Monday 20 October 2014

Chloe and Dylan - The Rabbit.


Foo Yew got Suet Nee a rabbit, which they brought to the house. The kids are having a great time with it. Not sure about the rabbit though...

Chloe and Dylan - Sunday Relaxation.



...the kids relaxing at home. Dylan watching the Lego Movie, while Chloe tried to be a contortionist.

Monday 13 October 2014

Original Effect - SH-02 Shadow : Hasuike Sunayuki.




The second figure, of the "Shadow" version, Hasuike Sunayuki. Apart from the new "Reborn Body", comes with an all-black kimono and more tone down design, and without accessories, unlike the original (which is beyond awesome in terms of the kimono design). Again, like Viola, there is difficulty in posing it standing, keeps toppling over.

Original Effect - SH-01 Shadow : Viola.



Original Effect (OE) Army Attractive line of 13 inches plus buxom female line of action figures largely escape my attention until lately. I saw the original when it first debut but I wasn't into the "theme" of the line. Also, the body used then and headsculpt finishing seemed to be lacking. With the "Shadow" series announced, with revised "Reborn Body" used in their later figures which means with rubberised torso, neck and hard plastic, the price is also quite reasonable for me to grab it. There is a reason why the retail is lower than the original. For one, there is no box and a comic book. Each figure comes pack in blister card. Secondly, I have to "cloth" the figure personally. And finally, in comparison, there are a number of accessories not available to this figure, unlike the original. The material used for the coat is different and more minimalistic. And there are no gun and cap. The advert stated that the "Shadow" line has "blue skin". This is not the case, thankfully, in comparison to the original but more pale. The only concern with this figure is that it could not stand, at all, regardless how I tried. And it keeps suffering from the case of "nipple slippage" due to corset design vs. the new body. Anyhoo, I would probably try to look into the secondary market for the accessories which come with the original version.

Sunday 5 October 2014

ThreeA x Goodsmile - Popbot : Tomorrow King Undernaut (Origin Hunter) Kozo.








"Mystery TK emerges from the Underverse! Fighting Mortis bots to protect humanity, Tomorrow Kings are rumored to be genetically engineered clones created from generals and military commanders that once existed in Japanese history, but their true origin is unknown. Kozo himself is said to be named after a naval general. Rumor has it that some TKs are able to side step time utilizing the Underverse, and could it be that Kozo has such ability as well? And what could be the purpose of his diver-like gears?"
- promo write-up.

"We asked the question why and we are told because we are needed. But I, Kozo asked - why are we needed? Where do the weapons we use without question originate? We made us and why?
I hunt for all these answers in the Underverse where the answers to questions all reside."
- write-up from box.

"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
- Gaff, Blade Runner.

Live. Die. Repeat.
- Edge of Tomorrow.

I am just a copy of a copy of a copy
everything I say has come before
assembled into something into something into something
i don't know for certain anymore
i am just a shadow of a shadow of a shadow
always trying to catch up with myself
i am just an echo of an echo of an echo
listening to someones cry for help
- Nine Inch Nails, Copy of A.

A (mis) interpretation:

Category: Mass production replicants.
Model type: The Tomorrow King - GEN 3.0
Unit type: Undernaut.
ID: Kozo / The Origin Hunter.
Rank: Shatei.
Function: Close assault.
Manufacturer: The Luthor Bean Jr. Corporation.
Incept date: 9th February 1994.
Serial no.: TKG03MAC09021994.
Longevity: 4 years.
Physical level: A.
Mental level: C.
Abilities: Panzer Kunst - anti-armour martial art; superhuman physiology; teleportation.
Std. armaments: Nō-men Kyparissos gas mask x 1; flak jacket x 1;  monomolecular edged ko-wakizashi x 1; krak grenade x 3; frag grenade x 5.

Hatchery 51. Luthor Bean Jr. looks at the replicants and recalls the past. His father had pioneered and brought biorobotics genetic engineering and technology to another level. Using DNA procured from late humans, Luthor Bean Sr. successfully produced and replicate human DNA with superhuman physiology via the machine known as The DNA Organ. The first batch, comprising pleasure models category sexroid, was a success. However, it gives rise to the existence of Queen Mortis and her Legion. On his death bed, Bean Sr. reminded his son the responsibility to undo the monstrosities he had inadvertently created now rests upon him. Jr. continued to refine the biorobotic engineering process, resulting in the birth of the Tomorrow Kings and Queens. They are virtually identical to a human, but have superior physiology with variable intelligence depending on the model. The replicants could only be identified through their lack of emotional responses and empathy. They are neural mapped to complete only the task of eliminating the Mortis Legion. Bean Jr. later discovered that the longer a replicant lives, the more life-experience it would gained. With these memories they often develop their own emotional reflexes, and the longer they live the more independent and unstable their personalities become. So, Bean Jr. adds a "fail-safe device" to the Tomorrow Kings and Queens models, a built-in four-year lifespan to prevent them from developing their own "emotional responses" and emergent independence. This is especially necessary for Mental-A level models whose intellectual capacity at least matched those of their designers. Bean Jr. believes that a replicant could possibly outlive a human. There are exceptions to the four-year lifespan rule, such as the elite Seven Bones, models where self-sufficiency is important to complete a task or goal. Bean Jr. would implant false memories into the replicants, to act as "pillow" to cushion developing emotions. Regardless, by the fourth year, a TK or TQ would sometimes start questioning their existence and memories, due to the endless repetition of now and the emergence of the latent memories of their original hosts. The inability to cope with the hosts memories cause confusion and wide range of emotions is one of the factors suspected to cause the random rise of the Dark Rage mutation within the replicants, turning them into an Interloper.
Kozo is a TK developed to carry out assault upon the Mortis Legion within the deepest zones of the Underverse Warp rift. It is a model programmed with teleportation ability, allowing it to combine teleportation with physical fighting. As such a Kozo TK could attack from every possible angle, making them a formidable and much feared TK by the Mortis Legion. After the irreversible damage is discovered within the DNA Organ, the Kozo TKs are re-programmed to expand their roles to include recovery of STC (Standard Template Construct) by hacking into the Leviathan 1 mainframe, Camelot, to recover important data which could allow Luthor Bean Jr. to gain access to the long lost knowledge of repairing the DNA Organ. Their teleportation abilities could be countered, such as over-reliance and when their teleportation patterns become predictable. Each Kozo TK is specially equipped with a Noh-Gas Mask to protect them while travelling through space-time continuum during teleportation and more importantly, to prevent the swirling madness of overlapping Warp energies and realspace within the Underverse from corrupting them. As such they are sometimes refer to as an Undernaut or The Origin Hunter. Their greatest achievement is an unprecedented infiltration upon Xana II, the primary Mortis manufactorum which lies on the Great Waste, near the eye of the Warp rift, Byssos, the hole which tears into the fabric of reality and continuously pours raw Warp energy into realspace, creating and sustaining the Underverse within the Leviathan 1. There Kozo recovers and download several precious, un-corrupted data-stacks of STC back to Luthor Bean Jr.
 
..........................................................  
 
This is a Goodsmile exclusive TK with newly sculpted hair and same face sculpt as Cornelius. The gas mask, I believe, is made removable upon request from fans, causing the delay to the release. The mask is attached to the tank via a pair of bendy hoses, the same ones like Takara's Kerberos Panzer Cop. The manner it is designed to "sit" by balancing it on the shoulders and backpacks kind of making me un-easy as I am worried the hoses might come undone. There is also only one short sword. I would personally prefer a katana instead. The "fan-fiction" write-up is derived from Blade Runner and The Sky Crawlers. Again, I could have pulled the gun too early as a Bambaland version has been announced for release...soon.