Christine Cooney

Website update 5/26/19

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Hooo boy. So much to say. I’ll try to keep it short.. ish.

  • I’ve been dealing with various medical issues since late last year. This is why I haven’t had the time nor energy to work on this site much. Hopefully, I’m all past that. (Knocks on wood. A lot.)
    Though if someone has a good luck charm and/or a good health charm they can send my way, I will NOT say no. (Seriously, I’m completely over being sick, or injured, or going through a battery of tests, and oh yes medical bills. >_< )
  • While upgrading WordPress for this site and another site of mine.. I kinda.. accidentally.. unstalled WordPress.. for both sites. Obviously I got the backups restored, but I’m finding some serious issues on the back end. Like 379 posts that no longer have categories. Yeaaah. Iiiit’s going to take me a while to go through and fix all that. However, I made sure everything has tags. So those still work.
  • Lots of new doujinshis added. (Look under the merchandise menu.)
  • The links page has been updated to include streaming video sites for the TV series and OVAs.
  • The Contact me and Submit a link forms now should be working properly. I think one of my plugins was being overly aggressive with any submissions that were sent. Basically, it was punting them to an approval list to protect from spammers. I tweaked some options and it should be less aggressive about that now. I’ve tested it a bit and so far so good. Of course if it starts causing problems again, I’ll be back to the drawing board trying to find out what’s wrong this time.
  • The official YST website‘s information on the Warlords / Mashou and Kayura confirmed information I had, including birthdates. So I added a note after their birthdate information saying as such. Yay for confirmation!
  • Also, a reminder that the Boys of Summer Art Challenge is going on next month. If you’re interested, please check out the blog post on it. If you can post daily, fantastic! If you only can do 1 piece, that’s still great. Just remember to have fun with it.
  • Finally a note to say a few things:
    1. Please take the time to practice self-care. Listen to some music. Walk or look at nature. Meditate. Journaling. Reading. Gaming. Work on your hobby. Make yourself a priority. Schedule it in or set a timer if you must, and put your devices on do not disturb.
    2. Wear shoes around your home. Yeaah I kinda hit my foot against a doorway over a month ago, and it seems like I fractured my pinky toe. It hurts, I can’t exercise, and I have to wear a huge boot on that foot until it heals. Don’t make my mistake. Put on something to protect your toes!

Boys of Summer Art Challenge 2019!

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samuraitroopersfanzine: “k-shinju88: “samuraireflections: “I forgot it’s almost June! You guys down? I’ll make a section for it in the discord ” HECK YES. \o3o/ 💕 Definitely gonna participate in this again! 😀 ” For those who may be new: this event is...

samuraitroopersfanzine:

k-shinju88:

samuraireflections:

I forgot it’s almost June!

You guys down?

I’ll make a section for it in the discord

HECK YES. \o3o/ 💕 Definitely gonna participate in this again! 😀

For those who may be new: this event is a month-long challenge to create something for our favorite series for all either 30 days of June or even just a few days of June. It’s all for fun and there’s no pressure!

Mixed Reviews for (bootleg) Anubis/Cale Figure

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samuraitroopersfanzine:

The admin of the Ronin Warriors Samurai Troopers 5 Samurai Los Cinco Samurai Toys Figures Facebook group recently received his order of the Anubis/Cale figure.

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Here’re his thoughts:

Cale arrived today. My review – took me longer to put him together compared to any of the bandai. There are one or two looser pieces. Leg armor is a bit awkward, biggest issue was the boots I think. They totally screwed up on sizing those. Even bandai has an issue or two like known hip joint issue so I know nothing is perfect. Pros- it is still a beautiful display piece, I really dig the soft cloak cape compared to the hard plastic alternative. Has a nice feature, the stand. The color scheme is awesome. Few tweaks and it’s up there. Overall rating, as a display piece I’d say 9…ease of putting together with patience…I’d say 5…so overall..7 out of 10.

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Meanwhile, a fan by the name of Jeff wrote about the figure he received on the  YOROIDEN SAMURAI TROOPERS – ARMOR PLUS – ( BANDAI) Facebook page:

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So here’s my Anubis set that I just got yesterday. Opened it up and…well you’ll see. I’m going to be probably getting a refund on this…its sad I had such high hopes for this.

Bought the fabric cape too. Started off good until i heard something loose already.

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Figure looked good at first…

Don’t care about the display stand at all. I just get these to display the armors on the black stand part…more on that in a second.

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Ok, now I see why its cheaper than the Bandai ones, there’s not just some assembly required, there’s a LOT of assembly required and ZERO instructions for them.

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The ONE PART I needed to work…falls apart completely the SECOND I TAKE IT OUT OF THE BOX!! Not to mention that the limbs are about to separate too…

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The paint on the cape’s insides is incomplete and chipping out of the box.

Here’s the main reason this failed, there’s a missing pin on the back piece and the screws they used are for decoration only. They aren’t remotely long enough to connect with the back piece. Either finding the proper size screws could work or glueing it might work.

But, the leg armor doesn’t stay on the legs, they don’t line up with the feet at all and the spikes on the skirt armor is missing one. But I DO have one extra of the spikes that go on the chest armor. Not good enough.

The paint under the feet armor is unfinished and the horn on the helmet doesn’t sit flush with the helmet.

The piece that connects the top of the plastic cape to the rest of it is also missing too.

On the plus side, they put a ton of extra detail onto the sheath of the sword with kanji and other detail. It’s like that all they really cared about.

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I did leave out some of his comments and pictures because there were no pics of it fully assembled and so this post wouldn’t be super long. Also Jeff likes to display the armor on the blank figure, not the main body, but he did say that the main body he received:

…slumps over and barely holds itself up. No to mention it feels like cheap playskool plastic

Another fan, Yusuke Sanada, posted pics of his collection to the Ronin Warriors Samurai Troopers 5 Samurai Los Cinco Samurai Toys Figures Facebook group and seemed to have no complaints about his figure(s):

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Sounds like it’s a bit of a gamble whether or not the figure arrives in “good” condition, but when it does, it seems to fit in well with the original, official, line. I’ve seen the figure on eBay, and the price isn’t too bad; but do note that they’re selling the cape separately from the figure for an extra cost, so be careful when making your purchase.

K-shinju at Sakura-Con

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k-shinju88:

Back home and resting after this year’s Sakura-Con! The whole weekend was fun, but the BEST moment out of everything I experienced was meeting Hideo Okamoto, hands down. Got his autograph, a photo op, and sat through the YST/RW 30th Anniversary panel all in one day.

Good news for those who couldn’t be at the con with me: I recorded most of the panel! Read the vid’s description for extra info. ^__^ (Video is currently unlisted- only those who get the link can view it.) Enjoy!

Celebrate in Osaka

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samuraitroopersfanzine:

The sister store to the Nakano Broadway Gallery Exhibit, aka Hakaba WEST, is continuing the celebration of the 30th Anniversary with another exhibition of art and new merchandise! Goods sold at the original exhibition back in October 2018 at Nakano Broadway will make another appearance in the Osaka branch. The event runs from March 6th, 2019, to March 21st, 2019!

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And check out the new merch!

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Top: a new t-shirt featuring Byakuen on the front, the logo on the back, and possibly the troopers’ insignias on the left sleeve!

Middle row, leftmost image: an acrylic figure featuring Arago and Kayura; this would match the previously released trooper and masho acrylic figure sheets.

Middle row, right two images: an acrylic diorama/backdrop where each of the figures from the acrylic sheets could be placed (Arago and Kayura are not included).

Bottom row left two images: ema with two different designs available.

Bottom row rightmost image: an eye mask!

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Check out this lovely cup featuring the insignias of the troopers and masho!

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On March 10th, 2019, there will also be a “special screening” of the most popular episodes, followed by a chat with Director Hamazu Mamoru and  Okamoto Hideo, Armor Designer (cover artist of the 30th Anniversary Memorial Book). The screening is a ticketed event, and participants will be gifted with an exclusive “pen light” featuring their favorite trooper or the four masho:

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I’m loving that the 30th Anniversary is still being celebrated!

The new merch is not yet available online, but some of the original merchandise from the Nakano Broadway exhibit are still available here (and I’m told the site does ship to the USA if the World Shopping interface is used).