tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
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Hi all!
| quote: | | I'm drooling here! I'd love to be there with you guys! So glad you are having fun! Was TJ dressed as Jun in civvies? If so, did anyone recognize her? |
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Yes they did, but not as many as recognized her in her Jun costume.
| quote: | | Will you all be having your picture taken as a Gatch character? |
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Assuming we can, yes.
As I mentioned yesterday, Heather and I were unable to get to the Astro Boy panel, though Helen did get there. Apparently nothing Gatchaman came up, which is not a great surprise.
Capcom had things set up so people could play their games in tournaments, with Tatsunoko Vs Capcom tournaments taking place in the morning, and Marvel Vs Capcom tournaments in the afternoon. By the time I got by there, they were into the Marvel games, alas. I was hoping to see some people who knew what they were doing playing the game using Gatchaman characters. Maybe tomorrow...
What time we spent in the Dealers Room today was mostly in the areas dedicated to video games, fantasy art, some of the big campany booths, and Artiists Alley. As a result, beyond Capcom, there wasn't much Gatchaman there. We did see that TwoMorrows had their remaining handful of the BotP book for sale, still at 50% off. The Alex Ross Art booth had one of his original paintings up for sale, but we didn't bother to ask the price. In the past, his art for the BotP comic covers were going for a couple thousand dollars each, so I'm sure this was in a similar range. Someone in Artists Alley apparently has a set of original postcards with various ladies from comics and animation, including one of Jun. But, unfortunately, we don't know exactly who it was, so it might be difficult to track them down to see if the postcard is any good. But, if there's time to spare, we'll give it a shot.
Anyway, it's late, so more later!
James
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24-07-2009 06:17
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tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
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Hi all!
| quote: | | You seem to have the knack for finding the Gatch stuff. I don't remember finding all that much when I was there last year. |
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There was at least as much stuff there last year. More, in some cases, since one of the dealers who usually has a selection of cels didn't bring them this year. I'd have been happy to point these out if I'd known that anyone was having a hard time finding anything. I'm not buying any of these myself, so there's always a chance that they'll still be there next year!
The con was quite eventful today. Imagi was doing their Gatchaman giveaways every hour today. The goodies they were handing out were the watches that they had at Anime Expo, and a nice baseball-style cap with their red "G" logo on the front and "Gatchaman Coming To Theaters" in small print on the back. These hats were very nicely made, far better than I'd have expected for a giveaway. The first giveaways were in batches of 100, but those later in the afternoon were only for 50 people at a time.
The Capcom Fighting Game panel was held in the afternoon. They were giving previews for three games, including Tatsunoko Vs Capcom. The Producer for the game, Ryota Niitsuma, was there to talk a bit about it. He confirmed that there would be some new characters included in the U.S. and European version of the game, but couldn't say yet who they were going to be. Apparently part of the problems in getting the clearances for many of the Tatsunoko characters wasn't simply whether the rights for their shows were owned by anyone over here, but also getting clearance to use their theme songs (Or instrumental versions thereof) in North America and Europe. When you consider that they were using characters from a number of different shows, that made this part quite difficult. When he was asked who were the oddest characters that people requested be included as the additional characters, his answer was, "Samurai Pizza Cats."
At the end of the Tatsunoko Vs Capcom portion of the panel, Mr. Niitsuma bundled up a Tatsunoko Vs Capcom T-shirt he had autographed with a Tatsunoko Vs Capcom towel and tossed a couple of these into the audience. Amazingly, I managed to snag one of the two bundles that he tossed out! All of that ninjutsu training has finaly paid off...!
Helen and I got the opportunity to play the Tatsunoko Vs Capcom game later in the afternoon. The crowd playing the game had thinned out a lot because they were having the designer for a different Capcom game signing autographs elsewhere in their booth, making the games much more available for non-Capcom fanatics such as us. We played two games against each other, and each won one, which worked out pretty nicely.
We made an attempt to find the fellow in Artists Alley who did the Jun postcard, but had no luck in locating him. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow or Sunday, but since we don't know his name, it's a matter of happening to spot the postcards on his table, which can be real hit-and-miss.
Anyway, the con is now halfway over. This was a pretty good day, one that will be hard for the rest of the con to top, but we'll see what tomrorrow brings! Imagi is suppsoed to be having their Gatchaman photo op tomorrow, so we'll see what that's like!
More later...
James
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25-07-2009 05:24
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tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
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Hi all!
| quote: | | I hope you'll post photos of your goodies! (although I suspect that you will...) |
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Helen will probably beat me to it, since she'll be home and in a position to do so before I will. So, no worries, you'll see pictures from the con fairly soon.
| quote: | | Did Helen wear her Eagle costume? Or was it the Swan? |
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She wore her Swan outfit Thursday and Friday, and her Eagle costume on Saturday. She was stopped for photos quite frequently in either outfit.
Saturday was the day Imagi had their Gatchaman photo opportunity. Their set-up was a large digital camera positioned in front of a small backdrop with shadowed versions of Imagi's Joe, Jun, Jinpei, and Ryu. People getting the photographs were given the opportunity to put on the Gatchaman cosplay outfit that came out in Japan earlier this year and pose in front of the backdrop. That way, you could be Gatchaman, with the rest of the team as your backup. Of course, you were TV series Ken, and your backdrop was the Imagi Ninja Team, but it was free, so who's complaining? It seemed like most people went for the full costume, though some just went for parts of it (The cape and/or the helmet). Helen was already in her costume, so she just added the helmet for her photo. Heather and I went for the full costume, though in my case, it certainly proved that it was designed for people who were shorter/thinner than I am. I could squeeze into the costume, but the belt could not fasten around my waist, especially with a full set of clothing under the costume. I needed a Ryu-sized belt, not a Jinpei-sized one! Heather, on the other hand, had no such problems.So, we got the photos, along with a postcard of the image of Joe that we've seen online for the last few months. Several places had free photo things set up in their booths this year, so I guess it must be the new, hot things to do.
At the Capcom booth, Ryota Niitsuma did an autograph session in the afternoon. Helen and Heather got there before I did, and apparently Mr. Niitsuma wanted his picture taken with them. I guess he recognized Helen's outfit! Capcom provided nice, glossy photos of their Tatsunoko Vs Capcom banner for Mr. Niitsuma to sign. Overall, it was very classy, and handled in a manner that is vastly superior to a lot of the autograph signings I've seen. I commented to Mr. Niitsuma that I hoped that Space Ace (The lead character from Tatsunoko's first TV series) would be one of the new characters added to the game, and he seemed very pleased to hear that, saying "Me too!"
Looking around the Dealers room a little more, I found one dealer with a few Gatchaman posters, from both the TV series and the OAVs, as well as a vastly overpriced promotional cel from Gatchaman II. There was also a dealer seiing some copies of the 3rd volume of the Top Cow BotP comic compilations for 50% off cover price. I also noticed that TwoMorrows had sold out on their remaining copies of the BotP book.
That evening, we held our annual farewell dinner and Sanfilippos restaurant. We normally do this on Sunday night, after the end of the convention, but we moved it up a night because Helen had to leave early on Sunday morning. Sadly, due to conflicting scheduled and injuries, this was really the first chance that all of us at the convention had the chance to get together in one place.
After dinner, we went over to Jason's house for a small viewing party, where we watched a variety of odd things -- some odder than others. We watched such treasures as the Yatterman TV special with the Gatchaman cameo, Heroes del Espacio, Winx Club with P-Force, some Gatchaman commercials, an interview with Sandy Frank, some video game demos, and some portions from the online BotP game from a few years back. It was a weird miss-mash, but a lot of fun. Evenutally, the late hour forced us to break up for the evening.
The con has one more day, with things winding down. Since we got home so late last night, we're getting a late start thiis morning, but there was nothing earth-shattering on the agenda. Of course, if anything of note happens, I'll let you know!
James
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26-07-2009 16:02
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Transmute Jun
Queen of the Bird Missiles
I am a Swan.
40 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 04-04-2007
Posts: 20978
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27-07-2009 01:45
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tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
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Hi all!
Well, we're back from the last day of the con. It was definitely a slowdown day, as everyone was trying to wrap things up and get ready to leave.
After getting a late start, we didn't arrive there until a little after noon. After trying (Unsuccessfully, alas) to meet up with Jason and Greg for lunch, we went down to the Imagi booth. They had taken out the photo booth and were giving out their remaining Gatchaman hats and watches. As it was, they ran out of the watches fairly quickly during the 2:00 giveaway, but they had enough hats for at least one more round at 3:00. They also raffled off their last few remaining Astro Boy bags, which they had been using to store their Gatchaman hats and watches in. Sadly, neither Heather nor I won one of those.
After that, Heather and I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Dealers Room and the Art Show, taking one last look around to see if there was anything we had missed. We found a few things we hadn't seen before, but not much that made us want too part with our money. The only "new" Gatchaman-related item I happened across was someone with a bootleg set of BotP episodes on DVD. I also noticed that the soft vinyl Jun figure I had spotted earlier in the concention appeared to have sold.
Now it's a matter of packing things up in preparation for flying home tomorrow, and to start dreaming about next year. For anyone planning to attend, the con will be held on July 22nd through July 25th, 2010, with the Preview Night on July 21st. I'm not sure exactly when they'll begin online registration for the con, but if you're planning to attend, register early! As you can see by checking earlier in this thread, the con sold out of full memberships for this year back in March, and sold out of 1-day memberships by the end of May. Expect the same to happen next year. I'd love to see all of you there!
James
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27-07-2009 02:24
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Thanks for sharing the info with us, James! I am excited to see pictures of you guys and the team! 
