Nov 4 | Lisa Before the Alkaline Trio Concert | Click to enlarge

Yup, another dose of chaotic anime, scorching figures, and random personal events shot-from-the-hip, lol. Since my roommate might be moving out next month, mid-December, due to her financial crunch, here’s our first pic-of-the-post in honor of Lisa. More details below. Maybe. Enjoy the ride!

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Photo 3539 by xJAYMANx | Click to enlarge

Hehe, yup, more “girls with guns”!… Less than a couple weeks after my mesmerizing Fumie From Edelweiss photoshoot, I bring my latest figure photoshoot of 1/8-scale “Space Pirate Blue” from Masamune Shirow‘s Intron Depot 4 – Bullets (2004) color-illustration artbook. Pre-ordered back in June 2007 (Blog 086) and received in November 2007, I finally decided to do her photoshoot. Quite a drastic punk-edged change from the wind-blown Fumie. Bright-blue hair, slick-black leather and yup, lots of skin, lol.

Like before, for this Canon DSLR photoshoot, I used my (a) ceiling light, (b) two halogen desk lamps, plus (c) my camera flash, to collect about 150 shots in about 120 minutes. Finally, I painstakingly narrowed the 150 shots down to 111 shots (hard to choose!). To compensate for the too-warm yellowish tinge of the lamps in such a blue environment, I used Photoshop to apply a simple Cooling Photo Filter (82) at 25% density (in addition to my standard resizing and watermarking). A simple yet vivid adjustment, hehe.

That’s about it! Enjoy the shoot! Don’t forget to tell me your faves and I’ll make the 10-20 best into wallpapers, lol.

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

Link to DannyChoo.com > Member News >>
My Anime Photoshoots >>
My Anime Wallpapers >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (111) >>

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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.

Link to DannyChoo.com > Member News >>
My Anime Photoshoots >>
My Anime Wallpapers >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (90) >>

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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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Your Rarest Figure | Click to enlarge

Which is your rarest figure? We’ve seen the newest favorites, and the biggest wastes, but the rarest?

For me, I’d have to say my 1/8-scale-resin figure “Arima & Yukino” (from the classic-anime love-story “Kare Kano” or “His & Her Circumstances”), released by the now-defunct Tsukuda Hobby back in the late ’90s. If I hadn’t seen the anime, I would never have found it. But in January 2007, through sheer luck in the Amazon Marketplace, I stumbled upon it (original box included), and after several months of waiting for the perfect time, I finally used 3 Amazon gift certificates to afford it! Luckily, nobody else was looking for it, lol.

Here’s the March 2007 photoshoot.

P.S. Just for my own reference: Blog 044 and Blog 093.

Operation Rebox – Completed | Click to enlarge

Mission accomplished! You didn’t think I’d make it, did ya? ^_^;

Back on June 22nd, I launched Operation Rebox. And now, less than 2 weeks later, the operation is complete (sorta, since I don’t really wanna take apart Darth Vader or Storm Trooper). If you threw your two cents of reluctant encouragement, thanx, lol. So to commemorate the event, here’s a nice sampling of the cleaned and *reboxed* figures… Photo Set 1 and Photo Set 2.

P.S. By the way, thanx *Chun* for our debate on commissioned art, thanx *Kris* for our discussion on anime blogging, as well as *Gordon* and *Meronpan* for your random blue-haired replies, lol. I’ve added u guys to my blog list. (If I missed someone, yell back!) Without doubt, the interactivity of the anime blogging community is another reflection of Danny’s tireless efforts. Speaking of tired… Orz

P.P.S. Ahh, what the hell~ *Team Blue* did it, so why not? Self Portrait 1 and Self Portrait 2.

P.P.P.S. Here’s the link to my DC Member News post, hehe.

Operation Rebox | Click to enlarge

Ah, my sad but necessary “Operation Rebox”…

Whoa, while I can’t beat the number of boxes in the earlier “Room O Boxes” post, I’m grateful too! Especially if I have to “rebox” all of my opened figures before my eventual house-move in the next few months. So, as a loose follow-up to the Triple Monitor post, here’s my 12-step “Operation Rebox“. Wish me luck! T_T;

P.S. Here’s the link to my DC Member News post, hehe.

Blue-Haired Babes | Click to enlarge

Thanx *nomadicotaku* for the idea… Got a fave blue-haired babe? (Bad captions not included, lol.)

Here are pretty much all of the blues in my collection. Seems like anime has the monopoly on blue hair, lol… Though I’m not including Kaname (from FMP) since her hair is kinda aqua-turquoise green, or Hazuki (from Moon Phase) since her hair is kinda violet-purplish. I think? ^_^;

Triple Monitor Goodness | Click to enlarge

Yeah, why not? A photo of my *anime*-style workspace at home. Very little attempt to clean up. Just 48 of my 79-figure collection, plus lots of goodies (and bills, argh).

My setup: (1) Left. 15-inch laptop. About 2.5 years old. My main machine, hooked up to center monitor. Working on Akiko. (2) Center. 20-inch monitor. To watch anime, movies, and check Photoshop graphics. Akiko on top of Purple Mirai. (3) Right. 17-inch desktop. About 4.5 years old. For BitTorrent and Pandora to free up laptop resources. Shiro Otoko & Mirai.

P.S. Planning to buy a 24-inch iMac and 50-inch plasma after I sell my house. ^_^;

P.P.S. Wow, lots of international comments too, hahaha. ^_^;

Asuka with Motorcycle 2 | Image from E2046

Damn, over two months since my last anime post! Sorry about that, lol. Crap happens. Nevertheless, better late than never, eh? ^_^

Well, back on Feb 28th, when I received the E2046 Newsletter #110 “Asuka with Motorcycle 2″ in my email, I was totally blown away!!! A breathtaking 1/6-scale depiction of the fiesty Asuka from the classic anime “Evangelion”, boasting her sexy leather outfit, straddling her heavily detailed bike, and grasping a tall can of who-knows-what in her left hand, haha. In both a red version and a black version! Simply amazing! Obviously not PVC material, but is she still worth the $280.00 USD price tag? Wow, if I could only add her to my collection…

Hmmm, I think I like Asuka more in her signature red, but then again, she looks good in black too! If you could, which would you choose? ^_^

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.

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>
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!

Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (59) >>

Photo 2354 by xJAYMANx | Click to enlarge

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