Matthew Reilly's The Five Greatest Warriors has been released!

Here at ODU we recognise Australian talent. Dwelling away from anime, manga, American comics and what not I'd like to offer this post as a tribute to one of my favourite authors Matthew Reilly.

I started reading Matthew Reilly books since I was in year 11 (aged 16). His unique style of writing draws the reader into his action scenes. The action starts quick and fast but will never cover the epic plot behind the story. To date I have read all but one of his books and have collected the series that I like best. the Shane Schofield saga and the Jack West Jr books.

With the release of The Five Greatest Warriors I was quick to grab it from Kinokuniya! The way how Matthew Reilly left Jack West's fate in The Six Sacred Stones to be continued in this book was just inhumane I had to wait in excess of a year to find out what happens! Like the books before this one it is really hard to put down I already read 130 pages! Which leads me to rethink how am I going to manage my tasks at work and my assessments for uni while squeezing in guitar practice when this book is in front of me!

Well done Matthew Reilly you have done it again!

Jack West Jr books: Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones and The Five Greatest Warriors

Shane Schofield books: Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow and Hell Island

Aion Update

A bit of time has passed since my last post for Aion. Well now I'm a level 28 Sorceror. Even though my progress has been rather slow, I am enjoying my time exploring the world as well a taking part in legion activities.

At level 25, a player will under go an Abyss entry quest. It is a series of quests designed to help the player gain knowledge about the Abyss and what to expect while venturing in the area. The Abyss is a PvPvE zone, although you can solo the area, it is recommended that you don't, as you will most likely encounter players from the other faction, or high level mobs while questing.


Well, I was invited to join a fortress defense - this is similar to the battleground raids in WoW. This being my first time taking part in the Abyss PvP I just followed the more experienced players. We managed to gain control of one fort, and held our ground from the advancing horde of Asmodians. And I do mean horde, there were so many that all I could see was a sea of red names. And when the battle started, my new Dell XPS system crashed!!!! 

We managed to hold the fort, and during the down time, I decided to go exploring within. During the Abyss Introduction chain quests, it was mentioned that in order to win over the fort, you needed to defeat the fort commander/boss. Well I managed to find the Elyos commander/boss. You need to be part of a really well organised group to be able to take him down. This also applies to the those going up against the Asmodian's equivalent.

Well that is it for me now, back to meat grinder. More Aion updates to come.

Macross Frontier Movie - The False Songstress.

Like a fair few theatrical versions the Macross Frontier movie is based on the series but adds a few nice changes and general storyline editting. As a fan of Macross I thought I may as well offer a trailer for your eye candy purposes.


As seen above Alto's Valkyrie has been fitted with a new crash equipment known formally as the Atmospheric Flight Pack. It looks awesome but I wonder what they can do make this movie even better. Lets just hope they don't ruin this awesome franchise!

A model display of Alto's valkyrie equipped with the AFP

Hot Toys Astro Boy Movie Figure

Hot Toys is quickly becoming one of my favourite figure manufacturers. After being pleasantly surprised by the quality and attention to detail in the previous post I decided to look online to find more about this company that I had not heard of before. Hot Toys is a company based in Hong Kong specialising in  highly accurate movie figures. At the moment I have my eye on some Astro Boy merchandise.

Come on! Who watches anime and doesn't like Astro Boy?! As subjectical as I might sound if you don't like Astro Boy you may as well not call yourself an otaku. Astro Boy or originally known as Testuwan Atom is the very first anime to be aired with a sequential plot in Japan. Without the success of Astro Boy all the other animes which we follow religiously may not have existed.

Well onto my "wishlist" haha by now its way too big for me to label each and every item which I want! The figure I want is the scene in the movie where Astro is brought to life. This figure is coming out in December and I'm glad its not the final edition. Although its good enough already I sure hope that they add in Astro Boy's power source hatch to make it a perfect rendition.

Hiroki's Adventures

Today I was wondering around the city before my friend Livia's birthday party at K Squared.  I did the usual run around the Gallerie Victoria and added the Market City because it was close to Capitol Square.

My first siting was this awesome diorama at JB Hifi in the Gallerie Victoria promoting the release of Tekken 6 for the PS3. A matchoff between Jin Kazama and his father Kazuya Mishima. I was never good at Tekken but I do love a game from time to time. In fighting game terms Tekken has a pretty cool story the twisted relationship between Heihachi, Kazuya and Jin is beyond words for me. Creative, iconic and best of all believable.

As mentioned before the second siting was at Market City. The store Games Infinity so surprises me its overpriced to the extreme. I saw Macross Ultimate Frontier there for $120! The owners never sell the awesome statues/figures/models that they display to the public as well! It baffles me how can they can survive in a prime location for so long without going bankrupt. Anyhow what I saw was the new PSP Go! it was the first one I've seen and the slim profile is very attractive being a PSP purist I am heavily considering getting one now its so HOT!

Hot Toys Dark Knight and Tumbler Batmobile

I wonder if any one has a spare $674 US for me hehe. Being a great fan of Batman my mate Kenny (Kenny and Kenji are two different people) showed me something which I can only call spectacular. As dodgy as the name Hot Toys might sound it actually produces some kick ass products. Presenting the 1/6 Scale Dark Knight and Tumbler (Both products are sold seperately).


 I always had a thing against action figures with articulation but the way how this one was designed really impresses me. What I hate most about articulated joints is that they dont seem to be able to be treated as a proper collector's piece. Hot Toys did a great job in covering the joints under the Bat Suit to give the figure a seamless finish. Comparing the details on these hi res pics with my limited edition piece the sculptings are excellent.

My Dark Knight figure please try not to be so distracted by Miranda Kerr's great pins hehehe

The Batmobile is the most accurate version I have ever seen I have looked around everywhere but none have ever matched my expectations this is the only one! I guess the pictures speak for themself. Enjoy it!

Gundam 00 Movie update 2!

Earlier this week we introduced Gundam Qanta. Now its time for Tieria's unit ladies and gentleman put your hands together for Gundam Raphael! It seems to be a slim profile unit but they promised heavy beam cannons as seen on Seravee and Virtue. But would it be too slim for an internal mobile suit?