11May04 (Monthenor): So I bought the Escaflowne Perfect Vision DVD Box Set Fighting Power One Million (Oh?!) from this guy I know online. Everything I read about Escaflowne leads me to believe that I will enjoy it. It's some sort of hybrid uber-animensch that combines schoolgirls, catgirls, dragons, swords, mecha, and alternate worlds/universes into a aesthetically pleasing whole. I would not be surprised to find a school bully, exceedingly small naive fairy, or orbital death laser as well...thus completing its collection of anime cliche into one tidy package.

This (numbered limited edition) box set also comes with a posable black Escaflowne figure. The release of this figure sent shockwaves through the fanboy community, answering the decade-old question: "If Gundam Epyon and Escaflowne got into a fight, who would have the bigger action figure?" Escaflowne trounces Epyon by quite a bit in that category, as well as for "Biggest Toy Sword I Own".

Money well spent, as opposed to the supposedly vile video game translation of Alias that also arrived. I'm going to give it some time tonight, but it might well be going back out in the mail tomorrow. I don't have no time to spend on below-average games, swamped as I am with awesomeness demanding my attention.

12May04 (Monthenor): Well, it's not like I didn't see it coming. I didn't even bother to finish the first board of Alias. I did not actively hate it like I did X-Files, but it's merely a slightly-below-average action game. And why give you a Stealth button if it doesn't work? Why does Sydney run like she's got back problems? Why oh why does my big-ass meat cleaver disappear when I put it through some guy's skull a few times? It's just a silly stupid attempt to cash in on the license, much like Alias: the Magazine. Life is too short for Alias: the Game. Especially when there are terrorists that need a good head-shooting out there in Counter-Strike land.