It's 2023 now, and what better time for the Lazy Shell to enter the new year than on its 5TH ANNIVERSARY?! Yep. Five years ago, I started this little blog as a way to get out my extremely nerdy thoughts and it's been a (kinda) consistent stream of pure nonsense ever since. I'd like to thank every one of you in the VERY small group of people who take precious time to give every post on this thing a brief glance. It's been a lot of fun running this thing and I really appreciate the fact that anyone out there cares enough to read it.
Anyway, enough preamble. This might be a special Anniversary thing, but it's also a hauls post, and boy, do I got a lot to share!
KAWS Monsters Figures
Starting things off with some leftover stuff from last year. (Actually got these in LITERALLY THE DAY AFTER I got my Armaggon Loot Crate, but didn't feel like they were a big enough deal to bother making an entire post for.) These neat little figures are courtesy of a giveaway that General Mills ran for the Monster Cereals last year. (Said giveaway had THOUSANDS of possible winners and I saw people all over Twitter talking about winning their own set shortly after entering, so I couldn't resist giving it a shot.) They're all unpainted, solid-color pieces that are not unlike the cereal box prizes of yesteryear, but free is free and they should make for fun seasonal decorations for my shelf. (Though, I wish they had included Fruity Yummy Mummy to complete the crew.)
$20 Nintendo eShop Card
$10 Nintendo eShop Card
Continuing with leftover stuff, here's a Christmas gift I received on New Year's Day from my favorite cousin. Immediately put all this eShop credit towards 3DS and Wii U Virtual Console stuff in preparation of both of those eShops going down. (In particular, I grabbed Minish Cap on the Wii U and the Oracle games on the 3DS...which Nintendo then revealed for their Switch Online service in a Direct shortly after. Go figure.)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Omnibus Volume 6 (Barnes & Noble)
The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! (Blu-ray) (Barnes & Noble)
Put my Christmas cash to work by scoring additions to both my book AND media shelves. First off, I decided to use this year to finally grab the rest of the IDW MLP FIM books that I wanted, so I started by ordering the ongoing's sixth Omnibus from Barnes & Noble's site. I had to get it there because this particular volume is pretty much out-of-print and very hard to find for retail elsewhere. (Heck, B&N's stock disappeared shortly after I ordered mine!) I don't even have Volume 5 yet, but I just couldn't risk missing out on certain stories collected in this one. (Particularly a four-parter introducing a new villain and a two-part follow-up to the Movie.) As for the other item, I needed to grab something else from Barnes & Noble to qualify for free shipping and after a bit of ruminating, I found the perfect candidate in the SpongeBob Musical's Blu-ray. I already had it on DVD, but ever since the Blu-ray version released a couple months after it, blindsiding me, I've been waiting for the right chance to upgrade. This was that chance. Now I have the absolute highest quality home media viewing experience for the "Hero is my Middle Name" number!
Sephiroth amiibo (Best Buy)
Kazuya amiibo (Best Buy)
Next up, two more fighters join the amiibo shelf, one from Square-Enix and one from Bandai Namco. Barring any restocks or miraculous Disney-related announcements, this should be the last Smash amiibo haul for a good while.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Switch) (Best Buy)
Ever since THQ Nordic announced The Cosmic Shake, SpongeBob's first brand new 3D platformer in YEARS, I've been super hyped and eagerly awaiting its eventual release. Well, that day finally came, I played it, and I adored it. Sure, it's not going to best any giants of the genre, but if you love SpongeBob and enjoy 3D platformers, give it a shot. It's super fun, has a nice amount of variety, is filled with fanservice, and has a script full of good laughs. Also got it for half-price due to a Best Buy error, so that makes for a nice bonus.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Complete Newspaper Comic Strip Collection Volume 1, 2, and 3 (Amazon)
These kinda came out of left field! It all started in January when listings for three books collecting the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles newspaper comic strip hit Amazon. A lot of TMNT nuts were, of course, overjoyed but also a bit puzzled by these releases. They popped up in stock out of nowhere without being announced beforehand, didn't use ANY official TMNT branding or logos on the covers, and the publisher was listed as an on-demand printing service. Everything just seemed a little sketchy. Well, after a fair few people ordered the books for themselves, the reality of them became clear: these were indeed NOT officially-licensed collections, but instead a labor of love on the part of what appears to be a single TMNT fan looking to get this obscure corner of the Turtles' history into people's collections regardless of whether Viacom even knew that they owned it. Given both the rarity of the material included as well as the HIGH likelihood that they'd get yanked by Viacom eventually, I knew I had to order these books right away.
So, what does each book contain? Well, Volume 1 features the entire run of a full-color Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles strip that ran in the UK, while Volumes 2 and 3 collect the black-and-white TMNT strip that ran in America produced by Mirage themselves. While the Hero Turtles strip is pretty much just a newspaper comic take on the '87 cartoon universe (complete with Shredder, Krang, the Henchmutants, Burne Thompson, and even the Punk Frogs,) the American strip is much more interesting. It starts off with a decently serious tone very much like the Archie Adventures comics (complete with the same writer) but eventually goes into full-on comedic, gag-a-day mode, only with a serialized story. It makes for a really fun, unique take on TMNT as a whole, as it not only has its own new characters, but also introduces new versions of TMNT favorites like Leatherhead, Rat King, the Utroms, Renet, and Cudley the Cowlick. The story just becomes very unpredictable, and it's a lot of fun in that regard. Here's one of my favorite bits:
As for the quality of the books themselves, they're solidly built and the comics are nicely laid-out and easy to read as a complete story. (Volumes 1 and 2 even include a brief history write-up on both the UK and US strips.) However, as the comics were scanned from their printings in newspapers rather than from the original artwork, the image quality can be pretty inconsistent. While reading, you'll come across certain strips that look fuzzier than others or where the text is faded and a bit harder to read as a result. (This issue was most evident in the US strip.) However, it's never SO bad that it's impossible to read. You just have to keep in mind that these were likely done by one person with the best resources they had. Another issue to note is that Volume 3 has a misprint that repeats a strip, resulting in one ending up completely missing from the collection. Luckily, though, said missing comic was already archived on the internet beforehand, so you can just use it to fill in the blank:
Yeah, this comic gets kinda weird. Lastly, there's the matter of the price. Volume 1 costs $27.99 while 2 and 3 both cost $29.99, meaning that if you want these comics in your collection, you'll have to pony up over $90, which is a pretty tough pill to swallow for an unofficial product. If you're a TMNT fan looking for a unique addition to your comic shelf, though, I'd definitely recommend picking up at least the latter two books. (The Hero Turtles stuff in the first one is a good piece of history, but the stories just aren't anywhere near interesting enough to warrant a close to $30 price IMO. Curse my need to complete a collection!) The books disappeared from Amazon a while back, but you can still find Volumes 1 and 2 on Barnes & Noble and Walmart's sites. You'll probably need to search around for 3. (Wonder if they're reworking that one to include the missing strip and THAT'S why it's been missing from storefronts for a while?) All in all, I'm glad that I snagged these when I did, as they kinda serve as a nice compliment to my Adventures collections on my comic shelf and who knows if Viacom ever plans to give this stuff an official release?
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania DMI Exclusive Pym Particle Pin (Disney Movie Insiders)
Not really a pin collector, but DMI was giving away this Ant-Man one for free, so I figured, "why not?"
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Mini-Series) (Amazon)
A kinda spur-of-the-moment purchase, I already owned the Avengers: EMH comic mini-series in the form of a large magazine complete with ads and such, but it didn't really gel with my much smaller-in-size collections of the brief ongoing series. So, I decided to pick up the official trade collection of the mini on Amazon to see if it'd be a little closer to those. It wasn't exactly the same size, but it still slid in nicely next to them on the same shelf, which is what I was after. Now I don't have to dig through my larger shelf to read the mini!
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray) (Amazon)
Continuing on the EMH train, the Season 2 Blu-ray was like TEN BUCKS on Amazon, so I couldn't pass it up. (Especially since the DVD release of Season 2 swapped a bunch of episodes around randomly, messing up the order. The Blu-ray doesn't have that issue AND includes all the special features from those DVDs!) Now I can watch EMH on home media without swapping discs in the middle of a set!
Super Smash Bros. (N64)
My Dad surprised me with this. The original Smash, back in my collection! Already has all the characters unlocked, too! (NOT the Mushroom Kingdom stage, though. Gonna have to devote a dull afternoon to rectifying that.)
Bootleg Movie Star Mike
Just like she did with the Bootleg Movie Star Raph I mentioned in a previous post, my Mom found me a Bootleg Movie Star MIKE while thrifting! I'm building a whole TEAM of Bizarro Turtles with non-working elbows!
Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition (Best Buy)
Another spur-of-the-moment buy, I already had the digital version of Rayman Legends for Switch due to it constantly being on sale on the eShop for a tenner, but since I enjoyed the Wii U version so much, I figured it was absolutely worth it to upgrade to physical. (Especially since Best Buy had it for only twenty bucks. Combined, the digital and physical versions cost less than the full price game!)
River City Girls 2 (Switch) + Limited Run Trading Card (Limited Run Games)
Been waiting for this one! Loved the original River City Girls, so of course I needed to get the sequel physically as well. Excited to return to the mean streets and bust heads while laughing at funny lines. (Though, I'm probably gonna wait until that giant update that Wayforward is teasing.)
Power Rangers Ninja Storm Zurgane Figure
Another of my Mom's thrifting finds, it's Lothor's favorite toady, Zurgane, from Power Rangers Ninja Storm! I've only ever owned a single action figure from the Ninja Storm line (a Red Ranger, who I think came with an electronic Hurricane Megazord,) so it's really neat to add this guy to my collection. (Especially since he actually has his head. A lot of the ones I see online are all missing heads for some reason. I dunno. Probably a Sentai thing they retained for the toy.)
Topps Nintendo Game Pack
Two Loose Pokémon TCG Packs
This batch of cards was another of my Dad's surprises. That vintage Topps Game Pack is especially neat. Now I got me official stickers of Abobo from Double Dragon and Peach throwing an egg at Birdo who has wings for some reason! Good stuff.
My Little Pony The Manga: A Day in the Life of Equestria Omnibus (ThriftBooks)
Bringing things back to Pony comics, I had picked up the first Volume of the MLP manga and loved it, buuuuuuuuuut never got around to picking up the other two and the physical releases all went out of print. Sad face. Luckily, though, I spotted this used Omnibus collection of all three Volumes on ThriftBooks for a steal, so I pounced on it immediately. The condition ain't perfect (despite being given a "very good" rating on the site, several pages were ripped. Guess a kid owned this previously,) but it was still perfectly readable and I really enjoyed all the new-to-me bits. (Especially the Volume 3 stuff. I really love alternate universe crap and there was a lot of fun satire on super heroes and anime.)
My Little Pony: Nightmare Knights (IDW Publishing)
More Pony comics! Nightmare Knights is another book that's pretty much out-of-print, so I was very limited in my options for procuring a new copy of it. Thankfully, IDW themselves had a very limited stock of them on their site, so I jumped on it despite the ridiculous shipping costs. (At least they package their books well.) Was mostly interested in this mini because two of the stars are characters introduced in the Movie who didn't get any play in the actual show. Very much looking forward to reading all of Capper and Tempest's further adventures.
Mario Golf: Super Rush (Gamestop)
Mario Strikers: Battle League (Gamestop)
Metroid Dread amiibo 2-Pack (Gamestop)
Finishing things off, Gamestop had some pretty fantastic deals running this past week, so I had to take advantage. First, they had a BOGO free sale on select new games, which happened to include a pair of Mario sports titles that I had my eye on, so grabbed 'em both. (Only played Strikers so far and the AI is just as maddening as I remember it being in Charged. Next Level Games are sadists.) They also had certain amiibo available for just $5, so I grabbed the Dread 2-pack for good measure. Haven't decided where I'm gonna put Samus staring down this massive E.M.M.I., but I'm sure it'll make for a wicked display.
That concludes our Anniversary fun! See you all next time (which'll probably be June/July-ish) for another post and here's to another half-decade of my nonsense!
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