Haven’t done a review in what seemed like eons now, so I thought I’d do a quick report on one of my more exciting recent acquisitions. This is of course the Metroid Prime Samus Aran Resin Kit from Japanese garage kit maker Dimension Diver. This beautifully cast kit was a Wonder Festival 2009 Summer Event Exclusive and a hot one at that. It did cost me quite a fair bit of change to acquire but I’m really happy with it.
I like how the kit comes with individually colored-cast parts, so you could pretty much build it without having to lift a paintbrush (or airbrush). The kit is a little small for the price though, and IMHO it would’ve been perfect if it was done in a slightly larger scale. It comes with just a single sheet of printed instruction in color. The kit itself looks fairly straightforward to build though. I have yet to build it since I have a tonne of other kits sitting around so this’ll have to wait.
Since it was such a highly coveted kit, supplies of the kit has pretty much dried up even on the secondary market. My search on Yahoo! Japan came up with nothing, but ironically there’s one up for auction on eBay with 5 days to go. The price is already at $188, wonder how much it’ll finally sell for.
So this is it for my short review of the Dimension Diver Metroid Prime Samus Kit. Be sure to check out the photos.
STOMP: Beautiful clean casting, Colored parts, Very Limited
CHOMP: Expensive, Would have been perfect if it was in a larger scale
There’s a major upcoming Gundam competition in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of Gundam. Anime Festival Asia (AFA) and Danny Choo will be collaborating with Bandai to introduce the Bandai World Gunpla Competition. This competition is a little different because it is an online competition that will allow participants from ANYWHERE ON EARTH to submit their entries via photos. This sounds like a truly exciting event because if it’s promoted correctly and reaches a wide enough audience, will bring together the best Gunpla modelers from every corner of the world, not just a specific region.
I’m already trying to finish up my as-yet unfinished custom 1/100 MG Gouf before the November 1st cutoff entry date. Most of us would probably never win anything but I think it’ll be really interesting to be a part of such an exciting event.
For those of you who would be interested in participating, head over to figure.fm for competition rules & regulations. Here’s hoping there’ll be lots of entries for this wonderful event.
Here’s some good news for Plamo (Plastic Model) fans, especially the legions of Gunpla (Gundam Plastic) fans out there. Bandai has revealed that their upcoming Perfect Grade (PG) kit to be released in November will be the Gundam 00 Raiser, which is the unit piloted by series protagonist Setsuna F. Seiei in Mobile Suit Gundam 00. According to Bandai’s press release, this will be their 1st all new Perfect Grade Gundam kit in 5 years! Really? Didn’t they just release the Gundam Astray Red Frame earlier this year? Anyway, this upcoming PG Gundam 00 Raiser kit will come with the 00 Gundam and 0 Raiser, both of which can be combined just like in the series. The kit will of course come with the usual bells and whistles expected of Bandai’s PG kits: highly articulated and highly poseable, inner body frame, a host of weapons, light up gimmicks on the GN drives which incorporates a spinning function too!
That’s it, I’m pretty much sold on the spinning GN Drive so this is one kit from Bandai which I’m genuinely looking forward to in a long while. And finally, the PG Gundam 00 Raiser kit will retail for 25,000 YEN ($270) which admittedly, is pretty steep even for a PG kit. But hey, that shouldn’t come as any surprise since this is Bandai we’re talking about, what with this being their cash cow franchise. I’m sure we can all count on them churning out “Limited Edition” color variants in the not-too-distant future.
For those of us who weren’t quite as lucky, there are lots of pictures which were taken by various individuals and sites. Do check out the following links below for coverage of the Chara Hobby 2009 event.
This Volks 1/8-Scale Kirameki Yoko Box HJ Limited Version Resin Kit is a Hobby Japan mail order exclusive item. This guitar-strumming version of Yoko is based on the song called Pieces of Sweet Stars which is sung by Inoue Marina, who is the voice actress of Yoko in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Kirameki Yoko Box will measure 10.5cm and will be available exclusively through mail order from 25th September onwards for 10,500 YEN ($105).
Also check out the Pieces of Sweet Stars song below. It’s got a catchy and playful vibe to it. Almost makes me wanna buy the kit.
Here’s another recent FSS kit from Volks, this one being an Injection Plastic (IP) kit of Vatshu The Black Knight. It being an IP kit means it will cost less than Volks’ FSS resin kit offerings at a more affordable 8,000 YEN ($80) and will be available next year.
We have a few updates today from Volks, starting with this 1/100-Scale High Spec Schpeltor K.O.G. from Mamoru Nagano’s much-loved FSS series. This nifty kit is available through Volks’ retail and online store in Japan, and was also available at the recently held Chara Hobby 2009 event (29th - 30th August).
The Tyte blog site here has more pictures of detailed parts breakdown of the kit, and for more official information and pictures, check out the product page from Volks here.
I posted a video tour of Model Factory Hiro by HobbyLink Japan a couple of days ago, and now I stumbled on a video tour of HobbyLink Japan’s warehouse by CollectionDX! So in this video HobbyLink Japan (HLJ) is the host rather than the visitor. It’s quite amazing to see how quiet and clean the warehouse is. I’ve always had the impression that a stocking warehouse would be a little noisier and more messy than that. Must be nice working at a place with all the toys, collectibles and model kits you’ll ever need!
HobbyLink Japan (HLJ) has just posted videos of a tour of the new Model Factory Hiro headquarters. Model Factory Hiro is a model kit manufacturer based in Japan that mainly specializes in the production of highly detailed automotive model kits. These kits are more commonly known as multimedia kits because they contain an assortment of materials such as resin, rubber, aluminum, white metal parts, brass as well as photo-etched parts to accurately replicate the full-scale vehicles.
In the videos, Scott Hards of HLJ will take the viewers through the entire design, development and manufacturing process that Model Factory Hiro goes through to bring a model to kit enthusiasts. I thoroughly enjoyed the videos as they provided a great insight into how kits are produced. Thanks HLJ!
This Mature resin kit will be Volks‘ second figure from the King of Fighters XII series to be offered during the Hobby Round 2 event which will be held at Ikebukuro, Tokyo on 20th September 2009. The Elizabeth Blanctorche kit will be the other exclusive King of Fighters XII figure to be offered during this event. The finished kit will be 22cm tall and will retail for 10,500 YEN ($100).
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5583e3b9-f786-4f01-b9cf-c79dbed7ef34)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e16b972a-b4f3-42c3-8ca2-e9c8fda219ce)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=dfc554eb-afe3-49de-afd8-e366a767d72d)
