The other two puzzles I’ve posted about have been finished for quite a while now, but I’ve been waiting on one more to complete the room redecoration they’re a part of. After having the puzzle on backorder through HobbyLink Japan for quite some time to no avail, I finally decided to cancel the order there and buy it from Love Ghibli instead, where it was listed as in stock. It was a bit more expensive from Love Ghibli but I really like the store and customer service you get from there, and I don’t think HLJ was ever going to be able to find more stock, so in the end it’s what I probably should have done in the first place. In any case, it’s here now and I can’t wait to get it done and put it up on my wall.
While there are three different collector’s editions of Assassin’s Creed II available around the world – one for the US, and two options elsewhere – only the Black Edition includes this Master Assassin figure of the game’s protagonist Ezio Auditore da Firenze. When I opened up the rather large Black Edition box, I was amazed to see that the figure took up just about the full height of it. This is a very large figure, standing at around 21.5cm (or just under 8.5 inches), and the detail is astounding. There are so many layers to Ezio’s outfit and each one has been crafted and painted with excellent attention to detail. Considering the size and quality of the figure, the rest of the Black Edition’s extra content (which I’ve covered in this post) and the cost of a game on its own, the value of the Black Edition is really incredible. The figure alone is worth the extra cost, and I couldn’t be happier that I decided to get this edition. This is easily the best videogame collector’s edition I’ve ever bought.
The Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements from Code Geass has finally arrived in figure form from Bandai’s Robot Damashii line, and let me tell you right away that the wait was worth it. Bandai have put together another extremely solid entry in their Robot Damashii line, topping the already-impressive quality of their Lancelot Albion figure. After the arsenal of accessories that figure came with, some may be disappointed to see a few less items in the box with the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N., but there are a couple of things to consider. First, the Guren itself is a bit larger than the Lancelot. Secondly, and no less importantly, Bandai have included just about all the accessories the figure needed. Of course you may feel differently, but I think that including accessories just for the sake of it is pointless and doesn’t add any real value, so I’m quite happy with what is in the box here… not to mention the excellent figure itself.
It’s Assassin’s Creed II week! I have to hand it to Ubisoft for their promotion for this game. They haven’t bombarded us with so many videos that I feel I’ve seen half the game like so many publishers do these days, but they have given us a very impressive prologue to the story in the form of Lineage, a thirty-six minute short film produced by Ubisoft themselves and released freely in three parts via YouTube. It is said to link very closely with the game, and with the game and film production teams working closely together on assets and the two projects sharing the same lead cast it’s easy to see Lineage as a true part of the series.
After some experimenting with the Lumix GF1 and different photoshoot set-ups, I’m ready to give you a better look at Good Smile Company’s Nendoroid Puchi Death Note Case File #01. I’m really pleased with the detail that the GF1 was able to capture without a macro lens (I’m using the 14-45mm kit lens) as well as how the lighting turned out. There’s nothing overly complex about the set-up, so I’ll just let you see for yourself instead of going into any further detail. I hope you like these first photos; stay tuned for parts two and three over the next week or so to see the whole set!
Voices of a Distant Star is a twenty-five minute film by Makoto Shinkai of 5 Centimetres Per Second fame. Much like 5cm, Voices is about the relationship between two teenagers kept apart by both time and space and there are many thematic similarities between the two films. However, where 5cm is grounded firmly in reality, Voices is set in the year 2047, a future in which humans are engaged in a space-faring war with aliens called Tarsians. A girl named Mikako volunteers to join the UN Space Army, leaving behind her friend Noboru. The couple continue to communicate via email using their mobile phones, but as Mikako travels further and further from Earth the messages take longer and longer to reach Noboru.
It’s taken a while to arrive (I’ve only just decided to start paying extra for the faster EMS shipping from Japan), but this morning Revoltech’s spoilerific new version of Eva Unit-01 landed on my doorstep. It’s probably a little late at this point given the prevalence of Revoltech figures, but yes: this figure is a spoiler for Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (read my spoiler-free review here). Now of course the figure doesn’t tell you how or why Unit-01 “awakens” like this so it’s hardly going to ruin the movie for you, and when it happens it’s so awesome that it wouldn’t matter anyway. It’s so awesome that I pre-ordered this figure basically right after I saw the movie. Ah, the power of merchandising.
