Now I know my ABCs

Z is for ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

We have come to the end of the A to Z challenge.
Man...it was one real challenge.
I am very satisfied and happy that I actually finished the challenge.
It was really very tiring.
There were times after a hard day's work, I had to drag myself to the computer and blog.
But there were definitely more pros than cons!

Special thanks for the following people for hosting this challenge:

Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out
Jeffrey Beesler at World of the Scribe
Alex J. Cavanaugh at Alex J. Cavanaugh
Jen Daiker at Unedited
Candace Ganger at The Misadventures in Candyland
Karen J Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain
Talli Roland
Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs

Thanks to Leon at Open the Toy for informing me about this challenge.
He has also done an awesome job.

Finally to everyone who completed the A to Z challenge.
Round of applause for everyone.
Great great job!
Every post (from those I managed to read) were awesome!

Phew! It's done!
Now to catch some Zs



Here are all the entries for the challenge: A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y

Spaceship Literally

Y is for Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato!



Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series.
The battleship is built on the remains of the famous WW2 battleship Yamato and equipped with a space warp drive called the "wave motion engine" and a new, incredibly powerful weapon at the bow called the "wave motion gun".

I don't follow the series but I am intriged by the design of Yamato and the origins of how it was built.
Imagine building it based on the remains of the WW2 battleship Yamato. Such a cool idea!

I managed to get my hands on the Space Battleship Yamato Mechanic File by Bandai sometime back.
It is sold in the manner of 'trading figures,' where the Yamato is divided into eight sections, each of which is purchased separately and assembled as a subsection to be combined with the others for a complete vessel.
I just bought the whole set. What good is a battleship missing a section.
The finished model is over a foot long.
There is some assembly required but you don't need glue. The parts are snapped on together.
Assembly is easy and after the kit is assembled, it looks pretty cool.

The parts are pre-colored and quite detailed. However, under the hands of a good customiser or painter, this kit would look even better!

What made me buy this kit is that you are able to see the interior cross section of the ship. The interior is detailed right down to the hanger deck and the wave motion engine (space warp drive).
When displayed with the interior showing, it is a great conversional piece.
Of course, you can also display without showing the interior. It is up to you which makes it great.
The ship also comes with a display stand and 7 fighters (5 Black Tiger and 2 Cosmo Zero). They come unpainted.

As a display piece, this is a real cool set!

Yamato without its interior showing












Yamato with its interior showing






Hanger Deck


The space warp drive, "wave motion engine"










I am currently taking part in the A to Z challenge and here are the entries so far: A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X

Mutants!

X is for X-Men



The X-Men are a superhero mutant team each with their own unique powers.
They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1 in September 1963.

I am not a follower of comic books but I am a movie lover.
Hence when 3 X-men movies were made, I picked up some of the X-men figures from the movies.

In my collection, I have the movie version of Cyclops, Wolverine, Juggernaut, Night Crawler, Colossus, Beast and Mystic.
The sculpting for Juggernaut, Night Crawler, Colossus, Cyclops and Beast is pretty good as compared to Wolverine and Mystic.
This is mainly becasue they were produced later either under the X-Men 2 movie series (Night Crawler and Cyclops) or Marvel Legends (Juggernaut, Colossus and Beast).
The figures from the first X-Men movie are pretty crappy and thank goodness they have improved over time.
The paint ops is generally good across all the figures with a little slop here and there. However this is expected for mass market toys.

Articulation is good especially for those under the Marvel Legends series. This make them great for display.
They are superheroes so some dynamic poses are great!

I had these figures pretty long so I can't really remember if they came with any accessories.
I don't display them with accessories, hence some of the accessories are most probably stored away somewhere in the store room.

Overall, these are pretty cool figures to have in my collection.

Cyclops






Wolverine






Night Crawler






Mystic






Beast






Colossus






Juggernaut






Group Shot!






I am currently taking part in the A to Z challenge and here are the entries so far: A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W

We are not alone

W is for We Come in Peace!

A new paper toy series from Little Plastic Man coming to you soon!

Watch this space!







I am currently taking part in the A to Z challenge and here are the entries so far: A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V

NECA V for Vendetta

V is for V.
The bold, charismatic freedom fighter driven to exact revenge on those who disfigured him from the movie V for Vendetta.



The movie was an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

NECA got the licence for the movie and produced the 7" and 12" figure of V in 2007.
I got my hands on the 7" figure.

V comes in the clamshell packaging which was commonly used by NECA during that time period.
Packaging is strong and sturdy and keeps the figure safe.
However it is a pain to extract the figure from its packaging.

NECA does very good sculpting and it is the same for this figure.
The sculpting looks movie accurate and I can't really find much fault in it.
Even the vest is very detailed.





Great details on the vest


Accessories wise, V comes with his daggers and they can be attached to the belt.
I personally like that as I hate to display accessories that can't be used by the figure.



Now the not so great part. Articulation.
NECA's figures seldom have any articulation and V is no exception.
There is only one pose for this fellow and this is it.
Well you win some (good sculpting and paint job) and lose some (articulation).

Overall, a very nice figure to have.
I have always wanted to review this figure but did not have any joke for it.
I still do not have any half decent joke for it but he is too good not to review and I really did not have any other possible toys related to the letter "V" to post for the A to Z challenge!!

V
















I am currently taking part in the A to Z challenge and here are the entries so far: A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U