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Chapter 46 Part 2: DDL

This is such a tease. Come back tomorrow and we'll have the second half...

Chapter 46 Part 1: DDL

Arguably the most exciting news to come out of “The Men of Power” and “Monstrous Ones” since last year’s fan favorite poll, The Ebizuka Trio won’t be lonely come Spring, as Dive have announced that they will be producing a new rendition of Hideto Bandou. Designed to be a counter piece to the Ebi Trio, this Bandou, complete with a jackknife, is much more menacing than the mellowed-out “T.F.O.A.” version and the Rock and Roll FBM version. However, there’s a twist.

Bandou will not be available at retail. Only collectors who have bought Hiromi (February), Makoto (March), and Pon (April) will have the chance to buy Bandou, as they will have to send in proof of purchase stickers that are included with the three. Collectors can purchase Bandou by sending in those three stickers and 3,990 yen. Dive will be accepting orders from April 30th to May 31st and Bandou is scheduled to ship in Summer. Looks like we’re in for a good year.

Now we're talkin'!

Dive are continuing their move to further tie in the “P.A.D” Ryushin and the “Next Generation” Kousei to “T.FO.A. Continued” line by retroactively producing variants that defined that line, for the two heads. First were the distinctive FUN variants, and now are the monochrome Limited Retail Edition versions. Designed to truly represent the manga images themselves, the Limited Retail Editions of the Fourth and Fifth Heads will look great next to their successors.

New images of the two remaining limited editions of the upcoming “Men of Power” addition, Sugihara Makoto, are making the rounds. Regulus have Mako donned in a white uniform with their signature artwork on the back as well as on his removable hat (didn’t know Izumi had the tastes of a Yakuza). The limited send away Postcard edition is no less flamboyant with its gradient sakura print.

Best chapter so far...?

Chapter 45: DDL

Page spread has been fixed. All "v2" DDLs are the revised chapter. I've also included the corrected pages for anyone wanting to swap it out rather than download the entire chapter again.

Chapter 44 (V2): DDL

Dive have presented us with the final sculpt and paint applications of the long awaited Sugihara Makoto Flashback Generation figure. While I will admit that "Mako" is one of the better sculpts coming out of Dive during the past few months, he's not the Mako I know. Truth be told, I'm not sure what's going on at Dive since the TFOA2 line concluded last year. I, like many others, feel that the second Front line was amongst their finest figures to date. There was a time when I would greatly anticipate the announcement of a new FBG, but now I nearly cringe when I see an update on Dive's home page.

I realize that most readers are fans of Hiroshi's later art style and that squared jaws and angled noses are generally preferred over the cruder art from early Crows volumes, but I'm growing tired of every recent figure coming off as a common hooligan devoid of personality. Mako especially is not a character I would associate with a thug-like scowl. To me this looks like any old "who-kun" standing around looking to pick a fight. It's one thing to to muck up Amachi, but now their screwing with The Boys! I'm almost tempted to go back and purchase this ill-received set as a representation of Suzuran's E Trio rather than be subjected to more generic monkey-faced goons. I'm ever hopeful that Dive will make an about face and start showing us what they are capable of again. In the meantime, I'm thankful Pon wears a mask...

There are three things that you can always count on: death, taxes, and Bouya variants. As predicted earlier, the upcoming Big Boss Coherence of Style sets will come with a new repaint of Bouya Harumichi. It's a bit of a no-brainer, and welcome news to many collectors as this sculpt is easily the best of Bouya in this scale, and this look is his most classic. However, because the sculpt is the same as the upcoming Regulus 10th Anniversary Bouya, it could undermine that set. Of course completists will want both Bouyas.

Good news for Crows X Worst memorabilia collectors and for vinyl figure collectors in particular. Glam is throwing their hat into the ring once again with a new figure and a new line, once again in the realm that separated them in the first place: that of the super- deformed. Titled, "Karasu-Damashi Deluxe" the new line of super-deformed vinyl figures will begin with Ogawa Kenji, "Dosuken" himself. Posed in a more dynamic manner than previous incarnations, as expected, Dosuken comes with a removable horse mask. On another note, I'm quite astonished by the number of times Dosuken has been made into figures. I would even go out on a limb and say I believe he has more figures than Hana does...

Part of the appeal of Crows X Worst apparel has always been the fact that it's cosplay without cosplay. With the right leather jacket or Sukajyan, it's easy to imagine yourself as a part of the Crows X Worst universe. Black Rebel are taking that one step further. With their new BT Black Rebel Personal Service, they are offering fans the chance to join the ranks of The Front of Armament. Through the service, the fan will have their name inscribed in kanji on a T-shirt of their choice along with the respective members of that generation. The assortment includes the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Generations. On another note, I am rather smug seeing that I am one of the few (if not only one) members who can partake, as Korean names are spelled in both Korean and Chinese.

I think this chapter will lay to rest any doubts pertaining to Bandou's badassery.

Chapter 44: DDL

Those of you who followed along with our Advent Calendar over the holidays may have noticed the last day of Crowsmas revealed a couple of mystery images...

New galleries, same crappy camera.

What can I say? I suck.

Chapter 92: DDL

Leave it to Regulus to come out with the flashiest edition of the upcoming Kirishima Hiromi Flashback Generation figure. The leopard print shirt is... questionable, but the close-up of the face sculpt does seem to suggests that the end product will be better than we may have thought. Having said that, the last few Regulus editions have certainly been underwhelming, but Hiromi might just be worth picking up simply because of the writing on his back...

Final images of the next Black Rebel figure, "Blacktop Motorcycle" Murata Shougo, have been released. As was expected, the final painted prototype maintains the line's usual quality in sculpt and painting. Even so, the similarity in face sculpts is a bit lamentable, and it remains to be seen if Shougo too will suffer the same warping issues that plagued the other larger scale figures.

Why only 10 days when the song clearly lists 12? We're Crows! We won't be held to society's traditions. Besides, I ran out of good ideas somewhere around Day 7. Anyway, every day up until Christmas, there will be a special surprise revealed on the CXW Advent Calendar. Some will be cool, some stupid, and others outright epic! Okay, that last part is probably a lie. In any event, I hope it'll at least be fun.

I'm gonna go eat dinner. Check back in an few hours and we'll kick off the festivities with something most definitely cool!

UPDATE: Day 1: Crows Chapter 41

UPDATE: Day 2: Box Of Crows

UPDATE: Day 3: "B2B" Teaser

UPDATE: Day 4: P.A.D. Card

UPDATE: Day 5: Crows Chapter 42

UPDATE: Day 6: Cookies

UPDATE: Day 7: P.A.D. Stocking

UPDATE: Day 8: Tree

UPDATE: Day 9: Crows Chapter 43

UPDATE: Day 10: ???

In just a few short hours, another Christmas will be behind us. Hopefully you're mashing away at a new console, texting a friend from a new phone or maybe even reading this very post from a brand new laptop. Perhaps you're staring at a handful of gift cards to places your family thinks you shop at and wondering why they can't figure out what you really like after an entire lifetime! In any event, allow me to extend my sincerest holiday wishes to you and your families.I hope that Crowsmas was as much fun for all of you as it was for us making it. Like Christmas, maybe you didn't get everything you wanted, but as they say, there's always next year...

I Hope everyone's Crowsmas was the merriest.

Chapter 43: DDL

The best thing about having two concurrent lines of Flashback Generation figures is the quick turnaround between updates. Hot on the heels of Mayumi Tetsuji, Dive have finally revealed its third version of Kirishima Hiromi. Dive will be releasing Regular, Dive, Regulus (images yet to be released), FUN, Special Limited Edition, and Postcard Lottery versions of Hiromi, the newest addition to "The Men of Power" line. As our own KSC says, the face sculpt is a bit "Mitsumonkeyish" and he is not as good as the Flashback Memories version. Even so, Hiromi is a and much-needed replacement of Dive's atrocious first attempt.

And where would Hiromi be without his cronies? As if they anticipated the inevitable questions (and perhaps outrage), Dive have also released an images of prototypes of Honjou Toshiaki aka "Pon" and Sugihara Makoto aka "Mako". Easily the most exciting news in a long time for Crows collectors. With Hiromi revealed, that only leaves Kuzugami Tatsuo, the only prototype revealed at this year's Wonder Festival without official images from Dive. Considering that Dive was giving Worst some long overdue attention, it's noteworthy that they would return to Crows near the tail end of both lines. Hiromi will be released in February, while Mako is due for release in March, Pon in April.

Just making sure.

Chapter 42: DDL

Yesterday I posted a card from myself and the rest of the gang. Harumichi sculpted the Santa hats and took the original photograph which was then manipulated in Photoshop by yours truely. Included above are the rest of the images from the photo shoot that didn't make it to the final product.

From all of us, to all of you, Merry Crowsmas.

Yesterday I posted a teaser for something simply entitled "B2B". Today, I had fully intended to announce exactly what this trailer was teasing, but decided against it. Why? I'm full of promises, and a lot of times that doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot. I say I'm going to do something and then I don't. Either I run out of time or I lose interest altogether. This website is sometimes indicative of that very nature. The way I figure it, as it stands, that trailer could represent just about anything. If more comes of it, you'll be the first to know. If it begins and ends with "B2B", then nothing ventured nothing gained.

What I will say is that the piece was made entirely by myself using a variety of programs I'm currently taking classes in. I've only been using the this software for about 9 weeks, so a lot of what you're seeing is just the basics. It's my hope that as my skill level grows, so will the complexity of the project itself. Not that I'm saying there is a project, I'm just sayin'...

Congratulations to InvincibleKungFu for being the first to discover the mystery gift hidden in the Advent Calendar. His box of stuff ships out in the morning. To those who missed out, don't despair. It's possible another present could pop up before the end. You never know...

Of course you already knew this, but in case you didn't...

Chapter 41: DDL

The link says it's "Temporarily Unavailable", but it looks like a few guys from the forums were able to grab it, so I'd keep checking back during the course of the day.

Chapter 91: DDL

More pictures of the upcoming 20th Anniversary set with additional details. As previously reported the sets will be available in black, gold, and silver and will be produced at the staggering low edition number of 200 sets per color. Each set will come with a serial number. In addition, plaques autographed by Hiroshi himself will be available as well as a framed reproduction of Suzuki Keizou's note straight from the pages of Worst Gaiden. The secondary market has been pretty sluggish in Japan and it seems like Hiroshi and co. have found a way to revitalize it...

Regulus are continuing their scene-specific FBG's, as the Regulus Edition Regulus Edition is straight from Crows. Wearing the outfit he wore in the climactic battle with P.A.D., Tetsuji comes complete with "battle-damage" and a wrist band with the Snake Heads logo. Color-wise, he is a good fit with the Regulus Edition Kouhei although I could have done without the battle damage.

It's been a long time since have had new offerings. Their newest addition to the Crows X Worst line of apparel is a Fourth Generation T.F.O.A. leather jacket. The jacket is noteworthy due to the fact that it is the first to feature a stitched logo as opposed to a simple decal. However, the jacket is wrong. Twist! While the jacket is being released as a Fourth Gen jacket, the logo it sports has never been seen in Crows, the art books, promotional material, nor on any toy. My guess would be that the logo they were intending to make is the one seen here. It is well known that Hiroshi was initially heavily involved with Repair, providing designs, original illustrations for advertisements, and featuring their products in Worst. Looks like he's too busy counting his ¥¥¥ now.

Well that didn't take long. SkunkWORKS have released images of the painted Flashback Generation Mayumi Tetsuji, and judging from the sheer number of pictures, they too know that they have a winner on their hands. The black shirt with the arms crossed is the Regular Version while the blue shirt version is the Dive version. Dive have provided additional images with photoshopped tattoos, sunglasses, and the floral print to give you an idea of the final product. Both versions are directly from the pages of Crows. Sharp collectors will also note that the FUN version is sporting the familiar red and white color scheme, and that Tetsuji is wearing a variation of an actual Repair product, not unlike the FUN Bitou.

This is a long overdue return to form for Dive, as quality in sculpts had dipped dramatically following the now classic "The Front of Armament Continued" line-up. In fact, this has to be the first "must have" figure since Tesshou. Hopefully the rest of "The Monstrous Ones" will be as impressive. I'm holding out for a variant wearing the Snake Heads shirt in either black or white (I'm looking at you, Regulus. Don't let us down now).

More Worst, and more Busoh coming our way, as images of the next Black Rebel figure have been released. Continuing with the Heads, the next Black Rebel is Murata Shougo. Like his mentor before him, Shougo's theme is "Blacktop Motorcycle", and in usual Black Rebel fashion, Shougo is just a bit more fashionable than his already substantially fashionable representation in the pages of Worst. I can't help but wonder and hope that they continue with the Heads and that we'll see a Keizou and a Ryuushin, hopefully a larger version of the recent Backbone T.F.O.A. 4th Special Box. And when are we going to get a Sugata and a Hideomi?!!!

The winner of Dive's first poll, Mayumi Tetsuji has finally been unveiled. Captured exactly as he is seen in the pages of Crows, the second-in-command of the Snake Heads is an unexpected but welcome addition. Recent FBG's had seen a decline in sculpting but this seems to be a welcome return (it was ineviatable) to a quality standard. Of course judgment will have to be reserved until we see the painted prototypes. I'll probably pick up one to keep Kouhei company. Preferably, one with that nice Snake Heads logo.

New images of the latest addition to the Crazy Heads line have surfaced, and it is none other than the 1st Head of T.F.O.A., Suzuki Keizou. It's only been a few months since the character's debut and he already has an FBG out, an upcoming Crazy Head. and he was the other spokesman for Roll, Roll, Rock, which has traditionally been Guriko's shindig. This just seems to verify the reports that Keizou is enjoying immense popularity in Asia. Linda continue to do a good job and once again the line proves to be the most consistent and varied. On another note, as our own Paulalala noticed, he could pass for a second Ryuushin Crazy Head (especially the FUN version with its anachronistic logo). A happy Ryuushin, that is...

A new limited edition Flashback Generation will be released through Linda Garage of Suzuki Keizou. This Y.Y. Boueki limited edition is sporting the familiar (and anachronistic) Collars track jacket, only this time in a strong red tone. From the looks of it, the actual jacket will also be available for purchase.

Not withstanding the fact that the name of the set is a mouthful of terrible, the upcoming Big Boss set is actually a pretty big deal. It's the first true Crows X Worst 10 cm set to come out since Organic's 3rd Collection of the List and the first since Union Creative took over. While it's lamentable that it's a smaller line-up than the traditional seven figure set, it is a meaty set with much-needed and much-demanded representation of Zetton, Joe, and Amachi. Doesn't hurt that they've finally rectified the atrocity that was the first 10 cm Hana. Speculation can essentially begin now as to who will be the secret, but I for one wouldn't be surprised if we got another Bouya...

This site is created and maintained by fans of Crows & Worst and is no way affiliated with Hiroshi Takahashi, Akita Shoten or Toho Studios. Copyrights and trademarks for manga, toys, films, artwork and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners. © CXW.com 2008