31st Birthday Haul

31st Birthday was today, so it's time for the obligatory loot post! Got it up on the actual day-of this time because I did most of my official celebrations on Sunday. Today was more of a "chill out" kinda day. Anyway, lookit mah stuff:

Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Kirby and the Forgotten Land 

Bit of a smaller game haul this year, but there's a reason for that: one of my gifts was actually a pre-order for ANOTHER game, and ohhhhhhh it's a big one with a lot of extra goodies packed in. Unfortunately didn't get out in time for my Birthday, but it's still releasing this month, so I won't have to wait that much longer. You'll see it in the next post and I'm ALREADY salivating over it.

Anyway, looking forward to taking Kirby into the 3rd dimension for the first time and mastering a whole new way to catch Pokémon. Only played a bit of Forgotten Land so far, but it's just delightful. I love all of the collectibles and optional objectives. Scratches that 3D platformer itch something fierce while still feeling perfectly Kirby. Good stuff.

Sgt. Frog: The Complete Second Season (SD Blu-ray)

The Worlds Ends With You The Animation: The Complete Season

Two times the anime Blu-rays! Sgt. Frog Season 2 on SDBD finishes off the Funimation dub and moves into previously-uncharted territory for the show on US physical media with (sub-only) episodes 79-103. (Which also includes a cute little transition that Discotek added in to mark the point when it switches from dub to sub.) While I got into Keroro through the dub, I'm still overjoyed to finally own these previously-unreleased episodes and the subs are honestly of great quality. Already watched the whole set, in fact. (One of my favorite new-to-me eps was the one where Keroro forces everyone to play along with a Sentai-style TV show that he personally writes where he tries to kill off every other hero character for higher ratings and "drama." 🤣) Super excited for the future Season 3 release as that's COMPLETELY new stuff for me!

As for TWEWY The Animation, it's a great little adaptation of my favorite RPG story ever. Wish they had brought more of the original English cast back (instead of just Kariya) and it's missing certain elements from the game (everything's a lot faster paced, so stuff like Neku's character development doesn't have as much build-up,) but as far as turning a 20+ hour long JRPG into a 12-episode anime goes, I think it was still really well done and any fans of the game should check it out. Animation also looks really nice, so it's great to have it on Blu-ray. (Really wish it got a Special Edition version with extra swag like a Player Pin replica, though. Serious untapped potential there.)

Transformers: Beast Wars Volume 2

Marvel's Secret Reverse

Time for some comics! Added to my shelf's Beast Bot representation with Volume 2 of IDW's recent series (which also happens to include my favorite story from the run, "Thicker Skin") and dipped back into the old Marvel well for a Spider-Man/Iron Man team-up brought to us by the late, great Kazuki Takahashi. (RIP.) Yes, really. The heroes fight a corrupted game designer and everything! Plus, even though it's a manga, it's laid out like an American comic with full color artwork! Needless to say, definitely looking forward to fully experiencing one of Takahashi-sensei's final creative contributions. There's nothing quite like the creator of something you love (Yu-Gi-Oh!) creating what's essentially a giant love letter to something ELSE you love. (Marvel.)

Pokémon Adventures XY Volume 1

Pokémon Adventures XY Volume 2

Deadpool Samurai Volume 1

Deadpool Samurai Volume 2

More reading material in the form of manga! Marvel's up to bat again with Deadpool's take on the medium (complete with thinly-veiled Spider-Man expys, Symbiotes, fights with Thanos, My Hero Academia cameos and Wade's trademark mastery over the fourth wall) while Pokémon Adventures heads to Kalos. (REALLY excited to finally give the XY arc an official read!)

My Little Pony/Transformers: The Magic of Cybertron (Amazon)

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Volume 1: Scary Tales & Scarier Tentacles (Amazon)

Lastly, here's some stuff that I ordered with Birthday cash acquired from my Sister and Grandma. The second MLP crossover completes my collection of IDW TF books that I wanted to pick up before the license changed hands and the Simpsons comic collection gives me a whole tome of frightful funnies to indulge in for the upcoming spooky season. (It's HUGE, too. Over 400 pages of comic-exclusive Simpsons Treehouse material all wrapped up in a large, hardcover book with a slipcase and glow-in-the-dark cover for just under 40 bucks. THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST OF THREE VOLUMES, TOO!)

That officially puts a cap on Birthday #31! Next post will probably be around October/November, so I'll see ya'll again closer to the holidays!

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!

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.