UFO Catcher Plushie Apocalypse

A long long time ago, sometime in the early 2000's, I used to collect UFO Catcher Dolls. It was a fun hobby. I loved getting plushies of the characters in anime that I adored. My first collection pic below:

Of course it didn't stay this "small" for long. When I collect, it's go big or go home. My collection grew to 12 plastic bins, Gallon sizes I believe. Full to the brim.

About three years into the hobby, the market got flooded with cheap bootlegs from China. It essentially ruined an entire genre of collecting. My collecting then slowed down and ground to a halt. I bagged and stored all my plush into bins and they have been sitting in the garage. 

I had planned on displaying my collection but that changed when I picked up a Dunny in 2007 while Christmas shopping. Back then they were freaking $5 or something. Blind boxing ensnared Nate and I  for approximately 2 years. 

After growing out of that and purging our shared collection of western vinyl we arrive to now, which started in late 2008, to J-Vinyl. I must say I haven't been this happy and satisfied with a collection since I started collecting.

So what happens to the plushies? I still believe I have a kick ass collection. Unfortunately, it generates very little interest for me now and I am loathe in pursuing it any further. 

It's time to sell. 

Although seeing myself sorting them reminds me of the show Hoarders. My pile of what I want to keep and what I want to sell is very uneven. More keep. I need to snap out of that. 

But I have awesome pieces! Like DX Edward Elric and lottery Sesshoumaru. I could go on and on but I really need to ask myself where will I be able to display them?

So the slow and painful process of letting go of this part of my collecting history begins. I am slowly putting pieces up on my Ebay store: Fuzen Toy Shoppe.

We already have the remnants of our western vinyl up at the store. I'll be adding more to that pile too as we begin The Culling. A much discussed topic between Nate and I and now we are finally taking action.

We are even culling some J-Vinyl but that will be sold at Skullbrain. 

Because I was a UFO Catcher collector I knew better than to purchase bootlegs so all my plushies are authentic and not HK rip offs. 

So this is an official notice! If you are interested in snagging some rare and authentic UFO Catcher plush, be sure to check my Ebay store. The bulk of my collection will be available there.

＼(＾▽＾*)LET THE CULLING COMMENCE! (*＾▽＾)／

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Summer of Goodbyes

"There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go." - Author Unknown

 On July 1, 2011, approximately ten minutes before 11 o'clock that night, I lost my last remaining grandparent. My Grandpa, died surrounded by all of his children, most of his grandchildren, and two of his great grand children. It was probably one of the most emotional wringing events of my adult life.

He lived a full life of 95 years. I had the chance to say goodbye to Lolo and that memory does bring me comfort. A week later, we buried him with my Grandma. Now they are together. 

Before we closed the casket, all the grandkids wrote him letters. April knitted him a small amigurumi rabbit. I pinned that along with all our letters on his jacket.  Nate wrote Lolo a letter too but he wont tell me what he wrote down. He said he made a promise. I know better than to ask. 

Three days after we buried my Grandpa, my oldest Uncle became seriously ill and was hospitalized. He hung on for almost a month but due to pre-existing health issues and his weak constitution he passed away at the end of August.

A double whammy for our small clan. We were already devastated by the loss of my Grandpa but with the death of my Uncle Bernard the devastation turned into a terrible tragedy.

Our finances stretched to the limit, a decision was made to cremate Uncle Bernard's remains and send his ashes home to his children. My Aunt went back home to the island a couple of weeks ago and had him interred in their family crypt. He is now home.

It's been a difficult summer. Which explains why I haven't been updating the blog and toy buying is at an all time low. We are quietly mourning, coping with the loss and moving on with our lives. 

The holidays are coming up and it will be lonely one. Lolo was always here at my house to celebrate Christmas. He always started the feasting with a prayer. 

I miss him a lot and think of him often.

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A Quick Update

Well, forget about any further SDCC 2011 update. I already forgot the finer details of the Con. Just too many things have been happening in our personal life within a span of July to September. 

I'll speak about it at a later time. When I am ready. 

I can however, share some unfortunate news about the stray cats we take care of. We lost Lee and MomCat. Lee to injuries suffered from possibly being hit by a car. He survived but his injuries were extensive and we had no choice but to put him to sleep. 

At the same time MomCat was not feeling well and after we took care of Lee, we took her to get checked up. She had feline coronavirus. Something she acquired when she was outside. She was at the last stages. I saw her x-ray. Her lungs were full of fluid. We also had no choice but to put her to sleep as she was suffering, unable to eat and breath properly.

MomCat was inside the house but she was isolated from our cats. Transmission is low but I still took Nodame, Dhani and Marley to get checked out to make sure. I need to call tomorrow to see what the test results are. Pickles is fully immunized so I didn't have to worry about him.

It's been a deadly year for our stray cat colony. Impostor Cat died due to being hit by a car, Lee may have died because of the same reason and now MomCat is gone due to her disease. We are down to three stray cats. When it used to be eleven.

All that's left is Dhani's Dad, Bree and Silver. I did see a small kitten Dhani's Dad drove away one night. Black with orange markings. Very hairy. I didn't see that kitten again.

On somewhat better news, purchases of the week has been ongoing but not as much as usually after SDCC, Nate and I stop buying toys for a while. I think it's because we do overload during Con. Plus we are more interested right now in making home improvements. 

Nate's keeping busy with school and work and I am busy with work. I'll start updating again when things settle down and I've had time to think about everything. 
 

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IPod Obsession

I have been consumed with the desire to update my IPod. Now that I've had my new tower for a while and I am no longer sharing Nate's ITunes on his laptop, I can completely customize my IPod with what I want without the clutter of someone else's music.

It's a pleasurable distraction right now. I know I haven't been blogging as much and I need to recap SDCC 2011 before I forget. A lot of things went down between July and now. Maybe I'll talk about it later. 

But right now I just want to get lost in the music. Even if it's just for a little bit.

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SDCC 2011 - Thursday

We were hearing rumors that pre-registration for 2012 was going to be a bitch due to it's off-site location. Because of the instant sell out for 2011 during 2010 Con, we were determined to get there early to secure out tickets. Like 6:30 AM early.

Little did we know that it was already too late.

We parked at the Hilton Garage and we did the arduous trek to the offsite to the Manchester Grand Hyatt only to walk into a line that stretched all the way back to the fucking Hilton. So technically, we almost completed a full circle.

I can tell you I was furious. So was Nate. First off, pushing myself that hard physically was exhausting. I wish I am in better shape but I am not, so it was tiring. Plus we almost made it to the door. We were approximately thirty feet from the door and we were told the allotment was gone for the day at 8:20 AM when sales start at 8 AM.

I was so upset I yelled at one of the volunteers in a fit of rage. I do regret losing my temper and yelling at strangers. It was either me yelling or Nate. If Nate had started the yelling his fist would have followed. I think he was that mad too. 

Either way, I stormed off after telling them angrily that they need to organize their pre-registration better so people don't have to waste their time lining up for something that wont be attainable. The fact that I have to line up AT Con to get tickets for next year's Con is ridiculous. I remember last year we just walked up to a lineless counter and registered just like that. No problems. 

I was dejected and Nate was doing his best trying to cheer me up. So the day started off really crappy and we both did not have the energy to sprint to get to the Exhibit Hall before it opened. We walked back slowly so we can recuperate our strength. 

Technically, we could have bypassed all this and asked our cousin and her husband for pro passes next year. But Nate and I do not like to impose like that and we really wanted to secure our passes. 

By the time we got to Gargamel, all the good stuff was gone already and I couldn't really enjoy the Con that morning. I was worried and I was trying to strategize for tomorrow. Nate kept himself occupied with good thoughts as he was preparing for PATCHWERK.

Most of the day was spent doing a quick look around the Exhibit Hall and then we found a quiet bench to sit and rest until Pushead.

We talked briefly about the shenanigans of the day but we really didn't go into it as much as Nate was really looking forward to the Pushead event and his enthusiasm started rubbing off my discontent.

When it was time for PATCHWERK, we made our way to Toy Tokyo's booth. They were already getting ready for the event and people were already gathering and discussing what could be under all this:

Pushead fans are fun to watch when it's a Pushead event. Mostly male, the cloud of testosterone floating around them can be a little bit overwhelming at times. But when they take off that black curtain and you hear them ooh'ing and ahh'ing you can see the genuine excitement from all of them and it's fun to watch.

The last Pushead event was in 2009 and Nate was so close but missed out on any HPs as his number was too far. I forgot to mention that this event is a ticketed event and there is a pecking order. This year Nate's number was much better and his chances were good to get something really nice. 

Curtain comes down and we see a whole bunch of mixed parts of Captains, Pirates and limited production pieces!

When I saw the amount I was feeling a bit reassured that Nate will walk away with something he likes. Pushead events takes a long ass time as each person is given time to look over and see what they want to buy. Which to me is such a personal gesture from Pushead to his fans. I didn't mind waiting. I enjoyed seeing what people picked out.

Nate walked away with a print, PATCHWERK Pirate and a production piece. I don't have a picture of the print but we just finished taking picture of our loot and here's the two piece Nate came home with:

Nate was very happy. This was his event for SDCC and he came away with toys he was very excited about. 

With this behind us, we decided to take off and have an early dinner and bedtime as we were going to have to get up at an ungodly hour to remedy our pre-registration fiasco...

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