Friday, September 26, 2008

Updates - September 26th, 2008

Schedule Updates, Delays & Cancelations

Media Blasters sent over a bulletin yesterday announcing that the release of the 6th Voltron tin box (originally due out on Sept 30th) is being rescheduled for Dec 23rd. This will bump out the release of the 7th box to late January at least. They did not cite any reason for the delay, and we dated box #6 for Dec 30th. In fact, we're post dating any release scheduled for that week - we know from past experience the folly of any Anime company scheduling a release to street on Christmas week. :-)

After 50 phone calls and 200 bad cups of coffee Bandai finally shipped us the Limited Version of Lucky Star 3 this week, which went on the truck Wednesday afternoon. That puts delivery to our facility at Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, and we'll be pre-prepping orders so that they can ship out the minute the sets arrive. I should be very happy about this, but after so many delays it's hard to feel anything except "damn, I sure hope this doesn't happen again". I'll be glad to put this one to bed.



RIP Toonami - Maybe We Knew You Too Well

Cartoon Network announced during its programming last Saturday that it was ending the last vestiges of their Saturday night Toonami action block. Naruto was the only remaining anime series airing in that slot, and this continues the shakeup with Cartoon Network's programming schedule which has been paring down Anime titles over the past few months. I think CN has gotten themselves into a rut by focusing on 'sure things' and not continuing to experiment with cutting edge shows like they did back in 2004 and 2005. We'll have to wait and see what they will have for us going forward.

Anime Turning Up in Unexpected Places

Anime can turn up just about anywhere these days. The still below is from the recently released Mirrors horror movie. Proof positive that a well placed Negima wall scroll can make all the difference in an otherwise mediocre scene.

And as unusual as this might seem, even more bizarre is the unexpected appearance of Haruhi and her crew in this Tylenol commercial. See if you can find it!

Just for Fun - Macross F Movie Coming

New series announcements come in all forms, but the only place you can find any official indication of the upcoming Macross F (Macross Frontier) movie is a quick mention after the final episode of the TV series in place of the usual 'next episode' trailer. No more information about the movie is currently available, and I'm sure that's exactly how the producers want it for now. In Japanese marketing, less is more...


Thanks to the folks at Gigazine for this tidbit.

2009 Japanese Import Calendars Available for Pre-Order

With the usual fanfare we've rolled out our selection of 2009 Import Japanese Anime theme calendars for pre-order. It was a big list of shows this year that mostly have not yet made it to North America, so we chose to stock 22 calendars that we felt would be the most popular.

If you don't see something on the list that you'd like to have this year, we have until around the 9th or 10th of October to reserve our quantity of these so just write in and we'll see if we can add it to the list. And be sure to get your orders in over the next couple of weeks because we're going to close the pre-order window for most of them after Oct 17th. We expect these to start to ship around the end of November.

ADV Films Nov 08 Releases Posted

Some of the folks down at ADV Films made it back into the office this week and got their servers and e-mail back up and running. They also sent us over their November release schedule, which is another mish-mash of boxed set re-releases:

Area 88, the Original OVA Series DVD (Re-Issue)
Best Student Council Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Thin-Pak)

Sadly there is just nothing new in this batch, but then again, ADV hasn't announced anything new in 4 or 5 months and is unlikely to anytime soon. I think the re-release of the ancient adult title Guy: Double Target demonstrates where they are at (and we thought they had put the Soft Cel label and their adult release ambitions to bed 3 or 4 years ago). That said, I am VERY glad to see a Best Student Council boxed set - which is LONG over due. I'm also glad to see the BGC 2040 and Nadia boxes being re-pressed after a long hiatus. Don't ask me what the deal is with the two 'Holiday' limited editions, I don't have any information on them yet except that they exist. We'll add that info to the store site as soon as ADV cares to get it us, and remember, these days with ADV all plans are soft until 30 minutes prior... -_^

Notable Figure Pre-Orders

Even though I had only a limited amount of time this week to sift through all the new offerings from the figure and toy producers we did manage to get another fabulous batch of upcoming figures posted to the store. Among the new announcements are the wonderfully naughty Maid Sangou-Chan and Reika Kitami figures along with the absolutely gorgeous Kos Mos Bikini figure. Be sure to check them all out!


New Arrivals In Stock This Week

Ron just popped his head in and told me we have yet ANOTHER huge shipment of DVD's that just hit the dock. Ahhhhhh!! These are being in processed as we speak:

Kamichu Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
Cat Girl Nuku Nuku The Whole Kitten-Kaboodle DVD Boxed Set (Thin-Pak)

We won't be able to get these updated on the store site until later this afternoon, but we will be including these in orders shipping out today!

In the new DVD dept this week we have an absolute truckload of new arrivals including Naruto Box #10 (Uncut) (which arrived 4 weeks early!), My-Otome Zwei, the Bleach Movie, the long awaited When They Cry #4, Tsubasa #8, the Negima OVA, the final volume of Otoboku - good grief there are really too many to list!

We have also received all the backstock of the Kyo Kara Maoh!, Season 2 DVD's and all but Vol #3 of Karin is now in stock, plus we managed to scrounge a few copies of Welcome to NHK, Vol #5 and have all of your pre-orders from back in June on the way.

In the manga dept we had quiet week with only 15 new volumes. Some of the notable new arrivals include Berserk Vol #25, Sundome Vol #3, Suzuka Vol #9, You're So Cool Vol #2 and the new series the Girl Who Runs Through Time which I know I lot of you have been waiting for.


We also had a quiet figure week giving all of you some time to digest the huge batch we posted last week. We do have the new Kanu Mogdan Drawing Figure in stock for you (it's really all about the nipples you know...) along with the surprisingly cool and sexy Shinobu-chan Figure which everyone should definitely take a look at - she certainly ended up on my shelf!



Well that's it for this week.
Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy your Anime!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Updates - September 12th, 2008

Few Schedule Updates, Delays & Cancelations

We got the word from Funimation this week that Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Vol #5 DVD has been pushed from 9/2 to 10/14. The next volume of Sonic X was also bumped a couple of weeks back to 9/23.

<---- Eye Candy. :-)

Three upcoming figures have been canceled, the first two due to licensing issues and the third due to a price and distribution change, so we've taken these down off the site for now:

1) Idolmaster Xenoglossia: Chihaya Kisaragi 1/7 Scale Figure [Enterbrain] (Canceled)
2) Pleniar De Ikou: TG Syle Pleinair w/ Car Non-Scale Figure (Canceled)
3) Ikki Tousen: Ryomou Shimei Maid in Cuffs 1/6 Scale PVC Figure (Canceled)

This stuff happens all the time as the Japanese licensing partners are always crossing up with each other over one issue or another. I hope the see these back on the schedule at a later date.

Funimation is still working with Geneon to solve the current issues getting backstock on some of the new re-releases on time, and expects the problem to be worked out soon. Back volumes of stuff like Karin and Kyo Kara Maoh should all be in stock shortly, and Funi told me yesterday that the new Shana and Fate/Stay boxes should be arriving on Monday or Tuesday. Hey, those dates they set are really just guidelines anyway...right? Sort of like the posted speed limit... -_^

I'm sure a lot of you are wondering where the Limited Version of Lucky Star 3 is, and if it's ever going to come out. I talked to the product manager out at Bandai this week and he told me that getting all this bad disk stuff sorted out is causing long delays, but we should expect to have the Lucky Star 3 LE in stock by around the middle of next week. On a side note, many customers are telling me that their replacement Code Geass disks have started to arrive directly from Bandai and that (for the most part) the episodes are now playing fine, however, a few have reported that they are now having problems playing some of the extras on disk 2 - which ironically played fine on the original disks. In any case, if you have any problems with the replacement disks Bandai has sent you, please make sure to contact them again and let them know. Third time is the charm after all...

Funimation Announces 'Kaze no Stigma'

New licensing announcements have been few and far between since the summer cons, but this week Funimation announced the acquisition of the 24-episode Kaze no Stigma series, which was produced by Gonzo and aired in Japan from April through October of 2007. Based on the light novels by Takahiro Yamato, Kaze no Stigma is an action / comedy / romance reminiscent in tone of the original Full Metal Panic. Jun'ichi Sato directed the Kaze no Stigma anime, which is the story of Kazuma, the descendent of an ancient clan skilled in the "Fire Arts," who is sent into exile after he is defeated in a test of succession by his flame-haired female cousin. When he returns having mastered the art of the wind (he can fly and direct wind gusts at opponents etc.) the love/hate relationship with his cousin really heats up. Funimation has added the series to their slate of 2009 DVD releases.

Just for Fun - Japanese Grocery Shopping

If you think you've seen some weird wacky stuff at the local 7-11, this is the sort of thing you might run into grocery shopping in Japan:

Now if we can just get her phone number... :-)
From Heaven (Note: NSFW Blog contains adult content)

Shuffle Art Box Almost Sold Out

If you've been thinking about picking up the Shuffle 'Fetish', sorry ummm, 'Collectors' Box this will be your last chance. Funimation is now sold out nationwide and the small stock we have remaining will be the last of them. Our gal at Funi told me this week that the demand for the art box (which includes the special limited Shuffle 'GOD' panties) took them a little bit by surprise and that they just did not make enough, though they have no plans to produce anymore. Get em while they last!

Bandai Nov 08 Releases Posted

Bandai sent over their November release plans this week, which included both Bandai Entertainment and Bandai Visual titles:

Diebuster the Movie DVD (BLURAY)
Freedom (Freedom Project) Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (BLURAY)
Gunbuster vs. Diebuster: Aim for the Top! The GATTAI!! Movie DVD (BLURAY)
Gunbuster the Movie DVD (BLURAY)
Gundam SEED Destiny TV Movie #3, Flames of Destiny DVD
Gurren Lagann, Part #1 DVD Bundle (Eps #1-9) (Bilingual Version)
Gurren Lagann, Part #1 DVD Bundle w/ Limited Edition Art Box (Eps #1-9) (Bilingual Version)
Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, Vol #8 DVD
Lucky Star, Vol #4 DVD
Lucky Star, Vol #4 DVD Limited Edition

Silent Mobius Movie #2 DVD
Silent Mobius Movie #2 DVD Limited Edition
The Girl Who leapt Through Time, Vol #1 DVD
The Girl Who leapt Through Time, Vol #1 DVD Limited Edition

While the The Girl Who leapt Through Time is the only new license on the list from BE, BV has announced several BluRAY titles including a Freedom Project BluRAY boxed set which I think will be most welcome to all the folks that got burned collecting the pervious HDDVD release. BE also surprised everyone by announcing the first release in the Bilingual version of Gurren Lagann. This version was originally scheduled for spring of 2009. The folks at Bandai have told me that the new release is indented to replace the existing subtitled only DVD's, and that the current subtitled DVD's will not be repressed and will fall out of print once existing stocks are exhausted.

Notable Figure Pre-Orders

We added quite a few more figures for pre-order this week, and we finally got a picture for the upcoming sweet looking Queen's Blade Vagrant Warrior Leina action figure. This week we focused mostly on upcoming Kotobukiya items which are always high quality but at a very good price, often less than the same figure sold for in Japan. See the figure section below for the whole list of what we've added.


New Arrivals In Stock This Week

In the new DVD dept this week we have Black Lagoon Second Barrage, Vol #2 DVD (which is excellent by the way!), XXXHolic, Vol #5 DVD, the 6th DragonBall Z DVD Boxed Set (Cel Games) and the 2nd Buso Renkin DVD Boxed Set which has arrived over a month early! Thanks Viz!

In a slightly smaller new manga update we have notable new arrivals such as Negima, Vol #19, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vol #30, and Tactics, Vol #6 plus several new series like Burst Angel, Get Backers Infinity Fortress, and TokyoPop's new horror series Goth.

Once again we have a huge new figure shipment in route that did not arrive in time to get in this weeks newsletter, but it's due Monday or Tuesday and I'm sure you'll be pleased with what's coming. We did get two small new figure shipments this week, my favorites being the beautifully done Street Fighter: Ibuki Figure and the very cute Kamikita Komari from little busters. Be sure to check them out!

Well that's it for this week. Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy your Anime!

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Updates - September 5th, 2008

1st Death Note Movie In Stock / 2nd In Theaters Soon

On the heels of the early arrival this week of the first Death Note movie DVD, Viz Pictures announced that the second Death Note live action movie "The Last Name" will be shown in nearly 400 U.S. theaters in a two night special event on October 15th and 16th. This tops the first live action Death Note film which was shown on around 300 screens back in May. Jamie and I are huge Death Note fans, and we'll be taking in the 1st movie this weekend!

Future of FLCL (Fooly Cooly) on DVD Uncertain

I don't have any schedule changes to relay this week, but Synch-Point did send out a bulletin to all retailers that they will not be shipping anymore of the FLCL Deluxe DVD boxed set and that they have canceled all backorders for it. They did say that they are considering re-releasing FLCL on DVD again sometime in the future, but did not elaborate on when that might happen or what the new release (if any) would look like. We do have a few customer backorders booked for the FLCL Deluxe which unfortunately we will now have to cancel. We'll just have to wait and see if a future release is made available.

Bandai's Sept 2nd Releases Have Arrived - Mostly

After several frustrating delays, Bandai's Sept 2nd releases finally arrived Friday morning including Gurren Lagann #3, Lucky Star #3, the Galaxy Angel X Collection and the Silent Mobius Movie. Bandai has been in crisis mode recently trying to rectify certain issues with their presser, and it seems that the original batch of the Sept 2nd releases had to be returned to the presser to be reworked, otherwise these titles would have been here a couple of weeks ago. All of your pre-orders for these, so help me, are going to ship today. I can hear the whips of the task masters cracking in the warehouse as I write this. The only title that remains outstanding is the Limited Version of Lucky Star 3 which was the last to ship to us and should be in stock on Monday. They had overnighted these to us, but when the Japanese say next day they really always mean next week...

The good news in all this is that I was told good batches of all the Aug 5th titles (like Code Geass) are finally starting to arrive into Bandai's warehouse and are being dived up as they become available to retailers and customers who have requested replacements. I have already heard from a few customers that have received their replacement disks from Bandai and that they are working fine, which is music to my ears!

And while we're speaking of Bandai, as a side note we received our copies of Haruka Vol #6 this week from Bandai Visual. Now before you say anything, yes we are aware that we still have not received Vol 3, 4, or 5 and the irony does not escape me. BV is finally starting to ship again, but the progress so far has been very slow and spotty and I think they will need a little more time to get things ramped up. Still, patience is a bitch... :-)

Media Blasters Nov 08 Releases Posted

To round out the ever growing list of 4th quarter releases in the pipe-line, Media Blasters sent over their Nov plans this week and we've got them all posted to the site now for pre-order:

Go Lion (Beast King Go Lion) DVD Collection #3 (Eps #36-52)
Kujibiki Unbalance Complete Collection Premium DVD Boxed Set
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit DVD Bundle #1
Phoenix (Hinotori) Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
Ramen Fighter Miki Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set
Strawberry Panic , Vol #5 Fifth Waltz DVD
Doll House DVD (Adult)Night Shift Nurses Ren Nanase DVD (Adult)

One thing that surprised me was how quickly they decided to release the Kujibiki boxed set - I mean it's coming right on the heals of the release of Vol #3 - but I'm sure they wanted it on the street for the holidays. The most exciting announcement is the first volume of Moribito Guardian of the Spirit which they have decided to dub. I've been looking forward to seeing for it some time! And it seems that MB has been intrigued by the way Bandai has done some recent releases, and has decided to offer 4 SKU's - two single DVD's (for the big box peddlers), a 2 pack including both, and an art box version with both DVD's. We'll only be offering the 2 pack and the art box version for sale as the 2 pack ($37.98 MSRP) is priced more than $12 less than the two individual DVD's together ($24.98 MSRP each). I'm not sure why anyone interested in the series would purchase just the first DVD when the 2 pack is such a good value, so we'll leave the individual DVD release to the trolls that haunt the Anime section at Best Buy... which is who it's intended for anyway. -_^

Notable Figure Pre-Orders

Due to the short week we were not able to get everything we wanted to posted, but we'll remedy that soon. Among the figures we've added (see below) is this absolutely beautiful figure of Gwendolyn from Odin Spear. She'll be coming in February or March of 2009 and since the amount of her allocated to the North American market will be limited we're only going to hold the pre-order window open for a short time - so be sure to check her out!

Other Figures We've Recently Made Available for Pre-order:

Ah! My Goddess: Belldandy Battle Wings 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Bastard!!: Kai Harn 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Bible Black: Yukiko Minase 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Bubble Gum Crisis: Motoslave w/ Nene 1/15 Scale PVC Action Figure
Bubble Gum Crisis: Motoslave w/ Linna 1/15 Scale PVC Action Figure
Captain Herlock: Harlock w/ Commander's Chair Statue
Chichinoe+ Black Haired Waitress Uniform 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Chichinoe+ Young Hip Cover Gal Cassis 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Comic Aun Lala Pipiruno Pipiru Paparemmo 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Chaos Gate Jingai Makyo: Ignis Creator's Labo # 16 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 Kokoro 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Demon Bane: Chibi Al Azif Non-Scale PVC Figure
Evangelion: Rei Ayanami New Movie Version 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Evangelion: Rei Ayanami Creator's Labo #015 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Evangelion: Rei Ayanami Rouge 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Evangelion: Rei Ayanami Noir 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Fantasy Figure Gallery: Akira PVC Statue
Fate/Stay Night: Rider ebCraft Version 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Fate/Hollow Ataraxia Saber Maid w/ Mop 1/6 Scale PVC Figure (2nd Wave)
Genmukan: Nozomi 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Gurren Lagann: Yoko 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Gurren Lagann: Yoko Revoltech #10 Action Figure
Hoshiful: Kotone Kuruhara 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Hoshiful: Ruka Hoshikawa 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Kanu Mogdan Drawing 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen: Ryomou Shimei Maid in Cuffs 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny Zhang Fei 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny Ryubi Gentoku 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny: Sonsaku Hakufu School Swimsuit 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny: Kanu Unchou Wet Uniform 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Iinari Aibutration: Shizukuishi 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Jiburiru: The Devil Angel Episode 3 Jiburiru Zero 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Kangofu Rock (Nurse + Rock): Elena Varenskaya 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Kangofu Rock: Elena Varenskaya 1/8 Scale PVC Figure - Olive Black Version
Kanokon: Chizuru Minamoto 1/5 Scale PVC Figure
Kara no Kyoukai: Ryogi Shiki Kimono Version 1/7 Scale Figure
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien Mitsuki Hayase 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Koihime Musou: Ryofu (Ren) 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Linebarrels of Iron: Emi Kizaki 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Hayate Yagami 1/7 Scale PVC w/ ReinforceII
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Signum 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Unison Vita 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Vita 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Nanoha Takamachi 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Ryoko Asakura Blue Bunny 1/4 Scale PVC Figure
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Mikuru Asahina Gothic Punk 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Mikuru Asahina Bunny 1/4 Scale PVC Figure (2nd Wave)
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Haruhi Suzumiya Swim Wear 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Monster Princess: Hime 1/7 PVC Figure
My Wedding Plan Angelica Rotosiruto Armor 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Odin Sphere: Gwendolyn 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Oneechan Bara: Vorte X Aya 1/7 Scale PVC Figure (Orchid Seed)
Oneechan Bara: Vorte X Aya 1/7 Scale PVC Figure (Alter)
Persona 3: Elizabeth 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
PLA-Wrestler Sanshiro Creator's Labo Sakurahime 1/1 Scale PVC Figure
PLA-Wrestler Sanshiro: Creator's Labo #17 Sakurahime 1/1 Scale PVC Figure
Please Teacher: Mizuho Kazami 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Queen's Blade Alice Excellent Model 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Queen's Blade Mellona Excellent Model 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Sengoku Rance: Suzume 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Sexy Magical Girl: Ai 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shana (Shakugan no Shana II): Shana 1/7 Scale PVC Figure w/ Removable Top
Shining Tears X Wind: Clalaclan Philias Noir 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shining Wind: Blanc Neige 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shining Wind: Elwing (Elwyn) 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shuffle! Memories: Asa Shigure 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shunya Yamashita: Nasuka Character Series 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Shunya Yamashita Character Series: Kanaru 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Tandem Twin Animal Girls Dog Brenda 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Take Moon Magical Amber 1/7 Scale PVC Statue
To Heart 2: Sasara Kusugawa Swimsuit w/ Maid Outfit 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
To Heart 2 Another Days: Nanako-chan White Sukumizu Version 1/5 Scale PVC Figure
To Heart 2 Another Days: Nanako-chan Black Sukumizu Version 1/5 Scale PVC Figure
To Heart 2: Sasara Kusagawa 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Unity Marriage: Unity Yuno 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
Witchblade: Maria 1/6 Scale PVC Figure
Witchblade: Masane Amaha 1/6 Scale PVC Figure [KOTOBUKIYA]
Witchblade: Shiori Tsuzuki 1/7 Scale PVC Figure
Xenosaga: Kos-mos EPIII Version 4 1/8 Scale PVC Figure [Alter]

New Arrivals In Stock This Week

In the new DVD dept this week we have the first Death Note live action movie a couple of weeks early from Viz (which I'm pretty excited about!). We also have those missing Bandai releases like Gurren Laggen and Lucky Star 3 that should have been here a little sooner, plus a couple more re-releases from ADV like the Gantz complete box (at last!) and the new Tin Box version of This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. We can't expect much more from ADV right now until they get though their middle age crisis, so we'll take whatever they can send us...

It's the first week of the month, and thus we have a pretty large batch of new manga arrivals in stock for you including Gentlemen's Alliance Cross #7, Vampire Knight #5, the first volume of Mixed Vegetables and about 38 more! We also have the limited Bleach Mega Collection in stock which includes the first 21 volumes in a nice carry handle boxed set. And for you Cos-Play fans we have the first volume of Broccoli's gorgeous Cosmode USA hardcover magazine.

We only have three new figures in this week but the excellent Ringo Noyamano Masked Hentai figure is one of them and as of today we only have about a dozen left to go around. Don't let her get away, she's absolutely stunning! We also have the Motoslave version of Sylia from BGC in stock and the newest Doggie (bow wow!) from Tandem Twins - you know, for you animal lovers out there! -_^