Sailor Moon Crystal is Losing Its Luster

Okay, as the rest of the anime world has been screaming about, some (slightly) new details have been released about the upcoming new Sailor Moon anime series.  Courtesy ANN... http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-13/2014-new-sailor-moon-crystal-anime-1st-image-story-intro-posted-online

I've posted the following in a few different places and I'm sure this will migrate over to ClassicPlastic.net shortly - not sure if I want to stick it in SSS and the Anime Archives or heck, how about in both, but here are my thoughts about this whole thing, from one of the early American moonies...

Two words: Not Impressed.  It's a reboot, it's a fucking reboot of the fucking worst season of Sailor Moon ever - the original Sailor Moon, along with Usagi's extra head shit from Sailor Stars.  Really?  That's the best they could come up with?  All those stories and characters across all that managa, anime, musicals, video games - and that's the well they decided to go back to - just straight up vanilla Sailor Moon?

Alright, time to calm down but, uh yeah, that's what it kind of seems like...

"Usagi Tsukino is a second-year middle school girl...  ...As a chosen guardian of justice, Usagi seems to have a mission to find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other guardians and to protect the princess...  ...the queen of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl, also sends minions to the town where Usagi lives to obtain the Illusionary Silver Crystal... ...Can Sailor Moon really find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other Sailor guardians, and protect the princess…!?"

We all know the answer is yes.  Heck, she's holding the damn thing in the ONE OFFICIAL RENDERING that accompanied this information.  Hey guys, guess what, spoiler alert - SHE IS THE PRINCESS!

This is what cracks me up, "Producer Atsutoshi Umezawa said that it "is not remaking the previous anime, but adapting the original manga and starting from scratch again.""  Well considering the the original anime was fairly hitched to the original manga (for the most part) for the first season until it started to outpace Takeuchi's publication and had to become its own thing, re-adapting the original manga starting from the beginning means you're BASICALLY REMAKING THE ANIME there, Mr. Umezawa.

We all know the manga story, we all know the anime story.  The anime is what made Sailor Moon a worldwide media phenomenon.  That's what everyone fell in love with.  That's what crossed gender and genre lines to build one of the strongest and spend-ready fandoms of anything that really should have never grown as a big as it did.  Sailor Moon, worldwide at least, was the happiest of happy accidents.  So why redo that?  Why redo what we already all love?  What we already all know?  I smell Takeuchi's handiwork, someone who never really cared for the anime adaptations and even less the long shadow Sailor Moon cast over her other work, all over this as in "redevelop my original story or there will be no license."

Also, please drop the 20th anniversary label, at this point if there are no more delays this will be released to coincide with the 22nd anniversary.  On top of that, as I've said before, this is a Web release, so don't get too excited as it's sure as heck not going to be anything spectacular.  I would have much rather seen a new movie or another three films or something along those lines.

Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to seeing something new.  I would have rather seen the story pick up after Sailor Stars or seen something based off the Super Famicom RPG Sailor Moon Another Story, which had a really cool concept that took place smack dab in the glory days of Sailor Moon in my opinion (Sailor Moon S).  So much could have been lifted from that and ran with.  However what I was hoping this new series would do most is get the honeypot of North American Sailor Moon anime rights stirring again.  I want to see all five series, and the specials, and the movies re-released in season-specific boxsets.  I want to not only see a possible redub by a localization studio like Funimation, but all the original English dubs also included as optional audio tracks.  Sailor Moon fans are strange as for a fandom that endlessly bashed the dubs for decades, they now mob the original VA's with praise and affection.  (For the record, Susan Roman is the only person who will ever sound right as Makoto Kino / Sailor Jupiter - even over Emi Shinohara, and that has always been my stance.  Susan Roman's voice work both gave life to and made me fall deeply in love with an animated character over 15 years ago, right up to this day.)

If one thing was proven with the manga re-release is that there was tons of money to be made and people were happy to buy the new editions in droves.  Friends of mine will recall that I was right on the money in predicting that the $500+ a full Mixx / TokyoPop Sailor Moon managa set used to go for would evaporate into almost nothing upon a manga re-release, ANY manga re-release.  There's tons of money being lost on second hand sales of Sailor Moon DVDs and sales of bootleg Sailor Moon DVDs and I truly believe it's not that the people buying them wouldn't spend for new releases, it's just that they have no other choice right now.  Sailor Moon, at least right now again, is a sure thing in the manga and anime industry.  I can see why some companies would be a little weary about the franchise as a lot of companies got left holding the bag in the late 1990's / early 2000's when the Sailor Moon licensing bubble burst.  However about 75% of the localization work is already done to re-release the entire anime series and all related productions in North America.  The hundreds upon hundreds people are paying for those old, haphazardly assembled (at least in the case of ADV) box sets are proof that Sailor Moon on DVD, at least for the foreseeable future, is a sure thing yet again.

The Backlog - 03/07/2014

Listed in order of urgency.

Immediate Backlog:
Super Nintendo - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The (Skull Woods)
NES - EarthBound / Mother (Rosemary Manor)
PS2 - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Main quest complete, Dragovian Sanctuary)
PS2 - Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (All rivals complete except for a few dozen wanderers, back burner game going forward)

Recently Completed:
Super Nintendo - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest [pending review]
Genesis - King Salmon "The Big Catch" [reviewed!]
NES - Guardian Legend, The [pending review]
Super Nintendo - Lagoon
NES - Adventures of Lolo 2 [pending review]
TurboGrafx-16 - Bonk's Adventure
TurboGrafx-16 - Final Lap Twin (Quest Mode) [pending review]
TurboGrafx-16 - Vigilante
TurboGrafx-16 - Ninja Spirit
TurboGrafx-16 - Keith Courage in Alpha Zones

"Don't Forget About Nintendo This Holiday Season"

You know what Nintendo, the hell with you. The big boys have real new hardware coming out in the next couple months; PS4 and XBox One. Interested or not, it takes a lot of work from industry and retail professionals to ensure that the respective hardware launches are seamless as possible. So what does Nintendo do? Muddy the launch windows with obsolete hardware!

WiiU basic set, you know the discontinued one, bundled with Skylanders Swap Force to make a new bundle that no one will want. Of course it has a huge box. It'll look great collecting dust along side the Deluxe model, WindWaker HD bundle, and the new standard bundle with the two Mario games. That's not enough for the big N however, as here comes the stupid Wii Mini (I shall call him mini Wii). Cheap, yeah, that's great - but no internet connectivity and no SD card slot means no cheap Netflix gaming box and no cheap cracked emulation console. And of course we're buried under the damn things. Then of course we have the rehash of Super Mario 3D Land ported over to the WiiU on XBox One launch day. Seriously Nintendo, way to make it even more confusing for your potential customers and as difficult as possible for your retail partners.  What do you think is going to take priority that morning in retail stores?  That weekend?  The top of next week?

Nintendo, you only have so much retail shelf space for your huge console boxes. There will actually be more Wii / WiiU system options than there are colors of DS / 3DS systems on the shelf currently. It makes it real easy to divert people away to look at new and old offerings from Sony and Microsoft.

Yeah, there's an awful lot of hardware in that WiiU case, too bad there's not really all that much interesting to play on it.

The Backlog - 10/28/2013

Listed in order of urgency.

Immediate Backlog:
Super Nintendo - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The (Skull Woods)
NES - EarthBound (Rosemary Manor)
PS2 - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Tryan Gully - backtracking required to find one more mini-medal)
PS2 - Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (All rivals complete except for a few dozen wanderers, back burner game going forward)

Recently Completed:
Super Nintendo - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest [pending review]
Genesis - King Salmon "The Big Catch" [pending review]
NES - Guardian Legend, The [pending review]
Super Nintendo - Lagoon
NES - Adventures of Lolo 2 [pending review]
TurboGrafx-16 - Bonk's Adventure
TurboGrafx-16 - Final Lap Twin (Quest Mode) [pending review]
TurboGrafx-16 - Vigilante
TurboGrafx-16 - Ninja Spirit
TurboGrafx-16 - Keith Courage in Alpha Zones

I think I need to clear off some time this week / weekend and make those pending reviews into completed reviews.

The Backlog - 10/14/2013

Listed in order of urgency.

Immediate Backlog:
Super Nintendo - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The (Skull Woods)
PS2 - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Tryan Gully - backtracking required to find one more mini-medal)
NES - EarthBound (Rosemary Manor)
PS2 - Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (Tokyo cleared out other than Infinity, bosses and wanderers)

Recently Completed:
Super Nintendo - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Genesis - King Salmon "The Big Catch"
NES - Guardian Legend, The
Super Nintendo - Lagoon
NES - Adventures of Lolo 2
TurboGrafx-16 - Bonk's Adventure
TurboGrafx-16 - Final Lap Twin (Quest Mode)
TurboGrafx-16 - Vigilante
TurboGrafx-16 - Ninja Spirit
TurboGrafx-16 - Keith Courage in Alpha Zones

Stopwatch

Today wasn't particularly fun.  It started out fine but just before really beginning with my day, my computer developed a pretty nasty infection.  I pulled the network connection and got to work on fixing the issue, all spawned from a java based advertisement on an otherwise reputable site that was infected.  After about three hours I had the issue fixed but my Windows activation key file had been corrupted and I couldn't get it re-certified even thought I had a valid key.  So I used a different build of Windows that had a different key and about 15 hours after the issue began, things seem "normal" again.  I didn't loose any data since that's all archived but I did loose about half a year of bookmarks.  I've been going through the bookmarks from the last backup, adding in new things I can remember and removing ones that I had gotten rid of since the last archive.  It makes me realize how bloated my bookmarks had become over the past half year.  I think I have everything back in order and I've really slimmed them down.

I've come to the realization that old sites that have information that I want for reference, the ones that haven't been touched in years; those are ones I need to get what I want and remove the bookmark.  The reason for this is there are tons of sites that ARE getting constant updates that end up being brushed to the wayside and lost in the shuffle.  While it makes me smile to browse a site I've visited for years, if it's not really useful and not really maintained, then it's taking away time I can be browsing current sites more relevant to my interests.

Anime and Sailor Moon for instance.  There's so much happening and a few truly spectacular sites out there now.  It really makes me want to get going with my CCG indexing and scans project as it will be something I can offer that isn't already offered.  There is ONE really solid scan archive site for the CCG that has individual scans but the navigation is kinda strange.  The scans also aren't as nice as I would like to provide.  I would also like to develop at least one additional expansion set.  Big words, I know, but I still want to do it.

There are some things online that I really need to quit living in the past concerning, and this is one of them.  If I want to see Sailor Moon and anime sites of the past, well, that's why I maintain my Sailor Moon site.

The Backlog - 04/07/2013

Listed in order of urgency.

Immediate Backlog:
PS2 - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Tryan Gully)
NES - EarthBound (Rosemary Manor)

Recently Completed:
NES - Guardian Legend, The
Super Nintendo - Lagoon
NES - Adventures of Lolo 2
TurboGrafx-16 - Bonk's Adventure
TurboGrafx-16 - Final Lap Twin (Quest Mode)
TurboGrafx-16 - Vigilante
TurboGrafx-16 - Ninja Spirit
TurboGrafx-16 - Keith Courage in Alpha Zones

ClassicPlastic.net FRIDAY NIGHT CHATS

This Friday, as in less than 24 hours from now, and EVERY FRIDAY at 9PM PST join me for ClassicPlastic.net Friday Night Chats!

The offsite chatroom can be located via a link in the main index or directly by clicking here.  Every Friday at 9PM PST you can find me in the chatroom for 45 minutes or so.

This is an old school, simple Java based chatroom similar to what myself and many others were brought up on during the waning days of the BBS.  I can't promise a lot of people, nor the hustle and bustle of the chat rooms I ran 10+ years ago, but I can say that every Friday night you can have an open keyboard with me.

Tomy Tutor Archive - R1

Tomy Tutor / Tomy Pyuuta Cartridge Archival Set - Release 1

InsaneDavid has a little present for everyone.  Last year, I decided that a big focus of many things I do should be to build some kind of legacy or preserve the legacy of things I find important.  For video gaming that comes down to the Tomy Tutor, a relatively unknown home computer from the early 1980's.  There is a lot of information out there about it in a few places, most of it really good.  However archiving the software and documentation surrounding the Tutor, in simple, clean form really isn't being done, at least in any real capacity.  A couple years ago we finally got clean dumps of the ten USA released Tomy Tutor cartridges.  Yet again, there is only one source online where they are publicly available and they are broken up with no information or documentation.  I want to change that.

Today I reinaugurate Team Radish as an archival group that I head.  We've been dormant for many years but it's time to come back.  Team Radish has gathered the clean USA Tomy Tutor cartridge images, as well as all currently available clean Japanese Tomy Pyuuta cartridge images, and compiled them into a single file.  We are simply archivers maintaining a current, clean, up to date archive of Tutor / Pyuuta cartridge dumps.

In addition we have begun archiving Tomy Tutor documentation, boxes, inserts and the like.  The eventual goal is to provide complete 1-to-1 .PDF files of all Tutor instruction booklets and documentation.

Download Tomy Tutor / Tomy Pyuuta Cartridge Archival Set - R1

This is hosted at the ClassicPlastic.net Gamer's Helpline.

Please read the full documentation file included with the archive.  Please direct all links and linkbacks FOR THIS RELEASE to THIS POST, not the archive download link itself.  Thank you.

David's Video Game Insanity!! Expected Site Downtime

Some site features at David's Video Game Insanity!! may intermittently go down / come up throughout this week as I modify site features and move some things around.  Most of this should be completed within the next couple days at the very latest.  The goal here is to finish up the organization I began early last year.  While I cleaned up most of the site's files a long time ago, a few things remained in chaos and got so messy I quit dealing with them all together.  The biggest culprits in all this were the picture archives, which got so bad I simply quit adding new pictures.

Hopefully after this last bit of maintenance the site will finally enter that completely easy to update era that will bring with it more frequent content updates.

A Christmas message from InsaneDavid.

A Christmas message from me, InsaneDavid.

Today is Christmas, and as I watch the Pope conduct mass as usual, I have a few things to say.  This year's feature has been all about advertising and as I said in the earlier Appendix, advertising and commercialism may go hand in hand but that wasn't the intention here.  I do grow tired of Political Correctness concerning Christmas.  An example was a banner outside a tourist attraction in San Jose proclaiming "Celebration Trees" in every room of said tourist trap.  They're Christmas trees, not celebration trees, especially when Christmas is mentioned elsewhere on the banner.

No matter what religion you may follow, even a sampling of different religions and faiths such as I do, or none at all, roughly 2000 years ago a child was born.  What that child was or wasn't isn't for me to debate but from that event grew a holiday.  A holiday celebrating and commemorating the birth of a child and gifts presented to a child.  From this child's day sprang thousands of customs and celebrations across the world, more than could ever be documented or known.  I think of Christmas as a children's holiday, I've said that before, but that's what the key representation is to me.  That a child born in a stable could go on to do great things, inspiring things, and more importantly than anything else - make people think about things beyond their status.  That the regular, previously cast off people were as important as everyone else.  That salvation for those previously looked down on as unworthy would be obtained through brotherly love and helping one another.  That those turned away by elitist society deserved to walk with a king.

Isn't the true message of Christmas to give of one's self?  Of our skills, our talents, and our love?  Isn't that truly the representation of the holiday and also the embodiment of Santa Claus?  A symbol that gives all those things to the children of the world, and spreads cheer and good will?  The embodiment of the spirit of Christmas.  A modern symbol of the kindness and joy of being behaved and kind to one another?  I know some people try to tear the legend of Santa Claus apart from the religious root of the holiday, but aren't they truly one in the same - don't they stand for the same things?  Are not they both carriers of stories to enrich the lives and upbringings of the most important thing on this day - children?

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"

Yes, this year's feature was about advertising but as Edmund Vance Cooke once wrote,

It is not the weight of jewel or plate,
Or the fondle of silk or fur;
'Tis the spirit in which the gift is rich,
As the gifts of the Wise Ones were,
And we are not told whose gift was gold,
Or whose was the gift of myrrh.

A last Christmas gift from InsaneDavid for this year, We Three Kings from the Will Vinton Claymation Christmas special...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnIFTtW1pko

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 20 - Magnavox Odyssey

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 20 - Magnavox Odyssey

Here it is, the last day, and what better way to end than with the first?  The Magnavox Odyssey was the first home video game system, released in August of 1972 although the prototype was completed in 1968.  Although predated by Steve Russel's "Spacewar!" in 1962 and "Tennis For Two" in 1958, if you wanted to play a video game in the home, it all began with the Odyssey.  It's debatable but even Nolan Bushnell himself got the idea for Pong from the Odyssey (and the first arcade game Bushnell created, Computer Space, was a conversion of Spacewar!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2EIsnr_cv4

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 19 - Coleco Electronic Quarterback

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 19 - Coleco Electronic Quarterback

Yeah, electronic games two days in a row but these are LED handhelds and are of a slightly earlier era.  I simply love this ad because it shows a competitors product, and everyone remembers Mattel Football.  Well here Coleco is pushing their enhanced version as a better game and more importantly a better value.  The tagline at the end "a lot more football for the money" is excellent ad copy.  Of course Mattel would address the shortcomings of their original game with the introduction of Football II.  The more you know: Kevin Flynn plays Electronic Quarterback for a moment in his loft in the film TRON.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgS7l0WaTzc

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 18 - Radio Shack VFD Tabletop Games

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 18 - Radio Shack VFD Tabletop Games

Radio Shack used to kick ass. While younger people these days may find that hard to believe, they once stocked so many cool gadgets and electronic games at affordable prices that the stores were very popular during the holidays. VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) tabletop video games are still one of my all time favorite toys. A VFD display is unlike anything else with their glowing illuminated elements. While Coleco would capture the bulk of the VFD market with their arcade licenses ($59.97 per game for those in 1982 - and they still hold that value), Radio Shack / Tandy had some solid games and licenses themselves. Here we have Kingman (a Donkey Kong clone licensed from Tomy), Zackman (a Dig Dug clone licensed from Bandai), and Alien Chase (a unique game licensed from Tomy) that was manufactured in such a way so that the VFD can be seen from two sides.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSB1veDAx3k

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 17 - Segata Sanshiro for Sega Saturn (Japanese)

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 17 - Segata Sanshiro for Sega Saturn (Japanese)

I almost forgot this one, how very bad of me.  While the Sega Saturn had limited success in the USA and Europe, it was tremendously popular in Japan with superb arcade conversions and a ton of RPG's and dating sims.  Segata Sanshiro was created as the mascot and spokesman for the console in Japan, a karate master who spent his life training to be the greatest Sega Saturn player in the world.  Consider him a fictional badass version of Takahashi Meijin.  In this commercial Segata Sanshiro delivers a Christmas treat to a group of children waiting for Santa-san.  "HAAAANRR!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dpif6GBAv4

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 16 - Coca-Cola Mistletoe

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 16 - Coca-Cola Mistletoe

I was actually thinking about dropping this ad from the lineup but since I mentioned it earlier I figured I have to include it.  Here we have quite a rarity - a Coke Christmas ad without Santa or polar bears.  Yes, they did exist at one time, I think this was actually in between those two promotions.  I like the Coke Santa but the bears, not so much.  Here we have a young boy apparently trying to put the moves on his extended family at a Christmas party.  Oh well, at least it features that unknown fox of earlier discussion at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUm7N0lXTnQ

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 15 - Ovaltine with Captain Midnight (1955)

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 15 - Ovaltine with Captain Midnight (1955)

Okay, this isn't a commercial the way you would think of a more current commercial but it's a television advertisement just the same. Also this type of commercial fits in with the perennial favorite Christmas film, A Christmas Story, so I'm including it. Captain Midnight ran as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. In 1940 Ovaltine began sponsorship (complete with Pierre Andre as the narrator - another A Christmas Story reference) and took the show national. There was a Columbia Pictures serial in 1942 and after the radio show ended there was a television show that ran from 1954 - 1956. Ovaltine continued sponsorship until the series went into syndication in 1958, resulting in the syndicated Captain Midnight episodes being redubbed as Jet Jackson Flying Commando. Here we have the Ovaltine sponsorship advertisement from an episode of Captain Midnight, the food drink for rocket power!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvKlqMjfk1Y

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 14 - Polaroid

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 14 - Polaroid

Another one of my all time favorite Christmas commercials. I worked retail sales, mainly electronics, for twelve years. Without a doubt one of the most difficult tasks could be identifying a product someone is looking for when the person looking doesn't really know what the product is. Most of the time these customers are genuinely polite and the item can be figured out. A great example of this was a pair of grandparents trying to pick up items on their grandson's Christmas list. One of them, Cash Bandicoot, was written as "Boot Crandidad" - still cracks me up after over ten years. On the other hand, sometimes these people could be the worst to deal with but that was a rarity. In this ad even Santa can't keep requests straight - a picture sure would help. "Horse 'em!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFE3JJv-0y4

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 13 - 7 Up, Christmas 1992 Campaign

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 13 - 7 Up, Christmas 1992 Campaign

One would assume with a soda connoisseur such as myself there would have been a soda commercial earlier in this list. We'll here's the first and while it isn't for Coca-Cola, it does feature a long forgotten advertising stab at Coke. Here we have a couple of 7 Up Spots carving a block of ice into the good old upside down Coca-Cola glass introduced in the 1970's. A sadly forgotten, completely ingenious, advertising idea since 7 Up is (and should still be marketed as) "The Uncola." Toss in an always welcome voice over by Daniel Stern (who did a few 7 Up commercials) and you have a nice, calm, Christmas soda ad that doesn't get in your face or wear out its welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XYbzfSF-Dc

Christmas Spectacular 2012: DAY 12 - Johnny Cash for Lionel Electric Trains

InsaneDavid Presents: Christmas Spectacular 2012: Advertisements

DAY 12 - Johnny Cash for Lionel Electric Trains

Johnny Cash was a spokesman for Lionel for a few years and when he got to talking (or singing) about their electric trains it seemed like he was genuinely having a good time. In this commercial, my favorite of his ad spots, we meet The Man in Black at a hobby shop where he is purchasing a Lionel train set for his son for Christmas. I still say model railroading is the world's greatest hobby. It's open to everyone, has so many different facets, and so many different things to do. Planning, construction of benchwork, track laying, ballasting, building scenery, painting scenery - essentially creating an entire functioning world in miniature. Oh, and of course railroad operation. That $40 train set could open the door to a lifetime hobby that would grow little by little. Of course it's generally a lot more expensive to get started these days. For instance the latest Lionel steam locomotives run about $1,300 for a single locomotive. Completely insane. Of course I never cared for O gauge, because of the cost but when I get back into N scale running it's all going to be top of the line Kato track and switches. Anyway, a great advertisement - I can still remember when hobby shops looked like that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4M0D5hYhtI