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TheLoneWolf

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Everything posted by TheLoneWolf

  1. TheLoneWolf
    I've noticed that too. I think one factor is that today's easy access to absurdly high quality scans has tempered the market for the real deal. Another factor might be that a lot of Macross fans have aged out of the poster market.
  2. TheLoneWolf
    Even though I do like Robotech (it's probably got a lot to do nostalgia), having Macek involved wouldn't have changed anything for me. After I read Macek's outlines for Robotech II: The Sentinels in Robotech Art II, and the Sentinels scripts that were released by Eternity Comics, it became clear to me that Macek is not a good writer. Watching the trailer for Robotech 3000 didn't help either. After watching Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada subtitled, I came to realize that Robotech's storytelling strengths were primarily derived from its original Japanese components, not Macek's writing. Though, I do give credit to Macek on doing a good job editing them together, especially given his limited time and resources. Macek is indeed a good editor and, through his releases at Streamline Pictures, proved to have an eye for what types of anime American audiences would be most receptive towards. But I can't say that he's a good writer, which is why I wouldn't donate to Robotech Academy, even if Macek were alive and writing it.
  3. TheLoneWolf
    Ugh, even by the standards of 1980's comics, that was a pretty lousy piece of art. But make no mistake, this criticism is by no means a condemnation of Svea Macek, since she never presented herself as a serious artist. I always got the impression that for Svea, drawing was a only pastime. In any case, she's not a renowned artist, so I can't imagine why an unremarkable reprint signed by her is worth $100. Harmony Gold's really stretching here.
  4. TheLoneWolf
    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.
  5. TheLoneWolf
    Thanks for that info, Gerli. I was wondering how Latin American fans would react to Creavision's involvement with this Kickstarter.
  6. TheLoneWolf
    That would be an even worse Kickstarter than the Robotech Academy Kickstarter. Harmony Gold's license with Tatsunoko Production is most likely non-transferable, unless Tatsunoko were to give prior approval. And the only way that Tatsunoko would ever approve a license transfer would be under the condition that the applicant agrees to maintain the Big West embargo outside of Japan, and that the applicant also agrees to continue marketing Tatsunoko's Macross/Robotech rights (ie: videos, toys, etc).
  7. TheLoneWolf
    That's a golden post that every potential donor needs to read. Anyhow, here are a couple of problems that I see with this Kickstarter. 1) The writing team. This is the same writing team (minus Tom Bateman) that was responsible for Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, which featured mediocre writing at best. As we've seen from the Robotech/Voltron crossover, Tommy Yune's writing abilities haven't progressed since The Shadow Chronicles. As for Ford Riley, he hasn't written anything since TSC. IMDB only lists Riley as having served as a TV series editor for two kids' shows since TSC. Are these writers that donors would want to entrust with a $500,000 project? 2) The second problem is that this money is only going towards a pilot episode. If the story is to be completed, then it'll be up to TV network executives to actually pick the show up. If Yune and Riley's storytelling received a lukewarm reception from the fans in TSC, what kind of reception do they expect to receive from skeptical network execs? To make matters complicated, Kevin McKeever has stated in the past that any network that would want to pick up Robotech would have cede complete creative control over to Harmony Gold. Considering Yune and Ford's thin credentials, demanding full creative control may actually hurt the show's chances of being picked up. 3) Even though Tommy Yune said that they're going to be presenting a new set of characters with this project, they need to be explicitly clear that none of the SDF Macross characters and mecha will be appearing, at least in any recognizable form. I'm sure that there are a sizable number of donors who are hoping that some elements from Macross will be revisited. But unless Harmony Gold is abundantly clear that this will not be happening, I can see these hard-paying fans becoming very upset.
  8. TheLoneWolf
    So did anyone end up getting the RetroN 5? I went to my local retrogame store expecting to see a pile of them there, but they said they sold out pretty quickly. I then checked eBay's completed auction listings and it's been selling for nearly double its MSRP.
  9. TheLoneWolf
    I really liked the "Missed Opportunities" discussion, especially regarding the aborted Toynami/Tamashii Nations chunky monkeys. I was hoping that we'd finally have a definitive answer as to what happened, but at least it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who's still curious about it. I also liked Tom Bateman's guest spot. He's got a unique and insightful perspective regarding Macross/Robotech fandom. I didn't expect him to comment as much as he did on Harmony Gold's Robotech personnel. Although I'm glad he did, because it confirmed a lot of my impressions about them, specifically that like any other company, there are some competent staffers as well as some that are misguided.
  10. TheLoneWolf
    DVD only? I was hoping that it'd be a blu-ray release, since I already own the ImaginAsian DVD set. But if Discotek redoes the subtitles to make them more faithful and uses physically pressed discs (unlike IA's burned discs), I might be tempted to make the jump again. Though, that largely would depend on the price.
  11. TheLoneWolf
    I understand that OAV's generally receive no model/toy merchandising. But since Macross II was probably the most anticipated OAV of 1992, I just figured that it would've been the exception to the norm. Just curious, but do you know if there's any mention as to how the transformable VF-2SS model kit sold? I compeltely agree that Macross II's removal from the main canon had more to do with Kawamori's prerogatives than its sales figures. But around that time period, it was easy for me to jump to the wrong conclusion. In retrospect, episode 6's dismal animation was probably due to the animators simply falling behind schedule, rather than being indicative of financial problems.
  12. TheLoneWolf
    Thanks for the translation, that's very interesting. I had always thought that Macross II's Japanese sales figures were mediocre at best, which would've explained the tremendous drop in animation quality for episode 6, and the unfortunate fact that only 1 plastic model kit was ever released for the show (although I do realize that several garage kits were released for it). That, combined with the series' expulsion from the canon timeline in 1994, indicated to me that Macross II didn't meet its sales projections. I guess truth truly is stranger than fiction.
  13. TheLoneWolf
    Got my set in. At first, I was surprised at how much the shipping cost was, but when it arrived, I knew immediately knew why. It's a pretty big box and it's heavy too! It weighs about 3 pounds and 11 ounces. And that's not including the shipping box and packing material either. As for the subtitles, I don't know enough Japanese to say whether or not the English subtitles are faithful, but they flowed very well and made complete sense. No engrish here! If Bandai Visual re-releases any more Macross BD's with subtitles of this quality, I'll gladly buy them.
  14. TheLoneWolf
    From my experience, that's how PS3 hard drive installs are supposed to work. Even though the data has been installed onto the hard drive, the PS3 still needs to perform a brief disc check to make sure that you haven't sold or given away the original disc. That's the category I fall into. Hopefully my set will arrive this weekend.
  15. TheLoneWolf
    Fixed.
  16. TheLoneWolf
    Not me. I still think Shin and Sara are the two most unlikable Macross protoganists that I've seen. And the villians, D.D. Ivanov and Nora, were cookie-cutter antagonists with the combined depth of a single sheet of paper.
  17. TheLoneWolf
    Nope, "Minmei's Last Message" wasn't included.
  18. TheLoneWolf
    That's not how statistics work. The larger the sampling size, the more reliable the data.
  19. TheLoneWolf
    Probably not, since MII is a joke in the US. Any potential US increase would probably be so small as to be statistically insignificant. If Bandai is really interested in US sales analysis, then the subbed Frontier movies should have provided them with some useful data.
  20. TheLoneWolf
    Good podcast, I loved the use of that Macross II music for the "big" news.
  21. TheLoneWolf
    lol, perish the thought. RT.com is a commercial website, not a place for frank discussions. I can't fault the staff there for removing people who criticize the company's actions, however legitimate those criticisms may be. If I were to walk inside of Walmart and begin informing other customers of Walmart's questionable business practices, the staff would have every right to remove me from the premises. It's in a company's best interest to maintain a pleasant atmosphere for its general patrons. Though, I wish RT.com would be honest about their policies; it'd make life easier for everyone involved. RT.com tries portray itself as a place welcome to open and honest discussions, yet company critics are treated as persona non grata. Either inform visitors that strong criticisms against Harmony Gold and its staff will not be tolerated, or allow a laissez-faire environment. You can't have it both ways. Going back to the Walmart example, Walmart would have no problem explaining that company critics are not welcome on their premises. But for some reason, RT.com insists on maintaining this feeble charade of impartiality.
  22. TheLoneWolf
    I've been refraining from posting anything else until Creavision got their act together, what with all of those contradictory statements concerning Big West and Harmony Gold. But it finally looks like the dust has settled and the project has been renamed from Robotech: Valkyrie Project to Proyecto Valkiria. The Proyecto Valkiria Facebook page has something interesting (at least to me) to say: After reading this message, it's clear to me that Harmony Gold must've sent the order to cease-and-desist, not Big West. If Big West did send out the C&D, then Robotech: Valkyrie Project could have continued on, sans any references to SDF Macross. The title could have remained unchanged, the VF-1's could have been replaced with Alphas, and the Zentraedi mecha replaced with Invid mecha. But, according to their statement, Creavision can't use any elements from the Robotech universe. Not even material that's completely independent of SDF Macross, such as the Invid. Moreover, Creavision can't even use the name Robotech in their title anymore. These are all components that Big West has absolutely no jurisdiction over, so Big West could not have sent the C&D. The only companies that currently have any film rights to Robotech are Harmony Gold and Warner Bros. Since Creavision never mentioned Warner Bros., I'm excluding them from this analysis. So, that leaves only one party who could've been responsible for the C&D: Harmony Gold.
  23. TheLoneWolf
    Macross Zero? What's that?
  24. TheLoneWolf
    The only two Macross videos that Harmony Gold doesn't block are Macross Plus and Macross II. In fact, Manga Entertainment still actively markets the two videos here in the US. My guess is that that italian Blu-ray is just an upscale. I don't see any mention of it being a remaster, just that it's in high-definition. They probably didn't think it was worth the money to license Bandai's new remaster and just upscaled their existing film.
  25. TheLoneWolf
    I should've clarified that Cesar Turturro and Creavision shouldn't be subject to any fines or legal charges, so long as they fully comply with the cease and desist order. They did everything by the book and in good faith; it was Harmony Gold who probably screwed up. I just feel really bad for Creavsion because they clearly spent a lot of time and money on this project, only to be forced to watch the remainder of it languish on the shelf. Someone mentioned that perhaps Creavision could quietly leak the rest of the footage. But then Creavision would be in violation of the cease and desist, and subject to whatever penalties argentinian law allows. Plus, if they have any aspirations of making it in Hollywood, they probably don't want to be known as a group who discounts intellectual property. Hollywood's seems to be overprotective with IP's these days.
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