Robotech Academy - You want a new Robotech series...?

[azrael]

Maybe there will be more people at the convention than there are visiting their web page.

MechaCon doesn't have the number of people that SDCC had. SDCC was their big moment due to the size. SDCC has 130,000+ unique attendees (in 2013). AX has 80,000+ unique attendees (in 2013). MechaCon has somewhere around 5,000 attendees (based on 2012). And as Seto mentioned, anybody who has heard about the KS would have likely decided to pledged or not. SDCC was their big moment. And it looks like that failed to materialize anything.

[coronadlux]

Seto- I'm gonna have to watch it again (gladly I might say)

I honestly didn't pay close attention to frontier's subtle details. But I do agree, way better than anything HG has put out.

I was gonna ask why Shadow Chronicles got such a bad rap, then I watched some scenes on youtube. Yea, that's why.

[skullmilitia]

I'll put it this way, I had just decided to re-watch all of the Robotech DVD's of mine about a year ago. I saw Shadow Chronicles at a used DVD

store for 3$. I bought it and watched it, with-in a day or two of a complete refresher of RT.

I was so mad after SC, I threw the DVD against the wall, and was pissed that I could have used that money for food.
instead I used it for starting the Grill with the DVD case. SC is the worst animated anything I've seen. I would rather watch

a Dora Explorer marathon, then ever watch that pile of garbage ever again.

[Marzan]

Has anyone mentioned THIS??: (A MACROSS COMIC BOOK AUTOGRAPHED BY CARL MACEK'S WIFE!!!!?????)

WTF!?

Can she sign my Return of the Jedi VHS tape also?

Not too interested in getting goodies signed by Ms. Macek to be honest. I'm surprised that the grammar on the Spanish text is really bad. Considering the importance of the Spanish speaking market for Robotech in general, I would have expected a bit more attention to detail from HG. I mean how hard is it to get a native spanish speaker to go through a short text when you're based in L.A?

[Seto Kaiba]

Seto- I'm gonna have to watch it again (gladly I might say)

I honestly didn't pay close attention to frontier's subtle details. But I do agree, way better than anything HG has put out.

I was gonna ask why Shadow Chronicles got such a bad rap, then I watched some scenes on youtube. Yea, that's why.

It's not really subtle... Brera's standing there, holding his bleeding face, and looks over and there's one of those massive birdhuman totem pole things dominating the background.

As far as Shadow Chronicles... I could list the reasons it has a bad rap, but there are just SO GODDAMN MANY. Almost all of the non-fanatical Robotech fans found the film offensively awful for a variety of reasons. It really was a film where they did just about everything wrong. The fans who expressed that view (most of them) ended up banned from Robotech.com for doing so, which is why it's a ghost town now.

I'll put it this way, I had just decided to re-watch all of the Robotech DVD's of mine about a year ago. I saw Shadow Chronicles at a used DVD

store for 3$. I bought it and watched it, with-in a day or two of a complete refresher of RT.

I was so mad after SC, I threw the DVD against the wall, and was pissed that I could have used that money for food.

instead I used it for starting the Grill with the DVD case. SC is the worst animated anything I've seen. I would rather watch

a Dora Explorer marathon, then ever watch that pile of garbage ever again.

For many Robotech fans, the Shadow Chronicles movie was the straw that broke the camel's back. The tampering with the end from "Symphony of Light", the reinvention of "shadow" technology as an alien development, crowbarring in a Sentinels race as a completely random antagonist, the shoddy animation, the shoddy writing... all of these things drove people away from Robotech and Harmony Gold ended up with a lot of egg on its face because of it. Their hilarious knee-jerk effort to cover up the discontent was to BAN EVERYONE.

They had to repackage it with a "new" feature (LLA) to artificially boost the sales numbers.

Personally, I'm not sure why anyone would actually want to buy Robotech on DVD anymore. Why buy a new box set when their latest offering is literally the exact same goddamn thing you could buy fourteen years ago, just in a different box. The Complete Collection sets are less than $20 a pop on eBay, though nothing Robotech has much resale value anymore. $20 to get the very same product that they'll ask hundreds for.

Not too interested in getting goodies signed by Ms. Macek to be honest. I'm surprised that the grammar on the Spanish text is really bad. Considering the importance of the Spanish speaking market for Robotech in general, I would have expected a bit more attention to detail from HG. I mean how hard is it to get a native spanish speaker to go through a short text when you're based in L.A?

Who knows? Maybe MEMO wrote it for them. He's borderline illiterate even on a good day.

[Duke Togo]

I actually watched SC when it was on Netflix a year or two ago. I don't know why I did, but man, what a holy mess. It could not have been worse.

[Gerli]

Not too interested in getting goodies signed by Ms. Macek to be honest. I'm surprised that the grammar on the Spanish text is really bad. Considering the importance of the Spanish speaking market for Robotech in general, I would have expected a bit more attention to detail from HG. I mean how hard is it to get a native spanish speaker to go through a short text when you're based in L.A?

Seems like a Google translation to me. Memo was a spanish speaker, right? When the Valkyrie Project fiasco happened I remember this guy wrote a lot in the robotech spanish forum (always with caps on)

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

remember the two options i posted?

I'll tell you what they are going to do:

"Guys, it was exciting to see so many fans come together to support Robotech, though we felt short of our goals because of the limited deadline and huge financial undertaking we took on as we tend to overdo it as perfectionists we are, we felt tremendous support and momentum from robotech fans all over the world." We're happy to announce that we're are going press on and go ahead and extend the campaign with a more flexible financial goal. we 're not here to cut corners but are listening to fans to bring you guys better rewards with less financial undertaking... to streamline the process faster and to begin working.

We want to continue this project as all of the actors, artists and especially you loyal fans have urged us to extend this campaign and not give up. we put up an initial goal of 250,000 and extended the deadline another 30 days to reach it and any financial contributions beyond will go into stretch goals of your choice.

this will get us started initially while giving you the power to back are more ambitious goals with flexibility." - HG Staff.

or they will just tank it. and spin the dvd's as the focus for the coming year and we will not give up on Carl's dream...

looks like they're doing the latter option... reading RT.com kickstarter thread.

it's over...

No matter what happens with the Kickstarter Robotech fans should take the high road and not lash out at our critics. Yes, our critics will say really nasty things about Harmony Gold, Robotech and you, the fans. However, as Zentron Wolf says:

Their opinion only matters if you let it.

Very true.

On August 8th at 1:10 p.m. Harmony Gold will still be here working to bring you all more Robotech. I will be here on the forums answering your questions and talking about what is next for the franchise.

For example:

On August 21-24 the Robotech Convention Tour makes its annual stop at Matsuricon in Columbus OH

On the week of August 27th the final issue of the popular Robotech / Voltron comic crossover comes out.

On Sept 12-14th The Robotech Convention Tour makes a stop in Denver, CO at Nan Desu Kan (the largest anime convention in the Rocky Mountain West)

On September 23rd, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release Robotech The Classic Collection - Volume 1 on DVD

On Sept. 27-28th The Robotech Convention Tour makes a stop at the Long Beach Comic-Con

On Oct 9-12 The Robotech Convention Tour makes a stop at the New York Comic-Con (the largest pop-culture event on the East Coast)

That is what Robotech will be doing just in the next 90 days.

[technoblue]

it's over...

No matter what happens with the Kickstarter Robotech fans should take the high road and not lash out at our critics. Yes, our critics will say really nasty things about Harmony Gold, Robotech and you, the fans. However, as Zentron Wolf says:

Their opinion only matters if you let it.

Very true.

On August 8th at 1:10 p.m. Harmony Gold will still be here working to bring you all more Robotech. I will be here on the forums answering your questions and talking about what is next for the franchise.

For example:

On August 21-24 the Robotech Convention Tour makes its annual stop at Matsuricon in Columbus OH

On the week of August 27th the final issue of the popular Robotech / Voltron comic crossover comes out.

On Sept 12-14th The Robotech Convention Tour makes a stop in Denver, CO at Nan Desu Kan (the largest anime convention in the Rocky Mountain West)

On September 23rd, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release Robotech The Classic Collection - Volume 1 on DVD

On Sept. 27-28th The Robotech Convention Tour makes a stop at the Long Beach Comic-Con

On Oct 9-12 The Robotech Convention Tour makes a stop at the New York Comic-Con (the largest pop-culture event on the East Coast)

That is what Robotech will be doing just in the next 90 days.

It was fun chasing the rabbit into the rabbit hole.

Alas, for Robotech and it's fans, the damage is already done. The brand needs a new, younger, and more diverse audience to survive. Nothing has been shown that proves HG has the tools or the passion to move in that radical direction.

[coronadlux]

Seems like a Google translation to me. Memo was a spanish speaker, right? When the Valkyrie Project fiasco happened I remember this guy wrote a lot in the robotech spanish forum (always with caps on)

Yea, Google translation word for word. C'mon. "fans" shouldn't be fans, it should be "aficionados" That's just me reading a few lines.

Seto- wow. I must've not watched it with a clear head then. Lol. Maybe a drunkards afternoon? I don't remember. Hahaha

[Seto Kaiba]

It was fun chasing the rabbit into the rabbit hole.

Alas, for Robotech and it's fans, the damage is already done. The brand needs a new, younger, and more diverse audience to survive. Nothing has been shown that proves HG has the tools or the passion to move in that radical direction.

Let's not beat around the bush.

Robotech is dead... and it has been for a very long time. When Cannon Films pulled the Robotech movie and Robotech II: the Sentinels fell apart in early production, that was the end. The magic had ended. The clock struck midnight, and the coach had turned back into a pumpkin. Their fifteen minutes of fame were over. Everything else has just been Harmony Gold jumping up and down on Robotech's slowly decaying corpse, occasionally eliciting a squirt of something truly unwholesome from one of the more unpleasant orifices... a succession of abject failures that served only to underline that their initial "success" was purely an accident and throwing their incompetence into sharp relief.

This latest mess shows how far they've fallen... the property's owners have so little confidence in the property that they insisted that the fans should fund it instead, and the fans balked at it because what Harmony Gold brought to the table was nothing but misplaced confidence and scorn for the people they were begging for money. This is going to be the elephant in the room for years to come. This is Robotech's Jar-Jar Binks. The fans will likely neither forget nor forgive this particular waste of their time and money. They won't let Harmony Gold forget either.

Still... in a way, this is a victory. Robotech fans sent a message that they think Harmony Gold is doing a crap job. They voted with their wallets and said that they'd rather have nothing at all than a half-assed project sold on nostalgia alone. They haven't been this united in a long time. Let's hope against hope that this is inspiration for Harmony Gold to reconsider their approach to Macross and Robotech.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Seto Kaiba

[niomosy]

It was fun chasing the rabbit into the rabbit hole.

Alas, for Robotech and it's fans, the damage is already done. The brand needs a new, younger, and more diverse audience to survive. Nothing has been shown that proves HG has the tools or the passion to move in that radical direction.

It's a pity things are as they are. Were the Robotech IP in the hands of a competent company, we'd be having much different discussions right now. Then again, Robotech might not exist as-is anyway. I'd love for it to end up in the hands of a company that was able to do more than the misguided and lackluster efforts of HG but I'm not going to hold my breath.

[CoreyD]

This may sound crass, but at this stage is Tommy and co. simply keeping the franchise going to maintain a steady paycheck?

[Duke Togo]

This may sound crass, but at this stage is Tommy and co. simply keeping the franchise going to maintain a steady paycheck?

Certainly seems like it, no?

[EXO]

This may sound crass, but at this stage is Tommy and co. simply keeping the franchise going to maintain a steady paycheck?

Before you asked, I was pretty convinced it was common knowledge.

But seriously, I really thought that.

[technoblue]

Seto Kaiba and niomosy, I agree with everything you both said. Well put.

CoreyD: Maybe. And maybe we will be surprised again, and HG will sell its rights to Macross within the next ten years.

Stranger things have happened.

Edited August 1, 2014 by technoblue

[EXO]

Seto Kaiba and niomosy, I agree with everything you both said. Well put.

CoreyD: Maybe. And maybe we will be surprised again, and HG will sell its Macross rights within the next ten years.

Stranger things have happened.

Ten years???!!!???*>@#!!! Ten years is like milking the cow until powder milk comes out and then beating it against a dead horse that's already in a can of dog food.

[Seto Kaiba]

Before you asked, I was pretty convinced it was common knowledge.

But seriously, I really thought that.

It wouldn't surprise me, but I think it's occurring on a higher level than that.

I suspect that, by this point, the only reason Harmony Gold is keeping the Robotech franchise limping along is the forlorn hope that a third party will get involved and rescue it. They're either hoping that Big West will cave and offer them royalties to obtain clearance to release Macross in the west, or that Warner Bros will finally move ahead with making a live-action Robotech so all Harmony Gold has to do is either sell the franchise to Warner Bros for a king's ransom or sit back and collect royalty checks by doing no work whatsoever.

Neither is a viable strategy, but they don't seem to have realized that yet.

[technoblue]

Ten years???!!!???*>@#!!! Ten years is like milking the cow until powder milk comes out and then beating it against a dead horse that's already in a can of dog food.

I would give an optimistic estimate, but I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.

You're right though, that poor cow.

[Duke Togo]

I've always sort of wondered if the live action movie thing didn't fall through because WB found out they couldn't use the Macross designs the movie would inevitably depend on to drive mecha fan interest in the movie. Sure, you would think that they did their due diligence before signing any contracts, but the movie industry is filled with decades of stories where productions imploded because of legal problems that weren't adequately researched or covered ahead of time.

I have to imagine when Tobey Maguire first went after the Robotech property he had visions of Valkyries and the SDF-1 dancing in his head.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Duke Togo

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Guys... i really think it's our fault the Robotech Academy Kickstarter failed.

that's according to the kickstarter and rt.com page...

i, a Macross World member, take full credit for the cause of the failure of RT academy and in no way shape or form blame HG or it's staff in anyway,

signed,

Youran Elohssa

[Duke Togo]

Guys... i really think it's our fault the Robotech Academy Kickstarter failed.

that's according to the kickstarter and rt.com page...

i, a Macross World member, take full credit for the cause of the failure of RT academy and in no way shape or form blame HG or it's staff in anyway,

signed,

Youran Elohssa

[Seto Kaiba]

I've always sort of wondered if the live action movie thing didn't fall through because WB found out they couldn't use the Macross designs the movie would inevitably depend on to drive mecha fan interest in the movie. Sure, you would think that they did their due diligence before signing any contracts, but the movie industry is filled with decades of stories where productions imploded because of legal problems that weren't adequately researched or covered ahead of time.

I have to imagine when Tobey Maguire first went after the Robotech property he had visions of Valkyries and the SDF-1 dancing in his head.

Nah, I'm sure that Harmony Gold at least demonstrated the basic level of due diligence in letting Maguire Entertainment know it couldn't authorize the use of the iconic Macross designs. If they hadn't, and Maguire Entertainment and/or Warner Bros found that out later, Harmony Gold would likely have found itself facing a lawsuit for having committed intrinsic fraud during the actual contract negotiations.

I think the reason it hasn't been made is that Warner Bros never seriously intended to make it, and that they bought the rights just so nobody else could.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Seto Kaiba

[akt_m]

This Project garnered some intrest. just look at the cash pledge======>

Potential is there for RA. Thought I agree with others webepisodes is the way to go. I do want to see what this story is about and ideas going into it. Let Cesar team handle CG. to me it looks cool enough for it to continue. Who knows, maybe later like Halo and Galactica webepisodes can be sold for distribution in one collection DVD.

Potential? What?

Why is this guy so delusional?

[Seto Kaiba]

Potential? What?

Why is this guy so delusional?

Because sometimes reality is too big a pill for the self-deluded to swallow.

[coronadlux]

Potential, yes, I do think the idea has potential. But not in the hands of HG, and not as robotech. It's your simple generic anime formula. An empowered kick ass female, a genius, the hero who is somewhat in between a child and an adult, big boobs, students, underage panty flashes, and robots.

Don't forget to tease the audience with love interests that won't get anything done until someone gets hurt or killed.

Ta Da! Instant classic that nobody will remember in 20 years, unless it's got 500+ episodes.

[Einherjar]

This may sound crass, but at this stage is Tommy and co. simply keeping the franchise going to maintain a steady paycheck?

Tommy can't do Speed Racer comics anymore, so yes?

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-01-04/speed-racer-rights-revert-to-tatsunoko-with-lawsuit-settled

[TheLoneWolf]

I've always sort of wondered if the live action movie thing didn't fall through because WB found out they couldn't use the Macross designs the movie would inevitably depend on to drive mecha fan interest in the movie. Sure, you would think that they did their due diligence before signing any contracts, but the movie industry is filled with decades of stories where productions imploded because of legal problems that weren't adequately researched or covered ahead of time.

I have to imagine when Tobey Maguire first went after the Robotech property he had visions of Valkyries and the SDF-1 dancing in his head.

I always suspected that was one of the factors involved. Like you said, Hollywood's legal departments are only human. If Warner Bros. had a legitimate reason to mistrust Harmony Gold (fanboy posts on the web don't count), I'm sure WB's attorneys would've researched Harmony Gold's rights thoroughly.

While Harmony Gold probably made a healthy profit off WB's eagerness, that boon may come back to haunt them in the future. When WB's rights expire, they may caution other studios about the legal complications involved in making a live-action Robotech movie.

[jenius]

I sincerely doubt HG made much money from WB. They stood to make a hefty profit if the project was completed but since it wasn't they probably made next to nothing.

Also, look at Transformers, do you really think WB was going to base a live action movie very closely after the cartoon? I sincerely doubt it. It was going to be completely reinvented from the start so I really doubt they were too concerned with the rights issues around characters and mechanical designs.

[azrael]

Most licenses work by someone buys the rights for X-amount of money. Then, the licensee receives a small portion of the profits from whatever the licensor does with the property.

BTW, Macguire Ent. and WB have 3 more years to do something with the property or lose the trademark (based on a 10-year renewal cycle). Keep in mind some studios buy up rights just to keep them from going elsewhere.

On the subject of the KS: Oh come on RT fans, dig deeper! Empty those wallets! You still have a full week left.

If Tommy and co. come back to any crowdfunding site, I would seriously consider reporting them for fraud on whatever site they use. This KS is on it's way to doom-vile. If they ask for money again from donors, that would be very very very suspicious.

[jenius]

I'm not clear on how that would be fraud.

[Mommar]

Yeah, that's not fraud. It is sad, but it isn't fraud.

[GU-11]

I don't know nearly as much about RT and HG as most of you guys, but from the outset, the whole thing seems like a pointless venture. RT Academy, from what I've read, is neither a reboot or reinvention of RT, but some obscure offshoot of a long-dead 80's cartoon. What TV network in its right mind would even consider buying a series like that? It's dead in the water even if they manage to get enough money.

The only ones who even know what Robotech is are the old fans from the 80's, and most of them live in South America.

As for the live-action movie, if WB won't make one back when the popularity of giant transforming robots were at its peak (after TF1's success), it seems unlikely that they'll be making one now.

Or are they just waiting for TF movies to turn stale, so there'd be less competition?

Edited August 1, 2014 by GU-11

[Agent ONE]

MechaCon doesn't have the number of people that SDCC had. SDCC was their big moment due to the size. SDCC has 130,000+ unique attendees (in 2013). AX has 80,000+ unique attendees (in 2013). MechaCon has somewhere around 5,000 attendees (based on 2012). And as Seto mentioned, anybody who has heard about the KS would have likely decided to pledged or not. SDCC was their big moment. And it looks like that failed to materialize anything.

I was being sarcastic.

[Gerli]