Shigeru Chiba, the guy from Red Spectacles, Stray Dog, and Talking Head? :( But... but... :(
It wasn't really worth mentioning Physica. He is one of those characters that is in the background, a total cipher, and then suddenly after being ignored for the whole series he gets developed in one episode... which means he's going to die. That's really pretty lazy writing.
My apologies, like I said over on TBDX, (I'm a Votoms pilot there instead of an elite assassin) I never know when to let it fly and I think I got the two sites crossed. Impossible right?
I forget this one is more "casual friendly" than the bizarre ramblings of grumpiness and discussions of c***s on robots that is TBDX.
I think you went a bit Shigeru Chiba on us there, Jeremy.
Macross 7 was actually the first Macross anything I saw. Regardless, I still loved it. But I ended up watching it like 5-6 episodes a day.
I also noticed you missed mentioning poor Physica. He had a wife and kid, but still managed to get himself killed. Not only that, his wife had something going on with another guy.
Well, he lives in both SRW games he's in.
The question really is: who in thee hell would issue & approve that license???
Lest we forget about that short 'official' EVA hentai movie that came about a half-dozen years ago as well...? (Was that video a Gainax-licensed thing as well, or someone else did that w/o permission? BTW, were any of the voices in that the originals?)
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CollectionDX Staff
You wanna talk "WTF" and moe? A few months ago, say Jan., I saw a headline here on CDX pointing out some Japanese con or something. Anyways, I saw- and this is burned into my head whether I like it or not- a 6" non-poseable figure of Asuka... sitting on a cutaway toilet takin' both a #1 and a #2 at the same time!!!
I repeat: W-T-F!?
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CollectionDX Staff
I don't know the status of the EVA fandom (and I'm not talking about my own, thank you), but I suspect that the series was breakthrough in some fashion-or-other that has made it so endearing...? I mean, I am rather surprised that it's lasted over now-eleven years. I mean, it's okay to bring back an occasional OVA to freshen things up a little (*cough*Gundam*cough*), but this series has had figures and models, and games, and re-releases near non-stop! I don't get to watch anime nearly as much as I would like to, so I wouldn't be able to compare it that easily except from others' examples and opinions.
That's also why I can't explain the moe (a new word for me, thanks!) fascination with this series.
(And the fact that I never finished the series also counts for something... ^_^; )
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CollectionDX Staff
Your CDX profile is set not to receive e-mails. Sorry to ask you this publicly, but PLEASE lay off the profanity in your comments. Family site, remember? ;)
Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly: whether you dig the show or not, it's definitely time to move on! The original ending should never've been changed, in my opinion. Either way, yeah, it's worth watching at least once (pick your ending!).
I have to agree all the Eva merch out their is a little wtf and thats not going into the gothic loli stuff I've seen
as for this figure its a cool idea but not my cup of tea but I will say if they made a Yoko figure from Garran Lagann I would be sold no question but she would have to have the giant sniper rifle
Transformer and other robot art by me on my DA site blitz-wing.deviantart.com
Hey guys, I've been lurking around on these reviews for a while and I just really want to thank you for them. I've been a longtime Lego fan and I was skeptical of the Exo-Force line for quite a while (passed up on some good deals, too) so I never invested in them until just recently as I began to read these reviews. You guys do an awesome job of thoroughly reviewing these sets and they've really helped me in my set-buying decisions. I can't believe I didn't notice the oh-so-obvious inspiration from classic anime in these sets until I started to read these reviews. So again, a big thank you and keep up the good work!
I recall that someone here reviewed a 12" Frankenstein's Monster non-poseable doll a few months ago. I actually got mine from a Japanese exchange student years ago as a birthday gift. As one of those really awkward presents that you can get on birthdays or X-mas that you aren't allowed to refuse or snicker at, I quickly migrated it to a box in my closet where it remains to this day. I can't even get it out of the house as a white elephant, ya know? (Our only other previous Japanese student got me a transformable Brave Saga robot that was then-new that was perhaps the beginning of my collection as it exists today.) Anyways, there's no possible way I could review that, let alone a figure that only has a waist or head joint. I can think of only an extremely-few exceptions...
Anyways, I try to get in as many pictures as I can get away with nowadays. I also include text links inside the review, along with thumbnails 'n such to break up the monotony. I know I can go on-and-on once I get started! When I'm done with the first draft, I also try to shorten or remove things a bit.
Of course, if people left more frequent feedback when I ask for it, I would have been able to adjust my habits early on...
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CollectionDX Staff
I never heard that it actually was all bull***t and not meant to be taken as seriously as the fanbase does. That gives me a smidgen more respect for those involved, but it's really time to move on and do something else besides decide how many times they can change the ending.
It should be watched once in entirety, just to be in the loop, but I can't imagine watching it again with so many old shows out there.
Josh, did you get the Revoltech Revy figure from the first few releases? It'd be nice to compare it to this.
I agree I would love to see Go rangers done this way but I get the impression the super old school stuff doesn't sell well. Akumaizer can still be found in certain retail sites for pretty cheap money (old school characters that new school collectors. But boy - do they beat the Kamen Rider stuff into the ground.
And by "first iteration", I mean, the very first tv series, beginning to end. The first set of movies were crap, in my opinion...and the fact that they're making more makes me shake my head (though it doesn't surprise me in the least). I'm with you, duke: moe can eat me. What I took from the show, however, was a pleasant middle finger to mainstream scifi. I thought the action was fine, though that's not what drives my watching an anime series (I'm not going to commit to watching 26 episodes of Japanese cartoon...just for the action).
As for the story, it got more and more metaphysical (read: nonsensical) towards the end...and when the unwashed masses were looking for the big (read: generic!) scifi payoff at the end, all they got was Anno's middle finger! He basically revealed that all that angel crap was just that: smoke and mirrors. If anything, the action/plot was really a vehicle for telling the story of a kid with no real identity or sense of self-worth...perhaps a common enough issue among many of today's youth. That's the part I liked.
I would like to think that this theme would resonate among at least some scifi fans...but it would appear that the big payoff ending and the almighty yen were destined to win in the end (hence the repeated rehashing of the ending). But, hey, what can ya do? It's not like Gainax and Anno weren't out to make money from the start. Guy's gotta eat! ;)
I was into the series for a brief time when the tapes were still coming out. It's a pretty good show if you ignore all the hype and mind-numbing overtones. Sort of like The Matrix, you can watch it and just enjoy it as an action flick, or you can pontificate about the meaning of life via trans-sexual directors and Cristo Jesus.
Watch the show up until the halfway point, it goes downhill faster than a bobsled after that.
The show refuses to die and it's been retold 2 or 3 times now iirc, it's probably because of the emo and moe (coincidence?) following keeping it going.
The "mecha" is unique enough to be interesting but it spawned way too many imitations that continue to this day. Eva single-handedly turned anime into a contest of "How complex and moody can we make a show that has no ending and seems really intellectual, yet has sexy tween girls we can sell scantily clad figures of for ten years?".
We're finally getting out of it with stuff like Code Geass and Gurren Lagann bringing back fun ideas.
"Not to mention the legions of drooling otaku who have fetishized any and all variations of this character... Rei as a mermaid."
Careful now... Recall that I do not collect figures, and that that line was a one-time thing for me because it was a different take on both Rei and Asuka-chan. If they'd made one of Misato, I'd've gotten her too.
-_-;
BTW, all EVA pilots are required to be 14yrs old.
Other than whatever reason for the original series production, have they ever explained in-continuity why this is?
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CollectionDX Staff
Moe is a weird thing. Some view it as borderline pedophilia, others view it as harmless "appreciation" of youthful beauty. I call it creepy in any regard.
Eva is arguably the most mainstream example of Moe that is exposed to the west. They continually sexualize the characters from the show, yet the "pilots" are all around 13-15 years old. I've heard comparisons to Ender's Game, but that's giving Eva too much credit and insulting EG in my opinion. And don't get me started on the whole ambiguously gay Kaoru thing.
If they do a Misato Fraulein I'll be there, but this line so far seems to be one I'll steer clear of unless they go into female characters from older shows. I still want a set of Knight Sabers in this line, but Yamato is doing them and I've already paid a kidney for my Atellier Sai set.
The sculpt is good and joints fairly well hidden, I like the idea, just not what they've done so far.
I certainly take no offense. It's all a matter of personal taste and opinion. What do you want to get out of CDX as a reader and what do you want to get out of it as a contributor? Although in depth reviews are great, I like that CDX functions as a database as well. I'm sure I have published (and will publish) reviews more to say "Look, this exists" than anything else. Sometimes it's with a certain audience in mind and sometimes just to show something different. Like I might want to show a machinder collector a rare or strange bootleg that I found. Maybe they'll say "Hey, I don't have that. I'll start looking for it". Or maybe they've found it and want to check theirs against mine for variations, etc.. I think there's great value in just having the pictures online, especially for vintage stuff and oddities.
Personally, I find too much text to be a turn off when I'm not thoroughly interested in a toy line. If a reader isn't interested in the stuff I publish, it doesn't take them long to look over it and move on to something more in line with their interests. I want to have enough to please the fans, but not so much that it scares off the people who are only mildly curious.
And of course, 99% of what I collect is incredibly simple anyway. I've got some reviews in queue for toys with exactly ONE point of articulation! How much can I possibly describe that?!?! HAHAHA
Anyway, I think we've talked about this in email before. It's the great thing about the site. With so many writers now, you get all sort of different styles, viewpoints and toys. :)
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
I've always heard it was Super Imaginative Chogokin. Soul of is usually referring to the "soul" of an old toy line being revised in a new way (Soul of Popynica, Sofubi, Chogokin, etc).
These were taking an old property and going crazy with it, hence the "Imaginative" name. Basically like what Fewture does with Go Nagai stuff and did with Guyver.
The early stuff was very McFarlane-like (inspired by some say). Almost no articulation and some accessories that you basically laid around the figure. They looked great, but it was essentially a statue. Recently they finally added more articulation and now they're action figures, expensive action figures.
I was always interested if they would go into the sentai shows and make some SIC Go-Rangers. They've done Kamen Rider and tons of Kikaida stuff, but they've been dancing around the sentai for some reason.
Yeah, these are nicer than I would have thought. I never collected this line, but I was always under the impression that there was practically zero articulation, in addition to next to no metal. Also, isn't the line called "Super Imaginative Chogokin", not "Soul of..."?
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
I think the words "obsession" and "fetish" are completely appropriate with regard to Ishiguro's work because they are consistent elements of his work, the same way Mamoru Oshii's work contains a lot of weird fish eye close ups, dogs, slow pans across talking people, et cetera. I would also say that live action directors do the same thing. Fritz Lang, for example, director of Metropolis, M, and other classics, consistently has government/authority figures who are totally incompetent and often casually cruel, lots of darkness and shadow (he was one of the originators of the film noir style), et cetera.
Maybe the words "obsession" and "fetish" are a little hyperbolic, but my style is always a little hyperbolic.
Oshii DESERVES the heat I throw at him. He is a brilliant director, but is also very, very self-indulgent, and it frustrates me when he indulges himself instead of making the much tighter, better film he is clearly capable of. Ishiguro rarely makes this mistake, but I feel neither of these directors are for everyone. I appreciate Oshii's thoughtful ruminations and complex political plots, with spartan, realistic characters and plots. I appreciate Ishiguro's energy, attention to detail, and fun, along with his engaging (though perhaps over the top) characters. Both really like to have fine detail work in the worlds they create. But this is probably not going to please fans of madcap humor or tender, realistic love stories. Oshii is cold as ice and Ishiguro's romances are overblown and melodramatic. I am down with either approach, but they are both something that may not appeal to a mainstream audience.
I'm not really interested in discussing George Lucas that much. He's not an Asian film director and while Star Wars certainly had a significant impact on the asian sci-fi of the 80's, Yamato had a significant impact on Star Wars. And that's really all the further I feel the need to go with it. We're not going to review Clone Wars or Star Wars or any of its variants; we are primarily a podcast about asian film and anime of a sci-fi or genre bent.
Big O definitely has the city of people trying to find their memories, but that is a background element. It is not a show about people with lost memories anymore than Gundam is a show family bickering. Big O is a show about a millionaire Playboy of the Batman variety that has a giant robot; the memories thing is secondary. Gundam is a show about young kids getting sucked up into a space war and being force to pilot giant robots; the Zabi family strife and the strife in Amuro and Char's families are secondary. See what I mean?
I suppose there are more overly sci-fi episodes of Twilight Zone, but I feel like they are the exception, not the rule, and are not what I think of when I think of Twilight Zone. Mostly I am thinking of the mundane every day people tossed into some weird moral dilemma when I think Twilight Zone.
Like I said before, I have not SEEN Please Save My Earth or Godchild and I'm not gonna recommend a show I haven't even watched. I told you I dismissed Please Save My Earth based on it looking like a pretty boys maybe kissing each other show, so I didn't investigate very much. I also only watched about one episode of Lain and thought it was confusing on purpose and super boring. Are you really surprised that I did not recommend shows I haven't seen/don't like?
As for Ghost in the Shell, please remember that particular episode of the podcast was a joke and we weren't seriously discussing the movie, we were just needling Dave and Joel from the Fast Karate for the Gentleman podcast because they told us not talk about Ghost in the Shell. :) We will probably do a serious review of the movie at a later date.
I really do think Oshii is brilliant, but he is so sold on his own hype that he sometimes makes prentious, unwatchable pieces of crap because he is convinced everything he does is incredible. When he is held in check by a good producer or editor or writer or even when another talented director is directing his work, it tends to be fantastic. If you can keep Oshii from being too self-indulgent he can make fantastic film, but if you let him go wild he usually makes boring garbage, which is a heartbreaking waste of talent.
I picked mine up a few weeks ago after waiting to find a shop that sold it for less than $200. I own the original as well - complete with broken shoulders - and even though I was unsure if this was a new sculpt or just a repaint with a few kibbles added I had to get it since it's my favorite of the Garland designs.
The mystery plastic is probably POM. Yamato was one of the first companies to use it in toys and it's a crime they didn't use it in the original. It's plastic that has properties of metal, it's cool to the touch and strong, yet almost feels ceramic. They usually only use it in high-stress joint areas and hinges.
I think this one marks the end of the MZ23 line since I can't see them doing the one from part 3 or going the extra mile to do the villains. Interestingly the factory color release was based on an old illustration from the preproduction of the OVA, so it wasn't just something Yamato pulled out of their ass.
I never really considered these toys, but they're actually kinda neat-looking. Not normally my thing, but I love the shots of them taking on Gore Sky Deviler! Fun stuff!
it sounded a little negative when you've brought up Ishiguro's habits in his work. Bear in mind that not everyone takes the word 'fetish' or 'obssession' lightly. It's those kinds of words that the American public brands them as taboos.
Also, I've listened to your rants in most of your episodes everyday, and you're pretty critical, but constructive in a good way. I'm not saying that I'm condemning your comments begrudgingly, for I freaking love your style of review whether I agree with you or not. It’s just that you're known to go guncrazy on attacking Omauro Oshii in the past, and when one goes triggerhappy on a target, there’s bound to be innocence caught in the line of fire, and I’ve felt that Ishiguro is one of them.
For the record, I've listened to you talking about Ishiguro from the your episodes of SDF Macross and your Garland + Mazinger Z/Devilman review episodes many, many times. I've even listened to them in my sleep. It never crossed my mind that you're an opponent of Ishiguro. It just cut me a little off guard that you've brought up the words 'obssession' and 'fetish' when it comes to a genius who’ve done so much for the industry. I too love Ishiguro. I love that man with all my heart and all my soul. I love him as much as SHOJI KAWAMORI, Shinji Akamani, and Kazutaka Miyatake of whom I’ll always be grateful for co-creating Diaclone/Transformers together with Bob Budiansky and Marvel Comics. The goddamn transfans might have abandoned them for that sleazy American filmmaker but I haven’t, and I’ll never abandon then…especially Ishiguro.
The dude's work made me cry countless times. Lucas's work made me cry once and I HATE THAT S**T. This is crazy talk from a guy like me, but damn it…I love SF drama shows that makes me cry. What he did for Orguss was a hell of an experience for me...which reminds me, when are you going to bring us 'Orguss’ and it’s sequel ? What's holding you back? You've got to talk about Orguss in your podcast. It's one the most important SF series in Anime history. You must talk about Orguss.Please, please, please...give us Orguss.
Anyway, I want to say that I'm sorry for giving you the impression of you attacking Ishiguro as a technophile and comparing him to George F##KING Lucas. That wasn't my intention at all and I sincerely and deeply apologize for that.
About Lucas, you're not by any chance going to bash his Star Wars:Clone Wars fad in your next podcast in the future...are you?
Yeah, Big O is about a playboy/adventurer/private investigator, a robot maid, a one-eyed butler, a giant robot, but it’s also about a mysterious city of normal people with mysterious past lives, and weird things happened to them which is based on their lost memories. Isn't that a little mundane? I disagree with ‘Please Save My Earth’ not being a Twilight Zone pastiche. Dude, the show focused on normal teenagers who shared collective dreams of alien researchers living on the moon. As the series progresses, the alien scientists were REVEALED as the teens of their past selves. That’s the plot twist man.
Maybe ‘Godchild’ doesn’t count as much, but , but ‘Please Save My Earth’ and ‘Lain does. These 4 shows might not be 100% mundane tackling with moral play, and not as straight forward as Twilight Zone, but the 3 things they have in common with Twilight Zone are plot twists and dramatic irony and suspense. Besides, Twilight Zone didn’t always focus on stories that are mundane: such as the ones with 3 astronauts landing on a colony of people displayed as statues, a lonely 23rd century convict on a desert planet making out with a android girl, a greedy niece caretaking her dying uncle’s robot, A near future where an ex-human boxer fighting robot boxers in the ring, 5 weirdos imprisoned in a cynlinder which revealed them to be discarded toy dolls, a young woman in a store stalked by mannequins etc, etc.
And you don’t consider those 4 anime shows to be Twilight Zone pastiches? Give me a freaking break…Mr. Jeremy sir.
As far as Mamuro Oshii’s concerned….yeah, you’re right about ‘Ghost In The Shell’ as being slow with a dull plot. I don’t recommend anyone who is hyperactive to watch it, but I was surprised you’ve cut the dude some slack for a change when you reviewed his work in ‘Twilight Q’. I really think you should’ve cut him off a little slack with his ‘Ghost In The Shell’ movie. It really wasn’t that bad. It should be recommended as a reference tool for animation students who want to do experimental animation. If not that, then it’s definitely ‘Twilight Q’.
IMO, The ‘Ghost In The Shell’ movie is not the most boring cyberpunk anime ever. You want to talk about boring? I’ll tell you boring………………..Read-my-text…….LAIN…..NO….JOKE…..L-A-I-N! That is definitely the most boring, convoluted, slowest paced cyberpunk, twilight zone-ish anime in history. It’s so boring, the damn thing even tops ‘Dallos’. Swear to god, if you got an insomniac binge, the best home remedy for this problem is definitely Lain. The story is boring, the pacing is boring,the graphics are boring, even the opening theme music is boring. It just boggles the mind that this yawn-making show was directed by the dude who worked on ‘Space Adventure Cobra’. F**k Mamuro Oshii huh? I say f**k Ryūtarō Nakamura. F**k Nakamura in the *** with George Lucas' ******* ****!
Shigeru Chiba, the guy from Red Spectacles, Stray Dog, and Talking Head? :( But... but... :(
It wasn't really worth mentioning Physica. He is one of those characters that is in the background, a total cipher, and then suddenly after being ignored for the whole series he gets developed in one episode... which means he's going to die. That's really pretty lazy writing.
-Jeremy
My apologies, like I said over on TBDX, (I'm a Votoms pilot there instead of an elite assassin) I never know when to let it fly and I think I got the two sites crossed. Impossible right?
I forget this one is more "casual friendly" than the bizarre ramblings of grumpiness and discussions of c***s on robots that is TBDX.
I think you went a bit Shigeru Chiba on us there, Jeremy.
Macross 7 was actually the first Macross anything I saw. Regardless, I still loved it. But I ended up watching it like 5-6 episodes a day.
I also noticed you missed mentioning poor Physica. He had a wife and kid, but still managed to get himself killed. Not only that, his wife had something going on with another guy.
Well, he lives in both SRW games he's in.
Garage kits typically arent licensed, and are kind of tolerated as a way to promote the fandom in Japan....
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CollectionDX Admin
The question really is: who in thee hell would issue & approve that license???
Lest we forget about that short 'official' EVA hentai movie that came about a half-dozen years ago as well...? (Was that video a Gainax-licensed thing as well, or someone else did that w/o permission? BTW, were any of the voices in that the originals?)
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CollectionDX Staff
oh hell now I remember... how do they get the license's for that kinda stuff
Transformer and other robot art by me on my DA site blitz-wing.deviantart.com
You wanna talk "WTF" and moe? A few months ago, say Jan., I saw a headline here on CDX pointing out some Japanese con or something. Anyways, I saw- and this is burned into my head whether I like it or not- a 6" non-poseable figure of Asuka... sitting on a cutaway toilet takin' both a #1 and a #2 at the same time!!!
I repeat: W-T-F!?
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CollectionDX Staff
I don't know the status of the EVA fandom (and I'm not talking about my own, thank you), but I suspect that the series was breakthrough in some fashion-or-other that has made it so endearing...? I mean, I am rather surprised that it's lasted over now-eleven years. I mean, it's okay to bring back an occasional OVA to freshen things up a little (*cough*Gundam*cough*), but this series has had figures and models, and games, and re-releases near non-stop! I don't get to watch anime nearly as much as I would like to, so I wouldn't be able to compare it that easily except from others' examples and opinions.
That's also why I can't explain the moe (a new word for me, thanks!) fascination with this series.
(And the fact that I never finished the series also counts for something... ^_^; )
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CollectionDX Staff
Your CDX profile is set not to receive e-mails. Sorry to ask you this publicly, but PLEASE lay off the profanity in your comments. Family site, remember? ;)
Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly: whether you dig the show or not, it's definitely time to move on! The original ending should never've been changed, in my opinion. Either way, yeah, it's worth watching at least once (pick your ending!).
But enough, already!
--
Sanjeev
I have to agree all the Eva merch out their is a little wtf and thats not going into the gothic loli stuff I've seen
as for this figure its a cool idea but not my cup of tea but I will say if they made a Yoko figure from Garran Lagann I would be sold no question but she would have to have the giant sniper rifle
Transformer and other robot art by me on my DA site blitz-wing.deviantart.com
Hey guys, I've been lurking around on these reviews for a while and I just really want to thank you for them. I've been a longtime Lego fan and I was skeptical of the Exo-Force line for quite a while (passed up on some good deals, too) so I never invested in them until just recently as I began to read these reviews. You guys do an awesome job of thoroughly reviewing these sets and they've really helped me in my set-buying decisions. I can't believe I didn't notice the oh-so-obvious inspiration from classic anime in these sets until I started to read these reviews. So again, a big thank you and keep up the good work!
I recall that someone here reviewed a 12" Frankenstein's Monster non-poseable doll a few months ago. I actually got mine from a Japanese exchange student years ago as a birthday gift. As one of those really awkward presents that you can get on birthdays or X-mas that you aren't allowed to refuse or snicker at, I quickly migrated it to a box in my closet where it remains to this day. I can't even get it out of the house as a white elephant, ya know? (Our only other previous Japanese student got me a transformable Brave Saga robot that was then-new that was perhaps the beginning of my collection as it exists today.) Anyways, there's no possible way I could review that, let alone a figure that only has a waist or head joint. I can think of only an extremely-few exceptions...
Anyways, I try to get in as many pictures as I can get away with nowadays. I also include text links inside the review, along with thumbnails 'n such to break up the monotony. I know I can go on-and-on once I get started! When I'm done with the first draft, I also try to shorten or remove things a bit.
Of course, if people left more frequent feedback when I ask for it, I would have been able to adjust my habits early on...
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CollectionDX Staff
I never heard that it actually was all bull***t and not meant to be taken as seriously as the fanbase does. That gives me a smidgen more respect for those involved, but it's really time to move on and do something else besides decide how many times they can change the ending.
It should be watched once in entirety, just to be in the loop, but I can't imagine watching it again with so many old shows out there.
Josh, did you get the Revoltech Revy figure from the first few releases? It'd be nice to compare it to this.
I agree I would love to see Go rangers done this way but I get the impression the super old school stuff doesn't sell well. Akumaizer can still be found in certain retail sites for pretty cheap money (old school characters that new school collectors. But boy - do they beat the Kamen Rider stuff into the ground.
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CollectionDX Writer
And by "first iteration", I mean, the very first tv series, beginning to end. The first set of movies were crap, in my opinion...and the fact that they're making more makes me shake my head (though it doesn't surprise me in the least). I'm with you, duke: moe can eat me. What I took from the show, however, was a pleasant middle finger to mainstream scifi. I thought the action was fine, though that's not what drives my watching an anime series (I'm not going to commit to watching 26 episodes of Japanese cartoon...just for the action).
As for the story, it got more and more metaphysical (read: nonsensical) towards the end...and when the unwashed masses were looking for the big (read: generic!) scifi payoff at the end, all they got was Anno's middle finger! He basically revealed that all that angel crap was just that: smoke and mirrors. If anything, the action/plot was really a vehicle for telling the story of a kid with no real identity or sense of self-worth...perhaps a common enough issue among many of today's youth. That's the part I liked.
I would like to think that this theme would resonate among at least some scifi fans...but it would appear that the big payoff ending and the almighty yen were destined to win in the end (hence the repeated rehashing of the ending). But, hey, what can ya do? It's not like Gainax and Anno weren't out to make money from the start. Guy's gotta eat! ;)
--
Sanjeev
I was into the series for a brief time when the tapes were still coming out. It's a pretty good show if you ignore all the hype and mind-numbing overtones. Sort of like The Matrix, you can watch it and just enjoy it as an action flick, or you can pontificate about the meaning of life via trans-sexual directors and Cristo Jesus.
Watch the show up until the halfway point, it goes downhill faster than a bobsled after that.
The show refuses to die and it's been retold 2 or 3 times now iirc, it's probably because of the emo and moe (coincidence?) following keeping it going.
The "mecha" is unique enough to be interesting but it spawned way too many imitations that continue to this day. Eva single-handedly turned anime into a contest of "How complex and moody can we make a show that has no ending and seems really intellectual, yet has sexy tween girls we can sell scantily clad figures of for ten years?".
We're finally getting out of it with stuff like Code Geass and Gurren Lagann bringing back fun ideas.
"Not to mention the legions of drooling otaku who have fetishized any and all variations of this character... Rei as a mermaid."
Careful now... Recall that I do not collect figures, and that that line was a one-time thing for me because it was a different take on both Rei and Asuka-chan. If they'd made one of Misato, I'd've gotten her too.
-_-;
BTW, all EVA pilots are required to be 14yrs old.
Other than whatever reason for the original series production, have they ever explained in-continuity why this is?
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CollectionDX Staff
Moe is a weird thing. Some view it as borderline pedophilia, others view it as harmless "appreciation" of youthful beauty. I call it creepy in any regard.
Eva is arguably the most mainstream example of Moe that is exposed to the west. They continually sexualize the characters from the show, yet the "pilots" are all around 13-15 years old. I've heard comparisons to Ender's Game, but that's giving Eva too much credit and insulting EG in my opinion. And don't get me started on the whole ambiguously gay Kaoru thing.
If they do a Misato Fraulein I'll be there, but this line so far seems to be one I'll steer clear of unless they go into female characters from older shows. I still want a set of Knight Sabers in this line, but Yamato is doing them and I've already paid a kidney for my Atellier Sai set.
The sculpt is good and joints fairly well hidden, I like the idea, just not what they've done so far.
I certainly take no offense. It's all a matter of personal taste and opinion. What do you want to get out of CDX as a reader and what do you want to get out of it as a contributor? Although in depth reviews are great, I like that CDX functions as a database as well. I'm sure I have published (and will publish) reviews more to say "Look, this exists" than anything else. Sometimes it's with a certain audience in mind and sometimes just to show something different. Like I might want to show a machinder collector a rare or strange bootleg that I found. Maybe they'll say "Hey, I don't have that. I'll start looking for it". Or maybe they've found it and want to check theirs against mine for variations, etc.. I think there's great value in just having the pictures online, especially for vintage stuff and oddities.
Personally, I find too much text to be a turn off when I'm not thoroughly interested in a toy line. If a reader isn't interested in the stuff I publish, it doesn't take them long to look over it and move on to something more in line with their interests. I want to have enough to please the fans, but not so much that it scares off the people who are only mildly curious.
And of course, 99% of what I collect is incredibly simple anyway. I've got some reviews in queue for toys with exactly ONE point of articulation! How much can I possibly describe that?!?! HAHAHA
Anyway, I think we've talked about this in email before. It's the great thing about the site. With so many writers now, you get all sort of different styles, viewpoints and toys. :)
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
I've always heard it was Super Imaginative Chogokin. Soul of is usually referring to the "soul" of an old toy line being revised in a new way (Soul of Popynica, Sofubi, Chogokin, etc).
These were taking an old property and going crazy with it, hence the "Imaginative" name. Basically like what Fewture does with Go Nagai stuff and did with Guyver.
The early stuff was very McFarlane-like (inspired by some say). Almost no articulation and some accessories that you basically laid around the figure. They looked great, but it was essentially a statue. Recently they finally added more articulation and now they're action figures, expensive action figures.
I was always interested if they would go into the sentai shows and make some SIC Go-Rangers. They've done Kamen Rider and tons of Kikaida stuff, but they've been dancing around the sentai for some reason.
Yeah, these are nicer than I would have thought. I never collected this line, but I was always under the impression that there was practically zero articulation, in addition to next to no metal. Also, isn't the line called "Super Imaginative Chogokin", not "Soul of..."?
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
I think the words "obsession" and "fetish" are completely appropriate with regard to Ishiguro's work because they are consistent elements of his work, the same way Mamoru Oshii's work contains a lot of weird fish eye close ups, dogs, slow pans across talking people, et cetera. I would also say that live action directors do the same thing. Fritz Lang, for example, director of Metropolis, M, and other classics, consistently has government/authority figures who are totally incompetent and often casually cruel, lots of darkness and shadow (he was one of the originators of the film noir style), et cetera.
Maybe the words "obsession" and "fetish" are a little hyperbolic, but my style is always a little hyperbolic.
Oshii DESERVES the heat I throw at him. He is a brilliant director, but is also very, very self-indulgent, and it frustrates me when he indulges himself instead of making the much tighter, better film he is clearly capable of. Ishiguro rarely makes this mistake, but I feel neither of these directors are for everyone. I appreciate Oshii's thoughtful ruminations and complex political plots, with spartan, realistic characters and plots. I appreciate Ishiguro's energy, attention to detail, and fun, along with his engaging (though perhaps over the top) characters. Both really like to have fine detail work in the worlds they create. But this is probably not going to please fans of madcap humor or tender, realistic love stories. Oshii is cold as ice and Ishiguro's romances are overblown and melodramatic. I am down with either approach, but they are both something that may not appeal to a mainstream audience.
I'm not really interested in discussing George Lucas that much. He's not an Asian film director and while Star Wars certainly had a significant impact on the asian sci-fi of the 80's, Yamato had a significant impact on Star Wars. And that's really all the further I feel the need to go with it. We're not going to review Clone Wars or Star Wars or any of its variants; we are primarily a podcast about asian film and anime of a sci-fi or genre bent.
Big O definitely has the city of people trying to find their memories, but that is a background element. It is not a show about people with lost memories anymore than Gundam is a show family bickering. Big O is a show about a millionaire Playboy of the Batman variety that has a giant robot; the memories thing is secondary. Gundam is a show about young kids getting sucked up into a space war and being force to pilot giant robots; the Zabi family strife and the strife in Amuro and Char's families are secondary. See what I mean?
I suppose there are more overly sci-fi episodes of Twilight Zone, but I feel like they are the exception, not the rule, and are not what I think of when I think of Twilight Zone. Mostly I am thinking of the mundane every day people tossed into some weird moral dilemma when I think Twilight Zone.
Like I said before, I have not SEEN Please Save My Earth or Godchild and I'm not gonna recommend a show I haven't even watched. I told you I dismissed Please Save My Earth based on it looking like a pretty boys maybe kissing each other show, so I didn't investigate very much. I also only watched about one episode of Lain and thought it was confusing on purpose and super boring. Are you really surprised that I did not recommend shows I haven't seen/don't like?
As for Ghost in the Shell, please remember that particular episode of the podcast was a joke and we weren't seriously discussing the movie, we were just needling Dave and Joel from the Fast Karate for the Gentleman podcast because they told us not talk about Ghost in the Shell. :) We will probably do a serious review of the movie at a later date.
I really do think Oshii is brilliant, but he is so sold on his own hype that he sometimes makes prentious, unwatchable pieces of crap because he is convinced everything he does is incredible. When he is held in check by a good producer or editor or writer or even when another talented director is directing his work, it tends to be fantastic. If you can keep Oshii from being too self-indulgent he can make fantastic film, but if you let him go wild he usually makes boring garbage, which is a heartbreaking waste of talent.
-J
I picked mine up a few weeks ago after waiting to find a shop that sold it for less than $200. I own the original as well - complete with broken shoulders - and even though I was unsure if this was a new sculpt or just a repaint with a few kibbles added I had to get it since it's my favorite of the Garland designs.
The mystery plastic is probably POM. Yamato was one of the first companies to use it in toys and it's a crime they didn't use it in the original. It's plastic that has properties of metal, it's cool to the touch and strong, yet almost feels ceramic. They usually only use it in high-stress joint areas and hinges.
I think this one marks the end of the MZ23 line since I can't see them doing the one from part 3 or going the extra mile to do the villains. Interestingly the factory color release was based on an old illustration from the preproduction of the OVA, so it wasn't just something Yamato pulled out of their ass.
I never really considered these toys, but they're actually kinda neat-looking. Not normally my thing, but I love the shots of them taking on Gore Sky Deviler! Fun stuff!
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Sanjeev