I’ve talked about my love for collecting anime/manga related merch before. One of the aspects I didn’t mention in this initial post, was how I go about collecting. You know, direct purchase, secondhand, trading, etc. Generally, I’m a second hand collector. There’s very few series that I like with new merchandise being produced, so the only option is second hand market.
However, even after being a secondhand market collector there’s a trend for selling first hand merch that I absolutely hate and Japan is rather notorious for it. That would the ‘randomized goods’ style; i.e. blind bags/boxes, loot crate, gachapon, lucky bags or lottery style goods. The only where the odds are stacked against you and you’re encouraged to keep buying until you get the character you want.
I hate that sort of sale style with a passion. Not to be preachy, since this is very much a first world problem, but I have refused to buy merch due to these selling practices. They’re not a scam, but it’s so scummy. Just let me buy the thing I want even if that means it’s a little more expensive.
So back in June when my favorite mangaka, Higuchi Daisuke, announced a new goods series I rejoiced. This would be the first time for me ever to buy Whistle! and Whistle!W goods first hand! Especially since Higuchi-Sensei rarely ever licenses out their stuff for merch these days. After my joy subsided a few days later, I let out a groan reading the fine details; it was a lottery. No direct sales. Once it was over it was over; good luck finding stuff later on. On top of it all it was also limited run, adding another scarcity level to it.
I am overly picky about randomized merch sales. If I don’t like more than half off the designs and characters of the series; I don’t buy. I actually considered skipping this event entirely… Until I remembered that this is literally my favorite mangaka. This is literally my ideal circumstances to ever participate in anime/manga based capitalism if I was going too.
So I made my initial entry (via online sales). Not too bad of a pull. Then again, first pulls are always good because you haven’t invested anything else other then consideration.
I did a few more entries over time, until I was (mostly) satisfied with my results and mostly got the prizes I wanted. Admittedly, I even got an S ranked prize. I had no intention to try for one, nor did I even really want one, but that was a truly unexpected but pleasant surprise this time around. That sort of thing is also what gets you to buy more entries to be honest.
I’m not going to confess exactly how many lottery entries I did. That’s not really anyone’s business but my own. I’ll give Kawadoka Premium and Higuchi-Sensei credit that after you purchased, you’d get a screen showing what you had won. So it was very easy to track what prizes you won, any doubles you got, etc. I had my set budget for entries, and overall didn’t overspend by too much. In retrospect, I could have gone about this a bit differently but… at the end of the day, I’m a grown adult, the money was spent, and I regret absolutely nothing.
Also side note; I’m really sorry about the photo quality. It gets super dark out here so my lighting situation isn’t great. I haven’t been able to convince myself to fully open everything up until I can display it properly. I know, I’m a weird one.
Doing this lottery style did remind me of the biggest reason, that somehow I forgot, of why I don’t do randomized goods in the first place. I am someone who will hyper fixate on getting a specific prize or set of prizes. It’s usually not even the super exclusive one either. Which, worryingly did happen to me in this case. The biggest draw for me were the acrylic standees and I wanted one of every character in my best case scenario. Mostly due to the fact this is the closest I will ever get to a ‘figure’ of any Whistle! character. So it goes.
My more modest goal was at least to get Seiji, Sho, and Takumi. I managed to score Seiji and Sho within my entries. But for the life of me, even in my final hour could I get Takumi standee. In the grand scheme of things it’s really not that important, but it was so frustrating. Because I could mentally feel myself fixating on the gambling instinct of ‘I’ll just do it once more…. just until I get this standee’. If I hadn’t been on the phone with my friend talking about, who reminded me to stop, I probably would have gone way over budget attempting this.
I didn’t end up getting Takumi at the end of my entries. In fact, I was still missing the majority of the Whistle!W cast once the lottery ended. So I took a deep breath and waited to see if and when, they would pop up on a secondhand site. I got super lucky and found a seller who put up the set above for a really reasonable price, and threw in two additional buttons for free!
I’m still searching a bit to complete my collection. Unfortunately the character’s I’m looking for to complete my set are a bit scarce at the moment. I’m in no rush, since I’m still absolutely infatuated with what I have. I’ll be posting more of my collection shots on my Instagram (yes, shameless plug) as I play with more potential set up’s and ideally finish my collection.
I hope this post wasn’t too much of a flex post; I try to save those for Instagram. But every once in awhile I want to make sure my Word Press followers are up-to-date on my consumerism habits.
Also, I’m curious if my unbridled distain for randomized goods is a me thing, or if other’s have the same issues. Be sure to let me know in the comments down below. Otherwise, I’ll see you next post!
Phoenix Talks Pop Culture Japan 