Archive for the 'Others' Category

Praying for Japan

Published on March 16, 2011 in Others. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

my deepest condolence for the victim of Japan’s major earthquake and tsunami…

I was terribly shock when hearing about the breaking news on CNN at my office, and soon called my big family in Japan… thanks God, lot of my family lived in kansai area, including Osaka and Kyoto… as for some of my family who lived in Tokyo area, all of them were already evacuated to safer ground by the time I called them (afternoon, West Indonesia time)

let us all sincerely pray for Japan

and not only that, let us pray for all of us, for the upcoming years to come…
I mean, really… it was another big disaster in these following years!!
it just felt like disaster after disaster followed by another disaster…
hope things going to be better for all of us, the mankind

note: by the time I wrote this, people in Eastern part of Japan having a major blackout, please stay strong guys

Happy New Year 2011

Published on January 1, 2011 in Others. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .


Happy New Year 2011 everyone!!
Shin en ommedettou minna!! \^0^/
May the year of 2011 would bring promises of brighter tomorrows to our life.

a new year always mean something to me…
it’s time to reflect…
it’s time to set new resolutions…
and try our best to achieve those resolutions, but at least we still got one full year to get it over with huh? X D

back to figure life, lot of my friends already set their figure shopping outlook 2011… although I could be considered as a well planed person, but alas ’till now I never create a yearly figure shopping plan
oh well, let just go with the flow ^^’

anyway, have a new fantastic new year filled with new hope, bless, peace and love guys… AMEN!!
Let’s try our best to make it another great year :)

Merry Xmas 2010

Published on December 25, 2010 in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Others and PVC. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .


Rei Ayanami
Christmas Eve Party Mini Display Figure
Manufacture: Sega Prize
Origin: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Merry Xmas guys!!
may this Xmas be filled with love, peace and joy for everyone ^^

hey look!! there’s Santa on the roof, and it’s not just the ordinary Santa, it’s a gloomy blue-haired one… and thanks God she came without beard X D

here’s another ultra cute version of Rei, she’s dressed-up in order to warm up this chilly season, by becoming the world’s cutest Santa, heheh…

this figure ornament is not so great compared to the other characters within this line that got a lot more colors and tiny details, but hey, the finishing color is just so good!! almost PVC like!! you know, that flat finish effect?
I really love her armless Santa suit, so sexy… paired up with those boots and gloves… the most interesting details of this figure IMO is her facial expression, she looks surprised while trying to get that toys sack down the chimney

not bad for a 2 inches figure that you could get for 800yen ($8) huh…?

there are three other characters in this “Christmas Eve Party Mini Display Figure” line produced by Sega, which are: Asuka, Misato and Hikari, one of the most unseen character X D

anyway, enjoy your holiday guys!!

another CRAZY year end-2010

Published on December 22, 2010 in Others. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

really sorry for the late update guys, it’s been another SUPER BUSY year end at the office… not really sure why, but every year end is an ultra busy month for a full time researcher like me

I know,I know…year end is the end of company’s fiscal year, thus we need to complete all tasks or projects within that year… BUT!! I always manage to finish mine before December for most of the time… still, new jobs just keep comin’ even thought it’s supposed to end

oh well, better just keep movin on…
to tell the truth, I actually LOVE working… but then,as my girl always told me, some part of my personal life became abandoned, heheh… and my internet social life is no exception, already abandoned this site for like a month!!

really sorry, I’ll try to keep up again starting today guys!!
oh yeah, Xmas is coming!! I’ll post some winter and Xmas related stuff then…

this year’s December is one of the coldest one… that blizzard in Europe in the beginning of the month, it’s snowing in the middle of summer in Australia right now, and even my office here in Jakarta got some technical trouble with the air conditioner, thus making us freeze these weeks :(
hahah, enough for the two cents, here comes the figure again!!

Fuji Finepix Z33WP

Published on September 17, 2010 in Others. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .


a compact, stylish and cheap underwater camera!!
you could bring this camera for any underwater session up to 3 meters (ten feet) under the surface and still look stylish X D

people tend to tag this camera as “world most compact underwater camera”, I can understand why… the body is compactly build, it’s small, it’s thin and the camera is built within the body as well, smart!
this 10 MP camera come in four different colors; black, purplish blue shocking pink and my favorites, the shocking green

the only reason I bought this one, because this is the cheapest-most smart looking underwater camera available in my country and it looks fun to use for a person who swims regularly every weeks with his friends/family like me
later this green fellow start to grow on me to explore him more!! start with the Manual mode it offer, but the Manual feature is very limited
well, just keep in mind that this is only a point and shoot camera anyway

okay, the BIG downer from this camera is, it’s more of an “outdoor activity” camera… almost like a film camera that you loaded up with a 200 asa roll film
you can’t get a sharp result when using this camera indoor without flash using the room’s lamp as the only light source… the picture will be nothin but grains!! the 1600 ISO feature tend to backfire on you almost all the time -_-’
the manual mode doesn’t help much either, don’t know for sure why…

I bought this camera for underwater shots anyway, and by keeping that within my mind, this camera become an awesome stylish gadget

here is the specification from Imaging Resource.com
Resolution: 10.00 Megapixels
Lens: 3.00x zoom (35-105mm eq.)
LCD Size:2.7 inch
ISO: 64-1600
Shutter: 3-1/1000
Max Aperture: 3.7
Mem Type: SD / SDHC / xD
Battery: Custom LiIon
Dimensions: 3.6 x 2.3 x 0.8 in.(92 x 60 x 21 mm)
Weight: 3.9 oz (111 g)

and here’s some sample of my figure shots using this camera, all in thumbnails

Casual Figure Photography (Indoor – inside my not so well lighted room)

Outdoor Figure Photography

and the long waited one, pam param paaaaaaam!!
the most challenging part of underwater figure photography is to keep the object steady!! why?? because water posses a lot of power… the water current… current or wave keep the object moving, thus it’s extremely difficult to take a focused photo on a still object underwater…
Underwater Photography

that’s all folks!! all of the cameras I’ve been using for my toy/figure photography…
oh yeah, sometimes I also use my Toycamera and Junkcamera (manual film camera) collection to take some figure photos, but I’ll discuss about them much later… now it’s time for more TOYS!!

until then!!

Fuji Finepix S5700

Published on September 15, 2010 in Others. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .


maybe I could say this for my opening here…
this is the BEST camera I’ve ever use for my figure photography purposes!!

people tend to call this one as a “SLR-Style camera”, because it isn’t a real SLR, it’s just a super zoom digicam…a bloody-over the edge-cheap super zoom!!

okay, okay, just imagine this…
a 7.2 MP camera, that give you a professional DSLR like result,with manual mode, that only cost you under 200 USD
dude… this is the reason why I’ve become more of a Fujifilm fanatic over the years, no wonder I already loved Fujifilm analogue/film camera since I’m five years old, heheh

this camera run on 4 AA batteries, which is a plus point for me
I prefer using standard rechargeable batteries than the lithium one, cause can buy another one anytime I want… I’ve been using the Sony Ni-MH batteries for this baby, and it just won’t go down… a fully charged set could give me almost a month power for regular usage!!

the best feature for me is, the Manual (M) mode… you could set the Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, macro mode, and more!! it give me freedom to explore more on night photography technique, such as the light painting and pitch black photography, I’ll give you an example on these later

here is the technical spec according to dpreview.com
* 7.1 million effective pixels
* ISO 100 – 1600 sensitivity range
* Compact lens with 10x optical zoom
* Easy-to-use mode dial and ‘rocker’ zoom function
* Improved 2.5 inch LCD screen with 230,000 pixels
* Dual compatibility for xD-Picture Card and Secure Digital cards
* Intelligent Flash and Natural light plus Flash functions
* 12 scene position modes
* Rapid start-up time of 1.1 seconds and shutter lag of 0.01 seconds
* Powered by four AA batteries
* 27MB internal memory

this camera works well even in a poorly lighted indoor room, the smart censor could easily adjust its setting in auto mode to accommodate that condition… and the picture’s still sharp,not really grainy at all

and here’s some sample of my figure shots using this camera, all in thumbnails

Casual Figure Photography (Indoor – inside my not so well lighted room)

Outdoor Figure Photography

I’ve never brought this camera to any toy event, cause my motto for such event is; “travel light”, it’s a battleground out there, we must fight and we must win!! chaaaaaaaaargeeeeee!!! X D

but I’ll give you some of my signature pithblack photography photos sample instead

Pitchblack Photography
Glow in the Dark

Pitchblack Photography
Lightpainting

next up, the Fuji Finepix Z33 WP
the underwater cam, just stay tuned :D

Casio Exilim EX-Z3

Published on September 14, 2010 in Others. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .


my first digicam (digital camera) ever!!
bought this one in one of my trip to Japan, for a whooping price, 38.000 yen… spent all of my money for her ^^’
that’s extremely pricey for a 3.2 MP camera!! but hey, it was like 7 years ago, back then when they just developed a thing called digicam, heheh…

I really LOOOVED this camera!! she also serve me well all the time
for casual figure photo sessions, outdoor, and even accompanied me as an ideal compact camera for toy events

she works well for both indoor and outdoor activities, but eventually pictures will become a little bit grainy when the area is lack of light

the only downer is, recently the lithium battery’s easily loss a lot of power (half from the power meter) after a dozen of shots, even after it’s fully recharged… I’m planning to buy another one, but it’s kinda hard to find nowadays -_-’

here is the technical spec according to Steve’s Digicams.com
* 3.2-Megapixel effective CCD imager
* Credit card-size stainless steel body, only 23mm thick
* Still Image: 2048×1536, 1600×1200, 1280×960, 640×480
* Movie capture, 320×240 @ 12fps up to 30 seconds with audio
* Pentax 3x optical zoom (35-105mm equiv) with 4x digital zoom
* Less two second startup time
* Fast shot to shot time – even with flash
* 10 Megabytes of internal memory
* Automatic 1 to 1/2000 sec. shutter speeds
* Built-in flash with Red Eye Reduction
* 2″ TFT color LCD with 354×240 (84,960 pixels) resolution
* 4X playback zoom magnification
* USB 1.1 data transfer to PC or Mac computers
* Lithium rechargeable battery and charging cradle included
* Secure Digital/MMC card slot for memory expansion

and here’s some sample of my figure shots using this camera, all in thumbnails
maybe it’s not great, but don’t blame the camera! I’m still developing my still (figure) photography skill back then…

Casual Figure Photography (Inside my room)
lot of my photos here that has white-sliver background or pattern paper are created using this camera

Outdoor Figure Photography
only done a couple of outdoor figure photos back then

Toys Events

next up, the Fuji Finepix S5700!!
cheapest “SLR-Style” camera, with a pro-like result, just splendid ^^b

until then

50 Toys Related Posts… and counting!!

Published on September 12, 2010 in Others. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

50 already? woah, that’s kinda fast…

so I wrote 50 toys related post, excluding the term definition and introduction post, not bad… but MORE to come!! just sight tight and enjoy the ride, heheh

hum.. maybe it’s a good time to write somethin other than toys for a change… what should I write…
oh I know!!
since lot of people and friends keep asking me what camera do I use for my photos, maybe I just make short reviews bout the cameras that I used for my figure shots

they usually thought that I’m using a DSLR camera,
I am not guys… keep telling ya, I’m only using cheap- low spec digital cameras for my photos and I don’t have a DSLR… you know us collector, we prefer to spend more and more money to ease our addiction ;p

so, there are 3 digital cameras that I’m using until now for my figure photos, which are:
- Casio Exilim EX-Z3 3.2 MP (bought in 2003)
- Fuji Finepix S5700 7.2 MP (2008)
- Fuji Finepix Z33WP Underwater 10.0 MP (2010)
then for this week, I’ll talk about each one of those cameras
including the spec, short review, some blabbering story and example photos from my shots

hope you could enjoy, cheers

greetings from a toys fan

Published on May 28, 2010 in Others. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

hiya guys!! 
finally I decided to take the risk and started my own Toys Blog ;p

well, short story bout me, I’m just another person who love toys

I’ve been collecting toys since I was a toddler, no foolin… while other kids play with their toys; fight them with some other toy, giving them a bath, show them off at the neighborhood playground, or even blowing them with a firecracker, I rather took them out of the box in my house and just stared at them, playing by pretending everything happens just in my thought… geez, what a weirdo ^^’
but that was the little me, I really prefer to display them rather than playing with them, even until now

for me, toys are somethin that you display in your room or house, much more like a work of art such as statue from a certain era that could tell a lot of historical/nostalgic story to me. It’s more like a commemorative work of art of the popular culture. That’s why I prefer to called the things that I’m collecting as Figures rather than Toys.

what am I collecting? almost every kind of toys
including Japanese Figures(such PVC, gashapon, gunpla, tokusatsu, etc), US Characters (Marvel, DC, McFarlanes, etc), die cast, urban toys, Lego, Playmobil, vintage characters, trading card, toys gun and so on…
but, since I’m just a noob-low budgeted toys collector,I only got a little collection from each category ^^’

ENOUGH TALK!! it’s time to bring out the Figures!!
I’ll try to regularly update this blog whenever it’s possible, it’s kinda hard being a full time employee -_-