Latest Purchases #83

Wii Sports Resort is a title I'd seen a few times for various prices on the used market. The original Wii Sports made the Wii fly off the shelves and Wii Sports Resort was just as much, if not more popular than the first game. This has been a Wii game I've always coveted, but I was just unwilling to fork over $40 or more for it. When I was picking up Splatoon and Pikmin 3 a few weeks ago, my local GameStop had a used, complete copy of Wii Sports Resort for $20. I didn't want to spend anymore than I already had so I took a chance and left the store without it, thinking, hoping, that it would still be in the store a few weeks later. Sure enough, it was, so I immediately snatched it up.

My original plan was to leave GameStop with an amiibo or two, one of them being Ness, but with Nintendo and scalpers making it infuriating to buy amiibos that aren't the usual suspects (Mario, Peach, Bowser, etc.) I opted for a trio of plushies instead. Blue Toad, has always been my favorite Toad since blue is my favorite color and he was all kinds of awesome in Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario 3D World. This one is as cute as a button. I've got more Luigi plushies than I do of Mario but I wanted this one to go along with a Mario I've got, who is also of the sit down variety. There are actually a ton of Kirby plushies I've seen online that consist of the little pink puffs numerous copy abilities. GameStop had none of those, but they did have this little guy and I couldn't just leave him there.

Since this year is the 30th anniversary of the Super Mario Bros. series, I decided to invest in some more Retro Game Cases to better show off my Super Mario Bros. collection. These take up more space on a shelf as opposed to displaying the carts lose, but when the cases are this good, the trade off is well worth it. With SNES games, you sometimes get the choice between the American or Japanese box art. I have nothing against Super Mario World's North American box art but I've always liked the extra details that the Super Famicom version uses. I'll probably end up getting the North American version somewhere down the line just to have both.

Latest Purchases #82

People continue to make the bogus claim that the Wii U has no games, yet I play it more than any other console. Between Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros, I've got Hyrule Warriors on the back burner and I just resumed playing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze again along with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Its getting to be a bit overwhelming to have so many Wii U games to play and here I am with more to add to the pile.

I wanted to pick up Bayonetta 2 on the day it released, but it just wasn't in the cards. Fortunately, waiting has once again paid off for yours truly since I was able to snag it brand new at GameStop for $44.99. But before I dig into Bayonetta 2, I'll be tackling the first Bayonetta since I never did play it when it was released years ago. To this day, I think the inclusion of the first Bayonetta along with Bayonetta 2 was a ridiculously smart move.

Splatoon is another game I wanted to buy on launch day but I just didn't have the $60 to fork over at the time. I've been sour on the FPS and TPS for some time and this is largely due to the market being overrun with games in this genre. Since splatoon takes a remarkably different approach to what is arguably a worn out genre, ditching the dark and moody aspects usually associated with it, I'm naturally intrigued. I'm a little nervous about going online with this one since tons of experienced players area already out there but I'm sure I'll learn the ropes and what it means to be both a kid and a squid.

When I was picking up Splatoon, I had no idea I'd find a complete, used copy of Pikmin 3. If you were not aware, Pikmin 3 has unfortunately become one of those rarer Wii U titles. New physical copies are going for more than the $60 asking price online and unless you're willing to pay $80 or more, the digital method is currently the cheapest way to experience the third Pikmin entry. So I consider myself rather fortunate that I was in GameStop at the time that I was.

The last amiibo I purchased was everyone's favorite cheery-chasing dot munch. That's Pac-Man for the three of you that have never seen Wreck It Ralph. Sonic makes the guess star Super Smash Bros. amiibo line complete. Or, at least it would have until Sakurai added Ryu to the line up. GameStop had two Sonics left and I wasn't about to chance someone grabbing them and have to pay a bit extra from buying him online.

Latest Purchases #81

Did you ever do something stupid like throw away the boxes that your NES, SNES and N64 games came in? Since this was long before companies thought to put games in lasting cases, I'm sure more than a few of you did just that. Thanks to Retro Game Cases, I'm now able to pimp out my retro games in style and keep those cartridges from getting dust in them. These cases are of excellent quality and for some games, you can choose to go with the Japanese box art, as I did for Super Mario 64. When I looked over the back case for Super Mario Bros. 3, I realized how much I missed reading the text on the back of those old NES boxes. Most cases are under $10 and I can't wait to order some more.

I think plushies may be my favorite video game collectible memorabilia. In the four years I've been living in Virginia Beach, I've amassed a ton of these things and now I've got three more to add to the pile. To my knowledge, this is the only Mega Man X plush available and its done in the same style as the Mega Man and Proto Man plushies that I've got. No surprise since X is also from Great Eastern Entertainment. All X needs now is his partner Zero, which I'll get around to ordering in due time.

Wind Waker Zelda has one of my favorite designs of the Zelda character, right next to Skyward Sword Zelda. The art style of Wind Waker lends itself quite well to plushies and now Toon Link won't be so lonely. I love the attention to detail on this thing. I think she's a little bit bigger than both of my Toon Link plushies, though.

I found this Blue Pikmin behind a set of Nintendo and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic plushies. He was really tucked away back there. I saw something blue in the back and thought "Could it be?!" And it was! The original three color Pikmin are present and accounted for. The Purple and White Pikmin gotta be comin' down the pipe line next.

Anyone remember The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past manga? I'd seen this in the issues of Nintendo Power way back in 1992. Looking at it a again having now read numerous manga, the art style looked very familiar to me. It turns out the story and art was done by none other than Shotaro Ishinomori, the guy that did, among other works, Cyborg 009. Ishinomori's art style is very similar to the famed Osamu Tezuka, who has a very unique, round style to his drawings, giving it a very classic look. I never did get to read this entire Link to the Past manga. I didn't start buying Nintendo Power regulalry until 1993 and by that time, the manga had already run it's course. Naturally, I'm pretty excited to have this baby among my Zelda stuff. Viz published this thing so hopefully they'll do more reprints of Nintendo stuff like the Super Mario Adventures manga that also ran in Nintendo Power or Ishinomori's other projects like Cyorg 009, which really needs to get reprinted. I believe he also had a Rockman manga and I'd really love to see that.

I've seen this Bowser plushie online for a few years now and having finally him in my posession, I can see that he's much, much bigger than I thought he'd be. He might be the biggest plush that I own and he's detailed and stuffed quite well. He's so massive and bulky that's it really is kinda hard to capture him in a photo. That and it's tough to get him to stand up on his own.

Some amiibos are much harder to find than others. That's not exactly breaking news, but its still quite infuriating that scalpers continue to get their way since Nintendo does not understand the concept of supply and demand for their amiibo line. I was really surprised to walk into my local GameStop, which I hadn't visited in months and see a lone Pac-Man amiibo sitting with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD plushies. I'm guessing someone decided not to pick him up, because that's the only reason I can fathom that he wouldn't be in the amiibo section. I never expected it to be that easy to snag a Pac-Man, but in this case, it really was.

Latest Purchases #80

Freeze may have been the first major big bad off the three truly complete monsters in Dragon Ball Z, but my favorite of the lot has always been Cell. Yes, I realize that he may come off as vanilla when compared to Freeze, but I like him more anyway. This Perfect Cell vinyl Pop figure has the honor of being the first Cell merch I've ever bought. Ain't he precious?

I found a new store at my local mall called T-Shirt Kingdom that has the most impressive selection of t-shirts that I've ever seen. Sports, anime, gaming; you name it, they've got it. In particular, the amount of different gaming tees is astonishing. They had a ton of Pac-Man tees and since he's become one of my mains in Super Smash Bros., I thought I'd give him some shirt love. I ended up leaving the store with tree Pac-Man tees and one matching hat.

The Ginyu Force makes the cover of the latest Dragon Ball 3-in-1 manga releases. This one collects volume 22-24. Like a lot of long time DBZ fans, I love the Ginyu Force and this book contains some of my favorite fights from early DBZ, including Recoome making light of Vegeta. The next DB 3-in-1 has Goku turn Super Saiyan during the lengthy battle with Freeza. Hot dog!

Jaco The Galatic Patrolman is a manga I'd heard of just days before making this post. I found out about it on Amazon while I was looking around. I've got a few other manga works of Akira Toriyama like Sand Land, Cowa! and some Dr. Slump volumes (give that series the 3-in-1 treatment) and I'm always eager to check out other stuff he's done. Turns out Jaco actually takes place in the Dragon Ball universe and is a prequel to the entire series.

Disney, thank you remembering that wonderful Disney Afternoon cartoon block from the 1990s. Sure, you aren't giving these DVD releases the excellent treatment that you do your classic films like Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmations (need to get those on Blu-Ray) but I'm happy to have TaleSpin, Gargoyles and now Goof Troop on DVD, nonetheless. Probably gonna binge watch this.

I'd meant to pick up Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker when it released back in December but I had Christmas shopping I needed to take care of. $40 Wgames are a lot easier for me to swallow in this HD gaming world we now live in. I found the Captain Toad levels in Super Mario 3D World to be very enjoyable so its great that we have a whole game revolving around that particular play style. It didn't take me long to finish Kirby and the Rainbow Curse so I'm guessing it shouldn't take me too long to finish Treasure Tracker. I've got a few more days off work so I'm planning to dive right into this one.

Its always bugged me that SEGA dropped the "SEGA" from this title. I mean, really, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed? Maybe its just me but that sounds a little strange. Yeah, there's a bunch of Sonic characters in this game but we've got other SEGA stars, too. On the other hand, Sonic is pretty much all we get from the company these days. Apparently this is the Bonus Edition of the game which includes stuff like the OutRun Bay track, Metal Sonic and stickers. I'm guessing those stickers are like the stamps from Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and the NES Remix Pack, which I still need to grab despite the fact that I already own NES Remix and NES Remix 2. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was only $10 at Target. Steal!

A while back, I'd noticed that Nintendo had added more characters to the World of Nintendo figure line. Among these are Wind Waker Gannondorf, Diddy Kong and Samus. I was especially happy to see they'd give us a Samus figure to nab because I love me some Metroid. And now I've got some more Metroid stuff besides my Samus amiibo. Sure the World of Nintendo poseable figures may not be as detailed and articulate  as the S.H. Figurearts Nintendo figures line, but for the price, you get some pretty impressive figures to display. I give Toad a lot of flack whenever he isn't a playable character, but I really do love the little guy but I love Blue Toad among all others. He's fast and he picks things up with the quickness. Blue Toad has the least amount of articulation thus far with a measly three points of articulation. I wasn't expecting much since he's so short and I still say he has no legs, just feet. I copped Luigi because Mario needs his little bro. That's three thirds of the Super Mario3D World cast. I'd love to see a poseable Rosalina. I wonder how many points of articulation they'd give her.

Latest Purchases #79

I've missed the last few issues of Retro Gamer, I'm sorry to say. The price has regrettably gone up, but the magazine remains one of my favorite printed books to read. Yeah, my backlog on Retro Gamer is insane (lost count of how many issues I'm behind on) but when I do read an article in this mag, it never fails to be enjoyable or informative. There's a nice article celebrating the PlayStation's 20th anniversary, which was last year for the five of you that didn't know. I suppose I should toss up my own PS 20th anniversary article as well since all the cool kids are doing it.

Currently, Mega Man is adapting the story line of Mega Man 3, my favorite Mega Man game. I've already got all four issues of Legend of the Blue Bomber, which covered all of Rock's fights with the initial eight Robot Masters from Mega Man 3. In this issue Wily steals Gamma and Rock gets ready for a big showdown with Break Man. I'd like to jump right into this issue but I have a ton of catching up to do. I never read the Ra Moon story (I'm even missing an issue in that arc) or the follow up issues, and I completely missed out on the Dawn of X arc. I may just have to spring for some trades.

Yet another Dragon Ball manga, this time a Viz Big edition. This is the fifth volume that collects volumes 13-16 of the Dragon Ball story arc. Unlike the 3-on-1 books, these are printed on high quality paper with a sturdier cover. There's even a few color chapters. I suppose I should have started collecting Viz's Big Edition of DB with volume 1, but this was the only one Barns & Nobles had. Some day I'm going to make a blog post about the different Dragon Ball manga.

Super Saiyan Goku is my very first Pop vinyl figure. I've been seeing these things around and I've been wanting to start buying certain sets like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle set and those from Wall-E. This was fye's only Super Saiyan Goku and I gotta say, these things feel much lighter than I thought they would be. I've got my eye on a Perfect Cell that just arrived at the store.

I thought $30 was a bit much for Nintendo Land so being able to cop it for $13.99 at GameStop is a much better deal. I played some of the attractions on Christmas day with my nieces and nephew when they got their Wii U. I may not invest as much time in Nintendo Land as I have Mario Kart 8 or Super Smash Bros., but I do find the idea of behind Nintendo Land to be quite intriguing.

Zombi U got so much hate from the press. I hear this is one of the best Wii U games to use the Game Pad and it sounds like the kind of zombie game that I can get into that doesn't have horrid tank controls. Maybe I'll play this one with all the lights out. Maybe.

As the date drew closer and closer for this release, the hype took hold of me and I ended up walking out with fye's last copy of Majora's Mask 3D. I never really did play my N64 copy or my digital copy on my Wii. The time limit was felt like a noose around my neck but watching SomeCallMeJohnny's review of the game has me willing to give this one another shot.

I guess it was only a matter of time before I picked up a Pokemon plush. In truth, I bought Pikachu just because I thought I should own some merch of the most famous Pokemon. I really didn't appreciate this thing until I got it home. This is an extremely well-made Pikachu plush, It's soft, huggable and disgustingly cute. I actually wanna hug this thing.

$60 is a lot of cash to spend on a game so when I see one going for $40 and a Nintendo first party title, no less, my eyes grow wide in anticipation. I was already planning to grab Kirby and the Rainbow Curse but the price tag made buying it on launch day a lot easier to do. This is a fun, adorable, and surprisingly difficult Kirby game. More on this one in an upcoming Currently Playing post.

I was jealous of everyone playing Hyrule Warriors back on launch day in September but I just couldn't afford it. This is another one of those $60 games. And I didn't have to pay a dime for it because I won an award from my job. I got a $100 gift certificate to spend at the place of my choosing and since Beats headphones cost way too much, I went to BestBuy.com and picked up Hyrule Warriors. I'm thinking of starting this one on Sunday, my next off day but I've already got so much on my plate so I may hold off.

Super Mario 3D World isn't a latest purchase, but the little Cat Mario next to the game is. I went to my Wallgreens for a snack run last night and I thought I'd take a peek down the toy isle. Inside the Super Mario red plush box is a World of Nintendo Cat Luigi and Cat Mario. I already picked up a Cat Luigi a while back but Cat Mario was new to me. He was the only one there and I certainly wasn't gonna let someone else walk out with him. If there's one a World of Nintendo plushies for the rest of the Super Mario 3D World in Cat form, I must have them.

Latest Purchases #78

Ah, 3-in-1 Dragon Ball manga an easy, affordable way to check out the series. I personally think 3-in-1 that collects DB vol. 16-18 should have had Radtiz on the cover to better signify the shift to the Z portion of the series, but Goku vs. Piccolo does take up more page count than the Raditz fight. At least we've got Vegeta on 3-in-1 that collects vols. 19-21. The fight between Goku and Vegeta began at the end of volume 19 and spanned all of volume 20.

I've grown very accustomed to playing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on the GamePad but the possiblities that I may have enough people on hand to play 8 Player Smash is just too good to ignore. I'm well aware that many prefer to Smash on the GameCube controller. It was my controller of choice when I played Brawl. After doing a bit of research, I decided to go with the Hori brand GameCube controller, which feels great. I had forgotten what it feels like to play Smash with a GameCube controller and after spening ample time with this baby, I know I'll be picking up three more. I also saw the Amazon had some Nintendo brand GameCube controllers in stock and at reasonable prices. To my surprise, I got a Japanese version, which I don't think will differ much from the American version. I suppose I could bust out the GameCube and see if it works since you can use Nintendo brand GameCube controllers on the GNC, as well as the Wii, which saves me the trouble of ever needing to bother with tracking down more GNC made pads.

The last physical copy of a game I picked up was Smash on the Wii U.Ultimate NES Remix is one of those 3DS games that costs $30 so that made picking it up a little easier. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call apparently has not been doing so hot in terms of sales, which could be the reason why I saw it in Target for $30. I adored the original Theatrhythm and I understand this one brings a whole lot more to the table. While I'm a bit bummed to hear it isn't performing well at retail, I'm always happy to snag a game on the cheap.

Latest Purchases #77

Another post that should have went up back in December. What can I say, it was a busy month, and I worked. A LOT. Anyway, here's the last things I bought in 2014.

While shopping some Christmas shopping, I came across something very unexpected. A World of Nintendo Cat Suit Luigi. I thought I'd seen all of the plushies in this line of toys, but evidently, I have not. This was the very last one in Wallgreens and I was not about to let someone else give him home. I really need to see just how expansive this toy line is.

Wario Time! I guess Wario is another one of those hard-to-find World of Nintendo toys that isn't a soft toy because I've never seen him in stores until a few weeks ago. Target had about three Wario's left  and on sale so I had to grab one up. I'm honestly a little surprised at how big he is, too. I mean, he's nothing compared to the WON Donkey Kong, but he's got some mass to him.

The WON Wind Waker Link is very similar to the Toon Link I purchased at GameStop back in 2011, with some key differences. His coloring is lighter and his sword is very, very flimsy. When I saw WON Toon Link months ago, I decided to not purchase him due to already owning a similar Toon Link but since Toon Link is my favorite incarnation of the character, I decided to buy him. Gotta admit, I do like his lighter colors.

This Skyward Sword beanie is something I picked up at fye. It was on sale for $10, pretty good considering the original price was $17.99. Plain old beanies keep my head warm, but decorative beanies keep my head warm and have the added bonus of having people that pass me say "Hey, nice beanie."

Latest Purchases #76

I've really been slacking on my LP posts and on this blog overall. It's a combination of having been sick, working a lot and other personal issues. I hate that I did so little posting throughout the month of November and as much as I'd love to do a post a day, I'm just one man, so that isn't possible. Still, I do want to get back to making more frequent posts, so if I gotta lose some more sleep and what no for the greater good, so be it. With that said, here's the combination of at least three different purchases done up in a single post.

I think it's safe to say that just about any fan of DBZ has picked up or at least watched Battle of Gods. Unlike previous movies and TV specials, this is actually a cannon thing, with the story being written by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama himself. Having seen this movie  three times now, it's definitely one of my favorite pieces of Dragon Ball media. Love the action and love the comedy, though I do find it odd that some fans are complaining about the later, which strikes me strange since Dragon Ball has comedic roots. That 20 minutes of extra footage is all kinds of cool.

This 5 inch Mario figure is one of the most common toys in the World of Nintendo line. Unlike Link, Bowser and Donkey Kong, I didn't have to order him online as I've always seen him in Target and K-Mart. He really is a sweet-looking Mario figure with some excellent points of articulation. I'll try not to forget all about him when I open up the other Mario figure that I picked up...

Like Mario, this Yoshi World of Nintendo figure is pretty freaking cool. He's the first Yoshi toy I've picked up that isn't a plushy. I'd planned to get this thing sooner or later, but since I've been playing as the dino a lot in Mario Kart 8 and loving what they did to him in Smash 4, that might have hastened my purchase somewhat.

The K'Nex Super Mario and Super Mario 3D Land toys aren't anything too new. They've been out for a few years I believe, but these were marked down super cheap at K-Mart so I snagged them. I doubt I'll build the full sets they came with, but I've already had some fun posting pictures on Instagram with Mario and the mooks.

I was given 20th of November off from work, which meant I could attend the midnight release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Man, that title sucks). It was my very first midnight launch and while my local GameStop wasn't super packed, it was still nice to feel the hype in the air. I wasn't aware that the amiibo figures were already available so I coped two while I was in the store. I may scan these just to see how they play and evolve but I really got these for display purposes. You can bet I'll be collecting all of them.

I had to get this guy through Toys 'R Us online store to get him, but man, was he worth waiting almost a week for. I didn't think the 6" inch DK figure would be this big. I was more than a little surprised when the UPS truck dropped him off and he was sealed in a box almost twice the size of the default packaging. I'm guessing Bowser is around the same size.

When I saw these S.H. Figurearts figures at Barns & Nobles months ago I fell in love. Mario looks like he has even more articulation going on than the World of Nintendo figure I mentioned above. Even the packaging is awesome, with the plumber in all types of poses on the back of the box. Goombas, easy as they are to do away with, are some of my favorite mooks from the Mario series. Sure, he's got no articulation to speak of, but he looks great and he comes with two sets of Pipes, a set of hands to go with the Mario figure, and a Koopa Troopa Shell. The text remains in Japanese and I never thought I'd see figures like this in Barns & Nobles. These things also cost more than the World of Nintendo Toys. The Goomba set was only $19.95 and despite being in smaller packaging, Mario went for $24.95. But it's hard to complain when you're getting something this good.

Taking a break from playing Smash 4 last week, we went to Wal-Mart and I almost had a stroke when I saw Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 2 on DVD. I'd heard that Disney completed Tailspin's DVD releases some time ago, but seeing Gargoyles get completed? That was a very welcome shock. I didn't think Disney had any interest in finishing their Disney Afternoon cartoons but it looks like I was wrong.There are no extra features like the previous Gargoyles DVD releases but I'm just happy to have the cannon series done.

Big surprise, I have always been a fan of Mickey Mouse ever since I was a kid. I loved those classic theatrical shorts, I started picking up the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip series in 2011 and I adored these newer Mickey Mouse shorts when they aired in 2013. This was sitting right next to Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 2 and until then, I had all but forgotten about this series. I couldn't help but notice the Season 1 on the packaging. Sure enough, season 2 already begun airing earlier this past year.

Latest Purchases #75

A Latest Purchases post, featuring stuff I picked up in September. Well as they say, better late than never.

I was pre-ordering the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. when I saw this lone 20 inch World of Nintendo Mario. I'd never seen a Mario that frickin' huge before. It was jaw dropping. I must say, the World of Nintendo toy line is quite superb with mini figures, plushies and the like, but this? Duuuuuuude. I just had to snatch this bad boy up before someone else did. My dad actually asked me what I was gonna do with him. The same thing I do with all my other gaming merch: display it. Agh, parents.

Adding two more mini figures to the World of Nintendo set I already own, I picked up Donkey Kong and Wario. These things are quite easy to find, making collecting all six one of the easiest things to do. Now DK has his side kick and I finally have something Wario that isn't a game. 

I was hoping I'd find the Yellow Pikmin after I picked up the Red Pikmin a while ago and sure enough, Target had one left. Now Red has someone to keep him company but they Pikmin plushies feel so incomplete without the other colors. Perhaps Nintendo will add the rest to the lineup. I already know other Pikmin color plushies exist, at least in Japan. Perhaps I'll just order those someday.

This New Super Mario Bros. Wii Mario plush is a few years old but it's only the second Mario plush I've ever bought, where as I own three different Luigi plushies. I wasn't too fond of this thing at first but since you can actually sit this one down, I find that to be a big plus. 

I love my Classic Sonic plush but I figured I could use a Modern Sonic plush as well. At 5 inches, he's smaller than I thought he'd be, but he looks quite nice and like the aforementuioned Classic Sonic, I can hang him on my wall. He's currently resting above my TV right next to the Pac-Man plush you see there, which is the smallest plushie I own. Pac-Man was also the cheapest plush I've ever picked up. Not including shipping, the little guy was only $2.87.

I picked up these plushies so I could take photos like this...

It's almost time.

Latest Purchases #74

I think I'm approaching otaku status in terms of collecting Dragon Ball manga. I already have Viz's 16 volumes of Dragon Ball and the 26 volumes of Dragon Ball Z, yet hear am I, buying the whole series all over again in the form of their Dragon Ball 3-in-1 volumes. I love the spines on these and those red covers taken from the Japanese perfect editions is just soooooo awesome. I ordered the third edition Dragon Ball 3-in-1 off of Amazon in late July but it never arrived. This is actually the second time I've ordered something off of Amazon and I haven't gotten it. Worse, this was ordered from Amazon Prime, so I'll definitely think twice before ordering from them from now on. I just went ahead and picked up book 3 along with 4 and 5 from  my Barns & Nobles. If the book ever does come in the mail (doubtful since it's been over a month), I'll just give the extra copy to a friend or something.

Wrapping up the Dragon Ball purchases is the Blu-Ray of Dragon Ball Z Kai season one. I already have all nine seasons of DBZ in the form of Funimation's orange bricks and while I do intend to pick up the Blu-Ray nine season set as well, I've been meaning to start recollecting Kai for a long time. I picked up Part seven of the DVD release about two years ago and then realized that I'd be better off just nabbing this series in season form.

It's been years since I've picked up a physical copy of an imported game. When I was writing my editorial about the printed instructional manuals being phased out, I came across scans of Sonic the Hedgehog 2's Japanses manual on Sonic Retro. I was so enthralled by it that I went looking on Amazon to see how much a Japanese copy of Sonic 2 would set me back. Much to my surprise, the cost was quite low, as in only $15 or so including shipping. This thing is in very good condition and even includes the European and Chinese instructions in addition to the Japanese manual. I'm thinking I'll pick up a Japanese copy of Sonic 1 sometime down the road and perhaps Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Batman: Assault on Arkham. There are more DC animated Batman flicks than of other DC super hero. I caught a preview of this when on the Blu-Ray of Son of Batman and I gotta say, I liked what I saw. This one looks like it's pretty bad guy-centric, which is fine with me, because Bat's rogues gallery can easily carry a comic or TV episode when written correctly. As I am in the middle of Dragon Ball season four, blogging, gaming and work, I haven't watched this thing yet.

The last water bottle I bought was in 2011 and the image of Sonic the Hedgehog has long since faded from it, sadly. Be it cartoony or serious, I'm all over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merch. The sandwich containers is something I'll probably use for storing small things. No way I'm going to use it for what the manufacturer intended at my age.

Well, would you look at that. Books! And neither one of them Dragon Ball related. The only Alice in Wonderland things I've see are Disney's 1957 movie and the Batman: The Animated Series episode Mad as a Hatter. I've passed by this book numerous times in Barns & Nobles and I've been wanting to see just how differently the book is from Disney's film. $6.98 for a hardcover book isn't shabby at all. There's even some artwork in here.

The hardcover edition of The Fault in Our Stars is usually somewhere around $20 or so. My local Krogers had it for $13.99. I was a bit worried there wouldn't be any copies of the hardback edition left when I got paid, but sure enough, there were three sitting on the shelf.  The first time I saw this book is when I was getting checked out at fye a few months back. The praise and summerization on the back intrigued me, so I thought I'd give this one a look. I'm backed up with a ton of other books but I plan to make room for this one.

So apparently there's this whole World of Nintendo toy line going on, ranging from figures to plushies. The plushies were $7.99 in Target and I had slim pickings between a Yoshi, Toon Link and a Red Pikmin. I went with the Red Pikmin because he was the only one left, I already have Toon Link and Yoshi plushies and the thing is just so dang adorable. I always knew Pikmin would make great plush toys and the very sight of this thing sends me in daaaaw mode. I can't wait to get the remaining Pikmin colors. The mini figures were $3.99 and they nearly had the whole set of six was there for the picking. Of Diddy Kong, Ice Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi, the Donkey Kong and Fire Mario appealed to me the most. I've always been a fan of Waluigi, so maybe I'll grab him  next time.

Latest Purchases #73: Birthday Edition

So my birthday was last month and I felt that I should treat myself with something special. At first I wasn't really sure what I should get but then I remembered my love for one of my favorite series ever. And I went on a Dragon Ball binge.

fye had all five seasons of the original Dragon Ball anime series so I snatched them all up. It's been years since I've seen OG Dragon Ball and watching it again is bringing back so many memories. When I was watching it on my days off on Toonami, I was getting home in time to catch uncut episodes on Toonami's Midnight Run. Currently, I'm on season three.

A few weeks ago while I was browsing in Barns & Nobles I saw these Dragon Ball Full Color Saiyan Arc volumes. Released last year in Japan to help hype the new Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods film, these are fully colored versions of the Saiyan Saga manga. Unlike the colored pages of the Viz Big editions, these are not only printed on bigger, higher quality paper, but the colors used in these editions are also much better and brighter. The end result is one of the best manga releases of Dragon Ball manga. Right now, only the Saiyan Arc is available in America. Japan has the entire Z portion of the manga in a total of  what I believe is 20 full color volumes. No doubt Viz will release the remaining arcs for western audiences. Barns & Nobles had a special on manga where you buy two and get the third one free. I found this out after the lady at the register rung me up and I ended up saving a cool $20.

Long before the Goku knew the origins of his otherworldly strength, the world of Dragon Ball was very lighthearted and the other cast members was on a much more even playing field. This was the early stages of Dragon Ball, stages that some fans contend is superior to the later years. Despite owning the Dragon Ball manga in it's entirety, I haven't let this stop me from picking up different versions of the manga that Viz has released. These Dragon Ball 3-in-1 volumes aren't quite like the Viz Big editions. The paper isn't of the same quality and there are no color chapters to speak of. These however, do sport the sweet redrawn covers that were used of the 2003 re-release of the Dragon Ball manga in Japan. I've got a post on Dragon Ball releases that I've been wanting to do for a while now so I'll elaborate on all this later.

Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations. This book originally came out in Japan in 1995 after Dragon Ball had ended. It didn't get translated and released in the west until 2008. Inside this book are tons upon tons of full color illustrations of numerous Dragon Ball imagery. Just thumbing through it, I've come across a a few pictures that I've never seen before. Again, this book came out after Dragon Ball had ended so there isn't any artwork from Akira Toiryama from the 2000s and onward. I've seen a lot of the images in this book before, but its great to have so much of it packed away in one hardcover book.

I've had my eye on this DBZ t-shirt for weeks and I've finally made it my own. You've got a good chunk of the heroes, the three big bads and of course, Goku in the center striking a mean pose. This simple looking Batman t-shirt is honestly one of my favorite Bat shirts. Sometimes less truly is more. Much as I like the gold emblem behind the Bat symbol, I think the shirt is worlds better without it. I picked this up as my way of continuing the Batman 75th anniversary celebrations. As per usual, at my fye, buy one t-shirt, get the second for half the price.

Long have I heard of how the Phantom Blot was Mickey's greatest adversary in comics. The fifth volume in Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse comic strip series, I had forgotten this book was due out back in May. I still haven't read the previous four volumes, only thumbing through them and considering this comic strip series spans 45 years, it will probably be a looooooong time before Fantagracphics Books finishes it up. So I should probably start reading what I have on my plate soon. In this volume, Mickey gets pupils! Huzzah!

This Yoshi hat is one I'd seen in fye for some time now. I didn't think it was bad but I thought $17.99 was a lot of bones at the time. Good thing for me I came in when they were slashing prices on a lot of stuff and they had it at a super discount price of $6.49. It is now one of my favorite hats to wear, which isn't saying much since I've only got two of the things. Gotta build that hat collection.

I've been going through different anime series available on Netflix. One such series was Girls Bravo. At only 24 episodes, it seemed like one I could get through rather quickly. I've heard of this anime but hadn't seen it until recently. While I don't know if I'd call it one of my all-time favorites, I liked it enough to the point of making it a part of my anime library. For the uneducated, this is definitely not an all ages anime.

Hello Kitty. Dressed up as M. Bison. Even dressed up as one of the most despicable video game bosses, that is still freaking adorable. I never thought I would any kind of Hello Kitty merch, but then, I saw this for less than $4 at fye. Bargain prices are my weakness.