"That which does not kill me makes me cuter." - tele Nietzsche
Monday, July 21, 2008
Hear the call of the primitives!
Join Zabu, Shanna & Ka-Zar as they take you on an exotic tour in The Savage Land!
This exciting holiday package is brought to you by Marvel Legends!
Travel insurance* included.
*Does not cover accidents, disease, injury, permanent disability, loss of body parts or death as a result of Savage Land's environment, denizens or otherwise. Contact Savage Land Assurance Mgt for extended coverage.
Join Zabu, Shanna & Ka-Zar as they take you on an exotic tour in The Savage Land!
This exciting holiday package is brought to you by Marvel Legends!
Travel insurance* included.
*Does not cover accidents, disease, injury, permanent disability, loss of body parts or death as a result of Savage Land's environment, denizens or otherwise. Contact Savage Land Assurance Mgt for extended coverage.
Friday, July 18, 2008
The 1/6th Invasion
Title says it right. It all started out with Hot Toys (Rambo II specifically). But then, I wasn't at all into customising or kitbashing, a.k.a. creating your own characters by combining 1/6th scale basic bodies with separate fabric clothing, accessories and what-else-have-you. Simply put, I wasn't into "dolls".
Before, I would like to call them dolls - any toy that incorporated fabrics for clothing, rather than plastic, and whose bodies carried no detail, they would be dolls to me. So in a way Hot Toys Rambo II then didn't quite fit the bill since his torso was sculpted, or so I was convinced at the time. And at that time, I didn't want dolls in my collection.
Here's an extract that pretty much sums up my earlier perception of dolls:"To many connoisseurs, there is a distinction between action figures and dolls. Dolls suggest a plastic body with full range of movement in clothing, whereas action figures are often made entirely of molded, colored pastic. Articulation is often limited to head, shoulders and hips, sometimes less, thereby almost making them a sort of statuette." - http://www.comicbookbin.com/bubble111.html
Anyways, the line between action figures/statues AND dolls blurred. I stopped treating these 1/6th scale figures as dolls - meaning dolls for girls / Barbies - albeit subscribing to this perception much later than many other toy collectors. Mr Emerson should know, haha! I started seeing them as dolls - meaning "dolls as action figures", "dolls for boys", "men with dolls", or "they're not dolls, they're action figures".
This pretty much started when I got my first Takara Cool Girl - Gatchaman Jun sometime during CNY this year. And it opened a whole new can of worms for me. Meaning I had to find a way to print more notes, 'cos they've developed a stronger tendency to grow wings. Yes, mind you, a 1/6th scale figure is many zounds more expensive than an action figure, on average. Again, Mr Emerson should know, haha! No average action figure costs two-hundred dollars, but that's the range you can expect of "dolls".
And so collapsed the great wall that drew distinction between action figures/statues and dolls. And soon followed the idea of customizing, or kit-bashing. Very very fortunately, I am no 1/6 military collector, 'cos that would simply blow my bank account open like a bullet through a watermelon, what with all the weapons and accessories (1/6th scale radios, maps, cartridges, magazines, daggers, guns, rifles, helmets, vests, uniforms, backpacks, fieldpacks, rucksacks, sheaths, belts, earpieces, holsters, pens, watches, binoculars, pickaxes, cigarettes, cigarette cases, pouches, belts, water canteens, binoculars and, yes, even cellphones) that you have to hunt for piece by piece just to kitbash your perfect soldier!
No, not to that extent for me and I hope not in the future, 'cos right now 1/6th collecting is already as intensive as it can be.
And with that humble little intro in to 1/6th, here are some pics of the said 'worms' I've taken at various times this year:
Takara Cool Girl Gatchaman Jun (Dark Version):
A custom/kitbash made up of a Takara Cool Girl body, a ZC Girl head, Triad Toys outfit, a 1/6 Arlen Ness bike and various weapons and accessories:
Below: Hot Toys RE4 Leon. Looking as suave as he is from the game. And yes, that is a bloody huge Hummer - 1/6 SWAT Vehicle from 21st Century Toys. Here's hoping Hot Toys would come up with a 1/6 Ada Wong, but here's custom babe to form a zombie-killin' tag-team in the meantime. No I'm not doing the behind-the-scenes take on Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, sorry Emer.
I have some 1/6 zombies which I've not put up yet. That would make a great RE scene I thinks. Couple with a small change of the text on the Hummer from "SWAT" to "RPD"! WHOOHOO! But for now...
Title says it right. It all started out with Hot Toys (Rambo II specifically). But then, I wasn't at all into customising or kitbashing, a.k.a. creating your own characters by combining 1/6th scale basic bodies with separate fabric clothing, accessories and what-else-have-you. Simply put, I wasn't into "dolls".
Before, I would like to call them dolls - any toy that incorporated fabrics for clothing, rather than plastic, and whose bodies carried no detail, they would be dolls to me. So in a way Hot Toys Rambo II then didn't quite fit the bill since his torso was sculpted, or so I was convinced at the time. And at that time, I didn't want dolls in my collection.
Here's an extract that pretty much sums up my earlier perception of dolls:"To many connoisseurs, there is a distinction between action figures and dolls. Dolls suggest a plastic body with full range of movement in clothing, whereas action figures are often made entirely of molded, colored pastic. Articulation is often limited to head, shoulders and hips, sometimes less, thereby almost making them a sort of statuette." - http://www.comicbookbin.com/bubble111.html
Anyways, the line between action figures/statues AND dolls blurred. I stopped treating these 1/6th scale figures as dolls - meaning dolls for girls / Barbies - albeit subscribing to this perception much later than many other toy collectors. Mr Emerson should know, haha! I started seeing them as dolls - meaning "dolls as action figures", "dolls for boys", "men with dolls", or "they're not dolls, they're action figures".
This pretty much started when I got my first Takara Cool Girl - Gatchaman Jun sometime during CNY this year. And it opened a whole new can of worms for me. Meaning I had to find a way to print more notes, 'cos they've developed a stronger tendency to grow wings. Yes, mind you, a 1/6th scale figure is many zounds more expensive than an action figure, on average. Again, Mr Emerson should know, haha! No average action figure costs two-hundred dollars, but that's the range you can expect of "dolls".
And so collapsed the great wall that drew distinction between action figures/statues and dolls. And soon followed the idea of customizing, or kit-bashing. Very very fortunately, I am no 1/6 military collector, 'cos that would simply blow my bank account open like a bullet through a watermelon, what with all the weapons and accessories (1/6th scale radios, maps, cartridges, magazines, daggers, guns, rifles, helmets, vests, uniforms, backpacks, fieldpacks, rucksacks, sheaths, belts, earpieces, holsters, pens, watches, binoculars, pickaxes, cigarettes, cigarette cases, pouches, belts, water canteens, binoculars and, yes, even cellphones) that you have to hunt for piece by piece just to kitbash your perfect soldier!
No, not to that extent for me and I hope not in the future, 'cos right now 1/6th collecting is already as intensive as it can be.
And with that humble little intro in to 1/6th, here are some pics of the said 'worms' I've taken at various times this year:
Takara Cool Girl Gatchaman Jun (Dark Version):
A custom/kitbash made up of a Takara Cool Girl body, a ZC Girl head, Triad Toys outfit, a 1/6 Arlen Ness bike and various weapons and accessories:
Below: Hot Toys RE4 Leon. Looking as suave as he is from the game. And yes, that is a bloody huge Hummer - 1/6 SWAT Vehicle from 21st Century Toys. Here's hoping Hot Toys would come up with a 1/6 Ada Wong, but here's custom babe to form a zombie-killin' tag-team in the meantime. No I'm not doing the behind-the-scenes take on Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, sorry Emer.
I have some 1/6 zombies which I've not put up yet. That would make a great RE scene I thinks. Couple with a small change of the text on the Hummer from "SWAT" to "RPD"! WHOOHOO! But for now...
