A-kon in Dallas

(my friend said she was going to a-kon & i thought she meant an akon concert but now i know)

Yeah, hopefully we can figure out something. To be honest though, I'm not sure how they could help DBF at the moment; I'd have to think of a plan for what I could do for them and what it would in turn do for us. For example, if I was allowed to announce figures before anybody else... other than being cool, how would it benefit DBF? That's the sort of question floating in my sleepy brain right now.

The reason I bought so many is because I'm really frugal. On Thursday I looked up how much each of the figures were selling for, and I decided I wanted to get any that I would be able to get a good deal on. It all started with how I preordered 4 Krillin and 4 Goku from Anime Rider so I'd qualify for free shipping. I had a coupon code for that store, and so I saved a bunch of money, getting them for about 32 each I think. So anyway, I bought these for several reasons... potential customs if I decide to make any... a good investment... and just to have them. I would hate for them to someday make Tien and Yamcha, love them, and decide I want the entire z fighter group, and have to spend huge amounts of money to get these characters.

I don't think I'm going to open any of them at the moment unfortunately. I don't have anywhere to display them open. Figuarts Piccolo is perfect scale for a 5 inch scale King Piccolo, but I already have one of them started in my works in progress. Lol and it sure would be dumb to use this version when he was so much more expensive than the manga color version of Piccolo!



Well... I don't want to say anything that will jeopardize any relationship with them, but it's specifically Bandai Japan. Which... is amazing and awesome.




It's pretty awesome huh? I'm glad I could share how good the experience was, as I went into it thinking that I wouldn't really enjoy it, as I thought I wasn't geeky enough to have any interest in it. I mean, I pretty much only like DB and DBZ, so I have no interest in newer/other anime shows. A lot of people there were much more into anime than me, and so I really didn't know if I would fit in. I went into it thinking the only thing that would interest me is if I bought figures there, and I thought "well, I have eBay, Amazon, etc. so why would I want to go to this?" To be honest, if I had to pay $220 a night at the hotel, $20 a day for parking, and the cost of getting a badge, I wouldn't go... because I'm overall not geeky enough to enjoy it... not for that price. But Bluefin gave me a badge so I spent nothing on that, the first day I did pay $20.57 to park, but they gave me a Tamashii stand basically as a reimbursement, they gave me a parking pass for the rest of the days, and so I'm basically only out a full tank of gas driving there from home, and whatever income I would have made working Thursday and Friday had I stayed home. I think for my level of geek, I'd be happy to work with Bluefin again and do everything I did, but if I was paying my own way, I'd probably just go to the hotel early on a Saturday, pay to park, and hang out in the lobby areas so I would be able to see all of the cosplay people and not have to pay for a badge. You have to have a badge to go into the areas where you can buy things, just so you know. It was very good people watching, and that's not something that normally interests me, so that says something! I think it's worth $20 parking to just go inside, hang out all day, and take pictures of these incredibly creative people. Something else that concerned me going into this was going by myself. Despite how outgoing I am, I was concerned about going into it, not having any friends. But friends came easily, especially because of the dance and because of cosplayers I'd approach and talk to. Oh, and of course the guys I was working with, they were really great. So if you have never been to a comic con or anime con, it's definitely a fun time, even if you're solo, about ten years older than many of the other people there, and anime doesn't rule your life.



They did give me a discount on the products, but no, I didn't get paid. I don't want to say the discount amount because I imagine it varies based on how many hours you put in, how helpful you are, how good of a sales person you are, and how much they like you.

This is to everyone-- if anybody does want to volunteer to work any conventions with Bluefin... and you are a valuable DBF member (AKA somebody who posts often enough that I am actually familiar with you and how much you enjoy DBF)... I'd be happy to email one of the guys at Bluefin and recommend you. I was kind of flattered they chose me after I found out I wasn't just one of the only people who offered or something. I was actually chosen out of a group of like 15 people apparently, and it was mostly because I was the owner of DBF and available to work 4 hours or more every day. The other volunteer I was working with had worked with them before, so I believe that made me the only newbie unless one of the guys who came from California with them was new.

@baneofdemon22 You're welcome! I wish I could say more, but I promised I wouldn't! I think the best I can do is say that if anybody is for some reason worried that Android 17 and 18 are the last figuarts figures, that isn't the case. I obviously did not see them, but there are several prototypes in the works. I won't give you any hints .


That would actually be quite amazing as long as I didn't have to move from Dallas. When I exchanged cards with the CEO of Bluefin, he was interested that I'm a graphic and web designer, and I hope something comes from that. God knows I need to recover from the loss of my biggest client in December, and I need more work. Work for a client who makes things I am interested in and enjoy...? Can't get more perfect than that.

If they would be open to it, and interested (and based on some of the things I was asked, I think they might be) I would be EXTREMELY interested if they would have me do some sort of consulting work regarding the design of the DBZ figures. My eye for proportions and scale is hard to beat, and there aren't too many people who have such a familiarity with DB/Z for (getting close to) two decades in the US. I think if they used me for research, ideas, design approvals, etc. that I could offer them a lot of perspective in making even more amazing products, things American (and other primarily English speaking collectors) would want to buy even more of, and in making sure they make the things that the hardcore collectors want overall. As a lot of you guys know, who have been members here and on DBT for many years, if they wanted me to consult with them on designs for figuarts and other lines of product, we definitely wouldn't have a Cell with slightly strange eyes and murky paint colors, and we'd have a Krillin and Gohan that definitely scaled better with just how small they should have been. Oh, and Future Trunks... yeah, as amazing as he looks, he never should have been made about 8% too small. He's such a fantastic looking figure, but he needed to be between Goku and Vegeta in both height and size to be appropriate.

Here's a link to my pics I took while there
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.255137848005770.1073741840.170420306477525

If you like to wear your DBZ fandom with pride in public, go ahead and like DBF on facebook as well.

Here's some of my favorite pics:




This awesome Sora


That's funny, I didn't know saiyen came all the way from France


Amazing Mermaid costume


I turned around and she was standing there and my brain was like "Are you here to see me? "


Perfect Ryu and Chunli that juanjorman will like


Cutest Bulma I saw


I lost my #^$&ing mind when I saw this Sephiroth!


These girls win my award for being the most creative and handy


Frieza!


Zarbon!


Sometimes when you're born looking like a character, cosplay is magical. He looked exactly like my "memory" of Auron (but younger).


More amazing Sephiroth... I'm so glad I ran into him again



You want to talk about somebody being born looking like a character? If he hasn't had plastic surgery, this is amazing. Even more amazing is how slim he is yet strong looking, just like the character.



This was the most awesome costume I saw. The guy said he spent thousands of hours on it.


This pocket sized pikachu was so cute , she asked if I wanted to be in the photo too


Highest quality female costume I saw as far as sewing and everything was concerned.


This costume was the best female one I saw though. I couldn't believe how unreal she looked from far away or closeup. I wish my pics of her were better.


Look how intricate everything is.


This was cool.


Check out the full album to see more awesomeness.

hey Bran I just wanted to say good going on the Tamashi hook up!

I have only just joined up but I know from lurking your level of expectation of exactness rivals my own! I don't think its too much to expect a few more percentage to detail when making these awesome figures, so hopefully they will listen to someone like you who knows what they are talking about.

im away for the next fortnight without net access and I presume the sdcc exclusive will be revealed in that time,doh! so c'mon tell us if you know !! only joking

well done again

king there is actually a very thin, average height guy inside there! I saw a pic of him getting into it. He must be some sort of genius because that thing was cool.

now that you mention it, i think there is an eyehole at the base of the triangle under the chest.

BTW how did Tamashi know you were the creator/owner of DBF?