Sword Art Online Movic 1/8 Asuna Bikini Swimsuit Version from Wonderfest Summer 2014

Unboxed #SAO #Asuna Bikini ver from #Movic. From Wonderfest last year and modeled on the previously released Aincrad Asuna, this is a pretty well-posed figure of her in a more neutral pose.

Asuna still in her box.

Here she is on her base. It's a simple semi-transparent blue base. The bottom of her feet have holes that attach to the base so it is very sturdy.

From the side you can see more of her hair and bikini.

More of her hair.

From the other side, you can see the back of her bikini.

A close-up of her face shows no weird painting or sculpting. Looks pretty good!

Only thing is the detail of her hair which looks odd up close.

Close-up of how she's connected to the base.

Overall, a nice Asuna figure which is revealing but not too embarrassing to have in your room :)

Cardcaptor Sakura Movic Kero Face Cushion

Here's a close-up of the #Cardcaptorsakura #Kero cushion from #Movic.

A while ago last year, Movic released a rather large Kero cushion. It is rather large at 45x45cm (17.1x17.1") but it is only of his face. His face looks pretty cute though.

You can't really see but he is made out of really nice soft fabric. If you're familiar with plush toys, it is that really soft, velvety material that some toys are made out of.

The Kero cushion featuring his cheeky grin.

As a size comparison, here is an average sized ball point pen.

It's fairly thin so you can sit on his face comfortably.

You're supposed to sit on his face (he's a cushion after all) but you kind of have to position it so that his ears aren't in the way of your legs.

But other than that, he makes a fantastic couch buddy for Cardcaptor Sakura fans :)

World Hobby Fair Tokyo 2015: Pokemon Shiny Rayquaza Event

Back from World Hobby Fair with shiny #Pokemon #Rayquaza and a bunch of photos. I can't wait to have a rest tomorrow!

It was at one of my favorite convention places, Makuhari Messe all the way out in Chiba. Despite it being a two day event, it was really busy with heaps of families and little kids running running around.

Personally I think it should have been the Kids Hobby Fair because most of the booths and events were kid oriented. Also, no freebies for adults, just kids D:

Most of the event hall was dedicated to Yokai Watch. They even had the artists perform the songs on a stage so I had the second opening stuck in my head. Say what you want about it but it's very catchy.

Yokai Watch here...

there...

here too...

...mostly everywhere.

 But there were other things around too. Unfortunately most demos or events had some spectacular queues when I was there.

Gundam Build Fighters

Wii U

PS Vita Minecraft

I mainly went for Pokemon which got one big booth and some merchandise strewn about. The life-sized pikachu seem to be regulars at these kinds of events now.

Slightly creepy close-up but adorable from afar.

The whole gang together. The staff were very nice and did cute poses with the kids.

The plastic figurines they've been releasing lately. I had my doubts about the shiny charizard so it was good to see it up close.

Current Crane King prizes. Saw them at a close Sega afterwards.

More Crane King prizes.

Upcoming Goomy prizes. They actually look a lot better than the photo.

Metal carry cases. I really like the Gengar/Dusknoir one.

A small crane game machine replica.

The Pokemon Life @ Room Crane King series currently available. The weight of the plates make it much too hard for me.

Over all it was pretty fun. It just would have been more fun if I was a kid and got free stuff. I may be a bit miffed from not being able to get the Gundam Build Fighters kit sets.

If you requested a rayquaza from me, I will be in touch with you shortly regarding photo proofs and trading.

With Yoshi Super Mario Magazine

With #Yoshi Super Mario magazine came with a free tote bag in collaboration with X-Large Kids released 30th Dec 2014.

The front of the magazine.

Japan is very big on magazine freebies and the end of year/new year period is always marked by a huge wave of magazines with bags, shoes and other misc. little things.
 

The back of the magazine.

 This one caught my eye because, hey, it's Yoshi! I've seen Yoshi tote bags before but this one looks exceptionally good.

The cardboard box with the bag.

 The magazine itself is pretty good too. It's all in Japanese of course, and the kanji has no furigana so I would say you'd need a fairly good level of reading for comprehension. Fortunately there are lots of pictures so it's not too big of a problem!

There are comprehensive descriptions of Yoshi in his various games as well as available merchandise. The last page has recipes for Yoshi-shaped food too.

Front of the tote bag with the card holder.

Of course, the best part is the bag. It's mainly made out of canvas but surprisingly the egg print material is plastic. It's probably good thing just in case there are any spills as it can be easily cleaned.

The back of the tote bag with the X-Large logo.

My favorite part is the apple card holder which is a great idea if you regularly use a transport card.
There is also a small pouch/sleeve under one of the handles, handy for small items like tissues or lip balm.

Honest Review: Pokemon Cafe Shibuya 2015 (P-cafe Event)

Just got back from #PokemonCafe with Pokeball cup and a full tummy. Also took the time to get the P-cafe #Pokemon Cafe Pikachu Cafe event pikachu.

From the outside, the cafe looks pretty good.

It's been almost a week, the limited time Pokemon Cafe opened in Shibuya last weekend and I finally got around to going tonight. The cafe is a collaboration with The Guest Cafe and Diner and has been decorated with Pokemon plushies, posters and other merchandise. There are also original cafe merchandise there, although both tote bags and the glass set was sold out (the large tote bag and glasses were sold out by the second day).

Some posters hanging on the wall.

Anyway, went for dinner so here's my honest review of how it went.

Place mats look gorgeous... if only it wasn't made of paper.

To get inside, you need to get tickets which are limited to a set number per day. Once you have a ticket though, you can go queue up whenever during the day. There's a machine that lets you sign up to be notified on your phone but really, the wait was not that bad and a staff member comes along to see how many people will be at your table and to give you the menu to look at. Bring your DS and just have fun.

The outside of the cafe looks great, everything is cute and happy.

The decor is very cute with lots of plushies that you can get at the Pokemon Center.

We ordered our food and eventually got seated. For each omurice or pancake you order, you'll get a Pokeball cup as a present. They give them to you once you get seated in case you're wondering.

The cups in boxes, they also give you plastic bags to carry them home with you.

We admired the decor, looked at our cups, and waited, and waited...

Finally, some food!

...and finally got our pancake? I mean, it was pretty cute and delicious-looking for sure (the table next to us were cooing over how cute it was). We debated over the strange order of our food for a bit because who serves pancakes before dinner? But damn, we were just hungry and threw caution to the wind and ended up eating our dessert before our dinner.

This is my brutally honest moment; the pancake was not that great. Just to put it into perspective, we all agreed that the pancakes at (Japanese) Denny's was better and we know those are just defrosted atrocities. One of us choked on it because it was so dry. Maybe it was because it was served before dinner, or maybe we just had a bad batch. I did suspect that this meal included the Pokeball cup because otherwise no one would buy (and eat) the thing.

Anyway, we were trying to eat our pancakes when the waiter comes along to deposit the check at which point we were confused as heck and told him we hadn't gotten our omurice yet. So what do you know, they'd forgotten our food. On the other hand, it wasn't just some weird thing about serving dessert first.

I have to admit, the pancakes were photogenic.

And just in a little self-defense, the table next to us also complained that their food had not arrived. They were a table of 4 (all girls!) and only 2 of them had gotten any food. Doh.

The special Pokeball cup you can get for ordering the omurice or pancake.

Anyway, we got our omurice and were relieved that it was not like the pancake; no one was brave enough to try the blue sauce so we all ended up with the magma sauce which just ended up tasting vaguely like curry.

The omurice looks pretty normal yay!

All in all, if you want to go to the Pokemon Cafe aka The Guest Cafe and Diner and you're wanting some advice or words of wisdom, here it is. Don't eat the pancake; if you must get it for the cup, have a drink ready.

But no seriously the advice:

• go and get the ticket early-ish so you can come back at your leisure
• don't try to go for lunch ie 12pm; it's when everyone else wants to eat
• bring your DS so you can play while you wait
• you DON'T need to queue up to go in the store
• however the store is small and apart from the exclusive items which are still in stock, you can find them in a Pokemon Center anyway
• order the pancake and omurice for 2 Pokeball cups
• you DON'T need to be in the cafe to get the event Pikachu
• the exclusive keyring gachapon can be bought outside the cafe as well

I'm starting to think I'm cursed with event restaurants; the Dark Souls one was a bit of a disappointment too :(

Mwahahaha! Part of the fun is making Pikachu "art".

Also a reminder: the Pokemon Center Egg event starts this weekend! Contact me if you want me to get them for you. As always, any event Pokemon I get will come with photo proof to prove that it is legit should you ever want to sell or trade it.

Super Groupies Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric's Silver Watch Necklace

My first order from Super Groupies arrived! A #FullmetalAlchemist necklace modeled after Ed's pocket watch. Very happy with their work, check out my commentary below...

First of all, this was my first purchase from Super Groupies. They do some pretty nice anime related merchandise for female fans; so things like jewelery, shoes, handbags etc. Having never bought from them before, I didn't know what the quality of their stuff was like, and also, their stuff is pretty damn expensive! 

Unassuming box.

However, I had kind of missed out on a lot of Fullmetal Alchemist stuff when it first came out so I was feeling a bit desperate for some fan things (I'm still holding out on a figure I would like of Ed and Al). When Super Groupies announced this necklace along with a shawl modeled after Ed's red cloak, I was hooked, new company be damned.

Pleasant surprise; the box is modeled after lovely looking book.

Since I was worried about taking care of a shawl, I ended up purchasing the necklace (also, that thing was bright red...).

I needn't have worried really; this necklace is really good! When it first arrived, it was just in a white cardboard box and I was thinking "uh oh, this doesn't look good..." but thankfully it was probably just for protecting the magnificent book inside.

Ta-da! The necklace is well wrapped and packaged.

The book is housed inside a cardboard slip cover for protection and is held closed by magnets which is handy. The two parts of the necklace are inside 2 separate zip-lock bags for protection.

You can very carefully open the locket to find a replica of the inside of Ed's watch.

The watch part can be opened to reveal the inside inscription and the time that the watch stopped, just as Ed's watch is in the series. If you're a fan, this is some awesome detail right there.

But before you get too excited, just notice that the watch is actually flat at the back, not really like a watch...

My summary would be:

This is an awesome piece of merchandise for Fullmetal Alchemist fans that is easily wearable outside in the general public without screaming "OTAKU" to the world. It's small and unassuming but the small details would be noticeable to any fan. The price is a bit steep but the material and quality is pretty top notch (it's sterling silver and swarovski crystal). Easily the best present you could give to a girlfriend who loves Fullmetal Alchemist.

Ensky Snorlax Tsumutsumu Stacking Game

It's hard to find #snorlax #pokemon stuff so when this stacking game was announced by #Ensky I went ahead and got one. It's a stacking game with snorlax in 5 different poses and rings of apples.

The Snorlax Tsumutsumu game from Ensky

I used to have an ice cream stacking game a while back which I remembered was fairly easy and fun just as  a general party game so this looked promising. I played this with a group of 3 as a test drive.

Some stacking variations to try at different levels.

The game is recommended for 15+ years which we had a giggle about. The pieces are probably a choking hazard but I would trust at least a 10 year old not to put these in their mouth.

Snorlax looks pretty cute.

 We started from level 1. A bit wobbly but doable. This was going good!

This was pretty easy too.

Level 2 was pretty hard but we eventually figured that one out as well. However, eventually we hit a wall. There was just no getting everything to stay up. The thing is, the figures are made out of smooth, hard plastic. There's not much grip to them and most of snorlax is round. They're pretty small too so large fingers or unsteady hands make a mess of this.

We ended up staring at the pile of snorlax and apples, starting to understand the 15+ years label. It was so rage inducing, we were all frustrated and it just grew whenever one of us would give it another shot and failed. I can feel the anger rising as I type.

The end

Verdict, deceptively hard. 15+ years for self-control to not throw them out the window.