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Archive for the ‘Otaku’ Category

Legendary Loot

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Remember this post? Read particularly my brother’s comment. Then feast your eyes on the most legendary of items I bought (for only $15) at NYCC:

Yes, that’s an unopened box of 29-year-old Dark Crystal trading cards! Notice the perforations are not broken on the box. I was a bit suspicious at first since it wasn’t shrinkwrapped, until the seller told me they simply didn’t do that back then.

Here’s a shot with the top lifted open:

Wonderful! 36 packs, still sealed tight since 1982! Here’s the front and back of the first one I opened:

Beautiful! The wax seal separated with ease, and I was able to remove the (perfect condition!) cards with no discolouration whatsoever. Luckily, this was not a set that contained bubble gum! Furthermore, the cards have unusual rounded edges:

The entire set is only 78 cards. I have 36 packs containing 8 apiece, so I’d say my chances for a full set are very high. Hopefully I’ll have some packs left over. Who knows, one of them may be destined for you 🙂

Posted in Miscellaneous, Otaku | 2 Comments »

Epic Loot

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

We went to the con with just a carry on bag, but returned with 3 extra large bags full of loot. Amongst the freebies we gladly grabbed were:

– 4 t-shirts (including a Star Wars one)
– 17 30 card MTG intro decks (yes, 17!)
– 6 complete novels (the exact version you’d get in a store). One of these is even autographed!
– 4 comics
– several good-sized tote bags
– Dozens of badges and stickers

In addition, we spent large amounts of hard-earned cash on such things as:

– 40 comics (most of which cost $0.50 each…)
– 2 Dalek figures (orange and blue, my collection is now complete!)
– the above shown box of Kong trading cards, which cost me only $6
– many sets of trading cards (including Doctor Who companions and Doctor Who movies), at a price of 6 sets for only $10!
– a light switch plate cover 🙂
– several toys (deliberately being non-specific here)
– 2 calendars…
– a Cthulhu t-shirt (pictured in the previous blog entry)
– various books and manga

In addition, there is a large selection of gifts for most of you reading this, which I obviously won’t go into detail about here.

And then there was one last item, which cost me $15, which is so special it is going to get a blog entry all of its own… 🙂

Posted in Games, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Tech | 2 Comments »

Mad World

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

For the fourth year in a row we went to the New York Comic Con this past weekend. This time we took the plunge and got 3-day passes and made a vacation of it. It was a mad, mad weekend at one of the biggest cons in America and an absolute playground for a mad otaku like myself 🙂

That’s a crowd shot from the Friday, which wasn’t anywhere near as busy as Saturday would turn out to be. This year the con filled the entire Javits convention center and some – spilling into a nearby wing and spanning three floors as well. Every year I say it’s hard to believe it could get bigger, and then it does. But this time I think it must have maxed out, unless it moves. Which is unlikely, since there is no bigger venue in NYC 🙂

Hundreds of exhibitors and over 100,000 attendees celebrated comics and gaming and anime and sci-fi and every imagineable otaku fringe you could imagine. From a massive, massive Intel booth dedicated to Starcraft tournaments to tiny booths by artists peddling their wares there was so much to see and do that I doubt I actually got to all of it in even 16 total hours of attendance.

The scale was big this year. Massive crowds (especially on Saturday) meant if you wanted to be noticed you needed to have a gigantic poster or movie screen or statue at your booth, and as you can see they were truly gargantuan at times.

Celebrities were also in attendance, as usual, and here’s a few snaps of some of the ones we saw:

The guy in the top right, taken at long distance, is Mark Hamill. He was also autographing, which cost $100 per person, and the line was epicly long. Felicia Day’s line wasn’t much shorter, and apparently had a 4 hour wait. I don’t know how much she charged though.

That’s Hiro Mashima, the creator of the manga series Rave, Fairy Tail and Monster Hunter Orage. We went to his panel, which was great. He was very charismatic and happily answered questions from the audience and also gave a live-drawing demonstration:

We also saw this guy at the Doctor Who store booth:

It’s Winston Churchill! The Dalek Ironside next to him (incidentally, the final old-style Dalek in the series…) was an amazing reproduction… quite possibly an original prop. I of course had to pose for a snap:

We purchased an insane amount of loot, which will in time get it’s own blog post. Virtually any sort of obscure otaku item imagineable was for sale (excepting, of course, everything on my recent graduation gift post!) including the following:

What’s that you ask? Did we see the worst t-shirt ever made? Why yes, we did:

We also saw a couple of nifty statues that haven’t yet been released:

And zillions, and zillions of comics (quite a few that I even bought…)

But of course everyone knows one of the biggest appeals of events like this is the cosplay, and it was bigger and better than ever. Not only had the quality of the costumes increased, so too had the diversity. The field was so mixed, that unlike previous years it is difficult to describe the most popular theme (which last year was Kingdom Hearts, for instance). Here’s a gallery of some random cosplayers, followed by some of the ones I liked best:

That last girl is Glados from Portal. Her headset was lit and she played the part mysteriously and well.

Here’s a pretty Tardis. One of many at the show and in my opinion the best:

And here’s a fellow that looks so much like his character we did a double-take:

And here’s probably my favourite of the hundreds and hundreds of cosplayers I saw, a great female Goblin King from Labyrinth (complete with prop!):

There’s no question we’ll be back next year (especially since it falls on KLS’s birthday weekend), because 2011 was the best yet. I just wonder if it will continue to get even bigger 🙂

Posted in Games, Otaku, Tech | 2 Comments »

NYCC 2011

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

KLS & I have 3-day passes for the New York Comic Con this weekend!

You can follow our adventures on the twitter!

If you have any requests while I am there, use my gmail email address!

Here’s a shot of me at the con last year. Can’t believe I wore this hat almost all day…

Posted in Games, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Tech, Trip | Comments Closed

Here Is What My Brother Is Buying Me For My Graduation

Friday, October 7th, 2011

My brother recently fired off the following email:

“Hey little bro! Since your big day is coming up, I wanted to be sure to let you know how proud I am of you with a selection of fine gifts. Any suggestions?”

I’m always glad, big brother of mine, to oblige! Mayhaps the following list of trifling items may give you inspiration…

Books Category

Casket Of Souls

The near-legendary, very low print run sequel to The Tasks Of Tantalon. I have never owned this book, which came out in 1987 and was released in the UK only. Copies occasionally appear on amazon, but rarely from legitimate sellers (just because a book is listed doesn’t mean the reseller has it, especially rare books). Prices start at about $80 for used copies.

Revenge Of The Vampire

I’ve blogged about this before: The legendary ‘final’ FF gamebook with a depressingly low (for modern collectors) print run. There is one on amazon right now for as little as $80. A couple of years back a rumour was that the reprints would get to this, but they never did. Alas.

Warlock Magazine

The legendary FF magazine, 13 issues of which were published over three years in the early 1980s. I tried getting a few five years or so back on ebay, but baulked at the prices (even for single issues). I dream of owning a complete collection.

A Japanese FF gamebook

An original imprint (such as on the left) or reprint (right, which is Deathtrap Dungeon) I don’t care! But I’d love to own one. And believe me I have looked! I’ve even looked IN JAPAN with no luck! These babies are very, very hard to get a hold of. (Hrm… just remembered AW’s sister…)

White Knight, Black Swan

The legendary second David Gemmell book written under a pseudonym. A sales failure, I once read a quote (attributed to Gemmell, if I recall) that copies were even recalled and destroyed. There is one on amazon right now, but the seller is (once again) a reseller who may not even have it in stock. Besides, it’s over US$1900!

Temple Of Elemental Evil (1985)

Not the half-man reissue from a few years back, but the grand-daddy released way back when @fyrenze was a baby! 128 pages of unmitigated Gygax madness! I have to read it!!! (But not at $70!)

Toys Category

Corgi Dalek 3-pack

When we were in England, I bought one of the two available Corgi dalek 3-packs. Shown here is the other, and to this day I regret not buying it. These little (about 7 cm) tall guys are metal, weighty, and articulated (well, insofar as they are daleks). I love them! Every now and then the other colour set (white/red/silver) is on amazon, but I’ve not ever seen the above set listed.

Puck Monster VFD Game

I did a blog post about this once before. It didn’t work then, why do I think it will now?

Imakarum Miribalis Max Factory Guyver Figure

I avoided this when it was released because of sticker shock (it was over $150). Now it’s climbed to $390 on amazon. I read when it was released that it was only sold for a very short period at the convention circuit in Japan. I bet few were made. It would be a nice match to the others in the series, all of which (of course…) I own 🙂

Tolarian Academy and Gaea’s Cradle

Because I’d never pay $100 (combined!) for these two cards myself 😉

Music Category

Gone Petshopping (Pet Shop Girls)

Again, I have looked and looked for this with no luck. I even once tried to buy it on amazon only to receive a message that the seller didn’t actually have it (insert another grumble about resellers listing items they don’t even have). Note that I would *vastly* prefer the (legendary!) Japanese version since it is the only one that contains a version of ‘Go West’ that is about a million types of awesome.

So Long Celeste (Marian Gold)

What am I supposed to do when the first solo album of one of my favourite artists was only released in small quantities in god damn South Africa almost 20 years ago! Well, of course I ask for it as a gift! Note that while many of the songs were eventually included in the Alphaville mega-albums Dreamscapes and Crazyshow, they were different versions! A completist like me dies inside a little due to that 🙁

Video Game Category

Ketsui Death Smile (DS)

Aka. “The One That Got Away”. This Cave bullet-hell shooter for the DS hit the street at elevated prices and never went down. I’ve never seen it for sale, but it is occasionally on amazon for $75 or up. Is it worth it? Who’s to say? Would I buy it for that price if I had it in my hand in a Japanese used game store? Probably.

Wizardry ~?????~ (DS)

Even with your skills, this one may be hard to find. A nearly two year old DS game that was limited and exclusive to amazon.co.jp, I have never ever actually seen it for sale anywhere. All the more reason I want it 😉

Wizardry Scenario 1 (Wonderswan)

Anyone that asks themselves: “Why on Earth is this on this list?” doesn’t understand the sort of man I am! At any rate, big brother, this one will require herculean effort to find since I almost don’t even believe it exists. I have searched high and low in the most arcane and completist of Japanese used-game stores (including the legendary hall of Mandarake Nakano) and I have never, ever, ever seen this game. I can’t wait to get it for graduation 🙂

Wizardry: Bane Of The Cosmic Forge (SNES)

I suppose you could call this the ultimate. If the last two Japanese wizardry games are difficult to find (and they are!) then this one is probably impossible. Four times I have been to Japan, and each time this game was on ‘my list’. I have spent countless hours in used game stores and never, ever seen it. I would venture to guess that this particular Super Nintendo wizardry game is (much) rarer than the (European only) Might And Magic II cartridge (and if you get that for me, remember to purchase me a UK SNES so I can play it!) and even perhaps rarer than the US version of Might and Magic on the SNES… which was never released! Yes, brother, I’m saying this particular game may not exist (outside of ROMs), and would therefore be the ultimate gift. The ball is in your court!

And that’s my list! If you need more, I could probably come up with some, but I think this should be enough.

Lest the list seem… excessive… understand that I’m not asking for everything! Just a few items from each category should suffice 😉

Posted in Family, Games, Miscellaneous, Music, Otaku, Tech | 4 Comments »

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