Fishies!

I am sitting here waiting for family and friends to arrive for the party, so I decided to try and snap some pictures of my dad's salt water tank. Spent about an hour snapping away with over 100 shots and only a few came out alright. I learned a lot just from doing this exercise today though so I'll try again later. These are not all the fishes that are in the tank, some are so sneaky and just seems to know that I want a picture of it so it is always hiding!

I like this shot even though it's a little out of focus, the color and tone just seems right.

Here's one with better focus, you can really see the intricate pattern on its scales.

This little orange clownfish is my favourite...

Because it loves to snuggle with this coral reef, it's so funny!

And here's Nemo.

And this pair here.

Merry Christmas!

Just want to wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I haven't bought a TF for a while, but just picked this one up because she looks like a geisha!

Scooore!!!

Look what I got at work today!

Lego Creations #2: Yummy!

I realized that once I sit in front of the Lego's with an idea in mind, I can sit there for hours on end without even noticing it. It's actually quite a fun thing to do to past time. I made these two creations in the last few days.

FOOOOD!!!

Black Friday Haul Part 2

I also got these on Black Friday, I am still considering whether I'll keep them or not though. I am a sucker for these types of role-play toys like the Kamen Rider henshin belts. I probably played with them a couple of times out of the box and then they go on the shelf. I do like how they look on display though. Actually I sort of regret not getting the regular MMPR morpher now...lol

Lego Fun #1!

Exams are over and I've finished my final project for the year. Tomorrow's the last day of class for the term, so what better than to just sit down, relax, and play with Lego's?

These are my two creations for tonight.

Black Friday Lego Haul

I picked up two sets of Lego Creative Tower on Black Friday, they are basically a mix of color bricks, each tower includes 1600 pieces! What am I going to do with them? I am not sure of that myself...

Amiibo Kirby

I picked up my first Nintendo Amiibo today for Super Smash Brothers on the Wii U. I decided to get Kirby because he is my favourite character to use because of his attack copying power. I didn't really get into the whole toy figure/video game thing like Skylanders and Disney Infinity because they seem like they are for little kids. So when Nintendo announced these Amiibo figures, I just brushed it off. But I saw these figures in the store and really want to try one to see what it's all about.

The packaging is actually quite nice and it is perfect to keep NIB for display. But I bought this for the NFC functionality so I ripped it out of its packaging the moment I got home. The figure itself is quite hefty and doesn't feel cheap at all. The paint job is clean and it looks really nice, but it's Kirby so he's pretty simple to begin with. So basically what these little figures do is they allow you to own and create a customized AI for yourself. You can actually do this in the game without owning an Amiibo already, but apparently the more you train with it, the better it gets. I am not sure if it actually fights to your fighting style. But I can definitely see the progress now that I got him up to level 50 (the cap).

I think I will pick up a few more of my favourite characters that do not have figures in the future, but I feel it's sort of expensive for what it is ($15 after tax here in Canada).

Robert Downey Jr.

The sculpt is pretty good, although he looks like he's zoned out lol

Dance off bro!

I hope everyone has already watched Guardians of the Galaxy! If not, go watch it! It's a great movie!

Big Hero 6: Armor-up Baymax

Thanks to Dan's review of the Big Hero 6 Armor-up Baymax, I couldn't resist but picked up not one, but TWO of them because I want an armored one and a naked Baymax for my display! I am surprised how big the boxes are though, this is not a small figure! Toysrus had a sale on them for the movie's release this week so I got them at a discount which was pretty good!

Winter is coming!

No this is not related to Game of Thrones lol...but I was at the source the other day and spotted this thing on sale for $30! As some of you know, I used to be BIG into radio controlled stuff. But I still like to pick up some toy-grade RC's here and there when I see a potential for it to be upgraded later down the road. The only hobby-grade company that makes this type of tracked vehicle is Kyosho, I've been meaning to get one of their kits forever but never did. So when I saw this, I had to grab it...now I am just waiting for the snow to come haha!

Just another Woody pics

The garbage bin is quite fun to mess around with lol

I see you

Just messing around with Woody after racking my brain from studying. Picked up this garbage bin from the dollar store yesterday, thought it would be a good prop for funny pictures like this one. Ok back to studying.

Nerd Block September 2014

I attended Fan Expo 2014 in Toronto a few weeks ago (speaking of which, I will post some pictures later), I stumbled onto the Nerd Block booth. I have always been somewhat interested in one of these monthly blind box type services ever since I've known about Loot Crate (US-based). Turns out Nerd Block is Canada-based and so I decided to try a month of subscription from them since this month also turned out to be their 1 year anniversary so I thought maybe it will be pretty cool!

I subscribed shortly after the show, although if I did it at the show, I would have gotten a Guardians of the Galaxy POP! Vinyl figure (although Groot was all gone by the time I was there). The package came promptly on the 15th of the month, I guess since I live in Toronto I basically get it on the day of.



The total price of the box including shipping was just a little over $30, so I was expecting some goodies in this box. Upon opening the box, I was greeted with a Guardians of the Galaxy T-shirt with a mixtape graphic. I knew the shirt would be GOTG specific, but was hoping it would be Groot-related (I AM GROOT). The quality of the shirt is sort of cheap, it feels really thin, but whatever. Other stuff included a Marvel Megabloks blind pack (which I already have the whole set of), a STD plushy, a scribblenaut unmasked blind pack figure, a stress reliever in the shape of a brain (with 1 year anniversary for Nerd Block printed on it), and a papercraft TMNT set.



So what is my opinion on this type of service (specifically Nerd Block)?

It's not worth it. I could think of many other ways to spend my $30 that I would enjoy much more. Hell I could have gotten the Figuarts Android 18 for $30 recently on Amazon.ca. I get the surprise of not knowing what you are getting is part of the excitement, and oh ya it was for me as well. But the feeling after that I basically paid $30 for a bunch of random junk just sucks. So I promptly canceled my subscription afterwards.

Oh ya, here's a picture of the scribblenaut figure that I got...the quality is so bad it's funny lol!

MMPR Display #2 Completed!

I have finally completed my Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers display #2. This display consists of the more recent releases of MMPR toys. The rangers are all from the S.H.Figuarts line, the Megazord and Dragonzord obviously are from the Bandai Legacy line. Ever since the release of the first Figuarts MMPR ranger, I've envisioned this display, and now it's finally completed!



The reason I say this is my MMPR display #2 is because above this one is #1 which contains the older 8" figures and the 5" flip-head figures along with the Chogokin Megazord.



I can finally say I am done with the MMPR merchandise in my collection!

New toy!

Since I decided to go back to school, I needed a vehicle to get to school. I could have commuted, like I did in my undergrad, but I HATED it! The flexibility of having my own car is well worth the money. And considering that I don't have classes everyday and am still working part-time, I had to have a vehicle for transportation. I still have my bike, but that can only last until winter time. Oh by the way, I took this picture after changing the oil and giving her a nice shower! She hasn't look this clean in...ever!



While deciding on a vehicle, I had Subaru in mind because two of the main criteria I have in selecting the new vehicle is a) It must be AWD (the winters here require that), and b) It must have good ground clearance (again, the amount of snow here requires that). So it basically narrowed down to the SUV's. Long story short, I ended up choosing the 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek in none other than ORANGE! Woo! My favourite color is orange and I never thought I'd have a car in orange too! I had to wait about 5 weeks since I placed the order since this color isn't very popular here so there were none of this model in the whole of Canada. It ended up being shipped all the way from Japan. And finally after 5 weeks of waiting...here she is!



I've had her for two weeks and so far she's been great. Comfortable, good on gas, really grippy stock tires (we had a couple of torrential downpours in the last two weeks), and I am friggin' glad I opt for the sunroof because I absolutely LOVE it! It is open pretty much all the time unless it's raining. I prefer having both windows down and sunroof open, it almost feels like I am riding the bike like this!

Some aerial photography

Some of you might know that flying is part of my job. I am not the one that's doing the actual flying, but I need to test certain equipment in what we called "Flight tests". Usually these are not very interesting since we fly over typical forests/trees which all look the same from above. But this recent one, we changed our flight path a little and flew over a lake to the north of our location instead. Before this, I always thought it was just some boring lake and nothing special. But after seeing it from above, it's actually quite beautiful! Since it is probably my last flight since it's my last month here, I brought my DSLR with me and snapped some of these shots...enjoy!

On our way...


Usually the view is just like this.


But this time...there's the lake!


A small island in the middle of the lake.


Did some sharp turns to get these pretty rad shots.










This will be one of the many things I will miss when I go back to school...

Brickfete 2014

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've posted but I am still kicking! Toy-wise, I've been slowing down A LOT...pretty much to a halt since I am going back to school full-time in fall so I need to save them pennies! There's still a few left over pre-orders to fill and such, but nothing big. Anyways, I went to a local Lego show today called Brickfete. Heard about it on the radio and it sounded fun so why not? And what did I think of it afterwards? IT WAS AMAZING! I felt like a kid in the candy store...except I couldn't buy any of it! LOL

I took WAAAAY too many pictures so I won't post them all here and just link them here instead:
Toys N' More @ Brickfete 2014

There was MINECRAFT!


Gigantic dioramas!


Explosions!


Injured minifigs!


Minifig loses leg but still smiling!


Tanks!


Pokemon!


Gundams!


Transformers! That actually transforms!


And just too much to list here, so just check out my album for all the pictures!
Toys N' More @ Brickfete 2014

Gundam Wing Display

Opened a few more figures to complete my main cast Gundam Wing display!

Attack ON Titan

Just messing around with some Attack on Titan figures...

Black Rock Shooter Display

Hey all! I am still kicking! Just haven't been spending much time messing with toys lately since motorcycle riding season has started! I have just been practicing on the bike and riding around the area. Hoping to ride further when it gets warmer to really explore the province of Ontario this year!

Anyways, my toy hauls have significantly reduced since there isn't many stuff that catches my fancy lately. That and the fact that most of my spending money have been shifted to other stuff such as video games (recently grabbed a PS4!) and motorcycle related goods. However, I have recently received some long awaited pieces from Amiami and one of them is the TV version of Strength from the Black Rock Shooter series. I don't know what it is about this series, but I just really like the aesthetics and design of the characters. The shelf is pretty much full now, but there's still one more character coming: Chariot!

Oh, another new piece I got that I have integrated into this display is the Tamashii ground breaking effect parts. It's a fun set that can add a little dynamic effects to the displays.

Jet-powered Prime

I've been wanting this combo for a while, it's the second movie leader class Optimus Prime and the Fans Want It Jet-power upgrade set. Ever since this 3rd party set was released, I knew that I would want it. I eventually tracked down a loose Optimus Prime to use with this set. However, as time passed, this had fallen down the list of to-buys. But this bot popped up on the local Transformers site, the upgrade set with the prime for the same price as if I were to the get the upgrade set alone. So I pulled the trigger...and I am glad I did. This bot looks super cool! Much better than the Jetfire + Prime combo from Hasbro! It sits at about 12-14" in height which makes him MASSIVE! I need a whole shelf of my Detolf to display him. The cool thing about this set is the mobility is not impeded whatsoever, the articulation of the leader prime is all retained. Although that is not to say he can strike many poses because he is still really back heavy. That and together with the flimsy plastic (I read on the forums that the plastic on this snap really easily), I had to handle it with extra care. It was all worth it though as I finally got a screen accurate display for the Jet-powered Prime (one of my favs in Bayverse Transformers!).

First 3D-Doodle

Today, I received my 3Doodler! It's basically a plastic extruder on a pen which allows you to draw in plastic. I saw this on Kickstarter about a year ago and thought why not? For $100, I got the 3Doodler pen and 5 packs of plastic (25 strands each). I was VERY excited for this because I love stupid gimmicky fun like this.

Here's my impression of it so far...

First 10 minutes: Okay this thing sucks! The plastic is not even coming out straight, it's getting caught on the tip of the pen and just creating a twirly mess on the tip. I don't even know how I am suppose to "draw" anything.

After: Okay, I think I am sort of getting the hang of it. The thing to avoid doing is random doodling in the air. The plastic cannot support itself indefinitely so gravity will take over and drag your doodle to the ground. The "technique" that I am using is drawing pieces on paper and then connecting them together.

Annnd here's my masterpiece! LOL


Thoughts: I think I can definitely learn to improve on using this tool. It is frustrating to use and not just something you can pick up and put down anytime (need to clean out leftover plastic to avoid jamming it). But I can see myself 3D doodling a lot more in the future!

Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)

Happy New Year everyone! I am still around, just been lazy with the blogging after getting an exercise bike to keep up with the biking on my off season. Spent a lot of my spare time on the bike...until Xmas...stopped for a couple days and then ended up stopping for a whole two weeks! I have to start getting back on it now or I won't be able to do the rides I am planning to do this year (50km in June and 80km in September). Gotta work off those pounds to fit in my motorcycle gear too since the season is starting in a few months...can't wait!

Anyways I am still getting toys, not too many additions since the last post in November though. Although I did just received my December Amiami haul earlier this week. And one of the pieces I've been waiting for is the Nendoroid Titan from the Attack on Titan anime (Shingeki no Kyojin!). This set was a big one for a Nendoroid! I don't normally collect Nendoroids, the only other one I have is Iron Man. But this one was too cute to pass up since the Titan came with an awesome diorama/playset.

So for those that are not into the anime, the story is basically about these gigantic human looking beings (the titans) that do nothing but eat humans. Humans are on the brink of extinction due to the attacks from these titans. The only thing that is stopping the titans from eating the rest of the humans is a massive wall surrounding the city. Little did they know there are several "super" titans, each with their special strengths and abilities, that one day destroys the wall, allowing the smaller regular titans to come into the city to wreck havok. However, the humans also has an army of trained soldiers using a set of gear called the "3D maneuver gear" that allows them to grapple and sling themselves around to fend off these titans.

ANNND that's what this set is about! You can see the little guys flying off the roof of houses. There's three regular titans in this set, they are the smaller ones. One of them even has an articulated mouth so he can look like he's about to chomp someone's head off. The titans each have a distinct face just like in the anime, but in a cuter version (they look pretty scary in the anime!). The set comes with many little houses so you can arrange it to your liking. It also comes with a wall piece that's intact, as well as, one that has the hole in it (the one used in the pic, but you cannot see the hole in this angle because it is blocked by the titans). Then of course, there's the massive titan that's towering over the walls. When this titan appeared in the anime, there were a lot of steam surrounding him and this set also included a cute steam to replicate that.

All in all, this is a great set that pretty much sums up the anime in a small package. I am really glad I picked this one, it was really fun to setup and play with. I literally LOL'ed when I found out the blond hair titan has an articulated mouth which can open waaaaay too far (it's only half open in the pic). This pic also has one of the heaviest post-processing I have done in any of my pictures. One reason for this is I was lazy and tried to hide the dirt on the sensor that showed up easily, but I also think this PP suits the atmosphere of this anime. Let my know what you think!