I started this series as a way to get personal with you all and share my thoughts about things happening in the otome community or share fun stories and anecdotes about being an otome fan. So, for the new year I wanted to share a story that is definitely one of the more interesting experiences I’ve had over the years.
For my first confession of 2021, I thought I’d tell you all the harrowing tale of how I got my copy of the Hakuoki Kyoto Winds art book–and trust me it’s something… Now, because this story involves another person I have omitted their name for anonymity and even though it was over 3 years ago, I checked in with them to make sure it was okay to share and they gave the go ahead. So trust I covered my bases on this one….
Picture it, Etsy… 2017– In November, Funimation had hit me with a DMCA for my Yuri on Ice dolls, which I took as an indirect endorsement of the quality of my dolls. Throwing myself into more doll projects and by December I had quite the selection of dolls, one of which was of my favorite Hakuoki boy, Hajime Saito. I had spent hours carefully crafting him–making sure the clothes were perfect and his hair was juuuust right. He was my pride and joy and I refused to let him go to any but the most perfect forever home…
So, in December of 2017 I received an order request message from my Etsy store. Someone was interested in buying Saito, but not just anyone, this person claimed to be an employee at Idea Factory Intl–and for those of you that don’t know, Idea Factory is the company that publishes the Hakuoki games. So I was losing my collective sh*t at the message! But, they had an unusual request: they wanted to buy my doll as a White Elephant gift for a coworker but they couldn’t spend more than $20 on the gift. At the time the price for my Saito doll was $35, so they offered to pay me $20 for the doll and throw in a copy of Megadimension Neptunia VII for PS4 to make up for the cost.
I was suspicious, who wouldn’t be in this situation. I mean maybe they were hoping I’d be so blinded by the fact that they worked at Idea Factory that I would be falling over myself to accommodate them. But my mama didn’t raise no suckers, so I asked that they first prove their identity… Which they did and after verifying that they were who they said they were I was down to negotiate.
Instead of Megadimension Neptunia VII I proposed that I get a copy of Hakuoki Kyoto Winds, which had been released a few months earlier instead, because 1. I didn’t own a PS4 and 2. I didn’t really care about the Neptunia series. But, since the individual didn’t work on the localization team for Hakuoki, they weren’t sure if they could get their hands on Kyoto Winds and instead offered to give me Megadimension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies for the PS Vita (they worked with that team). I figured this was as good as I was going to get and agreed to the terms–I mean a free game is a free game…
So I shipped Saito off to his new forever home and thought that was the end of it… but then about a week later I received a second message from the buyer. They felt bad about getting the doll for such a cheap price and had offered to send some goodies to sweeten the pot and even offered to get me a steam code to Kyoto Winds!
I was overjoyed, because this was exactly what I wanted and I eagerly awaited the goods. And when the box arrived I was surprised to discover that not only did they send me the copy of Megadimension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies, but there were also some cool otome goodies in there too–some Amnesia coasters and a copy of the Hakuoki Kyoto Winds Record of Service Artbook! Ya’ll I LOST MY SH*T when I saw it! Definitely one of my (few) treasured otome possessions.
Oh, and if you’re wondering what happened to Saito…
Let’s just say he was VERY well loved at his forever home… *weeps* at least he has a cute friend to keep him company…. So, yeah, that’s the story of how I got my Hakuoki Kyoto Winds artbook! Truly a thrilling tale full of intrigue, emotion… heartbreak…
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What a nice story! To think your crochet doll gave you a once-in-a-lifetime gift in return. If I had the chance I would’ve gone for a different game but having an artbook is also a great choice too. You deserved that happiness.
Thank you for reading!!
Lol IKR, I never imagined when I was making him that this would be how things went down.
So I did end up getting the steam key for Kyoto Winds, but since it’s digital it’s not as photogenic as the physical goodies.
Awesome story!
That. Is. Amazing!!!
Right?! I’m still blown away by how everything went down!
I love this so much 😍 so happy for you! Thanks for sharing! 😊
Hey there Engel! Thank you for stopping by!
Right, it was definitely a memorable experience and I love the artbook to bits!