Category: Miscellaneous

Aegis

I’ve become an Aegis otaku. Who’s Aegis? This is Aegis:

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Stunning piece of character art isn’t it? Aegis is a (relatively minor) character from the PS2/PSP game Persona 3 that ended up running away with the hearts of male players everywhere. She’s an emotionless android learning to be human, and here’s a shot of how she looks in the game:

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She’s got the whole “cute, shy Commander Data” thing going on, but frankly if her personality was that of a crazed, genocidal dog-loving cannibal it would matter because LOOK AT HER!

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And look at her the figure companies did, and a wave of impressive Aegis figures did roll forth from such luminaries as Bandai…

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Resinya…

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Alter…

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Dimension Diver…

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Garage kit makers…

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And Figma.

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That last one, by Figma, is the only one I have. I passed on the Bandai one at comic-con because it was a bit pricey and the others are just bankbreakingly expensive (not that I’d buy them anyway, I’m happy with my Figma!)

Oh, and don’t forget about the Aegis UFO Catcher prize:

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Or the cosplayers…

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I love how she did the gold bits.

Aegis isn’t going away any time soon. Although, as I said, her role in Persona 3 was minor, Atlus recognizes a bankable character when they see one and she’s soon to be in her own mobile game, is rumoured to have a major role in the (unannounced) Persona 4, and is a playable character in the upcoming Persona fighting game:

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And of course she will continue to have the devotion of her fans. “Devotion?” you ask? Yes, devotion. I mean how many other characters out there in the wide world of otaku could move a man to a display of skill as astonishingly astonishing as this Aegis home-made papercraft:

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Yes it’s real. And one of the most amazing pieces of papercraft I have ever seen!

My PhD Defense

Yesterday I completed and submitted my PhD dissertation to my committee. I will defend in 2 weeks.

For those unaware, the process of obtaining a PhD is long and complicated and contains many requirements. Most of these I completed years ago. The largest and final requirement is to summarize all your work in a dissertation which is reviewed by a committee of 5 people (other physicists) and then to defend the work, which involves a 45 minute presentation followed by a Q&A session.

My thesis/dissertation took about 5 months to write and ended at exactly 150 pages (29000+ words). To say I am relieved to have printed copies and handed them to the committee is an understatement.

To say I am tired now after working overtime on this during this last week especially is also an understatement.

My next step is to write the presentation and begin studying for any questions they may ask me. Within two weeks from today, it should hopefully all be over.

Dumbstruck

I present this video without commentary since… well since I’m speechless. Be sure to watch the whole thing!