Zombie's Ultimate X-COM Collection

[Zombie]

I took some pics of the signed print and added it to the main Promotional Items page just now. I figured 4 should be sufficient to get the "just" of it: Front, Signatures, Back and (for giggles and posterity) "in the Box". I was a little bit disappointed there isn't a number on it though. Really it should say x/85 so you would know how many were produced and your specific copy. Apparently, $200 isn't enough for that feature which (to me) is baffling.

 

Oh, and I got my em@il X-COM t-shirt today. Yup, it's brand new. Not a mark on it, no fading, and the pic/lettering is crisp. Awesome stuff!

 

- Zombie

[silencer_pl]

Can you say "brand new" for item that was made like 20 years ago? Or was it really made this year? In the first case shouldn't the correct word be "in mint condition" ?

[Zombie]

Can you say "brand new" for item that was made like 20 years ago? Or was it really made this year? In the first case shouldn't the correct word be "in mint condition" ?

 

I suppose you could. But I really despise the word "mint" to assign condition to anything but coins as those are the most recognized items to be minted. Yeah, it's a saying that gets tossed around a lot for condition, but I feel it's wrong. Perhaps I should have used the term "like brand new" to describe it.

 

Well, I did a little more work today. First, I created a new XCOM Promotional Items page and populated it (still left the originals in the main promo page and didn't change the link yet). So at least that's out of the way. I also got out the camera again and took some more pics. The items I focused on was the MPS 94 Holiday mug, the MPS 95 Holiday mug, the MPS Labs Mug and the White TFTD T-shirt. The MPS 94 shots turned out pretty good. The side MPS 95 shots were good too, except for the under shot which didn't quite show the "USA" marking (might redo it). I did get a decent under shot of the MPS Labs black mug, but the side shots were blurry so I'll need to redo those too. The TFTD t-shirt shots were great. For all these years I had the back of the t-shirt listed as the front. That's fixed now too. A pretty successful day if you ask me.

 

Edit: some of the new promotional item pages aren't showing images. I just fixed the TFTD page, so I may have to do the rest tomorrow.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Edit: some of the new promotional item pages aren't showing images. I just fixed the TFTD page, so I may have to do the rest tomorrow.

 

Ok all the new promotional item pages should have images showing up now. I found out what the issue was too. Apparently when I copied the code from the main promo page and pasted it into the new page everything was fine as the code was pulling a thumbnail created on the main page. However, when I deleted the pics from the main page, it also deleted the thumbnails too. Now the pics are being pulled from each promo item page. Lesson learned.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

I just added a "Design Bible" entry for the Interceptor Promotional items page. It exists, but unfortunately I wasn't able to secure it due to the auction ending early by the seller. Such a shame really, I doubt there's anyone who would appreciate it as much as me. Well, there's one other person, and his name is Dave Ellis.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Today I added the following pictures:

1. Bottom of the MPS95 holiday mug
   
2. Two side shots of the MPS Labs black+red mug
   
3. A side and bottom shot of the X-COM mug
   

The height dimension of these pictures is 300px smaller because I used a different setting on my camera for low light situations which seemed to help with the blurry/fuzziness problems. I did take some better pics of the Apoc Tee, the back of the black TFTD tee and my other MicroProse sweatshirt but those didn't turn out very good (white circles or spots on the photos). My guess it was dust on the lens so I cleaned it off and will try again. Certainly a learning experience with this camera.

 

- Zombie

[silencer_pl]

Dat mug.

[Zombie]

Not much new with my collection or the promo item pages to report. I was able to fill in some of the info for the XCOM 2 site section today though (system requirements, purchasing options, cover art, publisher, rights holder, release date, etc). With that finally fleshed out, I'll probably create the XCOM 2 promo item page tomorrow. Then it'll be on to The Bureau (seems we've been behind in adding games).

 

Instead of taking pics of the MicroProse sweatshirt myself, I might just reuse the auction pics (they were of decent quality and showed what needs to be showed). I also found a couple more saved ebay pages of XCOM:EU items on my computer: a big display box (much like the Apocalypse display box Koloth has) and also a fold together cube advertising the game (I wasn't able to pick these up because the seller didn't offer shipping to anywhere but Germany). These were offered by the same seller back in August 2013. So even though I do not have a chance to get something , it doesn't mean it will be forgotten without being documented. I try my best in this area because if I know it exists, I can keep an eye out for it.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

I had planned on doing more work on some site pages today, but one thing led to another and all of a sudden it's bedtime. Not only that, but I was afraid that if I started some work which was really involved that I'd mess it up. So, I'll save that for another day when I'm feeling better.

 

With that said, I was able to add a new entry in the UFO: EU promotional item page today, the UFO subLOGIC game. This game really has nothing to do with EU, but the story behind it relates to the name change to X-COM: UFO Defense for the American market. It's a piece of X-COM history, the kind of stuff I dream about at night and drool over during the day!

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Incredible, never even heard about this... Looks like new, too!

[Zombie]

Well, the outer box is a bit squashed-in along some corners but that's understandable for it being 25 years old. The stuff on the inside is basically new though. I suspect that Quentin just threw it in his giant box of X-COM goodies and didn't touch it for all this time. You don't really see copies of this game come up at action either (at least I haven't) so there probably isn't a ton of copies floating around anymore.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Has Jake Solomon ever been notified about your collection? I'm not joking, I really think it would be cool if he knew about it. He might mention it in an interview or something and we might get "Penny Arcaded" (I think this was how Pete put it) again. Or you might even get an indecent proposal...

[Zombie]

Has he been notified? Not by me, but maybe someone else did. I've been at this collection for 10+ years now, you would think he would have heard of it before from someone. Then again, maybe not - I really don't mess with social media (like twitter) much and that would probably be the place to get the ball rolling. Text wouldn't do it though, you have to see it, so maybe a picture. It's hard to do that right now with it being winter and I'd need to find a place to showcase it safely.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Well, then... Someone should tell Pete to mail Firaxis! Let them know who has been keeping people hostile toward aliens for them all the years of X-COM hibernation!

 

EDIT: Not just by collection, the site, too. Though I do think Solomon has been given the knowledge of this site at some point.

[Thorondor]

Though I do think Solomon has been given the knowledge of this site at some point.

 

I daresay, SV, we need not concern ourselves in that respect.

 

Allow me to remind you by quoting the great man himself - Jake Solomon:

 

On a personal note, I love StrategyCore. I’ve been getting my strategy news from you guys for years.

- May 30th 2012, XCOM: Enemy Unknown interview.

 

Furthermore, in 2015, we were fortunate enough to get Jake's personal assistance towards getting a certain tribute comic published, with full knowledge and endorsement of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

 

An honour not misplaced, as StrategyCore is the bastion of the absolute finest among XCOM ranks.

 

::

 

Ultimate is therefore a fitting qualifier for Zombie's collection. He kindly allows people to drool when they visit.

[Space Voyager]

My memory IS CRAP. Thanks, Thorondor!

[Zombie]

I didn't have much time the last couple weeks to update any promo item pages due to dealing with work and car trouble (brake line rupture due to extreme cold)! But I did add a few entries to the XCOM:EU promo item page today. Specifically an XCOM display cube, XCOM store display box (both of these are the fishes that got away due to the seller only shipping to Germany) and a German preorder box (which came with a t-shirt - I own this and took the pics myself). The cube and store display box might have been for use in German GameStop stores, but I can't be positive as the seller didn't elaborate and there aren't any GameStop logos on it (maybe was from a different retailer)?

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

I had off of work today due to a snowstorm and unfortunately the better part of the morning and early afternoon was spent shoveling out. Then I spent another hour cleaning my room. It's really amazing how much X-COM/XCOM items I have and forgot about!

 

Found a XCOM 2 Display Box used in GameStop (it's just the DVD sleeve) so I took a scan of that and didn't have a place to put it yet. No time like the present, so I created a XCOM 2 Promotional Items page and populated it with what was left on the main X-COM Promotional Item page. There is still a sticker sheet from the Bureau on there yet, so that'll probably be the next candidate for a new promotional item page (God only knows how much stuff I have for that game which hasn't been added yet. Take for example, that field bag, a large store display box, a bunch of posters, another sticker set, the press kit etc). I spent a lot of time quietly acquiring these items, so it'll be a proud moment to get them up on display!

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

I find it delightful that cleaning one's room can result in considering such an embarrassment of riches, Zombie.

 

::

 

Housekeeping - here, there, everywhere.

[Zombie]

Back on December 2 I purchased a PC Gamer June 1995 disk (#7) and sleeve from a seller because I never had the sleeve (only the disk). Today I located this and found out the disk inside the sleeve is actually #8 (July) instead of #7 (June). Nothing X-COM on that so it was a bust. Well, at least I can make up a complete version!

 

Added a couple more promo items today. First was that 36x26" Power of 2K games poster (featuring XCOM 2) which you can find on the XCOM 2 promo item page. The other was that XCOM pen variant which may have Germanic origins (you can find that on the XCOM promo item page). The pics of the pen are from the auction listing which aren't exactly the best, so I may take some pics of it tomorrow.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

March 19: Pack of 16 Gamestop XCOM 2 Promotional Box Art Sleeves... supposedly. I had to open up the package to investigate the sleeves, but I think it's actually one of those multi-sheet XCOM 2 posters you see on eBay. In other words an aftermarket creation not officially licensed by Take 2. That was a disappointment, but at least it was cheap @ $4.77.

 

Incorrect, this is actually a GameStop promotional poster for XCOM 2. The 16 separate sleeves were to be placed inside a DVD case and then the DVD cases arranged in a 4×4 grid for the final display. Mystery solved! I'm not willing to fold these up so I just took a pic of the unfolded raw poster and put that up on the XCOM 2 Promo Item page. Enjoy!

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Sorry for the lack of updates, I took a few pictures the other day of various items (mostly The Bureau) but had some trouble creating a site page for the game and the items. Finally got that sorted out today so it's time to introduce The Bureau game page and it's Promotional Item page. Not much to see there yet, but I did put up the GameStop store display box. (It's not gigantic like the Apocalypse box, but still pretty big and darn impressive). I'll be adding more things to it this week so keep checking in - you'll never know what you might find next!

 

And wow, it's been like years since I purchased two huge Terror From The Deep Trade Show Posters. I took one pic of it today and put it up at the TFTD Promo Item page. (More will follow in the near future). It's the same size as the UFO/Gunship 2000 Trade Show Posters (or 2x5 feet). I'm really, really fortunate and honored to have them! I'd say out of all the different game items I have, the TFTD Trade Show poster is #1 or #2.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

I had such high hopes of getting a lot done today but didn't realize how much work I still had left to do! First I had to give my pictures meaningful names to keep it all sorted. Then I had to take careful measurements and decide where to put the pics on a page. With that done, I added two posters to The Bureau promo item page (I warned you more was coming and there still is). I also added two more posters, another display box and the back to an existing display box to the XCOM promo item page. Then I reorganized the page a bit: trinkets at the top, then banners, posters, cubes & boxes. I'll see about taking a pic of each of the display boxes assembled and adding those tomorrow along with whatever else I can come up with.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Today was very productive for adding promotional items to the various site pages! It was mostly a mix, but boy, what a good mix it was!

 

UFO: EU

So you thought this page was complete? I added two more posters. One of them is the usual UFO: EU poster that John Broomhall owns (except my copies are not framed and didn't hang in the MicroProse offices at one time). The other is an ultra-rare Amiga version of the UFO: EU poster which is fantastic. I encourage you to head over to the page to check it out!

 

TFTD

Complete page? Hardly! Today I added three more pics of the TFTD Trade Show banner along with an EU and US poster. It's funny how I own more copies of the EU poster which is supposedly rare, than the US poster (which should be common but maybe is more rare due to less being produced).

 

XCOM: EU

I added the three display boxes an assembled form along with yet another XCOM poster (Our Last Hope variant).

 

The Bureau

One more poster here - the Lightly Censored variant.

 

XCOM 2

Again, another poster - the Join Us variant.

 

I'll try and get some more pics up tonight if time permits. Enjoy!

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Today I added two more posters to the XCOM 2 promo items page: A big GameStop Coming To Consoles poster and that gigantic 2-sided XCOM 2 + Bioshock poster. Lots of posters on that page now! I think I have one more floating around somewhere, gotta find it first.

 

- Zombie