Akashiya Moka - Rosaro+Vampire.I bot most you already knew who's that hot girl in the picture above. Yeah, she's Akashiya Moka, one of hot girls from an anime called Rosario+Vampire. I've just watched this anime recently, and I've watched the first season, yeah... no kidding. I started to watch this anime just exactly after Rosario+Vampire CAPU 2 episode 1 aired. Pretty late, but better late then never i guess.Akashiya Moka a vampire, and Kuruno Kurumu a Succubus.It's a story of a (REAL) normal boy called Aono Tsukune. He's a real human, but he ended up transferred in to a school for non-human creature, Youkai Academy. In there he met a cute hot girl, Akashiya Moka. The meeting itself is actually a little bit typical. And she also mentioned that she's a vampire.The whole story itself is just like a "normal" school life for monsters, with Tsukune and Moka trying to hide Tsukune's identity as human. The main point of this anime is the characters, i mean the hot girls.(from left) Yukari, Kurumu, Moka, Mizore, Ruby - Idolmaster Rosario.First we have Akashiya Moka, the 1st girl Tsukune met. She's a vampire, but her real form will only appear when the Rosario in her chest is removed. Vampire in this anime is a rare S-class monster, so real Moka is definitely strong (and HAWT!). She's my favorite character of this anime.The 2nd girl is Kuruno Kurumu, a succubus. I think she has the biggest breast in this anime. Except that i don't really like her hairstyle. Succubus' job is to make every men became her slave. But from all of the men she enslaved, a succubus must find her destined one.Next is a loli witch, Sendo Yukari (forgot her name, please correct me if I'm wrong). She has no friend at the first place. Witch itself is somewhat half human and half monster. So monsters don't really like her and humans never liked her either. But of course and typically, Tsukune and friends managed to befriended her. Basically i don't really like loli, so that's it, she's not my favorite.This anime is filled with fanservices.I think the next girl is most people's favorite, Shirayuki Mizore. She's an ice demon or ice queen or whatever you name it. But i know she's cool! Her personality resembles Blanc Neige from Shining Wind. She appeared at the middle of the season though. She has a loneliness problem, but as always... Tsukune and friends managed to befriend with her too.The last girl Tsukune met is Ruby. She's a witch and she lived in witch's hill in human world. She only appeared in 2 episodes, but you can always she her face in the opening animation. Ruby's appearance isn't really favorite. Eventhough she only has 2 episodes, but she played a significant part in the last episode.Sexy teachers, Nekonome and Ririko.Youkai academy doesn't only have hot girls as students, but also teachers. Nekonome and Ririko sensei are the hottest teachers I've ever seen in animes. Nekonome-sensei is Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, and Mizore's homeroom teacher. And Ririko-sensei is a math teacher. Ririko's teaching is somewhat crazy, especially in the remedial sessions.The girls, including new girls from CAPU 2.Well basically this anime filled with hot girls, fanservice, and panties showing everywhere. Eventhough it's delicious, it's too much. But if you are a fans of showing panties, then here's your anime. It's somewhat annoying, seeing a weak Tsukune surrounded by hot girls, but that's harem anime for you.Vampire Moka is my favorite, how about you?If we're talking about action, then you still might want to watch this anime. The last part of every episode of this anime is filled with action, involving Tsukune and friends, especially if you want to see a how a strong the real Moka is. I know i like her, and i don't want to miss her action. Vampire Moka is cool and strong, that's why she's my most favorite.After some parts of this anime, Tsukune and friends joined with Newspaper club. This is where the real adventure began. When i thought they will fight with some bad guys who are trying to destroy the world, i was wrong. The bad guys in this anime is the student council (?) itself. The student council guys were trying to destroy the newspaper club, but of course... Tsukune and friends won the battle.HAWT girls are here! Watch their action in Rosario+Vampire.So, if you're looking for action, comedy, "school life", and HOT GIRLS! Watch this anime. I guess this post is somewhat so late, the 2nd season already aired. But yeah, it's really fun watching this anime. Too bad it's only 13 episodes long. So... that's it for now!
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Stack of box and bubble envelope (? CMIIW).I think this is the biggest haul i received at a time ever. That's because i tend to order and ship 1 item at a time. But I'm also amazed with the shipment time. It took only 1 working week to arrive, eventhough i used HLJ's SAL shipping and PA's free Air Economic shipping. Normally those kind of shipment took over 3 working weeks. So... let's see what's inside.figma Yuki witch, Force Impulse, Burnout Paradise, and RnC Quest for Booty.Four items, each in their own package. The 2 bubble envelopes contained 2 PS3 games, Burnout Paradise and Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty. Those games are my brother's orders. I got Burnout Paradise with a bargain price, around USD 30 (normal price around USD 50), and RnC Quest for Booty for around USD 30 (it's the normal price). My bro's played RnC series and the last game he played, RnC Tools of Destruction, had been completely finished. The ending of that game is actually a cliffhanger, and you'll feel like you HAVE to buy RnC Quest for Booty to see the continuation.HLJ Box contained Force Impulse Gundam MG kit. It's also my bro's order. And once again, i also got it with a bargain price in HLJ for around JPY 3150 (not including shipment, normal price JPY 5500). The last PA box contained figma Yuki witch version, which is my order. Yeah, from these 4 items, only 1 is mine.Inside of figma Yuki witch, pretty wide, just like figma Fate.I'm gonna focus on figma Yuki for now, so don't expect too much with the games and Force Impulse. I first heard that figma Yuki witch was a festival exclusive item. But i think i was mistaken, a few days after that, i saw figma Yuki up for pre-order in Play-Asia. And so i ordered her without any hesitation. The only disappointment i got from this chance is PA is so slow in releasing this item. Almost everywhere on the net already mentioned that they already had their Yuki witch arrived, but PA still haven't released it yet. But in the end i still got her, and that's all that matters.So many small parts, make sure you keep them in safe place.figma Yuki witch has so many parts. Even figma Fate parts are still fewer from Yuki's parts. From witch hat, 3 halves of witch cape (1 for the right side, 1 for the left side for guitar, and 1 for the left side without guitar), 2 cup of tea, a teapot, a tray, 2 magic wands, 1 board, 4 promotion sticker, 1 guitar, Shamisen, and a couple of hands (usual 4 pairs of hands, 1 right hand with guitar pick, 1 left hand for guitar chord, 1 right hand for magic wand, and 1 right hand for the board) and the usual 1 set of figma base and 1 plastic bag. It's so complete, for almost all Yuki's role in the anime.Yuki and her tea set in "I'm an alien" scene.Remember when Kyon came to Yuki's room and told about those alien things? If you remember that scene, you must also remember this tea set. I don't know how many cups did Kyon drink that time. It's actually pretty hard to get a fully focused object in short distance photo, the depth of field and lens blur keep coming and haunts you.Photography Tips:Depth of Field (DOF) : a value of how focused an object is and how blurry the background and foreground is.A good photo must have nice depth of field. It must have blurry background, and focused object, to get the feeling of "this is the main object of the photo". But how to made this DOF and what are the parameters that affect the DOF value?DOF is about how focused the main object and how blurry the background is. The higher the blur level, the better the DOF gets. Here a schema on how DOF work:C ----Fc ----54321O12345C stands for Camera, Fc stands for focus point, O stands for object, and the numbers represent the blur level (the higher the number, the blurry the image gets). If you focused your camera to the object, things in front of the object and things behind the object will get blurry. The further the distance between the object and the things, it gets more blurry.There are 3 parameters that affect DOF:- Aperture Value (Av) : how wide the diaphragm of a lens opened. The lower the value, the focus area became more small. That mean the area that focused became smaller, and the other things will become more and more blurry. You can only set Av in certain kind of cameras like DSLR, prosumer, or pocket camera with M, Av, and Tv settings like Canon PowerShot.- Distance between camera and object : the further the distance, the bigger the focus area, that means if you shot an object from a far distance, there's a high possibility that it won't get a nice blurry background.- Focal Length : zoom length on the lens. The higher the focal length the smaller the focus area. That's why using tele lens (high focal length) will give you a nice blurry background.The hardest part of getting nice figure shot is how to adjust the DOF level. You have to get your camera close to the figure, so that means the 2nd parameter of DOF will be affected. The closer the camera, the smaller the focus area. That's why in the photo above, the tea set is somewhat blurry.For countermeasure, increasing Av is an option. But that also means that you have to prepare a tripod or a good light, because increasing Av means lowering shutter speed. Lower shutter speed means a higher possibility of getting blurry (shake) image.FYI, blur in DOF and blur in shake are different blurs. Blur in DOF called lens blur, and blur in shake called motion blur. Lens blur caused by DOF and the parameters i mentioned above. Motion blur caused by moving your camera while shooting (regular problem you'll find in photography world)."Do you want (to eat) Shamisen?"Yuki came with Shamisen, the cat that appeared in Asahina Mikuru no densetsu episode 00. I don't know what does this cat do anyway. Notice that shamisen in this photo are sharper than the tea set. That's because i put my camera in a further distance from Yuki, and i also reduced the focal length (used a wide length).Who'll win, Mikuru's beam or Yuki's magic?This is figma Yuki, witch version, so basically the main attraction of this figure is her witch cosplay suit. There are 2 version of the cape. The 1st version is this cape. The left side of the cape covers Yuki's left hand. Just the same as her pose in Live a Live episode. This episode is my favorite episode, just because of God Knows... But the main role of this witch came in the first episode (Haruhi's order) of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, in Asahina Mikuru no densetsu episode 00."subete wa GOD KNOWS!"This is the main reason why i bought figma Yuki witch version, the guitar. Yeah, God Knows rocks! And so does the Live a Live episode. I think I'll stick with this pose for a while. Yuki's so cool yet rocking with her guitar. Too bad i didn't bought figma Hatsune Miku. She came with a microphone, and i could use that microphone for Haruhi, and creating a legendary duo of Haruhi-Yuki singing God Knows!Haruhi got a friend (after being left by Nanoha), she's not alone anymore!Another figma means more possibility to create something great and creative. I'll stick with figma Hare-hare and Lucky Star dance. Maybe next up i'll also create a figma comics or something like that. So just look forward to it!
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true tears ~ story of a girl who lost her tears. I have recently watched this anime, true tears, and it seems that this anime managed to grab my attention, and my tears... That's why i decided to post my thought about this anime.True tears story revolves around a high school boy called Nakagami Shin'ichiro. He lived with his father, mother, family butler, and a girl named Yuasa Hiromi. He also has a best friend called Miyokichi in school. His best friend, Miyokichi was dating Shin'ichiro's childhood "onee-san", Ando Aiko. Shin'ichiro actually had a crush with Hiromi for a long time, but after some time, he mysteriously met with a girl named Isurugi Noe.I'll give a warning first, I'll talk about the whole story so watch out for SPOILERS! This anime is actually an adaptation from a visual novel, so i think it's best to tell the story for each characters. So here it is:Isurugi Noe ~ the girl who lost her tears. Isurugi NoeShin'ichiro met this girl while he was in his lunch break, wandering out of the nowhere. He met her who was climbing the tree near the school chicken coop. Without hesitation, Noe asked Shin'ichiro to catch her from jumping off the tree, and that's how they met and known each other. I think this is just your typical "meet the girl" scenario in most visual novel story.Noe is actually a unique girl, she has this unique personality. She doesn't have any friend in school, and keep hanging around chicken coop, feeding the chickens and giving them name. One was named Raigomaru, and the other was named Jibeta (ground). She kept rambling about "you can fly", "you can't fly", and things like that. Yeah... Noe's can see through people heart, including Shin'ichiro.Noe became interested with Shin'ichiro who always came to her hanging place every lunch break. She even told him her biggest secret about her tears: "she lost her tears". She was a crybaby once before, and after her grandmother passed away, she stopped crying. Her grandmother said that she'll fly to the sky and bring her tears away. The only way to get her tears back is "take someone tears who's precious to her".After knowing Noe for a little while, Shin'ichiro accidentally met her with a mysterious boy riding a bike. He thought that the boy was Noe's boyfriend, but he was actually Noe's brother, Isurugi Jun.Noe's my favorite character. Because this is a visual novel adaptation, the story is kinda mixed up one after another characters. Noe's story development started after "the exchange with his brother". You can read detailed story of this exchange in Hiromi's part, all you need to know now is Shin'ichiro forced to declared his love to Noe and date her.This is the part where everything got interesting for me. I like the part where they were dating, it's so (somewhat) romantic. Noe is my favorite character in this anime, and i like it when my favorite characters enjoying their happiness. In this part Shin'ichiro could focus on his picture story book and his festival dance training.Just as i though, Noe's happiness didn't last for long. After Hiromi's accident Shin'ichiro realized his real feeling, and Noe knew about that. Moreover, Shin'ichiro even lied to her about couldn't go home with her because of dance practice. The worst part is, she couldn't even meet with him anymore.I like this screenshot, her deep emotion.There are 2 important parts of her story. The first part is where Noe didn't come home where it got so late. Jun asked Hiromi to ask Shin'ichiro to find Noe. And apparently he found her in the seashore. She was rambling about Jibeta's flight and "roach song", but the important part is in this song. The last line of this song is : "Inside Shin'ichiro's heart, there's Yuasa Hiromi". Shin'ichiro heard at exactly this line and he left.The 2nd important part is the climax of this story. At the festival, Noe met Hiromi and Hiromi told her how she felt and asked her to left them alone. After the festival Noe climbed a tree near the chicken coop, and she jumped off. Falling off from some heights caused bone fracture in her leg. Shin'ichiro's confused at this moment, because he had to decide what to do with Noe and Hiromi.Hiromi called Shin'ichiro to came to her place and told him to settle everything with her and Noe. And this is the last part of the story about Noe. He managed to do the dance in the festival, and he also managed to finish his picture book. He came to hospital where Noe was taken care of, showed her his book. Unfortunately she didn't want to see it, and the last thing Shin'ichiro did was ripping each page, fold it to paper aircraft, and throw it to the sea. Surprisingly, with that fractured leg, she managed to come and picked up each page.And then, they engaged into a small decisive talk. Shin'ichiro told her:"I love Hiromi, but when i see you, my heart wavers"When i think about it, it's just too lame Shin'ichiro. Saying that to a girl who loves you so much. But that's just it, Noe accepted the fact, and then she left.The best part of this story lies in the very last second of this anime. Noe standing around her "destined place" (around chicken coop, also the place where Shin'ichiro declared her love to Noe), watching the sky, and you can see her tears carried by the wind..."If you think about person truly dears to you, the tears will flow by themselves"This part is actually the part where i really cried. It's so sad seeing Noe was able to get her tears flowing again, but yeah, that's why i like this anime so much.Yuasa Hiromi ~ er... she's.... beautiful :P.Yuasa HiromiA girl who lived in Shin'ichiro's house for a long time. Her dad died and i forgot about her mom. Because her dad was Shin'ichiro's dad's best friend, he invited Hiromi to live in his house. Because they met each other everyday and every night, Shin'ichiro had a crush on her. He's tring to get her attention, but he can't. Until one day, where Shin'ichiro met Noe, Hiromi also started to realize true feeling.She is a member of basketball club, along with her best friend, Tomoyo, who is also her classmate. Tomoyo kept forcing her to be true with her feeling, and until one day she admitted that she liked Noe's brother, Isurugi Jun. Shin'ichiro accidentally heard about this, and he became suddenly down and disappointed with it.A day after that, Jun came to Shin'ichiro's house and told him to date Noe. Jun gave him a few days to think, and after a few days, he came to ask about Shin'ichiro's answer. Shin'ichiro actually offered an exchange "date Hiromi, and I'll date Noe", and Jun said okay without hesitation. This is the part where Hiromi was dating Jun, and Shin'ichiro was dating Noe.After Hiromi lived alone, she started wearing glasses... Wohoo! meganekko! The dating part is a happy time for Noe and Shin'ichiro, but also a somewhat torturing time for Hiromi. I think she started to feel jealousy at this time, seeing Shin'ichiro and Noe getting along pretty well, while Hiromi herself keep tortured and tortured because of Shin'ichiro's relationship AND Shin'ichiro's mother.Shin'ichiro's mother kept annoying and harassing her. She even said that Hiromi's mother was having an affair with Shin'ichiro's dad and because of that affair, Hiromi was born. This is an important part of Hiromi's story. She said the truth to Shin'ichiro while he was still dating with Noe. At this part Shin'ichiro got more and more confused. Also at this part, Shin'ichiro's mother kept giving Hiromi more and more pressure and hatred.The accident changed everything. Hiromi asked Jun to get her bike out at the snowy days, and after a few kilometres away from the city, they got into accident, but fortunately both of them were okay. Shin'ichiro who saw them before they were out of town, chased them with taxi. This is the part where Noe realized Shin'ichiro's true feeling, and... see the rest in Noe's story. I'd say it's pretty hard for Noe, if you see her "!? face" right after Shin'ichiro jumped and hugged Hiromi all of the sudden at the place where the accident took place.She wore this kimono in the festival. As i said before, the accident changed everything, even Shin'ichiro's mother hatred toward Hiromi. Shin'ichiro's mother wanted to make up for what she did to Hiromi. She told the real truth, about Shin'ichiro's father and Hiromi's is not related to Shin'ichiro's by blood at all. After this turnout of events, they became more and more relieved, everything seems moving very well both for Hiromi and Shin'ichiro, but not for Noe.Too bad, Hiromi decided to leave Nakagami's house and live alone in small apartment. She found that she's more comfortable to live alone and somewhat start a new life. But because of this event, now both Hiromi and Shin'ichiro realized their true feelings and start to develop feelings for each other.At the time of the festival, Hiromi helped the Nakagamis to prepare the festival, and at that time she met Noe and told her that she loved Shin'ichiro and asked Noe to left them alone. Pretty harsh thing to say Hiromi... I kinda surprised with Hiromi's action this time. Oh yeah, and not to mention, she also said that "I'm Shin'ichiro's girlfriend" to Aiko. This part really made me surprised.The last part is where Hiromi asked Shin'ichiro to settle things once and for all, about Noe and Hiromi, and of course, this is the time when Shin'ichiro had to decide between Noe or Hiromi. Read Noe's last part, and after that Shin'ichiro really asked Hiromi to become his girlfriend. It's pretty lame for Shin'ichiro to leave Noe and chose Hiromi. It's pretty surprising and kinda disappointing because i kinda hate her at first, and this anime became Hiromi's path ending.Ando Aiko ~ unrequited love. Ando AikoA girl who was 1 year older than Shin'ichiro. She was his childhood friend, and his guardian onee-san. She ran an Imagawayaki shop business alone. It seems that she fell in love with Shin'ichiro. But Shin'ichiro introduced her with his friend Miyokichi, and apparently Miyokichi was in love with her and asked her out. Aiko couldn't do much in front of Shin'ichiro, so she accepted Miyokichi's feeling and started to date even with Aiko still held feeling toward Shin'ichiro.Almost everyday, Shin'ichiro and Miyokichi hung out in Aiko's shop after school. Without Miyokichi's noticing, Aiko still trying to get even closer to Shin'ichiro. Damn you bastard, Shin'ichiro! Eventhough Aiko isn't really that cute IMO, but i know that Shin'ichiro is one of the lucky bastard who has every main girls in the anime loved him.Aiko's story itself isn't really that interesting. She kissed Shin'ichiro just after he came and said that he started to date Noe. And even worse, she asked Miyokichi to broke up their relationship. At first, Miyokichi refused, but after asking for Noe's curse, he accepted that fact. Seeing that Aiko herself didn't really have a chance to get Shin'ichiro, she gave up Shin'ichiro and start over a relationship with Miyokichi. Pretty short, but yeah that's it for Aiko's story. I didn't really like her, so i think she deserved that. Just because she was in front of Shin'ichiro doesn't mean she had to accept Miyokichi if she didn't like him.true tears OP ~ Reflectia, i like it.This anime is actually has a unique theme: tears. And this anime also has pretty interesting "subtitle" :Story of girl who lost tears ...It refers to Noe actually, but yeah, when i thought it's all about Noe, it's not...I like true tears storyline, too bad Hiromi's path became the ending of this story. I want to see Noe's ending though. Noe didn't shed even a tears (except in the ending) in this anime, regardless of how sad she is. But just because of that, you could cry after watching the ending. If you want some romantic story that can make you cry, you can try true tears.OP song of this anime, Reflectia -performed by Eufonius-, is one of my recent favorite song. I really like this song!So that's it for my rants about true tears. Look forward for another anime!
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Blanc Neige - Kotobukiya.Blanc Neige is my latest figure (for now), so i think this photoshoot will be the last photoshoot before new figure arrived. For this October, i only got Yagami Hayate (Alter) pre-ordered, and i heard that Hayate release date is delayed so yeah, no more new figure for awhile.Blanc Neige in her Shining Wind outfit.As you all know, Kotobukiya made this figure and released it around last September. This figure is actually the only Shining Wind version of Blanc Neige. The other Blanc Neige figures are Shining Tears version. As i said before, Blanc Neige in her Shining Wind outfit is better than her Shining Tears outfit IMO. The reason why i bought this figure is because of this Shining Wind version of Blanc Neige.Longer hairstyle in Shining Wind version, stylish!Not only her outfit, but also her hair. Blanc Neige in Shining Wind version has longer hair than before. Not only longer, but also stylish! But i think those are the only changes from Shining Tears to Shining Wind version. She still got her ice magic and ice personality with her.Blanc Neige without her cape on, sexy!This figure is actually came with removable cape. I think i know now which one i prefer more. I like her without her cape on. She does look sexier without her cape on. And this is somewhat rare find, because you won't see her without her cape on in the anime.It would be better if you could remove the long gloves.The only downside of removing her cape is her long gloves. The gloves doesn't suit her without her cape. But if you put her cape on, her long gloves suit her well. But that won't change the fact that she looks sexy without her cape.You won't see her pale and glossy skin because i used Canon's picture style to get a good skin tone.You won't see her smooth skin too much if you put her cape on. This is one of the reason why i like her without her cape. Talk about skin, i think Kotobukiya can't really made a good doff skin. I don't know how they did this thing, but all i know is Blanc Neige's skin is somewhat pale and glossy. It makes sense if her skin is pale, but glossy skin is a no-no in every figure.Photography tips:Notice that her skin doesn't look really pale and glossy in the photos because i set the picture style and white balance before shooting them. Picture style can be set in camera's menu, and white balance, well... almost all camera has white balance setting. If you used RAW shooting mode, you can get a better and sharper result than JPEG, and on top of that you can edit the picture style and white balance setting in Digital Photo Professional (or your camera software) AFTER the shot. FYI, you can't change camera setting for a particular JPEG photos AFTER shooting.Rough details, bad...Let's get down to the details. Her choker on her neck isn't really well sculpted. It's somewhat rough. Yeah, kinda disappointed with this. Kotobukiya sculpt isn't really improving. Kureha's outfit is well sculpted but she has a glossy skin. Shana Candy Bikini's skin looks even glossier. But Elwing's quality is a top notch, just as good as Alter's quality. After Elwing, there's this Blanc Neige which has a worse quality than Elwing.Her left hand and glove, with snowflake mark on it.I think Kotobukiya weakness is small details. Her long glove is okay, and i don't think i can find any flaw in this glove. Looks like i forgot to clean this figure before shooting :P. You can see some dust on her glove in the photo above.You don't want to mess with her or she'll ice you.Returning to small details, her staff does look rough on detail sculpt. In the photo above, i played a little bit with the histogram. I tried to make the shadow stronger, that's why the staff in the photo above looks like it made from metal. Small details actually can only be seen when you used a detailed camera like DSLR or other good camera. But with our human eyes, you won't see any visible rough details on these parts, that's why this figure does still look good if you watch her from distance of 15cm or more.Can you see her cleavage from here?Once again, you'll see rough paintjob and sculpt in the photo above. But that's because of the DSLR power, as i said just above. From a distance of 15cm or more, she still looks good. But that's not really the point of this photo. Girls in Shining Wind have their cleavage showing, including Blanc Neige. Eventhough it's small, but her cleavage is still visible because of the hole on this part of her dress.Cleavage or tie, which one do you see first? XDThis is another photo where you can see another visible cleavage. She doesn't have big breast, but she still looks sexy, she still has the charm. Anyway, look at the tie on the cape. It has that snow / ice symbol on it. The string itself isn't really well sculpted, so i don't think you want to see this tie from a close distance.Feeling of smooth and soft skin.Because of her cape, you won't see her back in the anime. I think this is one of the details missed (or unseen) in the anime. Seeing bare skin like this gives you the feeling of smooth and soft skin, and make you want to touch it.Her waist and butt, hmm... delicious!You know it's very rare to see Blanc Neige in a naughty pose like this. Just because she has a cool personality, doesn't mean that she can't do a sexy pose. Her pose made her waist and butt look sexier than ever.Sexy body curve.From this photo, you'll see nasty seamline going on everywhere on her outfit, her cape, and her skin. But you'll see some nice and sexy body curve here. I think this figure is somewhat off from her real personality, but that's just the selling point of this figure!Folds and wrinkles plus shading.Talk about body curve and her pose, Kotobukiya made a good effect on her outfit. They made a good sculpt on her outfit, around the waist. The folds look so real. You may not notice, but every figure has this folds / wrinkles on their outfit, and because of that, the figures look so real and alive.Long boots...She doesn't wear any thighigh, but she wears a long boots. I think this long boots go well with her long gloves. And you can also see her thigh in the photo above. Soft and smooth as always. Her dress is partially long on the left leg and short on right leg, this explains why she looks so sexy yet elegant.POI of this figure: her expression.POI of this figure IS..... her expression! She already has that sexy naughty pose and sexy body curve, the rest is just her expression. It's just so naughty! I know it's off from her personality, but that's just the reason why this expression is so priceless. She has that "come on play with me" expression. Her eyes, her glance, and her smile are the best. You won't see this expression anywhere in the game or anime.Well, yeah that's it for now. All that's left is a loooong wait for next set of hauls in November 2008. So i think I'll post some thoughts about anime i watched recently, look forward to it!
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Chua Churam - Alter.Ahh... holiday... Because of this week of national holiday, i managed to get 2 photo sessions, one for Nanoha, and the other one for Chua Churam. This holiday only last for a week, so i don't think i can do anymore photo session, that means photo session for Blanc Neige and figma dance will be postponed for a while longer.Chua Churam - the idol vampire.Chua Churam, one of my favorite figure, or probably my MOST favorite figure (for now), made by Alter, released in August 2008, got it from HLJ. I dare to say that this figure is filled with greatness, eventhough it IS somewhat smaller than your usual 1/8 scale figure and not to mention expensive. Despite all that fact, this figure is a great figure, and you won't regret it if you got one.Don't think... feel... er... i mean, buy!People tends to collect figure of their favorite characters or characters of animes they've watched, including me. I myself still tend to collect things that way. But this figure, is capable to make your figure otaku blood boiling, and make you order her eventhough you didn't know who is she or which anime or game she came from. I like her dress, and that's one of the reason why i pre-ordered her without knowing who she is. My decision turned out to be the right decision to take.Chua Churam is a cute vampire, look at her vampire fang.Anyway, let's get down to the business. Chua Churam really has a cute face, no wonder she's an idol, eventhough she's a vampire. Look carefully at her teeth and you'll see a small vampire fang. Whatever she is, she's still damn cute! Not to mention, energetic. And Alter succeeded to show all her energetic self in this figure's face. The face is well sculpted, also with details such as her mouth and fang, blush on her cheeks , and her eyes.Heterochromia is abnormal for human, but oh well... she IS a vampire.I think she has that Heterochromia thing... It's a biological term for a person who has different eyes color between left and right eyes. I don't know what's her relation with Chu Chu Astram, but she also has that Heterochromia eyes. Anyway, once again, good job Alter! They really made her eyes well. It's rare to see a beautifully made eyes like that in figures.Twintail hair, moe!!Twintailed hair! One of my favorite moe factor. This is also another reason why i bought her in the first place. Her hairstyle is somewhat unique. She has the kind of hairstyle that Tohsaka Rin (Fate) has, with that blue-purple ribbon for the accessory. If you notice, her ahoge (antenna) also has a funny shape.Cross on her cool hairpin, she's immune to cross unlike old vampires.Her hairpin is also somewhat cool. It's kinda rare to see transparent material for figure parts nowadays. And here, we see one in Chua Churam's hairpin. Notice that on her hairpin, there is a cross on it. Vampire hunters will have a harder job nowadays, because unlike classic vampires, modern days vampires don't have any weakness to cross, and this hairpin proved it.Her left arm and her "fur" armband.I didn't know for sure what's those things on her upper arms at the first look. After doing some research on Chua Churam, i just knew that those things are fur armbands. It's her concert costume accessories. I think those things are weird, and i don't think they're necessary. If they're not there, there won't be any effect on it. Anyway, good job for Alter to make her skin looks so smooth and soft, just look at her arm in the photo above and you'll know what i mean.Her right hand with the red guitar pick.Another accessory of her concert costume is her glove, her white glove. Nothing really special about her gloves. But this is where the small details can go wrong. There's a red guitar pick, and because it's too small, the paint on her glove kinda blend with the paint on her guitar pick. It maybe small that almost no one will notice that, but such small mistake can't escape from a camera that can capture high resolution and details (DSLR).That's why before getting photo using DSLR, make sure you carefully and patiently clean your figure first. Because DSLR can capture unwanted things like small dust which our naked eyes can't see.Smooth and soft legs, "kinda" delicious.You know, figure with interesting costume maybe nice, but you'll miss seeing her smooth and soft body skin. But in this figure, Chua Churam lets you get the feel of her smooth skin through her legs. Yeah... this is where you can enjoy smooth and soft skin of her legs and thighs.Why not elegant highheel?Dress like that usually comes with highheel shoes like Cinderella glass shoes or wedding shoes to give an elegant feeling. But Chua Churam doesn't wears that kind of shoes. She wears strap sandals with highheel for her concert. Not really my favorite, but hey... it's still cool, you know.Chua Churam's guitar = uniqueness.Yet another uniqueness Chua Churam has, her guitar. She has a guitar with a devil wing and a "flat bat face" on it. Yeah, a special idol must has her special equipment, including this guitar. Yeah, this guitar is one of a kind, too bad there's no string on it. Anyway this guitar and its belt are permanent parts. You can't remove the guitar from her, unlike Toranoana Haruhi's guitar.Metal coating on some guitar parts, looks cool.Alter's pretty good at making detail. Every detail in this guitar is very well made. Eventhough it's made from PVC, the painting itself it's enough to make her guitar microphone and the string base look like they're made from metal. I think this is what's called a metal coating, just like in some Gundam kit, metal coating for MG V-Gundam and pearl coating for PG Wing Gundam Zero Custom.Her energetic and sexy pose.Her pose is just so energetic and sexy. She's a natural idol! Can she fly? Well whatever it is, she does look sexy in that pose. I like her pose, and i think this is one of the best trait that this figure has. Eventhough she has that kind ruffly dress and all, she still can do this energetic pose, really amazing.Pink pantie showing because of her pose.The photo above explains why i like her pose. Just like Nanoha figure, her pose also clearly shows her pantie. She has a pink pantie, kinda dark in the photo, but you still can see it clearly. And you can also see her thighs clearly, giving you feeling of smooth and soft skin.Her dress, with the skirt as the main part.The last thing to observe is her dress, which is also, the POI of this figure. Why her dress for POI? Because her dress is just so amazing IMO. Remember the main reason why i bought this figure is because of her dress. There are so many detail attached on her dress. She has that long and A-line style skirt, long on the back and short on the front. It's also can be categorized as goth loli dress.Big breast, hmm... delicious!The first part is her chest. At first i did think that the cross shape on her chest is merely painted. But guess what? I was wrong. That cross shape is actually sculpted. It's amazing that Alter can do such a great job. And dude, she also has a big breast, looks delicious i say.A very small red ribbon.I won't miss such small detail like this small red ribbon. It's really small but actually it isn't that easy to miss, because it has a contrast red color over a white and pink dress. Looking cute, but i think it's too small. I kinda expected that it was a flower or something else.The white devil wings.I don't know where's the wings come from, but i know that these wings are parts of the dress. Pretty cute i guess. These wings are also symbol for Chua Churam, so everyone know that she's a cute idol vampire.Long white back ribbon.And one of the best part on her dress is her long back ribbon. Long A-line skirt like this should be equipped with ribbon, and yeah.... this ribbon really looks good on her dress. The ribbon, dress, and her hair are actually made with flexible plastic material, just like Liu Meifeng's hair and clothes. But i don't think flexibility is needed in static pose figure, no plus point here...Well... that's it for now, and i think that's it for this holiday. School's and mid-term exam is waiting for me in Wednesday, so i have to prepare myself for it in the last 2 days. Anyway, you can also find more photos and review for this figure in WCloudx (kumo)'s Chua Churam review. And i also made another small review in Tsuki-Board. Make sure you check it!
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Wing Gundam Zero CustomIt's been a very long time since i did a Gundam photoshoot. And when i said photoshoot, i did say photoshoot. Because i won't put a very long rant about the Gundam since it's my bro's hobby and my job is only to take some nice photographs of it.Wing Gundam Zero - Endless Waltz version.This is Wing Gundam Zero Custom, MG 1/100 kit. Classic indeed... But this Wing Zero Custom is indeed one of the most favorite Gundam of all the time. Just for the record, Wing Zero Custom appears only in Gundam Wing Endless Waltz version. That's why the official name of this kit is "Wing Gundam Zero Endless Waltz version".Wing Zero Custom in a closer look.This is actually the first time my bro tried on Gundam Marker. Not bad for a first timer, i think. But as you may also see, he still got a lot to learn about building Gundam model kits. That's why i won't get involved in this hobby :P. Well, as i said above, no more rantings, let the photos do the talk.Twin Buster Rifle action.Another view of Twin Buster Rifle action.Yet another view of Twin Buster Rifle action.Dual wielding rifle action, i like it!Another view of dual rifle action, cool as always!A little closer look of dual rifle action.Dual beam saber action, yet another coolness.Closer look of dual saber action.Another "weird" angle of dual saber action.Saber and rifle dash action.Saber rifle dash action in another angle.Well, yeah that's it.... This Gundam is really a classic Gundam. Most of you must have already know everything about it. So, that's all folks!
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Nanoha in her instructor uniform.I already planned to have this figure photographed for awhile ago, but because of a little incident and some packs of school assignments, i had to postpone this photo session until now. I think the only chance for photo session i had is in a holiday. That's why it's rare to find any photoshoot posts in the middle of working days.Made by GSC, great quality as always.Okay, let's get down to the review. At first, i didn't find this figure very interesting, but after seeing some factors, i decided to get her by ordering this figure in my local store. Anyway, this figure is made by Good Smile Company. Everyone knows GSC always brings us quality, and this figure is one of the proof that GSC does.She's the cheerful and innocent (white devil) Nanoha.Let's start with her face. There's no flaw in her face at ALL. Her skin is looking very smooth and soft. Her eyes really isn't just usual figure eyes, they really lit up and has the "alive" feeling in them. Furthermore, her smile will struck your heart even more. Her expression really shows the real cheerful and innocent Nanoha.Her hair is just, interesting!Her hair is well, nothing's wrong on it. Even GSC made this part goes down to a detail like her hairpin (the green rubber, forgive me for my vocabulary :P). Her signature front bang is still there. Loli Nanoha wears a twintailed hair, and adult Nanoha wears a side ponytail. I think her hairdo is one of a kind.She got her breast size a little reduced.Going down to her chest, which has so-so size. I kinda disappointed with her breast size. Nanoha and Fate has the biggest breast in Nanoha series, but this figure doesn't show any sign of it. Even Elwing's breast is bigger than Nanoha's. But hey, smaller breast doesn't mean smaller enjoyment.Details maybe small, but they're still parts of the arts.Diving down into details, i see her necktie is really well sculpted and painted here. Small things like collars, tie, buttons, and things like that are maybe small details, but they play big parts in figure arts. And just as the photo implies, GSC did a very good job in details.Another details in her arms, like sleeve collar and that silver thing.Continuing my rants about detail, this photo also proves that GSC did a very good job in making this figure. Another thing that i usually mention in my review is "things that i never realized in the anime", and that thing is silver thing in her shoulder. Just focusing to the storyline and never goes into detail is people's habit in watching anime, that's why figures like this help us understand how hard character designer's works are.Painted fingernails.This is the first time i had a figure with painted fingernails. All of my figures except this Nanoha doesn't have their fingernails painted, so i guess this thing is news to me. I've seen once in review of Tamaki Kousaka maid version (Kotobukiya), and now i know what it feels like to have a figure with painted fingernails, it's not something big but it's really amazing.Another view of painted fingernail.Her right hand's fingernails are also painted. That's a normal thing, because it would be weird if only her left hand has painted fingernails. But this photo shows more than that. You can also see detail on her base. I think this is the best and the most creative base I've ever met. Too bad, i won't get down to the details on her base.Her belt, not much to say about this...If you're learning computer graphics, especially about OpenGL, then you'll notice something about the belts. What's the connection? It's about textures in OpenGL. Using textures on an flat object gives a realistic feeling on that object, and apparently GSC also applied this technique on the belt, using black and white paint on it.Her left shoe.Another interesting thing not to be missed is her shoes. Once again, I'll keep talking about details and details. Her shoestring is very well sculpted here. There's no flaw about this, i can guarantee that. This shoe is actually has a hole in the back, to connect with the peg on the base. This figure is actually isn't really that balanced because of her butt, that's why a peg is a must.Her right foot, which is in an unusual position.It's must be unusual to see a girl posing like this. Yeah, it must be weird. That's why, you can see her right foot up there. She can even raise her foot higher than her head, she must have a flexible body.Shoeprints! That's just crazy!?I bet no one has ever seen this details, her shoeprint! This is one of detail that i missed (anyone ever see this?) in the anime. I wonder how can they go into a crazy details like this! I guess because of this sitting pose, GSC has to make some texture for her shoeprints other than a flat shoeprints.Raging Heart Excellion, Axle form.In this figure, she got her Raging Heart ready, even without her battle jacket. This Raging Heart is very well sculpted. Red orb, cartridge, and the whole body is just so perfect! Despite all that details and beauty, there's a flaw in this Raging Heart.Handle with care!Actually, the gold parts of this Raging Heart is kinda heavy, enough to get the Raging Heart break right in the "neck part". Actually, i had this Raging Heart broken once. The white stick isn't really that strong to hold Raging Heart's main body. That's why there's a high possibility for this Raging Heart to break.The POI of this figure is her naughty pose!I had a hard time to pick which part should be the POI of this figure. But now i know it's not always about the part, but it's about "her naughty pose". Yes my friend, it's her naughty pose that won my heart. I know some people may find her pose very weird. There's no one in this world would pose like that. But that's just the way it is... This is anime figure, and this is the place where anyone can be creative and imaginative!This is the reason why her pose became the POI of this figure.There are stronger reason why i had to pick her pose to be the POI of this figure. The stronger reason lies in the photo above. She wears a miniskirt which makes it easier to show her pantie, but with this pose, we'll have an even more clear sight of her yellow pantie! This is why i had to pick her pose as the POI of this figure.Well, that's it for now folks. Next up is photos of my brother's Wing Gundam Zero Custom, so look forward to it!
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Oh yeah, HLJ box marking the beginning of my holiday.Yet another haul for this busy September. Yeah, at last after some weeks of assignments and stuffs, i got my holiday right now, starting from today and will end in 8 October. Too bad, in the first day after this holiday, mid-tests will smile and welcome me from this holiday. Anyway, to mark the start of this holiday, let's start with Blanc Neige haul, she just arrived 2 days ago.Blanc Neige - Kotobukiya.One of my favorite character in Shining Wind, Blanc Neige, the ice queen. Well she's really an ice queen, whether it's because her ice magic, or her ice cold personality. She has somewhat a cool-dere personality, cool on the outside, nice on the inside. Personally, i like her new outfit from Shining Wind, it's like a prom dress to me.Thanks Kotobukiya for bringing this ice queen to a figure.Got this ice queen from HLJ, kinda late i guess, because HLJ kept postponing the shipment due to Japanese national holiday at that time. Anyway, my thanks goes to Kotobukiya for keep making Shining Wind figures. My collection of Koto's Shining Wind figures keeps growing, from Kureha, Elwing, and now Blanc Neige.I like Blanc Neige from Shining Wind version. How about you?Blanc Neige in Shining Wind version has a new dress, new cape, and a new hairstyle. Her outfit though still has the same color tone with her Shining Tears outfit, except it has lesser saturation. She also has a longer hair than before. The same thing to expect from her is her personality, cool as always.The parts: cape, body, and staff.After opening the box and inside plastic, i found myself in a little bit of disappointment. I understand that the color of the base is pale light blue, in order to match Blanc Neige's color tone itself. But after looking for a little while, i found that the base is somewhat looks like it's madewith cheap plastic. And not only that, the inside part of her cape is so awfully painted that it looks like another cheap plastic. Fortunately, it's just the inside part of the cape, so it won't be seen that much.Screwed figure on the base, just as usual.Oh yeah, Kotobukiya still continues their habit to screw the figure on the base. Not much to discuss, it's good to prevent falling off from the base, broken peg, or leaning, eventhough the figure itself has very low potential of leaning.Blanc Neige without her cape on.After some issues with her base and the cape, i found out that nothing's wrong with her body and outfit, except for a little flaw in the paintwork, around the black line of the dress to be exact. Anyway, she looks good without her cape on. I never see her without her cape in the anime, so i guess the view here is kinda rare and news to me.Blanc Neige with her cape on.I'm having a hard time whether i should put her cape on or not. She looks good without her cape, but she also still looks good with her cape. What do you guys think? Help me decide to put her cape on or not! Her cape is somewhat a signature of her, because as i remember, she never got her cape off her shoulder.Her hair is badly sculpted and painted.She looks okay from afar, but from a closer look, once again i found another flaw. Right on her front hair and side front hair. There's so many nasty seam line (plastic line), and bad paintwork. I don't know if this because i got a flawed product or else, but i know it looks bad on the hair and I'm very disappointed with this.Well, that's it for now. More to come, continuation of my Nanoha photoshoot which is postponed for a long time, and any other new figures and Gundam. So keep looking forward to it!
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I have to keep myself behind the desk this week...Just a short update for this week. My assignments unexpectedly keep increasing over this week (09/15 - 09/20). And to add the "excitement", all those assignments' deadlines are next week (starting tomorrow). It really sounds like hard works. Ordered by deadlines, here are my assignments:- Chi Square and Kolmogorov Smirnov method - Simulation and Modelling- Javascript - Internet Application- Summary of chapter 8 (Assembly Language for IBM PC) - Microprocessor 1- String and array practice - Microprocessor 1- Baseline Project Plan - System Analysis and Design- Paper about a data warehousing tool - OLAP and Data WarehousingExcept for Microprocessor summary, i have most of them 90% completed in this week, that's why i have no time at all to keep my otaku life running. I said about Nanoha photoshoot in the last post, in the end i haven't done that yet.Oh well... next week is the last week before another week of national holiday, so i still have to hold my breath for another week. And after the holiday week, there will be mid-tests. I think I'll start the photoshoot for most of my new figures in this holiday. Not to mention playing Disgaea 3 and watching some number of anime.Sakagami Tomoyo - Kotobukiya is going to be re-released this DecemberAnyway, Kyou and Tomoyo figures from Kotobukiya are going to be re-released this December so I'm taking up this chance to order Sakagami Tomoyo. There's also a sale in HLJ. I think there won't be any interesting figures for you collectors, but i managed to found a Force Impulse MG kit for my brother. And the last is my Blanc Neige is on the way to my place, just a little more day and she'll arrive.So that's it for now. I can't surely say there will be updates in this week, so yeah.... that's all folks!
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What's inside a lens.From Thursday to Sunday, eventful things happened. At Thursday, me and my project team members were working on System Analysis and Design project. One of my friend have enough curiosity to open up my broken lens, and look at what's inside. So the photo above is the result. At first i didn't want to agree with his action, but i have my own curiosity, so yeah, i took a screwdrivers set and got my friend open this lens up.The green round PCB is actually at the top of the layer. I think it contains IC and microprocessing stuffs to calculate range, focal length, and send EXIF data to the body. There's a wire connected to a motor, and i think that motor works for AF function. And the rest is lens body, i couldn't get the glass out of the lens body yet.At Friday, i met ron~. Yeah, at last we met, and played Soul Calibur 4. Well, we got nothing better to do. I learned so many things from him, not just SC4, but things about otaku, Japan, Comiket, figures, PSN, etc. We actually also learned the same field, that is IT. Eventhough it's just a 2 hour meeting, because i had to attend my Oracle Admintration Workshop training later after that, but i had fun with him. All i can say is, see you at your next vacation ron~ :D.The (not so) new Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens, ready to use.Saturday, i met my friend who got involved with the lens problem, and he got me a replacement. I'm very grateful for this replacement, because with this, i can continue on getting more photograph. I think i'll do photo session for Nanoha this Friday, depending on my left works. I hope that most of my works already finished before this Friday.And for Sunday, there's nothing special in this day. I couldn't touch my PS3 because at Thursday, my brothers ordered PS3 game, Ratchet and Clank Future : Tools of Destruction ~ the best edition, arrived and they played it all the time, and i didn't have a chance to play anything. Well, at least i got their NDS on my hand and beaten episode 5 of Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney in this whole day.Also i noticed something with my random image widget, Haruhi X Mikuru and Kanu docking images were deleted by Photobucket (They doesn't allow adult contents). Damn!!! Photobucket doesn't allow the hottest part of this widget shows up! Well, this posed a bigger problem: almost all image hosting gives us a randomly generated address, while Photobucket gives us a static address that supports my random image script, so changing image hosting won't solve anything. That's why i have to stick with Photobucket and upload images that still allowed by Photobucket.Anyway, i already downloaded some of "symmetrical_docking" tagged images in danbooru, too bad i left all of them in my bro's computer (which is not in my house right now). So, there won't be any new image here for this week (maybe).If you, by any chance, know image hosting service that gives static address AND allow "adult content", please tell me and i'll upload my pics right away! That's it for now...
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Symmetrical docking is delicious.I made some little changes regarding layout in my blog. The first change is the banner. I made the banner smaller than before. The first banner was 1000px wide, and now it's 900px wide. I didn't resize the image, but i cropped it 100px wide from the left. And before i cropped the image, i moved SONICVER2 title and Random things happen... aside so it didn't get cropped.The second change is adding new widget (or gadget in Blogger's term), random image. It's not a random image gadget, but it's HTML / Javascript gadget. Yesterday i learned about Javascript Event and DOM in Internet Application Development class, and i thought that i could give it a try in my blog, and the random image is the result.Do you like Kagami with megane?Here's the detail on doing it:1. Upload or your image, make sure it has the same extension and give them similar name like this, starting from zero:docking_0.jpgdocking_1.jpgdocking_2.jpgand so on....2. Make sure you upload it in photobucket where the front address is always the same for all images in 1 album, like this:http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/sonic_ver2/Blog%20Random/docking_1.jpghttp://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/sonic_ver2/Blog%20Random/docking_2.jpg3. Prepare a blank image, just a 1 x 1px image.4. Put this code in the HTML / Javascript gadget:<script type="text/javascript">function randomizeImage(){//getting a random number between 0 to number of image minus 1, and then convert it to stringvar number=new String(Math.floor(Math.random()*(insert your number of image here)));//get the img element, and change the image's srcdocument.getElementById("randomImage").src="your front link here"+number+".jpg";}</script><img src="your blank image link" onload="randomizeImage()"/><img id="randomImage" src=""/>So how's this code works exactly?1. The function is self explanatory. It generates a random number between 0 to number of image minus 1. And then join the number with the link, and change the image source to the new link.2. The tricky part lies in the event. By using blank image and onLoad event, you can call randomizeImage() function right after the page (the blank image to be exact) completed its loading.3. Some of you may ask "why not put onLoad="randomizeImage()" in randomImage?". If i did this, then the random image would randomized each time the image completed its loading. So we need to find an element which only load ONCE and only ONCE in page loading.That's where the blank image did its role. Blank image only load once, and after it's completely loaded then the onLoad event is triggered and randomizeImage() called.I won't explain about DOM image, because it's gonna be long to explain that. Anyway, this random image script is still in testing. I already tested it in IE6, FF3, and Opera (dunno what version), so far so good, it worked fine. If some of you find that this random image didn't work, please tell me via comment.I haven't learned about PHP, web database, and ajax, so i don't have any idea how to generate a random image using that method. You may find this method too primitive or whatever, but yeah, i only learned this far so this is the only thing i can do for now.Anyway, the random images' theme is symmetrical docking, and i found most of the images from misakichii's post about docking. Many thanks goes to misakichii for providing these images. And that's it for now.
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