1/6 scale Adidas Superstar

From 1/6 scale sharks (see entry here and here) to 1/6 scale Adidas.

Two of the earlier pairs of 1/6 Adidas Superstar that were released were worn by 1/6 scale 12-inch Hong Kong Special Duties Unit (SDU) members. They came with Hot Toys SDU Assaulter and Breacher in 2003. Although they are usually attired in their tactical suits, in the movie "Final Option (1994)", Michael Wong as LT Stone Wong (Dragon's LT Wong posted here) orders his Unit to discard their suits in place of civies so that they can identify who the bad guys were as they too wore SDU suits to confuse the unit in the ultimate battle.

As usual, Hot Toys SDU team came heavily decked out with tons of equipment and accessories - value for money!

Hot Toys SDU "Assaulter" (full coverage posted here)

Hot Toys SDU "Breacher" (full coverage posted here)

Now a comparison of 1/6 scale Adidas Superstar. The pair of 1/6 scale white/black Adidas Superstar was made available thanks to Shaun who bought it during his recent trip to Hong Kong and there's a whole post/entry about the sneakers here.

Hot Toys Adidas on the left and genuine Adidas licensed item on the right

Close-up of Hot Toys' Adidas

Close-up of Adidas 1/6 Superstar White/Black

Rear view of Hot Toys 1/6 scale Adidas

The genuine stuff! Look at the details and stitching - really SUPERB

The character wearing the 1/6 Adidas Superstar is Kakugo from Apocalypse Zero (覚悟のススメ Kakugo no Susume), a manga series written and illustrated by Takayuki Yamaguchi, and adapted into a two-part original video animation (OVA) in 1996. The basic plot is that Kakugo and Harara are siblings trained to fight the monsters roaming in post-apocalyptic Tokyo in the 21st century. To aid them, Kakugo and Harara were entrusted with "Zero armors", exo-skeletons forged from the souls of deceased warriors. After Harara succumbs to the evil within the armor, it is up to Kakugo to defeat his sibling. I really dig the "Zero armor" and bought the Medicom Apocalypse Zero "Kyoka Gai Kokaku Zero" figure without even finding out who the character was, good or bad (see my post of the full armored figure here)

Close-up of Kakugo's head sculpt

If you are thinking of watching the Apocalypse Zero OVA, John Oppliger (editor and consultant of AnimeNation, an anime merchandise and production distributor) called the Apocalypse Zero OVA "the most viscerally violent and gruesome anime" he has seen and "arguably the most grotesque anime ever made". Consider yourself warned!

Tokyo Tribe 2's Kai from the Saru gang also wore Adidas Superstar (link here)

Shark Attack!

In the movie "Thunderball (1965)" - see previous post, Sean Connery as James Bond did come face-to-face with sharks. Connery's life was in danger in the sequence with the sharks in Largo's pool. He had insisted that Ken Adam (the production designer) build a special Plexiglas partition inside the pool but, despite this, it was not a fixed structure and one of the sharks managed to pass through it. Connery had to abandon the pool immediately, seconds away from attack.

Sideshow's 1/6 scale 12-inch Sean Connery James Bond meets 1/6 scale shark!

Close-up of 1/6 shark

Back view of shark

I got this Illuminated Shark Model with dissectible body cavity from the National Geographic shop in VivoCity. Always liked cut-away cross-sectional view models and this great white shark just fits the bill nicely.

It has a clear shark's body on one side, shark muscles, glow-in-the-dark spine and skull, stomach, intestine and spiral valve, gill and circulatory system, liver, mouth and jaws! All the skeleton and organs can be removed. Only thing you can't do is make Shark's fin soup.

Say: "JAWS!!"

Other COOL cut-away model kits I own and have posted: Targa World War II Tiger I Tank (link here) and Bandai's Space Battleship Yamato Mechanic File Set (link here)

Another great white posted earlier here, as part of the Action Man Deep Sea Mission set

Takara Kerberos Tetsorou Kai Preview

Takara's next 1/6 scale 12-inch Kerberos Panzer Cop figure is Tetsorou Kai. This figure is looking mighty fine!! He is supposed to be a millitary officer from the Japan Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) as opposed to police. Kai has fantastic armor as can be expected from Takara and will have cool accessories including stick grenades attached to his leg armor, a luger pistol and the PzB 39 anti-tank rifle.




Panzerbüchse PzB 39 anti-tank rifle. Panzerbüchse is the German term for anti-tank rifle used in World War II. Literally it means 'tank rifle'.

Check out this link for all the Kerberos Panzer Cops in my collection

Look Up! Look Down! Look Out!

"Thunderball (1965)" is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series after "Dr. No (1962)", "From Russia With Love (1963)" and "Goldfinger (1964)", and the fourth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 secret agent James Bond. You gotta admit it has one of the most corniest teaser posters ever produced - who thinks of these cheesy lines?

Sideshow released this deluxe 1/6 scale 12-inch Sean Connery as James Bond from the movie "Thunderball". Bond shows off his brawny legs in his diving outfit and is equipped with Q's aquatic propulsion dive rig, dive mask, dive knife, fins and spear gun.

Speargun with compressed-air canister (located at the rear) which extended the range to around 24 feet (7 metres) underwater

James Bond's Omega watch

The underwater propulsion unit that Q built came with a searchlight in front and was mounted on top of the oxygen tanks, allowing Bond to swim at high speed.

Another close-up view of Q's aquatic propulsion dive rig

James Bond with his combat knife and dive fins

Sean Connery's likeness as MI6 agent James Bond hides behind the dive mask

With his raised eyebrows and blank stare, James Bond looks more surprised than suave; and he certainly used a lot of Brylcreem for his hair - LOL

In those days, Bond was sleeping with girls left, right and center but because of AIDS, he's become almost celibate - ha! ha! Other James Bond figures covered earlier: Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, MI6 agent 007; Daniel Craig as Loading Toys Dangerous Man/Spy and as James Bond MI6 Agent 007 in Quantum of Solace

Other frogman covered earlier: Action Man SCUBA diver, Action Man Aquanaut in Deep Sea Mission and the US Navy SEALs of course

Sean Connery as Henry Jones Sr; and keeping up with the Jones (link here)

Action Man SCUBA Diver

The Aquanaut stays on the seabed by way of weighted lead shoes (like the way an astronaut moves around on the lunar surface - in fact astronauts practice moving around in a seemingly weightless environment by being submerged underwater) whilst the SCUBA diver is more mobile with dive fins.

This Action Man SCUBA Diver was released by Hasbro in 1995 and although it was not as detailed as the combat swimmers released recently (check out BBI's US Navy SEAL UDT "Stingray" here), it was good for its time.

Action Man's 1/6 scale 12-inch SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Aparatus) Diver or Frogman as we used to call them, came with hood, diving mask, snorkel, regulator, SCUBA diving suit, buoyancy compensator, compressed-air cylinder (oxygen tank), wet suit, diving fins, speargun and magnetic explosives.

He came with regulator

and snorkel

Even has the information console with thermometer, pressure gauge and depth gauge

Comes with working spear gun that fires (with spare spear)

Action Man Aquanaut

As a part of the Action Man Deep Sea Mission set was this Action Man Aquanaut, all ready and equipped for his deep sea underwater adventure! What I liked about this figure was that it differed from the original Deep Sea Diver released many many years ago as well as the GI Joe Timeless Collection version released in 1999. Action Man strived to remain relevant and this series was probably the last that still had Action Man putting on clothes for his mission. Later releases had him with molded outfits and everything was just plastic which took away the realism associated with the original Action Man which had detailed uniforms and accessories, much like the 1/6 soldiers and figures released by other 1/6 manufacturers today.

Action Man in his basic black diving suit

I liked the design of his dive suit which have "shark teeth" marks on it

Action Man with his "specialised sub aqua breathing aparatus"

Check out his "lead weight shoes" to weigh him down underwater

Back view showing his oxygen tanks

Action Man Aquanaut's steel cutters or underwater hydraulic pliers with firing missile

"Is that a giant claw you have there or are you just happy to see me?"