Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Broken Clock - Major Section Update

This update is in honour of the announced english localisation of Tales of Graces! Three cheers in joy! :D

So!

The menu bar for the site has been changed to include a direct link to the Tales subcategory, since it's grown so exponentially large in a very short time that I felt it deserved its own title (even though I've yet to extricate it from the 'extras' subcat).

The Tales of section is completely up-to-date with pictures with the sole exception of Settei scans, since those will take a considerable amount of time due to the number of pages there are to go through, pick from and scan. I'm expecting a lonely two more Tales figures (Altair Flynn statue and Repede's Yuri plush) before I pick up a box of Abyss PPP and Phantasia One-Coins, and then I'll be temporarily finished with this collection until I can find the Repede plush keychain and the blastia pendant from the film (a major want for me -- will sell soul for) and Kotobukiya inevitably announces Graces One-Coins.

Minor updates have also been made to the Pokedolls section. ((Click to read more...))

Monday, July 12, 2010

Forced Menus

The Broken Clock now has forced menus! That means you can link directly to a subpage anywhere on the site and the menu frames will automatically load! It takes a few settings to initiate but it definitely works :D (In IE you will need to approve ActiveX control if the little bar pops up. This is because the forced frameset uses a touch of javascript)

Same deal will be coming for The Radiant Glyph soon enough.


Several galleries have been updated with new additions and the Other/Special tab has undergone some drastic changes. The new pages still lack photos but will be full soon enough. I am also rethreading all the galleries with thumbnails as opposed to resized images to decrease loading time for the pages.

((Click to read more...))

Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Radiant Glyph; The Broken Clock: Live!

Finally both The Radiant Glyph and the Broken Clock are finally live :D

There is still some housekeeping to do; the gallery on TRG needs to be updated and several pages on TBC need some dusting but aside from that it's all ready to go!

What are the two sites for?



The Radiant Glyph is a site specifically for my art and information about my writing. There's not much of the latter up at the moment; I take it very seriously and I'm still scratching my head about what I should put there. The art gallery showcases a lot of work -- not everything but still much.

The Broken Clock is specifically a collection site showcasing my toy collections which I am extremely proud of. There are several different sections and subsections as I collect many different things. This page is being constantly updated and over the next couple weeks will undergo some major shifts as I clean things up a bit.
((Click to read more...))

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Broken Clock: Mini Review - Hot Toys At World's End Jack Sparrow

Welcome to the first entry for The Broken Clock.



Don't look at me like that, the pokeball was the perfect size and there; I couldn't resist XD

McFarlane, NECA, Medicom, eat your heart out.
Jack is from the Hot Toys Movie Masterpieces 2007 line and is in some respects a hybrid of a BJD and an action figure. He was a bit hard to find cheaper than a small fortune but I ended up lucky enough to pay what he sold for when he was actually available to buy. I've been putting bits and pieces of money away for him ever since I fell in love with the figure's pictures and I was finally able to afford one very recently.



On top of being unbelievably poseable, he's also quite large, and yes, every layer of clothing is individual and removeable, inluding the belts which have working buckles.

And his pants and jacket have real, deep pockets. That's more than what most people jackets get! God I hate finding sewn-up pockets on coats D:< src="http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9343/img5871l.jpg" width="300">
Why so serious, Jackie? Actually, there is another figure from Dead Man's Chest (this one is from At World's End) that comes with an alternate head that has the most cheeky smirk ever.
See for yourself!

If only that figure had also come with the coat and hat, I might have bought it instead, but ultimately, Jack isn't Jack without his effects. I'll just have to keep my eyes open since sometimes they sell the heads separate on eBay


Speaking of Jack's effects, this is what he came with besides the hat and the clothes on his back. Everything is really detailed. The compass actually has a working latch and opens.

A note about the hands as well that really caught my attention; a lot of these detailed, highly-articulated and hand-changeable action figures (if you happen to have had any Play-Arts figures in the past, for the Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts fans on my FL, you'll know what I mean) have very stiff ball joints made of a non-malleeable plastic and so are prone to breaking. So changing the hands is usually a once-only, very careful event, unless you're willing to submerge a figure's arm for ten minutes in boiling water just to swap out a hand for a fist or a fist for a grabbing hand.

Jack's hands however are made of a firm but pliable rubber with separated fingers that will move to fit around the things in his hands. In being so, they're also extremely easy and safe to switch over.


The thing I found most interesting about his outfit and you can really see it here is how everything has been distressed and 'dirtied-up' instead of just being barbie-doll clothes sewn up and smacked on the figure like some of the other Jacks I've seen.

I would have taken off the jacket to show his outfit underneath but I didn't want to mess up the belts and bits and such XDD Too much of a pain to put back together!

Here's the official promo pic instead: http://hottoys.com.hk/images/detailed_images/294DSCN1890_3x4.jpg


If I had to name any negatives, I'd probably mentioned these few things.
First of all, unlike some of the newer HT figures with high boots, Jack's boots aren't material and are instead moulded in place, which takes away the normal ankle articulation that the Hot Toys figure body usually has. Similarly, the bracelets on his right hand serve the same purpose, but in the name of realism they're minor issues at best.
Probably my biggest beef with everything was that all of Jack's dangly effects came separate in the packaging and needed to be attached by hand. It was an extremely tedious task, especially re-doing his belt after having to undo it for the compass and the keys, and the fox tails gave me a lot of grief. All in all, it took me more than an hour just to help Jack get his act together.


All in all, I thout it money well-spent. Normally I feel guilty and beat myself up over spending even $30 on a day out, but I smile every time I look at this figure and the good thing is the rest of the family loves him too (it probably helps that I saved especially for him instead of just blowing money away).
((Click to read more...))