Asialand 2010 Photos

As promised, Asialand Photos.

The Great Asialand Adventure 2010 Roundup

So maybe I was just lazy and couldn't be bothered posting, or maybe it was also to do with the fact that once we reached Hong Kong we had to pay for internet in our hotel rooms. Not to mention we barely had any time in Singapore to hijack my relatives' computers. Because my last post basically summed up everything about Malaysia, I'm going to talk about Hong Kong and Singapore.

Hong Kong? Hong Kong is pretty neat. We went over there with my cousin. Hot as hell when we went there, but at least the train service and all the underground tunnels are air-conditioned. Stuff is still reasonably cheap. HK is a haven for collectables and toys, if you know where to look, but first you need to brave through crowds of sticky people. A fine haul:

- 1/100 MG MS-06R-2 Zaku II Johnny Ridden Custom Ver. 2.0
- Figma Drossel
- PlayArts Bayonetta
- Revoltech Hot Rodimus
- Revoltech EVA-05
- S.A.S Killer Queen
- A bunch of trading figures
... and Real Action Heroes Dio! I don't think I'll ever take him out of the box though, no matter how tempting it may be. It was a very good deal too - after currency conversion he cost roughly AU$160.

There's a lot of construction going on in HK, but the taxi ride in was breathtaking. There was a part where we were driven around this large, circular site, which was surrounded by these huge black cranes that looked like birds with red eyes glaring down at something unseen. There was also a literal wall of buildings that look like they were transported out of nowhere.

In terms of other tourist sites, we went and saw the giant Buddha on the mountain. For AU$2, we got to walk up several steps of stairs in the blazing heat to be greeted with a bottle of cold water and an ice cream. Not to mention entry to this exhibition hall which featured paintings done in blood. It's pretty unnerving when you realise. The top of the mountain is equally unnerving; you look up and see the Buddha totally shrouded in clouds, then realise that you are as well.

Sure, that was neat, but it didn't beat the awesome Toy Story 3 exhibit that was happening at one of the shopping centers. A massive replica of Andy's bed, complete with a Slinky Dog that stared down at you. Outside there was an army of aliens and a large scale Buzz Lightyear.

I kind of regret not buying more dumb shit like nail polish, etc. from HK because it was all so damn cheap there. Once we got to Singapore, I think we kind of forgot that stuff wasn't as great a bargain as it was in HK. No matter, I was over looking at branded goods by then. Singapore was supposed to be about chilling with relatives anyway.

Most notable is this kid named Kieren, who is approximately 4 years old. I don't know how he's related to me because families are just crazy like that. I called him cute, which caused him to pout and make an angry noise before telling me that he wasn't any such thing and that he was evil. This just made me laugh and rub his head and call him cute again and before I knew it I was laughing hysterically at the dinner table at this child who kept shouting that he wasn't cute. This prompted my mother to turn and tell my aunt about the nasty streak I have that causes me to provoke people.

Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places, but Singapore kicked the shit out of HK where video games were concerned. While I managed to pick up Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, NMH: Heroes' Paradise and Darkness Within 2 from HK, I got 3D Dot Game Heroes, Aquanaut's Holiday and Hakuna Matata from Singapore. And I haven't even touched Alan Wake yet!

Good times in Singapore, with all the nostalgia. Came home tired as all hell and I'm glad we at least had a couple of days to ourselves.

Pictures and whatever soon, maybe.

#2: No House

The first real day of hanging out and spending dumb amounts of money. While the latter did not happen, I did have a chance to check out some of the luxury retailers. It's like, do I really want to spend a month's income on a Hermes bracelet? Sorta, but I haven't been to Hong Kong yet. What I did buy today instead were the complete DVD sets of Zeta Gundam, Gundam 0079, Rahxephon and Bokurano, and all for about AUD$70. A bargain if I ever saw one.

Buying stuff aside, the rest of the day was pretty neat. Motorcycle riders really have balls here; they drive up really close to cars. We went to a delightful restaurant for lunch, during which Dad had a dessert called 'Hassimah', which I'm pretty sure I had before. Apparently hassimah is actually frog spit, or phlegm, or glands or something. Frog something. Which I guess isn't so bad because it tastes good.

For dinner we went to a place called Noble House, but the 'BLE' in the neon sign were broken, resulting in us having dinner at a place called 'No House'. They had an interesting, very Western way of serving food up. Pictures in another entry when I can be bothered.

The sun sets really late here. I'm not used to it being light outside until like 7:30PM.

I'm also keeping a running tally of how many Louis Vuitton bags I see each day, based purely on the knowledge that everyone has LV. Knowledge.

Louis Vuitton bag count: 20

#1: PALM TREES. PALM TREES EVERYWHERE

Chilling in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong for the next few weeks. Well-deserved holidays are lovely, so prepare for all of that 'HERE IS MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED ON MY HOLIDAY' blog bullshit.

Touched down in Singapore for a couple of hours before jumping back on a plane to head over to Kuala Lumpur. It was a very short flight (under an hour), but the airport is so far from the city central and our hotel that it took around the same amount of time as our flight to get there.

The hotel is so goddamn pretty that when I staggered out of the cab half-asleep, I didn't know if it was really that nice or whether I was just crazy. Tip: It really is that nice. We're in a room facing this giant pair of buildings with this glass bridge joining it. It looks like a trip to walk on. Waking up really early in the morning and looking outside, I could barely see the top of the towers.

I haven't been shopping or anything yet, but stuff here seems super cheap so far. Chip and I ordered room service, and it cost less than AUD$30 for two giant plates of fruit, juice, hot drink, a plate of nasi lemak, grapefruit, muesli and a smoothie.

So far, so good.

New layout

A new layout! How exciting. How fun.

Happy 5th Birthday, killer7

Happy 5th Birthday, killer7.

I remember when I first heard about it, it was an early prototype trailer as featured on a disc that came with CUBE magazine. And I distinctly remember thinking to myself that I would never, ever play that game. How wrong I was.

After reading and watching more of it, not to mention eventually playing it, I was captivated. It's a game that keeps me thinking, even now, discovering new things and trying to make sense of it all. I guess killer7 changed my life; it made me realise that games don't have to just be about blowing shit up.

It's also introduced me to some pretty cool people over at the SINdicate, like BTDO, Topdrunkee, Xed and Lisker.

So thank you, GHM and thank you, Suda, for bringing us this marvelous piece of work.

Toy Story 2 + Mother 3

Sorta watching Toy Story 2 when I came across this:

Slinky: Fellas! Fellas! Okay, I got some good news, and I got some bad news.
Mrs. Potato Head: What news?
Slinky: The good news is I found your hat, Woody.
Woody: My hat! Slink, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Where'd you find it?
Slinky: Well, that's the bad news.

And anyone who's played Mother 3 will remember Bronson talking to Flint in the first chapter:

Bronson: I have good news, and I have bad news.
Which do you want to hear first...?
No...
Let me start with the good news first.
I picked up a giant "Drago Fang".
It'll make for a great weapon.
I figured you could probably use it.
......
As for the bad news...
......
The bad news is...
............
...It's where I found the Drago Fang.

Does this kind of thing appear in movies or games much?

JoJo's Bizarre Toyventure

This is the best day ever.

I get home from work today and what should greet me but two packages, one containing a Gyro Zeppeli Real Action Hero, the other containing Avdol and Kakyoin Super Action Statues.

I pretty much threw the idea of buying a full set of the Stardust Crusaders SAS out the window, so I whittled my options down to two things:
- Buy Star Platinum and The World because hell, I already have Jotaro and Dio; or
- Forget about Stands and just get the Joestar party (minus Joseph, fuck's sake Medicos!).

So I ended up going with the second option, also because I needed to gay up my shelf a little bit more. Waiting on the re-release for Polnareff and then I'm all set for 100% fruitiness.

And then we have Gyro. You have no idea how much of a bitch it was to obtain Gyro. It was literally months of bugging people and all that. Then I realised that agency services exist.

In the end it was so totally worth it because despite bidding fees, agency fees, shipping, etc., Gyro still ended up being cheaper than what I was willing to pay. Not to mention if I had purchased from the only site I could find that had him for sale. (But it was still a pretty pricey collectible.)

Real, nice pictures when I get a better camera or something. And when I decide to spend half an hour trying to open all the packaging.

Best coincidence ever or best coincidence ever

Sent to me by Hal. When trying to post a comment on my ProLay/Dio post below, this word verification popped up:

PROFESSAH

My Professor Layton Revoltech came in the mail today. Out of everything they could have chosen to make into a Revoltech, this is hands down, the best one.

WARNING: Crappy camera, pretty crappy photos.

It sure comes with a lot of stuff! But what totally sold me was the TABLE AND CHAIR. Keep in mind that the last Revoltechs I bought were Optimus and Megatron which came with barely anything, so this was a huge deal to me.

PLUS A TEACUP AND NOTEBOOK, AWESOME

The orange box that you see in the bottom left hand corner is a little box that you can put all the spare hands and whatnot in. Which is extremely useful because I'm sick of misplacing the tiny plastic bags I put all my other action figure parts in.

Close up of the face.

The first thing I did was sit him down in his chair because THAT'S EXCITING. Also because I wanted to make sure that his legs wouldn't look super retarded (as it goes with pretty much all other figures I've bought thus far).

You can see the packaging in the background. There's an image of Luke. He looks like he put on some weight.

Anyway, it seems like a wonderful figure so far, especially given the price I paid for it (AU$25 or thereabouts). A bit more messing around with it will probably just reinforce my opinion!

BONUS ROUND

And here's the Dio Super Action Statue I bought, rising out of his plastic coffin to murder pretty much everyone, Edward Cullen especially. There's only room for one FABULOUS vampire.

No more pictures of Dio because the quality of my camera is awful.