Monster Hunter Freedom Motion Revive Series action figures

I would've never guessed that another superb video game would get proper set of action figures, but Bandai made it happen once again! Despite the fact that MRS figure are considered "trading" in Japan, sold by cases with same inner packaging to hide the identity of the figure you buy, they easily surpass all domestic 3.75" lines like Star Wars, GI Joe, etc.

The articulation of MRS figures is superb even though the male figures sport some very fancy and clunky armor. Even the finer lines like Mobile Suit in Action suffered from waist armor limiting the hip movement, but MRS do surprisingly well for having full tassets instead of just small skirt armor. Knees and elbows sport double-hinge joints allowing for human range of movement; wrists, upper arms, and thighs all come with a swivel joint to further the degrees of motion; and last but not least- head, hips, feet have ball joints and shoulder fancy double-ball joints for an extreme range of movement for a 8-10$ figure.

The base looks good, but what about accessories and weapons? Depending on how anal you are about matching your game gear to figures, MRS may impress or slightly disappoint you. Weapons range from mediocre to highest end, but end up as an overall impressive set. 2 long swords, 2 great swords, 1 sword and shield, 2 dual swords, 1 hammer, 1 hunting horn, 1 lance, 1 gunlance, 1 bow with a quiver, 1 light and 1 heavy bowguns. Some of the joke accessories include barrels (1 with a felyne), well-done (or "burnt" in my case) steak, a felyne mask, and a hunting horn. Very decent selection indeed down to the extra accessories. Some weapons come with little pegs to help the figures hold them thus each figure comes with sloted and non-slotted pairs of hands.

Considering the general lack of good game figures and rather disappointing 3.75" US lines, Motion Revive Series should definitely hit the spot despite the importing costs. Mine came out to be 75 shipped for a case of 8 (a full set of these figures) which isn't too bad on all accounts. There are 2 available sets today and the only differences are figure recolors and weapon colors or lack there of(in my case).

More images here:
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq249/skv0124/MiscFigs/MHF_MR_Rathalos1.jpg #1-9
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq249/skv0124/MiscFigs/MHF_MR_Velprey1.jpg #1-9
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq249/skv0124/MiscFigs/MHF_MR_Kirin1.jpg #1-3

THE set of upgrades for Xmod Evo to steer it clear of trashcan.

Yes, 2.4 ghz radio thats in most cordless home phones and routers. Why? Any xmod owner should know how junky they are out of the box even for some home fun, but this upgrades makes it a semi-hobby grade RC.

Is JUST the radio enough? No because the chassis itself is far from flawless, so #2 on the list are GPM Adjustable Knuckles vs GPM's regular junky looking and working, 3-screw knuckles:






Now we have 0 wheel wobble and car is actually drivable on RCP track or anywhere else at high speeds, but is this enough? Not just yet.

Last upgrade- shaving the wheel pegs to fit Kyosho Mini-Z MA-010 rims.





And now the Xmod is complete. Drives very similar to a Mini-Z or any other quality RC. Can have different offset wheels to accommodate different bodies without looking funky. Has actually round, quality wheels and doesn't have to use xmod tires that are getting harder to come by. Lastly, can easily accept a drift tire kit for some slipping and sliding without buying an xmod-specific 15$ kit.

Airbrush Celebration- Universal 1/28 RC Body Rotating Stand

Using nothing other than Legos. Stand rotates via rod that doesn't interfere with painting process. Holds any Mini-Z, Xmod, or even 1/24 model kit bodies without any additional modifications or alterations. For Mini-Z bodies, stand accommodates for glued-in side clips.

Armored Kore Nissan Skyline GT-R (KPGC10) Race Body

Pun intended. I felt like my racing KPG was lacking, well, everything and my previous idea for Armored Core deco was overshadowed by Mirror's Edge on the RX-7, so here we are.

I love all Armored Core games, but the real pleasure was the fact that PSP received its own version and to glorify that I dressed up one of my favorite race bodies using some Formula Front wallpapers.

PN Racing 90-98 milimeter Mid Mount for MR-015/02

At long last my beloved short wheelbases 90 and 94mm got a midship motor mount! Problem of the past was that the only available MM configuration was at the shortest 94mm while to use the 90mm base one needed a Rear Mount(motor behind rear axle). Changing a whole motor mount just to try a shorter body is too tedious, but the performance of the midship chassis was far superior than that of rear mounts. Another problem was a complete lack of 90mm mid mounts, so the quick, short cars were stuck with RM config and horrible weight distribution.

Now this is a thing of the past and this mount looks very promising. I managed to keep this Cobra MR-015 at 166 grams which rivals custom-built chassis, let alone stock MR-015s or even 02s. I'm very curious to see whether this mount will help cure the notorious body roll of the narrow bodies I love as well as 15 chassis. Lastly, this will drastically increase the effectiveness of my front end lead ballast(held on by 2 screws at the very front of the car seen in the last picture) which will in turn help the body roll by keeping the front end planted during accelerating turns.

Note that the white damper plates, the springs in between, and the blue post are from my 3Racing Disk Damper System since PN does NOT supply these with the new mount. I'm still glad that they supplied the carbon fiber plates instead of making a separate 20$ set.

Last addition is my custom rewiring using thinner conducting wires that hold their shape when bent to free up the motor area. I also flipped the motor to give the mount that 1mm of clearance from the body, and new wires allowed me to steer clear from the rear axle.

New paint, new project.

Stumbled upon Testors Pactra Racing Finish lexan body paint today and after asking clerks whether it would work with ABS, decided to give it a shot. Picked up True Blue Pearl that looked like regular metallic paint and boy was I surprised with the finish!











(http://s452.photobucket.com/albums/qq249/skv0124/MiniZ/?action=view¤t=Cobra-Z-V1_1.jpg 1-16)

As you can see, finish is fantastic! Colors play with light and look far beyond even what Kyosho Auto Scale series are.

Hooks were not glued in because I will race this thing and they'll bust in first 10 seconds.

I plan on adding 2 lime green stripes to mimic the original look to my liking. I also plan on spraying enamel clear coat when all is said and done to preserve it as best I can(and hopefully not fk up the paintjob that way).

Mini-Z MA-010 RWD Conversion with 1970 Skyline (KPGC10) in Spirit of MR-015

This is my attempt at a RWD MA-010 that may become a great MR-xx killer car. My goal is to utilize MA's even weight distribution(after weighing the motor side down for horizontal balance) and ease of maintenence to its fullest advantage and compete in RWD with RWD opposition(maybe even awd as well).

This thing handles like a true mix of two platforms: steering response and sharp radius like that of awd MA and acceleration like that of MR-02 (when both have wide rears). I'm hoping that independent suspension would help this guy triumph over MRs' rear disk dampers and hplates.

Another thing I like is ease of changing rims if I have to. Since MA doesn't have its bearings in the rims, swapping is a real matter of seconds that also saves the bearings themselves(I imagine poking MR bearings out of the wheels each time takes some kind of toll down the road).

In terms of weight this guy is 185.6 grams with the horizontal balancing lead pieces (5-7 grams in total), so without those it can probably match a stock MR02's 180 grams. Its 7-10 grams lighter than a stock MA10 with exclusion of the front diff and driveshafts halves/alum driveshafts, so its at a slight weight advantage over MA10.

How did I achieve RWD?





Very simple and effective. I might look into an even better center shaft shield out of a tougher material to help keep everything together when changing rear gears. Right now, if you pull the shaft out the back too far and put it back in, the front shaft bearing tends to pop out and hang between the chassis and the styrene shield while the shaft rattles. The MR bushing may prevent that from happening, but I'm not 100% sure yet.