Super Dimension Century Orguss

[Renato]

YES! At last. Now that's what I like to see.

Hope they include the missiles and beam things to place under the wings. Although I will probably wait for the Olson Special if I get one of these, because I have a Takatoku Kei and it is just perfect.

[Wanzerfan]

CM's might be working on an Orguss toy as part of their Brave Gokin line.

http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/iam-cybergundam/article?mid=25103

See the silhouette on the bottom right? Looks like a Orgroid right? Also, the text on top says "Toki no nagare, nori koe" (trans. overcome the flow of time). That's a line straight from the Orguss opening theme song.

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned here yet.

That sihouette is the Orguss 1.

Little known fact: The Robotech Nebo model is none other than the Orguss 1.

[mr.chogokin]

Whoah, Very good news indeed. Thanks for all the updates!

[Alex]

ORGUSS-MIC news.

Really looking forward to this one. Unlike Renato, I will be snapping up both versions of this guy, should the Jimmy Olsen custom be made.

I'm also hoping for a considerable armament. Less so for the hollw, cheap feel of the Mospeada line.

[Einherjar]

Did anyone know that the guy who sang the opening and ending songs to the show, Casey Rankin, died this year? I just found out through Anime World Order. This is the only page I could find about his life and career.

http://www.myspace.com/caseyrankin

[Renato]

Did anyone know that the guy who sang the opening and ending songs to the show, Casey Rankin, died this year? I just found out through Anime World Order. This is the only page I could find about his life and career.

http://www.myspace.com/caseyrankin

His actual homepage is pure-records.com

I heard the news from his son, actually, back in February. It came as a big shock. I'm not trying to brag or anything like that, but I knew him fairly well and I want to say that he was one of the most honest, genuinely good people I've ever met. As an artist, and as a human being, he was a perfect role-model and I would even go as far as saying mentor.

He has been through a lot, and he did not deserve to go so young.

I'd like to share a few minor anecdotes (yeah, alright, they're not hilarious, but they are very vivid memories of his humour and warmth):

We had dinner once at a restaurant in Shibuya just before one of his gigs, and we ate real crocodile meat. He described it as "a fishy chicken".

He once said to me "Anytime you're in town, drop by the house whenever you like. Oh, it helps if I'm here, though."

I got the feeling that he had an idea of what an ideal world/society should and could be (one based on mutual understanding, simple but true), but felt frustrated that instead we have a world full of apathy and mistrust. It's almost as if he had made it his mission to promote a message of goodwill, when nobody is around to listen anymore.

To think he lost the battle was heartbreaking for me, and I felt very angry for a while, I considered it a great injustice that he should have been taken away from us.

Alas, his spirit and message lives on and we ought to do our best to live our lives according to what really matters and not stupid ideology.

RIP Casey

EDIT -- It is an eerie coincidence that I was browsing that very myspace page on the date Einherjar posted. I hadn't looked at it in months and I'm not sure what compelled me to, but I found myself there.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Renato

[Alex]

I also knew Casey (through Renato) but didn't spend nearly as much time with him as Renato did.

I don't have any really funny anecdotes, but back in 2007, when I was going through some things, I used Casey as a cheap alternative to a therapist. Had a really good, long chat with the guy, talking about my problems, his similar experiences in his youth etc. Pretty awesome guy to talk to.

He was like the progeny of John Lennon and Jesus. But cooler.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Alex

[Einherjar]

Casey's story makes me wish someone finally gets back to work on an official release. Any news from ImageAsian about releasing Orguss on DVD again?

[Will_Butte]

I remember I saw the Olson Special Orguss (the green and brown one) in an 80s Mexican Transformers toyline... It was called "Transformables" from the "Ensueño" toy company...

Damn!!! I totally should have bought that!!!!!

I have an original scale 1/40 Orguss Orgroid, would you be interested in it?

[AcroRay]

I thought I'd refresh some of the old-school ORGUSS love here:

New addition to my collection, from the collection of Matt Alt - Takatoku's odd little "System" Gerwalk Nikick (Athena Henderson type) toy. Made up of a heavy, diecast skeleton with removable plastic hull structures. About 4 & a half inches tall. The only articulation is at the hips & shoulders, and the head turns.

This one came as part of the rare "System In Box" set, along with the Kei Katsuragi Orgroid (which I also have packaged solo from my high-school years collection). Although the Nikick was available individually as well. They're kind of non-scale, and are just slightly larger than the cheap-end, all-plastic transformable Orguss toys. Only this Nikick and the Kei Orgroid were released in this format.

[Jasonc]

When Orguss was coming out through Imagineasian, I just so happened to look at righstuf.com, and saw that it was going to come out. Luckily, I was able to get the entire series. It's a lot of fun to watch, and the story is very good. I've seen it through twice. The only problem I have with the DVDs that Imagineasian put out aren't of the greatest quality. Nevertheless, they had it out in a 6 disc DVD box, and I think it's the first 14 episodes you can watch with the english dub, or is it 17...somewhere around there.

[Sandman]

When Orguss was coming out through Imagineasian, I just so happened to look at righstuf.com, and saw that it was going to come out. Luckily, I was able to get the entire series. It's a lot of fun to watch, and the story is very good. I've seen it through twice. The only problem I have with the DVDs that Imagineasian put out aren't of the greatest quality. Nevertheless, they had it out in a 6 disc DVD box, and I think it's the first 14 episodes you can watch with the english dub, or is it 17...somewhere around there.

I remember seeing them on right stuff too along with cat's eye which blew my mind. Unfortunately i wasn't able to get all of them brfore they got discontinued. Been scouring ebay but they never show up.

[Jasonc]

Did you get any of them? I know there was a bootleg that came out a long time ago, but never got that, so I don't know how good that was.

[Ginrai]

Bleh, I only got 3 discs of Orguss from ImagineAsian. Wish I could get the rest. The bootleg's subs are TERRIBLE. The evil robots from Mu are called the evil robots from Timmy. No joke. Timmy.

Edited December 25, 2009 by Ginrai

[AcroRay]

I only got the first 2 IA volumes before they were canceled (grrrrr!!! After decades of waiting!!!), and had to borrow the rest from a friend. They've got a very aggressive anti-copy on them...

Another pal of mine got a bootleg DVD set a few years ago. The subs were laughably horrible - to the point where they had to have been using the subs file from a completely unrelated show at some points...

Edited December 22, 2009 by AcroRay

[Jasonc]

Ouch, glad I never saw the bootleg. For the toysdaily link, does anyone know what scale the Orguss will be in? That is great news to see someone making more Orguss toys. Hopefully it's around the 1/60 scale.

[AcroRay]

I believe that's intended to be part of CMs Brave Ghokin line - like their super-expensive but brilliant OAV-style Gallient. It'll be a beauty, but will probably set you back a mortgage payment...

Edited December 23, 2009 by AcroRay

[Hikuro]

Yeah I own the boots, I knew the subs were horrible but I understood it enough, but still would of liked references.

I've seen up to Episode 5 from ILA(I Love Anime), but their sub job honestly wasn't good either, rather loose. i wanted the IA set but I couldn't get it at the time, when I saw it was available it was gone.

Never saw a damn thing on Ebay, and there are no torrents, and little of anything out on the web Orguss period. Unless you want craptastic Orguss 2.

[boinger]

I remember that Gubaba was thinking of translating Orguss

before that official limited edition english subtitled Orguss DVD set was being promoted.

Maybe, once his Macross project is done he'd like to do Orguss next.

But he says he's going to be busy with just Macross translations for the next 4-5 years.

I have the Hong Kong english subtitled 4 DVD set.

I'm not sure which company produce this version, but it has a transparent slipcase.

I'm not sure about the accuracy of the subtitles, since I haven't watched this

DVD version yet.

[Gubaba]

I remember that Gubaba was thinking of translating Orguss

before that official limited edition english subtitled Orguss DVD set was being promoted.

Maybe, once his Macross project is done he'd like to do Orguss next.

But he says he's going to be busy with just Macross translations for the next 4-5 years.

I have the Hong Kong english subtitled 4 DVD set.

I'm not sure which company produce this version, but it has a transparent slipcase.

I'm not sure about the accuracy of the subtitles, since I haven't watched this

DVD version yet.

I was?

I'm not sure I ever considered doing Orguss...I was thinking of doing the Area 88 manga once I finished up Macross...but that would be another "epic" project, and something short 'n' sweet like Orguss might be worthwhile.

I dunno. We'll see.

[Jasonc]

The good thing about the Imagineasian is that it has the english dubbed version that didn't stretch the entire series. Sad, cause it was quite good. But the option is there to hear it in English or Japanese. I'm working on getting copies for a few people for the remastered M7 w/ english subs. When I'm done with that, if I can copy these discs successfully, I'll make copies for those who need them. Just don't bum rush me for them. I may need to get a new DVD burner (external) to supplement all the burning I've been doing.

So, no one has any idea of the scale of the new Orguss toy???

[Hikuro]

The palm ones that came out sometime back? About the size of your hand I'd take it.

Otherwise, I hadn't heard of anything for new orguss figures.

[Renato]

The palm ones that came out sometime back? About the size of your hand I'd take it.

Otherwise, I hadn't heard of anything for new orguss figures.

Check the previous page.

[Renato]

I thought I'd refresh some of the old-school ORGUSS love here:

New addition to my collection, from the collection of Matt Alt - Takatoku's odd little "System" Gerwalk Nikick (Athena Henderson type) toy. Made up of a heavy, diecast skeleton with removable plastic hull structures. About 4 & a half inches tall. The only articulation is at the hips & shoulders, and the head turns.

This one came as part of the rare "System In Box" set, along with the Kei Katsuragi Orgroid (which I also have packaged solo from my high-school years collection). Although the Nikick was available individually as well. They're kind of non-scale, and are just slightly larger than the cheap-end, all-plastic transformable Orguss toys. Only this Nikick and the Kei Orgroid were released in this format.

Yeah, it's nice the variety in figures they had back then. This is basically the equivalent of the Destroid Conversion Kit, also by Takatoku. The oddball thing about this guy, though, is that the inner skeleton is clearly the same mold as the Orguss, which is quite different from what the Nickick is supposed to look like, particularly the feet. But I guess you can still make interesting Franken...roids? Actually, that sounds painful.

[Renato]

So, I'm watching Orguss 02 after what must be over ten years. I bought the Manga VHS tapes way back in the day, and I only considered the series to be so-so. So much so that I actually put off getting the final volume for quite a long while.

I have to say, upon this most recent viewing this week (I still have the last episode to go), it really left a totally different impression. Not least because of the fact that this is the first time watching it since having seen the original series -- it does seem to make all the difference.

I'm wondering what people think of this show?

[Keith]

I think it spits in the face of the originals awesome ending, and always will!

[TheLoneWolf]

So, I'm watching Orguss 02 after what must be over ten years.

I'm wondering what people think of this show?

Funny you should mention Orguss 02, I just saw it for the first time a few months ago. Being a fan of the original Orguss, I was surprised at how different 02 was from the orignial. Whereas the original Orguss was a playful action story with an energetic protagonist, 02 had a very somber atmosphere with an amiable protagonist. Notwithstanding a few minor plot holes, I thought 02's plot was ok. I think I was able to appreciate the plot because I was willing to accept it for what it was, and not try to shoehorn it into something that I thought it should've been. Unlike how a lot of Western Macross fans rejected Macross 7 when it first came out because they expected it to be like Macross Plus.

On the techincal side, I thought the animation was very good for a 1990's OAV. Unfortunately the character and mecha designs didn't take advantage of that as both were as flat as the atmosphere. Perhaps that was an intentional decision by the director?

One of my biggest gripes with the original Orguss was it's ending. Some think it was creative and clever, but I thought it was a cop out. So I was glad to see 02 take the initiative and provide the original Orguss the defined ending that I thought it lacked.

Overall, I'd give Orguss 02 two and half stars out of four. It's slightly above average, but nothing great. Keep an open mind when watching it in order to get the most out of it. If you watch Orguss 02 expecting a carbon copy of the original Orguss, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

[Jasonc]

OK, I know it's been awhile since anyone posted here, but has there been any news on the Orguss Toy mentioned earlier? I really want that toy. And if no variants, I want to get 3 to customize for the others.