My collection started in the mid 80s. My interest in “Jap-animation” (or  anime as it’s now commonly called) surged up again with the airing of Robotech which started around April 1985. It was a big deal back then. Sure there was Tranformers and Volton, but nothing close to quality and scope of Robotech. It was revolutionary for American audiences. What otaku (a term not used at the time until “Otaku no Video”) at the time wouldn’t walk home right after school and record it, right? I did…a one and a half mile walk home.

I joined a local anime club called the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization (C/FO.) That’s when I started noticing things like Newtype Magazine, Animedia, Anime V and others. Some people would bring in music soundtracks on vinyl. At that time, it was very deep to listen to anime music, almost counter culture. Others would also bring in and show off models of Macross, Gundam, Crusher Joe, Space Battleship Yamato and many others.

Back then, K-B Toys had an excellent stock of models from Robotech, but it was a mish-mash of different shows of the time. Well, I did my research and came across models from Orguss, Dougram, Mospeada, Space Battleship Yamato and, of course, Macross. I bought and built a lot of models from those shows, by saving my lunch money. I also started buying magazines and art books from Macross and Megazone 23 (still my favorites). I was totally a starving student, saving $5-$10 a week for my hobbies and only to eat dinner when I came home.

But alas, when I graduated from high school, we moved to Riverside County. Those blasted movers lost my entire collection of models. I had a feeling it would happen. Before the move, I hid the box containing my models so I would take it to the new place myself, but I was caught by my dad. He told me not to worry and left it for the movers. Damn, I was naive!!! But I still had my books…right!!!

Just like many young adults, I didn’t get along with my father. Three months after the move, I was kicked out of the house. My entire collection of magazines, comic books, RPG and art books were thrown out the next day. Many of them irreplaceable. One such book was the hard bound Macross Perfect Memory art book. The last I looked, it was worth an arm and a leg. Others that I remember are the Robotech Art 1 (signed by Carl Macek, which I found it back in the early 2000s) & 2 books and the few Megzone 23 art books I had.

Hoping the trashman didn’t pick up the garbage cans, I begged my sister to salvage what she can. Luckily some were recovered. Lost were the first 60 issues of the original Star Wars comic book, ROM Space Knight, The Micronauts, The Teen Titans, The Justice League, Judge Dread, MARS (not the manga), some RPG books and all of my art books.

After that, I was in hiatus from collecting. I’ve reached the point of actually forgetting about anime and anime-related items. I was changing from who I really am to someone that everyone (mostly family) wanted me to be. Until that ill fated day I met Tony, a good friend of mine at I met at my job at the time. We started talking about collecting (mostly music) and other hobbies we had. I introduced him to the only surviving anime music sountrack I had, Macross, Do Your Remember Love? It was on cassette. He freaked out…a normal reaction for anyone raised in America for hearing foreign music for the first time.

So for the fun it, one Saturday during the summer, I showed Tony around downtown Los Angeles and Little Tokyo, which I haven’t been to in 4 years. We stumbled across a bookstore that I never heard of so we decided to check it out. For the first time in 5 years, I bought my second anime album, Megazone 23 Four Spirits. It’s on vinyl. Tony thought I was crazy paying about $40 for it. But “what the hell.” I’ve always wanted to buy an Megazone 23 album, whichever one it was. So from that day, every other week or so, Tony and I would take a trip to LA and buy anime music CDs…at about $30 a pop. We also started renting and watching anime from our local comic book store. So my collection started out with music, then magazines and books which led to figures and going to conventions. I started going to Anime Expo since 1994 and haven’t missed a year.