Opening 4 Emerging Powers Booster Packs

Hi all!

Amateur Collector here and as my very boring but straightforward post title implies, I'm opening up four Pokémon Black & White Emerging Powers booster packs.

Just like my last Pokémon TCG related update, I purchased these booster packs, along with 8 others, in Kowloon - Hong Kong in a small shop at In's Point.
They cost me 25 HKD, which is roughly 1.90 GBP or 3 USD. Not bad at all! In fact, a very good price considering the pulls I got. Lets check them out, shall we? (scroll bellow to see pictures or click here for the video)

First off, here are the rares. 

I pulled a Darmanitan, a Leavanny and a reverse Gigalith.

I'm pretty sure I have this Darmanitan already, but I think I may still need the Leavanny.

A Holo Gothitelle. I'm sure I have at least two of these already. But glad to have pulled a holo nonetheless. 

And here is the gem of the bunch:

A Full Art Tornadus. This card may not be worth much at all, but I'm very happy to have gotten it, it is an Ultra Rare after all. It's interesting to see that it's not in this set that they started leaving "finger print" like patterns on Full Art cards.

Overall this was an okay bunch of booster packs. Emerging Powers is the smallest set from the BW era of Pokémon TCG with only 98 cards, only 2 of which are Full Arts and 10 holos- so I'm pretty glad that I managed to get a Full Art. 

Well, I'll leave you here. My next Pokémon TCG update will be soon. I'll be opening up four Plasma Storm booster packs. Looks forward to that! 

See ya next time!

Unboxing Danboard Mini

Hi all!

Amateur Collector here. Today I'm bringing you a most adorable little figurine. Based on a fictional character made up by another fictional character within a fictional story, I give you Danboard, AKA Danbo:

Danbo is from a very cute Japanese comic (AKA manga) called Yotsuba&! (pronounced Yotsubato.) It is a costume made of cardboard created by a character named Miura Hayasaka for a school project (and to freak out titular character Yotsuba.) Danbo has gathered a cult-following among the anime fandom and so as a result there are many figurines and other merchandise based on it available on the market. This particular one I got is called the Revoltech Danboard mini ("mini" due its small stature. It's about the size of my hand) by Kaiyodo. It only cost me 110 HKD which comes to about £8.30 in the UK and around $14 US. Already that's a good price, and it was the cheapest I found it at (other stores had it at about $118-125 HK.)

Now on to reviewing it! The packaging already has me drawn to it. It is made from actual brown cardboard with no bold colours or striking designs, which suits the character very well and makes it stand out from all the other showy boxed figures on the shelf. I bought the "basic" figure, but there are in fact several different editions of this same figurine and its packaging. If you're willing to pay a few extra dollars more (generally $25 HK more) you can get a Danbo with the figure and  packaging stamped with logos from actual brands, which makes the box seem more "authentic"... as well as provide some advertising for those companies of course haha. Check out this page belonging to collectiondx to see the other variations of this toy.

The other major feature of the packaging is the back:

The staring, the constant unblinking staring, aaaaaaaah!

Yup, Danbo's face is cut into the back of the packaging. It actually looks really cute with lots of personality, despite only being two small circles and a triangle.

Anyways, enough on the packaging, lets check out the figure itself. 

Come out, come out Danbo! It's time to play! 

The figure is quite small, about 7.5 cm tall (3 inches tall). It comes with a base and requires no additional assembly. 

Its arms are very moveable and its head has quite a bit of movement too. Sadly the legs are not as moveable. Overall the articulations and pose-ability is very limited but I guess that's only natural for something that's meant to be made from cardboard.

The figure stands well on the base it comes with, however I was a little annoyed that the sprew didn't go all the way in to the hole in the foot. The figure might also have a few issues with balance depending on how you pose it but otherwise stands up well.

I'm the king of this here castle, you're all nothing but dirty rascals!

Run Danbo! Run!

You might notice that Danbo has a switch on the side of its head. I initially thought it was a part of the design, but no, it does indeed serve a function.

Well, it turns out that the head is removable, and underneath you'll discover a little panel to open with a bit of clear plastic sticking out. If you remove the plastic you'll activate the batteries inside.

Underneath the head.

Pop the head back on and flip the switch and voila! Danbo has ominous glowing eyes!

Bear in mind, from what I have read these are small batteries that do not last long, though they seem to be replaceable.

So overall I'm very happy with this purchase. Yotsuba& is easily a favourite manga of mine and being able to own a great little figurine from that series for a really cheap price is fantastic. It's not the most posable and dynamic of figures out there, nor complex in its design; but it's cute and a must have for any fans of the series (and very cost effective for those who don't have much to spend!) 

That's it for today! Feel free to share and comment.

My next post will be another Pokémon TCG booster pack opening, so look forward to that. 

For those who are not interested in that, stay tuned anyways for further updates since I have more collectables and figures to post about!

Until next time,
Ciao!

Catching' em again! Pokemon TCG opening in China!

Hi all!

Amateur Collector here and yes you've read that title right; I have found some Pokémon TCG booster packs to open in China, and they're not fakes!!

These booster packs were found in Hong Kong in a small shop inside the In's Point shopping centre in Yau Ma Tei (which as a side note, is a great shopping area for collectables!) At first I thought they were perhaps fakes so I only bought one booster pack to see what they were like. Lo and behold, not only are they legit, but I get myself an awesome full art Articuno-EX!! Sooooooo naturally the next day I go back and buy myself a fist full of booster packs. They were very cheap in fact, only 25HKD (that's about £1.90 in GBP and $3.20 USD) and there was a nice diversity of boosters from different series (no Dark Explorers sadly!).

I ended up buying 4 Emerging Powers, 4 Plasma Storm, 3 Plasma Blast and a Plasma Freeze booster pack.
If you want the suspense of opening up these booster packs not knowing what comes out as I open them, then avoid scrolling down and just click here to watch my Pokémon TCG Booster Pack Opening video.

Before I reveal the cards I got in those twelve booster packs, here's the Articuno-EX I got from that one previous pack:

The card is slightly damaged on the bottom right hand corner, the booster pack it was inside must have been moved around quite a bit. But still a very handsome card.

Here are the booster packs!

The first lot of boosters I opened were from Emerging Powers. This is a set I have rarely opened, so I was eager to rip them open. Sadly I only got non-holo rares, most of which I already own. From left to right: Gigalith, Gothitelle, Mandibuzz and Beartic.

Things get better with the next few boosters however!

Some of the rares:  a Team Plasma's Garbodor from Plasma Storm, and a Reuniclus and Carracosta from Plasma Blast.

Two rare reverse-holos! A Magnezone and a Team Plasma's Watchog. That Magnezone looks particularly cool.

Four wonderful holographics. The artwork on them is great and dynamic, but I must admit I find the "Tinsel Holofoil" a little bland, it just doesn't go with them so well. But I'm super glad to have gotten these none the less, especially that Lucario I didn't even know existed. The Lucario, Gallade and Togekiss are from Plasma Storm and the Haxorus is from Plasma Blast.

And Now for the cherry on the cake:

A Team Plasma's Tornadus-EX (Therian Form). Not my favourite of the Exs, but a card I'm overjoyed to have gotten anyways.

So out of 12 packs I got 4 holos, an ultra rare and 7 'normal' rares. That is about an average pull ratio for rare cards, and I mean that as a good thing. These booster packs were really worth their money. Next time I'm in Hong Kong I'll definitely stop by that store and purchase more.

Be sure to comment, subscribe and 'like' my youtube AND/OR blog if you like what you see and be sure to check out any other blog or video posts I have done or will do - Pokémon related or otherwise!

Until then, cheerio!

Kinder surprises me with Kinder Bueno - Year of the Horse Collectable Keychains!

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here bringing you some interesting collectables from Asia!
Five months ago it was Spring Festival here in China (more commonly known as Chinese New Year in the Western world), and with it all sorts of stores, products and services had promotions going on for the Year of the Horse. One that caught my eye was by Kinder Bueno.

Kinder is famous for its Kinder Surprise line of chocolates; a chocolate egg with a small collectable toy in it, with several to collect. But surprisingly it was their Kinder Bueno line that had a collectable promotion going on for Chinese New Year. In the supermarket I came across boxes with Bueno bars in them and a horse keychain titled... well I'm not too sure, sadly my Chinese character reading is very limited (feel free to comment below what the box says if you know!)

Anyway, here is a picture of some of the keychains (two out the box and one still in packaging):

The right hand horse is "乱码“ (luanma), which according to online dictionaries is a 'disorganised coding of text'. It's also a play on words, with "luanma" sounding like (乱马) which I think means "Confused Horse" or "Messy Horse", which is why it has all this jumbled writing on it as well as a look of confusion on its face.

 The one on the left hand side is "二维码" (erweima) which is a 2-D code, with the "码/马" play on words also being used here.

The one in the box is named “神马” (shenma) which I would translates roughly as "Holy Horse" or "Divine Horse", but according to nciku 神 could as well be "immortal", "god", "absolute", or more (I guess that explains why it has a halo in the picture below!)

The back of the box showing all the keychains to be collected.

Currently I own four of these, the only one I'm currently missing is the 'merry-go-round' horse (i.e. the pink one). The store didn't have this one in stock and I couldn't find any other stores that had this promotion going on. It's been months now and these collectables are discontinued, Spring Festival has been over for a while now after all! My only other hope to get my hands on that pink one is either through ebay or via someone on here. If anyone knows where I can find the missing keychain or has one to sell or trade let me know! Contact me either through my blog here or on my youtube account The Amateur Collector. 

I find these keychains adorable, highly stylised and highly collectable (just look at how unique each one is from one another) and just an overall a good idea for a promotion - not to mention they came with delicious Kinder Bueno! Well done Kinder!

Keep tuned folks, I have more dinosaur, collectable and Pokémon related stuff to show!

Till next time!

I'm back! And I've brought company (miniature movable 3-D Dino puzzle)

Hi all!

I'm back after a long leave of absence, and with a few collectables to make up for that.

Before I start sharing a few cool collectables I've acquired recently, I'd like to explain why I was gone for so long. Although I mentioned in my last post that I was not going to be able to come on often if at all, I never gave much details as to why other than "I'm going to be abroad". Well, I am abroad and working. specifically as a teacher in Guangzhou, China.

You may or may not know this, but Youtube, Blogger and various other video, blog and social sites in China are blocked. This is the main reason I was not able to maintain any blog or video updates. That as well as the fact that Pokémon merchandise is not sold out here, at least not legally and unlikely in English. So that made any Pokémon TCG Opening Adventuring plans impossible.
On the plus side, I have a VPN so I'll now be able to access certain websites including youtube/blogger, and I'm in Guangzhou - the manufacturing heart of the world. If there is one place to randomly come across cheap collectables this is the place. In having said that though, Geekdom is even more niche out here than in most other countries (which is saying something cause lets face it, it's very niche even in West despite growing mainstream acceptance) so don't expect that many updates.

Anyways, enough babbling and back to collecting. Here is the first collectable I bought in China; a 3-D dinosaur puzzle!!

This is a puzzle I found in a small quirky store in Shenzhen's Children's Palace mall. There were several different puzzles to get including Tyrannosaurus, a gorilla, a rhino, a Xenomorph from Alien, some zombies from an app game I've never played (sorry totally blanking on the title), etc. I opted to go for a Triceratops. This little brute (now named Lil' Dude) cost me 25 RMB, that roughly £2.50 which isn't bad at all. I'm not in a position to translate the name of this product right now, but I can at least spot a "Vv Life" (I'll more into this as I buy more of these puzzles.)

As you can see from the image on the packaging it's not just a 3-D puzzle, but a kinetic one at that! It walks! 

Now let me admit, I'm rubbish at complicated puzzles and this was not made easy by the small parts and a very, very tiny little basic instruction manual. The manual was literally the size of one of those supermarket receipts you get at the checkout till.

So many incy wincy peaces!

After about an hour of squinting at the manual and putting everything together I finally finished and ended up with this handsome fella:

 
(sorry for the poor picture quality)

Handsome fella indeed, but there is a catch. He can't walk properly. For what ever reason the little motor doesn't get the dinosaur moving, no matter how much you wind it up. It's a real shame, but considering I got this for such a low price (I bet this would cost twice the amount back in the UK) I can't complain too much.

Overall I'm happy with this guy and hope to continue the collection. I think I'll focus on the 3-D dinosaurs first, then the animals and work my way up to the Xenomorph.

Well I'll end this here. Glad to be back and hope to make more of an appearance. Till next time!

Landorus Promotional Blister Pack - End Chapter

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here and welcome to my last merchandise opening for Pokémon TCG Opening (Season 1). To wrap up this fun journey I opened up a Plasma Freeze Triple Blister Pack - Landorus. To check out the video click here.

Here's the pack, which I bought on ebay for £9.99. A little pricy but the postage was free so over all not bad, especially since this is a ridiculously hard blister pack to come across, either being out of stock or very expensive:

And here's what you are guaranteed to get in the pack, aside from the three Plasma Freeze booster packs of course:

A Team Plasma's Landorus (Therian Form) BW79 promo card and a Team Plasma coin, which has the same design as the one I got from the Team Plasma Box but a different colour.

And here are the 'prizes' I got from the booster packs:

I got a lovely holographic Reshiram, a rare Team Plasma's Weavil, a rare Team Plasma's Steelix and a reverse-holo Team Plasma's Muk. So four rare cards out of 3 blister packs, not bad.

So I'm pretty happy with the blister pack, I got a really cool promo card and a bunch of rare cards that I never had before! (I thought some might be doubles but it turns out I was wrong.)

Aaaaaaaaand that's it, my journey has ended. I'll do one last post to wrap up my experience as a whole, but for now I will say this was a lot of fun and I certainly plan to -and indeed will- do again. Indeed I already have some merchandise stockpiled for a Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures Season 2. But I won't be getting round to doing this for about 6 to 12 months because I will be moving abroad to work for that time period, so it'll be rather hard to do this at the same time due to lack of youtube access, official Pokémon TCG merchandise and time. Hopefully that means it'll build up a lot of suspense haha.

I won't be totally gone from this blog though, I still plan to update on occasion about other passions of mine if possible so make sure to stick around.

But for now- thanks for the viewership, I'm happy that people were willing to view, subscribe and comment on my videos, to be there along with me on this journey. I hope it was as much fun for you as it was for me.

Thank you and until next time!

Emerging Powers Promotional Blister Pack (Minccino) - Calm Before the Storm

Hi all!!

The Amateur Collector here and today I'm just opening up on little checklane blister pack, the third and last one from the three that I bought off of Card Team for £5.95. To check out the other two here: first blister pack and second blister pack.
This blister pack has one Emerging Powers sample pack, an actual Empowers Powers booster pack and a sweet promo card. To check out the opening video click here.

So without further ado:

The promotional card

Minccino BW13, and I have to say probably one of the cutest cards I've ever seen.

The Emerging Powers booster pack swag

A rare Gothitelle and a reverse-holo Thundurus.

I must say I've noticed that I have good luck with rare reverse-holographic cards, I feel like I get them more often than not. Though I must admit in this case I would have liked it if the cards were reverse, since I already have a rare Gothitelle but still need a holographic Thundurus. As for the promo Minccino, I think it has become one of my favourite cards for the B&W Black Star Promotional series, it's so cute, the background is colourful and the artwork is simple and effective. 

Well, I'm happy enough with this blister pack, not the best pulls for £5.95 but the promo card more than makes up for it.

I've titled this post "Calm Before the Storm" because my next post will be my last one for Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures (season 1) and I like to see this single blister pack opening as I kind of "breather" before the last opening.

So see you soon!