Now that games are big business, there’s a collectibles industry that has sprung up around it. Movies and comics are made around Dead Space or Dragon Age, and you can buy Final Fantasy figurines and art books.
So, the question for this week’s weekend discussion is this – do you buy game-related goods, and if so, what do you own?
Have you ever bought a game-related product without actually owning that game?
Discuss, and have an awesome weekend!
I've actually ended up with a lot of game-related stuff over the years – mostly accumulated from my various trips to Japan.
So some of my favourites are:
1) Final Fantasy XIII Deluxe Edition Soundtrack
2) Chocobo Mystery Dungeon Soundtrack/ FFX-2 Soundtrack
3) Piano Music Scores for the entire Final Fantasy Series and Chocobo Dungeon
4) Chocobo and Moogle tumblers
5) Final Fantasy Trading Card Game cards
6) Love Plus 3D Art Book
7) Chocobo and Moogle Plushes
And some of the stuff I've bought locally:
1) Two different art books for Atelier Rorona and the Atelier trilogy (Rorona, Totori, Meruru)
2) Alice Madness Returns hard cover art book
Those are probably my favourites – I'm sure I'm missing some others though – I'm a hoarder by nature. 🙂
I have a bunch of Mario figures that I have bought from different places on my 3DS/DS bookcase. I also have two Phantom Hourglass figures and some Pokemon figures and plush that I bought at the Nintendo World Store. I also have pre-order bonus items I have gotten from GameStop like the Xenoblade Chronicles art book and a tanooki mario keychain.
I've had plenty of gaming stuff – mainly posters, including the 25th Anniversary Zelda ones from Club Nintendo. There's also my big Yoshi plush I got from the Melbourne Show and two Sonic keychains I won from Sega.
"Have you ever bought a game-related product without actually owning that game?"
Hey there, I'm actually ashamed that I haven't played Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty but I bought the novel adaptation.
What else. When one is into Pokemon, he's mostly likely to buy / collect Pokemon figures, posters and the likes. I'm one of those people. Others include posters of Sephiroth, Full Metal Alchemist and Bleach merchandise (I suppose I can include them too.) Haha. 🙂
I got the games, wallpapers, and key chains, and I want an outfit too but there isn't many black male characters but I if available and the money..Id collect a lot of shit just cuz I love the series even when they make uh oh's in game choices thinking it will work..I look forward to the stories and the build of heroes, summons, and villains.
Oh, I buy all sorts of stuff! I had a bunch of Final Fantasy posters when I was younger, but these days I'm more into CDs and plushies/figurines. I have a Seymore Coca-Cola collection (only 2 figures though haha) and a Vivi plushie. Those are probably my favorites 🙂 Of course I have a few things that aren't FF-related, but nothing comes to mind right now
As far as stuff I've bought… mostly art books from games that I'm into, although I do have an addiction to Halo Megabloks. I'm really a LEGO guy in general (Monster Fighters!), but MB got the Halo sets right. Cool stuff.
And, of course, my Headcrab hat.
Wow, everyone so far seems to have some kind of non-game gear collection. Well, I might have something packed away from long ago that I forgot about, but generally do not collect these items. If I happened to see a cool figurine or something by chance I may pick it up, but don't go out of my way at this time.
One thing that comes to mind is a Duke Nukem 3D guide to making maps… but that doesn't really count.
I don't really collect extra game stuff, but I'm always happy when it's included in some collector's edition – like the Neverwinter Nights 2 ones (both of them), Bioshock 2, Guild Wars Nightfall… I just realized I -do- own lots of extra fluff. Huh. But only when it comes with the game, everything else doesn't really interest me.
Oh yes, Pokemon! Forgot about them. I went to a Pokemon Center in Japan, bought a stuffed Pochima and a couple of other things. Pokemon Centers are pretty cool actually 😀
Mario's one of the few characters I haven't picked up much of – although I do have some racing Yoshis.
I bet the Nintendo World Store was awesome for collectables 😀
Have you been to Japan, Anne? I always assumed you had, but I don't think I ever found out for sure 🙂
Which art books can you recommend, Jason? I love what Dark Horse did with Alice Madness Returns, and I'm looking at getting some others.
Speaking of such, I did just yesterday find the Ar Tonelico series art book on sale. I'm a pretty big fan of the series – not as much as Atelier, but they're still good fun, and it's not a bad book either.
Collector's editions might be next week's discussion 😉 Of those I only have a handful – Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Dark Souls. And that was just because preordering those two games meant the special edition was the same price as the full game, lol.
So you're based in Melbourne, Stevo? Lucky you, all the good Nintendo events happen down there.
That's why we're the most liveable city in the world 😉
The only 'extra' stuff I get usually comes with the 'collector's editions' – my son however has several of the Halo books.
That would be an excellent discussion – I'm a massive fan of Collector's Editions too. Sometimes I buy them even though I know I'll never play the game. Mind you, what I really want to know is: has anyone ever found a use for that massive Half Life 2 tin? Mine is a dust gatherer, but I still can't bear to part with it.
Indeed I have! Three times, to be exact. I studied abroad in Nishinomiya for a year when I was an undergrad. I'll be heading back next June for my host sister's wedding. Can't wait!
That's a bit confusing, but the study abroad was just one of the three times, haha.
Also a handful of Star Wars themed LEGOs. I suppose you can say those are themed on the movies, but also could be based on the games.
There's a Half Life book called Raising the Bar that's awesome- one of my favorites for a long time. There are also a few from DK's series of encyclopedic Halo volumes that surprisingly have tons of cool stuff (provided you like Halo that is).
I'm dying for that Zelda book BTW. I know it's not really an art book, but I'll bet there are tons of great pieces of work in there.
Oh, if you're into Alice- you might want to check out the Alice toys DST just released. Really cool stuff – http://bit.ly/PIpYET
Nope, the few goodies I have I've received for free at conventions.
I don't remember buying many "game-related" products, UNTIL having Bean 1 and Bean 2. They both have game-related stuff now.
Bean 1 has a Mario toy and a Yoshi toy somewhere.
Bean 2 has a stuffed Donkey and Diddy Kong, and one of the green turtle shells with sound effects.
The only thing I can really remember buying before that, was a t-shirt at Nintendo's Wii concert tour.
I have bought collectors editions of games for statues, a backpack, dogtags, art books, necklaces, a remote controlled car, and a miniture car.but I have never boguht into the merch from say halo that you see at toys r us, spencers, or other comic and gaming stores but I have bought t shirts having to do with games and movies. I also received a boat load of swag from E3 in 2011 that was cool, so much so that I had to ship a box back UPS because it wouldnt fit in my luggage. I agree that we are seeing more and more of these items pop up in stores. I even saw toys from movies and games in the toy isle at cvs recently. lol…I think like everything else as long as the gaming market stays good the toys for the good games will continue to sell. and same goes for movie and comic toys.
I have a few collectors edition items, as well as little plush toys/figurines and posters. Oh and a few Pokemon guide books haha. I have a Mario & Luigi shirt somewhere too. That's about it.
Hi Daisy, welcome to the site! Glad you found us.
I actually bought a Pokemon guide book for a Pokemon game I never owned, haha. I love the Pokemon art style and the monsters, but for some reason the games have lost their appeal to me of recent years.
Fingers crossed Pokemon Blue is a future eShop Virtual Console release for 3DS 😉