I started buying the Nintendo controller 'blind box' keychains for two reasons. One is that I have a weakness for miniatures. The second reason was that when I saw the pictures on the wrapper of what keychains were available in the assortment, I noticed that one of them looked like this.
As I wrote in the last post, I'm nuts about 'retro tech'. And this keychain, with its gold and maroon color scheme and its 'boxy' shape, appealed to me for that reason. I had to have one.
Of course, the thing about blind boxes is that you never know for sure which item in the assortment you're going to get until you open it. And once you open it, it's too late to take it back to the store if it's not the one you wanted. Consequently, I didn't get the keychain above on my first try, or even on my second. I ended up with two different Wii controller keychains before I got what I really wanted.
The reason I was able to get the keychain I was looking for was due to a very specific set of circumstances. First, the controller I wanted was the only one in the assortment that was maroon in color. The second factor had to do with the way the 'blind boxes' were designed. Every one of these Nintendo keychains came in a red container like the one pictured below.
It might be hard to tell from the picture, but these red containers feature a number of small 'air holes'. I'm not really sure why. Anyway, the third contributing factor to my getting the keychain I wanted was that the craft store not far from where I live had taken their remaining stock of Nintendo controller blind boxes and dumped them into a clearance bin in a corner of the store. I spent quite awhile in that corner, peering through the 'air holes', searching for a tell-tale glimpse of maroon. It was difficult, and time consuming, but it worked. I found what I was looking for, and on clearance too.
Of course, I couldn't really be sure until I opened it. I was so nervous and excited that I ripped the wrapper off as soon as I got back to the car. When I saw that I'd gotten exactly what I was looking for I was ecstatic. I don't think the rest of my family understood what the big deal was. It was a little embarrassing trying to explain to them why I wanted a game controller keychain when I didn't even play video games. But in spite of this, I still felt the thrill of finding something that I'd spent so long looking for.
Doll collectors use the term 'grail doll' to describe any doll that they desperately want to add to their collection and that they've spent a good deal of time and energy searching for. So I guess you could say that this particular Nintendo controller was one of my 'grail keychains'.
Signed, Treesa
Update: I managed to purchase the controller keychain pictured above from the same craft store where I'd found the maroon controller keychain. I realized that the pictured keychain was one I didn't already own after spotting the colorful 'buttons' through the 'air holes' in the packaging. There were only two keychains in the assortment that had similar 'buttons', and both of them were ones I didn't already have. The keychains were also still on clearance, so I figured I might as well buy this one. There's now only one keychain from this assortment that I don't have in my collection. However, the chances of me being able to find this one remaining keychain at a reasonable price are not very good. Not only are the controllers no longer available in stores, but both the base color and the 'buttons' on the last keychain I need are quite similar to my previous purchase.
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