A r[ant]eview of Kingdom proportions!

Tears of the Kingdom. Zelda game on Switch.

    I finally decided to pull the trigger and buy myself a Nintendo Switch. I have been drooling at this console for years. I pulled the trigger now come what may.

    What other special occasion do I justify than going for the release of one of the most popular titles available on this console, The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

    My dilemma was not about spending money on a game console. But on balancing the financial needs of my family vs my entertainment. The PC I built back in 2011 is showing it's age, so playing games has been a nightmare on my PC. Specifically due to AMD drivers and it's unstoppable instability. 

    As a techie and a family man, I wanted to go for a console that is both kid friendly and has exciting game titles. Switch is the console that satisfies both these requirements. And so I pulled the trigger. In a little idiotic way. Hindsight is always 20/20 indeed.

 

 

    So what is the big deal that I am talking about hindsight and stuff? The fact is that I live in India. Nintendo does not have an official presence in India unlike Sony. So buying anything related to Nintendo has only one option - the grey market. What is so bad about the grey market? On one hand these 'sellers' do not take adequate precautions when they ship the items through courier services. On the other hand, these 'sellers' unbox the goods and repack themselves. Sealed boxes are not imported by these grey market folks and they still price it above EU or US region even though they are importing it at wholesaler rates into India. So Indian Nintendo gamers have to pay more while getting a dented product.

 

    The following are the video clips I shot as I unboxed the CE for the first time. All the scuffs, finger-prints and scratches spoilt my unboxing experience.

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    Complaining aside, what is the big deal about the Japanese version of this CE compared to EU or US version? The art book is paperback and very flexible. From the unboxing videos that I have seen from reviewers, I noticed that the EU edition has a hardback art book.

    If you are planning to buy this CE, do not buy from any grey market seller is my humble suggestion. I hope Nintendo decides to enter India on an official capacity soon.

PS: By the time I could finish writing this blog, which has taken me 7 days as of posting this, my first amiibo has arrived, obviously scuffed and damaged. The Totk Link!

How to be an effective remote worker?

 Working remotely has become the normal for most of the departments within a company since the start of covid pandemic. People have realised that they are far more effective in their daily work when they work at their own pace from the comforts of their home. So how can you make yourself more effective? Read on for some ideas and perspectives that will help your effectiveness.

Cut out the noise

 The biggest distraction inside an office is the constant background chatter that goes on around with people around you when you are trying to focus on your work. You learn to ignore the background noise as you force yourself to concentrate on your work - cuz deadline! 

Working remotely solves this problem entirely because you are no longer distracted by the background noise from others. You get to choose where you work in your house too. Just eliminating the background noise from your everyday work increases the amount of concentration that you have which in turn enables you to get more done easily. Ofcouse you can argue that family members will be present in the house to distract you, which is where the next aspect will solve that for you.

Have a dedicated Work Room

Have a spare bedroom in your house? An unused store room? Convert that into your work room. All you need is a table and a comfortable chair. You can inform your family members not to disturb you during your working hours. You can also lock yourself in the room during important meetings and discussions without being disturbed. 

Extending your work for that monthly release is not going to be a problem or a cause for concern for your family because you have totally eliminated time consuming travel entirely. Cutting out the needless travel from your everyday life obviously gives you the much needed time that you can spend with your family members. Commuting is as short as walking to your Work Room.

Indulge yourself a bit

Been working remotely for long? Spice up your Work Room with some interesting stuff. A mechanical keyboard is a good place to start as you are constantly typing to get your work done. Add some decorations on to your table. Just like what you used to do when actually walking into office. Better yet, ask your significant other to sit along side you and chat with you while you write that boring code that you have already written 'n' number of times.

Enjoy working remotely!

Working from Office is seriously unproductive!

Walked into office for just a single week and I can already see that this is the most unproductive form of work that people have invented! I am wasting more than 50% of my time in office just waiting around for dependencies from other people. If I could have the same time available at my home, I can spend that time with my kid instead. There is no life-work balance when you walk into office everyday.

Management across the world(read India) seriously need to rethink their approach to working from offices as they are not paying the employees for the time spent on commuting. I say this because I am living in a congested city and it is not worth wasting 3 hours per day stuck in traffic just because management wants people to walk into office - because management lacks the skills to work remotely!

How remote work has impacted Indians - 1

Pandemic has demonstrated that people can be productive even if they are not constantly monitored by managers. So how has pandemic shaped the work environment in the Indian context?

My personal experience is that I am able to focus on my personal physical fitness as I work remotely. Ofcourse I am no where near the fitness levels of my college days, but I am definitely more fit than I was before the pandemic began. Now I am questioning myself, what was I really working for all these years(from 2010) if I can't maintain my own health as I grow old?

Do share your thoughts in comments. 

Getting started. Again.

Hobbies keep life from becoming a dull routine like a cog in a machine. Here's hoping that my next interest will contribute to interesting reads and possibly even help out people get a better experience with their keyboard. 

I'm also open to building you a keyboard with no additional charges except for parts, provided you are in India.

Edit: You can reach out to me on

Discord - Lord M!n! Rà\/! #6111

Twitter - @zangetss

Dota: Dragon's Blood review from an anime and DotA fan

This is a show that is mediocre storyline and animation style at best. It doesn't help the fact that Valve is trying to pass this off as an anime when it clearly isn't. They got to call it DotA cartoon if they really want a develop a fan following for this.

Studio Mir is not a notable studio and them getting this project from Valve shows that Valve is not totally committed to bringing the best experience of DotA story telling to the world. It clearly shows how much a corporate company like Valve cares even though they earn millions each year just by selling their 'Game Pass'.

The cost cutting in many of the scenes is very apparent and obvious by Studio Mir. Fans who have respectable knowledge of anime quality shows are torn between supporting Studio Mir and wishing for the success of this endeavor. 

If this cartoon show succeeds, Studio Mir is not going to up their efforts in focusing on the quality of this cartoon - they would more likely prefer to roll with what works already. But if this cartoon show were to fail, it would be another nail in coffin that would prevent other game companies from adapting their games into story telling cartoons or anime.

The story would have been much more 'alive and familiar' if it had been set in the Warcraft universe(DotA is a community project right?), but Valve and Studio Mir have decided to create their own universe for reasons not disclosed to the general public. So this cartoon's universe falls very short in explaining(read showing) what, how and where all these events are taking place. 

In short, DotA has always been about the bigger picture and the finer details. But this cartoon has only depicted a series of events happening in a completely unfamiliar/undisclosed part of it's universe. You could indeed argue that I am comparing a game to a cartoon but let's not forget that DotA as a game is not a linear story line.

TL;DR Dota: Dragon's Blood cartoon is meh for a 2+ decade fan of DotA.

Mini-Z vlog #2

 

Mini Z DIY tierod sleeve

 

Drift practise vlog #2

 

Mini-Z vlog #1 MA-020

 

Terrible drift practise, terrible disappointment

Mini Z AWD chassis testing

 

DHL's day light robbery

This is as much as a rant post as it contains a lot of information about how exactly are people are getting looted by logistics companies.

My very first experience with DHL turned out to be a nightmare. Far from the kind of image they project in their ads.

I had bought a TLV Hino Tractor Head weighing at 0.4 kg from Japan to India. The total shipped cost of the model was 61$ US on eBay. I was surprised that there was no option to pick the career through which I can get it shipped, but I went ahead and placed the order anyway, as it just mentioned free shipping. 61$ US was the best price I could find on eBay, or so I thought.

Two days after I had finished the purchase, I woke up to find a message from DHL stating that a package is going to be dispatched from Japan. I got alarmed as I never had routed any package through any private carrier. I immediately wrote to the seller asking them to ship through SAL, for which I got a reply telling that SAL is unable to deliver to my address.

Wait. What?! Why would a government run Japan Post be unable to deliver to my address?!

I was not excited to get such a response from the sender. Sure normal postal service takes time, but they sure do make it to my address every-single-time!

A day later, I got another message from the seller that they have shipped my package. Little did I know that this would turn out to be a very stressful experience.

Two days later, on 14th March 2018, I got a call from DHL's KYC team in Bangalore informing me that they needed me to submit some documents that would verify my ID as well as address proof. This was literally my first time that I heard such a weird request, as I never had to furnish any details when shipping through SAL.

Alright, I complied and provided them my PAN card image and electricity bill image that contains the address of my home. I honestly thought that was all that I needed to do, as both the documents very clearly showed the required details for DHL.

But every 4 hours until 10 PM in evening starting from 14th March evening until 17th March evening, I kept getting calls from DHL asking me to provide correct details. I was constantly contacted. Every 4 hours. The reason? The address proof that I had provided was invalid.

Seriously. How in the world can I provide an invalid address as 'proof' when I am living at that very address?!

After numerous attempts and after numerous phone calls from the so called DHL KYC team, they suddenly stopped calling. When I checked their web site, they had simply accepted the address proof that I had uploaded.

On 21st March I got a call, when I was in my office, from DHL stating that I need to pay up ~3100 INR for my shipment to get delivered, and that my shipment is going to be dispatched from Bangalore. When I asked for the reason as to why I am being charged, I was simply told that these charges were import duty, processing fee and holding charges for DHL!

I do understand that I would have to pay import duty for any items that I import, but what exactly was this guy talking about when he said 'processing fee' and 'holding charges'?

Once I got back home, I called up DHL customer care and asked them about as to why I am being charged additional charges apart from import duty of 1600 INR. I was given a flat answer that these charges are by DHL and no further explanation. Only after I started protesting that I am being charged without reason and that I want to register a complaint with DHL higher ups, I was told the following,

1. For every package that DHL or any private logistics company carries for an individual, DHL or their respective private company will always charge a fee of 500 INR as 'processing charges'. This is charged no matter what package you are sending through them.

Now my payable total is import duty ~1600 INR + handling charges for DHL 500 INR = ~2100 INR.

2. For any package that DHL takes to the customs, the customs will always impose an import duty regardless of (total value of the shipment + freight charges = assessed value) at what ever rate that they wish to.

The total assessed value of my shipment is ~3800 INR. Since I am importing a diecast toy, the maximum import duty that the customs of India can levy on me would be 12%. I learnt this by referring the customs website. But when I asked the DHL guy over phone as to why my import duty is higher than 12% of the total assessed value for a toy, that guy simply said that Indian customs has only charged 10% of the total assessed value.

Let's do the math here. Total assessed value of the shipment is ~3800 INR. If the import duty levied by customs is 10% as per DHL guy's statement, I should not be paying any more than 380 INR. Even at 12% import duty, it wont cost me a penny more than 456 INR. But why the hell am I charged ~1600 INR as import duty?!

Indian customs is not as transparent as they claim to be. Even though they provide a written statement of duty, there is every reason to believe that Indian customs are nothing but a bunch of bureaucrats looting money from their own country men in the name of rules and laws.

3. DHL will simply charge a flat fee of 500 INR per day as holding charges from the 3rd day of shipment arrival. Why? It's because this is the most lucrative way to make money on any shipment.

I was purposely stalled by DHL stating that I didn't provide a valid address proof for 4 days. During this 4 days, my shipment used up 2 days of standard allowance of holding by DHL and took up another 2 days.

Now my payable total is import duty ~1600 INR + handling charges for DHL 500 INR + 2 days holdin charges = ~3100 INR.

I got looted. In broad daylight. By DHL. DHL and Indian customs suck! Literally!


PS: People assume that importing through DHL or through any of these private logistics company will give them peace of mind. But the reality is far from it. I request that you never trust any of your package to DHL or any private logistics company.

PPS: There are a lot more information that I am yet to add to this post. Will do so over time.

Red Line Club? Leo Club India?

It is a well known fact for years that Mattel has only been focusing US and Canada by having an exclusive Club.

In mid 1990s, Mattel partnered up with Leo Toys India to start manufacturing in India. Rumors out there say Leo was not able to produce and meet the standards that was expected by Mattel.

You know what? We Indian collectors atleast had Leo as an indigenous makers of car models that we could collect. But not any more.

Will we see a comeback of Leo Mattel? Atleast for India? I sure do hope so!

A Special that didn't make it!

Here's a Hot Wheels RLC Corvette that didn't make it stellar. The contemporary '14 Corvette Stringray in metallic blue.

It has almost everything going for itself, but the collector community managed to collectively reject it because it doesn't have a metallic roof.

With just 3000 numbers produced, this is a model that captures all of the features of it's 1:1 counter-part excluding the wheel arches, which has been hotwheelified.

Though it is a stand alone release, I do feel this is a piece that is worthy to be collected just for it's beautiful metallic blue paint and that constrasting red rims.

Metallic top or not, the amount of details that has been tampoed sure makes this a model that is a must-have for collectors who are after detailing.

Feel free to post your comments below if you disagree with me. I would love to discuss this model further in depth.

PS: I also need some suggestions about what kind of backrground theme that I could adopt for this blog. Do suggest!

How do you keep track of your collection?

I have been wondering about this for quite a while, and have asked some of collectors with whom I talk to. How do you effectively and efficiently keep track of my collection?

I would love to find out ways that are easy and quick that you people have been using to keep track of your collection. Let me share the way I have kept track of my collection so far. I enter each models details on to an excel sheet along with details such as card condition, car condition and also the price I paid for buying it.

So far this process has been painstakingly slow and tedious. Even though there are online solutions that offer to let you keep track of your collection, it just is not convenient enough to the extent that I would like it to be.

I have put together a questionnaire which I think would help us collectors to understand the mistakes that we are doing in our hobby. Please follow this link and give your answers. I have enabled results sharing, which will let you see what others have posted as well.

Do post your comments below to let me know if anything in my questionnaire can be improved!

Mazda 767B - Tomica Limited Vintage

After getting my hands on my very first TLV, I have to say that I am impressed and disappointed at the same time.

Being a hard core Hot Wheels collector so far, I have become accustomed to almost all of the castings to be sturdy and heavy. But this car, the Mazda 767B 1991 Le Mans model has stumped me. Not only it is extremely light weight, but the spoiler on the rear flexes!

I do love the detailing and the paint quality of the build of this TLV, but there is a lot left to be desired in terms of sturdy construction. I do wish to build up my TLV collection from now on.

So do let me know what are the holy grail pieces of TLV in the comments below!

P.S: I do think that Tomica can copy the display box style from Hot Wheels RLC. It will much more easier to handle the car and also look awesome when displayed.

Beware of Kuretake from Malaysia!!

I just came across this video and it is of paramount importance that collectors across the world learn about it. These guys Kuretake are very shady. Stay away from them even if it means waiting for a long time to get your case of Hot Wheels! Please watch this video to learn about their fraudster ways.

Mazda 787B

I am not sure about how many people are interested in JDM cars, but this Mazda 787B 1991 Le Mans Winner's Car is a definitely a must have!

I think this is one of the most perfect execution of a car at 1:64 scale. I just couldn't resist posting about this one.

Gasser that fell short....

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the '55 Chevy Gasser, but is the 17th Nationals Gasser really worth it? Or is it just another hype wagon that falls short?

The RLC exclusive gasser has become the most sought after gasser that people are ready to splurge their money up on. And it is not without good reason.

- It has one of the best card art in the history of Hot Wheels.

- The spectraflame paint brings out the character and makes it look gorgeous.

- The decals are ofcourse the usual affair. 

- It has 2 variants. An orange tint top and a pink tint top.

To sum up, RLC gasser is the reference model/level for any car model that can claim to have the must have collector value.

The Nationals Gasser, though the new kid on the block can be described that is,
- It has just a generic 'Nationals' card art
- I would call this paint as enamel at best.
- The decals are similar to RLC gasser and there is one that mentions 'Pittsburgh, PA'.
- There doesn't seem to be any variations so far.

To sum up, Nationals gasser is a plain jane gasser that does not 1-up the RLC gasser in any way.

Some of the facts that I was able to gather by interacting with people who attended the Nationals were that the red gasser was already sold at an inflated price tag of 200$ right during the Nationals events. That is some serious price inflation right on the day of release!! - apart from evilBay.

It is obvious that many collectors who missed out on the Pink Gasser would want to get their hands on one of these, but surely over paying for a model that does not live up to it's previous benchmark is just throwing money out of the window.