Thursday, March 09, 2006

Idle hands

I want to blog about something, really have nothing in mind, but, still, here I go:


It's my day off from work. The SuperKids are at school, SuperGirlfriend is out single handedly keeping her appallingly badly managed company afloat, and I'm here, type-type-typing away. SG will probably be home for lunch in an hour or so, which will be nice for a while until she has to head back to the grind. Until then, what's up?

Well, it's a dismal looking day outside -- grey and gloomy and drizzly. The temps are up in the low 60s, which would be lovely with a little sun, but in a way, I'm happy to have it look so rotten, as it keeps me from being tempted to go outside in it. Any excuse to stay home on my day off and do indoor stuff involving computers, books, and my X-box is a good excuse, I think.

Let's see. Last weekend we were bored so we took the kids over to a few local, very upscale malls and wandered around a little. One of them had a game shop where I bought a couple of boosters of COLLATERAL DAMAGE. I sat on a bench while SuperGirlfriend and the SuperKids were over checking out Pottery Barn for Kids and opened the first one. There was a tell tale blue clix holder in it, meaning a Unique, so I got all excited, but then it turned out to be the newest version of Eclipso, a character I really can't stand. I've already gotten one, which I traded to Super Dependable Teen after discovering I couldn't give her away on the WK Forum Trading Board without tying a pork chop around her neck. So I shrugged and figured what the hell and now she's on display in my Mystics group. I don't like her and am unlikely to ever play her, but nobody is going to trade me a Kingdom Come Green Lantern for her either, so there she is.

One is supposed to get one Unique per 3 random boosters these days, so I figured I had no chance of pulling one in the second booster. I was pleasantly surprised, then, to open it and see another blue clix case. Still, I cautioned myself against too much joy, figuring it was most likely just another piece I already had and didn't like much, like Jonah Hex or the Crimson Avenger. I pulled it out, peered at it closely through its enveloping plastic, and...

Sonofabitch! ORION!!!

So now I have both New Gods put out in this set, Orion and Kalibak, and I'm pretty happy about that.

We also took a bunch of old DVDs and CDs over to Great Escape and sold them, and I used the money to buy a couple of figs, including an Owlman.

Then, a day or so ago, SuperGirlfriend presented me with a box from Mike Norton. Apparently, she'd bought one of the figs from his recent auctions as a gift for me. I opened it up, and there it was: Adam Strange. Yay! I love SuperGirlfriend. She spoils me rotten, for no good reason at all.

At this point,all I really want further as far as COLLATERAL DAMAGE Uniques go is Dr. Psycho (I'd love to play a Society Board of Directors team, and with Dr. Psycho, I'd have all five members in clix form). There are still several Vets I'd like to get -- Mary Marvel, Manhunter, Monsier Mallah & the Brain, Kyle Rayner, Clayface, Fire, Ice, Red Tornado... enough to make me wistfully think about buying another brick of CD, this one probably from an online shop.

Fortunately, SINISTER isn't coming out until 'summer', so I don't need to worry about sinking money into that for a while. And I can buy a brick at online prices when it does come out, since I have no desire to own the Mail Order Exclusive Venom that I'll need the brick and mortar store coupon to order.

Still haven't sent my House of M Spider-Man off to be replaced as yet. I should do that. I should do it today, since it's my day off. ::sigh::

Well, maybe a little later.

5 comments:

  1. Ah! I'm glad to see you came across the Orion. I pulled another of him at last night's marquee, and I'm still not sure if I'd have been better off using him, but on a 300 pt team where the opportunities were limited, I couldn't draw on any Feats and he'd be over half my team, I was afraid he'd get in a good hit, draw fire, and I wouldn't be able to get adequate support out to him.

    Between that marquee and an impulse buy Tuesday night when I found myself by the venue I'd usually hit, that's six more boosters, two more uniques (Orion, as mentioned above, and Ambush Bug -- who was irritating in the third team I faced last night), and probably all that I'm going to spend on Collateral Damage.

    As I mentioned to SG, I felt odd selling it to her rather than just sending it down, but I've gone so overboard on these clix sets that I have to recoup some of the money via auction sales.

    Sinister... I know I'll want the Venom even if I don't find the character as big a deal as many of the younger fans do. If it comes down to it he could turn out to be good for trade or resale.

    On the other hand, I'd feel better about it if he were the gateway to collectors sets I really wanted. Getting him will give me the shot at both the Invincible and the Alien Green Lantern Corps sets, and while I'm 90% sure I'm not interested in the former it's a 50:50 deal for me so far on the GL set. The characters will mean next to nothing to me - passing familiarity, but no strong connections - but they're likely to have several points of interest and to tie into some fun scenarios.

    All of that's to remind you that if you're aiming for the Alien GL set that'll be a reason for getting the brick and sending away for the Venom. In the end I suppose it'll come down to judging whether the savings from an online-discounted brick plus not sending away an extra $2 for Venom will outweigh the extra $10 and roughly extra month's wait buying the GL set outside the club will involve.

    A gray, lightly drizzling day here, but we're supposed to break into some sun by the afternoon.

    My box of comics (mentioned in the comment on the previous post) is set to arrive Friday, so I'll have access to Infinite Crisis #5 (and Teen Titans #33, for that matter) Friday night. Getting safely from here to then is the task at hand...

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  2. That the SINISTER mail away is what will give me a shot at the Aliens Green Lantern set is something I'd overlooked... but given the givens, I honestly think I can wait a month and pay $10 for the Collector's Set, given that it's a $40 price difference between buying a brick at a local shop for $90 and change, and buying it online for a few bucks north of $50.

    With the SuperKids going back to their dad's place for two weeks on Saturday, it's not like I'll be playing a lot of clix in the near future, anyway.

    Ambush Bug being irritating is certainly consistent to the character...

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  3. Makes perfect sense. I hadn't looked into brick prices online as it was irrelevant to me with my conspicuous consumption habits making the brick just a consideration for the special offers requiring a retail receipt. I see that Gathering Ground, including shipping, is $61.34. For some reason Icon USA isn't selling by the brick, though I'm pleased to see their case prices have come down.

    The retail-bought brick I get's from a spot where they give a 20% discount, so that brings it down to just under $82 after tax, so that's still $20 over the online price. Of course, if I decide to pass on the mail-away LE and Collectors' Club discount/time frame and I'm still getting the case... why should I bother with a separate brick? The case I've ordered should set me completely, and I'll undoubtedly be playing in at least one sealed match... Hmm.

    Matters to mull over between now and June.

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  4. Correction on the Gathering Ground bricks. I was looking at the prices for Armor Wars bricks, and I see that Collateral Damage is a little more, though it's still only $64.65 after shipping.

    If you buy two, including shipping it's only $122.84.

    No, no! Don't let Supergirlfriend beat me..!

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  5. Hmmm. I'd actually been planning to order from IconsUSA... they had the lowest brick prices until recently, apparently... but yeah, I checked last night and I guess they're not selling by the brick any more. On the other hand, their case price on ARMOR WARS is pretty decent...

    Still, money is tight around here right now, so I shouldn't be thinking such stuff.

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