Thursday, June 25, 2015

Murakami's Log #11: 7th Year Happenings

If you're tuned in my blog's facebook page, you'd definitely know what the photo above is.

Anyway, here's a little slice of the log which hasn't been updated for like a year now; like my last log, I'll be splitting this post into different sections~

The Toycon 2015 Experience!

Again, Toycon happened last weekend and the first day of the event was a very tiring day for me. That's because I'm technically setting up for two groups which is Team Onii-chan, which apparently has me back as an admin after 2 years because of reasons, and of course, my very own group, PuriFigyuaPH because we just love the Precure franchise enough to actually want to make it known more. So yeah, being the go-to guy of anything articulated, I had to setup/instruct how to setup the figures for both groups. 

As I mentioned in my fanpage, I was the one behind TOC's East versus West setup, of course, the figures weren't exactly determined until like a few days before the event and the space also had to play a role once I see it personally; I had to go with what was available and visualizing the whole scenario and adjusting them on the fly was definitely the way to go. Originally, Atago didn't have a place in there but changes to the display roster forced me to replace Ultimate Madoka with Atago and have her fight with Spider-man instead. The nendoroid suction stands were of great value for the setup as they were freaking compatible with a lot of peg holes such as the figmas' backs, the stand extensions and even the tamashii stage tubes! This was definitely the largest scenario setup I've done since I started collecting and I am quite proud of it as it felt very rewarding to look at after all the hard work I've put into setting it up! :D


The PuriFigyuaPH setup was a little easier to setup since I just recycled the ones I had back in our Henshincon display but of course, setting up on the table and on the cab are two different things and the Heartcatch SHF setup was definitely a headache to put on especially with how weak their stands are compared to the newer ones. I was quite glad that a number of people are actually familiar with Precure and that some people back in our fanpage loved the setup. 


As I was busy setting up for like two groups, I did actually lend 3 SHFs to the guys at S.H.Figuarts Philippines and thanks to that, I did get to meet a number of the admins though I wasn't able to talk to them that much since I was mostly guarding the TOC and PuriFigyua displays (which coincidentally were next to each other thanks to the lucky hands of two particular friends haha); S.H.Figuarts Philippines' display was definitely neat and I really liked the one inside the house the most since it definitely tells a lot and is quite fun to look at. 


There were around 50 different groups who displayed for the event and I must say I really loved three particular groups' respective displays because they were amazing to look at and those belong to Jojo's Bizarre Adventures Philippines, Chopsuey Toy Collectors and PTK's Marvel Division. I'm not a fan of Jojo nor have I watched it BUT man, JBAPH's display definitely has put a lot of effort into their display and personally, I think it IS the best display among every other displays.


I still have a bunch of photos available and they can be viewed at the fanpage's Toycon 2015 album.

Of course, I won't let my 7th year of collecting celebration at Toycon be bland as to not have a single legit Toycon haul; while I definitely have little budget for the event, Day 1 definitely was the biggest win for me despite the tiresome ingress as I did find a Hobby Japan x Kotobukiya Reimu Hakurei for cheaps and I MEAN CHEAP, I actually saw this along with a few prize figures at one booth that was near Patrick's at the con; upon noticing it, I actually had to ask my friends, kai and Claudandus, to check out mfc if the figure has a counterfeit record and thank goodness, she didn't and with their help (since I haven't withdrawn money at the time I saw Reimu), I got me a Hobby Japan Reimu for just P800 which is technically just around $10 lol. My original goal for Toycon was actually to find a cheap Marvel Legends Agent Venom, a loose Marvel Legends Agent Coulson or a Return of Marvel Legends Ghost Rider (Ketch from Terrax Wave). While I wasn't able to spot any of these, my good friend, Snacks, was actually able to dig through a pile of bins and got me a loose RoML Ghost Rider with bonus cards for just P650 (around $8); am really grateful to him for finding me one and that's it, these two cheapos make fine Toycon hauls!


Where My Toycon Budget Went...

The main reason why my spending power on Toycon was little to none was because there were a LOT of pre-orders that arrived and it really is quite a huge damage as a bunch of GSC/MaxFac stuff arrived together with Tamashii Nations' effect Flame, Kotobukiya's Shaoran AND a bunch of Tamashii Web Exclusives from Onegai Onii-chan. And it is indeed a handful, anyway, as my current review campaign is almost over, do feel free to drop a comment if you want to see any of these reviewed next.


Additionally, I'm really hooked into Plastic Memories this season and I definitely love it so much that it's actually the top anime in my list currently (surpassing KimiNozo who was at my top spot for YEARS) and so, as I love the series that much, I also like Isla a lot and thanks to a friend of mine, I got the Megami Magazine featuring PlaMemo so that I could snag the Isla poster and also keep it as part of the small magazine collection I'm keeping. Lastly, I was finally able to snag a Revoltech Aldra, which I've been wanting since I don't know, 2011 I think?? I got it for a neat price through XenoToys and that leaves me with loli Alice and I can leave the QB/QG revoltech line. :D


Figure Talk!

Ok, during the weekend, there were actually two other events in other countries, one which is Botcon and the other is Tokyo Toy Show; I'll skip over Botcon for now since my TF hauling has been quite dull lately. :( But anyway, going to the Tokyo Toy Show, the biggest surprise for me was that Medicom's MAFEX line is actually putting out an Iron Man Mk 43 of their own! This does make put them in the whole Avengers Age of Ultron figure war and knowing how MAFEX runs the Dark Knight Trilogy, it's highly possible that we'll finally see a japanese company manufactured articulated figures of Hawkeye and Black Widow and this definitely has got me pumped as I've been wanting a decent looking 6-inch movie Hawkeye for quite a while now.


Now, even with the announce of them joining the AoU figure war, Medicom's MAFEX still hasn't forgotten about TDKR as they have shown Joker in his Thug guise; while this is definitely a welcomed addition, I do wish they release Bane or Ra's for a change especially Bane, I've been wanting that Tom Hardy Bane since the first MAFEX Batman was announced haha. 


As you probably know by now (or not), I definitely have a huge love for articulated figures and with the announcement of Phat Company's Parfom's 2nd figure last Tuesday, it definitely got me thinking if I should try the line; I'm not a huge of Kantai Collection but I do appreciate the character designs and Yuudachi Poi Kai Ni's design is very appealing and apparently, she is also the second Parfom release; the effect parts make the deal even more tempting but I really want to try out the line. XD


There were a bunch of figure news released in the past two days but I do really feel that Parfom deserves a short discussion.

Moving To a New Home~

As I've mentioned last week on the fanpage, our net was cut since it was transferred to our new home and I do actually have a whole lot of figures to transfer but I've already started as of this week and here's a look at my new cab! I was only able to transfer around 30 figures more or less and only opened up these guys since they have their reviews already (except Ghost Rider because he's loose) so do expect reviews to slow down a bit until I can fully transfer my figures here to our new home. 


Speaking of reviews, do look forward to S.H.Figuarts Batman's review which should be up by tomorrow!


Additionally to Batman's review, the first of the "Action" series of posts will probably come during the weekend but anyway, that's about it for my 7th year post so I guess I'll catch ya guys later!

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