Bankee Nationals Gundam Model Kit Contest 2011 @SM Megamall

Bankee, the Philippines' official distributor for Bandai/Gundam products, is holding one of the most anticipated Gunpla events of the year, the Gundam Model Kit Contest 2011.

Some of the entries on display.

In celebration of Gundam 00 and SD Gundam Brave Battle Warriors (both currently showing on Cartoon Network), this year's theme is based on the two said titles. Gunpla fans of all ages swarmed SM Megamall from July 15-17 to sumbit, view and photograph the entries.

Here is MechaPinoy's coverage of the event: GALLERY

Also, a week prior, MP hosted a support event for the competition, setting up the display cases and putting up members' works too fill them prior to submission of entries.

MP veteran Jake de Guzman talking about Gunpla.

More pictures HERE.

Judging of the entries will be on July 30 in Megamall and awarding will be on the 31st. See you there!

On Stranger Tides

The pirates are back with another sequel: The Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides. Arckham and I had the pleasure of catching it the day it was released in the Philippines.

So let's look at this movie in three parts: Characters, Setting and Plot.

Characters: I do presume Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) would no longer need any introduction. Our dear captain is back as Savvy as ever. Together with him in this movie is Penelope Cruz who plays Angelica, one of the people he had "stirrings" [apparently, according to Jack it means feelings] for. Angelica is the new female focal of the movie. Sad to say though that she fades into the background almost immediately and you rarely feel her presence throughout the movie. Yes, she made me miss Keira Knightly. The Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) and Sparrow moments are still there which is a comfort to know. Baddy of the movie would be Blackbeard played by Ian McShane who does a pretty decent job at that.

Setting: As usual with this series, the setting is amazing. The islands, the props and the costume are still top of the line. The English wigs and the Spanish Armada costumes were superb. The mermaid CG was definitely commendable. The tails and transformations were seamless. Good job on this one.

Plot: Over all, it was predictable, nearly not as funny as the previous movies in this series and the Angelica-Blackbeard relationship was really weak.

The verdict is watch it but at the comfort of your own home when you have the time. There is no need to rush or save up for this one.

Thor (2011)

Thor. Alongside Captain America, X-Men First Class and Green Lantern, this is the comic book movie I most waited for to watch this year. Good thing it came out first. 

I will not spoil the plot for those who have not seen it yet. I'll just share my thoughts on the film.

Just to give Thor fans an idea about the movie (as well as the other Marvel Studios movies), Marvel decided to create a new Universe for the movie line. Like the Transformers movies, the Marvel "Movie Universe" is mostly a clash of other existing Marvel Universes. Mainly Earth-616 and Ultimate. Such indications are that Thor does not turn into Dr. Donald Blake, Nick Fury is Sam Jackson and Captain America uses a gun.

In the case of Thor, as mentioned above, Donald Blake is not Thor's alter ego. He's just perpetually Thor, but stripped of his powers (and his hammer) so that he could learn humility as decreed by his father Odin. An indication of Ultimate, but is obviously not Ultimate Thor. So this is an in-between.

Overall visual appeal of the movie is awesome. Special effects, costumes, fight scenes and sets. Not enough lightning shooting if you ask me, but it was still awesome. The plot was pretty much predictable if you've read

Thor: Ages of Thunder and what happened between Siege and Civil War. Scriptwriting is great. A couple of jokes here and there, combat speeches, and an alarming amount of Facebook references. Lastly, casting. Casting is nearly perfect. Get someone fatter for Volstagg and you have the perfect cast.

My verdict: watch it. Even people not familiar with the comic book story would love it.

Ozine Fest 2011

As most of you know, Ozine Fest 2011 is currently ongoing. We didn't get to go on the first two days of the event, but we'll be there today!

Xy will be cosplaying as Eve from Pixar's Wall-E, mecha musume style. You'll probably notice her since she's in all white and will be holding a Wall-E plushie. If you see a geek beside her, that's likely me XD

The Gundam detailing contest continues, and hopefully, I get to take home another SD Red Frame. MechaPinoy's first in-house contest for 2011 will also be held at the Gundam area in the afternoon.

We currently don't have a good camera at the moment, but we'll be sure to share picture galleries from our friends after the event. See you there!

First Images for New Voltron Series

The new Voltron series is to premiere Spring of 2011 (which should be soon) from Nicktoons. I love the new designs. Very animated in its own style but shows wide distinction between the five lions. Such distinction include their various weaponry, the classic rounded look of the Green Lion and an addition of an extend lower jaw for the Yellow Lion to give it a more brutish look.

I'm really looking forward to this series and hope that it does justice to the 80s Voltron that we all grew up to love.

Pics.