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Showapop's blog

ShowaPop!: 80's Vintage Kimono My House Flyer

Living in Southern California I never had a chance to visit Kimono My House back in the 1980's and I didn't know they were still around until I read they were closing down a few years ago. Pony Toy was my choice of Anime stores back in the1980's and as much as I knew about Kimono My House I never could make it up there. Keep in mind I was in Jr High and High School and Emeryville was a overnight trip from Southern California.

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Going through my items I came across this vintage 1980's Kimono My House ad still in one of my old model kits I bought back then. I remember picking it up at a comic book store in Monterey, Ca during the short time I was living in Watsonville. Interesting item from one the innovators of anime in the USA back in the 1980s.

Leonardo Flores

Posted 23 April, 2012 - 11:22 by Showapop
Original Imai Macross Box Art Painting

If I haven't said it a hundred times, I always wondered what happen to the original 1980's Macross paintings that were used for the box art from Imai, Arii, Nichimo and Bandai.

I believe the Macross art was some of the finest art ever made for toys and model kits. Last week a seller put up the original art for the 1/100 Imai Macross Factory on a Japanese auction site. Reasonably priced at 100000¥, here is your chance to own the original art to perhaps the best box art in the series.

Posted 29 September, 2011 - 15:23 by Showapop
VF-4 Lightning III Limited Resin Kit

©2011 Leonardo Flores

Step Back VF-19! Hold Tight VF-11's! Take Notice VF-2's!

Hobby World depot has reissued their 1/72 Resin VF-4 Lightning III model kit from Flashback 2012. Based off the ultra rare Musasiya kit, HWD correct many of the flaws and updated the kit. 65 finely molded resin, a vacu-form clear canopy and decals are included.

And why not the VF-4? Less than 5 glorious seconds on the screen at the tale end of Flashback 2012, it has to be one of Kawamori's most beautiful fighter designs ever. Other than a few resin and soft vinyl kits, the VF-4 has been sadly and criminally neglected in kit or toy form for far to long.

Posted 12 September, 2011 - 16:05 by Showapop
Macross 1/144 Model Kit review Series "The Triangle of Hate"

With the near closure of my four 1982 Macross 1/100 Destroid Model reviews, I thought I would head into a new series of Macross kit reviews which I call "The Triangle of Hate".

This includes three Imai kits all in the same scale: 1/144 Valkrie 4 Type, 1/144 Queadlunn Rau Battle Suit and 1/144 Nousjadeul-Ger. All thee mecha were the enemies of each other in the original Super dimensional Space Fortress Macross series.

One good aspect about this series is that I build all three of these kits back when I was a kid in the 1980's so it is going to be nice to get a second chance at building them and should be a good display of in scale Macross kits.

Posted 1 August, 2011 - 19:22 by Showapop

Showa POP! Non-Macross Makoto Fujiwara Record Vinyl!
By Leonardo Flores ©2011

I've been building up my non-Macross collection of Mari Iijima records when I realized I have never looked for any Makoto Fujiwara Non-Macross related records.
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Makoto Fujiwara (1947-2002) had a singing career that begun in 1972 but is mostly remembered by singing the theme to Macross, Daitern 3 and Technopolice 21C to western audiences.
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Makoto's career in singing Pop music in Japan was also extensive, releasing 11 singles and two albums. Here's a sample of some of his singles.

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Posted 5 July, 2011 - 15:16 by Showapop

Showa Pop! Macross & Model Graphix Alternate Valkyrie Markings
By Leonardo Flores

What I have been liking about collecting Bandai and Hasegawa Valkyrie model kits is the alternate non-canon markings and schemes that are included with their Valkyrie kits. Having built the same TV and DYRL markings for the last 25 years its nice to step out and have a little fun with developing my own paint schemes based on markings that are included with the kit.

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Some of the best alternate Valkyrie markings available are the decals released in a partnership by Model Graphix and Hasegawa in the 1990's. This particular sheet was a limited edition bonus that was included in the Hasegawa 1/72 VF-1S Valkyrie Special Clear Green model kit from the 1990's.

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Posted 21 June, 2011 - 11:25 by Showapop

Showa Pop! Japanese Zero & Imperial Army Spotted in Chino!
©2011 By Leonardo Flores

May 14th-15th 2011 was the annual Planes of Fame Chino Airport Airshow in Chino, California.
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This year aviation and Show Pop enthusiasts were treated to a mock dogfight between A WWII Japanese Zero-sen and a Lockheed P-38 Lighting.
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What is so special about the Planes Of Fame Zero is that it flies with its original Sakae engine. It was great seeing this rare warbird fly to enthusiastic crowds.

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WWII Renenactors were also present, myself being the WWII 9th ID. A Japanese IJA camp was set up and a mock battle between US marines and the IJA was well received by the crowd. All around a great day for all.

Posted 9 June, 2011 - 18:18 by Showapop
1/72 Macross Zero F-14!

I don't want to say too much as I want to wait until I watch Macross Zero before I do any kind of review of my most recent purchase, Hasegawa's Limited Edition release of the Macross Zero marked 1/72 F-14 model kit from 2002.

Being a huge Macross and F-14 Tomcat fan this was my dream model kit releases ever! Its been hell trying to locate one of these kits as they never appear on the second hand market, myself only seeing one for sale on Y-Auctions for 7000yen. Who would of thought I would have been able to pick it up here in California at Frank & Sons. I love getting a deal but this was one of those times when I just had to pay for it.

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Posted 23 May, 2011 - 13:35 by Showapop
Bandai Macross Model Kit Mania!

Lately I've been hung up on Macross Model Kits manufactured by Bandai. After going to MacrossCon 2010 and seeing perhaps every Macross Model kit ever made it inspired me to start collecting Macross model kits. I own many Macross Kits to begin with but I never displayed the boxes like I do now. I will always be a builder so I plan to eventually build the kits I collect and review them for CollectionDX. My goal is to review both the reissue Bandai kits and original Imai kits to compare and contrast the two versions. I also feel less guilty building a Bandai reissue rather than an Imai original.

Posted 5 May, 2011 - 12:03 by Showapop

My good Chinese gal pal friend Silu xiaojie from Guangzhou was kind enough to bring me back all six Hyperwiz Astro Plan Space Adventures YF-10 and YF-11 model kits. While the Astro Plan toys are easier to get here in the states, the model kits have been next to impossible for me to locate.

Here are some sneak peaks of the kits themselves. I have already started the YF-10 White and YF-11 Green kits. The details are soft and the kit build and feel is like an early 1980's model kits. Regardless, I am just happy they made model kits of these! More in depth information in the CDX review of these kits at a later date.

Posted 22 March, 2011 - 11:58 by Showapop

Since 1985, when I was 11 years old, I have been wanting all three 1/12 model kits of the armor of the three leads of Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross/ Robotech Masters. I have always loved the series with its unique ensemble cast and the distinctive looking armor the soldiers wore throughout the short run anime series. These kits were released by three model kit companies, Arii, Imai and LS. Why it was split between three companies I can only speculate but it has made tracking down these kits quite difficult over the years as the LS and Imai kits are difficult to locate.

Posted 7 February, 2011 - 16:57 by Showapop

So I finally cleared out the garage and got to my GI Joe bins. After 5 years of writing for CDX I very much nearly finished with reviewing my Anime toys from when I was I kid. I still have at least 1 gem left and a few other minor pieces but this is it. No worries about getting new anime items and model kits as I'm still looking for great new and vintage items.

Where the late 80's was dominated by Anime and Macross, the early 1980's was dominated by GI Joe. I stopped collecting around 1985 so I concentrated my collection for the years between 1982-1985. In 2011 I plan to start reviewing my GI Joe collection and have been going through my collection, replacing parts and making an inventory of what I am missing. Yo Joe!

Posted 20 December, 2010 - 17:53 by Showapop

I have been slowly getting my WWII Imperial Japanese Army uniform together. I picked up the following items recently including a beautifully personalized Mess Kit dated Showa 17. I'm particularly concentrating on get a Japanese Battle of Iwo Jima impression together to display will my WWII USMC kit. I still need some tropical pants and boots for a stand alone display. I hope to find sake cups, a backpack, blanket roll, a helmet with a complete liner, Arsaka rifle and ammo pouches and belt at a later date.

Posted 15 December, 2010 - 17:58 by Showapop
Showa Pop! Up & Coming Reviews

Up and coming CDX reviews from Modcineaste:

Posted 24 November, 2010 - 19:13 by Showapop

Interested in how a IJA soldier lived during the Pacific War? Southern California's own 2nd Sendai reenacts the standard IJA infantry soldier in WWII. Most of the goal of 2nd Sendai is focused on learning combat tactics, drill and the daily life of the Japanese soldier in WWII and participate in living history and education events.

A long time collector of Militaria myself, lately I have been purchasing original WWII Japanese items for my collection. Just like Japanese toy and record collecting, collecting Japanese Militaria has educated me on the Japanese experience during WWII. I have long been fascinated with the Battle of Iwo Jima and assembled an original uniform of WWII USMC that I'm nearing completion and plan to assemble a IJA uniform to go along with the USMC kit for my collection.

Posted 29 October, 2010 - 18:35 by Showapop
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