Directory Opus 9 is the shit! You will become addicted to it's awesomeness. It has so many actual USEFUL features it's not like 3dsmax 9 or Photoshop 11million at all.
Ahri WIP, she's summoning 9 foxes and leading them to battle instead of using her 9 tails. Most of the foxes also have parts of her skin and clothes such as necklace or gloves on them.
In max 9 and up if you hold down Ctrl and select 'remove' it'll take both the verts and the edges. It's in the "what's different between 9 and 8" document.
The Art of District 9 is by far one of the best art books I have purchased. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Art-of-District-9/Daniel-Falconer/e/9780062064301