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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    Aldnoah.Zero is rapidly shaping up to be one of the worst-written original mecha anime properties I've seen in recent years. How did this hot mess manage to last 24 episodes without being cancelled? I'm four episodes in and the setting makes basically no sense. How did Mars evolve a strict feudal society rife with fantastic racism when it's only been colonized for thirty years? How did the Martian colonists reverse engineer enough technology to put them centuries ahead of Earth in an even shorter span of time? Why is a high school student with an at-best moderate grasp of science consistently more effective than the most highly trained soldiers despite having an old training mecha instead of a state-of-the-art military machine? There are plot holes big enough to hide a planet in all throughout this series.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    IIRC, they wanted to salvage intact systems from the SDF-1 for use on the SDF-2 because in the Robotech version of things it was an inscrutable holy grail of the most advanced alien tech anywhere in the universe instead of just another random mass production warship like in Macross. Nope, it's still there... another orphaned plot hole in Macek's butchered version of Macross. That was popular fanon, but I don't know if they ever actually confirmed it was official. The Comico comics actually did draw another ship in that scene, standing back-to-back with the SDF-1. Entertainingly enough, as crudely drawn as the comic is, the design they used is visibly the unused SDF-2 design Kazutaka Miyatake did for Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    That's from a doujinshi, mind you... FANKY Publishing tried to go back and rationalize the internal layouts of a bunch of the ships in a style not dissimilar to the Macross II: the Role-Playing Game Deck Plans books, but in so doing ignored or changed the stats for a bunch of the ships and ignored depictions of internal layouts from the shows themselves. (It's great fodder for RPG stats, mind you, since it has art of the various described-but-not-animated variants of some ships like the Northampton-class and invented a few all-original classes that make good logistical sense and/or just look damn cool like their super-Guantanamo the Kaga-class, or stealth cruisers outfitted with different weaponry under the name Osaka-class.)
  4. Seto Kaiba
    FANKY's Battleships of the Galaxy Vol.1 has the Asuka II-class at: Length: 353.5m Width: 90.1m Mass: 64,000t Crew: 3,600 Reactors: 2 Capacity: ~80 craft (48 VF, 6 Destroid, ~20 others)
  5. Seto Kaiba
    To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts doesn't really feel like it's living up to the promise shown by its first episode... I'm actually pretty disappointed by that.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    I think he built his model off the rough line art that's all that's really been widely published, which only shows ports for three... even though the shooting model does in fact have six. Decent line art for the Asuka II wasn't properly available outside of Macross Chronicle, and even then it's printed so dark it's difficult to read.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Odds are the Asuka II wasn't even carrying that many... the estimated total VF-0 production was about 58 aircraft1 divided between the CVN-99 Asuka II, her sister ship CVN-100 Graf Zeppelin II, unknown UN Marine Corps assignments, and units placed elsewhere for testing like Grand Cannon III or Earth orbit. Taking out the VF-0Cs that were given to the Marines and assuming one to two units seconded to the Space Proving Wing for space testing, that's 24-26 aircraft per carrier. Enough for one full strength squadron, basically, assuming that there weren't any other bases or carriers that were given them. Assuming each carrier had a minimum of one minimum-strength squadron, that's 15 VF-0s. Curiously, despite massively overstating the size of the Asuka II, Master File contends it only had approximately 20 VF-0s and 20 other aircraft including things like the Cat's Eye, Mom's Kitchen, Sea Sergeant, F-14++ Tomcats, and the QF-2200 series Ghosts we see in the OVA. 1. 24 VF-0A, 6 VF-0B (4 stock, 2 recon pattern), 6 VF-0C, 18 VF-0D, 4 VF-0S. Bare minimum, the 6 VF-0C were assigned to the UN Marine Corps and we know at least one or two units were given to the Space Proving Wing.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    I'll bear that in mind if I'm ever planning a vacation to the 8th circle of hell.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    Yup, that's what they did for Shadow Chronicles for like ten years until they admitted it was cancelled all along, and what they did with Academy until the studio called them on it.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Really, I wouldn't call that a glimmer of talent. Han Solo is no strategic mastermind, and he isn't even a particularly good smuggler. He took advantage of Imperial sloppiness caused by the Imperials fearing for their lives thanks to their boss's lack of people skills. Fett was just able to think more clearly than the Imperials because he knew he had job security... Vader wasn't going to just kill an expensive contractor without a very good reason. That Fett was able to spot the Falcon isn't a reflection on his skills so much as it's a reflection on how Lord Vader's toxic management style hurt the performance of those under him. They were all too worried about upsetting him to think clearly. Phasma was established from the start to be the chief Drill Sergeant Nasty for the First Order, and we actually see her operate in that capacity... so I wouldn't say she doesn't show a hint of ability. It's just that the hints she shows aren't exactly awesome since the only thing impressive about drill sergeants is the volume level at which they dispense harsh invectives. IMO, the reasons why that kind of thing would not be widely used would be obvious... it's hideously dangerous to use anywhere in the vicinity of an inhabited star system since you're basically spraying the area with relativistic (if not superluminal) shrapnel that could intercept the orbit of a planet or the course of a ship and shred it just as easily as the initial impact shreds the target. Then there's the concern about the shrapnel that DOESN'T hit something immediately forming navigational hazards in the future. Also, don't ships generally have to sit still for a bit to jump to lightspeed? And IIRC they pop into hyperspace almost immediately after, which would make the window for executing a tactic like that very narrow. So it's strategically difficult, probably politically highly unwelcome, and probably a war crime too... so not the kind of thing you'd want to attempt if you want to keep the general public on your side. No, that's my entire point... these characters aren't allowed to be wrong and cannot experience consequences for their actions due to their status as representational characters. That's how we keep getting these ridiculous plot tumors. Canto Bight happened to facilitate Holdo bravely taking command of the Resistance so she could bravely commit suicide to bravely save the day (bravely) because her character sheet just says "brave woman leader". Likewise Finn and whatshername needing to go to Canto Bight on their bold mission to pass blanket judgement on a city full of people they've never met for the crime of not being wholly invested in the struggle most of the galaxy doesn't even know is going on and then bravely trip right at the finish line so they could have a big climactic battle where Finn could confront his abuser and b*tchslap her into a pit before helping Rey escape. All those people had to die so our heroes who haven't learned a damn thing can continue being heroes and boldly recreate the Rebellion now that there isn't a Resistance getting underfoot.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Boba Fett had Solo literally handed to him on a matte grey platter as a living freezie pop by Darth freaking Vader and his Stormtroopers... he captured NOTHING. If Fett isn't lunch for a colossal sandy anus, someone oughta ship those two... they can bond over how ineffectual they are. She's actually a clone... it's like the Weyouns in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Every time one gets killed they just pop the cork on a fresh one and hope the law of averages is on their side.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... Disney deliberately set out to make Captain Phasma into the new trilogy's Boba Fett, and they succeeded. Not necessarily in the way they intended to, but there's quality irony in that Phasma became the exact same thing Boba Fett was in the original trilogy... an alleged badass in a nice suit of armor whose badassery is purely informed ability, and who goes down faster than a blind drunk with an inner ear infection and one short leg. Phasma actually went out with more dignity than Fett, having gotten some actual menacing of the protagonists in and even a short fight, where Fett got off one shot that did zero actual harm before a blind man accidentally knocked him into the mouth of an anus monster. Do people really have an issue with that part? Honestly, weaponized FTL happens so infrequently in sci-fi despite being terrifyingly obvious for its destructive potential that I thought it was actually a pretty awesome sequence. (It's the only film example I can think of, while the only literary example that leaps to mind is in a Warhammer 40,000: Horus Heresy novel that lavishes an entire chapter on a suicidal near-lightspeed ramming attack.) ... I don't recall seeing any strategically-shaved rats in wigs, but I'll look again. That's what happens when you advertise almost your entire cast on the basis of what anti-discrimination protected class the actor/actress belongs to. Once the producers make the character all about the actor's [race/gender/sexual orientation/fondness for small yappy dogs] the writers are paralyzed by the producers unwillingness to do anything that might offend the members of that [race/gender/sexual orientation/small yappy dog lobby] and the character becomes a flat, bland, stock character who can't be developed very far because they're not allowed to make significant mistakes or have significant flaws. It isn't even a product of the politics in the story, just the ones in the studio.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Not sure if I care for the change in art style between Stardust Crusaders and Diamond is Unbreakable, but at least the OP for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 4 is on par with the others.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    IMO, a really mellow, relaxed tune doesn't really fit with what was essentially the action-packed climax of the Stardust Crusaders arc until the final episode. Yeah, after all the buildup to the fight with DIO it felt like it was over way too fast... I'll definitely give it a look.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Jeez, where was the line of dialog in the video thumbnail for the entire goddamn TV series and two movies?
  16. Seto Kaiba
    This. Just this. Buy Orguss. It's way better than this sad mess we're looking at. ♪Shiroi yami no naka de...♪ Sounds like the setup for a Twilight Zone episode... "In a world gone mad where cats bark, dogs meow, and Robotech develops its own original content..." I don't think feminism is on the menu, considering the kind of people Titan's had working on the book. If you distilled the Robotech franchise's entire history down to four words, they'd be "just wasting everyone's time". They haven't accomplished a goddamn thing in 34 years, what makes you think they'd start now? Y'see, that takes effort... and if Titan wants to turn a profit on this turd, they have to do as little actual work as possible to keep costs down.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    HG wouldn't be spending any money on it, they'd just be making money off the royalties from the license. The best situation is for the movie to never get made, so after Sony finally decides keeping the rights isn't worth the petty cash payout the whole idea fades into history as another bad idea.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    They didn't just blow their budget... they blew right past their budget and kept going, leaving production significantly in the red on both seasons. That's one reason, among many, that Netflix is supposedly so displeased with Kurtzman and Bad Reboot.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Nah, status quo is god to Robotech... they'll just close the time loop they set up with the first issue and it all starts over again.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-07-10/lupin-iii-gets-1st-cg-anime-film-by-stand-by-me-doraemon-takashi-yamazaki/.148854 Lupin III is apparently getting its first 3DCG-animated film this year on December 6th. I'm actually pretty impressed how well the art style adapted to the new animation technology.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    You mean the fins on the back of the nacelle, or the ridge along the top? The ridge wasn't present on the original Matt Jeffries design, but the fins were... though they were a lot less pronounced. The ridge showed up on the refit design for the movies. The fins were marked up as intercooler systems for the warp nacelles on the original Roddenberry-blessed USS Enterprise schematics Franz Joseph Designs produced in 1973. That thing that looks like a towel bar on the inboard side of the nacelle near the front is another one. (The fins at the back used to be the same design.) Nope, it was always set up to be styled after Bad Reboot's trilogy of flops. Yeah, that was a concept for a Star Trek animated series where some nutter set off a bunch of omega particle bombs around the galaxy and basically destroyed subspace across a huge swath of the galaxy, splitting the Federation in two, causing the Vulcans and Romulans to reunify, forcing many Klingons to adopt a nomadic lifestyle, and generally turning the Star Trek setting into something more closely resembling Warhammer 40,000 (or the bad future timeline from TNG where the Enterprise-C disappeared at Narendra III leading to endless war with the Klingons). The only time that series concept was referenced after the proposal was rejected was in the Department of Temporal Investigations novels in the relaunch novelverse. The finale of that series revealed that that rejected Star Trek animated series proposal was a bad future created by the intervention of Future Guy (from Enterprise) that was retroactively unmade by agents from the Temporal Integrity Commission and Federation Temporal Agency when they undid his changes to the timeline while seeking to arrest him.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Basically, it's reached the point where it is a literal bad crossover fic... Titan's big finish to this industrial accident at the sewage treatment plant is to throw in a reference to every major incarnation of Robotech over the years, including ones HG lost the rights to or disowned, so they're all parallel universes in one big multiverse. It's like watching a beaten spouse wimper to their abuser that they can change if only the hitting stops.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    That'd be my fault, I guess... since many of us were hoping or suspecting that the litigation between Tatsunoko and Harmony Gold was going to be the death of their efforts to renew and keep their dead-end brand going, I just posted the news here. The litigation does appear to have been related to the renewal, though we had it backwards... Tatsunoko held that license renewal hostage until Harmony Gold agreed to drop its lawsuit against them for refusing to pay Harmony Gold's court costs and attorney fees as ordered to during the earlier arbitration and the amount owed itself. That announcement seems unlikely to ever come... remastering is expensive, and there just aren't enough Robotech fans for them to be assured of a decent ROI on the effort. Plus the entire Robotech fanbase still hasn't stopped giving them sh*t for changing the sound effects when they piggybacked on ADV Films's remastering of Macross, Southern Cross, and MOSPEADA. (Once bitten, twice shy I suppose.) After twelve years, I doubt even they seriously expect the movie to be made. They're just looking forward to continuing to collect checks until Sony decides it's no longer worth what they're paying, and lets the rights go. Likewise, they still seem to be holding out hope that they can frustrate Big West into licensing their trademarks on Macross's title in order to sell here in the states.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Jean-Luc Picard and his new Number One look like they're headed out to clean up Number One's Number Two.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    The comic's not-a-VF-1 design was, by the admission of the artist Titan stole it from, based directly on Macross's VF-0 Phoenix. In short, it would make a copyright infringement lawsuit from Big West a slam dunk summary judgement against Sony. (Big West seems to have not been aware of that fact, or they'd likely have sued Titan.)
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