Wonderfest: Arcadia

Macross Zero 1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-06 Phoenix (renewal)

Macross Zero VF-0A (renewal)

Bandai GE-54 VF-25F Chogokin vs. GE-42

I have to admit that the GE-42 VF-25F (ver. 1.0) was an impulse buy because it was on sale. I bought it a few months back and only opened it to check if it was complete. Never transformed it. Then recently it was released again except it was heavily updated and with a GE-54 designation. It is known as the Renewal version or V 2.0. I decided that I would tackle the video for the new one and I went ahead and did a comparison video. I am SO glad I bought the renewal. Having the original really makes me appreciate just how well done the renewal is. I mean I thought the original was OK, but the new one is just right and makes the original look old-school with weird proportions.

GE-54 box (Ver.2.0)

GE-42 box (Ver.1.0)

 The following shows the 2 sets side by side with the GE-42 on the left and the GE-54 on the right.

Both come in a styro tray that is actually the same dimensions but different mold. The renewal is laid out on an angle.

Side by side they can be mistaken for the same set, but looking closer reveals many differences.

Gerwalk mode is OK on the GE-42, but not great, however the GE-54 is much better.

GE-42. Meh.

GE-54. Nice.
The GE-54's legs can be spread and angled out more than the GE-42. You kind of have to cheat with the GE-42 to make it look passable.

Never has the odd proportions of the GE-42 been more evident than when standing next to the new GE-54.

Stunning... now check out the video for more.

Is there such a thing as too much?

Is there such a thing as too much when it comes to collecting? Lately, I feel like I am coming to a point where I am becoming overwhelmed. I get lots of people tell me how awesome it is to have so much stuff coming in. Well, the thing is, yeah of course it's awesome, but some part of me feels differently. I'll explain why. There are a couple of reasons. I have had to shrink my display area to make room for my baby daughter. This meant stashing away some of my collection. This meant deciding what I REALLY wanted to keep out. Well little by little my displays started to get overcrowded with new stuff. Some stuff even started overlapping with other stuff. I mean I have a phone Braver 7 standing next to a Scopedog! Some old stuff I don't wanna put away and some new stuff I absolutely have to display. Today I got fed up and started rearranging stuff. My main display consists of 3 Ikea Detolfs which I had side by side. Now only two are together and one stands off to the corner. I noticed they were a tad overcrowded and by that I mean they were very crowded. I had already put away some cool stuff like the SOC Baikanfu and Tobikage stuff so I didnt know what else to put away. My Daitarns have to stay, My Daltanious's, my Voltrons etc. Where can I trim some fat? It's like having to choose a favorite child to keep and the others to give away to an orphanage. Then I realized I have a few little vintage toys still in their boxes taking up a bit of space inside the display cases. I like them there because the boxes have a lot of charm. Today they had to go.

I managed to clear out a bunch of little boxes that ate up a lot of space. Most of these are not must-display items, but I absolutely love the box art. Unfortunately, it was time for them to move on until I get more display space (in other words, new house).

Off to storage they went. I shed a teeny tear, sort of like the indian dude in the old 80's commercials when someone tosses garbage on the floor. I stuffed them carefully in a box and they are now awaiting a slumber of an unknown length.

Aside from just not having the space to display, I am finding it harder and harder to keep up with this blog and my youtube channel. My goal was to do a small write up, not necessarily a review of all the things that come my way, but it is getting harder and harder to keep up. Some really cool stuff gets overlooked by some so-so stuff just because the cool stuff may not be available to me at the moment. The rest lies in boxes "in queue". Some may never even see the light of day. Not only on this site but ever. What I mean is that if I don't open up my stuff while it comes in to check it out, it usually gets pushed off to the side while other things come in, eventually it gets to be so much that I have to box it and store it. Those items never get opened and the write ups never surface. Of course CDX stuff takes priority since at the moment, this blog is purely "for fun". I always take care of those items first.

This is what my queue room looks like as of this afternoon. That is only what I haven't stored away yet.

yikes!

In the future, I will have to carefully trim out excess stuff that I don't need so that I can concentrate more on getting cool new stuff up. I've been feeling like a lot of my recent stuff has been rushed or done without the enthusiasm I shared in the past. Well, I do have a baby now, but I miss the days of opening a box, admiring the item, taking my time with it and doing a video review of it with special effects and stuff. Now, I'm opening, wiggling arms and legs videotaping it and boxing it away. Boo. Most of this backup was due to my 2 week vacation but I want to have fun with my hobby, not box it up for a rainy day which may never come. If one good thing comes out of this it would have to be the occasional visit to the storage room where I say "Oooh I forgot I had this!" Once in a while when that happens I grab that item to show you guys. It keeps things fresh and interesting. I've cut a few things out of my preorders so I don't get attacked all at once with stuff. We'll see how that goes. Maybe I will have to hire some writers...or give my little daughter a crash course in robot/figure collecting.

Mini Review: Takatoku Destroid Monster HWR-00-MK II

This is the 1/240 scale Destroid Monster from Takatoku. It is a sweet little block of diecast. The barrels are plastic as are the arms and thighs, but everything else is good old metal. It comes in a nice styro tray. Stickers have already been applied although I dont mind too much since they were applied pretty good and it looks good with them on.

Although stickers were applied, the sticker sheet was still included. Would have been nice to get a good scan of this sheet to get repros made. Oh well.

I'm a sucker for toys like this.