#oh well i will fix it + add texture when i am less tired

[sesamenom]

eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, FIVE GOLDEN RINGS! four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree

-

since in the last poll you decided that in light of a potential invasion the humans become Eru's problem (the elves have all been evacuated via swan-ship on day 7), here we have some very angry FA/SA ladies (and Morwen's cows)

Now that we're getting to a whole string of fun days:

[tintentrinkerin]

Profound Pain

Pairing: Wincest

Tags: Coda to 10.03 Soul Survivor

Created for @first-time-wincest-fest

Warnings: none

Rating: Teen and Up

Word count: 1,609

Sam knocks. Two times.

“Dean, it’s me, got your greasy burgers, cheesy fries and some Johnny Walker.”

There’s a rustling and then Sam hears Dean clear his throat. When he answers, he sounds like a wounded animal. Thin voice. And not really in the mood for company, but-

“Yeah, come in.”

Sam opens the door to Dean’s room. Photo albums lie around, opened, photos taken out of their foils. Photos of Sam and Dean, of Bobby and Jo, Mary and John. Sam notices all of them, even though Dean is busy hiding them away, pushing them together to tiny piles of glossy paper squares. 

“We could also go to the kitchen, if you want?”

But Dean shakes his head. He looks like he’s sunken in, nothing left of the confident posture. Seeing Dean like this hurts so much more than the things he did when he was a demon. Not quite himself. 

“Nah, it’s okay, I don’t feel like leaving my cave.” 

A crooked smile and sad eyes. Sam can’t help but acknowledge how beautiful Dean is, even now. Or, especially now? 

He puts the fast food bag on Dean’s desk and leans against it while Dean is still suspiciously busy with making space on the floor and also his bed. He must be so ashamed, at least Sam would be. Right? 

“It’s fine by me. Here, have some whiskey.”

Dean looks at the bottle. And then at Sam. Raises an eyebrow. 

“That’s roughly half a bottle. What happened to the rest?”

“I happened to the rest”, Sam says. 

He doesn’t feel even close to drunk but he wished he was, because the last months took his toll on him and he would love some fuzzy moments now. Just forget about the whole thing, the hammer, the chasing. Dean’s black eyes and the damn look on his face when he looked at Sam back at the bar. Or when Sam held a demon knife against his throat. But he can’t. It’s all still painfully clear and sharp in his mind. He wishes for some moments of bliss, laughter, childish giggles - and he wishes to be close to Dean. When his cheeks start to burn he realizes he blushed. Damn, he’s not a teenager anymore, but Dean’s demonic games have left him squirmy and thrilled. 

“Sammy, are you wasted?” 

“Not even close.” 

He chuckles. “I wish I was, but I still feel sober. What a waste of booze.”

“Well, there’s still half a bottle and I have a secret stash.”

“I know. The better stuff than Johnny.”

“Yes, actually not made for getting drunk but it’s a special day, right?”

Sam looks up to the ceiling, trying to ignore the stinging in his eyes. Needs to squint away some tears.

“Sammy, I-”

“No, no, Dean, shut up. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But-”

“Really, you don’t have to. It’s okay.”

Dean sits down on his bed, as the creaking of the bedframe tells Sam. He doesn’t dare to look down right now, the tears in his eyes - they’re not worth crying. Not now. He should be happy. Dean is back. His brother is back. He’s human. 

“No divorce?” Dean asks with a chuckle.

“Dean, just shut up for a second, I’m not in the mood for stupid jokes.”

“I hoped I would be funny.”

Dean sighs, Sam still stares to the ceiling, he can’t help it, now a tear is running down his face and he wipes it away. Quite angrily. 

“I’m so sorry, Sammy. I tried to kill you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Only because Cas was there in time. What if-”

“It didn’t happen, that’s all I care about right now. But if you killed me and stayed a demon, I wouldn’t have cared as much as I should. I wanted you back. And I got you back.”

“I feel so--”

Sam now looks at Dean, focuses on him. It’s like he’s seeing Dean the first time in months, because the demon wasn’t him. Not Sam’s Dean. That Dean, demon eyed runaway Dean looked at Sam like he was a meal. Sam’s Dean looks like a beaten dog. 

“Guilty? Aren’t you tired of feeling guilty all the damn time?”

“Sammy, please…” 

Dean gets up again, makes two steps towards Sam and then stays where he is. Maybe an arm’s length away. He’s so close, Sam can count his freckles and see the dark brown rings of his green pupils. Even breathe in Dean’s smell, he still smells of sulfur - but faintly. Nothing Sam would find bothering. When he pushes himself from the desk and closer to Dean, his heart starts beating violently in his chest. Maybe, just a little, now he feels intoxicated but he wouldn’t say that’s Johnny’s fault. It’s Dean’s. 

Dean gasps when Sam’s hand grips him tight on his neck. At first, Sam doesn’t dare to move even an inch closer. Dean’s breath is hitching, mouth slightly open, tongue licking his upper lip. A gesture that drives Sam’s heart rate into new heights. 

“What are you doing?”, Dean asks. 

He doesn’t pull away. He leans in.

“I am sick and tired of feeling guilty…”, Sam whispers.

God, they’re so close. Too close. Way too close, for way too long to ignore it. Not this time. Sam’s ignored so many things they did - things that can’t be explained with them being brothers. They’re more. They’ve always been more.

Dean puts his hands on Sam’s chest. How is that not a confession? Will he push Sam away?

No. No pushing. His big green eyes, intense and seductive, look at Sam.

Sam will blame Johnny nonetheless for what happens next. Pulling Dean closer by his neck and first, only their foreheads gently nudge together. There’s a sigh, both of them at the same time. Dean radiates a certain heat, a needy, an inviting heat, Sam’s whole body tingles at the sensation. 

“Sammy…” 

This time Sam makes Dean shut up. No more words, no more excuses or apologies. He’s sick of talking for once. He presses his lips on Dean’s, feels their softness and their warmth. Sam kissed some people, men, women, people who didn’t fit in a category, but none of them filled him with such a horrendous and profound pain that would soon overturn and become a feeling of thrill and pleasure and need. Dean’s hands wrap around Sam’s neck and pull him even tighter. Soon Sam lets his tongue slide along Dean’s lips, they open slightly, a shattered moan - what a sound, what a damn sound. Nothing Sam has ever heard before! No one should moan this way, it drives Sam crazy. 

They part, just for a second and Sam turns around, sits on the bed followed by a load shriek of the bed frame, Dean follows. Climbs on Sam’s lap. No talking, no other sounds than their heavy breathing and the hammering pulse in their ears. Photos Dean had missed while stacking them together crumble under Sam’s body, but he couldn’t care less. These times in the photos are over. What happens now is all he cares about. 

“Sammy”, Dean’s voice is low, rough, “I didn’t know…”

“Hush”, he commands, “please not now..”

Dean nods, breathless and with his hips rocking against Sam’s. 

They’re careful, Sam is still injured, Dean is still in distress. Too much is left unsaid, Dean has too many things on his mind, Sam can feel it. They curl up with each other on Dean’s bed, their limbs entangled, their body heat combined makes Sam sweat. 

It takes several minutes for Dean to say something. 

“I didn’t know. Why did you never say something?”

“Because maybe for the same reasons you never said anything…”

Sam hugs Dean tighter with his healthy arm and kisses his forehead. He won’t go anywhere anytime soon, even though Cas is still around somewhere in the bunker. Sam needs privacy with Dean now, no interruptions wanted and they’d have that if they leave and go to the kitchen. The burgers and fries have gone cold by now, Dean’s stomach growls anyway and Sam knows he’ll eat it even when the cheesy fries have the texture of wet cardboards. 

“I will make up for it”, Dean says quietly. 

Sam shakes his head.

“Don’t need to.”

“But I want to.” 

“That’s a reason I can live with.”

Dean chuckles. Damn, Sam knows it will take a while. Talk it out, feel into everything. It’s new. It’s oh so fragile. All the what ifs… 

“I thought my mind made it all up”, Dean starts, “that you look at me like a lover, not a brother. I really thought I was just fantasizing because I wanted it to be true so badly… but never thought it’d actually happen… And later… Stanford, Jess, you came with me hunting… it felt unreal.”

“It was always you”, Sam whispers, “no matter what… no matter who...”

“Okay, so, really no divorce?”

“If you mention a divorce just one more time, I swear I will divorce you.”

Dean chuckles. He fumbles on Sam’s cast but leaves it after a couple seconds and rather takes his brothers’ hand. 

“I have a lot of questions, just like you”, Sam then adds, looking at their entangled hands. “I just don’t know where to start.”

“Me neither… but, I think… let’s start living it, ask questions and tell stories along the way.”

“Sounds good.”

They might have some very serious issues to fix, but now Dean is human again, he’s with Sam now, there will be nothing in their way. It’s like they said so many years ago. They’re stronger together than apart. And now, they’d be unstoppable.

[earthbison]

Visual analysis and critique of the aliens in Mass Effect: Andromeda

A comparison between the current in-game models and the originals from the trilogy.

Introduction

Just a warning, this will be an extended read. If you’re going to invest in reading this longwinded analysis, I suggest you go get a nice beverage and come back with a cozy chair. This will be relatively spoiler free (unless you aren’t aware of any of the new races I guess?) so if you’re still at the beginning of the game like I am, no worries there! This analysis will have some pictures for comparison, and some edits that I’ve made myself.

Link to the EA ask board version [x]

Ready? Good.

I originally planned on writing this analysis on only the Turians in Andromeda. Something perturbed me the way the in-game models were made in comparison to the older ones of the trilogy. While gathering my source images, I decided to include some of the other species and point out their issues/differences as well. While the transition to the Frostbite engine has been a step up from the Unreal engine, I feel something is missing when it comes to the way some of the models have been rendered in game. This analysis will look at things such as texturing, posturing, and anatomy/biology of each species.

All that said, let’s dive in!

Turians

One of the main things I noticed back when we only had a glimpse of the Turian faces in the trailers, was that the new Turian faces appeared very white, or blank in appearance. I’m not talking about a lack of facial markings either, but rather, a very bleached out base, underneath the markings- what would be the natural colors and patterns of each natural born Turian.

Let me pull out my first example, in fact, it’s the first Turian we meet in-game, Tiran Kandros.

My first thought was “wow, his face is strangely white” and then “Oh, Tiran Kandros? As in, a relative of Nyreen Kandros?” which then led to, “Oh! Nyreen had a very white face as well, perhaps it’s a biological trait.”

Here’s a pic of Nyreen to show what I mean:

As you can see, underneath her Talon gang red markings, she has a very white face crest too.  

Unfortunately, my assumption soon proved to be incorrect, as this flat white base crest kept repeating itself with multiple Turians we would come across in-game. To me, they look like the plastic base models you can buy from Red Nebula Studios- the ones you’re meant to paint.

Something else I noticed about the Turians was that, unlike their trilogy predecessors, the male Turians of Andromeda had sealed secondary nostrils.

Here’s a comparison of Kandros (Andromeda) and Chellick (Trilogy):

Some of you may be asking, “Well, how do you know those are secondary nostrils?” The answer is honestly- I don’t. However, the way the in-game models were designed before suggests this was an anatomical fact, by leaving such deep grooves in their noses, but also within the concept art:

As you can see on the left, the artist very clearly shapes the forms of the nose in such a way that it is an orifice, and on the right when they draw the Turian expressing himself, the nose closes up. Now, of course, this may only be an early design choice, as Turians don’t raise their crests like a stimulated cockatoo (as funny as that would that be) in-game either. Despite this, I think we can all agree that the Turian species does have deep grooves in its nose,   whether they are canonically nostrils or not.

Strangely enough, they portray this more accurately with the current female Turian models, although it is still clearly designed as indentations, rather than deep grooves.

Despite this being ignored by the new character modeler, this could have been something easily improved upon by the texture artist. Which leads me to my next point…

There’s simply not enough value changes to properly reveal the various physical forms in the Turian face. Because of this, even with the markings- most Turian faces appear extremely flat.

What I mean by this, is that there aren't as many shadows in and around certain areas of the face indicating what the forms are. For example, shadows under the cheekbones, the brow line, the jaw line. Those of you who are regular makeup users know that you can use highlighter and darker foundation on certain areas of your face to contour it, and make it ‘pop.’

I’m making a lot of assumptions here, but it seems like whoever the texture mapping artist was, did a very flat job on the Turian faces.

I say this, because looking at the original models for the faces, they look very well crafted and finely detailed.

For those that don’t know, a texture mapping artist will take the 3D models created for in-game characters and create both the colors, and smaller details that appear on the models that the 3D modeler can’t, or simply won’t- include themselves.

Here’s an example of a WoW Dwarf texture map as an example:

As you can see, they develop a rather stretched out image that goes around the 3D model like a skin. This gives it color, and any extra shading or highlighting that will help the 3D model appear to have more detail, or even appear more realistic.

In older games, a texture mapping artist was more crucial, as character game models of old had fewer polygons, and therefore less forms for the artificial light source to work with in terms of creating realistic and deep shadows/highlights.

In a way, a texture map artist does the “contouring” of the in-game models.

My assumption is then, that for whatever reason, they were counting on the raw forms of the game models to add enough depth and shadow, without adding much more from the texture map.

This is still evident in the darker faced Turians, because although they are darker- they lose their features because they aren’t properly shaded/highlighted in the face, aka the values aren’t working or are just plainly not there at all. This CAN change in certain lighting, but it would be better for it to remain consistent throughout the game.

It seems like they added flat color, texture, and the facial markings, without adding additional shadows/highlights. Now let's look at an old Turian from the trilogy, particularly one without markings, and compare it to a blank-faced Turian from Andromeda.

      Perhaps you can see it more clearly? There is simply a lack of depth in the faces that can easily be fixed by the texture mapping artist. For comparison, I will do some small edits in photoshop to show how this can be improved.

I feel like this has happened in a few other places as well, including the original Human/Asari eyes with the game's release. They also had just flat colors and didn’t account for the cast shadow that would come from the upper eyelid. The result was well, a soulless stare we all dealt with until the 1.05 patch was released. Of course, the human face issues are a whole other topic. Let’s move on.

Understanding Digitigrade Legs

A digitigrade is an organism that biologically walks on its toes instead of the entire foot. This includes animals such as dogs, cats, and horses. In contrast, an organism that biologically walks on its entire foot is known as a plantigrade, this includes human beings, most primates, and bears.

In the original Mass Effect, the species were designed in such a way that they could be placed on a “human skeleton.” This is because of the technological barriers they had back in the day, and the animators could only work with so much. The results left us with alien species that are bipedal (walks on two legs) but have digitigrade biology/walking patterns.

Though the Mass Effect species with the “backward knees” aren’t necessarily walking on their toes, they ARE still using the bone/muscle structure of a digitigrade, and thus, are using the physics of digitigrade legs.

Mass Effect species that use this structure are Turian, Quarian, Geth, Salarian and Krogan.

“dog legs” as Jack so lovely put them.

In Andromeda, I’m sure a few of you, like myself, have noticed the awkward ever changing leg patterns of the Turians. Sometimes they are perfectly fine, upright, and other times they look strangely bendy, or- “off balance.” There is a very good reason for this, and it’s all in the placement of the knees in each species. I’ll try my best to explain this.

First, let’s look at a few “awkward” examples.

Vetra and Tiran here are probably a good place to start. Looking at these two, what do we see? It looks as if Tiran is getting ready to do a wall sit, or position himself into a crouch, likewise, Vetra looks like she could spring into a jump at any moment. That’s because this is the incorrect way to place digitigrade legs.

It’s a very common thing for young artists- including myself, to see animal legs this way- as constantly “bent” and thus draw them in this fashion. Our eyes don’t understand the curve because we’re used to such straight legs! In fact, animals like dogs and horses, even though they appear to have “bent legs” actually do have straight knees, and that’s the crucial part here. There is no mammal that stands upright with constantly bent legs. Think about how quickly your thighs and calves get tired when you’re doing a wall sit, how quickly you feel the need to straighten your legs out when you do a squat. That’s because knees are biologically designed in such a way to most effectively carry your weight when they are not bent and are directly underneath the core of your weight (i.e; hips/body).

For some visual evidence, let’s look at some animal legs.

Look at this horse, what a gorgeous creature. Now, look at its gorgeous legs. When you look at this horse, do its knees look bent? They don’t, do they? You can tell the horse’s hind legs are straight, yet, still have a natural curve. This comes from the straightened knee, flowing into the natural hock, or “heel” of the horse. More importantly, the knees are directly underneath its hips.

Now let's look at something more complex, a dog standing upright.

Look at this pupper. Again you can tell that its hind legs are straight, despite how curvy they seem. This is for the same reason as the horse. The dog has a natural curvature of the hind legs because it is digitigrade, but it does not mean that the legs are constantly bent. If the dog were to bend its knees like this, it would fall over very quickly.

It’s important to know how gravity/weight travels down the skeleton and into the ground. Drawing or creating digitigrade legs incorrectly will result in the creature/individual looking as if they’re about to fall over, or that they're crouching, or that they’re about to jump up.

It’s important to visually convey that when in a neutral standing position, the knees are always straight.

Let’s look at how the original Mass Effect models handled this.

Something to take note of here is that although all of these species look digitigrade, only the Turian and Salarian technically are. Jack calls Tali, a Quarian, “dog legs” but she is, in fact, plantigrade- her whole foot is on the ground, with an exaggerated bend in her shin bones. If there is a joint where her calf muscles should be, they never animated it in-game, or it is very subtle.

In fact, it’s quite arguable who is a true digitigrade here and who isn’t. The most clearly defined is the Krogan, who has an obviously elevated heel, however, it is an addition to the heel which is flat on the ground. Does the Salarian have a joint where his calf muscles should be? Indeed, these are simply speculations. What’s more important are the anatomical design choices made here. Each of these alien species has a unique leg shape, with arguably varying joints and muscle structures, but what is consistent is that the knees are straight, not in front of them, and directly underneath the core of their weight. None of these profiles look as if they are about to jump or fall over.

This goes without saying, but of course, we do occasionally stretch a leg out in front or behind us that slightly bends. Often times we shift weight from leg to leg, bending the one that’s resting and putting weight on the one that's straight (which says a lot, doesn’t it?) Indeed, if the alien models with these exaggerated protruding bent legs only had ONE doing that while the other was straightened, it would look much more natural.

Angara

Whoever it was that put the models in this state, be it a glitch or not (perhaps related to the awkward in-game human leg animations?) was also unaware of this fact while designing/modeling the new Angara race. Let’s look at some of these guys.  

What’s interesting about the Angaran, is that they’re so close to being 100% fine. In fact, I love their design, Jaal is a cutie I can’t wait to paint. However, you can see the same thing I pointed out before- that their knees come out in front of them rather than being directly underneath them. To fix this, all they really need to do is push them back OR bring their torsos extremely forward to balance the core of the weight. The second image here shows a posture they are in sometimes which looks much more normal than the one on the left. This is because being so hunched over actually creates balance for the legs which are already excessively forward.

It seems that someone must have noticed that they looked slightly peculiar, and as a result decided to widen their natural stance a bit. Although that does help, it still has an air of awkwardness, especially for the females- who have more of the protruding knees than the males. In some angles, the Angara look fine, especially while walking or turning, because again- the knees briefly go under them, but when they return to their default stance, they look a bit, well, ‘fight’ ready. If you were to widen your stance and bend your knees in front of someone- they probably would think you’re about to attack them. That’s all I have to say about that really.

The Angaran too could benefit from some texture map shading and highlighting. The females especially look very flat. There seems to be an ongoing pattern of adding flat colors to models and believing that it’s good enough to look fully rendered in-game. But think about how that would look on special effects makeup. You could sculpt and cast a latex mask with very detailed scales and patterns, but just dipping the entire mask in 1-3 solid colors wouldn’t be enough for those details to pop out. You have to go in and detail with a smaller brush the smaller shadows and highlights made by those smaller details. The sculptural details that you created get lost if you merely flatten them with a solid color.

Here are more edits I made on an Angaran.

Krogans

I don’t have much in the form of critique for these guys, but rather just comparing their changes for the fun of it and adding some thoughts of my own. The Krogan appear to have the most stable legs along with the Salarians in-game. Despite having the same protruding bent knee issues, they aren’t as extreme as the Turians or Angara. Something I would like to point out, however, is more texture mapping.

Here’s a nice picture of Drack, our bad ass Krogan grandpa. Something that was consistent with the old Krogan designs, however, was the dark skin around the eyes.

That small design choice always gave the Krogans such a predatory glare that I miss quite a bit with their new design. I realize that it wouldn’t work as well with the Krogan who have the darker colored eyes, but I still believe it would have been a nice addition via texture mapping. Along with that, some minor shading in the folds of their bat-like faces and scales. Just a little something extra to give more depth to the original model. Here are more photoshop edits for Drack

The females have an interesting look about them in this game. I like that they kept the consistency of the smaller, flatter plates on the head/neck. It appears they’ve also widened the hips and given them possibly a bit of a thicker lower lip than the males. All understandable choices. Something I might have done with them, however, is narrow the jawline ever so slightly, just to give that feminine edge, perhaps also a more angular eye. This form of femininity, however, is arguably human in nature, and therefore not necessarily applicable for brutes such as the Krogan. Just a possible design choice. Here’s more photoshopping again.

The Problem With The Archon…

He has… well... childlike face proportions.  A large forehead, small jawline, chin, etc...

As the main villain, I imagine you’d want to stay away from something like this. But because I haven’t played the game all the way through yet, it’s possible that perhaps he is a young leader? Maybe something to do with the age or reproduction of his species is a core factor in the narrative? I have yet to find out, however, here are some more edits that I thought could be useful.

I’ve lengthened his jaw, nose and mouth areas to those of a more average adult. I’ve also slightly scaled down the size of his eyes. I think even these small changes go a long way for the design of the character.

The Kett as a whole seem alright. From what I’ve seen they have texture/model variations of their rocky exoskeleton like bodies and faces which is great. If there is anything to compare/critique it’s only the things I’ve mentioned before, such as the texture mapping and proper positioning of the legs/knees. Overall I do like their visual design.

Salarians

A huge issue with the Salarians (other than the slightly too forward knees like the other species) is their eyes. Salarians blink entirely upwards with their bottom eyelid. In Andromeda, they animate them blinking like any other species (both lids but mainly upper) which is a big flaw for those of us who are super nerds and like canon information to stay correct. 

Mordin and Kallo, respectively. You can see the blinking difference very clearly here.

It’s a small animation change, but it’s important to those of us who are so involved with the IP. That’s why there was a few who became angry when it was revealed that Peebee had hair on her eyebrows- as Asari physiology in previous games stated they could never have such a thing. Information was released later that she had remaining “human genes” or something to that extent which could “explain” it. That statement, however, conflicts with established Asari reproduction methods again from previous games, so, it’s a tricky rope to walk. Something else I’m sure fewer people have noticed thus far is that the Salarians in Andromeda DO have pupils and the way they have created the Salarian pupils is inaccurate from the original trilogy. Salarians are amphibian and have eyes that mimic this, with pupils that are horizontal. If you peer closely into the dark eyes of Andromeda Salarians, they have vertical slit pupils, which are very inaccurate.  

I’ve overexposed the image of Tann so you can see the pupil a bit more clearly. I’ve also traced it in a separate window to the right if you still can’t see it. 

So that’s all I have to say so far. As I progress through the game I may come back and add or change a few things to this piece of writing/critique/analysis.

Both Asari and Human species have the same issues which have been addressed many times in the past. In my opinion, they already took the first step by fixing the eyes and adding shadows. Now all they really need to do is drop the chin level in conversations, “half-moon” the iris with the upper lid of the eye, and fix the eye tracking animation to some level. There are mouth issues sure, but those go less noticed when you have solid eyes/eye animations. You can see here with the last patch that they’ve already done this with Addison.  

That’s all my thoughts! I hope you found this interesting (if you managed to get all the way through.)  Thanks for reading! If you have any comments or thoughts I’d love to hear them. Feel free to reblog and comment or inbox me, especially if you think I’ve missed something or got something wrong. I’m always up for Mass Effect discussion.

[jifsy]

2017 Recap: Top 20 ezbuy Products Highly Recommended By Customers

Hello 2018 & A Happy New Year to all readers!

As we welcome the new year, here’s a look back at 20 top products as recommended by our lovely ezbuy customers which caused a lot of ‘Wooo’ and ‘Wah!’ from all of us.

And here we go!

  Product: Handheld Juice Blender

Reviewed By Alice Yeo:

“Always wanted some fresh juices daily but very lazy to bring out my big blender from cardboard. Saw this and carted 1 to try for daily use. It is charged using a USB cable and it can last for multiple use (at least 8-10x) after full charge. Very light weight and handy to carry around. Easy to use after you put in fruits to make fresh juices or milk to do milk shake. Most importantly, very easy to clean in less than 1 min. I’ve been bringing this around office and home, it’s so convenient. You can leave it on the table or shake it while it’s blending. End up I carted 2 more extras for colleagues when they saw how easy and convenient to use.”

After reading Alice’s review and watching the video she uploaded, I’ve got the urge to cart it out as well and already thinking how I am going use it on the first day of 2018 to set my diet right! *New year’s resolution: Eat clean*

  Product: Children’s Play Tents

Reviewed By Sylvia Tangugu:

“I was scrolling Facebook when I saw advertisement on this item… the price stated was $259!!! You can buy 20 sets from ezbuy!!! This is a great indoor item for kids! Even no kids, this can be a great indoor concept for single or couple.”

This is so pretty! Lay a comfy floor mat underneath the tent and filled it up with snugly pillows, it will be a perfect for a HTHT with your loved ones.

Additionally, it’s perfect as a photography prop as well! *idea*

  Product: Pipe-style Storage Rack

Reviewed By Sylvia Tangugu:

“90% of the items bought for whole new house were from ezbuy Prime. Theme: retro simplicity to allow max space for kids to play. These are expensive and hard to find locally. The book rack is very stable and firm. Loved it to be on the Wall away from kids too! The below are also from Prime but due to the current system, I share the taobao links so that you can add in Prime later .”

Looking so artistic with this pipe-style rack. It seems to be able to hold more books than a normal book-shelf! Oh, seems like you can set the pipe-line how you would like it to be.

  Product: L-shaped Sofa

Reviewed By Pearlyn Neo:

“My biggest purchase ever since i joined ezbuy. I was worried about the quality and how my sofa will look like but everything goes so well and beautiful”

The sofa looks so comfy to sit in. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and it seems to be able to fit quite a lot of people!

  Product: Wallpaper sticker

Reviewed By Xin Yu:

“Dislike the colour/texture of your furniture? Check this out! Bought this marble stickers from ezbuy to change the design of my IKEA shelf and it turned out so great!

Water proof! Easy to use. Just measure the size of your furniture and cut the stickers accordingly and paste it over your furniture! Don’t worry about not having enough to fill your whole table because i manage to fill the whole IKEA shelf and i still have a lot left!”

This item is M-A-G-I-C! It turns a normal and dull shelf to something that looks so exquisite.

  Product: Stainless Steel Basin

Reviewed By Chan Elle:

“Wanted to reno my bathrooms and had quotes from various contractors for vanity top. Find it too ex and decided to buy from ezbuy. Managed to get an 80cm in length stainless steel cabinet so it doesn’t rot easily if to get a carpenter to customize. Includes mirror, basin top and bottom cabinet. Need to indicate to seller to send out full black color.

Quality wise still considered acceptable for this price. Mirror and ledge is so so but still looks aesthetically pleasing.”

I’m sure those that are homeowners themselves would know how expensive it is for a full house renovation. When it comes to cupboards, sinks, toilet bowls, contractors would have a limited selection and sometimes it just doesn’t go with the theme you had in mind.

Now that ezbuy has a ezHome collection, you will probably find something suitable for your home and best still, the cost will be almost a fraction off compared to getting locally. Don’t say no share!

  Product: L-Shaped Sofa

Reviewed By Yvonne Low:

“Despite many horror stories about ezbuy damaging your bulky items but I took the leap to buy a sofa! Since all my lights came without a crack, how much a damage can a sofa have right?

So tadah! Here’s my sofa. Firm and comfortable! I personally don’t like sofa that’s too soft. Colour totally match my flooring and theme! I love it!!

  Product: Puffed-Up Costume

Reviewed By Carol Toh:

“Got my Halloween costume and it not only impressed my friends, they had a good laugh as well!”

This would be the best costume of the year! Frankly speaking, this looks so comfy to be in and it does not look too heavy to walk around as well. *Idea*

  Product: Takoyaki Grill Pan

Reviewed By from Katrina Theobald:

“We made our own takoyaki last weekend  It came with accessories like oil brush and the 2 sharp sticks. This product also come with an interchangeable grill pan!”

“Lai lai, 5 for $2~”

Your photo really made us drool. Little did we know that you can actually DIY takoyaki at home. I guess we won’t be seeing you in the queue at pasar malams!

    Product: Kids Bunk Bed

Reviewed By Adeline Tii:

“I want to convert my study room into my boy room so was searching around for a good bunk bed that can fit in the room and yet doesn’t make the room look too small. Sourcing around Singapore and mostly quote me 30% more for customise even the size I want is smaller. So, in the end I source prime and found this bunk bed. Customized to the design and size that I want, cost around $300plus. Totally love it!!!”

I got the urge to climb up and lie on the bed watching those fairy lights. It looks so comfy and cosy. Oh, like what our customer mentioned, this is a customized bed. Which means you can customize something to suit your room size and theme. 1 and only design bed in the world, that’s pretty cool right?

  Product: Lightings

Reviewed By Yvonne Low:

“Sharing one of my fav buy from ezbuy! My hanging dining light! Cost only a fraction of what SG shops are selling! Item came styrofoam nicely without a single scratch on it! I love it! Thanks, ezbuy!”

    Product: Dog Costume

Reviewed By Kyra Lim:

“Damn hilarious, awesome outfit for Halloween or CNY!!!”

Your majesty! How cute is this!!! All dog owners would know that dog costumes aren’t cheap to buy locally. Furthermore, it’s also not practical for our little fur balls to put on due to our climate. Hence, aside for that photo opportunity and instaworthy shot most would be unwilling to part with the cash. But not anymore with ezbuy! With our wide range of designs and alternatives along with low prices and shipping fees.

  Product: Children Play Car

Reviewed By Cherie Celesta Tan: “Bought 3 sets for my nieces and nephews. No English manual but easy to fix. $39+ each. Received my items less than a week”

    Product: Animals Chairs, Drawer storage cupboard, Children Plastic Wardrobe & Toy Racks

Reviewed By: Nuramalina Hafidz

“Bought these items for my kids room to make it more colourful and organised”

  Our customer’s kids’ room filled up with almost all ezbuy items. We love storage boxes as it stores away anything and everything in the fastest and neatest way!

  Product: Camping Tent

Reviewed By Pauline Neo:

“This is super good and cheap! I saved more money buying here than going retail shops. This is so convenient as is automatic in terms of just open the tent, pull to open and press down to secure! Just Press down and fold to keep. Not like those old type, still have to assemble the metal rods ourselves making us so tiring. After buying from ezbuy, I went to retails and to my surprise, they sell more than $100 for only 3-4 person!… This is my 2nd purchased here for my parents for 6-8 persons. They loved it so much.”

Automatic tent! It definitely makes camping a lot easier and convenient. No more fixing of the poles and finding the right ends to the other.

  Product: Multifunction Vanity Mirror

Reviewed By Jingru Lyu

“Sharing this must-buy multifunctional vanity mirror to all of the chiobu. It’s a bit pricey but worth the money! This mirror lamp cost me $39.96. Perfect wrapped when delivered to my hands, easy to install, I managed to do it by myself! It can be a bedside lamp, vanity mirror with LED light, perfect for makeup. It’s touch screen, lighting is adjustable. The bottom can be makeup or jewellery storage. Also available in white, mint green, baby pink color!”

Mirror light! All ladies must have for their daily usage. What’s more, it acts as a bedside lamp as well. This product was also one of our best picks from share & win.

  Product: Vanity Table

Reviewed By Desmond Ker:

“I bought this European dressing table, solid wood with perfect finishing. The price that I paid definitely in Singapore we are not able to get it. Love it to the max. Thanks again”

This is so perfect to fit in a European themed home.

  Product: Shark Bean Bag

Reviewed By Yvonne Low:

“My Son saw this bean bag at the mall and asked for this! I went up to the sales assistant and asked the price and it cost $149.90! I couldn’t bear to buy it for $150 and thus I quickly searched on ezbuy and guess what… it only cost less than $50 and delivered to my house! Everyone in the family are snatching to sit on this while watching TV!”

“Baby shark, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo. 

Baby shark, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo.

Baby shark, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo. 

Baby shark.”

I would like to have a sit on it too, getting bitten by the “shark” 

  Product: Multi way Wooden High Chair

Reviewed By Michelle Koh Pei Voon:

“I had bought this highchair from ezbuy after my Best Friend’s recommendation. (My friend bought 2 for her toddlers, then you can tell how good deal it is)

I and my little one love it so much when we received it. From the photo you can tell this is a really worth for money product, and it can be used since toddler. I regret that I know it when my little one is 3 years old already. I should buy it earlier, lol. Overall, the quality of the highchair is excellent while the price is affordable. From the last photo, you can see the wood finishing of the chair is fine.”

Retro yet looking super useful at the same time. Maybe a cushion on the seats will make it even comfortable for the kids. Just a suggestion for people whom are interested to get it.

  This wraps up 20 of the best products of 2017 as recommended by you, our customers. We hope 2018 will be an even better shopping experience for everyone!

Got an amazing find or scored a great deal? Share with us at ezbuy Share & Win Facebook page. Happy Shopping!

  The post 2017 Recap: Top 20 ezbuy Products Highly Recommended By Customers appeared first on Online Shopping Blog by ezbuy Singapore.

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