Collectibles sans picture

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 I've looked at my older posts and I've seen that I originally intended to get Miku's figma. That was around 2009 and I think I can trace the change's reasons. First is that Miku Hatsune's figma's price is OUTRAGEOUSLY affected by supply and demand. Would you believe that her figma's SRP is PHP 1800 BUT supply and demand bumps it up to PHP 2500! The second reason is aesthetic. Comparing Miku and Luka, Luka has long pink hair, is voluptuous and looks more mature.

 [tilts head to the right] Am I going after a certain persona with those choices? Perhaps. It's quite possible I'm just a tight-fist but that doesn't make sense since it would be contrary to a tight-fist's description.

 Anyhow, Luka's figma has a somewhat limited range of motion. Her hair limits her head's overall motion and her arms' upward and sideward motion. Her arms have extensions to the sides that further increase the limit on the motion. Her flared skirt only allows limited flexion of the left hip [smirks wryly] which is better than the 20 or so degrees of flexion achieved by the right hip.

 Of course, the limitations are something that I can live with. Obviously, the action figure's designer took those factors into consideration and had no choice about it since Luka's character design is set in stone. Besides, I've chosen Luka over Miku. Yeah, it sucks that she only has 2 singles and a duet in Project Diva 2 [smirks].


 I finally have a respectable Mobile Suit to hold MAGENTA. My primary gripe is that it doesn't have any ranged weapons installed in the torso. I'm still working on installing the HG 00's arms on the HG Strike Freedom's torso. It's possible that if I modify the 00's arms so it can interface with the Strike Freedom's shoulders, I'd get what I want. Of course, such a modification would require plastic cement, sawing off parts (both on the arms and at the hip joints) and an hour or so of effort for each modification; add the cost of replacements if breakage happens.

Neko thoughts

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About five days ago, I saw a little kitten on the concrete island, right between 3 lanes of traffic. It was around midnight so there were few vehicles; one passes by every 7 minutes. The kitten, from the little that I know about cat anatomy, is perhaps no more than a month old. While it was already reasonably mobile, it wouldn't have enough speed to run across the lane to its left much less reach the middle of the 2 lanes to its right.

Sentiment and concern told me to pick up the little feline and adopt it. The markings were average and her mask was pleasant to look at. I'd have had to do some checks to confirm the kitten wasn't infested with internal parasites or perhaps consult with a veterinarian at the most. Besides that, it would be nice to have a fellow feline to keep me company; me being more feline than canine. 

Common sense told me that I don't have the financial security to even start taking care of anyone beside myself. I'd have to strictly regulate my circadian rhythm so the kitten can eat on time. I'll have to secure most of my equipment as cats are territorial (i.e. they mark stuff they consider theirs, stuff being everything they can reach). The room I'm renting doesn't have a way that would freely let a cat move in or out of it. While I could provide a scratching post (as there's a lot of places where I can get driftwood or scrap wood), that's the most that I can do for the kitten.

I do hope the little kitten is fine. I did walk to the same place the day after and I didn't see any little-kitty-shaped street pizza. Of course, it doesn't mean it wasn't run over but I do pray that the little kitten is safe and has been adopted by now.

Mascot!

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I've recently constructed the standard/vanilla kit of Hoihoi-san manufactured by Kotobukiya.

For a kit that is roughly the size of one of Bandai's 1/144 HG Gundam kit (not counting the Kshatriya or Psycho, among others), its price (like its peers from the Rockman series) is just a few (2-4) hundred pesos away from the price of a 1/100 MG Gundam kit.

The articulation is limited by the hair and skirt. The hair limits the arms and the neck rotation. The skirt doesn't let the hips fully flex but that's fine. Posability is limited by the joint and weight distribution; the head is heavy enough that its position greatly affects the kit's available positions or poses. The shoulders are limited by the hair. The elbow joints are limited because of the surfaces, it doesn't have two axes nor does it have a large enough clearance. The lower extremities' range of motion is reasonably good, acceptable even; it's just that the skirt limits it a bit.

Additionally, the edges of the parts that connect aren't flush with each other. It's easily seen in the kit's hands and hair where you'd actually see gaps in between. Arii (a company that once produced kits of Macross' Veritechs and Battloids) produced kits that required cement BUT the parts' edges are flush with each other, leaving no gaps.

So, the kit that I've christened Momoiro (or Momo-chan) is a reasonably good buy. Yeah, the price is a bit steep. Yeah, some of the parts aren't flush with each other. Yeah, the articulation and posability is a bit more limited than expected.

Will I buy other Kotobukiya kits? Probably not. Will I treasure Momo-chan? Most definitely. Stock Hoi-hoi-san photo of (the slip's not visible) courtesy of http://www.robotempire.org/.