hi excuse me, what

Kitty, of the illutrious Scary family, discovered the most incredible thing I've come across in all the many, many years I've been in love with this show - and I'd like to walk you through the thoughts I had about it when she shared it with us:

Spoiler Alert: I have no idea.

Saban, Saban, Saban - I don't know what your problem is, but the monkey-paw-levels of wish fulfillment here is utterly worth its own story.

What do you meeeean there was actually a home release? What do you meeeeeeeeeeannn it's in Italian? THE SHOW WAS ORIGINALLY FILMED IN ENGLISH, HOW DID ITALY GET INVOLVED? WHAT'S HAPPENING

So anyway, now I've got eight of 'em.

This is - from top right to bottom left - Tapes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 16.

I'm the most excited about tape 16, because that's got episode 33 on it, which means yes, the full show is out there somewhere (in Italian). I read that there's at least 24 tapes, but there was a production issue around the one with the final episode, so there might not be a 25th tape...? I don't have the website where I saw that (note to my future self, who's here raging about current-me not bothering to give a source, as if I learned nothing from the "Mystic Knight of Light" debacle: tee-hee :3c), but it means there are another 16 tapes out there I need to hunt down. I've found two others - no idea which number they are; we're gonna find out when they get here - but after that, I'm just... gonna...

... have to wait. :/

It's annoying - I'm absolutely delighted to have any of these tapes at all, but my mind's already jumped to, "Omg, what if I never find the other tapes that I didn't even know existed a few weeks ago in the first place?" Count my blessings and all that.

Were they expensive?

Yes. But not in the way you're thinking.

First, the tapes themselves were selling for like €5-ish to €10-ish. I was incredibly lucky Kitty told me these things existed right around the time an absolute sweetheart was selling a bunch of them at once. But if you guessed that shipping from Italy to Canada wasn't cheap, you're incredibly correct.

Second, one is priced as a collector's item 'cause the cellophane's on. That's still on its way to me. I am so overjoyed to be someone who's gonna rip that shit off. I am not a collector. I'm not even an archivist (that's Kitty :3). I am, as I have said numerous times, a digital archeologist at best, an internet grave robber at worst, and a digital tomb raider in my own head. I don't have time for "in the original packaging," and I am pissed I'm ponying up cash for the Cellophane Tax just 'cause it's for a tape I don't have yet. The only balm for my burn is - uh... honestly, the price of it and its shipping worked out to be the same as the price of the €10 tapes and their shipping. I'm not gonna question why this one's so much cheaper, and I was honestly worried if it was gonna have Canada as an option, but I'll take it! Maybe the cost was factored into the Cellophane Tax.

Third, I don't speak Italian. I have been attaching myself to the patience of these wonderfully kind sellers and Google translate, trying my best to figure my way around. Thank God Italian looks a little like French, so I've been able to pull it off, but navigating Italian eBay - I've never used eBay, btw! - to find these was an interesting experience. But it means I'm limited in finding places that might have the other tapes outside of eBay. In English, maybe I could google VHS stores or whatever. I know those exist in Italy, but I'm gonna have to work like hell to dig those up. That, to me, is the most expensive part, 'cause it's going to take time and patience and I'm a very jittery girl.

What are you gonna do with them?

I'm gonna give 'em to the people, bby

I told you: I'm not a collector. I want these digitized and unleashed so we can finally have the show in its proper quality. Those dark days of fuzzy FoxKids recordings are dimming, and this - I hope - is the final nail in their coffin.

Ultra-keen-eyed folks may have seen in the picture above that Tape 3 and Tape 8 look a little... uncentered? That's 'cause I've got two copies stacked on each other. Were the duplicates on purpose? No. Do I regret them? Also no. Just in case one of the tapes is a bit warped, I'm happy to have an extra copy to see if that one's quality is better. Visually, the tapes look fine, but we won't know until we know. That's my focus: best quality.

I am gonna keep a complete set for myself as the Official Master Set, and among any duplicates I gather, yeah, I'll keep the nicest-looking covers as a trophy. But I'm not getting these so they can gather dust or so I can hoard them. The extras will be released back into the wild, and if someone comes along with a complete set and puts those out into the world first? I won't even need to get the others. I can stop exactly where I'm at: having spent enough to have purchased a PS5 with a couple of games.

But let's be honest. These are VHS tapes for a show from the 90s. Getting some creepily pristine cover feels weird. For two of the tapes I got, the glue on the bottom flap came off, and I had to tape them back on. Part of me in hindsight was like, "Awwwww, I should've taped them in place on the inside to preserve the outside," but the other part was like, ":3 It's so lovely that someone kept these long enough and used them enough to actually have wear and tear."

Like - look at this!

I don't have a VCR! I don't have an Italian VCR either, which is apparently necessary for Italian VHS tapes. So what I have here is something that somebody watched, paused at one point, and never rewound. And the corners on these are scuffed - this wasn't "watch it once, get bored, and wander away." This was "take on and off of the shelf repeatedly." Tape 2's even got a bit of warping on the tape label, like they got some water or heat on them (another reason why I'm expecting to need back-ups, just in case). Somebody loved these, and bought them to watch, not just keep locked in cling wrap. I'm actually gonna ask whoever I get to digitize these (fuck it's so expensive 😭) to give me the timestamp on where each tape left off. That's what I wanna preserve, if I'm preserving anything.

(The others were basically rewound - if not all the way, then just a single loop or two around the spool, telling me there's a little Italian child who got a bit lazy with it. And I respect that child o7

Hi we're Saban and we read all that

No the fuck you didn't, go away

Hi we're Hasbro and we more than likely own the current rights to the show, tf are you talking about - "give it to the people"?

a. I haven't done anything except allegedly buy a couple of old Italian tapes and take pictures of their covers

b. Hey Hasbro, where's my official home release? Did you read my "I will stop everything the second there's another version available" line? 'Cause there is a really easy cure to this theoretical ailment that you could deliver unto us for real. You can already see I'm (allegedly) willing to spend money on it! You don't want a piece of my pie? You don't even wanna stream it for us? Do you have the original film?

Can you take better pics of the covers please?

Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm just tired. But my plan's to eventually scan the back and front so everyone can see them. :D

I know where to find the other VHS tapes!

👀 I'm gonna need you to slide into my contact information.

Wow, Tartra! Your site is so cool and has so much information! You were so wise to create this thing!

thank u i just wanted to thirst over angus uwu