Retro

I still cannot get over my emo-ness over my bootleg toys. Today I went to check out shops for Squall Dissidia Kai. One shop is actually selling the bootleg of Vincent Final Fantasy VII o_0 I feel a bit relieved because the shop where I bought most of my Final Fantasy Play Arts figurines is actually selling original products. Anyways, only 1 shop has Squall available and even then, I am not sure about its authenticity. The selling price is $89.90. About $10 more expensive than the other shop when I visited LAST year. I tried to purchase directly from Square Enix Shop Online but I think it only allows certain countries to purchase. Singapore is, unfortunately, not one of them. In the end, my last resort is to get it from Yesasia.com. Perhaps I am 'lucky' that Squall is on year end clearance. After discount, the price is about $93 (free shipping). Comparable to the one I saw today so I guess I will give Yesasia.com a try. Initially I tried Play-asia.com but Squall is out of stock there.

Many years ago, I was only surviving with $200 per month from my scholarship. My parents supported me but I tried to limit my spending to $200 as much as possible so as not to 'use' my parents money. $20+ US manga felt way too expensive when Indonesian manga was only about $1.50. Fast forward few years to 2012, I regret that I did not buy 2 copies of Gundam Wing mangas, 1 set to put here and the other at home. Now that my purchasing power is higher, unfortunately the mangas are no longer published. Well, what do you expect? Even Tokyopop already closed down or something like that mah..

I can only find Gundam Wing Episode Zero from eBay. Inclusive the shipping fee, it will be about $30, more expensive than what I paid for many years ago. Even so, I am not sure with the condition. Since I am looking at US version, plenty of them are available in US websites (Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, etc). Even though the prices are super super good (can be as low as $1.99), the shipping cost will blow everything up. Now I am only hoping that my cousin who is staying in the US will let me know when she has plan of coming to Indonesia. Then I can buy what I want and ship to her house for cheaper fee. Then she helps me to fly it here. Lol..

Anyway at Absolute Comics, I found Gundam Wing manga volume 2 and 3. Yup, no volume 1 :( After opening, I cannot even tell whether it is real.. The paper feels like photocopied version =x Oh well, I will never know I guess. I am buying it only for the sake of having it in my collection. Previously I did not buy because I already had the Indonesian version. I just realised that Absolute Comics has another shop at Lucky Plaza so perhaps I should give it a visit. Perhaps they have the volume 1 there.. and the other Gundam Wing spin-offs.