Autumn Souvenir Haul

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale. Today, we will be taking a look at all of the souvenirs I purchased from my recent autumn trip to Nagoya. While this does look like a rather substantial haul, keep in mind this are only actually intended to be handed out to four individuals. So, you can imagine things got a little out of hand for me somewhere along the line.

The first, and probably simplest, souvenir goes to a close friend of mine who is a big Gunpla fan. We grew up collecting and building Gunpla together. While my collection of Gunpla has slowed down significantly throughout these years as I refocus my collection towards figures, his has remained strong with a steady stream of kits coming from the new series. As such, it is always a simple task for me in getting souvenirs from Japan for him. This time around, I got a HG Astaroth Origin, a kit he had been looking for but was unable to find, as is the case with a lot of MSV-type releases. 

The next souvenirs are intended for one our shadow contributors here who's collection spans multiple series and with merchandise and collectibles into the thousands. He is the reason I always get to review several figures outside of my collection or scope of interest and we have been together in this hobby for roughly the same number of years. When it comes to getting souvenirs for him, it is always the rarer and esoteric goods which really get him excited such as this Nendoroid Petit Saber Swimsuit Version that was coupled together with a Newtype magazine back when it was released. 

I should also mention that he is a mighty big fan of All Might from the series, My Hero Academia. As such, any All Might merchandise is usually sufficient to bring him into a rage of excitement not unlike the actual character itself. This particular acrylic charm was one he has yet to add to his collection and at just 400 Yen, there was hardly any reason for me to not get it. Needless to say, he was pretty excited to receive them.

Almost as if we were going into an ascending order of costs, the next batch of souvenirs were intended for our very own resident Dia worshiper and writer here on Tiro Finale, Takuya. A major fan of the character since her conception with Love Live Sunshine, getting souvenirs for Takuya has always been fairly straightforward to say the least. But knowing when to stop, that was the tricky part.

Since my last trip to Japan, several new Dia straps have been released. Rather than narrowing it down to a small selection of those that Takuya would like the best, I made the decision to get everything instead. This decision may or may not have anything to do with the fact that getting replies from Takuya seems to take what seems like ages in our connected era. Two particular noteworthy rubber straps I would like to point out are the Ruby and Dia Sakura Wars collaboration ones. Look at Ruby, she even has a teddy bear.

From one writer to another, the fourth and final batch of souvenirs are intended for another of our regular writers here on the blog, Lance. I cannot claim to know much about Lance's preference in characters and series except maybe Hanamaru from Love Live Sunshine. Just like Ruby and Dia, I also managed to source the Sakura Wars collaboration version of Hanamaru which was an opportunity to hard to pass up on. Accompanying them is a Kimono version and another, which I believe, comes from the movie. 

While browsing AmiAmi in Akihabara, I also came across this Monster Hunter plush toy which had just been released leading up to the release of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Having missed the chance to get the trading figure version of the Monsters from the series, I figured this adorable plushies would make then make up for that.

Not intended for any specific individual, I also purchased four blind character charms from the Love Live x Atre Akihabara exhibition. The plan was to pass out the charms accordingly depending on which character I got. Moreover, it would make for a fun bit of activity to do with friends as we attempted to guess what I had gotten. 

Aside from the character charms, I had also received this holographic cards from the exhibition. One each for every 500 Yen spent and I somehow managed to receive Mari, Hanamaru and Yoshiko from the lottery draw. 

Putting it altogether, I think I managed to amass a healthy mix of souvenirs from all different series. While it is always fun to hunt for the things you like, I often find hunting for goods as souvenirs an equally interesting experience too as I would explore section and series I otherwise would not. Moreover, it is also a good opportunity for me to learn more about the fandom of various other series which in return increase the number of topics I am able to write about on the blog.

With the current climate of things, it has become rather uncertain when my next trip to Japan will be. Hopefully, I will still be able to make it for Wonder Festival this year. Whenever that time may be, you can always be sure that I will be ready for my next souvenir hunt. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!