Seto Kaiba

Well, Tommy Yune has always maintained that Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles was a resounding financial success, and once he gave us an approximate figure for the show's budget, it wasn't hard to see why. If Tommy can be taken at his word, Harmony Gold spent less than $1 million (USD) on Shadow Chronicles. It's the business model many have come to see as typical of Harmony Gold... develop the product as cheaply as humanly possible and then turn around and sell it to the devoted (read "fanatical") fans with a ridiculously huge markup. That, combined with the forced scarcity of many of their products, means that their sales are almost all profit. From an objective standpoint, it shows that they understand their target audience perhaps a little better than they should...

Ever since Harmony Gold announced the existence of the live-action movie project, they've been focusing on that and nothing else. In the resulting brouhaha, Robotech: Shadow Rising seems to have fallen off the fanbase's radar until recently. Now, one of the most popular topics of speculation on Robotech.com and elsewhere is WHY Harmony Gold seems so reluctant to get Robotech: Shadow Rising done and out the door. Perhaps the most interesting theory yet proposed, and the one which seemed to offend Kevin McKeever the most, was the suggestion that Harmony Gold put Shadow Rising on the back burner with the intent to broom it along with the rest of the dated, legally-problematic "original" continuity in favor of a new animated series only loosely based on the original if the live-action movie is a success. (In short, the Transformers Animated business model)

Eh... another issue I really can't get worked up about. From the coverart it looks like this's gonna be the VF-17S Nightmare. Too much Macross 7 and Macross Dynamite 7 stuff lately... I want some more DYRL/FB2012/II stuff... especially after they dared tease me with new information in the VF-2SS sheet.

Yeah, that's pretty much the conclusion I arrived at. Oddly, about half of RobotechX's regulars ALSO arrived at that conclusion, said FGSFDS, and started building their own "by the fans for the fans" type site. More and more people are starting to notice the gaps in Harmony Gold's argument that they outright OWN the original Macross series. It's really putting McKeever and company in an interesting spot, because they have a choice between giving a straight answer, or coming back with more doubletalk and continuing to lose face.

The common sense answer to why they'd want them would be to keep any competing SW1-era Macross toys outta the US. Somehow, I figured you guys would find that eventually. In the beginning, I was trying to be helpful. I was nice. I was patient. I explained everything in small words that even an imbecile like Kevin McKeever could understand. The problem is that MEMO, like so many other die-hard Robotech fans these days, is determined to live in a fantasy world where Robotech is wildly popular and Harmony Gold owns everything Macross-related. I had a little bit of help from Maverick_LSC near the end, but then he bought into the bullshit and started an argument in Tatsunoko's favor where every assertion depended not on evidence, but on you accepting the previous unprovable assertion as the unimpeachable truth. Once I saw what was the wind was blowing, and that MEMO was prepared to continue acting like an ass in any thread that disagreed with his rose-colored fantasy of Robotech, I gave up trying. Fortunately, it wasn't a total loss. Most of the RobotechX membership are the reasonable, intelligent folks, who left Robotech.com because they got sick of Harmony Gold's bullshit, and they saw MEMO's Harmony Gold company line bullshit for what it was almost right away. Some of them are so annoyed with MEMO's obnoxious attempts to defend the Harmony Gold company line from legitimate criticism, and his attempts to excuse the asinine behavior of several die-hards who attack any criticism of Robotech as the work of "Macross purist trolls" that they're building their own site. (Somehow, I've once again been asked to recreate the Robotech.com Infopedia... does this surprise anyone?) In related news... there's a very interesting thread here: http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/re...&forumid=31 It looks like the natives are getting restless. I predicted that the fanbase was going to get fed up with waiting for the live-action movie and Shadow Rising, but I didn't think they were going to start heckling the powers that be THIS SOON. More and more people are taking a good, hard look at the legal status of Harmony Gold's claim to Macross, and how it's going to affect their future properties, and it's producing some interesting results. We may see a concrete statement of the situation from Harmony Gold in the near future. It would probably be a very smart move, as it would stop a lot of the uncomfortable questions they keep having to try to shift aside, and the last time they tried was back in 2002.

Um... if I remember right those missile pods do appear in some episodes of the Macross TV series. It's still a non-issue tho, as Harmony Gold does have the DYRL merchandising rights.

No thread, I'm afraid... chatroom on RobotechX. I manifest my evil self there from time to time on the request of some very optimistic friends of mine who are holding out hope that Robotech isn't completely dead.

Had a VERY interesting chat with one of the RT.com moderators, and got a very interesting fish story out of it. According to this rumor, which was implied to have originated from Tommy Yune, Warner is courting Big West for some toy licensing to go along with the live-action Robotech movie. Raised a fair few eyebrows in the chat, and then he went a-rambling with some longwinded fantasy wherein Warner Brothers buys Big West to get their hands on Macross.

Robotech Defenders what?

From Harmony Gold? Nah. They just keep repeating their same old line about how the litigation over Macross in Japan didn't affect them. MEMO was parroting it over there too.

Oh there's no doubt that he is... he's over there on his site preaching about how Harmony Gold OWNS Macross. That Roven's an idiot? Isn't the Voltron live-action movie project still tied up in the courts because the US distributor doesn't have the IP rights to GoLion?

I just got back from seeing it with some friends not too long ago... it did not wow me. If I had to pick one word to describe it, it would be "Schizophrenic". It can't seem to decide if it wants to be a mediocre fantasy/action film or a depressingly bad teenage romance comedy. The end result of trying to mash those two conflicting storylines together in cliffnotes form left me feeling like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had originally been two movies, filmed separately and spliced together. I'd really say this movie was a failure of editing, because so many scenes from the novel that should've been included because of their importance to the plot were left out, and so many scenes that did bugger all for the actual story were included. The "new" scenes, like the destruction of the Burrow, kind of leave you wondering if they were added just to get rid of surplus pyrotechnical supplies leftover from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

According to Tommy Yune, Harmony Gold wants to work with Big West to release the rest of Macross in the US, but Big West doesn't want to work with them (specifically, doesn't want them getting a cut of the profits just because they trademarked the name "Macross" in the US and abroad). I'm sure Kevin McKeever has his own spin on things, where Big West are big, evil tossers who want the still-beating heart of Carl Macek on a silver platter before they'll consider working together. I'd go so far as to say it's the LEAST vital topic here... Robotech is a shambling corpse of a franchise that has yet to produce anything new or interesting to realize the promise that its creators editors continue to claim it shows. If I had to ascribe one particular function to this thread, it would be trying to form a decent theory about why Tatsunoko is content to prolong the current state of affairs, rather than trying to mend fences, brooming the tired anachronism that is Robotech, and releasing Macross on a worldwide scale.

The only time I've ever been banned from an internet forum was back in 2004 or so, for posting several choice remarks about Doug Bendo, who at the time was doing his damnedest to draw me into a flame war. I got a temporary ban that was lifted after only a couple of hours, and Doug Bendo got a permanent ban. (I still say that's possibly my greatest service to the Robotech fanbase)

Recently, I had quite an interesting discussion with some fairly influential members of the Robotech fanbase about just this sort of thing. It seems that quite a few of the more vocal and fervent defenders of Robotech and Harmony Gold... particularly those who are very active in the fanbase... are motivated by the mistaken impression their hard work will land them a paid staff position working on Robotech for Harmony Gold. On an unrelated, but still interesting note... during that discussion an interesting theory was proposed about the whole Harmony Gold/Warner Bros partnership. With the huge emphasis on the live-action movie as thought it were a make-or-break situation for Robotech, some of them have started to think that Harmony Gold may be shopping around for someone with more experience to take over creative control of Robotech, leaving them free to just sit back and collect royalty checks. The theory is that the live-action movie project is to get Robotech back into the spotlight long enough to make it a marketable property for them to sell. Give it time... they're screwing over Brian McAfee pretty badly right now... I'm sure they'll get around to screwing MEMO over once they're finished.

On another note... I've heard from a few fairly reliable fans who still attend Harmony Gold's increasingly feeble convention panels that the forthcoming Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles game that they were hyping not too long ago will be, as we predicted, a cell phone game.

From what I've heard so far, the "celebrations" for Robotech's 25th anniversary aren't going to be anything worth writing home about... most of what I've heard about is fan-organized get-togethers. They'll probably trot out some sort of "25 years of Robotech" video at a special panel discussion each time (brace yourself for many dramatic accounts of how they spent 1987-1999 giving Carl Macek piggyback rides). Eh, I can maybe see them announcing a few more MPCs (probably Marcus with a "Super Shadow Fighter" and the Shadow Beta) and maybe the renewal of the super-poseable line, but another DVD re-release? Not bloody likely, they're still trying to convince people that Robotech Remastered and the Protoculture Collection are worth buying. Yeah. That's how the wisecracking cardboard cutout "best buddy" character died.

Doesn't he also shout "BOMBAAA!" in one of the episode previews?

Yeah, they've hinted that a few times in the past, but nothing has ever materialized. The closest they've done were those limited-edition bookends that had a Regult on one end. While Harmony Gold's marketing department may not have a solid grip on reality, their minds aren't completely out to lunch... they know full well that Masterpiece ANYTHING from the Masters Saga/Southern Cross won't sell. They did a poll a while back on their official site, asking what saga was the fanbase's favorite, and the results were pretty predictable... the vast majority voted Macross, a small but significant number voted New Generation, and almost nobody voted Masters. Fan interest in Masters Saga toys has ALWAYS been low... most fans detest the entire saga on principle. There have been a few petitions for Masters Saga merchandise beyond the Southern Cross Army mug and sweatshirt, but they usually peter out after the same five or six signatures. I think it's pretty safe to say that Southern Cross is the redheaded stepsaga of Robotech.

I think you may have been right on the money, actually. I popped into the RT.com chatroom briefly tonight, and was told that apparently Steve and Maverick_LSC were talking about me, and other members who "need to tone down their behavior". I was apparently close to the top of the list, because of my "negativity" about the franchise, which amuses me to no end. Not really, no. RobotechX is pretty much a separate entity from Seifrietti's Robotech Anthology project. More like they're TAUNTING Harmony Gold, secure in the knowledge that they can't do a damn thing. Remember, Big West owns the IP rights, not Harmony Gold. Ah, the public relations nightmare continues... I see McKeever's working hard to make the Hulu molehill into a mountain.

Far too much going on these days... of course, you can just turn on the news to hear all about why I'm so bloody busy. All the same, I prefer to keep a finger on the weak, thready pulse of Robotech fandom, simply for the sake of staying in the loop on HG's weakening stranglehold on Macross. If that means I have to put up with a couple idiots, so be it. Personally, I think the subject of how the powers that be at Harmony Gold are mistreating the Robotech fanbase is an excellent barometer for the health of the franchise. You have to remember, the Robotech franchise is essentially coasting on merchandise sales and the future potential of the live-action movie and Shadow Rising. The only thing that really changed between the last Robotech release drought and the current one is the type of merchandise that's keeping the franchise alive. In late 80's and 90's, what kept the franchise afloat was the inexpensive comic books. These days, it's $200 toys. Back then it wasn't a big deal to lose a few fans, because they were still pretty numerous, and the expected profit loss was minimal. Now, they're depending on a much smaller fanbase to buy outrageously-priced toys, and every die-hard who says "FGSFDS! I QUIT!" means less people spreading the word, and hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost revenue, and potential undercutting as fans who are sick of their poo broom their collections on eBay. If they continue alienating their increasingly skeptical and rapidly shrinking customer base, how much longer will they be able to keep convincing the higher-ups that renewing their Macross trademarks is worth the money? For that matter, how much longer will the higher-ups at Harmony Gold be willing to keep backing Robotech when the disgruntled fans stop buying the overpriced toys and re-released DVDs? If the live-action movie and/or Shadow Rising falls through, will there be enough fans left to keep the franchise alive until they can muster themselves for their next attempt?

Oh this is bad comedy... I get threatened with a ban for essentially doing nothing at all, and after three pages of personal attacks, flame-bait, and trolling, sanman gets this: I haven't heard back from Steve on my e-mailed complaint about Maverick yet, or on Maverick's assertion that e-mailing him to dispute his obviously BS judgment call constitutes harassment. EDIT: Oh this is REALLY amusing... it looks like he's trying to imply that at least a few of the people supporting me are using clone accounts to appear more numerous than they are. Suddenly, I fully appreciate why so many of the good contributors who used to go to Robotech.com have given up on the site and the fandom and gone to greener pastures.

Yeah, that was pretty much my assessment of the situation. I'd guess that Tommy knows full well that the chances of Seifrietti's Robotech Anthology being a success are pretty slim. He probably doesn't want to waste company resources on a book that most likely won't sell, and he doesn't want to say "no" and risk offending Seifrietti, who is one of the few remaining Robotech.com moderators, so he's giving him the runaround so he doesn't HAVE to say "no". I wonder if Seifrietti has realized it yet. And I am not one of them, hence my reluctance to get involved.

Eh, I really can't imagine there being any benefits to contributing to such a small site on that scale... unless you count sitting at the RobotechX booth at conventions... which I don't (Sorry MEMO). I can't say I have any real interest in contributing to the Robotech Codex either, since I've already got one time-consuming fan project on my plate... building my Macross II reference guide. Honestly, I'm not sure if I should show MEMO and Seifrietti a bit more respect because they're trying so hard to do something good for the fanbase with their respective fan magazines, or feel pity because they're working with the certain knowledge that they'll get screwed over by Harmony Gold just short of the finish line. I couldn't work under conditions like that. Sorry, brain's running on autopilot... I meant RDF HQ, which is, like RobotechX, a ghost town. In fact, the only real activity there in the past few days has been this post made by manofsan (aka sanman) about how to deal with "Macross purist trolls" (or rather, anyone who doesn't agree with his belief that RT is flawless). This guy's a hoot... it's like one of those murder mysteries where the murderer gets amnesia and starts investigating the crime himself, except with trolling. EDIT: Hmmm... it looks like Maverick_LSC's been here to see what I've been saying... I wonder if I'll be receiving a snide e-mail from him soon.

I'd bank on it being a bad year for Harmony Gold and Robotech just based on their pitiful offerings at the panel discussions they've done. With the live-action movie still a distant POSSIBILITY on the horizon and Shadow Rising going nowhere fast and gathering essentially no fan interest at all (seriously, NOBODY, even on Robotech.com, seems to care about it), they're back to where they were in '01, coasting solely on toy sales and the pitiful re-releases of their DVDs. Well, that presents its own particular set of problems... In its current state, Robotech's continuity is a horrible, fractal cluster-fart of contradictory stories. If you thought the confusion about whether DYRL or the TV series was the right version of Space War 1 is bad, Robotech is a billion times worse. Because Harmony Gold got into the habit of giving licenses to anyone who could spell their own name in three tries or less, half of the stuff they produced back then reads like it was written by someone whose total knowledge of Robotech is a single, vague recollection of the back of a VHS box from some five years previous. Despite Harmony Gold's declaration that all that garbage was non-canon, the fandom has taken it upon itself to mirror the fractured, confused, often nonsensical state of the continuity. You have the purists, who hold the TV series above all else, the McKinneyists, who think the novels are the be-all end-all of Robotech, the fans of the comics, who really don't have a fancy name and think the now non-canon comics are the bee's knees, and the Universalists, who want to smash all the contradictory stories of the TV series, novels, comics, non-canon side-stories, etc. into one big messy whole and call it official. Because the fandom is so heavily divided, it's almost impossible to get them to give a poo about any one thing or any one fan site. This, of course, makes it impossible for them to congregate at any one fan-site. The two big fansites are RobotechX and RDF Underground, but both of those are essentially ghost towns, where most of the members seem to have given up and moved on, leaving only a few devoted contributors keeping the place moving. I avoid going to RDF Underground, because I see the population of that site as a bunch of Bizarro-world beings with completely alien concepts of fun and entertainment, but I do visit RobotechX from time to time. RobotechX is the only site with any real concessions to a fan-made Robotech encyclopedia, but it seems to be done from a Universalist approach, and with the active population of the site numbering some six people, those of us who actually know the source materials and the few authoritative Robotech books well simply cannot be arsed to do anything with it. We have better, less tedious things to do, like counting the number of atoms in our monitors, calculating the growth rate of our front lawns, or reciting the complete text of War and Peace backwards in Hindi.