JELEINEN

I was making a joke. My dislike of emoticons prevented this from getting across. Excepting commercial satelite launches, there really isn't much of a "space game" going on right now. Even our own Mars missions aren't really much more than a really expensive hobby on a federal scale.

Seventy years ago they were expecting us to have flying cars and be living on the moon by 2000. Speculating on the future is just that: speculating. We can make educated guesses. It's not too hard to build a social/economic/technological model that would explain humans being used for debris collection. Robotic collection is a perfectly logical idea, but there can be reasons as to why they don't ranging from simply lacking the technology in that area to make it efficient to a social taboo. The point here being that using humans does not make the show any less hard SF. Technologically maybe, but I don't think politically, at least not with how things stand now.

It guarentees nothing. It does make a likely possibility, but there are other factors that could play in to why they use humans. Cost isn't everything. Heh. Define player... Anyway, the reason there isn't much in the way of private space exploration is that international treaty prohibits it. While Mars or the Moon aren't likely targets right now, there are a lot of aerospace companies that would love to be able to launch their own satelites or look into micro gravity manufacturing. Boeing was even willing to risk big fines for its involvement with Sea Launch. As stated above, they had done rocket launches before and they had even managed to get something in orbit, albeit somewhat by accident. And even then, why does someone else's technological history have to mirror our own developement?

A big, buff barbarian guy who traveled the world, spoke several languages, and becomes ruler of the largest country of his time.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Battle at Tiamat in the My Conquest of the Sea of Stars movie. Legend of the Galactic Heroe - Battle at Astarte Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Battle at Amlitzer Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Battle at Vermillion Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Battle at Mal-Adetta Return of the Jedi - The battle outside Death Star II Footfall - When they attack the aliens' ship with a Project Orion type ship. Babylon 5 - the big battle vs. the Shadows and Vorlons Star Trek II - Kirk vs. Kahn Startide Rising - the battles between the various Galactic factions.

I'm not sure how it can be more realistic than Honneamise when that film didn't posit any technology that we hadn't already surpassed when the film was made. The only real part of Honneamise that's speculative is the setting itself. That said, I really do like Planetes and agree that the attempt at hard SF is much appreciated. I disagree though with the assumption that collecting space debris will be more economical if automated. I'm not saying that it is or isn't, but the assumption itself is presumptious and in no way affects how realistic the show is one way or the other.

Yay. So not only are they trying to continue a story that had such an excellent ending that it didn't need it, but they've also decided to invalidate what's gone on before? I really hate it when people say things like "such-and-such company has sold out," because they are companies and their job is to do things that make money. But, I feel that Gainax is demonstrating a lack of integrity with this project. I will not buy this show, nor will I even bother to watch it.

RPGs are alive and kicking. I take it you don't have any local hobby or comic shops nearby that carry games? You might want to try posting here: http://forum.rpg.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=21 . There are other game registry sites around, you might want to try searching for. As for systems to use for Macross, I'd probably use BESM or D20 (using D20 Modern with Guardians of Order's D20 Mecha). I like the vehicle design rules in Silhouette a lot, but I can't stand dice pool systems. Mekton is pretty simple in terms of play, but construction is too dependant on points accounting. I'd love to run a campaign on IRC or something, but my time constraints won't allow it right now. Just out of curiosity, I'd like to hear people's ideas for Macross based games. What era would you set it in? Who would be the enemy? Would the characters be pilots, or would you take a different route and make them soldiers, spies, or some other non-giant robot oriented role? What role would music play in your game?

Why the Engrish title? That just looks absolutely stupid.

What if HG and Toynami purchased the rights to macross (macross not robotech) for the USA (and or world market) and plan to release Macross toys? The c&d's then could be backed and would make sense(following there crappy business practises). I have seen the dealer list, and stated for release are MACROSS DYRL Super Possiables (june or july release date, i have to go home and check on the exact date) It doesn't matter. There's nothing illegal about importing something and reselling it. As long as they aren't being distributed in the US, there's nothing HG can legally do about individual sellers. All a C&D can do is scare people who are ignorant of the law and their rights.

I said, "all but dead." The fact is that fewer and fewer OVAs are getting made every year. In the late eighties and early nineties, it wasn't uncommon for over a hundred OVA releases in a single year. The reasons why, at least from my understanding, is that with the crash of the Japanese bubble economy, people aren't spending as much on anime releases (and OVAs can be very expensive, usually being only 1 episode per disc and often costing $50.00 or $60.00 for just one disc or even $100 back in the LD days). Also, the existance of satelite stations dedicated to anime, like WOWOW, allow shows to be aired that in the past would have been released as OVAs.

What other OVAs came out last year? The format is all but dead, so I don't think it had much competition.

Ability or lack there is of is not a prerequisite for judging quality.

I don't see how advertising Dr. Pepper in the magazine or even a contest to make an ad will boost sales of the magazine. It might sell more pop though. Oh, and I believe DP does do its own bottling in Texas, which is why the stuff tastes different (and a lot better) down there.

Wow, this is an old test. They haven't made Ani-Mayhem cards in how many years now? Anyway, 53.5% otaku pure.

Still lovin' Panda Z. Hey A7, as you appear to be a fellow fan of the weird short feature anime, have you checked out Pugyuru yet?

Those're cool. I wonder if they have any Blakes 7 stuff.

What? No original Red Dwarf and Starbug? Bah.

Glagla's stuff is awesome. I'd love to have the Ingram he made.

Intentional irony?

To varying exents, people in every generation say this same thing about the next. It's nothing new. As for my own anecdotal evidence, my nephews watch the same sort of things I did as a kid. And judging by my trips to toy stores, Star Wars, Transformers, GI Joe, superheroes, etc. are just as popular now as they were 25 years ago. Sure, there are plenty of pre-school shows that emphasize getting along and playing nice, but then so did Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood back in the day.

Not too bad of a show. The main character seems a bit odd, but at least he's angst free. I like the uplifted dolphin in power armor, but the cat is kind of silly. In the three episodes I've seen, the background is a bit sparse. There's just been some sort of war and Mars (which has been terraformed and turned into a water world) is in the middle of an economic depression. There's a lot of piracy going on in the Martian seas, so Earth sends in the military to help supress it. The main character ends up joining the pirates, while some girl he used to know is in the Earth military.

What? No mention of the beam saber weilding VF-1 in the Daicon IV film?

The picture of the woman doesn't look very WWII era.

Yeah. The guy posted some more pictures of it, so it got moved back into the "What's new in the gallery" section on Brickshelf. Hmmm... I may have to instal MLCad to see his plans for it.