March 2005

Months of work and planning, if you look at some of the dates posted around the site, you'll get an idea how long we've been working on getting this launched. Even so, we were working essentially until the last minute, but we actually managed to succeed, and launch the site on the date I arbitrarily chose. Yay!

RAC and I both have a background in reviews - particularly of toys, and we know that good, English Gundam figure reviews are fairly difficult to come by. That was the basis for this site, but as we worked, we decided that we could broaden our coverage and include other lines and items. Mind, the main focus will remain Gundam for as long as MSiAs are made, but we're not completely one-track.

Unfortunately, due to the inherent slowness of overseas shipping, our Gundam reviews will always be a little bit behind. This cannot be helped, except by paying for very costly express shipping, which is a step we're simply unwilling to take right now. But, we have paid attention to having content available upon opening day that is as relevant as possible.

We expect to be adding additional lines and products over the next few months, plus plenty more Gundam. Additionally, we're currently looking into other content to be added down the road. So, with one thing or another, we should have updates pretty often, so keep checking back!

Enjoy the site, and thanks for visiting.

Welcome to It Figures! ExVee has pretty much covered the rest, so I'll just say that I hope you enjoy the site as much as we enjoy working on it. I'm quite pleased with both the quantity and quality of the reviews we've readied for our Grand Opening.

And now, our first update, the MSiA Char's Zaku Second Version! It's quite a good figure, and fans of MSiAs, and particularly of the original Gundam series, won't regret owning at least one version of the Zaku Second. They've been surpassed on a technical level by the Gundam SEED Destiny line, but they're still excellent figures and very much worth owning.

One thing I feel I have to note is the color of Char's Zaku in these pictures: in person, it appears to be a light red or a reddish pink, but in these, and most other photos I've seen, it's blindingly red. Amusingly this is also true of the pictures on the back of the package, so I think I did pretty well.

So anyway, take a look around and see if there's something you like! The nature of shipping, among other factors, makes it impossible to put a precise timetable on our next update, but I know that we both have figures in transit that are destined to appear here, so it's likely to be sooner rather than later.

Enjoy!

Gunota Headlines has linked to Tamashii Web's page for the new "Variable Phase Shift" Impulse Gundam MSiAs.

To translate, that's clear variants of Force, Sword, and Blast Impulse Gundams you can send away for if you happen to live in Japan and purchase the first volume of Gundam SEED Destiny Official File (Force) or the April issue of Hobby Japan (Sword and Blast.) To my knowledge, though Force has been shown before, this is the first look at Sword and Blast Impulse.

While I don't really have anything against clear figures, I would've liked to see a figure with a paint job that actually reflects the PS Armor's "filling-in" effect as seen in the show. Even less likely, an Impulse Gundam that changed from Active to DeActive (or vice versa) when doused with cold water would've been really neat.

It's not totally clear to me, but it seems like either Hobby Japan and Dengeki are both offering the mailaway for both figures, or you can get Blast Impulse only through Hobby Japan and Sword only through Dengeki. No matter what, though, both magazines are involved. Granted, it's kind of a moot point since this is very likely only open to residents of Japan, but I thought the clarification should be made.

Today we have a review and photos for the MSiA Qubeley Mk. II, which means that there are currently no categories on the site without at least one review. Yay!

Like Char's Zaku, the red was proving overpowering with a flash, so all of these photographs were taken with real, live sunlight, except for the final '2LMES' photo. (Which kind of looks like it says "2LMFS"- I think it's a painting error.) I really like some of these shots- I'm going to have to make a habit of using natural light when I can.

One more bit of useless trivia: The metal "stand" holding the Qubeley Mk. II up in the flying pose is actually the mouthpiece to my father's trumpet, which wedges neatly between the scoop in the front skirt plate and the figure's midsection. The photo had to be cropped to remove my hand, since it didn't quite want to stand up on its own.

We're just getting started here, folks! Check back often, and be careful with those microscopic Funnels.

It may not come as a surprise, but various sources are reporting that Bandai has shelved the English language release of SD Gundam Force season 2 on DVD. Although perhaps not a hit with many fans, the first season was said to be well received by younger viewers during its run on Cartoon Network. However, nigh-endless repeats five days a week made it old fast, and it seemingly lost its appeal.

The dubbing for season two was completed, but at this point it seems that nobody will ever get to see the result. As this is the case, although I normally put down such attempts, I'll be sure to pass it on if anyone starts a serious petition for the release of the last 26 episodes. It's bad enough we couldn't get the toys, but it's just a downright shame that nobody will get to see the second season in English.

It's all Cartoon Network's fault.

For those of you with G4 (formerly TechTV) carried by your cable or satellite providers, the video game review show X Play will feature a segment previewing the sequel to the 2002 North American release of Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs Zeon video game for the Playstation 2.

Although the hosts are not always entirely knowledgable about the source material for many anime-based games, the comments on actual gameplay are usually rather accurate, plus you'll get to see gameplay footage, and probably hear some of the English dialogue - a first chance for many who didn't or couldn't buy the Zeta Gundam DVD boxset.

X Play airs tonight at 11pm EST, with repeats at 2am and tomorrow at 4pm. See the schedule here.

Also, Toys Dream Project revealed on their site an exclusive recolor of the Energon Arcee toy. Limited to 3000 units, this version is colored green and is meant to represent Beta, a female Autobot character who appeared in the original cartoon series as part of the Transformers' ancient history. This toy should be available through the normal channels, with your best chances being retailers in Japan such as HLJ or Amenbo.

This recolor will be released March 31st at a price of ¥1500. You can see a small picture on their website here. On the same page is an image of the Toys Dream Project MSiA Zeon Ground Capture set, which is also set to be released on the 31st at a price of ¥4500. Scroll to the top of the page to see that.

Second-Half March, 2005
More Energon!

RAC 03/14/2005

Our second Transformers review is up, this one of Roadblock, one of the last round of Energon figures to tide us over until the impending premiere of Transformers: Cybertron. No mere assortment-filler here- Roadblock features some pretty sharp remolds from his base figure Inferno, a very nice new color scheme, and rugged, Grapple-esque good looks. If you can find him, he's worth your ten bucks.

Unfortunately, Roadblock had to be photographed using a flash- Mother Nature responded to my desire to use natural light more often with the cloudiest week in ages. As the weather improves, I sincerely hope to resort to flash photography less and less.

On the subject of Transformers, our US readers may like to know that this week, Toys R Us is holding a sale on all Transformers toys- buy 2 and get the third free. The offer also extends to their website, apparently. Better still, there's a coupon in their Sunday newspaper ad offering a $10 TRU giftcard to anyone who spends $50 or more in the store this week.

All told, it's a good opportunity to pick up anything you missed out on up to now. Happy Hunting, all!

Bandai Japan's Tamashii Web MSiA site has updated with an image of the May release Galbaldy Beta, presumably the Dark Dagger L will be added to the site soon as well.

You may notice a shortage of content updates over the next couple weeks. It's not that we've nothing to add - quite the opposite, but we're currently putting our focus on something of a special project, so most else will wait until after that's done with. I think you'll find it worth the wait.

Recently I noted a Toys Dream Project green Energon Arcee to be released. I reported to the best of my understanding that the recolor would be a different character than Arcee/Ariel, and be named Beta. However, this isn't the case.

I learned a few days ago (and kind of forgot to mention it) that the toy will actually be Ariel Paradron Type. That means same character, just done in Paradron Medic colors. The Paradron Type is another G1 reference, this time to a generic use of Arcee's animation model for nurse robots on the peaceful planet Paradron. This would be more interesting if the previously super-obscure Paradron Medic hadn't been brought to the front with the SCF (and the US Heroes of Cybertron) PVC figuring of the G1 character.

Either way it's really more boring now. Way to go with the nonsense same-character recolors, Takara.