RavenHawk

Thanks for the link. I've seen this before (I think somebody posted this on the first page, if I remember correctly, in reply to the question of what order to read the comics in), but have only skimmed it. I guess I selfishly wanted to put my own thoughts down on paper (computer screen?) first, and then will read other people's opinions as well.

I agree to a decent degree. I think the comics are generally considered to be more cannon by a lot of fans, but since neither one is currently Harmony Gold's cannon, I choose the cannon which I think is better written and more fully thought out... the novels.

I really really loved the novels, ESPECIALLY the Sentinels ones. I feel like more of the authors' own writing talents came through there. I am a big comic fan, but really have been disappointed by some of the Robotech comics (as my reviews above show). That being said, the Sentinels comics (thus far) have been MUCH better than I expected. I recommend them, but really prefer the novels. By the way, even though I have the novels, I just downloaded them too. Have you looked into BitTorrents? Just want to say, thanks for actually reading my reviews/thoughts on these comics. I'm glad they can be of use.

Just watched episode 5. What the f*** is it will all of the property damage? Two buildings blown up, getting one sniper? I find it strange that the bodyguards and the sniper all have the exact same mecha that the main characters do, just with different color schemes.

Robotech II: The Sentinels: Book Three (#1-8 Eternity, #9-22 Academy): The series continues, though minus one of the two authors. It's not a huge difference, though I do feel that the dialogue suffers for it a little. It just seems less natural here, so it may be that the other author handled a lot of the writing of that side of things, or they just worked well together to make it sound right. The story continues very nicely, with the Garudan campaign now being the main focus. We do see a lot more going on with Edwards and the SDF-3, which is important, and correct in regards to the scripts for the episodes and the novels, though personally I want to see more Sentinels and more mecha. Now, there are some changes taking place: - As of issue 7, the Waltrips are now handling writing as well. Initially, they write together, though later on they alternate issues, where one does all of the art and writing on an issue, then the other does all of the art and writing on the next issue. At the same time as this happens, a new assistant editor steps in and, I must say, we start seeing A LOT more typos. Personally, I find this very annoying, though a lot of people probably don't really care. Who knows where to lay the blame for this one, with the writers now having more typos to begin with, or the new editor not catching and correcting them. We also see a lot more text against dark backgrounds, making it much tougher to read, but again, who knows... - As of issue 9, the books stops being published by Eternity and begins being published by Academy. First change you notice with Academy is that, in my opinion, the covers get really ugly. Just not to my taste at all. I liked the Eternity ones a lot, thought they felt like they suited the books very nicely, but, seeing the Academy ones again for the first time in a number of years, I remember that these covers are what scared me off fro these books in the first place. - With this point in the series, we see another change: More action, and much quicker progression of the story. Everything moves much faster; in fact, a little too fast for my personal taste. We see much less character development, and sub-plots with various characters seem to get glossed over, or simply forgotten. Now, is this the fault of the Waltrips, or of Academy? A little bit of both, in my opinion. When the Waltrips took over, they said in an interview that they were going to try to move to every issue corresponding to double the chapters in the novels that they previously did (interestingly, they don't mention why they are taking over writing). At the same time, when Academy beings publishing, one of the full page ads for Robotech II: The Sentinels says something to the effect of "same creators, same story, more ACTION!" As I've said before, I thought the pacing was perfect previously, but I think it's too fast now. Additionally, it seems like we start skipping over entire events at this point. - Another problem I have is that Eternity ran a contest towards the end where people could submit their own characters, and the winner would be included in the comic. The winner, a Lt. Nicks, gets put in really jarringly. Artistically, she never looks like she fits, in any of her appearances, and her subplot is handled really awkwardly... and she keeps reappearing! And being reintroduced every time! Then, the runner-up in the contest, Praxa, is introduced as well. Her appearance is never really explained well, and she just sort of sits there, contributing nothing. There seems to be a mistery about her but then, towards the end of this book of Sentinels, she is pretty much left dangling and forgotten. The only significant thing she does is **** spoiler **** for no understandable reason, she makes out with a drunk Wolff, causing him to not notice a shuttle leave Garuda **** end of spoiler **** I thought this was really random, and a disservice to the fans to have this happen, with no further explanation. The story very clearly begins deviating from the novels more and more with the Waltrips writing, such as during the voyage into the "Hin." Not to my taste, but not a gigantic issue either. Now, the above probably comes across as very negative, but it is because I was enjoying this series SO MUCH before these events took place. I still like it. A lot. I still highly recommend it. It's just not as good as the previous books of Sentinels.

That was for the first film, when she was supposed to transform into a Buell. Since they never used her, but did release the designs (and a toy based on something between that and a GSXR1000), they redid her for the new movie. In line with the other combiners in the new movie, it looks as though she is 3 bikes that combine into a more regular-sized robot. The three bikes are a blue, pink, and purple bike, all custom sportbikes.

I REALLY like this blue component of Arcee!

I prefer this forum about a thousand times over, but that seemed to be the most appropriate place to ask when the Toynami Beagle would finally ship out!

Yes, it is because it has a Cyclone. Plus, if you hadn't seen the disappointing amateur mess that was Shadow Chronicles, and just saw the mug, you'd probably like it... the mug, that is.

Now that I have my unbroken set of MOSPEADA/Mars Base mugs, I was looking on Robotech.com and saw the Shadow Chronicles mug. Now, I was EXTREMELY disappointed by Shadow Chronicles, but this mug looks pretty cool (more based on my love of MOSPEADA than anything else). The pics on the site aren't very clear though. Does anyone have any clearer or bigger pics? Especially of the back of the mug, with a new Cyclone on it? Thanks.

I agree. Almost too bad that he's moved on from Harmony Gold.

That's too bad. I wonder why that was the case? I can't imagine that there were too many company secrets in there, or anything that was likely to be reused by Harmony Gold at a later date. Well, maybe when the NDA expires, the owner will be nice enough to post it somewhere.

I find it funny that so many people say such bad things about Macek, but a lot of the stuff that they complain about wasn't even done the way he wanted it done. Then again, you have people complaining about the novels and how the original cartoon stuff is true to Robotech, because that's how Macek wanted it, without realizing that most of those changes were put in by the "McKinney" authors based on what Macek had originally wanted in Robotech, but the animation wouldn't allow for it.

That's funny, you replied to my post in the thread on Robotech.com too.

Gotcha. I get it now. Do you know if there's a synopsis out there or anything going over what he originally intended? I seem to remember so of this being covered in Robotech: Art 3, but I think it was mostly relating to what made the final cut of the movie.

Really? I didn't know that. I thought it was supposed to be Rick's cousin, and it was supposed to take place between the Macross Saga and the Robotech Masters part.

I've seen that, and I've seen a few places which refer to her as Houquet et Rose ("Houquet" and red). Still curious about the origin, since I'm under the impression that most of these things from MOSPEADA had some sort of origins or were an homage to something or other.

Darn... here I thought I had discovered something on my own that maybe other people hadn't realized yet... lol I did know about Fuke being Houquet, but had forgotten. Thanks for the reminded. Do you know the origin of that word?

Robotech II: The Sentinels Book 2 (Issues #01-21, though my #2 is missing the second half of the issue): Continuing to be a very solid story. We now follow our characters as they join the Sentinels on their campaigns. Everything progresses very nicely, primarily focused on the Sentinels, though we do see some of what is going on with the Regiss and the Regent, and some significant goings-on with Edwards (and Minmei, sadly... sorry, never enjoyed her character, and don't like her here either, though it is very true to her character from before and is a believable version of her a few years down the line). The art continues to be very good and very consistent. You can definitely tell when one Waltrip does the art versus the other, but it all flows nicely from issue to issue. For some inexplicable reason, starting with this book, and continuing on afterwards, Jack Baker goes from being drawn like a young adult, to have the face of a little kid. I really don't understand why, as Karen continues looking the same as always. If anything, he should be slowly looking older and older (though his personality is maturing nicely). The writing is great, adding details to the novels nicely, and I can't say enough about the pacing. Too many other Robotech books have gone far too slowly, focusing on melodrama, or too quickly, focusing on pure action. I think this one gets the pace just right, and is really developing the slowly at the speed which it deserves. The book ends with a very significant, disastrous event. It happens a little too quickly for my taste, but that may be part of the point, and necessary to have the time for the other characters' reactions at the end, which are handled very very well. Looking forward to Book 3. Again, this series continues to be highly recommended.

I get what you're saying. I suspect that we'll see a Ray that is essentially a Stig come out, but that the changes people are asking for may come to play with the Fuke and Blowsperior. On a different note, I've always thought that the "Blowsperior" name was a Japanese-Engrish-ization of Brough Superior. Anybody have any opinions on this?

Isn't that all most Rand/Ray figures are, anyway?

I did end up ordering from them. 2 Garlands, proto and factory color. Both arrived reasonably quickly, well packaged, and at a good price. I'm very happy with the transaction.

Same here. Still no word on that shipping out ("End of January"), and the Robotech site went down today.

I haven't gotten that far yet. The only differences worth any real note that I've come across so far are the creation of super-sized monsters from the Regiss' pits, which I don't recall being the case in the novels. In the comics, well, it just seems plain silly. That one element really isn't for me. Everything else is great though. I wonder if the divergences take place just due to normal comic book conventions of storytelling, or start when the Waltrips take over writing duties?

You've clearly had much more experience with these products than I have, and some very bad experiences at that. My limited experience with Yamato has led to them replacing my issues promptly and free of charge, including no shipping costs, as I am in the USA. My limited experience with Toynami has consisted of poor designs which were NEVER remedied, nor even ackowledged as genuine issues, with the expectation of me paying pretty ridiculous shipping costs. I am EXTREMELY please with my (limited) dealings with Yamato, but understand why you're not.