An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

The roughly mid-90's and earlier (generally pre-Toonami, pre-anime boom) era of anime & manga fandom: early cons, clubs, tape trading, Nth Generation VHS fansubs, old magazines & fanzines, fandubs, ancient merchandise, rec.arts.anime, and more!
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Fireminer
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by Fireminer »

This scan of Protoculture Addicts mentioned Tim Eldred and his illustrations in the magazine. And from what I can find out, Tim was a huge Star Blazers fan and his comics were influenced by anime. Can anyone here tell me more about him?

Also, Dave, is Claude J. Pelletier of Protoculture Addicts still active in Canada?
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DKop
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by DKop »

Tim is "the" Star Blazers/Yamato guy. He runs https://www.ourstarblazers.com/ as the main site for anything and everything Star Blazers/Yamato material. He's done a documentary that can be found here all about Yamato fandom:
https://www.amazon.com/Space-Battleship ... B0009QTS08

I got to meet Tim last year at AWA and talk to him a bit at Dave Merrill room party, super chill and relaxed guy. He did a Yamato panel that Sunday going over the 2199 series and merchandise. Tim would be someone you can ask questions about Star Blazers fandom in the states since that is one of his main focuses along with him doing work in the entertainment industry.
Fireminer
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by Fireminer »

DKop wrote: Thu May 02, 2019 12:46 pm Tim is "the" Star Blazers/Yamato guy. He runs https://www.ourstarblazers.com/ as the main site for anything and everything Star Blazers/Yamato material. He's done a documentary that can be found here all about Yamato fandom:
https://www.amazon.com/Space-Battleship ... B0009QTS08

I got to meet Tim last year at AWA and talk to him a bit at Dave Merrill room party, super chill and relaxed guy. He did a Yamato panel that Sunday going over the 2199 series and merchandise. Tim would be someone you can ask questions about Star Blazers fandom in the states since that is one of his main focuses along with him doing work in the entertainment industry.
Thanks for the information!
davemerrill
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by davemerrill »

Tim's been an anime fan for as long as I have, more or less; he ran an anime club in Michigan, got into professional comics, moved to LA, and got into the animation field. Here's his IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0253137/?re ... f_=nv_sr_1

He's published award-winning graphic novels, did Captain Harlock and Robotech comics for Eternity, and started his own publishing company to produce licensed comics based on Star Blazers, Votoms, Project A-Ko, Gall Force, MD Geist, and other properties. He's got more energy than ten or fifteen normal people.

I don't know what Claude J. Pelletier is up to these days, if he's still active in anime fandom he hasn't crossed my path.
davemerrill
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by davemerrill »

I got curious about Protoculture Addicts and found this blog by one of the editors - I had no idea that there was a collaboration between Anime News Network and Protoculture Addicts! https://clodjee-blog.com/2018/12/31/20- ... toculture/
Fireminer
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by Fireminer »

Can anyone here give me an overview of the importance of Toren Smith and Studio Proteus in the early fandom? Was it true that both did most of the legwork advertising the titles published by Eclipse and Dark Horse?
Fireminer
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by Fireminer »

Also, was there a C/FO at Cornell University? There is a Japanese Animation Society there, which has in its alumni one interesting person I am trying to learn more about, Lawrence Eng, an anime/otaku social scientist.
davemerrill
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by davemerrill »

The first time I became aware of Toren Smith was seeing his name as one of the editors of the 1986 Baycon anime room program guide, and I believe his work in localizing manga via Studio Proteus started soon afterwards.

Toren passed away a few years back, but his Livejournal is still there, and I'm sure he mentioned his fandom history somewhere in there.

https://mrcaxton.livejournal.com/3243.html
Fireminer
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by Fireminer »

davemerrill wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 7:44 am The first time I became aware of Toren Smith was seeing his name as one of the editors of the 1986 Baycon anime room program guide, and I believe his work in localizing manga via Studio Proteus started soon afterwards.

Toren passed away a few years back, but his Livejournal is still there, and I'm sure he mentioned his fandom history somewhere in there.

https://mrcaxton.livejournal.com/3243.html
Thanks you so much for the help! Also, is it true that the 1986 BayCon room guide was considered very popular with the attendee at the time? Heidi MacDonal said so in her article about Toren Smith.

(Also, she said that her ex-boyfriend held Yamato Con 1983, who also co-ran a fanclub with her at the time. Did she mean Bobb Waller or Mark Hernandez?)
davemerrill
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Re: An index of prominent figures in the early anime fandom?

Post by davemerrill »

at the time, the 1986 Baycon anime room program guide was pretty much the Bible for anime fans. It was very well regarded indeed. The Baycon guide was the best and most comprehensive English-language guide to the most popular Japanese animation films and TV shows, period, unsurpassed until Helen McCarthy and Johnathan Clements' "Anime Encyclopedia."

You may be confusing Heidi McDonald with Lea Hernandez. Lea was married to Mark Hernandez when Mark and Bobb Waller started Yamatocon.
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