Top Five Most Ridiculous Things I Did for Final Fantasy VII
June 7th, 2009 | Published in Gaming and the Internet, Guides and How-To's | 13 Comments
With news that Final Fantasy VII is finally being ported to the PSP, I’ve been walking around with a goofy smile on my face. I love FFVII and I think I did just about every stupid thing a fan could think of for the franchise. And just because I am bored and feeling slightly masochistic, let’s list down the five most ridiculous things I did for my fandom.
FFVII Ultimania: Potion Limited
On the tenth anniversary of the franchise, Square Enix re-released the FFVII guidebook Ultimania; the special edition version came with a 1:1 scale replica of the Shinra-brand Potion (Heals HP 100 :D).
The contents of the bottle of potion is actually drinkable; it is an especially formulated ginseng energy drink Square Enix developed with Suntory. I asked a friend in Japan to purchase one and ship it to me just because I wanted to taste it. I never got around to opening the bottle and taking a sip because — well, I’d have wasted USD 120 if I did OTL
FFVII Doujinshi
FFVII fujoshi number in the thousands, and even after twelve years since the game’s release doujinshi are still being drawn, published, and sold at COMIKET and other outlets. Final Fantasy VII was one of the first fandoms that I collected BL from, and I now have an embarrassing number of R18 doujinshi on the subject.
As of last count, I have close to forty individual works, and some of them are by established BL manga-ka like Sakurai ShuShuShu, Fujiwara Beni, and others >:D It’s so good to be a girl!
FFVII Crisis Core: Limited
When the PSP first came out, I wasn’t one of the people who lined up for hours just for a crack at one. I even bought an NDSLite before I considered purchasing a PSP, because all of the games I wanted to play were on the Nintendo. And then SQUEENIX had to go out and announce that they were releasing a numbered LE PSP 2000 bundle for Crisis Core, so of course I ended up wanting one :/
Getting my hands on one was effed up in so many ways. Not only was it a Japan-only release, pre-orders were already sold-out in the domestic market before anyone in the English-speaking world had even heard of it. I had to go through a bidding service to get one, and it ended up costing almost twice as much as a regular PSP bundle T^T
Still — it was a steal, as the set now fetches up to USD 600 on EBAY. Ah fanboys~
FFVII Advent Children: Advent Pieces
When Advent Children was announced years ago, I somehow got into my head that I wanted a DVD of the movie, and promptly took my search online. That’s when I stumbled across the Limited Edition Boxed Set: Advent Pieces, and my poor fangirl heart was broken when I found out that it had sold out in Japan upon release.
It’s lovely to have friends you can rely on, and I managed to get one shipped in, but not without a lot of heartache at the customs office. Let’s just say that in between the shipping charges, the insurance, and the taxes, I had to pay an extra USD 200 on top of the box’s retail price. Ouch >:O
Square Enix Showcase Museum
And at the very top of The Most Ridiculous Things I Did for FFVII™, was a trip to the Square Enix Showcase Museum in Shinjuku two Christmases ago, to molest uh I mean look at their life-sized statue of Sephiroth. Sephiroth is encased in glass and embedded on the floor of the museum’s mezzanine level, away from the Kids Toys section on the ground floor (where I also purchased a shitload of stuff — woe is me).
When I was there I was just one of two guests, so the salesgirl manning the replica jewelry displays took an interest in me. We got into a conversation (where I surprised her by speaking to her in Japanese) and before I knew it she was leading me to the case and telling me to sit on the floor so she can take a photo. I can tell you personally that it is very very hard not to swoon in fangirl glee being that close to the statue.
I’d have cheerfully risked being kicked out of the country permanently if I could steal Sephiroth and take him home with me.
With the recent release of the BluRay Directors Cut version of Advent Children and the impending port of FFVII to the PSP, more and more fanboys and girls will be crawling out of the woodwork to pledge allegiance to Jenova. Whatever claims they make about being the most hardcore and most updated, sorry but it’ll take a lot more to impress me than a bunch of “trailers” cut and pasted from an AMV that they didn’t even program :/
June 7th, 2009at 22:46(#)
POTION!!! Aww. I would’ve loved some of that. Although I think I would’ve done the same thing you did had I the means to buy one. XD
June 7th, 2009at 22:54(#)
lol i still have the unopened bottle — i’m pretty scared of taking a sip now as who knows if it’s already expired!!! XD
June 7th, 2009at 23:00(#)
I remember my friend when I was still in Japan… She lined her room with potion cans… And she didn’t know how she was going to bring them home. Hahaha…
And I remember that picture with Sephiroth :D You had to choose between going to the Squeenix museum and the Jump Fiesta :D
June 7th, 2009at 23:06(#)
Wow. That museum is… wow. O.o
June 7th, 2009at 23:19(#)
@nagi: it all worked out since you got me stuff from JUMP FESTA anyway~ i still LOL when i remember the GINTAMA dakimakura featuring GINTOKI and HIJIKATA XD
@chris: i-i-it was OSM T^T
June 7th, 2009at 23:41(#)
Talk about hardcore collecting, just love it.
June 7th, 2009at 23:55(#)
lol uh i won’t attempt to have every single thing that they make for the franchise, but i do try to have the nicest ones of the bunch ^^;;
June 8th, 2009at 00:17(#)
I still say you should’ve worn a skirt so you could flash Sephiroth.
June 8th, 2009at 00:27(#)
lol even if i did i don’t think he’s interested in girls >:D
June 8th, 2009at 10:27(#)
Is the squeenix museum in Shinjuku a permanent set-up? Cause Angel and I are planning to go, but we’re going to be wearing skirts for when we pose standing above Sephy-baby…:D
June 8th, 2009at 10:35(#)
AFAIK it’s a permanent store — or at least, it will be for a while, given TOKYO’s ever-changing landscape; the last website update was dated last month so it’s safe to assume that the store is still open (for now).
June 10th, 2009at 16:57(#)
I’ve been following you on LJ for a while now, so I remember most of these haha. I live vicariously through you with these experiences. Grabe ang dedication mo *insert worship emoticon here*
June 10th, 2009at 17:01(#)
hahaha oh hell now i’m embarrassed and a little sorry i put you through all this ^^;;