Final post for 2014

As my final toy-related endeavor for the year 2014, I recently participated in the Ozinefest in SM Megamall and it was a blast being able to once again join a convention and just be able to hang out with members of the community. I was part of the Figmanila group for the display but also hanged out with members of SHF Philippines. Here are a few pictures of the exhibit:

And of course, I couldn't go to a convention without a haul... so I got myself a Banpresto Yoko Littner statue in her flight steward costume! Loose but in great condition...and at a great price too! Yay!

And in parting, just a quick shout out before we end 2014! Thanks Blogger for letting me have a few rants and raves over the past year! See you again in 2015!

Vigilante street justice

In recent weeks, I have acquired figures of two of my favourite vigilantes: TMNT's Casey Jones and the Dark Knight, Batman! 

I was able to purchase Casey Jones due to an influx of Playmates Nick TMNT Series 3(?) line in the mall, which he happened to be part of. I've been wanting the figure ever since I saw the pics plus it's a good nod to my childhood as Casey Jones was the only TMNT figure I had when I was 7. While the new Casey looked nothing like the old one, I am liking the skull-faced scary look he sports now. 

He mostly has a grey-black outfit but still utilizes sports equipment as his arsenal. Albeit. this is a younger version of the character, he now utilizes roller blades and a hockey goalie guard in addition to the traditional hockey stick and baseball bat. For a Playmates non-Turtle release, he's got really good articulation and is actually more posable than most DC Collectibles figures. 

If I had one gripe about this fig, that would be the non-painted weapons and lack of a backpack. The weapons look really plain with the white wash and the "hooks" on the back where he carries the weapons isn't really aesthetic. Otherwise, he's a really good figure that I am proud to put alongside my other Turtle figures: 

My other more recent acquisition is one from my personal fanboy wishlist: the DC Collectibles Arkham Origins Batman. The Batman costume sports his game look from Rocksteady's Arkham series and it is awesome! Definitely one of the best Batman sculpts ever! (And I am very picky when it comes to Batman figures so I don't say this often.)

Again, absolutely awesome. Articulation, surprisingly, is at par with that of Playmates plus it has an ankle pivot which is awesome! (Yeah, I'm using the word "awesome" one too many times.) With some free time, I think I'll be pitting this guy against another famous billionaire: 

Till then!

Turn-back Thursday (TBT) featuring Figma Emiya Shirou and Saber 1.0

Introducing a new segment here in TRCP that I would like to call the Turn-back Thursday (TBT) feature! (Now, there's something original!). In this new segment, I propose to feature an old photo I've taken each week as a sort of a looking back on my more than 10-year history as a toy collector. This would feature my earlier works that for me, gives me a good perspective of how far I've come from my simple point and shoot to the pictures I am producing today. 

Today, I feature my very first Figma power couple: Emiya Shirou and Saber 1.0 from the anime Fate Stay Night which was first aired in 2006. 

Both characters exhibit a strong sense of duty but both clash continuously as Shirou is a weak mage with a naive sense of justice while Saber is a powerful Servant but driven to correct past wrongs caused by her insecurities as King of Camelot. It's an interesting dynamic as they struggle with each other throughout the series but eventually come to a mutual understanding by the end. 

I took this shot in 2012 as part of my Figma collection catalog and I use it as the cover photo of that album on my Facebook account. It's also, in my mind, a good representative of a staple I have used for most of my best photos which is the half-body, close up shot. I think many of my own favorite shots have this similarity in composition as I feel it provides ample emphasis on the character's face yet still provides enough body expression to make the shot look alive. 

Anyway, that's it for this week's feature. Tune in next week! Thanks! 

A toy shoot... Finally!

Finally got a chance to do a photoshoot last night! It's been ages since my last one in my eyes and I was really excited to get back in the saddle. So, with no pending agenda, family-wise, I decided to whip out my old light tent and set up the camera:

I am now utilizing a Dioback city ruin background, a darker background than I'm normally used to, for the shoot. I had ordered the background from the Dioback Facebook page and have to say that I am pretty happy with how well these (I got 4) have been printed. I'll do a quick shot of the designs tonight but to the curious, they function just like the Decobacks with a background board plus base and two designs (back and forth) per board.

For this shoot, I decided to take photos of my SH Figuarts Domon Kasshu and Robot Damashii (Spirits) God Gundam. I've been raving about having/playing with the RD God Gundam for sometiime now and I'm really happy with the figure as it exceeded most of my expectations. Here's a quick preview of what happened during the shoot:

I also re-shot Domon just to get in the mood and I have to say that for a 2008 release, this one is still pretty good. Of course, my opinion is biased with regards to this fig. If I had one gripe on this fig, ok... two gripes on the fig, it would be the angry face that looks awkward from some angles and that the King of Hearts tatoo isn't too clear on the right hand. 

Used a different Dioback for this one, a burning planet background, and it worked out pretty well. 

The shoot took about 3 hours before I called it quits. It was a pretty tiring but pretty satisfying and fun experience and as stated in my previous blog, I missed holding my camera. 

I still have a bit of post processing to do but that's gonna come in later as I plan to shoot a few random shots of other figs just to maximize the opportunity this week. 

Thanks and cheers! 

Missed my DSLR

It's been awhile since I last dished out my dSLR or made a non-mobile camera shot of my toys. I took out the laptop the other day and noticed that I still had a pic or two up for editing and posting from my laptop.

I have several figures ("several" being the operative word) that I have not shot a single shot of or shot too little and most of my FB albums are actually outdated. I'm aiming to correct that this week.

Should be fun! Stay tuned! 

Reunited!

After a release date difference of almost 5 years, I have finally been able to put together my SH Figuarts Domon Kasshu and Robot Spirits God Gundam side by side and they look glorious together!

I love how they can pose exactly the same way, just like they do in the show! So stoked! I am definitely dishing out the DSLR and taking more photos of these guys soon! 

New haul!

Latest haul! Been looking at reviews of this figure for awhile plus with some testimonies from the SHF Philippines FB page, I finally decided to get this awesome figure:

Dragonball Z's main character Son Gokou! 

Great buy all in all, with lots of interchangeable hands and faces plus a kamehameha effect part. 

My bucket list of figures to shoot is just getting longer! Haha! I am one happy camper though as I now add him to the Playground's growing population. 

PREVIEW: RD God Gundam

In my latest night-capade, I finally decided to open up my RD God Gundam and tried posing it a bit. The range of motion and articulation on this figure is absolutely amazing.

I did find that the ball joint connecting the upper thigh to the pelvis was a bit loose, making it difficult to keep the Gundam standing in stances where the legs had to be spread wide. After a few stokes of nail polish and a day to dry fixed that though and I am again marveled at how well it poses. I plan to set up the shoot before the weekend but here's a little preview shot through my iPhone camera: 

Very, very awesome as you can clearly see how wide the God's stance is compared to the RD Strike (who has a hard time standing already at that pose). Also tried a few God finger poses as well but reserving those for this weekend. 

Clearly I have a lot of re-arranging to dothis Saturday as I want this displayed in my "Tower of Power." Hehe. 

One more angle:

Love it. 

I suddenly had this awesome idea to have it spar with my SRC Dendoh. ;)

Till next time! 

TRCP House Party Protocol

Waking up during the wee hours of the morning could present some pretty good opportunities to indulge in your hobby, as I did last Tuesday morning. I got startled by a small crashing sound at 4am from a fallen hook thingamajig we had at the back of our door to hang clothes and stuff.

So, after a bit of grumbling, I got out of bed, reattached the contraption to the door, breathed a deep sigh and realized that I was fully awake and couldn't possibly go back to sleep. Thankfully, I had a bunch of toys I got last week that hadn't been opened for me to pass the time with. 

So... I decided to open up the Iron Man stuff: 

I was pretty stoked with the Figma Mk Vii Full Spec given its array of accessories as well as the RDJ open face helmet. Figure delivered on all aspects as it looked glorious in and out of the box. I love the paint apps although  I was a little but disappointed with the torso joints as they felt too loose in my book. It was with a bit of difficulty that I got him to stay on a decent flight pose. Otherwise, love the open face helmet, the mini rockets on the shoulders and thighs, those  back air breaks and those wrist mounted rockets. 

Next up was the SHF Mk 42. An equally excellent figure. When I first saw the design during IM3 promos, I wasn't sold eith the new color scheme but after watching the movie and now, with the figure, well, the design works. There's a certain charm that the new color scheme has that puts it at par with your classic Iron Man colors and it is faithfully captured within this 6" figure. It is just great. 

Lastly, the Iron Patriot. Again, another color scheme that didn't really suit well with me the first time around but upon getting the figure, it looks gorgeous. The US flag-military-esque color design looks awesome and the paint apps are great. He's slimmer compared to the War Machine armor though (Guess Rhodey's bern watching his diet...hehe) but still looks menacing. 

With all 3 figures already out, I decided to take out my SHF MkVI and War Machine for a mini house party: 

And they look great altogether. I didn't really have time to pull out my light tent so I just made a quick pose and shoot on top of my son's baby stuff cabinet ( hello green teddy photobomber!). I still think it turned out great though. 

As a follow up in the evening, I took out a few other figures just to do a small height comparison, as a request on Facebook: 

From left to right: Playmates Michaelangelo, Figma Kirito, Figma Mk VII, SHF Mk 42 and SHF Green Ranger. 

In front: the DeCool Hulkbuster Iron Man and Sheng Yuan Mk 42.

You can clearly see that Full Spec towers over every other figure. When it comes to height scale, I think he's a little too tall while everyone else seems to be just right in comparison to the others (should there ever be a crossover of all these characters). Well, except Michaelangelo who should be at the same height as Kirito. 

As parting words, I really enjoyed having my short playtime with my new Iton Man figs. They're all excellent figures and are highly recommended in my book. 

Till next time! 

New hauls this October!

Christmas came early this year as my preorders from CWTOYS finally arrived last weekend! I am absolutely stoked about my new acquisitions: 

Robot Spirits God Gundam; my favorite Gundam of all time

SH Figuarts Iron Man Mk XLII and Iron Patriot from Iron Man 3

SH Figuarts 1st batch gift prize Tony's Sofa

Figma Iron Man Mk VII Full Spec Version

I did not realize how Iron Man-centric this haul was until I had them on hand. Haha! 

At the same time, since we were already meeting at the Good Shepherd Bazaar, I decided to pick up a few minifigure playsets: 

SY 304: Iron Man's suit up gantry

SY 305: Tony Stark's Laboratory and Hall of Armor

DeCool Iron Man Hulkbuster armor

More Iron Man stuff! Yay! I still lack the walkway gantry, the third IM playset though as well as the minifigure for Iron Man Mk I which came along a 9-figure set that was mostly reissues. I didn't feel like spending again for a bunch of minifigures that I already had so I had to pass on Mk I for now. Hopefully, I'd be able to score a solo one in the future. 

All of them look completely glorious in their respective boxes and my hands were literally itching to open them up and fiddle around with them, especially the RD and Full Spec. More so on the RD since I've been literally dreaming of that figure ever since Bandai first announced its release! Can't wait to get posing on that one!

For now, really really happy with my new purchases. Hopefully, I get to whip out the SLR and take some shots really soon. 

SH Figuarts Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

It's Morphin' Time!

My first complete Super Sentai team, actually, since I got Trini instead of Boi, it would technically make this my first Power Ranger team and what better team to be able to complete that the global phenomenon that is the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers!

The team!

Signature poses!

Weapons!

Power Blaster!

A morphinomenal addition to the Playground! But wait... there's still part two: we still have this figure to add on to the team: 

Hopefully, I can get to do the 2nd half of this gallery in the next upcoming weeks. Stay tuned! 

Kirito is here at the playground!

I think I've mentioned in a blog entry at the start of the year that Swordart Online is probably one of my favourite animes of all time; albeit I have not been able to really watch Season 2 as religiously as I did Season 1 due to family and work. I am happy though that I was finally able to obtain the Figma Kirito figure last June after attending my annual pilgrimage at this year's ToyCon. 

Of course, I took pictures of him with his lady love, Asuna and I gotta say that this is really an impressive figure overall. 

I think that both really capture the spirit of their anime counterparts even with the limited face expressions. Focusing on Kirito, the sculpting on the figure as well as on the Elucidator and Dark Repulser are just topnotch. If I had to nitpick on the figures, it would be that they didn't have more accessories to actually interact with each other i.e. holding hands, that sandwich from the first time they met or maybe even a miniature Yui. 

Regardless though, I love both figures and they're certainly an awesome addition to the Playground.