I just had to add a lot of layers of protection for the package because I've dealt with Russian Post Service before. It's absolutely atrocious. But apparently everything got delivered just fine, so perhaps not absolutely atrocious.
I'm glad it finally arrived and it's actually very rewarding to see someone finally opening that box, glad it was you and not the customs officer! Which actually means this whole adventure—Survivor and Contest—has now officially ended.
Here's a pic of the trophy from my end before the shipping, if anyone's curious! You can see the plaque a bit clearer there—it's not glued to the actual bottom piece of the trophy yet.
Oh, and for those curious, the items in the package ended up being:
- An unexpectedly huge (43cm instead of 25cm I ordered) trophy which was, ironically, made in Italy, also with a metal engraved plaque (see the pic);
- The Theater Equation earbook;
- The Theater Equation program (sold exclusively at the 2015 show);
- Ayreon - The Source A2 poster;
- Avantasia - Ghostlights A2 poster;
- Ayreon Universe lanyard;
- some Ayreon Universe stickers they gave me at the merch stand
- Cellar Darling - This Is the Sound digipack CD (requested by MirrorMask);
- iamthemorning - ~, Belighted, Lighthouse digipack CDs (all three studio albums I added to the package as a shameless promotion of this excellent Russian band)
- a letter and a lot of packaging film and paper