Category: Miscellaneous

Why They Come Here

April 8, 2008

My brother sent me a list of google search terms that have resulted in visits to this blog, and I thought it amusing to share some.

For starters, the number one search that leads to this blog is obvious: R & K S (not initials, our actual names, which as a rule I keep off the blog). It’s somewhat strange, and more than a little creepy, that searching for our names returns a blog that I try very hard to keep our names off! It’s reassuring however to note that when I search for the above term this blog is not even in the top 200 links. Other popular searches are similar, involving our names and sometimes the word ‘blog’.

The second most popular search term that has led to hits on this blog is: PSP 2001pb (more than 100 hits). Which is obviously related to this entry. More than 100 people have apparently visited the blog for that entry…

The third most popular topic made me smile: They Were Heppoko (hence it’s return…)

The fourth most popular topic is the wizardry series of games, specifically Wizardry Gaiden or Wizardry Asterisk for GBA/DS respectively. The most relevant post would be this one.

More than a few times people have searched for specific entries, using such terms as (click on them to see the entry they were obviously after):
“voting is irrelevant I am your leader zod”
“billy ocean loverboy mos eisley star wars”

And occasionally some really crazy searches end up here, such as Tara Reid, ‘dudley mines‘ and ‘broke her leg‘ 🙂

Bernard’s blog seems to be invaluable to the community of people who search google for origami information, incidentally!

Jesus Lizard

March 31, 2008

I love ‘box toys’. I love them to death.

These are toys, often ‘action figures’, sold in sealed boxes so one doesn’t know what they are buying. Each series usually has a half-dozen or more different toys in it, and half the fun of buying them is wondering which one will be in your box. In Japan, KLS and I buy vast amounts of these. For particularly good series we’ll buy several, to increase our chances of getting ones we like.

When they first appeared they were relatively inexpensive (one or two hundred Yen), so the lower cost offset the fact you were taking quite a gamble. These days they have become much higher quality, and are priced higher to match. So some of them cost more than actually buying packaged action figures (where you can see what you are getting). Even so, the allure remains, especially if the sculpts are excellent (which they usually are).

A couple of weeks ago I bought a single box from the Ultimate Monsters Godzilla series. There are six possible figures inside, and I pulled ‘version 2’ of Godzilla 2004. It was immediately obvious that this was no standard boxed figure, but in actuality a scaled down PVC model kit:

< Unassembled

Twenty five pieces in total (I left out one sheet of spines in the image)! The body and limbs are painted PVC, and the spikes are molded rubberized plastic. Each spike was different, and coded to fit into one of the 18 slots on his back:

The attention to detail was amazing given how small the kit is, and everything fitted together perfectly. Here’s a shot of the finished beast, who stands less than 10 cm tall:

< Godzilla!

Even though the support is shown in that picture, he doesn’t need it to stand.

All in all this is one of the most impressive box toys I have ever seen/assembled. And it’s not even a video game character or cute girl! I’ll have to pay more attention to the monster boxes from now on!

Feedback Please

March 24, 2008

As you can see, I have changed the appearance of the blog. Please post comments on whether you like the new appearance or not.

The name changed as well. The old one was a bit of a misnomer…this is more accurate I believe.

I assure you the average content will not change 🙂

Edit: Ok I am sticking with Beach House. I added a search bar, changed the name again, and will in the next few days change the photo and the colours (maybe). Thanks for the feedback!

Robot Claw