It's caption time again, but before I reveal the image for this weeks competition, here is the winning caption from last week:


It was a pun worthy of being put on the Big Board this week from The Great Bear, a real groaner out-facepalming the competition.


Just like always, please post a caption to go with the following image. There is no prize, except the knowledge that you are better at putting words into the mouths of anime characters than your peers.

Here is this week's image:

The drafting phase of the 2010 Anime Draft is now finished, so now it's time for me to post what the first round picks were and the results of the voting for Round 1. The winner of Round 1 earned the right to draft first in Round 2. For this year, it was Sakura Kimonoto of Cardcaptor Sakura, who was the entry of Proximity. Sakura received 17 votes in the voting phase, just barely edging out Lafiel and Revy.

Scoring is performed with the winning character receiving 21 points for their coach down to 1 point for the character that finishes last. For Round 1, the tiebreaker was the character that was entered the fastest during the entry phase of the draft. Characters that were tied had their points added and split evenly with their respective coaches.

This entry will be used as the official scorecard of the 2010 Anime Draft. Starting with Round 3 (Round 2 started late because of the missed pick) I'll post the results and scores of the individual rounds in the Comments section and update the main scorecard accordingly.

So with that here are the characters that were entered/selected in Round 1 of the 2010 Anime Draft (number in () represents votes recieved) :

#1 Team Proximity - Sakura Kimonoto, Carcaptor Sakura (17 votes)
#2 Team Foxfossil - Lafiel, Crest of the Stars (14)
#3 Inglorious Bitches - Revy, Black Lagoon (13)
#4 Team EmperorBrandon - Nagisa Furukawa, Clannad (12)
#5 Lulu's Harem - Lelouch Lamperouge, Code Geass (12)
#6 Team Bokuto - Akari Mizunashi, ARIA (12)
#7 Sultans of Suzumiya - Haruhi Suzumiya, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (11)
#8 Team Twintail - Kagami Hiiragi, Lucky Star (11)
#9 Team bluesilo - Hitagi Senjougahara, Bakemonogatari (11)
#10 Real Men Love Pink - Hinagiku Katsura, Hayate the Combat Butler (10)
#11 12 Angry Aces - Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga, Azumanga Daioh (10)
#12 Team Lumberjack - Kyon, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (10)
#13 Cleveland City K-Stars - Sora Naegino, Kaleido Star (8)
#14 Team Fencedude - Fate Testarossa, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (8)
#15 Team Westlo - Saber, Fate/stay night (8)
#16 Aria's All-Stars - Urd, Ah! My Goddess (8)
#17 B.B.B. - Chiyo Mihama, Azumanga Daioh (7)
#18 C.R.A.P. - Alice Carroll, ARIA (7)
#19 Team Starfish - Fuuko Ibuki, Clannad (7)
#20 Team Watcher - Kobato Hanato, Kobato. (3)
#21 Fine Arts Club - Yuno, Hidamari Sketch (3)

The OFFICIAL scorecard for the 2010 Anime Draft after Round 1:

1. Team Proximity - 21 points
2. Team Foxfossil - 20
3. Inglorious Bitches - 19
4. Team EB - 17
4. Lulu's Harem - 17
4. Team Bokuto - 17
7. Sultans of Suzumiya - 14
7. Team Twintail - 14
7. Team bluesilo - 14
10. Real Men Love Pink - 11
10. 12 Angry Aces - 11
10. Team Lumberjack - 11
13. Cleveland City K-Stars - 7.5
13. Team Fencedude - 7.5
13. Team Westlo - 7.5
17. Aria's All-Stars - 4
17. C.R.A.P. - 4
17. B.B.B. - 4
20. Team Watcher - 1.5
21. Fine Arts Club - 1.5

This isn't a story about why I decided to choose twintails (that much is obvious) but rather a making of story about one of the more interesting parts of my Draft this year. My avatar.

As many may have spotted, my avatar has been increasing in population throughout the three weeks we have been doing the draft. It started with just Ayumu and Kagami, and has since grew to house all twelve of my characters. Here is the progression of the avatar.

























It started with just an empty room. The room in question is actually room 202 of the Hidamari Apartments. I chose that room since it has a very clean and simple setting, and the section I chose to use has no real setting to distract from the characters, who are the real stars.

































































































As the draft progressed I found more and more cute images of the characters in my team. I especially liked the fourth image of Azusa, ready to pounce on some taiyaki. It was around this time that people realised what was happening and started to question my logic. How was I going to fit twelve characters in a 100x100 avatar? Easy, I didn't even try. I fit them into the 400x400 and shrunk it down. Ignoring the calls of lunacy, I continued onwards...

































































































The room is really getting crowded now, but with only four more characters to place and three very obvious spaces in the back row, I knew that I could do it. One thing that isn't noticable is that I cheated a bit when I came to put Hisa on the avatar. It may not look it there, but she is somewhat lacking in the leg department. The image I found only goes down as far as her skirt, and then it ends, which is why she found herself standing behind Miku.

My next pick offered me up a different challenge however. The image I found was one of Kuroko crouching down, but the problem I had was on which layer to place her. She would either be unnaturally ahead of Miku's legs whilst crouching behind them, or would have her hair in front of her when it shouldn't be. What I decided to do then, was to place Kuroko ahead of Miku, but delete the section of her leg so that Miku's leg was in front.

































































































And so there we have it. From Kagami to Shiho, rounds one through twelve of my 2010 Anime Draft team. It is just lacking one person from my draft team, clearly the person who is much less important than the twelve girls. He's the only male member of Team Twintail, and he doesn't even have twin-tails. It is of course myself, but since I'm not as important, I've decided to include myself only as a photograph hanging on the wall behind the characters.

Here is the final image, with all thirteen members of Team Twintail.



TEAM TWINTAIL 2010

Back Row: Satori Azuma, Ayumu Nishizawa, Touko Matsudaira, Nanoha Takamachi, Hisa Takei, Nori, Shiho Huit.
Front Row: Anya Yurievna Cocolova, Azusa Nakano, Kuroko Shirai, Miku Hatsune, Kagami Hiiragi.

Not Present: Fudce.


Thank you for reading, and please vote for Team Twintail in the Anime Draft 2010

For the 12th and final round of the Anime Draft, the order was the drafting order from the 2009 Anime Draft in reverse order. Characters selected:

#231 Team Starfish - Fuura (P.N.) Kafuka, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
#232 Fine Arts Club - Cure Dream, Pretty Cure
#233 Team Lumberjack - Kino, Kino's Journey
#234 12 Angry Aces - :keroro:
#235 Team Foxfossil - Natsumi Tsujimoto, You're Under Arrest
#236 Aria's Aces - Paravati IV, 3x3 Eyes
#237 Team Westlo - Tomoya Okazaki, Clannad
#238 Team Fencedude - Misha Arsellec Lune, Ar Tonelico
#239 Team Watcher - Juliet Capulet, Romeo x Juliet
#240 Team Bokuto - Yohko Mano, Devil Hunter Yohko
#241 Cleveland City K-Stars - Akira E. Ferrari, ARIA
#242 C.R.A.P. - Sara Adiemus, School Rumble
#243 Real Men Wear Pink - Himeji Mizuki, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
#244 Inglorious Bitches - Rin Kokonoe, Kodomo no Jikan
#245 Team bluesilo - Miyako Miyamura, ef~a tale of memories
#246 B.B.B. - Mami Honda, SuperGALS
#247 Team Twintail - Shiho Huit, My-Otome
#248 Lulu's Harem - Maria, Hayate the Combat Butler
#249 Sultans of Suzumiya - Shigure Sohma, Fruits Basket
#250 Team EmperorBrandon - Tomo Takino, Azumanga Daioh
#251 Team Proximity - Daisuke Aramaki, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
#252 Team bluesilo (missed pick from Round 2) - Shinku, Rozen Maiden

Start time: February 4 12:23 PM ET
Finish time: February 6 1:59 AM ET
Total round time: 1 day, 14 hours, 35 minutes
Average pick time: 1 hour, 50 minutes, 14 seconds

Note: Time statistics does not include the missed pick from Round 2 that was made in this round.

Draft order was the reversal of Round 10. Characters selected:

#210 Team Proximity - Mai Tokiha, My-HiME
#211 Team Lumberjack - Roronoa Zoro, One Piece
#212 Team Watcher - Lenalee Lee, D.Gray-man
#213 Team Westlo - Misato, Neon Genesis Evangelion
#214 Team EmperorBrandon - Aeka Masaki Jurai, Tenchi Muyo
#215 Team Bokuto - Sawatee, Can Can Bunny Extra
#216 Team Starfish - Kuchinashi, Needless
#217 Team bliesilo - Emma, Emma: A Victorian Romance
#218 12 Angry Aces - Tenma Tsukamoto, School Rumble
#219 Inglorious Bitches - Chloe, Noir
#220 Lulu's Harem - Saki Kasukabo, Genshiken
#221 Fine Arts Club - Odori Momoha, Gauken Utopia Manobi Straight
#222 Team Foxfossil - Shinobu Maehara, Love Hina
#223 Aria's All-Stars - Tatsuki Kuroi, SuperGALS
#224 Sultans of Suzumiya - Mizuho Kazami, Please Teacher/Twins
#225 Cleveland City K-Stars - Yuki Azuma, Princess Nine
#226 Real Men Wear Pink - Cure Passion, Pretty Cure
#227 Team Twintail - Satori Azuma, Bamboo Blade
#228 C.R.A.P. - Aria, Sister Princess
#229 B.B.B, - Relena Peacecraft, Gundam Wing
#230 Team Fencedude - Dead Master, Black Rock Shooter

Start time: February 2 6:27 PM ET
Finish time: February 4 11:14 AM ET
Total round time: 1 day, 16 hours, 53 minutes
Average pick time: 1 hour, 56 minutes, 49 seconds

Ah, another week, another entry of Hidamari Sketch X Hoshimittsu avatars. An entry where someone finally broke the 999 barrier. Although who that is, will clearly remain a secret.


In any case, since this has already taken long enough, I'll skip the rambling and such. Thus here are the avatars of Yuno and some others girl that apparently aren't named Yuno











Group
































Arisawa






















































































Hiro































Kuwabara










Mami










Miyako




























Nakayama



















Nazuna




















Nori











Sae



















Yoshinaya









Yuno































































































And there you go.

Today's Picks

The English Premier League gets a busy Saturday going on Streak with Manchester City at Hull City (draw). Later in the Prem it's Aston Villa (draw) vs. Totterham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in London.

The NHL schedule has Vancouver at Boston, Phoenix at Dallas, New Jersey at the NY Rangers, and San Jose at Nashville.

The NBA schedule feature Denver at Utah, the LA Lakers at Portland, and San Antonio at the LA Clippers.

The NASCAR season begins with the Budwieser Shootout in Daytona Beach, FL. Dale Earnhart Jr. and Jeff Gordon are the drivers paired in the better finish prop.

The college basketball schedule is as follows:

12:00 PM Villanova at Georgetown
12:00 PM Xavier at Dayton
2:05 PM Kansas State at Iowa State
2:05 PM Temple at Richmond
4:05 PM Wisconsin at Michigan
4:05 PM Gonzaga at Memphis
6:05 PM Which team will have the larger margin of victory - Northern Iowa (vs. Southern Illinois) or Tennessee (vs. South Carolina)
9:05 PM Michigan State at Illinois
10:05 PM Tulsa at UTEP
10:35 PM Arizona State at Washington

My planned picks for today are as follows:

Soccer - Aston Villa win or draw
NCB - Wisconsin Badgers
NHL - New Jersey Devils
NBA - San Antonio Spurs

Yesterday's Results

I had another split day, going 2-2 with my picks. After splitting my golf picks (winning with Alex Prugh and losing with Padraig Harrington), I lost with the Florida Panthers but won with Kenyon Martin. My record for February is now 11-9-0.