The World of Golden Eggs

Laughter's the best medicine, right? Right. I was introduced to "The World of Golden Eggs" for the first time in a Loft shopping mall in Osaka. It's an animated series produced by PlusHeads and MTV Japan, who've subtitled the DVD editions in English. Check out episode 10 from season 1 after the cut!





Amused? DVDs can be acquired from Amazon Japan. But I think it'll be a good idea if MTV brought this to their other networks too!

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Review: Midnight Crossing Momoko


More pictures of my Momoko. I've named her Junko, and despite her pleasant demeanor I'm thinking about customizing her further into a female Yakuza with more tats (she had one already, to my surprise).







Used a background from my PC monitor for a change. If you know where the image is from, you totally rawk.

Momoko bodies have unconventional joints compared to Volks and Obitsu - I have this Jun Planning 'Classmate' doll which uses a similar joint to Momoko, and one of the hands snapped off at the wrist joint with very little handling. Momoko dolls remind me of that fragility and I'm cautious about posing them.

They've got an appealing headsculpt though and I'd love to buy them loose for customizing. :)

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Hoodies ftw



New Volks custom, plus "How I ended up buying a Momoko doll."


I finished another Volks head, which is a slight improvement over the first two, but I'm still not satisfied. No matter, I went to cut her hair and try to create a softer look this time but I was afraid of over-doing it. Doll's hair doesn't grow back. :S

Had to do more research. Sure, I've saved tons of photos, but having a sample in hand would be a better guide. So I decided I'd buy a Momoko even though I'd shied away from them at first because of their awkward looking joints (imo). There were many to choose from at the store I went to, but I picked up "Midnight Crossing" Momoko, and I think she's gorgeous. Photo review to come soon!

Btw - if anyone is using Internet Explorer, does my blog have formatting errors? It seems like my blog doesn't work properly on MSIE 7. ;o;

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Review: Medicom Edward Elric



Edward Elric is character that'd be very hard to customize, thanks to intricate mechanical joints. This was the first Medicom figure I bought, and I had high hopes for it after I saw their product photos - the automail limbs looked amazing.





Edward is clothed in a long red coat, leather pants, black jacket, black inner-shirt, down to a pair of gray boxer shorts. The red coat has had wires inserted along the edges, although I don't fancy much use for that. Medicom did take a shortcut - the boots and belt are moulded in plastic. Attached to this belt from a small chain is his engraved pocket watch, which fits neatly into his pocket.



I know he's an anime character, but there's still room for improvement with the paint ops. Better choices of colour for shading his hair is one, and more detailed painting on his eyes. Another small grievance is that Edward's neck is stained from the collar of his dark outfit. D:

The sculpting on the figure is impressive though! As you'll see in the following photos...

Medicom serves up some tofu abs!




I love the automail parts on this figure. Medicom had to use a shorter version of their RAH bodies and produce a special arm and leg for Edward. They've also included 5 pairs of hands - gloved and ungloved, clenched fist, open-palmed and hands pressed together to do his alchemy thang.



All said and done, I picked up Medicom Edward Elric only when I spotted a good discount. The usual price tag for a Medicom RAH figure is rather off-putting considering they're notoriously stingy on accessories, and their paint ops are on the simplistic side. Hopefully with Hot Toys providing more competiton, we'll see more bang for your buck with Medicom.

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Holy Cowlicks!


Here's a preview of a couple of upcoming reviews: Medicom Edward Elric and Azone Hollow Ataraxia Saber. I'm not a fan of Fate Stay Night, but I was fond of Full Metal Alchemist some years back!

Azone Saber's armor is largely made from real metal. She's very heavy and had to be propped against a stand to pose upright. Medicom Edward looks much snazzier out of the box, after removing a few articles of clothing to inspect his automail (mechanical) parts.


For clicking the link, you've ended up at.. horrors! A graveyard of Valentine's photos I backed out of using. The only commercial aspect of Valentine's I'm in favour of is chocolate (forget overpriced roses or shiny baubles), and I had some miniature Rement ones I wanted to use.





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Valve's Portal


I just had to share this. I beat Portal after a night of gaming and it has the awesomest song in the credits, take a listen even if you've haven't tried the game! It's pretty amusing.



I've posted the lyrics after the cut.

Portal is a PC game brought to you by the fine makers of Half-Life 2, Valve. While the game is in FPS-style, you do not have guns to engage in combat. Rather, you only have deployable portals at your disposable (1 orange, 1 blue). This game is all about figuring out where and when to set your portals, defy/exploit physics, and just run wild with ideas. While avoiding being killed in the process of course. :P

If you like the song, you'll love it for certain after you've played the game, and you can download the mp3 format at this link. Thanks Timo for lending me Orange Box and Portal! -hugs-

Lyrics to "Still Alive"
as sung by GLaDOS, Aperture Science lab AI

This was a triumph
I'm making a note here
HUGE SUCCESS
It's hard to overstate
my satisfaction

Aperture Science
We do what we must
Because we can
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead

But there's no sense crying
over every mistake
You just keep on trying
till you run out of cake

And the Science gets done
And you make a neat gun
For the people who are
still alive

I'm not even angry
I'm being so sincere right now
even though you broke my heart
And killed me

And tore me to pieces
And threw every piece into a fire
As they burned it hurt because
I was so happy for you!

Now these points of data
make a beautiful line
And we're out of beta
We're releasing on time

So I'm GLaD I got burned
Think of all the things we learned
for the people that are still alive

Go ahead and leave me
I think I prefer to stay inside
Maybe you'll find someone else
to help you

Maybe Black Mesa
THAT WAS A JOKE haha FAT CHANCE
Anyway, this cake is great
It's so delicious and moist

Look at me still talking
when there's Science to do
When I look out there
it makes me GLaD I'm not you

I've experiments to run
There is research to be done
On the people who are
still alive

And believe me I am
still alive
I'm doing Science and I'm
still alive
I feel FANTASTIC and I'm
still alive

While you're dying I'll be
still alive

And when you're dead I will be
still alive

STILL ALIVE
still alive


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Custom dollfies!


It's been a long Chinese New Year holiday. I finally managed to complete painting and hair-styling my first two custom 1/6 dolls. They're the first decent results since I've completely failed in my previous attempts, lol.




They're head-to-toe Volks, from body, head, to their outfits. The girl wears a Tenshi-no-Koromo outfit. The guy's clothing is from WTG-BF Selfish line. I regret not picking up the jacquard jacket and shawl collared jacket while I was in Japan, because now that I want it, it's out-of-stock on Volks' website. X<

The Neo Go #3 head turned out to be more androgynous than I'd preferred, but I tried my best to downplay the pouty lips.. with not very much succcess, lol. Still have another #3 head to paint before I start using the manlier looking #2.

The female head is actually a mini, on a midi body. The proper midi head is bald because I haven't taught myself to root by hand yet. I'm still learning as I go along and reading tutorials by experienced customizers. On one hand, looking at their work inspires me, on the other hand - (and on bad days I must admit) it's depressing when my own results fall far short of their standards. But I'll keep trying, heheh.


Cutting their hair left these two small clumps, which I'm reluctant to throw away since it costs quite a bit to import doll supplies. They're too short to root another head. Anyone have any ideas?

I haven't thought of names or backgrounds for them yet, but I'm thinking along the lines of the blonde guy being a lesser known relative of Lestat, of Anne Rice's vampire novels fame. Seems to fit him wearing the frilly shirt.

I'll replace these with better photos after Timo lends me his camera. :)

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Phantom Hourglass gashapon


I'm a cross-platform gamer, but lately I've been playing mostly on my DS Lite. Phantom Hourglass is my first Legend of Zelda game, and I recommend anyone with a DS to try it! I found these Phantom Hourglass gashapon figures at Toys 'R' Us in Vivocity.

It's hard to explain exactly why this game is so much fun to play. I love how natural it is to use the stylus pen to do everything, from running around and swinging your sword at enemies, directing the paths of your arrows, boomerang, exploding rodents, etc, to solving puzzles using the clues you scribble on your maps.

Speaking of DS games, I notice a majority of people playing handhelds on the MRT (our train system in Singapore) are PSP owners. Where is the love for the DS, I ask you?? I saw the reverse in Japan, where guys weren't afraid to be seen playing their DS in public. It's a shame some people back home assume DS games are only for kids or girls.

I'm not knocking PSP owners though, just those who haven't tried any DS games yet decided it's an inferior gaming platform. If you're a gadget person, I understand the appeal of the PSP offering multiple functions (you can watch movies and listen to music on the DS if you want to, by downloading the appropriate homebrew software), but if you're a gamer, casual or hardcore, I suggest giving the DS a shot before you deliver your verdict. :)

Image from Gizmodo

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Review: KoF Yagami Iori

Ore wa kowai no ka?


Yagami Iori is a total bad-ass from the once popular arcade game "King of Fighters". When I was in school I knew guys who wanted to be like him. One guy wore the strappy pants to school, another recited his lines in order to impress. Whatever it was, Iori was popular among both male and female.

Iori's my oldest 12" figure. I found him in a box of toys after moving house last year, still in good condition save for slight yellowing on the white shirt. I washed the shirt and cleaned him up a little, and he looks as good as new. ^^

Iori's signature outfit is created faithfully in 1/6 scale. Tailored to almost form-fitting perfection, much better than the other 12" Iori I've seen on the market.

Unfortunately, this Iori does not have a fantastic body to pose with, and his neck joint seems too fragile to transplant his head onto a different body. If anyone is interested about the origins of this figure, here's what is printed on the bottom of his shoe: (c) SNK (c) Neosun 2000. That makes this figure at least seven years old! I was a teen when I got this. :D





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It's a ball of fluff. It's rabid. It's the blog mascot!


This lil' cutie's gonna be the blog mascot. At least while I'm feeling generous, because usually he's gnawing at my fingers and making it really hard to type.

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