I know a lot of people have badmouthed them in the past, but I must take a moment to sadly note the passing (at least in name) of all of my local Funcolands. As I was making my rounds this weekend, each location's happy, multicolor sign had been replaced by the stark, black and red Gamestop logo.
There weren't any real changes inside (they've been slowly morphing into Gamestops since they were bought), but it still felt like I was losing a friend. I built up a large part of my collection buying rare games for next to nothing at blockbusters, trading them in for beefy credit slips (remember when they'd give you double the credit vs. cash value?), and buying up scads of cheap games for dying systems. (the only game I really regret selling there was Bubble Bobble 2 for the NES...all the others I've been able to find or buy cheaper since).
Guess this makes my collection of Funco price sheets (practically every one between 1992 and when they stopped giving them out...April of 2000, I think) more valuable, anyone else save these things? It's still kind of fun to look back through them and see Sega CD and 32X games listed for $50.00.
So did this carnage take place everywhere, or are there still some Funcolands outside of Milwaukee? Gamestop the world, I wanna get off!
Rich