Time again for the customary haul clean-up post before my Birthday hits! Got a decent load of stuff this time around with some real showstoppers mixed in, so let's get to showing off!
Power Rangers Lightning Collection - SPD A-Squad Red Ranger (Best Buy)
Power Rangers Lightning Collection - Dino Fury Red Ranger (Best Buy)
Grabbed these two because they were on sale at Best Buy. I had always planned on picking up Zayto (as I really love Dino Fury,) but Charlie here was never really on my buy list, to tell you the truth. While SPD is one of my faves and I love evil Rangers, the A-Squad suits and characters never grabbed me enough to be like "I NEED this as an action figure!" or anything. However, the fact that she was down to SEVEN BUCKS definitely changed my mind on that matter. They had other A-Squad dudes on sale, but I just picked up Charlie since she's 1: the very first female Red Ranger in either PR OR Sentai, 2: the leader of the A-Squad team, and 3: really the only member of the A-Squad to have a decent amount of dialogue or actual character in the show. (Most of A-Squad was kinda just there. Don't even think the others were named in-show.) Together, I got both of these guys for less than the full price of a single LC figure. Not too shabby.
Mulan (4K Combo) (Disney Movie Insiders)
Time for another DMI haul! Was going to save my points to go towards Infinity War, but a 4K of the original Mulan being added to the catalog for less than 1000 points was too good to pass up. (Especially since the last time I owned the movie was on VHS.)
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (Switch) (Amazon)
Time to add to the Switch collection with a couple of great deals! First off, I scored this bit of monkey business for only fifteen bucks on Amazon. I had never played a Super Monkey Ball game before, but this essentially being a "Best Of" collection of the earlier, most popular titles combined with the ABSURD amount of content (including Sonic and Tails making playable cameos) definitely caught my eye. Played it a couple hours. It's honestly pretty BRUTAL for a game fronted by smiling cartoon monkeys.
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (Switch) (PlayAsia)
ANOTHER great Switch deal! Similar to Monkey Ball, I have no real experience with Klonoa (aside from playing the free demo for this particular title and enjoying it), but the series in general is definitely a fan favorite and I'm always up for a new platformer, so this souped-up collection of the first two games was definitely on my radar. The only things that kept me back were the price (FORTY BUCKS) and the fact that it was digital-only in North America. Thankfully, a recent PlayAsia sale alleviated BOTH of those problems by offering the Japanese physical version for only TWENTY bucks. (Yep, HALF the price of the digital-only NA version.) Needless to say, I immediately jumped on it. Even came with a couple bonus stickers (including a random V-Tuber) and a DLC code for some alternate costumes! Looking forward to finally giving this series a proper shot!
Power Rangers Lightning Collection - Dino Thunder Black Ranger (Amazon)
Power Rangers Lightning Collection - Dino Thunder Mesogog (Amazon)
Back to more LC figures, THESE guys I pre-ordered the INSTANT they went up. Dino Thunder was essentially the show that reignited the spark in my personal PR fandom, so the prospect of FINALLY owning a GOOD action figure of Mesogog, one of my favorite PR villains, was an absolute dream come true. He doesn't disappoint, either. The sculpting and detail are SUPERB and I LOVE that his jaw is even articulated so you can pull off some of his more beastial expressions from the show. He's just a fantastic plastic representation of the character and I'm really glad that mine avoided a lot of Hasbro's recent QC pitfalls. Tommy is a bit of a different story...
Originally, I had planned to ONLY order Mesogog, but since Dino Thunder Black went up at the same time and happened to be my second favorite DT Ranger suit after the White Ranger, I figured "why not?" and threw him in as well. (Also just needed a good guy version of Tommy for my shelf, as I only had Drakkon and his Foot Soldier disguise from the TMNT crossover.) Figure turned out very solid (really love the painted detail on the Bracchio Staff), but the QC Gods definitely didn't treat him as well as Dr. Mercer's Dino-Hyde. Not only was one of his alternate hands missing, but his helmeted head was also oddly loose on him. Not to the point where it would swing around or not stay on or anything, but it doesn't really pop on satisfyingly and trying to move it around on him just makes it come off more easily than I'd like. It's only his helmeted head that's like this, too. His civilian head is super tight, so I'm not sure what went wrong here. Neither issue is a huge deal for me, as I throw a majority of the alternate pieces these figures come with in a bag to keep them in storage and I don't really pose them around a lot after finding a place and pose for them on the shelf, but it's still rather disappointing after Mesogog knocked it out of the park.
OMGcon 2023 Swag
Digimon Card Game Advanced Deck Set - Beelzemon
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Hallmark Keepsake Ornament
Pokémon Fit Krookodile Plush
Super Mario RPG Box Keychain
Summer came, and with it, OMGcon! Spent another fun weekend with my Sis watching shows (Digimon Adventure 2020 and Sonic Prime this year) and chillaxing. Also found a bunch of neat goodies, so let's get to 'em!
Was only really looking for ONE specific item going into this con, so was VERY glad to find it: the Digimon Card Game Beelzemon Advanced Deck Set! Tamers is my favorite Digimon show and Beelzemon is both my favorite character from it AND my favorite Digimon in general, so when I heard that he was getting his OWN theme deck in the card game, I HAD to have it! Not only does the set include a deck filled to the brim with Impmon and Beelzemon goodness, but it ALSO includes a couple unrelated bonus cards AND some WICKED Beelzemon card sleeves! Definitely a great purchase for a Tamers nerd like myself.
Also chanced upon an adorable Pokémon Center Krookodile Plush (from the Pokémon Fit/Sitting Cuties series), a Movie Sonic Hallmark Ornament that I had my eye on, and an awesome little keychain replica of the Super Mario RPG game box! Wanna know the best part about that last one?
The BACK of the box is fully detailed as well! SO COOL and another great way to show my love for my favorite game ever. Little did I know that this wouldn't be the BIGGEST Super Mario RPG-related surprise to come out of that particular month. I'm STILL trying to process that!
Ralph Breaks the Internet Tote Bag
Web-Warriors: Protectors of the Spider-Verse Volume 1: Electroverse (eBay)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Omnibus Volume 5 (InstockTrades)
Rounding out the OMGcon stuff is this Ralph Breaks the Internet Tote Bag that I grabbed for five bucks. If there is a Wreck-It Ralph-related item, I MUST have it. It's also pretty big, so I might actually use it for future cons.
When I got back home, I had a couple comics that I ordered waiting on me. First off, a certain recent film made me want to read more Spider-Verse-related comics, so I picked up the first Volume of the out-of-print Web-Warriors series on eBay. As for the other, InstockTrades had the fifth IDW MLP ongoing Omnibus for a better price than literally any other site, so I finally jumped on it.
Banjo-Tooie (N64)
Another N64 fave that my Dad snagged for my collection! Now I own a physical version of every Banjo game minus Banjo-Pilot!
Illustrated Guide to the Spider-Verse
More Spider-Verse goodness! I learned of this book while browsing Amazon and thought it'd be cool to own, though I wasn't super sure when I'd get around to buying it. Well, while researching it, I happened upon a random giveaway for it and figured I'd give it a shot to try and win it. As you can probably guess by it being part of this haul, I actually won that giveaway. The book is written in-universe by Spider-Gwen/Spider Woman/Ghost-Spider and features new art and profiles on a TON of different Spiders from the comics. (From my favorites like Miguel O'Hara and Kaine Parker to deeper cuts like the Spider-Men from the manga and Mega Morphs toyline.) I can't wait to fully dive into it and it's freaking awesome to get to enjoy it free of charge. Thanks again to Real Mom of SFV for the opportunity.
Spider-Verse: Spider-Zero (Cheap Graphic Novels)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Omnibus Volume 7 (Cheap Graphic Novels)
My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel (Cheap Graphic Novels)
More Ponies and more Spiders! Cheap Graphic Novels had the last of the MLP comics I needed to pick up for pretty cheap, so I put in an order. However, things didn't 100% go as planned. Originally, this order included the Volume 5 Omnibus, but I eventually got an email from them saying that they couldn't get it via their distributors. (These books were all "special order only" rather than in-stock.) So, I replaced Volume 5 with the Spider-Verse Spider-Zero mini-series since they had it for like ten bucks, and everything else went swimmingly. (Y'know, aside from having to wait several weeks for them to get all three books in. Kinda wish I had discovered InstockTrades earlier since they had all of this stuff immediately available for comparable prices, but it is what it is.) Now I just need to wait for that eighth and final MLP Omnibus to come out.
Web-Warriors: Protectors of the Spider-Verse Volume 2: Spiders Vs. (ebay)
More Web-Warriors! I had originally ordered Volume 2 alongside Volume 1 on eBay (from two different sellers), but as the days went by, my order was showing absolutely no movement even after Volume 1 had already arrived. Starting to get impatient, I messaged the seller. No reply even after several days. Since it was too late to cancel my order, I had eBay step in and get me a refund. Then, I ordered Volume 2 from a different seller and it shipped IMMEDIATELY. Cost a little bit more than from the other seller, but it GOT here and that's what matters. Now I can enjoy the full Web-Warriors saga and I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for Volume 2 like on Amazon. I'd call that an (eventual) success.
Playstation 5
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Launch Edition
Finally entered the Next Gen! (Or is it the Current Gen?) Yep, since a certain arachnid-centric game is releasing this Fall, I figured it was finally time to upgrade to the PS5. Already got it all set up with my PS4 save data and digital games and everything! Looking forward to playing through Rift Apart and seeing just how much of a technology leap Ratchet and crew have made since the 2016 remake.
Power Rangers Lightning Collection - Dino Charge Pink Ranger
That's all for this one! See you guys again for the big Birthday post in August!
