VFTF1

Songs from Haruhi are great! I have a CD of J-pop from Gurren Lagann, Macross and Haruhi that I listen to sometimes in my car. From Haruhi, I have Mikuru no-detsu, God Knows, Lost my Music, Super Driver and the opening to season 1. All of them rock. As to the car searches and due process...yeah ... well... to quote Obi Wan: that was back in the "Days of the Old Republic, before the Dark Times, before the Empire." Nowadays anybody can pretty much do whatever they want to you. I think if the brigade chief saw it, she'd end the world and create a better one - but that's just me... Pete

My avatar begs to differ... Not all asses look the same! Pete

Hm... well... ok - I'll admit I didn't know he looks like THIS now.. BUT... This isn't as bad as it looks. First of all - those wrinkles on his forehead? Zap 'em with botox. I mean - come on. On principle, there's nothing wrong with having a beard, but he just looks unkept here. His hair is a mess and he dresses like a honkey. His nose is slightly disfigured - maybe residue from that car accident? But in a man, that could be attractive and it could give his face a gritty character. In other pictures, his eyes look like they're not doing too well - but again - gritty gritty gritty. He needs to hire that guy ...what's his name? ... the one Bruno interviewed...the big shot Holywood image man...whatever - ANY image specialist will do. In these pictures - he looks like he doesn't care what he looks like. He looks like ME when my girlfriends break up with me. I remember when my Misa wasn't seeing me for months on end, and suddenly she called me and we went to have chinese food. I looked as I'd looked for the previous few months - baggy smelly drab sweater, hair totally out of wack...tired look in the eyes, unevenly shaved ... basically like Mark Hamil - it's the "I have no more beautiful girlfriend so why should I shower?" look. Dig it! Mark Hamel could look better. But either his girl friend dumped him (that picture was 2002) or his wealth has made it so that all he does is drink and not sleep. Or - god forbid - he had health problems? In either case... a little bit more time at the gym, a nice girl and a good stylist would do wonders for him. And I STILL am a big Mark Hamil fan nonetheless - just because he was in Star Wars Like I said...that's enough. Oh - and no - I didn't recall him being Joker - although I did watch the WB Batman... but I think I watched in with a Polish dude dubing over it...talking over it... errr... and... Robotech sucks! Except the part where Mark Hamil says something. Pete

I think the thing is that nobody in Japan gives a flip about whether Macross Frontier will be legally available for the barbarians to consume (aka us). From what I know, and my humble experience, and what little birdies have whispered in my ear, Japanese anime companies, be they the toy makers, or the actual anime makers and their respective sponsors - basically "the Japanese anime industry" don't give a crap about anywhere but Japan. All other markets are secondary. And if you think about it, it's pretty much the same in the USA. Hasbro makes GI Joe and Transformers primarily for the American market - international sales are big, but ultimately secondary in terms of the marketing strategy. And this is no surprise. Anime has a strong tradition in Japan. It has no such tradition in Europe. The French seem to love certain anime and are generally fond of it, but beyond France - most of the rest of Europe isn't. At least not to the level where it would seem normal for them to build 1:1 Gundam statues in the middle of their cities. Even most of the legally distributed anime DVDs are usually hard to come by. You need to go to specialty shops or hunt on line. If you find them in a video store, they're usually in disarray and incomplete. The Japanese anime industry is never going to get serious about marketing their stuff to a global audience because the demand isn't there, and it's hard to do with marketing what 50 years of organic culture have done - that is to say... it's the same with "classic Americana" stuff. People who didn't grow up with American pop culture won't adopt it on the basis of a quarterly marketing campaign. Seriously. At least not the same extent as Americans. You just have to accept that not all markets are the same and that diversity is here to stay - and just because a strategy works in one place, it doesn't work everywhere. Of course there will always be niche markets and niche demand - but it's never going to be big enough to make sense to bring it over the way that people like me or some on this baord would imagine. Macross is just a special case where it's made even harder than usually due to the legal problems. Pete

Well...I checked the fuses. At least - I pulled them out and did indeed see the prongs. Some of them were a little brownish. Not very. But a little. The fillament...oh crap! It must be the fillament because the fuses themselves are fine... I even interchanged soe of them (all of them say "15" on them so I assumed they were interchangable) and everything works... Oh well - whatever. Tomorrow morning I'll swing by the local mechanic...hopefully he'll fix this up fast! I hate being carless! Thanks for your help!! Pete

Re: Alien Prequil - To paraphrase Ash: What's the point? ... I mean by the...I mean we'll know...by the time it takes to get there...we'll know if they've found something? Translation: Alien is an excellent movie on its' own merits. Leave it be. Pete

Hi, Thanks a lot for the helpful info! I guess I need to fish around for the fuse tool. I did open the fuse box, but saw nothing like it... Anyways - yeah - the high beams are the lights that seem not to be working. The reason I find it inconcievable that it would be the bulbs is that it's wierd for both the right and the left to burn out simultaneously... anyways - ok - off to find the fuse tool! I guess I can also look for some plastic plyers in the basement too... I'm assuming I should have my engine turned off when I start pulling fuses out Pete

I'm sure they're still piecing it together, since I told them I wouldn't talk to them and refused to open my trunk until I called a lawyer who told me that, unfortunately, they apparently have the right to search my car at will... When the guy asked me about my Dan-Chou arm band and why I wear it, I pointed to his badge and said "why do you wear that?" This is my second time getting pulled over by cops... somehow given my attitude - I doubt it's my last But - yeah... the Arm Band has gotten me some stares. I think it's just because it's a red armband with something in black on it - and so I'm sure that sub-consciously people think I'm a Nazi wearing a Nazi armband...then they see the Japanese and feel kind of cheated out of their righteous rage which must therefore subside... so the next thing that comes to mind is "maybe it's some radical terrorist symbol" - I'm sure. Or maybe it says "Heil Hitler in Japanese?" ... I find it stupid mainly because if you look around at how people dress in these modern times, T-shirts say the craziest things on them - often erotic/sexual content or profanities or vaguely "counter culture" rebellious... But most of these symbols are well known in the popular mind - therefore, they are no longer truly rebellious or sub-versive and they don't raise eyebrows... But the Haruhi armband -- that gets stares and looks because it's so out of the ordinary and it's RED! and vivid red always gets looks.... Oh well. Whatever...I got ticketed (again) - not for speeding this time, but for driving without my headlights on... apparently they're busted...or maybe not...I'm still in the process of figuring it out... They also wanted to ticket me for not having a fire extinguisher -- but after tossing around all the crap I have in my trunk (rotting murder victims, sacks of cocaine, latest 12 year old boy that I was taking home to rape and canibalize - that kind of stuff), I finally found the bloody fire extinguisher and saved myself from being fined for not having one Thank God they didn't ask me to OPEN the first aid kit ... all my heroine is stashed there! Pete

Question to the greese monkey inclined: My headlights seem not to want to turn themselves on. The short lights and all the other lights and everything else works fine. Long blazing lights also work (but only from the short lights, not the head lights) - it's a Mazda 626. I've drawn an MS Paint below to show you what I'm on about: I'm thinking it might be the fuses. I find it hard to believe that two bulbs have simultaneously just burned out? ... I found the fuse box under the hood - the helpful diagram clearly indicates which fuse is for the Long Head lights. But... How do I check the fuses? What do I do now? Tomorrow's monday and I will take it to the car mechanic - but today he's closed, and I'm pissed and impatient - so if there's anything I can do now to try and fix it - lemme know Also...I found some kind of cable with a plug-type ending just fricking dangling around under the hood... doing nothing... I THINK it's the car alarm which I had de-activated last year after it randomly came on in the middle of driving... But maybe it's not? Anyways...I can take a picture of what's under the hood if somebody wants - but if you can just lemme know how to check the fuses or any other advice - that would help. Thanks! Pete

Oh... this I did not know This makes it sound fascinating! I need to get season 2 and watch all 8 Endless Eights in that case! In other news - I just got pulled over by cops who searched my car and asked me probing questions about my Dan-Chou armband and my SOS-Dan t-shirt.... They fear us!! Pete

Re: Mark Hamil: You know... the thing is - his role in Star Wars is enough - it was enough. All else can be forgiven. I even agree that his acting in Star Wars was "poor" -- but...whose wasn't? I mean, actors like Harrison Ford and Obi Wan Guy had to tone it down to fit into the movie. .. I dunno - I don't think Mark's fame is undeserved - and even in his capacity as a B movie actor - there's a reason to be sentimental for him. I'm a big Mark Hammil fan and genrally tend to be open to watching movies with him in them - just to see him, and even if he does a "bad" job - he does a Mark Hamil job - and that's enough. I regret him having a part in Shadow Chronicles because I think that people should think twice about taking part in HG projects - but on the other hand, it's just another piece of Americana/arcane reference... Fine... It's like Mari Ijima voicing Minmey in HG's dubs... You can hate the company - but that doesn't mean that their janitor is Satan - and it certainly doesn't mean Mark or Marii are evil. They are just making a buck the only way they can. Fine. All this just to say that I will never complain about Mark Hamil's acting because I don't expect MORE from him than what we got in Star Wars. However - I do think sometimes that HE had certain delusions about his skills. I remember watching an interview with Mark and Harisson Ford. The lady interviewing them was asking about the (then) upcoming Empire Strikes Back - what would happen to the heros Luke and Han - and one of the big questions was "who would end up being with Lea." I remember in the interview Harrison Ford was very VERY humble about his role in the films and very demure about himself as an actor. He was certainly not enthusiastic, but he WAS professional and measured. Mark Hammil on the other hand was like "I was contracted to do three films, I was made very well, I am set for life, I am just that good, I am the best, My character will have an epic moment in the upcoming film, I am the main attraction, I am a star, I am the most popular man in the universe" ... It was funny watching it in retrospect because maybe at that point and time Mark did imagine that Star Wars was the begining of his decades spanning career track that would make him one of Holywoood's biggest CONSTANT names - names that keep getting noted for the films they do. Every actor has this phase - I remember when Brad Pitt was "popular" ... now Brad Pitt is actually a GOOD actor. Not necessarily always at the top of the charts - but certainly he keeps popping up in lots of good movies in various rolls. If an actor can survive the phase of "famous fad" that comes with a popular popcorn flick roll and not get type cast into the "moment" - then they're set for life, because they will keep rolling up credits. Mark apparently just couldn't do that - and all that was left to him was to be the Bold Print on B-movies that would get people to think "hey - let's watch this otherwise crap looking film, b ecause since Mark Hamill is in it - then MAYBE it'll have the Star Wars magic?" And that's why people use him today - his name immediately makes people think "Mark Hamil did Star Wars - so maybe this movie will also be just as good?" But to me - personally - that isn't reason to put him down. He's a B-actor, and Star Wars was a B movie that went A list and shocked the world. Pete

The thing is - I think it's impossible to replicate the rage now that everybody "knows" ... I mean - part of the rage was the you at least expected that maybe each episode would have some kind of minor variation....some easter egg...some subtle difference...also, people didn't believe they'd do 8 whole repeats.... they'd sit down to an ep/download and have an expectation for ANYTHING or than another repeat...and they'd get a repeat... Replicating that rage now would be nigh impossible...IMO. Pete

Those are some real rare and cool pieces you have. Ghost-Starscream is a fun treat. Do you have Octane to go with him? I love the episode "Starscream's Ghost" and the pairing of that duo ! As for Fire Guts God Ginrai - I haven't watched Masterforce... but I THINK I remember that towards the end he gets super-powered up or something and that's where the colors come from... Nice to see I've become a celebrity! Me neither - and it would be kind of funny if I bought "Peg" as my first Transformer since getting rid of my collection We'll see... Pete

Every episode is exactly the same Things do get "solved" towards the end - but initially what they did was just repeat the exact same episode with no changes every single time - --- which made the fandom go nuts Pete

Or even Gobots. If it's just a matter of trying to get some of the profits Transformers is reaping - then a Gobots movie makes sense - mainly because Transformers fans WILL go see it - I know I would. It's the same principle. Even though everybody always laughs as Gobots, if it DID get a big screen - then it would have instant recognition amongst Transformers fans who would probably see it just for fun. Pete

I always found the hysteria in this thread amusing when Endless Eight was running Just gotta go back a few pages to find it And yes - it was IMO gutsy and I think that probably foriegn fans who had to download were more hysterical than Japanese. It's much harder to appreciate the artistic merits of Endless Eight when you've spent hours torrenting or Flashgetting an episode only to find out that it's EXACTLY THE SAME EPISODE AS BEFORE... Much easier to be philosophic about it if all you have to do is turn on the television... Pete

I personally always prefered Anthony Hopkin's performance in "The Bunker" Pete Military WWII History Nut too

Noriko - before you watch season two - watch what Hitler had to say about it! And remember - as Keith says - just stick with it... Or... do what I did and be stupid! I thought I was stupidly downloading the same episode over and over - even though I swore to God that I was downloading a new one...so I stopped...waited a reeeally long time - and finally downloaded the new one! I wore by Danchou armband all day today! I swear everybody who sees it thinks I'm a Neo-Nazi and always walk up looking like they're gonna slug me...and then they notice that there's no swaztika - just something in Japanese... and then they go back to their pacific ways Naturally I had my SOS-Dan t-shirt on too!!

IN MY BOKE ACTUALY I AM DOING WHAT IS MY OWN BIG IDEA - COMBINING OSM W/ROBOTECH. HIKRUO IJICHIO IS GOING TO BE IN THE BOKE WITH RICK HUNTER. IT WILL BE PART THRE OF MY TRYLOGY. CANT SPOIL TO MUCH NOW BUT WILL SAY THIS: IN PART THER THERE WILL BE A RESCUING OF RICK HUNER FROM THE BALCK WHOLE. TITLES: HIKRU IJGHO RESCUING FROM THE BALC WHOLE OF RICK HUNTRE III SEE IT TO BE LIEVE YOU ME! HEH HEHE HEHEH PETE

STILL WROKING ON TITLE. SUGGESTIONS HAPPILY SEEN. OPTIONS - 1. RICK HUNTER RETURNS FROM THE BLACK HOLE 2) THE RETURN FROM THE BLACK HOLE OF RICK HUNTER 3, RETURNING FROM THE BLACK HOLE ITS RICK HUNTER!! I LIKE THREE BECAUSE IT IS EXCITING. BUT HG SAYS THIS WILL BE PROBABLY TITLE FOR WARNER LAM SO CANT USE FOR MY BOOK. ALSO THINKING OF SEEQUILS BECAUZ ITS AN EPIC TRYLOGY LIKE STAR WARS SO HEAR THEY IS: 1. RICK HUNTER RETURNS FROM THE BLACK HOLE 2 2) THE RETURN FROM THE BLACK HOLE OF RICK HUNTER PART II 3, RETURNING FROM THE BLACK HOLE ITS RICK HUNTER!! (2) SEE I KNOW YOU WILL SAY IF HE IS RETURNING FROM THE BLACK HOLE IN 1, HOW CUM IN 2 HE IS STILL RETURNING? AH! BECAUSE SPOILER: PETE

Re: Ret-conning out the novels etc: I understand why they ret-conned them. I don't understand why the purged the fandom of people who like them. It would be like Hasbro purging the fandom of the fans of the various incarnations of Transformers - makes no sense. Or - hell...look - Marvel comics (since you brought them up) publishes those GREAT anthologies of the original Marvel comics from the 60s and 70s with the original adventures of our favorite super heroes. I remember when I lived in NYC, I used to go to borders or the equivalent and sit down and just sit there for HOURS reading those - Hulk, Spiderman, Silver Surfer...I really really loved them. HG could ret-con whatever and make a unified new modern rendition - sure. But why purge your fandom of people who like the old stuff? It makes no sense. Unless these folks are so crazy that they turned it into a war of "new stuff is not "real" RObotech" ... like you said... strange...very emotional fandom - these people ! Re: Avatar is a Fad - Well - I'm not going to comment because I haven't watched it. And I'll be the first to admit that I haven't watched it because of that blue ....cat woman thing...or whatever the hell it is. It looks ugly. It looks like something out of Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory - that kid after eating the blue berry pies or whatever the hell he ate...cross that with a cat and a remotely disfigured porn star... Plus I'm not into 3D...never have been. I like art, 2-D art, animated art, line art, drawings, paintings - hand crafted art. I have nothing against CGI on principle - but Avatar has been advertised as follows: 3D CGI!!! I keep hearing the adds harping on these two themes and I'm just like...um...I don't like either one - and it bothers me that I can't find any review or public opinion on the radio when I drive that says anything about the plot. It's just 3D CGI! 3D CGI! Shiiit. Just make a 20 second movie about a 3D CGI tree blowing in the wind then... Pete

So...you'd also purge The Agenda from Beast Wars, since it features G1 Ravage, Megatron, Optimus Prime, the Ark... and also is the climactic "reveal all" of the entire series? In any case - my point was only that the solution that Transformers fan websites have for this is to just have seperate forums for all the different incarnations of the show - so if someone really doesn't like something - they aren't forced to mingle/mix with it and can stay with what they like... Re: Gubaba Links -I'm opening them now - thanks! Pete

Changing gears a bit - here's an interesting measurement of the people over at Robotech.com. This is their "Anime, Sci-Fi, Etc" forum: http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/messages.php?id=17 The topics with the majority of posts are about: Avatar Superman Star Trek NOT ONE ANIME. There are a couple of Gundam threads - but the post count there is no where near the posts for the above three non-anime, generic sci-fi - out of which one (Avatar) might just be a fad (because it's new, so we don't know if it will have a truly epic lasting impact), one if a generic sci-fi (Star Trek - sure it's good..but..it's kind of a given that a sci-fi forum will have a Star Trek thread) and one ...kind of sucks...or at least...should NOT be in the top three popular threads in a sci-fi/Anime forum...Superman? Huh? ... As for anime - other than Gundam and Macross Frontier ...NOTHING. These people don't watch anime. They have nothing to do with Japanese otaku, they are not interested in anime culture. It's all foriegn to them.... at least that's the impression I get from this forum. Pete

SETO SAYS: Now... that's something else I find..bizarre. Everybody knew, to run with the Transformers analogy, that Transformes was initially nothing more than a 4 issue comic book meant to advertise toys, and that Hasbro came up with the idea of selling toys by marketing them through "exciting" comics and cartoons aimed at kids. It is NOT considered in bad taste to state this fact amongst Transformers fans - and it is a practice that is continued today and everybody understands that it is necessary to keep the franchise running. Furthermore, some of the most memorable Transformers comics, written by Bob Budiansky (who actually came up with all the names, wrote all the tech-specs and wrote all the comics up to issue 50), were all TOTALLY MADE ON THE FLY - aka "with no creative oversight." Budiansky himself - in numerous interviews - can hardly even remember what the hell he wrote, even though legions of fans (like me) remember every minute detail and compare him to Shakespeare. In modern interviews, Budiansky gets Transformers characters that he wrote about confused, he often says that stories were written without much thought, that he didn't care about the comic, that he wanted to do something more serious. When explaining one of my favorite stories he did, he says "I saw Terminator and so kind of copied it." This in no way dilutes from people's enjoyment of his books or of Transformers. Why did HG feel it necessary to push its' original work - the stuff the started it all for lots of Americans - under the carpet? Sounds to me like some people's egos just got involved. Whoever runs things there now and is behind Shadow Chroncles clearly wanted to use the franchise as a springboard for his brilliant ego - Robotech the epic by XXX... I dunno... It's just wierd...it's all wierd. On every single issue - these guys have it backwards.... Pete

I'd like to chime in here, if I may. Seto and others have, as usual, done a great job giving the chronological differences of what happens to whom in Macross as opposed to Robotech - but personally, I have always felt that these differences (does "Rick" go to place X or does Hikaru go to place B?) are completely irrelevent when trying to determine the REAL difference between the two shows and between what makes Macross so good and Robotech so much worse than Macross. If you do watch SDF Macross subbed, I think you'll see a lot of differences, primarily in the way that the love story between Hikaru and Misa is developed as opposed to what we get with Rick and Lisa. One of my favorite examples is the scene when Rick/Hikaru and Lisa/Misa are trying to escape from Zendradi prison, and Misa/Lisa is captured by one Zendradi who picks her up - Rick/Hikaru grabs a huge Zendradi gun and shoots the Zendradi soldier in the head. He falls limp and dead, but Misa/Lisa is stuck in his limp hand, and other soldiers are coming to get them. Rick/Hikaru struggles to get Misa/Lisa free. Now - in Robotech, the dialogue in this scene goes something like this (if memory serves:) Lisa: Or Rick! I've always loved you! Rick: Oh Lisa! I won't leave you! I love you! I'm pretty damned sure at LEAST Lisa TELLS Rick in this scene that she loves him. In general, Harmony Gold made this into a suspenseful scene where, in the midst of life-threatening danger, Rick the Hero saves Lisa the Helpless who tells him immediately that She loves him and ALWAYS has (even though the animation shows us that she NEVER showed any fondness for him at all). I wonder - maybe Seto can tell us - what is the reason given in Robotech for Lisa going on the Cats Eye mission that she ends up getting captured during? I ask because I wonder if Robotech worked in some kind of fondness/Rick Hunter motive there? In Macross - Misa goes on the mission because her HONOR as a SOLDIER is challenged by Hikaru berating her for staying safe on the bridge while pilots die in space. When she sees the dead body of a pilot floating above his ruined Valkyrie, she is determined to show that she is also a brave soldier and can risk her life - so she volunteers...well - actually - she basically FORCES Global to send her. Anyways - in Macross, the dialogue for the scene when Misa is stuck in the Zendradi soldier's limp hand is TOTALLY DIFFERENT. First of all - Misa is not weeping out of love - but out of SHAME. She is ASHAMED that she FAILED her mission as a soldier. She tells Hikaru to LEAVE HER BECAUSE she has failed - she dropped the microfilm camera with all the pictures of the Zendradi and their base - and therefore her intelligence gathering mission is a failure. She basically acts LIKE A SOLDIER: I have failed in my duty. Leave me to die so that I will at least have the honor of DEATH rather than return in shame as someone who has failed the mission. This is what she tells Hikaru. And what does Hikaru say? "No way! I'm not gonna leave a woman!" And he pulls her out - and Misa's face lights up with a big smile and happy eyes. Why? Because for the FIRST time in her life - a handsome brave Man treated her LIKE A WOMAN - not like a soldier, not like a commanding officer and not like someone from a family of soldiers who was bound by honor and family tradition to become a Military officer. It was the first time - since Riber - that a Man just treated her like a girl. And Misa loved it - because deep beneath her military exterior - she IS a girl - and she wants what all girls want - a strong, confident handsome man to make her feel safe and adored. The scene is also excellent because it demonstrates how Misa is similar to the Zendradi - who have also lost their human culture due to the rigors of military life (although Misa explicitly says this later on when she compares herself to them after the two of them plunge into the cooling tank of the engine). So - see... HUGE difference - MEGA HUGE in just that one scene. If you are going to look at the differences between Robotech and Macross - look for the SIGNIFICANT differences. Macross is NOT better than Robotech because Hikaru goes away on a space ship called "Mega-Road 1" rather than floating around a Black Hole in a space ship called "SDF-3." That's actually totally irreelevent and secondary. It's not so important where and when who was and what they were doing - what's important is the plot, the dialogue, the emotions and how the animation in Macross was ALWAYS MADE WITH THE PLOT OF MACROSS AND THE DIALOGUE AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT/ARCS IN MIND. The animation of Macross makes SENSE when you listen to the lines the characters deliver and understand the history of it. What Robotech does is to ignore the animation in favor of a contrived and inferior story. Pete