When I was in 4th grade in an exclusive Catholic girls' school, we are
expected to be into dolls and boys into matchbox cars. But it was the
late 70s. The Barbie doll is in but then there's Voltes V. I got
hooked on the latter.
My younger brother influenced me and my younger sister into Voltes V.
He's got a talent in drawing cartoons so it was really cool that my
classmates even asked me to have my brother draw Voltes V images in
cardboard cutouts. During our class christmas party of '79, I brought
my 45 rpm of the Voltes V Japanese version and choreographed a dance
number out of it with my four other crazy classmates. When I came home,
I found out the record was ruined by varnish leaking from my art kit.
And I thought that was real tragedy even if I bought the English version
later.
Of course, I saved my allowance to buy those Voltes V merchandise.
When a compilation of the first five V5 episodes was shown as a movie, I
was leading this long queue of kids waiting outside Ali Mall in Cubao.
When those gates were opened for the 9 a.m. screening, I was the first
one to rush to the boxoffice in my V5 t-shirt.
When I was 13, I remember watching the real V5 movie: "The Mystery of
Dr. Armstrong" with my siblings and cousins. IT made our Christmas.
Then the next thing I knew, the show was canceled. (We know the whole
hoopla about Marcos' cruel act.) And then I realized I'm not a young
girl anymore. I started having crushes on real boys instead of Steve
Armstrong -- a cartoon character. And I have to go through high school
and college before even dreaming of being a superobot pilot like Jaimie
Robinson.
Now i'm 30 something and married (his name is Marcus Steven) with kids,
living in the US and currently piloting a minivan. During my recent
vacation in the Phil., I found out V5 has been resurrected on t.v. My
good ol' brother (a family man himself), showed me his v5 episodes (at
least the first 15 episodes (in original Japanese). I still cried in
the memorable episode and always misty-eyed at the closing credits.
When I saw my cousins during a reunion, each of us try to recall the
very last episode we saw before FM pulled the plug.
I actually got excited to learn the final episode will be shown in the
theaters on the week before i go back to Cincinnati. Unfortunately,
the showing was delayed for some reasons. I departed Manila with a
heavy heart, again I felt like a thirteen year old who was forced to
grow up and face reality. (At least, I bought my son a pair of v5
sandals). Upon my arrival, my friend emailed that she saw the movie
with her nephews, just to make me envious. I'm still waiting for my
brother to send me my own V5 video collection. For now, I have to live
with my kids watching Barney and Teletubbies. Actually Im glad to show
my toddler my V5 legacy while we were there. Filipino kids are still
lucky.
So thats it, my v5 story. i know this is long but I was so moved in
finding this site. Thank you, thank you for bringing back my lost
childhood.
Apple Acebes-Dunaway
Cincinnati, Ohio
10. Jul 1999 22:13:17
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