I randomly watched a Youtube video the other day, about rarer pink Metazoo Kuromi boxes and that they can be found at Five Below. Well I saw them for sale and my curiosity got the better of me…
If I remember right, I think the pink boxes have a few different cards than the regular set but I have no idea how to spot the differences. The packs were $5 each and they are probably worth way less given that Metazoo is a dead game with a shady history. Still the Kuromi and cryptid themed cards are fun pack break and Metazoo has an interesting history in the gaming world.
Honestly, I know Metazoo mostly by reputation alone (mostly negative). The rules with its fourth wall breaking mechanics really don’t seem fun. I might take a closer look at the game and the rules since it seems like the perfect cautionary tale.
I tell everyone I went to Legoland New York for my nephew but I love Legoland too! One of my favorite things to do there is to trade Lego minifigures and honestly it might be more fun than even Disney pin trading. (There are just way too many fake Disney pins.)
I am super excited to find both Baymax and Ernesto de la Cruz minifigures. Big Hero 6 and Coco maybe my favorite Disney/ Pixar films in the last decade or so. I traded for the other minifigures mostly for the interesting parts. Of course, I gave my nephew a bunch of minifigures to trade too and he is pretty happy with his haul.
When you stay at the Legoland Hotel you get a bunch of polybags to play with too. I got a bunch of Lego Build Your Own Animals (30503) and Ice Dragon Creature (30649) sets. I built a chicken and dog with the sets and unfortunately I think the Ice Dragon Creature polybag I opened was missing a key piece. I have to open another one and try again.
I also got the Money Tree (40648) set for a project later on. It is a great looking set and I just need to find the time to build it…
Honestly, I was really high on Lorcana but I have significantly cool off to it. Lorcana’s third set Into the Inklands is kind of forgettable in my opinion. The biggest addition in the set, locations is just not fun to play with. Meanwhile, Pokemon’s latest set is a big hit with me so I haven’t really played or collected Lorcana in awhile. Anyways, Target had a Circle Week sale for trading cards and my local store just had Lorcana. So I picked up this Lorcana Into the Inklands amber and emerald starter deck. It will be my first cards from the latest set.
The biggest reason I wanted this starter deck is because 101 Dalmatians is one of my favorite Disney movies and I wanted to build a deck around it. I hoping to build a deck solely consisting of 101 Dalmatians and that is possible due to the Dalmatian Puppy card having an ability that allows your to put up to 99 copies of it in your deck.
The Peter Pan side of the deck is really weak. It is supposed to be a payoff for playing locations but the reward is just not worth it. I cut all of those cards and some of the weaker cards for Cruella de Vils and Jaspers to keep the theme and for some of the better emerald tempo cards. When I get more Dalmatian Puppy cards, I would even cut those cards.
On the side note, my starter cards were all cut poorly. It is tough to show on the scan but in person, one of the corners clearly look off. Lorcana really has huge quality control issues.
All in all, Lorcana is fun game to play but only casually. I don’t think I can play both Pokemon and Lorcana competitively.
Wow I haven’t done awesomely bad comics posts in years but I just came across a comic perfect for this. It is Marvel Comics: Deadline #3 and I found it while browsing through the discount comics bin.
The cover is what drew me to it but probably for all the wrong reasons. It is has a bit of a uncanny valley vibe since Katherine Farrell is drawn super photo realistic and in contrast, the Judge was drawn with a lot less detail. It really looks like a photo photoshopped into a drawing. Also, I know the cover supposed to give off a creepy as in a scary vibe with his pose for the Judge but to me it gives a creepy as in a “stranger danger” vibe. Either way, would you believe he is a superhero? I looked up the other covers in this mini series too and #4 is OK but the covers for #1 and #2 both feel really off too.
The interior art is a sharp contrast from the cover. The Judge is drawn with even less detail and Katherine doesn’t look anything like the person on the cover. Also from what I read (this issue and the synopsis of the others), the story has some interesting ideas but feels kind of pointless and slow.
All in all, Marvel Comics Deadline is honestly a comic that is or will be forgotten by time. So I guess the cover is the only thing that stands out.
After a couple of months of disappointment, I got some really good finds this month at thrift stores.
My biggest find this month is this Penn Jillette signed book for only $2. I actually went to this book signing for this exact book. So I actually own this book, signed. But that copy is personalize to me so I have a backup now to trade, sell or whatever in the future.
My other big find is Can’t Stop for $3. It is a board game that has been high on my want list for quite some time. It is not a white whale find but pretty close to it. The box shows some age but the components inside are like brand new. It is a great push your luck game that stands the test of time.
Another board game I picked up is Ubongo Junior also for $3. It is a tetris like puzzle game and it is a game I am terrible at but I know someone in my gaming group likes. This is the junior game so the puzzles might be too easy. I am probably bringing it to Bryant Park for their Board Game Socials.
Finally I picked up this Rex Mundi graphic novel for $1. It is a fun comic that kind of reminds me of Dan Brown books. It deals with the mysteries and conspiracies of power shadowy organizations especially in religion in a mystery, thriller format. I have been finding Rex Mundi here and there in discount bins so I may even have some of these issues in comic books already. The book was actually in better shape when I bought but it got really beat up in my backpack.
I love collecting dead/ lost collectible card games (CCGs). First off, the barriers of entry to the game is much lower due cheaper prices but I also find it fascinating to learn more about why certain games fail as sort of case study. Today I don’t have a lost CCG but a lost CMG, a collectible miniatures game.
Marvel Battleworld is a game I have collected here and there but I really haven’t given it much attention to, until now. I’ll start with some of the draws to the game. The figures come in the classic Funko style so I can easily see why they can be very collectible. Second, you have everything you need to play with just one booster pack/ game ball which is very rare for any collectible game.
Now onto some of the reasons why it might have failed. First off, the game is bad. It is too random, too simple and too boring. The game is also very unbalanced. For example, there is a Squirrel Girl card whose ability is when you miss you can tell a story why you missed to hit instead. There are also rarer figures that are clearly better and there are battle cards that are clearly easier to defeat.
Another reason why the game might have failed is there isn’t much appeal to getting more booster packs since a lot of the game components are very similar and with the rules as is, there isn’t much incentive to have a big collection since there is no deckbuilding in the game. The game is honestly the figures first and the game itself a distant second.
Finally, Funko Games, the maker of Marvel Battleworld hasn’t had a good track record. They came out with a ton of games and most of the them unfortunately could be found in discount bins shortly after release. That is why I wasn’t surprised to find that Funko Games is no more.
With all that being said, I took a good look at the game and here is how I would fix it. I made a solo variant that aims to keep the game short but more strategic by adding some deckbuilding to the game which to me most of the fun for collectible games. This variant uses the rules for a 5 battle cards and 2 heroes game but with 3 big changes.
Change 1: You have to beat every battle card to win, not just 3 out of 5. The game is way too easy but honestly beating all five battle cards requires a ton of luck as which brings us the next change.
Change 2: You get to choose 1 starting hero and 2 reserve heroes. You get the choose which reserve hero to use when you beat the Thanostone battle card so you can pick different specialists depending on the situation.
Change 3: The biggest change though is you get to build a deck of 5 battle cards, usually to compliment the heroes. Only rules to building this deck so far is that you have have 1 Thanostone battle card and at least 1 other special battle card. If you want this to be a competitive game, you might have to ban some of the easier battle cards but since this is a solo variant, you can make the game as easy or as hard as you want.
I’ll leave you with some “decks” to give you some ideas.
Starting Hero: Groot, Set 2, 07/30 Reserve Heroes: Star-Lord, Set 4, 09/30 & Twilight Rocket, Set 2, 28/30 Battle Deck: Thanostone Spider-Island, Set 2, 44/60 Alchemax Scientists, Set 2, 01/60 Jackal, Set 2, 20/60 Loki’s Trick: Force Field, Set 2, 25/60 Loki’s Trick: Isolation Chamber, Set 2, 27/60
This is a Guardian of the Galaxy themed deck. Groot and Twilight Rocket work very well together and aims to win as soon as possible with the free attacks. Honestly, Star-Lord is just there since he does almost the same thing as Rocket. The battle cards use mostly energy and strength attacks to focus on what the heroes do well but also uses a few Loki’s tricks to keep things interesting.
Starting Hero: Ms. Marvel, Set 3, 11/30 Reserve Heroes: Spyder-Man, Set 3, 14/30 & Orrgo, Set 3, 12/30 Battle Deck: Thanostone Monster Metropolis, Set 3, 37/50 Shocker, Set 3, 31/50 The Spider-Slayers, Set 3, 48/50 Machine Men, Set 3, 27/50 Baron Stark’s Henchman, Set 3, 03/50
Ms Marvel is one of my favorite comic book characters so I wanted to build a deck that takes advantage of her abilities. It honestly is one of the weaker abilities but she can make a battle card’s attack target 7. This ability just so happens to work really well with armor battle cards so I include 2 of them. You probably often rely on Spyder-Man to reduce danger levels but if are you really lucky and need raw stats, you can pick Orrgo to beat the remaining battle cards.
Building these decks were honestly the most fun I had with this game.
Roaring Moon ex is a deck that is almost good now but it is seemingly missing something. With all the new ancient cards in the newest Pokemon TCG set, Temporal Forces I think it would have a lot of new tricks to play around with. That is why I want to pick up all the Roaring Moon exs, Ancient Booster Capsules and Professor Sada’s Vitality now. That is the primary reason to pick up this Roaring Moon ex box which has the Roaring Moon ex promo and 4 packs.
I pulled an illustration rare Cleffa and a Skeledirge ex. I just love the artwork of the Cleffa card. Too bad the baby Pokemon are pretty much unplayable in Standard. I wish the baby Pokemon had their old ability to survive attacks with a successful coin flip.
I honestly have gotten a lot better at not buying bad board games just because it is cheap at thrift stores. So I don’t have many thrift stores pickups lately but I still have found good deals elsewhere.
My only find from a thrift store these last couple of months is this Call of Catthulhu RPG book. It promises to be a rules light RPG system where you play as cats against I guess Cthulhu. It was only $1. I was close to get a Shark Tank board game for only $1.50. I love the show but I looked it up on Board Game Geek and it only had a 2.8/10 rating which is the lowest I have seen.
I got this Super Mario Peach’s Garden Balloon Ride lego set (71419) for $15 and the board game Cascadia for $12 at Target’s clearance section. I am pretty excited about these pickups.
Finally I got Jaipur at a board game swap. Jaipur is probably in my top 2 of favorite 2 player board games (Lost Cities is the other) but I honestly rarely play 2 players games (that are not TCGs). But for basically free, it is good to have in my collection just in case.
February 27 is of course Pokemon Day! I made it an annual tradition to check my local cards shops and to take advantage any special Pokemon Day deals. This year there were some ambassadors for the card game that you can battle with at the Nintendo store and there were some Pokemon Go special tasks around the Empire State Building. That was a lot fun. There were also a bunch of announcements for the Pokemon video games that I haven’t caught with it but I think I heard there will be a new, simpler Pokemon TCG game.
Anyways, I got most of my Pokemon goodies from the Nintendo store. First off, I got a Pokemon poster, a Pokemon pin and a Trade and Play package which has a 3 cards fun pack and an awesome Fuecoco coin. I also bought 4 packs of Paradox Rift to get a promo Pokemon Day Ceruledge card. The only card of note from my packs is a Cofagrigus ex. It is honestly not the strongest card but I have been tinkering with a deck combining Cofagrigus ex and Xatu.
I got pretty unlucky with my first few packs of the Pokemon TCG: Paldean Fates set so I decided to give it another go. This time I got 2 mini tins so 4 more packs. I actually wanted to get more but they seem to be sold out everywhere. I guess they are pretty popular.
My pulls aren’t great but they are much better than my other packs. I got a shiny Vileplume, Shiny Dondozo and and Illustration rare Wugtrio. Honestly, none of these cards are that exciting for me so they are basically trade bait. I got a Moonlit Hill though. It is one of the newer cards I needed from the set.
I am not sure if I will get any more packs of Paldean Fates. I still think the cards in the set are pretty random. The smart move would be to save the money for the next set, Temporal Forces, which looks awesome. The prerelease for that is only a few weeks away.
Shot Not Taken 