Post #201: The Making of Post #200

Making the stop motion version of The World God Only Knows opening is no easy task, but ever since I saw the first episode, I was touched. It's such a great episode and the rest of the show were great too! So I really wanted to do something for it.

The first task was making a replica of the first picture of this post. Getting all of the figma I had wasn't really enough. I tried not to put the same character variation in this picture, but Saber was different enough to be placed twice :P There were even a few figma I haven't even opened yet and opened for the first time. A total of 23 figma were used in this picture. The figma's weren't enough though, so I used a couple of Revoltech Fraulein from Queen's Blade to fill in the empty spots.

This is the print-out I used to put the figmas and Revoltech in the right poses. I had to put the sticky notes to make sure I remember which figure goes in which position ^^;

So then the next part was deciding who would be Elsie. The first choice was a figma with a broom. So that would be Reimu or Marisa, and I have neither. I was going to get a Reimu from Mandarake, but was sold out when I got the order in. So who? Who can I use for Elsie?? And then I realized I have a Yoko Revoltech Fraulein... But why Yoko?

Well, let Yakuri's drawing show you why! And no, I didn't force her to draw this against her will....... Umm... Yeah, I did request this drawing with Elsie and Yoko to show their similarities, but really, I didn't force it on her ^^;; Ok, maybe a little... But anyway, the result looks great! Elsie looks uber cute! And Yoko got her big oppai XD Hehe and Yaku got them pointing at their skull hair accessories! Not only that, but they both have ponytails and each have pink thigh highs. Thank you very much Yaku!

Unfortunately Yoko doesn't have a broom... But she's got big guns! Umm... I mean, a big rifle. Y'know, her big rifle that she uses? Ah never mind, you see it in the picture anyway.

One of the hardest thing to do for me with stop motion would be the spinning part... Thankfully the newly bought Lightning Base I got is able to rotate Yoko in place for the camera!

Speaking of the Lightning Base, I used it as the central piece of the multiple figma picture. The original picture was similar to this, so I bought one. Plus I like blue!

As for Ayumi, Mio, Kanon and Shiori, I used these 4... Haruhi is Ayumi, Kagami is Mio, Cute is Kanon and uhh... Mio is Shiori. Yeah, well, the Mio figma doesn't have twin tails to be the actual Mio, ok? I had to use Cute because she is actually designed by Watanabe Akio, who is also the designer for The World God Only Knows.

Miku is mami'd... Mostly just because I need her hand for the 4 girls' hands. The other ones were Ritsu, waitress Mikuru and Sun Seto.

The next part was to do a rotation of the PSP... This was a challenge because I've put the original KamiNomi opening in the PSP for a reference, especially to see how the PSP rotates in the opening. So I took a few angles of the PSP and compiled it in Photoshop and hopefully I can cheat the rotation and spinning of the original PFP ^^; The end product didn't look too bad, I thought.

I've picked Kyon to replace Keima because... well, he's one of the only male figma I have. He also has similar hairstyles and at least he's wearing a uniform. Oh and this scene I added the Revoltech and figma logo as well. If you've seen the original, this part would say three-dimension and two-dimension in the street signs. I wanted to have that kind of similarities on mine. But for some reason I couldn't center the logos properly ^^;

When I redo this video, I'll replace Kyon with someone else ;)

Other backgrounds in the video includes this really nice front yard of a house in my neighbourhood. I wouldn't have noticed this house if I wasn't looking around to find backgrounds for this project.

This is a park near my house. Not all the trees have their leaves yet since it's still early March and still pretty cold outside.

This is one of my favourite anime/manga stores in Vancouver, SakuraMedia. There was that one part in the opening where a manga/book store was a background, so I asked the manager (whom I knew quite well) if I can take a picture. It's a very generic shot, but I just wanted the bookshelves, so he lets me ^^

Here are some stats for the record:

• About 24 hours of photo editing, if I did it all without stopping, distractions, sleep, work...
• About 2-3 hours of video editing... Easier than I thought.
• 247 individual frames
• The first 35 seconds were from the original opening
• The title at the end is from Windows Live Movie Maker
• Total of 29 figmas, 3 Fraulein Revoltechs, 1 Bandai Lightning Base and 1 PSP were used

And yes, I did mention that I will redo this with different variations. Hopefully an actual stop motion in the beginning instead of using the original clip and improved animation for some of them. Below are the original video and my video if you'd like to see a comparison. Thank you for reading/watching/viewing my 200th & 201st post! A special thank you to Yaku for that Elsie & Yoko art!

Oh, and I apologize for the cryptic 200th post ^^; I was posting the lyrics to the full version of the opening song. The bold text was something I felt when I was making this project.

Post #200

God Only Knows by ELISA

What I'm seeing......Is it real?

What I'm feeling......Is it real?

What I'm doing......Is it real?

There is no regrets, satisfy my curiosities

There is a new world waiting, explore my possibilities

There is no guarantee, just improve my abilities

(Go ahead with your own life - Is there any hope in your sight?)

There is a choice to make, setting the right priorities

(You will always be the one, so feel the power

And you should know the sun comes up - For you)

There is no regrets, satisfy my curiosities

There is a new world waiting, explore my possibilities

There is no guarantee, just improve my abilities

There is a choice to make, setting the right priorities

(What is the best you can do? How can you do it?)

I was sitting and thinking the other day

(What is the best you can do? How can you do it?)

If i fail, I won't throw my passion away

(What is the best you can do? How can you do it?)

Just 'cause giving up is not the only way

No matter how it's gonna be, I'll try it anyway

Love is such a sweet illusion (Let's come together)

Can't seem to stop my imagination (Goes on forever)

What a ridiculous situation (Another matter)

But I can't deny, I'm faced with a tricky temptation

In the world that keeps on changing

Don't know why my heart is aching

Gotta handle it, no more hesitation

There can be no turning back

God only knows

"My mind is as free as the wind

But now what I should do is to fall in love"

God only knows

"I don't need that kind of real things

Feels like I'm lost in the labyrinth"

God only knows

"There must be the meaning of life

Somehow unexpected happenings thrill me"

God only knows

"Just believe in myself and my dream

Anyone could be a hero and heroine"
 

God only knows

"Though it's not so easy to get through

Here I am, I'm sure that things will go my way"

God only knows

"My mind is as free as the wind

But now what I should do is to fall in love"

God only knows (Your own happiness, you can find it)

"I don't need need that kind of real things

Feels like I'm lost in the labyrinth"

God only knows (Your infinity, you can feel it)

"There must be the meaning of life

Somehow unexpected happenings thrill me"

God only knows (Opportunity, you can take it)

"Just believe in myself and my dream

Anyone could be a hero and heroine"

God only knows (Toward the future, you can make it)

"Though it's not so easy to get through

Here I am, I'm sure that things will go my way"

Art by Yakuri_Moe

(Sailing, you're sailing away

And now it's blowing, breeze will take you away)

I feel that my spirits rise

I will survive and just stay alive

Enjoy being alone, the isolation is not always so bad

Another day has gone by, every day goes by

In the sky, there'd be a bridge to a bright tomorrow

(You will find your treasure and share your pleasure

Let me tell you......)

(Just keep your vision, your dream, and your soul alive

Be as you are, I will always be right by your side)

Think about my love and my life

In an uncertain world, face to face with myself

Continue to make progress, day by day and step by step

I've got a good feeling

So I'm gonna keep on trying, life will go on......

Yuri Mania 35: Mugi Vision

Gokigenyou minna. As you can see above it's Mugi... And you know how it is when Mugi has that look in her eyes. Well the point of this post is to celebrate the 100th Weekly Lily in Figure.fm. The premise actually came about when I asked around what I should do for it... My comrade at arms (and Mugi's waifu), Yakuri_Moe, suggested  something to do with Mugi Vision. I liked that idea and worked it in my head and well... You know how it is in my head; it will not be clean at all ^^;

So let's put that in The Melancholy of Saber Lily 4koma and see what happens ;P I didn't just make one, nor two but FIVE 4koma! ENJOY! Oh and this post shouldn't be looked at if you're at work...

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 45

So the premise is simple. Haruhi is giving Mugi the power to change her visions into reality ^^; You have no idea how hard it was to get all 5 Haruhi together. Chouyusha Haruhi kept falling over and cheerleader Haruhi can only stand on one knee. And they fall over once I put the knee pit licking Haruhi in there... Uh... Yeah...

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 46

To be honest this was somewhat forced ^^; I wanted to include Saber Lily for sure, but I couldn't figure out what joke I can play with, but if the joke doesn't work, you still get a Saber orgy in 2 panels :P Figma Saber and Figma Saber Alter were difficult to place together. Uh and I wanted a classier premier of Saber Extra, but oh well, close enough. Below you can see a closer look at the Saber orgy ^_^

Casual Saber eating from her "bowl of rice"...

Revoltech Saber doesn't want to kiss at first...

I like how you can see through Saber Extra's skirt to see casual Saber's ahoge...

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 47

I guess Mugi gets another wish ^^;;; Should I even explain? Now I wonder who's the first lucky girl to get skinship from Mugi Aldra? ^o^

It's all in the details... Uh... I don't mean the Revoltech Aldra, though very well detailed she is. I recoloured Aldra's hair for the 4koma to make her blonde like Mugi. Very minor detail, but I wanted to make that distinction that it's Mugi in Aldra's outfit ^^

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 48

So which is it? Which part is a dream and which part is reality? =P Oh and I broke Azunyan's neko paw hand in one of these shoots... The peg broke inside and I was trying to get it out with a plier, but I just pushed it in more. So I said screw it and used a screwdriver (har har!) to grind the peg to powder and pulled out the rest when the peg was all gone. Gotta thank Optic for this because I found his broken Figma hand post on my phone and somehow used that method. Figma hands are different since his post, but still similar technique can be used. I used a 1.44 mm screwdriver btw.

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Part 49

So who saw this joke coming when you know that Figma Luka comes with a giant tuna? I at first did not consider getting Luka at all, but then I realized I could make this joke after seeing the preview of the tuna ^^; At first I was gonna get Haruhi to be in Mugi's role, but this Weekly Lily special and Luka came at the same time that I thought I could use it this way ^^ Oh and sorry if Mugi is out of character or anything XD Everyone gets their own characteristics in my head, lol.

It was hard for Figma Luka to bend on the bench and was hard to bring her leg up for the second panel, but I worked with it. Anyway, notice anything different with the picture above and the one in the 4koma?

Maybe I should've washed my hand first?

That's right! It's Mio's face in Mugi's head, which means she doesn't have Mugi's takuan eyebrows. This picture was something I was going to use to change Mio's eyebrows, but I used the wrong face for Mugi to get the eyebrows from. I still used it for a colour reference though.

I posted the above picture as a teaser in Weekly Lily 99. I made sure it turned out different :) So you're looking at an early Weekly Lily 100 right here ^_^  I'll add some more extras later in the Figure.FM post, so keep an eye out for that. Now what do I do for the 50th Melancholy of Saber Lily 4koma...

Durarara!! Ending Parody

You can guess from the title and picture that this will be about the ending song from Durarara!! using Figma in the animation. Well you guessed right... Unless you guessed that I'm making a Saber Lily Can-can dance video, that is. Which I'm not.

But first let's get some things out of the way. Durarara!! is a new anime that started airing in January. I've only started watching it in the middle of February because of all the parody that has been made out of the ending animation. The anime is quite good actually. Different individuals with different background stories all live in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo and somehow their lives are all connected in one way or another. The ending song, Trust Me, is done by Yuya Yamashita and a lot of parodies have been made out of this video.

So after seeing so many parodies on YouTube and NicoNicoDouga, I decided to make one of my own. Since I can't draw to save my life I use what I have available; my Figma (and one Revoltech). I needed 15 of them which I do have, but I decided to use one Revoltech because I wanted to use Rei and the Figma isn't out yet. Also, the purpose of making this video is to make a promo video for The Melancholy of Saber Lily comics, lol. So the characters that are in this video is either in the comics or will be there eventually.

Yes, I keep all my Figmas in their original boxes... Which was quite a hassle for this project. Anyway, enough talk... I'll show you the video first.

The Melancholy of Saber Lililily

I started this last Thursday and it took a few hours just to get all the characters off the original background. Taking the pictures took a couple of hours as well. And then I wanted to time the pictures to the song as well. Quite a pain, I tell you. I added the pictures in the beginning instead of the scenery ones in the original video. I also had to change Rei's hands position so it fits properly so that it looks like she's holding Ryomou's legs.

I used this Maria-sama ga Miteru parody art as a basis for my sizing and template for the pictures. I changed the colour a little bit in my version to fit Nanoha and Fate's colours ^^

This is an unused picture for Cute. She's one of the new Figmas that I have to open for this project. She'll be in the comics soon. I have quite the plan for her... Mwahahaha! Oh the MEIKO was supposed to be a size reference, but I didn't really use the reference point, lol.

Nanoha gave me the most trouble! First... I couldn't find her at all! I searched high and low and I decided to give up and created a new roster for the video. It would've worked too, but I think a lot of people made me look for it and I finally found it. Then when I started to pose her, her shoulder started to stiffen up... Seriously, what a pain. I took off her arm to "massage" the shoulder joint.

Another thing I have to add is that even though I thought about making this video on my own, there was already a Durarara video made with Figmas. Ah well... I made it according to my storylines, lol. But anyway, to be fair to MrKammy, here is his version:

Anyway that's it for me... I'm really tired and this project really wiped me out! "Trust Me!"

Yuri Mania 5

Saber Lily's orz ^^;

The Melancholy of Saber Lily Parts 5 & 6

Gokigenyou minna-san! This week's yuri mania is a continuation of my Saber Lily versus Chouyusha Haruhi series, parts 5 and 6. I'd like to post a yuri anime review, but I got a tad busy this week to post lots of screenshots.

Unfortunately the jokes didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped... It looked funny in my mind, but putting it together I felt like I was struggling to find good lines and jokes that fits. Judge for yourself.



I broke my Kyon figma last time, but I replaced his arm with Koizumi's. Can anyone else guess what other part of Koizumi I used? Ok this one is kinda a stolen joke from Haruhi Suzumiya, but I changed the ending a little bit. ^^


Guest starring: Revoltech Fraulein Rin. I actually like this version of Rin than the figma version. People complained about the face, but I love her face. It looks a bit cuter than the figma one. It's also the return of the Lily panel lol. Again I didn't think this joke worked as well, especially since it's a reference to the Fate/stay night adult computer game, not the anime. This was also a last minute addition. I was just scouring my room for figures I can use and saw Rin and I thought I'd use it.

I feel like doing the "orz" pose for doing these 2 strips. They have "fail" written all over them. But fear not, the next few scripts are better! Til next time... Gokigenyou!