015. How we package our Collectible toys!

Hello fellow Comrades,

Our toys: Floating Magnetic Ironman by Beast Kingdom

Every once in awhile people start asking questions about how we package our collectible items that we are giving away. Top questions include how we justify the outcome of the shipping price, how we package, where was it from.

Well, Here's a quick article to answer those questions!

Q1. Where is the item from? Why sell it?

First off, our toys are mostly bought from friends and relatives who work in collectible toy, comics and gaming shops. Other reasons include our own toy collection which we have amassed. Sometimes we streamline our collection to make way for other toys too. We are collector's first and foremost. Most are toys that come off from a local convention display. Hence, our toys that we giveaway are given away at reasonable prices meant for the purposes of spreading joy.

One of our toy items sold to us by a friend who works in a toy store.
Item was in a local convention display.

"We would rather giveaway a toy, comic or gaming collectible than to throw it away...where's the honor in throwing something precious anyway?" 

Here's what we check for before we give it away to you:

1. There's a strict ethic code when it comes to choosing what toys we choose to take. We always look for the manufacturer's seal, but when there is none, we ensure that the toys joints are tight, no broken parts and no missing parts. We are extra careful when it comes to Loose collectibles, as they have the tendency to show signs of wear, loose joints, missing parts etc.(of which we reject)
2. Our toys are usually convention display sets which people close to us want to giveaway at an affordable price. Let's face it, no one gives away something they love for free, and if they do, that is like a big giveaway that something might be wrong with the collectible!

We also wrote an article on how to spot bootlegged toys

Q2.What goes into our shipping pricing?

Our giveaways are shipped using the strictest, safest and cheapest method possible. Most people might agree with our shipping prices, but there are those that don't. For anyone in the middle of the fence,here's how we calculate our shipping(toys):

We use a kitchen scale to measure the exact weight of items to be shipped.
Our local postage service uses grams to weigh items.

1. Overall shipping weight.(Original package weight + shipping box + bubble wraps/foam/pads etc) Also, our local courier has a restriction on custom shipping boxes that are too big, of which, we need to repackage it in the courier's own package.
2. Tracking price. Some of you might grumble on this point, but the truth is, having this addon will be a lifesaver. Not only does this build trust between buyer and seller, this also ensures both our local couriers don't mess with our transactions(couriers do it more often than not, trust us, we have friends working with the local post). Among other things, it has been reported that it's easy to 'lose' some items between transactions, or at least, if you do surface shipping, your item might be tossed, slammed, or pinned down during the delivery process, leaving you with a defect box, we wouldn't want that do we?
3. Travelling expenses. Just in case people don't know, we are normal working adults, with just enough love for collectibles to share it with you. We do take some time away from our busy schedules to travel and travelling fare is a cost which we cant do completely free, so there's that element.
4. Shipping materials. We do custom boxes coated with a waterproof turqoiuse paint whenever we can(if we don't, it means, we just don't have time or we have to change the packaging as dictated by our courier postal service). We also buy pads, foams or wraps specially made for our toys. Tape. And printables and promo materials in case you're interested.

This isn't just a one-off thing, our items do get tossed! except with better aiming than this guy.
Thank you Mark Bridgman for opening our eyes to the world of freight handling.

" I remembered a customer of our local postal service wanting to claim China plates which they imported from overseas. It was surface shipped, but the worse was that it didn't come with the fragile label. The postal counter girl gave it a slight shake and told the customer it'd be best if it wasn't opened, and shipped back to the sender..."

-Our friend who works in the postal service


As for cards & comics(Shouldn't be a problem, since there's no complaints, but here it is anyways):

1. Overall shipping weight.(Cardboard protective backing + envelope/Manilla envelopes + original item)
2. Protective sleeves for cards. Very essential if you'd like to avoid scratches, and we'd like you to have the items in a pristine condition.
3. Tracking Price(Same reason as toys)
4. Travelling expenses(Same reason as toys)

Q3.How do we package our items?

Captain America: First Avenger By Hot Toys, Hong Kong(a subsidiary of 'SideshowCollectiblesUS').

How do you package your items? is it safe? In sending an item overseas for shipping, we are dealing with variables. With us, it's all about eliminating variables. We are toy collectors ourselves, so we are always ensuring that not just the figure is intact and in mint condition, we do that for the original packaging itself!

Below is an example of how we packaged our Loose Hot toys item for one of our guys...

fig1. Individual items are individually wrapped

 

fig2. Cont from fig 1, the items are kept in a bubble-wrap for prevention

 

fig3. figure is bubble wrapped along the joints and limbs to protect against movements

 

fig4. figure is placed inside of a wrap to prevent friction.

 

fig5. This shows all the individual components...ready to ship

 

fig6. Place one pad on either side for weight distribution upon impact

 

fig7. A closer look



fig8. protection fitted on the side too

So there you have it. All our normal packages will be like fitting the original packaging within the shipping box. Inside it you will find:

• Protective items. Surrounding the original packaging are bubble wraps/ peanut foams or pads
• Our printable items e.g. buyers' shipping summary & promo poster for upcoming toys

This is our promo poster, which keeps updating itself. If you like our items,
do visit our store and become a member now to get updates on great offers!

EndNote

Now that you've gotten an insight as to how we ship our items and how we calculate our shipping prices, we do understand that sometimes your budget doesn't allow it, that's why we're flexible. Upon request, we:

• Allow anyone who is interested to order our items loose(only for toys), so as to get a significantly cheaper price on shipping
• We sometimes offer combined shipping on items(Stated on listings)
• We like to offer auctions every once in awhile
• Most times, you can just "Make an offer" to us, as long as we don't lose too much on our purchasing price.

We hope that clears any doubts up, but if you do have a question, leave comments below so that we can answer you and also anyone who reads this page!

Do check out our other toys on sale on eBay(or through this blog's homepage banner!)

2015©Confaderal
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011. Making a Dota 2 TInker Statuette (Or figure)

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to this creature, as they belong to valve, as well as the whole Dota 2 franchise. Photos posted here are my own inspired by a creation by Valve. This article is made for the purposes of education.



Screengrab of the Dota 2 Character: Tinker

Dear readers, if you are reading this now...continue reading you are in for a treat.

I'm sure many of you Dota 2 fans have been left inadequate after knowing that many toy makers don't have the rights to make Dota 2 figures.

There has been hearsay that Valve is reluctant to give rights to toy companies to make Dota 2 characters. Then again, nothing is concrete...perhaps they're waiting for the right toy company to come. Oh well.

On our twitter page, Neca gave a straight "No" to our question of whether there'll be any dota 2 figures from them.

I have been doing some figures made out of polymer clay for awhile it seems, and in Tinker, I think I might've upped my skill level tremendously.

First I got inspired by this video:

I'd have to say, thank you for inspiring me on this journey to create this figure. And to a certain eager beaver who saw what I did with my custom "Tidehunter" and decided to take a leap of faith in me creating my most beautiful figure yet. You know who you are:)

One day a reader decided he'd want a dota 2 character customized by me.

It is with due frustration and a clear eagerness to dota 2 fandom that I try my hand in creating these creatures that are a huge part of my life(as I'm sure it is yours). If valve is getting no one to commercially do it, then we, as fans, have to create our own to quench our thirst, am I right? or am I right?

Well then...here's my finished product.

Look at that beauty!

Pretty cool huh?

Leave your comments below on what you think I can improve on

It took me a longer period than usual to complete this figure as the mechanical arms does defy gravity. But, where there's a will, there's a way.

If you've been reading this far, I promised you I'll give a treat right? I'm going to bring you through the steps and procedures to make this awesome figure. Ready?

Step 1 building an armature.

 

Aaaaannndd...We started off here, unglamorously.

 

 

I've had some help to be completely honest. I had copied the basic steps to create my polymer clay figure from the video. Even down to the posture. I'm not afraid to admit it though. And I thank that video for it.

 

From here, you could see the progression of the clay creation, starting with the fundamental creature armature. Since Tinker was going to be sitting down, then, it's fitting that the armature does that too. Previously I was so consumed with the final product that I would've skipped fast trough the armature creation. For this one though, I took a long time on figuring out the armature.

Armatures are supposed to be the "bones" in your model, so devote a lot of time to it!

In the first picture you could see blu tack being used on the creatures' joints. This was done before aluminium foil was added to the body of tinker to create "mass" and beef up the "bones" from early on.

There's 2 rods extruding out from Tinker because that is the support for the mechanical arms later.

Step 2 Adding clay to beef up armature.

Next, we add some polymer clay on the body to beef up the figure. This is where we get the pose right.

Step 3 Adding all the details.

Tinkers head Front

Tinkers head side. As with all head sculpts, take a lot of time for this part

Attach the head and we have a nice tinker figure

 

 

Step 4 Still focus on the details!

 

Just add wires to stretch the length of the previous "antennae" to create this.

 

 

So we decided to now do the right and left mechanical arm blasters

Every custom figure I make will come with my insignia: "CONFAD"

All done

Let me explain in details how I got to each part in step 4.

 

I used sculpey polymer clay and baked the main body(with the mechanical arms attached) separately from the two blasters.

 

**Warning** Baking both your blasters attached to your mechanical arms will make your mechanical arms wilt under the weight of the blasters. I learnt that the hard way, but then again, I should've known better.

 

Remember that you'd want to bake as less time as possible.

 

Don't attach the blasters to the arm just yet after theyre done baking.

 

Now it's time to paint the items separately.

 

 

Step 5 Painting all the separate parts

 

Now it's time to paint the items separately. Do not attach the separate parts yet, as it will be a hindrance when you paint. Instead, by painting separately, you can give a lot more attention to details.

 

I primed the statuette with white acrylic first

...and started to gradually paint some parts.

Now since the primers are on and your hardened clay looks good, we'll proceed with painting the thing. Only after you paint the whole thing, can you piece it together.

 

So here we are. nice right?...not quite

 

Now Be very wary that your paint might look good on the first glance, but it's actually not the best.

 

Sloppy painting

 

 

Step 6 Fine tuning the painting

 

 

Now for the minor adjustments to the paint. We should be focusing on the contour of the body and also the scratches and etc.

Isn't it just wonderful. Especially the craft work.

Voila! All done. Ready to conquer the three lanes....Stay tuned to watch more polymer clay tutorials like this. Let me know in the comments below if you'd want me to post up the make-a-figure "tide hunter".

Visit our eBay store for a lot of reasonable items like toys, comics and tcg! 

Confaderal ebay store!

2015©Confaderal

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