Toy Shop - Invasion Toys & Collectibles (moved to Funan DigitaLife Mall)

This is the new shop David had completely relocated in Jan 2010. More toys are available and much wider walking space now. The shop is located at the second floor of China Square Central and Unit No is 02-20 near the escalator. Happy toy hunting..everyone!!

Ice Kacang Puppy Love 《初恋红豆冰》

"ICE KACANG PUPPY LOVE is a profoundly emotional tale of teenagers puppy love, parental love, generation gap, truth and make-believe. Set in a unique small town of early 1990s Malaysia, the story evolves between a nice, shy boy - Botak and a brave and adventurous girl Da Jia Yu. The story brings you back to their experience of first love and crushes or what we call puppy love. The first love feeling is like the popular ice-kacang (shave ice) melting away even before one can truly taste it, only its sweetness painfully residing in our memory (Movie Details: Golden Village website)."

This is a sincere piece of film produced by Ah Niu. It brings me back to my childhood memories especially when seeing those kids playing marbles in the village. I didn't gamble for fighting fishes but I had one or two fighting fishes during my primary school time. I guess the reason I bought those fishes was due to the colourful fins they had. Looking back to the film, the movie is hilarious and the plot is simple. I have no doubts about the acting performance of Lee Sinje. Surprisingly, the performance of all the singers including Ah Niu are equally good. The most touching part of the story is the scene when Ah Niu was rushing to the bus terminal to bring Sinje a packet of ice kacang. He almost...I don't want to reveal so much and you just bring your partner to watch if you are free. (Overall Movie Rating: 3/5).

Monga

"Starring the top two male idols in Taiwan today, Ethan Ruan and Mark Zhao, Monga is Taiwans blockbuster of the year which tells the story of five boys from the historical district of Monga in Taipei, who join a gang because they were tired of being bullied around.

As the young men enjoy their newfound status as gangsters in Monga, they have no idea that other gangs have also set their eyes on this prosperous area. Under the guidance of a veteran gangster, the youngsters are taught the heritage created by the founders of the borough of Monga. He has no idea, however, of a storm brewing that will soon break every hint of order in town, and remove the last remaining grandeur of the Old Town Monga (Movie Details: Golden Village website)."

The story line was great but a little draggy in some parts of the film. Surprisingly, the acting performance for both Taiwan idols "Ethan Ruan" and "Mark Zhao" was good. A movie focused on brotherhood and all fighting scenes looked very realistic. A lot of dialogues were in Taiwanese Hokkien but luckily we have mandarin subtitles. While watching the movie, we got a quick view of how Taiwan gangsters were like in the 80's. Besides romance scenes, there were some emotional scenes in the ending. Overall, this is a movie you may not want to miss it (Movie Rating: 3/5).

Kick-Ass

"A twisted, funny, high-octane adventure, director Matthew Vaughn brings KICK-ASS to the big screen. KICK-ASS tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski, a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name - Kick-Ass - assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There's only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers. His life is forever changed as he inspires a subculture of copy cats, meets up with a pair of crazed vigilantes - including an 11-year-old sword - wielding dynamo, Hit Girl and her father, Big Daddy - and forges a friendship with another fledgling superhero, Red Mist. But thanks to the scheming of a local mob boss Frank D'Amico, that new alliance will be put to the test (Movie Details: Golden Village website)."

Initially, I thought Kick-Ass was a comedy film. After watching the first 30 minutes, I realized it was not. The movie was an action comedy with strong violence. It was bored in the beginning but exciting after that. I personally think the fighting scenes were quite similar to those in “Watchmen”. The costume of “Big Daddy” (played by Nicholas Cage) looks like the classic Batman’s costume while Kick-Ass’s costume looks like a fool to me. Surprisingly, I was impressed by the action performance of that young female actor “Chloe Moretz” as “Hit-Girl” in the movie. She was very well trained as all her action moves were amazing. It was also sad to see “Big Daddy” died. The ending revenge part was great and that was the part I enjoyed the most. If there is a sequel, I guess “Red Mist” might be the next villain. Anyway, the movie went beyond my expectations and my overall movie rating is 3/5.

Hasbro - Exclusive Battle Damage "Arcee" Pt.2

As this is a battle damage figure, the colour of the face and torso is not evenly painted.

The articulation of the arms is limited but done great to the legs. Due to the design of the heels, you will be having hard time to have Arcee standing steadily.

The front wheel of the bike became the shield to Arcee when in robot mode.

I love the design of the front torso and legs of the figure as they just look nice.

I personally think it's not necessary to have uneven colour paint on the face as the robot head is too small. The colour application doesn't really bring up the damage effects and I still prefer the "clean" colour paint on the front head.

The rear seat cowl of the bike can convert into a crossbow that allows Arcee to fire the missile. For motorcycle mode, please view here (my previous post on ROTF Arcee here).

Clash of the Titans

"In Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. Leading a daring band of warriors, Perseus sets off on a perilous journey deep into forbidden worlds. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, he will only survive if he can accept his power as a god, defy his fate and create his own destiny (Movie Details: Golden Village website)."

As I didn't watch the first version of this movie, I don't know which story line is better. In this movie, the story line was pretty straight forward. I enjoyed when Sam Worthington and a group of warriors were on their way to find the witches. They fought with giant scorpions in the desert and later killed the female monster with snake hair "Medusa". Everyone died except the male lead. The visual effects were great especially when the giant sea monster "Kraken" came out from the sea bed. To me, everything in the movie is "average" and nothing fantastic. Overall, it's still entertaining and my movie rating is 3/5.

Sideshow - Sandtrooper Pt.2 (Squad Leader: Tatooine)

The weathering is great and mud stains on the chest armour are well painted this time round.

The Squad Leader Sandtrooper has an orange shoulder pauldron for ranking differentiation.

Besides stormtrooper blaster, the T-21 Light Repeating Blaster Rifle is another heavy weapon the sandtrooper carries.

Besides shoulder pouches, there are two magazine pouches attached to the waist belt.

The backpack is different as compared to the one given to Sergeant Sandtrooper.

The gripped hands are fairy tight enough to hold any blasters come with the figure.

The work of the weathering and mud stains on the armoured arms and legs are equally good.

Still, the figure has very loose joints and it's hard for him to stand steadily.

Sideshow has improved its paint work on these armoured figures and I have no issue with the overall quality. I recommend to pick it up if you are a Star Wars fan. Furthermore, the price is pretty reasonable. For part 1 review, please click here.

Sideshow - SDCC 2010 Exclusive Clone Lieutenant (Episode II)

(Picture Source: Sideshow Collectibles via ToyWorld Forum)

This is the 1/6 scale "exclusive" Clone Lieutenant that will be released by Sideshow in
the coming SDCC 2010. I may be getting this piece since I am a huge fan of Clone
Troopers. I believe many of you know Medicom had also released the Clone Captains
and Clone Commanders previously.

Sideshow - Sandtrooper Pt.1 (Squad Leader: Tatooine)

If you got the previous "Sideshow Sergeant Sandtrooper", then you know how the package with magnetic closures works.

As you can see, the box has simple graphic design with picture of the figure and background text printed on each side of the panels. Inside the box, you will see the figure on one side and accessories on the other.

The package is collector friendly that allows you to take the figure and accessories out without any damage. You can store them back whenever you want and more photos will be uploaded in my next review.

Hasbro - Exclusive Battle Damage "Arcee" Pt.1

It has been a while I did not buy any transformer toys since I have been focusing more on 1/6 scale figures. Anyway, here is the 2007 deluxe class battle-damage "Arcee" in Motorcycle Mode.

Splashes of mud on the front wheel and lower fairing kit look pretty realistic. The weathering on different parts of the bike is also beautifully carried out.

There is an Autobot symbol printed on the rear seat cowl.

It's obvious the hands of Arcee are placed to the undertail of the bike.

I love the overall colour combination and the look of the bike, and more photos will be uploaded in my next post :)