A Compulsive Collector's Haul - Why I <3 The Trading Forum Edition!

Well folks, it’s the return of yet another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul! Today’s haul is yet another plea from me to get the community more involved in the Trading Forums! I’m willing to bet that this is probably the biggest trade that has gone down in the thread, and probably will be for quite a long time. As regulars of the Trading Forums may know, Harry Hood was trading away his entire gaming collection, and boy did he have some REAL GEMS! With that said, he didn’t want any games in return for the trade, but electronics like a digital camera, memory cards, etc. So, my homeboy possumwrangler and I decided to price some things out and offer him a bunch of electronics in return for his goods. It didn’t come cheap, but I think all parties were pretty happy with the end result. With that said, on with the show . . . oh yeah . . . Okami . . . you know that game? It’s totally sweet . . . but has nothing on Ocarina of Time . . . hahaha! Hmmm . . . that last comment may have been pointless now, but I still felt the need to say it! ^_^



So, this is the mother honking box we got in the mail. From this angle and all, it looks like any other box, but you’ll soon see this thing was effing HUGE!



So, here’s a picture of the box from a bit further back. In case any of my regular readers are wondering, the environment looks different, since I get things shipped to possumwrangler’s house. Long story, don’t want to get into it, hahaha. But yeah, as you can see, the box is pretty much the same size as a goddamn TV stand.



This picture is to show you that not only was this box big as hell, it was heavy as shit too! The thing weighed like 50 fucking pounds! Not only that, look at the freaking shipping cost! $85.75!!! Don’t worry folks, this was taken into account for our trade and such, but holy hell was it a lot!



So, this is possumwrangler’s and he’s very happy with it. The FULL Steel Battalion setup. It’s the game and the full 3 part controller with foot pedals as well. I don’t know how/why, but Harry Hood even threw in an extra right side of the control panel. The blue buttons indicate that this was a second print controller (with the green one indicate a first print), but from what we experienced, there was no difference in gameplay. possumwrangler tried to play it by himself, which was freaking hilarious as he kept getting hit shit ruined. I decided to be the weapons guy as he steered the damn thing, and let me tell you, playing with 2 people is comfortable, but adding a third would make the game even more accessible.



Here we have some guides I got in this trade. We have Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and La Pucelle Tactics. Nothing overly special or such.



Holy mother of pearl! I have been looking for AGES for this guide in good condition! I was a retard and didn’t get it while Nintendo had it as one you could order, as I thought it’d be around for a while, and I instantly regretted it. It’s in GREAT condition, minus my grubby fingerprints that I have to wipe off. But yeah, The Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition guide is shiny and full of awesome.



DoubleJump Books makes a bunch of guides for more “niche” games per se, which is why I was pretty psyched when I was able to trade for these. We have some Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner – Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3.



Believe it or not, BioShock was a game I ACTUALLY played! *gasp* I know! It’s shocking! But it was a game I thoroughly enjoyed and thought was pretty sweet. With that said, I managed to snag from Harry Hood this very special and limited edition BioShock swag. What’s in the box? Let’s find out.



So, besides a really cool “faded” and “rustic” box, we have a limited edition faceplate, which is limited to 5,100 in the world. Apparently these were only given to like Gamestop managers. We also have a lanyard in there, a pamphlet explaining Rapture and how to eliminate Big Daddies, as well as a card with an exclusive BioShock Xbox 360 downloadable theme. Pure bitchin’!



I should really get Eternal Sonata on either console it’s out on. With that said, here are 3 of the 5 faceplates that were limited and rare promos as well. I have no idea what any of the characters’ names are, but they seemed cool and pretty, so I wanted them.



Ah, the stuff I collect and have way too much of . . . swag. Here we have a Gears of War Dog Tag, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Keychain (with actual working hourglass full of sand), Gears of War 2 Cog Dog Tags, an Apollo Justice Pendant, and finally a Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Pin. So nice to add high quality swag to my collection.



I already had a copy of Beatmania and one DJ Controller (not so original now, are we DJ Hero?), but I couldn’t pass up adding another 2 of the controllers, especially one in box! I pretty much gifted possumwrangler a controller and a copy of the game, but now I have a boxed version . . . ^_^ . . . wait . . . that’s kind of sad and lame . . . >_< Hahaha!



Here are more games that were part of possumwrangler’s order. There’s some Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, Serious Sam, Chaos Wars (sealed, plus with the best voice acting ever, hahaha!), and Whiplash.



Once again, not my swag but cool nonetheless. First is a Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Reversible Poster, then a Sonic Plush, followed by a Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Limited Edition Laser Cel.



I don’t know how he got it, but I’m glad I now have some awesome Nintendo swag. Here we have a Super Mario Galaxy Christmas Ornament, Super Mario Galaxy Stocking, and the Mario and Yoshi Clip-On Plushies. In the middle is a game I’ve been looking forever to get my hands on, Breath of Fire IV! Sequel to Breath of Fire III, which is a phenomenal RPG and originator of the “Master” system.



Oh shizz! Even more swag for me! I should really get around to playing Valkyria Chronicles, especially with how everyone says it’s super sweet, but I’ll do with my On the Gallian Front: Field Reports from the Second Europan War booklet. There’s also a Grand Theft Auto IV N1K0 License Plate, another Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Limited Edition Laser Cel, a Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword Stylus (damn this thing is cool), a Phoenix Wright Stylus (this is a double so it may be free swag in a trade I do), Psychonauts Playing Cards, and a Soulcalibur IV Keychain.

That does it for yet another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul. I’m thinking of making a mini-banner to put before all of my hauls, since it’s pretty much a series now. I’m trying to think of ideas and such of what to put into it, so any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, unless someone wants to make me one, hahaha! Once again, my JoeCamNet post will be delayed, as I’m getting yet another shipment from him, but I still have more goodies in the pipeline, so stay tuned. Also, get your asses to the Trading Forums!