Hauls: Switching Up in Florida

We're exactly one week away from my 34th Birthday, so let's get the stuff that I picked up in June and July sorted away with before then, shall we?

Nintendo Switch 2 (Walmart)

Mario Kart World (Walmart)

amCase Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Case (Amazon)

amFilm Nintendo Switch 2 Screen Protector 3-Pack (Amazon)

Whenever there's a new Nintendo console, I usually wait until around the holidays to pick it up. (Y'know, wait until there's a good number of games on hand and potentially some good discounts/bundles.) However, with the whole tariff situation creating an uncertain future price-wise and a certain game that I've been waiting YEARS for REALLY close to launch (here's a hint: 🦍🍌🪨👧🎤), I figured that I might as well jump on in! (It's not like I don't already have an enormous backlog of Switch games that I can play between big releases or anything.)

As far as impressions go, I really love it! The bigger size is great, it feels high-quality and sturdy, the new Joycons are a really nice improvement, and overall, it's just a faster, better, more powerful Switch, which is exactly what I wanted. I'm really excited to see what Ninty can squeeze out of this thing as its life goes on! (Especially interested in regards to Mario RPGs and Smash Bros.)

TMNT 2012 Leonardo Figure

TMNT 2012 Battle Shell Michelangelo Figure

TMNT 2012 Power Sound FX Raphael Figure

TMNT 2012 Flingers Leonardo Figure

My Dad found these guys for me while my parents were out thrifting! While I already had the first two and the latter two have features that are either missing accessories or don't really work anymore, I still really appreciate the thought. Always nice when your parents see something as absurd as a giant turtle wearing a color-coded eye mask and immediately think of you. That means that you got dealt a good hand family-wise.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (4K Combo) (Walmart)

Pokémon the Series: XYZ The Complete Season (Walmart)

Embarked on a family vacation to Florida in late June, so I, of course, bought a few things while I was there. Starting things off, I scored a couple new titles for my home media shelf at a Walmart while we were out grocery shopping. Now I can watch Keanu Reeves Shadow anywhere and anytime I want and I'll be able to marathon the entire Kalos arc of the Pokémon anime before Legends Z-A hits!

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (Blu-ray) (Walmart)

At a different Walmart, I grabbed another title: the first fully-animated (as far as entirely original animation goes, that is) theatrical Looney Tunes movie! I look forward to giving it a rewatch when I feel like a good laugh. (If you haven't checked it out yet and love the Looney Tunes, I can't recommend it enough. It's hilarious, has lovely 2D animation, and features Peter MacNicol playing a space alien. You really can't go wrong with that.)

Goomba amiibo (Target)

Koopa amiibo (Target)

Grabbed these guys at a Target. Wasn't originally planning on buying anything on that particular Target trip, as everything of interest that I COULD find was too steeply-priced to jump on, but they were like the only amiibo there (aside from a lone Incineroar) and I didn't own them, so I decided to end their shelf-warming existence. (On store shelves, that is. Now they occupy a DIFFERENT shelf.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin (Books-A-Million)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter (Books-A-Million)

Power Rangers: Drakkon New Dawn (Books-A-Million)

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Volume 5 (Books-A-Million)

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Volume 7 (With Go! - D/D/D Divine Zero King Rage Promo Card) (Books-A-Million)

Most of the rest of my Florida pick-ups were additions to my already-monstrous reading pile! With a video game and live-action film reportedly on the way, I figured that it was a good time to finally check out The Last Ronin. Accompanying that is a crossover comic clash between the heroes in a half-shell and world warriors, a Power Rangers mini-series focused on the world of the Coinless (that isn't collected in any of the hardcovers for some reason), and two more chunks of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V manga. (One even still had the promo card!)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Volume 1 (Barnes & Noble)

Spider-Man: Octo-Girl Volume 1 (Barnes & Noble)

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Volume 3 (With D/D/D Destiny King Zero Laplace Promo Card) (Barnes & Noble)

Lugia Model Kit (Barnes & Noble)

Wrapping up the goods from my Florida trip, we have the first collection of Eastman & Laird's original TMNT comics (despite being a huge Turtles nut, I've never actually owned or read most of them), the first volume of a new Spider-Man manga where Doc Ock's mind accidentally gets trapped in the body of a Japanese girl (it definitely sounds creepy, but the begrudging friendship that the two form while trying to return Otto to his original body is oddly adorable and there's A LOT of references to Ock's stint as a hero for Superior Spider-Man fans), yet another ARC-V volume (complete with card), and for a bit of flavor, a Lugia model kit. Because I like Lugia.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Volume 4 (With White Aura Bihamut Promo Card) (Books-A-Million)

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Volume 6 (With Timelord Progenitor Vorpgate Promo Card) (Books-A-Million)

Got a free $10 gift card for signing up for Books-A-Million's Millionaire's Club while in Florida, so I decided to use it to score one of the last two ARC-V volumes that I needed to finish the series. Plus, since you get free shipping on all orders in said Millionaire's Club, I decided to go ahead and order the other one, completing the set. (Both had their promo cards, too!) Now the only Yu-Gi-Oh! spin-off manga that I don't own in its entirety is ZEXAL. (And that's not because I'm avoiding it or anything. I actually enjoy that manga more than ARC-V's. It's just really hard to work eight whole volumes of a manga into your future purchases, especially when you can't find them in the wild to slowly accumulate through impulse buys.)

Transformers: Age of the Primes Voyager Class Sky-Byte (Amazon)

Jakks Pacific Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Shadow Figure (Amazon)

Who's the baddest shark around? Who's the smartest shark in town? Sky-Byte! THAT'S HIM! Yep, I don't usually buy many Transformers, but when an animation-accurate version of my dude Sky-Byte was revealed for the Age of the Primes line, he was a MUST BUY. He turned out beautifully, too. Both modes look like they popped right out of RID 2001, you can arm him with fin blades or "SHARK MISSILES!!", and he has a great amount of articulation and movement. (Even in shark mode!) Definitely a vast improvement on the Thrilling 30 version, which I enjoyed at the time, but is just kind of bulky and awkward now. He's a fine addition to my little shelf of Beast Era Transformers goodness.

As for Shadow, he was the only figure that I wanted from the Sonic 3 line, but prices for him online very quickly soared into absurdity before I could actually order him. Luckily, though, he came back in stock on Amazon during Prime Day for a discounted price of like thirteen bucks, so I couldn't pass up this chance. He's a rad figure with great articulation and detail, and I'm very happy to finally be able to represent this version of the Edgy Hedgie on my shelf.

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (Switch) (Best Buy)

I've never actually played Final Fantasy X or X-2, but I've heard pretty good things about them over the years. So, when Best Buy had the HD Collection on Switch down to ELEVEN BUCKS, I couldn't pass it up. I'm looking forward to finally experiencing a traditional turn-based Final Fantasy!

Jakks Pacific Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Collection Metal Virus Sonic (with Zombot Froggy) Figure (Walmart)

Lastly, I wasn't planning on buying this figure (as I'm not huge on Sonic variants), but Walmart had it in stock for retail, and in the Jakks Sonic collecting community, you have to jump on all those rare chances when they pop up. (Here's hoping that I'll get just as lucky with the upcoming Tangle figure.) It's a neat little three-dimensional representation of Sonic at his lowest point in the IDW Comics' Metal Virus arc, with some really nice silver paint apps and a rare fatigued expression on his face. Also Zombot Froggy as a bonus! (Funny that they made him before regular Froggy.) Here's hoping that this and Tangle are just the tip of the iceberg for Jakks' Comic Collection!

That's all she wrote for June and July 2025! I'll see you guys later for my 34th Birthday haul!

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: I like Turtles.

2022 hits The Lazy Shell! (In mid-April, naturally.) Must mean I've finally built up enough fresh hauls to share!

Captain America: Civil War Collector's Edition (Blu-ray 3D Combo) (Disney Movie Insiders)

Kicking things off, we have the results of a point splurge on DMI because of a sale. I'm not exactly a comprehensive collector of the MCU films, but after seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home, I got the sudden urge to own every piece of cinematic webhead that existed. (Hence why I got the Venom films for Christmas despite having "ehhhh" feelings on them in general.) I already owned Homecoming and Far From Home, but I lacked every other appearance that Peter Parker's made in the MCU, which brings us to this. Since I was mostly interested in adding this to my collection for Tom Holland's debut as Petey, "free" was kinda the perfect price. Now I just need to find a way to snag Infinity War and Endgame for a song!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Complete Banner Print (PIXELs2dio on Etsy)

Ever since this GORGEOUS artwork showcasing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's extensive, dream come true character roster was first shown at E3 in 2018, I've never stopped thinking, "imma need that amazingness in my room when it's completed." Fast forward to almost four years later after the base game announcements and two waves of DLC have come and gone and said artwork was finally completed and ripe for my purchasing. (Well, after finding the right Etsy store that had a good quality print at the right size and price since Ninty themselves never thought to capitalize on this gold mine.) It took its sweet time getting here (four weeks after shipping,) but it was OHHHHH SOOOOOO WOOOOOORTH IIIIIIIIIIIIT. Just having a poster of OFFICIAL artwork of the likes of Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, PAC-Man, Ryu, Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Banjo and Kazooie, King K. Rool, Mewtwo, STEVE MINECRAFT, FREAKING SORA and SOOOOOOOO many others ALL TOGETHER above my TV just makes my heart so, soooooooooooooo happy. It's like a direct window to my love of gaming and it's definitely my new favorite decoration.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Volume 11 & 12 (IDW Publishing)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Volume 13, 14, 15 & 16 (Atomic Empire)

Now we come to what I guess could be considered the "feature presentation" of this post. See, I'm presently on a TMNT kick fueled by a couple recent flat-out AMAZING announcements. One of said announcements got me to thinking that I should REALLY get around to completing my collection of IDW's trade paperback releases of the Archie series, TMNT Adventures. I had picked up Volumes 2 through 10 (since 1 is entirely composed of direct adaptations of Fred Wolf cartoon episodes rather than original stories) back in 2015, but I never got around to picking up the rest. Doing a bit of digging on a couple different online shops, I found that stocks were getting pretty low on a lot of the ones that I needed (particularly Volume 12, which was completely out of new copies on Amazon,) so I decided to order the next two directly from IDW to make sure that I COULD get them. I was originally going to stop there for the time being, but as the Amazon stock was also pretty low on the remaining four Volumes (with fluctuating prices,) I decided to do even MORE digging and found a comic shop that had the rest of the books available to order for cheaper than anywhere else. So yeah, I'm all set to read the rest of this series. I'm particularly looking forward to finally getting to enjoy some Future Turtle Cyber Samurai action and Slash's last few appearances.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Movie (VHS)

Power Rangers Super Megaforce: The Complete Season (DVD)

American Dad Volume 5 (DVD)

The Official Ninja Turtle Handbook (Book)

Jakks Pacific Goomba Plush

Funko Black Ranger Plush

Funko Yellow Ranger Plush

Some thrift store spoils from my now-annual post-dentist appointment pilgrimage there. My favorite find is probably the Super Megaforce set since it still included the code for a free digital copy of the entire season. Speaking on the TMNT items, I don't really have easy access to a VCR anymore, but how could I resist a copy of the original film WITH THE BOX??? I mean, c'mon. Also, the entire reason I picked up that Nickelodeon TMNT book was because it had a page on Slash in it. (I have a problem.)

Transformers: Beast Wars Volume 1 (Amazon)

BEAST WARS!!!! Been waiting to add this trade to my shelf for quite a while since I've been loving IDW's BW book ever since it started last year. (Especially some of the new twists brought in related to the new Predacon, Skold.) It's a huge shame that they'll be losing the TF license next year and the book'll be ending at 17 issues. (Figures they'd pull the rug out from under me right after they finally gave me a reason to read Transformers comics.) Oh well, at least it'll have an actual conclusion to the story and they communicated that they were losing it ahead of time unlike some...other dropped licenses of theirs I could mention. *COUGHghostbustersCOUGH*

Mephiles the Dark Plush (Amazon)

Coco: Ultimate Collector's Edition (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Code) (Disney Movie Insiders)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 might not be the best game in the series (to put it lightly,) but I've always loved Shadow's story in it and, by extension, MEPHILES THE DARK. Love the design, love the powers, love the gleefully wicked voice supplied by one of my favorites, Dan Green, just love, love, LOVE him. So, when word first got out that Great Eastern was making the FIRST EVER PLUSH REPRESENTATION OF HIM, OF COURSE I had to make sure I grabbed him! Naturally, I now have him hanging out over my Shadow GE plush. (Now I want to grab the Infinite they put out a year or two back so I can surround Shadow with two guys who canonically hate his guts. 😂)

As for Coco, I've been meaning to add it to my modest Pixar collection since I first saw it in theaters, but I never got around to it. However, when it was added to the DMI catalog, I saw that as the perfect opportunity and a bunch of unredeemed Disney codes I found on that previously-mentioned thrift store trip helped me seal the deal. Now to start saving up for another on my to-buy list! (Especially since they just added like FOUR I've had my eye on to the catalog in the last update.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series Volume 1 & 2 (IDW Publishing)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villains Micro-Series Volume 1 (IDW Publishing)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret History of the Foot Clan (IDW Publishing)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Utrom Empire (IDW Publishing)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Casey & April (IDW Publishing)

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Volume 10, 11 & 12 (IDW Publishing)

My Little Pony/Transformers: Friendship in Disguise (IDW Publishing)

More comics and toitles! Recently, IDW's site ran a Spring Sale that resulted in a TON of their trade paperbacks dropping to like six bucks a pop, so, of course, I went a little nuts and filled pretty much every major hole in my pre-issue 100 IDW TMNT collection. Also grabbed the next couple MLP FIM Volumes I needed and the first part of the historic MLP/Transformers crossover. Needless to say, I got A LOT to read.

Power Rangers X Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Lightning Collection - Foot Soldier Tommy & Morphed Raphael Two-Pack (Gamestop)

Power Rangers X Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Lightning Collection - Morphed Donatello & Morphed Leonardo Two-Pack (Gamestop)

Power Rangers X Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Lightning Collection - Morphed April O'Neil & Morphed Michelangelo Two-Pack (Gamestop)

Can you say "MORE TURTLES?!" OF COURSE you can! Originally pre-ordered these guys from Gamestop, but they randomly decided to cancel my order like four months later. Then I pre-ordered them at Dorkside Toys, but their policy of waiting until every item in your order is in-stock before shipping them made me unsure of when and if they WOULD ship. (Especially since they got in the Raph set, but it quickly went out of stock before the listing for it disappeared altogether without explanation.) So, I cancelled my Dorkside order and who should have them in-stock and ready to ship but GAMESTOP. It was a real full-circle kinda moment in the most exceedingly stupid way possible. But it's over! I got my Turts!

Anyway, I spent so much time on the ridiculous process I went through ordering these guys that I still haven't actually talked about them! THEY'RE NINJA TURTLES MORPHED INTO POWER RANGERS AND THAT'S AMAZING. Based on the comic book crossover from a couple years back, Hasbro has done a fantastic job of capturing each Turtle's (and April's) Ranger form in plastic. One of my favorite aspects of the Turtle Ranger designs from the comic were the custom versions of the Power Weapons based on each Turtle's signature weapon and I'm happy to report that they look EVEN COOLER in toy form. (Especially the Power Sais.) Throw in the optional unhelmeted Turtle/April heads, the Foot Soldier Tommy who can either specifically represent that part of the comic or just be a general super-articulated Foot Soldier for your collection (my preference) and all the different hand and effect parts and such and you've got three must-have sets for fans of both TMNT and Power Rangers. The comic was already an extremely nerdy dream come true and these figures have easily TRANSCENDED IT. Definitely a fitting choice for my only complete Lightning Collection team.

However, those of you who've read the comic and/or originally found out about these figures when they were first announced may have noticed something...or someone missing from my haul. Stay tuned for the next post. 🐲🥷

Sonic the Hedgehog Archives Volume 13 (Amazon)

Finally, we have yet another hole-filler for my comic collection. I've previously mentioned that Sonic Archives 13 was ridiculously expensive on the secondhand market. (Presumably owing to both it being out-of-print as well as the major point in the comic's story that it collected.) I honestly thought that it was just one of those books that I outright missed out on altogether, but as I was browsing Amazon a little while ago, I noticed ONE decently-priced used copy had popped up on the original listing. Needless to say, I jumped on it ASAP. It's only acceptable condition with a good amount of wear on the spine, but it's still perfectly readable and looks great lined up on the shelf next to Volumes 0 through 12, 14, 15 and 16. Now I just need to get 17 for a good price and I'll have almost every main Archie Sonic issue in some form!

That's all for now, but I'll see ya'll next time. Heading back to OMGcon in June after a decent-sized pandemic delay, so that's probably when you'll hear from me next. Until then!

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.