Hong Kong: Mission Report

 
    So I'm back from HK, the next-best destination after Japan in the world for modellers and toy fans, and while this isn't my first time there, I must say it was the most fruitful one, cos I managed to actually stop and take some pictures, note down details and hunt down some obscure gems and outta-da-way shops, wootwoot. Newbies, if you're thinking of heading there, don't bother hitting the shops until after 3pm, cos that's mostly when most of them open. I'm suspecting it's cos they stay open till late - 10pm or more, and also some of the owners have full-time day-jobs. Sorry if images are blurred cos for some reason, a lot of shops prohibit cameras so I had to snap off the fly (I'm guessing it's just price competition, and also the copyright issue of third-party products based on TF toys...). Otherwise, sit back, whip out your pencil and start taking notes, fellas, here's the lowdown field report -

Zoids Proto Gojulas (Giga)

    My Zoids fever has not subsided, it seems, so I chanced upon a Gojulas, one of the biggest models of Zoids out there, obviously based on the T-Rex, but paying tribute to Japan's Big Brother of all monsters, Godzilla (hence Gojulas, geddit??). Koto last year announced plans to include this one into their HMM series. The HMM line is helluva lot better lookin' than Tomy's original series, but knowing the rate at which Koto comes up with Zoids stuff, it could be anything from one to three years' wait. So when I saw this limited edition Proto Gojulas Giga version, I snapped it up, even though it wasn't Koto LOL. I think this was released almost 10 years ago. For something so old, it's designed pretty well.