SpartanNerd and SpartanKid Unboxing and Review…D-Arts Vile

July 15, 2015 by SpartanNerd

D-Arts Vile is the first villain for Mega-Man X that we have at the SpartanNerd household. How do I know he is a villain? Who’s name is “Vile?”

Vile comes in this nice window box. I am going to apologize up front about some of the pictures in this review. It seems my lights have gone out for the light box. Here is the item photographed on the kitchen table.

The box shows the figure nicely, and the side is similar to the other D-Arts figures we have opened.

The parts all come in this nice blister.

Here are some of the accessories.

You get alternate hands. Cannons for the back. Different barrel ends for the guns. Chain gun ammunition. Knee guns (not pictured), and What?? Some kind of beverage!

Not really sure how this works, since he doesn’t have a mouth…at least he doesn’t have an alternate face or removable helmet.

The SpartanKid thinks this during must be Coke. I think sweet tea, though. It is a detailed piece, with ice cubes. You can remove the contents to have an empty cup as well.

The figure has excellent articulation. He has movable wrists, elbows on a hinge, biceps swivels, ball jointed shoulders, a ball jointed head.articulated torso, moving waist, ball jointed hips, double jointed knees, and ball jointed feet.

Vile looks menacing with the double guns attached to his backpack. SpartanKid says that only rarely is Vile seen with both guns armed in the video games. (Maybe even never.)

The knee gun is an interesting feature. The SpartanNerd would like to say that it was very difficult to achieve. Mostly because the gold ring around the upper part of the figures boot doesn’t want to let go, and is necessary to put the knee gun on properly. In fact, it was highly frustrating, and will be rarely done.

Following are a few action poses versus other figures in the D-Arts line, so you can compare.

SpartanKid has a few statements to make about this figure…

“The guns are pretty detailed and an essential accessory for this figure, for he’s never seen without one of his precious cannons.”

“He looks pretty cool without the shoulder pads, because it appears as if he’s been fighting for awhile, and they got knocked off.”

“His feet are different, made for flying. I like that they made them different.”

“The blue backpack on his back were originally used for flight until he was upgraded with feet thrusters (Mega-Man X-3)”

SpartaNerd Rating of D-Arts “Vile” is 4/5. The figure is well articulated and beautifully painted and detailed. It comes with lots of accessories. However, there is a little problem with changing the knee guns.

SpartanNerd…Dual Deck Anthology Vacation matchups.

July 7, 2015 by SpartanNerd

The only Magic cards I took with me on my recent vacation was pre-constructed decks. I took the entire Duel Deck Anthology box, and stuffed it with loads of Commander, other duel decks, and the solitaire decks. The box was great for transporting my cards! (I removed the tray for the first time, and discovered a Serial Number!

I held two memorable Duel Deck matches with the SpartanKid, before our interest shifted to testing the French Dark Ascension deck I purchased.

Following is a record of what happened during those two matches!

Elves Vs. Liliana

The match was generally unfair at first. I was piloting Liliana, of course, and knew what I was up against. I kept a hand full of removal! I knew it would be important to keep as many elves from sticking to the board as possible. At around turn six, the SpartanKid wasn’t having any fun. He began saying,”This isn’t fair!” Deathgreeter ensured that I kept gaining life as creatures died. Lucky for him, I was out of removal. But I had Enslave ready because I knew eventually the SpartanKid would try for Allosaurus Rider, one of the Elf deck’s most insane cards, controlled by one of Liliana’s most broken cards!

True to form, he played that Allosaurus Rider, and then I hit it with Enslave. .

It was Lys Alana, Huntmaster that landed next, and I had no response. The game became very grindy, eventually getting lots of traction for the elf deck. That Allosaurus Rider went down to the Voice of the Woods token.

Down but not out, I cast Rise from the Grave, getting the Allosaurus Rider back, and even better than ever late in the game, with ten lands on the field!

But all of this effort was not removal. Imperious Perfect and Ambush Commander hit the battlefield, and the game was pretty much over. In fact, Liliana Vess was the final thing I cast. Too little, too late. It was GG. Elves took the victory! I was two turns away from Mutilate, which would have totally shifted the game back in Liliana’s favor.

Later, we would play Divine vs. Liliana.

It all seemed grim. The Angels were truly beating down Liliana’s deck. (Recently, when I read the fiction put on the Mothership Site, Liliana would remark that Angels were “goody two-shoes.”)

Then I drew Liliana, and used her to tutor up Mutilate in the face of Twilight Shepherd and Akroma. But Twilight Shepherd has that pesky persist ability, and also brings things back to the battlefield from the graveyard that died on the same turn.

And that was pretty much it. The Divine Deck truly is a casual masterpiece of destruction! Really, almost none of the decks can stand against them except for Jace and Chandra…Jace who controls and cancels and bounces angels, and chandra who burns everything except Akroma, (but it doesn’t matter, because it takes so long to cast Akroma. However, the life gain of the Divine deck can be frustrating against burn.)

(I posted a review of matches between Liliana and the Angels once before, and had different things to say…)

The Duel Deck Anthology has proven to be one of the greatest gifts for a Magic player. It was reasonably priced. Resaonably rare. Reasonably cool. And nicely archival. I hope the Wizards release more of these Anthologys in the future. I am a dedicated purchaser at this point!

SpartanNerd and SpartanKid Unboxing and Review…Sengoku Astray Gundam (SD)

June 28, 2015 by SpartanNerd

Once again…a SD model of a Gundam the SpartanNerd has no investment in. The title clearly says it is from “Build Fighters.” I watched about one half of an episode of “Gundam Build Fighters Try” on Netflix. The Japanese (no offense intended,) plus the presentation of the characters, and just the show in general didn’t agree with me. I get it. It’s just not my thing. The SpartanChildren, however, eat it up.

SpartanTeen tells me that the correct pronunciation for this model is “Astree”. Don’t know if that is true. When I see the word “astray,” I think, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”

Here are the parts before assembly. It took SpartanKid about two hours to make this. He is nine years old, so…

I helped a little. You have to really clear the “nubs” off of the pieces after you break them from this blister. Also, the pieces are meant to fit together tightly.

The instructions were easy to read, but in Japanese.

You also get an apparent advertisement for the Gundam markers and pens, and a Manga comic, just like the others in this line I have reviewed.

The assembled model looks like this. The two swords are very nice. But it is the headpiece that gets your attention!

He is really busy, and so doesn’t seem as posable as some of the others in this line. He also tends to want to fall apart.

The SpartanKid assembled both of these…so here are some statements from him.

“Astray looks really awesome and is pretty solid, except for the arm, which keeps giving me problems…it wants to come off and come apart.”

“I like the coloration, and the parts are unpainted, so you can choose how you want to paint it. I am going to paint it in a few weeks. I don’t know what colors yet.”

“I forgot to put the stickers on it for the most part.” (Plans to use the stickers later.)

The SpartanNerd rates Sengoku Astray Gundam 3/5. The markdown comes from the limited articulation and the fact that the pieces want to come loose, especially the arm.

Otherwise, the Astray is pretty cool with the huge headress and the two swords.

“

SpartanNerd and SpartanKid Unboxing and Review…D-Arts Megaman X (Ultimate Armor X)

June 8, 2015 by SpartanNerd

SpartanKid purchased D-Arts Ultimate Armor X with some money that he saved up. It was $47.29 on Ebay. The other figures in this line have been excellent. Does Ultimate Armor X measure up? Keep reading to find out!

(Link to SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review of Megaman X Black Zero)

(Link to pictures of Megaman X…no review was done for that figure…)

Megaman X came in this window box. There is Japanese writing all over it, except for the branding and the name of the character. I suspect the words in the black under the window explain that this is the Ultimate Armor version.

The back of the box shows some suggested poses for Megaman X. Everything is in Japanese…so…

The sides of the box deliver just as good of an experience as the other toys in this line.

Opening the box you see this double blister tray.

You can see all of Megaman’s parts and accessories in this tray.

You also get this nifty sheet of instructions. Good thing there are good pictures! I need to scan that QR code and see where it takes me. (I did. The site is in Japanese, with no translation button evident. It appears to have a shopping cart, however.)

Megaman X looks like this standing up. His big feet insure that he doesn’t fall over. Noteworthy, those feet have two rocket boosters on the soles, as opposed to one on the other figures. I suppose this means he flies faster…

(SpartanKid tells me that the others can’t fly at all! Zero can double jump depending on your upgrade.)

He has some gems that are very evident…this alongside the blue and gold color scheme as well as the purple armor color makes this character very colorful when compared to Black Zero and regular Megaman X.

These were the accessories that came with Megaman X (that weren’t currently on the figure…with exception to the face for comparison purposes.) One face is shifty eyed. One is screaming from battle. The other is normal.

The green blast is from a halfway charged shot. (According to the SpartanKid.)

Megaman X comes with an arm to change out the buster cannon, and two extra hands. The other round thing is the end of the buster cannon to use the charged shot.

At first I thought the shifty eyed face would be kind of dumb, until I saw this pose. It looks spectacular!

The screaming face lets you do a Mortal Kombat inspired uppercut.

Megaman X firing the halfway charged X-Buster cannon….

The SpartanKid said that Ultimate Armor Megaman X doesn’t always have the wings out on the backpack. The wings are removable for those special times. I really like the circuitry details on the backpack. (This detail is all over the figure…his plastic is semi-transluscent, giving a very cool effect.

Comparison Time…(Oh, Pixel Dan!)

Black Zero is still in good shape. Regular Megaman X has taken some…abuse…his arm had to be super-glued into place after over a year of rambunctious SpartanKid play. Really a testament to the surprising durability of these figures. As an adult, I would expect as much from figures that cost so much.

We didn’t take any pictures, but the accessories are all interchangeable, as are the faces.

Here is a battle pose between Megaman X, Black Zero, and Axl. Note that Axl isn’t a D-Arts figure…

SpartanKid has some things to say….

“Ultimate Armor X has a lot of details not evident in the games.”

“In Megaman X 5, Ultimate Armor X is a cheat code, and an unlockable thing…(the same for Black zero as well.)”

“One of my only complaints is that he DID NOT come with a Z-Saber…Like he had in Megaman X 6.”

SpartanNerd Rating of D-Arts Megaman X Ultimate Armor version is 5/5. While Black Zero had an issue with the pegs for the hands right out of the box, no such issue has been apparent on this figure. This figure is over the top as far as details, accessories, articulation, and posibility.

SpartanNerd Rating of D-Arts Megaman X Ultimate Armor version is 5/5. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

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Tag Archives: SpartanKid

SpartanNerd and SpartanKid Unboxing and Review…D-Arts Vile

SpartanNerd…Dual Deck Anthology Vacation matchups.

SpartanNerd and SpartanKid Unboxing and Review…Sengoku Astray Gundam (SD)

SpartanNerd and SpartanKid Unboxing and Review…D-Arts Megaman X (Ultimate Armor X)