Jump Festa 2014

It's been a long couple of days at Jump Festa 2014, still catching up on sleep. But here's a quick run down of this year's Jump Festa.

The most popular series this year was probably Kuroko no Basket - lot's of merchandise, lot's of cosplay and massive queues of girls wanting to get their hands on anything related to it. The upcoming series they are pushing - Nisekoi; the anime is starting next year and they are pushing it hard. The original goods - not my cup of tea as there was mainly a lot of stationary type items but I got the Yugioh Premium Pack 16s and Double Galaxy-Eyes Dragon play mats (which were then sold out on the second day). The merchant booths - things sold out pretty fast, especially at Cospa and Animate. The Jump Store was a lot smaller than last year which made no sense to me as it was very busy.

Glass balls of  various sharingan as well as a rasengan at the back. These were on sale back in summer and glow with a black light.

Bleach animation sketches.

Staff carrying freebies for Puyopuyo game.

Move and pose with life-size Gintama cut-outs.

The Yugioh Double Galaxy-Eyes dragon play mat close up of Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon.

Big balloon characters served as helpful meeting places.

Life-sized Kakumeiki Valvrave statue.

Ao no Exorcist DVD goodies.

More life-sized cut-outs for picture taking opportunities.

Giant blow-up Kyuubi - you can wear a Naruto vest/jacket and pose in front of it and a staff member takes your photo. These photo 'booths' were very popular; one for most of the main Jump series like One Piece and Ansatsu Kyoushitsu.

The next G.E.M Naruto figure coming out will be Sasuke.

Also new chibi-Naruto figures.

New Digimon figures will also be released soon.

They come with interchangeable parts for different expressions.

And the next, next G.E.M Naruto figure will be of Kakashi again but in Anbu mode.

I also had a lot of fun at the Yugioh duels.The lines were fair, about 15 minutes for single duels and 40 for tag duels. You get a Jump promo pack for participating and after your second win, you receive the extra plastic play mat  (which was called a patamerun field). All it is, is 14 bits of card connected by clear plastic so that you can fold it up - not quite cheap and nasty but getting there. Not surprisingly, some people were more than happy to concede their matches so that they could queue up again for the promo packs instead. Your wins/losses are recorded on a stamp card - they use different stamps for each day so no carrying over results from the previous day. Konami also had an 'attraction corner' where you could play mini games and get the plastic play mats as well but it was only open to little kids, families and women.

Lastly, there was a free item you could get for Pokemon X/Y as well; the weakness policy item. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed at the lack of Pokemon merchandise available - all the items there are also available in Pokemon Centers.

All in all, it was a great weekend at Jump Festa. My tips for anyone going next year would be: dress warm, bring your own food and drink, bring some form of entertainment while you wait in queues and wear comfortable shoes.

Transformers Masterpiece MP-19 Smokescreen

#Transformers #TransformersMasterpiece MP-19 Smokescreen on my doorstep Saturday morning #InternetShopping ftw.

What’s the best way to start the weekend? By opening up and playing with the latest Transformers Masterpiece release you say? Well you are correct! Smokescreen arrived on my door this morning and he looks fabulous! Smokescreen is definitely my favourite car release so far. His build quality is the same as the previous releases. His paint job is good all over and is very vibrant which makes him stand out. Sadly, my Smokescreen has a few scuff marks on the windshield which was quite disappointing. It would be good to see higher quality control from Takara Tomy (hinthint). If anyone is interested in picking one up we can do him for $65US + shipping. Please message us if you would like to purchase one. I can also track down any of the older releases for you.

Jump Festa 2014

In just over a week #shounenjump Jump Festa 2014 is on with all the latest #Naruto, #OnePiece, #Bleach, #Yugioh, #Pokemon goodies!

For those that have not heard of Jump Festa before, it is an annual expo run by Shounen Jump to promote their series, related merchandise and latest games from various Japanese game studios. Nintendo and Square Enix always have big booths set up show casing new games while Bandai and TakaraTomy show case new toys. The best part of this expo is that it is free to enter! So if you are in Japan for the weekend before Christmas I strongly recommend going.

Now that the intro is over lets get onto the fun stuff, the goodies! Each year they have special merchandise for sale only at the show. To get access to these goods you have to queue up before entering in a separate queue. After waiting an hour or so you are placed in a holding area where you are given a catalogue and an order form. You get about thirty minutes to fill it out before proceeding to the cashier who sends the list off to their little helpers who pack all the items you have ordered before letting you lose upon Jump Festa! Whether you’re a Pirate at heart who wants to sail the seas with Luffy or you secretly practice your ninjutsu skills at work or day dream of blending into the back ground to line up the perfect shot for your team mates in a game of basketball you can be sure they will have a must have item for your favourite Jump series. 

You can click on the link below to check out all the goods on offer. Sadly they do not have pictures for every item yet. If you see something you like, please message us on Facebook or Ebay and we will pick it up for you. http://www.jumpfesta.com/goods/goods1.php4  (The original goods page is all in purple.) I will be going both days so if you are interested in goods from a particular series I will take as many photos for you on the first day and then if you want anything I can collect on the Sunday.

One of the items I personally have set my sights on is this beautiful Yugioh rubber play mat featuring Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon. I may be slightly biased as I have a photon deck :)

If you like a bit of spice in your life, perhaps you would like a 3D mouse from the hit cooking manga Shokugeki no Soma.

This cute Tony Chopper from One Piece would be the perfect shelf guardian for 2014!

Or perhaps instead of a pink beast you can go for a yellow assassin professor from the series Ansatsu Kyōshitsu (Assassination Classroom) to protect your room.

Also keep dry this winter with this quirky yet cute Elizibeth umbrella from Gintama.

 Pokemon are also making a show with Pokemon XY battles, cosplay battles (?), discount power MAX o-power (?) and the item, Weakness Policy (じゃくてんほけん).

Naruto and Kakashi figures by G.E.M

#Naruto and #Kakashi figures 1/8 by G.E.M should be on your Christmas list #shippuden #Anime

These two figures were recently were released by G.E.M and are now on sale in time for Christmas in Japan. Both are 1/8 scale with a great paint job and nicely detailed accessories.

Naruto and Kakashi from Naruto Shippuden

 

For the most part they come with customisable heads and jackets but Naruto also comes with additional hand seals and hair styles.

Naruto's many faces

 However Kakashi comes with a magnetic Pakkun that sticks to his shoulder so it kind of evens out.

Ninja's best friend

 My main complaint with Kakashi is that his vest clips together with tiny clips that are quite fragile. Unfortunately I broke one of mine so I recommend using a hair dryer to soften the plastic to make it come off easier.

It's safer just to play with his heads

  Overall I still really like both figures. Their bases are basic but really nice. I first favoured Kakashi when they first came out but Naruto is actually well made and well designed with his pose and customisable parts. In the end I was glad to have bought them both.

Woof

From behind

From behind

 

Transformers Masterpiece MP-13 Soundwave review

Transformers Masterpiece MP-13 Soundwave review. #G1 #Transformers #Masterpiece #Soundwave

The war on Cybertron had taken its toll on the mighty Soundwave at the start of the year when he was ripped from the shelves in a fierce battle to own this fantastic Masterpiece edition remake. Thankfully he was able to rebuild and was rereleased in September when I managed to get my hands on him. I was pleasantly surprised when I still saw him in a few stores so I thought I would give you a quick review in case anyone is hunting him down.

Firstly for those that are unfamiliar with the MP range. They are rereleases of the original Transformers toys. However thanks to modern day technology they are in scale with each other and are very accurate to their animated forms. This Soundwave in robot form is the splitting image of what I grew up watching.

Soundwave stands at about 23cm and comes with his trusty companion Lazerbeak! Like the others in the MP range he has fantastic articulation and has a very solid build quality. The only down side is that there are some paint markings and defects in parts. However I can look past this because he looks amazing on my shelf with Lazerbeak.

If anyone is looking to pick this guy up or any of the previous or upcoming Transformers Masterpiece releases please let me know either via our Facebook page or message on Ebay and I will try my best to get you the best price.