Gundam 00

Oops, I was wrong to say "Gundam Zero Zero" all these while. The correct one is actually "Gundam Double O". Yup, it is not even a "zero" but an "o". The characters do not appeal to me and hence it took me many years after its release before I decided to download and watch. It also did not appeal to me the fact that the series consists of 2 seasons of 25 episodes each. I always wonder why not make it 50 episodes since previous Gundam series are typically 50 episode-long.

This time, the setting is 23xx AD. AD stands for anno domini and it is the year nomenclature that we are using currently. It is not fictional timeline like the previous series. Since it is 2012 now, the story is about 300 years in the future. Lol.. It is quite interesting in the beginning as we can relate some of the happening with today's world. In the story, Earth has mostly depleted of fossil fuels and rely on solar power for energy. Just like today's world, there is always conflict when it comes to energy source. The world is divided to 3 blocs: the AEU (which is Europe), the Union (which is the USA), and the Human Resource League (Japan, China, Russia, India, and surrounding areas). Despite treaties to minimise armaments to ensure peace, each blocs maintain their military with the reason of protecting the orbital elevators (a taaaall tower which goes to the space and serves as both Earth-space transportation mode and solar energy generator).

Celestial Being is a para-military organisation which aims to create peace by eliminating wars using Gundams. In the first few episodes, Celestial Being intervened to end the conflict in Sri Lanka and the show of might triggered ceasefire in Northern Ireland. Wew.. Secondary school's Social Studies revisited. After that, the focus shifts to Middle East (yep, it is still a problematic region) but with fictional countries. And with that, my interest died down as the story spiralled into huge mess.

The first mess is regarding the characters. There are too many characters being introduced. Most do not play significant role in the story and then die somewhere in the middle. And sometimes the death is for the sake of killing the characters so that they can introduce new characters. Lockon was killed in action at the end of the first season and in the second season, he reappeared when Setsuna approached Lockon's brother to be a new Gundam Meister. And the brother looks exactly like the dead brother. And best is, he chose the same code name: Lockon Stratos. So why the hell they kill Lockon in the first place if they like him so much -__- Grrah... 

Despite the 4 year gap between the 2 seasons, there is a lack of character maturation. With regards to their age, I thought people should be much more mature when they grow up from 16 to 20 years old. Among all characters, I think only Saji Crossroad and Feldt actually grow in maturity (and surprise: they are like the supporting characters). The main characters are still uninspiring as previously.

While it is common plot in Gundam series that the antagonists are actually masterminded by some shady organisations which would eventually become the big bad boss, it has never gotten as messy as Gundam 00. I can't keep track who is siding with who and everyone ends up betraying one another. I am lost and confused in this huge mess. And the peak of these mess is that in the end, Tieria becomes a "consciousness" which leaves with a computer system. Although he is shot dead, he is still alive in the computer. Does not make sense to me and as I hate stories which involve immortality and time manipulation. Haha..

The story development and conflict resolution are also a big mess. There is not enough story to explain why people suddenly side with one another or fighting against one another. I am quite surprised that this time, the theme is not about bringing peace through pacifism, but to war. That is something new for Gundam but it turns out rather horrible. I don't see how the wars depicted in the story actually bring in peace if compared to lets say the terror of nuclear weapon use in war (Gundam SEED) or dropping spaceship to the earth (Gundam Wing). The ending for the first season leaves me "What the fuck?" and the ending of the second season makes me wonder why I wasted my time watching this junk. There is actually a 4 year gap between both seasons although it is never revealed what actually happened in this gap period.

While on the topic of pacifism, Marina Ismail plays the role of pacifist for these series. But unlike the main female characters previously, Marina is utterly useless. She does absolutely nothing impactful in the whole series. Amazing o_0

And what is Gundam without the robots? In this series, the robots take up really little portion and are disappointing. Usually Gundam robots have their own "identity" be it in the capabilities or the design. It does not happen here. The Gundams look very similar and the no specialisation in terms of power. Okay so Setsuna is the melee fighter, Tieria is the bazooka shooter, Lockon is the sniper, and Allelujah is the missile shooter. To me, bazooka, sniper, and missile are all shooters -__- And eventually everyone can fight both melee and shooting.. Grrah.. And what's up with Tieria trying to keep his Nadleeh and Seraphim "secret" while these 2 are hardly used and eventually revealed not to have abilities worth keeping as a secret anyways.

I can also feel the lack of originality. At the beginning, the idea of uniting the whole world by making them hating the Celestial Being sounds the same like Code Geass in which Lelouch is committing atrocities so that the world unites to hate him and when he is dead, the world would be one. A lot of things are inspired from Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny. The battleships and female commanders are definitely based on Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny (in which these 2 are far more superior in terms of battle strategies and weaponries). The useless Marina composes a song for peace and this seems to be a Lacus copycat to me. Haro are also firstly introduced in SEED. The design of Gundam 00 when combined with O-raiser also greatly resembles Wing Gundam Zero. And when it is emiting GN particles, it looks like Wing Gundam Zero Custom's angel wings.

To be fair, Gundam 00 is not entirely shit. There are few battles which are actually very exciting like the Memento Mori, the crumbling of Africa Tower, and the first few episodes of the second season. These are actually better than the final battle. The background of the Meisters are also interesting, particularly the dual personality of Allelujah Haptism. I don't think there are any protagonists who actually enjoy killing people in the other Gundam series. Lol.

So I guess Gundam SEED is still the best so far. But I admit that it is surprising that 00 turns out to be crappier than Wing. Hmm perhaps I am biased because I am a Wing huge fan? Haha..

Medz

Nah I am not referring to medicines but to a restaurant at B2 of Orchard Central. Medz is a Marche-style restaurant which serves Mediterranean cuisine. It was quite an eye-opening experience to me. I never know that France, Greek, Spain and Italy are considered Mediterranean too. I always regard them as European countries. Haha.. I just learn that by definition, Mediterranian countries are those surrounding Mediterranean Sea.

Anyway, I skipped the "Western" food and was more interested in the exotic Mediterranean food. Among these, I am only familiar with Kebab and Paella. I often eat Doner Kebab since I was pretty young haha.. and I know about Paella thanks to Restaurant City game on facebook. So yeah, games can be educational too. A few new food that I learn today are Tajine (Morrocan stew), Confiture (not a food but a condiment), and Patatas Bravas (as the name suggests, a potato dish which unfortunately was out of stock).

In the end I settled for Iskender Kebab Beef with Lamb. I expected something like Doner Kebab (meat wrapped with breadk) but I was wrong. I was pretty disappointed when it turned out to be something like a meat hotplate with yoghurt and tomato sauce. However, the size was surprisingly huge for mere $14.90. I knew I would have difficulty finishing it but since it was lunch time, I needed carbs so I ordered Bulgur Rice which despite the fanciful name it just means Tomato Rice. Lol.This rice was pretty ridiculous! $4 for one small bowl. Ouch.

Iskander Kebab Beef with Lamb for $14.90. And that tomato was nice and crunchy!

The overpriced $4 Bulgur Rice. The angle of the photo made it seem that it was as big as the hotplate.

My surprise did not end there. As there were 2 types of meat, I actually could not tell the difference between beef and lamb. I thought lamb would be the softer one. I was wrong. The "soft" thing was actually diced pita bread! So the actual meal was actually beef and lamb cooked on tomato sauce and then poured over a layer of diced pita bread on a hotplate. Like that I actually had a serving of carbs liao. Haha...

Overall the meal was great and at a great price. I spent $20.20 in total and I did not even need dinner because I am still full up to now as I am typing this. The serving size definitely beats Marche hands down! My friends and I made a mistake by ordering 1 dish each when each dish can comfortably fill 2 stomachs. Haha.. I don't normally take picture and blog about food except for exotic, extraordinary, and nice food like this. Too good to be missed and forgotten :p

After lunch, we went to Starbucks to enjoy the get 1 tall drink with any purchase. I actually wanted the flavour which was only for the free purchase :( But since I have tried both the Matcha with Red Bean and Earl Grey Tea with Jelly when they had  buy 1 get 1 free last month (both Venti size too!), I decided to let my friends enjoy the free ones and I ordered the usual boring stuff haha..

Anyway, it was good to be able to catch up with my clique even though we are no longer working in the same place. Frankly, I am quite sick with those people who only go out with their colleagues now and ignore the friends whom they spent 4 years in university together. What a bunch of fakers (not fuckers!).

And Happy National Day, Singapore! Thanks for the public holiday. Now I need to brace myself for the storm and floodtomorrow and on Saturday T_T God please save me...

Worst day at work.. so far..

Today is the worst day in my (working) life so far. Right from early morning, I was a bit late because the old woman went to hog the toilet. Jeez.. Damn irritating leh these old people. Always wake up so early and dunno do what so long in the toilet. Previously I thought her time was 730 plus. Dunno why now even at 6+ already awake.

The bus app was not that accurate and for that I had to walk all the way to my workplace from where I dropped. The distance was about 4 stops. After waiting for quite sometime, I checked the apps which told me that bus was coming in 10 minutes. I would definitely be late if I waited. Guess what, in the middle of my brisk walking, the bus actually came. Fuck.. Anyway, my legs were a bit cramp so I could not even run. Damn pissed and sweaty by the time I reached my workplace.

The worst was, as always, with a patient. Ok call me rude whatever. I had a bad impression of him for not taking queue number. Yeah call me anal but I hated people who are uneducated and do things as they deem fit. I asked him what he wanted and he replied in Chinese. Fine I could not speak so I called someone to help me translate. He found that rude.. Oh well.. Anyway the problem was: he had been taking Chlorpheniramine 1 tablet tds for the past 3 weeks. And now he wanted another supply for 1 month which of course you knew what happened next. Asked him the usual thing, asked him to see doctor bla bla bla.. His stand was: doctor told him to get it himself if he felt the itch. My stand was: if the doctor only gave him 10 days the last time, that means the doctor did not deem it necessarily for long term. After that I did not know what went on between him and the translator with all the heated arguments. I guess something was really wrong with him because I had not even say whether I would refuse him sale (no idea what my translator told him). What I understood was only his "fuck your mother", "cibay", and raising his walking stick to hit me. Well done.. I had no idea what was going on and only kept a stoned expression. No idea whether he was being gentlemanly or what because despite 2 other pharmacists who came to my aid, he seemed to be pointing all his anger at me. Anyway, I considered myself win. He made a fool of himself with everybody looking at him and some other patients even came trying to stop him. And he did not get his 90 tablets.

Anyway, I did not cry. I was affected but I did not cry. I felt more furious with the fact that I could not really understand what was going on and that I could not retaliate. Sigh.. I only feel like changing job now.. Somewhere where I do not need to see these low filthy creatures.

And as a bad Catholic, again I am disappointed and even angry at God. Every morning I pray for Him to keep me from evil, from these stupid unreasonable people. Looked like God only granted me the (pseudo)-patience. Haiz.. Yes I am complaining.. Yesterday's homily was apt. The Israelites were always complaining to God despite Him rescuing them from Egypt. I also cannot help from being negative with all the things that God has given me. I think that's my problem. Haiz.. Am I believing in a wrong religion? It seems impossible to be patient, to love unconditionally, to turn away the other cheek when someone strikes you on one, and bla bla bla.. Perhaps this experience assures me about one very important thing: Jesus is really Son of God. It is impossible for man to quietly accept all the unfair humiliation, verbal abuse, and physical abuse like Jesus.

Magic moments of sports

This is a bit late as it is already halfway through the Olympics 2012 in London. But hey, this is where all the excitement will start as many of the sports are already in their final matches. I have no access to newspaper this time around so I get most of the Olympics news from the internet news. To be honest, I don't know why but I did not really follow Olympics 2008 in Bejing, except for the fact that Michael Phelps created history with his 8 golds in 1 Olympic. Perhaps because it was in China and I hate everything related to it? Haha.. I don't know..

Anyway, I watched quite a bit of the opening ceremony this time around. The fireworks display was marvelous and made me wonder how much money was burnt for all that. Haha.. What caught my interest initially was not the fireworks, though. It was Mr Bean's role in the opening ceremony. Brilliant, hilarious, and not lame. I wonder, though, whether he really played the keyboard. The comedy was integrated nicely with the Chariots of Fire performance. It was also amusing to see that the Queen joined in the "comedy" together with James Bond. Of course, Mr Bean's was funnier but I understand if people were getting shock when they really thought the Queen was parachuting from the helicopter. They should at least show the Queen (instead of only the legs) boarding the helicopter. Haha.. nice surprise to see unexpected good things happening.

Mr Bean

The Queen and James Bond

Records are made to be broken and these are always the most exciting parts of Olympics. Top on the list was Michael Phelps. After recordbreaking 8 golds haul in Beijing Olympics, he stood the chance to break another record: the most Olympic medal throughout an athlete's career. After the initial flop, thank goodness that he managed to break the cycle. The swimming events are over and Phelps emerged as the "Greatest Olympian of All Times" with a total 22 Olympic medals (18 golds, 2 silvers, 2 bronzes) from 3 Olympics. Nobody knows when this record will be broken but I don't think it will be soon. After all, the previous record was held by a Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina with 18 medals (9 golds, 5 silvers, 4 bronzes) since 1964. Anyway, Phelps is still young at 27 years old. He will be 31 at the next Olympics. He could still compete and perhaps win some more medals but he has called it a day. Well, I guess it is still good to leave at a high point eh.

Congrats, Michael Phelps for becoming the "Greatest Olympic Athlete of All Time"

Moving on to Badminton which had its bad publicity in the middle of last week when 4 teams were disqualified from the Womens' Double. These 4 teams were deliberately losing to avoid meeting top Chinese duo in the next round. Bleah.. what a shame.. and it involved 1 Indonesian team too :( Anyway, the Men's final was just over with Lin Dan beating Lee Chong Wei. I could not be bothered with who win actually. I think both deserved the gold. They were finalists in Beijing too and this last meeting was sort of bittersweet as these would be their last Olympics as well. Anyway, I am jealous seeing facebook newsfeed of my Malaysian friends who support Lee Chong Wei. Yes, I understand the excitement of watching Badminton tournament to support your country. I had a great opportunity in the 90s when Indonesians were Kings and Queens of the Badminton. That was 1992 and 1996 Olympics I think.. as well as the Thomas and Uber Cups from that era.. Aaargh.. We are in deep shit now.. Thanks to all the corruption bla bla bla.. 0 medal from badminton this olympics. What a shame :( I even saw some countries which are traditionally not considered stronghold of badminton (eg. Europe, India, Japan, South Korea) winning medals. I wonder when will I ever feel that kind of ecstasy to support (not futile support) my country. Where is Taufik Hidayat? I thought he was the man dubbed as the archrival of Lin Dan a few years back?

Lee Chong Wei could not stop crying. I know it is very sad to lose by mere 2 points. But according to people, he put up great fight this time around.

Another thing worth mentioning is South Korean's fencer Shin A-lam whose crying picture made to the top of the news earlier this week. She was sitting down and crying at the piste for 1 hour while waiting the results for her appeal. And nope, she is not a cry baby. Apparently it is a rule of the fencing that she cannot leave the piste while waiting for her appeal results. The crux of the controversy was the timing malfunction with the clock "resetted" to 0:01 from 0:01. Otherwise, she would be through the final :( Anyway, she was offered a "consolation" medal for her sport(wo)manship which she rejected. Now, that's an attitude!! She would have been in the final with at least a Silver. Of course that is irreplacable with some ??? medal. While sadly she lost the bronze medal (the match was like a few hours after her unfair loss so perhaps that still affected her), at least she won a Silver in the team event.

One top near-miss story is about Tom Daley. A brilliant diver since his younger age, it would have been great if he could win a medal in this Olympics. And he is only 18 mind you. Instead, what propelled him to the news was some racist tweets in response to his failure. He (with his synchro partner) came in 4th. The big disappointment was they were leading halfway. But due to a mistake in their fourth dive, the dream was gone. Sad. but sports (and even life) can be unforgiving at times. No idea whether he is competing in the individual event or the event has ended though.

That's all for now. Awaiting for some results from athletics as well as tennis which are usually also exciting. And of course, looking forward to Spice Girls for the closing ceremony ^^ Hee hee

Money

Money is not everything in this life but it is still very very important. I am very sad to be "cheated" about $2000 by my company. My seniors received mid-year bonus last year which amounted to $2000+ and their circumstances were similar, if not the same, with me now. Yes life is a bitch. I don't know whether HR policies have been changed for my year and I got none. This time I don't bother to argue because upon checking the policies etc, I have no ground to win even if I bring the matter up. I have signed to agree with all this unfair shit. What to do~~

Still very bitter about it though, especially because I spent like crazy with the thought of getting my bonus mah. Anyway, I don't really feel sad about spending all that. 10 years ago, I was still a poor student with no access to all the Final Fantasy figurines. Now that I already start to earn, I guess I can fork out money for things I could have bought 10 years ago. Of course the prices have inflated like mad but oh well~~ Seriously, if these things do not exist, I don't know how I feel this time. I don't really follow latest anime or game which is as good as saying: I have no hobbies to fill my time. My life is sad and empty.. No family, no friends, nothing.. Only these toys and figures to keep me sane. I'll talk about all my new toys when everything has arrived. One thing I can say now is that I am missing only Final Fantasy VIII Transcendent Arts figures and Cold Cast figures. Other than that, I have managed to complete all Final Fantasy VIII figures. Hehe.. Ya call me stupid but I am proud for "wasting" money for plastics. And I also have no space to put all of these. Haha.. Not even at home (provided that I manage to transfer all of these home). I am telling myself that these will be the decorations of my new house.. Now now.. when will I have my own house here :(

Spidey vs Batman

 

I just watched the Dark Knight Rises 2 days ago. I consider myself lucky to be able to catch it at Lido 1 since the movie was released almost 2 weeks ago. I remember that even Marvel: Avengers was not in Lido 1. So what's with the special treatment huh? Anyway frankly, I was not so eager to catch this. I gave the first 2 movies of Christopher Nolan's trilogy a miss so I did not quite know what's going on. The trailer when I watched Amazing Spiderman was not tempting either. But with all the "hoo-haa" and people claiming this as best summer 2012 blockbuster bla bla bla, I watched it out of curiousity (and partly also because Anna Hathaway as Catwoman).

Story-line is okay, not so "WOW" like Inception or what. But action-wise, I am utterly disappointed. I am expecting great fighting and action scenes for a superhero-themed movie and I was not satisfied. The fist fight is not even exciting. The mob fight is like meh-meh, not much different from students' street fight or mass demonstration which I see on TVs daily in Indonesia. Someone please refund my money! Okay Catwoman is cooler than Black Widow but overall Avengers trashes Batman. I felt adrenaline rush and excitement at the battle scenes in Avengers leh. And worldwide ticket sales also show that Batman failed to beat Avengers in the box office. Yeah so Avengers is the best summer 2012 blockbuster wor.. Haha..

While talking about the Dark Knight Rises, it is impossible not to mention about the massacre in Aurora. I don't care whether it "hurt" the box office or what but it is a tragedy to see innocent lives being lost by a psychotic. God please show your mercy and your justice.

I never mentioned it before but I also watched Amazing Spiderman. Not as good as Avengers but is definitely more exciting than Batman. I don't really like Emma Stone (she's pretty but I think she often has that "I'm pissed" kind of expression) but I think it is good to see that the main female character is useful against the bad guy instead of being there only to scream and be rescued by the main hero. I also like that Uncle Ben and Aunt May got a bit more screentime. As I did not really watch Tobey Maguire's Spiderman movies, I shall not compare him to Andrew Garfield. I think Andrew Garfield successfully portrays the youthfulness (including the arrogance and rebellious nature) of Peter Parker. Tobey took a more mature, more contemplative, and more responsible Spiderman. I guess not really about the acting but their natural expression/face and perhaps the theme (Tobey's Spiderman favourite theme is With great power comes great responsibility). Anyway, I like this Spiderman because he is so slim (ya I am jealous!!). Girls will call him sexy. I think his slimness makes him lithe and acrobatic which are more Spiderman-like qualities to be able to jump here and there and "toy" with the enemies. Too bad Spiderman is licensed to Sony so there is no way to see Spiderman in Avengers. Otherwise, it will be uber cool.

I applied for Standard Chartered Credit Card on Monday. Jeez.. a few months back when I wanted to apply, I could not because they required last 3 months payslip. Now then it became 1 month. More ironically, after I applied online, today I was approached at their roadshow. Aargh I paiseh and did not mention that I actually already applied online. Although I did not lie per se because it is the truth that I don't own any credit card yet. Anyway the person was quite nice so I felt quite bad of "wasting" his time when I did not really intend to submit the form. I already submitted online application mah.. See how on Monday ba~~ Perhaps I will just send in another one. I feel bad to do bad things to nice person :( Actually I don't mind looking for him to settle the documents but too bad tomorrow is the last day of the road show. I have no plan to go back to Thomson Plaza tomorrow. If the roadshow is still there until Sunday then I will definitely do it lor.

Oh well, in the end whether my application is approved or not, I don't really care lar.. But I want the free $80 leh.. Haha..

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.