Oups… time flies, and it has already been more than one month since last update! The truth is that I have been a bit underwater lately. Busy at work, busy with music since summer began … and busy with the preparation of a lil’ trip to Tokyo!
So, with all this, I don’t really have much time to spend with my fellow figmas and nendoroids. But don’t worry, they are perfectly fine. They always have new friends who arrive like these three latest …

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… and even new toys so they won’t get bored and will be able to enjoy this summer!

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And I will have to wait at least until next month for new scale figures. Well, this should leave me enough time to make room for future newcomers ^^;;

So yeah, next saturday (july 17th) I will be travelling to Japan, and will spend one week in Tokyo, then another week in Kyoto, before getting back on the 31st. I am really excited about this! Everything is ready, but I always feel like I am forgetting something really important ^^;;

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Anyone in Tokyo from july 18th to july 24th ? feel free to ping me if you want to meet and go take a cup of tea at Gundam Cafe ^^
If I manage to get an internet connection, I might be able to share pictures thanks to my Android mobile. By the way, I registered a tumblr account, specialy for smart phone micro-blogging. Just another social media experience, but feel free to follow me there too!

To end with, I also wanted to upgrade to Wordpress 3.0, but this got delayed due to some non-compatibility issues with a bunch of plugins I use and I want to use in a near future. Hopefully everything will be updated when I will be back next month, so I will be able to carry out blog upgrade.
And if everything go without any trouble, there should be a French version of mukyaa.com available before the end of third quarter!

Ok, I’ll leave you with some pictures taken during our last band performances, and wish you a good summer/winter. See you soon!

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Today I am glad to introduce this gorgeous figure of Kousaka Tamaki from ToHeart2, distributed by Max Factory. Just before going further be aware that for some reason she lost her skirt and her bra. So pictures bellow might be a little NSFW, depending on where you work and on your boss’ fancy ^^;

So, here is an umpteenth figure of Tama-nee, but the first one – an only one I hope – in my collection. She looked really appealing to me, and with Max Factory behind, I got seduced even though I am absolutely not familiar with ToHeart. But as an anime figure collector, now I know almost every characters “thanks” to the incalculable number of figures from this franchise.

This figure is available since last week, and I have not seen much review over the web so far. Anyone got her on order?
Thinking about it, it has been ages since last time I wrote about a figure which has just been released recently. Well, actually it has been a while since I received a figure few days after its release too. Folks from AmiAmi decided to send it the fastest way… and so had to pay extras for that. Didn’t need that. Ah whatever.
Now pics!

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Voluptuous. I guess this is the best word to describe this figure of Tama-nee. And it is quite pleasant to shoot. Reminds me the time when I took pictures of
Hakufu and Mirei-san ^^

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Once again I used the magic photoshop trick on this set of pictures, this time to give them a kind of “sensual mood” effect. I think it is not bad.

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This figure 1:6 scale is quite well done. She looks both sexy and cute, with a suggestive but decent pose. And the face is adorable with this neko smile :3
I won’t say it is a must have, but if you want or like to add sensuality and voluptuousness to your anime figure collection, this figure is perfect I think.

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This set, like many others, misses a full-body picture. My lense is a fixed 100mm, no zoom, so I need to be far enough to catch the whole figure in a shot. And most of the time I don’t have enough space indoor for that. I could have switch the lens, but I was lazy ^^;
So! be sure to check out foobarbaz awesome photo review for more voluptuous oppai and appealing zettai ryouiki! Oups, can we talk about zettai ryouiki when there is no skirt? Experts point of view needed!

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Reminder : dear readers using facebook, mukyaa.com now got its facebook page! Feel free to “like” it and get connected with the blog’s activity. Thank you! ^^

Once in a while, here something to break the usual stream of bishoujo and moesome figures : an incredibly badass Son Goku in super Saiyan form ready to burst with rage on … Frieza probably.

It has been almost one year since Medicos Entertainment brought us this huge and amazingly well detailed pvc figure, but I only laid a hand on it recently. I was quite surprised to see it is still available everywhere in fact.

This Son Goku figure reminds me what I think is one of the most epic scene I have ever seen in a shonen – I mean fighting – anime/manga : Goku’s first transformation into a super Saiyan. And it thrills me whenever I watch/read it again ^^ (no need to detail the plot, there is tones of clips on youtube for folks who want to see that)

So, it is a kind of tribute I give to the Dragon Ball Z I grew up with, with this impressive figure which I think is the most well done Goku’s figure so far.

I didn’t see much about it on the web, so if you wrote a review and/or shared pictures of this figure, feel free to ping me! I leave you with few more pictures. And don’t worry, tomorrow I will come back with some bishoujo material ^^

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Reminder : dear readers using facebook, mukyaa.com now got its facebook page! Feel free to “like” it and get connected with the blog’s activity. Thank you! ^^

Mimi-chan finally arrived, much to Rin’s joy, and the trio from Kodomo no Jikan is now complete. Mmmh yeah trio. The fact is that Kuro-chan hides somewhere with her new nekomimi-cosplay-friend.
Mmmh well, maybe she is also sulking since I let her aside because I can’t manage to get her stand without the plastic support, unlike Rin and Mimi who have their wonderful twintails helping… Poor Kuro-chan, sorry orz

Hi everyone! Today, instead of publishing some figure photos, I thought I would write few lines about an easy trick to change the look of any picture. It is just some color balance settings I have been (over?)using lately, in Extravaganza girls, Yoko, Reimu-chan and di:stage photo articles. So I thought it would be great to share this too.

Actually the process comes from the split toning, a darkroom toning technique, and is mostly meant to adjust the colors of a black and white photo. I found it on phototuts+, where other neat effects are described, still aimed for black and white art.

Split toning is a popular darkroom toning technique that is based on the principle that some chemical toners work on the dark tones of the photo first and others on the light tones. The result is a photo toned with two different colors.

But I ended up applying it accidentally to a full color photo – and liked the result. Here are some examples you might already have seen, but this time with their original shots aside.

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Sweet isn’t it? And here is how to proceed, at least with photoshop -

Split Blue and Copper Toning

1. Select the ‘Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance’ menu
2. Click ‘OK’
3. Set the ‘Tone Balance’ to Shadows
4. Set the Cyan/Red slider to -30 and the Yellow/Blue slider to +30
5. Set ‘Tone Balance’ to Highlights
6. Set the Cyan/Red slider to +40 and the Yellow/Blue slider to -30.
7. Done!

Since we tone shadows and highlights, this split toning works best with high-contrast images. You might experiment with the settings so that the tones suit your photo. Indeed, these settings are a good base to start with, but there is really no restrictions. The only rule is to tone shadows with a color, highlights with another, and let the midtones blend everything.

I added four more examples, with a black and white version.

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I think it gives a nice tint to a picture, and allows to compensate an unsatisfying white balance. Colors look warmer, and it works really great on pictures with high contrasts. Full color or black and white.

And somehow I can think of it as a magic formula to improve a picture’s colors – which is even more true when I deal with snaps taken indoor with poor lightning, and I feel too lazy to properly configure the white balance of my camera ^^;;
Also the funny thing is that once I have applied this filter, the picture looks so much better that it is impossible to go back to the original colors, which look so drab.

But well, it should be used wisely, since it can really alter some colors, like whites or the darker ones, in an unwanted way as well.

Anyway, feel free to try this. The results can be really amazing ~_^

end note: and for those you would like to make the same rainbow-like picture I did for this post’s header, here is a nice tutorial I used ^^

A while ago I decided to purchase some di:stage stands to have cutomized supports for my beloved figma figures. Those di:stage accessories were awaiting in a box somewhere until recently when I finally decided to “build” something for the Lucky Star team.

I used both clear and black types, which I think look pretty cool once combined together like a chessboard. But I don’t have enought to make a giant one and play chess with figmas. I am sure it would be awesome! “I capture your Nanoha knight with my Saber Lily queen! hahahaha”

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And like Blowfish said, I also bought some “keep the dirty dust from my precious figmas” di:stage clear-case addons. I thought it might be interresting to try, and see how good it is to keep the dirty dust away. And at the end it would look like a mini portable showcase ^^

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On the instructions, it is said that you can put another level above… I wonder if those who drawn the plan have even tried to do so. Considering the given pieces, it is impossible! or I didn’t get how to proceed. So if anyone managed to stack another panel up, I would be happy to know how ^^;;

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Work in progress… assembling the case sides.

And some close-up shots, starting with Minami, Hiyori and Yutaka. Somehow I had to let those three together ^^;

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Konata, who looks a bit lonely, doesn’t she?
Ah! Just realised that I forgot the Lucky Star cat mascot… will place it next to Konata then!

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Miyuki advising Tsukasa who’s having trouble with her cellphone again. My favorite ^^;

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Then Kagami groaning at Misao.

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And here is a global view.
I am quite satisfied about the final result, since I had few troubles posing the figmas – especially the Minami/Hiyori/Yutaka trio – and having them fit in the narrow space. Yeah, at the end, those clear case di:stage sets don’t leave much space to put a figma AND its plastic backing. As you can see on the last picture below, figmas have too be placed on the very front. Which doesn’t offer many possibilities and pose choices. So be aware of this if you absolutely want to protect your figmas from evil dust.

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Now I would like to do the same with Haruhi’s troop or the winter uniform version of Lucky Star girls. Any pose suggestions?
And I will have to think of another solution for Nanoha’s crew… there is definitely not enough space for those characters unless they are given plain poses.
Too sad ^^

Hi there~! Just realised it has been 3 weeks since last update… wouah how time flies. Still quite busy with various stuff, but I will try to find the time to get out of their boxes and show you the few figures I received lately. Poor things… I can’t even take care of them properly ^^;;

The weather has been pretty aweful, so spent a lot of time inside, and played a bit with the site. I ended up with some few changes I am going too quickly highlight. You might need to force the page refresh – I am not sure about having correctly managed the cache stuff ^^;

Most obvious change : the header. I thought it lacked some colors so I redraw it. And it always feel refreshing to do so time to time. It brakes the dreariness somehow.

Also moved the few social links that were in the gyaboo side-panel to the header part. Found the icons at veryicon.com. Feel free to click, subscribe, follow, eat etc.

Still about social stuff, I have added some widgets to spread mukyaa love on facebook and twitter.

I have been wanting to update the blog with this button for a while, but never find the time to do so. Anyway, now every article has is little facebook like button which replaces the blue hearts. There were cute, but I didn’t like how I implemented them.

Still about facebook, I just wanted to let you know that now mukyaa.com has its fan page. So feel free to “like” it, if you are into facebook and sharing stuff there.

And about twitter, there is now a tweetmeme widget available for each article to… tweet about it if you feel to do so.

Actually, as this blog is powered by wordpress, I could have used the facebook like button and tweetmeme button plugins already available. But not beeing able to put them anywhere I want was really bothering me. I am never satisfied with the default settings and always feel the need to touch up everything… what a bad habit.

It is the same with this other plugin I added to change the comment system to disqus. The plugin is really great and well done, but had to customize it a lot to get the behaviour I wanted. And it was not really friendly to do… too sad.
For folks who have no idea what disqus is, it is a comment system which makes commenting more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters. One can see for example where someone has been commenting etc. It requires to log in only if you want to synchronize your comments.
I just wanted to give disqus a try, so I will be testing it for a while. If you have any trouble or see something wrong feel free to send your feedback!

At last I moved the seach toolbar from the header to the gyaboo side-panel. In fact I switched it with the social rss/facebook/twitter/flickr links ^^;
And remember, there is still the featured-feeds area available and waiting for yours! ~_^

There are also a quite visible changes for people using Interet Explorer. In previous layout, I was using background pictures to display rounded corners for the article and comment panels. I got rid of them and now use neat css properties which don’t work with IE unfortunately.

I have received some requests lately asking me to design wordpress templates or share this one. I was really happy but also sad. Because for now, I can’t provide such a thing. This theme I use for my blog is something I have been fiddling with for years, and it is a real mess up and definitely not exportable ToT
I’d love to share it though, so I will try to make something easily usable… but I am not sure when it will be ^^;;
Thanks for your support anyway!

Ok, that’s all for now. Next article has to be soon and with figure pictures… gyaboooo~!! ^^;;

Aaah with this great weather lately it feels good to sunbathe or enjoy a cup of tea in the shades of trees while enjoying the nice smell of spring… uh? wait.
Oi! Reimu-chan what the hell are you putting in your tea!? Gyaa that’s too early for sake… well nevermind *sigh*

I am not particularly into Touhou and I am far for knowing a lot of things about it, but recently I found out by chance that Reimu’s last name Hakurei was also another name for sake. Love this kind of reference ^^
Any Touhou fan out there to confirm this and/or tell me more about it?

Gyaaa~ finally decided myself to take a picture of those two suddently acquired figma figures of Hirasawa Yui and Akiyama Mio from the frenzied buzz anime K-ON!. In fact, I have been racking my brains for a while to figure out what kind of shot to do. Well, actually, I already knew what I wanted : something that feels like “on-the-way-back-home-after-school”. Did few tries but had troubles dealing with sunset light which can be too intense. And to be honest, it was really frustrating and disheartening – especially when I realise that I spent more time trying to set the figmas how I wanted than taking pictures ^^;
But at last I ended up with something I like and I am glad to share. Can’t wait to have the full band now!

It seems that the second season of the anime series has started. So far I just saw the new opening and ending videos. Quite good. I love their swing, and feel the same energy and craziness I was fond of in the op/ed of first season. Just that I think “GO! GO! MANIAC” sounds a bit harsh with Yui singing ^^;;

Folks who follow his blog, twitter or facebook may know that Danny Choo was in Paris two days ago, during which a meeting with his readers was planned. So, since I needed some vacations, it was a chance to take few days off and take the train to Paris.

The meeting took place in a nice café, in a convivial atmosphere as there were not as many people as I would have imagined. A perfect setting to feel at ease, make new comrades and get to know each other.
Had a really great time! Met a bunch of interresting people like Micka from geekasia.com. Talked about our passions, motivations and the dream of working abroad. He loves Hong Kong ^^
Also had some words with James, who runs studiosushi.com, about his love for photography – got some great gear! – and Street Fighter.

Had also the chance to meet in person the Dancing Queen Frances from How a Girl Figures, who was in Paris too on vacation. Perfect timing hehe. We talked a lot about blogging, figures, cosplay… but also about her trip – watch over her blog to read more about that ^^

Was so absorbed by discussions with all these great people I completely forgot to take more pictures than those very few ^^;;;
Will update later if some other coverages are showing up.
[Edit] Some moar at :-
Churam figure burogu

Also, I can’t remember everyone who I gave my name card to, so feel free to ping me if you were there ^^;

About Danny’s intervention, he talked a while about his experiences, like how he get to learn Japanese and land a job in Japan. A fascinating speech punctuated with Q&A and advices.
Here he was showing us some ongoing iPhone app projects. He also took the time to meet and talk to everyone who joined.

I will keep a fantastic memory of this party.

A lovely box full of name cards. Want the same haha.

Souvenir.
Thanks again Danny for coming, and hope to see you again. Thanks James too for the organization of this event!