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!

Winter Hauls Wrap-Up!

It's been a little while since my last post, so it's time to wrap up some Winter hauls before Spring gets here!

Super Smash Bros. Melee Official Nintendo Player's Guide (Amazon)

Starting things off with my Christmas money pick-ups, the first item in question was pretty much an impulse buy because I was trying to think of cheap stuff to spend the last bit of my holiday cash on that wasn't already being put towards pre-orders of two other items in this post. 

Y'see, in my youth, I was HUUUUGE into the Player's Guides put out by Nintendo Power. Their presentation combined with having basically a roadmap of each game to browse at any time (this WAS before let's plays and video walkthroughs, y'know) made me pick up quite a few of them, regardless of whether or not I owned the game! (I believe it was actually the Double Dash guide that convinced me to make the game the first Mario Kart I ever owned, for example.) 

One of my all-time favorites of those Guides was the one for Super Smash Bros. Melee, as that one not only clued me into secrets that I was not in the know of at the time (like my favorite Pokemon being a secret playable character with an insane-for-a-grade-schooler unlock requirement), but it also just had some awesome little unnecessary touches. (One of the earliest pages has a list of all of Kirby's Melee copy abilities tied into a fun little game, for instance.) I loved that guide so much that I made it a semi-tradition that I'd pick up the official guide for EVERY Smash game, despite the future guides not quite stacking up to a combination of my nostalgia and the wow factor of finding out about new Smash characters before you were on the internet every day.

Anyway, I still own my original copy of that Guide, however the last few pages and the back cover were lost to the ages due to years of improper book storage. (My poor, poor weathered Nintendo Power collection.) Due to the hype of Smash Ultimate, I decided to pick up a used copy of that guide for like six bucks to replace that old damaged one on my bookshelf. It's still a bit weathered, but I can finally read the last page of the Stages section as well as that weird little page at the end for the first time in years, so I'd say it was worth the six bucks.

(Can ya tell I was originally planning to write a full post on these Nintendo Power Guides? I can't think of many other six dollar purchases that made me blab on for THIS long.)

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (Amazon)

My second arrival from the Christmas money purchases was something I was debating on whether to pre-order or wait to get later. Mario & Luigi is one of my favorite game series in general, but the combination of my 3DS gathering dust and the fact that this particular game was a remake of one that I didn't play that long ago had it fluctuating in priority in my mind. 

However, when more stuff about the brand new Bowser Jr.'s Journey mode was revealed, I knew I HAD to experience this on release and I'm SOOOOOO glad that I did. If you're a fan of Bowser and his crew, Bowser Jr.'s Journey was MADE for you. While the gameplay is the same kinda thing as the Minion Quest mode from the last remake, the story is one of my new absolute favorites in a Mario RPG. It has the same hilarious writing you'd expect from one of these games, but with three brand new villains, a surprising number of emotional scenes, and CHARACTER GROWTH. This game somehow made me cry over Morton Koopa Jr., my least favorite Koopaling. It's that good. Don't let this one pass you by if you love this series.

Funko POP! Comics Lord Drakkon Vinyl Figure (Nerdy Collectibles)

This guy I pre-ordered last year from some online toy shop because getting merch of an exclusive character from a particular extension of a franchise always tickles me, despite the fact that the only other PR POP I own is Alpha 5.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Official Nintendo Player's Guide (Ebay)

Yep, another of these guides and MAN OH MAN, do I have a bizarre story to share with you guys!

Alright, so picking up the Melee Guide set the wheels in motion for me to think about doing that previously-alluded-to-but-aborted post all about the Nintendo Guides and Bowser Jr.'s Journey being so freaking good put me on a bit of a Mario RPG nostalgia kick. When those thoughts came together, I started thinking about another excellent Guide full of rare art that I also had back in the day, but didn't survive the trip to the present in any form unlike SSBM. That Guide was the one for Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, my favorite game of all time.

After ruminating a bit, I wondered why I never got around to picking THAT Guide back up despite loving both it and the game it was for, so I looked around a couple places for a decent price. After a few looks, I stumbled across an UNBELIEVABLE price on Amazon: like fifteen bucks IN NEW CONDITION from a third-party seller. I couldn't pass it up, but as I was awaiting it, I couldn't help but wonder if it was too good to be true.

It was.

Yep, you're reading that right. Because of THE STRANGEST listing snafu on a website I've ever seen, I was sent, not a $16 Super Mario RPG Player's Guide from '96, but THE CRAPPIEST $7 thoroughly unlicensed Celebrity Big Brother Crossword Puzzle Book, despite still paying the $16. Needless to say, I was equal parts livid and confused.

After I recovered from this oddity, I quickly sent the Crossword Puzzle Book back, got refunded in full, and bought the right Guide for like three times the price on Ebay. Let this be a lesson to ya'll: DON'T TRUST SUSPICIOUSLY CHEAP PRICES FROM AMAZON THIRD-PARTY SELLERS.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume 3 (Amazon)

Moving on from bewilderment to just plain disappointment, I had about nine bucks to blow from an Amazon promo code, so I figured, hey, they recently pulled Aqua Teen Hunger Force from Hulu and I don't own any of the DVD sets despite owning all of the Space Ghost and Harvey Birdman ones, so why not start my collection with a cheap set that just so happens to contain some of my favorite ever episodes? Great idea, right? That's what it SEEMED like, as I quickly unwrapped it and started plowing through the discs, but my mood quickly took a sharp turn when I got to the last episode on the disc.

I watched a couple minutes into it, it started stuttering, it froze, and it booted me back to the main menu. It did that every time I retried it on every one of my players. I officially own about 96% of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Volume 3 and that annoys me. However, the saddest thing about it is that this isn't even the first time this exact same crap has happened to me with an ATHF DVD: I got the movie for my Birthday a couple years back directly from Amazon and the exact same thing happens about 3/4ths of the way into the movie! Bonus disc works perfectly, but for whatever reason, the movie itself will NEVER finish playing.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I adore your insane little show and your movie makes me howl with laughter every time, but until Warner sees fit to rerelease the entire show and movie on new DVDs or on Blu-ray or something, I am never buying another of your old releases. Either I am ridiculously unlucky with owning this show, I somehow purchased two bootlegs on two separate occasions, or these are the Adult Swim DVDs that received the least quality control of all the sets I've owned that'd have all had zero issues. Even the out-of-print Invader Zim DVDs I picked up used last year worked perfectly! I'm just so, so disappointed. Oh well. At least The Dressing works.

Kingdom Hearts III Deluxe Edition (PS4)

Anyway, on to something that wasn't the least bit disappointing in any way (barring the lack of a Wreck-It Ralph world), it's Kingdom Hearts III! After so many years of waiting, it's FINALLY here and it's a BLAST to play. Already got the Platinum and it lit my fire to play PS4 games again after I was glued to my Switch for so long. I'm finally doing something in Batman Arkham Knight!!

Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage Minimates: Venom and Doppelganger (Luke's Toy Store)

I'm a casual Minimate collector (started a while back when I found the MvC3 set with Deadpool in it at a discount store) and I've always been an admirer of Doppelganger ever since I had his old Toybiz figure back in the day, so when I found out that he was getting the plastic treatment yet again through Minimates, I had to pick him up for my little collection. (Especially since Luke's Toy Store had him for retail!)

Hot Wheels Character Cars - Bowser (Walmart)

Funko POP! Ralph Breaks the Internet Fix-It Felix Vinyl Figure (Walmart)

Picked these up on a grocery run! I picked up the entire first run of Hot Wheels Super Mario cars at the same Walmart a while back just because of the neat box art, but this is a case where I mostly just wanted Bowz because he's mah bro and every die cast car needs a spiky shell.

Also, my first ever Fix-It Felix figure! Now Ralph has a workplace associate who isn't Eggman!

King K. Rool amiibo (Best Buy)

Ice Climbers amiibo (Best Buy)

Piranha Plant amiibo (Best Buy)

Pre-ordered these as soon as they went up, as KING K. ROOL MERCHANDISE is a phrase so beautiful that it only deserves to be rendered in all-caps.

Ralph Breaks the Internet Blu-ray Combo (Amazon)

The last of my Christmas cash pre-orders, which also yielded me THESE thanks to Disney Movie Rewards:

Toy Story That Time Forgot Blu-ray (Disney Movie Rewards)

Ralph Breaks the Internet Final Theatrical Poster

I could deck my room out with another Ralph poster and finally start a Toy Story Blu-ray collection and all I had to do was buy a few movies, enter a few codes, and be the sole person in a theater watching Nutcracker last November. Worth it.

COWIN E7 Wireless Headphones (Amazon)

Finally, got a new pair of wireless headphones in yesterday. Only issue I have is audio stuttering when they're connected via Bluetooth. Hopefully I can figure it out and/or live with it.

That's everything I scored this Winter! Hope you had fun reading my semi-coherent ramblings and stay tuned to The Lazy Shell for whatever post I decide to make next!