Saber Birthday Party

Friday the 13th, 2011... It's Saber's birthday, but I can't even post it properly since Blogger is down. Such misfortune... Anyway, Blogger is back up and now I can finally post about Saber's birthday party! I planned on just only making one 4koma but ended up with a couple more ideas XD Doesn't it make you curious what's going on above? :3

Before that, let me introduce to you... The Saber Lion plushie! When I first seen her, I knew I had to have her. Thankfully this store in Richmond that just opened was selling her. I quickly grabbed her, lol.

And now... On with the party! The 4komas below are posted on the Melancholy of Saber Lily site amongst others ^^

It's very inconvenient whenever Saber Lily goes 1/1 scale on me... You can just never have fun...

Did I tell you that I like that Adult Mikuru figma? It's very useful ^^ It was kinda fun mixing and matching Saber and Saber Alter... But I just realized that Saber Alter's face can't fit into Saber's face...

And now back to the main story... Something I've held off for a long time... You can read this post before reading the 4koma below to refresh your memory. It has been a long time since I continued this story, but I've always had this particular idea in mind for a long time XD

Saber Lion is such a glutton... Did Lily even feed her? No, scratch that... What did she eat to get so big?? So many questions! Err... Anyway, wasn't sure if anyone would like the idea of a whole ferret being eaten (I love that the vest on the ferret is removable), so I made an alternate, slightly less bad ending ^^;

I hate to brag, but I really like how I drew that swirly eye on the ferret ^^; Which End do you prefer? You can see the original picture below.

I've taken photos for the next parts already, just need to edit them, so hopefully not much delay for this storyline for next time ^^;

READ MORE - Saber Birthday Party

Belated White Day

Way way way back on Valentine's Day, 2 months ago, Saber gave me this giri choco... Ah well, it's actually a drawing of Saber giving me giri choco, an obligatory chocolate that's given to men, but not meant to be out of love ^^; Errr... Anyway, I'm sure some of you know that already, but what you didn't know is that this Saber was drawn and given to me by Yakuri 2 months ago ^_^ Hehe I was very surprised specially since she was swearing as she tried to upload this picture to send it to me, lol.

Anyway... A month later, I gave her these White Day presents ^^ Some of you may have seen it on Figure.FM last month.

This one is definitely catered for Yaku, lol. The next one I had some weird, twisted idea I want to implement.

It helped that I actually found Asahina Mikuru (Adult Version) figma that was on sale ^o^ Pardon the image that you can't unsee XD Err anyway, this 4koma was a reference to Yaku giving chocolates to Kyon (and Mugi as well) ;)

And if you enlarge the above image, you can see the birthmark on the chest :D And the blouse is actually flexible enough so it looks like the hands are revealing the ample bosom within!

And here's Kyon giving Yaku the real White Day present ;)

READ MORE - Belated White Day

Visiting the Puppy Residence

So around the beginning of January, I asked Puppy52 aka Chun if she wants to participate in an April Fool's joke. After explaining my idea and exchanges of other ideas and brainstorms, she agreed to go with it. Of course since she loves her Taiga very much, it would be difficult for me to borrow Taiga, so I asked her if it's ok if I can drop by the house to take pictures of Taiga.

THE CONCEPT: I managed to convince Chun to sell her Taiga with a truckload of money.
THE MASTERMIND: Me, of course. Vewy, vewy evil!
THE THROWAWAY JOKE: Posting Taiga for sale, the day after I make a post of me acquiring her, for an exuberant amount.
THE TRICK: Posting it on April 1st in Japan Standard Time at 8:00 AM local time in Vancouver, Canada to make it more plausible.

The original idea came about around the same time when I finish the collaboration with Wolfheinrich to make a long 4koma arc with his newly acquired Dollfies. I wanted to make a 4koma with Chun's Taiga. It expanded even further than I thought. All I wanted was to actually have Haruhi interact with Taiga Dollfie so I don't have to Photoshop anything.

Since I visited her place, I was able to take photo of her other Nendo Puchi Taiga. And Haruhi really gets stepped on by GiganTaiga.

Of course, I had to bring both Haruhi and Saber Lily figma for this to work. And thankfully Chun had a similar backdrop as the ones I usually take at home.

I've also encountered Chun's Pedobear ^^; Double trouble with Haruhi around!

Haruhi imitating the great ^^;

Of course, with my April Fool's jokes, there's some truth to it... I wonder what that truth is...

The line up and with some size comparison. I really, really like Himitsu... Maybe next year I'll acquire Himitsu on April 1st ^^

Lined up according to the size of the oppai?

I've also managed to encounter the "furry monkeys" as Chun likes to call her two cats, Ginko and Yoshi.

Unfortunately I've forgotten to take a photo of myself with Taiga with her on my arm. So I came back a week before April 1st to Chun's place and also met Kam for the first time. He showed me his stacks of (unbuilt) Gundams!

Here I am kidnapping Taiga in my new ReleaseRain doll carrier bag. I wonder why I have this bag...

And I get to be the first to see tsun-tsun Taiga Mk.II! She's sooooo cute! This was an extra. The original idea was for me to get Taiga and leaving Chun Taigaless. But schedules advanced and this Taiga was able to be finished in time before April 1st and made the joke a bit more convincing.

"What are you making my creator do for April Fool's??"

I also met bluestarbaby there and we hung out and went to dinner afterwards, leaving the furry monkeys to their devices. Ginko and Yoshi were very naughty when I was there the second time. Ginko stole a piece of cake from bluestarbaby's bag... Well it was mostly Ginko at this time. She's like the mastermind apparently. Just like me in this April Fool's joke!

Yoshi was being silly most of the time. It became very sunny that I was able to play with Yoshi with my shadow. So funny!

Well that was my visit to Puppy residence... Thank you very much Chun for accommodating and entertaining my crazy April Fool's joke! It was really fun, and hopefully everyone had fun as well ^^;;;

Oh and one more thing, as Chun holds me at gunpoint, she will never, ever, EVER sell her Taiga Dollfie, so don't even ask or try!

READ MORE - Visiting the Puppy Residence

Post #201: The Making of Post #200

Making the stop motion version of The World God Only Knows opening is no easy task, but ever since I saw the first episode, I was touched. It's such a great episode and the rest of the show were great too! So I really wanted to do something for it.

The first task was making a replica of the first picture of this post. Getting all of the figma I had wasn't really enough. I tried not to put the same character variation in this picture, but Saber was different enough to be placed twice :P There were even a few figma I haven't even opened yet and opened for the first time. A total of 23 figma were used in this picture. The figma's weren't enough though, so I used a couple of Revoltech Fraulein from Queen's Blade to fill in the empty spots.

This is the print-out I used to put the figmas and Revoltech in the right poses. I had to put the sticky notes to make sure I remember which figure goes in which position ^^;

So then the next part was deciding who would be Elsie. The first choice was a figma with a broom. So that would be Reimu or Marisa, and I have neither. I was going to get a Reimu from Mandarake, but was sold out when I got the order in. So who? Who can I use for Elsie?? And then I realized I have a Yoko Revoltech Fraulein... But why Yoko?

Well, let Yakuri's drawing show you why! And no, I didn't force her to draw this against her will....... Umm... Yeah, I did request this drawing with Elsie and Yoko to show their similarities, but really, I didn't force it on her ^^;; Ok, maybe a little... But anyway, the result looks great! Elsie looks uber cute! And Yoko got her big oppai XD Hehe and Yaku got them pointing at their skull hair accessories! Not only that, but they both have ponytails and each have pink thigh highs. Thank you very much Yaku!

Unfortunately Yoko doesn't have a broom... But she's got big guns! Umm... I mean, a big rifle. Y'know, her big rifle that she uses? Ah never mind, you see it in the picture anyway.

One of the hardest thing to do for me with stop motion would be the spinning part... Thankfully the newly bought Lightning Base I got is able to rotate Yoko in place for the camera!

Speaking of the Lightning Base, I used it as the central piece of the multiple figma picture. The original picture was similar to this, so I bought one. Plus I like blue!

As for Ayumi, Mio, Kanon and Shiori, I used these 4... Haruhi is Ayumi, Kagami is Mio, Cute is Kanon and uhh... Mio is Shiori. Yeah, well, the Mio figma doesn't have twin tails to be the actual Mio, ok? I had to use Cute because she is actually designed by Watanabe Akio, who is also the designer for The World God Only Knows.

Miku is mami'd... Mostly just because I need her hand for the 4 girls' hands. The other ones were Ritsu, waitress Mikuru and Sun Seto.

The next part was to do a rotation of the PSP... This was a challenge because I've put the original KamiNomi opening in the PSP for a reference, especially to see how the PSP rotates in the opening. So I took a few angles of the PSP and compiled it in Photoshop and hopefully I can cheat the rotation and spinning of the original PFP ^^; The end product didn't look too bad, I thought.

I've picked Kyon to replace Keima because... well, he's one of the only male figma I have. He also has similar hairstyles and at least he's wearing a uniform. Oh and this scene I added the Revoltech and figma logo as well. If you've seen the original, this part would say three-dimension and two-dimension in the street signs. I wanted to have that kind of similarities on mine. But for some reason I couldn't center the logos properly ^^;

When I redo this video, I'll replace Kyon with someone else ;)

Other backgrounds in the video includes this really nice front yard of a house in my neighbourhood. I wouldn't have noticed this house if I wasn't looking around to find backgrounds for this project.

This is a park near my house. Not all the trees have their leaves yet since it's still early March and still pretty cold outside.

This is one of my favourite anime/manga stores in Vancouver, SakuraMedia. There was that one part in the opening where a manga/book store was a background, so I asked the manager (whom I knew quite well) if I can take a picture. It's a very generic shot, but I just wanted the bookshelves, so he lets me ^^

Here are some stats for the record:

• About 24 hours of photo editing, if I did it all without stopping, distractions, sleep, work...
• About 2-3 hours of video editing... Easier than I thought.
• 247 individual frames
• The first 35 seconds were from the original opening
• The title at the end is from Windows Live Movie Maker
• Total of 29 figmas, 3 Fraulein Revoltechs, 1 Bandai Lightning Base and 1 PSP were used

And yes, I did mention that I will redo this with different variations. Hopefully an actual stop motion in the beginning instead of using the original clip and improved animation for some of them. Below are the original video and my video if you'd like to see a comparison. Thank you for reading/watching/viewing my 200th & 201st post! A special thank you to Yaku for that Elsie & Yoko art!

Oh, and I apologize for the cryptic 200th post ^^; I was posting the lyrics to the full version of the opening song. The bold text was something I felt when I was making this project.

READ MORE - Post #201: The Making of Post #200

Post #200

God Only Knows by ELISA

What I'm seeing......Is it real?

What I'm feeling......Is it real?

What I'm doing......Is it real?

There is no regrets, satisfy my curiosities

There is a new world waiting, explore my possibilities

There is no guarantee, just improve my abilities

(Go ahead with your own life - Is there any hope in your sight?)

There is a choice to make, setting the right priorities

(You will always be the one, so feel the power

And you should know the sun comes up - For you)

There is no regrets, satisfy my curiosities

There is a new world waiting, explore my possibilities

There is no guarantee, just improve my abilities

There is a choice to make, setting the right priorities

(What is the best you can do? How can you do it?)

I was sitting and thinking the other day

(What is the best you can do? How can you do it?)

If i fail, I won't throw my passion away

(What is the best you can do? How can you do it?)

Just 'cause giving up is not the only way

No matter how it's gonna be, I'll try it anyway

Love is such a sweet illusion (Let's come together)

Can't seem to stop my imagination (Goes on forever)

What a ridiculous situation (Another matter)

But I can't deny, I'm faced with a tricky temptation

In the world that keeps on changing

Don't know why my heart is aching

Gotta handle it, no more hesitation

There can be no turning back

God only knows

"My mind is as free as the wind

But now what I should do is to fall in love"

God only knows

"I don't need that kind of real things

Feels like I'm lost in the labyrinth"

God only knows

"There must be the meaning of life

Somehow unexpected happenings thrill me"

God only knows

"Just believe in myself and my dream

Anyone could be a hero and heroine"
 

God only knows

"Though it's not so easy to get through

Here I am, I'm sure that things will go my way"

God only knows

"My mind is as free as the wind

But now what I should do is to fall in love"

God only knows (Your own happiness, you can find it)

"I don't need need that kind of real things

Feels like I'm lost in the labyrinth"

God only knows (Your infinity, you can feel it)

"There must be the meaning of life

Somehow unexpected happenings thrill me"

God only knows (Opportunity, you can take it)

"Just believe in myself and my dream

Anyone could be a hero and heroine"

God only knows (Toward the future, you can make it)

"Though it's not so easy to get through

Here I am, I'm sure that things will go my way"

Art by Yakuri_Moe

(Sailing, you're sailing away

And now it's blowing, breeze will take you away)

I feel that my spirits rise

I will survive and just stay alive

Enjoy being alone, the isolation is not always so bad

Another day has gone by, every day goes by

In the sky, there'd be a bridge to a bright tomorrow

(You will find your treasure and share your pleasure

Let me tell you......)

(Just keep your vision, your dream, and your soul alive

Be as you are, I will always be right by your side)

Think about my love and my life

In an uncertain world, face to face with myself

Continue to make progress, day by day and step by step

I've got a good feeling

So I'm gonna keep on trying, life will go on......

READ MORE - Post #200

Yuri Mania 36

Gokigenyou! As some of you may have seen on Figure.FM, this picture drawn by Yakuri_Moe got lots of attention in the 100th Weekly Lily. It's got quite a story behind it actually.


Yaku approached me weeks before it was time for #100 to see if she can contribute any drawing for it. I was ecstatic, but I had no idea at the time what kind of picture I'm looking for. After a few minutes I had an image of Mugi fantasizing about Saber and Haruhi in a yuri relationship where Saber is the top.

Fast forward on the night I was going to post #100, I gave the idea that's in my head to Yaku and she quickly drew, scanned, outlined everything so fast that I wasn't even ready for it. Some days your body just can't be ready for anything... When I opened the picture... I. LAUGHED. SO. HARD! Not only did the image in my mind came to life, but it exceeded my expectation! It's almost like Yaku was reading my mind and traced the image from my head and put her own twist into it xD I just loved all the faces in the art!

So that was about 3-4 weeks ago... And now it's been 2 years since I started Yuri Mania here and Weekly Lily... I must do something special and I knew I was going to bring Yaku's art back in action. I loved it way too much... So now, not only is it the 2nd year anniversary, but it's also... the 50th Melancholy of Saber Lily!

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 50

Ah Mugi... Why are you so good at bringing my imagination to life? ^_^ As always, this 4koma has been posted on The Melancholy of Saber Lily site... The title is a bit lame, lol, but it was basically like Inception, except it's a fantasy within a fantasy within a fantasy. It's unfortunate I had to split the 3rd panel in two like that... I just ran out of panels for what I want to do XD

I wanted Mugi to look like she's relaxing while enjoying the picture by Yaku ^^ So that's why one of her legs is raised up.

And of course I gotta put in a bigger picture of the kissing scene! So hard to get the pose I want ^^; In the end, they didn't turn out so bad ;)

Here's a close-up... Also the picture I used in the dream bubble of the 4th panel. I'm so glad that Saber casual had that eyes-closed face ^^

But to be honest... Their face never touched each other ^^;;; But very close!

This was another hard photo to take. I wanted to get everyone's face to be clear in it, but the manual focus and macro option was giving me a bit of a hard time. Finally I was able to get this one before I had to finish the photo session :D

A bit of a short post, I know ^^; It's been quite a busy last few weeks/months for me. Anyway... Here's one last picture, the same 4koma as above, but with a slight change ;)

*cough*forYaku*cough*

READ MORE - Yuri Mania 36