Gubaba

It's this one, yes? http://www.fg-site.net/archives/post_old/70041 It's a complete scratch build. Probably one of a kind.

Why s that interesting? It's spelled out in the movie itself, it doesn't NEED to be confirmed...

Yeah, I thought the note about "Dakedo Baby" was intersting... I always figured, though, that they credited it to Chie because she had a solo album coming out soon, and they thought, "Y'know, we'd better start promoting this somwhow..."

No. Just the Frontier-only concerts.

Okay, I'll come out and say it... MYLENE NIGHT 04 SUCKED. Yep, sucked. Big time. I wasn't planning on going... Mylene Night always seems to slip past my radar until it's too late to get tickets. As such, I was just puttering around the house, listening to Slapp Happy, when I got a text from Save at about 3:00: "You working today?" I replied, "No. What's up?" He answered, "John's got an extra ticket for Mylene Night if you want to come. It's in Shimokitazawa" (which is relatively close to my house). "Cool," I wrote, mentally beginning to estimate how quickly I could take a shower and get out of the house, "what time does it start?" "In half an hour." Uh-oh. As Garth Marenghi always sez, "I didn't have time to grab a shower, so I had to do with a quick rinse around the key areas." I rushed out of the house and made my way to Shimokita, meeting Save and Renato there with about five minutes to spare. We went into the club (which was pretty packed, sold out show, and all that), and I paid John the ¥3500 for the ticket. Oh, and at the door, there was an obligatory ¥1000 charge, which got you two drink tickets. Luckily, the show started promptly. The lights went down, Chie came out. There were instruments on stage, but no band members. A prerecorded backing track of the Gift 25 version of "Sweet Fantasy" started, and we were off. She sounded good, but she had to pause to cough at one point. Then she sang "Kimi ni Todoke," also with a prerecorded backing track. Then a screen descended in front of her, and we were treated to a video interview from Mylene Night 01, with Tenjin interviewing Chie and Tomo Sakurai. There were a few cute music videos, with Chie, Tomo, and Chie's band miming to some Fire Bomber tracks in a park, but it was nothing spectacular. Then the screen went back up, and Chie was going to sing some more songs, but her iPad was busted. She she talked a bit, and then the screen descended again, and we had the conversation among Chie, Tomo, and Aya Endo from Mylene Night 02. When that finally ended, Chie came back out and (again with prerecorded backing tracks), sang "Friends ~ Jikuu o Koete" and "My Beautiful Place" (which was arranged much like the Mylene Jenius Sings Lynn Minmay album). Then she talked some more, thanked us for coming, and introduced the final song, "My Friends." Then it was over. Her performances were fine, but... only five songs!? WHAT THE HELL, CHIE!? Well, it was now 5:15, and at 6:30, the doors would open again for the first of Chie's "ANIMANIA" concerts, which is what's replacing Mylene Night. No one really knew what to expect, except that it was supposed to be just a general "anime" themed show, rather than a specific Macross show. Everyone was wondering, What's she gonna sing? So I went and bought a ticket, since THAT show hadn't sold out, only to discover that it was quite a bit more expensive: ¥5500. And we had to spend an extra ¥500 which netted us a single drink ticket. Man... I'd just spent over a hundred bucks for what so far was turning out to be a pretty disappointing affair. (Need I add that, since it started at 3:30, it wasn't exactly Mylene NIGHT...? But I guess "Mylene Afternoon" just doesn't sound as good.) So we all went out to dinner (well... most of us had dinner... Tochiro just had cake and soda, like a kid at a birthday party). Then we dutifully filed back in, unsure of what to expect. Things looked more promising right off the bat, since her band had finally shown up. The lights went down... and she launched into "Voices." This was followed by "Idol Talk" (now featuring a couple of pretty searing guitar solos). After that, she introduced Animania001 by explaining that it's just an anime night, and she's just doing a selection of anime songs she likes, and that there's no other overarching theme. Oh, and the fact that it happens on February Second (Mylene's birthday, of course) is in no way relevant. Then the Fire Bomber hits came out, one after another... "Koi no Maho," "Plastics," "Ready Go," "Remember 16"... Her three-piece band became augmented by a three-piece, all-girl horn section (saxophone, trumpet, and trombone) for "Plastics" (and later, "Dakedo Baby" and "My Friends") and they were great. Honestly, I need an all-girl horn section in my life. It would make the bad times much more bearable. I thought "Remember 16" was especially good... very similar to the arrangement on Acoustic Fire (but without the steel guitar), and lighting made it look like everyone was sitting around a campfire, just singing an old favorite. Then the guitarist put away the guitar and started playing the theremin (!!!) and she sang "The Borderline," followed by "Diamond Crevasse." Truly amazing stuff. Then everyone put their instruments away and pulled out their iPhones, which they used to play "Ninjiin Loves you Yeah." Chie forgot one of the lines, so she had to fill in "NAnanaNANANANAnaNANAnaa," which was beyond adorable. Then she said, "Well, we've also got a new song tonight..." and sang "Lum's Love Song" from Urusei Yatsura, which was weird, because I've for no particular reason been thinking about the UY music a lot recently. It was also, um, the only non-Macross song of the night. A few more songs (including "Virgin Story," with her bassist singing the Basara parts), and the show ended with "My Friends." Everyone shouted for an encore, and so they came back and did "Aimo ~Tori no Hito~" and "Pillow Dream." People started cheering for ANOTHER encore, but then the house lights flicked on, so no chance of that. So yeah... I have no idea what kind of politics led to the death of Mylene Night and why she had to change to a new thing... but Animania001 was DAMN AMAZING!!

"Libel," actually. And HG hasn't said ANYTHING about it, one way or another. If the company doesn't make a statement, how can they be sued for libel? Creavision possibly could, but again, they removed the statement from their FB page.

'Nuff said.

ALSO... in the AOD vid, Tommy deflected the Valkyrie Project question by saying (after 31:30), "the right person to contact would be Kevin McKeever, he's our publicity director over at Harmony Gold, so you're welcome to contact him." Gosh... Tommy Yune doesn't know what the deal is... so, by gosh, let's contact Kevin McKeever! WOW! Surprise! Big Amaze! COMING NOT SEE! Big scare! WOW!! Kevin McKeever doesn't know either! WOW! WHO DOES!? WOW!!

Good question. My responding question is this... "Thank you for your e-mail! We have not been made privy to the specifics behind the Cease and Desist. However, we do have an obligation to have to protect not only our rights, but our licensors' and underlying third parties' rights. Furthermore, we are working on a protocol in order to be able to permit such films. Kind Regards, Kevin McKeever V.P. Marketing ROBOTECH.com 7655 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046 TEL (direct): 323-851-4900 ext. 291 E-MAIL: kev@robotech.com" ...Has Harmony Gold ever mentioned that they are partnered with Big West? Or have they ever said that Big West owns any rights beyond Japan? Or have they always maintained that they own ALL the rights to Robotech? If it's the last option (which it is), then what are they talking about now?

No, they're just the scapegoat that HG invented to try to deflect the bad blood.

I'd say the same thing about the Five Star Stories manga...

Correction: the Macross Frontier Movies. The TV series BDs don't have English subs. And the movie set isn't coming out until March.

I've been assembling all the issues in the binders.

Sounds good to me... but it depends on when sakura season is, since I'm hoping to visit home at the end of March.

It's not "My Friends," it's "Friends ~Across the Dimensions~," the 15th Anniversary single. It's not a new song. It's not Grace... it should be Kathy. Again, this one was released on the drama album, Nyan Dra 3.

Again... LOOK at the vids I posted. Big West didn't attack them, and they're in Japan!

And why didn't they go after this criminal...? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VAmXWljWTU

I don't believe it. Big West has never been in contact with Harmony Gold. And check this out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP5mGiKvxI4

Indeed.

Honestly, that last one was pretty forgettable... even the episode starring Nanase failed to move me, and that's saying something.

I think you misunderstand me. Quite frankly, there will ALWAYS be those who think that Robotech is better, just as some people really thought that Love Live Alive was worth twenty bucks. *I* think Macross is better, but if others don't, that's fine. I'm just getting a certain amount of schadenfreude-ish glee at seeing all those hate-comments on RT's Facebook page. (Don't worry, though... I'm sure a purge is coming soon.)

What Azrael said. Plus, you've got to remember that there are HUNDREDS of Macross-based fanfilms (admittedly, mostly people dancing to various Frontier songs, but also some more elaborate stuff) and fan-made manga out there in Japan. Japanese companies are usually very tolerant of things like this, considering it free publicity. As far as I know, Big West has never tried to stop any fans from making films, animation, or manga based on Macross. (Toho did, though, when some fans customized some Kamen Rider figures and sold them for a TON of money recently). Well... I've seen some crappy Star Wars fanfilms, but Lucasfilm does nothing to stop them. Heck, the good ones can even become kinda/sorta canon (at least, I *heard* that "Pink Five" got mentioned in one of the novels or comics or something).

Or it would, if it hadn't already been released, on the drama album "Nyan Dra 4."

No, I think he's talking about the TV series. It's called "Soko no Aru no ga Mirai Dakara," and it's on both the second Macross II soundtrack, the first Macross 7: Galaxy Network Chart album.

Can you share the C&D letter? What did they say exactly?