Gatchablog

Saturday, November 10, 2007

G-Force Action Figures, Part 2

These figures are for sale. For details and pricing, see my previous post.

Gatchaman featured on Let's Anime

Let's Anime is a new blog all about classic anime written by one of the best old-school authorities on the subject that I know. And his latest entry features Gatchaman and its many versions. Check it out!

http://letsanime.blogspot.com/2007/11/your-scientific-ninja-team-gatchaman.html

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Cool custom G-Force action figures

More info on the G-Force action figures featured in ToysREvil

A few posts back, we found an interesting photo in the Toysrevil blog. To follow up, Thierry of Limited Toys Design wrote me with some new photos of his custom-made G-Force action figures. Check these out--fully articulated figures with meticulous attention paid to detail.

As you can see from his site, Thierry creates custom action figures you won't see anywhere else. He grew up with UFO Grendizer (Goldorak), Battle of the Planets, Captain Harlock, Captain Comet and many others. He'd always wanted 12" figures of the whole G-Force team and the bad guys. Since Medicom never went past the Mark and Jason figures ("Too difficult to find a girl body, kid body and fat guy body," one Japanese toy rep told me once), he figured it was up to him to create the figures.

For Mark, Jason and Princess, he used standard 12" action figure bodies. For Keyop, he used an articulated body from a different scale. Tiny provided the biggest challenge, being shorter and wider than the others. He modified an 11" body with a larger suit.

He sculpted and molded the heads with helmets, and the visors are molded in a tainted clear resin. He also did custom modeling on the belt buckles as you can see below.

These custom models are available for sale for the following prices, plus international shipping:
Mark: 170 euros
Jason: 170 euros
Princess: 150 euros
Keyop: 150 euros
Tiny: 200 euros

He requests half the amount in advance to confirm the order and the rest when the figures are ready to ship. He needs 2 months to create the whole team. You can pay via Paypal (add 3.5 % for the fees), by international money order or by credit transfer.

Contact Thierry at info@limitedtoysdesign.com

Here are links to more photos:

MARK:
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/8045/mark02dy0.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/742/mark03dw3.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/4743/mark04yx9.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2251/mark05an4.jpg
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/944/mark06qb0.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5341/mark07bb6.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8048/mark08ya8.jpg
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/3152/mark09ln1.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5919/mark10ak0.jpg

JASON:
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/713/jason02sj8.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8272/jason03un6.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5389/jason04tz7.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3946/jason05cb3.jpg
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1733/jason06ss5.jpg
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/9928/jason07mp8.jpg
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/9839/jason08cu9.jpg
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/7266/jason09yp2.jpg
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2904/jason10ad8.jpg

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Links of Interest

Imagi is profiled by Business Week magazine:
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2007/gb20071015_727073.htm

Roland Kelts plugs Gatchaman: While promoting his new book, "Japanamerica," author Roland Kelts interviewed at Imagi, and he puts in a plug for their upcoming films, describing the importance of the classic anime AstroBoy and Gatchaman. To find the interview, go to http://www.imagi.com.hk/web/ and look in the "What's New" section at the bottom of the Imagi home page.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Gatchaman Keitai Update

We have more details about the Gatchaman cell phones being released in Japan. The following links show some of the skins and features of the new Gatchaman cell phone. Even better, a special gift offered to those who purchase the cell phone is a Gallactor action figure set--three goons per package to gang up on the heroic Science Ninja action figure of your choice. Too cool! And too frustrating for the non-Japanese collectors out there.

http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/special/815T/fan/gatchaman/index.html

Thanks, Tatsunokofan!

Somethin' going on at ToysREvil

Thierry from Limited Toys Design offered the ToysREvil blog a sneak peek at some 1/6 scale action figures of our favorite heroes in bird suits:

http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2007/10/limitedtoysdesign-g-force-teaser.html

Another interesting coincidence is that "Thierry" was Jason's name in the French version of Battle of the Planets.

Thanks Tatsunokofan!

Imagi signs with Hot Toys for upcoming high-end Gatch toy line

Here's the press release:

IMAGI ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT WITH HOT TOYS FOR GATCHAMAN
AND ASTRO BOY TOYS

Hong Kong (October 23, 2007) – Imagi Animation Studios (Imagi) today announced that it has entered into a licensing relationship with Hot Toys Ltd. (Hot Toys) for collectors' action figures based on the studio's next two CG-animated feature films, Gatchaman and AstroBoy. Under the agreement, Hot Toys will design, manufacture and globally distribute highly detailed 12-inch models of the principal characters in the two movies.

The Gatchaman and AstroBoy toy lines are expected to include high-end collectible figures. "We are delighted by the new collaborative relationships we have formed with Imagi, which extends our collectibles product line to CG-animated film-related characters. Many of the Hot Toys staff are long-time fans of Gatchaman and AstroBoy, including myself. With our experience in producing classic AstroBoy collectibles and other finely crafted products, the Gatchaman and AstroBoy collectibles will closely replicate the look and story line of the films," said Howard Chan, President of Hot Toys. The toy lines will ship with the release of the two films, to maximize impact and generate greater interest in both the movie and toys. Gatchaman is slated to release in Spring, 2009 and AstroBoy in Fall, 2009.

"Hot Toys has demonstrated an ability to craft collectible figures with an extraordinary level of detail and realism," said Felix Ip, Imagi's Creative Director. "Imagi's richly-detailed CGI characters are a perfect fit with Hot Toys' meticulous modeling approach."

These high-end figures probably won't be cheap--think in the realm of $90-150. Wowwee/Wah Shing Toys will probably be releasing the lower-priced goodies. The Hot Toys Web site is at www.hottoys. com.hk

Thanks, Tatsunokofan!