Today was a severely win-filled day. Normally I work 12-5 on Friday's, then go out with my girlfriend and/or
my
friends. That's already an improvement from the rest of the week when I have to think about homework,
school,
etc. However, this Friday trumped other Fridays on several intense levels. I got the day off to go wait in line
in
South Beach in front of a make up store called Sephora. This isn't normally along my line of interests,
however
there was a guest coming later that night that warranted my early (at least for me) wake up.

For those that have played Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, Utada Hikaru should be a familar. For those that are not,
she's an incredibly popular J-Pop star (she has the best selling album EVER in Japan) who sang the
openings of
both games. For some odd reason, Sephora was promoting her latest english album, This is the One and
they decided to send her to Miami. Being a devout fan of hers, I made sure to inform the correct parties, and
I
found myself in line with Taticakes,
SakuChan, [url=http://tomopop.com/index.phtml?
a=1141]Andres Cerrato[/url] of Tomopop fame, my friend Jabel and the one and only Colette Bennett!


Saku, Jabel, Me, and Taticakes, with Andres and fiancé in the background.

So after waiting for about 6-7 hours in line, we got in, without and RSVP no less! For details on the show,
keep
an eye out on Japanator, but after about an hour and some initial disappointment, everybody walked out with
a
signed photo of Utada, which made me week.


Utada pic, behind my Eye Up Yoko,
where
it will remain until I can afford a frame for it!

After the show, we all went out to an excellent Japanese restaurant. Post-dinner, we said our goodbyes and
went home. When I get home, I find an interesting package. Inside the package I find this!



My Mother 3 guide book came after months of anxious waiting. I
know Scary Womanizing Pig Mask already
made a post about his book, but I couldn't resist snapping a couple of photos of my book and the other
goodies it came with. Stuff like...



my Courage Badge, along with a sketch of Tessie and the Starman logo, which will be going on my car
tomorrow morning.

A good day overall I'd say :-D

So like any good Mother fan, I anxiously scooped up the translation to Mother 3 the second I
saw it released. Upon downloading it, I noticed that the good folks that did the hard work are
also releasing a Handbook to go along with the game. If you want to show these people that
you appreciate the sheer amount of work that went into this project, consider showing them
some love and preorder this lovely!

Agreed Luigi, agreed.

Anyway, I'm somewhat cross-posting this from my blog on Tomopop, however this encompasses my whole roo...er...'work area' and not just the figures.



Walking into my room, this would the first thing you would see, as long as your vision is better than my shitty camera. That bright red thing at the bottom of the pic is a blanket covering my work/gaming chair, purchased at Sears for a mere $20. The fan behind it is used to keep me from overheating in the insane heat of my room. As for the book case, you'll see it later.



This is the wall next to my bed. You'll notice a theme here, mostly of my Gurren Lagann obsession (it's really damn good). That poster was yoinked at Otakon from the Bandai booth the day my Miami group went out in costume. The print of Garlock Simon was also picked up that day. The current highlight of the wall is the mecha girl which was in the latest issue of Megami, the Pedo Bear's favorite magazine. She's a delectable combination of Veritech and moé.



On the other side of the bed are some more posters, this one a bit more varied. Besides the amazingly GAR pic of Kenpachi, there are posters of Gustav Klimpt's "The Kiss" and the original Matrix. Despite my disappointment with the rest of the series, the first film is still a favorite of mine. Oh, and don't fuck with John Locke. Motherfucker has an entire island on his side.



This is where magical shit happens (work, art, gaming, etc.) My TV is a 26" 720p Olevia that also serves as my monitor for my compy. It's cluttered, it's messy, I love it. I have my games in the upper right cupboard. I would post a pic of it, only my shitty camera ran out of juice when I went to take a pic of it. I basically have a ton of PS2 and DS games, a bunch of them unplayed. Also there are my GBA games, Wii, and PS3 games. I've had waaaaaaaay more in my time, yet my urge for certain games has lead me to trade in quite a few games, usually leading to traders remorse.



Here is where most of my money went before I got more into collection statues. In this bookcase lies my anime and manga, as well as part of my DVD collection which spreads from the black bookcase to the left to the bottom row of the brown case. The second row contains my artbooks and my all of my Megami, which is slowly taking over the shelf. The middle shelf has my manga and a couple of plushies. The top two shelves house my anime collection, which is sorely behind in many different series. The second row from the top also has my PS3 arcade stick that refuses to work with SC4, as I mentioned earlier. It hasn't been used since, but I suppose I should go and see what I can do to make that son of a bitch work.



Finally, if you desire escape you must use this door. It has yet another TTGL poster on it, as well as my Kyle Rainer poster, still the best Green Lantern out there (I'm looking at you Hal).

That's all folks. Again, if you want to see my figs, check me out at Tomopop.

So a bit before my excursion to Otakon (which you can read a bit more about on Go For Broke at Tomopop) I decided to mess around with the create-a-character in Soulcalibur. That being so, I churned out a few solid pieces of silver, if not gold.

First up is every bodies favorite aniki, Kamina of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann fame.



I gave him Mitsurugi's style, since he carries around that impossibly sized katana most of the time he's not improperly using a hand gun.



After I was done immortalizing the great Kamina, I decided to make the Chrono Trigger cast, as it's the first thing I try whenever I have a decent create-a-character option. First up is Chrono with Mitsurugi's move set yet again.





Next up is Marle. She and Ayla were difficult since I haven't unlocked many tube tops for the ladies, but I used what I could. I gave her Tira's move set since the option for crossbows doesn't exist.



Following Marle I made Lucca. She and Robo are the ones I'm proudest of. She get Talim's moveset.



I made Frog next, but since I lack frog form options he looks like Piccolo of Dragon Ball Z fame.



I gave him Sophitia's move set since all the character art has him with a sword and shield, though further thought encourages me to give him Seigfriend's move set since Sophitia's moves tend to be a bit more feminine.



I made Magus next. I would like it better if I could give him pointed ears and earrings, but hey, I did what I could.



It was handy that Zasamel uses a scythe.



Next up is the one that I spent the most time with, Robo. Considering there was a lack of robotics in the mode, I decided to make him into a armored rendition of the original design.



Choosing a move set was tough, but I believe I gave him Nightmare's moves and a glowing Soul Edge to boot.



Finally, I made Ayla. I had the same problem with her that I had with Marle, but after some monkeying around I was able to get a decent facsimile.



I gave Ayla a mace as a weapon since the official art has her with a bludgeon.



I think I'm done for now. When I get more parts I'll keep attacking it.

So a couple months back I decided to look for the PS3 arcade stick that Aaron Linde
suggested that people buy. Well, I managed to find the very same Hori stick that he was
talking about and I've been enjoying it ever since.

HOWEVER

I pop in SC4 into my PS3 and find that the game doesn't recognize my stick at all except for
the Home button on the top. When I press it, it jumps to the XMB and then all of a sudden the
system recognizes the stick. So it'll work with every other fighting game EXCEPT the game
that I originally bought the stick for. Is anybody else having the same problem?

Other than that I'm really enjoying the game. The create a character is a blast, the gameplay
proper is amazing, the online mode worked like a charm without any lost frames. The only
thing tarnishing this great game is the fact that I'm forced to use the Dualshock 3 with a game
that is clearly meant for a stick.