As many of you are aware, I’m an avid spender when it comes to figures, or anime merchandise in general. I myself as a buyer have grown accustom to never looking at the price when it comes to buying ANYTHING, and I still hold to that this year. Throughout the year, there has been quite a number of changes that have affected my spending habits such as entering my darkest moments in financial stability, the time I destroyed my clutch, the time I got into my full time job, and my biggest spending spree at a convention. Of course these are only partial factors of the end result, and boy, is the end result rather surprising. So hit the jump to check out the Result of my BURNING PASSION for 2007!
Just a little information about the statistics that I have calculated here. Majority of the items that I purchase are all imported from Japan from my two main sources: HLJ and Amazon Japan. Everything imported are from these two sources as other items that I have purchased through the year are via local means. So first up is the international orders:
With the help of my somewhat awesome Excel skills, I managed to create some funky graphs compared to last year’s all text based results. The graph above shows the total expenditure for both cost and shipping for their respective months for both HLJ and Amazon Japan orders. All values are in yen. As you can see, the amount I spent each month varied based on the various factors that happened throughout the year. February is when I declared Condition Red, yet I stil spent more in March, but it was in March when I destroyed my clutch, hence forcing me to save every single bit of money to get it fixed.
June was a rather unexpected month given that my working hours at Woolworths were reduced to a mere 4-8 hours a week. But I had saved up quite a bit between getting the clutch replaced and to when I got my full time job. Though one thing about getting my current job, I went ALL out and ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon, hence the huge spike. Then came July where I had to focus on my work and didn’t spend much at all. In the following months, I got a pay rise, and that was also the time of WonderFest and all the wonderful figures that were going to come out, thus the preorders went in.
So all up over the course of the year, the first half showed that I spent very little since I was becoming near broke. But the second half changed completely now that I have a stable source of income. Funny what a lot of money can do to your spending habits. Below is a graph of figures vs miscellaneous items throughout the year:
So to sum up the graphs:
Total HLJ Orders: 23
Total Amazon Japan Orders: 13
Total Figures: 31
Total Misc Items: 30 (this includes manga, DVDs, CDs, calendars etc)
Total Figure Expenditure: ¥158,102
Total Misc Expenditure: ¥105,310
Total Shipping Expenditure: ¥62,120
Grand Total Expenditure: ¥325,532 (approx. $3500 AUD give or take)
Most Expensive Figure: COSPA 1/6 Shirakawa Kotori - ¥7,429
Most Economical Figure: Revoltech Yostuba - ¥1,805
Most Expensive Misc Item: sola color II (DVD) - ¥5,903
Most Economical Misc Item: Lucky Star Volume 1 (manga) - ¥760
Most Pleased: GSC 1/8 Shingyoji Mao - ¥4,342
Most Worthy: Kanon Memories Visual Fanbook - ¥2,667
Most Unworthy: Revoltech Saber - ¥2,261
Largest Item: ARIA Premium Poster Book 3 - ¥2,857
Smallest Item: Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 OST - ¥2,800
Comparing to last year, figures have gone down, but misc items have quadrupled. However I am not surprised that this year’s total expenditure is a LOT more than last year’s ¥274,538 Grand Total Expenditure. This year’s lot of merchandise purchases has excelled compared to last year’s purchases and 2007 has brought us some quality figures, but Mao stands at the top of my list of figure purchases for 2007, but read the review to find out why. Various misc items were deemed worthy, but by far nothing can top the Kanon Memories Visual Fanbook as it did include a CD containing 86 variations of uguu. Check out last year’s expenditure right here.
So that sums up the international orders. What about the other stuff such as convention items and purchases from Kinokuniya. Luckily this time I recorded most of the items I purchased locally and have even compiled the results. Although they aren’t as comprehensive as the results above. Also the results below are not complete as I can’t remember some of the items from the start of the year.
Just like before, the start of the year I don’t have many of the records, but the first half of the year was also a slump time as I was reducing the amount of trips to the city to once or twice a month. But once the money started flowing in, my trips to the city were reduced to weekends only and I had quite a few things to catch up. But the most significant time was definitely in October, and this was because of both Animania and Supanova. As mentioned before, I spent $1000 at Animania alone, but that was the combined strength of myself and my dearest friend Roobar. But the figure you see here of $641.68 is mine alone of both Animania and Supanova purchases combined. December jumped up thanks to good friend Uniformed where I bought his pre-loved goods.
To sum up the local expenditure:
Grand Total Local Expenditure: $1,168.31 AUD
Most Expensive Item: Max Factory Ureshiko - $96 AUD
Most Economical Item: Shinsei Doumei Cross (The Gentlemen’s Alliance) Volume 1-4 (manga) - $11.72 AUD each
Most Pleased: Kotobukiya 1/8 Yukiduki Sumino - $35 AUD
Most Worthy: Shana Plushy - $30 AUD
Most Unworthy: ARIA Pin Cushions - $35 AUD
You know I am REALLY surprised at the amount that I spent here locally at both Kinokuniya, and at the three conventions that were held here in Sydney. Of course I didn’t really buy anything at SMASH, but after wards I did. But I think Animania is the one that really topped it all. Tamarket is one of the local online anime stores that I purchase from and I was a regular customer. Nowadays I onyl purchase from them if they have something rare, or I just order a whole bunch of stuff come convention time.
A whole variety of items were purchased, but the most worthy is of course the Shana plushy. Reason I bought this was because Tamarket brought it out from under the table. They told me to buy it or the Shana cosplayer gets it. And being me, I bought it since I’m a bastard like that, lol. Plus it’s a Shana plushy, who could resist? Though the most pleased one would have to be SNOW’s Sumino. For three years I’ve been searching for this figure and finally I acquired one. Plus he sold it to me cheap. Though I bet you’re surprised by the Most Unworthy goes to an ARIA item. Honestly I actually didn’t want to buy this, but it was included in a bunch of items that I bought from Tamarket, and they gave me a discounted price. Although the most expensive item was indeed a figure. Though I don’t regret buying this since Ureshiko is actually a difficult figure to find nowadays, and I’m glad I found her at Supanova.
So that concludes the anime and merchandise expenditure for 2007. Another year has passed and there were definitely some treasures in the merchandise that I bought. I can only hope that next year will also bring about more wonderful treasures, but I think next year’s expenditure will definitely blow 2007 away with my planning on returning to Japan. Oh and just for kicks, I also calculated total expenditure on things that I had to get done on the Pulsar and my camera equipment expenditure.
Total Car Parts/Upgrade Expenditure: $917 AUD
Total Camera Expenditure: $1,331 AUD
So how was your figure/anime merchandise expenditure for 2007? Did you spend a lot on figures, or did you spend more on manga or DVDs?
[poll=6]
BURNING PASSION, IT BURRRRRRRNS!!!
hm.. I didn’t spend as much as I thought. maybe about 1k USD to 1.5k USD this year. Though I dont htink I’ll ever amount to your amount. XD
LOL, I would have done the same thing concerning the Shana plushie. (:
I don’t really keep track of what I spend on anime but I bought alot of dvds this year. Also, my trips to Akihabara and Comiket easily but me over the $800 US dollars spent total for the year. Even if you don’t count the shipping price back to America. I said earlier that I stopped buying figures but I am weak and buy various Key anime figures and ship them back to the states.
Don’t we have a passion for things from Japan lol. I still want your Shana plushie lol. I believe I spent around 2000 USD this year on manga, figures, games, etc. I should keep track lol, o well.
AS’s last blog post..HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008
Spent around 300-400 from a rough count up.
And this has been the most I’ve ever spent since I am still growing as an otaku.
er.. I never really calculate my total expenses, but I think my 2007 expense is over A$3000 mark…
Most of my expenses were on figurine
bought around 35 figurines, some fan book, and even a dakimakura ._.
if I add PS3 purchase and games, i think I’d reach A$5000..
ron~’s last blog post..Goodbye 2007 Welcome 2008!
I have no idea, but I’m guessing it’s somewhere between the $100-$1000 USD range. Funnily, I probably spent more on this year compared to every other year combined.
Zeroblade’s last blog post..Happy New Year!
very detailed expenditure.
I had wanted to make an excel graph but my expenditure last year was a lot less than previous year so I didn’t bother. Looking forward to a post of the ARIA premium posterbook 3
Fisherman Horizon’s last blog post..Happy New Year 2008
I spent so much money on figures this year. This year really was big for me in terms of collecting. My passion started ‘06 at Anime Expo when i bought two banpresto Bleach figures and then just escalated from there. I do need to keep track of all my spending for ‘08 since i don’t even want to think about how much i spent on all my figures this year.
Dancing Queen’s last blog post..Happy New Year!
Hmm, that’s a lot of money burned by passion lol
Since I’m too lazy to compute expenses and bother with the exchange rate, I’ll just estimate: at least 25K yen spent on anime and manga last year. Which is quite a small expense compare to yours, but then again I don’t have that evil plastic thingie to induce me to buying more hahaha.
hayase’s last blog post..My Top Anime for 2007: Final Version
I don’t even want to think bout how much i spent on figures in ‘07. But i do like your idea of making a spreadsheet of how much everything was.
Dancing Queen’s last blog post..Happy New Year!
I reckon, if you count stuff that’s still in the mail my expenditure would have scrapped over the AU$1000 mark. It probably would have been more, but like you I had car trouble; blew two casting plugs out of the crank. Had surprisingly little damage from the ensuing low oil pressure but did a bottom end rebuild just to be on the safe side. The trip to Melbourne to see Daft Punk ate into the anime money supply somewhat as well.
Wow you spent alot again… good job!
In comparison I have spent about $1100 on figures(with shipping), maybe around $500-$700 for local purchases at cons and kino and $200 for camera equipment.
Nowhere near your total amount. =/
‘08 looks relatively quiet for me so far…except when the camera I’ve waited for a while arrives to me…
With the current poll running, I am quite surprised by the ranges that a lot of people have fallen into. In terms of just figures and anime merchandise, I’m surprised there are some people who have reached the level that I have, and possibly even more. As I always say, I’m not that big of an otaku, as there’s always someone higher than me.
Whoa, that’s some nice excelin’ if I do say so myself. Maybe I should re-calculate my spending for 2007 as well since I totally destroyed what I calculated initially months before? I think the sum would unfortunately equal about half my wages for the year, knowing my luck and inability to save XD
Keeping it professional now eh? =P
In terms of total expenditure, I’m pretty sure I’m hitting near $10k CDN but over half of it goes to tuition and university expenses =/. Haven’t done up my annual spendings yet, but in terms of anything anime related I’m guessing it’s somewhere around $100 CDN. The loss of my scholarship has taken a heavy hit in what I could buy.
Wow I’m quite shocked at the poll results as well, I’m not that big an otaku spender, yet my rough calculation for 2007 hits a close to ~$700. I don’t really keep track of everything i spend on since i pay by cash and it’ll be a hassle, but here’s a small breakdown of what i DO buy:
Very small figure collection amounting to not more than 100
Large manga-magazine collection including nearly every monthly issue of Comptiq, Compace, Dengeki Daioh, some issues of Shonen Jump, Megami, Festival G and Comp-H. I calculated using an average of $12 (USD), altho some are alot more, yet it already amounts to a whopping $600 !
I have but two anime-apparel, and everything else i have came bundled with the manga-magazines (i refrain from shopping online so that’s where i “get my merchandise” haha.
Omg. *sits in a corner to sob*
Hiyuu’s last blog post..The Matrix has Miku!!!
maximum tune wangan midnight 3 OST…
omg do you play that 0_0
that would mean your pocket get owned by arcade alot too >__
moyism: Half your wages? Damn. I probably couldn’t spend that much since I do have to look after myself and my car. Well this year I plan to record everything properly by entering into a spreadsheet when I make a purchase. But I figure that the first half won’t be very much.
Hijiko: Oh I’m sure my total expenditure over the course of the year would be fairly high if I included car service, bills etc. Anime related expenditure if quite low compared to anything else as it is considered a hobby. Real life stuff always wins over all.
Hiyuu: Cash is indeed a hard thing to keep track of. But the most difficult thing for me is remembering when I exactly purchased it. Expenditure wise I’m relatively accurate in the pricing of things as I’m always remembering how much I paid for things, even though I never look at the price tag, lol.
Pudding: Yep, I play it when I get the chance to head into the city. Although overall for 2007, I think the most I spent playing Wangan is about $300 AUD, which isn’t a lot compared to what I spent playing Initial D Version 3 way back in 2006.
damn this just love cutting my comment out
i spent 200 this month playing it… xmas new yr is 100 already… well… pass three months i have spent around 800 on figure and mechandise… i have spent too much this holiday season
where do u play… galaxy world on haymarket or george st? wat is ur card name.. i will say hi lol