If I have 200 dollars...

... Hong Kong dollars, that is. ^^;

Hong Kong dollar (HKD) is pegged by the United States dollar (i.e. fixed exchange rate), so 200HKD roughly equals to 25USD. So what can I get with that amount of money, or rather what did I get with such amount for each purchase?


A figma?

Most 2500 Yen figma such as Shana cost about that price or slightly lower in Hong Kong, unless it's a hard-to-find one.


Or 4 light novels that Shana is sitting on right now?

I've started reading Shakugan no Shana novels sometime last year, but as I am a slow reader, my progress on it is slower than a snail at the moment... ^^;;


Or some gunpla?

The price of gunpla varies from scale and date (bigger and/or newer ones are more expensive, and vice versa), but generally I can grab around 2-3 1/144 or one 1/100 (non Master Grade) and one 1/144 with that amount of money.


Or even some military stuff?

I buy fewer military models now as there are fewer releases these days. But something like this WWII beach landing diorama as shown abobe was quite a good get for me. I have yet to open mine as I was seriously distracted by this back then... -_-


As you can see, what I can/did buy with 200 dollars can be quite varied (from figma to gunpla to military), which kinda shows how my interest starts to get a bit more diverse these days.

Getting diverse at what I like can be good, as I can start understand different people with different hobbies more and more. On the other hand, getting too diverse can also be... A little dangerous, as I am prone to even more temptations than I used to be. @_@

What will you get if you have 200HKD or 25USD in your hands right now? Figures? Gunpla? Manga? CDs/DVDs? Games? Or is it not enough for you to buy anything? XD
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figma mods

figma modding is getting better and better, and they can be so good that's it can be hard to tell that they can be easily mistakened as official ones. Let's see some of the custom figmas that are mentioned on the official figma blog~


An original character made out of Shana and Miku, now looking really dark and hardcore~ ^^


figma Ultraman. My knowledge of Ultraman is rather poor so I don't know which one this is specifically...


Shiki Ryougi from Kara no Kyoukai, a light novel series from Type-Moon that got adapted into an anime movie series


Yomi Isayama (諌山黄泉) from anime and manga series Ga-rei.


Fate in True Sonic Form!


Found this Shana familiar? Yep it's yui_style's Shana that I mentioned a while ago.

Btw the meronpan there is not real; it's actually a look-alike toy/replica. Not only does it look like a real one, it feels like one and even smells like one too! o_O


Another great work by yui_style which I've also mentioned - figma Lacus Clyne.

Some of the more well known custom figma work are from 盗賊長門の人:

Taiga Aisaka from anime and light novel series Toradora! I personally find her face a tad bit off, but it's nevertheless a great work.


Kyon's sister from the Haruhi franchise. This one looks just like her in the anime o_o......


The SOS-dan girls in their RPG attire. With Haruhi being the exception (as she comes with a PS2 game), Thief Nagato and Mage Mikuru are both custom made according to how they look like in the game!

With so many great custom figmas out there, it can be quite hard for me to find my favourite (okay Fate in True Sonic form if I were to be biased ^^;). What will your favourite be, or is there another one out there that's yet to be mentioned? Share your thoughts!

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Evolution of Game Graphics

Mild digression here...


This screenshot here (not a photo) shows the lovely Wake Island portrayed in the upcoming game Battlefield 1943. Kinda feel like taking a stroll there all of a sudden ^^;

They say technologies go 一日千里, or one day thousand miles, and it is indeed the case. Below 4 sets of screenshots show how much Wake Island has changed graphically in Battlefield 1942 (released in 2002), Battlefield 2 (released in 2005), and the upcoming Battlefield 1943 (to be released this year).

Based on a real island of the same name and a real battle, this map has been very popular with the players and was remade into different games. While seeing a recurring character back in a new game is fairly common, seeing a recurring map isn't quite so ^^;

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Being a Battlefield 1942 player (albeit a poorly skilled one orz), it's impressive to see how far game graphics can evolved over these years. One can imagine how 3D graphics were just starting to take off significant just over a decade ago, and now it's getting more and more breathtaking or indistinguishable with real life stuff. I sometimes do wonder, how would games look in another 10 years' time? :o

All images are from Total Gaming Network

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VF-25 Fate Testarossa ver.

We had Itasha, Itansha, Itachari, and even an Ita-GM, and here we have an Ita-Valkyrie (variable fighter from anime Macross Frontier) featuring Fate Testarossa from the Nanoha series.

This VF-25 plamo is made by rakigako2, a dedicated Fate fan who has shown his work on ToysDaily forum. I'll leave the pictures to do the telling, since a picture is worth a thousand words ^^

Battroid mode:
Side-by-side with 2 other Valkyries








Fighter mode:
That's where the beauty shines in my opinion~







Omake:




Beautiful custom decal sheet, and is self made too O_O

No pictures of Gerwalk mode available though.

Want to make your own?
rakigako2 has some tips for DIY decal sheet:

Buy clear decal sheet(s)

Use software to design the decals (mainly rearranging and resizing images)

Use ink jet printer to print (or laser printer if you have one)

Use at least 3 layers of top coat (a must, and first 1-2 coating should be water based)

If the model is of dark colour(s), then use white decal sheet(s) instead

As far as I know, Macross plamos are not cheap, and their decals are not easy to apply (there are a lot of them!). This one simply made my jaws dropped for a while, and it looks really nice even for an Ita-Valkyrie~

Big thumbs up for rakigako2's effort on making this Ita-Valkyrie, and his dedication towards Fate!

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Speaking of Fate, I've just finished watching Nanoha StrikerS tonight, and it's nice to see her in action (albeit a little short and limited). The anime has a slow start with a lot of new characters to introduce, but it does pick up the pace later in the series. It shouldn't be regarded as a "Magical Girl" series, as it has moved on to something that seem more serious and more bureaucratic, which is a big contrast to its prequels. The big change in timeline and themes can be a little uneasy to get used to, and the sucess of A's has overshadowed this series quite a bit, but overall it's still a solid piece with some interesting characters and backstory in my humble opinion, and I do look forward to another Nanoha series should there ever be one.

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Nendoroid Shana Dengeki Daioh ver.

The bleeding didn't stop from last week - here comes my first and only Nendoroid I've ever bought for myself @_@


Nendoroid Shana Dengeki Daioh version, or commonly known as the Black Hair version, is the magazine exclusive Nendoroid figure of Shana by Good Smile Company (GSC). Getting one of these definitely isn't easy by now, and I got mine at a relatively hefty price

Although it's called Nendoroid (or sometimes Nendo) in English, we Chinese tend to call it a Q版 (Q-version), where "Q" is approximately shortened for "cute". Basically it's akin to chibi or super deformed.

So why did I get it? Well, I didn't plan to get this in the first place (just like the black hair figma Shana), but after seeing so pictures of this Nendoroid here and there (especially the one where Valho puts his Nendo Shana in all pictures of his loot), the cuteness overwhelmed me, and at the end I told meronpan right here that I'd get it, and I did orz


As one can see, there are a number parts to go with it beside the clear stand: Alternate arms, alternate face, alternate hair, a different skirt for sitting pose, 2 tails and her favourite melonpan~

As for that thing keeping Shana standing at the back, I'll mentioned later what it is.


What's worth noticing is that there's only one ahoge (i.e. the hair sticking out of her head) for two hair pieces. Since I don't want to break anything (and I have not seen other people changing the ahoge piece back and forth before), I've left it on the nekomimi one.


It's also worth noting that the back of the box mentioned only one tail on the list of parts, whereas there are actually two in this Nendoroid.


But again I mentioned that this isn't really gonna be a review, because things start to go off track when my 1/100 Tieren finally gives Shana her long waited melonpan...


Then her ^o^ face comes, and it's illegally cute.


The two black hair (and limited) Shanas enjoying their melonpans~


Without me noticing it, I've got that many Shana figures already. It kinda does take me by surprise as I don't own many figures, and I've not thought of Shana being the character I'd have the most figures of o_o;;


A finisher combo: Nendoroid Nekomimi Shana with Kawaii!





Okay, anymore of that and I'd go moe overload. @_@

And I've really spent too much on stuff for this break. Way too much. I probably won't spend anymore on figures for the time being until Alter Fate comes, and devote more to my gunpla backlog, but I'd have to leave those for the summer.

Meanwhile I should get myself cured/uncured by appreciating a military diorama I've bought fairly recently as well (yea more blood lost, but not as badly):

Metal Troops 1/144 US Navy Landing Craft LCM 3 WWII Diorama~


P.S. The mysterious creature holding Shana on the 3rd pic was a turtle called 小鋒 (Siu Fung). It's one of my sister's family of 4 turtles, and I'm not sure why a lot of people have mistaken them as rabbits ^^;

Proper (?) reviews of this Nendo Shana can be found on:

Meronpan

Exelica Meteor

Orange Horizons

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