homebuilding in 1:10

zero love for customs

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:21:35 GMT

The post office and I, see, we're usually on good terms. Sometimes they muck things up, but they always make up for it in some unexpectedly nice way. But customs and I, that's a different story. I have only the deepest hate for them, mostly because they'll single you out for some reason that'll only make sense to them. You can order box after box and they won't bat an eyelash, but if you're unlucky enough, you'll land some d*ckhead who'll do his best to make a quick buck off you.

And that's what nearly happened to these two sets. I narrowly escaped paying double for them because of some timely 'divine' intervention (__ and __ will definitely be spoiled this christmas), but the process of waiting and retrieving sucked all enthusiasm out of me. When I finally got them, I only opened the boxes, looked at the contents, then put them all back. I think I'll be keeping them unopened for a while.

(Fly by review: both series are slightly bigger than I initially expected. I shouldn't have been surprised because recent releases like the European Grandma and the Pooh's Hunny Cafe have been on a larger scale than old Re-Ment, but I was surprised anyway.)

Now I'm apprehensive about these other ones I've ordered--

Altair's Natsume Takashi (late July)

Megahouse's Okita Sougo (early October)

-- because they'll surely come in humongous boxes (Megahouse in particular can be stupidly impractical about their packaging), and big boxes are easy prey for customs d*ckheads. One way to avoid dealing with them is to go for SAL instead of EMS, but I've already lost packages via SAL.

This is stupid.

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accessories

Sat, 29 May 2010 09:05:55 GMT

From the Revoltech Professor Layton set. I like these pieces a lot.
And this Figma comes with some quite handy accessories. I'm thinking Kyon could use them -- even the apron.

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lack of sleep aggravates crabbiness

Sun, 02 May 2010 17:48:56 GMT

I've given up on the lost packages, though I still hate the inconsistencies of international shipping.

There's also this thing with releases coinciding with Golden Week. The earliest things will get processed will be Thursday next week, which means things get shipped to me early next next week, which is a terribly inconvenient time to get packages.

Also, buying shokugan from exclusive shops means you pay twice/thrice the SRP. Add another thousand yen for the middleman.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.

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shipping woes and virtual shopping

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:44:25 GMT

I think these are lost in the mail:

unless they magically turn up at the post office in the middle of the year or something. I used to have problems with the HK post, but now it's the USPS. This is annoying because I need that sack of flour.

As for other things I "need" (a short list because my want list is too horribly long to post):

And look at this set coming out in May (info c/o electrikbarbarella@flickr):

A lot of that can actually come in handy, minus the bears. I hope those bears are detachable. They're cute though.

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happy birthday to us!

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:14:12 GMT

~~If Wikipedia's to be trusted,~~ today is Itoshiki Nozomu's birthday. It also happens to be my birthday as well, which gives me -- or us? -- a very good reason to crack open a box from Re-Ment's Mini Sweets series.

( party pic spam )

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nendoroid yagami light

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:27:56 GMT

Last week, I had the chance to take a closer look at (and giddily take several shots of) a nendoroid Yagami Light.
It's even cuter than I thought it'd be!

The stand comes with two separate plastic clasps that can fit around the waist snugly or can be moved to accommodate an arm or two. It's a nifty idea, but it still doesn't provide enough support for the head, which is huge. It's interesting to note the differences between an early nendoroid and a later release, particularly when it comes to the casting and the paint job. You can clearly see how they went overboard with the orange tint in the old days.

Light has three alternate faces, one of which is this face, which suddenly made me want a nendoroid Light myself.
I-It's so cute.
(Though, for the record, the only other nendoroid I really wanted was L.)

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ぷぷぷすとらっぷ　ガンダムヒストリー

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:10:42 GMT

From sukichika.net.
These are the ones I want:

On sale September 2009.

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