Within a Flash of Lightning

Dolls and Beaches

2012-05-25T14:45:00.003-07:00

It suddenly became very sunny in Vancouver in the beginning of May, so the group decided to have a meet on the beach on May 12th. Thankfully Flamebyrd brought an umbrella because dolls don't like the sun much ^^;

Obey your thirst! Drink Sprite! Sadly I spilled some because I must've shook it when I was carrying in my bag ^^;

Lots of people on the beach. It wasn't that warm yet, and lots of wind. Later on in the day it became quite warm in the sun.

Helen's about ready to go swimming.

Oh, looks like she's got her swimsuit underneath.

Sexy :D

Quite a breezy day.

Adjusting the back of the suit ^^;

Rainbike Dash??

Pretty rainbows ^^

Ice cream!

Widdle biddy mermaid ^^ So cute! I wants'em!

Sexy MEIKO! These are Helen's outfit btw. A little bit short, but she fits them quite well :D

Bluestarbaby's phone. Cute alpaca on the back :D

Love this photo ^^ They're so cute together ^_^ A little bit more on my Flick.

Taiga Hunting Sakura and Other Spring Days

2012-05-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy spring. Taiga were sad I wasn't able to post the photos I took of her last month... It was quite a rainy April, so it was hard to take spring photos outside. This is one of those rare days where it didn't rain. Figured I'd take a walk around the neighbourhood.

Since I'm also behind on posting other photos, I thought I'd put them all together here ^^; And also on Flickr!

A lot of streets lined with sakura!

Not sure what plants those are behind Taiga, but I thought it was cute.

Found this cute log decoration outside someone's house. I had to pause a little bit so the resident of the house go in first before I took photos ^^;

Oh, I also got a new phone last month. I posted this photo on Instagram a few weeks ago calling it, "Taiga logging in." ^^;

Cherry blossom not bloomed yet.

A little pot luck dinner with friends... And dolls.

Théo is shy, especially with all the big ladies around him.

Cute Shion is cute! Especially with those pigtails.

Ducks!

Ducklings!

Bunnies! There were lots and lots of bunnies. I'd pick one up as a pet if I could.

Sexy Miu taking a walk in Minoru Park.

Cute lil baby bunnies ^^

Dessert time! Crème brûlée made by Navci!

A new Lego store opened early in May and they built this gigantic Lego R2-D2 at Oakridge Mall!

Then I had a BBQ at a friend's place. Wished i took pictures of the food, lol, but that woulda made you all hungry :P

MEIKO's outfit is actually Helen's! Helen's 50cm but seems to fit MEIKO just fine ^^ A bit sexy with the sideboob, but I'm not complaining :P

Saber's Birthday and the Reality Marble Cake

2012-05-13T12:28:00.001-07:00

It's Saber's birthday once again and looks like they're having a party by eating a "reality" marble cake XD

This was last minute photos and post unfortunately... I completely forgot since I've been busy and very tired this weekend ^^; The marble cake is made by mom, btw. Also, Happy Mother's Day!

I also decided to put in Saber as my phone wallpaper for a while... I figured a new art by Takeuchi Takashi would be a good one.

Uh-oh... The Sabers are angry... They just finished the cake and they want more 0.o

OMAKE: Saber Nendoroid heads!

Spring Doll Meet 2012

2012-04-24T23:37:00.001-07:00

Right after the second day of Fan Expo I made my way to the spring doll meet that already started, though there were still a few people that arrived later than me ^^; I brought along MEIKO, Helen and my newly purchased alpaca plush from Fan Expo. Quite a popular animal during the meet XD

There were a couple of other SQ Lab/DD customs during the meet aside from MEIKO.

Cute widdle mermaid! Not sure if I like the webbed hands though... Might be something I need to get used to.

Yes, I purposefully angle the photo here so that it looks like Kudo is trying to poke inside Saber Alter's dress behind her.

Helen looks like she's having fun with her new alpaca companion... Though she might be too heavy for the plush still... Don't tell her that I said she was heavy.......

A couple of idols!

I had a story in mind when I saw these two in the viewfinder. He looks troubled while she's asking him, "what's wrong?" ...And go from there.

Something about her eyes made me feel like this photo didn't do it justice. I couldn't tell which angle I should be taking ^^;

Mmmm... Bacon! XD

By this time, MEIKO does not look like MEIKO anymore... So I'm calling her "MEIKOver" when she's not in her usual MEIKO outfit, courtesy of Flamebyrd who made that pun.

Alna now has a sidetail!

Poor guy... He's trying to be a gentleman while trying not to look down into the valley... ^^;

Love the jewel choker! I have something like that too that I should use more often...

The cool kids.

Two Nendobitsu! Taiga is Airs' new girl... Sorta ^^

Girly long legs! This tan skinned girl has really long legs that she caught my eye quickly. She's the meet host's girl, btw. I had to ask about her, lol.

This pair look so relaxed.

A very interesting pose... He's asking you to help stretch him out, it seems.

A complete MEIKOver... I would never imagine her in a light blue dress like this before... She is soooo not MEIKO XD

And then she grew twin tails XD

Alna was feeling very hot...

Better late than never. This mother and child pair arrived late, but I still got photos of them both!

Once in a while I want to try a different angle when taking photos... I took this right above them. Gives off a different feeling for this photo, but not sure what.

And lastly... Saber Alter and angry bun! Super cute ^^

Since I recently upgraded my Flickr, I decided to frickin use the heck out of it... Way more photos from the meet on my Flickr!

First Fan Expo in Vancouver

2012-04-23T00:24:00.004-07:00

Fan Expo has arrived in Vancouver! Though it is now come and gone when this is posted ^^; Fan Expo have always been one of the biggest combined geekery convention in Canada, but usually only in Toronto. This year it came to Vancouver. I'm hoping the title of my post become "The First Annual Fan Expo in Vancouver", but judging from how successful the turnout was it won't be a surprise if it doesn't happen again next year.

The lines were long! It goes on forever! However, the fire chief decided that it will become a fire hazard if they went over the capacity of the hall. So unfortunately a lot of people were turned away. The tweet from @ExpoVancouver mentioned that they had to cut off anymore admissions but may be available again after 3 pm on Saturday.

Tear/raindrop sculpture outside the Convention Centre

This took place in Vancouver Convention Centre. It was big, but the crowd was bigger! Though I think it was the right decision even though they had to disappoint a few people because it became really hot inside with all of these people and very hard to move in the aisles.

This was the first sight you would've seen once you enter. Huge amounts of shirts! I got one myself.

Comics and comics and more comics in long boxes! Gone are the days of me collecting them unfortunately. Though once in a while I'd look for graphic novels to read some of the more interesting crossovers or collected stories.

The Batmobile is a replica made locally. It's quite the centrepiece for this exhibition hall. You can take as many pictures as you want outside the railings, but pay $20 you can sit inside and do closeup photos for 5 minutes.

These two mechas were popular attraction inside the exhibit hall. The Terminator statue stuck around in one of the booth but it got quite a lot of attention. While R2-D2 was more mobile thanks to the folks from the 501st Legion. It chirped and whined and shrieked just like in the movies while traversing the crowd and waiting for people to take pictures with this lovable astromech.

Awesome looking Hulkbuster Iron Man statue. It was for sale at Fan Expo for $397 ^^;;;

Lots of dakimakura being sold too. Took this picture for Yakuri XD

Golden Age Colelctables is my usual comic book store... If I were still buying comics. This original art was drawn by Todd McFarlane when he just started his first work for DC Comics and lived in Vancouver area. This art is also used for the store's bag and became quite a popular item for tourists.

Some Tintin merchandise. Quite pricey, but they are hard to find items.

Wicked looking sign for Visions Found! Some of the artists found in the Artist Alley.

Anime Revolution was also advertising their convention which will take place in the Vancouver Convention Centre as well. I had quite a bit of talk with one of the staffs. I just remembered that I heard about them when they followed me on Twitter, but back then they didn't look as good as this since they just started. Quite a long ways since then and everything look quite good now.

I also met some friends here at Fan Expo, including Narmi and Chun (as seen above).

On Saturday night, I was able to get a ticket for the Canadian Videogame Awards (CVA. Apparently "videogame" is one word XD).

It was hosted by Canadian David Hayter, who most of you would probably know him best as Snake from Metal Gear Solid. Yes, he was talking to himself a lot during the show XD

An interesting segment during the show where David Hayter (Solid Snake), Elias Toufexis (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) and Eric Ladin (Infamous 2) show off their voice range quoting famous movie lines.

David Genn (54-40) were playing with The Odds to present the nominees for best music. Great music! I was very impressed with their rendition of Deus Ex's score.

Jennifer Hale replayed her role as Naomi for the show.

Billy Campbell, of Rocketeer fame was one of the presenters.

Jennifer Hale was also there to present an award.

The last thing I attended for Fan Expo was the ReBoot panel featuring Gavin Blair (creator), Sharon Alexander (voice of older AndrAIa), Shirley Millner (voice of Hexxadecimal) and Garry Chalk (voice of Slash).

The convention seem to be lacking panels with only two panel rooms for Q&A or events. I guess when you're used to other anime conventions it felt like this was lacking. Though since this is the first year they're doing this they might just start small. Hopefully this will become an annual event in Vancouver. Though I imagine there has to be some improvement that could be made. Like for lineups. It was unfortunate they had to turn away people. And then on the second day, everyone had to line up no matter if they have a 2-day badge or just buying their tickets today... Isn't it easier to let people with passes in first instead of getting them to lineup with everyone else?

Anyway... To end this post, here are the cosplay photos! Though this time around there aren't as many cosplay compared to an anime convention so I've put them together here.

Captain Haddock, Tintin and Snowy. They were actually running a survey on the recent Adventures of Tintin film for the Department of Theatre and Film at UBC and asked the Fan Expo attendees to help their research. But you can also take part and take the survey online to help them out ;)

Saw an unmasked Captain America and a very accurate looking Whiplash from Iron Man 2. And yes, that arc reactor do light up!

Felicia of Darkstalkers.

Rainbow Dash! She's 20% cooler because I know her XD

Collection of Batman characters!

Akira and Saki from Higashi no Eden. Akira looks familiar. Looks like I've seen her from somewhere in a different cosplay... Hmmm.....

A super cute Ayanami Rei! *doki doki*

Tali from Mass Effect series.

Fem Predator! One ugly motherf*****! XD

An unlikely pair... Harley Quinn (Arkham Asylum version) and Miranda Lawson from Mass Effect.

Misty as Supergirl from Golden Age Collectables, also a friend of mine, who actually brought me to light regarding the existence of Fan Expo in Vancouver.

Enzo, Mike the TV and AndrAIa from ReBoot!

And lastly a Fluttershy (from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) with Angel the bunny XD

Sakura Con 2012 Acquisitions

2012-04-18T15:45:00.002-07:00

What's a convention without getting some stuff to buy to bring home, right? The strangest part about this loot is the fact that I didn't buy any shirts! This doesn't happen very often! I usually get at least one shirt from a convention... But maybe I just remember that I have too many already as it is... Oh also, that Durarara manga is a freebie and I forgot to take more photos of it. So this is the only time you'll see it :P Ah and pardon the quality of some of the photos. When I took the photos I thought they looked good enough on the display, little did I know I didn't have enough lighting for some ^^;

First up is a unique item and since it's Misaka Mikoto, I had to get it! Sure it looks like a normal wall scroll, right? Well there's a wire going down from the topside and you can plug in a music player into it and BAM! Wall scroll speaker! If I have time I'll make a video of it.

I think I spent most of my money that I brought at the Obitsu booth... I was hoping they would have the Obitsu 1/3 scale stand and they did! Glad I saved on shipping for this one. They didn't have all that I wanted though, but my friend got the ones she requested of me before the Con. Obitsu 11cm bodies which comes with underwear this time around. Or as I'd like to call it, "tiny panties." I think the Obitsu VP remembers me from last year or perhaps it was a special thing they had for Sakura Con; they gave me free two pairs of shoes for the Obitsu 11cm :D So nice of them. The dresses I had to buy separately though and cost me some pretty pennies ^^;

I really need to get going on watching Gundam AGE. I'm missing out a lot it seems. I love the designs on the grunt unit better than the Gundam, so I had to buy an Adele, while I bought the Titus so I can modify my Madoka figma :3

Ika Musume Blu-Ray was released early and quite cheap, might I add! Now I need to get rid of the first volume DVD that I bought ^^; I bought the Vocaloid keychain from Kinokuniya, but mostly for MEIKO, lol.

I also got to look around the Artist Alley. I was mostly looking for doll things, but couldn't find any... But I found these little gems! Marle and Chrono's cat are beads with magnets attached at the back! Really cool looking. I had to get them right away! I need to track down the artist because I wanna see if she has more of them :D Azumanga Daioh and bubble tea... What more cute you ask?

New dresses for MEIKO! Yes, that is MEIKO under that blonde wig XD These new dresses aren't from Sakura Con itself though. I ordered from Maridah's BJD Atelier store and got them there :D Thank you Maridah!

I would enlarge these photos but the colour and lighting was awful ^^;

She also included these two items in the package ^o^ Thank you very, very much Maridah! For that, I made an extra comic here for her ^^

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Special 9

Ya... Saber just can't do nice things ^^; If you know your film and big budget movie techniques you know what green screens are used for. If not then it's basically used to add a new background later on that replaces the green screen. Oh and I have to credit CosplayShots too, the photographer of the original Maridah casual Saber. I had quite a chat with him while we were at Sakura Con :)

And of course you can always read the whole series of 4koma comics at The Melancholy of Saber Lily site.

Here's a bigger version of the edit for the first two panels. I tried to match the colour, but well... It's a bit off ^^; Thanks again Maridah for letting me use this photo :)

And here are the signed stuff! Got my copy of Phantom of Inferno signed by Urobuchi Gen! I wanted the boss of Nitroplus to sign it at AX last year, but I forgot to bring it =( I still have the old passwords inside the case! Copy of my Full Metal Panic signed by Tateo Retsu, who is such a cute lady ^^ While Iwakami Atsushiro and Ota Katsushi signed the Fate/Zero postcard!

I was also able to exchange some business cards with some people there :D I finally got a card from Obitsu since I didn't have my business card last year at Anime Expo... The Wonder Woman cosplayer is Pink Bunnie, a friend of Maridah, also from my home province of BC. Ashe sorta greeted me out of nowhere and I wasn't sure if I've met her before or not ^^; Apparently I looked like one of her friends. She was cosplaying as Saber from Fate/Zero. I exchanged cards anyway, lol. I got the Aniplex card after the interview with Urobuchi Gen just so we can co-ordinate the interview articles.

This is the back of Ashe's card. Really cool!

My press pass badge :)

Not really mine, but I took this at an Artist Alley booth and this artist (whom I should've gotten a name/card from...) had a Blue Fairy Xiao sitting around and I asked if I can take a photo.

And lastly... I really wish I took this home as a loot. I want a Chogokin God Sigma now!!!

Obitsu at Sakura Con 2012

2012-04-13T02:55:00.000-07:00

When the president of your favourite doll company is invited to Sakura Con as a special guest, you tend to want to go... So I did. He is Obitsu Saburo, the President of Obitsu Company, a company that is 100% made in Japan! All the design and manufacturing are made in eastern Tokyo in Japan.

Obitsu had the honour to be one of the first panels you can attend on Friday. Unfortunately they had some technical difficulties and their presentation was delayed for about 15-20 minutes... The downside of being first =/

So Helen took some time taking photos right behind Saburo himself!

Even with the delay, the technical problems were still not able to be fixed, so they had to resort to showing the slideshow on the laptop. Thankfully it was a small crowd and we were able to huddle up close to see their presentation which included some videos. One of them is from Culture Japan when Danny Choo visited their factory for inside look at the Obitsu factory.

One of the reasons why Seattle is popular in Japan is because of Ichiro who plays for the Seattle Mariners, possibly Obitsu's reason to come to Sakura Con. Incidentally, his name, Saburo, means he is the third son in the family, Ichiro being the first. Despite being third he does not want to lose to his older brother!

Obitsu Saburo holding up the popular 50cm line bodies, one with vinyl body parts and the other just the inner skeleton. Obitsu is famous for their slush mould. It's the process of creating doll mould from baking and rotating at the same time which makes the parts seamless and have a handcrafted feel to them.

He proceeded to take apart the skeleton showing how easy it was to replace if a part broke.

In the box in front had in some of their creations using slush mould. I was slightly confused because the translator kept saying "slash" but I looked it up for accuracy's purposes and "slush" seem to come more often.

I was sitting in the second row so I was close enough to read the subtitles on the laptop... But I know I could watch it at another time if I had to :P

One of the best demonstrations of the slush mould is the monster Garamon from the Ultraman series. The slush mould made it possible to make the scales all in one piece.

Here's a closer look inside Garamon's body. Very interesting to learn about this process.

This shoe is made to look like it has seams, but it is all moulded in one piece. The seams were part of the design for the shoes. I purposely compare it to my shoes when I took this photo XD

This is also one of the products that they're able to create with the slush mould. I was wondering what exactly this was because it's a bucket but a very long and narrow one... It turns out to be a bucket you can put on a belt if you work as a window washer. Towa Safety Bucket, to be exact.

The next sample Obitsu showed us were stomach samples. It was created for a doctor who was testing an internal organ camera. The doctor did not want to use a cadaver to make a layout of the stomach so he used his own! The doctor asked many other companies who can make these samples, but to no avail, until he came to the very last one on his list, the Obitsu company. These models were also used for medical conventions in Japan!

This one really caught my eye since it's The Terminator! It looked like a very high profile work too. I was able to find it in Hobby Search's catalogue. It looked very heavy, but in fact, a very light figure.

It looked kinda funny here, but I found it very interesting that this is how they made it. They could easily make multiple features to attach his arms without the jacket.

The next piece is Cthulhu! Helen and Raven bravely posed with him ^^; This was contracted by an American company who started out with a Chinese company at first. After six months that company showed a lot of defective products, so the American company decided to go with Obitsu to creating this monstrosity.

Prior to this Matrix-like demonstration, Obitsu showed us an old style doll that was very floppy and had lots of screws in the back. After people saw what Obitsu can do, the styles quickly changed for dollmakers.

That marks the end of their panel. They have another panel on the Saturday but it is the same as this one but perhaps they fixed their technical difficulties by then. I wasn't able to attend unfortunately, so I was not able to see anything different from the Friday one. But moving right along, they had a booth in the Exhibit Hall which I visited soon after.

I feel like I didn't do these dolls justice with the bad angle I had when I took these photos... They were actually selling them though these dolls are only for display. They would be taking your order and then ship them to where you live.

These two look so cute that I was tempted to buy them right there!

The Obitsu 11cm have their own heads and they were for sale, but my friend who wanted me to buy a couple of these had Nendoroid heads in mind.

These two look rather resin and much bigger than the anime style dolls to their left.

They do more than just dolls!

Many mini Kewpies!

Kewpies are one of their popular line of toys, so they had many variations of them.

A parting shot of the booth! It was nice to meet the staff again and talk a little. I think I spent most of my money at their booth ^^; I wonder if they remembered me from last year at Anime Expo or not... Oh well, it was still fun looking around their cozy little booth. They keep having new things showing up the next day which prompted me to spend more money, heheh.

Sakura Con 2012 Coverage

2012-04-13T02:25:00.002-07:00

It was quite an amazing weekend at Sakura Con despite the rough early mornings I had to go through to get there and back. This time around, it was a different experience. I had a press badge which was quite handy for some events and had some privileges attached to it, but there was also a responsibility of reporting the events and quickly rolling out articles such as the interview with Urobuchi Gen et al.

Sakura Con Day 1 - April 6, 2012

The convention quickly began on Friday for me right after I got my badge and I visited my first event, the Obitsu Panel. Of course I had great interest in this because I too have a couple of their products, Helen and Raven, who greeted President Obitsu Saburo and Executive Vice President Maki Yuriko, before the panel started. Since they were there as special guests, I opted to separate a post especially for Obitsu :)

Aniplex Panel

Aside from announcing that Fate/Zero box set and Puella Magi Madoka Magica Blu-Ray and DVDs (and other titles) being available at their booth, Aniplex announced a couple of very interesting news. Ore no Imouto series, which DVD box set had been discontinued recently, will be rereleased in separate DVD volumes. Garden of Sinners (Kara no Kyoukai) will be rereleased as a DVD box set. The biggest news, which I've somehow figured out since they were showing it on the same day, was the license announcement of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari.

With the rerelease announcement of some of their titles it seems they are listening to fans who wants a more affordable copy of their titles. So I'm confident that if you yell loud enough to Aniplex USA, you can eventually see Fate/Zero at a more affordable price sooner rather than later!

Q and A Panel with Urobuchi Gen, Ota Katsushi and Iwakami Atsushiro

This panel was a more general question and answer instead of focusing on a particular series. It was up to the fans to ask questions, one such question was "Have you seen my hat?" A transcript of this panel is available at Anime News Network. I was in my "attendee mode" at this time after a long writing session in the Obitsu Panel, so I was relaxing a little.

Nisemonogatari Screening

The first thing I noticed was the Twister mat in front of the giant monitor. For a while I'd forgotten why they had this there. There were more technical difficulties, so the screening was delayed. Originally Bakemonogatari episode 1 was to be shown as well but because of the delay it had to be omitted for Nisemonogatari.

When the Monogatari cosplayers arrived, it finally dawned on me what the Twister thing was about when I saw Nadeko... Boy, I'm slow ^^;

During the screening itself, I enjoyed watching the Mayoi part in episode 1, but I was starting to get sleepy during the second and beginning of third episode. After the screening was a Q&A period with Producer Iwakami and Vice President of Sekaisha, Ota, who oversees the Monogatari novels. It was around this panel, I think when Iwakami mentioned that ratings and viewer count do not matter for television shows, but the sale of DVD and Blu-Rays. The sales go directly to fund more anime such as Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari.

Dinner at New York Cafe, a quiet and quaint little place since all the other places were PACKED with con-goers. I didn't feel very hungry, so I had cup noodle when we got back to our hotel in Bellevue.

Sakura Con Day 2 - April 7, 2012

Madoka Magica Panel

A big crowd gathered for this panel. Many Madoka Magica cosplayers were present. There was an inconsistency with the press access around this time. Some staff member say that press have priority seating and entry, some say they don't. This rule kept changing every day... I hope one of the Sakura Con staff can let me know what's going on even though it's past the event. I'd like to know why we're getting such a runaround.

Urobuchi looks exactly like his Sakura Con promo pic!

For this panel, Katsushi Ota did not join Iwakami and Urobuchi since he was not a part of the Madoka Magica production team. Since Urobuchi is camera shy, I've made sure that you'll have to find a photo of him elsewhere :P One of the questions that Urobuchi answered was regarding the witches design. The animators for SHAFT came up with other ideas whereas Urobuchi described his witch as a creature with nothing but tentacles as seen in Urotsukidoji. I couldn't help but laugh when I heard this title coming out of his mouth, so did a few other people in the crowd ^^

Later on we had a screening of the second season of Fate/Zero episode 14 and 15. Since no cameras were allowed, I wasn't able to take any pictures, but I was able to exchange some items with Maridah (I bought something from her) and had a nice talk with CosplayShots especially after the episodes were screened. I was on the verge of tears when I watched it. Incredible pair of episodes!

Afterwards we had an autograph session with Urobuchi, Ota and Iwakami where I got my copy of Phantom of Inferno signed. It was either dumb luck or just happened to be at the right place at the right time, but one of the staff members pulled us aside when I thought he was going to shoo us away because we were huddling around as a group in the autograph room. He told us about a press conference for the three guests that I just got autographs from that was going to happen on Sunday morning! It gave me quite a jolt because then we'd have to prepare. I thought I was going to interview Obitsu Saburo, which never happened but found myself about to interview the creators of Fate/Zero!

I couldn't help but take a photo of this cute signboard outside Blue C Sushi (which was packed to the brim and then some!). Sailor Moon Sesame Noodles, Cowboy Bebop Callifornia Rolls, Charizard Roll and more!

Anime Swimsuit Contest

And now for what you've been waiting for! XD Just kidding! It's the cosplay swimsuit competition. It's a 18+ event, so we had to get a hand stamp to get in ^^; Right away I noticed that Narmi is there in the competition as Avenger! The competition was silly and corny but funny at times. Though it was getting late and we were going to have an early start for the next day so we had to leave midway.

Here are the judges... A veritable mix of eligibly impartial eclectic judges... I think.

Hosted by Hardo Gay! Just like the other swimsuit competition at other conventions in Vancouver. Behind him is Yoko and Apple Jack in the cowboy hat ^^;

The judges having some strawberries... And some apples later on courtesy of the male Apple Jack XD

X-Men's Rogue being one of the contestants with some Dragon Age characters to her left...

And Dugtrio in bikinis on her right. The Gurren Lagann crew to their right.

The genderswap Barnaby from Tiger and Bunny seemed to be very popular with the guys in the crowd. I don't know who won the contest itself, but hopefully someone will have the results posted somewhere :)

Sakura Con Day 3 - April 8, 2012 - Easter Sunday

The last day was pretty much quiet, though we had to rush to the Convention Center because our press conference with Urobuchi, Ota and Iwakami was about to start! Afterwards I managed to steal a shot of Zekkyo, the artist of ToraDora manga. I wasn't able to line up for her autograph unfortunately. I couldn't find a copy of ToraDora volume 1 for Zekkyo to sign anyway.

She's one cute lady!

But I was able to get Tateo Retsu's autograph! She's the artist for the Full Metal Panic manga (from the now discontinued ADV Films Manga line). I was able to take some photos of her and with her! It's in my private collection of photos though :P

Near the end of the convention we pretty much just threw our money into the dealers' faces as we grab some last minute loot... And then we were on our way back to Vancouver in the hour long line-up at the border -_-

An Interview with Urobuchi Gen, Ota Katsushi and Iwakami Atsushiro

2012-04-12T03:30:00.004-07:00

©Nitroplus / TYPE-MOON, ufotable, FZPC

I'm very happy to present to you an interview with the great Urobuchi Gen (writer of Fate/Zero and Puella Magi Madoka Magica), Ota Katsushi (Vice President of Sekaisha, Publisher of Fate/Zero novels), and Iwakami Atsushiro (Producer for Aniplex)! This interview has been brought to us to Sakura Con by Aniplex USA.

Despite the late notice and late start of the press conference, the other press members and I were able to get quite a lot of information directly from the source. We took turns with the eight members of the press that were there, asking questions to all three or sometimes only to Urobuchi. Those present were from SUTORAIKU Anime, Radiant Dreamer, Japan-A-Radio, The-O Network Online, and Sankaku Complex. Questions and answers were translated by Karahashi Takayuki.

The Difference between Anime Events in Japan and in North America

This is the first time Urobuchi attended an American anime convention. Which made him curious about the fans in North America if our hobbies are not something to be fully proud of. Our representatives from RadiantDreamer and Sankaku Complex answered for us, which felt right in my mind. Some fully embrace it but there are still who are embarrassed since it's still perceived as someone watching a childish cartoon even if the anime is made for mature audience.

©Nitroplus / TYPE-MOON, ufotable, FZPC

Urobuchi answered with a very fundamental difference between the fans here and in Japan, "Japanese otaku have some degree of self-loathing and that leads to loathing of other similar people of the same kin. So when Japanese otaku get together they don't necessarily like each other or treat each other that well and that's the self-loathing that I feel do not exist here at Sakura Con. It's rare to see conventions in Japan where the all the attendees are friendly to each other." He also added, "I've yet to smell funk here, everyone bathes." Which is one of our conventions etiquette, might I add ^^; Though I have to note this takes place in spring when it's not that hot, so perhaps if he came in summer it would be a little different. Ota supported Urobuchi's comment saying that the Summer and Winter Comiket have been called a battlefield, and "it does not smell like a battlefield here at Sakura Con."

Iwakami have been to other conventions such as Otakon. He noticed that the reaction from the Fate/Zero (episodes 14 and 15 were shown at Sakura Con) screening is not something you see in Japan. Although Japanese audience are more forthcoming when they're in front of the keyboard commenting on Nico Nico Douga. Ota also noticed that west coast fans are more open than east coast fans after he attended the New York Comicon.

Working on Content

Urobuchi prioritize on having fun with his work. If he's not having fun working on it, the customer can tell right away. "That's not something I'm willing to allow my product to have." As an editor, Ota also prioritize having fun working with the writer hoping to lead to something with good sales. Iwakami have the need to prioritize the business first since he's a producer but if the product is not entertaining it would not sell anyway.

Fate/Zero Survivors

Urobuchi has mentioned in the Fate/Zero radio show that his ideal character is someone who would survive. There were only four continuous characters who survived til the end of Fate/Zero until Fate/stay night. Though Kiritsugu was only mentioned in name only and Gilgamesh was not introduced until the end of Fate/stay night. Only Saber and Kirei became the pillar for Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero respectively, therefore his ideal characters? Or perhaps the ones that are predetermined to survive for stay night. Others asked about Waver Velvet, Matou Sakura and Tousaka Rin but Urobuchi says that Waver is not part of Fate/stay night and Sakura and Rin were only in youth and felt that they were performed by different actresses which did not count either. To be honest, I feel like this question was lost in translation. ^^;

Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica Merchandising

Kyuubey plush, a popular
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
merchandise

And suddenly it came to my turn for asking a question. I didn't realize that I was more nervous than I thought... I asked about how they felt about Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica merchandising, such as the new Azone Saber doll coming out in August (though I mistakenly said September). I was expecting an answer regarding the existing figurines that are out there, but instead I got myself a better information regarding the merchandising of shows in Japan!

Urobuchi answered that the orthodox magical girl, Kamen Rider and Ultraman shows are merchandise-centric shows that usually build the show around the toys to sell the product. "The creative endavours that I've worked in have been the polar opposites of that. I've never had to think of it that way but if I ever were I would adapt to the demand of the creative process." He also added regarding Madoka Magica, "For example, if merchandising were a priority to the show, the toys need to be selling in the first week of broadcast. So it would be impossible for Madoka not to be transforming in the first episode." That gave me quite the giggle.

It helps when there's a producer in the group. He gave us another insight in to the merchandising and licensing of anime titles. Iwakami mentioned that many licensees loved the merchandise potential of Madoka Magica characters when it became popular, particularly Kyuubey who made the perfect plush goods. Though none of them were prepared prior to the production of the show for the market.

Memorable Moments from Producing Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica

Art by Hina Hina

Urobuchi had many memorable moments, but his most memorable was anticipating the reaction to Madoka Magica episode three, "I was just sitting upright in front of the TV and it was like waiting for what the doctor would tell me about my diagnosis." For Fate/Zero, Urobuchi was very impressed with the first episode, knowing that Ufotable, who produced the Garden of Sinners anime, is the one animating his story. "There was much to be expected, but they exceeded a whole lot of my expectations and that was very great."

Ota had a very interesting story for Fate/Zero which pertains to even before it was official work. "The statute of limitation has probably transpired so I can probably talk about the doujinshi. I was very excited to hear that Nasu and Urobuchi was going to do Fate/Zero but initially this was a doujinshi so it's nothing something I could openly help with." Although he was not impressed with their editorial design he was happy to be able to secretly help them without letting his employer know. For the anime, he wasn't there initially but the others invited him for the production which made him very happy.

Producer Iwakami had the same reaction as Urobochi regarding the third episode of Madoka Magica and the first episode of Fate/Zero. The night when episode three of Madoka Magica was first aired in Osaka, before the broadcast in Tokyo, he and Director Shinbo were having dinner and did not see the reaction on the internet until the next day. "It was as though the world had completely changed. We were anticipating that there might be a lot of split reaction to the episode, but we were impressed that a lot of viewers were thrilled." As for Fate/Zero's first episode, it felt like a big challenge for him for the first episode of Fate/Zero because it was an episode without a single battle in it. "Episode three of Madoka Magica was a big challenge. Episode one of Fate/Zero was a big challenge. And all these challenges were rewarded."

The Music of Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica

Iwakami field the answer to this question since he produced both series. For the music selection, he tends to ask the original creator for input, "it was Urobuchi's specific request that he wanted to have Kajiura Yuki as the composer, and he considered that a long shot, but since we already had worked with her for Garden of Sinners, it's something we went about and made possible." For the theme songs, Iwakami usually go to Sony Music Group for their selection of musical artists. ClariS, Kalafina and LiSA are some of the many from that said selection. Usually a producer can choose from the songs that the artists already have, but for a more popular title, an original song would be written to synchronize better with the story.

Fansubbing

I felt like this question was a landmine when my colleague thought about asking the night before. Fortunately it yielded an interesting discussion and it was good to hear the opinion of the creators themselves. Ota even mentioned that it was a difficult question, prompting my colleague to apologize. Iwakami initially answered to this question, "that's not something we can fully appreciate, but what I can appreciate is the enthusiasm... I certainly wish everything could be watched through legitimate means." Urobuchi chimed in, "I almost wish there was a magical way to make revenue without relying on the IP mechanism."

Ota Katsushi, before the Nisemonogatari screening.
The Bakemonogatari license was announced at Sakura Con.
Many fans obviously have seen Bakemonogatari
prior to the Nisemonogatari screening.

Ota responded with an insight to the anime creation in Japan, "The Japanese population is approximately 100 million, and the unfortunate thing is that this is enough for a market to sustain the endeavors of most creative people there. Those producers and creators do not really have the market overseas in mind. That mentality needs to change, because we've come here to Sakura Con to see that there are demands for what we make overseas."

Through Nico Nico Douga, Iwakami provided a more legitimate means of watching Fate/Zero at the same time of the Japanese broadcast, but he knows there are still those who watch fansubs. To him this is at least a start. I think this is quite the start as well because providing the means of watching something that just aired in eight different languages subtitle is impressive! Iwakami asked us what they could do to improve this system. We answered with a few suggestions, including creating a purchase system where we can watch the episode anytime without the restriction of watching it within the week, especially since there are people who would rather sit there watching it all in one sitting. The problem also lies with Nico Nico itself since it is not very well known and the comment system sometimes give out spoilers. It also seems that the internet speed in the United States still aren't up to par to streaming video, to which Urobuchi jokingly replied, "I thought Bill Gates had established the fastest broadband network!"

Other Mythological or Historical Figures in Fate Universe

Jack the Ripper
(source)

The Deadliest Warrior show was also brought up, but unfortunately Urobuchi didn't know about this show. He had free reign on who he can choose but he is already happy with the characters that he chose for Fate/Zero. He also mentioned that there are other creators who are drawn into Nasu Kinoko's Fate universe who have other historical figures in mind and coming up with their own Fate spinoff, "so they will be the ones to introduce new ideas of what kind of heroes to incorporate in the world." For example, Jack the Ripper is in one of these spinoffs. Later I found out that this project is Fate/Apocrypha, a canceled online game that became a light novel written by Higashide Yuichiro, a friend of Urobuchi.

That was the last question and we were pretty much wrapping up at this point. I had one more question that I was hurting for an answer, so I asked one of the Aniplex staff quickly to ask to Urobuchi. He mentioned Urotsukidoji in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica panel and I became curious whether he knew Maeda Toshio, the creator of Urotsukidoji. He didn't know him personally and only knew the title, but I was glad to get an answer to satisfy my curiosity.

- FIN -

A big thank you to Eugene Harng from the Sakura Con staff who provided us with this opportunity to interview the honoured guests. Another thank you to EJ Rivera, our contact from Aniplex who helped me in providing a key art for this article and some missing names. Huge salute to our translator, Taka-san, who provided splendid translation for us in between his coughing fits. And lastly a big, big thank you to Urobuchi Gen, Ota Katsushi and Iwakami Atsushiro for attending this press conference and answering all our questions! You can read the full transcript at SUTORAIKU Anime. Also check out Anime News Network's interview with these three creators who came right after us.

Sakura Con 2012 Cosplay

2012-04-10T03:14:00.001-07:00

Jump for joy because tis the first post of my Sakura Con 2012 trip! :D I always like to do the cosplay photos first because there are just so many of them! Plus it's easy to post. I should've taken some more days off from work so I can actually do these posts ^^; ANYWAY... Let's get this show on the road! First of all the photo above is another photographer requesting this Ranka to do a jump. I was able to steal a photo as she was jumping ^^

X-Men's Nightcrawler, White Queen, Mystique and Phoenix.

Macross Frontier's Ranka Lee

Macross Frontier's Sheryl Nome

I'm not sure which video this is from, Miku in Wonderland, I assume? Len, Miku, Rin, Kaito and Meiko.

This is actually a friend of mine, Chocolorange, cosplaying as Princess Kaito... Or is it Kaiko?

Dragonball's Kamesennin

Robocop!

Bigass Charlotte... Watch out Mami! From Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Funny story on this, I reflexively called out MEIKO but it was Rin who heard me so they stopped so I can take a photo ^^;

Panty, Briefs and Stocking

Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus!

Black Rock Shooter with light up cannon... Which didn't seem to light up at this moment in time...

Summer Wars' Natsuki and King Kazma

Saber!

This girl was posing along with Gilgamesh from Fate series, but I have no idea who or where she's from ^^;

A lot of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cosplay. This one was a very tall Rarity (possible taller than me)! I like her cutie mark ^^;;; Spike is also there which seems to be the right scale compared to the original XD

Gundam Unicorn really lights up! Ok, now transform back to Unicorn mode... LOL

SEIZON SENRYAKUUUUUUUUU!!!! Tis Princess of the Crystal from Mawaru Penguindrum!

Fran from Final Fantasy XII

Ico!

Avatar: The Last Airbender... A tad blurry unfortunately ^^;

A mix of things happening here... I can only recognize a girl from Persona, Miku and Kaito.

Remilia Scarlet from Touhou

Gundam 00 mecha musume!

Makinami Mari Illustrious!

Yamada Aoi and Souma from Working!

A group of Puella Magi... Sans Homura Akemi but an extra Kyouko ^^;

Pretty Louise Francoise LeBlanc de la Valliere in a not-so-pretty location... The parking lot XD

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger! Most impressive! I need to watch this show!

I also still need to watch Game of Thrones...

Lina Inverse from Slayers

This is rare... a Saber Extra! Alongside Fate/Zero's Lancer.

Another friend of mine from Vancouver as Ao no Exorcist's Izumo. I've managed to successfully meet her every day of the con somehow.

I missed taking a photo of her first day cosplay, Reisen Udongein Inaba, but I got her final cosplay: Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed.

Fate Zero's Uryuu Ryunosuke, Saber and Irisviel. You might recognize this Saber as Maridah who has claimed the title of "real life Saber". It was nice to be able to talk to her for a bit and even her posse (not pictured). We exchanged some packages as well which I'll post later. ^^

And another friend from Vancouver, Imran, as Avenger from Fate/Hollow Ataraxia.

A roaring Eva Unit 01! It's going berserk!

This was rather unexpected to find Tintin and Captain Haddock... and a shorter Haddock for that matter XD

Derpy Hooves and Muffin!!! Not sure if her eyes are also derpy ^^;

Panties and Stockings! It's funny that they were just sitting around in an empty room but once they were standing they were instantly surrounded by 5 photographers (myself included).

Pinkie Pie!

Hanekawa Tsubasa from Bakemonogatari (which has been licensed by Aniplex USA for local release btw)! With one of those moving nekomimi that reacts to specific brainwaves! Yes, they were selling those cat ears for about $150! Expensive ears are expensive, but I was surprised they had it there. Seems to work well with Tsubasa here :)

Kill that Kyuubey!!!

I don't support much of Capcom anymore but I still like Street Fighter's Sakura, Crimson Viper, Chun Li and Cammy cosplays.

From Hello Kitty to Issho! Quite pretty cosplay ^^

I got a photo of Ayanami! XD

This got my head turning already as I passed him by. The seven leaf clover on Fry's shirt gave it a nice touch. I miss Futurama ^^;

And lastly another Louise Francoise LeBlanc de la Valliere! It got a little blurry unfortunately :( But I had to post it since it's Louise. We had a little chat about the ending to Zero no Tsukaima. Such a tear inducing bunch of episodes, but happy endings all around...

Speaking of ending, that's about it for the cosplay... Well apart from the cosplay swimsuit competition, that is. I'll post that a bit later. Look forward to it! And more posts to come! I also posted the unedited and more angles on Flickr. Including an unexpected Q&A with some of the guests!

Dual Saber Wielding

2012-04-01T00:00:00.001-07:00

At last the two Sabers are here!! Alter! Extra! Finally together at my home ^o^ Such a long wait for them but finally this post will be nothing but black and red!

APRIL FOOL'S!

And yes, as per usual, I'm full of surprises :P I kept very, very silent about getting these two. Such a hard secret to keep XD It's all in the element of surprise, yes? Makes it more exciting this way :D

Yes, it was super fun to make surprises, especially an April Fool's joke, hahaha. A very big, big thank you for Galamirix for letting me play with his Saber (that doesn't sound right...) Alter and Extra! The planning was a bit shorter this time around but it sure hit the spot! Though I think next year I have to find a newer idea ^^; Thank you all for playing along ^^ Though I really wish I have these two Sabers... How about it Galamirix? Wanna give them to me? :P

"So tell us, are you our master?"

Oh looks like MEIKO was the one who summoned them :D How'd she get so lucky to summon two servants?

Putting all the DDs together... Next time if I wasn't so tired putting their dresses on I'll take photos with Helen and Raven. I also need to get MEIKO to wear Saber Extra's dress one of these days... Though I may need to get a large bust for MEIKO ^^;

Saber Alter's solo photoshoot! I am worried about her white skin and this very dark dress. I had heard white skin are more susceptible to staining?

Looks like the wig is a bit long in the front... But I find her quite cute anyway this way ^^ I like the bangs-covering-the-eye look.

The dress looks black but close-up it looks more purpley... Look at those embroidery! Very well done!

And another close-up of more designs in the dress. Her white skin looks so pale I feel like I wanna paint her nails to give her some colour. The new camera is still something I need to play with because it felt like the white skin were overexposed ^^;

DAT BACK!

I'm also worried about the DDIII body since I hear some people were having trouble with the body being fragile? I am trying to pose her more just for a more natural look... Also, sideboob.

And what a better way to introduce Saber Extra than showing off the butt cleavage :3

Is it me or her ahoge looks longer than the original? Well that is the design of Saber Extra after all.

And of course the big difference with Saber Extra is her bigger chest! With the dresses on, it is quite hard to tell. There are so many things to see XD

My favourite feature of Saber Extra is, of course, her transparent skirt :D It was hard to find the right angle to show it off though.

And now... the swords. The massive sword of Nero, Aestus Estus, is just too damn big! And I don't have a holding hand either... So MEIKO is assisting while Alter handles her own... "I'm not touching that huge thing..."

And what's a couple of new Sabers without a 4koma comic? :) You can see the rest of the comics on The Melancholy of Saber Lily site!

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 70

Just arrive and their already playing with my toys! LoL I wonder how the figmas are feeling ^^;

Since the comics make the photos look much smaller, I included the original :)

Here's a closeup of Extra suffocating Alter XD

Saber Alter and her hand puppet

I don't know if this is visible enough but basically you can see Saber Alter's hand inside the figma of Extra here, lol.

That's it! Thank you all for making this another fun April Fool's Day ^_^

Birthday of Ayanami 2012

2012-03-30T03:42:00.002-07:00

Once again it's March 30th, Ayanami Rei's birthday. Which is also Hayashibara Megumi's birthday, who voices Rei. To celebrate I've finally opened up a few of my Ayanami Rei figures. Unfortunately no Ayanami Rei Shrine update this year since there are really not much room left in there ^^;

The first up is Christmas Ayanami Rei from the Puchi Eva collection by Banpresto. There are 4 in the set... But I only got Rei of course :P

I was surprised how big she is actually and quite heavy. The head size is about the size of a nendoroid. And yes I can probably place her on a nendoroid body :D

Yes, it's kinda out of season, but at least I've got a decoration for this year's Christmas :D

There's also a background for it. It connects to the other characters, which tempts me to get the rest of the set ^^;

The next one is from a relatively new comer in the figure making business, Sentinel. I like the art that this figure is based on so I picked her up rather quickly. Unfortunately she's not that popular... I do like her though. The face in the box art doesn't look like her at all, really ^^; The first thing I noticed when I opened the box, was this really enticing sent. It smelled like shampoo. I wonder if the smell of plastic was too much that they decided to spray the figure with something to get rid of the smell... Not that I'm complaining.

The figure itself is quite lovely. I like the face which is my main pull for getting figures. The hair looks kinda funny though.

Her disheveled uniform makes a nice figure though perhaps she was made to be too slender. The seams are barely there, especially in the hair.

The base is nice with the blanket. Though I'd think checkerboard base is kinda overused these days, no?

Her feet looks lovely ^^

Unfortunately there seems to be some defect in her left hand. It doesn't seem to lay flat on the base properly.

I know I'm not supposed to look underneath but her legs are super flat. They look like they're from a horror movie ^^;

I still like this figure despite the flaws. Hopefully Sentinel will keep improving because they have quite nice ideas for figures.

Lastly, I've finally opened my Rei figma ^^;;; She was released quite a while ago, wasn't she?

Oh it is also Kawasumi Ayako's birthday, who voices Saber. I had a nice idea where I put in Rei's head in Saber's body but lots of problem because Rei's neck and Saber's body are just not compatible ^^; For this photo above, Saber's head is kinda just in the hole and her head is a bit bigger than the body XD

Oh it is early, but Sakamoto Maaya's birthday is on March 31st, so maybe it's nice to have Lunamaria with the plugsuit too, lol.

Here's a side by side comparison of Rei and Saber. Rei is a little bit smaller and skinnier than Saber, but still got bigger breasts ^^;

And well since this is a figma of Ayanami Rei...... Here's a new 4koma strip!

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 69

Well... I guess no happy ending this time... -_- The "Blue Vs. Blue" title refers to why I like these two in the first place. Kinda like their primary colours and I like blue ^^ Oh and to be fair Saber isn't really my first figma. I think Nagato or one of the special edition figmas was my first :P What a disappointing 69th comic... Nothing ecchi... *sigh*... Next time...

Guess I'll have to enjoy Rei in another form...

New Camera and Sakura Con Trip

2012-03-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to get a new camera for a while. I wasn't really looking for a DSLR, but the opportunity came up to get one. Of course, the reason I'm getting one is because I am going to Sakura-Con 2012 in Seattle in a week's time (April 6-8, 2012).

I took these photos with the old point and shoot Canon Powershot. Which I thought would be sufficient for my trip, but I somehow got myself a press pass for Sakura-Con and suddenly I felt naked just using a point and shoot for a camera.

This camera is bought used from a friend in the BJD Meet Group. It's a Lumix DMC-G2, or just G2 for short. It's definitely a step up from what I was using. The photos look great but there's only one lens for it at the moment.

The LCD is a touch screen, but you can just use the controls on the side. It helps too that the display screen is rotatable. I tend to be taller than most cosplayers so I tend to get an upper angle of them instead.

The one thing I miss about the old point and shoot is the macro focus. This camera does macro as well, but only up to 30cm. For now I'll experiment with this and if I really need a super close-up macro shot then I'll just dust off the point and shoot.

Currently I have no idea about the settings and just use the Auto mode for everything. It works, but I would like to know how to properly use it one day. I'll have to download a new manual since my friend's manual is all in Japanese.

And now to show off some of the camera's capabilities:

Super cute Helen! All these photos were taken from when we visited an injured friend who was stuck at home for weeks and weeks. The set can be seen on Flickr, but I realize only the photo looks great. My framing still sucks.

Kamen Rider MEIKO! Using Faiz's belt. Finally get a chance to show this off. The lighting in the room wasn't that great, so my point and shoot would suffer horribly trying to take this photo.

That's so Raven!

So one of the reasons (or perhaps the main reason) I'm going to Sakura-Con is that Obitsu, the company that created the bodies for Helen and Raven, is coming. Not just the company, but the head honcho, Obitsu Saburo-san! When I applied for a press pass I just randomly filled in the "interview request" field, not knowing the chances of my pass being approved. Now that it has been approved, I started panicking, "will I really be able to interview him??" Something I'll have to think about some more after I finish this post. Of course there will be other guests at Sakura-Con, but right now I can't help but be excited with just Obitsu because of my experience with them last year at Anime Expo.

St. Patty's and Patty's Meet

2012-03-23T00:37:00.001-07:00

It's two. Two. TWO MEETS IN ONE! Yes, we had two doll meets within days of each other. Well to be fair they were two small meets so they were much more manageable :) The first one occurred on St. Patrick's Day on Saturday. We expected almost 20 people... Then realized that most of the attendees on the Facebook page were dolls ^^;;; Anyhoo! We still had lots of fun!

Lots of dolls and lots of Dollfie Dreams too!

New girl Ameria (in red, a Luts Senior Delf) looks stunning! I especially love her outfit.

After a quick outdoor shoot we heard bagpipes playing all of a sudden. I think they're having practice. It was a nice day outside for it.

Lots of tinies! Yo-SDs are so dang dilly doo dah cute!

My Pureneemos also came along :D Saber has a nice green dress so she came too ^^ Flamebyrd's bunny is super cute and so is... Kyuubey... ^^;

On the left is Hikari giving the peace sign and on the right Helen is pointing at you! Raven just taking it easy this time around.

Then we have our group photo... The doll group photos, of course.

I asked mom to bake pandan cake which was perfect for St. Patrick's Day meet ^^ There were 20 pieces in the beginning and six left afterwards! This time around I uploaded the meet pictures on Flickr.

And then on Monday we had a meet at Urban Tea Merchant to meet up with Archangeli from Toronto! She was here for work but had the time to meet all of us in Van ^^ This is Archangeli's Médée in the picture above. Since it was on Monday there were only nine of us for the meet... Why aren't these people at work? XD LoL well some of us did have the day off or in my case, I have the night shift.

Wanted to try this perspective shot with my new camera.

Group photo! We even had Taiga come along :D

Erio being cute sitting in the teacup ^^

This here is my lunch: Signature Cobb Salad. Some of the leaves were a bit sharp ^^; But I loved the grape tomatoes and the avocado. I've never had avocado in salads before.

I kinda wanted to try this brunch special but it seemed a bit expensive XD

Archangeli's Mr. Snuggles, the Siamese cat ^^ So kyuut! Kyuuter when posing with Kyuubey! :P

It was also interesting that the manager(?) of Urban Tea Merchant asked us if we can send some pictures to them and suggested to come in spring because the sakura trees outside their dining area would be blooming by then. The first time we had a big meet here we were kinda kicked out, but maybe because we took up too much space ^^;

Thank you for dropping by Archangeli! It was very nice to meet you and also showing the cupcake store in downtown, lol. I live here yet I don't know this place ^^; Hope to meet you again soon :D

There's also another set for this meet on my Flickr :)

Ending the Chase Early

2012-03-15T03:32:00.001-07:00

This chase has gone long enough! Not really... I've delayed it too long that I'm going to end this arc where Saber Lily is chasing Mikuru for putting her in Haruhi/harm's way early. I had a lot more ideas with motorcycles and skateboards, but I can't find them anyway, so whatever! I'll just get to the point earlier and not delay this development any further. So no more talking... Here are a couple of new 4komas!

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 67

Yes, I know, old joke is old ^^; Hopefully I don't recycle this joke too much :P And just like that the chase ends. What comes next?

Here is the Nendoroid face that I photoshopped into the figma's face. I'm too much of a perfectionist sometime so I fiddle with how it looks so much. I am also impatient, so after a while I just said, screw it. It's done!

Also it was White Day yesterday in Japan, where men (or sometimes women) give back something white to women if they gave the men chocolates on Valentine's Day. To my surprise this morning, JList actually posted my White Day comic on Tumblr and Facebook. The reaction was well received! I never thought one of my comics would get that much attention. 86 likes and 13 shares with nice amount of comments. One of the comments even cracked me up with the Futurama reference XD Anyhoo... This post sorta encouraged me to make some more!

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 68

Dunno if the punchline is good enough or not ^^; And don't look for that video. It doesn't exist :P I've got a really good idea for the next few parts and hopefully people can enjoy it as much as I do thinking about it. I actually wrote the script in advance this time because the dialogues kept swirling in my head and they just had to be broken down to panels.

Here's an unused photo/panel. I find it too similar to the first panel of the first comic here, so I took this out. It really does look funny how Lily is just raging like this from behind XD

Feel free to read the rest of the story on The Melancholy of Saber Lily site!

Fate/Zero Box Set

2012-03-14T02:44:00.003-07:00

My original title for this post was "Fate/Zero Box Set Leaves Me Zero in My Wallet" but I found it too long... This is my way of supporting the industry by buying this overpriced Fate/Zero set. Sadly I'm thinking I'll be encouraging Aniplex to charge this same price because someone like me will buy one set -_- Well... I was giving this a try and taking a chance to see if it's worth my money. It helped that my Canadian anime supplier had it at the same price as RightStuf but I didn't have to worry about shipping or Customs charging me tax. So let's see what's inside!

The box is actually pretty sturdy and a nice fabric feel covering the box. It consists of 3 parts (4 if you include translation book): Blu-Ray set which contains 5 discs, CD set which contains 1 drama CD and 1 original soundtrack and an information book in Japanese. The casing for the Blu-Ray felt cheap at first but it's actually tougher than just normal cardboard. Still flimsy but the external cover for is shiny and you can easily clean it if you get it dirty, especially since it's all white! Each external panel has a master's command's seal. All seven seals are here including all seven servants adorning each disc.

Here come the servants! Might look better to show closer shots of each one...

Of course Saber is on disc 1 and of course I had to show two pictures of her. Remove the disc and you reveal the class art for each servant. The first disc contains only the first episode which was 45 minutes.

I also went and watch the first episode before writing this post. The video looks great. Much better than the streaming for sure. The subtitles are well formatted to fit the scene. If the character is in the centre, the subtitle will be to the right or left of them. Instead of centred they are formatted to the left indent. Though I have seen some grammar mistakes, most of the subtitles seem correct. I am disappointed that the songs aren't subtitled unfortunately... The first disc have lots of extras including textless OP & ED, previews and servant focused promos. Which makes me wonder what kind of extras will be on the other discs.

The second disc features Assassin[s], while the third disc have Lancer adorning the front.

Gilgamesh the Archer is on the 4th disc and creepy Bluebeard, the Caster, is featured on the 5th disc.

Iskandar, the Rider, gets to be on the drama CD. I think I won't understand the drama CD at all since I see no translation for it at all... And lastly, but not least, is Berserker on the original soundtrack CD composed by Kajiura Yuki!

Here are some extras... The picture on the left are promotional items included in the Japanese book. The book on the right is the translation booklet that have the wrong table of contents. I believe they used the same table of contents as the Japanese one for the English one, which makes it very confusing...

Since someone requested the inside of the Animation Material book I've added these additional photos below.

Here's the inside front cover.

And the inside back cover.

The content is mostly a wall of Japanese text (which is good that they translated it to English).

Some of them have storyboards.

Some have screenshots from a scene or two.

They also showed some of Berserker's CG model.

And in one of the last few pages is an art by Takeuchi Takashi featuring some of the male masters.

For now, before watching the rest of the series, this set is definitely overpriced. It's nice that this is released the same time as the Japanese release but I doubt they can sell a lot of these sets in North America at their MSRP. I sense doom for the second set unless they can reduce the price. I don't even mind waiting for a year or so if that set can be significantly cheaper. I'll be sending the survey card they've included and give them a piece of my mind...

Edit: Looks like it's hopeless for those who wished for this set at a lower price because there are those who will pay this kind of money and Aniplex are counting on them since even my Canadian source is selling it at a steady pace. I'll see what kind of decision (and money) I'll have when the second set comes out.

Ok, now after that slightly disappointing anime box set review, here is a few bonus photos of the Fate/Zero opening single by Lisa, Oath Sign. I really like the song and I really like the other songs in the single as well.

There were two versions of this single. This one with Lisa on the cover and the other is the anime version with Saber on the cover. I thought about getting the Saber one but the bonus DVD is a textless opening of the anime, which is included in the Blu-Ray set... So I decided to get Lisa's version.

The CD single also includes some more photos of Lisa. The other version has a mini poster of Saber... I wonder if I should get that one too ^^;;;

Early March Doll Meet

2012-03-04T02:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, so one more doll meet photos I'll post before I get around to my figma comic! This one happened just a few hours ago before I posted it! Which is a rare occasion, since I usually wait til weeks before I post them recently XD

This meet is for one of our member's birthday, so we had lots of cake! Including this caterpillar one! Really awesome. Taste delicious too!

It's also an occasion to show of MEIKO's new dress. I'll make a separate post on this particular dress later on. Too bad the part on the neck caused some staining :(

I love this outfit! I'd love to get my hands on one of these :3

Awesome looking wing! Too bad my photo is a tad blurry.

Helen and her mini Miko twin, Mugi. I had forgotten I have this outfit, lol.

Awesome tin man doll! His chestplate opens up to reveal his purple heart.

Winged twins!

This guy is asking for trouble... Trying to peek into MEIKO's dress... Well, it could be he's just trying to get her attention ^^;

Megane Miko!

MEIKO's dress and Gus' outfit on the far right are both from Doll Heart! Great quality dress!

Kudo being pushed :P

VICTORY!

Claiming her prize XD

The first Saber Extra in Vancouver!

Crazy magnet fun! I love Obitsus and their magnetic feet ^o^

Feeling the attraction? XD Thanks to a friend for lending a black pair of glasses for Raven :)

Raven gets her hand busy while Helen's hands are full. And MEIKO and Chaya switch outfits.

This wig definitely do not work for this outfit ^^;

Bird Watching

2012-03-03T23:17:00.001-08:00

On a rare sunny day in Vancouver in February, a few of us decided to take a nice walk in Tsawwassen. Yes, that's an actual name of a city south of Vancouver. Very close to the US border. It was intended to be owl-watching walk, but we didn't find any. We saw many other birds though. Also, it didn't stay sunny for long because fog descended very low in the area.

Lots of eagles!

Showing off the camera's ability to zoom in! Very majestic bird.

Lots of ducks and mallards.

Falcon? Obviously I don't know my birds very well.

VERY FOGGY!

It's a heron!

A young bald eagle.

Very nice silhouette.

The herons walk funny!

Lastly, took some landscape photos with Kuroneko since I did have the trouble of bringing her along.

This is now my current desktop wallpaper.

2012 Backlog: January Doll Meet

2012-03-03T01:44:00.001-08:00

Not even the end of the year and I'm already backlogged... Laziness and sickness got the best of me... Anyway, there were 2 meets in January. The first one took place on January 14th in Richmond.

Won't say much, I'll just post the pics and go... Been posting a lot of dolls as of late ^^; I need to change that. Will do a figma 4koma soon.

Twins? Kinda look like'em.

Twins!

End of Meet 1. On to Meet 2!

The second meet took place in Langley/Walnut Grove near the end of January. I also bought a new hat and purse for Helen. Cute pandas!

There's a huge salt water aquarium at Chocolorange's house! Makes a great photo :D

A few more backlog photos, but might do something in between that's not doll related hopefully ^^;

Kotatsu 2012

2012-03-03T00:14:00.001-08:00

Kotatsu is a mini convention that started by the same group that made the Cos & Effect event last year at UBC. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling very well, so I barely took any photos. Fortunately, however, I met with a couple of new anibloggers in Vancouver and older ones as well. I was finally able to meet with the head of SUTORAIKUanime, Akinari-kun and staff writer SabishiiMiruku. Along with them I also met with RadiantDreamer and Kaionlriu.

The "fortunately" part is at that they took some photos, so head on over to see the Kotatsu post over there at Sutoraiku ;)

Here's MEIKO with the tree on the Kotatsu with many people's wishes and messages hung on its branches.

Kaionlriu drawing Kyuubey :3

This is the only loot I got from Kotatsu. Cute macarons! Tasty too :3 They're locally based in Vancouver, so if anyone is interested head on over to their site for delicious sweet treats!

Green tea macaron was absolutely amazingly tasty!

Helen: "Oh such cute macarons! They look delicious too!"

"Don't forget to share with Raven."

Helen: "Do I have to...?"

Helen: "Okay Raven, pick which one you like."

Raven: "I'll pick the middle one."

Helen: "Eh, there is no middle one... Err... Why are you so close to me all of a sudden?"

Helen: "Oh cr...."

"Don't be dropping those macarons, now, Helen..." :3

Yeah, sorry, this was just an excuse for me to take more yuri photos, lol. :P

Helen White's Snow Leap Day

2012-02-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, this day only comes every four years, the snow leap day... Ok, maybe just the leap day... I was surprised this morning to see snow on the ground when I woke up. It's three weeks away from the first day of spring already... It's not thick snow and very wet and slushy, so it wasn't that bad to drive in. But at least I got to have my snow photos with Helen :D

It's her first time out in snow and thankfully she's now more equipped for snow than when I got her just a little bit after one year now.

It's not raining or snowing thankfully, so it was a good time to take photos.

Looks like she's having fun just walking in the snow.

Helen: "Can I play in the snow?"

"Sure, why not."

Helen: "Okay, don't look yet..."

"Huh? Why?"

Err... Helen, why are you taking off your coat?

Helen: "I thought I said not to look..."

"EEEHHHH??? Why are you naked under that!?"

Helen: "Tee hee. Surprise!"

"Come back here! It's cold! What will the neighbours think??"

*Hears neighbour shuffling next door in the yard behind me (really!)*

Helen: "Come and catch me!"

"Not this again..."

Helen: "Heheh, hurry up! You're so slow!"

"Stop that now! Come back here"

"Cover up yourself woman!"

Helen: "I did. See."

"That's just one finger!

Helen: "It's enough :P"

Helen: "Iyaa, don't look! Tehehe!"

Helen: "Peace! V for Victory!"

I also got some new Obitsu hands, so this is a good opportunity to try them on XD

Helen's sexy pose...

"This girl is incorrigible."

???: "I'll come and get her."

"Oh Raven. You're fully clothed thankfully... And you got that blazer from Hobby Search now."

Raven: "Of course. Good thing too, it's a bit nippy here for me."

Raven: "Come on Ecchi Elen... Haven't you had enough fun already? It's cold out here."

Helen: "Fuuh... It's you. You're a spoilsport... I still wanna have fun out here."

Raven: "Oh... You want to have more fun, do you??" *grabby hands*

Helen: "Eh, eh? What are you gonna do? Stay back!"

Raven: "It's nice of you to get rid of the obstacles out of the way."

Helen: "Ahh stop! Stop!"

Raven: "Heheh, I thought you wanted to have more fun? I feel warmer already now."

"Err... girls... Ready to come in now?" ^^;;;

OMAKE/EXTRA: Raven: *Tries to sneak a hand in* Helen: "Knock that off..."

I had to warm my hands after the shoot, so I left them on the chair... And Raven's already back in action ^^;

Cecily: Fear of Darkness

2012-02-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

Suddenly, Cecily appears. This is Azone's Black Raven series' Cecily with a "Fear of Darkness" subtitle. Somehow she caught my eye when she was available for preorder. I'm also thinking that the 50cm line has been a good seller lately, so I acted rather quickly to get her. So, I guess this would be my "box opening" post... Includes some nude doll photos, so might be NSFW? Especially since it's me posting, after all ^^;

Since Helen was bought separately, head and body, I've never got to experienced the Azone 50cm box opening. I think this was one of my excuse to get Cecily as well.

Cecily is her original name, but I've already come up with my name for her. She is from the same series, Black Raven, as the white-haired Lilia. In fact, the original description is that Cecily is meant to be Lilia's rival. Since I don't have Lilia, I can freely recreate her character. I think she'll be Helen White's rival... So I'm renaming her Raven Black. See what I did thar? Black and White. Black Raven and Raven Black. Not very original, but I'm open to suggestion for her first name even though I'll keep it as Raven anyway :P

This is the Doll Show variation for Cecily. I was somewhat annoyed about not realizing this limited edition, but I think I prefer the blue hair than this pinkish/purple hair.

Finally able to open the box! When I took out the contents, I noticed the black circular thing at the bottom of her feet. It was her metallic base because she has magnetic feet. It'll help her stand... Then I realized, if the base is at the bottom of the box, maybe the box with Helen's body has this base as well. And true be told, after one year of receiving the body, I finally found the base. I facepalmed myself several times for not realizing it was in the box.......

The clothes set... And unfortunately I'm missing the blazer. I contacted Hobby Search right away hoping they can remedy this situation soon. EDIT: Looks like my email to Hobby Search came through and they've already sent the missing blazer!

And here's the next one... Sigh... They just never end, lol. Good thing I'm not adverse to this one, who seems to be called "Brenda Starr"? I think if they make her with a darker skin, I may fall for her...

Instructions!

This is what I was missing when I first got Helen. I had problems with the neck stuck inside the head. Apparently I needed to use hair dryer, lol. Oh well, it worked out ok.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was how big her chest was! Ok... pervy mode off... She has a bigger chest than Helen (or the default Obitsu body, I guess).

Second thing I noticed was her pretty blue hair! OMG such awesome hair! Granted it's the same style as Helen's, but I'm not complaining. She's still shedding a bit, so I may find some blue hair lying around for a while ^^; She's not Rei blue but closer to Kan'U Unchou blue, which is cool too. I do like blue hair :3

Raven: "Teeheehee." Helen: "Don't laugh at me you big boobed bi......"

And now somewhat fully dressed. I'm going to leave her as is for now without the mantle and wait for the blazer.

The ojousama pose. O-hohohoho!

I'm betting I'll put her in this pose a lot... That chest is something to be proud of! XD

Now her boots are on... I'm not sure why Azone INSIST on doing laced up boots instead of ones zipped at the back ^^;

One last cute shot... Magnetic feet are fun!

Japanese Snacks and a Very Special Chocolate

2012-02-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

Yowza! Another post that's behind. Some of these snacks came late last year. I've been wanting to post about this, but couldn't find the time... Stupid SWTOR... Anyway... Here are some snacks from Japan. One is from SUTORAIKU Anime and JList, and the other two is from Chun.

The first one is something I won back in September when I retweeted SUTORAIKU's tweet. It's Morinaga's sweet potato flavoured caramel.

As delicious as it looks! I love caramel :D

This is one of the ones from Chun. I think she said Mrs. Choo recommended it to her. It's pretty good. It's kinoko? Meaning mushroom? It tastes a bit nutty though with a mochi gummy inside.

I had a little nibble on the lower left corner. Very sweet! ^o^

And here's that VERY SPECIAL CHOCOLATE!!! I don't know how I'm going to eat this! It feels too cruel to eat Mikoto (though that can sound dirty). This homemade chocolate was sent by my very good friend, Yakuri. I didn't know she can draw with chocolate! This was to be a Christmas present, but it didn't come til around the Chinese New Year :P But since I'm posting around this time, can I call this a Valentine's Day chocolate? ^_________^

She also included many sketches she made for me :D This one is new. Chibi Saber! ^^

This one I ~~kinda forced~~ requested her to draw for my 200th post :)

This one came out of the blue, or maybe I mentioned something about wanting to see Saber and Rei in a yuri situation and she drew it ^^

I had this image in my head that it was nice that Yaku drew it out for me to be a permanent image on paper, lol!

I love this one! My Ayanami Rei Shrine has some kind of fame so Yaku thought it'd be nice to have a Miko Rei for my shrine XD

I don't remember the circumstances for this art, but I was totally surprised to see two of my favourite ~~lolis~~ little sister characters together in one fanart ^o^

And lastly since it's close to Valentine's Day :P

2011 Backlog Part 3: Mostly Dolls

2012-01-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

And finally... The last part of my backlog. It ranged from mid-September to early December. Many events that I failed to post right after they happened, but usually it's because I go home late, tired and then the next day my work week starts again... ANYHOO... Now that I have a bit of time, here are the last of my 2011 backlog!

These ones is Chun's Himitsu's changes. Since I ordered a Volks DDII body for MEIKO, I asked if she wanted anything too... Specially since she's making the clothes. Notice the difference between the first and second picture on Himitsu? :P Also, this was the planning stages for MEIKO. The boots Himitsu is wearing was supposed to be for MEIKO, but it was a hassle to wear, so it's sitting somewhere in my room.

Sometime in October someone was kind enough to give me this chair. Which sorta fits Helen ^^;

Then on MEIKO's birthday we had a marathon... Whilst Alna (perhaps a future Luka), gets acquainted with MEIKO ^^;;;

A couple of new girls also showed up with MEIKO. The one on the left is Galamirix's Yuzuki and my Index on the right.

It was Movember! Navci's Chi grew a mustache overnight!

Our host's dollies, Ayako and Kaelin.

Alna is persistent, but MEIKO plays it cool.

Later on we went to a park for a quick photoshoot. It was getting cold real fast. I was also very worried about Helen falling in ^^;

Gorgeous sunset, yes?

I think I took this photo for Galamirix, but I never got it to him ^^;

When we got back Alna found a new drunken underage victim ^^;

Random MEIKO shot... Not sure what reason I took this photo, but here she is, posing sexily!

These few ones are from MysticaGrey's birthday meet. It took place a week after her birthday but there was another meet at the time.

This window became the Dollfie Dream corner XD

Very pink Haro cake!

Visited Chun again for some reason... I can't remember why XD I think it was after some fabric selection shopping?

No, I was not the one who placed the microphone there... Care to guess who did it? :P

Small dollies meet even smaller Popuras!

Meeting at a tea place. All you can eat food and dessert! Yum yum!

Tasty looking dessert!

Helen's new outfit during a hot pot dinner :) It's Haku! It's a bit big for her, but they fit ok.

Last shot! XD

2011 Backlog Part 2: Point Roberts

2012-01-31T03:44:00.000-08:00

I quite a bit of photos from Point Roberts that it warranted to have its own post, though backlogged that it is... So I bought these new shoes from eBay and to save some shipping, I sent it to a package receiving service in Point Roberts. It's the first time I'm using this service. It's also the first time I went without my family, though I wasn't by myself for this short trip. There are four points of interest in Point Roberts that had some views and good photo opportunities. So we took'em! Even though I only brought two Pureneemos, I sure took a lot of shots with them, lol. This trip took place on November 10th... The day before Skyrim came out ^^;;;

Here's a behind-the-scene shot :P Navci got two new shoes and shipped it to Point Roberts as well. Kill two overpriced shipping charges with one stone. Check out her photoset from this trip.

Index joins in!

I switched Kuroneko and Index's outfit before this, so that's why they are dressed like this ^^;

Tillo's barely visible here! His hair is also a good sail for catching wind... Meaning this position didn't last long ^^;

Just thought this zoomed-out to zoomed-in photos are cute ^_^

I call this one, "Photobombing".

It's an anchor, okay! Pervs...

First time I've held on to Vivere and got a closer look at him as I waited for the owner to come back from the closed washroom XD So this is a very random shot. His hands are huge!

Index sitting on the border... I'm like a total spaz here while I'm in this area. Just imagine me hopping left to right of this sign saying "USA", "Canada", "USA", "Canada"...

Can you see Index in the monument?

Later on we had some time before we had to come back, so we head out to Iona Beach in Richmond. Which is basically a walkway that they put on top of a huge pipe that stretches out 4 km into the ocean.

This dark, ominous object was in the background as we walked the whole time... I kept wondering what it was... Seems like a barge.

Finishing up the post with the last two shots where we stopped and decided to come back... Probably about 2.5 km in. The one on top pointed out into the ocean and the one below is back to land.