It's time for another issue of CCLemon99 Magazine! I did a first issue back in October. This basically gives me an opportunity to go over a handful of topics that aren't quite big enough for their own posts.
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Welcome To CCLemon99.com!
...well atleast until Suntory shuts me down...
I decided to go ahead an get myself the domain. There are tons of reasons behind me finally pulling the trigger and securing the domain and putting it to use, but for now let's just enjoy the simplicity of it all. CCLemon99.com... Not CCLemon99.blogjaljkfsnkanjkfsfns Yeah...much better!
Do I have any plans for the site outside of the same old blog? Nah, not really. Not at this time at least. I will, however, have to make some alterations to certain future Youtube videos. It's a bullshit reason, and I don't really want to do it, but Youtube has recently made things extraordinarily difficult for your average to slightly-less-than-superstar user.
The site was somewhat born out of misery, but I intend to make the most out of it. You can always count on me for content.
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Maybe SHFiguarts Fire Was A Terrible Idea...
The very first thing I wrote about in Issue One has come back to bite me in the ass in a huge way. I defend the thought behind SHF Winsquad being a kickass thing that should totally happen, but I am not in support of the idea of Winspector Figuarts being a thing to begin with. I know, that probably sounds strange, but I just don't think they should have skipped ahead when we should have had SHF Spielban~Jiban first. SHF Fire is an upcoming video, so I don't want to give too much away. I will say that I'm not wowed in the same way I was with pretty much every other Metal Hero Figuart that has been released since Blue Beet.
No, no. My big gripe is with SHF Bikel...namely the price of the damn thing. ¥7020!!!!! What. The. Hell...?! For that price you get a secondary character Figuart, and very few accessories. The wheel in his chest moves? Who cares??? Honestly! It'll probably be neat once, but it is an absolutely useless fucking feature. Useless.
This is where I start to think Bandai is fucking with us. They make all of these misplaced choices for Figuarts with skyrocketing price tags. Even with things like the upcoming Dyno Buckler release...they're charging an absolute fortune for a toy that has probably already made their company it's development money back five-fold. They're blatantly gouging fans at this point. I mean, I only got into Figuarts because I normally manage to get them for reasonable prices (my first few were gifts). When it comes to web exclusives, you're stuffed. It's Bandai's price.
Still undecided if I'm going for Bikel...but I'm genuinely leaning toward "no", but who knows. We'll see how generous my bonus points are this month. I just wanted Spielban, dammit! Oh...and where's my Kamen Rider J??
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New And Upcoming CD Releases
-Ninninger Soundtracks 2, 3, and 4 were released in late January. Ninninger has had a bit of an odd release schedule. Between Hurricaneger and ToQger the first three music collections were released between May and September with the fourth and fifth bundled together shortly before the series ended. We can only speculate as to why Ninninger has had a pitiful release schedule, but here it is. The last of the Music Collection is out there.
-Ninninger Complete Song Collection will be released on the 17th of this month. Details are sparse right now, but you can count on it being full of Ninninger songs. For sure.
-Ultraman! A five-disc set containing all of the TV and Movie/OV theme songs will be released on March 2nd! A great way to celebrate 50 years of Ultraman. Honestly, if I didn't have every song on this set I would probably spring for it. I often get asked if there are similar current sets for Sentai theme songs. No...but Ultraman's got you covered. Shuwatch!
-Also on March 2nd--The Zyuohger Theme Song Single! As usual, there are two releases--Standard Edition and Limited Edition. Both versions have the same tracklist (OP, ED, OP Karaoke, ED Karaoke) but the Limited Edition comes with a toy of some kind. Also...the cover to the Limited Edition looks way cooler.
-Last but not least.....the biggest CD news of all. I am absolutely PUMPED for this one. Columbia's Sound Treasure Series is making it's way into
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Shout!Factory's Ninja Sentai Kakuranger
This isn't a news item to anyone at this point, but I felt it was worth talking about because my favorite Super Sentai series is making it's way to DVD in the USA!
Here is where you guys can get on board. The set is up for pre-order on their website. I highly recommend purchasing it directly from them. Not only will you get it way before street date (mine arrived close to three weeks early), but you're also supporting a fantastic company who really took a chance and continues to do so.
Pay a few dollars extra, get it early, and hang tight for more! Remember, buying the entire series on Region 2 DVD costs closer to $400. $53 doesn't sound so bad now, does it?
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Name That Tune (Tokusatsu Edition)
I made the appeal to you, the readers, in my previous issue. I was rewarded with a few new entries which I have secured the discs to. I have enough non-soundtrack songs for two-three more entries. In fact, my next post this month will be another non-soundtrack CD Collection post covering many different shows. I'll just lay out exactly what I said last time... Take it away, past me.
I am still compiling a new list of songs to feature in an upcoming entry of Non-soundtrack Tokusatsu songs. I had a lot of fun making my previous entry, and I have just about as many songs as I did the first time around. I would like some more though.
If you have a song that you would like to have identified that played in an episode of a Tokusatsu series, please drop me a line. I ask that you follow some of the following criteria in your request...
-Show, episode number, and ballpark timestamp (Believe it or not, I can't ID a song that played "at some point in one of the early episodes of Carranger" at least not quickly...). This one is a MUST.
-A link to where I can watch said episode. Again, please save me some legwork. Help me help you...
-Even better--if you could just dice me up a clip and toss it on Youtube...that would be ideal.
-A thank you would be nice. Heh. Sometimes it takes quite a lot of effort to ID a song. While it's beneficial for me to be able to add it to my list, it's also kinda shitty when that person doesn't say thanks or anything after I hit them back with an answer or at least try.
I did recently help out someone with a bit of music from Megaranger. He was nice enough to pull the audio from the episode of the song in question and I was able to answer his request in less than a minute (I happened to know the music in that case...but even if I didn't, it would have saved me a ton of time.
So please hit me up here, on Youtube, or on Twitter if you have any Tokusatsu ear worms. I will do my best to identify them. I also welcome any tracks you identified on your own.
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That about does it for now. Apologies for the few-days-late entry. It was a combination of being a little burnt out from writing five posts last month and having to rebuild my dryer after it kicked the bucket.
Thanks for checking out my blog and I'll catch you in a couple of weeks.
-CC
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That about does it for now. Apologies for the few-days-late entry. It was a combination of being a little burnt out from writing five posts last month and having to rebuild my dryer after it kicked the bucket.
Thanks for checking out my blog and I'll catch you in a couple of weeks.
-CC
Nice to see Volume 2, just in time for month of February (2).
ReplyDeleteI like what you did with your domain; very simplistic.
I wouldn't worry about Suntory shutting this down.
Unless it's CCLemon Zero (actual drink), then you're fine. lol
It's possible that Suntory deleted 1~98 accounts.
Regarding Figuarts release, I don't like how Bandai's handling them recently or older series.
It's bad enough that they discontinued their sentai lines last year with Sun Vulcan, but I don't like the release pattern, where they are skipping series. I also don't like the pricing, which is ridiculous for 1 figure. Why can't they release Bikel and Walter in set, like G-Stag/Reddle for B-Fighter? Bikel/Walter are twin brother after all, so it doesn't make sense why they are releasing individually.
Regardless, I'm still looking forward to see SHF Fire review.
Still baffling that there's been absolutely no news for J Figuart.
At this rate, Bandai might release reissue of Shin and ZO, before they want to do J. Poor J, who's still a missing piece to Showa Era/Ishinomori Era/Movie Trilogy/etc.
Hard to believe Ultraman 50 this year!
While I was Ultraman before I got into Sentai, Riders, and Metal Hero, I haven't been following the franchise for past decade.
Despite that, this is very nice release to celebrate its anniversary.
Goranger anniversary soundtrack is interesting as well.
I'm also excited for Kakuranger DVD!
$53 ($1 and episode) is a steal deal.
Logically, next would be Ohranger, but I have a feeling that Shout might announce Carranger along with it, to boost up the sale and interest.
A series with very mixed reception as Ohranger will be bit difficult to sell on its own; though, Power Rangers Zeo was popular.
I can see Shout would release Ohranger~Megaranger, to complete "Sentai Series adapted to Zordon Era (MMPR~PRiS)"; after that, maybe they can release it by popular series (Timeranger, Hurricaneger, Shinkenger, etc.).
Take care.
I'm really baffled at the release of Bikel as well. It costs as much as the damn Sentai mecha this year. A $100 set with Walter with some extra goodies thrown in (Giga Streamer...Tokkei Techou...etc) should have been the way it was done. Yeah...just wait for my review of Fire. I'm going to be ripping into it hardcore.
DeleteI think people are giving Shout a little too much credit for the thinking behind their Sentai releases. You're not the first to dream up parameters. Outside of Toei/Saban recommending Zyuranger, I really doubt there are any thought-out boundries for what series are getting released. I'm sure there will be continued releases until the sales dry up. Whether that happens now or later down the road, any business worth their salt would keep pounding along until the steam is gone. If anything, there might be a future survey to gauge interest. Though even that depends on their Toei overlords.