On the First Day of Christmas ... ...

I decided to open up some troopers which I had been keeping them for some time.

The ARF trooper, an elite scout force of the republic senate led by Jedi General Windu.

This particular figure comes with pretty good articulation.

"I know kung fu!"

The figure here is Commander Gree who leads the 41st Elite Corps under the command of Jedi General Yoda. This is the animation version which is very different from the movie version from my earlier post.

"What are you staring at?"

Here he is with a heavy machine gun and this is borrowed from one of the 41st Elite Corps troopers as Gree was issued a bazooka.

Gree with his helmet off, the haircut is a little too weird for me.

Thus, the helmet stays on.

Lastly, I opened up a Sandtrooper from the Legacy Collection which this guy appeared in Episode IV "A New Hope".

One last shot with everyone encapsulated in my customised container with their poses 'immortalised'; well at least in this picture they are.

Toys from Yester Years ... ...

Since there are no new arrivals, I've decided to snap away with some of my older toys.

First up, my son's Gundam 00 Seven Swords. I've taken these at his request.

By the way, he set the poses and I snapped away and gotten his approval before posting.


Here's a close up and below is a mosaic of various color settings.

Toys in my work area are often forgotten as they have been there for a number of years. I'll try my best to remember what they are.

From Left, Zeta Gundam, RX-78(forgot what version) and Heavy Arms Gundam

Spawn

Strike Impulse Gundam

Clear Sword Strike Gundam

YF-21 with Darth Vader in the background

All shots taken using the Lumix GF1 with F/1.7 and 20mm lens. I am really loving this camera.

A Night out at Vivo ... ...

A meal before 'work'

F/1.7, ISO400, 20mm

F/1.7, ISO200, 20mm

F/3.5, ISO400, 14mm

F/3.5, ISO320, 14mm

Ok, I think that's about all that I will update for now as this blog is dedicated to mainly toys.

Went for a walk ... ...

with GF1. It was fun taking pictures with it but I guess I still have a long way to go in the area of photography.

F/1.7, ISO100, 20mm, no flash

F/3.5, ISO100, 14mm, no flash

F4.8, ISO100, 23mm, no flash

F/5.1, ISO100, 28m, no flash

Really glad I got the 20mm pancake or prime lens. The picture quality from that lens is far more superior. I am also beginning to appreciate manual focusing for customised shots.

Just Playing ... ...

around with the GF1. Trying both 20mm and 14-45mm lens. I'm quite pleased with what the camera can do.

F/16, ISO100, 45mm, no flash

F/5.6, ISO100, 20mm, no flash

F/5.6, ISO100, 20mm, no flash

F/4, ISO100, 20mm, no flash

F/2.5, ISO100, 20mm, no flash

F/2.5, ISO100, 20mm, no flash

F/1.7, ISO320, 20mm, no flash

F/2.8, ISO100, 20mm, no flash

F/20, ISO100, 45mm, no flash

F/20, ISO100, +0.3, 45mm, flash

Will attempt some outdoor shoot tomorrow.

My Wife got me a Girl Friend ... ...

for my birthday! Well, at least that's what the shutterbugs are calling it. The Panasonic Lumix GF1.

Finally after months of waiting, it has arrived and now the headaches begins as I need to 'learn' using it effectively to take good pictures.

I could have gotten it much earlier if I just pick one up at any electronic department, Courts or Harvey Norman. However, I chose to wait out as I want a dual lens kit with both the 20mm pancake lens and 14-45 zoom lens.

It was a long wait as I was told that this kit is facing shortage worldwide due to the fact that Panasonic uses third party manufacturer to put this together.

Anyway, here it is and out of the box and I have the color which I wanted. RED! To my surprise, it is red all around the body. Sexy!


This feels heavy because it's metallic and it has this old school kind of look but the red makes it modern.

View from the top. Nice touch of Panasonic to have a cover to enclose the hot shoe when not in use.

This birthday sort of came with a theme as friends bought me photography related items as well like this RED and LOUD Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home camera bag (at my request though)

They have even included a shoulder strap from Crumpler too; The Industry Disgrace. I had a hard time squeezing this into the slots of the GF1. It took me a good 1 hour and sustained both injury on my fingers and the camera in the process of doing so.... .... Fingers can heal but a scratch is a scratch. Well, at least it is now unique.

Another present from another good friend of mine and his wife. So no excuse to take bad pictures with all these gears.; I hope.

Cause and Effect ... ...

is a concept best applied to the purchase of the 1/60 Super and Strike Parts for VF-1s.

It all started with this inconspicuous white box below. It is also due to that fact that I failed to do my homework before a purchase.

It was couple of months ago when I heard news of clear 1/60 super pack retailing at $40. I placed an order for it without hesitation.


I was in shocked the moment I opened it up. It wasn't the complete super parts but the covers to the boosters, engines and missiles pods. I was in a state of dismay as I did not purchase the earlier release of VF-1 with super parts.

However, lady luck was on my side when I checked with TFH and they have stocks of Super and Strike Parts arriving.

The box art on this is as regular as all other Macross stuff from Yamato.

The flap is something that I really like on a toy and I'm not too sure why Yamato did not make this a standard. This item is more of an accessories to a VF-1 and this cost $60 which is cheaper than the 1/48 scale released years ago.

Finally, VF-1S fitted with Strike Parts.

The colour scheme somehow does go quite well

Now, the main focus of this post is the clear parts which in my opinion makes the fighter mode look fantastic.

This will be how it will be displayed to justify the time and effort it took to get this to look right.