The Christmas Fallout: 2021!

Might've been a little late this year, but I finally finished my merry-making yesterday and ended up with a gut full of various Chicken dishes and a fresh pile of loot by the end. Hope ya'll were able to have a fun one this season, too. 

Now then, on to the business at hand! This is the annual Fallout post where I share my holiday haul with you guys and you can also shout out your own blessings in the comments below. We've been doing this whole shebang for four years now and it's one of my personal favorite blog traditions, so let's get 2021 wrapped (pun intended) up before next year comes a calling!

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (PS4)

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (Blu-ray Combo)

Venom 2-Movie Collection (Blu-ray)

$20 Nintendo eShop Card

Nintendo Switch Online 12-Month Individual Membership Card

Fire Mario Plush

Rolos and Reese's Trees

Spicy Slim Jims

First comes the stocking! A nice selection of the usual goodies I love to see filling it (movies, eShop cash, candy, toys) along with a surprise or two. Didn't think I'd be getting the GOTG game THIS year, but hearing all the positive buzz around it (and also that it apparently plays a bit like FFVII Remake) makes me very eager to give it a roll soon. I have also already nearly emptied that box of Slim Jims. (I usually go for the Mild ones, so I'd forgotten how friggin' ADDICTIVE the Spicy ones are.)

Sonic Colors: Ultimate Launch Edition (Switch)

Mario Party Superstars 

Metroid Dread

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond 

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (Switch)

Pretty varied selection of games this year as far as genres go. We've got a remake of a Wii platformer, a party game celebrating the past, the first completely original 2D Metroid in over a decade, a platform fighter where you can make Garfield battle Ren and Stimpy, and another remake, this time of a DS RPG. Very much looking forward to digging into it all (ESPECIALLY Dread) once I'm finished with the Phantom Thieves' road trip.

Pokémon: Black and White The Complete Season

Sonic Boom The Complete Season 1 (Blu-ray)

Sonic Boom The Complete Season 2 (Blu-ray)

Gotta love some physical media!

Since they recently capped off the DP seasons, the Pokémon DVD sets have begun heading into Unova. Always fun to move on to a whole new arc in my ongoing rewatch of the anime and this one in particular should prove to be an interesting one under fresh eyes. (Especially given the DP elements that return in later Unova seasons that I can now fully appreciate.)

Plus, since it's Sonic's 30th Anniversary and he's got a new cartoon coming to Netflix next year, I figured it was the perfect time to finally add his last (hilarious) televised exploit, Sonic Boom, to my shelf. (Especially since NCircle decided to put it on Blu-ray, which is an unfortunate rarity among modern cartoon releases.)

Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 7: All or Nothing

Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 8: Out of the Blue

Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition 

Sonic the Hedgehog: Bad Guys

Speaking of Sonic, here's my yearly dose of his awesome IDW comic series. Accompanying the conclusion of the Metal Virus Saga from a while back are a mini-series starring a few of the major non-Eggman antagonists from the run as well as a special one-shot celebrating the 30th Anniversary with a collection of Classic Universe stories. (Particularly itching to dig into that last one, as the art I've seen from it looks fantastic.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The IDW Collection Volume 13

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Necessary Evil Part 1 Deluxe Edition 

Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia 

More Sonic AND comics! TMNT's 13th collection caps off the first 100 issues of the IDW ongoing while Part 1 of MMPR's Necessary Evil finally picks back up with the original Rangers after the events of Shattered Grid. The Sonic book is pretty special, though. Written by Ian Flynn, writer of most Sonic comics in recent memory (as well as the upcoming Sonic Frontiers, much to my delight), the Encyclo-speed-ia provides very comprehensive coverage of pretty much every Sonic game. (Including titles like Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic Labyrinth, Tails Adventure, Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car, and almost everything in between!) Each game's story, characters, enemies, stages, and whatnot are all touched upon and there's also a nice amount of artwork and trivia for good measure, all wrapped together in a package oozing with the usual wit and personality that Ian's writing exudes. There's even a WHOLE SECTION dedicated to the Sonic franchise stuff in Smash Bros! (Which even includes a joke about the infamous Melee rumors.) Needless to say, if you love Sonic, this is a great book to add to your collection. I can't wait to absorb every single tidbit from it in the new year.

SpongeBob Shirt

Super Mario Shirt

Some cool nerd shirts! The SpongeBob one was especially nice to see because I previously only owned one garment tribute to Sponge and his crew.

Geno Sprite Standee

Disney Classic Games Collection (Switch)

My Sister's family knocked it out of the park with my gifts this year, as not only did they get me a collection of classic 16-bit Disney games on Switch (which even included a physical manual for my favorite of the included games, the SNES version of Aladdin), but they also ordered me that AWESOME custom Geno standee! I've NEVER had any Geno representation for my shelf before (as all of the OFFICIAL merch is super rare and expensive old import stuff), so this makes the Super Mario RPG fanboy part of me EXTREMELY happy. Just seeing that standee next to my Paper Jam papercrafts makes me smile harder and harder every time.

$35 Nintendo eShop Card

As usual, my fave Cousin got me some eShop cash. Used it along with the card from my stocking to catch up on Power Rangers Battle for the Grid's DLC as well as to snag the Digital Deluxe goodies for Colors Ultimate.

$50 Amazon Gift Card

SpongeBob Comics Treasure Chest

Headphones

Last but certainly not least, the family friends who usually drop by around the holidays flat out spoiled me with Amazon cash, SpongeBob Comics, and spare headphones. Pooling the Amazon card together with the usual $50 my Grandma gave me for Christmas allowed me to order a few things (which I'll elaborate on in a future post) as well as snag the new Yu-Gi-Oh! game on the eShop. (Excited to learn the ways of the Rush Duel!)

Thus ends Christmas 2021 a week later as well as 2021 as a whole. Wishing everyone all the best in the new year!

30th Birthday Haul

Welp, I'm now officially as old as Space Ghost claimed to be in Coast to Coast. Kinda surreal, not gonna lie. Celebrations yesterday were pretty relaxed (it being a Monday and all), but we still enjoyed a nice little family gathering with a friggin' awesome cake:

Courtesy of a combination of my Sister's hard work and some edible printing. Having the same birth year as one of your personal favorite gaming franchises definitely has certain advantages.

Anyhoo, let's get on to the gifts!

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury 

New Pokémon Snap

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Switch)

NEO: The World Ends With You (Switch)

This year's gaming haul places the spotlight on LONG awaited sequels that you probably wouldn't have expected by a long shot just a few years back. (Well, except for 3D World. I definitely awaited the port for a good while, though.)

Only jumped into NEO so far (RPGs are kinda my thing and I adored the original), but just knowing that I'll still have one of my favorite 3D Mario games (complete with a bonus adventure), a Crash game with a super appealing cartoony aesthetic plus playable Dingodile, and a frigging POKÉMON SNAP SEQUEL to enjoy once I finish it is brain-meltingly exciting.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection Volume 11

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection Volume 12

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe Volume 3: Karai's Path

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe Volume 4: Home

Ghostbusters: Spectral Shenanigans Volume 2

Ghostbusters: Crossing Over

My reading material for this year sees my return to IDW's fantastic TMNT books with both my first offerings from their hardcover compilations (believe it or not, it was actually FAR cheaper than going for the individual trade paperbacks featuring these same stories) and the remaining entries from their Universe spin-off book that I still needed for my collection.

 

Also along for the ride are a couple of IDW's Ghostbusters books (both the last piece of Volume 2 of the ongoing that I needed and the Crossing Over mini-series) that officially complete my collection of Dan Shoening and Erik Burnham's collaborations up through 2018. I'm looking forward to seeing how an interdimensional portal created to get the Ninja Turtles back home (yes really, read these) leads to just about every 'buster in the franchise at that point (including the sprites from the New Ghostbusters 2 NES game) coming together to avert catastrophe like they do. It'll be the perfect appetizer for Afterlife!

Pokémon DP: Sinnoh League Victors The Complete Season 

Pokémon Adventures: Black 2 and White 2 Volume 2

Pokémon Adventures: Black 2 and White 2 Volume 3

It's Pokémon's 25th and Snap isn't the only new treat I've got to enjoy from the franchise! First, the final DP set officially completes the Sinnoh arc on my DVD shelf. Then, one of my personal favorite manga series returns after a bit of a hiatus (long story) to present the climax of Black and White's two-arc story. Looking forward to completing Ash's Gen 4 journey before my personal revisit on the Switch this holiday as well as finally getting back to collecting Adventures regularly.

Transformers Generations WFC: Kingdom Voyager Class Optimus Primal

Transformers Generations WFC: Kingdom Voyager Class Dinobot

Last but not least, in addition to the very nice cake (as well as a fun evening out to see Black Widow), my Sis got me these two beautiful beasts. I don't really talk about Transformers much here, but I'm a HUGE fan of the Beast Era of the brand, so to see Hasbro putting out modern versions of the Beast Wars cast that are pretty darn accurate to the way the characters appeared in the show (barring some more realistic touches to the beast modes) is a dream come true, especially in the case of my favorite character, Dinobot. His beast mode transformation is a bit finicky, but robot mode is just impeccable, blowing the 10th Anniversary version of the original figure that I owned previously completely out of the water. It feels so good to have a mostly-complete (barring Cheetor) initial Maximal cast standing all cool on my shelf together. A perfect way to celebrate 25 years of Beast Wars. (Yep, another Anniversary. When it rains, it pours.)

That should about do it for this year! Not exactly sure when the next post will be, but you can expect at least one before the holidays roll around. Until next time.

Hauls: "THEY'RE BABIES!!!!!!"

It's the first post of 2021! The world's starting to heal just a bit (Got myself one of them fancy vaccinations two weeks ago), a Pokémon Snap sequel is coming at the end of the month, and a cool (and funny) new season of Power Rangers is on the air. I'd say this year's off to a pretty solid start (and has the potential to get even better with some of the choice announcements made or leaked thus far in nerd culture), so let's dive right in with some hauls, shall we?

NECA Tokka & Rahzar Two-Pack (NECA Store)

Ohhhhhhhhhhh MY yes. Ever since NECA started making movie-based TMNT figures, these guys were at the verrrrrrrrrrry TOP of my wishlist. Tokka and Rahzar have seen several plastic adaptations over the years, but none have really captured their original film designs quite so accurately. Just owning a Tokka figure complete with his ridiculously spiky shell that isn't just a retool of an existing Slash figure is a personal dream come true and their accessories are just as on-point. (You can see Venompool enjoying the splendor of the Traditional Pre-Fight Donut (TM) in that second pic.) The stupid infants complement "Big Mama" Super Shredder in my NECA TMNT display quite nicely and I'm really happy to have completed what I consider Secret of the Ooze's "trio" in my collection with such high-end figure representation.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete Twelfth Season (Amazon)

More Christmas cash purchases! Since I finally caught up on my SpongeBob DVD collection during Christmas proper, I used some of my gift cash to pre-order the latest season. Some choice episodes on this set, including the 20th Anniversary special, "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blow-Out." In fact, a chunk of the included eps have yet to even air on Nickelodeon in the US! Only downside is that it's not quite the "Complete" 12th Season just because they left one episode out of the release: "Kwarantined Krab." That one also hasn't been aired in the states and you can probably guess why based on the title. A case of unfortunate timing if ever there was one. Hopefully it'll be included on a future set after this whole deal cools down.

Sonic Select Book 3 (Amazon)

This was yet another item brought to me by gift money and it officially completes my set of Sonic Select books! (Now I just wish there was an affordable way to get ahold of Sonic Archives 13 so I can complete THOSE to a certain point. Pretty sure NOBODY thinks Endgame is good enough to spend 500 BUCKS ON.)

Ghostbusters Volume 7: Happy Horror Days (Amazon)

Ghostbusters Volume 8: Mass Hysteria Part 1 (Amazon)

Ghostbusters Volume 9: Mass Hysteria Part 2 (Amazon)

Ghostbusters comics! I was originally going to wait until Volume 3 of the Spectral Shenanigans collected series to grab these particular stories, buuuuuuuuuuut that book was delayed all to thunder and we haven't heard a peep about it since. That combined with these books hitting low stock on Amazon without a restock in sight as well as IDW pulling all their Ghostbusters stuff on digital storefronts made me realize that it was really now or never if I ever wanted to own these.

Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: The Lost Galactabeasts (Book)

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (DVD)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) Volume 8: The Search for Splinter (DVD)

Thrift store haul from a trip there with my Mom after a dentist appointment! My favorite find is definitely the TMNT DVD, since I don't actually own much of the 2003 show. I only really got super into both the show itself and DVD collecting after the franchise had changed hands and everything was going out of print. Nickelodeon also hasn't put out anything for it barring a couple of random one-off discs, so OOP treasures like this are the best you're gonna get as far as physical media goes, unfortunately. (Hopefully the show can get great numbers on Paramount+ to inspire a little physical initiative to move forward.) DVD includes part of a Peter Laird interview as a bonus and the case even still had an insert advertising Mirage's then-current TMNT ongoing comic series! A nice little surprise.

Digimon Card Game Promotion Pack Version 0.0 Special Edition

Dragon Ball Super Card Game - SS Rosé Goku Black, Unison of Extermination and Super Saiyan God Son Goku/SSGSS Son Goku, Soul Striker Reborn Cards

Won another Premium Bandai giveaway, so I got yet another version of those same six Digimon promo cards from two posts ago. These ones come packaged in a folder rather than a pack and are Special Edition, meaning their foil effect is more apparent than the subtle shine of my previous versions of them. (The second photo shows the comparison.) Probably gonna keep them in the folder, though, as they look nice in there and I've already got plenty of copies of those cards to actually use if I can find Packs or Starter Decks in the wild one day. Also included in this prize package were a couple of neat Dragon Ball Super promo cards. (The God Goku is reversible!)

Banjo & Kazooie amiibo (Best Buy)

Terry amiibo (Best Buy)

More additions to the amiibo shelf, including a particularly long-awaited figure for me personally. Never did I ever imagine when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was first announced that Microsoft would not only work with Nintendo to bring my favorite Bear and Bird to the roster, but they'd also sign off on an amiibo of them, complete with Jiggy-themed stand! Just the sight of them in a single figure display alongside Mario, Bowser, Mewtwo, King K. Rool, Pac-Man, Ryu, Mega Man, Sonic, Cloud Strife and all these other gaming icons just feels SO right and the detailing on them in superb. (They even included the Rare logo on Banjo's backpack!)

Also along for the ride is Terry Bogard, joining his friends Ryu and Ken in the third-party fighting game representation!

Ghostbusters 101: Everyone Answers the Call (Amazon)

Lastly, another Ghostbusters book I picked up for similar reasons to the ones above. This one in particular should be a fun one because it's the first crossover between the universes of the original and 2016 films.

That's everything I've built up since January! Not sure when I'm going to post next, but you can expect something in August at the latest! (Summer/Birthday times are on the way again.)