dannychoo.com - Danny Choo : Anime, Figures, Idols, Gundam, Otaku and Events from Japan

Tokyo Dance Trooper with NIKK

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:48:00 +0900

The video shot in Shibuya at the end of last year - photo coverage in this article.

If you would like to share this video, click on the "menu" button on the player to grab the embed code. If you are sending this to a friend/foe or submitting to a social bookmarking site, use the link below and direct folks to YouTube instead.
%%http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0JZO0wga94 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0JZO0wga94%%.
For those who cant be bothered to watch the video - a few shots below.

Wondering which video you prefer - this or the previous Shibuya Dance Trooper one. Also, if you have any requests for locations or music for the future videos let me know ^^;

By Danny Choo on 2008/01/14 00:00

Shibuya Trooper Uncut

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 22:42:00 +0900

And just why do I have a snap of the official Star Wars blog header at the top of this article?

Because the Tokyo Dance Trooper video has been featured again! Wonder if it will make it to the top page of starwars.com like last time ^^;

Many of you wondered about whether there was any music playing while I ws dancing - indeed there was and you may have made out an iPod in my hand.
T'was a bit awkward as I was the only one who could hear the music. I need to build a speaker into the armor so that others can hear the music too which would make it easier for them to join in.

Below is the video with some uncut scenes including one of me running across hachiko crossing - was going to include this in the original but didnt sync well with the music. I left the original sound in and removed the music too.

And the original version below which has gained 171,082 in just a few days. Thanks to all who featured this vid on their site. And thanks to all for watching too ^^;

Below: official Star Wars blog.

Below: Most viewed music video in Japan for that day.

Below: Made the top favourite for that day.

Below: Two clips from the behind-the-scenes video.

By Danny Choo on 2007/11/02 21:54

Dance Vader

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:16:00 +0900

Shot the day after Tokyo Dance Trooper in Harajuku. The above shot is of Hector and I harassing, erm, I mean dancing with some school girls. Video after the jump.

Didnt really plan this one too much and just went to Harajuku to see what would happen.
Hector was Vader while I wore the trusty ol trooper armor. After watching this vid, you can get yourself along to Hectors site to see the "behind the scenes" video and photos.

This time round, we brought along some portable speakers so that people who were dancing with us could actually hear the music. In the Dance Trooper video, only I could hear the music on the iPod ^^;

You can also see in Hectors video that we were actually dancing (or attempting to) to the same Earth Wind and Fire "lets groove tonight" tune. Didn't want to have the same soundtrack in the final video so replaced it with a tune that had the same tempo.

If you want to share this video, you can find the embed code at YouTube.
By Danny Choo on 2007/07/21 23:28

starwars.com

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:49:00 +0900

I got a message yesterday from Lucasfilm regarding the Tokyo Dance Trooper video...

And the good news is that they loved it! Apparently the video is doing the rounds at Lucasfilm and they told me that they blogged it at the official Star Wars blog.
I couldn't contain my happiness. Then I thought "hang on..." and checked out Starwars.com to discover that I was on the top page (still there for now). At that moment I blacked out from excitement ^^;

Below: According to Technorati, the Dance Trooper vid was the second most blogged about video in the world (yesterday) ^^;

Below: My moment of fame ^^; Wonder if Mr Lucas himself has seen the video yet.

Below: Sneak preview of Dance Vader Episode I. This time we dragged people off the streets of Harajuku to dance with us.

Below: Behind the scenes of Dance Vader. Hector and I getting geared up - Photos and video by my wife ^^;
300 yen for 25 mins of parking is petty - the norm in Tokyo is 300 yen for 30 mins.

By Danny Choo on 2007/07/04 23:01

Star Wars

Mon, 21 May 2007 00:33:00 +0900

Hmmmm. I thought I took more Star Wars pics than this...
Speaking of Star Wars - my Vader soft parts have arrived - the seller forgot to send the gloves though. Will spend time over the next few weeks modifying the armor.

By Danny Choo on 2007/05/20 23:45

Vader Helmet

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0900

Hard parts for my ROTJ Vader armor arrived earlier than I thought. Still need the soft parts before I can actually go anywhere though.

The helmet is humongous and weighs a ton - worried about doing my head in after wearing it for hours on end.
I thought cosplaying as a Stormtrooper was tough but I can see that doing Vader is going to be much more challenging. Unless I carry out some radical mods, I dont think I can go out alone as the helmet is tough to put on...

This is not the full Reveal helmet where the top of the mask comes off but I'm not really bothered about that ^^;

Theres lots of detail under the dome which include a few moving parts @.@
I need to remove all the bits n pieces that you see here however and re-attach properly - you can probably make out a piece missing from the left side of the face.

I may need to get some disposable contact lenses as the helmet is not friendly to folks who wear glasses. For a start, unless you have really small round glasses, the helmet is not going to fit around your face. And even with glasses on, they steam up so you cant see ToT orz

The chest armor is also huge! I find that I need to walk though doors sideways which makes Vader look like such a pratt!
I just realized that I have complained about how big the armor/helmet and forgot that Vader is supposed to be big ^^;

Dont fall for claims of "Ready to wear out of the box" - After my experience buying "Ready to wear Stormtrooper armor", I knew that there was no such thing and this Vader armor is no exception. You can see the neck seal in this photo - I need to take all the bits off and glue them back on properly. Many bits came off just by handling it and I would probably loose the other bits if I went out without modding the whole suit...

Not too sure what to do about a voice changer. Does anybody have that Kenner one thats been available for a while? I also need a way to produce Vaders asthma sounds. I have asthma but its not that bad so I need to think of another way to produce that breathing noise. Probably an iPod attached to speakers of something.
More details pics of the armor at a later date.

BTW, going to Wonder festival tomorrow so expect a ton O figurine news soon ^o^

By Danny Choo on 2007/02/24 23:12

Vader Armor Get

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 22:12:00 +0900

In Japanese, sticking the word "get" on the end of a noun means that you have acquired that noun. "Mirei Figure Get" for example means that you've just got your Mirei figure and have a nose bleed from looking at her.
I can now tell you "Vader Armor Get!" as I ordered some armor from Ebay. These are pics of the armor that I'm supposed to be getting I just hope that I dont end up in another COSTUMEJUNKIE fiasco. Will let you know how it goes.

BTW, you are probably sick of hearing about me being on TV by now but I'm on again this weekend - Tokyo MXTV 10PM. Its the second half of the Akiba Report.
I will also be filming next week in Nakano Broadway so expect to see some otaku goodness form that half of Tokyo too.

BTW2, I'm redesigning the top page and need to ask you for some input in the polls ;-)

By Danny Choo on 2007/02/08 21:24

X-Wing

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 22:42:00 +0900

Wasn't too sure whether to post this but my job is to bring you otaku related Japanese product news so here goes…
The force is strong with this one. Sanitary towel maker Whisper seems to have a bunch of starwars fans in their GTM (Go To Market) department judging from their latest product.
X-Wing is their new napkin which comes with 4 tabs to stop it from sliding around. I don't know about you but the first thing that pops into my mind when I hear X-Wing is one of these…
If you have a better name for this product, let us know…

BTW, I was looking up the Japanese word for a sanitary napkin and came across a site of a person who collected them. I really hope that person is not a man.
By Danny Choo on 2006/12/13 21:54

Japanese Police

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 22:34:00 +0900

Went to get some groceries in armor as usual and saw a girl drop her purse while she was running for something or other. I nabbed the wallet and ran after her but alas I don’t think stormtroopers were designed to run and before I knew it she had disappeared into the night.
There was a police station nearby (known as Kouban (交番(こうばん)) but often spelt as “Koban”) so I decided to hand it in. What I didn’t know is how long I was going to be there…

First off you get asked questions about yourself and what you was doing etc and you get the feeling that they are trying to nail you for stealing somebody’s purse! I was asked for my ID, phone number and address etc. The police then proceeded to put on a pair of white gloves and start to remove the contents of the purse in front me. They counted how much money was inside ( in this case it was about 2,000 yen ) and asked me to confirm the amount and then asked me to sign something to say that I had picked up the purse on XXX and there was XXX amount of money inside yada yada.

At the end of all this they said that they would try to get the purse back to the owner but if they couldn’t then I was entitled to keep the contents of the purse after two weeks had passed. I said that I wasn’t interested in the contents but after spending all that time at the Koban, I wasn’t going to leave until I got a picture with one of the officers ^^;
The officer said that they don’t really allow pictures of them to be taken so I promised not to show the picture to a single soul and then whispered under my breath “apart to my few thousand readers”...
The take aways from this post are:-

If you really don’t have the time then don’t hand anything you find into the police – you will be there for a ages.
Police don’t seem to be good at taking photos…

By Danny Choo on 2006/10/05 21:46

Vader Armor

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 21:24:00 +0900

Been looking around for some decent looking Vader armor and came across seller x t r m at ebay whos Vader armor is going for 2,595 USD. These pics are of the actual armor built by x t r m and looks very nice indeed. Buyer ratings seem to be decent but do let us know if anybody knows otherwise as I don’t really have the time to go through more CostumeJunkie shenanigans.

Or if anybody knows of any other decent Vader armor dealers let us know. Looking to get everything from one seller instead of collecting the bits in pieces from everywhere. The seller I mention above seems to do everything minus gloves, boots and cloak and inner cloak.

The best Vader armor I've seen so far is Vader Painter - has tons of great pics but doesn't really have info on where to get a complete suit.

BTW, I just done a search for costumejunkie and found that my post is now the first result - costumejunkie's site is second after mine! I hope I end up with a nice seller or I'd have to waste time again SEO-ing my posts of wrath...

Update:The google results seem to be different depending on your user settings, locale etc...

By Danny Choo on 2006/06/09 20:36

Stormtrooper armor pics

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 22:25:00 +0900

Been modding the armor for a while now and am down to only a few nags. The Thermal Detonator remains unattached and am still thinking of how to keep it secure and be able to take it off easily for when I get into a car.
Got rid of all the velcro and used flat screws to hold the thighs, shins, upper torso and gauntlets together but am looking for some way to be able to take the armor apart without having to unscrew everything.
The armor on the reverse side looks like crap but I'll take some pics soon so that you can see exactly how I fastened everything together.

Starting off with one of those "trying-to-look-cool-and-failing-miserably" no-helmet pics that all troopers seem to have...

If you are in a good mood, go up to the nearest child nearby and make em cry.

Folks in Japan are required to take home their dogs poop (and bake it?) so stepping in poo is not so much of a problem - unless you go trooping in a park full of poo. In a park, K9 owners can get away without cleaning up after because the poo kind of blends in with the mud (unless the poor hound has had something spicy to eat where the poo will be shiny and runny with maybe a tint of orange).
The morale of this story is that you should not troop in mud because its very hard to see out the helmet.
If you troop in Hackney London however, you will see poo *everywhere* - in the roads, trees, on cars...
Not only do you risk treading in poo (and leaving skiddy marks on the back of your helmet after you slip), you also risk getting beaten up by the local folk living in Hackney who have nothing better to do.

By Danny Choo on 2006/06/02 21:37

Stormtrooper Blaster

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 06:36:00 +0900

Some of you already know about the other Starwars saga and how I got my armor. Well for those who do know will also remember the piece of steaming bubbling baboon shite of a blaster that I received with the armor. I got myself one of those Kenner blasters which was cheap and looked OK but still looked a bit on the crap side - I was left with *two* crap blasters!

Decided to make the best out of the situation and removed some bits from the blaster that came with the armor and used putty to mold it onto the Kenner blaster.
I could get a replica but that costs 69,825 yen - could get another set of authentic armor for that price!

This is the Kenner Blaster all plastered up with the new bits under the blaster. I also plastered up the screw holes too.

And this is the finished product looking much more like the original. If you haven't been sent a steaming blaster, you can always make the extra pieces from ply wood which you can pick up from a local store or borrow some from your neighbors fence.

By the way, I haven't forgotten about the Wonder Festival updates - the mecha section is quite large too so I am going to need just that little bit longer (probably tomorrow).

By Danny Choo on 2006/02/23 05:48

Shepperton Battle Spec

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 08:20:00 +0900

KITAAAAAAA---------!
That's what geeks over here say when something cool arrives in the post or when something cool happens etc. It's usually said a few times in a row. In Japanese you write it as....

キタ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━ッ!!!!!

You would have noticed it being said about a zillion times if you watched Densha Otoko.
Anyway, after waiting for 7 excruciatingly long days, the Battle Spec stormtrooper helmet that I ordered last Tuesday night arrived.
When my helmet shipped, Shepperton gave me the tracking number which I had constantly open in a browser refreshing every 5 seconds...

	Date  	Time  	Tracking Event
14-02-2006 	14:00	Delivered
13-02-2006 	10:51 	Awaiting Customs Clearance
11-02-2006 	01:50 	Awaiting Customs Clearance
11-02-2006 	01:49 	Arrived in destination country
08-02-2006 	11:06 	Left origin country
08-02-2006 	00:28 	Arrived at outward Office of Exchange
07-02-2006 	17:54 	Export item accepted into network
07-02-2006 	17:24 	On route to hub

Ordered the helmet last Tuesday at about 5PM JST - Shepperton got it out the same day. The helmet arrived in Japan on Saturday and was stuck in customs for a few days - got the helmet yesterday - less than a week! I was initially afraid that I may experience a 10 week wait...
Anyway, lets look at the goodies.

This is the box that it came in (figures not included). Customs had to open the box to decide how much they should leech from me - 2,700 yen - not as bad as the 15,000 yen (cant remember exact amount) that I was charged for my initial armor.

The helmet was double boxed and padded in tons of bubble wrap - you can see that care was taken to ensure it arrived in one piece.

And this is the Battle spec out of the box. My first impressions were...
1.It looked a bit flat faced but the stormtroopers in the movies looked like that too and...
2.Light! The battle Spec weighs in at about 0.6kgs while the AFX weighs a whopping 1.6kgs! No bloody wonder I kept having headaches when trooping.

Battle spec from the side...

Battle Spec from the back...

Another side-of-face shot...
The brow doesn't really look like the brow in the Battle Spec photos on Shepperton Studio's site but this can be remedied first by removing all the screws in the helmet and cutting a higher brow.

The blue tube looks rather coolio indeed.

The chin part for some reason had indents in it. Not sure whether it was because the person who glued it on used a pointy object to push it down or whether the indents were there because the originals had them too.. Whatever the reason - it does not look too good. I think I can plaster over it and paint over it again though...

Compared to the AFX, the inside is dead plain - which is a good thing. The whole helmet can be taken apart just by removing six screws.

As you can see, the frown ( just like the originals ) isn't covered with mesh like the AFX is. Somebody standing close to you will be able to see your mouth and if they are standing very close they will be able to see the bogies up your nostrils - therefore I will be "meshing" my frown.

Close up of side. The eye cutout looks a bit wonky but forgivable.

I was rather disappointed here - the tape used for the frown didn't cover the white gaps which meant that I had to go out and get some grey electrical tape to finish off the job...
Click on the image to see a large version to see what I mean.

This was rather shocking too but I suppose it was the same material they used for the original helmets - the lens piece was just a flimsy piece of film - very flimsy! My glasses butted against the film and made marks in them. Good thing I know just the place to get some decent film - see further down.

Comparison time. Battle spec on the left and AFX on the right. Mizuki prefers the Battle Spec.

Comparison shot from the side. You can see just how huge the AFX is - the back of the helmet looks toooo square and the tube that goes around the helmet is just huuuuge.

Comparison shot of the back. Again, you can see just how big the AFX is.

I think this picture says it all - the AFX can probably fit two small heads in there.

OK, so what about the AFX? Well let me take some pics before I take it apart. These are the ever so useless fans which a certain somebody put in. All they do is just blow around the hot air in the helmet and seem to only serve the purpose of making noise.

Inner front of the AFX. The black knob is a speaker used as a microphone to feed into the voice changer hidden in the front of the helmet. You can see the mesh underneath the frown - will have to do the same for the Battle Spec.

Another AFX shot - that thing you see in the helment is supposed to clamp around your head - quite useless.

Front tube part of the AFX - its got so much space inside that you can probably fit in your cat and a few eggs.

Just added this photo now as I didn't notice it before - its the Battle Spec with the sun bouncing off it - click it to enlarge and you will notice the wrinkles in the helmet - The original moulds must have cracked or something over time.

Here are all the bits n bobs that I had to get from Tokyu Hands. You can see the green film - a much thicker film which doesn't crumple up when my glasses rub against it - 147 yen.
Then there's the metal mesh which I will use under the frown - 997 yen.
You can see the electrical tape needed to redo the frown 99 yen...
Also got a chin strap to hold the helmet in place so that it doesn't fall off when raiding a Blockade Runner...

Anyway, despite the blemishes which can be easily(ish) fixed, the Battle Spec is something I'm relatively pleased with. Its made by the original maker, its light weight and the maker shipped it on the day I ordered!
The AFX on the other hand is heavy (very), large (very) and doesn't look movie accurate.
I only wished that I ordered my armor and helmet from Shepperton Design Studios in the first place - yes they do armor too! And as you can see from the pictures in that link - they use the original moulds for the armor as well. Now I just need to find an excuse for my wife to purchase their armor too...
How about: "The doctor told me I only have 30 days to live but if I get some of that Shepperton armor, I will be cured..."

Shepperton Design Studios
www.sdsprops.com
76 The Green
Twickenham
Middlesex TW2 5AG
UK
Tel +44 (0)208 898 4839
Fax +44 (0)208 755 0981
info@sdsprops.com

By Danny Choo on 2006/02/16 07:32

Shepperton Design Studios

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 23:16:00 +0900

Just got off the phone with a nice lady at Shepperton Studios - the folks who made the original Stormtrooper helmets. Apparently they have this Battle Spec helmet in stock and can ship as soon as tomorrow. I'll remain skeptical until I actually see it in my hands - have been bitten once - hope it wont happen again but you never know. Have already sent mail twice but no reply...

I'm excited about this helmet as the Armor FX is just too big - folks who eat sleep and poo Starwars will tell you that the Armor FX just looks wrong and I'm telling you first hand - its wrong! I suppose the person who designed it made it on the large side for folks with large facial parts? Have a look at the comparisons - the Armor FX is the one on the left.
The Battle Spec cost an arm, a leg and a little finger - ended up paying 62,000 yen yen for it.

Was thinking of taking the both of us to Hawaii late Feb - not sure what the weather is like out there at this time of year. Any recommendations?
I'm looking to take flying lessons and enjoy sun sea and sand - or does Hawaii have a rainy season at this tiime of year?

By Danny Choo on 2006/02/07 22:28

Akiba Trooper

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:32:00 +0900

So you've seen my trooping shenanigans at Akihabara and I thought I'd bring you some pics that you may have seen before including the ones you haven't.
I get asked from time to time "why do you do it?" which I think is an odd question but here goes...
Always wanted to be a trooper since I was a wee lad and since income from the affiliate sites are doing quite well, my wife permitted me to use some of that hard earned commission on some armor instead of spending it all on the bloody mortgage. But what's the point of having armor when you're only going to wear it at home?

OK, before I babble on, I've had many comments saying that the armor looks groovesome - but they haven't seen it close up - if they did they would have said "hmmm - looks like seven shades of bantha pudoo" - and we all know why...
Anyway - since these pics, I've been spending quite a bit of time upgrading the armor ever since I heard a couple say to themselves on the train "erm, it looks kinda rough close up...".
Pics of the armor upgrades coming soon together with "Trooper goes Skiing in Naeba" - watch this space - I think you may like...
By the way, these fab pictures were taken by Gonzague of Akihabara News and the lens used was actually the 18-200 Tamron.

Akihabara - also known as Akiba - is the place you will normally want to visit as soon as you get off the plane - like many of the visitors to Tokyo do as you can see from many of these shots.

Person next to Stormtrooper: "Could I try on your armor?"
Stormtrooper: "....."(points blaster)
Person: "sorry!"

At the time, I left the tip of the Kenner blaster red - I originally thought that the chances of me being stopped by the boys in blue would be much less if the tip was red signaling that I was holding a toy gun - but to think about it - there's nothing preventing them from stopping me anyway - so I decided that I'd paint it black anyway ^^;

The yellow building behind the tree is Akibakan where you can pick up a ton of backup devices for yer Mac or Windows machine.

The main road in Akiba is closed off to cars on a Sunday but there's still this annoying road with annoying cars cutting through - I am sure they will seal that off too one day.

This nice chap is pretending to be either a cat, kangaroo or boxer - take your pick.

Stand still in one spot for more than 10 seconds and you will have a mob gathered around to either throw rotten maggoty potatoes at you or to take your mug shot.

Regular readers will know that just about every geek in Japan likes girls dressed up in maid costumes - many business employ girls dressed up like this to hand out leaflets and what have you - I've only seen them in Akihabara though.

While I like the armor - the helmet is still a bit too big and looks obviously large when having a pic taken face on - lean your head over a bit so that the side of your face is being taken instead - dont lean over too much or you will look like an imperial pansy.

After a while, you will attract a mob of folks following you around which can be a bit scary because you can hardly see out the helmet - especially when you still have the rounded lens instead of the flat ones. I've spoken to some of the 501st members and they mentioned they would occasionally come across the type who would give you a whack behind the helmet. The worse thing I'v experienced so far was some geek grabbing me around the neck when having a photo taken. Always try to have somebody with you who can shout warnings to you like "look out for the guy with a bag of vomit!" or "baby with pocket knife below!" or whatever.

This is the area immediately outside Akihabara station where you will find shops selling just about any type of electrical cord you could imagine. If you quickly need some cord to strangle your boss with - you will find it here.

When you have been trooping for a while, you'll get the sudden craving for a melon bun - yep melon buns...

Stormtrooper: "Show me your melon buns"
Shop assistants: "(with a wave of the hand) You dont need to see our melon buns"
Stormtrooper: "I insist (points blaster)"
Shop assistants: "OK you win!"

"What is thy bidding my master"...
This is quite a nice Vader costume actually - forgot the name of the shop but you cant miss it when you arrive at Akiba. This shop also has a ton of second hand toys n figures which you may want to try out if you cant find what you seek anywhere else.

You will find many video game stores all over the gaff - many of the games will be ones which are not out yet - so you can go along to try them out so that you can say - "phew - glad I didnt order that shite!"

This is a store which sells what is commonly known in the west as Hentai games - its extremely popular over here and about 50% of my affiliate commission income is from the sales of these games. So what does my wife think? Well at first it was "look - all your other sites are doing well - you dont have to stoop this low!" But then she saw the first quarter earnings and said "Danny - go for it!"

Many girls will start to giggle when they see you - they seem to like the armor. Or it could be because your bottom shows through the gaps?! Or could it be the cod piece?! Or maybe just plain "oh god look at this idiot."

Did I mention you will hear giggling when trooping?

White umbrellas... These disposable brollies cost about 100 yen and are available at all convenient stores just about everywhere. Some stores double the price when it rains...

Mr Donut in the background - spending a ton of money on TV advertising but so far I've only managed to spot this store.

The fellow in the front with the crouch of his trousers around his knees - this used to be "groovy" when I was back in ol Blighty 15 years ago - seems to be picking up in Japan...

If you live in Japan, you wont have to bother with buying tissue because you will always bump into a person handing them out - clean ones of course and not the ones with brown smudges on them.

This is turning out to be such a lousy guide of Akihabara - I cant remember the names of the shops! Anyway - this place sells vintage games of all sorts - looking for PC Engine games? - its here somewhere.

Be a sport and do the "trooper-in-the-phone-booth" thang.

Remember - Sunday is the day to get along to Akihabara if you want to see some cosplay going on - this lady is dressed up as a Disney fan?!

More cosplay - this time a Gundam pilot - I could be mistaken - she could actually be dressed up as a bus attendant.

I am sure I've mentioned it somewhere but Akiba is just fuuuulllll of toys n figures.

Ask nicely and the folks at Asobit City let you go in and take photos. Many other places start to wave their hands yelling "DAME!" (pronounced "dar-mair" (kind of)) meaning "NOOOOO!"

The outside of Asobit City has a cute lifesized Papermoon figure outside. If you want one its a measly 250,000 yen.

Some folks who have just gotten off the plane to come to spend all their money on geek stuff.

I mentioned that you can find people handing out tissues - if you pick one up by accident thinking that you was being handed a wad of money, you can always try to hand it back out to other people walking by.

Trooper trying to mingle in the crowds...

Akiba is the perfect place to come to if you want to meet aliens.

Kids of this age probably dont know much about Starwars but they like you anyway.

You are not cool if you dont show the "V" sign when having photos taken in Japan.

A huge mountain of figurines in the middle of Asobit City's shop floor...

Huge chunks of black body glove showing through behind the knees which is unavoidable - unless you plan not to walk in your armor.

The Kenner Blaster looks really crap close up but 69,825 yen is a bit much for a better looking one.

Did I mention something earlier on about maids? The one on my right was really a bundle of fun!

The maids you see in Akihabara usually have some shady character watching over them incase they get attacked - the geeks over here can be quite out of it...
Anyway - be sure you ask before taking photos.

Hmmm, I look flat chested in this shot - need to do something about my breasts. Off topic question - why on earth do men have nipples?

Trooper starts to pant underneath the helmet.

Trooper: "OK, I'm gonna need that one right there for market research purposes."

From this angle you can see how uncool the helmet can look - it looks huuge!

As most Stormtrooper armor owners will tell you - may look good on the outside - but underneath looks shite - velcro, glue marks and if you had something spicy the night before - brown skid marks.

The store in the background is Ishimaru Denki - got all my household appliances there when I arrived in Japan many moons ago. Found a nice assistant and told him I was a poor student - got a 20,000 yen discount.

A person cosplaying as a man-with-green-towel-around-neck-with-hands-in-air.

The forearm armor kept falling down but has now been modded with elastic inside - but stills fall down.

Kids of this age don't know you and say to dad "dad, I wanna pic with that thing."

These appear to be covers of Doujin magazines - the traditional geek magazine usually full of anime type ladies doing not much apart from being naked - oo er.

Paying for Maia Mizuki at Kotobukiya just outside Akihabara station.

Trooper picks up a bottle of coke from the vending machines behind. Vending machines are all over the place in Japan - you can even find ones selling underpants (the type without the skid marks).

You can just about catch a glimpse of the belt here. The belt that came with the suit was two LOUSY pieces of plastic which you had to SCREW on -wtf?! Imagine having to whip out a screw driver every time you wanted to take a pee. Erm, that ended up sounding kinda odd...

Walked into an arbitrary building to adjust the helmet - dont take off the helmet in public or you will shatter the illusion and peoples dreams. What may also happen is that people say "I didn't know stormtroopers were so damn ugly."
Whenever you do try to go and hide for a while to adjust the armor - you will always get people following you - so be careful when to decide to adjust yer cod piece.

I dont have enough trooping experience and dont know what to do yet about the wrinkling boots - any suggestions?

I know, I know, "missing thermal detonator behind the belt - what gives dude?"
Still have to find a way to attach it so that it can be taken off easily.

The kid on the left is dressed up as either Yoda, some sort of Pokemon or a civilian child holding a plastic bag with some cardboard ears - take your pick.

I just love Akihabara - coming soon is my guide (with maps n stuff in English) to Akihabara - places that a visitor would normally not know about. Akiba is just filled with back alleys selling all sorts of groovesome geekery goodies.

The armor seems to be popular with the ladies over here. I could be wrong and they actually want a picture with the blaster.

By Danny Choo on 2006/01/31 22:44

Fine Molds Millennium Falcon

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 00:09:00 +0900

I reported on the Millennium Falcon from Fine Molds a while ago and its out - well its been out for a few weeks but only just managed to get hold of these pics form this months copy of Hobby Japan. I have the Kenner version of the Millennium Falcon which is a bit out of proportion but that's easily remedied - I just take my glasses off when looking at it - looks great.
The retail price for this 1/72 scale Falcon is 19,950 yen but I have seen it in Akiba for about 16,000 yen.

�

By Danny Choo on 2006/01/09 23:21

Densha Trooper

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 08:02:00 +0900

Well you have already seen the Densha Trooper video clip - here are the photos taken that day.
Had always wanted to do the trains for a while now but didn't quite have the time. Was invited to a christmas party in Yokohama and thought that I would just show up in armor - and this is how it went....

Strolling casually to the station. You notice that I dont attach the thermal detonator to the back - it kind of gets in the way when I sit down and I have not found a good way to attach it so that it doesn't fall off when trooping - so for now it stays off.

Buying a ticket at the station. Look up at the map and look to see where you want to go - then insert the amount of money shown under your destination. If you are not sure then just buy the cheapest ticket and pay the difference when you arrive at your destination.

I remember trying to do that when I was living in London - I got the cheapest ticket and wanted to pay the difference but instead ended up paying a poxy lousy 20 pound fine. London Underground - honestly - they will take every opportunity to take money from you and find every excuse. Every time I go back to the UK to see my folks, I find that ticket prices have doubled but the service seems to get worse.

People reacted in a coolsome manner to their fellow passenger the trooper as you saw in the video clip. But then there are people who dont really like seeing people do something different and find an excuse to moan like the chap at kakaku.com going on about how I am going to get into trouble yada yada - "er yes - I'm sorry and you are who's dad?"
No matter what you do in life, there will *always* be people who will dislike what you do - regardless of your intentions.

Trooper casually commuting on the train.

Trooper changing trains - vision is limited so walk slowly - especially up n down stairs. Dont try to be cool by not holding onto the bannister - you may fall and break your ribs, ankle and left wrist or worst - cracking the left shoulder armor.

Did I mention there was limited visibility through the helmet? You have to kind of lean your head to one side in order to see the ticket come out the slot. Dont lean too far as your helmet may fall off and shock any kids around who will say "huh? mum, there's a man inside!" Yep - have heard that a few times when I had to take the helmet off in public.

You will bump in to about 20 people who want to shake your hand - and not just kids. If anybody tries to talk to you, just knock on the side of your chin and pretend that you have a bad transmitter - should really try not to talk - can you imagine a stormtrooper with a cockney accent?

When you have nothing to do with your hands, rest them on your belt as you will see many troopers doing. best not to rest them on your waist cos you will look like a stormtrooper who cant afford a Darth vader outfit. And also better not to rest one hand on your crotch and the other on your head - you will probably get arrested.

Without the thermal detonator attached, you can just about sit down - but that also depends on how you cut the thigh pieces - if you didnt cut them, you would most probably have to endure the thigh pieces cutting into your flesh and you would also probably loose 5 pints of blood from the deep cuts around your crotch.

When you do "the pose", everybody will whip out their phones to call home and tell their mum "hey, there is a stormtrooper doing the pose" when they could be taking pictures instead.

I am not too sure what it is but many over here like pointy shoes like the lady on the right. I cant wait to give them more selection when I launch my own brand of shoes. Those pointy shoes get on my nut.

Changing trains....

Still need to make a ton of modifications to the armor - will probably pop over to Tokyu Hands this week to pick up some bits n bobs.

One of the better train shots.

I didnt realize until after my wife told be but the couple sitting behind me were feeling my bottom - I didnt know because the bottom is actually hard plastic. Well there is an idea I suppose - for the poor chap who wants his bottom to be felt - get on the train in armor.

Posing for the folks at the platform.

Did I mention kids love to shake your hands? Kids of these age haven't seen the original Starwars and just call you "Robot" instead.

I usually walk when there are escalators but when in armor, I try to be wise as taking the stairs is still a risk because you cant see down.

Lining up for tickets.

Outside Yokohama station. I dont mind too much when the ladies come over to touch but you will also get greasy smelly men like this one (joke) touching you to see what you are made of.

60 seconds is enough to create a mob of folks pointing their phones, cameras and sticks at you.

Then people get bored and walk away to let the new mob come along.

More mobs gathered to see the stormtrooper or "Robot".

Folks over here seem to love the trooper-at-the-phone-booth thing. Be a good sport and do it for them.

The final pic for this session. Next will either be....
1. Trooper takes helicopter ride.
2. Trooper gets arrested for possession of unlicensed Kenner toy blaster.
3. Trooper goes to Tsukiji Fish market.
4. Trooper goes skiiing in Naeba.
Until the next time - may the source be with you (as programmers who are Starwars fans occasionally say to each other)

By Danny Choo on 2006/01/09 07:14

Stormtrooper in Yokohama

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:32:00 +0900

I think you may like whats coming up this weekend - coverage of what I have been itching to do for a while now - hit the trains...

Updates....
You can view the video clip and the other pics taken on the day and all the other trooping shenanigans.
By Danny Choo on 2005/12/29 20:44