It’s 10:00 PM, and I’m stumbling back again to my condominium after a wild evening out in New York Town. On my way in, I almost tripped over a large cardboard box sitting around my mailbox. It’s huge sufficient to keep a Computer system observe. I groan. I know specifically what it is: A $300+ anime figurine. [Freeze frame, record scratch] You could be thinking how I obtained listed here.
I’ve moved around the place for most of my everyday living, so I have formerly resisted buying anything that was cumbersome or impractical. But then the pandemic began, and it abruptly felt extremely hard to feel forward with my income. As an alternative of setting up visits, I put in far more time actively playing movie games and obtaining junk that produced me satisfied. When Good Smile Organization revealed that it was going to make a ball-joint figurine of Hearth Emblem’s Edelgard von Hreslveg, I understood that I experienced to have a design from my beloved JRPG of all time. She would price $56.
Here’s the greatest difficulty with Hearth Emblem: A few Residences merch: If you stay in the U.S., then there is seldom any. I own the wall scroll, a handkerchief, and a card holder, since I acquired them from Tokyo. So right out of the gate, Edelgard’s mysterious Mona Lisa smile experienced a certain distinctive allure. In March 2020, I placed my purchase on line and then I waited for an whole 12 months.
You imagined that preordering movie games was bad? Welcome to the environment of figurine shopping for. As opposed to Funko Pops, most collectible figurines are built-to-order. Production and cargo ordinarily will take close to a 12 months. And just like video video games, output can be delayed for any range of not known factors. So the strategy powering acquiring collectible figurines is to fork over tens or hundreds of bucks, and then wholly overlook that you at any time ordered it. By the time that your acquire eventually comes, you might have entirely lost fascination in that series or character. This is not for the faint of heart.
So why put up with all this nonsense? Why not go to the secondary market place? Oh, my sweet summer youngster. The preorder time period is when collectible figurines commonly go for the cheapest quantity of revenue. That’s how I finished up buying a $301 determine of Shi Huang Di from Fate/Grand Buy in December 2020. They’re the nonbinary antagonist of a person of the later on chapters of a mobile gacha game, so I knew that they did not have wide marketplace attractiveness. I could acquire the determine for a several hundred pounds now, or wait around for…$400-$800 now. Yikes.
It was the pandemic, Alright. I experienced funds to melt away, and I was captivated by their frosted mercury smoke (in genuine record, the to start with emperor of China died from mercury poisoning, and mercury moats protect his remains from fashionable archeologists to this day). At that time, I couldn’t get Shi Huang Di in the gacha video game no make any difference how numerous periods I experimented with the bi-once-a-year packs. The more cost-effective choice was dropping quite a few hundred pounds on a design, so I did. Following a number of production delays and shipping troubles, I eventually received them this calendar year. Now picture my absolute heartbreak when a stainless steel drinking water bottle fell and broke one of their mercury parts.
I purchased some glue and “fixed it.” No, I really do not want to communicate about it any even further.
But it was way too late for me. I’d tasted the forbidden fruit of figurine purchasing, and I could never ever go back again to the days when I scoffed at other weebs’ high-priced hobbies. But I have matured. I preordered a $351 Ningguang figurine due to the fact I adored her, and not for the reason that she was unobtainable in Genshin Effect. Just like rolling actual gacha, I recognized that it was a greater conclusion than buying collectible figurines out of FOMO. So I branched out to the Nero Claudius figure ($47) and Caster Artoria Nendoroid ($58). When Very good Smile Firm released a Lumine and Aether duo set, I explained to them to shut up and get my funds ($65 every). “But wait around!,” you could possibly say. “That’s only $943!” And you’d be right, if my remarkable order for the Xiao figurine didn’t run me $147. He’s coming in June subsequent 12 months, and I’m far more enthusiastic for him than any summer months gaming launch.
This may seem to be like a lot of collectible figurines. But definitely, it is not. I could have ordered the Silverash Nendoroid or Surtr collectible figurines from Arknights. I did not, but one particular of these times I sense like I’m going to buckle. One particular of the few things restraining me is the restricted square ft I have in my New York condominium. So as prolonged as I live in a shoebox, I’m secure. I believe.
Like many millennials, I really don’t truly have any intention of acquiring the aged standing symbols of my parents’ era, like gold watches or good china. Whoever inherits my possessions upon my death will also acquire a trove of anime figurines. And frankly, which is more significant than getting still left with some diamond jewellery assortment.