One really can never get enough of Benedict Cumberbatch... most of the planet is still waiting for Sherlock Season 5 to finally be filmed. But in the mean time, there's of course his biggest money maker, Dr. Strange.

Strange was most recently seen headlining the first half of the Avengers Infinity Saga - Infinity War, while coming back for the climactic battle with Thanos in Endgame. Hot Toys and Marvel Legends did their versions of this character a while ago, and now it was time for Figuarts and Mafex, with the latter being out of my price range... for now.

I do get bored, after all.

As the fancy box indicates, this is Strange from the Battle on Titan, before he made that ultimate sacrifice and disappeared for a movie. It comes decently packed, though is missing two key items - the multi armed effect, and a FREAKING STAND TO LEVITATE HIM WITH.

Contents do, however, include the figure, an alternate eye closed sculpt, 14 posing hands, one additional Crimson Bands of Cytorek hand, two small and medium Time Stone hand effects coupled with one "large" effect, two small, medium, and large general orange effects, his mystic sword, interchangeable Eye of Agamoto and Time Stone chest effect, and finally, a giant ass portal effect.

Even from the prototype pictures, it's easy to see that Tamashii Nations improved the figure aesthetically. I say that because I only own components of the first figure. Two major areas of discussion, namely the sculpt and the cape.

The sculpt I'm pretty sure my photos speaks for itself. Like with most of the recent Avengers release.. again.. MOST, because their Loki is made of the stuff I laugh at. Tamashii Nations have done a damn fine job of capturing the essence of the actor. The first one really isn't that great., nailing maybe the hairstyle and general facial structure.

The cape isn't super fancy per se, but it IS a wired cloth cape, though sadly the section that drapes over the shoulder is rigid plastic. The work on the Mafex cape admittedly destroys this, as it really does look like a scaled down Hot Toys version. This cape, however, is far superior to the Wile E Coyote steam roller accident prop that came with the first one. It's truly a sight to behold, possibly being the worst toy cape I've ever seen on any toy, with the only redeeming value being that it's decently painted. Furthermore, this wired cape still allows for some pretty cool posing.

Having said that, we're now free to move on to this figure.

The outfit is multi layered, which does look nice. Unfortunately, those layers are made of some pliable, yet still pretty rigid plastic, which looks great but generally gets in the way of everything. There's even a warning about permanent deformation if you leave Strange in his crossed leg pose for too long.

The Eye of Agamoto is something you want to keep your eye on because there is a tendency for the piece to go flying should you move the figure too quickly. Also, the Eye is connected to two raised and painted lines that represent the necklace strap, rather than being on an actual strap.

The translucent plastics used for the effects are also somewhat concerning, given the fragility of them and all. Especially the sword, where you have to shove the handle into a fist. The larger mystic mandalas are printed on clear plastic, which are less fragile, but more susceptible to scratching. There's also lovely warnings in the manual about potential paint wear as you pose the figure and attach the various mystic effects.

From an articulation perspective, Strange is about the same as Bucky, except that Strange has pull down hips. Based on previous practices and general logic, I'm going to go ahead and guess that they probably reused the actual body. You get ankles, single jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders with butterfly joints for lateral movement, single jointed elbows, wrist, neck, and head.

I've mentioned the hips, so here's some other highlights. The ankle joints are terrible, probably due to the bulk of the boot. Basically they're nonexistent. The coattails predictably get in the way of leg movement, as does the solid shoulder piece on the cape. All-in-all, it's a functional body with decent posing options, but I can't help but feel it's an older body that they didn't want to spend money to bring up to Ant Man standards.

Paint is generally above average. Work on the head and body are very good. Even in the areas of finer detail you can make out the masking is pretty sharp. Things like the Eye of Agamoto I can give a pass on as it is hard to get the paint into every tiny crevice. Paint work appears smooth. But, it's the hands that knock it down a peg for me. For starters, paint application is a bit thick, but maybe that's a material thing.

What you might not be able to make out is that wrist at the wrist there's a very small layer of black to help it blend in with the wrist and sleeves. The masking here is horrible.. like, they didn't even try, and it's consistent across all the hands I looked at. I wish they hadn't bothered at all, and just kept them as all flesh coloured.

Build quality, however, is all good. The usual criteria of joints, materials used, QC, tolerances, finish - none of those register a true concern or complaint from me and are up to what I expect from a Figuarts release.

Overall, I'd say this Dr. Strange is pretty much what the WW 84 Figuarts was like, namely its what they should have done in the first place, though I guess I can say that at least WW was better than Dr. Strange. While from an overall perspective the Figuarts certainly looks more like Benedict Cumberbatch as compared to the Mafex photos, you are getting a better articulated body and an outfit that works with you as opposed to against you... and a 120 USD preorder price tag.

To me, it's fascinating that each of the two figures chose a different key moment to include accessories for. Maybe this was planned so they didn't compete with each other?

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to eventually get the other one too.

In doing my 365 I also want to improve my almost nonexistent photoshop skills. So I took one of my dice pictures from the night before and then took a bokeh shot of my husband's hand to merge together.

How did I do? Any feedback welcome.

__

one hundred-fifty-four

Mahannah WMA iced over slough & such a beautiful cold bluebird day. The wind was nonexistent & of course the ducks must have followed it as they were not present either.

Homelessness is a growing problem. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more than 50% of the global population dwells in cities; estimates predict 70% by 2050. Malaysia’s development mirrors this trend, with rapid increases in both population, and urban to rural population ratio. Legislatively, Malaysia’s Destitute

Persons Act 1977, provides for voluntary/involuntary admission to a welfare home, and the arrest of an “escaped destitute person”. However, a public policy on homelessness, in the broader contemporary context of population growth and rapid urbanisation, is nonexistent. In view of Malaysia’s recent, current and impending, dramatic, demographic changes, this paper suggests that Malaysia must now develop a broad based, public policy on homelessness.

Homelessness in Kuala Lumpur does not exist when clearly it does. If you fully

grasped that statement then you probably know a great deal about the issue of homelessness in Malaysia. If you did not however, fully grasp that statement, but instead found it confusing, then you are on the right path to gaining a deeper understanding of the issue of homelessness Malaysian style.

"HOMELESSNESS IN MALAYSIA: A PUBLIC POLICY

ISSUE? - Mr. Eugene Arthurs"

Also, metal wires and brackets like visible orthodontics treatment may cause irritation to the inside of the lips, cheeks and tongue - problems that are generally nonexistent. Having the plastic trays in your mouth does take some getting used to, but after a few days, you can forget they are even there.

Last Tuesday we said goodbye to the Alero. After moving to Virginia in October, and getting another car in December, it hadn't even been driven 100 miles. Plus, dealing with the worsening coolant leak was problematic. So rather than see what we could get for it, we decided to donate it to a charity called Vehicles for Change, which provides transportation to low-income families who need a car to get to work or to carry children and family around town. (In most areas of the USA public transportation is either substandard or nonexistent, which makes bettering one's life very difficult when one does not have a car.)

Due to the high mileage the Alero didn't qualify to be rehabilitated as a program vehicle, but it will be sold and the proceeds go to benefit the program. I'm satisfied with that arrangement--it still does good for the program. And hopefully it may have some life left yet, as someone who is mechanically inclined and could fix the coolant and oil leaks on their own could end up with a serviceable vehicle for not a lot of money.

Still, we were kind of sad to see the car go. Dawn owned this car for almost 10 years, and I drove it most of the time for the last year or 2. As much as the constant repairs annoyed me for a long while, in the end, I grew to like the car. It was reliable for me last summer when it was my only transporation, and it got me from Raleigh to Richmond without any trouble. And for that I'll always be grateful.

Farewell and good luck--hopefully there are more miles to travel yet!

I don't know WHY I insist on taking pics of my dolls when the light is nonexistent. But, I had her out to take a pic for DoA user Cloudedmind and I just couldn't help it. She's so beautiful to me that I had to TRY to take a pic, even though it failed. I'm going to try to take more this weekend when there's actual sunlight. :D

A radioactive fossil Transformer, though hilariously based on the (as we now know) nonexistent Dracorex. It's a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus.

"But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic – their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground..."

medievalpoc: Peter Paul Rubens Drunken Silenus Netherlands (1616) Oil on wood, 212 x 214.5 cm. Alte Pinakothek, Munich. I think we all need to take a moment to appreciate just how INCREDIBLY upset this painting and Ruben’s apparent love for it have made the curator at wga.hu: In Greek mythology Silenus is a rural god, one of the retinue of Bacchus, a gay, fat old drunkard who was yet wise and had the gift of prophecy. In Rubens’ painting he is shown drunkenly tottering, his belly swollen with meat and drink, and supported by a disparate collection of dotards, drunkards, blacks, children and young women. The careless inebriation of this bacchanal is expressed by a thicker touch that conveys the unwieldy weight of the drinkers’ gait. The composition was originally conceived with half-length figures, but was later enlarged by Rubens himself. The painting hung in Rubens’ house. Ha ha ha ha ha…my goodness. There is only a single Black man in this painting, but perhaps the incredible force with which he is pinching Silenus’s “gay, fat old drunk[ard]” ass* is enough to chagrin this curator into thinking there must be somehow more than one? Apparently the thought of Rubens staring at this piece and smiling every morning while eating his breakfast sausage was just too much for some people. As you may have noticed by now, Rubens adored drawing and painting Black people and included them in many, many of his paintings, as well as having done studies, portraits, sketches, and other works of art used for his workshop and apprentices. Many of his works he kept for himself in his personal collection. *The pinch is actually an important part of the original story: Silenus is awakened from a drunken stupor and bound with his own garlands by nymphs and satyrs and made to sing a song of creation and the forces of nature for an important ceremonial dance. I truly hope you understand how happy this painting makes me. I want one for my own (nonexistent) breakfast nook. This subject is also referred to as “The Triumph of Silenus”.

M&Co., 1986

I first went to Florent in 1990, in the middle of the night, after seeing an out-of-it Sun Ra play in the Village. My friends and I were on our way back to New Haven (in my Volkswagen Rabbit whose shocks and struts were virtually nonexistent), and Florent was conveniently close to the West Side Highway. I picked up this card then; as far as I know, the design remained constantly in production from start to finish (1986-2008).

Yeah, it's in a frame, because I'm a dork.

Atlanta Braves baseball from 20 September 2019 (the night they clinched the division crown). The new park (opened in 2018) gets panned a little because it's usually pretty hot in Georgia and a heck of a lot of seats are in direct sun.

It's a relatively generic stadium (in the new mold of generic stadiums), but it's nice. The area outside the stadium (bars/restaurants) is actually a bit more interesting/unique than the stadium itself.

The biggest drawback is that the Atlanta Braves no longer play in Atlanta. (That and parking is almost nonexistent up there in Marietta near the stadium. We were scratching our heads looking for the actual parking lots.)

As for the game...it was a great game. First time in my life I actually got to see a division-clinching game. (They'd clinched a playoff spot a few days before.)

Serendipity - nothing like being at the right place at the right time.

Scouting for a fresh view and take on the Bay Bridge lead to an empty parking lot adjacent to Pier 24. The view to the bridge - nonexistent.

But that's where I found Jason and his henchmen.

Practicing, doing their stunts and making these really big bikes - Harleys - behave in ways that I don't think they were ever intended to. The dull , distinctive whoop of the Harley at close quarters could be felt at the base of the spine. Clambering onto the bike it looked like the man was trying to wrestle the beast down to ground.

Great photo-op until security decided that these guys were having way too much fun and decided to get them off the lot.

He's got a web site - www.jasonpullenstunts.com. Apparently this is not his day job and he hopes at some point to make it so. But till then it's a weekend gig.

It is quiet on Lake Bruin. The closest city of any size is Jackson, Mississippi and that is well over an hour away. Even over a holiday weekend during the Summer, it never gets too crowded. True, you can't pop down the street for a nice meal. The nightlife is nonexistent. But, the solitude suits me just fine. The seven of us that made the trip up here almost felt like we were the only people for miles. The occasional fisherman drifted past the pier, ever once in a while a farm truck hummed down the road, but mostly we were alone.

James took Charles and Matilda out for a little turn in the canoe, undisturbed by wakes or waves. We made gumbo, we slept in, we built fires. Now they have all returned home and I am truly alone on the water. I have always loved this part of Louisiana; somehow it is even more special to me than the rest of the state that I hold so dear. It was a pleasure to share it with friends and loved ones and it is also a pleasure to watch the freezing rain come in over the lake and simply sit and be still for a while.

Check out more at my blog, Lemons and Beans, for lots of photos, recipes, travel writing and other ramblings.

Sooo I forgot to post this yesterday! Oops! Actually, I kind of forgot a lot of things yesterday, like taking this picture... and about 40 other pictures of just my eye alone. I don't know what the thinking was behind that.

We went out to celebrate with a bunch of people because one of our friends found out that she's going to be able to keep her job. I remember my first three drinks and everything else after that was a blur... or more like nonexistent. I'm pretty sure my liver hates me. This morning was rough.

Spaceship Earth, the iconic and symbolic structure of Epcot, opened with the park in Future World in 1982. The 18-storym 180-foot tall geosphere, whose design was conceived by Wallace Floyd Design Group and completed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., is derived from the Class 2 geodesic polyhedron. Each face of the polyhedron is divided into three isosceles triangles to form each point—with, in theory, 11,520 triangles forming 3,840 points (some are nonexistent due to supports and doors). The 15,520,000 pound sphere, with a circumference of 518.1 feet and a diameter of 165 feet, is raised 18-feet off the ground by three pylons sunk more than 120-feet into the ground.

Inside the sphere, guests take a 15-minute dark Omnimover ride in a "time machine" to learn how advancements in communication have helped create the future. Narrators have included Lawrence Dobkin, Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons and now Dame Judi Dench.

The Cotton Pygmy Goose or the Cotton Teal, Nettapus coromandelianus is a small perching duck which breeds in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, southeast Asia and south to northern Australia.

Small examples are the smallest waterfowl on earth, at as little as 160 g (5.5 oz) and 26 cm (10.5 in). White predominates in this bird's plumage. Bill short, deep at base, and goose-like.

Male in breeding plumage is glossy blackish green crown, with white head, neck, and underparts; a prominent black collar and white wing-bar. Rounded head and short legs. In flight, the wings are green with a white band, making the male conspicuous even amongst the huge flying flocks of the Lesser Whistling Duck, which share the habitat. Female paler, without either black collar and only a narrow or nonexistent strip of white wing-bar. In non-breeding plumage (eclipse) male resembles female except for his white wing-bar. Flocks on water bodies (jheels), etc.

Call: A peculiar clucking, uttered in flight

It is largely resident, apart from dispersion in the wet season, but Chinese birds winter further south. It nests in tree holes, laying 8-15 eggs.

This is an abundant species in Asia, although the slightly larger Australian race appears to be declining in numbers.

Found on all still freshwater lakes (jheels), rain-filled ditches, inundated paddy fields, irrigation tanks, etc. Becomes very tame on village tanks wherever it is unmolested and has become inured to human proximity. Swift on the wing, and can dive creditably on occasion.

Maharajah Jungle Trek

Walt Disney World-Animal Kingdom-Orlando Fl.

A Tenacious Midget

A man departed the comfort of his truck and put his back to a cold onshore wind. He walked across the parking area to where the snowplow had pushed the snow to a depth too deep for comfortable walking. Being a kind soul, he scattered kernels of corn upon this stretch of snow, on the other side of which, the Anna River flowed into frozen Munising Bay. Some 200 anticipating mallards rushed out of the partially frozen water, stumbling in their haste and shoving each other, each making an effort to consume as many kernels as possible. Three black ducks, dark as burnt wood, and a male green-winged teal, exquisite as a Christmas ornament, stood out from the melee. Delicate as the teal appeared, he was a tenacious midget. Barely a third the mass of a mallard, he threatened with open bill and shouldered his way into the crowd to get his share of corn and was quite successful at it.

At best the green-winged teal is an unexpected midwinter duck within the Lake Superior watershed. Compatible water for puddle ducks is quite scarce or nonexistent. The average January temperature in Munising is 12º F and in Sault Sainte Marie 10º F. These locations are on Lake Superior’s south shore. On the north shore at Marathon, Ontario, it is just 1º F.

Click on the following:

ebird.org/checklist/S33789783

Alan

Robert E. Rubin, the former U.S. treasury secretary and co-chair emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations welcomes the audience to the event.

Since the 1970s, the typical U.S. worker has experienced either a minimal or nonexistent increase in wages. What can and should be done to promote the economic growth that will lead to higher earnings for more American workers? How do we ensure that these gains are broadly shared, resulting in robust wage growth for as many workers as possible?

On September 26, The Hamilton Project at Brookings hosted a forum on wage growth in The United States. The forum began with introductory remarks by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, and a fireside chat with Jason Furman, professor of practice, Harvard Kennedy School, and Lawrence Mishel, president, Economic Policy Institute. The fireside chat was moderated by Catherine Rampell, opinion writer, The Washington Post. A panel discussion will follow the fireside chat, featuring panelists including: Jared Bernstein, senior fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Robert Greenstein, founder and president, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and Heidi Shierholz; senior economist and director of policy, Economic Policy Institute; the panel was moderated by Jay Shambaugh, director, The Hamilton Project.

In conjunction with this event, The Hamilton Project released a new framing paper exploring wage trends and the economic forces that underlie them.

Photo credit: Ralph Alswang

Mendon Ponds Park is owned and very poorly maintained by the County of Monroe, NY.

Unfortunately, this extraordinary property is rapidly deteriorating due to an egregious lack of care. Trails are not cleared of debris... signs are useless. Park maintenance is essentially nonexistent. They do have a marketing department. Seriously, the taxpayers are paying the salaries of a county parks marketing department.

Email Mendon Ponds Park complaints to: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov

As of Monday, the kids returned to school after a three week winter break and Hubby returned to work after a mini-vacation. As much as I love having the family home with me, I do need me time which is almost nonexistent when they are home. This is one of the things I do with my me time. I jog.

This was right after I went for my morning jog.

A little thing about me, I need my me time!

74/365

A short test roll in my yard. ISO 6, mucho contrasto, grain almost nonexistent.

This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!

I took these photos in December 2019.

youtu.be/tTVWQ8dxPW0

Starring Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Russell Johnson, Leslie Bradley, Mel Welles, and Ed Nelson. Directed by Roger Corman.

ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS is one of a handful of B films that Roger Corman did for Allied Artists when he wasn't churning 'em out for Nicholson and Arkoff at AIP. It also happens to be one of his most beloved 50s monster efforts. Frequent collaborator Charles Griffith concocted the script and strays from the abundant humor present in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, playing it straight this time (that is if you can accept a giant talking crab as serious). Griffith also appears in the film (he gets decapitated early on) and directed some underwater scenes.

A group of scientists find themselves marooned on a nuclear-affected atoll in the Pacific where they have come searching for members of a previous expedition. After doing some research, they learn that the other scientists were eaten by giant mutated land crabs, and that these creatures have also absorbed their minds. The menacing crustaceans begin to snack on this new set of guests, using telepathy (articulating with the voices of the person they just devoured) in order to summon their next victim.

Like all of the early Corman films, this was made on shoestring but was reportedly his highest grosser up until that time. It's a tight 60+ minute effort with very little time for chat, and the giant crabs don't look too bad at all in comparison with other 50s sleaze creatures. The film boasts a classic Corman stock ensemble: Richard Garland (PANIC IN YEAR ZERO) and Pamela Duncan (THE UNDEAD) are the heroic love interests, the vastly underrated Russell Johnson (still years away from "Gilligan's Island") is a life-saving technician, Mel Welles and Leslie Bradley are scientists with accents (you haven't lived until you've heard a giant crab speak with Welles' Mushnik persona, and Beach Dickerson and Ed Nelson are in there as well. Nelson also operated the crab and legend has it that Jack Nicholson did as well!

ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS has been released on DVD by Allied Artists Classics, a company whose legitimacy is still in question. Previously released on VHS, they utilize the same substandard transfer and it fairs no better on the digital format. The full frame black and white image is looks generations down in quality, with nonexistent black levels and video tape dropouts during the start of the show. The print source is in decent shape, but the overall appearance is dark and dingy. Sound quality is OK, if you can get past some hiss. This would be fine if this was an under-$10 budget release, but this baby retails for about $25! If you're willing to shell out the bucks, the quality is acceptable and this title is essential to any 50s monster movie buff's collection. Also included is the original trailer and a still gallery

A group of scientists travel to a remote island to study the effects of nuclear weapons tests, only to get stranded when their airplane explodes. The team soon discovers that the island has been taken over by crabs that have mutated into enormous, intelligent monsters. To add to their problems, the island is slowly sinking into the ocean. Will any of them manage to escape?

found these on a junk drive,

old contact sheets like a drunken melancholia

It could be you

It could be me

Working the door

Drinking for free

Carrying on with your conspiracies

Filling the room with a sense of unease

Fake conversations on a nonexistent telephone

Like the words of a man who's spent a little too much time alone

When one has spent too much time alone

This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!

I took these photos in December 2019.

One really can never get enough of Benedict Cumberbatch... most of the planet is still waiting for Sherlock Season 5 to finally be filmed. But in the mean time, there's of course his biggest money maker, Dr. Strange.

Strange was most recently seen headlining the first half of the Avengers Infinity Saga - Infinity War, while coming back for the climactic battle with Thanos in Endgame. Hot Toys and Marvel Legends did their versions of this character a while ago, and now it was time for Figuarts and Mafex, with the latter being out of my price range... for now.

I do get bored, after all.

As the fancy box indicates, this is Strange from the Battle on Titan, before he made that ultimate sacrifice and disappeared for a movie. It comes decently packed, though is missing two key items - the multi armed effect, and a FREAKING STAND TO LEVITATE HIM WITH.

Contents do, however, include the figure, an alternate eye closed sculpt, 14 posing hands, one additional Crimson Bands of Cytorek hand, two small and medium Time Stone hand effects coupled with one "large" effect, two small, medium, and large general orange effects, his mystic sword, interchangeable Eye of Agamoto and Time Stone chest effect, and finally, a giant ass portal effect.

Even from the prototype pictures, it's easy to see that Tamashii Nations improved the figure aesthetically. I say that because I only own components of the first figure. Two major areas of discussion, namely the sculpt and the cape.

The sculpt I'm pretty sure my photos speaks for itself. Like with most of the recent Avengers release.. again.. MOST, because their Loki is made of the stuff I laugh at. Tamashii Nations have done a damn fine job of capturing the essence of the actor. The first one really isn't that great., nailing maybe the hairstyle and general facial structure.

The cape isn't super fancy per se, but it IS a wired cloth cape, though sadly the section that drapes over the shoulder is rigid plastic. The work on the Mafex cape admittedly destroys this, as it really does look like a scaled down Hot Toys version. This cape, however, is far superior to the Wile E Coyote steam roller accident prop that came with the first one. It's truly a sight to behold, possibly being the worst toy cape I've ever seen on any toy, with the only redeeming value being that it's decently painted. Furthermore, this wired cape still allows for some pretty cool posing.

Having said that, we're now free to move on to this figure.

The outfit is multi layered, which does look nice. Unfortunately, those layers are made of some pliable, yet still pretty rigid plastic, which looks great but generally gets in the way of everything. There's even a warning about permanent deformation if you leave Strange in his crossed leg pose for too long.

The Eye of Agamoto is something you want to keep your eye on because there is a tendency for the piece to go flying should you move the figure too quickly. Also, the Eye is connected to two raised and painted lines that represent the necklace strap, rather than being on an actual strap.

The translucent plastics used for the effects are also somewhat concerning, given the fragility of them and all. Especially the sword, where you have to shove the handle into a fist. The larger mystic mandalas are printed on clear plastic, which are less fragile, but more susceptible to scratching. There's also lovely warnings in the manual about potential paint wear as you pose the figure and attach the various mystic effects.

From an articulation perspective, Strange is about the same as Bucky, except that Strange has pull down hips. Based on previous practices and general logic, I'm going to go ahead and guess that they probably reused the actual body. You get ankles, single jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders with butterfly joints for lateral movement, single jointed elbows, wrist, neck, and head.

I've mentioned the hips, so here's some other highlights. The ankle joints are terrible, probably due to the bulk of the boot. Basically they're nonexistent. The coattails predictably get in the way of leg movement, as does the solid shoulder piece on the cape. All-in-all, it's a functional body with decent posing options, but I can't help but feel it's an older body that they didn't want to spend money to bring up to Ant Man standards.

Paint is generally above average. Work on the head and body are very good. Even in the areas of finer detail you can make out the masking is pretty sharp. Things like the Eye of Agamoto I can give a pass on as it is hard to get the paint into every tiny crevice. Paint work appears smooth. But, it's the hands that knock it down a peg for me. For starters, paint application is a bit thick, but maybe that's a material thing.

What you might not be able to make out is that wrist at the wrist there's a very small layer of black to help it blend in with the wrist and sleeves. The masking here is horrible.. like, they didn't even try, and it's consistent across all the hands I looked at. I wish they hadn't bothered at all, and just kept them as all flesh coloured.

Build quality, however, is all good. The usual criteria of joints, materials used, QC, tolerances, finish - none of those register a true concern or complaint from me and are up to what I expect from a Figuarts release.

Overall, I'd say this Dr. Strange is pretty much what the WW 84 Figuarts was like, namely its what they should have done in the first place, though I guess I can say that at least WW was better than Dr. Strange. While from an overall perspective the Figuarts certainly looks more like Benedict Cumberbatch as compared to the Mafex photos, you are getting a better articulated body and an outfit that works with you as opposed to against you... and a 120 USD preorder price tag.

To me, it's fascinating that each of the two figures chose a different key moment to include accessories for. Maybe this was planned so they didn't compete with each other?

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to eventually get the other one too.

More than 20,000 people participated in this morning's rally. A demonstration of this size has never been seen before in Nice, which shows how deeply the event has affected the population. However, Arab participation was next to nonexistent. An indication of the difficult reality in this region.

This year was a dry one in California. The rains came early, back in December, and then not a drop of rain fell in January or February. Consequently, the Spring flower blossoms were sparse, though not nonexistent. These Desert Globemallows were present here and there, and stood out against an otherwise monochrome landscape in Death Valley.

Opus: Sarajevo City of Light,

SARAJEVO Gateway of Hell, BOSNIA in Tragic WAR,

POETIC Beauty and Strength of the Human Spirit,

“The Siege of Sarajevo was the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. After being initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav People's Army, Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was besieged by the Army of Serbian from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 (1,425 days) during the Bosnian War. The siege lasted three times longer than the Battle of Stalingrad and more than a year longer than the Siege of Leningrad.” _ W

During the years of terror cast upon Bosnia and my city of Sarajevo, photography remained my only medium of artistic expression. My painting conditions were nonexistent, (shortage of materials, time, and peace). My photographs were captured while walking between steps. Each step representing life or death… In this town of sorrows, agony surrounded by walls of hatred and evil, I encountered the most extraordinary beings in this world. They are genuine people, without hatred; people who survive inside the walls of a besieged city, without electricity, fuel, food, water, etc. Sarajevo became the massacred city where every new day is awaited as a miracle; awaited with patience and disbelief that you are still alive. There was a light that continued to glow from this destroyed city and its people; they had not lost their spirit. Exhibitions and concerts were still being attended by people who shed the tears of happiness, knowing that they couldn’t kill the art. A horrifying beauty was born.

Exploring light at edge of shadow. Light and darkness counterpoints, Chiaroscuro.

Observation of physical and psychological reality,

Acutely observed realism brought a new level of emotional intensity,

Strong, dramatic expression,

Perception beyond Appearances, Symbolism, POETIC Trans Realism;

"There the sun doesn’t shine, or the moon, or the stars, nor any earthly fire,

In Its light, invisible; in a secret place,

In the heart It resides."

Young Filipinos pass the time playing basketball in Tondo, Manila's largest and poorest district.

Teenage pregnancy is widespread in the Philippines, especially amongst the poor. In Manila, this contributes to overpopulation and the vicious cycle of poverty, another child borne into the ghettoes and a teenage Mom bearing the burden of raising a child before her own maturity and adulthood. An estimated 70,000 adolescent mothers die each year in developing countries. Young mothers face enormous health risks, obstructed labour is common and results in newborn deaths and deaths or disabilities in the mother.

Children are everywhere, tangible evidence of the city's teenage pregnancy problem. Every year, 13 out of 100 girls aged between 15 and 19 of the Filipino population get pregnant. Healthcare for Manila's urban poor is almost nonexistent, while opportunities to learn about contraception in this strictly Catholic country are rare.

The Philippines, now home to around 85 million people, has become one of the fastest growing populations in Asia with about 2 million new births each year, many of them in public hospitals so overwhelmed that new mothers are forced to share beds. Meanwhile, the Philippines' population is projected to expand to as many as 142 million by 2040, by the government's own estimates, and the rapid arrival of new mouths to feed is straining the country's creaking infrastructure and choking its efforts to cut poverty.

Shared by David Greenless

The Old Motor

theoldmotor.com/?p=182834&fbclid=IwAR1nZ7Z9mJSB90lEFg...

Nancy and Vera Drive From Chicago to Denver in an Orient Buckboard

December 23, 2020

By Robert D. Cunningham

The Orient Buckboard was, according to its advertising, the cheapest automobile in the world. Just $375. It was, in essence, ash and hickory planking to comprise a set of floorboards that carried an upholstered bench; a 3-gallon fuel tank feeding a single-cylinder, air-cooled, 4 horsepower engine at the rear; a four-cell battery and a steering tiller. It was an industrial evolution of the Waltham Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts, a bicycle manufacturing business Charles Metz had launched in 1893.

Lead photo: Nancy Teape and her daughter, Vera, piloted their new 1907 Orient Buckboard from Chicago to Denver.

The Orient Buckboard was the first dependable, low-priced automobile for the man of meager means. The company sold nearly 2,500 of them in five years. To bring a Buckboard to life, the owner first poured oil into the engine, and then bent over the rear axle to spin the crank. With little effort, the little buggy bucked and belched a thick cloud of blue smoke. The owner then plopped down on the bench and positioned his feet to operate levers that maneuvered a drive chain to engage the five forward gears. As the contraption sputtered away, its long floorboards flexed on 19-inch elliptical springs, providing unexpected comfort when rolling over rocks, ruts and roots on the primitive—and sometimes nonexistent—roads of the day.

cont:

theoldmotor.com/?p=182834&fbclid=IwAR1nZ7Z9mJSB90lEFg...

In late 1815 and early 1816, the Lafitte brothers agreed to act as spies for Spain, which was in the midst of the Mexican War of Independence. The brothers were collectively known as "Number thirteen". Pierre would keep the Spanish informed of happenings in New Orleans, and Jean was sent to Galveston Island, a part of Spanish Texas that served as the home base of privateer Louis-Michel Aury, who claimed to be a Mexican revolutionary.[57] By early 1817, other revolutionaries had begun to congregate at Galveston, hoping to make it their base to wrest Mexico from Spanish control. Lafitte visited in March 1817.[58] Two weeks into his stay, the two leaders of the revolutionaries left the island. The following day, Lafitte took command of the island and appointed his own officers. On April 18, he sailed for New Orleans to report his activities.[59] With Spanish permission, Lafitte returned to Galveston, promising to make weekly reports of the activities there.[60]

Lafitte's motives were not selfless; he essentially turned Galveston Island into a new Barataria. Like Barataria, Galveston was a seaward island that protected a large inland bay. It had the advantage of being outside the authority of the United States, and it was largely uninhabited, except by Karankawas.[61]

Lafitte quickly began improving his new colony. Existing houses were torn down, and 200 new, sturdier buildings were constructed.[62] Ships operating from Galveston flew the flag of Mexico, but they engaged in no revolutionary activities, as Lafitte worried about a potential Spanish invasion.[63] Aury returned to Galveston several months later, but left in July when he realized that the men were unwilling to revolt.[64]

In less than a year, Lafitte's colony grew to 100–200 men and several women.[65] All newcomers were personally interviewed by Lafitte and required to take an oath of loyalty to him. The headquarters of the operation was a two-story building facing the inland harbor, where landings were made. The building was surrounded by a moat and painted red; it became known as Maison Rouge. Most regular business was conducted aboard Lafitte's ship, The Pride, where he also lived.[66] Lafitte created letters of marque from a nonexistent nation for all of the ships sailing from Galveston. These letters gave the ships permission to attack ships from all nations.[67]

In April 1818, the United States passed a law prohibiting the import of slaves into any port in the United States. The law left several loopholes, however. It essentially gave permission to any ship to capture a slave ship, regardless of the country from which it originated. Furthermore, any newly imported slaves who were turned over to the customs office would be sold within the United States, with half the profits of the sale going to the people who turned them in. Lafitte worked with several smugglers, including Jim Bowie, to profit from the poorly written law. Lafitte's men would target ships that carried slaves. Smugglers would purchase the slaves for a discounted price, march them to Louisiana, and turn them in to customs officials. A representative of the smuggler would purchase the slaves at the ensuing auction, and the smuggler would be given half of the purchase price. The smuggler was then the lawful owner of the slaves and could transport them to sell in other parts of the United States.[68]

The colony experienced hardships in 1818. After a Karankawa woman was kidnapped, the Indian tribe attacked and killed five members of Lafitte's colony. The corsairs aimed the artillery at the Indians, killing most of the men in the tribe. A hurricane in September covered almost all of the island in water, killing several people and destroying four ships and most buildings. Only six homes were habitable afterwards.[69]

Around 1820, Lafitte reportedly married Madeline Regaud, possibly the widow or daughter of a French colonist who had died during an ill-fated expedition to Galveston. In 1821, the schooner USS Enterprise was sent to Galveston to remove Lafitte from the Gulf after one of the pirate's captains attacked an American merchant ship. Lafitte agreed to leave the island without a fight, and in 1821 or 1822 departed on his flagship, the Pride, burning his fortress and settlements and reportedly taking immense amounts of treasure with him. All that remains of Maison Rouge is the foundation, located at 1417 Avenue A near the Galveston wharf.

-Wikipedia

Picture taken 1987 during my 5-month-trip around the world - digitally captured from paper print. Sorry for the bad quality.

I have uploaded a lot of my digitally captured photos, which I took since 2004. But the most interesting journeys I did between 1979 and 2004! Those photos are on slide.

__________________________________________

Bora Bora (French: Bora-Bora, Tahitian: Pora Pora) is a 30.55 km2 island group in the Leeward group in the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The main island, located about 230 kilometres northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the center of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the highest point at 727 metres.

Bora Bora is a major international tourist destination, famous for its aqua-centric luxury resorts. The major settlement, Vaitape, is on the western side of the main island, opposite the main channel into the lagoon. Produce of the island is mostly limited to what can be obtained from the sea and the plentiful coconut trees, which were historically of economic importance for copra.

DEMOGRAPHICS

As of 2017, the Bora Bora group has a permanent population of 10,605.

NAME

In ancient times the island was called "Pora pora mai te pora", meaning "created by the gods" in the local Tahitian dialect. This was often abbreviated Pora Pora meaning simply "first born". Because of ambiguities in the phonemes of the Tahitian language, this could also be pronounced Bola Bola or Bora Bora. When explorer Jacob Roggeveen first landed on the island, he and his crew adopted the name Bora Bora which has stood ever since.

HISTORY

The island was inhabited by Polynesian settlers around the 4th century C.E.[citation needed] The first European sighting was made by Jakob Roggeveen in 1722.

James Cook sighted the island on 29 July 1769, using a Tahitian navigator, Tupaia. The London Missionary Society arrived in 1820 and founded a Protestant church in 1890. Bora Bora was an independent kingdom until 1888 when its last queen Teriimaevarua III was forced to abdicate by the French who annexed the island as a colony.

WORLD WAR II

In World War II the United States chose Bora Bora as a South Pacific military supply base, and an oil depot, airstrip, seaplane base, and defensive fortifications were constructed. Known as "Operation Bobcat", it maintained a supply force of nine ships, 20,000 tons of equipment and nearly 7,000 men.

At least eight 7"/44 caliber guns, operated by elements of the 13th Coast Artillery Regiment (later the 276th Coast Artillery Battalion), were set up at strategic points around the island to protect it against potential military attack. Eight of these guns remain in the area.

However, the island saw no combat as the American presence on Bora Bora went uncontested over the course of the war. The base was officially closed on 2 June 1946. The World War II airstrip was never able to accommodate large aircraft, but it nonetheless was French Polynesia's only international airport until Faa'a International Airport opened next to Papeete, Tahiti, in 1960.

ADMINISTRATION

The commune of Bora-Bora is made up of the island of Bora Bora proper with its surrounding islets emerging from the coral reef, 29.3 km2 in total. The surrounding islets include Motu Tapu, Motu Ahuna, Tevairoa, Motu Tane, Motu Mute, Motu Tufari, Motu Tehotu, Motu Pitiaau, Sofitel Motu, Motu Toopua, and Toopuaiti. The commune also includes the Tūpai atoll. (11 km2), located 20 kilometres north of Bora Bora. The atoll of Tūpai has no permanent population apart from about 50 workers in the coconut plantations.

The commune is an administrative subdivision of the Leeward Islands and consists of three associated communes: Anau, Faanui and Vaitape. The administrative centre of the commune is the settlement of Vaitape, on the island of Bora Bora proper. Gaston Tong Sang is the Mayor of the commune of Bora-Bora, serving since 1989.

TOURISM

The island's economy is driven almost solely by tourism. Several resorts have been built on motu (small islands, from Tahitian) surrounding the lagoon. Hotel Bora Bora opened in 1961, and nine years later built the first over-the-water bungalows on stilts over the lagoon. Today, over-water bungalows are a standard feature of most Bora Bora resorts. The quality of those bungalows ranges from comparably cheap, basic accommodations to very luxurious and expensive places to stay.

Most of the tourist destinations are aqua-centric; however it is possible to visit attractions on land such as WWII cannons. Air Tahiti has five or six flights daily to the Bora Bora Airport on Motu Mute from Tahiti (as well as from other islands). Public transport on the island is nonexistent so rental cars and bicycles are the recommended methods of transport. There are also small, two-seater buggies for hire in Vaitape. It is possible to rent a motorboat to explore the lagoon.

Snorkeling and scuba diving in and around the lagoon of Bora Bora are popular activities. Many species of sharks and rays inhabit the surrounding body of water. There are a few dive operators on the island offering manta ray dives and also shark-feeding dives. Sharks living in the island's lagoon are not considered to be dangerous to people.[citation needed]

In addition to the existing islands of Bora Bora, the new manmade motu of Motu Marfo has been added in the northeastern corner of the lagoon on the property of the St. Regis Resort.

WIKIPEDIA

One really can never get enough of Benedict Cumberbatch... most of the planet is still waiting for Sherlock Season 5 to finally be filmed. But in the mean time, there's of course his biggest money maker, Dr. Strange.

Strange was most recently seen headlining the first half of the Avengers Infinity Saga - Infinity War, while coming back for the climactic battle with Thanos in Endgame. Hot Toys and Marvel Legends did their versions of this character a while ago, and now it was time for Figuarts and Mafex, with the latter being out of my price range... for now.

I do get bored, after all.

As the fancy box indicates, this is Strange from the Battle on Titan, before he made that ultimate sacrifice and disappeared for a movie. It comes decently packed, though is missing two key items - the multi armed effect, and a FREAKING STAND TO LEVITATE HIM WITH.

Contents do, however, include the figure, an alternate eye closed sculpt, 14 posing hands, one additional Crimson Bands of Cytorek hand, two small and medium Time Stone hand effects coupled with one "large" effect, two small, medium, and large general orange effects, his mystic sword, interchangeable Eye of Agamoto and Time Stone chest effect, and finally, a giant ass portal effect.

Even from the prototype pictures, it's easy to see that Tamashii Nations improved the figure aesthetically. I say that because I only own components of the first figure. Two major areas of discussion, namely the sculpt and the cape.

The sculpt I'm pretty sure my photos speaks for itself. Like with most of the recent Avengers release.. again.. MOST, because their Loki is made of the stuff I laugh at. Tamashii Nations have done a damn fine job of capturing the essence of the actor. The first one really isn't that great., nailing maybe the hairstyle and general facial structure.

The cape isn't super fancy per se, but it IS a wired cloth cape, though sadly the section that drapes over the shoulder is rigid plastic. The work on the Mafex cape admittedly destroys this, as it really does look like a scaled down Hot Toys version. This cape, however, is far superior to the Wile E Coyote steam roller accident prop that came with the first one. It's truly a sight to behold, possibly being the worst toy cape I've ever seen on any toy, with the only redeeming value being that it's decently painted. Furthermore, this wired cape still allows for some pretty cool posing.

Having said that, we're now free to move on to this figure.

The outfit is multi layered, which does look nice. Unfortunately, those layers are made of some pliable, yet still pretty rigid plastic, which looks great but generally gets in the way of everything. There's even a warning about permanent deformation if you leave Strange in his crossed leg pose for too long.

The Eye of Agamoto is something you want to keep your eye on because there is a tendency for the piece to go flying should you move the figure too quickly. Also, the Eye is connected to two raised and painted lines that represent the necklace strap, rather than being on an actual strap.

The translucent plastics used for the effects are also somewhat concerning, given the fragility of them and all. Especially the sword, where you have to shove the handle into a fist. The larger mystic mandalas are printed on clear plastic, which are less fragile, but more susceptible to scratching. There's also lovely warnings in the manual about potential paint wear as you pose the figure and attach the various mystic effects.

From an articulation perspective, Strange is about the same as Bucky, except that Strange has pull down hips. Based on previous practices and general logic, I'm going to go ahead and guess that they probably reused the actual body. You get ankles, single jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders with butterfly joints for lateral movement, single jointed elbows, wrist, neck, and head.

I've mentioned the hips, so here's some other highlights. The ankle joints are terrible, probably due to the bulk of the boot. Basically they're nonexistent. The coattails predictably get in the way of leg movement, as does the solid shoulder piece on the cape. All-in-all, it's a functional body with decent posing options, but I can't help but feel it's an older body that they didn't want to spend money to bring up to Ant Man standards.

Paint is generally above average. Work on the head and body are very good. Even in the areas of finer detail you can make out the masking is pretty sharp. Things like the Eye of Agamoto I can give a pass on as it is hard to get the paint into every tiny crevice. Paint work appears smooth. But, it's the hands that knock it down a peg for me. For starters, paint application is a bit thick, but maybe that's a material thing.

What you might not be able to make out is that wrist at the wrist there's a very small layer of black to help it blend in with the wrist and sleeves. The masking here is horrible.. like, they didn't even try, and it's consistent across all the hands I looked at. I wish they hadn't bothered at all, and just kept them as all flesh coloured.

Build quality, however, is all good. The usual criteria of joints, materials used, QC, tolerances, finish - none of those register a true concern or complaint from me and are up to what I expect from a Figuarts release.

Overall, I'd say this Dr. Strange is pretty much what the WW 84 Figuarts was like, namely its what they should have done in the first place, though I guess I can say that at least WW was better than Dr. Strange. While from an overall perspective the Figuarts certainly looks more like Benedict Cumberbatch as compared to the Mafex photos, you are getting a better articulated body and an outfit that works with you as opposed to against you... and a 120 USD preorder price tag.

To me, it's fascinating that each of the two figures chose a different key moment to include accessories for. Maybe this was planned so they didn't compete with each other?

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to eventually get the other one too.

The Road-Runner and Wile E. Coyote make an appearance on this panoramic exhibit amid the dereliction of the former NSA Listening Station. Much of the complex is a health and safety nightmare, with rusting ladders and nonexistent safety barriers despite its height being at a prominence of several hundred feet. A wry comment is delivered by the artist who incorporated the phrase "Gravity Lessons" into his mural.

This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!

I took these photos in December 2019.

One really can never get enough of Benedict Cumberbatch... most of the planet is still waiting for Sherlock Season 5 to finally be filmed. But in the mean time, there's of course his biggest money maker, Dr. Strange.

Strange was most recently seen headlining the first half of the Avengers Infinity Saga - Infinity War, while coming back for the climactic battle with Thanos in Endgame. Hot Toys and Marvel Legends did their versions of this character a while ago, and now it was time for Figuarts and Mafex, with the latter being out of my price range... for now.

I do get bored, after all.

As the fancy box indicates, this is Strange from the Battle on Titan, before he made that ultimate sacrifice and disappeared for a movie. It comes decently packed, though is missing two key items - the multi armed effect, and a FREAKING STAND TO LEVITATE HIM WITH.

Contents do, however, include the figure, an alternate eye closed sculpt, 14 posing hands, one additional Crimson Bands of Cytorek hand, two small and medium Time Stone hand effects coupled with one "large" effect, two small, medium, and large general orange effects, his mystic sword, interchangeable Eye of Agamoto and Time Stone chest effect, and finally, a giant ass portal effect.

Even from the prototype pictures, it's easy to see that Tamashii Nations improved the figure aesthetically. I say that because I only own components of the first figure. Two major areas of discussion, namely the sculpt and the cape.

The sculpt I'm pretty sure my photos speaks for itself. Like with most of the recent Avengers release.. again.. MOST, because their Loki is made of the stuff I laugh at. Tamashii Nations have done a damn fine job of capturing the essence of the actor. The first one really isn't that great., nailing maybe the hairstyle and general facial structure.

The cape isn't super fancy per se, but it IS a wired cloth cape, though sadly the section that drapes over the shoulder is rigid plastic. The work on the Mafex cape admittedly destroys this, as it really does look like a scaled down Hot Toys version. This cape, however, is far superior to the Wile E Coyote steam roller accident prop that came with the first one. It's truly a sight to behold, possibly being the worst toy cape I've ever seen on any toy, with the only redeeming value being that it's decently painted. Furthermore, this wired cape still allows for some pretty cool posing.

Having said that, we're now free to move on to this figure.

The outfit is multi layered, which does look nice. Unfortunately, those layers are made of some pliable, yet still pretty rigid plastic, which looks great but generally gets in the way of everything. There's even a warning about permanent deformation if you leave Strange in his crossed leg pose for too long.

The Eye of Agamoto is something you want to keep your eye on because there is a tendency for the piece to go flying should you move the figure too quickly. Also, the Eye is connected to two raised and painted lines that represent the necklace strap, rather than being on an actual strap.

The translucent plastics used for the effects are also somewhat concerning, given the fragility of them and all. Especially the sword, where you have to shove the handle into a fist. The larger mystic mandalas are printed on clear plastic, which are less fragile, but more susceptible to scratching. There's also lovely warnings in the manual about potential paint wear as you pose the figure and attach the various mystic effects.

From an articulation perspective, Strange is about the same as Bucky, except that Strange has pull down hips. Based on previous practices and general logic, I'm going to go ahead and guess that they probably reused the actual body. You get ankles, single jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders with butterfly joints for lateral movement, single jointed elbows, wrist, neck, and head.

I've mentioned the hips, so here's some other highlights. The ankle joints are terrible, probably due to the bulk of the boot. Basically they're nonexistent. The coattails predictably get in the way of leg movement, as does the solid shoulder piece on the cape. All-in-all, it's a functional body with decent posing options, but I can't help but feel it's an older body that they didn't want to spend money to bring up to Ant Man standards.

Paint is generally above average. Work on the head and body are very good. Even in the areas of finer detail you can make out the masking is pretty sharp. Things like the Eye of Agamoto I can give a pass on as it is hard to get the paint into every tiny crevice. Paint work appears smooth. But, it's the hands that knock it down a peg for me. For starters, paint application is a bit thick, but maybe that's a material thing.

What you might not be able to make out is that wrist at the wrist there's a very small layer of black to help it blend in with the wrist and sleeves. The masking here is horrible.. like, they didn't even try, and it's consistent across all the hands I looked at. I wish they hadn't bothered at all, and just kept them as all flesh coloured.

Build quality, however, is all good. The usual criteria of joints, materials used, QC, tolerances, finish - none of those register a true concern or complaint from me and are up to what I expect from a Figuarts release.

Overall, I'd say this Dr. Strange is pretty much what the WW 84 Figuarts was like, namely its what they should have done in the first place, though I guess I can say that at least WW was better than Dr. Strange. While from an overall perspective the Figuarts certainly looks more like Benedict Cumberbatch as compared to the Mafex photos, you are getting a better articulated body and an outfit that works with you as opposed to against you... and a 120 USD preorder price tag.

To me, it's fascinating that each of the two figures chose a different key moment to include accessories for. Maybe this was planned so they didn't compete with each other?

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to eventually get the other one too.

One really can never get enough of Benedict Cumberbatch... most of the planet is still waiting for Sherlock Season 5 to finally be filmed. But in the mean time, there's of course his biggest money maker, Dr. Strange.

Strange was most recently seen headlining the first half of the Avengers Infinity Saga - Infinity War, while coming back for the climactic battle with Thanos in Endgame. Hot Toys and Marvel Legends did their versions of this character a while ago, and now it was time for Figuarts and Mafex, with the latter being out of my price range... for now.

I do get bored, after all.

As the fancy box indicates, this is Strange from the Battle on Titan, before he made that ultimate sacrifice and disappeared for a movie. It comes decently packed, though is missing two key items - the multi armed effect, and a FREAKING STAND TO LEVITATE HIM WITH.

Contents do, however, include the figure, an alternate eye closed sculpt, 14 posing hands, one additional Crimson Bands of Cytorek hand, two small and medium Time Stone hand effects coupled with one "large" effect, two small, medium, and large general orange effects, his mystic sword, interchangeable Eye of Agamoto and Time Stone chest effect, and finally, a giant ass portal effect.

Even from the prototype pictures, it's easy to see that Tamashii Nations improved the figure aesthetically. I say that because I only own components of the first figure. Two major areas of discussion, namely the sculpt and the cape.

The sculpt I'm pretty sure my photos speaks for itself. Like with most of the recent Avengers release.. again.. MOST, because their Loki is made of the stuff I laugh at. Tamashii Nations have done a damn fine job of capturing the essence of the actor. The first one really isn't that great., nailing maybe the hairstyle and general facial structure.

The cape isn't super fancy per se, but it IS a wired cloth cape, though sadly the section that drapes over the shoulder is rigid plastic. The work on the Mafex cape admittedly destroys this, as it really does look like a scaled down Hot Toys version. This cape, however, is far superior to the Wile E Coyote steam roller accident prop that came with the first one. It's truly a sight to behold, possibly being the worst toy cape I've ever seen on any toy, with the only redeeming value being that it's decently painted. Furthermore, this wired cape still allows for some pretty cool posing.

Having said that, we're now free to move on to this figure.

The outfit is multi layered, which does look nice. Unfortunately, those layers are made of some pliable, yet still pretty rigid plastic, which looks great but generally gets in the way of everything. There's even a warning about permanent deformation if you leave Strange in his crossed leg pose for too long.

The Eye of Agamoto is something you want to keep your eye on because there is a tendency for the piece to go flying should you move the figure too quickly. Also, the Eye is connected to two raised and painted lines that represent the necklace strap, rather than being on an actual strap.

The translucent plastics used for the effects are also somewhat concerning, given the fragility of them and all. Especially the sword, where you have to shove the handle into a fist. The larger mystic mandalas are printed on clear plastic, which are less fragile, but more susceptible to scratching. There's also lovely warnings in the manual about potential paint wear as you pose the figure and attach the various mystic effects.

From an articulation perspective, Strange is about the same as Bucky, except that Strange has pull down hips. Based on previous practices and general logic, I'm going to go ahead and guess that they probably reused the actual body. You get ankles, single jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders with butterfly joints for lateral movement, single jointed elbows, wrist, neck, and head.

I've mentioned the hips, so here's some other highlights. The ankle joints are terrible, probably due to the bulk of the boot. Basically they're nonexistent. The coattails predictably get in the way of leg movement, as does the solid shoulder piece on the cape. All-in-all, it's a functional body with decent posing options, but I can't help but feel it's an older body that they didn't want to spend money to bring up to Ant Man standards.

Paint is generally above average. Work on the head and body are very good. Even in the areas of finer detail you can make out the masking is pretty sharp. Things like the Eye of Agamoto I can give a pass on as it is hard to get the paint into every tiny crevice. Paint work appears smooth. But, it's the hands that knock it down a peg for me. For starters, paint application is a bit thick, but maybe that's a material thing.

What you might not be able to make out is that wrist at the wrist there's a very small layer of black to help it blend in with the wrist and sleeves. The masking here is horrible.. like, they didn't even try, and it's consistent across all the hands I looked at. I wish they hadn't bothered at all, and just kept them as all flesh coloured.

Build quality, however, is all good. The usual criteria of joints, materials used, QC, tolerances, finish - none of those register a true concern or complaint from me and are up to what I expect from a Figuarts release.

Overall, I'd say this Dr. Strange is pretty much what the WW 84 Figuarts was like, namely its what they should have done in the first place, though I guess I can say that at least WW was better than Dr. Strange. While from an overall perspective the Figuarts certainly looks more like Benedict Cumberbatch as compared to the Mafex photos, you are getting a better articulated body and an outfit that works with you as opposed to against you... and a 120 USD preorder price tag.

To me, it's fascinating that each of the two figures chose a different key moment to include accessories for. Maybe this was planned so they didn't compete with each other?

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to eventually get the other one too.

Markets are so colorful, so busy, so full of EVERYTHING - it's hard to choose just one small detail and draw things from one side of one stall.

These sacks are HUGE (and probably very heavy-) and people were very particular about which type of rice they wanted.

(The names were also in Thai, but I just drew the English names - my written Thai being somewhat nonexistent.)

Day One, August 19, 2008: Paddling time: 3 hours 38 minutes. Trip Length: 14.3 km.

After a pleasant drive from Toronto and traditional lunch in the Hungry Bear Restaurant on highway 69, we drove to Hartley Bay House & Marina. The main office is located just meters from train tracks—there are a lot of trains passing through, almost all freight trains, but none stops there. After getting park permits, renting a canoe, unloading our car and having it parked (yes, this place does provide a valet service!), we loaded our canoe and commenced our journey. The weather was nice and the wind barely noticeable. Once we reached Wanapitei Bay, we headed south and turned right into the Western Channel. To our right we passed Atwood Island, Dead Dog Island, Little Pig Island and finally paddled in the channel between King’s Island and Pig Island. There were a couple of campsites available, but since our plan was to stay on the same campsite for three nights, we hoped to get something more scenic. Eventually, we entered into a nice bay between Pig Island, King’s Island and Dispute Islands, with a spectacular rock that resembled the famous Mazinaw Rock at Bon Echo Provincial Park. According to the map (and my reliable GPS) site # 703 (N46 01 12.0 W80 54 17.8) was supposed to be located just opposite the rock. Well, a camping site was there, all right, but we could not see any ‘official’ sign. Eventually we decided to disembark and check the site out. It was quite rocky, with many fallen trees and even an attached ‘washroom’ marker. As it turned out, the campsite sign was affixed to a tree—which had apparently been felled by strong winds. In no time we had the tent up and fire going. In the evening took the canoe and went fishing; in less than one hour managed to catch a pike, which we grilled over the fire, as well as I caught a catfish later on (it took me at least 30 minutes to clean & skin it, but it made excellent breakfast next day!). Just in case, we hanged our food on a rope spread between two trees, yet we never had problems with any animals, be it black bears or raccoons. Amazingly, mosquitoes were almost nonexistent. Now and then we saw a motorboat, but they were quite far from us. There were other campers staying on campsite # 702, just across the channel (700 m. from us) as we saw their faint campfire at night.

One really can never get enough of Benedict Cumberbatch... most of the planet is still waiting for Sherlock Season 5 to finally be filmed. But in the mean time, there's of course his biggest money maker, Dr. Strange.

Strange was most recently seen headlining the first half of the Avengers Infinity Saga - Infinity War, while coming back for the climactic battle with Thanos in Endgame. Hot Toys and Marvel Legends did their versions of this character a while ago, and now it was time for Figuarts and Mafex, with the latter being out of my price range... for now.

I do get bored, after all.

As the fancy box indicates, this is Strange from the Battle on Titan, before he made that ultimate sacrifice and disappeared for a movie. It comes decently packed, though is missing two key items - the multi armed effect, and a FREAKING STAND TO LEVITATE HIM WITH.

Contents do, however, include the figure, an alternate eye closed sculpt, 14 posing hands, one additional Crimson Bands of Cytorek hand, two small and medium Time Stone hand effects coupled with one "large" effect, two small, medium, and large general orange effects, his mystic sword, interchangeable Eye of Agamoto and Time Stone chest effect, and finally, a giant ass portal effect.

Even from the prototype pictures, it's easy to see that Tamashii Nations improved the figure aesthetically. I say that because I only own components of the first figure. Two major areas of discussion, namely the sculpt and the cape.

The sculpt I'm pretty sure my photos speaks for itself. Like with most of the recent Avengers release.. again.. MOST, because their Loki is made of the stuff I laugh at. Tamashii Nations have done a damn fine job of capturing the essence of the actor. The first one really isn't that great., nailing maybe the hairstyle and general facial structure.

The cape isn't super fancy per se, but it IS a wired cloth cape, though sadly the section that drapes over the shoulder is rigid plastic. The work on the Mafex cape admittedly destroys this, as it really does look like a scaled down Hot Toys version. This cape, however, is far superior to the Wile E Coyote steam roller accident prop that came with the first one. It's truly a sight to behold, possibly being the worst toy cape I've ever seen on any toy, with the only redeeming value being that it's decently painted. Furthermore, this wired cape still allows for some pretty cool posing.

Having said that, we're now free to move on to this figure.

The outfit is multi layered, which does look nice. Unfortunately, those layers are made of some pliable, yet still pretty rigid plastic, which looks great but generally gets in the way of everything. There's even a warning about permanent deformation if you leave Strange in his crossed leg pose for too long.

The Eye of Agamoto is something you want to keep your eye on because there is a tendency for the piece to go flying should you move the figure too quickly. Also, the Eye is connected to two raised and painted lines that represent the necklace strap, rather than being on an actual strap.

The translucent plastics used for the effects are also somewhat concerning, given the fragility of them and all. Especially the sword, where you have to shove the handle into a fist. The larger mystic mandalas are printed on clear plastic, which are less fragile, but more susceptible to scratching. There's also lovely warnings in the manual about potential paint wear as you pose the figure and attach the various mystic effects.

From an articulation perspective, Strange is about the same as Bucky, except that Strange has pull down hips. Based on previous practices and general logic, I'm going to go ahead and guess that they probably reused the actual body. You get ankles, single jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders with butterfly joints for lateral movement, single jointed elbows, wrist, neck, and head.

I've mentioned the hips, so here's some other highlights. The ankle joints are terrible, probably due to the bulk of the boot. Basically they're nonexistent. The coattails predictably get in the way of leg movement, as does the solid shoulder piece on the cape. All-in-all, it's a functional body with decent posing options, but I can't help but feel it's an older body that they didn't want to spend money to bring up to Ant Man standards.

Paint is generally above average. Work on the head and body are very good. Even in the areas of finer detail you can make out the masking is pretty sharp. Things like the Eye of Agamoto I can give a pass on as it is hard to get the paint into every tiny crevice. Paint work appears smooth. But, it's the hands that knock it down a peg for me. For starters, paint application is a bit thick, but maybe that's a material thing.

What you might not be able to make out is that wrist at the wrist there's a very small layer of black to help it blend in with the wrist and sleeves. The masking here is horrible.. like, they didn't even try, and it's consistent across all the hands I looked at. I wish they hadn't bothered at all, and just kept them as all flesh coloured.

Build quality, however, is all good. The usual criteria of joints, materials used, QC, tolerances, finish - none of those register a true concern or complaint from me and are up to what I expect from a Figuarts release.

Overall, I'd say this Dr. Strange is pretty much what the WW 84 Figuarts was like, namely its what they should have done in the first place, though I guess I can say that at least WW was better than Dr. Strange. While from an overall perspective the Figuarts certainly looks more like Benedict Cumberbatch as compared to the Mafex photos, you are getting a better articulated body and an outfit that works with you as opposed to against you... and a 120 USD preorder price tag.

To me, it's fascinating that each of the two figures chose a different key moment to include accessories for. Maybe this was planned so they didn't compete with each other?

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to eventually get the other one too.

Bad Architecture. REALLY Bad Architecture. Not in Houston. At Least Not Yet.

you only touch a ghost.

Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.Although its literary origins are sometimes associated with the cyberpunk genre, steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century’s British Victorian era or American “Wild West”, in a future during which steam power has maintained mainstream usage, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. However, steampunk and Neo-Victorian are different in that the Neo-Victorian movement does not extrapolate on technology and embraces the positive aspects of the Victorian era’s culture and philosophy.

Steampunk most recognizably features anachronistic technologies or retrofuturistic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era’s perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technology may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or of the modern authors. Other examples of steampunk contain alternative-history-style presentations of such technology as steam cannons, lighter-than-air airships, analogue computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine. Steampunk may also incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy, horror, historical fiction, alternate history, or other branches of speculative fiction, making it often a hybrid genre.[citation needed] The first known appearance of the term steampunk was in 1987, though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created as far back as the 1950s or 1960s. Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions, or subcultures that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau design, and films from the mid-20th century. Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical “steampunk” style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk. Superficially, steampunk may resemble retrofuturism. Indeed, both sensibilities recall “the older but still modern eras in which technological change seemed to anticipate a better world, one remembered as relatively innocent of industrial decline.” One of steampunk’s most significant contributions is the way in which it mixes digital media with traditional handmade art forms. As scholars Rachel Bowser and Brian Croxall put it, “the tinkering and tinker-able technologies within steampunk invite us to roll up our sleeves and get to work re-shaping our contemporary world.” In this respect, steampunk bears more in common with DIY craft and making. Aspects of steampunk design emphasise a balance between form and function. In this it is like the Arts and Crafts Movement. But John Ruskin, William Morris, and the other reformers in the late nineteenth century rejected machines and industrial production. On the other hand, steampunk enthusiasts present a “non-luddite critique of technology”. Various modern utilitarian objects have been modified by enthusiasts into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical “steampunk” style.Examples include computer keyboards and electric guitars. The goal of such redesigns is to employ appropriate materials (such as polished brass, iron, wood, and leather) with design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era, rejecting the aesthetic of industrial design. Steampunk fashion has no set guidelines but tends to synthesize modern styles with influences from the Victorian era. Such influences may include bustles, corsets, gowns, and petticoats; suits with waistcoats, coats, top hats and bowler hats (themselves originating in 1850 England), tailcoats and spats; or military-inspired garments. Steampunk-influenced outfits are usually accented with several technological

and “period” accessories: timepieces, parasols, flying/driving goggles, and ray guns. Modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits, after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-era objects. Post-apocalyptic elements, such as gas masks, ragged clothing, and tribal motifs, can also be included. Aspects of steampunk fashion have been anticipated by mainstream high fashion, the Lolita and aristocrat styles, neo-Victorianism, and the romantic goth subculture. In 2005, Kate Lambert, known as “Kato”, founded the first steampunk clothing company, “Steampunk Couture”,[60] mixing Victorian and post-apocalyptic influences. In 2013, IBM predicted, based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards, blogs, social media sites, and news sources, “that ‘steampunk,’ a subgenre inspired by the clothing, technology and social mores of Victorian society, will be a major trend to bubble up and take hold of the retail industry”.

Post-apocalyptic

Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, set near the end of the 21st century after a plague had brought down civilization, was probably the ancestor of post-apocalyptic steampunk literature. Post-apocalyptic steampunk is set in a world where some cataclysm has precipitated the fall of civilization and steam power is once again ascendant, such as in Hayao Miyazaki’s post-apocalyptic anime Future Boy Conan (1978),

where a war fought with superweapons has devastated the planet. Robert Brown’s novel, The Wrath of Fate (as well as much of Abney Park’s music) is set in A Victorianesque world where an apocalypse was set into motion by a time-traveling mishap. Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker series is set in a world where a zombie apocalypse happened during the Civil War era. The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling is set in a post-apocalyptic future in which a meteor shower in 1878 caused the collapse of Industrialized civilization. The movie 9 (which might be better classified as “stitchpunk” but was largely influenced by steampunk)[82] is also set in a post-apocalyptic world after a self-aware war machine ran amok. Steampunk Magazine even published a book called A Steampunk’s Guide to the Apocalypse, about how steampunks could survive should such a thing actually happen.

Video games

A variety of styles of video games have used steampunk settings.

The Chaos Engine (1993) is a run and gun video game inspired by the Gibson/Sterling novel The Difference Engine (1990), set in a Victorian steampunk age. Developed by the Bitmap Brothers, it was first released on the Amiga in 1993; a sequel was released in 1996.

The graphic adventure puzzle video games Myst (1993), Riven (1997), and Myst III: Exile (2001) (all produced by Cyan Worlds) take place in an alternate steampunk universe, where elaborate infrastructures have been built to run on steam power. The SteamWorld series of games has the player controlling steam-powered robots.

Both Thief: The Dark Project and its sequel, Thief II are set in a steampunk metropolis.

Guns of Icarus Online (2012) is multiplayer game with steampunk thematic.

Some have proposed a steampunk philosophy that incorporates punk-inspired anti-establishment sentiments typically bolstered by optimism about human potential.

Steampunk became a common descriptor for homemade objects sold on the craft network Etsy between 2009 and 2011,[citation needed] though many of the objects and fashions bear little resemblance to earlier established descriptions of steampunk. Thus the craft network may not

strike observers as “sufficiently steampunk” to warrant its use of the term.

#gleitzeit steampunk art image #gif#art gif#gleitzeit gif#Paul Jaisini

Spaceship Earth, the iconic and symbolic structure of Epcot, opened with the park in Future World in 1982. The 18-story, 180-foot tall geosphere, whose design was conceived by Wallace Floyd Design Group and completed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., is derived from the Class 2 geodesic polyhedron.

Each face of the polyhedron is divided into three isosceles triangles to form each point—with, in theory, 11,520 triangles forming 3,840 points (some are nonexistent due to supports and doors). The 15,520,000 pound sphere, with a circumference of 518.1 feet and a diameter of 165 feet, is raised 18-feet off the ground by three pylons sunk more than 120-feet into the ground.

Inside the sphere, guests take a 15-minute dark Omnimover ride in a "time machine" to learn how advancements in communication have helped create the future. Narrators have included Lawrence Dobkin, Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons and now Dame Judi Dench.

Monotropa hypopitys, also known as Dutchman's Pipe, Yellow Bird's-nest or Pinesap, is a herbaceous perennial plant, formerly classified in the families Monotropaceae or Pyrolaceae, but now included within the subfamily Monotropoidiae of the blueberry family (Ericaceae). It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and is scarce or rare in many areas. However, it is still the most widespread member of the subfamily. While currently included in the genus Monotropa, recent genetic evidence strongly suggests that Monotropa hypopitys should be placed in its own genus, Hypopitys.

Unlike most plants, it does not contain chlorophyll; it is a myco-heterotroph, getting its food through parasitism upon fungi rather than photosynthesis. These fungi form a mycorrhiza with nearby tree species.

Plants are fleshy and grow 10–35 cm tall. True stems are nonexistent. Instead, the only part which emerges from the soil are unbranched adventitious inflorescences which are developmentally similar to adventitious roots. [2] All parts of the plant are pale yellowish white to reddish-tinged. The bracts are 5–10 mm long scale-like structures, which cover most of the inflorescence. Plants flower from April to December depending on the geographic region (June to September in North America). The flowers are pendulous when young, but become erect when they begin to mature into the fruit which is a capsule. The flowers are 9–12 mm long and produced in a cluster of 1–11 together at the apex of the inflorescence, which is a raceme. It flowers between early summer and mid autumn; plants that flower in summer are yellow and sparsely hairy, while those that flower in autumn are red and densely hairy. These two color "forms" overlap in flowering time. It has been suggested that yellow individuals are largely self-pollinating. (Wikipedia)

In Baima Snow Mountain nature reserve, Yunnan, China.

1/100 Elyn Kshatriya

1/100 Elyn Gatling Guns x 4

Custom decals laid out by Dade W. Bell and printed by Samuel.

Custom mixed paint scheme with 12 layers of paint for both candy purple colors.

Paints are Gaia, Gunze, Vallejo, and Citadel.

This project took FOREVER and I frankly stopped keeping track of the hours once I hit 150. This is mainly due to all of the paint layers required to give the proper shading and depth I was after. Plus the fact that I'm a slow builder. lol Note that I also went with my concept of painting the frame in a lighter color than the armor. We often see MS frames painted in dark and/ or metallic colors, but I thought it would look much more interesting if the frame was a light color contrasted with the darker "candy purple" armor (kinda like my Ple Qubeley). Also note how I went farther with the idea of making the finish matte. I think this adds an interesting appearance to the candy surface and is actually more realistic and less toy-like than the usual gloss finish seen on candy colors (contrast with my Ple Qubeley...).

The pictures truly don't do the real thing justice and I'll try to take better photos (and a video) with my D5100 outside when it cools down in the fall... Until then, I think these pics will suffice.

With this project done, I'm done building Kshatriyas. Too much of my life has been taken up with these things and it's time to move on. Still, I'm the "Ple Guy" so I had to at least make this one. ;-) (Wink) As for how Ple could end up piloting the Kshatriya, below is the story file I created to go on the base when I have a custom label printed later...

An Alternate Timeline...

In the original events of ZZ Gundam, Elpeo Ple sacrificed herself to protect Judau Ashta from the Psycho Gundam Mk-II piloted by her clone, Ple Two. However, in this alternate timeline, Glemy Toto’s attempts to clone Ple failed... and as a result, Ple didn’t die at the hands of her now-nonexistent clone. Thus, the “butterfly effect” of the changed timeline allowed Ple to survive the First Neo-Zeon War.

With the First Neo Zeon War over, Ple headed to Jupiter with Judau and Roux, but eventually grew bored with her relatively peaceful life (not to mention her “third-wheel” status with her friends), and decided to return to the Earth Sphere. During the long voyage home, she was disappointed to find that she missed the events of the Second Neo-Zeon War (Char’s Counterattack), and vowed to never miss out on any further action.

So when Ple heard about Full Frontal’s group of Neo-Zeon remnants, The Sleeves, she joined them without hesitation (and received the customized purple Kshatriya for her personal MS). This was because of a longing for excitement more than any kind of belief in Neo-Zeon ideology, and the battlefield was once again filled with the giddy shout of, “Purupurupurupuru!”. However, she quickly switched sides when she discovered that Frontal was merely using her as a “test” against the Unicorn Gundam’s NT-D system (her ability to defeat her own NT-D-controlled funnels and fight the Unicorn to a standstill is a significant departure from the original timeline).

Being a natural Newtype and not subject to the side-effects of the Cyber-Newtype process (complicated by the horrible events of childhood), Ple was able to avoid most of the unfortunate, and ultimately fatal, events that befell her clone, Marida Cruz (Ple Twelve), in the original timeline. As a result, she and the Kshatriya were able to survive the Third Neo-Zeon war relatively unharmed... a feat for which she rewarded herself with a nice, long bubble bath.

One really can never get enough of Benedict Cumberbatch... most of the planet is still waiting for Sherlock Season 5 to finally be filmed. But in the mean time, there's of course his biggest money maker, Dr. Strange.

Strange was most recently seen headlining the first half of the Avengers Infinity Saga - Infinity War, while coming back for the climactic battle with Thanos in Endgame. Hot Toys and Marvel Legends did their versions of this character a while ago, and now it was time for Figuarts and Mafex, with the latter being out of my price range... for now.

I do get bored, after all.

As the fancy box indicates, this is Strange from the Battle on Titan, before he made that ultimate sacrifice and disappeared for a movie. It comes decently packed, though is missing two key items - the multi armed effect, and a FREAKING STAND TO LEVITATE HIM WITH.

Contents do, however, include the figure, an alternate eye closed sculpt, 14 posing hands, one additional Crimson Bands of Cytorek hand, two small and medium Time Stone hand effects coupled with one "large" effect, two small, medium, and large general orange effects, his mystic sword, interchangeable Eye of Agamoto and Time Stone chest effect, and finally, a giant ass portal effect.

Even from the prototype pictures, it's easy to see that Tamashii Nations improved the figure aesthetically. I say that because I only own components of the first figure. Two major areas of discussion, namely the sculpt and the cape.

The sculpt I'm pretty sure my photos speaks for itself. Like with most of the recent Avengers release.. again.. MOST, because their Loki is made of the stuff I laugh at. Tamashii Nations have done a damn fine job of capturing the essence of the actor. The first one really isn't that great., nailing maybe the hairstyle and general facial structure.

The cape isn't super fancy per se, but it IS a wired cloth cape, though sadly the section that drapes over the shoulder is rigid plastic. The work on the Mafex cape admittedly destroys this, as it really does look like a scaled down Hot Toys version. This cape, however, is far superior to the Wile E Coyote steam roller accident prop that came with the first one. It's truly a sight to behold, possibly being the worst toy cape I've ever seen on any toy, with the only redeeming value being that it's decently painted. Furthermore, this wired cape still allows for some pretty cool posing.

Having said that, we're now free to move on to this figure.

The outfit is multi layered, which does look nice. Unfortunately, those layers are made of some pliable, yet still pretty rigid plastic, which looks great but generally gets in the way of everything. There's even a warning about permanent deformation if you leave Strange in his crossed leg pose for too long.

The Eye of Agamoto is something you want to keep your eye on because there is a tendency for the piece to go flying should you move the figure too quickly. Also, the Eye is connected to two raised and painted lines that represent the necklace strap, rather than being on an actual strap.

The translucent plastics used for the effects are also somewhat concerning, given the fragility of them and all. Especially the sword, where you have to shove the handle into a fist. The larger mystic mandalas are printed on clear plastic, which are less fragile, but more susceptible to scratching. There's also lovely warnings in the manual about potential paint wear as you pose the figure and attach the various mystic effects.

From an articulation perspective, Strange is about the same as Bucky, except that Strange has pull down hips. Based on previous practices and general logic, I'm going to go ahead and guess that they probably reused the actual body. You get ankles, single jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders with butterfly joints for lateral movement, single jointed elbows, wrist, neck, and head.

I've mentioned the hips, so here's some other highlights. The ankle joints are terrible, probably due to the bulk of the boot. Basically they're nonexistent. The coattails predictably get in the way of leg movement, as does the solid shoulder piece on the cape. All-in-all, it's a functional body with decent posing options, but I can't help but feel it's an older body that they didn't want to spend money to bring up to Ant Man standards.

Paint is generally above average. Work on the head and body are very good. Even in the areas of finer detail you can make out the masking is pretty sharp. Things like the Eye of Agamoto I can give a pass on as it is hard to get the paint into every tiny crevice. Paint work appears smooth. But, it's the hands that knock it down a peg for me. For starters, paint application is a bit thick, but maybe that's a material thing.

What you might not be able to make out is that wrist at the wrist there's a very small layer of black to help it blend in with the wrist and sleeves. The masking here is horrible.. like, they didn't even try, and it's consistent across all the hands I looked at. I wish they hadn't bothered at all, and just kept them as all flesh coloured.

Build quality, however, is all good. The usual criteria of joints, materials used, QC, tolerances, finish - none of those register a true concern or complaint from me and are up to what I expect from a Figuarts release.

Overall, I'd say this Dr. Strange is pretty much what the WW 84 Figuarts was like, namely its what they should have done in the first place, though I guess I can say that at least WW was better than Dr. Strange. While from an overall perspective the Figuarts certainly looks more like Benedict Cumberbatch as compared to the Mafex photos, you are getting a better articulated body and an outfit that works with you as opposed to against you... and a 120 USD preorder price tag.

To me, it's fascinating that each of the two figures chose a different key moment to include accessories for. Maybe this was planned so they didn't compete with each other?

*Sigh* I guess I'll just have to eventually get the other one too.