Pat Payne

Also, how much is this thing gonna cost? Aren't jets (even the micro-type kind) prety darn expensive?

But Japanese law is not the same as American law when it comes to IP. My understanding is that Japan doesn't have the intense defend or lose it system that's used in the US. That's just it. IIRC, Japan has a much broader definition of fair use, that says small violations are not enough to prove abandonment of copyright. The creators have the right to sue and get then unlicensed vendors shut down (and they'd win), but most don't go to the trouble because it doesn't affect their copyright. Here, it is much stricter, and if it's not defended vigorously, it does become abandonment in the eyes of the law. That's why Wonderfest can sell garage kit Valk models with no complaints from Big West (so long as they don't bootleg an already existing product -- but that's a different story), but if a day-care center here in the States tries to put up one picture of Mickey Mouse, Mikey Eisner sends his crack ninja lawyer stormtroopers.

Yes, but it can't fold its wings down in Batroid mode while carrying missiles. Take a look at the end of DYRL for a good example of how a Valk carries its missiles in Battroid mode. I'm guessing that it's probably SOP to fire all the missiles whenever possible before going to Batroid mode. As for Gerwalk, the missiles aren't an issue, since they probably only rarely get in the way of other parts of the Valk.

They're running all the epps on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim monday - thursday nights. No new epps but the same old ones with no edits. Hey, it was hinted in TV Guide that if the show does well, CN might order new episodes.

Welcome back, Q-san.

What is it about San Jose that put it on the cutting edge of anime? First, their PBS station showed Urusei Yatsura, and now there's a DYRL game there too? What does San Jose have that we Los Angelenos don't?

So, you think that BW may pull the plug on Tokyopop's release of Macross 7 Trash?

I don't think it was that at all, much more likely was that they wanted a "fresh start" for the franchise, to get in the new customer base that ha been turned off by the "beer-and-pretzels" BT game, and didn't wnat to have to read pages upon pages of histoy to get inured into the storyline. Besides, the classic 'mechs are still there. The Atlas, Zeus, Mad Cat, etc. haven't gone away. In fact, WizKids is IIRC run by one Jordan Weisman, the creator of BattleTech.

Another reason is: stories change. In Star Wars, the Force started out as some mystical energy. then -- boom -- in Ep. 1, we learn that mitochondria on steroids are responsible for it. Same with Macross. There's probably a bolonium explanation that Minmay didn't know that she was experimenting with Spiritia when she sang during the battle against Bodolzaa.

Who are you, again? :P

Like I've said before, there are a couple of companies that claim some piece of that action, including Best Film and Video, Celebrity Home Video, HG (natch) BW (Double natch) and JVC Victor (music rights). Sitting on the sidelines are every anime company in the States who'd love to release DYRL. There were three, IIRC: First was "Clash of the Bionoids" (hacked up atrociuous HK dub that seems to be a staple of every Blockbuster store in creation, from Celebrity Home Video), then "Macross" (uncut same atrocious HK dub, but from Best Film and Video,this time -- this must have been the JAL-commissioned dub or something, it was created by BW itself) and then a subtitled version which appeared on VHS briefly and then left the shelves forever (slightly edited for nudity and two decapitations, but great translations though.)

I saw them out at a little Japanese supermarket in the Rolling Hills Plaza the other day. I was thinking of picking one up (They had the Gundam itself) but they cost IIRC $6 each, and I thought that was a little too expensive for what you got -- I opted instead for the Gundam magnets.

Still Pat Payne here...it's my real name, so why change it?

Huh? You mean like why don't they make VF-X 2 into a OAV? For that answer, you'll probably have to ask Kawamori. My answer would be because they don't want to. Actually, I meant that we never see any characters playing vid games after SDF Macross. You know how there was an arcade in that show? I'd guess the need for another scene set in a gaming center never came up after "Goodbye Girl.". It's just like you see only one bar in the original Star Wars trilogy, because there was only need for it in one scene.

Quite well, thanks for asking.

That you know abou--aw crap, I've said too much! Now Big Brother's going to have me made into an unperson!

In a perfect world, yeah, Effect. However, at this moment, even using the words "Macross," "Valkyrie," "SDF-01," "Minmay" or any designs that suggest any of those and HG's going to pounce like a rabid marmoset in heat. We had this discussion before. I'd love for them to do a re-animation of the original series (NO CG, however) with the DYRL? designs, but until that can of worms is closed, even it would be a tough sell coming over here.

Live-action Robotech movie casting, anyone? Come on, you all know you want to! Quiet, you. :P

That one I've always found wierd. For the longest time, the IMDB said it was a motorcycle accident, but then they suddenly switched to saying it was suicide--a fall from a tall building. Does anyone have any hard evidence on what happened?

Haveta give this point to Wrylac. Most toy companies manufacture in China for a number of reasons: 1. Low costs, 2. large labor force, 3. A government that has bent over backwards to bring business in to repair an economy that was faltering due to 40 years of communism. It doesn't mean that they have a legal right to sell the toys in China, in fact, some of the toys might be illegal for the average Chinese to own.

Pat Payne (also answers to "My dread lord" and "Hey you") Age: 24 Height: 5'9" Weight: 210 (gotta get back to the gym) Hair: brown (and thanks to lousy genes less of it each year) Education: B.A, Journalism, University of Oregon Occupation: Currently Unemployed, looking for work, also writng the Great American Sci-Fi Short Story Location: Los Angeles, State of Confusion--I mean California

It's not Deedlit from Lodoss War, is it?

Ummmm...went to the place where all plot devices go?

It's official now, MW Boards have returned...you can't have a internet bulletin board without the indecipherable hacker Cyrillic...

The only thing that bugged me about that bit is that Max's gun would have to have been pointing backwards in fighter mode for the gunpod to be on the arm like that.