San Diego Comicon 2008

The crowd at this year's Con is enormous. The last count I heard was 220,000. In theory, Saturday is the busiest day, so tomorrow's numbers may be larger.

Apparently the internet has changed things from 2007, the last time I did the Con. Author Robert J. Sawyer said that thanks to the power of the internet, the movie studios have really started to court audiences, so they create these massive displays and bring in stars...and that has made the Con expand exponentially.

It's been enormous fun hanging out with all the other Gatch fans. Last night one member of the group brought some of the original BotP reels over. We watched Attack of the Alien Wasp, Peril of the Pyramids, and The Great Brain Robbery. Not quietly. There was much MST-ing going on. A great shot of Joe earned shouts of "drool, drool, drool!"

I went by the Imagi booth today to see the Gatch promo video. The material looks similar to the images that were released --what, a year ago?-- though we got to see Joe. I was impressed with the quality of the CGI, but I thought Joe --especially his eyes-- looked just a touch too OAV. I'm not going to complain too much, he was completely clothed and looked good, but I prefer Joe's distinctive eye shape over the slitty blue eyes. Maybe -- if the project isn't stifled to death in the meantime -- they'll make those changes, who knows? Apparently the material we saw is not going to be used, it's conceptual, like the shots we saw before.

Tired. More later.

Oh -- as an aside, for the writers out there. I'm participating in a writers' blog chain. We're currently writing about our writing methods. Not sure what the next topic is, I think I have to pick it!

Updates on the Imagi Gatchaman Movie

Recently there have been several updates on the Imagi Gatchaman movie.

* Kevin Munroe has signed on to direct the movie version of Dark Horse's comic book Dylan Dog -- which means he will not be directing the Gatchaman movie. Munroe also directed Imagi's TMNT.

* Charlie Wen, a lifelong fan and one of the character designers for Gatchaman at Imagi, has also left the project because, in his own words, "The original vision for the film was fun and a bit edgy---appealed to me. The project's been through lots of changes, rewrites (like any film), ended up with a different director recently. The vision's changed since I first joined, and seems to be going towards a younger Power Rangers audience---I wanted to see a Gatchaman that I would love to see, and didn't want to see it go this direction, so I departed from Imagi and took an Art Directing/Character Designing gig on Thundercats."

* Jun Falkenstein is the new director for the Gatchaman movie. She intends to blog about working on the film for fans. She wrote, "I know that the minute they announce me as director, all these fans will...see that pretty much the biggest directing credit I have is 'The Tigger Movie' - and then they will freak out, because how dare I direct their beloved (INSERT FILM TITLE HERE LATER) when "all I have done" is this rated G film for little kids. Oh yes, they will freak out. And you know what, I can't say that I will blame them. So...I started these 'journal entries' to not only document the process of directing an animated feature...but also to attempt to convince worried fans that I'm actually a pretty big geek and fan of the genre - and that I have no intention of softening down the film when the source material is so kick-ass."

* Ms. Falkenstein verified that the film's release will most likely now be in early 2010.

In fandom itself, not everyone is sad to see Kevin Munroe go, and some fans have high hopes that Jun Falkenstein will help create a film that will appeal to both adults and children. As one fan pointed out, Top Cow's comics were also supposed to be "dark and edgy," and they crashed and burned -- badly. Meanwhile, films like The Incredibles, which appeal to viewers of all ages, have been box office gold. So here's hoping for something more like the latter than the former!

Thanks to everyone who's contributed information and discussion, including tatsunokofan, Wendy Dinsmore (who's wonderful at verifying information), and Wendy's anonymous source.

Updates 1.26.08

In the GALLERY section I've added pictures to both Fan Art and Desktops.

1.5.08 Updates

I set up an RSS feed! As you can see, updates will appear on the first page inside the GatchOnline site, but you can have them delivered straight to your feed reader as well! (Wondering what a feed is? Info here.)

Added a bunch of screenshots from the Time Bokan OAV to the GALLERY/Appearances area, including some you don't see around the web much, if ever.

Also new to the Gallery:
* In Books & Promo: Images from the How to Draw Manga series that included Gatchaman Characters
* A new Desktops section
* A new Fan Art section (with art you probably haven't seen before)
* A new Screenshots section that includes images from Gatch II and F

Looking for a Kewpie like the one in the top right corner of the STUFF section? I got mine from Strapya-World.com.

We've been talking about ways to use psychology in writing better Gatch fanfic, so as a side note, if you write fanfic and are interested in using psychology to build better fiction, drop by my Psychology for Writers website.

You can Ask the Shrink your Writing/Psych questions in the Q&A section and get a quick email response.

In addition to including Diinzumo's wonderful Gatchablog feed, I've included the feed for Archetype Writing so you can keep an eye on what kinds of articles I'm publishing for writers who use psych in their fiction!**

This project is a big part of my life right now, so please spread the word to writerly friends (and that definitely includes fanfic writers)!!! If you check out the site and don't find what you're looking for, drop me a line and let me know what I can add to make it more useful to you!

** (If you're reading this on gatchonline.blogspot.com, you can find these things in the green bar to your right. If you're reading through the RSS feed, you'll have a white background and be unable to see the green bar with the feeds. Click the link that says GatchOnline at the top of the page to see the main blog page.)