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Post by tasuke on Nov 30, 2015 13:06:23 GMT -5
FROM THIS;
TO THIS; TO THIS;
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Post by tasuke on Nov 30, 2015 13:00:04 GMT -5
Skuld-chan loves her some SEGA GENESIS/MEGA DRIVE;
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Post by tasuke on Nov 28, 2015 13:05:45 GMT -5
i've been working on a new set of undies for her over the last couple days, about Finished now, though i think i'm going to have to make a few fine adjustments here and there to improve the fit some; also, i noticed how similar the Sailor Suit i have this doll in is to the one Skuld's android Sigel apparently wears at some time in the Ah! My Goddess Manga continuity, and so i brought skuld's own uniform here the rest of the way to close parity;
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Post by tasuke on Nov 22, 2015 16:54:40 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Nov 21, 2015 13:31:40 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Nov 21, 2015 13:30:42 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Nov 20, 2015 15:46:45 GMT -5
finally getting round to working on repainting the vinyl boots and gloves to better match the clothing. i've gotten way better with handling the paintbrush since my early novice plastic modelling days of the 90's, but even so, it's still not exactly easy to get myself to apply anything like the sort of precision i find myself demanding these days;
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Post by tasuke on Nov 16, 2015 17:46:35 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Nov 16, 2015 11:07:53 GMT -5
yep, you heard right, that infamously frail POS right here as you live and breathe. this was my first YAMATO product, picked it up for around $85.00USD as it was released at a Japanese toy import specialist shop in PORTLAND, OR. that went by "JUST BE DISTRIBUTION/JUST BE TOYS" at the time. of course, it was just about the most disappointing Mecha toy i had ever gotten to that date. somehow, it had actually lasted me a good month, with several transformations, before those infamous hips failed. i guess i must have been especially ginger in my handling. naturally angry and disappointed, back into it's box it went, and into storage for about ten years or more. recently, after a move, i unearthed all that stuff, and decided to take a trip down memory lane. i got to fooling around with the husk of that 11B, and came up with effective repairs for all it's ills. firstly, i fashioned up metal hip joints with nuts and bolts. limited in range of motion compared to ball joints, Crude, to be sure, but pretty well effectively indestructible. i inverted all click joints, using electrician's tape wrapped around the pegs to provide friction tightness. again, Crude, this allows joints to be set at proper angles for FIGHTER mode that the detent joints would simply not allow. bad design on YAMATO's part. finally, hands and shield were glued into place, and neck joint slide track was lengthened, so head could be slid farther forward to meet the shoulder line and provide a more natural humanoid silhouette. don't get me wrong, this is still a godawful interpretation of the VF-11B. still, it does go way back with me, and now, way belated, i at least have a badly outmoded toy that can actually be transformed and handled and actually remain in one piece...
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Post by tasuke on Nov 1, 2015 11:16:41 GMT -5
something right around 20 years ago, as an ignorant, pre-internet budding MACROSS fan with no means to obtain the 1/55 Chunky and/or 1/72 HCM VF-1 toy he so desperately desired, i leaped at whatever MACROSS, -usually by proxy of ROBOTECH- i could find locally. i found the old COMICO comics (and, eventually, the newer ANTARCTIC PRESS ones) at my local comics/collectibles shop, the crappy 1/100 fixed-mode ARII VF-1 model kits, the EXO SQUAD/ROBOTECH re-issues of the old MATCHBOX vehicular toy line, and the PALLADIUM BOOKS RPG/sourcebooks, which were my only means of technical reference for MACROSS for years to come.
i knew about, -thanks to adverts in those old COMICO comics- the old MATCHBOX action figure line, and, for whatever reason, desired to own at least the Rick Hunter figure.
then, out of the blue, for just that year, never to be repeated, there was a collectible toy show at my local mall at the time. the lobby floors were packed with vendors, and one had boxes of MoC vintage action figures, including a small box of ROBOTECH.
i freaked, and ran through them in search of a Hunter, to no avail. i did, however come across this VF-1 pilot Miriya, and i had felt that if i was to have one of these old figures, it had better be Rick Hunter. barring that, however, it would have to be a VF-1 pilot of some sort, and a barely-female one in red and white would be better than walking away empty handed.
so, i just barely had the $15 the vendor was asking, but she was mine, for whatever it was ultimately worth.
with the onset of the 21st century, and broadening of horizons that came with internet access, i was finally able to begin moving beyond the ROBOTECH-oriented garbage i once so desperately clung to, and it all went into storage, including that Miriya.
just recently, after a move, i busted into those awful old toys again, for old times sake, and decided to see what i could do with that horrible action figure with my vastly improved painting skills.
as you can surmise, there is very little that can be done to that terminally grotesque facial sculpt. these figures are GARBAGE from a bygone era of forced ignorance, and they really should stay that way...
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Post by tasuke on Oct 30, 2015 23:12:13 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Oct 29, 2015 11:06:25 GMT -5
only on Super Robot Mecha toys from the 1970's, and perhaps the Neo-70's revival period of the 1990's as well, i'm afraid.
even then, the spineless, cutesy side of Japan does in fact possess it's own equal charms...
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Post by tasuke on Oct 28, 2015 17:51:35 GMT -5
did they redesign the wing roots to lose that godawful C-clamp swappable wing option?
in my disappointing experience with my own 2010 VF-1S STRIKE Focker, at least, this seems the 1/100 HI-METAL VF-1's Achelles' heel, and easily the worst of the engineering team's design failings holding these VF-1 toys back from what they could and should have been.
structural durability of a key moving component in the design totally compromised for the sake of an option feature of arguably little-to-no relative value.
color me impressed, BANDAI...
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Post by tasuke on Oct 20, 2015 11:32:32 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Oct 20, 2015 11:31:58 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Oct 19, 2015 16:42:36 GMT -5
she finally showed up!! (10/19/2015) first thing she got was a lip job, a set of undies and a Sailor Suit left over from the old Cardcaptor Sakura bendy body dolls that TRENDMASTERS tried to market in the U.S. around 2000/2001 when the hack-job "CARDCAPTORS" treatment of CCS was airing on U.S. Sat. Morn T.V. the uniform fits her just about perfectly, and she'll have to make do with it until i can whip up some better gloves and boots than the goofy soft vinyl ones VOLKS supplied. for now, she's quite content with her Big Sister♥
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Post by tasuke on Oct 11, 2015 15:35:18 GMT -5
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Post by tasuke on Oct 11, 2015 10:44:04 GMT -5
my 1/5 sweetie, the first true Asian character doll i ever owned, a direct step up from the old 2001 TOYNAMI "Tenchi Muyo!" 12in. dolls which had gotten me into character doll collecting and doll clothes tailoring in the outset. i just finished this lovely Lolita-style Blouse/Skirt/Boots combo i've been working on off and on for a while now. it really suits her beautifully, IMO, better than i was expecting it to. she really looks downright huggable now, i rather wish she was real...
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Post by tasuke on Oct 9, 2015 13:44:33 GMT -5
so, i've got this little Cupcake coming my way from a fellow Anime doll collector on another forum. $60shipped, she'll be missing her gold-plated necklace and earrings, but none of that is anything i can't whip up a superior quality replacement for, if i end up finding myself compelled to. in any case, she'll be a fine complement to my TAKARA brand AMG Belldandy... (( TAKARA/HOBBY BASE 1/6 AMG Belldandy ))
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Post by tasuke on Oct 9, 2015 13:43:54 GMT -5
so, i've got this little Cupcake coming my way from a fellow Anime doll collector on another forum. $60shipped, she'll be missing her gold-plated necklace and earrings, but none of that is anything i can't whip up a superior quality replacement for, if i end up finding myself compelled to...
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