Over the past few months, the economic landslide in the entire world has caused foreign currency exchange rates to go haywire. What used to be the paradise for figure collectors, importing figures, is now something super scary.

Recently I imported two figures from HS. For two figures, it used to cause no problem for me and the local customs in Malaysia. There’s a law here saying that anything using EMS/courier that is below RM500 in value, will not be taxed. (The Malaysian Customs actually counted the EMS postage fees inside that RM500. I wonder whether it’s really like that, or it’s just those freaks’ stupid acts).

My figures was over RM500. I went there, hoping to minimize the damage I get from the tax. As the figures are already super expensive. (I actually never bothered about the forex when buying and thus, never realized their value. =.= ) As usual, I declared the items as toys. I was trying to nego. (There Malay Customs there used to give me good discounts.) But instead of being nice, the Chinese Customs guy said something shocking: “These are not toys. Toys are supposed to be able to move. These are for displays. I should have tax you 30%. But I still tax you at toys’ rate, which is 15%”. I so felt wanted to punch him in the face. But I can’t. This is the first time ever I felt so hopeless when dealing with EMS. I know I was going to lose anyway, since my figures were over Rm500. Nothing to argue anyway. If I could, I would have just let them send back the figures to HS and ask them to resend them back to me, in two separate shipments. I rather spend more than profit those stupid Customs. They’re devils!

Right now, all the figure preorders I have in overseas are 2 figures hanging over at HS. But it will be discarded soon anyway. All PA orders were canceled.

As of now, I officially close ALL my figure imports. It has been fun buying figures at HS and PA.

show

Ok, need to open those two figures now. (Be sure to click the “Show” above XD )

After some digging around in .htaccess, now I know it’s this fellow causing the problems:

php_value memory_limit *M

Back to business. They better don’t pull my sites down too much or else I will migrate. New figure post coming! XD

After so many moons missing from the blogging world, I know that all my previous efforts into bringing out my blogs would have been gone and wasted. And now I would need to start all over again from scratch. It’s ok. I had expected that. Even though I still feel the effect from the aftermath, at least I climbed up from the fall and I hope I am strong enough to stand still and get up and running.

Ok Prim3, it’s time to get going again..

Executing:
Prim3.system(reset);

Also,

Processor: Intel Q9300 Quad Core
Motherboard: Intel P45 Chipset
RAM: 4GB DDR2-800
Hard disk: 640GB
Graphics card: Will be temporary using any el-cheapo graphics while I raise $ for ATI 4850
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech New Touch & Razer Krait
Sound card: Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer
Casing: ThermalTake Armor+ MX Mid Tower
Monitor: LG 22″ LCD
Speaker: 2.1 (2 satellite + 1 subwoofer)

Some of the parts are from my previous rig . Since it shall be made into a general rig so it doesnt require such a high spec.

All items arrived except casing and graphics.. Can’t wait to get it online O.O

Not much figures to report lately. The latest addition to my collection is none other than the main subject today, Tsukishiro Miina. Got mine from a local store and quite satisfied with her.

One of the main characteristics about her that caught my eyes was her sweet and innocent look.

Overall quality is pretty good. No flaws that I can comment at all. (I can be quite picky with small issues).

At the back of Miina are two carrot rockets that are attached to her mini skirt. The colour blending looks really good.

Miina’s base comes in the form of a raised peg. One of the cons for this is that you won’t be able to stand her up without the base and it means more space will be taken up in your display cabinet. It may also invite the ever-so-popular leaning issue but I have faith in Alter’s quality and choice of material at the leg area. Finally, some pantsu shot for all your viewing pleasure.

Highlight of this figure: Carrot hammer! XD

There’s hardly any fault to find with Miina from Alter. With excellent quality and great overall presentation, I give her:

Figure facts:
Name: Tsukishiro Miina
Series: Getsumento Heiki Miina
Material: PVC
Company: Alter
Scale: 1/8
Release Date: 19 August 2008

More photos here: Click me!

All of my recent XL purchases come with this sticker. The person in there is the animated version of the boss of XL-Shop, namely Uncle Loong.

Each Uncle Loong character can be peeled off as a separate sticker. A marketing gimmick but good for store promotion.

So a busy day, and I am off to play

All RSS feeds are temporary scrapped until I can get a solution. LOL

Well, I am back. But many things had broke in my blog. So I still need to clear up their mess and restore my blogs to its former state. Ah well…

In the meantime, enjoy my Shinobu-chan post before it went down.. *She sure is cute* XD

Just who is Shinobu-chan? Beats me. All I know is that she is not the everybody’s type of girl, and that was what caught my eyes. There is this special milestone edition, but I find the colour too dull for my liking. So let’s start, shall we?

I shall start off with some all angle shots of Shinobu-chan. As you can see, she does wears a skirt, but it is super short. And thus, no matter how you look at her, the pantsu shall be there. Kinda make people ask: Why wear the skirt? And Shinobu-chan is actually pretty moe, ain’t she?

In terms of quality, on most parts it’s ok. Just that on the leg part, the tone is not smooth and there’s some rough areas. There’s also some slight rough parts on the hair but not so visible. The face sculpt, after comparing with the illustration on the box, is only about 65-70% similar. But still, I would call this Shinobu-chan figure as moe.

The base feels ok. It doesn’t give me that super cheap feel like those MegaHouse figures. But I do find the pegs are not that tightly fitted into the holes on her leg.

From this photo, you would have known that her nipple is actually partially exposed even though she is wearing clothes. You just need to peek really carefully. At the time of photo-shooting, I was not really able to cast her off. But after that, I actually found the instruction guide for cast off in the box (pretty well hidden), but it was already too late since I had kept her in the cabinet. -.-” The sword is pretty standard and nothing to talk about.

Highlight of this figure: Fish net!

Figure facts:
Name: Masterpiece of Kuuchuu Yousai Shinobu-chan
Series: Ninja Shinobu
Material: PVC
Company: Funny Knights
Scale: Non-scale
Release Date: August 2008

More photos here: Click me!

Lack of updates? Ya I am well aware of that. Ever since my boss went on a long holiday and I had to cover him as regional manager, I didn’t even had the time for myself.

Anyway, Prim3 was fortunate enough to be invited to display his figures in the recent Kuching Gundams and Figures Exhibition on 20-24 August 2008. It was organized by the SAMS (Swimburne Anime and Manga Society) gang in the Spring, Kuching (East Malaysia ) While of course not as big as the KL guys’ one, this is certainly a good start for Kuching collectors. I like how the figures are well arranged in a acrylic translucent showcase where people can come around and look from all angles. (Maybe the TFM guys can learn from this )

On the last day I was day, I can see the SAMS President falling asleep (photo below). Too tired already perhaps? XD Ok, here are all the photos I had XD Enjoy!

(More photos inside)