Milestone in a 5 year obsession

Milestone in a 5 Year Obsession~

Around 5 years ago I watched my very first ((Non-English Dubbed)) Anime and I fell in love. With the Anime, Anime in general, a Language, a Culture... And I discovered with that everything about me that is prominent today. My Originality, my perks, my compulsiveness, and mainly my obsession with collecting things.

That First Anime was Tokyo Mew Mew. And so my first proper collection began. I spent my own money on my own eBay account and ended up with an epic collection of figures and other rare merchandise. Things expensive and rare and attractive and I was hooked. I began avidly researching the Anime and its' Merchandise to see what else was available for me and when I discovered the Tokyo Mew Mew Sega UFO Catcher Plush collections, well my mind was blown, they had to be mine.

It didn't take me long to realize this was not going to be an easy task, in 6 months I only saw one pop up on eBay and there were hardly any pictures or information about them online, almost no one seemed to own any and nobody owned them all.

~ 15 Plushies ~ 3 Sets ~ Early 2007 ~ The Search Begins ~

My first Plushie find was a lucky one, a set of 3 came on JapanAuctionCenter.com and I won them

1-3 ~Maid Mint ~Maid Pudding ~Maid Zakuro - I got the set for around £150 in about May 2007

It was around this time I started checking eBay for new items listed for "Tokyo Mew Mew" "Tokyo Mew Plush" and "Tokyo Mew Plushie" with advanced settings every day, often 2 or 3 times a day.

4 ~Christmas Pudding - Bought off of eBay for around £30 in about October 2007

Nothing else popped up for a while after this but I continued buying Tokyo Mew Mew figures and other merchandise, until I actually got to talking with an eBay member I'd bought several items from, they lived in Taiwan and had access to Anime merchandise and things quite cheap and asked me if there was anything I was looking for. This amazing eBay member found me several figures for next to nothing and

5 ~Christmas Lettuce - For only £15! Around August 2008

Unfortunately not long after this I became unable to even search for more Plushies, due to moving house twice, being kicked out and falling into a depression then having all my money stolen by my own father *Dramaaaa* But the minute I had a home, money and the internet again I came back with a avengance, I was searching EVERYWHERE. Searching every possible keyword and checking every single result on Google, Google Image, eBay, Jauce, Mandarake, DeviantArt, Tsuki-Board, LiveJournal, Flickr, you name it! Every picture or mention of a Plush I was missing and I'd comment, go ahead search you will find a variation of me everywhere. Hell, google image "Tokyo Mew Plush" and page 3 has one of my avatar pictures and an actual picture of me!

Anyway that's how dedicated to making up lost time I became and it paid off

6 ~Maid Ichigo - In early 2010 a guy I found on Flickr who goes by the name of Katrus sold me her for $100

7 ~Christmas Zakuro - Bought off of eBay, June 2010 for £30

After this I was outbid and missed out on a Christmas Mint which to this day I regret completely but what really hurt was November 22nd 2010 when the complete set of Battle Plushies, none of which I had was listed on eBay. I was outbid literally at the last second at $941 and lost them. Never have I felt so heartbroken in my life! And this is the event which prompted my last blog.

Luckily come 2011 my luck had increased.

8 ~Battle Zakuro - eBay £40 15th August 2011

And then a spike of unlucky, a Battle Ichigo was listed on eBay for around $100 but the seller said they would not ship internationally to me and I was unable to bid.

9 ~Battle Pudding - eBay member hgkittykat who I also happened to have on LJ, £20 9th September 2011

10 ~Maid Lettuce - eBay member cannot_afford_it who lifted their "no international bidders" rule after a message from me, completing my Maid Plush collection for only £15 18th November 2011

And this last Plushie arrived for me today, prompting this blog by being my milestone 10th Plush!

I know people may think it strange or extreme to be this obsessed and devoted to something so material, and while a major part of it for me is the thrill of collecting, it is arguably the only thing I currently have going for me. After being kicked out by my other parent and spending 6 months homeless, sleeping on people's couches, losing most of the things I owned, breaking up with my 4-year boyfriend and not being accepted to college, I am most certainly in need of a project and something to work towards. So this is why you will find me everywhere you look for these plushies and why I will not stop until I have all 15.

I am in contact with other collectors, one of which is closer to finishing than I am, one of which has just begun their search. I have people who have said they'll sell a Plush to me who never got back to me, people I could never get back in touch with and people I sitll have ongoing negotiations with. I have notifications sent to my email and phone whenever new items are listed on sites and have over 30 accounts. If there is something I'm not doing to find these Plushies even i'll be surprised xD

So there it is, if you've read this please, look out for the names "KeiKeiAi" "Kawaii-Koneko-Ichigo" and various other variations I go by, and look out for these wonderful Plushies and keep me in mind if ever you come across one, your help would be greatly appreciated! ^.^

Lots of love

Ren'a x

Original Blog with Pictures: http://keikeiai.livejournal.com/979.html#