Catching Up: Cool Bits and Pieces

Here are some neat bits and pieces I've been meaning to post here:

Gatchaman Featured at Taipei Toys Exhibition

From Kena's blog: check out her photo album of the Gatchaman goodies exhibition in Taipei: http://photo.pchome.com.tw/kcc20051225/

Fighting Ken and Jun

And a video: Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom featuring Ken and Jun



Deviant Fanart

And some really nice fanart of Jun on DeviantArt. This piece made today's "Daily Deviations," which is somewhat of a big deal in deviantART Land.


swan by ~dangerousllama on deviantART


Ken Design Sketch

Last, but not least, Felix Ip's blog has a nice concept sketch of Ken.

New Gatchaman T-shirt Designs from Uniqlo

Japanese clothing manufacturer Uniqlo has released the first of at least two Gatchaman T-shirt designs. The first one, featuring clips of the characters' faces, is here: http://store.uniqlo.com/jp/CPaGoods/056653-09 The second design, due out by the end of this month, will be white with a small bird head symbol over the left breast. Both shirts will cost 1,500 yen each.

The site, of course, is in Japanese, and Uniqlo doesn't do overseas mail orders. However you may be able to order through Celga.com

There's even a video commercial for the latest line of shirts, including the Gatchaman design:



Many thanks to Tatsunokofan for the information!

The Latest Gatchaman Movie Poster Features... Joe!

Spotted in the Tatsunoko booth at the Tokyo International Anime Fair and posted on the Gatchakan Blog: A poster for Imagi's upcoming Gatchaman movie, and it's Joe! Check out the Gatchakan site and scroll down.

The release date still appears to be 2010.

New Die-Cast Toys of the Gatchaman Vehicles

The Japanese company Art Storm has announced a December release of a set of high-end die-cast toys of the original Gatchaman vehicles. The vehicles will be 10-15cm in length.

They'll be released in two sets of three vehicles each:
Set A: G-1, G-2, and Red Impulse plane. (Link to image)
Set B: G-3 (with Jun riding) G-4, and Godphoenix. (Link to image)

The only bad news is the price. If you thought the Cho Shin Gokin Godphoenix was expensive, hold on to your hat. The vehicles only come in sets, and each set will cost 24,800 yen.

When these items come available at the end of this year, and if you have about $510 burning a hole in your pocket, I suggest checking Hobbylink Japan to order.

Thanks to Tatsunokofan for the info and photos!

Gatchaman Goodies from the Amusements Expo '09

Whoops! Been way too long and I have a few news items to catch up!

Spotted at the Amusement Expo 2009 held in Makuhari Messe back in February:

• Figures of Ken and Joe, based off an Ippei Kuri illustration. Check out the image here. These figures will be released in July, but are available for preorder from Hobbylink Japan (Ken: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAT459335100-A Joe: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAT459335100-B)
  
  
• A 1GB Flash memory in the shape of Ken's boomerang. The "nose" comes off to expose the USB connection and the "blades" open and close. Not sure of the release date for this.
  

These goodies will be offered as prizes from game machines at Japanese game centers, and unfortunately, won't be available for purchase from stores. However, I'm sure they'll be popping up on Yahoo! Japan Auctions and eBay.

Happy Hunting!

Thanks to Tatsunokofan for the info!

Gatchaman vs. ...Spider Man?

Sooo... Looks like our heroes will be once again venturing into comics, though this time not alone, as they did under the Top Cow label. According to the Topless Robot blog:

"Marvel [...] partnered up with old-school anime studio Tatsunoko to make a series starring both Marvel's superheroes and Tatsunoko's anime characters, which include Gatchaman (a.k.a. Battle of the Planets)"

[Link]

Many thanks to Joe Lombardo for the info!

In Gatchaman movie news... Nothing has really changed since last post. The Gatchaman movie is still planned. We shall see.

So what's new with the Imagi film? A follow-up

According to i09.com, the American branch of Imagi is indeed shutting down, but only temporarily until its next round of expected funding arrives. The Hong Kong branch is currently closed for Chinese New Year. Production on Astro Boy is set to continue, and Gatchaman is set for release November 2010... providing it gets funded.

All the gory details are here: http://io9.com/5139671/cool-your-boot-jets-astro-boy-still-zooming