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Seto Kaiba

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Everything posted by Seto Kaiba

  1. Seto Kaiba
    They could always go the TOMYTEC route and make separate kits for Fighter and Battroid so that you have to buy both if you wanna display in GERWALK mode. That was a dick move... that and how those kits were the only decent source of info on the new Valkyries for like half of Macross Delta's actual broadcast run. More than anything, a new Macross series needs some solid coverage in the hobby press. I don't think it's entirely unrelated that Delta got very little coverage and was also the lowest ranked of the four Macross TV shows by fans.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah... Harmony Gold is dodgy AF and Robotech is pretty much the anime franchise equivalent of "peaked in high school guy". Or the guy who posted it could just be lying. That's a very real possibility. That it's all Macross based when Harmony Gold and its licensees know full well they can't do that, and that it looks like it was made with Stable Diffusion or another art AI, is pretty damned suspicious. It'd hardly be the first time a Robotech fan made up a bunch of BS about a cancelled project in an attempt to bolster their fan credentials. The alternatives are that Harmony Gold somehow forgot to tell the artist he can't reference Macross, or that they were just using this to establish a tone the way the Wachowskis did with Ghost in the Shell when pitching and developing The Matrix. Yeah, that's my read of it too... though I lean heavily towards "AI art". As far as we know, they've never gotten farther than paying for a few story treatments...
  3. Seto Kaiba
    It's basically plotless... things happen, but there's no sense of an overarching story connecting it all. It just jackknifes from one random crisis to the next and then forgets to resolve any of them. Yeah, it'd be nice to have some gunpla-style Macross plamodels as an entry level option... those are cheap and cheerful, don't require painting, etc. HG gunpla are like $16 US plus shipping... that's a hell of a lot more accessible than $300-400 for a DX Chogokin.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Strange New Worlds season one finally dropped on home video and digital library the other day, so I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and watch it properly. All I can think, as I watch the first episode on a proper home theater system is... why couldn't the arseholes running Star Trek these days have put this level of effort into the other two shows? Third time lucky, I guess, but it just leaves me wondering why Discovery and Picard tallied six seasons of pure garbage and one of pure fanwank between them if the writers, directors, and showrunners were capable of this all along. I guess the stars just weren't right. It's amazing what a difference swapping misery and bitterness for optimism has done for what is technically a Star Trek: Discovery spinoff. If they'd just done away with the few little nods to Discovery you could almost forget there was any relation.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    I doubt it... every new Macross TV series is structured to be an ambassador to new viewers. They don't get bogged down in heavy continuity and any essential info is either given in the story proper or in an info blurb before the opening. My guess is either they're hoping to exploit Bandai Namco's established distribution network and experience in marketing anime to audiences outside of Japan or Satelight decided to pass on it after Delta's comparatively lukewarm reception. Sunrise's standard of writing has not been great lately, so I hope Big West/Studio Nue bring their own writers. I'd hate to see a Macross series turn into a plotless, wandering mess like Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Nice. I am all in on that when it opens.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    I mean, we've seen what they can do when they try and it's pretty damned cringeworthy... But IMO it's unlikely they'd have done any better with original animation as they managed to do with Robotech. Not only is Macross a tough act to follow, as the creators of Genesis Climber MOSPEADA and Southern Cross learned the hard way, but if the Italian court system is correct failure was Harmony Gold's objective. Prosecutors in Italy alleged that HG was one of several companies set up as part of a tax evasion scheme involving trading film rights between shell companies at inflated prices. They prosecuted Frank Agrama for it twice, and actually got a conviction the first time. If it were hugely successful, sure... but it wasn't. It was a middle of the pack performer that did just well enough to consider a movie and a new season, but not well enough to fund either project properly or hire outside talent to develop new material. Even for those, they were trying to build on the one part of the series their audience overwhelming preferred (Macross) until Tatsunoko told them "You can't do that". The talent and the money were just never there.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    It is... but it's basically pure fanservice. That's another really low bar to clear. They did their best back in the day, but the tech has come a loooooooooooong way.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    March-May 2019... and you may have misunderstood, Macross Frontier was the top-rated series and Macross title overall. Macross 7 was the second highest-rated series and the third highest-rated title overall (below Macross Frontier and DYRL?).
  10. Seto Kaiba
    They shared some others back in January.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    There's nothing in the announcements of the new distribution agreement from two years ago that suggests that Harmony Gold would be allowed to use the Macross IP in any way its existing licenses didn't already permit. All they mention is that Big West will now have "a say" in Robotech and that they've agreed to not obstruct worldwide distribution of a Robotech movie if/when one gets made. Of course, per Harmony Gold, the whole point of the (proposed) live action movie was/is to make a fresh start for the franchise with a reimagined and all-original Robotech story they could build on without any of the legal hurdles and restrictions of using secondhand IP. Trying to pitch it with concept art blatantly ripping off Macross would've been counter to the movie's entire purpose.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    It's not ablative armor... it's just far too many coats of paint from repeated renamings.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    I'd wager it will be... likely YouTube/Google TV. They have the rest of the series in "digital library" form IIRC.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    I have a REALLY hard time believing that claim. Not just because this looks like the output of an AI art generator that scraped the #macross tag on DeviantArt and a few hundred bargain bin sci-fi novel covers, but because that first image is so blatantly and obviously derivative of Big West's copyrighted Macross IP that Harmony Gold can't use or authorize the use of that this would be a smoking gun for ANY potential copyright infringement lawsuit against the film if it got made. Harmony Gold has been extremely conscious of the limitations of their license for the last twenty-three years and have diligently adhered to them. If this were real, professional concept art commissioned for a movie pitch, the artist would've been given clear direction that they absolutely cannot base their work on Big West's IP the way this stuff obviously is for easily understood "We don't want to get sued" reasons. There's no way in hell this would have got past anyone's legal department. If this were real, this project wasn't merely asking for a lawsuit... it was down on all fours pleading for one in a disturbingly undignified, profoundly upsetting, and possibly sexual manner.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    A major shipyard was destroyed. Utopia Planetia wasn't even the only Starfleet shipyard in Earth's solar system. It's implied that it was the largest and most prestigious shipyard in the Sol system and possibly in the Federation as a whole, but it's one of at least 19 shipyards that have been mentioned over the years. Captain Sisko's USS Defiant was built at the Antares shipyards for instance, and quite a lot of ships were built in the San Francisco yards in Earth orbit including several of the Enterprises and the Titan. As to why Geordi appropriated the stardrive section from the USS Syracuse, that probably has less to do with resources and more to do with the fact that the Galaxy-class was old, obsolete, and quite rare to boot. At least one Galaxy class ship was lost before the Battle of Wolf 359, and that battle was what prompted Starfleet to radically rethink its approach to starship design. Several more were lost after that point, including the Enterprise-D and the Odyssey, and it's likely several more suffered critical damage or were lost in the many fleet engagements of the Dominion war. With the class already considered obsolete and many examples no longer in service, building a whole new stardrive section to complete a museum piece was probably considered a waste of resources when they could simply pull a complete one from a decommissioned sister ship and just repaint its markings. As far as raw materials go... It's worth remembering that quite a lot of starship construction involves industrial replicators. They're very likely recycling garbage, wreckage, and other salvage into fresh starship parts
  16. Seto Kaiba
    If DYRL? is any indication... Budweiser. (One of the gag missile shots in the movie depicts one of the missiles as a can of regular Budweiser. The other, if memory serves, is a canned cocktail.) I honestly had to rack my brain for memories of characters consuming alcohol in this series, because I don't recall that many examples of it. Probably something to do with many of the protagonists being only 16 or 17 years old at the start of their respective shows. Aside from Ray Lovelock being shown with the occasional indistinct can, they seem to favor their beers on tap? When Kate and Myung go drinking in Macross Plus, they're served their beers in pint mugs rather than bottles or cans. The same is true in Macross 7 when Mylene pretends to be Max's mistress to troll him. He orders a non-alcoholic beer and it's served to him in a tulip glass. I am not a beer drinker myself, so I referred the question to a friend who is an experienced brewer and he suggested that whatever it is is probably an aromatic beer like a double IPA, Belgian ale, or barley wine based on the particular choice of glass and the assumption that the bartender at that fancy bar knows his business. I'd presume that whatever it is is probably brewed locally in any given emigrant fleet's environment ships. If Macross Frontier-era materials are any guide, beer is probably a foodstuff subject to the divide between cheap and easily produced synthetic foods and more expensive and resource intensive natural foods. It's kind of frightening to think of someone selling beer made from industrial alcohol and artificial flavors, since real beer would be rather resource-intensive to make for a fleet with very limited agricultural space. Considering that the Zentradi had alcohol rations even before being exposed to Earth's culture, and the number of them developed substance abuse problems after defecting and living among humans for years, I'd assume it's probably safe to say that there are Zentradi in the liquor industry the same as there are in every other industry. As to your last part, I have absolutely no idea. If such a thing exists, it would probably be a menu item at FirebomBAR, which I have never been to. If they ever do a Macross signature beer - if they haven't already - I hope its quality is better than the desperately tragic wine collection that Star Trek rolled out for Star Trek Picard.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Sort of? Yes and no? It's complicated. The toy company Bandai Inc. doesn't own Sunrise. Both Bandai and Sunrise are owned by the same holding company, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., the top-level corporate entity that oversees the post-merger conglomerate Bandai Namco Group. Bandai Co. Ltd. had a stake in Sunrise big enough to make Sunrise an affiliate company since 1994, but Sunrise did not become a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco until March 1st, 2020 when Bandai Namco Holdings completed its acquisition of long-time Gundam sponsor and Sunrise major shareholder Sotsu (fmrly. Sotsu Agency). So in practice, Bandai Namco has only actually owned Sunrise for about three and a quarter years at time of writing... and they've spent a fair amount of that time on multiple corporate reorgs. The only Macross title to come out since that acquisition was Absolute Live!!!!!!. I guess it's not surprising that, now that longtime Macross partner Bandai and Sunrise are officially under the same umbrella, they'd make a play to have Sunrise work on Macross.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Kind of... There are only three actual examples of mind control in the Macross franchise thus far: The Protodeviln's/Supervision Army's mind control technology seen in Macross 7 and later in Macross R. The Macross Galaxy fleet's use of cybernetic implants to directly control their populace's perceptions of reality and even hijack their bodies. The Mardook's use of brainwashing and other technologies in conjunction with the songs of the Emulators to keep their Zentradi docile and obedient and directly control their fighting instincts through songs that act on them like a combination of strategic orders and battle drugs. The examples that don't fit the definition of mind control are: The Protoculture's indoctrination of the Zentradi to obey them, to not interfere with or harm them, and to avoid matters related to culture. A fair amount of it is simply never exposing them to those things in the first place, rather than any kind of actual coercion and they've lost swathes of those directives to irrelevance or the absence of their long lost creators. The Sharon-type AI's hypnosis capabilities, intended for use as a non-pharmaceutical mood stabilizer/elevator to make living in the early-type emigrant ships more bearable and prevent or stop the occasional riots on said ships. She wasn't controlling people's thoughts so much as getting them high and making suggestions. Macross Galaxy's implant network plan, which is nominally more of a human hive-mind than mind control... since in theory the human species would have a single will made up of the aggregate of the wills of the entire species. Windermere IV's delta wave network plan, which is basically just the same as the above but with some dodgy Protoculture relics instead of cybernetics. I'd assume it's probably partly a socio-political critique... especially considering the title that really threw it into sharp relief was Macross 7, with the vocally anti-war singer fighting an army of brainwashed mooks with the power of rock.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    After Delta, I think that's well understood by everyone... that message was delivered with all the subtlety of a saturation bombardment. Not to mention 7 was substantially more popular in Japan... it's the second-highest rated Macross overall based on fan polling. Now that is probably an unrealistic hope... esp. with the in-universe position on Destroids basically being that they were a mistake.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    They won't have truly hit that formula until/unless this new Macross series introduces a new model of VF every other episode and the protagonist's VF is upgraded at least six times in the course of the series... followed by a "Variations" extra file with approximately 300 new variants of the VF-1. Not gonna lie, I am not seeing it. Gundam's... Gundams... generally don't come loaded for bear like that. There are some that fit the bill like the Endless Waltz version of the HeavyArms, the Full Armor Unicorn Gundam, or the overequipped takes on the OYW designs in Gundam Thunderbolt's first half, but those are the exception and IMO only the Full Armor Unicorn comes anywhere close to the level of gratuitous dakka we see in the 5th Gen Armored Packs. Most Mobile Suits in Gundam can be counted on to be relatively lightly armed... a handheld gun, one or two blade weapons for close combat, and if you're lucky one or two built-in light machine guns seemingly for tradition's sake since firing them never seems to accomplish anything. If you want to see what Gundam-y actually looks like in Macross... well, look no further than the original Armored Pack, which is very similar in style and execution to MSV's Full Armor Gundam (FA-78-1), or the Macross II Valkyries. Especially the Macross II Valkyries, which were designed by Gundam veterans and boasted such features as bits and funnels, and had a prototype (albeit not a super one) that just straight-up had a Gundam's paintjob as @jvmacross pointed out and an enemy ace whose mecha was bright red, sported a horn, and a faster top speed than normal.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Kinda curious what this is supposed to mean, TBH. I mean, yeah... we've had a wildly impractical and impossible-to-mass-produce Gundam-style super prototype in the YF-29 but it's an isolated incident. It's not like new models are being introduced multiple times in mid-series or we're being hit with fifty slightly different variants to sell plamodels...
  22. Seto Kaiba
    The yuri doujinshi fandom will be terribly disappointed? I'd joke about Sunrise taking that as a challenge and arm a mecha in the new series with actual scissors... but I remembered they did that quite literally in Iron-Blooded Orphans with the Gusion Rebake Fullcity. Joking aside, I'm down for whatever. All I want is a compelling story with interesting characters. Macross Delta's main weakness was that so much of its cast was underdeveloped and underutilized. If they can avoid that pitfall, they should do a fine job. I'm taking it as read that we'll get a soundtrack with some certified bangers and some gorgeous Valkyrie designs. Those go without saying.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    That link is the most recent one to cause a crash on my phone and tablet. Variously using a Galaxy S22 Ultra or Galaxy Tab S7+ with the latest version of the Chrome for Android browser on Android 13. Incidentally, Invision seems to have people reporting this issue on their own customer support forums: https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/topic/473307-threads-with-embedded-tweets-crashes-android-chrome-browser/
  24. Seto Kaiba
    The last time it happened was the most recent page of the SCOOPDA thread, with the two tweets about the new series. I can't link directly to the post on this device because it'll crash my browser again.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, King Triton's based on the Greek god of the sea by the same name... there is no guarantee he was even partly humanoid when he fathered any of his kids. His uncle Zeus seduced or assaulted women while disguised as animals, other men, or even a "golden rain"... and his daddy Poseidon wasn't exactly a stranger to that routine either, having notably abducted or seduced women while disguised as a nymph, a dolphin, or even just "seawater". The rules of biological reproduction need not apply.
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