More Mario Plushes もっとマリオぬいぐるみ新着！

More Mario plushes this month. This time I ended up with almost a complete collection of the Sound Nuigurumi set, getting the New Super Mario Bros ? Block and Starman. The ? Block make the coin and 1up noise and the Starman plays the invincibility theme when struck or shaken. The Mario Kart plushes are from 1993, one even has the tag still attached! These were game center prizes, Peach and Bowser are part of the collection as well. I was originally gonna sell Yoshi on ebay because I figured something that old would be semi-valuable at least (I had Final Fantasy 7 plushes and got $80 for Cloud and $90 for Sephiroth) but after seeing him (and realizing that there were already some on ebay NOT selling for $25) I figured it was just as well and kept him, he's cute. Mario's great, too, and there was very little discoloration for stuff that was like almost 20 years old. Check the videos for the Sound Nuigurumi in action!

More Retro LCD Love

Come to think of it, I think that everything I won via YHJA from my proxy this time was a random search, lol. 'Daijishin' means "Big Quake", and this game has you running around trying to prevent things from falling over, having a fireman come through the window to put out a gas fire, etc. This one is by Bandai and has a fairly unique way standing up: the side of the game folds down like a "leg" of sorts, but the hinge has grown weak since 1982, so it doesn't really stand on its own anymore. 'Pipe Line' is by Masudaya and looks more like a Nintendo Game & Watch in both form factor and in the on screen characters. The gameplay seems like a G&W too, like if you took Oil Panic and gave it a third screen where you had to route the oil you dumped off from the trucks in that game. Interestingly enough, outside of actual wristwatches with games built into them, this is the first game that only takes one button cell battery.

Uniqlo Ghosts N Goblins 'Makaimura' Shirt ユニクロ魔界村シャツ

Back in 2008 or 2009, Uniqlo - one of Japan's leading clothiers - made a line of gaming t-shirts that I didn't have money for at the time (there were like 20 or 30 of them) and then subsequently forgot about, but then ran across recently again while looking through retro gaming auctions. I like that this one looks more or less like a heavy metal album cover. =)

Doraemon Plushes ドラえもんぬいぐるみ

Another random search "result" using "Doraemon plush" (in Japanese, of course). The 3 "rain gear" Doraemon plushes were a lot, and referring to their tags, presumably from a Taito Game Center. They're exceptionally well-made, the stitching in the face and details on the bell and such is really nice especially when you take into consideration that they're game center prizes. And the rain gear is removable, too. Also got a Koala March plush shaped like a snowman, which is awesome because I once got a little trivia/quiz tab in a Koala March with an image of that snow, er, koala printed on it and I thought to myself, "I wish I had a keychain/figure/plush of this," so, wish granted! ^^;

April's Nendos 4月のねんどろいどたち

April's Nendoroid haul. Pretty satisfied with all of them, especially Haru-chan riding on her carp windsock. Kuroneko is overwhelmingly cute, had a hard time keeping Date Masamune standing with his huge helmet (they should've included a magnet like Koto did with the 1/8 Marisa from this month) and Black Gold Saw looks good next to my Goodsmile 1/8 BRS, Petite BRS and Dead Master Nendos and BRS Nendo.

Madou Gokin R-Type Tactics RWF-9D Shooting Star 魔導合金R-TypeタクティクスRWF-9Dシューティング・スター

When ordering this and looking at the pics, I fully expected this to be a lot smaller than it turned out to be. I expected a small, almost Gashapon-sized model (specifically I was thinking of the Shooting Game Historica collection's size), but instead it's probably 3 times the size of your average Gashapon toy. It's a combination of resin/cold cast, die cast metal and plastic. The details almost make it look hand made, which is both a good and bad thing. The front of the very top part has a little bit of something that looks like Mr Finish or whatever people use to seal the top coat of paint on their models splattered on it. On the whole, it's very cool looking and well-done, especially if you're a fan of shmups, particularly old school shooters. It also comes with the pod that sits in front of your ship, that is rigged up via a metal pin so as to appear that it is "floating". The ship itself comes from the PSP version of the game, R-Type Tactics - known as R-Type Command here in the US.

Touhou Project 1/8 Marisa Kirisame - Nemu Matsukura Ver. - 東方1/8魔理沙霧雨

Oddly enough, a Kotobukiya release. I had no idea who Nemu Matsukura was, and upon searching for her I found little info. Apparently she's a Touhou-specific doujin artist. Anyway, got Marisa this month and her version of Reimu is coming next month. Very cute renditions of these two, the quality of the figure itself is nice, too. What you'd expect from a Koto release. Her hat/head have magnets that keep it stuck to her.