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.)

Hauls: VACATION DISNEYSPLOSION!!

Howdy, guys! Been a little over a month since my last post, so, of course, I've got some hauls to unload!

Toy Story (Blu-ray Combo) (Amazon)

    Toy Story of Terror! (Blu-ray + Digital) (Amazon)

Starting things off with what I scored with the majority of my Birthday cash, I snagged the last of the Toy Story TV specials as well as finally added the first movie to my Blu-ray library. As with all Disney releases, these came with Disney Movie Rewards codes, which helpfully segways into the eponymous "DISNEYSPLOSION" of this post.

Y'see, DMR is changing to "Disney Movie Insiders" a bit later this month, and in the process of the move, has had a TON of sales on their physical rewards. The discounts were INSANE (with rewards that originally cost 1500 points dropping to a mere 450 and so on), so I absolutely couldn't resist blowing quite a few points. (I had also recently come into 2000 bonus points thanks to the Summer of Disney Regal promotion, so I had the means to go a little nuts.)

Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection (Blu-ray Combo)

Muppets Most Wanted (Blu-ray Combo)

These two came in first. While having the sheer variety of Disney's modern theatrical shorts on Blu-ray essentially for free is a great enough value on its own, the REAL gem here is the Movies Anywhere-exclusive digital inclusion of Runaway Brain, a great Mickey short from the 90's that was only previously available on a long-out-of-print DVD set. (Remember Julius, the Secret Boss from Kingdom Hearts 3D? Yeah, he's from that short.) Being able to watch Runaway Brain legally anywhere and any when I want is just fantastic.

As for the other title, ya just can't beat Muppets for a fun, goofy laugh.

The Lion King 1 1/2 (Blu-ray Combo)

Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel (DVD)

Lion King's third (sort of) installment marks the first DTVquel to enter my Blu-ray shelf, and I think it's a pretty solid one. (Weird continuity surrounding Timon and Rafiki knowing each other notwithstanding.)

As far as Phineas and Ferb goes, I'm a pretty casual observer rather than an all-out fan, but I really enjoyed the Mission Marvel special they put out a while ago full of goofy super hero hijnks, so grabbing the DVD from the DMR catalog when it dropped to like 300 points seemed like a no-brainer.

Sugar Rush Online (Ralph Breaks the Internet) Japanese Theatrical Poster

Hey, remember when I said those stickers from a previous haul would probably be my last Ralph Breaks the Internet-related DMR acquisition due to the sequel quickly becoming old news? Well, I didn't count on them both restocking the Japanese poster for the film AND severely discounting it to the point where it was the CHEAPEST poster I've ever redeemed from DMR. (I think I actually managed to grab their last one, too, as it disappeared from the catalog shortly after I got it in.) 

This is probably my favorite get of the entire sale, both because I've had my eye on this particular poster for quite a while (I actually got this in almost exactly a year following that tweet. Funny how things work out sometimes.) and because when a Wreck-It Ralph sequel was announced in the first place, I set a personal goal to save up enough DMR points to redeem an official theatrical poster so I could have a little shrine to show my Ralph love in my room. Well, now I own THREE, including both English and Japanese versions, so I think it's safe to say that I WRECKED dat goal! 

Moving on from all the Disney, I visited my Sis and brother-in-law's place a little bit later and the latter gave me some of the random swag he had lying around the house (Presumably to help clear space for my future nephew), mostly from past Loot Crates:

Not a whole lot I'd actually buy if given the chance, but when someone offers you transforming robot dinosaurs and plastic Xenomorphs for free, YOU TAKE THEM.

Before I get into the next big part of this post, I randomly ordered this a little after I got back:

Ghostbusters: Interdimensional Cross-Rip (Amazon)

I've been casually picking up the Ghostbusters comics from IDW over the years (Mostly the TMNT crossovers and other interesting stuff like the Real Ghostbusters team-up), but getting the first chunk of their ongoing run for Christmas a couple years back combined with all the crazy multiverse stuff they've had going on recently has really made me want to catch up on them full-on. 

This hardcover is the first step in that effort, collecting the Ghostbusters International series (essentially Volume 3 of the ongoing) as well as the previously cited Real Ghostbusters team-up and the 2015 Annual, a story previously uncollected. I WAS going to wait to get it, but after seeing how quickly the Volume 2 hardcover went out-of-print (Just look up "Ghostbusters: Mass Hysteria" on Amazon and watch your jaw drop at the prices), I didn't want to take any chances. 

So, from here on, I'm going to wait on Volume 2 to finish in the softcover "Spectral Shenanigans" trades next year (Probably around the time of the next hardcover) and then get pretty much everything I'm missing in one fell swoop so I can immerse myself in spooky comics. Comic books are kind of a complicated hobby at times.

Moving on, early on in September, me and the fam went on a trip to Florida, during which I scored even more stuff:

Toy Story 2 (Blu-ray Combo) (Walmart)

Toy Story 3 (Blu-ray Combo) (Walmart)

Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl The Complete Season (Walmart)

More Toy Story, finishing off my collection until 4 comes out! Also really looking forward to giving the Diamond and Pearl anime a full watch, as that was when I became a more casual watcher and mostly took in events from screencaps on Serebii.

Olaf's Frozen Adventure (Blu-ray Combo) (Walmart)

$20 Nintendo eShop Card (Walmart)

A Christmas special that I've been meaning to rewatch completes my Frozen home media library until the sequel releases while some extra eShop credit snagged me the Expansion Pass for Ultimate Alliance 3. (Bring on the FF!)

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Beast Morphers Red Ranger (Walgreens)

Stopped by a Walgreens because I had heard that Wave 2 of the Lightning Collection figures were starting to hit there and I NEEDED me dat Magna Defender, but only found Devon here. Still a score nonetheless, with the current, extremely solid season finally getting some representation on my shelves. He stands nicely right next to Tyler, readying themselves for a fun time next year.

Pichu amiibo (Target)

$10 Nintendo eShop Card (Target)

Trident Vibes with CTR Code (Target)

Went to a Target to look for Lightning figures again. Absolutely no luck this time (They only had Cruger, Tyler, and Tommy), but to offset the lack of luck in that particular field, I found the first amiibo display I've seen in an actual store in many months and it was FULL of ONLY Pichu, AKA, the one recent amiibo I kind of wanted for collection purposes, but didn't care enough to pre-order. Now my Pokemon amiibo collection is once again complete! Rounding that Target trip out was more eShop cash and a pack of gum that unlocks an exclusive paint job in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Yes, really.

My Little Pony The Manga: A Day in the Life of Equestria Volume 1 (Books-A-Million)

Finishing off things in Florida, I also hit up a Books-A-Million and found the first volume of the new MLP manga. Haven't read it yet, but skimming reveals a story where Twilight is a Sailor Moon-esque magical girl chosen one who unites with the rest of the Mane 6 to form a ponified Megazord to battle a Godzilla version of Spike, so looking forward to THAT.

Pikachu's Winter Vacation (DVD) (Amazon)

Destruction Dragon (Amazon)

Ring of Defense (Amazon)

When I got back from my trip, I had this stuff waiting on me. I finally upgraded my old Pikachu's Winter Vacation VHS tapes with a cheap used DVD from Amazon (Works perfectly, though) and also snagged some Kaiba cards I didn't have. (Destruction Dragon isn't from the show, but I kinda love everything relating to the Legendary Dragons, so I kinda needed him.)

Tangled: Before Ever After (DVD) (DMR)

Exodia: The Legendary Defender (Amazon)

DMR had yet ANOTHER sale right before I left for Florida, so I redeemed more swag and it came in after I got back. Still need to pick up the original film on Blu-ray, but adding the TV movie sequel to Tangled that also acts as the pilot for the TV series for only like 300 points seemed like a sound decision. Also, a straggler from the previous card haul: a new Exodia monster with a VERY interesting effect!

Ivysaur amiibo (Best Buy)

Squirtle amiibo (Best Buy)

Snake amiibo (Amazon)

More amiibo pre-orders came in recently, completing the Pokemon Trainer's team as well as Brawl's third-party character roster!

Detective Pikachu (Blu-ray Combo)

Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (Blu-ray Combo) (DMR)

More DMR swag in the form of more Mickey, but the Detective Pikachu Blu-ray is noteworthy in that I actually won it in a Loot Crate giveaway that I forgot that I entered. (Actually found out that I won it when I was in Florida!) Add that to my overall 2019 winnings! (For those keeping track, that's a comic, a hardcover art book, a figure, and a Blu-ray so far.)

The Muppets (Blu-ray Combo) 

Finishing things off, we have one last DMR redemption, courtesy of points that I earned off of a copy of Santa Buddies that was just in the condo that my family was renting during vacation. (Yes, really.) Figured since I already scored the Muppets sequel, that I should complete the set, lack of a Movies Anywhere code notwithstanding.

That's the end! Next post probably isn't going to be until like November, but I should have something fun and festive to announce around then, so look forward to it!