HG and Robotech Debates

[chrisk]

...reminding him that according to the official timeline Ariel is only about fifteen months old during Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles, and could be no more than thirteen years old at the absolute outside limit assuming the larva she was transmuted from was created after the Invid occupation started. He waved both off claiming it was okay because she was an alien, and then raged again when I pointed out Ranka wasn't exactly 100% human either.

...

Gone are the days when Robotech fans and Macross fans argue over which show is "superior".

It's now been replaced with which show has a higher loli quotient.

Now that's progress!

[Gubaba]

Oh, and Gubaba, this may be a strange question, but what is Yoshinol?

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=quick_search&search_sort_by=date&search_sort_order=desc&search_term=yoshinol&search_filter_app[forums]=1&st=150

Go to the last page, and work forwards...although I'm not sure if the pic is still there.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Gubaba

[Keith]

Don't forget all the rampant incest that goes on in Macek's original "vision" for robotech. Zor's clone has a baby with Minmay, who turns out to be Zor, who then is cloned, and has a baby with Minmay, lather, rinse, repeat.

[anime52k8]

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=quick_search&search_sort_by=date&search_sort_order=desc&search_term=yoshinol&search_filter_app[forums]=1&st=150

Go to the last page, and work forwards...although I'm not sure if the pic is still there.

only pic I could find, although I have a feeling this isn't what your talking about.

I also have a feeling this is another thing like "HBAR" and Doorknobs where everyone is cryptic and stuff about it, and when you finally figure it out you feel both disappointed, dirty and slightly dead inside.

[Gubaba]

only pic I could find, although I have a feeling this isn't what your talking about.

I also have a feeling this is another thing like "HBAR" and Doorknobs where everyone is cryptic and stuff about it, and when you finally figure it out you feel both disappointed, dirty and slightly dead inside.

That's the one!

Actually...I don't know how Yoshinol got started. I joined the old boards in...summer 2001...? I think...? By that time, it was either already part of MW-speak, or else I simply missed the debut of it.

[Seto Kaiba]

Trying to turn it into a Macross witch hunt, because they need to validate their existence for a hardly remembered franchise is just strange.

Hey now... everyone enjoys a good witch hunt, right? In particular, Robotech's more devout fans seem to have an unhealthy enthusiasm for hunting the witches and heretics hidden among their ranks. The history of the fandom's online presence is more or less a succession of witch hunting exercises broken up by the occasional lulls while the lunatic fringe's leaders decide which remaining group of heretics needs persecuting the most. Ever since Robotech took its fandom online in the mid-90's, they've been keeping busy by pointing fingers at each other and accusing each other of not being "real" Robotech fans. They started by purging the fans of the novelizations (McKinneyists) and the fans of the old comics (Spanglerists), and then turned on the fans of failed continuations like Robotech II: the Sentinels, Robotech: the Untold Story, and even the few lunatics who really liked Robotech 3000... all done to preserve the primacy of the "original 85".

In more recent years, the targets of choice for their witch hunts have been groups who are openly critical of the direction Tommy Yune has taken the universe in. Critics of the new comics and particularly Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles were the first to be targeted, accused by moderators of verbally assaulting Tommy Yune himself, and quietly banned. Once they were largely rounded up, the next (and most recent) group was Macross fans, since there's nothing more offensive to the Robotech purist mindset than someone who doesn't think the original 85 episodes of Robotech were the best anime/sci-fi show of all time, and hearing about how successful and popular Macross Frontier is does nothing to help their inferiority complex.

Gone are the days when Robotech fans and Macross fans argue over which show is "superior".

It's now been replaced with which show has a higher loli quotient.

I guess that's one way to think of it... yeah. It's more like a series of one-sided accusations from the Robotech crowd that all Macross fans are pedophiles because Kawamori and Risa Ebata didn't make every female member of the cast look like Shay Laren in charcoal body paint.

[azrael]

Actually, they didn't... I used screen captures of the bath scene from Mospeada (and Robotech Remastered) in my rebuttal, and Bendo threw an honest-to-goodness temper tantrum over how he thinks the remastered Robotech isn't real Robotech because it's not the version he saw in the 80's.

Sounds like a Star Wars fanboy.

[Seto Kaiba]

Sounds like a Star Wars fanboy.

It does, a bit... doesn't it? I suppose it's a fair comparison, since many of the more devoted Robotech fans seem to think that Robotech is an epic masterpiece of science fiction cinema fit to rival or surpass Star Wars. There are other parallels too, most notably the way the fans still repeatedly ask each other if there's more information on the past "adventures" of many of the one-shot and minor characters from the animated series. Harmony Gold's licensees attempted to pander to that with the comic books and novelizations back in the 90's... with generally poor results. The "reboot" comics briefly flirted with that bad habit too, attempting to establish a backstory and cause of death for Lisa's former lover Karl Riber (Macross's Riber Fruhling) by featuring him in a mini-comic called "Mars Base One", where it was established Mars Base Sara was abandoned after a Zentradi attack that never got reported to Earth, after which Karl walked off into the Martian desert to die for no clear reason. It didn't go over all that well, and was packed into the Robotech: Invasion miniseries to give Robotech fans who didn't care about the New Generation (ie "most of them") a reason to pick up the books. The shame is that Robotech fans aren't nearly as open-minded as the majority of Star Wars fans when it comes to "expanded universe" stuff, as most of the remaining Robotech fans seem to consider anything that wasn't in the "original 85" or the Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles movie to be worse than unanesthetized dental surgery.

[Jasonc]

Hey now... everyone enjoys a good witch hunt, right? In particular, Robotech's more devout fans seem to have an unhealthy enthusiasm for hunting the witches and heretics hidden among their ranks. The history of the fandom's online presence is more or less a succession of witch hunting exercises broken up by the occasional lulls while the lunatic fringe's leaders decide which remaining group of heretics needs persecuting the most. Ever since Robotech took its fandom online in the mid-90's, they've been keeping busy by pointing fingers at each other and accusing each other of not being "real" Robotech fans. They started by purging the fans of the novelizations (McKinneyists) and the fans of the old comics (Spanglerists), and then turned on the fans of failed continuations like Robotech II: the Sentinels, Robotech: the Untold Story, and even the few lunatics who really liked Robotech 3000... all done to preserve the primacy of the "original 85".

In more recent years, the targets of choice for their witch hunts have been groups who are openly critical of the direction Tommy Yune has taken the universe in. Critics of the new comics and particularly Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles were the first to be targeted, accused by moderators of verbally assaulting Tommy Yune himself, and quietly banned. Once they were largely rounded up, the next (and most recent) group was Macross fans, since there's nothing more offensive to the Robotech purist mindset than someone who doesn't think the original 85 episodes of Robotech were the best anime/sci-fi show of all time, and hearing about how successful and popular Macross Frontier is does nothing to help their inferiority complex.

I guess that's one way to think of it... yeah. It's more like a series of one-sided accusations from the Robotech crowd that all Macross fans are pedophiles because Kawamori and Risa Ebata didn't make every female member of the cast look like Shay Laren in charcoal body paint.

While there are a few of us on this thread who even remotely talk on this subject, wether for purposes of real debate, care of Robotech, hatred of it, or comedy (this one me), most of us in here spend a lot of time on other forums here. We talk about Macross toys, models, gatherings, and this is just a small sidenote in all of that. For the lunatic fringe that you speak of, they seem to have a 3 cycle phase. They go from blaming and bitching about the franchise, to each other, then blame it all on Macross, then repeat. I hardly ever hear the extremists talk of the actual product, and if they do, it's either to criticise, or worship it. Maybe there isn't much else to talk about when it comes to the product of a franchise, but even the extreme Macross fans talk of customizing toys, details of the mecha stats, character art, design, and current events.

Can't really figure out if these extreme Robotech fans are pissed off that HG is doing nothing with the franchise, or that Macross actually is doing stuff with theirs???

[Funkenstein]

First they came for the Mckinnyists

I said nothing for I was not one

Then they came for the Spanglerists

I said nothing for I was not one

Then they came for the Crapists

I said nothing for I was not one

Finally they came for me

Too bad for them because Im on Macross World

[BeyondTheGrave]

First they came for the Mckinnyists

I said nothing for I was not one

Then they came for the Spanglerists

I said nothing for I was not one

Then they came for the Crapists

I said nothing for I was not one

Finally they came for me

Too bad for them because Im on Macross World

You think that's actually gonna stop them?

Edited August 19, 2010 by BeyondTheGrave

[EXO]

only pic I could find, although I have a feeling this isn't what your talking about.

I also have a feeling this is another thing like "HBAR" and Doorknobs where everyone is cryptic and stuff about it, and when you finally figure it out you feel both disappointed, dirty and slightly dead inside.

lol... HBAR was just something that came out when someone found a backdoor to Yamato's website... early when they we're a lot more secretive. And we ran it thru babblefish and all we got was "HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR HBAR HBAR HBARHBAR "

Doorknobs... well that's something that I'm too afraid to go back to... No... I must now go to happy place...

[azrael]

Actually...I don't know how Yoshinol got started. I joined the old boards in...summer 2001...? I think...? By that time, it was either already part of MW-speak, or else I simply missed the debut of it.

Yoshinol came from one of the old mods, Yoshi. Unfortunately, it's been so many moons that don't recall the circumstances of it. I think that was a side-effect...

[Seto Kaiba]

For the lunatic fringe that you speak of, they seem to have a 3 cycle phase. They go from blaming and bitching about the franchise, to each other, then blame it all on Macross, then repeat. I hardly ever hear the extremists talk of the actual product, and if they do, it's either to criticise, or worship it. Maybe there isn't much else to talk about when it comes to the product of a franchise, but even the extreme Macross fans talk of customizing toys, details of the mecha stats, character art, design, and current events.

Yeah, that sounds about right... though I'd say the three phases of the cycle the Robotech fandom's been stuck in since 1986 could best be summed up in the following terms:

1. Stagnation - The status quo of the Robotech fanbase, wherein the remaining fans amuse themselves by repeatedly rehashing the same handful of tired debate topics which have sustained them for at least the last decade. If a new Robotech project with a distant or ambiguous release date has recently been made public knowledge, the fans will also occupy themselves with baseless speculation and obsess over every little detail released, no matter how insignificant.
2. Persecution - As a result of the endless rounds of rehashed debate, "party lines" are drawn up over any particularly contentious subject. The more belligerent fans respond to opinions that differ from their own with overt hostility. Eventually, this develops into outright persecution of any fan who voices a dissenting opinion, frequently culminating in them being labeled a troll or accused of not being a "real Robotech fan". The dissenters get sick of being harassed and either go in search of another, more tolerant Robotech fan community or give up on the franchise altogether and seek greener pastures elsewhere.
3. Straw Man - Having lost the convenient target the majority of the dissenters represented, the handful of truly belligerent Robotech fans who started the fighting blame the disturbance on Macross and its fans, by way of McCarthyist tactics and a number of absurd straw man arguments intended to demonize Macross fans and "prove" the superiority of Robotech... intended to reassure themselves that they made the right decision backing Robotech, and convince each other that all the problems they see in the fandom are the result of an external conspiracy by jealous or hateful Macross fans.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Can't really figure out if these extreme Robotech fans are pissed off that HG is doing nothing with the franchise, or that Macross actually is doing stuff with theirs???

I would guess that it's a little from column A... a little from column B.

Rather a lot of the Macross hate I've witnessed from Robotech's self-appointed defenders feels a lot more like a thinly disguised attempt to convince themselves they aren't jealous that Macross's creators are doing stuff with the franchise while Robotech's creators continue to let their franchise stagnate. Pizza the Hutt seemed to be a particularly bad example of this when he was still in MEMO's camp. When he first started talking about Macross Frontier, you could tell he was impressed against his will, and was frantically trying to find something about the show to interpret as offensive and complain about. Once MEMO was no longer goading him into the defense of Robotech and he stopped taking MEMO's word for it that Macross was horrible, he began to explore the series with an open mind and found a lot to enjoy.

(So much so, in fact, that he recently imported Macross Ace Frontier and was quite gleefully proclaiming that he wished he'd given it a try sooner)

Edited August 19, 2010 by Seto Kaiba

[Freiflug88]

Actually, they didn't... I used screen captures of the bath scene from Mospeada (and Robotech Remastered) in my rebuttal, and Bendo threw an honest-to-goodness temper tantrum over how he thinks the remastered Robotech isn't real Robotech because it's not the version he saw in the 80's. He also got quite upset when I responded by pointing out that he'd already said he's 100% okay with the sexual objectification of Ariel/Marlene in the Shadow Chronicles movie, and then reminding him that according to the official timeline Ariel is only about fifteen months old during Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles, and could be no more than thirteen years old at the absolute outside limit assuming the larva she was transmuted from was created after the Invid occupation started. He waved both off claiming it was okay because she was an alien, and then raged again when I pointed out Ranka wasn't exactly 100% human either.

If Bendo had actually seen the original series he would known Aisha/Ariel was just an "innocent fairy who doesn't know any better" when it comes to skinny dipping

But yeah, their position on the Mint/Dana thing is that it never happened because it wasn't part of the original TV cut of the series they saw back in 1985.

Funny how the uncensored Remastered Robotech DVDs that they keep complaining about is literally the closest thing the world will ever see to the full realization of Carl Macek and HG's original grand vision: to dub and release all 3 series completely uncut and uncensored mail-ordered VHS tapes to young adults.

All the puritan stuff in Robotech started merely to satisfy American TV standards when the marketing deal with Revell called for HG to release a syndicated TV broadcast. In fact the only reason Carl Macek stuck with "For Kids" style censorship in his later dubs was so that his releases would be marketable to wider audiences, it was entirely a calculated business decision and not some personal puritan goal to censor Japanese anime.

[Legioss]

Yoshinol

[terry the lone wolf]

It does, a bit... doesn't it? I suppose it's a fair comparison, since many of the more devoted Robotech fans seem to think that Robotech is an epic masterpiece of science fiction cinema fit to rival or surpass Star Wars. There are other parallels too, most notably the way the fans still repeatedly ask each other if there's more information on the past "adventures" of many of the one-shot and minor characters from the animated series. Harmony Gold's licensees attempted to pander to that with the comic books and novelizations back in the 90's... with generally poor results. The "reboot" comics briefly flirted with that bad habit too, attempting to establish a backstory and cause of death for Lisa's former lover Karl Riber (Macross's Riber Fruhling) by featuring him in a mini-comic called "Mars Base One", where it was established Mars Base Sara was abandoned after a Zentradi attack that never got reported to Earth, after which Karl walked off into the Martian desert to die for no clear reason. It didn't go over all that well, and was packed into the Robotech: Invasion miniseries to give Robotech fans who didn't care about the New Generation (ie "most of them") a reason to pick up the books. The shame is that Robotech fans aren't nearly as open-minded as the majority of Star Wars fans when it comes to "expanded universe" stuff, as most of the remaining Robotech fans seem to consider anything that wasn't in the "original 85" or the Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles movie to be worse than unanesthetized dental surgery.

I thought Karl went off to die because he was running out of oxygen and due to communication problems he would probably be dead long before anybody arrived on Mars to save him.

[Seto Kaiba]

If Bendo had actually seen the original series he would known Aisha/Ariel was just an "innocent fairy who doesn't know any better" when it comes to skinny dipping

Now, if one thing has held true with regard to the sort of fanatical Robotech fans who anoint themselves to be the chosen defenders of the Robotech fandom, it's that they usually know that much about the Robotech series itself, let alone the original shows they so frequently deride in the name of lauding Carl Macek's glorious vision.

Of course, considering the idiot we're talking about was thick enough to assert that despite not understanding so much as a word of Japanese, that he fully understood the entire setting, plot, and story of Macross Frontier better than those who saw it subbed or speak Japanese despite having only watched low-quality raws of the show ONCE, that should tell you something about the quality of his arguments...

Funny how the uncensored Remastered Robotech DVDs that they keep complaining about is literally the closest thing the world will ever see to the full realization of Carl Macek and HG's original grand vision: to dub and release all 3 series completely uncut and uncensored mail-ordered VHS tapes to young adults.

It's actually kind of sad... the very people who continually laud Macek as a visionary genius are the ones who've never understood what the man was actually trying to do with Robotech and his later work, because they've all constructed an elaborate fantasy for themselves in order to convince themselves that Robotech is popular and successful, and that because they like it, it must be what Macek meant to do. This delusion, of course, was not helped by Macek's profound and frequently expressed tendency to stretch the truth to increase his own kudos.

I thought Karl went off to die because he was running out of oxygen and due to communication problems he would probably be dead long before anybody arrived on Mars to save him.

Is that what it was? F*cked if I remember that poo... the writing wasn't exactly fantastic, nor was the art... the clear intention was to appeal to the we-swear-its-not-Super Dimension Fortress Macross nostalgia factor of the Robotech fandom to get them to buy the damn book.

[Einherjar]

Funny how the uncensored Remastered Robotech DVDs that they keep complaining about is literally the closest thing the world will ever see to the full realization of Carl Macek and HG's original grand vision: to dub and release all 3 series completely uncut and uncensored mail-ordered VHS tapes to young adults.

Yeah, it's hard to forget that in the very beginning, it was all about letting audiences see other people's quality work as authentically as possible. Yet, somewhere down the line they ended up making many, many, many, MANY, MANY compromises leading to now. Oh, and a single picture to milk all of it 25 years later.

For a series that was a gateway show for anime and the like, it's more of a hindrance these days.

[Seto Kaiba]

Yeah, it's hard to forget that in the very beginning, it was all about letting audiences see other people's quality work as authentically as possible. Yet, somewhere down the line they ended up making many, many, many, MANY, MANY compromises leading to now. Oh, and a single picture to milk all of it 25 years later.

To be fair, many of the larger compromises weren't compromises at all... they were directives handed down from on high from senior management at Harmony Gold or at the network for one reason or other.

For a series that was a gateway show for anime and the like, it's more of a hindrance these days.

Eh... even back in the early 90's folks were starting to see Robotech as less of a gateway show and more of a roadblock between them and "proper" anime.

[Legioss]

I wonder what would have happened if Harmony Gold didn't want to get Macross on TV or have a toy line. Revell wouldn't have gotten involved. They'd keep making their models. Hasbro would still get the 1/55 for Jetfire. Harmony Gold would dub and put out the videos (first one was out) and I assume keep advertising them in Heavy Metal. They dubbed Mospeada so maybe that show would follow. Comico would keeping making the comics (issue 1 was out). What would happen next? Given that this is Harmony Gold, whatever it is they would screw it up somehow. Maybe some kind of "Robotech" of Mospeada and Southern Cross and some other show.

[troyness]

Sorry to come in on a 36pge debate(which I,m too lazy to read thru to find the answer),,but is this movie going ahead with Toby as robotech OR not.?

[Keith]

Sorry to come in on a 36pge debate(which I,m too lazy to read thru to find the answer),,but is this movie going ahead with Toby as robotech OR not.?

Turns out that Tobey was actually a Macross fan all along, and started this whole thing to play a huge prank on Robotech fans. You know, get them all excited about a new movie, hold up production on Shadow Rising, then sit back & laugh as absolutely nothing came about. He's going to be the guest of honor at MW Con '10.

[troyness]

OK nice work,I set myself up for that one.A simple short answer or no would have done...but this one was more entertaining.thanx

[Seto Kaiba]

I wonder what would have happened if Harmony Gold didn't want to get Macross on TV or have a toy line. Revell wouldn't have gotten involved. They'd keep making their models. Hasbro would still get the 1/55 for Jetfire. Harmony Gold would dub and put out the videos (first one was out) and I assume keep advertising them in Heavy Metal.

Hmm... an interesting question to be sure.

It's pretty much a given that if Harmony Gold had never tried to get the Super Dimension Fortress Macross series onto TV back in the 80's, they would never have made Robotech or a Robotech-like show. They would never have had to partner with Revell, which would've left Revell to distribute Macross, Dougram, and Orguss kits under their "Robotech Defenders" line. Likewise, Revell's aspirations for a Transformers-like series that would help advertise their kits would probably have died with the failure of the Robotech Defenders comic book miniseries. Since their attempts to get Macross on the air were what eventually culminated in a combi-show rewrite, it's likely that they would never had had a syndicated TV series at all, and would have continued peddling dubs by mail order. Since their rewritten adaptations of Southern Cross and Mospeada didn't go over well even back in the 80's, it's unlikely they would've succeeded by combining those with another lesser-known show. Harmony Gold would have, in all likelihood, never had a feeble franchise to hang onto and annoy everyone with in the first place. Southern Cross and Mospeada would have been virtual nonentities until the late 90's or early 00's, when fansub groups started digging into old shows like Armored Trooper Votoms and Heavy Metal L-Gaim.

Odds are that America's first encounter with unedited Macross would've been the 1992 debut of the Macross II: Lovers Again OVA, which was hyped to all hell in the handful of anime publications of the day. If that didn't ignite interest in the rest of Macross, the Macross Plus OVA would almost certainly have done so when it came out just a few years later. There would've been little-to-no opposition to bringing the rest of Macross over (apart from all the obvious music licensing issues in Macross 7).

Sorry to come in on a 36pge debate(which I,m too lazy to read thru to find the answer),,but is this movie going ahead with Toby as robotech OR not.?

To give you a straightforward answer... no.

Apparently, virtually no progress has been made on the proposed live-action Robotech movie since the project was announced back in 2007. It seems to be stalled in the earliest phases of pre-production, after Chuck Rovin left the project for The Dark Knight. They reportedly don't even have a working draft of the script yet, let alone a director or a cast. It looks like they passed on Lawrence Kasdan's draft, and that of the idiots who did Smallville, and are now relying on virtual unknown Tom Rob Smith... a writer with no experience working on sci-fi or action titles, and specializes in cold war-era murder mysteries set in Soviet Russia. Tobey Maguire, on the other hand, seems to have put Robotech on the back burner, and is focusing on Tokyo Suckerpunch and Afterburn, both films which are slated for release in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

My advice to you... don't hold your breath. The live-action Robotech movie seems to be a continuation of the fine Harmony Gold tradition of talking a big game and accomplishing nothing at all.

[troyness]

thanx Seto Kaiba. for reply and newbie( to this thread) patience!!!

[Seto Kaiba]

thanx Seto Kaiba. for reply and newbie( to this thread) patience!!!

No problem, I'm here to help.

[terry the lone wolf]

Hmm... an interesting question to be sure.

It's pretty much a given that if Harmony Gold had never tried to get the Super Dimension Fortress Macross series onto TV back in the 80's, they would never have made Robotech or a Robotech-like show. They would never have had to partner with Revell, which would've left Revell to distribute Macross, Dougram, and Orguss kits under their "Robotech Defenders" line. Likewise, Revell's aspirations for a Transformers-like series that would help advertise their kits would probably have died with the failure of the Robotech Defenders comic book miniseries. Since their attempts to get Macross on the air were what eventually culminated in a combi-show rewrite, it's likely that they would never had had a syndicated TV series at all, and would have continued peddling dubs by mail order. Since their rewritten adaptations of Southern Cross and Mospeada didn't go over well even back in the 80's, it's unlikely they would've succeeded by combining those with another lesser-known show. Harmony Gold would have, in all likelihood, never had a feeble franchise to hang onto and annoy everyone with in the first place. Southern Cross and Mospeada would have been virtual nonentities until the late 90's or early 00's, when fansub groups started digging into old shows like Armored Trooper Votoms and Heavy Metal L-Gaim.

Odds are that America's first encounter with unedited Macross would've been the 1992 debut of the Macross II: Lovers Again OVA, which was hyped to all hell in the handful of anime publications of the day. If that didn't ignite interest in the rest of Macross, the Macross Plus OVA would almost certainly have done so when it came out just a few years later. There would've been little-to-no opposition to bringing the rest of Macross over (apart from all the obvious music licensing issues in Macross 7).

To give you a straightforward answer... no.

Apparently, virtually no progress has been made on the proposed live-action Robotech movie since the project was announced back in 2007. It seems to be stalled in the earliest phases of pre-production, after Chuck Rovin left the project for The Dark Knight. They reportedly don't even have a working draft of the script yet, let alone a director or a cast. It looks like they passed on Lawrence Kasdan's draft, and that of the idiots who did Smallville, and are now relying on virtual unknown Tom Rob Smith... a writer with no experience working on sci-fi or action titles, and specializes in cold war-era murder mysteries set in Soviet Russia. Tobey Maguire, on the other hand, seems to have put Robotech on the back burner, and is focusing on Tokyo Suckerpunch and Afterburn, both films which are slated for release in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

My advice to you... don't hold your breath. The live-action Robotech movie seems to be a continuation of the fine Harmony Gold tradition of talking a big game and accomplishing nothing at all.

And why was Macross 2 over-hyped in the U.S.? Didn't the producers think they can make a lot of money by capitalizing on the success of Robotech and the fans familarity with it? In my VIZ Macross 2 manga they make a point to mention RT and it's connection with Macross.

Also, Chuck Roven didn't leave the LAM for Dark Knight(he already produced that movie) but for the Voltron LAM whose status is always changing: is it in production or is it cancelled. So Chuck switched to a project that's been reported dead. Maybe not the greatest business decision.

If Harmony Gold passed on the Kasdan script how come Lawrence Kasdan was announced by Tommy Yune as a part of the writing team with Tom Rob Smith, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar?

[Seto Kaiba]

And why was Macross 2 over-hyped in the U.S.? Didn't the producers think they can make a lot of money by capitalizing on the success of Robotech and the fans familarity with it? In my VIZ Macross 2 manga they make a point to mention RT and it's connection with Macross.

You would think so... but the answer to your question is a surprising and unexpected "No".

Of all the anime magazines I've collected from that period for their coverage of Macross II: Lovers Again, the ONLY one which mentions Robotech in connection with the OVA is the inaugural issue of Animerica... and generally in an extremely dismissive manner. The other articles from that period studiously ignore Macross's relation to Robotech in their coverage of the Macross II: Lovers Again OVA, and only draw on it to offer name equivalencies for the few important characters whose names changed significantly (basically, just Kamjin) in their discussions of Macross's production history. Perhaps the best, and most telling, snub directed at Robotech in those issues was the one in Animerica, where the Robotech Perfect Collection is described as "a dual Japanese/Enlish video compilation of the ever-popular 1982 science fiction TV series, Superdimensional Fortress Macross" and the Robotech half of the video release is only mentioned in a single sentence tacked onto the end of the article as an obvious afterthought. Viz briefly mentions Robotech in their translation of the Macross II: Lovers Again manga, and Palladium only mentions Robotech in the foreword of the first Macross II RPG book to explain how and why Macross II has nothing to do with Robotech and then gives a brief rundown of Macross production history in Japan. In an odd touch, while almost all of the articles gloss over or completely forget to mention Robotech, they ALL mention Macross: Do You Remember Love? at great length and almost invariably give a rundown of the movie's plot.

Given the profound absence of attempts to hype Macross II: Lovers Again based on its tangential relation to the already somewhat-scorned Robotech series, one can only assume that the OVA was hyped as "the most eagerly anticipated anime sequel ever" at the time due to knowledge of the franchise's popularity in Japan. Naturally, it ended up being somewhat underwhelming after all that... DYRL's a tough act to follow even today and Macross II was not exactly the most innovative sequel of all time either.

Insofar as the Robotech live action movie's writers go, there's no indication that they've retained Kasdan after rejecting his story treatment. Usually if that happens to a writer, they collect their paycheck and go on to work on something else. Harmony Gold has, as everybody here knows, a loooooooooong history of misleading news pieces, so that he's still credited on a powerpoint slideshow that hasn't seen a major update in three years is not an indication that he's still involved. That they continued to bring in new and less credible writers as time went on speaks to their increasing desperation.

Edited August 23, 2010 by Seto Kaiba

[Jasonc]

If Harmony Gold passed on the Kasdan script how come Lawrence Kasdan was announced by Tommy Yune as a part of the writing team with Tom Rob Smith, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar?

This is an easy question, they are doing that to pass it off as having successful writers still interested in it. They want the uneducated fans to think that all these great writers are still working on the project, and so, they're passing all past people who did a draft of a story as still working on it. The truth is, he hasn't worked on it since he submitted his drafts awhile ago, but as long as people think he's still working on it, they think that the project is still vastly moving forward. The odd thing is, Harmony Gold makes these claims, but they are about as involved in the game as a waterboy. I get a kick out of people asking HG about the movie, when it's really WB they should be asking. They're the one's calling the shots, not the small fry.

[Zor Primus]

This is an easy question, they are doing that to pass it off as having successful writers still interested in it. They want the uneducated fans to think that all these great writers are still working on the project, and so, they're passing all past people who did a draft of a story as still working on it. The truth is, he hasn't worked on it since he submitted his drafts awhile ago, but as long as people think he's still working on it, they think that the project is still vastly moving forward. The odd thing is, Harmony Gold makes these claims, but they are about as involved in the game as a waterboy. I get a kick out of people asking HG about the movie, when it's really WB they should be asking. They're the one's calling the shots, not the small fry.

I'll wait for a LA Macross to come out before RT...and before anyone jumps me, Initial D wasn't THAT bad /ducks

Even my wife who has zero otaku leanings enjoyed watching Macross over Robotech...that says allot.

Like the Waterboy comparison, can see anyone in HG land saying, momma said, momma said, Macross is of de debil!

[HappyPenguins]

The RT live action movie isn't going to happen, there just isn't enough interest and the whole 80s cartoon fad is pretty much over. People are already bored with it as it is. A RT live action movie wouldn't even do that well today either for that matter. People who have never heard of robotech would claim it is just a Transformers rip off which would only end in moar drama. Anyways, there's been nothing recent about the movie not even announced at comic con. So what does that tell us? There isn't going to be a movie but HG doesn't want the fans to know for obvious reasons.

Then again the fans should be thankful there isn't going to be a movie, it would just be plain horrible. I've said this before and I'll say it again...... not everything translates well to live action, and if cartoons were meant to be live action they wouldn't have been F******! cartoons in the first place.

[Jasonc]

The RT live action movie isn't going to happen, there just isn't enough interest and the whole 80s cartoon fad is pretty much over. People are already bored with it as it is. A RT live action movie wouldn't even do that well today either for that matter. People who have never heard of robotech would claim it is just a Transformers rip off which would only end in moar drama. Anyways, there's been nothing recent about the movie not even announced at comic con. So what does that tell us? There isn't going to be a movie but HG doesn't want the fans to know for obvious reasons.

Then again the fans should be thankful there isn't going to be a movie, it would just be plain horrible. I've said this before and I'll say it again...... not everything translates well to live action, and if cartoons were meant to be live action they wouldn't have been F******! cartoons in the first place.

I totally agree. For some reason, Hollywood has been on this "turn everything into a LAM" bit, and I think it's just about run its course. Even Transformers has lost its steam (thanks to in part by a garbage story). G.I. Joe panned, as well as Speed Racer, Dragon Ball whatever, and they probably are gonna scratch Voltron, as well as Akira, and Cowboy Bebop (although, I think Cowboy Bebop would translate well).

HG has their image to hold, and while I can understand that, don't tell me that the house isn't on fire when there's flames bursting out of the windows with smoke, the roof is about to cave in, and the fire truck is spraying water all over the thing. I always thought they'd do so much better by just being straight forward in everything, but I think their snow ball is now an avalanche, and they can't start now.

[Zor Primus]

I totally agree. For some reason, Hollywood has been on this "turn everything into a LAM" bit, and I think it's just about run its course. Even Transformers has lost its steam (thanks to in part by a garbage story). G.I. Joe panned, as well as Speed Racer, Dragon Ball whatever, and they probably are gonna scratch Voltron, as well as Akira, and Cowboy Bebop (although, I think Cowboy Bebop would translate well).

HG has their image to hold, and while I can understand that, don't tell me that the house isn't on fire when there's flames bursting out of the windows with smoke, the roof is about to cave in, and the fire truck is spraying water all over the thing. I always thought they'd do so much better by just being straight forward in everything, but I think their snow ball is now an avalanche, and they can't start now.

DragonBall from what I hear was an absolute train wreck...imo the verdict is not out yet on GI Joe, lets see how the sequal goes. Voltron was scratched and Speed Racer was a decent movie to watch in the background while you are surfing the web or eating breakfast. I saw something the other day about Akira and Bepop, looking forward to those two.

As for HG, there is very little left for me to express that hasn't been already...pity there are those out there that actually have hope in the franchise. If they actually release something new it'd be great to critique, but thats not going to happen anytime soon. So who is in for a Macross Frontier marathon?

Edited August 25, 2010 by Zor Primus

[Seanzilla]

^ Frontier Marathon? I'm in.

I totally agree. For some reason, Hollywood has been on this "turn everything into a LAM" bit, and I think it's just about run its course. Even Transformers has lost its steam (thanks to in part by a garbage story). G.I. Joe panned, as well as Speed Racer, Dragon Ball whatever, and they probably are gonna scratch Voltron, as well as Akira, and Cowboy Bebop (although, I think Cowboy Bebop would translate well).

I agree that a live action Robotech is all but dead. Plus I am sure it has been mentioned before, but there has to be some legal issues they will have to dance around, on top of what I would imagine would be a monsterous budget to even pull this off. To even effectively tell the Macross side of the story they would need to make it a trilogy at the very least. I guess they could cop-out and just jump in on the New Generation storyline, but then that would probably turn out as bad as Battlefield Earth.

As you stated, Cowboy Bebop could translate well. I somewhat view the show Burn Notice as being very similar as if it is modern day, down to Earth version. In fact I think Burn Notice could do very well to follow Cowboy Bebop's ending.