Thanks for the warm welcome all!
JAGzilla wrote:Vinegar Joe wrote:Hello!
I'm from the UK and have recently come in to possession of the Criterion Showa collection and will soon add the Arrow Gamera set when it's released in August.
I've been working my way through the Showa Godzilla films during lockdown, and I think the isolation might be driving me slightly crazy. I swear it felt like I was hallucinating during All Monsters Attack. The Gamera films might break me.
Welcome aboard! So I'm gathering that this is your first time seeing the Showa films. Had you seen any other kaiju films before you got that set, or is this your introduction to the genre?
Good question, far from my introduction to the genre, but life as a kaiju fan in the UK has been hard, man. I distinctly remember watching Invasion of Astro monster on TV as a kid with my dad so it must have left a G-shaped impression on my young mind.
From that day forward it was a sad tale of scrambling for whatever I could get ahold of - Destroy all Monsters (amazing) and Hedorah (WTF) on VHS, whatever Godzilla toys were available (despite the Heisei films they were based on being unreleased).
Fast forward a little bit, I'm watching TV and there's a Godzilla film I haven't seen. Sweet! Mothra. Effects seem a little better than I remember. Oh shit! There's Namco product placement and a modern Mercedes...they made new Godzilla films! Seriously, I had NO idea.
Yes, despite already owning a Heisei toy that was clearly a different design. I wasn't the sharpest tool in the box.
I picked up what was available in the UK at that time, but it was pretty pathetic. Some of the Showa films had never been released, only two Hesei films were available and absolutely ZERO Millennium. So I thought sod this for a game of soldiers and started to import what I could from the US and Asia.
Even so, the Criterion collection is my first time watching some of the Showa films. It's honestly a day I thought would never come - that all the Gamera and Godzilla Showa films would be available officially in the UK. *Salutes picture of the Queen, tear rolls down cheek*