Metal Robot Spirits Full Armor Hyaku Shiki Kai Review

 
 Dropping a big hitter for the First review of this month! Hyaku Shiki has always been one of my favorite Mobile Suit from Universal Century era for many sorts of reason. Starting from being a very kickass unit in Gundam vs Zeta Gundam and then later fell in love with its Incarnation of SRW MX, my history with Hyaku Shiki had come a long way. Essentially being the Five Star Stories avatar in Gundam series piloted by a Hero who could have lead Humanity for better future, there are so much things to discover from Hyaku Shiki in order to deeply appreciate this Outlier from Gundam Universe.

Considering I have quite an attachment toward Hyaku Shiki, expect this review will be more elaborate than usual.

Fruity Robo Yilichuangwan Berry Hunter

 
Within the Span of one year, Yilichuangwan is very productive with their Fruity Robo lineup! For the 4th Entry, we are getting something called Berry Hunter. Scheduled for Q2 2025 release, Fruity Robo Berry Hunter will be sold for 99 RMB.

After Mandarin Berserker, we are getting yet another Melee unit mecha, With its mecha design having the color scheme of Strawberry, Berry Hunter is a High Mobility melee unit that boast high speed flight capability and wields a thin One handed sword to support its fighting style. From the appearance of Fruity War God, Berry Hunter appears to be the Backpack part for the combined form. This leaves the Body and the Legs as the remainder parts for the release which we could expect another 3 Units from this lineup of Yilichuangwan.

Densetsu no Yuusha Da Garn The GATTAI Pegasus Saber

 
 The Gattai lineup from Goodsmile really favors alot with Da Garn series for sure! After Seven Changer last year, they dropped another Massive bomb with Pegasus Saber in 2025! Scheduled for April 2026 release, The Gattai Pegasus Saber will be sold for whopping 54000 Yen!

Of all Yuusha series The GATTAI products, Pegasus saber got to be the most expensive single product so far, equalling the price of the combined form for Protagonist Yuusha Mecha, whether it is Great Da Garn or Great Might Gaine. But being the most anticipated Yuusha products for this lineup, the Price might be worth it for the long awaited update for this unique Yuusha design that remains one of a kind until the end of Yuusha series. 

March 2025 Loot

 
 Another Sumptuous banquet of hauls accumulated by the end of this month. This one might come close in terms of overall value compared to the previous batch which is one of the peak. While the upper limit of the previous batch is still won by the P-Bandai Metal Build Billbine, this one got some nice Heavyweights as well such as Riobot Villkiss and Moshow Mospeada. But the best probable loot in this batch gotta be the Chinese version of Diaclone Convoy as I can't obtain the original one for reasonable price. This batch really shows that Chinese made products start to overwhelm the Japanese counterpart not only in numbers, but overall value as their Value-for-money are truly no joke. Lastly my Joytoy Blood Angels collection got some good reinforcements with the Primarch Sanguinius and his 30k sons finally joining in.

I awakened to EX Skill "Fixed Damage" and I become invincible

 Edgy Fantasy manga with betrayal trope are relatively common subgenre in Japanese anime and many aspiring Mangaka attempted to make something out of this niche. Recently I encountered one of these series with yet another of those convoluted title which I will just call Awakenend to EX Skill which is a mediocre manga but still got interesting set piece that make me look into the series.

Just like many other revenge fantasy manga, Awakened to EX Skill features an adventurer protagonist who somehow got revived and suddenly wield Immense Power after being betrayed by his Party member as a Sacrifice. Fueled with revenge to settle the score with his former party members, the protagonist sets forth on a quest of vengeance to give the worst kind of miseries toward his betrayers which become the main selling point of the series.

Awakened to EX Skill manga peaked at the chapter where the Protagonist dealt with his former lover who is a power-hungry Priestess who used her promiscuity to climb through the ranks, unbecoming of the person of her station. The manga unfortunately doesn’t make proper use of this chapter which could have extended the longevity of the series. Awakened to EX Skill ended up descending through rinse and repeat cycle without proper build up and concluded in lackluster ending.

Nonetheless if you want some revenge fantasy manga but something shorter than Redo of Healer or Rise of Shield Hero, Awakened to EX Skill might fill the gap. But just don’t expect it is anything at the level of Berserk or Ubel Blatt

Glimmerati

One of the N-gage hidden gem that this Nokia Gaming phone had during its brief run and probably one of the more unique one as well, Glimmerati! Compared to other Popular games that N-Gage had, Glimmerati had rather unique things in store to offer for the players in its package which left quite a lasting memory to me.

Fast forward to early this year, I had the pleasant opportunity to revisit this game couple and surprisingly the game still hold up at some aspects. Thus, as a part of commemorating my reunion with Glimmerati, I proudly present my full take on Glimmerati with this article.

SNAA 1/100 YR-04 Fire Lord

 
 Previously known for their 1/144 Scale Model kit comparable to Gundam HG lineup, SNAA recently release a 1/100 Scale Knight Mecha model kit. This one is called Fire Lord and quite look promising given their previous track record on their 1/144 scale products. Scheduled for Q2 2025 release, SNAA Fire Lord will be sold for 188 RMB.

On first glance, Fire Lord looks like an alternate version of Moshow Lancelot, sporting a Lighter Frame yet similar Full melee loadout. Fire Lord comes out with a pair of Lance and Blade as its choice melee weapon along with Medium sized shield typical for Knight mecha. But the main selling point for SNAA Fire Lord is its green Flame effect part all over Fire Lord befitting its moniker which do remind me of Phantom Gundam from Crossbone series. Considering Chinese model kits still heavily derived from popular Japanese mecha designs, I can still see some traces of Influence from Wargreymon, G-Self, Try Burning with a slight hint of GP04 knee part. With its color scheme, Fire Lord can easily pass as Lancelot's nimble cousin. In any case if the Fire lord is good enough, I will be looking forward to SNAA's next fantasy mecha design.

Sluban Super Mecha Champions Qbrick - Andromeda Review

 
 About halfway through in wrapping up SMC Qbricks here. Out of the five Sluban's Super Mecha Champion Qbrick brick model, Andromeda is easily the weakest entry that I acquired. Being one of the starter Mecha in SMC and the first of the feminine mecha model in the series, Andromeda just simply had the misfortune to be shoved in the Qbricks lineup.

Being Joanna's Signature mecha, Andromeda is a ranged support unit specializing in harassment enemy units through midair with energy Crossbow as its main armament. To fit its Valkyrie vibe, Andromeda is also equipped with Javelin as sub weapon that is capable of stunning the enemies, depending on the module equipped. 

Despite being a decent mecha design, Andromeda is simply ill fitted to be included in Qbricks because it is extremely blocky medium just doesn't suit the sleek design of Andromeda. Interestingly Qbricks Andromeda comes with the Javelin instead. Sluban could probably have made a full fledged Brick model for Andromeda considering the slimmer model mecha like Snow Mirage turned out just fine. But given the tragic fate of Super Mecha Champions on the hands of Netease, I really doubt we will ever see any physical incarnations for Andromeda anymore.

Titanomachia MODEROID SIDE:GR 1/48 Arklaud

 
 Naoki's Titanomachia series make another return with a top tier mecha design for Moderoid! After a High speed ranged fighter Edelstein, this time we got a mecha called Arklaud which sports a combination of Black and White as its color scheme, making it an imposing looking Elite mecha. Scheduled for November 2025, Titanomachia Moderoid Arklaud will be sold for 8500 Yen.

Compared to Edelstein, Arklaud possess Medium-heavy mecha build and equipped with armaments for Multirole. As its main armaments, Arklaud is armed with Railgun Lance and relatively large bastard sword making it a fierce Close combat unit while still capable to fight in ranged combat. Had it been coming in different color scheme, Arklaud is another strong contender for Protagonist mecha. But with its current color scheme it becomes Rival/Mentor elite unit instead. Quite sure Naoki could make several variants of Arklaud with different loadout to make use its solid design while I expect Edelstein will get an expansion pack down the road.

Digimon 02 Digivice D-3 Digimon Detect & Discover 25th Anniversary edition

 
 Usually my strike zone for Digimon related Electronic Toy is only with their Vpets which sport an appearance like a small brick. But hungry for Nostalgic Digimon fans money, apart from the Godzilla edition Vpet, Bandai decided to drop a whole lot of payload for Digimon 02 series by releasing a 25th Anniversary version of Digimon 02 Digivice. Just like many recent renditions of Vpet series, this one comes with Colored edition and apparently some voiceovers and the original popular theme from Digimon 02. Scheduled for July 2025 release, D-3 25th Anniversary will come with Regular and Special edition which will be sold for 11000 and 16500 Yen respectively.