Latest Purchases #80

Freeze may have been the first major big bad off the three truly complete monsters in Dragon Ball Z, but my favorite of the lot has always been Cell. Yes, I realize that he may come off as vanilla when compared to Freeze, but I like him more anyway. This Perfect Cell vinyl Pop figure has the honor of being the first Cell merch I've ever bought. Ain't he precious?

I found a new store at my local mall called T-Shirt Kingdom that has the most impressive selection of t-shirts that I've ever seen. Sports, anime, gaming; you name it, they've got it. In particular, the amount of different gaming tees is astonishing. They had a ton of Pac-Man tees and since he's become one of my mains in Super Smash Bros., I thought I'd give him some shirt love. I ended up leaving the store with tree Pac-Man tees and one matching hat.

The Ginyu Force makes the cover of the latest Dragon Ball 3-in-1 manga releases. This one collects volume 22-24. Like a lot of long time DBZ fans, I love the Ginyu Force and this book contains some of my favorite fights from early DBZ, including Recoome making light of Vegeta. The next DB 3-in-1 has Goku turn Super Saiyan during the lengthy battle with Freeza. Hot dog!

Jaco The Galatic Patrolman is a manga I'd heard of just days before making this post. I found out about it on Amazon while I was looking around. I've got a few other manga works of Akira Toriyama like Sand Land, Cowa! and some Dr. Slump volumes (give that series the 3-in-1 treatment) and I'm always eager to check out other stuff he's done. Turns out Jaco actually takes place in the Dragon Ball universe and is a prequel to the entire series.

Disney, thank you remembering that wonderful Disney Afternoon cartoon block from the 1990s. Sure, you aren't giving these DVD releases the excellent treatment that you do your classic films like Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmations (need to get those on Blu-Ray) but I'm happy to have TaleSpin, Gargoyles and now Goof Troop on DVD, nonetheless. Probably gonna binge watch this.

I'd meant to pick up Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker when it released back in December but I had Christmas shopping I needed to take care of. $40 Wgames are a lot easier for me to swallow in this HD gaming world we now live in. I found the Captain Toad levels in Super Mario 3D World to be very enjoyable so its great that we have a whole game revolving around that particular play style. It didn't take me long to finish Kirby and the Rainbow Curse so I'm guessing it shouldn't take me too long to finish Treasure Tracker. I've got a few more days off work so I'm planning to dive right into this one.

Its always bugged me that SEGA dropped the "SEGA" from this title. I mean, really, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed? Maybe its just me but that sounds a little strange. Yeah, there's a bunch of Sonic characters in this game but we've got other SEGA stars, too. On the other hand, Sonic is pretty much all we get from the company these days. Apparently this is the Bonus Edition of the game which includes stuff like the OutRun Bay track, Metal Sonic and stickers. I'm guessing those stickers are like the stamps from Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and the NES Remix Pack, which I still need to grab despite the fact that I already own NES Remix and NES Remix 2. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was only $10 at Target. Steal!

A while back, I'd noticed that Nintendo had added more characters to the World of Nintendo figure line. Among these are Wind Waker Gannondorf, Diddy Kong and Samus. I was especially happy to see they'd give us a Samus figure to nab because I love me some Metroid. And now I've got some more Metroid stuff besides my Samus amiibo. Sure the World of Nintendo poseable figures may not be as detailed and articulate  as the S.H. Figurearts Nintendo figures line, but for the price, you get some pretty impressive figures to display. I give Toad a lot of flack whenever he isn't a playable character, but I really do love the little guy but I love Blue Toad among all others. He's fast and he picks things up with the quickness. Blue Toad has the least amount of articulation thus far with a measly three points of articulation. I wasn't expecting much since he's so short and I still say he has no legs, just feet. I copped Luigi because Mario needs his little bro. That's three thirds of the Super Mario3D World cast. I'd love to see a poseable Rosalina. I wonder how many points of articulation they'd give her.

Latest Purchases #76

I've really been slacking on my LP posts and on this blog overall. It's a combination of having been sick, working a lot and other personal issues. I hate that I did so little posting throughout the month of November and as much as I'd love to do a post a day, I'm just one man, so that isn't possible. Still, I do want to get back to making more frequent posts, so if I gotta lose some more sleep and what no for the greater good, so be it. With that said, here's the combination of at least three different purchases done up in a single post.

I think it's safe to say that just about any fan of DBZ has picked up or at least watched Battle of Gods. Unlike previous movies and TV specials, this is actually a cannon thing, with the story being written by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama himself. Having seen this movie  three times now, it's definitely one of my favorite pieces of Dragon Ball media. Love the action and love the comedy, though I do find it odd that some fans are complaining about the later, which strikes me strange since Dragon Ball has comedic roots. That 20 minutes of extra footage is all kinds of cool.

This 5 inch Mario figure is one of the most common toys in the World of Nintendo line. Unlike Link, Bowser and Donkey Kong, I didn't have to order him online as I've always seen him in Target and K-Mart. He really is a sweet-looking Mario figure with some excellent points of articulation. I'll try not to forget all about him when I open up the other Mario figure that I picked up...

Like Mario, this Yoshi World of Nintendo figure is pretty freaking cool. He's the first Yoshi toy I've picked up that isn't a plushy. I'd planned to get this thing sooner or later, but since I've been playing as the dino a lot in Mario Kart 8 and loving what they did to him in Smash 4, that might have hastened my purchase somewhat.

The K'Nex Super Mario and Super Mario 3D Land toys aren't anything too new. They've been out for a few years I believe, but these were marked down super cheap at K-Mart so I snagged them. I doubt I'll build the full sets they came with, but I've already had some fun posting pictures on Instagram with Mario and the mooks.

I was given 20th of November off from work, which meant I could attend the midnight release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Man, that title sucks). It was my very first midnight launch and while my local GameStop wasn't super packed, it was still nice to feel the hype in the air. I wasn't aware that the amiibo figures were already available so I coped two while I was in the store. I may scan these just to see how they play and evolve but I really got these for display purposes. You can bet I'll be collecting all of them.

I had to get this guy through Toys 'R Us online store to get him, but man, was he worth waiting almost a week for. I didn't think the 6" inch DK figure would be this big. I was more than a little surprised when the UPS truck dropped him off and he was sealed in a box almost twice the size of the default packaging. I'm guessing Bowser is around the same size.

When I saw these S.H. Figurearts figures at Barns & Nobles months ago I fell in love. Mario looks like he has even more articulation going on than the World of Nintendo figure I mentioned above. Even the packaging is awesome, with the plumber in all types of poses on the back of the box. Goombas, easy as they are to do away with, are some of my favorite mooks from the Mario series. Sure, he's got no articulation to speak of, but he looks great and he comes with two sets of Pipes, a set of hands to go with the Mario figure, and a Koopa Troopa Shell. The text remains in Japanese and I never thought I'd see figures like this in Barns & Nobles. These things also cost more than the World of Nintendo Toys. The Goomba set was only $19.95 and despite being in smaller packaging, Mario went for $24.95. But it's hard to complain when you're getting something this good.

Taking a break from playing Smash 4 last week, we went to Wal-Mart and I almost had a stroke when I saw Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 2 on DVD. I'd heard that Disney completed Tailspin's DVD releases some time ago, but seeing Gargoyles get completed? That was a very welcome shock. I didn't think Disney had any interest in finishing their Disney Afternoon cartoons but it looks like I was wrong.There are no extra features like the previous Gargoyles DVD releases but I'm just happy to have the cannon series done.

Big surprise, I have always been a fan of Mickey Mouse ever since I was a kid. I loved those classic theatrical shorts, I started picking up the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip series in 2011 and I adored these newer Mickey Mouse shorts when they aired in 2013. This was sitting right next to Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 2 and until then, I had all but forgotten about this series. I couldn't help but notice the Season 1 on the packaging. Sure enough, season 2 already begun airing earlier this past year.

Latest Purchases #68

Apologies for the horrible picture quality this time.

As you can see, I'm on a major Peanuts kick. Peanuts was a huge part of my life growing up, in particular, the TV Specials. A lot of the TV Specials I hadn't seen in years, save for the usual ones shown around the holidays like A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanks Giving. Now I can pull out these DVD sets and watch the aforementioned Specials along with Charlie Brown's All-Stars, You're in Love, Charlie Brown, He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown, and It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown. There were only six TV Specials for the 1960s, so there's only one DVD set for that collection. There's a Vol. 2 for the 1970s collection, which I'll need to pick up to complete that set. Since there have been a copious amount of Peanuts TV Specials and Warner Video hasn't released any sets for the 1980s or 1990s, who knows when or if I'll be able to have a whole set. But since Tails Spin has the honor of being the first Disney Afternoon cartoon to be completed on DVD after years of Disney dragging their feet on that, I wanna remain hopeful.

Everyone and their mother remembers the theme Linus and Lucy. Watching the TV Specials now that I'm older, I've come to appreciate the jazz music that plays in the background so much more. I knew I had to own some of the music so I hoped on Amazon. Sure enough, they had a nice selection of Vince Guraldi and the Vince Guraldi Trio CDs at reasonable prices. Oh, Good Grief!, in addition to having Snoopy dressed like Vince on the CD cover has my favorite rendition of Linus and Lucy. It's played by a synthesizer and not a piano, like the original, but I love the additions made to this version. The nice thing about getting these CDs off Amazon is that I could get free MP3 versions of these albums. All except A Boy Named Charlie Brown. For some reason, I didn't get any MP3s with that one after my purchase, despite being told that I would. I've heard some people complaining about the remastering done on the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. I'm not an audio whore so I couldn't tell you the differences between this and a version that was released back in the late 1980s that is probably much harder to track down. Besides, for $7, why would I complain?

I didn't stop with just music and TV Specials. I grabbed some of the original Peanuts source material. The books are the first in a long line of Peanuts comic strips, The Complete Peanuts. This two book set collects the years 1950-9054. These books are a real eye opener. Not only is the art style different from what the Peanuts crew looks like today, but Linus, Lucy and Schroeder were even babies during the early years. You can buy these books individually or together, but they actually cost less when you buy them in sets. This first set only cost me less than $35 after shipping.

Latest Purchases #67

Lots of stuff I picked up recently so I'm just gonna dive right into it.

The LittleBigPlanet has turned out to be one of Sony's best new IPs.  The series combines two of my favorite things: platforming and customization. I figured I'd pick up the Game of the Year Edition to get all the bonus content that became available after the initial release. So of you may be wondering why I didn't just skip to LittleBigPlanet 2. I usually like to start with the first game in a series whenever possible. When I do pick up the sequel, I know I won't play it right away due to my enormous backlog.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengenace has been hailed as one of the best action games on the PS3 and 360. I didn't know the game was a joint effort between Kojima Studios and Platinum Games. Kojima Studios has been doing an incredible job on the Metal Gear franchise and I love the work Platinum Games did on House of the Dead: Overkill. That and Platinum Games was originally Clover Studios. Anyway, K-Mart had Revengenance on sale for $22.99 so I had to jump on that.

With all the hoopla over the PS4 at E3 2013, it did my heart good to see that Sony would still be supporting the PS3. So when I saw the trailer for Puppeteer, I was really excited for this game. I could have picked this up for $20 on Amazon, but I felt like giving developer Digital Studios their full money's worth  so I forked over the full $40 at Target. When I finish some of the other platformers I'm running through, Puppeteer is definitely going to be next.

Gran Turismo 6 recently came out but since I didn't own a PS3 when Gran Turismo 5 was released, GT5 XL Edition seemed like a better choice. That and it was $40 cheaper than GT6. I thoguht GT4 looked jaw droppingly gorgeous so I can't wait to see GT5 in motion. XL Edition comes with all the extra DLC and bonus content that was later added to GT5.

I decided I'd pick up Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition when I saw the exclusive content for this version of the game. Mushroom Battle and customizable Nintendo clothing. Heihachi in Luigi's clothes? Sign me up! Tekken has always been a fighting series that's easy for me to jump back into no matter how long I've been away from it. K-Mart had one copy of TTT2: WUE and it was on sale for $14.99. Score!

I wasn't sure if Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze was going to retail for $50 or $60. To my surprise, it was $50 so I decided to grab it on launch day. K-Mart didn't have the game in stock (maybe they ran out) but fye had a single copy left and with my discount, I saved a few bucks. I can't say anything about the game because I haven't opened it up yet. I'm still making my way through other games.

That Nintendo 3DS Card case is something I ordered from Club Nintendo a little while ago. It's one of the better Club Nintendo items as it holds 18 3DS or DS game cards. For 400 coins, it's on the cheap side as well.

Max Fleischer's Superman was one of the earliest animated incarnations of the character that I'd ever seen. It's quite old but these theatrical shorts are still classic. This is actually the second version of these shorts that I own. This set is remastered and has some cool bonus content like the origins behind the series. fye lowered the price on this from $26.99 to $7.99.

The first time I saw South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was on Comedy Central on Thanks Giving Eve of 2003. There were commercial interruptions but the film was shown completely uncut. I laughed out loud so many times that I can honestly say this is one of my favorite movies to watch. It's a hilarious film some some great musical numbers. Target had it $5.

Speaking of Comedy Central, I caught a few episodes of Dilbert on the network years ago. I was a big fan of the comic strip and I thought the show was a nice edition to the Dilbert name. I never set out to purchase the whole series on DVD but when the asking price is $5, how can one say no to that? Also got this from Target.

Space Balls for the uninformed is a Star Wars spoof by film director Mel Brooks. It originally released in the late 1980s but I didn't see it until 2009 and I laughed my head off. I didn't know there was a 25th anniversary Blu-Ray edition of the film and for $7.50, no less. Target has been very good to me as of late.

I have not seen The LEGO Movie, but from what I hear, it's really good. As a big LEGO fan, I'll more than likely pick up the movie when it releases on DVD/Blu-Ray. I have caught wind of the movie's them song, Everything is Awesome, which I haven't heard in full yet. This soundtrack has four versions of the song so I'm guessing the composer was quite fond of it. I got this at Barns & Nobles for %40 off the original price. I'm really interested in hearing the score, but perhaps I should see the movie first.

The third volume of Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse comic strip. I ordered volume 2 and 4 sometime last year because they were so cheap on Amazon. I figured I'd fill in the gap and order volume 3. Like the previous volumes, volume 3 is filled with well over 100 pages of Mickey Mouse comic strips from the 1930s and tons of bonus content. I haven't even started reading these books yet but I thumb through them from time to time and I really like what I see. So I'm hoping Fantagraphics Books keeps pushing this line of Mickey Mouse comics so we eventually get the whole collection.

I've been looking at the numerous Sachhi bookmarks in Barns & Nobles and since my collection of books has been growing and growing, they seem like a good excuse to get some shinny new bookmarks. These are all made of light weight metal and have a message written on them. The first one on the left says "Never, Never, Never Quit," which was spoken by Winston Churchill. The one in the middle says "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars," said by Les Brown. The one on the far right says "May happiness flow through every door." The quote isn't spoken by anyone in particular but the top of the bookmark has a key that reads "Happiness" since the lower half of the bookmark has a keyhole. Needless to say, I really like this one.

So many t-shirts! The Regular Show tee is something I picked up in Target when I was out shopping for a friend's birthday. It has Mordocai and Rigby sporting shades, looking like a couple of bosses. Not the first Regular Show tee I've seen but easily on fav thus far. Paid $12.99 for this.

The Adventure Time and Mac Miller tees were 2 for $10 at fye.. I'm a big fan of Adventure Time but I've never even heard of Mac Miller. However, I do really dig the design of the Mac Miller tee.

I think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tee is an old cover of the Archie Comics series since the turtles are sporting their 1987 cartoon series look. Also, you can't see it in the photo, but there's an issue number on the left side near the sleeve. The tee that reads "Drop It!" and has a cute little critter working the turntable that looks like a Pokemon is apparently from a series called Bravest Warriors. Never seen it but I love the design of this shirt. fye was having a sale on tees where if you buy one, you get a second for $10. I picked up this along with the TMNT tee.

Latest Purchases #66

I've fallen a bit behind on Retro Gamer. Not just in reading but in collecting them. I've missed the last two issue and while this certainly isn't the first time it's happened, I always hate having gaps in the collection. Nonetheless, I have resumed my purchasing of the magazine. Load 124 has a Making Of on Metropolis Street Racer, one of my favorite Dreamcast titles, a Bluffer's Guide to Arcade Racers, and a Classic Moments feature on Star Fox 64 or Lylat Wars as it's called in PAL regions.

The Land Before Time is one of my all-time favorite animated features and in my humble opinion, Don Bluth's best film. There are a dozen sequels, but for me (and I suspect many others) the original, will always be the best of the lot. I haven't seen this movie in over a decade and it still holds up just as well as it did in 1989. This is the Anniversary Edition that has some special features that are mainly for kids. Sadly there's no commentary and from what I can tell, there hasn't been any remastering, but I'm not too bummed out about that stuff.

The Snoopy plush was actually something that was on sale at my local Wallgreens for Valentine's Day. As you can see, he's meant to hold cards, and I may use him for that from time to time, but I really just like the way this thing is made. Snoopy has always been such a cool character and I never thought of owning any sort of Snoopy toy until I saw this thing.

Speaking of Snoopy, Snoopy's Reunion has the honor of being the first Peanuts TV Special I bought on DVD and it was only $5 on Amazon. This remastered special is a little over 20 minutes long, tells a story of how Snoopy and Charlie Brown meant and as the name suggests, is about Snoopy reuniting with his brothers and sisters. It's a nice little special but the main reason I picked this up is for It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown, which is a bonus TV Special included on this DVD. It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown is one of my favorite Peanuts TV Specials and is what cemented Snoopy's eternal coolness factor in my eyes when I was a child. The whole special is great, but the main attraction is when Snoopy goes to a disco club, takes over the dance floor and dances the night away. It's undoubtedly the best part of the special. I used to have this special recorded on VHS and I watched it religiously. You can bet the farm I'll be doing it all over again now that I have it on DVD.

Latest Purchases #60

I LOVE A Goofy Movie. It has incredible animation, a fantastic soundtrack, and it's just a wonderful film about a father trying to bond with his son when he's at that age where kids want to distance themselves from their parents. I should have picked up A Goofy Movie ages ago, but I guess I was waiting for the right price and $10 is tough to beat. It has some nice bonuses on here as well like two episodes from Goof Troop, one of my favorite cartoons.

Speaking of cartoons I adore, I finally got around to picking up TaleSpin Vol. 2. Wal-Mart had a new shipment come in and I figured it best to just pay the $10 to buy it in store rather than pay an added cost for shipping at Amazon. Just one DVD set shy of the whole series, and I recently learned Disney released the final 11 episodes on a two disc Vol. 3 set back in August. I hope the other Disney Afternoon cartoon series get the wrap up treatment.

Wal-Mart's bargain bin is becoming one of my best friends. It says $20 for most things in there, but when I run them through a price check,  a lot of them come up at $10, like Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Remix and the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection. I already have the PS2 vrsion of Shadow of the Colossus, but not ICO, so it was another reason for me to pick this one up. But for $10, I would have grabbed it even if I already did have ICO.

I love me some plushies and it seems like it's been a dog's age since I bought one. With it being The Year of Luigi, I thought it best to give the man in green his due before his older brother. So I got Squirrel Suit Luigi and Tanooki Suit Luigi. Most of the plushies I've been getting over the past year have been bought online at Amazon and they've been imports, like the two above. A lot of these plushies aren't sold in stores but I imagine you can find a lot of these in Nintendo's store in New York. Both of these plushies were nearly $20 each but hey, it's Luigi and if anyone is worth it, it's him.

Latest Purchases #59

So a new store called five below opened in the same store section of fye and Barns & Nobles. As the name suggests everything in the store is priced at $5 or below. They've got a lot of great stuff in there and that's where the bulk of my haul came from.

I usually end up paying $17 or more for themed t-shirts, but I got each of these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tees for $5 each. I don't think I've had a TMNT shirt since I was a lad. The black one feels like it was lifted straight from the NES title screen from the first TMNT game. five and below has a great selection of tees, all for $5 so I'll definitely be heading back there next week when I get paid.

Toy Story, one of the greatest computer animated films ever. I've been meaning to pick up the entire series on the Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs but price has been a factor in preventing me from doing so. But getting the Blu-Ray/DVD special edition for $5? How can I say no to that?

Another month, another issue of Retro Gamer. Highlights for Load 120 include the best 25 gaming icons. You'll never guess who topped the list. Spoiler: it's Mario.

Speaking of Mario, he's graced an energy drink called Power-Up and Pac-Man is on his own energy drink as well. I've never been into energy drinks, but these were too cool to pass up. I may give them a try sometime, but I got them mostly for decoration purposes. Now if only we could get the Mega Man E-Tank energy drink here in the states.

Latest Purchases #58

I'd been meaning to pick up more t-shirts this year so when fye reopened, I couldn't wait to check out their selection again. I had been thinking of picking up a Flash t-shirt and after watching Flashpoint Paradox numerous times, that encouraged me to nab one. Oh and in case you're wondering, Wally West is my favorite Flash.

I've never played either of the Portal games, but I thought the design of this tee looked awesome so I picked it up. I suppose I'll have to check the games out someday.

While I was in Wal-Mart finishing up shopping for my sister's birthday, I came across the Marvel and Deadpool tees for only $7.50 each. No way I was gonna pass those up. I'd seen a black Deadpool shirt at fye with a less damaged Deadpool logo but I really like the gray of this one. That and it was a lot cheaper.

Long have I heard about the greatness that is Carl Barks and his Donald Duck add Uncle Scrooge comics. They may have been made well before my time but from my understanding, Barks' works are timeless. I never imagined I'd get to check out Barks' original stories, but Fantagraphics Books is releasing the whole set under what they are calling The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. Only a handful of these books are out right now and each one collects over 200 pages of duck comics in hardcover format and include extras like a plethora of story notes and comic covers. The collection well clock it at thirty books total so I predict that it will probably take some time for anyone looking to collect the whole set. The two books I picked up are The Old Castle's Secret and A Christmas for Shacktown.

Back in 2011, I picked up a lovely hardcover, my first Fantagraphics Book to me precise. It was called Mickey Mouse: Race to Death Valley, by Floyd Gottfredson. See, I'd known that Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge had comics but the Mouse having comics that date back to the 1930s? That was news to me. Given Mickey's immense popularity, I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, but I really was. Mickey Mouse appeared in daily newspaper comics from 1930 to 1975. That's 45 years of Mouse comics! Race to Death Valley is the first book of the Floyd Gottfredson Library and with 45 years worth of comics, it's going to take quite a while before the whole library is finished. Like The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library, only a few books are out in the Floyd Gottfredson Library. What's available right now are Volumes 1-4 and Volumes 1-2 of the Color Sundays. Thus far, I have Volume 1 and Volume 2 and 4. Volume 2 is Trapped on Treasure Island and Volume 4 is House of the Seven Haunts. The reason I picked up Volume 4 before Volume 3 was an issue of price. Amazon had Volume 4 for $8.27 and Volume 2 for $12, each brand new. These hardcovers usually go for around $30 in book stores so that was an incredible bargain. Still, $20 for Volume 3, isn't too shabby and that will be the next book in this series that I pick up. Each of these books have a ton of bonus material in addition to the comics and these come highly recommended to anyone with even the slightest interest in Mickey Mouse or comics in general.

I picked up two sketch pads because I've been meaning to get back into drawing and the two in the above picture had really nice hardcovers, which was part of the reason I nabbed them. They were also quite cheap.

I've been playing DuckTales and listening to the music of DuckTales: Remeastered and that got me in the mood to pick up some DuckTales on DVD. I had the first two volumes but they ended up getting lost. It still kills me that Disney refuses to finish releasing most of their Disney Afternoon cartoons on DVD.

It really does pay to look through the bargain bins. A mist the junk, I found some real gems. I did not expect to find a case containing a code for DuckTales: Remastered. It also comes with a pin. Even though DuckTales: Remastered is a digital game, it will still be nice to have something to put on my shelf. And for $10, I can't really complain.

Also in the bargain bin was Zone of the Enders HD Collection. I know this isn't the best HD Collection out there but for $15, I wasn't gonna pass on the mech action. That and 2nd Runner is not easy to come by.

Latest Purchases #56

The Sandlot was one of my favorite movies and I really should have picked it up on DVD years ago. It was only $4.75 at Target. Been a few years since I've seen it so the next time I get a day off or maybe one night after sit down and give it a watch. 

The Iron Giant is an animation masterpiece. At least it is in my eyes. I've always been fond of robots and this is flick would certainly earn a spot on my list of top robot flicks. The animation is still very nice in this one.

In the early 1990s my family used to rent videos from Block Buster Video all the time. One weekend we rented a movie called What About Bob? It's about a crazy patient that goes sane and drives his doctor insane. This movie left my family and I in stitches and is one of Bill Murrays best films. It's been a long time since I've seen this movie and I was really surprised to see it for $5 at Target. Nothing in the way of extras but I'm not complaining. 

I love Independence Day. When the VHS came out I would watch it religiously. This version contains the special edition with the bonus material and the theatrical release.

I've never read the comic book mini series that Just League: The Flashpoint Paradox is based off of but after I watching this incredibly awesome movie, I just may have to check it out. Essentially a Flash movie, it explores an alternate reality after something in the past changes the future. The animation is easily some of the best among these DC animated films and that makes for some incredible action scenes. It's also one of the few DC animated features on Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack that I've been able to pick up for under $13. I usually end up forking over $20 for these so that was plenty nice.

That Spidey cup was actually in the kids section but I've always considered myself a big kid. That and I love Spider-Man. 

I've finally added The World Ends With You to my library. I'm so caught up with the awesomeness that is the 3DS that sometimes I forget that I still need to track down DS games. I got this off Amazon for $20 brand new.

Speaking of 3DS, that's three more games to the collection. I wanted to get Code of Princess for my birthday but no stores had it in. It is an Atlus game, after all. So I hoped on Amazon, and bought it for $30.

The Year of Luigi continues with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. I absolutely love that cover with Luigi dozing off, dreaming of a bunch of other Luigis. There are times when I think Nintendo really does adore the man in green over their own mascot.

I picked up Fire Emblem: Awakening just for the $30 eShop credit, which I already used. This is actually the second Fire Emblem game I own. Years ago I picked up Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on the GBA, which, surprise, surprise, I've yet to get around to playing.

Darkwing Duck: Campaign Carnage is actually the fourth TPB from the Boom! comic book series. So I still need to pick up F.O.W.L. Disposition, which seems to be the mostly costly on Amazon for some reason. 

I've been reading Hardcore Gaming 101 for years and I was really surprised to see they'd put out a book. This particular book focuses on SEGA's arcade games. That's over 160 pages of SEGA arcade goodness. I'm gonna have to get caught up on my books soon and get around to reading this one.

The Sonic and Mega Man Worlds Collide crossover has finished. I like it but I'm glad it's over. The adaptation of the Mega Man 3 story, which picks back up in Mega Man #28 is looking good. Spoilers: Roll gets shot by Break Man and all the robots across the world shut down because of Ra-Moon.

 

Latest Purchases #52

This is actually stuff I bought with my previous paycheck. I was just busy with E3 posts and working 9 straight days (woo boy, THAT was murder) that I never got around to posting it until now.

Sonic the Hedgehog #249. We're half way through the Worlds Collide Sonic/Mega Man crossover. Mega Man and Sonic are still fighting Sonic's roboticised friends with the Chaotix being restored back to normal. Knuckles, Amy and the rest are still made of metal. Much as I'm enjoying this crossover, I really can't wait for both comics to resume their current story lines. I really want to see where Sonic the Hedgehog goes with the traitor angle, even though I'm pretty sure I know who the traitor is. As for Mega Man, I felt issue #23 ended where it was just getting really good with Proto Man coming back, making Cut Man and the gang look like scrubs. Plus, I really want to see Rock's battles with the Mega Man 3 Robot Masters.

The latest Retro Gamer Load No. 115 has a special feature on the 30 essential shooter. I've peeked at the list and I can say that my personal list would be significantly different. Of course that may be because I haven't played a large chunk of the shooters listed

Superman Unbound is the latest DC animated movie and it arrived just in time for Man of Steel. Some people didn't like the art style of this one but I think it looks pretty sleek and angular. I saw a scene of the movie from YouTube where Lois Lane flips off Braniac with both fingers. These films are getting edgier with each successive release

Tiny Toon Adventures Vol. 4 Loony Links marks the final DVD release of the series. It took Warner Bros. a few years, but the finally bowed to fans request and put out the whole series. Feels good to have the entire series in my possession. I really should finish watching it. I'm still in the middle of Season One Vol. 2.

Latest Purchases #48

Seems like it's been an eternity since I bought anything off of Amazon but it was my best bet for picking up two items I've coveted for the longest time. These arrived in the mail on Thursday with only the standard shipping. Not too shabby considering I ordered them Tuesday.

First up is Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. This uncut DVD actually contains three, count 'em three different versions of the film. There's the original Japanese version, the English version and the UK version with new scenes and a KMFDM soundtrack. So I'm guessing the UK version uses a different score from the American and Japanese versions. I'll have to see what that's all about.

It's been years since I watched Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. Most Street Fighter fans saw this in 1994 when it originally came out. Me, I didn't see it until 2004 when I picked up the PS2 Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, which came with the edited version of the film. It was a very wonderful bonus, even in edited form, but I can't express enough how nice it will be to see this movie fully uncut. From my understanding, this is the best movie of Street Fighter, animated, live action or otherwise.

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia. I saw this book on Amazon before it was released early this year. The original price is $34.99 but Amazon sells it for $19.99. I've always loved how they give you price cuts on things. The book is much bigger than I thought. I knew it was a hardcover, but I was surprised at the size of the book when I opened the box.

I mainly bought Hyrule Historia for the artwork. I've long appreciated the numerous art styles of this series so it's nice to have a book that I can just crack open and admire the art. This book also contains an official timeline of the Zelda series. Fans have been trying (in vain) to make sense of the series convoluted timeline and hoped that this book would set things straight. From what I've read this book does little to make things easier to comprehend. Honestly, I could care less about Zelda's timeline. I just accept the fact the many of the Zelda games take place ind different worlds and in different time periods. Some Links are left handed, some are right handed. Does everything really have to be connected? No. No it doesn't.

Latest Purchases #47

Another Latest Purchases post and no games to mention. But, I did get some sweet DVDs. I talk a lot about how great the 1980s were for animation and video games, but the '90s had some amazing cartoons as well. Darkwing Duck, one of of the best examples of a super hero parody represents some of Disney's best work in afternoon animation. Darkwing Duck Volume 2 collects another 27 episodes from this 91 episodes series. Some of my favorite episodes are contained in this set such as Life, the Negaverse and Everything, Disguise the Limit, Stressed to Kill, and Dead Duck. There's nothing in the way of extras on this set, as has been the case with every Disney Afternoon show on DVD that wasn't Gargoyles. Bit of a bummer but I'm glad I can watch DW in action whenever I please. Another bummer is that Disney has yet to release the remaining episoldes of Darkwing Duck on DVD, which is a notorious practice Disney seems to be fond of when it comes to it's old Disney Afternoon toons.

When Warner Bros. said they had no plans to release another DVD set of Tiny Toon Adventures after the two box sets that collected the first season, I was crushed. I lived and breathed this show when I was a kid so having an incomplete collection was heartbreaking. But about a month ago I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Vol. 3 was on the way! What's more, Vol. 4, which collects the final episodes of the series will be releasing in late May of this year. Thank you, Warner Bros! Vol. 3 collects some of the series most memorable episodes like Kon Ducki, Thirteensomething, and Elephant Issues the banned episode that has Buster, Plucky and Hampton getting drunk and getting into all kinds of trouble. Good stuff.

Latest Purchases #46

This is actually a combination of stuff I bought with this week's paycheck and last week's paycheck. I meant to post the stuff from last week sooner, but I just never got around to it. Better late than never.

It's the latest issue of Retro Gamer, Load 112. Among other things, this issue has a special feature about the 30 greatest power-ups in gaming. Some of the power-ups that made the list are the Bomb Kick from the Bomberman series, the Spread Gun from the Contra games, the Red Shell from Mario Kart and the Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2. That's only what I've seen from a quick look. I can't wait to really dig into this feature.

Superman Family Adventures is the only Superman comic I'm reading as I continue to avoid DC Comics and most mainstream comics in general. As the spirtutal successor to Tiny Titans (R.I.P.) it hits a lot of the same notes, paying homage to numerous incarnations of the Superman mythos and has a good flow of continuity from issue to issue. One of Superman's most classic foes Brainiac appears here. If not for Superman: The Animated Series, I wouldn't have a clue who Brainiac was.

I missed the third issue in the Chaotix storyline in Sonic Universe and I'm kicking myself for it. The Chaotix are some of my favorite characters in the Sonic world and I was delighted to see them get a story centered on the group. There was even mention of the famous computer room line from Vector. Several times.

I didn't have the money to pick up Mega Man #22 at the time so I read this issue in the store. And it had me in stitches. Ice Man can't seem to catch a break in wooing Roll and Roll's attempts to get Mega Man together with Quake Woman fall flat. Dr.Light even explains how and why he programmed his creations to feel love.

This is the second Sonic Super Digest I've picked up and I still haven't finished reading the first one. These digest books collect older material from the Sonic comics as well as some more recent storylines. This one has Sonic and Knuckles going at it and they even take on their Super forms.

The Art of War. A book I've heard about and was told to read by one of my old managers at work. Looking through it, it seems a bit different from what I'd originally had in mind. Althought I'm not really sure what I was thinking to expect from this book but it seems more about planning and battle strategies, which is fine and it sounds like it will make a good read. It cost me less than $8 at Barns & Nobles. And thus my collection of books continues to grow.

That wraps up the stuff I bought from last week. The only thing I got this week was Wreck-It Ralph on Blu-Ray + DVD. I watched the movie with my nieces and it is an amazing film. Not just for it's gaming focus but for the story it tells. Seriously, I LOVE this movie and I'll go into further detail as to why when I review it. And watch it again.

Latest Purchases #44

Seems like it's been forever since I had any games to mention in a Latest Purchases post. And I don't have any to talk about in this one either. I went into fye yesterday and they had some good deals on movies, both new and used. Here's what I walked out with.

I primarily went to fye to pick up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2. They had the Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet combo pack on sale for $19.99. I still dislike Warner Bros. practice of placing the extra content on the Blu-Ray discs. I always like to enjoy extra material on movies but unless you have Blu-Ray, you're locked out of those extras, meaning there's little point in me picking up a vanilla DVD version. So I just opted for the combo pack. Sadly, I still don't have a Blu-Ray so all I can do is watch the movie, which I'm sure will be all kinds of awesome since I loved Part 1 and read the graphic novel that this movie is based off of.

Superman vs. The Elite is a movie I've wanted to check out since I saw the preview for it when I finished Justice League: Doom a year ago. fye had a used copy of the Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet combo pack for under $13 so I nabbed that up. I generally have no problems buying used games and movies from fye because they stuff is always is great shape and works flawlessly. At least for me. Superman vs. The Elite is no exception. I watched the movie and really enjoyed. Just might write up a review for it on the blog.

I've never read the book that i, Robot is based off of, but I'm a sucker for stories with robots and I loved this film when I saw it in 2004. At just $3, there was no way I was gonna pass this up. I'm kinda surprised it took me this long to buy this movie. I should have owned it years ago.

I thought the trailers I'd seen for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World looked great but when I heard it payed a lot of tributes to video games, I really wanted to check this baby out. I finally got around to watching it in the spring of 2011 and surprise, surprise, I loved every minute of it. The plethora of video game references, the hilarious fights with the evil exes, the character of Scott Pilgrim, it was wonderful stuff. I may check out the books that inspired the film someday.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble is actually something I picked up when I was getting ready to check out. It was up at the front desk with a regular price of $29.99 but was on sale for $6. Never saw it, but I didn't think I'd have much to lose for $6. Besides, I love the Trigun anime and this movie comes with a ton of extra material. At 137 minutes, this is gonna be a long anime flick and I do hope Funimation got most of the voice actors that worked on the Trigun anime. Guess I'll find out when I get around to watching it.

Latest Purchases #37

I know I buy a lot of things at fye and it's a bit strange. Their prices tend to be quite high. On the other hand, they do have a lot of things on sale and I currently have a 10% discount on whatever I buy so it's always nice to save some dough.

Anyway, my latest purchases were a couple of Batman DVDs. Batman: Year One is based off the comic book of the same name. It's essentially a retelling of Batman's origin story focusing on his first year. I bought the graphic novel back in 2007 and I have to say it's some great work by Frank Miller. I was a bit letdown by the conclusion, but overall, it's a very good Batman story. I've been meaning to pick up the Batman: Year One DVD for some time now and when I saw it on sale for $9.99, I didn't think their would be a better time to make the purchase.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is another one of Frank Miller's works. Like Batman: Year One, it was released in the 1980s and was one of the things that helped Batman make the much need comeback he deserved. For those not in the know, The Dark Knight Returns is about an elderly Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement since he hung up the cowl 10 years ago. Gotham has pretty much gone down the toilet since he left but that's probably not surprise. I'm a bit bummed that The Dark Knight Returns is being split up into a two part movie. My guess is, The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 covers the first half of the graphic novel, while Part 2 will cover the second half and show us the epic showdown between Batman and Superman. I actually opted for the vanilla version of the DVD release since it was on sale for $14.99 and money is really tight at the moment. Maybe someday I'll get the DVD+Blu-Ray combo pack. I must say I'm very much annoyed with Warner Bros. placing the bulk of the extras on the Blu-Ray releases of it's animated features. I had planned to buy this movie on release date but things come up and I ended up buying it days after. This is probably what cased me to miss out on a poster that came with the movie when you purchased it a fye. The poster is the same as the DVD cover, which is all kinds of awesome. Having that to hang on my wall would have been so nice.

Latest Purchases #36

Went into fye and picked up DBZ Season Nine used on the cheap. This is the last of the orange brick box sets and it includes the Fusion and Kid Buu Sagas. The long and convoluted battle against Maijin Buu is wrapped up on this set and is the conclusion to DBZ. It's been years since I've seen these episodes but I remember loving every minute of the Fusion Saga, especially when Vegeta and Goku fused to from Vegito, my favorite fused character. All I need now is season seven and I'll have collected all of DBZ. Next I'll work on getting the rest of DBZ Kai.

It's been some time since I picked up any PS2 games and these were very cheap. I once owned Atari Anthology and loaned it to a friend and he ended up losing it. Needless to say, it's great to have this collection again. Among the 85 games on this disc are Tempest, Missile Command, Super Break Out and Warlords.

I've heard good things about Bully and thought about picking up the Wii's version of Scholarship edition but when I saw the PS2 version for chump change, I figured I'd skip out on the extra content and just go with this one. Not really sure what to expect from the gameplay but whenever I play it, I'll find out.

Devil May Cry 3 was featured in Retro Gamer's Future Classic feature. They talked about the special edition and while I've never really played the Devil May Cry games, I thought I might be able to get into them. I hear this one is really hard.

As I said in my previous post on Latest Purchases, I bought Tiny Toon Adventures Season One, Vol. 1. I started watching it Friday night and I finished with the first disc. I didn't realize how much I missed this wonderful show. The concept of the Tiny Toons being taught by the older Loony Tunes is great and while there may be a lot of topical humor, it still tickles my funny bone. Best of all, I get a lot of the jokes now that I'm an adult. I do hope Warner Bros. eventually releases seasons 2 and 3.

I owned Mario Kart: Super Circuit years ago but it was stolen. For less than $7, I was able to get a used copy off Amazon and it works great. I'm still making my way through Mario Kart 7 so I'll go back to play this in full. Not every cup has been unlocked yet on this copy.

I've always been a huge fan of platformers and Mario so I had to get New Super Mario Bros. 2. At first, I was going to hold off longer with people saying that the game was something of a let down, but I prefer to try things for myself and see. Besides, I was able to get a discount on it at fye.

At first I couldn't find Kirby's Dream Collection in fye so I went to K-Mart. Wasn't there either. I wondered would stores not have the game in until Sept. 17? Going back to fye, I asked a store clerk if they had the game and they had one copy, which they brought out for me to purchase. I also got this on a discount and there's a bit more on this collection than I thought. I'll have a separate post on this later in the day.

Latest Purchases #35

Went shopping on Amazon early Tuesday morning and these babies came in the mail today.

If you don't know, I'm a huge fan of animation. One of my all-time favorite cartoons is Tiny Toon Adventures. Much of the same style of humor that was seen on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and later Animaniacs can be seen in Tiny Toons. I picked up Season 1 Vol. 2 because it was cheaper than Season 1 Vol. 1, which I plan to pick up with my next pay check. Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaiacs are two great shows that seem to be in the same boat: Warner Bros. has no plans to release the remaining DVD sets. I guess something is better than nothing and at least Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent my Summer Vacation finally got released on DVD.

I was reading a preview of Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward for the N3DS in an issue of Nintendo Power. The game is a sequel to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, a game they made mention of during the preview. SuperPhilip also made mention of this game on his feature of 50 best NDS games. It was only $20 on amazon new, so I snagged a copy. It's a thriller, puzzle and mystery game all in one and it sounded way too cool to pass up. If I'm going to get Zero Escape, I may as well have it's prequel.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season Two Part Two

Batman is back with his hammers of justice to pound more criminal scum. This two disc DVD set collects the remaining fourteen episodes of season two of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Earlier in season two, there was a teaser that showed mini Starros arriving on Earth. In the teasers that followed, we saw many heroes being enslaved to Starro's mind control powers. All of these teasers have been building up to the two part episode, The Siege of Starro! It's actually quite fitting that Starro appears in this series. Though this is hardly the creature's first animated appearance. He appeared on Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond and even before that, Starro was used in an episode of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure in the 1960s. But Starro's comic book debut was in Brave and the Bold #28. There's even a direct homage to that issue's very cover where all five heroes are attacking the giant alien starfish. We get to see Batman, Firestorm, Captain Marvel, Booster Gold, and B'wana Beast team up in what seems like a hopeless battle against all their mind controlled friends and later, a much bigger version of Starro. This is one of the biggest challenges Batman and company have faced at this point in the series and the build up to part one of this episode was well worth the wait.

These five are the only heroes in the DCU that
don't have a face full of Starro.

Brave and the Bold #28 homage. Awesome
sauce!

The Siege of Starro Part Two isn't a bad episode in the slightest, but many probably weren't expecting the heroes to take down Starro in Part One. I know I certainly wasn't. But in actuality, Faceless Hunter is the true villain of Part Two. After abducting B'wana Beast, he uses his powers to control Starro to drain the energy from the heroes to grow even more powerful. The help of the Metal Men and B'wana Beast take down this new Starro, but B'wana Beast ends up sacrificing his life in order to do so from his end. It was something I really didn't see coming, especially after Vixen's marriage proposal to B'wana at the end of Gorillas in Our Midst! It's a very heart wrenching climax to what began as a heavily action packed two part episode and goes to show that, despite the show's lighter tone, there can't always be happy endings. You might wanna have some tissues handy while watching this one.

As cool a hero as Batman is, I don't mind when the spotlight gets shifted from him to another character and in the case or Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!, the light is shinned on the Flash family. Written by Greg Weisman, this episode shows both Jay and Kid Flash dealing with the supposed death of Barry Allen Flash at the hands of Zoom. In reality, Flash isn't dead at all, but got sent to a future where Zoom rules. Of the three episodes written by Mr. Weisman, this one is easily my favorite. It's a fine tribute to the different versions of the Flash, a great episode of The Brave and the Bold, and one of the best Flash focused episodes in the history of Flash animation.

The Joker gives Bat-Mite his own "Me."
Bat-Mite is not amused.

Yes, that is a whoopee cushion on his head. 

When Bat-Mite is on the scene you know you're in for a crazy episode, even by this show's standards. That being said, crazy doesn't even begin to describe Emperor Joker! Based off the Super story of the same name, the Joker ends up getting the reality warping powers of Bat-Mite. With these powers he easily defeats Batman. Now just because this version of the Joker may not look as menacing as the others, that doesn't mean he's to be taken lightly. Make no mistake, this Joker is every bit an insane killer as the other versions. I didn't read the comic that the story was based off of so I was quite shocked to see the Joker actually succeed in killing Batman. And after that, he brought him back to life and killed him again. And again. And again. Some of these deaths are just brutal! I actually cringed at a few of them. We do get a great musical number in this episode as well. I had no idea Jeff Bennett could sing! He must have had so much fun in this episode and his take on the Joker is one of the reasons why this version is one of my favorites.

The Knights of Tomorrow! explores the possibilities of Batman marrying Catwoman and having a son, Damian Wayne. Yes, I know Damian is the son of Bruce and Talia, but I don't mind liberties being taken here. Especially when this version of Damian is likable and not the little psycho snot that he is in the comics. Since Bruce has a family, he passes on the mantle of Batman to Dick Grayson. Whenever Dick fights as Batman, music plays that's very reminiscent of the rock music from Batman Beyond, so I'm down with any nods to that show, however small they may be. Dick makes a fine Batman. Sure, he's different from Bruce, but so was Terry when he was Batman and that was one of the main reasons he was such a cool character. Why place someone else in the role of Batman if they're going to act the exact same way Bruce does?

Robin has got to be the most muscular
preteen I've ever seen.

Batman of the future.

Darkseid Descending! sees the Justice League International unite to thwart an alien invasion by non other than the god of Apokolips himself. This Justice League is very different from the one seen in the DCAU Justice League and I think it's nice that the JLI comic gets some due. And Batman's fight with Darkseid, well, can you even call it a fight? I mean, Batman is good, real good, but Darkseid is one of the most powerful foes in the DC universe. Batman was lucky he survived long enough for Question to save him.

Meet the Justice League International.

Aren't you a cute little Batbaby? Yes, you are!
Yes, you are!

Battle of the Super Heroes! is for all intents and purposes a Superman episode and I love it for that. Superman made a cameo apperance in Sidekicks Assemble early in season two and here, he gets a whole episode dedicated to him. This episode is also a 22 minute tribute to a certain website. Superman gets infected with Red Kryptonite and starts acting like what Jimmy Olsen nearly says, a real di... different person. Numerous Silver Age Superman covers are referenced, and there's even am awesome homage to The Dark Knight Returns! But among all the great silliness that occurs in this episode (trust me, there's LOADS of it, considering Bat-Mite isn't around) it's great to see Superman and Batman being portrayed as old chum friends. Don't get me wrong, I like the modern age friendship they have, but it's still nice to see them be buds without any antagonism in animation, something that hasn't been done in decades.

This show has it all. Even a Dark Knight Returns
homage. 

The only extras to speak of are a digital comic and with DVD releases of this series, I've gotten used to little in the way of bonus material. Season one was a great start and season two upped the ante in a big way. There are so many strong episodes in this set it gets my most highest recommendation without question.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season Two Part One

The first season of Batman: The Brave and the Bold was a terrific start to a new Batman series. It proved that a lighter take on Batman would result in a competent show if done right. And boy, was it ever done right. As good as it was, I have to admit that season two is even better. This two disc set collects the first half of season two, containing 12 episodes.

Season twos tarts off with Death Race to Oblivion!, written by one of my favorite writers, Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice). In this episode, Mongul pits heroes and villains against each other in a race against each other. The winner gets to see their hometown stay alive. And the losers? Well, I'm sure you can figure that out. It kinda reminds me of Wacky Races only more serious and with DC characters. Seeing the Joker take out the competition with a giant whoopee cushion and then saying "He who smelt it, dealt it!" makes me chuckle every time I watch it. 

I don't think I've said so in previous write ups of this series, but this version of Aquaman is my favorite in any medium. Up until I saw the Aquaman in the DCAU, I had very little respect for the character, but his appearances in Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited showed me that Aquaman could be a worthwhile hero. And then I saw Aquaman in this series and he was... Is there any other way to put it? No, I don't think there is, so I'll just go on and say it. Aquaman is OUTRAGEOUS in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. It is a riot every time he's on screen. John DiMaggio has long been one of my favorite voice actors and as Aquaman, he just hams it up in spectacular fashion. In Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!, the spotlight is cast on the titular hero as he goes on vaccation with his family. Or ties to. He finds it increasingly difficult to resist the call of super heroing, often taking off to team up with other heroes, much to the dismay of his wife. This isn't the first time, the spotlight has been cast on Aquaman in this show, but to me, it's the best of the Aquaman focused episodes. Also, the funniest.

There goes the neighborhood.

JSA Assemble! 

The Golden Age of Justice! gives us of the Justice Society of America, which consists of Wild Cat, Hawkman, Jay Garrick, Hourman, and Dr. Midnight. This episode also shows us that they were mentors to Batman and Black Canary, showing them the ropes in their early days. We even get to see Batman wearing his original Bob Kane costume! Of course the episode has far more going for it than that. I knew nothing of Black Canary's history prior to watching this episode, so it was surprising to learn that she was not the first to use that name. Basically, the original Black Canary was Dinah's mother and her dying wish was for Wildcat to look after her daughter. I was really shocked to see that her death was shown on screen. It wasn't overly brutal, but it was still a sad scene and marks the second time a hero has been killed on the show.

Revenge of the Reach! brings back one of my favorite heroes of this series, Blue Beetle. He's been a wonderfully developed character since the show debuted. When the true nature of the Scarab is revealed, it throws an unwilling Jamie into a war with the Green Lanterns and the Reach, the creator of the Scarab. This episode also has a teaser unlike any other. It ends with the appearance of Starro and the words "To Be Continued." 

The detective vs. the demon.

To quote Bruce Timm "He's Batman. What
CAN'T he do?"

Robin once again gets a chance to shin in Sidekicks Assemble! He along with Aqualad and Speedy go off on their own to foil a plot by Ra's Al Ghoul. Yes, Batman's other most dangerous foe is in this series and he's just as obsessed with killing off a large portion of humanity to preserve the Earth here as he is in any other medium. Talia and Ubuu are also at his side. At the end of this episode, we see Robin make the jump to Nightwing. He's even wearing that disco-like costume, which fits in perfectly with the tone of the show.

Batman has been no stranger to visiting other worlds in this series, but in The Super-Batman of Planet X!, his unplanned trip to Zur-En-Arrh is unlike any other. On this planet, Batman gets powers very similar to Superman. We even get characters that are stand ins for Lois Lane and Lex Luthor in the form of Vilsi and Rohtul, voiced by Dana Delany and Clancy Brown respectively. In fact, the whole episode seems like a Superman episode, only with Batman substituting the role for the Man of Steel. Or perhaps I should say Batmen since this planet also has a Batman. The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh dresses far more flashy than our Batman and he has no powers. And the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh is voiced by the most famous Batman voice actor of all-time, Kevin Conroy. Two Batmen for the price of one? YES!

Two Batmen means more hammers of
justice to go around.

Serious Batman is serious business.

The original Blue Beetle died in the first season and in The Golden Age of Justice!, we saw Black Canary's mother meet her end. Batman: The Brave and the Bold is still chock full of Silver Age goodness and tongue in check humor, but it's during this season that the series throws in more touches of darker and edgier. I'll tell you right now that this show is not finished with the hero killing. Not by a long shot. But even without offing anyone in tights, the show still manages to stray from it's lighter and softer roots without suffering in quality. 

The Paul Dini written episode Chill of the Night! is one of the best Batman episodes in the Caped Crusader's history of animation. It's also pitch black dark. I mean that both in terms of color scheme and the story itself. In an effort to match the tone of the story, Batman's costume isn't the usual light blue we're used to seeing. The opening teaser starts off lighthearted as usual with Batman teaming up with Zatanna to stop Cadabra. After that, we see Bruce as a child walking out of a movie theater with his parents. Shortly after this, Joe Chill appears, two gun shots ring out and Bruce's life is never the same. Let me just say that even for what is essentially a kid's show, the scene where Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered is pretty dark. You see their shadows reflecting on a building as they get shot with little Bruce looking on, horrified. For the most part, Batman works alone in this one, save for the brief moment where he travels to the past and meets his parents. While in the past, he works with Thomas Wayne to save Martha Wayne from Moxon and Chill. Moxon was sent to prison and blamed Thomas Wayne. As payback, he had Chill kill them. Batman is furious when he finds this out and his confrontation with Chill is, pardon the pun, chilling. This entire episode is proof that Diedrich Bader can pull of a gritty Batman just as well as he can a cheerful one. Actually, the way Batman acts in this episode is very much how he acts in Batman: The Animated Series and modern age Batman comics. He's not spouting one-liners, his methods of getting information are just as you'd expect from the aforementioned Batman mediums, and the you do not wanna be Chill's face when you see Batman punch him. Speaking of faces, this is the first time we actually see Bruce Wayne's face. Not counting an alternate reality Bruce or his Matches Malone disguise. In a very powerful moment, Batman reveals his identity to a very shocked Joe Chill. This being the first time we see Bruce's face make it all the more powerful. This episode could have easily been done for Batman: The Animated Series and it would have fit perfectly. 

There aren't any extras on these discs. Some episode commentaries would have been nice. But little in the way of extras should be expected by this point. And the episodes presented here are so good that I'm not really gonna hold that against it. Pick his one up, watch the first half of season two and be amazed.