Sunday, February 27, 2011

Just playing around with my new camera

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Just love playing with the DOF on the 50!
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Friday, February 25, 2011

New Toy!

Yaaaa...finally I got me a DSLR hahaha!!! Gonna be taking a lot of new pics of my toys soon!!! Grabbed the D7000 body + the nifty 50!!! Let the fun begin!!!

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Transformers Core Combiners - The Dinobots

I opened this toy right away, was just waiting for my camera battery to charge.

This set comes with 5 dinobots. It's really too bad that only one of them has a robot form. This set would be soooo much more cool if each bot has their own robot form.
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First, we have the core of the combiner, the Triceratops.
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This is his robot form.
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Then we have the "Ankylosaurus".
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The "Spinosaurus"
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"Pachycephalosaurus"
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"Parasaurolophus"
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Out of the five, I only know the Triceratops LOL! Are the other ones even real names??? A quick google search showed me that they are in fact all real dinosaurs (if you haven't yet, click on the names above and they will bring you straight to the google image page). I guess it's because it has been such a long time since I learned about them, I only know the main ones like Allosaur, Tyrannosaur, Pterodactyl....uhh...that's it on top of my head LOL! How many can you name on top of your head???

Combined mode! The Dinobots!
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This Core Combiner looks really good, probably the best one out of the whole line. The Constructicons are a close second though. But is it just me? Because his face looks like he is smiling, looks funky lol!
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The joints on this guy are nice and tight, much better than the Combaticons I got from an earlier wave.
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I don't buy many TF's at full price, but this one was definitely worth it!
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Today's Haul

Dropped by Walmart after work hoping to grab the 16gb SDHC that was on sale for $30, but was too late. Sorta expected it though since it was the last day of the sale that started a week ago haha. Then since I was there already, I checked out the toys area, wasn't expecting to see anything new though. But then I found a lone Grimstone and it is now mine!!! Have been waiting for this one for a while, they also had 2 Constructicons that looked pretty cool too...might have to pick that one up too later.

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Monday, February 21, 2011

SIC Kiwami Vs. Marvel Universe

Figured I'd do a little comparison here after being somewhat disappointed with the MU stuff from my previous post. The comparison is between the SIC Kiwami Blade King Form and Marvel Universe Colossus. I chose the Colossus because it seems like it's the most improved figure I have in the MU line.

Side-by-side
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Up close details on Blade King Form, the details on this guy is amazing for a figure this size. Some may not like SIC's take on their visual appearances though, but I love it! Different taste for different folks! He is however just a bit skinny on the torso.
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Colossus on the other hand is not bad either, he is detailed as he should be. The sculpting and paint on his face is really good and even the shading on his chest is really well done.
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Accessories-wise: Blade KF comes with two pairs of hands and two swords.
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Colossus comes with a display stand. I don't know what else he could have came with, but MU in general do seem a bit lacking in accessories. Maybe a pair or two of interchangeable hands would be nice?
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Now time for some Simon says...
Simon says, "Put your hands up."

Due to the shoulder armor on both figures, they cannot raise them arm above their shoulders. Colossus has a single joint on his elbows so what you see here is the most he can "flex" his arms. On the Blade King Form, his elbows has a swivel on the upper arm with a ball joint on the forearm, so this allows his arms to make more of a V-shape.
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Simon says, "Kneel down with one knee up."

Blade King Form with this with ease while Colossus is on the verge of tipping over. His size might have contributed, but it is mostly due to the lack of the range of movement of his joints like on his ankles, hips, and torso which made this pose hard to achieve.
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Simon says, "Sit down and cross your legs."

Both of the figures did this with ease, although Blade looks a bit more natural in this pose, but then again I think this is due to the sheer size of Colossus.
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Simon says, "Balance on one foot."

I had to play with Colossus for a while before I got him to balance on this pose. Again his lack of joint movement range made it hard to play around with weight distribution to balance on one leg. Blade was a breeze to balance, his joints allowed for easy manipulation of the figure.
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To take it a little further, I wanted to see if Blade could balance on one foot in another pose. Unfortunately Colossus couldn't follow, so he lose the game.
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However, it's not to say the SIC Kiwami is not without fault too. The hands that he came with which were suppose to be for holding his blades don't do their job very well. They are too loose to hold any pose. The hand holds the blade like it is holding a weird shaped teapot. It is better on the larger blade though.
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Another issue is the "hip guards or armor" are deformed probably due to the packaging. They are not symmetrical. However, they do not hinder any movement, they just look a bit weird up front.
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Same issue on Wild Chalice. More pics of him in a later post, the few that I took came out blurry.
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So the conclusion is that the Marvel Universe figures are not THAT bad. Their articulation are pretty close to the SIC, the SIC's just feels more refined. The movement of the joints on the SIC are more fluid so to speak, while on the MU, I am afraid something will break if I move it too much (ex. hips). But doing this comparison did give me more confidence in the MU line and I will continue to buy them as long as they show up in stores here. It also reminded me how much I like the SIC Kiwami line and I might just pick up the few I missed out on when I get a chance.
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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Open The Toy Long Weekend

(First thing's first, this post has nothing to do with Leon over at Open The Toy, just so happens this is the title I chose, although there might be some influence from him too haha)

This week we have a long weekend because of family day and I've decided to clean out some NIB stuff I've been stashing for a while. I was originally going to keep my Marvel Universe figures MOC because I like the art on them and how they look in the packaging. But lately I've been thinking, how could I even enjoy the toy if I don't open them? If I don't open them and actually have the toy to fiddle with in my hands, then I would never be able to "experience" the toy then what's the point of owning it in the first place? Haha I think I've been too busy with work lately that on my down time I think of silly stuff like this LOL!

Soooo this weekend, I will be opening all of the following (all Marvel Universe I have) and two Kamen Rider SIC Kiwamis that I haven't had a chance to open yet. Let's Open The Toy!

(I will put all updates in this post)

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[Update 1]
After frantically ripping all the packaging open, I am left with this...
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First impressions: Man! These MU are a rip-off! $10 and most of loose joints right out of the box. I am really not liking those hips though, same with the Juggernaut I open earlier this week, those hip joints feel really flimsy. I am scared of snapping them off if I try to move them too much. Spiderman just sucks since all the other Spidermans I have has a lot of articulation and can do almost any pose imaginable, but this one...disappointing. The best out of the lot is Colossus, although his left leg is very loose, he has more joints and overall just feels like I got more of my $10 worth. Thor is pretty cool too, I guess they are still improving as I can see the improvements made throughout the line from Wave 1 Stealth Ironman to Wave ? Thor and Colossus. Will I buy anymore? Most likely, as I am a sucker for Marvel figures, but I will probably put more money into hunting down Marvel Legends than the MU stuff, which is easy since I am still seeing only those red ninja's at my local stores in the MU isle.

[Update 2]
Even though the figures aren't as good as I expected, I still had fun with them! And that's all that matters in the end, right?
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Uh-oh...power overload...
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All that power got absorbed by Juggernaut somehow and he turned to Super Juggernaut!
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Can't help but think Juggernaut looks like a rabbit behind his helmet...LOL
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Now comes the other problem, display room...I have no more of that so they now all reside on my desk. I mean I don't mind them being there since looking at them will probably increase my work efficiency, but there's only so much room on my desk and it can't support all the toys I still have to open, all the toys that I pre-ordered, and all the toys that I will continue buying...sign
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