Thursday, December 31, 2015

The End...of 2015

It's almost 2016, time to list what I got for Christmas this year!


$50 in eshop points! That's a lot of plays in Badge Arcade. For those not in the know, Badge Arcade is a crane game where you grab for special badges you can decorate your 3DS home screen with. It's useless, every play costs money, but it's so addicting. 

I also got gift cards for Panera and Subway. Hey, free lunches, I can't complain about that.


Funko Pops! Like I said before, I got addicted to these things back during NYCC, and these two are by far my favorite characters. Anger is from Inside Out, one of the best movies Disney and/or Pixar put out in years and he's by far the best character. Of course he's voiced by Lewis Black, one of the greatest casting choices ever. He's tiny, red, and will not hesitate to use that one swear word he knows. There's a version of Anger with a flaming head, but since he was an exclusive from SDCC, he goes for around $60 and I'm not shelling out that much for him. For now.

Captain Cold is from CW's Flash show, and he's such a great villain. I love his design, and he translates well to the weird Pop vinyl sculpts.


Speaking of Anger, I also got his Tsum Tsum. Tsum Tsums are Japan's weird, stackable answer to beanie babies and of course Disney is all over that. And like beanie babies in their prime (and Funko Pops now), the fanbase for these things is insane, with rarer exclusive ones going for upwards of $70. Since the Inside Out line has been out for months and are harder to find, Anger's not cheap...unless you find it in Target on sale like I did.


Games and stuff! This stack is a little smaller than it has been in previous years because most of the other shows I got DVDs for either ended (Community) or stopped making DVDs (Simpsons). This is also the last year for Parks and Rec and unless I finally get off my ass and watch the rest of my gigantic In pile of DVDs, there might not be any DVDs at all next year. Batman: TAS was from my friend Steve. 

As for the games, I'll admit I got Chibi Robo and Amiibo Festival for their amiibo. Chibi Robo I heard good things about, while Amiibo Festival is "play through Animal Crossing like Mario Party, but not as fun!" 

Yo-Kai Watch was a game I was very interested in, as it's kind of like Nintendo's new Pokemon franchise, but with enough differences to make a unique experience. After playing it for the past few days, I have to say that I'm really enjoying it. There's lots of exploration, and a new Yo-Kai under literally every nook and cranny. The battle system takes some getting used to if you're accustomed to Pokemon's like me, but it's definitely neat. 

Like Pokemon, the world is filled with weird creatures that you can befriend, and you use them to battle other Yokai committing mischief around the city. Like Pokemon, the various Yokai are based on various animals or spirits from Japanese folklore. And then there's Yokai with very specific tasks that they inspirit people with.

For instance, this is Cheeksqueek. He makes you fart. Yes, his head is shaped like a butt. And yes, his hair is supposed to be poop. He's not even close to the weirdest one in this game.

It's weird, it's fascinating, and I haven't been able to put the game down very often. If you like anything in the mon genre, you'll enjoy Yo-Kai Watch.


Secret Santa! This year I participated in Reddit's Secret Santa exchange and boy did I hit the jackpot. I had told my secret Santa that I collected Funko Pops and that I loved Adventure Time, Bob's Burgers, Doctor Who, among others. The Japanese gummy candy was a nice bonus, since I mentioned I liked to travel but I never expected Japanese candy, especially strawberry gummies! Sadly, the candy expired back in August and the one piece I tried didn't taste right. I thought gummy candy never expired, but it turned out I was wrong. So I learned something this Christmas.

I hope your Christmas was great, and I hope you have a happy New Year! See you folks in January.