On the Painting Desk 198

 The creative juices got flowing a bit again in the past week, as I managed to make some progress on the Quintuplets piece I`m doing.

Though the hair tones of the Nakano sisters are giving me a pointy head, especially working with wargame acryllics.

But all in all, I`m happy with how it is looking so far.  It could be more nuanced, but that is for the touch up phase in the end, when the lining and blending kicks in.

So now only Miku to get a hairjob, hopefully somewhere next weekend, and then the clothing can be started.

Though that deep purple almost black of Niko's sweater is already making me go "hmppff" as well at the moment...

Building a huge gashapon tube

 Okay, so this is just some fun project for the coming year.

I got one of these christmas ball tubes from this year's tree, and I thought "what if I fill this all up with gashapon balls"...

And so I'm duly going to do.  During the year I'll frequently be going by Akiba in the Central Station, and spend my small change there when I pick up some manga to turn balls.  These will then be added to the tube, in the hopes of filling it completely towards december 2022.

Once that happens, I`ll be doing a massive opening of the balls inside, by then long forgotten in all probability what is actually in them, if there are duplicates, etc etc etc.  

Just seems like a fun little thing to do on the side, so to kick it off I already inserted the two gashapon balls from this december's manga purchase in there, now to get it gooooiiinnnggggg!

Saintia Sho volume 1 - Masami Kurumada and Chimaki Kuori

 The all female Saint Seiya series is finally being purchased and read by yours truly.

And while for the first few volumes I`ll have an idea of what will be happening, having watched the single season series so far, the story goes beyond that in the manga.

And like The Lost Canvas, that means I can finally find out what happened with Shoko and her companions!  The volume starts with Shoko having the same dream, as a golden apple wants to possess her, but she is saved by a golden armoured warrior (Scorpion saint Milo).  At school one day, she plans to confront Saori Kido, who as the head of the Grade Foundation might have news of her sister Kyoko that went to study there, when she gets attacked in the schoolyard.  A mysterious woman wants to sacrifice her to the golden apple indeed, but she is saved by her sister.  She has become a saintia of Athena, one of her bodyguard handmaidens, wearing the Equuleus bronze cloth.

 

The apple is actually the essence of Eris, who has chosen Shoko to become the vessel of her reincarnation. They return to the Kido mansion, but soon are attacked there by the Dryad Ate, the saintia's being pushed back as Athena, and the Sagitarrius gold cloth to support her, steps forward.  While Ate is defeated, she manages to snatch Kyoko instead for her to become the physical vessel of Eris.  Shoko begs Saori to receive training to become a saint, and save her sister...

So no real new reveals here, and the anime adapted this first volume very nicely.  And sorry mr Kurumada, but this drawing style personally is clearer then the original Saint Seiya series I`m afraid.

 

Now to go onwards to volume two...

How Not to Summon a Demon Lord season 2

 Diablo and his companions are back for another 10 episode series of adventures of a completely OP demon lord in an isekai world.

And I liked the first season, perhaps not the greatest of series I ever saw, but it was enjoyable.

This adventure starts when a priestess in distress prays for help from her God, and instead gets Diablo, falling from the sky as a flight spell didn`t work as planned.  he quickly overcomes her assailant, and learns a civil war is brewing inside the ranks of the church.  Together with Rem and Shera he decides to help Lumachina out and escort her to Zircon Tower.

Arriving there, they are met and joined by a young rogue, Horn.  They soon meet the ruler of the city, Laminitus, and the head paladin they had set out to find, Battuta.  However, he quickly betrays them, kidnapping Lumachina and Rem to offer them for the seven sins... .  So while they can quickly overcome the trap, yet the confrontation with Battuta takes more then he anticipated, and Lumachina gets cursed with a fatal disease.

 

 

The cure for the disease is to be found in a dungeon Diablo actually designed in his own world, and as such he knows how the traps work and they can get through them.  he gets reunited with his machine maid Rose, and as he cures Lumachia he also upscales the party's gear... after he found out Horn actually being a girl.  But as they want to return to Zircon Tower, they learn it is under attack by Varakness, who wants to add Laminitus to his harem.  Diablo intervenes and defeats the Fallen warlord, but wonders who the demon lord is that ordered the attack... 

After an intermezzo with Klem and Edelgard rolling up an extortionist gang, the party moves to the capital to confront the church and it's head cardinal, Vishos, the man behind the order to kill Lumachina.  While he summons the huge Europa monster, never the less Diablo and Lumachina are able to overcome it, even though hard pressed, and restore the church and the believer's faith once again...

Now, truth be told, I didn`t enjoy this season as much as the first.  The story arcs seem to be to rushed as it contains only 10 episodes, and we have the head paladin, the dungeon, the siege AND the cardinal "stories in the overarching story" meaning everything gets passed by in about 2 episodes each.  And the jokes feel a bit to much recycled from the first season, just with other girls in his harem.

While good to watch 1 or 2 episodes every evening, I didn't get the "much watch the next episode now" vibe at all with this season, so for me, it was pretty average this time round.  

Though maid Edelgard is hawt!  Pity she doesn`t have a figure, or I'd get it immediatly.

 

 

MechaTop DLC 2: Gaia's Revenge

 Godzilla, King T-Rex, King Kong, Fenrir, ... the monsters have awakaned from the centre of the Earth, and they are not in a good mood.

In this second DLC for MechaTop, available HERE, the Earth is besieged by these mythical kaiju, and it is up to the Brave Pilots to face them.

In the introduction, we learn that kaiju are attacking the various parts of the world (8 sectors in total), and that you and your companions have to face off against them.  They also advise to play in a new scale, 1/2000, but I`m planning on printing some of the beasts in 1/400 instead, so that will be some big beasties roaming around.  Though for a gorilla or a T-Rex, I`m going to loot cheap toys, repaint them, and just see they "look good" against my gundam models.

Like introduced in the earlier challenge mode, this 8 player collaborative campaign has all sorts of difficulaty levels, with the easy mode meaning the beast will be controlled by the solo card deck, so that's perfect!

Pilots are then created, but keep in mind they can be knocked out or even killed during battle, meaning they won't be around for future games as the beasts grow more and more vicious!

For the first campaign phase, pilots then select who and where they want to fight certain monsters, and once completed that mission will no longer be available to be played by others.  Collaboration is key in this campaign!  The next phase is hunting and trying to kill the surviving kaiju, before going on to the final phase.  The Dragin Kraken is your opponent, and the more kaiju survived, the bigger and badder he will be!

The booklet comes with all the needed cards and scenario's to get through this campaign, and it looks like good fun.  Now to get the gang warm for the game!

Zaregoto book 1: The Kubikiri Cycle - Nisoisin

 A light novel I had lying around for years, I finally started the book.  There wasn`t any real reason before why I didn`t, it just, well, just didn`t get round to it.

But now I started the first book in the series, and curious what it will bring me.

Li-san finds himself on a stay on a fancy island, in the near future Japan.  Here, he is surrounded by a plethora of geniusses, each in their own field.  Painting, fortune telling, computer expert, cook, ... they are from all fields while Li finds himself terribly ordinary.

When master painter, and wheelchair bound, Ibuki Kanami is found decapitated after an earthquake, a traditional who dunnit adventure begins as the other residents try to figure out who the murderer was.  A day later, Akane, who was locked away voluntarily as she didn`t have an alibi, is also found decapitated.  As tensions rise, it turns out the mistress of the mansion has a seemingly dark past, but is it the truth or is someone diverting attention?  When Li's best friend, the computer hacker / progeny Tomo Kunagisa, finds all her pc's and equipment destroyed, it seems some clues are to be covered up.

As Li starts connecting the dots of the various mysterious entries, he is assailed by an unknown person, only to be saved by the maid Teruko, who overpowers the attacker.  But she shoots Teruko instead, and is revealed as Kunagasi arrives to be none other then the apparently dead and decapitated Akane!  Together with Kanami's caretaker, she had set up an elaborate plan to kill all those present on the island.

 

A fun read that starts really grabbing about halfway in, it has some clever plot twists in it.  Now, to start searching online for the other books of the series...

The Haul Report 300

 So, it seems I brought you already as many haul reports as there where runoured to have been Spartans at that infamous battle...

Now, this isn`t some mega haul or anything for this "special" occasion, but this week a big box from the TokyoCatch crane game did come in.

Containing two figures I caught within a day of each other, they are both also figures that will be going on my MFC account for trading purposes, but they where easy to snatch ones.  So drop me a line if you're intrested in either one of them!

Now, the next box that is underway from TokyoCatch, THAT has some juicy stuff for my mancave, so stay tuned until that arrives!

See you all next time!

On the Painting Desk 197

 It's not much, but slowly and surely we are getting back to "the game".

You know, finetuning long forgotten army lists to current rulings and points, planning purchases if needed...

And of course, slowly and surely getting some paint on figures as well.  Though for now, that means only the undercoat so far on the second Broadside for my Tau force, one of the old school ones with metal parts, and the double metal railgun barrels.

But it's a beginning, and hopefully by spring next year I finally will have my Tau Gundam force to a battleworthy 1500 points painted up.

SSSS Gridman

 Roight, time for some more mecha styled anime this time around, with this series from 2018.

And this one really does has a unique "take in" on how it all came to be.

Yuuta Hibiki wakes up in a room without any memories, and a girl called Rikka Takarada.  he gets contacted by a robot huy, but for some strange reason Rikka can`t see nor hear it.  He merges with the old computer, and becomes the Gridman, a giant robot that fights the monsters looming over the city.  Together with Rikka and a classmate called Shou Utsumi, he formes the Gridman Alliance, bound on fighting the monsters appearing in the fog.

 

 

A classmate of Yuuta, Akane, is communicating with Alexis, the computer program creating the kaiju.  Samurai Calibur approaches the Gridman Alliance, optimizing the computer Gridman is in and making him able to communicate with all of them. He leads them to a restaurant of one of their classmates, but it turns out she died long time ago... yet they saw her at school the day before, as are four more of them.

Calibur, and his partners, are actually boosters for the Gridman, using access codes to go in and upgrade him.  When Yuuta, Rikka and Shou all by circumstances come into contact with members of the kaiju race, both sides gain a lot of insight in how the world works... as Akane is actually a deranged godess that made the city, and there is nothing beyond the city it seems.  Another Kaiju taking human form, Anti, has it out for Yuuta, as he suspects that he is indeed Gridman, and wants to prove he is the strongest of them all.  But as their personal lives ever become more intangled, and the truth of their city is understood little by little, they all have second doubts about what they are doing.

What you basically have in this series is a Kamen Rider or X-Or like anime, powered by an ancient computer.  The biggest downside perhaps is the rather basic drawings, think Digimon and the likes instead of high art productions.