2009 was quite an exciting year for us , figure collectors. Quite a few awesome figures from Alter and GSC were being released throughout the year. Not surprisingly, those figures put a big hole in my wallet. However, I managed to hold my self back a bit in comparison to 2008. I don’t have statistics but I remembered that I bought a lot in 2008 since I just started collecting ^^;;.
Below is full list of my expenses in 2009. It ranges from figures to collectibles. Note that I didn’t include pre-ordered figures because there is no charges on my credit card until it’s been shipped. In addition, I left out BRS from the total because it has not been charged to my credit card yet.
| Item | Manufacturer | Shipping (Yen | Price (Yen) | Points | Total(Yen) | Total($CAD) |
| Saber Maid Ver. | Alter | 3,600 | 7,410 | 13,725 | $169.44 | |
| Nendoroid Saber Lion | GSC | 2,715 | ||||
| Signum Alter Ver. | Alter | 3,600 | 8,360 | 11,960 | $147.65 | |
| Kanzaki Kaori | Kotobukiya | 4,000 | 6,460 | 15,685 | $193.64 | |
| Excellent Model Claymore Clare | MegaHouse | 5,225 | ||||
| Golden Darkness | GSC | 3,200 | 5,881 | 9,081 | $112.11 | |
| Holo | GSC | 2,400 | 6,785 | 9,185 | $113.40 | |
| Saber Lilly Glass | Cospa | 1,500 | 950 | -950 | 1,500 | $18.52 |
| Saber Lilly Cushion Cover | Cospa | 2,220 | 2,375 | 11,055 | $169.44 | |
| Saber & Saber Alter Cushion Cover | Cospa | 2,375 | ||||
| Saber Lilly Long Strap with Cleaner | Cospa | 1,330 | ||||
| Saber Lilly T-Shirt White L | Cospa | 2,755 | ||||
| Saber Lily -Distant Avalon- | GSC | 5,400 | 8,867 | -2,847 | 11,420 | $140.99 |
| Fatina | Alter | 4,000 | 7,790 | -301 | 14,656 | $180.94 |
| Nendoroid Saber Lily | GSC | 3,167 | ||||
| Fate-T-Harlaown True Sonic Form | Alter | 4,000 | 12,160 | -532 | 15,628 | $192.94 |
| Dengeki G’s Festival April Issue | $35.00 | |||||
| Dengeki G’s Comic Festival 2009 spring | $35.00 | |||||
| Dakimakura | $80.00 | |||||
| Fate/stay nights Saber Portraits | $50.00 | |||||
| StrikerS Visual collection | $110.00 | |||||
| Otome and Yume sketches (2x$20) | $40.00 | |||||
| Afro Samurai sketch | $12.00 | |||||
| Fate/Unlimited Codes | $115.80 | |||||
| Kobato Calendar | $30 | |||||
| All about Clamp book | $30 | |||||
| Grand Total | $1,976.87 | |||||
I think I managed to cut it down by half at least in comparison to 2008.
| Scaled Figure | 9 |
| Nendoroid | 2 |
| Art books / Magazines | 5 |
| Collectibles (Dakimakura, glass, cushion covers, etc) | 9 |
| Figma | 1 |
My scaled figures contribute to the majority of my expenses and my Fate T. Harlaown figure is my most expensive figure in 2009. So what’s your most expensive figures ? did you go over your budget for 2009 because of impulse buying ?. What’s your target for 2010 ? getting more figures/merchandise or less ? As for me, I manage to keep my figure buying limited to 1 per month and it’s even less than 1 per month due to delays. I guess my new year 2010 resolution is to buy less figures/merchandise ^^
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Please don’t remind me of how much I’ve spent. I bought 85 figures in 2009. “orz
My goal is to buy no more than 2 figures per month in 2010. I should be left with a lot of spare cash then. XD
Happy New Years!
Tommy´s last blog ..One Year of Inferno Project
Oh my….. 85 figures is quite a lot for 1 year. That’s like 7 figures per month ^^;;. Happy New year and I hope you meet your goal in 2010.
Are you a Sadist?
I dont wanna think about how much money ive blewn last year.That would probably make the little Blowfish cry.
I mean your list is still so small compared to mine and the Cash involved already that high XD
Blowfish´s last blog ..Masters of Queens Blade Excellent!! Official Figure & Visual Book
Haha no, not really. I’m just trying to save $$$… you know for the future and not to blow everything on figures.
You got Alter Saber Maid the same time I did? How come I was not aware of this =O
Regardless, it’d be less painful if a) you stopped using EMS and b) you start looking at American/Canadian stores. I don’t think I’ve spent that much in the past year, though my spendings involved figures (and one artbook), and didn’t factor in stuff like primer and paint.
Hobby Search will offer SAL this year so it will be less $$$ for the shipping. Are they cheaper American/Canadian stores ? Aren’t most american stores using UPS for delivery ?. I will be cutting down even more this year. Hopefully, it will be less than $1,500
I used http://www.bigpfeiffer.com/catalog/ and paid around $140 (shipping included) for my Saber Lily. While their price seems slightly higher they have a flat shipping rate of $7.50; on top of that they are based in Canada so you can avoid tariffs. The downside is that they’re slow, but they are faster than AAA stores.
The other is http://www.otacute.com/ ; their price is more or less the same as the ones found in Japanese hobby stores except the price is in USD, and thus is more stable and cheaper once conversion factor is considered. The downside is that you can’t cancel your pre-orders, but they do offer exclusives (such as http://www.otacute.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2687 which I didn’t hesitate to pre-order)
Overall, look around and keep an eye on the conversion rate. Right now it’s 1 CAD to 89.23 yen so there’s not much to worry about.
Thx for the tips. I will give both a try on my next pre-order ^^
WOW u spent a lot of money~!! at least you got all those figures to keep you company~
Happy New year btw~!
Argyle´s last blog ..Happy 2010!! Also Some Updates
Hey Argyle, Happy New Year too. Have you checked Rin’s (koiaichaku.com) spending ? ^^;;. I am planning to cut down to $1,500 this year.
i never got into figure collecting. somehow i thank my lucky stars that i never did. although – i do understand that its a bucket of fun. i guess its akin to having a michaelangelo statuette in your own room – but cuter.
Figure collecting is just one of many hobbies out there and since you are not into it, it’s not one of your hobbies ^^
There’s a reason why I don’t do these expense reports because I don’t wanna look back. All I know is I blew about 2K on figures alone so I will leave it at that.
I guess my goal this year is to cut back big time. Suppress those urges and try to limit myself 1 per a month whether it maybe a nendo, figma or scale figure. I already canceled 1 this month to make way for Nanoha.
So far, February looks good as I’ve got nothing coming in.
Optic´s last blog ..MOSAIC.WAV feat. Miku Hatsune – Heartsnative: My Impressions
2k is more less the same as me. I am planning to cut it back to $1500 if possible and keep 1 figure/month limit which worked really well last year.
I usually just look at how much Rin spent and I feel better right a way ^^;;
My average spending on goods every year is really low… about $700CAN. But that’s cuz I am very peculiar at what I purchase and only make good and cheap grabs ^_^ Hopefully you can commit to your new years resolution ^_^
Robostrike´s last blog ..Non-CTRL-A events
Very nice $700 in a year. It’s a good thing to be peculiar and that’s what I am trying to do this year. Last year, I met my quota for having 1 figure per month, however, I bought quite a few expensive figures ~$100-$150.