I'm sorry, it's not my place, but as your long distance lover the emotion overcame me. Those white sticks...it's just...I can't get over the clip art fan...and god forbid it gets scratched. The white/red scheme is very cool, I just don't see it beating out that MoTW - I'd lick a hobo's tooth for one.
Ideally, I would most certainly like to have a set of both. Unfortunately that is not really financially feasible for me, so it comes down to one or the other. The driving goal behind the acquisition of the Mai sticks is that my primary PS2 unit is the PSX that I have hooked up, and I would like for the sticks to match up (mostly) if at all possible. Plus I really like the predominantly white scheme over the red MotW one. Am I foolish enough to shell out the ridiculous ebay asking price for these? No, not in the least. Hence why I've offered these up for trade. I'd even be ok with swapping my boxed stuff for some loosies of the opposite item...it really doesn't matter to me exclusively if they're boxed or not, though it would be nice.
As for the condition (and maintaining it), mikey...I treat my stuff pretty darned well, so I am not too terribly concerned about getting the face of the sticks scratched/marred up. In other news, I *do* happen to know some single toothed hobos...
If it helps, the Mai stick was actually referred to as the Ougi stick for some reason(?).
I remember years ago when Play-Asia were clearing these out for $35 a pop. I massively regret not picking one up (even if shipping was around the same price!).
Also, I'm still after the illusive Orochi Stick too. Only ever seen one for sale once. Seems the Kusanagi edition is much easier to find...
Weird about the Ougi thing. I did not know that, and it is kind of interesting. I wonder where they got that from? Good luck with the Orochi stick...those things are straight sexy
Also...bump! Still looking!