Seto Kaiba

So far, the best (most rational) reason I've ever heard to watch Robotech has come from an acquaintance of mine who was a broadcast arts major studying to become a film historian. His take on the situation was that Robotech was worth watching for anyone interested in exploring the roots of American's love affair with anime. There's also some folks who insist that Robotech is a way to gradually ease new viewers into anime by bridging the gap between conventional anime and western animation. To me, that says that a lot of Macross fans, and particularly those in America, were introduced to Macross through Robotech. That and people don't want to be making ill-informed statements that'll come back to bite them in the ass later... after all, nobody wants to be a MEMO1DOMINION or a Maverick_LSC, and be caught talking out of their ass. Some do... most don't seem to.

It's always nice to have more evidence to back up our already unassailable conclusion... but unfortunately for some, like MEMO1DOMINION, no amount of evidence will ever suffice. Even if Tommy Yune came out tomorrow and said "look guys, we can't use Macross", MEMO would still be trying to delude himself into believing it wasn't true. When he was confronted with the text of that interview over on Robotech.com, he came up with some elaborate, utterly bullshit excuse that they couldn't back then, but that Harmony Gold "expanded" its rights to Macross at the same time they got the merchandising rights to DYRL. Never mind that there's no evidence of it, he's still presenting it as the irrefutable truth, and banning anyone who dares contradict him, like the jumped up little poo that he is. Seeing him use his mod powers like that got me hacked off enough to send a positively blistering e-mail to Steve Yun... one I'll be very interested to see the response to. I didn't just throw down the gauntlet... I threw the whole damn coat of armor. Pretty much, yeah... though one could say it's just mirroring the nature of its "creator". After all, Carl Macek has, over the years, claimed that Robotech was something he envisioned ahead of time, that he improved on the originals, and even implied that the originals were created for Harmony Gold. With lies like that at the core, does it really surprise any of us that the circumstances of Shadow Rising and the live action movie turned out to be one big, fairly obvious lie? Yeah, JT/Zen72 is one of those rare Robotech fans who has his head screwed on straight. After years of dealing with people like MEMO, Maverick, and Pizza the Hutt, it took me a while to be sure that he wasn't just a hallucination brought about by my desire to believe that there had to be at least one Robotech die-hard who wasn't a complete idiot. After all, for most of us, a statement like "Oh, I had an intelligent conversation with this really well-informed and rational die-hard Robotech fan today" is usually met with the same degree of incredulity that something along the lines of "I've just flown in from the Sherbert Kingdom, do you think the valet at Hogwarts can safely parallel park my flying marshmellow next to the unicorns?" would be.

Sort of... Studio Nue started work on Super Dimension Fortress Macross under the Wiz (Uizu) Corporation, which wanted a 48 episode sci-fi parody/comedy. When Wiz went out of business, Studio Nue bought the rights from Wiz and hooked up with Big West to do Macross as a serious sci-fi story. Studio Nue's development of Macross as we know it was done under Big West's sponsorship. This is why Big West is the owner of the Macross franchise, and can even produce Macross sequels without Studio Nue (Macross II). Tatsunoko was a genuine 11th hour addition to the production process, brought in by Big West to help foot the bill for the series in exchange for certain rights to the finished product (namely, the rest-of-world licensing and merchandising rights) not long before the first episode went to air. The logic behind the court's decisions in 2002 and 2003 is that because Tatsunoko paid for the production of the actual animation, they owned that footage, but since they had neither paid for nor participated in the creation of the underlying designs and concepts that make up the series (like the 41 designs), those copyrights were separate and owned by those who had participated or paid for the creative process... Studio Nue and Big West.

That's what the 2002 and 2003 court rulings were all about. Essentially, how it shakes out is that since Studio Nue did the creative work for the original Macross series, under the sponsorship of Big West, and prior to Tatsunoko's involvement in the production of the series, Big West/Studio Nue retain the exclusive rights to that intellectual property. Tatsunoko has no legal claim on it because they neither created it nor funded its creation. That's what the 2002 ruling was. Later, the courts decided that since Tatsunoko had done/coordinated the actual animation based on Studio Nue/Big West's intellectual property, Tasunoko owned the copyright on the footage itself, but that the copyrights on the intellectual property of the series (the story, music, characters, mecha, etc.) were separate, and that Tatsunoko has the economic rights that are associated with being the maker of the series, but not the moral/personal rights associated with being its author. That's what the 2003 ruling was. If you want it in plain english, what the courts ruled really didn't change anything... Tatsunoko owns the animation they produced, but Big West/Studio Nue own the intellectual property used in its creation. For all practical purposes, Tatsunoko is considered to have used that copyrighted intellectual property with permission when they animated the original series and DYRL, but they don't own it or have any right to use it without Big West/Studio Nue's consent.

That isn't all MEMO was claiming about that video... he was also citing that as "proof" that Tatsunoko, not Studio Nue/Big West, had the rights to the intellectual property of Macross through a very torturous reinterpretation of what Tommy actually said. The whole thing is errant nonsense, since it depends entirely on a grammatically-torturous non-literal interpretation of what Tommy actually said. Only someone completely, blindly ignorant could possibly mistake what Tommy is saying for what MEMO and Maverick want him to be saying. Fortunately, there aren't many people gullible enough to believe what Maverick and MEMO are preaching. Considering how they've destroyed their own credibility and essentially committed popular suicide, is it any surprise that the only one left who'll believe them is someone equally deluded like Pizza the Hutt? Of course he doesn't... I'd call him a habitual liar, but it doesn't seem that accurate since he actually believes the crap he's spewing is true.

Really, it wasn't any one mode so much as the mechanics of the transformation itself... though I do have a soft spot for aircraft design.

I don't think it's that you're getting old... everyone has their own individual likes and dislikes, and clearly some of the later Macross offerings just don't suit your tastes. That's all I think it is. Rare is the fan who enjoys each and every installment of a long-running title... and Macross is no exception. Personally, I got started in REAL Macross (not Harmony Gold's imitation brand) with Macross II: Lovers Again, which I enjoyed so thoroughly it prompted me to seek out the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross series in its unaltered form, and later the rest of Macross (which, at the time, ended with Macross 7). I found the whole Macross Plus and Macross 7 affair to be highly disappointing, and for the longest time I was convinced that the magic was gone from Macross... an impression Macross Zero did nothing to change. When Macross Frontier started airing, I resolved to follow the series for its entire run, fully expecting to hate the show every bit as much as I hated Macross 7. What I got instead was a show that so thoroughly exceeded my expectations that I actually found myself impatient for each new episode to come out, which, as anyone who knows me can tell you, is pretty much unprecedented.

More likely she's giggling about the overall shitty quality of even the best-made Robotech merch. I've got a few friends who own Masterpiece Collection VF-1s of various colors, and those damn things scream "shoddy construction!"... though not as much as the MPC Alphas. Any clue how they'll finish their cyclone series, since (if memory serves) the Beagle ride armor line got pulled?

If Rambo needed a Valkyrie, this would be the one he would probably ask for.

One last acknowledgment of the RAAAAAGE provoked by the mere suggestion that Kawamori and/or Big West might actually dare to acknowledge Macross II at some point: It's not exactly a hard joke to make, and the similarities are there, and they're pretty bloody obvious. Sounds more like you're butthurt over the idea of Macross II being acknowledged in any way, however briefly. Eh... no. Valkyrie II, yes. Super Armed Pack... no. Go back and look at the lineart for it, not the goddamn awful toy from the 90's. The Super Armed Pack hugs the fighter's hull closely (except the wings are folded instead of inside the pack) the big honking gun that extends past the canopy, the blocks on the end of the wings, the lack of big, effing backpack boosters. Far more similarities than differences. Getting back to the whole Catalyst/Piranha/HG thing... I got in touch with a buddy of mine who's really big into both the Battletech tabletop game and MechWarrior, and according to him, there's been nothing on the matter from either company since Catalyst's retraction of the disputed art and IGN's removal of the game's trailer. At least, nothing that's been made public. Whether Piranha bowed to pressure from Harmony Gold, or they're still in talks, nobody's saying. The developer is supposedly declining to comment whenever asked about the situation. That, combined with the fact that Harmony Gold's reps have pretty much gone silent certainly is certainly cause to suspect that something's afoot.

Since the initial batch of cease & desist notifications were sent to IGN and a few other sites, there haven't been any new developments in the MechWarrior situation between Harmony Gold and Piranha Games. It looks like Harmony Gold's trying to keep the whole thing quiet, since they failed spectacularly when they tried to hush up the situation with Catalyst Game Labs. Information requests sent to Harmony Gold on this and a variety of other subjects over a month ago haven't received any responses at all, not even a "we decline to comment". Unfortunately, I think if someone's going to stand up to Harmony Gold on the issue of Macross rights, it's not going to be the Battletech/MechWarrior franchise owners. Catalyst caved to Harmony Gold's demands pretty quick, and I'd expect Piranha is going to follow suit soon if they haven't already. It's all bad press for Harmony Gold in the end, so if they do get their way again, it's still going to hurt them in the long run.

In that case, how is that any different from Macross Zero and Macross Frontier then, both of which do the exact same thing for the VF-0 and VF-25 respectively? Take a time out, stop making unfounded claims that Kawamori hates Macross II and fixating on a Macross show where the only qualification to be a pilot is the be able to five star every song on expert in Guitar Hero... then realize the super parts look very much like the Super Armed Pack on the VF-2SS Valkyrie II. Then stop and consider that Kawamori has never shown any qualms about using material from Macross II before (see ~85% of Macross 7's BGM), or having it used in official publications or new merchandise (see Macross Chronicle, VF-100 line, etc.). Isn't that what the live-action movie ultimately is? The Macross equivalent of Coke Zero? Everything they think you love about the original, but with none of the potentially problematic stuff, ultimately turning out to be something that resembles the original in name only?

What the hell is this thing? The more I look at it, the more I start to suspect this is a homage to the VF-2SS Valkyrie II... the airframe-hugging super parts, the long, dorsally-mounted cannon(s) that look suspiciously like they'd fold down 90 degrees in battroid mode, the bits on the end of the wings that look like the Super Armed Pack's missile pods... Where precisely did you find this? Bloody bastard hell, that's some new set of super parts for the VF-25F in the movie... it's in the latest trailer. There's no doubt, after seeing it in the trailer, this is a homage to the VF-2SS Valkyrie II and its Super Armed Pack. I'm not sure whether I should find this amusing or insulting. It's not that Harmony Gold is too lazy to introduce new mecha... it's that they're too inexperienced or inept to design one that doesn't look like poo. Even when they were just designing a transforming version of that non-transformable fighter from Genesis Climber Mospeada, the end result was still uglier than a week of bad weather, and never even made it past the lineart stage. The "Super Cyclone" and "Super Shadow Fighter" don't count, since they're just existing designs with even more chunky bits stapled on, which leaves the only new design they've ever come up with being the "Silverback" transforming jeep, which is hideous and the transformation makes no bloody sense.

I have it from no less a person than JT himself that his next podcast will be up soon, and that he's apparently going to be taking a number of different people to task, including MEMO1DOMINION, Maverick_LSC, and possibly dougbendo or Pizza the Hutt. It seems they've been giving him some crap about the content and format of his podcast.

Of course... dougbendo may be an ass, but he's also one of those delusional Robotech fanboys who hates Macross with a passion and thinks Robotech is superior to it in every way. Zen72/JT, on the other hand, is not afraid to openly criticize Robotech and Harmony Gold's management of it, so the host of RDF Underground treats it like a second-class podcast.

Certainly a polite assessment, though not necessarily an accurate one. Space Station Liberty is, for all practical purposes, the unofficial propaganda mouthpiece of Harmony Gold. They follow Harmony Gold's company line almost obsessively, heaping praise on every little thing Harmony Gold does, and are firmly convinced that everything Kevin McKeever says is the unimpeachable truth. RDF Underground is a bit more fan-oriented, but still firmly toes the "Harmony Gold is wonderful, Robotech is the best thing since sliced bread" line. Of late, it also seems that RDF Underground isn't above taking cheap shots at the owners of other blogs and podcasts that don't always give a heavily rose-tinted view of Robotech... particularly newcomer The Protoculture Times.

The budget was so low they couldn't afford to animate the rest of its body. As they're all robots, can't they just build another one?

Secrets of Robotech revealed... the Haydonites are the author-insertion fantasy personas for the Harmony Gold marketing department.

Because Harmony Gold's writers don't know how to write a compelling, or even mildly interesting, story. Most of what they've written is stilted, awkward, and boring, to such a degree that if they didn't obviously intend for the whole thing to be taken seriously, you'd think the whole plot was a deliberately campy parody. Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles is truly Plan 9 from Harmony Gold. Of course, one could also adopt the obvious answer that if the Haydonites acted with a modicum of common sense and just destroyed the REF forces and Earth on their own instead of engaging in elaborate shadow play (pun intended), they could've accomplished their goal quickly and easily, leaving the terminally-inept protagonists high and dry. That is, of course, not really the best of options to fit with Robotech, since Robotech is generally about humanity holding the moral and cultural high ground stomping out whole alien civilizations. Honestly, Robotech's United Earth Forces are exactly the sort of human-o-centric evil empire that most sci-fi stories have the protagonists fighting against, and when you view it in that light, McKinney's portrayal of the REF as being the (unintentional) root of all evils really is lulzy in the extreme. (and if they really ARE just adapting McKinney's EOTC stuff, doesn't that ultimately make the Haydonites the good guys, since they're trying to kill off the cause of all the suffering, oppression, and evil in the universe by destroying the stable time loop?) I could also be brutally frank and point out that the retcons which established the Haydonites as the current Big Bad are, first and foremost, a weak attempt to shift the blame for the narrowly-averted genocide in the last episode of the New Generation somewhere other than Rick Hunter, the darling of the die-hard fans.

So... wait... if Minmei is the mother of the Zentradi and Tirolan races...and her songs are like lullabies for them, doesn't that mean she's the mother of a bunch of alien masochists?

For the most part, the original destroids were glorified anti-aircraft guns, so it's no surprise that they haven't really bothered doing much with them since. The only Macross show that really bothered with showing more destroids was Macross II, and those destroids were, like their predecessors, essentially glorified anti-aircraft guns permanently assigned to point defense on ships, or anti-air defense on the ground. Didn't Hikaru briefly use a Spartan?

The most accurate romanization of the name of one of the non-transformable mecha from Macross II. It's basically a GERWALK-pattern destroid toting a shitload of missiles. So far Chronicle has only covered it in the Glossary sheet.

Okay, so he confirmed what anyone with their head screwed the right way 'round concluded the minute they heard the movie was supposed to be a "re-imagining"... that it's going to bear pretty much no resemblance to Macross or the Macross Saga, and that the only familiar things will be a couple of "iconic" names. Isn't that pretty much how everyone with an ounce of common sense still views the movie? As a long-shot that probably will never see release? Probably more towards "thoroughly disappointed", since ignorant blokes like Maverick_LSC and MEMO1DOMINION have been abusing their authority on Robotech.com to make erroneous claims that Harmony Gold can and will use any and all of the intellectual property of Macross as the basis for the movie. They're inadvertently setting the fans up for a major disappointment if and when the movie actually comes out. Considering that, according to Tommy and the various voice actors, the further animated projects are all on hold while they wait on the live-action movie to open up better sponsorship prospects, it seems like they're digging themselves a new grave. If the LAM goes under, we can probably expect another 20 year release drought from Harmony Gold (yay!).

Meh... somehow I can't bring myself to get excited about this one. Too much Macross Dynamite 7 for my tastes.

Legally, they SHOULD be able to... they own the trademark on the name in the US. My guess would be that they're avoiding anything that could potentially provoke Big West into taking legal action against them. If they lose the "Macross" name trademark, they lose their sandbagged wall keeping the rest of Macross out of the United States.