Evidence #37 - A Fred Patten Tribute (various Newtype USA Issues)

Download Here! (97mb)

To a lot of people in fandom out there, November 12th, 2018 will be a day of remembrance for the biggest icon of nerd fandom, Stan Lee. But here at the Anime of Yesteryear, we will pay tribute to another great member of fandom who passed away the same day, notably in anime fandom. Fred Patten (or as i'd like to call Fred "Old Man" Patten) is one of the most influential figures of anime fandom, who has spent almost 50 years studying and writing about anime and has published numerous articles about anime over the years. A figure in one of the earliest anime publishing companies in the states, Streamline Pictures, where he had a part in getting known name anime in the states that has become almost mainstream to this day. Patten has written dozens of of material on anime, which his Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews is an excellent source of information regarding how fandom for anime got started. Patten is also a very known figure in furry fandom throughout his years, which both anime and furry fandom's can both equally share the grief in his passing, despite not seeing eye to eye on anything else in each of their fandom's. So a heartfelt salute to you Fred, because Stan Lee can screw off for all I care!

Here's the real reason for this post. I've known a number of people that would like to see Fred's articles from Newtype USA to be published online, and I decided to dig out all the issues I own that Fred has written for and put them in one big zip file. Each folder will have the cover of the issue, and the scanned articles that are included in that issue. I have about 19 issues in total that has something from Fred in them, and they range on historical landmarks in anime fandom, Japanese releases, and of course his opinion on certain topics that give good backstory to what fandom was like in his time. I'm sure I have more articles written by him in Animerica issues, but those are in storage at the moment, and I only got time to go through these Newtype issues for right now. So if you want to see what he wrote for Newtype USA, have at it! That's what this blog is for!

Patten is someone I would have loved to have met someday, but I figured for a few years his time was limited. If Bud Light ever had to do a Real Men of Genius ad in honor of Fred Patten, it would talk about how the community will salute you on your accomplishments on making sure the protection of Carl Macek was achieved by smiting off subtitling fanboys down an convention ally who are armed to the teeth with foam LARP weapons and 4 day con funk emitting from their bodies (GO AND TAKE A BATH!) But aside from making that into an actual bad ass commercial in my mind, there isn't enough praise to go to a man like Fred. 

Evidence #36 - Same Gorg Time, Same Gorg Channel!

Download Here! (579mb)

Happy Halloween! It's been a few months since the Cowboy Bebop post, so forgive me on the delay. This was a post I've been thinking about doing for a long while, and it was time I just got whatever I owned of Giant Gorg and put it together. This is lacking the DVD collection from Discotek Media, and the reason for that is I don't own that yet, but maybe I will one day. It's been years since I saw the translated fansubs of the show thanks to Skaro Hunting Society, but they dropped that when the official release came out, so they maybe floating online (I still got mine on my HD).

So let me introduce you readers on what is in this .rar file. These consist of scans from a small art book that was included in the last laserdisc of the Giant Gorg series, an issue of Dual Magazine that features Giant Gorg material (No.8 Spring 1984), an Animage booklet that contains images and a large amount of info that i'm assuming was in an issue of Animage as a bonus, and a 45 single of two of the songs in the show, along with scans of the booklet that came with the 45. Talk about a bundle!

To give a quick lowdown on my fascination with Giant Gorg went back to about when Skaro was starting to fansub the series, and its a show that the likes of Dave Merrill and other online anime reviewers would talk about often that seemed to peak a little interest in the show. After a couple of episodes of seeing it online, I wanted to get my hands on whatever I could find that was Giant Gorg related. I got the laserdisc off ebay back in the fall of 2013 to start out with. After a while, I came across the poster you see above one year at Animazement from Anime Asylum booth. After some time passing, Tim Eldred Our Star Blazers fansite had a marketplace he briefly set up for a time, and he was selling the Dual Magazine, so I got that sucker off of him. Only recently, I came across the Animage booklet and the 45 single from Otaku Joes. The major grand piece i'd love to own but "can never afford nor find room for" would be that big Giant Gorg Soul of Chogokin figure that is roughly over $500 bucks online these days, which ive seen briefly one year at an Animazement con. 

I don't see my Giang Gorg collection to just stay the way it is, as long as there's some cool Gorg to be found at cons. Getting the official DVD set is on the list that I just need to bite the bullet and get, but that'll come in due time (as long as Discotek has the license). So if your a Gorg fan or wanna know more about what's out there of Gorg, then have at it with what I have on the download link. So see you next time!

Maybe this is the Gorg piece I "really" need...

Evidence #35 - Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide Books (2002)

Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide 1 (12.6 mb)

Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide 2 (144.7 mb)

Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide 3 ( 69.7 mb)

Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide 4 ( 81.7 mb)

Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide 5 ( 85.9 mb)

Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide 6 ( 63.9 mb)

Happy 20th Birthday Cowboy Bebop! It's been 20 years since Bebop first aired on TV Tokyo, and has made a huge impact on anime fandom ever since then. This post makes up for the way belated 7th anniversary post I never did in February, which my bad on that. 

This time we got a real showcase of several books by Tokyopop, which were like little B-Clubs in a way in throughout 2002. I remember picking these things up from Borders bookstores (you know, when those used to exist) throughout the year. My brother had half of these collected and I had the other. Eventually going through my family storage in cleaning their garage over the past couple of years, my brother was cool enough to give me his books not too long ago, so i've kept them in a box till just now for them to be scanned for people to see. As of this post, the later volumes go for $50 on up on ebay for those who really want to own these in their collection. As far as i'm aware, these only got a first printing and were never on shelves after that.

These contain brief synopsis of each episode with screen caps to help someone narrate the reader into knowing what happens without really watching the show if they are unable too (which thanks to current technology, anybody can watch Bebop on their phones through streaming sites). They remind me of the early ANIMAG issues with episode synopsis of Zeta Gundam and Dirty Pair since the editors working on that didn't think those shows would ever be released in the west. These Bebop books are interesting since the show was airing on Adult Swim in its second run by 2002, and the show was being put out on DVD around this time if not already fully put out. So this was for true Bebop fans who wanted to see concept art, what type of songs played in the episodes, and neat small wallpapers in the books if someone wanted to cut out and hang the cast on their walls somewhere next to their big boobed anime girl wallscrolls. I'm not using the term "waifu" because no one used that term in the early 2000's, you got today's current fandom to thank for that term.

So hope you guys enjoy the .pdf's provided for everyone to check these out, and See You Space Cowboy!