Sideshow Toys 1/6 Scale Star Wars - Return of the Jedi - Klaatu Skiff Guard

Klaatu's Story :

Klaatu was a Kadas'sa'Nikto male from the planet Kintan who served as a bodyguard for the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure in the criminal's palace on the desert planet Tatooine. He was also hired to keep the Hutt crime lord's skiffs in perfect condition.

At the palace, Klaatu spent his time repairing skiffs and amassing larger and larger gambling debts. During the childhood of Luke Skywalker, who was raised as a moisture farmer on Tatooine from 19 BBY, Klaatu became infamous across the planet for his dark deeds. In 4 ABY, the guard was present early one morning when the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO arrived at the palace, carrying a message for Jabba from Skywalker, who was now a Jedi Knight. In the message, Skywalker asked to bargain with the Hutt for the freedom of the smuggler Han Solo and then gifted the droids to Jabba as a sign of good will. After viewing it, Jabba declared that he had no interest in losing Solo, who was frozen in carbonite and kept displayed on the wall of the Hutt's throne room.

He was killed aboard Jabba's sail barge Khetanna on Tatooine during the failed execution of Luke Skywalker and his companions.

 

Sideshow Toys 1/6 Scale Star Wars - A New Hope - Greedo

Star Wars Fandom
Greedo was a male Rodian bounty hunter who grew up on Tatooine in Mos Espa. During the Clone Wars, he was hired by the Trade Federation to kidnap Chi Eekway Papanoida and Che Amanwe Papanoida, the daughters of Chairman Papanoida, but was forced by the chairman to lead him and his son Ion to them. He was occasionally hired by crime lord Jabba the Hutt for various mercenary jobs, including the capture of Han Solo, who killed the luckless Rodian.

With an outfit like that, Greedo is more suited in a disco dancefloor than being a bounty hunter. Failure from the outset when Han is just doing him a favor so that he can chose another profession when his next life comes along.

Hot Toys MMS554 1/6 Scale Star Wars - A New Hope - Jawa & EG-6 "GONK" Power Droid

*Picture shows Hot Toys ANH Farmboy Luke & Sideshow R2-D2

 

Doubt there is any need to share the Jawa's story like how a new thread was always kicked off with an intro of the character/thing for the post in this Blog. This little pest - or "trader", "scavenger", "opportunists" spanned across most, if not all of Star Wars Live Action film or Television series and doing what they did, as always. Very consistent little buggers. I find them, cute. Really.

 

And there is nothing much to say about that "Gonk Gonk... " EG-6 droid either. All it does was to walk past in the background emitting some low frequency, low pitch mechanical sound. Walking like it could fall by the side anytime and looking dumb.Incidentally, the sound "Gonk" literally translated to "Stupid" or "Dumb" in my local Hokkien dialect and aptly so. For that, I love the Gonk Droid.

 

Now about this Hot Toys MMS554 set, some "Could've been" and "Why" passing through my head. Read on for further elaboration within this post.

 

Sideshow Toys 1/6 Scale Star Wars - A New Hope - Garindan

Garindan

 

"I can tell you where to find them... for a price."

―Garindan

 

Garindan ezz Zavor, also called Long-Snoot, was a Kubaz who was considered to be the "greatest spy in Mos Eisley spaceport." was a male Kubaz who had been forced to work as a spy for the Galactic Empire. In private, Garindan loathed his Imperial overlords and sought to return to his clan and free his homeworld of Kubindi from Imperial rule. Prior to the Battle of Yavin, Garindan received news that his family was in danger. In an attempt to buy passage home, Garindan provided information about the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 to the Galactic Empire during a battle on the desert world of Tatooine. Despite the failure of that job, Garindan accepted another job to help Derrida the Ketton spy on the Rebel Alliance.

 

This is a 2nd entry of a 1/6 scale Garindan. The first being only the other 1/6 representation of this character from Hasbro's SAGA collection from 2003.

 

Macross Zantraedi Regult Scout - Hasegawa 1/72 Model Kit

Macross Wiki

Regult Tactical Scouts are Battle Pods featured in the Super Dimension Fortress Macross television series. Manufactured by Ectromelia, they were used by the Zentradi during Space War I.
A deadly addition to the Zentradi Regult mecha forces, the Tactical Scout is the reconnaissance variant of the standard Regult battle pod. Removing all weaponry, the Tactical Scout is equipped with many additional sensor clusters and long-range detection equipment.

Always found operating among other Regult mecha, the Scout is capable of early warning enemy detection as well as ECM/ECCM roles (Electronic Countermeasures/Electronic Counter-Countermeasures).

 

Medicom Stylish Collection - Lupin the 3rd : Pycal the Magician

 

Pycal first appear in the original television anime adaptation first series of Lupin the 3rd, Episode 2 "The Man They Called a Magician" in Oct 31, 1971. In this episode, Pycal perish in flames. But he came back seemingly alive in a dedicated Original Video Animation (OVA) in Apr 03 2002. in Recognition of the 30th anniversary of the manga's first television anime adaptation.
In the original TV series, Pycal wore a white suit with geen innershirt and a white tie. When he returned in 2002, he had a Lavendar coloured suit with a darker shade of purple innershirt and a white tie.
This figure of Pycal from Medicom were released in May 22 2000, it's design is hence per the OG TV series which is personally preferred.

 

Fansproject Lost Exo Realm LER-05 Comera (Dinobots Velociraptor)

Fansproject's Comera LER-05 combines robot, dinosaur (Velociraptor at it) and sleek fem fatale stature. Combines cold steel of a robot, mythical extinct prehistoric giant reptiles all formed nicely onto a supermodel toned body with tiny little waist and legs that runs forever. Arcee did not even come close. Yeah, such things do exist and you, me, and him can own it. So here she is.

There seem no back story about Comera and she is not canonized into mainstream Transformers (TF), it is a brainchild of Fansproject, a 3rd party TF manufacturer - non-licensed. But Fansproject and other 3rd party TF manufacturer (and designer) really gave collectors another dimension to add more variety to our TF collection.

There are of course purist who do not care about these. But never a bad thing to have variety.

 

Candy Toy - 仮面ライダーアマゾン Kamen Rider Amazon Diorama Scene

From Kamen Rider Wiki : 

Kamen Rider Amazon (仮面ライダーアマゾン, Kamen Raidā Amazon, "Masked Rider Amazon" in English) is a Japanese tokusatsu drama and the fourth installment of the Kamen Rider Series. It is the fourth series to debut in the Showa Era and aired from October 19, 1974 to March 29, 1975 on NET and the Mainichi Broadcasting System. With 24 episodes produced and aired, it is the shortest Kamen Rider series ever.

Story
A plane crashes in the Amazon rainforest, leaving young Amazon (Daisuke Yamamoto) stranded without his parents. Soon adopted by an Incan tribe, Amazon becomes a wild child, living off the land. However, Amazon's idyllic existence is cut short when Golgos, the Jyumenki, massacres his village, slaughtering everyone except himself in search for the powerful "GiGi Armlet", which gives the bearer fantastic power. Elder Bago, last of the Incas, gives the GiGi Armlet to Amazon for safekeeping while using his knowledge of Incan science and magic to perform a mystical "operation" on Daisuke, transforming him into the powerful "Kamen Rider Amazon" before he died. Arriving at Japan, Amazon battles Gedon without full knowledge of their reason of pursuing him. Befriending the nephew and niece of Professor Kousaka, Amazon learns the nature of the GiGi Armlet as he defeats Gedon and then the Garander Empire.

BLOKEES - Defender Scale Constructicons Combiners DEVASTATOR

For all my (little) knowledge on Transformers (TF), the very very first combiners I came to know of is none other than the Devastator! Loyal to the Decepticons. For that moment, the bad guys has the upper hand with that big bad robot that are merged from 6 different Decepticons team that called themselves the Constructicons created by Shockwave, it consist of : Leader Scrapper, Right Leg | Hook, Upper Body | Bonecrusher, Left Arm | Long Haul, Lower Body | Mixmaster, Left Leg | Scavenger, Right Arm .
For all that hype, Devastator's combat ability is really not so devastating. Bad guys do not win - could be the mantra behind it.

Not a big TF toys collector and has just 1 shelf, out of 18, dedicated to my very small TF toys collection. But every TF collector however small time should have at least 1 combiners on the shelf. I made up that mind long ago and wanted 1 ultimate combiner which come in a form of Mastermind Creation's Ferel Rex aka Predacons which combines into Predaking! A full set costs a hefty $610. Fully combined returns a hefty weighted big bot and stood at least a good 35cm flat of the feet to the tip of the head. That means money spent well? That is 2014, many years ago.

Sideshow Toys 1/6 Scale Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back - Bounty Hunter Zuckuss

Star Wars Wookiepedia :

An insectoid being with compound eyes, Zuckuss was a Force-sensitive male Gand born on his species' homeworld of Gand as one of the planet's traditional findsmen. Using the findsmen's mystic traditions, dating back centuries, Zuckuss operated as a tireless tracker until the planet's findsman traditions began dying out. After failing to retrieve a T'karra flower from the nesting grounds of a charon, Zuckuss was deemed to have failed a traditional findsman rite and was cast out of his clan. He became one of the first such to leave the planet's thick and toxic atmosphere, and wore a respirator to breathe ammonia while operating in oxygen-rich atmospheres in the wider galaxy. He worked as a bounty hunter on lucrative jobs that made use of his particular talents as a highly sought-after hunter with renowned tracking skills, and he often paired up with 4-LOM on many occasions. Although Zuckuss's uncanny abilities made some uneasy, he and 4-LOM remained a formidable team. They flew aboard the Mist Hunter, which Zuckuss filled with gasses to remind him of his homeworld.

Sideshow Toys 1/6 Scale Star Wars Sandtrooper Sergeant (White Pouldron)

Except from the writings within the product box :

The Empire encompassed thousands of worlds, with countless climate and terrain challenges. Their stormtrooper ranks reflected this through specialized units trained and equipped to operate in specific environments. The sandtrooper is a desert terrain stormtrooper. Their armor consists of an 18-piece anti-blaster coccon shell with heat-reflective coating worn over a temperature-control body glove. The sandtrooper helmet features automatic polarized lensed, a built-in comlink and breathing filters. These stormtroopers are specifically designed for high temperature environments. Instead of depending on machinery that may not function in hostile environments, sandtroppers make use of local creatures for transportation. The stormtrooper detachment dispatched by Lord Vader to investigate a crashed escape pod on Tatooine just prior to the Battle of Yavin consisted of sandtroopers. They had heavy weapons, survivor gear, and shoulder pauldrons denoting rank.

Medicom Stylish Collection - Lupin the 3rd : Linda

Lupin III Wiki :

Originally a secretary for Dr. Heinlein, she underwent human experimentation with a rare flower called the Third Sun when forced by Stern's criminal syndicate Killer-in-Killers (aka Kirein-Killers), resulting in her transformation into a witch.

To get away from the syndicate, Linda drives off in a speedboat. While on a speedboat, Fujiko Mine shoots Linda while practicing using Lupin III's Walther P38. Her speedboat goes off course and goes up in flames. She managed to swim to safety by a rock with Lupin catching her attention. After Fujiko went off with the speedboat, Lupin III asks her name and compliments her. Shortly after, they were pursed by the Killer-in-Killers who were shooting at them. The boat exploded thanks to Daisuke Jigen saving them, but by the time Lupin wants to introduce her to him, she had already gone.

Lupin and Jigen managed to track her down on an island thanks to Lupin detecting the scent of "Pink Bed" and sees her by a Third Sun flower bed. Very quickly Lupin falls in love with her as he kisses her hand. She falls in love with him back smiling and playing tag with each other as they run around a tree. He then makes a promise to her as she can no longer survive without the flowers.

The plane sprays gasoline that then using what appears to be a rocket launcher, Lupin fires at the flower bed, forgetting that Linda needs the flowers to live. Lupin wants to save her, but Dr. Heilein shoots her.

Medicom Stylish Collection - Lupin the 3rd : Daisuke Jigen 次元 大介

 

Wikepedia :

Daisuke Jigen (Japanese: 次元 大介, Hepburn: Jigen Daisuke) is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. Jigen is the marksman, aide-de-camp and best friend of Arsène Lupin III. Along with colleague Goemon Ishikawa XIII, he joins Lupin in pursuit of riches acquired typically by theft. Traveling across the globe, Jigen has garnered fame as a gunman with a wildly capable speed and accuracy.

Bandai S.H.Figuarts Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope - Princess Leia Organa

One of the main protagonist in the ever expanding Star Wars universe. Leia was the 2nd of it to appear in the first Star Wars movie [A New Hope] (ANH) (1977), right after Darth Vader (6 years later, we know he is also her father). This figure represented the same Leia in that scene.

There is no need for further elaboration of this character for even the most casual Star Wars fans knew enough of Leia Organa to spare further writings. Carrie Fisher was the actress portraying this character. She reprises the same role in its Sequel Trilogy ie [The Force Awakens] (2015), [The Last Jedi] (2017), [The Rise of Skywalker] (2019) as an aged Leia Orgna.

A digital (deepfake?) rendition of a young Leia Organa - pre-Stormtroopers invasion on Tantive IV - was added to the end scene in Star Wars, [Rogue One] (2016). Personally I think it is badly done and although share some resemblance but one can tell immediately it is not the real Princess. There is even more likeness to this figure's sculpt comparing to that digital clone.

BanDai S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Old No.2 Nigo【仮面ライダー 旧2号】& Modified Cyclone 【サイクロン号, Saikuron-gō】

Cyclone (サイクロン号, Saikuron-gō) is the original personal motorcycle of Kamen Rider 1 and 2.

In this post, S.H.Figuarts (SHF) Old Kamen Rider Nigo came packaged together with the Modified Cyclone.

Maximum Speed: 400 km/h (248 mph)

Jump Power: 30 m (40 m after alteration)

Engine: Nuclear Engine, 200 horsepower.

Designer: Professor Midorikawa; Tobee Tachibana (Kamen Rider)

Base Model: Honda SL350K1 (Remodelled Cyclone)

Usage of this Modified Cyclone version can be quite confusing. This YouTube video gave a fair explanation on its history. Note video is in Mandarin narration.

Kamen Rider TV series back in the 1970s were made with little consideration for smooth flow and logic. Within a single episode, the Kamen Rider can be seen riding on 2 or more different "Cyclones". A logical explanation is different snippets filmed on different times, were stitched together scenes. Recycled scenes were also used in different episodes on Kamen Rider riding his machine(s). Therefore Hongo was also seen riding this vehicle. As the series move on, it is quite clear Kamen Rider Old Nigo should be the rightful owner of it.

BanDai S.H.Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Old No.1 Ichigo【仮面ライダー 旧1号】& S.H.Figuarts Cyclone 【サイクロン号, Saikuron-gō】

Kamen Rider Wiki

Rider Statistics

    Rider Height: 180 cm

    Rider Weight: 70 kg

Rider Senses

    Eyesight: 15 km

    Hearing: 4 km

    Enemy Sensing: 100 m

Ability Parameters (Initial → Trained)

    Punching Power: 15 t

    Gripping Power: 10 ~ 15 times human

    Kicking Power: Approx. 11.3 t → 22.5 t

    Maximum Jump Height: 15.3 m

    Maximum Jump Distance: 48.7 m

    Maximum Running Speed: 100 m per 12 seconds

    Maximum Swimming Speed: Approx. 100 m per 9.7 seconds

Because he was meant to be Shocker’s greatest altered human, Kamen Rider 1's capabilities are far greater than a normal man. He has the ability to hear at distances up to 4 kilometers away. He can break a meter thick tree trunk or a metal rod 10 cm thick with his Rider Chop. His Rider Kick has enough power to bend steel supports of buildings. Even when he wasn't fully transformed, this form was strong enough to withstand a 50 thousand volt electric shock.

Unlike in his later forms, Takeshi can't transform automatically in this form, needing external wind to jump start the Typhoon's turbine and give him access to his suit and most of his fighting strength. That wind is generally generated by riding his bike, but it also can come from other sources, like an explosion that pushes hot wind towards the Typhoon belt. It is thinkable that becoming Kamen Rider 1 has granted him a degree of immortality and immunity to organic diseases, viruses, bacteria and poison due to becoming a cybernetic human.

Ultrasensitive Antenna: Sense the presence of enemies and incoming attacks

Cat's Eye: Allows infrared night vision

Signal O: A brainwave transmission device that can detect other cyborgs

Crusher: The face plate that can break chains

Artificial Lungs: Can recycle oxygen for two hours

Pulmonary Converter: Catches wind power to convert it to energy, also acts as a radiator

Power Converter: Capsules on the belt that store energy

Typhoon: Transformation belt which is an anemometer which measures the Rider's energy

Artificial Muscle: Gives the Rider the strength to jump like a giant grasshopper

Jump Shoes: The soles are elastic-like springs.

Star Wars Black Series 6" : Luke Skywalker with Yoda in Jedi Training (Dagobah)

The Rebels had their asses kicked in Hoth by a superior Galactic Empire forces. Number One task was to get their sorry asses out of the icy hell base that was overan by AT-ATs and Snowtroopers and a stomping huffing and puffing Darth Vader hot on the heels. While the rest of the Rebels buddies, that manages to take off, were still working on evading Imperial Destroyers and TIE fighters, our pal Luke Skywalker decide to divert himself (and R2-D2) to a swamp planet Dagobah seeking out a Jedi warrior, Yoda, to further his Jedi training becoming a Jedi Knight eventually. Seeing how his first teacher, Ben Kenobi, fell to the blade of badass Sith Lord Darth Vader, he reckon a much worthy teacher should be seeked. Same sentiments as Ben when he appear in Hoth egging a wampa-traumatize Luke on to Dagobah.

Yoda, he found. Training, he does. Hot headed, he is.

S.H.Figuarts Ultraseven (ウルトラセブン Urutorasebun)

Ultraseven (ウルトラセブン Urutorasebun) :
The third Ultra-being to come to Planet Earth (first and only in the spin-offs). He came to the planet after being sent to map the Milky Way, but this planet caught his attention and arrived here, he took the appearance of a brave man and renamed himself as Dan Moroboshi, and joined the UG. Ultraseven defended Earth from countless alien invasions for an extended period of time, until he went back to the Land of Light after sustaining serious injuries and fatigue.