toy collectibles

with ammo being as scarce and expensive as it is now, i have been selling my guns and collecting more toys...toys can be expensive too, but at least they last unlike ammo...i thought i would find some good loot during my trip to hong kong, but the store that i wanted to go to was either closed or moved to another location...based on the reviews, the store seemed to specialize in out of production toys, and i was hoping to find some expanded universe star wars figures...i ended up only getting two star wars metallic puzzles and a tomica die-cast of the car from initial d...there were several other stores that had lots of toy collectibles but didn't have what i was interested in (although i regret not getting the new kids logic metallic optimus prime figure)...hong kong is definitely cheaper than the states though for things like masterpiece transformers and anime stuff

after i got back, i went to frank and sons to see if they had anything worth getting...there was a vendor who sold the new line of official star trek die-cast ships for a good price, and i got nx-01 and defiant (bought enterprise d at a convention last year)

http://www.startrek-starships.com/usa/index.asp

the quality and detail are much better than the models from furuta, konami, and hotwheels, which makes collecting easier since i'll only consider getting these from now on for star trek ships

qmx is also coming out with a new model of serenity, but 350 bucks is a bit much for a model
https://store.qmxonline.com/Serenity-1250-Scale-Cutaway-Replica_p_263.html

there are some new firefly action figures that are coming out, but they look pretty crappy...so crappy, that they're not even worth posting a picture of...they're also making funko pop vinyl figures of the crew...i don't collect these types of figures, but i might get the firefly ones
http://nerdapproved.com/approved-products/looks-like-funko-is-unveiling-firefly-pop-figures-at-toy-fair/

there is more merchandise now for a show that was cancelled over 10 years ago than when the show aired or when the movie came out...i hope the trend continues, and they finally make some good realistic action figures like the star wars black series

i'll end this post with a pic from the ferry in hong kong...i haven't been posting much, and i might delete the blog if i am too lazy to post regularly

xmen

saw the new trailer, and it looks pretty good...hope they don't mess this up...one difference is that wolverine is the one going back to the past instead of kitty pryde...wolverine is a more popular character to the general audience, but i think they should have kept it the same...ellen page has enough star power and acting ability to play the role...the trailer made it seem more of a wolverine movie than an x-men movie...

on the roof

costco had a sale on a little giant folding/collapsible ladder, so i decided to get it to finally get on the roof and sweep up the pine needles

filled up both trash bins, and i had to suck up all the fine powdery stuff with my leaf blower...damn pine trees...the ladder felt a little wobbly but was light and pretty easy to maneuver even when extended to about 15ft...i didn't feel too comfortable walking at an angle on the roof, and i'm afraid of heights...i would make a crappy ninja

makoto shinkai

since i posted about miyazaki retiring, i thought it would be good to write about shinkai's latest short film, dareka no manazashi...his animation is some of the best that you'll see, and his stories are bittersweet...he also released garden of words earlier this year






his most well known work is probably 5 centimeters per second (turn on captions for subs)

firefly loot

some new firefly stuff from qmx...

http://www.qmxonline.com/news/serenity-1250-scale-cutaway-replica-prototype/

http://www.qmxonline.com/news/16-scale-malcolm-reynolds-prototype/

i hope these aren't super expensive...i'm going to need more shelf space

also got the gold firefly keychain from sdcc thanks to robokel

http://store.qmxonline.com/Firefly-Gold-Key-Chain_p_229.html#

miyazaki

anime director/writer miyazaki announced his retirement...

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Animation-Legend-Hayao-Miyazaki-Retiring-39247.html

the link has a nice vid of him at comic con and the reception he got...this type of stuff is what hall h at sdcc should host more of instead of being just a hollywood movie marketing test venue...it might be time for a re-watching of my neighbor totoro

dragon con

you know "geek" culture is officially mainstream when cnn is posting articles about dragon con...interesting back story about the convention and the trouble with one of the founders

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/living/dragon-con-2013/

dragon con is one of the major conventions in the states that i want to check out some day...pax, nyc comic con, emerald city comic con, and japan expo are some others...internationally, i want to go to london comic con, oz comic con, and the mother of all comic conventions, comiket in japan

batman

ben affleck as batman in the next supes movie...i thought he had given up on super hero movies after daredevil, but maybe the money was too good...a lot of people thought heath ledger was a bad pick for joker when it was announced but ended up the best character of the franchise, so i'll hold judgment on this one

arcade rental

you can rent an old school arcade game for $75 bucks a month...price is a bit high, but i would probably use it more than what i pay cable tv for...damn bundle deals

http://kotaku.com/live-in-california-you-can-rent-arcade-cabinets-for-7-1103029270

collecting addict

a vid about a father who spent his life savings on beanie babies, thinking at first that it was a way to pay for college for his kids...i gotta make sure i don't go too crazy with the things i collect

firefly review...10 years after

a nice review of firefly...my favorite episode is also out of gas...watch firefly

volvo

volvo is bringing back their wagon...hoping that they bring back the v40 by the time i need a new car

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/08/01/2014-volvo-range-pricing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fautoblog+%28Autoblog%29