Sideshow Collectibles Black Friday Deals Week Ends Today

For the life of me, I could not find a way to get to Sideshow’s Black Friday Deals Week page from their home page, but I was clicking around today doing lazy Cyber Monday shopping and finally found it.

They’ve got an awesome deal on the Square Enix Play Arts Kai Street Fighter Akuma and Cammy for $30 each – those normally go for over $50. I’ve been resisting Predators in the 1/6 scale, but they’ve also got Hot Toys Shadow and Tracker Predators on sale for $199 each.

Sale ends today – happy shopping!

via Black Friday 2012 | Sideshow Collectibles.

NYCC 2012: Square Enix Play Arts Kai

Square Enix continues to impress me, show after show. They have some awesome stuff on display for Street Fighter, Halo, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, and Mass Effect. But I was really impressed by a Starship Troopers figure I hadn’t seen before, and the Batman stuff is mind-blowing. After Hot Toys I didn’t think I’d collect another scale for The Dark Knight, but their Bane, Catwoman, and Joker are looking really damn good.

Continue reading “NYCC 2012: Square Enix Play Arts Kai”

Quick Pic – Street Fighter Akuma and Ryu, Take 3 and Done!

I promise – this is the last shot of Akuma and Ryu! I mentioned yesterday that I wanted Ryu’s head framed by the fireball, so I made that minor adjustment plus repositioned his left hand so the palm would catch some of the reflection off of the fireball too. And while I liked how in the second shot it looked like Akuma was appearing out of the darkness, I wanted to see what it would be like with some lighting on his sides, so you can make out his entire silhouette. For this I used the LED book lights, as the flexible necks let me position the lights exactly where I wanted them.

I noticed too that the straps from Ryu’s headband had fallen out in the previous pics, so this gave me an opportunity to add it back in.  And finally, tilting the camera allowed me to fill a rectangular image instead of having some unnecessary blank spots in a square. The added benefit – drama! At this point, I don’t think there’s anything other changes to make (hence my promise) – but if you have suggestions, let me know.

Although this was not intended, you’ve have now sort of been through my process of composing shots – snap pics, see how they look, and make incremental adjustments… and repeat. But instead of this being in one sitting, because of time limits the past few nights, it’s gone over a few days instead. If you want to see the progression, here’s the first shot of Akuma vs. Ryu and here’s take two of Akuma vs. Ryu. Thanks for looking!

Quick Pic – Street Fighter Akuma and Ryu, Take 2

After I posted the quick pic of Akuma and Ryu yesterday, I realized that although I liked the shot, I was stuck in the two dimensional mindset of two Street Fighters on the video game screen. I hadn’t yet dismantled the setup from the day before, so I rotated the scene a little and lowered the vantage point of my camera.

I raised Ryu’s hands up so there’d be a few more spots for the purple light to shine. In hindsight I should have shifted Ryu to his right a little so that the left side of his head would have gotten some light.

Quick Pic – Street Fighter Akuma and Ryu

When I was taking pictures for my laser pointer tutorials, my Akuma from the Square Enix Play Arts Kai Street Fighter line was indisposed. I had actually ripped one of his arms out of its shoulder socket, as the hinge that allows the forward / back motion was fused and ripped when I tried to free the joint. The customer service folks at Big Bad Toy Store were great, and sent me a replacement figure.

Set up for this shot was pretty simple. I shot in the dark with a 100 ISO setting on the camera, so the shutter would stay open for quite a bit of time. I had my LED book lights set to the sides, but pointed away from the figures so only a minimal amount of light would shine on them. Then I used my blue / purple laser pointer and mad made sure to move it all over the fireball accessory while the shutter was open – that way the pic would get a lot of bright light on the fireball itself, as well as throw off diffused purple highlights on Akuma and Ryu.

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