Four years anniversary: Collection Update + Re-Intro!
So, somehow, it's been four years since I joined Pokemon Collectors! I don't remember my exact join date, but I posted my introduction back in August 2009 and I remember that I had been lurking on the community for some time before then. :D
Anyway, my name is Ina. I'm 25 years old and live in Northern Virginia. I first heard about Pokemon from my grandparents, who were living in Japan when the hype started. They told me that "Pocket Monsters" was the new "thing," and it took me a while to realize that "Pocket Monsters" = "The Pokemon things on the back of my classmate's Lunchables box." My very first piece of Pokemon merchandise was a Base Set Pidgey card that my long distance friend mailed me, and I still have it to this day! Because my parents were very anti-video games, I didn't get to play any of the games until Gold and Silver came out and my grandfather got me a Gameboy color (Silver was my first game). Before Silver, I kept up with Pokemon by collecting the TCG and watching the oh-so-amazing anime every Saturday morning.
The Pidgey that started it all:
My main collections are Haunter (favorite Pokemon!), Cyndaquil (favorite starter!), Chandelure, and Zekrom (and their associated (pre)evolutions). My side collections that I actively try to find more merchandise for are Slowpoke/Slowking, Drifloon/Drifblim, Joltik/Galvantula, and Reuniclus, while my side collections that I sort of just have for the heck of it are Bulbasaur, Jigglypuff, Swoobat, and Espeon/Umbreon. I also have pretty substantial TCG, zukan, metal charm, and clearfile collections!
With that, I welcome you to take a look into my room!
Until I figure out a better place to hang my Slowpoke tail, it will stay on my doorknob and keep my badges and Pokemon Time handkerchief company.
This is the corner where most of my plush go.
And this is the corner with my collection shelf.
My desk. If you couldn't tell already, I like to put my prints and posters to good use!
I use this cork board to display most of my charms (I have a few others in storage, like my PokeBox Eeveelution ones, just because I ran out of space). Some of my metal charms are missing because they're hanging from my work badge, my 3DS, and my phone. :D
My Substitute plush, sitting on top of my "Pokemon Adventures" manga (most favorite manga series ever!). I named my Substitute plush "Sandwich" because I was calling it "Subby" for a while, and then it reminded me of subway sandwiches. XD
Beautiful HGSS TCG poster is a nod to my favorite region, Johto. <3 However, the Kanto gym leaders are my favorite out of all gym leaders!
Ghostssssssssss. Ghost-type is, without question, my favorite type. It took me a whole weekend to figure out the layout of my ghost-type prints and posters, but it was so worth it in the end.
Ghost-type handkerchief from the Halloween 2009 campaign.
Awesome ghost-type print that I got at Otakon last year and cute Halloween-themed postcards made by ktmonkeyj!
Ghost-type clearfile, mini paintings by zenity, and a Gengar Pokemon Time clearfile.
Close-up of zenity's paintings because they're some of my most favorite collection items. :D
Ghost plush pile! Litwick... has a lot of official plush. For the sake of space and giving other Pokemon some attention, I hope they don't make more anytime soon. D:
Ok, so here's the top tier of my plush tower. Dragons, legendaries... and random Espeon and Umbreon canvas.
Next tier is Halloween-themed because Halloween is my favorite holiday. :3 It's getting kind of crowded, but I have four different Halloween Pikachu somewhere in there.
Fire-types... which, really, looks more like Cyndaquil-types. The Cyndaquil pokedoll was my very first pokedoll; I got it when I visited Pokemon Center NYC shortly after the release of Ruby/Sapphire (yes, back when it was still a Pokemon Center!). Though not normally a huge Eeveelution fan, I got the Flareon pokedoll from the community because it has Junichi Masuda's autograph on its hangtag (I love Pokemon music and can listen to it forever and ever). Pokemon Time Charmander looks a little awkward.
Grass-types. Venusaur pokedoll from Sunyshore should be joining these guys soon! I'm also hoping to commission a pokedoll of Shiny Jumpluff one day because it's my favorite shiny Pokemon. AND BULBASAUR POKEDOLL. D: I got the American releases of Charmander and Squirtle, but am seriously bummed that they never bothered to make one of Bulbasaur.
Water-types. Blastoise pokedoll and Shiny Magikarp, soon to be joining.
Electric-types. You can't see Hula Pikachu because Blitzle's in the way, but he's in there! I also admit that the Raichu pokedoll's so infectiously cute that I have another one on its way.
Plush that... I'm still trying to figure out where to put. x_x I tend to carry Pokemon Time Gulpin to whichever room in the apartment I'm in, though. He's fat and super huggable. Heat Rotom just arrived today from caffwin. <3
And here begins the plush that line the far wall of my room. Haunter is a bootleg, BUT HE IS THE BEST BOOTLEG EVER. I'm surprised he even exists since the only official Haunter is the tiny beanbag one! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a Joltik pokedoll before X/Y comes out.
Slowpoke! I named all of my Slowpoke plush after pastas/noodles. :D From left to right: Ravioli ('cause he's fat and stuff like one), Udon, Orecchiette (the tiny one), Noodles, Penne, and Orzo (the patchwork one). The two pokedolls are named "Cous" and "Cous" (yes, I am sooo clever), and the big pillow-like one in the back is Lasagna.
Really big Cyndaquil (the 1/1 was a grail for a while), psychic jello blobs, 'puffs, and Zekrom.
My TCG binders/boxes. I can't wait until next Friday because I'll be getting a Plasma Freeze booster box. :D
Top of collection shelf. Mostly plush that don't fit anywhere else, but I guess it's kind of fitting that a lot of them are flying-type... and a full set of starters in canvas plush form.
Three-part print of the legendaries. I guess it'll be outdated in a few months?
Another one of my favorite collection pieces (the Birthday Pikachu, not Link). It's so cute and I feel so lucky to have it. ;_;
All my zukans! Since I already have over 50 pictures in this post, I won't include close-ups of them all. XD; But if you want to see them all up-close, you can go to my last zukan collection update here.
Zekrom. Collecting a version-mascot legendary takes a lot of control. >_>; Zekrom is probably my favorite legendary... for now, anyway. I really like the looks of Yveltal, but I just wish I knew more about it!
Cyndaquil, and to a lesser extent, Quilava and Typhlosion. Like I mentioned above, Cyndaquil is my favorite starter. I have a lot of fond memories of playing through Silver with it.
Haunter and co. Even though Haunter is my favorite Pokemon, I think he's probably got the smallest collection out of my main collections. D: I just don't think there's that much official merchandise of him, which is unfortunate.
Chandelure and its pre-evolutions. Funny tidbit: The cake on my Litwick pitapoke likes to pop off a lot, for whatever reason, so I like to think of it as my Litwick pitapoke being all like, "THIS CAKE IS HORRIBLE, I'M GOING TO THROW IT OFF THE SHELF. STOP GIVING IT BACK TO ME."
Slowpoke and Slowking (not a Slowbro fan)! Um... to be honest, I'm not really sure why I consider this a side collection. Because it's definitely bigger than my Haunter and Chandelure collections. I guess the Pokemon Center just really likes Slowpoke!
Side collections that can actually pass for side collections.
I just got my D-Arts Mewtwo a few days ago and it is amaaaaazing. <3 He's sitting on top of my computer chassis now.
Pikachu Ichiban Kuji figure. I'm usually pretty neutral about Pikachu, but I saw that Gin was trying to get rid of this guy and thought it was pretty well-made! I really like the way the electricity was sculpted.
Alll the random figures on my desk. I also have the Kaiyodo Zekrom and Reshiram on the right side of my monitor, but I forgot to take a picture of them. I hope they make similar figures for Xerneas and Yveltal!
Wall art.
My little corner of human characters. The Pokemon Adventures posters were nice little bonuses that came with getting the box sets of the manga. Red and Steven are my two favorite human characters. I'm entertaining the idea of starting a Red collection, but collecting human characters also seems to be rather frustrating due to the lack of merchandise. :\
Since I had my PC custom-built, I also had the option of having a design etched on it. Naturally, I wanted something Pokemon-related! I ended up making this pokeball design with a vine, a flame, and waves to represent the three starter types. The etching was supposed to go on the clear acrylic window on the other side of the chassis, but they somehow misinterpreted my instructions. :( It still looks pretty awesome against the black though!
I almost forgot to take a picture of this wonderful Chandelure piece that illumeee made because it was sitting next to my figure collection. >_<;
I saw poliwhirl's clearfile collection post a while ago, and ever since then, I've been meaning to post mine too. I figured that since I've already picture-spammed you guys to death, a few more pictures can't hurt, right? :D;;;; Here are all of the clearfiles that I don't normally have on display.
Sorry for killing your internet connection Thank you for looking! It's been a great four years! :D