。。。