I just got the new Final Fantasy Play Arts figure set and they're pretty awesome. They look a lot like the extra Knights that came out in ninety-nine, but with more detail and a lot more opposable. Dagger is my favourite, but that could be because she was my favourite character in the game. So I could be a little biassed. This is the first set they've put out where they look exactly like the CG models. With the other games, the figures were way more realistic than what the characters looked like. Though, I probably wouldn't have bought Final Fantasy the Final Fantasy VII figures if they looked like lego men. (Who am I kidding I own the original lego-man figures)

Other than a Dagger figure that came out a couple of years ago, it seems to be the norm to keep the FF IX guys their cute in-proportionate selves. Even in Dissidia, Zidane was far more cartoony then anyone else. As much as I like the super realisic models in the newer games, the FF IX characters do have a certain charm to them. I'm glad that it translated into the action figures.

I also got a few of the Nick Furry Files Marvel Figures. When they first came out I got Iron Fist and Ronin. This weekend I picked up Ms. Marvel current and Classic and Spider-man. For they're size, they're really nice figures. Just about as a opposable as a Play Arts figure and only about three inches. The only problem is that I'm running out of space on my shelves. Boo!

I was in contact with the lottery people and they gave me a really good reason why it's taken so long, but I'm not holding my breath. Last time I had contact I asked if I could send my script by attachment or if I should send it in the body of an email and I haven't heard back since Monday, so yeah. I'm thinking if it happens great, no...oh well live and learn.

Anyways, I didn't want to whine about that nonsense. I actually wanted to talk about X-men: Misfits. It turns out it does exactly what it's supposed to do: attract the manga/girl crowd. My younger sister noticed it on my shelf and decided to read it. She really liked it, because it's super girly and has lots of pretty boys and that overcoming adversary storyline. She even went as far as to start reading Astonishing X-men before passing Misfits onto a friend, who borrowed Young Avengers and New Mutants. I'd gotten both of them to read a couple of Runaways trades previously, which they enjoyed but had no interest to read into the Marvel Universe further.

So after my sister read through Astonishing and a couple of other things, she asked me which female characters were going to make it into the next volume. It turns out there's a description at the back for the next volume, which promises some new female mutants to tread on Kitty's turf. Now, I'd like to see Karma, Mirage, Magik and Wolfsbane show up, since they don't get enough face time as they should. (Sure there's the third incarnation of New Mutants and Wolfsbane is in X-Force, but there are a lot of other mutants they have to share the spotlight with.) They might also go the route of bringing together all of the girls that Wolverine mentored: Rouge, Jubilee and Armor, But given the tone of the book and the use of the Hellfire club, I think that they'll go with the unimaginably-hot-bitchy-rival way and bring in Emma Frost and Selene. Besides it doesn't matter what universe Emma's in, she'd love to have a whole school of easily manipulated pretty boys at her beck and call.

Edit: I just realised that the Scarlet Witch would be ideal for Misfits, since not only are her brother and father both present, but she could easily placed as the best friend with self esteem issues due to little control over her powers. Plus Wanda has all kind of crazy breakdown potential. Also, I'd love Anole or Northstar to show up as the Gay Boyfriend. Or have them both show up, launching a spin-off yaoi title bringing Marvel more fangirls than they know what to do with.
 

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but a couple of months ago I bought a manga featuring Wolverine out of curiosity. On the first page it basically tells you to forget everything you know about Wolverine and the Marvel Universe. Other than the character's name and abilities Wolverine is nothing like any of his other incarnations. Logan is a teenage rebel living at a reclusive Canadian Dojo, where he angsts about being the best there is at what he does. Despite my initial misgivings, I actually enjoyed it. The book was fast paced, interesting and had great artwork. It left me wanting more, which is exactly what a series should do. However, it's been a long time since they released that first volume and there's not a lot of information on when a second volume will be released.

So last week Delrey released another Marvel based manga, this one involving the X-men. More accurately it's a shojo manga involving Kitty Pryde. It follows the standard shojo formula; average girl, tons of pretty boys, boyfriend troubles and overcoming personal obstacles. The plot follows Kitty as she's shipped off to Xavier's as the first female student that's attended in years.

Now I'm not a shojo fan, but I enjoyed Misfits on some levels. The writers did a lot of research into the X-universe, so it's simultaneously the same old X-men, while being nothing like X-men. In some ways it reminded me of the Wallflower, which I hated, but less degrading. Kitty actually makes a decent shojo character, without falling into damsel territory. And for the most part, she's fairly in character, which I can't say for the others. In-particular Iceman and Cyclops, who are an icy bitch and hyper-sensitive-vegan-blowhard respectively.

The artwork is gorgeous, but waaaay too girly for an X-title...but it fits the shojo aspect. Everyone in this manga is drawn as an over the top pretty boy, it's quite distracting. I can't really find the right words to describe it, so here are some pictures.

Cause you know, I have way too much time on my hands.



It's my running theory that when they make the X-Force Marvel Legends, which is very likely, that Elixir might not make the cut. There's a lot of members on the team who really define action. It's a fast paced book and Elixir's their healer...who's once again in a coma. He's never even warranted a cover appearance, so an action figure is unlikely. Hell, he'd probably be looked over on a New X-men line of figures. So I decided to make my own.

I used a Playarts Kadaj figure as my base (because in my opinion Playarts makes the prettiest actions figures around) and cut away most of the excess plastic. I did a bit of sculpting on the body, but most of it was done on the hair. I chose the hairstyle he had during the Skottie Young run and his X-Force uniform, since those were my favourites. As for the paints, I really wanted him to sparkle so I used a mix of airbrush paints and acrylics.

I still have a lot of room to improve, but I personally think that he turned out a lot better than my Locke action figure, which I'm in the middle of fixing.
 

So after a lot of procrastinating and a broken laptop later, I'm finally done. That's right, you don't have to see another 30_kisses pic from me ever again. So this one is a little different. It's not my best (in my opinion that would be # 10), but I wanted to try something new. So I sketched the whole thing then coloured it. No inking involved. Unfortunately I used my big sketch book and it was too damn big to scan at home, so I had to use a scanner at work that didn't pick up all the lines. So there you go, a pairing that no one had heard of and that is now kind of popular. I hope that I'm at least a little responsible for that.


Title: Home
Pairing: Wither/Elixir
Fandom: New X-men
Theme: # 20 The Road Home.
Rating/Warning: G!
Disclaimer: New X-men and all related characters are copyright Marvel Comics.

 

A little bored...

The Yaoi Fandom Meme!

 

I had a bit of an ADD fit while lazing around and watching a whole Season of Robot Chicken. Here are the results!

Note: None of this is in colour and is very sketchy...except the last one, which isn't finished or that great.
 

I'm experiencing this very strange sensation. Yesterday I asked if I could take a week off and today I was told that I could. What the hell? If you'll recall last year I spent a good chunk of my time bitching about how my old job was refusing to let me have any time off. (Long story short: Someone I thought was my friend told my manager that I was going through the process of getting a mortgage and they basically knew that I'd have to do what they said or they could fire me and I wouldn't get my house.) This is the first time since I started working on Calgary that I've gotten days off hassle free. Even when I did get my holidays last year, I got a call say that it would nice if I could come in since they were so busy...which they weren't.

Anyways, I plan on enjoying my time off.


Oh yeah, I put a prompt on the Marvel Kink Meme and it's the last thing you'd expect from me. Sneaky. Sneaky.

I've been re-watching DBZ, which is a million times better than I remember. This could be because I'm watching the re-dubbed, un-cut version, but it's still pretty cool. I've just finished the Cell Saga. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, the Cell Saga involves a purple haired youth, traveling from the future to warn their friends in the past about a deadly android that has destroyed the future...which sounds an awful lot like the second arc of Runaways.

Hmmmm...



Does that make Cell Ultron or Gert Trunks. Either way their both pretty sweet. Anyways, here's a quiz.



Another Trunks/Goten fan. You're drawn by their close friendship that always turns into more, their cuteness and sweetness, and their loving natures. Don't get a toothache.

My apologies for the spazticness of this entry, I was attempting to write it while watching South Park.

I am lazy! :(

Title: Longing
Pairing: Wither/Elixir
Fandom: New X-men
Theme: # 26 If only I could make you mine
Rating/Warning: G!
Disclaimer: New X-men and all related characters are copyright Marvel Comics.

 

Since I mentioned my new hobby, I thought I'd actually post what the hell it was. I've recently discovered action figure customization and decided to try my hand at it.



After realising that there was a very slim chance of Square-Enix releasing any FF6 Play Arts figures, I took it upon myself to make my own.

I decided upon Locke since he was one of my favourite characters of the game and he had one of the simpler costumes to sculpt. This was my first attempt at sculpting, so I went with his sprite design instead of the game art work. I think I have a lot of room for improvement and will continue to work on him, but so far he's turned out better than I hoped.

I used a Play Arts Vann as my base and used Apoxie Sculpt for the rest (which is much harder to use than it looks).