Kanji

Nice! When you say bfw models I take it you are referring to the pre-painted garage kits? To me, the bfw line were the pre-assembled 2 packs. How does the quality stand up between the garage kits and the twin packs? Do they scale the same and is the paint as good? From what I can tell they do, stumbled across this from an older thread and Gregole and Enzyme I look decent alongside the others. How much would you expect someone to pay for those 2 these days? Is £100 each reasonable, or you think you can still find them for less? Sorry for all the questions, just got excited after dusting off the old team 5. I remember I picked up all 4 used without the packaging for £50, but it seems gone are those days

Very nice. I'd taken a break from Guyver since the last Figma, but i'm keen to start collecting again and am considering filling some of the gaps in my BFC/BFW collection with the kits and trading figures. I already have a mode B Libertus and Hayami on order. Whats your advise on the kits? I've always steered clear as I wasn't sure how well they scaled, how good the paint was, if there were bootlegs, or if some needed to be painted and how much assembly was involved. Is this an accurate list of all the ones available? If so, these are the ones I would be looking for. Guess that Barcus is different to the BFW one or not?

I here ya on that, but forget the price, for me it's more a question of just finding them!! Been checking YAJ, Mandarake and even eBay for a while now and nothing. It's sods law, finally when I can afford something I can't find it anymore!! lol

Awesome stuff my man! If Guyver was my only series I'd get more, but with other stuff it becomes impossible to get everything. So what do we think? Guyot or Imakuram? I've narrowed it down to 2!

Thanks a lot dude! Your stuff is incredible. I've limited myself to action figures for now, never done busts or statues, but I do like 1:6 scale stuff. Looking forward to the Guyver I & III, they will look good with the 1:6 Gigantics! As far a BFC/BFW, I have more in the attic I want to add, but only have room to add one more to this display. Out of Murakami, Guyot, Aptom, NEO Zx-Tole, Imakarum, Pluqsthal & Evil Aptom, which one should I choose?? I'm also still desperately after a BFW Zerbebuth and Barcus, but could never find them!!

Been a while, but decided to get my figures out the attic, dust them off and set up a display!! Finger crossed for some more reveals at WonFes next month!!

Can anyone corroborate the statements made by a reddit user last month? https://www.reddit.com/r/Guyver/comments/bd5gjw/was_anyone_else_aware_that_guyver_is_over/ In it he says that the reason production halted was that Takaya's primary assistance passed away in 2016, who had become an integral part of story boarding and plot development. It almost sounds as though Takaya was no longer writing the story, but providing the art and character designs, a bit like a Buronson/Hara deal. If this is true, than it might explain why the series suddenly stopped, as mayble Takaya's has no idea where things were going with the story anymore. It's sad if this is true, but I'm kinda surprised they were never credited if that had this level of creative control.

Good catch! Yeah, I just consulted my chapters and saw there were 13 pages released in April 2016, with the last page saying "Guyver will continue in May" May 2019 maybe? lol

Volume 32, from Chapter 197 onwards was Agito's assault on Kurumegnik's base that contained both him and Jabir. They both transformed and battled Gigantic Dark Exceed. The last chapters, which would combine to be ch200 in vol.33) had Jabir burst out of some kind of eyeball trying to escape.

Yep, and if if i'm not mistaken next month marks precisely 3 years of hiatus.........34 years of serialization..........and Takaya's 59th birthday. .............with not even a hint or why and when it may resume. All we have is an e-mail from Shonen Ace a year ago saying it's not cancelled and they'll make an announcement when it returns. Maybe we'll hear something next year for its 35th Anniversary?? At this point I really feel like the man has just retired from being a manga artist.

Good subject, and if we're talking earliest influences, I think we have to start with the films Alien and The Thing ('79 & '82, respectively). Both films had a huge influence on the culture and popularised the themes of parasitism and symbiotics throughout the 80's. Japan was heavily influenced by American culture after the WW2 and the post-war economic boom that had it's height throughout the late 70's, 80's and early 90's. I believe Baoh, Guyver along with Venom were some of the earliest comic book characters to incorporate this theme, and I dare say they all had some influence on each other since they all appeared '84/'85. Being a huge "monster" fan, it's also inconceivable that Takaya wouldn't have been influenced by not only Mazinger Z, but also by Go Nagai's other classic, Devilman. I consider Guyver an awesome hybrid between symbiotic alien anti-hero and giant mecha genres. Throw in some classic Super Sentai and giant Kaiju (like you mentioned, Kamen Rider, but also Ultra-man) and mindless sci-fi body horror like Videodrome and you've got the perfect concoction! Of course you could always go back further to find roots in Superman/Godzilla, but they were pretty much the precursors to everything. Nice topic btw!!

Example of Comic Ryu's last cover for comparison, lol, at least they are monster girls with big tits, lol

sounds like legal troubles...............I bet Takaya doesn't own the publishing rights, and Kadokawa have decided to drop it. There's nothing Takaya can do. He can't get it published via another outlet without getting the rights signed over, and if Kadokawa don't want to publish or sign over then it's stuck in indefinite limbo. Even if he leaks the manuscripts on the internet, he's liable to get sued. Only chance we have is if another publisher comes along and purchases the IP rights, or there's a sudden increase in popularity (high profile endorsement), that makes it financially attractive for Kadokawa to resume publication. It's a shame. Probably explains why he continued with Zeorymer Omega, since Tokuma are still willing to put it out (He dropped a tank last year). If only they had the buying power to transfer guyver to them. It would be a much better fit in Monthly Comic Ryū. Only time will tell, but the poor dudes gonna be 59 next year!

Geez, Blockbuster! That takes me back. Didn't that company go under 5 years ago?? My intro to Guyver was also via VHS rental, but at a local convenience store. Probably back in 1999/2000. My dad let me rent out Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend, thinking it was a kids cartoon After that I was hooked on everything 'Manga Entertainment UK' was distributing at the time. Guyver, Crying Freeman, Fist of the North Star, Ninja Scroll, Akira, Ghost In The Shell, etc.! Wow, that was a blast from the past just recalling all that! Such nostalgia from almost 20 years ago!! Good times!!

Really, after all these years? I dunno, maybe he signed a ****ty deal with Kadokawa and gets paid peanuts and never realised the potential, or the licensing revenue that the publishers have been pocketing. Maybe he's on strike pending a contract negotiation and can't legally publish his manga through any other media outlet. Maybe it's a Lil Wayne & Cash Money scenario! Maybe he's under a non-disclosure agreement to mitigate against reputational defamation. Whatever it is, I really hope it gets sorted.................rant over

That would explain why trying to get him to pen more chapters is like pulling teeth...............

Indeed it is, and as much as I want to climb aboard the hype train with you my brother, I have doubt's we'll see any more from Figma until the manga resumes. Just based off the way GSC operate. If we do see a new Figma though i'd prefer it to be a character we've seen more recently, like Apollyon or Aptom.

I can't believe we are approaching a 2 year hiatus now. That really is too long. We better get a chapter by April. Crazy thing is I can't imagine i'll ever stop checking for it. Unless its ever officially cancelled i'll be checking for decades to come if needs be!

Yeah, I honestly don't know what effect that is. I own a lot of effects, but never come across this one. It looks like Tamashii and may come with a Kamen Rider or Gundam figure, but having searched extensively I don't seem to be able to find thate exact one. Sorry. You might have luck contacting Shishioh. I found him use it on a couple more pictures:

Damn.....I really don't want to think the worst, but i'm starting to worry that Takaya is pulling a Hagiwara!! Hagiwara's last Bastard!! volume dropped 2012 and it's still on hiatus............... I remember being excited when Tecmo announced the MMORPG back in 2005, then announced it's cancellation in 2009. 3 years later the series entered an indefinite hiatus mid story and hasn't come back......that was 6 years ago.

Yeah, my guess is Takaya realised he needs to end the story fast and this is probably the first time he's given it some actual thought and planned an ending. He's got a hell of a lot of loose ends to tie up without making things too predictable or inadvertently opening up more questions that will need more chapters to resolve. He's likely spent the last 2 years storyboarding and script writting and once he's done it will run until it's ultimate conclusion. Unless he's wants to pull a Shinji Mizushima and still be writing in 20 years, he needs to get his skates on!! Hell, even Osamu Akimoto retired last year at 63 year of age ending a 40 year run of 'Kochikame'. By all accounts Takaya has 6 years left before retirement!

Well atleast we can thank counter656 for giving Guyver I a cameo in the first installment of 'the levels':

Yeah, amiami, CDJapan, Nippon Yasan are all great, but you have to pre-order. If you miss the slot you're screwed. The never tend to re-stock and when they do the prices go up.

Sorry to hear that dude. I dont know whats up with US stock. I always pre-order from Japan. Had a look for you, but only Nippon Yasan still have stock and they are charging $100. Hope you get it soon!

This month's cover.......sadly no Guyver news again