Buffalostyle's OtakuWorld

Toys, toys and more toys...

2011-10-11T11:12:00.012-06:00

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Krew wasn't able to go to New York Comic Con this year.

So, I'm going back over my NDK experience and some of the things that I picked up in the Dealer's Room. My favorite purchase for this year was the Revoltech: Queen's Blade figure, Alleyne. Now, people who know me know that I absolutely LOVE Revoltechs and, as a lover of fanservice, this Queen's Blade figure was right up my alley.

Over the years, Revoltech has gotten better and better as I just love the fact that Alleyne's cloak has joints in it to make for "dramatic" poses.

Revoltech purchases come in bunches for me so when the Krew saw this figure, they were inspired to put together a group purchase on Hobbylink Japan. We all bought Queen's Blade figures with mine being my favorite character, Menace. I can't wait to get her...probably be sometime around my b-day...

Sticking with the toy theme, Card picked up some SDCC exclusives this year even though we were unable to go this summer. He has friends in the He-Man community who hooked him up. Among the things that he got was the new 8" Lion-O figure from Bandai. Very nice. In fact, I decided that I wanted one as well.

Going hand-in-hand with the new ThunderCats tv show, the "Classic ThunderCats" figures were a welcome addition to my toy collection.

If I could have only stopped with just the 8" toys, I would be better off however, the 6" figures were for the new series and I dig that size (from my Marvel Legends days).

These toys ROCK as I picked up all three of the first wave of 6 inchers...

It took a while to get used to the new design for Panthro but, I'm kinda digging his new look more and more each day. As for the Mumm-Ra, it's a very nice figure but it's legs are too short and it is missing the wings (you could tell that there was a place for wings on this figure...too bad).

Then there is the "crack" of the ThunderCats toy line....the 4" figures...

You know, I did NOT want to buy these...I mean, I'm trying to collect specific things. The 8"ers I like because they are the classic characters and the 6"ers are right up my alley as a collector but...it was the doggone "ThunderTank" that pried my money from my wallet and led to my picking up the entire first wave of 4 inch figures...

No control, whatsoever....still, the tank is pretty kick ass...

Just last night, I picked up my Marvel Universe X-23 figure and consider me impressed/happy. I remember the Marvel Legends version of X-23 was VERY disappointing. The sculpt was HORRIBLE as she was rocking a head that was too big for her body. Now, this figure....Hasbro got it RIGHT!!!

Proportions are right on, the sculpt is tight and it is an all-around fun/nice toy to own. As a fan of this character, I think I can say for all of us..."it's about time"...

Of course, Marvel Universe has been tearing it up lately with it's last two waves being outstanding. I mean, I've seen the new Steve Rogers and it is SICK. Honestly, I was seriously thinking about dropping this line but, if they keep this up, they will continue to get my hard-earned cash.

What good times were had...

2011-10-01T09:44:00.011-06:00

NDK 2011 has come and gone but, when trying to recollect what happened this year, the memories are still pretty fresh on the mind.

One thing I will have you know about this year's edition of NDK was that it was the 15th anniversary of our con. Very impressive! And we (NDKers, as well as the con itself) have come a long way...

I remember when I first heard about this anime convention, it was 1999 and I was living in Westminster, Colorado at the time. Back then, you had to send payment for pre-reg away to California as registration was being handled there. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the con that year and I didn't actually make my NDK debut until 2002. As it was the first NDK after 9/11, it had a pretty large crowd as the 2001 NDK was deeply affected by the tragedies on the east-coast. Quite a few guests weren't able to make it that year but, in 2002, we had a gang of guests...As it was my first anime convention, I pretty much surveyed the situation to see the sights and to get my footing.

Flash forward 10 years to Nan Desu Kan 2011 the 15th anniversary...what a fun trip it has been, overall. Sure, there are some things about this con that are pretty frustrating to me but, all in all, I still enjoy it.

For this year, we (the OtaKrew) didn't spend as much time at the bar as we did last year. Saved a lot of money that way so that we could actually pick up some neat items in the dealer's room.

With Harmony Gold (Robotech peeps) back in the house for their 4th straight year, you just know that I went to any and all panels Robotech-related. We even got Zormaster to come on down for dinner with the Robotech crew on Saturday night right after their panel. (He missed last year's NDK due to a scheduling conflict) After finding him a pass (shhhh), ZM was able to enjoy the con with us for Saturday night and for Sunday. Saturday night saw my return as a judge on the "Robot Rumble" panel(from my view on the panel)
...it was also cool because one of the other judges on the panel actually reads this blog! How cool is that?

Below is just a sampling of the cosplay that I was able to snag pics of. I have a lot more that I may post throughout the rest of the year.

Below is an OtaKrewer who cosplayed as Bonta-kun from "Full Metal Panic" on Saturday night...

He was VERY popular...

Good times Bonta-kun, good times...

Below is an OtaKrewer with one of this year's Japanese guests...

This is Ryusei Nakao who is known as the voice actor for Frieza and Cooler from Dragonball Z. He has also done voice acting for Bleach (Mayuri Kurotsuchi), Armitage III (Rene) and Weiss Kreuz (Farfarello) among others...

As I said above, this was a very fun con. While there were some panels that I really wanted to see, I went to several that I was pleased with. "Olde Tyme Anime" (brought to us by the good folks at "Gimme Anime") was a blast like usual. Too bad I missed the other panels that they produced "Nan Desu Video" and "Mystery Anime Theater" which featured Tekken: The Movie...I heard it was craptacular (which is actually good in this case). I also missed the panel that I suggested a few years ago "NDK Late Night". Bummer...It was at the same time as "Robot Rumble"...

With the amount of fun that I had this year, I look forward to what the future brings for Nan Desu Kan.

Some catchin' up to do Part 1

2011-07-24T23:03:00.000-06:00

Inspired by all of the tweets that I received from San Diego Comic-Con this year, I have finally decided to get back on the blogosphere with a little overview of last year's SDCC.

Our first day in town, we ventured out into the Gaslamp District to see what trouble we could get into during our stay. We ran into this Cartoon Network-themed pizzaria and decided to step on in.

The food was pretty good and we kept it in mind for a future visit...

Preview Night was on the menu afterwards...as we stood in a long, yet speedy, line to get our con badges and swag... Once inside, I finally understood what all of the hullabaloo was about.

This convention was BIG!!! Bigger than any other con that I have ever had the pleasure of going to...and we, the OtaKrew, geeked out... I saw the above Gundam-themed backpack in the dealer's room on Preview Night...Honestly, I could have taken more pics from that night but I was just overcome by the vast amount of geekiness that I was engaging in...

The next day was spent standing in more lines in order to pick up Con Exclusives like the Carded Marvel Universe Galactus, Zentradi battlepod, etc.

While in line, we met this guy with this cooler than cool tattoo. You know, one thing about this con that I noticed early on was that the con-goers where really, really nice. I mean, if you wanted to take pictures, they took time for you. People were very polite. I was very impressed.

Another neat thing that happened while standing in this line was that someone recognized my KCUV t-shirt (a radio station from Boulder, Colorado)...It really is a small world as we met quite a few people from Colorado in San Diego.

Then there were the cosplayers...

Gotta love this version of Leia...

Then there were quite a few Baronesses but this one was easily among the best that I saw...

We went to the Robotech panel the first official night and saw this awesome Misa/Lisa cosplayer...afterwards we went out with some people from RobotechX as well as Tommy Yune and Tony Oliver (Rick Hunter)...a good time was had by all at Dick's Last Resort.

While we were there, we met World Champion pole dancer, Felix Cane...

She was nice enough to take a picture with me before heading off for the evening...

As for us, after the bar closed, we went back to the pizzeria from the previous day to munch on a few slices of pizza...

The first "official" day of Comic-con in the books and we were just starting to get loosened up...Here's Card and I sporting our Galactus gear while waiting in (another) line... Is there a theme here?

With laughter, hugs and kisses, NDK 2010 comes to a close

2010-09-23T14:32:00.002-06:00

I actually started writing this particular post over a week and a half ago. My NDK musings were more fresh then but, as has been the case for some time now, I haven't had much time to actually put my thoughts down lately. Work....go figure. Hopefully, I can get better at putting these posts together in a more timely manner.

This year's NDK was kind of odd to me. Sure, I did have a very good time but the problem was that I'm not sure that I got out and enjoyed it as much as I should have. To start off, more members of the Krew didn't make it this year and then I didn't hit NEARLY the amount of panels that I usually do. I mean, I did hit the "History of Robotech, Part 1" and the "Robotech and the Legacy of Carl Macek" panels. However, I missed the "Robotech Free-for-All" on Sunday. In fact, I missed a panel on Satoshi Kon, the Giant Robot Rumble and "The Late Show" program. Missing "The Late Show" was especially bad because I was the one who came up with the idea and I really wanted to see what they did with it.

So, what did I do at NDK this year? Well....I did spend most of con in "party mode" with my friends who did make it.
We spent quite a bit of time in the atrium at the bar (our tabs were HUGE), walking through a depleted artist's alley (some of my personal favs were missing this year) and browsing through an impressive dealer's room.

This year was also odd in that we didn't have any part in running karaoke for the first time in over 10 years. Due to a..."misunderstanding"... my friends who have run NDK's best and longest running karaoke room were not asked back. We found ourselves fielding questions from karaoke regulars all weekend about the "how's" and "why's". To be honest with you, it was this decision that ran off more of the Krew as karaoke was their "clincher" for coming to NDK in the first place. That said, the 3 main members of the karaoke-crew did come to NDK and we spent most of our time at con together. I was proud of them for not letting that horrible decision keep them from participating (and having fun) as attendees.

So, going back to the panels I did make...
The "Robotech and the Legacy of Carl Macek" panel was PACKED...In fact, I was very lucky to get the front-row seat that I got. What really made the panel fun for me was listening to Rebecca Forstadt talk about working on the TV show. As she was the voice actress for Minmei, it was kind of weird listening to her talk as I kept thinking, "OMG, Minmei is talking to me!" She was a very gracious guest as was Barbara Goodson (Marie Crystal and Sera).One funny thing about this panel was Kevin McKeever (marketing coordinator for Harmony Gold) was texting throughout the panel and my Godzilla ring-tone kept going off every minute or so...

As is the case with me and cons, in general, I like taking pictures of cosplayers...

Easily one of my favorite cosplay pics from this year's NDK (they were VERY nice). Steam punk was pretty much everywhere at the con. There were cosplayers, panels and even the program was steam punk-inspired.

Yoko from Gurren Lagaan was on the menu (yet again) this year as I was looking for any and all things Yoko.

Some of my favorite Yoko cosplay...

Then there was the Yoko merchandise...below are some friends with a Yoko body pillow. You know, I never thought that I would ever purchase one of these but I ended up getting one as well.

Unfortunately, I didn't get as many cosplay pics as I normally would, and with Madarame not making the con this year, my cosplay pics are pretty meager to say the least.

One of my favs...

Not necessarily a cosplay pic but this is a friend of mine (Mr. Funny Cap) who donned this cap when we went out for breakfast on Saturday to the Original House of Pancakes. You should have seen the looks we got that day. Of course, we weren't the only con-goers there since it is just a few blocks away from the DTC Marriott.

With much sadness, on Saturday night we said goodbye to one of our favorite con guests, Wendy Powell. The con program guide said that it was her "fourth and final NDK appearance". When we first saw that line, we were alarmed to say the least as we thought it a mistake to determine how many times a guest could come to NDK. I mean, if the fans still want to see her and she is willing to come, then we should be able to see Wendy as many times as we want to. However, most of our concerns were answered by Wendy herself as she told us that she was leaving the voice acting biz to become a teacher. There were some tearful hugs and goodbyes. Man...is it selfish of me to hope that she comes back someday?

Sunday was spent checking out of the hotel and watching football early and getting autographs in the mid-afternoon.

Mr. Funny Cap was busy cracking me up while we were waiting in line by doing some Minmei imitations. That dude knows all the words to all of the Minmei Robotech songs...hilarious...

So post-con, we went out for a little bite to eat at Red Robin. While there we played the "Who would you be in this manga/anime?" game...it was a terrific way to top off the weekend as we just transferred our gekkiness to another "normal" business.

I was voted the Shin Mitaka (from Maison Ikkoku) of the group. Not really sure what that says about me...anywho, as I didn't post anything from my trip to ComiCon, I will need to dust off the pics I took from that particular trip soon.

DECULTURE!!!

In production...Turn A Gundam...

2010-07-16T12:37:00.000-06:00

With the OtaKrew deciding to get back to our model-making ways, I decided to snap some pics of my early efforts. The below model is my MSN-03 Jagd Doga from the Char's Counterattack movie.This was my first attempt at painting a Gunpla model. There were some areas that I did OK on however, as a whole, the kit could have been done MUCH better.The above model is my HGUC ORX-005 Gaplant from Zeta Gundam. This was done for the Krew's diorama that we put together for NDK07.

This thing was pretty huge and it was a lot of fun to do. Unfortunately, this happened to be the last NDK that all of the Krew attended.

Currently, I am working on the Master Grade Turn A Gundam. Now, I have been "working" on this particular kit for over a year and I recently decided to actually finish it.

With work being as hectic and stressful as it is, I really do need something to calm the nerves and I have decided that Gunpla modeling is it.Actually, I thought that I was a little further along than this but...oh well, it IS a start...

The model below is the MG MSZ-006-3 Zeta 3.I WISH this were a kit that I had done, however, this is actually OtaKrew member Indaglow's model. I should have taken him up on the offer to buy it from him but, in the end, I'm glad to see what he ended up doing with it. I think that it came out VERY well.

With Indaglow being one of the better modeler's in the Krew, I find myself getting ideas from him all of the time in regards to how to do this or how to do that.For instance, one area that I have struggled with over the years is the application of ink to my kits. In the past, I would ink my kits after putting them together. While it may seem very obvious to many, Indaglow's suggestion that I apply the inking while the parts are still on the sprew came as a great discovery to me. I don't know why really. I mean, it's so easy...a caveman can do it...ba dum dum...

Once I finish this kit, I plan on starting up on my MG MS-18E Kampfer next. Perhaps if I feel cocky..er...confident enough, I will finally get to my Perfect Grade Strike Gundam.

Watched a movie last week that the good folks from Viz Pictures brought to us by the name of "Battle League Korumo".I wasn't too sure what to expect but I am happy that I decided not to check out on the movie as it did turn out to be a pleasant surprise.
The movie is based on the fantasy novel "Kamogawa HORUMO" by Manabu Makime. The story is basically about a Kyoto University student (Akira Abe) fresh out of two years worth of cram school and his being introduced to a club called Azure Dragon. Let's just say that Azure Dragon is not all that it seems as Abe is introduced to the world of Horumo. It's a world filled with strange chants, even stranger gestures and oni.

One note of interest was that the actor playing the part of Abe was Takayuki Yamada who also starred as the awkward otaku in "Train Man: Densha Otako" another WONDERFUL movie brought to us by Viz Pictures. Keep it up Viz, you are most definately on a roll!!!

DECULTURE!!!

Just over a month away...

2010-06-15T13:50:00.014-06:00

It's kind of embarrassing for me to admit but, while looking over some of my pics from last year's NDK, I came upon a pic that I really liked.

Taken on Saturday while I was on my way to a Robotech panel, I came upon this gorgeous cosplayer and I had to take a picture. It wasn't until months later that I realized that this was none other than the COSPLAY IDOL, TristenCitrine. This is somewhat embarrassing for me due to the fact that she has cosplayed the BEST Cutie Honey I have ever seen and that I have always wanted to meet her.

I had pictures of her donning the Cutie Honey togs in a photoshoot from 2008 when she debuted the costume but, I always wondered if she ever took it to a con before.Upon further investigation, I found that the lucky con-goers from Sakura Con (2008) were graced with the awesomeness of TristenCitrine's Cutie Honey. Oh, I am sooo jealous...

Hopefully, she makes it back to NDK again this year.I wonder if she will break that costume out ever again?

Anywho, with ComiCon coming up in just over a month away, I'm putting the finishing touches on my wishlist.

Near the top is this Microman Cutie Honey.
I have a history with this VERY hard to find toy.

I have been known to bid on items from Yahoo Japan from time to time. It's where I get a lot of my cels (as well as hard to find Japanese toys) from. I actually won this in an auction for just a little over $100. Imagine the disappointment when my auction was cancelled without warning.
Bummer...I know that some Japanese sellers don't like selling to overseas buyers. That's why I use a proxy to act as an in-between. Oh, well...you win some and you lose some. Thankfully, I didn't lose any money in the transaction.

MONDAY NIGHT FORUM
So, we have been watching Gundam ZZ at forum for the past couple of months. Being the UC-based Gundam freak that I am, I was really looking forward to seeing it.Sure, I had heard bad things about it but I wanted to see for myself what the big fuss was about. Initially, I can honestly say, Gundam ZZ deserved all of the bad reviews that it had received but around episode 22ish the story began to get better. It began to actually FEEL like Gundam again. We are currently on episode 32 and it looks like this is going to turn bloody soon.

One of the things that initially sold me on Gundam ZZ was the main antagonist, Haman Karn (or Khan in some circles). She is, quite possibly, one of my favorite characters in all of anime and easily one of my favorite characters in the Gundam Universe. Very strong-willed woman who is a very charismatic leader. Of course there is that undying love of Char Aznable that she has to contend with.What the world needs now is more Haman cosplay...Looking for a Haman I-Doll at ComiCon, for sure...Then there is the RAH-DX figure.From some of the reviews that I have read about it online, it tends to be a leaner and needs a little doctoring up and some TLC. However, with how much I love my RAH-DX Lunamaria Hawke figure, I can see myself springing for one of these too.

Ah...ComiCon could be a VERY expensive trip. Especially if the cel dealers that I normally buy from show up....

DECULTURE!!!

R.I.P. Carl Macek (1951-2010)

2010-04-19T09:36:00.004-06:00

The plan was to write about StarFest and how much fun it was and yadda, yadda, yadda...but, the news of Carl Macek's passing made that a moot point.The shockwave hit the Robotech fandom pretty hard late Sunday night as news of his passing spread like wildfire.

I know that Carl Macek was a very polarizing figure in Robotech/Macross fandoms (heck, anime fandom in general) and you can say what you will but MANY American anime fans owe their fandom to Carl Macek and his baby, Robotech.

With the Krew going to ComiCon in San Diego this July, I was really looking forward to seeing several of my fanboy favorites. Carl Macek was on my short-list of people that I wanted to meet.

What a loss...however, his legacy will endure.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Macek family, his friends and his extended family...

I'm pretty impatient...

2010-04-02T12:24:00.010-06:00

Initially, the plan was to pick up the MPC Alphas when I hit Comic-Con. Pfft...Yeah, right...me being who I am, there was honestly no way that I was going to wait that long.

I got my MPC VFA-6ZX (Maia) just recently and I must say that I am quite pleased with my purchase. There has been a lot of chatter on Robotech-related sites about the Alphas and their poor quality. As it is, the only issue that I have with my Maia Alpha is a small gap on the left wing.

Speaking with Tommy Yune at NDK last year about the first release of the Maia Alphas, I really looked forward to seeing what they did with the re-released version 2.
We were told that the mold was going to be re-made and that the paint job was to be re-done as well.

Upon opening my Maia, the first thing that I noticed is that it looked as though the previous issues with the paint job had been corrected. No smudges!!! As for the mold, I didn't get the first version so I didn't really have anything to compare this one to. Having said that, I know a solid toy when I see one and, thankfully, I had one in my greedy hands.The joints were solid and the toy had good balance. I'm really looking forward to the Marcus Rash MPC Alpha. Hopefully, we don't have to wait too long for it.

Something that I got for Christmas last year was this VR-052F from Mospeada (MegaHouse). It was probably the crown jewel from Christmas for me.

It was kind of a pain to transform, though...

What I will be looking for during con season is Yellow's VR-041 which is also from MegaHouse.

This will probably take the place of the Alphas as the much sought-after toy (along with a Beta) at Comic-Con, for me.

I really like this particular mech as it was, actually, my favorite Mospeada on the show. Plus, it was the mech used by my favorite character Yellow Belmont. (Gotta love those cross-dressing bishonen singers, LOL)

Something that I have really enjoyed on the comic book front has been X-Force and the Necrosha X event.

One of the neat things has been the variant covers like the above cover parodying "Interview With A Vampire". Makes sense, no?

I have always liked Selene the Black Witch and felt that she should be featured more. Probably has something to do with my vampire kick. Honestly, though, she probably works best in small doses. Anywho, the story is basically about Selene having millions of dead mutants come back to life in order to use their power to make her a goddess. So far this event has been good but then, X-Force has been something of a personal fave of mine ever since it's re-launch.

Speaking about kicks.

This movie was a VERY pleasant surprise for me. Michael Jai White stars as Black Dynamite a man who, as the title says, is 50% supercool, 50% Kung-Fu and 100% Dynamite!!! You know, if you have a love of spoofs, you have got to see this movie. Blaxploitation has NEVER been done this well...

Forum Watchin': We have been watching the final Inu Yasha arc for a while and it finally came to an end, for us, just this past Monday. While the ending was predictable it was what we have come to expect from a Rumiko Takahashi manga/anime and as someone who has been watching/reading Inu Yasha religiously for years, I (personally) was VERY happy with it. People ended up with who they were supposed to end up with...but...the biggest question was, "Where will Kagome and Inu Yasha end up"? Of course, we are still getting the manga from VIZ (currently at volume 46 out of 56) so my Inu Yasha journey is not over just yet. Then there's the DVD release....

StarFest (and ComicFest for that matter) are just over two weeks away...Here we Go!!!

DECULTURE!!!

Coming up on Con Season!!!

2010-03-13T10:20:00.045-07:00

So, let the above images fester in the mind for a moment. I will get back to that soon.

As the title states, it is time for my con season to begin. Sure, I did miss out on Anime Wasabi (AW) last weekend but my season truly begins with StarFest (SF) every year as it and Nan Desu Kan (NDK) are my two main cons.

The annual mid-April geek-fest that is StarFest gets me in the right frame of mind when it comes to my fanboy tendencies.

Being the fan of cosplay that I am, I love getting around and taking pics of all the people dressed up in costumes.
Of course, members of the OtaKrew love meeting new people, too.With the addition of the Comic Fest, most of the Krew went to SF last year and it looks like it will be a repeat showing this year.

What we are really looking forward to is the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) in July.

While both Cyphr and Card have been to SDCC, the rest of us haven't gone before so this will be a real treat.

Wishlist...of course there is a wishlist....
Since this is the 25th anniversary for Robotech, the good ol' folks from Robotech.com/Harmony Gold will be there. At the top of my wishlist is this Masterpiece Collection toy....also, this YF-11C from Yamato. I have coveted this particular toy for quite some time.

Now, with this being a comic convention, at heart, I'm obviously going to want to pick up some comics. I'm really kicking myself for letting go of these particular comics some time ago.

As it is, I already know that I may have to pay an arm and a leg for these.
Now, this Uncanny X-Men number 138 is one that I want to get Chris Claremont to re-autograph for me. I owned this comic once with an autograph that Claremont signed for me back in 1980 but I ended up selling it along with my X-collection up to that point(issues 99-156). Dumb. While I do have a rather substantial X-collection, I'm still paying for that to this day.

Along with picking up comics, I also want to meet some of the talent.I would really like to meet/get an autograph/get a picture with Jim Balent. I've been following him for quite some time since his stint on Catwoman. Is there anyone who draws a better woman than Balent?

Then there is Fred Perry.

I've been following Perry for around 10 years and I love his stuff.

I want to see about getting this portfolio autographed.

Question: Is there such a thing as too many Slave Leia cosplayers?

I think not...

I will be on a mission to take as many pictures of as many Slave Leia's as possible.Hopefully, there will be some photo-ops of Slave Leia harems.

Olivia Munn....what can you say.

Then there is the new costume. Hot New Hope Leia.
So the question from the top of the blog is...which side of the fence are you on? Are you a Slave Leia fanboy or are you into the sexy New Hope Leia?

When I first saw Star Wars back in the day, I absolutely loved Princess Leia in her original outfit. I thought that it was pretty hot in it's own way so if I am forced to choose...I'm going to have to go with New Hope Leia...

Here's hoping for some cosplay of this particular outfit in the upcoming con season.

I will be on the lookout.

DECULTURE!!!

OtaKrew hits some new shows on Monday Night Forum

2009-10-22T22:30:00.001-06:00

So, the OtaKrew is getting around to watching some new shows at Monday Night Forum.

With the fansub pimp, Cyphr, and I being BIG fans of Fullmetal Alchemist, the new FMA show was an obvious pick-up for Forum. "FMA: Broherhood" is, basically, a retelling of the FMA story but this time around it follows the manga much more closely than the first FMA anime did. Sure, the first FMA followed the manga up until it caught up to (and passed) the manga. Then the series did what most anime put in similar circumstances will do, make up new storylines. Gotta say that I am really digging this one, though, as we finally get to see new characters Lin and Mai (two of my favorites). Cannot wait until we get introduced to Major General Armstrong. (le sigh)We are currently on season two of this series and the OtaKrew are pleased...If you have a chance at picking this up on a fansub, I suggest you check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Another long-awaited (for me, anyway) series is "Inu Yasha: The Final Act".
MILD SPOILER ALERT

This anime is finishing up the story from manga number 36 through to the end of the story at manga 56. What is cool is that it picked up right were the first anime left off and, as someone who has been reading Inu Yasha religiously, I am very happy that what I have seen so far. Gotta love the fact that Sesshomaru is, currently, getting a lot of airtime as he has shown up in all three of the episodes that have been shown. Sadly, one of my favorite characters died in the second episode. Honestly, it brought a tear to my eye when I read first read it in the manga and I did get a little sniffy watching it on TV too.

And then there is "Tokyo Magnitude 8.0".
MILD SPOILER ALERT!!!

Wow. What a fantastic show this was. I say was because we have already seen all 11 episodes of this show and we (the OtaKrew) came away VERY impressed.

The setting is based on the prediction that Tokyo will be hit by a 7.0 magnitude (or higher) earthquake in the next 30 years. The story follows two young kids (Mirai and her little brother Yuki) who are caught up in an 8.0 magnatude earthquake in Tokyo and are trying to get back home.

Mirai and Yuki meet up with a young woman, Mari, who assists them in making their way through the devastated city.

Don't want to give anything away but, if any of us saw this show by ourselves, we would have cried like babies at the end. Think "Grave of the Fireflies" sad...

Anywho, after all this talk of sad (but good) anime, I need something to make me happy to finish off this post....I know....how about my favorite WWE diva....

MELINA!!!

DECULTURE!!!

I'm addicted to Protoculture....

2009-10-05T14:20:00.006-06:00

So, I decided to go down memory lane today and I pulled out my DVD of "Macross: Do You Remember Love?". Man, I forgot how much I absolutely LOVE that movie. It's, easily, one of my favorite anime movies of all time.

I remember when I first "discovered" the movie and how it really grabbed me with the music, designs (both mecha and characters) and the revamped storyline.

I really, really need to get an R2 version of the movie. As it is, I have a VHS copy of it and a really good fansub. Not to mention my..ahem..Hong Kong "imported" DVD.

For people who really know me, I am something of a collector. So, when it comes to my toy collection, I'm seriously thinking about selling anything and everything that isn't Macross/Robotech-related. I mean, really, I can't collect everything anymore and my love for Macross/Robotech is pretty strong.

I really love the Yamato Macross toy line. The picture above is of my beloved VF-11B from Macross Plus.

While I know that there are a lot of issues with this particular toy, I just really love the mecha, itself.

Just recently, I found out on the Macross World forums that Yamato is going to release the VF-11C from Macross 7. What an absolutely beautiful mech this is.My 11B is a 1/72 scale while the 11C is a 1/60 scale. I think that I am going to have to buy two of these.

Of course, there is the YF-19 that I covet as well.

Easily one of the most popular Valks in the Macross Universe. Right up there with the VF-1S (Skull Leader, baby!!!)

I really want one of these...

The above toys are something new from the good folks at Yamato, the GN-U Dou. This line is pretty much Yamato's answer to the Revoltechs. The only thing is that they are a little bit bigger but also a little bit more expensive than the Revoltechs.

When I go to cons, I frequent the dealer's room looking for Macross-related merchandise. So, along with the toys, I also keep an eye out for artbooks as I have a pretty sizable collection. The Macross artbooks that I have picked up over the years happen to be some of the best (and most difficult to find) artbooks that I own.

This artbook showcases the beautiful art from Haruhiko Mikimoto and happens to be one of my favorites.

The artbooks below, I found at Anime Wasabi in 2008. They had an AWESOME dealer's room that year but I was a little disappointed with the con as a whole this year, though. No new artbook purchases for me.

With the popularity of Macross Frontier, all kinds of things have come out in the last year or so that are Macross-y. One of those things is the "Macross Ace" magazine.

This magazine is pretty darn cool as it is brought to us by the good folks at Kadokawa and it specializes in Macross-related manga, light novels, music, games and toys. (Right up my alley!!!) One of the things that I am looking forward to is the "Super Dimension Fortress MACROSS- The First" manga being serialized inside. It is, basically, a retelling of the original Macross story done up with art from the amazing Mikimoto. This cover is of issue 002 which came out in June. The third issue comes out in November.

Gotta start getting this mag!!!

Let's do some cosplayin'

You know I love cosplay, right? What's better than a little Macross-themed cosplay...

FIRE BOMBER!!!

What this world needs more of is....Minmay cosplay....
DECULTURE!!!

Does it really have to end???

2009-09-15T00:23:00.000-06:00

So, with NDK09 having come and gone, I am reminded of two MAJOR rules that I have concerning my con.

1. ALWAYS get a room at the con hotel. For whatever reason this year, I didn't keep my hotel reservation and I deeply regret the decision. Having the ability to come and go as I please is the main reason to have a room in the first place. Me going home between 2am and 6am only to come back for a 10am panel is ridiculous. Never again.
and...
2. ALWAYS take the week post-NDK as a vacation. I always tend to find myself feeling down (the post-con blues) following the convention. It usually starts immediately following closing ceremonies while I am walking to my car as my mind will go over the events of the weekend and I will get sad. That's why I like to have the week after NDK off so that I don't have to worry about...work.

As has become the custom for OtaKrew over the past three years, we rolled up to the Denver Tech Center (DTC) Marriott on Thursday. We do this so that we can let our hair downand kick it with the con guests before the craziness starts. Think of it as the calm before the storm. The bar happens to be our meeting place so, it was pretty neat when they asked us to come up with some names for some con-specific drinks. There was a red drink (Asuka Meltdown), blue (Perfect Blue), Pink (Honey Flash), Green (Jupiter Thunderclap) and orange (Orange Road). My personal favs were the Jupiter Thunderclap and the Honey Flash.

On Friday, the Dealer's Room was the place to be and it was PACKED!!! I did find the Revoltech Yoko from Gurren Lagann that I was looking for. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything from Queen's Blade that I liked. Later on that evening, we went to a panel presented by Roger from Gimme Anime (buffalostyle's official anime store) called "Old Time Anime". It was excellent as usual since Roger always shows something that I have never seen before. The only bad thing was that I missed two other panels that I was interested in going to,"The Death of the Anime Industry" and "Anime Girl Fight" presented by Steve Yun from Robotech.com/Harmony Gold. As we were poised to see the "Mystery Anime Theater" coming up next, we were asked to leave the room and get in line with the masses that had gathered while we were inside watching Roger's panel. I can see where they were going with this but it was kind of unfair since many of the people in the room left. I guess that I could have stayed if I really wanted to (I'm sure Roger would have let us stay) but, we decided to go to the bar for some more late-night...celebrating.Saturday started out pretty early for me as the plan was the see the "30 Years of Gundam" panel. It was a hard choice for me as we also had an NDK premiere of the "Case Closed 3" movie. In the end, I guess I was meant to see the movie as the panel was at standing room capacity in no time. No prob. Case Closed, here I come....and it was VERY good!!! Next up came the "Robotech: Past, Present and Future" panel presented by Tommy Yune (with an assist from Steve Yun). It was a blast!!! Got my first look at the Masterpiece Collection (MPC) Beta Fighter. Let me just say that I...AM...IN...LOVE!!! (I seem to fall in love with mecha alot, eh?)
Looks like I am going to have to pick up more of the MPC's afterall (from Robotech.com, of course). We were set to go to the Robot Rumble (Steve's awesome panel/gameshow)
again but, karaoke (and our good friend, Chris) came calling. It was a blast as I got to be a judge this year. Didn't leave until 5:30am. (Again, I will definately have a room from now on)

The last day of con started with me nursing a slight....hangover.. as I made it to the "Robotech Free for all". A couple of people were wondering where we were the previous evening as we said we would make the "Rumble". Once they saw how I looked and when I said the words "karaoke" and "judging", they understood. Both Tommy Yune and Steve Yun were a joy to be around and it was good to see the local Robotech-ites again.

Honestly, we need to do a better job of keeping in touch. Seeing Zormaster's toys (and Collector's panel) was a lot of fun for me. While I do own quite a bit of Robotech merchandise, my collection is nowhere NEAR Zormaster's level.

So, seeing how much fun that I packed into a four day convention, can you understand how I experience post-con sadness? While some of the Krew have written off the con due to it's size and the overabundance of younger fans, I still enjoy my time there. In fact, I look forward to being a part of NDK for years to come.

DECULTURE!!!

Say it isn't so ADV...

2009-09-10T11:38:00.000-06:00

So, it's official...ADV Films (as we know it) went out of business last week. And with it's demise, the domestic anime industry is entering into a new era.

Just think, it was just the late 90's early 2000's when ADV was THE bigshot in the industry. There was ADV, Pioneer, VIZ, Funimation, Central Park Media and Bandai (nee: Anime Village). During that time, we saw anime grow in popularity as it got a foothold in our living rooms thanks to Cartoon Network and their anime friendly programming. The Toonami block introduced many kids (young and old) to shows like Dragonball Z, Gundam Wing and Rurouni Kenshin. Anime fandom also got another shot in the arm thanks to CN's Adult Swim block on Saturday nights. This is when we got the motherload of anime shows like Inu Yasha, Gundam, Witch Hunter Robin, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Code Geass and many more.

My personal introduction to true otaku-dom was brought about by Evangelion as it was the first anime series that I ever bought as it was being released.

I remember discovering Eva as it was suggested to me by an employee at my favorite comic shop in Boulder, "Time Warp". I got into it fairly early on in ADV's distibution when it was being released on VHS and I couldn't wait to pick it up at my local Suncoast Video every two months or so. Buying an anime TV series turned out to be the gateway drug to otaku-dom for me and it was all ADV's fault.

Another thing that ADV did that helped foster my geek tendencies was the release and re-release of their shows.

Through each re-packaging of Eva, I was there picking up the new merchandise. I guess you could say that ADV made a lot of money off of people like me.

The next big thing that ADV did was release one of my favorite shows of all time, Robotech, on DVD.

Robotech was one of those shows that I got hooked on a long time ago and, as a fan, I have both ADV and Cartoon Network to thank for it's rebirth.

Of course, as they did with Eva, ADV also released Robotech mutiple times. Along with the initial DVD release, we got clamshell versions, remastered versions and "The Protoculture Collection".

And I was there for every one...

When ADV announced that they were going to release a dubbed version of Macross (featuring Mari Iijima reprising her role as Minmei), I had no choice but to pick that up as well.

Throughout their history, ADV continued to release and re-release it's titles over and over. Case in point, the Original Dirty Pair.

And you can't forget Bubblegum Crisis 2040....

Sure, there were other titles that ADV picked up that I loved.

Azumanga Daioh

Sakura Taisen (Wars)

and Elfen Lied to name a FEW...

However, the love given to older series was apparent when ADV released Gatchaman.

The dub for this show was CLASSIC/FANTASTIC as they would use words that fit the time that the show was made in.

Phrases like, "Can you dig it" and "Right On" were heard many times during the dub. Honestly, you could tell they had a good time making this one and it really made the show for me.

So, a company that was in tune with it's customer's needs as fans and collectors? What went wrong?

ADV's partnership with the Sojitz Corporation (a Japanese investor who helped them acquire new titles) went south early last year and they began to struggle afterwards. The fact that ADV over-reached with attempts at distributing manga (ADV Manga), magazines (Newtype USA), having their own television network (Anime Network) along with licensing everything under the sun led to the split hurting more than it probably should have. Sure, there was a stop-gap in signing a deal with Sentai Filmworks earlier this year but that only delayed the inevitable.

It's sad, really, as ADV is a company that all anime fans kind of grew up with. Couple this with the end of Geneon/Pioneer a few years ago and we are looking at an industry in flux. It seems as though anime is moving away from the mainstream that it flirted with in the early to mid 2000's and going back to it's niche status of the early 90's.

Is this such a bad thing?

With the Cartoon Network scaling back on the amount of anime that it is showing in favor of in-house shows like "Superjail", "Mighty Boosh" and "Squidbillies", we will see if the otaku borne from CN will stick around.

With that said, I'm heading out to NDK. We keep breaking attendance records every year and I'm curious to see what they have in store for us this year.

(photo courtesy DannyChoo.com)
With this year being the 30th anniversary of Gundam, there will be a panel for it. I'm just hoping that it doesn't conflict with the Robotech Tour panels. I don't want to have to choose between the two.

LOL, Ranka Gundam...

Here's to cosplayers and being a card-carrying member of the Otarazzi. Hopefully there is some good Macross Frontier cosplay and, of course, a Cutie Honey or two.

A round of drinks for everyone!!!

DECULTURE!!!

On tap...MY con...NDK!!!

2009-09-05T10:50:00.002-06:00

Well, it's just about that time of year ...NDK time!!!

You know, I love this con as I have had the opportunity to see it grow from the small time to the mid-sized time as far as attendance is concerned. Last year, we were visited by the fellas from the Robotech Tour.

Here is Tommy Yune and Steve Yun kickin' it with Madarame from the OtaKrew. I really need to get Tommy to sign some things for me this year.

Some of the toys on display at Zormaster's booth. These are the Masterpiece Collection Alpha Fighters that I currently covet.

TaaDaa!!! What I have (so far) of the Masterpiece Collection. These are actually in my library at home.

On the cover of the August issue of Hobby Japan resides the one thing that I will be looking high and low for at con this year....the VF-25 Messiah Valkrie from Macross Frontier. This just so happens to be a TRANSFORMABLE model kit from the good folks at Bandai. Ah, yes, I am in love....

Check out my Skull One from Yamato. I LOVE these figures as they are mostly die-cast but the problem that I do have with them is that the joints are a little weak.Yamato side by side with my Revoltech Skull One. Picked up quite a few Revoltech figures at NDK last year. I am going to try REALLY hard to stay away from them this year.

....except for that Yoko that I have had my eyes on....

Speaking of Revoltech figures....

I really like this Haruhi even though I have never really watched the show...

Another thing that I must try to keep away from...GASHAPONS!!!

These things are like CRACK to me and I have told my friends to keep them away from me however, after seeing these Macross F toys, I just may break my own strict rule of NOT buying them.

Last but not least...(photo courtesy Collection DX)
This knockout figure of Sheryl Nome from the good folks at Banpresto is probably going to be another thing that I will need to walk away from NDK with....le sigh...

Anywho, the OtaKrew represented at the Starz Movie Complex in Denver a few weeks ago when we went to see "Evangelion 1.0: You Are Not Alone".

I must say that I was quite pleased with the movie. VERY good. Except for Madarame talking throughout the movie, it was very enjoyable. I had, honestly, forgotten how much I LOVE Eva...

If you are ever driving around Denver......and you happen to see an Exterra with a NERV parking pass on it, you will have just seen the Buffstyle-mobile...

Looking back on this summer's movies that I went to see, I tally up how many times I saw this or that. At the top of the list was "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" with 3 showings.You know, I think some of the reason that I saw G.I. Joe so much was because of Scarlett....Do you really blame me, though?

The other movie that I saw 3 times was "Star Trek"...Yeah, I'm an unabashed Trekkie and I endorse this movie....

Just went to see "Inglourious Basterds" the other day...
I LOVE Quentin Taratino's movies so it was pretty much a given that I was going to check this one out. Gotta say that this movie cracked me up. While it was a little long, it was still an enjoyable time. All of the Tarantino-isms were there and Brad Pitt continues to solidify his spot as my favorite current actor.

Look out Dealer's Room....I'm comin' for YOU....

DECULTURE!!!

Cosplay??? Moi...???

2009-07-25T11:13:00.012-06:00

So, I'm watching Gundam F91 just the other day. It was a movie set in Gundam's Universal Century timeline that was supposed to be turned into a TV series. It was a little disjointed in parts but it had a lot of potential.
Anywho, my main topic comes from something I saw in this movie. There was a bit player in the movie named Arthur who was a friend of the main character, Seabrook Arno. What made Arthur interesting were both how he died (brave/stupid taking on a mobile suit with a grenade launcher) and the fact that he was a black character.
As a black otaku, I have always been fascinated with the Japanese usage of black characters in anime/manga. A lot of that fascination is directed at cosplay opportunities. As I would look kind of strange cosplaying someone like...Vash the Stampede, my only other choices have been to cosplay as soldiers (I had a ZAFT uniform comissioned for me a few years ago) or as anyone with a mask (I have a Panther Claw mask and I've thought of going as a member of Galactor).

Bleach, one of my favorite anime/manga going right now, has more than it's fair share of black characters. The above character, Tousen Kaname, is a great idea for cosplay as this particular outfit (Hueco Mundo) is very simple yet very cool.

Trio of Tousen!!!

The cosplayer, Kungfufish, with a very good Halibel.

Then there is Love Aikawa...Or...Captain Love... This guy is PIMPIN' and a character (Love as a Captain) that I just discovered. For those who follow Bleach, I won't ruin anything for you but there are a lot of questions answered around episodes 205-212.
Cosplaying as Captain Love is something that I would like to do. Too bad I won't be able to pull him off this year at NDK as I'm not going to have the time that I will need to make this happen...Of course, NDK is a liitle under two months away.

Speaking of being a little under two months away...

College football is near....GEAUX TIGERS!!!!
andGO BUFFS!!!

DECULTURE!!!

I Think I'm In Love...

2009-07-16T02:00:00.001-06:00

So, I finally made my trip to Gimme Anime (buffalostyle's official anime shop) the other day and I came away with yet another object that I am obsessing over. In a mistake made by Roger, the May issue of Hobby Japan made it's way into my hold slot. Since I have added and dropped Hobby Japan countless times from my account, the mistake was an honest one. Anywho, Roger realized his mistake but, once I saw the cover, I was instantly smitten.

The PERFECT GRADE ASTRAY GUNDAM!!! Taa Daaa!!!!!

My favorite Gundam of the past few years or so gets the Perfect Grade treatment and what a surprise that was to me as I haven't looked at an HJ in quite some time.The above kit is a 1/100 High Grade Gundam kit. I remember picking up the above kit a few years ago but, since I am so incredibly lazy, I ended up giving the kit away because I didn't feel like having to do too much painting. You see, my painting skills are pretty weak and I don't have the time and equipment needed to do so anyway. Of course, with my new garage, I can actually set up a painting area if I really wanted to.

Here is the box for the Perfect Grade kit.
Smexxy isn't it?

The first (and only) Perfect Grade kit that I purchased was the GAT-X 105 Strike Gundam. I coveted this kit for a VERY long time since I first saw it at Wizard World LA back in 2005. I didn't pick one up that day because I didn't know how I would get it back home as the box is huge. Fortunately, I found it at Colpar Hobbies last year and snatched it right up.

I have yet to put it together.

When I flipped through the HJ, I came upon something that I want as much (probably more, actually) as the PG Astray Gundam. Macross Frontier models from Bandai.

Now, this is the stuff right here as fully transformable Valkries are the $#%@.

I own some of the Yamato Valkries from the "Do You Remember Love" movie and from Macross Plus as well. I really am looking forward to getting some of these models as well as the other Macross Frontier toys.

SUGGESTIONS FROM RINI
So, while I was at Gimme slobbering over the Hobby Japan goodness, Rini came in while I was checking out and made a few manga suggestions to me.

First is Jihai from Toshimi Nigoshi.

This manga is about a boy named Aoi who is courier who is rescued from a delivery gone wrong. He is taken to an orphanage where most of the kids have super-human abilities.

As I was, initially, drawn to the art in the manga, there were some shonen ai aspects early on that made me wonder what Rini had gotten me into. However,the story drew me in about midway through the volume as we learn that Aoi is driven by the need for revenge. There is a political slant that shows up near the end of the volume that really leaves you wanting more. All that said, I'm probably going to give this one at least one more volume to see if I want to continue to buy it.

Next up is 07-Ghost from Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara.

While I haven't gotten to this manga just yet, listening to Rini's description and reading the back cover have really piqued my interest.

It took me a while to get to reading Jihai as I was catching up on my Black Lagoon manga. Very good stuff. Vols. 4 and 5 dealt with Rock and Revy going to Japan with Balaliaka on a "business" trip. The more and more of this I read the more and more I absolutely love it.

Revy cosplay!!!

If you can pull it off, more power to you....

So, I'm at the gym the other day and I'm jammin' out to some anime music on my Crackberry. I come up on some music by the supergroup named JAM Project.

The interesting thing about JAM Project is that they were founded by former 1970's theme song artist, Ichirou Mizuki (Harlock, Mazinger Z), back in 2000. He and several other theme song artists make up the group. (JAM stands for Japan Animationsong Makers)

The song that I am currently digging from this group is "Storm Bringer" from the anime Kotetsushin JEEG. It's funny what kind of pump you can get from listening to this type of music. For instance, I picked up a Greatest Hits album for MOVE at Wizard World LA in 2005.

MOVE is great cardio music.

As it is, the dealer that I bought the MOVE discs from at WWLA05 frequents NDK every year. I think that I will be looking for some JAM Project this year at his booth.

Speaking of music and NDK.

I have a good friend who runs karaoke at NDK. Between him, his brother and I, we are planning on channeling Jackie Moon this year. HA!!! THAT should be fun....

DECULTURE!!!

A fanboy's dream summer...so far...

2009-07-03T00:04:00.012-06:00

So, I went to go see "Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen" (again) this evening at the Movie Tavern. That makes three times in less than one week for me. Needless to say, I enjoyed the movie. In fact, I thought that it was MUCH better than the first movie.

While it was a little long (around 2 1/2 hours), there wasn't any noticeable lag as there usually is for longer movies. I really liked the introduction of "The Fallen" and the resurrection of Megatron. (Honestly, you can't have a Transformers movie without Megatron or Optimus Prime) I also liked getting to hear the conniving Starscream speak for the first time in the movies. Didn't like him calling Megatron "master", though. From what I remember of Starscream, there is no way (at all) that he would call ANYONE master.

The fight scenes were brutal and Megan Fox was HOT. Being in the Transformer movies has made her something of a fanboy fantasy.

Speaking of fanboy fantasies....

I hope Sienna Miller knows what she is in for. I mean, pulling off the Baroness in the "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" movie has put her in the upper class of women that fanboys are currently fawning over. I hope that she is willing to go to the numerous conventions that will be begging for her appearance.

Upon appearing at said conventions, I hope that she is prepared for the fanboy crush that will (inevitably) happen. The battle of the dueling G.I. Joe movie posters. First, there is the Baroness (Sienna Miller) version. Very, VERY nice. Might I say that she has some nice assets...

Then there is the Scarlett (Rachel Nichols) offering. Yummers...

Being a sucker for redheads, I am having difficulty over which one I find hotter.

Scarlett or Baroness??? Glasses or Redhead??? Hmmmm...That's a tough one...

Tooling around on a Saturday morning, I came across "Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight". I found it to be surprisingly good in a cheesy super sentai show kind of way. Later on that afternoon, I went over to fellow OtaKrew member (and HUGE super sentai fan) Card's home to help him organize his comics. What an undertaking that was!!! Man, Card has A LOT of comics....

Happy 4th, everyone!!!

p.s. RIP, MJ...

DECULTURE!!!

Lovin' the purple and gold (actually yellow)....

2009-06-24T22:01:00.008-06:00

Whooo Hoooo!!!!

For those who know me, I'm something of a sports nut. Sure, I LOVE my anime, manga, comic books, Star Trek, Star Wars, Gunpla, etc. Yes. I am a geek but, my online name comes from my love of ALL the University of Colorado sports teams. (Ah...the secret of where "buffalostyle" comes from is finally revealed) Along with my love of all things CU, I absolutely LOVE Louisiana State University as well. While I grew up in colorful Colorado, I was born in Louisiana and (it must be said) ALL Louisianans love LSU.

So, with great excitement and pride, I was able to watch LSU win their sixth College World Series title tonight over the Texas Longhorns. Sweet!!!

They began the onslaught with a four-run home run by Jared Mitchell (above) and, despite Texas tying the score at 4, the Tigers pulled away in the sixth inning and won running away, 11-4.

This is LSU's sixth baseball title but their first in almost ten years as they all but dominated college baseball in the 90's winning five titles from 1990-2000.

You know, after my horrible day at work, this victory absolutely made my DAY!!! Honestly, you can not take this permagrin off of my face right now.... hehehe....

You know, I was looking at some of the blogs that I have on my list and I came across EvaGeeks.org. I haven't been there in a while so I had to see what was exciting and new.

As something of an Eva Geek myself, I was slightly embarrased to find out that Funimation is releasing the new Eva movie, "Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone" within the next month or so. In fact, us Denver-area otaku are going to get our Eva groove on for one week around August 14th. The time and place I don't know just yet but, you just KNOW that OtaKrew will be there. Representing...and keeping it REAL!!!

OK...I need this Rolling Stone. Just had to say that. It will get framed and put in a place of honor in my office...er geek central.

The funny part about this whole thing is that we (OtaKrew) were just talking about the state of the domestic anime industry and the fall of ADV Films just this past Monday at forum. It was a given that ADV had the rights to all that is Eva and that they were holding on for the release of this movie (and the "live-action movie") to bring them back to life. Ah...oops.

Really, this shouldn't have been too much of a surprise as (let's not forget) Manga Entertainment got the rights to "Death and Rebirth" as well as to "End of Evangelion".

I really want to rant about the state of the domestic anime industry but at a later time as I have to get up early tomorrow. Inventory...yuck.

p.s. GEAUX TIGERS!!!

DECULTURE!!!

The Aftermath of the Great Purging

2009-06-22T08:19:00.014-06:00

As I stated in my previous post, I just moved into a new home. As I was preparing for the move, I spent A LOT of time packing up up all kinds of toys and collectibles. During that time, I came to the conclusion that I had way too many toys and that some would have to go (The Great Purging).

Some of the toys that I parted with were my G-Force (bah, Gatchaman) toys from Diamond Toys. I was able to find Mark (Ken), Princess (Jun) and Keyop (Jinpei) from series one. Series two was a little bit more difficult to find as it featured Condor Joe (perhaps the most popular member of Gatchaman). The series also had Ryu and Berg Katse figures as well. I was able to justify parting with these toys because the sculpts (IMO) weren't all that consistant.

The problem that I have now is that I am going through purging remorse. I want my Gatchaman toys back. Go figure. I've done this before as I tend to just...give away toys to friends. I've given away Eva toys, Gundam models and Godannar gashapons. It usually happens when I run out of room. Of course, with me being in a bigger house, I don't have to worry about running out of room just yet. Still, I don't want to over-run my home with numerous amounts of toys and models.

I did, however, keep my Cool-Girl (Takara) toy of Jun (G3).

This 12" doll is awesome and a very welcomed addition to any Jun-fanboy's collection.

Speaking of Jun and her awesomeness...

nothing like a little Gatcha-cosplay...and with a Galactor minion, to boot.

So, I recently received my confirmation for my pre-registration to NDK2009 and color me impressed. I'm impressed because, in the past, I haven't received my confirmation until a couple of weeks or so prior to the con. If at all. That has been my biggest complaint for NDK registration. How could someone who pre-reg'ed at the previous con not get a confirmation until a few weeks before the next con? With the quickness of my confirmation this year, it seems like they may be getting some things fixed in that area. To that I say..."Well done" and "Keep up the good work".

One thing that my confirmation did was get me excited for this year's convention.

Looking back over pictures from the past, I find myself jonezing for the interaction with the other fanboys and fangirls, the dealer's room and meeting more con guests.

The above picture was taken at NDK07 on Thursday night at the hotel bar. With me are (from right to left) Steve Bennett, Spike Spencer, Nathan and Chibiokaasan.

Let's just say that a good time was had by all as the...ahem...beverages flowed quite freely that evening. Actually, the beverages flowed freely the whole weekend...

This picture was taken from closing ceremonies at NDK08. With me are (from left to right) Sailor Joe, Yuji Mitsuya (Supreme Kai-DBZ) , Indaglow, Noriko Hidaka (Musicaa-Southern Cross, Kagome-Inu Yasha, Near-Deathnote) , Chris and (once again) my homie Steve Bennett.

What memories to look forward to this year? I'm REALLY looking forward to the return of the Robotech Tour to NDK. Last year, their presence really made the con for me. The sad thing is that we (OtaKrew) didn't keep in touch with the other local Robotech fans that we met last year. Hopefully, we will see ZorMaster again but keep in touch this time.

Speaking of keeping in touch, Gimme Anime (buffalostyle's official anime shop) has changed their hours of operation. They are now open from 10am to 7pm on Monday through Friday and from 12noon till 5pm on Sunday. Unfortunately, having Gimme close at 7pm is tough for me to navigate as my job and where I work usually won't allow me to make it there before 7. Oh well, I do need to get in there soon, however, as Roger is probably wondering what I'm up to. Besides, I like hearing about his trips to out-of-state cons.

Just think, NDK is just a few days over two months away. Wheeee....

DECULTURE!!!

Moving sure is a pain...

2009-06-20T22:45:00.012-06:00

I absolutely hate moving.... Since I have so much...stuff...I found that I had a lot to pack and that I will be unpapcking for quite a while. The neat thing about my home is that I have a lot of room for storage. My garage has lots of shelves and my basement has both a crawlspace and a storage room as well.

It looks like my office upstairs is going to be geek central as I have broke out some of my older toys and most of my anime collection will be housed there along with my favorite comics.

Speaking of favorite comics, I am a huge X-Men fan and something of a Romy (Rogue/Gambit) shipper. So, when X-Men #224 came out recently, I was quite pleased with the outcome of the Australian arch of Xavier's odyssey. For fans of the Rogue/Gambit relationship, this comic was a MUST read as it pretty much centers around Rogue and her attempt at learning how to control her powers. At the end of the book, we all get a pleasant surprise.

Then there was the X-Men Origins: Gambit that came out last week. Remy's story has been told before but it was nice to see everything put together as a summary in one issue.
Truth be told, I wouldn't mind if this was turned into a 3-issue mini-series.

MISC COSPLAY

Spotlight on one of my favorite anime of all time, Gatchaman. This is one of the shows that was my EARLY introduction to Japanese animation (anime). These cosplays were done to the updated Gatchaman that was released back in 1994.

Ken the Eagle

Jun the swan (my earliest anime crush)

This OVA totally rocked! I only wish that it was longer than 3 episodes. A little bit of trivia: Maurice White (Co-Lead singer for the R&B group Earth, Wind and Fire) helped with the music for the OVA.

Gatchaman got a remastered release from ADV back in 2005 which featured what was perhaps one of the funniest dubs ever. There were quite a few, "Can you dig it's" and some "Right on's", too. You could tell that they were having a good time with the dub making for a good watching experience. Currently, I own eight of the nine volumes that have been released. Finding that ninth volume is going to be like finding gold. Looks like it might be an Amazon purchase.

So, we broke out episode number 5 of Hellsing Ultimate recently at forum. It has been soooo long since I have seen or read any Hellsing, that I forgot where we were in the story. Let's just say that there was a lot of blood. LOTS of blood. I really don't want to give any of the store away but I will say that it takes place during the events that occured in volumes 5 and 6 of the manga.
The really cool thing about Hellsing Ultimate is that it is following the manga pretty much to the "T" which makes me happy as the manga happens to be one of my favorite reads right now.

When I went home from forum, I decided to finally break out my season one boxset of "True Blood" and watch episode one. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love vampire stories and having a vampire story set in Louisiana is right up my alley.
I was pleased with the first episode as it introduced us to Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), the main character. She works at a bar in a small (fictional) Louisiana town named Bon Temps. The story takes place in a world where vampires have "come out of the coffin" and live among us as a substitute for blood is invented.
Honestly, I'm surprised that I hadn't picked up any of the novels that the TV show is based on until recently. From what I have seen, and read, it looks like I am going to have to do some purchasing of Charlaine Harris' works. Since I prefer hardcovers, it looks like I'm going to spend some $.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

When I was at the gym just yesterday, there was a guy doing some lunges with a medicine ball. When he reached the bottom of his lunge, he would twist his upper torso with the medicine ball extended in front of him. Honestly, it reminded me of the Fusion Dance that Goten and Trunks from Dragonball Z did to form Gotenks. Man, I am a geek...

DECULTURE!!!

It's that time again...convention time!!!

2009-04-19T22:44:00.015-06:00

Coming to you from StarFest, with the beautiful Scarlet Salem at his side, it's buffalostyle (aka: H Mike). If it's mid-April in Colorado, not only is it time for StarFest at the good 'ol Marriott DTC (Denver Tech Center) but, it could also be time for a spring blizzard. Hooray for wet snow!!!

Let's see... blizzard on Friday which tapered off on Saturday and all but melted away on Sunday. Gotta love that Colorado weather...

One neat thing about this year's StarFest was the addition of ComicFest to the festivities. Since most of us are comic book geeks, this brought some members of the Krew to this convention for the first time. The sucky thing was that ComicFest was taking place across the street at the Hilton and that we had to brave the snow to get there. Luckily for us, the snow ended while we were at the Hilton so we didn't have to worry about getting our newly purchased comics wet.

I went absolutely nuts over the $1 bins as I found quite a bit of Vampirella comics that I was missing in my collection.I love J. Scott Campbell's work so finding these comics was like finding GOLD. Honestly, though, I probably should have stuck with looking for X-Titles but I didn't have a wishlist with me so I would have been stabbing in the dark. As it is, I did pick up a couple of issues that I needed from the "X-Men: The End" series and the sorely missing "X-Men" no. 196.
Madarame went completely nuts over the $1 and .50 bins. He ended up with two boxes full of comics. I came in a distant second.

As we (Card and I) always do, we went to HorrorFest (with the rest of the Krew) and watched NFTS (Not For The Squeamish) Productions' new movie, "Terror Overload". It starred the beautiful and talented Scarlet Salem and Joe Knetter as the creepy truck driver. I honestly have to say that it was the best movie that I have ever seen at HorrorFest. Hands down...After the movie, we were treated to a question and answer session with all involved with the movie. From the left: Scarlet Salem, Joe Knetter, Ari Lehman (The Original Jason from Friday the 13th) and Jason Stephenson.

The thing that was really neat about it all was that they were all so down to earth and were just having a good time being in Denver. I can't wait to see what they bring next year.

Along with going to ComicFest and HorrorFest, this convention is fun for seeing what people come dressed up as. Above is Sailor Joe with a Felecia cosplayer.

With "The Watchmen" recently in the theaters, we had a few Silk Spectres running around.

And then there was "The Monarch" from "Venture Brothers". Well done...I was told that he actually glued the eyebrows on making for an interesting coming day.

Ari Lehman says, "Good bye from StarFest 2009"...

I had a blast (as usual) as we stayed pretty late and had a few...ahem...beverages at the bar. I'm seriously considering getting a room for Saturday night next year so that I can really let my hair down and PARTY!!! That said, it looks like this could be my last year staying at NDK the whole weekend. We'll see. I'm already locked in for Thursday night through Sunday morning so we'll see how the con goes. It does look like most of the Krew is currently only going for Saturday's events, though. Ah...could this be the end of an era???

WISHLIST ALERTMy new wishlist item: Kotobukiya Bishoujo statue of Rogue from the X-Men.Let me just say that Rogue is probably my favorite heroine in all of comic-dom as she was the character that brought me back to my favorite series, X-Men, after a long absence. I already have two statues of her already and this statue, which comes out in June, has risen to the top of my must-have list.

DECULTURE!!!

Man...it sure has been a while..

2009-04-17T21:26:00.008-06:00

Where the heck have I been for the past four months...I've been a VERY busy fellow. Lemme see...I moved from my place of employment (I'm much happier and much closer to home) and I have been looking at houses. I guess you can say that my geek nature has been somewhat suppressed as of late.

I haven't picked up ANY new toys...no Valkries, no capsule toys and (gasp) no Cutie Honey-related toys...Man, oh man... What has brought me back to my geek senses? The prospect of hitting Starfest this weekend has got the 'ol geek juices flowin'. Kickin' it for a full weekend surrounded by Trekkies, Star Wars fans and Otaku. Sure, I usually only make it for Saturday's festivities but I cram in as much stuff as I can in one day.

This year, there is a new addition to the convention, ComicFest...since it is new, I'm not quite sure what to expect.

One thing that I do expect to see is this guy. I can't remember his name but I've met him several times at Nan Desu Kan and Starfest. His costumes are always some of the best in the whole convention. Predator, mecha or Spawn this guy pulls it off extremely well.

I also expect to see quite a bit of comic book cosplaying.

As a long-time comic book collector, I'm really looking forward to ComicFest. I want to see if I can find some of those comic book gems that I've been looking for. I'm also looking for some X-Men Origins: Wolverine merchandise geared towards my man, Gambit (Remy LeBeau) ...man, I can't wait until May 1st.

Since I don't have to work on Sunday, my Saturday is going to be full of mirth and merriment...

DECULTURE!!!

Christmas parties and my new anime obsession...

2008-12-16T18:50:00.013-07:00

So, we had our Christmas party this past Saturday night and it was pretty fun. As the party was at Card's house, it was a special treat because we got to see the newer additions to his toy collection in his b asement. The new item that I saw that I am currently coveting is his God Phoenix..

As an old fan of Gatchaman, this is right up my alley...

Card is also a BIG fan of Godzilla so this Mecha-Godzilla was a nice new addition as well..

There were so many toys down there...I can't post pictures of them all so this is just a small taste..

Well, lookie here...both Voltrons and Jeeg!!!
Good fun...

So, the Krew has been watching Code Geass at Forum on Monday nights. We just started the second season last night and let me tell you, WOW!!! I'm really digging where this is going right now.

I honestly like everything about this show. From the character designs (CLAMP), Mecha, music and storyline, I like it all... oh, and there is fanservice, too...Like I need something new to collect, it looks like I will be buying some Knight Mares along with the Valkries that I planned on picking up after the new year.

I really want a Lancelot (from Bandai) and a Cornelia custom Gloucester...(mecha with capes ROCK)
from MegaHouse...NICE!!!

DECULTURE!!!

High on Halibel and potentially awesome FMA news...

2008-12-08T11:03:00.034-07:00

A little bit of GOOD news from the headlines at ANN

posted on 2008-12-07 03:50 EST

The official website for the new Fullmetal Alchemist television anime series has launched with a short teaser video, and it has confirmed that the television series will launch in Japan in April. It also promised that new information will be provided in the January issue of Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine (where Hiromu Arakawa's original manga is still serialized) on December 12. The same issue will also include a poster with a key visual image.

The new Fullmetal Alchemist teaser trailer ran at the end of the episode of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season that aired in Japan on Sunday. The trailer says, "New training … a fullmetal artificial limb, a body of armor … the brothers' journey begins. Fullmetal Alchemist: April 2009 Training. In this palm, is there hope or despair?"

The new television anime series was confirmed on the wraparound

jacket band of the 20th volume of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist manga in August. However, a document with leaked information about animators who worked at BONES had already mentioned the possibility of "Hagane 2" ("Iron/Fullmetal 2") in July. Viz Media published the 17th volume of the manga version in North America this October, while FUNimation Entertainment released both the first television series and its theatrical movie finale.

Source: Moon Phase Comments

Now, for me, this is GREAT news as I love FMA in both of it's forms. The only concern I have is if this anime will be a continuation from the TV show or from the movie. Hopefully, the movie gets turned into an alternate ending and the new show picks up where the first show left off. As the manga is still being released in Japan, there is quite a bit of story left to go over.

Now, feast your eyes on my NEW favorite female character from Bleach.

This is Halibel. She is an Espada in Aizen's Arrancar army who was first introduced in volume 26 of the Bleach manga and during the Arrancar Arc (not sure about the episode number) on the anime.

As you can see, she is a fanservice-oholics dream.

~Dadong
And, judging from the amount of fanart out there for her, she is only going to get more popular the more we see of her in both the manga and anime.

Wen-JR
Along with the fanart for Halibel, there has also been quite a bit of cosplay done to her as well.

This cosplay was brought to us by 'kakashified' at Otacon 2008. I really like the material that was used.

Probably one of the more daring cosplays of Halibel...

This outfit debuted at Ichiharu-con 2008 by the Russian cosplayer, halibel-sama. Very nice!!!

DECULTURE!!!

I am Black Lagoon(y)...

2008-11-27T16:45:00.009-07:00

Well, with this being Thanksgiving and all, you tend to pause to think about the things that you are most thankful for. With this being a blog about my otakudom, I would like to pause to think about the things that I am thankful for as far as my otaku tendencies are concerned.

Hmmm...Lemme think...I know, I'm very thankful for the anime/manga Black Lagoon.

A long time ago (2006, actually) when we used to have two legitimate anime shops in our town, I came upon an ad while perusing some Japanese magazines. The ad that I saw had a hottie totting two guns while wearing some hotpants. Being a fanservice fanatic, I needed to find out more about this show. After doing some minor investigation, I found that the show was called “Black Lagoon”. I was inspired so I asked my fellow OtaKrew member, Cyphr, to find some fansubs of this series for me. After finding the show, Cyphr decided that it was something that the whole Krew needed to see. Needless to say, the show became a Monday Night Forum hit.

Basically, the show is about a salaryman named Okajima Rokuro who was kidnapped by some mercenaries while trying to deliver a disc for his company somewhere in the southeast Asian seas. He becomes a liability for his company so he is (for the most part) considered dead. Long story short, Rokuro is dubbed "Rock" by his captors whom he ends up saving then joining. The team consists of Dutch the Boss, Benny the Mechanic, Rock and Revy the Two Hand. (It was Revy who drew my attention in the aforementioned ad)

In the story, Rock and the crew deal with all sorts of crazy things including gun-toting maids, neo-nazis, Asian gangsters and other mercenaries.

Thankfully, we got a domestic release of the anime from the good folks at Geneon. The problem is that Geneon went through some...restructuring...over the past year. Thankfully, Funimation picked up the series and is currently releasing it in Geneon's place. Coolness...

Recently, Viz has begun releasing the Black Lagoon manga which is a total blast (just like the anime). While doing some research at Anime News Network (ANN), I found that the manga lasted 7 volumes and began in 2002. Currently, we are on volume 002 which I have just picked up. If any of you are into adventure stories with lots of gunfire, car chases, things blowing up, people being punched and a little fanservice (Revy IS fanservice), then you will LOVE both incarnations of this series.

Now, knowing me, you know that I LOVE toys...One toy that I am coveting right now is the Revoltech version of Revy.

Finding this toy is like finding gold as I haven't seen it in any of the stores that I frequent regularly. Sure, I have seen them on ebay for pretty reasonable prices but I like to check out my local stores first. One of the Krew, Card, found one early on and snatched it up with the quickness. Whenever I go over to his house, I salivate over his Revy-ness and am tempted to..borrow her.

As for real-life toys, here are a few pics of one of the best cosplayed Revys that I have seen...

Another thing that I look for are doujinshi...The Black Lagoon spoof "Pink Lagoon" from the Motchie Empire circle is something that I am currently looking for. When it comes to doujinshi being posted here, I will only post covers that don't have any nudity in them.

...I'm also thankful for vampire anime...

So, I decided to pull out some older anime the other day. As I am a big time fan of anything vampire-ish, I decided to break out NightWalker. This anime is quite the treat as it is very similar to one of my favorite TV shows, Forever Knight.

The story is about a vampire named Shido who, as a private detective, works with a female police officer named Matsunaga Yayoi. There is also the orphaned teen-ager, Yamazaki Riho, who works in his office and his imp, Guni. Together, they solve paranormal mysteries while keeping the streets safe at night. Initially, NightWalker was intended to be just a 4-part OVA but it got taken to TV for an additional 8 episodes. Right around episode 6 is where the store got darker but it led to a very satisfying end.

If you like supernatural stories with vampires and other monsters, I HIGHLY recommend "NightWalker" as a show to watch.

I'm also thankful for cosplayers.

taken at NDK2008 while kickin' it at the bar...

When I go to cons, I'm very excited about hitting the dealer's room, sitting in on panels, watching Anime Music Videos (AMV) and people watching. When people watching, what I am really looking for are what costumes people are wearing as I LOVE cosplay.

Since my birthday is right around Halloween, I would have costume parties for my birthday so I grew to love Halloween the most out of all of the holidays. So, it stands to reason that I would love cosplaying is well. I am an Ota-razzi as I take my camera with me to all cons so that I can get lots and lots of pictures of all of the cosplayers. I also look for Cosplay idols on the internet via cosplay.com or American Cosplay Paradise. Through these two websites, I have come upon several cosplayers who I look forward to seeing what they do next...

This is one of my favorite cosplayed Cutie Honeys ever. This is the cosplay idol TristenCitrine and this pic is from a 2008 photo shoot. I'm not sure if she has broken this outfit out at any cons yet but, as it is, this particular picture is currently the wallpaper on my cellphone.

More cosplayed Cutie Honey-ness from one of my myspace friends...pamelaNeko

This Hyper Cutie Honey was shown at Anime Expo 2008. Along with the Honey from TristenCitrine, this particular outfit is one of the best Honey's that I have ever seen.

As a fan of the X-Men, I was very impressed by this Dazzler from Dragon Con 2008. In my opinion, the classic, disco-balled Dazzler is the best version of all.

To finish off my Thanksgiving theme, I'm thankful for having pamelaNeko as a myspace friend and I look forward to seeing what she does next.

DECULTURE!!!

It's like finding gold...

2008-11-14T01:36:00.004-07:00

Since I am so far behind, this post is going to be pretty short but sweet...

More scans from the November 2008 issue of Hobby Japan. This time, I'm featuring the specs on the VF-25S Messiah (Alto custom). This one is the main mech in Macross Frontier flown by the main character, Alto Saotome.

In the Macross-verse, you know someone is the main character when their mech has the red/black combo (ala Hikaru Ichigo).

This is the only one that is available right now on various hobby sites. Unfortunately, I have yet to find it at my local hobby shop.

MANGA REVIEW
Some more of the new manga that I picked up recently at Roger's.

I'm a big fan of both the anime and the manga of Fullmetal Alchemist. It is the manga for FMA, however, that I believe is the stuff that all other manga should aspire to be. It's a really neat read all around as I like Manga-ka Hiromu Arakawa's style. Both in story telling and in art.

Interestingly enough, this is one of those manga that got animated before it ended it's run. In fact, the anime came and went (last episode was shown on Cartoon Network back in 2006) and we are still getting more manga to this day. The story is getting more and more interesting as suppoting characters continue to die and more secrets are revealed. Having said that, I just finished reading volume 17... In this volume, the Elric brothers are still at Fort Briggs when it is attacked by the homunculus, Sloth. We get a little history lesson thrown in for good measure and my new anime crush, Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong gets major page time...whoo hoo...

The thing that does suck about this manga is the wait that I now have to endure for the next volume after the brutal cliffhanger I was left with. (Way to keep us wanting more)

If they had only waited to animate what we are seeing now in the manga...I would be a happy otaku...

Being the fan of vampires that I am, the manga to Hellsing continues to keep me interested.

I'm like many otaku who thought that the Hellsing OVA was very good. Sure, the ending was a little light (ie: rushed/weak) but overall the show was very entertaining. Then the good folks at Dark Horse Manga gave us the original manga uncut. Suddenly, we saw that there were other stories that didn't get a sniff in the OVA. Stories like the vampire nazis or the continued growth of Seras Victoria or how Integra became the leader of the Hellsing Organization or what would happen in a fight between Alucard and Walter "The Angel of Death".
In volume 9, we get to see Alucard and Walter finally face off in a brawl that you just knew was bound to happen someday.

Two words: "Kick" "Ass"
If you are like me and you liked the Hellsing OVA, you need to get..this..Manga!!!

Taa Dah!!!! I told you it would be short..but sweet..

DECULTURE!!!

Bring on the Macross toys already....

2008-11-10T20:13:00.002-07:00

So, I went to my local (legit) anime shop (Gimme Anime) just the other day to pick up items in my hold slot. I hadn't been there in a while so there was quite a bit to look over. Along with my manga was the latest Hobby Japan. Now, I'm kind of on the fence about getting this magazine every month because it costs quite a bit and I am currently cutting out all of the unnecessary collectibles that I get from week to week. I was this close to having the Hobby Japan put back when I saw the cover.... OMG!!! It's Macross Frontier!!!

Being the Macross Maniac that I am, I looked through the magazine and saw quite a few pages covering my addiction. Needless to say, this magazine was snatched up with the quickness. Currently, I'm in the process of scanning all of the Macross-specific pages so I will post them bit by bit. But, first, here is some info/pics of the VF-25S Messiah (Ozma custom) that I'm truly ga-ga over....

Looks like this is a model from Bandai which is a company that I love. Mainly because of the fact that they tend to make snap-fit models and I have gotten extremely lazy over the years. I absolutely hate using glue when making models. (Yeah, I know...models are supposed to be made with glue)

Looking at these pages, I already know that I don't have anywhere near the patience needed to make my models look like this one does...Man, these model makers sure have my utmost respect when it comes to all of the detail that they put into these things...

One of the OtaKrew, Indaglow, is someone who could pull this off. He has a loft in his house where he goes to put his kits together. He takes a LOOONG time making models but they turn out extremely well.

OTAKREW'S FORUM

We finally finished Gurren Lagann at Anime Forum, recently. As I expected, everyone was pleased with what they saw. Sure, the story gets a little serious for a while (It's to be expected when you kill off a MAIN character) but it picks back up near the end. As for the ending, you actually get one.

p.s Simon is the MAN!!!

Birthday goodies for this year included the starter box set for Claymore. Indaglow hooked me up with that one. Of course, now that means that I am going to have to pick this one up as it is being released. Damn. Initially, I thought about just getting it when it came out in a boxset later on.

I love the anime for Claymore but I really LOVE the manga. I just finished reading volume 13 just the other day and I really liked the backstory on Riful.

Teresa kicks ass...until she (sob) died....

Hooray for Gold Digger pushing 100 in it's All-Color format...I've been collecting this comic for a very long time. ...since before it went all-color.

During that time, I've been impressed with Fred Perry's growth over those years. It has, however, grown increasingly more difficult to find any of the Antarctic Press stuff. So, I had Card add all of my AP items to his hold slot at Mile High Comics. Unfortunately, my issue #99 of GD came with some kind of sticker on the cover. Huh??? I don't like that at all. So, it looks like I am going to have to go look for the issue myself.
Le sigh...

MANGA REVIEW

One of the manga that I picked up this week from Roger at GA (Gimme Anime) was Air Gear vol. 10. The manag-ka, Oh! Great, used to draw "H". So when you look at this manga, you can see why he (we will assume that Oh! Great is a man) was so successful as an "H" artist. His women are second to none and he is a little...pervy.

Basically, "Ikki's Air Trek team has just won the biggest match of its career against evil rivals Behemoth. The victory has made Ikki and his crew major celebrities in the extreme skating world. But stardom has its price: Now legions of teams are challenging Ikki's riders in order to steal their crown. With the team's best rider, Agito, in the hospital, can Ikki keep his team on top?"

This manga has its moments as sometimes I find myself saying, "Why am I reading this manga, again?" but then something happens in the manga that reminds me of how fun this title can be. The rollercoaster can be annoying at times but, in the end, the story always come through.

Yay!!! We have a Simca sighting....

Buffalostyle...reads...

2008-10-19T21:27:00.001-06:00

That's right. There are quite a few manga that I have in my hold slot at the 'ol Gimme Anime (buffalostyle's "Official" anime shop). Roger hooks me up with something new pretty much every week. What's on tap for me this week???
Shonen Junai Gumi (aka: GTO: The Early Years)Ah, what fun this manga is. It follows the main character of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), Eikichi Onizuka, in his adventures as a high school student. There is quite a bit of action, drama and comedy. In fact, I find myself laughing out loud quite often when reading this story. Basically, Onizuka is something of a leader of a gang who is constantly getting into fights to protect his territory and his friends. Former foes become good friends and several near misses with "getting" a girlfriend ensue. Anywho, I just finished reading volume 8 of this series and it had me rolling on lunch at work today.
Cliff Notes: Eikichi finishes off a fight with a tough guy who wants to resurrect a former gang that controlled the town that they all live in. Ryuji (the second half of the famous Oni-Baku duo) gets a girlfriend and moves in with her. Some toughs from Yokohama begin beating up people from Shonan saying that they are looking for some competition. Mistaken identity leads to a knockdown-dragout brawl between Onizuka and another party from Yokohama. Meanwhile Onizuka has a nice (FUNNY) exchange with Hank the pr0n dealer. Classic!!!

Next up is Grenadier..Basically, Grenadier is about a buxom blonde gunfighter (grenadier) named Rushuna who has an "interesting" way to reload her gun and is on an adventure to find her homeland. She meets up with a young swordsman named Yajiro and a young girl named Mikan. Now, that's all I'm going to give you except for my "buffalostyle's seal of approval" rating. This story is a heck of a lot more impressive than you might think. I mean, the manga has it fair share of fanservice (oh yeah, I LOVE fanservice) and it starts out slowly but the action really begins to pick up around volume 3. What I just read was the final volume, number 7.
Cliff Notes: Basically, Rushuna beats the main villain early on in the volume. Or so we think. The villain is resurrected after we get the long-anticipated origin of Rushuna and how she came to be. Great story, really.

Then there was...Case ClosedCase Closed is actually Detective Conan in Japan. Copyright issues keep us from getting it by it's real name. Well, this is the story of a teen-aged super sleuth named, Jimmy Kudo. BTW, Jimmy is my hero. Anywho, Jimmy was on a case when he is knocked out and slipped some secret formula that turned him into a little kid. So, Jimmy comes up with an alter ego (Conan Edogawa) with the help of his friend, Dr. Agasa, so that no one else gets hurt and he continues to solve crimes to boot.
Cliff Notes: So I read the 25th volume of the series. Basically, this volume has a haunted house, giant spiders (I HATE spiders) and an appearance from Harley Hartwell. As true to form, volume 25 ends in one heck of a cliffhanger...This manga is also a "buffalostyle's seal of approval" recipient.

Finally, there was Blood +Blood + is right up my alley as it has my personal favorite, vampires, in it. Of course, they aren't called vampires in Blood +, though. Basically, the story is about a girl (Saya) who lives a normal everyday life as a high school kid. Then one day it all changes. Saya learns that she is a chiropteran (vampire) who hunts down other vampires.
Cliff Notes: Basically, if you want to know who Saya and Diva (for that matter) are, you must read volume 3. Period...

So, along with reading manga, watching anime and buying toys, I also collect doujinshi. Now, when it comes to my doujinshi collecting, I usually do it for the art.
That said, since I am a fan of Macross Frontier and the doujinshi circle Gold Rush, this new doujin is something I will be on the lookout for.
This doujinshi is named TSUNDERE Frontier. It is Gold Rush's 62nd volume that was released at the Summer Comiket in August 2008. It features Sheryl Nome and Alto Saotome. I can already tell that finding this one is going to be like finding gold as Gold Rush is pretty popular. As it is, I have a scanned copy of it for now and I will be looking for a hard copy for my collection.

DECULTURE!!!

Here's to being a poor otaku...

2008-10-17T22:43:00.001-06:00

So, I finally took a look at my bank account today to find that I had A LOT less money than I expected to find...le sigh... I guess if I were going to sacrifice a month (by doubling up on bills) towards the end of the year, then October is it. Besides, I need to have moolah for X-Mas gifts and all.

You know, the bad thing about being a poor otaku is seeing all of the STUFF that you want and knowing that you can't afford them right now. An example... I'm on HobbyLink Japan recently and I see the Origin of Valkrie 'gokins.
Yeah..now that's what I'm talkin' about right there. A VF-1J brought to us by the good folks at Bandai is right up my alley. It is a 1/55 scale toy that is probably better (stability-wise) than it's Yamato counterpart.

Now, if you think that is cool...check this one out.
It's the VF-25 Messiah (Ozma variant) that I am straight up lusting after. Both it and the Alto variant are 1/60 scale from Bandai and runs about $120. That 's not bad, really. As something of a novice Valkrie collector (after meeting ZorMaster at NDK, I realize that I'm a novice), I don't have a problem shelling out that much for this incredibly awesome looking toy. I would love to see a Revoltech of this mech.
Speaking of Revoltechs...when i was at NDK, I went kind of nuts over them. I will post some of those pics at a later time. I need to re-take some of them because they didn't come out the way I wanted. Actually, I think that I need another camera, period. Anywho, I picked up a Maizinger, Star Scream, VF-1S and YF-19.
Now, while I really do like Revoltechs for their posability, the problem that I have with them is a very petty one. My problem with the toy is that they aren't to scale with each other. I really noticed it with my VF-1A (that I got from Cyphr for my B-day last year) and my VF-1S. The 1S is puny compared to the 1A and that's just not right. Skull One should NEVER be smaller than the other valkries. In fact, the YF-19 is smaller than the VF-1A as well.
As for other toys that are similar to Revoltechs, what I really am looking for is the GNU-Dou line from Yamato. Basically, it is Yamato's Revoltech as they are very poseable as well but they are a little bit bigger and made from a better type of plastic. Several people from other sites that I frequent are really high on this series so I need to check it out for myself.

Right now, the Krew is in the middle of Gurren Lagann at Anime Forum. Being a fanboy of most things Gainax, I became enamored with this show because of Yoko (see previous post). In time, I became a big fan of Simon the main character. The growth that he shows throughout the series is amazing. In fact, I will go on record as saying that Gurren Lagann is the best series that I have seen in more than 5 years. It's a compelling story with great character growth and a really good ending. (How often can you say that about an anime?) Anywho, we are showing one disc per evening so we will be done in two weeks. Then we will move to Code Geass for our feature anime. From what I have seen, I think that it will be enjoyable. Code Geass is one of those anime that I buy but never actually watch (like Last Exile).

I absolutely LOVE this scene....my friend, Card, hates this song but I love JPOP and this is right up my alley.

DECULTURE!!!

My B-day wish...

2008-10-08T23:06:00.001-06:00

So, my birthday is coming up at the end of this month and I already know what bit of otakuness that I am either hoping to find or get from my OtaKrew friends.

My favorite anime of the past 5 years or so is a show brought to us by the good folks from Gainax called "Gurren Lagann". Great show featuring great characters with a great ending. Did I mention that I think that Gurren Lagann is great?? Anywho, my birfday wish is to get the Revoltech Fraulein figure of Yoko. Cute, isn't she? Yoko is the character who is going to take Cutie Honey's place as my favorite anime heroine. She is Team Dai Gurren Lagann's sniper and a very engaging character. Yoko is not a damsel in distress type of character. No, in fact she isn't afraid to kick a little ass from time to time.

If I can get this figure, it will be a good birthday for the 'ol buffalostyle.

As for the anime, we are watching this show on Monday's at the OtaKrew forum. Now, a few words on just what this "OtaKrew forum" is. The forum was something that was born at our old anime shop "Buy Me Anime" that took place every Monday night. We would take a bunch of shows that we wanted to share with the group. Whether they were fansubs or shows that already had a domestic release, it didn't really matter. We would watch them. We have watched shows like Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny, Godannar, Elfin Leid, Gunbuster, Hellsing Ultimate, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ah! My Goddess, Genshiken, Zeta Gundam, Zeta Gundam trilogy, Live-Action Sailor Moon, Macross Frontier, Samurai Champloo, Fighting Spirit, Naruto, Black Lagoon, Appleseed, re: Cutie Honey and more. Looking at this list, you can see we watch everything.
Right now, we are watching Koutetsushin Jeeg which is a giant robot show inspired from, my man, Go Nagai's manga. Good stuff. We just finished Macross Frontier and we are thinking of adding Macross 7 as a replacement. You can NEVER have too much Macross in my opinion.I LOVE the mecha from Macross in general so, it stands to reason that I am salivating over the new VF-25 toy from Bandai coming out in December.This picture is courtesy HobbyLink Japan.

Aint this toy DAMN SEXY??? This is the VF-25F Messiah (Alto custom) from Macross Frontier. It is a 1/60 scale that is fully transformable from fighter to gerwalk to battroid. And it can be yours for a mere $120 (approx.)

Le sigh...

Greetings, fellow 'otaku'...

2008-10-02T21:44:00.000-06:00

I am the otaku known as buffalostyle and this is my blog...

I've been a fan of anime for many, many years (I'm NOT a noob) and my interests are all over the place. Lemme see... I LOVE mecha, vampires, action, comedy and fanservice. As I post more blogs in the future, I will write about my collection and what I am doing in my collector-dom. There will be pics of any new acquisitions and things that I see and like from other sites (they will get props of course). Cons. I love going to cons and I will post pics of me and my peeps at the cons that we will travel to.

Case in point, last month from September 11th through the 14th, I went to Colorado's major anime con (some would say Colorado's major con, period) Nan Desu Kan (aka: NDK). As a convention, NDK has grown by leaps and bounds over the years that I have been in attendance (consecutively since 2002) and I am happy to say it regained the excitement that was lost last year. In fact, most people that I have spoken to since NDK agree with me when I say that it was the most fun NDK in quite a while.

One of the neat things for me was when we got to meet the Yun(e)'s from Robotech.com/Harmony Gold. We spent a lot of time in Robotech-related panels and my friends and I (OtaKrew 2.0) represented as judges for the "Robot Rumble" in which Skull Leader won over Lion Voltron. Honestly, I don't know how Skull Leader made it to the finals. I actually thought that he would get knocked out by Mahoro. Hey, Roy Fokker is a ladies man and Mahoro is...a lady. A robot lady... but a lady nonetheless.

Hooray for toys!!! First, toys from Zor Master's booth and second, toys from the Macross panel. (You know, I must really like Macross as this panel took place at 10am on Saturday. 10am!!! Usually I'm DEEP in REM sleep at 10am on a Saturday at NDK. Blame that to sitting up till 4am watching "Sexy Taxi"....but I digress)

Here is a pic of me kickin' it with Tommy Yune and Steve Yun. They were pretty cool. Steve was the moderator of the "Robot Rumble". He said that there were 4 mechs that he is thinking of retiring from the rumble as one of the 4 usually win the contest. Still, I was surprised to see Skull Leader in the finals....