Now THIS is how you start off a year! I was really excited by this particular haul, had a lot of beauties and cuties. The lighting on the picture of the whole haul sucks because it was night by the time I got home and I was just SO EXCITED and ready to open them and place them on my shelves that I rushed. I’ve been collecting figures for over a year now and the sight of a haul like this still makes me act beside myself with excitment. Hopefully the pictures of each individual figure below will make up for this crummy one.
I admit it…I bought this Gothic Lolita Rei just because she complimented the Asuka. I didn’t think she held a candle to the GREAT Gothic Lolita Kotobukiya Asuka! But once I had Rei…I realized I liked her more then the Asuka (blasphemy I know). For example in the prototype pictures I thought that hat looked dumb and now that I have her in person I think it’s the most darling hat ever. My only complaint is that I wish the hat had a magnet on it to hold it to her head better. During the photos it fell off easily and was a bit of a pain to put back on her head nicely. I got both these figures at the Kotobukiya U.S. prices.
The lovely Gothic Lolita Asuka, she was released, re-released, and now realeased again! This is one popular/beautiful/affordable figure that we apparantly can’t get enough of. I was real happy they released her again, I started collecting figures just a year ago so I didn’t realize she existed until I saw her on eBay for about $100. I’m always thankful for re-releases, but I know there are figure collectors out there that dread it and like to see their figures accumulate in value. And a re-release means the value of their figures drops back to MSRP. But honestly…figures aren’t savings bonds, you shouldn’t buy them just to bank on them being worth more money someday. But that’s only my point of view.
Elizabeth of Persona 3, and by Alter! I was hesitant about pre-ordering this figure because she seemed a bit plain for the Alter pricetag. But I’m glad I bit the bullet and got her because now that I’m playing the game I’m finding that I LOVE this character! Having a figure of her makes me very happy, she is actually on the shelf right next to me as I play Persona 3: FES. Elizabeth is currently my favorite Persona figure, but keep in mind my love of her quirky character has me quite biased. But still there is no arguing against the fact that Alter did a fine job of her, the pose suits her perfectly. Had her pose been more dynamic it wouldn’t have suited who she is as a character. Also I love that the hat has a magnet! Makes placement very easy.
The Petit Nendoroids of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, they’re by Good Smile Company. Volume 3 is a turning point in the quality and creativity of the Haruhi Petit Nendoroid sets. The first two volumes had the same characters, in the same outfits, with slightly different poses. Whereas the Lucky Star nendoroids had a nice variety of poses and outfits right from the start. I’m glad Haruhi sets have more variety to them as well, good job GSC! Although it’s impossible to move the uniform set without the hat falling off, the hats take some effort to put on just right too. I guess the theme of this haul could be hats.
An Alter re-release? I NEVER thought I’d see the day when Alter started re-releasing, I’m pretty pleased that they did. I’ve been aching for a Kos-Mos figure but they were all out of print. But BEHOLD! such a detailed and extrvagant Kos-Mos is now mine! Typically I hate underboob on my figures but Kos-Mos makes it look classy! Gotta love the big gun and thigh highs! Now Alter…just re-release Revy!! (although I’m sure anyone who paid the $200 eBay pricetag for her will be mad if that ever does happen).
The Shana Nendoroid from Good Smile Company. I won’t be doing a review of her because there are a lot of bloggers that have done more the adequate reviews of her already. That and she is tippy as hell and if I have to do a whole photo shoot while continuously steadying her I might kill her. I go to move her just a bit and she falls out of her stand! It’s really annoying. This is the first nendoroid I’ve had the issue with. Not only that but it’s hard to display her in her stand with her cape because the pole in the back interferes. Also the pendant falls off the necklace VERY easily and I might lose it in the carpet. But that darling face is worth it all.
Um…nice cloth Duckie? That’s RIGHT nice cloth! Before you are the finest pieces of cloth Walmart has to offer! I couldn’t find poster board in nice colors for new figure backgrounds so I got some cloth. I plan on getting more if it works out well. Each piece of cloth was about $2.00/yard and I got 2 yards of each. I realize now 2 yards is a bit too much though. Oh well better to have too much cloth then too little, but next time I think I’ll just get a yard and a half.
I got $75 in giftcards for Amazon for Christmas…I spent it on manga! And please don’t add up the cost of the whole lot, I know it adds up to more then $75 😛 . But how can I resist when its free shipping and buy 3 get the 4th free!
-I”s 1-8 (haven’t started yet)
-Full Moon 1-7 (finished, it’s a cute shoujo with gorgeous art)
-Angel Diary 1-7 (Read the first 6 and I’m REALLY enjoying it, I like it a lot more then Demon Diary)
-S.A. (Special A) 1-4 (Read them, I like a shoujo with nice humor where the heroine isn’t focused on love)
-I.N.V.U 1-4 (Although volume 3 hasn’t arrived yet I REALLY REALLY like this shoujo so far, I guess I’m a big fan of this author since I like The Queen’s Knight too)
-Genju no Seiza 6-7 (sigh..the last 2 volumes before my series was indefinitely delayed)
-High School Debut 6-7 (I’m a big sucker for this series, I really like it)
-Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne 1-4 (Impulse purchase after I finished Full Moon, it’s by the same author but I haven’t read yet)
-Ghost Talker’s Daydream 2 (A very…unique? series)
-Honey and Clover 1-2 (Haven’t read yet but I saw and loved all the anime)
-Phantom Dream 1 (I explain below)
-Nana 13-14 (So addicted to this series, I love Ai’s work so damn much!)
-Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo 3 (Gotta stay up to date with the events of my favorite pet shop owner!)
Didn’t I say I wouldn’t start any new series that Tokyopop was putting out? I did…so that makes me a damn liar! I admit it! I’m making a loophole rule for Natsuki Takaya series (the author of Fruits Basket). Tokyopop has been putting a lot of marketing money into advertising this series, but to be honest it doesn’t look ike it will be the hit Fruits Basket was. The art style isn’t as beautiful as Fruits Basket and the plot summary didn’t pull me in. But because I adore Fruits Basket so much I have to at least try it. I haven’t read it yet but I randomly flipped to a page and the female character had exposed boobies. Now I don’t care two bananas about exposed breasts but…this volume wasn’t wrapped in plastic and there were no warning stickers. That’s unheard of in the current manga industry, all series that have the slightest bit of boobie are wrapped and marked very obviously…is Tokyopop gonna get in trouble for this? Maybe they’re not aware of the manga boobie rules? Is this Tokyopop’s first series with nudity? Are they idiots? How many volumes of manga does Duckie have with boobies to make her such an expert on the subject? Isn’t Duckie a little to old to be calling them boobies? Is there such a thing as caring two bananas about something? THOSE are the questions that keep me up at night.
They put in a “bonus chapter” in Phantom Dream thats a preview of a volume of Fruits Basket, they put in the chapter where Kyo confonts his father…what were they thinking? I’d consider that a spoiler.
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Nice pictures! I was interested in the Shana nendoroid, but now I’m not so sure ><‘
Um, what else were you expecting Elizabeth to do? I’m sure everyone likes a dynamic pose, but it only makes sense if it’s called for. I played Persona and Fes and not once have I seen Elizabeth do anything but just that. If you actually play Persona, you’ll come to realize that that is exactly what Elizabeth does ad nauseum every time you go to the Velvet Room to finish quests and fuse Personas. Unless, you’re hardcore to do some extraneous things, Elizabeth never does anything else. ALTER is excellent for mimicking iconic/authenticity and they didn’t fail on this one either even if it’s not dynamic which makes little to no sense.
(http://www.rpgamer.com/games/persona/persona3fes/screens/persona3fes3.jpg)
@ JustPeter – Sorry I didn’t mean to rain on the Shana nendo parade. I still really like her but she is one of my more difficult nendoroids to display.
@ oneandonlyjem – I completely agree with you, that’s what I said in my post. Seems like you misread what I said.
very nice haul! I really like that Rei and Asuka, especially the Rei. Tokyopop fails again. I need to pick up 13 and 14 of Nana too, as well as catch up on xxxHolic.
KOS-MOS! ❤
My mistake – I didn’t see the ‘n’t’ in it. I thought you were being ridiculous or something.
@ oneandonlyjem – I really liked your response though! Mwahahaha I feel like we’re more connected as proud Elizabeth fans now! After all you rightly swooped to her defense in a way I would too! I’m not done with persona 3 yet though I started a few weeks ago and I’m 40-50 hours into it! The time flies by! Also I’m a Tales of the Abyss fan as well, that game had strong characters that I adored…although the plot could have had a bit more ‘umph’ to it.
I don’t buy a lot of manga, bit I have a few volumes with nudity and they didn’t come with shrinkwrap. I actually have one that contains mild erm… graphic scenes (I didn’t know that when I bought it though. (.__.’) ) and there was no wrapping whatsoever; it just had “parental advisory” printed on it.
I think volume 4 of pet shot of horror came out recently(reading it as well and it is awesome). I thought you said you were going to cut back on buying figures?
Nice haul! It’s cool how receiving items make you excited. That’s what it’s all about – geek out =)!
@ Coco – I think the series I noticed the change in warning levels of nudity the most on was Red River. The first dozen volumes or so had partial nudity with no warning whatsover. BUT NOW each and every volume is shrink wrapped and Parental Advisory is part of the cover itself, it’s not just a sticker even. About that time I noticed it on Red River I found myself unwrapping more and more manga from other series too. AND I take it back about this being Tokyopop’s first series with partial nudity, I JUST remembered that on Paradise Kiss there is some! But that was released during a time when nothing had warnings. I just am hopipng they don’t get in trouble because of some Nazi mother who picks it up and is horrified.
@ Otaku Dan – I’m pretty pleased with the Tokyo Pet Shop volumes so far, I had heard they stunk in comparison to the originals but they’re not bad at all. That is me cutting back on figures 😛 I guess it doesn’t show lol
@M12 – I geek out pretty often, you should have seen me when I saw that Enterbrain announced they were releasing that Rider figure. I did a figure victory dance like no other!
HAHAHAHA!!!! Have you started to date Elizabeth yet? She is a very interesting person to date. My internet crapped out on me when I was trying to do all of the new quests and the tidbits I got were really confusing hence irritating. She really looks plain, but she’s a very quirky character underneath the surface.
I stopped playing Tales of the Abyss because I couldn’t stand Luke being a whiny jerk. Yeah, I know. Luke is a really handsome character and watching the anime perked my interest in it again. I know you have a Wii – get the Tales of Symphonia game on sale because a little bit into it has turned me off severely. Whenever you get a chance to get the 360 for a really good price or your bf can enjoy it – so the price isn’t unjustified – get Tales of Vesperia. Yuri – the main protagonist – is very funny. Lots of lawl moment there.
By the way, did you end up keeping Rider after all. If so, you stuck by her like a true Rider fan. I would be so angry with Enterbrain right now. Nothing wrong with geeking out. I geek out almost all the time. I thought you got Kosy a long time ago. Did you get your Haruhi petite set from TL? If so, why don’t they just give you a box to put them in. You already got the complete set, it’s a waste to discard the box.
@ Jem – I’ve started “dating” her in the regular game. We just visited the Shrine. Tales of the Abyss didn’t get much better after the event in the middle of the game in the mines. That was the peak of the plot, I was also very disapointed with the ending, it felt cliche and unsatisfactory. I’m wondering what the anime does in the end. Jade’s back story was quite interesting, the game was worth it for him. I also thought Luke was hotter when he looked like the image you have. I have a trading figure of him in that pose.
You have NO IDEA how badly I want to play Tales of Vesperia…but I’d really only be buying it to play that one game and my bf hates everything Microsoft (XBox included) and only plays games on the PC and occasionally DS. I’m hoping that Tales of Vesperia gets ported to PS3 like Eternal Sonata was. If the game isn’t ported 2 years from now then I might buy the console just to play it. I mean HOW can I miss the best rated Tales game!!! I even like the shittier ones so I bet I’ll LOVE this one. I still need to play Tales of Symphonia, I bought it for $9.99 new (it was wrapped and everything).
I did keep Rider because the shelf I’m going to put her on is right at eye level so I’m figuring it will be hard to see that discoloration of hair in the back. I love Rider so much and was so excited that the expensive kit was being turned into a PVC figure I just couldn’t let go. She is actually in the mail now.
I agree it is a waste to throw out the box, I’ve requested that they give me the big box with my nendoroids and they’ve been good about it but they forgot on this one. I love TL but I think I’ll just buy the next petit nendoroid sets off HLJ next time because I like actually getting the extra nendoroid.
wow, that’s quite a set of lewt!
i wish nida had a hat magnet! dang thing is falling off any time i even think about taking a picture of her ^^;
hadn’t alter done some rereleases prior to kos-mos? alas i can’t check at work (stupid content filter), but if i remember correctly, fate (from a’s) got was at least one other rerelease… meh, technicalities aside, very nice, grats on the getto! i was also very happy to add kos-mos to my collection ^_^ can’t wait for swimsuit kos-mos later this month!
out of all those manga series, i only have 3 ^^;; i”s was actually one of the first manga i ever read… nana i have vol 1 but haven’t read it yet ^^;; honey and clover is even worse… i heard good things and have 7 volumes or so? … haven’t even finished vol 1 yet orz
Yeah, I like getting the extra petit. I think they actually remove it to try to make another set and sell that off. You paid 60-70, so they should give you the big box to hold the little boxes because it’s better protection for your cuties and you already paid that much so there’s no point in discarding a freakin’ ‘box. Be careful with HLJ because of the economy and SAL is a little scary for me.
OMG, your bf hates Microsoft. ME TOO!!! I suck it all up because if I stay like that, I’m gonna miss out on a lot of games. You should try out Lost Odyssey – it freakin’ made me cry. I adamantly think all companies are evil, but you have to disregard that evil and enjoy the game for what it is.
Tales of Symphonia rocked my world. I really love that game a lot! I admit that I thought Luke was pretty hot, too. I can’t help it. I’m a girl >.< Then, he started to bitch bitch bitch and I couldn’t take it. The anime is pretty much a compilation of a good portion of the cutscenes you watch to pique interest in playing the game, so you are not missing out on anything. The anime purposely leaves off at a certain point that you feel inclined to go out and buy the game. I wish they made a hot looking figure of Luke. Oh, please ALTER? They need more hot looking guys turned into characters.
Well, y’know it’s not your fault Enterbrain’s Quality Control decided to get drunk and ignore the obvious. I mean if you’re brave enough, maybe some touch up on her roots?
Meronpan, I think duckie is probably just happy that ALTER did a re-release on a fairly popular figure. It’s fairly rare to see ALTER re-release anything and I don’t think AlphaOmega has done any so far. Got screwed over Golden Darkness at Kidnemo.
Nice loot!!!!!
Big loot for your first one of the year!!!!!
Do like those Haruhi petit nendos you got!!!!!!
I will order Shana Nendoroid in a couple of days. and Asuka gothic its a good addition to your collection.
[…] + new background! Lovelyduckie’s recent acquisition reminded me it was about time to make some progress on my review setup… Headed over to… […]
Excuse me, may you tell me where had you found the Alter Elizabeth figure, please? I’ve been searching it all around but with no good fortune and on HLJ it’s Sold Out.
Sorry for the bad english. *’_’*
@ DeMasque – I pre-ordered her at Toyslogic, they still have her in stock but I’m afraid she is at full retail price since they are almost out of her now.
http://www.toyslogic.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4231
I owe you thousand thanks! ^_^