hontou ni » Figures

The end of my PVC adventures

Stripey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:34:47 +0000

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.

These figures alone cost me about S$1200 (75% of my entire PVC yearly budget.) But even discounting these VOLKS and Etsu exclusives, the average price of an 1/8 PVC is S$100 - an equally ridiculous number. A painful decision was thus made to reduce my figure quota to 10 for 2010 in keeping with the S$1600 budget. A target I am skeptical about adhering to if you consider that the existing 3 preorders under the 2010 tab and a further 3 I have earmarked to acquire upon release (Pictures with thanks from Foo-bar-baz). Ie, even before 2010 touches down, I'm already down to my last 4 PVC spots for next year. It's probably be more realistic to transfer funds from my Anime DVD and artbook accounts for a slightly higher quota. Either way, this is going to hurt my Japan trip planned @ next Spring.

Before I close, in following the footsteps of Aniki, I present the breakdown of my PVC pretties by their makers. My current collection comprises of 55 plastic bishoujos (not inclusive of the 10 figures sold) and frankly I was surprised myself that despite my admiration of Alter sculpts, they have the least representation amongst the big 4. Was not surprised @ the Kotobukiya majority given their leanings towards the moelicious.

I can only hope that the VOLKS component does not increase come 2010.

Putting up a Figures Page

Zyl — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:30:30 +0000

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.

Currently the page just shows links (to the manufacturer's site where possible) and an incomplete storage shot but I plan to put in a portrait gallery (a la Stripey) as well as a gallery of photo shoots (a la Adun or Xebek) once I get more photo-taking done and processed.

In the meantime, I present some statistics. Alter makes up the bulk of my collection (44%) and, surprisingly, Kotobukiya only managed one (6%) despite being a major manufacturer holding the rights to many popular series.

Another trend is how certain makers had a very good run wrt one particular anime series, like the way Megahouse's Lunamaria trio was clearly the best of all the offerings released or how MaxFac's Haruhi line was just head and shoulders above everything else thrown up by the competition.

Most of my figures were pre-ordered from A Certain Anime Goods Shop. Three COTS acquisitions in Singapore each have their own stories. Yurika illustrates how the element of chance can play a big role in buying and selling; Kano had retrieved her from a corner of the stock room and put on her sale (at a sale price) for not more than two days when I walked in, fresh from a Nadesico rewatch. Her comment: "Sometimes figures can sit there for ages. But some of them find buyers really quickly." Serendipity, it lives.

I didn't pre-order Alter Asa as Stripey commented that, based on the initial pre-release photos, her thighs looked fat; I had to see the final product for myself first particularly as, with good lighting, photography and photoshopping, pre-release photos often look better than the actual figure. Also given that the figure was released well after SHUFFLE! or even SHUFFLE! Memories had aired, I felt fairly confident that, even if I didn't place a pre-order, stock availability would be fairly good - there's still at least one on the shelf at A Certain Anime Goods Shop when I visited last month.

I had missed the initial pre-order boat for Saber Lily but some fickle souls appeared to have let go of their preorders so I managed to snag one. Wa~ha~ha~ Lucky!

Another two were off Japanese shelves during my Comiket 72 visit to Tokyo. Scouring the shelves of Akiba, Nakano and Otome Road can turn up some gems that I couldn't find at local or online shops. It's just astounding how rare the first RAHDX Lunamaria is; in contrast the third (and most beautiful) figure was so plentiful that even a humorous (Animate?) shop assistant put up a pitiful "I'm a heroine! I'm a heroine too! T_T" sign on her box.

E-Bay was the online shop of choice when I bought MaxFac Ryoko and Alter Jo. Both were bought from Japanese sellers and even though the shipping and handling costs were painful, the sellers were extremely responsive and responsible. Goods were shipped out within hours of payment and arrived in immaculate condition, even the protective packaging was, for a lack of better word, beautiful.

Final acquisition method was receiving two figures, namely the third Megahouse Lunamaria and Alter Nadie, as gifts from friends. Much appreciated. Especially since, in both cases, I got exactly what I wanted. Mostly due to the givers paying for a pre-order that I had already placed.

Young collectors and the PVC debt

Stripey — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:37:46 +0000

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.

While I'm no stranger to ‘marrying’ off my daughters, this most recent exercise was quite an eye-opener since the buyers were middle-school students (very responsive and responsible buyers I might add) of which one had to sell off his figure just prior to meeting me so that OUR transaction may proceed. So that got me wondering – how do the PVC collectors especially students manage such an expensive hobby?

This trend hasn’t always been so. Back in 2006, the average 1/8 PVC cost about S$50. The collectors were pretty much folks in their late teens with income from either National Service or some form of part time job (tuition for example) and young working adults. Come 2009, the average price of a figure is now S$100. In the figure forum where I lurk, a huge majority are young folks (many students) with an unquenchable passion for plastic and a collection to match. Just how they do it? After all here I am, holding a full time job and grappling with whether or not to downgrade my car so that I can delve into the dollfie business (Black Saber dollfie is simply gorgeous). Well, maybe they get their figures from nice tanukis who offer huge discounts? XD

Chances are they are funded by their parents/loving uncles. But given PVCs’ exorbitant prices how many families would allow such an indulgent hobby? In fact a quick check with Waifu-chan shows that my poor son (if I’m ever blessed with one) would not be allowed a PVC collection. *Sniff* (I suppose he would just have to procure it under my name – part of his training as a harem lead!! MWAHAHAHA!!).

What about you? How are you struggling with your PVC debt? Would you allow your children to have a PVC bishoujo collection?