Chuckychu.

Alrighty! I finished my Pikachu, whom I affectionately call Chuckychu since he's, well, a bit off his rocker. Once you take in all his magnificent craziness he'll haunt you forever in your dreams.

The pattern is from here. I'm quite proud of myself for interpreting the instructions, in French no less. Now I'm familiar with the most common crochet terminology in French! That definitely widens my horizons when I search for new patterns.

Without further ado, here's Chuckychu in all his glory:

His feet aren't quite as the pattern said - they look like flippers. Technically I should have cut him fingers and toes from felt, but I was too lazy to go buy the stuff. I will, however, make an effort to find safety eyes for him, but the felt ones are good enough for now. They're certainly better than the crochet ones I made at first:

(Give us a hug! And I'll stab you in the back!)

The mouth was a little difficult to make as well. It should be a little smaller, now he's not as optimally cute as he should be. I think I'll make him a sister/brother and try to outdo myself.

Moreover, his tail isn't exactly kosher according to the pattern:

The pattern instructed using felt, but I didn't have it at first so I crocheted it. Improvisation can be a beautiful thing, but not in my hands apparently. The tail is the right size, but too sloppy - thick felt would have been much better. At least I added brown felt for the brown part and the stripes on the back.

One thing I'd also like to modify is his muzzle - because he has none. I'm sure I could modify the pattern somehow. Crocheting amigurumi really isn't that hard once you figure out the basic techniques. I'm confident now in my ability to start designing my own Pokemon amigurumi once I get down to it.

My baby.

(This post is dedicated to everyone who is STILL waiting for their ME2 CE a full week after it was released outside Europe, SetAsEssential among many sad others!)

So I got my Mass Effect 2 Collectors' Edition from Tilt Game Store on Tuesday. After waiting in line in vain for almost 2 months, I had to cancel my preorder from Verkkokauppa.com (I'm NOT advertising them by giving a link). Instead, I accidentally found out that Tilt Game store had them in stock, so I just marched right in and got my baby, finally!

The salesman informed me that I should import my saves and characters from Mass Effect because the story is different in the sequel, depending on my decisions in the first game. Like, duh? I would have had to live under a rock for months if I did NOT know that by now. But I totally appreciate the good service, unlike the non-service that you'll get from Verkkokauppa. I am so boycotting that store from now on!

But let's get down to business shall we. Check out my baby! Isn't she beautiful? (Of course it's a girl!)

The standard edition looks quite different. I prefer the CE cover: it's more visceral and tragic, just like the story in the sequel. Besides, I've never been fond of the canon face of Commander Shepard, based on the male model Mark Meer.

This beautiful box had these two inside: an aesthetically pleasing and very cool package holding the Art Book and Mass Effect Redemption Comic part 1 inside on the left, and the game itself in a steel box on the right.

Here is the back cover of the steel box, sporting a terrifying-looking new alien species in the Mass Effect universe, called a Collector.

Steel. My preciousssss. Opening the steel box I found three disks - two for the game and one for a bonus dvd containing making of-documentaries!

(Oops, guess I forgot to rotate this one.)

Opening the other package, I found the Cerberus network card held it together:

Isn't the card beautiful? I love orange. The code on the back of this card allows me to download additional content for the game which could not be fitted on two dvds. After securing this sweet piece of artistry to safety, I finally uncovered the art book and the comic.

Since the art book for the first game was of regular size, I expected a similar one for the second. I was truly surprised by how tiny it was, as well as the comic! They are cute in a way, but I have to say I would definitely buy a bigger and more comprehensive art book if only they made one. Along the lines of Raising the Bar, made for Half Life 2. I haven't yet looked inside these two babies because I have been warned that they contain some spoilers regarding the game.

Long shory stort, the game is superpurty and I'm now going to continue playing.

Papu post.

I know I know, Papu isn't my dog, but look how cute she was when I visited Amoena!

She didn't much appreciate the beanie Amoena made for her.

(Wow, I edited the code to change the color of the text back to black.)