JANUARY 2010 NEWS

This is such a tease. Come back tomorrow and we'll have the second half...

Chapter 46 Part 1: DDL

Arguably the most exciting news to come out of “The Men of Power” and “Monstrous Ones” since last year’s fan favorite poll, The Ebizuka Trio won’t be lonely come Spring, as Dive have announced that they will be producing a new rendition of Hideto Bandou. Designed to be a counter piece to the Ebi Trio, this Bandou, complete with a jackknife, is much more menacing than the mellowed-out “T.F.O.A.” version and the Rock and Roll FBM version. However, there’s a twist.

Bandou will not be available at retail. Only collectors who have bought Hiromi (February), Makoto (March), and Pon (April) will have the chance to buy Bandou, as they will have to send in proof of purchase stickers that are included with the three. Collectors can purchase Bandou by sending in those three stickers and 3,990 yen. Dive will be accepting orders from April 30th to May 31st and Bandou is scheduled to ship in Summer. Looks like we’re in for a good year.

Now we're talkin'!

Dive are continuing their move to further tie in the “P.A.D” Ryushin and the “Next Generation” Kousei to “T.FO.A. Continued” line by retroactively producing variants that defined that line, for the two heads. First were the distinctive FUN variants, and now are the monochrome Limited Retail Edition versions. Designed to truly represent the manga images themselves, the Limited Retail Editions of the Fourth and Fifth Heads will look great next to their successors.

New images of the two remaining limited editions of the upcoming “Men of Power” addition, Sugihara Makoto, are making the rounds. Regulus have Mako donned in a white uniform with their signature artwork on the back as well as on his removable hat (didn’t know Izumi had the tastes of a Yakuza). The limited send away Postcard edition is no less flamboyant with its gradient sakura print.

Best chapter so far...?

Chapter 45: DDL

Page spread has been fixed. All "v2" DDLs are the revised chapter. I've also included the corrected pages for anyone wanting to swap it out rather than download the entire chapter again.

Chapter 44 (V2): DDL

Dive have presented us with the final sculpt and paint applications of the long awaited Sugihara Makoto Flashback Generation figure. While I will admit that "Mako" is one of the better sculpts coming out of Dive during the past few months, he's not the Mako I know. Truth be told, I'm not sure what's going on at Dive since the TFOA2 line concluded last year. I, like many others, feel that the second Front line was amongst their finest figures to date. There was a time when I would greatly anticipate the announcement of a new FBG, but now I nearly cringe when I see an update on Dive's home page.

I realize that most readers are fans of Hiroshi's later art style and that squared jaws and angled noses are generally preferred over the cruder art from early Crows volumes, but I'm growing tired of every recent figure coming off as a common hooligan devoid of personality. Mako especially is not a character I would associate with a thug-like scowl. To me this looks like any old "who-kun" standing around looking to pick a fight. It's one thing to to muck up Amachi, but now their screwing with The Boys! I'm almost tempted to go back and purchase this ill-received set as a representation of Suzuran's E Trio rather than be subjected to more generic monkey-faced goons. I'm ever hopeful that Dive will make an about face and start showing us what they are capable of again. In the meantime, I'm thankful Pon wears a mask...

There are three things that you can always count on: death, taxes, and Bouya variants. As predicted earlier, the upcoming Big Boss Coherence of Style sets will come with a new repaint of Bouya Harumichi. It's a bit of a no-brainer, and welcome news to many collectors as this sculpt is easily the best of Bouya in this scale, and this look is his most classic. However, because the sculpt is the same as the upcoming Regulus 10th Anniversary Bouya, it could undermine that set. Of course completists will want both Bouyas.

Good news for Crows X Worst memorabilia collectors and for vinyl figure collectors in particular. Glam is throwing their hat into the ring once again with a new figure and a new line, once again in the realm that separated them in the first place: that of the super- deformed. Titled, "Karasu-Damashi Deluxe" the new line of super-deformed vinyl figures will begin with Ogawa Kenji, "Dosuken" himself. Posed in a more dynamic manner than previous incarnations, as expected, Dosuken comes with a removable horse mask. On another note, I'm quite astonished by the number of times Dosuken has been made into figures. I would even go out on a limb and say I believe he has more figures than Hana does...

Part of the appeal of Crows X Worst apparel has always been the fact that it's cosplay without cosplay. With the right leather jacket or Sukajyan, it's easy to imagine yourself as a part of the Crows X Worst universe. Black Rebel are taking that one step further. With their new BT Black Rebel Personal Service, they are offering fans the chance to join the ranks of The Front of Armament. Through the service, the fan will have their name inscribed in kanji on a T-shirt of their choice along with the respective members of that generation. The assortment includes the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Generations. On another note, I am rather smug seeing that I am one of the few (if not only one) members who can partake, as Korean names are spelled in both Korean and Chinese.

I think this chapter will lay to rest any doubts pertaining to Bandou's badassery.

Chapter 44: DDL

Those of you who followed along with our Advent Calendar over the holidays may have noticed the last day of Crowsmas revealed a couple of mystery images...

New galleries, same crappy camera.

What can I say? I suck.

Chapter 92: DDL