VFTF1

Um...if you disagree with their ruthless business practices then...YES! Hello? You speak of it as if it were "rude" to call a spade a spade. I know about Disney's crap practices first hand because here in Poland there have been instances where Disney came in and told little kids who wanted to put on a Charity Whiney the Pooh play that they couldn't do it because Disney owns Whinney The Pooh etc etc etc. There's even an organization dedicated to fighting for people's rights to the enjoyment of cultural icons without interference from corporations. I'm not saying I agree with everything they do, and I myself being an owner of copyrighted material have both an interest in the maintenence of copyright protection law AND certain moral and intellectual arguments that back these laws BUT that doesn't mean I'm blind to the other side of the debate - and in fact I have great sympathies for them. I definitely think copyright laws need to be re-thought and re-written to be both just and in accordance with the times. There - look - that's an opinion. And I can go on enjoying Disney products while having opinions about some practices of Disney that I don't like. And other people can disagree with me. I don't understand why you can't agree that people can be fans of something or enjoy something while shunning the practices of the people who made or provided it on other fronts? No. I would praise you and love it if you did that. I've been waiting for someone to kindly show me why Robotech is so cool for a long, LOOOOOONG time now. No takes so far. Mind you - by "show me" I don't mean write one sentence that says "Robotech is cool" - I mean go episode by episode - write an essay with meaty arguments - reference the Robotech novels. Compare it to the Macross shows and OVAs - and take it apart - and demonstrate why Robotech is so awesome. So far NOBODY has even ATTEMPTED to do it. If you did it - I would defend your essay and be very interested in reading it. Meanwhile - you can find thousands of pages of fans talking in detail about why Macross is cool in various threads on this website. This is like saying that you're a HUGE FAN of Michael Jackson, and then getting mad when the Eminem fan website you visited has Michael Jackson talk relegated to the 'Offtopic' forum... This is NOT a Robotech site. It's a Macross fan site. That said - if you're in to Mecha - I highly recomend you check out Mr. March's Mecha website (can't remember the url now...) - it has a fantastic amount of Mecha from all of the various Macross series. If you'd like to discuss Macross TV or Movies - then we've got lots and lots of threads for that. If, however, you want to discuss Robotech... fire away in THIS thread. Heck - only a couple pages ago in this thread, before you came around, we were all getting a bit more into depth with regard to the Robotech Novels. Granted -we were making fun of the content - but if you've got some serious, good points to be made about the stories and why they're cool - or if you have questions about Robotech mecha... ask away. But getting mad at us for not liking Robotech is kind of beside the point It's a Macross fan site. The two shows are totally different. Pete

Yeah - Seto has a point here on another issue which I too would like to take up... Namely: Why are you saying that people are being rude and abusive just because they're saying bad things about Robotech and Robotech fans? I mean - people have different opinions. Go into the toy threads here - see how many Macross fans keep attacking Yamato for bad quality control and high prices while other fans (like me) defend them. But do I think that MW members who say bad things about Yamato are rude, offensive and out of line? NO. When people come together to talk about stuff, they will disagree. "Respecting" eachother doesn't mean being politically correct and never saying anything controversial. It means not using violence against eachother, not banning people for having a different point of view, and not using swear words or personal attacks. But people CAN and HAVE and will continue to say critical things - and sometimes they have nothing but their feelings to back them up. That's just fine. Also - we do joke around a lot. That's why sometimes, when coming to a new board - it helps to read some of the more popular threads through - not just for information, but to get a feel for the people who post a lot - so you don't misunderstand them. I appreciate that you came here looking for intelligent discussion - and you'll find it - only about MACROSS. Robotech gets this thread, where we trash it and where I asked someone to please come up with some compelling reasons for liking Robotech beyond "cause when I was a kid it was neato." Still waiting for somebody to come up with it. Meanwhile, check out our Macross Frontier episode by episode discussions. Check out the legion of threads discussing Macross 7. Check out our endless debates about songs and singers. Check out the great photography in the toy threads and the discussion about quality control, anime, prices... I challenge you to find a more intelligent english language anime forum - not just Macross forum - but anime forum - anywhere on the internet. Check out the modeling section - we have artists here who built their own star ships, who cast their own parts for custom valkyrie - not to mention excellent modelers and painters. This whole place is alive with talented people. We have folks who translate Macross books from Japanese to english so we can enjoy it. We have people from all over the world; many Japanese speakers/Japanese residents.. We're the best website in the universe niah niah niah Pete

And she enjoyed what ended up being a story arc that lasted 80 issues (not that she was featured in all 80 issues, but her character grew with the story). Point? Even if you disliked some of the characters, at least from a literary angle they went places because the series didn't abruptly end after 12 months only to be "re-booted" Pete

I wrote: Oh wait. What am I saying? Ooops! I forgot. Hah ha See - look. GUess what would happen if you created an AUTHENTIC Robotech/Macross fansite? HG would try to shut it down. Why? Well - go to the For sale and trade thread here? Check out all those "illegal" Yamato products being peddled. The horror! And check out the debate that goes against the terms of use HG laid down at RT.com So.. My question to you is this: If you so badly want a site where both Robotech and Macross are respected - why do you write as if it were Macross fans preventing this from coming about? The fact is that it's HG and its' dedicated followers who will not let this come about because they would not allow for co-existence on an equal level. They're the ones who prevent what you want from happening. I mean... imagine a website that tried to promote BOTH Toynami Robotech products AND Yamato Macross products? And tell me - who's stopping such a website from existing? Certainly not Yamato and certainly not Yamato fans. Heck - we have dedicated threads here for Toynami products - and people here collect Toynami products and there are no flame wars between Yamato fans and Toynami fans. In fact, there are more arguments between Bandai and Yamato fans We all live happily ever after. Introduce HG and Robotech fans of Memo's ilk and suddenly the conversation would look different. On MW.com right now - this is what things look like: Fan 1: I just got Yamato's new VF-1 -it's so cool. Fan 2: I got it too and it broke. I hate Yamato! Fan 3: I'm sticking with Toynami's 1/100 line because the other stuff is just too expensive. Fan 4: BUt the Toynami stuff sucks. Fan 5: What do you guys think about Bandai? Fan 6: It sucks, it's not as accurate as Yamato. Fan 7: But at least it doesn't break etc etc Now - if HG had anything to say about it - this is what the conversation would look like: FAN 1: I just got Yamato's new... MEMO: YOU BAN!! FAN 2: What do you guys think about Bandai's new MEMO: YOU BAN!! Fan 3: Does anybody have a Veritech Ben Dixon for trade? The End. I really don't understand why the complaints about Macrossworld or the attitudes of Macross fans since Macross fandom are the ones being wronged here. The blame clearly lies with HG - but more to the point - with the fans of Robotech who support HG. Because ultimately - if there weren't fans who supported HG's shenaniguns - HG wouldn't be able to do what it does. So while naturally it is not right to generalize and say "all fans" are to blame (and I'm not saying that) - I think it would be fair to say that there are some Robotech fans who are motivated by either blind devotion OR are simplfy not reflecting on the situation who are fueling HG's ability to make life miserable and make it hard for the fandoms to co-exist with one another. Pete

If there are enoughb Macross and Robotech fans to warrant it - why not? But you know - there's a reason why such a site doesn't exist - and I could be wrong (I have been wrong many times) - but I think the reason is... no body - at least no Macross fan - wants it. See - this is the problem with forced intergration - it presumes that people who like different things MUST hang out together and that seperating into different groups is some how "not the right thing." But honestly - as a Macross fan, I hang out at Macrossworld.com to talk about Macross, not Robotech. And the only reason this thread is open is because Bigbadtoystore was threatened by HG and pulled their Yamato Macross products for a while (this was the original reason why this entire thread was re-opened after being closed for a long time). The thread exists solely because there has to be somewhere on Macrossworld.com where people can discuss these issues without having Robotech and Robotech related stuff spill over into other threads (which it occasionally does anyways). But for systematic Robotech related talk - this is the thread. And for me - personally - that's enough. People who come here love Macross and don't care about Robotech. They are not interested in what the next Robotech saga will be, but rather they want to talk about Macross. Your proposal is like if I went to Seibertron.com and said this: "Hey - shouldnt there be ONE website for Gobots and Transformers fans? They're both transforming robots from the 80s. And you guys sometimes make disparaging remarks about Gobots. Can't we get along?" But my question is - why? Why does there have to be unity amongst fans of different stories? I prefer a live and let live policy. Naturally it's nice when people talk to eachother civily, and naturally it's good to sometimes come out of ones' isolated fandom and check out other stuff. But surely it's also good to have dedicated websites like Macrossworld which is interested in celebrating Macross, not Robotech? If you think that a Macross + Robotech fansite would work - open it. I would sign up - just because I'm interested in Macross, so Id like to see what you guys would do. Who knows? Maybe it would be fun. The internet is inifinite -you can create the website and I'll happily visit and be a member. But I won't stop making Macrossworld my primary destination because I love Macross that much. And people have the right to be exclusive and discriminatory. We're not advocating that Robotech be banned, censored, that its' fans get shipped to Syberia. They can celebrate their tv show and their toys - fine. Just let Macross fans do the same. Pete

And they will become more abundant the longer HG and people like Memo persist in making fools of themselves. The more RT.com is about MEMO banning people for asking questions like the ones you're asking here, and the less it is about discussion of Robotech lore and celebration of Robotech, the more inclined others will be to crack jokes and make disrespectful comments. When Memo and HG start respecting Robotech enough to make something respectable of it - then they'll earn people's respect. Now they're just acting like clowns. People laugh at clowns. I consider that a Robotech fan would feel that Macross world is a fair place if he came across this board by accident and read the posts presented. Why? Because NOT ONE TIME has any moderator or member EVER suggested that ANYBODY should be banned for expressing opinions that support HG's claims or go against Macross. EVEN MEMO came here, was welcomed and laid out his opinions and nobody banned him and he and others are welcome to come back and write their opinions any time they want. Meanwhile - go to RT.com and see if Memo and the staff there give the same courtesy to other people. YOU would have already been threatened by Memo with bannishment just for ASKING the kind of questions that you're asking here. But this assumes that most Macross fans are on some religious journey to convert people to Macross or to show Robotech fans the "error" of their ways. I don't think they are. In fact, I've stated numerous times that in my opinion, the real reason why Macross fans hate HG so much is NOT Robotech. Its HG's bullying behavior towards retailers who would dare sell Macross and its' general attempts at effectively making Macross illegal in the United States and "worldwide" even. HG is not competing with the quality of its' product; it's competing by trying to use the law to bully other people and monopolize the market and it's acting like the original Macross never existed and is not relevent and asking fans to go along with them in living in this fantasy universe where Carl Macek is a genius who came up with the greatest story on earth instead of just making the modern equivalent of a bootleg video featuring three random anime, all badly dubbed. I personally don't see any reason why Macross fans need to have a "Robotech was good too, we can all get along" attitude - and the Star Trek comparisson is totally WRONG. All of the Star Trek series are part of the same universe. But Robotech and Macross have NOTHING to do with eachother. Zero. The stories are totally different. The one sad similarily is that Robotech uses the animation from SDFM Macross - but other than that - zero. A person discovering Macross through Robotech is not the same as someone discovering Enterprise through The Next Generation or whatever. True - it is a fact tha many people discover Macross through Robotech - but in making the discovery - the deeper into Macross they go - the more they discover that Robotech has nothing to do with Macross and that you actually need to purge your memory of Robotech to fully enjoy Macross because other wise the show makes no sense. Naturally Macross fans DO respect that Robotech exists and that there will always be fans of Robotech - and if the Robotech fandom and HG were able to be equally respectful of Macross then there would be a live-and-let-live attitude and everything would be fine. But as things stand, HG is actively trying to shut down Macross related businesses and keeps throwing words like "legal" and "illegal" around. It is not civil to threaten other people with the law. It's like try hanging out with someone who, if they don't like what you're saying, keeps threatening to call the cops on you. That's not respectful. Macross fans just give their opinions - no body thinks HG should be shut down or that Robotech should be censored and made illegal and Toynami needs to be raided. But Robotech/HG people don't apply the same respectful standard to Macross. Of course - this is only because they are weak. If they actually had a good product, they wouldn't waste time on legal hassels, they would be pumping out more product and marketing it. Anyways - to sum up - I think your view of the issue is misguided because you ignore some very basic facts (all mentioned above). Pete

Really? I LOVED the A-Team and still do for one simple reason: because the whole story is about one thing and one thing only - that the government lies and kills while normal people are its' victims - and the A-Team decide to stop being victims and stand up for themselves and for normal folks. You just need to get passed the cornyness of nobody ever getting hit by bullets and get to the essence. Also - I loved it for having the heroes rely on ingenuity rather than brute force. But I do agree that Mr. T made that show - as did the gentleman who played Hanibal - and I will be hard pressed to accept an updated version... You know - this falls into the category of stuff that's best left alone... It's like trying to remake a western... you essentially can't make it any "flashier" than it was - sand, horses, guys with revolvers... I mean...what's there to add? Nothing really. Same with film noir detective stories: all you need is a blind dark ally and guys in suits packing heat... Pete

I have a totally different idea: Give up on trying to actually do a good job with Transformers and instead focus the movie on Sam's mom. The Autobots have trampled her grass, and so she calls a company to send someone over right away to clean everything up. The guy who comes over goes to work, and Sams mom really likes him. You know the rest I think that if this was the plot of TF3, I'd take back all the bad stuff I've sad about the movies beforehand. Pete

A world divided between these two factions, where a man was constantly being pulled in one direction or another would be a perfect world. Pete

If people are going to go on a ranting-blaming-hate spree... Might I suggest you blame Harmony Gold for the high price of Yamato valkyrie? I'm fairly sure that if they weren't doing everything in their power to keep Yamato valkyrie out of the USA and European markets we'd have better distribuction or at least a chance at better, more mass scaled distribution and lower costs. As things stand - I think it's great that people outside of Japan are able to get all these amazing items for as low a price as we can given all the hurdles, trouble, hassel and problems we go through to get the stuff. Pete

That website totally doesn't want to open. I'm sure I'm missing something exciting. And I did not know that Al Pacino was now doing commercials... but hey - this is the kind of stuff that happens during economic downturns. Even famous actors need money I guess. Pete

Easy. Just stay away from the dubbed ones and you'll be fine Pete

Don't even get me started on the comics I'm one of those terrible people who love Bob Budyansky's work... I also have all of the Marvel UK comics as Trade Paperbacks from Titan (well - almost all..missing just Dinobot Hunt and maybe one other...Generations or whatever the one where Buster dreams about Menasor and Superion was called). I love the comics; I love them more than the cartoon. And I still remember how dissapointed I was with Dreamwave. IDW hasn't been much better. I have the TPB of the first instalment of their work and it's sub-par. Not Furman's fault, mind you, as he always provides a good story - I just can't stand the constant re-imaging... I mean - are Transformers such a passing fad and is the Transformers fandom composed of people with such a horribly short attention span that every year you need to "re-boot" the comics and cartoons? That's annoying. It doesn't happen with other series. Why does it happen with TFs? Heck - do people remember when Marvel Comics managed to run in one thirty YEAR progression? I mean - like the Amazing Spider-man and the like? That thing ran hundreds of issues. Through the sixties, seventies, eighties... Sure, there were big changes along the way, spin-off series... but the basic story - the foundations - were all kept in tact. Nowadays, it seems that 12 months is the upper limit of people's attention spans - then you need to "re-boot" everything to make it "fresh." Honestly it's a waste of time and money because all I ever see is a re-telling of the same basic story with some twists here and there, with different designs. What I'd LIKE to see is characters that grow and develop over time - like they did in the original Marvel comics run. And if you're going to "re-boot" - then do it right - aka like G2. G2 was a great re-boot because it built directly on the end of G1. Heck - even Bludgeon was still in charge of the Decepticons and had managed to construct the Warworld... But no - nowadays Transformers is just about Optimus Prime battling Megatron on Earth for SOMETHING (energon, minicons, the Cube, the All Spark, kicks and giggles) - and the story arc always revolves around introducing us to the concept of Transformers, to Cybertron and to some core cast of characters that we (who have been with Transformers for 25 years now) KNOW already. All of these comics are throw away comics, just like the TV shows are throw away TV shows. Even if there are elements that are good and interesting - so what? They NEVER get followed up on. There is NO follow up. Characters come and go and then return to get re-booted. Now granted - this problem somewhat existed in the original comics run - and Budyanski even complained about how Hasbro made it near impossible for him to maintain a plot line because every month they'd just be like - "hey - heres a zillion new toys we need you to put in the comics." But there was still one essential difference: At least Hasbro was constantly introducing NEW character during G1. It wasnt just Animated Bumblebee, Henkei Bumblebee, Universe Bumblebee, Legends Bumblebee, Movie Bumblebee, Supreme Bumblebee, Small Tots Bumblebee... you get the point --- we would actually get TOTALLY NEW characters which would add a NEW layer to the Transformers that came before. In all of G1 - how many variations of Bumblebee did we get? THREE. The original minibot, Pretender Bumblebee, and Actionmaster Bumblebee. And at least the three of them were totally different conceptually. Nowadays we get NO new characters. Its always Prime, Jazz, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Ironhide.... nobody new really comes along. And if they do theyre few and far between and often times not very memorable OR - worse still - they are characters which use the NAME of an old G1 character but have a totally different personality and design (something I can't stand either). The whole franchise is one huge mess right now with no consistency, poor quality toys and bad movies. Pete holds up shield to take the hit of the oncoming tomatos...

Hm. I never knew that Mecha had a peak... then again I don't follow anime nearly as closely as I should. I get too hung up on the ones I find I love. One day, I should just go and blindly watch anime after anime after anime independent of whether I like it or not so I actually know what's going on and can comment intelligently on the general industry and trends as a whole, rather than on specific shows.... That said - maybe what Itano was getting at is that it's no longer "enough" to have mecha that are well designed - nowadays you need a fashion designer making sexy lingerie for your anime girl designs - not to mention people who can think creatively about hair products. In MSG, the characters were not really stylized - they were just in space suits - period. Meanwhile, the mecha were not that simple - the Mecha had vents, hydraulics etc etc. Fast forward to - say - Macross Frontier - and not only do you need well thought out mecha designs - you need vibrant character designs too. But why is this a bad thing? It's like complaining that women take showers and look good. I don't get it. Oh - as for Bakemonogatari - I googled it and it sounds ok. Could be fun. Should check it out. Pete

Technically, there is some truth to this. I was about to make a comparisson to SDFM TV, but then again - Macross - even the older series, are given "new life" by the ongoing newer series like Frontier. And actually, for better or for worse, people often reference elements from older series in discussions about new stuff. Sadly, it's hard to do that with Transformers where there really is almost no continuity. Looking back, we'd have to pretty clearly say that the end of "G1" continuity was Beast Machines. For better or for worse, that was the last series that was an explicit extension of a previous show which itself was tied intricately with G1 - even if those ties weren't immediately intended from the outset. Then again... I dunno. The G1 era spans pretty much the whole space-time continum - you'd think there'd be something to talk about in there... I dunno... I... am really really alone on this point - but I sold off all my Henkeis. The Universe/Classics I never wanted due to the poor paint aps. Henkeis had better paint aps, but on the whole - I got rid of them because they weren't doing it for me. They had too little of a G1 vibe to them. Some, like Hound and Cyclonus, were big improvements. But Prime, Megatron, Onslaught....these just felt like design updates to old characters in the same vein as Cybertron/Galaxy Force. Nothing special in them. I have also come to the point where I don't care about poseability any more. I'm not bothered by G1 being retro-chunky and unposeable. It just underscores the transformation aspect. Besides, Transformers are meant to be had in bulky bunches... Oh... I dunno... I'm just sad about Transformers. The magic is just gone for me. I thought that when I got my reissue Ratbat, things would change - but they haven't. Maybe I need Overlord? Pete

That's why I always use condoms or go for long term monogomist relationships. Pete

I will this weekend in a dingy hotel room in a coal mining town. This week I've just been really busy because a) I have to file my quarterly VAT tax returns by the end of this week, and after succeeding in getting my tax return for the last quarter, I'm determined to succeed in getting one for this quarter...but it's a lot of work...you not only have to fill out the form, but you also have to include copies of all the invoices you've paid, copies of proof of payments, telephone bills, sales - and everything has to be perfect. I barely succeeded in getting my tax return last quarter and I want to succeed again - only this time not have to get called into the tax office a zillion times to dot "i"s and cross "t"s. And since I do my own accounting for my business it's the hardest part - because I never was much good with accounting or preparing documents...so I'm stressing over it b) I wasted my time on two high school girls who turned out to only want money for stuff but had no redeeming qualities like a willingness to get laid or an interesting personality. c) Having lost my translation job (which allowed me to sit around at home typing on the computer), I've been forced back into teaching english. Happily I've managed to organize some classes, but I actually have to go to them now - as in move my sorry butt and go to work... that is really tiresome. d) I've been busy preparing for a Japanese pop-culture festival that's happening this weekend here in Poland, so that's also taken up some time... But I do plan, this weekend, while in my dingy, rundown little hotel room, to finish the book I hope my explanations are satisfactory and won't incur the wrath of Gubaba-sama Hmm... MW needs a "bow" emitocon... Pete

It's only because I have zero experience with virgins and never dated a girl who wasn't older than me even.... The lolis I tried dating last week have already bored me, and a la Lord Genome, I have thrown them away.... Besides, the Mr. Lingerie title isn't about achievement or sexual conquest, but purely about lust and lingerie fetishes Pete

Ok, Ok...good point But I'm a fast typer. Writing long, rambling threads comes naturally to me It's much harder to play with toys But still... point taken Pete

Simple: I'm not an old man and I don't like young ladies Hm. Wait - that could be massively misconstrued... I'm not saying I'm gay - but rather that I'm attracted to women who happen to usually be older than me; although I guess they're still young since I'm relatively young, unless you consider 30 old, which I don't, unless we're comparing it to people who are in their teens or early twenties, in which case I am old.... Anyways - as to the 1/60 or 1/48 Vajra... I'm not sure those would be very interesting. Other than a minor case of variable wings, the Vajra don't do much do they? Anyhow... Any new pictures of the Revoltech variable Valkyrie? I'm curious to see what comes of it. Pete

I know. I am actually very thankful that TF fans in this thread have tolerated my constantly belittling Transformers... I really do love them, but I've just been so upset about Transformers for a while now... I'm like a constantly PMSing TF fan... Maybe if Takara-Tomy reissues Victory Saber then I'll stop. I dunno... I just need to play with my G1 toys finally. Write a story and make a photo-comic with them - then I'll feel better. I've got the collection that little 4 year old Pete only dreamed of having... Just been so busy lately that I've had no time to actually play with my toys Pete

Re: Gubaba's Epic Story Suggestion - Well, I'm sure Itano would like it. No fanservice girls, just a lot of mecha action. Pete

Thanks for being apparently the only person who read my post Save Pete

You can say that again. I don't know how many TF reviews I've read where the writer would show a picture of what was effectively a big lump of unpainted plastic vaguely resembling a stearin wheel, or wheels, or arms or whatever and the guy would be like "and here's some excellent detail"... Truly Japanese anime fans - not just Yamato fans, but really down the line - are spoiled. The difference in quality is so vast... it's like only now after handling so many truly awesome figures and models do I realize that unfortunately TFs are by and large made with the quality of bootlegs... But...there I go again... Pete Has to write some G1 stories....needs to write something positive about Transformers...

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