Sunday, March 9, 2025

Marching/drum band stuffs...❔ 🥁🎺 (ID)

Believe or not, I was an ex-marching band player. Although it only lasted only on 3 schools where I used to study in each of them which had their own marching or drum bands, such as my 2 separate kindergartens, and my old primary school. However, I'm not gonna tell you about how come if I decided to stop doing so during I was in my primary school by all of the sudden, it's because that would be my "top secret" to totally expose the truth about why... Speaking about the marching/drum band in general though, I also had lot of experience of watching marching/drum band displays or parades performed by various schools (or certain institutes, albeit it is insanely rare to invite at least one of those particularly in my hometown where I do live since I was born in here), until all the way about how I simply watch any of them on YouTube. Without further ado, let me categorize into 3 different sections, which are from those of my old schools, watching parades or displays in person, and watching many of those YouTube videos of them.

A. Marching/drum bands from your old schools? 🥁🎺

As what I clearly stated just earlier, I was an ex-marching band player from those 3 aforementioned old schools where I used to study back in those days per each of them. Except, I used to wield one of the percussion instruments only, rather than certain of those melodica or brass instruments though. As for the percussion instruments that I was referring to, I only used to wield mainly snare drums, simply because it was an easy percussion instrument that I ever played since those of my childhood days in my very first kindergarten until those days in my old primary school IMO (albeit the one in my primary school was obviously more advanced for sure).

As for the display and parades from one of them (for this case, my old primary school, because why not), here are both of my notable moments about each of them both:

  • Display : I remembered that time when I and several of my old friends used to perform our drum band display that was held in someone's senior high school in order to win a display competition against many other marching/drum bands from various other primary schools around my entire hometown. Even though we eventually got the second place, but it was highly amazing experience to say the least.
  • Parade : The word itself is pretty much self-explanatory in general (because this one was obviously more common than the display), although I remembered the time when I was totally exhausted while the parade itself was on-going, I had to take a break by sitting on my school's janitor's pedicab that was ridden by himself, alongside with the snare drum itself that I used to wield it with me for a moment (yep, the snare drum itself was somewhat heavy to me).🥁

B. Marching/drum band parades around your hometown? 🥁🎺

Moving on to how I watched various marching/drum band parades around my hometown, specifically performed by various schools (such as kindergartens, primary schools, junior high schools, and senior/vocational high schools). Even though those were much more common to encounter them per each of them since my childhood per each of those days where the whole government used to host each of the aforementioned parade events themselves every once per year, but I remembered if our whole government from our hometown used to invite two special guest military style cadet drum bands into my hometown, which those were both Indonesian Naval Academy and Institute of Home Affairs, respectively. However, I didn't even watch the Indonesian Naval Academy's cadet drum band in person though (though they used to invite them twice), instead I used to briefly watch the Institute of Home Affairs one from more than a decade ago. The aforementioned drum band itself was exactly what I highly excited for, more so than those of the common marching/drum bands that were performed casually by various schools around my entire hometown (except for few of them that looked great IMO). Overall, I'm glad if I used to watch at least one of those cadet military style bands in person, but I highly doubt it if our current government from our hometown will able to invite another one of those anytime soon for now.

C. Marching/drum band videos on YouTube...🥁🎺

Of course if I ever watched many of those marching/drum band that were performed by various schools around my hometown where I do live, I also watch many YouTube videos of themselves too! However, I actually watched them since my childhood, back when I specifically used to briefly watch them from my old laptop or my very first smartphone. Even though it was painfully difficult to connect them both to the internet to begin with, at least I was able to watch my very first marching/drum band videos on YouTube, which were various marching/drum band parades from various schools in Rantepao, North Toraja, South Sulawesi (unfortunately, all of those old videos of them were deleted already, although I was able to download them though when they were available online from back then).

Surprisingly, right after roughly more than a decade without watching those YouTube videos of them, I decided to watch even more of them due to my boredom against all of my own stuffs that I'm currently enjoying them these days. Anyway, the list of the videos of them are:

  • Various videos of popular cadet military style bands from our whole country (such as Indonesian Armed Forces Academy, Indonesian Naval Academy, Indonesian Air Force Academy, and Indonesian Police Academy). Others such as Institute of Home Affairs do count for this category, and so for many more cadet military/marching bands from certain other academics, polytechnics or universities (such as merchant marine polytechnic[s], land transport academy, defense university, etc.).
  • Various videos of certain military style bands that are "inspired" their styles from those of the aforementioned popular cadet military bands from our whole country, including those that are from the senior cadet high schools and those of non-civil institutes.
  • Many videos of those marching/drum bands performed by various schools around my hometown, although majority of them (except for kindergartens and most of the primary schools) are now using modern marching style bands instead of the classic ones.
  • Some of the "cheapo" marching/drum band groups performed by certain small communities or simply by a small group of people, including those from my hometown where I do live.
  • More videos of various marching/drum band parades and displays from various schools around the eastern part of our whole country (for this case, Rantepao [North Toraja, South Sulawesi], Baubau [Buton Islands, Southeast Sulawesi], and so on).
  • Those of the "dance-able" marching/band groups, performed by bunch of those performers per each of the groups from rural areas in entire regency of Sukabumi (excluding the Sukabumi City), West Java.
  • Some lyre cover videos, both from our country or outside our country. Heck, one of them used to cover my favorite video game's soundtracks too (for this case, some of the original Plants vs. Zombies soundtracks like Watery Graves [Pool level], Graze the Roof [Roof level], Brainiac Maniac [Dr. Zomboss battle], and Cerebrawl [Puzzle mode, both Vasebreaker and I, Zombie levels]). Not sure for any other videos with different melodica instruments besides lyre though (as for now).
  • Bunch of marching/drum band groups performed by any foreign people who lives in their respective countries that aren't from our country, albeit I rarely watch them though besides most of those lyre cover videos that I mentioned just earlier (as for now).

Well, there you have it for my own story about the marching/drum band stuffs in general, ranging about how I used to perform in each of the marching/drum bands in those of my old schools where I used to study back in those days, then I used to watch all of those marching/drum band parades in my hometown where I do live, and how I still watch many of those YouTube videos of them since those good old days too. If you have your good old memories regarding to this exact topic (such as performing at least one of those in your own school[s], or probably remembering the time when your hometown's government used to invite one of those special military style cadet drum bands [if any]), feel free to share your own story in the comments section if you still recognize them though until today. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this short article.

Friday, February 14, 2025

your favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies NON Peashooter mini figures...

After I made my article that clearly explained particularly about my favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figures, so it's time for explaining about my other favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies plant mini figures that aren't Peashooters... I know if most of those figures weren't my personal favorites, but I spotted plenty of them that were also my favorites, so. Well then, let's take a look at those of the said figures of them, shall we?


According to what I clearly stated in one of my older articles that I made particularly back from almost 6 years ago, there were 4 of them that were my favorites (although one of them is now no longer my favorites), so those were:

  1. Sunflower : Possibly one of my favorite Sunflower mini figures that I ever seen, although I still prefer that 2013 Indonesian KFC toy equivalent of the similar character. This was also the one and only Sunflower mini figure that had it's own ability where I was able to rotate her head 360 degree, unlike majority of toys and mini figures from various toy companies that featured her in each if the sets... That also applied to her Garden Warfare counterpart of the said character too (including one of her variants; for this case, it was Power Flower), but unfortunately I didn't have that one yet to this day (and so for that aforementioned variant of herself too, bummer).🌻
  2. Bloomerang : This was possibly my most favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figure that wasn't Peashooter or any of his variants. Although I used to have one of those mad common cheap PVC mini figure equivalent of the similar character, but as soon as I acquired this one, I was so amazed by the design of it overall. Even though there was the Jazwares mini figure equivalent of the aforementioned character, but I still prefer this one because it somewhat had better versatility where I was able to flick his own "hockey stick" boomerang projectiles.
  3. Cabbage-pult : Even though this used to be one of my favorites, especially about how I used to be a mad enthusiast with it instead of Peashooter and all of his variants... As for the figure itself, it was possibly one of my favorites where it simply had partially better appearance compared to one of those mad common cheap PVC mini figure equivalent of the similar character that I used to own.
  4. Rose (Garden Warfare 2) : This was my favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 mini figure that I ever acquired that wasn't the Peashooter or one of his variants that they featured (for this case, it was Plasma Pea), although it wasn't on the same level as that Peashooter would do. Design-wise, I know if this wasn't the greatest (which was lower tier than the Citron and Kernel Corn), but it is somewhat better versatility than that costly Diamond Select Toys figure equivalent of her... For some odd reason, the one that I specifically own had slightly better appearance compared to most people who owned it (especially for both of her eyes though, if I'm not mistaken), including several people who discovered them through many old YouTube reviews that featured them from a while back.🌹
(Video courtesy on the 📱 that I'm holding there: Puppet Steve's YouTube channel)

As for the other plant figures besides those that I clearly mentioned above, here are the honorable mentions of the rest of the plant mini figures about them:

  • Wall-nut and Infi-nut : I decided to mention them both here because these were definitely my least favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies plant figures that I ever seen so far, being the Infi-nut was the worse one between the two.
  • Bonk Choy : Even though this one wasn't my personal favorite, but I'm pretty sure you used to excite over it, including the dark transparent green version of it too.
  • Snapdragon : Again, even though this one wasn't my personal favorite, but some people out there would remember the time when they used to discover this exact character in one of the blind bag series, it was definitely the most dangerous K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies plant mini figure that they ever assembled.
  • Laser Bean : Similarly to the previous 4 plants of the same reason, but I'm pretty sure most of the people would used to excite over it instead, either from that particular building set that exclusively featured it or one of the blind bag series.
  • Coconut Cannon : Again, similarly to the previous 5 plants of the same reason, except it was only featured exclusively in the one and the only building set that featured him, so.🥥
  • Kernel Corn (Garden Warfare 2) : Even though I own this one which isn't my personal favorites, but I had to admit if the design of the entire figure itself was definitely one of the greater ones that they ever designed and produced in general.🌽
  • Citron (Garden Warfare 2) : Similarly to the Kernel Corn of the same reason, but with vastly greater design since this was the one and the only IRL figure of the aforementioned character itself that specifically existed in those times.🍊

Well then, there you have it for what I could particularly say over those old K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figures of themselves, specifically for any other plant figures besides the Peashooter and all of his variants which I already mentioned in one of my articles that exposed about them from couple of months ago. Again, even though there are lot of those Chinese sets that are somewhat "inspired" most of their designs from them nowadays (excluding the ones from the shooter games section), but those of the said mini figures of themselves were still my personal favorites to this day, but still, the plastic quality of them weren't that great either... Anyway, if you have your own thoughts and good old memories regarding to this exact topic, feel free to share your own story in the comments section if you're able to. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this entire article.


Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Ceiling fans in closed down stores around my hometown...🏬🏪

Around my hometown where I do live since I was born, there were plenty of stores that used to have various ceiling fans inside each of them. However, each of those places had their own story about how come if each of them just closed down due to various issues per each of them, including several of them which are now gone (including those fans inside). Without further ado, here are my short lists about them, shall we?

  • There was a bookstore that had bunch of old National orbit ceiling fans (the models of them were F-EQ403/F-EQ403-1 [❔], and F-EQ407, respectively), in addition of some KDK industrial exhaust fans in the back part of the place itself. Due to the store itself suddenly went out of business, it unfortunately got closed down and leased in around the last year. However, the store itself still left all of those fans inside, but I have no clue whether if they eventually get rid of them later on.
  • A small vintage store that had 2 KDK WZ56Q industrial ceiling fans, which I already recorded my original video of them both briefly back in 2015. Judging by the interior of it, it possibly used to be a cassette store that was once existed back in somewhere in ~80s, then in the meantime I recorded my aforementioned video of them both, it also used to be a small buffet restaurant. The place itself was closed down and leased, but I'm pretty sure if they left both of them inside.
  • A Soto restaurant that consisted of 2 Uchida Millennium industrial ceiling fans, which I already recorded my 🥔 video of them both briefly back in 2013. The place itself was closed down since a while ago, but I'm pretty sure if they still left both of them though.
  • A small clothing store that had National F-EY149-2 (❔) industrial ceiling fan, which replaced one of the two Matsunichi (❔) orbit ceiling fans with ludicrously wacky orbital movement. The place itself was closed down since a long time ago, but the fan itself is still left inside (and possibly one of those Matsunichi [❔] orbit ceiling fans).
  • A clothing store that had 3 Regency orbit ceiling fans and an Uchida Arctic decorative ceiling fan. The place itself was closed down since a while ago, but all of those fans themselves are still installed inside.
  • A boutique store that had Panasonic F-560A1 industrial ceiling fan, which I already recorded my original 🥔 video of it back in 2014, then followed by remake of it back in 2015 and another remake video of it in 2019. The place itself suddenly closed down since sometime ago, but the fan itself is still installed inside.
  • An old motorcycle store that had 48" DEMC industrial ceiling fan. It was closed down since more than a decade, but the fan itself is possibly still left inside.
  • A jewelry store that used to have Diamond industrial ceiling fan, which was closed down since a long time ago. I have no clue whether if the fan itself got removed or not, since the place itself seems to be intact even if it's closed.
  • Another jewelry store that had National F-EY149 industrial ceiling fan inside. The place itself was closed down since more than a decade ago, but the fan itself still left inside.
  • A small clothing store that consisted of 48" 70s SMC K48 and National F-EY149 industrial ceiling fans, which I recorded briefly in 2014 using one of my old 🥔 Android devices that I used to own. The place itself is now closed down and vacant, but both of them are still installed inside.
  • A boutique that consisted of 2 National F-560A1 industrial ceiling fans. The place itself is now closed down and vacant, but both of them are still installed inside.
  • A vintage boutique store that used to have vintage National F-EQ408 (❔) orbit ceiling fan. The entire place itself was closed down including the aforementioned fan itself, and it recently got replaced by a cafe.
  • An old cassette store that used to have National F-EY149-1 (❔) industrial ceiling fan. The place itself was closed down since more than roughly 2 decades ago, and recently they replaced it with a cafe without keeping it.
  • There was a small drugstore nearest from my childhood house, used to have National F-560A1 industrial ceiling fan. It was removed several months before the time when the store itself closed down, yet the entire place itself is now replaced with a boutique store.
  • A small variety store that used to have Panalux industrial ceiling fan with all of it's own blades were bent down, due to the way how they installed in in such cramped space. The place itself was closed down, and the fan itself also got removed.
  • A (some sort of) electronic parts store used to have Greet (❔) industrial ceiling fan. The place itself is now long gone (and so for the aforementioned fan itself), and it got replaced by the bank's expansion.
  • A 💈 shop that used to have 48" CMC industrial ceiling fans, painted in red color. The place itself was closed down and demolished, and it recently replaced by an expansion of the supermarket (which surprisingly has bunch of industrial ceiling fans inside).
  • A variety store that used to have CMC Flashycom industrial ceiling fan, which I recorded my original video of it in 2014 and remake video of it in 2015. The place itself was closed down and the fan itself got removed, and it recently replaced it with a cafe.
  • A 🛍 store that used to consist of 2 CMC Niko (❔) industrial ceiling fans. The place itself was closed down since a while ago, but I'm pretty sure if both of them were removed already.
  • A fruit shop that used to have CMC and 48" Guang Dian (❔) industrial ceiling fans, which this place also used to have another CMC which got removed firstly. The place itself eventually went out of business yet they removed all of those fans, and then the entire place itself was replaced by a cafe.
  • A small fried chicken restaurant that used to have 48" Uchida industrial ceiling fan. The place itself was closed down and the fan itself was removed, yet it recently replaced with a roasted bread eatery without it.
  • An old cafe and karaoke place that was located in the corner of the intersection, used to have few black National F-EY141 industrial ceiling fans. The entire place itself was closed down since almost two decades ago, and all of those fans were removed already. FYI, this exact place also used to be another cafe that used to have some MT. EDMA ceiling fans inside, but then the place itself also got closed down right after almost a year later (I have no clue whether if they still left those fans though).
  • A fried chicken restaurant that used to have 2 Sanyo industrial ceiling fans. The entire place itself was closed down since few years ago, and both of them were removed already.
  • A bookstore that used to have 3 Sanyo industrial ceiling fans. The entire place itself was closed down since few years ago, and all of them were removed already... It recently got replaced with a Miniso store.
  • An old clothing store that used to have 10 National F-EQ401 (❔) orbit ceiling fans, which I recorded my 🥔 video of it briefly back in 2014. Due to fatal administration issues that was occurred in that store, it got closed down and all of those fans were removed already.*
  • An old shoe store that used to have a 48" Evernal (❔) industrial ceiling fan, installed in such low ceiling. The place itself was closed down yet the aforementioned fan itself also got removed, and it recently replaced by a cafe.
  • Another clothing store that used to have of 4 Panasonic, 1 KDK and 1 Maspion orbit ceiling fans (which the KDK and Panasonics replaced all of those Maspions), which I already recorded my original video of it with all of those Maspions in 2015 and remake video featuring those of the aforementioned replacement fans in the late of 2017. FYI, before this place was initially existed, it used to be some sort of variety store that used to have 3 old 48" Matsunichi and 48" CMC industrial ceiling fans (which one of the Matsunichis got replaced by a 48" National F-EY129-2 [❔])... Due to fatal administration issues that was occurred in that store, it got closed down and all of those fans were removed already.*
  • A fairly large supermarket and arcade game center that used to have certain old industrial ceiling fans (such as CMCs, Alaskas [PT. AMI], Diamond [which was just like a CMC], and National F-EY149-1s), and National F-EQ403-1 (?) orbit ceiling fan. That place also had other fans like Katsu and CKE industrial wall fans, unknown industrial exhaust fans, and some KDK industrial exhaust fans that replaced those of the unknown industrial exhaust fans. I already recorded my original 🥔 video of it briefly back in 2013, and then followed by my remake video of it 2 years later. Due to fatal administration issues that was occurred in that store, the entire place itself was moved into another location and all of those fans were removed already.*
  • A clothing store that used to have 4 Uchida Millennium industrial ceiling fans. Due to fatal administration issues that was occurred in that store, it got closed down and all of those fans were removed already.*

* means not only the fact they were closed down, the entire government from my hometown also seized those places in order to reuse them as their own property. 

Well then, those are literally the ones that I recognized through all these years since I created my YouTube channel that is dedicated for them, so. If you have your own short stories regarding to this particular topic, feel free to share your own story in the comments section if your memory serves it right. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this exact article.




Friday, December 6, 2024

The truth behind my dad's old Maspion orbit ceiling fan...

After I made 6 videos particularly about it since I made my own YouTube channel of fans from more than a decade ago, which my videos of them were:

  1. Original video from 2014,
  2. First remake video from 2015,
  3. Second remake video from 2019,
  4. Update video from 2020,
  5. Third remake video from this year, and
  6. Another update video from this year

This time, I decided to tell you specifically about how come if my dad literally acquired this exact old Maspion MOF-40 orbit ceiling fan since first time he acquired it from more than roughly 2 decades ago. Without further ado, let me share my own short story about how come if my dad owned this particular old orbit ceiling fan since then.

Basically, he acquired this old Maspion particularly from someone else which I had no clue where it originally came from, and it originally didn't work at all. However, he was able to resurrect it by repairing it's own fan motor (and possibly it's own internal wiring) to make it works again, including it's own orbital motor too (if I guessed that right)... Every parts on the entire fan itself were seemingly original (including it's own 3-speed regulator that came with it), judging by how this fan used to equip that one transparent light blue blade set before the aforementioned blade itself broke. From what I could recognize back in those good old days before I recorded my original video of it, it originally used to work on all 3 speeds like what it is now, except the low and medium speeds were way slower, and eventually it used to stuck on low speed just like what I clearly showed in my original 2014 video of it. As for the original orbital motor that used to equip on it back in those days, it used to work like what it is now, except it was a tiny bit faster (but not as fast as my 2020 update video of it), before it eventually stopped working somewhere before I recorded my original 2014 video of it.

Through many years since he acquired it specifically since then, it eventually ran into few noticeable issues, such as it used to work only on one speed, it used to barely blow any air delivery with that one solid dark blue blade that was once equipped on it, and it also caused one of the LED lights in his personal workplace just flickered endlessly as well, which occurred few months ago before a repairman repaired the entire thing to make it works better later on... However, after the repairman did the aforementioned job for doing so, it now works better as what I and he expected, in addition about how he was able to replace certain parts with a better one (such as fan motor, orbital motor, capacitor [❔], and the blade set itself). Even though right after that repairman already repaired it, it also used to suddenly stop working entirely by itself before he decided to call another repairman to repair it again. With the current state that it has since I made my second update video of it from this year, I'm glad if it's still works great after all these years in general, even if it used to ran into few of those aforementioned issues that I already mentioned just earlier.

Well, there you have it for the truth behind my dad's old Maspion orbit ceiling fan. If you have your good old memories regarding to this exact topic (such as watching those of my old videos about it, or owning experience with one of those orbit ceiling fans of the similar brand and model if you have at least one of those [except for generation, unless if you still somehow keep it or not]), feel free to share your own story in the comments section if your memory serves it right. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this short article.





Tuesday, November 5, 2024

your favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figures...❔

All of my K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figures that I have (except for one of them which I still didn't have that yet)

Can't believe it if I actually made yet another article that literally explained about one of those official Plants vs. Zombies mini figure sets that were once existed back in those days, and of course you definitely familiar with several of those ones that I have in my own collection since a while, which are those of the old K'NEX mini figure sets of themselves... However, I will spot some of my favorite plant characters that I always excited the most which they used to feature them in majority of those sets that they released back in those days, which are Peashooter and 4 of his following variants, respectively.

Even though I already made my article that briefly explained about them in general from roughly 6 years ago (based on their raw designs that they designed and manufactured them in general), but I decided to take another look at them again based on my own personal opinion about how come if I always excited over these mini figures for multitude reasons. Without further ado, let me answer about the aforementioned topic about them, shall we?

Before I begin, you probably remembered those of the very early days of K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies in general, right? If so, how about their first blind bag series that they ever released on the market from then? Well, if you still remember those good old times when they used to pack all 8 figures in each of their own blind bags, they literally packed each of them inside some sort of tissue papers (and so for some K'NEX bricks that were wrapped inside their own separate plastic transparent bag)... General traits of them aside, how about the appearance of those figures that they used to produce them back then though? Well, at first glance, they all look exactly the same as each of their own ordinary designs that they clearly featured in each of the sets that featured them, specifically between their dedicated graphic designs of themselves and the actual mini figures of themselves. However, after I somehow keep watching those of the old review videos of them from various YouTubers for many years since then, I noticed a bit of difference on those of the plant figures. It might be hard to compare between those of the newer ones and those of the first iteration of themselves, but it was somewhat noticeable for a bit on the Peashooters.

In case you've wondering about what are those traits of that K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figure that I'm referring to, here are my lists about it, right away:

  1. First iteration: Slightly thicker stem*, slightly larger eyes**, and had simple hexagonal (❔) hole design on each of it's own pea projectiles.
  2. Second iteration: Slightly thinner stem and slightly smaller eyes compared to the first iteration, but it retained the similar style of the hole design on each of it's own pea projectiles.
  3. Third iteration: Roughly similar to the second iteration, except with vastly different hole design on each of it's own pea projectiles compared to the first or second iterations (literally the same projectile's hole design that they used it initially on each of the Cabbage-pult's cabbage projectiles, and then it eventually shared into majority of the plant figures later on [including Peashooter and 4 of his variants]).

* means also applied sometimes with Fire Peashooter.
** means not sure if this was the case, because it sometimes had slightly smaller eyes similarly to both of it's newer iterations. This trait also applied sometimes with Fire Peashooter too, albeit it was somewhat inconsistent.

Example of the first iteration of K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figure (Courtesy: SquirrelStampede's YouTube channel)

Of course the one that I own is the third iteration, it's because I purchased it NOS from somewhere in 2017, while it was originally packed inside it's own K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 that literally lurked it inside... Although I literally have it since a while, but I always prefer the first iteration of it, simply because the design of that one was slightly beefier compared to any of those newer ones that I already mentioned above.

Now, how about those variants besides the original one that I mentioned just earlier? There were 4 of them that literally existed IRL after the original one, those were the Snow Pea, Fire Peashooter, Peashooter from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and Plasma Pea from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare... Among all of them, I liked the Snow Pea the most. It's because I simply enjoyed the in-game accurate design of it for it's size, unlike that one cheapo PVC mini figure of himself of the similar character... As for the rest besides the Snow Pea, that Peashooter from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is definitely my second favorite. Even though the design of it is slightly off compared to how he should look like in both of those Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare games, but I still excited over it too, thanks to the popularity of the Peashooter himself in both of those aforementioned Plants vs. Zombies shooter games (yep, because of his highly iconic in-game model of him and his highly memorable kazoo-y voice lines, thanks PopCap)... For the last two Peashooter variants (which are Fire Peashooter and Plasma Pea from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare), both of these are probably my least favorites. Even though I also own that Fire Peashooter, I decided to say so due to the way they designed it, they literally used the similar shape as the original one instead of the current one that clearly exists in Plants vs. Zombies 2 since a long time ago, except for the fact it used the transparent plastic materials instead of the usual solid ones (no wonder why I already cracked, chipped, and shattered most parts of mine already). Lastly, specifically for the Plasma Pea, although I still didn't have it yet until this day, it still shared the same traits in similar fashion about how I excited over that regular Peashooter too (even though it looked partially tacky to me in my own opinion).

Note: Even though those are always my favorites, they all shared their dreaded goof where the connection between the stem and the bottom leafy part of each of them were loose as heck (and so for both of those that were from the shooter game's counterparts too, which the connection between the stem and both of their pea pod arms were loose).

2 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Fire Peashooter mini figures... (one of them has slightly thinner stem compared to the other one)

Well then, there you have it for what I could particularly say over those old K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figures of themselves. Even though there are lot of those Chinese sets that are somewhat "inspired" their shapes from them nowadays by "enlarging" each of them (except for those from the shooter games), but those of the said mini figures of themselves were still my personal favorites to this day, even if the plastic quality of them weren't that great, however. Anyway, if you have your own thoughts and good old memories regarding to this exact topic, feel free to share your own story in the comments section if you're able to. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this entire article.



Sunday, October 6, 2024

vintage ceiling fan sites...❔

Being an electric fan enthusiast, pretty sure if I already visited some sites that literally explained about vintage ceiling fans, right? Well, yes, but only two of them that are recognizable specifically in my own mind, since I literally visited both of those sites, but now only one of them that are still remains, even if most parts of the remaining entire site itself is now no longer accessible like one of them would for some reason. Without further ado, let me particularly explain two of those vintage ceiling fan sites, shall we?

Note: Even if I recognized both of these sites, I never log in to each of them both. Which means, I only visited both of them purely for viewing purposes only.

A. vintageceilingfans.com (Adam D.)

"vintageceilingfans.com"  main page

Started off with my most recognizable vintage ceiling fan sites that I ever visited, which is the "vintageceilingfans.com", owned by the legitimate owner himself who also owns his YouTube channel of the same name as the site that he made there... Believe or not, I visited bunch of his sites through 3 different sections of his entire site many times, ranging from visiting his own gallery of his own vintage ceiling fan acquisitions, until all the way to checking his entire Proboards forum of it, consists of discussing anything about it (and certain other things such as vintage portable fans) from various fan enthusiast members around the world through many of those forum threads since more than two decades ago, which majority of them are from the US and Canada (with few exception such as that one fan collector from UAE and certain others).

Even though this particular website still exists after all these years, I already encountered some flaws while I'm visiting some of his own sites in general. Those are:

  • Majority of the fan enthusiasts and collectors who posted in his entire Proboards forum of it, hosted their own pictures using Photobucket. Because Photobucket recently doing their own mega pay-to-win features, they decided to delete them later on. Some of those pictures that are still remains in there do have their obvious Photobucket watermark on each of them.
  • His separate member galleries site is now no longer accessible since a while ago. I tried to access it (as of nowadays), and it leads to a 503 error code.
  • I tried to visit each of the member's personal forum threads in his entire Proboards forum site of it in order to check their own threads, it didn't allow me to do so if I didn't log in to there yet.

B. DT Vintage Fans (Zachary Yarnes)

DT Vintage Fans main page

Another vintage ceiling fan site that used to exist alongside with that "vintageceilingfans.com" site that I mentioned just earlier, which was DT Vintage Fans, owned by a YouTuber nicknamed Zachary Yarnes. It had roughly similar fashion just like that "vintageceilingfans.com" site as a whole, but with some differences between this and that one, those are:

  • Unlike "vintageceilingfans.com" which had 3 sections of the site itself (such as main site, separate member galleries site, and forum site), this one simply had 2 sections, which only consisted of just main site + galleries combo and forum site (which he also used Proboards too), respectively.
  • Unlike "vintageceilingfans.com" which prominently featured almost all of the fan brands around the entire world in that separate member galleries section of that site, this one only featured various fan brands that were available exclusively in the US and Canada in his own member galleries of the main site itself, including certain overseas brands that were made their way to both of those aforementioned countries too (for example: SMC, Matsushita brands [KDK, National or Panasonic], Sanyo, Mistral, Hitachi, etc.).

For some reason, the entire site itself just suddenly vanished from the internet. Simple as that, and I really had no clue about what was wrong with the entire site itself. Before it occurred, I used to visit the main site itself casually, specifically checking for various galleries of themselves through their respective brands in general without any issues. I also remembered right after the entire site went vanished, it literally redirected into a random site that had nothing to do with the URL link itself (specifically about how the "www" on the address bar just immediately changed into "ww7" for unbelievably odd reason). Not too long after I visited that particular random site that used this exact URL link, all I got from that URL link is now blank site............ although you could able to see the remnants of all of that stuffs from it using Wayback Machine.

Well then, there you have it for my short story of those two vintage ceiling fan sites that I recognized the most, although only one of them that still remains until today. If you have your own memories of visiting both of those sites online, feel free to share your own story particularly about it in the comments section if you're able to. Anyway, that's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this article.



Tuesday, September 10, 2024

K'NEX products in YOUR country❓ (ID)

Pretty sure if all K'NEX products of any kinds were supposed to exist exclusively around certain countries like those countries on North America region, right? Well, apparently no. Even though those were used to be common everywhere on those countries of that particular region, but they also made their way to more countries like United Kingdom and certain other countries within whole continent of Europe, for example... However, those products also shockingly made it's way to even more foreign countries besides those ones that I mentioned just before, being one of them is specifically from our country (Indonesia).

Before I begin, obviously I'm not mention myself with all of those K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figures that I own... Instead, I will mention some people who used to own or sell those K'NEX products of any kinds, which majority of them are just mini figure sets and certain K'NEX building sets with their licensed franchises that they used to license them like so. Without further ado, here are bunch of my mini lists about them, right away:

  • An online seller from Bandung, West Java used to sell K'NEX The Beatles Yellow Submarine mini figure set, packed inside it's own original blister. It was sold to someone else already.
  • An online seller used to sell pair of loose K'NEX Super Mario mini figures, which both of them were green Yoshi. Both of them were sold to two separate people already.
  • Somebody from Batam, Riau Islands, used to sell K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Wild West Skirmish Set in his/her account of an online marketplace. Don't know what happened to it though, because right after I checked it few times, it suddenly disappeared later on.
  • A guy from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, used to sell K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Wild West Skirmish Set in his account of an online marketplace. It lasted for few weeks until somebody purchased it later on.
  • Somebody from Jakarta used to sell K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 3 blind bags on his/her account of an online marketplace. I asked to his/her account through the direct message chat of the marketplace itself, and turned out if the items themselves were still stored somewhere in the US, judging by how fairly costly it was per one item. However, the listing itself just disappeared by itself later on for some reason.
  • A random world traveler guy owned certain K'NEX mini figures, which he prominently featured them on his Instagram account. Those characters were certain Plants vs. Zombies characters (such as Sunflower, Wall-nut, and Basic Zombie, respectively), and that green Yoshi from K'NEX Super Mario. However, he captured the picture of his K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Sunflower mini figure somewhere in Austria though, which indicated if he acquired all of those mini figures during one of his random world trips from somewhere else in any countries within the whole continent of Europe.

Well then, that's basically it for what I could particularly say about this topic in general. I don't think if I actually encounter even more people who own or sell them besides myself and those people that I already mentioned there in general, considered if majority of the people from our country would highly prefer many of those cheap mini figure sets from those alternative (or bootleg) brands that are "inspired" from it instead... Anyway, that's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this article.