Misaka Mikoto Mania

It's no surprise that I've become a big Mikoto fan since my last blog layout update... So you know I've got a few Mikoto goods lying around the house.

The first one is of course the Mikoto messenger bag by Cospa. Quite a pricey one, but hot damn it's worth it! Mikoto looks big on that bag! Lots of compartments and lots of room for a messenger bag. There's also another set of interesting strap with a clip on it for extra support. I was puzzled about how it worked. I had to look at the product picture again...

Yuri Mania 35: Mugi Vision

Gokigenyou minna. As you can see above it's Mugi... And you know how it is when Mugi has that look in her eyes. Well the point of this post is to celebrate the 100th Weekly Lily in Figure.fm. The premise actually came about when I asked around what I should do for it... My comrade at arms (and Mugi's waifu), Yakuri_Moe, suggested  something to do with Mugi Vision. I liked that idea and worked it in my head and well... You know how it is in my head; it will not be clean at all ^^;

So let's put that in The Melancholy of Saber Lily 4koma and see what happens ;P I didn't just make one, nor two but FIVE 4koma! ENJOY! Oh and this post shouldn't be looked at if you're at work...

Christmas Doll Meet

Another Doll Meet so soon after the last one? I guess with Christmas looming there aren't too many times left to have this meeting, so the last doll meet of the year took place last Saturday, December 11th, in Maple Ridge. That's the first time I've also been in Maple Ridge... I wished I remember to take some photos of the locale. Oh well, on with the meat-y part of this meet!

The photos didn't turn out so well, so I had to put some of them aside for quality sake... Even these ones aren't too great, but I did some fixing up in Photoshop. Not enough light unfortunately. I'm also still learning names of the people there and had a hard time remembering their dolls' names, so bare with me ^^;

Taking Center Stage

This topic came innocently enough from a children's colouring book at Boston Pizza where I had dinner a few weeks ago. I think it was a quiz to determine what kind of job you'd like to have in the future for children or such. It seemed like a forgettable conversation, but somehow it stuck in my mind.

One of the questions was: "Do you like to be the center of attention?" My naturally meek and modest self said, "no", but my brother said, "yes, since you have that blog of yours". The result: "You're a rock star."

November Doll Meet

Last Saturday I attended another BJD meet and I'm still lacking an actual BJD ^^; But I did bring along Azunyan and Saber again. I think Azunyan is behaving well during meets... She doesn't turn yandere... I wonder if it's because everyone else is bigger than her?

There are tons of pictures here, so I won't mince too much words and I'll keep the thumbnails smaller. This meet took place in Richmond in one of the member's apartment lounge. It's a very roomy space, but some of the tables and chairs were nailed down to the floor, lol! We all went to the Richmond Public Market for Bubble Tea and some Asian lunch. I got myself a mint chocolate bubble tea and nasi lemak for lunch. Big portion! I was pretty much full afterward!

My Plushies

Ever since I was a little kid, I've always loved plushies. Teddy bears, puppets, stuffed animals, you name it! I would give them names, talk to them and... Uh... Make them talk to me... I'm a very imaginative kid, to put it lightly.

Plushies are also one of the most essential things in the otaku world. Many would kill to have these cute, soft, huggable versions of their favourite characters. Myself included... Okay, I probably wouldn't kill, but you know what I mean. Here, I'll show you some of my favourite (and ones that I was able to carry to this one spot from my bed) plushies.

My Little Sister Can't be the Rozen Queen

I don't mean Kirino from OreImo by the way... I refer my Azonyan as my little sister these days ^_^ This is Azusa's Aria!

More Changes...

I wasn't going to change the layout again but Blogger and Google was messing around a lot with their template designer. Not to mention other features...

Many Happy Wishes!

November 11 consisted of many things. Here in Canada, it is Remembrance Day, a day to remember the veterans and soldiers of war who fought for our peace. Similarly in the U.S. is Veterans Day, which is similar to Remembrance Day. In Canada we wear poppies (as seen above) to commemorate this day.

It's also Pocky Day today! Mostly because the ones look like a Pocky ^^; I wonder if we can call it year of the Pocky next year in 2011... AND it's Azunyan's birthday today! So I've put all three together in this short picture post ^_^

My Little Sister's Knee Pits Can't be this Cute

Amongst other parts...

An overview of some this season's fall anime... From a different perspective ^^; For these reviews I'll be putting up the Knee-Pit-O-Meter. It scores the visibilities of knee pits in the anime, but it does not necessarily score the anime... This post is based only on the first 2 episodes of each series and it may be NSFW. Got it? Then let's begin!

MEIKO's Birthday

November 5th is MEIKO's birthday! And to celebrate it this year, I made a special art based on MEIKO's Nostalogic. I've been wanting to create this kind of art on Illustrator for a while now, but I figured planning it for her birthday would be best.

The First Doll Meet - Halloween

After a quick and mini doll meet on the Saturday, it was time for the main event; the official Doll Meet on Sunday! So why not start off with a doll in costume and with a Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin motif? First of all I brought Saber with me... The dangerous part is that Saber doesn't have a hair-like hair, but PVC-like hair. So I had to separate her head and place her in a separate case. But she fit the nurse clothes I bought a long time ago. It's a Re-Ment costume that I bought for $5, but it's definitely worth it since Saber looks so good in it! She might have to stay in that outfit for a while XD

Oh and honestly... I was nervous to meet a lot of people there. I've only known a few people like the Candyman who I hung out with the day before and as well as...

Mini Doll Meet - Oct. 23, 2010

So after a quick meeting with the Vancouver BJD group at Anime Evolution, I found myself landing in the middle of an actual Doll Meet or Doll Meat as Chun would like to call it :P

Well this isn't the actual official meet that I went to at first. It was a smaller group consisting of only 6 people and we all went to Magnetic Cafe. For me it was the second time, but for everyone else it was the first time. At least for this new version of the cafe with the "cosplay" aspect. As Azunyan is the only official doll that I have, she gets the spotlight, but I thought I'd bring her Nendoroid counterpart for more fun ^^

Azunyan Desktop Fun

So the night before I go and have a meet with a doll group I thought I'd have a little photo fun with Azunyan. Looks like she's eyeing something on my desktop...

Lions and Tigers and B★RS, Oh My!

Black Rock Shoot... Aaah, whatever... BRS is pretty much old news these days right? Which means it's a good time to make a post about Black Rock Shooter, hehehe. But really I figured since everyone's done their reviews already I could just stuff'em in their original packaging box that came from Toylet. Normally I don't order from them, but they had a special promotion...

Iron Miku 2+

I thought I'd try out another stop motion with Iron Miku. It's good timing too that the home video release of Iron Man 2 is coming out in 3 more days over here. Good timing, right? ...Well to be honest, I've been working on this since the beginning of this month and I got really lazy to finish it up until now. Oh and I did have that shoulder pain around Labor Day, so I have a part of an excuse to not be able to work on this.

However, I realized that I should finish this, especially for today, since today is my second Blogday. Yep, I've been blogging for 2 years now. Time flies. Last year I did a custom Gundam project, same with the first year I started. I don't have much time this year unfortunately, but I did work on this project... I guess I'll use it to celebrate this second year ^^;

2 Girls 1 Hentai

Uhh... I mean... "hen tie". This is my backlog blog loot post from Akihabaka. I told him before Otakuthon in Montreal started that I was interested in the Fakku shirt with the hen tie and he offered to get me one since he knows Jacob. He offered it for $20 and will ship it for free. Though later on he surprised me and told me that I won the Taito Lucky Star figures from his giveaway! What a surprise! And a coincidence XD

Reunion at Torarenbo

At the planning stages, my 2 college friends and I never thought of it as a reunion, just a gathering. We occasionally meet up and have dinner together to catch up. It was always hard for us to decide where to eat. It takes at least a few emails before we decided. Fortunately I was browsing Chun's blog at the time and saw her new favourite sushi restaurant, Torarenbo. So since I haven't had sushi for a while and was craving it, I tossed the idea in the air and... well... It landed there.

So logically, I will warn you that this contains food photos, not as many, but enough to make you hungry or craving for sushi... Blame Chun for this :P

Yuri Mania 34

Gokigenyou minna. Oh wow, look at that. Two Yuri Mania posts in a row. What a rarity! Well this week is actually a pretty big update. There's an actual movie trailer for the live action Maria-sama ga Miteru movie! Thanks to Ai via Facebook for the head's up on this trailer.

Yuri Mania 33

Azusa: "Gokigenyou Saber-sama."
Saber: "Gokigenyou Nakano Asuza."
Azusa: "Ah please, Saber-sama, just call me Azusa."
Saber: "In that case, you must call me oneesama. Anyway, it is nice to finally meet you."
Azusa: "It is also a pleasure for me as well, oneesama."

Azonyan

When I received a right leg in the mail, I knew it was time for me to give Azunyan a proper photoshoot...

I'm being very cryptic, aren't I? =P

Yuri Mania 32: Kuttsukiboshi 1

Gokigenyou minna. Sasshiburi desu. It's been a while since my last yuri-related post... So I figured I'll load this post with as many yuri things as possible! First up is the recent release of the first Kuttsukiboshi OVA. This is made by the same studio that created Issho ni Training: Training with Hinako, Studio Primastea. And of course its follow up Issho ni Sleeping... This OVA was officially released on the 16th of August in Japan, but early copies were available at Comiket 78 (Information via AnimeNation News & Anime News Network). Now mind you, this OVA is really rough looking. One could say it's a doujinshi anime. The story is still excellent and you still get the yuri fan service. This story takes place just as summer began. So with that out of the way, let's get to the characters!

Anime Evolution 2010 Loots

Despite my complains of the dealers room and the convention itself, I actually got some stuff from Anime Evolution anyway. I withdrew some money on the Friday, but after my first visit to the dealers room, I thought I could just put all the money back later after the weekend. Turns out I've spent quite a chunk it already by the end of Sunday.

Anime Evolution 2010

Bicycle cosplay? The design look familiar, but not sure where it's from.

Ah the local convention... It was time for Vancouver's anime scene to be in the spotlight again! Well except there were a few things happening around this weekend too, lol. Comiket in Japan was happening this weekend and Montreal's Otakuthon was also happening then there's Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando... Ok, so share the spotlight then ^_^  But Vancouver's media did not stop from promoting our otakulture (someone's gonna beat me up for using "otaku" this way, lol) to the rest of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. It's still a pretty big event drawing thousands of Vancouverites to UBC.

Anime Evolution 2010 Cosplay

Occurring in the middle of August and in the hottest weekend this month or year in Vancouver is Anime Evolution, the local convention. I salute the cosplayers who braved the freaking hot weather! Even though it's almost 30 degrees Celsius on all three days, people are still willing to go out there in the out-of-season-clothing for costumes.

As before, in case any of these cosplayers here do not want to be featured here on my site and/or if the cosplayers want the high resolution original version of their photo or any other requests, please email me and I'll comply with your request as soon as possible.

Late Night Loot Unboxing

I've finally received my big package from Hobby Search for the end of July. All of these were released in July but I waited for all of them to be there first and combined into one shipping. I'm surprised they all fit into one box!

Haruhi Vs the AmAzone Saber

I normally don't start with the 4koma comic, but I think this is a good introduction to one of my latest acquisition ^^ Oh oh... don't forget the title...

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 38

This has also been posted on The Melancholy of Saber Lily site. For the first panel I had to do 2 photos just because I couldn't make it work with the macro lens when I was standing trying to take a picture of Haruhi shaking in my hand... Saber would've been too blurry. Yes, I know what you're thinking... Haruhi's attacked a 1/3 scale Dollfie Dream before so why would she be afraid here. Well perhaps that Unlimited Span... Saber Works scared her off.

Because I Don't Have an Optimus Penguin

For Optimistic Penguin's website 1st anniversary, Ms. Penguin held a contest to make figure comics. The catch is that they have to involve penguins. The only penguin I had was the Prinny Laharl that I got from Anime Expo. I didn't win the contest, but I'm still gonna post mine here just since I already made it a part of The Melancholy of Saber Lily special.

Cosplay Cafe in Vancouver

Something from Japan that I didn't think would happen here would be the [in]famous maid/cosplay cafe... I remember that there was a maid cafe in Toronto at one time, however that one doesn't exist anymore. So I assumed no one would dare to try it out again in Canada. How wrong I was.

SEE! I'm Not the Only One!

Yes... Yes!! Crawl to your knee pits overlord! The knee pits conquer all!

Ummm.... Sorry, I got caught up in the maelstrom that is Amagami SS episode 3. The episode that has the main character, Tachibana, kissing the current "target" girl, Morishima, in the back of the knee. Ok, they didn't say knee pits, but just the back of the knee or hiza no ura. Not the term I use, but at least I found a Japanese term now!

AX (Suddenly Acquired) Loots

Here comes the loot, everybody knows that here comes the loot! Ok, that doesn't make sense, but anyways after an anime convention, you expect to see the loot post going up :P I kept all the fancy paper bags from J-List and MangaGamer. They're kinda like loot to me XD Honestly I didn't buy too much. I wanted to limit myself because I already spent quite a bit just trying to get to Los Angeles for AX.

So let's get to the loots one by one shall we? I got a lot of small items that may not be too visible in the main picture.

My AXperience

Wow... I don't know where to start. It's been a week already since Anime Expo 2010 was over. My post-convention depression is somewhat over, but I still miss the friends I've met there. I really did have more fun than I thought. Well I knew about the guests of honor and AX being the biggest one there is, and of course there were some bad things that happened as well, but I really didn't expect to have a great time! One of the best experiences I've had!

Anime Expo 2010 Cosplay

It's the largest anime convention in North America, so there's gotta be a crazy amount of cosplays, right? Of course, of course! Unfortunately it seems like I didn't take as many as I'd like to ^^; It seems like I was running around a lot going places to places, but not enough time to stop and take in the scenery. It's all fun though. I was enjoying it all... Kinda. I'll spare the horror stories later.

Ah and if there are any shy cosplayers being shown here and don't want their photos here or if you'd like the original photo, just email me and I'll try to fill your request as soon as possible :)

In a Foreign L.A.nd

I knew the exact moment that I had landed in a foreign land when I saw a Best Buy vending machine... Best Buy is usually just an electronic store and it's usually Japan who has vending machines for everything, but this is definitely a first. You just don't see many vending machines that will have iPods, DSi, GPS, digital cameras, phone charger, headphones and DS games in one place anywhere. If it were any other places than the airport that the glass will not stay intact for long.

Mugi Mugi Day

Awwww sooooo cuuuuuuuuttttteeeeee! And Happy Canada Day everyone! Yeah, I know I don't have anything Canadian here, but it's still posted on Canada Day ^^;

This here is a Mugi plushie. I brought her to AX and if everything goes well, she'll have a new goshuujin-sama ^_^

AX Cosplay Preview

So by this time, I should be at the airport and about to board the airplane to fly to Los Angeles for Anime Expo. Hopefully I didn't forget anything... My cosplay is all packed up though. Hopefully the hat doesn't get crushed. It wasn't too hard to find the hat, but had to look around first.

Since this is just a preview, I've kept the pictures black and white... And I won't say who I'm going as. I assume some of you can guess who I'm going as just from the pictures here... Albeit a male version ^^;

Yuri Mania 31

Gokigenyou! Ah it has been quite a while since my last Yuri Mania, eh? Well this time I have something special. Last year I had to do a quick Yuri Mania and Weekly Lily before I went to Anime Boston. Docking mousepads! Well what do I do for a sequel? Why... Docking Dakimakuras, of course :P

By the way, some of these may be NSFW. So you may want to get ready to close your tab/window when your boss comes around your desk. Unless you're the boss, of course. If that's the case then feel free to share this with your employees.

The War on Several Fronts

Yes, I'm still doing my 4koma series... I'm just so very busy lately. Or is it lazy? It seems like both. My work shift has finally been settled for nights. That makes it difficult for me to do anything during the day since I feel like I won't have enough time for my freedom before work. It's also been quite hot, which makes me very lazy in doing anything since I'd sweat too much.

Star Wars in Concert: Vancouver Day 2

Before I was big into anime, I was very much into Star Wars. Hey, even the name I use, "lightningsabre", is a relic of my Star Wars highs. Quiz me anything about Star Wars and I'd give you the correct answer straight way. Now my mind's been filled with anime, but a Star Wars event happening locally?? I'M THERE! So on Wednesday night, I went to see Star Wars in Concert!

Retro Tokusatsu

My childhood Tokusatsu/live action hero lineup isn't as robust as my retro anime lineup, but it contains quite a few unique shows. Some of them, like Goggle V above, is a popular one back in the 80's but there are some that not many have heard of.

Retro Anime

One thing I rarely talk about are the first few anime I've watched, especially when I was a wee lad. I think I have mentioned them before, but did not go beyond the very first that I watched, Voltes V. In Asia, it was quite easy to get "cartoons" of Japan. That's what I would call them back then since the word "anime" was not a household word yet. Though I knew it was Japanese because my brother has told me that it is Japanese and I remembered that it was the Japanese language that I was listening to.

I'm Sorry Japan...

...But the potential of meeting a celebrity in one spot within 4 days in Japan is (exaggerated estimation) a million to one! I'd really like to go an experience Japan as I am now instead of when I was only 5, but the cost can be expensive. So to me it was an unreachable goal especially when my hours at work was cut by a 1/4. Perhaps with my added work hours recently I'll be able to go within a year.

So I imagine you've guessed why I'm not going to Japan anytime soon, right? Is it the picture (that I "borrowed" from Flickr) of the banner of Anime Expo that gave it away?

Nyagato ~Metamo Version

"Nyaa..." In a deadpan voice as Yuki would've put it. This is the Metamo version of Nagato Yuki made by Bandai. Probably one of the only nekomimi Nagato Yuki (or should I say Nyagato?) figure around aside from the trading figures.

Omiyage

Or souvenirs, I should say. Recently I've received some of them from very good friends. One from a while ago and another just recently. I didn't really ask, but they were kind enough to send some to me... Well okay, I did ask for one thing ^^;

Yuri Mania 30

Gokigenyou minna-san. There has been some news about the Maria-sama ga Miteru live action movie ever since I talked about it last month. Also thanks to Yi who Tweeted about this around that time, but I seem to have lost that link now ^^; The pictures here came from the end of April, but I could only post it now to wait for more updates. Not a lot more updates since then, but at least I'll post them here nonetheless. The movie is slated to be released in Japan in Fall of 2010.

Saber's Fake Birthday

I feel that I have failed as a Saber fan... I didn't realize that today, May 13th, is her birthday. I didn't realize she even had a birthday because she's an ethereal being. But of course she is supposed to be a historical figure, a hero, so she was a real person with a real birthday. Thanks to joeltng from Twitter for the reminder. I didn't prepare for anything unfortunately... But I did take this picture of the door to my room recently. It's a wall scroll that is custom made that I got from a store I hardly go to. It was hanging on their glass door, and I immediately drooled for it. Thankfully it was for sale and I bought their last one. I hung it on my door right away.

Edit: Not really Saber's birthday on May 13th unfortunately. I've been supplied with a fake date... orz. I apologize if I ever created some kind of confusion regarding this date. Her actual birthday is unknown... But since I already made it, let's just have fun with it!

Admirin' Iron Man 2

After watching the first teaser trailer for the first Iron Man movie, I knew I want... nay, NEED to watch it! I regretted not watching Iron Man right away in 2008, and I regretted not watching it enough multiple times in the theatres. So with the release of Iron Man 2, I had the opportunity to watch it right away and I took it! I even stayed up late to get Iron Miku up and running before I go to the IMAX version at 10 AM on Friday... The IMAX screen really showed the details well, but I don't think it's necessary to watch this movie, especially if you have to pay extra $5 to watch it.

Video Games Live 2010 - Vancouver

This is actually my third time attending Video Game Live, but the first time I kept record of it ^^; I seem to forget lots of things if I don't keep track of them, so this is why VGL is now on my blog, especially the song list. That's one benefit of a blog, it keeps your memories for you XD

So the third Video Games Live took place on Thursday before Iron Man started the next day. And I wanted to see Iron Man 2 right away... It's been a very busy week for me ^^;  The venue for VGL seems to change every time they come. Our seats were in the balcony and my brother picked the seats where we would have nobody in front of us. Very cool seats! Except there were a lot of people walking back and forth... Nonetheless it was another great orchestra, even if some of them have been done already.

Iron Miku Suits Up

If you're reading this at 10 AM on Friday, the seventh of May, that means I'm at the IMAX theatre watching Iron Man 2. When the first movie came out, it was a sure thing that I will watch it. The trailer just made it so damn cool and when I did see it, I regretted it... That I didn't watch it on the first day! I think it was even better than Dark Knight that came out in the same year, in my opinion :P