Recap of 30 April - Japan Trip Day 02 - Kokura

Day 02 was dedicated to Kokura, sort of.

A good friend, Bill, has paved the way for this part of Japan previously and told me that in addition to the Mandarake in Fukuoka, there is one in Kokura too, which is 25 mins away from Fukuoka by Bullet  Train.

This is the building that Mandarake is in and can be easily seen from the Kokura train station and can be reached via sky-walkways and a bridge.

This is the directory. The whole building is populated by stores selling collectibles and pop culture stuff. Notably, there is Mandarake, Jungle, Robot Robot, Animate and others.

Recap of 29 April - Japan Trip Day 01 - Fukuoka

Last week, I took my long awaited break, to a place I have long waited to go to - Fukuoka in Japan.

It was rumoured and I had it on good authority, that it is the new mecca of Transformers, since Tokyo and Osaka are nowadays picked clean collectors and scalpers alike.

So there I was. Day 01. Hit Mandarake Fukuoka rightaway with E.

Looked at the Diaclone section first. Only thing that caught my attention was a overpriced Wheeljack in a faded box...

My favourite MTMTE covers

Today is the day when More Than Meets the Eye #28 will be released.

In other words, MTMTE Season 2 is going to start! After, to me, the non-really-exciting-event that was Dark Cybertron, I am so excited for MTMTE to continue!

Here I look back at some of my favourite MTMTE covers from "Season 1". 2 of my favourites were #7 and #18, but on the whole most of the Milne covers are pretty darn nice. There were some instances where I have opted for "Cover B" because I felt that convoyed the interior story a little better.

So here they are, my favourite MTMTE covers from Season 1.

Thanks to Maz for helping me obtain the covers for #1E, #3A, #9A, #10A and #17A (did I miss any?).

Oh and here is the #28 cover that I'm planning to get....

Takara, Fight! Super Robot Life, 23 - Skywarp MIB, unused (#10 of 36)

Following from my previous post, which showcased all the seekers in Japanese packaging, I will now (over time) go through each seeker in more detail.

So for this post, because I am lazy and actually 20 mins away from leaving to the airport to go to Fukuoka, I thought I actually wouldn't write anything and let the photos do their talking for one of my favourite G1 pieces, that was never available in Singapore when I was young, Skywarp!

He is #10 of 36.

Takara Fight! Super Robot Life, 22 - Starscream MIB, unused (#9 of 36)

Following from my previous post, which showcased all the seekers in Japanese packaging, I will now (over time) go through each seeker in more detail.

The first seeker is none other than Starscream himself, the Decepticon Air Commander - he is #9 of 36.

There is not much I can say about Starscream that has not already been said. So, I will be brief and say 2 things:

(1) this post is dedicated to the Cave Collector, one of the most enthusiastic Starscream fans out there (or 'Starscream slut', as he likes to refer to himself as).

(2) this post is done in tandem and perfect timing with Maz's Ceji G1 Starscream quickie post.

Now onto the photos...

Takara, Fight! Super Robot Life, 08 - Bluestreak MIB, unused (#8 of 36)

So this is figure #8 of 36 - Japanese box 08 - Bluestreak (or 'Streak' if you would). So #8 is 08, or 08 is #8, heh.

One of my all time favourites. What more can I say?

One of the key reasons I really love this guy is because of the box art - look at it, it's absolutely stunning. Thanks to Ginraii for doing the below pic for me.

So, this is the Takara Japanese boxed Bluestreak, one of the more difficult early Autobot cars to find in Japanese box. Certainly still commands a pretty hefty price, compared to say Prowl or Smokescreen, despite it being reissued just as many times as the other 2.

The rub-sign orientation for the Jap piece is different from the USA reb-sign figure - see below for comparison.

Devastated - 03 x Devastator giftsets

I previously wrote that I obtained the Takara 37-Devstar giftset here.

Below is a quickie shot of all my Devastator giftsets, while I was re-arranging my shelves.

Left - vintage USA box Devastator giftset
Right (top) - vintage Japanese box 37-Devstar giftset
Right (bottom) - reissue Japanese box Encore 20-Devstar giftset