Coraline bendy doll

Still a few weeks before the film opens in Singapore, but I've fulfilled my goal of collecting at least one of the awesome Coraline bendy dolls from NECA.

Visually, I'm impressed by how accurate the doll looks to an actual Coraline puppet. Although you can't pose her arms and legs "realistically" because the bendy doll articulation is far too simplified, you can remove Coraline's faceplate and adjust the eyes, or maybe swap expressions with the other three versions. I wouldn't mind collecting all of them just to try that out. :)

This version of Coraline wearing the sweater with stars was actually a SDCC-exclusive, but I was really fortunate to purchase her from someone in Singapore. He's a friendly pop-culture collector who runs the action figure section in a store called "Titanium" (level B4 of ION Orchard). Thanks so much Alvin!

Just one gripe: her molded hair looks a bit too translucent up close

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Alice in Wonderland costumes + Pullip hybrid

"Alice in Wonderland" never seems to grow old. It's been a popular theme among filmmakers who've created several adaptations over the years, the most famous one probably being Disney's animated movie. In the near future we'll be seeing "Alice" as imagined by Tim Burton and Marilyn Manson. No prizes for guessing which version ends up darker, lol.

Not surprisingly, "Alice" is also a popular theme for dolls. Here I've used a couple of Alice outfits by Azone on my Pure Neemo Aika as well as on a hybrid doll that was created recently. She's a Little Pullip head (from "Fantastic Alice") altered to fit on a 21cm Obitsu white skin tone body.

More pics after the cut.





The Little Pullip neck hole is really tiny, and it takes quite a bit of drilling through hard plastic to enlarge it to fit the Obitsu neck joint. I was really scared of injuring myself with the power drill too, but fortunately my cousin was there to help out. Thanks A!!

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Dr. House custom figure

Dr. House, we have a medical emergency!

My favourite medical drama is "House M.D.", which is a dark comedy of sorts. The show centers around the misfit Dr. House, famed for solving medical cases other doctors can't and being a pain in the ass to work with. He often acts like a jerk towards his patients and co-workers, but many fans of the show like myself find him immensely likable. That probably has a lot to do with that acerbic wit of his. ;)

Anyhow, here's a custom of Dr. House that I finally put together. The cane was hand-made, the clothing's from a couple of suit sets Ken and Shaun got for me in HK. Thanks so much guys! I hope I can return the favour sometime!

More pics after the cut.






BONUS House MD Season 5 promo clip!

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Medicom Sweeney Todd

I loved Sweeney Todd. Not because I felt good after the movie - it's a tragedy from the start till the end, but because the songs and theatrics were grade A entertainment. I can point out the one about turning people into pies that's to me worth the price of admission. :P

Mr Todd is an interesting character, so I had high hopes for the figure. Medicom once again chose to use their short[er] RAH body - so he's dwarfed by Hot Toys' Jack Sparrow which is a shame (use taller bodies already Medicom!). The clothes are decent - he's got three layers of clothing on with hardly any puffiness, and his only "accessories" are an extra grasping hand, and two razors - one opened and one folded.

While the headsculpt isn't nearly 100% accurate - I think the cheekbones need slightly more definition, it's probably an improvement on Medicom's part. I'm spoiled by Hot Toys' sophisticated painting jobs (who isn't?), so it's easy for anything else to pale in comparison. Still, it's decent enough. Collectors don't really want to complain when they've shelled out big bucks for a fig - they want reasons to love it. I'll just pretend I do. XD

*Alright, I love my Sweeney Todd fig. I'm just afraid he'll break my heart like Peter did. (See previous post)

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Here lies Peter Parker

Or, the day the seeds of hate against Medicom were planted



Poor Peter Parker. I've never posed him very much and always kept him in an upright position, but yesterday I noticed that his legs looked rather funny (he stood lopsided). After taking a closer look, I realised his right leg was so floppy it just kind of dangled in his pants. This is what I saw after removing his jeans - the right leg had broken off at the hip/pelvic joint. God darn it.

I know it's unrealistic to expect a plastic "toy" to be unbreakable, but a cursory google search reveals that it's not all that uncommon with Medicom bodies. Unlucky people paid good money only to open a brand-new figure out of a box, and find that a limb's already broken. What gives Medicom? I have 4 Medi figures, the most recent being Sweeney Todd (which I'll post photos off later), and I hope they don't suffer Peter Parker's fate. It's not easy at all to get replacement Medicom RAH bodies, cuz unlike HT's True Types, I've never seen them readily available in stores.

More pics of the crime scene after the jump.





So you've seen the pics. Anyone else had the misfortune of this happening? Can I do anything to fix the joint, aside from getting a new Medi body to replace it? I guess I could glue it back, and sacrifice the joint's ability to rotate. Luckily I have one loose Jack Sparrow RAH body as a back-up, and hopefully I'll be able to remove the half-Spiderman-suit that Peter is wearing under his clothes.

Medicom now gets a low score from me, although it certainly doesn't apply to everything they've done before or after the unfortunate Spiderman 3 series. They've done awesome bodies from scratch, from the Edward Elric figure to the Chun Li one released recently. Replacing those "one-of-a-kind" bodies would be next to impossible. Next time, I'll just play it safe and avoid Medi figures unless they impress the hell out of me.

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The Watchman cartoon you missed out on

So the Watchman movie took decades to come into fruition.

But not the Saturday morning kid's cartoon. Nope, it was created right under our noses, lol. Check out this clip and you'll be singing along to the Watchmen theme in no time!

Okay. So it's actually a well-done spoof in the style of 80s cartoons. Harry Partridge is the guy who incredibly did all the music and animation, as well as voice almost every character except for Ozymandias and Bubastis (Ozymandias' pet lynx/tiger hybrid). Watch out! He's a one-man animation studio!

Lyrics:

Strong together, united forever
They're the best of friends

When trouble's about, you'd best watch out
For the Watchmen!

Nite Owl is their leader
And he loves to party down

Rorschach's friends to the animals
When he's not clowning around (I'm nutty!)

Beat up some thugs, say no to drugs
Be in bed by 10

But when trouble's about, you'd best watch out
For the Watchmen!

Silk Spectre's a sensation
You should really never miss

The Comedian's her biggest fan now
If I could only get that kiss!

Ozy and Bubastis are
Crime-solving superstars

John can give you cancer
and turn into a car

Strong together, united forever
Come and meet your friends

Have no fear, time's up, time's here
For the Watchmen!

WATCH OUT!

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mismatched: Iron Man and Koron

It's about time I be back to postin', so here goes: I took a bunch of photos of my bf's Hot Toys Iron Man over the weekend. My latest Pure Neemo doll, Koron, came along for the trip. Enjoy photos of the odd couple. =P

Iron Man is a cool fig and an amazing way to start your figure collection (in the case of my bf). A switch carefully hidden on his back allows you to turn on the lights for his eyes and the power core on his chest, while both his arms have a tiny switch to light up the circular emitters on his palms. He's also an articulated, posable figure with several movable parts - such as flaps on his legs that open to reveal the intricate mechanisms underneath. These small moving parts feel a bit fragile though, so it's best to handle Iron Man as gently as possible.

We actually had an issue with a tiny missing hinge on one of the flaps on Iron Man's back right after taking him out from the box, but a trip back to my favourite toy store got us a replacement. Thanks so much guys. ^_^

Yatta!

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