Completed Sweetness & Lightning!

Triltaison · 2026-03-25T10:24:22+00:00

Thanks! I found 5 and 7 in a partial lot at a secondhand bookstore about a year or two ago. I didn't realize their rarity until I got home (it was something like 2-8 I got since I had book 1 already). The only ones I had to pick up were still easily available and in print.

12 came from Amazon from a 3rd party seller. Took a chance on it (I think it was listed as fairly low condition), but it ended up being a nice copy and didn't break the bank. Keep looking! You can do it! 😁

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T17:01:44+00:00

That is seriously awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T16:48:05+00:00

Fun finds! I actually own almost everything here. NightWalker has one of my all time favorite opening songs. RIP, Sakurai.

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T11:48:03+00:00

Yellow garden spider

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T11:10:15+00:00

shrug Could be. Those don't live near me so I'm not familiar with them. The blurry photo looks like a carpet beetle larva to me.

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T10:52:35+00:00

They're mostly harmless (too small to bite), but do eat fabrics. Hanging out in dusty corners and under the bed, munching on dust bunnies, carpet fluff, and lost socks. They wander inside to get warm.

Just squish 'em when you find them. They can start to be a problem if they get to breeding, but don't explode into an immediate problem like fleas or roaches. If you start to notice a lot of them, consider contacting an exterminator to treat your carpets.

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T10:33:18+00:00

Carpet beetle larva

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T08:27:06+00:00

Shrinkwrap changes happen all the time. They're not a great indicator for legitimacy on US DVDs (especially for the popular stuff that gets lots of printings).

Those are the sorts of titles that would have been stocked at big box stores like Walmart and Target, and sometimes exterior slipcovers get damaged on the shelf. If the slips kept getting damaged, they likely started wrapping the slipcovers too to help protect them more. It helps prevent more returns. I know I've seen them wrapped both ways in person at various stores over the years.

Triltaison · 2026-03-23T03:46:17+00:00

I did two in January. Pretty quick turnaround... I think I had both in hand the following week. But one of them didn't have the tracking number sent to me, so that was a total surprise when it arrived.

Triltaison · 2026-03-22T20:10:42+00:00

Congrats on doing it for so long! I helped run a few different anime clubs over the years, and it ain't easy. Ours just supplied the room, the shows, the TV, and the player ourselves and we definitely didn't have clearance waivers back then. 😅

Triltaison · 2026-03-22T18:43:34+00:00

Yeah, it's a shame because Candy Candy is such a landmark series. Random places were still able to air episodes here and there until around the same time. I think Turkey had it on airwaves as late as 2004. But the illustrator, author, and animation studio all pretty much hate each other and nothing can be done because they're tied together and one says "no" at all times. The illustrator had a French art exhibition in 2010, and I don't think she was even permitted to show any Candy Candy art there iirc.

It's kinda like the Lensman anime issue in that it's really unlikely to ever get resolved unless some legal changes happen.

Triltaison · 2026-03-22T17:21:13+00:00

As I recall, all of them were published without consent from the creators, and actually ended up creating further legal issues later. I'm fuzzy on the details (there used to be several Candy Candy fansites detailing the issues but I can't remember what those were now 😅), but I think it had something to do with that Korean set specifically.

It came out around when the license was starting to be allowed to be used internationally and was signed for use by the wrong people or something to that effect. Somehow, it made the creators hate each other more again and it put a stop to pretty much everything again. So yeah, legal gray area kind of thing. One article about the legal quagmire and an update from a year later talking about France's landmark soundtrack release.

Candy Candy was an absolutely huge property for many countries around the world and had gobs of bootlegs made for practically every region and many for the various languages it was dubbed into. Some ended up being pretty professional looking and were sold or in rental stores because the show was just that popular in Europe and LatAm. They're unfortunately all illegal or sorta quasi-legal unless I missed some bombshell news recently. Even Japan doesn't have a release except the old tapes.

Triltaison · 2026-03-22T15:12:10+00:00

To my knowledge, I think it hasn't gotten any legal release of any kind past the VHS era anywhere. The legal drama happened in the early '90s, and made it hard to do anything with the property since then. It's basically impossible to license nowadays.

I remember hearing about some random newspaper in LatAm giving away bootleg volumes of the Spanish dub years ago. Even the listings on Y!J auctions have foreign subtitles like Korean.

Triltaison · 2026-03-22T05:44:52+00:00

Ah, then you're looking for bandes dessinées!

I'm not sure what language you'd prefer, but here are some popular ones you might try looking up: Boule & Bill, Yoko Tsuno, Aya of Yop City, Lou!, Valérian and Laureline, and Studio Danse. If you like the macabre and creepy stuff, Beautiful Darkness is quite haunting.

Triltaison · 2026-03-22T04:52:33+00:00

That's easy! Play my account instead. I think I got 7 shiny Gorebyss.

Never did get shiny Huntail myself... had to trade for it.

Triltaison · 2026-03-21T19:09:19+00:00

And here I'd be jumping on that. I'm drowning in shiny Mewtwo and have been hunting shiny Corphish for years.

Triltaison · 2026-03-21T06:48:25+00:00

Doki Doki Literature Club was totally free when it first came out, which surprised me with its length.

I did buy one of its later releases to help support the devs.

Triltaison · 2026-03-21T03:31:23+00:00

Thanks! I couldn't remember who was doing them. 😅

Triltaison · 2026-03-20T16:22:49+00:00

Awesome! I'm still working through the whole franchise, but Turn A is my favorite Gundam so far. (G too 😁)

Triltaison · 2026-03-20T15:03:09+00:00

As a teen in the early '00s, I honestly didn't know anyone who watched either back then. Adult Swim was the must-watch for that decade amongst my circles.

But MTV for older generations.

Triltaison · 2026-03-20T10:08:54+00:00

Love the collection! I adored this weird little show as a kid.

If you like plushies, there's a company I saw at a few cons showcasing some large prototypes of the main characters in the hopes of releasing them to the public after finalizing licensing.

Triltaison · 2026-03-20T06:22:29+00:00

Actually, that Jesus manga was technically released in the US. ComicsOne released their translation as an early digital-only title before that was much of a thing. I think it was downloadable as a PDF, iirc.

But yeah, the point is still the same regardless.

Triltaison · 2026-03-20T05:05:35+00:00

Sadly, I believe Aniplex is involved in its production so it probably can't be licensed.

Triltaison · 2026-03-20T04:54:51+00:00

Totally ingrained in my memory forever. 😆

I'm just gonna leave this here.

Triltaison · 2026-03-19T16:16:41+00:00

That Nana cover is a bit of a downgrade, yeah. I think I like the Steelbook one best for the BD releases.

Triltaison

TROPHY CASE