I said I’d try and post again soon and realised that I hadn’t yet done my pickups post from the past three months. So here we go!

More Ultraman series!

After finishing Ultra Q and Ultraman, I needed more more of a fix of Japanese Kaiju TV shows, so picked up Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman and Ultraman Ace. I haven’t gotten around to starting them yet, but I’m genuinely excited to!

Various Blu-Rays and a DVD collection!

After a trip away recently, I picked up a few things from HMV and CEX. I am ashamed to say I’ve never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is abysmal considering it’s as iconic as it is, and I love classic sci-fi. I’ve also never seen The Colossus of New York, but with a giant Frankenstein’s monster/robot thing blasting people with light from its eyes on the cover, it frankly looked like a must-buy. The Land Unknown and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun also have somehow eluded me. I’m extremely excited for The Land Unknown, as the internet suggests it features actors in dinosaur costumes, and I’m always keen to see low budget special effects. Godzilla VS Kong is excellent, and I loved it both times that I’ve watched it. The Killer B Movie Collection features a few movies I’ve seen before, but more that I haven’t seen, and secured in a nice and tidy little box set like that made it worth picking up from CEX.

HMV Premium Collection Blu-Rays/DVDs!

I’ve become a bit of a fan of these HMV exclusive movies, and after recently noticing they were two for £15 on their website, I had to snag a few. I’ve seen them all at one point or another, but it’s nice to have these classics on Blu-Ray now. 1984 I picked up from CEX a little while before I saw the offer on the HMV site.

Nintendo Games!

I’m not sure if I covered the Batman and Robocop NES games in the last pickup post, as it was around that time I got them, but they’re being mentioned on this post anyway. I got them for a fairly good price on a facebook buy/sell/trade page, and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s often hard to find retro games at a decent price these days. Perhaps it’s because neither of these titles are overly desirable, but they’re both good games, and I was glad to add them to my NES collection. Ultraman for the SNES was a purchase from CEX online, for £6. I’ve still not played it, but it seemed worth the £6 to see how the ’60s show translates into a ’90s video game. Turtles: Arcade Attack was a curiosity purchase as well for a fiver, as I’d never heard of it before, and it’s obviously intended to appeal to fans of the original arcade game. Sadly it’s nowhere near as good as the original, with enemies taking ages to beat, making the game feel a lot slower and more of a chore. But as there’s a new retro style Ninja Turtles title on the horizon, I’m not too disappointed.

PS4 Games!

Despite the Nintendo Switch being my preferred method of playing video games these days, I do still pick up PS4 games from time to time. Godzilla is probably the most expensive game I’ve ever bought, and I only got it because I had a significant amount of in-store credit to use after trading in a ton of stuff to CEX. It’s fairly rare, seeing a limited release due to not scoring very high with reviews, but for me, it’s everything I’d want from a Kaiju game. Battles with giant monsters from Toho movies past, lots of city smashing etc. Resident Evil Village was gifted to me, and I’ve still yet to get around to play it, as I wanted to replay Resident Evil VII beforehand. But it’s on my to-do list!

Switch Games!

As you can see, I’ve been a good customer of Limited Run Games of late, with Shantae 1&2, Fight ‘N Rage, Panzer Paladin and Rivals of Aether all being ordered a while back. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero was a pickup from a recent trip away, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World was ordered from Strictly Limited ages ago and I forgot all about it until it arrived. I’m not exactly sure on why it was sold on Strictly Limited, as it’s now available on Amazon, so I was a bit peeved about that, when I could have gotten it for cheaper. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX was a surprise blast from the past when I saw the trailer on YouTube, so I had to pick it up. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon was a title I wished I’d picked up ages ago when Limited Run sold it, but for some reason or another I didn’t get it. But after selling a few things on eBay, I decided to spend some of my auction earnings on a copy, despite it being far pricier than it was initially sold for on LImited Run. But at least I have a copy now!

Japanese Vinyl Figures!

So I love the work of Ray Harryhausen, the absolute master of stop-motion special effects who worked on Jason and the Argonauts, 20 Million Miles To Earth, Clash of the Titans and more. Sadly due to most of his work being released before movies really had much in the way of toyline tie-ins, there isn’t much in the way of toys featuring the monsters he worked on, with the exception of the Kraken from Clash of the Titans, which is a collectors item and sells for a small fortune now. However, in Japan, vinyl toy company Marusan gained the rights to make dinosaur toys based on One Million Years B.C. a prehistoric adventure starring a furry bikini clad Raquel Welch. Anyway, the toys were released in the late sixties, but following Marusan making a comeback in the 1990s, they re-released many of their old toys like the Giant Gorilla (Kong) as well as their original monsters line. Anyway, despite this packaging not having a trace of the One Million Years B.C. logo on it, these are all reproductions of the dinosaurs originally sold from that toyline. It’s not much, but at least I can say I have something from one of Ray Harryhausen’s movies! And dinosaurs in garish Japanese vinyl colours are always awesome. So I’m happy with these!

So, that’s my haul from the past three months! To anyone who does read this, I apologise for my lack of posts. I’m currently working two jobs, as well as trying to find the time to write for Fusion magazine, and I’ve also started a course to become a teacher of English to foreign students, so I’m pretty knackered most of the time, and it’s easier to just flop and watch Ultraman than it is to be creative in any way on this site! But thank you if you do still bother reading my posts, when I get around to them!