how (NOT) to restore one of my favorite plants vs. zombies mini figure... (feat. Snow Pea)

As I mentioned in one of my previous articles that prominently featured all of my old Plants vs. Zombies toys and mini figures that I still keep after all these years (even with some wear and tear on them), I spotted few of them that has really weird interaction against our country's humidity. One of the notorious examples for these are several of my old K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figures of themselves, specifically for most of those plant characters that have parts with solid matte plastics instead of all of them were made completely using ABS like the rest of them that I own. I was attempted to "restore" one of them (which was the Snow Pea, due to it was definitely the worst looking one among the others), but I ended up making it obviously look WAY uglier than how it originally looked like. Without further ado, let me explain about my short story about how come if I ended up "restoring" it like so.

(it's supposed to look like this when it was brand 🆕, but... ⬇)

Basically, I was once attempted to "clean" it in order to make it brighter like it was factory sealed from it's own blind bag that used to pack it. However, just like the most of the others that I mentioned there, it obviously didn't work with the casual ways of cleaning them (such as water and some soap [of any kind]), unless if I must bring it to a paint workshop in order to actually restore it (though I'm afraid if the painter would paint over it's own original prints like both of it's own eyes, yet I doubt if it's possible since it's so small to do so). Unfortunately, instead of doing so, I simply made a total blunder that singlehandedly caused it to look like so nowadays, by simply rubbing it's own entire head with a sandpaper. Not only the fact it totally ruined the way how it originally looked like in general, I also accidently rubbed the original watermark that was embossed on it, specifically this exact watermark that was embossed like this:

C E (first line), Made in China (second line), 2014 © K'NEX LPG (last line)

Well then, that was basically it, and I also accidently rubbed one of it's own original eyes too for a bit. Because of this disaster that I made, I don't think if I eventually able to feature it again on some of my social medias that I own (specifically one of my Instagram accounts and one of my Tiktok accounts that I recently made, respectively). Since this particular mini figure originally didn't come with one of it's own crucial parts of it (for this case, it was it's own stem, which it had the same green color as the regular Peashooter), it also caused me feel better to totally retire it for good, even if this was obviously one of my most wanted mini figure that I wanted back in those good old days (alongside with original Peashooter, Fire Peashooter, Garden Warfare/Garden Warfare 2 version of Peashooter, and Plasma Pea [which I still didn't have it until today, bummer])... If you have your own story when it comes to one of these, feel free to share your own short stories about it in the comments section below. That's basically for what I could recognize them back in those days, and as always, thanks for reading this article.

Experience with the AI playground apps...

Since the AI itself is now become a thing since last couple of years in particular, how about my experience of me using any of those AI playground apps that are now available out there? Well, I actually did use bunch of those AI playground apps for fun purposes, and I already doing so with two separate instances about them, which both of those are ChatGPT and (recently) Google Gemini, respectively.

Before I continue, I actually don't use either one of them quite often apart from the fact I sometimes having fun with certain stuffs that I want to tinker with them through all of those specific prompts that I typed into each of them (for this case, it was me turning some of my own pictures into something different that are related to them). As for others besides me with those pictures, I also occasionally use them for various other things, such as casual conversation with them in general and so on, albeit still way less frequent compared to everyone else out there.

As for both of those AI playground apps that I ever used there, here are my specific use for them, so those are:

1. ChatGPT

• I ever used it in order to turn bunch of my pictures into that Ghibili anime style that were once popular back in those days. Not sure if I actually did it with something other than my own collectible items instead of people's models like everyone's else did back in those days.
• I ever attempted to check a YouTube video link that was once existed back in those days until it got deleted later on. However, instead of doing so like how Wayback Machine or Internet Archive would work, it introduced me with something that had nothing to do with the link itself (though those people behind Wayback Machine or Internet Archive themselves didn't retrieve several of those defunct YouTube links in the first place).

2. Google Gemini

Similarly to ChatGPT, except with major differences between the two, so those are:

• I used it recently for having fun with several of my pictures (or sometimes someone's else pictures) in order to turn them into AI mini figure styles that are popular since last two months (as of the time when I clearly created this particular article). Not sure about other styles like Polaroid or others since I still centering around with my own collectible items instead of people's models like most people recently would do.
• I attempted to check a YouTube video link that was once existed back in those days until it got deleted later on. Instead of showing some of the irrelevant results, it literally showed me with the true reason about how come if that particular YouTube video itself is now gone.

 

As for the honorable mention, there was also a Bing AI which I also used for very short amount of time compared to those two that I mentioned there, except I only used it for casual conversation with it just for once.

Even if those of the AI playground apps do exist nowadays, I already understand about the ethics of me using it general, so that means I obviously NEVER misuse them for certain horrible stuffs that are associated with them, for example (because why not, some people out there are way advance enough to use AI stuffs for bad stuffs, such as deepfake, scamming, and so on [which those are literally existed even before AI playground apps themselves are really a thing]). Well, if you have an experience of using one of those popular AI playground apps, feel free to share your own story in the comments section. Anyway, that's basically it for what I could particularly say to this particular article, and pay full attention when it comes to using the AI playground apps in general, otherwise you'll end up having a major problem if you use them incorrectly.

your favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies NON Peashooter mini figures...

After I made my article that clearly explained particularly about my favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figures, so it's time for explaining about my other favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies plant mini figures that aren't Peashooters... I know if most of those figures weren't my personal favorites, but I spotted plenty of them that were also my favorites, so. Well then, let's take a look at those of the said figures of them, shall we?

According to what I clearly stated in one of my older articles that I made particularly back from almost 6 years ago, there were 4 of them that were my favorites (although one of them is now no longer my favorites), so those were:

1. Sunflower : Possibly one of my favorite Sunflower mini figures that I ever seen, although I still prefer that 2013 Indonesian KFC toy equivalent of the similar character. This was also the one and only Sunflower mini figure that had it's own ability where I was able to rotate her head 360 degree, unlike majority of toys and mini figures from various toy companies that featured her in each if the sets... That also applied to her Garden Warfare counterpart of the said character too (including one of her variants; for this case, it was Power Flower), but unfortunately I didn't have that one yet to this day (and so for that aforementioned variant of herself too, bummer).🌻
2. Bloomerang : This was possibly my most favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figure that wasn't Peashooter or any of his variants. Although I used to have one of those mad common cheap PVC mini figure equivalent of the similar character, but as soon as I acquired this one, I was so amazed by the design of it overall. Even though there was the Jazwares mini figure equivalent of the aforementioned character, but I still prefer this one because it somewhat had better versatility where I was able to flick his own "hockey stick" boomerang projectiles.
3. Cabbage-pult : Even though this used to be one of my favorites, especially about how I used to be a mad enthusiast with it instead of Peashooter and all of his variants... As for the figure itself, it was possibly one of my favorites where it simply had partially better appearance compared to one of those mad common cheap PVC mini figure equivalent of the similar character that I used to own.
4. Rose (Garden Warfare 2) : This was my favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 mini figure that I ever acquired that wasn't the Peashooter or one of his variants that they featured (for this case, it was Plasma Pea), although it wasn't on the same level as that Peashooter would do. Design-wise, I know if this wasn't the greatest (which was lower tier than the Citron and Kernel Corn), but it is somewhat better versatility than that costly Diamond Select Toys figure equivalent of her... For some odd reason, the one that I specifically own had slightly better appearance compared to most people who owned it (especially for both of her eyes though, if I'm not mistaken), including several people who discovered them through many old YouTube reviews that featured them from a while back.🌹

(Video courtesy on the 📱 that I'm holding there: Puppet Steve's YouTube channel)

As for the other plant figures besides those that I clearly mentioned above, here are the honorable mentions of the rest of the plant mini figures about them:

• Wall-nut and Infi-nut : I decided to mention them both here because these were definitely my least favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies plant figures that I ever seen so far, being the Infi-nut was the worse one between the two.
• Bonk Choy : Even though this one wasn't my personal favorite, but I'm pretty sure you used to excite over it, including the dark transparent green version of it too.
• Snapdragon : Again, even though this one wasn't my personal favorite, but some people out there would remember the time when they used to discover this exact character in one of the blind bag series, it was definitely the most dangerous K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies plant mini figure that they ever assembled.
• Laser Bean : Similarly to the previous 4 plants of the same reason, but I'm pretty sure most of the people would used to excite over it instead, either from that particular building set that exclusively featured it or one of the blind bag series.
• Coconut Cannon : Again, similarly to the previous 5 plants of the same reason, except it was only featured exclusively in the one and the only building set that featured him, so.🥥
• Kernel Corn (Garden Warfare 2) : Even though I own this one which isn't my personal favorites, but I had to admit if the design of the entire figure itself was definitely one of the greater ones that they ever designed and produced in general.🌽
• Citron (Garden Warfare 2) : Similarly to the Kernel Corn of the same reason, but with vastly greater design since this was the one and the only IRL figure of the aforementioned character itself that specifically existed in those times.🍊

Well then, there you have it for what I could particularly say over those old K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figures of themselves, specifically for any other plant figures besides the Peashooter and all of his variants which I already mentioned in one of my articles that exposed about them from couple of months ago. Again, even though there are lot of those Chinese sets that are somewhat "inspired" most of their designs from them nowadays (excluding the ones from the shooter games section), but those of the said mini figures of themselves were still my personal favorites to this day, but still, the plastic quality of them weren't that great either... Anyway, if you have your own thoughts and good old memories regarding to this exact topic, feel free to share your own story in the comments section if you're able to. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this entire article.

your favorite K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figures...❔

All of my K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figures that I have (except for one of them which I still didn't have that yet)

Can't believe it if I actually made yet another article that literally explained about one of those official Plants vs. Zombies mini figure sets that were once existed back in those days, and of course you definitely familiar with several of those ones that I have in my own collection since a while, which are those of the old K'NEX mini figure sets of themselves... However, I will spot some of my favorite plant characters that I always excited the most which they used to feature them in majority of those sets that they released back in those days, which are Peashooter and 4 of his following variants, respectively.

Even though I already made my article that briefly explained about them in general from roughly 6 years ago (based on their raw designs that they designed and manufactured them in general), but I decided to take another look at them again based on my own personal opinion about how come if I always excited over these mini figures for multitude reasons. Without further ado, let me answer about the aforementioned topic about them, shall we?

Before I begin, you probably remembered those of the very early days of K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies in general, right? If so, how about their first blind bag series that they ever released on the market from then? Well, if you still remember those good old times when they used to pack all 8 figures in each of their own blind bags, they literally packed each of them inside some sort of tissue papers (and so for some K'NEX bricks that were wrapped inside their own separate plastic transparent bag)... General traits of them aside, how about the appearance of those figures that they used to produce them back then though? Well, at first glance, they all look exactly the same as each of their own ordinary designs that they clearly featured in each of the sets that featured them, specifically between their dedicated graphic designs of themselves and the actual mini figures of themselves. However, after I somehow keep watching those of the old review videos of them from various YouTubers for many years since then, I noticed a bit of difference on those of the plant figures. It might be hard to compare between those of the newer ones and those of the first iteration of themselves, but it was somewhat noticeable for a bit on the Peashooters.

In case you've wondering about what are those traits of that K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figure that I'm referring to, here are my lists about it, right away:

1. First iteration: Slightly thicker stem*, slightly larger eyes**, and had simple hexagonal (❔) hole design on each of it's own pea projectiles.
2. Second iteration: Slightly thinner stem and slightly smaller eyes compared to the first iteration, but it retained the similar style of the hole design on each of it's own pea projectiles.
3. Third iteration: Roughly similar to the second iteration, except with vastly different hole design on each of it's own pea projectiles compared to the first or second iterations (literally the same projectile's hole design that they used it initially on each of the Cabbage-pult's cabbage projectiles, and then it eventually shared into majority of the plant figures later on [including Peashooter and 4 of his variants]).

* means also applied sometimes with Fire Peashooter.
** means not sure if this was the case, because it sometimes had slightly smaller eyes similarly to both of it's newer iterations. This trait also applied sometimes with Fire Peashooter too, albeit it was somewhat inconsistent.

Example of the first iteration of K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter mini figure (Courtesy: SquirrelStampede's YouTube channel)

Of course the one that I own is the third iteration, it's because I purchased it NOS from somewhere in 2017, while it was originally packed inside it's own K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 that literally lurked it inside... Although I literally have it since a while, but I always prefer the first iteration of it, simply because the design of that one was slightly beefier compared to any of those newer ones that I already mentioned above.

Now, how about those variants besides the original one that I mentioned just earlier? There were 4 of them that literally existed IRL after the original one, those were the Snow Pea, Fire Peashooter, Peashooter from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and Plasma Pea from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare... Among all of them, I liked the Snow Pea the most. It's because I simply enjoyed the in-game accurate design of it for it's size, unlike that one cheapo PVC mini figure of himself of the similar character... As for the rest besides the Snow Pea, that Peashooter from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is definitely my second favorite. Even though the design of it is slightly off compared to how he should look like in both of those Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare games, but I still excited over it too, thanks to the popularity of the Peashooter himself in both of those aforementioned Plants vs. Zombies shooter games (yep, because of his highly iconic in-game model of him and his highly memorable kazoo-y voice lines, thanks PopCap)... For the last two Peashooter variants (which are Fire Peashooter and Plasma Pea from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare), both of these are probably my least favorites. Even though I also own that Fire Peashooter, I decided to say so due to the way they designed it, they literally used the similar shape as the original one instead of the current one that clearly exists in Plants vs. Zombies 2 since a long time ago, except for the fact it used the transparent plastic materials instead of the usual solid ones (no wonder why I already cracked, chipped, and shattered most parts of mine already). Lastly, specifically for the Plasma Pea, although I still didn't have it yet until this day, it still shared the same traits in similar fashion about how I excited over that regular Peashooter too (even though it looked partially tacky to me in my own opinion).

Note: Even though those are always my favorites, they all shared their dreaded goof where the connection between the stem and the bottom leafy part of each of them were loose as heck (and so for both of those that were from the shooter game's counterparts too, which the connection between the stem and both of their pea pod arms were loose).

2 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Fire Peashooter mini figures... (one of them has slightly thinner stem compared to the other one)

Well then, there you have it for what I could particularly say over those old K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies mini figures of themselves. Even though there are lot of those Chinese sets that are somewhat "inspired" their shapes from them nowadays by "enlarging" each of them (except for those from the shooter games), but those of the said mini figures of themselves were still my personal favorites to this day, even if the plastic quality of them weren't that great, however. Anyway, if you have your own thoughts and good old memories regarding to this exact topic, feel free to share your own story in the comments section if you're able to. That's it for what I could particularly say about this particular topic, and as always, thanks for reading this entire article.

More of the lost K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies review videos from YouTube...

After I made my original article about those of the aforementioned review videos of themselves that were once available on YouTube by their respective channels, so I decided to make this particular sequel article about them. This time, I will list more of them since I discovered more of those videos that were once existed back in those days, specifically since I made my original article about them in the meantime... Before I begin, I made a single error that I made in one of the lists particularly in my original article about them. Remember the time I mentioned this exact statement in there, which was this one?

"There was another quite popular YouTuber of toys that is well-known for obsessing Disney characters (judging by the name of his channel), reviewed certain K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies sets, such as some Series 1 blind bags, Wall-nut Bowling Set, Pirate Ship Building Set, and Wild West Skirmish Set."

Turned out if his channel still exists until today even after all these years, including his old contents of themselves too! Of course, YouTube automatically flagged vast majority of his review videos as YouTube Kids videos per each of them (because why not, thanks COPPA)... Okay, back to the main topic of this particular article. Even though I only encountered slightly less quantity compared to what I mentioned in my original article about them, but I actually encountered more videos of them that were once existed on YouTube, but then their respective owners decided to delete or set them as private for some reason that I obviously couldn't tell you. Without further ado, here are my short lists about them, right away.

• There were 2 videos being reviewed by a random toy guy, opened 3 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 blind bags. One of them contained (possibly) the Cowboy Zombie, and the rest two were Peashooters (which only one of them that he assembled it on camera, while the other one was still inside it's own bag, even if he already ripped the top part of the bag itself).
• A little boy opened 2 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 blind bags. One of them had Cowboy Zombie inside, and the other one had Peashooter inside.
• There was another little boy opened a single K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 blind bag. It had Peashooter inside.
• There was yet another little boy opened 5 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 blind bags. 3 of them were the zombies (which 2 of them were the Basic Zombies, and one of them was a Future Conehead Zombie [which he already opened it right before he recorded the video of it]), and the rest two were the Peashooter and Bonk Choy, respectively. He even showed the codes on each of the blind bags to tell which one that he would get, although you couldn't even see them well due to low video quality that he uploaded there (which was in 240p), yet he also didn't assemble most of those figures that he got in there too. Interestingly, he uploaded particular right 2 days in prior to how I acquired mine that had Peashooter inside.
• There was yet again, another little boy opened 3 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 blind bags. He even mentioned SquirrelStampede in it too, which means, he was able to get 3 different figures by checking the code numbers that were printed on the back parts of the blind bag (per each of them, which one of them was underlined). The 3 figures that he acquired were Peashooter, Sunflower, and (possibly) Mummy Zombie, respectively.
• A teenager opened a single K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 blind bag, and it had Peashooter inside.

Courtesy: her YouTube channel (but she already deleted it)

• A girl reviewed bunch of K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies figures that she owned in her collection. The Peashooter was the only plant that she had, and the rest were the zombie figures.
• There was yet again and again, another little boy opened 4 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 1 blind bags. One of them was Cowboy Zombie, and the rest were Peashooters!
• A woman opened 6 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 2 blind bags, including the obvious method for getting them without any duplicates by checking the code numbers that were printed on the back parts of the blind bag (per each of them, which one of them was underlined). She got 6 out of 8 different figures, except for frozen zombie and Conehead Mummy. Even though she deleted the review of it on YouTube, but her old picture that featured 2 of those figures still exists on her Instagram account, despite she posted lots of her random pictures and videos of her hobby and her random stuffs in general.
• A little boy opened 2 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 3, which consisted of Adventurer Zombie and Fire Peashooter, respectively.
• There were pair of toy reviewer YouTubers who owned by a Japanese couple (judging by both of their name), opened some K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 3 in two of their random blind bag opening videos that featured them. One of them contained Fire Peashooter, by the way.
• A little boy opened a single K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 Series 4 blind bag, which had Peashooter inside.
• There was a random YouTuber who uploaded bunch of his Minecraft gameplay videos (including how he was able to build some Plants vs. Zombies characters on the aforementioned game itself), opened a single K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 Series 4 blind bag. It had a Kernel Corn inside.

Courtesy: their YouTube channel (but now they already deleted it)

• A popular toy review YouTuber from Mexico (?), owned by a family, opened all 8 different characters from each of the K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 Series 4 blind bags in one of their surprise egg videos. The review video that they featured them had Super Brainz character on the surprise egg itself, yet they also reviewed a random cheapo Chinese Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter popper toy in it too.

Courtesy: his YouTube channel (but he already deleted it)

Courtesy: his YouTube channel (but he already deleted it)

• A high profile YouTuber that is well-known for reviewing vast majority of official Lego mini figures and large building sets (and so for his own LEGO MOCs), opened all 8 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 Series 4 blind bags, including how he showed the codes to tell what was inside per each of the bags. He opened 7 out of 8 different figures in his ordinary review video of them, and then he opened Super Brainz in his review of that large Lego Wall-E building set video later on. FYI, he also stated if he actually got them for free straight from K'NEX themselves in one of his K'NEX Super Mario blind bag videos in order to review them in general, judging by how he literally received a cardboard box from them, which consisted of a display case contained lots of K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 Series 4 blind bags, and 2 display cases contained lots of K'NEX Super Mario blind bags (which both of them had different series, which were Series 9 and Series 10, respectively). Even though he deleted those reviews of them on YouTube, but his short review videos of them still exists on his Instagram account alongside with his other pictures and his other short videos that he posted in there (including those two K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 building sets as well [those were Boat Blast and Crazy Targets, respectively]).

As for bonus besides those ones that I mentioned above to wrap up this particular article, there was a video from a highly popular toy review YouTuber owned by a little boy and his family (but now he's grown up already just averagely similar to myself nowadays, and so for his entire family). There was a random unboxing video from them, and they got all K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies sets while they were still packed inside their original packaging per each sets (such as Wild West Skirmish Set, Pirate Seas Plank Walk Set, Far Future Building Set, Wall-nut Bowling Set, Pirate Ship Building Set, Football Mech, Cone Mech, and some of those Series 1 blind bags). However, I didn't encounter their ordinary review video of all of those sets that they clearly got in there though, even after all these years since they uploaded that video from then.

Again, there are some more of those lost videos of them from YouTube, but I'm not sure if I actually found more of those lost videos than the ones that I listed them here, or even my original article about them that I made since a while ago. FYI, I was once tried to search most of them on YouTube specifically using Wayback Machine, but none of them would appear in there whatsoever... If you still remember those review videos that I already listed there, feel free to share your own story about them if you still remember them though. Anyway, that's basically it for this particular article, and as always, thanks for reading this particular article.

The unseen Plants vs. Zombies collectible items...

Well, it's time to find out on anything around my own Plants vs. Zombies collectible items, which majority of them that I have nowadays are toys and figures. However, I also own several of them that I almost didn't feature them on camera, yet it also the ultimate reason about how come if I only feature just plant characters in vast majority of the pictures that I took since almost a decade since I got my very first actual toys and figures from themselves.

Actually, there's not much else that I could particularly say about those items though, because almost all of those sets that I'm talking about are mostly the zombie characters that I somehow don't bother to show them for various reasons. Even though I only mentioned just three of them in here, but I'm going to tell you about the current state about those sets in general. Those three sets are:

A. 5 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 2 blind bags...

You probably remember that time where I wasted a lot of bucks over these of the exact K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies blind bags that I purchased from e-Bay from almost a decade ago. For some reason, I purchased the 8 packs of all characters from it instead of just focusing on one of the plant characters that I always wanted the most among all of them (for this case, it was the Snow Pea). However, after I opened 3 of them (which were Cabbage-pult, Snow Pea, and Infi-nut), I somehow regretted it by not opening the remaining 5 blind bags that are still sealed until today. Because of that, I simply left them intact inside the small cardboard box, and taped the whole box itself with LOTS of duct tapes around the whole box itself for their extra layer of protection. I was once put these blind bags on sale in one of the local online marketplaces in my country, but nobody would purchase it anyway.

(this was taken right before I opened one of them, hence why there are 6 of these)

B. 6 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 3 blind bags...

Still from the K'NEX section, except these were obtained for 🆓 from that one legendary YouTuber who sent me these blind bags and 3 K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 Series 4 blind bags to me (which I obviously opened them already, which consisted of stock plant character trio from that particular shooter game per each of the blind bags, in addition of that loose Peashooter)... Just like how I treated with those of the remaining K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 2 blind bags, I didn't even open any of them too, except for the one that had Fire Peashooter inside for simply comparing between it and my old one. Again, I was once put these blind bags on sale in one of the local online marketplaces in my country, but nobody would purchase it anyway. Even if I was once attempted to offer my own free giveaway to some other Plants vs. Zombies fans online through social media's direct chat message (or even some random geeks online), but it still didn't occur yet due to their procrastinations per each of them.

C. 12 Chinese Plants vs. Zombies mini figure surprise eggs...

If those plant figures that came from each of these plastic surprise eggs are exist in my collection, obviously each of the surprise eggs also comes with each of the zombie figures that are exist alongside with each of the plant characters too. For some reason, I didn't bother to assemble all of those zombie figures though, despite I just clearly wasted my bucks over these... Simple as that, and no offense specifically about these ones though.

So, there you have it for those of the unseen Plants vs. Zombies collectible items that I have laying around somewhere, with an exception for those that were once existed on my collection, but then I gave them to another enthusiast... Don't ask me about how come if I still left most of them inside their original packaging, because I have so many technical difficulties for directly answering it about why, apart from the fact I suddenly don't like most of those characters from most of them. If you have your experience when it comes to keeping those figures in similar fashion to those, feel free to share your own story about it in the comments section if your memory still serves it right. That's it for what I could particularly say about it, and as always, thanks for reading this specific article.

i'm leaving plants vs. zombies franchise? but...🎮

So, it's been a long time since I'm explaining about myself with my own Plants vs. Zombies stuffs in general. Unfortunately, the franchise itself is pretty much in the destroyed state thanks to how both P**pC**p and Electronic F***s somehow ruined this exact franchise that I enjoyed since more than a decade as a whole. Well, even though they released a brand new sequel of the standard Plants vs. Zombies mobile game recently, but that doesn't hype me that much at all unlike the first two standard mobile games that I know, albeit the Plants vs. Zombies 2 recently has certain of their own issues occurring per each of the updates that they keep jam packing into... FYI, when it comes to my own stuffs with them, there's not much else that I could particularly say about it apart from the fact I definitely have some sort of burnout occurring over them, because for some reason I still keep doing the exact same insanity on one of the Plants vs. Zombies standard mobile games that I still play until today. Without further ado, I'll split into two categories for this, one is for the series of the games themselves, and the other is obviously for the collectible stuffs from them.

A. Games (in general) 🎮📱

Yep, as what I'm clearly stated just before, there's not much else that I could particularly say about them in general these days, except for how I was so excited during those good old days when the original Plants vs. Zombies was the only legitimate game that I ever played back in those sweet old days through different devices, except for the console and Nintendo DS platforms. That also shared with some of the newer titles right after the original one (such as Plants vs. Zombies 2, both of the Garden Warfare shooter games, and Heroes), albeit I still never play both of those aforementioned shooter games until today due to I have no proper device to play them both though. Those were definitely the simpler times, until the earliest version of Plants vs. Zombies 2 was newly released worldwide. Although I was so hyped to play that too, but I encountered many of those fake apps that pretended to be the real deal of it that were once existed, therefore I got fooled by those instead, which almost harmed my old Android device that I had back then... BTW, in the same time where I used to hype over Plants vs. Zombies 2, I also used to play Plants vs. Zombies Adventures in Facebook multiple times before it got disappeared later on (yes, I used to explore around Facebook with my own account that I used to have back in those days).

After I found the legitimate version of the Plants vs. Zombies 2 later on, things were changed severely, especially when it comes to beating the whole Adventure Mode of it through all 11 different worlds casually. Sure, it was clearly more challenging compared to the original one, but it was worth some fun when it comes to playing it almost in similar fashion as the original. Yes, it has plethora of both plant and zombie characters (which is in fact a LOT of them compared to the original), but I still do understand about how to beat them in various levels, especially for certain zombies with special abilities on them as well, just like what I did with the original one with no issues whatsoever... Everything about the whole game itself was reasonably okay, until certain major updates (such as "Power Plants" update, "Arena" update, "Penny's Pursuit" update, and so on) were heavily butchered the game itself as a whole.

All of my favorite plants in Plants vs. Zombies 2 (well, there are more of them though)

With all of those recent constant updates that they recently added in Plants vs. Zombies 2 since last 6 years, either if I'd enjoy or not, I still keep playing it no matter what, especially for which game modes that I usually play. However, I only play most of the game modes that are IMO, somewhat easy to play these days, considered if I collected many of those plants in that game already, including how I was able to "hoard" TONS of certain resources in there too (most commonly are coins, gems, mints, and gauntlets)... However, this is also the turning point particularly about how come if I still play the whole game itself, even down to all of those content messes and "bugs" that they keep adding nowadays, yet they also made certain levels of themselves are somewhat more repetitive between one way to another compared to what it used to be... Again, I keep enjoying the insanity from the whole game itself though (ngl), but not all of the game modes that I play though for sure.

As for the other Plants vs. Zombies games besides the first two standard games, I actually played 2 more games in my Android device(s), those were the Heroes and the earliest version of the Plants vs. Zombies 3... For the Heroes, because I was simply suck at one of those card games, I only played it for several months until I stopped playing it. As for the earliest version of Plants vs. Zombies 3, I actually played it for few months until they suddenly "sunsetted" it later on. It honestly wasn't all that exciting at all compared to the first two standard games, but it was really that fun (or wasn't it though, because it is literally just a lazy rip-off from another popular modern day mobile game). There's also a Battle for Neighborville shooter game, but again, I have no proper device to play that though.

To wrap up this particular section of this category, "Which Plants vs. Zombies game that you're playing these days?" Well, I only play both of the standard games, yet the Plants vs. Zombies 2 is my most played game that I ever play nowadays... Again, even with all of those game modes and certain other messes that they recently added since more than dozens of it's own updates, but it depends on which one that I play per every single day, otherwise I would ended up having some sort of total seizure or severe burnout if I keep addictive over them for way too long.

B. Collectible stuffs from them...

Moving on to the collectible stuffs from this exact franchise. Pretty sure you might recognize all of my Plants vs. Zombies collectible stuffs that I featured on various sources that I made that involved them, including this exact Blogspot that I own here. BTW, I actually have plenty of those collectible stuffs, and few of them are exactly the ones that I always wanted the most (which majority of them are just plants). However, since around the time before the pandemic era begins, I somehow decided to stop hunting them on various online marketplaces, just like what I clearly stated about how come if I decided to do so in bunch of my previous articles about them.

Even though I already explained this numerous times in bunch of my aforementioned articles before, but from what I could sum up over them, I had to stop hunting them because there are no more of my favorite sets of (mostly) figure sets from certain official toy companies who used to license this exact franchise, except for majority of those that are directly made in China, instead of made in China but distributed exclusively for certain official toy companies outside China (for this case, USA)... Yes, I have several of my figure sets that are directly made in China, but that didn't hype me that much unlike most of those ones that I always wanted just before, considered if most people from our country would purchase those of the mad common Chinese sets from various online marketplaces for relatively cheap price (including those plushies, too).

For now, I still don't bother to hunt any of those Plants vs. Zombies collectible stuffs yet since the last ones that I acquired back in 2022. Even though I was able to check on what's left on those of my favorite figures from themselves (especially on certain international online marketplaces such as e-Bay, Amazon, and so on), but that definitely will cost WAY more costly than before, thanks to the combination of extreme inflation, extreme international shipping overall charges between two countries (or more), and extreme tax charges... So, that's basically it, I doubt it if I can acquire those of my favorite collectible stuffs from themselves anymore since the last one that I ever acquired in 2017, but I also highly doubt it if there will be another miracle that may happen in the future when it comes to this as well since that one that popular YouTuber who reviewed them back in those days literally gifted most of them to me for pure free (except for bit of tax charges).

C. Conclusion

With the current state of how both P**pC**p and Electronic F***s has fatal errors when it comes to treating this 15 year old franchise nowadays, I absolutely don't think if I can enjoy this exact franchise as excited like I used to. Either I express them by casually playing those games, or collecting any of the collectible stuffs from themselves, I obviously have no clue about when this will eventually last, because there are lot of other stuffs that are much more enjoyable than just enjoying this old franchise for sure... Even though this is in fact the unfortunate reality of the franchise itself since all of those failures of their last games that they ever released, but I still keep to enjoy it even with all of those weird disasters occurring. Otherwise, if this particular franchise will vanish entirely thanks to their greediness behind it (sooner or later; because why not, thanks Electronic F***s), I will definitely leaving this whole franchise in tears, because TBH, there is no franchise that will able to replace this one, unless if I already too much addictive over many of those popular modern day mobile games that everybody would play these days, which they somehow neglected this specific franchise entirely.

To wrap up this entire article, do I leave this exact franchise? Well, it's definitely a total dilemma when it comes to directly answering it in general, considering if I still play those games and collecting collectible stuffs from themselves, albeit in much less amount of time and quantity, respectively; unlike what I used to enjoy back from roughly around a decade ago, preferably from 2013 until roughly 5 years later. Those were definitely the best old times when it comes to enjoying this exact franchise for sure, due to the fact there were lot of potentials from this franchise, either from the games themselves, or even the collectible stuffs from various official toy companies themselves who used to license it (well, even if many of those cheapo Chinese sets were existed since then through various of their forms, even after all these years until today)... But now, since the whole franchise itself is in destroyed state thanks to them both, all I got from them nowadays are pretty much ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on my bare hands. Even though I still able to play it casually, but I already lost my hope on the whole franchise, yet I also don't even care about how's the future of this whole franchise for next following years... Just like one of my previous articles that I made particularly about it, only the time will tell about the actual truth of this specific franchise if they still care about it. On the other hand though, I don't think if they actually have a plan to deliberately vanish them if they already lose their profits over this specific franchise anyway (again, because why not, thanks Electronic F***s).

If you have your own short story regarding to the current situation of this exact franchise as a whole, feel free to write your own aforementioned story in the comments section if you're able to. Anyway, that's it for what I could particularly say about this, but I don't think this will be my last article that explained about this exact franchise for sure... As always, thanks for reading this article, and hope you can pay attention regarding to this specific situation of it in general.

SquirrelStampede: The Man Behind His Plants vs. Zombies Toys...🐿

Pretty sure you probably mentioned this particular YouTuber in few of my articles that explains about my own Plants vs. Zombies stuffs, ranging from my main series of my aforementioned collection of themselves (which it only lasted about 4 parts, and that was it), until all the way to how I briefly mentioned this particular legend in few of them. Well, of course I watched almost all of his review videos of themselves since his first review video of them that he published back in 2014, and I obviously fascinated by how he reviewed certain of his toy or figure sets that I always wanted. Without further ado, let me particularly explain about my whole story about how I discovered this particular YouTuber who is well-known for reviewing any sort of Plants vs. Zombies stuffs.

a. First time discovering him...🐿

Courtesy: his YouTube channel

Before I discovered him and his first legendary Plants vs. Zombies toy review that he ever uploaded and published on YouTube in 2014, I casually watched any kinds of Plants vs. Zombies stuffs, ranging from the usual gameplay videos that I encountered from then (which majority of them that I watched were obviously from the original TD game, followed by the earliest days of it's sequel), until all the way to certain IRL collectible stuffs from themselves (which were hard to come by in it's days, unlike how I particularly encountered them since post-2014 and onwards). Everything particularly about how I watched them on YouTube were all that simple, until I found that one upcoming slideshow video from somebody else who featured some of my wanted Plants vs. Zombies mini figures. After that particular video that I watched, I eventually watched the actual review video of the aforementioned set of themselves, and believe or not, it was reviewed by the legend himself, SquirrelStampede! Even though I also discovered certain YouTubers who reviewed them in their hands specifically after he published his own review of them, I had to admit if his review of themselves were the best ones among all of the ones that I ever watched on YouTube, followed by certain other YouTubers who reviewed them in it's days too (for this case, The Review Spot, FGeeTV, Pixel Dan, and etc.). This also made me fascinated by how he acquired even more of Plants vs. Zombies collectible stuffs after his first one that he reviewed it just earlier, and so for his series of "Plants vs. Zombies Toy Play" too.

As for his own channel itself, he also reviewed any collectible stuffs besides Plants vs. Zombies. Those were Super Mario, Pac-Man, Minecraft, some random official Lego sets, and many more. You probably wondering about how come his channel is nicknamed like so, it's because he's literally a squirrel enthusiast (if I'm not mistaken), judging by how he briefly featured certain of his squirrel mini figures and certain toys as his usual cameo in majority of his review videos, including most of his Plants vs. Zombies review videos that I ever watched. 🐿

b. The Plants vs. Zombies sets that he reviewed...🐿

Courtesy: his YouTube channel

Since his first one that he reviewed them back in 2014, there were even more sets that he acquired since then until few years later. Excluding certain of the cheapo Chinese alternative sets or bootleg sets that he got, here are the lists about the official Plants vs. Zombies sets that he acquired for his collection:

1. K'NEX Series 1-5 blind bags (all 8 figures per each of the series [4 plants and 4 zombies, respectively], which the last 2 series were based off from Garden Warfare 2),
2. Various Jazwares sets (both from original TD game and it's sequel),
3. Certain Diamond Select Toys sets (both from original Garden Warfare and it's sequel),
4. Certain K'NEX building sets (Football Mech, Cone Mech, Pirate Seas Plank Walk, Crazy Targets [Garden Warfare 2], Boat Blast [Garden Warfare 2], etc.), and
5. 2015 Burger King toys of the whole franchise itself (limited edition set, and it even included that one mini LCD handheld game among all of them)

c. My interaction with him, and eventually...🐿

Courtesy: his YouTube channel

Believe or not, I actually had plenty of my great moments when it comes to how I enjoying his Plants vs. Zombies reviews particularly since then. Of course I started by commenting on most of his review videos, especially for those of his K'NEX blind bag opening codes. Even though it was all that normal at first, until I somehow "overwhelmed" by all of those replies with either jumbled letters or words (which I realized if most of the people commented like so were done by their infants instead of casually from themselves), or even offense replies specifically for no reason whatsoever (especially in one of his aforementioned review of themselves, and for this case, it was K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Series 3 blind bag opening codes, because I commented it right after he published that particular video)... Despite all of those messes that they made to me through plenty of them, that didn't stop me to get my own K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies figures on my own collection too, particularly for most of the plant figures that I always wanted the most.

Even though there were plenty of Plants vs. Zombies enthusiasts like I do in his comment section of majority of his reviews of themselves (including that one particular geek that I already mentioned for a bit in one of my older articles that I made it from a long time ago, I think), that also didn't stop me for getting famous in his review videos, and he eventually did it specifically in that one review of two K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 building sets that he did so in 2017. However, I didn't watch it particularly right after he published it due to I always bothered by all of those messes on that one aforementioned review of one of those K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies blind bag opening codes that I mentioned just earlier. So, I decided to watch it approximately after more than a year since he published it, and I was surprised by how he literally featured that one picture that I made on one of my Instagram accounts that I own (which obviously consist plethora of my Plants vs. Zombies collectible stuffs), which was this one!

Yep, thanks to the fact I'm also an electric fan enthusiast, he clearly did it because according to himself, it was one of the greatest fan shot that he ever seen so far, although I actually took that particular picture using my old 2010 Nokia feature phone (don't ask me particularly about why I took it using that particular old 🥔). Not only just that, he also liked and commented bunch of my pictures that I posted on the aforementioned Instagram account as well... Now, as for how I decided to take a conversation through direct message chat with him particularly on Instagram, I casually said "Hello" to him, without my own intention of me asking about anything about his legendary Plants vs. Zombies collection in the first place. Well, you probably recognize this exact moment as what I clearly stated in one of my older articles about how I casually met him just like what I stated just earlier, until how I actually got most of my favorite Plants vs. Zombies mini figure that I always wanted straight from him for free, but not all of them though.

🆗, back to where I initially met him through the Instagram's direct chat between myself and himself. After I said "Hello" word casually like what I clearly stated earlier, he immediately offered me to do some free giveaway of his Plants vs. Zombies figure sets exclusively to me, and I obviously requested most of the K'NEX plant figures that I wanted the most, albeit not all of them though (specifically for the ones that I still missed since then until today). It took a while for my conversation between myself and the legend himself, and he eventually sent me several of K'NEX Plants vs. Zombies blind bags for free, in addition of one of my most wanted plant figure that was packed in a transparent zipped bag, and even the appreciation note straight from himself. As for the figures themselves per each of the bags that he sent it to me, I already listed them in the same original article about how I specifically did this to him as well.

Courtesy: his YouTube channel

Well then, there you have it for my greatest moments when it comes to how I discovered this particular legend who is well-known for reviewing certain Plants vs. Zombies collectible stuffs that I always wanted since his debut review of themselves until the last one that he reviewed, unless if certain of his Chinese alternative sets or bootleg sets of them would count, because I simply don't care with those of the said sets that he reviewed them anyway (because I still literally can find them much easier until this day, even with completely different sets that they sell nowadays). In conclusion, his reviews of Plants vs. Zombies sets are the greatest among all of the ones that I ever watched on YouTube, especially for certain ones that I always wanted. It also made it unexpectedly better on me, specifically about how he featured myself in one of his Plants vs. Zombies building set reviews, and followed by how he exclusively offered me by sending some of his Plants vs. Zombies mini figure sets to me for free... To wrap up this particular article, if you also have some good memories when it comes to watching his own contents, specifically about his Plants vs. Zombies reviews, feel free to let me know particularly about it in the comments section if you remembered it though. As always, thanks for reading this particular article, and cheers!