Birthday, June and Late May Acquisions

With all the Birthday shenanigans and tomfoolery out of the way, it’s time to count up my acquisitions. This post will not only consist of the stuff I got for my Birthday (both as gifts and self-indulging), but also stuff that I’ve been accumulating over the past month.

 

– Yamato’s 1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-19 Kai Fire Valkyrie
– Actsta Fate Testarossa
– Figma Koyomi Araragi
– Figma Ayanami Rei
– S.H.Figuarts Faiz Blaster Form

– Composite Ver. Ka Shinkiro
– Figma Kousaka Kirino
– Rubber Keychains: Misaka Mikoto, Misaka Imouto, Last Order

– Misakaa Imouto Plush Doll
– Figma Senjogahara Hitagi
– Puella Magi Madoka Magica BD Vol. 1
– Nanoha The Movie 1st iPhone 4 Case Fate Magic Circle Ver.
– Imaichi Moe Nai Ko Strap

– DX Kaixa Blaygun
– Tamashii Stage W Act
– S.I.C. Kamen Rider Faiz
– Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Guide Book

– DX Accel Driver
– Faiz Axel Watch
– DX Metal Shaft
– Ichiban Kuji Fuuto-kun Keychain

– Bandai’s DX Star Power Set (YES!!!)
– Digivolving Gallantmon/Dukemon Figure

– Robot Damashii Codarl
– S.H.Figuarts Cure Sunshine
– D-Arts Beezlemon
– Amiami Exclusive Chibi Icaros Figure
– Amiami Exclusive Chibi Astrea Figure

– Digivolving Imperialdramon Paladin Mode Figure
– Digivolving Agnimon Figure

– Figma Misaka Imouto
– Figma Misaka Imouto
– Figma Misaka Imouto
– Figma Misaka Imouto
– Figma Misaka Imouto

– Nendoroid Panty
– Nendoroid Stocking
– Dual Model Kit Optimus Prime

– Alter’s 1/8 Scale Kazari Uiharu
– GSC’s 1/7 Scale Tosaka Rin
– GSC’s 1/8 Scale Tenshi

– Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu Complete Blu-Ray Box

– Ga-Rei Zero R1 Hybrid Box Set

– Kamen Rider 555 Movie: Paradise Lost BD

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Comments:

As you can see, tons of stuff that range from the latest Figmas to things that would incite nostalgia in almost any Anime fan and things that I’ve been wanting since I was 11. Also, this set of acquisitions puts a close to a number of my collections, so I do expect to slow down significantly after this.

– Kamen Rider Stuff:

I got quite a bit of Kamen Rider stuff this time round. With this, I have pretty much completed my Double collection (save the Engine Blade and Trial Memory, which I’m not really interested in). With that out of the way, I’m now working on completing my Faiz collection. All I have left to get is the Kaixa Shot, Kaixa Pointer and Delter Driver. Following that, I’m pretty much done with Kamen Rider DX toys.

The Fuuto-kun strap was an Ichiban-Kuji prize. Thankfully, I managed to get it below ten bucks an was pretty pleased with myself. Other than the actual Henshin items, the Fuuto-kun strap must be the next most memorable item from Kamen Rider W. Being a replica whore, I knew I had to had it.

– Digimon Stuff:

Taking us back one step into the past is Digimon! I managed to secure both Imperialdramon Paladin Mode and Gallantmon on auction sites for a pretty fair price (less than 10,000 yen each). The Gallantmon is the Japanese version of the mold and other than a similar transformation scheme, is completely different from the US counterpart. It has its pros and cons, but overall, I think the Japanese version did a better job. I’ve already reviewed the Imperialdramon figure, so do check that out for my relevant comments. These two figures hail the completion of my Mega-Level Digimon figure collection, having attained the Japanese versions of Omnimon, Imperialdramon, Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, Gallantmon and Susanoomon.

It’s really meaningful for me as Digimon is part of some of my most cherished childhood memories.

…and as for the Agunimon/Agnimon, let’s just say that with endings comes new beginnings. (^.^;) While I have already completed the Mega-Level line up on my shelf, my Digimon collection is far from complete. While actually getting every single (Digivolving) Digimon figure ever made is really a far-fetched dream, I’ll be slowly making my way towards it starting from the Frontier line. But whatever the case, I’m already satisfied as far as I’m concerned. (^.^)

– CCS Stuff:

Speaking of meaningful ends, another milestone in my collecting life has been reached. As many of you know, Cardcaptor Sakura is my all time favorite Magical Girl show bar none. I mean, I even did a research essay on it. (^.^;) Ten years after having first laid eyes on it when it aired on my local television channel all the way back in 2001, I have finally finished my collection of Cardcaptor Sakura merchandise. It’s not every single piece of CCS paraphernalia by any stretch of the imagination, but its all that I’ve ever wanted and dreamed off since I was little. The three Card sets (Clow, Sakura, Movie), the dolls of the main three protagonists (Sakura, Tomoyo, Li) and the two wands (Clow, Star) are finally in my possession.

To tell you the truth, it wasn’t a walk in the park to find this last wand. For one, it’s definitely one of the rarest, if not rarest, CCS merchandise out there. The wand alone sans the box and other accessories alone is hard enough to come by. Coming across a complete set is even harder. It’s always the little bits and pieces that are missing such as the Star Key, the special double sided card, etc…

But lady luck decided to sprinkle her magic dust on me one day and lo and behold, one popped up on Yahoo! Auctions Japan and I bidded for it with no regard to personal (financial) safety. Thankfully, I made it out alive partly due to the fact that the set was second hand and it didn’t command as high a price as a MISB one would have. But, it was complete, in good shape and in perfect working order and that’s all I cared for. Review will be coming soon enough.

– BD/DVD Sets

For me, I always try to get a physical copy of shows that I’m enamored with. After Lucky Star, I did say that I was aiming to get the Haruhi BD Box Set. Thanks to the sudden influx of funds due to my birthday, I was able to speed up the saving process.

While I usually dislike getting the R1 releases of Anime, the Ga-Rei set was so cheap that I couldn’t help myself (more than 50% off!!!). Several issues with the set that annoyed the hell out of me. First and foremost, why the hell do we need a Hybrid box set consisting of DVDs and BDs? Just hear me out. If I already have the capability to watch Blu-Rays, why in the world would I want to watch the lower quality DVDs? And for those who can only watch DVDs, the Blu-Ray discs will be nothing more than useless extras.

Problem 2, the quality. It doesn’t look good at all. There were artifacts all over the place. This probably has to do with the compression to fit 9 freaking episodes on a single disc. I have an idea. Why not take that extra THREE DVDs, chuck them into the recycling chute, and spread those episodes across another BD?

Problem 3, the subtitles. Seriously funimation? I thought we were cool with the honorifics. From your releases of Negima!? and Bamboo Blade, I had the impression that you guys were down with honorifics. This wouldn’t irritate me that much if the translation was slightly better (WTF VANQUISHERS??? Is there a copyright claim on the term Exorcist???) and if they kept it consistent. What do I mean? For the entirety of episode 3, ‘Yomi-san’ was translated as ‘Yomi’. Then, just before a line where Yomi asks Kagura to “drop the -san”, they translated ‘Yomi-san’ as ‘Ms. Yomi’ to make that line work. For the love of God, is consistency too much to ask for? If you don’t want to keep the honorifics, be consistent in how you translate it! Don’t be selective!

Another thing that got on my nerves is when they actually left in ‘-san’ when the cast and crew referenced the ‘Karate Kid’ in the location scouting segment. “Daniel-san”. It just blows my mind when people add in honorifics when they see fit just to emphasize the ‘Japanese-ness’ of something.

Compare this to the Haruhi subs (yes, the BD Box has English subtitles). They took out the honorifics but were consistent throughout. Infuriating, but far less so. Still, one of the best official subs that I have seen so far would be the Lucky Star subtitles. Those are near perfect in my opinion.

Finally, we have the Kamen Rider 555 Movie BD. This one is pretty simple. Just the movie itself and a couple of trailers are on the single disc. It doesn’t have subtitles, but I can pretty much understand the whole movie. The movie itself is my favorite of all the Kamen Rider movies that I have seen thus far due to it’s conciseness, coherence and kick-ass action sequences.

– Other Stuff:

As for the rest of the stuff…

Despite the fact that I’m trying to wean myself from buying completed PVC figures, these three were too brilliant to pass up. Since I had already gotten Saten, it would be unthinkable to not get Uiharu as well. The Rin figure is phenomenal and I just love Tenshi. GSC did a bang up job on both figures and I was smitten by their sheer detail and flattering representations of two of my favorite 2D girls.

Last but not least, I suppose I have to explain myself with regards to the 5 Misaka Imouto figmas, before you all start flaming me. Yes, the reason I endered up with so many of them is because when I first made my initial pre-order, my proxy said that the site was down and they weren’t sure if they were able to get my order in. Being the paranoid person that I am, I went and placed more pre-orders at various other sources in the hopes of securing one. Imagine my surprise when all of them managed to secure me one… I don’t really plan on relinquishing any of them at this point in time, but I might do so later on.

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So, that’s pretty much it for this round of acquisitions. Do joint me again next time on the next installment of ‘Actar’s Bleak Financial Future!”.

(Just to clarify, owning most of the stuff you see in this post was made possible by my numerous acquaintances, friends, family and relatives. Thank you everyone!)