Well, folks, after only a month, I’ve decided to end my “xJAYMANx_weblox” blog (at Blogger.com). My experiments over the past week helped me decide to stick with just two blogs: (1) my heavily-customized (and soon website-integrated) “xJAYMANx_toybox” for public posts on anime, web design, other hobby-related activities, as well as life in general, and (2) my long-time “xJAYMANx” LJ for duplicated “toybox” posts, plus more friends-only posts. That’s about it! Blogger lived out its experimental purpose. Maybe something else will come along, but for now, these two primary blogs should serve me well.
Blog 048 > Toybox 2.0
Guess what? Remember my last post? Well, I did it, I applied the new table-less template design to my “Toybox” anime/remix blog. It was a b*tch to use optical illusions to “fix” the columns and backgrounds, but looks pretty sweet. Here’s the new “Toybox” look. (Like before, looks best in Firefox or IE7.)
Next steps: (1) Add blog name/image to (randomizing?) header. Fix fonts. (2) Finish up “xJAYMANx” website. Convert HTML to PHP. (3) Figure out how I want to organize my old content. Transfer the content.
Blog 047 > Faster & More Flexible
Faster & More Flexible [Wednesday, April 4, 2007] Cool! You know how I was going to PHP-reconstruct my website with the SAME design? Well, maybe NOT the same, lol. Last night, I started tinkering with a new template: 1000px wide, triple column, WITHOUT tables! Yup, no rigid table tags, but faster more-flexible CSS (stylesheet) “div” tags instead. Here’s the new test page. (Looks best in Firefox or IE7.)
Blog 046 > Backwards & Forwards
Backwards & Forwards [Saturday, March 31, 2007] Guess what? For the first time in years, I’ve thrown a bunch of 80s-90s CDs (Alice In Chains, Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes, Billy Idol’s Cyberpunk, Def Leppard, Erasure, Garbage, Guns N Roses, Heart) into my ancient SONY 100-CD changer, and pumped up the volume on my stereo. Is it nostalgia for my rosier college days? A return to my 20s? Haha, who knows, but I just felt like it, lol. :)))
Blog 045 > Sexy Cyberpunks!
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.
Blog 044 > Fateful Circumstances!
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 ^_^
Blog 043 > More Twins Please!
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?
Blog 042 > Evangelion Lolitas!
Ah, finally, an Evangelion gothic-lolita figure photoshoot! Here, we welcome 1/6-scale “Gothloli Rei” and 1/7-scale “Gothloli Asuka” from the psychological post-apocalyptic classic Neon Genesis Evangelion. While the blue-haired Rei Ayanami was sculpted by Suzu (Atomic-bom) and manufactured by Amie-Grand with a polystone-resin price-tag of $110-120 USD, the red-haired Asuka Langley was sculpted by Naoki Nishimura and manufactured by Kotobukiya with a PVC price-tag of $30-40 USD.
Note that resin is harder heavier less-deformable and more-detailable, but also less-flexible more-brittle and more-expensive than PVC. Luckily, you can’t tell that both of Rei’s index fingers were superglued back on, lol. So for this two-hour photoshoot, I saved about 65 shots, then narrowed it down to the 50 shots you see here. Enjoy!
Blog 041 > Oh Mai HiME!
Finally, a new anime figure photoshoot after over a month! This time, we welcome the return of my 1/6-scale “Mai” and newcomer 1/7-scale “Natsuki” from the action-drama series Mai HiME (Highly-advanced Materializing Equipment)…
Blog 040 > Think Inside the Box!
Photo 01 by xJAYMANx | Click to enlarge
WOW! Been almost a month!… Well, got three new figures over the past few days (Photo 02). So I decided to take a few photos of the 10 figures I haven’t opened yet… Photo 01: Gothloli Rei and Gothloli Asuka from Evangelion… Photo 02: Natsuki from Mai-Hime, Motoko from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and Bunny Girl Haruhi from Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya … Photo 03: Chii from Chobits, and Gothloli Kanu and Gothloli Ryomou from Ikki Tousen… and lastly, Photo 04: Gothloli Ryomou from Ikki Tousen (once again), Battle Damaged Ryofu from Ikki Tousen, and Ritsuko from Kujibiki Unbalance… Gotta find time to do a new photoshoot! See ya soon!
Blog 039 > Gateway to Chaos! Part 4 of 4
Blog 038 > Gateway to Chaos! Part 3 of 4
Blog 037 > Gateway to Chaos! Part 2 of 4
Blog 036 > Gateway to Chaos! Part 1 of 4
Remember when I first received her back on November 30th? Well, I finally took my photoshoot on Jan 7th and 8th! And they keep getting bigger and bigger! Even larger than my previous “Cosplaying Genshiken” or “Bloody Hell” sets, here’s my largest photoshoot thus far, taken of 1/7-scale “Igunis” from the Chaos Gate Jingai Makyo hentai/erotic videogame. With just over 150 shots, I surprisingly managed to narrow it down to the best 100 shots (hopefully, my maximum limit from now on, lol), which also keeps it down to four posts (of 25 shots each). So enjoy the photos!
Blog 035 > Sailor Eclipse!
I guess I finally “caved”, lol… In the course of about 6 months, three different people have mentioned the classic Sailor Moon anime. But I hadn’t really seen much of it, just a few episodes years and years ago, probably before moving to Vegas in ’98! But thanx to “cov3rgirl” (Annie) first, “neue_welle” next, and finally “night_huntress” (Emily), I finally decided to download the first Sailor Moon series (46 episodes!)… In fact, I did some Wikipedia research, and there are a freakin’ 200 total episodes in all, from Sailor Moon to Sailor Moon R, Sailor Moon S, Sailor Moon SuperS, and then Sailor Moon Sailor Stars!!! Damn, impossible to watch all of that, hahaha!… It’ll take a full couple weeks to download just the original season, but at least I’ll watch that one. Haha, I can’t really turn down a chance to watch some classic anime… And I can’t really turn down three pretty girls, can I?
Otakurl it! >
My Anime Viewing List >
My Sailor Moon Anime Store >
Blog 034 > Bloody Hell! Part 4 of 4
Blog 033 > Rose-Colored Consequences!
Rozen Maiden | Image from Google Search
My speed review: “WOW! Still a miniature yet captivating package!”
Ah, my first anime review of 2007!… Late last night, finished the 12-episode Rozen Maiden – Traumend, continuing from where the first season left off… Once again, it introduces the junior high school boy Jun-kun, and his come-to-life mystical dolls, the red-adorned Shinku, pink-bowed Hina Ichigo, and twin red-and-green-eyed sisters Suiseiseki and Souseiseki… While the episodes are smilingly sprinkled with new and endearing slice-of-home-life slapstick antics, the deeper drama is taken to a new level when a new doll appears, a defeated nemesis returns, and the “Alice Game” pursuit-of-perfection begins… with both tragic and hopeful consequences… Once again, this title deserves my maximum “half season” rating… 4 of 5 stars!
Blog 032 > Hmmm, Under Where?
Kaze from Chaos Gate Jingai Makyo | Image from Hobby Search
Whoa, hahaha!… Since this 1/10-scale “Kaze” figure (coming in April 2007) is too small (maybe 6 inches tall) for my usual 1/8-scale minimum, she’s not a likely candidate for my “Wish List”… Actually, her full name is Kaze no Ushiro wo Ayumumono (The Thing That Walks Behind the Wind)… But I thought her playfully ecchi/erotic style deserved some mention… After all, like my 1/7-scale “Ignis” figure, she’s from the same hentai/erotic videogame Chaos Gate Jingai Makyo… So we shouldn’t be surprised by her pose, right?
