Double Event Saturday

We`ve known for a while that the Shibuya Mandarake`s 10th anniversary sale was going to be held today, but just the day before yesterday an out-of-the-blue event at Secret Base was announced, for HSP Pushead Skull Pirates!

I had already rearranged my schedule to take in the Mandarake event. The question was, how was I going to make it to both???

I found out on Friday night that the pachi kaiju stuff would be sold at Mandarake 10:20 AM, and the line was based on random numbers which would be handed out at 10:00 AM. So that was cool. It meant I had a shot at attending both events. But everything hinged on how many people would be at SB and how good my random number draw was!

First I went to Harajuku at 9:00 AM to see what the situation was like. Just a few folks were in line, so I put down a copy of Hyper Hobby to hold my place in line and then hot footed it to Shibuya.


When I got to Mandarake, there was already a long line. I figured it was random numbers, so no stress really - luck of the draw all the way. Turns out there were multiple lines - one for event exclusives, and one line (mine) that combined the random draw people with the Godzilla exclusive people.

My good friend Ito-san (Itokin Park) was there for the Godzilla figure, which he scored. Yes!!

Eventually the lines were sorted out, and we went downstairs into the store and drew tickets from a stack. I got 405 which I thought really sucked until I realized it started at 401! Stoked! Nobody had 401, so I wound up being the fourth to choose.

This was the figure I really wanted. SCORE!!

After I paid at Mandarake, I headed right back to Harajuku. A longer line had formed. I picked up my magazine and got in line. Everyone there was really cool, and the sale (started at 12:00) was super smooth.

The Pushead figures were blind bagged. Not sure how many were sold, but I`m pretty sure everyone who had waited in line was able to get one, since SB took some phone orders (after the line people got their figures, I assume).

Here`s a happy collector with her HSP.

Me and a new buddy Yuki.

Here`s what I scored - a Chrome Skull Pirate. The flyer that came with it says there are 25 of these and 58 HSPs. Everyone`s HSP was a bit different. I think everyone was happy with what they got.

Another angle of the chrome fellow. YAR!!!!!