Mantic goes Blood Bowl like?

Saw this on the TGN Facebook page

Looks more Tron style futuristic, but worth to watch out for

and yet ANOTHER Lunamaria

Only days after I `scored` the jump suit version, another one I lacked fell in the mailbox, this time Lunamaria Hawke in what passes for her as a Service Dress.

I really should start building her GunPla custom Gunner Zaku one of the weeks...

Recommended anime: Welcome to the NHK

Oddly enough, being a `mech head` and lover of all armours based on Constellations, one of the animes I enjoyed the most this year so far has nothing to do with all of the above.

It does however, has a lot to do with your average gamer, and it was even in some parts highly confrontational... and we`re talking a cartoon here.

The story centers around a twenty-two-year-old hikikomori who gets aid from a strange girl who seems to know a lot about him, despite never meeting him before. A common theme throughout the story deals with the hardships of life and how people must deal with them in their own way.

The thing is, in japanese a hikikomori is kind of an extreme form of an asocial person, who locks himself away almost every day to play (video) games or similar geeky hobby thingies, while a geek in japanese translates as otaku.

And admit it, an Otaku Hikokomori sounds a lot `cooler` then a Geeky Asocial Type.

It`s even a recognised disease in the land of the Rising Sun...

I particularly enjoyed the humour in the series and tongue in cheek references, like when the main protagonist, Tatsuhiro, `loses` himself for days in a Final fantasy / World of Warcraft MMORPG (been there, done that) without washing, barely eating and falling in love with a female persona in the game (haven`t been there!!!!) who turns out to be his neighbour wanting to prove a point.

When he decides to help create galge games (kind of like soft erotic video games) with said neighbour as an unreachable dream, or when he manages not to see love staring him in the face (been there).

It`s a great series, not some slapstick comedy, that tackles a lot of problems current day youths / young adults cope with, and even though it is set in the typical japanese hobby viewpoint (anime figures, odd freaky stuffsies only collectors appreciate, cosplay cafes) you will find a lot of touching points in our western life as well.

Funny, well animated, grimm at times, and confrontational... and not a Gundam or Saint in sight!

a fresh Lunamaria Hawke for the collection

Found her on eBay last week, and already arrived yesterday after only 4 days from The States, miss Hawke in her Gundam pilot jumpsuit gashapon.

Knocking me only 6.50 USD back and low shipping costs, this now brings the collection up to 8 different statuettes, chibi`s and gashapon`s of the feisty purple.

Won`t be the last one to be added to the collection, there are a few more out there on the intrawebs I still lack before I`m totally surrounded by my ultimate anime babe ;-)

Hades, Lord of the Underworld

Forget hate consumed Ikki, schyzophrenic Saga, misguided Hilda or vengeant Poseidon, this guy is the real main protagonist of the whole Saint Seiya franchise.

The bad mo-fo that through an unforseen battle in the Sanctuary resulted in the loss of half the Gold saints, meaning the bronze protagonists had to go and defeat an to early awakened Poseidon in order to allow the Gold saints to prepare further for the battle to come...

The Holy war, which repeats on average every 250 years, and which until then has mostly ended in a bare victory for Athena, resulting in the Hades possessed body to be defeated and his essence to be sealed away again for two and a half centuries.

That was, until our heroes broke into Elysium in an effort to defeat the true body of Hades, once and for all ending the cycle.

The Hades chapter, especcially in my eyes the first of the three parts is together with the battle for the 12 palaces about the most intense Saint Seiya anime around, as we learn of the reasons and motivations of the fallen Gold saints that have been ressurected as Spectres, and that even the two truly evil ones amongst them, Deathmask of Cancer and Aphrodite of Pisces, where loyal to Athena until the very end.

We also learn the fate of Kanon, the Marina general of Sea Dragon and twin of Saga, as well as what happened to Julian Solo and Sorent of Siren.

But the end battle of the series is great, and left such an impact that no less then two series now currently run in manga about the previous Holy War, of which the Lost Canvas (whoes canon isn`t certain so far) has already partly been adapted to OVA.


The model itself is as the Lord of the Underworld himself, regal, superb, and definitly one of the best models in the whole Myth Cloth range.  It is complex to assemble, but as the object mode has it`s own unique stand, this one can be used on the model as well, and is quit welcome due to the weight of the `wing array` on the back.

And it comes with a great gimmick, a screaming Seiya face and Pegasus God Cloth chestpiece with the slice in it to insert Hades`s sword, as he impales the famous Saint right before the end.

With Omega we learned already that Seiya apparently recovered and went on to become the next Sagitarrius saint, but the who and why will have to wait for the viewers `till all mangas have been OVA`d... which is planned to actually happen and not with the 15+ years lul between the Poseidon chapter and finally the adaptation for the Hades chapter!



And yes, I have and use a Hades playmat when playing sanctioned Magic events lol

Tourist Tips for Geeks: the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp

As a member for 15 odd years, one could say I`m starting to become an old schooler in the club as members come and go, so what is more fitting then pointing you to the direction of our clubhouse when visiting Antwerp?

Located outside the centre of the city, on the border of Ekeren / Hoevenen, it`s about a 5 minutes drive by car over the highways, and there is public transportation `till right in front of the door... but busses in Belgium aren`t the most punctual things around mind you.  They tend to get caught up in one of the many roadworks and traffic jams that make our roadnet errm unique...

The club has moved into this building about 10 years ago if my swiss cheese brain serves me right.  I should now, I was there, but I can barely remember what I ate last night so again, it could be longer, it could be shorter.

Now, she ain`t much of a looker on the outside, but true beauty as the saying goes, is on the inside:

Bar a mutlitude of permanent gaming tables, as it is our own building we don`t have to break up each time (well, except when there is some other event like the club BBQ or the annual ACW weekend and need the tables as such), we also have a fully licensed bar hoisting all kinds of soft drinks and beers.  No strong spirits mind you, it`s still a gaming club, not a men`s only private parley.

Okay, unfortunatly we don`t have young and gorgeous waitresses, but we DO have bartenders of the Garden Gnome variety!

The building also houses some corners for `other projects`, like this WiP game.  i`m not telling you what it is, where it is for, and whom is building it... you`ll have to see for yourself on revelation day!  But knowing the guy`s work on previous demo tables of the club, expect another stunner in the makings!

The club also has a painting corner, lamps are provided so if you just want to escape the missus or need a bit of painting space, this is also catered for.

For more information, road maps and contact persons, visit our official website here and feel free to drop buy, we don`t charge admission fees for those wanting to have a looker before being reeled in with a membership card ;-)

Or perhaps we`ll bump in each other at our annual event in November, Crisis, this year in a bigger, spacier, AIRIER venue and only a mile away from the Metropolis Business Centre we used the last couple of editions!

Ciao ciao!

Upcoming events in Belgium

Heya all, 

for all those intrested, here are some upcoming events in the little nation called Belgium

First of all, end of august is the Outpost Open Series, this time in Ghent.  Format stays the same as ever, with this time a Super FNM on friday, a Standard tournament on saturday and a Legacy tournament on sunday.

Lots of Planeswalker Points can be gained on these series, but I won`t be attending it myself as the only format I still play, the `limited` format (aka draft and sealed) is on the friday and I won`t be able to get there in time from Antwerp after work, let alone get back home at night...

I really should make work of re-obtaining a driver`s license and buy me perhaps this sort of car...

A few weeks afterwards though there is something I *might* attend, with Hoshi Con (the website on the flyer has full roadmappings and locations).

First time they try the set-up in belgium, if I`m able I might be taking a peek there.  And score me a Myth Cloth... or plural...

Saint Seiya Myth Cloth: Marin of Eagle

Mistress to Seiya (in a trainer way) and long hinted in the anime to be his missing, older sister Seika, Marin is one of the main female saints of the franchise.

Wearing the silver cloth of Eagle, she is often engaged at first in rivalries with Shaina, but as the story progresses the lead female role tends to shift towards the latter from the Poseidon arc onwards.

It s revealed at the end of the Hades saga that she isn`t Seika at all, but her `baby brother` isn`t becomming known before the (very bad) Heaven Ouverture OVA, as he tends to be one of Artemis`s Angels.

The cloth, the latest to be released by Bandai / Tamashii, is one gorgeous piece of work, with options of two faces and two masks, and the anime and manga style headpieces.

Even though I went for the masked look, I can assure you her facial expressions are not only spot one, they are kust as with Shaina drop dead gorgeously done!

Get her, she looks sexy in your cabinet!

TSA Gamenight 3rd of august 2012

Perhaps an idea for the blog in the future, and by extension for the spreading of the club`s name, is that I`m going to make some pictures (and soonish, a Geek Travel Tip post) of the evenings I attend my `clubbie`, the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.

I`m going to *try* to snap each game then, and share them on the intrawebbies through the means of my blog here, that way outsiders can have a look what is currently hot and what is not at TSA :-)

Well, I`m hot and the rest is not... but I meant in game systems of course!