What is my passion? What drives me? For what purpose do i drag myself out of bed and go to work in my little cubicle, typing away like some mindless drone? Do i enjoy my job? No. Do i like my coworkers? Somewhat. So why do i do it? Money? Thats part of the reason, but only as a means to an end. So what's my secret? What is my passion? The answer? Model Kits. Silly, I know. What's a 30 year old doing wasting their time buying and assembling model kits? Put simply, it brings me joy. It always has. I still remember my first model. It was a VF-1 Valkyrie from the Super Dimension Fortress Macross series. An awesome fighting machine even it did have a "chicken" mode. GERWALK aside it was a well made kit and survives in my collection to this day. Right next to it sits an empty display platform... empty for now. After work I will be acquiring a brand new high-res model to add to my collection. A 1/100 GUNDAM Astray Red Frame Powered Red... a thing of beauty... looking more like an awesome bare knuckle brawler then a super advanced combat system. Once I get it home its just me, a set of Godhand nippers and hours of assembling countless pieces of plastic molded perfection...I shook my head briefly to clear away such dreamy thoughts. Work sadly had to come first.
8 grueling hours of computer code later and I was free. Time to head to the shop and pick up my order. With a quick stop at the ATM to grab some cash, I hopped in my car and drove to the hobby store. As usual, the parking lot was packed full of cars. Everyone here is into something different. There are so many kits being sold these days that it's impossible to keep track of them all at least not in my lifetime anyway. The store itself was fairly small. A single room with an expansive selection of models displayed on several shelves along two walls. A single counter stood in the middle of the room manned by a bored looking clerk who was probably stuck there until closing time. As I enter I offer a cheerful greeting, "Hello Ichigo! How are sales today?" "Oh hey man, howdy," he responded with a weak wave, "It's been pretty good actually. We've had some folks from a group buy on Facebook showing up over the past few days."
That makes sense. You can find nearly anything you want on social media nowadays. It's a great way to bring people together. Hell, my own business would be nothing without it. "Well, that's good to hear. Anything to keep this place running. I don't know what I'd do without it. Thanks for letting me know. I'm gonna head straight to the back and pick up my stuff." As I approached the rear of the store I noticed a couple of boxes sitting on the floor. One had my name on the label, but the others were scratched out. Apparently someone didn't show for their order. This is unfortunately a common occurrence. I take one of the boxes and start to lift it off the ground to carry it over to the counter. At first glance it looks like a normal box, but upon closer inspection I notice that something isn't quite right about it. I look down and see that there is a slight indentation near the bottom. Putting the box back down I inspect it closely. Sure enough, there appears to be damage to the box and possible the kit inside. "Hey!" I shout to Ichigo. What happened to this one? Someone not happy with an order and kick it or something?"
"Yeah, looks like they didn't like it for some reason. If you want it it's yours. I can't sell it in that condition." A delighted shiver ran up my spine. A free kit?! damaged or no that's better than Christmas! "No problem, thanks Ichigo. You're the best." After paying for my order I left with my kit and the extra one in tow. It was almost time to start building, but first I took a few minutes to check out the latest gossip on the interwebs, nothing much going on really, mostly people bitching about how they hate their jobs. Aaarrgghhh! If only they could see mine! But I digress. I took my trusty toolbox down to the basement where my work bench sat waiting. I sat down and laid out the two kits. Glancing between my own order and this mystery kit I weighed my options. I suppose Red can wait...after all few things are as fun for collectors as mystery boxes.