Saturday, March 14, 2015

Hikaru no Go UFO Catcher Plush Banpresto 2002

Hey, this is my 50th post (according to my website stats)! Yup. Anyway...

This is a plush set that was released by Banpresto in 2002 from the series Hikaru no Go. The set consists of 5 characters: Sai, Hikaru, Akira, Isumi, and Waya. This series holds a special place in my heart, I remember picking up the manga in Asahiya in NYC between One Piece and a new series called Naruto and wondering how exciting a series about Go could be. Naturally, I loved it, and Obata's art blew me away (I actually got to meet him recently and got 2 autographs)!!

On to the plushies.


Starting with Sai!


Beware, there are DX knock-off plush of Sai, so be careful! This one is only 8" tall. Sai is a wonderful and lovable character and I'm glad this plush captured his energy. He's got a spot on his sleeve he always had since I got him (urgh) and a few pricing stickers on his tag.


Hikaru, the namesake of the series. He's got his telltale sneakers on and a go piece in his fingers. His sneaker fabric looks OK but has a small dot that is worn.


He's even got a hoodie on!! Very cute detail.


Akira, Hikaru's rival (and one of my favorite characters ^o^). His hair is a green-gray color and he's got his hand in a fist behind his back (what a poised young man!).


Unfortunately he's got some shoe peeling :-(


Isumi, a member of the Go team. His shoe coating is looking dappled, and the shoes are stuck together :-(


Starting to get annoyed at the peeling as of late. I guess it becomes inevitable in a way over time. 


Waya... In all honesty, I forgot his name and had to whip out a manga. I found it flabbergasting that I remembered all the names from Fushigi Yuugi, and Fruits Basket (which I never even ended up finishing) but for some reason I couldn't remember Waya, a character from one of my favorite mangas that I have read at least 3 times. I'm sorry, Waya. On the bright side, his shoes look fine!

For pricing I don't know, I don't see them on ebay but I'll have to check back. I know Sai was the big seller from this set at least in the $40 range, and the others in the $15-25 range but I'm just guessing at prices from over a decade ago. So basically pricing is a big question mark.

UPDATE: Akira sold for $25, Waya sold for $15


No comments:

Post a Comment