A Few Questions...

[Tojoro]

Folks,
Came here seeking info, hoping for some guidance. Tom is my name, I'm 44 and hail from MA. I was among the lucky New England kids that grew up with Force Five everyday after school, (Mr. Big Toyland commercials!), had the 24" Mazinger and the Dragun Monogram kit.
By 1983, I was headbanging to Ozzy and Maiden, and left all that 'kid stuff' behind, blah, blah and so on.
Last Saturday I'm with a couple of buddies at the Boston Comicon and one stops at a table with some diecast of the classic Batmobile, and I spy a familiar face looking out at me through the riot of collectibles, in this case, it was really a chest, and one that could only belong to one of those super robots of my very distant past: Gaiking.
It was the Revoltech version, #024, which I got for $30.
I thought it was steep at that price, until I got on ebay and saw what it and others were going for.
Cripes!
I love the size as well as the obvious benefits of the poseability, the extra hands and other ephemera really make it a neat package.
My questions are as follows:

1. Anyone know the story behind why the original stuff isn't available commercially?

2. It seems much has carried on with the Getter guys, Gaiking, Mazinger and Grendizer since I last saw them about 30 years or so ago. What newer efforts/entries in this series are worth my time? Both in film and Manga?

3. What is the best book out there containing images and history concerning Super Robots?

4. Has Revoltech ever mentioned figures for the classic Getter Liger and Getter Posideon?
Looking through What's been released, I'd like to get 001, 008, 016, 017, 074 & 085.
I've no choice, I have to get the rest of them now, and Gaiking keeps yabbering about "His people", and yeah, they'd all look bitchen in some wacky diorama, so now, I'm screwed.

5. Best store in the New Eng. area that would cater to the above needs. Most I've been to up in the 'burbs north and east of Boston have come up short.


6. Why are they so damn cool?.

Sorry for the questions right out of the gate. I would have no idea to start otherwise, and you seem like the people to ask.
Thanks for helping out an old guy

~T.

[Sume Gai]

Most of the questions should really go in other sections (2 & 6 in Anime and Manga and the rest in Modeling and Merchandise) but seeing as no one else has chimed in and I'm a huge fan of anything Dynamic Productions (the label under which Getter Robo and most Go Nagai stuff has fallen under of late) I can try to answer.

1. Best answer is because toy companies stopped producing them. Nothing can sell forever I'm afraid. There's whole books that could be written about the whens, hows and wherefores but suffivce to say old stuff is old and the average consumer is not interested.

2. Well thirty years is a huge time frame there's a bunch of stuff that's come and gone (cept with ol' Grendizer it seems) As I haven't seen everything and large chunks of stuff isn't available to the English speaking audience you'd be better served checdking ANN or Wikipedia for a more comprehensive answer (I also don't read much manga either so I can't help there) here though are some of the anime entries worth looking out for

Mazinger
Mazinkaiser - An OVA and follow up movie depicting the ultimate in the Mazinger line, Mazinkaiser. A fun old-style romp with the OVA available on DVD (with a dub I personally enjoyed despite it's obvious flaws) the Movie (Mazinkaiser vs. the Great General of Darkness) is only to be found in fansubs.

True Mazinger Impact Z-Chapter - a 'reboot' of the series directed by the man who gave us Giant Robo and G Gundam. Incredibly awesome series that should be way more popular than it is, so far as I know it's the meatiest recent entry to the franchise as a 26 episode series. only available via Fansubs

MazinKaiser SKL - A completely unrelated series that reinterprets MazinKaiser with a skull motif, a short three episode OVA that is ultimately little more of an hour and half action rush but a damn fun one. available on DVD and BluRay

Getter Robo
Getter Robo Armageddon - a twelve episode OVA which pushes Getter to insane heights and horrifying lows (as in the series gets very grim not necessarily bad). Deals with the insanely powerful Shin Getter Robo fighting a horde of nasty aliens. possibly availible on DVD though likely well out of print (also a pretty sad dub job which couldn't figure out which getter was getter-2 at first).

Shin Getter Robo Vs. Neo Getter Robo - a four episode OVA that is somewhat of an alternate take on Getter Robo Go as I understand it. Short and sweet and well worth a watch. only available via Fansub.

New Getter Robo - not to be confused with Shin Getter Robo (part of the Japanese title for Armageddon) a 12 episode reboot OVA that is much darker than the campy 70s series. Involves Time Travel, Demons, and Ryoma kicking absolutely anythings ass with or without the giant robot. Available on DVD with an awesome dub but most likely difficult to find in full now that Geneon has folded.

There is also apparently lots of Getter Robo manga of late though I've not read it.

Gaiking
Daikyu Maryu Gaiking: so far as I know the only real entry is a pretty badass 40-ish episode TV series available streaming on Hulu though apparently there's some kind of movie in the works

3. It would surprise me if there isn't one but what it's called or where to get it is beyond me I'm afraid...

4. A quick search says no, I'm sure there are some figures or statues of them out there but revoltech doesn't appear to have them and I can't say it's worth holding out for them..

5. TBH I find there generally aren't going to be many good brick and mortar stores (excepting maybe much bigger cities) for this kind of thing and seeing as I don't live near there I can't really say. I'd say look online at Amazon, Ebay, BigBadToyStore or go straight to the source with Hobbylink Japan [HLJ] or Hobby Search. There are no doubt other places as well.

6. Impossible for me to say really the things I love about these series may be totally different from what you love but I think the fact is these shows are uncompromising. They revel in their old school goofiness and the Heroes and Villains never back down. Therein lies a commitment which we all can respect and admire.

[Tojoro]

Thanks for the help:)