More Shadow Force news

[Radd]

Still, I've never been big with the CG-Hand Drawn stuff: it can be done good, but often is not.

My personal belief is that most studios opt to use CG due to the belief that it's easier to create CG work than hand drawn work, wich is not entirely true. It takes just as much effort, and in my experience just as much manpower to create good looking CG as it takes to create good looking 2D work. It is, however, easier to pump out crappy looking CG work, using less people, than it takes to produce crappy looking 2D work.

I actually dig the ship and mecha designs from MOSPEADA quite a bit, I just hope that the final CG looks a whole lot better than anything they've shown us so far. That they're using the same studio that worked on Yukikaze is encouraging, but it still boils down to how much quality HG is willing to pay for.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

The Horizon looks good, CG wise. The rest need work. The SDF-4 looks why too cel-shaded for my tastes. I hate when they use that technique. It's meant to hide the CG and all it does is draw attention to it more often than not.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

You call those ship designs? HG should've hired Knight26 instead of whoever designed those.

Er, now everyone's hating on Mospeada designs because HG's using them for the new Robotech series?

Naw I just think the majority of us(including myself0 think Knight26 is a very capable spaceship designer who also knows his stuff as well.

I'm actually surprised this is all happening. Whether it actually reaches fruition and becomes a full fledged series longer than sentinels is yet to be seen and I would be surprised. Hopefully it is good but again I've got a bad taste in my mouth due to HG.

[Knight26]

You call those ship designs? HG should've hired Knight26 instead of whoever designed those.

Um, I'm not entirely sure how I should take that, as a compliment or a dis, *scratches head furiously.* Really those designs just look like they took the old Mospeada capships, did them in CG and maybe added a few bits. The only one that looks signficantly different is the dropship and cockpit of the Shadow Alpha. I mean come on why not come up with new designs?

@Shin, thanks for standing up for me bro, also sorry for the lack of updates on my latest, trying to get my desktop back up and running, ugh, going to have to do a complete wipe and restore then reinstall all my drivers and software, I hate microsoft.

[Agent ONE]

Hey look! It still sucks!

Shadow Farce forever!!!

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Hey look! It still sucks!

Shadow Farce forever!!!

LOL!!! Get em' Agent!!!

@Shin, thanks for standing up for me bro, also sorry for the lack of updates on my latest, trying to get my desktop back up and running, ugh, going to have to do a complete wipe and restore then reinstall all my drivers and software, I hate microsoft.

Knight, no prob man. The more I reread A7's comment the more I think he was actually complimenting you. I think A7 was trying to say that the ship designer for Shadow Force can't design good ships, where as you however, can and have designed pretty good spaceships.

And delays are understandable man. Take your time. I'm finding it very hard to find time at all to do my jet designs. I am actually working on an animation for class involving the F-8. Hopefully I can post it up within the next 3 weeks when I am done.

[Duke Togo]

This is MOSPEADA 2. For all of their fighting over Macross, HG has gone strictly MOSPEADA for this one. I am guessing this will be shown in Japan as MOSPEADA 2, and we will probably see a subbed US DVD release of the show, to go along with the ADV MOSPEADA set. This is Robotech in reverse. Exactly what HG original did, but now going the other way around.

[terry the lone wolf]

Well, I don't have a problem with the show taking more from Mospeada than Macross. Continuity wise that's the best course but when they introduce "Macross Saga" characters(and they will) they''ll have to look similar to their earliar designs.

Here's the voice cast:

Greg Snegoff: Lt. Cmd.Scott Benard

Richard Epcar: Capt. Vince Grant

Paul Sorich: Sparks

[terry the lone wolf]

Here's Chase Masterson as Janice Em. Damn, she's a hottie. IF you ever seen Star Trek: DS9, you'll know what I mean.

[Hikuro]

I was wondering who she was since I looked on the Actors website thingy and it said she was in DS9, nooooowwwwww I remember.....never really watched the show though.

[McKlown]

It's amazing how you blatantly ignored the show at the top of Ford's credit list, Aegis.

[Ladic]

The April 2005 issue of NewType USA magazine is now arriving on stands with the latest production updates from Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles!

Last November, Newtype USA also ran a first-look preview into the upcoming Robotech sequel with exclusive sneak peeks of the new production. Due to space constraints, the interview between Chris Johnston of Newtype and Tommy Yune of Harmony Gold had to be edited for space to make room for more artwork, but now here's the uncut interview presented in its entirety for Robotech fans!

CHRIS: Tell us about the decision to create Robotech Shadow Force. Where did the idea come from, and why now?

TOMMY: The original concept was first proposed when I joined Harmony Gold a few years ago. It had undergone quite a few permutations and refinements into what is the now the gripping premise that will kick off The Shadow Chronicles. Although the working title of the feature pilot was Shadow Force, the overall new story arc is called Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

Harmony Gold had already been developing different proposals for Robotech spinoffs, but we felt that we had to return to the underlying roots that made the original series great - determined and engaging characters who are able to prevail against the odds of an overwhelming alien threat with amazing transforming mecha. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the steadfast guidance and support of our executive producer Frank Agrama.

CHRIS: Where does this fall within the Robotech timeline?

TOMMY: This storyline is charting new territory right around where final episode of Robotech had left off.

CHRIS: What is the story of The Shadow Chronicles?

TOMMY: As fans of the original series may know, the Robotech Expeditionary Force had been battling to liberate the Earth from occupation by a mysterious alien race known as the Invid, only to culminate in the cataclysmic departure of the Invid and the mysterious disappearance of the expedition's stalwart leader, Admiral Rick Hunter. This unresolved cliffhanger had left fans hanging since 1985.

The new storyline will reveal that these peculiar events, along with the Expeditionary Force's massive accumulation of Robotechnology are somehow all connected in an unfolding mystery that will once again threaten the survival of the human race.

CHRIS: Who's the alien threat in this show? Invid? Zentraedi?

TOMMY: Oh I can't give the new threat away, but it will be provide an intriguing level of depth behind the ongoing Robotech conflict.

CHRIS: Who are the main characters this time around?

TOMMY: One of the main characters in the ensemble is Scott Bernard, a surviving veteran of the bitter war to liberate the Earth. He'll be reunited with other individuals from his distant past that will present dramatic challenges to his commitment to the Robotech Expedition.

CHRIS: Are there returning characters from the original show? Who's back?

TOMMY: We'll see some familiar faces like Dr. Louis Nichols alongside others such as Captain Vince Grant, but there will be a substantial number of all-new characters who will round out the cast. The fate of Admiral Rick Hunter is ... well, I guess the fans will have to see it to find out!

CHRIS: Where is this show being animated?

TOMMY: Work originated in Los Angeles and we had been making quite a few trips to Japan, but the digital animation work has now moved on to DR Movie in Korea. Incidentally, DR Movie was also previously involved in the productions of Macross Plus and Yukikaze.

CHRIS: How is it being animated - is it a traditional cel production or will it use CG? How would you describe Shadow Force's look?

TOMMY: The entire anime industry has evolved tremendously with advancements in digital production technology ever since the original Robotech series had aired almost two decades ago. New animation will feature a digital 2D/3D production process. Cel-shading algorithms and compositing technology has matured to the point where we can have the best of both worlds incorporating the traditional look of anime cels seamlessly combined with cutting-edge CG mecha animation.

CHRIS: How many episodes are planned?

TOMMY: The premise leads into an ongoing storyline that can go on for 26 episodes or more, but we're kicking it off with a full-length feature.

CHRIS: When will US viewers get to see this show? Will it run on TV or will it be an OVA release?

TOMMY: It's scheduled for release [in 2005], which is incidentally the 20th anniversary of Robotech, as on OVA (original video animation) feature on DVD, but I'm sure it will get its run on TV as well.

CHRIS: What were the difficulties of making an original show based on Robotech, which itself was a compilation/amalgamation of three pre-existing Japanese properties?

TOMMY: We inherited a series that was created together out of the necessities of broadcast guidelines back in 1985. You know what? Call it serendipity, but the interwoven storyline actually worked quite well and has stood the test of time with DVDs continuing to fly off of shelves today. Perhaps it helped that the underlying work was all produced by the same legendary animation studio, Tatsunoko Productions. Therefore, it was very important for us to involve Tatsunoko once again when preparing to create a new show that was true to its anime roots. We were taking on quite a challenge with this new project and consulted extensively with Mospeada's original writer Kenji Terada. In the end we were quite fortunate to have the talented Ford Riley come on board and help shape this complex storyline with all its depth into a tight and cohesive screenplay.

CHRIS: Who is this show targeted at, primarily? Fans of the old show or an entirely new audience?

TOMMY: Because 20 years had passed since the original airing of the Robotech series, we had to take into account that new viewers will have little or no knowledge of Robotech's back story. This "newbie-friendly" story kicks off with fantastic action and unfolds with dramatic storytelling that will engage all viewers. Of course, hardcore fans of Robotech lore will enjoy reimmersing themselves back into the familiar world of Robotech that they fell in love with in the first place.

CHRIS: Are any of the original voice cast returning for parts in this show?

TOMMY: We've maintained a great relationship with the original cast, many of whom reprised their roles in the Robotech: Battlecry video game in 2002 and Robotech: Invasion which will arrive on game store shelves at about the time of this printing. Just like many of the fans, we look forward to hearing these familiar voices again.

http://www.robotech.com/news/viewarticle.php?id=208

[Sundown]

You call those ship designs? HG should've hired Knight26 instead of whoever designed those.

Er, now everyone's hating on Mospeada designs because HG's using them for the new Robotech series?

Naw I just think the majority of us(including myself0 think Knight26 is a very capable spaceship designer who also knows his stuff as well.

I'm actually surprised this is all happening. Whether it actually reaches fruition and becomes a full fledged series longer than sentinels is yet to be seen and I would be surprised. Hopefully it is good but again I've got a bad taste in my mouth due to HG.

I'm sorry, but the new Robotech designs are pretty much Mospaeda designs, albiet tweaked a little. They don't become horrid simply because HG is now somehow associated with them. They may be unoriginal, but yes... I do call them ship designs. The only one that irks me is the "SDF-4", which doesn't look especially "SDF" in any way.

I would wager that had Knight26 been hired by HG to do the new ship designs, and one of our resident members been responsible for Horizon V and new Shadow Alpha designs, we'd be saying the exact same thing, only in reverse. I'm not saying anything about the comparitive talents of HG's designers versus Knight26. But there is a bias around here-- whenever anything is associated with HG, it automatically becomes teh suck, while nearly anything from our own Macross World membership gets lauded with praise and adoration (much of it rightly deserved). But if the tables were flipped, the adoration would be quickly stripped away... until we find out that artist is actually an MW member, anyway. Like the artist who did some of the old Robotech comics way back.

I do agree that most of HG's own efforts have been pretty sub-par. This one is the best they've put forth so far.

[Aegis!]

It's amazing how you blatantly ignored the show at the top of Ford's credit list, Aegis.

So know Megas XLR is to be acknowledged as High quality , NOT-kiddie-orientated (mature was a ambiguous word to use ) , high budget , ANIME series ( cause it sounds like HG is hiring a cartoon writter to do a so-called ¨japanese-styled¨ series now ) ?

Does Megas XLR ( or any of his past works) make Ford more adequate for this kind of job ? me thinks not ; in the other hand perhaps HE IS , considering HG is trying to target this at new audiences , hence , younger ( than original ) RT fans.

Anyway, my personal take on this is that no matter what , HG will have to pull a big marketing campaign to get SOME profits out of this , given RT is more or less a niche series nowadays.

[Wheels]

I sincerely do hope that is will be the final nail in their coffin.

The sooner HG burns to the ground, the sooner the North America markets open up to the real Japanese Macross products.

Edited March 26, 2005 by Wheels

[1st Border Red Devil]

The only one that looks signficantly different is the dropship and cockpit of the Shadow Alpha. I mean come on why not come up with new designs?

I believe they have come up with one or more new designs for capital ships as the ones from Mospeada are essentially 'Gator Navy' designs: troop ships designed for planetary drops that can act as ships of the line in a pinch. They would have to have ships that fulfill the Destroyer and Cruiser roles if they want to actually engage in ship-to-ship combat, which was wholey unneccessary during Mospeada (the Invid lack any kind of armed capital ship).

[ogami]

I sincerely do hope that is will be the final nail in their coffin.

The sooner HG burns to the ground, the sooner the North America markets open up to the real Japanese Macross products.

I wish Bandai will buy HG out when HG go bankrupt ...

Edited March 26, 2005 by ogami

[lt.actionjackson]

Why would Bandai want to buy HG? Seems like a waste of money to me.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

YeA it would be. I'd rather see another perfect grade gundam model or repaint rather than seeing HG exist any longer.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

So what do you think "shadow force" is reffering to:

-a jedi like power. Kind of like the force from star wars? Shadow meaning 'evil'? (there is like this dark side to rick hunter's character for being willing to sacrifice human life on earth by using neutron bombs which risks killing innocents?)

-a name of a special forces team (ie alphas and betas working together)

-like the above-mentioned, but this time with shadow technology used for stealth against invid?

My guess is this is going to be a series about a bunch of characters who are like this special group of human spies out to take on the invid homeworld. They use the stealth technology to do it, and the whole story is like a sequel to TNG in robotech which will be edited and tweaked and brought to japan as sequel to mospeada. (saves money if they can share footage and effort) I have nothing to back up my guess but the ending of TNG pretty much shows human using stealth to beat the invid so they can't sense thier presence. The emphasis here si that this new technology itself was what saved thier asses and turned the tide. The humans didn't win by wiping out the invid, the invid decided to leave earth. So this next series must be the humans taking the offensive using old mechs from TNG mospeada and maybe 1 or 2 newer mechs. (not a mixture of mecha like some RT fans have been hoping eg. don't expect things like old vf1s or hover tanks to appear)

I always thought that the invid were actually pretty nice aliens compared to the zentradi (notice how they didn't use thier full power to wipe out all the human ships when that thing turned into a bird and flew away? - only taking out the missiles?)but were a little misunderstood because they were more highly evolved and thought that they were higher on the foodchain to other organisms. They had no real interest in wiping the humans themselves out, (the zentradi almost did this in sw I) rather they were more interested in just taking resources from the planet to survive. (like there is this energy crisis in the robotech universe and it can't be recycled or renewed cause everyone is addicted to having it and controlling for themselves to maintain thier control over others)

I just hope toys are made of some new mechas and maybe if the sequel does good in japan I can buy them.

Why would Bandai want to buy HG? Seems like a waste of money to me.

Well to elimante the competition. (If you could call it that) You don't have to do anything with it. Just buy it to control it and then do nothing with it so it dies off.

Edited March 27, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[jenius]

Okay, I'll add some conjecture here. Remember at the end of Mospeada (not New Gen) when the Invid Queen is discussing how humans have followed the path of "Sadow" or something to that effect? It's been a LONG time since I've seen it so bear with me here. I imagine this could work well for a new Robotech also being Mospeada 2.

Robotech is going to have a whole new alien threat (as the article mentions) based on shadow. It'll probably tie together with the opening sequence of The Masters. In that scene they're looking at the mounds that represent the ruins from Space War 1 and there's a brief flash of three sillouettes. "What was that?" "A form of inorganic sentry." Basically it seems to be a set-up for a more mystical alien race that also is tied extremely closely to protoculture and that the Invid are well aware of (tying to the Regis' discussion of "children fo the Shadow"). So in both Mospeada and in Robotech there have been allusions to a shadow race. So in the Mospeada 2 dub a division of Mars Base will sweep the galaxy looking to kill off remaining Invid and come in contact with the Shadow Race. In the RT sequel the REF will be searching for the SDF-4 and come in contact with both Invid and the Shadow race.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

It would be so cool if some of the main characters were "good aliens" and humans were force to ally themselves with some of them. I'm sick of seeing the humans only being the good guys who win the wars when half the time they are the ones inheriting all this technology that the aliens built by studying/reverse-engineering it.

One of the patterns of the three wars is that some main charcters falls in love with the aliens and thier offspring are halfbreeds of hybrid alien-human blood. (and the end message is: "war is bad cause it achieves nothing. Love the enemy to bring the end to war and make peace by singing songs and falling in love and holding hands etc")

I think the pattern is getting a bit old though. What we need are characters who are like Kamjin and almost pure evil or maybe a little mad. Not characters who are too easy to feel sorry for. Once the humans become too advanced they will have no good rivals to compete with and threaten them anymore. Maybe all three wars were destined to happen in the grand scheme of things, so that humans could take on the shadow people? With the build up of all this technology we use reflex weapons, neutron bombs, shadow technoloy, etc to fight them? I made a post on RT forums about how I think the shadow people might be the ones in control of the wars and the invid were the "pro-life" aliens who are trying to be good but are slowly becoming more corrupt. The shadow people are sort of the spirit of death that overcomes all alien races whereas the regis is the spirit of life and evolution. These two opposites have been at war with each other since the beginning of time to maintain a kind of balance so that new lifeforms can exist (and mate with each other resulting in half-human/half alien beings) after each major war.

The descendants of these wars then become the next evolution of beings that tries to bring peace. (think milia after having max baby, and how dana has this connection to Zor because of her alien dna? When the main characters start becoming sympathetic to the aliens because they love them, (Bowie Grant for example) it results in peace between the two races.

I'm sure scott and marlene will be much less clear-cut in thier decisions about what to do with the invid. Marlene wouldn't simply hate her own kind simply because she fell in love with Scott/Stick. It would be similar to Milia and max in macross where humans try to save the good aliens but the bad ones are controlled by a Darkforce or an emotion like anger and hate. Possibly these shadow people are like demons that posses the bad guys..)

If the Shadow spirits are like the Kadun (viewed by sara as black shapes) in macross zero, this might result in harmony gold using macross zero footage in a future robotech dvd ova.

Edited March 27, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[jenius]

where humans try to save the good aliens but the bad ones are controlled by a Darkforce or an emotion like anger and hate

Holy crap... is this also going to be a Phantasy Star anime???

Damn, fighting Dark Force only to get mobbed by the human creators afterward... now that was a video game!!!

As far as everything else goes, only time will tell.

[Dangaioh]

...

Why would Bandai want to buy HG? Seems like a waste of money to me.

Well to elimante the competition. (If you could call it that) You don't have to do anything with it. Just buy it to control it and then do nothing with it so it dies off.

The ultimate irony if Bandai did buy out H.G.,... previously H.G. prevents Bandai from from launching Macross VFX2 (and probably other vfx series before and after) into the U.S. a couple years back, and turns around buys up H.G. and closes it's door by making it stagnate.

[Keith]

Or better yet, if Big West bought HG, Tatsunoku would crap their pants

[jenius]

or better yet, if Robotech's new series ended up being nearly as bad as Macross 7!!!!

Oh Christ... I hope against hope, as someone who is a fan of anime... it doesn't come to that!

[macplus]

or better yet, if Robotech's new series ended up being nearly as bad as Macross 7!!!!

Nothing could be that bad.. oh wait... it's H.G. and Robosh.t! it can be done!

[jenius]

it's true, the suck-potential here is over-whelming... If they're trying to be able to repackage this as a sequel for Mospeada in Japan though there's some hope...

Is it ever confirmed anywhere that they definitely are going to sell it as Mospeada 2?

[terry the lone wolf]

it's true, the suck-potential here is over-whelming...  If they're trying to be able to repackage this as a sequel for Mospeada in Japan though there's some hope...

Is it ever confirmed anywhere that they definitely are going to sell it as Mospeada 2?

Looks that way. I just went to DRMovie's Korean language site and they mention the Shadow Chronicles article in NEWTYPE. It's in Korean but it say these names Tommy Yune, Robotech, Shadow Chronicles, New Generation, and MOSPEADA!

Here's the link:drmoviepress

[Myriad]

To me throwing Mospeada in there is just a way to help with the description of Robotech New Gen. That is how I read the article.....

http://www.drmovie.biz/press/041210/newtypenov.jpg

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Holy crap... is this also going to be a Phantasy Star anime???

Damn, fighting Dark Force only to get mobbed by the human creators afterward... now that was a video game!!!

As far as everything else goes, only time will tell.

Haha I remember playing PSII on megadrive. I could never beat the game because it was farkin hard!!! The last boss was like something out of Aliens as if H.R.Giger designed the boss himself.

Now I got an idea: Invid turn to the shadow force and the leader of the hive decides to evolve/morph herself into an alien queen (from "aliens") as her next stage. If they made it so that the humans got to the invid homeworld and had to explore it like the colonial marines in aliens, it would be scary.

I can imagine Scott and a team exploring the alien hive in their cyclones/ride armor. Suddenly they get attacked by the walls of the hive and can see shapes come out of the walls: They are camoflaged black invid corrupted by the shadow force. Thier next step in evolution was to turn into something more evil than thier old crab form. (hopefully NOT look something like the protodevlin in macross 7)

The basis for all this speculation rests entirely on what I saw from the last ep of TNG where the leader of the invid morphs into some strange phoenix-like bird creature and leaves the planet just like that. (kind of anticlimatic if you ask me.) Somehow the leader is more than a physical person but has a spiritual form too. Now given that marlene has a link to the queen and being an alien herself she guides the exploration team "Ripley"-style into the hive as all the old robotech characters die very violent deaths. The last remaining survivor: Scott/Stick discovers Rick Hunter's dead corpse in the hive and realises the shadow force had thier own clone of him aboard the SDF3 that ordered the attack on earth (last ep of TNG) with the neutron bombs. You see, Admiral Rick Hunter was dead all along and there is a clone of him in control of the RDF probably impregnating lisa!! (just like in John Carpenter's "", the alien can shape-shift into the appearance of the people that it kills.. You can't trust anyone on SDF3!!)

Now It's up to scott to go on a secret mission along with max sterling to find out who the clones are and kill them without arousing the attention of the others.

Maybe louie is the one helping the shadow people wipe out the invid and humans so he can get back at the militaries abuse of all his inventions when he was a kid.

Edited March 27, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Backstabber]

Mark Hamil has been confirmed as one of the voice actors in the series!

http://www.robotech.com/news/viewarticle.php?id=224

No it's not an April fools joke!

[ogami]

I wonder who will release MOSPEADA 2's toy in Japan...

[terry the lone wolf]

Mark Hamil has been confirmed as one of the voice actors in the series!

http://www.robotech.com/news/viewarticle.php?id=224

No it's not an April fools joke!

If it's true he should play T.R. Edwards. He was the "Sentinels" Hovertank commander who had a mad on for Roy(because of an incident that scarred his face) and carries it out on Roy's student Rick.

[Radd]

Say what you like about Hamill's acting career, but as far as voice acting, well, he's one of the best english speaking voice actors around. That's probably the most promising news I've heard about this series so far.