HG and Robotech Debates

[MastaEgg]

I dunno about that "Death to Macross purists" bit, given that some of the Robotech comics he scripted had plenty of references to "Kai Fun" and "Shao [Pai] Long".

Perhaps Mr. Yune is a frustrated Macross fan heading the Robotech franchise in order to, in a roundabout way, work on what really interests him.

All those "stupid things" he does? He's actually on our side trying to bring down the company down from inside out. He just can't break his cover yet...

Oh and he and Macek go way back. But that just makes it less suspicious.

Edited December 30, 2009 by MastaEgg

[Ginrai]

this thread never ceases to amuse me

This thread never amuses me.

[VFTF1]

I wish Harmony Gold would just stop with the stupid Robotech. You know - NONE of us would complain about them having the license if they did the following:

1) Released a SUBBED version of the original Macross (that is to say - Tats did not just give them animation without voices and music. They got the whole anime and ditched the voices and music, but they CAN put out the original with the original voices and music with subs - no?

I won't even go into the Yamato thing because I believe that's a moot point anyways.

But what harm would it do if they brought out the original? Just ditch the stupid Mospedea/Southern Cross "it's an 85 episode series."

Nobody cares anymore.

They've retconned themselves into oblivion anyways.

Just release the three series unscrewed with in the original form with dubs.

If people want to tortute themselves, then by all means also include your cheesy Robotech story on the same DVD.

That way everyone will have choice.

Pete

Edited December 30, 2009 by VFTF1

[Freiflug88]

Ah, but she has no nipples, who wants to be contacted by a telepahtic chick with no nipples? That's just freaky. Beisdes, Sivil could totally kick her ass.. That's right Tommy Yune, I'm calling you out for ripping off Sivil!

Yeah Sivil couldn't possible freak anyone out with her nipples that look just like Medusa's vector snakes, the green spirita sucking jewel on her forehead, or those shark fangs of hers. Unlike Ariel she is also complelty original and was in no way ripped off from tales of Succubuses, DBZ charaters, or Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo.

And just to let you know the Robotech team can design better mechs then Kawamori, but the same legal reasons keeps them from actually manifesting within the animation, comic books, or even get described in the books... but once it ends up (or not) in the live action movie... you'll eat your chocolate covered Ariel hating words Jasonc.

Indeed. Robotech mecha are just simply better then anything Kawamori made in Macross. Kawamori may print "US Army" on the feet of all the Macross mecha he wants, but he can never make a truthful claim that the mecha was "made in the USA." Since Robotech team made Robotech in America though the Robotech mechas were truly "made in the USA." That is why Robotech mecha are simply so much better then their identical Japanese counterparts, "US Army" mecha belong in an American show should be piloted by real American heros like Rick Hunter.

[Wanzerfan]

Yeah Sivil couldn't possible freak anyone out with her nipples that look just like Medusa's vector snakes, the green spirita sucking jewel on her forehead, or those shark fangs of hers. Unlike Ariel she is also complelty original and was in no way ripped off from tales of Succubuses, DBZ charaters, or Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo.

Indeed. Robotech mecha are just simply better then anything Kawamori made in Macross. Kawamori may print "US Army" on the feet of all the Macross mecha he wants, but he can never make a truthful claim that the mecha was "made in the USA." Since Robotech team made Robotech in America though the Robotech mechas were truly "made in the USA." That is why Robotech mecha are simply so much better then their identical Japanese counterparts, "US Army" mecha belong in an American show should be piloted by real American heros like Rick Hunter.

He better only put that moniker on the Destroids, because the Valkyries fall under the jurisdiction of the Navy.

[Seto Kaiba]

All those "stupid things" he does? He's actually on our side trying to bring down the company down from inside out. He just can't break his cover yet...

Y'know, it wouldn't be the first time someone accused him of that... back when Tommy first announced the correction to the general assumption that all mecha ran on protoculture, establishing that the Macross and Masters Saga mecha were powered by nuclear fusion, there were a fair few people who were violently opposed to the idea to such a degree that a lot of muttering went on about how Tommy was trying to legitimize Robotech in the eyes of more mainstream fans of anime by making it more like Macross, or that he was flat-out trying to turn it into Macross one piece at a time.

(For the record, I actually had a reasonably lengthy and remarkably civil discussion with him about the "clarification" on the Robotech.com message boards... about the only civil, intelligent interaction I've ever had with the powers that be at Harmony Gold)

They've retconned themselves into oblivion anyways.

Honestly, I don't think Tommy Yune can really see that sad fact... he is, after all, a product of the American comic book industry. He might've made a name for himself drawing faux manga, but he's long adhered to many of the stylistic and artistic conventions of American comic books, and that means for him retcons are no big deal... after all, not a year goes by in the American comic book industry without at least one major retcon being carried out to unscrew a fatally screwed up plot or bring some dead character back to life.

He better only put that moniker on the Destroids, because the Valkyries fall under the jurisdiction of the Navy.

'kay, apart from the massive sarcasm detection failure, the Valkyries are (largely) the jurisdiction of the U.N. Spacy.

[VFTF1]

Honestly, I don't think Tommy Yune can really see that sad fact... he is, after all, a product of the American comic book industry. He might've made a name for himself drawing faux manga, but he's long adhered to many of the stylistic and artistic conventions of American comic books, and that means for him retcons are no big deal... after all, not a year goes by in the American comic book industry without at least one major retcon being carried out to unscrew a fatally screwed up plot or bring some dead character back to life.

Yeah -and this is perfectly acceptable (to a degree) in American comics. It's kind of a tradition. Retcons, re-dos, re-imagings, reboots... it's how the industry works, and it seems fairly different from Japanese anime and manga which seems to take better care of a story - although not always...Gundam has been retconned, redone, retooled, rebooted...there's a new Mazinger Z show out.... theoretically, Macross was also "retconned" insofar as Macross II or SDFMTV vs. DYRL is concerned...

But in the context of just Macross - Kawamorii and Co. seem to have found a formulae for bringing in the new without demolishing the old - which is really great.

And then there's Macross First, which is a re-imaging with many artistic twists - kind of like a classical play getting a new artistic interpretation by a new director.

The problem is - these kind of ventures walk a thin line between caring, loving interpretation by people who understand the spirit of the originals and...crap.

In Transformers - TF: Animated was an example of people who loved the original cartoon and comic bringing some of that spirit back while also doing something new.

Other TF series have not been so fortunate...

But again... the point here is that this whole "American comic" thing isn't to blame.

I mean - working on Macross is not the same as working on Transformers, Spiderman or Superman.... Or X-Men.

Macross doesn't have hundreds of comic book issues, made for TV movies, cartoons etc spanning back almost 50 years of history.

Macross is actually not even "really" 25 years old because it hasn't been "ongoing" for 25 years like most other series which - if they took a break - made it relatively brief.

Macross has just been SDFM TV, Macross 7 and Macross Frontier. That's it. THREE series in 25 years. Yeah, there was DYRL, Plus and Zero - but those were movies/OVAs - totally not the same as a series with seasons that runs year to year.

Macross is special because it's irregular.

I don't exactly know WHY it's so irregular. Was this intentional on the part of Kawamori? Did he not necessarily want to "go back to" and "continue" it right away? Did the lack of sponsors or Americans who turned it into a big global money maker happen to coincidentially leave it unspoiled for Kawamori to come back to every once in a while to tweak and move forward?

I dunno.

But what I do know is that Macross is relatively fresh because it hasn't been done to death.

Whenever a writer or artist takes up a project- he needs to recognize the context... not everything can be approached in the same way...

so...if Yune really is taking an "American comics" view of this ... well...

So much for "bringing anime to America" --- I mean - that's a pretty empty idea there if this is the way the material is treated...

And I'm not even talking about Macross itself...

You see - I keep having to remind myself that EVEN IF I liked Robotech and became a Robotech fan... I'd have to deal with the fact that actually... the Macross Saga has effectively been retconned out of existence - I mean... lemme get this straight...the novels don't count any more...and really given Shadow Chronicles and HG's unwillingness to touch Rick Hunter/SDF-3 for legal fears .... that doesn't really count either...

I mean - hell- at least Kawamori makes it explicitly clear that it's a LITERARY decision that he doesn't go back to Misa and Hikaru - fine.

But HG --- they keep using Rick and Lisa as bate...but they will never deliver It's so two-faced!

Pete

[Freiflug88]

He better only put that moniker on the Destroids, because the Valkyries fall under the jurisdiction of the Navy.

'kay, apart from the massive sarcasm detection failure, the Valkyries are (largely) the jurisdiction of the U.N. Spacy.

Serious business like that is for the UN Spacey's Judge Advocate General's Corps to decide.

"Following in his sempai's footsteps as a Naval aviator, Lieutenant Commander Hikaru Ichijo was shot down by friendly fire while flying his transforming tomcat in combat over sea. Diagnosed with night blindness and visons of flying bicycles Ichijo was transferred to the UN Spacey Judge Advocate General's Corps, which investigates, defends, and prosecutes the law of sea and space. There with fellow JAG lawyer misa Hayase he fights in and out of the courtroom with the same daring and tenacity that Robotech fans want to believe made him a top gun in the air."

Edited December 30, 2009 by Freiflug88

[Moly_Sigang]

Y'know, it wouldn't be the first time someone accused him of that... back when Tommy first announced the correction to the general assumption that all mecha ran on protoculture, establishing that the Macross and Masters Saga mecha were powered by nuclear fusion, there were a fair few people who were violently opposed to the idea to such a degree that a lot of muttering went on about how Tommy was trying to legitimize Robotech in the eyes of more mainstream fans of anime by making it more like Macross, or that he was flat-out trying to turn it into Macross one piece at a time.

Tommy Yune knows how very lucrative the Macross franchise is, and he's just trying to tap into that by turning Robotech into Macross lite.

Honestly, I don't think Tommy Yune can really see that sad fact... he is, after all, a product of the American comic book industry. He might've made a name for himself drawing faux manga, but he's long adhered to many of the stylistic and artistic conventions of American comic books, and that means for him retcons are no big deal... after all, not a year goes by in the American comic book industry without at least one major retcon being carried out to unscrew a fatally screwed up plot or bring some dead character back to life.

You know what, a good retcon is what Robotech needs right now.

[Jasonc]

Aside from disagreements I may have with Tommy Yune, he is a Macross fan. He's always been willing to come to the MWcon's, and in the past, has brought over designs and cel's I believe. Last year was kinda a bust with only Robotech stuff, but his panel on photoshop was pretty good. I think he's just a guy who wants to fit into both worlds, but if he shifts too much to any one side, he'll lose the other. Like Seto said, it seems like he wanted to go through a retcon to make some mecha nuclear powered, and look what happened. On the other side, he won't go too far with the Robotech fans, cause he may lose face with more Macross fans. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I see it, and I don't think I'm the only one.

Anyways, either way you look at it, it's probably the right thing to do. One gives you your paycheck, and the other helps validate you to some extent (except for in this thread it seems).

[Ginrai]

I wish Harmony Gold would just stop with the stupid Robotech. You know - NONE of us would complain about them having the license if they did the following:

1) Released a SUBBED version of the original Macross (that is to say - Tats did not just give them animation without voices and music. They got the whole anime and ditched the voices and music, but they CAN put out the original with the original voices and music with subs - no?

<snip>

But what harm would it do if they brought out the original? Just ditch the stupid Mospedea/Southern Cross "it's an 85 episode series."

What are you talking about? They did exactly that. AnimEigo and ADV releases of SDF Macross and ADV releases of Mospeada and Southern Cross.

[Seto Kaiba]

so...if Yune really is taking an "American comics" view of this ... well...

So much for "bringing anime to America" --- I mean - that's a pretty empty idea there if this is the way the material is treated...

The biggest difference between the examples you cited and what Tommy Yune has been doing is that the few legitimate examples of retcons are carried out with a relatively subtle and light-handed approach that leaves the story as intact as possible on both sides. In true American comics industry format, Tommy's approach has all the subtlety and nuance of an artillery barrage, smashing aside the established continuity to make way for his changes with little-to-no regard for the integrity and coherency of the narrative, creating more problems than he resolves and shitting all over the spirit and intent of the original in the name of keeping a stale story painfully lurching along.

Tommy Yune knows how very lucrative the Macross franchise is, and he's just trying to tap into that by turning Robotech into Macross lite.

Actually, I think it might have more to do with Tommy being fully aware that Macross is the only part of Robotech that most of the fans care about, and he's therefore attempting to pander to them in any way that he can without landing Harmony Gold in hot water. Yes, he's also somewhat of a Macross fan, but I think pandering to his biggest and most profitable demographic is the heart of the matter.

Like Seto said, it seems like he wanted to go through a retcon to make some mecha nuclear powered, and look what happened. On the other side, he won't go too far with the Robotech fans, cause he may lose face with more Macross fans. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I see it, and I don't think I'm the only one.

Actually, as I've said bloody repeatedly, it was NOT a retcon by any conventional definition of the "word", since at no point was it ever officially established that the mecha in question ran on protoculture. That they did was a commonly-held assumption among many Robotech fans, but it was only ever an assumption. You can't retcon out something that was never part of the continuity to begin with. Some fans wanted to paint it as a retcon, since many fans seem unable to distinguish between their personal opinions and fact, but the truth is that it wasn't one. What it was was a simple clarification of something that the show itself never made clear, and the dismissal of unfounded speculation. To my very great surprise, Tommy actually thought that one out reasonably well beforehand, and had a solid rationale that actually made a modicum of sense and imposed a sense of technological continuity upon the mecha where previously no such thing had existed.

Yes, ruling out protoculture fuel on the early-gen mecha didn't endear him to the sort of die-hards who can't accept that part of Robotech was made from Macross, but then again nobody gives a toss what they think, least of all Harmony Gold.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Seto Kaiba

[taksraven]

This thread never amuses me.

This thread never amuses to cease me?

[Einherjar]

Aside from disagreements I may have with Tommy Yune, he is a Macross fan. He's always been willing to come to the MWcon's, and in the past, has brought over designs and cel's I believe. Last year was kinda a bust with only Robotech stuff, but his panel on photoshop was pretty good. I think he's just a guy who wants to fit into both worlds, but if he shifts too much to any one side, he'll lose the other. Like Seto said, it seems like he wanted to go through a retcon to make some mecha nuclear powered, and look what happened. On the other side, he won't go too far with the Robotech fans, cause he may lose face with more Macross fans. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I see it, and I don't think I'm the only one.

Anyways, either way you look at it, it's probably the right thing to do. One gives you your paycheck, and the other helps validate you to some extent (except for in this thread it seems).

Tommy's in a bad position to try to make compromises in both camps like that. He's a Macross fan who still takes the job to helm a franchise that always succeeds at the expense of another franchise he really likes? Sounds like he's just pandering to fans to improve his company's business, or he really had no idea what he was getting himself into when he was first offered the job. For example, did he know that, due to the nature of the business, what he was going to be working on would openly compete against the talent of those he admired?

He puts himself in the position to be justly scrutinized, especially when nothing seems to be happening with the bold new direction of Robotech he's started. But you're right, he has bills to pay and at least he's getting paid for it. And he can't be credited for the LAM.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Einherjar

[Freiflug88]

Macross has just been SDFM TV, Macross 7 and Macross Frontier. That's it. THREE series in 25 years. Yeah, there was DYRL, Plus and Zero - but those were movies/OVAs - totally not the same as a series with seasons that runs year to year.

Pete

Funny how Robotech fans always say things like "well with Robotech you get much more episodes to enjoy cause its edited from three shows into one giant show" Yet they never bring up that its been this single three part series for 25 years while Big West has made 3 original seires of their own from scratch in the same time span. Or that the overal episode count is:

Robotech:

1 Big Series or 3 separate (however you): 85 episodes

Macross:

3 Series

36+49+25 = 110 Episodes

so...if Yune really is taking an "American comics" view of this ... well...

So much for "bringing anime to America" --- I mean - that's a pretty empty idea there if this is the way the material is treated...

Pete

Yeah, Macross never borrowed from American comics and Vice Versa...

http://fortresstakes.files.wordpress.com/2...w=497&h=288

[VFTF1]

Tommy's in a bad position to try to make compromises in both camps like that. He's a Macross fan who still takes the job to helm a franchise that always succeeds at the expense of another franchise he really likes? Sounds like he's just pandering to fans to improve his company's business, or he really had no idea what he was getting himself into when he was first offered the job. For example, did he know that, due to the nature of the business, what he was going to be working on would openly compete against the talent of those he admired?

Openly compete?

Uh..no.

I WISH they would openly compete with Macross.

What he's working on does everything possible to push Macross underground, make it illegitamite, illegal, unkowable, inaccessable.

That's not open competition.

Pete

[VFTF1]

This is a great example of how easy it is to take clips from various anime, mix them together, and make something that it wasn't intended to be.

This is basicaly what HG does...

Pete

[Einherjar]

What he's working on does everything possible to push Macross underground, make it illegitamite, illegal, unkowable, inaccessable.

A couple of comic books and Shadow Chronicles under his belt, doing contractually obligated speeches about the show every year and retcons that caused huge collateral damage to his own franchise has that much influence? At most I think he made HG money, but change people's opinion of Macross, definitely no. 2008/09 were very bad years for him.

If he is a Macross fan and ever wanted to meet someone like Shōji Kawamori face to face in the past, he probably never will without leaving HG and paying him a lot of money to do so.

[VF5SS]

This thread never amuses me.

Then why do you keep posting in it?

[VFTF1]

AnimEigo and ADV releases of SDF Macross and ADV releases of Mospeada and Southern Cross.

And it's the original Japanese with subtitles?

If so - I would be interested in making a purchase I'm kind of tired of loosing my anime to hardrive deaths and having to redownload...

But will it play on my laptop? I would imagine that the DVD player on my laptop is multiregion...why wouldn't it be...?

how do I check?

oh...I know...I'll throw in one of the Japanese BW DVDs I still have lying around...

Pete

[Freiflug88]

But will it play on my laptop? I would imagine that the DVD player on my laptop is multiregion...why wouldn't it be...?

how do I check?

oh...I know...I'll throw in one of the Japanese BW DVDs I still have lying around...

Pete

DVD regional codes is a software issue not a harddrive issue. VLC and other freeware media players will completely ignore reginonal coding so yes your DVD drive can support any region.

[VFTF1]

Thanks for the info

Pete

[Seto Kaiba]

I WISH they would openly compete with Macross.

What he's working on does everything possible to push Macross underground, make it illegitamite, illegal, unkowable, inaccessable.

Let's face facts... Harmony Gold is going to do everything in their power to avoid having their Robotech franchise compete openly with Macross because they know full well that if it did come down to open competition, it would be short, brutally one-sided, and it would almost certainly spell doom for their Robotech franchise. In their eyes, it's considerably safer to use threats of litigation to keep their thoroughly disinterested potential competitor from becoming a threat to their amateur-hour cut-and-paste "epic".

A couple of comic books and Shadow Chronicles under his belt, doing contractually obligated speeches about the show every year and retcons that caused huge collateral damage to his own franchise has that much influence? At most I think he made HG money, but change people's opinion of Macross, definitely no. 2008/09 were very bad years for him.

I concur... while Harmony Gold has done their level best to keep Robotech alive by making Macross as inaccessible as possible and trying to convince people it's not worth looking into and that their own product is just as good, they're really fooling nobody but themselves. All they've really accomplished by taking this particular course of action is made Macross even more accessible than it would otherwise have been and built up an immense store of bad karma in the process.

[Ginrai]

Then why do you keep posting in it?

The occasional useful tidbit comes out of here.

[Ginrai]

And it's the original Japanese with subtitles?

Yes, yes it is. http://www.robotech.com/store/viewcategory.php?id=14 That has some of the ADV release in stock, all of the AnimEigo release in stock, Southern Cross in stock... but you'd be better off on Amazon most likely. Here's a Mospeada/Southern Cross doublepack from ADV: http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Genesis-Cli...264&sr=1-17 Both shows in full for about 50 bucks used. You can probably get better deals if you poke around ebay or if you buy all 9 discs of the AnimEigo release in singles used. They seem to be around 3 bucks a disc used.

If so - I would be interested in making a purchase I'm kind of tired of loosing my anime to hardrive deaths and having to redownload...

But will it play on my laptop? I would imagine that the DVD player on my laptop is multiregion...why wouldn't it be...?

They are just regular region 1 (US/Canada) DVDs, but you can always use a program like DVD Region Free on your computer to block DVD region checking.

[Ginrai]

Let's face facts... Harmony Gold is going to do everything in their power to avoid having their Robotech franchise compete openly with Macross because they know full well that if it did come down to open competition, it would be short, brutally one-sided, and it would almost certainly spell doom for their Robotech franchise.

I think you are grossly overestimating the amount of people in the mecha anime fanbase in the US.

[Robelwell202]

I think you are grossly overestimating the amount of people in the mecha anime fanbase in the US.

Not really.

Have you ever seen a store that specializes in anime? In the US, there's a dispropotionate amount of toys, models, DVDs and manga that are mecha-centric in thier nature. Just look at all the stuff that comes out with the Gundam name.

If HG had engaged in open competition, throwing RT against Macross, it would be a true, one-sided victory in favor of the Macross side. With all the BS that HG has done in the past (Blocking of Macross, FASA, and everything else, as well as thier failed attempts at anything like a sequel), they would be completely overwhelmed by the sudden flood of Macross sales, and RT would die a rather gruesome and obscure death, lamented by only a few die-hard blind fanboys that seem to operate under the idea that HG can do no wrong (I don't think I need to mention names, here, since they've already been used in this thread ad infinitum).

What HG's doing, now, is simply throwing whatever propoganda they can against the wall, seeing what sticks, and telling everyone that RT is a viable franchise, where anyone with two functioning neurons can see that it isn't. If HG were to allow open competition, and allow Macross to be marketed in the US, it would be suicide, pure and simple.

[hutch]

I wish somebody had the ADV box set in stock...

[Einherjar]

Ginrai does make a point; it's mostly the mecha/anime franchises that were introduced in the 80's and such that stick in the minds of the generation that watched it and are grown up now. Those are the ones that have a good chance of getting exposure in a revival or big budget movie, in/from the U.S. at least. Newcomers for the most part create a niche, like I guess when Gundam arrived.

Edited December 31, 2009 by Einherjar

[Saraphys]

I could almost feel sorry for you guys...

But then again, not...

While "Video-Media" speaking, Macross only has one available title here (The Macross Plus OVA boxset), you can find it in almost any shop dedicated to DVD sales. The same cant be said for Robotech's DVD's here, as many of the DVD's were never sold and shipped back to the distribution warehouses (So iv been told by store employee's).

Meanwhile, Macross media of an Audio and figurine nature (Including Macross transformables and model's) can be found at any Anime or Comic store (Atleast in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales...I dont know about the other states), at good prices considering the quality.

...Im afraid the same cant be said for Robotech figurines, which is priced to reflect the cheap plastic crap its made of...assuming you can find them still. Last i checked, all they had in store was a shoebox with a 'veritech' inside...the shoebox looked better then the figurine.

Im sure Kaiba knows the one's...

("Masterpiece Collection" i believe they were...)

[BeyondTheGrave]

I wish somebody had the ADV box set in stock...

Same her amazon has it for $300. not worth that much

When ADV "closed" everyone bought the DVD's of various releases in fear of they would never see them again.

Aside from disagreements I may have with Tommy Yune, he is a Macross fan. He's always been willing to come to the MWcon's, and in the past, has brought over designs and cel's I believe. Last year was kinda a bust with only Robotech stuff, but his panel on photoshop was pretty good. I think he's just a guy who wants to fit into both worlds, but if he shifts too much to any one side, he'll lose the other. Like Seto said, it seems like he wanted to go through a retcon to make some mecha nuclear powered, and look what happened. On the other side, he won't go too far with the Robotech fans, cause he may lose face with more Macross fans. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I see it, and I don't think I'm the only one.

Anyways, either way you look at it, it's probably the right thing to do. One gives you your paycheck, and the other helps validate you to some extent (except for in this thread it seems).

So Tommy Yune is a sleeper agent for Shōji Kawamori and/or Big West. Slowly destroying robotech and making new Macross fans

Did I mention that I saw a film once called "Hermans Bed". It was pretty good.

I did like it in one episode of the Simpsons where they had a joke that essentially bagged out Herman's Head and it was Lisa that made the joke. (Think about it)

Taksraven

If you haven't figured it out yet The VA for Lisa Simpson was on Herman's head.

[TheLoneWolf]

Not really.

Have you ever seen a store that specializes in anime? In the US, there's a dispropotionate amount of toys, models, DVDs and manga that are mecha-centric in thier nature. Just look at all the stuff that comes out with the Gundam name.

Actually, I used to work in a store that specialized in anime and videogames. Our best selling DVDs, wallscrolls and toys were from martial arts anime such as Dragon Ball, Naruto and Bleach. Mecha DVDs barely moved. Mecha toys and model kits weren't much better, though Transformers toys (if you even consider them mecha) sold moderately well.

Most of our mecha customers were in their late 20's or well into their mid 30's. A few were in college, and I can't recall any that were in high school. By contrast, all of our middle school and high school customers, and most college customers were crazy about martial arts anime and JRPG's.

By looking at my store's sales receipts and demographics, I could easily say that mecha anime and its fans are an aging and dying breed. I don't know what the rest of the USA is like, but I wouldn't be surprised if this trend was spreading.

Edited December 31, 2009 by TheLoneWolf

[Robelwell202]

Actually, I used to work in a store that specialized in anime and videogames. Our best selling DVDs, wallscrolls and toys were from martial arts anime such as Dragon Ball, Naruto and Bleach. Mecha DVDs barely moved. Mecha toys and model kits weren't much better, though Transformers toys (if you even consider them mecha) sold moderately well.

Most of our mecha customers were in their late 20's or well into their mid 30's. A few were in college, and I can't recall any that were in high school. By contrast, all of our middle school and high school customers, and most college customers were crazy about martial arts anime and JRPG's.

By looking at my store's sales receipts and demographics, I could easily say that mecha anime and its fans are an aging and dying breed. I don't know what the rest of the USA is like, but I wouldn't be surprised if this trend was spreading.

Okay.

I've never worked in an anime store, so my experience is purely subjective.

[Seto Kaiba]

I think you are grossly overestimating the amount of people in the mecha anime fanbase in the US.

Actually, I'm not just counting the US, but the other markets that would be opened up as well... and factoring in the general antipathy many anime fans have for cut-and-paste translations like Robotech.

So Tommy Yune is a sleeper agent for Shōji Kawamori and/or Big West. Slowly destroying robotech and making new Macross fans

That is what he was accused of when he announced that the first two generations of RT mecha don't run on protoculture, yeah.

By looking at my store's sales receipts and demographics, I could easily say that mecha anime and its fans are an aging and dying breed. I don't know what the rest of the USA is like, but I wouldn't be surprised if this trend was spreading.

Not sure where you are, but hereabouts the mecha anime demographic seems to fall mainly around the 17-21 set, and I tend to end up one of the oldest mecha nuts around, and I'm not even halfway through my 20s yet.

[Keith]

Yeah Sivil couldn't possible freak anyone out with her nipples that look just like Medusa's vector snakes, the green spirita sucking jewel on her forehead, or those shark fangs of hers. Unlike Ariel she is also complelty original and was in no way ripped off from tales of Succubuses, DBZ charaters, or Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo.

Foolish robotech fan. Sivil existed millions of years before any of those things existed. She was created by the freakin' Protoculture, duh!