The Red: The New Game Room

Phase I - Most paint job; Shelving up.
Phase II - Graphic novels set up; entertainment center and Shelving unit for games set. Minor decorations are in place.
Phase III - More coherent work on the shelves. The 'story' of each shelf starting to come together.
Phase IV - Iron Man red shelving unit set up. Nothing major aside form that when comparing to Phase III, however.
Phase V - All shelves have their story. The progress is now on the 80% complete. The 'secret' is now pretty much on the go.
Phase VI - 'Secret' complete. The Final wall has the skeleton decor set up. Shelves are done and telling a story.

THE RED

It took me at least a whole month to set up this bad boy, and suffice to say, the time of intimidating work, the 'strenuous' times of thinking through and wondering what will fit and how it will all come together, the many blogs about the steps it took and certain paraphernalia, then of course the ambivalence of what to take out of the box and what to keep.... well, I must say it was worth the work with how it turned out.

Going in.

Immediately after taking a few steps inside the game room, one can already be able to feel the ambiance of what I always try to portray when setting up this room: NERDY, EXUBERANCE, and of course, WHAT ENAMORS me.

To the Left.

This is where my gamer chair resides. The wall where I lean my back on; the thing that watches my back so to speak when I am gaming. This is more or less my comic book design and posters and print out.

I also framed some of the printouts and fanart that I thought are unique and more or less something that not a lot of people would have and flaunt. Also, the free give aways at the local comic store like calendars, little miniature versions of comic book covers served well as a minor design as well! Comic books who are also more than often having better cover art that internal art serves as a wall design in my opinion. Back in the day I used to buy a whole hell of a lot of graphic novels for some reason, but now I just succumb to a more thrifty effort of just getting comic books since they don't take up as much space and they can be put to better used aside from reading material. Some of the ones I have on display are as old as the bronze age of DC, to the mid 90's where Venom was a popular 'lethal protector', to the more recent AvsX storyline. I tried to add some sort of scheme, but it didn't really turn out that way. Still, I'm rather pleased with the result.

To my right (if sitting down looking at the entertainment center) is my lamp. Yes, this is where all of the modeling happens for all of my single blogs for whatever toy is out and about; or however my sporadic feeling of showing happens. But as one can really see, the usual tenants of the shelves are Ignis(wedding outfit as displayed in Phase I, Yuna:One of the First, and Large Mandarin Spawn). And to the left of that... (this is my 'Big Secret' I have been working on!)...

 

I have mentioned more than once that this 'room' has no practical storage space. Well, aside from my collection and stuff... with that said... what does the closet hold?

You discerned correctly! It's no place for apparel or what not, it's another place to exuberantly display some of my other 'odds and ends' that the outside display can't have adequate room for. And what I meant by odds and ends equates to:

Venom/Spider-Man

 

 The Venom and the Spidey consists of a myriad of types that I have accumulated over the years(and I don't exasperate that notion! OVER the YEARS). From a numerous varieties of Hasbros, Toybiz, minimates, super hero squads, and of course some random imports, my Spider-Man/Venom collection used to be more prominent than a shelf and a closet space. Recent years however, his popularity with me slowly diminished(blame it on 'One More Day' and Tobey McGuire, and overall, he isn't that enamoring anymore Hero wise, Parker however is still one of the best written characters back in his hay day). However they still hold a huge dent in my collection, so suffice to say, and for old time sake, I paid them tribute with my 'secret space' allotment! 

Transformers

Yes! More than Meets The Eye innuendo. Now, just like my Spider-Kin collection, the Transformers spans through the years as well in regards to the toy collected. Some are from the time I wasn't even born yet(given to me by my cousin; wasn't doing a mystical-pre-collecting endeavor now), some are from the rebooted generation hasbro toys, and of course how can we forget about the movie adaptations  where Michael Bay murders your childhood with such vile that you want to either be enamored by the fireworks or hang yourself from watching Iron Hide getting backstabbed by Sentinel Prime?! Not to digress on the subject, I wonder how the TMNT(Or AMNT, as in Alien Ninja Turtles?) is going to turn out with Bay being the mediator again? I wonder how much of my childhood is he going to crap on? Well if they have the D.I.D. of April O'Niel (the ever so graceful actress, Megan Fox) happening left and right, well, suffice to say, it would have some potential, right? Anyways, I digressed! I even have some Beast Wars in this Transformer collection!

Playarts, Bishoujo Boxes, Minimates!

The Bishoujo Boxes act as good background.

Playarts: Yuffie Kisagari

Misc Iron Man piggy bank, of course.

Next on the list of this place is the 'topper' of the 'closet'. I adhered to the same pattern I had in my previous game room and used the Marvel Select as the top design. Works wonders in my opinion. The last addition to the diamond select was the Mark VII(Avengers armor) Select (top left). Part of the Christmas present from a good friend.

Next part of this is....

 

Just like the other side, this one has a bit of the 'surprise' which by now I would surmise became a bit anticlimatic. So yes, this is another side to show just how impractical my usage of space is in regards to something NOT being part of my collection.

Yes. There are more Marvel Diamond Select in here, more Transformers, and more Marvel things. They used to be main show in my shelves, but the Marvel Universe 3.75 action figures are now within the confines of my 'secret'.

Marvel Universe 3.75

As I have mentioned and probably have shown in the prior game room, these little guys used to be the main event in my room. I have an abundance of them! They pretty much initiated a secret invasion way back when and sooner than later, their number grew in an exponential rate!!!! The trajectory of the Marvel characters I collected through this style of Hasbro is almost uncanny! And it goes through the many waves of Marvel's assortment of universe. From Earth 616, House of M, Movieverse, Ultimate, to What Ifs, to concepts, and a myriad of others! Not to mention, this figure had managed to rope in some of the most popular storyline of Marvel like Age of Apocalypse, Dark Reign, Secret Invasion, World War Hulk, etc. Different timelines of the heroes and villains as well which makes the whole Spidey, Wolverine, and Iron Man selection also excessive. And Yes, that is Black Widow from the Movieverse bound and gagged by Thanos, just in case you were wondering.

Marvel Knights!

A melting pot of timelines! 

Uncanny X-Force and Magic!

The rest of them joined the Spider-Man Shelf since they were with the wall crawler's lore. Suffice to say, it's still a full house in this shelf despite the missing comrades! There are still some in their packaging for the purpose of trying to be frugal with space and some of them I think may be 'worth' something; that is if I EVEN think about selling these them. At any rate!

Transformers

Yes I have more of these guys. This shelf, I tried to be a bit more on the 'Beast wars' side of it, but it didn't happen that way since Transformers has a very WIDE range of selection, story lines, alternate universe, so forth, and so forth. 

 

Yes, int the very middle there is a Hope action figure from the current Marvel Legends wave of Hasbro; well current as in it was wave one of 2012.

Playarts, Minimates, Tranformers, Icons

 

This is where all of my 'left overs' went! This side of the top of my closet. Again, minimates are in there along with the boxed up Black and Original Spidey, Norin, and again some random collection of Transformers which I thought still looks too aesthetically cool to donate or get rid of. Speaking of the whole 'not getting rid of' notion, one can probably see that I have used the boxes of the Bishoujo as a means to decorate the top shelves of my closet. Also, things like the Toybiz Marvel Legends that I did not take out of the packages, random Hasbros, very OLD Toybiz figures and of course the Marvel Select as I have mentioned already. Suffice to say, the reason why I held this one to a bit more on the discreet side is because I never thought I'd have a room where it would be able to house 85% of my collection... this one did. With a little help with the closet of course! But at any rate, on to the next view...

The Entertainment Center

Most people's entertainment center is based on how loud their surround sound is or perhaps just how fancy the resolution of their T.V. Suffice to say, I don't disagree with that at all. All of the said perks are a good thing to have when one is delving into gaming or just watching a movie(I can't remember I actually just turned on my Ps3 to WATCH a movie though). However whenever I am gaming or watching, I do like my background to adhere to my personal likes and tastes and so this is a testament of that thought process. This is perhaps the best visage I have had for my game room just yet.

 The table that used to be my 'coffee' table back in my old game room becomes my entertainment table. Quite fitting if you ask me since that said table does have Final Fantasy designs that my special someone created for me. Admittedly, it does contain a bit too much of FFXIII, but the most 'recent' of all Final Fantasies is the prettiest to look at.

And this also contains my Final Fantasy playarts mini(the sort-of-minimates version of the playarts collection) as well as some random figures of FFT, FFVII, and FFX as well as the Playarts summon collection line. One might ask if these designs get in the way of gaming, I say, not really. Moving on.

The Right side

I'm sure this shelf is familiar from my previous game room. It still pretty much has the same purpose as last time, in fact it is identically the same(usage wise) and it contains the majority of my anime/Final Fantasy, along with the N7 shelf dedication and some graphic novels. With that said, let's scrutinize the shelves, shall we?

The Bottom.

My graphic novel collection has a bit of number(and weight!) so I keep them in the bottom shelf. They are a melting pot of different Marvel titles(mostly) along with some Video Game Square Enix strategy guide, Highschool of the Dead, Empowered, so forth and so forth. Along with collections such as some random Transformer toy, Dragonball Z tidbits and I forgot the line of the Marvel Ghost Rider toy.

Asuka Shikinami, Eva Unit 2.0

The next one above is my little 'anime' section with my favorite red berserking gal, Asuka of the Evangelion. There are others displayed here like a random Sailor Moon, a disgaea 4 character(Fuki, I believe?), so forth and so forth. Again the whole stand of Eva unit 2.0 does justice in regards to consolidating space for future tenants and for good action pose as well.

Playarts Kai: Batman, DC Toys Addiciton, DC Ame-Comi, DC amecomi

This is the lot of my DC Comics collection that are out of their respected boxes. With the exception of the Lantern Corps ring, the Red Lantern Battery, and the random Harley Quinns, everyone of these gals and ominous Dark Knight has been blogged about. A bit of an oddball of a shelf, but it works well with some coherent pattern put into it. 

"Daylight" 

Playarts Kai:Commander John Shepard, Commander Female Shepard, Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah

Normandy: Normandy Model

The N7 shelf of mine that has a lot of my love! So much of it that I created a bit of a 'night and day' contrast option as well!

"Night Light"

Okay, so it's just a push light added on. But this little 'add on' adds a bit of aesthetics to it. The light shining on to the Normandy(yes, the tiny model that doesn't do the ship justice at all) gives the whole 'revering' ambiance about it. After all, the ship was their mascot, for lack of a better word for that innuendo. So yes, I am highly enamored by this shelf, mind you.

Almost on Top!

The Street Fighter shelf. Or Capcom VS SNK, whichever title one decides to coin this shelf, it is where the fighters of the video game world that are enamoring to me will reside. Admittedly, I didn't really get too far with my Street Fighting in regards to collection; just random mish mosh of japanese import Street Fighter Alpha figures, a mini statuette of Chun Li, anime big heads of Akuma and Chun Li, then we have the mini mates of Darkstalkers and Street Fighter rivals.

Random Part of Collection

It's a damn shame though that this pose that further elaborates on Ryu and Mai's prowess didn't last. Ryu's stand was quite shaky and he kept falling in the mere few weeks I had him displayed like so. Suffice to say, he is just standing normal now with a stance and no longer 'Sho-Ryu-Ken'ing'. Shame. Though it still looks good and Mai's form still does justice!

Playarts Kai: Lightning, playarts: Rikku

This next shelf was influenced by my previous 'femme fatale' shelf that used to consist of only Final Fantasy gals. Now for the most part it retained the majority of the cast with the exception of Tifa. Now however there are additions like Caith Sith, Sephiroth, and Kadaj. No rhyme and reason(well the silver haired Jenova apparitions do resemble females), just a thought to place a few opened playarts in a shelf.

The 'TOP'

Now to top it off(yes a pun) we have another Final Fantasy shelf. Although I must admit that my love for the series and for the genre in general had decreased over the past few years, I am still somewhat enamored by it. That and old characters die hard and not to mention there wouldn't be anything justifying in terms of aesthetics to put up there but these guys(and gal). The combination of playarts, Summon playarts, the first fw playarts Kai of FFXIII(Lightning and Vanille), and a REALLY tall Khimari figure in the back really makes this shelf rather scintillating with action! I love this shelf! Not too full but vindicated of being empty!

The incomplete DC Wall

And then to the right of that shelf is my DC Wall. Not much to say about this one except that it does need more designs. If anything did have room to grow it would be this area. While in my past gameroom the DC wall was a bit more vibrant and 'full', in this room I decided to split them about just to break the TOO 'organized' pattern. What I mean is, no wall is for one genre or style. DC is everywhere, Marvel is everywhere, etc. etc.

And now we have this bad boy to scrutinize and enjoy. This is obviously to the left of my entertainment center. Again, the red wall does add a flare, doesn't it?

The Bottom

Again, more of my graphic novels to hold the 'fort' down. I believe this is where my DC graphic novels are all gathered. One of thickest graphic novel I won is a DC one(My Thickest Graphic Novels), ironic as that is since it is only recently that I have joined the fray of DC. And oh yes, a couple of Spawns.

Random#1, Random#2, Random#3

Speaking of Spawns, the next one are conquered by none other than Todd McFarlane's creation! Now I don't want to sound redundant, but this is indeed the part of my collection that are only done justice when out of their box. Dark, visceral to an extent, and perhaps some a bit on the grosteque side; though they add charm and enamor me despite me not being a full on Spawn fan. Some deserve a blog one of these days.

The DC Bishoujo, 3rd shelf

Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Huntress, Supergirl, Batgirl

Finally a spot on my game room that they don't feel so claustrophobic and their display isn't confined. Yes, they deserve a shelf(or two if you count them as a genre) and they are rather sensational to say the least. Only problem is, there is no room for growth! At least not visually appealing wise!

The Villain Shelf

Now this shelf is the one I would say has a bit more of 'story' behind the posing or what not. Maybe because it holds a certain preference that I like that makes it so, regardless, what it is trying to say is rather whimsical even if the said toys are only still images, so to speak("Ties that bind Them", "Bonding Time"). This particular shelf also contains some of the Toybiz and Hasbro action figures that I never thought I would open in my lifetime. Though situation dictated that some of them deserve their time outside of their confines. Those reasons are of course could be noted by influence of filling a shelf, enamored by what they could offer outside of their box, or perhaps one of the more accentuating reason that got me to go with the plan is WHO they build. Notice that colossal Apocalypse behind the bound and gagged Rachel Grey? That is from the combination of Bishop, Iron Fist, Sasquatch, Maestro, X-23, and Wolverine. Suffice to say, he is HUGE! Never would know that completely without combining him.

Some of the Villain crew like Sasquatch, Black Knight, 'It', King Hulk and a couple of others aren't entirely on the side of the bad guys, though I thought they would be an intimidating addition, that and they just look the part with their rather menacing physique or just how they look!

Others like Spiral are just perfect rivals for the captured Psylocke! By the way, Spiral is a rather great figure and one of a kind! Hell, this whole shelf itself is one of my favorite outcome with the way I have set things up! And of course! The whole D.I.D. innuendo has a total influence as to why I am really enthused by this! Anyways, moving on!

Bishoujo Marvel

Femme Fatale Bishoujo. Bishoujo Black Cat

Unlike my DC, this one has room to grow. In fact Five seems to be the magic number since four looks a bit to sparse in aesthetics. Regardless, still shines well enough to say the least.

Almost at the top

As I had mentioned, I usually have a soft spot for Venom(Shelf of the Symbiotes). For the longest time he was my favorite character. Though time and the lack of flavor on his part(or should I vindicate him from the blame and put it on the writer?) I moved on to other characters who are better written and made their way to mainstream. But I will always have a bit of my comic book heart for the feral version of Spider-Man who got the hand-me-downs of his apparel. Whether it's just for old time sake that kept him from disappearing, or perhaps it's the rather enamoring toys that I have collected over the years, suffice to say, they gained a shelf in my external design and one in my 'secret' area.

The Top

So in contrast to my other 'header' on the other side, this one is for sure a lackluster. Besides the combination of Spawn and Venom/Spidey barely has a coherent correlation except for the fact that if you scrutinize the three, there are some similarities... basically Spawn could be an amalgam of Spider-Man and Venom(kind of). Anyways.

This is the left side of that shelf. As I said, I have separated the DC collection so they are a bit everywhere. This side has a bit more of a theme! This is my Gotham Knights area, so to speak. Well, mostly a whole bunch of Arkham City paraphernalia.

To the left of that, going on a counter clockwise motion around my room, this is where I put my ps3 games, my blu rays and such. The entertainment shelf is rather particularly awesome and it shaped up quite well. The giant comic book covers of the golden Age of Comic Books adds a bit more vibrancy if I do say so myself. Yes, that is Wolverine's first appearance maximized! The First and Greatest Canadian Super Hero according to those captions.

And this is my red shelf. This furniture had endured a catastrophe that happened and now it is standing at my new and final game room. Good thing for it to because they have discontinued this furniture some time ago so trying to replace it was impossible. I like it because of its spacing, the vibrant red, and also, it's a perfect fit for my Iron Men.

X-cessive Force, Random

The bottom shelf is of course where I hold the last of my graphic novels and some random magazine collection. I also have a binder of old Marvel trading cards as well which survived the years.

 

The decorations are a few alternate versions of Hulk, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. It's quite amusing actually how I can really have the alternate universe/outfit of a few certain characters be in abundance to make the bottom decoration the way it is.

Still I remain adamant at liking the X-Force Logan, the Back in Black Spidey, and the Red Hulk(Rulk). I guess with the scheme adhering to red and black, it would be obvious as to why I would indulge.

"Thanos Imperative"

Ah yes! The Marvel shelf with a ragtag combination of some of the universe's finest with the insinuation that they are going against the titan named Thanos.  Truthfully, these are the combination of Marvel Legends from Hasbro and Toybiz(Marvel Legends). Some as old as the Apocalypse Legends and some are as recent as the Iron Monger Legends.

Even Avengers' Trinity in alternate forms are in the spotlight here, so to speak, as they seem to be leading the charge. This particular shelf has some room for assembling more members; we'll see just how the future Legends will fit in my collecting endeavors; if even. There are a couple on the release list that seems noteworthy, though I am getting to the point that I am running out of room. Yes, I'm growing up!

Revoltech Mark V, Marvel Legends: Iron Man 3

This shelf is a testament for my love for the Iron Avenger. Well, a portion of my love anyways. This shelf are concept armors, some are What If armors, Iron Patriot, the Mark V, and some cool alternates for the Iron Man mark III armor from the movie, which both alternates spells Silver Centurion or War Machine. Mark I from the first movie is also adding aesthetics within this shelf.

The line up.

The angle from here as well.

These were also the same Iron Men in the confines of their boxes. Obviously, there was a plethora of them! Again, another testament that some just look better outside the box, and these are prime examples. Some of these armor are of course were never existent in the comic book series, but adding them on with their weapons(impractical or not) is always a good design to add to the exuberance of this shelf.

Revoltech: Iron Man Mark V, Revoltech: Iron Man Mark III

Want to talk about a shelf that indulges in the idea that the red and gold is the true color of an Avenger, well this shelf is the testament of that! This particular shelf is all about the many variations of Iron Man's main color scheme(Don't count the Silver Centurion and the First Appearance Iron Man in the back; both from Toybiz Marvel Legends). The variety ranges from Movieverse, Civil War Extremis, Classic Iron Man, Heroic Age Iron Man, Concept armor, alternate universe Iron Man, so on and so on! If anyone ever doubted just how much of an Iron Man freak I am, this shelf alone will refute that! The great thing about this shelf is that there is a minor room for growth; VERY minor and it would require some organizing. But I will take solace in the idea that there is some room to put one or two here. Again as I have redundantly mentioned in this blog, I will have to be careful and very mindful on my future purchases since space is starting to run REALLY low. Yes, the strife of a very meticulous and overzealous collector!

 

I'm 100 percent positive that the Iron man 3 movie armor(Mark VIII) will be joining the ranks of this shelf in the form of the Iron Monger Marvel Legends(along with Iron Patriot movie version and Ultron???) So there is one more fellow to add in this gorgeous and rather enticing shelf of the Iron Avenger's norm color!

Marvel Legends: Neo Iron Man

Now this shelf seems to accentuate the theme of the shelf below which is Red and Gold. Trust me, it's a variation! It has blue, black, silver, grey, which I know, it's easy to misconstrue if this is the same or not! Regardless, this is merely the 'left overs'(and I use that term loosely). I would not dare box up some Iron Man figure if I had the room for it, and this time, I do! 

Closing Note...

Again, I could go on and on, but I do know that it's pretty much the elaborate tour I could give since I did a round about 'walk' throughout my room. This is after all my last room to move into and I believe deep down in my heart that the change is NOT over, but I doubt I am going to do anything MAJOR. Obviously additions and subtractions will happen and to dissuade myself that this is the end all be all is hardly a promising argument. Suffice to say, more blogs about this room and the additions will be about. BUT.... 

That's all she wrote. For Now. 

Whew! That was a LONG process. Two months of work and a week's worth of working on this blog. I can now take solace in the comfort of this room; as I have always done since the moment that it was not a distraught looking toy store!