Kyouran Kyōdai

Winter Wonder Festival (WonFest) 2010 had just started its run today at the Makuhari Messe.. However, there are already some good photos from the event itself on the upcoming figurines.. And I’ll say that there are plenty for you to drool upon just like the one above; 1/8 scale Love is War Hatsune Miku by Good Smile Company…

Read more on this Article!

Finally, the official trailer of “The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi” film is out.. It has been confirmed to have a run time of 150 minutes, which I guess would be sufficient for an anime movie.. It will be out in theatres on February 6th, 2010..

Judging by the trailer itself, I guess I can expect some good things from it just like the anime season 1.. Hopefully Kadokawa wont screw up this one up like how it did with the 2nd Season of Suzumiya Haruhi anime adaptation with the infamous “Endless Eight”.. -_-;; The trailer is right after the jump.. Enjoy~

Read more on this Article!

Well, the CosFest (Cosplay Festival) is here again, this time in its 7 year.. The location of the event has never change since it first started; Pasir Ris Downtown East..

Lets start off with the CosFest Graffiti Wall located near the entrance of the big tent that houses the stalls; doujins and more..

The tent also houses the stage for the CosFest competition.. Though fot the 1st day its more for the Anime Singing Competition and the Anime Dubbing contest..

Among the rows of stalls, one particular stall intrigue me.. It’s the “… Paradise” shop (Sorry the dakimakuras blocked the first half of the stall’s name..).. Well, what intrigues me??

Its simple.. Its the dakimakuras.. Panther and CI loved to see those.. Louise dakimakura anyone?? ^^

There are also Shana and Hiiragi dakimakuras for those Shana or Lucky Star fans…

Other than just the dakimakuras and normal fan items, there was a special booth specially located almost at the centre to show some of the cosplay costumes..

I particularly find the Haruhi cosplay costume interesting.. Though I cant imagine alot of people who can fit into it..

For the start of here all the way down is the pictures of some of the cosplayers I took when I was there.. Sorry if the picture appeared blur or not focus since it is due to poor indoor lighting..

Anyway, enjoy looking at the pictures.. ^^




Doctor Stein eating Chupa-Chups??


This Yuki cosplayer looks gorgeous, no??


Panther, as per usual..

Fuko from Clannad.. Gordon’s favourite Clannad character.. Love the wooden star she is holding..


The Beatmania couple..



And who can forget other than the Sailormoon group cosplayers.. Yes, they made their appearence at the CosFest to much fanfare.. Well, how much do I mean??

Well, take a look at this..

Now thats what I call L33T, no doubt about it..

From Crisis Core game..

Now this is one of the best cosplay which is very nice, the KOS-MOS cosplayer..

She looks totally hawt plus her costume fits the person perfectly..

But after that, someone else took that spot.. It was Gundam Exia cosplayer.. This one totally rocks!!

Well, it is hard for ppl to find a “1/20 scale” of Gundam Exia, let alone a live one.. Even the eyes of the gundam is glowing blue..

However, his appearence made KOS-MOS pretty angry..

Even through negotiations, nothing came through so Exia was forced to battle her..




In the end, gundam Exia won the battle, though the GN Drive’s energy ran out a while after the battle ended..

Even the cosplayer wearing it is sweating like crazy even by wearing the whole suit for only a couple of minutes..

More cosplay pics.. Lol @ “Anon” character..



So at the end of the day, I find myself being satisfied since day 1 of CosFest isn’t a total FAIL like some people expect it to be..

Anyway, other than just taking shots of cosplay, I’ve managed to purchase an OST+Doujin manga from Collateral Damage (CDS); TALISMAN..

I shall post about it in a couplse of days.. But as for now I would like to thank you for reading this tl;dr post.. There would be more to come for the 2nd day of CosFest where the World Cosplay Summit will be held.. Expect more good cosplayers 2morrow.. ^^

Anyway, if you want to see more of the 1st day of CosFest you can click the links below:

Part 1
Part 2

As for now, I shall get some rest for 2morrow’s CosFest.. ^^

I’ve finally listened to all the songs in the OST which I got together with the ArtBook in the above picture.. Anyway before we get to the inside of the ArtBook, let us get to know where I got it..

Well, I got the whole set from Collateral Damage when they set up their booth at the recent Toys & Comic Convention held at the Suntec Convention Centre last weekend..

Now onto the book itself, the first 2 pages has a CD containing the OST..

While the 2nd page contains this short but sweet sentence.. ^^

So what is inside the ArtBook?? Well, other than just the info about the songs that is inside the CD, there is also a whole set of Fan-made pictures made by artist, both local and international..

Let us start from the local artist, mainly from the Collateral Damage group..

There are alot of fan-made “mini” pictures made by them.. The ones I knew are Xephonia, Mistayoh and Mantoro..

When I scanned through, I was very happy to see the Miku and Shana fan-arts..

Well, here is the 2 original pictures made by Xephonia.. The recent art is Kagamine Rin.. ^^

Now let us move on to the Guest artist.. Here is the list of them who drew beautiful artworks and are showcased in this book..

Their artworks look splendid.. I even like the artwork of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.. Looks awesome..

However I am quite sad to see the artwork of Suzumiya Haruhi since she is smack-dab in the binding of the book.. Pity, wanted to tear the page out but in the end it was not worth the risk.. ^^

Well, after the review about some of the pictures found in the ArtBook, let us move on to the OST CD which comes together with the ArtBook..

In the CD, there are about 18 tracks composed by TERA.. His music masterpieces in the OST is very awesome.. Some of the songs are so soothing you can listen to them to calm you down or even when you doing your homework..

The song I particularly like is The Awakening ( Track No. 15 ).. It is quite soothing yet will not make you fall asleep.. it almost sounds like the background music before an epic battle is about to start..

Well, that is all it is about the SuperScenic ArtBook & the OST CD.. I hope you enjoy reading this entry.. If you want to hear a preview of the songs in the OST, you can visit the website by the link below..

It is the 2nd day of the Toys & Comic Convention 2008 held at the Suntec Convention Hall lvl 6..

Before we even start going into the convention, we must plan ahead so that people like me do not lose track of what you are really supposed to do.. Do that first and you can relax for the whole of the day..

Now here is a revised plan of the map.. Old one can be found in my previous entry..

Legends:

Black Line = First path, going through Green & Yellow-circled booths..

Red Line = Second path, going all the way to the Blue-circled redemption booth..

Pink = A Priority 1 booth to go to when just entering the convention; The Star Wars booth.. XD

Green = Booths that I will go to make my purchase of some stuffs.. ^^

Yellow = Booths that I must go to stamp my passport for the redemption offer 2morrow..

Blue = Booth that I must head to after everything is done.. Last place to go to.. Ouh, it is the redemption booth.. ^^

So after getting my 1st stamp onto my TCC passport at Nintendo and the 2nd stamp at Chuang Yi, I went straight to the Hasbro booth which is better known as the Star Wars booth..

In there, you can see all the figures, action figures and even the miniature vehicles that you see in movies..


This is a big scene area where Darth Vader gets to meet the Emporer himself..

Next up would be the amphitheater of Storm Troopers and Clone Troopers..

All led by one single person, George Lucas himself.. ^^

More pics at the booth..


Ok, here is what the TCC passport looks like.. Although it looks quite worthless to some people who unknowingly take it, this passport is actually quite a worth thing to hold and get stamped..

Because after you’ve managed to stamp every spot in this passport, you are entitled to get freebies at the redemption counter..

Problem is, Singapore is well-known for its very long queues.. So some were taken by surprise by the long lon queues..

Ok, now onto our next location, the Collateral Damage booth at the South of the map overview.. It is booth number 4 btw.. ^^

This is one of their artwork which is very nice.. And of course there is Hatsune Miku and Reimu Hakurei in it.. 2 for the price of 1…

However, they say that it will be sold next week during the CosFest at Downtown East..

Well, I after I got all my stamps, I was actually ready to roam around the convention free till later on to collect the freebies.. Anyway, went to the Bandai booth to get some pictures of the Gundams there..

Enjoy!!






This is the best gundam anyone who visited the booth wanted to see and maybe even buy it; the Shin Musha Gundam.. ^^

More gundam pictures..

These are the 2 other BIG SD gundams on show other than the Chohi Gundam..


A random shot of the Kamen Riders.. They are awesome lol.. ^^

Next up would be the toys from TouMart and Devil Robots.. Although they look unique, they are actually quite big.. Some are 1/7 scale while some are 1/5 scale..

This ones are special.. They are called Tofu guys.. You can make your own face on the blank Tofu Guy if you collected him on the 1st day of the convention..





A poster of the famous Dan Dare.. He was one of my old-school heroes.. Yes really old-school..

A shot of one of the Storm Trooper near the stage area..

Storm Trooper and Suzumiya Haruhi… What are the odds???

Now lets move on to the D-Box booth.. Well, what kind of stuff are they showcasing??

Well, the booth is showcasing the vibrating chairs which can simulates the bumps that you can feel in real vehicles when you are on the dirt track etc..

The game looks fun btw.. But too bad I didn’t try it since the queue was very long..

Ah yes, one of the few Power Rangers Megazords that was shown in a booth near the Bandai booth.. Sorry if I can’t remember the name of that booth though..

Anyway, just by looking at this, I can say that they must have been taking care of this megazord set like crazy to be in great condition.. Why?? Well, this one is actually from the 1st Power Ranger series..

Sadly, mine was totaled long time ago.. Pity..

Some of the other Megazords at the booth..

LEGO Star Wars.. Well, not literally the game itself..

A shot of OLD Solid Snake.. Wonder how old can he still be if the game progresses on…

Ok, now here is main reason why most of the people really come to the TCC..

So from here till the end below are pictures of cosplayers.. Some were great while some were just alright IMO.. The cosplayers were already at the convention by 12pm, 2 hours before the main CosCon (Costume Convention) kick off..

Well, without further ado, enjoy looking at the pictures.. ^^

Now it is the Vocaloid cosplay.. Everyone was like taking out their respective cameras when the Hatsune Miku and the Akaito cosplayer pose.. The great thing is that the Hatsune Miku cosplay is the winner for the Single Category of the Anime Cosplay Competition..

To me, the Hatsune Miku cosplayer looks quite good, even her voice almost sounded like Hatsune Miku herself.. Well, that is just me since I am a fan of Miku.. Orz..

Enjoy the rest of the pics..

Now back to the remaining pictures of the other cosplayers..

I especially like the Jedi cosplayers.. They know their stuff man.. Their moves were almost exact to the ones on movies.. But I LOL’ed when one of the Jedi’s lightsaber wasn’t bright enough..

I was like..

Who can’t resist the Afro Guy from DDR2.. Everyone loved him.. ^^

That is all for the 2nd day of the Toys & Comic Convention 2008.. Hope you enjoy reading this tl’dr entry..

Well, if you to see more of the pictures, you can visit my flickr page to see them.. Click here to visit the page..

For 2morrow, I will be showing you all the loot I got for the 2nd day of the convention.. For now, I’m going to sleep since school gonna start tomorrow..

Finally I have the time to post about the 1st DAY of the Toys & Comic Convention 2008 organized by Animax & Singapore Tourism Board (STB).. Well, to begin the day, well the day didn’t start out very great.. Why do you ask??

Well, the long queue to get into the event was like EPIC.. Very EPIC indeed..

Well, the queue was so long that the management for the T&C Convention was pressurised that it had to cancel the registration-option and let everyone into the event..

Once inside, the first booth that caught our attention was the Wii booth by Nintendo.. They have from Guitar Hero 3 to WiiFit.. All of these later below..

The best thing is this.. A great shot of Panther with one of the girls working for Nintendo..

Wanted to put the Anime-Baka badge on his face to hide his identity but gave up on that idea.. ^^

Since today was just the first day, we were just taking a stroll around the whole convention to see what was in store for us.. So first up it was the Bandai booth where we were greeted by a few giant SD Gundams..

I prefer this gundam; Chohi Gundam so I took a pic of him..

Next up is the Simply Toys booth where they have almost every head replicas from movies..

Example would be from the Lord of The Rings like this helmet of the Great Sauron..

And also the Iron Man’s helmet.. I like the glowing light coming from it’s eyes.. ^^

The next booth we went to was the Magic; The Gathering booth.. They have free demos for anyone, pros and non-pros to pit their skills with the people working there.. I can say that some of them are very good players since they can beat some of the people there (not counting the very pro and non-pros)..

This is the Hasbro booth which has almost alot of Star Wars figurines… Since the place was packed, I had to take this one shot.. I will take more pictures 2morrow on the 2nd Day of the event..

A booth that doesn’t exist??? Right…

Next up is the Rapid Culture booth nearby.. It took us awhile since the whole route there was packed with people going here and there..

The shop sells stuff like miniature cars and also vehicle-related toys like Transformers etc..

Random picture from one of the booths there.. The poster looks very nice..

Another random picture.. To INFINITY AND BEYOND!! LOL..

The LEGO booth was up next.. The place was unique as it doesn’t have any barriers like normal booths have.. Instead it is an open area where young kids can come in and make their own lego masterpiece..

If you are not interested in building one, you can still look at some pre-made masterpieces of prominent buildings like MICA..

And this must be an example of a HDB neighbourhood.. Looks weird but to the people who made this, you deserve an A+ for putting a great effort in building this.. ^^

This one will be the Winner part of the entry.. Just see both pictures and tell me what is wrong with the pictures..


Next we move on to the other booths.. We start off with 77 Star Pte Ltd.. This company is the one that made Singapore 1st anime series, Gacha=Gacha… ^^ I like their show since although graphic still wasn’t that good..

We must support Singapore anime industry.. Right??

Next up we have the 501st Legion – SG Garrison; Singapore’s own Star Wars group..

Now lets head back to the Wii booth.. There we get to see some players play it out in Guitar Hero 3.. Awesome stuffs happened there..

Even the players were wearing boots that fit the game genre somehow.. ^^


The EPICness of the players playing Guitar hero 3 even attracted the attention of this Chibi dude who took some shots of the players.. Everyone around me, including me, couldn’t resist taking a photoshot of him lol..

More shots of Guitar Hero 3..

Other than just the 2 of them, there were also some people who played the game quite well, even better than the main players playing in the centre of the Wii booth..

But nothing is fun than watching the cosplay competition which started around 3pm..

Before this, Panther and Dead Snake went off to La Tendo so that Panther could collect his figurines and after that he will head off to Bugis for some arcade fun..

Anyway, enjoy the pictures.. ^^





The winner for the group western cosplay category goes to the Star Wars Jedis while the Runner-Up went to the Star Trek group..

For the single categories, the 3rd place went to the Star Trek officer.. The 2nd place went to Godzilla (Aww, he could win 1st place lol)..

Last but not least the winner for the single categories goes to the Clone Trooper Commander(Duuno his full name, very sorry).. He would be the center person in this picture..

At this time, Gordon, Double, CI and his friend went back already since they were not interested in queueing for the Negima figumates.. That later on..

Back to the Wii booth, me, my brother Infestor51, BigguGai and his friend, Kenny were shocked to see Allen Walker and some meido girl playing Guitar Hero 3.. We were like, “Must take some shots of them!!”.. orz..


More pics of mechas from the Bandai booths.. More shots 2morrow.. ^^


Now this is another best part of the entry, the showcase of the EPIC hauls from the convention..

Other than the 2 posters, me and Infestor51 first have the 2 figumates from Negima!: Magister Negi Magi.. We got Asuna and Fei Ku…

Then we have this weird-looking ice-cream monster toys.. Dunno what to say about those..

Next up we have the KidRobot toys..

Then we have 2 faceless Tofu toys..

And to end it, we have 2 free starter decks of Magic the Gathering..

You know why we got some good ones while also got the weird stuffs? The answer is tht they are freebies and they were up for redemption.. So since it is free, might as well join in the fun right?? ^^

Now here would be the overview map of the convention.. Quite a lot of companies who set up their booths in such conventions that began just this year..

Now onto 2morrow.. I made a plan overview of what is to be done when I am there at the convention..

Black Line = First path, going through Green & Yellow-circled booths..

Red Line = Second path, going all the way to the Blue-circled redemption booth..

Green = Booths that I will go to make my purchase of some stuffs.. ^^

Yellow = Booths that I must go to stamp my passport for the redemption offer 2morrow..

Blue = Booth that I must head to after everything is done.. Last place to go to.. Ouh, it is the redemption booth.. ^^

Well, there you have it, the 1st day of the convention.. Well, I need to sleep now so that I have sufficient energy for the 2nd day which includes Japanese-related cosplay..

IF you want to look at more pics of todays event, you can visit my Flickr folder here..

Although I made an entry about the Street Festival (StreetFest) a few days ago, I’ve decided to make another one.. No, it is not another post about more pictures taken during the festival or about the iDOLM@STER pic above..

This time however is about the videos recorded during the festival..

Yup, I’m talking about the videos of the cosplayers and some additional people doing well-known otaku-related dances, such as Nyan Nyan, Danjo, etc…

Now let us begin with the first one which is the group doing Caramelldansen.. Below is a screenshot of the Caramelldansen I made using MikuMikuDance.. For more info about this click here..

Note: All videos embedded here are of “&fmt=18″ quality so do not move the progress bar of the player. It is still buggy..

So without further waiting, here is the video..

Next up is the Hare Hare Yukai Dance which most people know about. The dance comes from the ED of Suzumiya Haruhi.

The best thing is is that there have been a Special version of the ED (without the credits and full of dance) and another version that is in 3D and all chracters are wearing costumes instead of uniforms..

Again, here is the grand video of the Hare Hare Yukai Dance.. Enjoy!!

Last but not least we have the Nyan Nyan Dance from the anime series Macross Frontier (or known as Macross F).. The dance was actually done by a character in the anime named Ranka Lee..

I’ve posted about this dance way before the 2nd Outing so check it out by clicking here..

Anyway, here is the video.. I’ve edited it so it fit nicely to the Nyan Nyan song Rock Edition.. XD

And there you have it, the dances that are recorded during the StreetFest ’08.. Although the dances were alright, I give them an A+ for effort since judging by the Hare Hare Yukai dance, they knew how to dance the full song.. I’m honoured to get a chance to watch that..

These videos are all recorded by my friend, Akabane who used his psp to get the dances (Good Job btw!!)..

I also like to thank Infestor51 for helping me in editing the videos and put in songs, this-that.. ^^

Actually, there is one more video Akabane recorded which is the Danjo dance.. Problem is I couldn’t find the song online so I’m putting that on hold till I can find some good source..

However, Jon did post about the original video (minus the music added in) on his blog so check it out.. Click here for the link..

Since I have the edited videos, I want to share them with everyone by putting them on Mediafire, so you can download the videos themselves without the hassle of getting it from youtube..

For Caramelldansen video : Click here..
For Hare Hare Yukai video: Click here..
For Nyan Nyan video : Click here..

BTW, will catch the CosCon in the Singapore Toys & Comic Convention this June.. Got an email by the guy about the free pre-entry into the event.. Hope I get a better camera by then..

Good Smile Company finally re-announced about the new Nendoroid Mikuru Asahina recently.. This comes after they announced the Tsuruya, Nagato and Suzumiya version in the Nendoroid series..

The figure is about 10cm tall.. Mikuru comes dressed in her waitress outfit and comes with three different faces, each with a different facial expression…

This is the front and back view of the nendoroid Mikuru..

The figure also comes with an interchangeable hand and green beam, demonstrating her powers. I particularly like this pose..

“No pantsu shot” or Nendroid Mikuru will “Mikuru Beamu” you XD. Almost forgot, the Nendoroid Mikuru’s twintails are moveable.. At least you can make the effects of her hair standing on top when she is doing “Mikuru Beamu”.. ^^

Well, the good thing of having this is that it matches with the original figurine of Mikuru, except the mention of heights..

I recommend anyone to pre-order this now.. This figurine coast about 3000Yen Which is about SGD$40.. It is slated to be released on June 2008.. Maybe Kureha is still a better choice.. Hmm..

Don’t wait till it is out.. Who knows, it will be sold out on it’s launch day.. Source pic is from GSC website..

Max Factory has done us proud again.. They have released some preview shots of Mikuru in her Cultural Festival uniform..

Just look at her. She is so wonderfully crafted! Amazing details, especially the dress. Even her ribbon are so nice. She can easily make anybody fall in love with her ( maybe even drool just looking at her )..

Rear view of the figurine..

Close-up on her face.. So moe!!

But only one other character can challenge that; Tsuruya-san..

Tsuruya-san with cat ears and tail attached.. Totally awesome..

A close-up on Tsuruya’s face.. So kawaii!!

The good thing is, if you get both Tsuruya and Mikuru Cultural Festival Ver., they will both look nice together.. Well, looking at this pic makes me want to buy both of them..

Tsuruya figurine is already released on February ’08 while Mikuru ver. will be out in July ’08.. Each cost about 5800 yen which is about SGD$80.. So total both up and I would need about at least SGD$160.. Well, from now till July I’m gonna save up to maybe buy those 2 figurines..

Though I wonder if I should buy gundam first?

I would like to introduce to you a game I tried out during my few days at home.. Well, let’s go back to it’s predecessor first to know about it’s gameplay..

The game is called, “Suzumiya Haruhi Chourantou”.. It is a doujin game made by Souvenir Circ..

So the game starts in the loading screen, showing Haruhi with a speech bubble about the company’s name and whatsoever..

Then there are 2 modes to play in this game; Story mode and Free Play mode.. In Free Play mode, you get to select from 7 characters.. They are Kyon, Haruhi, Koizumi, Mikuru, Nagato, Asakura and Tsuruya…

In Story mode, you get to play only Kyon’s story and since my understanding of Japanese writing is weak, I only understand partially of the whole thing..

So I chose Free Play mode and chose Nagato as my char while I placed Asakura and Haruhi as my enemies.. Each character has his/her own heavy attack.. When their ‘SOS’ bar is at 50% or more, he/she can activate his/her own special attack on the enemy..

Another interesting about this game is that there is this special orb that drops from the “?” box.. If your character collects this orb, the character will transform into costume mode.. In this particular mode, your super attack is change to a new one and deal a greater damage..

Now I will show you the newest one the Souvenir Circ. has made..

This new game is called “Suzumiya Haruhi Gekitou”.. Although the gameplay is all the same, the interface however has gone through a total makeover..

In the game startup screen, instead of Suzumiya Haruhi, Kyon’s little sister took over her position..

In the main menu, there are 2 new options to choose from.. The first one will be the Mission mode.. You have to complete a certain objective to get equips for your characters..

These unlocked equips will be shown in the Status option.. In here, you can mix and match any equips on your character.. However, each equipment has a special effect on the character such as wearing a Top HAt allows your character ‘SOS’ bar to regen slowly..

Other than that, there are 3 new characters added into the game; Kyon’s little sister & Konata and Akira from “Lucky Star”..

THere is also 2 new maps added into the game.. With equips and new characters to play, the game’s mayhem is getting very interesting to play for hours….

I was somewhat lucky to get this game since Kadokawa Shoten Co. Ltd. decides to ban all doujin-related things about Suzumiya Haruhi..

So if you can somehow beg to someone who lives in Japan, visited the Comiket and bought this game, then good for you.. If you seriously think that this game sucks, you are totally wrong..

So have fun playing this game!!