Random item batches

For a change of pace since the section allows for items as well as dolls...

So getting new dolls into the collection hasnt been a huge priority, due to reasons. However getting other stuff into the collection hasnt stopped, and I thought to go through some of the batch orders from the usual suspect.

Ordering from mandarake is a bit of a tedious thing for me personally because of having to put weight into buying multiple items from a single store at once (The joys of having to do customs declarations, and pinch on shipping costs that add up to this).

but this month main batches came in, firstly from Nagoya:

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This was a bit of an excercise in how far could I stretch my budget at that time, since the main attraction for the order was the M+V studio Fox spirit miko outfits, however the more I browsed Nagoya's selection the more stuff I seemed to want, and some were more palatable in prices than others.

Volks items included the Blue label lace yukata, for which I have a soft spot since its in line with some of the full choise pick me up outfits I already have. The My first cool star in Cool flavor was something I had been looking for, but wasnt exactly sure about the retail price point for a one and done photoset with either Ranko or Kaede. And the recent tenshi no koromo white pleather dress tagged along since it was a little under retail, and thus slipped into the same shipping category. The gatcha T-shirt was probably a bit overpriced but I was sort of intrugued by these and decided why not.

The S-bust lingerie set was one of those I probably need to see myself what the fuss is about, since this type was fairly popular on flickr at one point, but as usual, at the same time, Im late to the party, and its also for a pettanko... so have to see how this ends.

I've been in need of new wigs for my crew, and this box contained three of varying levels of dissapointment. The Roronshuka frizzy twintail was a bit of a let down in two departments since based on the pictures I imaged it to be near Kaede's shade of a dirty green, but it wasnt, and the twintails turned out to be the typical clip on types... the Volks dollpoint milk white himecut seems like it was trimmed with an axe, and will need fettling to be presentable, and the cheapest item was a random mixed blonde that was actually not too terrible.

 

The second batch came from Nakano, and there was a fair bit slimmer pickings to be had:

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This batch got rolling probably because of a certain problem I have with one perticular outfit type from Volks ... namely the X-ear bondage thing. The cat eared SS-bust and DDy one's seem to have become a standard Tenshi no koromo item, but the other sizes are still their own collectable thing, so once I saw my personal favorite, the M-bust for grabs, I started a shopping cart. (If you are interested I believe the total count for all outfits in this style now tally up to 18, which probably will be a glorious group photo...)

So tagging along came a Rina's casual set, to go with the head nicely, and also a old pink label cardigan set, and the classic blue label sweetie dress that just happened to fall into cheap as chips territory.

the two M+V studio bikini's were more or less padding material, but the batch of slightly yellowed and 60% discounted eyes were a bit of a find, since I was in need of new one's in this department.

 

now the question remains that when will I get around using any of this stuff, since 70% of my gang is in boxes pending my big house cleanup and re-arrangement routine.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by finnleo

Nice batches! You're really lucky to get such great stuff from Mandrake!

Mandarake treasure hunting is always fun. Great loot!

thanks, although there are some nice items in these two batches, the main feeling I still get while sifting through manda is that im at a big fleamarket fair on the second day.

Especially if I forget to leave the search function to show sold items.

 

Nice haul. I think my most spectacular finds have been from Yahoo Auctions rather than Mandarake, although the Miku Sweets Paradise outfit was a good find in Shibuya.

I think the blue/black/purple/gold outfit in your top photo was something we had our eye on but never got round to buying.

One of Towa's first outfits was the kitty bondage set. I had a brief sexy doll phase but then realised I much preferred her in kawaii outfits such as the Gothic Mint Lolita dress. We have two regular kitty outfits, plus a pink one and the larger pink one with the boots. Nobody's worn the pink ones yet.

I nearly bought some wigs in our last haul, but that would have put us over the customs limit, so they had to stay behind 😳.

1 hour ago, Xiongmao said:

Yahoo Auctions

Y!JA used to be a go to place for me, but a few factors came into play against it. I think there's only one reasonably priced bidding service left that doesent have the internal userbase bidding nonsense, but their system is a bit... manual. Customs declaration started to get cumbersome when it came to several low value items with their separate bidding service fees that needed to be itemized. And the most recent develelopment was when YJA blocked EU web IP addresses so cant even view and check pricing anymore, so the site is pretty much dead to me now.

But usually after all the fee's and whatnot additional costs associated with bidding services manda prices were/are within a tolerable percentage range without any of the annoyances I find with working with bidding sites.  Naturally this wont apply to the obviously silly priced stuff like the sailor moon dolls or some of the specific outfits they have, but so far there's little of interest for me in those items.

So yesterday I came back from a trip to a neighbouring country, and while during the trip I did pick up some items that I had set my eyes on for some time, but only finally decided to get for various reasons...

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On the trip there, the specific ship I was on has a Iittala/Arabia gift item displat, and one amusing thing was the Moomin mini mugs from Arabia. The full size one's were almost a meme worthy collectable thing at one point here, which has calmed down a bit, but that makes the miniatures all the more fun.

I had previously gotten the Classic set 1, and a few months ago I had gotten the Classic set 3 (The open box), but then they had sold out of the Classic set 2, and this time around They had restocked it, and now I have the threesome.

Their fairly expensive, and their only real draw personally now is the official Moomin licence after Arabia moved production from Finland to Thailand years ago, but such are things these days.

The Tax free also had gotten a few Glenfiddich select and reserved minibottles into their bins at some point of which I only managed to get the last three of, bringing my collection to maybe 70 mini bottles at maybe 55-60 different brands... so I really should start working on that bartender desk for Kaede...

While at my destination the local shopping center grocery store had kellogs cereal mini variety packs and even if the cost effective thing to do would be to print my own boxes, I thought these were pretty nice in terms of size right away.

on the way back I finally caved in to my inner Hand tool rescue fandom, and got the gift set of miniature Nutella jars.

And here's Nia for scale:

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Those are all nearly perfect in size!! An awesome haul!! 

Congrats! 

 

oooh my gosh all the goodies look awesome. This makes me want to do a huge purchase 😅