Man, where did THIS year go? Oh...right. Regardless, Christmas is nearing ever closer and I've got some hauls to catch up on. Let's have a run through those, shall we?
$25 Amazon Gift Card
A straggler Birthday haul, courtesy of some dear family friends. (Who are currently going through some COVID-related nastiness, so I wish their household the quickest of recoveries.) Spent it on something I'll get to at the very bottom of this post...and this:
Sonic Select Book 2 (Amazon)
Pure Sonic comic nostalgia! This particular out-of-print collection features some of the very first Archie Sonic books I remember sending away for via the order form pages back in the day. (Because how could I resist titles like "Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles" and "Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness?")
Also, true story: the little "32X adaptation" blurb on the cover of the Knuckles Chaotix special was my very first exposure to that add-on's existence and I was shocked when I later discovered that Chaotix was a full-on Sonic spin-off game that I was completely unaware of before this comic planted the seed in my head. Got a 32X and the game off Ebay a little after that and started taking in the charming, colorful graphics, the crazy Ring chain gimmick, and the absolutely KILLER soundtrack. (Door into Summer. 'nuff said.) That Genesis and 32X probably went the way of some yard sale of years past, but I STILL have that Chaotix cartridge in my collection (along with the ravaged cardboard box it came in.) Whatever Sonic's 30th brings next year, I'm hoping that includes a new game collection with a long-awaited port of Chaotix. It's well overdue.
Anyway, Chaotix tangent aside, I've been meaning to get this book for a while due to my previously-mentioned nostalgia associated with said comics. However, since it went out-of-print following Archie's loss of the Sonic license, the prices have been kinda varied on Amazon. (Probably since it's one of the earliest Sonic Select books, but I remember it was even a bit difficult to find in stock even before the license changed hands. Popularity, maybe?) Luckily the prices were in my favor when that Amazon card fell into my hands and I was able to grab this in very nice condition for about ten bucks. Now I'm only missing two Selects for my collection, 3 and 7! (The former of which also has a bit of odd price variation.)
NECA Super Shredder Figure (NECA Store)
Ohhhhhhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaaah. You might remember my fairly recent acquisition of the original Playmates Super Shredder figure where I made a comment that he'd compliment NECA's then-upcoming film accurate version very nicely if I could manage to score one. Well, I did! Took like two restocks of NECA's site on the same day and the shipping was a bit ridiculous, but KEVIN NASH IS HERE! Dude is a MONSTER, towering over his Playmates counterpart as well as even other large NECA figures like Leatherhead. Combine that with the sheer amount of detail put into his sculpt and his instantly workable articulation points (this is my first NECA TMNT fig where I didn't have to take a hairdryer to the joints to get them moving) and you've got just a fantastic piece for the little NECA Turtles display I'm building up and my favorite of everything they've put out so far. Makes me even more excited for Tokka and Rahzar. (Who should be here pretty soon...)
Pop-Up Mobile External DVD-RW Drive (Amazon)
THIS was a long time coming. Y'see, back in 2017, the disc drive on my laptop crapped out and I've been unable to read CDs or DVDs on it ever since. After years of just living with it not wanting to deal with complicated or expensive repairs, a short while ago I FINALLY managed to have the bright notion in my head to ask "wait, do they make external disc drives like they do hard drives?" THEY DO. IT WAS ALWAYS THIS EASY AND THE IDEA JUST HADN'T DAWNED ON ME THIS WHOLE TIME. THEY'RE CHEAP, TOO. So, I quickly sent away for one and I was quickly reunited with the joys of being able to easily screencap DVDs, rip Space Ghost and SpongeBob songs off of CDs, and burn discs full of English dubs of anime shows based off of American franchises like The Avengers and The Powerpuff Girls. Because that's the kinda stuff that goes on in my head on an average day.
Power Rangers Lightning Collection Dino Thunder White Ranger (Walgreens)
w/Replacement Helmet (Hasbro Customer Service)
Another Lightning Collection addition and one that I was particularly excited for...until actual photos of the final figure got out and the sorry state of its paint job was made apparent. The lack of the extra black detailing on the Dino Thunder White Ranger's helmet on the Lightning figure made it look extremely off, weird, and WAY too plain and for one of my (and many other fans') personal favorite Ranger suits, this was a huge disappointment. I WAS going to pass on it and hope that Hasbro would fix the helmet in a potential future Dino Thunder team pack...but I didn't have to! The fan outcry reached them and they quickly offered free corrected replacement helmets through their customer service!
So, I quickly ordered one of the figures from Walgreens and was able to get in my replacement request super easily. After a while, I got both the figure and helmet in and now the Dino Thunder White Ranger stands proudly in my display, complete with his fully-detailed, sick-looking helmet. Good on Hasbro's part for both correcting their mistake and doing it WELL. The black detailing on the replacement is IMMACULATE and I'm extremely happy to finally have a great plastic representation of this Ranger in my collection. (All I had of him before was one of those weird bike figures with those random pointy shoulders.)
Super Mario Plush
Gonna keep this one nice and simple. Just a Mario plush that my parents found for me while thrifting.
Power Rangers Lightning Collection Psycho Green Ranger (Hasbro Pulse)
More Lightning Collection fun with another story of complications! When Psycho Green went up on Hasbro Pulse, I quickly pre-ordered him (I'm a sucker for stuff originating from the comics) and awaited his ship date. When that finally came in July, I started tracking the shipment on FedEx and waited...and waited....and waited...aaaaaand waited. Keeping up with the tracker, it originally pegged a specific delivery date...which quickly switched to a big "PENDING" when that date arrived. After weeks of waiting and staring at the now-pending tracker, I had enough and contacted Hasbro Pulse about replacing or refunding my order, guessing it had gotten lost in the mail. They weren't able to replace it (Psycho Green was out of stock at the time), but they WERE able to refund the base cost of the figure.
However, this story isn't quite over. Cut to a random Thursday when the FedEx tracker finally changed from its pending state, giving a new delivery date and current location! I was shocked that it was even still out there after being inactive for so long, so I awaited the new date to see if it would actually come. It didn't and went back to pending. Cut to the NEXT Thursday where it did the exact same thing. (New date that I waited for only for it to revert to pending.) This weekly cycle went on for a little while, the figure bouncing between two locations near my state until FINALLY, IN SEPTEMBER, it moved to a completely new location right near me. The time had actually arrived. It took TWO MONTHS of being lost in the mail, but Psycho Green's journey finally ended. It's great to FINALLY have him and neat that I got him for just shipping cost because of that refund, but this was A LOT of unnecessary monkey business over a repaint with a new weapon. I hope this was just isolated FedEx pandemic craziness and any future purchases I make from Hasbro Pulse don't end up going similarly, because that's enough to put a guy off from ordering off of there, regardless of exclusives.
Prep & Landing Totally Tinsel Collection (Blu-ray Combo) (Amazon)
Mickey Mouse: Merry & Scary (Amazon)
Moving on to a simpler situation, I ordered these great festive Disney specials that I had my eye on for a while off of Amazon for one reason besides adding to my DVD shelf: DISNEY MOVIE INSIDERS POINTS. What could I want to spend said points on so badly that I ordered two Blu-rays/DVDs suddenly just to have enough points to afford it? You'll see a bit further down.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Amazon)
Birthday cash pre-order time! Been anticipating this one for a while. Two of my favorite franchises collide for a super fun crossover tale full of action, fanservice, and gorgeous artwork. It also finishes kind of open-ended, so I'm REALLY hoping there's eventually a sequel. I'd love to see all the elements they could possibly mix together in a follow-up. I mean, this one had a Green Ranger Shredder (I repeat. A GREEN RANGER SHREDDER.) and that wasn't even the craziest part of it. I need more.
Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (Blu-ray Combo)
Moving from a Birthday cash order to a delayed Birthday present, Kizuna provides a fun yet bittersweet pre-epilogue ending to the Digimon Adventure saga (at least for now.) While a lot of the Digidestined are mostly left out to focus mainly on Tai and Matt, the animation is absolutely a step-up from tri. with my favorite moments being at the beginning and near the end.
Joker amiibo (Amazon)
Hero amiibo (Best Buy)
Smash DLC amiibo arrive with another story of delivery frustration. I originally pre-ordered both Joker AND Hero from Best Buy and they shipped out the same day. However, Hero was coming from UPS...and Joker from FedEx. I kept my eyes on both trackers, them both quickly switching to delivered. I ran out to get them and...found only Hero. I still don't know what happened to Joker. He either wasn't delivered at all and they still have yet to attempt a re-delivery or, perhaps THE MOST ironic fate of all for the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, he was stolen. Still don't have a clue but Best Buy and FedEx were calling him delivered. I waited a couple days after that to see if he'd eventually show up, but no dice. Luckily, Amazon restocked and I was able to grab him there, but MAN, is FedEx not doing me any favors this year.
Now about that Disney Movie Insiders item from before...
Wreck-It Ralph Final Theatrical Poster (Disney Movie Insiders)
IT'S STILL SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL. Yep, this is what had me scrambling to buy DVDs just to be able to afford it before it went out of stock. Being a huge Wreck-It Ralph fan, I have ALWAYS wanted a copy of its theatrical poster for my room ever since it was first revealed. Why? Well, how many theatrical posters for Disney films can YOU think of that double as video game crossover collages featuring everyone from Sonic and Zangief to Coily and Neff? Factor in Wreck-It Ralph becoming pretty much my favorite movie ever and it was a no-brainer to desire this heavily. That's why my #1 goal when Ralph Breaks the Internet came out was to own a poster for it, chiefly because I didn't have an opportunity to get one for the original film and I wanted to flaunt my Ralph love somehow. NOW I HAVE FOUR INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL.
After the previous shipping mishaps, I kinda lucked out on this one. Despite DMI's transition back to offering physical rewards being a little shaky (with shipping notifications just not being sent out at all and certain members' items being damaged or missing altogether), my poster arrived in tip-top condition about a month after I redeemed it despite no follow-up email. This was a HUGE relief, as I had heard horror stories of other members who ordered this particular item mistakenly getting Pop figures from the Mulan remake instead and was prepared for the worst. So glad that luck was on my side in this particular case.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
Upgraded my phone! Been rocking the same Galaxy S8+ since 2017, so this was a definite step up in terms of both power and storage. (It's nice not having to worry about space anymore when I download a game or a new Purple Stuff Podcast.)
Latios and Latias (Bootleg?) Plushes
More of my parents' thrift finds! When they first showed me images of these guys, I thought they were super cool, especially since I didn't have anything representing either Eon Pokémon in my collection. However, when I looked them up on Google, I couldn't find any official plushes that matched them and when I DID find the plushes themselves, they had completely different tags than the ones I had. That, plus their slightly off-model designs and generic Pokémon Best Wishes anime art tags lead me to believe that they're bootlegs. Still super neat plushes that I really appreciate them picking up for me, but bootlegs nonetheless. Whatever their origin, they still make for neat entertainment center decorations.
Darkwing Duck Popsocket (Amazon)
Starlow and Geno Stickers (RedBubble)
Phone Case (Amazon)
Some protection for my new phone along with a couple sticky things to personalize it! Sadly, Starlow was too big to be used, so I substituted a sticker of her I already had from a Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Sonic Wacky Pack promotion (because the Mario & Luigi series is my heart and soul and I cherish every part of it) and was even able to transfer my Ralph and Vanellope sticker from my old case to my new one. Also Geno, because I needed the perfect case to go into the year of Super Mario RPG's 25th Anniversary (2021) with and I thought teaming him with Starlow, a fellow messenger of the stars from a Mario RPG, was a neat idea.
x4 Digimon Card Game Ver. 0.0 Promotion Packs
x4 Perforated Demo Half-Deck Sheets
Premium Bandai was having two different Digimon sweepstakes and I entered both. One offered figures while another had a larger chance at scoring some swag from the upcoming English version of the new Digimon Card Game. I won the latter, completely surprising me when the package of all this stuff came in the mail. (This was the kinda giveaway where they just send you your winnings without informing you of your win.)
Having played the demo app, it's a pretty fun game and kinda gives me Duel Masters vibes. I hope they can go big places with it and we can actually have a fun, long-running English Digimon card game for a change. Anyway, for now, these are all super neat collector's items for me as a Digimon fan and the promo cards are nice and shiny. I'm currently torn between opening only half of the packs and keeping the others sealed (since they all have the same six cards) or throwing caution to the wind and opening all of 'em, though.
My Little Pony: Holiday Memories (Amazon)
Let's end on something festive! Holiday Memories collects all of the IDW MLP Holiday Special comics in one compact trade that fits nicely next to the Omnibuses on my shelf. This is what I spent the rest of the Amazon card that opened this post on because I figured what better way to kick off the Christmas season than a thematic collection of colorful magical equine funnies?
