asiandoood's blog

AIR JORDAN 11 “CONCORD”

asiandoood — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:47:32 +0000

Wishing everyone a happy new year. It’s been a few weeks since my last blog post. Since then I was able to pick up a highly anticipated and sought after item from the Jordan Brand. The Air Jordan 11 Retro “Concord”. This has been the third consecutive year that the Jordan Brand has released this retro in a different colorway. The packaging follows the same design as the first re-release of this highly sought after design, the “space jams”.

The design seems to be identical to the previous release of the “space jams”

The shoe trees. (actual color is a dark concord color) however my camera’s white balance makes any purplish color look blue.

Comparison of the last releases:

CDP Package 11/12 “Breds” (worn)
2009 AJ11 “Space Jam” (worn)
2010 AJ11 “cool grey” (DS)
2011 AJ11 “concord” (DS)

The “yellowing” on the Space Jams is just horrible. Seems like at an accelerated rate too.

Comparison of the shoe trees.

Overall this is a very good release. Now I await a month for the next anticipated release. The Air Jordan IV “cement”!!!

AIR JORDAN 3: “BLACK CEMENT”

asiandoood — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:11:15 +0000

Another original from 1988, the “black cement” was re-retro’ed for the fourth time this past Thanksgiving weekend. I totally missed the release that weekend, but thanks to my buddies Nick and Aaron of F5toRefresh for finding me a pair a week later locally.

The 2011 “black cement” retro utilizes the same packaging from the 2010 “white cement” retro.

Close up detail

Comparison between the 2009 “true blue” Asia release, 2010 “white cement”, and the 2011 “black cement”

Overall is pretty good retro release for those who missed it in 2008 CDP. Now I am eagerly waiting for the AJ11 “concord” release in 2 weeks. I foresee craziness when they drop this holiday season.

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FIGMA: ROBOCOP

asiandoood — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:17:43 +0000

Thanks to my good friend for picking me up a new Figma figure this past week. This will be my first non anime related Figma. I couldn’t pass up on such an 80′s movie icon.

This guy needs no introduction…

His name is Murphy…

The figure itself is fully articulated. However, Robocop was not as articulated as his little Figma counterpart

The most bad ass feature on this Figma!!!

DROP IT!!!!!!

DEAD OR ALIVE YOU’RE COMING WITH ME!!!

Figma has once again done well. The essence and character of Robocop can be recreated in this figure. There are plenty of different poses you can do as well as gestures. Now all we need is for them to bring out an ED-209. I’D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!!!

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TROOPING AT LONG BEACH COMIC CON 2011

asiandoood — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:55:04 +0000

I was in Southern California for the weekend and decided to test out the new armor at Long Beach’s Comic Con. The venue was pretty awesome as I got to meet many of my favorite artists and was not bombarded with lines and crowd. It was perfect to give the armor a test run to make sure I didn’t need to modify or fix anything before attending a much larger show/venue in the future.

Before we even got inside, we ran into the this guy. I plan to build the Snowtrooper armor as my next.

Our friend Angela joining in

Lady Punisher Linda looking to kick some ass across the galaxy

Lady Punisher running into a Cobra Viper. Badassssss

Finally arrived at the entrance of LBCC!!

Once we got inside, I ran into Princess Leia in Boushh disguise! Such a badass costume! Even the visor was working!

Lady Punisher and I ran into Doctor Doom!

I then ran into this cute little creature

Miss Punisher and I wanted some refreshments and found this Astrodroid roaming around

I then ran into my boss in the corner. He was signing autographs and needed my back. I can’t say no, he is my boss. And he’d choke me if I didn’t comply

It’s not everyday you get to see your boss, the Sith Lord. It’s like running into the President. I needed a picture with him

Miss Punisher also wanted the photo op with the mighty Sith Lord

We then ran into a Lone Mandalorian.

I also saw a few of my brothers and sisters. One of them took the Shadow Ops job recently

Darth Maul and Assaj also made an appearance

Shortly after, I found Aayla Secura looking for Maul and Ventress

Meanwhile, Miss Punisher ran into a few celebs!

J. Scott Cambell!!!

Punisher….and ….Punisher???!!!

We then ran into Goku!

…and Master Yoda!

Before leaving to consume mass quantities, Miss Punisher and I wanted a photo op. I think we make a great team. Great choice in colors too ^_^

After a long day of trooping, food was in order.

Overall, LBCC was an awesome convention. Definitely another to put on my list to revisit in the future. Not much was needed to be modified on my armor. Just a few minor tweaks and I’m ready to troop again!

Special thanks to Angela for taking such awesome pics! Scout troopers were prone to run into trees on their speeder bikes, so taking pictures in cons while in armor isn’t in their expertise either.

PROJECT 501st: COMPLETED

asiandoood — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:06:13 +0000

After 8 months, the build is finally completed. Will be sending my application to the 501st Legion very soon. Here are some detailed pics of the full armor:

Special thanks go out to Joey for helping out with resources and information on going about this build. Armand and Alex for motivation and joining me in this awesome hobby. Linda for helping in the build and all the encouragement. And Mom for putting up with my craziness and helping out in some fine tuning/stitching of the build.

Can’t wait to start trooping!!!
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PROJECT 501st: SCOUT ARMOR PART 3

asiandoood — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:00:06 +0000

Next up. Strapping the bicep, forearm, and knee armor. Had to measure the elastic material and cut to desired pressure/length.

Elastic material is held on by pins until I got the right length in. This will later be sewn and made secure.

Fitment is good. I am glad I went with the “MC” armor. My arm length barely made the cut. I believe the “SC” and “KS” armor will run bigger.

Had to give the knee armor the same treatment. Measure out and pin up.

I did notice that movement will cause the armor to move around. When finalized, I will be adding a few velcro patches to secure the pieces in place.

Next up… strapping and assembling the Chest and Rear Tank armor!!!

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PROJECT 501st: SCOUT ARMOR PART 2

asiandoood — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:39:30 +0000

Buckle has been added to the belt armor. I had to adjust sizing to make it sit perfectly in the center for the Thermal Detonator to clip on correctly.

Next up is to strap the drop boxes and the clips correctly. This gets a little tricky as I had to wear the soft armor to make sure everything lines up correctly.

According to the CRL, the drop boxes had to sit just above arm’s length. The clips did not need to be fully functional. Strapping across them will give the illusion that the clips are functioning.

I ran the strapping through and pinned the locations where the straps would later be sewn or fastened when the final measurements were made.

Finished the mock up with test fitting to make sure everything lines up correctly. (with out chest armor)

How it looks with chest armor

Next up, finalizing belt armor and starting the chest armor strapping!

PROJECT 501st: SCOUT ARMOR – PART 1

asiandoood — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:33:18 +0000

It has been a while since I’ve updated this project. My armor has finally arrived after 6 months with the commissioned armor maker. The armor arrived in about 18 pieces. All which needs to be assembled together.

First piece I worked on was the rear tank and rear armor assembly.

To get the tank to sit more flush and not have any play at the top, I used industrial double sided tape on the top of the tank to space and adhere the assembly together. The bottom is fastened by an allen bolt and wing nut.

Rear armor assembly is now finished. I will get back to this piece when we start strapping the front chest armor.

Next piece on deck is the belt armor assembly. The kit came with all the strapping and details I needed. I first had to measure out the strap to the belt armor. By using rivets, I attached one rivet to each outer end of the belt armor.

Before riveting, I used a poke to detail the hole in the strap for easy riveting.

Once everthing is set the rivet goes in place and gets popped by the riveting tool. Now it sits securely.

Here is a pic of the rivet from behind the belt.

Stay tuned for part 2. Scout belt drop box assembly and final belt assembly details.

STAR WARS SAGA: BLU RAY

asiandoood — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 08:32:25 +0000

September 16th was the release of the complete Star Wars Saga on Blu Ray. Exciting it was as it seems like Lucasfilm has spent a lot of resources on marketing this Blu Ray set. From Major League Baseball Star Wars Day/Games to eBay, we were bombarded with Star Wars everywhere.

I spent most of the weekend watching the prequels and the special features included in this set. There are many reviews and opinions out there already. I’ll just be giving my opinion as a lifelong fan of this franchise.

Let’s start with the packaging. The discs are housed in a box like set.

The cover art is on the boring side. Lucasfilm decided to use artwork that featured young Annakin Skywalker and a faded ghostly Luke Skywalker imposed on the sands of Tatooine. I can honestly say the previous VHS and DVD releases were much better to represent the saga. (you can never go wrong with DARTH VADER…hint hint). Check my previous blog post Geeking Out with Star Wars for previous box art.

The outer box is actually a sleeve to a booklike case for the discs.

Inside houses 9 blu-ray discs. Pretty cool concept. My opinion, the art inside could have been a little better done. I personally would of used concept art from Ralph McQuarrie and Doug Chiang. It would of gave more meaning to the art and please the fans.

Each page was like a chapter of the saga. Good concept. Again, if we saw Chiang and McQuarrie’s art, it would of been bad ass.

Overall, the packaging was satisfactory. I did like the book and the “chapters” concept of it. Something new from the usual DVD/Blu-Ray cases. I was more focused on the content inside.

I did get to screen all the prequels and the special features. Features were on 3 discs. Seperated by the first trilogy, second trilogy and documentaries. The prequel features were satisfactory. The previous DVD releases had more to watch than this release. The archives with video commentary is quite entertaining however. Deleted and extra scenes were minimal. The original release features were a lot more exciting. They did include more archives that were never seen before after 30 years. The archives were also quite exciting to see. Although I did wish they included more.

The documentaries included was okay. Not as great as the DVD releases. Most of the content was covered by previous DVD releases. They threw in some 1977 and 1978-80 content that aired on television at the time. It was cool to watch, but nothing that was too exciting. Empire of Dreams documentary on the DVD release set the bar and should of been something to go off of.

I am no expert on hi-def transfers or video, but watching these films on blu-ray definitely made a huge difference. Especially the original trilogy. Despite the unneeded new sound/content the original trilogy looks beautiful. If anything, this alone made the set worth getting.

Overall, if you are a Star Wars fan, you’ll enjoy everything in this boxed set as I have. Is it worth the price tag? Maybe. Just seeing the extra/deleted scenes and hi def transfers from the original trilogy was worth it for me. I am a sucker for Star Wars. I know I’ll be purchasing whatever Lucas releases in the future knowing it’s the same movie over and over.

STAR WARS DAY: AT&T PARK (LABOR DAY WEEKEND)

asiandoood — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 04:17:36 +0000

I’d have to say this past Labor Day weekend was one of my best in a while. Got to hang out with great friends Friday and Saturday, a GIANTS x STARWARS day at ATT Park on Sunday with family and a super lazy Monday!

Once we heard about the Star Wars Day at ATT park back in May, my cousin quickly snatched a set of tickets 5 months before this game. How can we not go to this game and call ourselves Giants and Star Wars fans?

We arrived at the game around the middle of the 1st inning. Traffic was quite hectic getting to SF on the holiday weekend. Immediately, my cousin was stopped by camera crews.

We walked around the park to grab our special Star Wars give away. By the time we sat down on our seats, it was close to the 3rd inning. Couldn’t help seeing the Star Wars section filled with awesome fans. Chewbacca!

Our view:

In between innings, Star Wars fans were featured on the big screen with their outrageous and awesome costumes

The camera man followed us!

If anyone has recorded television footage of us, please let me know! It would of looked something like this!

The Giants blew the game in the late innings, but this made up for it big time. I’d say the best one out of the whole saga!

We had to secure out seats for the showing. So did Darth Maul in the background

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

The screening was awesome. Fans were awesome. It was too fun.

So many were wondering what the give away was. Well let me say it was pretty freaking bad ass as well!

That’s right! A 3 sided Carbonite souvenir! Han Solo, Brian Wilson, SF Giants in Carbonite!

It was so bad ass, Chibi Chewbacca asked me to take a pic of him with the Carbonite

After the game, my cousin had to show me his Star Wars x Adidas collection. (with a few sips of some good whiskey).

A great way to end a freaking awesome day!

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