Neca - God of War 3 : Kratos the Ghost of Sparta.

And here's Neca's Kratos, the anti-hero protagonist from the epic game, God of War series. Standing at 7 inches tall, articulation is nice, paint detailing are a-ok. Comes with the two head sculpts, Blades of Athena, the Nemean Cestus and Boots of Hermes. The Cestus is kinda heavy for the figure but nice addition. Wish it comes with Blades of Olympus and Gauntlet of Zeus. 

  

Coomodel - 2012 Death (Simulated Human Skeleton).

The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armor against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings: Sceptre and crown Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade. Some men with swords may reap the field, And plant fresh laurels where they kill; But their strong nerves at last must yield; They tame but one another still: Early or late, They stoop to fate, And must give up their murmuring breath, When they, pale captives, creep to death.
The garlands wither on your brow, Then boast no more your mighty deeds; Upon death's purple altar now See where the victor-victim bleeds: Your head must come To the cold tomb; Only the actions of the just Swell sweet, and blossom in their dust. - James Shirley, Death the Leveller.
"Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made." - Edgar Allan Poe, The Masque of the Red Death. She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. - Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing. - William Shakespeare, Macbeth. ..................................................... This is Coomodel 1/6th simulated human skeleton in the form of "Death" released years ago. I stumbled upon it while shifting through the boxes of other figures in preparation for the final wave of sale of my collection. Took the opportunity to display it. Unfortunately the two wrist pegs are brittle and broken, even after hair drying time. Luckily it comes with a pair of spares. My over enthusiasm of using hair drying technique results in some serious warping of the hands though. Other than that, this is one sturdy figure despite its uh, skeletal design.

ThreeA - Transformers Dark of The Moon : Megatron.

"War is Peace."

"Freedom is Slavery."

"Ignorance is Strength."

- George Orwell, 1984.

A (mis) interpretation:

Category: Non-biological extraterrestrial lifeform.

Name: Megatron.

Alias: Megatronus / The Great Tyrant.

Age: 10,000 cycle.

Rank: Lord Commander / Warmaster. 

Affiliation: Cybertron Imperialis Auxilia - The Decepticons Legion (current).

Height: 35 feet.

Weight: 5.7 tonnes.

Composition: Alternium mimetic poly bio-alloy; outer plating: hyper-hardened ferrum alloy. 

Powerplant: Self-regenerating dark matter reactor core.

Abilities: Transformation; peaked physiology; leadership skill; master strategist, tactician and field commander; master armour martial artist and hand to hand combatant; genius level intelligence; demagogue; cunningness; deception; foresight.

Standard weapons: "Brute Gun" twin barrel fusion blaster x 1 (current); power claw x 1 (current); impaler talons x 1 (current) / various energy, projectile and melee weaponries.

Alternative mode: Mack M915 (LRT) Line-Haul Replacement Tractor (Mack Granite GU713 10-wheeler military ver.) w. M970 fuel tanker (military ver.) semi-trailer - AD 2007 / Various. 
Technical specification:
Strength: 10 / 10.
Intelligence: 10 / 10.
Speed: 10 / 10.
Endurance: 10 / 10.
Rank: 10 / 10.
Courage: 9 / 10.
Firepower: 10 / 10.
Skill: 9 / 10.

Megatron, also known as Megatronus, and commonly referred to as The Great Tyrant, is an exceptionally powerful Cybertronian who rises through the ranks of Cybertron Imperiallis Auxilia as an Iron Captain to become the Lord Commander of the Decepticons Legion. Born shortly upon the end of the Unification War within the hive city of Kaon, Megatron single handedly begins the cataclysmic Cybertron Civil War which consume the planet and renders it into a dead world. Megatron is responsible for countless atrocities and acts of cruelty across the once mighty Cybertron empire spanning across the Eastern Fringe. Kaon is a mining and forge city, known for being the worse place in Cybertron. It is also the capital of the Decepticons Legion, the most powerful military force on Cybertron. Megatron cultivates his survival instinct amongst Kaon populace where the only rule is survival of the strongest and fittest. He possesses a gift of genius level intelligence, and tactical analytical abilities which allows him to create strategies and plans several steps ahead of his opponent seemingly like he can foresee into the future. Megatron is able to elaborate complex plans and schemes, and apply them not only in battle but any other activity involving cunning intellect. He is a sociopath with zero empathy and a megalomaniac with God complex. Megatron believes his race destiny is to subjugate other races thoroughly and only through absolute dominance would peace be achieved as well as securing all form of resources and living space existential for the survival of his own race. He has a violent hatred towards those whom he perceives as weaker, which is very much include everyone, and a xenophobe. Many races are driven to extinction during his rule, giving out orders involving star systems wide genocide and massacre. Megatron is a master of psychological intuition and a very charismatic demagogue, often uses his fiery oratory skill to manipulate and instill deep seated motivation amongst the Decepticons, with leadership skills that command absolute loyalty to him. The sigil of Decepticon is stylised after his likeliness. Megatron can easily adapt to any ever changing situation and turns it into his advantage. Megatron often lead from the front with his army of loyal, elite self hand chosen followers. With an imposing physical presence and gravelly, deep baritone voice, Megatron would instill fear and awe to those around him. He is a master hand to hand combatant with a fighting technique that is rooted in a primal-like brutality. In combat, Megatron would probe his opponent's strength and weaknesses before overwhelming them with torrent of precision strikes. With the exception of Orion Pax, later known as Optimus Prime, the Champion and High Marshal of Frateris Templar, and eventual Chapter Master of the Autobots, no opponents are known have survived any hand to hand combat against Megatron. His only weakness are his arrogance and over-confidence. 
Megatron is known to have used every form of weaponries available but his primary weapon of choice is the fusion blaster. It is a fearsome weapon which agitates the sub-atomic particles of the target, causing a massive built up of heat. Living targets would be completely vapourised and nonliving targets, even the most heavily armoured vehicles and fortifications would be reduced to a molten slag with a blink of an eye from its nuclear powered fusion blast. It has a medium to long range. 
Thus, it is with his recognised abilities and skills that the Cybertron Governing Council appoints Megatron with the highest military ranking as Warmaster to lead the Cybertron Imperiallis Auxilia comprising of countless fleets to sail across the stars under the First Sphere Expansion military campaign due to resources depletion. Lasting 300 standard Earth years, many star systems and races are conquered by the expeditionary fleets under Megatron's command. Those who fights and are defeated would be subjected to planet wide extermination and genocide. Those whom survives are enslaved and sent to labour camps en masse to various conquered worlds for terraformation projects and star harvesting sites. Megatron greatest achievement as the Warmaster is his victory over the mighty Quintesson empire. When the Governing Council announce the end of the First Sphere Expansion, Megatron has successfully conquered the Eastern Fringe and carved out a galactic empire spanning several billion light years across. Megatron ambition and yearn for greater power have extended beyond as mere overall commander of the Cybertron military. His first plan is to purge all Decepticons loyal to the Governing Council in what is known as the Tarn Massacre. He then unites all Chapters loyal to his cause under his banner. He masterminds several assassination attempts upon the twelve Primarchs of the Governing Council, which results in the death of Nexus and Solus Prime, as well as subtly sowing discord amongst the general Cybertronian populace which results in numerous uprisings. Megatron presents before the Governing Council evidences of treason committed by the Autobot Chapter and their Chapter Master, Alpha Trion. His true objective is because Megatron views Alpha Trion as a political threat as the Autobots are the only paramilitary group powerful enough to challenge the Decepticons. The Chapter is declared Excommunicate Traitoris and ordered to dissolve with Alpha Trion and the entire First Company arrested and executed. The surviving members of the Autobots Chapter goes into hiding from the atrocities of the Decepticon Legion Destroyer extermination squads led by First Captain Soundwave. Presenting before the Council, Megatron declares the requirement of Cybertron existing ruling system to be reorganised into a state that can provide stability, and a safe and secure society. The Council he has manipulated and corrupted overwhelmingly applauds Megatron's decision, turning Cybertron into a military totalitarian dictatorship empire. He continues to implement aggressive military expansion plans throughout the galaxy, leading to the Second Sphere Expansion campaign. Megatron also declares Edict of Obliteration upon the Autobots, erasing all their achievements and official records. Megatron's dictatorship and rule is one of the darkest period in Cybertron long history and is widely referred to as The Old Night. He builds the fortress Palace of Thorne at Kaon. Megatron also organises popular gladiatorial like games involving prisoners of war and political enemies to fight to their death. The games serve as a form of control over the population. Atrocities committed under his orders begin to spread, including the infamous incident of which the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet running low on fuel and Megatron orders the expedition Master of the Fleet Starscream to use the newly captured prisoners of one million individuals from a newly subjugated world to be converted as bio-fuel to produce energons. Megatron rules for approximately 10 standard Earth years, a relatively short period by Cybertronian standard, before the Autobots initiate a series of guerilla warfare against him and his regime. Soon these pocket wars begin to evolve to sector size battles and eventually spread throughout the entire planet into a world war. Simultaneously, the Quintessons Hive Fleet begins their incursion directly onto Cybertron space, annihilating Battlefleet Nicor in its entirety and attacks the Ring of Iron first defence line. Megatron is forced to shuffle and spread the Deceptions Legion over several battle fronts. After the Battle of Iacon, the war begins to stagnant and becomes a battle of attrition involving close quarters combat. Every square feet and corridors are intensely fought for by both the Decepticons and Autobots. Every new ground gain would changed hands endlessly. Bodies pile up along the corridors and block pathways which are used as covers by both sides. The entire planet and its hive cities are eventually reduced to burnt out, destroyed wasteland littered with war engines and collapse mega structures. The Dyson Sphere like energy absorption panels which encapsulate the planet are eventually destroyed, depriving the populace of the means to produce energon, leading to mass famine and deprivation of basic needs. 
The war claim billions of lives across planet for the next 50 standard Earth years, pushing the race to the brink of extinction. When Megatron tries to obtain the key to creation of Cybertronian, the archeotech All-Sparks Cube or otherwise known as Vector Sigma, Orion Pax and a group of Autobots take the ancient device with them on board the Ark interstellar cruiser to escape the tyrant. Megatron and his elite chosen army go after them and tries to intercept the Ark onboard the Decepticon capital ship, Apollyon. Megatron successfully done so while travelling mid-warp but at the cost of damaging both ships. Exiting from the warp, the ships crash onto a young, prehistoric Earth. Both ships' passengers are put into stasis lock until AD 1984 when an underwater earthquake awakens the Decepticons. Alert by their enemies presence, the Ark onboard AI, Teletran, awakes the Autobots. Taking the forms of Earth vehicles and devices to hide themselves amongst the humans, they stealthily fight each other while desperately trying to establish communications with Cybertron, thus opening up a new front for the Cybertron Civil War. Eventually the humans come to realise the existence of these extraterrestrial non-biological beings when Megatron and his Decepticons begin to openly fight the Autobots in his relentless quest for the All-Sparks Cube. Alliances and enemies are made with the human race but many nations and its citizens perish in the ensuing war. In the pivotal Battle of Carson City in AD 1991, Megatron leads the Decepticons in a final push and assault against the Autobots. Although he successfully kills Optimus Prime, the Tyrant lost his right arm during combat and part of his face are sheared off and cauterised by the Autobot Captain of the 8th Company, Bumblebee. The Autobots win a pyrrhic victory against the Decepticons who retreat under Lord General Shockwave order on board the Abraxas, a Decepticon battle cruiser. Eventually the Autobots follow suit, leaving Earth to head back to Cybertron, 570 light years away at Lambda Scorpii, in the constellation Scorpius. 
The disfigured and severely injured Megatron is left stranded on Earth. Using a tattered tarp to cover his facial injuries, he eventually replaced his missing right arm and undergoes a slow regeneration process by consuming the sparks and corpses of Autobots and Decepticons alike, as well as scrap metals and other mineral resources while hiding out in the wilderness of Namibia, undertaking the alternative mode of a Mack Granite modified military tanker truck. The local populace speaks of a monstrous iron giant lurking amongst them. Humans whom are brave enough to go hunting down Megatron would never ever return. Burning with vengeance and rage, as of AD 2008, Megatron has gathers various human militant groups to provide him resources to built a Space Bridge in return for assisting them win their political and ideological terrorist wars which eventually escalate into World War Three. As Earth nations collapse with social, economic and ecological destructions around him, Megatron awaits with patience the completion of the Space Bridge in order for him to return back to his homeworld of Cybertron.  

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I won't delve into saying anything much about Meg as he is so popular and I am too lazy to lay it all out here. There are also so many versions of him that it is personally mind boggling. The only titular version of Meg for me personally is the G1 version. Now a little bit of personal history with this fella. I never owned the original Meg, even if I have had other Transformers before. After the '86 movie and the end of the series on local channel (RTM or TV3?), I forgotten about the Transformers (and most classic cartoons of those times) and moved on. By early 2000s suddenly the general local toy hobby scene kinda exploded. It reminded me of the local comic scene before it all came crashing down. Anyhoo, I saw Hasbro and Takara Tomy beginning to re-issue those classic G1 line as well as the new ones, Alternators / Binaltech and more importantly, the Masterpiece series starting with the partly die-cast Optimus Prime. However I was never really into it as I slowly gravitate towards the 1/6th scale figures scene. Years later, as I typed this, I have sold off most of my figures. But I find myself getting some really premium (means on the upper scale of the price point) stuffs. Not wallet napalming statues price (think Prime1 Studio stuffs, crazy) but back to Masterpiece series. Not all but the ones I like. Now this is ThreeA Premium Scale, whatever that means, TF Megatron. Previous release was Bumblebee (to a rave review) and coming soon Starscream and Optimus Prime. And it ends there as ThreeA licensing has ended. All four figures based on Bayformers, the Dark of the Moon live action movie series. I could have gotten the exclusive Bambaland version but yet during the drop, I chose not to. Now the bug has bitten me and I ordered this from Toypanic / Toygarden way north in Penang. The difference between retail version and Bamba exclusive is the Matrix of Leadership (which looks like an inch long boomerang) and the tarpaulin, which turns into a tattered looking hood / cowl for Megatron to hide his facial injuries from event occurred in Revenge of the Fallen. Now this hobo version of Megatron is truly my personal favourite - beaten up, rusty and looking mean as heck. Even in the movie, during his first appearance, Meg transformation from a truck into a bot has sparks coming out from scrapping pieces together, showing that he is truly still injured and in process of recovery. Standing at approximately 18.5 inches or 48 cm plus in height, this is a truly huge beast. Both torso and legs are extendable and fortunately, there is no "ThreeA floppy Iron Man torso syndrome". I am not sure what the scale of this figure is because I sucks at math but informations I gotten is that Hollywood Bayformer Meg stands at 35 feet tall. Overall the QC is good except for a few nitpicking, like the right eye is abit disconcerting because the it cuts across the eyeball instead of forming the shape of the eyelet and one of the chain rail holders and a panel actually came off (glue time again). The head couldn't turn sideway due to two panels on the lower end are obstructing it. Typical of ThreeA (or even Threezero, people tends to get confused though the two brands are literally owned or co-owned by one of the partners, just like VTS and Damtoys if I am not mistaken), the paint effect and weathering are as I expected (after all those WWR Robots, it is practically a standard for me to expect great weathering from ThreeA) although there are certain areas which ThreeA factory boys and girls miss couple of spots, in particular the inner panels area. The eyes light up but with tiny glow. The ratchet and ball joints are stiff and nice, with 70 points of articulation although I believe ThreeA taken into consideration those panels, read "not so important" point of articulation as well to boost the number up. Because for all the "70 points of articulation", ThreeA forgotten to add / design arm swivel onto Meg. And though the beast could stand without any need for a figure stand (rumours have it that Starscream would require one. I leave that to be seen), it has a bent posture due to design of the knee joint. As for accessories, Hollywood Meg comes with a "Brute" shotgun and a strip of real metal, nicely weathered chains. And if it's exclusive Bamba version, add a Matrix of Leadership and hobo cowl to it. That's all folks. Now, this Hollywood Meg doesn't transform. Afterall it is based on a movie, as such the CGI transformation cheats big time and if I tell myself, "I'm skipping this 'cause it won't transform" then I would be missing out on something as nice as this. Either I have to stick with normal line or sacrifice details for the alt modes (like the Bumblebee and Starscream MPM series). To complete the look, I took one of the Soviet sniper (DiD Battle of Stalingrad Vasily) cape and use it as his cowl. Never has a figure makes me looking out for haulers and lorries, intensely studying the blue or canvas tarpaulins before. Not sure whether I would permanently use it for Meg as I really like the look of it with grommets which I imagine adds character to the imaginary truck mode with the chains tying around it. But Vasily would not have his gear again as well as the requirement to "weather" it, something which I am not good at. All stories unrelated to TF canon. Thanks to WH40k, TF Wikia, and YouTube video reviews of Optibotimus and toys210. And I can't help looking at it all the time. Spooky. Note that the G1 technical specification of Megs are much different, and lower. His rank and firepower are 10/10, strength, endurance and intelligence are 9/10, courage at 7, skill at 6 and speed at a measly 4. 

Threezero - Zoids : Iron Kong.

"No weapon in the arsenal of the Reich or the Helios traitors equal the Zoids in the battlefield, and a Legion of such vast war machines can bring any nations to its knees. In truth, a Zoid only has three enemies: folly, hubris, and another of its own kind."

- Field Marshal Geideman, Legio V Africanus.

A (mis) interpretation:

Category: Zoids.

Unit type: Tactical assault.

Model type: EZ-015MK3ZRO Gorilla type.

Designation: Iron Kong.

Manufacturer: Lautern Heavy Industries.

Affiliation: Zenebas Stahl Reich.

Powerplant: Ultracompact plasma generator.

Armour type: Super-hardened plasteel ceramic composite alloy.

Armour thickness: 400mm / reinforcement plate: 300mm.

Weight: 187 tonnes.

Height: 92 feet.

Length: 75 feet.

Max. speed: 150km/h.

No. of pilot: 2.

Std. armaments: Demolisher knuckle x 2; grind cutter x 6; shoulder cannon x 2; auspex system; mind impulse unit; void shield.

The Independance War is global conflict which occurred between M19.014 to M19.045 on Hephaistos. Approximately 20 billion military personnel, including 10 billion civilians, were mobilised. Over 9 billion combatants and 7 billion civilians died as a result of the war, including the victims of a large number of genocides, a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, primarily due to the deployment of war engines which were developed based on the ancient STC (Standard Template Construct) scattered around the world. The STC datastacks, believed to be more than 30,000 years old, contained all informations to build a Zoid, powerful weapons of war which were based on fauna long extinct on the planet. The war was the deadliest conflict in Hephaistos history and paved way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. 

The war drew in all of the world's economic great powers, assembled in two opposing faction, the Helios Anti-Lebensraum Group and the Zenebas Stahl Reich, together with its respective Reichkommisariate colonies. The trigger for the war is the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne of Stahl Reich by Gustav Schaeffer of the Spring Movement, a youth splinter group of the Nacht un Nebel Liberation Front.

The Iron Kong Zoids were first introduced to the Western Front in M19.039 after a series of defeats and failures suffered by the Zenebas Imperial Army at the hands of the Helios Alliance. The Imperial Army primary heavy class Zoid, EZ-004 Red Horn had proven ineffective against the Alliance EZ-001 Gojulas. The Iron Kong, manufactured by the Lautern Heavy Industries whom held the exclusive military contract under the Imperial decree, was based on the design of an STC found within the tropical jungles near the equator of the Central Continent. The Iron Kong primary function were tactical and close assault, spearheading each attack at their enemies across the frontline. A herd of Iron Kong would brutally punch through any Alliance front line and wreak havoc at their defences. The Iron Kong proves more than capable of overwhelming and destroying the legendary Gojulas. After the initial victory of the Alliance in M19.018, the Reich would turn the tide of war from M19.039 onwards, first repelling the Helios army from the Reichland borders and regained back lost territories, then pushed forward to conquer majority of the Northern and Western Continents in M19.040 under a series of blitzkrieg campaigns. It wasn't until the Helios Zoids manufacturer, Rostock Corporation introduced the super heavy class Zoid, EZ-037 Ultrasaurus which were reinforced by the Gojulas units, that the domination of the Iron Kong Zoids on the global battlefield was truly contested.

A Zoid Iron Kong was powered by an ultra compact plasma generator and armoured with super-hardened plasteel ceramic alloy with reinforced structural integrity based on a gorilla physiology. The Iron Kong could knuckle walk or adopt a bipedal stance. The Zoid was more dextrous and had higher land speed in comparison against most of its heavy class contemporaries. Its armour could take a lot of heavy firepower from projectile based weaponries. It had a built in void shield with EMP hardened electronics to protect it against energy weapons. The Mind Impulse Unit was retained for the Princeps to neural synchronise with the task intelligence system of the war engine. The Princep has to be a mentally strong individual or would be overwhelmed, resulting in total psychological breakdown.

Many variants were manufactured throughout the war, each fitted with different weaponries and specifications in accordance to the military objectives and mode of operations. One particular variant, the MK3ZRO, was designed to be deployed as deep striker, dropped into the enemy main lines for close assault in order to neutralise any defence line before the primary units moved in. The MK3ZRO had Auspex system which allows the Princeps to scan the entire electromagnetic spectrum to flush out hidden enemies and 360 degree visual, with encrypted comm-links with others in a herd formation and self targeting sensors. It had three pairs of grind cutter on each arm. The hardened adamantium blades whirled at four times the speed of sound, powered by super vibration actuators. The deadly melee weapon could cut through even the thickest Zoid armour like knife upon a soft butter. It was standard fitted with Demolisher knuckle on each hand, allowing it to punch, smash and tear through even the toughest ferrocrete fortifications with ease. On each shoulder, there was a particle accelerator cannon which fired at the range of up to 10km. A single blast would obliterate any medium class Zoid. However the cannon lacked long range capability as well as inability to precisely lock on its target while on the move. The MK3ZRO required two Princeps to pilot due to its advance MIU. A single pilot Princep would be overwhelmed, resulting in catatonic state or even death. A rare but dangerous occurrence would be the emergence of Berserker Syndrome, which arose when the Princeps neural link was tainted by the Iron Kong basic primal instinct contained within its task intelligence system drawn down from the STC based on the ancient creature which once roamed Hephaistos. Both the Iron Kong and its pilots would digress into a nigh unstoppable rampaging war engines, blindly lashed out at anything or anyone within its reach until it was taken out by the enemies or one of its own. MK3ZRO was issued for deployment under senior and battle hardened veterans of the Imperial Army. Notable heroes of the war whom received the Medal of the Knight Iron Cross while piloting the Iron Kong include Col. Karl Liechtenstein and Maj. Erwin Schwartz.

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Threezero and its owner Kim Fung Wong is a pioneer in the so-called New Vinyl Movement in the toys collectible industry. He is highly associated with artists the likes of Michael Lau (whom designed the "threezero / three holes" gasmask logo), for whom Kim is highly credited for translating their art works into tangible products. This also leads to collaboration with Ashley Wood in the creation of ThreeA. Kim re-launched the Threezero brand back in '13, and has released a number of licensed products, including this one right here, the Takara Tomy Zoids 1/72th scale Iron Kong. Now Zoids and Transformers (G1) are part of my childhood memories, credit to my mom whom would pamper me with these toys of which admittedly are much more affordable in those days. I remembered excitingly going up and down each gondola in the toys department at Super Kinta (a supermarket in Ipoh, which I believe no longer exist) ogling at Zoids and Transformers. These two formed the twin pillars of my toys collection during those carefree years. If I were to recall correctly, it was my neighbour in Ipoh, who introduced me to Zoids. His Zoid is a upright smaller one, looking like a small cousin of Gojulas, called Godos. My first Zoids is a stegosaurus, called "The Great Gorgon", followed by a scorpion (l forgotten their names), a caterpillar, crocodile and finally, during a birthday, me mom bought me a "Zoidzilla" (Gojulas for JDM). I need to assemble it but no glue required. Once done, I would stick the decals. Some larger ones come with metal counterweight for balancing. The sound of the smaller Zoids mechanical dinosaurs moving as I wound up the mechanism suddenly came to me mind. Jump to the present and Zoids have succeed in re-emerging back into the popular market. So much so that Threezero released two readily built models with staggering weathering effect - the Liger and Iron Kong. Now, I am not into Liger but Iron Kong? Man, that's like one of my all time favourites (beside Red Horn, Gojulas, Mad Thunder and of course, Deathsaurer). Maybe because I like ape-like toys. I find their built and silhouette attractive and brutal. Standing at approximately 10 inches plus in height and width, this is not a large toy by a long shot but neither it is small. I am not sure about the HMM (Highend Master Model) series but I feel that the HMM Iron Kong could be slightly bigger. This version produced and distributed by Threezero is based on the Zoid Concept Art. While lacking the commonly seen shoulder mounted hyper bazooka or gatling cannon, with rocket launcher and rocket propeller on the back, this version comes with my personal favourite - buzzsaw, six of 'em. There are two slightly articulative cannons, one on each shoulder. The cockpit opens and reveals two non-removable super tiny pilots as homage to the original line which comes with either gold (Helic) or silver pilot (Zenebas). There is a light up features of course which looks nice. The overall construction is quite different from the Iron Kong I grew up  with. It retains the basic structure as well as colour scheme, yet different. Now, no assembly required, except for the six pesky hoses and six cylinders of which I am not sure what it is. The middle hose could not be slotted into the connecting hole so I used a knife and trim slightly one end of the hose. But it keeps coming undone so I am forced to resort to using glue. Also during the checking of the toys at the hobby shop, one of the cylinder holder fell off. I am not sure whether it is broken and looking at the other cylinder holder, it is not suppose to come off. While it could be attached back, it would instantly fall off again once I put on the cylinders. Once again the glue come to the rescue. Finally the left hand had popped out from its ball joint during unboxing. I had to hairdryer it first before able to slot it back in. Like all Threezero products, the price range is on the higher end, reflecting the price upward creep in toydom. Again, this is my own write-up as usual and got nothing to do with the actual canonical storyline. Ideas taken from WW1 and WH40k as usual with names like Lautern and Rostock taken from Mamoru Oshii 2008 anime movie, The Sky Crawlers. 

Redmoon - Phone Leather Case : RM-SPC1C-30.

Another Redmoon product, this time 'round, an iPhone 6 case. In raw leather colour. Tired of putting the phone in the pocket, especially when I'm wearin' a jeans.