Update!

Hello, everyone! Miss Scarlett here!

This has been a pretty rough year so far IRL, mostly due to stress at work, car problems, and health issues. (Also, vaaaaaaast amounts of time were consumed by Persona 5.) I feel like I'm gotten kind of disenchanted with the blog. I think My enthusiasm got me to the point where it's felt like a job to update this, and that makes me want to do it less. So I'm trying to view all this from a different angle. Do I need to have in-depth reviews? I'm not under the belief that I'm some sort of consumer advocate here. Most of what I like is pretty niche. I doubt lots of people are flocking to my blog to use my thoughts to help them decide to buy Nendoroids or not. Do I need to have deal updates? I'm not a dedicated deals page, and I often don't get to post here in time to announce sales. But it also feels weirdly braggy if I just constantly post "Here's what I just bought!" kind of stuff. I don't know.

The next year might see me experimenting with different content to find something that's organic to do. Maybe this might turn into more of a "slice of life" sort of thing where I just ramble. Who knows? I guess what I'm saying is that things might change, but it's because they need to change.

Anyway, I hope all of you are having a lovely day. Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Figure Review: "Yuri!!! on Ice" Yuri Katsuki Nendoroid

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Hobby Haven! It's been a while, but now that my orders from online places are beginning to trickle in, I've been trying to carve out some time for reviewing. Let's get right to it!

Halloween Extravaganza...Part 3!

Welcome back, everyone!

Last, but not least, is a review of the October Japan Crate that I picked up, which (unsurprisingly) is Halloween-themed. The regular Japan Crate differs from the DokiDoki crate in that you can pick from three "levels." There's the Mini (which gets you 5 items for $12), the Original (which gets you 5 items for $25), and the Premium (which gets you 15 items for $30, and includes a drink). Shipping is free. I managed to get a Groupon to try the Premium crate for only $20.

Halloween Extraganza...Part 2!

Welcome back, everyone! Hope your day is going well! Next up is our second review of the day, which is...another Good Smile Nendoroid set! They often sell "sets" for different occasions or concepts, and they basically consist of a body (no head, sorry), accessories, and stand. This year, they have released a "Halloween set" with a male and female variant. The male variant is a vampire, and the female variant is a witch. ...Or a devil. I think they couldn't decide.

I actually wasn't able to pick these up at Hobby Link Japan, and picked them up from CD Japan, of all places. After currency conversion, I paid about $20 per. This actually allows us to do Nendoroid Math: If an average Nendoroid sells for $35-40, we can therefore deduce that approximately 50% of a Nendoroid's value is placed in its head.

Halloween Extravaganza!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Today, I've decided to trick you...by giving you not, one, not two, but three treats! Three reviews, all day long! I've decided to take the day off--work has been so stressful lately--to give myself a breather, and relax by watching movies and eating some seasonal goodies! So while I've got some pumpkin cupcakes in the oven, I'll whip out this first mini review in no time!

September Doki Doki Crate

Hey, everyone! It's...uh...been a while, huh? 

Well, my mother had surgery two months ago, and I've been spending almost all my time with her, helping her recover. So I've built up quite a backlog of posts, although it was completely unintentional. Today, I'm bringing you the first post in my queue, my review of the September Doki Doki Crate.

To recap: Japan Crate is a company that offers a subscription-based "surprise box" service. Like the old fruit-of-the-month club and stuff. They have several different varieties: Umai, Kira Kira, the "regular" Japan Crate, and Doki Doki. The latter is filled with various collectible and home goods. You can order the "regular" crate (filled with snacks) in different tiers, but the Doki Doki crate is one price only: $30 per month. I fully admit that I like novelty, but it seems slightly steep a monthly price to me. Fortunately, it seems that when the company doesn't have enough boxes sold per month, they offer a $10 discount on them. So if that happens, I'll probably pick them up--assuming I haven't bankrupted myself on other stuff. Check out my review after the jump!

August Doki Doki Crate

Hello, and welcome to the Hobby Haven! Summer's gone, but not forgotten, and what better way to relive the last few days of summer then a quick look back at something fun? I was given a Groupon for Japan Crate, so I decided to go ahead and sign up for a box; they keep posting sneak peeks at the goodies inside each one, and I fell in love with one of the items I saw inside.

Japan Crate offers a bunch of different types of crates: your standard Japan Crate (candy and snacks), Umai (food items, usually savory), Kira Kira (beauty products), and Doki Doki. These are cutesy, feminine products; the variety is pretty good, as there will always be a snack, a wearable item, a keychain, and some other "surprise" items. Each month's Doki Doki Crate has a theme, and August's was "Back to School." I wondered how comparable it would be to the Back to School Anime Loot Crate that I got last year, so I decided to go ahead and see...

"Ushio and Tora" Tora Nendoroid Figure Review

Hello there, everyone! I hope you're able to stay cool throughout the rest of the month; August is broiling hot here, and we just had a thunderstorm that has upped the humidity 1000%. Welcome to the Hobby Haven!

I am slowly getting caught up on my backlog of figure reviews here. I'd hoped to have these out a few months earlier, but such is life. Today's figure comes from the anime series Ushio and Tora, which is one of my top 5 favorite anime from the past few years. (I'd tried it completely on a whim looking for something new to watch, and ended up hooked.) If you like shonen anime with fights, monsters, romance, and interspecial bro-ness, you might like this! It's about a boy named Ushio who accidentally unleashes a centuries-old monster named Tora from his family's basement. Tora wants to eat Ushio, but ends up being thwarted by the mystical Beast Spear which Ushio finds. And thus begins an epic tale of a boy and his pet monster as they travel throughout Japan and eventually save the world. 

Throwback Thursday: My Little Pony Plush Rainbow Starshine Pony

Wow, I'm on a roll with content again, guys! It's been a while since I did a Throwback Thursday post, so I thought I'd post one after all this time. I grew up in the 1980s, and I was absolutely wild for My Little Ponies. I collected them as a child, but stopped actively looking by the early 1990s. I got hit by the nostalgia bug for them about ten years ago, so I keep my eye out for them whenever I go to flea markets. (You don't see the original ponies at yard sales or thrift shops anymore, it's all the newer ones from Friendship is Magic, which I have zero interest in.) I was incredibly lucky to get this from an indoor flea market that my aunt went to earlier this year.

The content is below the cut!

Figure review: "Bungou Stray Dogs" Osamu Dazai Nendoroid

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Hobby Haven! I hope your summer has been going well! Mine has been a blur of Persona 5 so far, but I'm coming up for air to bring you my latest (long overdue) figure review! I'm trying to enjoy this summer to the fullest--and next summer looks like it will be busy, too--so summer posts around here will probably get sparse. Just want to warn you in advance!

But let's begin the review!

Persona 5: "Take Your Heart" Premium Collector's Edition Review

Hello, everyone! I am taking a quick, reluctant break from marathoning the sheer mindblowing awesomeness that is Persona 5 to bring you this quick review of the collector's edition! Forgive me if my writing isn't as up to par as usual, I admit that part of me is trying to rush through this to get back to gaming. I'm doing my best here!

Last summer, Atlus dropped a bit of an unwelcome bomb on us NA fans: the game was getting delayed in our region, unlike what had been promised to us earlier ("You'll get it in 2016, just like Japan!"). But at least we had a release date: Valentine's Day, 2017. And then pre-orders opened and alleviated a little of the grumpiness some of us felt. At least we could now order it, and we could see what we were getting. I had initially planned to just pick up the PS3 version and put off buying the Playstation 4 a little while longer (until there were more games on it that I wanted to play, at least).

And then I saw it, and my heart was instantly stolen (which was probably the whole point of it). Atlus was offering a beautiful deluxe collector's edition unlike anything they had ever offered before. But only for the PS4! I stared at the Amazon page for a moment, and then something in my brain just said, "Yes," and I found myself clicking that "Buy" button faster than I ever have before in my life. I got into the Megami Tensei franchise after Persona 3 and 4 were released, and I remember stewing in jealousy after finding out that there had been collector's editions which I of course would never be able to get now. So for the first time, a Persona game released while I was in the fandom! With a job paying me all the monies I need to buy a collector's edition! Wooooooooo!

(Honestly, though, now that Atlus has a new game engine for the PS4, plus a lot of high-quality art assets, I think it will be a no-brainer for them to make some more PS4 games. That's what happened when they made the jump into 3D gaming with the PS2; once they'd made Shin Megami Tensei 3, they were able to reuse the assets for several other games on the same console. So it was good that I finally decided to get a PS4.)

So let's get into this review, looking at each item piece by piece! (I might review the game itself later, but for now, let's look at these fun goodies.)

I'm alive!

Hello, everyone! Long time, no see! How has everyone's weekend been?

It's been a rather crazy month on my end! I've spent the last few weeks playing Persona 5 nonstop, and when I looked up, it was May and the blog long quiet.

In unfortunate news, my laptop died last week, so I am unfortunately stuck with typing up blog entries on my work computer for the meanwhile. I'll be looking into getting a new laptop as soon as I can, but I have no idea when that will be.

Stay tuned! Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Happy weekend!

Hello, everyone! I hope your weekend has gone well! Welcome to the Hobby Haven.

April is almost here, and that means two things: warmer weather and Persona 5! I'm pretty excited, since this will be the first time that a mainline Persona game has been released while I've been a fan. (I came on board the Persona train a few years ago, so...)

I bought some fun stuff not too long ago, so hopefully these will arrive soon-ish for me to review! You'll just have to hang tight until then.

Oh, and in some fun news, Atlus just had a livestream with some game announcements! They will be re-making two of their RPGs from the Nintendo DS: Strange Journey and Radiant Historia. I'm really excited! Radiant Historia was on my radar, but I just never got around to finding a copy. And then it went out of print and used copies were only available for exorbitant, jacked-up prices so I gave up. I did buy a copy of Strange Journey a few years ago, but I just never got around to playing it. And this remake ("Deep Strange Journey") is supposed to have tons of bells and whistles: fully voiced, cutscenes, a new character, a new ending, "gameplay enhancements," you name it. I'm pretty sure I'll play the remake first and then get around to the older version at some point. There isn't any further news, by the way, about the new SMT title that they teased for the Switch. Atlus did show a clip during their livestream--a very short clip--of a desolate, abandoned city swathed in sand, with an enormous stone hand protruding from the ground. I can only hope that there will be more news soon, seeing as this is SMT's 25th anniversary.

In any case, have a great weekend, everyone, and I hope to see you soon! Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Figure review: "Magic Knight Rayearth" Hikaru Shidou Figma

Hello, everyone! Long time, no see, eh? Welcome to the Hobby Haven!

I've been MIA for a while, mostly due to fun (not really) RL stuff, but also partially because I didn't have much to post about. But finally I do, so here I am! Today, I've got the first in (hopefully) a short series of figure reviews for you guys. (This is, of course, assuming the rest of the figures get shipped here in time.)

Our figure today is a figma of the character Hikaru from the manga/anime series Magic Knight Rayearth, by Clamp. It's an older series, vintage the mid-1990s, and it's one of my two big favorite series by Clamp (the other being Tokyo Babylon, which I would kill to get figures from). We got an announcement at WonFes a few years back that we would get figma figures of all three main characters from Rayearth, but there's really been no timeline provided on when. Lo and behold, several months ago, I discovered that our favorite peppy Magic Knight of fire was going to be released in February; so with any luck, the rest of the girls will follow suit soon.

I picked mine up from HobbyLink Japan, where you can still buy her! (I've checked other retailers and haven't had much luck finding other copies for sale.) I pre-ordered her and paid about $50 before shipping. HLJ, like BBTS, offers a "warehouse" option where you can have purchases held and then shipped together to save some money. The big draw is that like Amazon, HLJ doesn't charge you until the item is in stock; so if you pre-order something, you have time to save up. Prices are also given in Japanese yen, which is great when the exchange rate is favorable. (Of course, I'll keeping shopping around to see what retailers offer me the most flexibility and best deals, but for now, I'll stick with these folks.)

Let's take a look and see what's in the box!

Miss Scarlett Cooks! Coconut Lemon Zucchini Bread

I'll make a confession; I love zucchini. It's one of my favorite vegetables, and it's so wonderfully versatile. You can put it in TONS of things, although my favorite has to be bread. Savory, sweet, it doesn't matter because it's all delicious. Welcome to the Hobby Haven.

So now that I've confessed my zucchini love, it's only fair to share one of my recipes, right? This is my favorite way to make sweet zucchini bread. The lemon and the coconut give it a sweet and rich flavor that can't be beat. Protip: you have to use pre-sweetened coconut! I made it with dry, unsweetened coconut flakes once, and they absorbed all the moisture. And given that this is a very moist bread, that was pretty shocking.

I should also add that my parents get tons of zucchini during the summer from friends and coworkers; more than they and I can eat, honestly. I end up shredding the zucchini (with a box grater) and freezing them. It keeps very nicely, honestly. This way, I can make zucchini bread all year long without running to the store!

The ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp lemon zest**
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

**If you don't have fresh lemons and thus can't get any zest, substitute an additions 2 teaspoons of lemon juice instead.

The tools:

• An oven
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Two large bowls
• A mixing spoon
• Cooking spray
• 2 loaf pans

How to make it:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• While the oven is coming up to temperature, place the eggs, oil, and sugar into a large bowl and mix until combined.
• Add the lemon zest and juice and the coconut extract to the bowl.
• Add the zucchini to the bowl, then combine.
• Set the bowl with the zucchini mixture to the side and take out the other bowl. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the empty bowl and stir together with a fork. Once combined, add to the zucchini mixture.
• Add the coconut to the bowl. Mix together until just combined.
• Spray the loaf pans with the baking spray.
• Pour the batter into the loaf pans, taking care to add an equal amount to each pan.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Persona 5: The Animation "The Day Breakers" Review

Hello, everyone! The weekend is almost here! How are you holding up?

Now, I don't know if any of you remember, but originally--okay, maybe not originally*, but many, many months ago, Atlus USA promised us that Persona 5 would be stealing our hearts on Valentine's Day, 2017. I admit that the symbolism was beautiful, and I hope whoever thought of that was at least given a hearty pat on the shoulder, or maybe a cookie. But alas, it was not meant to be.

* = Originally, Persona 5 was supposed to be released "Winter 2014," but we all know how that turned out.

What's the next best thing? Persona 5 anime!

Dunkin Donuts: Vanilla Cupcake Swirl and Heart-Shaped Donuts

Hi, everyone! Hope your week is going well!

This is a little bit late, but I present to you the follow-up to my earlier Starbucks Valentine's Day snack review. But this time, we're focusing on Dunkin Donuts.

Now, some people say that you can't be a fan of both Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. To these people I say, why the discrimination? I have enough love for all the coffee and coffee-enhancing treats in the world. I feel that both places fill crucial roles in my psyche. The 'Bucks is for those times when I want to feel like a classy and rich lady, delicately sipping on a drink that I can't pronounce and noshing on an artisanal baked treat. The DD is for those times when you just want to get down on some serious snacking.

I have to admit that I haven't been paying too much attention to Dunkin's promos as of late, but I remembered that every year, they offer heart-shaped donuts on Valentine's Day. So what better way to celebrate than gratuitously sugary pastries?

Starbucks Valentine's Treats: Molten Chocolate Latte and Double Chocolate Loaf Cake

Hey there, everyone! It's gloomy and grey outside, but you know what fixes that? Chocolate.

Today, I had a free drink reward burning a hole in my Starbucks card, so I decided to take one for the team and drink a delicious chocolaty beverage. The things I suffer through for you guys--but hey, I'm willing to step up and do it.

The limited-time flavor for this particular time of the year is "Molten Chocolate," which evokes all kind of images without actually saying anything. I think of volcanoes fashioned from bundt cakes, spewing forth chocolate lava, and wow now I am hungry.

According to the Starbucks website, the Molten Chocolate beverages come in three speeds: latte, hot chocolate, and Frappuccino. I have no idea who would make a Frappuccino in sub-freezing weather, and the hot chocolate version sounded like diabetes in a cup, so I opted for Door #1.

The drink itself doesn't look that special, but it's topped with "mocha-espresso" whipped cream and sauce, so it looks pretty snazzy. I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot that when you order a drink like this and don't get around to drinking it until 15 minutes later, the pretty whipped cream melts into the drink. So next time, I've gotta be that one jerk who plops their drink down on a random Starbucks table and starts taking photos of a beverage.

The taste, though, is pretty good. Starbucks describes the secret recipe used to craft this as "rich chocolatey chips melted with espresso" and blended with "mocha-infused milk," so you would think you're getting a Super Mocha. But the taste is a lot smoother than that, and surprisingly the espresso isn't overpowering. It's more balanced than one would think.

But enough about the drink; let's talk about this Double Chocolate loaf cake. Because I think I've found my Kryptonite. This sucker lays on its little plate in the display case, all unassuming. But once you pick it up, BAM. It's a choco-palooza, a veritable cornucopia of sugary goodness. To begin with, this is iced on top with chocolate ganache. WIN. FOREVER.

It doesn't stop there. The cake itself is a dense and rich chocolate cake; the flavor matches pretty much every "double chocolate" flavored cake I've had, so if you were hoping for something fudgy, you're out of luck. But Starbucks tosses in chocolate chunks, which I'm kind of undecided about. I get wanting to toss in lots of chocolate...and the cake is dense enough to support the chocolate chunks...but it almost breaks up the mouthfeel of eating the cake, if you get what I mean. I suppose it probably comes down to what your personal preferences are.

In any case, the flavor is out of this world and the icing is fantastic, so I'm giving this cake as many thumbs up as I can, even though I have long given up on trying to assign point values and ratings to food unless they're terrible.

Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Miss Scarlett is Inspired! Plus, Starbucks Cake Pops!

Good evening, everyone!

During the sick days I took last month, I spent some time browsing other blogs; mostly out of curiosity to see if anybody else has taken the approach of having a catch-all blog for all the offbeat and varied things one is in to. And I hit the motherlode, I present to you my new favorite blog: Dinosaur Dracula. Just the name alone tells you that you're in for a good time. Matt, the blog's author, describes it as "Dino Drac is a never-ending series of tributes to things I like. (Note: I like ridiculous things.)" which I kind of feel is what I also try to go for with the Hobby Haven. Granted, he is far better at it than I am, and has a wonderfully humorous writing style that just draws you in. We both have a lot of nostalgia for 1980s and early 1990s pop culture, although he's way more passionate about it than I am. Frankly, Matt is kind of my blog idol right now.

One of the things that I've realized after reading through what feels like millions of pages on that blog is that I don't do are food reviews. And not because I'm averse to the idea of doing it; it frankly never occurred to me. Trying out new snacks and restaurants is an activity that I share with my closest friends, and I'm a self-admitted sucker for limited-time promotional food.

So what the heck, guys: I'll give it a shot every now and then, huh? But there's no time like the present, so I'll just stick one here under a cut...

Hey, guys!

I want to apologize for the sparse postings here; I've been sick off and on for the past few weeks, and I haven't felt up to posting much. I will try to get some new posts up as soon as I can!

Until then, folks, enjoy the rest of your weekend! Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Miss Scarlett Cooks! Lemon Squares

Welcome to the Hobby Haven, everyone! How's your week going?

Does anybody else crave summery-flavored things in the dead of winter, or is it just me? I mean, sometimes you just need a bit of something bright to cheer up a heavy, snowy day. So at that times, I make lemon desserts!

Today, I've got a recipe for one of my favorite usually-summery-but-delicious-year-round treats, lemon squares! They only sound complicated, and are really super-easy to make. Eating one is like eating a ray of sunshine! ...Okay, well, maybe only to me.

Everything you need to know is after the jump!

Nintendo Switch Thoughts

I'm sniffling and coughing, but can't hold myself back! As you may have heard by now, Nintendo unveiled several details about their upcoming console, the Switch. And I must admit, I am interested. I should state that I'm really not big on Nintendo's first-party titles... They're never really done much for me. I tend to stick to the third-party titles, and will buy a system based on that metric. Hence why I didn't buy a Wii U...just their handheld stuff. But after watching the presentation, I am seriously mulling over a Switch purchase.

Nintendo showed several trailers, plus a sizzle reel of some seriously amazing games. Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Shin Megami Tensei, Octopath Traveler...these look right up my alley. And I gotta admit that my fangirl side is going full throttle with "It's got SMT! You gotta buy this!" But I am going to wait for more information at this point. I noticed that Square Enix is porting "I am Setsuna" to the Switch, and I am wondering how many other games are going to get ported? It's...kind of weird to me. I'm so used to Sony and Microsoft having (roughly) many of the same games on their system, so you just picked the platform that has the exclusives you want, since you can get basically everything else as multi-platform. Nintendo was its own creature with pretty much entirely exclusive games. But if they're going to get a lot of the games that the Playstation and X Box will...that's going to make things more complicated.

I suppose it's a good thing that the games that have intrigued me won't be available at launch...that way I have time to learn more about the system's game lineup, plus time for the game developers to release more about their plans.

Looks like 2017 is gonna be pretty busy! Miss Scarlett, signing off!

Sniffle time...

Hey guys, the next blog post will probably be postponed a bit. I'm sick as a dog right now, and in no condition to be writing up reviews. As soon as I'm feeling better, I'll post the next review! Miss Scarlett, signing out.

Miss Scarlett Cooks! Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Happy 2017, everyone! To kick off the year, what's better than to make some delicious treats and relax? Today, I've got a terrific recipes for homemade brownies, with a yummy peanut butter swirl. They're pretty dangerous, because you can't have just one!

And for those of you who are allergic to peanut butter or just don't care for it; you're in luck! The peanut butter is added to the brownies as a topping, so you can easily skip it and just use the brownie recipe.

Everything you need to know to make these is after the cut!

Digital manga sales!

Hello, everyone! I'm back at work and already missing sleeping in and spending lazy mornings in my PJs with a cup of coffee.

Humble Bundle has a sweet book bundle deal going on right now; for $1, you can get a digital copy of volume 1 of the sci-fi manga BLAME! as well as a 1-month subscription to Crunchyroll (where you can read high-quality digital manga and watch high-quality anime streams). The only caveat is that the Crunchyroll deal is only offered for new subscribers. Also: if you bump your pledge to $8 you get BLAME! digital volume 2 in addition to the above, and if you pay $17, you get all of the above and the full digital manga series of Knights of Sidonia.

Kodansha Comics is also doing a super sale on their digital manga: all digital manga is 50% off. If you're interested in their series, I suggest following them online, as once or twice a year they will do an incredible sale where all first volumes of their digital manga series are $0.99 each.

That's all for now; Miss Scarlett, signing out!

A look ahead at 2017

Hello, everyone! Welcome to 2017!

Fair warning, I will probably be MIA for all of April and probably most of May. I am going to do my best to make a whole bunch of content ahead of time and schedule them to be auto-posted.

What reviews can you expect to see:

• Persona 5 Take Your Heart collector's edition review
• Sailor Moon S Season 3 LE BD review
• More figma, Nendoroid, and Figuarts reviews!
• Hopefully some more Persona 5 merchandise...
• And more recipes!

I am hoping to be able to purchase some more dolls, but I ended up spending more money than originally planned on figures...sometimes I almost wish I could go back in time to stop Past Scarlett from falling down this particular rabbit hole...

I also need to finally get around to making that post about my Sailor Moon collection. But I'll need to spend a couple hours in my parents' basement, rooting around to find where all my stuff got pushed to...Hopefully I can find a few hours to do it in at some point.

Miss Scarlett, signing out!