Earl Gray III

@earlthird.bsky.social

214 Followers 328 Following

Some languish in obscurity, I prefer to lounge in it. Creator of the angle neck toothbrush. He/Him thingsyoumightenjoy.com

The Summer 2026 issue of Movie Jawn, a movie magazine for film lovers. The cover features Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neal as seen in What’s Up, Doc.
The Saturn version of the Super Joypad Explorer, a third party Sega Saturn controller. It features all the usual Saturn face buttons, as well as ten different toggle switches for things like turbo fire or slow motion, all button specific. It’s yellow in color, akin to a No. 2 pencil. The ergonomics don’t look amazing, but I can’t speak from personal experience. The first party Sega Saturn controller is considered one of the greatest controller designs of all time.
An unofficial (bootleg) release of Mobile Suit Z Gundam: Hot Scramble for the Nintendo Famicom. The label features the Zeta Gundam amidst a space battle, as well as the title. Beneath the Japanese lettering, the English words HOT SCRAMBLE are written. The cart’s color brings to mind taro bubble tea. Normally, this cart would be in a Bandai Famicom cart, black in color and with rounded edges. However, I love the look of this thing. Odd carts and colors are among the key reasons why o love bootleg games. As for the game itself? It’s decent. Think of it as a sort of proto rail shooter/Space Harrier imitation, but with a few side scrolling levels added in for variety. That being said, the game would be far better without said scrolling levels. Worth a look if you’re exploring Famicom games, or just love Gundam. Zeta Gundam is my favorite of the Gundam series.
The back of a bootleg Famicom cartridge. Its unofficial status is made noticeable by the molded “Toito Corparatian” above the back label, which is written in Japanese and is probably about not freezing your Nintendo games in blocks of ice. The accepted spelling of the aforementioned company is Taito. You know, the Zoo Keeper people.
The board from a bootleg copy of Trojan for Famicom, note how the board isn’t as efficiently designed as a typical Famicom cartridge. Imagine going through all this work and ending up with the Famicom port of Trojan, of all things.
A video game cartridge compatible with the Nintendo Famicom, but not made in any official capacity. Specifically, this is Makaimura/Ghosts ‘N Goblins, the Capcom published and Micronix made port of the arcade game. It’s a shade lighter than banana yellow, and is roughly double the height of the average Famicom cartridge. It’s also pretty heavy, owing to the higher than average number of chips needed to replicate the official cart.
A paperback copy of the fourth entry in Del Rey’s adaptation of Robotech from the late 1980s. Robotech is written vertically on the left side, and the cover notes that this is volume four of the first generation. (More on that in a second for those unfamiliar). The title is Battlehymn, with the description reading “Two years of fighting…and Gloval knew that it had just begun…”. The author is Jack McKinney, who I’ll have to look up later. The cover features Rick about to take off in his VF-1 while Zentradi forces make their attack. Front and center is the image of Breetai, making an expression as if he thinks he may manage a hole in one on a mini golf course. Miriya is also here, fresh from the local SDF-1 video arcade. The scene is brimming with protoculture. The “first generation” tag at the top refers to the Macross saga, which was the first of three separate animated series cobbled together to make Robotech in the US. Liberties were taken, and as such, things aren’t a 1:1 march to Super Dimension Fortress Macross. This makes things occasionally confusing for newcomers, in no small part due to the the licensing nightmare of watching this stuff in the west. Alas, all that glitters is not Harmony Gold.
A statue of Divine based largely on her look in John Waters’ Pink Flamingos (1972), located at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. The museum is really great, and I recommend a visit to anyone who enjoys art.
A freshly made indentation on a car windshield made by an errant golf ball that went wildly and literally off course. The impact crater is surrounded by small shards of once a large sheet of fully intact glass.
Twenty trading cards from the 1995 Fleer Ultra Fox Kids Network trading set, all featuring characters from the 1990-1998 animated series Bobby’s World. The cards have been placed in protective cases, then mounted in some sort of faux brass display frame. Entries include Cool Bobby, Uncle Ted, and Heeere’s Bobby!. Time was put into this, and I really wish I had even some idea of what the backstory of this set is. I assume it was at one point made for some sort of Bobby’s World enthusiast, but the study of Bobby’s World fandom is sadly still in its infancy. This set is currently on sale for $95, and is a bit too rich for my blood. However, it would act as a great statement piece for any living room, Captain Squash fan club, or Howie Mandel centered place of worship.
The label of a blazer with a lapel pin on it. The lapel pin is the logo of Zeta Gundam, perhaps the best Universal Century series.
A face mask labels THE STEM CELL. It’s in a black, disposable package. The name reminded me of the naming conventions of Simple Series games.
A SNES esque controller that is black with super Famicom colored buttons to the right, and buttons labeled C and D that would normally be start and select. The classic A/B/X/Y buttons are indeed A/B/TA/TB. If I had to guess, those mean turbo A/B. The shoulder buttons are labeled C. And D. There is a small switch to the right of the D Pad that is labeled C.D. with options for off and on. It’s all kind of baffling.
Several games for the Nintendo Famicom, freshly purchased from a few used game stores in Chiba, Japan. Moving left to right and starting at the top we have Famitsu 1st Anniversary Disk, Fantasy Zone II, Transformers: Mystery of Comvoy, Pooyan, Tokoro-San no Mamorumo Semerumo, FC Genjin (Bonk), Flying Hero, and Attack Animal Gakuen. There’s a bit to go into here, but I’ll be brief. No clue what’s the deal with this Famitsu Disk. I imagine it’s some sort of promo thing for the magazine’s first anniversary, and I bought it because it’s wild to think of something as established as Famitsu being only a year old and celebrating that in a very of the time way. Fantasy Zone II on a Nintendo system is simply odd to me, and is one of those titles I’ve wanted just because it’s an unexpected interpretation of a game that didn’t get justice until the Sega Ages collection. Transformers is Kusoge. I am always working on my expanded Kusoge library. The price was low enough to say hey why not. Pooyan is just a fun arcade game that I don’t get to play very often. I love early efforts by major companies. Tokoro-San was something like ¥1100 or so, and again seemed interesting enough to be worth the money, especially given it’s developed by HAL. Bonk Rules, and I’ve got a small yet nearly complete representation of his work across systems in some form. No way I can ever justify the cost of the NES game. Flying Hero is the standout here: it seems a bit old hat for when it was released, but it plays well enough from what I recall to warrant a purchase. This is a game I haven’t come across in any Japan game hunting, so that combined with wanting to play this more made the purchase a sure thing. Lastly, Attack Animal Gakuen is another curiosity. A photocopy of a photocopy, it’s another one I thought would be fun to add to the collection. It’s lousy Space Harrier. I absolutely love the art style on the label.
A copy of New Roommania: Porori Seishun for reference. This isn’t a copy I have, it’s merely a picture from a YHJ listing. I may weep similar tears of joy when I find a copy someday.
A Tomica toy car modeled after the Hummer H2, but in a limo form. I promise you these existed. I saw them. One showed up at my senior prom. Nobody liked the couple that emerged from it. There is no greater consumer symbol of American hubris in the early 2000s than the Hummer H2, and perhaps there was no greater foretelling of our descent into absurdity than the fact that someone looked at a vehicle that made around 11 miles per gallon and said “you know what, let’s make it bigger.”. Here it is, folks. A tiny monument to an America that could only be defined accurately in a mad libs. And it’s pink. They often were. No clue why. A+.
Two pairs of Reebok sneakers, insta pump style. On the left we have one colored to bring to mind The Principality of Zeon from Mobile Suit Gundam, and on the left we have ones colored to more match the associated colors of the Earth Federation. Here’s the thing though. That’s too deep a red to match Char’s colors, and the use black as an accent also doesn’t fit his style nearly as much. As so, I posit that these shoes are -actually- an homage to Johnny Ridden, the Crimson Lightning. He was often confused on the battlefield for Char, and I like to think getting his own shoes acts as a great first step to him getting more credit as one of Zeon’s more talented and sympathetic pilots. He’s got that misguided sense of honor you’d hear about in the First World War. Weird that he was always so loyal to Kycilia though. Rule number one? Never be loyal to a Zabi. Then again, I imagine someone taking up arms on behalf of the principality probably wouldn’t heed that advice on the regular. Patrick Ewing would’ve made a good mobile suit pilot.
A hand holds a copy of Hang-On for MSX. The cartridge is a rich red, and the label matches, so the colors make for a striking appearance. The blue Sega logo stands out boldly. While obviously the MSX can’t even come close to the speed and smoothness of the arcade original, there’s a lot to enjoy with this port, and it does an admirable job of capturing what makes the original such a classic. It’s functionally identical to the SG-1000 version (I can’t see a difference, at least), and what it lacks in speed, it makes up for in surprisingly good controls and a sense of flow that’s unexpectedly enjoyable. Outrun is often referred to as more of a driving game than a racing game, and I’m apt to assign the same designation to this version of Hang-On. It’s a bit on the easy side, and completing a loop of the race is pretty doable given how generous the game is with bonus times at checkpoints. My favorite part of any arcade racer is the nighttime cityscape scene. There’s something about a distant skyline rendered in limited pixels that I’ve always found to instill a sense of digital sondor for people that don’t actually exist. In the nighttime city scenes, the moon slowly becomes full with each passing loop, eventually smiling at you, which is a nice touch. Combined with the flow state the game induces, it’s all very pleasant. Give this one a look. I’d usually say pick up the MSX version due to it being easier to control than the SG-1000 joystick, but I doubt anyone’s going a non emulation route here (for good reason! Have you priced an SG-1000 lately?). Blistering, it is not, but you’ll certainly avoid driving through the worst parts of the Pony Canyon. -Picture originally from my instagram around 2015-2016. Write up original to Bluesky.
A picture of Ge Sen Love: Plus Pengo! for the Xbox 360. the cover features a large pixelated penguin from Pengo. This is an Xbox 360 port of the Arcade game by Triangle Service, both released in 2012. Ge Sen Love is a sort of arcade skill test set of minigames designed to help you improve your overall arcade skills. It’s charming in the way the somewhat low budget occasionally shows through via the legally distinct non power rangers that function as the player during some of the minigames, and the 360 era Muzak. Pengo, however, is the real star of the show. This is an updated multi player version of the arcade game from 1982 presented in wide screen and with a giant playfield à la Saturn Bombernan. It gets hectic quickly, and has a bit of a learning curve in order to stay aware of the chaos on screen. Once everyone gets a sense of the gameplay, it’s a really good time, though. This got a release on the Xbox 360 back in 2012, near the end of the console’s life, and practically post death in Japan. Triangle service put out a good few games on the 360, several region free. If you end up importing this one, make sure you get the non special edition. For whatever reason, the special edition is region locked, but the regular isn’t. Who knows why. If you want to play it presently, it also got a Switch port in 2019, which should be both far easier to find and far more affordable. If you like stuff like Game Tengoku or Warrior Ware, you’ll get a kick out of this. Check it out!
A can of raspberry flavored Pepsi Zero Sugar. The text is in mandarin, and the writing reads from top to bottom: Refreshing and sugar free, Pepsi cola, and raspberry flavor.
A boxed, Street Fighter branded toy three wheeler called the Karate Chopper. The box’s illustration features Guile and Ryu on said chopper. Guile fires a missile from some sort of cannon on the back, while Ryu drives. The scene is intense. The box proclaims that this is an official movie vehicle, but I’m currently blanking on this moment in the movie, but that may just be my age. Also, Ryu has more of a Jin Satome look than anything. I would prefer not to be the target of the mutual intensity of these two, even in 1994. I remember Capcom putting out a lot of Street Fighter II adjacent merch, but missed out on this. I was probably too distracted by Spin Fighters.
A domino set named Mr. Domino. While made for children, it also serves as a friendly reminder that No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!
The North American box art for Game & Watch Gallery 3 for Nintendo Game Boy Color. It features a variety of Nintendo characters performing the actions of their various games. When humans look at this, they experience feelings of curiosity and amusement.
The Netscape navigator broken image link icon from the late 1990s. It has a circle, square, and triangle atop a recreation of a ripped piece of paper. Kind of an interesting piece of skeuomorphism.
The box for Mahjong Cop Ryu for Sega Megadrive, which features Ryu himself as well as several characters clearly designed after well known members of popular culture. Robocop looks pensive, the Terminator looks icy, and the Kamen Rider homage looks more like a bumble bee than anything.
A bootleg Game Boy cartridge of The Blues Brothers (1992, Titus). Despite being a black and white Game Boy game, it’s in a Game Boy Color style cart (albeit with a notch in the back so it can still physically fit in an original DMG-01) that’s molded in yellow, and says “Game Color” where an official cart would read Game Boy Color. Despite being a copy of The Blues Brothers, the cartridge label has a picture of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as seen on the poster for Men in Black. According to the cartridge label, the game is simply called “The Blues Brother”. Rest assured, you can indeed still play as both Jake and Elwood. I purchased this at a GameCrazy in 2005, where it sat among the other Game Boy/Color games as if nothing was amiss.
An Analogue 3D sits atop a colorful blanket. In its cartridge slot is a GB Hunter adaptor, which itself contains a copy of Infogenius Spell Checker and Calculator. In the controller port is Nuby’s Boomerang 64 controller. The Boomerang 64 controller is surprisingly usable, and is a decent alternative to the usual N64 trident. The only frustrating thing about fun packages is the fact that sometimes they arrive just before you have to leave for a three day work trip. This was the case today, and as such, I only had time for this brief photo shoot. From what I hear, this system can really enhance the Nintendo 64 experience, and I’m looking forward to revisiting the library.
The back cover to the CD single of Culture Beat’s 1993 dance hit “Mr Vain”. Five versions of the song are listed: Radio Edit (4:17) Intense Radio Edit (3:52) Vain Mix (6:35) Mr. Intense (5:28) Mr. Hardcore (6:38) 90s dance music is great, and I refuse to pretend I’m too cool to admit that. If I was, people would probably call me something like “Mr. Egotistical” or something.
A stack of Magic: The Gathering boxes labeled "Family Matters"On a shelf at a game store. Disappointingly, they are not named for or themed after the beloved 1990s sitcom of the same name. Reginald VelJohnson is an underutilized actor.
An advertisement for Capcom’s Fighters Edge releases of PS1 fighting games. Image credit to retromags.com.
An eBay listing for a pin promoting McDonald’s Arch Deluxe hamburger. Or reads “If you don’t like it, I’ll eat it” below the logo for the Arch Deluxe. You know that at least one unfortunate McDonald’s employee was instructed to eat a partially eaten Arch Deluxe by a distinctly rude customer. McDonald’s put a lot of faith into the Arch Deluxe, it would seem. They also didn’t like food being wasted.
A portion of an ad for McDonalds Arch Deluxe, a hamburger from the 1990s that was very poorly received.
Mr Domino from No One Can Stop Mr Domino! Above him are the words Anno Domino, which means “Year of Our Domino”, and is a play on Anno Domini, the origin for AD.
A candy bar labeled Milky Way 2. At first I thought it was just because it was a double pack of smaller candy bars. After opening and eating it, however, it’s a variant on the classic milk way that doesn’t have caramel. Light research leads me to believe this is just what Milky Way bars are in Europe, but I could be mistaken. Either way, pretty good.
The cover of a book called Sega with the subtitle The Mauritian Folk Dance, by Jacques K Lee. The cover features two people presumably performing said dance.
The box art for Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen, a Nintendo Famicom game. Two children ride through the sky atop a disassembled pipeline. The large yet unthreatening figure of Mikhail Gorbachev looks at us in the distance with an expression of great hope and expectation. Less than a year after this game’s release, the Soviet Union would collapse. Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be fine and Dendy.
A small illuminated model of a Lawson convenience store, like one would see in Asia. It’s at 1:64 scale, and parked outside is a Toyota Crown Comfort taxi, and a Suzuki Hustler kei car. The background is dark, as if to recreate a nighttime scene.
A toy 18 wheeler tractor trailer adorned with both the colors of the American flag, and Billy Ray Cyrus. Billy is featured on the trailer, looking towards its rear. His name is written in gold, and just below it are the words “Ain’t Your Dog No More”, the name of a single from his sophomore album, It Won’t Be The Last. I can’t help but find myself fascinated with Billy Ray Cyrus. When I was a kid, Achy Breaky Heart came out, and absolutely dominated country music for a solid six months. Then he was considered largely to be a joke, but then had some sort of syndicated drama show that I recall showing up in the late 90s. He was also in Mullholland Drive, which is absolutely nuts. Then there was that whole Hannah Montana thing, which was an odd late career renaissance for the guy. In 2010 he was in this pretty forgettable Jackie Chan movie called The Spy Next Door. My friends and I saw it and the four of us were the only people in the theater. Then the dude was quiet again, until he teams up with Little Nas X and Old Town Road becomes a massive hit. Just an absolute bonkers career trajectory.
A 1:64 scale diecast model of a 1985 Nissan Pathfinder in a man’s hand. It has been weathered to look more realistic.
A molded plastic chair. It is light grey with light purple accents, reminiscent of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System’s color scheme. Only time will tell if the bromine within the plastic will result in the chair eventually taking on a jaundiced tone.
A man’s hand holds a red and black duckpin bowling ball. Its swirl pattern resembles the background of the Giygas boss battle in Earthbound. Duckpin bowling is a regional variant of 10-pin bowling that’s popular in the north and central east coast of the United States. The balls are much smaller, and you get three rolls instead of two. It’s a good time, and has physics that will throw those used to regular bowling for a bit of a loop.
A matchbox model 1985 Nissan Pathfinder, weathered to look a bit more realistic. The whole thing has been lightly buffed with a nail file to reduce shine, then washed with gunpla panel liner. The hood has been scraped to recreate the look of paint chipping. The next step is to black out the side mirrors and handle for accuracy.
A bespectacled, mustachioed man who appears to be from the late 1960s. Although his mustache is almost zappaesque in its inclusion of a soul patch, it’s pretty clear this is supposed to be a caricature of John Lennon. He appears during Hoagiefest, which is the summertime sandwich sale at American convenience store chain Wawa. Imagine a better convenience store. I wonder if you can.
A copy of Yakuza 0 for Switch 2 rests upon a man’s tongue. Original Switch games were coated in a bitterant to deter children from swallowing them. Switch 2 games are just as bitter as ever! They’re red now, too.
A translucent green Behringer TD-3 bass synth. The silver/green color combo reminds one of a circuit board. This is made all the more notable by the fact that the unit’s actual circuit board is partially visible due to the translucent nature of the plastic. Because of this, you can compare the design of the interior and exterior simultaneously.
On the left, a member of Devo (Mark Mothersbaugh, given the glasses) sings a line from their song “uncontrollable urge”. On the left, Nosferatu, a vampire, completes a phrase from the song. The song is probably not about vampires, but he identifies with it nevertheless.
A copy of Tetris for the Game Boy. This is a Japanese copy, and one that’s dirty and worn from years of use. It could use a cleaning. Early Japanese copies have a few differences from later ones. Most notably that Korobeiniki (you know, the Tetris song) is replaced with a minuet. It’s one of those little oddities of video game history that are just fun to have.
A Kong Feng GB Boy Colour (a Game Boy Color clone) playing a Tetris cartridge. The music isn’t the usual music, because this is an early revision of the game that was soon replaced with the more familiar one.
A copy of the album Silver & Gold by Neil Young. The cover art is pixelated due to being made with a Game Boy Camera. Perhaps some day, Stephen Stills will use a Nintendo DSi to create his own album art.
A copy of Capcom Fighting Collection 2 for the Playstarion 4. It’s held inside a car, which itself sits in the parking lot of a shopping mall. There was once an arcade at this very same mall that had CVS2. This disk looks to be jam packed with Dreamcast era must plays.
A sixth gen Toyota Celica in a parking lot. It is adorned with stickers to emulate the look of a sponsored racing car.
The PlayStation game Egg. It is the Major Wave release. Put out by Hamster of Arcade Archives fame. It plays much faster than the original.
The cover art for a seven inch single record of Weird Al Yankovic’s Eat It. The artwork is a parody of the Michael Jackson Thriller album. Weird Al poses with a hot dog on a fork, his pants unbuttoned. He has followed his own instructions.
An issue of Weekly Famitsu. This one is from April of 2024, and features Hundred Heroes on the cover. By that I mean that’s the only English I can see related to the cover art. I’m not familiar with the game/series.
A mock up of a Windows 3.1 style window with an icon for a program called Cow.tls. The icon itself is an homage of the Cow Tools Far Side comic.
A pixel art drawing of cult figure, TV hostess, and frequent pinball title character Elvira. She stands next to the words “Stay Tombed” and a tombstone. In the background, we can also see the moon. Elvira rules.