Reawakened Weeb Hops On eBay

Pretty much how I feel about this all. Credit.

    Yes, yes, the Biased "Otaku" is back. Weeb? DMV Middleman? Whatever, I guess! Back to what, I wonder. Inactivity on a blog that never really got anywhere has very apparent issues. Whatever the case is, I shall show everyone the problem I have upon returning to the Anime world...

    It's been a long time since I actively watched Anime... At least, it's been a long time in my opinion, as I was what most call an "Anime Elitist" as I had very strong opinions on what was garbage and what was stupendous. Becoming such an opinionated asshole on the matter, a handful of my friends would turn to me over literally everyone they knew because they knew I didn't do mainstream shit (like the godforsaken genre that is Shounens). You don't ever get to a point like this unless you are really into this unholy culture that is called Anime, or as we all cast them as: otaku and weeaboos.

    I'm pretty contradictory as it is, considering this fucking blog is called "Biased Otaku." What can I say? I was young and dumb (yeah, man, four years is totally a lot of time to grow out of that...), but I'm grown now (lol). I have, however, started to ironically poke fun at this repressed side of me. My main group chat is nicknamed "Weeb Co." for Christ's sake. 

    Now, the point is, my repressed inner Weeb has been reborn into an older me with some form of disposable income, which has resulted in actually spending money on merchandise. Before, I actually had to weigh out and decide if I wanted to spend all my money (lol $100) on a few collectible items. Presently, I just need to put rent out of the way and I'm good to go. Because who needs to eat, amirite? 

    While I say merchandise, I really just mean figures/figurines, which are completely useless and I don't know why I do this to myself by purchasing them. I've had a handful of them already, but now I have a shit ton more. Why? Because I'm not young and dumb, but I have turned into an irresponsible adult that makes bad decisions and life choices. 

    Now, upon my return to this unholy culture, I got on eBay* and prepared myself to dump hundreds on figures, as I went on a bidding rampage on figures that had a 50/50% chance of being a knock-off. I didn't care. If it looks right when it got here, then what's the problem with paying a quarter or less of the price? (See what I mean? Irresponsible).

They were packaged super well.

I didn't mean to, but I ended up winning three Yui Hirasawa (K-On!) figurines.

Here we have Akari Akaza (Yuru Yuri), Kuroneko/Ruri Gokou and Kirino Kousaka (OreImo).

This Kirino is what would be considered a Nendoroid, I believe, which go for a fair sum.

Absolutely stunning figures, as is the Anime itself. Probably second most beautifully drawn/animated 

series second to No Game No Life. Right here is Erio Touwa from Denpa Onna.

And here we have mini figurines you'd get from Gashapon machines in Japan. 

We have Haruhi Suzumiya and Yuki Nagato (Yuuutsu), and Nagi (Kannagi).

As I said, one of the most beautiful series to date in my book. I won the bid for her figure and spent the most on this out of all of them. This here, as the rest of the figures so far, appears to be an original. The amazingly adorable Shiro (All The Games).

And here is a Figma that ended up being the only figure to disappoint thus far. As opposed to Shiro, which I paid the most for, I paid the second most for this. This is either a fake or factory defect. Here is Inori Yuzuriha (Guilty Crown).

(sorry about the caption font sizes; blogger is being dumb)

    Lemme know how nice these figures look! They were all listed similarly; "brand new no box" and several figures I came across were listed as "Chinese version" as it would indeed be false advertising if they listed the origin as Japan. Did I luck out? Do I have the magical ability to make the right bad decisions? Am I an idiot? Hurhurhur. 

    My conclusion to purchasing Anime merchandise on eBay is simply to be wary. It's totally legit as long as you don't get in over your head (I got jipped already by a fake listing) and you're not an idiot, you'll be fine. If the seller has less than say... 1000 stars of feedback and/or less than 80% positive feedback, avoid or purchase/bid with caution. Through reading the reviews, some sellers I looked into, including the one who had gotten me to buy into a fake listing, had most positive feedback made on small mediocre things they sold to build up some form of trust. Then all of a sudden list a bunch of figures for super cheap prices (e.g. a $150 MSRP figure for $19.99). So yeah, if you are careful and don't care about having the box, go for it! Figmas... maybe don't trust it unless it's in a box.

    But chyeah, ya'll. I'm not really up for making posts as long as I used to anymore, since "tl;dr" is so commonplace on the interwebs. Precisely why my posts will have lots of photos, screenshots, etc. Excluding posts like this that need some form of depth. For the near future, though, gonna feed that evergrowing short attention span people are all developing at a rapid pace. Peace out, girl scouts. 

*Regarding eBay; they're actually legit af. I hope ya'll realize that, as I shop on eBay very frequently. Generally, people have always held eBay itself liable for when they get "scammed" or "jipped," when in reality, they're as liable as the website is for not properly understanding the product they are looking to bid or buy. Additionally, you gotta take into account the seller/merchant's ratings/reviews and overall legitimacy. I went into bidding/buying from merchants who do state their figures are manufactured in China, so I'm not going to hold eBay responsible. If you are one to let things like these fly over your head(s), ya'll got no one to blame but yo'selves.