Post a Story About Your Blu-ray Collection! (Singles, Sets, Etc.)

[BDBooking]

Purpose of the thread is simple: Type up a story to say why Blu-rays, whether as a collection or individual titles, mean so much to you. It can be a quick anecdote or a real story that can make generic discs a titanic piece of literature.

Kicking off this thread, I give you WrestleMania 29:



April 7th, 2013 is a day that will live in infamy. 80,000 screaming members of the WWE Universe infiltrated MetLife Stadium having the time of their lives.

While that happened, I was having the battle of my life. I had been admitted into the hospital with appendicitis.

Long story short: my appendix did indeed burst. During WrestleMania, I underwent an emergency appendectomy. I was in the hospital for the next full week on antibiotics waiting for the bile from said appendix to be fully dealt with.

It goes without saying that I missed WrestleMania, an event I held so dear I actually could be seen on the "I'm Coming Home" video while taking a photo in front of the Mid-Hudson Civic Center.

Through all the turmoil, I hadn't had a chance to see this event.

Until now!

Just popping this into the PS3 made me feel as if WrestleMania night was here again. It also makes all my health problems in the past come full circle, as the event I missed is now finally in my collection.

So Blu-ray.com Forum posters, what discs of yours from the collections do you deem storytelling worthy?

[Tony208]

I tried for months to get a Big Bang S3 Target exclusive Bluray with no luck.

I went to BEST BUY and buy the regular version during a sale and it has the TARGET exclusive disc.

Apparently unsold copies or whatever went back to the distributor or something and got sent out again to other retailers.

[MasterChief3624]

That is a really neat story I mean, I'm really sorry to hear about your hospitalization, but I'm happy you made it out all right and that you were able to view the Wrestlemania show that you missed!

I can't think of any awesome stories, but I'll tell you a very long tale about a blind buy I regret:

Saw this Blu-ray available on Amazon, and it apparently was limited to only a couple thousand copies. I bought it. I watched it. It sucked.

The end.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by MasterChief3624

That is a really neat story I mean, I'm really sorry to hear about your hospitalization, but I'm happy you made it out all right and that you were able to view the Wrestlemania show that you missed!

I can't think of any awesome stories, but I'll tell you a very long tale about a blind buy I regret:

Saw this Blu-ray available on Amazon, and it apparently was limited to only a couple thousand copies. I bought it. I watched it. It sucked.

The end.

[GreenGaijin]

Well, I have some stories during my searches of collecting but nothing like that which was introduced in the original post. I have one story that I think is worth telling, a tale of perseverance, obsession, glory and irony. I've told this once before, now somewhere lost in the sea of other threads. But let's see if I can get all the details.

Star Trek Steelbook (Future Shop Exclusive)

This is a long one, so you might want to get comfortable.

[Show spoiler]It's the winter of 2012, and at this time I started to think I should begin to acquire all the blu-rays that are on my wish list now so I can stop collecting before mailing prices go up, things go out of print, and really slow down on collecting before the new year so I can focus on other things (which I'm now already at that point).

So, the holy grail that I was in search for in my collection was the Star Trek steelbook. Which still to this day I regard as one of my, if not my favourite film (or pretty damn close). I started buying blu-rays because of that movie and it came out at a certain time in my life (but that's another story). I figured what a better way to begin capping off the collecting then to get the movie that started it.

Now, I'm a Canadian, so the one that I was hunting for was the Future Shop edition. As part of national pride and personally I think it looks better then the Play.com one. It's November, and I'm on ebay. I saw one up for auction and placed my bid and won. Now I'm not going to remember the numbers well, but I believe the total was around $75 (not bad).

I figured this was perfect, I'll get it shipped before the busy holiday begins. I contacted the seller and requested if he could do a go job protecting it (like cardboard, bubble-wrap, anything) because the last few things I ordered all got a dent or were broken. I live in an apartment complex and the mailboxes aren't that big.

So some time goes by and the package arrives. It was in a large envelope, bulged up from all of the padding and it was ripped wide open along the top. From the outside I was like "that doesn't look good". I unwrap the bubble-wrap, cardboard, layer after layer like it was an onion... The steelbook was bent with dents along the back and spine (although the front was okay).

I was heart broken. I found out that the mailman was a new guy who I assume just started because the holiday season was in full swing. That explains why my previous items were slightly damaged in the mailbox. I think he was a very aggressive person and was trying to rush a lot to keep up with the deliveries. Two weeks later, I never saw him again (must have pissed off some other people).

I would say at this point OCD was kicking in. I had to have a perfect version of the most important movie in my collection. I would look on ebay, but not many people were selling them and they were all over like $300. Then I found another one, labelled 'like new'. If I bought it now, I would have it within a day by Christmas and before the new year. Of course I pulled the trigger. It rang up to about $200... yeah. Thing is, the person sending it said they were only shipping it in a bubble-mailer. I was thinking "this is going to be another gamble". I asked if he could do anything to cushion it, even wrap it in newspapers to humour myself into false security. He said sure, but it might weigh more and there won't be much room to add a lot.

The package finally arrives and on the outside looks alright. I tear away the shopping flyers from Quebec to reveal an undamaged steelbook. I was relieved - but wait... what's this? There was a factory blemish on the front cover. Right above the letter 'T' was this tiny white ring that stood out like a dot to me. It reminded me of that Seinfeld episode with the white cashmere sweater. I was like "this is a joke right?"

Then I thought of an idea. Everything on this one looks find except for the tiny ring. But the cover from my first one looks okay. If I can just swap parts, I can have a mint one. Now, trying to keep a longer story short, I'll just cut to saying "I wasn't satisfied with the results".

It's around February 2013 now and I've still been thinking about it to a degree. Then I see one on ebay that just looked ace. I figured, third times a charm right?... right?! I ordered it (of course) and had it sent in a well packaged box. I think the price tag was about $170. It arrived... I opened it... and it was the best one out of the three! In fact there was nothing wrong with it, 100% mint! WOW!

So through all that crapfest, and trying again and again, I finally got what I wanted. And by far it is one of my most cherished items in my collection. Even though it may have cost me somewhere between $400-450 it was worth it. But I never want to do anything like that ever again!

Epilogue

Almost a week after I finally got my rare beauty I was on Blu-ray.com and I came across a thread about a website called Zavvi.com. They mentioned that they were going to release a steelbook version of Star Trek. I was thinking "They won't come up with anything that is going to beat my FutureShop one". I looked what they were going to release... and it was the exact same art!!! This is where I have no words to express my emotions. Well, the words PISSED OFF came to mind.

So what's the moral of the story?
Good things come to those who wait.
If you're going to invest in a hobby be aware that you're going to spend a lot of money.
If you keep trying, you might get what you want.
You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Even though I could have gotten a cheap version of my beloved movie. I'm happy with my original and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Twisted-Alien]

The great $1 Blu Ray Amazon Glitch event.

It was about 2 or 3 in the morning and I was getting ready for bed, absolutely tired. I was going to check in here to see if anything was up, but I thought "I think I'll just go to bed without looking in. There hasn't been anything exciting happening in a long time, this might be the first time I just go straight to bed."

Curiosity got the better of me and decided one quick look wouldn't harm anything, and then I saw the thread. I had just enough time to put in my order. Not but a few minutes later did Amazon finally fix the glitch. Came out of there with about 9-10 blu rays.

[The Narrator]

During a routine trip to Borders (R.I.P.), I stumbled upon the Criterion Blu-Ray of The Third Man long after it had gone out-of-print. It was list price, and I had a coupon, so you better believe I snatched it right up.

[Dragon Lee]

2 years ago I ordered American Beauty from amazon and received it a mere 24hrs after actually placing the order (I selected free 2 day shipping). Unfortunately when I pulled off the slipcover and opened it up, there was no blu-ray, just an empty eco case. I immediately contacted customer support and they sent me another copy a few days later. I didnt have to send back the empty case so I now have 1 extra American Beauty slipcover and another eco case went into the garbage bin.

[MasterChief3624]

Originally Posted by Dragon Lee

2 years ago I ordered American Beauty from amazon and received it a mere 24hrs after actually placing the order (I selected free 2 day shipping). Unfortunately when I pulled off the slipcover and opened it up, there was no blu-ray, just an empty eco case. I immediately contacted customer support and they sent me another copy a few days later. I didnt have to send back the empty case so I now have 1 extra American Beauty slipcover and another eco case went into the garbage bin.

The irony of throwing away an eco case... it's immense.

Assuming eco is used for environmental conservation?

[BDBooking]

Originally Posted by MasterChief3624

The irony of throwing away an eco case... it's immense.

Assuming eco is used for environmental conservation?