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BigHatDino Posts

Capsule Review: Robot Damashii Gundam G-Self

Published 12th July 2016 by bighatdino

Capsule Review: Robot Damashii Gundam G-SelfGundam G-Self

Sometimes I love this mobile suit’s design, other times I just can’t be bothered with it. It was designed by Ippei Gyoubu, a Japanese artist I discovered via a Comickers volume Harper Collins put out around 2004, and whose work left me in awe. This carries a lot of his markers, more than the mobile suits he designed for Iron Blooded Orphans, which is probably why I occasionally love it, but is still the weakest of his suit designs for Reconguista in G. On the toy the colours are crisp, as is the sculpt, the shield is lovely and chunky…

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Low budget toys are back, and this time they’re… expensive?

Published 25th April 2016 by bighatdino

Low budget toys are back, and this time they’re… expensive?Screw Head & Cy-Kill, or Drill Robo & Bike Robo

Any kid of the 80s who liked toys that transformed from an object into a robot knew the GoBots.  They were the cheap transforming toys your Aunt & Uncle or Gran got you because you like Transformers and  they just couldn’t tell the difference.  Anyway, now they’re being brought back in their original Machine Robo1 form by a combo of Action Toys2 and Bandai3, and this time they’re bringing articulation with them!

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References   [ + ]

1. ↑ GoBots was also a Japanese toy line before Tonka got hold of them, much like Transformers.
2. ↑ A new company nobody seems to have any info on.
3. ↑ Bandai were the parent company to Machine Robo’s manufacturer, Popy.
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Whoooah-oh, we’re four fifths there: MakeToys Guardia

Published 18th February 2016 by bighatdino

Whoooah-oh, we’re four fifths there: MakeToys GuardiaThe boys, the boys! - MakeToys Guardia

We’re on the home stretch for MakeToys Guardia1 with the recent releases of Himed & Katana, that means it won’t be long until this Independent Transforming Toy2 version of the Transformer combiner Defensor is complete. Vulcan, their Hotspot, seems to be a way off, but considering how quickly MakeToys are shifting product I’m pretty sure it’ll come around quickly. Anyway, so where are we at?

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References   [ + ]

1. ↑ Part of the MakeToys MTCombiner line.
2. ↑ I’ve given up using the term 3rd Party for lent… and trying to give it up forever.
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The 1st Annual “Cheesy Toy Awards for Toys That Need Awards” 2015

Published 6th January 2016 by bighatdino

Another year done.  Hasbro continued to release Transformers Combiner Wars, Takara followed suit with Unite Warriors, Bandai‘s Tokustatsu love continued apace, and the smaller companies couldn’t help but get in on the act.  In fact this year has been pretty good for smaller companies.  The “independent transforming toy”, colloquially known as 3rd Party, companies really started working hard on taking cash from Transformers fans, and some of Japan’s smaller companies kept up the game they had started showing in 2014, if not surpassing it.

So let’s look at the special things from across the year with some action figure awards…

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Budget Review: Bandai HI-METAL R VF-1J Armored Valkyrie

Published 15th December 2015 by bighatdino

Budget Review: Bandai HI-METAL R VF-1J Armored ValkyrieWhat's in the box?

You’ve seen Macross, right? Or Robotech? You saw the cool sequence where Hikaru Ichijyo/Rick Hunter (delete as applicable) goes on patrol an up-armoured Valkyrie/Veritech (also delete as applicable) for whatever reason, meets Zentradi/Zentraedi (more applicable deletion to be done) scout and ends up unleashing a torrent of missiles at it? If you didn’t, go watch it now, but if you did (or once you have) then boy is this the toy for you!

(Incidentally, for the rest of this review I’m going to use Macross naming conventions because doing otherwise saps my will to live)
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Bring Out Your Dredd

Published 23rd November 2015 by bighatdino

Bring Out Your DreddHe might be the law?

Two things happened recently in the world of action figures when it comes to the Judge Dredd universe: Judge Death actually came out; Mezco’s Judge Dredd also saw release.  So now we’ve gone from no currently available Judge Dredd action figures to two now that ThreeA have properly announced their Judge Dredd, and both Mezco and ThreeA have announced Lawmasters.  Awkward.

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Budget Review: Bandai S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Hibiki

Published 30th September 2015 by bighatdino

Budget Review: Bandai S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Hibiki018761

The black sheep of the Heisei Era of Kamen Rider finally gets an entry in the SH Figuarts line as part of their Shinkocchou Seihou, or “True Bone”, sub-line.  As with Kamen Rider Kabuto, the opening entry of the sub-line, Hibiki doesn’t come in the usual cardboard packing that graces Figuarts but instead a swanky box split between a top tray featuring the Hibiki figure and a bottom tray of accessories.  I normally chuck packaging but there’s something really lovely about these boxes, they’re solid and they’re also fairly small.  But enough about the box!

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In the beginning there was Star Wars… and Star Wars had a groove…

Published 27th August 2015 by bighatdino

In the beginning there was Star Wars… and Star Wars had a groove…Samurai General Darth Vader and his boys

Star Wars is pretty much everywhere once more, and that’s no more obvious than in Bandai’s Tamashii Nations listings.  Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers have been out for a while, both in regular movie versions as SH Figuarts and Meisho Movie Realization versions as samurai, SH Figuarts Luke Skywalker has just been released, and it’s not long until Darth Maul joins the SH Figuarts line, but Bandai aren’t resting on their laurels. To accompany the Stormtroopers as footsoldiers we’ll soon (well, next year) be getting Clonetroopers and, curiously, Federation battle droids.  I say curiously because the battle droids have long…

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