So... I Found This Yesterday

To many of you, it may just look like a regular old yugioh card - which it did to me at first as well. I pulled it out of common card binder at a comic/game/card/toy store yesterday, and set it aside to buy because I remembered that there was some sort of history to the card that I had read at some point in my life. I figured I'd go ahead and buy it and just look it up whenever I got home.

Turns out, this card is one of only 100 of these that were printed for the WB Kids Promo pack back in the early 2000s. And before you say wait - that card was released in The Lost Millenium - or I have one of those! - this card's set number is EP1-EN000, as opposed to the TLM set number, and this one is a common, whereas the other is a super rare I believe.

It turns out that because of the rarity of the card, and because so few of them are still in existence/located, the previous sales of this card have been over $3500. Imagine my surprise when discovering this! Now those other sales have been mint, and unfortunatly mine has a bit of a "ding" on one corner, but it's still in very impressive condition. The one flaw on it is actually pretty minimal, and the rest of the card looks perfect. Color me impressed for happening onto this gem out of dumb luck.

What I'm Most Excited About From Toy Fair

So I'm really excited about some of the upcoming Transformers releases that they showed off at Toy Fair this weekend. By far I'm most excited about the Generations Sky-byte, and I'm hoping to have the chance to pick up that Jetfire as well (on a side note, anyone know how much leader class figures cost? - just curious how much he'll set me back). The other generations voyagers are looking good as well.

One thing that I forgot to get a picture of to post here is the MP Grimlock that was being shown off - with a new redone box in the style of MP Soundwave and Acid Storm. I'm expecting (and really hoping) that this means we'll see a re-release of him! I love Grimlock, but wasn't collecting TFs much at the time of his MP release, and the crazy ebay prices have kept me away from him since. I'll definitly be on the lookout for him if he gets a release - which may lead me into picking up that third party MP Slag too!

EDIT: Wow, surprisingly poor pic quality here... sorry about that. Check out TFW2005.com for better quality images and a full look at the Transformers shown off at the show!

Detailed FoC Grimlock

Sorry for not posting in the last few days... I had some organizing going on in my computer room and actually haven't really been online much. Anyway, last weekend I decided to touch up my FoC Grimlock transformer (or is it considered Generations Grimlock? I don't know...) I ended up painting a lot more on it than I expected to, but I'm really happy with the results. I think that it really added some depth to the figure (if you get what that means) and it really makes him stick out on the shelf. Check out the pictures and video below to see for yourself:

 

Naruto Figuarts Incoming!

Seems like Bandai is (finally) releasing some Naruto figures in S.H. Figuarts. Of course Naruto, as pictured above, will be the first release in the line. While I won't be picking up Naruto himself, or the inevitable Sauske, I am excitedly awaiting the announcment or release of a Kakashi at some point down the line. Hopefully the line proves to be popular, as I'm sure it will be, and we'll get a wide range of characters from the series released in Figuarts form!

S.H. Figuarts Sailor Saturn Announced!

In an exciting bit of news, it seems that Bandai has shown off a prototype for their next figure in the Sailor Moon Figuarts line - Sailor Saturn! I am glad to see the line continuing past the release of Jupiter, as I believed that there was a good chance of them stopping releases (at least for a while) after her. This bodes well for getting the rest of the sailor scouts and hopefully a Tuxedo Mask as well!

S.H. Figuarts Imperialdramon Fighter Mode Announced!

Now THIS is what I call news. In what I personally find to be the most exciting announcement so far this year, Bandai has released images of their upcoming S.H. Figuarts Imperialdramon Fighter Mode figure. While many of you may remember that the previous Digimon releases were in the D-Arts line, Bandai has been slowly moving towards merging D-Arts with Figuarts, with other examples being their upcoming Mario and Lucario Figuarts releases.

The figure looks absolutly spectacular, and from what I understand, it seems like it will be released in July, with a retail price of around 6,800 yen. I know for sure that I will be the first in line for this guy once it goes up for pre-order (and I'll try to keep you guys updated whenever that happens too).

One of the most important things to me that this shows is that Bandai hasn't given up on releasing new high-quality figures of Digimon characters. We've been getting the re-releases of Wargreymon and Omnimon recently, and the new release of MetalGarurumon, but I had expected that those would be the last we saw - but now, here's Imperialdramon! I can only hope that this figure goes over well enough to warrant more new figures (and more frequent releases) of new Digimon Figuarts.

Check out the picture below for the full gallery released by Bandai:

Digi-Warrior Rapidmon / Gold Rapidmon Review

I got this Gold Rapidmon Digi-Warrior figure in the mail the other day, and I must say that it looks GREAT. I bought it because it was very reasonably priced, and I don't own one. As someone who either owns or has owned almost every Digimon figure released in the US, I couldn't pass up the chance to get him, being an extrememly limited edition release figure.

I decided to go ahead and do a review of both Gold Rapidmon and the regular version of Rapidmon, as they both, just like all the other Digi-Warriors, are stunningly great figures in my own opinion. For being released around 2000, the quality of their paint, articulation, stability, and just overall design quality are extremely impressive to me. I honestly don't have a bad thing to say about them.

You can get the figure in almost any pose you want, as there are several points of articulation in each limb. At first it was a bit difficult to get a pse where the face of Rapidmon was showing, but with soe manipulation of the hip joints and torso joints, it worked out rather well in my opinion.

I'm hopeful to do some more Digimon reviews in the near future, as Digimon is a franchise very dear to my heart, and I'd love to get some more reviews out there of the figures. More awareness for the series is always great too, as I feel that this line is one of the overlooked gems in the recent history of toys.

Now that I've gushed over my love for these figures and the franchise, you can get a more comprehensive review of the two in my full video review below: