Avatar

We got addicted to this show and went on a marathon way back. It's a pretty funny and a nice series that is sure to attract kids and adults alike. What engaged me the most is its story and delivery, it's so fresh in very many ways. The graphics is still kid like and cartoony, but the story is way top of its line.








It's a saga/story of a kid living in some time where four kingdoms (earth nation, fire kingdom, air nomads, water tribe) come at major crossroads of their civilizations. The Fire Kingdom is nearly finished with its invasion of the other kingdoms. It has been 100 years since their destined savior, Ang, the last airbender (from the air people), has been seen. Masters of the elements are called benders (element manipulator).



Ang of the air nomads, has been frozen for a 100 years, and was accidentally rescued by Soka, a non-bender (also comic) and her sister Katara, the water bender. Both hail from the water tribe. Ang's journey is to master all the four elements and defeat the firelord Ozai and return peace and balance to the elements. He is the Avatar, a reincarnating supreme being who masters all the 4 elements and is borne into each civilization alternately.


The stories are well-written and, aside from being very entertaining, are also very engaging and the deep characters grow and develop throughout the series.




Prince Zuko is the banished prince of the fire kingdom who vows to regain his honor by capturing the avatar. I like his character because he is caught between the realms of his good natural side and his allegiance to the fire kingdom heritage.

My favorite character is Uncle Iroh (voiced by the recently passed Mako, a voice favorite for old asian characters, also Splinter in TMNT 2007), elder brother of the firelord, mentor and companion of Prince Zuko. His tutelage and guidance to the prince along with other characters of the show goes with funny quips and profound adages. I really like his lines.


If you want something to watch for the entire family, then this is really on top of my list.

Here are a few stills of the series. Ang (with the blue arrow) and his pet Momo. He is able to manipulate air and fly with his glider-turning stick.


Ang, katara and sokka


Below are the covers of the dvd release which have kick-ass art.
Here is the season 1 team of Ang, Katara, and Sokka. Book 1 is titled Water, and Book 2 is earth.
As of this writing book 3: fire is finished but images of the covers haven't surfaced yet. my guess is book 4 will be Air? I hope it does'nt end with 4 chapters though.

Also, this movie is coming to the big screen, with M. Night Shyamalan on the reins, i am looking forward for this.




ang

katara

sokka

prince zuko

momo the flying bison






the girl is princess azula, zuko's sister

Toph, the blind earth bender master




ang, zuko, and my favorite - uncle Iroh

Voltron I?

Found this picture in the net. I have this robot at home, had it since I was a kid. I'm not sure if it had a sword though. Too bad, i don't know where the box is, must have been thrown out in between moving homes. Too bad.

I've long since been wanting to know what the name of the robot is. I didn't think it was voltron because the voltron i know are 5 lions who can combine to form 1 big robot. Probably I was asking for a voltron when I was a kid, and my mom or godparents picked up a what do you know, Voltron-titled box. Still am grateful.

Got excited and nostalgic to finally know the name of this robot because like I said, don't have the box anymore. Had fun playing w/ this! Thank goodness it's still complete and happily standing on one of our shelves at home.

more details on this at http://www.collectiondx.com/node/1063.
Apparently he also asked for a Voltron (Lions) but got this toy. :)

Lil Formers!

these cute lil formers are created by Matt Moylan. funny lil 1 frame comic strips weekly at http://www.lilformers.com/home.php

Transformers Animated coming soon!!

Transformers Animated coming out 2008!!
Season 1 is already finished and I think they're getting ready for season 2.

Lots of cool new stuff and toys.. This article compiles all the images of the toys leaked in the net right now, check it out at
http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2007/08/guide-to-knowing-your-transformers.html

ben 10yson

Ben 10 is an example of a for-kids cartoon that adults could like. I occasionally get bored, but it's still fun nevertheless. Ben and his cousin Gwen are riots. And they keep adding nice developments in the plot, his grandpa Max being a former alien hunter "plumber", ghostfreak getting out of ben's watch, adding werewolf dna, meeting future ben 10,000, and more..

Finally gave in to my "comrades", I actually am embarrassed going over ben 10 toys at toy kingdom with 7 year olds, I kid with my wife, they're are my "homies." Just got the Ben toy. Resisting getting any alien toys, because I know if I get one, i'd eventually have to hunt them all down. Here's my cool ben.



more toys here http://www.toywiz.com/ben10ten.html


upcoming toys from toynewsi.com, I love the translucent part of this new wave compared to the current versions, this could mean trouble for me. And of course lucky girl gwen tennyson. Maybe a Grandpa Max in Plumber gear? Heatblast, diamondhead, xlr8, fourarms, wildmutt, upgrade, ghostfreak, stinkfly are my favorites.


(added more pictures 9/4/2007)







and the upcoming live action movie, cool!
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/promotion_landing_page/ben10/index.html

Encore Trailer!

Got my encore prime this weekend. It was as what I imagined getting a prime when I was a kid or even better. I must have went out of my mind if I got this when I was a kid. Truly, a g1 prime transcends time. Now I understand why collectors push the price of this prime to the sky. Not that I encourage it. Enough talk.
Here it is.


and the best part, now i can use the trailer for classics prime. Tadaa!




I'll save the photoshoot and review for later. Still haven't bought good lighting.

Titaniums

Finally able to complete the titanium line, at least all the molds that have been released, sans the recolors. The first few waves were flimsy, especially War Within (WW) Prime and G.i. joe Megatron , you could easily topple them with a breath. The later models became better and sturdier.

Just when the momentum and mastery was building, they decided to pull the plug on theses babies. The reason are cost of production and that it was not so sell-able. Most of me disagrees, no shelf-warmer titaniums here locally, but the occasional scourge. The public's been gobbling it up with no qualms. Too bad, that the local distributor has been skipping some waves, so some of the waves are not available on the mass market. You'd have to rely on the hobby shops.

What makes the titaniums special from the other transformer toys these days is well, is obviously, from it's name, titanium. Some parts of these toys are metal, i don't think it's exactly titanium though. Some old school toy collectors love the clank of die cast and the feel of the cold metal when transforming their toys.

Here is a reference to the complete line.




And some molds that were lined up but never saw light of day. These guys would have been awesome if they were released! Who knows. Rumor is some of these molds might make it for classics 2.0

bumblebee and cliffjumper head


arcee


shockwave


cosmos


toxitron, decepticon truck with a trailer, nice.


prowl (i don't know about this, it's already a colored version, but not released)


and some more here, see the gallery of the coverage of botcon 2007

encore encore encore

Good news for those who just jumped in the transformers bandwagon, takara (japan transformers company) is releasing the old g1 (generation 1) molds again on a new line. Notice I say again, because this is the nth reissue of the molds. Despite that, the public has been graciously sweeping out anything transformers, specially g1. Never could understand why. Especially w/ the limited articulation. and odd looking robot modes.

I for one, having only recently started collecting would love to own a g1 optimus prime for the only reason that this was one of my childhood dream toys! along with the dinobots, voltron, visionaries, gijoes, tmnt, etc.. (i just realized i could go on forever) Other than that, not unless I become uberly rich, would I collect all the other bots for the sake of completion. Furthermore I don't think you have to worry if you can't get one at a good price, don't chase after the outrageous prices 2nd hand scalpers offer them. There'll be another encore encore for sure. And maybe another encore, encore, encore. The formula, somehow, works. Our generation are really suckers for these babies.

the first 4 in this new line (but old molds) are optimus prime, megatron, soundwave, and starscream! they are already released in japan, and they'll be available locally tomorrow! whooo, can't wait for my g1 prime. :) hopefully there are still megatrons left on my next paycheck. for my g1 protagonist-antagonist pair.

Optimus Prime w/ trailer

Megatron german walter p38



Soundwave w/ just 1 tape laserbeak? aw comeon.


Starscream, need I say more.




here's how they look inside the box, and some displays in some tokyo toy fair.



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thanks to actoys.net and cybph.com for pix and references