Evidence #34 - Early 2000's American Gunpla Brochures

So it's the start of the Christmas season of 2017, and what better way to make a post about Gundam model kits that were sold in the early 2000's to us Gundam hungry anime nerds at the time.

To give a brief lowdown on what and how Gundam was like and marketed in America roughly two decades ago, it was a slow trinkling affect that took a couple of years to gain momentum. Before Gundam Wing got Gundam noticed and marketed in early 2000 at major retail chains, it's only existence before was Kazuhisa Kondo Mobile Suit Gundam manga published by VIZ in 1999, and before that any publication of Gundam was mentioned in either ANIMAG or Animerica off and on. The first step to officially publishing Gundam came in 1990 from translator Fredrick Schoot. Schoot translated the original Gundam novel that Tomino wrote after the television series, which to him was going to be the ultimate Gundam story that never got made. Through all of these hard efforts, Gundam finally got some recognition from the popularity of Gundam Wing, and what lead to that would be a large amount of Gundam models to be sold at major retailers.

Bandai best idea to help promote these model kits would be to make it competitive where the more kits you buy and build, the greater chance to get recognized by becoming the ultimate Gundam Master or something. In this case, you earn ranks by going to the Gundam Official Website in order to register yourself and get your desired rank based on the model kits you've built. For its time, it was probably the best thing that Bandai could come up with in order to make Gunpla appealing in America. From what I can gather, you just submit your work towards your skill level for Bandai to send you a pin to reward your accomplishments in Gunpla building. These of course were promoted by the most lamest BADASS COMMERCIALS to get kids to buy these model kits, because you wanted to be cool in getting one!

What I have to show today is some of these little promos in model kits they put out. I've kept most of my booklets from my older kits as far as I know, but I think a lot of kids just threw them away and thought nothing of them. This one in particular comes from my Gelgoog Marine High Grade I got from Target (chances are it came from there) that 15 or so years later, I still have in my model kit box. 

It's funny how two (and soon to be three) of these retailers are out of business since this promotion event came out. My how the times have changed.

I have a few of these toys and model kits scattered around in boxes in my storage closet, which based on how much the figures go for new its best to hold onto them while you can. I also don't remember the Wing Zero Custom wings looking kinda reddish when I watched Endless Watlz so many years ago, but I guess when I do a rewatch of it, it should come back to me. Yes, you had the MS War card set, which I've got a few sets of those in a box with no one to play them with. My biggest regret is not getting that Zeon battleship set, which I saw that sucker complete at AWA 2017 for a whopping $100+!! Makes me wish I could've got all these figures from the discount bin of the already fading KB Toys at the time. Well, you live and learn I guess.

 Although this is a small post it's at least something. To sum up life events since my last post, I'm going to be done with college in a couple of weeks in getting my BS in Communication, I ended my engagement to my fiancee for reasons, and I've become more involved in a local Gundam club in South Carolina (which helped in the break up). I plan on doing a magazine scan by the new year while on Christmas break and figuring out job opportunities. So have a Merry Christmas to all the viewers of this site!!

Evidence #33 - You Can Still Rock in Animerica (Vol.3 No.8, 1995)

Download Here! (Size: 84.4 mb)

It's been like what, March since I uploaded something on this site? Yea that sounds about right. Things have been going on and I had a little time to upload another issue from my collection, something i've had for a number of years now.

This issue of Animerica includes information about Yamato/Star Blazers from Rob Fenelon, who is still around and is still a huge Yamato fan to date last I heard. This is another issue signed by Trish at some year at Animazement in the past couple of years, so I can't really remember when. This includes an interview with Noboru Ishiguro and talking about Yamato in great length (including info on Yamato that didn't make it to television, like naked Nova). Also included are some reviews of Gundam Wing when it was first airing on television in Japan, an official ballot to enter what you think the best anime is for 1995 for the Tezuka Awards, some fan art, the winner of the Fatal Fury "Make my Video" contest story, cool ads and much more. I'll try and get another issue out before the end of the year, as long as school and work don't get in the way too much. So that's all for now so enjoy, im off to enjoy the rest of the Toonami block on Saturday nights, later.

Evidence #32 - Bubblegum Crisis Artbook (1988)

Download File Here!
(File Size: 101mb)

So I'm a little late to celebrate the 6th year this sites been active, and also a little late to celebrate Bubblegum Crisis 30th Anniversary back in February. Well needless to say, stuff has been going on this semester at school and I've been busy, but at least its better to be late than never. So this little treat is another one of my many Bubblegum Crisis artbooks that I've been able to collect over the years. This was something that I purchased on ebay in 2010 for a fistful of dollars, and I gotta say it ain't bad at all. This is a book that took what studio ARTMIC worked on for the first OVA and made something nice for the fans. There is also interviews in the back and a few images of what studio ARTMIC looked like, even a glass case full of G1 Transformer toys! It's neat stuff like that is what adds to owning artbooks like this to know more about the studio behind your favorite anime. So give it a read and enjoy! 

Evidence #31 - Animage 26th Anniversary Poker Cards

Smaller cons can sometimes grant you access to things that you wouldn't find at most popular cons. I was recently at a con held in a little town in South Carolina, and one dealer in particular that sold comics had my interest while I was there. I came across this artifact that I know for sure came from a previous owners collection that I used to buy from before he passed away a few years back. So now that it's in my collection, what better way to use it than to scan it and show it off to the world.

There's no need for this to be a .pdf this time, since its only a few photos. It seems that every mini card has an issue of Animage going back as early as the 80's, so this is something that I can assume was added into an issue for its 26th anniversary release. There is even a section made to punch out to hold all of these little cards in. The thing is, I wont do that, since this is too darn unique to disassemble. So it will remain in my collection for a while, or if someone out there really wants it I might be willing to part with it. But I figured this little mini-post is a good way to reign in the new year of 2017, until a post comes out for the 6th anniversary in a couple of months (if I remember to do something by then at least). So take care everyone and enjoy what 2017 has to offer.