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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    As a fun side note, the Robotech Academy Kickstarter would now need to collect $24,500 in pledges EVERY DAY for the remainder of the funding period in order to meet its goal. They're currently averaging about $1,300 a day. At this rate, they will likely miss the funding target by 43% ($215k) or potentially by as much as 56.5% ($282k). The number of backers per day is now hovering consistently under 20. This has given me the inexplicable urge to dig out the Harry Chapin CDs my dad gave me and listen to the song "Dance Band on the Titanic".
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Let's hope Hasbro sees that and gets in on what might turn out to be a lawsuit conga line, since they're already ripping off designs from Macross and Space Battleship Yamato too. Hi Zen, long time no see. Tommy does actually have a good reason for not using that one... it's outside the time period for the proposed series. Robotech Academy's events supposedly occur at some point between 2022 and 2029 - between the departure of the Expeditionary Forces in Sentinels and the start of the "2nd Robotech War" - but in-universe the "VM-9 Silverback" that appeared in Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles wasn't developed until 2034. In short, it won't appear because it doesn't exist yet. The bigger problem should be "Why is there something that looks exactly like a modern Predator drone in 2020s Robotech?", to say nothing of "Why is there now ANOTHER VF-X-7 besides the Beta prototype?".
  3. Seto Kaiba
    Not wishing to be unduly rude to a bunch of blokes who are trying their best in spite of everything, what Harmony Gold has here is a CG animation team who are borderline-amateur and simply lack the manpower, the skills, and the equipment to do this pilot at a level on par with an average professional animation job in the anime industry this decade. Because they're unwilling to spend the money to do a quality job, Robotech's CG still looks like an artifact of the early 00's... this isn't any more impressive than video game cinematics from ten years ago, though at least it doesn't have the Shadow Chronicles problem of every fighter and ship being surrounded by a haze of white pixels because somebody didn't antialias the textures. I think Merijeek might be on to something. Kevin's consistently failing the Turing test. He's convinced me he's one of those automated support chatbots, not a human being.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Me, I think that says more about Creavision's staff than it does Harmony Gold. We already knew Harmony Gold's Robotech staff is a pack of sleazebags and creatively bankrupt borderline trolls, so that behavior's no surprise coming from them. But it's kinda telling (in a bad way) that Creavision would so readily compromise the dignity of its members/staff by agreeing to work under the same company that had, mere months before, brutally stabbed Creavision in the back by threatening to sue them over a fan film Creavision had been developing with their public blessing and endorsement. A friend of mine who's a long-time Star Trek fan pointed out to me that the Ferengi have a saying "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack". I didn't have Cesar picked as a follower of Ferengi philosophy. They've about reached the point where it's impossible to tell whether they're actually serious, or if their entire Robotech franchise is some kind of satirical performance art that we're just not getting. There's still a few hours left in today, but if they don't pick up a few hundred more bucks before midnight then the day after SDCC will turn out to be the very worst day the Kickstarter has had.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    *shrug* Believe you me, I'd love to forget most of this useless trivia about Robotech... most of which I've ended up knowing thanks to people from various forums relentlessly pestering me for answers about "how did this go in the OSM?". Still, I'm pretty sure that making it look Macross-esque was the entire point. The Shadow Chronicles showed that fans have little enough love for the MOSPEADA designs as-is, and that trying to Macross-ize them by sticking Super Packs on the Legioss and so on was a real non-starter. Robotech Academy is basically the same idea as all the other Robotech sequel attempts (with the sole exception of Robotech 3000) but without most of the pretense of trying to be something other than a shameless attempt to cash in on Macross's popularity the same way that Space Gandam V and Astro Plan did. Someone pointed this out to me a minute ago... but it seems that Robotech Academy contains a greater percentage of post-consumer recycled material than previously indicated: http://g.cdn.mersap.com/anime/files/2014/02/Proyecto-Valkyria.jpg This "VF-X-7" suddenly looks a lot more familiar, doesn't it?
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Nope, because they'd already established that the Beta prototype looked more or less exactly like a production model Beta... so this is something else and somebody screwed the pooch on the number. It's kind of funny in a way, since Robotech has a lot of gaps in its numbering system, but they still screwed up. This thing looks like a mixture of the frigging Logan from Southern Cross and one of the grunt-type Sylphs from the first episode or two of Yukikaze. What a mess. That this won't be animated is a MERCY.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    I lol'd... these idiots can't even keep their own continuity straight. Robotech's VF-X-7 is the original designation of the frigging "Beta fighter"... but the best part is even that shabby crap didn't get the attention of the Robotech fans on the Kickstarter.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    So... you want exactly what I just described in the post you quoted? The sequel Harmony Gold can never make... in which they've got the Macross characters as the focus of the story, out in space doing Macross-y things like establishing colonies and teaching new aliens about humanity's culture, just without the word "Macross" in the title. Sentinels is what a lot of Robotech fans want, for reasons that are fairly obvious... it's basically Carl Macek's Macross-MOSPEADA crossover fic, and it's far more Macross than it is MOSPEADA. There are so many problems with the very idea of producing it that you're pretty much hosed even if you DO become rich enough to independently finance a new animated series.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    Won't work. They'll still piss and moan about the evil "Macross purists", simply because it's easier than admitting to themselves that they've wasted thirty-odd years hoping for a clueless but (originally) well-meaning company (Harmony Gold) to produce the impossible sequel of their dreams... something that is all about the Macross characters, doing Macross-y things, but without the word Macross in the title. They're still going to blame us for the bad press the project has gotten, the various reviewers over on YouTube who encouraged people to boycott the Kickstarter, and all the acrimony on the comments page. This late in the game, and with the Kickstarter's chances of success being virtually zero, it'd be no different from taunting them about the project's impending failure.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    This just in... invisible, incorporeal beings turned out in record numbers for the SDCC Robotech panel! Backing for their Robotech Academy project climbed to... wait... whaddya mean they've had less than a grand in pledges the day after such a world shattering multimedia event? What do you mean they've only had five new pledges today?
  11. Seto Kaiba
    The ultimate "do not need" box set for practically everybody anyway... almost every Robotech fan already owns two or three different releases of the series, usually one pre-remaster and at least one post-remaster, and most aren't all that interested in the originals, since being interested in the originals makes you an evil baby-eating Macross purist troll as far as the most vocal fans are concerned.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    It's sad, but the Kickstarter's now devolved into the fans hoping that the whole thing is a sham and Harmony Gold secretly has some other agency in the wings who'll chip in the missing $300,000.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Give or take one or two people who may have backed it ironically, probably. Look on the bright side... at least your gesture won't end up costing you money. No updates, and a lot of recrimination on the comments page. You've got the few blind faithful profusely thanking Harmony Gold for "getting the word out" at SDCC and suggesting that because of this it'll hit a million bucks, and the sane men saying that they accomplished the square root of bugger all in the internet age, and that everyone who was going to pledge probably knew about the Kickstarter long before the panel thanks to the internet publicity. Definitely a smart move on Harmony Gold's part to make the Q&A as short as possible... with the backers giving Kevin flack over his circular non-answers and question-dodging on the comments page, and some going so far as to suggest that he's failed the Turing test, the best thing would've been to avoid a queue of what would have been mostly questions about what they're gonna do if/when the Kickstarter fails, questions about why they've not released Macross stuff in the west if their claims of having all of the distribution rights to the franchise are true, why they're doing this instead of Shadow Chronicles, and why they're relying on "Do it for Carl!" so much instead of posting actual news people care about. A long Q&A session would've been slow and public suicide for the project and the staff.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    ... and boy does it show! As of 8am EDT, the take for yesterday including the incredible rush to give give give that followed the Earth-shattering revelations of the Harmony Gold panel was a mind-blowing $1,444. The Kicktraq trending-towards estimated total is now under 60% (59% - $296,131) and the projection high/low is $220,162 to $281,951 (44%-56%). SideKick's projection actually went up slightly, recovering from 5% to 8%, though that's not much of an actual recovery. At this rate, the only way it stands a chance is if every backer is willing to throw $200 on top of whatever they've already given, and the comments on the Kickstarter suggest most are regretting pledging as high as they did already. Hit the nail on the head. They'll throw us another re-release of the Macross series on DVD (not blu-ray, DVD) if we please, please, pretty please throw some money at the Kickstarter. I'm waiting to hear back from HG's current distributor on a request for the sales numbers for the A&E Robotech box set. I'm expecting it to be less than 50,000. That's a Garfish-class transport from Genesis Climber MOSPEADA with its middle hangar replaced by a harpoon and some wings haphazardly glued to its sides. What an ugly mess.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Business as usual, lol. But not an unexpected turn of events either... Harmony Gold usually crops their "crowd shots" to make it look like they've got a full hall when, in reality, they only have a few rows full at best. Please do.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    No problemo... though that doesn't include certain formations that either aren't squadrons proper or are of unclear designation like the 727th Independent Special Command "Ravens" or 815th Independent Special Command "Havamal", Antares squadron from Macross Galaxy, and squadrons/special forces teams from character backstory like Scarecrow Squadron, the Ruby Maces, Black Rays, (all from VF-X2 characters) and Round Table (Macross R).
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Why not save you a trip? I had it all (preformatted no less) in a notepad file from when I was compiling it a ways back. Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie (Vol.1) SVF-1 "Skulls" SVF-29 "Silver Wings" SVF-20 "Outlaws" "Angel Birds" Flight Demonstrator Squadron (the UN Spacy equiv. of the Blue Angels) SVF-122 "Big Aces" (a Zentradi squad) SVF-65 "Blue Knights" SVA-163 "Flying Fleas" SVF-46 "Gold Wings" SVF-51 "Yellowjackets" SVF-85 "Blue Falcons" Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie (Vol.2) "Space Wing" SVF-50 "Spirits of the Sword" SVF-13 "Plungers" SVC-113 "Star Hunters" SVAW-12 "Prairie Dogs" SVF-43 "Grime Wolves" SVF-41 "Black Aces" SVF-74 "Grime Fighters" SVF-92 "Cleavers" SVF-124 "Moonshadows" SVFM-31 "Hawks" SVF-69 "Big Dippers" SVF-26 "Royal Cavaliers" SVF-56 "Griffons" SVF-77 "Seven Stars" SVF-113 "Great Bisons" SVF-144 "Cloverleaves" SVF-197 "Hammerheads" SVF-61 "War Babies" Variable Fighter Master File: VF-19 Excalibur SVF-663 "Muskets" SVF-569 "Lightnings" SVF-440 "Dullahans" SVFC-222 "Valkyries" SVF-73 "Sidewinders" SVF-166 "Tiger Waves" SVF-37 "Red Bulls" SVF-290 "Black Sabers" SVF-242 "Guardians" SVF-315 "Cheyennes" SVF-158 "Iron Riders" SVF-137 "Metal Robins" "Emerald Force" (Special Forces) "Sound Force" (Special Forces/Irregulars) SVF-523 "Sonic Riders" Variable Fighter Master File: VF-25 Messiah SVF-522 "Stampede Thunders" SVF-1202 "Fireballs" SVF-121 "Regulus" SVF-173 "Ripsnorters" "Angel Mates" Flight Demonstrator Squadron SVF-152 "Star Streaks" SVF-188 "Fire Stars" SVF-255 "Samurai Fighters" SVF-332 "Strato Falcons" SVF-502 "Electric Dragons" SVF-415 "Storm Birds" Variable Fighter Master File: VF-0 Phoenix VF-1 "Skulls" (UN Spacy) VF-8 "Vigilantes" (UN Navy) VF-11 "Bravers" (UN Spacy Technical Research and Development Force test unit) SVX-12 "Space Fighters" (UN Spacy, Orbital Weapons Test Squadron) VF-38 "Green Arrows" (UN Spacy) SVF-115 "Armors" (UN Spacy) VF-3 "Green Arrows" (UN Navy) VF-12 "Firebirds" (UN Navy) VMFAT-203 "Hawks" (UN Marines, Training Squadron) Tenjin Hidetaka: Art Works of Macross: VALKYRIES ~ Second Sortie SVF-1 "Skulls" SVF-569 "Lightnings" VMFAT-203 "Hawks" (UN Marines) SVF-124 "Moon Shooters" SVF-41 "Black Aces" VF-2 "Sonicbirds" (UN Navy) From the Squadrons book: Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVS-101 Prometheus) SVF-1 "Skulls" SVF-2 "Sonicbirds" SVF-20 "Outlaws" SVF-63 [uNNAMED] SVF-28 "Knightriders" Carrier Air Wing 9 (SDF-1 Macross) SVF-48 "Blue Hawks" SVF-38 "Green Arrows" SVF-6 [uNNAMED] SVF-22 [uNNAMED] SVF-13 [uNNAMED] SVF-44 "Gunpod Fighters" SVF-32 "Shooting Stars" Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVS-101 Prometheus) SVF-68 SVF-37 "Red Bulls" Other Units SVF-5 "Hustlers" (ARMD-1 H.J. Niven) SVF-34 "Kingfishers" (CVW-33) SVF-105 "Percivals" (ARMD-6 Constellation/CVW- SVF-54 "Bicorns" (CVW-11)* SVF-47 "Williams" (CVW-17)* VF-11 "Bravers" SVF-90 "Millennium Goblins" (ARMD-6 Constellation) VMS-38 "Night Stalkers" VMS-39 SVFR-7 "Screwhawks" SVF-50 "Spirits of the Sword" Variable Fighter's Aero Report SVF-41 "Black Aces" (UN Spacy VF-1J) SVF-145 "Easyriders" (UN Spacy, VF-1D) 9th Air Force, 723rd Tactical Fighter Wing (UN Spacy Air Force, VF-1J) VF-2 "Sonicbirds" (UN Navy, VF-1A) SVF-38 "Green Arrows" (UN Spacy, VF-1A) SVF-82 "Dirty Sluggers" (UN Spacy, VF-1J) SVF-212 "Black Knights" (UN Spacy, VF-1J) SVMAT-102 (UN Spacy Marines, VT-1) SVT-24 (UN Spacy, VT-1) SVF-184 "Iron Chiefs" (UN Spacy, VF-4A) SVMF-42 "Blue Phoenixes" (UN Spacy Marines, VF-4A) SVF-95 "White Rocks" (UN Spacy, VF-4A) 38th Air Force, 644th Tactical Fighter Wing (UN Spacy Air Force, VF-11C) SVF-72 "Black Eagles" (UN Spacy, VF-11C) SVF-110 "Mighty Wings" (UN Spacy, VF-11C) SVF-35 "Blue Steels" (UN Spacy, VF-11B) SVF-477 "Stingers" (UN Spacy, VF-11C) SVF-411 "Blue Lancers" (UN Spacy, VF-11B) SVA-145 "Cloud Dancers" (UN Spacy, VA-3) SVF-33 SVF-71 "Star Lions" (UN Spacy, VF-5000B) 28th Air Force, 313th Tactical Fighter Wing "Mosquitos" (UN Spacy Air Force, VF-5000B) SVF-124 "Moon Shooters" (UN Spacy, VF-17D) SVMF-45 "Luna Guards" (UN Spacy Marines, VF-17D)
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Okay, mystery solved... you've conflated typo'd "SVC" into "SCV". Welcome to acronym hell, population... almost everybody at some point. SCV is a depreciated/unofficial hull classification symbol used for the ARMD-class space carriers in the Sky Angels VF-1 technical manual, and fan shorthand for "space carrier" in some threads here on MW. SVC is a UN Spacy squadron classification symbol for a space-based composite squadron (the kind of group whose job it is being the adversaries in simulated combat). The SVC-8 Blue Roses are an (apparently unofficial) squadron for which the paint scheme was featured in the October 2002 issue of Model Graphix magazine on a VF-1S Strike Valkyrie. I don't believe they've appeared anywhere official, but they have showed up in a few other issues of the magazine. EDIT: I just realized the "SCV" thing is probably a typo, since you copied it out as SVC-8 in your second post. I put together a similar list of squadrons on another forum already, containing everything from the Master File books out thus far and the VF Aero Report in TIA M+. There's a lot of 'em, but only one that has just a number 8... the UN Navy squad VF-8 Vigilantes in the VF-0 book. EDIT 2: The November issue of same also has some models done in the SVC-8 Blue Roses scheme.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Erm... what's the source you found a reference to "SCV-8 Blue Roses" in? I ask because that's not a Macross squadron designation... Macross largely uses a US Navy-inspired designation system, while the only usage of "SCV" that leaps to mind was in an unofficial tech manual (Sky Angels) as an alternate hull classification symbol for the ARMD-class space carriers. SCV/ARMD-8 was listed as the carrier Midway. EDIT: Variable Fighter Master File: VF-0 Phoenix lists the squadron VF-8 as the "Vigilantes". EDIT 2: The only google results I'm coming up with for "SCV-8" is one of the alternate license plates for the popemobile.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Y'gotta remember, az, that the perceived situation is just as important to selling a product as the reality is. That's marketing in a nutshell. In a purely objective sense, it doesn't matter a damn whether Agrama was guilty or innocent... but the subjective views that backers and prospective backers take of the situation can have a dramatic effect on whether they contribute and how much they contribute. The behavior of the chief executive reflects upon the company he heads, after all. People are going to be a lot less interested in backing a project by a company whose owner has the reputation of being a sleazy scumbag who's got himself caught in shady dealings involving large amounts of money, regardless of whether that reputation is actually merited. So, yes, with Harmony Gold's reputation already in the toilet and Frank's badly in question, they NEED to reaffirm to the backers that the man at the top isn't tax-evading crook that everyone has had legitimate cause to think he is for the last nine years. You wouldn't, for instance, hire an accountant whose resume listed his last held position as CFO for Enron... regardless of whether or not he was involved in their book-cooking scandal. It's a game of perceptions, not facts, on that front.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Harmony Gold apparently felt it was necessary to remind the backers (for what has to be the fifth or sixth time) that Frank Agrama was acquitted by the Italian courts on charges of tax fraud. You'd think that, at some point, they'd notice that the fact that he was acquitted matters very little in terms of the damage that it's doing to their cause. What matter is that there was enough evidence for the legendarily lazy and corrupt Italian courts to charge him at all... to say nothing of the fact that it somehow took nine years to clear his name (or bribe his way to acquittal). The public image of the company's chief executive matters to the company's reputation... and if your closest associates act like they aspire to a lifestyle somewhere between that of a Bond villian, a Captain Planet villain, and Hugh Hefner...
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... I like to think of Cesar's film as a martyr. The noble sacrifice of Cesar's film, coupled with the incredibly shameful behavior of Harmony Gold in the Robotech Academy Kickstarter, has finally opened the eyes of many Robotech fans to the fact that Harmony Gold is completely out of touch with its audience and is only really interested in using nostalgia to pocket-mine its gullible fans with false promises of a comeback. With a little luck, Robotech Academy's Kickstarter will be the crash-and-burn failure that Kicktraq and SideKick say it will, and that will finally prove to them (and to Frank) that Robotech is not (and arguably never was) a viable property. The sooner they let go of the false hope that Robotech will someday continue the story and recreate the magic they felt back in the day, they sooner they can move on and find something that WILL. Ethically, the Robotech Academy Kickstarter's not much different from selling rhino horn as a bogus cure for cancer... at the end of the day, the only thing on offer is false hope. EDIT: This is actually turning out to be a slow day, even by the Kickstarter's low standards. Not even $900 yet, and it's 3pm at SDCC.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    Just goes to show that Harmony Gold's efforts to condition the fans to believe that anything Robotech is solid gold and all their ills are secretly the fault of the evil Macross purist troll Illuminati Priory of Scion Lizardman Ancient Alien Government Mind Control Chemtrail conspiracy* haven't been entirely ineffective. Usually a conspiracy allegedly headed up by yours truly, because I am beloved of the average Robotech fan. * The things they actually say about this are scarcely more sane than that, I wish I were kidding. Most of the folks on there seem to be more reasonable than that though, with a lot of them saying that they'd prefer it if HG wasn't raising so much negative press by blocking Macross, or how much they wish they could get Macross and Robotech side by side instead of in an adversarial relationship.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Robotech Battlecry was released for all three major consoles of the period (Nintendo Gamecube, Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft XBox). It had lukewarm sales at best, and the Gamecube release was roundly condemned for having more bugs than pixels and a tendency to lock up that would shame the most diligent jailer. In retrospect, its cinematics look better than Robotech Academy does... and that's sad for all kinds of different reasons.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, with Casper van Dien and the obnoxious fish-faced chick from Star Trek: Enterprise, no less. It's god awful, but it's still way more watchable than Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles.
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