Damages

Outdoor shoots, fun to look at, but do you actually know what goes on behind the scenes? Ever since many months ago, I’ve prepared to post a damage report on the damages all my figures have gone through. Looking back, it really is a painful list of damages which would probably make any hardcore collector want to kill me. While taking the pictures of the figures isn’t technically challenging in any aspect, trying to get the pose and angle I want is probably the most painful part.

On the last day of May 2009, I brought my first figure out of the comfort of the house. Considering that I was inexperienced at that time, I was really really careful with the posings and such. It was nendoroid Kureha who was the first to step out. I have to emphasise that I was very careful and slow with the whole photoshoot because I had the impression that nendoroids would break into a million pieces if they dropped from a height of 20cm or something.

This picture was the cause of the first damage I ever got from bringing figures outdoors. Even the composition is horrible and the picture is crap. I wouldn’t be so critical if the picture turned out decent but a damage for this picture isn’t worth it. Anyway in case you are wondering what happened, Kureha decided to fall forwards and bounce down the stairs like a ball.

As a result, her beautiful hair has been scarred to this day and have to be healing brushed for every picture. You can see the scars in the above pictures. I was pretty much distraught after the incident and contemplated on not bringing any more figures out. It was only around a month later when I figured that it was just a freak accident and the acquisition of nendo Rin and Kagami convinced me that that won’t happen again since they are so much more stable.

Nendos Rin and Kagami did build up my confidence and dared me to take higher risked poses. Statistically, I’d say that during the start, posing would be 90% of the time taken. I actually spent quite a long time to figure out how I wanted to pose each shot. Of course, that dramatically decreased with experience.

For their efforts, Rin and Kagami and one of the most badly beaten nendoroids. By this time, you probably think that I am pretty rough. Yup, indeed I am. People whom I’ve taken pictures with probably attest to that fact. I originally started out as being very very cautious. But over time, no matter how cautions I was some damage was bound to happen because they just fall sometimes when you pose them. One could argue that you can cautiously and carefully pose the nendos and figmas. In theory it sounds perfect. Try that with the sun beating down on you, with a camera hanging over your neck and sweat going into your eyes. Plus if you are not going to stretch the figure’s potential outdoors, then just stay at home.

Losing parts are pretty common for me and I’ve grown used to it. I’ve lost track on how many parts I’ve lost. The first part I lost was Rin’s sleeve though. The latest part I’ve lost is nen-puchi Kyouka’s tail. Many more in between. I’ve back tracked my routes many times to find dropped limbs and parts. Best is still having a partner to help you spot such stuff.

I remember losing Drossel’s hand on one photoshoot (the above one). I backtracked the whole park, and gave up after around 30 minutes. I found the ‘missing’ hand in the container in which Drossel was in when I reached home at the end of the day. Stuff like that happens all the time, especially when I switch limbs to give a different expression.

Dropping figures left right center is so common. Let me talk about the potential damages from such an event. As mentioned above, scratches and scars are one of the outcomes. The other more scary outcome is breaking something. Maritan’s medal broke from a 1.5m drop. Header pic of Rin’s twintail is a from a20 cm drop. Both landed on gravel roads. Exciting isn’t it? You never know when something is going to drop.

Melted bases are a result of freak accidents though.

By far the most damaged figure to date is Drossel 1. Which is why there’s a Drossel 2, Drossel 3 is coming soon. Because she’s so posable, I make her do many many dangerous poses. She ends up dropping from great heights most of the time, usually involving crashing into very rough surfaces.

It’s pretty much impossible to see the damages from a distance though, but going up close will make you go crazy.

She started with black base feet, but posing her on rough surfaces like bricks, roads and even grass, scrapes paint out of her.

Falling on her back also kills off her paint.

Yummy isn’t she?

Due to excessive ass spanking.

Cracks from her sides are due to the heat from posing her under the hot sun.

The afternoon heat during sessions in the afternoon is just the first level of irritants you’ll encounter. The most irritating ones would be mozzie bites. Luckily I have a pretty high resistance to them since I’ve grown accustomed to getting bit by them.

Stamina is also important, comrade Alafista can testify what heat + walking can do to us. I find most of the interesting shots and angles only obtainable from places which require some effort to reach. And it’s boring to shoot from a place even a donkey can access.

There are damages which are not caused by me, but that is a topic for some other time.

Last but no least the last type of potential damages outdoor shoots can happen is to your camera, but that usually only applies to me since I climb often and cause the camera to bang at places which are not so camera friendly. Got a UV filter replacement this morning though.

I’m sure there are more things about shooting outdoor which I could talk about, but today we shall focus on the problems it causes. Once I though that it was a simple equation of bringing figures out and just placing them anyhow. Over time I figured that figures seem to be more ‘flexible’ in the open outdoors and that is what I want to capture. Not just some random placement of figures here and there. While these damages don’t occur everyday, it sucks to confess that the pictures which cause the damages always turn out crappy, which is quite a waste! Anyway I believe, no risk, no fun!

I hope you love my damages. I for one, love my damaged Drossel to bits. It reeks of character and you can’t find another one like it! So are you prepared to bring the little ones out?