RicBoy Exclusives for X-Plus Rodan '64 & Barugon

Here's some news on the Rick Boy exclusives for the upcoming X-Plus Toho Large Monsters Series Rodan 1964, and Daiei Tokusatsu Large Monsters Series Barugon.

Rodan will come with a Mothra Larva figure.

Barugon will come with an extended alternate tongue.

Both figures are slated for a January 2013 release. 

Check both Rodan and Barugon at X-Plus' site!

S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla 1995 Now Released!

The S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla 1995 figure is now officially out in Japan. From the photos that have surfaced, the figure looks pretty good when posed decently. I hope to have mine in hand when I get back to the states next Saturday, I'll post a review for it around then or that Sunday. Here are some photos from Amiami's page:

Viral Marketing for Pacific Rim

Two clips have surfaced relating to Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming movie, Pacific Rim, coming out in July 2013. The first clip is of a news report relating to various Kaiju attacks all over the world, primarily focussing on the one in San Francisco. The other is of a test of the Kaiju Alert System.

GODZILLA script is finished!

According to ComicBookMovie.com, the script to Legendary Pictures' upcoming reboot of Godzilla is now completed. The announcement came about through Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3, Sherlock Holmes 3) who polished the script and aged up the characters to match those of the actors that Gareth Edwards and the casting director are aiming for. Hopefully in the coming months we'll start to see more news on casting and much more.

S.H. Figuarts Vegeta (Normal Ver.)

$47.99 - May 2013

An iconic scouter crushing scene, high demand in S.H.Figuarts Dragonball surveys and encouraging fan reactions to a diorama that debuted at San Diego Comic-con were all factors in the selection of Vegeta as the next Tamashii Nations S.H.Figuarts Dragonball figure. While the Super Saiyan Vegeta received high-praise this Normal version of Vegeta features many accessories and option parts that have previously been requested by fans. In response to these requests S.H.Figuarts Vegeta will feature folded arm parts, four interchangeable hand parts as well as special interchangeable “scouter crushing” hand part, three interchangeable face parts as well as head part with scouter attached, tail parts, effect parts and special support stand for effect parts.

Source: Bluefin Distribution

S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla [1995] Box Art

With the S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla '95 only a week away from being officially released in Japan, Bluefin posted an image of the box art on their Facebook page.

Ultra Toy Review - UltraAct Ultra Seven

It took me some time, but I finally was able to acquire the UltraAct Ultra Seven, one of the few older UltraAct figures that I've been trying to hunt down for quite some time.

I got this figure, preowned, at around $35 USD at Amiami.com (w/o shipping added). The figure came in excellent shape. The box was not damaged, and the figure itself, while sustaining minor paint scuffs, is still is tip-top shape. It came with all of its intended accessories and effects.

The figure stands at around six inches tall, the usual height for any Ultra in this figure line. Being that it is one of the original figures from when this line first came out a couple of years ago, the articulation is not as extensive as the more recent figures are. Regardless, it still has a decent range of motion and can accomplish neat poses. Detailing and paint on this figure are spot on, as usual.

Amongst the accessories, Ultra Seven is provided with various hand gestures along with the typical clenched first hands that are already on the figure when taken out of its box.

There are a pair of normal, unclenched hands.

There's a pair of hands with extended fingers used to display Ultra Seven in a flying pose.

Then there are a pair of hands that can be used to hold Seven's Eye Slugger weapon.

There is also a hand attached to a beam effect (his Wide Shot) as well as a hand attached to a motion effect of a thrown Eye Slugger.

Finally, there's Seven's trademark Emerium Beam effect. There are two parts to this effect - the hands, and the beam itself as seen in the picture below.

 

Overall, the UltraAct Ultra Seven is a really nice figure in this line. I am glad to finally have it after months of searching for it at a decent price. My final rating on this figure is 4.5/5. You get what you see, and it's great! Now I really want to watch the Ultra Seven series. Thank goodness the DVD release of the entire series is next month! :D

Black Friday Sale @ HobbyLink Japan!

As of a half hour ago, HLJ began their Black Friday sale, which will go on from today to Monday. Check out what they have! Their items are separated into prices ranging from 500 to 5000 yen. There is a lot to choose from.

Go quickly before they run out of items!

Next in line for X-Plus

Silhouetted photos of the next two X-Plus figures have surfaced.

It seems only two figures will be released:

Rodan '64 in the 25cm series.

And Barugon. It's unspecified of which line he's in, but apparently from head to tail he's 50cm long! Based on that, I am assuming he's in the 30cm series.

Reordered S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla '95 and Destoroyah

Since I quit buying from Amiami, I immediately switched over to HobbyLink Japan. I immediately reordered the S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla 1995, which I will be shipping to my parents' place in the states just in time for the holidays, and the S.H.MonsterArts Destoroyah for February, which will be shipped here on Guam.

Cancelling My Membership with Amiami

Everyone who orders from them knows that they can charge quite a bit on shipping, both EMS and SAL. However, my last nerve has been strung. The other day, I ordered a preowned Ultra-Act UltraSeven figure for $35 from them. Today I was given the the invoice to pay off. With shipping, my order was over $60 USD! Sure, I knew beforehand that EMS charged quite a bit, and I had been a victim of their freakishly high shipping costs before. However, just now I realized how much money I was essentially throwing away. I still bought the damn thing, because I really wanted it!

However, what about upcoming figures like the S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla (1995) or S.H.MonsterArts Destoroyah. They'll have a field day with shipping charges for those! I've decided that once they shipped out my UltraSeven figure, I'll request cancellation for the former two items. Sure, I'll risk losing my account with them, but so be it! I'd rather buy from vendors such as Hobby Search or HobbyLink Japan over Amiami. With them, shipping is a lot more manageable, and with HLJ, if you don't have the funds to pay it off immediately, then you can have it held in their virtual warehouse till you can fully pay off your bill!

To give Amiami credit though, the high shipping costs benefit people who buy more than one item at once with them. If you buy one item, yeah the shipping is gruesomely high. However, if you buy at least several items from them at the same time, shipping will not change. It will stay the same. In that aspect, yes, you WILL save money. However I do NOT buy figures in bulk. I buy one at a time.

So with that, I am leaving Amiami and returning to my old favorite site, HLJ!

Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo First Six Minutes

With the third installment of the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series opening in theaters throughout Japan yesterday, Saturday November 17th, the first six minutes of the film were shown on television the day before after a showing of Evangelion 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance. Check it out!

Based on Funimation's track record, I think a North American release for this movie may not be until 2014. I really want to see this on BluRay! Based on what I've read on this movie, it is really, and I mean really something! 

Latest Purchase

Well, waiting has finally paid off!

I manage to order myself a pre-owned UltraAct Ultra-Seven off of Amiami for around 2980 yen, which is around $36 USD, which is a pretty sweet deal compared to the price for this item elsewhere. I expect it'll be in decent shape when its delivered. We'll see. This is definitely one item that I have been hunting for for a while. Just happy enough to get it at a fair price.

Now all I need is the Ultra-Act Eleking to go with him!

Great News!

Upon sending Bluefin and Tamashii Nations an email relating to the positive feedback to the S.H.MonsterArts line from ChibiCon last weekend, I also sent them a link to this blog. In response, I was asked if I would like to be on their figure release email list. I immediately agreed.

Therefore, Kaiju Planet will now be receiving up to date press releases on Tamashii Nation figures and products released stateside by Bluefin, coming directly from the source! 

Ultra-Act Ultraman Jack

Sorry for being away for a bit, but here's some new bits.

The Ultra-Act Ultraman Jack from Bandai Tamashii Nations is now up for preorders at sites such as Hobby Search, and Amiami.

This figure is slated for a March 2013 release.

ChibiCon III Review

Well, ChibiCon 3 has come and gone.

While it was not the biggest of all conventions, it was perhaps one of the most fun! I arrived to the event, which was being held at Guam's Pacific Islands Club Hotel (PIC) at around 1:00 in the afternoon, well before doors opened to the public. Since I was exhibiting several of my S.H. MonsterArts figures, I was able to get in for free without paying the $15 entry fee. Upon entering the convention room, I was amazed to see many various figures already displayed! There were Figuarts from the hit anime, Tiger & Bunny; Figmas from Black Rock Shooter, many plastic models of Gundams, and a entire set of mechs from Macross. This is the first year that S.H.MonsterArts  was to be displayed. In previous events, Figuarts of characters from Kamen Rider, and Power Rangers were showcased, however, despite their overwhelming popularity in the States, on Guam they were hardly looked at. The main show runners, who I've become really good friends with last night, were very enthusiastic about the S.H.MonsterArts line since Godzilla is a very well known franchise worldwide, and especially on Guam. I ended up regretting not bringing the rest of my figures such as Fire Rodan, MechaGodzilla, and King Ghidorah. However, I promised that by the next event I'd bring them as well as the newer figures such as Burning Godzilla, Godzilla Junior, and Destoroyah. Around the convention hall, I noticed that there was a booth selling various model kits, Robot Spirits figures, DVDs, and etc. I was kicking myself for not bringing enough money. However, I did end up leaving with some momentos which I'll get to later. By 3:00, we finished setting up, and my new friends and I ducked out for a late lunch before doors opened. When we returned, it was time to begin the event.

As doors opened, hoards of people, most dressed in cosplay, entered the room. In a matter of minutes the place was packed! People immediately began signing up for the various events that would take place over the rest of the afternoon and early evening, they took pictures of all of the figure displays, and checked out what vendors were selling. I as well as other exhibitors remained close to our respective displays, ready to answer any questions relating to the figures or the figure line itself. A lot of people expressed interest with the S.H.MonsterArts figures. To my surprise, a lot, and I mean A LOT of them asked, "Where's Jet Jaguar? Jet Jaguar is the BOMB! Why doesn't he have a figure yet?" I could only respond that, "If Tamashii receives enough fan demand, then yeah, we would ultimately get one." The same could be said about Mothra, which people also asked for a lot too. The display was popular with children too as they would gaze with awe at the display. They knew which movie the characters came from, and without looking at the boxes or labels, knew them by name. It seemed about everyone who I talked to relating to my display was egging to see some of the Showa monsters in the line too like Megalon, MechaGodzilla '74, Gigan, Hedorah, Jet Jaguar, and etc. Hear that Tamashii? Get crackin' on some Showa beasties!

After a half hour, the first Trivia Challenge began. Teams of three were chosen and were asked a series of questions relating to anime. I admit, it was kind of nerdy, but this is what I live for! After that, there was a karaoke contest where people would sing the themes to their favorite anime series. I do admit, a lot of the singers were off key - notably for Gurren Lagann's Rappu ha Otoko no Tamashii da!; or Pokemon's third season opening for Johto Adventures. There were some good ones, though for the record, they were sung by Japanese girls. After the Karaoke contest, there was finally the group cosplay contest. Many entered, and the best group entry were a group of guys dressed in armor from the game, Monster Hunter. There were other good entries such as characters from the Pokemon franchise, or from Black Rock Shooter. Over the course of the evening, there was another Trivia challenge, and a raffle. It was funny that one person ended up winning a lot of the prizes for he bought a lot of raffle tickets.

Thankfully, I did not stand around my display all night, and got in on some of the fun. I had a character done of myself in anime form. While the artist has a lot of talent, she really did not capture my likeness in my portrait. Honestly, it looks a lot more like the camera kid from ICarly! Regardless, it still captures my face. I also ended up buying a plush PokeBall to hang from the mirror in my car.

As the evening died down, prizes from the Trivia, Karaoke, and Cosplay contests were given out. By 8:45 people began leaving and us exhibitors began boxing away our figures. Overall, it was a splendid evening, and I really had a great time! I met some new friends, saw some neat cosplays, admired everyone's figures. It turns out that this year's ChibiCon was their biggest and most organized turnout yet. I was so glad to be a part of it. He then explained that for the next event, there will be a large diorama set that will display Gundams facing off with the S.H.MonsterArts figures! That was perhaps the most awesome concept that any of us heard at that time. After socializing for a bit, I left the convention at 9:00.

Last night was perhaps the funnest experience I've ever had since moving to Guam. After the first 10 minutes of the event, I felt at home. Even though I just met these people, I feel like I've known them forever. They have the same interests and knowledge on the subject matter as I do allowing me to fit in with them very well. It's times like these that make me think again about my choice for leaving the island next summer. Regardless, I was happy, very happy, to be a part of ChibiCon 3. If I choose to remain on Guam after I graduate next semester, I will be grateful to take part in helping out with ChibiCon again.

Figure Labels for ChibiCon

Here are labels I designed for the S.H.MonsterArts figures that I am showcasing at this weekend's ChibiCon.

ChibiCon 2012

I will be attending Guam's annual ChibiCon, which will be held this Saturday.

The convention is centered around figures from anime and tokusatsu. This will be the first year that S.H.MonsterArts will be tossed into the mix, and guess whose donating his figures for the display?

ME!

Yup, I'll be donating my S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla, SpaceGodzilla, Little Godzilla, and MOGERA for the convention. I decided to go with the roster from Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) mainly due to the limited space they have for the MonsterArts display, and that I just did NOT want to haul the massive King Ghidorah with me and risk breaking its wings!

I will definitely be posting pictures after the event. It's only one day, so I'll be getting my figures back in the evening.

I can't wait! XD

More Photos of the S.H. MonsterArts Aggregate & Flying Destoroyah

*Note: There are two different sculpts of the Aggregate Destoroyah's presented. The differences are subtle, but they're definitely there. 

HansenArts

My new blog, HansenArts is now up!

*Guess where I got inspiration for the name... XD

Feel free to check it out. However, at the moment, none of my art work is up. Over the coming weeks and months I'll be updating the blog with many examples of my work, old and new.

New Blog in the Works!

In 2013, I hope to start up a new blog that will focus on my artwork.

It will be my official online portfolio, which will showcase my work in both illustration, and graphic design. I intend to sell prints of my work as well as conduct business relating to design work and etc. through there as well.

Anyways, make sure to look out for it.

I'll be posting updates on the progress of its development occasionally.

Aggregate & Flying Destoroyah Forms Unveiled

At a recent event celebrating Godzilla's 58th Anniversary, Tamashii Nations has returned the S.H. MonsterArts Aggregate Destoroyah as well as finally unveiling the Flying form as well.

No word yet regarding whether they'll be Standard releases, or Web Exclusives.

New Evangelion 3.0 Theatrical Trailer

A theatrical trailer showcasing brand new footage from Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo has just surfaced yesterday at the official Evangelion website. I hesitate to say anything except that it's pretty epic! Check it out:

Destoroyah, Nexus, & Mewtwo up for Preorder!

The S.H. MonsterArts Destoroyah, Ultra-Act Ultraman Nexus and D-Arts Mewtwo are now up for reservation at Amiami, and Hobby Search. Check them out now!

S.H. MonsterArts Destoroyah Promo Pictures

Promo pics of the S.H. MonsterArts Destoroyah are now up!
The figure is slated to release in February 2013, and cost 12,600 Yen (approx. $157 USD)

Note: At the moment, it does not look like this figure will be coming with any accessories.