New Video: Opening Pokékyun Collection Cards

6 / 17 / 16

YouTube is still one of those things that greatly confuses me. For example, do you say you’re “unboxing” Pokékyun cards, or “opening” Pokékyun cards? I lie awake at night wondering what to title my videos. They also take terribly long to film and edit, which is why this is my first new video in a month! I definitely need to work on that…

But enough silliness! This is a very serious post about my latest video, where I open (unbox??) a bunch of Pokémon cards. Specifically, they’re from a set called Pokékyun Collection, which has to be the most adorable series of Pokémon cards ever created! I bet you don’t believe me, so just watch and see for yourself:

If you’re interested in grabbing a box of these adorable cards, Amazon Japan has a few left in stock. They don’t ship overseas, so I used Tenso to forward them to me in Australia. If you’d like to learn more about Tenso, I have a post all about it! Just be careful, once you start using it, it quickly becomes very dangerous…

Celebrating 5 Years of StreetPass Brisbane

6 / 13 / 16

When I first moved to Australia five and a half years ago, I was pretty isolated. Not only was I in a completely new country, but my husband and I moved to a city where we didn’t know anyone, much less fellow nerds! That’s why, when StreetPass groups started popping up around the world for folks outside Japan to have more chances to obtain those precious StreetPass hits, I immediately set out to create my own.

Five years later, I’ve organized StreetPass meetups in Brisbane nearly every month. Not only have I been able to complete many, many StreetPass puzzles, but I’ve also been able to bring other Nintendo fans together to enjoy a hobby they love in a welcoming environment. Let me tell you, it’s been a whole lot of fun!

Swooning Over: Musketeer, Pokémon Merchandise, and More

6 / 11 / 16

It’s been ages since I did a haul post! Today I’d like to share some items I ordered from Amazon Japan via Tenso. Ever since I started using the Tenso forwarding service last year, I’ve been completely hooked on ordering obscure items from Amazon Japan! But since the cost can add up very quickly, I have to save my purchases for special orders. But enough talk, here’s what I got!

I’ve recently become rather obsessed with Morikubo Showtaro, who is the voice behind one of my favorite anime characters in recent years, Makishima Yuusuke from Yowamushi Pedal. After I found he also voiced Impey from otome game Code: Realize, who also happens to be another personal favorite, I decided it would be my personal mission to seek out other things he’s been involved in.

My latest acquisition is this drama CD from the Nade Nade CD series, which features none other than Morikubo Showtaro. I don’t actually know much about this series aside from the fact that it doesn’t actually feature guys playing with cats – rather, the “nade nade” refers to the listener being comforted by the character in a similar manner to a cat being petted. I’m still game for that!

(Note that CDs can generally be shipped internationally from Amazon Japan without a forwarding service, but some are restricted to Japan only or only available through third party sellers that don’t ship outside of Japan. What a pain!)

Next we have an otome game, because I can never have too many games in my backlog! Musketeer is, as the title suggests, based on The Three Musketeers, except in this version d’Artagnan is a girl. Of course, that means lots of opportunities to romance handsome dudes! I just couldn’t resist the gorgeous art, and second hand copies only cost about $15.

I’m pretty sure I can’t do a haul post without including at least one Pokémon item! Well, this time around I have a whopping three Pokémon items, the first of which being this Pokémon Time melamine plate that is only available through Pokémon Centers. I have a small nerdy melamine plate collection going, and they happen to make great backdrops for photos, and I just couldn’t resist this adorable pattern! More Pokémon Time merchandise, please!

Next is this drop dead adorable plush Sylveon keychain from the PokéNeco Dolce series. I think this series pretty much perfectly hits all of my favorite aesthetic notes: pink, frilly, and cute! For such a small plush, this has really amazing detail. Here’s a closer look:

Those lashes! That striped bow detail! I die!

Finally, after extensive pining, I added just one more item from the PokéNeko Dolce series to my Amazon Japan Tenso order: this masking tape set. I just love using masking tape to decorate my notebooks and letters, so I can pretty much never have too many! I didn’t expect one of the tapes to be thicker than the other, but it was a welcome surprise since I don’t have any other tapes in the same size.

Well, there you have it, my latest Amazon Japan (via Tenso) haul! Let me know if you like these kind of haul posts so I know to do more in the future!

Get 3 LGBTQ Manga for just $15 in the Latest Humble Bundle

6 / 9 / 166 / 13 / 16

Humble Bundle is celebrating Pride Month with a stellar LGBTQ Book Bundle. Name your price and get some great DRM free digital books – plus, a percentage of proceeds go to the It Gets Better Project!

Of particular interest to Chic Pixel readers are the three manga included in this bundle: Wandering Son volume 1, The Heart of Thomas, and Massive. Wandering Son is a fantastic series that deals with issues of gender identity and sexuality, while The Heart of Thomas an extremely influential shōnen ai manga from 1974, and Massive provides a great overview of gay manga and their creators (note: contains explicit content!). I wrote about Wandering Son back in 2012 when I first read it, so do check that out if you’re interested in learning more!

To get all three titles, you’ll need to pay $15 or more for the Humble LGBTQ Book Bundle. That’s a steal even for just the three manga, but you’ll also get 17 other books as part of the deal! But it’s only available for the next two weeks, so don’t miss out if you’d like to add these great titles to your collection!

June 2016 Community Game-Along: Media Tie-In Games

6 / 1 / 16

Hello June! Sadly, we’re now halfway through the Community Game-Along themes for 2016, but the good news is we still have lots of good themes left! For June, we’ll be doing a slightly different theme, as suggested by @BadoorSNK: media tie-in games!

Media tie-in games are often shunned as cheap cash grabs, but this month we’re going to celebrate some of the good ones! And maybe laugh at the bad ones? Either way, it’s going to be a blast!

Otome Game Taisho Alice is Coming to PC in English! [UPDATE]

5 / 27 / 166 / 1 / 16

It seems like May is turning out to be an interesting month for surprise game localization announcments! First, we got Kuma Tomo coming out as Teddy Together in Europe, and now we have a very stealth announcement for an upcoming otome game release, Taisho Alice!

The news was unceremoniously unveiled back on May 7th by way of a Facebook post from publisher E2 Gaming, who announced they had secured the rights to a new theme song by Mardelas for the game. The post included an image with a brief description of Taisho Alice, and E2 confirmed in the comments that they were indeed localizing the game. They later elaborated in another Facebook comment that they are currently looking at a PC release, though the game is also slated to release on Vita next month in Japan.

3DS Teddy Bear Simulator Kuma Tomo to Release in English This July

5 / 24 / 165 / 24 / 16

Remember that vaguely creepy teddy bear simulator for the Nintendo 3DS? No? Well, three years after its Japanese release, Kuma Tomo is finally coming out in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand as Teddy Together. Wait, what?!

I don’t know about you, but getting a random PR email announcing the localization of a game I nearly forgot about is not something I expect at 6 pm on an average Tuesday. But hey, why not?! Kuma Tomo scared more than a few folks with its talking bear who remembers the your responses to questions it asks you (just check out this Japanese commercial), but Nintendo of Australia is marketing Teddy Together as a game for parents and children to play together to help develop their reading and interpersonal skills. Let me tell you, I can’t wait to hear what the teddy bear sounds like in English.

So, will this game come out in North America, or is it doomed to be another Europe-only Nintendo release? If so, I hope that at least means Teddy has a British accent. You can pick up Teddy Together for 3DS on July 1st in Europe and July 2nd in Australia/NZ. It will also be compatible with amiibo figures, which I believe is new to the English version!