Metal Gear Solid - 25th Anniversary

Has it been that long? Gawd i'm getting old. Check out this page for all the goodies that are going (or have been released) for this. The Shirts and all are available already, some of the figs too.

The soundtrack collection would be awesome though!

MGS : Ground Zeroes

I don't know if this is a typo or what, what it is Ground "ZEROES" with the 'es'... knowing Kojima, he's probably using some play on words or what not.

Anyway, there's apparently demoing the new Fox Engine to a select group, supposed to be a new MGS game and sounds MMO'ish from the likes of it! :p The demo was running on PC hardware but the engine can be used for current gen consoles too.

Gundam Papercraft!

Amazing! Hard to believe they can turn out so nice, good thing is, you can photocopy a set for backup, and 'rebuild' it anytime haha! Must have a lot of patience though.... :p

Hoorah!

Heard this somewhere before? ;)

STGCC 2012!

SG Toycon is just this weekend! It's gonna be held at MBS this time round, so i wonder how it'd hold up compared to Suntec. COMEX 2012 is going to be at Suntec though, starts tomorrow, but Suntec is a mess now with all the renovation work that's going on.

Hopefully can get some good pics! And maybe pick up a deal or two. :)

Linkin Park..

.. Nendroids? I wonder if people would buy this!

TF Masterpiece - Lambor (Sideswipe)

Updated pics for MP-12 Lambor.... looking good! Red Alert's looking pretty good... although it basically is just a repaint.

Roll out!

RIP Neil!

1st man on the moon passes away, RIP!

LEGO Curiosity

Very cool! There MAY be a chance lego will produce this if there are no copyright issues or such. The LEGO CUUSOO site allows users to submit their ideas and creations for LEGO sets, whereby if it garners enough support (10,000 votes), LEGO will consider putting it into production. :)

There have been a pretty few cool creations! Unfortunately a lot of them seem to run into issues due to the cost or series it's related to.

Hot Toys - Wolverine

Really HT? Man, they're gonna milk their licenses for all it's worth, even when the final product doesn't match up with the prototype, although they're nice enough to tell you that now!

Hot Toy - MMS187 - X-Men: The Last Stand: 1/6th scale Wolverine Limited Edition Collectible Figurine Specification

The 1/6th scale Wolverine Limited Edition Collectible Figurine specially features:
- Authentic and detailed fully realized likeness of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the X-Men: The Last Stand movie
- Approximately 30 cm tall
- Muscular body with over 30 points of articulations
- Movie-accurate facial expression featuring his angered gesture with detailed wrinkles and skin texture
- Detailed hair sculpture and beard
- Three (3) pairs of interchangeable gloved palms including:
- One (1) pair of fists with blades
- One (1) pair of fists
- One (1) pair of relaxed palms
- Each piece of head sculpt is specially hand-painted

Costume:
- One (1) set of X-Men suit including one (1) leather-like black jacket and one (1) pair of leather-like black pants
- One (1) pair of black boots

 Accessories:
- Figure stand imitating the movie scene with transparent pillar
- Figure stand with Wolverine nameplate and the movie logo

Artists:
- Head Sculpted by Im Jung Hyuk
- Head Painted by JC. Hong
- Head Art Directed by Kojun
**Prototype shown, final product may be slightly different
**Battery not included for figure stand, 3A batteries are required
Release date: Q1, 2013

Blue Thunder!

I remember my dad bringing me to see this in the Cinema, that was in 1983, i was like, 7? :p Anyway, back the the only cool parts i remember were whenever the helicopter of that namesake came on-screen. I loved the look of the heli (it looks ancient now yeah, but back then, with the chaingun and all, it was sooooo coool. :) It probably was the precursor to the AH-64 Attack Chopper). Found a cool pic with the late Roy Scheider above.. very garang pose!

 

 

Picked up the blue thunder heli from ORGANIC/Dream Machine, a Japanese toy maker. It's a (mostly) die-cast in 1/32 scale. Kinda an odd scale but makes sense now, cos if it was in 1/72, it'd be kinda teeny! And the details won't be there.

 

 

Pic in packaging.... didn't take out as usual! No place to display...

 

Another pic in packaging... No lights/or special features like Aoshima's Airwolf! Another heli i'm waiting for.

A product pic.. looks cool! Some interesting facts :

The helicopter used for Blue Thunder was a French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle modified with bolt-on parts and an Apache-style canopy. Two modified Gazelle helicopters, a Hughes 500 helicopter and two F-16 fighter aircraft were used in the filming of the movie. The helicopters were purchased by Columbia Pictures and flown to Cinema Air in Carlsbad, CA where they were heavily modified for the film. These alterations made the helicopters so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop maneuver Murphy performs at the end of the film was carried out by a radio controlled model.

 

Think Singapore uses Gazelles as our training choppers.

Finally, cockpit detail....... Nice... Kinda spacious!

 

Microman!

 

Just remembered i was supposed to post the pic of the Microman fig my grandad bought for me! Here's an archived pic of what it looked like, i remember having the green one though. This was from the 1982 Microman release.

 

I always wondered what the other 'robot' was for, it was kinda like a snap fit thing, not much articulation too. :)

1 week?

It's already a week since my granddad passed away! Heck it's scary man, just seemed like yesterday!

R.I.P Kong kong! :D A part of you will always be with us, and we'll always remember you in our hearts.

Level Zero Heroes

Saw this video about some ''spec ops'' sniper fight with some Taliban insurgents; don't seem too professional to me, as i'm wondering half the time what they're actually shooting at? His buddies seem to be doing the same thing too, randomly spraying fire from the top of the valley at god knows what. Guess in war there is too much uncertainty, and the discipline drilled into us sometimes boils down to raw human emotion; a fight or flight instinct, no time to take aimed shots, or the fear of getting hit by a bullet. That's what seperates the pros from the GI's.

You can check more out at Level Zero Heroes, which supposedly details the adventures of MSOT team 8222 around Bala Murghab (or Morghab if ya a yankee) in Afghanistan.

 

"The Bala Morghab River Valley has been a Taliban stronghold since the beginning of the Afghanistan War (Operation Enduring Freedom). Located in the rural mountain region of northwest Afghanistan; Bala Morghab is being used by the Taliban as a rest and regrouping area during the winter season when fighting in the rest of the country is at a minimum.

Level Zero Heroes follows the twenty-two members of U.S. Marine Special Operations Team 8222 (MSOT 8222) on their seven month deployment to this unknown valley. The story begins with MSOT 8222 making the dangerous five day convoy through the wild west of Afghanistan to reach the isolated outpost of NATO forces at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Todd. MSOT 8222 gets their first opportunity to test their training when they are engaged by a small Taliban element during a sunset firefight near the Turkmenistan border."

Apache Overwatch

I've always wondered how many klicks away these Apaches are watching the Insurgents without them realizing it, kidna scary knowing there's a 30mm gun trained on you, and at any moment, a hellfire missile can just drop from the sky a mere few feet away from you?

There was once during my reservist days when we were outfield, the Guards were using the area to practice heli-ops, basically loading/unloading of troops and gear via a chinook. Swear the chopper was no more than 200metres away in a clearing, and other than the initial 'whup-whup' sound when it was coming in to land, the darn thing was near silent when it landed with blades spinning and all! Even when it took off, it never made too much of a racket, but heckuva lotta dust though. :p

Lots of these videos on Youtube. Some 'gorier' than others. From their chatter, it'd seem the gunner/pilots are sometimes a little 'too' eager to shoot on the enemy... but this is war. A assumption now will cost the lives of your own soldiers later.

1/100 Metal Gear REX

Nice kit coming out from Koto! :) Cool touch that they gave Liquid/Solid snake AND a crushed Grey Fox! :D

Obama sings..

I know this is weird, but gave me a few giggles! The person who made this SURE had a lot of free time on their hands!

Cremation

Today was the last day for the funeral, at Mandai crematorium, it went by.... kinda fast i think! Maybe cos it was a public holiday, so they zipped him along the line into the incinerator pretty darn quick, faster than i remembered than my grandma i think!

Also, just picked up the ashes, man, there was a whole pile of bones, ddn't expect there to be so many. An they like, squished it into the urn!

Well, it's been a tiring few days, but as the priest mentioned, it definately brought the whole family together.

Oh wow!

There's like, a getai right behind my granddads wake, so free entertainment tonite haha! ;p

News of the day!

NEL breaks down yet again! But good thing i didn't go to work today.

Something must be wrong man, systems going down too frequently for it to be normal! Well, the engineers are going to be working OT for sure, and heads will roll at HQ!

Being 36 - Part 2

Whew! Just got home and showered, suddenly thought of putting down into words what i remembered of my Grandad, and all the good memories. :)

My grandad was a quiet, unassuming man, he worked as a secretary back in the 50s-60s in the public sector in what is now M.O.E. My first memories of him was when i stayed with my grandparents over at Spottiswoode park in Tanjong Pagar... I remember every weekend Saturday night, he would routinely make his black coffee, and watch his Wuxia shows on SBC at 9pm ( TV channels didn't extend late into the night like nowadays ).

Some mornings he would bring me to drink coffee at a nearby coffeeshop.... i would drink out of the saucer of course! Then i'd gulp down the soft-boiled egg with that hehe. He'd bring me to the provision shop just downstairs called 'Robert's'. (It's still there! Although not the same look and owner) I'd pester him to buy me toys from there, and each time oblige and spoil me much to my mum's chagrin (What?!??! Toys again?!?!). He bought me these robot figs which i wanted (which i found out are Microman figures, the precursor to Transformers), Hehe, i'll attach the pics of what they look like in another post! Guess i know where my Toy collecting started from now. :)

*On another note, that shop sold other great stuff like Machine Robo (Gobots), Mospeada (Robotech) and other misc Japanese toys! What can't provision shops do that now?

As far as i could remember, my grandad was a heavy smoker, along with my grandma too; each time we visited them they'd have a stick in hand, with an ashtray by the side and start puffing away... so it was quite a surprise to all of us when about 10-15 years ago they just suddenly stopped smoking one day... all of us thought 'That's it, it's a sign that they're gonna go'... Of course that didn't happen but till now i wonder why they stopped so abruptly.

So Kong kong, thank you for all the good memories, and loving all your grandchildren with all your heart. Adieu and till we meet again!

Big ol' 36!

Gettin old! Haha, guess i never thought i'd reach an age nearing 40, all a matter of time i guess! :p

Still at the wake, though most of the people have already left. It's also the start of the 7th month! Brrrrr! ;p all the joss paper's gonna start burning again!

Interesting story from the maid who looks after my granddad, a short moment before my granddad passed, she said that he was seemingly 'conversing' with someone and setting a meeting of sorts, he was looking at the ceiling mumbling 'ok, ok, see u later' and ' wait, wait' and a moment later he was gone peacefully. We'd like to think it's my grandma who was asking him to join her hehe. ;) My auntie said before he went, he face had a amazing radiant glow; i imagine that's the point at which your whole life flashes in front of your eyes.

Well, he's at peace now, up with his wife and all those loved ones who have passed before. So treasure the time you have with those you love for the time we have is short!

Farewell!

Woke up this morning and got a call that my grandad had passed away peacefully in hospital this morning around 7+am, apprently he had been sick for a few days already, and his bout of shingles a few months back left him pretty weak.

Still, he's in a better place now, and i hope he keeps an eye out for us! ;)

Lord of the... Whu?

Love the expression on Aragon's face... don't remember someone called "Mr Beens" in the movie though!

And... Joker before he was the Joker?

THE HULLKKKKKK!

Apt description of the Hulk i guess. :p

Backstroke of the West....

OMG, this explains everything! :p

Stars Earn Stripes

Almost wanted to shout "Yo Joe!"

As Master Yoda would say "Holding Guns, looking cool, do not a warrior make" or something like that anyway, too many of these 'reality' shows out there. On one hand, it gives awareness to what the operators are facing, but sheesh, no way these babies are anywhere near what it takes to be a soldier. Where's the gun discipline? :p

I wanna see one of these Stars deploy to Afghanistan.. ;)

Bootleg subtitles?...

... are awesome!

Almost a good as "Backstroke of the West"! (Revenge of the Sith)

Spy Hawk RC!

Ooo! Very cool! It's like having your own Predator drone! Imagine the possibilities... ;)

"The Spy Hawk is a 3 channel mini glider that comes with a built in FPV (first person view) video system that sends a high quality, 5 megapixel live feed back to the 3.5” LCD screen on the transmitter. It features a state of the art stabilisation system that makes it super easy to fly, with a little practice. Simply fly the plane up to the required height, switch on the ‘autopilot’ and the built in gyro will kick-in keeping the plane level (even if a gust of wind tries to knock you off course, the various flaps with automatically adjust to compensate)! See, we told you it was awesome. With the plane actively giving you a helping hand you get to concentrate on the fun side of flying.

The Sky Hawk offers a range of up to 600 metres with an average flight time of about 15 minutes on a single 7.4v lithium-ion polymer battery. All you need to do is put a few pieces together, charge the battery and you’re ready to fly. Made from EPO crash resistant foam, it should be able to withstand a few minor bumps and thanks to it being such a reasonable size it’s easy to carry around with you. It’s perfect for a trip to the park, field, seaside or anywhere else you’d like to get a great bird’s eye view."

Check it out here!

Just Cause 2 - Multiplayer!

Why they don't make this official, i do not know. :P Guess it's always up to the community to make things more interesting!

Check it out here! : http://www.jc-mp.com/

Only other thing they need to do now for MP is make the characters customizable.. cos now, everyone is.... rico. :P

Must be Chuck Norris!

This pic explains it all! :p 

http://kitup.military.com/2012/08/picture-chuck-norris-born-nazis.html/chuck_norris_poster

LEGO Town Plan

Interestingly, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen was featured on the box of the lego town plan set as a little boy... and 50 years later, returns to be featured on the cover again! Even the shirt almost matches the original haha. :p

Happy 80th Birthday LEGO!

Ah, to think that they were making everything else OTHER than bricks back in 1932! :) Thank goodness for LEGO, otherwise my childhood would have definately been less interesting! LEGO turned 80 on 10th August, but never too late for a birthday wish! :)

LEGO comes from the Danish word 'Leg' and 'Godt' which means 'play well', a good as any name! It has always been expensive here (it still is) but it's one of those evergreen toys that never seem to go out of fashion!

Checkout the video above. :) Sweet. :)

Weekends!

Ah, the weekends are here again... darn! :p Can't believe i said that though! The holidays started on Thursday for national day, and the office was closed today. So it was basically a 3 day week for me. :)

Yes, and Papa Panay is alive and well (that is all)

Been playing much Just Cause 2 and L4D2 recently... pretty old games but they're the best around compared to those nowadays hey? ;) There's a GTA like game called "Sleeping Dogs", that looks kinda interesting, got to see the reviews for that first. Apparently if you have the PC ver of JC2, you'll get some Rico costumes unlocked for your character in sleeping dogs..

Hey, and what's up with the stereotypical cheena-squinty eyed look for all the chinese characters? Farking racist bastiches.

R U Serious?

Apparently, they're pretty strong in Sports! But my impression of them comes unfortunately from the movie "Borat" Haha, still, i say very good! 6 Golds for them! ;)

Soundwave-a-blingbling!

Is this necessary? :p Well, Linkin Park seems to be big fans of Anime and robots, and they've collaborated before on some Gundam model kits.. too much if you ask me! :)

Linkin Park and Hasbro are collaborating on a super-limited LINKIN PARK EDITION SOUNDWAVE. It’s a new and exclusive model based on the original 1984 toy, the one I grew up playing with. It includes Lazerbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage. There will only be 2000 units, available at SURU and comic/hobby shops.

Hasbro is currently showing a sample of it, inside the Transformers booth at Comicon. Here are some pics from Les, the designer. Shout out to Mr. Hahn for overseeing its golden glory on our end (no, it’s not real gold).

The LINKIN PARK SOUNDWAVE will be available later this year.

Hot Toys - Bane

I dunno.. looks too skinny to me... what's that pose for? Is he asking for a hug? ;)

Tomahawk... Bayonet?!?!

I think we should deploy this to all the RP's and Personnel on guard duty at all camps.... may make them more fearsome! ;)

From Kitup!

That’s correct: DOD has announced the (initially) limited deployment of the IMPBTB (Inverted Multi-Purpose Ballistic Tomahawk Bayonet). The initial IMPBTB issue will go to SOF units (as might be expected) but long-term is expected to be issued out to every rifle in the inventory (at least those with a Pic rail, the MIL-STD-1913 rail or even the STANAG 2324 rail).

“The IMBTB is a combination of military hardware in one sleek and deadly package. It was designed to fit nearly all of a soldier’s combat needs while remaining somewhat unobtrusive and tactical,” said Major General John Manning of Army Research, Development and Engineering Command…”

Curiousity has Landed!

... and Mars looks like a desert on Earth! Seriously though, the planning for the whole thing and the nerve-wracking wait must have really been one helluva experience for the guys at the JPL. So what will they find? Will an alien photobomb the curiosity's camera pics? :)

1/48 Diecast Airwolf

There's gonna be a re-issue of the Aoshima diecast Airwolf in 1:48, guess it goes with the apache i bought; 1/72 helis ARE kinda teeny. Interesting fact below!

"The flying Airwolf helicopter was actually a Bell 222, serial number 47085, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A. During filming of the series, the helicopter was owned by Jetcopters, Inc. of Van Nuys, California. The helicopter was eventually sold after the show ended and became an ambulance helicopter in Germany, where it crashed in a thunderstorm and was destroyed on June 6, 1992, killing all three crew members.

The concept behind Airwolf was a supersonic and armed helicopter that could blend in by appearing to be civilian and non-military in origin — "a wolf in sheep's clothing". Airwolf's insignia patch, as designed by artist Andrew Probert and, as worn by the flight crew members, was a snarling wolf's head with bat wings that appeared to be wearing a sheepskin, complete with the head of the lamb over the wolf's forehead; a direct play on the saying."

This release is the original cobalt blue, and there's also a limited weathered version.

Armored Kill - BF3

Guess i'm kinda looking forward to this, since i technically 'own' it already cos of the premium account (Thanks $$EA$$). It's be nice to see all out vehicle warfare, but i wonder how they'll handle the heavy tanks and vehicles since :

- Tank round don't do shite against infantry
- Aerial vehicles RA*E all ground vehicles
- Infantry can't do shite against Air vehicles

If they can balance all that out, then i'm sure it'll be a blast!

ROTT!

Haha, remember this game? It had always been one of the kookier FPS games around, but still fun nonetheless! And guess what, it's coming back! :p nostalgia indeed... or lack of new ideas?

• Step into the shoes of the H.U.N.T. (High-Risk United Nations Taskforce) with five unique characters, each with different play styles.
• Blast through over 20 of levels of explosive single-player action.
• Unique multiplayer maps bring back all the fun and excitement of classic ROTT.
• The full arsenal of over-the top weapons is back, including the Flamewall, Firebomb, Split Missile, Drunk
• Missile and, of course, the Excalibat!
• The maniacal modes return, too, with God mode, Elasto mode, Mercury mode, Shrooms mode and everyone's favorite, Dog mode!
• Build your own levels, mods and share them with Valve's Steamworks.
• Offline single-player and multiplayer allows for instant action.
• Find tons of secrets, collectables, special events and hidden areas to explore.
• Get more than 100 achievements to add to your score, which is tracked on our worldwide leaderboard and stat-tracking system.
• ROTT is bloodier and more ludicrous than ever, with full character and enemy dismemberment.
• The iconic original soundtrack has been completely re-forged in the fires of heavy metal!
• Nostalgia abounds with the option to play with all the original sounds and music.
• Built on fully-licensed Unreal Engine 3 technology, ROTT will run on low-end PCs and push high-end PCs to their limits

DOOM 3 - BFG Ed.

Always been fond of the DOOM series, cos that was what really jump started the FPS genre (not forgetting the granddaddy WOLF3D of course!), I remember spending countless hours on my old 486 shooting imps, cacodemons and those goat headed thingys. :p

Doom II was a slight update to the original, different enemies like the annoying revenant, and updates like the double barrelled shotgun. Then Doom 3 came along. When it was released, it was buggy as hell, and the graphics power needed to run it was crazy, but when it was running, it was glorious fun albeit rather dark.

Come this October, a new version call 'Doom 3 - BFG edition' will be released, it's been over 7-8 years already? I wonder if i'll still be creeped out by the lil' baby demons! There'll be news missions again, and an update in gfx (i hope), it better be at a budget price though! :P

Booooo!

Upcoming release from LEGO! Don't really collect the Monsters series, but i like the aesthethics of the building. :) Let's see what the local price will be like, prob cheaper than Star Wars stuff!