The series begins! The armor is not 100% ready (I suppose it will never be because people are constantly modding their armor) and I needed to test it out nearby before I ventured out on the trains. I thought a good place to start would be the local shopping mall. if anything fell off - I could get home within a few mins and fix it - if the cod piece fell off in akihabara however, I would have a BAD time about it.
As some of you know, I got this armor from a con-artist called COSTUMEJUNKIE - you *need* to
read about him - be warned and be wiser.
Anyway - as long as the weather permits, I will be off to Akihabara tomorrow to take some more shots - coming soon!
Before we have a look at the pics taken around town, I just thought I would go into a session of how-to-put-on-armor...
First up - body glove. This came with the suit but has one MAJOR drawback - there is no separate zip down under - today I am going to get a zip and modify the glove so that I can take a leek - the cod piece already lifts upwards so as long as I aim carefully, I wont get steaming yellow stains on the shins.
Next up is the torso - as you can see the cod piece has been cut for extra maneuverability.
Then the thighs go on - I cut the right leg too small - its quite tight now :-( I need to think of something to make it more comfortable.
The belt goes on next - still needs a ton of modifications. I added a pouch on the right to put stuff in - a camera case that I picked up for about 2,300 yen from Bic Camera.
The chest armor is now on. The shoulder bells came with snaps but I found that they kept falling off so I attached the bells dead so that they cant come off - just means that putting on the chest armor is a bit like putting on a t-shirt.
Then come the arm pieces and gloves. The body glove has loops on the end of the arms so that I can loop my thumbs through them - without them, the arms would roll up and skin should show through - looks terrible - stormtrooper showing skin!
If you cant get hold of a body glove with these loops then you should get hold of black gloves with a long sleeve.
You may be able to make out the look over my right thumb. Now the blaster goes in - not the resin piece of crap that
COSTUMEJUNKIE shipped to me but a Kenner blaster that I picked up from Amazon.
Just about ready to troop. Drink tons of water - but dont drink too much or you will want to go for a pee.
The boots and shins are kept near the entrance.
I really like this photo that my wife took for me with the new SLR wide angle lens. You notice that I did not attach the thermal detonator to the belt yet - still figuring out what the best way to do it is. Dont really want to use velcro.
Compared to many other countries, the crime rate in Japan is relatively low - a cat being stabbed makes the top evening news for example (yep - cats get stabbed from time to time).
This yellow sign is telling people that they should lock their doors when they leave the house - many people dont lock the front door because it is so safe.
But then again, it depends on where you live. I have always lived in the more better off neighborhoods whilst in Japan (because I used to live in a dump called HACKNEY back in London). There are indeed areas where for some reason, crime rates concentrate in areas where there are many non-japanese living. Unfortunately - many foreigners come to Japan to do bad things which is why many Japanese have a bad impression of foreigners altogether :-(
In Japan, you will find many places which have plastic mockups of their food on display - I think its a great idea and helps one to decide what they want to eat.
If you are going for a stroll to the bank in your armor - be prepared to be stopped about 102 times for people to take your photo - you should be a good trooper and offer to take a picture with them too.
Stormtrooper in our local shopping arcade. These shopping districts are called Shotengai - most stations have some sort of Shotengai nearby - some are sad with a handful of shops but some are amazing like this one - full of anything and everything - and yes - a Gundam shop too.
Try not to wave too much at people in cars as they often forget to look where they are going and end up crashing or something.
"Tachiyomi" is the Japanese word for "reading whilst standing up" - I love Japanese as there are words for everything!
You will find many people doing Tachiyomi just about everywhere.
But dont Tachiyomi for too long as the shop keeper will have you thrown out.
No surprise but the kids love Stormtroopers. But if they are about 2-3 years old then stay away as they start to cry when they see you.
I used to order only egg and cucumber when going to eat sushi with my wife but can eat much more now including the gross looking fish eggs.
Take a break once in a while by just standing there.
Japan is still very much a bicycle nation - much more than China I would say. Shanghai has gotten rid of many of its bicycle lanes and you see less and less of them.
Most people use their bikes to get to and from the station or for shopping.
If you aim at kids - they run away. if you stop aiming, they come back.
The Stormtrooper kind of looks bare without some sort of weapon in its hands...
Separated in a corner of most convenient stores are the market research magazines.
Depending on where you live, the convenience store will carry different selections. This is because they have also done *their* market research and know to only carry mags which sell in a particular area.
Just need to get some milk...
LAOX is an electronics store which you will find all over Japan - convenient to have one nearby for emergencies like "I need a new plasma cos my one melted due to the heat it emitted".
The thermal detonator will go on this weekend - I was going to try to make it some sort of water container.
Paying for milk in the local Seven Eleven (which I am not going back to). The manager came out screaming because we were taking some shots - what an idiot.
This lady was perfectly OK with it though and enjoyed the show.
