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TheLoneWolf

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  1. TheLoneWolf
    Thanks for the clarification! I'm glad to hear that that group went through the proper channels to obtain their interview and I sincerely apologize to you and to them for insinuating otherwise. The elevator portion did occur because I can remember questions being asked that don't appear in your post, such as whether Kawamori would be interested in coming to Awesome Con. It probably wasn't recorded. The first panel only permitted photography of Kawamori and the stage, not his slides. The second panel had a blanket ban on all photography. The group's photographer took pictures of all of Kawamori's slides, which seems pretty inexcusable to me.
  2. TheLoneWolf
    I generally try to avoid pontificating, but I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned here. I happened to witness this "guerilla interview" at Otakon and hopefully other peope in the future can avoid doing this type of thing. I was waiting to catch an elevator when I saw this group follow Kawamori as he left his panel. When Kawamori got in the elevator with me, the group followed him in, effectively trapping him inside while peppering him with questions. Judging by Kawamori's body language, this was making him very uncomfortable, but the group either didn't notice or didn't care. After Kawamori got off on his floor, the group followed him out, still asking him with questions. While it's possible that Kawamori may have agreed to do an improptu interview, it was probably made out of politeness, not because he wanted one. Otakon had a page where people could sign up to schedule an interview with Kawamori; this was avoidable and in bad taste. When Kawamori walked inside that small elevator, that should've been their cue to end the interview. On top of this, during Kawamori's second panel presentation, he specifically asked the audience not to take any pictures of him nor the slides that he was showing. But the guy in the right hand side of that group photo (wearing the black shirt with the poster tube sling over his shoulder), proceeded to take pictures of every single slide that Kawamori showed. There was even a large sign on Kawamori's table that told the audience not to take any pictures. While some of the pictures that Kawamori showed were common pictures that can be found in any artbook, some of them were private pictures on him on vacation and his hometown. I think it's safe to say that Kawamori didn't want his personal photos being permanently stored on a stranger's hard drive. Since this person was sitting near the front, Kawamori's personal interpreter noticed him taking photos on multiple occassions, but probably wanted to avoid a scene by alerting the Otakon staff. In any case, she probably told Kawamori what happened afterwards. This is important because it's difficult for East Coast conventions to convince Japanese artists to make the long trip from Japan to the East Coast. While Washington, DC and New York are tourist sites, they just can't compete with the appeal of Los Angeles and Hollywood. When Japanese guests agree to make the 12+ hour trip from Japan to the East Coast, they usually arrive the day before the con (due to their busy schedule back home), which doesn't leave them with any time to recover from the jetlag. When they get to the convention, their days are packed with panel presentations, autograph sessions, and giving media interviews. When you combine that with their jetlag, they're left weary and understandably stressed. When Kawamori left his panel (which lasted longer than expected), he was on his way to do a 90 minute autograph session. That short amount of time between events was supposed to be his time to catch his breath. It's no secret that Japanese artists share their experiences at American conventions with their colleagues, and incidents like these may deter Kawamori and others from Otakon. If that happens, then it's the fans who lose out.
  3. TheLoneWolf
    As some of you may have heard, Shoji Kawamori appeared at Otakon earlier this year. He gave two panel presentations: one on designs and original concepts and another one on the history of Macross. A transcription of his first panel has been posted on MW's mainpage and the second one will be published at a later date. Enjoy! http://www.macrossworld.com/shoji-kawamoris-panel-at-otakon-2018-part-1
  4. TheLoneWolf
    Considering that the excellent HMR Monster can still be found at a discounted price 2 years after its release, KC would have to be stupid to try their hand at one.
  5. TheLoneWolf
    I don't think the unfortunate residents of Hell will have to worry about finding a new home just yet, considering there's a long list of unreleased Robotech toys. But in all seriousness, I hope this line does hit retail. It's hard to find a more passionate fanbase than Southern Cross fans.
  6. TheLoneWolf
    Most likely. While Harmony Gold does hold the license for DYRL toys in USA, third party companies probably have to pay a separate licensing fee for that, since DYRL isn't part of Robotech. That being said, I'm tempted to pick up some of these action figures after hearing the positive reviews and that they scale well with Sentinel's Ride Armors.
  7. TheLoneWolf
    I'm in shock. All of Daredevil's seasons had excellent reviews and I refuse to believe that it fell victim to a lack of viewership. Maybe Disney's exponentially increased show's licensing fees just to bring the show back under their roof.
  8. TheLoneWolf
    I'm referring to the movies. I saw most of them before I started reading the books and thought that Voldemort's backstory and motivations were pretty flimsy in them. Obviously the movies could only cover so much material, but I think they missed a golden opportunity to give him more substance. As the primary villain of multiple movies, it's a shame he didn't get more.
  9. TheLoneWolf
    I saw The Crimes of Grindelwald and was underwhelmed. It's not a bad movie, but it's certainly not as good as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. When it ended, I was thinking "Was that it?!"; it just felt incomplete. A lot of writers struggle with stepping-stone movies, but I was surprised that J.K. Rowling struggled with it this time, especially when all the Harry Potter books/movies could individually stand on their own feet. One of my biggest concerns going into the movie was seeing Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald. Eddie Redmayne's portrayal of Newt Scamander is a perfect example of an actor owning a role that was given to him. But Depp's performance, while acceptable, isn't a memorable one. I really liked how the movie gave Grindelwald a compelling motivation behind his actions and why he's able to accumulate so many loyal followers. I found it much more plausible than Voldemort's shallow motivations.
  10. TheLoneWolf
    Here's another vote for Robotech: Firewalkers. While 95% of Robotech comic books are rubbish, this is one of the few good ones. It told a short, solid story accompanied by good artwork for its time. Unlike most other Robotech comic books, that shamelessly (and poorly) ripped off the Japanese line art, the mecha illustrations here are both good and original.
  11. TheLoneWolf

    Hi-Metal R

    TheLoneWolf replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    If Bandai wants to make up for leaving out Nexx, they could always release a VF-2JA and include Nexx, since he also piloted that VF. I know, wishful thinking. Or, if Bandai wants to save some tooling costs, they could release the VF-XS Super Valkyrie II and include Nexx, since it has no designated pilot. I know, that's really wishful thinking.
  12. TheLoneWolf

    Hi-Metal R

    TheLoneWolf replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    To make things even more embarrassing for Bandai, Hibiki's flightsuit is specifically designed for civilians. It's possible that Hibiki wouldn't be able to properly pilot a VF-2SS in his civilian flightsuit, as the cockpit's chair is designed to mount onto the shoulderpads of military flightsuits.
  13. TheLoneWolf

    Hi-Metal R

    TheLoneWolf replied to joppewo's topic in Toys

    It's understandable that you feel like importing Macross toys is illegal, especially after seeing all the legal actions taken by Harmony Gold against retailers like BigBadToyStore. But as a private citizen who's importing these products for personal use, not business use, you're not doing anything illegal. Jurisdiction Since you're buying these toys from Japanese retailers located in Japan, the sale is considered as taking place on Japanese soil, therefore none of Harmony Gold's rights are infringed. Even though the Internet has no actual "soil," the retailers are still registered in Japan and don't actively market (ie: junk mailings, paid advertisements, etc.) their Macross products in the US, so Japan is still considered as having jurisidiction. Simply having a website in English isn't enough to give the US and Harmony Gold jurisdiction, the Japanese retailer would still have to actively market their Macross products in the US. Importing the Toys into the US After you've purchased your Macross toy from a Japanese retailer, importing your toy into the US is still legal if it's for your personal use. However, if you purchased dozens of toys with the intent to resell them in the US, then you would be running afoul of US trademark laws, as Harmony Gold has registered the name "MACROSS" as a trademark and claimed the UN Spacy kite symbol as another one of their trademarks. Even users such as sh9000, who these toys by the dozen, are safe because we can clearly see from his posts that he buys them primarily for customization and army building, not for business resale. With that said, I'm pumped for the Hikaru VF-4! I hope there'll be a few available at release as I wasn't able to get a preorder.
  14. TheLoneWolf
    It was most likely sold at conventions and through fansub catalogs in the 1980's and early 90's. Even though it's a bootleg, it's undoubtedly a piece of Macross fan history. It harkens back to a time before ebay and torrents, where finding authentic Macross videos was rare and expensive for American fans. Whoever initially bought that VHS tape probably felt like they won the lottery back then.
  15. TheLoneWolf
    Since there's no manufacturer or licensor information, it's safe to assume that it's a fan copy (ie: bootleg). Before officially licensed anime was the norm, these were pretty common and sold fairly well. Here's an example of some more. https://img00.deviantart.net/7b6c/i/2011/192/9/d/vkll_fansub_vhs_by_mewmew34-d3n2804.jpg
  16. TheLoneWolf
    Oh wow, I hope that commercial didn't appear as cringey to Japanese fans as it does to us. I'd say that the English portions of that commercial were filmed just in case Yamato's subsidiary, Sunwards, managed to prevail in court against Harmony Gold. But since that never happened, we never got to see it over here; lucky us! And I don't recognize who the American is, but his t-shirt looks like the custom t-shirts that were sold here on the forums way back in the day. That probably makes him an old member of the forums, or someone who was a friend of someone here.
  17. TheLoneWolf
    It looks like Iron Fist and Luke Cage may have been cancelled due to financial belt-tightening, as this article reports that Netflix is trying to raise a serious amount of money in order to keep its original content afloat. If this is indeed the case, then Netflix's future big-budget shows, not just Marvel's, are going to have high expectations and small margins for errors. https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/22/netflix-to-raise-2-billion-in-debt-to-fund-more-original-content/
  18. TheLoneWolf
    I can't say I'm surprised the two were cancelled. Iron Fist's disastrous first season left it with bad reputation. And I don't remember seeing any major publicity or accolades for Luke Cage season 2 (it's almost like it snuck out), which doesn't bode well for ratings. After reading that Netflix's Marvel shows are expensive to produce, the writing was on the wall. Since money is such a large factor, I can see Netflix combining the two shows together, ala the comic book, to save money. And if Jessica Jones' third season isn't a ratings hit, then I can see her also being rolled into that show, just like the comic book. While Netflix won't be carrying any more movies and shows exclusively owned by Disney, I believe that Netflix's Marvel shows are are different case. I believe that these shows are jointly owned by Netflix and Marvel/Disney, so Marvel/Disney can't take them away from Netflix without Netflix's approval or for a breach of contract. If Netflix sits on the characters for X number of years, then there's probably a provision in the contract that would return the characters to Disney (eg: Ben Affleck's Daredevil).
  19. TheLoneWolf
    As someone who enjoys riding horses, I could see the mechanical horses being utilized by the Forest and/or Mountain Squads, as loud and lumbering mecha may not have been practical in those terrains. But we'll never know for sure since the show was cancelled before those regions were explored. As for the Imai Files, as invaluable as they are, they shouldn't be considered a comprehensive inventory of all the unused SDC Southern Cross designs. The date stamps indicate that the Imai Files were compiled during pre-production. Any designs/revisions created during production wouldn't have been included.
  20. TheLoneWolf
    Is it just me, or does it look like there's a slight hint of pink in the white plastic?
  21. TheLoneWolf
    Good finds! I remember reading somewhere that the horses and chariot from slides 42 and 44 were unused designs from SDC Southern Cross. It appears they were slightly redesigned and simplified (probably to make it easier to animate and produce toys) for Robotech II: The Sentinels. I think you're right on the money about Tatsunoko just spitballing ideas when it came to combining the Prototype Cycle to a horse to become the Sentinels Chariot. It was probably sent to Harmony Gold with a note saying "What do you think?"
  22. TheLoneWolf
    I wish Fext Hobby would release some colored armors. I don't know if they're simply paying an homage to the source material and/or trying to save money, but having white armor with uninspired trims looks pretty bland. While rehashing the GBP's color scheme would probably draw unwanted attention from Big West and Bandai's attorneys, there's got to be someone in Fext Hobby who can put together a brilliant color scheme for this armor.
  23. TheLoneWolf
    I doubt the Prototype Cyclone was meant to transform. The Sentinels' toy sponsor, Matchbox, was a newcomer to the field of plastic toys. Matchbox probably told Harmony Gold to keep the new mecha in The Sentinels fairly simple because they didn't have the talent nor the money to engineer elaborate transformations, as evidenced by their disastrous line of Robotech toys.
  24. TheLoneWolf
    I'd say slim to none. If Sony's too cheap to include Bluetooth functionality and an AC adapter with the PS Classic, then they're probably not going to spend money on wi-fi capabilities and an OS capable of connecting to the PSN either. Sony's probably targeting the PS Classic towards casual gamers who just want to power on the system and start playing right away.
  25. TheLoneWolf
    My mistake, I completely missed your post. I was wondering why no one had mentioned it since it's highly relevant to this thread.
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