Released pictures of Kotobukiya X-23 statue

Straight from Marvel.com Kotobukiya releases the 1st of what seems to be a line of the X-Force members.

X-23 in her X-Force outfit. The piece will have a base that seems like a rooftop, which means the base might be interlocked with the upcoming X-Force Wolverine one. X-23 will also have a change-o-head between a masked and unmasked one. I'm not sure whether or not her eyes are green but if they are, I'm going to display it together with the X-23 1 Del 'Otto variant. This beautiful piece will be released sometime around May 2011 and here's hoping I have money around that time since it's going to be retailed at $160.00.

Initial thoughts? I like how she's sexy but she doesn't look overly think or have very big breasts. She seems like a sexy teenager, and the pose is something that looks very much like something she would do. I also like how the black part of her outfit is shiny, it sort of has a leather-y feel to it. I'm not yet sold on the base though, especially since the color is very different from the actual statue.

Here's hoping I'll be able to get my hands on this one.

click HERE for the direct link to the article.

Wolverine Anime

The upcoming Wolverine Anime trailer was shown during the NYCC and it was leaked.

CHECK IT OUT: HERE.

seems like it's going to be based on the frank miller mini-series which will then make it similar to the upcoming Wolverine 2 movie. I think Mariko, Shingen (whose name i just had to google), and Yukio were shown in the trailer. This looks and feels way more Wolverine than the preview that was released last year, which made Wolverine look like a half-man half-demon type of character with a mullet. Good thing that thing was just a screen test of sorts.

HERE'S THE THING.

big thanks for ptk's spiderdudephil for the heads up.

X-Men HC/TP BARGAIN!!

I often check the online shops like ebay.ph, sulit.ph and for sale threads of forums like ptk, ckp, and psf to see if I can score some of the things that are missing in my collection. But everyone once in a while I see a posting that catches my attention even if it isn't really what I was looking for. Normally I wouldn't buy those things but this time, I saw something which really caught my eye and I couldn't tun it down.

FOUR PREMIER HARDCOVERS LISTED AT P1000! that's pretty much just US$22.00 if my exchange rate is up to date. The SRP for those things are US$19.99!

After much talking, we bargained and tried to arrange a meet-up place. He also offered me a couple of other items. We ended up having this deal..
For P1500 (US$33.33) i'd get the following:
Yep, all those shit for just P1500.00! That's a STEAL considering I got the items at pretty much store condition, they're HCs and TPBs so the conditions aren't that important for me. Here's a closer look at them..
X-Men Vs. Fantastic Four
X-Men Vs. The Avengers
X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills
X-Men: Wolverine/Gambit Victims
X-Men Magik: Storm & Illyana
- Not bad right? God Loves, Man Kills was the loose basis of the X-2 movie. I might let go off the Magik book but it's going to be fine by me if I have to keep it. I already read the Wolverine/Gambit one and it's okay, might stop looking for the single issues but if I found them, I'll sell this one. X-Men Vs. Fantastic Four, not sure what it's about. All I know is that during this time, Kitty was disintegrating and/or can't come out of her phasing state. X-Men Vs. Avengers is something about Magneto, not sure once again but I'm interested.

X-Men Days of Future Past
X-Men Manifest Destiny
X-Men Lovelorn
- Even if these three weren't included, the deal would've still been a good one, though i probably wouldn't bite if these ones weren't thrown in. I already finished reading the Manifest Destiny and Lovelorn and since I'm a big fan of Kyle/Yost's X-Force, it was fun for me to see little clues about the existence of the team throughout the series. Such as Laura's bloody towel, Wolverine and Warpath's eye contact after Scott told them to be quiet and so on. As for the DoFP one, I'm real excited to read about this story. Afterall, it's one of the big X-Stories.






There, it's pretty much like I found a great deal in that transaction. The only bad part about it was that I had to go all the way up to SM North Edsa to get it, but I assure you that it was worth it.

Review: Bowen Unmasked Wolverine Action Pose Statue

Here's my very first full size statue. I got some extra money after I sold some of my action figures and I thought it was a good idea to get this one, I was able to buy it at WAY BELOW the price it normally goes for.

Bowen Designs Unmasked Action Pose Wolverine Statue, this was released sometime during 2008. Since Wolverine is one of the most marketable characters around, it's no surprise that Bowen has a lot of Wolverines out there already, 5 MBs (a 6th one being the first appearance with a gold base), 2 mid-size statues (brown and tigerstripe), 6 full-sized museum poses (Brown, Faux Bronze Brown, Tigerstripe, X-belt Variant Tigerstripe, Unmasked, Logan) and 3 action poses (tigerstripe and first appearance being the other two). But that's not all, Bowen has already put the X-Force Wolverine Museum pose up for order (ordered it already, by the way) and they're currently making Weapon X and Old Man Logan statues. I have no intention of completing them, maybe if I win the lottery I'll try it. Anyway, onto the review..

Packaging and CoA:
The packaging looks great, it has the classic feel to it and it looks distinctly Bowen. On top of the box, the word "Wolverine" is written using the default Wolverine font. As for the sides, it's pretty much a product shot and some information about Bowen. I don't know if it's just me but I prefer the style they use on their MBs, wherein a blurb about the character is written on the side. Bowen Designs doesn't provide a Certificate of Authenticity for their products. What they do instead is write the production number of the statue at the bottom of the statue's base and also at the bottom of the box.

My statue is numbered 126 out of 1000.

As for the packaging, same as all of the statues, styrofoam is used in order to protect the statue. It also has a special type of wrapper so that the statue wouldn't stick to the statue. It does a great job protecting the statue, i commuted on my way home and nothing happened to it. It's also nice that the statue is only two separate pieces, I've seen some that looks like a jigsaw puzzle out of the box.

Base:
The base of the statue is very detailed. It seems like it's the edge of a cliff or a huge rock sticking out of the ground. It's very detailed, It's the first time I've seen it up close and the sculptor really made a great job of doing this one.

I don't really have anything wrong to say about the base, it's a prefect base for a lunging Wolverine action pose. Another plus is that it's so big that you can actually use it as a diorama for the 3.75" action figures, though that'll make one EXPENSIVE base.

you really want to use this as a diorama?

Figure:

As for the figure itself, it doesn't disappoint. I think it's the same scale as the Museum Pose full sized Bowens, I really think that this is a great scale for statues. It comes with a small peg that you insert into the hole in the base.This is a great representation of the Brown Wolverine outfit, paint is really solid and there's very minimal slop. You won't really see anything wrong with this one unless you want to find one. The hair on his arms are painted on, it doesn't seem overly done. It's actually a nice addition since Wolverine is actually supposed to be VERY hairy. The claws also seem to be of the right length, it looks as if it could actually fit into his forearms. I myself am not very particular about it but i do prefer more realistic lengths rather that longer ones.If I could actually change anything about the statue, it would probably be the face. For some reason I keep thinking that he has a very flat nose on this one. He has that cave man vibe to him, I know Wolverine isn't supposed to be good looking but I think he looks gruff and unkempt instead of neanderthal like.
The face bothers me but not enough for me to think that it's a bad piece, the face might actually grow on you. From what I know, Bowen doesn't really have specific artworks to base their pieces on. I guess the face is the sculptor's own interpretation of what a 3d Wolverine would look. Another thing that could have added to the cowl at the back of the head, sort of like he just removed it. Much like the unmasked museum pose Wolverine or the LSB Wolverine from Sideshow.

Overall, I'm realy happy about my purchase of this statue. It looks great and it's a real steal at the price I got it for. It'll probably be a pretty long time before he gets followed by another statue but I'm pretty sure one's about to follow..

If you want one of your own, quite a few comic shops here in the Philippines still have him but I suggest checking online if any owners are trying to dispose him. Either way, he's worth the price..he's currently going for around $245.00 here in the Philippines since the dollar has went down since this was first released and because of the shipping but if you try hard enough, you can find him at around $180.00

Here's how I'm currently displaying him..

displayed with Wolverine 27 (EDIT: the display style was changed after i posted the entry)

Marvel Komikero, check it out soon!

MARVEL KOMIKERO

I'm doing a free plug for a friend here, check out that site real soon. It'll feature tons of different stuff about Marvel and specifically, the state of Marvel in the Philippines. From what I know it's going to feature comic reviews, toy reviews, toy customs and profiles on the great pinoy toy customizers. So wait for it, it's going to be good!

Marvel Select Gambit

I'm currently undergoing the VERY sad task of downsizing/streamlining my toy collection. I put up for sale all my 3.75" Wolverine and most of my 6" ones, plus I already sole a few other figures from other lines (Minimates, Heroclix, etc.) because I have some payments to make. One of the toy lines I decided to keep was the Marvel Select by Diamond Select Toys, as of right now I have all the Wolverines they have ever released. Coming this December, it looks like another member of the X-Men might join him in my collection..and it's not X-23.

from MarvelousNews

Gambit's my second favorite X-Man during the 90s, thanks to the animated series. But I was never really able to truly follow his 616 counterpart, I have some of the back issues from his series but that's about it. Right now I don't think he's being handled as well as he could be. Anyway, that prototype picture looks AMAZING. Some of the recent prototypes I've seen were crappy but this thing just screams buy me. If the actual figure might be anywhere near as good as this..It's a sure cop.

I never open my MS figures, but this might be an exception.

X-23 #1 Review

THE KILLING DREAM
Story By: Marjorie Liu
Art: Will Conrad

The story definitely takes place before the events of Wolverine #1. This seems to have taken place a few days after X-Men Second Coming. If we look at this issue, it seems that X-23's book will be about her finding a way to fit in with others and also trying to find proof that she can do something else other than just kill. Marjorie Liu will make you feel bad for X-23 just by reading about how the other Young X-Men react to her. She also sets up Laura as someone who doubts herself, she's being portrayed as an "emo teen" who thinks that no one can relate to what she's going through but in her case it just might be true. Conrad's art is nice, he uses just the right amount of dark so that it's in touch with the tone and the mood of the story but it isn't overdone. The book had some great moments like Laura having a nice, albeit one sided, conversation with Ororo about how both of them having a very difficult childhood. It's nice how she's getting or at least the older X-Men are trying to guide her now. The chess bit was also nice, it shows that even though Laura's uneducated, she's very smart. Kind of like how Wolverine is I guess. Other older figures also appear here, Wolverine is still portrayed here as someone who cares for her but he wants her to make her own decisions. Emma Frost shows a rare moment of caring emotion as she shows compassion to Laura, and saying that she has proven herself already. Keeping up with the Heroic Age theme, Cyclops finally has finally found the sense to actually help Laura try to be a regular kid, though Laura herself admits that it isn't likely to happen. Lastly, it's unclear right now as to how Wolverine being in hell is affecting her, maybe the demon who possesses Wolverine is the one who caused what happened to her in the last pages of the book? Overall, it's a pretty good opening book but hopefully it'll pick up in the next few issues. X-23 fans will not be disappointed about this one and comic book fans will like how this book sort of makes you sympathize for what has happened to her.
OVERALL: 3.75/5

How bout you? What do you think? Let me know.:D