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

[Gerli]

Eh, if Creavision's thick enough to take them up on it, who's more foolish... the fool or the fool who follows him?

I don't think Creavision is working for free in this.... even if the campaign is succesful or not, someone has to pay the CG work.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Gerli

[technoblue]

Man, Creavision received a sucker punch. They were producing fan-made content on a regular basis. It was fun and it worked for their audience.

However, this Kickstarter project is going a long, long way in showing how inept the remaining Robotech management is at producing any kind of entertainment anywhere. It is a pariah. At least Carl could produce 'borrowed' and 'taped together' content. If this Kickstarter is showing us the same kind of shenanigans that WB had to deal with, then no wonder Jem is beating Rick Hunter to the big screen (not that I mind; Jem is outrageous).

I'm getting more and more excited about the end result. Because the longer it takes those involved to update the project with any work in progerss (actual animation, updates on the pilot itself, or bonus tiers related to taking this idea further than their initial pilot), the more it looks like this Kickstarter may be a nail in the coffin for Robotech.

I want to see that new world. I really do. Keep up the good work!

Edited July 11, 2014 by technoblue

[Renato]

I'm calling BS on the whole "No it does take half a million to fund, because you have to factor in licensing fees and DVD authoring and distribution and and and.... bleah".

I'll give you that there are costs for pre-production that are not necessary to factor in for an individual episode of a greenlit series, so of course a pilot is going to be more expensive to produce. But, they're really going too far with this. Distribution? Authoring? That is NOT a part of the production. All that should be left to the licensees. Fans are supposed to be funding the making of the show, not how it will be sold. Why not factor in the shitty merchandise costs that they try to flog, too, while they're at it?

Why should we donate half a million? Because the money for the Robotech Academy soundtrack CDs and mugs and T-shirts and baseball caps and tie-in comic doesn't grow on trees, don't you know!

Edited July 11, 2014 by Renato

[CoreyD]

Man, Creavision received a sucker punch. They were producing fan-made content on a regular basis. It was fun and it worked for their audience.

However, this Kickstarter project is going a long, long way in showing how inept the remaining Robotech management is at producing any kind of entertainment anywhere. It is a pariah. At least Carl could produce 'borrowed' and 'taped together' content. If this Kickstarter is showing us the same kind of shenanigans that WB had to deal with, then no wonder Jem is beating Rick Hunter to the big screen (not that I mind; Jem is outrageous).

I'm getting more and more excited about the end result. Because the longer it takes those involved to update the project with any work in progerss (actual animation, updates on the pilot itself, or bonus tiers related to taking this idea further than their initial pilot), the more it looks like this Kickstarter may be a nail in the coffin for Robotech.

I want to see that new world. I really do. Keep up the good work!

That's exactly it! I've funded kickstarters before where the project team did everything they could to entice people to pledge -- tons of concept art, prototypes, they actually answered questions -- everything possible to show that they actually had a feasible idea.

This is literally just an idea that isn't even fully formed. It's as if HG thinks they can put up the kickstarter and coast it in. Maybe they will...barely.

If you want people's money you have to bring something to the table besides nostalgia and two or three half baked sketches.

[Seto Kaiba]

This is literally just an idea that isn't even fully formed. It's as if HG thinks they can put up the kickstarter and coast it in. Maybe they will...barely.

If you want people's money you have to bring something to the table besides nostalgia and two or three half baked sketches.

Harmony Gold's reaction to the vocal, and surprisingly common, criticisms being leveled at the Robotech Academy Kickstarter by their own fans amounts to one big invocation of "What do you mean it's not awesome?".

Also, I'm not so sure that Harmony Gold actually needs to bring more to the table than nostalgia and some half-baked concept art... their fans are famous for being not-terribly-discerning folks.

[Hoptimus]

"1000 kilos of blow HIGH-QUALITY ANIMATION"

LMAO. I almost sprayed coffee on my monitor here. Nice.

The sad part of this whole thing is they are preying on 2 sets of people. The nostalgia fans that don't know all of HG's shoddy practices and then the super loyal crazies that think anything with the Robotech name on it is GOLD. That alone might be enough for them to get the money. In some ways I hope they do. Then these folks will see it go to waste as it blows past the deadline and maybe not even get done. Maybe then HG will finally throw in the towel and someone can wrangle the Macross rights out so we can get legit Macross releases in the USA.

[coronadlux]

They (HG) still own the "macross" name on various parts of The Americas and the UK. Can we honestly believe that they will relinquish the rights to distribute?

I honestly think that whoever is managing the department just isn't up to the task to fully comprehend what needs to be done to make it successful. Seems that the same group of people keep trying to pass off bad ideas for another bad idea.

So, shadow chronicle didn't do it for them, scratch that idea and sell them LLA. Oh, there's a fan doing a better job. Sue him for having better ideas than us.

Wait, these young teens like school anime, let's make one of those too. Who cares if we don't have a plot, it's in a school with curvy females in sailor uniforms... That'll get pedophiles to buy into it just for panty shots.

Keep it real HG... Get good ideas and designers and a marketing team that dies it's job and not guess.

[TheLoneWolf]

I don't think Creavision is working for free in this.... even if the campaign is succesful or not, someone has to pay the CG work.

I also doubt that Creavision is working for free, but I suspect that they're working at a discounted rate. After all, for them it's probably a privilege to work on Robotech. They're probably figuring that they can take a pay cut up front, and if the series takes off (lol!), they'll reap the rewards.

The problem with this scenario is that 1) Creavision would be assuming that RT Academy has a good chance of being made into a full-blown series, and 2) if that were to indeed happen, that they'd be resigned at a fair-market value contract. But I suspect that Harmony Gold likes to keep their production costs as lean as possible in order to minimize risk; this sort of approach rarely entertains generous contracts.

[Agent ONE]

From wikipedia:

Kickstarter launched on April 28, 2009, by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler.^[7] The New York Times called Kickstarter "the people's NEA".^[8]Time named it one of the "Best Inventions of 2010"^[9] and "Best Websites of 2011".^[10] Kickstarter reportedly raised $10 million funding from backers including NYC-based venture firm Union Square Ventures and angel investors such as Jack Dorsey, Zach Klein and Caterina Fake.^[11] The company is based in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn.^[12]

Kickstarter was designed to help new ventures, and unexposed artists get funding for their projects. I am shocked that there is not some caveat that dictates that a long running business can't jump in and use it. It just seems completely tacky, rude, and inappropriate. It would be like me (see avatar) signing up for youth boxing.

[CoreyD]

Possible, but Kickstarter is a business itself, so the more people or organizations that use it, large business or not, the more money they take from the cut.

[azrael]

I'm calling BS on the whole "No it does take half a million to fund, because you have to factor in licensing fees and DVD authoring and distribution and and and.... bleah".

I'll give you that there are costs for pre-production that are not necessary to factor in for an individual episode of a greenlit series, so of course a pilot is going to be more expensive to produce. But, they're really going too far with this. Distribution? Authoring? That is NOT a part of the production. All that should be left to the licensees. Fans are supposed to be funding the making of the show, not how it will be sold. Why not factor in the shitty merchandise costs that they try to flog, too, while they're at it?

...

That's why people should be looking at other KS-projects and ask why are those groups asking for less. Most of those projects are going up on Youtube with DVD/Blu-ray as the afterthought if they get get more money and it turns out well. People should be asking what other distribution methods they are looking at.

That's exactly it! I've funded kickstarters before where the project team did everything they could to entice people to pledge -- tons of concept art, prototypes, they actually answered questions -- everything possible to show that they actually had a feasible idea.

This is literally just an idea that isn't even fully formed. It's as if HG thinks they can put up the kickstarter and coast it in. Maybe they will...barely.

If you want people's money you have to bring something to the table besides nostalgia and two or three half baked sketches.

Let's see what happens at SDCC. This project probably started around May/June. This is something that people should be asking. When Chris Roberts opened up Star Citizen, we had screenshots already. Now we have alpha videos of gameplay and it's looking good and on-track. If HG is going to give the audience another Powerpoint slideshow with the same slides from AX2014, donors better say something.

[coronadlux]

I agree. Every new panel they attend should have new footage or progress reports. Online, they aren't doing much.

In their video clip, macek's wife talks about her original artwork, or signed artwork. But nothing like that is offered as a reward to backers.

[skullmilitia]

I like how ever time they get 5000$ more dollars, they are "blasting" to the goal.

I have a morbid fetish for watching other people blow their money on nothing.

[coronadlux]

Some of those large cash (over 1k) backers might be fishy... With the limited information, who would risk a $2k gift on something that has very little guarantees.

[CoreyD]

I am the only one who finds this reward tier funny?

Pledge $2 or more
0 backers

ENEMY SPY: Do you hate Harmony Gold? Do you hate Robotech? With the Enemy Spy tier, you can feel free to argue to your burning heart's content! (Please refrain from abusive language as per Kickstarter's rules)

Estimated delivery:

Jul 2015

[Hoptimus]

I am the only one who finds this reward tier funny?

Pledge $2 or more

0 backers

ENEMY SPY: Do you hate Harmony Gold? Do you hate Robotech? With the Enemy Spy tier, you can feel free to argue to your burning heart's content! (Please refrain from abusive language as per Kickstarter's rules)

Estimated delivery:

Jul 2015

Yeah I just heard about that. Well at least they are honest haha!

[azrael]

With the limited information, who would risk a $2k gift on something that has very little guarantees.

Bendo? Mav? Some other diehard?

[Seto Kaiba]

Bendo? Mav? Some other diehard?

The most likely candidates would be Mav and MEMO... they're both in the kool-aid-drinking fanatic set, and would do anything in the hopes of being hired by Harmony Gold. MEMO even has an alleged history of spending well above his means on Robotech.

Odds are there are a couple reasonably well-off fans who are dense enough to think this has a chance, or some that likely can't actually afford it but are fanatic enough to pledge anyway.

[VF-15 Banshee]

It's probably because they've been banning so many people from their Facebook page and RT.com

One of my friends on Facebook asked them two simple questions:

1. How is the $500,000 going to be broken down exactly?

2. Are you sure it'll come out in mid-2015, considering your track record?

And about five minutes later he'd been banned. This is how HG works folks. If you're not one of the naive fanboys with inch-thick, rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, YOU ARE NOT WORTHY according to them.

BTW, has Doug Bendo made five podcasts about this yet?

[CoreyD]

It's probably because they've been banning so many people from their Facebook page and RT.com

One of my friends on Facebook asked them two simple questions:

1. How is the $500,000 going to be broken down exactly?

2. Are you sure it'll come out in mid-2015, considering your track record?

And about five minutes later he'd been banned. This is how HG works folks. If you're not one of the naive fanboys with inch-thick, rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, YOU ARE NOT WORTHY according to them.

BTW, has Doug Bendo made five podcasts about this yet?

That sort of opaque behavior isn't news to anyone who's familiar with HG, but it's fairly disgusting while they're in the midst begging for public money.

The other thing about the kickstarter, and alluded to by others, is that they've pulled in $20k between yesterday and today, but barely anyone is contributing at this point (<100 donors/day).

Even the die hard fans have to run dry at some point, right?

[coronadlux]

HG banning people is like an urban legend. You don't believe it until it happens to you.

I've heard the stories, read the blogs, but, it hasn't happened to me yet. Then again, the RT website isn't interesting enough, and I'm not on Facebook often enough to post something. I might add soon as I get home today.

[Hoptimus]

Robotech.com is a ghost town. Only the die hard blind fans are there. Everyone else who had criticisms was banned.

[jenius]

Think of all the money that won't go to this because of the way HG has acted toward RT fans. I might have thrown them a few bones if they hadn't been dicks... And more if they had been honest and shown some talent.

Edited July 11, 2014 by jenius

[UN Spacy]

Wow...they've had $11,000+ donated today.

Pretty sure this is gonna get funded. IN for the hilarity.

[azrael]

I'm sure people will throw money at this. Geez, people funded the potato salad-KS. It's just a guy making potato salad and he got more than enough money. At least with the potato salad, we know he's going to buy the ingredients from his local supermarket.

[Seto Kaiba]

Wow...they've had $11,000+ donated today.

Pretty sure this is gonna get funded. IN for the hilarity.

I'm not so sure... the number of donors is decaying pretty significantly with each passing day. Today's take is just 43. I think they'll run out of people willing to give them money before they hit 500k. How many more folks are going to be willing to throw THOUSANDS at this, because that's how they racked up that total. Some nut threw five grand in.

Take out those outlyers, and the average donor's still only giving fifty bucks. At that rate, they'd need to get 7,620 new backers to make quota. If their rate of donation stays steady, they'll be short by about 6/7ths that total.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Seto Kaiba

[EXO]

I'm sure every Kickstarter project owners ask themselves the same thing, even the ones that get backed. But so far their projection is typical of the ones that do happen. I'm still hoping every Robotech fan will throw all their money into this.

[Einherjar]

Think of all the money that won't go to this because of the way HG has acted toward RT fans. I might have thrown them a few bones if they hadn't been dicks... And more if they had been honest and shown some talent.

I think you are underestimating the disposable income of the uninitiated plebs.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Einherjar

[technoblue]

Some nut Four nuts threw five grand in.

Fixed that for you. And I almost feel bad for the fifth guy who was only able to pledge $3,000. Almost.

[Seto Kaiba]

I'm sure every Kickstarter project owners ask themselves the same thing, even the ones that get backed. But so far their projection is typical of the ones that do happen. I'm still hoping every Robotech fan will throw all their money into this.

Considering how rapidly the number of donations per day is dropping off, I think we're drawing close to that point... the gain is now less large numbers of people pledging modest amounts of money, and more a small number of people pledging increasingly large amounts of money. They'll run out of people sooner rather than later, and they've already started petering out with twenty-seven days to go and only 1/5th of the way to their goal.

[GU-11]

It's really not a good sign if the company that's producing this (what was this supposed to be funding again?) has so little faith in the product that they're unwilling to use their own money for it.

[EXO]

Still too early to tell... take a look at this other KS project with a 500,000 goal. They did a lot worse than HG in the first week. I suspect there's a lot of people that are waiting by the wings to see if their money is really needed to fund the project and then decide last minute that they need to make it happen. I didn't read up on what that project is about, I just wanted to see something that had a similar goal. Again, I'm not saying that RT:Academy will reach their goal... just that anything can happen...

[skullmilitia]

I've said some pretty awful things on the RT FB page and not gotten banned... Yet.

[EXO]

Just don't troll them on MW's behalf... we can discuss the project here but don't make it an us vs. them thing.

[Seto Kaiba]

It's really not a good sign if the company that's producing this (what was this supposed to be funding again?) has so little faith in the product that they're unwilling to use their own money for it.

That's why so many Robotech fans have refused to fund it or offered only minimal contributions.

Still too early to tell... take a look at this other KS project with a 500,000 goal. They did a lot worse than HG in the first week. I suspect there's a lot of people that are waiting by the wings to see if their money is really needed to fund the project and then decide last minute that they need to make it happen. I didn't read up on what that project is about, I just wanted to see something that had a similar goal. Again, I'm not saying that RT:Academy will reach their goal... just that anything can happen...

Capture.PNG

Yeah, but I doubt that other Kickstarter was operating under the air of general suspicion, dismissal, and disgust that the Robotech Academy Kickstarter is. This one's a base breaker before it's even started development.

Just don't troll them on MW's behalf... we can discuss the project here but don't make it an us vs. them thing.

Truly... we certainly don't stand to gain anything by trolling them. Nothing any Macross fan could say could ever inflict worse harm to Robotech fans than what the Robotech fans routinely inflict on themselves by continuing the cycle of getting their hopes up and then suffering disappointment after embarrassing disappointment.