Chinese Gundam Returns... With Upgrades!

The infamous orange Gundam statue found in China's Chengdu Guosetianxiang Amusement Park returns... with some upgrades! Wondering if it is still orange, yes it is still orange and kinda looks like a love child between the original Gundam and a Zaku!

A photograph posted by a Twitter user, otoutosama featured this upgrade Gundam statue in which earlier reports denied by the said amusement park that the previously erected statue is an original design (!) and not a copy of the original Gundam.

Later on, a public relations representative added that they are working on some modifications. And lo, just recently, we have this image! What can you say about this newly upgraded Gundam statue?

Source: Gadget Tsūshin via ANN

Chinese Gundam Returns... With Upgrades!

The infamous orange Gundam statue found in China's Chengdu Guosetianxiang Amusement Park returns... with some upgrades! Wondering if it is still orange, yes it is still orange and kinda looks like a love child between the original Gundam and a Zaku!

A photograph posted by a Twitter user, otoutosama featured this upgrade Gundam statue in which earlier reports denied by the said amusement park that the previously erected statue is an original design (!) and not a copy of the original Gundam.

Later on, a public relations representative added that they are working on some modifications. And lo, just recently, we have this image! What can you say about this newly upgraded Gundam statue?

Source: Gadget Tsūshin via ANN

A Pedobear Plush Hat?!

Pedobear approves!

The website, CatchKuma.com is now selling a plush hat whose design is based on Pedobear, a cartoon bear frequently seen on the 4chan message boards. The hat is one-size-fits-all and costs US$24.99 (Pedobear gives his seal of approval)!

To those who don't know, Pedobear originated as Kumaa, a text-character art bear, on Japan's 2channel message board. The Japanese city of Fukuoka appropriated the bear for a consumer education program. Later on the bear become a meme on the English-language message board 4chan, which converted him to more traditional art and dubbed him as "pedobear." The Pedobear meme has since spread beyond 4chan, and the character is even cosplayed at anime conventions.

Source: BoingBoing via Anime News Network

A Pedobear Plush Hat?!

Pedobear approves!

The website, CatchKuma.com is now selling a plush hat whose design is based on Pedobear, a cartoon bear frequently seen on the 4chan message boards. The hat is one-size-fits-all and costs US$24.99 (Pedobear gives his seal of approval)!

To those who don't know, Pedobear originated as Kumaa, a text-character art bear, on Japan's 2channel message board. The Japanese city of Fukuoka appropriated the bear for a consumer education program. Later on the bear become a meme on the English-language message board 4chan, which converted him to more traditional art and dubbed him as "pedobear." The Pedobear meme has since spread beyond 4chan, and the character is even cosplayed at anime conventions.

Source: BoingBoing via Anime News Network

2 Hobbyist Arrested for Modifying a Bandai Figure

Police have arrested 2 hobbyists, Shibata resident, Keiichi Itō (35) and Sanjō resident, Jun Fujita (36) for the crime of modifying a figure to look like Kamen Rider W's Utopia Dopant, charging them with criminal copyright infringement.

The pair involved with the operation of a Niigata Toy Shop, were found to have modified a figure (to be exact SIC Apollo Geist) into a Custom made S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) Utopia Dopant and selling the completed figure in Yahoo! Japan Auctions with a Tokyo resident closing the bid from the other 69 bids and acquiring the figure for ¥270,000 (about US$3,300).

Reportedly their work was of exquisite quality and popular with fans of the show – certainly the case considering the quality of the work on display on their website, kenosyokutaku models.

Asides from the said Utopia Dopant, they also did some custom figures of other characters found in the Kamen Rider franchise. Namely, the original seven Kamen Riders (on the right), and the current Kamen Rider, OOO.

The arrest was made because according to the police's announcement, the two men modified a figure into a Kamen Rider W villain character in November without Toei's permission the film company that owns Kamen Rider W's copyrights. They admit the charges, explaining that “As we weren’t making mass manufactured goods but a single hand-made item, we thought they would overlook it.”

Sources: Yomiuri Online via Sankaku Complex (Warning: NSFW), Anime News Network, JEFusion, Kotaku (for the link of the figure used in making the custom fig)

Instead of Bandai hiring these guys in designing their figures, they decided to arrest them just for selling one figure?! I mean, the practice of selling custom made figures has been around for years that even some manga artist are appreciative with the work fans made! Plus, they can use these guys help in making a good prototype of a SHF Shadow Moon figure!

2 Hobbyist Arrested for Modifying a Bandai Figure

Police have arrested 2 hobbyists, Shibata resident, Keiichi Itō (35) and Sanjō resident, Jun Fujita (36) for the crime of modifying a figure to look like Kamen Rider W's Utopia Dopant, charging them with criminal copyright infringement.

The pair involved with the operation of a Niigata Toy Shop, were found to have modified a figure (to be exact SIC Apollo Geist) into a Custom made S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) Utopia Dopant and selling the completed figure in Yahoo! Japan Auctions with a Tokyo resident closing the bid from the other 69 bids and acquiring the figure for ¥270,000 (about US$3,300).

Reportedly their work was of exquisite quality and popular with fans of the show – certainly the case considering the quality of the work on display on their website, kenosyokutaku models.

Asides from the said Utopia Dopant, they also did some custom figures of other characters found in the Kamen Rider franchise. Namely, the original seven Kamen Riders (on the right), and the current Kamen Rider, OOO.

The arrest was made because according to the police's announcement, the two men modified a figure into a Kamen Rider W villain character in November without Toei's permission the film company that owns Kamen Rider W's copyrights. They admit the charges, explaining that “As we weren’t making mass manufactured goods but a single hand-made item, we thought they would overlook it.”

Sources: Yomiuri Online via Sankaku Complex (Warning: NSFW), Anime News Network, JEFusion, Kotaku (for the link of the figure used in making the custom fig)

Instead of Bandai hiring these guys in designing their figures, they decided to arrest them just for selling one figure?! I mean, the practice of selling custom made figures has been around for years that even some manga artist are appreciative with the work fans made! Plus, they can use these guys help in making a good prototype of a SHF Shadow Moon figure!

Evangelion Wetsuits Available in Japan

The Japanese design firm Lightair announced that three types of wetsuits inspired by the plugsuits in the anime film Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance will go on sale in Japan! These suits cost for 163,800 yen which is about US$ 1,985, tax included.

These zipper-less wetsuits will match the outfits worn by the EVA-01, EVA-00, and EVA-02 pilots, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka respectively.

EVA-00 zipper-less wetsuit

EVA-01 zipper-less wetsuit

EVA-02 zipper-less wetsuit

Source: Famitsu via Kotaku via ANN

Evangelion Wetsuits Available in Japan

The Japanese design firm Lightair announced that three types of wetsuits inspired by the plugsuits in the anime film Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance will go on sale in Japan! These suits cost for 163,800 yen which is about US$ 1,985, tax included.

These zipper-less wetsuits will match the outfits worn by the EVA-01, EVA-00, and EVA-02 pilots, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka respectively.

EVA-00 zipper-less wetsuit

EVA-01 zipper-less wetsuit

EVA-02 zipper-less wetsuit

Source: Famitsu via Kotaku via ANN

Signed K-ON!! Guitar Gets Quite a Bid!

Surprising, yes. Heck, even Mugi is surprised!

A seller named euf02us placed a guitar signed by the K-ON!!'s voice cast on auction on Yahoo! Japan on January 5, and a user placed a 9,999,999,999 Yen (US$120 million) "bid" on Monday morning!

Thanks to the questionable bid, the seller plans to cancel the current auction on Tuesday and re-offer the guitar at a later date. To those who are wondering where this signed guitar came from, last year, LAWSON a Japanese convience store chain ran a K-ON!! Fair promotional campaign from October 19 to November 29. 

People who spent a certain amount at LAWSON stores could go online with numbers from their store receipts to see if they won prizes. By the second day of the campaign, LAWSON's computer and mobile phone home pages received over 1 million accesses in one day, and the company's website was temporarily unreachable for many users.

The campaign's top-level A Prizes were five replicas of Yui's guitar signed by the five cast members who voiced each member of Ho-kago Tea Time! Each guitar also came with a limited-edition hard case (with an imprinted HTT logo and key), set of clear stickers, shielded cord, tuning wrench, soft case, manual, and warranty certificate.

Source: Kyō mo Yareyaku via Anime News Network

Signed K-ON!! Guitar Gets Quite a Bid!

Surprising, yes. Heck, even Mugi is surprised!

A seller named euf02us placed a guitar signed by the K-ON!!'s voice cast on auction on Yahoo! Japan on January 5, and a user placed a 9,999,999,999 Yen (US$120 million) "bid" on Monday morning!

Thanks to the questionable bid, the seller plans to cancel the current auction on Tuesday and re-offer the guitar at a later date. To those who are wondering where this signed guitar came from, last year, LAWSON a Japanese convience store chain ran a K-ON!! Fair promotional campaign from October 19 to November 29. 

People who spent a certain amount at LAWSON stores could go online with numbers from their store receipts to see if they won prizes. By the second day of the campaign, LAWSON's computer and mobile phone home pages received over 1 million accesses in one day, and the company's website was temporarily unreachable for many users.

The campaign's top-level A Prizes were five replicas of Yui's guitar signed by the five cast members who voiced each member of Ho-kago Tea Time! Each guitar also came with a limited-edition hard case (with an imprinted HTT logo and key), set of clear stickers, shielded cord, tuning wrench, soft case, manual, and warranty certificate.

Source: Kyō mo Yareyaku via Anime News Network

Random Fun: W LunaTrigger vs. Den-O Ax Form!

W will now shoot Den-O, any last words, Kin?

Since I got my SHFiguarts Kamen Rider W LunaTrigger thanks to GekiDan, I decided to play with it along with my lone Kamen Rider Den-O Ax Form coming from the Action Pose line of gashapon figures! And so, Ukiya starts to abuse Kin!

 Trigger Full Burst... and Den-O here is just posing with his axe!

W: You're too short! 

And so, he bends and points the gun in point black range...

Random Fun: W LunaTrigger vs. Den-O Ax Form!

W will now shoot Den-O, any last words, Kin?

Since I got my SHFiguarts Kamen Rider W LunaTrigger thanks to GekiDan, I decided to play with it along with my lone Kamen Rider Den-O Ax Form coming from the Action Pose line of gashapon figures! And so, Ukiya starts to abuse Kin!

 Trigger Full Burst... and Den-O here is just posing with his axe!

W: You're too short! 

And so, he bends and points the gun in point black range...

One Piece Inspired Restaurant Opens!

Fuji TV announced that the first One Piece inspired restaurant will open at its Ginza Meza Marche complex in Tokyo on December 11. The name of this restaurant is, One Piece Restaurant Going Merry-Gō at it will be open until May 31, 2011.

The restaurant will be decorated like the interior of the Straw Hat Pirates' first ship, Going Merry and it will feature a menu of dishes that appeared in the series!

The menu includes the main character Luffy's favorite piece of meat (complete with the bone that he is often seen gnawing), Sanji's "terrible" soup (as seen on page 99 of the eighth manga volume), and Nami's Fruit Macedonia (as seen on page 31 of the sixth manga volume). The staff is planning various interactive events, including some with appearances by anime's voice cast.

Ginza Meza Marche's second-floor event space will also sell various One Piece items from December 7 to December 15. The space will feature part of the menu from the restaurant starting on December 11.

The event ticket distributors Ticket Pia and Seven Ticket are offering reservations for the restaurant, although some spots will be available for walk-in guests starting on December 18. Diners will receive take-home "pop-up coaster" cards that use augmented-reality technology; putting the coasters in front of a personal computer's video camera will trigger software to display Luffy and the rest of the characters on the live video camera feed.

Source: Inside Gaming via ANN

One Piece Inspired Restaurant Opens!

Fuji TV announced that the first One Piece inspired restaurant will open at its Ginza Meza Marche complex in Tokyo on December 11. The name of this restaurant is, One Piece Restaurant Going Merry-Gō at it will be open until May 31, 2011.

The restaurant will be decorated like the interior of the Straw Hat Pirates' first ship, Going Merry and it will feature a menu of dishes that appeared in the series!

The menu includes the main character Luffy's favorite piece of meat (complete with the bone that he is often seen gnawing), Sanji's "terrible" soup (as seen on page 99 of the eighth manga volume), and Nami's Fruit Macedonia (as seen on page 31 of the sixth manga volume). The staff is planning various interactive events, including some with appearances by anime's voice cast.

Ginza Meza Marche's second-floor event space will also sell various One Piece items from December 7 to December 15. The space will feature part of the menu from the restaurant starting on December 11.

The event ticket distributors Ticket Pia and Seven Ticket are offering reservations for the restaurant, although some spots will be available for walk-in guests starting on December 18. Diners will receive take-home "pop-up coaster" cards that use augmented-reality technology; putting the coasters in front of a personal computer's video camera will trigger software to display Luffy and the rest of the characters on the live video camera feed.

Source: Inside Gaming via ANN

Goukaiger Official Mecha Catalog!

We have reported last time regarding the new information for the 2011 Super Sentai series, Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger's mecha, the GoukaiOh. And just recently, we got some more updates and more mecha name confirmation from the upcoming toy catalogs.

The Goukaiger's primary mecha, the GoukaiOh, is made up of five parts:

GoukaiGalleon

- GoukaiRed's 3-sailed galleon. Adhered to the bow are two sabres. Also, there are "Spaceship-like" Boosters at the back.

- This forms the head and body of GoukaiOh.

GoukaiJet

- GoukaiBlue's jet. Where GoukaiOh's hand is, there is a round barrel. GoukaiOh's hat is tucked behind the wings.

- This forms GoukaiOh's right arm and hat.

GoukaiFormula

- GoukaiGreen's racecar. A square barrel is on the fist, versus Blue's round one. This is the car's bumper.

- This forms the left arm.

GoukaiMarine

- GoukaiPink's submarine (colored white w/pink accents). The tip of the submarine forms an ankle, but the upper part of the back is the knee. The location for its "cap" is a treasure chest.

- This forms the right leg.

GoukaiTrailer

- GoukaiYellow's tractor trailer (cab part). Similar to pink, cap is also a treasure chest.

- This forms the left leg.

As stated in our previous post, GoukaiOh can enter a finishing mode, where cannons protrude from the different caps. Galleon's bow opens up completely, with the 3-sails becoming armor. The other's (barrels and treasure chests) open up to reveal their cannons.

GoukaiMachine Series which is composed of MagiDragon from Magiranger, PatStriker from Dekaranger, and GaoLion from Gaoranger. These mechs can attach to GoukaiOh's caps, changing its forms:

MagiDragon combines with GoukaiOh to form MagiGoukaiOh, in which the cannons are removed from the cap-ports, and MagiDragon is installed, adding a dragon head to GoukaiOh's chest, wings to the shoulders and dragon-claws to the feet.

PatStriker combines with GoukaiOh to form DekaGoukaiOh, installing tires in the Vulcan Ports. GoukaiOh is armed with Dual Guns made from the PatStriker parts.

GaoLion combines with GoukaiOh to form GaoGoukaiOh. GoukaiOh's Legs are removed and GoukaiOh uses GaoLion as its "legs" in a Centaur Mode.

GaoLion's alternate combination with GoukaiOh is interesting, because it doesn't seem to be a Gaoranger combination at all. The silhouetted human-type robo combo seems to actually be a Shinkenger  mode! GaoLion's head is on the chest, and the helmet has two-points, similar to ShinkenOh or SamuraiHaOh. The open Vulcan ports have the Shinkenger kanji on them, two "Ka" on the chest, "Sui" and "Ki" on both shoulders, and "Ten" and "Do" on the legs. The form itself resembles SamuraiHaOh, at least in sillouhette.

Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger armaments includes the following:

Henshin Keitai Mobirates

A folding type cell phone henshin device. The upper portion it transformed into the GoukaiMark and light is emitted. On the lower button is a place for RangerKey insertion. More than 190 kinds of sounds are possible, with the device able to recognize 200 types of RangerKeys.

GoukaiGun
The Goukaigers' gun sidearm. When pushes the trigger, an upper part of the gun appears for key insertion. The Keys seem to be used to activate a finishing move.

GoukaiSabre 
The Goukaigers' sword sidearm. Able to utilize the Ranger Keys. The GoukaiMark on the guard emits 7-colored lights. Official press material has called this the GoukaiKen. It unsure, at this time, what names they are going with. Sabre is obviously a bit more pirate-y.

GoukaiBuckle
Can store one ranger key in the belt buckle (in essence, similar to Shinkenger's belt buckles).

Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger will start airing on February 13, 2011.

Source: Ameblo, TigerHouse via Gold Samurai compiled by JEFusion

Goukaiger Official Mecha Catalog!

We have reported last time regarding the new information for the 2011 Super Sentai series, Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger's mecha, the GoukaiOh. And just recently, we got some more updates and more mecha name confirmation from the upcoming toy catalogs.

The Goukaiger's primary mecha, the GoukaiOh, is made up of five parts:

GoukaiGalleon

- GoukaiRed's 3-sailed galleon. Adhered to the bow are two sabres. Also, there are "Spaceship-like" Boosters at the back.

- This forms the head and body of GoukaiOh.

GoukaiJet

- GoukaiBlue's jet. Where GoukaiOh's hand is, there is a round barrel. GoukaiOh's hat is tucked behind the wings.

- This forms GoukaiOh's right arm and hat.

GoukaiFormula

- GoukaiGreen's racecar. A square barrel is on the fist, versus Blue's round one. This is the car's bumper.

- This forms the left arm.

GoukaiMarine

- GoukaiPink's submarine (colored white w/pink accents). The tip of the submarine forms an ankle, but the upper part of the back is the knee. The location for its "cap" is a treasure chest.

- This forms the right leg.

GoukaiTrailer

- GoukaiYellow's tractor trailer (cab part). Similar to pink, cap is also a treasure chest.

- This forms the left leg.

As stated in our previous post, GoukaiOh can enter a finishing mode, where cannons protrude from the different caps. Galleon's bow opens up completely, with the 3-sails becoming armor. The other's (barrels and treasure chests) open up to reveal their cannons.

GoukaiMachine Series which is composed of MagiDragon from Magiranger, PatStriker from Dekaranger, and GaoLion from Gaoranger. These mechs can attach to GoukaiOh's caps, changing its forms:

MagiDragon combines with GoukaiOh to form MagiGoukaiOh, in which the cannons are removed from the cap-ports, and MagiDragon is installed, adding a dragon head to GoukaiOh's chest, wings to the shoulders and dragon-claws to the feet.

PatStriker combines with GoukaiOh to form DekaGoukaiOh, installing tires in the Vulcan Ports. GoukaiOh is armed with Dual Guns made from the PatStriker parts.

GaoLion combines with GoukaiOh to form GaoGoukaiOh. GoukaiOh's Legs are removed and GoukaiOh uses GaoLion as its "legs" in a Centaur Mode.

GaoLion's alternate combination with GoukaiOh is interesting, because it doesn't seem to be a Gaoranger combination at all. The silhouetted human-type robo combo seems to actually be a Shinkenger  mode! GaoLion's head is on the chest, and the helmet has two-points, similar to ShinkenOh or SamuraiHaOh. The open Vulcan ports have the Shinkenger kanji on them, two "Ka" on the chest, "Sui" and "Ki" on both shoulders, and "Ten" and "Do" on the legs. The form itself resembles SamuraiHaOh, at least in sillouhette.

Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger armaments includes the following:

Henshin Keitai Mobirates

A folding type cell phone henshin device. The upper portion it transformed into the GoukaiMark and light is emitted. On the lower button is a place for RangerKey insertion. More than 190 kinds of sounds are possible, with the device able to recognize 200 types of RangerKeys.

GoukaiGun
The Goukaigers' gun sidearm. When pushes the trigger, an upper part of the gun appears for key insertion. The Keys seem to be used to activate a finishing move.

GoukaiSabre 
The Goukaigers' sword sidearm. Able to utilize the Ranger Keys. The GoukaiMark on the guard emits 7-colored lights. Official press material has called this the GoukaiKen. It unsure, at this time, what names they are going with. Sabre is obviously a bit more pirate-y.

GoukaiBuckle
Can store one ranger key in the belt buckle (in essence, similar to Shinkenger's belt buckles).

Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger will start airing on February 13, 2011.

Source: Ameblo, TigerHouse via Gold Samurai compiled by JEFusion