i can't not (get this statue)

In my latest post, I talked about the newest Art of War release of the Armored Berserk statue. Turns out this statue is their 20th Anniversary release, which would explain the extremely high price tag. What I also didn't realize is that the statue is probably going to be 1/6 scale. That's huge. If you think about it, most of my Berserk statues are only 1/10. This one is going to be massive.

Over the past year, Art of War has adopted a new kind of selling method. Instead of producing a greater number of units with a cheaper price tag and lower quality, they decided to take a more challenging route and produce fewer units but with much, much greater quality. The best example (and the first) is the Skull Knight Horse Riding II back in 2007 (the first 1/10 scale mounted model of Skull knight). The statue was so insanely popular it sold out within two hours. Imagine that - over 300 units of an $800 statue bought out in the blink of an eye. Each year now, they produce at least one statue that is of this quality and grandness. Last year was the 1/6 Griffith, amazingly sculpted, and amazingly overpriced.

Skull Knight Horse Riding II (2007)

Going back to the main story, I watched the Berserk anime back in 9th grade I believe. I was extremely puzzled by the cliffhanger, which eventually drove me to the manga, which I read in 10th grade (and caught up to date with). Ever since reading volume 26, I knew I wanted an Armored Berserk statue, no matter what it took. I scoured the internet and all auction sites known to man, including Craigslist and other back-alley sources. I eventually found several, but they were all extremely pricey and well above my budget. I was so desperate I even e-mailed Art of War, asking when or even if they would ever produce another Armored Berserk variant. The answer was a big fat "no idea." I started to talk to other bigtime Berserk collectors like Mike (Maiku) and Derek (DirectDK), trying to find a way to obtain this statue. I was eventaully led to Yahoo! Japan Auctions (YJA as the acronym from now on). Through Japan, I was able to find a broker and bid on items. I FINALLY found an Armored Berserk, non-bloody version, for 330 BUYOUT. I told my broker to bid, and if it ever got out of hand, to just buy it out right away. Unfortunately, my broker was not quick enough, and I lost that auction. I was devastated, as I continually searched YJA for weeks on end. I finally succumbed to purchasing a repainted Femto and the HEADLONG Armored Berserk kit (an unassembled and unpainted kit). Even still, I longed for the real thing, and I vowed one day that I would find the means to find, purchase that statue, and place it as a holy grail on my shelf (fuck I'd actually buy a new display case if I got one).

Original Armored Berserk (2004)

Over two years later, I'm casually checking the spam mail from Art of War, when I saw it. I saw what I had been waiting for for so long. Of course I cringed at the price tag, and I knew I would most likely be unable to obtain it. Only 200 will be made? Skull Knight sold out in two hours, this will probably be in one. There was no way I could secure one without extreme financial aid. I gave up hope for an obviously lost cause. I withdrew my temptations and turned my attention in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, all this did was feed the desire even more.

I started to look around for the original Armored Berserk. One person had it for $550 (and was located in Irvine, so no shipping), but something about that felt wrong. Here it was, a statue that I'll probably only ever get one chance in my life to obtain, and the old Armored Berserk that I had originally wanted. I decided then and there, that I wouldn't settle for anything less than the 20th Anniversary Armored Berserk. I'm not going to get a PS3. I'm going to skip out on spending at AX and EVO. You can call me fucking crazy, but I am fucking crazy, and I know it. I want this thing like you wouldn't believe it. At this point in my life, after several years of constant longing, I see the moment and the chance - and I must strike before the regrets come to claim my loss. They finally released the frontal pictures on the Art of War main page. That was the final blow.

I have 3 days left. I will find a way.

Plus I have to do all my finals. Fuck. On a side note, I finally caught up on a lot of forum topics. "We got our answer straight from Miura. We are between 60-70 percent complete at this time. Thread locked" Quoted straight from Walter. Berserk is just over the half-way benchmark. YES! That means I'll be able to see the end before I die lol! We're looking at probably 50-60 volumes spanning 500-600 chapters. Hot damn. Although, this also means another 10-15 years.

EDIT: To Cory, quoted from Kentaro Miura --

"I start working at 2:00 PM and I finish at 7:00 AM. Of course, the time I spend eating is included. I work 15-16 hours everyday, without holidays."

Now we know how that detail gets the fuck in there.