Blog 203 > Succubi, Samurai & Sci-Fi

Hey, what’s up, my Trendy Toyboxers? Ready for something a bit different? For this week’s mega-cast, I’m gonna try to cram this truckload of uncontainable content into a crispy 3-course meal, instead of an overflowing 5-course meal. Why? Ehh, why not? Maybe I felt like bending my own rules a little? Maybe I felt like I needed a less-structured more-flexible playground? Or maybe I felt lazy, haha. In any case, we’ve got some stylishly-violent samurais to freeze your blood, a piercingly-random stash of posts and articles to numb your mind, as well as a pair of blurringly-erotic succubi to steal your soul. Hahaha. So what are you waiting for? Let’s tune into the frequency and kick off the broadcast…

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Blog 199 > Melons, Mimis & Masochists

Ah, yes, my Testy Toyboxers! Alas, another weekly mega-cast to keep the otaku-sensei aghast! Aghast, you ask? Why yes! This week is gonna be a monstrous roller-coaster ride of wicked M-shaped mayhem! M-shaped? Hahaha, you heard me. Get ready to lose your mental marbles as we dive into blonde-haired Melon-transforming babes, swim through mind-curdling Mimi-flavored rants-to-raves, dodge under eye-popping Mimi-doubling pornographic models, squirt over sado-masochistic Jem-enforced spider-webs and Jay-enhanced house-harems, and swirl down a cyber-corrupted cocktail of ninja blades, foosball ninjas, fem-fashioned kickboxers, and Lisa-strung stockings! Whew, let me catch my breath. One, two, three. Okay, enough of the maniacal mumbling. Drop what you’re messing, flip off the mediocrity, and switch on your inner madness! Because it’s time to start the show…

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Blog 197 > Taro Aso, Tsubasa & Toledo

Greetings, my Tantalizing Toyboxers! Another mega-week, another mega-post, lol. This week, our blade-blazing broadcast slashes at action-packed Japanese Prime Ministers, alluring otaku bloggers, appealing anime dramas, attractive martial-arts fighters, and amusing birthday antics! Okay, maybe just one Prime Minister, haha. Did I mention the piles and piles of eye-grabbing wallpapers? I didn’t? Well, now I did. But wait, I’m not joking about the alluring bloggers and attractive fighters. Or was it attractive bloggers and alluring fighters? LOL, doesn’t matter. Just pull up a chair and let the sword-shattering show begin…

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Blog 194 > Assassins, Serpents & Wishes

Awww, thanx, Miyabi! We haven’t seen you since Hearts and Sevens! Sadly, I know this is another fabricated message, lol. Oh well, a birthday dream is better than none at all, lol. So, my Trembling Toyboxers, what’s in store for this broadcast week? Well, this week, we take another five-lap trek, peeking at ongoing otaku-blog battles, glimpsing at galactic hunters and bountiful assassins, staring through split-tongue serpents and masochistic dragons, digesting a few tasty birthday treats, and blinking at random red-red-red-tinged observations. And maybe, just maybe, Miyabi will say “Hi!” once more. Who knows? With her gorgeous figure in mind, let’s start the show…

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Blog 193 > Momos, Muranos & Masamune

Holy damn! Halfway through March already? My birthday just days away? Wow. Probably the most concentrated, contested and colorful week so far this year! But first, before I forget, don’t forget to vote for my “Angry Momo” fanart entry at Angry Mimi’s Peachy BlogFirst Round and Final Round, lol. Vote! Do it! Do it now! Secondly, my Trendy Toyboxers, welcome to another five-course meal of humming-and-sizzling images and dozens of ruminating-and-illuminating leaps on art, anime and life. What else? This week, we dart around angry young mascots, peek backwards at scantily-clad police-girls and hot-wired cyberpunks, rewind across motorized birthday gifts, and hopscotch through a haphazard maze of random sandwiches, felines, smog tests, supermarkets, dentists, girl scouts, spanked maids, double laptops, and MP3 players! So what are you waiting for? Let’s pump up the volume and begin the show…

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Blog 182 > Year of Anime, Rock & Otaku

Ah, what a year it’s been! For my last mega-post of 2008, I tackle another mixed bag of “Rock Band” sessions, a year’s truckload of anime speed-reviews and faves, and a sparkly sprinkle of otaku thanks and wishes. So happy holidays and all the rest. Now on with the show…

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Blog 178 > Blog Antics & Anime Battles

Holy crap! I’ve got so much crap to talk about that I may not fit in any anime crap, lol. But I’ll try. From old layouts to new readers, from post updates to blog widgets, from shiny iMacs to blazing Zazzles, and maybe some random tunes too. But what else? Anime mascots? Seems like every anime blog is caving in with their own new mascot~ not only Mimi, but Koshiko, Dancing Queen and the latest Meimi132 too~ inspired by DC no doubt, lol. Fortunately, I haven’t succumbed to peer pressure… yet, lol. But we’ll see.

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Blog 177 > Mimi’s Zazzle & iMac’s Dazzle

Oooh, a new post… Ahhh, the lazy rainy-to-sunny holidays… Awww, thanx again Mimi-chan for your gracious mention of our Zazzle T-shirts. Like I commented on your post, 50% of the proceeds will be donated to your college fund~ because MIT is freakin’ expensive! Moreover, thanx to Lindsay@Zazzle for modelling our virtual T-shirt image~ doesn’t she make the shirt look smexy?

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Blog 175 > Daughter of Punk Trooper

Yup, Angsty Momo. If you’ve visited Mimi’s blog last week, you’ll recognize her pink-haired teen mascot, lol. In a nutshell, her name is Momo. An angsty 17-year-old only-child with some curious tastes. And an interstellar genius in the year 2409 EYE (Earth Year Equivalent), lol. Here are the 750×750 square and 1680×1050 wallpaper versions. ^_^

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Blog 154 > Starting From Scratch

Yeah! After Puppy-Chun’s blog post triggered my long-time Amazon wish, I finally received my silver “Wacom Bamboo Fun” tablet on Thursday (21 Aug 2008), lol. Then with the artsy addition of Orange-Mimi’s blog post, I started playing around with the tablet on Friday. Unfortunately, my digital efforts were so pathetic, they weren’t even worth saving. T_T;

Hence, after years of using my trackball mouse, I finally came to the realization that *before* I could pursue experiments on the tablet, I needed to re-acquire at least *some* of my lost pencilling skills. So what did I do? I started from scratch. Doodling. Sketching. Practicing. With pen on paper. With a bit more focus than I’ve had in years. Not much, but a bit more. As u can see (at the bottom), I’ve got a long way to go…

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Blog 151 > Christine the Blade – Part 3

Well, yesterday (Saturday), spent a few hours experimenting with a new “Blade” design; integrated (1) previously drawn art, (2) recently downloaded Photoshop brushes, and (3) new geometric elements. And I’m definitely pleased with the results! But pleasing Melanie and Christine is an entirely different matter, lol.

On a more puzzling note…

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Blog 147 > Christine the Blade – Part 2

Hey, this time, she’s finally finished! Remember my *Blade* black-white art almost a month ago? Well, here’s the color version! Like I’ve mentioned many times, *Blade* is based on the Muay Thai (kickboxing) fighter Christine Toledo, commissioned by Alias Fight Wear, and obviously drawn in an anime style, lol.

But a couple weeks ago in July, I met Christine for the first time and saw my first Christine fight! So here’s my photo story, lol. ^_^;

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Blog 143 > Christine the Blade – Part 1

Yes, she’s finally done! Following *Akiko* in my *Girls with Attitude* series (lol) is *Blade* (black/white version), based on the Muay Thai (kickboxing) fighter Christine Toledo, and commissioned by Alias Fight Wear. Can’t wait to see how the T-shirts look, lol. ^_^

P.S. Coming soon is *Blade* the COLOR version! And after that, *Bleach* for Jennie L and *Violet* for Miko. That is, unless something else pops up to disrupt the order? =.=;

Blog 142 > My Ancient Anime Art

Has it been a week already? Well, a few days ago, I told *Chun* the following: “I always plan to scan or take photos of my ancient anime line-art from the 1990s (when I still believed in pencil-and-paper, lol), but something always seems to pop up and get in the way…” So finally, after some shooting and digging, here they are! ^_^;

1> The first 5 photos were taken a few days ago: Orange Arria in Colored Paper. Completed March 1990, it took about 20-30 hours total. Wow, except for some fading in her blue armor, the design still holds up 18 years later! One of my proudest works, hehe. I just threw in the “Pocky” box to give a better idea of the 20×30-inch scale.

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Blog 133 > Mirai’s Rival Akiko – Final

Yup, Mirai’s Rival *Akiko* is finally complete! Well, sorta, 1 of 4 is complete, lol… Compared to my previous *Akiko* post, I’ve added shading/lighting to the eyes, hair, arm, gun and body. Vector is so much more efficient and effective than conventional bitmap, especially at 1680 or 2400 pixels. Keep in mind, she’s only 1 of 4 pieces in an overall *Akiko* layout, hence the 25-percent (25-day) per piece estimate. But I’ll manage, lol. And as always, thanx to Danny for the inspiration and creation of the Mirai Universe. ^_^

BONUS – For an added bonus, here’s my *Akiko* fanfic below… Coincidentally, I too was a high school salutatorian (class rank #2 of 500+) with a crush on the tall pretty blonde athlete (rank #3)… EDIT – Added link above to 1680 x 1050 textless wallpaper.

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Blog 131 > Mirai’s Tsundere Rival!

Got tsundere? Impressed by *Demi-Alucard*s and *ETERNAL*s brilliant suggestion last month to create a *dark-side tsundere rival* for Mirai, I decided to take yet another (my 3rd) fanart risk. (No guts, no glory, eh?)

Although she’s still a rough 14% (14-day) draft, I finally present Mirai Suenaga’s tsundere rival — Akiko *Lucky* Yoshikawa — Class Rank #2 after Mirai’s Rank #1 at the Sorunian TimeSpy Academy. Her slick blue-haired look is based on my Facebook friend Jennie in May 2008, lol. Not bad for my very-first vector-art anime piece, huh? I hope to finish Akiko and her gun’s shading/lighting in the next few weeks. ^_^; Till next update!

P.S. Heartfelt thoughts and wishes to the victims of the Akihabara tragedy. Thanx for the coverage, Danny.

P.P.S. When you click the pic, don’t forget to check out my little sketch-script at the bottom. ^_^

Blog 113 > Shadows of Time, Final Day

WOW, I’m finally finished! After 38 random days over the last 5 months — maybe about 77 total hours — I finally completed my “Shadows of Time” art piece featuring my interpretation of the shadowy Shiro Otoko (Man in White) and Mirai Suenaga in her Meisai Gear battle suit!… Haha, I let Megan take a peek before my post, and she thought it was “absolutely gorgeous”. She’s a graphic designer, but she still can’t believe I did it all in Photoshop (Version 7.0). Yup, just PS7, my laptop, and my thumb-side trackball mouse. But most of all, thanx to Danny for the inspiration, and especially your infinite patience, lol. And now, here was my progress during these last 5 months…

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