Medicom Kaneda and bike

Not too hard if you have the money...

Monger said:

The bike is the hard part

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potato said:

No FREEDOM?

BTW u got the latest Brutus magazine talking about Akira 2012 2 years Delayed?

And i'd advise you to rub some neutral leather protector on the Medicom Kanaeda so the jacket last longer.

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I've got some of the Freedom stuff, but all he really did was some initial character and mech design. He had very little to do with the actual anime. I don't think it was very good. I have a figure of the main character on his little racing thing, but it's in a box somewhere cause it's not that cool.

And yes, I have that new issue of Brutus. It's not about a delay, it's an update to the issue they put out in 2012 so it has info on all the stuff that he's been working on or has come out in the last 2 years. There were 3 issues of Brutus about Otomo...the first one in 2007, another one in 2012 that included most of the same stuff, and a new one that came out this year that combines all of the info plus the updates.

As for Kaneda's jacket, it's not REAL leather. I'm not sure putting any oils or anything on it is a good idea...it could melt it or something! So far, I see no cracks in his outfit, or the bike's seats or tires. I get a cloudy oxidation on some of the die cast metal parts and that sucks, but that happens on some of my Transformers too and it SUCKS. I think it's cause of Japan's humidity.

The thing about real leather is they LAST. pleather on the other hand doesn't. The texture is about the same for real & fake, however fake leather rely on a ultra think coating to make it feel leather like, this coating will lose it's adhesiveness which result in what we call cracking/flaking, especially at points where they are folded or points where stretch is applied. I think oxidation & humid & heat will cause the layer to lose the adhesive. By applying a leather protector it forms a coating on top, thus reducing the rate of degrading, it also gives a shinny look whether you like it or not. I do it on every Medicom figures that uses somesort of coating for their clothes, whether it's pleather, rubber like tight suits, or plastic like suits that i think will have problems in future.

Those older figures that i didn't, or forgot to end up flaking 1st. Even Jacket on the Rocketeer 2.5 flakes and it feels like high quality pleather.

Just try to avoid leather protectors with alcohol/ethanol contents.

Regarding the die cast parts, always apply car wax on them, even glossy plastic/rubber parts can be used but test 1st just to make sure the wax doesn't react with the paint and wipe them off (some paints come off with alcohol rubs esp panel lines). This will give a real shinny look & also protects the paint from turning dull (esp chrome parts), if you want to remove mild scratches car polisher works, some wax even has UV protection, metal will contract & expand as temperature changes, this will cause the paint to come off. Also best is keep them in dust free environment like a weather sealed detolf and turn on the aircon during summer, buy a dehumidifier if it's too humid (>59%). Also watch out for molds in humid environment, an easy way to tell if you have them is to look at the transparent walls of the boxes, you'll see brown spots on them if you have, all the best getting rid of them...

The rubber tyres will tend to become sticky after few years. Make sure you rotate the tyres or else it will deform due to prolonged pressure on it, putting it on other plastic/rubber surface will cause reaction among the tyres and might "stick" on them.

But if you have kids playing with them, applying any protector or wax is not a good idea unless they wash their hands everytime they are done playing.

Otomofan said:

As for Kaneda's jacket, it's not REAL leather. I'm not sure putting any oils or anything on it is a good idea...it could melt it or something! So far, I see no cracks in his outfit, or the bike's seats or tires. I get a cloudy oxidation on some of the die cast metal parts and that sucks, but that happens on some of my Transformers too and it SUCKS. I think it's cause of Japan's humidity.

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Here's my latest addition: a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle produced in 2004. I remember seeing it in a store here in Japan back then and I wanted it but it was too expensive. Well, I never saw it again and have only seen it on the secondary market extremely rarely. This is not a very common piece!

I got it on Amazon Japan from a seller for around $70.....unopened, still in shrink-wrap! I'm pretty happy about this one!

If you know anyone in Tokyo and can help you out, have them go to "Mandarake" in "Nakano Broadway" a couple of stops from Shinjuku.
I got mine there years ago, but, i also pointed a friend out that he should at least try checking it out, they do have some of the more harder to find things because it's out of the way....and behold, he got one just 3 weeks ago and he said they had a bunch of them in stock there...but he got the regular version, i got the limited edition one(actually i have 2), keeping the other one in the boxes.
And they went for the original sales price, not hyped up price.

Good luck.

I may have to hit up my friend in Tokyo for another one of these then cause i Love this set. lol
Got a new display case for mine in today.

Don't keep the weight on the rubber wheels, better get a foam or something and place it below the bike so the wheels looks like it's on the ground but it's not.

Good call Potato. I want this baby to last lol I'll look for something to sit the middle part of the bike on.

Just an FYI, had mine for many years now since around April 2010 and it's been standing on the wheels ever since and i can't see any issues so far with it.

Just thought i would add that in case anyone was worried of a fast decay.

izu81 said:

Just an FYI, had mine for many years now since around April 2010 and it's been standing on the wheels ever since and i can't see any issues so far with it.

Just thought i would add that in case anyone was worried of a fast decay.

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Good to know.

I've had mine since early 2011....it's spent a few months back in the box here and there, but for the most part on display. So far, the rubber on the tires and the seat seem fine. I was worried about Kaneda's outfit "melting" into the seat cause I live in Japan and it's humid as hell, but that also doesn't seem to be a problem. Fingers crossed this thing will last a long long time!

My bike's been sitting in the same spot since release and it probably has a slight bit of a flat spot on the tires. It's not like i push it around the room making zoooooooom noises, so I'm fine with that. Kaneda's suit is day one a-grade too.

I was just giving the bike a thorough wipe-down/dusting since it's on a shelf and not in a case, and it gets dusty.

I have Kaneda posed riding the bike, and I noticed the pants looked stretched pretty thin on his butt. In the riding position, the pants were pulled over the figure really tightly. So I undid his pants in the front, hopefully to give the material a little "give." When he was repositioned, you can't tell that he had his fly undone cause the jacket covers it.

Just a thought....you guys that have had him in the same position for a year or two might wanna take a look. The clothing is by far the cheapest material out of the whole set, so it's probably a good idea to take steps to ensure it lasts a while longer!

I keep on reading about medi leather clothing starting to peel?? I'm not tryin to throw bad mojo towards this fig but is everybody's cool so far?

mine is fine!

I've got a medi catwoman recently, and I'm starting to fear the worse.

I've had that for years with nothing (touch wood)

Regret not buying those to expensive now great pic.

Totally fine. No wear or tear on either the bike or kaneda and they have been on display since I got them 3, 4 years ago.