Mincing in Pain

On June 1st, 2009, I placed a pre-order on Hobby Link Japan for a very expensive PVC figure.  This figure would turn out to be the most expensive figure purchased to date.  I hope that I won't make another expensive purchase like that again for a very long time.

The figure in question is Fate T. Harlaown, an anime character from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS series.  The figure is manufactured by Alter, a company not new to the business on creating PVC figures.  They are one of the big ones out there, with character figures from K-On!, Ikkitousen, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and plenty others.  But what set this particular figure apart from the rest?  Size and complexity.  Many figures commonly found today are designed and manufactured with simple hairstyle.  The less detail the figure in question, the quicker the manufacturing process would be, in theory.  You don't create a figurine mold that details as many strand of hair as possible.  It's not economical and it's expensive.  Plus adding such details would exponentially add more delicacy to the figure.

The figure was slated to come out some months ago.  But it never arrived at the store until lately.  And immediately the figure sold out the moment it arrived.  I suppose this is one of the better benefits of pre-ordering something.  I have been waiting for a while.  Sadly, due to a combination of various factors, getting the figure is a very expensive process.  The store handles yen and that means converting it from US dollars.  With the US dollar being at a dismal value, combined with the current state of today's economy, it isn't easy trying to make sure that you have allocated enough cash to make sure it can be shipped out.  And because the size of the figure is larger than anticipated, it gets shipped out via EMS, which expedites the time it takes to deliver the order and increases the overall total.

When the package finally arrived, the package turn out to be quite large.  As soon as I saw the logo off the side of the box, I knew what was inside and I rushed to open the box up to get the item.  The item then sat on my computer chair, which ate up the entire seat width.  The sheer size of the item is almost incomprehensible and nearly indescribable.  Yet as I try to peer inside to inspect the content, I cannot help but feel amazed at the amount of details it has.  I'm at a loss for words just how to describe it.  I knew that the figure looks amazing in pictures.  Yet to see it in person is a whole different story.  I suppose it is similar or the same when it comes to getting Transformers toys from Japan rather than getting it locally.

Will I know if getting this will be worth every penny spent?  Time will have to pass by for me to find out.  But for now, the wallet cries and minces in pain.  It'll take a very long time for that to recover.  For the time being, it shall sit unopen and will accompany my other sealed items that I have tucked away, such as my hand-picked selection of Binal-Tech Transformers, T.H.S.-02 Convoy, T.H.S.-02b Black Convoy, Galaxy Force GX-03 Sound Blaster, and Masterpiece Megatron.