(EA Figures) Mass Effect Series I: Tali' Zorah

Let me break away from bombarding the blog with my POP collection. This time around, let me do a review on a figure that I've had for a long time now but just haven't taken it out of the package. In celebration to the upcoming release of Mass Effect Andromeda, I finally decided to do something with those figures that was in my Mass Effect shrine wall. So the first to come out of her shell is none other than Tali'Zorah! Let's see how this older figure held out after such a long time in stasis.

This case is always hard to open up compared to the standard Marvel Legends packaging; they remind me of Toybiz days, which provides protection and some aesthetics to it, which was part of the reason that made me ambivalent about opening her. Regardless, I went through with it.

Right away, it's easy to point out that the mold is pretty accurate to the character. Though this version of Tali does seem to fit more in line with her ME1 rather than her ME2 version(the line is based off the second game). Now it's not exactly a expensive figure at the time so I didn't expect it to have the details that would capture every essence of Tali, but it does fall flat and dark in the pallette department.

As for the mold and the sculpt in general, it's pretty accurate. She has the quarian feet and hands going on so it's just as accurate as you can get since most of Tali's anatomy is still pretty humanoid.

Althought we didn't really get an "official" glimpse of what Tali actually looked like until ME3, we always get those mysterious eyes and a silohoutte of that face within her 'bowl head'. This figure did not deliver on that fact though; not like the other figures I have.

Tali comes with her shotgun and her Omni-Tool; the Omni-tool is supposed to come off but I'm afraid of breaking it so it stays permanently on her hand. Not much in the accessory departmens, that's for sure.

As far as articlulation, this figure is very outdated. Then again, when she came out, she was basically a statue with some minor articulation. She comes with a stand which helps get her in some dynamic poses; or at the very least, it helps her from falling over.

I take it back; her Playarts Kai version did not have those enigmatic eyes; her Bishoujo did though. And once can see just how 'dark' she is next two these other ones. It's hard to compare her with these gals since she is after all the lower quality one.

I did not expect to have an amazing Tali figure when I opened her. I don't expect that for the rest of the series either but I do appreciate this one and with Mass Effect being one of my favorite games of all time, if the figures just pay homage to MOST of the characters that they are supposed to be, then I have very little gripe with a figure that is nearly a decade old. 

Bishoujo: Tali Z'orah vas Normandy

(Coming in the future)

What a beauty! I'm sure she will be available everywhere, but as of right now, she is preordered in BigBadToyStore!

Look at the detail on her! Wonder if there will be some kind of special variant for her face?

She does come with a grey variant, which I don't think I'll be getting. In the mean time... can't wait till I get her! 

Mass Effect: Elevator Nostalgia

The crew that follows Commander Shepard to the very ends of the galaxies are more than wiling to do what it takes. Guns, biotics, technology .... all of these are but a mere thought with the Normandy squad. There have been a plethora of these moments; an erroneous thought that a Specter and the companions that follow her are going to lay down in the mere thought of intimidation!

NOT SO MUCH!

But before that......

The Elevator.....

They speak about many things and everything!

That and they are constantly updated with the hottest gossip in the galaxy, or perhaps they are serenaded with their latest victory in some clandestine mission that they are sent to! Times like this can't be all about battles now, can it be? They are after all just soldiers and comrades in arms willing to take solace in the simple nostalgia of an elevator conversation.


One of the little perks I loved about the first Mass Effect.

Letting go of Shepard ...

G4's insight on the future of Mass Effect


Yes. As we all know that Mass Effect has a brand new horizon coming up and from what it has been said in the sparse information that had been, it will have little to nothing to do with Commander Shepard and his story.

As to how deep that info is in regards to averting players from the 'happenings' of Shepard and Crew... well we shall see. My opinion will remain submerged until more news comes up.

Mass Effect Trilogy

Well!!!

This made my day!

Mass Effect Trilogy!

The Mass Effect 'Quad'

These set of toys are within the ranks of DC Direct. While they will probably not reciprocate the intricate details that the Playarts Kai will bring once I have them in my collection (Mass Effect: Playarts Kai), they do suffice in giving me satisfaction and bragging rights of just how having Mass Effect merchandise.

Tali was the first one I acquired a long time ago way before I was even in my new game room. She is the only one out of the three with the label: 'Mass Effect 2' and not 'Mass Effect 3'. Technically characters like Thane, Grunt, Legion, Mordin, and Miranda should be sold under the label of Mass Effect 2 since they originated from the game, but in some weird manner they are not sold that way.

Garrus' apparel are even from the second game! It comes complete with his battle 'scar' in his armor that he didn't bother to change at all in the game. Of course if one decides to put on his alternate outfit one can be rid of it, but still. My point is pretty clear about this is Mass Effect 2 merchandise. 

In terms of Krogan, I like Wrex better than Grunt. If they had a Wrex figure I'd buy him in a heartbeat, however, they do not. I had to make a choice between Grunt, Thane, Legion, Miranda, and Mordin... I would've picked Legion or Thane, but for some reason Grunt's weight and the work detail put into him just made me pick him in the end. But who am I kidding, I'll be getting the all someday!

I'll be very blatant about this. This figure doesn't exactly spell the best visage of Commander Shepard. In fact the face detail makes him look like one of the more nonsensical NPCs of the Mass Effect world, however it does have enough striking similarities that I am able to forgive the exuberance in it! But the detail in the armor is more than adequate and its' a Mass Effect merchandise! 

So needless to say, these are my Mass Effect collection! The Playarts Kai, when they arrive will spell great fortune in my collection world! 

Until then!

Currently Playing:

Currently going through a quick play through of ME2. My endeavor involves getting some clips and pics of Tali and Shepard since I have a new project to go through! But, despite what I said in my ME 3(My Words On: ME3) review, the graphics are obviously more 'fresh' and vibrant in ME 3. Well, that's all I pretty much I have to say about that!

Lucifer Shepard. ME 2

Lucifer Shepard's Ending

This is my variation of 'Commander Shepard'. Now I know the whole Extended cut had been plentiful in the youtube and in the internet world so I tried to do some 'modification' to make it feel a bit more distinct, but there is only so much one can lay out differently. I tried as eloquently as I can through video imagination to play out my Shepard's rapport with the rest of the team and Tali. So...

Enjoy!

Mass Effect 3 Stills

So after a headache of realizing that iMovie 11 does not exactly save still images from game plays... I spent a good time accumulating irritation and headaches and... well... here we are now! I got some test ones. More to come, and a video as well!

Lucifer Shepard

The Perfect couple! 

So more to come... I'm currently enjoying with this Game Capture/video/image still shenanigan!!!

The Game Room!

I posted something a while back about my new game room and how I'll be working on it (Rebuilding The Game Room). Well needless to say that has been about a good 2 months ago and I have yet to update what my process has been. I've only done a few posts on certain toys that I have acquired during that time (Amecomi DC Direct, The Return of Marvel Legends) and I have yet to really initiate a progress post about what has become of the whole game room escapade. Well, needless to say, I think from where I stand I have finally completed it! Well of course to a certain extent since I am still collecting and there will be many additions in the future, but for now.... Let's take a trip!

So first and foremost let's notice the entrance of this to my place of solitude. Obviously one can already see something particularly odd about the whole thing and that is the fact that YES I do have DC comic books plastered on the wall. As I have mentioned before, I have started reading DC just in the beginning of this year! A lot of these comic book are from the 'New 52' Story Line Arc that DC had put out sometime last year. 

Yup. =)

As we go further in it is plain to see the big difference from where we were at not too long ago. Hell I bet one could see the difference just form the view outside the door!

An immediate view of the right side would casually show that the shelves that were once empty and undecided are now filled with their own respected things. While in the past I have used the shelves mostly to place my collections, now I have taken the idea to actually make them a bit more useful and effective. I have come to the epiphany that space is lacking with everything that I have! So with the amount of graphic novels, DVDs, old ps games or what not, I have to use the shelves for something a bit more practical, right? The very right shelf holds a bit more of the anime and gaming side of the things I have collected. Of course the bottom shelf still has the graphic novels as well as the second to the last, but for the most part it holds some of my anime related collection.

The Top Shelf holds some Final Fantasy stuff. Random titles from Final Fantasy VII to Final Fantasy XIII and even to the random summons of the game. It even has tactics as well. 

This shelf, I place Anime DVDS as well as old PS one games. Has an old Transfomer and a girl from Tenchu; forgot her name.

From Left ...

... To Right, this self holds my Femme Fatale collection. Or some of them!

Then there is one of my newest addition, the FFXIII-2 Lightning Play Arts Kai. I'll blog separately about her one day, but this toy is a magnificent piece!!! S'all I can say right now. =)

Got my Tali; and these are random anime and Video game toys. 

The second to the bottom shelf are some of the creatures series and the Trading arts I have collected over the years. The bottom shelf just has some random Marvel toys, the Capcom Mini Mates, a Bishojou of Black Widow, and this is where I will be story my DC graphic novels and as you can see it is also where Empowered mangas and some anime books are also residing. More noted, the High School of the Dead. 

Now we get a different angle on that shelf. It's highly noticeable that it's the shelf is pretty busy itself. And another interesting thing to point out the Mass Effect 3 poster! This particular piece was given to me from Gamestop on the ME3 midnight release. I received it due to the 'outfit' I was wearing. Which wasn't anything TOO FANCY. Just wore my Commander Shepard zip up sweater! There is also the Skyrim Map below Shepard. Then as you can see to the right  is where the Marvel Select collection would start. It further snakes above and you shall see it on my 'Marvel' wall.

Just to break up the two shelves I have, the Spawn collection comes in the middle. I have to say, for the longest time I had these toys inside their box like a lot of my collection and as I had to open one due to the badly damaged box, I have realized that them being inside the box don't do them justice at all. So... thus why they are all out and free now. I have put them in four respected shelves, and honestly, these pictures doesn't even pale in comparison of exactly just how eye candy they are in person!

This one holds the more 'Ancient warrior' Spawn alternates; of course with the exception of the redemption Spawn, the one with the wings. I'd have to say that the Mandarin Spawn (Gold one in the back) is one of my favorite Spawn toys!

The second Spawn shelf. Holds a couple of comic cover statues.

And the third shelf. It holds one of my favorite ones as well which is the Manga Spawn (the one on the left). I love the detail on that toy. Perhaps one day I'll just blog on my Todd McFarlane collections. they really are more enticing out of the box.

Now the bottom shelf is where all the much more monster like forms of Spawn. Or just misc beasts from the Spawn lore. The Viper Spawn is badass (left) but the fully transformed Spawn (front right) is perhaps just plain feral and savage like! Again another one that is given justice out of its container!

Now for the Marvel shelf. To be completely honest, Marvel Toys are the meat of my collection. Frankly because they have been my top priority in terms of acquiring within the last few years. I'm also not going to stray from the truth that they have some neat Amazing stuff whether we are going to talk about their more cheaper side or to the more glamorous part of the spectrum. That and unlike anime/ Final Fantasy toys, they come in much cheaper prices! So I have the luxury to gather more of them!

Some time ago I was a HUGE Spider-Man fan. I guess in some essence, I still am, but I used to have shelves and walls dedicated to the wall crawler. Times changed but I kept some of my most treasured Spidey toys. Of course one can't get rid of the the Marvel Legends Icons (Spidey and Venom).

The next one after the Top Spidey shelf are the 'Villains' shelf. Now some aren't necessarily the bad guys, but give me a break. They have to go somewhere.

Yes. House of M Hulk is holding Rachel Grey captive.

Love that Thanos Marvel Universe from Hasbro! 

Yes. Spider-woman is held captive by House of M IT. It's creative way of using rubber bands to if you only look closely! 

Inhuman Torch has Psylocke. Nice.

The next shelf if you can see are the Heroes side of the Marvel Universe hasbro line ups . There is a ton of them and they have taken up all the space in that shelf. Hell there are a lot more in a box too!

The next two shelves had become my new 'Spidey' obsession if you may. Iron Man. Well, the rather enticing(or detrimental, depending if we are talking about bank account wise) is that Tony Stark had donned many armors in the past so it makes his toy collection rather LARGE for the picking.

The first shelf are dedicated to a lot of my Marvel Universe 3.75 Iron Man figures and  Random Mighty Muggs collection.

Second shelf has Marvel Legends from Toybiz, a few of the super hero squad line ups, and my Iron Man piggy bank where I put my silver coins. 

Then the next shelf are filled with Mighty Muggs, Minimates, and Super Hero Squad. Let me tell you, the Minimates, as tiny as they are pack a wallop in regards to price. The set of the X-Force that I bought from Wondercon was something else. Did some dent on the allowance.

And the last shelf are the graphic novels! A whole lot of Marvel reading. And some random  Spider-Hulk, Wolverine,  Venom, and Hawkeye Mighty Mugg.

So here's an angle of that shelf from the gamer chair. I'm also sure it's a good view for the start of my 'anime' wall along with the nice wall scroll. I'm sure my table has a good part in the picture too. To me this view is great for the fact that when I'm not looking at my T.V. and just slightly turn my posture, I see this, the fruit of my labor if you may. Although I must admit there is a big spot of white wall on the anime wall and it will be covered eventually as I get more material in there. As for the wall scroll, I was never a big fan of Dissidia myself, however it did offer some good fresh visuals on the Final Fantasy characters from FFI-FFX.

Close up of my Anime wall. See some Empowered in there don't you?

So now my table. The Wifey spent a lot of time working on this one. Actually she had spent many hours on three other tables I have (which I do not think are standing in good condition because of the events that led us to move, thus the redecoration of my game room). The art is called decoupage and it's pretty obvious what she did. She cut out some pages from comic books, magazines, etc. and placed i t on a table on her own creative thought process and then used a decoupage glue to keep them there. After that she and I sprayed it with some adherence cover so that it would sustain a nice, smooth surface, protected from water spills or what not. So this is an angle from the top! I asked her to put Rikku in there, OF COURSE and the three other FF girls that I found the most attracting which are Yuna, Lightning, and Vanille. The whole attraction factor only lies within their looks and has nothing to do with their personality, character influence, story, etc. etc. I wanted hott Final Fantasy girls on the top of my Final Fantasy table, thus the four.

Here's a more horizontal angle of the table. There are a lot of mixture of resources for the collaboration of this table (which is also money spent; well spent may I add). From the strategy guides of FFX-2, FFXIII, and random game informer magazines, this became a rather aesthetic mural. While yes, it spends a lot of its time having a laptop, coffee, food, and my feet on top of it, it's still a pretty good addition to my game room. But the parts that isn't always covered by the said objects... well... let's just say its a testament of just how much work the significant other put into this! Which of course I appreciate! I would rather much think that it was a really good finished product! 

The legs themselves are each separately designed with certain things that she had in mind. Of course because we had a lot more FFXIII to our disposal, the majority of pictures are of that said Final Fantasy.

Even the side of the table, the thin space between the top and the legs are all filled with designs. Usually she has to find random, adequate pictures to fit, this time FFXIII strategy guide provided with such beautiful scenes.

There is also another 'shelf' underneath the main table that is also decorated with odds and ends of Final Fantasy characters. Sadly since the lack of  variety of strategy guides I have, most of it are from FFXIII, Dissidia, and random FFVII AC images. But regardless, it still turned out rather well.

So next up is probably the less than prominent part of my game room, yet. It's my DC wall, which again is rather lacking in number because of the fact that I am still a new born when it comes to collecting things from this comic book universe. But it is getting somewhere. The one thing I am pointing out that is less than impressive is my T.V. Yes I am well aware for a game room that is rather... inadequate. But trust me, I am working on it! Eventually I will get a very note worthy one that will fit my need and hunger. But truth to be told, this little one is doing its job with flying colors. I take it this way, as long as it has HD capability and I can see my games clear enough, then I'm not at a big loss. But ascending to a bigger vision will be more than a welcome notion someday! But The DC wall does add a bit of a flare to how 'desolate' this area is, doesn't it?

This is a bit of a close up. I am probably leaning on a lot of DC Amecomi figures because I like the fusion of Anime and DC characters. But I'm more than willing to say that mine will be a mix of a lot of DC collections. A lot of females as well according to my intuition. 

Just veering my attention to the left of my gamer chair and this is what i have to look at. The theme of this wall is obviously Marvel. Like I have mentioned before the chunk of my collection are Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc. etc. These collections go as far as back as Toybiz's Marvel Legends to the Hasbro's newly rebooted Marvel Legends.  On the top row are the Marvel Select that wraps around the 'roof' of the room.To further add to some unique look, I also added some of my favorite and well drawn Comic Book covers. The comics themselves are not in any particular order or means of pattern, they're just there. They vary as well from Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Force, X-Men, Ghost Rider, and some of the more major Saga covers like Secret Invasion, Civil War, etc. etc. I of course summarize it with Marvel's Captain America poster! I'm thinking some time if I find the right poster of the Avengers, I'll put that on. That is of course highly hanging on the fact that IF there is a good looking Avengers poster!

So These are some of the random Marvel Legends I have collected. Again they vary from some of my favorite Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and random Femme Fatales of Marvel with some of these said characters having multiple toys for their alternate costumes.

Obvious from this angle its for sure I have collected through time as we can see the older Marvel Legends from Toybiz, to Hasbro's most current line up.

Then to the very very left, it's to further show just how much I love Iron Man for we have more of his collection! A lot of it was from the first Iron Man line up from Hasbro. Thing about Iron Man is that he has so many different armors that they could make a whole lot of them.

So on a closing note, this is pretty much my fortress of solitude. As you can see that  I a huge collector and a fan. Now this is my first 'set up' in this place so just like my last game room I had many different variations because I don't lack in numbers and what to put up. However sometimes because one can only make action figures look so different when displayed in the box (despite the multitude amount of choices) so I try not to change it because the difference is hardly noticed. It IS a lot of work let me tell you. Imagine the work I do dusting these guys off? Well, regardless, this is still part of my catharsis after a long day's work. It's what makes me feel like I'm still 'human' and sometimes it's an exact physical representation of my hard work; the fruit of my labor if you will. Not to mention its my  way of supporting my most favorite franchises. To say the least anyways. Hope you guys enjoyed the tour!!!