Oban Star-Racers Molly Figure
This painted vinyl collector figure of Molly from Oban Star-Racers has been in the works for what seems like forever now. Originally announced close to a year ago, it was first expected to come out in Fall 2007. & then it started to get pushed back further & further. During the wait, the official Oban Fan-Shop kept on posting work-in-progress pics of the figure as it went further along. But with the color test of the figure now complete, the current planned release of May 2008 seems very likely to actually be true this time. & since I've been waiting to get my hands on her forever now, I can't wait until I can order it. =)
At the same time, DVD boxsets of the series are about ready to come out as well. The first set of the Alwas Cycle is set to hit stores next week, with the Oban Cycle coming out a month later. The DVD insists that these will be uncut episodes, but what that really means is hard to say. None of the edits or changes made to the TV version were content based- despite how awesome the series was, it's still just a kid's show. No, rather the edits would pertain to time-saving edits (taking out short scenes or lines here & there to fit in more commercials), & the original Japanese opening song instead of the English one. But the DVD also claims to only contain English dialogue. How can it be considered uncut without the original French version? Not to mention the Japanese version would be an awesome extra as well.
The TV series still airs late at night on weekends on Jetix, but I'm still going to be getting these sets right away. At $20 a set for an amazing series, why not? Ain't it Cool News has a review of the first Alwas Cycle set, which I recommend you check out at the link below. To further to prove how awesome Oban really is, the following is what Anime Jump's Mike Toole had to say about it:
"It's funny, when I was a kid I turned to anime because I hated the repetitive plots and crappy animation of American cartoons. Now my three favorite TV cartoons are Venture Bros, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and (Oban Star-Racers)."
Source: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36356