MikuMiku Kagami get!

So my double twintails arrived at my desk ahead of schedule. The one on the right is the basic Miku Hatsune (still haven’t gotten the guts to dole out cash for the Wonfes Miku). The old Miku Hatsune I got from coffeebugg already has its paint fading. It’s one of the first wave Miku Hatsune Nendoroids. My other Nendoroids aren’t suffering from fading paint so it must be a lot-specific problem…hopefully. This Miku Hatsune Nendoroid stays in the box until further notice.

The one on the left is Hiiragi Kagami cosplaying as Miku Hatsune. She comes with two extra faces, three arms, two leeks and an extra leg. I like the quality of the hair paint and it’s a bit lighter than the Nendoroid Miku Hatsune color.

Her base appears to be a different material from the Nendoroid bases we’re used to. It’s much lighter but the mount is more snug than that of Nendoroid Miku Hatsune.

So cute! Kagami is definitely my favorite Lucky Star character.

Nendoroid Miku and Nendoroid Kagamiku side by side. You might think that it’s a Miku Hatsune body with a Kagami head but you’re wrong. Nendoroid Kagami here is a completely different mold. Her arms are smaller than Nendoroid Miku. Her legs are also different and don’t have those two turquoise dots that Nendo Miku have. Torso, tie and decal work are also different.

I like keeping my Nendoroid parts and faces in separate resealable bags. This is the entire batch for Nendoroid Kagamiku. How about you? How do you store your Nendoroids/Figmas/Revoltechs?

My desk with Nendoroid MikuMiku Kagami added to the bunch.  I work in an engineering company but I do enjoy having my toys around and working with them in front of me somehow helps me focus and keeps my productive.

Here’s the rest of the photos taken with a Lumix LX3:

Transformers ROTF Slurpee Straws

They finally have these out at our local 7/11 stores. So I went ahead and bought myself two. They’re a bit pricey for glasses and straws but I have a feeling that Hasbro was banking on the fact that there would be a lot of suckers like me who would be willing to pay the total cost just to get these collectibles. Well aside from the fact that Megs has a bent cannon, I’m not complaining. I didn’t mind parting with my money for these. I mean, they don’t transform but the straws kind of tickle the kid in me. So I got one half of the set: Megatron Slurpee Straw, Optimus Prime Slurpee Straw, Megatron Plastic Cup, Ravage Plastic Cup. There’s still Bumblebee’s straw, The Fallen’s Straw, Bumblebee’s cup and I think the other one is Prime. I’ll go hunt for them next week. For now, I’ll enjoy these two.

Zeke Mug

Mark Anthony just dropped off a tin mug that I had purchased from him. It looks exactly like those tin mugs that you see in wartime movies or TV series like Band of Brothers. But it’s like a smaller version so you can’t really cook your army standard issue can-o-beans in it. So why would I buy a wartime tin mug?

Oh yessssss

Yes, it’s Gundam-related merchandise, specifically for Zeon. It’s an 08th MS Team tin mug. It’s enough for a small cup-o-coffee but it’s definitely not something to quench your thirst. But what I love about this cup is that it’s really stainles steel and has a nice Zeon logo on one side and a silhouette of the Apsalus on the other side. How cool is that?

Kagami-chan taking the mug out for a spin.

Zeon logo on one side.

Apsalus silhouette on the other side.

Zune HD

If this gets sold here in the Philippines, I might consider getting one just for the sake of owning it. Damn, that looks sexy. Click the image to get whisked to Engadget.com where I saw the article about this sexy piece of technology coming to your stores this Fall.

This appears to be a special edition release although I personally don't mind owning the brushed metal one.

Toying around with Tilt Shift

Miniature Makati

Tilt shift photography is basically the use of a special lens to create a miniaturized effect on a photograph. But in this day and age of digital photography and editing, you can easily create the miniaturized effect on your digital photos with a bit of editing. The image above is an example of this.

Full Armor Gundam Unicorn

Saw this bit of news from Ngee Khiong’s blog. It’s the Full Armor Gundam. Basically, it’s the exact same Gundam Unicorn in Destroy Mode but with a whole crapload of armaments and two large fuel tanks/boosters at rear.

The Psycoframe appears to change from the usual red to green/blue.

It appears to have a shield mounted on each arm as well, additional rifle armaments, maybe even the beam gatling gun. Rocket launchers on its legs similar to those mounted on a Zaku, and a whole Macross-salvo worth of projectiles on its back. It’s like Heavyarms Custom gone berserk.

What do you think about this one? Think they’ll release a Master Grade version of this once the anime comes out?

Upcoming Revoltech and Figma Purchases

There are four items that I plan to pre-order once they’re up (or at least my colleague who is most vigilant in monitoring their releases will pre-order for me).

First up, Revoltech will be releasing (for the nth time) the Evangelion units. I particularly like this iteration of the EVA 01 and 02. Obviously, they’re from the upcoming Gainax production of the Evangelion movie revamp. These two look more hunched, lankier yet meaner than the previous version. Plus the points of articulation appear to be more than the previous ones. I haven’t been monitoring the Revoltech scene much as of late but they seem to be touting new technology in manufacturing their revolver joints as well as the quality of their figures.

Up next are two upcoming Figmas. Coffeebugg and I were talking about how Figma is unable to release large-oppai action figures because of how the Figmas are supposed to be constructed. Or at least GSC has not been releasing much of our bosom-blessed-babes in the couple of years. Then by some twist of fate, Figma will be releasing not one but two of the kind Coffeebugg and I were talking about. Sonsaku Hakufu is part of the Ikkitousen cast following two previous releases from the same series. Meiya Mitsurugi from Muv Luv is no small fry in the oppai department either. With her, katanas and oppai mix VERY well. These are definitely two Figma releases that I do not plan on missing out on.

Planning on getting any of these? Images are from Amiami.com. Click the images to go to Amiami.com’s galleries.

Day in Dapitan

After Mother’s Day Lunch, mum wanted to go to this place in/called Dapitan which is in Metro Manila (not the place that was made popular by Jose Rizal’s stay there), where there was this whole compound full of handicrafts for those who do interior design. But these are primarily Asian or local handicrafts. I think my mum wanted to buy some stuff to hang on walls and place on corners.

For me and my brothers, of course, we just went around to see what interesting stuff the stalls might be selling. Now normally, we get to visit this place when mum needs to do some Christmas shopping for home decor and other stuff so visiting the place at this time of the year was uncommon. There were hardly any people and the people who manned the stalls didn’t look very hospitable. I felt they were even annoyed by me walking around with a camera.

There were a lot of stuff to see. I particularly liked this corridor that sold a lot of handicrafts like pottery, plates, masks and a lot of other wall-hanging ornaments. One thing that I liked was this wall piece that was the image of a flock of birds perched on a tree. The entire thing was done in embroidery.

HSBC Tower Amidst Storm Clouds

My colleague told me awhile ago that low-lying storm clouds were covering a good part of the HSBC tower. So I rushed to the nearest large window in the floor to see if it was true. Well, it was less visible from above as compared to below. But I still felt like shooting it. What resulted was the photo above. The gray blurs were the fast moving clouds.

Vocaloid Puchi Nendoroids!

Gotta catch 'em all!

I got so excited when I saw this picture of the upcoming Vocaloid Puchi Nendoroids from Goodsmile in Mikatan’s blog. It has five Vocaloids featured in the set, including the twins, and Miku Hatsune. Normally the first five are the original costume and then there’s either an alternate pose or an alternate costume for the other five in the box. I’m assuming they have yet to show the second set in the collection, plus the usual extra mystery Nendoroid. I will definitely buy this set, even if I have to purchase all 11 myself!