Manila hostage crisis

It has been a rather heavy week for Hong Kong this week due to the hostage crisis that happened in Manila last Monday, which has resulted in 8 hostages killed along with the gunman. One week has past, and the sad air still sighs with the losses.


On 23rd August, former high-ranking police officer Rolando Mendoza has held 25 men, most of them Hong Kong tourists, in a Hong Thai tour bus. He demands himself to be reinstated in the police force as he was sacked earlier this year over claims of extortion.

During early negotiations, nine people were freed from the bus. As evening comes first gunshots were fired, and the bus driver fled to safety, leaving 15 hostages on board. Due to the gunshots the bus driver claimed that all remaining hostages were killed.


Mendoza was agitated by the news, especially after the arrest of his brother, also a policeman who was earlier drafted to help with the negotiation. At the end, SWAT team moved in and finally stormed the bus after several attempts to break into the vehicle. The gunman was killed, but along him 8 hostages were killed, 8 more were wounded, as well as 2 bystanders who were hit by stray bullets.


I was shocked at how the hostage crisis has ended. There has been a lot of reports on how it all could have been improved, or how the bloodshed could have been prevented, perhaps even leaving the gunman alive at the end. But as the hostage crisis drags on for hours, the whole situation only went grimmer and grimmer. Back here in Hong Kong, pedestrians stood still and quiet outside the large television screens of malls and shops showing live coverage of the event. It was an eerily quiet atmosphere, especially in a city where it was supposed to be lively and busy.


My deepest condolences for the victims who have suffered in the Manila hostage crisis. The bloodshed really could have been avoided, but what has happened has happened. A thorough investigation is being carried out by both the Filipino authorities and the Hong Kong Police force, and hopefully the truth behind this scenario will be fully revealed, giving the victims a proper justice for what has happened.

I know there has been a lot of negative things being said about the Filipino government, the police force, and the media, but whatever happens, please don't hate the local innocent people, or put one's hatred towards them. Hong Kong has a lot of domestic workers working for numerous Hong Kong families, and many of them are very concerned about what has happened too - not just the Chinese Hongkongers. People of various ethnics are also concerned about it too, so instead of hatred, let us look into how things can be mended for the future, and for the best of all.


Picture taken by Frost from OurToysLand forum

Other images were taken from Guardians, Yahoo! Hong Kong News
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Nendoroid Snow Miku

Got my limited nendoroid Snow Miku from last month. There has been a lot of delays on reviewing this, so let's get to this snowy cool figure!


Nendoroid Snow Miku is a colour variant of Nendoroid Hatsune Miku, and can only be bought from the 61st Sapporo Snow Festival (第61回さっぽろ雪まつり), Wonder Festival 2010 Winter, or from the web order at GSC online shop. This one is the 2nd batch of online pre-order, which arrives on late July.


Snow Miku comes with a clear stand, 2 alternate faces, 1 alternate hair piece, 1 bending right arm (with right hand), one extra right hand for holding the leek, a bending leg (can be for left or right leg), and the icy leek itself.


Front view. A nice white and blue colour scheme to match the icy snow theme of this variation of Hatsune Miku.


Rear view. I am glad that the twin tails are long enough so that they can help Miku stand without me having to resort to stands (which is a requirement for most nendoroids as they can't stand on their own with very unbalanced body proportions).


Side view.


Hair has a pearl-like finish in addition to the colour gradation and pretty snowflake patterns. The colour does not usually look like this saturated under normal light conditions, but interestingly enough it appears to be so on my camera :o


The inner side of the twin tails has a cool blue touch with a translucent feel towards the end of twin tails. An interest contrast to the outer side of the twin tails.


Snow Miku with a different face (mouth opened looking to her left), as well as a bending right arm and a bending leg. To change faces one must remove head from the body, then remove the front hair piece as well as the ear pieces before swapping the face parts. The twin tails have joints


The two different hair pieces. Left is the normal one, while the right is the one for Hachune face, which shows more of the face.


Hachune Snow Miku with the icy leek. The icy leek is clear with gradation to blue on top.


Snow Miku encounters the white dolphin Masshiro, the younger brother of Kawaii the aqua colour dolphin


Omake. The nekomimi from nendoroid Azusa does not really fit onto Snow Miku. It sort of fits into the gap of the hair pieces and only a front or rear view will hide it.


Being a limited item, Snow Miku is not too easy to acquire compared to the normal ones. I haven't got a normal nendoroid Hatsune Miku, and seeing this version of Miku with the cool colours that I dig I couldn't resist much, and got Asuka to help me pre-order one in a local proxy service shop while I was overseas.

Overall, I like the white and light blue colours on this colour variation of Miku. It gives a cool touch just like how the "snow" colour theme suggests. What I like a lot are the colouring on the twin tails, with different colour gradations on both sides of the twin tails. This is actually my second nendoroid (with first being the Shana Dengeki Diaoh ver. , which is also a limited one). In terms of playability they can be posed now and then, but I don't think they are intended to be action figures since some parts like the arms or even the twin tails can be removed without much effort. In short they are more for displaying but with optional parts to change poses etc now and then.

Recommended? If you are a fan of Hatsune Miku or like the cool colours on the figure, then I'd say yea give it a shot if you can find it, because being a limited item it is not an easy one to find with a good price. However, do be warned that there are fake ones in the market, but if you have sharp eyes you should be able to tell the difference quite easily (especially on the eyes).

Can't find English reviews of Snow Miku yet, but feel free to contact me so I can add yours to the list!


More reviews can be found on:

YOの玩具箱

(Very pretty shots from a Japanese toy reviewer)
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ACGHK 2010 Part 5

Continuing from previous post, the second half of Hong Kong Dengeki Modelling Tournament coverage is here. This should be the ultimate part for the long, long ACGHK 2010 coverage as well. Again, please do enjoy the photos!


































































This year's entries are pretty good overall too. They may lack some of the "wow" elements that were present in previous 2 years that I have seen (in my own opinion, that is), but there are still a number of good creative entries, or great dioramas to replicate a particular scene or battle.

Even though it's a quite an effort to push through the crowd to take these pictures, and that a lot of time was spent to take them or just to sort them out on the computer later on, it's still great to see what Hongkongers are capable of, sharing their creativeness, arts, or just passion in this annual event, and the winners are to be shown on Dengeki Hobby magazines as well.

Phew! That should hopefully end my coverage for ACGHK 2010! The 200+ photos surely did drain a lot out of me recently, and with StarCraft 2 keeping me busy recently as well there's never been a dull moment so far this month. ^^; Maybe I should do something else for a break, just for a short while~ zzz

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