The Christmas Fallout: 2023!

Well, the curtain has fallen on another Christmas, and VERY soon, another year. I hope you were all able to spend the last week in relative peace and/or happiness, regardless of any formal celebrations. 

With that, it's time for the annual Fallout post, where I show off my gift haul for the year and you guys can also chime in with yours via the comment section. It's the last bit of Christmas fun we'll get to have this year, so let's relish it! Have a peek at my goods:

HP Laptop

This was definitely the biggest surprise of everything I received this year. I've had the same HP Laptop since 2015 and, needless to say, it's been showing its age something fierce. The disc drive died, the thing couldn't stay on unless you kept it plugged in, and to top it all off, it was slower than Christmas. It became frustrating to use, but I still put up with it because, hey, at least it still mostly functioned, right? Well, now that my family has blessed me with a brand-new model that runs like a dream, I no longer have to put up with said frustration. God, it'll be nice to not have to constantly worry about killing the thing by accidentally pulling the cord or wait like an hour for it to shut down.

Super Mario RPG 
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Super Mario Bros. Wonder Walmart-Exclusive Trading Card Pack
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe 
Sonic Superstars (Switch)
Sonic Superstars Acrylic Stand 
Persona 5 Tactica (Switch)
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Launch Edition 
Marvel's Midnight Suns Enhanced Edition (PS5)

2023's gaming crop might be one for the books. Alongside the hotly-anticipated sequel to Insomniac's Spider-Man with two Spideys and a load of Symbiote fun, the year also saw a wonderfully (ha!) bizarre new 2D Mario game all wrapped up in an adorable new art style, a new 2D Sonic game with five different playable characters (which includes a brand-new REPTILE from Sonic's co-creator), another addition to the Persona 5 world with a strategy-based twist, and, oh yeah, A FULL HD REMAKE OF MY FAVORITE FREAKING GAME EVER COMPLETE WITH BRAND NEW CONTENT!!!!! 

*phew* So yeah, I've mainly been spending the past week playing the latter. (Just beat it, in fact, including the new post-game battles. PHENOMENAL remake that had me grinning from ear-to-ear, especially from a lot of the new additions, such as added dialogue and the Monster List.) 

Rounding things out are another turn-based strategy game (this time with a Marvel flavor) and an enhanced remake of a Kirby title from the Wii days. I actually had to reorder the latter from Amazon because the shrink-wrapped copy that I received as a gift didn't actually have a game card inside. (Seriously.) In luckier news, I definitely scored with those Walmart pre-order Mario Wonder cards:

I ACTUALLY GOT the infamous "limited to 1000 copies" Elephant Mario card!!! If you're wondering why I'm so pumped over a trading card, just look up "Elephant Mario card" on eBay and watch your own jaw hit the floor at the prices. It's the luckiest I've ever been with a trading card pack pull, and I'm definitely not letting this little rarity go to waste. With a little luck, what this sucker pulls on eBay has the potential to fully cover the cost of that nice laptop gift from before.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Steelbook (4K Combo) (W/Walmart-Exclusive Mini-Poster)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (4K Combo)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (4K Combo)

Spider-Man Trilogy (Blu-ray)

The Amazing Spider-Man Collection (Blu-ray)

MOVIES! Across the Spider-Verse's release inspired me to finally finish off my collection of Spidey's cinematic starring roles (now I'm only missing Infinity War and Endgame) while the latest TMNT film starts off a whole new era for the franchise. (I was originally going to opt for the normal 4K release, but the Walmart-exclusive version of the Steelbook including that rad mini-poster made it irresistible. IT'S GOT FREAKING LEATHERHEAD ON IT!!)

Pokémon BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond: The Complete Season

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): The Ultimate Collection 

More physical media fun! While the latest Pokémon set brings Unova to an end, the Turtles on the right are definitely the much bigger deal. After YEARS of being largely ignored by Nickelodeon (particularly in the realm of physical releases), they've finally, FINALLY released every episode of the 2003 TMNT series on DVD in a nice Complete Series collection. It's a legit miracle. Sure, the release isn't perfect, with particular attention given to both spotty video quality in places and the version of Turtles Forever included, but after NOTHING for SO LONG, I'm frankly just incredibly happy to finally be able have this show on my shelf next to the others. I never thought the day would come.

Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 13: Battle for the Empire
Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 14: Overpowered
Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 15: Urban Warfare
Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island

Moving on to some books, my annual Sonic reading pile promises a showdown with Surge and Kit, the formation of the new Diamond Cutters, the return of Team Dark, and a creepy little adventure starring Mecha Sonic. Definitely a lot of Sonicy fun to look forward to!

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Necessary Evil Part 2 Deluxe Edition 

Mighty Morphin/Power Rangers Book 1 Deluxe Edition 

Didn't get any PR comics last Christmas, so I decided to more than make up for that this year by finally catching up on the Deluxe Edition hardcovers. Now I'll be able to experience the saga of the new Green Ranger! Also thrown in is the somehow-even-more-bonkers sequel to MMPR/TMNT, featuring everyone from Slash to Dinosaur Mutant Rangers. That should be a fun one to bust out on a rainy day.

LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Shadow's Escape Set

SpongeBob Comics Volume 1: Silly Sea Stories

Yu-Gi-Oh! Minifigure (Got Dark Magician!)

Also scored a couple rad things from my sister's family. The Shadow set gives me my first taste of the LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog line (unless you count the Dimensions set from 2016) while the first collection of SpongeBob Comics adds to the illustrated nautical nonsense on my shelf. Rounding things out is a tiny Dark Magician figure from a blind bag. 'Cuz why not?

$50 Amazon Gift Card
Bluetooth Earbuds

Finishing things off, some dear family friends who didn't have the opportunity to drop by for Christmas last year gifted me some Bluetooth Earbuds (always handy to have spare headphones) and 50 bucks of Amazon cash. (You'll see how I'm gonna spend it in the next post.)

That's all 2023 wrote! Thanks for reading, and I wish you all the best in 2024!

Hauls: The Robo Knight Before Black Friday

Surprise! Wasn't expecting to make another post until Christmas proper, but Black Friday (and thrifting) works in mysterious ways. Here's some more stuff:

Power Rangers Megaforce: Robo Knight Before Christmas (DVD)

Another of my parents' thrifting finds, and a very seasonally appropriate one at that! Megaforce isn't exactly a well-liked season by a lot of people, but Robo Knight will ALWAYS be a major highlight of it, so I'm happy to finally have his Christmas special on DVD. (Despite it mostly amounting to a REALLY weird clip show.) Also included are two random, un-Christmassy episodes from Wild Force and Jungle Fury because I don't know and a digital copy that was still redeemable despite it being secondhand! Score!

Vintage TMNT Bandana

Persona 5 Royal (Switch) (Best Buy)

Yet another thrifting gem was this TMNT bandana. I'm not really a person who would wear a bandana, but the vintage art is so cool and it makes for a neat addition to my collection of random Turtle ephemera. (Still thinking of where/how to display it.)

The Phantom Thieves strike again! While I already bought Persona 5 Royal for PS4 LAST Black Friday, I've had my eyes on the Switch version since it was released last month, craving the ability to eventually replay it portably. However, the full $60 price tag for a game I already owned and recently played, even one as fantastic as P5R, made me shy away and decide to wait. Well, Black Friday 2022 came along and did me a solid! Despite the fact that the Switch version launched so recently, Best Buy had it at HALF PRICE, which I couldn't pass up. Probably not going to replay it for a while, but I'm definitely excited to eventually re-experience this amazing game in a new way, with ALL of the DLC along for the ride!

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch) (Walmart)

THIS was a long time coming. I'm a VERY casual Zelda guy, but after very much enjoying A Link Between Worlds almost a decade ago, I've been drawn particularly to the simple puzzle-solving, adventuring fun of the 2D overhead titles. So, when a remake of Link's Awakening was announced, I was excited to check it out. However, the full $60 price tag despite it originally being a Game Boy title and the modest length that comes from that origin made me prioritize other things and wait for a price drop. Said price drop certainly took its sweet time, though, as the best Amazon had it for at any one point was like $40. (Which eventually reverted back to either $50 or straight-up full price.) I got so impatient waiting for a good enough drop that I recently just decided to play the DX Game Boy Color version on my 3DS instead. In fact, I was already several dungeons into said DX version before I heard about Walmart's Black Friday deals FINALLY offering the Switch version for just $30. Needless to say, I jumped on that instantly and restarted my Koholint adventure with lots of wonderful modern quality-of-life improvements. (It's AMAZING playing an old game and its modern remake back-to-back and noticing just how many tiny tweaks improve the game immensely. Especially love how the remake gave the warp points their own map screen so you can actually CHOOSE where you want to go instead of hopping in and out of holes, continually warping until you arrive at your destination.) Having a lot of fun and very happy to finally have this game on my shelf.

That's it for the last of the pre-Christmas hauls, but I miiiiiiiiiiiight have something special planned for December, so you might hear from me a little sooner than I had originally planned. (Not counting this post, of course.) Stay tuned. 🎅🦔

Hauls: OMGcon 2022 and Other Bits

Well, my Birthday is next week, so it's time for another one of those tried-and-true haul roundup posts!

Power Rangers Super Legends (DS) (Amazon)

THIS was the definition of an impulse purchase. Super Legends was a game made for Power Rangers' 15th Anniversary in 2007 and it was released for PS2 and DS. I only had the PS2 version before because it had voice-acting and comic-style cutscenes, but I always regretted not getting both, as the DS version had its own roster of Rangers (including reps from Time Force, a season NOT featured in its PS2 equivalent) and some neat unlockables. (The best of which being the ability to play as Boom the Orange SPD Ranger if you perfect every stage.) Anyway, I saw that someone on RangerBoard had picked it up recently and that made me curious if I could pick it up cheap used on Amazon. Sure enough, I found the right seller and here we have it. I spent the latter half of May completing it. Was fun, though things got a bit stressful trying to beat every stage without dying. (Stingwingers were the bane of my existence.)

Funko POP! Animation SpongeBob SquarePants (Holiday)

Funko POP! Animation Patrick Star (Holiday)

SpongeBob Hula Bobble Figures

Invincible Mario and Red Shell McDonald's Toys

Here's a bunch of stuff my parents grabbed me at a yard sale. Been a while since I've collected any POP figures, but they definitely made a wise call getting this particular set, as SpongeBob, Christmas and Christmas-themed SpongeBob stuff are three of my favorite things.

OMGcon 2022 Swag

Beast Wars II Mini-Figures (Tasmania Kid and Bighorn)

Jakks Pacific Sonic the Hedgehog (Modern) Figure

Funko POP! Movies Tokka

Ash-Greninja Shirt

Retro Digimon Magazines

Kululu, Totodile and Fuecoco Mini-Buttons (Fil Romero)

Digimon Card Game Starter Deck: Ultimate Ancient Dragon

OMGcon returned after a pandemic-related delay and my Sister and I enjoyed our usual fun weekend of buying stuff and watching anime in the comfort of our hotel room. (Despite a hiccup near the end. Never have Mexican take-out the night before you have to travel for like an hour. Nuff said.) I didn't find anything quite as cool as the Nintendo Power issues I got at the last one, but I still wound up with some rad stuff in the end.

Best finds were definitely the little Beast Wars II guys (though I wish the seller I purchased them from had a better selection, as it's odd having two different Tasmania Kids,) the really neat mini-buttons (FINALLY SOMETHING KULULU-RELATED) and, of course, the old Digimon magazines, especially the two issues of Beckett Digimon Collector. I found them at the same seller I got the NPs from before and I was particularly happy to see the one with the Digimon the Movie cover story, as I remember having that one back in the day. Flipping through them brought back some great memories and reminded me of certain old Digimon happenings that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about, like the Taco Bell promotion. That Movie issue should sit comfortably on my shelf next to my issue of Beckett YU-GI-OH! Collector that covered THEIR movie. (The one with the incredibly silly hypothetical live-action Yu-Gi-Oh! movie cast. Adam Sandler as Tristan Taylor, anyone?)

Was also able to pick up a couple of things I've had my eye on for a bit, like more Digimon cards to finally support my small collection of mostly identical promo cards and Tokka's POP figure. (CRAZY that out of ALL the possible TMNT POP figures that could've been at this thing, one of the only TWO that I REALLY wanted was the one that I found. Talk about a lucky break.) Also added a base Modern Sonic to my growing Jakks Pacific figure collection, but honestly, I overpaid for it. He was the one from the OMEGA WAVE, too! Omega I would've GLADLY paid twenty bucks for, but nope. All they had were Sonics. Feh. Rounding things out are a pretty sweet Greninja shirt. However, we're not quite done with OMGcon yet. As this was a con and cons typically have guests...

...I got to meet Xander Mobus again! (After previously getting him to sign my Smash Wii U copy and Smash 4 Soundtrack at the 2015 convention.) This time, I had a lot more game fodder for him as I've recently become a Persona 5 fan (brought Strikers rather than Royal because the other two games were on Switch as of this particular weekend) AND he happened to voice a character in NEO TWEWY. Ultimate completed the trio nicely. (Though, I'm a bit surprised he signed it for JUST the Announcer role and not also Joker. Eh, probably didn't want to cover the art in text.) Still a great guy.

Power Rangers X Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Lightning Collection - Morphed Shredder (Dorkside Toys)

Oh YESSSSS. Remember when I hinted that someone was missing from my PR/TMNT figure blow-out in the last post? Well, he's finally here. GREEN. RANGER. SHREDDER. Took a while for Dorkside to get him in (he's the ONE pre-order I kept there,) but after many delays, June turned out to be his month. (He also just so happened to ship on the day that I left for OMGcon, so that got me even MORE jazzed for the weekend ahead.) He's an absolutely WICKED figure as well. Probably one of the best Shredders I own. I especially love how the cloth cape drapes on him. Gives him a really badass look. With the crossover crew finally complete, there's nothing more to do than wait for the recently-announced SEQUEL mini-series and see what craziness pops out of THAT.

Kuribabylon (Troll and Toad)

Kuribah (Troll and Toad)

Kuriboo (Troll and Toad)

Kuribee (Troll and Toad)

Kuribeh (Troll and Toad)

Five-Star Twilight (Troll and Toad)

HerculesKabuterimon (Troll and Toad)

Ending things off with a card haul! As a huge fan of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, I always get super excited when they bring more of Yugi's anime-exclusive cards to the game itself. I was particularly amped-up about THESE as he HEAVILY used the Kuriboh Brothers and Kuribabylon in Season 4, which I have a huge soft spot for despite its fillery nature. Also grabbed a HerculesKabuterimon promo card both because I just love that Digimon and because I believe that it's actually compatible with the Starter Deck I picked up earlier. As a great bonus, I got a $5 Amazon Card for making this purchase with Amazon Pay, allowing me to add to my IDW TMNT collection with the digital version of the 30th Anniversary Special. (Which was NEVER available in trade form, yet featured brand new stories from the Mirage, Archie, Image, and IDW continuities.) Not too shabby for under four bucks.

That'll wrap things up! See ya next week for the big Birthday post!

Hauls: How the Phantom Thieves Stole Black Friday

Time to squeeze in one last tiny haul post before the annual Christmas one! (Which probably won't be posted until New Year's Eve, as my family are celebrating on the 30th this year because reasons.) I was originally awaiting something specific that was SAID to be coming in December, but I think at this point, we can safely say that it's not happening. You'll see what I've been eluding to posted here eventually, though. 🦈📦

Anyway, I probably wouldn't have even ended up making this post if not for Gamestop's great Black Friday sale this year. Not only were a lot of games discounted, but they were also running a "Buy Two, Get One Free" promotion at the same time, meaning it was the perfect chance to finally snatch up some titles I've had my eye on for a while:

New Super Lucky's Tale (Switch) (Gamestop)

Persona 5 Royal (Gamestop)

Persona 5 Strikers (Switch) (Gamestop)

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts have arrived! When Joker joined Smash Ultimate, I became pretty curious about him and the ensemble cast that supported him. So, eventually, I checked out the English dub of the anime and quite enjoyed it! I loved the entire cast, the concept of a group of abused misfits coming together to become heroes for societal reform, the music (Dark Sun. Nuff said.), and just the sheer style of everything. It was just so, SO freakin' cool. So, of course, I had to own the definitive version of the original game! Already Platted it, too! Even though I already knew the general plot from watching the anime, I was still completely sucked in by the unique RPG/life sim mix, all the different little mechanics thrown into every nook and cranny, the Confidant side plots that were largely ignored in the anime, and of course, the extra content exclusive to Royal. If you love RPGs and stories with really fleshed out, extremely likeable characters, get this game STAT. (It's still just 25 bucks on Gamestop's website! That's a STEAL for this much content!)

However, even though Royal was easily the main event, I couldn't pass up another Phantom Thieves adventure even in a different, Musou-style package, so the Strikers spin-off that released earlier this year became my second game of the deal. Rounding things out is New Super Lucky's Tale, a cute, polished little platformer I've been interested in since Nintendo showcased it at their 2019 E3 Treehouse stream. Altogether, I got everything for just a little over the full price of Royal or Strikers by themselves. Not too shabby. 

I hope you all have an amazing holiday weekend! Since my celebrations are going to be a bit late this year, I'm likely going to spend it watching the new Disney and Doraemon movies hitting the various streaming platforms on Friday. See you on the other side next week! 🎅🎄