Fate Testarossa… I like her name… Something about it has a nice kind of tone to it…
My first PVC figurine by ALTER. My friend Bevan already has two, and so I’m very much aware of ALTER’s amazing quality and designs. So, being one of my most loved characters, this “Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha’s” “Fate Testarossa” was definitely on my “to order” list and after being delayed several times, she finally arrived in early February.
I did an initial Photoshoot a few days after arriving at Leon’s place, but wasn’t too happy with my results. So these are photos from a second photoshoot using a makeshift lightbox and some are open air with lights.
Finally got around to seeing “Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st”, the first movie of everyone’s favourite mahou-shoujo anime, in the beauty of high-definition! The movie, for those unaware, was a remake of the original first season of the Nanoha series, and is the first, of what will (hopefully) be a series of movies.
Although two of the mains, Nanoha and Fate, are two of my most favourite characters, I can’t really say that the overall original series was all that impressive. (notably, StrikerS, and I can’t really be bothered with following ViVid and Force as I haven’t finished StrikerS) When I heard about the making of the movie, I knew that I just had to watch it, and just couldn’t wait to see how the producers, Seven Arcs, would adapt the 13 episode first season, into a 2 hour movie.
(I’ll be making quite a few comparisons to the original series, so I’ll say SPOILER ALERT just in case)
These ‘holdiays’ or ‘breaks’ are supposed to be relaxing right? Well… I’m incredibly tired at the moment… I’d say it’s because I’ve been doing too many things/going out too much, but I’d imagine there are quite a few of you out there who have done a lot more than I have and probably still have a lot more energy than I do.
I got super-excited, and super-proud of Japan when i heard the news that the Blu-ray disc version of “Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st” topped Japan’s weekly Blu-ray disc charts, selling 58000 copies over the November 22-28 week. Furthermore, “The DVD version ranked #2 on its respective chart with 22,758 copies. The film had taken in 380 million yen (about US$4.4 million) at the box office this year.”
Listening To – ♫ “Encoder” by Pendulum, and “Innocent Starter” by Nana Mizuki ♫ Currently Eating – Deep Fried Squid, Chinotto (Bitter Cola), Cake, Profiterole, Ice Cream. Mood – Tired, Saddened, Mildy Depressed, Wants a life other than this…
:: Generally
I’m supposed to be writing a speak for English, but I am so not in the mood. Eveything just seems… worthless…. Yeah, I know, this sounds like some teen-emo-rant thingy but really. I hate this world. For some reason, more today than for a long time. Though, none of this emo-talk is due to some bad argument with my parents, or whatever normally makes people depressed/emo… I do have all my upcoming exams and assignments, as well as not getting much sleep last night. (By that, I mean 4 hours. Which I cannot live on), but they’re not the reasons either. Believe it or not… it’s all thanks to some Anime and fanfics…
:: Anime Related
This is bad. This is really bad.
As some of you may know, the Nanoha Movie has just been released on DVD and Blu-ray. It reignited my mild-ish Nanoha obsession, to the point where I think things are getting a little out of hand… Although I’m restraining myself not to see it till early January so that I can watch it with my friends, I’m finding I need to get quick doses of Nanoha without having to re-watch the series.
Now, I love Nanoha. And I love Fate. I also love Nanoha and Fate. In fact. The “Nanofate” ‘couple’… is my favourite Anime pairing… Which lead me to the wonderfully insightful Nanofate.us, a group dedicated to the pairing, and a fansite containing many translated doujins, as well as providing a large-ish dedicated image board, and fanfics. And recently, I became very attached to a fanfic by ‘Satashi‘ titled: “Saved by the Bell“.
I love how it’s an alternative story-line. The young-adult years, in a world where they aren’t searching for Lost Logia, or “Mahou Shoujo” for that matter. Some things kind of shocked me at first, (mainly Precia) but it’s very cute and sweet. (Makes me all warm and fluffy inside. XD) I’m only up to chapter 12 right now, and I don’t like some of the decisions that Nanoha’s making, but it can’t be helped. (Then it wouldn’t be as interesting I guess)
:aww:
:: Technology/Gadget Related
I’m still waiting for the Dell Venue Pro. After playing around with a Samsung Omnia 7, I definitely want the Venue Pro. It’s basically the same thing except the Venue Pro has a slider portrait QWERTY, which I don’t necessarily need, and if the Venue Pro doesn’t come out in December, the Omnia may be my option.
Speaking of which, when I was playing with the Omnia at an Optus store, some Indians come in, (not meaning to be offensive or anything) see the Nokia N8 and start yelling loudly in excitement. They start playing around with it, trying to find the camera app, while saying how good it is. Meanwhile, I’m playing with an Omnia 7, whizzing through zune, camera, photos, people etc. And by the time I’m finish…ed. They were still trying to find the camera app… Fail.
In my search for a laptop, I believe I’ve narrowed it down to two: HP Envy 14, and Asus U43JC Bamboo… Not sure which one, am leaning towards the Asus for a number of reasons, but the Envy definitely still has a lot of pull for me.
I find the PV for the Bamboo to be much nicer than the Envy’s…
Anyway, that’s a quick-ish wrap for me… I need to get back to English…
My eyes feel so much better without my glasses on… Everytime I use my DSLR for long-ish periods of photo-ing, my eyes seem to hurt… And being around dogs doesn’t seem to help either.
I love a good trip to the City, and poker, and last days at school, and spending money, and recieiving packages, and taking photos of my Anime merch and such. =D
Package 11 of ?:
Arrived – 6th July
Origin – Tokyo, Japan (Amiami.com)
Value – ¥10643 JPY ($144.41 AUD)
Contents: “Bakemonogatari Puchi Nendoroid Set 2”, “Fate Testarossa Tea Cup”, “Nanoha Takamachi Tea Cup”, “Angel Beats – Track Zero”, “Keep the Beats – Girls Dead Monster CD”
It has been a rather slow week, generally uneventful in terms of the outside world. School, work… There’s been a lot going on in regards to politics here… But in terms of things that effect me directly, four maths tests spread over today, and the next few days. Should be fun.
I also received a to boxes from places I usually buy from. So more money down the drain…
I’m also trying to deal with a slightly shady Nigerian Buyer on eBay… O_o
Package 9 of ?:
Arrived – 18th June
Origin – Sydney Australia (Minidisc.com)
Value – $335 AUD
Contents: “Shure SE420 In-ear Monitors”
Package 10 of ?:
Arrived – 25th June
Origin – Tokyo, Japan (Amiami.com)
Value – ¥9397 JPY ($126.55 AUD)
Contents: “Nanoha Takamachi Nendoroid Plush”, “Fate Testarossa Nendoroid Plush”, “Angel Beats OP and ED First Release Limited Edition w/ DVD”
So, after finally opening my Fate figma about a week ago, I’ve finally gotten around to doing a photoshoot for both my Fate and Nanoha figma’s by MAX Factory. I can’t say the results for this photoshoot were as awesome as the photos I had for Bevan’s ALTER Nanoha near a month ago. Some of the images, as you will see, are rather noisy, and for some reason, my three lamps didn’t want to play very nice with lighting all the time…
All these shots are indoor, and with my makeshift “lightbox”. I’d like to see if I can get them outside sometime in the future, and see if I can get any “epic” shots of the two.
Poker at Bevan’s! It had been a while since I had played poker with everyone… Alas, I don’t really have that good poker skills anyway… It was good to see Nanoha again though.
