figma Haruhi - Mid year figure haul part 1

Around May-July, a number of figures will come and invade my room. Total of 7 figures pre ordered and shipped around May-July. I haven't counted in Blanc Neige which will be released September, figma Fate Testarossa and figma Konata which has opened for preorder in certain store. I usually wait for HLJ or Play-Asia to open the preorder, since only these stores can ship the item to Indonesia. Those 7 figures are :

- Reinforce II - Alter (waiting for arrival)
- Fate Testarossa - Alter reissue (waiting for arrival)
- figma Nanoha - Max Factory (waiting for arrival)
- Mikuru maid cafe version - Alter (preorder)
- Nanoha instructor uniform - GSC (preorder)
- Elwyn - Kotobukiya (preorder)
- Chua Churam - Alter (preorder)

HLJ box

So here's the news, packaging from HLJ came yesterday. I know it's figma Haruhi, it's been 29 days since shipment. I think SAL it's rather slow in Indonesia. My friend in Australia said the item which is shipped by SAL, arrived in her place in around 3 weeks.

figma Suzumiya Haruhi.

Yeah, i guessed right. It's figma Haruhi, and it's my first figma. The box seems pretty elite if you look from the front. Because of this excitement, i grabbed my camera and photographed it as soon as i opened the HLJ box.

Photos on the backside of the box.

As usual, on the backside of the box, you can see official photograph of figma Haruhi's poses. I've seen those photographs alot, so it's rather boring to see them again.

Elite packaging, very nice.

With that lower price than usual price, Max Factory figma gives an elite packaging. In the figma box there's a reflective cardboard, i can use this for reflector in my photo session. The plastic package just like usual figure plastic package.

figma Haruhi parts.

Just like most nendoroids, figma also has alternative parts for hands, feet, and faces. The base is pretty unique, with hexagon shape, and figma writing on the base. There are 6 kinds of hands (pointing hand, 2 open hand, 2 closed hand, and 1 megaphone hand), each kind has 2 piece of hands, left and right hands. Two kind of shoes (indoor and outdoor shoes). Three kinds of faces (usual happy face with mouth open, smiling face, and scowling face). And 2 kinds of armband (brigade leader and great director).

Do you notice the plastic bag with figma writing on it. You can use this plastic bag for keeping parts. I think this is good since figma parts are small, just as small as nendoroids' hands, it helps you keeping parts from separated or missing somewhere else.


So this is the complete figma. I put all the parts inside the plastic bag given. I guess figma is really small for a normal figure. A little taller than trading figure, but smaller than 1/8 figure. Around 3/4 height of Haruhi from Max Factory. But that's not really the issue. I guess the worst part of this figure is the joints on her legs, they stand out more than the joints on the arms.


Well, that's for the first part of mid year figure haul. Just wait for next part. Oh, and the photo session, i can do it around 2 more weeks from now. My final exam started Monday 2nd June 2008, so i guess i have to pospone the photo session and study for my exam first.

International Saimoe League

International Saimoe League 2008 (ISML '08)

At last, there's a Saimoe competition event for international viewer/watcher/otaku/whoever you are. So here it is, International Saimoe League or ISML for short. I think it's kinda late to announce this since i just know it today from my friend but the whole event has started Months ago, early this year.

So many number of fights in each round.

I don't really know about Japan and Korea's last Saimoe competition, but in this ISML they used a "necklace winner" system. There are 9 necklaces, in every necklace there are 9 rounds. In every round, each characters would have to fight other characters randomly and voters have to vote each fight. After 9 rounds completed, the character who win the most vote will get the current necklace.

Amethyst round top 6.

So far, 2 necklaces already won by certain characters. I forgot the winner, but i remember the necklaces, they're Aquamarine and Topaz. For tonight, Amethyst round 9 already started and will end at 2600 GMT. Voting will start every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, every 0100 GMT, except stated otherwise. Just keep yourself updated in the site.

For more details, go directly to the site:
http://www.internationalmoeleague.com/
http://www.saimoearena.com/vote.html

Azumanga Daioh and other things around

Azumanga Daioh

I think this is the first time i talked about anime series in this blog. It's knida weird if an otaku blog doesn't have any story of animes.

Well, i'm not really into anime episodic blog, or whatever it's called. Since i watch anime at very random time, and watch random series (not new series). Almost every anime episodic blog talked about newest anime. That's why i rarely did a post about things that have to be on time.

Azumanga Daioh is one of my random anime i watched recently. I know this anime is old, but i just knew the detail early this year, and i just started watching it this month.

AzuDai itself is funny anime. I like it very much. I already read the manga and now i already watched the anime up to episode 20. Just 6 more to go. Good for filling spare time, good for regaining mood, and good for.... whatever.

(from left) Chiyo, Sakaki, Tomo, Yomi, and Osaka

What's make AzuDai is fun to watch is the unique characters. Every characters have their own weirdness, nobody's normal.
Starting from Chiyo, a 10 years old genius who's able to skip class.
Tomo, energetic yet stupid girl.
Osaka, slow but funny, i like the way she talked, especially with her Osaka dialect.
Sakaki, a cool and calm girl, but she got a soft spot that is loved cute things.
Yomi, she looks pretty normal to me, but since she has joined the weird club, i guess she isn't really that normal.
The combination characters' personalities made this anime funny and interesting.

Strike Osaka Freedom

Anyway, you may find it weird to see me watching this old series for the first time. You'll find it hard to get animes in Indonesia. These are the reasons:

1. Slow internet connection. The best connection we have only 384 kbps, and the ISP doesn't give us cheap flat unlimited usage rate. That's why it's hard to download animes.
2. Almost no company who want to license an anime and released VCD/DVD. It's piracy issue.
3. With the 2 reasons combined, the result is there's still so many rentals who rent a homemade anime VCD with very low quality.

That's why it's hard to keep up with the release of new anime episode.

I like Sakaki

Anyway, that's it for now. I had my 2 projects finished, and 2 more to go. Database projects, i have to search some information about XML and database. Computer Graphics projects, i have to create a 3D virtual world. And next week, final exam for this semester.

I already had figma Haruhi and Reinforce II shipped with SAL. As for figma Haruhi, it already past 28 days and the packets still hasn't come yet, maybe because my country is still in unstable condition. I hope it will come safe and sound around this week. So it's waiting time, figma Haruhi, Reinforce Zwei, and figma Nanoha (which just shipped yesterday).

Melty Blood R - Java programming project

Melty Blood R

Ah... At last, an update. After 2 weeks of hell working on my Java programming project, i finished this project yesterday. A complete 5 minutes animation music video, featuring Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai OP song, and Melty Blood characters.

I don't plan on publishing this project since it could become a copyright problem. I'll just post some of the screenshots. All characters are owned by Type-Moon. Credit goes to SyNdicate for the sprites, you can get them here.

I made this as a sidestory. There's no major connection between this Melty Blood R and the real Melty Blood. I just used the characters and some vital points like Akiha is Shiki's sister, Sion can transform into vampire, and Ciel is a vampire hunter.


Story goes like this:
Introduction part:

Ciel in ... whatever...

Just playing cool in this intro part. This part goes around 1 minutes. In this part, all the characters except Akiha show their coolness, and some artworks.

Sion tatari

In this part, i also showed that Sion can transform to a vampire. She looks suffered in this part. It's hard to show that Sion can transform into a vampire. People who watch this should understand some part of Melty Blood first.


Action part:

Ciel vs... MENOS!?

In this part, they show some of their skills in beating some (random) enemies. Ciel killed a Menos with her bare hands (and feet). Yeah, i love the kicking parts.

Blast them up, Sion!

Sion's always looks cool when she used her gun to fight. Those zombies are Zombie prisoner and Zombie master from Ragnarok Online.


Plot part 1:

Sion killed Akiha and Shiki can do nothing except watching her die.

So here's the storyline begin. Shiki witnessed with his own eyes, Akiha killed by Sion in her vampire form. Of course he's mad and he wanted to take revenge for Akiha.

Ciel sword throwing skills is the best.

But Shiki wasn't in good shape, so he ended up get beaten by Sion. But fortunately, Ciel, who can sniff vampire from distance, came and attacked Sion, but it missed. Sion ran away, and Ciel chased her. Shiki's able to get up stayed in that place, looking at Akiha.


Plot part 2:

Nice kick there, Ciel!

The battle begin here, on top of Tokyo Tower. Ciel managed to chase Sion, but Sion has returned to her normal form on the way. So Ciel got the upper hand in this fight.

Ciel lost, but Shiki kicked Sion's butt.

What? Ciel got the upper hand? Who said that? She lost, and now Shiki came and helped Ciel. But he came not to help Ciel, but to take revenge for Akiha.


Plot part 3:

Thanks Photoshop, i can colorize my background with your help.

What? Sion's vampire form appeared again, and this time, it's full power! Now Sion got the upper hand. Shiki and Ciel fought Sion together with full power. But...

BLACK BARREL REPLICA

HOLY $#*& !!! It's Black Barrel Replica dude! It seems that Shiki and Ciel enjoyed Sion's Black Barrel Replica goodness., and i know it hurts, A LOT.


Plot part 4:

They blasted of the skies and fell off the ground.

Noooo...!!!! They died? If they died then you have to close this Java application. But don't worry, miracles do happens... in anime.

Cruel Etherite action.

Sion's cruelty didn't end there. Shiki was trying to get up but Sion kept whacking him with her Etherite. This is not very good for Shiki and Ciel.

Throw everything Ciel!

Hey, i already said it before, miracles do happens (in anime). So there they are, got up again in full power and unleashing their ultimate skills. As for Ciel, she did a thousand swords throw. She threw swords in 8 seconds duration.

Shiki slashed (almost) the whole screen.

And here's Shiki last hit. His ultimate skill wiped Sion once and for all. Sion died, and the revenge is over. Shiki managed to take revenge for Akiha, and Ciel's job is done.


They're back in the place where Akiha died. Shiki thanked Ciel for helping him killing Sion. And Ciel left because her job's done. She is vampire hunter after all.


That's all folks. R in the title Melty Blood R stands for Revenge. The main focus here is Shiki and Akiha. I guess i can say that Ciel and Akiha is my favorite character in this Tsukihime and Melty Blood series. But in Melty Blood game, i like to use Ciel just for her sword throwing skill goodness.

(Only) 2 photos of nendoroid SOS-Dan

I did say that i won't do any photo session in this projects period. But for this, it was a special case. I and my photographers friends did a little photo session of Nendoroid SOS-dan.

Haruhi : "Mikuru-chan... Action!!!"
Mikuru : "Mi... mi... Mikuru beaam!"
Yuki : "..."

From 5th-17th of May, Petra Christian University (a popular university in Surabaya) held a photography competition. The theme was "Still life photography - sweet and colorful". At first i tried to made a Gundam diorama, but after giving another thought, i changed my photo session from Gundam diorama into a nendoroids' story, since they're sweet and colorful... i guess...

Another story...

Well that's it for today. There's a little flaw in the first photo. I used F13 aperture value, and it seems Yuki is still a little blurred because of the Depth of Field. I guess a little mistake like that could turn out bad for the competition.

I also learned a few things after this photo session. I printed these 2 photos in 10R size, and i noticed that LCD monitor have more brightness compared to CRT monitor and photo paper, so if you're doing a little photos' RGB level editing in LCD monitor, you'll want to recheck those photos again in CRT monitor before printing out the photos.

Overall, because of my friends help, i can get a better lighting than before. Credit goes to Joan, Jaya, and Nico woh're participating and helping this photo session, thanks man!

Oh yeah, and Java programming projects still in progress... I still got 1 minutes 28 seconds out of 5 minutes animation, so it's still long way to go. And i also hope that figma Haruhi will come around this week, it's been more than 2 weeks since the shipment date.

A few things about Teana Lanster and Lucky Star nendoroid petit sets

As always, before entering the real photo session, i'll give you some teaser shot of the latest figures i got.

Miyuki and Kagami

Nendoroid Puchi Lucky Star series 1. In the last post, i've told you about the pricing. I won't cover all the whole sets, since my choice are the Miko Kagami and Miyuki in school uniform. The rest are not mine.

Basically, those figures are small, smaller than Bandai Haruhi trading figure, but a little bigger than Disgaea trading figure. Quality isn't really bad. I love to look at them, especially Kagami, since their faces are so funny. Kagami in miko suit has the "special for Konata punchline" face.

A little Teana action

I guess i'm a bit unlucky with this Teana Lanster. When i decided that i want to get this figure, the condition isn't really good. Play-Asia didn't accept anymore order, and HLJ hasn't even started to open the pre-order. So i pre-ordered this one in my favorite figure local store.

The bad luck doesn't stop just there. I got a little defect in this figure. If you look carefully at her hair, there is some crack on it. It's pretty obvious, so it's an eyesore to me. The features of this figure will be covered in photo session for this figure.

My computer desk so far

So this is my computer desk now. It's starting to get crowded. I won't put anything in front of the nendoroids, since it's a space for me to write or put a book. Oh, and the Gundams (Destiny Gundam MG and SD Strike Noir Gundam) once again, it's not mine, it's my brother's.

Well, just wait for the next photo session. I'll be doing it around June, i guess... Project and figure progress so far:

- Math Logic 100% completed
- Java Programming : 17 seconds worth of animation out of 5 minutes
- Already paid figma Haruhi, shipped in May 1st, 2008
- Already paid Reinforce II (Alter), shipped in May 14th, 2008

So it's waiting time. As for Java Programming, i still need some background resources, so if anyone could help with anything, i'll appreciated the help.

Some good news and bad news

New haul from the local store

Good news and bad news in the middle of project time can change my spirit, especially when it comes to things like figure and the project itself.

So what's the good news and what's the bad news? The good news are:

1. Teana Lanster (Movic) and Nendoroid Puchi Lucky Star series 1 have arrived, and i already picked it up yesterday.
2. I finished one of my project, that is: Logic calculator and Polish notation converter from Math Logic subject.
3. I finished around 17 seconds of my Java animation project. That is the title scene.

The bad news are:

1. Nendo Puchi Lucky Star cost me JPY 7800. Is that a rip off? Or is it true?
2. I can't find Melty Blood stage background for use in my Java project.
3. I just learned the basic of OpenGL yesterday, and that made me more confused of my Computer Graphics project.

Nendoroid Puchi Lucky Star series 1

GSC site says that Nendoroid Puchi Lucky Star cost you around JPY 6000 if you bought 12 of them (1 box set). But mine cost me JPY 7800. I don't know if this a rip off or not. I asked the store owner, and then he said:

"With that JPY 6000 box set, you can't get complete set of the characters. You'll only get one of the set (the uniform or costume set). The other will be a randomized character. If you want to get all complete sets including secret, you'll have to buy this (a set of 11 characters with JPY 7800)"

I never bought a complete box set of trading figures, so i don't know if this true or not. Fortunately, i bought this with my friends, i only got 2 of them, and the rest will be my friends', so i won't have to pay that much.

Forward Strikers Teana Lanster

Well, both of this figures i bought yesterday came so slow. If you noticed, both of them released at March and arrived around Friday last week. So i guess the shop used a slow delivery service, but it's really cheap.

I'm glad that Teana Lanster also arrived together, she's one of my top 10 favorite characters. She's also the mascot for this blog... i guess.


Last bad news is Java programming. I can't find any fitting background. If you ever played Melty Blood, i think you'll understand what i'm saying. I'll need background from stage:

- Ciel's sanctuary
- City at night
- Shrine blue and Shrine Red

Anyone knows where to get them? I've been searching everywhere, and i only found Mugen's background, not an image file. Or if anyone knows how to convert Mugen's background into an image file, i'll appreciate the help.

Month of school projects

Sion is the character i used in my C++ Programming project (last semester)

This month, May, a last month before final exam for this semester. And as usual, i have to concentrate all my effort on projects.

As i said before, i'm an IT students, and i have to do projects for some subjects in the last semester. Around 1 month before final exam takes place. There are 3 projects coming right to my face in this semester.

So what are the subjects? Math Logic, Java Programming, and Computer Graphics. If you don't know what's Math Logic is, it's a subject that studies about Boolean Algebra, working with boolean operator like AND, OR, NOT, NOR, NAND, XOR, XNOR, implication, and bi-implication. IN this subject, i have to create a logic calculator and polish notation converter for my project.

In Java programming, i have to make a 5 minutes animation. It's up to me whether it's 2D or 3D, but since i don't have any knowledge about 3D so i planned on making 2D sprite animation. I guess i'll use Melty Blood sprite, with Tohno Shiki as the main characters of the story.

The best 3D CG moviei've ever seen

Last but not least, it's Computer Graphics. This subject studies about how to create 3D objects using programming, polygon drawing, coloring, shading, texturing, and using Open GL. The project for this subject is the most challenging and hardest project. I have to make a simple 3D game. What the hell, i even don't know how to draw a person using programming.

Ciel in maid outfit goodness

As for now, i've finished around 30% of Math Logic project. I think this is the easiest project of all projects, since you can get the algorithm to convert from a certain notation to other notation easily from the internet, especially Programmers' Heaven . I think i'll manage to finish this project in this week.

For Java programming, i already have a little idea for the animation. The basic concept is like making music animation video, just like anime OP animation. At least that my concept will be for this animation. The main body of this animation is the music, once again just like the anime OP animation.

Tohno Shiki GIF animation

I'm trying to create an animation that match with the music. I already chosen my music for this project, that is Naraku no Hana, sung by Eiko Shimamiya, from the anime Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. The characters, as i mentioned above, will be characters from game Melty Blood.

My resources came from the "danbooru-like" image board called The Repository. In here, you can get some animated GIFs, especially from 2D sprite based (anime) games. With the help of a software called GIF Movie Gear, i can separate all the frames into new separate image files.

Kyonko, Haruhi, and the others

Yeah, that's it for today. I guess i'll have to pause my Otaku life for a month. While waiting for the Godly item to arrive, figma Haruhi. And waiting some figures to be released and shipped here. This May haul :

Reinforce II - Alter
Fate Testarossa - Alter (re-run)

I'm really looking forward to this. Other than that, i still have to wait some figures from my local store which send their items using surface mail :

Nendoroid Puchi Lucky Star #1 - Good Smile Company
Teana Lanster - Movic

I hope all 3 (Haruhi, Teana, and Lucky Star) arrived around this week or next week.