WTF Wednesday: Convention Promos (2004/2005)

The anime convention scene definitely changed over the years. One of the things I vividly recall about convention era circa 2004/2005 is the amount of promotional goodies that companies would give out. And I'm not talking about postcard-sized promos (which this particular blog post is about), but I remember getting promo DVDs that featured an episode or two of a show, buttons, posters, and even an insanely cool plastic Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex bag featuring some nice artwork of Motoko Kusanagi in a badass pose. I'll have to dig through my collection and post some pics of those in the coming weeks. However, until then, I posted some postcard-sized promos that I stumbled upon last night (while digging through some old convention booklets).

The first promo (above) is from Godannar, which ADV Films pushed relentlessly around 2004/2005. To their credit, they did a great job creating some memorable trailers for the show, along with a few humorous ads that ran in Animerica. I'll have to post some of the ad scans in the near future. I remember seeing an episode of two of Godannar (I think from a promo DVD ADV Films had been giving out) but still haven't seen the whole series, which is inexcusable since I picked up the boxset dirt cheap from a Right Stuf sale years ago. So expect a Friday Review of it someday soon (hopefully!).

Around the same time, Manga Entertainment was also promoting the 1980 Astro Boy series full force. This was the first release of the show on DVD. A number of episodes had already been released on VHS back in 2002 by Manga Video, but I don't believe the whole series was ever available on tape. The video tapes had some outstanding artwork on the covers, unfortunately, the DVD series collection cover was very meh, in comparison.

Admittedly, after first hearing about this game back in 2005, I dismissed the notion of a game where you play as an attorney. But, somehow, Capcom made the trials and tribulations of a rookie defense lawyer really fun! Capcom put together a nice little promo for the game, though the back reads "Order Phoenix Wright at www.Capcom.com to receive your special gift," I have no idea what said gift was. Nowadays, it wouldn't be called a gift, but more likely a 'pre-order bonus'. 

I always liked the bookmark ads that you'd find at conventions, since they were actually useful. Animenation went the bookmark route for Miami Guns, complete with a "Convention Discount" code on the back. This came from a Fall 2004 convention.