Hello everyone and welcome back to Nerdy Shique Universe! Sorry for taking so long on this but spent the weekend over at my fiance’s and he got sick, so had to take care of him. So, MetroCon passed two weeks ago and man I bought a lot! As said in the review I loved the dealer room at this convention because I found a lot more things that you rarely get to find at the normal conventions here in Orlando and it was bigger and better than the AFO, Knightro, and Florida Anime Experience dealer rooms combined! Well, FAE this year wasn’t as great as last year’s by what I heard but still better at Metro. So what did I get? Here goes!

Cosplay

New Belt for Lucy Cosplay: Decided to start with the cosplay items because this year for my first Metro I did get a few cosplayish items and the first item on the list is a new belt for Lucy! I talked about my Lucy cosplay for a while now and when I got it in the mail within a week before the con from my buddy Manchii (Due to his Chii Cosplay from Chobits) I wore it the first day and the problem or problems I had were the boots, which I need to try and break in before MythiCon in a few weeks and of course, the belt! My waist is pretty wide and I tend not to wear belts and this cosplay I had to wear a belt but it is lop sided, as in it has to go across in a slant over my waist. The belt I got off of Ebay kept on riding up and and it couldn’t fit right, especially with the notches, so I decided to go and see about the leather seller at the con about a new belt and found one. It is pretty big so it will fit a bit more around the waist and will be more comfy and not ride up. Don’t worry, the skirt has a tight waistband so it won’t slip like how Lucy’s did in one episode in Part 5! Still, glad I got it and will have to get my dad to put notches in it before Myth!

Bell Collar: Speaking of the leather seller, I decided to go back to them and get this! A new bell colarr. I love putting the cat ears on time to time and I am missing a cat bell collar. I know I have my old one that I wore for my cat character, Runa, but don’t want to ruin that collar since it is a nice one and has rhinestone studs in it with spikes. I saw these Friday and almost thought about buying one but remembered I had to buy food and I did buy some items that day but at least need to eat. I did go back Sunday and got one before we had to head back to Orlando and it fits nice and comfy. It is also purple! Loves the purple! The bell also has a nice tinkle to it and it matches the bells on my furry ears in tone. I look too cute in ears and bell form!

Orange wig: This was the first convention I ever bought a wig at! There were wig stands around the dealer room and there was a wig shop across the street from our hotel and it was very convenient since I had to improvise a costume on the spot and remembered that I wanted to do Kyo again since I lost my bracelet and bought a new one and the wig I had before no longer fitted and the hairs were falling out like crazy, which is not supposed to happen to a short wig! I managed to find a new one on the spot and of course, the same shade as Kyo’s hair in Fruits Basket. So, I was able to cosplay as Angry Cat Boy for Sunday instead of Hatsuharu as planned due to getting my Ginji Amano wig mixed up with it. The stand didn’t have the Haru hair but they did have Nightmare’s hair from the Araction Seis in Fairy Tail, so anyone interested in doing a quick Nightmare cosplay, visit this stand with wigs and figurines in the dealer room if they come back. I almost bought their blackish blue wig but it was spiked up and not as great as my Kyosuke Ishida one since I may want to do Ryonosuke, the twin brother. Still, this stand has Nightmare’s hair. I am hoping they are back next year, I may reconsider the wig. Still, I love the improve Kyo costume.

Plushies

Ayame Sohma Plushie: Plushies are a guilty pleasure and I have a huge collection over the years, especially when it came to Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake from Naruto! But I didn’t get Naruto ones but the first one is an Ayame Sohma plushie from Fruits Basket! All thanks to Anime Pagoda, which I will mention again down below, but they carried discontinued products until people buy them! I almost got the Haruko plushie at first but wasn’t sure but when my fiance saw the Ayame one, I knew you can’t find it anymore like the Grunty I got during Knightro, which wasn’t at the stand anymore which I am glad I got it anyways, but couldn’t pass this guy up. For anyone who doesn’t know who Ayame is, he’s Yuki’s older brother and he changes into the snake when a girl hugs him, except when Tohru meets him he hides in her shirt to keep warm since it was wintertime at that point in the story. Yuki finds his brother in snake form in her shirt and drags him back to Shigure’s and yells “If you are so hungry, eat this instead!” Which makes Shigure recognize him as Ayame and told Tohru that he is Yuki’s brother. And by the way, Chris Sabat is the voice of this character and he is really good at it! I may cosplay as him at some point, because I can do a bit of a creepy impersonation of Ayame. At least I have something to work with when I do it finally!

Flareon and Leafeon Plushies: I had to mention these together because I ended up getting these when I found out a stand that had Glaceon as well sold out before Sunday of Glaceon. I was sad but I did find Flareon and Leafeon there and got them instead. I did want to collect all of the Evees but my Jolteon plushie is not being counted since it is the tiny one that you find at the Japanese Pavilion in Epcot but these are better! Why? At least they are made better than the plushies at Epcot and it feels as though an actual Japanese distributor put a lot of work, especially with Leafeon! I never got to see Leafeon before but I can see why Glaceon is favored a little more than Leafeon, but at the same time grass-types in Pokemon become very strong over time! And the detail in the plushie is amazing, as in they made the leaves life-like and the branch notches hide a little but you know they are there! Flareon on the other hand, looks like how he is supposed to in the cards and games, plus he has a lot of fur added on, especially with the tail. I am hoping I find the other Evees including the newest one for X and Y, Silveon but may have to wait a little while, probably next year for vendors here in the states to carry it. If I find Glaceon at MythiCon Day 1, I am buying him right then and there and probably others such as Vaporeon, Umbreon, Espeon, Jolteon in these and seeing how better it looks and will carry it instead for my character Ike, and of course the classic, Evee!

Happy from Fairy Tail: I know I got the pillow pet, now its licensed form, which I will be talking about next, but now I have the actual plushie! I love the cat from Fairy Tail and the plushie is very cute, especially the size I got, why? He has a pouch that you can fit little things into it! I even put one of my lip balms into it while I was over at my fiance’s to keep it from getting lost and knowing which one was being used before I placed it into my pocket. So glad I found this one and I can hug him when I am sad since his name is Happy.

Happy Licensed Pillow Pet: I know I should’ve included this with the plushie but it deserves its own entry! As you know, back in May during Florida Anime Experience I picked up a version of the Happy Pillow Pet but this one is a knock off! Yeah, there goes my $20 because this was not the actual pillow pets you see on TV, how? Well, the knockoff takes on more of a standard pillow you find at Target or WalMart and put a Velcro strap across it and attached Happy’s tail and head to it and sewed the wings and pouch around his neck to it! Plus, it is way too light to be the same color as Happy, which is a standard Royal blue. The licensed one is an ACTUAL pillow pet! As in, the tail has extra felt to bring the texture, the wings are actual wings and they take on the flying form you tend to see when Happy carries natsu or Lucy when he has to fly someone and there is an actual pouch in the center and the ties are around his neck like it is supposed to. The head is smaller and has more detail to his smiling face! Plus the ears take more on the plushie’s form. And the strap is better with this because it has a nice cover for the Velcro when it is in pillow form so it won’t fade while you lie on top of it. Plus the arms and legs in the pillow take on actual leg and arm form like he’s flying, unlike the knockoff, as said, it is a standard pillow and no Velcro cover. I know I am trying to sell the knockoff, but it does sound lame. But they are still really comfy! I had to resist falling asleep on the actual one while listening to Game of Thrones. Still, it was a better buy since I have an actual pillow pet version of Happy and I am hoping they make one of Carla, Wendy’s cat you get to see show up. If they do make Carla, oh yeah, I will buy that! Anyways, great buy at the con!

Bags

Kyo Sohma bag: I didn’t get many bags this time around, I almost got Usa-Chan and Stocking’s cat plush as a bag but didn’t want to go splurging like crazy due to MythiCon, but did and waiting for some pay back since my fiance wanted something really hard to find and a Mass Effect wallet. But I did get this at Anime Pagoda, the Kyo Sohma bag! I love Kyo from Fruits Basket and I found this out from the woman who was substituting for the weekend because the owner was off with her dad who had surgery that weekend and was making sure he was okay, the bag along with the Yuki one, was discontinued and they have been waiting for someone to buy both. I bought Kyo since I love cats and was doing the costume that day I got it and was glad I did get it. One thing I love about this place is that they carry items that are discontinued until people buy them out of that item! If I find them at MythiCon, which I will have to check their schedule for cons, I will get the Yuki one to help them out since I love this seller.

Mugs

Homura from Modoka Majica and Sailor Moon mugs: Speaking of Anime Pagoda, I finally got my kitty paws on these! They are the mugs of Homura from Modoka Majica and the Sailor Moon one with the entire group in a purple/black background. As you know, I love collecting mugs and anime ones are the ones I have been aiming for! I still have my FLCL one I bought from them with the cat and now I got these. I meant to buy them during KnightroKon but since I bought a good inventory of stuff from them, I wanted to wait and well patience did me good this time around! They were back and got them. I am hoping they have Fairy Tail ones soon! I bet you are wondering why they didn’t have Madoka from Madoka Majica as a mug, unfortunately these two were the only two mugs they brought to the cons right now and of course due to how fragile and limited of a space in every dealer room allows, I guess they couldn’t bring all of their mug inventory. I do like Homura from the series since she is the time traveling witch girl among them and she did her best in preventing witches to come out in her friends. Oh well. With the Sailor Moon one on the other hand, I started to collect a few Sailor Moon items since I remembered watching it on Toonami and loved the series a lot, I did get the Jupiter and Mars pins, I even have the Saturn top and the broach that Sailor Moon has during R and Superr S, and now the mug, well one of them which has the original scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and cats. It is an awesome one, too afraid of using it since I did get chips in my Coqui mug, especially a chip my dad tried fixing but lost the piece later on. Still, nice mugs, I recommend going to their page.

Wall Scrolls

Fairy Tail Cast scroll: It’s been a while since I bought wallscrolls and glad I found a stand that was doing two for $30 on their scrolls which is a nice deal since other stands rarely do this, but I had to take it up! First one is the Fairy Tail cast one since I love this series a lot! Back during FAE, there was one stand that sold out of their Fairy Tail ones but I did get it at Metro and this one is a close up of the main team, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Gray, and Erza, which of course is a staple among the wallscroll collection. I did find a Plu and Lucy one which I might be able to find at the cons if I can look hard enough, I know I will find it. Hey, I did find my Black Cat one with Jenos in the back and both Train and Creed fighting. Anyways, who knows MythiCon or maybe Holiday Matsuri may have it.

Team Kid scroll: I have been looking for this all over the place! I LOVE LOVE LOOOOVVEEE Death the Kid from Soul Eater and have been looking for wallscrolls of him since I have the plushies, the bag, shirt, and keychains of the asymmetrical guy but couldn’t find one! Then I found this and it is of him and the Thompson sisters, Liz and Patti. I do have the plushies of the team so why not? It still has Kid anyways. Knowing my fiance, he would be like “Get it signed by the three!” Since Cheramie is going to be at Myth in a few weeks, who knows when Jamie Markie and Todd Habrecorn will be back, not sure I will want the scroll signed, at least I will have them sign each plush since I am going to be taking Patti with me!

Accessories:

Blair’s Hat: I know I should’ve mentioned this item during cosplay but it is a collector’s thing I have and I tend to like hats and my fiance pointed this one out! It is Blair the Witch’s hat from Soul Eater. I did mention at one point I wanted to do a Blair cosplay because she turns into a cat and well didn’t know how to get the parts or find the hat except online and Cosplay Magic was selling the costume for a little much! I amy do it for Halloween by getting a standard witch costume and blue wig to do a bit of a knockoff version. Anyways, my fiance remembered how I love Blair and he pointed the hat and good news is that it fit since it’s a one size fits all. Glad it fit my head with the orange wig on. I will probably be wearing it on Halloween since I am known for wearing witch costumes and I think it will be easy doing it and carry a small pumpkin since she uses Halloween spells. A nice little idea!

Gray necklace and Happy bracelet: I think this needs a both mentions. Well, since I have been collecting Fairy Tail items and these two we found at the same stand where we found the Blair hat and it is the Gray necklace, which is some kind of stylized cross, I believe it is supposed to be a remnant of how the rave stones looked in RaveMaster since it is by the same creator. I may wear it after my birthday since I am wearing my Leo key necklace since I am born in August and my birthday is Friday! Yay! Then the bracelet is just one of those jelly bracelets you see everywhere sell and it has Happy all over it doing different faces! It is so cute! I couldn’t resist since being a cat lover, I almost got the Happy beanie but I can just get it at Myth since there may be a lot more sellers and hoping to find more items.

DVDs

Zeta Gundam: Remembered how I was waiting for pay back for something from my fiance? Well, this is it! It is all the DVDs of the Zeta Gundam series in the original packaging! As in, you get the actual DVDs taped from the DVD seller that has it and it costs $100. Reason being is that ever since Bandai closed its American distributor they stopped releasing the items and whatever you can find you have to buy it or you can’t find it anymore, especially the special edition collections. Or you may have to find the Japanese editions of what was released here in the states like with Galaxy Angel Rune. Anyways, I was in a pickle because I felt I didn’t want to splurge despite having money and I wanted to save for Myth with what I had left and the same time you can’t find this anymore, so I did get it since I know my fiance will pay me back somehow. Now we have this rare item!

Digimon Season 2: I know it sounds weird but we found all of the first three seasons of Digimon and well, I loved the second one the best since the Digimon looked awesome in their armored forms and the story takes a more darker route, I had to get it.

Fushigi Yugi: The anime I first heard of Bridget Hoffman, well this was the first season I bought. Even though I saw the entirety of it and found the ending okay but the story was pretty interesting. I also remembered having the first 8 eps from a friend on some video tapes and it had Chinese subtitles and since I now have the first 26 eps on DVD, I can watch it without the subs! The disappointment is the box, I don’t know who packaged this box but some of the parts were broken. I am not sure if I can find the seller at Myth or at next year’s Metro, I am hoping they can give me a new copy without the broken parts.

Well, that is about it! I know it was a lot of stuff but the dealer room was worth it! I am impressed with what they sold and what dealers they brought. I think some were local Tampa ones and I know one was from Fort Myers, which was the one I got the Flareon, leafeon, and Happy plushies. I am hoping I find some of these guys again at Myth in a few weeks or at Metro next year since we will be going back! What is next? I am going to ask my fiance to get a written transcription of Scott’s and Brittney’s interviews from the recordings. And of course since my birthday is around the corner, birthday hauling! Stay tuned!