Your Guide to Modern Military Kits.

Good day Readers,

I am sorry for the long hiatus. In this part of the world, it has been a really busy period largely due to the festivities of the Spring Festival/Lunar New Year. As such, I haven't been able to get around writing. Furthermore, my progress on my models and miniatures is at a standstill along with getting around to do my new set of features for the blog.

For now, I shall begin with a new feature I promised and that is giving a guide to finding Modern Military Model Kits. In this day and age, hobby model kit shops are scaling down. In fact, more often than not, you might not be able to even get the model kit you want without asking the shopkeeper to reserve or pre-order for you. (That is, if you manage to find a convenient Hobby shop around your area) With the continual influence of video games, building model kits has become more niche than before.  It doesn't make it easier if you wanted Modern Military Kits.

For the vivid hobbyist, you may know that the model kit markets is largely made up of World War 2 and Gundam. Thus, Modern Military Kits range is the little brother of these ranges of model kits. However, fear not, there are a few brands out there that provide you ample amount for you to suffice your Modern Military interest and start your very own Battlefield 3 line of vehicles and soldiers.

Recommended Brands for Modern Military Kits

In terms of Modern Military Armor, there are quite a few brands that specialize in various scales.

For starters, Tamiya and Trumpeter have an adequate selection of 1/35 scale armor that range from your current MBTs to your famous Modern IFVs. As such, if you are into the bigger scale Armor, your best bet is on these two brands. However, if you are into a more smaller and conventional scale (like me) and you want to do 1/72 Armor, Revell and Trumpeter are the masters of this range. These two have an extensive range of Western armour that none can compare. Of course, it is up to individual preference on which model kit set is more suited to your craftsmanship. For me, I prefer Revell as I have more familiarity with their kits compared to Trumpeter. An additional note to take account is that if you are more keen on collecting Japanese Modern Armour, your best bet would be to look out ff the Western Brand Range and into Japanese Model Makers. Aoshima, Pit-Road and Fujimi provide lots of JGSDF vehicles. These Japanese brands provide high quality model kits and are very detailed.

As for Modern Military Aircraft, Big scale that range from 1/32 - 1/72 are largely dominated by Japanese Brands. Tamiya is a good bet. They have your F-15 and F-16 model kits that come with great detailed parts and awesome looking boxes. Hasegawa, Revell and Trumpeter are also main contenders in this scales. Even hyper modern jets like the F-22 Raptor are among their selection.

However, when it comes to the small 1/144 scale. Dragon and Pit-Road provides most of the modern aircraft that I can think of at the top of my head. Furthermore, super advanced fighters like the PAK-FA T-50 and J-20 PLA Stealth Fighters are among the latest of their range. Revell has a wide range too but I have preferences for Pit-Road and Dragon. However, if you are looking for the 1/144 scale F-22 Raptor, it seems Trumpeter is the only brand that offers that scale at the moment, as featured on my F-22 Raptor post.


Lastly, for Modern Naval Warships and Submarines, Dragon, Aoshima, Pit-Road, Hobby Boss and Trumpeter are great brands for scales 1/350- 1/700. Through my own experience, I particularly favour Dragon, Pit-Road and Aoshima for 1/700 Modern Naval Ships. Dragon has a great range of US, UK and Russian Naval Ships (inclusive of the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov Aircraft Carrier). Aoshima and Pit-Road does have their own range of US Naval Ships (including the US Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier [SOLD OUT]) but they are also great in providing model kits for the JMSDF or Japanese Navy.

Where to get them?

When all else fails in term of finding your desired model kit in your nearest hobby store, your best bet would be to go online and get it from an online store. To cut the search short for you, I am recommending these two online hobby stores.

HobbyLink Japan and Hobby Search are the two most extensive hobby shops I have ever seen in my life. This is taking into account my many years doing Modern Military Model Kits. Aside from their huge collection of Modern Military Kits, they have action figures, anime collectibles and many more awesome stuff. Both have really competitive prices and provide international shipping to most countries. (I would say that Hobbylink has a greater price value compared to Hobby Search but there are stuff that Hobby Search have that Hobbylink might lack vice versa)

As both companies are based in Japan, they charge their goods in Yen. You need not fret because they have a price converter for every product and would give you the price in terms of USD ot local currency. Furthermore, the yen is weakening and shopping for Modern Military Kits in these two stores would be even cheaper than before.

The good part about searching for Modern Military Model kits via these two website is that they would be able to tell you the availability of the model kits and whether they would restock it if it is sold out. If these two websites have discontinued any of the kits you are looking for, you best bet would be to find it through ebay or Amazon.

If there are no model kit brands that have your desired armoured vehicle/plane/warship, you could try finding scale resin model kit via the search engine as a last resort.

Personally, in terms of 1/72 Armor, 1/144 Planes and Helicopters and 1/700 Warships, I have never come across a situation where I am not able to find what I want. However, if you have any queries that you want to ask on how to get certain modern military kits, do drop a comment.

Other than that, stay tune for more post!

Cheers guys!

DPRK Dreams of the Big Apple

Hey Everyone

Recently toyconstruct has just bypassed a milestone, and according to our pageview counter, we've gotten over a 100,000 pageviews! Hip hip hooray! We've gotten here thanks to you all! Anyway, back to today's post.

from lazygamer.net

Once again, the Hermit Kingdom has confounded us.

Unlike Iran, North Korea has been pretty clear on their nuclear program: it's not for peaceful purposes. Recently, their propaganda department released a controversial video that is probably too wild to describe in words (you really have to watch it yourself!).

The gist of the video is this: North Korea dreams of reuniting the Koreas together, and using nuclear warfare and space tech to annihilate the United States, the Prime Archenemy, to oblivion. Its bold message wasn't the most controversial bit. In fact, the North Koreans attracted a lawsuit from Activision for completely lifting a sequence from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, specifically the "Hunter Killer" mission (and it's the Russians here, they could have used Homefront or the new Red Dawn movie).

The scene that the North Koreans used to great artistic effect.

To make this video even more bizzare, its makers saw fit to use an instrumental version of "We are the World," a song produced in the U.S. to fight poverty in Africa. Somehow that song fits in a video that wishes for the complete destruction of the U.S. That's real irony there.



The translations are as follow (from the Lede Blog, North Korean Propaganda Video Imagines a Brighter World, Without Manhattan, by Marc Santora and Choe Sang-Hun):

“I had a dream last night, a dream of soaring into space on board our Unha-9 rocket,”

“Our Kwangmyongsong-21 spacecraft got separated from the rocket and traveled through space,”

“I see stars and the green Earth. I also see a unified Korea.”

“Meanwhile, I see black smoke rising somewhere in America,” 

“It appears that the headquarters of evil, which has had a habit of using force and unilateralism and committing wars of aggression, is going up in flames it itself has ignited.”

“Just imagine riding in a Korean spaceship. One day, my dream will come true,”

“No matter how hard the imperialists try to isolate and stifle us, they will not stop our people’s path toward our final victory of achieving a unified, strong and prosperous Korea.”

I am just exasperated on how you don't need humor outlets like College Humor and The Onion to get ridiculous video clips about North Korea...they are intriguingly capable of doing it themselves.

In spite of its dated graphics and blatant plagiarism, its underlying message is worrying and I fear of underestimating the North Koreans. North Korea sees the U.S. as the Enemy and would not hesitate to use its nuclear capabilities. Moreover, with their successful satellite launch and pending nuclear test, North Korea would be firmly holding onto and expanding their nuclear capabilities, which would add instability to the world and the ominous possibility of nuclear war.

This is not the only time that U.S. symbols have been appropriated by others. Hamas had used a direct copy of Mickey Mouse in their children's videos for a while (Fafour the Mouse). The program apparently teaches children the worthiness of the militant cause, and the suffering people face from Israel's occupation of Palestine.



It is interesting how disenfranchised groups/nations use the symbols of their enemies in their propaganda and literature. Another example I can think of goes back to Biblical times, when a deeply unpopular and cruel Jewish king (a Roman puppet) Antiochus IV titled himself Epiphanes ("God Manifest"), and his opponents used wordplay and reversed it to call him Epipmanes ("The Mad One").

Antiochus IV: either a god or a lunatic, depending on whose side you're on.

It's just a casual observation and it would be great to see if this indeed has been a trend throughout our history...and it does make me wonder: what makes the symbols of the powerful serve as effective/potent vehicles of communication for the oppressed?

Kotobukiya: DC Comics Harley Quinn Bishoujo Statue

Hey Everyone

Hope the year 2013 started well for you all! Med school pummelled me when the holidays were over. But there's good news, I am figuring out a way to take photoshoots and churn out posts on a more regular schedule. Thank you for your support, and it is definitely a delight to share in our nerdy pursuits :)

Today's post is about a recent acquisition I made (on impulse): Kotobukiya's 1/8 Scale Bishoujo sculpt of Harley Quinn, the villainous jester sidekick of DC Comics fame (or infamy).

We all know "DC" stands for Detective Comics. It's interesting to know that its first hero was not a caped superhero at all. DC started off with Slam Bradley, an private eye who solves crimes with brawn and brains, with the aid of Shorty Morgan (who is rather inept for comic purposes). In fact, Batman is DC's earliest iteration of a modern superhero, and he appeared on the 27th issue, about 2 years since DC's inception. Batman has become such a cultural icon that a copy of issue #27 reportedly sold for a million bucks!

Slam Bradley, DC's original detective hero.

Anyway, back to the topic.

Window box that Harley Quinn arrives in, simple and functional. No fancy flip outs etc.

Kotobukiya started a bishoujo line of statues a few years ago, which are Japanese re-iterations of female characters from a wide range of genres, from Tekken to Marvel Comics. Due to its expanding range, I am guessing that the Bishoujo line is proving to be rather popular and profitable for Kotobukiya.

Inside the box: the statuette and an alternate white face.

These sculpts are based on designs by Shunya Yamashita, and measure about 10 inches high. This particular sculpt has Harley Quinn playfully posing with a gigantic mallet, which makes for quite a comedic combination. A demure damsel on top of a massive mallet was something I couldn't resist, and spoke right to the core of Harley Quinn's (mis)adventures of mayhem and comic relief. Kotobukiya has given Harley's eyes a "toy doll" treatment, which makes her appear rather demure and the detail is well done.

Harley comes with a protective strip behind her default flesh face.

Harley with her default flesh face.

Harley with her white makeup face, which I prefer over the default one.

The figure itself comes equipped with 2 faces. One with a flesh-colored face for a natural look, and an alternate face with white makeup. Each face is magnetic and the magnets themselves are quite solid, so you'll have to be careful in swapping the faces without damaging them. I highly recommend using a smooth or microfiber cloth to hold on the faces during a swap. I went with the white face.

The entire statuette, with the mallet base. The tilting mallet adds some kinetic energy to the sculpt.

The sculpt viewed from the front.

Harley Quinn began her DC career in Batman: The Animated Series (one of the best cartoons IMO) back in September 11, 1992. She quickly proved to be popular and her creators (Paul Dimi and Bruce Timm) produced a graphic novel about her backstory...which went on to win Eisner and Harvey awards of Best Single Issue Comic of the year. In the cartoons, she is depicted to possess a very strong Brooklyn accent.

Harley with her hand perched....on a mallet handle.

Close-up on her face, notice how the eyes are done and the cloth-like effects of her dangling pom poms.

Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel is one of the most well-known fictional example of hybristophilia, or the arousal and sexual attraction to individuals who commit crime or outrage. In real life, there are checks and sanctions in place if a medical professional starts to have feelings for his/her patient, and there have been cases of doctors hooking up with their patients. It's a pretty serious offence and medical professionals are advised to immediately notify the patient about it, and even stop being the patient's caregiver to avoid conflict of interest and all that ethical jazz.

Harley's head viewed from above.

A look at how far her big pom poms fly from her head.

Harley Quinn's story does seem to be tragic, which may explain for the inherent pull of her backstory. Coming from a background of privilege (intelligence, good looks, respectable job) and with the noble aim of helping others, Harley Quinn recklessly drops it all due to her obsession with the maniacal Joker. While it may be obvious to us that the Joker does not return her feelings for him (can't blame him, he's really nuts), Harley Quinn continues to be madly in love with him and proves to be a terrifying fanatic when it comes to playing out Joker's destructive plans.

Another view of Harley on top of her mallet. Her pose strongly reminds me of WWII USAF noseart.

Kotobukiya's sculpt of Harley Quinn is excellent and artful. Harley Quinn's pose with the mallet has a dynamic feel towards it, and the little details (the jester cuffs, cloth-like effects) add quite a bit to this impressive statuette. Paint job is quite well done and the smooth finish to her jester's costume is immaculate. Somehow, her slapstick pose reminds me of WWII USAF noseart, where women are depicted in playful poses on the noses of bombers and fighter planes.

A dainty hand on top of a massive mallet, a rather comedic touch!

Harley's foot gracefully on top of the ginormous mallet of pain.

The way the legs gyrate around the handle also adds a sense of kinetic energy to the sculpt.

Hope you like the shots, and I highly commend Kotobukiya on their impressive effort not just producing a statuette of quality, but also successfully capturing the spirit of Harley Quinn of mayhem and comedy. That is an explosive combination.

Sideview of the sculpt.

While writing this post...I thought about this: would you classify Harley Quinn as evil? Sure she blows stuff up, and won't hesitate to kill people while committing the will of the Joker. But is there any malicious intent behind it? Is she chaotic neutral or chaotic evil? Or am I trying to gloss over a tremendously flawed but attractive character?

War for Cybertron: Bumblebee

Welcome Back to Toyconstruct!

We have finally made it to the first week of 2013!

And to start off, I shall be giving a review of the War and Fall of Cybertron version of Bumblebee and also a short review of the Fall of Cybertron Game that I have completed.

"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee". Famous words by the Great Muhammad Ali. It is also a phrase that can easily describe the small but ever so chirpy Bumblebee. In War and Fall of Cybertron as well as many of the TV Series, Bumblebee represents the "little guy". However, more often than not, he plays a vital role to the Autobots exploits and adventures. He is also known to be a wise-cracker that has to put in more than a few words of his opinion in things.

In spite of what I have mentioned, Bumblebee is the mascot of the Transformers and his small physique and youthfulness allows him to be able to associate well with a young human kid, Sam Witwicky who made friends with the Autobots in the Transformers Series. On many occasions, even in the trashy Michael Bay Transformer films, we see how Bumblebee overcomes adversity with his agility and speed. At times, his "smallness" also helps him perform missions that his bigger compatriots are unable to do.

 Melee Blades on Bumblebee's arms

Bumblebee is aware that he is small. Furthermore, he knows that he is younger than many of his Autobot compatriots. This makes him feel compelled to always try and prove his worth in the eyes of his Autobot superiors.

Bumblebee Draws his weapon

Truth be told, Initially, in the G1 TV Series, I never really liked Bumblebee because I didn't think he was cool and he wasn't really that powerful. he was just a little kid. You would have thought that because i was a kid back then, I could associate with Bumblebee. However, I didn't really like his name, the beatle car he transformed into, his design and abilities weren't that great. Like most kids, we were into the dude with the most power and coolest design.

Bumblebee's Metallic Legs that look like skates.

After awhile though, Bumblebee started to grow on me. The attachment to him deepens as the TV Show develops his relationship with the Humans and Sam Witwicky and you could almost believe like if Transformers did exist, Bumblebee could be your friend. Ahh.. what childish delusions I had when I was a kid.

Vehicle Mode

In any case, his Cybertronian vehicle mode looks sleek, curvy and cool. Cybertronian Design really makes all of the Transformers look way cooler. And speaking of the Cybertronian version, I shall now finally touch upon the Transformer: Fall of Cybertron Game.

Bumblebee Zooming across the Road in Vehicle Mode

Fall of Cybertron had a few additions and changes compared to its prequel, War of Cybertron. For starters, there are achievements to be unlock in Steam now. Improvements have also been made on the Escalation and Multiplayer Gameplay. With the addition of the Teletraan 1 in the game, Ammo shortages and getting of weapons should not be a problem in this game.

On top of that, expect to see more massive robots and awesome cool scenes which work well with the gameplay to give a good sequel to the previous game. In this game, we see how Optimus prepares to depart Cybertron on the Ark and the events that lead to that. For the first half of the Campaign, you will play for the Autobots working towards making the Ark Operational. You will witness the massive power and strength of Metroplex but the game is more rigid in which each mission already has a preassigned Character rather than allowing you to choose various Characters to play for that part of the mission.

The good part would be that the mission focus much more on the character and its abilities. This gives the character more weight in the story that is unfolding.

Optimus commands Metroplex to smash Megatron.

 After the first half of the story, you will play various Decepticons in their attempt to stop the progress of the Autobots. Personally, the best mission would be playing the all mighty Bruticus.

Combaticons Combine!

This badass monster leaves a trail of destruction whereever it goes. With a good storyline, great looking Transformers, it seems like a great sequel to the Transformer Cybertronian Series. However, the game is not absent of flaws.

The New Optimus Design does not really go down well with me.

For starters, there is a lot of buggy issues with the game. Sometimes the gameplay will roll into a cinematic cut scene with the absence of audio dialogue. Furthermore, because of some graphic or bug issue, there are times where the game after going through a certain cut scene or boss fight would just crash back to desktop. I had encounter this problem before I open my NVIDIA graphic card control panel to use my graphic card to directly run the game, giving it a smooth run throughout the game.

It's Hard not to love the Transformers. And if you are a fan of the G1 series, you will like this cool version of Transformers, inclusive of Bumble Bee.

It can be really really frustrating having to deal with those issues. If you manage to rectify it though, you are in for a treat involving Robots, Battles and Awesome fight scenes. There have been criticism that the Multiplayer doesn't enable friends to be able to play together against people online. Multiplayer has been also criticize for no port of communication. Aside from these stuff though, the positives of the gameplay, storyline and multi-play outweigh these issues.

Grimlock STRONG!

For me, the best part of playing the Autobots inthe campaign would be to get control of Mr. Leader of the Dinobots, Grimlock himself. A beast of a warrior, this guy could pack a real meaty punch in the game. When he changes into Dino-mode, epic strength and fury is dealt at great proportions to his enemy.

The Arc leaving Cybertron with Metroplex on the Background.

My final analysis is that if you are a fan of Transformers and Michael Bay has suck out your happy views of what Trasnformers might be (Yes, I truly do not like the Michael Bay Transformers), Fall of Cybertron, just like its predecessor will give back to you that joy and happiness of how G1 was like for you. The game is simple enough to pick up for an FPS. It gives you an experience of seeing and playing many of the iconic Robots that have been so familiar to many adults and kids around the World. So take up the game and live the story of Transformers: Robots in Disguise!

Lastly, this game has resulted in new Cybertronian Transformer to be release under the Hasbro Toy line. I have mentioned in my Optimus Post that I was contemplating to get the New Optimus but I have decided not to. Somehow or another, the new Deluxe version of Fall of Cybertron Transformers looks particularly small. As mentioned above, the new Optimus doesn't go down well with me. As such, I shall not be buying Optimus Prime. Aside from Optimus, Hasbro has announced that there will be a release of Jazz, Shockwave, Sideswipe, Kickback, Starscream, Grimlock and Bruticus for the Fall of Cybertron toy line.

I shall be pouncing on Grimlock as soon as possible. Furthermore, I might consider getting the SDCC 2012 Exclusive Bruticus in original gameplay colours, Shockwave and Starscream. I must reiterate though, that I am still contemplating. Thus, aside from Grimlock, the rest might not be a "for sure" circumstance in which I would buy them. Due to acquiring many collectibles, painting materials and model kits, I am quite broke now. :p So much consideration must be done into making a purchase on anything.

Ahh such is the troubles of being a hobbyist and a collector of many toys and action figures. Sometimes, I am quite convinced that calling me Super Nerd Geek would not be an understatement. (I wonder whether I should be happy about that :P)

Till the next post, 

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year 2013!!

Happy New Year Everyone! It's 2013!

The New Year always brings in the air of fresh starts. It also brings in an atmosphere of great revival from any failures of last year. As such, I am assuming many have been setting resolutions and setting the course to how this year will be in their lives.

Changes

In any case, I feel a New Year should involve new things, changes and anticipation for things to come. Thus, I think it is appropriate for us to start Toyconstruct with a change of our blog cover. After 3 years using the old one, I felt that it would be great to have a new touch to the blog's main picture header.

Aside from that, we have made a few adjustments to pictures on the sidebar and added a new progress bar on the models, figures and miniatures Josh and I shall be doing respectively this year.

On top of all that, we shall be doing more reviews this year on various things (i.e. Online Shops, Events, Games and Upcoming Collectibles) that you can watch out for as a Video Game Geek, Comic Nerd or Hobbyist for Military Model Kits, Fantasy Miniatures, Action Figures and other Collectibles.

Hopes for the New Year and Other Upcoming Stuff

As you all may know, I have grown fond of the Characters in Borderlands. As such, it was a delight to know that NECA had release some Borderlands Action Figures (Claptrap and the iconic Psycho Bandit) that received positive reviews.

Awesome Looking Figures.

 As I have personally come across the NECA produced "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" series, I was utterly impressed by their quality. From the looks of these figures, my opinion does not differ at all.

Thus, I was ecstatic to hear that they were releasing Zero the Assassin and Gunzerker Salvador for Borderlands 2 as part of their Borderlands Merchandise. Apparently, it was slated that these figures would come out by August 2012. Furthermore, as shown in the picture above, the Flaming Psycho Bandit and Another Bandit will be released by Early 2013. However, it is disappointing to know that till now, there has been no news on Zero or Salvador. On top of that, I do not find the generic Bandits particularly awesome compared to the many other awesome characters in Borderlands 2.

My hope is that NECA will release Zero and Salvador soon enough and that they will make the other vault hunters in Borderlands 2. It would be great if they make Moxxi and the other more distinctive characters in the game but only time will tell on what NECA plans to do next for Borderlands 2.

Onto Modern Military Wargaming Matters, GHQ shall be releasing the Bushmaster IMV and the Jiangwei II (Type 053H3) Class by February 2013. GHQ will also be releasing the Eurocopter Tiger ARH on April 2013. After that, they shall come up with a release schedule for their miniatures for the period of 2013-2014. It is an exciting experience to find out what GHQ will be releasing for the Modern Military line and what I can acquire from that release.

MQ-9 Reaper, A GHQ Modern Military Miniature Released from 2012

As mentioned in my last Warhammer post, it is rumored that Games Workshop will be looking to release a new revised version of the DoC Army rulebook around the early part of this year (February). If speculations are correct, it would be interesting to know what the new revisions would bring for this army. Especially when it is the one of the new armies I would like to play. On top of that, Avatar of War created a crowd funding event on Indiegogo to increase their Dwarf Miniature Range. It was a huge success and because of that, they have been releasing more awesome dwarf miniatures. I will elaborate more on the Avatar of War Company in a Review post later, but it is awesome to see them expand their great looking miniature range.

 Avatar's First Dwarven regiment: The Dwarf Ironshields aka Dwarf Warriors

Looking into the Bigscreens, Marvel and DC fans will be anticipating three big blockbusters. Starting with Iron Man 3 which will be released on 3 May 2012 in the US. This will be followed by Man of Steel which will be shown in June 2013. Lastly, Thor 2: The Dark World shall be released in November 2013.

You got to be dead inside to not be anticipating at least one of these films.

Speaking of all this, Marvel and DC Hot Toys collectors shall be anticipating Thor, Iron Man Mk VII, Hulk and Selina Kyle along the next three months.

Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy, there is so much to look forward to. And Toyconstruct will be there to showcase it all. As usual, we will be giving you a minimum of one post a week but don't be surprise if we step up a notch and do more.

Once again, Josh and I would like to wish you all an awesome year of 2013!
Till next time! Keep Geeking and Nerding away! (: