Jolly Rogers

They were originally WonderFest exclusives but the HK bootleggers got hold of them and started cranking them out - first as unpainted copies but they soon started mass producing the pre-painted version. eBay used to be flooded with them back in the late 1990s.

Patlabor TV series is a completely different animal than the movies, so if you were turned off by the first Patlabor movie, don't let it discourage you from checking out the TV series and the "new OVA" that picks up where the TV series left off. It's more goofy / light-hearted than the movies but always have great stories and characters. I found the 1st movie very slow too but Patlabor 2 was my favorite anime film. You should definitely give it a try. If you liked the first 2 movies, give the early OVA series a try as well - they are more similar in tone compared to the TV series. Better rent the 3rd movie before you decide if it's worth buying. It has a different director and frankly I don't think it was close to the first two in terms of depth. You should also check out Aura Battler Dunbine. Animation quality is dated but the story is cooler than most of the current trendy stuff. Sakura Wars has magic and humor too but the TV series is kind of horrible... too bad game experience/knowledge is required for the 3 OVAs and the movie.

20 bucks? Really? Ironic since they'd be limited "collector's editions" eh? The 20 bucks deal was when some national chain (GameStop I think ) was blowing out their toys last year. That price didn't last as you can't find any toys at GameStops these days. Didnt a Toynami MPC Rick Hunter VF-1J go for more than $100 earlier this year on eBay? I'd love to be able to dump my 1/60 Yamatos at that kind of price, but they are actually the ones getting only 20 bucks these days.

It sucks, one of the few PS2 games I ended up selling because it was that bad. The problem is disc load time. The original game plays off your PC's hard disc (it was originally released on PC and Macintosh) and combat was stack/sprite based. This version tries to go 3D but the result is less than impressive, and the constant "loading" screen just drove me nuts. BTW Heroes of Might and Magic was actually a series of turn-based strategy game, this "Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff" was really the PS2 "remake" of King's Bounty (not even close in terms of gameplay, IMO) trying to cash in on the Heroes of M&M name. You'd be better off finding the original Heroes of Might & Magic for PC or Mac, if I remember correctly the CD-ROM comes with the original King's Bounty as a bonus.

Yeap, if your local paper or TV news program features consumer oriented investigative reports, your story will have a good chance of being heard.

How is this a surprise? We all know Bandai America is putting all their marketing support behind Seed and SD Gundam. If it weren't for the fact that they've paid for the English dub of Zeta, which should be a done deal already, they probably wouldn't even bother releasing it at all.

That's why I prefer Mortal Kombat - you get to Fatality your opponent. Good ol' days...

I don't know about Chronopost but with some shippers, once you sign a package it is considered accepted at the condition it was delivered. As a rule of thumb, do not sign for a decimated package if you want to retain your rights.

pixels don't say "no" Pixels don't get knocked up or give you crabs.

Warner instituting review-based royalty rate for games

The game is fairly tough, I can only imagine that the problem would be compounded for people playing it on an emulator, because it requires some serious coordination skills at your controller, it wasn't just move and shoot. Oftentimes you have to make unpredictable movements, kicking in the boosters at the right time to avoid incoming fire, all the while firing at your enemies. With remapped keys on a PC I think it's impossible to survive for more than a few minutes on most missions. Other than the extreme slowdown when there are too many missiles in the zone, I had no problems with it, and actually finished the whole game (more than I can say about Digital Mission VF-X and VF-X2). The huge selection of VFs and slots for customization gives it good replay value too. $22 is not a bad deal.

The ultimate fashion statement for the elite loser gang of nerdom... ... FOR ME TO POOP ON! Seriously, who'd wear that in public, other than being paid to model it?

Can't say I do but there's another horror movie whose title I can't remember. It's about a psycho innkeeper in the middle of a swamp or wilderness, he kills a girl and feeds it to the alligator that lives in the little pond/swamp next to the inn. Later the girl's father comes looking for her and after asking around in the nearby town he returns to the inn only to see the crazed innkeeper charging out the door with a big scythe, sinking the blade into his neck and converting him to gator late nite snack. Anyone know what it's called?

"Yep, that's catnip..." "Um... that's... not mine... "

When I saw it I was too young to know what was going on, it didn't exactly frighten me or leave much of an impression. All I remembered was the priest getting thrown out the window towards the end. The only horror movie that really scared me as a kid was the original Halloween (still a classic to this day) and Dario Argento's Suspiria.

The episode started great and the last 10 minutes just ruined it. - No naked Mandy - Jack being a wuss - come on, he kicked ass and should be happy that things turned out fine, all things considered. You didn't see him cry like a baby at season 1 when Nina offed his wife. This scene felt like such a "gimme Emmy best actor" moment - No naked Mandy - No political fallout from Sherry's death - No naked Mandy!

LOL, that's a classic. Should be A1's new avatar.

That just about sums up every Best Buy I've been to. They never have anything that's not in the top 10 in stock. If you ask for something they don't have, you get the canned response "you can order it online from BestBuy.com, and get free shipping." Well if I wanted to order online, what I am doing at the store you moron!!! Edit in: They used to carry virtually everything under the sun when the chain went national years ago and lived up to the store name. Current management took a good thing and completely screwed it up. I went to my local BB and only saw *1* game marked down $4.99, but no games there - just a placard saying they had it for $4.99 at one time.

My sister was watching it and she said "all hell broke loose". Guess I'll have to wait and find out...

Why even buy HK bootleg when you can borrow a legit copy and burn yourself one for the cost of a DVD-R? I am usually against such activities but when Miramax openly rapes their customers like this, they get no sympathy from me. Heck, I didn't buy vol 1 on DVD because I knew this was gonna happen. The theatrical release in 2 parts was bad enough already, and now this. I thought people were only kidding when Taratino was quoted regarding how there will be multiple versions of DVD releases when part 1 came out last year. Betcha 5 years down the road we'll get yet another "fresh cut" containing "previously unreleased" super duper footage.

FedEx Ground is horrible compared to UPS. I used to buy from BigBadToyStore.com a lot when they were still using UPS and my stuff always arrived in good order even if the shipping box were not in the best shape, but after they switched to FedEx Ground my first order arrived not at my doorsteps but the backyard, several yards from the fence where the delivery monkey played football with the box. All of the items inside were damaged. BASTARDS!

It's a clearance blowout, not all stores have the same offer (they sure did not have it on the Sunday paper's flyer).

Unlike these countries, in many areas of the US public transportation is not even an option. Having your own car is a neccessity of life, not a luxury.

The dreaded DRE (disc read error) is a widely known problem that plagues a lot of PS2s out on the market and appears to afflict all models regardless of their age. Some had it right out of box while some took years to exhibit problems. Some refuses to read any discs while some were more tolerant and will work with most formats but have problem with a specific format, be it PS1 CD, PS2 CD, or DVD. You should see a message on the screen that says "Disc Read Error" if your PS2 has this problem. Sometimes it won't display this message and your disc will work but the unit will make an ugly noise while doing so. A class action lawsuit filed against Sony in North America was settled out of court and Sony set up a toll-free number for any and all PS2 owners experiencing the DRE problem to get theirs repaired free of charge. However, Sony does not extend this offer to modified PS2s and I suspect models purchased from a different region. People thinking about installing a mod chip might want to just go ahead and buy a Japanese PS2 instead. That way if your US PS2 craps out, you can at least get it fixed for free. If you get a modded unit, you're SOL if it dies on you because Sony will refuse to repair it. The link I posted didn't work so here's the full text (sorry for the length):