At Capcom our desks are like most other stations for getting-the-job done, with computers, chairs, and various devices obviously meant to cause bad posture. However, each of us keep a little something awesome on our desks. Well, at least “awesome” in our own eyes. Here’s a quick look at the stuff that collects dust on our desks, and the story of how it got there. 

The characters are SFII heads on top of bodies that have been repurposed from other G.I. Joe characters.  Guile actually turns out pretty good in both versions, but a bunch of the others are… yeah.  Blue Blanka?   Ryu with a close-cropped afro?   Horse-faced Chun Li with a revolver strapped to her thigh?  Yes please.  Don’t expect any of these as in-game alternate costumes any time soon.”

From the desk of Joveth (jgonzo) :   “Back in my marketing coordinator days at Eidos, I had the amazing opportunity to work on Batman: Arkham Asylum. One of the coolest marketing pieces that we did  was to send customized Arkham Asylum straight jackets in that custom, red fire alarm box that you see above to the press. I was one of the first to get one, due to my being in charge of scouting for product and samples and to this day, it remains one of the best and most memorable pieces of swag that I own.”

From the desk of Christian (Sven) : “I came across this penholder in a bookstore in Osaka about two years ago and I thought “Hey, that thing perfectly describes how I feel after certain meetings or after reading certain complaint posts on Ask Capcom!  I must have it!”.  ¥1,200 later and it graces my desk and holds one very lucky pen that I use for signing deal memos, various approvals, board meeting minutes and ninja hit contracts (you have been warned… don’t piss me off).”

  From the desk of Tom (Capcom Admin) :   “Originally, when I joined Capcom I spent a lot of time with Phil Navidad (now at Ubisoft) talking and planning out Unity. Phil and I worked together while I was a contractor and it was my Unity pitch to him and others that made the change to bringing me in full time. The Pirate Flag was a joke that Phil and I Started as a play on the old Steve Jobs/Macintosh story (link www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Pira… ) where Jobs and his Mac team took over the Bandley 3 building and flew a pirate flag in front of the building (across the street from Apply HQ) as an indication that they were about to do something disruptive and were no longer going to play by the rules of the big HQ across the street.

In short, it worked for Apple… and, well it worked for Capcom too!”

From the desk of Greg (Gregaman) : “So the reason I love that poster is actually kind of long and involved, but basically it’s a poster for “Army of Darkness”, which has been my favorite-ish movie since I was about eight years old. But as you can see, it’s the Japanese version of the poster, and is rife with hilarious and baffling foibles that illustrate the significance localization can have on a property’s image and reception by an audience. As a fun fact, please note that the title in Japan was “Captain Supermarket”. As a long-standing fan of the Evil Dead series and as a student of localization and language, I may never find another poster I like better.”

From my desk (Snow) :   This Lost Planet poster was the first prize I ever won from Capcom-Unity, back before I had a job here. Basically, this game, the community, and the contest that lead to winning this prize were all among the beginning steps into winding up working at Capcom.