33rd Birthday Haul

Happy Birthday to me! (33rd, that is.) Been a pretty chill day (I've spent like half of it asleep) because I actually celebrated with my family yesterday. (My parents planned a trip for this weekend and the 1st was more convenient for them.) Anyhoo, with another August 2nd comes another treasure trove of goodies, so let me share all the incredibly generous gifts I received:

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch)
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch)
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD
$50 Nintendo eShop Card

Much like last year's crop of games, this year's was very heavy on the remakes and ports. At the top of the mountain are the expansive next chapter in the FFVII Remake saga and an HD reincarnation of what many consider to be the best Paper Mario game. (I've actually owned the Gamecube original for YEARS, but've NEVER actually beaten it legit. Only with Action Replay assistance. Definitely gonna change that with this version! Side content, too! I wanna devour every bit!) Backing up those two heavy hitters are an HD revisit to another favorite from 2004, the original Mario vs. Donkey Kong, as well as a shined-up port of Luigi's second stab at ghost-hunting, ripe for a Halloween replay. Also got 50 bucks of unexpected eShop cash, so I added TMNT: Splintered Fate to the pile as well!

Digimon: Digital Monsters Season 2 (Blu-ray)

Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning (Blu-ray)

Digimon Card Game Digimon Liberator Promotion Pack (Got Shoemon!)

Doubled my Digi with two Blu-rays starring those crazy kids Davis, Yolei, Cody, T.K., Kari, and Ken!

First up is the Discotek release of Digimon Season 2 itself, which promises to not only carry the excellent picture quality of their previous Digimon set, but also restore content that's been missing from previous DVD and streaming releases for years! (Like T.K.'s little opening narration from the first episode.) Looking forward to giving this season a rewatch in the best possible quality!

Tying a bow on this little duo is the brand new Digimon Adventure 02 movie that hit theaters last year. It should sit quite comfortably on my shelf next to Kizuna. (It even came with a bonus Digimon TCG promo card based on the new Liberator manga! I got a living shoe that eventually digivolves into Cinderella.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Saturday Morning Adventures Volume 2

Gargoyles: Here in Manhattan Volume 1

Pokémon Adventures Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Volume 1

Pokémon Adventures Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Volume 2

Spider-Man 2099 Omnibus Volume 2

Time for some readin' fodder, and as usual, I got a LOT of it. First off, we kick it back to the 90s with new comics set in the classic animated worlds of New York's favorite Turtles and Gargoyles. (Probably gonna hold off on reading the latter until I get the new Dynamite collections in from Kickstarter, though. Those have stories that take place before this new series.) Then, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald return to prevent the end of the world as Pokémon Adventures begins its ORAS-based story arc. Finally, we have the further adventures of Miguel O'Hara in another giant Omnibus. (I really enjoyed Miggy's ongoing from the early 2010s when I read it on Marvel Unlimited, so I'm excited to give it a fresh reread, now armed with the full context of his 90s stories.)

Wrapping things up, my sister gifted me some Amazon cash.

That finishes up my little celebratory post for Birthday #33! I'll see you guys again in a few months!

29th Birthday Haul

Birthday number 29 is in the can. Hard to believe that 30's only a year away. Something tells me it won't feel much different, though. Had a fun time yesterday with friends, family, pizza, and ice cream cake. (All the classic makings for exhaustion and an overly full belly.) Anyway, let's share some Birthday loot!

Paper Mario: The Origami King 

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX

Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (Switch)

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated (Switch)

A Hat in Time (Switch)

Another Birthday, another crop of games! This year we've kind of got a theme going with "old games on new systems and 3D platformers." Y'know, aside from Origami King. 

I've already 100%'d it, BTW. Got it early on its actual release date and put SOOOO much time into it. It's so fun. I wasn't that great at a lot of the more complex ring puzzles even by game's end because I'm just terrible at thinking on my feet, but the graphics, music, writing, sheer variety, charm, and explorative nature all came together to create just a joyful experience overall. Olivia is also a precious ray of sunshine and I have so many more emotions associated with Bob-Ombs than I did previously.

As for the others, I'm always up for more Mystery Dungeon, I've never actually played the ZX games before, THQ SpongeBob games give me joy, and I heard a lot of good things about the last one and I LOVE me some 3D platformers, so it was finally time to see what all the fuss is about.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Omnibus

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

COMICS! Skipped out on my usual yearly dose of IDW TMNT volumes yet again (thinking about finally starting to catch up at Christmas) in favor of a HUGE Omnibus of the 2016 Miles Morales Spider-Man series which both brings him into the main 616 Marvel universe for the first time and finishes out his original writer, Brian Michael Bendis', run with him. (Before he jumped ship to DC to create some very controversial runs with established characters.) Best thing is that I already have the first volume of Saladin Ahmed's run digitally so I can immediately check his stuff out after I finish this and decide if I like it enough to keep up with it.

The Turts aren't fully left out, though, as the final chapter of the Batman/TMNT trilogy represents them with probably my favorite of these team-ups they've done. Seriously, if you check out ONE Batman/TMNT comic crossover, make it THIS one. Where else are you gonna get a tale where Krang takes control of the freaking Anti-Monitor to combine the Batman and TMNT multiverses together and Mirage Raphael from Turtle Prime has to venture into the combined world to convince the heroes that their entire world is a lie before Krang can make his move? Also the Joker (called the Laughing Man in the new world) is leader of a ninja crime empire called the "Smile Clan." God, I love comic books.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Blu-ray Combo)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper

Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 4: Infection

Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 5: Crisis City

Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 6: The Last Minute

I looooove that Hedgehog! Being that Sonic recently made the shift to headlining a film franchise (after a career of nothing but cameos in stuff like Ready Player One as well as his bit parts in the Wreck-It Ralph movies), of course I had to grab his new movie on Blu-ray. (It'll probably end up being the only movie I'll see in theaters all year at this rate.) 

Continuing the Blue Blur train, we have more of the excellent IDW comics including both a buddy adventure dedicated to original comic characters Tangle and Whisper as well as the majority of the Metal Virus Saga storyline that's been running for a while. (Yes, the Sonic comics have a major story arc about a contagious pandemic that turns everyone into robot zombies. It's the very definition of "morbid coincidence.")

Banpresto DBZ Grandista Resolution of Soldiers Gotenks Figure

Bandai Spirits Mewtwo Model Kit

Funko Marvel Venomized Mystery Minis Blind Box (Captain Marvel)

Sailor Moon Blind Bag Magnet (Luna)

Finishing things off, we have the pile of stuff my Sis and brother-in-law got me courtesy of Hot Topic sales. Pretty nice collection of nerdy bric-a-brac, representing a variety of franchises I'm into. I got into DBZ through the Buu saga, so Gotenks here is a nice choice for my very first high-end DBZ collectible, I've been keeping up with Spider-Man: Maximum Venom on TV, so one of these Minis was a no-brainer (Kinda wish I had gotten Spidey, Deadpool, or Miles though), I hadn't built a model kit since the old Yu-Gi-Oh! ones that Mattel brought over back in the day, so Mewtwo was a fun little project (I want the Lugia one now), and Luna does an adorable job of guarding my manga shelf.

That about wraps it up! Next post shouldn't be until the Fall, but expect to see a couple of really neat comics as well as the odd figure and maybe even a Blu-ray in it when it arrives. I'll see ya then!