Toy fail

I survived slightly more than 3 months avoiding junk food + fast food + bubble teas etc for the sake of my face. I survived 40 days giving up Starbucks and Coffee Beans for Lent. But I could not even survive 3 days after returning here without buying any anime/manga related items. It is official that my addiction to these things are much worse than for food stuff that I successfully abstained from previously.

The craving was so bad that I made decisions that I later regret. Kinokuniya had another 20% sale to celebrate World Book Day and I grabbed a Prince of Tennis book. Unfortunately, it is not an anime/manga artbook as I expected. It is a book with pictures and coverage from Tenipuri Festa 2013. Basically it was a music festival with the seiyuus performing their character songs. So the book is basically full of pictures of the seiyuus performing and I totally have no idea who they are. To make matters worse, after thinking it through, I realised that I actually had researched this book previously and decided not to buy it then because of this very reason! Sian...

The only anime illustration in the whole book is only the cover.. and the poster insert which has the same picture as the cover -_-

My shameless self has visited Movie Replica shop at Plaza Singapura for countless times (basically for each time I went to Plaza Singapura) and not for once I had bought anything from the shop. Everything changed today as I spent $285 at one shot. Again, it was a brash decision as I bought toys which I consciously chose not to pre-order and hence buy this far.

First is Kuroko Tetsuya Master Stars for $35. I already own Kuroko G.E.M by Megahouse which has an awesome pose. Due to space constraint, I decide that I should just keep 1 figure per character. In fact, when I bought Kuroko and Tetsuya-ni-go plushies, the shop offered me to pre-order this Master Stars which I declined because I already had the G.E.M. Not to mention that Master Stars is a prize figure which definitely has a lousy quality. It seems that I am just a sucker for nice things. Kuroko Master Stars is HUGE at 26 cm and I fell in love when I saw him on display. The box feels heavy and sturdy too.

That jacket is the thing that finally swayed me to buy him

As expected from a prize figure, it is imperfect. The white paint is dull just like Kaito Kid's prize figurine. Both feet are not flat on the ground and I have to use the plastic support piece, which I hate, to prevent it from toppling down. So for my standard, I am disappointed. But objectively, this Kuroko is awesome for a prize figure standard.

Second is Sailor Moon Figuarts ZERO by Bandai. Although she is making a pose which is present in the anime, in the figure form, it is awkward as if she twisted her arm. Considering Bandai quality and the price, I decided to give it a miss. In the end, I bought it because as of now, I don't have any decent scale figure of Sailor Moon. It turns out not as bad as expected. The paint on Usagi herself is quite clean but the paint on her moon rod is atrocious. Yes, Bandai is still crappy for painting of small details. What irked me the most, however, is that her sailor uniform is grey instead of white! She looks very weird.. I don't know if that is meant to be the colour. While she is pretty, she is below my expectation of a $120 figurine. 

Her box is rather compact. I like because it will not take too much storage space.. Hehe..

What makes me really sad is that Plamoya.com is having a 33% sale for her!! Gosh!! It is a repeat of my Prince of Tennis book fail! Last month, I was actually considering to get her from Plamoya.com because of the sale but I completely forgot about it today. With the SAL shipping, I would only spend about $90 at most for her from Plamoya. Emo.. Haiz...

Lastly, Proplica of Moon Stick. Proplica is a new line of toys from Bandai and Moon Stick is the first item from this line. I find it too childish for me to have this and they have to thank their advertising team who successfully convert me to a buyer.

The pictures.. the video.. the packaging.. the price.. everything looks awesome and it does not look like a toy for kid at all. Unfortunately, Bandai fails to deliver again and I wasted my $130. The Moon Stick is too light that it really feels like a toy for kids rather than a collectible for adults. The "Silver Crystal" is too dull in real life and the plastic material is not producing any shimer like the one we see in the pictures and videos. I have not tried to light and the sounds as I have not bought the batteries. In addition, it is troublesome to change the battery as the battery cover is secured by a screw.. Bleah..

So I wasted $300 for the past 3 days and I did not enjoy any of them.. Fuck me.. Anyway, this is the first time I bought these things from a local shop and I just realised that I got the international version. I hate that they have to paste useless stickers at the back of the boxes (imported by Bandai Hong Kong, cautions in English etc) which is a sore for the eyes. Bandai opened and re-sealed the items to put their code for an online survey. I hope I can get something "special" to make my wasted money worthwhile.. Bleah..