Recent Hauls x Collection

Sept – Oct

So once again, it’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. Although I’ve had the materials [pictures] ready, I was not motivated enough to actually write a post.

I find just posting my latest hauls to be real easier than doing reviews, so I’ve decided to just post my recent hauls. As a testament to my laziness, the first haul was due to be posted way back in early October!

The above image is of the goodies I bought during the London MCM Expo, which was a week ago! ^^;

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Full low-down of the 3 hauls after the break ^^

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HAUL 01. (Late SEPT – Early OCT)

List of figures:

ALTER – Chua Churam

MEGAHOUSE – Alice
MEGAHOUSE – Melona
MEGAHOUSE – Airi
MEGAHOUSE – Yumil

KOTO – Mao
KOTO – Komari
KOTO – Shouko-san

YAMATO – Motoko Kusanagi

GRIFFON – Kanu

KAIYODO – Rei Ayanami

*CRAZY LABEL – Mei Mei & Di Di*

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I had almost given up on getting Alice (Queen’s Gate) at retail or near-retail price, but luckily, I managed to source one, along with Melona (Queen’s Blade).

Queen’s Blade Airi and Yumil came back instock at PlayAsia – I did not hesitate this time to get them! My Queen’s Blade collection has grown considerably with this haul ^^

Got myself the original colour-variation version of Shouko-san (Shunya Yamashita) during a sale at a hobby store. I wouldn’t have got her otherwise as I’ve already got the ‘black’ version, reviewed here.

A while ago I frowned upon poseable figures – now I get excited about playing with them ^^ Got myself Motoko from Yamato’s VMF line (supposedly to rival the RAH series of action figures). However, this figure is not without faults (review later – possibly).

Perhaps most exciting of them all was the two small vinyl figures, Mei Mei and Di Di from House of Liu. I had been waiting for these as they are just pure awesomeness – and I don’t even use that word! Will definetly talk about them more in the future as I’ve got a few things I’d like to mention…

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House of Liu baby vinyl – Teaser!

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HAUL 02. (London MCM Expo)

List of figures:

SEGA – Kasumi
SEGA – Ayane
SEGA – Rei Ayanami
SEGA – Rio

TOYS WORKS – Rei Miyamoto
TOYS WORKS – Kanu

TOY’S PLANNING – Mina Majikina

KOTO – Asuka

PS - Zhao Yun Zilong

YAMATO – Ringo

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LOADS of impulse buys this time! Mina, Asuka and Rio were fairly cheap and, probably because of the lack of rare or sought after items this time round, I ended up buying them.

Actually, there were other figures that I wanted, but I could get them cheaper from online. Unfortunately, that was before the value of the £ sank like the titanic orz.

Still, I got both Ringo and Miyamoto Rei for decent prices – both of which I was planning on buying from Play-Asia had they not been at the show! So lucky me ^^

Completely forgot about the Kasumi and Ayane releases, both of which were designed by Shunya Yamashita, so I was lucky enough to find them at the show as well. From what I saw, they were selling like hot cakes at the expo!

Zhao Yun Zilong (no, I won’t be able to remember her name either!) is a figure I first came across on BeNippon. I thought she looked quite interesting, although I don’t think she is widely known or from a popular series (correct me if i’m wrong!) so I was suppose to find her at the expo. Another vendor had the black version of her which, if i’m to be honest, is actually the nicer version. However, the price was far from nice, so I’ve had to make do with the white version.

It’s almost as if every one of my hauls has to have a Rei Ayanami figure thrown in there! (And I’ve only seen the recent remake of the series!) This time, I saw an very stylised figure of Rei. There was a similar, ‘teen’ version of this figure, but she was sold by the time I got back round to the vendor. However, I like this version more anyway! I found out when I got home that the figure is based off one of Okama’s designs. Didn’t know of him until I did a search – found out he is a popular artist, and has loads of artbooks!

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HAUL 03. (Trip into central London a few days ago)

List of figures:

KOTO – Haruka
KOTO – Karin

KAIYODO – Rei Miyamoto

List of books:

Flamboyant

Comic Artists-Asia

Comickers Art 1 & 2

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So my latest haul is also one of my most modest so far. I got the Kotobukiya version of Haruka instead of Alters, which is probably a mistake! On the bright side however, I do save quite a bit!

I got another Shunya bust to add to my collection, which now brings the total to 6. Kotobukiya haven’t announced any new busts as of late – maybe they aren’t selling as well as they had hoped?

And to finish the haul off are a few books I bought – nothing major. Comickers Art is a new magazine dedicated to tutorials and tips to drawing manga, as well as other Asian-influenced art styles. Very good first issues to far. They also have a sister series called Comickers Coloring Book, which looked quite decent.

The Flamboyant I got is the western edition, which includes 5 illustrations not included in the Japanese version. Beautiful artbook – highly recommended!

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OUTRO.

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Wow, I don’t think I’ve used the word outro since the good old AsianAvenue days! Anyway, I thought I’d touch on a slightly different topic on your way out…

Although I’ve said so before, this will probably be the last time I will have ‘big’ hauls for a while. I’m sure everyone understands the financial difficulties the world is facing, and may unfortunately be affected by it.

Since the pound (£) is so much weaker than before (whilst, annoyingly, the Yen is getting stronger) figures are getting more and more expensive to import! Oh well, time to invest back into the economy and support the fellow British by buying from home…