Robotech Comics

[JB0]

In fairness, even if they COULD afford him it isn't like he'd take their call. It's a pretty deep rift there(and one entirely of HG's making).

[Einherjar]

Great job opening this can of worms for nothing, Titan Comics.

5 hours ago, jvmacross said:

 

 

 

Oh look, a defibrillator on legs!

[kajnrig]

It looks alright. I want to say it's a neat mix of SDFM and... Mospeada? Whatever the "second season" of Robotech was, I always forget... and makes me think this must be set between those two time periods.

But honestly I don't know Robotech continuity, so 🤷‍♂️

[Bolt]

Sad state of affairs over there in rt land.. Well they got one thing right. It still looks like it was drawn in the 80's..

[sh9000]

If there was a toy that scaled with HMR I'd probably get one and permanently leave it in Fighter mode.

[glane21]

I don’t understand this.  Tommy Yune is an excellent artist.  He could produce a much better in-universe  line art  design and, as licensor, make the comic company use it.  I don’t know why he would allow this train wreck design to be used.  

[Chronocidal]

3 hours ago, kajnrig said:

But honestly I don't know Robotech continuity, so 🤷‍♂️

To be fair, I don't think most of the Robotech writers or fanbase do either.  

[Old_Nash_II]

21 hours ago, jvmacross said:

https://www.gamesradar.com/rick-hunter-blasts-into-action-in-titans-new-robotech-miniseries/

 

 

 

So... they Will set the new series in the events before Robotech from Wildstorm series?

 

[twich]

While I prefer all designs by Kawamori, I also have love for all transforming robots. Wonder how this transforms?

Twich

[F-ZeroOne]

And the Robotech comics problem with perspective continues. If it wasn't for the fact the... Veritech?... wing is in front of it, it looks like its being charged by a way too small Battle Pod...

[TheLoneWolf]

It's amazing how such a sleek fighter like the YF-4 can transform into a bulky battloid mess.

2 hours ago, glane21 said:

I don’t understand this.  Tommy Yune is an excellent artist.  He could produce a much better in-universe  line art  design and, as licensor, make the comic company use it.  I don’t know why he would allow this train wreck design to be used.  

I honestly can't remember the last time Tommy Yune drew anything new for Robotech.

[Old_Nash_II]

5 minutes ago, TheLoneWolf said:

It's amazing how such a sleek fighter like the YF-4 can transform into a bulky battloid mess.

I honestly can't remember the last time Tommy Yune drew anything new for Robotech.

If we are going to take the reference, it reminds a little of these old concepts made by Yune, a few years ago

[Knight26]

1 hour ago, Old_Nash_II said:

If we are going to take the reference, it reminds a little of these old concepts made by Yune, a few years ago

This is honestly a better design then whatever that mess of a VF-4 is.

[Seto Kaiba]

15 hours ago, glane21 said:

I don’t understand this.  Tommy Yune is an excellent artist.  He could produce a much better in-universe  line art  design and, as licensor, make the comic company use it.  I don’t know why he would allow this train wreck design to be used.  

Oh, that's easy.  Harmony Gold essentially outsourced management of the Robotech franchise to Funimation back in 2019.  

(It's believed that that transfer of managing authority and the collapse of Harmony Gold's licensing partner KMG were what killed Robotech Remix.)

Tommy is an OK comic book artist, but he's no mechanical designer.  That's the reason he dodged the question of transforming the YF-4 back when he was working on Robotech's comics himself.  By all indications, he hasn't really had much authority over Robotech since Shadow Chronicles failed to deliver on the grandiose promises he made to HG's execs to secure funding.

 

3 hours ago, twich said:

While I prefer all designs by Kawamori, I also have love for all transforming robots. Wonder how this transforms?

Considering this design was something Ninja Division slapped together for Palladium Books to use as a pledge bonus in a Kickstarter campaign for a tabletop game, I doubt they bothered to figure it out.  

 

34 minutes ago, Knight26 said:

This is honestly a better design then whatever that mess of a VF-4 is.

Maybe so, but it's not a "Macross Saga" design so the Robotech fans don't care about it.  

[Knight26]

That begs the question; if Funimation is now managing HGs RT franchise how much freedom do they have to approach BW and start properly importing Macross (more so then the trickle of WWR VFs)?  Especially now that FA has passed.

[Dynaman]

11 hours ago, Knight26 said:

That begs the question; if Funimation is now managing HGs RT franchise how much freedom do they have to approach BW and start properly importing Macross (more so then the trickle of WWR VFs)?  Especially now that FA has passed.

I don't know the sales numbers of either (here in the states) but unless the numbers for RT are a lot higher why would they even bother?  Just get the Macross stuff over as Macross (and the other two titles have so little new content they can be ignored anyway)

[TheLoneWolf]

8 hours ago, Old_Nash_II said:

If we are going to take the reference, it reminds a little of these old concepts made by Yune, a few years ago

Tommy Yune's designs are 20 years old, but they're still much better than the new one. Yune had a bulky fighter transform into a bulky battloid.

3 hours ago, Knight26 said:

Especially now that FA has passed.

Doubtful Frank Agrama's passing changes anything.

[Seto Kaiba]

18 hours ago, Knight26 said:

That begs the question; if Funimation is now managing HGs RT franchise how much freedom do they have to approach BW and start properly importing Macross (more so then the trickle of WWR VFs)?

Presumably no more than any other prospective Macross licensee.

 

18 hours ago, Knight26 said:

Especially now that FA has passed.

Given that it's been quite a few years since he stepped down as CEO of Harmony Gold, it's unlikely his passing will have any impact at all on the worldwide distribution of Macross and its sequels... or Robotech's glorified hospice care at Funimation/Crunchyroll.

 

7 hours ago, Dynaman said:

I don't know the sales numbers of either (here in the states) but unless the numbers for RT are a lot higher why would they even bother?  Just get the Macross stuff over as Macross (and the other two titles have so little new content they can be ignored anyway)

Presumably for the same reason Harmony Gold itself did... the potential value of the "rest of world" Super Dimension Fortress Macross license and the trademarks Harmony Gold used to keep Macross's sequels bottled up in Japan for 20 years far outstrips the value of Robotech itself.

(It's also a fairly safe bet that the license was not exactly expensive either.  Robotech is a dead property twice over after failing to launch in 1986 and 2007, it has no future prospects to speak of, and the potential return on investment has been greatly diluted by 20 years of oversaturating the market with re-release after re-release of the same content on home video and various streaming services.  Its main value is as a way to maintain Harmony Gold's trademark on the Macross name that has now given it "a say" in Macross's global releases.)

This new comic is almost certainly being made largely for the purpose of meeting the minimum obligations to renew the Macross trademark - i.e. active use of the trademarked term in commerce.  It doesn't have to be good, it just has to exist.

[Roy Focker]

Can't be much of an audience left interested in buying this to make it worth publishing. Unless HG has some sort of make something or lose the rights deal.

[Seto Kaiba]

23 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

Can't be much of an audience left interested in buying this to make it worth publishing. Unless HG has some sort of make something or lose the rights deal.

Indirectly, yes.

They have to periodically release some SDF Macross-based merchandise in order to meet the US Patent and Trademark Office's requirements to renew the trademark they have on the word "Macross".  If they lose that trademark, the 2021 distribution agreement is essentially meaningless.  Big West would be able to release the Macross sequels in the US without any cooperation from, or royalties paid to, HG and they could even register that trademark themselves and forcibly shut HG out of marketing Robotech in the US.

[Knight26]

36 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Indirectly, yes.

They have to periodically release some SDF Macross-based merchandise in order to meet the US Patent and Trademark Office's requirements to renew the trademark they have on the word "Macross".  If they lose that trademark, the 2021 distribution agreement is essentially meaningless.  Big West would be able to release the Macross sequels in the US without any cooperation from, or royalties paid to, HG and they could even register that trademark themselves and forcibly shut HG out of marketing Robotech in the US.

I figured that something like that had to be happening given their periodic releases.

[pengbuzz]

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Indirectly, yes.

They have to periodically release some SDF Macross-based merchandise in order to meet the US Patent and Trademark Office's requirements to renew the trademark they have on the word "Macross".  If they lose that trademark, the 2021 distribution agreement is essentially meaningless.  Big West would be able to release the Macross sequels in the US without any cooperation from, or royalties paid to, HG and they could even register that trademark themselves and forcibly shut HG out of marketing Robotech in the US.

One question I have Seto is: with what HG did to keep Macross pinned down and the recent victories BW won in the courts and such: is there a future for Macross globally and particularly in the US, or did HG manage to ruin it with their saturation of RT?

I hope I'm being clear enough on my question; if not, I guess my concern is that after their initial failures to launch and their periodic re-releases, they managed to sour the planet on it.

[Seto Kaiba]

13 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

One question I have Seto is: with what HG did to keep Macross pinned down and the recent victories BW won in the courts and such: is there a future for Macross globally and particularly in the US, or did HG manage to ruin it with their saturation of RT?

I hope I'm being clear enough on my question; if not, I guess my concern is that after their initial failures to launch and their periodic re-releases, they managed to sour the planet on it.

My guess would be probably not.

Robotech is old and rather obscure, and the few attempts to tart it up for modern audiences have generally failed to capture the attention of potential new readers/viewers... or even satisfy the franchise's existing fans.  The hype machine is basically nonexistent since the fans aren't hyping anything themselves and the only marketing the franchise really does is its annual convention tour that caters to fans only (and is just plain embarrassing).  Most of the attention it gets is in the form of bile fascination from people who already know about it (and Macross).

This new comic seems to be a pivot away from trying to make Robotech marketable and towards low-effort pandering to Robotech's existing fans by revisiting familiar stories.  For their part, the fans seem rather uninterested in yet another "greatest hits" rehashing of Robotech's "Macross Saga", so it's anyone's guess if this comic'll even still be on shelves when the Macross shows drop.

I'd expect there to be some understandable wiki-confusion once new Macross titles start dropping in earnest and viewers start looking up the backstory, but the concept of a bad or bowdlerized localization is familiar enough (thanks 4Kids) that it's unlikely anyone will be put off Macross by Robotech.  

Edited May 15, 2023 by Seto Kaiba

[Thom]

On 5/13/2023 at 4:27 PM, Knight26 said:

This is honestly a better design then whatever that mess of a VF-4 is.

I'd have to agree, at least on the battloid version. In aircraft mode the VF-4 has the best look, hands down, while its battloid looks super chunky and unwieldy.

[pengbuzz]

...

Edited July 13, 2023 by pengbuzz

[shazam]

Robotech comic news?

Robotech II: The Sentinels Book 4; Part 14

Coming never!

I can't wait to see what low-effort licenced products Harmony Gold claim to be serving up to Robotech fans. Harmony Gold will offer to do a thing, but never finish what they start.

 

We all need to keep buying re-painted Robotech VF's that are over priced and poorly made to help fill in the gaps between releases of real Macross VF's.

I know what I would rather spend my money on.

 

 

[Swann]

On 3/30/2009 at 2:54 PM, RavenHawk said:

Sorry people, I promised to finally do a review of Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles, and I've spent the last month distracted with anime, work, kids, life...

Anyone want me to get back to it and finish off reviewing the last few Robotech comics that I haven't covered yet, including Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles?

You should get paid for doing it. Just how awful Harmony Gold is. The Robotech comic books from the 80's. At least had some decent good covers.

[Swann]

28 minutes ago, shazam said:

Robotech comic news?

Robotech II: The Sentinels Book 4; Part 14

Coming never!

I can't wait to see what low-effort licenced products Harmony Gold claim to be serving up to Robotech fans. Harmony Gold will offer to do a thing, but never finish what they start.

 

We all need to keep buying re-painted Robotech VF's that are over priced and poorly made to help fill in the gaps between releases of real Macross VF's.

I know what I would rather spend my money on.

 

 

And fund their little Robotech netflex movie too.

[Swann]

On 5/12/2023 at 6:37 PM, Einherjar said:

Great job opening this can of worms for nothing, Titan Comics.

Oh look, a defibrillator on legs!

What is that? Karaoke drawing of a Valkyrie.

[Swann]

Did anyone forgot about those bears in Robotech.

[shazam]

33 minutes ago, Swann said:

Did anyone forgot about those bears in Robotech.

This image needs to have the arm bands colored red, yellow and green and adding some legs bands in the same colors and it would fit right in hiding with Lookee on Planet Etheria.

Edited July 9, 2023 by shazam

[Swann]

8 minutes ago, shazam said:

This image needs to have the arm bands colored red, yellow and green and adding some legs bands in the same colors and it would fit right in hiding with Lookee on Planet Etheria.

Vary true. Robotech comics are such comedy.

[Big s]

2 hours ago, Swann said:

Did anyone forgot about those bears in Robotech.

Looks like he’s ready to party nonstop no matter what or how drunk he gets. The party never ends and don’t try to tell him otherwise 

[jenius]

I could never get over how close the name was to Care-Bear-ans. 

[roboemo]

Also feels that it inspired "Freedom Ain't Free" Bears.

"Freedom ain't free. Karbarra gotta be littered with new generations. Invids are not our real allies. It's under our rule, not Regess. OK. Praise REF."

Edited July 10, 2023 by roboemo