The "joyous" Hell...uh Holidays!

Ah yes, that glorious time of the year in which we collectively beat ourselves to a pulp in pursuit of fleeting and probably fictional "holiday joy". Without going in to a lot of detail, our chosen fields of endeavor here at Chez Geek usually leaves us extremely busy. Mrs. G's life has gradually been totally consumed by professional obligation. Having two active toddlers adds new levels of work and responsibility. So, as you can see, not much has been happening on the blogging and hobby fronts.

I am still on track to start my twice monthly blogging project in 2015 but I imagine things will be quiet here until the first of the year. Stick with me and I should be back to it very soon!

A Year of Frugal...uh...Dolling?

A few years ago, I used to visit a blog called A Year of Frugal Gaming. The author intended to devote a year to spending less money on his hobby of miniature war-gaming and focus on modeling, painting and gaming with what he already had or could obtain inexpensively. As I recall, the blog and the project lasted quite a while longer than a year and inspired a number of other folks to try something similar.

 Let's face it, there's a certain aspect of the doll/action figure hobby that is focused on acquisition...maybe obsessive collecting.... OK, hoarding! Not only can you end up with a house full of stuff but for all but the most thrifty few of us, it can be pretty costly as well. Sure we know of people who take thrift store Barbies and create brilliant masterpiece OOAK dolls for next to no money but I'm certainly not that person. So, like a lot of you reading this, I spend a fair amount of money on my hobbies and end up with a fair amount of stuff. I certainly do bargain hunt and have been pretty successful at my "under $50" project I started a couple of years back-LINK. The thing is, I haven't really documented that in a consistent fashion. Also, because it has been a successful project, I've managed to acquire quite a bit more stuff. As I mentioned at the time, I was inspired to find alternatives to to boxed military/action/adventure figures which have now trended in to the $150 USD and up price range. But if you spend say $30 each on five older boxed figures instead $150 on one, you have five boxes taking up storage space. I won't deny that I've found a lot of cool stuff for relatively cheap the last couple of years but well...now I have A LOT more cool stuff to store! If I spent the next year just documenting what I have and didn't buy anything at all, I could stay quite busy. I don't have an exact inventory but I think I could post weekly for a year and not run out of material.

So, with my recently announced GI Joe and Obitsu projects for 2015, I started thinking about what I would need to prepare the figures I'm going to feature. And yes, I have some items to buy but for the most part, I'm planning to use what I have. This wasn't initially a conscious decision but as I started to compile my project lists, it occurred to me that there weren't any real major purchases needed for me to do it. Carrying this line of thinking through to its apparently logical conclusion, I wondered, if I have most of what I need to carry out my plan for 2015, then what DO I really need? Hmmmm....
I'm sure I'm not alone in needing to spend less money more wisely. While I try to keep personal stuff to a minimum here, the last few years have seen household income remain stagnant while expenses have increased considerably. And while I'm not suggesting that I simply stop spending any money on my hobbies, I'm curious to see how far I could go without spending very much.

Of course, all this circles back to the acquisition side of the hobby. There are always those things that you already want and those things that will become available in the course of the year. There's that grandiose plan that hasn't occurred to you yet. A certain degree of impulsiveness also comes with the territory, so I can't tell you now, in November 2014, what I might want to buy or do in May 2015. I might be totally satisfied at the moment but the "OH EM GEE must have now!!" item(s) could be just a few months away. So yeah....

I guess my challenge for the coming year then is not to stop spending entirely but to keep focus. Spending less and doing more with what I have is important but I also need to avoid the temptation to buy something, especially multiples of something, simply because it's cheap. Can I do it? I'm not sure but I can certainly try!

Next Gen part 2

Hey, more boring, content-free blogging! Anyway, I've been reflecting a bit on my last post and have decided to "up the ante" by adding another feature. In theory, this means that at least twice a month *GASP* there will be something posted here. The Obitsu Project is something I've already been doing informally and occasionally but now hope to post monthly. Basically, this works the same way as the GI Joe project I mentioned last time. Once a month, I'll post photos of an Obitsu or Obitsu-based doll with some brief description or back story. As long as the base doll is Obitsu, it fits the category; including Azone hybrids and dolls I've put together myself with heads from other manufacturers.

OK, so this doesn't sound like much of a challenge. After all, how hard could it be to dress a few dolls and take some photos? *SNERK* A few years ago, something like this would not have been a problem. These days, it can often be darn-near impossible. Dressing or "kit bashing" 24 individual figures, photographing all them and posting the results twice a month is pretty formidable for me. Hopefully, it should also be fun and a way to keep me focused on this blog for the foreseeable future.

What does this mean for other subjects like my Azone Pure Neemo girls? Honestly, I don't know yet but they aren't going away for now. One possibility is to alternate PN girls one month and Obtisu the next. That's not my plan at the moment but it's certainly worth considering. In theory, the PN girls would appear unscheduled but often, like other dolls, toys and what-not. I would love to do a regular travel feature with one or more of my Azone PN girls, kind of like slmka's LSO, with visits to various places of interest but again, that really isn't possible right now.

Meanwhile the GI Joe and Obitsu features will be my regular posts for 2015 with, hopefully, other dolls to fill in the spaces.

Ah, together again!

Under an Autumn Moon- Adventurers Club Oct. 2014

October's Adventurers Club theme is NIGHT and this time, things seemed to fall in to place for me. No real adventure here but I did manage to get some night shots of Mia in a cute witch costume that Azone did several years ago. I tried to get some actual moon lit images under a very bright full moon but that just didn't work out.

Finally, a bit of omake to show Mia's costume in daylight:

Geektopia: The Next Gen.... Uh, Year

OK, not really The Next Generation so much as just musing on what to do next year. I miss blogging but honestly, with two little rug rats in my life, I barely have time for it nowadays. Most of what I write here is done on my phone with final editing and adding images done on a desktop. (How last decade of me, huh?) I still prefer Blogger's desktop interface to the mobile version but if I'm going to continue blogging, this is how I'll need to do it!

Nevertheless, I hope to push on even if what I post isn't the most brilliant stuff you've ever seen. With that in mind, here's my plan.

For the coming year, I'd like to start a regular series featuring GI Joe. Maybe once or twice a month, I would post a blog with a photo or photos of a 1/6 scale GI Joe. Maybe some combination of real-world historical, modern and fictional military along with just whatever strikes my fancy... say maybe just a guy in jeans and a t-shirt or that sort of thing. Question is, could you, my loyal readers, stand that much 1/6 scale plastic "sheer damn manliness" during the next year or does it sound as exciting as watching paint dry? Any ideas about what I should call this feature? I guess "Joe Of The Month" works if it's just once a month but if I do it every two weeks, maybe something more creative?

Of course, this doesn't mean an end to the other stuff. I still love the Azone, Obitsu and Volks girls I have, as well as my older collection of Cy Girls. I could spend the next couple of years focusing on those dolls and never run out of material. Heck, at the rate I post, I could just concentrate on a few of my Azone PN girls and never run out of material! I still have this vague idea for some of my Azone girls to star in a regular feature where they travel a sort retro-techno-fantasy Dieselpunk world in an airship. It sounds great in theory but I can't imagine actually having the time or resources to pull it off.

I guess what this all comes down to is that I've realized structure and regular scheduling can keep things going when Real Life™ gets in the way. I believe my participation in The Adventurers Club helped me come to that conclusion and I would like to build upon that experience to keep this blog from being idle for too long. Hopefully, what I post will be interesting to all of you who read this and not run too far off the rails. Stay tuned and we'll see how this develops!

Sept. 2014 Adventures Club- Mia's Water Adventure

Mia: When I heard that September's adventure would involve water, I imagined all kinds of exciting possibilities.

Mia: Somehow, "washing the dishes" wasn't one of those possibilities!

Yes, the grout looks like hell and the whole area around the sink is a bit worse for wear. Oh well, I'll add it to my "to do" list.

Autumn Falls

With Autumn starting this past week in the northern hemisphere, I decided to do a brief photo shoot to acknowledge the season. This is also a good way for me to check in and keep the blog going. I'm not sure how "fall-like" the green grass seems but hey, that's how we roll around here! At least there are acorns on the ground, albeit six times larger than in real life.

I realized that these are the first new photos I've taken of Meg in quite a while. I've had most of her outfit for several years but I was really happy to find her Azone denim jacket on eBay at some point during the past year. I finally got to photograph her wearing it.

Leona's Problem- Adventurers Club August 2014

So, the Adventurers Club challenge for August is Transportation. Normally, there are plenty of transports for the various folks in the doll and action figure crew here but finding the time to set up the shoot has proven challenging to say the least. Anyway....

If you are familiar with Dominion: Tank Police, you know lead character Leona commands a tiny tank named Bonaparte. My 1/6 scale Leona doesn't have a tank (or her partner Al to drive it) so she went looking around to see what she could find. She heard there was a tiny tank available but upon seeing it in person, she was a bit disappointed!

Leona: "Yeeeaaah, I just don't think this is gonna work for me."

Well, hang in there Leona and good luck with your search!

Geektopian's Hobby Wish List

Some of you may recall that I posted a Want List entry back in November 2013 LINK. This isn't the same thing since I'm now focusing on items which, as far as I know, haven't been made or announced for future production. A couple things to keep in mind are that not everything here is doll/action figure related and that I realize some of this will likely never happen. In some cases, the subject is too obscure or tangential, the media franchise has played out or was never all that all that popular to begin with, or the hobby market has moved on other areas of interest. In other cases, the absence of an item from the market is hard to understand and may have more to do with the priorities or interests of manufacturers rather than a lack of demand in the market. As always, this is purely subjective and only reflects my personal wants and needs.

Azone Pure Neemo Flection LL/M body:

I think Azone offered this body separately as a doll show exclusive in 2013 but to my knowledge, it has never been sold through normal retail channels except as part of a "full set" doll. I have Mio and yes, this is a really cute body, so I'd love to upgrade a couple other PN girls in my crew. An LL/M would be almost a must for the "other" Mio... as in Mio Akiyama from K-On and I'd like one for my Minami sensei as well. I would try to resist the urge to give my entire PN crew this body but I'm a guy and there are big boobs involved so, yeah....

US T23/ T23E3 medium tank series, 1/35 scale injection molded:

If you're a fan or player of World Of Tanks, you are probably familiar with the T23, which has gained near-mythical status due to its brief inclusion during the early era of the game. Apparently, the improved T23E3, as seen in the four-view above, is coming back. That isn't important to me since I don't play the game but I would like to see a model of this vehicle. I'm aware of two models of the T23, one in 1/100 scale and the other in 1/35 but the former is a miniature gaming piece while the later is a small production resin kit and neither are of the version pictured above. With all of the other injection molded kits of various WW2 prototypes and paper projects already on the market, this significant ancestor of the post-WW2 Western main battle tank should not be ignored. If a vehicle like the Hungarian 44M Tas can be produced as an injection molded kit, a tank for which only one incomplete mild steel prototype was built, the T23 series, of which over 200 were produced, should be a no-brainer. Besides, I think it looks cool and *WHINE* I want one!!!! LOL

Cute, 1/6 scale female military figure(s) and/or clothing:

Yes, this sort of thing has been done before but it often seems a bit "hit or miss" to me. Often, these dolls and outfit sets seem more cosplay or sexy than the cute but serious style you see in a lot of military moe. What I'm thinking of here is not mecha musume, school girls with guns/tanks/planes/etc. or the ubiquitous camouflage "battle bikini" but something more like the illustration above. In my ideal world, the clothes would be made to fit either Obitsu 27cm (fat chance, I know) or Azone PNM dolls. A full set doll would be OK but I would prefer just a separate uniform set. Maybe a Japanese Ground Self Defense Force camo uniform to fit Azone PNS-PNM bodies? Perhaps the full set doll could be a PNM character in a JGSDF dress uniform.Yes, I remember Jiei-tan but her uniform was somewhat fanciful. Given the apparent popularity of military moe, I'm surprised it's not more common in the doll hobby.

Those OTHER girls from Sora No Woto:

I know, I know.... This is pretty unlikely to ever happen but I'm just posting a wish list. I was a fan of Sora no Woto and was really hoping to see more products come out of it but it never happened. I would like to have seen Azone continue to release dolls of the other members of the 1121st Platoon after Kanata Sorami but apparently the series just didn't have the popularity to justify it. Of course, the fact that Kanata was one of the more expensive PN dolls at the time probably didn't help either. I have no skills as a seamster or painter so a DIY custom set of dolls is beyond my abilities and a commission is probably beyond my financial means. Still, it would be cool to have a complete set of these girls as 1/6 scale dolls.

On that note, I think I'll end this post right here and pick up the thread again in a future post (or posts). Keep checking back for further installments and if it inspires you, I'd love to read what some of you have on your wish lists too.

Ridin' In Style.... Or Not!

The Adventures Club photo challenge theme for July is "Travel Case" and Mio decided that she needs a case of her own rather than always getting stuffed in the big guy's cargo pocket. A disused camera bag seemed to be just the thing, with plenty of padding and lots of extra pockets to store her stuff. This would be a far more secure and comfortable way to travel.

Unfortunately, she didn't notice one rather major problem with the camera bag.

*sounds of a child's laughter and the stomp of running feet.*

*CLUNK* Stomp Stomp Stomp.... "Hehehehehe...."
Mio's voice: "Uuuuuuuugh! What happened?"

Mio: "Crap, I'm stuck! I need to push this thing over.... UUUUURRRRRRGH!"
*KERPLOP!*

KICK KICK (sound of Velcro ripping) RRRRRRRIIIIIP!
Mio: "WHOOOOOAAAAA!" *CRASH-THUMP* "Ouuuuch!"

Mio: *pant pant groooaaan* "Got to get out of this damn thing... feel like I've been hit by a truck... entire body hurts...."

(A little while later.)
Mio: "Use an old camera bag for a travel case!" "That had to be one of the stupidest ideas I've ever had! This thing is a death trap! It's hot, dark and not very comfortable. There's no way to see out of it and I could easily get locked inside."
"But that's not the worst part...."

Mio: "How did I fail to notice that this old camera bag was now the plaything of a giant two-year-old? I mean, it's not like I don't see him run through here all the time. How could I not see that one very major detail?"
"NEVER AGAIN! Man, I am so flippin' stupid!"
"At least he didn't realize I was in there and try to rescue me.... Geez!"


Editorial note: Normally, the local Adventurers Club travels by various exotic and mundane means. They aren't aware of the "big people" or that they're dolls. For the monthly photo challenges though, I've decided to lower the fourth wall to make things easier for me to handle. If I ever get around to doing an actual story line for them, I have a vague notion of a sort of fantasy dieselpunk-style world for them to inhabit. But yeah, not sure when I'll get around to working on that!

Well crap...! X2

A couple of brief laments. First of all, it appears that the Pure Neemo Sweets ala Mode Yuzuha 1.1 appeared on the various Japanese retail sites sometime in the last day or so and disappeared just as quickly as before. So once again, I've missed out on Yuzuha. Well crap....

Next, as I believe I've previously stated here, I was hoping someone would put a 1/6 version of Miho Nishizumi from Girls und Panzer. Actually, my wish was for the entire Team Anglerfish crew but I digress. Anyway, I got my wish in that Medicom has a 1/6 version of Miho on the way and she's now available for pre-order. Being from Medicom, I have two problems with this. First, she's somewhere around $220-$230 USD, which is way beyond what I will pay for a single 1/6 scale doll. Second, Medicom's frequent quality control problems make me skittish about buying anything from them, even at a reduced cost. So there's a 1/6 scale Miho on the market and she's not coming home with me. Well crap.... 

More old stuff- Desert edition

Going through my photo files, I came across a number of interesting things I did back about 5 years ago or so. Since about 99% of my photography nowadays consist of iPhone pics of my kids, it's a good thing I used to photograph stuff that's relevant to this blog!

Anyway, back in 2009, I had this idea for a story involving a military unit operating in the desert. I was considering the idea of perhaps a near-future Post Apocalypse setting. I did several 'bashes of various figures before the idea puttered out in the face of the reality that I live in a completely green, sub-tropical environment. Oh well, I was still pretty happy with the figures!

The base figure is a super Articulated GI Joe while the uniform, gear and weapon are a mix of Dragon, BBI and Soldier Story. I like him enough that I'm considering rebuilding him at some point.

More from the archives.

Once again, it's time to fuel up the DeLorean's Mr. Fusion, make sure the Flux Capacitor is, uh... fluxing and with the necessary 1.21 gigawatts charging the system, step on the accelerator and hit 88 miles per hour.

In other words, I haven't had time to create new content so you get recycled photos from the past. ;)

Claire is another of my Obitsu "muses" who, for a time, was the official voice of the doll/action figure crew here in Geektopia. She even had her own first-person blog for a while but things kind of puttered out around the time we discovered my wife was pregnant with our son. There was some other stuff going on in real life that took the wind out of my sails and I eventually decided to concentrate on just one blog. Writing first-person, in-character proved to be grinding when I wasn't in a creative frame of mind although I might try it again someday. Meanwhile, here are a few photos from "back in the day".

For those who are curious, Claire is made from an Obitsu SB-2 (large bust) 27cm body and a W-02 pre-painted head. She sometimes seen using various 27cm option hands, which don't come with these bodies unlike 21-23 and 25cm sizes.

There are some photos in the archives where she's using a large bust 25cm body but none of those are in this photo set.

In the last photo, she's posing with a couple of GI Joes who were regular characters in the back story I had created for her.

I'm not sure about this but I think Claire may have to make a new appearance here in the near future. Perhaps in an Adventurers Club photo shoot? We'll see!

Adventure? In the Back Yard?

The Adventurers Club Challenge for June is Your Own Backyard. Since the local Adventures Club often goes exploring in the wild lands of Backyardia, you would think finding adventure in the back yard would be no problem.

Well, then again....

                             Mio: "So, find adventure in the back yard, huh?" 

         "How about finding my way out of these weeds? Is that adventurous enough?"

Poor girl... with blazing heat, daily rain storms and little time for yard maintenance (not to mention anything fun), the yard is starting to look really flipping awful uh, a little over-grown. Maybe you'll have better luck on your next adventure, Mio!

Lagniappe (or omake, if you prefer). This shows how humid is was outside. Every time I got my camera too close to the ground, the lens would steam up.

Where things stand here at RoG

As I recently mentioned, things have been difficult for me on the dreaded "IRL" front. My kids and wife are fine at the moment but several other family members aren't. As you can imagine, these crises will call for a refocus of my priorities. I hope to not beat my readers over the head with a lot of "woe is me" pity party stuff but you will probably see some changes around here. It may take a bit longer for me to approve reader comments and to reply to them. As I mentioned before, I may be posting here and/or commenting less often at other blogs. Please don't think I'm ignoring you or have otherwise "dropped out" when this happens.

You may notice less of a focus on new and upcoming stuff, since I'm probably going to cut way back on purchases for now. I still have a backlog of subjects to post and discuss anyway, so that's not a big deal. I imagine you'll see a some more "think piece" opinion-editorial items as it relates to our various hobbies and leisure activities. Some of that writing could be blunt but keep in mind that I'm shinning a harsh light on myself and my perceptions first and foremost. If I think a post might be too troublesome, I'll post a "delicate souls" warning and maybe put the content behind a break.

Meanwhile, I do have some (probably quick) photo reviews I need to get posted, just so the whole blog doesn't become a dull rumination on life. I hope all my readers will continue to check in here and I'll try to keep things up to date as much as possible.

Edelweiss??? Holy crap!

I may have let out a small, geeky squeal when I saw this at HobbyLink Japan today:

Holy cow! A 1/35 scale injection molded (as opposed to cast resin) model kit of Edelweiss from Valkyrie Chronicles! Even more interesting is that it's from Volks and retails for about ¥5000. While I had trouble staying with the anime series (and never played the game), the tanks from Valkyrie are some of my favorite fictional designs. (Yes, I see all the design flaws but I still like this one.) I'm really tempted to pre-order this but I'm trying to cut back on hobby-related expenditures for the rest of the year. I'll ponder that but in the mean time, I'll just marvel at how cool and totally unexpected this release is.

Don Levine... In Memoriam

It is with great sadness and regret that I write to acknowledge the passing of Don Levine. Levine is the former Hasbro executive who shepherded the development of the original 1/6 scale GI Joe in 1963. While the actual work was obviously a team effort, Levine is often credited with being the "father" of GI Joe. The term "action figure" is also attributed to Levine and his team since, in 1963, conventional wisdom was that boys would never play with dolls.

It took an enormous amount of guts and foresight, as well as a large portion of Hasbro's available capital, to bring GI Joe to market. While GI Joe made Hasbro the multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation it is today, there was a very real risk that it could've destroyed a carefully run, well respected and successful mid-level toy company had it been a failure.

I owe my life-long fascination with all things doll/action figure to GI Joe and by extension, Don Levine and his team as well as then-Hasbro president Merrill Hassenfeld. Don's passing is made even more sad because 2014 is the 50th anniversary of GI Joe, yet "the company that Joe built" has done little to nothing to acknowledge this.

Regardless, I hope that this small tribute will serve as my heartfelt "thank you" to Don Levine. God speed sir and rest in peace!

Something Scary.... Under The House? -May 2014 Adventurers Club-

I have to admit that I rarely crawl around under my house even after living here for ten years. Is it really that scary and what could possibly be lurking in these hidden spaces? Let's see what Mia, our intrepid Adventurers Club member, thinks about this.

We catch up to Mia as she hikes near a building at the edge of the woods.

                      Mia: Man, this heat is already intense! Good thing this trail is well shaded.

      Hey, that's odd. I'm sure that access hatch was closed when I came by here earlier.

Gotta admit, this place gives me the creeps just a bit. I should check it out though, just in case something is amiss.

Allez Oop!

Hey, is anybody there? Degas, is that you? Who's there?

*thinking*(Was that somebody moving? It's too dark to be sure.... Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me.)

OK, that's IT! That place is just too damn dark and scary for me. If somebody's lurking in there, maybe it's better if I don't meet them face to face.

A short time later:

Creepy Clown: Oh silly me, did I leave that door open again? Too bad the little blonde girl didn't stay. Perhaps I could've had her for lunch! hehehehehehe!

I should mention that Degas is a friend of the local Adventurers Club chapter whom you haven't previously met. Hopefully, he'll show up here soon. There's a whole other story about how Creepy Clown came home with us from our recent out of town trip but maybe I'll go into that some other time.

Due to *slight* technical issues....

Hey folks! Sorry that this blog has been quiet recently. I've been dealing with some of the dreaded REAL LIFE™ this past month and the wheels have sort of come off the hobby and blogging side of life. Not to bore you with details but this has included helping a family member with a potentially serious health crisis, persistent car problems that refuse to stay repaired and a somewhat ill-advised "vacation" to visit family. Surprisingly enough, traveling with two small children was the least troublesome aspect of the trip!

On the up side, while on my trip, I managed to visit a local liquor store with an amazing selection of things I can't find at home in podunk, so I'm well stocked on mixers for a while!

If all goes according to plan, I should be able to knock out my photo shoot for this month's Adventurers Club challenge within the next day or two. Beyond that however, I'm not sure. It's possible the blog could get quiet for a while although I have a lot of stuff I want to post. Even as a write this, I have a package waiting for me at the post office that includes some figures I hope to document.

Please bear with me and I'll try not to go totally silent in the coming weeks.

Dolls in Geektopia - Mia

 Mia is one of the Pure Neemo characters that I had really been wanting for the past few years. Although there have been many cute versions of Mia, I couldn't quite find one that fit my image of her until now. I was very tempted by the DS store exclusive version of Majokko Mia and was almost ready to buy one when Azone announced Mia-Spring Rabbit. This version has the newer, more mobile Flection body and her clothes seem a bit more practical for my needs than the Majokko version.

I have a vague idea involving a small group of friends (all PN dolls) who go on various adventures. I knew that Lycee would be one of them, Maya would also be one and a blonde version of Mia would be yet another. I have Lycee (Progression), Maya (Sweets ala Mode) and now Mia (Spring Rabbit), so my little crew is complete for now... unless I can add Yuzuha at some point!

I've had Mia here for several days but I haven't been able to photograph her until now. In fact, the poor girl has been hiding away in her box to protect her from the clutches of a zealous, doll-loving 21 month old!

 I have to admit, this girl is a real cutie!

As you can see, I decided to dress her down a bit since it's already quite warm here. She probably wouldn't need her beret and sweater in 77º F weather. Besides, you can really appreciate the detailing of her dress this way.

Yet another try at the "doll holding flowers" shot that nearly always goes awry for me. This time, it turned out OK although you can tell the bouquet is already starting to fall apart. I pick the flowers at the last moment before the shot so they don't have time to wilt (much) before the photo is taken.

Finally, a bit of lagniappe.... The bouquet is really beginning to wilt and fall apart at this point so this shot is the best of a bad lot. With each successive shot from this pose, there were fewer flowers and they looked sadder. Doesn't take long for that to happen.

Over all, I'm really happy with this girl. Aside from the marathon computer babysitting session needed to pre-order her, I was please with my purchase. With a full set of spare hands and extra clothes and accessories, I think she was a reasonable value. Hopefully, I can take more shots of her in the near future but we shall see about that!

Adventurer's Club- April 2014

This month's Adventurer's Club theme is Exotic Animal and we find Lycee engaged in a debate with her subject. She insist he's a blue dragon but he disagrees.

Lycee: Seriously, a Mediterranean House Gekko? Man, you're a Dragon!

No way! Dragons are fantasy creatures and I'm just a common, ordinary lizard.

Lycee: Dude, this is unreal! I've spent a month studying every reptile in this area and you are a DRAGON! Not a Gekko! Gekkos aren't blue, they aren't big, they don't have wings and they can't speak!

I can't believe you think I'll fall for that "I'm just a Gekko" line. I know a blue horned Dragon when I see one and you're it!

Hey sorry lady, I'm no doctor of reptilolgy or whatever! Besides, I'm pretty sure I said Blue Skink and not Gekko... yeah, just a common winged, horned, talking Blue Skink. Not just talking but fully sentient. Or is it sapient? I always get those confused.