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Macross Ace


Ganbare

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... !

Optimistically, I'm hoping that the switch means that Macross the First will be published monthly, and Macross Ace continues on it's quarterly rate...

+1

But i think that's really optimistic too.

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There's a rumor that Macross Ace will finish soon.

Macross The First is moving to new comic book by Kadokawa.

I personlly would like Macross Ace to continue, but after losing its main title and no new movements of next Macross series then it is probably end of the line.

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Edited by Maiden Japan
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Let there be more Macross The First please!!!!

Argh. Of course there will be more, but it will be in another magazine. That's the point. That is the very reason why we're speculating the end of Mac Ace:

Macross The First is going to be published in a new magazine

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While it'd be great to see Mac the First continue, I personally like the other side stuff of Macross Ace. I know Frontier is popular, but at some point, I hope they realize that they need to exand the publication into the other series and perhaps find another signature story. There's a lot of ways the publication can go, and I hope that it continues to sell well.

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While it'd be great to see Mac the First continue, I personally like the other side stuff of Macross Ace. I know Frontier is popular, but at some point, I hope they realize that they need to exand the publication into the other series and perhaps find another signature story. There's a lot of ways the publication can go, and I hope that it continues to sell well.

I like the Macross 7th Cord story. It's interesting (in the intriguing sense), and I can't quite guess where it's going. But I fully agree that it's not strong enough to be the flagship title of the publication.

If the Macross Plus revision was taking the story in new directions and twists, it would have a fair chance, but it's not.

Other than that...?

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I like the Macross 7th Cord story. It's interesting (in the intriguing sense), and I can't quite guess where it's going. But I fully agree that it's not strong enough to be the flagship title of the publication.

If the Macross Plus revision was taking the story in new directions and twists, it would have a fair chance, but it's not.

Other than that...?

Yep, totally agree. Most of the stories in the Ace magazines are good, if at least for some filler, but flagship stories they are not. There's so much time gap story they could do. Hell, why not do a story between end of SWI and planet Eden, or even comic the VFX Ravens story. That was a well deserving story, with plot twists, and a lot of info that Macross fans would love to get a hold of. The 7th Chord is a good story. It's different, and I think that's what helps it stand out. While I like watching Frontier on my t.v., I'm a little burned out on seeing Frontier side stories flood the Ace magazines. Diversity goes a long way.

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Alas, Frontier, at the moment, is the current golden-egg-laying goose; it could've been more profitable and creative for them to try at least go further by looking into other unexplored parts of the saga, including the aforementioned time gaps and unresolved questions in the story, by offering fanfiction writers a juicy opportunity to lay claim to those beachheads (and to be rewarded).

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Alas, Frontier, at the moment, is the current golden-egg-laying goose; it could've been more profitable and creative for them to try at least go further by looking into other unexplored parts of the saga, including the aforementioned time gaps and unresolved questions in the story, by offering fanfiction writers a juicy opportunity to lay claim to those beachheads (and to be rewarded).

It seems easy enough to write a side-story set in the MF timeline. I went ahead and started working on something set after the events of the series. It all just depends on what kinds of ideas you can come up with.

Enh, I don't think filling in the gaps in the timeline would've given the magazine any extra push. Sure, the old-timey fans who get off on that stuff are still around, and still into Macross, but really, most of the Macross fans I've seen here in Tokyo are really only into Frontier. So if they had somehow managed to get a really GOOD Frontier comic going, that might have been good as a flagship title.

Gundam Ace started out strong, with not only Gundam the Origin to recommend it, but also Hiroyuki Kitazume's Char's Deleted Affair. By the third issue, Mikimoto was doing Ecole du Ciel. Macross Ace, on the other hand, never got anything that could compete with Macross the First. I still had hopes for Macross F: Secret Visions, since it seemed to be going someplace interesting, but that vanished after issue 4.

Of course, Gundam has a larger body of work to draw from than Macross does, and can probably attract bigger names, but still...there has to be SOMEONE willing to make a first-rate Frontier-based comic.

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Well, I guess I kind of missed the point about what might work as a concurrently-running comic to partner up with MtF in the Macross Ace publication.

What I was talking about was writing fanfics. So many stories can be dreamt up and told; from prequels to sequels, and any kind of side stories in between. It's easy to not have to worry about conflicting with established canon, especially when you can create your own completely unique set of characters.

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So many stories can be dreamt up and told; from prequels to sequels, and any kind of side stories in between. It's easy to not have to worry about conflicting with established canon, especially when you can create your own completely unique set of characters.

In some ways, Macross 7th Cord and Macross First Contact (in vol 008) are just that. M7C is in many ways a sequel with the appearance of a couple of the main M7 characters, and MFC takes place during SDFM, with Hikaru appearing. Both are focused on a completely unique set of characters, and both, IMHO, work perfectly fine.

Sadly, they just don't have the big draw, like (and echoing Gubaba here) what Char's Deleted Affair, Ecole du Ciel, and the (somewhat later introduced) works by Masato Natsumoto (may not be one continuous story, but the art is some of the best for Gundam manga).

Maybe it's true what Renato (if memory serves) said, that Macross Ace is run by people who aren't professionals. And (my opinion) haven't grown into professionals during the publications run so far.

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In the end, interest and numbers drive whether or not a publication continues. Does Macross Ace have interesting material? Yes. Does it have enough interesting material to make a standalone publication? Probably no. As interest in Macross wanes with the 2nd Frontier movie now in theaters and with no new Macross anime coming, interest is disappearing. Less interest = less $$$.

But at the same time, they have people working on the interesting material and cutting them off before they are given a chance to finish would be unfair. So why not move that material to a new publication to encourage people to buy that new one. That new publication could also be used to finish some of their on-hold material.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, by my estimation we would normally be coming up on Vol. 009 soon, but with the recent developments I assume there will be no Vol. 009. Is my assumption correct? Vol. 008 is the last Macross ACE?

No, Vol.9 is coming out on June 25, along with Macross the First Vol. 3, and both Macross the Ride books.

Luckily for me, it's also payday. :D

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Awesome! Thanks for setting me straight. :)

That's, uh...as far as I know. Checking around, I can't seem to find any listing yet for Macross Ace Vol. 009...but that's not unusual. Amazon doesn't usually list it until just before publication, and Kadokawa doesn't list it until the day of publication.

So yeah...I guess we'll know for sure next Saturday. :unsure:

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That's, uh...as far as I know. Checking around, I can't seem to find any listing yet for Macross Ace Vol. 009...but that's not unusual. Amazon doesn't usually list it until just before publication, and Kadokawa doesn't list it until the day of publication.

So yeah...I guess we'll know for sure next Saturday. :unsure:

I haven't seen much activity from my usual sources. Normally, I would have it on pre-order by now. What's the prospect look like from your end?

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Did some searching. The only good news is that it hasn't been indicated as having been cancelled (Eg: the Japanese wikipedia article).

Does anyone know of any back-end (ie: industry distributor or wholesaler) ordering sites? The front-end stuff is, as Gubaba indicated, only listing the publication the day that it's at the printer or released in retailers...

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I phoned Kadokawa today. It's confirmed: Mac Ace is on "hiatus", its future is unclear but it definitely won't be out this weekend.

BTW, publishers seldom announce that mags have been cancelled officially. Technically Animec and Out are still on hiatus... 20 years on.

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I phoned Kadokawa today. It's confirmed: Mac Ace is on "hiatus", its future is unclear but it definitely won't be out this weekend.

BTW, publishers seldom announce that mags have been cancelled officially. Technically Animec and Out are still on hiatus... 20 years on.

Huh.

Well, that's lame.

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*Cracks pencilling fingers*

Alright... where did they leave off?

Ugh! Bad news.

Well...Macross the First will be continuing in some new magazine that's going to be starting up sometime soon. Macross F: Secret Visions disappeared from the magazine more than a year ago, with the debut of a Zentradi girl who idolizes Sheryl.

That leaves Macross 7th Code and Macross Plus: TAC Name as the only continuing (non-gag) comics left in the lurch. The last chapter of Macross Plus ended just as Sharon's concert on Eden was about to start, 7th Code ended with Mio playing the piano for some Zentradi or something.

Really not looking forward to the new magazine...Macross Ace could've been (a lot) better, but at least most of the stuff in it was stuff that I cared about...I'll be picking up the new magazine solely for Macross the First, which is never the ideal.

Oh well, at least I can say I did my part to help Macross Ace, since I bought two copies of every issue...

Edited by Gubaba
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Well, I'll be picking up Macross: The First Vol. 03 which will be out this Saturday. I assume it will have all the events up to Vol. 008? :unsure: Ya know, if Macross: The First was in a larger format and had all the color stuff like on Macross Ace I wouldn't mind just getting those. This sucks.

BTW, I'm still looking to unload my extra copy of Vol. 008 if anyone wants THE LAST Macross Ace ever. :p

Edited by sharky
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Well, I'll be picking up Macross: The First Vol. 03 which will be out this Saturday. I assume it will have all the events up to Vol. 008? :unsure: Ya know, if Macross: The First was in a larger format and had all the color stuff like on Macross Ace I wouldn't mind just getting those. This sucks.

BTW, I'm still looking to unload my extra copy of Vol. 008 if anyone wants THE LAST Macross Ace ever. :p

PM'ed u about 008.

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Well...Macross the First will be continuing in some new magazine that's going to be starting up sometime soon. Macross F: Secret Visions disappeared from the magazine more than a year ago, with the debut of a Zentradi girl who idolizes Sheryl.

That leaves Macross 7th Code and Macross Plus: TAC Name as the only continuing (non-gag) comics left in the lurch. The last chapter of Macross Plus ended just as Sharon's concert on Eden was about to start, 7th Code ended with Mio playing the piano for some Zentradi or something.

Really not looking forward to the new magazine...Macross Ace could've been (a lot) better, but at least most of the stuff in it was stuff that I cared about...I'll be picking up the new magazine solely for Macross the First, which is never the ideal.

Oh well, at least I can say I did my part to help Macross Ace, since I bought two copies of every issue...

That's true. I'm also glad they gave it a shot anyway.

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Man, I was hoping not to hear this news. I didn't realize it was coming, and I just put up a bunch of these for sale as well in the for sale section. Damnit. I was buying two copies of each as well, to show support, but alas, what can we do? I hope they are just regrouping, and I hope the magazine did well enough to warrant it to continue. So far, the news doesn't look good.

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Well, they owe me 50 yen for the stamp I put on the questionnaire postcard I sent back to them. :angry:

Q: "What would you like to see in the magazine in the future?"

My A: "Less crap."

Their A: "Then ya gets NUFFIN'!!" (Apparently)

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Well, they owe me 50 yen for the stamp I put on the questionnaire postcard I sent back to them. :angry:

Q: "What would you like to see in the magazine in the future?"

My A: "Less crap."

Their A: "Then ya gets NUFFIN'!!" (Apparently)

LOL

Seriously, I think the writing was on the wall, and we missed it. Both vol. 007 and 008 didn't have a next issue printing on <date> in the bottom corner of the last page. Probably 008 was going to be cancelled, but the publisher eventually relented and decided to rushed it out to capitalize on the release of the movie (and which would explain the lesser quality artwork in such things as Mechatronics and the YF-29 manga).

The numbers probably did the magazine in. I don't pretend to know what counts as a successful print run for these kinds of publications, but the Japanese wiki page says that the 2009.01 issue had a print-run of 120,000. Sounds big, but when one compares it to the 2,790,000 print run of Weekly Shonen Jump, it pales quickly (admittedly the uber popular Shonen Jump is not the best publication to compare a niche Macross Ace to.)

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LOL

Seriously, I think the writing was on the wall, and we missed it. Both vol. 007 and 008 didn't have a next issue printing on <date> in the bottom corner of the last page. Probably 008 was going to be cancelled, but the publisher eventually relented and decided to rushed it out to capitalize on the release of the movie (and which would explain the lesser quality artwork in such things as Mechatronics and the YF-29 manga).

The numbers probably did the magazine in. I don't pretend to know what counts as a successful print run for these kinds of publications, but the Japanese wiki page says that the 2009.01 issue had a print-run of 120,000. Sounds big, but when one compares it to the 2,790,000 print run of Weekly Shonen Jump, it pales quickly (admittedly the uber popular Shonen Jump is not the best publication to compare a niche Macross Ace to.)

I'm curious though if the print run is based on pre-orders somehow or simply an estimate of what they think they can sell. Were these very easy to find in bookstores in Japan, or would they sell out everytime? It's a shame that it didn't become more popular. :(

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