Thursday, December 25, 2008

Towards the North。

White Illumination

Did you know? On rare winter nights, it is said that special snow falls on cloudless nights. This is known as the diamond dust. If two people come together on the night of the diamond dust, it is said that their lives will be forever blessed.


Every year Sapporo holds an event at Odori Park called the White Illumination. This is where all the trees lining the walkway are lit with lights for the first time during the Winter.

One of my favorite games of all time is 北へ。It was one of the first Dreamcast titles available. I remember spending close to 300$ on an Import Dreamcast just to play this even though the launch of the North American console was very close. Over the lifespan of the system I think I ended up with five or six consoles in all. And that is how I started spending lots of money on my silly hobbies ;)
Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A few Touhou CDs arrived today

Ordered some items from Palette web and I picked up a couple music CDs also. The green CD at the top right is a bit older, but it is one of my favorites. I also like the Iosys wine CD and believe it or not the 100¥ ones are good too.

The LimeGreen audio CD in the DVD box on the left only has 5 audio tracks and costs more than the regular ones. Maybe because it is sold at event only? Anyway, it is decent but not too good. You can listen to some here. Having a DVD case with Flanders on it is pretty sexy though, maybe I will put something else inside? :love:

Monday, December 22, 2008

Dreamtech not so dreamy?

Kohsaka Tamaki Black maid version

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking Wave's figure quality is all over the place. Anything made of soft rubber seems to get the dreamtech stamp. But rest assured, our wonderful Kohsaka Tamaki is 100% pure dream.





What makes this figure so special you ask? For starters, most dreamtech figures are made with a soft plastic/rubber. It is ply-able and feels nice to the touch. In fact this figure has more than one kind of material built into it; I'll expand on that in a minute. Secondly, the paint is high quality. The legs and shoes have had a nice pearly gloss added to them. The hair might have been cast in red material, I'm not positive though.


As I said this figure was made of many kinds of materials this is what I mean.
Wave puts it, "Feels so good! Soft material!"
Literally. Her chest is made of special soft rubber. NOT that I would know, of course!




I forget what you call this style undergarments? You can see support detail added on the zettai ryouiki.

One thing you may have noticed is that this figure is quite large. It is marked at 1/6th scale, but it might be a bit bigger. Kinda doesn't match with the Kotobukiya kits, but it kinda does. This is the only draw back as placing her next to other figures makes her look too big.

Now for a little maid fan service from Konomi.

The black maid version of Tamaki is actually a limited edition. Cost me a crazy premium trying to find it but I know of a few places you can order it reasonably now if you are looking for one.

Final thoughts:
Yes, this figure is well worth the high retail price. If you are looking for a To Heart figure to buy (that is relatively display safe) this is the one you want. Pink is readily available at most shops and true to the game series. The black will cost you a tad bit more.
official Wave website



Thursday, December 18, 2008

My Heart case?! Display case update


A month or two ago I posted about how great a value the IKEA detolf case was and purchased one to build. Well, I have not really had time to find the lighting system I had visioned, so I have been filling it with toys!








Someone told me before that I have a lot of To Heart 2 figures... Well, it's true. There are still more in a box :x
I have lots of Love Hina stuff too... Are people new to anime still discovering Love Hina?

Update, password for album is: toheart2
Be sure to click either of the pictures or here to see the whole album!

I think what I'll do about the lighting is just add 3 more lights and just flood the whole case! A good tip is to put the lights towards the front of the case. If the lights are in the back it will cast shadows on their heads and look dark in the front.

Oh, and in case I'm not back this week, Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Have you heard of Nicomimi?


Most people know what nico douga is, but do you know what nicomimi is?

Nicomimi is a place for people to share music. Most of the nico douga video songs can be found here in MP3 format.

You can search by entering the nico douga video number "sm____" or by entering a key word or theme in the google search bar at the very top. Most searchs need to be in Japanese text but there are plenty of series that use English, such as, To Heart 2! I like to search for the numerous Touhou remixes.

Well what if I can't find the song I want on Nicomimi? I guess Potato can teach you the 'underhanded' method. First you will need to be able to download videos from Nico Douga or other flash video sites. Try downloadhelper, a firefox add on.

Next you will need to extract the music. An amazing program is called FLV_extract. Just open FLV_extract, drag and drop your FLV video into it, and wall-ah! All done! Now you can listen to Lucky Star Douga wherever you go!