New Shadow Chronicles Screen Caps

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

I will still watch it despite the characters. I watch all mecha shows for the mecha though..

After roughly 20 years this might fall into the war of the old school vs the new.

Remember star war Prequel trilogy vs the original trilogy?

I'm going to pretend that I'm just a kid again and enjoy it and watch mainly for nostalgia. I just hope they finally come up with a detailed definition as to what protoculture is with nice easy to understand diagram for the laymen.

As for titties. I don't see what the problem is: I loved how in macross II the aliens dressed up the women in skimpy outfits and all of them were hot.

No fat ugly chicks or old people with sagging skin in site on the aliens side. (the results of centuries of refinining thier genetic modification techniques and anti-aging creams?)

Edited April 10, 2006 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[jenius]

No fat ugly chicks or old people with sagging skin in site

I believe that was actually a bumper sticker on Ishtar's spacecraft.

[promethuem5]

Stupid character designs aside, i can't tell if it's the rip or not, but the CGI scene looks horribly washed out and undetailed and out of focus...

[ogami]

the character designs and the quality of the drawings remind me of those low budget CG anime, for example... Zoids.

[Graham]

looks... awful.

Character designs suck and the mech CG looks half assed.

Next break thru... yeah right!

389180[/snapback]

Gonna have to agree with you there on all counts, especially the CG spaceship, looks terrible.

Graham

[jenius]

the character designs and the quality of the drawings remind me of those low budget CG anime, for example... Zoids.

Or Vandread... but I dug Vandread.

[JsARCLIGHT]

It still looks very unfinished to me...

But I'm still going to watch this just to make sure I'm not going to like it. After all, I gave Macross 7 a full chance and watched all of it, I gave Aliens Vs. Predator a full chance and watched all of it and I gave House of the Dead a full chance and watched all of it... admittedly I puked like a fire hose shortly afterwards and passed out on the bathroom floor but you never know until you watch it. Sure I can bag on it a ton now but it would be baseless... I like to pummel things I dislike with experience rather than guesswork.

But you have to admit it is hard to go into this with an unbiased opinion. Everyone on this site posting in these Shadow Chronicles threads has an opinion right now... no one is "unbiased" in any way. After we all watch this then perhaps some people will jump the fence to the other side and some will gain "truth" behind their feelings. You never know until the DVD is in the player.

[Skull Leader]

Wow... I think some of you Macross guys have some rather large chips on your shoulders. You are slamming the show because of a few screenshots? Honestly guys...

Oh, and I thought they went back to Tatsunoko for the animation?

389432[/snapback]

Bad character artwork, production delay after production delay, still nothing ORIGINAL (they're still using Mospeada stuff), poor animation (examples have already been seen), pick your poison. You're basing your comments on what you've seen in this thread without realizing that there is more out there (and it eats as much ass as what we've seen here).

[jenius]

Seriously? Reusing MOSPEADA art? What are they thinking? How dare one chapter of Robotech actually have a visual tie to the last chapter!? I'm also irked by the production animation not being completely fluid as well. I expect more from unfinished products. LOL

As a huge MOSPEADA fan I definitely got my fingers crossed that this doesn't suck and can somehow lead to more MOSPEADA products being released. As I've stated before, the character design (which, while completely standard is not bad) will mean much less than the story. As much is "out there" still isn't enough to condemn or praise this... especially since no one knows what the story will be. I think we can gather no mechs piloted by musical instrument though so we're off to a fair enough start... I also don't see any involvement of a card game so my fears of Robo'mon are diminished.

[danth]

That was back in the 80s and animation technology wasn't that great. This new production by the pirates at HG are using 21st Century techniques and this is the best they come up with.

389289[/snapback]

I'll never understand this argument. Animation technology is the same as it always was -- a bunch of still pictures flashing by to give the impression of movement. They can draw the stills on a computer now, but that just makes them look shittier in my opinion. The good episodes in Macross look better than anything made in the last few years. The Anime Friend eps really do look like garbage though.

Ohh, and the booby thing. I'm no anthropologist, but I'm pretty sure that breasts got popular some time in the prehistoric era. I don't know what the fuss is about.

EDIT: Wait wait wait. Pheonix, what the f*ck are you talking about? We're seeing still shots here. Why are we even talking about animation? So you don't like the designs. Sure, they're not my favorite either. Nowhere near as good as Mikimotos. A lot better than f*cking Naruto or One Piece, but definitely not Mikimoto-league.

Edited April 10, 2006 by danth

[Skull Leader]

As a huge MOSPEADA fan I definitely got my fingers crossed that this doesn't suck and can somehow lead to more MOSPEADA products being released.  As I've stated before, the character design (which, while completely standard is not bad) will mean much less than the story.  As much is "out there" still isn't enough to condemn or praise this... especially since no one knows what the story will be.  I think we can gather no mechs piloted by musical instrument though so we're off to a fair enough start... I also don't see any involvement of a card game so my fears of Robo'mon are diminished.

389476[/snapback]

I guess I really should look at this from the standpoint of a MOSPEADA fan, they've not had it quite as good as Macross fans have (whereas most diehard macross fans look to disown Harmony Gold as having ever had anything even remotely close to do with anything Macross-related, MOSPEADA fans kind a see it as a back door to maybe spark things back up in Japan)... kinda ironic, eh?

[Macross73]

The character/CG mecha designs do suck. Will i watch this. i dont know.

maybe in a year or two when ever they finish that is.

[Sundown]

First of all, many of Macross' episodes are bad by 80s standards (we're all familiar with AnimeFriend).  Second of all, the point is we don't love Macross (especially now) because it looks so damn cool.  We love it because of the story.  Hence, dismissing any new shows because of the way they look is a little ridiculous.  Here's an example:

Actually, I know I love Macross SDF because some of it does look damn cool. The original character designs and certain episodes (and DYRL) show off what Macross can and should look like, and even if a particular episode looks like poop, it at least represents something that does give me goosebumps. So visually, Macross SDF is sort of something insanely great that repeatedly falls short, instead of something that never really gets there despite its efforts.

At any rate, not a big fan of the pandering, and the character designs draw a big meh from me, because the old characters seem to be different for different's sake, rather than because the new designs work better. And I like Robotech.

Was kind of hoping the other fella in the screenies was Rand. Too bad.

[Roy Focker]

If this series is going to use the Sentinels blueprint and/or the books as a template, then I will start to worry

The art so far and the prequel comics seem to suggest that.

[terry the lone wolf]

If this series is going to use the Sentinels blueprint and/or the books as a template, then I will start to worry

The art so far and the prequel comics seem to suggest that.

389598[/snapback]

It makes more sense to me for HG to utilize the Sentinels comics and novels without having to throw everything completely out. The Sentinels have a strong fanbase of its' own and they shouldn't be ignored. My main problem with Sentinels were the character designs but the mecha and space battles I didn't have a problem with it. If Shadow Chronicles is some kind of filler series for Sentinels I'm okay with that.

[HoveringCheesecake]

Wow... I think some of you Macross guys have some rather large chips on your shoulders. You are slamming the show because of a few screenshots? Honestly guys...

Oh, and I thought they went back to Tatsunoko for the animation?

389432[/snapback]

Bad character artwork, production delay after production delay, still nothing ORIGINAL (they're still using Mospeada stuff), poor animation (examples have already been seen), pick your poison. You're basing your comments on what you've seen in this thread without realizing that there is more out there (and it eats as much ass as what we've seen here).

389465[/snapback]

I've seen the official trailer, the UN commercial, and the video from some old comic con (I'm not sure where it is from, it is a cam) so I am most definately not basing it off of these screencaps.

[mechaninac]

I find that the character designs, although a bit bland, specially for the male ones, is rather good; and as far as the "pointy" chins, I don't find them any more jarring than M+'s Pinocchio noses or M2's weird ears. I do think all the spandex-like uniforms are a bit idiotic... they remind me too much of TNG's 1st and 2nd season's "unitards". And for the too-much-cleavage detractors... I only see it in Ariel/Marlene and Janice M, which is hardly any indication that will be the standard for the entire female cast. Besides, a little fan service, if done in small amounts, is always a good thing.

As for the Mecha, they come directly from MOSPEADA or are derivatives thereof, so no complaints from me. I do find that the rendering for some of them, at least in the posted pictures, is much too CG-ish and "washed out" -- probably on purpose to try to disguise the glaring mismatch between it and the cell work.

I just hope that the animation is on par with modern standards (but without the long still shots with endless dialogue so common to contemporary anime: GITS:SAC, Eva, etc.), and that the story is good, if it ever gets released.

[Knight26]

Color me unimpressed, this looks bad from the get go and those outfits just scream that a fanboy loser desifned them.

[Sumdumgai]

Oh man this thing looks like ass. The character design reminds me of that Angel Links thing that I saw ads for some years ago and was so unimpressed I made sure not to watch it. That spaceship looks like crap, as bad as the mecha in gakutsuo (if not worse).

Cleavage and boobies can be cool and all. But, if the character design and animation quality is crap, what's the point?

[Zinjo]

Are all women required to show cleavage in the RDF?

389073[/snapback]

Well yes!

Just like every woman in UN Spacy are required to wear Mini-skirts.

[Zinjo]

As a huge MOSPEADA fan I definitely got my fingers crossed that this doesn't suck and can somehow lead to more MOSPEADA products being released.  As I've stated before, the character design (which, while completely standard is not bad) will mean much less than the story.  As much is "out there" still isn't enough to condemn or praise this... especially since no one knows what the story will be.  I think we can gather no mechs piloted by musical instrument though so we're off to a fair enough start... I also don't see any involvement of a card game so my fears of Robo'mon are diminished.

389476[/snapback]

I guess I really should look at this from the standpoint of a MOSPEADA fan, they've not had it quite as good as Macross fans have (whereas most diehard macross fans look to disown Harmony Gold as having ever had anything even remotely close to do with anything Macross-related, MOSPEADA fans kind a see it as a back door to maybe spark things back up in Japan)... kinda ironic, eh?

389494[/snapback]

Well I did hear rumours a while back, that HG proposed it as a sequel to Mospeada to the Japanese studios (kinda ironic since Megazone 23 was initially developed as the Mospeada sequel).

Don't know if that is true or if the studios were even interested.

Edited April 10, 2006 by Zinjo

[Lightning]

the character designs and the quality of the drawings remind me of those low budget CG anime, for example... Zoids.

Or Vandread... but I dug Vandread.

389457[/snapback]

but at least Zoids and Vandread were cool shows, and the pulled off the low budget theme very nicely.....this new RT show however.....just sucks.

[buddhafabio]

......oops responded to a pm in this thread

Edited April 10, 2006 by buddhafabio

[jenius]

but at least Zoids and Vandread were cool shows, and the pulled off the low budget theme very nicely.....this new RT show however.....just sucks.

Crap, I don't get it, I feel like I'm fairly in the loop on this production but some of you guys seem to know some stuff about the actual story that I haven't heard. How do you know this show sucks? If the character designs and CG are similar to shows that were eventually deemed Good, and that's all we have for RT so far, how can we deem it bad? I seriously don't get the jumps here unless someone can point me toward some background on the actual story of the show...

Well I did hear rumours a while back, that HG proposed it as a sequel to Mospeada to the Japanese studios (kinda ironic since Megazone 23 was initially developed as the Mospeada sequel).

This rumor gives me an immense amount of hope. First of all, more MOSPEADA would be huge. Sadly it makes me a bum on the HG (of all company's) bandwagon. I need their sequel to succeed in order for MOSPEADA to have its product line increased. The good news is, if HG has to make an anime that can be marketed as a sequel to GCM then they're going to have to drop the fruity Sentinels bit and stick more to GCM's themes. Basically, this could be a win - win situation. GCM gets a sequel and Robotech has a defined direction.

The art so far and the prequel comics seem to suggest that.

Actually, I think the Prequel comics were meant to put a nice tidy bow on all things Sentinels. I haven't read them but from what I understand the comics also served as a means of thinning the herd out a bit. A big chunk of characters will stay back in the Sentinels solar system while the new animation seems to focus on the few that came back for the last big battle (or got lost along the way). Basically, it looks like Stig and Aisha (errr) will be joined by a few characters from the first two arcs and a couple characters from the Sentinels arc to make the cast. Since this is one movie-length OVA I'm sure it will have a very primary set of characters and a crap ton of tertiary "cameos" that huge RT fans will love and non RT fans won't even notice. If it were a whole series they might run into the problem of trying to tell too many people's stories, since it's only movie-length they're going to have to take one or two people and run with them (Stig and Aisha from the look of it).

The character/CG mecha designs do suck

Man, knock the CG or the characters all you want, but leave the mecha designs out of this...

[Ginrai]

I.E. there are just way way too many characters to handle a story effectively in that context. (Bernard and his team, whats left of Marlenes people, the Grants, Edwards, whats left of the REF, shades of the Hunters and Sterlings, Minmei and Kyle, Dana and her crew, various Zentraedi survivors like Exedor, potential book crossovers like Baker and his gf, Rem, Janice Em, etc) Mospeada had 7 major characters and that was pushing it. Macross had a nice balance of three interconnected characters with several memorable supporting characters.

389464[/snapback]

I think you're getting the wrong impression from that character guide sheet that dude posted. Those are mostly characters from the Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles trainwreck of a comic book. Most of them will not be in the actual movie. Hell, Edwards is -dead-.

[Project Phoenix]

EDIT: Wait wait wait. Pheonix, what the f*ck are you talking about? We're seeing still shots here. Why are we even talking about animation? So you don't like the designs. Sure, they're not my favorite either. Nowhere near as good as Mikimotos. A lot better than f*cking Naruto or One Piece, but definitely not Mikimoto-league.

389493[/snapback]

Those still shots are taken from the actual animation. The shots themselves doesn't impress at all. All it did was assure me that this attempt at milking money from unsuspecting folks will definitely end in failure. They could've done a lot better with today's animation technology is all that I'm saying.

Storywise, I doubt it will be any better. All they're doing is trying to pin all 3 very different anime into what freakshow of an animation then labelling it as 'Original'. It's Sentinels all over again, this time with better looking babes in skin-tight suits with a fair amount of cleavage. I'm surprised they didn't include *gasp* Megazone 23. They could've introduced the military Garland and called it Cyclone Mk.2. Now THAT will be a hit with the Homotech fanboys.

Macross was done back in the 80's with little budget. They were done by a bunch of college graduates with little or no experience in animation and they pulled it off. Compared to other contemporary anime titles at the time, of course they were not as good. But after that, with the advent of better technology in arts and sciences, they did better didn't they? Macross Plus, Macross 7 and Macross Zero remember? Hell, even DYRL was way better than the TV series.

Here is my basic checklist as to why even Mospeada itself was better than HG's Homotech freakshow:

1) Original character design (no reusing or basing off previous character designs from OTHER titles. ie. didn't change their clothes and call them Scott Bernard)

2) Original plotline (the only other anime that features ragtag freedom fighters was Dorvack. Even that was executed differently)

3) Original mecha design (besides the Legioss, the Tread and the Ride Armor is fairly original. The Garland was similar but still different)

Mikimoto's design is a hell lot better than this or any of those over-commercialized stuff you mentioned above. It's a no-brainer.

Edited April 11, 2006 by Project Phoenix

[chrono]

It's not HomoTech! This version is T&A-Tech!! Or at least BrokeBack-Tech.

Anyways I see that they still haven't gotten any idea of how to use 3D. Especially in those 3D characters, man those shadows are a give away! Those ship designs are horribly uncreative & the 3D is immature looking and slightly below hobbyist level. On that alone I hope it drains their accounts and destory's their remaining credit!!!

[Skull Leader]

Brokeback-tech... I like that...

[jenius]

Macross was done back in the 80's with little budget. They were done by a bunch of college graduates with little or no experience in animation and they pulled it off. Compared to other contemporary anime titles at the time, of course they were not as good. But after that, with the advent of better technology in arts and sciences, they did better didn't they? Macross Plus, Macross 7 and Macross Zero remember? Hell, even DYRL was way better than the TV series.

According to HG the new Robotech is being done on a shoestring budget as well and there's no doubt it will be an improvement of 1980s anime (will it be an improvement over late 1990s anime? I dunno). I should hope Macross got better as its sequels progressed (although, as was pointed out earlier, the character designs did get funky in MacII and Mac+). Do You Remember Love was a movie with a TON of funding in comparison... it better look friggin' fantastic in comparison.

Seriously people, stop bashing the GCM mech and ship designs... it's just harsh. Macross featured green floating poos, let GCM and this heavily GCM influenced sequel use floating boxes. Admittedly, it's the Legioss, Tread, and Ride Armors that made MOSPEADA... the boxy-ass super ships were just kinda background imagery. Yes, Robotech is re-using them... but that makes sense since they are the current spaceship in Robotech's universe at the end of TNG... in fact, I think it's the very same ship that is in the last episode of Robotech so it'd be really crazy if suddenly it morphed into this ultra cool looking ship.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Hell, even DYRL was way better than the TV series.

Err biggest understatement of the century. DYRL destroys the tv series in terms of quality animation and detail. Ahhh still after so many years this thing has aged well.

As for Robotech: give it a chance, it might be good. We all thought BSG was going to suck because it didn't stick to the original but came to like it over time. Maybe HG gets it right this time and a new generation of fans catches on?

If we see a mospeada sequel and all the haters of robotech who bought toynami alphas to make HG prosper end up buying and liking it, then we have you guys to blame anyway..mwaha

I'm going to hold off judgement until the thing is finished. Maybe there is a technological reason for spandex or something and that measuring the electrical impulses from the bodies of the pilots increases the responsiveness of the mecha or something so these suits are design to fit against thier muscles tightly? (sort of a advancement from the mkinney novels' thinking cap control system?) Remember how in macross II when those emulators had thier bikini outfits glow with power when ishtar sang that song and thier feelings in thier body changed to her music in response?

And people, don't forget aquarion. They have suits that are tight in that too. The pilots get orgasms just by combining. I know cheesy isn't it? Just don't take the mecha show so seriously and you might enjoy it.

Edited April 11, 2006 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[HoveringCheesecake]

Hell, even DYRL was way better than the TV series.

As for Robotech: give it a chance, it might be good. We all thought BSG was going to suck because it didn't stick to the original but came to like it over time. Maybe HG gets it right this time and a new generation of fans catches on?

389791[/snapback]

Err... I liked the new BSG from the get go.

[Roy Focker]

Storywise, I doubt it will be any better. All they're doing is trying to pin all 3 very different anime into what freakshow of an animation then labelling it as 'Original'. It's Sentinels all over again, this time with better looking babes in skin-tight suits with a fair amount of cleavage.

My thought exactly. What I'm seeing screams "Sentinel: The Revenge of Robotech!" It hard not to bash the story based on the art. It is animation after all. Good art is key! I use to collect comic books. Sure I had my favorite titles but I dumbed them once they started switching to a less talented artist.

When I was into Robotech I thought the Sentinels was gonna be the bomb! IMO the Sentinel mini cartoon wasn't that bad compared the rest of the Sentinels media. Most of the novels and the comics screamed trash. Before I sold my Robotech comic collection last year I flipped through the comics. I haven't seen them in years. They filled the void back then but alot was just trash. Stories and designs were reduced to amature crap. I used to draw my own pictures of Robotech characters aged in new uniforms. My 13 year designs looked pretty gay and crappy. I swear HG most have digged through my trash can and stole half of them. Besides pictures what Robotech fan didn't try to fill the void with their own fan fiction? I'm sure a alot of it was just your Robotech fan boy dreams. In hindsight do Robotech fan boy dreams make a good story?

Maybe the story won't be equal to that of 13 year old's fanfic but the art sure looks like it.

[Jemstone]

Are all women required to show cleavage in the RDF?

389073[/snapback]

As much as they have to in UN Spacy, it would seem. Although to be honest, one of those was an Invid Princess, and the other a music star. We all know about the over-sexification of the music industry already.

389105[/snapback]

Ahhhh. I thought it was some culture shock protection strategy from any rogue Zents in outer space.

[Sundown]

Ahhhh. I thought it was some culture shock protection strategy from any rogue Zents in outer space.

389878[/snapback]

It works pretty well on humans too.

What were we talking about?

[Keith]

I bought Codename Robotech, & Robotech II: The Sentinels, both sit snugly in a robotech 3 disc box of shame with my copy of Space Gandam V! I'll gladly bump SGV on it's own & replace it's spot with this when it's out. It will stand as a testiment to the comedy that is american attempts at anime, and how "not" to follow up Macross.

I just hope this new production has those cat robots that crumble apart when you sneeze at them.