It’s been a long and exciting week for me. May’N's Big Wave concert was absolutely fantastic and fun ! Haven’t had the time to post up some updates lately but I manage to catch May’N's special appearance last Saturday at the AnimeTech in Sunway Pyramid. It was only a brief appearance where she accepted some gifts and tokens from some of our our local fan clubs and society and signed some posters to be given away. The crowd wasn’t that huge, but that’s probably because the announcement of her visit was made quite late as well. Check out the gallery below.

May’N Big Wave Special Appearance @ AnimeTech

Ticketing details for May’N's upcoming Malaysian tour on the 7th March has been updated at the official concert site. The concert will be held at the KL Live Entertainment Hall with tickets priced at RM 198 from outlets and RM 218 at the door, please note however that the concert will be a free standing event and admission is based on a first come first serve basis . Ticket sales are available from February 9th onwards from KL Live, Sogo and AnimeTech outlets.

Doors Open : 7.00pm
Show Starts : 8.00pm
Ticket Price : Outlet RM 198 At-The-Door RM 218
Ticketing Starts : 9th Feb 2010
Enquiry
Phone : +65 6325 9871
Email : info@mayn.asia

Tickets Available from :
KL Live @ 1^st Floor,
Life Centre 20
Jalan Sultan Ismail,
50250 Kuala Lumpur.

Anime Tech – Sunway Pyramid
L-1.23, Level 1, Sunway Pyramid,
No. 3, Jalan PJ 11/15,
46150 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor,
Malaysia.
Tel No: 603-7494 0389

Anime Teach – Mid Valley
T036A, 3rd Floor, Mid Valley Megamall,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Tel : 603-2283 2628

Anime Tech – Time Square
05-94, 5th Floor, Berjaya Times Square,
No 1, Jalan Imbi,
52200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Tel : 603-2141 2623

Anime Tech – 1 Utama
Lot S22, 2nd Floor,
Jusco 1-Utama Shopping Centre,
Bandar Utama Damansara,
47800 Bandar Utama,
Selangor,
Malaysia.
Tel : 603-7722 5361

May’N Asia Tour 2010 Official Site http://www.mayn.asia/
KL Live! http://www.kl-live.com.my/

This is probably one of the biggest Otaku/Jpop news to hit our shores in recent times. Hot J-Pop Diva May’N will be having her first ever Asian Tour in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan ! From the official press release:,

The organizers of Mayʼn BIG☆WAAAAAVE!! Asia Tour 2010 are excited to announce Mayʼnʼs first ever concert tour of Asia, which promises to deliver the latest hits from her chart topping repertoire of successful music releases. Her first concert of the tour is scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 7th of March 2010, while her concert in Hong Kong will be taking place on the 19th of March 2010, followed by the concert in Taipei, Taiwan on the 21st of March 2010.

“After my Budokan, to come to Asia again is a great honor for me. I love Asia and look forward to be connected with everyone all around the world through my music. I look forward to meeting everyone! Letʼs sing together!” Translated quote from Mayʼn.

For her Asian tour, Mayʼn will be delivering a full concert experience, featuring specially choreographed dance moves and exclusive performances. Extremely popular with the Asian audience, Mayʼn has performed to sell-out concert audiences of over 5,000 twice at Singaporeʼs annual Anime Festival Asia event, and full house audiences in South Korea and Guangzhou, China.

That’s right ! The legendary Songstress of the Galaxy, May’N aka Sheryl Nome from the hit anime series Macross Frontier will be belting out her famous hits in Malaysia. I attended her recent concert at the Anime Festival Asia 09 held in Singapore November last year and it was a blast and so full of energy ! The tour dates are as follows:

• Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur – 7 March 2010
• Hong Kong – 19 March 2010
• Taiwan, Taipei – 21 March 2010

Ticketing details are yet to be published but stay tuned for more info. This is definitely one concert you should not miss whether you’re a May’N fan or Macross Fan or a Jpop Fan !

Mayʼn BIG☆WAAAAAVE!! Asia Tour 2010 Official Website – http://www.mayn.asia/
(even the official site link looks awesome !)

Finally completed my first custom color mod of Gundam Seed Destiny’s Strike Freedom Gundam. The color scheme was inspired by a Japanese modeler by the name of Keita whose original design can be seen here. As usual I prefer to keep panel lines and decals to a minimum for a cleaner look but I also found that its harder to do panel lining with Gundam markers when you’re using acrylic paint. Not much of a fancy mod except for the new sprayed surfaces and the metallic body frame. Special thanks to Kien Yit for loaning me his airbrush kit to complete my mod.

View the complete gallery here.
Specifications:
Model number: ZGMF-X20A
Code name: Strike Freedom Gundam
Unit type: prototype assault mobile suit
Manufacturer: Three Ships Alliance (based on a design by ZAFT)
Dimensions: overall height 18.88 meters
Weight: max gross weight 80.09 metric tons
Pilot: Kira Yamato
Original mechanical designer: Kunio Okawara

Full gallery

Caught Avatar in 3D last week. For 2 hours and 40 minutes, I was IN Pandora. I’m sure by now you’ve heard all the hype about it and I can tell you that it’s mostly true. 3D cinema has come a long way. You simply cannot believe how immersive the experience is.

[minor spoilers ahead] Avatar is an epic scifi fantasy tale of humans mining the planet Pandora for a precious mineral called Unobtainium. Pandora is very rich in life and home to natives known as the Na’vi. An ex-marine, Jake Scully, in a twist of fate, was chosen to take part in an experimental project, Avatar, which allows him to remotely control a Na’vi body grown using both human and alien DNA. He was tasked with gaining trust among the Na’vi people with hopes that he would be able to find a way to relocate the natives peacefully to make way for mining the rich unobtainium deposits. At the same time he was also providing crucial intelligence to the head of security of the corporation that he works for should his “diplomatic” ways prove ineffective. As Jake learns more about the Na’vi’s culture through Neytiri, a powerful native whom he first met, he becomes entranced with the Na’vi’s way of life and soon decides to protect the Na’vi from the invading forces.

Avatar is a breathtaking piece of work. From the musical scores to the soaring alien landscapes and unique life form, James Cameron has definitely outdone it again. I’d highly recommend watching the movie at least twice to capture all the details in the film. A MUST-WATCH for 2009.

Danny Choo made an appearance later in the same day to give a talk about his life and experiences as an otaku blogger in Japan. He was also here to promote his Otacool book which showcases some of the most impressive otaku rooms from around the world.
Anime Festival Asia 2009 Danny Choo Appearance Gallery

Kaname, a renowned Japanese cosplayer, was invited as a judge for the Regional Cosplay Championship and also conducted a Cosplay tips and interview session. Kaname cosplayed as Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 and Kamina of the popular Gurren Lagann anime series during the two day event.
Anime Festival Asia 2009 Kaname Appearance Gallery

And lastly we have photos of the booths around the exhibition area. Above is the Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe where waitresses dressed up as super kawaii maids serve the guests. Sadly no photography were allowed in their premises but as a customer I was allowed to have a picture taken with one of the maids. You can check out more Moe Moe photos from Danny Choo’s site.
Anime Festival Asia 2009 Exhibition Booths Gallery

We’ll take some time off from our regular cosplay broadcasting and today I present to you the Gunplas and figures of AFA’09 ! Featured above is the upcoming Perfect Grade Gundam 00 Raiser model kit which should be available anytime within the next couple of weeks. Bandai had one of the biggest booth at the exhibition floor showcasing all their products including Gunplas as well as their Cookjoy series for children. Gundam models from Perfect Grade all the way to the minuscule 1/380 scale dominated most of the display shelves.

Also on display were the 10 finalist of the BAKUC 09 competiton for Singapore round. Check out the above detailed Gundam Unicorn model submission for the BAKUC.

I snapped several of these exclusive figurine showcase over at the Danny Choo’s Experience booth. These figures were brought together by a collaboration between Danny Choo and Good Smile Company of Japan.

View the full gallery here.

IT’S BACK ! ! One of the most highly anticipated anime event of the region, the Anime Festival Asia 2009 will be held from 21st – 22nd November at the Singapore Suntec Convention Center. Among the highlights this year are the great artists invited to perform the I Love Anisong Concert, featuring May’N, Shoko Nakagawa, Ichiro Mizuki, Yoshiki Fukuyama AND Hatsune Miku! Celebrity Otaku blogger Danny Choo will also be making an appearance this year and will most likely introduce some of his merchandise during the event. Other activities held during the event includes the Bandai World Gunpla Modeling Competition as well as the Regional Cosplay Championship 2009 and lots of other features.

Anime Festival Asia 2009 Official Site

Manufacturer: Strategic Naval Research Institute
Operator: Earth Federation Forces
Dimensions: Head height 15.2 meters
Weight: Empty 7.2 metric tons; max gross 19.9 metric tons
Pilot(s): Seabook Arno, Harrison Martin, Bergh Scred
Original mechanical designer(s): Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (principal design), Kunio Okawara (cleanup)

MAHQ – Gundam F91

It reminds me of Freedom Gundam’s outstretched wing cannons which was pretty cool to look at. Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned in my previous post, the F91 is a very stiff model with no polycaps. So when I tried to twist the VSBR 180 degrees upwards, the joint broke off. So now I have half the ball joint stuck in the VSBR and the other half still attached to the rails. Anyway, I figured since the joint wont be that visible if I glue them back together, I bought myself a tube of quick dry superglue from the nearest art supply shop and affixed them together.

After leaving it for 2 days to cure, the cannon is now firmly in place. Its a lot less flexible now since the ball joint is stuck, but I can still slide them along the rails.

Oh well, this reminds me to be more careful when posing with Gunplas in the future. Photos will be up in the next couple of days