The yearly anime convention called Chibi-Pa will be hosting a free event tomorrow at Ichimura Japanese Garden, located in Miami.

I will be hosting panels and possibly giving free stuff. Get there early, the panels have no solid schedules and will be randomly scheduled at the event. The panels hosted will be

• Spot the Fakes: How to Avoid Ripoffs and Other Unlicensed Goods
  
• Otaku on a Budget

So if you live in South Florida, drop by.

Hello all, it’s been a while and I assure you I probably won’t sum up all the awesomeness going on in the figure world right now until my studies are over so I shall present some lovely figures from MegaHouse’s GEM Series which probably have the most accurate portrayals of anime characters I’ve seen. I’ve praised them before for their godly feat of capturing the beauty of Lelouch Lamperouge so feast your eyes.

Tiger and Bunny: Kotetsu Kaburagi and Barnaby Brooks Jr.

Tiger and Bunny probably has one of the most unique character designs when it comes to their male leads and these figures capture their look quite perfectly. Kotestu’s figure has two faces, one with mask and another maskless. He also has his signature hate, which you can take on and off at your convenience.

Now I can’t deny, I have a soft spot for Barnaby and his facial expression in this figure is perfect. Not every figure should be all smiley and happy, and this one captures what I mean. He’s a solid one piece figure with cool glasses that fit him like a glove.

I forgot to mention, his boots are just the most awesome shoes I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

Rebuild of Evangelion: Nagisa Kaoru

No words needed, my work here is done…..

Hurricon is one of those conventions that are only feasible due to the tremendous dedication and love of otakus who want to bring joy to other otakus. I attended Hurricon in its first year, and I can confidently say I’ll keep going for as long as I stay in Florida, but it is a young event that still has much to learn. Going this year as a panelist has made me more aware of what Hurricon needs to be better and I’m going to list what’s wrong here. I am not saying Hurricon is not worth attending I had loads of fun and for what it’s worth (free entry for everyone) you shouldn’t miss out.

Unused rooms and time gaps

What do I mean by this? Many rooms went unused during the little time the con was active. When I looked at the schedule I felt my stomach drop because both my panels were scheduled during the costume contest and its prejudging, which would wipe out a good part of my potential audience. Many rooms were unused prior to the time, and I don’t mind presenting early. My turnout was smaller than it is in other cons, but the audience was wonderful and I’m glad they dropped by. As a panelist however, the bigger the crowd the better, and the schedule wasn’t working in my favor.

Panel rooms are split in two

Basically the center of operations is a big building I believe serves as a two story student lounge. All the vendors and the cafe is outside, the first floor hosted one vendor, an exhibitor, and the karaoke setup, and the second floor hosted all the ballrooms and the video game room. But the schedule has some panels held in “The Learning Center” which is a long tiring walk all the way to an orange building. I’m alright with it, but because of that 10 minutes between events is probably not enough for people to bother going to see those faraway panels, especially since most congoers are used to having everything in one place (convention centers spoil us).

Almost no vendors

I was disappointed in the selection provided this year despite that there were more sellers than last year. Out of the many people who got a spot to sell stuff only three merchandise vendors showed up, the rest were artisans and artists. I support the latter, but I much prefer an import figure than a piece of jewelry (although I occasionally bite). This is the first convention I didn’t want to buy anything from. The first year I did want to buy but this year nothing really stood out to me. Of course the convention is not responsible for what their sellers sell, but I hope a wider variety of vendors come next year because that revelation was quite shocking. Good news is no one was selling fake merchandise, yay!

Your refreshing honest vendor, sadly nothing he sold interested me.

Some artist tables. The lovely Reimu cosplayer is Zipper Tan, an artist and talented cosplayer.

Video game room uninviting

Let me begin by saying the video game room was all male, which is odd because other conventions have females in their game room. I could see a few problems. The biggest blunder was all the consoles and television were set up too close to each other, making a small square in between and leaving little space to roam and see what could be played and comfortably watch others. This is important, in fact so important that is why most successful arcades have plenty of free space. Also there was too little light, which somehow makes the small space worse. The room had plenty of space, but it seemed instead of moving around the seats in the lounge  to create an ample gaming space they just decided to make a small circle of doom surrounded by them. As for the gamers themselves? It seemed many of them have been camping there since the con started, it made me feel too uncomfortable to ask if I could play a round. I could play the same game at home anyway.

But enough with everything wrong, what was good?

The location is beautiful

UM should pride itself in its campus because I can say with confidence it has the most beautiful one in Florida. The location difference from your typical convention center is refreshing. You’re surrounded by trees and sculptures done by students, the walkway to the learning center passed a peaceful fountain, and the student lounge has an appealing modern design and awesome murals. To the delight of many, the first floor had plenty of plugs and phone charging stations with all types of cell phone charger cables.

Many talented cosplayers

I am not kidding when I say Hurricon brings the best of cosplayers out. Maybe it’s the fact the hobby can be expensive and the entrance is free that makes the magic happen. Theories aside they’re everywhere, and friendly so you can take pictures of them without hassle. This also probably makes it harder to win the costume contest.

Engaged panel attendees 

Despite being left with a smaller audience than I would have desired the ones that stuck around were great. There are two types of good panel attendees, the ones that are so excited they often shout insightful comments and funny remarks or quiet, attentive, and engaged attendees. I got the latter which is a refresher from the usual excited fans and they also gave feedback, asking questions and answering some question I asked. Other panels varied, but the typical audience was made up of good people. I can say with confidence you will feel comfortable at one of their many panels.

Everyone is friendly

Like the cosplayers this rule also applies to everyone. You can talk to anyone like you’ve known them for a long time and they’re open to almost anything. This is a convention were there is not as many groups as in your larger con, and it opens opportunities to make new friends and have a good time.

Summed up it is undeniable the con did have its flaws but they’re not bad to the point I would recommend staying away. I had fun and I really want it to become a UM tradition. Everything that isn’t wrong is so good fixing what was wrong would create the perfect convention.

If you live in South Florida attend the next Hurricon in 2014, it’s a great otaku treat.

As the official brochure below will confirm, I am an official featured guest at this year’s Hurricon. Although I’m not sure I feel completely comfortable about my full name being published but, that’s a minor issue.

Two panels will be hosted, below are the titles and times.

• The History of Vocaloids and their Fandom (3:35-4:35 PM)
• Spot the Fakes: How to Avoid Ripoffs and Other Unlicensed Goods (4:45-5:45 PM)

Bonus for ROG panel attendees. A special “code” will be given at the end of each panel for the chance to win prizes. “Like” our Facebook page and wait for the instructions concerning what you do with the codes. For the complete listing of panels and events click here.

There will be video game tournaments, but because there’s no official page listing I’ll list them here.

Brawl Sign-Ups: 12:30 – 1:00
Tournament Starts 1:30

Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 Sign-Ups: 2:00 – 2:30
Tournament Starts: 3:00

Super Street Fighter 4 AE 2013 Sign-Ups: 3:30 – 4:00
Tournament Starts: 4:30

To summarize my previous article Little Kuriboh will be a guest of honor, there will be a cosplay contest, and, I forgot to mention before, a maid cafe.

So drop by and have a good time, you won’t regret it!

What can be called hands down South Florida’s best arcade, Arcade Odyssey, has decided to create its second podcast Arcade Oddities weekly on Mondays at 8 PM (Eastern Time). The podcast is hosted on Twitch.tv alongside their first podcast AO Plays which will also livestream on Youtube. The subject of this podcast is, of course, video games where they’ll also answer fan questions.

The arcade’s trademark.

Arcade machines imported from Japan. Unrelated but they’re awesome.

The first episode went live last Monday and you can see the full stream by clicking here (takes a while to begin, NSFW). The second episode shall be available next week at the listed time. Check it out.

Hello, this is for all the newbie Internet artists who want to begin drawing Rule 63, but don’t know how to. Don’t worry, I here have a comprehensive set of guidelines that’ll turn you into a 63 pro in no time.

1. Make sure your female version has the character’s eye and hair color: That’s all you need to do. There’s no need to worry about creating a visage with a likeness to that of the male counterpart as long as you have these two covered.

Spongebob doesn’t have hair but this might just work. 

2. Keep them young: Who wants to see your 60 year old male character’s 60 year old female version? No one. So make sure they look like they’re teenagers or in their thirties at most.

3. Give them big boobs: This is the best way to show they’re females and not males. Guys don’t have boobs.

4. Regardless of the male’s body make sure they’re always skinny: Because girls can’t be fat you know. You also can’t have those boobs mistaken for those found on fat guys.

5. Give them skimpy outfits: It doesn’t matter if the male is wearing something covering him from neck to toes and in their universe they always wear armor to not get shot/stabbed/sliced/etc, you need to show it’s a female by giving her a tiny outfit.

Obviously this is a joke article. If you’re offended by this good, that means I touched upon the sad truth about most rule 63 drawings. If you really want to draw a female version, have the decency to at least make them resemble like the male. Everyone likes sexy, but when my searches come up with over 90% stuff I wouldn’t show my mom it’s time to cool off. Either way may you all have a good day, and inspire to be original!

So cute you can’t deny it.

The University of Miami Anime Club is hosting their second annual anime convention, Miami Hurricon, on April 14. Yours truly will be hosting panels during the event on behalf of ROG. Although the con schedule has not been released yet both of these panels have been confirmed.

• The History of Vocaloids and their Fandom
• Spot the Fakes: How to Avoid Ripoffs and Other Unlicensed Goods

Hurricon does have many other things to offer. Two guests have been confirmed, Marianne Miller who’s an American voice actress for English dubs and Little Kuriboh creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series. A costume contest will be held again this year and so will a video game tournament sponsored by Anime Gaming Experience. This a free event anyone who lives nearby shouldn’t miss. You can RSVP on the Facebook event page and like their official Facebook page to keep updated about their plans and future events.

I hope to see a great turnout this year, and if you can come drop by one of my panels that would be awesome!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict Marriane           Miller will not be at this year’s Hurricon. But her husband (Little Kuriboh) is still coming as scheduled.

Do you remember Guitar Hero? I sure do. If you’re reading this you probably do too because not a lot of five year old kids visit our website.

Guitar Hero broke new ground as one of the most successful game franchises of the 2000′s. When it came out in 2005 it became an instant hit and went on to release Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock all with astounding sales, earning them $1.7 billion in 2008, the high point of success for the franchise. Then it all went to hell.

Afterwards official continuations to the main Guitar Hero video game that never made as much money as their first three games were released and a huge number of spin offs focusing on specific bands, and very successful ones like The Beatles and Areosmith as well as more obscure ones, came out and flooded the market. The sales kept decreasing until it became obvious this monster that had unleashed itself onto the world was dying and so Activision decided instead of seeing it suffer any longer to pull the plug on the operation and not release any more games.

I was contemplating the absurdity of how this franchise had gone from the video game essential that every household with kids around my age (I was in middle school around the time) was guaranteed to have to an essential bargain bin game. My mind went back to when I was reading this video game review magazine that had a special section on Guitar Hero discussing if it was here to stay or it would go down the tubes. The section claiming it would go on forever claimed Guitar Hero’s success was based on the fact it centered around something timeless, music, and it was a game that anyone of any age could get into. The more cynical side claimed Guitar Hero was only successful because it was the game of the moment and people would eventually get tired of it and move on to the next big thing. Both had valid points that are reasons for the game’s eventual failure, even the one with a positive outlook.

Rhythm matching and music based games have never been popular in America. Most of them are confined to the arcade because it’s pretty novel to perform in public, which ironically is where “Guitar Hero” ended up. Now Guitar Hero as a game work just fine but it never really gives the player much of an incentive to play by themselves. All the characters are pretty stock generic rock star characters, there is no story, and you never get attached to said characters because all they do is perform and voila. Hell, I remember playing as a specific character and then I get a cut scene with some random guy. Talk about laziness. And once they began releasing as many games as they could for the sake of profit the market became stale and there was really nothing new to look forward to.

Then what about the games with well known LEGENDS? That brings me to my second point. A very sad one. Rock had been dead for some time when Guitar Hero came out and even this franchise couldn’t bring it back in style. All in all despite its success it was doomed for failure solely because rock was dying and those who initially bought it would lose interest with all the mainstream garbage coming out as for the kids following them wouldn’t even think to look at it because they wouldn’t recognized the auto tuned talentless synthetic music they’ve grown up with. Which is why they couldn’t register the sheer awesomeness of some of these games.

Now the main reason this game failed is because, well, the average person can’t enjoy it unless they’re with their friends. I remember mostly pulling out the house’s copy of Guitar Hero when friends came over and the main objective of playing alone was to impress them with mad skills once they showed up (I preferred my Nintendo games). It was a great bonding experience. However there’s only so many times kids can do something before getting tired of it. It was something that inexplicably became popular and died out like Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh, and don’t hate me for making that comparison because I know many kids who used to play it are now the kind of people that make you lament the times you live in and you know it too.

Now that doesn’t undermine the importance and greatness of this game but it is a testimony of how the video game industry is vulnerable to sudden changes in consumer tastes. If Guitar Hero had been made as a niche game it probably would’ve survived to this day, but it was made to be larger than life and lucrative, and once it didn’t meet those needs it was abandoned because when it comes to large company the bottom line is profit. Guitar Hero was a great game, and I am thankful I was able to experience it at the peak of its popularity. I can say with confidence it is one of the best music based game of all times and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Full Metal Panic! Another extra: Blaze Raven 2

This is a special figure, as it is just an extra to a limited edition book. My best estimate is it’s an art book or a colored manga, so if you like either it’s a good buy. I don’t know the robot’s height but it looks to be of a good quality. It’s a tad expensive like any import is, but if you happen to be a fan of FMP and are soon shopping online I’d recommend it.

Maker: Fujimi Shobo  Average online price: $49.72 

One Piece World Collectible Film Z Volume 2

Have you ever wanted an entire set of figures that is nothing but pure Chopper goodness? Well my fellow lovers of this furry blue nosed creature can join me in celebration with this upcoming figure release endorsed with the new One Piece Film Z movie….. not coming to a theater near us anytime soon. Anyways back to the figure. They’re not blind boxes so be grateful they’re not trading figures that cost infinitely more money to collect a full set.

You have many of Chopper’s forms, which is splendid because I love his various transformations, and especially all these adorable costumes!

Maker: Banpresto  Average online price: $11.90

1/7th Scale Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Shokanju

This is my favorite Hideyoshi figure of all time, and I’ve never seen it in real life before; everything about it is perfection. His careless sideways glance, his opened shirt, his lifted legs…. My ero senses are on high alert. Before my mind goes off the rails the set comes with Hideyoshi, a chair, and his avatar. It’s just amazing how the avatar can life the chair. Keep up the sexy antics Hideyoshi.

The featured characters in action (fanservice warning)….

Maker: Griffon Enterprise  Average online price: $78.06

First off, I’ll start by saying I am not a fan of Hello Kitty. Yes it’s adorable and whatnot but I see really nothing in it so I don’t concern myself with their merchandise. However the project entitled in Japanese Hello Kitty to Issho! has gained my interest with the puzzle games coming out and the unique female characters in each, entitled “Kittylers.”

This figure is one of them, and her name is Kei. Kei had a previously made figure which sold very well and made Sanrio decide to make another one of her, hence the “Part 2″ in the title.

The front of the box is quite awkward with the splatter wall and chain link fence while bejeweled music notes float in thin air. There’s a large opening to display the figure with its name displayed on the right and the project name at the bottom.

However you must prepare yourselves for the other sides!

The rest of the box is much more beautiful, with pretty illustrations of Kei, including the one the figure is based off.

 Now to assure you bought an authentic product make sure  there’s a Sanrio sticker put on all the Kei figures. The real thing also comes with an instructional guide (in Japanese of course) on how to affix the guitar case on the handle and keep the figure standing.

And now for the actual product…….

Only she can make a Hello Kitty cap look that good.

…….Beautiful.

On the subject of putting the figure together it’s a bit odd. Making Kei stand requires some serious pushing, but once she’s broken in she’s easy to move and remove. Putting the guitar on the handle goes against every single  collector instinct I have. The  handle and guitar are made of hard unflexible plastic so I begin softly in fear I might break something only to hold my breath, recite a silent prayer to the figure Gods, and jam it in there. I’m just glad it popped in perfectly the first time I did that. I will never remove the guitar case as long as I have the figure. When it comes to positioning the guitar case you could have the case stand at an odd  angle and it won’t budge, also if you move it it smoothly glides. When it comes to the hand with the handle it’s pretty odd. When you look at it you can see it look square and the handle is just stuck in there. There’s also some of the skin’s paint on the handle, nothing really noticeable until you look. Despite it’s plainness the guitar case is quite beautiful, and looks very smooth and polished, I couldn’t think of a nicer one myself.

The most captivating part of this figure is all the detail that went into the simple clothes she’s wearing. Her beautiful red jacket is stunningly tinged perfectly with shades of dark red in all the right places, her blouse has folds that seem natural, and her layered skirt has dark shadows accentuating its texture. They also managed to do something I thought would never happen, put a bunch of tiny bows all over an outfit and made it look perfect.

The knee high socks have bows too perfectly placed and adorable to ignore. The five red stripe also fit in perfectly. They’re not painted perfectly, but impressively enough.

No comments on the “absolute zone.”

The shoes also match the outfit and, of course, have their own bow. The lace are red so the bow can be red, in Hello Kitty fashion. Sadly I had the misfortune to buy a figure with a manufacturing error that day and so I ended up having a shoe with a bow and another with a tiny empty square, didn’t let that ruin my appreciation for the figure though.

However, I can’t forget one of the key piece of the figure, the Hello Kitty hat. It is perfectly detailed, I find no fault with it. The color is rich and vibrant and really  makes the figure better.

Without her hat, she has a hair divide that is hidden with it on.

Her hair is amazing when viewed from the side, it looks as if a breeze is lightly lifting it, like in a calm anime scene. When viewed from the beack it can be seen the ends are not  more sharp, and the paint has accumulated and dried out unevenly on some part, but it still maintains a beauty to it.

The most amazing part of everything though, is her face.  It looks like she’s calmly pondering something with her lips in a slight pout and her eyes upward. Her eyes only compliment everything else with their deep solid red, glints of light in it. Her hair style is also unique. Her rather short braid stands out from her long straight hair and bangs, and her humble necklace is the only piece of jewelry she needs to compliment her.

Overall this figure is absolutely stunning. Any collector who has the chance to get her should, as she’s one of the best quality figures that doesn’t break the bank I’ve seen in a long time. To fans of Hello Kitty, get with the Hello Kitty to Issho game series, I think you’ll really like it and all the merchandise that comes out of it. I’ll leave you all with this.