10

Monthly Purchase

Armand Monday, December 8, 2008
It's December and my monthly purchases came a bit early this month. Well actually the only thing I bought this month was the comics. Even then the comics were last month's batch, but due to late shipments it just came in hence the whole stack of comics. The Joker and the Sniper are birthday presents from my mum (my birthday's on the 10th). So technically I haven't bought anything for December. But what the heck I'll just post em anyway.

I'll be posting up pics of Bank Robber Joker and the US Army Special Forces Sniper soon.
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2

Third times the charm

Armand Friday, November 28, 2008
Hi guys, I'm going down to Singapore on Saturday and i'll be there till Monday. As usual I'll be making a pit stop to CSC flea market on Sunday so if anybody's free we can meet up there aight? Hope to see some familiar faces on Sunday, hehe! Read on...
3

The Iron fist of capitalism

Armand Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Anybody getting the Ironman Mark 2? I just found out thru Sideshow Collectibles' website that they will be launching an exclusive version of this figure, with an extra standee of Ironman's chest plate. This extra goodie will not be included in the regular release from Hot Toys. SO the only way for you to get this exclusive figure is through Sideshow. WTF?

Full details haven't been released yet but from what I see from Sideshow's website it is only exclusive for purchases made through Sideshow. I went to check out Hot Toys' website to find out more but did not find anything explaining about this whole exclusive issue.

The only thing that will be shipped with the Hot Toys version would be the "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart" case. What's going on? Its not like Hot Toys to sell out to an American company like Sideshow just for a couple of extra bucks. I am infuriated that Hot Toys would do such a thing. 

I might be wrong. But please, If anybody knows more about this do share as I don't really want to jump to any conclusion just yet. 



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13

The Dark Knight Returns

Armand Sunday, November 23, 2008

The photos of my Hot Toys Dark Knight from my previous post didn't really do the figure justice. So I though I'd give it another shot and make this set a bit more dramatic, fitting for Batman.

I used only one light source for the shots, using a dimmer (which you can pick up at IKEA) to just soften the light source. Had to use the tripod to accommodate the low shutter speed and high aperture. Pictures turned out pretty neat if I do say so myself.










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14

Big Black Box

Armand
Got my new cabinet / toy display unit installed 3 weeks ago. I've been meaning to post some pics but it always slipped my mind. Dad was having some cabinets and wardrobes installed and he'd asked if I wanted one too for my room. He was kind enough to let me design and customize my own wardrobe.

I had this idea to actually incorporate shelves in the design and embedded them onto the side of the wardrobe complete with a glass panel. This would be my toy display unit. The first installation didn't go as planned. The installer who we were dealing with decided to change the design I initially gave him without consulting me or my Dad first. I wasn't happy with the changes so they appointed another installer and had to build the entire wardrobe again. So I had to wait for another week before they actually got it right.

I must say I'm pretty happy with the results. The new guys did an excellent job and followed exactly as how I had designed the wardrobe.








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2

Paper Magic

Armand
Last month Adrian had asked me if he could do a paper figure of The Pop Culture Junkie. I gave him my blessings and being the talented man that he is, after only a month he had made this 2D character come to "life" in full 3D galore. Without further ado I present to you Adrian's masterpiece; The Pop Culture Junkie!


I would just like to say that Adrian did an excellent job on this figure. He even went all the way to make a base for the figure which is an exact replica of my blog banner. This is pure craftmanship at its best. I am deeply honoured and humbled that Adrian made this figure based on The Pop Culture Junkie. Thank you again my man!

For more pictures of the Pop Culture Junkie figure and other cool paper figures from Adrian, visit his blog page here and here.
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6

The Dark Knight

Armand Monday, November 17, 2008
After almost 2 months of waiting and wondering, Hot Toys Batman Dark Knight is finally mine. Most of my collector buddies had already acquired theirs a while back so forgive me for being all excited about mine. No thanks to my pusher though. From now on I'll do all my preorders with XL Shop. Sam (of XL Shop) was kind enough to spare me one as he knew how much I wanted the figure. Thanks again Sam!

I passed the Original Costume version for this one since I already had the Batman Begins version from Takara Tomy (and also the fact that I was short on cash, heh!). Hot Toys' previous Batman figure was a bit off IMO compared to Takara Tomy's version but this time around Hot Toys got this one just right. The figure is well done and pretty movie accurate (to my naked eyes). It was smart of them to delay the release date to do the required corrections to the figure.

Pity they couldn't fix the beer belly problem. Its no biggie though, something I can live with. Just pose him with his chest outwards and he's good to go. Joshua mentioned to me that he read through a forum that the second wave would be beer belly free. I guess they were wrong. Beer belly is still intact. Probably some rival company trying to discredit Hot Toys seeing as they've been doing so well this past year or so.

The only thing that annoyed me about the figure is the cowl. It tends to fall off quite easily. They could have probably made the "clips" a tad bigger so it would fit snugly into those peg holes. But other than those minor problems, this is one pretty solid figure. Hot Toys seem to be on a role. The Ironman figure is gonna kick ass!

P.S : I know some of the poses seem really lame, thats cos I didn't want to risk tearing the suit or breaking anything by doing any weird stances on this one.


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