PHICEN Nina Armoury Post 1

If I didn't make it quite clear in my review, I looooove this 1/6 Nina fig, but if there is one department she lacks in, it's weaponry.  Her Glocks are cool, but Nina Williams is a master assassin, a spy, a saboteur, possibly a catwalk model AND a ninja all at once, so she knows a few more ways to kill folk than just through the John Woo school of twin-pistol dove-exploding gun-kata.  Hence this post, first in what will probably be a series*, showing off Nina waving around other various implements of pain.

Oh, and before we start, if you don't check my Twitter feed regularly (what is wrong with you):

Knife & strapped sheath sourced from 1/6 General Hawk,

by Sideshow Collectibles' G.I. Joe line.

I think we can agree that all versions of Nina need a superfluous tiny dagger that never ever gets used strapped to one thigh, right?  And yeah, I kinda wish I could attach it further down her leg, but the top needs to hook onto the belt to stay in place.  Anyhoo, click through for more pics.

* - it'll run until I can't find more weapons to steal off my other figures...which doesn't look likely to happen soon.

Film Reaction/Now Playing Double Date: MAN OF STEEL

2 seconds later, the bungee cord tightened and Clark

went crashing back down.

While I usually try to get these reaction pieces up nice and quickly (well, quickly by my own hopeless standards, at any rate), Man of Steel - Warner Bros' latest attempt to prove they can do a successful superhero movie not about Batman - has been something of a stumbling block, thanks to a few factors.  I couldn't see it until a few days after its UK theater debut, I was still fumbling through an attempted review of Fast & Furious 6 (probably gonna ditch that one - short version, it was silly and great fun, see it if you haven't) and there was no shortage of reviews from more official sources all over the net, many hitting in advance of release, to the point where I figured anyone who knows me could already guess what my opinion would be.

Nevertheless, I do want to get some thoughts on it down here, because it's one of the more 'important' films this summer.  And in the name of variety, I'm also gonna throw in my 2 cents on the MoS tie-in game for iOS/Android devices after the film stuff.  Who says I'm not good to you?  (SPOILERS FOLLOW)

Now Playing: TEKKEN REVOLUTION

Wait, what?

Developed & published by Namco Bandai.

Released June 2013.

Digital download only.

Formats: PlayStation3 exclusive.

Ordinarily, the wait for the next Tekken game around here at chez Craig is one of the most prolonged, soul-sapping ventures through misery ever undertaken in the history of mankind, something that would likely be true even if the last 2 main entries in the series hadn't both been the subject of excessive delays.  My brain simply cannot cope with the notion that there might be a 'new' Tekken game out in the world somewhere and it's not in my possession yet.  There is screaming, a lot of screaming.  Things get broken.  People get hurt.  The police are called.  And then run away.  It's just not a nice scene for everyone, at least until the game in question arrives and I calm down.

This time, though, the wait wasn't so bad, since I (and everyone else) only found out about Tekken Revolution 4 days, tops, before its release.  That Harada-san sure does work his team like hamsters in wheels, doesn't he?

Toy Review: PHICEN LIMITED 1:6 NINA KILLER ver 1.0

From Twitter: Wesker getting kicked because reasons.

At this point, detailing my obsession with the Tekken series in general and Nina Williams in particular for the umpteenth time is a waste of bandwidth...but I don't know how else to start this post, so pretend that I said something meaningful and revelatory here as well as the usual 'gaaah nina so amazing and hot and badass, would gladly try and marry her even though I know it would end horribly, fuck everything about that other blonde girl who doesn't deserve to be named' spiel.

Of course, the downside to being a Tekken fan is that Namco have historically done a terrible job of pushing the franchise in terms of merch.  Oh, sure, if all you need to be happy is a custom fight stick, you're golden, but clothes?  Few and far between, usually convention exclusives.  Manga or comic tie-ins?  There were some hilariously terrible ones around the time of Tekken 2 but nothing worth mentioning since then.  Toys?  Palisades did a line of 5" figs based on Tekken 3 but they were generally pre-posed and had very little articulation, not to mention the sculpt quality is, well, of its day, which means they look pretty dated and simplistic now.  After that, Tekken figs have only come in tiny bursts; a group of rarely-seen 1:6ers based on Tekken Tag Tournament came and went, a group of tiny plastic statues with swappable parts styled on Tekken 5, and the still-running TTT2 additions to the Kotobukiya line, which takes ludicrously proportioned girls in super-skimpy outfits and makes their clothes more revealing, because Japan, basically.  Even with the advent of the TTT2 Play Arts Kai figures, it feels like there's been a lot of missed opportunities over the years - the fact that I can honestly say the best Tekken figures money can buy are the sodding Minimates from the SFxTK series says it all.  It's not so bad if all you're after are polystone statues, but...where's the fun in a statue?

So, when this little beauty cropped up out of the blue, I was very excited.  Of course, it's not officially endorsed by Namco on any level and doesn't mention Tekken anywhere on the box and is only COINCIDENTALLY similar to a character from Tekken with the same first name *cough* so it's totally okay to buy it so long as you make sure to never ever mention it to Harada-san and/or his lawyers.  We clear?  Okay, let's get down to brass tacks.