Summer Trip: Nakano Broadway

I'm just back from a trip to Tokyo and Shanghai, and I wanted to share some vacation pictures and information on some hobby related stuff that I found there.

Before the trip, I had the tough choice between staying in Nakano or Akihabara. I decided on Nakano because it was a family vacation, so I wanted to have all of my hobby related stuff concentrated in one place where I could go to do my own thing in the evening after a day of sightseeing etc. That one place was Nakano Broadway, and it was less than a 10 minute walk from the apartment where we were staying.

The Nakano Sun Plaza is a covered shopping arcade that faces directly across from the north exit of the Nakano JR Station, and leads directly to the entrance of Nakano Broadway.

A nice background history of Nakano Broadway can be found at Hamadayama Life. One interesting note, is that the dungeons from the original Dragon Quest (or Dungeon Warrior as it was known here in North America) were supposed to have been inspired by the layout of the Nakano Broadway floormap.

At first sight it can be a bit overwhelming, and many people have said that they had a hard time navigating the place, but I didn't have much of a problem finding my way around. I headed up directly to the second floor.

I took a few hurried pictures of shops I wanted to get back to after an initial survey, but better pictures of the various things that you will find can be seen at Danny Choo's website here, here, and here.

Ranka-chan working diligently at sorting trading cards in the Mandarake Card Shop.

I was able to find the Matchbox PLAAF MiG-15 that I've been looking for since 2004 on clearance for ¥1,000.

I limited my spending in my three forays to Nakano Broadway, but in hindsight I should have bought more stuff while I had the chance. Then again, if I did it would have been rather troublesome to get it all home.

Achaierai

The Achaierai is one of those odd monsters from the Fiend Folio that I have always found rather fascinating and whimsical (primarily because of the art by Russ Nicholson). They are fierce predatory birds from the infernal regions that are 15' tall, and that can breathe out a cloud of toxic black smoke as a defense mechanism.

There have been many people who have dismissed the Achaierai as a silly monster, but I like them because they look like something that you might see in a painting by Hieronymus Bosch.

Still, despite their relative lack of popularity, it was one of the earlier monsters featured as a miniature for the DDM CMG (Aberrations #26). The miniature scales out to about 12' in 1/72, which is shorter than the size given in the Fiend Folio, but even so it does not look undersized.

One of the things that I wanted to do was to create a flock of Achaierai, and my solution was to use artificial craft store birds and add legs made from paper clips. Unfortunately it is not easy to find artificial birds that match the size of the DDM Achaierai. Also, many of the artificial birds are made with their heads turned to one side, which is not good for me, since I want my Achaierai to be facing forwards.

Recently though, I came into possession of a couple of smaller birds that could be used as Achaierai chicks, so I cut up some paper clips, bent them a bit, stuck them into the artificial birds, and glued them in place.

I'll use Kneadatite to create some feet for them later, but even as they are, I think they look pretty good.

Last of the Mohicans

Last of the Mohicans was released in theaters about 10 years ago, and I remember rather liking the film. The 1992 film was a remake of the 1936 movie, which is of course based on the 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The story is set in the North American theater of the Seven Years War, which we in the US know as the French-Indian War.

I doubt that there was much merchandising surrounding this film, and I don't think that any figures representing the characters have been created in metal, so I was rather surprised recently to find that BUM has produced a set of 1/72 figures titled "Film Characters Last Mohican" (BUM 2010) depicting the characters in this film.

The first image is of the various characters in the film, made in a soft rubbery resin.  From left to right they are: Chingachgook, Uncas, Alice, Duncan (?), Cora, Hawkeye, and Magua choking the life from Colonel Munro.

Hawkeye is a bit wide, but I have to say that the sculpting for BUM figures has come a long way since the days of their knockoffs of old figures from other companies.

There is also a diorama-style piece of Major Heyward pinned under a rather undersized horse in resin.

And a vacuform terrain piece.

The set also comes with a set of Huron warriors that are also made in the same type of resin.

These same poses also come in plastic, which was what I was hoping for in this set, but from what I see at PSR, maybe these resin figures hold detail better than their plastic counterparts.

I keep wanting to give BUM a chance since they produce subjects neglected by most other companies, but I am always left with mixed feelings about their figures. High price tag aside, why do they keep using the crappy rubbery resin that they do? These figures do not have the brittleness of some of the earlier releases, but after trimming the sprues from the bases, the remains reminded me of nothing so much as rubber pencil erasers.

I just don't understand why BUM cannot find a better resin than what they are using given the cost of their figures. I'm sure there are plenty of resins that hold detail just as well as the current stuff, and much more suitable for making figures. The rubbery material they are using makes me uneasy, and I get the feeling I should seal the figures as soon as possible or they may dry up and crack like old windshield wiper blades.

絶望した！ BUM に絶望した！

P.S.

If people are interested in this film, the current US DVD release is not the theatrical version, but a recut director's version. From what I understand, the region 2 UK version is the only theatrical version available.