Unboxing Archonia Mystery Anime Box 2022: Weep or Keep?

 So, Archonia did a mystery box sale this year, and at 40 euro for a box, I took my chances and ordered one.

It is stated the boxes contain 3 prize figures and 2 pieces of merchandise, so I wonder if there is something for my taste in it.

Without further ado as such, let's unbox this mystery box!  I`m really excited, because of mystery boxes are always great fun, and a prize figure quickly runs to the 30 euro mark or more.  So if even one of them inside is fitting for my collection, it will be a decent deal, anything above making a great deal.

Now, those are the items in the box, and if I check their webstore, the total value if bought loose would come to more then 110 euro, so even with one or two items going in the collection, it was worth it's money... and I got a video out of it to boot heehehe.

So in the end, we got the Bulbasaur cap, a Smile trial deck for Weiss Schwarz Idolmaster series, Z1 from Azur Lane, Boa Hancock chinese wedding dress and Toji no Miko.

I`m happy with this purchase for sure!

Akiba Leuven store visit

As me and Noshi just arrived back from a city trip to Leuven to finally have some post Covid RnR, we also visited the local Akiba store there.

Now, I am (very) familiar with the store in Antwerp, already being a customer there when he was just open in the Central Station, but the store has been expanding with new venues in the past two years.

And Leuven was a bit pinpointed by us for the trip just for the store.  Because, gachapon machines!  You buy special Akiba coins there, who become cheaper if you buy more, and then the wheels can be cranked.

So I got a nice pile of gachapon to add to the tube, to be opened at the end of the year in a special unboxing video on my YouTube channel. 

The store is a nice and decent size (tbh, the Antwerp one is tiny), with a great selection of manga, merchandise, figures and snacks.

 

 

They also have 2 UFO catchers, one with Rem's and Ram's, the other unfortunatly not really stacked up as it contained only a single plushie.  I refrained myself though from playing them hehe. I did take along the second volume of the JK Haru series though, so it was a nice little loot pile that came back from this store visit.

And it also comes with a selfie wall to make sure you can record your visit there!

So when in Leuven, make sure to check the store out in the shopping district, it's a fun place with a very positive vibe to it.

And as such, that is one more store of my "to visit" list this Old Belgian Otaku can scratch of his bucket list.

Unboxing Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Loot Crate

 It's here!

The third of the Gundam Limited Edition Loot Crates, with Iron-Blooded Orphans as it's theme.

Now normally, this was supposed to be the fourth in the line, but alas it switched places with the ONE series of the franchise I actually took the subscription for, SEED.  Oh well, saving the best for last we shall say!

So, that means I will now be opening this box, which is of the four sets the one that intrested me the least (the other two earlier ones where Wing and 00), but being the completionist that I am... I just wanted all four of them!

And here is a stack of the contents.  

 

 

To be honest, the weakest of the boxes so far for me, and a pity it didn`t have a mug in it like the previous two.  But that sweater is ubercool!

Building a huge gashapon tube

 Okay, so this is just some fun project for the coming year.

I got one of these christmas ball tubes from this year's tree, and I thought "what if I fill this all up with gashapon balls"...

And so I'm duly going to do.  During the year I'll frequently be going by Akiba in the Central Station, and spend my small change there when I pick up some manga to turn balls.  These will then be added to the tube, in the hopes of filling it completely towards december 2022.

Once that happens, I`ll be doing a massive opening of the balls inside, by then long forgotten in all probability what is actually in them, if there are duplicates, etc etc etc.  

Just seems like a fun little thing to do on the side, so to kick it off I already inserted the two gashapon balls from this december's manga purchase in there, now to get it gooooiiinnnggggg!

Unboxing the October 2021 CapsuleBox

 I bought another CapsuleBox this month, the october version, because it should contain an item from That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime.

And I recently saw that there where some small scale figures of the series, so I HOPE it is one of those, but we'll see what it actually is inside.

I sat down together with Noshi to delve into the box, and avoided the spoiler paper first in order to be pleasantly suprised as a result.

The box contained 6 balls this time round, so we got cracking right away, pulling out balls at random from the box.

 

And the first one immediatly was the Slime one, and it indeed where those new figure series of three.  A bit of a pity I didn`t get Milim, Shizue looks adorable holding a tiny blushing Rimuru.

 

 

The next thing is a cat on a barber chair, not from any anime but some fun balls in Japan, and they included it in the box as such.

 

 

Thirdly it is the "traditional item" they always include in the boxes, a kitsune bringing a fortune wish with it.  Nice little beastie, and it goes in my nicknack closet as such.

 

 

"We have a Pikachu" Noshi proclaimed as I handed over the fouth ball, and it is one of the Halloween mascot set ones.  And imho, the most fun of the series as it is Pikachu playing ghost with a blanket.

 

 

A JuJu Kaisen figure was the fifth one in the box, and we drew Toge Inumaki.  Now, we haven`t seen that anime so far, who knows maybe in the future...

 

 

The final ball contained an acrylic clip from Yuru Camp, a nice little stationary item I`m definitly keeping as well.

 

 

So, that was the contents of the october box.  I`m delighted with the Slime figure, love the Yuru and Pikachu items, and think the kitsune is cute.  Both the cat and the Juju Kaisen item don`t do anything for me though, so they will end up in a give away one of these weeks over on Instagram that I`m planning, with some more items from older boxes whoch weren't down my alley.

 

 

But, I`m overall very pleased with the contents, and if the theme's or named series that will be in the box are down my alley, I will definitly be ordering from them once again, all IOSS woes included!

 

And, we got some bonus candy as well once more :-) 

Nendo Addicts Pop Up store tryout

 Coming soon to Antwerp is the brand new Nendo Addicts store, already quite a while a reliable online retailer of Good Smile Company figures, but now turning into a brick and mortar store.

As a sort of test, they did a one day pop up opening today, so of course I went there and had a look.

 

The store is located at the Opera square in Antwerp, 5 minutes from the Central Station and right to the side of the Meir shopping lane.  

 

 

It's nice and bright, and not (yet) stacked with shelves as this is a try out, and otherwise they would need to load in all in the store for today, only to pack up for Made in Asia which starts friday.

 

The store is decorated with JoJo posters, and awesome Genshin Impact artwork.

 

 

They have a lovely selection of figures you don`t commonly find in the local stores, as he is an official Good Smile Company retailer.  This means suuuuuper easy access to Nendoroids and Pop Up Parade figures for example (and I adore that latter scale).

So, I borught some loot home of course, namely Shion (which will be my Xmas gift from the little guy, so she goes behind lock and key for some months), the new Kit Kat Mont Blanc for Noshi, and a cute little Nezuko for my home office.

And a Hatsune Miku facemask!  As a promotion today, every customer received a mask.  There was this one also in aqua, and a Nezuko mask which was bright pink with her bamboo stick printed on it, so that might be a little "to much" for work, hence I opted for the black Miku mask.

It's a lovely store, and it looks very promissing as a place where my wallet will get depressions 😂

My first custom pin order

 In today's unboxing, we have a bit of a special item, a Rimuru pin from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.

Now, first let me tell you a few things about pins and Japan / Anime.

It isn`t a thing!  For some reason, there just aren`t that many officially licensed enamel pins made in the land of the Rising Sun.  Instead, they still go the button road (you know, those usually round, flat discs with a safety pin for attachment, overhere seen mostly on metal fan jackets).  But fear not, on Instagram a whole community has rizen of western world pinmakers, and there are some GORGEOUS items amongst them.

Like my very first pin that I`m now about to unbox (or unparcel, unenvellope, whatever), created by Tishpins from the United Kingdom.  Check out her Instagram for her work, and link to her Etsy store btw.

Of course, being small scale businesses ran by artists in their spare time, it isn`t supercheap compared to mass produced pins and buttons, but on the other hand you have a unique, limited number piece of art in your hand, and you support those artists doing what they love doing.

It came to just under 25 euro for the pin, and of course taxes (Brexit, IOSS, pick your devil...) where a risk.  No taxes though as it wasn`t stopped!  But anyways, I ordered it the 18th of july, it was shipped the 21st of july and safely arrived the 2nd of august.

So without futher ado, let's have a look at the pin itself:

A gorgeous little thing, and I've decided that after the holidays I`m grabbing a second, small board for adding pins, to put all those excellent custom made ones on that are out there!

What's a collection more or less after all...