eiko82

Happy New Year!!!

eiko82 — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 21:04:44 GMT

Oh wow, it's been months since I posted here. Happy New Year!! May 2018 bring you lots of joy.

To be perfectly honest, I've kinda given up on my LJ. My friends list was pretty quiet before the Russian server move. After that, it became a complete ghost town with the exception of 1 person. Add to that the fact that I could only see *ONE* entry on my f-list without even being able to go back further and well, that was kinda the straw that broke the camel's back.
I'm kinda debating whether or not to delete my account. I don't really want to, simply 'cause I do pop in once in a blue moon.

Anyways, I hope that you all are well.

Fangirling time!!

eiko82 — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 19:26:51 GMT

So the past month, I've had some major FANGIRL moments.

1. Good Smile Company announces an Overwatch line!! The first preorder is a Nendoroid Tracer and she is instant preorder for me. Funny fact : I don't actually play Overwatch. My hubby does but it's not my type of game. But I love the characters and lore of the game.

Since then, GSC has also announced Mei and Mercy for the Nendoroid line and Tracer and Genji for the Figma line.

2. Nathan Fillion is coming to FACTS next month!!! I can't believe that he is coming. Years ago, I wished that he would come but I figured that he was too big of a name for FACTS to book. Looks like my wish came true! Now only Alex Tudyck and Adam Balwin have to come and the entire living cast of Firefly has graced FACTS :)
EDIT : Just realized Gina Torres and Sean Maher have also never been at FACTS.

3. Sleeping Dogs is getting a movie release. SHOW THEM WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE SUN ON YEE!! I LOVED the video game Sleeping Dogs. It was my favourite game in 2012 and it's still one of my all-time favourite games. So I'm super excited to hear that a movie is being made of it and that they already cast Donnie Yen to star in it.

Who still reads this LJ?

eiko82 — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 13:02:14 GMT

I'm genuinely curious : Who still reads this LJ?

Happy New Year!!

eiko82 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 07:00:30 GMT

Nendoroid Lion Dancer Miku arrived just in time to ring in the new year. I know Lion Dancers usually ring in the Chinese New Year but I couldn't resist having her ring in the Western New Year as well.

2016 has definitely been 'The Year of Change' for me : we had a baby, bought a house and moved to said house all in 2016. I'm hoping that 017 will be a little quieter. Anyways, we wish you a Happy New Year! May 2017 bring you and your loved ones all the best!!

Happy holidays!!

eiko82 — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 11:15:17 GMT

Since I've moved, I've barely had any time to properly enjoy my dolls. They're still stuck in boxes for now. But I couldn't let the holidays go by with a festive photo.

So happy holidays to everyone!! Hope you all have a wonderful time with your loved ones <3 <3

We Support BJD Artist Day!

eiko82 — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 12:42:28 GMT

Just showing my support to all the awesome BJD artists out there!

I have smaller group pictures of each doll on my Flickr.

WTF America?!?

eiko82 — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 13:29:16 GMT

I'm seriously in shock at the election results. Words fail me really. I just don't understand how you can elect this clown into office.

PS Happy birthday to me.

Watched 'Stranger Things'

eiko82 — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 19:40:35 GMT

My hubby and I bingewatched 'Stranger Things' the past couple of days. When it was released in July, I saw a lot of my online friends go nuts over it. So we decided to finally check it out.

I gotta admit that I really liked it ......... 'til the finale. Without spoiling it, the finale was just too 'neat' for my liking. By that I mean, everything gets wrapped up nice and easy. It kinda took away the suspense and interest I had in the show. I know it's getting a second season but I doubt I'll bother watching it.
Still, I have to applaud the series for creating a good 80's vibe and its wonderful cast.

So what did you think of it?

Muslim ladies (dolls)

eiko82 — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 11:01:56 GMT

I think women with hijabs tend to be very beautiful. So when I saw that Danny Choo was making hijabs for Smart Dolls, I thought it was awesome for him to promote diversity. I managed to get hold of both sets (the old and the new). In the future, I hope to buy a tanned Smart Doll and make her a Muslim character.

For now, I have Chie and Rise modeling the hijab sets.

I want to give a thumbs up to Culture Japan's customer service.

Last year, I missed out on buying the hijab/turtleneck set. Unfortunately, Culture Japan can't get hold of the material anymore. So my chances of finding it online were pretty darn small. A couple of weeks ago, I emailed them to ask how many sets were sold so I could calculate my chances of finding it on the secondary market. I was lucky that Culture Japan still had a set and was willing to sell it to me.They even added it to my existing order so I wouldn't have to pay extra for shipping.

So yeah, a HUGE thumbs up to Culture Japan for their amazing customer service.

My entry got featured on the GoodSmileCompany blog!!

eiko82 — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 07:26:47 GMT

http://mikatan.goodsmile.info/en/2016/07/29/kahotan-post-office-summer-figures-2016-edition/

I feel so honoured that my photo got featured on the GoodSmileCompany blog!! *happy dance*

Pokemon Go! (Pinkys)

eiko82 — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 15:30:23 GMT

Gotta catch them all! Even my Pinkys have been bitten by the Pokemon Go bug ;)

(Unfortunately, my smart phone is too old for me to install it. It looks like fun)

Memorable moments from World of Warcraft

eiko82 — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 09:15:00 GMT

I started playing World of Warcraft in April 2009. Back then, I didn't think I'd like it. In fact, my exact words on the 1st of April were :
"- Start playing WoW on trial period. I'm now playing a Night Elf. Whee! I have to say that it's fun but I doubt that I'll ever become a big fan of it. I was never that interested in online games and I hate playing on a keyboard. Still, I'm enjoying it ^___^

Seven years later and I'm still playing it. Seeing the Warcraft movie last week made me think of all the fun, memorable moments that WoW has given me. So I've decided to share a couple of them.

- My first character

Probably the first screenshot of my first character : a night elf named Alanalee. She has always been my main character. During the trial period, I accidentally made her on a US-server instead of European one. So I had to restart her after the trial ended. Nonetheless, she is still my number 1 character.
Whenever new things happen (e.g. a new expansion), she is always the one who gets to experience it first. She is currently level 100.

Her first hunter pet was Sorba, a white cat. Back in those days, you had to be level 10 to tame your first pet. Nowadays, you're automatically assigned one and can easily tame new ones.

Looking back, a LOT has changed for the hunter class over the past 7 years. I still remember the days when hunters needed two weapons (one close-range, one far-ranged), needed to put arrows, needed to have food to keep their pets happy, etc.

- ALL THE HUNTERS!!!!
Eventho I've been playing this game for 7 years, all my characters are hunter class. Sure, I've tried to play some of the other classes but I'll get bored of them within 4-5 levels and then go back to my familar hunters. I've had a hunter in almost every race except for troll and orc.

- Getting my first mount
Back then , you had to be level 30 to get a mount. It took me a couple of months but I felt so special when I could finally get one.

For quite some time, I would only get white mounts for my night elf. Nowadays, she has a LOT of mounts in all shapes and sizes.

- The Noblest of quests: the 6 hour-long quest to get the Noblegarden achievement. I don't remember why we decided to try and get the Nobelgarden achievement on the *LAST* day of the event in May 2009. But for some reason, that's exactly what muted_hitokiri and I decided to do. In order to get the achievement, you have to travel all over Azeroth and do certain tasks. I don't know what level I was but it must've been pretty low. I didn't even have a mount back then. That means that I had to *WALK* everywhere, picking up the occasional flight path on the way.

'Cause I was so low in level, I basically aggroed everything in sight. Luckily, muted_hitokiri's character Fenrari was there to keep me alive. I still remember dying a couple of time in Ungoro Crater and Tanaris Desert.

One of the tasks included putting bunny ears on a male and female of every race that was above level 10. I remember standing outside of Ogrimmar, waiting for an undead female to appear. I was SO scared that I was gonna get killed by Horde characters. Back then, I didn't realize that if you're not on a PvP server, other players can't actually kill you. Still, I was supernervous.
The hardest part of this task was finding a dwarf female over level 10. Almost no one plays dwarf females. So we were frantically calling out 'LF Dwarf Female' in the city chat. About 15 mins before midnight/the end of the event, we finally found one, thus allowing me to earn the title 'The Noble'.

- Getting Eggbert.
In order to do the quest to get him, you need to be at least level 60. He is only available during Children's Week (1 week in May). When I started playing in 2009, I was only level 20 when Children's Week arrived. So I worked really hard to get my night elf to level 60 so that she'd be able to get him in 2010. How can anyone say no to this cutie?

- The Story of Sharptooth.
I first saw these devilsaurs during the Noblegarden adventure. Back then, you could only tame an animal if you were at least the same level as said animal. So once I reached level 55, I headed to Ungoro Crater to tame him. He is an elite animal so he was pretty tricky to tame. It took me 3 tries but eventually, I could tame him. I named him 'Sharptooth' after the T-Rex from 'Land Before Time'.

I was SO HAPPY to get him.

So you can imagine how pissed off I was when Blizzard changed the requirements to tame Devilsaurs. Somewhere in 2010, it was changed that you could only tame Devilsaurs with the Beast Mastery skill, which was unlocked when you were level 69. Suddenly, my poor Sharptooth was banished to the stables, forced to remain there 'til I reached level 69.

Getting a Devilsaur is still a sort of 'Rite of Passage' for my hunters. Once they reach level 69, I always head to Ungoro Crater to tame a Devilsaur for them.

- Logging into WoW on Christmas Day in 2013.
I was seriously shocked to see that many people online :

- The Great Pandarean Adventure.
In June 2013, my boyfriend (now, my husband) and I bought the Mist of Pandaria expansion and we both created Pandarean characters on the Horde side: Weinoodle, the monk and Jadeling, the hunter with Soup, her pet turtle. We promised each other that we would only play with our pandas if we quested together. It was seriously one of the most fun experiences in WoW ever. We would constantly quest together, goof off, take photos of our pandas falling asleep in inns, take silly screenshots, etc.

Sleepy pandas.

Jadeling with Big Soup, Soup and Little Soupy.

Eventually, the two pandas did grow apart a little bit. I continued playing with Jadeling whilst my husband switched to his tauren character. Still, the Great Pandarean adventure is one of the fondest memories I have of WoW.

- Trying to log into WoW on the launch day of Warlords of Draenor.
Just look at that queue. Next time, I'll just wait a couple of days before trying the new content.

- Finding out that my first name is still available on our server.
This is Els and Adorabuns. I briefly tried playing a mage 'cause I wanted a gnome character. Poor girl barely got to level 7 before I called it quits. Hunters all the way for me. I'm currently keeping Adorabuns as a nameholder 'til I can switch her to a .... what else .... hunter once the pre-patch for Legion drops ;)

Once Legion is released, my husband and I are thinking of starting a Great Gnome Adventure :D

There are still more memorable moments that I can think of. So for those who play or have played WoW, what are some of your most memorable moments?

Kira got her faceup!! :D (dolls)

eiko82 — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 18:52:26 GMT

I commissioned Severelysigune on Flickr for the faceups for my Bishonenhouse Mira. She lives in the same city as me so it was an easy and stress-free experience.

I'm superhappy with the result. She brought my vision perfectly to life. It's exactly what I envisioned for my girl.The photos aren't the best but I couldn't resist taking a couple of quick pics.

What do you think?

Summer time!

eiko82 — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 20:13:41 GMT

We went for a nice walk near the beach area at the local lake. Had a chance to take a photo of one of my Nendoroids, enjoying the beach. It's a great place to relax and enjoy the sun.

Bishonenhouse Mira arrives! (dolls)

eiko82 — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 10:28:56 GMT

've been a big fan of Donn's Steve doll. So when I heard that he was making a female doll, I was over the moon. After 1.5 years of waiting one, I finally managed to get my hands on a Bishonenhouse Mira kit!!!

All her bits and pieces.

It took my husband and me a good hour to put her together last night. We didn't have any long thin wire. So we MacGyvered one together with paper clips.

Tbh some of her seams still needs to be sanded. But I'll do that some other time. I've never done it before. Heck, this is only the second time that I've put a doll kit together. The last time was my Elf Uyoo kit and that was nearly a decade ago.

She also needs a faceup which will be done by a friend of mine. But for now, meet Kira!!

Kira : HEY!! What is up with photographing me nude like that? I don't want nude pics all over the internet!
(I'm actually impressed she could stand like that without assistance.)

Me : Well, it's to show people how awesome you are.
Kira : Still, the least you could've done is ask permission.
Me : Fair enough. My apologizes. Now let's find you some clothes.

Kira: I'm not sure I'm a kimono-type of girl.

Kira : Do I look like the pink, fluffy type? I think not.

Kira : I'm not even sure why you gave me this. I'm not the 'prance through a field full of flowers' type.

Kira : 'Draw me like one of your French girls much?

Kira : This is comfy. I like it. But how about something more dark?

Kira : Now this is more like it.

Kira : This is perfect!!!

I seriously LOVE her in this outfit. The pants are really skintight. She can barely bend her legs in it.

I swapped the pants 'cause at least now she can move her legs.

She is such a cool doll. I love the different faceplates. Hope you enjoyed the pics :)

My thoughts on Season 3 of Penny Dreadful

eiko82 — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 12:25:20 GMT

Just watched the season finale of Penny Dreadful so I feel a need to voice my thought.

I have pretty mixed feeling about this season. It had some good and bad points. So here are my thoughts/impressions :

Stuff I liked :

- I liked how at least shit was actually happening. After 2 seasons of slow buildup and character development, it was nice to see some things get done.

- Shazad Latif as Dr. Henry Jekyll. He displayed the perfect balance of arrogance and beauty. Tho it did remind me how badly miscast Reeve Carney is as Dorian Grey. The show should've cast Shazad Latif as Dorian.

- Some of Ethan's backstory. Finally we found out why his dad was so hellbent on bringing him back to the USA. I love Brian Cox so seeing him cast as Ethan's dad made me happy. He is great at playing dick-characters.

- Catriona Hartdegan!! It's great to see another kickass female character. Just wish we'd seen more of her.

- I loathed Caliban the past 2 seasons. So it's pretty impressive how much season 3 made me care for him. It was heartwarming to see him reunite with his family and seeing them accept him the way it is. That's why it broke my heart when his son died and his wife gave him the ultimatum of 'bring our son to Dr. Frankenstein or never come back'. So sad.

- As for sad tales, I nearly cried when Lily/Brona told us the story of little baby Sarah. That poor little baby. Just the thought of losing a child like that is enough to make me tear up ;__;

Stuff that I have mixed feelings about :

- The Jekyll/Hyde story line. As much as I liked the character, it served no purpose to the main story.

- Lily's call for revolution. I don't think anyone can blame Lily for being so angry at men. They treated her like filth. So I get that she wanted them to pay. However, it felt a bit weird how she complained about the suffragettes being 'loud' and then she orders her women to kill a man and bring her his right hand. Judging by the number of women sitting at the table and the pile of hands, they must've killed several dozens of men. No way is that not going to alert the authorities.

- Dorian Grey. I already felt that he wasn't really involved with the main plot but after 3 seasons of him doing nothing, I'm seriously starting to question what purpose his story line had.

- Patti LuPone as Dr. Seward. I'm gonna assume that the show really enjoyed working with her. But it seemed weird to have her play another character on this show. In a way, I'm glad that the show did actually address the likeness. Also, as a non-native English speaker, it struck me as odd that she referred to Joan Clayton as an ancestor.
Given that Vanessa met Joan perhaps a decade or so before meeting Dr. Seward, I would think 'relative' or 'aunt/great-aunt' would've been more suitable.

Stuff I didn't like :

- I'm *NOT* here for Ethan's 'White Saviour of Apache' nonsense. I was okay with him being 'God's Wolf' sent to protect Vanessa from her tormentors. But not this.

- Speaking of Native Americans, I'll admit that I know very little of their culture but it struck me as odd that Kaetenay kept talking about God in the Christian meaning of it. He didn't strike me as the kind of person who had converted to Christianity.

- Victor Frankenstein. Good heavens, I HATED him so much this season. His sense of entitlement and complete disregard of Lily's wish made me RAGE!!! I seriously wanted to punch him in the face. Eventho he backed out of domesticating Lily in the end, I really can't forgive him for what he did to her.

- Ethan never finding out what Victor did to Brona. Victor deserved to pay for that.

- WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FINALE?!?!? So after all this, Vanessa just decides to end it all. What bullshit is this? Throughout the series, she was so determined to fight those tormenting her. I get being fed up with being tormented and being hunted down but I'm seriously disappointed with her decision.
I was surprised that she allowed herself to become Dracula's bride but I assumed that she did so to be able to spy on him, learn his weaknesses and destroy him once and for all.

Also, why was Prof. Lyall not at her funeral? Are you seriously telling me that he wouldn't come all the way from Egypt to say goodbye to his 'dear Miss Ives'?

- So Vanessa dies and Dracula just moves on without flinching? This was suppose to be the Big Bad. Without Vanessa, his master plan failed. Yet he barely seemed to care that Vanessa was dead.

- Why did Vanessa's death reverse 'The End Of Days'? I would think that once the End of Days began, it couldn't be reversed.

What did you think?

A small review of the Volks Dollfie Dress-Up Box

eiko82 — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 13:22:31 GMT

At long last, I've managed to put the Dress Up Box together. So I decided to do a small review by putting various BJDs and toys inside to give you all an idea of how big it is.

With Julie (a Yo-SD Hinata). It's the perfect size for these dolls.

With Julie (a Yo-SD Hinata) and Bram (Elfdoll Alice Cherry Blossom).

With Maria (a Narae Butterfly). The box works for MSD/40 cm dolls as long as they're sitting down.

With Anna (a Mama Chapp obitsu) and some rements.

With Pinkys.

With Nendoroids Frozen's Elsa and Anna.

With Figma Mayoi Hachikuji.

It's too big for Dollfie Dreams or other SD/60 cm sized dolls.

The empty box. The floor-part needs to be kept down with blu-tack. I might have to straight the paper some more.I have to admit that it was NOT easy to get the decoration sheet in the back to fit. I cut it out as best as I could.

But it's still slightly too big to complete fit in the back as you can see. I didn't want to cut it any further.

Still, it's a beautiful box. Thanks again to ashbet for getting me this box <3 <3
I have no doubt that I'll have lots of fun using it as a background for my dolls. You can see more photos on Flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/7845961@N02/

Some quality time with my dolls (dolls)

eiko82 — Mon, 09 May 2016 08:11:19 GMT

Eversince the baby got here, I haven't had any time to spend with my dolls. So yesterday, as a Mother's Day gift to myself, I decided to redress some of my dolls and take photos of Chie (my Smartdoll Mirai). Wheee!

ashbet managed to get me this lovely outfit at the Dollpa in LA last year. Thanks again for getting me the Dress-Up Box with this lovely outfit, Ashbet!

Hope you liked the photos.

We're okay!!

eiko82 — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 10:15:29 GMT

Just wanted to let you all know that we're okay. My husband and I don't live or work in Brussels so we were nowhere near the attacks.

Whilst there was always a possibility that Belgium or Brussels could be a target for terrorist attacks, I'm shocked and saddened that it has actually happened now. I know so many people who work in Brussels. I hope that they're all okay :(

I can't see comments on LJ entries

eiko82 — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 11:08:52 GMT

Can someone help me? The past couple of days, I can't see any comments on LJ entries. Whenever I click on an LJ entry (on my LJ or someone else's), all I see is a blank space with the number of comments listed above. It's kinda annoying.

The Adventures Of Karrah, the Traveling Pinky (part 8)

eiko82 — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 17:09:16 GMT

It's time for Karrah to say goodbye to the land of chocolate. Tomorrow, she'll be sent to her next destination.

The Belgian Pinky Committee saying goodbye in Dutch, French and German.

I really had a great time entertaining Karrah. Can't wait to see what adventures await her in Scotland.

The Adventures Of Karrah, the Traveling Pinky (part 7)

eiko82 — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 14:59:16 GMT

We couldn't resist buying a small box of chocolate bonbons for Karrah to enjoy.

There is no shortage of chocolate stores in Belgium. I'm mildly exaggerating but you could probably find one in almost every street. The stores that I've photographed are the 'big names' in the chocolate industry but you also have a lot of local chocolate stores.

The Adventures Of Karrah, the Traveling Pinky (part 6)

eiko82 — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 09:23:25 GMT

Inside, you got to see all kinds of old weapons and armour.

Yeap, prepare for chocolatey goodness in the next update ;)

The Adventures Of Karrah, the Traveling Pinky (part 5)

eiko82 — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 16:23:32 GMT

Karrah celebrating X-mas with her Belgian friends.

Happy Holidays!!

eiko82 — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 13:59:02 GMT

Hope you all have a wonderful time with your loved ones!