Fumie From Edelweiss | Click to enlarge

Wow, too much time has blown like the wind!… First, even though this is my 23rd anime-figure photoshoot, it’s my first indoor photoshoot in TEN MONTHS since November 2007! Second, my 85th figure has taken FOURTEEN MONTHS to finally arrive since my July 2007 pre-order! But all the delays and waiting has finally paid off. After falling in love with “her long raven-black hair, white windblown dress, and old-style pistol and shotgun” in July 2007 (Blog 099), my latest photoshoot of 1/7-scale “Fumie” from the Edelweiss eroge (Japanese erotic videogame) is now one of my most-favorite photoshoots ever, lol. Moreso than I felt back then, “There’s just something gothic yet classical, stoic yet carefree, angelic and demonic, about her!”

For this Canon DSLR photoshoot, I used my (a) ceiling light, (b) two halogen desk lamps, plus (c) my camera flash, to collect about 200 shots in about 120 minutes. Which are typical numbers for me. Finally, I narrowed the near-200 shots down to 90 shots. The best part is, except for resizing and watermarking, absolutely NO Photoshop enhancements were applied to the photos at all. Nice, that’s how it should be. I hope you enjoy the shoot!

Warning > I recommend Firefox 2/3 since IE 6/7 tends to break under the photo pressure, argh.

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Danny Clone & Barbie | Click to enlarge

The Adventures of Danny Clone

• Warning: Massive 58-photo segment following the show.

• Danny Clone: Hey Jay, are u sure about this?
• xJAYMANx: Sure, let’s push the envelope a little bit, hehe.
• DC: Okay, if you’re sure.
• xJ: Yeah, let’s do it. Go ahead whenever you’re ready…

• [Audience applause.]
• DC: Okay!… Welcome ladies and gents to “The Adventures of Danny Clone”. I’m your host Danny Clone, a third-rate copy of the extraordinarily unique and original Danny Choo!
• [Audience applause.]
• DC: But first, a quick plug for Good Smile Company! And the beta launch of the English Good Smile website at eng.goodsmile.info! Where they go the extra mile for your good smile!
• [Audience applause.]
• DC: And your good cash… Just kidding, just kidding!
• [Audience laughter.]
• DC: Today, our guest is the beautiful Barbie from Las Vegas.
• [Audience applause.]
• Barbie: Thank you, DC. Would it be okay to call u DC?
• DC: Why not? I’ve been called worse things!
• [Audience laughter.]

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Photo 2438b-2478 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 65

Finally! Full photoshoot is finally ready! As I teased in my previous Blog 118 > The Joy of Sepia, this month we welcome my latest “Death Girls” — 1/6-scale “Morte from Noir et Blanc” (Toranoana, June-July 2007) obtained in August 2007, and 1/6-scale “Misa from Death Note” (Jun Planning, June 2007) obtained in September 2007.

For this Canon photoshoot, I ended up with 65 shots, taken with the backdrop of a Japanese cemetery. And for the first time, I experimented with sepia! May not sound like much, but as my brother observed, anime and sepia aren’t usually associated with each other, right? In any case, I really like the Gothic atmosphere created with a simple change in color and contrast. I hope you do too. Enjoy the rest!

Warning > I recommend Firefox or Safari since IE 6/7 tends to break under the photo pressure, argh.

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Click for Full Photoshoot (65) >>

Photo 2422 by xJAYMANx | Misa from Death Note | Click to enlarge

Sepia! When I saw my friend Lena‘s “Mad Elephants” sepia photos in her LiveJournal, I had to do it too, lol. So I tried it with my “Death Girls” photoshoot taken earlier this month — my 1/6-scale “Morte from Noir et Blanc” (Toranoana, June-July 2007) obtained in August 2007, and 1/6-scale “Misa from Death Note” (Jun Planning, June 2007) obtained in September 2007. Hmmmm, I think their gothic outfits match the sepia style quite nicely! Their full photoshoot coming soon!

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Photos 2354-2420 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 59

Triple damn!!! More than 2 1/2 months since my Vader Versus Haruhi photoshoot in mid-August! Tied up with work, anime, my brother’s wedding in September, and the completion of my latest Mirai masterpiece in October. But finally, we welcome my 1/6-scale “Saber in White Swimsuit” (Clayz, June 2006) obtained in August 2007, 1/6-scale “Bunny Girl Yuki Nagato” (Atelier Sai, April 2007) obtained in May 2007, and 1/7-scale “Storm Trooper” (Kotobukiya, November 2003) obtained in July 2007.

For this Canon photoshoot, I ended up with 59 shots, taken with various backgrounds. And for the first time, I experimented with the “Auto Levels” function in Photoshop. Wow, it automatically adjusted the color and contrast pretty well!… But what’s the funniest of all is that this looks like a trooper-armored Danny Choo kidnapping Saber and Nagato! Just like he “kidnapped” the easy-on-the-eyes Aya Hirano, hahaha! Enjoy!

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Click for Full Photoshoot (59) >>

Photo 2354 by xJAYMANx | Click to enlarge

Coming soon! My full photoshoot of Swimsuit Saber and Storm Trooper!

Photos 001-028 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 28

Double damn, it’s been 7 busy weeks since my Ghost in the Shell photoshoot. Busy with work, friends, and my Mirai project, lol. But finally, this month, we welcome my 1/7-scale “Darth Vader” (Kotobukiya, July 2005) and 1/6-scale “Bunny Girl Haruhi” (Atelier Sai, December 2006) figures!

For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 38 shots, then narrowed it down to these 28 shots. I must admit, with the huge 13-inch ultra-black figure, the lighting and lack of screen background made the raw shots horrible. Hence the delay in salvaging the shots via Photoshop. Luckily, the final results aren’t half bad. Enjoy!

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Photos 001-092 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 92

Konnichiwa! For this massive 92-shot photoshoot, we step away from our Gothic Lolita Girls, and welcome the 1/7-scale “Purple Motoko” and approx-1/10-scale “Blue Tachikoma” figures released earlier this year!

Sculpted by Tuyoshi Takahashi, manufactured by a Vice & Alter collaboration, and released in January-February 2007, this faithful 1/7-scale PVC rendition of Motoko — from the long-running cyberpunk epic series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex — portrays her standing coolly and calmly in her gray combat suit with a black pistol hanging loosely from her gloved hand. Just as the Major should be, lol… Meanwhile, manufactured by Art Storm, and released in May 2007, this excellent approx-1/10-scale Soft Vinyl version of the blue Tachikoma — also from the same Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series — depicts the bubbly Artificially Intelligent spider-like mini-tank in a joint-poseable bright blue armor. Just as slick as its animated counterpart!

For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 117 shots, then narrowed it down to these 92 shots. While I used Photoshop to clean up an annoying dust particle which reappeared in Motoko’s hair for many of the shots, no color or lighting adjustments were made. Now, without further delay, enjoy the photoshoot!

P.S. Internet Explorer has now officially pissed me off. If Firefox can handle 90-100 images (4-10 MB total) per page without breaking, then why can’t IE? For instance, (1) both IE6 and IE7 erratically interprets pure black (#000000) in these images as transparent pixels, which results in white dots popping up through these holes (even if I change the [img] background color to black!), and (2) when using [div] tags, IE also fails to display the [div] content as the total number of images approaches 100. Ridiculous. So from this point onward, I can no longer promise my support of IE. Sorry.

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Photo 051 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 60

A-ha! Finally! Sorry about the last two teasers, but no more! After more than a month since my last photoshoot, here’s the full photoshoot of my 1/8-scale “Gothloli Shana” and 1/7-scale “Himekuri Girl” figures!

Manufactured by Toys Works, this flaming-haired blazing-eyed gothic-lolita PVC version of Shana — from the anime Shakugan no Shana (4 of 5 stars) — features her smiling in a white short-sleeved top with a black skirt and stockings. She bends forward with her orange-wrapped sword behind her, and her trusty companion Alastor hanging as a pendant from her neck. Fiery yet proper, haha!… Meanwhile, designed by Yoshizaki Mine — of Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunso) fame — for the cover of the Japanese magazine Comic Himekuri, sculpted by Tomohide Enoki, and manufactured by Kaiyodo, this purple-and-black gothic-lolita PVC version of this cute cover girl portrays her kneeling in a skimpier top, a more-colorful and elaborate hair adornment, and a longer more-flowing skirt. On top of that, while not apparent in the photos, the intriguing paint scheme is embedded with tiny dust-sized sparkles, like a glistening sheen of rainbow mist. Wow, glad I got her!

For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 73 shots, then narrowed it down to these 60 shots. (For 10 of the 60, I Photoshop-enhanced the poor lighting by duplicating the image layer and applying a “Screen” blend at 50% opacity). Now, without further ado, enjoy the photoshoot!

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Photo 027 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 35

Finally, a new figure photoshoot! Nearly a month since my last photoshoot! This time, I’m presenting my 1/7-scale gothic-lolita “Ryomou” (standing) delivered back on January 1st, 2007, and my 1/7-scale gothic-lolita “Kanu” (kneeling) delivered back on December 5th, 2006. Both characters appear in the sexy martial-arts anime series Ikki Tousen (4 of 5 stars, my maximum for half-season!).

While the 9-inch-standing Ryomou was sculpted by Hiroman, and the 4.5-inch-kneeling Kanu by Satoshi Ishiyama, both PVC figures were manufactured by Orchid Seed in the frilly black-and-white “Gothic Lolita” style. (Additional recolored versions are available in the pink or striped “Alice Lolita” style.) As an added bonus, Kanu’s white top is detachable to reveal her fullness. I haven’t detached it yet, lol. For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 50 shots, then narrowed it down to these 35 shots. Enjoy!

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Photo 011 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 28

Damn! Almost a full month since my last photoshoot! But I’m back with the green-haired 1/8-scale “Solty Revant” and golden-haired 1/8-scale “Rose Anderson” from the colorful retro-sci-fi anime series Solty Rei (5 of 5 stars!). Both sculpted by Kouichi Katsushima (Mine) and manufactured by Organic, Solty kneels to a modest 5-inch height, while Rose smiles at a playful 7-inch height. As an added bonus, Solty’s red top is removable to reveal her black skin-tight undershirt, while both Rose’s pistol and skirt are removable to fully reveal her white cotton panties.

As of this post, Rose is still readily available, while Solty is a bit more difficult to find outside of eBay. In this Canon photoshoot, I saved 31 shots, then narrowed it down to these 25 shots. On April 22nd, decided to take 5 more, narrowed it down to 3 more shots.

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Photo 035 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 35

Okay, enough with the high-school childishness, lol. Bring on the full-figured women of cyberpunk sci-fi! For this post, I introduce one of my newest and rarest pieces, the raven-haired 1/6-scale “Motoko Kusanagi Hard Disk” (in resin) based on the original 1991 sci-fi manga Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow. Sculpted by Yoshimasa Nakao and released by ALPHA, Motoko stretches to a towering 13-inches tall.

In addition, I welcome the return of one of my earliest pieces in May 2006, the lavender-haired 1/8-scale “Galhound” (in PVC) from the 2002 poster series Galgrease, also by Masamune Shirow. Released by Yamato, Galhound stands about 7 inches tall. One background note: While Galhound wasn’t the first figure I acquired, she was the first figure that caught my eye before I ever thought of starting a collection. You could even say she planted the idea in my head!

As of this post, both figures are pretty rare on eBay or otherwise. Furthermore, it’s interesting to note Masamune’s fascination with black, silver, and purple color schemes. Not that I mind. LOL!… In this Canon photoshoot, I saved 45 shots, then narrowed it down to 35 shots.

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Click for all 35 >>

Photo 003 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 47

Ah, springtime! Quite fitting for another sunny light-hearted photoshoot! This time, from another top-favorite romantic-comedy series, and one of the most-beloved love stories in anime history, Kare Kano (or His & Her Circumstances; here’s my review), we introduce the unforgettable boy-and-girl 1/8-scale “Arima & Yukino” (in resin), released by the now-defunct Tsukuda Hobby back in the late ’90s.

In January 2007, by sheer luck in the Amazon Marketplace, I stumbled upon this rare figure! After several months of waiting for the right time, I finally used three Amazon gift certificates to reduce the price enough to get it! Clearly, the rarest piece of my collection!

Also, we welcome back, from Fate Stay Night and Fate Hollow Ataraxia, the blonde-haired 1/8-scale “Saber in Brown Dress” (in PVC), released by Alter. She’s the first-ever figure to arrive at my doorstep last year in May 2006! In fact, after checking all of my favorite figure sites plus eBay, she’s pretty rare herself, LOL!

For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 50 shots, then narrowed it down to 47 shots, 4 of which I used Photoshop to increase the lighting by 10 and contrast by 10. I tried to create some interaction between the blonde Saber and the black-haired Arima, along the lines of a random attraction. Did it work? Hehehe ^_^

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Click for all 47 >>

Photo 030 by xJAYMANx | Click for all 40

From one of my favorite romantic-comedy series Please Twins!, comes the unforgettable 1/8-scale “Karen” and “Miina”, released in January 2006. Both the green-haired Karen and red-haired Miina were sculpted by Zero-Clamzi Craft and manufactured by Yamato with an affordable PVC price-tag of $25-30 USD.

For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 60 shots, then narrowed it down to 40 shots. Finally, some of you may notice that the background is an actual shot of Lake Kizaki, the beautiful setting for the anime series. Nice, huh?

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Click for all 40 >>