Well, it’s that time again, for yet another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul! This time though, is a very special edition, as it is yet another milestone edition for me to share with you. I have surpassed the 1,500 game mark . . . fifteen hundred games . . . ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED GAMES! The more I type about it and think about it, the more I realize that that is one hell of an obscene number of games! I’ll save my typical reflections I have for the end of the blog, much like I’ve done with my other milestone blogs. This time though, we have incredible stuff from the online Capcom Store, Kijiji gems, a ton of new games from EB Games and Amazon.ca, special editions out the wazoo (including a couple from the online NIS Store), and a once again arbitrarily chosen 1,500th game that REALLY lives up to being such a milestone game! As you can tell with some of the games, I’ve been playing catch-up again, but enough of that. On with the show!



We begin with some stuff from the online Capcom Store that I received towards the beginning of the year. We start off with a Resident Evil 5 Tricell Progenitor Virus Detection Kit, which was essentially a Press Kit for the game that has things like a face mask, gloves, containment bag, etc. It’s pretty much a miniature first aid kit that has a Resident Evil theme to it. I also managed to pick up Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and the Dead Rising 2 Bobble Budd Set, all of which were on sale. The bobble budds are of Frank West and Chuck Greene, which means I now have 2 Chuck Greene’s due to the one I got at PAX 2010.



I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned how freakin’ awesome Kijiji is, but I’ll have to reiterate its awesomeness once more! It’s so satisfying to find local people willing to get rid of awesome stuff for cheap. So cheap that it rivals even the best store in the universe, Cash Converters. Through this one lady, I got Donkey Kong Country, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, Classic NES Series: Super Mario Bros., and Earthworm Jim 2. That’s pretty effin’ awesome if you ask me! Although, it’s not nearly as awesome as what follows . . .



Do you guys realize how hard it is to find decent condition boxed GBA games nowadays? It’s pretty damn hard. I’ve been lucky enough to have found a lot of the good games in box, but it can test my patience sometimes when I see awesome games, but only in cartridge form. Luckily, I managed to stumble upon another Kijiji seller of whom I discovered we have a mutual friend in the form of Grimstar. With that said, I may now have another source to help add to my collection! Here we have Bubble Bobble: Old & New and one of the best puzzle games ever, The Lost Vikings.



Continuing on with the awesome from the last couple of pictures. I managed to also get my hands on SEALED copies of Grand Theft Auto, River City Ransom EX (to replace my somewhat beat up complete copy, plus it’s freakin’ Atlus), and Shining Soul II, which is one of the more elusive Atlus GBA games! Awesome!



Due to the fact that I want stuff in box and complete and despite having like 400 requests on Goozex, I’ve been only getting stuff very slowly. Still, the stuff I do get is usually have pretty top notch quality. Examples would include this complete copy of Dragon Warrior III (with map and poster) to replace my cartridge only copy, Picross DS (which I recommend to ANYONE who likes puzzle games), and Pokémon Dash.



Now onto some of the newer games I’ve bought in recent times. We begin off with a game from one of the series that is closest to my heart (haha, get it? =P), Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, which along with the game, I also got the pre-order Icon Decals as well. Below that we have Space Invaders Extreme 2 and the highly regarded Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective that I really need to get around to playing.



Next up is the third iteration (all physical copies) of Plants vs. Zombies I have purchased. I’m quite a big fan of the slipcover they included with the game, mimicking a zombie bite and just showing off the Walnut when it’s on the game. I also have yet another Atlus masterpiece I need to find time for, in the shape of Radiant Historia, which came with a soundtrack and my good buddy Wry Guy somewhat recently Wryview’d.



Here we have Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version . . . it’s freakin’ Pokémon . . . I’m Asian . . . I gotta catch ‘em all . . . nothing more to say there, hahaha! =P



So, I have a friend who has a friend who used to go out with a Sony rep. Long story short, he managed to benefit by getting a bunch of free “Not for Resale” games and such, and he passed this extra copy of Secret Agent Clank onto me. Sweet! ^_^ Next to it is yet another game I really need to get to, especially with how much I love the series, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. I have 3 versions of the game now . . . >_<



Here is a game I really want to play, but know that the way I play RPGs, I’ll never get to it, since it’ll be too much of a time investment. You really can’t go wrong with Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together though. I also firmly believe that Destructoid got the wrong person to review the game, but hey, a reviewer’s opinion is the reviewer’s. Along with the game, I also got the pre-order bonus Tarot Cards where there are like about 22 of them or so, and are nice thick, high quality produced cards.



Here we have more PSP games, starting off with the second time this game has been remade, Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle. It’s done by NIS though, so they’ll always be taking my money. Next to it is a game by another company that has an eternal hold on my wallet, which is the Aksys made Jikandia: The Timeless Land. Once again, living in Canada has screwed me over from getting the super cool wrist strap and screen wipe . . . *tears* . . . T_T



Now to start to make the transition to some games I got from the Canadian Amazon site. I’ll start off with NHL 09 and NHL 10 first though, since I got them for free from a guy who was looking to trade them in at my local EB Games, and upon discovering he’d get about $1.50 for both, he just asked if I wanted them, which was pretty sweet, hahaha. I finally picked up No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle for the Wii, and I really must find some time to play the original before I play this guy . . .



Hey! It was cheap and I already had the one for Wii, which is my justification for grabbing Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad. Next to it is a game that I’ve been waiting for forever to go down in price through any of the ways I buy games, and now that I have it, I don’t have time to play it. Wolfenstein does look hella sweet and all the previous games have been pretty solid shooters, so hopefully I’ll be able to get to it sooner rather than later.



Some more stuff from Amazon Canada’s website. I’ve given up on getting the Collector’s Edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum for a price that I find reasonable, so I just got the regular edition of it finally. Another game that took forever to go down in price was Katamari Forever, which upon typing this, I just realized I’m still missing Beautiful Katamari from my collection of Katamari games. To finish this picture off, I came to the realization that there are also 2 different covers for Darksiders, as I’ve totally seen a reflective foil cover in addition to this “dull” colored one I have here.



Heading back towards some more purchases from EB Games and a few other retailers like Best Buy, we begin with 101-in-1 Sports Party Megamix. If you look at the bottom right corner of that game, you see the words “Atlus.” I don’t think I have to explain anything else. In the middle we have a Call of Duty: Black Ops T-Shirt “version” of 12 months of Xbox Live. Due to a sale, I got that baby for $40! Huzzah! Last but not least, we have Metroid: Other M, which was obtained for a cool $10, due to my EB Games participating in the “Deal of the Day” promotion they had going for a couple months.




Once again taking advantage of the “Deal of the Day,” I picked up this DJ Hero Wireless Turntable Controller for $10, as well as DJ Hero 2 for another $10. So, $20 for a controller and game is a pretty slick deal if you ask me! Also, here is the pre-order bonus for Okamiden, which was a Stylus and Screen Cleaner that I forgot to include in a later picture.



After paying $150 for the Halo 3 Legendary Edition, only to see it go down to $60 about 3 or 6 months afterwards, I figured I’d take my chances and gamble on the Halo: Reach Legendary Edition to go down in price eventually. By taking advantage of some minor sales and price matching policies, I managed to get this guy for $60 from Best Buy, which I found to be quite the deal. I’m assuming by now people know what’s in this special edition.




In case you haven’t noticed, we’re entering the “special edition” section of this haul. It’s somewhat lengthy, so you’ve been somewhat warned . . . but not really. I also don’t know why I decided to take a front and back of box picture for this Killzone 3 Helghast Edition, but you guys get two pictures for this guy, hahaha. I’m also pretty choked that I paid full price for this guy when it’s been selling for $80 nowadays . . . -_-‘ I’m not listing what’s in this special edition either, since I’m pretty sure most of you can either read the back of the box picture or saw Jim Sterling’s unboxing video.



Here we have the final remake of the Ys series that forms a nice image on the spines of the other Premium Editions of the games that have been released. Apparently this remake of Ys I & II Chronicles is supposed to be the best version, but if you want a real opinion on it, I’d suggest asking my homeboy and Ys mega fan, Zoel. This special edition comes with a soundtrack with select tunes from the two games.



I’ve been “yelled” at by a few friends and I’ll probably be “yelled” at by someone who sees this post, but I’ve yet to play either of the Dead Space games. Everyone I’ve talked to says they’re really fun and atmospheric and that I’d enjoy them. One day I may get to them, but I’d probably bet against that from happening if you’d want to make some money, hahaha. Regardless, we have Dead Space 2 Collector’s Edition for PS3, along with the Rivet Gun DLC. I’m getting lazy/forgetful, but I’m pretty sure ChillyBilly went over and showed off the items in this special edition.



It seemed this was actually a Collector’s Edition that lived up to its name. It was actually difficult to get a hold of this guy, since they apparently short shipped this special edition to all the Canadian stores. Regardless, I did manage to get my hands on this version of Gran Turismo 5, which included a miniature model, keychain, art book, and some DLC. I also got a DLC code for a Custom 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Stealth Model and the Gamestop NASCAR Car.



Here is the LittleBigPlanet 2 Collector’s Edition. Included in it are a Sackboy Plush, some book/game ends, and a whole crapload of DLC. Basically all the DLC is equivalent to the all the different DLC codes you were given by like 5 different retailers if you bought the regular edition of the game from them.



Let’s end off the special edition section with a trio of titles . . . even though one of them isn’t a special edition, hahaha. We start off with the BioWare Signature Edition of Dragon Age II which I believe had some DLC and a lame non-physical copy of the soundtrack or some other. The Premium Edition of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky came with a soundtrack and pin, plus it’s a multi-part game where your save will carry over to the second part when it’s released. To end off this picture, we have a copy of Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy . . . a totally NOT obnoxious name/title for a game if I’ve ever seen one! >_<



Time for stuff from the NIS Online Store. If you want a game series to test your patience or abilities as a gamer, look no further than the Prinny series. There were points when I was playing the first game, where I questioned if even 1,000 lives were enough! Here we have Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!, which if you pre-ordered from the site early on, you get a much smaller than expected Asagi Pin, of whom is a character in the game and is in Prinny form too!



Hahaha! So, here we have the console wars put into the form of a video game in RPG form, hahaha. This big box Premium Edition of Hyperdimension Neptunia. You basically have Japanime girls dressed in typically scantily clad clothing fighting for their respective “consoles” and all that good stuff. It has an art book in that big box and once again if you pre-ordered early through their website, you got a set of Playing Cards as well!



Finally we have the end of the Ar tonelico trilogy with Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. Once again it came in a Premium Box version that contained an art book and soundtrack this time around. I somehow either wasn’t shipped or just missed out on the Purge Party Calendar, which makes me a sad panda, so if you’re reading this and have one that you’re not overly attached to . . . contact me! Hahaha!



Some of you already know I’m a VERY big fan of the Marvel vs. Capcom series and the games associated with it. Well, it was a long 10 year wait, but when the third installment dropped in February, it was easy to say I was VERY excited and happy. Considering I had been lead on by a few traces of the game for years, much like seeing a build that was slightly upgrade Marvel vs. Capcom 2 graphics with Thor already in it, it has been a long time coming. Needless to say, when I heard a Special Edition of the game was coming out, well, it was like being a kid in a candy store, hahaha. I’m not usually THIS much of a tard when it comes to my collecting, but here we have an opened copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds for PS3, along with a sealed copy for Xbox 360. I also got a couple of those Pre-Order Character Cards to go with each game. I freakin’ love the fan art that’s on the steelbook and the comic they included with some background information about how everything came to be is also top notch. So glad to see this series come back, because . . . IT’S MAHVEL BAYBEE!



So, here we have more stuff from Capcom’s Online Store. We’ll start off with Okamiden, which I REALLY need to get to since I loved the first one. If you ordered through Capcom, you got a Chibiterasu Plush Keychain to go with your order, which is the same one that was previously only available in the Japanese Collector’s Edition. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. To make the order and shipping worth it, I also threw in a copy of Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop.



So, here’s where my stupid collector’s tendency came into its own being. Here is a THIRD copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Special Edition that I bought, this time through the Capcom Store so I could have a sealed copy for PS3 to go with my opened one that I play. Yes, I already know, I’m a tard . . . -_-‘ Hahaha! Another reason/incentive for me to order yet another copy was that the exclusive bonus through Capcom was this “Waste of Flesh” T-Shirt they were giving away with every pre-order that has the great Shuma-Gorath and a bunch of Servbots on it, so I couldn’t pass that up!



We’re coming to the end of this milestone haul and I’m going to end it with some gems I found on Kijiji. Through keeping an eye out for any gems that showed up and actually being serious about my inquiries, I managed to get away with a heck of a deal. As you can see, you have some very popular and pretty coveted Sega Saturn games above. We have Panzer Dragoon (which replaces the disc only copy I had) and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei. They were in pretty much perfect condition (even the cases!) and had been well taken care of. Pretty sweet find if you ask me! If you know your valuable/rare/highly coveted/extremely good games well . . . you may know what’s going to be chosen for my arbitrarily picked 1,500th game . . .




Awww yeah! Panzer Dragoon Saga! Widely regarded as one of the most coveted and valuable games around, not to mention a phenomenal game as well! A great case, sensationally good conditioned instructions, all 4 discs unscratched and pretty much mint, and the three disc sleeves for the other discs included too! I couldn’t really ask for a better game to put me at the 1,500 game mark! It’s the only 4 disc game for the Saturn, was a unique rail shooter RPG hybrid, and was truly a game of its own. There were only 30,000 copies of the game ever released, with an initial batch of 6,000 for the original release, followed up by two separate batches of 12,000 each. The copy I have here is from the 2nd or 3rd batch, since it has the white disc sleeves. The original print had black ones. Still, this was one hell of a find on Kijiji and to find it from a private seller who didn’t list on eBay or anything was quite a shock to me. Getting this is a day to remember for my gaming collection.



So, I forgot to take a screenshot of when I was at 1,499 games and when I hit 1,500 like when what I did for when I hit 1,000 games. So, here’s a screenshot of me at 1,502 games . . . hahaha!



Wow . . . 1,500 games . . . that is an insane number . . . -_-‘ I created this account after lurking for a good year or so in July 2008. I didn’t seriously start collecting games until around the same time but in 2005. That first blog featured my 600th game. A couple months shy of my 3 year anniversary of “officially” being on the site, I’ve hit 1,500! That’s like 300 some odd games A YEAR. That is freakin’ ridiculous! I don’t know how much I’ve spent to get all of these gems (that’s actually being slowly developed to add to my spreadsheet), but all I know is that it’s still something I see as an investment and I’ve only had a few cases of buyer’s remorse. All I know is that things will probably be slowing down due to the fact I have a lot of games on the older systems I already want, and I’m looking into buying a house.

Still, there are some people I need to thank. First and foremost would be pretty much my best mate and fellow collector, possumwrangler. He’s been with me looking for gems all over for who knows how many years, and he’s also been my voice of reason for when I may be crossing the line trying to get some things. Many thanks dude! Next up would have be my other close homie, Zoel. Without him, I wouldn’t know a fair majority of the obscure titles I get, nor would I have been able to import ANY of the cool import things I occasionally show and pretty much EVERYTHING in my next haul. My “second family” at Cash Converters also get a very much deserved shout out, due to the fact that pretty much any game I don’t get new is from there. The sheer amount of awesome that I’ve managed to get from that store would make most gamers drool with the amount of incredible gameplay they’d be afforded. Chrono Trigger, both Lunars on PlayStation, god knows how many copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on all 3 consoles, boxed NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 gems, an in box copyright infringement Tetris, and far too many other games. One man in particular deserves extra praise and that man would be the nicest and most chillin’ dude around, Diamond Dave. I don’t really know what else to say than it’s been very heartwarming and an honor to deal and talk with you whenever I’m in the store, and I’m very proud to have you as a friend mate. Who else? In more recent times, we have another homeboy in Grimstar who is always looking for rare gems that I don’t have that he can hook me up with, with one of his own sources. Much love goes out to you for looking out for me dude. I can’t leave out the other community, collecting nut, ChillyBilly! Your kindness, volunteering to get me non-French covered games from the States, picking up crazy DOMO stuff or me, and all the other stuff you get and box for me, its unparalleled mate. Your generosity and incredibleness are just awesome dude . . . minus your “racist” daughter . . . =P I also can’t forget to include Wry Guy . . . that’s it . . . no follow-up . . . =) Last but not least, thanks to all of YOU, for continuing to read and take interest in this series. Thank you for sharing your stories about some of the games I’ve gotten, like how you remember playing them when you were younger, or your own tales about getting rare gems. Thank you Destructoid and especially Niero for creating this site and allowing me a platform on which I was able to do this! ^_^

That’s it. I’m done. I probably won’t do a milestone post for 1,750 (if I hit that mark) even thought I did one for 1,250. Who knows what the future has in store for me and my collection. In the meantime, many thanks for sticking through to the end if you actually read this; otherwise I hope you enjoyed all the pictures, hahaha! For those of you who have an interest in unique imports from Europe and Japan, stay tuned for my next haul. I know BulletMagnet is already pacing around with anticipation! Hahaha! Until next time, latez mates!

Dag yo! So, it’s that time again, for yet another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul! This week we have some beyond freakin’ awesome stuff! This isn’t exactly my most video game related post (it was saved in that regard to my homeboy ChillyBilly), but it is very DOMO and Destructoid related! I owe a big hearty thanks to the best MOMerator (Zodiac Eclipse) for what you’ll see very shortly. Still, enough with the intro, on with the show!



So, most of you have probably seen the super kickass Plushtoids that Zodiac Eclipse (one of the Forum moderators for those of you who don’t know) made for the community to buy up! Well, obviously I had to have one due to my affinity of Destructoid, not to mention helping another community member out with their awesome business! She still has some available so go to her site, Story Builder Toys and purchase your very own Plushtoid now! d(‘-‘d)



THIS is why Zodiac is the best! ^_____^ She does do custom plushies that you may have seen in her Custom Corner series. After seeing her Plushtoid post and how she does custom plushies as well, I immediately contacted her about doing something that merged my love of Destructoid with my love of DOMO. After some back and forth emails about ideas and concepts, she got to work right away, and lo and behold, we have . . . DOMOtoid! =) You could get your very own custom delight if you head to Story Builder Toys!




But no . . . just DOMOtoid wasn’t enough! I needed a DOMO who could stay true to himself, but also turn himself in the world’s best mascot! Thus, DOMO with a removable Mr. Destructoid Mask was born! Seriously! How effin’ awesome is that? It’s a mascot within a mascot! The mask is so nice and snug and Zodiac pretty much made a perfect replica of DOMO too! =3 She also has a number of other toys and plushies for sale that may interest you, at Story Builder Toys!



Finally we have a picture with both DOMOs together! Many, many, many thanks once again Zodiac Eclipse for fulfilling my request better than I could’ve ever imagined! You are the best! I’ll be sure to reward you at PAX for making these guys for me! Also, have I mentioned that you should buy stuff from her site, Story Builder Toys, yet? =P



So, long story short, these are some belated Christmas gifts I received in February or so. One of my closest buds that I’ve known pretty much forever, got me these DOMO Christmas 5” Plush Figures, and here we have Elf DOMO to go along with Wrapped in Bow DOMO! I find my DOMO collection is growing far too quickly . . . >_< . . . hahaha!



Another friend gave me this belated Christmas gift, which would be a DOMO Mustache T-Shirt that actually has a fuzzy mustache that is totally ballin’! There’s also yet another DOMO 2” Qee Collectible Figure to add to my collection and it was one of the rarer ones to boot! Hooray’d!



Also, since I’m a tard, I decided to collect the 4” DOMO Figures that Dark Horse Comics releases and it doesn’t help that they’re pretty limited too. Here we have Polka Dot (Edition of 750), Green Filigree (Edition of 550), Classic Brown, and Black Lightning (Edition of 550).



Here are also a couple t-shirts I picked up somewhat recently. One of my favorite bands are the Goo Goo Dolls and they were touring promoting their relatively new CD, Something For the Rest of Us. This was my second time seeing them and while their opening act was infinitely better this time (Steven Page formerly of The Barenaked Ladies, compared to the first time with Tomi Swick), I still think they were slightly better during their Let Love In tour. Regardless, it was a rockin’ show and I’m one of those guys who has to buy a t-shirt at every concert he goes to. The other t-shirt is from TeeFury and features a merging of two of the most badass characters around, Batman and Boba Fett, to form the ever so awesome Bat Fett!



Hmmm? A mysterious envelope arrived at my house. It bears the Destructoid symbol for the return address. Could it be . . .



Hell yeah it is! It’s the Destructoid Chill Bros. T-Shirt! Behold Mr. Destructoid in his Super Mario Bros. 3 goodness! =D But wait . . . is there some writing on the inner collar . . .



Why yes there is! It appears my shirt has been signed by none other than Pico Mause and Jon Carnage! Hooray for uniqueness! ^_^ Not going to lie though, I’m a wee bit disappointed to get #193 when I know for a fact I was one of the first to order! Maybe they don’t like international fans or something! =P Hahaha!



So, I’m one of those people that get calendars like a month or two into the new year, when they’re like 50% or more off, since I find calendars to be ridiculously overpriced for what they do. Still, there was no chance in hell I would pass up this Manchester United 2011 Calendar!

♪Take me home, United Road;♪
♪To the place, I belong;♪
♪To Old Trafford, to see United;♪
♪Take me home, United Road!♪



So, literally last year (albeit barely, hahaha), Wired’s Game|Life had a contest to win a Super Scribblenauts Maxwell Vinyl Doll. I’m pretty sure Destructoid had a similar contest or some other. Regardless, after a couple months and emails and all that good stuff, this box arrived at my house!



And inside of it was this little guy! The box that actually houses Maxwell got a bit squished in transit, but I’ll live with it, hahaha! Many thanks go out to Wired and Jason Schreier for hosting the contest! You guys rock!



This is a box. It is fairly large. It was sent to me by that pretty chill guy that goes by the name of ChillyBilly. Let us take a journey to see what it contains . . .



Okay, so I kind of lied, hahaha! ChillyBilly actually sent me a small package prior to the new year, which contained a couple of things like Trace Memory and the nothing short of amazing Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors Replica Digital Watch, which never made its way to Canada and was fairly hard to get!



So, as you may have seen from my last post, I purchased a Nintendo 3DS, but I didn’t have any games with it. Long story short, since I’m a collector and I’m paranoid and OCD about the artwork/versions of my games, I pretty much can no longer buy a Nintendo published game in Canada, since by law, they’re obligated to have this REALLY UGLY “Includes French” box ON the actual game artwork. It is so out of place and just ruins the cover of the games. Due to this, my fellow collector and all around awesome guy, ChillyBilly volunteered to be my USA video game buyer, hahaha! So, after an exchange of some funds, he picked up and shipped me Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, Pilotwings Resort (which is actually a very nice and relaxing game to play, with my only gripe being the lack of the cannon levels from the last game), and Nintendogs + Cats: Toy Poodle & New Friends.



I’m also subscribed to Capcom’s online store, so I can see new pre-orders and exclusives they have. Well, they had a special exclusive where if you ordered Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Editon through them, you would get the elusive Ryu’s Belt Lanyard and Collectible Lenticular Card (it’s like the 3D cover, so you guys get to see the back of it, which says “Accepting All Challengers”). Once again, I got one of my best Destructoid mates to order it for me, since it’s actually cheaper in terms of shipping for it to get sent to him and him to send it to me, as opposed to paying like $25 to get a single DS game and lanyard sent to me in Canada.



Being as awesome as he is, it seems ChillyBilly knows I have a crippling weakness for anything DOMO related. Here he managed to pick me up 3 of the DOMO 2” Qee Collectible Figures! It’s interesting to see how he’s just really starting to get “popular” here in North America, but he was already somewhat passé when I went to Japan during Christmas. >_<



I also think that someone is trying to give me diabetes or something! =P Hahaha! Here we have some Coin Candies, Game Boy Advance 3D Gummy Candies, Super Star Candies, and Chaos Emeralds Cherry-Apple Sours that my zombie avatar friend included in the box!



Being the swag whores we are, it’s commonplace to see some interesting/unique swag that we sent one another. This time I got a Pac-Man Hide & Seek (which I think was a Wendy’s kids meal toy, hahaha), a de Blog 2 Figure (bluetongue), a GameStop PowerUp Rewards Sticker (which is SUPPOSED to be coming to Canada), and a Slime Plush! ^_^



Now we have a lot of DOMO upcoming. Here we have a bunch of DOMO Figurines 1 Inch Toy Capsules that he packed into the box, which have DOMO dressed up as various characters, like a Gangster, Lifeguard, etc.



Here we have a DOMO Pin, DOMO Boyscout Keychain, and friggin’ DOMO headphones . . . HEADPHONES! They’re setup so it’s like DOMO is coming out of your ears! So badass!



Finally, we’ll end this haul with the best item that ChillyBilly sent me . . . a DOMO Fleece Towel! As you can see in the picture, the thing is HUGE and is pretty much 5 feet by 4 feet, featuring my favorite character’s mug! Also, the label doesn’t lie and it IS indeed “SUPER SOFT!” Once again, many thanks dude! You’re the best and in typical response, I’ll be gathering more things to send you! =)



Since we’re on the topic of ChillyBilly, we had a discussion the other day about potatoes, how they’re for white folk (just for you mrandydixon ^_^), and how mashed potatoes are awesome. This inspired me to do some cooking, so what you see are some mashed (Yukon Gold I believe) potatoes with some milk, butter, a couple spoons of bacon grease, bacon, green onions, and chives that I put together.



I cooked for the family that night, so here’s a plate of mashed potatoes, some grilled king oyster mushrooms, and nicely grilled (note the crisscross pattern, hahaha) rib eye steaks. Pretty much multiply this picture by four.



Can’t BBQ something without having some low heat, upper shelf of the BBQ cooked onions and garlic!




Also, to prove to Nic128 that I am indeed Chitalian, here are some grilled red peppers that I sliced up and put in an olive oil and fig flavored balsamic vinegar! =P

Well, that ends yet another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul. I apologize for it not being as gaming related as most of my posts, but I guess you can blame that on Zodiac Eclipse and ChillyBilly for being so lame . . . =P . . . hahaha! I can PROMISE you though that my next haul will be VERY game intensive, as I hit another big MILESTONE in my gaming collection! Until next time, latez mates!

Dag yo! So, it’s been close to a month and a half since I last posted and that was finishing off my little catch-up series. Well, I’m catching up once again and have close to 100 pictures already separating into 3 blogs including this one. I’m going to try to get these up in consecutive weeks and then all should be well. Some stuff may be a bit out of order, but picture arranging wise, it made the most sense. You have some quick fire hits of a 3DS, some minimal swag I’ve gotten the past couple of months, a few guides, some kickass awesome outdoor hockey game pictures, and more reasons why Cash Converters is the greatest store in the world. Enough with the chitchat, on with the show!



This is a Nintendo 3DS . . . many people have one already, not as many as Nintendo wanted, but it’s still awesome as hell. Moving on . . .



So, I was wandering through Best Buy one weekend, to see if there were any awesome deals I could take advantage of, and there was a lady there that was demoing the 3DS. After giving it a go, I was rewarded with a Nintendo 3DS Lanyard and some Nintendo 3DS Retractable Information Cards . . . sweet!



A little dated, but it’s a Gran Turismo 5 T-Shirt. You’ll see the version of the game I picked up in a couple blogs.



Is it just me, or are a lot of retailers using mini-standees to advertise games nowadays? Regardless, here I have a LittleBigPlanet 2 Mini-Standee of everyone’s favorite costume changing guy, Sackboy!



Just a couple of thick guides for a couple of awesome games like Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and a personal favorite in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.



Here we have 3 more guides for your viewing pleasure. Stupid Prima is starting to print some of their guides in a smaller, spiral bound version, which for actually using the guide and keeping it open and the page you’re on is an awesome idea, but for storing on a shelf with pretty much any other guide, is a logistical nightmare! >_< Still, we have the guides for Kirby’s Epic Yarn (I still need to pick this up), Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, and the Collector’s Edition for Pokémon Black Version & Pokémon White Version. I was successful in managing to take a picture of the lenticular thing in action. Also, does anyone else think it’s weird how all the “official” names of the Pokémon games have “Version” at the end of them? o_O



On February 20th . . . I got to experience one hell of an event. The 2011 NHL Heritage Classic was held in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta. Even though I’m not a fan of the hometown Flames or the visiting Montreal Canadiens, how could you possibly say no to the chance to go to an outdoor hockey game? Unless you’re not Canadian of course . . . or if you’re CelicaCrazed and just cheers for the worst team in the world . . . =P




The first picture is from a stand they had to build to fit more people into the stadium for the game, which is where my tickets were. As you can see, there’s the ice surface they built, the giant screen on the far end to see highlights and such, and just people all around. It’s probably going to look pretty awful in the blog, but if you’re interested be sure to click the picture to see the full size version at the bottom of this blog, but this is a panoramic shot of McMahon Stadium, where the game was held. You can also see the stand of which I was located in on the far end of the stadium.



Here’s a picture of the players warming up and testing out the ice surface. They’re all wearing toques for a good reason, as it started okay, turned ball breakingly cold for the end of the first period until the start of the third, then everyone either became too numb from the cold, or it warmed up.



If you call yourself a Canadian, you better goddamn know who the hell these two guys are. For those of you who aren’t, these two broadcasters are Ron MacLean and Don Cherry. They are two of Canada’s most famous and well known television personalities, due to their extensive weekly hockey coverage, and just being all around awesome. Note how Don Cherry is being extra awesome and wearing a cowboy hat, which is one of the symbols of Calgary!



This was just a quick snap of the full house crowd at the stadium pretty much right before the game started.



He’s a great personality, but I hate the way he plays the game . . . BUT . . . this picture is included in my blog just for Maya (bushofghosts) . . . =P



Finally, this is a picture of yours truly with about 5 minutes left in the third period. As you can see, it’s pretty damn dark now and I have like 5 layers on, since it was cold as all goddamn hell! Just thought I’d also point out for Aurain or Ali D if they’re reading this, I’m wearing one HELL of an awesome scarf, eh mates? ^_^ The Red Devils kept my neck warm!



All the tickets to the game were like laminated in super hard coated plastic, so that they could be collector’s items and very durable. I thought they were very nicely made.



Since I wasn’t an overly big fan of either team (Go Avalanche! Hahaha!), I didn’t get any memorabilia, aside from this Heritage Classic Mug that held numerous liters of hot chocolate for me throughout the game. Also, every seat in the stadium had one of these Heritage Classic Cushions on them, so that people wouldn’t literally freeze their asses off on the seats and it provided a decent amount of comfort.



Back to games! So, I’ve already praised them like none other but they deserve it once again (especially for somehow getting a gem like this in), but the Cash Converters near where I live is the best goddamn store in the universe! Want more proof? Feast your eyes on the picture above, while I don’t like the game, I don’t see how I could’ve possibly passed up this Final Fantasy XI Original Soundtrack PREMIUM BOX. If you look closely, you can see that it’s all shiny and sparkles, and even if you can’t read moonspeak, you can see that there are 7 freakin’ CDs in this thing.




Look at how gorgeous that by Yoshitaka Amano is! As you can see, the CDs are housed in these oversized folders. The discs actually do not stay in their holders very well at all, but I don’t really care because of how pretty everything looks. The bottom one is the soundtrack for the first expansion pack, Rise of the Zilart.




Seriously, Amano-san’s art is some of the BEST around! Here are the next two soundtracks and the folders that contain them. These two are for the Chains of Promathia and Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansions.




So, this giant honking soundtrack was released before the Wings of the Goddess expansion was released, but luckily the 6th and 7th CDs were of Unreleased Tracks and a nice Piano Collections.



Not only that, to conclude this awesome premium box, a booklet that contained piano sheet music for the numerous tracks in the game was also included. Using my nifty Yen converter, when this box first came out in Japan, it was close to $150. I can tell you that I pay a very small fraction of that from my favorite store out there, so mad props to you guys! ^_^



Slowly but surely, I am gathering all the colors of Game Boy Pockets and Game Boy Colors that were released in North America. Here we have a Red Game Boy Pocket along with a Dandelion Game Boy Color.



Diamond Dave has got to be like the best employee/friend dude around! I seriously challenge any of you to find a more ballin’, nice, and all around awesome guy that works at a store you frequent that is cooler than this dude! While this picture only has Super Off Road, Shadowrun, and the SUPER ELUSIVE DOES THAT GAME REALLY EXIST? (at least in my books) Kirby’s Dream Land 3, the fact that my homie set them aside for me, along with some AWESOME doubles that will go into my relaunched Trading Thread (when I get around to it), just shows how awesome a guy can be! Many thanks once again dude! =)



Here we have a few systems covered, which are a NES Dragon Warrior II, a Wii Punch-Out!!, and an in box NES Mega Man 4. I miss NES artwork on games. I mean the entire Dragon Warrior series on NES had some pretty hardcore awesome fantasy artwork on them, while the Mega Man games usually had hilariously bad artwork that was so bad it ended up working out all right.



Here is another mixed console picture of games. We start off with Azure Dreams for the PlayStation, along with a PlayStation Underground Vol. 2 Issue 4 disc, which my buddy Zoel informs me that while it’s not worth that much, they’re actually kind of rare and collectible. We follow that up with a trio of Nintendo published games like Fossil Figthers (Pokémon clone) for the DS, a freakin’ in box and sensationally good condition Super Mario Land for Game Boy, and Personal Trainer: Cooking (it was cheap and had Club Nintendo points in it!) for the DS as well.



Hell yeah! You don’t want to know how many hours I spent on Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64, as it will probably disgust you! Now that I have a complete copy of the one on Game Boy Color though . . . that’s just so damn sweet . . . it makes me want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant! (Possibly reward [not sure yet, we’ll see responses, hahaha!] if someone knows where that quote is from). I actually gave it a quick go and it’s a pretty terrible game and nothing like the N64 version. My homies at Cash Converters also know I’m a pretty big Tegan and Sara fan, so they also put this DVD (It’s Not Fun. Don’t Do It!) in my Box ‘O Stuff, which simply delighted me! =3



Down to the last picture for this haul . . . *tear* . . . T_T Hahaha! We start off with a replacement copy of Double Dragon Advance that my fellow collector and very close friend possumwrangler got for me, since this was a sealed copy and he knows how much I freakin’ love Atlus games! Next we have . . . shut up . . . I blame my Asian gene for kicking in . . . <_< . . . >_> . . . Hamtaro: Ham Ham Heartbreak along with Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light from Cash Converters. Finally, we end with a World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Mousepad that I forgot to include in my Christmas-ish post, which I received from my homegirl Ashley.

Well, that does it for another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul! Hopefully you enjoyed it. Be sure to tune in next week for some super awesome things I got from our very own MOMerator (Zodiac Eclipse) and a box of supremely awesome and DOMO things from fellow collector and partner in crime . . . mainly misdemeanors . . . ChillyBilly! Until next time, latez mates!

Dag yo! So, I’ll finally be kind of caught up with my backlog of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul blogs . . . kind of! Hahaha! This is my final entry into my “5 Months” mini-series and I’d say it ends with quite the bang! I get to being my January to current editions after this, but I’ll try to get that into one blog. Still, we have the Hardware and Figures I’ve gotten from the past 5 months or so. We have stuff spanning from the NES days to the current day in terms of hardware and peripherals! Also, we have some ballin’ figures from one of my favorite video game series! I have a couple things I could “mock” about in my usual pre-haul mini-rant, but I’m lazy and I guess I’ll be nice this week, hahaha! Still, on with the show!



You may be wondering why you see a plate/bowl of food in one of my hauls. It’s because I almost forgot I had this picture as I was inspired by the super, awesome, kickass, ultra kind and friendly, all round superstar Aubrey (who does PR for Deep Silver and the highly anticipated Dead Island) to make some linguine and clams, after seeing a picture of them she had in Japan. Here is my version, which is slightly edited with I believe to be spaghettini and you can’t see it, but I used a white wine reduction/sauce to cook the clams and pasta in. It was delicious. Many thanks for the inspiration yo! ^_^



So, I’ve only ever had like a light blue Game Gear from Japan that my uncle brought me when I was like 13 or something. I’ve seen many come and go from the best store ever (Cash Converters), but I finally decided to pick this bad boy up, since it was in box and I thought it was about time. Boxed stuff just rules eh?



I know this sounds dumb, but until I actually saw these, it never dawned on me that Nintendo sold separate NES Controllers. Well, lo and behold, they did! Boxed NES Controllers (2 of them) from the best store in the universe as per usual!



Holy hell! I have been looking for this guy for what seems like FOREVER! Let’s put it like this, my homeboy Diamond Dave and homegirl Suzanne have both been working at Cash Converters for like 10 years (I hope that’s right) and this is the FIRST EVER . . . R.O.B. Robotic Operating Buddy . . . they have EVER seen! If you’ve seen some of the stuff I’ve picked up from there (which if you haven’t, then you really shouldn’t be viewing this blog, hahaha!), it gives you a pretty damn good idea how hard it is to get or even see one of these buggers! He has everything with him and he’s in WORKING condition! It even still has like the “disc” warnings on it! You have no idea about the kind of happy I was when I saw this guy! It was indescribable! Seriously, you guys are THE BEST and have made me all kinds of happy with this guy! I’m very lucky to know some of the nicest and best people around . . . <3



It’s pretty damn hard to top the last picture and well . . . this one doesn’t really come close . . . hahaha! Here we have a Disney Epic Mickey Paintbrush, which actually functions as a nunchuk. It’s a pretty damn cool and well made peripheral for the console and it looks cool, plus it wasn’t all that expensive, which is why I picked it up.



Nothing overly special here either. Just another Game Boy Color that I’m slowly collecting every color of. This time we have Kiwi joining the like other two I already have.



Well . . . I’m a tard! >_< I succumbed to stupidity and bought this Mario 25th Anniversary Wii Console, even though I already have a Wii, with like 4 remotes and nunchuks and . . . yeah . . . -_-‘ I mean, limited edition, Mario, different color . . . it was too good to resist! *is trying to make himself feel better*



Yeah . . . well . . . to be fair on this one, I don’t have a DSi XL, but I don’t want to open this one to use, even though they’re way more awesome to play games on, since this is also a Mario 25th Anniversary one. Also, I in theory now have 2 copies of Mario Kart DS now . . . *sigh* . . .






Have I mentioned that my Cash Converters is the HANDS DOWN THE BEST STORE IN THE UNIVERSE? Have I? Seriously? If I haven’t, please do tell me so I can reiterate it is! =) Here we have a Street Figther 15th Anniversary Edition Arcade Stick that works for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. There’s obviously some noticeable damage to the outer box, but seriously, where and when the hell would you have a chance to pick something like this up, even without the box? Pretty much . . . NEVER! I’m privileged to know some of the nicest and best people. I owe Aron this time for this beauty. So the first two pictures are just of the box, showing off some gorgeous artwork and the characters in the numerous games on the back. The third picture shows how the front flap can lift up and has a nice see through layer to look at the fight stick. That “window” flap can also lift up so that’s how you actually get the fight stick out of the box. The fourth picture shows the fight stick in all its glory. If I may say so, even though this is for the last generation of consoles, this is one damn sexy fight stick! d(‘-‘d)




Even the instruction manual for the fight stick is pretty. I don’t care that it reuses the art from the box and the fight stick and everything, it’s just that it’s colorful and looks like so much care and attention has been put into it that makes me appreciate it. Keep in mind, this was a used product, but it also still had the super long poster of like the entire cast of the Street Fighter series up to this point in like perfect condition! I need to get that thing flattened, framed, and put on a wall somewhere! Still, much, much, much love to my favorite store and people again! ^_^




Okay, this is getting ridiculous! An IN BOX SUPER FAMICON? As the great GOB would say . . . COME ON! I don’t care that it’s the Hong Kong version and not the Japanese one, since it’s still authentic and it still works. Look at that box! Seriously! I live in Canada, I bought this from a used goods store . . . think about that for a moment. Seeing one of these would already be a tough task, but seeing one IN BOX? Look at the console in the second picture! No stupid yellowing or discoloring or anything. A nice clean, sleek, and sexy console, with a controller to boot! It’s so nice I don’t even care that it’s missing another controller with it. Seeing this up for sale at the store I spend more at than anywhere else just simply makes me love my life! =D



So, along with the Super Famicon, I managed to snag this little ditty from Cash Converters as well. At first, I had no idea what the hell it was, then I figured out that it actually attaches to the console through the cartridge slot. A bit more internet sleuthing led to find out that this was essentially a floppy disk extension that you could use to play emulated/downloaded games! Good old piracy and stealing even in the good old days . . . =P Hahaha! I haven’t had the chance to try this thing out yet, but I have literally a box full of floppy disks to try out.





Diamond Dave is seriously the most awesome guy around! Here we have an in box Sega Activator peripheral for the Genesis. It’s pretty much one of the worst “controllers” ever created and sold to mankind, which makes it that much more of a novelty! Even our Robot Founder did an article back in the day about its crappiness! Seriously, open that link in a new tab/window and see how retarded it is, hahaha! You can also see in the second picture the obscene number of instructional pamphlets that accompanied the damn thing. The last picture features the whole shebang, with the thing in the middle being a mousepad, just so you can get an idea of how big the thing is. I haven’t tried it yet, but if you watch the video in the above link, I don’t think I’ll be able to meet all the requirements in order to do so, hahaha!

So ends my mini-series within a series of 5 months of catch-up. There’s actually some stuff I haven’t included, because I’ll be using those things for a separate blog that should be upcoming. Finally being able to finish this mini-series though, means that I’m actually re-backlogged about 2 months. So expect that stuff to come in the next few weeks, a special import edition, plus some kickass custom ordered stuff. Many thanks for stopping by and until next time, latez mates!

Howdy mates! We’re back with yet another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul! I’m finally on the second to last 5 month catch up blog, before I get to my “recent” catch up blog, then I’ll finally be caught up . . . for only a short time knowing me . . . >_< Well, those of you who are reading are in for a bit of a treat today. I’ve got some swag to show off today! The more I think about it, the more I think about how in terms of the rate I collect swag at, I didn’t really get that much over the past 5 months . . . -_-‘ Still, hopefully you guys enjoy seeing some of it. We’ve got stuff from Club Nintendo, EB Games pre-order bonuses, stuff from eBay friends, stuff from the super awesome kickass guys from Fangamer (which may I add, they will be at PAX East so I suggest anyone going to TOTALLY check them out and buy their awesome stuff! ^_^), and finally a couple standees of which I have absolutely no room for. O_O Due to certain things happening on the site, my “post bannism trolling that isn’t really true since said people are not banned” will be on hiatus for the next little while . . . hopefully you will no longer be confused BulletMagnet my homie! =P On with the show!

NOTE: Due to my absence at PAX East this year, but my undying obsession with any and all things swag related, anyone going to PAX East that is willing to pick up extra swag or swag from specific booths for me, PLEASE Private Message me, as I am VERY willing to compensate/trade you games or other merchandise for awesome swag! I WILL most definitely make it WORTHWHILE for you!




As a fair number of you may already have, here is the Club Nintendo Super Mario Characters Figurine that was given out to Platinum Members through the North American version of Club Nintendo. The box alone that the figurine came in is nothing short of awesome, as it mimics the classic and iconic question mark box from the series. The figure is also of pretty high quality, as it’s made out of like a hard, but flexible plastic and is painted/colored very well. I’m also quite impressed with how the North American version of Club Nintendo is finally starting to catch up with their European and Japanese counterparts. Some of the stuff is about a year or so “too late,” but it’s nice to see they’re making the effort and how they’re regularly releasing new stuff for purchase with coins.



This here is a hella sweet Puma Messenger Bag you got if you pre-ordered DJ Hero 2. It has a ton of pockets and space, but maintains a decent look and lightweight. Personally, I’m still a bigger Guitar Hero series fan, as opposed to Rock Band. Although, I think that’s mainly due to the fact I liked the former’s guitars better while playing. It’s pretty sad that the series is gone now due to oversaturation. I still think Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was the best out of ALL of the rhythm/music games.



Hooray . . . -_-‘ Hahaha! Here we have a couple of Halo: Reach T-Shirts. The first is just a typical UNSC symbol, while the other one is of the Noble Six crew. I’ve still yet to pick up the game, since I want the Legendary Edition, but I’m trying to hold off and hope that they go down to like under half price, much like the Halo 3 Legendary Editions did after a few months.



So, when I went to PAX, I thought I’d go see Portal 2 first thing on the third day, so it’d be the easiest way to get the t-shirt. Little did I know, until it was too late, that Valve wasn’t smart (at least in my opinion) and allocate a specific number of t-shirts a day, so they ran out halfway through the second day. Long story short, I was pissed, I really wanted one, so I contacted an eBay friend shortly after the convention, and ended up with this one! Huzzah! I want the one with both robots on it, but this one is still pretty cool! As you can see, through the magic of Photoshop, you can see both the front and the back of the shirt.



I’m still pretty sad that I haven’t had the chance or the time to play BioShock 2 yet, but hopefully I can fix that up soon. Regardless, I remain a very big fan of the original and there was some hella sweet promotional stuff for the second game. I got it for a pretty good deal, but the first is the Rapture Records Vinyl that was given away in limited quantities to media outlets and were relatively hard to come by period. I’m pretty stoked about that one. Next to it, is the much more accessible and not overly expensive BioShock 2 EVE Hypo. It actually lights up that nice neon blue like in the games when you press the tip against something. The thing is pretty much the definition of badass!



I’m not a fan of pre-order bonuses going from awesome and cool physical items, to lame ass downloadable content and essentially pieces of paper! >_< Still, here we have codes for Fable III Custom Villager, Quest, and Gold; Halo: Reach UA Multi-Threat Mjolnir Mark 5V (B Armor); Dead Rising 2 Ninja Skills Pack; and finally a Halo: Reach Promo Metal Card – Kat. I actually liked the latter a lot, as it’s actually like a trading card made of pretty hefty metal and like actually properly printed on.






This is the kind of “level” that all pre-order items should be if you ask me. They should all be like art-like things, soundtracks, plushies, and other stuff like this. None of that crappy DLC stuff, hahaha. Still, we have the Metroid: Other M Art Folio that was a pre-order bonus. My favorite is the bottom left one of the first picture with Samus looking at the cityscape with a nice sunset in it. The pictures are printed on some nice, thick cardstock, and also have some information on the back of them explaining what the picture is all about.



Hooray . . . -_-‘ More DLC pieces of paper. This time we have Dead Space 2 – Dead Space Ignition Download, the not actually swag but I somehow got it Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (ULTIMATE SITH EDITION) – Starkiller (Card 6 of 10), Def Jam Rapstar Pre-Order Download Songs, Call of Duty: Black Ops Flight Suit Avatar Skin, and a Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Beta VIP Accesss codes. Yeah, nothing really special or good here in my books, aside from the Star Wars card.



Continuing on with some decent swag, we have some Super Street Fighter IV Super Thumb Fighters (Dee Jay vs. Blanka), a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Exclusive Content Voucher (is it just me or does Maulkiller look badass as hell?), a Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (holy balls I need to play this still) – Special Decal Set, which makes PSPs look like the [i]Kingdom Hearts one I imported from Japan, and a download code for GoldenEye 007’s Invisibility Mode.



We start this picture off with a ModNation Racers Race Flag Advertisement, followed by a Donkey Kong Country Returns Wii Remote Banana Pouch that is badass as hell, along with a Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Mousepad, with some Kinect promotion stuff like a Headband and Wristbands.



Don’t ask why/how I got all three, but here are the various colors of Super Scribblenauts Headphones you got if you pre-ordered the game. They’re pretty much just known as camo, polka dot, and gray. I actually haven’t had a chance to try them out yet, but they look like okay headphones. Not awesome like Turtle Beach’s, Astros’, or Steel Series’, but better than the super cheap ones you can get.



Luckily I pre-ordered Sonic Colors on DS as opposed to the Wii, which netted me this awesome Sonic the Hedgehog Fleece Cap. The very same one that the fabled Jim Sterling wore, while humping a Sonic Plushie in one of his I believe Jimquisition videos.



I’m not a fan of Japanime, unless it’s very, very particular series, but I’m not a fan of “new” Dragon Ball, aka, Naruto, but . . . I’m a VERY big fan of the company Atlus! ^_^ I assume you know where I’m going with this . . . but for those of you who don’t get it, I bought one of the Naruto games because it was published by Atlus, has their logo on the case, and well, I got this lame hat with it. I think it’s called the Naruto Shippuden Hat.



Not a big fan of this series either, even though they have pretty good collectible, much like this Halo: Reach UNSC Hat. I’m actually a big fan of the design, as it’s like an army, trucker hat mix, which fits well and just looks good in my books.



Ah, it’s so nice to have hookups! d(‘-‘d) Of numerous varieties . . . ;-D Hahaha! It’s fair sized sing, but we have a Nintendo Holiday 2010 Display. It’s got one of those self-standing triangle things on the back of it, and well, Nintendo just has nice displays for the most part.



In this ballin’ awesome picture, we have a Halo: Reach lanyard, which puts my lanyard count to . . . way the hell too many, hahaha! Next in line is a VERY, VERY, VERY nice Mario 25th Anniversary Keychain, along with one of the best bumper stickers ever, in the form of a Donkey Kong Country Returns one that has one of the most iconic quotes of more recent times.



So, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll mention it again just in case you guys forgot . . . Fangamer effin’ rules! These guys and gals are some of the most dedicated people around that just have nothing less than an undying passion for video games. They make the highest quality gamer merchandise from their own designs (usually designed by the ultra talented and extremely friendly Jon Kay) and know what appeals to us, since they too are gamers themselves. They also have some of the best customer service and respond to questions in a very timely fashion (usually by Reid) and I’ve seen like five full trolleys of stuff they’ve packed to send out to people. Plus, they’re going to be at PAX East (which I unfortunately won’t be able to make this year . . . *tears* . . . T_T), so make sure to check them out! Still, I’m pretty sure you guys get the picture! =P Here we have the typical hand drawn card they ship with every order, a Liquid Pin Set from the Metal Gear series, a Gate Keychain from the super awesome Chrono Trigger, and the typical kickass stickers and pins they toss in with every order. Seriously . . . BUY THEIR STUFF!



So, you guys may have remember from a number of months ago (I’m backlogged okay! =P) where Hamza posted how these guys, just out of the blue, showed Destructoid some mad love! Well, I placed my order when they were giving out these super limited pins that have the most ballin’ design of the one and only Mr. Destructoid! As I literally just said from the previous paragraph . . . THESE GUYS RULE AND BUY THEIR STUFF TO SUPPORT THEM! I’m still so very sad that I won’t be able to see their newer stuff like the E-Mug, Super16Bit Keychain, and possibly any new stuff they decide to debut! I mean, even their Gift Cards are of the utmost highest quality. *sigh* If only there was another contest for a trip there this year . . .




Now that I got all the emo and sad panda out of my system, here we have a VERY super kickass art cel. It’s a Metal Gear Solid: Rising Limited Edition Cell. Unfortunately, you can’t tell from the picture, but it’s a LAYERED art cel, so it’s actually kind of 3D and SUPER badass. The quality and detail of it is nothing short of astounding! I believe they were only given away to VIP members of the media at the Tokyo Game Show, and as you can see in the second picture, I got number 13 of 200! Awww yeah!




So, I’m so desperately out of room in my basement that I don’t even have room for this kickass Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Standee! >_< The first picture just shows that it’s a very shiny standee and still has the like protective blue covering for the transparent sign with the game’s name on it. Had to pull off a few favors to get this bad boy, but it was totally worth it. The second picture is just one that I Google’d so you’d have an idea of what it looks like.




So, I’ve invested over 300 hours into Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies and it is ballin’ as hell. Once again, I don’t have room for this awesome standee, but the first picture just shows the title panel of the game, while the second shows a blurry picture I Google’d. It’s actually pretty cool since in the top corners it has some “shelves/holders” for promotional books they had for before the game was out. I got this one from awesomeness . . . that is all that needs to be said! =)

So, that does it for another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul! Next week will be my final 5 Months catch up edition, then I can finally get caught up on my recent stuff! Next week will be the super cool “Hardware” edition my friends, so if you’re interested, please do look forward to that. I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised with some of the stuff I managed to get, as it came from the best store in the world . . . Cash Converters! So, until next time, latez mates!

Dag yo! So, I’m on my third to last “5 Months” blog. This time you guys are in for a treat, as I’ll be recapping the new games (yeah, I actually do get new ones, since they’re not available from Cash Converters, hahaha!) I’ve bought the past 5 months, along with a few super kickass gifts/trades I’ve received from some local Calgary homeboys. We’ve got stuff I’ve purchased from EB Games, Best Buy, Capcom’s Online Store, NIS’ Online Store, a Kijiji purchase, and a couple hookups/presents from my homies possumwrangler and Grimstar. This should be a bit more exciting than the last one (even though the last one had stuff from LIGHTS! =P), so hopefully you enjoy! But before that . . .

If I had a ton of money, I’d be frivolous and totally fucking waste it all, since I have no goddamn clue how to budget money or how not to be responsible . . . period! I’d just break shit and not care, because I can replace it for the time being, plus I’ll totally perpetuate the American stereotype of being a wasteful mother fucker. I’m pretty much narcissistic, because I have no real sense of reality and think that people will magically like me if I lose some weight, even though I have the personality of a giant asshole. I’ll totally somehow build a monument of myself as well, to somehow translate how much “better” I am than everyone else, even though I may have to rely on the food bank, yet will waste all my money on impulse purchases! With that done . . . on with the show! ^_^



So, you can tell how backlogged I’ve been with posting by this picture. Lo and behold, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector’s Edition. I was quite the fan of this collector’s edition, as it had unique packaging and just had all around awesome stuff. This is despite the fact that it’s pretty much the same as the World of Warcarft collector’s editions. As you can see, there’s guest passes, the game, a comic, a dog tag USB drive, an art book, a DVD, and a soundtrack. As any typical Asian would, I was pretty into the game for when I finally got around to playing it, around October/November, but was still really nostalgic for the old school strategies, hahaha!



Hey! Shut up! It said Final Fantasy and “Collector’s Edition” on it . . . <_< . . . >_> . . . -_-‘ Well, we have the travesty of Final Fantasy XIV Online Collector’s Edition here. The package actually has some really cool stuff in it, like mini-certificates and all kinds of other jazz, but even though I had no intention of playing it, it’s kind of sad to hear how terrible it was. It honestly looked pretty good at PAX 2010, but alas, it seems like it didn’t pull through. I’m still not a fan of the series going the MMORPG route, but I’m also not a fan of people who expect them to be all the “same” game either, but that’s for another day. Beside it, we have Dead Rising 2 Zombrex Edition. It’s not opened, but a few posts ago, my homeboy ChillyBilly opened his and gave you an inside look at its contents, which you can find here. It has some cool stuff like a syringe pen, a notepad, art book, etc. I’m a fan of the steelbook it comes in too.



Much like my collecting counterpart, I’m a tard too, and got a second copy of the game, only this time it’s the High Stakes Edition that was only available through Capcom’s Online Store. It’s pretty much “open,” so I decided I’d show you guys the contents, even if you forgot what it looked like from my homie’s post. The poker chips have a nice weight to them and the map is pretty ballin’ and realistic. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the golden ticket to win a life size zombie statue . . . lame . . . >_< Hahaha!



I should really play my PS3 more often . . . or console games for that matter. Here we have copies of MAG, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, and Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes From Liberty City. Odds are, I’ll get around to the latter sometime, as I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in IV, where I think they lowered the “customization” from San Andreas just enough, but kept it still pretty wide open.



Now we have some DS love for some of my favorite companies around! We have Xseed, Atlus, Natsume, and to a lesser extent, WB Games . . . hahaha! We have the adorably cut Ivy the Kiwi?, the crazy mini-game filled 101-in-1 Sports Megamix, the somewhat improved Super Scribblenauts, and the very solid and still pretty much unknown port of Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals.



Believe it or not, I do give my PSP some love. Can’t really go wrong with any of these RPGs, particularly with the companies behind them. We have Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles II, along with Aksys’ Blazing Souls: Accelate, and the great Atlus’ Knights in the Nightmare, which also has a download voucher for the very excellent Yggdra Union in it as well! ^_^



You know what’s annoying? How it’s extremely rare that Nintendo games will EVER go down in price? Unless there’s like a VERY special reason or sale, notice how Nintendo published games never go down in price? It gets annoying when you want to get it, but it’s been out like over a year and still the same price . . . >_< Enough with that though, since we have an exception in the form of Wii Music. Continuing with the Wii, we have the bundle edition of GoldenEye 007, which has that sexy Gold Classic Controller Pro! To finish the picture off, we have my second version of Plants vs. Zombies!



Special edition time! d(‘-‘d) We start off with the second of the Ys special editions that Xseed and Falcom are releasing on the PSP. It is Ys: The Oath in Felghana Premium Edition and it has a soundtrack and calendar in it. Next up is God of . . . erm . . . I mean Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Limited Edition, which has a soundtrack and a nice art book in its packaging. Finally, we have Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Collector’s Edition, and it has a collectible steelbook, some downloadable content for skins, lightsabers, etc., and a 2GB Starkiller flash drive.



Speaking of Ys, I mentioned back in September that I won a contest to get my name in Ys Seven as a quest giving NPC. I didn’t have time to play the game, so I was never able to find myself, until PekoponTAS wrote his blog for his 2010 Game of the Year Awards, where he mentioned he played the game. Long story short, I asked him to find me and he did! ^_^ =D =) =3 So, I can officially now say I am forever in a video game . . . hahaha! Hopefully I’ll have my mini-gift for you out by the time I post this for finding me mate! Thanks again!



So, the NIS Online Store is pretty much the best thing ever if you want any of their games. They almost always have super limited (usually 2,000 at most or less) pre-order bonuses for their already usually rare games. This time around, we have Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland. This special edition bundle came with the art book (which is also in the Gamestop [USA at least . . . no Canada . . . >_<] exclusive version) and the fairly limited soundtrack. Awesome!



Keeping with the NIS Online Store, we have Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman, which not only has one of the craziest and best names ever, but through pre-ordering online, I got a sticker that was limited to just a few hundred or so. Not as cool as a soundtrack or the other stuff they usually offer, but still appreciated nonetheless. Along with that, we have yet another Atlus game with Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City that also came with an art book of all three games!



Here we have a still sealed Fallout: New Vegas Collector’s Edition. I honestly can’t remember absolutely everything that’s suppose to be in it, but my homie ChillyBilly opened his copy and showed off some of the contents. It seems like there are playing cards, some dice, that platinum coin flipper thing (it’s coming back to me), poker chips, coaster, and like a poster.



What we have here is a pretty ballin’ Call of Duty: Black Ops Prestige Edition. You get the Hardened Edition in it as well, which has a steelbook case, there’s a medal somewhere in there too, a few other doodads, and you get an actual working RC Car that also has a camera on it. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Also, I find this game to be much better than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, even though it’s made by Treyarch, mainly due to the fact it’s significantly less buggy, broken, and gimmicky.



I was quite the fan of this Collector’s Edition of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood! You get a big box with some awesome art on it, and in it you have one of those pre-printed and signed posters, a bonus content DVD, the game, an art book, and the super kickass jack-in-the-box. Pretty cool for a game that I hear is a significant upgrade from the previous games in the series.



Now we’re back to some DS lovin’. To start off, we have Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon, which is apparently the hands down best in the series. I unfortunately haven’t had the time to invest in the game yet, but my very close homeboy Zoel says it’s nothing short of sensational. To the point where he has GameFAQs’ only guide for it, which you can find if you click here! It’s a pretty in-depth guide for a pretty fun game, from what I’ve played. Next to it, we have the superior to the Wii version of Sonic Colors. Nothing much I can say about it, only that it came with some awesome swag you’ll see next week or so.



So, I was a tard and was hoping that Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride would eventually go down in price, or I would find a copy at my gaming mecca, Cash Converters, but it just disappeared on me. That’s why I just decided to bite the bullet and buy this from EB Games used when it finally showed up, for a price I thought was inflated. Still, it’s from the Dragon Quest series, so you can’t really go wrong. Next to it is a game that I PROMISE you that I am going to play, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors! I got some sweet stuff with that as well, but you’ll have to wait until next post. Aksys has really been on a roll lately with releasing really niche but awesome games! ^_^



And now for the opinion dividing Disney Epic Mickey Collector’s Edition. I haven’t had a chance to play it aside from PAX, but it seemed to be a better game than a lot of people are saying about it. Still, it seemed like a sweet collector’s edition, particularly due to the Mickey Mouse figure that is in the box, which I was told some people were buying it solely for.



A new expansion comes out, so it just naturally means I’ll have to pick up the Collector’s Edition of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Somewhat interesting tidbit, I actually don’t have the Collector’s Edition of the original game . . . -_-‘ Anybody out there looking to offload a complete version of that to me? Private message if you are willing to! =)



A couple more random games I got a hold of, both of which were the Deal of the Day for EB Games’ in Canada. We start with NIER on the PS3 for a cool $10 and then the ever so expensive $5 I spent on America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking, which I picked up solely for the Club Nintendo points.



Somehow I messed up and forgot to include this Genesis copy of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys in my last post, especially since it came from Cash Converters. Along with that though, we have Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, which were on sale for like $40 together around Christmas time.



Just a typical “Premiere Edition” guide for a Nintendo game, this time being Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.



I don’t know how, but somehow I forgot to do my typical photograph of this in my room, like I do with the rest of my collection. I was too lazy to bring this upstairs, so I just brought the camera downstairs since I was heading down anyways. Still, we have Super Mario All-Stars here, on display in my “collector’s edition” corner of my gaming collection.



Here are a few random things that I got from either Kijiji or from some local friends. We have a boxed copy of Arkanoid: Doh It Again (really? “Doh It Again?”), some mad ballin’ Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, an Xbox copy of Capcom vs. SNK 3 EO, and last but not least, for some reason, a relatively elusive copy of Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir! Many thanks yo! You know who you are.



So, every once in a while, my fellow collector homeboy possumwrangler will order guides on Amazon for us. He’ll also check out their Atlus selection to see if there are any sellers of stuff that I’m missing. Well, this time he hella pulled through for me. First up is a game that I didn’t even have on my “Atlus Buy List,” which is High Velocity: Mountain Racing Challenge[i]. It’s on freakin’ Saturn yo! That’s pretty sweet, although, now I have to find one of them cases for it . . . >_< . . . hahaha! Along with that though, we have a sealed copy of [i]DemiKids: Light Version for GBA, which even Mr. I’m the Shin Megami Tensei Fan With No Avatar Picture didn’t even know it was from the series! So much Atlus . . . so much win! ^_^ Thanks dude, you’re the best!



So, we’re almost at the end of this haul friends, but I have some awesome stuff to follow up the Atlus stuff. Here we have two of the PlayStation’s most notoriously hard to get games in the form of the late Working Designs’ Vanguard Bandits and the ever lovable The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. Another local homeboy in Grimstar is a fan of that Japanime stuff, so he went to the mini-Japanime festival thing in Calgary. He knows a vendor that goes there, so I just gave him money and he picked up these two gems for me. Awww yeah! =) Many thanks dude, tis be nothing short of awesome . . . and shiny! d(‘-‘d)



Awww yeah! =3 Not only did he manage to snag the previous two for me, he also managed to get this gem from the same seller for me as a Christmas present! The possibly even more elusive/expensive Mega Man Legends 2. Dude, you da man for helping with the collection and being a brotha from anotha motha! So, a huge shout out to you Grimstar, and I know it’s late, but you’ll most definitely enjoy what I have in store for your Christmas present! =P

Well, so concludes another edition of one of my hauls. I’m thinking swag will be the next one, then finally hardware the one after. We’ll see. It is a long weekend for me, so I might try to get up some Japan pictures for Monday. Still, due to some . . . “circumstances,” this may be the last week of my post bannism but not really “rants” at the paragraph before pictures, but things may change! =D Hahaha! Until next time, latez mates.