Seto Kaiba

Try spelling his name correctly next time... Bah... now THERE'S a stupendous waste of time in the making. It'd be an enormous waste of time and money to pursue dougbendo in court for slander. It'd be easy enough to prove malice and that there are mooks out there who are stupid enough to believe his garbage (Maverick, MEMO, etc.), but it'd all come to nothing in the end. He's a BestBuy sales floor minion, so the odds of me being able to recover enough in monetary damages to cover the costs of bringing suit against him are slim at best. In the end, it's just not worth it. He's a powerless TalkShoe guttersnipe who's trying desperately to compensate for the powerlessness he feels in his soul-crushing menial job by being an internet tough guy. EDIT: and don't even get me started on the Freudian implications of his penis fixation... Indeed... those Starship Troopers movies with Casper van Dien were atrocious... though you'd probably like the 1988 Studio Nue Starship Troopers OVA. It's the closest any adaptation has come to the story of the novel, right down to the Marauder armor.

Too little, too late... it would've been nice to have had those things a few years ago even if the animation quality in them has more ups and downs than an insomniac on a pogo stick. I wonder how never having had Gundam ZZ released outside of Japan is going to affect the average viewer's impressions of the Gundam Unicorn OVA...

Yes, I did... and I'm telling you your assertions are baseless (for the most part). It's possible... after all, they'd be most vulnerable to those on their own home ship. Of course, it's also entirely possible that the forces protecting Macross Galaxy were either employees or mercenaries (though in practice, they're the same thing) doing it for a paycheck. Macross Galaxy IS a corporate entity after all. Speculation, nothing more. Which really makes you wonder if they're going to explore this in the second movie... I hope they do. The conspiracy thing was introduced way too late in the series.

Yeah,

Oh, definitely... the Robotech fandom has always been something for people with more money than brains, and the most devoted fans give off that same "creepy militant cult of the mentally subnormal" that you get from scientologists. In what can only be described as true poetic irony, Harmony Gold's forum moderators even fall back on that same policy of "use any means necessary to silence the unbelievers" that the scientologists use, and the company itself relies heavily on litigation to silence anyone they think is a threat. The parallels here are almost TOO perfect... it's eerie... and are just made creepier by the fact that one of the characters created for Robotech II: the Sentinels was named for L. Ron Hubbard... L'Ron, the Kabarran ambassador to the REF. He appears in Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles too. Indeed... Harmony Gold is pretty small-time, and the few celebrities who seem to know about Robotech are likely either saying they love it out of professional obligation (like Tobey Maguire), or are such small-time nobodies that they don't matter to anyone. (I think Wil Wheaton was one of them)

Okay, I'm game... Assuming that I was looking to actually guarantee some measure of success for the Robotech live-action movie, I'd probably try to get Michael Rymer onboard as the movie's director. Odds are the Robotech live action movie would remove most of the more Star Trek-y elements that Harmony Gold layered onto it in the late 80s, in favor of a flick more in line with Independence Day, and that's right up Michael Rymer's alley. If I wanted the movie to fail, I'd probably avoid Uwe Boll (since he's a little luckier than usual about crossing over into "so bad it's funny") and go for some complete unknown with no professional credibility whatsoever... maybe some mook from BET whose sole experience is directing rap music videos.

Eh... are you asking me who I would pick if I wanted the project to actually succeed (which I don't), or are you asking me who I'd put in charge if I wanted it to fail (like it's practically guaranteed to)?

Um... need I point out that you lot are the ones dragging this thing out into a big dramatic affair? I'm really am mystified as to why you can't understand how I could possibly take MEMO's attempts to frame me for Harmony Gold's practically (and in one case, literally) criminal behavior personally. I said my peace and that was it, I'm not the one who kept trying to raise objections to it. But since the powers that be have spoken and decided to get this thread back on track, let's get back to talking about the shittyness that is Sylvain White. I'm kind of surprised that they would even approach someone like him. At least in the early stages of the project they seemed to be taking it rather seriously, to such an extent that they brought in Lawrence Kasdan, a writer of no small talent. D'you reckon they realized the Transformers bubble finally burst and decided it wasn't worth appealing to top-shelf directors, or are they just mucking about before quietly brooming the project altogether?

No, it doesn't look like he supplied any hard evidence (as if such a thing were possible over the internet), but with his off and on attempts to portray himself as a Harmony Gold insider and/or administrator he could have sidestepped the whole issue of evidence by saying he'd got the information directly from Tommy/Steve/whoever. It still costs money to defend against a spurious lawsuit, and you can't always recoup the costs. As a businessman, I take anything that could result in litigation VERY seriously. Well, at least in the context of Harmony Gold's intent, there's little doubt that the Robotech series was originally dumbed down and targeted towards the same preteen/early teen demographic that Transformers was. The two shows even had roughly the same market model. True, a lot of stuff that today would've been deemed inappropriate for kids slipped past the censors, but the intent was still for it to be a kid's show.

Ugh... as much as I enjoy watching Harmony Gold undermine themselves and their franchise with the sort of gleeful stupidity that's long since become their trademark, I can't help but feel bad for the fans who get victimized by them... they're putting a lot of time and effort into a labor of love, and getting smacked down for it. So, for the sake of the fans whose hard work is being showcased, I really hope we won't see a repeat of the UEG fiasco. EDIT: Though at least UEG can be commended for not letting it sidetrack their plans for continuing to develop their talents.

Yeah, that's Gensomaden Saiyuki... it does get better later on.

Okay, yes... WE know that MEMO is a pathological liar and never checks his facts. Was UEG aware of that right from the beginning? We don't know. In what seems to be a growing trend in this thread, you've missed the point completely. His actions were malicious no matter how you shake it, and had UEG not known better it could very well have ended with us being dragged into court alongside Harmony Gold. That his chances of success were minimal is beside the point... he was still doing his level best to blame us for something asinine Harmony Gold did.

HP already covered it... so my post is superfluous.

Eh, you're kind of missing the point here... the Harmony Gold kissasses themselves aren't the ones who matter, it's the ones they're trying to deceive that ultimately mean success or failure for the Robotech franchise. That so many of them are willing to believe that this fifth-string failure as a positive step for Robotech says a LOT about the current state of affairs in the Robotech franchise. Okay, I'm going to come right out and say it... did you all put your brains in backwards yesterday and today? I seldom see such an impressive hat trick when it comes to completely missing the point. For the last time, I'm not talking about Maverick and MEMO's behavior as though they actually mattered in the grand scheme of things. They don't. They never will. Now that that's said, let's knock you all off your soapboxes for a minute and make damn sure I get my point across clearly this time. The point I've been trying laboriously to get to here is that while MEMO is out there busily slandering a bunch of people and trying to frame them for Harmony Gold's offense, genuinely working to incite the kind of hostility Gubaba claims he wants to forestall, Gubaba's coming here and telling us all (including the people MEMO is trying to frame) that we've all got to give MEMO another chance because he really is a wonderful person and that all of his trolling, malicious behavior, habitual lies, and other jackassery was done in fun and we all somehow just missed the farting joke. I'm sorry if you have problems understanding why, while all that's going on, we find you waxing poetic about what a wonderful, misunderstood person MEMO is a bit asinine. Now where the hypocrisy comes in is in the difference between the way you're treating MEMO and the way you treated Pizza the Hutt. MEMO has NEVER attempted to apologize for any of the horribly offensive things he's done, and he's still trying to spread misinformation to cover Harmony Gold's ass and make UEG look like the bad guys. Yet Gubaba wants MEMO to be given a free pass for all of his malicious misdeeds because the two of them are suddenly best buds. Pizza the Hutt came here, hat in hand, and APOLOGIZED for what he did. He tried to make amends, and all Gubaba did was bait him and make snide remarks about him to me over the PM system, despite my repeated protests to give he kid a chance to make good on his promise to turn over a new leaf. No matter how you look at it, Gubaba's behavior is the very picture of hypocrisy, and he needs to realize that. He wants us to all give MEMO another chance when there's no sign that he wants to stop his malicious behavior, yet when someone who actually wants to put things right after acting like an ass comes here all he does is bait him and tell me that the guy doesn't deserve the chance. This is exactly how MEMO and PTH got along when MEMO was using PTH to antagonize people... "I'll look the other way so long as you're not coming after me". I'm sorry if you think this is unduly hostile, but this is what I honestly thing and I'm not one for censoring my opinions just to make other people feel better about themselves. Now that I've said what I wanted to say, let's move on and get back to the topic at hand.

It's funny because it's lamentably true...

Okay, I can kind of see what you're getting at, but remember that the reactions of the fans to the various news items that crop up is almost always a good metric for measuring the deterioration of the Robotech franchise as a whole. It may not be as relevant as Sylvain White's helpful hints, but it's still at least somewhat relevant. Sometimes, I get the feeling that I'm just talking to myself when I post. Other times, I'm dead certain that I am. This is one of those times. The point that I'm trying laboriously to get to here has nothing to do with bitterness or any garbage like that. Really, I could not care less about being banned. What I'm getting at here is that we shouldn't accept "well he isn't being a dick right now" as a valid excuse to look the other way when he has a long history of acting like a dick and treating people badly. Whether or not his specific intent was to get UEG to go after me with lawyers, I have no idea... but there is no doubt at all that he was trying to convince UEG that I was ultimately responsible for all their legal hardships. That's malice right there, and no doubt about it. Similarly, his attempt to point the finger at me and HP for the DeviantArt fiasco was just downright sleazy and unforgivable. If something had come of it, it could've been construed as criminal too, for that matter...

Just got around to watching it myself, and I agree wholeheartedly... Gundam Unicorn is looking like some pretty good stuff already and we've only had the first episode. I'm hoping against hope that Banager (or however you spell it) is going to be less whiny than Camille, Judau, and Hathaway... but even if he is I suppose it works towards UC Gundam's big thing about "war is hell". This is definitely the same old-school UC feel that I've grown to miss... the last time I was this excited about a Gundam show I was waiting eagerly for the last couple episodes of MS Igloo.

Free hint... the behavior that's being commented on is tied directly into the alienation of fans caused by Harmony Gold's actions. If we commented on every little thing that these jackasses do, that's all this thread would be. But the few things that HAVE been mentioned ARE related to topics at hand (the UEG fiasco, the few interesting hints Sylvain White dropped unintentionally, etc).

Of course, that still doesn't do anybody any good, because when you get right down to it you're still trying to tell us to look the other way when MEMO starts in with his baiting and trolling routine. I must admit to being somewhat perplexed by your sudden desire to paint MEMO as a misunderstood nice guy, when you made a huge deal out of Pizza the Hutt's ill behavior even when he was over here trying to make amends, and as he himself said, a good portion of his belligerent behavior was something MEMO put him up to. Yes, to you. Let's sit back and recall that YOUR experience with MEMO is highly atypical, and that the number of people who've been backstabbed, manipulated, harassed, or otherwise wronged by MEMO is SIGNIFICANTLY greater than the number of people who've he "hasn't been bad" to. At least a few of them are people who routinely post in this thread. I will remind you again of the sheer hypocrisy of your attempts to defend MEMO, an unrepentant troll and frequent instigator of flame wars, while talking crap about Pizza the Hutt behind his back even after he came here, hat in hand, and tried to apologize for his past misdeeds. No, there is no reason to excuse MEMO's malicious behavior regardless of his motivations. Had the good people at UEG not spotted his attempts to frame me for Harmony Gold's misdeeds for the bullshit that it was, there's a very real chance they could have opted to pursue legal action against me for something I didn't do. That isn't boys-will-be-boys crap, that is GENUINE malice.

As far as this thread goes, you could make an excellent case for it being relevant solely on the grounds that their asinine behavior is about the only actual activity in the Robotech franchise. Well, there's just no account for taste. The vast majority of the people I know who've tried "talking" to MEMO usually end up quitting out of sheer frustration either because he's borderline unintelligible, or because he doesn't usually bother with little niceties like checking his facts before posting and thus spends a lot of time talking out of his ass. Which is incredibly ironic, since MEMO is frequently one of the major instigators trying to provoke fighting between the fans of Robotech and Macross. Just in the past few weeks he's tried several times to provoke hostility toward Macross fans by trying to blame me and several other people for the cease and desist order that got the Genesis project killed and the subsequent copyright claims against UEG's DeviantArt page. He was (and still is) supporting doug bendo's wonderfully hateful screeds too. You can lead by example all you like, but it won't really get you anywhere as long as there are people like MEMO who genuinely want to start fights for their own benefit. So, what you're saying is that we should excuse MEMO's trolling because you think it's all in fun? Sorry Gubaba, but that dog won't hunt. MEMO is one of the most malicious bellends in the Robotech fandom, and tolerating his jackass behavior is only going to encourage him to keep it up. Is that so? Now I'm the one finding mixed messages... you've spent several posts telling us that "MEMO's not a bad guy, honest!", and that we all need to overlook his trolling and other asinine behavior even though he's gleefully slandering several of us and trying rather hard to instigate fighting between Robotech and Macross fans. Sorry dude, but I'm going to have to call for a writ of "bullshit" on this.

Um... actually, if you go back and read the Otona Anime interview you'll find that the ban on implant technology had only recently been lifted as of the events of Macross Frontier, so it's extremely unlikely that use of implant technology is widespread outside of the corporate entity that is Macross Galaxy. Similarly, there is no guarantee that the population of Macross Galaxy is even aware of the conspiracy, since the colony block was left out of the battle. True, the military force stationed with the Macross Galaxy fleet appears to have bought into it, though it's also entirely possible that most or all of their fighters are unmanned and are being operated remotely... But there's no evidence to suggest that any other people had such a system installed... Brera is the ONLY example. So this theory of yours is baseless speculation. Um... try again, the Otona Anime interview would suggest otherwise, that the ban on implants extended well beyond the Macross Frontier colony fleet. If you're going to compose a theory, at least try to come up with one that is supported by the available facts... don't just speculate wildly.

Ooookay... you've officially stumped me. How the hell did you manage to come away with mixed signals after reading a post where I compared the experience of watching the fanatical Robotech fanboys at work to that of watching some monkeys out of their heads on psychoactive stimulants from behind the safety of a plexiglass partition? I'm seriously at a loss here dude... Despite some minor nostalgia I have with regard to the series, I have NO desire whatsoever to save Robotech... it's beyond saving. Similarly, I have no interest in attempting to give the franchise some small measure of dignity, since it has proven time and time again that it simply doesn't deserve any. I see it as a historical and legal curiosity, but nothing more. The show demonstrably has no future potential, and the show's "creative team" and fans are patently uninterested in doing anything original with it... therefore it has no value. You misspelled "our".

Nor do I... the Otona Anime interview mentions that Macross Galaxy is a corporate entity, and that cybernetics are legal there, but there's nothing about most of the population being cyborgs. As is typical for him, RedWolf is taking something within the series to mean something other than what is literally being said. Specifically, Sheryl's response to Also asking "isn't that [implant technology] illegal?", which was "It's common on Galaxy". While that does point to at least a decent percentage of the population having cybernetic implants, it doesn't mean the majority does. "Common" is not the same thing as "ubiquitous".

Oh yeah, someone did bring that particular episode to my attention not too long ago. It came up in a chat over on LU, and we all had a good long laugh at dougbendo's latest attempt to legitimize his entirely baseless claims of being the voice of the Robotech fandom and curry favor with MEMO and Harmony Gold by demonizing me like a Saturday morning cartoon show villain in the faint hope that it might somehow undermine my credibility. Personally, I find the whole thing HILARIOUS... they can't match me in a battle of wits, so the best they can do is try to tell all five of their listeners that I'm an evil man with all sorts of sinister connections who does horrible things to innocent people for the sheer joy of causing pain and suffering. It's like being one of the villains on Captain Planet, except I don't have to get my hands dirty doing any actual work, and I don't get beaten up by a little blue man in red underpants. In theory, a good suggestion... in practice it doesn't actually work very well. dougbendo's long since proved that he'll keep spreading hate and lies even if nobody listens. When you ignore him, he just escalates his behavior until he gets banned from wherever he was raging and storming, and then he goes somewhere else to rage about that. You're hoping in vain, my friend... our good pal doug has already done AN ENTIRE EPISODE about it. So, all the usual suspects... the mooks who're sucking Tommy's dick so hard in hopes of getting a job at Harmony Gold, insider info on the next "big thing", or more empty status promotions that Tommy's probably afraid it'll fall off. Charming. I'm sure Nenad'll be quite upset with it once he finds out, though unlike me there's a chance he might contact TalkShoe's administration and try to have the podcast removed for actionable defamation. Because, like it or not, these people are basically the cancer that is killing what's left of the Robotech franchise... an excellent example of what's wrong with the whole goddamn fandom... fanaticism, and not about the series or story, but a fanatical loyalty to the COMPANY that's been abusing it in hopes of being rewarded for all their witch-hunting and insane theories. It's like watching a bunch of deranged monkeys out of their minds on meth from the other side of a piece of bulletproof two-way glass. Oh, he did it long before it was pointed out. I think that was last week's show...

Ah, I'd totally forgotten about that... interesting find... that seems a LOT bigger than the standard issue QF-3000E though. That thing'd have to be almost as big as an ES-11D Cat's Eye. There is precedent for the TV ARMD and DYRL ARMD both being in service after Space War 1 though, so that's no surprise... Neat.