Category: Miscellany

Vending Machine Gachapon

OK, what would you like out of a vending machine? How about more vending machines! 

So I paid my money, and got my machine:

Erm. Um. So my first go at the machine got me the bonus drink set:

So then I had plenty of things to vend! There were 2 trays like the above in the box, so plenty of cans. 

Here’s a couple of close-ups:

This above shot shows the issue with these cans – the glue doesn’t stick overly well to the plastic, so they do become unwrapped a bit easily. Though the design is simple, but nice. 

So that left me needing to give the gachapon a second go:

Yay! I got me a vending machine! The design is nice and detailed, and looks very much like the vending machines you find all over Japan.

So let’s load ‘er up and give it a go:

Yay! Cans! It works decently well, but will often vend multiples with one press. Occasionally cans can get stuck, due to the aforementioned sticker issue. 

Now for a tour of the machine. Sides:

Hair is, uh, optional extra. Here we can see the slots that guide the door on the front of the machine, and the bars that guide the can release mechanism. These parts move smoothly in their slots.

Apparently I didn’t take a pic of the back, but it features a small slot-in door at the top (think mini battery compartment), where the cans can be inserted. 

Whee, this thing is fun:

The machine itself came with the one Power Horse Can, shown in the bottom-right of the above photo. 

Close-up of the Power Horse can:

Print is a bit blurry, but it is a very small item. Does the job.

I’m glad I got the cans first – it’s much more fun to play with when you have more than one can. I also love the fact it’s a working machine. Happy I went for this gacha :). 

Metal Art – London

This set I bought for cheap in TK Maxx (TJ Maxx in other parts of the world). Well, I say “cheap”, still possibly slightly pricey, partly considering my set was missing the pliers, as I found out later. Thankfully, awhile before I got into building plastic models, so I had a full set of tools, and one set of those pliers fit perfectly into the hole in the packet – not that I used that pair much! I bought this a while ago, but built it not too long ago. Let’s see how it went! 

First up, “Big Ben”:

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Looks like Elizabeth Tower to me :P. It’s the bell that’s officially Big Ben, but everyone knows the tower by that name, even if it’s not the tower’s name </trivia>. If you get this set, I’d recommend starting with this one – the build is relatively straightforward and short, compared to the others. Didn’t quite get the top bit straight.. oops. 

It does look good though:

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The etching is clean, and looks good. Building it involved some swearing. 

Next up, Tower Bridge:

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This one involved a lot more swearing. The end result is… a bit wonky. But is a fair representation. One of the pieces broke whilst I was constructing it – one of the flat edges of the middle stands, but fortunately this does not show, as it’s held up by hooks and the rounded parts. Oh, the rounded parts. Getting them curved just so and then getting the flaps in is not for the faint of heart. I’d recommend grabbing both pins with a pair of straight pliers, and bending them together, and get the angle right as you can. Also work left to right – tried the middle pin first on one, didn’t work out quite as well. Getting the corner towers on the middle towers was a pain in the ass too – you have to bend them into shape, then poke the pegs through into the central tower, then get some pliers/stiff metal down into the larger tower, then bend the pins enough so they don’t ping out (here’s where curvy pliers came in really handy). Once done though, they’ll stay on there well. One note to make – when folding them into tower shape, bend half of a side with pliers, but not to the full 90 degrees. When you bend the other side, the side you just did will bend in slightly if you have no rig to hold it (I don’t), and when you finish, it’ll be the right shape. 

Top:

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The bridges are a pain, and will likely crinkle. Given the effort, I’m happy they’re as straight as they are, lol. 

End:

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I like this – it looks good. Might not got the tops of the towers completely neat. These end bits on the bridge were far easier than the rest of it, but still a bi fiddly. Again, having curvy pliers as well as straight ones likely helped. 

Bottom:

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Not too much to see here. One of the straight parts that the curved parts are attached to is the part the broke – the straight parts are attached to the base piece with the four “dots” in. These are tabs from the tower part on top. Probably fairly obvious from the uneven shapes how much of a ballache it was getting the curved bits right. 

Overall I’m pleased with the end result:

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Hm, I called this one back, and the other one front, but I think this side might be neater. The flat metal bits bend out of shape easily, and here we see I didn’t get the pliers and correct the spires. The side triangles I used tweezers on a couple to help me get them in place. These slotted into place a lot easier than expected. 

Now for the shard:

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Ha. Started with this one. Really shouldn’t have. Assembling the first three pieces was a MASSIVE pain – you have to bend them into precise shapes, then try to get the tabs bent enough to hold the damn things in. Then came the fourth piece… which wouldn’t fit in! The instructions for this one are terrible and not very well drawn, so it’s hard to even work out what tab goes in which hole. And pinching the outer tabs is really hard, due to the way the pieces go together (or not). 

Here’s the back of the above construction, to show there are parts attached:

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Look at this mess. Like fuuuu…. Fourth piece didn’t want to align fully with the tabs present, so no idea if I messed something up or not. 

Just to show the insanity of the instructions:

Just. Look. At. It. This method works passably well for the other two, but here, it’s not even clear what exactly pegs into what. Would have been nice if they separated up the bending instructions from the pegging instructions, or etched markers on the model to show what goes in where, as it’s so hard to draw in 2D. 

So if you want an exercise in frustration, buy this set. Then throw away The Shard, and build the other two. Oh, and said “tools included”. No idea what they intended you to use the ruler for, the magnifying glass is crap and the pliers it should have come with I don’t think I used. Did use a couple of different pliers though. Would I do one of these metal kits again? Probably not. 

Tribble – Star Wars

I found this in the same charity shop as yesterday’s figure. And was not gonna leave this one behind! I’ve been looking to buy one of these on and off for awhile, so glad to find one at a price I was prepared to pay.

 So let’s have a look at him (or himher… seem to recall tribbles are hermaphrodites):

Fluffy ball! Better not feed it!

And to show it’s an official Tribble:

He’s been tagged, for identification and tracking purposes.

Though the main feature of this “figure” is the box, which has holes so you can keep him in the tub:

Here we can confirm the contents:

Ooh, child safe. I don’t have to worry about it around my husband then!

Some good advice:

Don’t want to be overrun with furry critters!

Some further rules:

Hm, need to find me a Vulcan apparently. 

Top:

Can see him well from the top :). 

Glad to have this furry ball, despite it being just a furry ball… but was an iconic episode of Star Trek. 

Nomad – Mass Effect 3

Wasn’t originally interested in this, but GAME was selling ‘em off for £3, so hey, why not. Not actually played the 3rd in the series, but I’ve had enough quality time with the Mako to pretend I’ve actually driven this one. 

It’s a decent little die-cast car. Not really surprised these have ended up significantly reduced from their original £10 price tag. It feels more substantial than a Hot Wheels car, but not so much I’d pay a big premium for it. 

Back:

The sculpt and paint job seem to be good on it – the lines seem nice and crisp. 

Top:

Looks nice and neat from the top.

Side:

Cuts a nice profile. Some silver details nestling in there. 

Bottom:

Sculpted and painted here too. So you do get something decent for your money, but I debate if this more “grown up” Hot Wheels affair is really worth the RRP. Which is probably why every GAME seemed to have a few they were flogging off at the time I bought this one, and there’s probably a number of them still floating around. 

If you want a small ND1, then this does the job. Not sure how many people really want a little Nomad, but the manufacturer clearly overestimated, though if you want one, I don’t think this one will disappoint. 

Minecraft Diorama – Mining Mountain

I saw these mini-dioramas online, complete with poor reviews thanks to size. Especially for the original price, I wasn’t ever going to get one of these. 

Saw one at TK Maxx for a bit cheaper, and decided that was the best deal I was gonna get to judge it for myself. So let’s see!

Here it is out of the box:

Even with the small box, half of it is padding. So if you see the box for one of these, it’s roughly half the height of the box. I’d regard this thing as palm-sized – I can hold it comfortably in one hand. The grey piece underneath it is a connector you can use to connect multiple of these dioramas together, if you get more than one. 

Close-up of Steve’s back:

Yeah, these scratches were fresh out of the box. Can also see the crummy paint job on his pants. Not quality. He’s also leaking shirt onto his left arm. 

Left:

Kinda wish this cobweb was moveable. That would make for more of a feature. Either that, or have the holes in it like it should. This cobweb is made out of a rubbery material. 

Right:

The upper grass block is actually quite nicely done. Not so much for the one “hiding” the action feature. 

Back:

/yawn. Can’t we even get a spider decal back here…?

So… the action feature! Will it redeem this? Upon pushing Steve down, let’s see what happens:

We get some coal. Hm. Let’s try again:

Gold. Now we’re getting somewhere…

Third time’s the charm?:

Diamond! Yay! 

I think the action feature is pretty neat, but doesn’t redeem this overall. I paid £10 for this, and well… it’s not great. It could’ve really done with some spare bits – maybe some tools for Steve and/or a couple of critters to play with. A spider and a creeper would’ve been well-received. A chest would’ve been a nifty addition for that cavelike feel. Overall, I think this thing is worth a fiver at best. It’s too small to make a good toy, without much interactivity. It could’ve been like a Minecraft Polly Pocket, but without a couple of other mini-figures, it lacks that value. If you already have some of the blind box micro figures, this set would combo well with those though… but then that’s adding to the cost just to make it fun… 

Overall wouldn’t recommend unless you can get one cheap in good condition. Or you just have to have everything Minecraft.

Klingon Birds of Prey – Star Trek – Eaglemoss & Hallmark

Bought these two Klingon Birds of Prey from the same seller. Well, when you like a thing… you buy two of it :P. 

First up, the Eaglemoss figure:

Evidence Eaglemoss can make decent stuff  when they want to. Not quite sure what’s going on with the Klingon logo on the wing – seems to have more colours than it should? Maybe a Star Wars buff can comment.. However, the paint job gives a good weathered look to the ship, and the model is detailed. This model shows how little splashes of colour can really bring out a colour, with the gold accents on the end of the wing & gun, the gold accents on what I assume are auxiliary thrusters on the top and the red for the windscreens. 

Front:

Birds of Prey have quite a thin profile from the front, so not a lot to see here. Menacing though. 

Left:

Same details as the right, so I’ll pass a few comments about the stand – it stands fine, as long as you leave it alone. However, it is a bit easy to knock it out if moving/handling it. If you want to move these ships around, I’d suggest taking them off the stand first prior to moving. Don’t want to ding any weapons off!

Back:

Here we see the red of the main engine. I do like this stand’s general design – it does allow you to see all the angles, without getting in the way. No complaints about this angle. 

Top:

Here we get a much better look at the details – this Star Trek series has some impressive entries, which is why they hold their value on reselling sites. Star Trek is a bit of a weird one for licencing – they have a bunch of Playmates merch, which is largely meh, then they have really good things like this. 

Bottom:

Glad to see they didn’t skimp on the mould detail here, but… shouldn’t the undersides of the wings be red? Seems to be a different design underneath, than the one I’m familiar with. Pleased to see they did detail it, but not sure it’s entirely accurate, but I like it anyway. 

Overall, I’m really happy with this model. I do really like some of the “enemy” ship designs in Star Trek. 

The second Bird of Prey I picked up was a Hallmark Keepsake:

No stand for this one, as it’s a Christmas tree decoration, so here it is, with its butt parked on the floor. As expected for an ornament, it is less detailed than the Eaglemoss one, but still looks good imo. Here they’ve painted what looks like a heat sink in silver, which makes me realise the other one had this part in green. Hm, looks better in silver. Nice detail in having some Klingon writing on the wing. No idea what it says though. 

Top:

Here’s the wire that is designed to plug into a light string, but may get modified to work off USB, as the manual suggests it should work just fine on 5V. The “1994″ on the back above the thruster is because this ornament was manufactured in 1994. Interesting detail there, lol. No thread on the eye, but I’ve got plenty around here to supply my own. Top of it looks good at a distance. 

Front:

Yep, still small profile, though this one’s chunkier construction makes it stand out more. The yellow light at the front will light up when powered. 

Back:

Here’s a red light, which represents the thruster. I believe this one is meant to flicker when powered, but as I’m yet to test it, I haven’t seen it, only read about it in the information leaflet.  This isn’t a particularly attractive angle for the ship.

Bottom:

Red wings! Yeah, this is how I remember them! Despite the lack of shading, the paintjob on the bottom of this one outdoes the Eaglemoss one. Shame we’ve got some copyright info slightly spoiling it. This is probably one of the neater angles of this ship. 

All in all, this is a nice ship considering it’s an ornament. If you’re looking for an epically detailed display piece, this probably isn’t the ship for you, but if you like a Bird of Prey that lights up, this is an option. I’ll try to post an update if I get the lights working, but they’re yet to be tested. If I get it working, I may choose a display shelf that I’ll have powered items on, and have 5V available for LEDs. 

Urban Mine – Tiger & Bunny – Part 1

I saw two Tiger & Bunny lots – one for a set of Bandai figures, and one for some prize figures. The Bandai lot went for more than I was prepared to pay, but I won the other lot with the maiden bid of ¥100. 

I took a look at the lot, just prior to paying:

Agh, it’s not just the J prizes, but a few glasses as well. I would’ve preferred to not pay to ship a bunch of glasses over too, but at least there still was enough J-prizes to hopefully get a set. So this lot ended up costing me the same as the previous one (£16.22), due to the weight. 

This will be a 2-part blog – today’s blog will focus on the items that are not the J-prizes. 

First up, the glasses. There were 4 glasses – 3 of the same design, and the 4th being different. 

I have three of these glasses:

Which look like this out of the box:

This side of the box shows the full design:

Personally, I don’t like the design of this glass at all. The writing feels too bold and hard to read, and the design isn’t exciting. I also don’t have any need for more drinking glasses XD. 

The second glass:

And out of the box:

I think this glass is a much nicer design – much more legible, and has a nice thematic design on one side. However, I don’t really need an odd glass, so I’m likely to try and sell all four glasses at some point. Erm, anyone in the UK want to buy some Tiger & Bunny glasses? 

Next up is this metro pass holder:

It has words… it has Tiger & Bunny… and erm, what the heck is this thing trying to say?! I may actually use this when I go to Tokyo if I get a pass, as this’ll prevent me from losing it in a random pocket.. But I’m not sure what’s up with the design. 

Back of the holder:

Nothing going on here. Just a place to grab & pull the pass back out of the holder. If anyone’s wondering how this works – the metro passes have RFID in Japan, so you tap them against the reader, so it doesn’t need to come out of the holder. You then attach this holder to a bag or the like, then you can just grab it and smack it against the reader as you walk through the barrier. I may take a reel with me, as I may not always have a suitable bag on me XD. 

Last up… is one of the Bandai figures! For some reason, one of them was dumped in this lot, and it was Rock Bison:

Aww, cute. This figure is OK, but cemented the fact I didn’t want to pay a lot for the Bandai figure set. And made me wonder if this one was missing in the other lot… Most of the painting is decent on it, but I’m not really attracted to the design. 

Back:

Some nice detailing back here, and the paint is where it’s supposed to be. If you like him, he’s a good figure, but he isn’t anything special imo. 

So an interesting set of extras, but nothing I would miss if it spontaneously disappeared. 

Urban Mine – Evangelion, Gundam & Misc – Part 1

So… this month I hit the Mandarake mines pretty hard. The next five blogs will cover this auction:

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I bid on this auction, as I saw two of Rei Ayanami’s head, and Asuka’s in between. The rest I didn’t really pay much attention to, but I saw the bag labelled ¥315, so hey, if I didn’t bid much, I was probably onto a winner! I won the lot for ¥400, and with shipping it cost me £16.22. 

So… let’s see what I got. This blog will concentrate on the miscellaneous items, that aren’t Gundam or Evangelion-related. 

The first oddity that caught my eye, after emptying the bag of items was this dude:

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But who could he be? So I turned him round and had a look:

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Oh! Docomo! One of the mobile (cell) phone providers in Japan! I did some research, and indeed they have a mushroom for a mascot, and his name is Docomodake. Well, their branding went a lot more successful than whatever it was Orange tried to do many years ago in the UK… He’s a cute, well-made little guy. He definitely gets a spot on the keychain bar. 

Here’s a photo of his head:

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Lots of brightly-coloured spots! The other keychain part that he’s propped upon will be featured in a later blog. An interesting and different item! 

Next up, three figures of Rio Rollins Tachibana from Super Black Jack. Never come across this series before, so can’t comment too much from that perspective.

Our first figure is of her in her normal outfit, looking like a dealer:

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These figures are surprisingly well-made – the paint is very nicely done, and the poses are good. They all have a bit of a gappy midriff problem, but this is not too noticeable if you’re not up close to the figure. This one you can’t pick up by her upper half usually though – she likes to drop her legs! The detail in the moulds is also a bit higher than your average trading figure imo – the creases in her clothes have been done well, and the paint/decal on the cards is very crisp. 

Back:

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She looks good from this angle, though less detail in her hair. You can see her cufflinks here – nice to see details like that. The support stand is on a ball joint, which makes it easier to manoeuvre into position. 

Now for Rio in a maid outfit:

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She was a bit more of a pain to get on the stand, but she’s also very nicely done. Some white paint slop visible on her legs though, but it’s not a biggie. Her apron pins onto her skirt – this is OK when she’s displayed, but the pins aren’t that long, so if you pick her up, you can accidentally knock this off. 

Back:

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Looks good from this angle. She has a standard rod stand though. 

Now for the third and final Rio:

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Santa Rio! This was the first one of the three I assembled, and probably the worst one for midriff gap XD. Once I had this one open, I was decided I was going to keep all three of the Rio figures. I love her face and pose, and the quality of the paint job. The bent-over trinket in her hand is odd though, but pictures suggest it should be like that! There’s a nice use of pearly finish on her stockings. 

From the back:

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The sack has been done well, along with her Santa hat. Love the high-heeled boots too. Very pleased with these three figures.

Also in the Super Black Jack theme, there was these playing cards:

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I haven’t opened them, not sure if I will, as I don’t tend to get to play card games. I’d guess this would be a nice collectable for those who like this series though – very thematic. 

One last thing for this post, Yuo Hirasawa from K-on!:

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In tiny charm form. I left this in the bag, but just prior to writing this blog, I took her out. She has a 2D guitar attached to her strap, as well as her head. May sneak this onto one of the keychain bars, or she may be relegated to the Trading Figures drawer. She was a freebie with an Ashai drink, so coupled with her size, she’s not really worth anything. 

So thus far, we’ve had 3 nice trading figures and a DoCoMo mascot… Probably not worth £16 to me, but at least a chunk of that. Let’s see what the next blog brings!

Devilman & Migi

Shortly after writing the blog entry for Sirene… I went onto Mandarake and did an order, mainly for Devilman. Yep, I’m getting the set – the other one is moving around in the postal system, but may be some time before I see him.

So here’s Devilman by Bandai:

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This guy was rather the butt to assemble. Needed to heat up most of the parts, and the tail peg became very rubbery, which made it hard to insert. He was worth the assembly time though!

Here he is from the front of his body:

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Loving those wings, and the explosion. Here’s a closer shot showing the foot stomp (Deibru Smassshh~~), also showing some of the wing in more detail:

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The explosion is two pieces pegged to the base. 

Here he is from the back:

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Not too much to add here, still looking awesome.

Close-up of the wing:

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Love the way they’ve done the details and the shading on the wings, plus the translucent orange. 

Finally, Sirene and Devilman together:

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On his own, Devilman’s base does look lonely, and as if it should be part of something else. It looks a little lonely like this, but hopefully I should have the third figure soon! Really glad I found this set, it’s very nicely done, especially for the prices I got these two at, and hopefully the price I get the last one for. 

And as it’s just a short one to show, here’s Migi from this order:

He’s well-painted, and perfect to sticking to a Detolf :). 

Urban Mine: Evangelion Extra Book

So.. this was a wildcard bid based on this picture:

I bid low on it, ¥200, and won it for ¥100. No other takers. I bidded it on because a) Evangelion b) T-shirt c) Possibly a figure thing. 

So, let’s see what was in there. 

First of all, the book and the box:

The outers… so far, so Japanese. 

So what was the “figure”? If you look closely at the 3rd picture (or read Japanese), you may have figured it out:

A cute little awakened EVA-01 strap. 

Here’s the back of it:

Was quite annoying to get the plastic copyright tag out of the way to photo this XD. He really is quite tiny, but he’s well painted. 

Now for the t-shirt:

Translating the text on the front of the “book” (we’d call it a magazine), it does say EVA wireframe T-shirt, and yep, it certainly is. 

Here’s a closeup of the EVA:

One dude being carried by another dude. A little difficult to look at, but I find it a cool design. 

Logos on the bottom corner of the T-shirt:

The T-shirt is slightly too big for me, but I think I can get away with it :P.It’s not particularly thick T-shirt material, but feels good to wear, so I’ll see how long it lasts. 

From what I can ascertain, the book details what you can “get” in terms of scenes from the Evangelion Pachinko machine, and some ads for other Evangelion merch. There’s some cool pics in it, but not much to write home about. 

Can’t complain for less than a fiver, including shipping. The T-shirt makes it worth it, and I have the awakened EVA hanging up in the bedroom currently. If you’re a size S T-shirt or UK12-14, this T-shirt should fit. I’m around UK10-12, for comparison. 

Kaki, Troll and…. food?!

So here’s some random figures I had to get… The troll figure I got some time ago, but didn’t judge it blog-worthy on its own, but now I have Kaki, I can blog about the pair.

So here’s Trollface:

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Yep, that’s deffo a trollface. And here’s Kaki:

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And yep, that’s definitely a poo. Waited for these figures to bin, which they indeed did. These are the two I wanted from the collection, the others don’t really interest me, even for bargain basement prices. They’re seriously not worth their original retail value, but at the price I paid, they’re fine for a novelty. 

Now onto food… 

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A happy, hungry sprout! Just in time for Christmas!

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I bought him from a charity shop, and we were debating if he was a cabbage or a sprout. The final conclusion at the shop was sprout, but I still think it could be either. See what you think after seeing his back:

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Bestest. Figure. Ever. And I bet you thought that’d go to Kaki :P. 

Rei Chopsticks & Illidan Keyring

These two don’t have a lot to do with each other, but they’re both not figures and arrived on my doormat at the same time. 

First up, the chopsticks:

And a closeup of the tops:

They’re nice, given the amount of space they had to work with. Might’ve been nicer if the chopstick with Rei visible either had the entry pod top be removable or not there at all imo, but it doesn’t get in the way or anything. 

As of the time of writing, I haven’t used them yet, but they felt like they’ll be a decent pair of chopsticks to use, and more conventional than my Alien ones. I may order the Asuka ones in future, but currently on the fence about them. 

Urban Mine – Aliens Edition

So there was one reason, and one reason only, I bid on this auction:

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I’m a sucker for Alien stuff, and I have most of the collection. My thought process was that I would probably win the auction at a price, that even if the one in the box was one I had, I’d be able to get my money back at the very least. 

But then this happened:

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And then this happened…

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There were two ships shoved in the box, both of which I didn’t have, and one is the rare! Looking at them, they were more impressive than I thought they’d be, so I’m definitely keeping them, especially for the bargain price I paid. 

So, back to the drop ship. I was just adding it to my collection on MFC, when I noticed in the promo shots I could do this:

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Man, that’s nifty. The others don’t articulate, so this was unexpected.

Here’s a more top-down shot:

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Here’s a shot of the top of the Sulaco. It’s very thin, so it doesn’t photograph well from anywhere other than the side (I did try):

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So super-happy I decided to bid on that lot! Now for the other stuff in the box. 

First, up, a blind box figure, which was already opened:

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Her name is Sakurakouji Hotaru, and I can’t tell you anything about her. She’s, um, wearing a blue skirt? The tiny stick at the bottom you can attach another rod to, and have a clip stand around her. Not planning on bothering, also she was quite weighty, so she might be made out of sterner stuff, which would help her not lean over time. Very nicely painted though, if simple. I do kinda like her, so thinking of keeping her for now. 

Next item was some random box item:

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Hm, some cool-looking stuff on the front. This box was opened already. And what did I get?

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Mmm, ok. Paint job’s nice, but I don’t think I have much call for a tiny dude and his bike. 

Here’s the other items in the set:

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A few things I could’ve gone for – certainly wouldn’t have minded the Utraman, but alas, this was the Urban Mine, so the blind boxes are often the crap you don’t want :P. 

Now for some Super Sentai sweets:

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These are going to a friend who loves Super Sentai, so not opened them. The chocolate is wayyyy out of date – the expiry is September 2007, so uh, only 10 years out of date. I have recommended the friend NOT eat the chocolate, though I don’t think he’ll be inclined to anyway. If I’m around when he opens these, I’ll photograph the toys.

And finally, a Pez strap made to look like a Pez dispenser:

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Hm, yep. Might see if someone wants to buy this. This is apparently “Boy” of the Pez family. Never even knew there was a Pez family, lol. 

And that’s the end of the Urban Mine loot. Super-happy with getting two items I really wanted, and the expected amount of trash, and I’ll be able to give a friend a Chrismas present… so a good loot it was.

Non-genre Grab-Box (S) – other items 2

And this is the last of the stuff!

Iwako erasers

Well, there they are. They look OK, but not very interesting. Have ended up at work, and I used one of them once. Took them into work to see if anyone would want them, no takers. They can be bought pretty cheaply. 

Splatoon clips

Bright n’ shiny. Not got any consoles, so not got Splatoon. I do like the squid designs, so these have ended up on my hanging rail. 

Dragon Quest tote bag

Nice, sturdy tote bag. Not a fan of the design, but hey, decent bag. 

Rockman.EXE badge

I ended up selling this, so I hope its new owner is happy with it :). Never really played any of the Megaman games, I did get roped into helping someone build a clone though. Didn’t get very far – the other person was basically relying on me to do all the coding, so I did some then gave up, lol. And that’s how I learned of Megaman’s existence. 

Tapu Tapu Panda

Apparently this is a dude who appears on greeting cards in Japan. So I guess the UK equivalent would be the Me 2 You bear. OK looking dangler, and resides on one of my hanging rails. 

Monster Hunter moshi tape

Some decorative tape. I know of the Monster Hunter series, but never played it, so not sure I’d get to use this. Did attempt to sell it, but got no takers. Its size is annoying on the posting front, as it’s juuust a bit too tall for large letter, making it expensive to post unless I open it.

Tom and Jerry rubber stamp

I vaguely tried to sell this, but unsurprisingly got no takers. Not sure what I’m going to do with this – if I find a Tom and Jerry fan, they might end up with it, or it may eventually get chucked. 

And that’s it for this box! Hope you enjoyed reading. 

Non-genre Grab-Box (S) – other items

This post will cover half of the remainder of the items in the box. There isn’t a really good way to split these and end up with sensible-sized posts, so the splitting is arbitrary. So, uh, enjoy!

Evangelion ‘towel’

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These are called “hand towels”, but they’re flannel-sized, and not the size us in the West would call a hand towel. Could possibly use it as a flannel. It’s not the highest of quality, and a bit thin in places, I like it’s Evangelion, but it’s not a design that says “Evangelion” to me, so it’ll probably live in a drawer. 

Nerv Vs Godzilla keyring

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This is one of my favourite items in the box, and was one of the first things to go on my hanging rail. It’s been coated and feels like it’d survive punishment, but I don’t really want to risk using it as a keyring. 

IBM Kei Nagai sticker

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Cool-looking sticker, that does have a transparent background. Not yet stuck it to anything, but reminds me of the Ethereals in WoW. Did look up the thing he’s from, but I remember it didn’t sound worth investigating further. 

MSGV: Phantom Pain

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Decent-looking strap, have it hung up, but it is one of the candidates to be potentially replaced one day, as I don’t have any current interest in the MSG series. 

Japan Post

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Apparently Japan Post have a gatcha series! And this is what I got in mine. Sadly, the way it’s been designed means that it’s very hard to get to sit on a figure’s head. Not exactly an item one can expect! 

Yo Kai Watch

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This was some data sheets and some plastic pockets to store your Yo Kai watch faces, plus a shiny watch face. I’ve since seen a video of the Yo Kai Watch (thanks Nerd^3!), and decided I definitely don’t want one. The watch face is currently kicking around on my desk, and the pouches turned out to be useful for storing badges! 

Kirby & Waddle Do

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Yep, Kirby badges. Not a lot to say about these. Never played Kirby, was kinda before my time, am one generation out, lol. Nicely made, but not really of interest to me.

Chibi ship

Yep, you read that title right:

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This was in a gatcha capsule, and is a ‘chibified’ version of a real ship. The ‘instructions’ for it gave you facts about the real thing. Didn’t know you could chibify ships, shows what I know! 

Non-genre Grab Box (S)

This was a box I got some time ago, which I started preparing a blog for, but never completed. So now I have my own blog, it’s time to post it 😀

Here is an overview of what the box contained:

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This blog will be about the figures and Re-Ment sets. 

Mickey Mouse

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This was the “star item” of the box. Alas, this was not something I was particularly interested in, and has been sold. 

Pikachu

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A plushie pikachu. Something else I wasn’t interested in. Looks nice for what it is, but I’m not a Pokemon fan. Did try to sell it, but hasn’t sold thus far.

Hecatonchier

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This is one of my favourite items from the box. Not truly familiar with the FF series, but this dude looks cool. And So. Many. Arms. It could sure give you a hand!

Baby Tiragon

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As it was a preowned box, most of the random item boxes were already open, and this was one of the open ones. Out of the things on the box, this was the least ‘cool’, so wasn’t surprised to get it. It’s a decent enough figure, but probably not worth trying to sell, so it sits atop one of my detolfs. 

Mothra Larva

Here’s the large packaging it came in:

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And the thing itself:

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Looked better when it was obscured by the packaging. I feel kinda sorry for anyone who won this in the Ichiban Kuji! You pays your money, you gets… your poop. It’s not very detailed, and has zero paintwork, which contributes significantly to it looking like an oddly shaped poop than a larva. It now lives amongst Poundland tat, and hasn’t eaten any of it, so I don’t see it mutating into Mothra any time soon. 

Petit Sushi-Go-Round

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These Re-Ment sets I didn’t initially open, but they sat around… so I opened them. All three were sealed. This one is a sushi set, and you can cut up the info sheet to put things on the screen. Not yet put anything on the screen, lol. 

Toy Story Toy Carnival

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This is probably my favourite of the three, as it’s toy story. Not much to say about it, but I do like the way the milkshake is Jessie-themed.

Rilakkuma Leisure Snack

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Weirdly, this one wasn’t on MFC when I looked, and I’m not big into Re-Ments, so didn’t bother adding it. Is cute, but the bits just sorta hang around on the wardrobe shelf. 

Grab Box for Boys (S) – Miscellany

And here’s the rest of the stuff. that didn’t fit into the previous categories. 

Camille Noire clear files

Fronts:

Backs:

Don’t know anything about this franchise, but some of these clear files did make me wish I actually had paper to file. Some of sides are quite nicely designed. 

Sailor Moon cake

I bet the vast majority of the people who owned this have done so through an AmiAmi grab box! Decided to put my current age on the cake. Currently is nestled among the spare room figures. 

Black Rock Shooter fan

Initially chucked this item aside, due to it being a fan. Opened it up at the end, and was pleasantly surprised, though not currently sure where I put it… Looks like it may have been an AmiAmi item, as I saw an AmiAmi fan in another loot post with the same fan “spokes” design.

Idolm@aster “carddass” cards

Ooh, shiny! Not quite sure what I’ll do with these, but I do like shiny things. That name wouldn’t fly too well in an English-speaking country though.

Not entirely sure where I put these. One day I’ll dig ‘em out and put ‘em on something. 

Futari Wa Precure art board

At the time, I wasn’t too impressed with it, but over time the design kinda grew on me. This was the first I got in this grab box, but since got a 2nd from another grab box. I’ve put the two together, and will probably, maybe put them on my wall of random stuff at some point. 

Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de badges

Might put the character badges somewhere, I like the middle one. Not got much to say about these, lol. And I still don’t, a few months down the line. 

Overall, the grab box was… OK. The ‘star’ item wasn’t something I was interested in, which brought it down somewhat, but the figures were a nice selection, and on reflection it wasn’t a bad box. 

AmiAmi Mystery Box – WTF!

And now for the dregs! The stuff that made me wtf, for one reason or another.

Let’s start out with something normal, which I didn’t know what it was at first:

Ooh, pretty card… Was scratching my head until I turned it over, and found it had copious English on it:

It’s a phone card. Don’t think I’ll have an actual use for this, but it’s the kind of phone card you’d potentially buy and not use. Obviously its previous owner didn’t. 

There was a second magnet in the box:

I guess this came with an azone doll… bit of a random thing to throw in, but hey, guess it’d be decorating the warehouse floor if it wasn’t thrown in. Seeing as I don’t buy azone dolls, this is of little interest to me. 

Who fancies something that looks like a watch strap?

But only if you want to declare you’re a tank. Or, uh, drive an M4 Sherman:

… too much Panzermadels there. It’s plastic, and feels sorta cheap (took it out of the box briefly to see what it was like), so it’s not really a quality novelty. 

Now to the most WTF-y… a CD!

So I recognised this as being from Queen’s Blade, especially as it says it across the bottom. Spiral Chaos is a PSP game, and this was an extra. I should imagine at this point, most people, like myself, was imagining this to be a soundtrack CD. Noooo, oh no. This is the oddities post! 

So my research was inconclusive, with some people calling it a “vocal CD”. I thought about trying to sell it as-is, but not being sure exactly what it was, curiosity got the better of me so I opened and played it. And what is it? Just under 7 minutes of some character quotes from the game. No idea what they’re saying, though Google Translate did get some of it! However, chunks of some of the tracks aren’t words. Not sure if the characters are in pain, fighting or um. Well. It’s hard to tell the difference with Japanese women. 

Not sure what I’m going to do with this in the long run. Play it to unsuspecting people? Slip copies of the tracks into people’s music collections? Can’t imagine it has much, if any, resale value. Not surprised it ended up in a box of random tbh! And it didn’t disappoint on the random front!

And that’s yer lot!

AmiAmi Mystery Box – non-figures

So here are the things that aren’t going to be gracing shelves. 

First item visible when I opened the box was this clear file:

It’s shiny and quite colourful, so I plan to keep it and possibly use it for filing paperwork for visiting Tokyo next year. 

Along with this were some Re:Zero game cards:

They all have the same card back, which looks like this:

Not sure what I’ll do with these. Can’t read ‘em. Third one along the top reminds me of Nui, from Kill La Kill though. 

Here’s an acrylic standee from Macross Frontier:

Had to do some research to find out she was called Matsuura Nanase. Not sure if I will keep this. 

Next up is a Sailor Moon charm:

Pretty, but I don’t have any attachment to Sailor Moon. 

Here’s a magnet from Brave Witches. The character is apparently called Karibuchi Hikari:

This particular magnet wasn’t on the MFC database, but there are others in the same set. 

Here’s a Precure Shikishi board. Had one of these before, but this is a different design:

They’re pretty, so I might put them up somewhere… when I can be bothered. Got some other pics to do first!

Here are some straps, this was a double-pack, and the characters are from Idolm@ster:

And this is Kotori from Love Live!:

Finally, for this post we have a playmat, for all your card-game-playing needs:

These characters are from KanColle. 

Mystery box finale coming tomorrow!

Box o’ Random Part 6

And now for the dregs! There was bound to be some broken/incomplete stuff, and here it is. 

First up, not broken, but kinda cheapy – some Japanese warrior figures.

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They’re not terrible, but they’re more kid’s toys than something to really display imo. They’ve been sent to the Drawer of Purgatory. Feel kinda sorry for the dude in the middle with his wilting sword. 

The next item I initially thought was a decent item, but on closer inspection… not so much. 

Here is Neptune from One Piece:

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Unfortunately, on closer inspection, the pain on his large mane of hair is badly chipped:

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Was considering listing this on eBay, but don’t really want to with the condition it is in. 

Now for half-a-Akagi from Kan Colle:

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No head in the box, so this is a bit pointless. I’ll keep the bits, just in case I can combo it with something at a later date. 

Lastly, the body of Hiiragi Tsukasa from Lucky Star and a

Sound Capsule Gaia Memory of Ryuki. Nope, Hiiragi’s head doesn’t fit on Akagi’s body. I tried 😛

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The sound box is made to look like a USB drive, but it very much isn’t. You can press the button at the bottom (raised bit near the “plug” end), and it will cycle through a bunch of sounds. Doing some research, this set came with some kind of candies/sweets, and there were others done as blind boxes. 

Has annoy-o-tron potential, so it’ll get lost in a drawer somewhere. Or thrown at someone who professes a love for Kamen Rider. 

And that concludes the Box o’ Random! There are a couple of items I haven’t covered, as I’ve listed them on eBay. The items are a couple of pin badges and a phone strap, from series I’ve not heard of.