Thursday, June 26, 2014

Miku's Guide to Toy Collecting

Hi Everyone! Miku here, sharing my own thoughts on Toy Collecting. Well, My current collection isn't much and aint hard to get but It doesn't matter. As long as I enjoy it, and I still can I'll keep on collecting.

Note: What is written here are all my opinions so it might be different from what other people's point of view and belief. Post will be updated and if you have any concerns don't hesitate to message me or post a comment here.

What is Toy Collecting?

Toy Collecting - the hobby of gathering a group of figures and toys.

Elements of Toy Collecting

  • Seeking - trying to discover, search or locate and obtain.
  • Locating - finding the right place for the right stuff.
  • Acquiring - obtaining.
  • Organizing - the art of arranging into an order depending in toy-line, genre, characters, etc.
  • Cataloging - process of listing.
  • Displaying - exhibiting or showing whether in private or publicly.
  • Storing - keeping and securing item condition.
  • Maintaining - securing each item is in excellent condition.
  • Modifying - modification of item is necessary if enhancement want to be made or simply articulation or other feature is not met.
  • Fixing - fixing a damage item to bring it back in condition.
  • Customizing - modifying based on owner's design or simply modifying an item to create another item that doesn't exist.

Some Keywords to Remember:

  • MISB [Mint in Sealed Box] - item still in it's factory condition, never been opened and still in it's original seal.
  • MIB [Mint in Box] - item still in great condition, either taken out of the box for inspection or checking only- unsealed.
  • LIB [Loose In Box] - item has been taken out either for display but still has it's original container and was put back in.
  • Loose [No Box] - item can still be in good condition or in bad condition like loose joints and chipped paints.
  • MOC [Mint on Card] - Item still intact on it's original sealed card container.
  • LOC [Loose on Card] - Item already took out for display but still has it's original card container.
  • Defective - item has been damaged. Damage can be loose joints, chip paints, wrong part - it can be caused by the previous owner or the manufacturer.
  • Bootleg - are copies of a certain item from a third party manufacturer. Bootlegs are considered only as a bootleg when it has a certain item that has been copied from. Usually quality is bad.
  • Class A - are sold items in which were not approve by the manufacturers QA and considered as rejects. Usually, commoners call them as bootlegs as well.
  • Third Party - usually found in model kits, third party's are usualy created for modification or customization to copy or create a certain item in which the manufacturer didn't produced. Some Third Party are even recognized by some Manufacturers as well.
  • Fodders - are loose parts coming in from various kits. Can be used as a spare, for modification or for customization.
  • Limited Edition - are items usually sold in a given period of time.
  • Web Exclusive - are items acquiring by ordering online. No worries a lot of independet sellers now a days accepts orders of items under this specification.

Some Kinds of Toy Collection

Classification for toy collecting is really big, depending on what you want. So, I'll try to classify those.

Collection Focus Sample
Model Kits focuses on model kit's such as Cars, Ships or Mecha Tamiya Cars, Gunplas
PVC Figures focuses on PVC made figures mostly anime. One Piece PVC's, Gashapons
Statues focuses on movie statues usually in large scales. Movie Statues such as Predator Head Bust, Game and Hero Statues
Single Character Collection focuses on a single icon and collects every version from a simple gachapon to a statue. Deadpool Collection, Wolverine Collection
Action Figures focuses on mostly figures that has articulation that's why they're are called Action Figures. Marvel Legends, DC Direct
Ball Joint Dolls assembled dolls with ball joints as articulation, collectors usually focuses on one and collects clothes as enhancement instead.
Dolls Barbie, Sylvanian Dolls
Kids Meal Toy's from fastfood chain meals.
Retro Toys Old toys, from old times - usually the classic one.
Mecha various collection of robots. Gundam, Transformers
Mixed Mixed Collection containing various toy lines and most common of all.

Still, there are still more types of collection but still the bestest one is Mixed since your choices will always be limited.

Some Kinds of Collector

Yes, of course there are these kind of collectors and they can be classified and identifed too

  • Mixed Collector - collects evrything that catches their eyes.
  • Boxed Collectors - collects but never took items out to keep them in excellent condition - usually done to Limited items to increase price.
  • Loose Collectors - prefer loos items.
  • Bulky COllectors - collector large scaled items.
  • Bootleg Collectors - appreciates bootlegs because he thinks it's more wise to buy than buying aithentic ones.

Well, no offense for the last one but yeah people like that exist. Am I right?

Tips on Toy Collecting

  • Know What you want to collect.
  • Know your budget and your maximum output to acquire one.
  • Know your target.
  • Budget your acquisition value - know whether the item is overpriced.
  • Know where to buy - usually some of the good stuff is away from you, but finding legit and trusted sellers is a must.
  • Be careful of whom you meet and shipping to avoid scams, investigate first before commiting to avoid lose or stuff like that.
  • Research, research, research.
  • Mingle with people with the same interest and Join groups, a lot can be found in facebook nowadays.

Bootleg

First of all, I not really against about Bootlegs just to make things clear.


The Advantage of Bootlegs are actually you can use it for modification and also use it as your testing grounds.

The Disadvantage - well it destroys the manufacturers itself. Why and How? IT lowers their sales since some people will choose cheap stuff than buying expensive authentic ones. So it means they will lose sales and targets will never be met - might lead to bankcruptcy. So, no offense guys. :)

So there you go, hope you guys had gained a little knowledge to my little guide. Happy Toy Collecting Guys!

Monday, June 23, 2014

[Figma 203] - SNK / AOT - Mikasa Ackerman

No! I haven't stopped collecting figma yet, it's just I choose what to buy. And since Rin Shibuya is a little harder to find and expensive too [because they're EX] I decided to get Mikasa instead. Well, I was planning it before but I was certain I can easily acquire her during Toycon PH 2014 - learning from my past buying mistakes in the previous years. A little pricey but not too pricey as well. So... Mikasa Ackerman (ミカサ・アッカーマン Mikasa Akkāman?) is the 'adopted' sister of Eren Yeager, and the main female protagonist of the series. She lived with the Yeager family for approximately a year before the fall of wall Maria. Though she desires only to live a peaceful life with Eren, Mikasa chooses to follow Eren into the military, where she would become the best soldier among the 104th Trainees Squad, and later join the Survey Corps.
Reference: SNK Wiki

[Marvel Legends] - Scarlet Witch

I got this together with Psylocke, one of the strongest in the Marvel Universe - Scarlet Witch. Famous from her line "No more mutants." in the House of M series that almost wiped all the mutants around the world. The Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) is a fictional comic book character that appears in books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men #4 (March 1964) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. She is the daughter of Magneto, the twin sister of Quicksilver, and the paternal half-sister of Polaris.
Reference: Wikipedia

[Marvel Legends] Mojo Series Psylocke

And yes, our next update is an old figure from Toy Biz - ML Mojo Series Psylocke. No she didn't slip, I was trying to strike a pose. Psylocke (also known as Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock) is a fictional character depicted in comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably those featuring the superhero team X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe in 1976, she first appeared in the Marvel UK series Captain Britain. Betsy was initially a supporting character in the adventures of her twin brother, Captain Britain, even briefly substituting for him in the role, before becoming the mutant superheroine and X-Men member Psylocke in 1986.
Reference Wikipedia

[Bandai] HGUC 1/144 RX-0 Gundam Unicorn Destroy Mode - 7-11 Variant

7-Eleven and Bandai Strikes again, and this time they released one of the favorite Gunpla this genre has - Unicorn. Well, what does it feel so special? You see, one of the unique part of Unicorn was it's Pyscoframe - a lighter green pyschoframe. Just a quick review, Unicorns Psycoframe was made of clear coloured plastics so altering it might be quite a challenge. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it would take a lot of time and resources just to change.

Monday, June 16, 2014

[Bandai] HGBF 1/144 Gouf R35 [Painted]

Now the latest haul that took me a week to finish but still failed because of the crappy spray paint cans, Mr. Rals Gouf R35 as seen on the final battle on the series Gundam Build Fighters. It appeared together with the Master Gundam and has this tornado spinning combo, but hey wo you think they'll release Master Gundam too? or we just had to stich on the HGFC Master Gundam. Anyway, since I dislike the orignal Gouf scheme I had to grab a can of paint and spray it all over. A darker version of the Gouf R35 then I realized it was much darker than expected. Fail huh, then because of the crappy cans of spray paints that actually runied the kit because of the crappy nozzle I was forced to do a little weathering which is not balanced - as you can see on the left arm. Anyway, hope it turns out well for your eyes - and since this is no longer the original scheme of Gouf R35, i would like to call this "Gouf R35 ver. angelprisz"
The MS-07R-35 Gouf R35 is a custom gunpla from the anime series Gundam Build Fighters. It was built and piloted by Mr. Ral.
Reference: Gundam Wikia