[TOYCON '08]

It's been a while since I last went to a con, so I was thrilled about going to the 7th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention (Toycon, for short) that took place last June 14-15. A whole bunch of us planned to go on the first day, and in the end we formed a group of about six. It was as insanely hot as it was last year, though. Heat + crowds = pseudo-claustrophobia and massive loss of private space. I think it won't be surprising to say I left early.

(I'm not too good with crowds)

A piece of advice to con-goers: Wanna enjoy yourself as much as possible? Save up that allowance/salary. Dirt poorness in a "con full of stalls of stuff at low low prices!" is a saddening experience.

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[drought?]

Drought = sporadic posting. Not necessarily a hiatus, but for perfectionist tendencies, artist!issues, life!issues, and college hell weeks, the influx of incoming deviations will be few and of questionable quality.

(Shen, I owe you an art trade. Sorry for the delay; I'll try my best to put up more OC for your choosing. ^^)

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[rant-reviews]

_{I actually like ranting about the decent anime/games/books/etc. that I happen to come across so like my previous journal entry I'll have a segment here, if anything for the benefit of the random passers-by who chance upon my dA page. These aren't actual reviews, mind you; formality will make my head bleed.}


We'll start with my current high-inducer, Soul Eater. D.Gray-man meets Shaman King, but with a better storyline is how I describe it. Seriously, this series is probably at the top of my favorite Shonen anime list - and I've only seen the first six episodes. It has the plot, the characters, the humor, and the action befitting the best of the best (plus some fan service for the men of you). The first three episodes are actually prologues to the story - they work like character intros, in a way - and my favorite action sequence is probably Maka's battle in the first episode. Some awe-inspiring animation done there (Maka + Scythe!Soul, ftw!). And have I mentioned that the opening song is by TM Revolution? Soul Eater is made of crack, I swear. You will all become slaves before it's awesomeness.

Persona ~Trinity Soul. Now something serious for y'all. Persona's one of those complex anime that have a hint of darkness about them. The plot is well-executed, which is expected of these types of storylines, and the cast is small and well-developed in terms of background and personality. I used to dislike certain characters, but my opinions of them changed as the anime progressed. It saddens me that it's ending soon. T_T

Kure-nai. I honestly don't know how to describe Kure-nai. It's an oddball of an anime. To condense the plot into its simplest form, I'd describe it as "an anime about a teenaged boy hired to protect a girl". Something like Hayate no Gotoku, but not the same brand of humor or plot. It's more serious, although it has its cracky moments, such as the cast bursting into song ala musical towards the end of an episode. The girl, Murasaki, in particular comes of a a very interesting personage; not too sweet, not too irritating.

Special A. I was just about ready to give up on the anime, but then episode 10 happened. I think it was given a "laziest animation" award somewhere (rightly so) but since I'm seeing improvements in episodes 09-10, I'll be sticking by it for a while longer. It's a typical shojo mix made a bit more interesting by the characters so either steel yourself watching the anime till you hit episode nine, or go to the manga, which is definitely more fulfilling. The main character was a bit of a disappointment for me in the anime partly because of her seiyuu (personal bias ), and partly because of her demotion to a somewhat-Damsel-In-Distress (she's ranked 2nd in the school, for the love of rationality! She isn't that pathetic!). Thank goodness for secondary characters like Ryu and Tadashi.

Infinite Ryvius. The anime is a bit Gumdam-esque, considering that the guy who came up with the character designs also did the art for SEED (if I'm not mistaken). One-sentence summary: A large group of students get stranded on a ship in outer space. It's actually a pretty old anime, but is worth the watch. A huge cast of characters makes for lots of complex - and surprising - developments.

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[happy corner]

_{Links leading to lists of stuff with more links. This is my one attempt at keeping this thing in some form of order.}

List of Contest Entries: [link]
100ThemesChallenge list: [link]


_{I write fanfiction in my spare time, though on an account in fanfiction.net. Just note me if you're curious enough to read.}

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[clubs / groups]