Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone got what they wanted for Xmas! Have a wonderful holiday everyday!

Package from Stellamodels

Once again, excellent services from Stellamodels! Ordered several parts to upgrade/repair my RC's from Stella about two weeks back. One of the part that I am in need of was out of stock and was put on backorder. I wanted to get this part (driveshafts for AWD Mini-Z) asap because I want to get it up and running for Xmas. I was somewhat disappointed since I thought it won't make it in time. But guess what? I received both packages (original parts and backordered parts) together. It wasn't probably on the same day since it was just sitting in the mailbox. All that matter is I received all the parts right before Xmas. Now I am off to some wrenching!

Hotwheels Sideswipe

Saw this a while back on Toyriffic and I had to have it! I have finally found one and just in time for Xmas too!

Review: Playmates Terminator Salvation T-1

This is going to be a quick review because it is a very simple toy. The toy comes pretty much pre-assembled, you only need to put the torso and clip the rear tracks onto the lower tank part of the robot to complete it. The toy is like a bigger version of something you'd get with a McD happy meal. There's some mass to it, just because of the sheer size of it, but that's about the only good part about it. The paint apps are sloppy, looks like the worker painting this one was in a hurry to get home or something. The "mud" is a sloppy wash of red, light and dark brown. The feature is the "firing projectiles", which shoots out the barrels of the machine guns on its arms. I don't know who came up with this idea, I thought it would be obvious that machine guns are suppose to shoot out bullets and not shoot out the whole barrel to hit the enemy in the face, apparently the toy designers at Playmates think otherwise. One "neat" feature is that the torso rotates about 90 degrees back and forth when you roll the toy, it is triggered by a gear mechanism connected to one of the wheels under the tracks. I'd prefer it if they kept it as a simple rotating joint and add some articulation to the "arms". But it's a cool feature none the less, it sort of simulates scouting. There are no joints on the arms of the upper part except for the mount for the machine guns (if you can even consider that as a joint). It rotates about 45 degrees and come loose every so often when you try to rotate it. Another interesting thing to note is that the pictures on the front of the packaging, as well as, the instructions are wrong. It shows the robot with the lower part mounted 180 degrees backwards. I actually assembled it this way and thought it looked out of place at first. A quick check on wiki shows the correct look of the robot.

Overall, I would give this toy a 6/10. The machine gun barrel projectiles and the inaccurate display pictures just shows the ignorance of the designers at Playmates. The "scouting" feature and the sculpt saves it though. Sculpt-wise, I think it is quite nice. I only picked this up because it was on clearance for $5, I would have never paid the original $13 for this toy. I think a lot of people think so too because these have been peg-warming ever since they were released. Even at $5, I couldn't bring myself to buy the T-rip or T-700 because they were too poorly made (poor paint, articulation, face sculpt). I only picked up the T-1 because I thought it would fit in the Star Wars or Joe-verse. I will definitely fix it up and give it a quick repaint when I have time. With all that said, I think I'd pick a few more up at $5 if I see them again just because they look so cool.

Today's haul

Woohoo! More toys for Xmas!

Trailer: Ironman 2

Click here to see the Ironman 2 trailer

Oh man I absolutely cannot wait to see this! Ironman + War Machine = WIN!!!

FREEDOM!!!

Finally finished the last exam today! Now I have my 2-week Xmas holiday! Woo! Actually I still need to go back tomorrow to do some thesis-related stuff, but with exams done, my shoulders even feel lighter! LOL

Also picked up my package from HLJ tonight, what a beauty this gundam is! I'll do a photoshoot on it in the next few days.

4 out of 5

Wooo! Almost there! Last one is on Thursday! I am just glad I can get more than 2 hours of sleep tonight!

On a side note, I got my delivery notice for my Hobby Link Japan order. Going to pick it up on Thursday after the exam. The stupid thing is I got charged $12 for taxes and fees for a $27 item!

2 out of 5

Finished the 2nd exam this morning, pulled an all nighter and now I am dead tired. I am going to take a short nap then it's back to studying again since I have two exams tomorrow OMFG

1 out of 5

Finished my first exam today! Went great! Last night was brutal though since like always, I waited until the last minute before I got started on my aid sheet. Since there is so much information and equations in some of our courses, we are given a blank yellow piece of paper where we can basically write whatever we want that will help us in the exam. I though it would take around 2 hours to do, but it took me 3 hours just to complete one side (@ 3am lol), I ended up scanning one of my previous aid sheet that I used for a test and printing it on the other side. However, although there are a lot of information on this aid sheet, it took forever to find what I was looking for!

And this is only one side of it!


On the bright side of things, I think my new toy from Hobby Link Japan should be arriving on Monday or so! I just checked the tracking and it just arrived to customs a few hours ago. Pretty fast since it was sent on the 9th!

Monsters Vs. Aliens PEZ

These guys just look so cute! They really should have done Susan and Dr. Cockroach too so I can have the whole monsters team.

ROC Rex "The Doctor" Lewis

I've been wanting this Rex figure forever and this wave have finally hit the TRU's here. I've been seeing nothing but Destro's, Neo-vipers, and Baronesses (not the Paris Pursuit one which I want) everywhere. There must be at least 50 of them in each store. There is a 30% off sale this week on GIJoe figures, making them only $7 a piece. I was probably too late to the sale, so the pegs were quite empty already (sale started last Friday and I went this Tuesday). But I did manage to find Rex just lying there under the pegs lol! He was the only "newer" figure on all the pegs. There was a Paris Pursuit Baroness, but the packaging was cut open and some weapons were stolen! I don't believe someone would actually do that and also that the store would continue to sell that, it's just ridiculous! I was also hoping to find a City Strike Snake eyes and several other figures, but there was nothing left but peg warmers.

So here's Rex, he comes with a suitcase filled with three nanomites cartridges, some type of machine gun, and the gun he uses to inject nanomites into his victims. He also has his claws which is just loosely fitted over his hands, but they look really cool! His hair and his breathing mask are removable, and he has his burnt up face underneath which is pretty cool as well. I read that Rex was pretty hard to find when it was released in the US, so I am glad I was able to get one so quick here since this wave just arrived probably last week or so. Apparently, there is also a white coat variant, but the black coat one works fine for me.

"The Doctor"

Finally found the ROC Rex "The Doctor" Lewis today at TRU! Also got some more PEZ, now I have the whole Monsters vs. Aliens PEZ line which consists of only B.O.B., The Missing Link, and Insectosaurus. Wish they did Dr. Cockroach and Susan too!

Toy Story Toys - John Lasseter

Just for your Joshua! I don't think these are specifically for Toy Story 3, but they are probably as nice as you can get. I've seen the collection line at TRU and they look awesome! Everything down to their boxes are what you'd see from the movie. The best is Buzz in his spaceship box! The collection series are going for $60 each (Buzz, Woody, Rex), Aliens 3-pack $40, RC $80, haven't seen Mr. Potato Head though.

Hobby Link Japan: Holiday Blowout Sale

Make sure to check out the sale with FREE SHIPPING at HLJ! I got what I want already! Can't wait for it to come, although I have a feeling it's going to come during my exams period LOL

HLJ Holiday Blowout Sale

Toy Story: Buzz Lightyear & Alien

Short review:
Upon opening Buzz Lightyear, right away I noticed the poor paint apps on his legs. I only paid attention to his head and body paint apps in store, I didn't think they would screw up with just one color on the legs, well they did. The white is not smooth, but bumpy and rough, looks like someone touched the paint before it dried. Articulation was quite poor too, only hips, knees, shoulders, and elbows. I was expecting at least the helmet visor to be able to slide down, but nope. I was quite surprised at the poor quality and then took another look at the box..."Mattel"...no wonder!

Now onto the Alien, there's really not much to say about him. The only articulation are his shoulders, his antenna is flexible if that counts lol. Paint apps wise, this one was the best one that I could find, but there's a X scratch in the middle eye. He comes with a stand that resembles the claw game base like in the movie. It is suppose to launch him when you push down on the mechanism. It does "pop" him up...about 1cm high, much less than what the box is showing LOL

Overall, Buzz and Alien are okay if you are just going to display them, but they doesn't have much play value. They look great if you are not up close and messing with them so that's good. They are definitely not worth the $13 original price, I am glad I got a deal on this pair though. But for the purpose of just having a figure of the characters in one of my favourite movies, it'll do just fine.

Today's haul

Apparently, the urge was not lost, it was just suppressed (albeit not for very long)



Just want the Hummer because it looks like it's 3.75" size, Hulk doesn't look too articulated so I'll probably use him to try some painting on.

Stormtrooper Day 4

Don't you just love twist ties?

Stormtrooper Day 3

Stormtrooper Day 2

Presentation went great today! But I am wasted for this week...off to bed!

Research

No Stormtrooper picture today, I need to find some interesting background to take pics of the trooper. It's too boring to take them at home. Anyways here's the picture of the day:



This is what I've been busy with for the last month and will continue to be until May 2010. Here you see some calcium polyphosphate fibres in some crucibles before sintering, penny is there for size reference (fibres diameter similar to human hair). I had to bring my camera to school today to snap some pics of the samples and equipment because I have my thesis interim presentation tomorrow morning. The final application is for producing biodegradable scaffolds that will be seeded with cells for joint repair.

Stormtrooper Day 1

I thought since I don't really have time to update my blog right now, I'd at least try to get a pic up each day. Let's see how long this will last LOL

Lost the toy urge

I haven't really had time to check out anything lately due to constant tests, assignments, and endless hours in the lab working on my thesis at school. I actually had some "withdrawal symptoms" for the last week, but this week I am starting to lose my urge to buy toys. There's some great sales going on here right now like the $15 ROTF voyagers and I think tons of sales at TRU as well. Even though I was excited when I heard of the sales, after some thought, I decided not to go because I will probably end up buying something I don't like/collect.

This past week was really busy and there's tons more coming next week, so I've been quite stressed out lately. Last night, I had the urge to check out some toys this morning for "stress relieving". But I ended up going down to the track and driving some laps and playing with setting up my cars. And after, I didn't feel the urge anymore! So now I have discovered the way to overcome my toy withdrawal symptoms haha! I guess it may also be related to the lack of new toys that I am interested in or maybe it's due to the upcoming Tamiya releases that I am getting really excited about! These will be coming in the first quarter of 2010.

Datsun 240Z Rally Version







Tamiya 2WD Off-Road Racer Sand Scorcher







Tyrrell P34 Six Wheeler 1976 Japan GP

Video: MMPR Dino Megazord Review

Just saw this review and I cannot wait to see these up here in Canada! I will get one for sure!!! I had this when I was a kid, but it was probably given away or thrown out when we immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong. So I cannot wait to have this toy again!

New track layout

Our basement track was taken apart several weeks ago since we needed some duct vacuuming done. Today, since my midterms are over, my dad and I went down to rebuild it. I had an idea to change it a bit so it's not symmetrical like the old layout, just a slight change. I like it much better now. I still gotta find something to guard the ends of the straightaways on the turns, I've had my cars fly right off the track so many times today, good nothing broke.

Old layout


New layout

Friday's haul

Wednesday's haul

I took the day off today since class was cancelled because the prof is going to play the trumpet in some parade lol. I went for a toy run drive today and it was great! The weather was awesome and it was just relaxing since I finally finished my three weeks of midterm with the last one being on Monday.

AND I FINALLY found the Ice-cream truck twins!!! I actually didn't even bother looking through the TF's for it because I've been looking for it for so long and I've never even SEEN it before. I dropped by Walmart today to pick up some vitamins (again) and checked out the toys isle as always. I was actually looking for some clone troopers. Then some lady that was looking at TF's asked me if Bumblebee turns into a car (he's displayed as robot mode in the packaging), turns out she's here to buy one for her son, so I ended up helping her out for a while. She ended up getting a Swerve, hope her son likes it! Anyways then I was like what the heck and looked through the TF's and there it was...a single Ice-cream truck on the whole shelf and now it's mine! Didn't find the Star Wars figures I was looking for at the first Walmart though, but ended up getting them at another one after. The R2D2 is really cool because it has an LED eye that lights up and has sounds when you press the button on its "chest".



Now my troop car is full! Okay fine, there's still enough side pegs for 2 more, but I've got all the clones I wanted that are available here now.

Clones Gone Wild

What's this?

The box it was found in is from the 1980's-1990's. I know it's from Gundam, I just can't remember the name on top of my head.

Two more from today.

Today's haul

Went to Walmart to get some vitamins and since I was there already, might as well check out the toys isle. I was surprised to see a GIJoe Ice Dagger on the top shelf(good I am tall enough to reach it) and behind it there was a Dragonhawk! I've wanted this vehicle ever since I saw it, but then it got backlogged from my mind since toy releases are really slow here and this is actually the first time I saw it here. I remember how cool it was after seeing it again on Dan's Toy Museum. There was only one of each Ice Dagger and Dragonhawk, so I am glad I was able to get it before it's gone.



After a left and got to the car, I remember that I had to get some silicone for my project at school. So I went back in, and on the way out I saw some Hotwheels and picked up a few. I don't really collect HW, but I will mostly pick up any that I fancy.

GTR, F430, Beetle

Got these tonight...man what a tiring week! I am going to sleep now!

GI Joe x Star Wars x KR Story (Part 1)

Had too much fun the other day with my toys LOL