JB0

I'd just chalked it up to the ship being a retrofit instead of a new design. We also know the ship wasn't really ready to head out yet. They were planning a shakedown cruise, several major systems were still untested(cannon, fold generator, gravity controllers), they hadn't docked with the ARMDs, and who knows what else. It's highly possible that part of that space was intended to be full of spare parts, or something. ... Or maybe they were planning on making friends with the aliens and bartering for really sweet toys they could bring home and reverse engineer!

I want to see more of Coco. It's very early to start calling favorite characters, especially when she's been a background character, but she interests me.

Well.... remember that most of the anime companies from back then are no longer in business, and even fewer under their original names. With so many failures and mergers since the early 80s, it could be difficult to figure out who in fact owns what back catalogs. (If a company vanishes, their license doesn't automatically die. Depends on how it's written. It's probably safe to assume the licenses were sold as part of bankruptcy proceedings, or went along with everything else during mergers.) As I understand it, there's about 3 companies that THINK they MIGHT have a license, and they're all waiting for someone to do a release so they can fight it out in court. Plus Harmony Gold.

We've seen very little of Rollingtown, and nothing of Earthdash as a whole. They probably have crime and war just like everyone else. We just haven't seen it because Dan doesn't run in those crowds. Next stop: The princess's kingdom? Well, she carries her own personal gravitational field generator on her chest. What'd you expect? Seriously, she could just have been on Earth for longer, giving her more time to adapt.

Robotech.com deleted it as soon as the release fizzled. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-rele...s-7-trash-manga Fairly sure that "article" is just a reprint of the Tokyopop press release.

Right. Perkier, not plumper, would make more sense. It went the wrong direction. Though it won't be long in the gravity of Earthdash before she starts having some serious back problems.

Spoiler actually almost sorta makes sense. Gravity SHOULD affect anatomy to a degree. Not to THAT degree, but... I also predicted it from the preview.

Given it was a Decepticon construct, it should probably be assumed it had some nefarious purpose or feature even if it wasn't explicitly stated. Something like a titanic drill that would extract the Earth's core, causing it to collapse on itself and creating a truly massive diamond.

NO DISASSEMBLE! I think the general problem is more that american sci-fi as a whole is a relatively small market. Getting a sci-fi show off the ground at all is difficult. One with a special effects budget is almost impossible. Beyond that... What's the defining american sci-fi show? Star Trek. The defining japanese sci-fi show? Probably Gundam, if I had to take a guess. That explains your general lack of giant robot shows right there. Star Wars had some highly visible piloted robots, though. Yes, folks... the American Gundam is an AT-AT. George Lucas not only raped your childhood, he killed giant robots too.

But Transformers is silly and borders on self-parody. Macross is Serious Business.

And from the standpoint of the military commanders aboard the ship, it was a good way to manage morale, both of the civilians and the military. Had they just kept them cooped up forever, they probably would've had a riot at some point. ... Okay, that may've been a bad example. But it gave the civilians the illusion of a normal life, and something to do besides stew in their own juices until they snapped. And it gave the military something unprecedented in the history of naval vessels. No matter where they were or what they were doing, shore leave was always available as long as you weren't on duty or in trouble. Given the crew was not prepared for an extended voyage, and a lot of the positions filled by rush-trained civilians that hadn't intended to enlist until the situation forced their hand(with everyone on the Daedalus and Prometheus having sucked vacuum and died, there were a lot of empty mecha seats and support jobs to fill very fast, and the fighter pilots had a very high turnover rate)... it gave them something to do besides stew in their own juices until they snapped?

The implication seemed to be that it wasn't a protocol so much as an underlying issue with the technology itself causing certain tendencies(I think Manga's subs used the word 'instinct', but it's been quite a while). Protocol would mean it was intentionally coded in by the designers, and hence easily fixable. Banning the technology indicates it was an unfixable or very difficult problem inherent to the technology. And the implication seemed to be that it was caused by the organic squishy bits thinking just a tad too much like organic squishy creatures.

I'd like to see a show with a wildly inappropriate laugh track. Either one totally mistimed so the laughter comes during not-funny parts and is silent during funny parts, or a laugh track applied to a serious drama. I'm special with the bunny ears. *makes finger quotes in the air* And damn you all. The Rimmer Song is stuck in my head now. I HATE YOU!

http://tinyurl.com/c4sd57 There's a working link for the "Michael Bay Signs $50M Deal To fart Up 'ThunderCats'" article.

When part of the creative staff is known to have published a Gundam fanzine, I think it's safe to assume they WERE Gundam fans.

Ah. Never mind then. If I ever watch Rawbooteck Shadow Chronicles, I'll view it as a low-budget direct-to-DVD release. That should spare me any suffering. ... Or maybe I'll just have some of whatever Roy's been taking lately. It seems to work really well.

Really? My standards have a lot more to do with the original series. DYRL is largely mechaporn, and while there's nothing WRONG with that, it's not what made me a Macross fan.

The problem with the movie was that the cartoon was dumb giant robots shooting each other up. The movie was a lot of people with occasional glimpses of giant robots. Now, the ORIGINAL movie... THAT was what Transformers is all about. Well, aside from the casual slaughter of children's heroes. It's probably a good thing that I'm in the large group of people that missed the original release and didn't see it until MANY years later. ... I never said it was a GREAT movie. Just that it's a great Transformers movie. And a much better mindless action flick.

*sigh* And once again, Hollywood misses the point. How can an industry with SO MUCH money in it be SO COMPLETELY BLIND to the obvious? Things like "Pixar movies do well because they're smartly written" get glazed over in favor of "Pixar movies do well because they're computer-animated." Transformers? It didn't well because it's a decades-old franchise about giant robots, it was because Micheal Bay is a master director and Shia LeBouf is a great actor. What did they take away from Jurassic Park? I believe it was "CG effects are the secret to making a blockbuster hit." And don't EVEN get me started on the rash of "bullet-time" effects in abso-frickin'-lutely immediately everything after The Matrix. ARRRRGH! THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

Ignoring the pseudo-german girl that got added in later? ... Well, Wikipedia says she's Elise, and 15. That seems... wildly out of step with her depiction?

Ayup. If it'd sucked, I'd've kicked it aside and never looked back. And dammit, the females in skimpy outfits are supposed to be hot! Not girls that've barely started to look different from boys! Sky Girls should've been like Godannar! ... Wait, I'm embarassed to recommend Godannar too. Never mind.

It IS fraud. You and returned a purchase with the receipt of another, higher-priced, purchase. You admit yourself that you were out of the time period at which Target will adjust for a sale(two weeks versus three). Whether it's a particularly harmful form of fraud or not is a question that I can't really answer. Among other things, I don't know how or if they get reimbursed for returns. Assuming no reimbursement, they are out two transformers they can't resell AND the forty dollars they incorrectly refunded you. No matter what, they lost of forty dollars of revenue on a forged return. How is that no harm, no foul?

Yeah. The show was one of those things I WANTED to recommend to a few people, but couldn't bring myself to actually do.

Apparently the squeaky wheel gets the oil. I bitched about WreckGar, then went out and found one. Exactly one laying on a shelf. Actually, someone walked by, picked it up, looked at it, and set it back down. I saw it as he set it down, went "Oooooh..." and walked over. I love how his head is kinda cocked to the side with a dopey grin. ... But now I have to buy a Ratchet so I can have WreckGar leaning down into Ratchet's face. "I am only good for one thing. GARBAGE!" In the meantime, he can just stand there while Blitzwing buries his face in his hands out of embarassment.

Actually, Sky Girls wasn't half-bad. Far better than you'd expect, especially given the basis of the show. ... Or so I've heard. Obviously I'd never watch something that looked that dumb. ... What? Why does nobody ever believe me?