Saber and Tohsaka Rin summer version figures by ALTER along with a Saber plastic kit by Kotobukiya.

I’ll be adding the two ALTER figures to Figure Haven sometime this week (perhaps tomorrow?) along with a bunch of other new arrivals. All I have to say is, ALTER does not disappoint.

Most of the stuff I bought on Black Friday has already arrived due to Amazon’s speedy 2-day shipping.

Several years back, we stood out in the cold for several hours and ended up not even buying anything. Now I spend every Black Friday camping out in front of my computer surfing Slickdeals and Amazon.com for worthwhile purchases.

Nothing really caught my attention outside of Amazon’s lightning deals except for a Panasonic 42″ Plasma HDTV at Buy.com for $298. However, there was the whole fiasco involving them not updating the price on their site when the deal went live. So I didn’t even get a chance to buy it.

Oh, Steam also had tons of good deals on games during the entire weekend. NyxQuest anyone?

What purchases did everyone else make, if any? I probably bought way too many games that I won’t even get around to playing, but the prices were simply irresistible.

The Wonder Festival 2010 Winter exclusives that I had pre-ordered months ago finally arrived in the mail today.

They were as follows:

• Nendoroid Mio & Ritsu Live Stage Version [K-ON!]
• Nendoroid Snow Miku
• Figma Hirasawa Ui School Uniform Version [K-ON!]
• Saber Lily ~Golden Caliburn~ by GSC

It has been quite the wait with the multiple delays on Saber Lily. The Mio & Ritsu box is actually really large and heavy for two nendoroids, mostly due to the curtain stage that it comes with (you can see it behind the nendos).

Some figma pre-orders arrived this month.

I haven’t opened any of my new acquisitions in a while. Not in the mood I guess.

• K-ON! Mio Akiyama figma by Max Factory
• K-ON! Tsumugi Kotobuki figma by Max Factory
• PSP Fate/EXTRA Limited Edition with figma Saber Extra

I almost have the complete K-ON! set of scaled figures, nendos, and figmas. After next month’s arrivals, I’ll just be waiting on ALTER’s Mugi and Ritsu figures.

The Fate/EXTRA Limited Edition came with a small hardcover magazine (Fate/the Fact) that appears to include a DVD inside.

Two of my pre-orders arrived this month. The extra copies of the magazine are for a friend and my brother.

• K-ON! Azusa 1/8 Scale PVC Figure by ALTER
• Dengeki G’s Magazine August 2010 with Nendo Petite Tenshi as a bonus

My copy of Starcraft II: Collector’s Edition appeared on my doorstep this morning as well. I’ll post photos of its contents later.

Anyone else pick up SC2 today?

So Alter’s Saber Lily finally arrived after being on preorder for more months than I care to count.

I also picked up Alter’s Saber Black dress Ver. and Saber Mokyu Mokyu Ver. since they were released before I started my collection.

Fanime at the end of this month equals more potential purchases as well.

It has been a busy month with final semester projects and my impending graduation.

Only one new addition this time:

Dengeki G’s Festival! Deluxe Vol. 6 [Angel Beats!]

That other copy is for a friend. As a fan of Angel Beats!, I couldn’t pass this up. I think it is sold out everywhere so you’ll have to turn to eBay or something if you want one.

The magazine itself is quite thin, but everyone just wants the Yurippe nendo petite and Tenshi dakimakura cover that are included.

What can I say? There was a plethora of good games released this month.

• Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• Final Fantasy XIII Limited Edition Strategy Guide
• Final Fantasy XIII OST
  
• God of War III: Ultimate Edition (PS3)
  
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 (PC)

FFXIII is the shiniest gem out of all the March releases. Graphics are so amazing that it’s hard to tell the FMV sequences apart from the in-game graphics, and the combat system is innovative and actually gets fun deeper into the game. Some people might complain about the linear plot and endless sprawl of dungeon maps, but it’s really not that bad. I actually prefer the way the maps are structured and that there’s only one ending. Well, I’ll share my thoughts in an actual post focused on FFXIII later on.

Moving along, the FFXIII Limited Edition Strategy Guide is one out of a total of 210,000 printed. Mine is numbered 103,100 and worth every dollar I paid. As for the OST, I haven’t had a chance to listen to all of it yet, but what I heard so far was superb. Figure Haven will actually be carrying a few copies once I update the store with the new inventory we received. Square Enix decided to drop the price of the OST from $49.99 to $34.99 since they were pleased with FFXIII‘s reception in North America. We’ll probably offer it for $29.99 or something, but I digress.

Ah yes, the God of War III: Ultimate Edition. It naturally comes with the game, an art book, and a replica of Pandora’s Box. Basically you pay extra for a rather realistic-looking, but plastic box. I was surprised at the size and how it looks to be made of metal, but you realize it’s simply plastic once you touch it.

Then finally I got Bad Company 2 for the PC after reading great reviews about it and watching gameplay videos on Youtube. Fully destructible terrain? Sounds perfect to me.

Now I just need to find time for all this. FFXIII takes priority of course.

I don’t really do loot posts that often, but maybe I’ll get in the habit now. It’s titled Part 1 since I don’t know how much stuff I’ll be getting in the future. I’m somewhat impulsive when it comes to purchases.

Got White Knight Chronicles International Edition and Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (Blu-ray) in the mail today from Amazon. It has been a while since I’ve played a PS3 RPG.

Time to try it out!

My pre-order for Saber Lily ~Distant Avalon~ from Hobby Search has arrived this morning.

The packaging is very well done with the figure solidly secured inside, and it even has bubble wrap padding the back of the dress. The exterior of the box has a foil surface that makes it reflective, creating an effect suitable for Saber.

Best figure hands down out of all those that are currently released, although I am biased in many ways. The quality and level of work required to make this figure is simply astounding. Even the base it stands on is epic. Good Smile Company has certainly made it worth waiting through all those delays on this figure.