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Ektris

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Blog Entries posted by Ektris

  1. Ektris
    So I was going to quote and cite an older article that shares this entry's name, before I did a reread (been a while since I had heh) and noticed all of the language in it. It's still a good read and would be helpful context of course, so go ahead and check it out yourself if you want.
     
    Since I'm usually the one asking this, here's what this is directly about: The Big Bang Theory. More specifically, the vitriol I've been seeing directed towards it and the upcoming Ideas set.
     
    A set I can't wait to have.
     
    I understand that it is not perfect, but nothing is. Everything has its faults and could somehow rub somebody the wrong way.
     
    But the way people are acting is really making me feel bad as a fan. You're basically saying I'm scum because I find enjoyment in something that is otherwise harmless and generally innocuous. Not always, no, but not in its entirety like is being implied.
     
    I guess I'm sorry I found something that my girlfriend and I can watch endless reruns of. That we can relax during and share a laugh, even if its poking fun of a trait one of us has. (Because you have to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes... and it is in no way different than any situational comedy before it.) I guess I'm sorry too for having nothing but excitement over this because hey, maybe I'll finally be able to share my love of LEGO with her by building this together. Maybe, just maybe we could and I'd feel comfortable with my collecting hobby for once... Sure seemed interested enough when I told her...
     
    Yet the way others are acting, it's as if because they don't like something, then nobody should (even recognizing its faults) and we should have a witch hunt for anybody that does.
     
    So what I'm truly sorry about, is that I simply cannot and will not ever share that sentiment.
     
    I will support this. I had not expected it to happen, but for different reasons. Yet it is. So as both a fan of the show and in the interest of continuing to support Ideas projects, I will get this one way or another. It's far, far from the worst thing ever (although I do have some reservations of how good of a set they can actually come up with).
     
    ~|ET|~
  2. Ektris
    Nintendo Amiibo Mii Gunner
    Nintendo Amiibo Mii Brawler
    Nintendo Amiibo Mii Swordfighter
    Nintendo Amiibo Mewtwo
    Nintendo Amiibo Falco
    Nendoroid N (with Reshiram)
    One year later and the Smash Amiibo roster is complete! ...Before post-release announced DLC. Very satisfied to have them all together, even if the journey is not quite done yet. The Miis are admittedly the weakest of the entire line in my opinion, but that's not really unexpected since there's not much to them. The imposing pose for Mewtwo and detail on Falco are both top notch though.
     
    N and Reshiram came in as a surprise release this month (10 days before the Japanese release even). N's cool. Love his character, so I had to get him. That Reshiram really steals the show just like Garchomp before it. It was a bit of a pain to put together because the pegs on the legs are actually bigger than the holes in the body. But he looks so great.
     
    ~|ET|~
  3. Ektris

    Lazer Team Casting

    By Ektris,

    Even if all I get out of it is this picture, I'll still say going to the extras casting call for Lazer Team was worth it.
     

     
    Finally got out and did something here in Austin, which is something I've been struggling with a bit. Even though it just ending up being a 2.5 hour wait in the hot Texas sun to be shuffled into a room, have my headshot taken, and shuffled out. But... The paper they gave out afterwards for details on it, though... Has me hopeful. Because one line is "we need many clean-shaven military types with short hair." And guess who thought to get his hair cut yesterday and fits that bill.
     
    ~|ET|~
  4. Ektris

    BZPCraft #13

    By Ektris,

    OMG I finally woooon!
     
    Granted, I did it without ever actually encountering an active player... And there was a mishap with an inactive player that caused me to die...
     
    But I won!
     
    Oh, and as always, thanks Takuma for the server, and thank you MI for hosting.
     
    ~|ET|~
  5. Ektris

    The Hobbitses

    By Ektris,

    Finally saw it with a buddy tonight.
     
    It was phenomenal.
     
    Unlike me, he has read the book, and he felt the movie broke the stereotype and was indeed better than the book. We both agreed it seems ludicrous for it to be split into three films, but after sitting through this one, I'm glad. There was so much packed in there I'd hate for things to be cut out.
     
    If only the actual trilogy could have been similarly split...
     
    Anywho, if you haven't - go out soon and see it! I'm glad I didn't wait for a DVD release on this one.
     
    ~|ET|~
  7. Ektris
    So guys. Guess what!
     
    An Assassin's Creed movie is totally happening!
     
    It's apparently going to be produced by and star Michael Fassbender as Desmond, but I don't really know much about him or have seen anything he's been in that I recall... But age aside, I think he could fit the look easily enough.
     
    I'm also dying to know which ancestor(s) it will star. But we probably won't know that for a while. *siiiigh*
     
    Still, I'm going to remain hopeful for this one. And even if it sucks my fanboy love will probably blind me to that fact, so yeah.
     
    ~|ET|~
  8. Ektris

    RTX Time!

    By Ektris,

    Wow, it's here already! Almost don't even feel ready.. And I'm absolutely exhausted tonight.
     
    Picked up two friends at the airport today and then we went and got our badges. I'm really excited to attend, but at the same time worried about how much I'll enjoy it. And nervous. Never went to anything this big (well... sporting events I guess). It almost seems overwhelming being split between three locations to boot.
     
    But I desperately need this vacation. So I'm staying optimistic it'll be great.
     
    Plus, I got in the autograph session I wanted! (Which... Not a fan of how they did it, but I understand the reasoning.) I'll be seeing Geoff and Ryan on Sunday. Hoping to get my Let's Play Live t-shirt signed by them.
     
    ~|ET|~
  9. Ektris
    So one of the ways E-House [Engineering House - my special living option dorm] is raising money for THON [charitable dance marathon] is staging a Coin War. Basically, there are cans for each floor of the building. You put pennies in your floor for positive points and other coins into other floors for negative points. The winning floor gets a pizza party and all the money collected goes to THON.
     
    But that's not the awesome part, oh no.
     
    I walked past the guy as he was cleaning up today (I guess I never saw him during his shift before?) and took a look at his cans.
     
    They were Bohrok cans.
     
    So I had to stop and talk about it. Turns out he did collect for a few years but not too long. Still regards them as his favorite LEGO sets of his childhood though.
     
    So yeah. Bionicle stuff. Good times man.
     
    ~|ET|~
  10. Ektris
    At last I am done with this trilogy! (Mostly.) And in my opinion, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia was a pretty good ending.
     
    Once again, nothing too new mechanically here to report. You have guns now replacing your knives from past games, and you can electrocute people. That was fun.
     
    What does set this one apart from its predecessors is the presence of a deuteragonist. I was not expecting that at all, let alone it being an actual historical figure. When you weren't running around as the grizzled Nikolai Orelov, you got to be Anastasia Romanov. Since she wasn't a trained assassin, it did require a different playstyle more heavily relying on stealth that broke things up nicely.
     
    Once again we do have a new art style. I wasn't a big fan. This game was gray and red. Very, very red. Gee, I wonder why...
     
    One interesting thing is we were finally able to put all of those codes that have been hidden throughout the three games to unlock a modern day cut scene. That was cool.
     
    I'm going to go back to China now to get the missing Achievement there, which I consider the hardest in the trilogy. I actually finished Russia 100% this time before posting this entry, not just my first run through the campaign. It was definitely the easiest one. But by and large, I'm done with Chronicles. I can say my skills improved as I moved to each new one, improving my enjoyment and opinion of the games as well. So yeah, I'm thinking a little more positively of them now. Still not must-plays though.
     
    ~|ET|~
  11. Ektris

    Biggest EVER! - Part 1

    By Ektris,

    The holy grail of many a Transformer collector, reissued at last earlier this year. For 25 years, this guy was the biggest there was. There was no rival in size... Until this year. He's now only second-best in terms of height, and I fully plan on owning the new titan (but of course I went with Amazon, who oversold their preorders and my order is now basically in limbo so who knows when I'll get one...). Anyways, here's Part 1 of my look into Transformer's Titans - Fortress Maximus.
     
    First of all, sweet mother of boxes!
     

     
    And... sweet mother of toys!
     

     
    Fort Max is insanely big! I've watched reviews and I've looked at pictures and I've gotten a sense of his size before... but you just really can't appreciate it until you see him in hand. And it's not just the size, but his weight. This guy is one solid toy and I'm thoroughly impressed by something of its age.
     
    Next up, I took the few Legends Autobots I have to play with city mode a bit:
     

     
    All of the gimmicks here work well and thanks to his size, is a pretty convincing toy of a city haha. I really like it.
     

     
    Battle station mode is kind of a joke. It's just pretty meh to me.
     

     
    So Fort Max comes with some other little guys. The blue brick on the right, Cog, is a cool addition and I get why they were included - to add playability if you didn't have any other small vehicles. But he is just a brick and is pretty meh. Cerebros and Spike, on the other hand, I find pretty cool. Being a double headmaster is a big draw of Fort Max, so even though Cerebros looks rather bland, that gimmick is fun.
     

     
    Finally, robot mode, and... sweet mother of swords!
     
    Seriously, that is a big sword! And something that I was really looking forward to. My first exposure to Fort Max was in the Robots in Disguise cartoon, so my mental image of him has vastly different colors than what I've got... But that sword was a big part of it. I wish it came with the handled for Omega Prime, but that Optimus is apparently being reissued in the near future with the sword, so maybe I can buy it from somebody then.
     

     
    Robot mode Fort Max also has access to a toooon of guns. This guy has no shortage of weapons and it's awesome.
     
    So, Fortress Maximus. The former largest Transformer of all time. He's fun to look at, fun to play with (even if he is your standard G1 brick for the most part), and although I thought it would be cool to, I never thought of owning one. So a huuuuuge thanks to Optibotimus, who gave this guy away as part of his 50,000 subscriber contest on YouTube! (And this was second place!) Seriously, Paul, you are awesome.
     
    I haven't put any stickers on the guy yet, mostly because I know in the future he'll be worth more with an intact sticker sheet haha. Do you guys think I should sticker him up though? There's quite a lot... And he'll look so much more impressive with them. I'm pretty indecisive on the matter.
     
    Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the look, and let me know if there's anymore you'd like to know/see. Now if only I could find a place to display him...
     
    ~|ET|~
  13. Ektris
    My mind is still trying to process it. I... I don't know what to think...
     
    Some of me wants to be excited. It really does. I'd like to see a new movie.
     
    But...
     
    I swear to god if they make Mara Jade nonexistant...
     
    D:
     
    ~|ET|~
  14. Ektris

    Muaka & Kane-Ra

    By Ektris,

    So two auctions on eBay both end in a little over a day, and have Muaka & Kane-Ra going for pretty darn cheap (EDIT: $30 for both in one lot, $10 for both for another at the moment - probably should've just said that to begin with ).... I'm tempted to get in on at least one. Any of you out there think it's worth it?
     
    ~|ET|~
  15. Ektris
    Whaaaaaaaat?
     
    Well that came out of nowhere. (Edit: And I just learned it was an SDCC announcement... How'd I never notice before?!)
     


     
    But why won't you let me preorder them LEGO? (While the pages are up, there's no preorder button there that I can find...)
     
    ~|ET|~
  16. Ektris

    Pokemon White 2: Day 6

    By Ektris,

    Got my sixth badge and made it through Reversal Mountain! Also visited the "Strange House." I'll admit, when the ghost girl appeared at first I was pretty freaked out lol.
     
    Chirox, Crobat lv. 42
    Lucario, lv. 41
    Macku, Azumarill lv. 41
    Pumbaa, Emboar lv. 40
    Espeon, lv. 40
    Electabuzz, lv. 41
     
    Also did my first few missions in the Entralink. Yep, just as boring as in the last game.
     
    ~|ET|~
  19. Ektris

    Rest In Peace

    By Ektris,

    I've been thinking about suicide a lot in the past week.
     
    Not in the sense that I'm considering it - oh no. Just literally thinking about it.
     
    A person I went to high school with jumped off a bridge last week. Nobody in the community knows why, nor did he leave any indication as to why he did this. He was a standout, award-winning athlete all throughout high school and was even shaping up to be a big player for his college team from what I understand. I admittedly didn't actually know him very well - hard to do in such a small school, too (but then he was a year behind me and I never socialized with many of the "jocks" anyways... or many at all in high school). But I know he was somebody I never thought ill of. He'd never done anything horribly wrong (ignoring the less-than-legal occasional drinking that I frown upon having chosen to live a life without alcohol, but to each his own). He was a truly great guy, and very outwardly happy. What most peopple remember about him was his smile. He was truly well-liked and had much going for him.
     
    And that's why I'm writing this. Because this apparently incredible person chose to jump off a bridge and leave an entire community in mourning. Even though I didn't know him well - I don't even know if he would have known who I was, but I sure knew of him - I'm left shocked and distraught that somebody I knew did this.
     
    I'm just confused. It's probably horrible to say, but I really don't think people would have been nearly as shocked if somebody like me had done this. Somebody known as being anti-social, a shut-in, different, and shunned by his peers for it. Or a person who came from a "troubled" family and had to face a lot of difficulties in their young lives. But a man like him? No, it doesn't make sense.
     
    I've sat and thought about this several times over the past week. I'll never come to understand it, though. That's perhaps the worst part about it all. We'll just never understand what happened.
     
    All I know for sure is that I've started to hope and believe that you found the peace everyone says you were looking for, Derek.
     
    ~|ET|~
  20. Ektris
    Video Games









    There were some pretty predictable additions in the past year here. New year means new Assassin's Creed means new statue and hidden blade. Biggest changes here are all Nintendo figures, with most coming from Good Smile Factory and their Figmas and Nendoroids. Always found Nendos a little too stylized for my tastes, but with two new Pokémon releases last year I caved again. There were a few things I repeatedly thought of getting to diversify the shelves here even more. Chief among that being Halo figures. Still held back from those rabbit holes for now though. Plus it would just be another thing making me need another bookshelf again heh.
     
    Tokusatsu




    Might as well call this my "Kamen Rider" collection but there's two things hiding in there that aren't (or... not given how big Godzilla is). I got a lot more Riders in the past year than I had realized. Most are from Gaim; literally doubled the number of Gaim Riders I have. Plus the Drive and Shinkocchou Seihou releases increased the numbers a good deal. So despite the shelf split last year, things are looking quite full again already heh.
     
    LEGO

    My system LEGO collection, also known as "An Ode to Ideas". So it's nothing too expansive or impressive, just a few sets, but it's still filling up quite a bit of my mantle. So I thought it'd be cool to show.
     
    ----
     
    There is one more entry planned for this, featuring my three biggest interests - Transformers, Star Wars, and, of course, BIONICLE.
     
    ~|ET|~
  22. Ektris

    The Green One

    By Ektris,

    Well, I've recently acquired a certain green Titan set... One that gave me some fame for quite a while... But I'm not going to tell you who it is.
     
    And if all goes well, I'll be reviewing him. But even if I don't, I'll share my opinion in the official review topic. I want to get my revised opinion on this guy out somewhere. (EDIT: Oh, and this blog doesn't count. )
  23. Ektris

    Harry Potter 7

    By Ektris,

    I, too, have just recently purchased Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And the first thing I did was read the last page. Not because I'm one of those nuts who wants to know the ending before all else - quite the contrary, actually - but because I wished to check on the accuracy of the leaked information which I was so unfortunate to see.
     
    I'm greatly upset right now.
  24. Ektris
    Non-Christmas edition.
     


    S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Gaim Kiwami Arms
    Play Arts Kai Kingdom Hearts II Roxas
    Transformers Generations Skids
    Nintendo Amiibo Little Mac
    Nintendo Amiibo Fox
    Transformers Age of Extinction Snarl
    BIONICLE Transparent Clear Mask of Fire
    BIONICLE Transparent Orange Mask of Fire
    Nintendo Amiibo Luigi
    Nintendo Amiibo Zelda
    Nendoroid Red
    Month started off on a mixed bag. I got Roxas and Gaim Kiwami Arms at the same time, and while Roxas I couldn't put down, Gaim... Well Gaim is a literal lemon amongst his fruit brethren (not to be confused with Duke Lemon Energy Arms coming next month though ). He's such a disappointing figure and fraught with issues. Luckily mine escaped having a shattered chest, but the chest sticker is still wrinkled and a little ugly. But again, at least Roxas is awesome.
     
    Skids was an impulse buy because I saw him. Then I got Snarl shortly after just to complete the movie Dinobots (which I'm not even sure anymore I should have ever started...). So Transformers this month were kinda meh .. It's the last wave of 2014 I really wanted but could never find, and with Combiner Wars showing up now (and I'll probably never see some of the ones I want most there too *sigh*), who knows if I will?
     
    Fox was also on impluse, but he's definitely at the low end of "hard to find" Amiibos, so I still didn't want to miss him. He was found during my hunt for a Little Mac, which was actually successful. The Gamestop I got it from had just one. So personal experience is definitely backing up the prevailing trend and I feel pretty confident blaming Nintendo for the intentional wretched distribution and intentional scarcity of these. Just not pleased with them. Zelda and Luigi I really did want and only did see that one time too. Unfortunately I never saw their other wave mates, so probably won't now. And the incredibly common 8 from the first wave I still haven't gone after, but probably will soon. With my luck I'll start after they're now hard to find lol.
     
    Red magically and randomly got listed on Amazon just a few days before I was flying home for the holidays. I couldn't pass on him though. Just look at how cute the starters are! So he got shipped to PA instead of TX and didn't get in the group picture heh. I can't help but love the little guy.
     
    Last but absolutely not least, my first little foray into BIONICLE 2015. Sets didn't show up in any of my stores before I left and I wasn't about to hunt while on vacation, so I'll be late to the party in getting sets proper unfortunately. But this start is incredible and half of it completely unexpected. Thank you, DV. Thank you. They've really got me excited for the new line and getting back into constraction.
     
    Not going to do a big end of the year update on the collection this year since, well, I'm just not with it heh. Still on holiday. But I want to do a beginning of the year one... after buying a new bookshelf or two... so be on the lookout for that.
     
    ~|ET|~
  25. Ektris
    I've been packing up for the big move, so of course that means I've felt like taking some pictures before boxing things up. Well, one of those was my new Figma Eren (to be seen again in this month's haul). Only took a few, so here are some old ones of Mikasa and even Samus too!
     
    Eren first:
     



    I wish they could pull off the salute pose properly, but otherwise the Attack on Titan figures are fantastic.
     
    Mikasa:
     


    ...However, I'm glad I really only wanted Mikasa and Eren [although if he weren't a convention exclusive I might have even gone after Armin] because they're all the same. Right now there's only four, with Levi being released in the coming months, but that identical body and features would get boring fast.
     
    And hey, some old Samus pictures too because why not? She's just awesome.
     



     
    So that's it for now. Just thought it would be something fun to do and wanted to take some pictures. I'll be doing some other lines too as I pack up or finally get to uploading stuff from my backlog.
     
    ~|ET|~
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