Mr March
-
Posts
9190 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Everything posted by Mr March
-
Careful...I never said Macross II wasn't Macross just because I have an opinion on the Gundam-like appearance of the Metal Siren. The destroids look nothing like Valkyries and they are as much Macross as Minmay But yes, quality is my only benchmark. I think the one thing folks have to understand - and SHOULD be an absolute requirement for all long time fans - is to have self-awareness about what Macross means now living in the world after it's release. Once any creative art/entertainment is released, the fans should come to terms with it. We live in a post-Macross world and we as fans can't ever look at life the same way as it was before Macross came to be, at the risk of sounding a little melodramatic. Point being, fans should neither hold any subsequent Macross (or otherwise) to the nostalgica benchmark the original set nor should fans exploit their love of Macross as a poor excuse to defend poor sequels. That's all I want to advocate and I hope the next Macross series stands well on the strength of it's own merits.
-
Aww, thanks Kaneda Sandman I definitely understand what you're saying. Shoji Kawamori - by virtue of being an aviation enthusiast - granted all his Valkyrie creations a certain level of stylistic realism and aerodynamic plausibility that would be very hard for even a master to reproduce or extrapolate. I agree with your example that the VF-2SS Valkyrie II - for all the merits of it's appealing style - doesn't feel like a Macross mecha as established by the collective aesthetic of the Kawamori designed Valks. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Metal Siren is downright Gundam-ized to the point that it doesn't even feel like it belongs in the same universe. So yeah, I agree it'd be a hard break at this point in such a long tooth franchise. 1/1 LowViz Lurker Wow, that is a lot of weird stuff jvmacross Kinda, but again for art/entertainment to be great (at least for me) it doesn't need to kau tau to the old school nostalgia of my formative years. In fact that slavish reverence to - and exploitation of - old pop culture is precisely what's wrong with entertainment today (at least North American entertainment). Modern entertainment need only achieve greatness on it's own merits. To me, The Raid is every bit the classic that is Die Hard. The Matrix, Inception and The Avengers are every bit as precious to me as The Road Warrior, Alien and Star Wars. And at the risk of offending the denizens of a Macross board, Cowboy Bebop shares the same place in my heart as Super DImension Fortress Macross (gasp!). Too bad it doesn't have enough mecha I don't need the next Macross to be "like" this or that; in fact, if the next Macross series was less like any Macross that came before it, that would be ideal...as long as it's good
-
jvmacross don't misunderstand me, I'm not advocating the nostalgia viewer or their demands. In fact, my position is that a change of generation is what's needed to make Macross relevant (at least for me personally). I don't want a new Macross series to beat my nostalgia and it doesn't have to; all it needs is to be good on it's own merits and I'm in love. The first new Star Trek (2009) film is a perfect example; it didn't beat 20+ years of nostalgic love for a franchise of my youth and it didn't have to; it just had to be good on it's own merits and it was great! To my mind, Macross Plus WAS that example for the Macross franchise; it went in a completely different direction, smaller scope, different tone and yet was unmistakably a brilliant Macross sequel done right. Macross Plus didn't have to beat SDF Macross or my nostalgia cause it was just great Macross. That's all I need. Regarding Sandman and Vifam7 points, I agree that not a lot of people have been given the opportunity to design Valkyrie-like mecha either in or out of the Macross franchise. But again, don't misunderstand me; I don't believe Kawamori's the only human being capable of designing an accomplished transforming fighter/robot. All I'm saying is there are more who can't than can even among the ranks of the great mecha designers. Kawamori has basically created his own micro-economy of demand in which he is simply the best supplier, so the vendors find alternatives difficult to obtain, if you follow my analogy I just don't think Kawamori divorced Macross is likely to happen or is a thing that anyone on the production side even wants to contemplate. The Kawamori Macross installments have all been successful, especially Frontier. So there's every reason to expect Kawamori will lead once again. But new creative control would be nice
-
Ugh, too many Lucas/Star Wars analogies! Anyway, don't mean to single you out...but yeah My venting aside, I agree with you that passing the torch would be the ideal scenario for the next Macross production. In the opinion of an older fan like myself, the new creative ideas of a new generation are needed to make Macross relevant socially, dramatically and emotionally as both a piece of entertainment and as a work of art. If they did do a Protoculture story as a series, it wouldn't be hard to get transforming fighters in there and then simply write them out with the collapse of the Protoculture. Even I could credibly write that. Besides, Kawamori wouldn't have it any other way However, Macross as a franchise is sadly in a UNIQUE situation that "other" (chortle) franchises are not. Kawamori achieved something very rare nearly 30 years ago which was basically the creation (and subsequent continued occupancy) of his very own mechanical design niche for mecha anime. While hundreds of mechanical designers could each legitimately claim the crown of the greatest mecha designs of all time, the specific "transforming jet fighter/robot" crown was bestowed upon Kawamori and no one has come close to seizing that crown since. In fact, almost no one else has even tried with any level of accomplishment approaching Kawamori. Whatever else it may be, Macross IS the transforming jet fighter/robot. It's easy to call for Kawamori to lend only his design talents to the next Macross, but how do you involve a guy like Kawamori in Macross while keeping him out of the script/story? I can enjoy the mecha porn, music, action and animation of something like Macross Frontier, but Frontier's offerings weren't enough to elevate that series to the level of dramatic/emotional payoff provided by SDF Macross, DYRL? and Macross Plus, which remain my favorites. Frontier came closer than the other Macross sequels since the aforementioned, but couldn't win the race. I'd kill to love a Macross sequel as much as DYRL? or Macross Plus again. But I don't have much faith that will happen. I hope I'm wrong.
-
The level of detail in each new picture is amazing. We never got to see any UN Spacy cannons opening and firing until Macross Frontier came along some 25 years later. So it's really nice to see a fan like you going back to re-imagine the way those old SDF-1 Macross cannons would have opened up and fired. Correspondingly, it also helps us to imagine the guns on the ARMD Class Carriers and other UN Spacy craft from Space War I. Well done!
-
I don't want to speak for others, but I think most of us understand Kawamori's tendencies and his storytelling interests. I don't think more Macross is going to be done without Kawamori in the lead (not just mechanical designer), so I don't think expecting another groundbreaking, genre-bending series like SDF Macross is at all realistic. If you're looking for that, I don't think Macross is the place to find that as long as Kawamori is doing it. What we can realistically expect of the Macross franchise at this point is something of the same quality as Macross Frontier. I enjoyed Macross Frontier but I know some didn't. But I can't imagine another "Macross Plus" scenario in the future for the franchise. I hope I'm wrong. I'd welcome new blood into the franchise, certainly helped when Shinichiro Watanabe came along Maybe I should've said a new Macross series handling the Protoculture can't be done as a TV series the way they've been doing TV series to date...in the way I would want a proper Protoculture story to be told. No time travel
-
Definitely don't agree with the Star Wars/Lucas analogy to the Protoculture (especially because good writing has no such caveats). However, I will agree that a story about the Protoculure could not be done as the Macross franchise has been handling the TV series to date. It would have to be an OVA of film so they could go with a different tone entirely. That being said, the re-animated SDF Macross series is a great idea. As you said, an excellent way to re-establish copyright internationally and profit from their existing property in Japan. I don't see it happening with Kawamori involved because he's only interested in making new stories and has said repeatedly the story of Hikaru, Misa and Minmay is over. Sadly Big West (and it seems most anime producers) still don't care much for foreign interest in the Macross property so the motivation to earn back the international market seems irrelvant if I were to guess. Still, it's an amazing idea and a great way to reintroduce the classic to younger audiences who will only watch "new" anime. Reminds me of the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 remake, which is doing well.
-
Magnets!
-
I've revised all the gun pods for the next update, so I have some new scans. Don't want to spoil too much, so here's just the black and white line art. It's the best pic I have.
-
The VF-X2 video game predates Macross Frontier and the concept of Fold Quartz by almost a decade so I don't think that lens would be Fold Quartz. Though with retconn, anything is possible
-
The tone of that trailer is beyond schizophrenic. Visually it looks like Nolan/Pfister, setting looks like self-serious action movie and then dialog/character is going for Joss Whedon's Avengers. Combined result is terrible. The clashing tone could just be the trailer, but TMNT doesn't work with dark/gritty/realistic. It has to be fun/comedy/cheesy to work. This trailer has tone of the characters at a complete 180 to the tone of the setting and story. Steaming pile of pants. -
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in theaters April 4, 2014
Mr March replied to azrael's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Embrace your geek guilt -
Did someone say Music bullets? I suppose this spoils a little of the next update, but it's the announcement of a new Macross series. A little celebration is in order
-
I think it's a safe bet the new Macross series is going to be something totally new with a new setting and new characters. Isn't it always? Don't see much reason to think it'll be anywhere near The Ride, 30 or Megaroad. But I suppose we've nothing else to go on since the announcement, so speculation is all there is.
-
Dear gawd no. Please no. I don't want to do this a third damned time...
-
For some reason I wasn't expecting a new Macross TV series any time soon. But I guess 6 years is a while. Exciting news for sure.
-
'Jem and the Holograms' Live action
Mr March replied to Old_Nash's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
"Cool" doesn't come anywhere near any of this Well, at least the "news" and "reaction" about this will be entertaining, if nothing else is -
X-Men: Days of Future Past, in theaters May 23, 2014
Mr March replied to azrael's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I am impressed by the trailer, but I'm still not swayed. I want to hear what my podcasts have to say and any word of mouth about this film BEFORE I go near it. The X-Men films have been mediocre for a long time and I'm not so enamored with the franchise that I'll endure another "okay X-Men film". Bryan Singer started out as a very promising filmmaker, making solid films from The Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil to X-Men and X2. But after that, quality dropped off sharply; only "Valkyrie" had any spark to it and that wasn't enough to call it great. His X-films may have been the only good ones, but his subsequent bad reputation is a big hurdle to overcome in convincing me he's still worth watching. The year 2003 was a LONG time ago and I'm not willing to carry anyone that long unless they prove worth carrying. -
Never expected a VF-9 Cutlass GERWALK as the marquee painting. That's different.
-
Looks just like the line art. Great work. I posted a bunch of line art reference in the other Monster thread if you need it, but it looks like you got it covered
-
Those beam cannons look amazing. You've really managed to give them some fine detail that blends right in with the rest of your model. Bravo!
-
Well, I have to downsize the pictures for display on a 1920 x 1080 monitor when I post them on the M3 (typically 900-1,000 pixels in the largest dimension). We'll have to wait quite a few years to see the 10,000+ pixel pictures I've built displayed in NATIVE resolution (which is kinda the point, planning for the future and all that sorta crap). The website update is coming along. I've got over 160 new individual pieces of art colored for the next update (not including variants). So close...just need a little more time. Who has the time? But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time
-
I worked at a resolution of 2,000 to 3,000 pixels for most art in the original version of my website with plenty of the pictures that were sadly below even that. Since my access to art books has improved and my scanner/computer has far surpassed my earlier hardware, I've gone into the stratosphere with resolution. Most of the pictures I color now are 5,000+ pixels in the largest dimension and a good third of my new pictures are 10,000+ pixels Just do them all; that's what I do, LOL
-
Ah, interesting. I went through all my issues quickly at the time the question was asked and I looked only at the primary image. Didn't notice the small guy at the bottom
-
Thanks for posting! It is a treat to see the Macross mecha hand animated again. The "labelled" micro missile is a hilarious in-joke. It's interesting to see the animated version of the VF-25. It looks really good, perhaps even more aesthetically interesting than the 3D model. But maybe that's just nostalgic fanboy speaking Turning a critical eye toward the advert, the modern production values seem to enhance the video but the animation adeptness isn't really all that impressive. The drawn detail is actually quite low. Much better than SDF Macross or the average episode of Macross 7, but doesn't even approach a level like that of Macross Plus or DYRL. Kinda strange considering this advert is so short, I would have expected the quality to be higher.
