Over in Japan they obviously have a great toy lineup. But those large-sized plushies that are available through UFO claw machines as well as the common toy market are just always with a high cuteness factor.
While they are probably in the imaginative area and are not made (yet?), the stuff I would love to have include a great set of all the cool KNT/SPC characters in fairly good sizes (about 14-18"), among them the Princess Vi and Big Cheese plushies come with several different outfits (inspired by the KiSS dress-up dolls of both and the facts that Princess Vi and BC probably have the two biggest wardrobes in Little Tokyo.)
-Kei Fox

An SPC toy I'd like to have? Well, Either a giant stuffed Guido (^_^) or the Pizza Cats with REMOVABLE helmets! Now THAT'S something I'd like to see
-Sun Raven

Hmm...that's a toughie! Well, right off, the first thing I'd want is a
stuffed Guido, and then I'd want models of Vi and Frieda for my anime
shelf. Then I'd buy one nice poster of the Cats and put it up in a bare
spot in my room, buy the candy, eat it, and make the little figure into
a pendant if it's Guido, and then, finally, I'd buy a cel and have it
framed, but that would take all of my week's paycheck.
-Ribby


Plushies! Yes plushies and lots of them :) People think I'm weird,
"What is this 17-year-old guy doing with *plushies* all over his room"..
pah. Plushies rule! They're something tangible- you know, a figurine just
sits on the shelf and collects dust, a poster looks pretty but it's
rather.. static, unchanging. Plushies are dynamic, you can pose them, you
can play with them, you can do voices (voices! I love doing voices :) I
think SPC plushies would really bring the characters to life, you know, you
could give your Speedy plushie a hug, make the Polly plushie beat up on the
Guido plushie, have the Fran plushie launch the other plushies across the
room (and into the wall- we all know Fran can't aim :) Plushies! Yeah!
- Survechay

You can vote for your favorite Pizza Cats web pages
At Dan's SPC Page there is the Ultimate SPC Listings (USL) which is an on going thing. (I tend to think some people are stuffing the votes for their own sites, but I ain't one to gossip, so you didn't hear that from me.) Go have a look and cast your vote.
http://members.xoom.com/big_cheese/usl.html
Let's see what happens when the people who don't have their own web page listed go and vote. (If you do have a page, go ahead and vote for it, but just once please!)

And while you are at it, Boomer is collecting some votes too, for the SPC Emmies. This is a mail in vote, so there won't be any ballot box stuffing here. Unlike the USL, this one ends soon and awards are given out for the winners of each category.

SST Canada
Otama (Otama_chan@hotmail.com) will be taking over Samurai Saving Time-Canada from me, Violet. I've done my best to try and keep track of things that might effect getting SPC back on in Canada, but someone who lives there will be more qualified for the job that I could ever be. The SST-Canada section of Samurai Saving Time will be updated soon. If you have information that can help, get in touch with Otama.

Pizza Cats Facts
from Ribby
In "The Case of the Bogus Billionaire" when the team is accosted by
Rude Noise, the "radio bolted to a table playing Barry Manilow" is
actually a kotasu, an under-the-table heater. Traditional Japanese
homes have these built into their tables and have thick blankets around
them. In winter, they are a center of family life. And if you know
cats, they would probably LOVE to sit under those. (I seem to recall an
anime ghost cat called Kotasu-neko.)

From Tigriss
Cat's Eye Clock: "The sensitive eye of the common cat dilates
differently depending on the time of day. By looking at a cat's pupil,
the Ninja could tell approximately what time it was. The only thing
preventing the Ninja from inventing the first wrist watch was the cat's
refusal to stay on his arm. "Hmmm, hey Speedy, c'mere for a minute!"
-Tigriss =^.^=

Pizza Cats MYTHS
Francine's last name is NOT "Manx". No last name was ever given for her in the show, or comic book. The name Manx was made up by White Cat to give her a last name since all the other cats had one. Other people copied it from there, not knowing it was just made up.

Any profiles that give the ages of any of the cats are just guesses. Only Princess Vi's age (18) is ever mentioned

Emperor Fred CAN say things besides "Fred" or singing scat music, IF he feels like it. He just usually doesn't feel like it.

We Need Your Help!
Starting next month, if possible, we'd like to include a "Featured Character" section in each issue of the newsletter. I've started a file to keep information on every character on the show. So if you have a little tidbit of information about any character, please send it so I can add it to their file. That way, when it's their turn to be the Featured Character, we will have a bunch of information about them to work with.
Here are some examples:
Jerry Atric is a fan of "The Love Boat"
Speedy hates Disco (who doesn't...)
Guido's uncle writes for the show
Anything you can think of about any character, we can probably use.

Speedy Fan Club at "Little Tokyo" page
Issac Rounds has started a Speedy fan club at his web page, "Little Tokyo!" (http://littletokyo.cjb.net/)

ADS

ScoutLuna@aol.com puts out 3 newsletters of interest to anime fans
Scout Luna's Sailor Senshi Sending is for Sailor Moon fans,
Sanrio Splash is for fans of Hello Kitty & her pals,
and Pokémon Postal Service for fans of the little monsters.
Luna's Newsletters are made for AOL4.0, so you might not get all the embedded pics and stuff if you are using anything but AOL 4.0, but you can still read them.

Links
Little Tokyo!
http://littletokyo.cjb.net/

Otama's Home Page
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/8083/

Princess Vi's Spiffy Diffy Webpage
http://members.aol.com/PrncssVi/Hello.html

Ninja Crow's Dojo
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bridge/5871/intropage.htm

New Poll
Since next month is Febuary, and Valentine's Day, this poll is sort of love related;
If you lived in Little Tokyo, which character from the show would you have a crush on?
Since this is a crush, it doesn't matter if you'd never stand a chance of them returning your affection, so go ahead and dream big. We'll keep your answers anonymous if you prefer.

This Month's Picture
A page from a Japanese episode guide.

Bye bye!
This newsletter is now one year old. It started out as something I sent to some of my friends on AOL.

Hope you liked this issue, Polly wasn't able to help me this month because Fran accidentally shot her into the side of an ice cream parlor with the Pizza Cat's Cannon, and she caught a cold from all that ice cream. She'll be back for the next issue. If you'd like to help, we can always use some articles, but you can also help by answering the poll, sending in some "Pizza Cats Facts", and any character data for our future "Featured Character".
-Violet