Anime phone cards?

[mbanu]

(A Hyper Police set, courtesy of Noriko's Place)

Anyone collect these? (^_^) When did they stop producing them? (Or do they still make anime-themed phone cards in Japan?)

[zimmerit]

As recent as a few years ago Nakano Broadway still had a shop dedicated to these, I forget if it was still there when I was back last November. Could be wrong, but I believe they're still made in limited qualities strictly as limited edition pack in items. Cell phones have, obviously, made them pretty obsolete.

[DKop]

I know for the longest time (and it might be true today) that I really wanted those Bubblegum Crash phone cards. I think those were the first ones I saw online when it came to anime phone cards.

[Drew_Sutton]

I always remember phone cards being advertised in anime magazines (like some awesome Macross 15th Anniversary ones in 1997/98) but never was able to get any on my own. Cool to hear that there are some promo phone cards made, even if they've lost their core functionality.

[runesaint]

Semi-off topic, but I just wanted to pass along... on Friday I stopped at a Dollar-something to grab a water en-route to somewhere else and...
I saw a pay phone.
An apparently functioning... pay phone. I do not recall the last time I saw one. Even the non-functioning ones that had been somewhat taken apart I do not believe I have seen in years... possibly even more than a decade?

[Drew_Sutton]

Semi-off topic, but I just wanted to pass along... on Friday I stopped at a Dollar-something to grab a water en-route to somewhere else and...
I saw a pay phone.
An apparently functioning... pay phone. I do not recall the last time I saw one. Even the non-functioning ones that had been somewhat taken apart I do not believe I have seen in years... possibly even more than a decade?

Very cool! I can't recall the last time I've seen a payphone around where I live now; last I remember seeing one in person was in airports on my honeymoon last summer. I don't remember any when I went to Japan fa few years ago.

A magazine I read called 2600 features reader-submitted payphones on the inside covers. Mostly now they come from South America and places like Russia and the CIS. A bunch of all of the previous submissions are on their website (organized by geography).

[usamimi]

There's actually a payphone near the electronic store near me and every time I see it I do a double take

[Valand]

I've never gotten any of these. But I like the fact there seems to be one for pretty much any anime out there, unlike most other types of merchandize. Though I can't see myself collecting these.

Although not with an anime motif, my mother gave me a phone card when I was a child which had been sitting in my wallet ever since, up until I got a new wallet a couple of years ago. It had of course been unusable for years.

In Sweden where I live, some of the older models of phone booths can still be seen all over the country. Although nowhere near as famous as the British ones, they have simply been kept because tourists enjoy them. But they haven't been functioning for a few years now.

[Char Aznable]

I remember wanting the Project A-KO phone card. I think I still have a photo of it from a magazine ad...I'll have to look for it and scan the page.

Semi-off topic, but I just wanted to pass along... on Friday I stopped at a Dollar-something to grab a water en-route to somewhere else and...
I saw a pay phone.
An apparently functioning... pay phone.

A magazine I read called 2600 features reader-submitted payphones on the inside covers. Mostly now they come from South America and places like Russia and the CIS. A bunch of all of the previous submissions are on their website (organized by geography).

There was still one fully functional pay phone here in the downtown mall. It had been there since the late '90s, up until a month ago when they remodeled most of the mall, sadly taking the pay phone away.

Interestingly enough, I also just found out that the mall has (or had) monthly hacker meet-ups according to an issue of 2600 I picked up last summer!!

[Drew_Sutton]

^ Getting dying malls to contribute space for makerspaces/hackerspaces would be an excellent way to get traffic to return to them but I doubt they'd go for it because I don't think hackerspaces necessarily generate things like "revenue" that can be put towards "rent".