The Tikam Effect
7th August 2005, Sunday
12 days to go to my Japan trip...
A nice Sunday to just relax at home, watching recent episodes of "SMAPXSMAP" which never fails to make me ponder the amount of efforts and budget the Fuji Television Production team has pumped in to keep viewers entertained and constantly refreshed with humour and entertainment not repeated in subsequent episodes...
From the lavish set up for guests to savour great cuisine cooked up by the SMAP members in "Bistro Smap" to big in-studio games which includes high quality stage props that would never graced local TV to well-choreographed skits..and ultimately lies in the X-Factor the lads exude as well as the talent they possess. Seriously they may not be the bext looking male artistes in Japan nor are they the best in singing or dancing, but it's poignant why they can be so popular for a decade or so...
Ok...beside waxing lyricals about SMAP and their program, I have also watched a sleeper hit in Japan, "Azumi", a high quality DVD lent to me by Ferris..
This 2003 blockbuster hit adapted from the manga series by Koyama Yuu, is about the lives of a bunch of young assasins reared to help the cause of the Tokugawa family to assisnate any oppositions...
A youthful and beautiful cast led by one of the hottest idol in Japan now, Ueto Aya, nice cinematography, and plenty of actions and blood (and more death toll than the Rambo series I think) sure make up for a pretty weak storyline and stiff acting..
The only bright spot in this movie is the appearance of one of my fave Japanese actor now, Odagiri Jo..who starred as a skilful yet remotely sane swordsman known as Bijomaru Mogami..
Man this guy's filmography is full of out of this world characters like Kamen Rider Kuuga, to the tragic Takeshi in "Tentai Kanzoku", to the violent cop with a dark background in "Kao" and then as Saitou Hajime in my fave "Shinsengumi"..I simply adore his performance every single time...
Guess where I went to yesterday...
Oh ok...no point for guess La Tendo, it's a dead-panner...heehee
Which leads me to the main topic about "tikam"...
Ok from reliable sources "tikam" in Malay means "poking" or "stabbing" which I assume in the past there's a local game in which kids can random poke grids covered with a piece of paper which contained a toy or other novelty items within, so it is down to luck whether you can get a good prize or not...
For a person who doesn't like to gamble because I am a big sore loser, I love such "tikam" stuffs since young...
My love for gashapons traced back as young as toddler days and was rekindled in recent years much atoned to the high quality figurines the toy companies in Japan can conjured up...
However "tikaming" for both gashapons and related toys as in candy toys or trading figures which come in blind boxes which buyers would have the slightest idea what is within that random box they choose can be an endless pit for your wallet...
Whereas some smart collectors have managed to use color theme and powerful torch light to shine the dark interior of the capsule machines to figure out what would come out next to avoid too many repeats..
However in the art of picking blind boxes, in the past people can use the weight of the specific figurines to choose the ones they desire...
But manufacturers became smart and added weights to the lighter ones to further confuse buyers, leading in fustrated and unscruplous collectors to tear up part of the boxes behind the shelves in supermarket or toy outlets to get that specific piece they want
For me I usually will foot a bit more just to get a complete set with the guarantee of the pieces I want instead of sprawling into the endless pit which might resulted in more cost incurred
Yesterday there were 2 such cases witnessed in La Tendo:
1) A regular customer known as Jeff came to innocently to collect his stuff till was cajoled by Eng Kiong to try his luck on a "Gundam Seed Chara Fortune"
The anime series was a big hit which was a big selling point for fans globally, thus companies like Bandai and Megahouse would reap fortunes by releasing endless line of products to woo the buyers and in this case Jeff who was resistant to purchase a complete set to get the 4 characters he just wanted, and instead tried his luck on the random ones which cost $5 each. He did managed to get first 3 the ones he wanted till he got stuck with the one called "Kira (the one on the far left)"...
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts (which cost $10), he then decided to go for a twist of his luck to ask Ferris, Karen, Chan and myself who are by his side to choose some pieces..
Been someone without the nest of luck, I chose a piece called "Frei (the red hair girl in pink uniform" which he least wanted...Meanwhile Ferris instructed us how to feel for the hair sculpt of Kira to get the piece Jeff desperately wanted to get
So after a grand total of $35 spent, Jeff still did not get Kira..bummer man...
2) Next is Ferris' turn to indulge in his random picking adventure..
This time round something much more harder to pick than the Chara Fortune...
It's CARDS!!!
Cards are difficult to collect yet an expensive indulgence in which young teenage girls seem to willing surrender their pocket money to get some high quality 2D cards which for a while was part of the trunk of a tree...
The one Ferris was picking is once again a Gundam Seed product that Megahouse has created to suck the wallets dry of fans and collectors:
I'm not sure what madness was driven into Ferris for him to even contemplate of getting one card like this..despite the nice cell effect and quality, I don't feel justify to cost $10 a piece...
Matthew urged him to get a full unopen box at a discounted price (which still adds up to around $120) to ensure the pieces he wants..
But he was not moved by the offer and decided to try his luck..
Opening the one he picked from the stack he got a blond guy playing piano which he berated for a while, claiming this was one of the 3 he least wanted to get...
Undeterred, he bought another card, and guess what, he got the 2nd piece of the trio he loathed..this time it really irked him as he cursed and swore for a goods 15 minutes about his bad luck and the card ironically came with wordings emblazed as "I'm the special one for you" which further enraged him but really floored us...
However he felt the need to get at least one nice card which he deemed would be the formula to made him sleep soundly last night, so he picked another piece with much thoughts and consideration and did finally got one of the 13 he deemed ok to get..but he forgotten that he had already wasted a good $20 on 2 useless cards...
Well for me I would try not to fall into such trap of folly to be robbed of my hard earned cash..so I would always buy something which I know what I would get in the end...
12 days to go to my Japan trip...
A nice Sunday to just relax at home, watching recent episodes of "SMAPXSMAP" which never fails to make me ponder the amount of efforts and budget the Fuji Television Production team has pumped in to keep viewers entertained and constantly refreshed with humour and entertainment not repeated in subsequent episodes...
From the lavish set up for guests to savour great cuisine cooked up by the SMAP members in "Bistro Smap" to big in-studio games which includes high quality stage props that would never graced local TV to well-choreographed skits..and ultimately lies in the X-Factor the lads exude as well as the talent they possess. Seriously they may not be the bext looking male artistes in Japan nor are they the best in singing or dancing, but it's poignant why they can be so popular for a decade or so...
Ok...beside waxing lyricals about SMAP and their program, I have also watched a sleeper hit in Japan, "Azumi", a high quality DVD lent to me by Ferris..
This 2003 blockbuster hit adapted from the manga series by Koyama Yuu, is about the lives of a bunch of young assasins reared to help the cause of the Tokugawa family to assisnate any oppositions...
A youthful and beautiful cast led by one of the hottest idol in Japan now, Ueto Aya, nice cinematography, and plenty of actions and blood (and more death toll than the Rambo series I think) sure make up for a pretty weak storyline and stiff acting..
The only bright spot in this movie is the appearance of one of my fave Japanese actor now, Odagiri Jo..who starred as a skilful yet remotely sane swordsman known as Bijomaru Mogami..
Man this guy's filmography is full of out of this world characters like Kamen Rider Kuuga, to the tragic Takeshi in "Tentai Kanzoku", to the violent cop with a dark background in "Kao" and then as Saitou Hajime in my fave "Shinsengumi"..I simply adore his performance every single time...
Guess where I went to yesterday...
Oh ok...no point for guess La Tendo, it's a dead-panner...heehee
Which leads me to the main topic about "tikam"...
Ok from reliable sources "tikam" in Malay means "poking" or "stabbing" which I assume in the past there's a local game in which kids can random poke grids covered with a piece of paper which contained a toy or other novelty items within, so it is down to luck whether you can get a good prize or not...
For a person who doesn't like to gamble because I am a big sore loser, I love such "tikam" stuffs since young...
My love for gashapons traced back as young as toddler days and was rekindled in recent years much atoned to the high quality figurines the toy companies in Japan can conjured up...
However "tikaming" for both gashapons and related toys as in candy toys or trading figures which come in blind boxes which buyers would have the slightest idea what is within that random box they choose can be an endless pit for your wallet...
Whereas some smart collectors have managed to use color theme and powerful torch light to shine the dark interior of the capsule machines to figure out what would come out next to avoid too many repeats..
However in the art of picking blind boxes, in the past people can use the weight of the specific figurines to choose the ones they desire...
But manufacturers became smart and added weights to the lighter ones to further confuse buyers, leading in fustrated and unscruplous collectors to tear up part of the boxes behind the shelves in supermarket or toy outlets to get that specific piece they want
For me I usually will foot a bit more just to get a complete set with the guarantee of the pieces I want instead of sprawling into the endless pit which might resulted in more cost incurred
Yesterday there were 2 such cases witnessed in La Tendo:
1) A regular customer known as Jeff came to innocently to collect his stuff till was cajoled by Eng Kiong to try his luck on a "Gundam Seed Chara Fortune"
The anime series was a big hit which was a big selling point for fans globally, thus companies like Bandai and Megahouse would reap fortunes by releasing endless line of products to woo the buyers and in this case Jeff who was resistant to purchase a complete set to get the 4 characters he just wanted, and instead tried his luck on the random ones which cost $5 each. He did managed to get first 3 the ones he wanted till he got stuck with the one called "Kira (the one on the far left)"...
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts (which cost $10), he then decided to go for a twist of his luck to ask Ferris, Karen, Chan and myself who are by his side to choose some pieces..
Been someone without the nest of luck, I chose a piece called "Frei (the red hair girl in pink uniform" which he least wanted...Meanwhile Ferris instructed us how to feel for the hair sculpt of Kira to get the piece Jeff desperately wanted to get
So after a grand total of $35 spent, Jeff still did not get Kira..bummer man...
2) Next is Ferris' turn to indulge in his random picking adventure..
This time round something much more harder to pick than the Chara Fortune...
It's CARDS!!!
Cards are difficult to collect yet an expensive indulgence in which young teenage girls seem to willing surrender their pocket money to get some high quality 2D cards which for a while was part of the trunk of a tree...
The one Ferris was picking is once again a Gundam Seed product that Megahouse has created to suck the wallets dry of fans and collectors:
I'm not sure what madness was driven into Ferris for him to even contemplate of getting one card like this..despite the nice cell effect and quality, I don't feel justify to cost $10 a piece...
Matthew urged him to get a full unopen box at a discounted price (which still adds up to around $120) to ensure the pieces he wants..
But he was not moved by the offer and decided to try his luck..
Opening the one he picked from the stack he got a blond guy playing piano which he berated for a while, claiming this was one of the 3 he least wanted to get...
Undeterred, he bought another card, and guess what, he got the 2nd piece of the trio he loathed..this time it really irked him as he cursed and swore for a goods 15 minutes about his bad luck and the card ironically came with wordings emblazed as "I'm the special one for you" which further enraged him but really floored us...
However he felt the need to get at least one nice card which he deemed would be the formula to made him sleep soundly last night, so he picked another piece with much thoughts and consideration and did finally got one of the 13 he deemed ok to get..but he forgotten that he had already wasted a good $20 on 2 useless cards...
Well for me I would try not to fall into such trap of folly to be robbed of my hard earned cash..so I would always buy something which I know what I would get in the end...
Japanese word of the day: 運~un~ (Luck)You need alot of it for "tikam" if not you need a lot of money.
posted by Kei at
3:51 PM
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