Spawn Deluxe Action Figure -- Angela from Todd Toys (1995)

Angela the Bounty Hunter from Todd McFarlane's Spawn

I'm back ladies and gentlemen for another new toy feature and I do hope all of you would forgive me for the long delay in the post updates here on Made in X since yours truly have been not in the best of health lately and my suspicion is that I've been spending too much of my time in front of the PC and before things could get from bad to worse, I decided to stay away for a while from my beloved desktop computer and nursed myself for some time until I got my groove back. Anyways, today I would like to share to all of you this nifty action toy figure that I consider to be one of the best buys I've ever purchased and it is no other than that very controversial comic book character conceptualized by writer Neil Gaiman and brought to life by artist Todd McFarlane. And I'm talking about none other than that fiery, angelic bounty hunter vixen we all know as Angela...


I've been somewhat an avid collector of figures released by McFarlane Toys though I can't say that I have a huge collection of these items with me but when I get to really fancy a particular character from any of the vast McFarlane Toys line, I made sure that I'd get them no matter what, given the fact that these items doesn't come cheap and making that crucial, final decision on what to buy first was serious torment to myself and on my budget. Sadly McFarlane Toys somehow slowed down (if not, ceased production indefinitely) with the manufacturing of its action figures and you might get to come across some of these toys selling somewhere either in mint condition with a hefty price tag or being sold as loose items from second-hand toy shops. But for the Angela action figure that I bought, I got it for cheap but the carded packaging was somehow nearly in bad shape... it wasn't sold as a loose item, it was in a way untouched with some major issues on the packaging.

The Angela Deluxe Action Figure was released in 1995 during the height of Spawn's popularity and was part of a toy line released by Todd McFarlane which was known then as 'Todd Toys.' Being an action figure released in the 1990's, it was just like any other action figure in the market at that time where you can sway back and forth its arms, bend their knees and insert weapons on their hands.. stuff like that. To compare it to today's toy standards, the first-generation figures from Todd Toys are now categorized as "crude" and in a way outdated unlike today where toy figures are just brimming with numerous sweet points of articulation on every joint in their body where you can just pose them anyway you want. But I do know for one thing is that, what sets Todd Toys apart from the other toy figures then are the awesome detailing and craftsmanship made on every Spawn character released... fanboys and toy collectors were just smitten and drooling over them and they will do anything just to get their hands on every character released in the market! As for me, seeing this classic Angela fig from Todd Toys can be considered a rare find and figures like these are hard to come by nowadays and so I never hesitated to buy it since this and the other characters included were the first ones who came in line until Todd came up with more finely, intricately detailed figures we come to know as part of his successful 'McFarlane Toys' merchandise.


Since the packaging is all worn out, I never felt any regret opening it and so I took it out from the plastic casing and started taking photos of her on my tabletop studio. I've attached some photo samples of Angela below and if you want to check out the rest of the set, please do visit our Facebook page by just clicking here. Hope you guys like it and until the next toy feature, stay safe always!


(*Click on the images for larger view and more photos inside)

Tales from the Toy Fair: Kamen Rider Real Product Stage from Bandai

I'm back once again ladies and gentlemen for another toy feature this month of February and this time I would like to share to all of you this wonderful find I have purchased last December during the Christmas Toy Fair held at the SM Megamall... and what could be better than finding this awesome Kamen Rider Real Product Stage mini dioramas selling for only Php 100 (roughly around $2.30) in one of the participating stalls during the fair. It was a good thing I was able to find it along with its other variations among the heap of toys placed on their long table. Overall the Real Product Stage series from Bandai has around four variables consisting of other famous classic Kamen Rider characters, who pioneered the Henshin genre as early as the 1970's, depicting famous fight scenes through these well-made diorama sets. I would have wanted to complete all four sets if only I found them sooner... but fate has been a bit unkind that day and now I had to pick just one set that I really like the most.

(L) Riderman (Kamen Rider Yongo) and (R) Kamen Rider V3 finishing off their enemy

After a good number of minutes playing 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' on the four Kamen Rider sets, I decided to pick this one where you get to see Kamen Rider V3 and Riderman (Kamen Rider Yongo) finishing off their enemy as it explodes in the background of the mini diorama. I knew that there's this big chance that I won't be able to find that store after the fair and chances are they will be selling the remaining sets back to its original price, so I settled for this one since you get two Kamen Rider characters in one diorama unlike the others where you have one Kamen Rider hero fighting one or two enemies and that's about it, but it would be nice to have them all if only I could've stretch my wallet and my budget to full capacity that day...


Around late this afternoon I decided to piece together the diorama and had a small photoshoot with it since it has been days since my last session and so here are some of the photos I took from my small tabletop studio earlier and you can also check the complete set on our Facebook page by clicking here. Thanks guys for your time and 'til next time, stay safe always!


(*Click on the images for larger view and more photos inside)

Tales from the Toy Fair: Lynn Minmay (not!)

At first I thought I bagged a real nice find when I found this cute gashapon of a blue-haired female anime character which looked like Lynn Minmay from Macross, tucked away deep inside this huge plastic container of anime gashapons. Even though I could see through the small plastic packaging that some of its parts came off, I was so ecstatic about it (knowing at first that I got myself a Lynn Minmay fig) and immediately bought the item right away along with the other figures I unearthed. A few days later when I took it out and pieced together all of its parts, I soon realized that this is not Hikaru Ichijo's (or Rick Hunter for all of you Robotech fans) love interest... for one thing, I don't clearly remember Lynn Minmay wearing something as skimpy as this outfit you're seeing right now in the photo, or in any of the entire Macross episodes for that matter. Though this unknown female anime figure has a microphone on one hand and she too has blue long hair, the tint may be the same but the hairstyle is definitely different. Modern version of Lynn?... I guess not, this unknown figure may probably be taken from another anime title (or possibly ecchi or hentai, who knows?) But nonetheless, I decided to play around with it and created myself a mini, pseudo-Macross diorama of this Lynn Minmay stand-in along with my Macross Plus YF-21 from Yamato.


It would have been nice if I paired off the YF-21 with the real Lynn Minmay figure but unfortunately she somehow resembled just like her and I guess it won't hurt to do my own "modern" rendition. I have here some of the photos I took sometime around last week and if you guys would want to see the rest of the album, please do visit our Facebook page by clicking here. So until next time folks, stay safe always!


(*Click on the images for larger view and more photos inside)

Tales from the Toy Fair: K-On's Azusa Nakano gashapon

When the anime K-On! first aired on Animax a couple of years ago here in the Philippines, I did somehow expected it to be one of those cutesy anime series with adorable girls in school uniforms forming a band until they realized their dreams and made a name for themselves. But what struck me the most about the entire series are the instruments and their "historical or factual relevance" (which is mentioned from time to time in several episodes) used by the girls of Ho-kago Tea Time (or After School Tea Time in the English-dubbed series), particularly the stringed instruments used by Yui Hirasawa (who's using the legendary Heritage Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul), Mio Akiyama (Fender Precision Bass in the manga version and the Fender Jazz Bass in the anime version) and this cutey member I'm going to showcase today who's seen using a nifty Fender Mustang electric guitar... and yes she's no other than Azusa Nakano or fondly called by the moniker 'Azu-nyan' coined by Yui.

From what I can remember during the entire first series and if my memory serves me right, Azusa came only into the band several episodes later, making her someone like Ringo Starr who joined The Beatles a little bit later until he became, finally, a part of what was to become a timeless, legendary band in music history. Oftentimes I confuse her with Mio since both of them look almost alike and the two characters sport really long black hair, a little bit of getting used to has helped me train my eye in spotting who's Mio and who's Azusa. But in the level of cuteness in anime standards, I say Azusa tops them all maybe for her physical aspects in the anime spectrum... and since she's the youngest among the rest of the band members, no wonder Yui couldn't stop teasing her as 'Azu-meow' since she looks very cute and adorable like a cat or whenever Yui asks her to wear those Cat's Ears headpiece or tricks her to act like one eventually. Two season series and a movie on K-On! have passed and not even once did I get to have their toy figures, whether solo or in set... Maybe I was too preoccupied then in collecting other anime characters or for some strange reason I couldn't remember anymore. Anyways, I finally got my chance during the 6th Toy Fair held last December when I chanced upon this stall selling these gashapons of K-On! and luckily I got the last piece of Azusa Nakano's figure and bought it right away!

It would have been nice if I got the bigger, 12-inch version of Azusa but getting this gashapon of her is a start and hopefully I get to collect the rest of the K-On! characters sometime soon. I took some snapshots of the Azusa gashapon yesterday and I've uploaded some of those photos here and you can check the rest after the jump. Hope you guys like it and 'til next time, stay safe always!

(*Click on the images for larger view and more photos inside)

Tales from the Toy Fair: Kamen Rider 2 gashapon

The legendary Kamen Rider 2

Happy New Year ladies and gentlemen! I hope all of you guys had a wonderful time doing a lot of merrymaking and partying as we kickstart 2012 with new hopes and dreams of a better and peaceful year despite the controversies surrounding the mystery behind the December 21 prediction for which we all strongly wish, hope and pray that it will never happen... But as they all say, "Live life to the fullest, do the things that you like the most and enjoy every single day as if it were your last." Anyways, I would like again to share to you this wonderful find I purchased last year during the 6th Christmas Toy Fair held at the SM Megamall, and this time, it's none other than a gashapon figure of Kamen Rider 2.


Kamen Rider 2 can be categorized as one of the most famous and legendary fictional characters ever to come out in the Japanese Tokusatsu television series Kamen Rider back in the early 1970's. The only difference between the first Kamen Rider and Kamen Rider 2 is the color scheme of their costumes for which it was modeled after a grasshopper (particularly the headgear that they're using.) Riding on those big, cool and classic motorcycles, these superheroes are out to stop the terror organization Shocker from dominating Japan and the entire world using their kick-ass fighting skills and martial arts until they deliver that final blow to the "enemy boss" using cinematic finishing moves at the end of every episode. It was with this and the other Kamen series of the 70's that brought forth a new generation of Super Sentai heroes that evolved over the decades which includes the likes of Bioman, Shaider, Power Rangers, Saban's Masked Rider and many others.


I happen to stumble upon this nice gashapon of Kamen Rider 2 at the stall of Akihabara Toys during the Toy Fair and it sure was nice to have one of these in my collection since Kamen Rider is all too familiar for someone like me who grew up in the 70's and 80's. I eventually did some low-light photography on the gashapon but I'm planning to come up with another set where you guys can get to see Kamen Rider 2 in full, clear detail. But for now I give you folks this small photo set and please do stay tuned for the others very soon. So until next time, stay safe always!


(*Click on the images for larger view and more photos inside)

Tales from the Toy Fair: Mini diorama of Tetsujin 28

It was during the last day of the 6th Toy Fair held at the SM Megamall that I was able to get me some nifty loot of goodies unlike last June during the ToyCon where I only got to bring home two items... nothing more, nothing less. Learning from that mistake, I made sure this time I'll be leaving the place with more than a handful of toys to be added to my collection... and I'd like to share one of them today.


I made it a point that I'd do a quick yet thorough scan on the goods from every participating stall that I came across within the confides of the Megatrade Hall 1, and it was at this particular toy stall that something caught my eye and I knew at that exact moment that this item had to be in my stash of goodies no matter what! And I'm talking about this miniature diorama of Tetsujin 28 (or more popularly known in the U.S. as Gigantor). It is somewhere around 3-inches high and it shows a plastic figure of Tetsujin 28 soaring up to the skies with its base part showing several miniature buildings with searchlight beams located at the back. It was only selling for Php 30.00 (roughly around $0.70) and without batting an eyelash, I took out my wallet and bought this baby right there and then.


This is just one of the several items I got from the Toy Fair and I'll be posting more of them very soon. But for now I have uploaded here several photos of the Tetsujin 28 diorama that I took a few days ago so I hope you like 'em ladies and gentlemen. 'Til next time, stay safe always!


(*Click on the images for larger view and more photos inside)

Season's Greetings from Made in X...

Three days more to go before Christmas ladies and gentlemen, and I would like to thank all of you wonderful guys, wherever you are in the world, for taking time out in visiting my little nook in cyberspace! The mere fact of knowing that people from all four corners of the globe have already visited my blog, though not gargantuan in numbers, is enough to make my Christmas a real happy one.


Again, Made in X sends its heartfelt thanks to everyone and wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Cheers guys!

The 6th Christmas Toy Fair 2011/1st Philippines Diecast & Custom Car Show at the SM Megamall

The 6th Christmas Toy Fair and the 1st Philippines Diecast and Custom Car Show concluded it's successful three-day event yesterday and I was able to make my pilgrimage that morning to the Megatrade Hall 1 located on the 5th floor of the SM Megamall. Luckily I was able to reach my point of destination in no time since I left early to avoid the horrendous Yuletide traffic that has become a huge nightmare for commuters like me for ages! Though the organizers for Toy Fair & Diecast Car Show managed to get hold of just one hall for its venue, the number of participating toy shop owners wasn't, in a way, that many unlike during the annual ToyCon being held during the month of June, but somehow it was enough to satisfy all toy enthusiasts with their insatiable craving for bargain toys up for sale. I immediately went inside and began scouting the place to check what's in store for me and for the other attendees as well. I never got to take photos at first since I noticed that morning there was not even one individual holding a camera and taking snapshots inside, so I dashed my way to every stall that I could find and began rummaging on their stuff and got hold of some goodies that I'll be needing as backup, I can say that I was now able to have more than a handful of toys in tow unlike last June during the ToyCon where I only got two items from that event. It was only shortly before lunch when I got to see camera flashes ring out from one spot to another and so it was time to take out my camera and shoot me some photos for both my Made in X Facebook page and for this blog as well.


The build up of people flocking to the Toy Fair was somehow bearable and close to normal so I was able to move around freely and took photos of those stalls who were gracious and kind enough to let me... but unfortunately, there were some who turned us down (I've given a hint on our Facebook page so you guys might as well check it out ü), but nevertheless I was able to take a good number of photos both from the Toy Fair and the 1st Philippines Diecast & Custom Car Show which catered to all car enthusiasts with a fairly huge number of toy cars, big and small, diecast and scale model kits... name it, they have it on display. Aside from toys and cars, the regular folks from the cosplay world were there and from time to time the organizers held toy auctions to the delight of the crowd. My friend and Made in X admin member Adrian and his brother Bryan followed shortly to the event and since I'm done with my business there, I accompanied the two as they did some rounds in checking out the stalls. Though tired, exhausted and somewhat "broke", we had a grand time the entire day and we're now bracing ourselves for the next main event which will happen this coming June for the 2012 ToyCon.


I have posted here some of the photos I took yesterday and if you want to check out the rest of the album, please do find the time to visit our Facebook page by clicking here. 'Til next time folks, stay safe always!


Credits: BigBoy's Toy Shop, Akihabara, Randy, Sir Bong of Bong's Collectibles for being so nice and accommodating after granting me permission to take some snapshots of his stall.


(*Click on the images for larger view and more photos inside)