Hauls: Pre-Holiday Clean-Up 2: The Secret of the Ooze

Man, where did THIS year go? Oh...right. Regardless, Christmas is nearing ever closer and I've got some hauls to catch up on. Let's have a run through those, shall we?

$25 Amazon Gift Card

A straggler Birthday haul, courtesy of some dear family friends. (Who are currently going through some COVID-related nastiness, so I wish their household the quickest of recoveries.) Spent it on something I'll get to at the very bottom of this post...and this:

Sonic Select Book 2 (Amazon)

Pure Sonic comic nostalgia! This particular out-of-print collection features some of the very first Archie Sonic books I remember sending away for via the order form pages back in the day. (Because how could I resist titles like "Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles" and "Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness?") 

Also, true story: the little "32X adaptation" blurb on the cover of the Knuckles Chaotix special was my very first exposure to that add-on's existence and I was shocked when I later discovered that Chaotix was a full-on Sonic spin-off game that I was completely unaware of before this comic planted the seed in my head. Got a 32X and the game off Ebay a little after that and started taking in the charming, colorful graphics, the crazy Ring chain gimmick, and the absolutely KILLER soundtrack. (Door into Summer. 'nuff said.) That Genesis and 32X probably went the way of some yard sale of years past, but I STILL have that Chaotix cartridge in my collection (along with the ravaged cardboard box it came in.) Whatever Sonic's 30th brings next year, I'm hoping that includes a new game collection with a long-awaited port of Chaotix. It's well overdue. 

Anyway, Chaotix tangent aside, I've been meaning to get this book for a while due to my previously-mentioned nostalgia associated with said comics. However, since it went out-of-print following Archie's loss of the Sonic license, the prices have been kinda varied on Amazon. (Probably since it's one of the earliest Sonic Select books, but I remember it was even a bit difficult to find in stock even before the license changed hands. Popularity, maybe?) Luckily the prices were in my favor when that Amazon card fell into my hands and I was able to grab this in very nice condition for about ten bucks. Now I'm only missing two Selects for my collection, 3 and 7! (The former of which also has a bit of odd price variation.)

NECA Super Shredder Figure (NECA Store)

Ohhhhhhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaaah. You might remember my fairly recent acquisition of the original Playmates Super Shredder figure where I made a comment that he'd compliment NECA's then-upcoming film accurate version very nicely if I could manage to score one. Well, I did! Took like two restocks of NECA's site on the same day and the shipping was a bit ridiculous, but KEVIN NASH IS HERE! Dude is a MONSTER, towering over his Playmates counterpart as well as even other large NECA figures like Leatherhead. Combine that with the sheer amount of detail put into his sculpt and his instantly workable articulation points (this is my first NECA TMNT fig where I didn't have to take a hairdryer to the joints to get them moving) and you've got just a fantastic piece for the little NECA Turtles display I'm building up and my favorite of everything they've put out so far. Makes me even more excited for Tokka and Rahzar. (Who should be here pretty soon...)

Pop-Up Mobile External DVD-RW Drive (Amazon)

THIS was a long time coming. Y'see, back in 2017, the disc drive on my laptop crapped out and I've been unable to read CDs or DVDs on it ever since. After years of just living with it not wanting to deal with complicated or expensive repairs, a short while ago I FINALLY managed to have the bright notion in my head to ask "wait, do they make external disc drives like they do hard drives?" THEY DO. IT WAS ALWAYS THIS EASY AND THE IDEA JUST HADN'T DAWNED ON ME THIS WHOLE TIME. THEY'RE CHEAP, TOO. So, I quickly sent away for one and I was quickly reunited with the joys of being able to easily screencap DVDs, rip Space Ghost and SpongeBob songs off of CDs, and burn discs full of English dubs of anime shows based off of American franchises like The Avengers and The Powerpuff Girls. Because that's the kinda stuff that goes on in my head on an average day.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Dino Thunder White Ranger (Walgreens)

w/Replacement Helmet (Hasbro Customer Service)

Another Lightning Collection addition and one that I was particularly excited for...until actual photos of the final figure got out and the sorry state of its paint job was made apparent. The lack of the extra black detailing on the Dino Thunder White Ranger's helmet on the Lightning figure made it look extremely off, weird, and WAY too plain and for one of my (and many other fans') personal favorite Ranger suits, this was a huge disappointment. I WAS going to pass on it and hope that Hasbro would fix the helmet in a potential future Dino Thunder team pack...but I didn't have to! The fan outcry reached them and they quickly offered free corrected replacement helmets through their customer service! 

So, I quickly ordered one of the figures from Walgreens and was able to get in my replacement request super easily. After a while, I got both the figure and helmet in and now the Dino Thunder White Ranger stands proudly in my display, complete with his fully-detailed, sick-looking helmet. Good on Hasbro's part for both correcting their mistake and doing it WELL. The black detailing on the replacement is IMMACULATE and I'm extremely happy to finally have a great plastic representation of this Ranger in my collection. (All I had of him before was one of those weird bike figures with those random pointy shoulders.)

Super Mario Plush

Gonna keep this one nice and simple. Just a Mario plush that my parents found for me while thrifting.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Psycho Green Ranger (Hasbro Pulse)

More Lightning Collection fun with another story of complications! When Psycho Green went up on Hasbro Pulse, I quickly pre-ordered him (I'm a sucker for stuff originating from the comics) and awaited his ship date. When that finally came in July, I started tracking the shipment on FedEx and waited...and waited....and waited...aaaaaand waited. Keeping up with the tracker, it originally pegged a specific delivery date...which quickly switched to a big "PENDING" when that date arrived. After weeks of waiting and staring at the now-pending tracker, I had enough and contacted Hasbro Pulse about replacing or refunding my order, guessing it had gotten lost in the mail. They weren't able to replace it (Psycho Green was out of stock at the time), but they WERE able to refund the base cost of the figure.

However, this story isn't quite over. Cut to a random Thursday when the FedEx tracker finally changed from its pending state, giving a new delivery date and current location! I was shocked that it was even still out there after being inactive for so long, so I awaited the new date to see if it would actually come. It didn't and went back to pending. Cut to the NEXT Thursday where it did the exact same thing. (New date that I waited for only for it to revert to pending.) This weekly cycle went on for a little while, the figure bouncing between two locations near my state until FINALLY, IN SEPTEMBER, it moved to a completely new location right near me. The time had actually arrived. It took TWO MONTHS of being lost in the mail, but Psycho Green's journey finally ended. It's great to FINALLY have him and neat that I got him for just shipping cost because of that refund, but this was A LOT of unnecessary monkey business over a repaint with a new weapon. I hope this was just isolated FedEx pandemic craziness and any future purchases I make from Hasbro Pulse don't end up going similarly, because that's enough to put a guy off from ordering off of there, regardless of exclusives.

Prep & Landing Totally Tinsel Collection (Blu-ray Combo) (Amazon)

Mickey Mouse: Merry & Scary (Amazon)

Moving on to a simpler situation, I ordered these great festive Disney specials that I had my eye on for a while off of Amazon for one reason besides adding to my DVD shelf: DISNEY MOVIE INSIDERS POINTS. What could I want to spend said points on so badly that I ordered two Blu-rays/DVDs suddenly just to have enough points to afford it? You'll see a bit further down.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Amazon)

Birthday cash pre-order time! Been anticipating this one for a while. Two of my favorite franchises collide for a super fun crossover tale full of action, fanservice, and gorgeous artwork. It also finishes kind of open-ended, so I'm REALLY hoping there's eventually a sequel. I'd love to see all the elements they could possibly mix together in a follow-up. I mean, this one had a Green Ranger Shredder (I repeat. A GREEN RANGER SHREDDER.) and that wasn't even the craziest part of it. I need more.

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (Blu-ray Combo)

Moving from a Birthday cash order to a delayed Birthday present, Kizuna provides a fun yet bittersweet pre-epilogue ending to the Digimon Adventure saga (at least for now.) While a lot of the Digidestined are mostly left out to focus mainly on Tai and Matt, the animation is absolutely a step-up from tri. with my favorite moments being at the beginning and near the end.

Joker amiibo (Amazon)

Hero amiibo (Best Buy)

Smash DLC amiibo arrive with another story of delivery frustration. I originally pre-ordered both Joker AND Hero from Best Buy and they shipped out the same day. However, Hero was coming from UPS...and Joker from FedEx. I kept my eyes on both trackers, them both quickly switching to delivered. I ran out to get them and...found only Hero. I still don't know what happened to Joker. He either wasn't delivered at all and they still have yet to attempt a re-delivery or, perhaps THE MOST ironic fate of all for the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, he was stolen. Still don't have a clue but Best Buy and FedEx were calling him delivered. I waited a couple days after that to see if he'd eventually show up, but no dice. Luckily, Amazon restocked and I was able to grab him there, but MAN, is FedEx not doing me any favors this year.

Now about that Disney Movie Insiders item from before...

Wreck-It Ralph Final Theatrical Poster (Disney Movie Insiders)

IT'S STILL SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL. Yep, this is what had me scrambling to buy DVDs just to be able to afford it before it went out of stock. Being a huge Wreck-It Ralph fan, I have ALWAYS wanted a copy of its theatrical poster for my room ever since it was first revealed. Why? Well, how many theatrical posters for Disney films can YOU think of that double as video game crossover collages featuring everyone from Sonic and Zangief to Coily and Neff? Factor in Wreck-It Ralph becoming pretty much my favorite movie ever and it was a no-brainer to desire this heavily. That's why my #1 goal when Ralph Breaks the Internet came out was to own a poster for it, chiefly because I didn't have an opportunity to get one for the original film and I wanted to flaunt my Ralph love somehow. NOW I HAVE FOUR INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL.

After the previous shipping mishaps, I kinda lucked out on this one. Despite DMI's transition back to offering physical rewards being a little shaky (with shipping notifications just not being sent out at all and certain members' items being damaged or missing altogether), my poster arrived in tip-top condition about a month after I redeemed it despite no follow-up email. This was a HUGE relief, as I had heard horror stories of other members who ordered this particular item mistakenly getting Pop figures from the Mulan remake instead and was prepared for the worst. So glad that luck was on my side in this particular case.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G

Upgraded my phone! Been rocking the same Galaxy S8+ since 2017, so this was a definite step up in terms of both power and storage. (It's nice not having to worry about space anymore when I download a game or a new Purple Stuff Podcast.)

Latios and Latias (Bootleg?) Plushes

More of my parents' thrift finds! When they first showed me images of these guys, I thought they were super cool, especially since I didn't have anything representing either Eon Pokémon in my collection. However, when I looked them up on Google, I couldn't find any official plushes that matched them and when I DID find the plushes themselves, they had completely different tags than the ones I had. That, plus their slightly off-model designs and generic Pokémon Best Wishes anime art tags lead me to believe that they're bootlegs. Still super neat plushes that I really appreciate them picking up for me, but bootlegs nonetheless. Whatever their origin, they still make for neat entertainment center decorations.

Darkwing Duck Popsocket (Amazon)

Starlow and Geno Stickers (RedBubble)

Phone Case (Amazon)

Some protection for my new phone along with a couple sticky things to personalize it! Sadly, Starlow was too big to be used, so I substituted a sticker of her I already had from a Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Sonic Wacky Pack promotion (because the Mario & Luigi series is my heart and soul and I cherish every part of it) and was even able to transfer my Ralph and Vanellope sticker from my old case to my new one. Also Geno, because I needed the perfect case to go into the year of Super Mario RPG's 25th Anniversary (2021) with and I thought teaming him with Starlow, a fellow messenger of the stars from a Mario RPG, was a neat idea.

x4 Digimon Card Game Ver. 0.0 Promotion Packs

x4 Perforated Demo Half-Deck Sheets

Premium Bandai was having two different Digimon sweepstakes and I entered both. One offered figures while another had a larger chance at scoring some swag from the upcoming English version of the new Digimon Card Game. I won the latter, completely surprising me when the package of all this stuff came in the mail. (This was the kinda giveaway where they just send you your winnings without informing you of your win.) 

Having played the demo app, it's a pretty fun game and kinda gives me Duel Masters vibes. I hope they can go big places with it and we can actually have a fun, long-running English Digimon card game for a change. Anyway, for now, these are all super neat collector's items for me as a Digimon fan and the promo cards are nice and shiny. I'm currently torn between opening only half of the packs and keeping the others sealed (since they all have the same six cards) or throwing caution to the wind and opening all of 'em, though.

My Little Pony: Holiday Memories (Amazon)

Let's end on something festive! Holiday Memories collects all of the IDW MLP Holiday Special comics in one compact trade that fits nicely next to the Omnibuses on my shelf. This is what I spent the rest of the Amazon card that opened this post on because I figured what better way to kick off the Christmas season than a thematic collection of colorful magical equine funnies?

Speaking of Christmas, that should be the next time you hear from me, so I hope ya'll have as peaceful and happy a holiday as you can given the circumstances and I'll see you for the Fallout post next month!

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!

Hauls: Pre-Birthday Clearout!

Hey, guys. Been a while. Hope you're still all safe out there in the nastiness. On to business, I've got a couple of things to archive here before my 29th Birthday on Sunday, so let's blow through some more nerd paraphernalia!

But first...

I've actually moved since my last post, so here's a peek at my new digs! Been really enjoying it here. (Just being able to play console games from my bed again is a significant upgrade to my situation.)

Now that that tangent's out of the way, on with the stuff!

TMNT Vintage Super Shredder Figure

This guy was a neat surprise! My parents actually found him at a thrift store a little while back and I was shocked by how intact he was. Still had his armor AND his belt. Actually have quite a bit of nostalgia associated with this guy (both because Secret of the Ooze was the TMNT film I grew up on and because he's one of the earliest TMNT figures I remember getting), so it's really nice to have approximate Kevin Nash here back in my collection after all these years. He'd make a great companion to NECA's upcoming Super Shredder figure...if I can manage to score one.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Rabbid Peach Figure (Amazon)

World of Nintendo Cranky Kong Figure (Amazon)

This order was half patchwork, as that Cranky Kong figure I bought specifically to replace one that got lost in the previously-mentioned move. (Good thing he was still a decent price.) While I was browsing Amazon for that, I found that the smaller scale Kingdom Battle amiibo-esque Ubisoft figures were readily available, so I decided to use the opportunity to add one to my collection. (Went for Rabbid Peach, as she was kinda the star of the show in that game.)

WarioWare Gold (Amazon)

Speaking of Amazon, this was an amazing deal. I had never played a WarioWare game (aside from the Game & Wario spin-off that I got free from Club Nintendo), so I was really interested in WarioWare Gold when it was announced. (Both because it featured a lot of microgames from throughout the series' history and because it had full voice-acting.) However, I never got around to picking it up because it was hard to justify buying a full price 3DS game in a series I had never jumped into in a Switch-dominated world.

However, that all changed when Amazon had it down to ELEVEN BUCKS at the start of the month. I just COULDN'T pass up a deal that good! (It was even better than that time I got Project X Zone 2 for thirteen bucks!) Beat it a couple weeks ago. Really fun and hilariously quirky. Definitely worth the full price, but ABSOLUTELY worth the severely discounted one. Glad that I was able to jump on it when the opportunity arose.

Mega Construx Pokemon - Psyduck (Cracker Barrel)

Mega Construx Pokemon - Ditto (Cracker Barrel)

Another find from my parents! They picked these up for me at Cracker Barrel while they were caught in the middle of an intense saga of car troubles. (Don't ask.) These are my first Mega Construx Pokemon and they're definitely neat little things. Having a Psyduck figure with arm articulation is a very amusing novelty and I didn't have that much Ditto merch to begin with, so they're nice additions to the collection.

Nintendo Heroes: Mario and the Incredible Rescue (Amazon)

Here's a random one! Picked up this old Mario book I had my eye on for a while. (Chiefly because Origami King hype put me in the mood.) Why did I have my eye on this one specifically? Well, it's because the content of this book is made up of the most eclectic and disparate Mario references despite the year it was published. (2006.) This book not only features all the usual Mario beats and characters you would expect from a typical kids book based on the franchise, but also locations and a couple minor players from Super Mario RPG! Yep, this is the only other story in the franchise to feature appearances from Frogfucius and Toadofsky despite SMRPG not even being on the Wii Virtual Console when it was published! Crazy, right?

Being the huge Mario RPG fanboy that I am, I just had to get it based on that detail alone. Story itself is okay. Just a simple plot about Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Yoshi finding magic Mushrooms to repel evil ghosts summoned by Bowser. The odd-for-2006 references are easily the best part. It's not even just Mario RPG nods, either. They even throw in a detail from MARIO & WARIO, a game that didn't even release in the West! Someone seriously knew their stuff. Very unique addition to my personal treasure trove of Mario merch.

Wii Fit Trainer amiibo (Best Buy)

Ordered Ms. Trainer here when I pre-ordered some other amiibo from Best Buy. (Stay tuned for those.) I like having all the weirdo characters, so she'll be right at home on my amiibo shelf.

Remember in 2014/2015 when these three were the most rare, sought after amiibo in the line at that point? The Lazy Shell remembers.

NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Two-Pack - Slash and Leatherhead (Zavvi)

Finishing up this post with a DOOZY! A little while back, I got in NECA's Slash figure based on his appearance in Turtles in Time. I also mentioned a couple of their other upcoming TMNT figures that I was interested in and thanks to Zavvi's US site, I was able to score two of them without having to deal with the bot-dominated nightmare of Target distribution: the 1987 Cartoon versions of Slash and Leatherhead! 

Some of my earliest memories of watching the '87 Turtles involved renting the old "Bad Guys Series" VHS tapes and "Turtles vs. Leatherhead" was easily my favorite. Not only was it the only video in that series where BOTH included episodes involved the villain spotlighted on the box, but Leatherhead himself was just a cut above that show's usual recurring threats. Jim Cummings' super entertaining performance slathered in cajunisms made him really likeable and he held his own against the Turtles far better than Bebop and Rocksteady. Leatherhead's been one of my personal favorite TMNT characters ever since and he might've even helped to spearhead my lifelong affection for Alligators, so to have an incredibly nice, high-quality figure of the version that introduced me to him complete with way more accessories than I know what to do with is simply amazing.

As for Slash, well, he's mostly a bonus, haha. I was introduced to Slash through Turtles in Time, so to later see him in the cartoon with his...unique redesign was more than a tad underwhelming. Still, it's really fun in a way to finally have a toy version of this design and he looks great next to his Turtles in Time counterpart. He even comes with his binky! 

That's all for now, but stay tuned in a few days for my 29th Birthday haul!

Hauls: Self-Isolation Stuff

Sooooooooooo the world certainly took a turn since my last post, didn't it? Hope ya'll are staying safe out there. Anyway, got some more hauls, so it's time to catalogue them!

Fangamer Banjo-Kazooie Plush Necklace

Following up on my last post, Fangamer got in more stock of their Banjo plush and as such, sent me the necklace missing from mine as promised. So nice to see it complete!

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Beast Morphers Gold Ranger (Walmart)

Another sort-of follow-up to the last post, I found Nate's Lightning figure, completing my Beast Morphers good guys so far. Looks quite nice next to his buddies and now I NEED a Steel to complement him.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Amazon)

Invader Zim Volume 3 Deluxe Edition (Amazon)

Pokemon DP: Battle Dimension The Complete Season (Amazon)

Sonic the Hedgehog Ticket Stub 

A little while ago, Amazon had a buy-two-get-one-free offer on games, books, and DVDs, so I had to take advantage while it lasted. 

Mario and Sonic Tokyo was on my radar, but I was apprehensive about the $60 price tag. (Especially after owning most of the previous, very similar installments already.) Luckily, a $20 discount just happened to fall around the time of said Amazon deal, so this was the perfect chance to finally pick it up. It's a lot of fun, with the highlights being the goofy Story Mode and the neat retro events.

Also decided to continue collecting the Invader Zim comics with the deluxe version of Volume 3 becoming item #2 of the deal. Highlight of this particular collection is the Virooz four-parter, especially the second part where Zim basically spends the entire time criticizing the logic of AI.

Last but not least, I claimed the Battle Dimension set as my free item, bringing my Pokemon DVD collection up-to-date and continuing to prove that any negative opinions I may have expressed about the Sinnoh arc in my past on the internet was just a lot of hoosafudge and misplaced aggression. I'm quite enjoying my time with it. (Though, Pika and Goliath still frayed my nerves a bit. Mostly Sho. Why would you write a character to speak this way for an entire episode? No wonder Team Skull don't have their gangsta linguistics in the anime. They used them all up on this one annoying filler character.)

Also saw the Sonic movie the same day I got this stuff in and now I want ALL the sequels.

TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME (Kickstarter)

Waluigi/Daisy Bookmark (Kickstarter)

Also finally got this in a couple weeks ago from Kickstarter. If you're a Nintendo fan and have never read the adorable/gut-busting web comic, Brawl in the Family, then I suggest you remedy that quickly. This book is the latest hardcover release from its creator focusing mainly on his extremely distinctive take on Waluigi and the numerous hijinks he gets up to. It not only reprints all of Waluigi's Brawl in the Family starring roles, but also throws in a good number of brand new comics, making it a worthy addition to any BITF fan's library. It definitely looks quite nice on my shelf next to my three hardcover BITF volumes and it's always nice to see more of this silly world following its end in 2014.

NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Slash (Megalopolis City of Collectibles)

Oh man, as you can probably tell by the number of shots dedicated to the above item, this is a HUGE one for me. People who know me well are already quite aware of this, but this is the first time I'm bringing it up on the blog: I LOVE SLASH. He's my favorite TMNT character and everything about him from his black mask to his gnarly spikes to his claws I am ALL ABOUT. 

So, when NECA announced that they were not only making a collector-quality figure of him, but ALSO basing it off of his appearance from the SNES version of Turtles in Time (a game I grew up on that introduced me to Slash in the first place), I don't think I had ever experienced such intense NEED for a toy. 

It was a LONG road from his initial reveal in like 2017 to his eventual scheduling for November 2019 to my asking of him for Christmas to him getting delayed a few months to me switching around where I had him pre-ordered two separate times based on factors like pricing and stock waits to him finally getting here yesterday, but WOW, was it worth it. He's the first NECA TMNT item that I've owned and he absolutely will not be the last. Just handling him and feeling the quality of the material at hand combined with all the neat little touches like his rotatable bandana knot just impress me so much and he's easily the nicest plastic representation that Slash has ever received. I can't friggin' WAIT to get NECA's '87 cartoon versions of both Slash and Leatherhead as well as their recently-revealed Tokka, Rahzar, and Super Shredder so I can start building a collection.

That's all I've got. Hope all of this gushing over Turtles with spikes brought you some entertainment and escape from this difficult time and I hope that the next time I get back to ya'll, we'll all be in a much better place. Until then.