SNEAK PEEK: Aoshima Queen Emeraldas (Anime-Export Weathered Version) EXCLUSIVE hands on

You don't get these kinds of opportunities too often. One of our sponsors, Anime-Export, offered to let us get some first-hand experience with the upcoming Shin Seiki Gokin Queen Emeraldas.

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This ship is a creation of the legendary Leiji Matsumoto from the Harlock saga. The Emeraldas has the appearance of a large zeppelin that has underneath it a... pirate ship?

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Regardless of what it is, its pretty cool. And for a vintage design there has been surprisingly few toys made of it, most recently the disappointing Taito Super Mechanics toy.

This new version is done by Aoshima, who did nice diecast versions of Captain Harlock's Arcadia. Those were great, so we knew the Emeraldas would be in good hands.

This thing is BIG. The Anime-Export site describes it as "Size: 41 cm Muhaha! "

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The whole blimp section is METAL (save for the tail section).

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The fuselage is covered with dozens of opening hatches. They appear to be spring loaded. Being that this is a prototype, not all the hatches were functional at this time. One neat feature having to do with the hatches were the hatches around the nosecone. Opening one hatch opens ALL of the hatches around the nose. Very cool.

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There are also a few functional hatches below the ship. There is one door that stows a small white ship, and another that drops down a set of stairs.

The base looks like metal, but is not. Its hollow plastic. There's no paint detail, but hopefully there will be on the production version. The base has a small platform for the small shuttle ship.

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The real draw here, besides from the METAL, is the light up features. Pressing a button on the underside of the ship enables the various lights around the ship to go of, some constant, some blinking. The skull emblem on the front lights up bright, and the rear engines light up and pulsate in a circular motion.

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This light up action pretty much seals the deal for me.

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Keep in mind though, that this is a prototype, so the finish and features may change before being released.

Due 11/1/08 for 17,000 yen.

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