Tokyo Summer Haul

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for what is a long overdue haul post. It has been quite awhile since I did one of these, all the way back in May to be exact! A large part of that has to be with me having known before hand that I would be making my way down to Tokyo in August for Wonder Festival. Hence, having both the prudence and patience before spending it all in my five days there. In order to commemorate this year's trip, here is a detailed look at every item from this year's Tokyo Summer haul. Join me as we will dive right into it starting with the Tomoe Mami goodies!

The first item in the haul is one I discovered by surprise in Mandarake Nakano whilst digging through the little known Madoka Magica "pile" in the Men's Doujin sub-section. Yes, oddly enough a lot of series' knick-knacks are often found in the men's doujin section and this seems to be a unique trait to Mandarake's Nakano store. Nevertheless, this is where I finally managed to find this recent Mami glass that I have been meaning to add to the collection. At 800 Yen, it was a fair bit below retail yet was still in mint condition. At this point, I already have a fair few Mami glasses and I am tempted to start actually using them for their intended purpose. 

Rummaging further into said Madoka Magica pile, I found this cute Mami can badge. Despite being a very avid Tomoe Mami paraphernalia collector, can badges generally fall quite low on my priority list and I often avoid them unless they cost less than 200 Yen or happen to be particularly rare or exclusive. This piece falls in the category of the former and at just 100 Yen, there were really no reasons for me not to add this to the collection. 

The next piece is a surprisingly rare and early production Tomoe Mami charm figure strap. Part of the Color Colle (Kara Kore) series in collaboration with Lawson, these mini figures are now exceedingly hard to find just on the basis of their age. One such as this in mint sealed condition is almost unheard of and, the best part is, they often will not sell for much. This particular Mami cost just 200 Yen and a piece that I will likely keep sealed indefinitely. 

Moving on, we have a rather special clear file that is the product of the collaboration between Madoka Magica and Snow Miku as part of the yearly crossovers during the Sapporo Snow Festival. What makes merchandise from this event particularly rare is that they can only be obtained during the event itself. While they are not limited in any capacity of production, they are limited greatly in terms of distribution. Clearly, 432 Yen is a very hefty price to pay for a clear file but, such are the premiums one can expect when purchasing something as valued as this. 

Now, if you thought the excited Bebe in the front of the clear file was cute. Wait till you flip it around and are greeted with a Bebe snowman! The file may have been rather pricey but, certainly well worth the price in my opinion as this is one of the few pieces that I have been vying to add to my collection for a while now. 

The fifth and final piece of Mami merchandise in this haul comes direct from Cospa's flagship store in Akihabara. This Mami tee shirt sporting one of Mami's signature quotes, "I'm not afraid of anything anymore. Because I'm not alone anymore". There was also the full graphic Mami tee made by Cospa which cost nearly two times more at 7,000 Yen. So, I was more than happy to go with the simpler and cheaper option at just a little over 3,000 Yen. Moreover, a design like this feels to me to be more wearable in public compared to the full graphic one. 

Now, I would have loved for my sixth item on the list to be a Mami item as well. More specifically, Animegane's Tomoe Mami spectacle frames but, sadly, they were still sold out and have yet to be restocked. No matter! I will check every year until they finally do decide to restock it. In the meantime, I tried out a few other frames in store and settled on one that turned out to fit me surprisingly well. 

Also made by Animegane, these frames were a result of their collaboration with the Fate Series. These particular frames were made in Archer's image and feature the motif of his signature twin blades on the sides of the frames. They are pictured here with the lenses already having been made, custom to my prescription as expected.

Aside from the frame itself, you also get a nice sturdy case and glasses cleaner. Both of which sport Fate series designs. In addition to the frames, I also got a glasses case as they seemed much sturdier and suitable for travel for storing my additional pairs of glasses. All in all, the frames themselves do cost a very pretty penny but are worth it for they are actually of very high quality and are made in Japan. 

We arrive at the seventh item on this haul and the name of the game is still collaborations. This time, coming from one that is not only very recent but, also something I never expected to get! Love Live's recent collaboration with Sanrio characters sparked a whole slew of original merchandise and I was keen to get my hands on them if not for the limited availability. Of many of the collaboration's merchandise, one that caught my eye the most was the tote bag which featured all nine members of Muse with their respective Sanrio characters. At 3,500 Yen, it certainly was not cheap but considering its rarity, I was more than happy to pay the price. 

Done with collaborations, we now more onto something a little more simple. Something that is available commonly in hobby stores and can be picked up off the shelves easily. I am of course talking about Little Armory's 1/12 scale guns which have recently saw an explosion in popularity spawning an entire series of figures of their own. The latest addition to my collection is the much awaited FN P90 and while I was tempted to add other pieces to the collection, I decided to let prices settle a little first for the newer releases before buying them en masse. 

Now, we finally come to the last piece of the collection and the big ticket item of the entire haul. This is the one piece which made my entire Wonder Festival that much more memorable and also the one piece which put a massive hole in my budget for the trip. At 16,000 Yen, Union Creative's WonFes exclusive Super Sonico Black Cat Version is a unique color variation for their hugely popular 1/7 scale premium Sonico figure. 

From the outside, the entire packaging remains entirely the same as the retail White Cat Version save for the gold foil sticker mentioning that it is indeed the Black Cat Version and an exclusive release. The clear window also help to give away that the contents within are not at all similar to what is advertised on the box. 

What lies within is, of course, the true prize. Limited to just 100 pieces, this special variation is not just a simple color swap for Sonico's outfit but Sonico's skin tone is similarly darkened to give her a more tanned "gyaru" look that see often in certain color variation for Sonico figures. Having dragged my feet about purchasing her in the first place, I was glad that I did not miss out as not long after getting her were all 100 units accounted for (including the one that was on the display counter)! Funnily enough, I still am very much keen on getting the original White Cat version but, probably when the price of that goes down. 

Packed together, the haul this time is actually rather compact especially when you compare the fact that there are considerably less figures. Despite that, the total cost still came up to be a rather steep amount on par to my usual hauls during my visits to Japan. And while I certainly could have gone out and spent more, I was glad to practice some financial prudence and restraint, knowing that there will always be another time with potentially lower prices too. 

With that, we come to the end of the Tokyo Summer Haul. I will be taking a more detailed look at several of the items in this haul. If you have anything in particular you would like to see more off, do not hesitate to let me know in the comments section below. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful time ahead!