HG and Robotech Debates

[HappyPenguins]

You mean the same mod who took his own contraband pictures and showed it to a couple of strangers during a screening of Trigun at AX? Can a mod ban himself for breaking the rules?

Aww... So cute. Let me see if I can explain to Tommy why this incident happened:

#1 The hardest of the hardcore fanboys are left

#2 Cellphone camera technology has come a long way

#3 Prolonged franchise production news blackout / Multiple promises and vague panel answers

#4 Transformers is already a trilogy while Robotech can't even get a script

And Tommy's poo-pooing that the interwebs gets to see this grainy shot for free? Guess who's the real Focker now...

If you ask me, I'd say he was stupid in the first place for thinking something like that wouldn't get leaked.

where the fux is that Breetai facepalm pic? now would be a perfect time for it.

ah too bad couldnt find that picture ah well, this one works too!

Edited July 16, 2010 by HappyPenguins

[Jasonc]

So why did they reveal something in AX if they didn't want news about it to spread? This being the Internet age, it's very hard to keep anything said publicly secret without making a scene. Screw loyalty and etc., this would be something a company would want everyone to know and not keep as privileged information.

That is, unless they have done very little to get things rolling for this secret project, say like getting Taks to agree to take a risk with it. Notice how HG's collaborators for Robotech productions rarely support them in any way.

I think ever since Shadow Chronicles, they've been ultra sensitive to criticism and scared of what the general populace would think of the franchise, and what they've done with it. I think that's why you see them more introverted now, than ever before, and very sensitive to having info come out. It's like they want it to come out, but only to those that won't look at it with a critical eye. Most professional companies, when they make announcements to the public, want it to be known everywhere, and be it criticism or praise, they take that in and learn from it. But I doubt you can call the staff of Robotech "professional" and you're either following the crap, or you're an outcast. No secret there, but that leads to the issues that we've all noticed, like no accountability to the fans, and a staff that is really out of touch with the people that support the franchise.

[Seto Kaiba]

If you ask me, I'd say he was stupid in the first place for thinking something like that wouldn't get leaked.

Granted, it would be rather idiotic of him to trot out a promotional piece for a new project and expect the people he's showing it to not to leak it... particularly since asking the audience to put their cameras away is tantamount to saying "Hey, we're about to bring out something that may actually be worth photographing, so keep your cameras out on the sly to score points with all of your fellow fans". It's enough to make you wonder if Tommy isn't intentionally stirring up drama about this leak so word of it will get around the fanbase faster.

I think ever since Shadow Chronicles, they've been ultra sensitive to criticism and scared of what the general populace would think of the franchise, and what they've done with it. I think that's why you see them more introverted now, than ever before, and very sensitive to having info come out. It's like they want it to come out, but only to those that won't look at it with a critical eye.

Oh, there's no denying that Harmony Gold's "creative" team, and Tommy Yune in particular, have become ultra-sensitive to criticism in recent years. I think they honestly thought Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles was going to be universally loved and accepted by the fans because it was Robotech's first real sequel and the first new Robotech animation to come out since 1987. For it to be openly and vocally criticized and even mocked by many fans, including big name fans like Captain JLS, must not have gone over well. Once it was out on DVD, the mods started threatening to ban anyone who posted non-constructive criticism or negative reviews of the movie, saying they were personal attacks on Tommy Yune. On some occasions, moderators made weak attempts to justify it by saying that Warner was watching Robotech.com and they wanted to put their best foot forward and not let their new partner know exactly how bad things really were for Robotech.

(Bear ye in mind, the site already had rules in place prohibiting any kind of criticism of the staff, the show's cast, or the way the site and franchise are being run, and that's been part of the terms of use since before it opened to the general public!)

[Keith]

Rule #1 for getting the fanbase to stop laughing at you Tommy Yune: STOP WITH THE FREAKIN' SPANDEX ALREADY!!

[taksraven]

If you ask me, I'd say he was stupid in the first place for thinking something like that wouldn't get leaked.

where the fux is that Breetai facepalm pic? now would be a perfect time for it.

ah too bad couldnt find that picture ah well, this one works too!

Couldn't find the Breetai facepalm either, but this should hurt enough.....

Taksraven

[Keith]

Couldn't find the Breetai facepalm either, but this should hurt enough.....

Taksraven

Wow.

[HappyPenguins]

ouch! That one even hurts me....

[Seto Kaiba]

Rule #1 for getting the fanbase to stop laughing at you Tommy Yune: STOP WITH THE FREAKIN' SPANDEX ALREADY!!

Y'know, I don't think we can lay all of the blame for that on Tommy. True, he certainly made the spandex jumpsuits half the cast was already wearing more gratuitous by making them so tight they could easily be mistaken for bodypaint, then making all the men amateur bodybuilders and all the women supermodels with 36-24-36 figures and a minimum cup size of D. I suppose we have even less grounds to gripe about his treatment of Sera, since he not only failed to give her huge tits and a big ol' booty, she was already guilty of wearing a brightly-colored spandex jumpsuit in the original show. It's not the spandex that makes Yune's work juvenile and amateurish, it's the completely needless and transparently obvious attempt to get the teenage audience they were aiming for interested by the simple expedient of ramping up the sex appeal.

I suppose we've got no choice but to attribute every female cast member going up 2-3 cup sizes in just a few hours to the mysteries of protoculture.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Seto Kaiba

[chrisk]

Slow news day, just thought I'd share what McKeever thinks Robotech fans want to see - that they, and their audience aren't getting any younger.

Edited July 18, 2010 by chrisk

[Seto Kaiba]

]http://web3.twitpic.com/img/131448041-b5f799be5e1ca87b07e085d9689a6d17.4c425210-scaled.jpg

Slow news day, just thought I'd share what McKeever thinks Robotech fans want to see - that they, and the audience aren't getting any younger.

Your image post there doesn't work... care to link us to the page where the image is... or maybe just post the image itself as an upload so we can actually see it?

Ah, you fixed it... thank you.

Yeah, that definitely looks like a reasonable cross-section of the fandom, though not exactly a flattering one. The average age there's got to be what, mid 30's? Consistent with them having seen Robotech in 85 and having been old enough to actually remember it.

Edited July 18, 2010 by Seto Kaiba

[taksraven]

Slow news day, just thought I'd share what McKeever thinks Robotech fans want to see - that they, and their audience aren't getting any younger.

How about a speech bubble from the speaker so we can find out what weak joke the audience is pretending to laugh at. Make it up if necessary.

Taksraven

[Einherjar]

I still don't get it. Did I miss anything significant that happened in the 3-4 year gap since Shadow Chronicles that wasn't titled Macross? They act as though all those years of silence didn't happen.

For Zor's sake, Rick Hunter is still getting sucked into a black hole and possibly being mutated into Tobey Maguire!

Edited July 18, 2010 by Einherjar

[Seto Kaiba]

How about a speech bubble from the speaker so we can find out what weak joke the audience is pretending to laugh at. Make it up if necessary.

Sure thing... have two:

Where Robotech is concerned, the truth is the weakest joke of all...

I still don't get it. Did I miss anything significant that happened in the 3-4 year gap since Shadow Chronicles that wasn't titled Macross? They act as though all those years of silence didn't happen.

No, aside from the few squeaky farts that spelled the end of the Masterpiece Collection series and a vinyl battlepod model, pretty much nothing has happened with Robotech since 2007.

Edited July 18, 2010 by Seto Kaiba

[taksraven]

Sure thing... have two:

WINNER!!!!!

[Keith]

OMG, is that Reno in the background? Now it totally makes sense, HG is in bed with TURKS!

Edited July 18, 2010 by Keith

[Legioss]

"Dad, I'm taking you home."

"But I wanna watch the Robotech people!"

"We're done watching the Robotech people. Come on."

"Oh how I love Rick Hunter. Shadow Rising roolz."

[chrisk]

IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S TRUE.

Hey guys, this is strange:

http://www.mwir.net/forum/index.php?/topic/52491-starblazers-and-robotech-2011-movie-previews/

This is a link of some guy who posted some pretty interesting Japanese Macross commercial ads. However, is this guy talking out of his arse?

Here you go- the first previews of 2011's MACROSS (released in the US as Robotech) and "Space Battleship Yamato" (released in the US as Star Blazers). Both movies are Japanese/American co-ops, like Resident Evil and Silent Hill were. A series of TV commercials by Sanyo have been made to spark "Macross Fever" leading up to the movie next year. Kristin Kreuk is supposed to be Lin Minmei in the actual movie....

Oh, and in case you didn't know, long time fan Jonathan Switzer is blogging about Robotech again. http://sdf5x.blogspot.com/ Just a heads up in case you have nothing to do and want to be amazed at how Zor invented Protoculture.

[Gubaba]

Hey guys, this is strange:

http://www.mwir.net/forum/index.php?/topic/52491-starblazers-and-robotech-2011-movie-previews/

This is a link of some guy who posted some pretty interesting Japanese Macross commercial ads. However, is this guy talking out of his arse?

Yes. Yes, he is.

[anime52k8]

this image will haunt me for the rest of my natural life

[Radd]

This is a link of some guy who posted some pretty interesting Japanese Macross commercial ads. However, is this guy talking out of his arse?

Two seconds with Google will tell you that the Macross clip is for a pachinko game, not a movie.

[Gubaba]

Two seconds with Google will tell you that the Macross clip is for a pachinko game, not a movie.

Two seconds outside of the Robotech thread on this very site should tell one the same thing...

[Jasonc]

Two seconds outside of the Robotech thread on this very site should tell one the same thing...

Yeah, but I wouldn't expect RT specific fans to look anywhere outside of this thread.

[Seto Kaiba]

Two seconds with Google will tell you that the Macross clip is for a pachinko game, not a movie.

Hell, you don't even need to look anywhere outside the video to know it's a Pachinko game advertisement... if the large Pachinko machine in the background wasn't a tipoff, there's the prominent statement that it IS a pachinko game right in the voiceover, with the word "pachinko" clearly intelligible to even someone who doesn't speak Japanese.

Yeah, but I wouldn't expect RT specific fans to look anywhere outside of this thread.

I wouldn't even bank on them thoroughly reading this thread before jumping to the wrong conclusion... remember that Captain Donovan guy?

[BeyondTheGrave]

this image will haunt me for the rest of my natural life

I'm so confused.

[Jasonc]

I'm so confused.

The cover is saying that Protoculture leads to free Robotech Trading Cards, geez, is it that hard? And they're cards made by a nude Zor Prime. They're gonna do a new side story on it due out next year. They're working on it, but they can't say anything about it.

[Roy Focker]

Very confusing. He's got a flower. A symbol that associated with femininity. He's also glowing. I think that's a trait of Pregnant women. Plus Zor's flower is shooting fire. I think this is a message about Zor's inter woman.

[Seto Kaiba]

I'm so confused.

What's there to be confused about? The cover shows us that protoculture fuel is made by giving a naked man with a bright purple mullet electroshock therapy while he lays on top of a roulette wheel and balances a terrarium on his stomach.

Edited July 19, 2010 by Seto Kaiba

[chrisk]

The cover is saying that Protoculture leads to free Robotech Trading Cards, geez, is it that hard? And they're cards made by a nude Zor Prime. They're gonna do a new side story on it due out next year. They're working on it, but they can't say anything about it.

This kinda thing begs the question on how different the Robotech fandom was in the 90's compared to the ones what came out of the 'noughts. Robotech comics and novels coming in left and right, hundreds maybe thousands of crappy freeweb sites, Carl Macek was still jerking around his dreams of finishing Sentinels and Odyssey... Compare and contrast then and now, which era was more disappointing?

[Funkenstein]

Protoculture leads to Robotech, Robotech leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.

[Gubaba]

This kinda thing begs the question on how different the Robotech fandom was in the 90's compared to the ones what came out of the 'noughts. Robotech comics and novels coming in left and right, hundreds maybe thousands of crappy freeweb sites, Carl Macek was still jerking around his dreams of finishing Sentinels and Odyssey... Compare and contrast then and now, which era was more disappointing?

I find ALL of it disappointing...looking at Captain JLS talking about about the Legend of Zor really just makes me feel kinda...weird. But then, I find that pretty much ALL the Robotech secondary material I've seen just makes me shake my head...artists trying to draw "anime style" (and failing), writers twisting around the characters into things they were never meant to be... It's all rather baffling to me why ANYONE cares about it at all. Throw the trash into the dustbin, already.

[Jasonc]

I find ALL of it disappointing...looking at Captain JLS talking about about the Legend of Zor really just makes me feel kinda...weird. But then, I find that pretty much ALL the Robotech secondary material I've seen just makes me shake my head...artists trying to draw "anime style" (and failing), writers twisting around the characters into things they were never meant to be... It's all rather baffling to me why ANYONE cares about it at all. Throw the trash into the dustbin, already.

I always thought it was kinda funny that the secondary characters all get the Boba Fett treatment. Not only that, but then, they make all the characters have some close degree of seperation from everyone else. It's like everyone that has a hero complex all drank the same cool-aid, or all attended the same leadership conference. Maybe, they should realize ("creative team") that the Rich Hunter treatment doesn't work for every damn character. Then again, these are people that think that the fans don't even know what they want. Word to the wise, if you're working on anything that already has an established fan group, big or small, don't assume they're a bunch of idiots and don't know what they want (some of them prove they are just that, but then again general assumptions usually lead to the dark side, LOL).

[Seto Kaiba]

Protoculture leads to Robotech, Robotech leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.

Quoted for Truth... also, that's bloody well going in my sig.

This kinda thing begs the question on how different the Robotech fandom was in the 90's compared to the ones what came out of the 'noughts. Robotech comics and novels coming in left and right, hundreds maybe thousands of crappy freeweb sites, Carl Macek was still jerking around his dreams of finishing Sentinels and Odyssey... Compare and contrast then and now, which era was more disappointing?

As someone who used to be a fan of Robotech many moons ago, and someone who still spends a fair bit of time conversing with the more sensible remnants of Robotech's fanbase, I would be inclined to cast my vote for the present situation as being the more disappointing of the two. I think those Robotech fans that I still talk to, and a good many others who aren't sucking Tommy's dick in hopes of getting a job, would say the same.

While there's no denying that virtually everything that came out with the Robotech name on it in the 90's was a badly written and/or badly drawn piece of poo not worth the paper it was printed on... at least something was happening in the franchise. Sure, those in charge were as inept as they are now (if not moreso), and there was no movement on the animated continuity, but at least they were getting SOMETHING out there on a semi-regular basis. Nowadays, the only signs of life the franchise shows are some embarrassingly lousy toys that trickle out at a pace of about one a year, import toys from Macross, and the occasional empty promise that they're still working on a sequel to capitalize on what they're still calling the smashing success of Shadow Chronicles.

I find ALL of it disappointing...looking at Captain JLS talking about about the Legend of Zor really just makes me feel kinda...weird.

Well, what were you expecting? If you're going to run a blog or a podcast talking about Robotech, there's not a lot to talk about. There's been no movement on continuing the Shadow Chronicles story arc for at least three years, and there's nothing in the foreseeable future either, so once they've exhausted the series as a topic the only things they can fall back on are the old comics and novels that Harmony Gold and most of the fans would like to pretend never existed.

But then, I find that pretty much ALL the Robotech secondary material I've seen just makes me shake my head...artists trying to draw "anime style" (and failing), writers twisting around the characters into things they were never meant to be... It's all rather baffling to me why ANYONE cares about it at all. Throw the trash into the dustbin, already.

What did you expect? Robotech was never a popular title, even during its "golden years" in the 1980s, so it never had the clout or the appeal necessary to attract a big name comic book publisher. The license changed hands between independent publishers for years before finally croaking in 1998. Many of the artists involved were clearly out of their depth, and frequently resorted to tracing characters and mecha out of other shows, art books, and magazine articles. Quite a few of the writers seemed to have, at best, a vague idea of what Robotech was about, and were clearly trying to make the story more appealing by imitating whatever anime title was popular at the time. The result of this mishmash was, more often than not, embarrassingly amateurish and almost completely unreadable.

In the end, what it boils down to is these amateurs were given an unpopular title their bosses picked up for cheap and told "make this marketable". Needless to say, they failed quite spectacularly most of the time. I suspect the only reason that the Sentinels continuation comic by Jason and John Waltrip was somewhat well-received was because it's a pseudo-canon continuation of the story of Rick Hunter and the Macross Saga cast, which is what Robotech fans care about more than anything else. The decision to toss the lot of them from the continuity and pretend they were never made is one of the few major decisions of Harmony Gold's current creative team that I actually agree with and approve of. Rubbish belongs in the bin, after all.

[Einherjar]

I find ALL of it disappointing...looking at Captain JLS talking about about the Legend of Zor really just makes me feel kinda...weird. But then, I find that pretty much ALL the Robotech secondary material I've seen just makes me shake my head...artists trying to draw "anime style" (and failing), writers twisting around the characters into things they were never meant to be... It's all rather baffling to me why ANYONE cares about it at all. Throw the trash into the dustbin, already.

I agree, especially since there's going to be 365 days of analysis for all this stuff by JLS. I thought he did that sort of thing already.

[chrisk]

I find ALL of it disappointing...looking at Captain JLS talking about about the Legend of Zor really just makes me feel kinda...weird.

It's a very strange scenario, really. On one hand, everyone is eager to say how the 90's stuff was terrible and cheesy, and yet somehow I recall a strange excitement when Tommy started releasing his own comics - which were really just retooled ideas from the original Robotech Graphic Novel (Robotech's version of Macross Zero) and the Sentinels.

I would be inclined to cast my vote for the present situation as being the more disappointing of the two.

Yeah, that's what's so strange about what's going on at present. On one hand you can say Tommy released stuff that Macek never did in the 90's - and yet I feel they didn't give what fans really wanted - a good compelling story. As the 'noughts went by it just seemed that while HG was putting out 'better quality' (a debatable topic) stuff, they were all just rehashes and regurgitation of the stuff people hated from the 90's.

So yeah, Dr. Lang is still an idiot, Edwards has no personality, space ships escaping from blackholes...

I always thought it was kinda funny that the secondary characters all get the Boba Fett treatment. Not only that, but then, they make all the characters have some close degree of seperation from everyone else. It's like everyone that has a hero complex all drank the same cool-aid, or all attended the same leadership conference.

And that's probably why every review for new Robotech crap keeps having the phrase "this is just for the fans", because while there's nothing wrong with rehashing a character, the writing is so uncompelling that nobody but the hardest of the hardcore will get it.

And speaking of the hardest of the hardcore, Mav_LSC's on trying to generate excitement over nothing:

Some news on Jason Netter getting into comic publishing business mentions about the Robotech adaption to film.

Posted here on Variety;

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021672.html?categoryid=1350&cs=1

My favorite is the snarky reply from Alchu:

How is this article an update to the LAM? They simply mention the name Robotech. Pretty sad...

And here's one from the creepy guy who takes pictures to show the Macross groupies they're wrong:

WORD FROM MECHA CON AND WHAT TOMMY YUNE SAID...

THE MOVIE IS "IN THE EDITING STAGE"...

SPECULATION AHEAD

LOOKS LIKE THIS MOVIE IS FAR ALONG THAN WE THINK. THEY SURE MOVING FAST ON THIS PROJECT. JUST BEGINNING THIS SUMMER VOICE ACTORS WERE VISITING HG, TOMMY SHOWS OF AN IMAGE, AND NOW IN EDITING STAGE..

WE MIGHT SEE OR HEAR MORE FOR COMIC CON? AND THAT'S THIS THURSDAY..

Yeah MEMO! You tell those fanboys whose boss!!

HEHEHE

[Jasonc]

It's a very strange scenario, really. On one hand, everyone is eager to say how the 90's stuff was terrible and cheesy, and yet somehow I recall a strange excitement when Tommy started releasing his own comics - which were really just retooled ideas from the original Robotech Graphic Novel (Robotech's version of Macross Zero) and the Sentinels.

Yeah, that's what's so strange about what's going on at present. On one hand you can say Tommy released stuff that Macek never did in the 90's - and yet I feel they didn't give what fans really wanted - a good compelling story. As the 'noughts went by it just seemed that while HG was putting out 'better quality' (a debatable topic) stuff, they were all just rehashes and regurgitation of the stuff people hated from the 90's.

So yeah, Dr. Lang is still an idiot, Edwards has no personality, space ships escaping from blackholes...

And that's probably why every review for new Robotech crap keeps having the phrase "this is just for the fans", because while there's nothing wrong with rehashing a character, the writing is so uncompelling that nobody but the hardest of the hardcore will get it.

And speaking of the hardest of the hardcore, Mav_LSC's on trying to generate excitement over nothing:

My favorite is the snarky reply from Alchu:

And here's one from the creepy guy who takes pictures to show the Macross groupies they're wrong:

Yeah MEMO! You tell those fanboys whose boss!!

HEHEHE

That news about Kickstart and all is fine and all, but it's sad that the need to validate Robotech's existence even when it's just a one word mention, is so prevailant. And, like this Alchu guy said, yeah, what is the point? Is it gonna make the story any better? Is Robotech gonna be some bigger name now? Does it mean that Roboteh's story is now deeper and more complex? Is Marvel now quaking in their boots cause there's some other worldly remote chance that a new Robotech comic may come?

As far as the updated news, it's not anything different than what was at AX, just more filler crap to keep detractors at bay...Whatever.