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61 More Hours Of Ultraman!

Saturday, November 19th, 2022

I said it would be a year between updates, but I haven’t slowed down in my watching of the entire Ultra franchise. So here, reviews of the last five series/movies I’ve watched.

Ultraman Tiga (1996, 52 episodes 20.4 hours)

Ultraman Tiga was the first new series in 15 years, and was a relaunch of the entire franchise in Japan. It was a phenomenon when it came out and to this day Tiga remains one of the more popular Ultramen of all time.

Set in a new universe from the original Ultras, Tiga tells a familiar story of Earth threatened by giant monsters and aliens. A defense force called ‘GUTS’ works to save humanity, and one member (Daigo) has the ability to transform into the giant Ultraman Tiga and send the aliens packing.

The writing is very abbreviated, because they try to fit hour-long stories into half hour episodes. The characters know nothing about the enemies one episode and the next say something like “oh that must be the true devil from the hell realm” seconds after sighting a foe. It’s all a bit bonkers and out-of-control but it’s heart is in the right place and it grabbed me fairly quickly. The second half is much better, with a fantastic episode featuring the original Ultraman and a very strong series ending. I loved the romance in particular, which is expanded upon in the various films in which Tiga would eventually appear.

As a late 90s show the early CGI effects are slightly embarrassing today, but this series is acclaimed for its music with a notable theme song and track reserved for the romantic scenes.

Tiga was the first Ultra series I watched on TV, since it was dubbed and screened in the US in the late 1990s. In time I bought a few DVDs (which I still own), but the licensor in those days changed the characterization and didn’t release every episode so this new release of the series was long-awaited.

Ultraman Dyna (1997, 51 episodes, 21.5 hours)

Ultraman Dyna followed on from Tiga – literally starting the week after the final Tiga episode! We have a new team (Super GUTS), a new hero (Asuka) and a new Ultraman (Dyna). At first I was a bit put off: Asuka is a very different character from Daigo in Tiga, but the writing is strong and the charm of the characters won me over fairly quickly.

The effects are better, the quality of the writing better and in general I’d say this is a better show than Tiga. Despite Tiga resurrecting the series for a new generation (and let’s be clear, this is very much a kids show), many of the Dyna scripts dealt with adult themes including aging and loss and the pathos was high. The ending was magnificent, and it may have even brought a single tear to a 50-year-old eye. Overall one of my favourite Ultra series so far.

Superior 8 Ultra Brothers (2008, 1.5 hours)

This film was a monster hit when it was released in Japan and tells the tale of an alternate Earth in which seven very normal men learn than in an alternate universe they are the hosts of Ultramen. When a threat comes to their Earth, can they transform and save the world?

I loved the hell out of this. It stars the original actors from the first four Ultra series as well as the from Tiga, Dyna and Ultraman Gaia. They all play their original characters, and it’s great to see them all interacting as ‘normal’ people in what seems to be our world. The slow-burn before they transform into their respective Ultras is fantastic, and the 8 giants defeating the mega-villian is very satisfying. It’s basically just two hours of fan-service for anyone that has ever enjoyed Ultraman, and an easy recommendation.

Ultraman Zearth 1 & 2 (1996/7, 2 hours)

Here we have a two-film series of a ‘joke’ Ultraman! He’s afraid of dirt, uses an electric toothbrush to transform, and the secret team that defends earth uses a gas station as its base.

Everything about this show is silly, and it’s incredible that it was made as a cinematic feature! There’s a lot of very dry jokes, and I suspect many more than were lost on me since they’re based on Japanese culture. Was it funny? No. Was it good? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but only out of a bizarre fascination of its weirdness.

Ultraseven X (2007, 12 episodes, 5 hours)

This was a ‘darker’ series made for adults that played late-nights in Japan. It’s easily the strangest Ultra series I’ve seen, given that there’s very little actual Ultraman and most of what is happening isn’t explained until the last episode.

In short: a dystopian Earth is being controlled behind the scenes by weird aliens, and when they open a portal to another Earth and try to invade Ultraseven comes through, possesses a dying man, and fights the aliens. The show is a bit like Ultra-Q since it’s a series of monster-of-the-weeks with the true villains only being revealed at the very end.

Even stranger are the fight scenes: when Ultraseven turns up, he usually defeats the monsters in seconds. One quick beam or blade attack and they’re dead. No wrestling; very few punches. His strength is off the charts and he doesn’t mess around! This is very interesting for an Ultraman show, and I liked they took the chance to do this.

Ultimately the show once again seemed to have a bolder idea than it could convey, but it wraps up fairly well with some nice fan-service in the final episode.

Ultraman (2019/22, 19 episodes, 10.5 hours)

This Netflix series is based on the Ultraman manga that has been running for over a decade now. It’s yet another retelling: now the Ultraman are not ‘giants of light’ from another star, they are suits worn by young men that seem to have extraordinary abilities. Or are they…?

This cgi-animated series is fantastic, with tight storytelling and incredible fight scenes. At first I was (very!) put off by the Ultra’s being suits, but this becomes a non-issue fairly quickly as the intrigue and mystery – not to mention action – caught me. The characters are great, especially Ultraseven and the unusual Bemular, and I couldn’t wait for season two.

And then, last year, it arrived. While it was half the length of season one, it ramped up the stakes and action tenfold and even added a few new Ultras. I binged the whole thing in one go and absolutely loved it. A third and final season has been announced, and I can hardly wait!

So what’s next? Well I’m already well into Ultraman Gaia, have about 5 or 6 other series already in-hand ready to watch, as well as more on the way. But what I really want to see is the film Shin Ultraman, which has only recently been announced for a US cinematic release in January. Will it be the film that finally gets me into a cinema again, or will I watch it while I’m in Japan. Wait and see…

Posted in Miscellaneous, Otaku, Retro, TV | Comments Closed

Gumball Machines

Thursday, November 10th, 2022

As a child, no trip to a grocery store was complete without a coin spent on a gumball machine, usually near the exit. The same was true for visits to the mall or cinema or any other place where the machines could be found.

There were two types of machines: those that vended lollies, and those that gave toys. Usually the lollies – almost always gum – only cost 5 or 10 cents. Toys cost more – up to 50 cents! – and we’re usually either ‘super balls’ or a motley collection of plastic trash.

As far as the lollies were concerned, I always preferred the standard gumball, and would often spend the coin mum or dad have me on one. Sometimes a machine would sell a (child’s) handful of tiny gum pieces, and since these seemed to be better value for money I could never resist them. As I grew older the gumballs became more exotic – some even had fizzy crystals inside – and I occasionally bought them all the way up until I left Oz.

As mentioned the toys were usually dreadful: cheap tchotchkes from China that would have cost the machine owner considerably less than 20c apiece! But as a kid I hardly cared, and one type of toy in particular I loved: the tiny rubber car. These were about an inch long, molded from hard unpainted rubber, and usually quite detailed for their size. If ever I saw a machine that sold these I always had to get one, and as a young boy I had a small, prized collection of them. Coming home from grocery shopping was always more fun with a tiny rubber car in my pocket!

Recently I’ve been paying attention to the gumball machines in our local shops, and all the photos in this blog were taken these past weeks. There are fewer machines than there used to be – Covid killed many it seems – but they’re remarkably similar to the ones I recall from my youth. The stock of machines is remarkably similar to what I remember from my youth, and still contains mostly gumballs, super balls and disposable ‘toys’.

The above was the closest I could find to the rubber cars of my youth. These are about the same size, seem to be made of similar material (or perhaps a flexible plastic) but as you can see are painted now, which gives them an extra dash of sophistication. At $0.75, I couldn’t resist buying one…

I reckon I would have loved this tiny rocket as a kid. It’s probably the ‘worst’ in the machine, but it’s also the one that my young imagination could have easily thought of as an alien spaceship. For me, that would have been enough 🙂

Posted in Blog, History, Retro, Toys | 1 Comment »

20 Minutes Into The Future

Sunday, October 23rd, 2022

I recently bought these:

It’s a full set of Max Headroom stickers from 1986. Although not labeled as such, these were a Topps product and are mostly based on the TV film that introduced the character, although some images clearly come from The Max Headroom Show.

I was surprised to learn these existed since I’d never heard of them, and while wax packs do exist, I can’t find an image of a box anywhere. I have read claims that the set was released in very limited quantities in the USA only, and another online article claims it was sold as sets only (which can’t be true since there exist wax packs on eBay). It’s a mystery!

The first two-thirds of the stickers resemble fairly standard Topps-style trading cards from the mid 1980s, only they would be mostly meaningless to non-fans since the images seem to be in random order and the backs contain no text; instead being dedicated to two large ‘puzzles’ of Max:

The remaining quarter are foil stickers, which are reflective, slightly embossed and very impressive for a 1986 set. However five of them are extremely unusual, especially if you’re familiar with the character:

These look like poses the actor that played Max (Matt Frewer) did to test the prosthetic or perhaps to be digitized for marketing purposes. I’ve never seen these images on any other Max Headroom product and they seem out of place here!

The backs of the foil stickers contain the origin of Max taken from the film:

This is curious for a few reasons. Firstly I don’t think the film ever screened in the USA (and in fact Max himself didn’t catch on here until about a year after the rest of the world) and secondly it doesn’t say much at all about Max himself! Once again this would have been a confusing product for non-fans.

These didn’t cost me much (<$20) and the stickers are in perfect condition so it’s a fun curio for my collection. I’d love to test and see if a sticker still worked, but I don’t have any doubles so I’ll never know. Likewise I doubt I’ll ever know the true history of this weird product. Do any of you remember these from 1986?

Posted in Collecting, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Retro, Trading Cards | Comments Closed

Panini Warhammer

Wednesday, August 10th, 2022

Panini has been releasing sticker albums for decades now and the format has barely changed: you buy an inexpensive booklet with pages full of empty spaces waiting for stickers to be applied. The stickers are of course purchased separately in packs, like trading cards. Collecting them and sticking them in the album fills out the pages until you have a nifty picturebook. Aimed mostly at children, hundreds have been released – and continue to be released – since the 1970s.

Unfortunately, very few of these ever make it out of Europe. In the 1980s for instance Panini released loads of such albums for every imaginable kid-friendly film, but most were Europe and the UK only. A few were released in Australia when I was a kid, but they weren’t of little interest to me (Smurfs, football albums) so this was never a big part of my childhood.

In the years since I’ve bought a few more while on trips to the UK or Europe (a few different Star Wars ones, a WWE one) but with the exception of various sports albums or properties for very young children Panini still seems to mostly ignore the US market, and I’ve never had much experience with collecting the stickers or filling an album… until now!

When Panini announced a Warhammer 40k sticker album I was astonished, since it seemed so out-of-field compared to their other properties. But given how many other sets they have recently published – based on films, video games, toys, sports and even animals – it’s not unusual. It’s very specific though, and certainly aimed older than most of their other albums. The initial announcement was tempered (for me) by the followup that it would be England only, and exclusive to physical Warhammer stores. Bummer. However shortly after it was released sellers offered it on Amazon, which is how I got my album and a box of sticker packs.

It’s a beautiful album, full colour and crammed with detail and information. There are 204 stickers to collect, and each pack also comes with one of 50 ‘hero’ (trading) cards. The stickers are glossy and come in several shapes and sizes, some with various types of foil or holographic coating.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been opening packs and sticking the stickers into the album. With 50 packs I only had 200 stickers, and knew I wouldn’t be able to complete the album, but I hoped I’d make a good effort. It’s been a lot of fun, and now I know had Panini products been widely distributed in Australia when I was a kid I would have gone bonkers for them!

I’m impressed with how seamlessly the stickers match the book. In photos the page looks more matte than it does in real life, and when stuck (and aligned correctly) it can sometimes be difficult to see where book ends and sticker begins. A completed page doesn’t look like an array of stickers as it did back in the older versions (such as in the Gremlins book from the 1980s, shown in the photo at top).

The first and last page of the book contain 6-sticker murals. I was unable to complete either of them, and the above is as good as I got. There are many 2 or 3 sticker murals as well, most of which I completed. As you can see, the stickers align together nearly seamlessly (although I will admit I was extremely careful when applying them).

That’s a shot of two of the trading cards. Of the 50, I got 34 which I think is a good approximation of how many stickers I managed to get as well (about two-thirds). The cards are ok and have nice art, but are more a bonus than a reason to buy this collection.

Worth mentioning is the lore of 40k. If you know anything about Warhammer (which is a table-top strategy game played using miniatures) you know it has a bonkers story, and the snippets of lore in this album reinforce that. These aren’t just soldiers in robotic armor fighting orcs and demons: there’s all sorts of madness on both sides of the eternal war that is our future 38,000 years from now!

Once I had finished opening all my packs, this was the only one double-page of the album I managed to fully complete. Can you see the 11 stickers in the above photo? As I said I estimate I got about two-thirds of the stickers, which means I got about 60 doubles (which will go to Adam). Panini has a service where you can purchase individual stickers directly (for £0.28 each) which is nice for diehards, but I’m happy with my incomplete album and won’t try to finish it.

Overall I’m extremely impressed with this collection, and would love for them to not only make more genre-specific ones (such as Dungeons & Dragons or Ultraman!) or at the least sell more of them in the USA!

Posted in Art, Books & Comics, Collecting, Retro, Trading Cards | 1 Comment »

My Collection: Nintendo 64

Sunday, July 17th, 2022

As a followup to the SNES, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 (N64) in Japan in mid 1996, and in the rest of the world in 1997. Even at the time it was an unusual choice for the system to use cartridges for games (when the industry was moving to discs), and this ultimately doomed the console to lose in the market against the PlayStation.

I got my N64 early, since I had befriended the guy who ran the game company I would in time write reviews for, and he brought me back one from Japan in 1996. I had exactly one game for it, Super Mario 64, but this was such a groundbreaking and important game that it hardly mattered. I played it nonstop.

When the US version was released nine months later, I had to modify mine to play American games. Luckily this was a trivial process (I had to open the system and remove a piece of plastic) and I then had an N64 that could play games from anywhere in the world. Despite this I only ever bought one other Japanese game – Sin and Punishment – which was also fittingly the last N64 game I ever bought (in 2002).

As I mentioned this was a system hamstrung by the choice of cartridges. It was technically competent and had a great controller – the first true analogue controller for a home console in fact – but gaming was maturing from simple 2D graphics and games needed far more data storage. Publishers faced the choice of inexpensive CDs for PlayStation versus expensive cartridges for N64 and it’s unsurprising the discs won. As a result the N64 was the last non-handheld console to use cartridges until they returned for the Switch over 20 years later.

I only ever bought about 25 N64 games, and traded many of them in in the early 00’s when EB Games offered too-good-to-refuse prices. My remaining collection is above. Despite the small number of games there were some true classics on the system, including Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, which is a wonderful Zelda game that pioneered many advancements that countless games utilize today such as lock-on targeting and a user-controlled camera.

Ultimately though this system must be remembered as a failure which lost Nintendo control of the industry. It’s followup – the GameCube – didn’t do well either, and it wasn’t until the phenomenal success of the Wii that they would return to the top of the market. I loved the N64 when it was the current system (I always preferred it to the PlayStation), but in retrospect it’s unquestionably my least nostalgic Nintendo console.

Which is one reason why I’m now saying goodbye to mine. I’m about to sell another large chunk of my collection, and will this time say goodbye to my NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube games (and hardware). Lots of memories will go with it all, but the time (and price) is right and I feel comfortable parting with it. I hope the next owners get as much joy from the games as I have over the years 🙂

Posted in Blog, Collecting, Games, Otaku, Retro, Tech, Time | Comments Closed

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