"Macross Plus: Yamato 1/60 VF-11B!"

It's been some time since Yamato's 1/60 VF-11B was released. Due to it's astronomical price, I've been holding out for a good deal. One day...

Leo: Still 5%? Not 10%?
Shop: You want 10% I give 10 lor...
Leo: Okok... take take....

Impulsive buying again ;) So here comes the VF-11B!



The VF-11B appears in Macross Plus and Macross 7 as the standard fighter used by UN Spacy. This version is piloted by ace pilot Isamu Dyson in the start of Macross Plus, before he was reassigned to be the test pilot for the YF-19 prototype.



I wasn't kidding when I said ASTRONOMICAL. The retail price is RM798, after 10% discount is RM718, which makes it the 2nd most expensive toy in my collection, after CM's Legioss & Tread from Mospeada. I was very reluctant to get it at first because of how small the box appears to be.

Fighter mode:




It comes with the Super Parts to beef up it's appearance





Gerwalk mode:




Oh, and the cockpit is removable as an escape pod, seen in Macross 7.

Battroid mode:






Size comparison with Kato :P

The VF-11B is just slightly taller than the VF-1A in Battroid mode. Worth the price? Umm... I guess the main issue is with the pricing. Quality-wise there is no doubt that this is an extremely well-built toy. Transformation is also perfect and fun (unlike the notoriously difficult YF-21). Do watch out for those sharp points because if not careful, might hurt your hands.

Now, where is the YF-19? :P

"Hot Toys: Alien!"

Hot Toys announced yet another classic character from a classic movie: the Alien creature from.. well.. Alien :P



Coming end of this year! :D

"Astro Sports Package"

Got a letter today, says...

Content cost is rising year on year, more so sports content. Key sports content is expensive. Astro is unable to continue to absorb the sky-rocketing costs of sports contents indefinitely.

The re-price of the Sports Package will help offset some but not all of the high cost of the sports content that has been substantially borne by Astro, making it possible for our customers to continue to enjoy world class, premium, live sports events.

Even with the price revision, Astro Sports package remains the lowest priced sports package in the region, offering 24 hours of premium, live and world class sports events over 5 channels.

and la la la.... (see this link for the rest of the bullshit)

There will be an addition of RM12 across any packages that includes sports.

WTF... unsubscribe? EPL season starting soon wor... damn.... :(

"The Dark Knight"

Oh ya, while I was driving back to Melaka the previous time, stopped by 1 Utama to go toy scouting :D Found this: Mattel's Movie Masters figure of Batman from The Dark Knight! Hurray, that figure was soo missing from my TDK collection.



Price says RM69.90, but when scanned, it came out to only RM24.90! Clearance sales~~



Comparing the new Batman suit and the one from Batman Begins.




with the Joker, which was so hard to find last time, but now also on clearance. But then, these figures from Mattel look like crap when you compare against....

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... the Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece DX figures!!! Of course, these cost RM598 (Batman) and RM668 (Joker) respectively :P

"G.I.Joe: Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow!"

After Transformers: ROTF, here comes Hasbro's next cash-cow: G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra~~ saw the new figures at Toys R' Us and searched for my usual 2 favourites:



Storm Shadow & Snake Eyes!



I don't really like this movie figure of Snake Eyes. You can see his nose and mouth prominently even though he's wearing his ninja mask. Also too much muscle was sculpted, making it look like it's for kids (hmm, actually these *are* meant for kids :P )

His nemesis, Storm Shadow is far superior in terms of sculpting. The detailing on his costume is as good as those from the Star Wars line! These come at RM39.90 each.

Can't wait to see the movie!

"Hot Toys: Predator!"

*Updated with pics of medkit and zoomed in of Predator's open mouth

Here comes Hot Toys' Predator to beat up Dutch!



Cool fish-net plastic packaging



Yeah, the Predator with jungle stand... just look at the amount of detail in it~~



extendable claws!



Ripping out Billie's spine.... ugh

Includes his medkit pack and trademark targeting laser net (batteries operated) feature.

Remove his mask to show the "one ugly mudderfugga" :D Closed mouth and open mouth version via removable 'fangs'



Pose with Dutch before trashing him...



...but Dutch outsmarts Predator, who activates his self-destruct mechanism to blow everything apart... too bad he's the only casualty in the end!

Great great figure, easily the most detailed in my collection. Hong Kong toy producer Hot Toys are really a class apart from the others. Dutch and Predator are fine examples of this..

It's just that their prices are insane: Predator costs RM618 before 5% discount (wallet screaming in pain....) which means these 2 figures already cost a total of RM1K!!

"Moonwalk and more MJ!"

A video of him doing the first moonwalk on TV



and Hot Toys just announced their 2nd MJ figure:

from the Thriller music video!




comes with the monster version too!

"Nokia 2330 Classic"

My V3i's LCD screen went out on my last week. If u tried to call me and no reply/voice mail or anything weird, then this explains it :D I tried to disassemble it and fix it myself, thinking it could be just a connection problem, but I didn't have the proper screwdriver to open it.

Darn, have to spend money dy. Might as well get a new phone. NO MORE MODO PHONES!!! My V3i was RM1k+ (even though purchased with staff price) and it barely lasted 3 years. Sigh. But after my excessive spending on toys (!), just dun have the budget to get something similar. Screw, I'm going for cheapo phones now:

Here comes the new Nokia 2330!

Cost me RM270, a very basic phone. It's so light, almost has no weight!



V3i retiring. Sigh. Also, if u look closely, the LCD has lots of dust trapped inside. Sig. Bad design. Feature-wise, Nokia 2330 has no iTunes like the V3i (but how often do I even use that?) but it has FM radio :D Also has the classic Snake game.. Haha, brings back memory of my super classic phone which I still keep...

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the Nokia 3310 :D

"CM's Macross Collection Part 1 '09"

Shopkeeper put out a new case of CM's Macross Collection Part 1. Each box is RM24.90: just grab it! However, these are blind packaged a.k.a. the "u don't know which figure u are getting until u open it". But he said if I wanted the whole set of six figures I can open them :P

I was surprised, these are pretty big, detailed, and well-painted. And they really look like the characters from the anime!



Lynn Minmei & Hikaru Ichijo ~~ yeah, the main reason for getting these figures! Minmei is in her outfit from the finale of Macross: DYRL, and it's really superbly crafted, with the separate layers of (plastic) cloth!



Mylene Jenius (from Macross 7) and Ishtar (from Macross 2: Lovers again)



Mao Nome (from Macross Zero) and the secret figure Lynn Minmei doll.

The stand kinda sucked as u have to adjust them to hold the figures, like a balancing act. I prefer Bandai's Macross Frontier stands.

"Transformers ROTF: Human Alliance Bumblebee!"

Here comes the Human Alliance Bumblebee~~! This version is a new and bigger (Voyager class) version of Hasbro's mega cash-cow: Bumblebee. This time it comes with a mini Sam Witwicky which can interact with Bumblebee.

Comparing the size between new and Deluxe Class version.. much biggger.. Nice! :)



Sam can fit in the car which can hold another figure (Mikaela!) :D



Transformation is reasonably complicated. The instructions.. suck.. just figure it out, after awhile u'll get it. The Sam figure is ok, I think the best place for him is inside the car :P



And the feature we've been waiting for: the slide down battle-mask!

This thing is RM149.90 and selling very hot. But dun worry: Hasbro knows this baby makes money, so be patient and eventually u'll find it ;)

"Green Day: 21 Guns"

Super awesome cool :D



Will post the video if can find it... also super awesome cool :D

"Adrienne's visit"

Adrienne was here last weekend for her friend's wedding. Lots of food feasting, but here are some pics of one of Penang's most famous attractions: Kek Lok Si.






Cool view of Komtar in the distance...

Kuan Yin statue.. still waiting for the shelter to be completed. Kuan Yin is the Chinese name for the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (in Sanskrit) and is one of the most revered bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. I often use his mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum in my meditation.



The lotus plant. In the Dzogchen teachings, every person is said to have innate Buddha-nature, you just have to recognize it. The lotus is the symbol of this teaching: some people are still deep in the mud, some are halfway through it, and there are those who are truly fully bloomed; living in the mud but unaffected by it. Yet all are lotus, as all of us are Buddhas within.



Huge fishes. Check out the gold one; Adrienne was fascinated by it :P