Saku's AFK Corner

January and February Loot

Saku — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:53:15 +0000

2 greatest loots (arguably of course) arrive on January and February consecutively and both of them are probably my two most expensive loots of this year.

Nanoha Takamachi Exceed Mode 1/7 by Alter

I just picked up my Nanoha at the post office tonight and was quite shocked with the custom fee. I was charged CAD$37 which is higher than usual because it’s usually around CAD$25. Nanoha and Fate are almost at the same price so I would expect ~$25 custom fee. I guess it all depends the mood of the officer who was examining my stuff. Does anyone experience a sporadic custom fee too in your country?

Side View Left - Magic Circle

Back View - Nanoha Silhouette

I like Nanoha Silhouette on the back

Side View Right - Magic Circle

Side view left and right have the same magic circle.

Top View

“Ace of Ace”….. I like it.

Bottom View

The other loot is Black Rock Shooter. It arrived 2 weeks prior to my Nanoha and I still haven’t opened it yet ^^;; since the box is nice enough to be on display. In addition, it’s a medium size so it does not take up that much space.

Black Rock Shooter 1/7 PVC by Good Smile Company

Side View Right

BSR box is great. I love the photo of the figure on the right side. I wish I can have a setting like that for my BSR photo shoot ^^.

Side View Left

On the left, you are given the illustration of BSR figure. Pretty nice ^^.

Back View

On the back, there are couple BSR photos from different angles

Top View

Bottom View

So how much did they cost ? Lets talk about that briefly.

Nanoha Takamachi 1/7 PVC Exceed Mode
Unit Price: 12,160 yen
Shipping: 4,000 yen
Points: -414 Yen
Custom: CAD$37
Total: ~$221

Black Rock Shooter
Unit Price: 8,867 yen
Shipping: 5,400 yen
Points: -581 Yen
Custom: CAD$25
Total: ~$185

So far, I meet my quota of 1 figure per month, although, I need to keep the cost of each figure down >.>

Claymore Chapter 100 : Meeting With a Mortal Enemy

Saku — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:34:12 +0000

This chapter is doubly special. Not only it’s the first chapter released in 2010, it’s also the 100th chapter. Being first and 100th leads us to believe that something special is happening in this chapter and it seems to meet my expectation or any Claymore fans out there.

Most of us are longing for an all-out fight between the main characters and Awakened beings for as long as I can remember, thus, this chapter could be the pioneer of it. Priscilla vs Clare (+Helen and Denieve). I am sure you guys know what’s Clare sole reason to become a Claymore which was told in earlier chapters. In case you forgot, her sole reason is to kill Priscilla. In order to achieve her goal, she does not hesitate to go fully awaken.

On the other hand, Priscilla does not remember Clare at all and she was following Clare’s scent all this time. When she finally meets with Clare, she does not know who she is due to her memory loss.

After 100 chapters, we all know what kind of person Clare is. In my opinion, she is definitely the type of “action first, think later” like how she almost went full awakened fighting Ricardo in the North or how she was trying to separate from Cynthia and Uma. In this case, her action is not exception. Without thinking about the result, she blindly attacks Priscilla even though she should have already known that Priscilla is that much stronger than she is.

Well…. Clare was easily defeated as Priscilla barely moves nor makes any effort to defend Clare’s attacks.

Clare is in a pinch ? >.> Luckily she still has Helen and Denieve who are desperately trying to rescue her and get Priscilla away from her.

Seeing Priscilla shows an opening, Clare surely does not miss this chance and she starts attacking her again.

Clare’s efforts manage to cut Priscilla’s arm, although, I doubt it gives Clare any meaningful advantage.

Priscilla counters and scraps off Clare’s shoulder and part of her limb. Everything comes with a price, I guess.

I just realized that Clare never told her comrades about Priscilla nor her past about why she became a Claymore warrior. Seeing Priscilla made Clare losing her mind and she ignores Denieve’s warning about Priscilla. Revenge consumes her mind totally. Considering that her sole purpose of living and surviving all those battles is to kill Priscilla.

I needed to read this page twice before I could figure it out who Lucky is. Lucky = Raki. Not sure why it got changed from Raki to Lucky.

Clare intends to go all out since the beginning so she let herself to be awakened just like how she did during War of the North. Back then, she was pretty lucky that she managed to go back to herself, however, this time she may not be able to go back

For a second, it looks like Clare has the upper hand and is slicing left and right but……

Her extended arms are cut into pieces even though Priscilla barely moves at all.

Clare’s plan to go fully awakened has failed due to an unexpected incident.

Thoughts

I was being unreasonable when I was expecting a fight against Priscilla to last as long as possible. So far, every fight against Priscilla ends within matter of seconds. Even though it only lasts for couple seconds, I am quite satisfied seeing a fight between Clare and Priscilla. The author is truly an expert with having a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter and make us, the fans, wanting for more.

Something weird is happening to Clare and it causes her not to be able to fully awakened. As far as I can see, Priscilla does not seem to have done anything to Clare. Could it be Rafaela’s power preventing Clare’s from fully awaken ? That’s the only reasonable explanation that I can think of other than Priscilla tears Clare’s awakened form apart. I thought Clare would have gone fully awakened and gone berserk but she only goes for half awakened and maintains her consciousness.

T.T the next chapter will be out in April. It will be a long wait…… >.>. Chapter 100 is available at onemanga.com.

2009 Hobby Expenses

Saku — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:28:53 +0000

2009 was quite an exciting year for us , figure collectors. Quite a few awesome figures from Alter and GSC were being released throughout the year. Not surprisingly, those figures put a big hole in my wallet. However, I managed to hold my self back a bit in comparison to 2008. I don’t have statistics but I remembered that I bought a lot in 2008 since I just started collecting ^^;;.

Below is full list of my expenses in 2009. It ranges from figures to collectibles. Note that I didn’t include pre-ordered figures because there is no charges on my credit card until it’s been shipped. In addition, I left out BRS from the total because it has not been charged to my credit card yet.

Item	Manufacturer	Shipping (Yen	Price (Yen)	Points	Total(Yen)	Total($CAD)
Saber Maid Ver.	Alter	3,600	7,410		13,725	$169.44
Nendoroid Saber Lion	GSC	3,600	2,715		13,725	$169.44
Signum Alter Ver.	Alter	3,600	8,360		11,960	$147.65
Kanzaki Kaori	Kotobukiya	4,000	6,460		15,685	$193.64
Excellent Model Claymore Clare	MegaHouse	4,000	5,225		15,685	$193.64
Golden Darkness	GSC	3,200	5,881		9,081	$112.11
Holo	GSC	2,400	6,785		9,185	$113.40
Saber Lilly Glass	Cospa	1,500	950	-950	1,500	$18.52
Saber Lilly Cushion Cover	Cospa	2,220	2,375		11,055	$169.44
Saber & Saber Alter Cushion Cover	Cospa		2,375
Saber Lilly Long Strap with Cleaner	Cospa		1,330
Saber Lilly T-Shirt White L	Cospa		2,755
Saber Lily -Distant Avalon-	GSC	5,400	8,867	-2,847	11,420	$140.99
Fatina	Alter	4,000	7,790	-301	14,656	$180.94
Nendoroid Saber Lily	GSC	4,000	3,167	-301	14,656	$180.94
Fate-T-Harlaown True Sonic Form	Alter	4,000	12,160	-532	15,628	$192.94
Dengeki G’s Festival April Issue						$35.00
Dengeki G’s Comic Festival 2009 spring						$35.00
Dakimakura						$80.00
Fate/stay nights Saber Portraits						$50.00
StrikerS Visual collection						$110.00
Otome and Yume sketches (2x$20)						$40.00
Afro Samurai sketch						$12.00
Fate/Unlimited Codes						$115.80
Kobato Calendar						$30
All about Clamp book						$30
Grand Total						$1,976.87

I think I managed to cut it down by half at least in comparison to 2008.

Scaled Figure	9
Nendoroid	2
Art books / Magazines	5
Collectibles (Dakimakura, glass, cushion covers, etc)	9
Figma	1

My scaled figures contribute to the majority of my expenses and my Fate T. Harlaown figure is my most expensive figure in 2009. So what’s your most expensive figures ? did you go over your budget for 2009 because of impulse buying ?. What’s your target for 2010 ? getting more figures/merchandise or less ? As for me, I manage to keep my figure buying limited to 1 per month and it’s even less than 1 per month due to delays. I guess my new year 2010 resolution is to buy less figures/merchandise ^^

BLACK ROCK SHOOTER ~Black Blade~

Saku — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:00:22 +0000

When did we ever have a GSC figure for ~5,000 yen? The answer is never , however, our dream comes true with this BRS ~Black Blade~ ver 1/8 scale by GSC.

: In comparison to the original BRS, this figure is ….. hmmmm how should I say it….. lack of punch ? The original BRS gives me this awesomeness aura.

: As a fan of girls with swords, it’s hard to resist ^^;;

: Clothing wise, I like the fact that she takes off her cape in this version.

: And DFC = win ^^

: So is this in your pre-order list ? ^^

Details:

Manufacturer : Good Smile Company
Scale : 1/8
Material : PVC
Series/Original : Black Rock Shooter
Release Date : Apr 2010
Sales Price: 5,181 yen
Retail Price: 6,800 yen (Thanks “Q” for the correction)

New York Trip Loot

Saku — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:59:01 +0000

My recent trip to The Big Apple (New York City) during Christmas (hence why there’s no Christmas post -_- as I had no internet access) added couple more items to my collection. For some reasons, I didn’t bother to get 2010 calendar but visiting New york, there’s one place that I must visit. It’s Kinokuniya japanese book store. It’s something that we, otaku in Canada, are hoping to have it here and will continue to dream that one day, Kinokuniya will open branch stores here in Canada.

I only bought 2 items from Kinokuniya…surprisingly. The first one is Kobato (こばと) 2010 calendar for ~$30 . Kobato is my new favourite anime for this fall season and it’s just because she reminds me so much of Sakura from Card Captor Sakura and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. I scanned each month image for your enjoyment ^^.

If you want the original scanned versions, click here to download. I would appreciate if you link back to my site when you use any of these images on your site ^^.

It must have been a Clamp day or something because I spotted an art book ‘All about Clamp’ which lists all anime/manga series by Clamp for the last 15-20 years. I got it for $28.80 which is a good deal imo because it’s quite thick.