Fraulein Yoko meets Figma SOS

Figures:

I made a trip down to Guildford Mall after lunch on Thursday and picked up the Fraulein Yoko at the new anime store there. I've been anxiously waiting for a moment of free time for me to be able to take some pictures of her. I decided in the end to see how indoor shots would work as I'll be hibernating for the winter (as you may know, I usually do shots out in my backyard). I should also mention I did my first group shot of the SOS-dan figma as well; I've never had the chance to get them all together until now.


Lots more after the jump:
I really like this Fraulein. It's the first one I've bought and I have to say I love the joints on this quite a bit. To be honest, I haven't even gotten around to watching Gurren Lagann yet but it's at the top of my list of series to watch. I hope you like my attempt at natural-sunlight indoor photography:

Here are the individual shots of the SOS-dan. It's the first time I've had the whole crew together for a proper group shot:

As a bonus, because I love doing part-swapping, here's Yoko as a student at North High:

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Hyakko 3: Redemption

Personal:

I've done a bit of reworking of things around here. First off I'd like to add that I created a "Design Blog" section on my links page and gave it its own blogroll. They're sites I find interested in terms of graphic design or inspiration for general things. There's some pretty cool stuff on them so I suggest you check them out, I'll be adding more. I finished my portfolio's move from cleartranquil.com to portfolio.cleartranquil.com yesterday and redid my portal page. I wanted my two domain names to go to the same place and have my blog and portfolio as subdomains. This way, when I meet a client I can give him the zacbush.com domain, and for everyone else, the cleartranquil.com.

Anime:

I've been on the go constantly since 11 yesterday morning but I had a 40 minute break between dentist and work so I decided to watch Hyakko episode 3 to see if it has redeemed itself from its poor efforts displayed in episode 2. I do say, I was very pleasantly surprised with this one! Episode 3 makes up for all the repetition and dullness of its predecessor and episode 4 has been acclaimed to being a "LMAO" episode as well. Good job, Hyakko.


This episode begins with something every high school anime girl does (apparently): groping to compare sizes and wish for a bigger bust. Suzume (right) seems the typical quiet, unemotional character, but she's actually quite outgoing when she gets excited about something. I liked Torako (left) alot this episode as well, she wasn't as annoying and inconsiderate as she displayed herself to be in the last episode.

This episode introduced a new flamboyant character: Nene Ando, the class rep, and self-proclaimed baiiii~sexual. She aspires to be student council president one day so helps the moral committee for participation points. We very quickly find out her alterior motive: to scope the school gates for anyone she can potentially harass and fondle. Poor Ayumi got her blue polka-dots revealed~

"...by the way...I like all of you..."

A potential candidate for abuse...

This episode was split into two parts essentially, the second part introducing the mechanical genius Chie Suzugasaki. The face Torako and Tatsuki make are the reaction to a mecha walker eerily treading through the hallway in front of them. Boy was Chie excited when she found out that Tatsuki is actually the daughter of the company she aspires to work for when she graduates. She helps the cast play hookie by making robot dummies of them and having them speak for them during attendance. Amagasa-sensei is not impressed...in fact he kicks Torako-dummy's head off, it was full of win.

"NANDEYANNNNNEEEEEE~~~~~~~!"

Images from Natsuneko. I'll take my own next time.

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Tora Dora 4: Stalkers at a baseball game...

Anime:

And yet another Tora Dora blurb. I must say, this anime never fails to please me, Taiga is just such a perfect tsundere! By the way, this is the first post to implement my new "Read more" system. I had to code it myself and each post is a mess of HTML...but overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. This way, you can browse through posts faster.


This episode was all about Taiga trying to snap some photos of Yuusuke. She of course guilts Ryuuji into helping her do so, hilarity ensues, and we have our episode. Minori gets thrown into the mix and Ryuuji ends up with a picture of her covered in pudding in his pocket, lucky guy. At the end we find out about an unusual event occurring in the past between Yuusuke and Taiga that will make you (and Ryuuji) go, "Nandeyane~!"

Taiga with a knife would make me feel unsettled as well...

Restraining order is in effect. That face is so cute!

Spies at a baseball game...

(o V o)''

The most awkward moment for the two of them...

Bucket pudding~

Images from Natsuneko

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Hideo Kojima PS3

Games:

A friend of mine sent me an auction he found on eBay: Auction Here. Someone is selling an autographed by Kojima...MGS4...PS3. The auction was currently $1400 is over $16,000. I was able to hunt down some additional screenshots of this monstrosity - If I had the money and didn't own a PS3 already I'd definitely buy this. It's the 60 GB model and displays probably the best skin I've seen on the system (other than the BBQ mod) so far. Not only is it amazing, it comes with a bunch of amazing goodies! Look at all the loot! Greatest thing about it is how it looks in the dark, kind of like it belongs in a show room (which I'm sure it would be if you owned it!). The controller looks kind of cool but doesn't seem to be that comfortable to hold. To be honest it looks like the Bat Tumbler from Begins/Dark Knight.

Here's some shots of the system:

PS: I split the Tora Dora and MGS4 PS3 posts because the two seem to be too unrelated.

Figures:

I'd also like to just add, I picked up Fraulein Yoko today in Soul of Anime @ Guildford Mall. She's quite well made. To be honest I like the joints a bit better than the recent quality of figma. I'll do a photoshoot for her when I have more time. I've got 2 appointments tomorrow and a closing shift so I'll have to wait until Sunday to do anymore blogging.

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Tora Dora 3: How to make a Tsundere smile...

Anime:

I finally got a chance to watch Tora Dora episode 3 last night. In my opinion the anime is going really well (but I think it could do without the Shana references, as much as I love Shana). I mean...just because it's the typical tsundere anime of the season doesn't mean they need to add the same shiznit from all the other tsundere shows. However, I am quite happy with the originality of this show, mainly that this tsundere, Taiga, is fricken VIOLENT! It really makes a difference and I think they've established the "Palmtop Tiger" persona quite well. Lookin' forward to the Nendoroid!

I'll be watching Kyou no Go no ni tonight in all likeliness (Class of 5-2). I may do a little mini-review on that series soon too. I have a few other shows I've been meaning to watch that my friend gave me. Also, when Hyakko 03 gets subbed I'll review whether the series is redeeming itself or not (last episode was quite weak).

Here are some highlights of this week's episode:

How to make a tsundere smile~

The typical "I ran away from the boy I like now I'm thinking about him" moment.

Soft landing...on your face.

Bonus: Seems like a yandere moment really...

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Nendoroid KAITO & Future Releases

Personal:

Sorry for not updating in the last...10 days...I've been really busy at school (and procrastinating things until the weekend). You know how there's a calm before the storm, so is there a calm before everything is due within 3 days. I haven't had much time to do anything except work on assignments, I'm already behind in this season's anime (but it's ok since I like to stockpile anyways). In the gaming world, I've gotten into Team Fortress 2 (about a year late) and have been playing that with friends. I've also got a Little Big Planet review to do when it comes out (unfortunately it's delayed until next week), so expect my next update to have to do with that! I plan to do an SOS-dan figma shoot soon as well...*hint hint*

Figures:

Today I'm in lecture not paying much mind to this review material so I'm browsing around and I discover that a KAITO Nendoroid is coming out! I don't know when it's coming out but I'm happy to see he comes with two faces, a scarf, and a popsicle. It's fantabulous. Wouldn't it be amazing if I was in Japan in April and discovered he's coming out then?

For those who don't know Kaito's significance to me, I cosplay as him. It's always great to have a little figure of yourself. For those who don't even know who he is, research VOCALOID. For pictures of me, go here; Here's some shots of the Nendoroid:

Images from Mikatan

I'm also happy to report that Danny Choo has provided us with new Nendoroid-petit releases that will be coming out with the game Cross of Venus for NDS. Unfortunately you need to get the game to get the figures, so, like my Haruhi PS2 figma, I'll have to hunt them down from a reseller in Akihabara when I go in April. I'm looking forward to Taiga of Tora Dora the most!

But that's not all, we've got some Phoenix Wright stuff revealed at the TGS this year. They built a replica of Edgeworth's office and had a shelf of figures on display. View the whole gallery here. I like the quality of the plastic but I must say, the joints are the ugliest I've seen:

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Homebrew Ramen & Rants

Personal:

Nothing much new to report. I'm busy with school and such, hanging out with friends between classes. I can't say I'm not feeling lonely, however. I have the unfortunate burden of driving by my ex's house every day to school. Every time I pass along that stretch I'm reminded "I don't love you anymore". It's for the best we aren't together I suppose, but all those years driving half an hour out of my way she suddenly moves to the most convenient location in the world 2 months after breaking up, that fact angers me so much. I wish I didn't know where she lived now. I also know she'll be reading this. Statcounter is smart. Guess what, I'm over you, I'm just frustrated at the timing of everything. If we had held on 2 more months, where would we be? You gave up, and I'm never going to forget that. And you were right, you're going to have to live with what you did to me for the rest of your life.

Sorry for the rant, in much lighter news, yesterday I went out with some friends to T&T market and got help with ingredients to make some homemade ramen. I got a chance to make it and enjoy it this afternoon. It included nori and tokyo negi *does the leek dance*. I made enough for two bowls so I have another one sitting in the fridge for later. So that's two noodle dishes I can make now; sunomono and ramen.


Figures:

Also this afternoon, I dragged out all of my Good Smile and Max Factory figures and did a shoot of them. The picture is......awful. I'm not equipped/skilled enough to take a picture of all of them. Nevertheless, you can view over here: DannyChoo.

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What does the scouter say...?

...the scouter says,
"THANK YOU EVERYONE!"

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My Room is an Otaku Museum Part 2

UPDATE (May 13, 2009) - My Room is an Otaku Museum Part 3

As mentioned yesterday, I was able to get my new shelf up in my room (with glass sliding doors)! Finally, no more dust. I had to move a bunch of things around to prioritize the stuff I didn't want to again get eventually dusty. I'm quite satisfied but I realized my room now looks like a toy store. For those who want to see how it USED to be click here for: PART 1.

I've found that blog post to be a great source of visitors somehow finding my posts from google.

Additional: Above Bed // Above PC

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