Macross World
“Joysound” will open 3 Macross themed karaoke rooms in Ikebukuro on Thursday, November 22. The rooms will be designated as the “Ranka Lee” room, The “Sheryl Nome” room, and the “Fire Bomber” room. The price of renting the rooms is 150 for 30 minutes. To celebrate the opening they will present the first 2000 customers with a “Macross Original Clear File”. Hmmm… sounds like a good stage for our podcasters to get inebriated in during one of their recordings.
So… A week and a half has passed since the latest theatrical Macross release. Why is there no front page write-up? Well, there are probably a multitude of reasons. Number one being, unfortunately, that this movie is barely a movie at all.
However, that doesn’t mean that we should deny it any presence here, nor that we ignored its release.
Read on for the full lowdown on this… thing, in spoilerific detail! You have been warned!
(Yeah… Spoilers for those who have never watched Macross 7 — otherwise…)
Oct. 21, 2012 – I woke up that day thinking, “Hmmm. MacrossWorld Con is today, I should get started on that 1D custom and take it there.” Two hours later I was done and walked out the door.
Wait… that was the dream I had before I actually woke up.”
Oct. 21, 2012 – I woke up that day thinking, “Oh crap! It’s 10am? WTF? I stayed up until 4am painting the figures and putting all the final detail on the 1D. I still have to clear coat the figures and glue some final pieces.” At 12pm, an hour after the con started I was still gluing some parts. The phone rings…It’s Bigkid, must be some con emergency or else why would he be calling?
“Hello?”
“Hey, we brought your binaltechs to the con instead of waiting for the TF meet, how much do you want to sell the Smokescreen for?”
“What?”
“Smokescreen…”
“I got glue all over my iphone… let me call you back!”
“wait!…”
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…
“Awww, crap!”
It’s early Sunday afternoon, why is it gridlocked? Freakin’ L.A. traffic.
This year I decided to not be a part of the MWCon committee, so I wasn’t required to be there at a certain time. Actually I decided two years ago that it was too much work for me and that I would just sit back and enjoy the next one. I’d like to think that that was the reason we didn’t have a con in 2011, but the fact of the matter is that Kirik just had a kid and certain responsibilities were just building up for the rest of the guys. Maybe they were caught up in the moment of the 30th Anniversary of Macross and decided they wanted to do it once more this year. But in my case, I didn’t have a good time at the 2010 Convention even though everyone was saying it was the best con ever. It was certainly the most successful. We had amazing displays, a great location in the heart of UCLA, more than doubled the attendance. In fact, the hall was super crowded like never before.
So it was decided that we were going to do a smaller event this year. A call back to the days where we just sat around, ate crappy pizza and talked toys, models and customs. Sounds good to me.
It was a lot more fun when our convention number matched the year it was… 2008 – 8th Annual, 2009 – 9th Annual, 2010… well you get it. But for some reason we decided to take last year off. But the excitement of the 30th Anniversary of the franchise we all know and love has got our blood and juices pumping once more. Can we still call it Annual? Well, let’s wait a year to see.
But for the first time ever, we’ll be bringing you real time photo updates of the convention at our Facebook page. Come celebrate by posting and liking threads and photos taken at the event.
Also if you have any images you want to send us to post here on our main page for our post con report, feel free to send it to macrossworldconvention@gmail.com.
Macross The MUSICALTURE was performed a total of eight times from October 3 to October 8 at Tokyo Dome City Hall. I was fortunate enough to attend the midday performance on Saturday, Oct. 6.
For the first couple of months following the musical’s announcement it had one major thing in common with many other events held to commemorate Macross’ 30th Anniversary – no-one really knew quite what it was, or how the basic concepts and key three pillars of Macross could be translated into a stage performance. Just over a month prior to opening night details began to be posted on the official website – a page of text setting up the basic story premise aboard the pacifist Macross 29, ‘character’ artwork and profiles, some short clips of cast members covering various Macross songs. But not long after, less promising information started to come to light. Actor Takuya Kikuchi, who was due to play Neo-Zentran leader Vigo Walgria , dropped out citing personal reasons. He was replaced by understudy Yuusuke Hirose with only weeks before the production was due to start. Refunds were offered to anyone wanting one – apparently Takuya was the main draw for quite a few female fans.But then real disaster struck.
Come celebrate the 30th Anniversary with other Macross fans at the 2012 Macross World Convention. There will be contests, prizes, special guests and free stuff. And of course, watch nerds eat!
DATE
Sunday, October 21, 2012
TIME
11:00am – 6:00pm
LOCATION
Thanks to fellow MW member xstoys, we have secured a FANTASTIC location for this year’s convention. We will be hosting MW Con 2012 in the beautiful city of Arcadia, California at xstoy’s brand new design school Concept Cube. Congratulations to Tony (xstoys) for the grand opening of his school and thank you for sponsoring MacrossWorld Convention 2012!
The MC turned to Sho Hayami, a dead serious look on her face.
‘At fanclub events, there’s something very important that we ask all of the guests.’
Sho was all dressed up, pimped out in a silver sequin-lined suit with big dark glasses. He looked more like something out of a 70’s yakuza flick than a voice actor. He paused, evidently troubled by the request.
‘……..ok.’
Looking quickly around the room, the MC picked up the microphone. ‘So…are you Team Sheryl or Team Ranka?’
He slowly looked over at Megumi Nakajima and Aya Endo on the other side of the hall, thinking.
‘…..I think I’d have to say….Team Ranka.’
At least half the hall erupted into surprised cheers. Aya’s jaw dropped, a look of shock on her face.
Most people said Sheryl. Others (such as Kawamori) took the easy way out by siding with Grace. To have such a high profile guest, let alone a member of the original SDFM TV’s cast, choose Ranka was practically unheard of.
But Sho hadn’t finished.
‘But I’d probably want to swap between the two every other day.’
Aya paused. ‘That’s probably a bit much.’ She looked at Megumi. ‘How about every other week?’
Megumi nodded in agreement.
‘…….sure’ said Sho.
And with that, Captain Max had again proved that he was still just as much of a genius when it came to the ladies, as he was in a Valkyrie cockpit.
It’s been a great week for announcements of ways you can blow yet more money on Macross stuff! So, without further ado, lets get into it!
1) Macross 7 BD Box Set art/design revealed
Courtesy of Amazon Japan, the design for the new box sets definitely places its thematic emphasis in FIRE! rather than the more subdued design of the old DVD boxsets.
Box 1 will be released on October 26, with Box 2 due to follow on December 21.
2) New merch and 3D posters
Clear files of three Macross collaborations with well-known manga artists will go on sale from Sept. 14. These will also be available as postcards and will only be available at MACROSS: THE DESIGN at Fukuoka Parco.
The cover artwork of Satelights creators files official doujin is also getting the same treatment. Again these go on sale from Sept. 14. Each clear file costs 367yen, with the collaboration postcards priced at 157yen each.
Two pieces of art are also being re-released as 3D posters on September 22 for 2100yen each. These, as well as the creators files covers, will be available at several Macross events as well as at the Tokyo Anime Center Official Shop.
Friday September 7th, 2012 saw a special gathering of high-profile Japanese animation industry guests to pay their respects for the late Noboru Ishiguro, director of “Super Dimension Fortress Macross”, just one among many, many of his works of anime spanning the entire near-50-year history of the industry.
Here’s a few sample pieces from the “Macross Original Art Exhibition” being held at at the Seibu Ikebukuro Seibu Gallery in Tokyo. The Gallery includes concept artwork from the series when it was being planned to air in 1982 and focuses on Macross Frontier art. It began August 10 and will close on August 22, 2012. Many of our folks in Japan have attended this exhibit and have posted about their hauls and experiences in the forums and on youtube. They site Hollywood.ch.com posted a couple of images from the event which can be seen after the jump.