Gatchamania.net - Print: Belated SDCCI Friday Report

Gatchamania.net (http://www.gatchamania.net/index.php)
- [Speak Up!] (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=500)
-- General Discussion (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=2)
--- Belated SDCCI Friday Report (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=3762)

Posted by Mad Katharine on 24-07-2011 at 00:42:

Belated SDCCI Friday Report

Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Big-World and all the fanbrats that be...we're reporting live from sunny, loud and crowded as all hell San Diego where all of the Gaslamp Quarter has just been overtaken by a giant "Adventure Time" show grand parade; Stormtrooper Elvis is performing live at the House of Blues; and Cirque du Soleil acrobats will soon be dangling down the south side of Petco Park:

Man, has it gotten crazy at this 'con or what?

We had another packed-table Gatcha-fan gathering at lunch Friday, with Hinotori no Jun, Condoru no Joe, and *GASP!!* for the FIRST TIME EVER- a Devil Star!! The costume was excellent with a very scary looking mask and an array of rose-grenades as accessories. Also for the first time ever: a Tsubakoru no Jinpei!!! After lunch, we paid a visit to artist Cliff Chiang, who produced some excellent Gatchaman character art a couple years ago, and bought the last of his prints. While there, he shared from his iPad a model sheet he'd been commissioned to do last year as a pitch to reboot a Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets comic. The designs were an updated look to the characters that remained relatively faithful to the looks of the originals but with a notable change made to Ryu/Tiny: he got buff! (*wolf-whistle*) Unfortunately, the idea never made it past the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if..." stage, and fizzled shortly thereafter.

Dinner was hosted by our good friend Jason Hofius, who proceeded to amuse (read: torture) us with video clips of Gatchaman and BotP spinoff animation from a variety of countries and sources: there was the Megas XLR episode featuring the return of the "S-Force" BotP/Volron spoof; a Spanish kids troupe in bird-style costumes singing the Spanish BotP dub theme songs; a Sandy Frank-produced reboot of the series that like the aforementioned Chiang comic never left the launch pad, featuring an updated (read: horrible) CGI Zark padding re-edited original footage and a fresh crop of voice actors reciting an updated script with bad 1990's slang instead of bad 1970's slang and an actor who had to be sucking helium before reciting Jason's lines. Most enjoyable and interesting was a Jameson Brewer episode commentary from one of the BotP DVD releases where he's talking about his early days in animation and how the BotP series came to be. Basically, he noted how violent the source material was, how the American political climate of the time wouldn't stand for such on childrens' television, and how he had to cut it up and put it back together again with new scripting and Zark-padding.

In other news, the CCI-management's allotment of 2012 four-day advance sales passes sold out within three nanoseconds. The thundering hordes of con-goers seemed to be crowded most around the big network pavilions such as G-4, Sci-Fi, Warner Brothers, etc and the big toy companies, hoping for either a crack at a glimpse of a superstar or a 'con exclusive toy. The small-press and artists alley areas, and the larger individual artists and writers pavilions seemed to be more sparsely populated. This is sad proof that the original focus of SDCCI has shifted from equal attention to all genres classic and new to whatever is currently on or about to be released on television.

I think I'll be turning my sights to WonderCon from now on.

__________________
-Katharine
Disturbed in NorCal

Posted by Dragonsbain on 24-07-2011 at 04:39:

Thank you for the great reports. Have a great weekend.

__________________
Health and Happiness

Posted by lborgia88 on 27-07-2011 at 15:21:

RE: Belated SDCCI Friday Report

quote:

Originally posted by Mad Katharine
and *GASP!!* for the FIRST TIME EVER- a Devil Star!!

You mean this weirdo? Can't imagine who that could have been! Laugh2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/5971717900/

Posted by Becky Rock on 27-07-2011 at 20:57:

Wow. Iy is an interesting costume.

I'm sorry to hear the Con hasn't been as good as in previosu years, Katharine. It seesm to have gotten too big now.

__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...

Posted by Dragonsbain on 28-07-2011 at 02:09:

Beautiful costume.

__________________
Health and Happiness

Posted by clouddancer on 28-07-2011 at 03:00:

It was a beautiful costume, LB. You should be proud of the work you did to create it.

__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Posted by lborgia88 on 28-07-2011 at 12:53:

Thanks!

I'm impressed that whoever posted that comment on the Flickr photo knew what character the costume is supposed to be! Admittedly, it is rather obscure.

Posted by clouddancer on 28-07-2011 at 16:13:

I was amazed as well when I read that.

__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 28-07-2011 at 22:29:

Imagine how terrifying that would be on a real assassin. No expression, almost no view of the eyes, no individuality. (And then imagine a half-dozen of them coming at you.) Devilstar

__________________
Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

Posted by lborgia88 on 29-07-2011 at 05:13:

I have to admit, it was fun, being evil! Laugh2 In one instance, a woman looking up from a booth and catching sight of me actually was genuinely startled and sort of went "Eek!"

I agree -there's always something rather disturbing or unsettling about a mask.