Seto Kaiba

Wasn't there a rumor going around that they were going to give a couple B-list characters some bigger roles this time around? I think the big one they mentioned was Klan Klan?

Yeah, I noticed he was having trouble reading the IMs users were submitting during his podcast. Initially, I thought he was just illiterate since the guest access looks like a pretty standard chatroom. After trying the TalkShoe Live client for myself and bearing witness to that strange left-scrolling mutant offspring of AppleTalk that is its chat function, I had to revise my opinion somewhat. Now I think he's just mildly dyslexic, which would account for how he gets sentences a bit mixed up when he's reading quickly. Can you really blame her for shooting that down? Hell, I'd do anything in my power to avoid having to read the septic swill called the McKinney novels aloud in front of ANYONE. Reading it aloud on a podcast would be right out.

You can bet that Maverick bought into that... though I'll wager he also got the idea that Harmony Gold has creative control over the movie from McKeever's statement that Harmony Gold would have "a say" in the production of the movie. Of course he does... that's his job. Kevin McKeever's the marketing director for that ghastly mess we know as the Robotech franchise. Like any marketeer, his job is to use fraud, deception, and misdirection to preserve the image and reputation of his employers and make their products appealing to the gullible. Ultimately, he has no duty to the truth, his goal is a simple one... to ensure that what's left of the fanbase doesn't lose interest. In order to achieve that goal, he needs to make the fans think that great things are happening, and that the live-action movie is going to be just as good as the current competition (Transformers). Whether or not the movie actually lives up to those promises, and when the promises themselves are made, is entirely immaterial. To him, all that really matters is he builds interest in the movie with all of the bullshit and the hype.

Hmmm... unless I miss my mark, #1 is the school uniform from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, #2 is the colors of Lupin's clothes from Lupin III, #4 is clearly EVA-01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm tempted to say that #6 is a Zaku... not sure about the rest. Also, deep down I know I should be horrified that I was able to decipher that many of them... but I just can't get worked up over it after pissing away fairly half the workday goofing off and using a client's company property to watch King of Bandit Jing in high-def on the clock.

Yeah, I found that odd too... particularly since his pattern was (and still is) one of trying to exploit what little authority he has as a moderator on Robotech.com to be dismissive of the opinions of others, to make himself out to be far better-informed than he actually is, and to present his personal opinions as though they were fact. It was an odd disconnect, seeing him try to be dismissive of the whole thing. My guess would be that he thought if he couldn't clout his way to the status of a respected authority in the community, he could always belittle those who wouldn't respect him from afar. Also remember the regard his wife has for his anime hobby... I expect if he made a podcast that fan-geekery, he'd be sleeping on the sofa until his kids were in college.

In my experience, Maverick_LSC has a bad habit of making questionable claims and exploiting his mod status to post his opinions as though they were fact, regardless of whether or not they actually resemble reality. Like MEMO, Maverick's a long-time Harmony Gold suckup, though instead of being motivated by the misguided belief that it'll eventually land him a job, Maverick's motivation appears to be a simple desire to increase his standing in what remains of the fanbase. He's the type who desperately wants to have connections and an inside track on the franchise, or at least make people think he does, because he thinks that'll make him better than the average fan and earn him the respect and admiration of his former peers. For Maverick_LSC, the problem is that he has no way to legitimately come by the respect of his peers. He doesn't have any connections at Harmony Gold or an inside track on the Robotech franchise. He doesn't even know much about Robotech itself. All he really has is a position of fake authority as a moderator on a corporate fansite that he got by kissing ass and working for free at conventions, which didn't really do anything for his standing in the community. As a result, the only way he can actually make himself appear well-informed is to use his mod powers to silence anyone who knows more than he does. That way, he can make ridiculous claims and talk with authority about subjects he doesn't understand without fear of being contradicted and exposed as the fraud he is.

Really? I could've sworn it was something to do with throwing holy water and shouting "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!" or something along those lines. Now that you've mentioned it... that "destroids" sheet is probably the Macross II destroids. They've already given pretty thorough coverage to the main flavors of destroid from SDF:M and DYRL, and they'd probably call the Cheyenne and/or Cheyenne II by name. The only group they haven't touched on is the AU destroids.

It's also 100% possible that some deluded fool out there is certain that it's due to Robotech! Like MEMO, Maverick desperately wants people to think that he's got connections, when he really doesn't. Something like 3, maybe 4 years now?

Well, Maverick fancies himself a bit of an expert on the film industry because he CLAIMS to work in something related to production. I forget exactly what he does, but it seems like pretentious bullshit comes as a free side dish when you order the Harmony Gold propagnada. As far as Robotech's popularity goes, he's one of those who lives in a fantasy world where Robotech actually has more than just a handful of fans. Last I checked, Transformers had ALWAYS been infinitely more popular than Robotech... and that the far more competently produced and advertised Transformers movie was a prime factor in the failure of Robotech's first movie... to say nothing of the fact that the G1 Transformers series outperformed Robotech so badly during their initial runs that calling Robotech its competition is borderline absurd. After all, which one does everyone remember after all these years? (If you answered "Robotech", I'm going to have to ask you to leave some organs behind to ensure the safety of the gene pool)

"Might be"? Unless I'm forgetting something they've only covered TWO... the ships of the fleet, and the Gigamesh. What about the Mardook's Zentradi-use battle pods, powered suits, and that unnamed variable mecha from the last two eps? We ought to have AT LEAST four more U.N. Spacy mechanic sheets and possibly one civilian mechanic sheet coming. They have yet to cover the Gloria, the standard battleship, the rescue ship, the remodeled SDF-1 Macross, the VF-2SS w/ Super Armed Packs (B-sheet), the VF-2JA, the Metal Siren w/ replica, the VF-XX Zentradi Valkyrie, the five new destroid models, and all the background and civilian vehicles like Hibiki's motorcycle, Nex and Sylvie's cars, that VTOL ambulance plane, the shuttle Hibiki and Ishtar take to the moon, those roving cameras used during the Moon Festival, etc. The way I see it, that'll probably be maybe two more Mardook mecha sheets, two more U.N. Spacy ship sheets, three more VF mechanic sheets, maybe one four-page spread for the destroids and VF-XX, and a second four-page spread for all the remaining civilian stuff. If they do, you can bet it'll be in the LAST issue or two. I talked to him on WLM a couple days ago, but I forget why he couldn't get online... I think it was computer trouble.

Truly. I'm waiting eagerly for the Sheryl Nome costume that's just three self-adhesive stickers. What? And here I was betting they'd just charge in within arm's reach of his valkyrie and sit there listening while making a face like they're trying hard not to sneeze. (also known as the "Sivil Maneuver")

Eh, I'm not so sure... what're the odds we'll just get another 15 issues of VF-1 filler? I'm not singling the timeline sheet out... I'm talking 'bout the whole damn thing. There's more to Macross (mecha-wise) than just the VF-1, VF-0, and VF-25... and there's a hell of a lot more in the way of characters than just Minmay, Mylene, and clumps of background characters. Can someone check and see if Sketchley died recently? Gubaba seems to be channeling his ghost.

It's kind of sad that the only article on this list I'm even remotely curious about is "Macross loading machines". Sheryl Nome's always well and good, couldn't care less 'bout another background mook sheet, or the Macross 7 stuff... but I'm somewhat curious to see what the Chlore sheet has. That sound you hear is my interest in buying the rest of Macross Chronicle plummeting. Where the hell is the variety... it's all SDF:M, 7, and Zero lately. There's a ton of Macross II stuff left uncovered (where's my Metal Siren, my Icarus, and my Valkyrie II B-sheet?), and even a decent amount of stuff from Macross Plus and Macross Frontier that could be covered instead. 'kay, mildly curious as to what's in this one... What? Does chaff really deserve such coverage? Hmmm...

Excellent work.

It'd be more interesting if it didn't have a few errors that're driving me up a frickin' tree... I can't FIX them there because I'm now persona non grata on that site. Considering posting an updated version here in the near future. Does he means that pink frilly getup Ranka's wearing in the upper left of this image? http://file.asagawo.blog.shinobi.jp/091109-GKMAC-8.jpg It does look a wee bit like a VF-19... You say that like it's a bad thing... At the rate her clothes are shrinking, by movie #2 she's gonna be wearing nothing but a couple strategically-placed stickers or a holographic mosaic over the naughty bits.

No kidding... most of the convention-goers I know avoid the Harmony Gold booths and panel discussions like they're handing out free samples of the swine flu. The few who are either bored or optimistic enough to attend usually end up sending me the exact same complaint every time... the attendees are usually the same small group of die-hards with essentially just a handful of curious passers-by mixed in. If the senior management at Harmony Gold could be persuaded to get a goddamn clue and wanted to eliminate wasteful spending, you bet the convention tour'd be at the top of a very long list of wasteful business practices. Well, can you honestly blame him? After all, McKeever's supposed to be their marketing director, but he's reputation's so lousy that only the most delusional, lifeless, die-hard Robotech fanboys take him seriously. On Robotech.com he's got people constantly questioning the veracity of his statements and demanding honest answers to questions that'll make Harmony Gold look bad. The convention panels are about the only place he can poo out the company rhetoric and expect that SOMEONE will actually be stupid enough to believe it, or at the very least that people will be polite enough not to call him out or shout "bullshit" while he's talking. The more I read of McKeever's posts, the more I get the distinct impression that he's a man who quietly loathes his job because he spends most of his time doing damage control and being made fun of for only being able to tell people that he's not allowed to tell them anything. I've also started to suspect that he's finally beginning to appreciate just what a Sisyphean endeavor trying to improve Robotech's crappy reputation really is. Oh yes... threads requesting information about when or if Shadow Rising is coming out have, as I understand it, become something of a recurring problem over in the "Robotech Production" forum. It looks like after I got banned, Harmony Gold lowered the bar for what constitutes an "inconveniently sharp individual" considerably, and they're now looking askance at people who're asking uncomfortable questions about just how "successful" Shadow Chronicles was, demanding information about why Shadow Rising is on hiatus, and asking when or if it'll be released. Shadow Rising information request threads seem to have become a perennial favorite for the more subdued critics over there... since they offer them a chance to thumb their noses at Harmony Gold indirectly.

Bingo! Give the man a prize! The two main reasons Robotech even still has a fanbase are that the long-time fans don't want to admit they've been wasting their time for 18+ years, and the lot of them are just too damn apathetic to look into other, far better shows or to check the validity of the increasingly obvious bullshit claims Harmony Gold and its representatives make. Damn, you really ARE turning into me. It's not even that, actually... by Harmony Gold's own admission Warner just wanted something, anything, that could compete with Paramount's Transformers movie(s). It IS a pretty transparent lie, isn't it? Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles didn't even get decent coverage in what little America gets in the way of anime news media, and all indications are that it's sold bugger-all, with people lining up none deep in stores across the US, and many stores (particularly in the midwest) consigning Shadow Chronicles DVDs to the "bargain bin" and selling them at a loss just to get them the hell out of inventory... and now, in a desperate attempt to get attention, the movie's free on Hulu. Clearly they realized they weren't going to be able to milk any more money out of DVD sales, and decided that was their best course of action. Kevin McKeever certainly likes to ramble about how successful Shadow Chronicles was, but the question that makes the whole thing fall apart is "exactly what is his definition of 'successful?'". Since RTSC was made on a shoestring budget, is he considering it a success for earning back the initial investment? If so, that's setting the bar pretty damn low. Is he calling it a success because it didn't have completely empty theaters when it did its VERY limited, VERY short theatrical run? That's setting the bar pretty low too, because by all accounts it was the same people in each region watching the movie over and over again. The whole idea that Shadow Chronicles was a success is entirely contingent on the exact definition of success a person chooses to apply... and with McKeever not talking, we can only assume that he's calling it a success because the bar was set ALARMINGLY low.

RT.com's a Russian news site now? I've been jokingly calling it "Pravda" for a while now, but I didn't think anyone'd take it THAT far... Here is your link, by the way: http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/re...&id=2027877 It's RT.com user Richardmvela asking "The Powers That Be" at Harmony Gold three money-related questions... 1.) What was the budget for Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles? According to Tommy, less than $1 million USD, but of course Maverick and MEMO'll never own up to that... 2.) How much money that could've gone towards Shadow Chronicles did Harmony Gold lose on Robotech 3000? I'd wager "not a lot", since Robotech 3000 sank without trace early in the production process, the animation was of horrifically poor quality, and almost no footage was completed. Naturally, he'll never get a straight answer to this one out of Kevin McKeever, if HE even knows. 3.) How many units of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles (DVD/Blu-Ray) have been sold to date? Anyone here who expects this question to get a straight answer, please report to detention for a compulsory course to improve your pattern recognition skills. The best Kevin McKeever will ever say in response to this question is that it's "selling well", but will never quantify it. I'm kind of surprised that Richardmvela, who's normally a pretty rule-abiding guy, is pushing the envelope over there with help from a newbie called Whitehall l33t. They're putting Maverick_LSC and MEMO1DOMINION in a very difficult place... I wonder how quickly they'll decide that those two are "disruptive influences" and ban them. What surprises me even more is that in my absence, several people seem to be vying for the post of "troublemaker-in-chief" now that I'm no longer there to say the horrible truths that keep Kevin McKeever up 'till 2am doing damage control... ... though speaking of "damage control", I've been keeping an eye on dougbendo's podcast ever since he flash-scheduled an episode just to address all the people who were giving him crap for kissing up to MEMO and whatnot. He's been running this series on the so-called "Core block" of mecha anime, and he's got it into his head that it consists of Gundam, Macross, and Robotech. I listened in (and even participated a bit) in the last one, which covered most of the AU Gundam titles, and it wasn't bad... his format has improved from "frothy-mouthed fanatic badmouthing anyone who dares to tell him what's what". Now it's more along the lines of a vaguely organized stream of consciousness-type spiel. Instead of being offensive, it's now just kind of boring... but in terms of substance it's a vast improvement over what he used to do. He was on his best behavior today, though I think that might have something to do with the majority of the live audience badmouthing him for being over an hour late to his own show. The next one, which is scheduled for 11/15 at 7:00pm, should prove to be a ticking time-bomb...it's the one where he's going to try and build a case for Robotech being a cornerstone of the mecha anime genre... which I'm sure has most of you rolling your eyes just thinking about it.

It's starting to look like that's the case... maybe they'll roll out with a special 25th Anniversary edition of the same old crappy DVDs they've been selling in different boxes for the past eight years or so, maybe toss in an extras disk with a few "creator" interviews, and then peddle that along with a bunch of reissued old comics.

Meh, leave it be.

Harmony Gold hasn't so much attempted to outright conceal that Robotech is a hastily (and poorly) executed rewrite of Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada as they have tried to distort the actual relationship between the originals and Robotech. Carl Macek did a lot as far as distorting the truth, trying to make it sound like Studio Nue was working for Harmony Gold when they made Macross, that Studio Nue's intent was to make it part of Robotech, and that the originals were all failures on their own and had only succeeded as part of Robotech. Basically, it wasn't the originals they were trying to hide, it was the existence of the rest of Macross as a successful franchise... something that they still try to sweep under the rug even today.

We aim to please... And y'know what... that's damn scary. Sure enough, MEMO's loudly claiming that it's not real and that it must be the work of someone trying to destroy the future of the "Shadow Saga". Pretty much everyone's assessment but Pizza's... that MEMO is trying to steer people away from the truth by trying to handwave the whole thing (including Harmony Gold's attempt to have it taken down) as a fraud.

Now there's a statement of questionable accuracy... would you like some Iraqi WMDs with that? Robotech is, was, and always will be just another squirt in the crowd. It was one of the last major titles before bowdlerization became the very height of uncool. Yes, it was one of several "Americanized" titles that made anime accessible to western audiences back in the 80's, but it lacked the momentum to leave a lasting impact on either the industry or the audience, and it quickly lost its audience to Transformers and other shows when it failed not once but twice to produce a viable sequel. Macross got a foothold in the US despite (and in fact, because of) Harmony Gold's attempts to keep Robotech fans ignorant of the fact that the original form of its most popular saga was a far more successful franchise that had produced quite a few sequels. By blocking imports, they opened it up to legitimate and largely unopposed fansubbing, which followed on the heels of the introduction of "real" unedited anime in exposing fans to what they'd been missing out on because of Harmony Gold's greed, making Robotech slightly less socially acceptable in anime circles than a morbidly obese xenophobe with a chronic flatulence problem. Okay, the words "Robotech" and "original" are mutually exclusive, and should not be used in the same sentence. Actually, the TV series is the canon version of SW1, they've just substituted some of the DYRL designs and events into it over the years. DYRL is currently only canon to the alternate universe continuity of Macross II: Lovers Again. Let's be accurate here... Macross went off and did its own thing... Robotech went nowhere and did nothing, because it was preoccupied with floundered around in a morass of serial incompetence, idiocy, stagnation, and bad writing... laudable for its consistently poor quality if nothing else. It kept itself alive by re-selling the same story to the fans over and over again in different forms... novels, comic books, role-playing games... but never bothered to produce anything new. Even the comics that branch out from the main story often stole stories from whatever anime or live action sci-fi/action series was popular that month. Hasn't stopped anything... it's just made our hobby essentially free of cost. I don't know how many anime boards you visit, but Macross Frontier was part of that hat trick of must-have mecha fansubs that had mecha anime enthusiasts waiting for bated breath and attracted a half-dozen or more different fansub groups. If you ask for a list of must-see mecha anime on most of those boards, you'll find the original Macross and/or DYRL on it at the very least (and usually one or more of the later ones too). Eh... not keeping up with recent events either, like Macross Frontier breaking some DVD/Blu-Ray sales records at Bandai, the big concerts, and the various other indicators that Macross Frontier is flying under no radars and is doing quite well for itself. If memory serves, there were several volumes of Macross Frontier that sold better than many of its contemporaries in DVD form. It's a stretch to say Robotech lives... it depends largely what you call "life" at that point. Robotech is, at best, in a coma... one which has remained unbroken for a good 20 years. One more good, solid failure, like the loss of the live-action movie or the final cancellation of Robotech's animated features would be enough to put Robotech out of its misery, and Harmony Gold knows it. To be precise, it's more like apples (Macross) and pieces of inedible wax painted up to look vaguely like apples in hopes that the audience is gullible enough not to notice the difference (Robotech).

I know I'm going to hate myself for this later, but... Yo Roswell, New Mexico! I'm happy for you and I'mma let you finish, but Robotech had one of the best conspiracies of all time! OF ALL TIME! No doubt he thinks all the affairs are part of the conspiracy too... makes me wonder why I haven't been accused of having an affair with HP too. *feels left out now* Not me! Somehow I got left out of the People Against Harmony Gold fundraiser orgy.

Okay, this is so bonkers I just HAVE to share it. It seems that Pizza the Hutt (or Ghost Maker, or whatever the hell he's calling himself now) got it into his head that the leaked outline of the "Shadow Saga" is a forgery constructed as part of a vast conspiracy to undermine and destroy the Robotech franchise from within, orchestrated by Tom Bateman and carried out by those Robotech fans who are opposed to Harmony Gold's handling of the franchise (P.A.H.G.'s?). From the sound of things, he also believes that all the unpleasantness directed towards Kevin McKeever and MEMO, the rumors surrounding Robotech's involvement in MEMO's divorce (that he left his wife for a female RT fan, or that his wife left him because he emptied their bank account to fly HG company reps and VAs out to Chile for a con in hopes of landing a job at HG), the criticism directed towards Shadow Chronicles, and him being banned from RobotechX and (briefly) from Robotech.com are all part of this conspiracy too. Apparently our man Pizza didn't stop at persecution complex crazy... he went all the way to tinfoil hat territory. And this guy wonders why I keep telling him to chill the hell out. I'll never understand why some Robotech fans are THAT unwilling to accept that there IS a lot wrong with Robotech, and that it's entirely possible for Harmony Gold to make a bad Robotech sequel.