My OBSESSION!

**DO NOT USE ANY OF MY PICTURES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!**

**UPDATED MAY 30th, 2002**

Okay I have decided that I am only going to have a few pictures up on this page. Why you ask? Well there are a lot of people that still use modems/phone lines to connect to the internet. All of you that have cable/DSL/T1/T3, you have used a modem and you know how SLOW a page loads with lots of pictures or music. So in fairness to all the people that use modems I am putting links up to the pictures. So click away.......but BEWARE!! Collecting is an addiction and yours could start here! :)

Interesting Japanese Items

I am always interested in looking at items from another country. Since I buy a lot of Japanese toys I sometimes receive papers in the shipping boxes. Sometimes the people I buy from graciously feed my habit by sending me brochures and papers. These are some SONY BROCHURES that I received. They show some of the new gadgets that are going to be released in Japan. If you look at the bottom of the brochures you will see packs of toilet tissue. Toilet paper is not free in Japan. If you go in the public restrooms you will have to buy some. These packs are given out on the street and feature advertising on them. They remind me of travel packs of Kleenex!

Here is an interesting item indeed! In Japan when you get your license for the first time, you are required to have a NEW DRIVER SIGN in your car that designates you as a new driver. I don't remember how long you have to have it in the car but I think it is 6 months to a year. An interesting idea to say the least!

Final Fantasy VII Collectibles

One of my favorite things to collect were the Final Fantasy 7 figures. I think that the Final Fantasy 7 figures had much more interesting, diverse, and detailed characters. Here is RED 13! He was one of my favorite characters in the game and was one of the first that I wanted to collect. Of course, he is one of the rare figures and hard to find. As you can see this is the Japanese figure that has the EXTRA KNIGHTS logo in the top right corner.

Okay here is another rare and much in demand figure from Final Fantasy 7. The evil and misunderstood SEPHIROTH! This is the Japanese version. He is by far one of the coolest evil characters. The long flowing silver hair, the black "trench coat" style clothing, and that wickedly cool sword! How can you beat that combination!? Another thing that I liked about Sephiroth was that you didn't hate him. You kind of felt sorry for him and I think that just made him a better character.

Here is the heroine from Final Fantasy 7...our beloved AERITH . In the top right corner you see the EXTRA KNIGHTS logo, so this is the Japanese version of the figure without the "small parts" warning. I was told there were only 10,000 of these made.

Okay I want to know how designed our top heavy herione from Final Fantasy 7!? Here I have the Japanese version of TIFA who defies gravity! Come on! Anyone built like her jumping and kicking could hurt themselves! And what was Cloud thinking? Aerith? No way Tifa is by far the prettier girl! Men!

Who could forget the tough but loveable Japanese version of BARRETT . Some people complained about Barrett's dialouge translation from the Japanese version of Final Fantasy 7. I have to say that some of it was annoying but not worth getting your undies in a bundle! I bet Square will be a little more careful the next time around!

Here is a set of MINI FINAL FANTASY 7 FIGURES . It includes Cid, Tifa, Vincent, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Cloud on the Daytona, and Sephiroth. I wish there would have been an Aerith and Barrett in the set but this is the way they came.

Oh MOG ! Of course, he is the cutest video game character ever! Now if Squaresoft could just get their act together and give him a role in a Final Fantasy game like they did in Final Fantasy 3! This Mog is a very HIGH quality plush. He is from Japan where all the cool toys are!

And now for our hero of Final Fantasy 7 CLOUD ! This is the American version of the figure. You can tell the difference between the Japanese and American by 2 ways. First on the front, in the upper right hand corner, you will see either "Extra Knights" or a black warning label for small parts. If it says "Extra Knights" it is the Japanese version. Also if you look at the back you will see that it is written in Japanese. But a lot of people will try and sell you a figure without showing you the back. And if they cut off the top of the front then be suspicious.

VINCENT is one of the coolest characters! He is a character that you have to find to have him join your party. Of course he is well worth the effort! It sucks that you can't have Sephiroth in your party but having Vincent makes up for that. He has those cool mysterious looks and kicks some serious *ss!

I believe that this is the best FINAL FANTASY 7 GUIDE they made. It has one awesome poster in it! The guide itself is easier to understand. In the "official" Brady Games guide the pictures were dark and hard to figure out. The pictures in this one are clearer. Besides that it has one awesome cover with Cloud on it! Love that pose!

Now for another passion of mine! I love the COKE FIGURES! This set that is not complete and even these pictures are old because I have added a few more to my collection! Here are the FINAL FANTASY 7 Coke figures. I will try and update my pictures soon.

Final Fantasy VIII Collectibles

Here are some FINAL FANTASY 8 CLEAR FIGURES that I really enjoy. When you buy them, they come in a box and you don't know which one you will get. Also in the box is a little packet of hard candy that remind me of "Tart N Tiny" candy and a sticker with the face and name of the figure you received. I have only found clear blue and purple so far but on the box it shows some full color ones. I guess I am not that lucky.....yet!

Of course in Final Fantasy 8 there were some awesome cinemas of the Guardian Forces. But seriously to sit time and time again through them was irritating. Here we have CERBERUS . Okay I can't quite remember what Cerberus did but I think he cast protection spells on your party. I rarely used him or his services.

Now how cool can you be?? Well if you had 8 arms and a sword for each one you would be as cool as FINAL FANTASY 8's GILGAMESH ! He reminds me of someone that would be in Arabian Nights! Mysterious and deadly is this Guardian Force! One of the truly cool figures from the series!

I am so glad that I finally purchased this very large bad guy from Final Fantasy 8. At first I thought that TIAMAT was just another Bahamut. So I didn't buy it right away and then when I wanted one I couldn't find it!! **NOTE TO ALL COLLECTOR'S: Don't be this dumb...get it while you can!** Well I got one and I am glad I did! If I had to chose between the Bahamut and the Tiamat, I would take the Tiamat!

And then there is DIABLOUS! This is a MUST HAVE for collectors of the series! I want to take this one out of the box SOOOOO bad because DIABLOUS is just awesome looking. I used this guardian force quite a bit! Check HIM out!

Of course as soon as you get the entire set of Guardian Force figures they come out with a variant! These are a few of the CLEAR FINAL FANTASY 8 FIGURES. They have the entire set in clear and of course they have both the Japanese and the U.S. versions. The difference is that the Japanese figures come in grey/black boxes and there is a piece of the Ragnarok in each box. So collect the entire set of the Japanese figures and you will have a Clear Ragnarok! (Good luck finding them all!) These are the U.S. clear versions. I have:
IFRITE,
SIREN,
CEREBUS,
and ODIN...
and ODIN up close...
and ODIN'S HORSE!

Okay here is something that I am still collecting. I would like to get all 8 of the Japanese Final Fantasy Guardian Forces. Here is ODIN! With the Japanese figures you get a piece of the Ragnarok with each figure. Once you have all the pieces you can put them together and have the Ragnarok! It is the only way to get it.

Whoo Hoo! I got my hands on MORE Japanese Final Fantasy 8 Guardian Force figures! I found GILGAMESH! Gilgamesh is the many armed sword yeilding guardian force. He reminds me of a sheik from Saudi Arabia! I also found CEREBUS! This is our "doggy" friend guardian force with 3 heads. I know I wouldn't want to clean up the backyard after he was done! Phew! And last but not at all least is the lovely SIREN! I loved the animation for her in the game....but after a zillion times it got a little old. But she certainly was my favorite guardian force to use. I know I need the Japanese DIABLOS and BAHAMUT yet. I do have SHIVA and IFRITE but they are packed away.

This is one of my PRIZE FINAL FANTASY ITEMS!! I bought this without really knowing what it was. Someone said they had a FINAL FANTASY CARD that was "like 3D". I had no idea what they were talking about but I was intrigued. So I bought it hoping I was not making a mistake. When I got THE CARD I was blown away. The pictures just don't do this card justice! I have never seen another one of these. So if you have any info on it please email me and let me know!

I love the COKE FIGURES! These are some of the hardest things I had to collect. I found out about them late so they were already rare when I started collecting. If you have any for sale please email me! These pictures are old because I have added a few more to my collection! Here are the FINAL FANTASY 8 figures.

As you know all over Japan there are vending machines. Some of the coolest toys and cards can be found in those machines. Here are a couple of FINAL FANTASY 8 CAPSULE TOYS . This is Zell and Squall. Just like the little toys you get in the machines here except you want these! They are really good quality and it is so fun to try and collect them all!

Final Fantasy IX Collectibles

Here is a sealed copy of a Japanese FINAL FANTASY 9! I like to collect the Japanese versions and the American versions. I usually end up paying about $60.00 for the Japanese versions of the games I buy. And then add on shipping from Japan and you can end up paying twice as much as you would for the U.S. version. That is why I suggest to people that are not collectors to buy a used version off an auction site for less.

Here is a cute little thing I came across. It is a FINAL FANTASY 9 MATCHBOX CAR! Now of course this is not a licensed product. Someone took the truck out and placed decals on both sides of it. Then they resealed it in the package. I just thought it was unique and so I purchased it.

More COKE FIGURES! I don't think there were a lot to this set because they had only the anime type. Here is the FINAL FANTASY 9 set. In the backgound you can see a very cool mousepad of Sephiroth. It's one of my favorite items!

Video Game Collection

And then there is the GameBoy. It is the most popular handheld ever made. Of course they had to have some FINAL FANTASY GAMEBOY GAMES . But what a lot of people don't know is that they are actually NOT Final Fantasy games. They wanted to bring over to the US some RPG/Adventure style games but knew that if they didn't have a name people recognized that they probably wouldn't sell. So they changed the names to Final Fantasy which was a series that did well here and people knew the name. I believe that the games are really based on the Japanese series Legend of Mana and Saga Frontier. I have played one of them and gave it a so-so rating. So I have all 4 sealed in the boxes because I don't have the desire to play them.

There is another RPG that is a huge success in Japan. It is DRAGON QUEST/DRAGON WARRIOR . In this photo you see a sealed Dragon Warrior US version, a Dragon Warrior 2 & 3 carts US version, booklet and map for Dragon Warrior 4, Dragon Quest 4 Japanese version, and a set of Dragon Quest figures that are Japanese. I loved Dragon Warrior when it was released here and was very disappointed when they stopped bringing them over. Dragon Quest 7 was released in Japan not too long ago and it is a huge hit! So big in fact that they will be releasing it in the US soon....IT'S ABOUT TIME!

As you can probably tell I am a fan of Squaresoft. Now don't be telling me that Squaresoft sucks you kids. I know that not every game company makes all hits. They can have some real stinkers sometimes. But Square is one of the most respected video game companies out there and they have my respect. Here are a couple of my favorite Square games... FINAL FANTASY 6, FINAL FANTASY ANTHOLOGY, & EHRGEIZ . I am lucky enough to have both new and opened games. I recently aquired a Final Fantasy Anthology sealed too. I like to collect the guide books too if I can.

Yes once you start collecting you begin to see all of the wonderful things there are! I started collecting games and was lucky enough to come across these recently... MINT DRAGON WARRIOR, FINAL FANTASY 6 SF, & BREATH OF FIRE 3 . SF is short for Super Famicom which is the Japanese version of the Super Nintendo. Yes you can play the Super Famicom games on your Super Nintendo if you alter your system. It is very easy to do. I advise that you have 2 Super Nintendos. One to keep for your collection and one you can alter so that you can play games.

This is one of the greatest RPG's in my opinion. FINAL FANTASY 3 . The only thing missing is a box....anyone got a spare? :) In Japan it was released as Final Fantasy 6. It has a good story which is a must for any RPG. It has plenty of variety in it's gameplay which makes for good replay value. And even the music is entertaining and one of the top selling soundtracks for video games. If you haven't played this game yet please do yourself a favor and try it. If you have a Playstation you can play it on the Final Fantasy Anthology game.

Okay I had to throw this game in because it is one of the most addictive games! HARVEST MOON is a cute, fun, and addicting game! You are a guy that needs to rehabilitate a farm. You have to smash boulders, cut tree stumps, pull weeds, buy & take care of farm animals, plant crops & tend them, expand your home, date, marry, have kids, and more! Now there are a few versions out as you can see. The original version is Harvest Moon for Super Nintendo. Then you have Harvest Moon GB for Game Boy and Harvest Moon 64 for Nintendo 64. There is also a Playstation version called Harvest Moon Back to Nature and another GameBoy version called Harvest Moon 2. Now which is better you ask? Well the original for the SNES is by far my favorite but those are hard to find and expensive. Then between the GameBoy versions Harvest Moon GB sucks in my opinion but they did a much better version with Harvest Moon 2. I recommend that one. Harvest Moon 64 is great graphically but I'm not a big fan of it. Now the one for Playstation....I LOVE IT! Yes there are some MINOR control issues but overall it runs a close 2nd to the original. If you haven't played this game then rent it but be prepared to not want to return it!

Here is some of my sealed GAME COLLECTION! Going from left to right, we have Legend of Mana (sequel to Secret of Mana), Brave Fencer Musashi, Vandal Hearts, Final Fantasy 7, Threads of Fate, Chocobo Racing, Crusaders of Might and Magic, Time Stalkers, and Wild 9. I usually have one sealed copy of a game and one open one. That way I can enjoy the game and have a great display case!

RPG's....yep I love RPG's! I do love other kinds of games but if a new RPG is released it comes before anything else I will buy. Here are some RPG'S and more RPG'S that I have enjoyed! In the first picture, we have Wild Arms, Wild Arms 2, Alundra, and Alundra 2. In the second picture, there is Legend of Legaia, Tales of Destiny, Chrono Cross, Skies of Arcadia, and Legend of Dragoon. With so many games, I can't seem to finish them! I buy one and start playing and then I buy another and start playing that one! So I am constantly going back and forth between games!

Statues & Cold Cast

Okay ladies how many of you think that LAGUNA from Final Fantasy 8 is SOOOOOO much cuter than Squall? I certainly do! He should have had a bigger role in the game that is for sure. This is a very detailed vinyl statue. The mold for the model was sculpted by Kotobukiya. It is from a limited collection and has a special card that is numbered.

On the high end of collecting are the cold cast resin statues. If you can afford them BUY THEM! They are impressive! This is FINAL FANTASY 7: THE FORGOTTEN CITY . If you played Final Fantasy 7 then you will remember the death scene. I think that this statue is an awesome depiction of that. I have sold a few of them and everyone who buys them tells me they love it. If you are a true Final Fantasy 7 fan then this is on your MUST HAVE list!

Here is another awsome vinyl statue! It is the handsome bad boy of Final Fantasy 8 SEIFER! You know the ladies love the bad boys! I think the vinyl statues are superior in some ways to the cold casts. The cold casts tend to break easily and the vinyls are more durable. In my opinion, the vinyls are more lifelike than the cold casts too. And of course, the vinyls are much more reasonably priced!

And of course if we have to have the men...we have to have the heriones! This is the ever perky SELPHIE! You can especially see in this statue the lifelike detail in the face. (Sorry no close up yet!) This is one of my favorite vinyl pieces. I have to say I am disappointed that they did not do vinyls for Final Fantasy 7.

And here is the hero of the story... SQUALL! I was pleased with the direction that Final Fantasy 8 took. I did not want a clone of 7 with the darkness of the game. I wanted to see something a bit lighter. But I also think they got carried away with some aspects of FF8...Guardian Forces anyone? Both 7 and 8 are good games if you don't compare them and let them stand seperately in the Final Fantasy universe. And the brooding SQUALL could have had a bit more personality! But his vinyl statue is awesome!

Final Fantasy 10

Well I was lucky enough to be able to collect an entire set of FINAL FANTASY 10 COKE FIGURES! There are 16 ANIME (8 crystal & 8 colored) and there are 16 REGULAR (8 crystal & 8 colored). They all sold out in Japan within a couple weeks of release. Thank you WILLIAM for your help in getting them for me!

Collectibles

Now if collecting games and figures isn't enough for you....then how about BOOKS! Here are only a small portion of books that I have collected. The first book on the left is a guide book for Final Fantasy 3 for the Famicom. Of course the book is in Japanese but you can still use the maps and the art is gorgeous! The second book is an art book devoted to the graphics of Final Fantasy 9. It is a hard bound book and is also from Japan. The book on the far right is a guide book for the game Chrono Cross. Chrono Cross is the sequel to the game Chrono Trigger. It is a very good game. But be forwarned! The sequel is nothing like the original. Treat the game as a stand alone game and you will like it. Compare it to Chrono Trigger and you will find it lacking. The guide book is also in Japanese but has beautiful art inside. The last book is not so much a book. It is a collection of "seals". I call them stickers. I have not opened this and I do not know what it contains exactly. But I can guess that it has a collection of Final Fantasy 8 stickers in it...DUH!

And who doesn't love BEANIES! Nintendo has some of the cutest characters. It's no wonder that kids love Nintendo games. Here is Diddy Kong, Toad, Wario, and Luigi.

And how about PLUSHIE KEYCHAINS! More adorable plushies from Nintendo and this time in keychains! There are Diddy Kong, Mario, Toad, Wario, Yoshi, Luigi, and Bowser. CUTE!

Here is one of my favorite collectibles! It is a portable game system that is not available in the U.S. It is called the WONDERSWAN COLOR. This is a Final Fantasy collectible edition set. I believe that only 1000 of them were made. The system is white with a Final Fantasy logo on it. It comes packaged with a vamped up version of the original Final Fantasy. This is a Japanese collectible and getting very difficult to find.

Of course, we can not forget about another fabulous series ZELDA! This is a set of 2 unopened cd's. One is the soundtrack from Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The other cd is from Zelda: Majora's Mask. The plush that you see is of course Zelda! Then we have more zelda collectibles! Here are some ZELDA FIGURES! There is Ganandorf, Zelda, and our hero Link! Then we have a ZELDA LITHO! I really love this one. I would love to frame it and hang it but I am afraid it will fade. And here is another of my favorites...it is a ZELDA POCKET WATCH! If you haven't played any Zelda games do yourself a favor and try one! They even have some good ones for Game Boy!

**This is less than 1/4 of my entire collection! I would love to post the entire collection but most of my items are packed away. As I move boxes around I will take some items out and post more pictures. I will also post more pictures as I buy more. Because this is an obsession with NO END! MWAH HA HA HA!! If you have any questions about my collection please feel free to email me!**

EMAIL
My Wonderful Family!