u/Aromatic_Junket986

This is my first contribution to this Subreddit to celebrate my love for the franchise. I present to you...the Contra Operation Galuga Bill Rizer and Lance Bean action figures from Hiya Toys! It is a lot of fun posing these figures with their weapons and accessories for my toy photography 📸. At first, I had no intention of getting any of the previous figures because of how they didn't appeal to me aesthetically, especially the NECA Player Select and Premium DNA figures. When I saw the Operation Galuga designs in the Hiya Toys Contra figures, my mind did a total 180⁰. They are the perfect size and design, their weapons actually look like futuristic heavy-duty modular firearms, and they have a slew of accessories for more posing options. When I saw these in person at my local collectibles store Mythical Mountain on San Jose Boulevard at the corner of Claire Lane in the Riverplace Shopping Center in the Mandarin area of my hometown Jacksonville, Florida, I had to have these. I bought two of each figure, one pair for my toy photography and playing around with, while the other two stay in the box for display. These are a must-own to be sure.

Over the past two weeks, I got the Contra Operation Galuga Bill Rizer and Lance Bean figures from Hiya Toys at my favorite collectibles store Mythical Mountain on San Jose Boulevard at the corner of Claire Lane in the Riverplace Shopping Center in my hometown Jacksonville, Florida. I am totally blown away by the amount of accessories they come with and the overall aesthetic from the Operation Galuga game translated to action figure form. At first, I wasn't going to own these because of the track record of figures based on the Contra franchise not being as good, especially the NECA Player Select and the Premium DNA figures, but seeing these in person based on the reviews on YouTube changed my mind completely.

Who here remembers Silpheed for the Sega CD? I never played Silpheed until the PS2 sequel, Silpheed The Lost Planet. I always wanted to get a toy or model of this sleek interstellar fighter-interceptor, and now I finally have it! It arrived on July 3rd, the day of my father's passing 13 years ago, and it was a fun build. I got to learn how to prime my models before painting, and it turned out beautifully! On the same day that my Silpheed model came in, I got a Gradius IV 復活 (Revival or Resurrection in Japanese) Vic Viper 1/144 model from my local hobby shop Mythical Mountain on San Jose Boulevard at the corner of Claire Lane in the Mandarin area of my hometown Jacksonville, Florida. I will be building that one later.

The only time I ever played Silpheed was on the PS2 with Silpheed The Lost Planet. On Friday, I received the Plum Corporation 1/100 scale model of the SA-77 Silpheed from the Sega CD version of the game after ordering it from Amazon Japan. This year, I have been getting a desire to get different model kits for building to test my skills as a model builder. I got to learn to prime and paint, and it turned out beautifully! I even got to do some toy photography with it. Which version of Silpheed have you played? Also, was your memories of Silpheed filled with joy or frustration?

Got myself a third Scopedog Turbo Custom from eBay. It arrived on Friday, picked it up on Saturday, assembled it last night, and just finished weathering and painting it a few minutes ago today. The finished one is at the very front standing with the other one in the back and the battle-scarred fallen Scopedog in the middle. These HG Scopedog kits from Bandai are perfect for army building, and they're fun to assemble. If any of you are still on the fence about getting these, let this be my recommendation for you. These are relatively inexpensive, and they are also fun to customize to your liking.

I followed the advice of another model builder, and I colored the outer edges of the bullet holes with some black paint and some gun metal steel silver to represent the entry wound impact that caused the armor to warp. I also took pictures from different angles other than the previous picture did. I also did this because I wanted to make it look like the damaged Scopedog Turbo Custom was standing as the blood poured from the impact holes before it was knocked on its back.

At last, the complete TV anime of Armored Trooper Votoms is here at home with me! I wish I had the money to afford the complete Blu-ray collection or even find the steel tin box for these DVDs plus the Votoms guide book to finish the set, but this will have to do for now. I am thankful to have the original 1983 anime series in my possession. A good $75 well spent on eBay.

Got another High Grade Scopedog Turbo Custom kit, and with soldering iron, I filled it bullet holes and bullet scratches. And to finish it, I added some red paint to simulate the pilot's blood oozing out after being hit directly in the cockpit.

I finally found the track that I had been searching for! The music used for the ADV North American trailer of Full Metal Panic is on YouTube! The link will be provided.

https://youtu.be/AMa6J4xq4oc?si=1lexXcxISkvppBjq

A new Votoms figure arrived today! This time, it's the Berserga BTS Blue Knight from the Armored Trooper Votoms Side Story, Blue Knight Berserga Story! Again, I am not taking it out of the package because of my previous experience with another that I took out of the box years ago. Well, we all can assume how that went: as I fiddled around with how to recreate the down mode for pilot mounting, the hip and shoulder joints snapped. Additionally, I was taking special care not to bend them the wrong way and took additional care to not stress any joints that were too tight back then. Because of my experience with both the CMs Corporation's Mecha Action Series Berserga BTS Blue Knight and the 35 Max Armored Trooper Votoms AT-Collection Scopedog figures in the past, I am keeping both in the box. I am most likely going to get another HG Scopedog Turbo Custom because it's cheaper and more readily available.

I have my two custom Melanders, the Nightfall, and Locksmith. I really hope that either Aquabot Jax or other hobby shops in Jacksonville, Florida will have the factory model VP-40S Arquebus AC available when it comes out. I am back in the groove for model kit building and customization.

Yesterday morning close to lunchtime, I stopped by Aquabot Jax, and lo and behold, I managed to score the latest 30-Minute Missions Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon kit: the VP-40S Locksmith! It took me hours to cut out and sand the parts, assembling them, spraying matte topcoat, weathering, and finally painting! Putting in the time to add these details is always worth the effort.

I finally have the 35 Max version of the Scopedog Turbo Custom after seeing many pictures of it online, but I am not taking it out of the box because of my previous experience with the Scopedog Red Shoulder Custom from the same line. The Red Shoulder Custom Scopedog is currently in storage because it cannot hold any poses due to its loose joints. Out of the various iterations of the Scopedog, the Turbo Custom is my number one with the Red Shoulder Custom at second place. This can go along with my HG Scopedog Turbo Custom I built a couple of weeks ago.

I built another BD-011 Melander kit because that's the only humanoid type AC that I find available in my local hobby shops in my hometown Jacksonville, Florida. I opted to make this a battle scarred factory model, and I will be giving this to my sister because she doesn't have the patience for making model kits like I do, and she likes Armored Core VI.