Gamer’s Paradise

As I type this, I can’t help but glance around my room. It truly is a geek gamers little paradise. I’ve been collecting game merchandise for many years and hope to continue this little hobby of mine. The last piece of gaming merchandise I purchased was a Sack Boy figure and he cost me £7.99, which I believed to be a bargain from GAME. Sadly though, I have noticed how expensive this hobby is becoming.  Over the past few years prices for official merchandise have been going up rather a lot. I guess now that gaming has become one of the worlds biggest past times, companies are charging more for top notch items. The shop I’ve noticed this happening in the most is my local Forbidden Planet. I’m shocked at how much Final Fantasy figures have shot up by, the latest Final Fantasy characters going for £35 each!

Gabranth was £14 from Gamestation and Aeris was £10 because her box was damaged!

I’ve been lucky when it comes to merchandise; I tend to shop around for a good bargain. I managed to get all my Final Fantasy VIII characters for £1.99 each from a place called Home Bargains! Others are from places like TKMaxx, GAME, Gamestation and even charity shops. I refuse to buy anything game-wise from places like Forbidden Planet now, unless I really do need it and can’t find it cheaper elsewhere. It just doesn’t seem fair that shops should be allowed to charge such disgusting prices for a product that will probably remain sealed and never touched. I guess they charge this much either due to imports, or because they think gamers are made of money! Tis an expensive habit and one my family has called me over, saying I’m best using that money for shoes, clothes or makeup. Very few people understand that these are works of art, not toys as most claim they are!

Ezio is the perfect security guard for my collection!

But why do we buy such things? Do they make our lives better? More sociable? I do believe they do. The amount of friends I’ve made when it comes to a figure or a guide is astounding. Over the years we’ve come to envy the items friends own over us, and vice versa. We show off gaming merchandise like a painter does with paintings or a car collector with his vehicles. Just because it’s a figure or a book, doesn’t mean it’s not a collectors item. People gather different and more unusual things, each more expensive or odd then the last. In years to come I hope my collection will have grown more and may be worth something. The bigger, and more important question is, will I sell any of it? And in all honesty I doubt I will.

Some of my other friends!

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5 responses to “Gamer’s Paradise”

  1. The Rook avatar
    The Rook

    I have a few collectibles but nothing big, as I look around the room most items would fit in the pocket as they are mostly figurines. Some I really like such as the Batarang from Arkham Asylum and the Zombrex with Dead Rising 2. Most items I get with specific editions of games rather than purchase a gaming related item. However I did recently impulse buy a Afro Sackboy in GAME, maybe it’s the start.

  2. Jason Potter avatar
    Jason Potter

    Teddy from Persona 4!!!

  3. Mark P avatar

    Is it wrong that I saw the title of this and thought: “Played tetris once or twice, livin’ in a gamer’s paradise!”?

    Anyhoo, I’m finding that games memorabilia can be a touch expensive sometimes but most of it I got from Play.com who I’ve found to be generally quite reasonable more often than not. I got quite a sizable Big Daddy figure from them for just over a tenner as I recall.

  4. Jay avatar
    Jay

    Why have I never been lucky enough to come across £1.99 Final Fantasy VIII figures when I’ve been in Home Bargains?!! I wanna find a Squall and Rinoa!

  5. Matt avatar
    Matt

    I’ve never really collected merchandise, though I do enjoy collecting old and, preferably, obscure games consoles, games and associated paraphernalia.

    Sega SG-1000 anybody?

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