christianponte

:) I'll dig up the photo of my collection as of 1 year ago, and everyone will realize it's never too late to go all-in on a collection.That's not the issue. Dude, where'd you get all your money from? That was literally my entire Fire Emblem collection as of November 21, 2014. I had just picked up a couple of Marth amiibo, and had all the western-released games, a few soundtracks, and some magazines/guides. That was it. The 12mos photo is in the sig. I'll take and upload a 14mos photo in a couple of weeks. :)

Kirie and Astromime, I need your PayPal addresses. You are owed partial refunds once the money arrives with me next week, but your PayPal addresses weren't on the list I was given.

Hey all! First off, Happy New Year! I'm sure you're all looking forward to starting the year off with some new Fire Emblem merchandise. While I can't guarantee anything until (1) all your items arrive here in Illinois and I can double check the inventory myself by hand, and (2) get the wad of yen converted and deposited into PayPal for your refunds, and (3) buy all the smaller boxes and pay for domestic shipping, I've been doing some rough number crunching and can fairly confidently relay the following information: At least 3 orders have been fully canceled and will be fully refunded. A fourth may also be canceled pending another inventory check, but there may yet be partial hope. That partial hope comes from a discrepancy in the inventory count, and we might have extras of a small number of items. I wouldn't count on these being more than just a typo, but in the event we do have extra items, I'll go down the priority list and offer them to people that aren't already getting them. Everyone that isn't having their order canceled is getting at least one item (duh). As Luyairis mentioned might be the case, we are indeed going to need additional funds from almost everyone to cover additional shipping costs and a foreign currency exchange fee. HOWEVER, most everyone is also due a partial refund, and the additional costs will not exceed anyone's refund. Therefore, with only three exceptions where we might need to actually request money, most everyone else will simply have those funds deducted from your refunds and you won't have to send additional money. ...I think. If your order has already shipped to you individually, we probably don't need additional funds from you as the additional shipping and currency exchange don't apply to you. Some of you are getting refunds, some of you are squared away, but if we do need extra money from you, it will be very minimal. I will not take any additional money from this for myself. Luyairis has also said he will no longer take any money for this, but hopefully he isn't reading this because I'm going to send him some anyway. This is all based on the assumption that everyone has paid their initial bill (or paid it again, following the premature refund). I will wait until everything arrives and I'm sure of everything before I start confirming who's getting what and who's getting refunds and who has to pay extra, but if anyone's super curious, feel free to get in touch privately and I can give you a very rough idea of what to expect. Lastly, shameless plug, follow me on social media (sig).

Happy Birthday to me!!! ...er, I mean, you'll all get your stuff... Will do, thanks! luyairis is taking some much needed rest at the moment and will be traveling soon. He'll send over the details soon, which I imagine will include everyone's orders, everyone's PayPal emails and shipping addresses, inventory of what's actually being sent to me, how much cash (in yen) is being sent over, and hopefully the dimensions of the items so I can figure out shipping box sizes before everything arrives. With the orders, inventory, and dimensions, I can prep the shipping boxes ahead of time. With the cash amount, I can get in touch with my bank and prep for the currency exchange (which they told me they can do, as long as it's all paper money and no coins). If anyone's orders were completely canceled, you'll get a full refund. As for everyone else, once I factor in the currency exchange and shipping, we'll figure out your partial refunds or additional payments.

As you know, I was never in a rush to get my stuff, so take your time. And if you need help finishing up the process, let me know. I've got resources. :) Edit: Actually, if you need help shipping stuff within the US, seeing as my order is one of the largest, I'd be happy to help out. Shipping me the big box of everything would eliminate the need to then domestically ship my stuff in what would certainly take at least two (if not more) large flat rate boxes, and everyone else's smaller orders can go out in the appropriate sized flat rate boxes. And I just bought a ton of bubble wrap from having to ship my work's drone camera in for repair.

What would be the shipping price breakdown in either case? I'm not sure they make domestic flat rate boxes that fit some of our larger orders (or at least mine), so USPS, FedEx, and UPS would probably all charge by dimensional weight... which would be awfully costly for anything that's large in volume but not super heavy. Basically, it would come down to the dimensions of the boxes.

Play mats gone for today.

Are the Camilla cards loose? I imagine they're just taking one from a stack each time a customer checks out. Curious if those will just be tossed as-is into the purchase boxes, or if they're better protected for their international journeys...

Not sure what time they start each day (I think 10am? Maybe 9:30? according to the tweets) but it doesn't look like they started selling out of stuff until noon, and that's with more lax limits yesterday morning. With stricter limits for Day 2, hopefully they'll be able to last a little bit longer, particularly with the badge sets and play mats.

I'm going to go ahead and send you my money back as well, as it's already the morning of Comiket, and I'm confident you guys are making every attempt to make this work. :) That said, in the absolute worst case scenario this doesn't happen today, don't refund this until after Comiket has ended (New Year) and there's absolutely no chance you'll be able to get stuff. The payments are from my debit card (via PayPal), so the last refund hasn't posted yet and apparently might not post for up to a month. So this is a different $520 lol. I don't mind having $500 or $1000+ in limbo for a month, but if this gets refunded again, and you get a last minute stroke of good luck, it would be a third $520 I'd have to pay... which I'd like to avoid. :P I'm optimistic you'll get things to work, though.

Yeah. Given the sheer volume of everything I aim to get from Comiket, that's why I decided it was vital to get all these items now for under $450 or so (before shipping) rather than for several thousand later on. I learned that the hard way after only getting the 25th anniversary soundtrack from Comiket in March only to regret not getting more afterwards (anyone have the staff book for a reasonable price?). And like previous events such as Comiket and the 25th Anniversary Concert, it looks like a small number of these items will be available from other retailers... but only a couple so far; not all items. Might as well get everything I can while I can. :P

FE3 is still the best-selling game in the series in Japanese sales alone. Awakening only tops it when factoring in global sales, which are nearly 2 million. Japanese sales figures of physical releases are roughly as follows, according to VGC: FE3: 700k FE4: 580k FE13: 520k FE14: 500k FE6: 390k FE8: 300k FE7: 290k FE11: 270k FE12: 270k FE5: 260k FE10: 170k FE9: 160k FE1: n/a FE2: n/a Virtual Console sales are not included, and I have no idea if Awakening's and/or Fates's numbers include eShop sales or not.

How big of an "if" are we talking? If it's basically a toss up, I need to look up backup options ASAP. I'm sure for many people, getting items from Comiket was a nice perk but ultimately a perk, whereas given the size of my FE collection, I'm in too deep to not seek out these items next week while they're available. It's basically a necessity for me, so naturally I'm in a bit of panic mode right now lol... By "if" do you mean if they're able to make it at all? Or if they have time to swing by the Fire Emblem booth? Or are they definitely planning to go and handle as much as they're able?

Long before starting The Tanooki, I was already following daily Nintendo news by late 1999 and early 2000. Specifically, I had been a Sega fan for most of the '90s, and though I really wanted a Dreamcast, I started keeping up with news on the upcoming competitors Nintendo Dolphin and PlayStation 2. I don't remember the details off the top of my head, but I believe it was at Space World 2000 where Nintendo revealed the GameCube, and the latest Smash Bros. game – Melee – was playable at E3 2001. I enjoyed the Nintendo 64 game very much, so I kept a keen eye out for Smash Bros. news. As new characters were revealed, I was intrigued at some of the ones I was unfamiliar with. Just like I did with Ness and Samus from the first Smash Bros., I proceeded to look up the new characters in Melee that I had previously been unaware of, and that included Marth and Roy. In my research, I discovered a series that very much captured my interest. When the game finally launched, I naturally gravitated towards those characters (I had been a Link main in the 64 version, but didn't like his slow speed). Initially I mained Marth, but ended up having much more fun with Roy. I started following Fire Emblem news before Melee came out, including the fact that Roy had been included in Melee before actually appearing in a Fire Emblem game. Unfortunately, that game never came out in the West, but as no previous FE game did either, I wasn't particularly surprised or disappointed... but I was ECSTATIC when Rekka no Ken (aka FE7) was announced to be coming Stateside as Fire Emblem. This was back when I was still at an age when I had my parents buy games for me, so I didn't pre-order, but I do remember asking them to take me to the mall the afternoon of the day the game came out to go buy it. I believe it was only my fourth "Day 1" purchase, after the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and Melee/Pikmin (which I count together since they came out on the same day). The rest is history.

Did you manage to find people to go with you to help like you were hoping? I'm still curious how you're going to carry it all lol. The 121 items probably won't weigh all that much, but I know some of those items are fairly large in volume. Plus, more people = more Camilla cards...

Correct. Nothing to worry about there. :)

Absolutely, that's fine, especially since mine would be a particularly large order. Though I'm hopeful they'll have more than enough for those who aren't arriving at the end.

Does that include me? Vincent mentioned he forwarded you my list, though I'll probably need to tweak that a bit. I can easily outbid anyone here. ;) That said, I've been trying to look into this myself. My understanding at the moment is that it's one per transaction, but I'm trying to confirm if that's true. If luyairis plans on doing this single-handedly, they may only get one card. If they end up bringing friends to help obtain/carry the sheer amount of merchandise, they'll probably get one per person per trip through the line.

Soo... This thing is just over two weeks away. Anyone going to this yet?

PEGASUS KNiGHTS into Dreams

Ooh, I didn't even realize that was different. Hopefully if I get the set again (IF I can get any of this stuff), the new CD comes wrapped separately... I was hoping to get another card set to open (other one is still wrapped) and frame a portion of it. Decided I had to after seeing these photos from the official site. :P But if the new disc comes wrapped separately since it wasn't part of the original set, then I can keep it sealed. Maybe.

Don't you already have the card set? :P

Fire Emblem merchandise was on sale at Comiket Market 89, which took place December 29-31 at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center. The "Fire Emblem 0 Cipher" booth #441 was on the 4th floor of the West Hall, if I'm reading things right. Most of the items were Cipher or 25th Anniversary related, but there were also some pins, the special edition of Renka's debut single (with DVD), and a reissue of Fire Emblem: Awakening's full OST (in horizontal format). A few members around here did indeed attend the biannual event, perhaps most notably the friends of luyairis, who had agreed to pick up some merchandise on our behalf. If you placed an order with luyairis, we are in the process of sorting out the items and send out the partially successful orders. If you didn't order ahead of time, see the end of this post for online retailers who have some of the same items for sale or for pre-order. [spoiler=Fire Emblem 0 Artworks (Illustrations from the cards) - ¥2,000 each (US$16.25] [spoiler=Players Box Character Set - ¥4,000 (US$32.50] [spoiler=Players Box Dot Set - ¥4,000 (US$32.50] [spoiler=Play Mat - ¥3,500 each (US$28.50] [spoiler=Badge Sets - ¥1,500 each (US$12] [spoiler=Individual If Badges - ¥500 each (US$4] [spoiler=25th Anniversary Fire Emblem Festival/Concert DVD - Special Set ¥7,500 (US$61), DVD only ¥5,800 (US$48] [spoiler=One Hundred Songs of Heroes - Recitation CD, Card Box, Poster Set - ¥9,900 (US$80.50), CD, Card Box only - ¥8,400 (US$68.50] [spoiler=One Hundred Songs of Heroes CD only - ¥1,500 (US$12] [spoiler=Fire Emblem: Awakening Original Soundtrack (Fire Emblem Best Collection Series) - ¥3,300 (US$27] [spoiler=Renka "IF ~ One's Thoughts" (First Press Limited Edition with DVD) - ¥2,000 (US$16.25] Missed out on Comiket Market 89? Some items will be sold through other retailers. See below: 25th Anniversary Fire Emblem Festival/Concert DVD Amazon Japan - Feb. 24th, ¥4,440 (US$37) CD Japan - Feb. 24th, ¥5,370 (US$44.62) (includes Marth promo card) Fire Emblem: Awakening Original Soundtrack (Fire Emblem Best Collection Series) CD Japan - Feb. 24th, ¥3,056 (US$25.39) Amazon Japan - Feb. 24th, ¥3,300 (US$27) One Hundred Songs of Heroes (Card Box only) CD Japan - ¥10,424 (US$86.62)Renka, "IF ~ One's Thoughts" (Limited Edition w/ DVD) CD Japan - ¥1,700 (US$14.13)

I had it pre-ordered, so no, I didn't have trouble. What I do regret is that I actually had it pre-ordered at two locations, one near home (Chicago suburbs), and one at school (Champaign-Urbana, where I eventually picked it up), because I wasn't entirely sure where I'd be at the time. If I knew it would eventually be rare and that I'd have several friends wanting the game, I probably would've gone home that weekend to get that one, and then just casually picked up the other when I got back to school a day or so later. Of course, it was February 2007 if I remember correctly. At that time, most people weren't concerned about getting Fire Emblem for the Wii... they were still trying to even find a store that had the Wii in stock. Ahh, memories.

Just got charged $34.75 by Amazon Japan! It's coming! :)