Hi guys. Just thought that I should throw up an introduction thread.... I have always been a fan of Gatchaman, after growing up with Battle of the Planets on TV and a few of the toys as a kid, and following it back to the original series later in life. I am a massive Transformers and Macross collector, but never really got into the merchandise of Gatchaman. I always wanted to, but never knew where to start. Then.... The Sentinel Ken figure went up for pre-order, and that was the last straw. So, thats now on pre-order, and I am looking forward to the next one. Hopefully this is just a start of a new collection for me.

Welcome, CyberShadow! I hope you enjoy your time spent with us -- always a good place to be!

Hi there, and welcome. we're always happy to see new member join in, so don't be shy, and feel free to contribute to any of the threads.

Hello and welcome! My husband is a huge Transformers fan & collector, too.

Welcome. I'm a Gatch collector so I'm happy to answer questions. I get most of my stuff from eBay or from Yahoo Japan Auctions through a third party proxy like Celga.com since most of those won't ship to the west.

Nice to see you here, CyberShadow! I agree, those Sentinel figures are very nice! I hope you've seen the toy/merchandise forum we have here.

Hi Cybershadow - welcome to the forum. I don't collect, but I love seeing pics of what everyone else has

Wow. Thanks for the warm welcome, guys. I have wanted one of the Fewture Phoenix pieces for a long time, but the price is prohibitive and they are not going to get any cheaper now.... so I might need to wait for a rerelease for that. When the Sentinel figures popped up it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, and I really hope that the entire team gets done in the same scale. It would make an awesome display. I think right now, I will focus on those, as I dont want to go crazy on buying stuff, but I always loved the vehicles as a kid! It seems like there isnt a whole lot of Gatchaman merchandise out there (especially compared to Transformers!) but I am happy to take it slow and grab anything that looks too cool to pass up. In the meantime, I should go and watch the original cartoon, I guess!

They're doing just Ken and Joe. This is a Tatsunoko series and so far Gatch is the only show where they're doing more than one figure so I'm trying to count myself lucky. There's a TON of Gatchaman stuff (not that I'm trying to talk you into collecting a bunch of it ). You really can't understand the scale unless you look on the Japanese auction sites. It helps to have the kanji for Gatchaman, I keep it in a file: ガッチャマン There was a lot more made in Japan (and Korea, and ...) than was made in the US. There was also stuff made for France, etc. You can see my collection here, I started with just figures and have been trying to branch out for variety: http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/cwwriter/library/GatchCollection?sort=3&page=1 You can also find more on eBay and whatnot if you search on "Battle of the Planets," since there were things released for that as well, though not so much in the US until 1996 when they brought out the comics and figures.

Hi, CyberShadow! I'm afraid I'm not much of a collector myself (I have Chronic Empty Wallet Syndrome), but I hope you participate in the forums!

Welcome CyberShadow!

Welcome to the boards!

Welcome Cybershadow! It's great to have you with us!

Thanks again guys... I am still finding my way around this place....

Originally posted by ChrisW They're doing just Ken and Joe. This is a Tatsunoko series and so far Gatch is the only show where they're doing more than one figure so I'm trying to count myself lucky. There's a TON of Gatchaman stuff (not that I'm trying to talk you into collecting a bunch of it ). You really can't understand the scale unless you look on the Japanese auction sites. It helps to have the kanji for Gatchaman, I keep it in a file: ガッチャマン There was a lot more made in Japan (and Korea, and ...) than was made in the US. There was also stuff made for France, etc. You can see my collection here, I started with just figures and have been trying to branch out for variety: http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/cwwriter/library/GatchCollection?sort=3&page=1 You can also find more on eBay and whatnot if you search on "Battle of the Planets," since there were things released for that as well, though not so much in the US until 1996 when they brought out the comics and figures.

Woah. Awesome collection. I will keep all that in mind, thanks. I guess that I am really looking at the high end stuff. I dont want a massive collection of stuff as I just dont have the space these days, but sa couple of really nice pieces would be fantastic..... I can kind of see myself getting more and more into this, though.... which is a little scary!

Yeah I've been strict with myself as far as I only collect Gatch stuff, so I have a bit more freedom there. Some of the nicest/most expensive pieces are the various diecast ships. The Ken and Joe 12" dolls in the black boxes are also nicer pieces (and their clothes fit better than the ones in the blue boxes, whose dolls were changed to a different form factor but the manufacturer didn't bother to adjust their suits to match, they're referred to as the "baggy pants" boys. I'm sure Tatsunokofan would have some other suggestions as well.

Hi cybershadow! Welcome! I loved macross! What a great series! We look forward to seeing you around!

Hi CyberShadow! Welcome to the madness! Chris, do you know if there are other Gatchaman stamps besides the two Japanese amine panels? I collect space-themed stamps. I should really get my Gatch stamps framed & hung up somewhere.

I got my stamps framed and they look amazing! You can see them here. There are only the 2 sheets of stamps. However, there are also official postcards with official postmarks that were only available on the day of release. I don't have all of them but I have 2 different postcards with the same postmark: I thought I knew more about the postcards but all I can find is the notes I made at the bottom of where I uploaded the pics of the postcards: On March 23, 2004 two pages of Gatchaman stamps were released in Japan: http://colnect.com/en/stamps/list/country/6976-Japan/series/79082-Science_and_Technology_and_Animation_Series_IV. On the same day, there were 2 special postmark cancellation stamps, 1 for use by hand and another for use by machine. Both of these postcards together include all 8 of the stamps and the by-hand cancellation stamp.