Tristar DVD Prices

[WSGabler]

Hello. You'll have to forgive me starting a thread for my first post. I read almost the entire DVD sub-forum before doing so, if it's any excuse.

Anyway, I've just started collecting Toho DVDs and began by reading the reviews on the Toho Kingdom main site. It was apparent that the Tristar DVDs were the only game in town for Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

After shopping about on eBay and Amazon, I ended up purchasing sealed copies of each for $23.79, $32.50, $39.94 and $29.95 respectively. Almost immediately afterward I realized there were box sets available containing these films, box sets selling for less than I paid for a single one of these DVDs.

So I guess my question is, did I rip myself off or are these box sets inferior to the single film DVDs I purchased? Is there any advantage to the copies I (will soon) own?

Many thanks.

[Tohosaurus]

All four are on Best Buy's site for $14.99 each, which is what I believe I paid for them years ago when I picked them up at Suncoast (and I believe BB has a policy like Target where 50 dollar purchases and more receive free shipping). Unfortunately, I believe you did pay way too much. You would've paid about 60 bucks on Best Buy's site versus nearly twice that on Amazon or eBay. My lone word of advice is to watch your Amazon prices because there are sellers on there that will sock you for all you've got. So I'd try to return them and get your money back if you can. If not, we all learn lessons the hard way if it makes you feel better.

[WSGabler]

I checked Best Buy again just now. They all appear to be backordered indefinitely, effectively unavailable.

Links:
Son of Godzilla
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Godzilla vs. Gigan
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

[gvamp]

You defiently paid WAY to much for these releases sounds like some sellers thought they where OOP (out of print) and jacked the prices up. If I where you I'd send them back and buy them from Best Buy. Sure you'll have to wait a few weeks since they're all on back order but it beats paying those jacked up prices.

[Tohosaurus]

I don't believe they are backordered indefinitely. I hopped on the site again and all four are simply backordered. A couple of months ago I ordered Frankenstein Conquers the World from BB, a Toho film that's getting more challenging to find these days. It too was "backordered" and had the exact same description. For what it's worth, it took two weeks to get it.

[WSGabler]

Well that's encouraging. I have an Amazon Prime account so returning them shouldn't be any great difficulty. Do you or anyone else own the Tristar box sets? Are they a preferable choice assuming all prices are equal?

[Tohosaurus]

Well that's encouraging. I have an Amazon Prime account so returning them shouldn't be any great difficulty. Do you or anyone else own the Tristar box sets? Are they a preferable choice assuming all prices are equal?

Good luck on that. Regrettably, I did not give you a WELCOME TO TOHOKINGDOM! I hope you enjoy your stay, long or brief.

I do not own the actual box set, but those identical films were sold individually, and I have them all. I don't know if you can buy the box sets new anymore, but the movies within you should be able to. The only advantage to the box set is some better value as opposed to buying them individually, of course. Best Buy and Target's sites have just about everything you'll want among Godzilla movies or the greater Toho company, so if you're looking for something I would start there. I think I've ordered just about everything from those two sites and the prices are good. It's also reassuring to deal with a big, well known chain.

Are there any other movies specifically you're looking for?

[WSGabler]

Thanks for the welcome. I hope to stick around, especially considering how much money I've spent recently on my new hobby. I'm collecting the video games as well. It's amazing to me the level of demand for those on eBay.

I purchased the Godzilla Collection, Rodan/War of the Gargantuas, Icons of Sci-fi: Toho Collection, Frankenstein Conquers the World and Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster as well. Since I'm only really interested in the Showa era, I think I'm just missing a few DVDs now. Remaining on my list I have: The Mysterians, Varan, both King Kongs, Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon. Are Atragon, Dogora, Latitude Zero and Space Amoeba worth bothering over? They seem to get very little attention.

[gvamp]

If you have Netflix you can test those films your unsure of.

I personally didn't care for the Mysterians, Dogora was interesting, Space Amoeba is pretty good if you can get past the suit Gezora which isn't on par IMO with the earlier Showa stuff and Latitude Zero is interesting as well.

[Giga Kaiju]

I don't believe they are backordered indefinitely. I hopped on the site again and all four are simply backordered. A couple of months ago I ordered Frankenstein Conquers the World from BB, a Toho film that's getting more challenging to find these days. It too was "backordered" and had the exact same description. For what it's worth, it took two weeks to get it.

I Knew it! most of the Godzilla or some toho movies say that over BB, but can you get them anyway in two weeks or
maybe less?! thats Great! So Far i think that Amazon and Best buy are the better options to order some Kaiju
related Movies.

[Tohosaurus]

Thanks for the welcome. I hope to stick around, especially considering how much money I've spent recently on my new hobby. I'm collecting the video games as well. It's amazing to me the level of demand for those on eBay.

I purchased the Godzilla Collection, Rodan/War of the Gargantuas, Icons of Sci-fi: Toho Collection, Frankenstein Conquers the World and Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster as well. Since I'm only really interested in the Showa era, I think I'm just missing a few DVDs now. Remaining on my list I have: The Mysterians, Varan, both King Kongs, Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon. Are Atragon, Dogora, Latitude Zero and Space Amoeba worth bothering over? They seem to get very little attention.

It depends on each individual's opinion of the movie, so mine may not align with your tastes in movies. I think the Mysterians is pretty decent; Destroy All Monsters is dull in my opinion but it's a classic Godzilla movie so it's still enjoyable to me on some level. Godzilla vs Megalon isn't attainable on Region 1 DVD or Blu-Ray just yet, but it's coming in both forms this October or November. The same is true of Destroy All Monsters (except it did come on DVD, but the DVD SUCKS, and anyone you'd ask on here would agree), so I'd hold out for those two for a while before paying for anything you find right now. The DAM DVD is so bad I'm going to buy the new one in DVD and BD formats because it's that bad (no menus, no scene skip, full screen, no subtitles, nothing). I do think Atragon is pretty decent. Space Ameoba is very clearly low budget, so if you can get past that and the cliche plot, you'll be entertained, and the very same is true of Varan. Dogora is ... shall we say, different, from what you might expect and is different from the monster movie norm. You may like it, you may not. Latitude Zero is excellent I think, a good sci-fi packed with entertainment as long as you're willing to suspend all sense of reality and logic. King Kong vs Godzilla is superb, but King Kong escapes may be more difficult for an adult to appreciate. It has a very child-friendly theme and plot, but I still have fun watching it myself. Those are just my opinions, anyway.

You might also consider Matango and War In Space if you haven't already, or maybe you've mentioned them and I missed it. As another poster noted, if you have Netflix, you can watch some of these movies there before you purchase them.

I Knew it! most of the Godzilla or some toho movies say that over BB, but can you get them anyway in two weeks or
maybe less?! thats Great! So Far i think that Amazon and Best buy are the better options to order some Kaiju
related Movies.

Yup. And in fact my FCTW DVD was damaged upon delivery, so I took it to my local BB, they ordered me a new one, and I got that one in even less time, a week or so! My guess is that it's like Barnes & Noble or something, where if they don't have it they'll buy it from someone else, package it up and send it to you. I have no idea how it ACTUALLY works, though.

[RyanClark]

For the supposedly-rare Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock titles I'd recommend buying from Right Stuf. FCTW is $15 and in stock, and they have a lot of the other titles too, including the 3-disc Toho Triple Feature (Varan, Mysterians, and Matango all for only $22.46!).

Toho Triple Feature: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Frankenstein Conquers The World: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Atragon: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Dogora: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Matango: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Space Amoeba: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Varan: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Destroy All Monsters DVD: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion
Destroy All Monsters BD: http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse ... mexpansion

[Showa Gyaos]

Try Deep Discount's online store. I bought all of the TriStar DVDs from that website, and all of them were under $10 each.

[WSGabler]

They do appear to be backordered indefinitely, after all. Bummer.

I tried visiting Deep Discount's site but it never loaded. I'll try again tomorrow.

[Godzilla99]

Go to Barnes and Noble.com search whatever godzilla movie you are loooking for click on the one you are looking for then you will see pick me up put in your zip code click on find in store it will bring you to a page that has the stores near you that have the godzilla movie you are looking for,I done it before

[JoshK]

I've been going around trying to find and buy Godzilla films. Mostly, I have a lot of the Tristar releases left to get, like Son of Godzilla, Godzilla VS. Hedorah, Godzilla VS. The Sea Monster, Godzilla VS. Space Godzilla/Godzilla VS. Destroyah, and a few others.

FYE has definitely decided to phase them out. I ended getting Godzilla VS. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla VS. King Ghidorah/ Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth, Godzilla VS. Megaguirus, and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla for Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off.

I hope these get re-packaged, so they don't go for outlandish prices before I get them, but I do hope they redo Godzilla 2000, King Ghidorah, The Battle For Earth, Space Godzilla, and Destroyah, so you can get the original japanese audio along with english subtitles. I'm not a personal fan of dubbing.

[Tohosaurus]

I've been going around trying to find and buy Godzilla films. Mostly, I have a lot of the Tristar releases left to get, like Son of Godzilla, Godzilla VS. Hedorah, Godzilla VS. The Sea Monster, Godzilla VS. Space Godzilla/Godzilla VS. Destroyah, and a few others.

FYE has definitely decided to phase them out. I ended getting Godzilla VS. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla VS. King Ghidorah/ Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth, Godzilla VS. Megaguirus, and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla for Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off.

I hope these get re-packaged, so they don't go for outlandish prices before I get them, but I do hope they redo Godzilla 2000, King Ghidorah, The Battle For Earth, Space Godzilla, and Destroyah, so you can get the original japanese audio along with english subtitles. I'm not a personal fan of dubbing.

I hope they do as well. The King Ghidorah/Mothra double feature is in fullscreen and all of the Heiseis save for Mechagodzilla have a poor selection of dub/subs for those of us that watch them in different ways. The Millenniums are better for that though still not great. Luckily I think you can expect a re-release sometime in the future wherein we'll hopefully get the Blu-Ray formats as well. It's at that time we can expect to see everything move to widescreen that isn't already and hopefully proper dub and sub selection. Some or all of the Heiseis are still not remastered in HD either, so that's another thing that I'd like to see. That's all probably years as away though. I'm not sure.

[JoshK]

I've been going around trying to find and buy Godzilla films. Mostly, I have a lot of the Tristar releases left to get, like Son of Godzilla, Godzilla VS. Hedorah, Godzilla VS. The Sea Monster, Godzilla VS. Space Godzilla/Godzilla VS. Destroyah, and a few others.

FYE has definitely decided to phase them out. I ended getting Godzilla VS. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla VS. King Ghidorah/ Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth, Godzilla VS. Megaguirus, and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla for Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off.

I hope these get re-packaged, so they don't go for outlandish prices before I get them, but I do hope they redo Godzilla 2000, King Ghidorah, The Battle For Earth, Space Godzilla, and Destroyah, so you can get the original japanese audio along with english subtitles. I'm not a personal fan of dubbing.

I hope they do as well. The King Ghidorah/Mothra double feature is in fullscreen and all of the Heiseis save for Mechagodzilla have a poor selection of dub/subs for those of us that watch them in different ways. The Millenniums are better for that though still not great. Luckily I think you can expect a re-release sometime in the future wherein we'll hopefully get the Blu-Ray formats as well. It's at that time we can expect to see everything move to widescreen that isn't already and hopefully proper dub and sub selection. Some or all of the Heiseis are still not remastered in HD either, so that's another thing that I'd like to see. That's all probably years as away though. I'm not sure.

I had the previous VHS releases, and I remember the awful dubbings on the 90s Tristar releases.

Ever since I started seeing the original Japanese language versions with Enlgish subtitles, I've vowed to pretty much never go back unless it was the only R1 version. But I'd much prefer to see them in their original language. That goes for all international films, including anime.

[WSGabler]

As the prices continue to rise, I'm increasingly glad I didn't return my (apparently) overpriced DVDs.

[Hellspawn28]

I think paying $40 on DVD's that are often around $7-15 sounds like a major rip off. I seen the Tristar DVD's at least $10 at grocery stores like Harris Teeter. Sometimes CVS will sell them for a cheap deal like $5.