Swag Museum (Updated October 6, 2008)

[nestlekwik]

When MixMasterLar and I had Rithum.com up and running as a news portal, we often featured various video game-related swag on the site in a database addition we added on a weekly basis.  Through a small handful of months, we eventually featured 60+ items before the site closed down.  I still had many more items to go, but being inspired by The Game Doctor's art gallery of respectable items from magazines and various photos, we've seen fit to reproduce the feature right here on J2Games.  We will be adding new items on a weekly basis and we encourage everyone leave comments and even post swag of their own if they wish to do so.

This is a specialized can of Coca-Cola promoting the title Lineage II as received from the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo event.  The reverse side of the can features the game's logo along with the trademark Coca-Cola logo.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen this game since that event, but, then again, I've never really been a PC gamer.  I was never brave enough to open the can as on the final day I got quite thirsty and was hoping the display was still handing these out.  It wasn't meant to be, however, and I would have to assume the contents would consist of pure, all-American Coca-Cola.

A more recent item, the 8-bit Simon Belmont figure, was received from GameStop upon the pre-order and pickup of the Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles for the Sony PSP.  While it comes nowhere near topping the Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin pre-order bonus, the figure is nicely crafted and it exudes nostalgia.  The one thing I can't figure, though, is why the box art promotes the original Castlevania when the figure is clearly the Castlevania II variant of Simon Belmont.

A Parappa the Rappa mobile phone charm, given away as a contest prize by Sony to promote the re-release of the original game for the Sony PSP (2007 marked the series' 10th year).  As a lower-tier prize in the contest, the charm was also accompanied by a PSP skin, slathered with Parappa characters and themes.  I've been a huge fan of the franchise since its inception and it's surprising a company didn't take the ball and run with it when it was at its prime - toys, novelties, soundtracks, cartoons - everything that the license could be turned into, was ... but only in Japan.

Another item that wasn't too terribly hard to find upon release - if you were willing to pay an extra.  When Mortal Kombat: Deception released, it did so with a variety of different collector's packages, featuring the likenesses of Sub-Zero, Scorpion and more depending on the system you owned.  Among the number of exclusive items available were these art cells of Scorpion and the Hell Foundry, limited to 20,000 pieces.

I think I value this item more personally than it's valued monetarily.  At the 2004 E3, upon the premiere of the new Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater trailer, representatives were handing out these items to people who were onhand.  This is a full-sized LP-style sleeve promoting the game and upon opening the item, there is a full booklet promoting the game, primairly its music.  Lyrics to theme as well as various art concepts are featured inside, along with a CD of the theme, attached to a large carboard ring to make it look like a vinyl record.

Not only was E3 2004 the first place most people could get their hands on Resident Evil 4, but Capcom also had a new Resident Evil movie to promote with its sequel, Extinction.  At the corner of Capcom's booth, a very attractive young woman outfitted in Jill Valentine's Resident Evil 3: Nemesis garb was handing out this promotional item to those passing by.  The faux newspaper emulated a newspaper quite well with its paper and printing, featuring a full sheet folded to produce four pages of content for everything Resident Evil that was happening at that time.  Unfortunately, I think The Raccoon City Times only printed once.  Probably had something to do with the zombies and nuking, etc.

When I go to a Japanese store, it's hard to resist picking up the multitude of video game-based figures floating around, and trying my luck with a Dead or Alive series figure, I got the main attraction on the first shot.  I never fully removed the figure from its packaging but the figure is well constructed and comes complete with a stand to display the figure.  This particular Kasumi is actually the alternate color and pose of the character, with Kasumi being the only female to have two different figures featured in this particular series.

This little guy is a taiko from the insanely popular Taiko no Tatsujin series which originated in Japan in 1999.  Taiko no Tatsujin flopped miserably in the U.S. under the name Taiko Drum Master in 2004 on the Playstation 2 during the Namco-Nintendo team-up craze that spawned Donkey Konga for the GameCube.  Maybe it was the fact that putting pop songs in a game of this nature made little sense, but the Namco-inspired songs certainly rocked.  Although dead on arrival in the U.S., the game still enjoys insane amounts of support with Playstation, DS and arcade releases on an annual basis.

Describing our final E3 2004 item for today, Konami had quite an impressive booth, rounded out by a miniature wrestling ring and models portraying characters from the T&A fest wrestling title Rumble Roses.  At certain periods throughout the event, an announcer would round everyone nearby up and introduce the ladies, who would throw these hand towels into the audience.  A towel is a questionable object to throw into the crowd when promoting a game of this nature, but swag is swag.

This is my minature coin box bank (the picture may make it seem bigger than it really is), straight from the pages of Super Mario Bros.  These mini coin boxes originally house a small charm, featuring a character or item from the same game, but once emptied, acted as a personal bank which you can store coins.  The item I pulled on this particular box was a kinoko, or what we English folk call a mushroom.  I'll be sure to feature the yellow and orange power-up fungus in a future addition.

[MixMasterLar]

I always wanted that MGS3 CD....

[PsychoChris]

I'll have a coke!

Linage II was alright, just another Wow, but some of the stuff looks f-ing cool. I guess that's one of the benefits of going to Con's is to get stuff that you'd never be able to get anywhere. I mean, you can find stuff similiar to it in comic shops and the like, but is anyone really going to go there looking for it. This type of stuff are the things you don't expect to see and that's what makes them so appealing.

although sometimes most of it tends to be crap, but hey, I'm sure someone somewhere want's Nintendo's Monkey Ball brand condom. Of course, I wouldn't throw a fit over the Castlevania thing, seriously. I mean, gamers have enough trouble dealing with the cultural steorotype, don't reenforce it, please don't make us look like Nerds! My FF figurines do enough damage to my street credit!

[MixMasterLar]

Would you believe that some people think Im a nerd since I have a Tekken avatar?

[PsychoChris]

once I find a cool enough Veritech avatar icon, we'll see.

Hey, at least it's not star trek or DBZ!

[MixMasterLar]

Im not worry about Star Wars Avatars or Ranma avatars or whatever so much as much as Im scraed about the idea that the person believes they  are Yoda or something...That was one crazy IM

[nestlekwik]

Here we go with two more obscurities for the week:

Among a series of jewelry pieces put together based on the Final Fantasy series, this is the Tidus set, carrying three items based on the ones sported by the main character of Final Fantasy X.  From left to right, you'll see Tidus's ring, his necklace and then a mini replica of his sword.  I'm already 25% on the way to cosplaying as Tidus!  I'd really have to start hitting the gym and Wii Fit, though, if I want to match those abs.

It's no secret that Billy Mitchell bottles hot sauce and with the 2006 East Coast Gaming Expo (now Too Many Games) refereed by Twin Galaxies, a limited edition bottle variant was printed for the event.  I don't like hot sauce so I've never opened it and after two years I'm a little afraid to do so; but the contents are marked as being jalapeņo sauce.  Among the label are such tidbits as a small Twin Galaxies promotion, the ECGXpo logo and date for 2006 along with a few messages from Mr. Mitchell including "Twin Galaxies and Billy Mitchell Congratulate ECGXpo on its 3rd Year" and "Work is for people who can't play video games."  Only 24 of the bottle variants were ever produced and my bottle is marked as #21.

[MixMasterLar]

marked as #21

I feel sorry for the 25th person in line

[nestlekwik]

Three goodies up this time.  These are fairly new, but it's what is on top of my stack right now.  I think everyone will enjoy the classic taste of Ghostbusters, though:

I just received this promotional item yesterday, a box housing POP items for the upcoming Ghostbusters game by Sierra.  I was able to get it from a local GameStop, but unfortunately, it didn't really have any goodies in it anymore aside from a lanyard.  If you're GB savy enough, you'll notice the box is modeled after the traps the characters use in the series to suck up the paranormal.

I might not be picking up or playing Wii games right now, but I just can't deny the Wii-based swag that keeps coming out.  For Capcom's We Love Golf! title, those who pre-ordered the game received this dandy caddy bag, sized just right for you to enclose your Wii Remote and take it safely on the go - it's sturdy and made of a nice vinyl material that you would expect from a golf accessory.  It's pretty cool, but I'll probably never use it to actually carry around a remote.

This falls under another one of the items I'm too afraid to open.  Inside of this Sly Cooper box is a statue of Sly, obtainable through Sony's Retail Loyalty Service site.  Apparently, everyone else is afraid to open theirs too, as I can't find any photos of this product online.  I'm sure I'll break down one day and take a peek, but for now, I just admire the outside.

[jay]

This falls under another one of the items I'm too afraid to open.

I have crates of stuff I won't open, or even remove from the box that the original shipper packed it in.  Like my Donkey Kong 64 Barrel of Monkeys, my collection of Dragon's Lair animated cells, boxes of original Donkey Kong Trading cards, my original  Pac-Man 36 oz. beer stein (this thing in HUGE andfrom 1982) and a plethora of other items mostly themed from the arlier days of gaming (before EVERY pre-order came with a prize like a box of cereal.)

I'm still seeking the Nintendo themed toaster inserts Bill had told me about.  Basically, they are like cookie cutters that don't cut.  You press the imprint into the bread and when you toast the bread, the imprint "appears" on the toast.

Ahhh, I also have a very limited collection of Donkey Kong Figurines that are suitable for hiding in a "Kings Cake" (sorry baby Jesus!) and my collection of Mario themed 2-liter soda bottle "toppers."

Some day I'll unpack things and take pics - or you can all kiss my ass for the next 40 years and hope to inherit it all....

[nestlekwik]

Whenever you want to unload items, you should do a charity auction for it - 1) It looks great for the company; 2) It's free advertising; 3) You get to write it off as philantrophy, right?

[GameDoctorKunkel]

  To me, having been both a collector and an editor at CollectingChannel.com for two years, I think I have a pretty good handle on collecting and, to me, items like these are infinitely more collectable than 2600 EPROMs. I have never understood what the people who used to bid so much money on rare videogames from the 70s and early 80s at CGE actually DID with them. Bit rot will eventually make them unplayable, they're not physically attractive, so you don't want to frame them -- what good are they?

  Of course that's one of the reasons we're starting the J2 Art Gallery, to make genuinely collectible artifacts and modern visual representations of our hobby available to collectors. I know I'd rather have, as a personal possession, a framed quality print of an old EG cover or a Chris Vs. Everything comic than some old, unplayable game.

  I'd also rather have a complete set of the Activision high score patches than a complete set of the original games themselves. Although I do find the boxes and docs fairly collectible. 

[nestlekwik]

I guess since nearly everyone deems themselves as a video game collector these days, I've found more personal satisfaction in the swag, not to mention, since nearly all of my swag has been retrieved completely free, it's definitely more cost efficient.  Somewhere I think I have a couple of Activision pins, but I would love to have some of those patches, too.  Recently, my girlfriend and I have been really into Gachapon collecting and we're super stoked our local mall has moved in an Animal Crossing series into the machines.

[Rob F]

I guess since nearly everyone deems themselves as a video game collector these days

Not I.  I dig collectable stuff, but don't have the space in my apartment.  I live up by NYC and everything is at a premium!

[PsychoChris]

In my opinion, there are two categories of Collectable. There's Rare and autographed. Everything else is just crap you had to pay extra for. Rare is stuff like the swag here, and autographed is well, self explainatory. Sometimes though you might might find something collectable in a toyshop when you weren't looking too.

There are some things that are collectable that are up to personal preference. Like for example, I like to buy any kind of collecters edition of a game if that means it comes with an artbook. I love artbooks. And I love figurines. I'll buy a figurine based on a game I don't even know or play just if it looks nice. Like I have this one figurine of Paine from FFX, just because it's so cool.

I also bought the collectors edition of Robotech:Battle cry just to get a shirt. Sure, no Texan fanboy could ever fit into a XL sized shirt, but it's the thought that counts. Altough, with collectable stuff, i think personal value is added in the thrill of the hunt. Whether it's standing in line, finding it unexpected, or grazing a flea market, there is something about finding that special something out there.

The collecting discussion is something else from straight swag though.