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American Collectibles: Mega Man

Mega Man Lite Swords: The first miscellaneous items are the rare Mega Man Lite Swords. Back in October 1995, I came across these Mega Man Lite Swords that really light up with one AA battery, which is included. (The whole thing sounds like a lightsaber rip-off to me.) These were not produced by Bandai, but another company called JA-RU, based in Jacksonville, Florida. There were several of them, but I just got one of each color that they had. I think I only paid $2.39 a piece, but I don't exactly remember since I bought these in 1995 and carefully removed the price tags. I should have bought all of them, now that they're practically extinct. Mega Man Lite Flasher: This was apparently released with the other MM toys in 1995. Unfortunately I never got a hold of the darned things. Thanks goes to Darin Acosta from Louisiana, for getting me the picture. But the quality is, as you can see, horrible. The flash from the camera pretty much washed it out. I tried using Photoshop to clean it up a bit, but what you see is the best I could do. Darin said he is going to try again and get a better one for me. He won't sell me his Lite Flasher, but maybe if there's someone else out there nice enough to sell one, E-mail me with a price, and I'll buy it off you. You know me, I gotta have every single MM thing out there. From what I can see in the picture, this looks like a yellow gun-shaped flashlight with a purple tip, and also comes with a battery. He told me it shoots 4 different colors. Thankfully, the picture of the Lite Flasher is still mint in the packaging, but I have yet to get a great shot of it. Mega Man Wrist Shooter: Thanks to the wonderful world of eBay, the on-line auction site, I was able to acquire another of the rare Ja-Ru Mega Man toys. This one is kind of like those suction-cup dart guns, except that the firing mechanism is planted on your wrist. There's only one suction dart, so you're screwed if you lose it. This toy is substantially smaller than the Lite Swords, but still a Mega toy, none-the-less. Mega Man Bow Set: Along with being the high bidder for the Wrist Shooter, I also picked up this bow set, which has one bow, 3 foam-tipped arrows, and a target with a GutsMan sticker on it. This is just a little bit bigger than the Wrist Shooter, but still relatively small. Only a toddler could handle the bow, but then again, the age recommendation on these are 8 and up! For crying out loud. Well, now I have 4 kinds of these toys. Are there more? I'll have to find out... Mega Man Soundtrack: This item much easier to come by. This is the Mega Man Soundtrack, released in early 1996. It was produced in conjuction by Capcom and Atlantic Records. Now before you get carried away, it's not music from any of the Mega Man games, nor the background music to any of the Mega Man cartoon shows. It's strictly a compilation of different groups such as Skid Row, Sugar Ray, and Mr. Big, mashed into one CD. This was mostly just a promotional kind of thing. The styles of music range from mostly alternative to a few tracks of rap, disco, reggae, and techno. I actually like most of the songs on the album. I've still seen this CD sitting in some soundtrack sections in music stores such as Virgin and Tower Records. The price ranges anywhere from $12-$17, depending on where you go. The inside of the cover has pictures of the cartoon show, and information on each of the songs (although no lyrics). If you've ever seen any of the 2nd-series Mega Man cartoon episodes, you'll hear a few of these songs during the closing credits. Mega Man Limited Edition Figure: This is one of the Limited Edition Mega Man figures that was released by Capcom in conjuction with Mega Man 8 for the Playstation and Saturn. Only 1000 were made, and only people who bought Mega Man 8 were eligible to order them. Of course, being the MM freak that I am, I put in my $24.95 order right away. Because of problems between Capcom and the company making the figures, they weren't done for a while. I didn't get mine until almost 6 months after ordering. It was well worth it though. Unfortunately, because of earthquakes and carelessness, he's been broken several times, but that's what SuperGlue is for. Mega Man Legends Stand-up Promo: Many thanks goes to Kevin Weiser for being a great Netizen and sending me the 5-foot-tall Mega Man Legends stand-up from the software specialty store he works at. I mounted it to my big closet mirror. That's why it seems to stand in mid-air. (You can see part of my MM corner in the reflection.) Of course, I paid him for shipping it to me, and it is way worth it. It's just something else to add to my collection. It's in near-perfect condition, with a few unfortunate creases, but I guess I can live with that. Oh well, I love it anyway. Mega Man: The Wily Wars: Out of my entire Mega Man collection, this is probably my greatest treasure. The Wily Wars was only released in Europe and Japan, back in 1994. This game was also featured on our Sega Channel for a while. The European version is in English, but in PAL format (so if you wanted to play it you need an adaptor, which I got with the game). This was the first thing I ever bought on eBay, back in July 1998, and I only got it because it had the box, manual, and PAL-adaptor included, which is REALLY rare as a set. I ended up being the high bidder at the last minute. Even though it says MEGA-DRIVE on it instead of Genesis, that's OK. It was worth every penny. All fifteen-thousand two-hundred and fifty of them. ;) Do the math. I actually feel lucky because I have seen Wily Wars going for "thirty-thousand pennies" on eBay recently.

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Japanese Collectibles: Rockman

This is a list of Rockman collectibles that have been more or less given to me since 1992. Remember that I used to not be an avid Rockman collector. I was more interested in the American Mega Man merchandise. Most of these were given to me as gifts. I will list them in the order I obtained them. Some pictures are still in progress... Rockman 4 - Sets 1 and 2: These were the very first Rockman collectibles to ever hit the Japanese market. The 1st set consists of snap-together models of Rockman, Fliptop, and Rush. The 2nd set features Rockman with his Wire Accessory (and appropriate suit color), along with Blues (Proto Man). My friend had gotten these for me when he went on his trip to Taiwan in 1992. These figures had to be assembled and painted as well. They now stand on the Game Boy boxes of my Mega Man Corner. Of course, being the horrible painter that I was 8 years ago, they look pretty horrible. I plan on redoing them. Unfortunately I never did get my hands on the 3rd (RingMan) and 4th (PharaohMan) set. I plan on buying Set 3 from my friend soon. I'll have to get Set 4 off eBay or something. Back when they were new, they only cost $10 each, now they're worth about $75. If I ever see Set 3 and 4, they're going to be hard to get cheap. Rockman X - All X: My best friend got this for me while he was in Hawaii, back in July 1998. This is Rockman X with a translucent iMac-like body armor. It's just one of the many Rockman X figures that I learned about. Rockman X - Double Impact: The same friend who got me the original Rockman figures, also found this for me during his trip. This set features a shiny Mega Man X with chrome body armor, and also a "Dark" Zero. Kinda strange that the only Dark Zero we know is in X2, but the box only says X. Rockman 7 - Coloring Books: I acquired these last year at a video-game store I check out every so often. I haven't seen these listed on any collectible pages, so I assume they're unheard of (until now). These feature outlines of all the RM7 characters (in super-stretched form). They had 2 of them, so I bought both. I may color in one of them and keep the other one in Mint condition. Rockman X3 - Hyper Special: Yet another RMX figure was given to me from Mega Man Freak #2. I decided to leave this one in the box for now, just because I have no more room at the moment to stick it in my Mega Man Corner, at least not until I do some revamping. Rockman 8 - Blues: Proto Man in the U.S., this was given to me for Christmas 1998 from another one of my good MM freak buds, and added it to my growing collection of Rockman figures. Rockman 8 - Rash: I don't know why they call him a Rash. That's stupid. Anyway, it's Rush from the U.S., and I picked him up (with a gift certificate) at the local Manga House outlet. Rockman 8 - IronBuster: I won the original Rockman figure on eBay for only $9! Quite a deal, eh? This is pretty much all I wanted. The only ones left for me to get are Forte (Bass) and the Original X IronBuster. Rockman 10th Anniversary 500 piece puzzle: My 2nd most prized collectible of the Mega/Rockman series (don't ask me what the 1st is. YOU find it). I had 3 of my good friends chip in for my 22nd birthday for this prize. We found it on eBay (of course) and paid a hefty price to be the bidder at the last minute. Thanks goes to Steve Valent for making that possible. This features every single robot master you could think of. (Not Mavericks. Sorry X-fans). Everyone from Mega Man 1-8, I-V for GameBoy, and the Wily Wars robots are there. VERY nice. This is hung on my wall over my bed. If it ever falls on me during an earthquake while I'm sleeping, wouldn't it be nice to say I was killed by my hero? -_- ::crickets chirping:: Uh, ahem, yeah well... Rockman Trading Cards/Stickers: Created by Capcom and distributed by Adali, these holographic cards show Mega Man fighting the robot masters from Mega Man 1. I don't know how many are in a set, but they're part of the collection, so.... Rockman X3 PVC figures: Yes, there were some of these made! My friend found these in Hawaii, and naturally I bought all 7 of them from him. I'll have pics of these soon.