Tag Archives: Random Thoughts

Year Three Retrospective

written on February 23, 2012 by Tier

This site is three years old today. Running this site has felt a bit like real life: the first year was like college, where I did a lot of dumb things and generally didn’t know what I was doing. The second year was like transitioning from school to work, where I was happy to be making money, particularly happy to be spending money, and discovered new interests, met new people, and started trying to make sense of where I was going. The third year was a bit like a job; this site is just what I do now, and I do it without really thinking a lot about it. That’s not a negative thing, mind you – this site is far more fun to run than my day job. But though it’s fun, maintaining this site is a routine to me – a comfortable routine, to be sure, but it’s not as surprising or novel as it was during the first or second years.

I don’t talk a lot about me on this site – at least, I don’t think I do, although I suppose I wouldn’t know if I do – but today I indulge myself, and I’ll write a bit about what it’s like to operate Tentacle Armada.
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Preorder Outlook XVI

written on February 5, 2012 by Tier

With the winter Wonder Festival convention less than a week away, now seems a good time to take a look at some figures I’m thinking of ordering. It’s a bit of a sparse list, though, and it’s hard to believe that most of the figure catalog for the first half of 2012 has already been filled in. I guess everyone – figure makers included – is just waiting for that one Saber motorbike figure.
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2011 In Review & My Five Favorite Figures of the Year

written on December 31, 2011 by Tier

2011 has flown right by, and as usual, here is the wrapup for this past year. I’ll start off with my five favorite figures of the year and then talk a little bit about what some figure makers did in 2011.
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Preorder Outlook XV

written on December 25, 2011 by Tier

Happy Christmas to everybody. Nominally this is a time to celebrate with one’s friends and family but we all know it’s also a time to buy lots of really cool stuff. And since this site is all about figures, let’s take a look at some figures that look pretty cool and are worth some money.
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Random Thoughts: On Prints and Post-Processing

written on December 1, 2011 by Tier

For most of us, the process of taking pictures is digital from start to finish. The picture is captured by a digital camera, uploaded to a computer, optionally imported into Lightroom, Photoshop, or some other processing application, and then is typically viewed on a monitor or a device LCD, probably in a browser window. However, there’s something really neat about seeing a printed version of a photograph. Even though I scarcely used a camera during my childhood, I was always thrilled to see pictures after my dad brought them back from the one-hour photo processor (unless the pictures were of me – I hated having my picture taken). Now, it takes a bit longer than an hour to get prints delivered – unless you go to a local Costco or other print shop – but it’s no less delighting.
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Preorder Outlook XIV

written on October 14, 2011 by Tier

New preorder post but no Fates are listed within … what is this world coming to? Though this post is lessened by the lack of Fate, there are still a lot of great figures that are up for preorder, so let’s get to it.
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Random Thoughts IX

written on August 31, 2011 by Tier

I am old and the mind wanders when it gets old. Thus, this is the post in which I write about various random things.
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Preorder Outlook XIII

written on August 20, 2011 by Tier

The period before last month’s Wonder Festival was weak with respect to preorders, but with the sequence of major conventions over and done with, figures have been going up with great speed. Figures are also getting released, but I wouldn’t know anything about that because Amiami is not shipping one of my orders, despite me e-mailing a request to do so. It’d be really nice if they had an automated order management system like a certain other retailer so I could get my stuff with a minimum of fuss.
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Preorder Outlook XII

written on July 5, 2011 by Tier

For the past few weeks, it seems like there’s been nothing up for preorder but re-releases and recolors and figures from series that already have a ton of figures like Strike Witches, Bakemonogatari, and K-On! Some of the recolors are attractive, except I already have the originals, or I’ve got them on preorder. But there have been a few interesting figures that have gone up for order in the last few days, so now is as good a time as any to take a look at them.
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Preorder Outlook XI

written on May 6, 2011 by Tier

Another month, another list of preorders to think about. Figures are coming out fast and furious and since my Junko pictures came out junk, let’s take a look at some of the things I’ve ordered and am thinking about ordering.
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Posted in Preorder Outlook | Tagged , , | 42 Comments