Baltan is one of the more memorable aliens from Ultraman for me because he scared the crap out of me. One of his powers is to disappear and reappear or create the illusion of many of himself. I think he can also possess humans as well.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Japan Loot #2
Here's another little piece I got from my beloved Liberty stores, a Alien Baltan diorama from Ultraman.
Baltan is one of the more memorable aliens from Ultraman for me because he scared the crap out of me. One of his powers is to disappear and reappear or create the illusion of many of himself. I think he can also possess humans as well.
Baltan is one of the more memorable aliens from Ultraman for me because he scared the crap out of me. One of his powers is to disappear and reappear or create the illusion of many of himself. I think he can also possess humans as well.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Japan Loot #1
I haven't taken any pictures of my toys for a while and the shot I took of the minifigure witch earlier today has sort of rekindled this part of the hobby for me. I am going to start a mini series documenting the stuff I got from my Japan trip this summer.
A majority of my haul from Japan is Ultraman-related because it's rare to find Ultraman stuff anywhere else and I am a huge fan of the original Ultraman. Got this little piece from a second hand store in Akihabara called Liberty. Liberty is a chain of second hand toys in Akihabara, I think they have 3-4 stores there. Each store varies from 1 floor to as many as 8 floors. One can find many figures for a discounted price there and since Japanese collectors take care of their toys really well, it's almost like buying new except you might not get the box/packaging.
I personally like to scour the chain's capsule toy/miniature figures floor which contains isles of these little figures from candy toys to capsule toys packaged into little white tagged plastic bags. The best part of going through these toys is you will never know what you are going to find, so it's sort of like treasure hunting. The price ranges from 100-800 yen depending on the size, details, and rarity of the figures.
Here's one of the many treasures that I found in one of my Liberty hunts. Pen for size reference.
A majority of my haul from Japan is Ultraman-related because it's rare to find Ultraman stuff anywhere else and I am a huge fan of the original Ultraman. Got this little piece from a second hand store in Akihabara called Liberty. Liberty is a chain of second hand toys in Akihabara, I think they have 3-4 stores there. Each store varies from 1 floor to as many as 8 floors. One can find many figures for a discounted price there and since Japanese collectors take care of their toys really well, it's almost like buying new except you might not get the box/packaging.
I personally like to scour the chain's capsule toy/miniature figures floor which contains isles of these little figures from candy toys to capsule toys packaged into little white tagged plastic bags. The best part of going through these toys is you will never know what you are going to find, so it's sort of like treasure hunting. The price ranges from 100-800 yen depending on the size, details, and rarity of the figures.
Here's one of the many treasures that I found in one of my Liberty hunts. Pen for size reference.
Lego Minifigures Monsters
Picked up one of these blind packs at Walmart today, this is probably one of the few series that I wouldn't mind getting any of the characters in the set. I will probably grab a few more here and there if I run into them again.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
(Japan Trip) Day 1: Nakano Broadway
Just like my previous post said, I just came back from my HK/Japan trip. I left on Aug. 5 and came back yesterday Aug. 30. It was a pretty last minute decision as I decided to attend my cousin's wedding in Hong Kong just under two weeks before actually leaving on the trip. Then since I thought I would be in Hong Kong, why not take a trip to Japan as well? To add to the excitement, I decided to backpack it. So I left Canada with only a backpack of my necessities.
This was a picture I took at the Toronto airport...just me and my backpack...
I didn't take many pictures in Hong Kong since I was mostly with family, so I won't talk about those here. I actually thought my time in Hong Kong could have been longer since I love being with my family and the 1.5 weeks I was there didn't seem like enough. I was there from Aug. 6 to Aug. 16. I left on Aug. 17 to Tokyo. I arrived pretty late to Haneda airport and to add to it all, the SIM cards that I bought from China Mobile did not work! (That was like $50 down the drain! Thanks China Mobile!). So I had to rent a mobile WiFi from the airport before heading off to Yugahara which was where I was staying for my four days in Tokyo.
Anyways, fast forward to the next day. For my first trip, I decided to go to Nakano to visit the infamous Nakano Broadway. Armed with two Japanese phrases (Sorry and Thank You), I proceeded to the train station. Long story short, I got lost and after asking some locals, I eventually got to Nakano.
This is the pathway leading up to Nakano Broadway.
First thing I did when I got there was to find something to eat, I settled for a unagi donburi from a shop next to the entrance of Nakano Broadway.
If I remember correctly, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor of this mall were mainly dedicated to toys. The special attraction of this place is that the Mandarake stores are there. Mandarake is a chain that specializes in 2nd hand toys. I love shopping at 2nd hand shops because I prefer the older stuff rather than the new releases. It's just more exciting since you don't know what you are going to find and if you will find a good deal too! There were so many toy shops here that I think I got a little dizzy after looking through probably 60% of them.
There were a bunch of Mandarake shops in this place, each specializing in something different. There was one for capsule toys, one for Tokusatsu (Kamen Rider and Power Rangers), one for western toys such as Star Wars, Alien, Predator, etc, one for Transformers, pretty sure there was one for 1/6 figures as well.
I didn't really take too many pictures here, partly because most shops don't allow taking pictures of their displays and partly because I was too busy checking the shops out lol. I spent pretty much the whole day here. I scored a few things here, but more on that later as I am still going through with organizing my loot from Japan haha.
I was in Japan for 12 days, I spent a couple of days in Tokyo, then traveled to Kyoto for a couple of days and slowly traveled back to Tokyo before departing. I will write a post for each day I spent in Japan. This has been a very satisfying and unforgettable trip for me, I already miss the place after being back in Canada for 2 days.
Tomorrow: Day 2 in Tokyo, which was more concentrated on sight-seeing rather than toy shopping.
This was a picture I took at the Toronto airport...just me and my backpack...
I didn't take many pictures in Hong Kong since I was mostly with family, so I won't talk about those here. I actually thought my time in Hong Kong could have been longer since I love being with my family and the 1.5 weeks I was there didn't seem like enough. I was there from Aug. 6 to Aug. 16. I left on Aug. 17 to Tokyo. I arrived pretty late to Haneda airport and to add to it all, the SIM cards that I bought from China Mobile did not work! (That was like $50 down the drain! Thanks China Mobile!). So I had to rent a mobile WiFi from the airport before heading off to Yugahara which was where I was staying for my four days in Tokyo.
Anyways, fast forward to the next day. For my first trip, I decided to go to Nakano to visit the infamous Nakano Broadway. Armed with two Japanese phrases (Sorry and Thank You), I proceeded to the train station. Long story short, I got lost and after asking some locals, I eventually got to Nakano.
This is the pathway leading up to Nakano Broadway.
First thing I did when I got there was to find something to eat, I settled for a unagi donburi from a shop next to the entrance of Nakano Broadway.
If I remember correctly, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor of this mall were mainly dedicated to toys. The special attraction of this place is that the Mandarake stores are there. Mandarake is a chain that specializes in 2nd hand toys. I love shopping at 2nd hand shops because I prefer the older stuff rather than the new releases. It's just more exciting since you don't know what you are going to find and if you will find a good deal too! There were so many toy shops here that I think I got a little dizzy after looking through probably 60% of them.
There were a bunch of Mandarake shops in this place, each specializing in something different. There was one for capsule toys, one for Tokusatsu (Kamen Rider and Power Rangers), one for western toys such as Star Wars, Alien, Predator, etc, one for Transformers, pretty sure there was one for 1/6 figures as well.
I didn't really take too many pictures here, partly because most shops don't allow taking pictures of their displays and partly because I was too busy checking the shops out lol. I spent pretty much the whole day here. I scored a few things here, but more on that later as I am still going through with organizing my loot from Japan haha.
I was in Japan for 12 days, I spent a couple of days in Tokyo, then traveled to Kyoto for a couple of days and slowly traveled back to Tokyo before departing. I will write a post for each day I spent in Japan. This has been a very satisfying and unforgettable trip for me, I already miss the place after being back in Canada for 2 days.
Tomorrow: Day 2 in Tokyo, which was more concentrated on sight-seeing rather than toy shopping.
Monday, August 31, 2015
I'M BACK FROM...
Guess where I was just this past month?
JAPAN!!! And Hong Kong!
It was a last minute trip to Hong Kong to make it to my cousin's wedding, and then why not hit up Japan for some time too right? So I backpacked by myself to Japan for this past two weeks. It was an incredible experience. But because I didn't have any luggage, I did not get any big items there. Although I still acquired quite a bit of stuff there. I will post pics of my trip and loot in the following weeks!
Now I am just trying to get un-jetlagged!
Teaser...from Ulfes.
JAPAN!!! And Hong Kong!
It was a last minute trip to Hong Kong to make it to my cousin's wedding, and then why not hit up Japan for some time too right? So I backpacked by myself to Japan for this past two weeks. It was an incredible experience. But because I didn't have any luggage, I did not get any big items there. Although I still acquired quite a bit of stuff there. I will post pics of my trip and loot in the following weeks!
Now I am just trying to get un-jetlagged!
Teaser...from Ulfes.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Summer time pick ups
Hi guys! I am still alive...barely...but hanging on! It's been two months since my last post because school has been extremely hectic for me with exams and projects piling on at the end of March up until end of April. And right when I was finished with the Winter term of classes, I went straight to summer school which had me in class everyday from 9am to 3pm for the last two weeks, I will be wrapping up classes this week, but will still have several more projects, assignments, and lab reports to hand in before I am DONE and finally starting my summer break!
Anyways, this past week has been a really busy week for me since I caught the cold and was still going to these intensive classes everyday. On Friday afternoon, after class I decided to check out a comic store that I haven't been to for years (pretty much since I graduated). I end up grabbing the new Marvel Select Avengers Attack on Ultron Hulk. He is one big figure! The details are really good and the articulation is not bad too. I think he is totally worth the $30 I paid for it. The screen accuracy is very good as well for a $30 toy. I saw the Marvel Legends one there too for the same price, but he is tiny compared to this guy!
And since I've been waking up at 6:30am to get to class (I have to take a 7:30am train to get there on time), I woke up early today and went to a flea market with my family. I haven't been here for probably a year or two. There was a stand with just a pile of loose toys on the table for people to dig through. So I went treasure hunting, it was quite fun to dig through random toys to see what I'd find haha, I end up getting a little Transformers Bulkhead figurine and this translucent yellow figurine (anyone know what this is? I am thinking it's some random knockoff figure?)
Update: I found out the yellow figurine is General Shifter from Power Rangers made by BVS. Haha I am surprised it is from Power Rangers, which is pretty cool.
Anyways, this past week has been a really busy week for me since I caught the cold and was still going to these intensive classes everyday. On Friday afternoon, after class I decided to check out a comic store that I haven't been to for years (pretty much since I graduated). I end up grabbing the new Marvel Select Avengers Attack on Ultron Hulk. He is one big figure! The details are really good and the articulation is not bad too. I think he is totally worth the $30 I paid for it. The screen accuracy is very good as well for a $30 toy. I saw the Marvel Legends one there too for the same price, but he is tiny compared to this guy!
And since I've been waking up at 6:30am to get to class (I have to take a 7:30am train to get there on time), I woke up early today and went to a flea market with my family. I haven't been here for probably a year or two. There was a stand with just a pile of loose toys on the table for people to dig through. So I went treasure hunting, it was quite fun to dig through random toys to see what I'd find haha, I end up getting a little Transformers Bulkhead figurine and this translucent yellow figurine (anyone know what this is? I am thinking it's some random knockoff figure?)
Update: I found out the yellow figurine is General Shifter from Power Rangers made by BVS. Haha I am surprised it is from Power Rangers, which is pretty cool.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Lockdown
Lockdown was one of the characters that I just fell in love with the moment I saw it on Transformers Animated. I had the regular version of the toy from way back, but recently added several additions. I acquired the Stealth Lockdown, Blazing Lockdown, and the Lockdown from the movie line "Hunt for the Decepticons". The weird thing is I could have sworn I already had the HFTD Lockdown since I remember the design was really similar to the Animated version, but darker and I loved it. But when I cleaned up my collection recently, I noticed he was missing. After some digging around, I couldn't find him so I got a used one locally.
Out of the four Lockdowns, I have to say my favourite is the Blazing Lockdown. The gold colors along with the black just makes him look AMAZING! It's always fun to add to the Animated collection as I absolutely LOVE the aesthetics of the line. It's really too bad they ended it so early. I usually don't get color variants of characters, but Animated is my exception to this rule because they RULE!
Out of the four Lockdowns, I have to say my favourite is the Blazing Lockdown. The gold colors along with the black just makes him look AMAZING! It's always fun to add to the Animated collection as I absolutely LOVE the aesthetics of the line. It's really too bad they ended it so early. I usually don't get color variants of characters, but Animated is my exception to this rule because they RULE!
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Stuart and Dave
I picked up this Stuart talking figure last week since it was half off, I already had Dave from around the time Despicable Me 2 came out. Now I just need to get Tim when he goes on sale next haha!
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Transformers RID
I picked up my first two RID Transformers today, I had some Kelloggs/Hasbro promotion coupons which gave a free toy under $20 and they were expiring at the end of this month. I didn't really know what to do with them since I wasn't sure if I want to get into RID and I definitely am not a fan of the Combiner Wars stuff. But after watching the latest episodes of RID2015, I think I will like this series. It reminds me a lot of Animated which is still my favourite Transformers show. There's just this charm I like about colorful kiddish shows, it's just more fun. Prime was dark and gloomy, so it's nice to have something colorful and bright again.
I got Bumblebee and Strongarm, they are actually pretty nice and true to the show. They got rid of the paper instructions and they are just printed on the back of the card now. The transformations are extremely simple, which for some is a charm in itself (like me! lol). However, for the regular retail price of $19.99 per figure, I think it is too much for what it is. It definitely feels a little smaller than the regular deluxe and those were only $16.99 at retail. So with the $3 increase and smaller size, I will only be picking them up during like 25+% off sales.
So far, there are Bumblebee, Strongarm, Grimlock, and Steeljaw out. I am going to skip on the warrior size (new name for these "deluxes") Grimlock, hoping we will get a voyager one in the future. I am still on the fence about Steeljaw, this wolf-like Decepticon character, actually the first member of the Decepticon to appear on the show. I hope we will see Sideswipe soon since he looks pretty cool too.
Verdict: Not worth it at regular price, but if you like the show and can get these on sale, then I'll recommend them!
I got Bumblebee and Strongarm, they are actually pretty nice and true to the show. They got rid of the paper instructions and they are just printed on the back of the card now. The transformations are extremely simple, which for some is a charm in itself (like me! lol). However, for the regular retail price of $19.99 per figure, I think it is too much for what it is. It definitely feels a little smaller than the regular deluxe and those were only $16.99 at retail. So with the $3 increase and smaller size, I will only be picking them up during like 25+% off sales.
So far, there are Bumblebee, Strongarm, Grimlock, and Steeljaw out. I am going to skip on the warrior size (new name for these "deluxes") Grimlock, hoping we will get a voyager one in the future. I am still on the fence about Steeljaw, this wolf-like Decepticon character, actually the first member of the Decepticon to appear on the show. I hope we will see Sideswipe soon since he looks pretty cool too.
Verdict: Not worth it at regular price, but if you like the show and can get these on sale, then I'll recommend them!
Monday, March 2, 2015
Some new stuff
I've been hella busy at school lately, but I still managed to work in some trades here and there and got some TF's I've been wanting for a while. I've been culling my TF collection lately, selling or trading stuff I don't really have an attachment to. I noticed that one of the main attachment points for me for a toy is a tv show or movie. I guess it's sort of like having a physical item of the show/movie you like so every time you look at it, it just reminds you of that show/movie.
My TF collection have pretty much been culled down to mainly Beast Wars, Animated, and Transformers Prime stuff. Those are probably my three favorite Transformers show of all time. The new RID 2015 is not bad too, reminds me of Animated which I just absolutely LOVED! I am still thinking if I am going to get into the toy line though, really need to see a few more bots in the line to decide.
I really only had the main cast of the Autobots and several Decepticons from Transformers Prime. But after some trades this past week, I managed to get most of the cast. The only one that I am missing and probably will never be able to get is the Takara Breakdown because the prices have already went up to crazy levels.
I've got a few other bots for the other lines, but I'll save that for another day.
Autobots
Decepticons
My TF collection have pretty much been culled down to mainly Beast Wars, Animated, and Transformers Prime stuff. Those are probably my three favorite Transformers show of all time. The new RID 2015 is not bad too, reminds me of Animated which I just absolutely LOVED! I am still thinking if I am going to get into the toy line though, really need to see a few more bots in the line to decide.
I really only had the main cast of the Autobots and several Decepticons from Transformers Prime. But after some trades this past week, I managed to get most of the cast. The only one that I am missing and probably will never be able to get is the Takara Breakdown because the prices have already went up to crazy levels.
I've got a few other bots for the other lines, but I'll save that for another day.
Autobots
Decepticons
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Beasties!
I finally opened the Generation Rhinox that I picked up a while ago and today I grabbed Rattrap! The Rattrap wave was skipped here in Canada, but we were lucky to get it at Winners for $10 a pop so I am happy! That's what happens in Canada, if we miss a wave, we just cross our fingers and hope Winners will pick it up.
I absolutely LOVE how well their beast modes turned out, it's still amazes me that these things can transform into robots! I really hope Hasbro continues with the trend and give us more Beast Wars redesigns, mainly I want a Blackarachnia, Terrosaur, and Airazor!
I absolutely LOVE how well their beast modes turned out, it's still amazes me that these things can transform into robots! I really hope Hasbro continues with the trend and give us more Beast Wars redesigns, mainly I want a Blackarachnia, Terrosaur, and Airazor!
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Black Rock Shooter display completed!
Finally had time this weekend to open the figma Chariot from Black Rock Shooter that I recently got. She's the last member I've been waiting for to complete my BRS display. I am very happy that this display is finally completed. I just went through my blog and found out that I got the first BRS figure in January of 2011! So it has literally taken 4 years to complete this collection since I received Chariot at the end of January 2015!
And here's a shot of Chariot by herself.
And here's a shot of Chariot by herself.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
The last piece to my Black Rock Shooter collection
As some of you might know, I went back to school to get my Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering this past September. In my first term, I was doing part-time school and part-time work, it was a hard juggle from going to work and having to get into the habit of doing homework and studying again, but I survived and past my first term. However, this second term, I decided I want to concentrate on my studies so I quit my job altogether and went full-time at school with 4 courses. So far, it's been tough, especially this past week when the work started piling on. I have two assignments due next week that I should really be working on now but I've literally been working on them 12 hours straight each day for the past few days that I am getting burned out so I needed to take a breather and decided to write something here!
Anyways, since I am studying full-time now, that means I have zero income. Yup, I am back to being a poor student. That also means I shouldn't be buying any unnecessary stuff now (ie. TOYS) since I need to live on my savings until I graduate in summer 2016. I've already halted a lot of my toy spending habits up to start of the semester last term. I actually think I had a compulsive spending behavior when it comes to toys, but I think I have recovered from that now that there's other stuff to worry about (mainly school work). However, there are certain items that I think and consider for quite some time and decided to pick it up in the end. One of these is the figma Chariot from Black Rock Shooter. I didn't preorder it from Amiami so I ended up paying a bit more for it on HLJ. I figured if I don't get this now, I will end up paying several times this much in a year for this figure seeing the prices of all the BRS figures have gone up like crazy.
I opted for the cheapest SAL shipping method and the figure finally arrived sometime this week. I am glad I have this figure in my possession now since I won't have to worry about aftermarket prices later on. I am a huge BRS fan, I just love the aesthetics of the character designs. Chariot is the last piece I need in my collection. I will post an updated collection display when I have time to open the toy.
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