New Sales, New Gifts, New Updates

[JG]

I've added over a dozen new items for sale in the last week, including those highly desirable objects you guys keep asking about: VIPER-CTR and VIPER-RSR (both game and artbook!)  Also offering some new trading cards (including sealed packs!), telecas, and collector's items, including an awesome Raika t-shirt.

Always check the For Sale page for the full list of items offered.


As a bonus, the first board member to identify themself as such in their purchase inquiry email and buys an item large enough to qualify will receive as a bonus a free copy of the May 1995 issue of Pasocom Paradise magazine. I mistakenly purchased two of these - not realizing I had one on the way in the mail when ordering the second. It has a brief review of VIPER-V12 and a V12/RS Series advertisement, but isn't exactly something worthy to sell on the For Sale page, so I'm giving it away instead. Just purchase an item big enough to include this in the box or envelope and its yours. Most boxed games and artbooks will qualify. Just remember to tell me your board member user name when ordering.



And as one last matter of intrigue, Sogna was working on a possible sequel (or prequel?) to the Angel Dust story from VIPER-V12 in mid-1996. Very little info known, but some of the mid-1996 trade mags listed this for sale while another included a full page calendar with artwork attributed to Sogna, but clearly unrelated to any game they ever put to market.

[Arizona]

Any guess at who that Dusty Angel artist might be? Tokuyuki Matsutake comes to mind, but I dunno about that...

The art on that Raika shirt makes me think Tsukasa Kotobuki first thing, although it could just as well be Atsuko Ishida or someone else.

[JG]

No idea on the Dusty Angel art. Its not attributed to an artist, only to Sogna itself (see bottom corner.)  The reverse page in the mag says the same. I only linked it to Dusty Angel from another mag indicating an upcoming PC98 game (after Animahjong Amazon) and the suit is a little similar to Yuria's leotard. If not Dusty Angel, what game does this art go with? It doesn't look like Animahjong Amazon, becuase we'd seen the Animahjong characters twice before this and these aren't them. It's possibly a very, very early look at powersuit Mika and schoolgirl Maki from VIPER-M1, but the final designs for these two characters two years later look nothing like this. Plus the mags from mid-1996 don't list M1 as an upcoming game (maybe not even F40 by then.)

But for the Raika shirt, the artist is indeed Tsukasa Kotobuki. Too small to see on the picture I provided, but its listed this right under the VIPER EVOLUTION text as "ILLUSTRATION: Tsukasa Kotobuki  (C)SOGNA   COSPA LIMITED".  Great guess to get this right by looks only.

[Arizona]

After further examination, I'm pretty convinced that art has to be Tokuyuki Matsutake - if it isn't I'll be very surprised. The girl on the left strongly resembles his Medabots style, and the one on the right shares attributes with other characters appearing in that as well as his other work, like the Tales Of character adaptations. It could be someone with a similar look like some of the other artists, but if there is anyone I wouldn't know who they are (this isn't all that long after his apprenticeship under Atsuko Nakajima, too).

Oh, and of course, take a glance at the cover of the Viper he worked on, and there's another good tell.

[JG]

I didn't even realize how much it looks like the V8 Cover Art / Friday the 18th style, but I think you're right.  And it would be completely like Sogna to invite back an artist for another game - alot of their artists did multiple games.  Maybe something happened contract-wise to prevent him from being able to work on it, and the game was cancelled.

[Blookryynnn]

I just recently realized what this promotionnal art really is from. It's actually from "Exciting Milk", a game by Silence (hence the Sogna) released in 1996. The characters were indeed designed by Matsutake Tokuyuki, and their name are Kurumi for the blue-haired girl and Milk for the one in leotard.

[JG]

Nice. I had "Exciting Milk" on my list of potential influences but never really checked up on it.

I should point out that Kurumi (くるみ) is the reverse pronunciation of English milk (ミルク / miruku) in Japanese. (In native Japanese its 乳, chichi.)