#(it'd be a fairly writing heavy game though of course)

[maideninorange]

Reblog and Explain a Concept You Have For a Len'en Fangame.

It doesn't have to be a danmaku game. Nor do you have to put it in the tags if you'd rather not deal with the tag limit. It's just something fun I'd thought I'd throw out because I was bored.

[megatownac]

Hmmm, guess my Blaster Master post didn't go over very well. Not that that's a shock, of course, but it is a shame.

My inbox remains open if anyone wants to talk to me. Nobody does. It's a bit of a downer, to be honest. I'm either not very interesting, or I'm plenty interesting all on my own without people wanting to suggest anything.

Yesterday, I didn't ride any trains at all, so I didn't write anything. As they say in Japan, 申し訳ありません. Don't worry about what that means. It's something appropriate.

I'm making my second trip to Tokyo today. I say that only because it is relevant to today's story, which is about how I have a fairly sizeable figurine collection that I don't talk about much. I saw two figurines on Tuesday that I really wanted, but I didn't have the cash and was also already carrying a giant doll that was rather heavy and cumbersome. Folded up as it was in it's bag, it was a bit easier, but it was still a 60cm (24 in) doll. Too big. Stupidly big. But I'd seen it nearly two years ago and wanted it slightly more each time I thought of it since, so I took the plunge and bought the most expensive doll of my life.

It cost less than my monthly mortgage payment, is all I'll say about the actual cost. Well, once insurance and taxes are included, at least.

The second most expensive figure I own, and the difference to me between dolls and figures is minor enough that I consider them in the same category when comparing prices (to me, figures are solid single pieces that may have removable parts, dolls and action figures can be posed, dolls have soft clothing and/or hair), was a bootleg I bought on eBay for around $250. I don't regret it, but the third most expensive I've bought is under $200.

Most really good quality figurines are about $100-150. I own a number of those. They're usually 1/8 to 1/6 size. Part of why the big doll was so expensive is that she is 1/3 size. Apparently, she is based on a six-foot tall woman. I'm okay with that.

Smaller figures, like what you might find in a crane game, might be $80 on the high end and $25 on the low end. Sometimes, smaller figures can still be expensive, like a couple of Inkling Figmas I found that were $90 despite only being three or four inches tall. Supply and demand, I guess.

If you're lucky, you can find boxless figures for really cheap, like $10 or less cheap. I own a lot of those. The box isn't very important to me. The figure is. Last night, I spent 700 yen on a figurine of Shinobu from the Monogatari series because she was unboxed. Or boxless. Whatever. One of the two I want to buy in Tokyo today is of Shinobu's other form, Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade (let no one say it is not, deep down, a very silly series), for about 2400 yen even though it has a box. Both are small. Maybe 1/8? 1/10? I'd have to measure.

Figures take up a lot of space and cost a lot of money no matter what, so it's important to me that I only buy ones that really resonate with me. Someday I want to go really nuts and buy some actual display cases for them all, especially my dozens of Amiibo, but it probably won't happen soon.

I don't have a stinger or a point here. I just like figures. I know a fair amount about them and try hard to take it seriously as a hobby. I'm not big into comic books, for example. Or books, generally, really. I mostly buy ebooks these days. But I keep buying video games, boxed whenever I can, and figures, regardless of box.

Do I think other people should take up the hobby? Not really. It's pretty pointless. I can't spend a lot of time doing stuff with them. They aren't toys. They're art pieces. It'd be like recommending someone take up buying paintings. Do it if you want! But I won't say you should. Especially since, deep down, part of what determines what figures I buy is the fact that I'm secretly a huge perv. Don't tell anybody.

Not that that's the whole reason, or the biggest. But while I can say that I love how shamelessly Crypton and Nitroplus sell out the characters of Hatsune Miku and Super Sonico (given name "Sonico," family name "Super"), maybe the fact that I can take off Sonico's top in so many of the figures I own of her means something else.

I can't strip Miku in any of her figures. I'm fine with that. She's supposed to be 16, after all. At least Sonico is perpetually 18. That's only two years, but they're important ones.

There's a bunch of figures I don't own that I want to, but that's fine. I have patience, and if I die with an incomplete collection, that's fine, too. As it is, my figurines are already going to make for a strange estate sale upon my demise.

I guess the big question everyone wants to know, me included, is why I keep buying them. Maybe it's true that "once you get into figures, you never go back." If that's the case, I definitely say you shouldn't start. But I like it, and I'll keep at it, even when it means buying Satan as a sexy anime girl because I think it's hilarious (my current beliefs aren't important, but I did become a born-again Christian as an adult). A $100+ dollar joke? Sure. I can do that. I did do it, in fact. And I'll do it again. Just you wait and see.