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photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
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Puella Magi Madoka Magic is apparently a very popular Magical Girl anime series in Japan. I say apparently because I've seen merch for it everywhere, and well, people tell me so.
Don't look at me - my Magical Girl loyalty lies with Sailor Moon.
I actually ended up with the scale figure of Madoka, lead heroine of the series, as part of a massive trade I did.. I'm going to say in May or so. Maybe even earlier. I was intrigued by the character design, and as always Max Factory/Good Smile Company make a mean scale statue.
Knowing effectively nothing about the series, my desire to complete the team was next to nothing. Well, as fate would have it, months down the road I ended up purchasing what is best described as "Super Saiyan 3 Madoka" also released by Good Smile Company from a local collector as part of a purging sale prior to a move. Not that I blame him.. the thing is massive and heavy, and not something you'd take with you on the train.
Not bad for $20.
Both statues have great detailing, with the Ultimate Madoka featuring a much more complex look and attire (and price tag at MSRP. Base Madoka is dressed in your typical cutesy anime girl outfit - pig tails, cute dress, knee high stockings, cute shoes - pretty typical, and looks like she was captured mid skip. She comes with parts that allow you to display her with her.. magic branch thing and her white ferret like pet.
Her Ultimate form on the other hand features some crazy ballgown accompanied by translucent wings, long flowing hair, as well as winged shoes and stockings. It looks like she can be armed with either the aforementioned branch in its base mode, or in some powered up form where it is wield as part of a bow and arrow set. Ultimate Madoka is sculpted floating in the air.
Also worth noting is that the paints on base Madoka are generally flat as compared to the pearl colours on Ultimate.
Having inspected the two from top to bottom, the messiest paint app would probably be the jewel on the chest of base Madoka, which you really need to get up close to notice. Decal work on both statues is excellent. Both outfits feature some nice detailing on the skirt sections, with the many ruffles on base Madoka, and the well done layering on the gown of Ultimate Madoka, both without any visible paint runoff or overspray. Detailing (or lack there of) on the face is as expected, and the hair is well done on both, though clearly the Ultimate version has much more complex hair.
QC in regards to assembly work is exceptionally well done, or put another way, pretty typical for Good Smile Company. Overall, none of these two piece feel like a budget entry. The price tag on these is certainly nothing to scoff at, but at least you can rest assured you're getting a quality product.
While both of these statues stick out like sore thumbs (not just today, but even back in the day these wouldn't quite fit in) but the finish and quality of them is so good that I honestly don't care that they're too cutesy. The Ultimate version in particular is probably one of the most impressive 1/8 PVCs I've ever owned, though I hope to, one day, get my hands on that Lancer statue I've been eyeing.
We now return to our regularly scheduled reviews.
Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant
Paris 1845 – Paris 1902
1879
Oil on canvas
123 x 198.5 cm
Gift of Lord Strathcona and family
Inventory 1927.243
Benjamin-Constant’s studio in Paris was an Eastern bazaar, crammed with rugs, caftans, weapons and turbans brought back from his journeys to Spain and the Moroccan sultanate. This Orientalist painter recalled his journey to Tangiers: “On arriving, I only intended to stay a month and now I have spent two years here.” Working from the sketches he had made on the spot, Benjamin-Constant recreated that inaccessible world of Muslim women seeking cooler air on their terraces at the end of the day. Among his different, dreamed-of Orients was the Egypt of the Pharaohs, and the seated figure has the hieratic pose of the colossus of Memnon.
At the Académie Julian in Paris, he taught many American and Canadian artists (including Suzor-Coté), and so exerted a certain influence on artistic taste in North America. His powerful compositions became so popular that they were sought after by North American collectors during his lifetime, and that is how the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts acquired two of his famous paintings, the other being The Day after a Victory at the Alhambra.
SORTIDA DELS ENTREMESOS I DELS BALLS POPULARS FMSITGES18
Amb els Gegants, Cabeçuts, Drac, Àliga, Diables, Bastons, Cercolets, Panderetes, Pastorets, Cintes, Gitanes i Moixiganga, acompanyats de l’Agrupació Suburband del Retiro. Un cop arribi al Cap de la Vila, es representarà el ball complert de la Moixiganga.
PROGRAMA I FOTOS FESTA MAJOR DE SITGES 2018 www.visitsitges.com/ca/festa-major-sitges-2018
El jueves 8 de Marzo a propósito del día internacional de la mujer, en la Cancillería se presentó el reconocido cantautor uruguayo Julio Víctor Gonzáles "El Zúcara".
Sortida dels Entremesos i Balls Populars per la Festa Major de Sitges 2022 amb els Gegants, Cabeçuts, Drac, Àliga, Diables, Bastons, Cercolets, Panderetes, Pastorets, Cintes, Gitanes i Moixiganga, acompanyats de l’Agrupació Suburband del Retiro. En el Cap de la Vila, es representa el ball complert de la Moixiganga.
PROGRAMA I FOTOS FESTA MAJOR SITGES 2022
www.visitsitges.com/ca/fiesta-mayor-sitges-2022-festa-maj...
Esta versión es descargable para que la utilices como quieras, si quieres el archivo en alta resolución, sin firma para poder imprimirlo en cualquier formato y tamaño, pásate por el siguiente enlace www.pedrobg.com/tienda_on-line/item/foto-duatlon-san-seba... por 1,5€ te lo envío por correo,
One of my 'target' custom cars in 2015 which turned up on the first day of the year.
Brooklands 01-15
El Ayuntamiento de Pinto ha preparado para las Fiestas en honor a la Patrona de la localidad, la Virgen de la Asunción, diversa multitud de actividades.
The Malecon - paved walkway along the seashore in Col. Centro - especially popular during the Sunday evening paseo. It features a collection of contemporary sculptures by Sergio Bustamante, Alejandro Colunga, Ramiz Barquet and others. The Malecon was extensively rebuilt in 2002-2003 following damage from hurricane Kenna.
Picture taken by Michael Kappel in Puerto Vallarta El Centro
View the high resolution image on my photo website
Japan's graded stakes winning Yuki-chan raced on April 14th at Funabashi Racecourse in Chiba. She is a rare white registered thoroughbred racehorse. And is probably the best white one in the world.
Well folks.. we've made it. As I'm writing this, it's 2 pm Eastern Standard Time and I'm pretty sure that most of the world has started to say "good riddance" to 2020.
My final entry this year isn't so much just a figure, but I'm hoping that I'm able to coin a new word in the Popular Lexicon... "Butterknees". Because Butterknees is the theme of this figure.
Play Arts Kai Super Street Fighter IV Chun Li.
Released way back in 2012, there had been no really good Street Fighter action figures. The SOTA ones were weak sculpts and the Revoltech ones only had like two characters. So, along came these Play Art Kai figures which honestly got me excited.. yeah, the prices weren't great, but at least these seemed to be much better than what we had before.
I ended up not buying any of them because, well, the knees were just awful. I mean.. look at the things. It's a real shame because I really do like the overall look of the figure but did they ever FUBAR those things. Muscular legs and general musculature on the arms, coupled with a decently curvy (albeit thin) upper body and a halfway decent head sculpt. There would eventually be a revision to the leg design, which was first showcased with Sakura, whom I purchased in Vancouver back in 2018.
So I eventually ended up wit this one as it's a Chun Li, and a local guy had been trying to move her to no avail. So I bought the figure, knowing about the knees but ultimately being reminded why I generally detest the product itself.
The figure never did come with much. I'm not sure if this one came with a stand or not, but otherwise the figure is all there - the figure, one additional mouth open sculpt, a pair of open palms, and a Kikoken effect with stand.
The articulation of Play Arts Kai have always been... above average at best. You get ankles, those glorious double jointed knees *shudders*, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso joint, shoulders with butterfly joints for crossing the arms, elbows with forearm rotation, wrists, and of course, the head. Generally speaking, its real.ly the skirt that gets in the way of the legs but otherwise you're alright. for a figure of this size. Your only real other option at this time was the Medicom 1/6 Chun Li , which came in SFIII and SFIV varieties.
The paint is... typical for a Play Arts Kai release. They've honestly never had a really good track record, only becoming more competent as it were when prices for PAK reached close to $200 CAD (these were around $80 CAD), so you get that expected mix of competent and horrible paint applications.. Overall the figure is presentable, but definitely best enjoyed from a viewing distance of 6 ft. away or further.
It's the Build Quality that is truly, truly outrageous.
Now I know this is a used figure, but at the same time I've heard stories through the grapevine about how poor the QC on these things could be. There are two major issues with this figure. First, you'll notice that the upper torso is misaligned at the shoulders. As a result, one of the Butterfly hinges is always exposed. Furthermore, this also causes a great deal of difficulty when you're trying to pose the arms the same way on both sides of the body.
The bigger of the two issues would be the legs, or more accurately, the hip joints. These things are TERRIBLE. They basically don't want want o hold the leg in place, with the right hip looking particularly bad. You could attribute this to play wear, but at the same time the left hip looks pristine, and the thing isn't really holding in place either. Couple this with the history I have with PAK and crappy joints even fresh out of the box, and I'm leaning towards QC issues right out of the factory.
I've read that using some 3M joint tightening adhesive might help, so I'll have to research that in the future.
So yeah... missed opportunity coupled with really bad QC. This entire line up would eventually be forgotten due to the passage of time and of course, the advent of the Storm Collectibles and Figuarts line ups, both of which are overall superior to the PAK releases, though of course there can still be some misses.
Have a great New Years, everyone.