It's not obsessive compulsive behaviour: It's just a collection...
Last weekend I went to Supanova for the first time. I've heard about it the past few years, and it seemed a bit slack to keep forgetting about it over and over again, especially when it's only about a ten minute drive away. And everyone I talked to said they had a great time there. So I went this year. And the same as when I went to MOAB last year, I wasn't prepared for the amount of cool stuff there, and ended up spending more money than I probably should have...
Something that has been growing over the past few years has been my random anime/manga stuff (Books, figures, random DVDs...). There are a few series I tend to stick to, but there are others that overpower the rest where I just have one or two items. One series I really love though is Neon Genesis Evangelion. Let's face it, at the end of the day it's a drama series that also happens to contain giant robots entrusted to characters who can't even attend MA15+ movies on their own yet, as well as conspiracies left right and centre. Chaos, unsurprisingly, skips along merrily behind it, which is also what I happen to do to the series.
When I was at Uni, I saw NGE when one of my friends happened to get his hands on the first movie (Death and Rebirth). He told me it was reported to him as the best anime ever made, so we decided to watch it. Ninety minutes later, we were sitting in a kind of stunned daze staring at the screen as it ended.
Him: "Did you... understand anything that just happened then?"
Me: "No... But it looked fantastic..."
The internet was consulted, and we found there was a series you weren't meant to watch first, so I chalked it up to something that I should probably look at later down the track, as it looked pretty good (Note: I was hooked on Bubblegum Crisis at the time, so really big colourful robots didn't have to work too hard to get my attention). A few years later, the first episode was free with a PC magazine as part of some Madman promotions. I watched it, and thought the show looked fantastic. Then a few years ago, when I moved to Sydney, I got a few DVDs, and then one afternoon, the boxed set of the entire series, and the boxed movie set. I was hooked big time.
Since then, I've also watched the new released movie, and a few months ago, I found a hobby store not far from me was selling figures of the three female pilots from the second movie. Purchases were made, and pretty soon I had the full set. When I was buying the last few, the guy at the counter mentioned that they used to sell the Eva's themselves, but didn't have the kits anymore. I had seen pictures of the kits before, but not in real life. Not long ago, I noticed they had some in stock, but for more than I had in cash at the time.
Which brings me back to Supanova. I knew that there would be anime/manga sellers there. I even managed to complete my set of NGE books (Even though there are still more due out later), and was keeping an eye out for NGE merchandise. About an hour after I walked through the doors, I found a stall selling the Eva kits. Not just one or two. The entire lot. And cheaper than I could get them locally. I bought Asuka's unit 02, and decided that would be it for me until I knew I could buy some more. I wanted to keep some cash handy after all. I went by later, and they only had one kit left, unit 04, which was never really shown in the series. I decided against getting it unless I had enough left over later.
Fate works with me, and I end up getting in the next day for free. As soon as I walk by the booth, I notice that they still have 04 there. After talking for a while with one of the people there, I ended up buying it. But not before mentioning the Gashapon machines they had there, which I noticed Unit 01 in (Although a lot smaller than the kits). I'm a sucker for capsule machines, and was told that these figures were actually pretty good for capsule toys. Even better, they weren't loaded in the machine at the moment, but the capsules were in a box behind the counter. And they were willing to sell me a few with knowledge of what was inside. Goodbye chance, hello happy Turelio. I got unit 00 and unit 01, and was told the rest of the series was really worth getting. And for $3 each, I thought they were a pretty good deal. I was also told that they were a little bit fiddly due to the size. I thought that I could handle it after all the miniatures I have put together over the years. From what I saw briefly inside the capsule, there were lots of little pieces, and therefore I was preparing for a good half hour or so of construction on each of them. Then today, I realised I hadn't gotten to put them together yet, so sat down at the painting table to put it together.
A few minutes later, this Unit 00 was sitting on my desk. I thought I must have blacked out for a minute, and someone had broke into my flat, assembled it fully, and left quietly. So I tried again on Unit 01...
So the ball contains a bundle of plastic with lots of large pieces in it. So there's half the construction done for me. The sprue has two sets of hands: closed, and slightly open (Unit 00 had slightly different variants for holding the prog knife). All the pieces fit together on little pop together ball and socket joints.
This was literally a few moments later. The models pop together VERY fast. Some joins are a bit tricky because the join slides around for articulation, but nothing more frustrating then "It slides that way, so I'll put my finger there to stop it moving". At this point, I just have to attach the hands. And I'm starting to wonder why it took NERV/GEHRIN so long to construct them in the series. Had they never put together hobby kits before?
Finished. That was quick...
I think these are actually pretty good for capsule toys. They are decent quality for the price, have pretty good movement, and balance. I can't count the amount of times I've had to prop something like this up against something else. These stand up, posed, and don't full over in a slight breeze. Because I am so pleased with how quickly these went together, I start to look towards other things...
Something that has been growing over the past few years has been my random anime/manga stuff (Books, figures, random DVDs...). There are a few series I tend to stick to, but there are others that overpower the rest where I just have one or two items. One series I really love though is Neon Genesis Evangelion. Let's face it, at the end of the day it's a drama series that also happens to contain giant robots entrusted to characters who can't even attend MA15+ movies on their own yet, as well as conspiracies left right and centre. Chaos, unsurprisingly, skips along merrily behind it, which is also what I happen to do to the series.
When I was at Uni, I saw NGE when one of my friends happened to get his hands on the first movie (Death and Rebirth). He told me it was reported to him as the best anime ever made, so we decided to watch it. Ninety minutes later, we were sitting in a kind of stunned daze staring at the screen as it ended.
Him: "Did you... understand anything that just happened then?"
Me: "No... But it looked fantastic..."
The internet was consulted, and we found there was a series you weren't meant to watch first, so I chalked it up to something that I should probably look at later down the track, as it looked pretty good (Note: I was hooked on Bubblegum Crisis at the time, so really big colourful robots didn't have to work too hard to get my attention). A few years later, the first episode was free with a PC magazine as part of some Madman promotions. I watched it, and thought the show looked fantastic. Then a few years ago, when I moved to Sydney, I got a few DVDs, and then one afternoon, the boxed set of the entire series, and the boxed movie set. I was hooked big time.
Since then, I've also watched the new released movie, and a few months ago, I found a hobby store not far from me was selling figures of the three female pilots from the second movie. Purchases were made, and pretty soon I had the full set. When I was buying the last few, the guy at the counter mentioned that they used to sell the Eva's themselves, but didn't have the kits anymore. I had seen pictures of the kits before, but not in real life. Not long ago, I noticed they had some in stock, but for more than I had in cash at the time.
Which brings me back to Supanova. I knew that there would be anime/manga sellers there. I even managed to complete my set of NGE books (Even though there are still more due out later), and was keeping an eye out for NGE merchandise. About an hour after I walked through the doors, I found a stall selling the Eva kits. Not just one or two. The entire lot. And cheaper than I could get them locally. I bought Asuka's unit 02, and decided that would be it for me until I knew I could buy some more. I wanted to keep some cash handy after all. I went by later, and they only had one kit left, unit 04, which was never really shown in the series. I decided against getting it unless I had enough left over later.
Fate works with me, and I end up getting in the next day for free. As soon as I walk by the booth, I notice that they still have 04 there. After talking for a while with one of the people there, I ended up buying it. But not before mentioning the Gashapon machines they had there, which I noticed Unit 01 in (Although a lot smaller than the kits). I'm a sucker for capsule machines, and was told that these figures were actually pretty good for capsule toys. Even better, they weren't loaded in the machine at the moment, but the capsules were in a box behind the counter. And they were willing to sell me a few with knowledge of what was inside. Goodbye chance, hello happy Turelio. I got unit 00 and unit 01, and was told the rest of the series was really worth getting. And for $3 each, I thought they were a pretty good deal. I was also told that they were a little bit fiddly due to the size. I thought that I could handle it after all the miniatures I have put together over the years. From what I saw briefly inside the capsule, there were lots of little pieces, and therefore I was preparing for a good half hour or so of construction on each of them. Then today, I realised I hadn't gotten to put them together yet, so sat down at the painting table to put it together.
A few minutes later, this Unit 00 was sitting on my desk. I thought I must have blacked out for a minute, and someone had broke into my flat, assembled it fully, and left quietly. So I tried again on Unit 01...
So the ball contains a bundle of plastic with lots of large pieces in it. So there's half the construction done for me. The sprue has two sets of hands: closed, and slightly open (Unit 00 had slightly different variants for holding the prog knife). All the pieces fit together on little pop together ball and socket joints.
This was literally a few moments later. The models pop together VERY fast. Some joins are a bit tricky because the join slides around for articulation, but nothing more frustrating then "It slides that way, so I'll put my finger there to stop it moving". At this point, I just have to attach the hands. And I'm starting to wonder why it took NERV/GEHRIN so long to construct them in the series. Had they never put together hobby kits before?
Finished. That was quick...
I think these are actually pretty good for capsule toys. They are decent quality for the price, have pretty good movement, and balance. I can't count the amount of times I've had to prop something like this up against something else. These stand up, posed, and don't full over in a slight breeze. Because I am so pleased with how quickly these went together, I start to look towards other things...
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