Epic Loot of Epicness

So I went to the post office today to check my mail. Thanks to the magic of tracking numbers, I expected one registered SAL package and one fairly large EMS parcel. Then there was one more package that didn't include tracking that I was expecting to arrive around this time-- and that would be it.

In my PO box were five parcel slips. It was unexpected, since the rest of the stuff I was waiting on to arrive here was shipped SAL only about a week or two ago, but it was no big deal. I had brought a couple of bags with me to haul my other three parcels home, so I was sure there'd be room for the two others.

Then I get to the counter to pick up my stuff. The total was actually seven parcels O_O


Not only were there the three I expected (one from my proxy, one from AromaCoffee via Rakuten, one from the Backloggery), but the unregistered SAL stuff from my proxy and an order (also shipped Unregistered SAL) from CDJapan. Whew!

Here's all the stuff!


ITEM #144444 was my main driver in placing my first ever Rakuten order, and since shipping from AromaCoffee is EMS only, I also got ITEM #108799 (who arrived a little discolored, but he was half-off, so...), ITEM #108801 (also half-off), and ITEM #136444. In general, I'm pretty happy with how this order went.

MIKU-Pack 02 and ITEM #148812 came from CDJ; I had a bunch of points saved up and got some more for my birthday month of June, which covered a good chunk of the total cost of this order.

That plushie to the right is Bak'laag, the Dark Lord of Unfinished Games and the main mascot of the video game inventory site The Backloggery. I've been a member of that site for years and couldn't resist preordering.

The Amazon.co.jp proxy order was the biggest of the bunch, split into four parcels. It started through my hunting of ITEM #131444, ITEM #131443, and ITEM #131446 and snowballed from there. I also picked up more prize figures (including ITEM #10721, representing my favorite Miku PV, and my first ever FuRyu figures), a couple of harder-to-find CDs (the Wind Waker OST for my husband, and the last BeForU studio album I was missing for me), Pinkies, and some other things.

Then, on a whim, I searched for my figure Holy Grail, and lo and behold, a third-party Amazon.co.jp seller had it... and for a decent price!


Yes, my Holy Grail was the VCD "Two-Gun Mickey" version of Minnie Mouse (ITEM #54401). Although I don't have many VCDs, I love them, and Minnie is far from my favorite Disney character, but I fell in love with this pose. Unfortunately, I didn't really start hunting her until she had gone out of print.

She's one of those figures that is not so much expensive (again, I paid a very reasonable price for her), as difficult to find in the first place. For years, searches of eBay, Mandarake, etc. were fruitless, and I'd all but given up until I saw a relatively inexpensive but sold-out listing for her in AmiAmi's preowned section. As I was already placing this proxy order anyway, I'd decided it was worth checking Amazon.co.jp. Good thing I did!

And now, after a small bit of confusion with my proxy-- I had wanted the parcel with Minnie sent Registered SAL, and the rest Unregistered, but was originally charged for everything sent via the former method-- she's here!

As for the yellowed window, I was not worried about that, since I have seen such discoloration in the past on other older figure boxes.




As you can see, the figure and blister are fine, and it's just the window that's discolored. As for Minnie herself...


...she has a little scuff mark on her head and can't stand on her own, but she looks great otherwise :D Last year I got my game soundtrack Holy Grail, and now I have my figure one, so I'm a pretty happy collector right now.

At any rate, all of this was way too expensive (I don't even want to think about what I spent on shipping alone) and I hope I don't have to do another post like this for quite some time :P Nevertheless, I hope you've enjoyed this post!