The end of my PVC adventures

For 2009 at least. Well, alright, potentially 2010 too since I blew my 2010 PVC budget on these overpriced little buggers as an early Xmas gift for Wife-chan (Though to be honest, I thought beautiful Waifu-chan deserves better/bigger but sadly poor tanuki is poor.)

My 2009 PVC adventures have drawn to a close since my remaining 3 pre-orders will only arrive in 2010. This year has been an absolutely budget-busting, wallet-melting financial nightmare with regards to my PVC passion - Only 16 figures but a fiscal damage of S$2200. That averages out to about S$140 per figure which is madness - note the 75% increment from the S$82/figure in 2008. Personally I blame these 5 recent plastic haremettes added to my collection.

Putting up a Figures Page

I've never bothered to put up a page dedicated to my figures mostly because my collection is small - after three years, the grand total is still a very modest 18. But even if the number continues to grow slowly, it will be useful to have a page will allow me to keep track of my collection at a glance.

Young collectors and the PVC debt

Since I’m up @ 4am in the morning due to high fever, I thought I should do what any right-thinking sick person would – blog. And the topic of choice today is something close at heart (though closer to my wallet) – the figure collector’s PVC debt

It’s been a while since I updated my PVC escapades (Zyl is covering that amply I believe) and this healthy passion with supposedly heavenly returns has somewhat festered into a financial hell for this tanuki. My request for injection of funds from the government Waifu-chan was met with uncontrollable laughter echoing throughout my estate. A “No” I suppose. So I resorted to the only way a tanuki knew about earning extra cash – selling my plastic daughters.

Figure display triumph ~ 1/7 GSC Saber Lily and VOLKS Fate housed!

Skane was right when he foresaw that the biggest limitation to my figure display was the lack of depth. But it was a drawback that was carefully weighed against numerous other considerations. Good sense was eventually overruled and the shallow depth was accepted as a necessary evil as I bought my Bertby display shelves for the PVC pretties.

With just 17cm in depth, housing Alter Fate or Alter Hayate was a impossibility. In fact the question I grapple always, not with just a few of my figure pre-orders, is -

But today, for all you proud Bertby owners who chosen this enlightened means of unleashing the glory of your plastic harem, I'm pleased to announce that both the 1/7 GSC (Goodsmile Company) Saber Lily and VOLKS Fate sit snugly in the 42 x 25 x 17 cm humble adobe we have prepared for them. An absolute TRIUMPH in the figure display scene indeed; a legend etched forever onto tanuki-lore.

In fact so overwhelming is this rapturous joy that Wife-chan agreed to rent out her porcelain dolls space for a week. And so we have on display 2/3 of my entire figure collection (see below) - a record shattering event in this household dominated by lolicious-kind (read: wife).

But we all know this wouldn't do. With my figures growing at 14 per year, I would need A LOT more display space though honestly this is the HARD MAXIMUM Wife-chan and myself have agreed to allow for PVC display. I need a bigger house. (Counting on lottery!) Meanwhile, I'd just continue to rotate my figure display ala museums.

On a sidenote, I thought it might be worth exploring customised backdrops for the various shelves. For example an Avalon theme for Saber Lily's deck, live stage setup for the Haruhi Gekisou level or some gothic background for the Gothloli Asuka/Rei etc etc. It would be fun tinkering with the backdrops and hopefully accentuate the figures while adding an environmental dimension to the display. Although personally if I had the juice, I'd install mirrors instead. Anyhow, Project Customised-Backdrop would have to be an undertaking for the future.

Here's leaving with you a picture of the current state of the PVC beauties.

Figures no tameni!

Babes with Blades

My figure collection ushers in the Year of the Ox with the arrival of my first ever 1/7 purchases: GSC Ryougi Shiki and Alter Signum. They have been posted to the Babes with Blades sub-unit to join Alter Fate. It will be perfect if I can get my hands on Volks Fate. *fingers crossed*

Argh, this is a terrible photo even by my low standards. The flash rebounded like crazy off the gloss veneer of the plywood. Worse of all, the angle of the shot has Sig-nee's face obscured by her own right fist and sword. orz In any case, I've also been thinking of getting a glass door custom made for this shelf to ward off the dust.

First off, I've been rather worried about Signum's one-legged stance. Even though I was assured that the leg has been strengthened, I've heard from J that the peg on the stand itself has broken off for some Taiwanese collectors. It'll be such a pain if said broken peg is stuck in the sole in Sig-nee's right boot. I was thinking of getting some form of support. So far, the $3.20 doll stand from Art Friend can't fit neatly underneath her arms due to the distance between the support clasps and the base of the figure stand and doll stand. OTL May have to go for a custom-made acrylic stand. Stripey recommended a shop in Bras Basah (whose name currently escapes me... I tried googling it but no one seems to remember either LOL). I'll be most happy to hear any advice, suggestions from readers on sourcing and design of such a stand.

Quitting the PVC path prematurely – On borrowed passion or a mere crush?

Double's thoughts on the life-cycle of a PVC figure hobbyist got me wondering about the reasons why once passionate collectors would quit the love. When I say 'quit the love', I mean sell your entire collection and never look back upon the PVC path again.

There are a multitude of reasons why one would fully quit a passion but as sure as death is found in life, so are the factors for quitting tied to its birth. Personally, I think there are 2 chief reasons when the PVC passion dies a premature death and both are linked to the motivations for starting a figure collection.

Riding on borrowed passion

Many start a PVC harem because 'everyone else and their pets' are buying figures. It is just the fashionable thing to do in otaku-dom and if you didn't want to be left out of 'figure-talk', you'd better start raking in the plastics. But such passions are not your own. The PVC hobby required much resources (time, money - much like a girlfriend actually) and not having a personal, genuine passion for the 1/8' beauties guarantees that you'll run on out borrowed love really quick.

Only a fleeting crush

I have a friend who fleet from passion to passion. From pool to online gaming to audio electronic systems and each time he does that, he pours in an enormous amount of resources to fuel that passion. Sadly many of his supposed loves are relatively short-lived. Many articles of his past crushes now adorn his home, a constant reminder of his money/time misspent. Many I believe mistook their PVC crush for love only to realise the truth when a better, shinier hobby comes along.

This may sound like it's straight out of a badly scripted B-grade romance but I believe true love never dies. Back in my high school days, I used to tell people (in half-jest) that I have 3 main passions in life - Food, basketball and girls. Years on, I'm still head-over-heels in love with good food (though I've turned to more economical sources) and my love for female-kind is now concentrated on one woman (okay, a couple of 2D ones too XD). The only love I seemed to have lost is my once-fiery passion for basketball. Or have I? Fact is, I still own a ball and drop by the court for some shots once every couple of months... ALONE. My basketball buddies and fitness long gone but the fire for the sport still burns (albeit dimly) somewhere inside. That's how I would hope my passion for anime and PVC figures would be like too, 10, 20 even 30 years down the road. I hope to be celebrating the Nth year of Hontouni.com and still raving about my PVC pretties then.

Figure selling – Sign of a healthy passion

I applaud Haruji's first steps into the PVC secondary market. Whenever I see PVC collectors, reluctantly but cautiously release a small percentage of their PVC pretties, I'm encouraged. Because this PVC collector is surely here to stay. I'm not talking about temperamental collectors who buy 100 a year and sell almost everything the next but those who agonisingly prune their collection on a yearly basis, releasing the 'lesser' of their collection into more loving hands. A growing PVC passion features an organic collection - one that not only grows but also sheds deadweight.

The process of selling figures actually help shape our future purchases too. Once you realise

1) How difficult it is to get figures off your hands.
2) At such hassle and monetary loss (not all figures incur loss though).

you'd be more prudent and less impulsive in PVC shopping. For financial and display constraints, I have resolved to keep my collection small and 'elite'. Currently my display cabinets only house 28 figures. It pains me greatly not to be able to liberate so many PVCs from their boxes due to space constraints (My currently figure count stands at 42). The tanuki in me knows that I'm hampering these bishoujos from their true, grand destiny of shining forth from a worthy home.

Oh and for those keen to keep the PVC passion burning bright, do try DannyChoo's Classifieds. The Fate Testarossa which I've been trying to sell since 2007 was sold within 2 days of posting the classified. All hail the power of DC!