Spoiler

I wonder why people hate spoilers.. I am the opposite. When I am about to play or watch something, I would like to know the things beforehand so that I don't miss anything. I would like to anticipate the nice things which will happen. For games, I hate to replay because I miss something out. For movies, I hate to leave the cinema half unknowingly what's going on.

I am currently watching Gundam 00. I am getting impatient. I am more interested in the background and the relationship among the characters. But I know googling these things will expose me to the storyline spoilers. Lol.. No spoilers but I think Gundam SeeD is still better than 00. And so far (I just finished episode 17), I think 00 is more engaging than Gundam Wing. One problem with 00 thus far is: THERE ARE SO MANY FREAKING CHARACTERS!! It is difficult to keep up with all of them. And not to mention that the names are so.. out of the blue..

Childish tantrum

This is a continuation of my post a few days back. After missing Rinoa, I missed Squall too :( Sigh.. Squall was sold for more than USD350 and that was more than the original retail price many years ago. Honestly, I did not expect that it would be sold that high :( After all Rinoa was only USD260 and usually Rinoa's stuffs are more sought after. Oh well =x

The bittersweet news is that I won Seifer for less than USD180. Yay! I would consider that a good bargain although with the additional shipping it would still a bit pricey. Still.. I am happy!! Haha.. So why bittersweet? I just bought a used Seifer a week before. Ouch ouch ouch!! It was without box and serial card. And it was pretty damaged. Sigh.. Price: USD100 exclusive of all the shiping. Sigh.. Really regret it.. But life is always like that. If I did not buy the damaged one, there would not be a good one being sold. When I bought the damged one, then someone would be selling a good one. As I never saw these items being sold before that was why I thought I should buy even the damaged one. Better to have one than none right? Emo.. Like wasting money..

Anyway, the damaged Seifer arrived 2 days ago. The damaged seemed less noticeable in the real item than in the seller's description. The tiny nicks on various parts of Odin's horns are barely noticeable. The broken horn tip is pointing backwards so it is unnoticeable from the front.. Similarly with the broken Seifer's cape. Seifer's right leg snapped into two and the previous owner glued them together. This looks awful in the picture but is not noticable in the figure (and also it is sort of hidden behind Odin's horn). The damage on the gunblade is the most severe and the most obvious. The gunblade is not held horizontally and looks like it will break anytime. But I guess it is good that it still holds together.

:( I should stop comparing and complaining. Truthfully, if there isn't a better one being sold, I would be so happy with the damaged one that I have. In fact, I was sooo happy on Wednesday when I received this.

Would have been perfect if there are more parts which show Odin more clearly

Image is from eBay pictures by the seller. Since I bought the item, I guess I can use the pictures and claim it as the pictures of my figure :p I actually took some pictures on my own but the lighting is rather poor for the full image. For the following pictures, they are taken by me.

Close-up of Seifer's face

The chipped horn on the left :(

 

Time to hunt for the other 4 figures. And today someone is selling Zell, Irvine, Diablos and Selphie, Quistis, Leviathan statues for USD 1800 each. Not to worry. I am still sane. I am not gonna buy toys with such ridiculous price tags. That price is even more than for a new laptop!! Crazy... But still, they are new.. in the box.. and they have very low serial number :( Huhuhu...

Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini - Items on hand!!

This is a follow up on my previous post on Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini. I just received my toys today. Hurray!!

Most of the times, pictures and advertisement are nowhere near the real thing. Unfortunately, this is the case for now. I am utterly disappointed with my new toys. Haaaaaaaiz... Yes it is a hugeeeee sigh.. I have generally good impression with my Squall Dissidia Play Arts Kai so my expectation is quite high for these Kai Mini. Yes, despite the 'mini'.

The packaging is awful. It is damn difficult to remove the parts from the plastic packaging which house them. The delicate hair of Cloud and Squall makes it more tricky to remove them. To add to the headache, since the heads are bulkier than the bodies, pulling the heads may result in removal of the heads (the heads are meant to be interchangeable) and the bodies are left in the housing. Grrah... On top of that, the base, the various plastic support poles, the menu bar and the speech bubbles are sealed in the inner back side of the box. In order to remove them, it is as good as "destroying" the packaging boxes. I wonder who the idiots who came out with the design..

Moving on to the figures themselves, Squall, despite being my no 1 favourite, turns out to be no 1 disappointment. His hair is okay (as compared to Cloud's) but his paint job, especially his SeeD uniform, is terrible. The yellow linings are "smudged" to the black part. So unprofessional! It just does not convey the quality for the price I paid. Pupu has various shades of blue and I wonder that it is meant that way or it is another poor quality control. As far as I remember, Pupu is uniformly light blue in the game -_- Paint job for the skin tone is generally bad for all 3 figures with some parts are more tanned than the others. Bleah..

Cloud's hair is terrible. There are defects which remind me of Zidane's hair from Final Fantasy IX Play Arts. His paint job is unlike Squall's (thank goodness). In fact the intricate details of the motorcycle are pretty well done. However, the motorcycle figure cannot stand properly on its own, thanks to the heavier head. The motorcycle is like gonna topple forward and the back wheel is a big "lifted to the air". That's crap because I think Cloud looks better in his motorcycle pose.

Yuna was the last one which I opened and I did not bother to try removing her from the plastic housing. Among the 3, I think Yuna is the most satisfactory. The flower painting on her summoner dress is quite amazing considering the small size of the figure. Her gunner skirt is also amazing. The "flowing" thingy is well depicted with alternating transparent and light blue material.

Overall, I am extremely disappointed. Although if I take into consideration the price, I should not be expecting something of Play Arts or Play Arts Kai quality. With 2000 Yen per piece, they are even cheaper than Nendoroid figures which are the trendsetter for these chibi/superdeformed (SD) figures. Nendoroid figures are much better because the bodies are bulkier and hence can support the supposedly oversized heads better. The bodies of these Final Fantasy figures are just too petite to support the head.

Oh well.. lessons learnt.. Perhaps I will not buy the 2nd volume. I should have only bought Squall T_T

I am spiralling further into despair and depressed mood. My dental hygienist told me to pay attention to my top wisdom teeth. I always wonder why they are not "tied" together with the rest of the braces and I always assume that because they are growing okay. I am completely wrong. Those teeth are useless as they are not used for chewing. But because they are not posing any problem (yet), they are left that way. Apparently, these teeth will keep growing downwards to fill the empty space. When they "hit" my lower gum or cause pain to the inner cheek, then it is time for them to be removed, either by extraction or surgery.

Haiz.. I am very sad because firstly I thought after my braces are removed, that would be the end of my dental issues. I never expect that these wisdom teeth may pose problems in the future :( Secondly, I wonder how they will affect my other teeth after completion of my orthodentic treatment.. Should I get them removed now? Sigh T_T

I wanted to do my blood donation but I was rejected. I never know that dental scaling/cleaning/polishing is a restriction from donating blood. I thought only surgery or extraction will be disallowed. Haiz.. Sad.. Emo.. And I hate that officer.. Such a bitch. Irritating.. Perhaps I will never donate blood anymore.

Baby boy

I am still a (cry)baby boy inside. I am feeling very emo for the past day. Yesterday I stayed up late to bid a toy on eBay. I did not win :( I could not even place my bid because of seller's requirement for US addresses only. I only bidded 15seconds before the end so it was too late for me to change.

Sad.. I am very very sad :( Firstly, I actually "have" a US address via vPost service. Secondly and ultimately, I am very sad because I had the gut feeling to at least place a bid a few hours before the end. IF (yes that's a capital IF) I had followed my feeling, I would have known about the seller's requirement and I still had the time to change my address settings. Damn :(

The toy I missed is a very rare Rinoa and Siren resin figure from Final Fantasy VIII. It stands more than 30cm tall. The manufacturer is Kotobukiya so the quality is as high as the price. It was released in 1999 with retail price 24,800 Yen. With it being limited edition (only 3000pcs being produced and each statue has unique identification number), it is impossible to find it nowadays, especially if it comes with the original box :(

There are 5 figures in the series. The other 4 are Squall with Bahamut, Seifer with Odin, Zell and Irvine with Diablos, and lastly Selphie and Quistis with Leviathan. According to a few blogs, the last 2 are the rarest while Rinoa and Squall are the most common. Even the most common ones are *that* rare :(

Anyways, the figure was sold for $260. My only consolation and hope is that perhaps someday in the future, I will get one which cheaper than that.. Haiz.. Perhaps "crying" is an exaggeration.. But I still feel sad and emo until today. I even had difficulty sleeping last night. T_T

Chill pills

I need to take chill pills. I hate to shout and scream at people but lately I am getting pissed and angry with one particular hospital. Last week, I received a prescription from that hospital. Brand name was prescribed and unfortunately, as bo liao as it was, I had to somehow reach the doctor for agreement to give generic instead. Sadly to say, the pharmacy was damn anal. Instead of contacting the doctor on my behalf, I was asked to call the clinic. After failure to do, I was so fed up. I scolded the technician pretty badly: "When you have problems with our prescriptions, we help to contact the doctors on your behalf. We do not ask you to call the clinic number. Why cannot you call the doctor on my behalf? Do you want the next time you call us we give you the call centre number? What is your SOP? I want to speak to the pharmacist.". I did not intend to be nasty but too bad, you knew you could not help me. I did not want to bother you and hence I asked the in charge. I found you to be irritating for refusing to help me and refusing me to speak to your superior. Anyway in the end I spoke to a SENIOR pharmacist who turned out not far from the technician from being anal. Although in the end I managed to get her to call, I found her "Oh this time is a favour on our part". Puui!! If she was not a pharmacist, I would not show respect and would have scolded her as bad as I scolded the technician.

Today was another problem with the same hospital. Yes, now YOU wanted us to call the doctors. The issue was: donepezil tablet was prescribed but they only kept donepezil orodispersible tablet. Yup, they wanted a confirmation that it was ok to give the orodispersible tablet. RIDICULOUS! Even the doctor was like WTF when I asked. I always thought it was generally agreed when generic name was prescribed, anything can be given. I am aware with the recent discontinuation of donepezil (Brand: Aricept) tablet and all change to donepezil orodipersible tablet (Aricept Evess). They should know that the tablet is no longer available right? Sigh.. 

Anyway I do not want to be anal so I asked them why now they wanted to see the orodispersible. Last year when my place had not kept mirtazapine, we always sent out prescriptions saying Remeron. We never received any phone calls to confirm this and that. Even with Remeron on the Rx, mirtazapine orodispersible was given to patients. So what is the fucking problem with donepezil now? Again, I raised my voice to the person on the phone. The person could not answer and asked someone senior. The reply I received: Oh because this donepezil is a recent change of formulation. Wah piang -__-

My happiness yesterday was shortlived. I found that someone in Singapore is selling the Cerberus toy for $30. That's half of what I spent :( Sigh.. and the box condition is like brand new (complete with price tag from Takashimaya). Haiz.. emoz emoz emoz..

I thank God for the strength to overcome my laziness. I managed to restart my night time jogging last Saturday. After stopping for a few months, the stamina was no longer there. I stopped after 1 round due to uneasiness over abdominal area. Not about diarrhea but the pain people usually experience when they are running. Today, I managed to run again. 2 rounds this time. I hope that I can keep the momentum of running 3 times a week.

Thanks to smartphone apps I finally know about the distance. I used to think that 1 round is 400m, which is about the distance of school track. I was wrong. 1 round around the empty plot of land behind my place is about 850m. That means previously I almost did cross country every other night o_0 I am amazed. Lol.. Anyway, whatever it means, it does not change the fact that I am fat and I am unfit. Even up to this age, I will still fail my NAPFA if I were to take. Today I covered only about 1.7km in 12 minutes. My best time in JC was 12 minutes 30 seconds for 2.4km and that was still a fail haha..

Now I also need divine intervention to save me from online shopping addiction. Sigh :( Today my package of Cerberus + Angelo arrived. Yay.. I am not a fan of monsters or GF but because this one has Angelo (to accompany my Rinoa), I bought it. The box is surprisingly huge. It is as huge as my water pail. Seeing the size and the quality I think $65 (inclusive of shipping from UK) was well spent.

The problem is: I am tempted to collect the rest T_T This is part of Final Fantasy VIII Kotobukiya ArtFX series. There are 8 figures in total: Odin (with Sleipneir), Gilgamesh (with 4 swords), Diablos, Bahamut, Cerberus (with Angelo), Shiva (with Carbuncle and MiniMog), Siren (with Cactuar), and Ifrit (with Tonbery). Only the first 5 come in huge box and hence they come with a huge price tags too. Mostly beyond my budget, except perhaps Odin. Not to keen on Shiva, Siren, and Ifrit because they come in smaller packaging so I suppose their sizes are smaller too. However, I want the other GFs that they come with. Dillema..

Hakuoki

I am done watching Hakuoki today. Perhaps this is the first time I am watching a tragedy as well as a historical anime. Hakuoki initially started from a dating simulation game. As PSP is near its end and it is also a rare occurence that a Japanese dating simulation game gets English translation, I decided to play the game. But of course I am not talking about the game today.

The story and the characters are based on Japanese history during the end of Tokugawa shogunate and the beginning of Meiji Restoration. Chizuru Yukimura, a female demon, came to Kyoto to search for her missing father. She bumped into Shinsengumi members who saved her from Rasetsu. Rasetsu refers to human beings who have consumed ochimizu. Ochimizu grants strength and healing power beyond normal human capabilities but with a side effect: bloodlust. Shinsengumi takes care of Chizuru because Shinsengumi is also looking for her father, which is revealed to be the inventor of ochimizu. Throughout the story, Chizuru learns more about her background as well as various demons.

The story seems good initially. Unfortunately, rather than incorporating historical elements to a new story, this is more like inserting some fantasy elements to a history. The anime tries to be historically accurate. As such, the story is rather "choppy", jumping from one period to the next. There are plenty of narration of what happened in month XXX year YYY etc which basically only to highlight the historical events which occured. It stays true to Shinsengumi's fate in the Boshin War which ends in a tragedy because the shogunate (the side which Shinsengumi defends) eventually lost the war. 

As compared to the game, there are quite a lot of differences in terms of the plot so I am confused about the actual plot that the creators had in mind. Anyway, the game does a lot more justice to the story. Too many undeveloped plots in the anime. Even the ending is ambiguous. If the main character is Chizuru, so what happened to her at the end of the war? Or perhaps the main character is not her but the Shinsengumi guys? Confusing sia...

While I personally like shows which either makes me laugh or makes me cry, I do not think that this anime is worth watching, except if you want to know more about Japanese history. Some episodes are very dry, lack of any excitement or any substance. However, I applaud the effort not to mess with the real history. After all, the characters, except for the demons, are based on historical persons with the same name. That is a good show of respect. The anime even follow the historical timeline of when which characters actually died. To "prolong" the screentime, these characters are converted to Rasetsu in the anime. They would die eventually but everything turns out pretty good (and touching) and adds value to the overall story.

There are about 5 OVAs which are basically "filler" episodes. I have yet to hunt and watch them. Hehe.. From synopsis, the OVAs seem to be more light-hearted and funny, and thus my cup of tea.

To end, I just want to share the 2 endings themes, which I think perfectly capture the sad, mellow, and tragic storyline. The songs are sung by Mao. I have no idea who she is.

Ending 1 - Kimi no Kioku

Ending 2 - Akane Sora Ni Negau

Jealous

Seeing commencement photos on my facebook news feed makes me jealous. Haiz.. Yeah I am jealous because I never get any award. I am jealous because I don't have so many photos with friends. I am jealous because I realise that I actually have no friends. It could have been a better experience for me last year. Unfortunately, I still remember how upset I was with the unruly behaviour of some of my family members. Embarrassing.. Too bad that my sister could not make it last year. Otherwise I would have more photos. Although her photography skills are a bit.. ehem.. my legs or my arms being cut halfway is still better than having no photos at all  I guess :p

Oh well.. Last year was not too bad I think.. It could have been much better though -_-" One thing I am glad with is the throwing up to the air. Hehe.. I think THAT was really an experience!

Toy wish

Yesterday I decided to go out after work to relieve myself from all the emo feelings since last week. Well it did not really work. I went to Plaza Singapura to check out the toys. Nothing new and appealing leh =x I made the correct decision to buy the Final Fantasy toys online because it is not available yet here. Hehe.. And I am interested in getting Chun Li by PlayArts Kai which is selling for $99. Aaah.. After all Chun Li is the very first video game character I ever played. Yup Street Fighter is the very first game that I played and thanks to Chun Li, I always prefer to choose female characters and kicking characters for fighting games. Haha.. As usual, PlayArts Kai figures are a bit imba in terms of the poses that they can make. Seeing the things that Chun Li can do makes my eyes O_O Even Squall cannot do that many poses hai hai...

Of course promotional pictures as above can be misleading. But I have seen a blog comparing the real figure against the game sprites and I am speechless. This is really epic. My only problem with this is the size of the thighs. The thighs are really chicken drumsticks sia. Haha.. It looks akward as compared to her exposed knee joints when she bends her legs.

Moving on to the next topic: Harry Potter collectibles. Yum yum..I discover that there is one shop here which is selling Harry Potter busts by Gentle Giants. Each bust costs about $80. I checked online to find that there are 40 over busts. Woops.. Don't worry I am not that crazy to collect this. Perhaps I am a bigger fan of Japanese anime/manga than a Harry Potter fan. With the similar cost, I rather get a full body action figure by Japanese companies ba. However, I have to admit that these busts have amazing details. They are modeled based on the movie actors and actresses. Take a closer zoom on the face and the similarities are just striking, right to the hair strands and the lines on the palm. They look "alive" and it is not easy to make dead objects look alive. Some pictures below.

Unfortunately, they are just half body busts so I am not interested. Looking at the bright side, if they are so appealing, I will want to buy them. And I will be emo even more due to lack of money and lack of storage space. 

Okay, stop all the dreaming.. Back to reality.. My Zidane and Garnet arrived yesterday. A bit disappointed with the packaging although it is ridiculous of me to expect something brand new and shiny when they were release more than 3 years back. I am quite disappointed with Play Arts job. The paint on Zidane's hair is flaking :( and Garnet's right leg is longer than her left -_-" Garnet will definitely need the stand to stand. Haiz.. However, she looks gorgeous. She looks a bit mellow for most of the time in the game and I never think of her as pretty or what. Her pendant is also gorgeous. The "jewel" is made of plastic but its shape is nice. Zidane has a nice facial expression too. The eye brows are drawn to make him look cheeky. Definitely a much better expression than the Dissidia trading arts version. Zidane also comes with 2 swords (don't ask me to name them) which unfortunately cannot be combined together like in the game. He also comes with a scabbard for one sword to be slotted in. That is a nice addition. I tried to bend and twist the joints and I am pretty confident I can somehow pose him like his fighting stance. I shall see in December.

I am pretty sure that Zidane and Garnet are original version. And that only makes me more emo because all my previous FF VII and FF VIII and FF X toys are fakes T_T

Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini - First Impression

Just like what mother always tells me: if you never look around, you will not know, and you will not be tempted to buy. I was actually looking around old Final Fantasy toys when I discovered the latest Square Enix release: Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai Mini. From the name alone I was not too interested. Although "Kai" suggests high quality products, Final Fantasy Trading Arts Mini series are usually small =x But after I saw a few pictures, I made up my mind. Gotta collect them all!! Lol..

Anyways, the first volume contains 3 characters: Cloud, Squall, and Yuna. They come with interchangable face, something inspired by Nendoroid series. Frankly, the size and the facial details are not impressive. What interest me are the accessories. In addition, I think it is quite creative that they also come with "command menu" from their games. 

Squall comes with Cactuar and Pupu! Hehe.. Plus the Seed uniform. Yum yum!!

I always can't be bothered abotu Cloud. But his Fenrir pose is pretty cool and he does not look so emo here.

Yuna is a biiiig disappointment. I was expecting some of her summons too. But nope :( She only comes with her gunner dress. Sigh..

As you can see, the only good thing about Yuna is that she comes with 2 heads. That means I am able to put up 2 figures of Yuna. Squall and Cloud only come with 1 head which means I have to choose 1 pose each time :( Sad.. Aaah... really tempted to get 2 sets (so I can have 2 bodies) of Squall leh =x And not that I am biased in favour of Squall, I think out of the 3, Squall is the nicest =p 2 swords, 2 clothes, and 2 summons. Whee...

Each is selling for 2000 Yen. This time I decided to try buying from cdjapan.com. I spent about $120+ for all 3 (inclusive shipping by SAL). I hope they will arrive safely soon. I could have bought them from Yesasia.com for $150+. A bit more expensive but shipping is much faster. The last time I received my Squall Dissidia Play Arts Kai in a week. But oh well, $30 is as good as 1 figure. Lets see whether cdjapan or yesasia is better so I can patronise one in the future.

Interestingly, the first news about these products actually came out in June last year. This June, it was announced the volume 2 of the series. Looks like it will be for next year?? Haha.. Volume 2 contains Lighting, Tifa, Tidus. Sigh.. FF VII always gets special treatment eh... But Tifa will come with Red XIII so I think it is good. Lighting will be somewhat similar to Cloud. She will come with Odin. Tidus will come with.. nothing special -__- Just like Yuna in the first volume.. Seriously, why all the hate with FF X eh :(

Still emo...

I still have not recovered from my emo-ness. Despite spending another 200 dollars or so, I do not feel better. In fact, I feel worse :( Like I just waste my money. Haiz.. Oh well.. What's the point of working and earning money if not to spend it right? But again, what's the point of buying things which eventually gives me storage headache :( Not in the mood to write about my latest toy loots.. Tomorrow, perhaps. But I will share about it because the latest ones are damn cute!! Hehe..

My weight loss app prompted me to measure my waist circumference. Sigh.. +3cm as compared to 1 year ago. Yes.. that is a wake up call for me to start exercising again. Ever since I came back from holiday and I started to work, I have not exercised at all. Not even once.. My diet control is also like shit.. This is gonna be tough but I think I will have to limit my junk food again. Chips not more than one packet a month.. Fast food not more than one a week (Not sure whether once a week is still considered unhealthy). And of course the most important thing, to start jogging 2-3x a week. I hope tomorrow the weather is good to allow me to resume the habit. Sigh.. Although usually I am tired like dead at 9pm :(

Seasonal emo attack comes back. Again, I feel tired.. I feel empty.. I feel that my life is meaningless. Even the thoughts of "What should I eat today?" make me very agitated. The good food is unhealthy and the healthy food tastes like shit. Not to mention the thoughts of getting fatter..

My sleep and rest are terribly messed up. It just feels too tiring after work everyday. Sometimes I feel so sleepy that I have to nap first even before taking shower and brushish teeth. My brain tells me: take a shower, brush teeth, and sleep until morning. But my body refuses to do so. My planned 1 hour nap never lasts for 1 hour and I would usually wake up at 1230 or even later. After done showering and brushing teeth, it would be almost 2am already. Wake up at 6+ am the next morning and obviously the lethargy remains. Rinse and repeat.

To add on to my agony, my aircon breaks down. It is no longer as cold as it used to be =x It is still cooling but arrgh.. it still adds on to all the negativity. I am extremely sensitive to the stupid baby's cries too.. Zz I really feel like slapping or pinching him as a revenge. Let him cry even louder. Let him cry until he die.. I am awaiting for an opportunity when he is unattended.

As I am feeling down, I lose my rational thinking. Last week I decided to get Final Fantasy IX Play Arts Zidane and Garnet figures. Previously I told me self, FF IX sucks and I don't like the figures, my cupboard is full, and my luggage cannot fit so many boxes. Heck $140 flew away liao. Am I happy? Still not :(

My next desire is Final Fantasy VIII Scale 1:6 figures by Kotobukiya. They were released in 1999 and are extremely rare and expensive to find nowadays. Plus they are come with a series number so they sort of like limited editions. I got Laguna for $60 from Anime Festival last year. Good deal. It is impossible to get the rest at such price. Looks like at least $100 is required.

3 days ago, I found a good steal at eBay. Seifer's figure was offered with a US$29.99 starting price. Auction ended on Friday morning. I missed the deadline because I was discussing about project at work. Fuck!! Nobody bidded!! And the item was relisted. And today, someone bought it straight away for US$39.99. Haiz.. If you wonder why I did not straight away buy it even though I knew it would usually cost $100, the reason is that this one did not come with profile card (and the serial number). Oh well.. Gotta wait for better chance I supposed. Upon googling, I am spiralling into deeper emoness to find out that last year, 1 set of Laguna, Squall, Seifer, Quistis, and Selphie was sold for US$150 only. Bleah.. If only I knew about this and vPOST service 1 year earlier T_T