Filed under: The Catch!
YES! I finally completed William Gibson’s “Sprawl Trilogy”!
What is it? It’s a actually a series of cyberpunk novels written during the 1980s. It consists of Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive. If you liked Ghost In the Shell, Hackers, The Matrix, Armitage, that kind of stuff, you might want to check out cyberpunk books.
Cyberpunk books are few and far between in this day and age, but raiding second hand book stores might end you up with one or two. Which was the case with my find yesterday. I was actually looking for Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (yes, the same name as the movie, but it doesn’t do the book justice), and then I found an old 1987 ace edition of the Count Zero book. To my surprise, the thing was only worth 15 php, and while yellowed with age, it was still pretty much intact. To me, it was pretty much a no brainer. Too bad I didn’t browse at the other stores first. Otherwise I could have been carrying a newer edition of the book (although this time worth 60 php). Well…
Anyway, back to Gibson. His writing style is very unique, based on my first impression. His description of the events in his books seems like more of urban poetry than prose, but it suits the gritty dystopian theme of genre, with all the drugs, sex and virtual reality going on. But still, he’s one of the bastions of the genre, and that’s reason enough to check it out, if you ever get in the mood for something dark and technological.
Filed under: The Catch!
A Blast from the Past!
While searching around in one of my haunts (an obscure booksale branch near my university), I stumbled upon an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition Hardcover Player’s Guide (whew, what a freaking long name)! For a frustrated gamer like me, this is quite a treasure, given that this thing was published just 2 years after I was born. Maybe I should really keep collecting old RPG game rulebooks too, because well, I already have The Call of Cthulhu 4th Ed, and the Palladium Fantasy 2nd Ed,which were all published in the late 80’s and early 90’s… but I’ve yet to play them. You can’t play DnD by yourself, unfortunately. Well, unless you have split personalities or something…
Here’s a color image from the book (not all images are colored..)
On the other end of the speculative fiction spectrum, I found a copy of Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age. Neal is known for his postcyberpunk novel Snow Crash, and Diamond Age follows it (I don’t think the two books are related to each other). Where as Snow Crash dealt with Cyberspace and VR technology, Diamond Age deals with Nanotech. Neal is also responsible for the brainy story Cryptonomicon, in which parts of the story are set in Metro Manila (yay!), and is now working on the Baroque Cycle, a semi-historical SF work set in the late 17th and early 18th century.
Extra Story Image Figure!: Wendy Garret from GUNXSWORD
I’ve sort of liked(no, maybe worshiped is a better term 
) Danny Choo’s collection of anime figures. Among his collection were the large boxed figures of different anime heroines, and I swore to myself one day (when I finally receive my first paycheck), I’ll buy myself one of those too. But looks like it happened a wee bit earlier than I expected.
To reward myself for finally hacking together a simple parser for my thesis, I bought a figure on sale on the mall. It’s actually Wendy Garret, the girl who follows Van around in the anime Gun X Sword (wiki it for more info, folks). I know a few people are a little peeved at her (she does get a little irritating sometimes), but I can’t help but admire how she tries to act mature, because she hates it when people treat her like a helpless little girl.
Anyway, back to the fig. It’s larger than any of the anime figs in my collection, and is made of a combination of soft and hard PVC. Included in the package is her pet turtle Kameo and her brother’s revolver. The paintjob is good, although there are a few ugly blobs of paint in her collar (see the 2nd pic). The rubber band used to hold the revolver in her hand also left some marks on the plastic. The revolver is very soft and is very easy to bend, so watch out. It’s easy to lose the little turtle figure too, considering its size.
PICS!
Wendy Garret 1
Wendy Garret 2
Wendy Garret 3
Wendy Garret 4
Kameo and Wendy’s Revolver
So, after scraping some cash, I returned to the usual saturday collectible raid (going to the mall to buy collectibles), and scored these beauties.
PSE SOLID COLLECTION 3.0 RANGE MURATA: PSE 15 and 16
Yes. The quest to build my Range Murata collection continues. Never mind that I completely bypassed the Last Exile Gasha series that appeared in the SM stores (and felt bad about it), the PSE series 3.0 went BOTO (buy one take one, in collector lingo) and I knew I had to buy the last remaining box in the Glorietta area.
As the usual PSE fare, these two figures feature the same incredible details the series is famous for, but I have qualms with the PSE 15’s stand. It looks like the figure’s legs might bend over time with the awkward pose. But still, they are nice, and I had some fun taking pictures of them (frustrated photographer tendencies, I presume).
Here’s the pics:
PSE 15- Angled Shot
PSE 15- Body Shot
PSE 15- Close Up
PSE 16- Her point of view
PSE 16- His point of view
PSE 16- Her close up
PSE 16- Top Angle Shot
PSE 16- No Penguin, No!
Uhm, I’m still fixing my modem at home, so I’m sneaking a blog entry here at the school. This entry will be a part of the Catch! section, as well as a part of the in-sight section. Yeah, I’m in a hurry so I’m cramming two entries at once.
Bought 3 classic literature books last week, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle (Signet Classics), Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes Saavedra (Signet Classics), and Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (Penguin Popular Classics). As you may notice, they are all medieval romances (and a satire of medieval romance), I bought them to serve as inspiration for the story that I’m working on.
Most people look at classics with such scorn, mostly regarding such work as something to read in order to pass world literature class. But if you look at them in a different light, these stories are colorful, vibrant, and entertaining to read, too.
Here’s a fun fact- did you know that the sword King Arthur pulled out from the stone to prove his kinghood was not Excalibur? Uh-huh. Actually it was a different sword that Merlin created for the purpose. King Arthur gets the Excalibur later from the lady of the lake, which he uses to fight the sable knight. When King Arthur becomes mortally wounded, he orders Sir Bedevere to return the sword to the lake.
Well anyway, got to go… my professor’s scolding the class again, she might catch me loafing, hehehe..
July 5-
Remember the Lord of Asgard Thor Figure I’ve been fawning about all those months ago…? Finally got it. Now my Thorbuster Iron Man finally has its lifelong-partner. hahahaha!
July 15-
Yes, I was sick during July 15, but it did not stop my collecting spirit! I trudged at the local toys r us to buy the Marvel Legends Spider Woman Figure! Never underestimate a sick collector…
July 21-
Almost penniless, but still kicking. The Marvel Legends face-off series was a flop in the market, featuring substandard figs. But then, in an effort to recoup their losses, the markets slashed down the price by 50%. Immediately the crowds gobbled it up! But a few stinky figures remained- Wolverine/Sabretooth, Punisher/JigSaw, Iron Man/Mandarin. Finally, in a desperate attempt to clear their stock, they went on to reduce the price by 75%. And so I bought a Wolvie set. Heh.
No Pics yet… it recently feels so darn hard to get that camera and snap pics…
Been in a BAF (Build a Figure) Rush this past two weeks… built 2 figures, at a rate of one per week. I had to borrow some money to get it done, but now I have 2 completed figures and 2 partials.
Sorry for those readers expecting some sort of article other than action figures, but I have a fever today, and I can’t think straight. Since I’ve buying by the bulk, I can’t give my first impressions on the figures individually right away. Maybe in a future article, plus maybe something relevant to blog about. Like it or not, this site has become an action figure blog of some sorts.
June 23
Psylocke/Longshot/Falcon/Luke Cage/ Mojo/ Apocalypse Head-Built Mojo this week, the evil being from the Mojoverse which has been a constant pain in the X-Men’s ass. The Mojo series figs are not good, but since they have a few crucial characters I want (Namely Psylocke, Falcon and Luke), I just have to learn to bear with their crappy sculpts and paintjobs.
June 30
Professor X/ NightCrawler/ Galactus/ Cyclops- Built Galactus this week, my first 16′ Marvel Legends figure. He’s so goddamn big, I don’t know where to put him. But he is nice though, despite a few loose joints and mispaints in his legs. Cyclops was a freebie from my cousin, to bulk up my X-men collection.
No pics yet, I feel so drowsy. Maybe in a later update.
Book finds for this week:
(Jun11)Star Wars Darth Maul Shadow Hunter- Paperback,80 Php. I’m a fan of Darth Maul, and I really lament the fact that the character was featured in the stinkiest Star Wars movie among the six episodes. I just hope this book will do him justice.
(Jun15)Idoru-Hardcover,70 Php. Book 2 of William Gibson’s bridge trilogy. I was kind of surprised, because even at second-hand book stores, HCs cost 200 upwards. This book is even cheaper than my other purchase (see above)! I only need to get All Tomorrow’s Parties to complete the trilogy.
(Jun 16)Went to the 6th ToyCon at Megamall this Saturday, and was overwhelmed by the flood of great figs for the taking. I didn’t have enough money, but I was able to score these babies:
ML Apocalypse Series- Bishop (Non Variant) - MOC, 650 Php. I’m no fan of bishop, but the figure looks so cool, that I just had to get one. The prices of these figs have been shooting from 700 upwards, this was the cheapest I could encounter. The figure was great, but it is certainly top-heavy, given its bulk. It comes with two weapons which you can attach with pegs in his palms. I didn’t bother looking for the Variant (Bald) Bishop, I much prefer the hairy one .
Star Wars Ep.1 Darth Maul (Tatooine Version)- MOC, 150 Php. Told you I’m a darth Maul fan. This version is the robed Darth Maul, in which he only used one end of his double-bladed lightsaber to fight Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in the desert planet Tatooine. The sculpt of the robe was great, too bad you can’t remove it. If you lift up his robes, you’ll see a full-detailed sculpt of his inner outfit, which was wasted by the fact that you can’t see it. The sculpt of his face doesn’t compare to my Darth action figure (The Darth Maul and Sith Speeder Boxed Version), and the red hue of his face seems to be a shade lighter than what I’ve been used to seeing.
Pictures!
Bishop
Bishop -2nd Take!
Darth Maul
Darth Maul and Sith Speeder
Darth Maul, under the Tatooine Sun…
Koukaku Kidoutai 2: Man Machine Interface Figures
For those not in the know, Koukaku Kidoutai is known in the western world as Ghost in the Shell. It is a manga by Masamune Shirow and is one of the best cyberpunk manga ever(IMHO.). So far, I haven’t read this volume yet, I don’t know who these characters are. (I do know that the one with black hair is Motoko Aramaki/Kusanagi).
There are three figures in the set, and I bought all of them. They come in 3 colored bases, clear blue and yellow, and solid silver, each with a different fuchikoma (correct me if I’m wrong) mascot. I think the silver one’s kind of a rare variant, because the fuchikoma mascot is different.
Here are pics.
Small shot of the package.
Box art from the back of the package.
The figures removed from package, with accessories.
I was in a frenzied search today for the Hasbro Wave 2 of Marvel Legends, desperately seeking for the Lord Thor figure to pair with my Thorbuster… but it seems that they delayed the shipment again…pfft. But the day was not wasted, cuz I ended up with these babies:
Marvel Legends Series 4: Punisher
Yahooo! I finally got me my Punisher! This is one of the figures in my hitlist, and I was ready to shell big bucks for a loose version. But, while strolling around the malls, I found this MOC version, priced the same as the loose one I found. And then, when I went home, I ripped the darn box open!!
Marvel Legends Series 2: Dr. Doom
In Dr. Doom’s case, finding an MOC isn’t that hard, but they’re all expensive. But there was a loose version hanging around in the hobby shop I frequently visit, and it’s been there for two or three months, at least. I decided to finally take it. The legs are a little wobbly, and I miss out on the comic books (other people hate ‘em, but I don’t), but still, better than nothing, right? Too bad this isn’t the doombot variant…
