View allAll Photos Tagged Transactional
We provide support throughout the transaction life cycle on both the 'buy side' and 'sell side' including pre-bid assessments; Financial, Commercial And Operational Due Diligence and advice on Deal Structuring. We also identify potential integration problems and help develop integration plans.
All businesses involved in an acquisition, as buyers or sellers, need to ensure that the financial information they hold is as accurate as possible, not only to prevent paying too much (or in a seller’s case receiving too little) but also to ensure that their governance and risk management objectives are met.
Caston Corporate Advisory can help you in
oEstablishing the understanding of the target business and therefore increasing the likelihood of the deal achieving its objectives.
oProviding purchaser with greater certainty over the nature of the business and the characteristics of its cash flow. This helps pricing decisions and the level of gearing the structure will support.
oBy helping you to reduce disruption to the business as the sale process is more controlled.
oBy providing rapid execution of the divestment from the point of announcement for vendors. This reduces the business disruption and accelerates transfer to new owners
Commercial Due Diligence is the process of appraising a target by reference to its market. We tackle the issues at the heart of the business such as market conditions and outlook, macroeconomic and regulatory influences, industry structure, competitive position, and relationships with key customers and suppliers.
Caston Corporate Advisory (India) can help you in providing a comprehensive understanding of the technologies, customers, trends, legislation and powerful buyers in the market to decide the best approach when you are looking at emerging market, to take full advantage of these opportunities.
For more information – check www.castoncorporateadvisory.in or contact on Caston Corporate Advisory Services : 6 / 5, Didar House Building, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar New Delhi-110015 (India) Ph.:91 9810295333
In the immortal words of Rocky and Bullwinkle, "and now, time for something different".
Many, many, many months ago, I was at Square One waiting for a transaction meet up (for the Fate prize figure, in case you were wondering) and as I usually am prone to do I wandered into the Disney Store.
Disney merch is kind of a mixed bag. For sure it's a place where they gouge you, but there can be some neat surprises there - exclusive surprises, I might add. I actually do like some of the sculpts on their larger dolls, but they don't quite fit anywhere in my collection.
During this particular trip, I happened across the Avengers line from the new Disney Toybox collection, which are of course kid-ified action figures of various Disney properties, like something out of Kingdom Hearts. It's almost like Disney repurposed the Infinity designed team.
Naturally, I gravitated towards Black Widow.
Opening up the figure, I offer up the following observations.
First off, for whatever reason (I'm guessing budget.. again), Widow does not have her comic style yellow belt, as advertised on the back of the box. Who knows.. maybe yellow paint costs more due to multiple layers.. I dunno. Overall, this figure seems to be inspired by a combination of all her appearances, ranging from the red short hair (Avengers), black body suit (Age of Ultron/Civil War), yellow bracelets (comic), and her weapon (Infinity War).
The actual figure itself has a decent amount of articulation. It's no Figma, but it's much better than what I grew up with. Pretty much the figure is ball joints all around. No waist, ab, or neck post movement, or tilting ankles.
Kind of light on the accessories, basically consisting of the figure and her weapon.
Her quarterstaff can be segmented and dual wielded and for some reason, seem more in scale with this figure than the Figuarts version was. Or maybe I just girls with big sticks.
Yes, interpret that as you must.
The sticks are designed in such a way that I suspect has to do with child safety laws (the staff splits in half, and the handle comes off the sticks as well), which allows for a neat holstered mode on her back. It's just that, as one would suspect, the QC is kind of crap and as a result things tend to fall apart very easily... yet I still managed to not lose this thing.
The sculpting is quite nice - simplistic but still portraying the character quite well and as mentioned above, very reminiscent of the Infinity series figure. The body is functional, though perhaps due to the smaller size the joints aren't as unsightly as its Marvel Legends counterparts. Production didn't leave an unacceptable number of poor finishes on the plastic.
The paint is... not bad. The body paint apps are actually pretty sharp, but it's not like there's a whole lot to actually do on the figure. Face paint apps are a mixture of "pretty good" and "dollar store", so in other words pretty typical for a Disney toy.
So is this something that I'd collect the whole line of? Not personally, but this isn't really my niche, as it were.
I think kids with connections to the various properties will dig these, though Lord have mercy upon the souls of the poor parents, as these are about $19 here in Ontario after taxes. I'm crossing my fingers that my kids don't have a Disney fetish.. so far, so good.
As an adult collector though with a desire to collect North American toys, it's a tough call. The Marvel Legends stuff is definitely larger and comes with more accessories and maybe more articulation, but it seems the final product is cleaner on these toys. Having said that, you're never going to get the full line up from Disney, nor are you going to get the "grown up" look, so at the end of the day, it's probably going to be a supplemental line.
Man holds a Huawei smartphone showing an MTN mobile money transaction at a mobile money kiosk in Kampala, Uganda
Picture credit: Fiona Graham / WorldRemit
Wat Saenfang, Chiang Mai, Thailand
The picked-up robes offering ceremony, the Maha Sangha Dana
Lay members of a Buddhist Temple can improve their status in the afterlife by making 'merit.' The householder in the Buddhist faith must work-through previous bad actions and thoughts by materially supporting the Sangha (the order of monks). The Sangha and the Buddhist temples are considered a 'field of merit' that relies on the public for support. Generosity in money and volunteer work are most beneficial when directed to the local temples providing food, robes and money.
An interesting aspect of this ceremony is that the layperson purchases robes, the robes receive a blessing and are handed down the table as a donation to the order of monks. After several transactions of this kind the stack of robes at the end of the table are gathered up and carried back to the beginning to be purchased again and donated by others. The same robes are used over and over throughout the days of the funeral event making the practice primarily symbolic and more about the synergy of merit making process and not about the actual material donation of robes
In the immortal words of Rocky and Bullwinkle, "and now, time for something different".
Many, many, many months ago, I was at Square One waiting for a transaction meet up (for the Fate prize figure, in case you were wondering) and as I usually am prone to do I wandered into the Disney Store.
Disney merch is kind of a mixed bag. For sure it's a place where they gouge you, but there can be some neat surprises there - exclusive surprises, I might add. I actually do like some of the sculpts on their larger dolls, but they don't quite fit anywhere in my collection.
During this particular trip, I happened across the Avengers line from the new Disney Toybox collection, which are of course kid-ified action figures of various Disney properties, like something out of Kingdom Hearts. It's almost like Disney repurposed the Infinity designed team.
Naturally, I gravitated towards Black Widow.
Opening up the figure, I offer up the following observations.
First off, for whatever reason (I'm guessing budget.. again), Widow does not have her comic style yellow belt, as advertised on the back of the box. Who knows.. maybe yellow paint costs more due to multiple layers.. I dunno. Overall, this figure seems to be inspired by a combination of all her appearances, ranging from the red short hair (Avengers), black body suit (Age of Ultron/Civil War), yellow bracelets (comic), and her weapon (Infinity War).
The actual figure itself has a decent amount of articulation. It's no Figma, but it's much better than what I grew up with. Pretty much the figure is ball joints all around. No waist, ab, or neck post movement, or tilting ankles.
Kind of light on the accessories, basically consisting of the figure and her weapon.
Her quarterstaff can be segmented and dual wielded and for some reason, seem more in scale with this figure than the Figuarts version was. Or maybe I just girls with big sticks.
Yes, interpret that as you must.
The sticks are designed in such a way that I suspect has to do with child safety laws (the staff splits in half, and the handle comes off the sticks as well), which allows for a neat holstered mode on her back. It's just that, as one would suspect, the QC is kind of crap and as a result things tend to fall apart very easily... yet I still managed to not lose this thing.
The sculpting is quite nice - simplistic but still portraying the character quite well and as mentioned above, very reminiscent of the Infinity series figure. The body is functional, though perhaps due to the smaller size the joints aren't as unsightly as its Marvel Legends counterparts. Production didn't leave an unacceptable number of poor finishes on the plastic.
The paint is... not bad. The body paint apps are actually pretty sharp, but it's not like there's a whole lot to actually do on the figure. Face paint apps are a mixture of "pretty good" and "dollar store", so in other words pretty typical for a Disney toy.
So is this something that I'd collect the whole line of? Not personally, but this isn't really my niche, as it were.
I think kids with connections to the various properties will dig these, though Lord have mercy upon the souls of the poor parents, as these are about $19 here in Ontario after taxes. I'm crossing my fingers that my kids don't have a Disney fetish.. so far, so good.
As an adult collector though with a desire to collect North American toys, it's a tough call. The Marvel Legends stuff is definitely larger and comes with more accessories and maybe more articulation, but it seems the final product is cleaner on these toys. Having said that, you're never going to get the full line up from Disney, nor are you going to get the "grown up" look, so at the end of the day, it's probably going to be a supplemental line.
Here's a little something on the rarer side, thanks to a transaction with a fellow board member.
Ghost in the Shell has taken somewhat of a beating lately. Like Dragon Ball, Ghost in the Shell is one of those series that even the most casual anime fan would have at least heard of... and much like Dragon Ball, its reputation got knocked down a peg or two due to a botched live action movie though, to be fair, was way, way better than Evolutions ever was.
I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember enough to know that the main character is Motoko Kusanagi, a human consciousness, or Ghost, that has been transferred to a humanoid body, or Shell. She's part of a special Police task force that, of course, handles all the fun missions. Through time, her look is updated somewhat but you're pretty much always guaranteed some sort of leather, and some sort of skin tight suit. Stand Alone Complex (or SAC) I believe was the first TV series, and as such I believe originated this classic look of hers.
Now, lets talk about what THIS figure is specifically. The answer is.. I really don't know. Kusanagi here is from the Yamato VMF line which appears to have died off after 4 releases or so. Roughly scaled to be 1/7, the figure retailed for 7,800 yen back in 2008. According to eBay, the aftermarket on this (and all the other VMF lines) are a wee bit higher than 7,800 yen.. like triple the amount.
Normally, this would be the end of the story, but as luck would have it, I was able to negotiate the release of this particular sample for effectively MSRP.
So here we go...
The figure set is in a giant box which is kind of sparse in terms of its contents, especially given the MSRP. Other than the main figure, the set comes with a set of bare shoulders (more on that later), a pistol, a machine gun, and a stand.. that's it. Compare that to the smaller but better geared out Figma, you can see why the larger action figure market kind of died out there for a while until PAK somehow managed to get it up and running again.
As I'm dealing with 2008 tech here, take everything I'm going to say with a grain of salt, but know that the age doesn't excuse everything.
Mentioned above, this figure is roughly in 1/7 in scale, and is the same size as the Yamato Neuromancer Yoko Littner that I picked up a month or so ago from that pawn store (spoiler alert). The 4 year gap between the two definitely shows as the overall sculpting of the Neuromancer is light years better than the VMF. Articulation gains between the two I believe are a functional waist, better upper torso movement range, and chest compress function. Overall, you're not going to get super deep range of motion like you'd expect from the skin tight suited Figma offerings.
The Neuromancer has ridiculously floppy joints, but the VMF wins the award for "figure most likely to fall apart if you look at it funny". Connected using a series of ball joints, I've had every singly possible limb come off the figure, though fortunately reassembly is relatively straight forward and the parts are quite solid. The VMF actually can stand up without its stand, which is something I can't really say for the Neuromancer.
While more mannequin in appearance in comparison to the Neuromancer, the VMF body itself does a decent job of portraying Kunsanagi, aided by a very good head sculpt, albeit with some dead eye stare issues. The gap between her thighs is very, very odd to look at, to say the least.
By default, Kusanagi is wearing her "leather" jacket, which effectively is a solid plastic shell. As a static piece it looks pretty good, but Lord forbid if you decide to actually pose her upper body in the jacket. Arm articulation is extremely limited while donning the jacket, and it's only after you "strip" her of her garment does her articulation truly shine, as it were. As much as I live to see the curves of my Waifus, it would be nice if she had the option of actually posing effectively with her garb on.
Paint work and detailing on the figure, surprisingly, hold up pretty well despite the 11 year gap between its release and now Not that there's much actual paint on the figure, but what is there is solid and honestly is no worse than what I'd expect to see on a good prize figure these days, meaning some flaws are pretty much gonna be there. As mentioned ,it really is the head sculpt and decal work there that sells this figure as being Motoko Kusanagi.
Because her hands cannot be swapped out, Kunsanagi is only capable of holding her weapon in her right hand, which is good and bad.. I suppose I'd do the right anyway, but an option to differentiate would have been nice. What IS annoying, however, is the fact that it appears you have to squeeze the weapon between her middle and ring fingers in order to actually have her hold the piece.
And there you have it.
I don't actually know why the aftermarket price for this figure is at levels to infinity and beyond.. of course, asking price is no indication of actual sold price, but I imagine it's only a matter of time of they're all at those prices.
For now, I can safely say that this figure is clearly a product of it's time and of Yamato quality, with some good aspects that made it into the products of today.
Anyone have a Figma they want to sell me?
Taken In Rissani, Morocco.
Rissani is the last large inhabited place before the Sahara. hence the souk (market).
I have seen many Arab souks and it never ceased to amaze me the variety of things you can buy.
Rissani does not disappoint. Smells, colours, everything makes you smile inside. One can only feel grateful for the experience.
A Merger or Acquisition (M&A) can add considerable value to a business, but making sure that each stage of the transaction process—from valuation to negotiation and completion—is successful demands considerable experience and knowledge.
We can assist you by assessing the strategic fit of a business by analyzing all aspects of a transaction, assessing the projected synergies, project managing the process, assisting in negotiations, financial modeling and assisting in assessing transaction implications.
We work with you throughout the transaction lifecycle, helping you to achieve your strategic objectives across acquisitions, disposals, management buy-outs, buy-ins, fundraisings, Initial Public Offerings, takeovers, and mergers.
The key steps involved in our M&A advisory role are:
oIdentification of the business to be acquired
oStrategic planning of acquisition
oIdentifying key targets locally and internationally
oValuation
oTransaction structuring, and negotiation
oAdvice on financing, be it debt, equity or other more complex instruments
oSupervising due diligence, legal and other issues to work towards a successful completion
For more information – check www.castoncorporateadvisory.in or contact on Caston Corporate Advisory Services: 6 / 5, Didar House Building, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar New Delhi-110015 (India) Ph.:+91-11-25161294
Dee Huntley, a paraeducator in Alicia Shaben’s classroom at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows High School, watches as Zoey completes a transaction at the cash register in the Cowboy Cafe Coffee Shop.
The Cowboy Café Coffee Shop, located in the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows high school library, opened in September of 2018, and has enjoyed great success during its first year of operation. A grand opening celebration included a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by community members, school district representatives, staff, and students.
Created by Alicia Schaben, a Level 3 special education teacher, it’s an ideal way to blend learning opportunities for special education and general education students. Special education students are involved in all aspects related to inventory and operation of the business. The coffee shop lends itself to inclusion, Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), Specially Designed Instruction, and secondary transition.
The shop is open during two periods each day, and boasts an extensive menu of both hot and cold drinks available for purchase by staff, students, and visitors. Many teachers bring their classes to the library so students can access the café. Updates and information about business hours and menu specials are posted on an in- house website. Staff may also have their beverage delivered to them by completing an online order form.
Nikon D700 | Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-N
Religion in Japan seems to be one giant scam. Pay for prayers, pay for this, that and the next thing. Here you see a guy forking over money for his talismans.
A Merger or Acquisition (M&A) can add considerable value to a business, but making sure that each stage of the transaction process—from valuation to negotiation and completion—is successful demands considerable experience and knowledge.
We can assist you by assessing the strategic fit of a business by analyzing all aspects of a transaction, assessing the projected synergies, project managing the process, assisting in negotiations, financial modeling and assisting in assessing transaction implications.
We work with you throughout the transaction lifecycle, helping you to achieve your strategic objectives across acquisitions, disposals, management buy-outs, buy-ins, fundraisings, Initial Public Offerings, takeovers, and mergers.
The key steps involved in our M&A advisory role are:
oIdentification of the business to be acquired
oStrategic planning of acquisition
oIdentifying key targets locally and internationally
oValuation
oTransaction structuring, and negotiation
oAdvice on financing, be it debt, equity or other more complex instruments
oSupervising due diligence, legal and other issues to work towards a successful completion
For more information – check www.castoncorporateadvisory.in or contact on Caston Corporate Advisory Services: 6 / 5, Didar House Building, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar New Delhi-110015 (India) Ph.:+91-11-25161294
All images in this album are renderings.
Select renderings show customs items which would need to be individually quoted by project.
Finish Disclaimer:
No details on finishes can be provided. Finishes on computer screens can appear different than in person. Dealers should order samples through the Dealer Resource Center (DRC) to determine what works best for their needs.
Here's a little something on the rarer side, thanks to a transaction with a fellow board member.
Ghost in the Shell has taken somewhat of a beating lately. Like Dragon Ball, Ghost in the Shell is one of those series that even the most casual anime fan would have at least heard of... and much like Dragon Ball, its reputation got knocked down a peg or two due to a botched live action movie though, to be fair, was way, way better than Evolutions ever was.
I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember enough to know that the main character is Motoko Kusanagi, a human consciousness, or Ghost, that has been transferred to a humanoid body, or Shell. She's part of a special Police task force that, of course, handles all the fun missions. Through time, her look is updated somewhat but you're pretty much always guaranteed some sort of leather, and some sort of skin tight suit. Stand Alone Complex (or SAC) I believe was the first TV series, and as such I believe originated this classic look of hers.
Now, lets talk about what THIS figure is specifically. The answer is.. I really don't know. Kusanagi here is from the Yamato VMF line which appears to have died off after 4 releases or so. Roughly scaled to be 1/7, the figure retailed for 7,800 yen back in 2008. According to eBay, the aftermarket on this (and all the other VMF lines) are a wee bit higher than 7,800 yen.. like triple the amount.
Normally, this would be the end of the story, but as luck would have it, I was able to negotiate the release of this particular sample for effectively MSRP.
So here we go...
The figure set is in a giant box which is kind of sparse in terms of its contents, especially given the MSRP. Other than the main figure, the set comes with a set of bare shoulders (more on that later), a pistol, a machine gun, and a stand.. that's it. Compare that to the smaller but better geared out Figma, you can see why the larger action figure market kind of died out there for a while until PAK somehow managed to get it up and running again.
As I'm dealing with 2008 tech here, take everything I'm going to say with a grain of salt, but know that the age doesn't excuse everything.
Mentioned above, this figure is roughly in 1/7 in scale, and is the same size as the Yamato Neuromancer Yoko Littner that I picked up a month or so ago from that pawn store (spoiler alert). The 4 year gap between the two definitely shows as the overall sculpting of the Neuromancer is light years better than the VMF. Articulation gains between the two I believe are a functional waist, better upper torso movement range, and chest compress function. Overall, you're not going to get super deep range of motion like you'd expect from the skin tight suited Figma offerings.
The Neuromancer has ridiculously floppy joints, but the VMF wins the award for "figure most likely to fall apart if you look at it funny". Connected using a series of ball joints, I've had every singly possible limb come off the figure, though fortunately reassembly is relatively straight forward and the parts are quite solid. The VMF actually can stand up without its stand, which is something I can't really say for the Neuromancer.
While more mannequin in appearance in comparison to the Neuromancer, the VMF body itself does a decent job of portraying Kunsanagi, aided by a very good head sculpt, albeit with some dead eye stare issues. The gap between her thighs is very, very odd to look at, to say the least.
By default, Kusanagi is wearing her "leather" jacket, which effectively is a solid plastic shell. As a static piece it looks pretty good, but Lord forbid if you decide to actually pose her upper body in the jacket. Arm articulation is extremely limited while donning the jacket, and it's only after you "strip" her of her garment does her articulation truly shine, as it were. As much as I live to see the curves of my Waifus, it would be nice if she had the option of actually posing effectively with her garb on.
Paint work and detailing on the figure, surprisingly, hold up pretty well despite the 11 year gap between its release and now Not that there's much actual paint on the figure, but what is there is solid and honestly is no worse than what I'd expect to see on a good prize figure these days, meaning some flaws are pretty much gonna be there. As mentioned ,it really is the head sculpt and decal work there that sells this figure as being Motoko Kusanagi.
Because her hands cannot be swapped out, Kunsanagi is only capable of holding her weapon in her right hand, which is good and bad.. I suppose I'd do the right anyway, but an option to differentiate would have been nice. What IS annoying, however, is the fact that it appears you have to squeeze the weapon between her middle and ring fingers in order to actually have her hold the piece.
And there you have it.
I don't actually know why the aftermarket price for this figure is at levels to infinity and beyond.. of course, asking price is no indication of actual sold price, but I imagine it's only a matter of time of they're all at those prices.
For now, I can safely say that this figure is clearly a product of it's time and of Yamato quality, with some good aspects that made it into the products of today.
Anyone have a Figma they want to sell me?
This image captures a transaction between the vendor and the customer. The composition uses depth, with the vendor and her display in the foreground and the customers slightly in the middle ground, in an attempt to add dimensionality to the scene and draw the viewer into the interaction. I like the tight framing that the 42.5mm (85mm FF equivalent) gives; it works well to emphasise the intimacy of the moment.
Taken using a Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 prime mounted on my LUMIX G9II. RAW development has been performed using DxO PhotoLab 7, with stylisation edits (including black and white conversion) performed using Luminar NEO. Light edits to remove the distracting artefacts were performed using Affinity Photo 2.
Copyright © Dave Sexton. All Rights Reserved.
This image is protected under international copyright laws and agreements. No part of the image or the Flickr Photostream to which is belongs may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the Copyright owner’s prior permission.
We assist our clients in forming adequate risk model /s for their financial transactions, which include :
Exposure to FX, interest rates and commodity prices
Advice on insurance, self-insurance treasury or hedging
Managing processes and mitigates Inherent Business Risk
With the use of most modern tools of risk measurement like Value at Risk (VaR), we provide complete Asset Management Services and ensure an optimum level of risk measure to our clients.
For more information – check www.castoncorporateadvisory.in or contact on Caston Corporate Advisory Services: 6 / 5, Didar House Building, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar New Delhi-110015 (India) Ph.:+91-11-25161294
All images in this album are renderings.
Select renderings show customs items which would need to be individually quoted by project.
Finish Disclaimer:
No details on finishes can be provided. Finishes on computer screens can appear different than in person. Dealers should order samples through the Dealer Resource Center (DRC) to determine what works best for their needs.
"When we talk about currency, we’re talking about transactions. Someone does one thing, and in return they get another. Quid pro quo." - Cult of the Crowd
Read more at - cultofthecrowd.com/post/5386708994/currency
2021 Ice Cream Truck Transaction - Pop Goes The Weasel Theme song 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues looking out the front window NYC 05/16/2021 small Spring shadow weather car Parking Lot Hell 's Kitchen Clinton New York City Midtown Manhattan leaf growing sunlight Social Distancing Saturday NYC during Coronavirus Protection Medical distancing in Clinton Neighborhood Corona virus COVID-19 Covid 19 icecream van May
Workshops in villages in Tanzania in September and October 2017 brought local villagers together to discuss inclusive agriculture, as part of CIFOR's work on corporate commitments to sustainability and the incorporation of outgrowers.
Photo by Nkumi Mtimgwa/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
Agora in action, former Stock Exchange, 4th Athens Biennale 2013. Art Auction Transaction Tax (AATT)
Real Canadian Superstore (Transaction #1):
12x Pro Plan Dog Food (220g) @ $0.99 each = $11.88 - 12/$2.50 coupons from a coupon insert in the newspaper (can't remember which one, sorry!) (rung in at $0.99) = FREE! (saved = $11.88)
5x Swiffer Duster Kits @ $5.49 each = $27.45 - 5/$4.99 coupons from tearpads in stores (I found mine at Loblaws) = $2.50 (saved =
$24.95)
2x Quaker Oatmeal @ $2.47 each = $4.94 (saved = $1.00)
2x Quaker Granola Bars @ $4.99 each = $9.98
1x Tropicana Juice @ $3.99 - Gift card Mail In Rebate (including the oatmeal and granola bars) = +$6.09 (saved = $25.00)
Tax @ $6.45
Total Paid = $3.16
Total Saved = $62.83
Real Canadian Superstore (Transaction #2):
12x Pro Plan Dog Food (220g) @ $0.99 each = $11.88 - 12/$2.50 coupons from a coupon insert in the newspaper (can't remember which one, sorry!) (rung in at $0.99) = FREE! (saved = $11.88)
5x Swiffer Duster Kits @ $5.49 each = $27.45 - 5/$4.99 coupons from tearpads in stores (I found mine at Loblaws) = $2.50 (saved =
$24.95)
2x Quaker Oatmeal @ $2.47 each = $4.94 (saved = $1.00)
2x Quaker Granola Bars @ $4.99 each = $9.98
1x Tropicana Juice @ $3.99 - Gift card Mail In Rebate (including the oatmeal and granola bars) = +$6.09 (saved = $25.00)
1x Dr. Oetker Mousse @ $2.49 - FREE coupon from online promotion (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) = FREE! (saved = $2.49)
Tax @ $6.41
Total Paid = $2.82
Total Saved = $65.32
GRAND TOTAL PAID = $5.98
GRAND TOTAL SAVED = $128.15
We assist our clients in forming adequate risk model /s for their financial transactions, which include :
Exposure to FX, interest rates and commodity prices
Advice on insurance, self-insurance treasury or hedging
Managing processes and mitigates Inherent Business Risk
With the use of most modern tools of risk measurement like Value at Risk (VaR), we provide complete Asset Management Services and ensure an optimum level of risk measure to our clients.
For more information – check www.castoncorporateadvisory.in or contact on Caston Corporate Advisory Services: 6 / 5, Didar House Building, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar New Delhi-110015 (India) Ph.:+91-11-25161294
We assist our clients in forming adequate risk model /s for their financial transactions, which include :
Exposure to FX, interest rates and commodity prices
Advice on insurance, self-insurance treasury or hedging
Managing processes and mitigates Inherent Business Risk
With the use of most modern tools of risk measurement like Value at Risk (VaR), we provide complete Asset Management Services and ensure an optimum level of risk measure to our clients.
For more information – check www.castoncorporateadvisory.in or contact on Caston Corporate Advisory Services: 6 / 5, Didar House Building, DLF Industrial Area, Moti Nagar New Delhi-110015 (India) Ph.:+91-11-25161294
Know the Meaning of Transaction in Accounting at www.svtuition.org/2013/09/what-is-transaction-in-accounti...
Here's a little something on the rarer side, thanks to a transaction with a fellow board member.
Ghost in the Shell has taken somewhat of a beating lately. Like Dragon Ball, Ghost in the Shell is one of those series that even the most casual anime fan would have at least heard of... and much like Dragon Ball, its reputation got knocked down a peg or two due to a botched live action movie though, to be fair, was way, way better than Evolutions ever was.
I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember enough to know that the main character is Motoko Kusanagi, a human consciousness, or Ghost, that has been transferred to a humanoid body, or Shell. She's part of a special Police task force that, of course, handles all the fun missions. Through time, her look is updated somewhat but you're pretty much always guaranteed some sort of leather, and some sort of skin tight suit. Stand Alone Complex (or SAC) I believe was the first TV series, and as such I believe originated this classic look of hers.
Now, lets talk about what THIS figure is specifically. The answer is.. I really don't know. Kusanagi here is from the Yamato VMF line which appears to have died off after 4 releases or so. Roughly scaled to be 1/7, the figure retailed for 7,800 yen back in 2008. According to eBay, the aftermarket on this (and all the other VMF lines) are a wee bit higher than 7,800 yen.. like triple the amount.
Normally, this would be the end of the story, but as luck would have it, I was able to negotiate the release of this particular sample for effectively MSRP.
So here we go...
The figure set is in a giant box which is kind of sparse in terms of its contents, especially given the MSRP. Other than the main figure, the set comes with a set of bare shoulders (more on that later), a pistol, a machine gun, and a stand.. that's it. Compare that to the smaller but better geared out Figma, you can see why the larger action figure market kind of died out there for a while until PAK somehow managed to get it up and running again.
As I'm dealing with 2008 tech here, take everything I'm going to say with a grain of salt, but know that the age doesn't excuse everything.
Mentioned above, this figure is roughly in 1/7 in scale, and is the same size as the Yamato Neuromancer Yoko Littner that I picked up a month or so ago from that pawn store (spoiler alert). The 4 year gap between the two definitely shows as the overall sculpting of the Neuromancer is light years better than the VMF. Articulation gains between the two I believe are a functional waist, better upper torso movement range, and chest compress function. Overall, you're not going to get super deep range of motion like you'd expect from the skin tight suited Figma offerings.
The Neuromancer has ridiculously floppy joints, but the VMF wins the award for "figure most likely to fall apart if you look at it funny". Connected using a series of ball joints, I've had every singly possible limb come off the figure, though fortunately reassembly is relatively straight forward and the parts are quite solid. The VMF actually can stand up without its stand, which is something I can't really say for the Neuromancer.
While more mannequin in appearance in comparison to the Neuromancer, the VMF body itself does a decent job of portraying Kunsanagi, aided by a very good head sculpt, albeit with some dead eye stare issues. The gap between her thighs is very, very odd to look at, to say the least.
By default, Kusanagi is wearing her "leather" jacket, which effectively is a solid plastic shell. As a static piece it looks pretty good, but Lord forbid if you decide to actually pose her upper body in the jacket. Arm articulation is extremely limited while donning the jacket, and it's only after you "strip" her of her garment does her articulation truly shine, as it were. As much as I live to see the curves of my Waifus, it would be nice if she had the option of actually posing effectively with her garb on.
Paint work and detailing on the figure, surprisingly, hold up pretty well despite the 11 year gap between its release and now Not that there's much actual paint on the figure, but what is there is solid and honestly is no worse than what I'd expect to see on a good prize figure these days, meaning some flaws are pretty much gonna be there. As mentioned ,it really is the head sculpt and decal work there that sells this figure as being Motoko Kusanagi.
Because her hands cannot be swapped out, Kunsanagi is only capable of holding her weapon in her right hand, which is good and bad.. I suppose I'd do the right anyway, but an option to differentiate would have been nice. What IS annoying, however, is the fact that it appears you have to squeeze the weapon between her middle and ring fingers in order to actually have her hold the piece.
And there you have it.
I don't actually know why the aftermarket price for this figure is at levels to infinity and beyond.. of course, asking price is no indication of actual sold price, but I imagine it's only a matter of time of they're all at those prices.
For now, I can safely say that this figure is clearly a product of it's time and of Yamato quality, with some good aspects that made it into the products of today.
Anyone have a Figma they want to sell me?
Here's a little something on the rarer side, thanks to a transaction with a fellow board member.
Ghost in the Shell has taken somewhat of a beating lately. Like Dragon Ball, Ghost in the Shell is one of those series that even the most casual anime fan would have at least heard of... and much like Dragon Ball, its reputation got knocked down a peg or two due to a botched live action movie though, to be fair, was way, way better than Evolutions ever was.
I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember enough to know that the main character is Motoko Kusanagi, a human consciousness, or Ghost, that has been transferred to a humanoid body, or Shell. She's part of a special Police task force that, of course, handles all the fun missions. Through time, her look is updated somewhat but you're pretty much always guaranteed some sort of leather, and some sort of skin tight suit. Stand Alone Complex (or SAC) I believe was the first TV series, and as such I believe originated this classic look of hers.
Now, lets talk about what THIS figure is specifically. The answer is.. I really don't know. Kusanagi here is from the Yamato VMF line which appears to have died off after 4 releases or so. Roughly scaled to be 1/7, the figure retailed for 7,800 yen back in 2008. According to eBay, the aftermarket on this (and all the other VMF lines) are a wee bit higher than 7,800 yen.. like triple the amount.
Normally, this would be the end of the story, but as luck would have it, I was able to negotiate the release of this particular sample for effectively MSRP.
So here we go...
The figure set is in a giant box which is kind of sparse in terms of its contents, especially given the MSRP. Other than the main figure, the set comes with a set of bare shoulders (more on that later), a pistol, a machine gun, and a stand.. that's it. Compare that to the smaller but better geared out Figma, you can see why the larger action figure market kind of died out there for a while until PAK somehow managed to get it up and running again.
As I'm dealing with 2008 tech here, take everything I'm going to say with a grain of salt, but know that the age doesn't excuse everything.
Mentioned above, this figure is roughly in 1/7 in scale, and is the same size as the Yamato Neuromancer Yoko Littner that I picked up a month or so ago from that pawn store (spoiler alert). The 4 year gap between the two definitely shows as the overall sculpting of the Neuromancer is light years better than the VMF. Articulation gains between the two I believe are a functional waist, better upper torso movement range, and chest compress function. Overall, you're not going to get super deep range of motion like you'd expect from the skin tight suited Figma offerings.
The Neuromancer has ridiculously floppy joints, but the VMF wins the award for "figure most likely to fall apart if you look at it funny". Connected using a series of ball joints, I've had every singly possible limb come off the figure, though fortunately reassembly is relatively straight forward and the parts are quite solid. The VMF actually can stand up without its stand, which is something I can't really say for the Neuromancer.
While more mannequin in appearance in comparison to the Neuromancer, the VMF body itself does a decent job of portraying Kunsanagi, aided by a very good head sculpt, albeit with some dead eye stare issues. The gap between her thighs is very, very odd to look at, to say the least.
By default, Kusanagi is wearing her "leather" jacket, which effectively is a solid plastic shell. As a static piece it looks pretty good, but Lord forbid if you decide to actually pose her upper body in the jacket. Arm articulation is extremely limited while donning the jacket, and it's only after you "strip" her of her garment does her articulation truly shine, as it were. As much as I live to see the curves of my Waifus, it would be nice if she had the option of actually posing effectively with her garb on.
Paint work and detailing on the figure, surprisingly, hold up pretty well despite the 11 year gap between its release and now Not that there's much actual paint on the figure, but what is there is solid and honestly is no worse than what I'd expect to see on a good prize figure these days, meaning some flaws are pretty much gonna be there. As mentioned ,it really is the head sculpt and decal work there that sells this figure as being Motoko Kusanagi.
Because her hands cannot be swapped out, Kunsanagi is only capable of holding her weapon in her right hand, which is good and bad.. I suppose I'd do the right anyway, but an option to differentiate would have been nice. What IS annoying, however, is the fact that it appears you have to squeeze the weapon between her middle and ring fingers in order to actually have her hold the piece.
And there you have it.
I don't actually know why the aftermarket price for this figure is at levels to infinity and beyond.. of course, asking price is no indication of actual sold price, but I imagine it's only a matter of time of they're all at those prices.
For now, I can safely say that this figure is clearly a product of it's time and of Yamato quality, with some good aspects that made it into the products of today.
Anyone have a Figma they want to sell me?