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: Pre-Birthday Clearout!

Hey, guys. Been a while. Hope you're still all safe out there in the nastiness. On to business, I've got a couple of things to archive here before my 29th Birthday on Sunday, so let's blow through some more nerd paraphernalia!

But first...

I've actually moved since my last post, so here's a peek at my new digs! Been really enjoying it here. (Just being able to play console games from my bed again is a significant upgrade to my situation.)

Now that that tangent's out of the way, on with the stuff!

TMNT Vintage Super Shredder Figure

This guy was a neat surprise! My parents actually found him at a thrift store a little while back and I was shocked by how intact he was. Still had his armor AND his belt. Actually have quite a bit of nostalgia associated with this guy (both because Secret of the Ooze was the TMNT film I grew up on and because he's one of the earliest TMNT figures I remember getting), so it's really nice to have approximate Kevin Nash here back in my collection after all these years. He'd make a great companion to NECA's upcoming Super Shredder figure...if I can manage to score one.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Rabbid Peach Figure (Amazon)

World of Nintendo Cranky Kong Figure (Amazon)

This order was half patchwork, as that Cranky Kong figure I bought specifically to replace one that got lost in the previously-mentioned move. (Good thing he was still a decent price.) While I was browsing Amazon for that, I found that the smaller scale Kingdom Battle amiibo-esque Ubisoft figures were readily available, so I decided to use the opportunity to add one to my collection. (Went for Rabbid Peach, as she was kinda the star of the show in that game.)

WarioWare Gold (Amazon)

Speaking of Amazon, this was an amazing deal. I had never played a WarioWare game (aside from the Game & Wario spin-off that I got free from Club Nintendo), so I was really interested in WarioWare Gold when it was announced. (Both because it featured a lot of microgames from throughout the series' history and because it had full voice-acting.) However, I never got around to picking it up because it was hard to justify buying a full price 3DS game in a series I had never jumped into in a Switch-dominated world.

However, that all changed when Amazon had it down to ELEVEN BUCKS at the start of the month. I just COULDN'T pass up a deal that good! (It was even better than that time I got Project X Zone 2 for thirteen bucks!) Beat it a couple weeks ago. Really fun and hilariously quirky. Definitely worth the full price, but ABSOLUTELY worth the severely discounted one. Glad that I was able to jump on it when the opportunity arose.

Mega Construx Pokemon - Psyduck (Cracker Barrel)

Mega Construx Pokemon - Ditto (Cracker Barrel)

Another find from my parents! They picked these up for me at Cracker Barrel while they were caught in the middle of an intense saga of car troubles. (Don't ask.) These are my first Mega Construx Pokemon and they're definitely neat little things. Having a Psyduck figure with arm articulation is a very amusing novelty and I didn't have that much Ditto merch to begin with, so they're nice additions to the collection.

Nintendo Heroes: Mario and the Incredible Rescue (Amazon)

Here's a random one! Picked up this old Mario book I had my eye on for a while. (Chiefly because Origami King hype put me in the mood.) Why did I have my eye on this one specifically? Well, it's because the content of this book is made up of the most eclectic and disparate Mario references despite the year it was published. (2006.) This book not only features all the usual Mario beats and characters you would expect from a typical kids book based on the franchise, but also locations and a couple minor players from Super Mario RPG! Yep, this is the only other story in the franchise to feature appearances from Frogfucius and Toadofsky despite SMRPG not even being on the Wii Virtual Console when it was published! Crazy, right?

Being the huge Mario RPG fanboy that I am, I just had to get it based on that detail alone. Story itself is okay. Just a simple plot about Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Yoshi finding magic Mushrooms to repel evil ghosts summoned by Bowser. The odd-for-2006 references are easily the best part. It's not even just Mario RPG nods, either. They even throw in a detail from MARIO & WARIO, a game that didn't even release in the West! Someone seriously knew their stuff. Very unique addition to my personal treasure trove of Mario merch.

Wii Fit Trainer amiibo (Best Buy)

Ordered Ms. Trainer here when I pre-ordered some other amiibo from Best Buy. (Stay tuned for those.) I like having all the weirdo characters, so she'll be right at home on my amiibo shelf.

Remember in 2014/2015 when these three were the most rare, sought after amiibo in the line at that point? The Lazy Shell remembers.

NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Two-Pack - Slash and Leatherhead (Zavvi)

Finishing up this post with a DOOZY! A little while back, I got in NECA's Slash figure based on his appearance in Turtles in Time. I also mentioned a couple of their other upcoming TMNT figures that I was interested in and thanks to Zavvi's US site, I was able to score two of them without having to deal with the bot-dominated nightmare of Target distribution: the 1987 Cartoon versions of Slash and Leatherhead! 

Some of my earliest memories of watching the '87 Turtles involved renting the old "Bad Guys Series" VHS tapes and "Turtles vs. Leatherhead" was easily my favorite. Not only was it the only video in that series where BOTH included episodes involved the villain spotlighted on the box, but Leatherhead himself was just a cut above that show's usual recurring threats. Jim Cummings' super entertaining performance slathered in cajunisms made him really likeable and he held his own against the Turtles far better than Bebop and Rocksteady. Leatherhead's been one of my personal favorite TMNT characters ever since and he might've even helped to spearhead my lifelong affection for Alligators, so to have an incredibly nice, high-quality figure of the version that introduced me to him complete with way more accessories than I know what to do with is simply amazing.

As for Slash, well, he's mostly a bonus, haha. I was introduced to Slash through Turtles in Time, so to later see him in the cartoon with his...unique redesign was more than a tad underwhelming. Still, it's really fun in a way to finally have a toy version of this design and he looks great next to his Turtles in Time counterpart. He even comes with his binky! 

That's all for now, but stay tuned in a few days for my 29th Birthday haul!

Hauls: Self-Isolation Stuff

Sooooooooooo the world certainly took a turn since my last post, didn't it? Hope ya'll are staying safe out there. Anyway, got some more hauls, so it's time to catalogue them!

Fangamer Banjo-Kazooie Plush Necklace

Following up on my last post, Fangamer got in more stock of their Banjo plush and as such, sent me the necklace missing from mine as promised. So nice to see it complete!

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Beast Morphers Gold Ranger (Walmart)

Another sort-of follow-up to the last post, I found Nate's Lightning figure, completing my Beast Morphers good guys so far. Looks quite nice next to his buddies and now I NEED a Steel to complement him.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Amazon)

Invader Zim Volume 3 Deluxe Edition (Amazon)

Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension The Complete Season (Amazon)

Sonic the Hedgehog Ticket Stub 

A little while ago, Amazon had a buy-two-get-one-free offer on games, books, and DVDs, so I had to take advantage while it lasted. 

Mario and Sonic Tokyo was on my radar, but I was apprehensive about the $60 price tag. (Especially after owning most of the previous, very similar installments already.) Luckily, a $20 discount just happened to fall around the time of said Amazon deal, so this was the perfect chance to finally pick it up. It's a lot of fun, with the highlights being the goofy Story Mode and the neat retro events.

Also decided to continue collecting the Invader Zim comics with the deluxe version of Volume 3 becoming item #2 of the deal. Highlight of this particular collection is the Virooz four-parter, especially the second part where Zim basically spends the entire time criticizing the logic of AI.

Last but not least, I claimed the Battle Dimension set as my free item, bringing my Pokemon DVD collection up-to-date and continuing to prove that any negative opinions I may have expressed about the Sinnoh arc in my past on the internet was just a lot of hoosafudge and misplaced aggression. I'm quite enjoying my time with it. (Though, Pika and Goliath still frayed my nerves a bit. Mostly Sho. Why would you write a character to speak this way for an entire episode? No wonder Team Skull don't have their gangsta linguistics in the anime. They used them all up on this one annoying filler character.)

Also saw the Sonic movie the same day I got this stuff in and now I want ALL the sequels.

TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME (Kickstarter)

Waluigi/Daisy Bookmark (Kickstarter)

Also finally got this in a couple weeks ago from Kickstarter. If you're a Nintendo fan and have never read the adorable/gut-busting web comic, Brawl in the Family, then I suggest you remedy that quickly. This book is the latest hardcover release from its creator focusing mainly on his extremely distinctive take on Waluigi and the numerous hijinks he gets up to. It not only reprints all of Waluigi's Brawl in the Family starring roles, but also throws in a good number of brand new comics, making it a worthy addition to any BITF fan's library. It definitely looks quite nice on my shelf next to my three hardcover BITF volumes and it's always nice to see more of this silly world following its end in 2014.

NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Slash (Megalopolis City of Collectibles)

Oh man, as you can probably tell by the number of shots dedicated to the above item, this is a HUGE one for me. People who know me well are already quite aware of this, but this is the first time I'm bringing it up on the blog: I LOVE SLASH. He's my favorite TMNT character and everything about him from his black mask to his gnarly spikes to his claws I am ALL ABOUT. 

So, when NECA announced that they were not only making a collector-quality figure of him, but ALSO basing it off of his appearance from the SNES version of Turtles in Time (a game I grew up on that introduced me to Slash in the first place), I don't think I had ever experienced such intense NEED for a toy. 

It was a LONG road from his initial reveal in like 2017 to his eventual scheduling for November 2019 to my asking of him for Christmas to him getting delayed a few months to me switching around where I had him pre-ordered two separate times based on factors like pricing and stock waits to him finally getting here yesterday, but WOW, was it worth it. He's the first NECA TMNT item that I've owned and he absolutely will not be the last. Just handling him and feeling the quality of the material at hand combined with all the neat little touches like his rotatable bandana knot just impress me so much and he's easily the nicest plastic representation that Slash has ever received. I can't friggin' WAIT to get NECA's '87 cartoon versions of both Slash and Leatherhead as well as their recently-revealed Tokka, Rahzar, and Super Shredder so I can start building a collection.

That's all I've got. Hope all of this gushing over Turtles with spikes brought you some entertainment and escape from this difficult time and I hope that the next time I get back to ya'll, we'll all be in a much better place. Until then.