Japanese toy review roundup
The following reviews are in Japanese but they include a generous amount of photos so they’re well worth checking out.
(Please do not hotlink images on these sites.)
MaruH102 (part 2) reviews the CM’s Corporation Brave Gokin Gakeen (normal colour version) set.
Gamu reviews the Yamato Macross Destroid Tomahawk 1/60-scale figure.
Mojya, Hikutori and Hima-toy review the Konami Busou Shinki Light Armor Devil Succubus Valona figure.
Mojya, Hikutori and Hima-toy review the Konami Busou Shinki Light Armor Angel Commando Werkstra figure.
Gamu reviews the Bandai S.H.Figuarts Domon Kasshu figure from G Gundam.
Damien Sancho reviews the Bandai Mobile Suit in Action (MSIA) Gundam Nadleeh figure from Gundam 00.
Mondo reviews the Bandai MSIA Zudah Second Unit and Zudah Spare Unit figures from Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo: Apocalypse 0079.
Shishioh, Mojya and Gamu review the Kaiyodo Revoltech Hokuto No Ken Revolution Rei figure.
Natsume and Tettsun review the Megahouse Action Works Gerd Blassreiter figure.
Natsume and Damien Sancho review the Megahouse Action Works Joseph Blassreiter figure. (See also.)
Ganhoo (part 2, part 3), Shishioh and Gamu (part 2) review the Bandai Soul of Chogokin GX-43 Daimos set. (See also.)
Damien Sancho reviews the Bandai Gundam Fix Figuration RX-78-NT1 Alex (Frame Model) 1/144-scale set. (See also.)
Kaz reviews the Bandai Souchaku Henshin GE-40 Kamen Rider Den-O Climax Form B-Shop exclusive figure from Kamen Rider Den-O & Kiva The Movie: Climax Deka. (See also.)
Natsume, Mojya, Gamu and Damien Sancho (part 2) review the Bandai S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) Kamen Rider Den-O Gun Form and Ryutaros Imagin set. (See also.)
Gamu reviews the Bandai S.I.C. Classics 2008 Kamen Rider V3 figure.
Yuki Bune and Tettsun review the Takara Tomy Transformers Henkei C-08 Prowl figure. (See also.)
Tettsun reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Henkei C-07 Sunstreaker figure. (See also.)
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Music Label Soundwave Playing Audio Player (black version).
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Allspark Power MD- 23 Stockade figure. (See also.)
Toybu reviews the Hasbro Transformers Animated Deluxe class Sentinel Prime figure. (See also.)
Nekonekokoara reviews the Hasbro Transformers Animated Deluxe class Oil Slick figure (See also.)
Gun0826 reviews the Hasbro Transformers Movie Scout class Hardtop Target exclusive figure. (See also.)
Tettsun reviews the Bandai Saint Myth Cloth Lyumnades Kasa figure from the Saint Seiya series. (See also.)
Tettsun reviews the Bandai HCM Pro Shenlong Gundam 1/200-scale figure from Gundam Wing. (See also.)
Ken Murasame reviews the Hasbro Iron Man Iron Man 02 figure. (See also.)
Nekonekokoara reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary Snake Eyes (Arctic Trooper version) figure. (See also.)
Kaz and Syuuamamori review the Kaiyodo Revoltech Protect Gear figure from The Red Spectacles. (See also.)
Kaz and Syuuamamori review the Kaiyodo Revoltech Enki figure from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. (See also.)
K3 reviews the Kaiyodo Revoltech YF-19 (Isamu version) figure from Macross Plus. (See also.)
K3 reviews the Kaiyodo Revoltech YF-21 (Guld version) figure from Macross Plus. (See also.)
Machu, Toybu and Suzaku Nijimaru review the Kaiyodo Fraulein Revoltech Yoko figure from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. (See also.)
Syuuamamori reviews the Max Factory Figma Hiiragi Kagami (winter uniform version) figure from the Lucky Star series. (See also.)
Syuuamamori reviews the Konami MMS 2nd Ruquia on MMS figure from Quiz Magic Academy.
Syuuamamori reviews the Konami MMS 2nd Yuri on MMS figure from Quiz Magic Academy.
Nekonekokoara reviews the Bandai Mugenbine Kaiseijuu Mugenpirates Mugenstingray, Mugenkraken, Mugenscissor, Mugenshark, Mugenwhale and Mugencaptain candy toys. (See also.)
Kuronuko Yamato reviews the Bandai Motion Revive Series Kamen Rider Kabuto trading figure.
Kuronuko Yamato reviews the Bandai Motion Revive Series Kamen Rider Zeronos (Altair Form) trading figure.
Kuronuko Yamato reviews the Bandai Motion Revive Series Kamen Rider Nega Den-O trading figure. (See also.)
Ebi reviews the Takara Tomy Tomica Hero Rescue Force Hero Tools Series DX Max Divider role-playing toy.
Esuyu reviews the U-mate Tomica Hero Rescue Force Mini Rescue Striker toy.
Esuyu reviews the U-mate Tomica Hero Rescue Force Mini Rescue Riser and Rescue Shovel set.
Mondo reviews the Yujin The Super Blade prize toys.
Retro reviews
Transformers Baka Ichidai (part 2, part 3) reviews the Takara Transformers Robot Masters RM-17 Victory Saber (black version) e-Hobby exclusive set.
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Transformers Galaxy Force EX-01 Dark Ligerjack Toys ‘R’ Us Japan exclusive figure.
Toy links
Custom Con 21.
Favourites: Squadron Supreme Unlimited, Comic Book Greats Mighty Mugg and My Pretty Powerful Ponies.
Transformers Universe 2.0 Bruticus.
A clever fanmode by Camille.
Skyfire ver. Macross.
A nifty Macross Valkyrie-inspired repaint of Transformers Henkei Skyfire.
OMAC ver. Stikfas.
A custom by Gian Lije Garcia.
Rawr.
Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming.
Starfleet’s Movable Fighting Man.
8 Skeins of Danger sets phasers on “Awesome”.
Rock band.
Goe’s Figma, Microman and Transformers figures get ready to rock.
Turn around, bright eyes.
Damien Sancho used cheap decorations to mod SIC Ryutaros’ peepers.
Power up.
A fine digirama by Q’b featuring the Repulsor Power Iron Man figure.
OMG, Nerf bad.
Dangerous Nerf guns … we live in strange times.
Japanese toy review roundup
The following reviews are in Japanese but they include a generous amount of photos so they’re well worth checking out.
(Please do not hotlink images on these sites.)
Pokotannu reviews the Bandai Mugenbine Kaiseijuu Mugenpirates Mugenstingray, Mugenkraken, Mugenscissor, Mugenshark, Mugenwhale and Mugencaptain candy toys.
Mojya reviews the Bandai Gundam Fix Figuration RX-78-NT1 Alex (Frame Model) 1/144-scale set. (See also.)
Damien Sancho (part 2) reviews the Bandai Soul of Chogokin GX-43 Daimos set.
Soh-dr reviews the Bandai Soukou Sharin Go-Roader GT toy from Engine Sentai Go-onger.
Yuki Bune reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Henkei Thundercracker Ganbou Store exclusive figure.
Yuki Bune reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Henkei C-07 Sunstreaker figure. (See also.)
G.S.R. reviews the Kabaya Duel Knights Next Blue Soldier (version 2), Silver Soldier, Green Soldier, Black Tank, and Red Fighter candy kits. (See also.)
Sousuke reviews the Bandai HCM Pro Wing Gundam 1/200-scale figure from the Gundam Wing series. (See also.)
Sousuke reviews the Bandai HCM Pro Gundam Sandrock 1/200-scale figure from the Gundam Wing series. (See also.)
Yuki Bune reviews the Bandai Saint Myth Cloth Sea Emperor Poseidon (Royal Ornament Edition) figure from the Saint Seiya manga. (See also.)
Syuuamamori reviews the Konami MMS 2nd Sharon on MMS figure from Quiz Magic Academy.
Shishioh reviews the Kaiyodo Fraulein Revoltech Yoko figure from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Len reviews the Konami Busou Shinki Light Armor Ferret Partio (prototype version) figure. (See also.)
K3 reviews the Max Factory Figma Saber (armoured version) figure from the Fate/stay night series. (See also.)
K3 reviews the Max Factory Figma Tohsaka Rin (plain clothes version) figure from Fate/stay night. (See also.)
Nekonekokoara reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary Snow Serpent figure. (See also.)
Nekonekokoara reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary Flint (Tiger Force version) figure. (See also.)
Retro reviews
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Transformers Universe Snarl (USA Edition) e-Hobby exclusive figure.
Transformers Baka Ichidai reviews the Takara Beast Wars Special Transmetals Toujou Lio Junior (black version) Central Hobby jigsaw puzzle exclusive figure.
Esuyu reviews the Bandai Daikenjin Zubaan figure from Boukenger.
Sousuke reviews the Bandai Minipla Dekabase Robo Dekabase (top) and Dekabase (bottom) candy kits.
Toy links
ARX-8 ver. Lego.
Another fantastic Johnny Tang MOC.
Man of Steel.
fengschwing’s classy shot of the Cyborg Superman figure.
Attack of the 50-foot Stikfas custom.
“… it came out so big after I was finished (2.5 times bigger then my other customs), I thought it would be neat to take a picture of it like the old sci-fi flick …” (See also.)
Dinosaurer ver. Zoids.
A neat Zoids Blox fanmode by misodrill inspired by the Transformers character.
My Little Edward Scissorhooves.
A cool custom My Little Pony by CrowMaiden.
Piperoid papercraft.
“Everybody has the potential to be creative. Piperoid is easy, cute and exciting. It will provide you with a chance to explore your creativity.” (See also.)
Welcome to Fanmode 2.0
Regular Fanmode readers would have noticed some changes over the past few days — some good, some bad.
The bad was losing six weeks of updates after our server host’s hard disk array went kablooey over the weekend. This was deeply frustrating but we’ve managed to recover some data from Google’s cache and (re)updated our Busou Shinki, Figma, Revoltech and S.H.Figuarts checklists. Unfortunately, we’re missing our recent Bandai S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider 1 review (dated 25 September 2008) and August 2008’s Fanmode Faves (from the first week of September). If any reader has these articles in their cache, please contact us.
That’s the bad.
Thankfully, there have been a lot of positive changes as well. The most obvious one is the change in themes. Being adventurous devil-may-care types, we’ve switched WordPress themes, making the dramatic change from Brian Gardner’s Vertigo theme to … Brian Gardner’s Vertigo theme. (Trust us, it makes sense.) We’re not quite done modding the new two-column theme so expect some minor changes over the next few weeks.
In a bid to streamline the site and reduce our workload a little, we’ve stopped republishing toy-related photos from Flickr released under the Creative Commons CC-BY, CC-BY-SA and CC-BY-ND licenses. We’re deeply appreciative of those generous Flickr toy fans whose photos we’ve republished but it was time-consuming locating suitable photos released under those specific licenses and especially difficult since we further restricted ourselves to using only one or two photos per photographer.
We’re really happy Fanmode readers who happen to be Flickr users have been regularly contributing photos to the Fanmode Flickr pool and to show our appreciation, we’ve made the Fanmode Flickr pool photo thumbnails as prominent as we could. This should hopefully provide this link blog with the visual pizazz it’s otherwise lacking.
In terms of functionality, we hope to make the site’s archives a little more useful. We’ve added search term highlighting to make it easier to find specific toy links but we think sifting through the thousands of toy-related links in this site’s archives can be further improved and we hope to implement some under-the-hood changes soon that will accomplish that.
Coverage-wise, we’ve pretty much settled on the topics we intend to spotlight. Broadly speaking, we started the site with a view to encourage toy fans to do something with their toys. Find a new fanmode, customise the toy, write about those toys, take photos, have fun. Most toy-related sites tend to centre on serial consumerism with an emphasis on product previews. There’s nothing wrong with that. But we’d like to focus on the fun, creative things toy fans are doing with their toys. Check out those excellent customs and amazing digiramas, and read those amusing photocomics and insightful reviews. There’s a lot of them out there. We know because we’ve been looking for them for five days a week for 52 weeks now. Join us for the next 52.
Toy links
Red Guardian.
An excellent custom figure of a relatively obscure Marvel character.
Ratbat 2008.
Clever work by Jin Saotome.
Kyle Robinson’s battle-damaged Master Chief.
“… probably the first custom you’ll see using one of the NEW 12 inch halo 3 figures … I picked up 3 of them and whipped this guy out the same day. ”
Chris Morada’s Mainframe.
“For this custom I used DC Superman Steel for the base and few parts from DC Black Manta, the rest is scuptured.”
My Little Lady Frankenstein.
“… nothing on her is glued.”
L’uomo Ragno.
Giorgio Verrone’s Spider-Man strikes a pose. (Not to be confused with Italian Spider-Man.)
ElDave’s Regult.
“You can keep your Autobots and Challenge of the Gobots, but I have one question for you. Do you remember love?”
I never drink … wine.
R_O_B_O’s cool portrait of the Sideshow Dracula figure. (See also.)
“He gives cops a bad name.”
Shaun Wong gets topical with this ripped-from-the-headlines sixth-scale diorama.
Transformers who looked nothing like their cartoon versions.
“Here are nine of the worst offenders of ‘the toy doesn’t match the animation model’ syndrome that left the children of the ’80s with crippling trust issues we’ve never quite gotten over.”
The underappreciated art of Ed Norem.
“Norem’s career spans 50+ years. He’s created hundreds of works of art. He’s worked on well know and beloved properties like GI Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe, Conan and Star Wars …”