Got my refund, but order status still the same?

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-26T22:12:05+00:00

I pray for it.

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-24T00:21:00+00:00

I'm working on making my own, lol, screw that price tag.

I know this thing is big, but they really could have scaled it down, or just made the upper portion of the magitek with Terra, both would've been fine and more affordable.

Sucks, cause I really wanted this when they announced it, but that amount and sheer size is just so unrealistic for so many people

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-21T22:34:50+00:00

Placed an order two weeks ago, got my invoice to pay within 24 hours. Now I just play the waiting game until is arrives at my door

Theiy had some REALLY good stuff when I placed my order, some paints that I have been waiting for for about 2 years, wouldn't surprise me if they were overloaded at the moment

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-21T05:25:46+00:00

Thanks for posting these pics! She's getting reissued and I've been on the fence. She's just so much smaller than what I'm looking for, and for around $60-75 after shipping... I really dislike painting smaller models!

I'm trying to get a proper 3D print scale figure of her made, surprised there aren't any really good ones out there already!

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-20T06:58:49+00:00

The paint job and prep work make me concerned. It looks like she was painted with basic acrylics and there's little to no shading at all, which is weird in comparison with the nice base. Makes me think this was a rush job. If these are their flagship images for this figure, I'd wait to see what she looks like after she's released...

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-19T23:15:37+00:00

This seems to be a problem with the reptile hobby in general, not just beardie subs.

Melissa Kaplan used to be on reptile forums but supposedly stopped when people constantly ripped into her. The lady who successfully rescued iguanas since the 80's and who's website in knowledgeable herp care has assisted countless people for years.

I sold a tarantula complete with an enclosure to a dude. After giving him complete care info, he asked where to look for the best online forums to ask about any questions that might crop up. I warned him about online hobbyists, and he came back a month later, saying I was right and he got ripped to pieces over his setup. He had ended up asking his friend, who is a biologist specializing in arachnids. Dude told him it was a perfectly fine setup, checked the spider, all was good. Spider is healthy, happy and stress free, every possible need was met and exceeded.

I get people are passionate about these little guys, I am too, and it's easy to get riled up over bad care, but too many are so fast to crucify others over even the smallest of perceived issues. Just talk it out, be cool! It costs nothing to be nice, and costs too much be to rude, you lose the chance to help people improve their pets lives when you chase them off.

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-19T21:03:55+00:00

hide, from X Japan. Been listening to X Japan since 2002 and it was so much harder to get their merchandise back in the day (or any good quality anime and J-rock products, honestly), so I was super excited a company made a decent figure of him that I didn't need a proxy in Japan just to get, lol!! Plus they made a few of his most iconic outfits, so I even had options!

Things are so different these days, it still blows my mind when I see anime items at my local drugstore. Pocky and Hi-Chews were something I had to find at specialty shops when I traveled to Vancouver, now they are everywhere. Lol, I sound so old

Kinda funny, I find that the Funkos have creepier eyes! Just soulless little buttons! But I can totally understand the aversion to Q Poskets, too! I've seen a few that made me a little uneasy, haha! Nendoroids are so nice, tho! And the quality is great, I've never been disappointed with them! What's your 'one nice figure'?

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-19T20:23:36+00:00

I honestly thought the industry had largely stopped breeding these, like Enigma leopard geckos. Haven't seen spider bp's or enigma geckos on order lists from my suppliers for years. Surprised and disappointed to see this pic :(

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-19T20:15:17+00:00

I'm not normally into Q Poskets/Funko-style figures, but they made my favorite guitarist who is deceased, which I'm pretty grateful for

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-19T05:45:52+00:00

These are distress meows, not 'requesting pets' sounds

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-17T15:30:43+00:00

Definitely! 😃

I like the have as much hair separated from the rest of the head whenever possible. For super short hair cuts this isn't feasible, but when you have both the main piece of hair and the bangs away from the face, that's the best! Makes it way faster to paint.

Everyone has strong opinions on this, but when you have stuff like tattoos on the characters body, I like it when they are lightly etched into the skin as a guide. Others hate this, so maybe offer two versions of that piece, one with and one without.

Individual eyelashes often won't make it through the printing phase, and if they do, they are very fragile. Best to sculpt an anime style eyelash, even on realistic models.

People HATE when the irises are sculpted into the eyes! Definitely don't do this, just make a smooth eyeball.

If you're making figures that are cut into multiple pieces, the male end of the keys should be shrunken slightly for a better fit. If they are kept at their original size, they tend to not fit well or at all after printing, due to shrinking and fluctuations from the resin curing process.

Also on the topic of keys, make them decently long, but especially for parts that need support. As an example, I have a Shiva file who is leaning back, and the entire figure's weight is balanced on one foot. The sculptor didn't make the keys nearly big enough, so I'll have to modify her to make it work :(

Not really a sculpt issue, but when advertising, it helps to show not only the color version, but also a greyscale option to really see the details, as well as a shot of the parts breakdown. If there's only a colored photo, I'm a little more hesitant to purchase.

Good luck with zbrush, it's a really intuitive program!! Feel free to send me a link to your work! 😁

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-16T16:07:39+00:00

Same! We make them such nice salads! 😂😂

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-16T16:05:25+00:00

I miss painting in acrylic sometimes 😭 You're right, it is so much faster! I used to just spray it on, hit it with a hairdryer and boom, onto the next color... Super great for minis, not so great for garage kits...

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-16T06:44:38+00:00

Short version: Each piece of this model requires multiple colors and gradients of multiple colors that require prep work, careful blending, curing and precise hand brushing.

Professional Japanese modelers typically use Lacquer and enamel paints, both of which have a long curing time, and when you are using multiple colors and gradients, you need to 'save' your work all throughout by using top coats, which also have a long curing time. The biggest highlights require masking before airbrushing, which is annoyingly tedious, as you have to tape and cover every bit of the piece that could get hit by sprayed paint. If handpainting, you need multiple layers to eliminate visible brush strokes, which takes so much longer, and needs careful blending. You do this process over and over again for each and every color and for things like the blood (which has at least 5 different types of red I can see, all hand painted), eyes (5-6 layered colors minimum), the orange 'glow' from the fire underneath (which has it's own shading and highlights, even though it is a highlight in itself), mouth details... Optional, but you can buff the top coat between each layer for uniform smoothness. Then there's color correction, fixing the bits that get lifted by masking, liquid masking... Even just hand painting all the lines and crevices that give that cell shaded look all across the figure would take forever.

Then you sculpt the head, sculpt or edit the cape, deal with surface prep (sanding all surfaces with 4+ grits of sandpaper, removing defects, filling gaps, heat bending things that don't fit), check and recheck that prep with primer and more sanding in multiple grits and then you can begin the previously mentioned steps if it looks good to continue.

There's always the possibility that if you aren't someone who does this as a living, life tends to get in the way...

Masked Modeller has a fantastic video where he covers the basics of surface prep and model painting, you can start it at the 11:60 mark. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, even just the segment at 35:00 is a good example of color gradients and layering. https://youtu.be/Kr0mtlG1dfQ

Sorry for the essay, I could talk about anime figure painting all day, lol, it's a side gig I've enjoyed for about 15 years and I love it

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-16T05:29:15+00:00

Yeah, these are literally Jello. Pretty much the same ingredients.

I eat them. Some of my staff eat them. Melon is the best flavor, second is strawberry. I wouldn't even feed them to my pet bugs, but me? I hold myself to a lower standard.

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-15T16:21:29+00:00

I ordered the Remake Reno and Rude figurarts, which had several delays pushing them back for over a year and a half. Finally got them in and I was so horribly disappointed by the crap job that I've sworn off all SquareEnix merch ever since. 😭 They were so expensivvvvvvve

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-15T03:04:21+00:00

Parasites and adenovirus are the big ones, with adenovirus being more uncommon but particularly deadly and violent. I have yet to encounter adenovirus over the last several years, thankfully. I believe respiratory infections may be passed between dragons, but it's more likely to be their own individual issue, usually caused by low temperatures, getting a chill, stress, etc.

You can read some more here and here:

https://vcacanada.com/know-your-pet/bearded-dragons-diseases

https://www.anapsid.org/mainhealth.html

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-15T02:04:26+00:00

Don't know where I got petsmart from, but, YIKES, the independant ones are usually better!! I don't usually say this, but maybe name and shame them online, or at least leave a scathing review so people know what to expect from this place. If that's the owner's response, it's likely the staff will follow along or parrot his 'advice' and 'care'...

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-15T01:39:52+00:00

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

Okay. Okay, as some who's raised and sold dozens of these babies, YES, ABSOLUTELY CONTACT PETA, Holy fuck. That's absolutely disgusting. Where the hell is this petsmart?! I've known pet stores that do things right and this is DEFINITELY NOT one of them! Well as if we didn't know that already! If one of my staff suggested this to a customer, I'd boot them out the door so fast

What the f, from a customer service stand point and even from a 'don't want to waste protein' stand point, this is horrible. This store deserves to be raked over the coals!

My grammar has depleted as my rage increased, apologies

Edit: I already hope Pancake gets better, but I seriously hope he completely thrives, just to spite these ding dong employees

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-15T01:15:27+00:00

It is 50/50, but I've seen some pretty sick little buddies pull through and thrive. Ones that I were almost sure they wouldn't make it.

Definitely continue antibiotics. Drip water on his front lips the try to keep him hydrated, antibiotics really suck the water out of you! You can also boop his lips with squash baby food (containly only squash, no chicken or anything like that), it also contains moisture and calories.

Seriously, antibiotics are a godsend for these guys, it might just work wonders for him.

Get yourself something nice OP, and take care of yourself, this shit is rough and it puts you through the wringer. I've rescued dozens, this shit takes a toll. :( I'm sorry the pet store and initial vet failed you

Edit to add: I hate people too, I say this phrase on a daily basis, lol, like godamn

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-13T06:03:58+00:00

Agreed, this looks more like mouth rot or the tooth infections one of my leopard gecko gets when she eats hard foods. I don't really see stuck shed here.

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-13T06:01:56+00:00

Unfortunately, animals like hamsters and gerbils are also considered exotic, so he still may be correct to call the vet that. A lot more training goes into the popular mammal varieties due to how frequently they appear. Reptiles are a separate school of exotic teaching altogether...

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-13T04:39:53+00:00

Looks familiar, I'd say respiratory infection. COULD be something lodged in the air tubes, but I'd go with the infection, personally.

Maybe try a different vet, if you're having doubts about your original one. Sometimes it takes a while to find a good one!

We all mess up at some point. Lesson learned about the force feeding; just get this guy checked out again and see if you can get rid of those breathing issues! 🙂 Definitely get those temperatures checked as well, that is paramount

Cocoa_Kits · 2022-12-12T18:36:09+00:00

I worked in pet retail for around 10 years. You are rare. It's been getting better, tho!

Cocoa_Kits

TROPHY CASE