January hauls

[Gomess]

Considering it's a franchise 30 years older than Mario, Megaman and the rest, and 20 years older than Star Wars, there's really not many.

And in most of the old ones you didn't even play as the monsters.

Where's my Dynasty Warriors: Godzilla, huh? Someone at Koei must like the older Japanese franchises, since we got Gundam and Fist of the North Star games with the Dynasty Warriors engine... Catch up!

Anyway. Yeah, I really only play video games based on franchises I already like anymore. Especially since my most modern console is a PS2.

[Onslaught Six]

I went to MAGFest! It was awesome.

Picked up these things:
-New This Place Is Haunted remastered self-titled CD with New Songs to make it full-length. (Full-length for them is 78 minutes long.)
-You Bred Raptors? Muldoon CD. I got one of these for free before but ended up giving it to someone who accidentally left it at the show.
-Random Encounter CD. These guys were pushing hard for me to buy something and I did like their F-Zero Big Blue track that inserted Punch-Out randomly, so hey. Wish I could have gotten a Descendents of Erdrick CD too, those guys are balls-ass awesome.
-Two vidyagame fan-films from X-Strike Studios, River City Rumble and Project: Snake, obviously based on River City Ransom and Metal Gear Solid. Haven't watched them but they were $5 each and they threw in a poster, so!
-Bit Brigade "Contraband" DVD. Bit Brigade's gimmick is they have a dude speedrunning the game they're covering as they do it. If the guy dies, they have to restart the music. If the music changes, they change the song. At the show they actually played Mega Man 2 the whole way through which I wish I'd caught it instead of just seeing the ending.
-16gb memory stick from Striderneko as late Christmas gift.
-Donkey Kong Country 2 for SNES for $15. Not bad!

I'd intended to get my copy of Portal 2 and one of my girlfriend's plush turrets signed by Ellen McLain (voice of GLaDOS) but the lines were really stupidly long, so that didn't happen. A little disappointing but whatever, right?

[BWprowl]

I grabbed that Classic UK Transformers collection IDW put out, because I’m a shameless fan of that stuff. I love the extensive essays and write-ups throughout the thing between all the stories, talking about all the behind-the-scenes stuff going on with the stories, and showing stuff like the promo pages from the magazine, as well as all the covers. This is great. Also got the third volume of the Phoenix Wright Manga.

Anyway, found and grabbed a Power Rangers Samurai Green, and was about to get just him, when I noticed they had a lone ‘Deker’ AKA Juzou on the pegs, and he looked really nice in the package, so I got him too. Green’s fine, pretty much the same as that Red I bought a while back, just…green. Mainly got him due to my unrelenting love of Chiaki. His weapon’s kinda cool, though I had to paint silver on a lot of it myself, thanks for nothing, Bandai. Juzou, on the other hand, is terrific. Not only does he have all his little details painted (on the front AND back!), but the whole thing is coated in this nice *silver* wash, bringing out even more detail and giving him this really nice glossy look like he’s supposed to have in the show. And Bandai’s use of white joints finally pays off here, and they’re utterly unnoticeable on Juzou, on account of him being mostly white. Only two issues I have, and they’re with the sword: He doesn’t actually have the sheathe for it on his back, just the ‘claw’ part where you stick his sword in (which, to its credit, still works well), and Uramasa itself came out of the package rather warped. I’ve since straightened it out a bit, but it could likely use a bit more time between the pages of a heavy book. Otherwise, this is a fantastic toy, especially in light of how just-okay (Zedd), mediocre (Rita), or just plain awful (Goldar) past PR villain toys have been. And also considering that this is likely the best toy of Juzou we’re ever going to get (don’t know that Bandai ever made a Figuarts of him, or that they ever intend to).

Man, I told you about Shinkenger making me want to grab PRS toys!

[Dominic]

I love the extensive essays and write-ups throughout the thing between all the stories, talking about all the behind-the-scenes stuff going on with the stories, and showing stuff like the promo pages from the magazine, as well as all the covers.

That is all well and good. But, the "this book belongs to" page still takes the prize for me.


Anyway:
-grabbed what may have been the last two PCCs in the area for customizing.

-some comic bags and boards (the boards are for a project).

-"Final Crisis" soft cover, for reading (as my hardcover is securely packed away).

In other news, I am likely to cancel my pre orders for Soundblaster and Twincast.


Dom
-was very tempted by some Marvel figures yesterday...

[BWprowl]

That is all well and good. But, the "this book belongs to" page still takes the prize for me.

A cute touch, to be sure. Did notice that the very last page of 'Man of Iron' falls prey to some really bad scan quality. Was yours like this? Now I want to check the one in IDW's G1 collection to see if it looks as rough.

(This collection would be a fantastic one to give to a kid, btw. It's got big, great, colorful comic stories for them to go over again and again, and as they grow older, they can start reading the interesting informative bits, which have plenty of stuff to get them interested in the actual fandom part of things.)

-"Final Crisis" soft cover, for reading (as my hardcover is securely packed away).

Been meaning to get that, I only ever had the story as single issues.

In other news, I am likely to cancel my pre orders for Soundblaster and Twincast.

Fundage issues, or you just decide you didn't want them?

[Dominic]

I agree about the UK compilation being good for a kid. It is packed with content. I have not read it yet, so I cannot tell you about the printing/scan quality. But, the sorts of problems you mention are usually universal.

Fundage issues, or you just decide you didn't want them?

LIttle of both actually. I could swing it. But, I cannot say that it is worth ~$150 for both when I am seriously considering being out of toys. I have Blaster. And, while I do not hate the mould, I do not know that I need a recolour of it when the recolour barely has any context in the US. (And, "Heart of Darkness" is not exactly an incentive to buy a toy of a character.) I actively dislike the modified Soundwave mould. It looks terrible. (And, as appealling as the tapes are, I know that the Frenzy/Rumble/Enemy mould is bad. And, ~$75 is a bit much to pay for Stripes and the Steeljaw recolour.)


Dom
-probably going to catch up on "Cobra" before starting the new TF ongoings.

[Shockwave]

Transformers: Dark of the Moon on DVD. Figured I might as well finish the movie series.

[Onslaught Six]

Have you seen it yet? I forget.

LIttle of both actually. I could swing it. But, I cannot say that it is worth ~$150 for both when I am seriously considering being out of toys. I have Blaster. And, while I do not hate the mould, I do not know that I need a recolour of it when the recolour barely has any context in the US. (And, "Heart of Darkness" is not exactly an incentive to buy a toy of a character.) I actively dislike the modified Soundwave mould. It looks terrible. (And, as appealling as the tapes are, I know that the Frenzy/Rumble/Enemy mould is bad. And, ~$75 is a bit much to pay for Stripes and the Steeljaw recolour.)

Is it $150 for both or $150 each? Because the latter is ridiculous...

I ended up cancelling my GI Joe Slaughter's Marauders 7-pack before they hit. I figure they'll be around for a long time coming (BBTS always has fucktons; they still have Resolute sets!) and after getting POC Spirit for a mere $10, my only real investment in the set is Mercer--who isn't in wide circulation yet but a few can be had for $10-12 on eBay already. (Also, damn, that cancelled Jurassic Park figure is only $15ish now.)

[Dominic]

It is about $150 for both. (I was ordering with somebody else, so shipping will vary.)

I was just having a hard time justifying the sets. As cool as the obscure tape characters were, just shy of $80 per set of tapes was a bit much. (Garboil of Howlback were a bit different, as those are tapes with specific functions that actually appeal to me. Garboil is a propaganda minister and Howlback is a commissar.)

The prices are actually not that bad. But, they are more than I want to be spending.


Dom
-especially with a few tempting BotCon figures this year...

[Shockwave]

Have you seen it yet? I forget.

Yeah, I saw it when it came out.