Cool Bastard Junk all for me!!
Most my online buddies know how much I love Bastard, and have spoiled me rotton with lavish gifts! Rotton I say!! Giant thankies goes out over and over again to everyone who has helped feed the addiction.
The DS JUGULATOR Action Figure
Or, as the sissies in North America call it: Bastard High End Figure 1. Har har! I finally got my second Jugulator doll from the wonderful people at www.MageInk.com and thoroughly planned on tearing it open. Actually I was going to compare boxes to see which was the most mint, and rip apart the most beat up of the two. When the new one arrived, much to my delight/distress, the boxes were DIFFERENT!!!!
Yes, my new Bastard figure is the North American version, distributed by Diamond Comics. This American version has more English writing than Japanese, and of course is burdened with legal disclaimers such as "Warning: Choking Hazard - Small parts not for children under 3 years of age." And my favorite, the one that made me laugh the hardest: "CAUTION: Product contains functional sharp edges (or points). Excercise care during unpacking and assembly."
Because everyone knows that Americans are stupid, and that they like to sue other people because they're stupid. Luckily I'm not that stupid personally. Honestly, it's not that hard to figure out that I shouldn't let my 3 year old niece chew on the figure's variant hand.
My big delimma was, which do I open? I thought about it and decided that the figure that came all the way from Japan and that had the "DS Jugulator" title was way cooler to keep mint in package. So I pulled out my razor knife and a pair of scissors and slit the plastic open enough to slide the new figure out. So the new box is still in tact, and I finally have my doll to play with!! ^_^
This figure has amazing detail and design. His feet are so designed that he can stand on his own, and the figure comes with it's very own little display stand. The figure is five inches tall and has ten points of articulation (moving parts). Now, having actually opened the figure, I've finally figured out what they actually are:
(2) flexion/extension, rotation at shoulders
(2) rotation above each elbow joint
(2) flexion/extension at the elbows
(2) rotation at the wrists
(2) rotation at the ankles
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I didn't really want to tug on him too hard, I'd be heartbroken if I broke the little Bastard. Luckily I was able to discover the last two mystery points by accident. See, sometimes it's good to play with your toys! :)
The figure comes with a removeable scabbard across his back (with no actual sword in it, I discovered!) and comes with the sword I am guessing he nicked from the Fire Efreet early in the story. The variant hand included allows the figure to hold onto the sword. The right hand gently pops off, and attaches to the arm in a male/female type connection.
  
I've left the scans of the DS Jugulator card here for you to take a peek at. In and of itself, the box is nice to look at! It sports the cover art from Manga #21 on the front of the box, although from these scans you can't really tell.
Click to see the Front of the Box
Click to see the Back of the Box
The four shadow figures on the back of the card apparently represent the next figures to be released. On the North American version, two of the shadows have been replaced by the DS Majin figure and the Mikael figure. That means there are two shadow figures left, and two more action figures we can expect in the near future!! They both look like the late Manga Archangel characters; both have sets of wings, although one set looks to be a bit demonic. That one should be interesting. ^_^
These professional images of the doll give you a nice look of how the figure stands and can be displayed. Of course, rather than displaying mine, I'm going to keep it nearby my bedside.
You wouldn't believe the Bastard dreams I've had recently...
Image of the Figure
Image #2 of the Figure
  
 
What an awesome action figure! The detail is impressive, the outfit is fascinating, and all those little pointy things really are sharp. Those comapny lawyers weren't lyin! The only thing now I have to wonder is, what are all those long orange things coming out of his back? Hmmm....
My Bastard!! Cels
After years of ripping cel images off other people, I finally have cels of my own! Hurray!
On the left is my first cel ever. It's DS with his eyes shut, but it's so kawaii! My friend Jennifer got me this cel, along with the unopened DS Jugulator figure I own. He's even showin' some fang. The cel on the right I got off Ebay for twenty bucks. *beams* Blood? Is that blood? Personally I find bloody heroes (or antiheroes) extremely sexy, but that's just me. You bet.
Bastard!! Postcards!
Brand new, unused, in mint and near-mint condition! My friend and faithful minion Damia gave me three postcards as a gift. One is a nice close-up of the Bastard himself, looking all about to get wicked on someone's back side. The second is DS posed with the sword he nicked from the Fire Efreet, and the third has DS chillin with his Four Lords of Havoc!
These three postcards came free when you bought the videos from Pioneer back in the day. If you aquire the videos mint in package like I did, you can still get the free postcards! Which means now I have two sets of those postcards. Yay!
The Lords of Havoc and DS with the Fire Sword
DS Close-up!
The Bastard!! Anime OAV VHS, volumes 1, 2 and 3, subtitled!
Thanks to Mr. Flibbles at Ebay.com I now have the Venom and Exodus videos of the three part series. And thanks to myself and the people at the Virgin Megastore in Downtown Disney in Orlando, I have the first video. Virgin only had three tapes available (and not even the entire series) for Bastard, and the only subtitled one happened to be Resurrection, which was the only one I needed. Hurray!
Yao Kazuki provides the voice for Dark Schneider and it's the most hilarious thing I've ever heard. He's perfect! I just never realized how often DS got his ass kicked. Really appeals to my sado-maso side...
Bastard!! Manga #1, 8-13 and 18
Thanks to Tim on Ebay I have my first manga ever!! They are written in Chinese Mandarin and distributed by Youngcom, which means I don't have a clue what any of the words mean (except for the few strange English words scattered throughout: Parthenogenesis! Harsh!) but I thoroughly enjoy drooling over the artwork! I can follow the story somewhat through the pictures and am more than happy to make do until the American distributing comapny provides us with an English translated verison (finally!!).
I sat there giggling for a while when I flipped through manga 18, since DS was nekkid for about half the book! Of course, all the anatomically correct parts were censored, but the sentiment is still there. I was also amazed by the scene parodying Disney's Aladdin (amazed Hagiwara doesn't get sued) and, since Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies, of course I got a giant kick out of the whole scene. I seriously have to wonder, though, how much content will be censored from the American version of the mangas. For a free country, we sure like to suppress artistic creativity... I've heard that the American versions will be released in shots of 60 pages or so, and I'm beginning to fear that each manga is going to get condensed into that size.
I also wonder how companies will handle a series with the name "Bastard," since there is bound to be some crazy retard who gets offended by the Bastard comic but not by the Bastard novel by John Jakes.
 
My manga came mint in plastic, yup yup! It didn't take me long to rip them all open though. Dark Schneider is an obnoxious, lecherous, disgusting slob and everyone loves him anyway. It just makes him seem that much cooler when he turns around and kicks some ass.
The Bastard!! Dark Schneider Majin Figure!
Thanks to Highly Treasured Collectibles in Ellijay, Georgia I have me a brand new, mint in box Bastard!! DS Majin Figure!! The Majin figure is an impressive, highly detailed figure, second in a series of beautiful dolls from Kotobukiya Co. The box itself is approximately 13.5 inches long, 7 inches deep and 10 inches tall (not including display flap). It's big. The figure itself is big, with a 12 inch wingspan, a great big tail (heheheh), and lots of "flowing" yellow hair!! The figure stands about 7.5 inches, not including wings, and comes complete with claws and horns. Yes, DS is a horny demon now! The Majin form is absolutely fascinating, and I finally decided to take him out of the box.
Screw 10 points of articulation!! I had been previously led to believe that the Majin figure had 10 moving parts just like the Jugulator figure (which raised suspicions intrinsically) but what have I discovered?
A grand total of sixteen points of articulation!!!
And they are as follows:
(2) rotation at shoulders
(2) rotation above biceps
(2) flexion/extension at the elbows
(2) rotation at the wrists
(2) rotation at the hips
(2) flexion/extension, rotation at the knees
(2) flexion/extension, limited rotation at the ankles
(2) flexion/extension of the lower wings
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And his tail is bendable!!!! *giggles maniacally*
The figure is amazing. It's great in the box, but once I freed it from it's paper and plastic prison *snork* I was absolutely blown away by the detail and the mobility the creature has! It's impressive. It may be great in display and may be worth more to "serious" collectors mint in box, but who the hell am I kidding? It's not like I will ever sell the thing, and it's definately worth it to take the figure from the box. You can't really appreciate it when it's hiding behind plastic.
I haven't been lucky enough to see where the hell this thing comes from, but I happened to catch an explination of sorts off Ebay by a seller who knew more than I did:
After the world is destroyed, Dark Schneider holds a grudge against the demons and angels responsible for the death of his subordinates... and vows revenge. There are 7 demon overlords, each possessing a magical sphere called a "Judas Pain". When Dark steals all 7 Judas Pains and utilizes their dark magic, he is able to transform himself into his Majin form.
And might I add, wow! But.... how'd he go blond all the sudden? One of the very first things that turned me on to the Bastard!! series was that DS had white hair. (The first thing to catch my attention was the title, of course). The Majin figure is still absolutely beautiful though, so the fact that Dark Schneider went blond isn't too bothersome.
Like, oh my gawd he's so, like, totally blond! *gags*
  
  
The professional pictures below give an idea of the impressive detail and display possibilities, if anyone ever dares to take it out of the box.
 
The third Bastard!! figure of course is the Mikael figure, which I didn't like and have little interest in purchasing (unless it's reeeal cheap). Personally, I thought she looked like a mutant bumble bee, but maybe that's just my loathing of anime women with breasts large enough to snap their spines. Or maybe I'm just jealous.
The last two figures in the series don't hold much hope for a Kall-Su figure, but there is definately a Porno Dianno in our future. *taps fingers together, annoyed* I really want a Kall-su figure now. Thanks for planting the idea, Kat!! >.<
Coming Soon!
Manga and an artbook from Kat!! YAY!!!!
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