labsenpai

Even though I met Mikimoto at Katsucon 5, I wish I could get another sketch this year. I've always tried to see any Macross staffer/VA at events within driving distance. In 2000, I made the arduous 500 mile trip to Animazement (from northern Ohio) to catch the great Akira Kamiya. Alas, all my old convention cohorts are now disinterested or unavailable. Not being able to split travel + room expenses puts me in a bind, and I have no family network present in NC. I wouldn't be opposed to bartering my spare collectibles for "forum member" lodging or such.

While going through my Newtype issues from the 90's, I found some 15th anniv Mikimoto art:

I have a Feb 1984 MyAnime...just articles from the tv series. Issue does include a pinup poster of YELLOW DANCER though

My Perfect Memory book got hauled to a lot of cons. Signed first by Kawamori and (maybe) last by Itano.

I was able to hear him speak at Katsucon 8 in Baltimore. I remember some fun comments he made about the studio being in a "seedy" part of town, and the day to day of making Macross.

A MidWest Macross meetup sounds great. I used to go to cons when guests of honor were anime legends like Kawamori. I could enjoy a day of nostalgia within driving distance (northern Ohio guy). I don't collect much or do more than lurk these days, but I could bring a few bits related to the Macross creators. That, and a 99% life size stand-in for event photos

Having met and listened to Itano at a Con, I can definitely say he is in the mecha otaku camp. He didn't talk about how his missile "circus" is artistic, he wanted you to know that he had been thinking about types of seeker warheads. If Itano ever invited you to watch anime at his place, you'd need to forget moe and study military hardware 101. I haven't seen the magazine in question, but I can imagine Itano's ire regarding a Macross-themed publication that brushes off the cool tech portion. I don't think he is being hypocritical, based off involvement in videos like Plastic Little. Having attractive characters in your anime doesn't automatically place it in the "moe" category. You wouldn't call Misa Hayase that...unless she spent half the time as a micloned chibi with ponytails.

The original White Haired Witch, Brigitte Lin. Pay your respects to the Queen /also starred with Chan and Li in better movies

Here is the first Misa batch - ones with just her front and center. Sadly, I'm not skilled at vector trace for enlargement purposes... Attachment function still not working for me.

A couple incarnations of Sharon Apple... Alas, hardly any decent images of the other girls from Macross Plus. Meh. After Misa and Minmay I'll round up the uncommon mecha and production art.

Here are the original bridge bunnies... I'm excluding images that look off-model. Some of the wallpapers are rather unflattering.

Next up are Claudia's best pictures. She didn't have enough images just by herself so I had to include ones with other characters. When I get to Minmay and Misa, they will have multiple posts due to the qty of their wallpapers on the disc. I'm leaving out Macross7 unless I get a specific request.

I'm subdividing the BGI collection, to make specific montages. I'll start with the girls - here are the best Miriya images. The attachment button wasn't uploading (?)

Years ago, I picked up the 20th Anniv. MACROSS BGI collection. It's 400 images from all the shows, although max resolution is 800x600. I can post any that match requests, or perhaps the ones that can be reworked into a modern screen size.

Scanning mine didn't work...its roughly shot 102-2 in the book, with Hikaru and Misa in the cockpit. Cels and toys are great, but what compares to going to the source?

In November, I had the chance to attend SugoiCon and meet reknowned Macross Animation Director Ichiro Itano. To date, I've travelled to see every industry guest related to Macross that has appeared at a convention close enough to drive to (from Ohio). I don't have a recording of his panel, but I'll continue with some interesting tidbits he talked about: Itano loves the Macross mecha. He discussed how VF design elements have appeared in current prototype fighters, like the thrust vectoring "feet". He explained in detail how the "Itano Circus", his famous missile cluster scenes, were composed of rockets with different targeting/guidance mechanisms. I learned that the original concept arose from his experimentation with attaching bottle rockets to his motorcycle! Lastly, he revealed that the infamous Budweiser rocket (from DYRL) was a result of long hours and the presence of a Bud at his work desk. Itano's favorite projects were the Macross Plus Movie and Macross Zero. The most troublesome seemed to be the first Megazone OAV. He doesn't have a problem with computer animation, but training a CG artist to be a proper animator takes two years. The CG model of the VF-0, the one that transforms completely in Ep 1, was about 800,000 polygons. In order to have multiple craft on the screen at once, the polygon count had to be reduced to 40,000. When asked about Macross7, Itano said that he was approached by Kawamori about the project, but declined after seeing the "mouths" on the mecha. I'm guessing that the mix of fighter plane and musical instrument was distasteful. I must add that Itano's panels were poorly attended. I felt that I should've apologized on the behalf of the mature fandom community. I did my best to keep the discussion going, and I know my effort was appreciated. After the autograph session on Sunday, Itano took extra time to draw a sketch of the VF-0 for me and a friend that also participated. Truly, a blessing for this humble fanboy...