Wednesday, August 29, 2012

August Purchase (7) - Miscellaneous Weapons (Some KOs)

Received my haul from TaoBao.com 2 nights ago... and quite disappointed with the stuff bought.. Post them here as they are more "related" to Kamen Riders.... than Transformers...


Blue Cats series - Poison Wolf Claws
Yes, this is a China made cartoon series that came out with some toys... Thought these claws can be extendable... They did, but only a couple of centimeters... what the... But they do give out very nice greenish light and motion-sensor-activated swishing sound (sound duration is a bit too long though)... Anyway, will mod them with some empty plastic bottles, hopefully can turn into more "Wolverine" style... Cost about $20.65 for 2 pieces...



Dragon Force series - Punisher Gun
Yeap, another China series, with the same old toys... It is supposed to be able to turn from a gun into a ... baton/dagger, I think? The baton/gun mode does not stay in place securely, and will droop with a heavy flick... worst thing is the sound... In gun mode, you have to press and HOLD on the "trigger" for the sound to be activated... hey manufacturer, this is NOT shooting action, come-on... Anyway, sound is same in both modes... Have since taken out the circuit board with intent to put into my Plex Ixa Riser (on the way, I hope nothing goes wrong) which has no sound nor anything, and use as a Henshin sound.... Cost about $10.65... not worth, not worth at all.... sigh...



GoGo Sentai Boukenger - KO SurviBuster
I was so happy when I found this item being sold in TaoBao, and it cost only 12 yuan each... And because it is packaged in similar way as the real version, I thought the sound should not be far off... I was wrong... The sound is the typical "Fire~! Fire~!... * Ta-ta-ta...*~ .... " ... what the... sigh... lucikly plastic quality is not too bad, the blade is also made of a rubbery material for safety... Even comes with a belt attachment piece... Similar to the Drive Defender, the blade is not automatic but needed to be swiveled out when transforming to sword mode... And the locking device for the handle to stay in place is only done by a spring attached piece, unlike the real SurviBuster that needs to push a button down first. This makes the handle in sword mode more prone to droop while slashing action is done... Anyway, bought 2 pieces, and have to transplant transplanted 1 of my previously bought sounds-chip over here... Cost about $17.00 for 2 pieces...



Crystal Warriors series - DX Crystal Gunber
After so many disappointments, luckily there is something to be glad about... This is the DX Crystal Gunber from the China series "Crystal Warriors"... wow, DX version leh... and it is supposedly from Bandai China (????!!!!!)... Wow... the name Gunber is probably Gun and Saber combined... Quite a fun piece... the saber mode has normal blade-hitting sound and blue light at the round circle piece at the hilt (pity no light into the blade...) then the saber blades can be retracted. By swiveling down the handle and attaching the holster, it becomes a gun! And it has a good gun firing sound everytime trigger is pressed! Nice... Cost about $14.00...

Sunday, August 26, 2012

August Purchase (6) - DX Ongekimei Narukaze/Ongekikan Reppu

Went down to Taka for the 3rd and last time for the 16th Craziest Toys Sale hoping to grab more cheap toys... and I did... Manage to grab the KR Ibuki DX Ongekimei Narukaze/Ongekikan Reppu for me and my little nephew... Cost is $4.50 per piece... while waiting to pay, I decided to grab 1 more piece for standby, after the bad experience with the previous DX guitars... and luckily I did...


Of the 3 pieces, 1 had a faulty speaker, the other had the mouthpiece missing and damaged belt clip-piece (and sometimes stuck-button), and only the last one seems ok... so I swapped some parts and now have 2 working trumpets... Hahaha... nice...



Also bought an extra KR Todoroki guitar as I thought of replacing my previous one by choosing one that has good blade tip and has the speaker appears completely at the sound holes. But again, my luck ran out, as this time, the speaker has a bad hissing sound... ok, maybe will give this extra to my little niece, hahahaha... Have bought 2 soft toys for her...

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

August Purchase (5) - KR Blade DX Blay Buckle, KR Faiz DX Axel Watch

Haul from eBay is here today!!! Shipping this time took longer than expected, coupled with the weekend and public holiday together, this took 11 days (normally 4 days) to arrive after seller ships...

KR Blade DX Blay Buckle
Awwww.... The super simple belt... for its sound, I mean. Basically it has only a power-on/off sound, a standby-henshin music, and the turn-up speech/music... And that's all. What makes this unique will probably be the mechanism that flips the buckle plate... Anyway, quite nice belt... Cost approximately $57.90...



KR Faiz DX Axel Watch
Finally lost my mind and ordered this... Don't know why, just lost my mind... Hahaha... anyway, still need to figure out how this thing can be played... Cost approximately $128.65...

Monday, August 20, 2012

Minor Mod - KR Hibiki DX Meitou Onsaken: Replacement Blade

Bought a cheap ninja sword and cut off the blade to replace the 2nd most ridiculously short blade of KR DX weapons (The no. 1 spot belongs to KR Decade's DX Ride Booker's blade...)... Damn screws... seriously, the screws are so worn off that there was 1 impossible to remove... and it has to be the one nearest to the blade... broke and repaired the blade supporter piece, hope it will last and remain..

Now looks better. Visual estimation from the front picture of box indicates this new blade is almost 1:1 scale... I say almost as I felt the blade should have been longer... Anyway, much much much better... next time then ask my little nephew if he would also want to extend the blade... Should I silver-chrome-sticker the blade?? Hmmmm....

Sunday, August 19, 2012

August Purchase (4) - DX Ongekishin Raigo/Ongekigen Retsurai, DX Ongekishin Zantetsu/OngekiShingen Retsuzan, DX Meitou Onsaken, Candy Toy Medagaburyu

Went over to Taka today to have my 2nd round at its 16th Craziest Toys Sales... and this time picked up some very cheap Kamen Rider Hibiki series stuff!


DX Ongekishin Raigo/Ongekigen Retsurai
Saw from a forum that the sales have these loaded yesterday, so went down. Looked around for a while and finally found this at 1 of the pile of Bandai stuff... The few remaining pieces are deep in the centre of the other stuff, so very difficult to reach in to dig out these pieces... I took a deep breathe and look at the price tag... $5.00 !!!!!! Heh heh, immediately took another one (for myself to display/play), but I quickly pass it to a lady who also wanted to buy this one for her kids... so I reached in deeper to take another one, and found the black version! (see 2nd item below)... Intend to give this for my little nephew....



DX Ongekishin Zantetsu/OngekiShingen Retsuzan
Surprise to see this piece! Yesterday was still researching on this KR Todoroki's guitar and didn't really like the green colour, and when I found a Youtube clip of the KR Zanki's version, I like that colour scheme more, but thought that this probably won't be sold in the toys sales... I was wrong...At $5.00 a piece, this is sweet...



DX Meitou Onsaken
After the great hussle of hauling out the DX guitars, I was about to leave, when my eyes suddenly caught sight of the word "sword" in chinese/japanese... Sword? This guitar is no sword... Could it be something else? But as this box is partially hidden and very deep in beyond reach, I tried to look around for a staff to help me..but unsuccessful... In the end I shift out the front few boxes of stuff and finally able to reach in the cavity and pull out... the DX Meitou Onsaken!!!!! Happy... Look at the price, even happier! $5.00 only as well!!! Immediately took 2 sets... Good haul today...



Candy Toy Medagaburyu
Then went over to CSC... not much good stuff... went over to buy the Candy Toy Medagaburyu to transplant the sounds over to my KO Perfect Zecter (which has the same sounds as that of the KO Double Calibur... and I cannot accept this time)... $10, a bit expensive compared to the earlier purchases...




Edit #1: Arrrggghhh.... Not sure if it is me's luck or the QC or the material degradation over time... the plastic piece on the tip of the (rubber) blade literally crumbles when I detomb KR Zanki's guitar.... took a long time to fix up, superglue-tissue the gaps and finally manage to fix it after 1 hr 45 mins... Worsen by the fact the guitar cannot take apart (some parts seem permanently jointed....) even after removing all screws ....And when checking KR Todoroki's guitar, the same issue happen... and this time I snap off the remaining plastics and used a silver-chrome-stickered plastic to cover the space... Next time then take pictures... also, the KR Todoroki's guitar volume is very low compared to KR Zanki's. Initially I thought is because the loud speaker is not placed properly, but after a long time of fiddling (cannot take the bloody thing apart to fix!!!!), manage to pull the loudspeaker to place but problem is still there, sound only better a little bit... sigh...

Ok, enough of grumbling....

Edit #2: My little nephew actually prefer the KR Zanki's guitar than KR Todoroki's! Which means... I can now break apart the KR Todoroki's guitar neck to replace the speaker!!! So I did that... and yes, the speaker is damaged when the assembly line did not put it in properly... so I replaced with a new speaker, and yes, the volume (and quality) is restored... Only left to need to make a small strip of golden-chromed sticker to better cover up the break-line... nice...

Edit #3: My little nephew and me fun playing the guitars!!! Hahahaha.....

August Purchase (3) - KO Mini SurviBuster, KO Double Calibur, KO Gatack Zecter, KO Kabuto Zecter, KO Perfect Zecter, DX Hyper Zecter, DX Zanbat Sword, DX KR Ixa Belt

Haul from Taobao.com came today!!! In 1 huge box... Actually I am more worried about my eBay purchases, usually they arrive in approximately 4 days but this time, a bit longer than expected... Nevermind, wait for a couple more (working) days... Anyway, here's the loot, and since I am a KO person, I'll start off with the KO stuff 1st...


KO Mini SurviBuster
Awwww.... Did not expect this to shrink down so much... like a Poppy version already.... Hmmm... maybe it is the KO of the Poppy version (if any?)??? No sounds nor light, but transformable from gun to sword (dagger) and vice-versa. Intend to put in the electronics (gotten from a candy toy, forgotten what it is... think is the purple KR OOO's weapon...) in for gun and sword sound... Already did some slight trimming and cutting as my little nephew got a little difficulty to swing put the blade... And I threw away the KR figurine after 2 seconds of display... Ugly... cost about $7.25...



KO Double Calibur
Awwww.... a bit only... It is slightly undersized, but I had NOT expect this to shrink down... Tore out and compared with my DX version, it is roughly 85% of the DX size... sigh... anyway, the sound is quite lousy but acceptable (barely, I got no choice anyway...) and I had to wrap up the speakers and seal up the sound slits to muffle down the volume a bit... Anyway, given the DX version to my nephew... and we had a extremely FUN fighting session with the 2 pairs of scissors!!!! Hahahaha ... cost about $7.20...



KO Gatack Zecter
... and since we are into KR Gatack's weapon, here is his henshin Zecter! KO!!! Slightly undersize too... and A LOT simplified... Don't care, already bought the TheBee Zecters to do transplants... hahahaha... Also bought snap buckles for belt construction too, intend to use the snap on belt concept... cost about $8.85...



KO Kabuto Zecter
... and since we are into KR Kabuto series, here is Gatack's good friend, the main protagonist's henshin device, Kabuto Zecter! ... KO, of course, and also slightly undersized, like Gatack's... yes, will do transplant for this one too... Hee hee hee... Should have only bought just one... Nevermind, I'll use the other to repaint into... Dark Kabuto???? Hmmm.... if got time an energy later... cost about $17.65 for 2...


A close-up view of the KO Kabuto Zecter...



KO Perfect Zecter
... and now KR Kabuto's super weapon, the (KO) Perfect Zecter sword!!!!! Hmm... not sure if there is any size change... will compare later with my DX TheBee Zecter to see if it is the same size as that of the KO version that comes with this sword... Looks good, looks good indeed... cost about $15.95...



OK, enough of KOs, now its time for some legit ones...


DX Hyper Zecter
... and yes, I bought 2 KR Kabuto's DX Hyper Zecters, so that I can have 1 and my little nephew also can have one... Not open them yet, but the boxes are in not so good condition... cost about $117.95 for 2...



DX Zanbat Sword
... Now to another series, Kamen Rider Kiva... His super duper Zanbat Sword!!!!! Again box is tattered, but item is brand new condition (or so I think)... cost about $52.40... Actually saw another one in Taobao.com for 80 yuan lesser... sigh... Nevermind...


A close-up view of the Zanbat Sword... Quite big for a kid sword... and with some weight...



DX Ixa Belt
... and finally, here is KR Kiva's good "friend", KR Ixa's henshin belt!!! Finally gotten this belt, which I made up mind mind to buy when I go to CSC and found the candy toy version is (I think) sold out... Also have bought the Ixa Calibur, which is now on its way from Taiwan to Singapore... Box is beaten-ed up, but who cares...cost about $68.70...


A close-up view of the Ixa belt... Nice...



Hope my eBay items arrive soon and safely... and also the items that are on their way from Taiwan and China, coming to Singapore...

Saturday, August 11, 2012

August Purchase (2) - Mini Gatack Zecter, DX Gatack Double Calibur, Ultraman Mebius Handy Guys Memory Display

Went to Takashimaya's 16th Craziest Toys Sales today... it is too late... What I wanted are gone... sigh... sigh... Anyway, gotten some consolations...

Mini Gatack Zecter
So cute! And it cost $3 only! This is supposed to be the racing/crashing zecters series, seen in TaoBao.com there were also a TheBee and Kabuto mini zecters to roll and crash with one another. There are wheels on the belly of the Gatack mini Zecter, and it has an internal mechanism for increasing the forward-motion momentum... No sounds nor lights, just a little stud to stick a super mini Gatack figurine onto it when "battling" other mini zecters... But it does comes with a zecter buckle, and the mini zecter can slide into it. The horns are able to be separately swiveled into cast-off position... or something like that... hmmm... I think I might want to plug my candy-toy Accel Trial Memory's colour-changing LEDs into this little thing...


Edit: After some paint touch up, looks much better...



DX Gatack Double Calibur
Bought this because... it is quite cheap... $15... and is the Japan version!!!! Actually I have already ordered a KO of this Double Calibur from Taobao.com, but could not resist getting this... The blades are made of rubbery material, so safe enough... I probably might give this to my little nephew and I use the KO one instead, since he cannot control his force (cannot let him handle the KO version, which is likely to be made of a hard plastic), it will be safer for me to be hit by this... Needs 4 AAA batteries though, very "energy consuming", hahaha... 



Ultraman Mebius Handy Guys Memory Display
This is the mini version of the Ultraman Mebius "Memory Display"... actually I am also not sure how this thing works, bought for fun only... yeah, will see if my little nephew wants it or not... Cost $3 too...

Friday, August 3, 2012

August Purchase (1) - DX TheBee Zecter

Received my 3 DX TheBee Zecters from eBay today... Wait, what? 3 DX TheBee Zecters ???!!!... Well, yeah... I had earlier ordered 2 KO undersized Kabuto Zecters (1 for my little nephew, the other for me...) and 1 such Gatack Zecters from Taobao.com, and as they are the cheapo KO version, they do not have a decent henshin sound(s)... Hence I thought of buying some cheap henshin devices to mod in. Though the henshin sounds might be off, at least they still sound decent... Each piece cost $38.30...


Earlier I was dismantling 1 of them to check out the internal circuits and switches stuff, I casually left it on my table, and when my little nephew saw it, he wanted to play with it. And he enjoyed it so much that when I explain I want to put it inside a Kabuto Belt for him, he say he want theBee Zecter instead! Arrrgggghhh.... If know earlier then will not have bought 2 KO Kabuto Zecters.... nor the 2 DX Hyper Zecters... sigh... nevermind... maybe he will like the Hyper Zecter...