Getting ready for Katsucon

On By Asian EdIn OtakuLeave a comment

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With Katsucon just days away, I’m starting the process of gathering my gear together for the trip. In addition to the necessities like clothes and toiletries, I had to put together a selection of items to make sure I’m well armed for the con. In the picture above, I’ve got a few necessities, including my DS, compact digital camera, extra batteries for camera, spare memory card and a bag to put it haul it around in. Also, to blend in with the locals, a set of nekomimi will be required. I’m sure I’ll pick up a couple other items in the next day, and I’ll need to prep my laptop for the trip. I’ll also be bringing the SX10 along with me and had to make sure it’ll fit in the bag.

I’ve also made a list of things to look for in the dealer room:

Toysworks 1/6 ARIA figures – Still missing Aika, Alice, and Athena… doubt I’ll find them
Max Factory 1/8 Narusegawa Naru… also doubt I’ll find this one
Gift 1/8 Saber (relatively new release)
Griffon 1/7 Shana
FREEing 1/4 Ryoko Asakura bunny
Some sort of Figma… probably the Hiiragi Kagami one, just a really big fan of the look
Wave 1/10 Rena Sayers (Mai-Otome S.ifr)
Aqua Volume 1
 

Beyond that, I’ll be a bit discretionary with my funds. I don’t want to overdo it, in the case something catches my eye as a “must have.”

Kokoro unboxing

On By Asian EdIn Figures1 Comment

Special thanks given to ravnel at DannyChoo.com for giving me the opportunity to own this figure.

I got out of work a little early today so I could enjoy the sunshine. When I got home, I found a nice surprise in my mailbox. The Kokoro figure that I’d bought from another user on DannyChoo had arrived! Each unboxing is a special event, and this was no different. Since she was still new and unopened, she still had that new figure smell.

IMG_0952Kokoro in the box

Once I’d removed her, it was time to take some photos. She comes with several options, so there was room for experimenting! At first, I had her positioned in front of a window to get the natural light effects.

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The cast off pieces are pretty easy to remove. She comes with extra ribbons to complete the swimsuit look, as well as a strap for the top. Additionally, she comes with an umbrella and a base. All of the parts are extremely detailed and very well made.

Then I realized there was a far better place in the room… the wall opposite of the window. In order to get the best light, I had to act fast, as the sun was setting.

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Pictures came out a bit yellow, but adjusting the white balance gave a much better look
 
For more photos, click through to the album. She even had a special guest join her for this occasion!
 

The girls (and cats) of ARIA

On By Asian EdIn FiguresLeave a comment

Today I decided to pull out the nicest (and hardest to find) set of figures in my collection to date. Meet Akira Ferrari, Alicia Florence, and Akari Mizunashi from ARIA. Toysworks had done a 1/6 scale series of figures coinciding with the release of ARIA -The Natural- and in total feature all 6 of the main undines. I’m very impressed with the quality on these figures and they’re the only ones that come preassembled to the base and are actually mounted with screws:

IMG_0903Two screws hold the feet down

I was lucky enough to find Alicia and Akira up on eBay while Akari came from a dealer at Animazement two years ago.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

It’s a matter of scale

On By Asian EdIn Figures, Otaku1 Comment

I’ve been taking a look at some of my figures lately and noticed something interesting. It seems that different manufacturers have different measurements of scale. Take a look at these photos…

IMG_0851 Figures labeled as 1/8 scale

IMG_0855 Figures labeled as 1/6 scale

While the differences between the 1/8 figures aren’t very noticeable (they seem to fit well together), the differences in height on the 1/6 figures is pretty significant. Some of the differences don’t even make sense. From left to right, the character heights are: Akira – 168cm, Onda Aka – unknown (but is fairly petite), Belldandy – 165cm, and Tohsaka Rin – 124cm (Fate/Zero), 159cm (Fate/Stay). No matter how you look at it, Akira should be tallest figure, followed by Belldandy, then Rin. Somehow, Rin is completely oversized and Belldandy is far too small.

But it doesn’t stop there. Even among the 1/8s, there is some discrepancy.

shana Max Factory (left) and Beat (right) Shana

Here are two 1/8 scale figures of the same character (different manufacturers). If you were to pull the right figure upright, she would come out to be taller than the one on the left. All these differences make me wonder how the figures are made, and how they’re sized… Is it arbitrary?

Comparing Win7 and WinVista

On By Asian EdIn Computers and Internet, Windows 7Leave a comment
After using Win7 for a couple of weeks, I’ve started finding things that are subtle differences from Vista. Beyond the obvious changes like the Superbar and sidebar, a couple of other things caught my eye. Here are just a couple I’ve stumbled upon:
 
The first thing I noticed was changes in MSPaint. For the first time since Windows 95, Paint has a new look! Not only did it get a facelift, but it also has a bunch of newly added editing features. Most of these are fairly rudimentary, but are welcome nonetheless (crop image, anyone?)
 
Paint in Vista
 
Paint in Win 7
 
Next thing I noticed was Calculator. Vista calc is on the left and 7 calc is on the right. Again, mostly a facelift, but includes new features like unit conversion, date dalculation, and a mortgage calculator (all found under the options menu). Also included are a scientific mode, programmer mode (for logic, base conversion, etc.) and statistics mode.
 
         
 
Another subtle change is in the performance rating. Notice the new statement about the WinEI range. The value for each stat now maxes out at 7.9 (previously 5.9). Not really sure if this means much, but it’s neat nonetheless.
 
 
Lastly, the consolidation of the Add hardware, Printers, and Scanners and Cameras control panels make for an easier one-stop-shop for managing connected devices without digging into the device manager.
 

Breaking in the new camera

On By Asian EdIn Computers and InternetLeave a comment
Over the past week, I’ve done a decent job experimenting with the new camera and seeing what it can do. It’s the first camera I’ve had with so many buttons and settings, so it’s taken some time for me to figure out what everything does. I’ve also done some more experimenting with Photosynth and I think I’m really starting to get the hang of it. The most recent attempts have been scoring 90%+ Synthy, with 2 of them at a nice 100%.
 
These are a couple of synths that I’ve done so far:
 
Each synth has a corresponding album with other shots in the photo gallery. Check it out!

New Camera!

On By Asian EdIn Computers and InternetLeave a comment

Yesterday marked the arrival of my new camera, a Canon PowerShot SX10. It’s far more feature rich than the PowerShot SD1100 it’s supplementing, including adjustments for manual focus, aperture, and shutter speed. It also has a really neat face-detect self timer, which sets the timer as soon as an additional face is detected (useful for giving the photographer time to get into a group shot).

What better way to break in a new camera than to do a photo shoot? Check out a sample of the pictures taken here. My personal favorite is the one with Alicia-san and my cat. She managed to sit up there on her own and it took a good 15 attempts to get one that actually looked decent. Cats can have very low attention spans and can be easily distracted by camera shutter clicks…