Robotech Visual Archive 2017: The Macross Saga

[Dynaman]

9 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

 

let me pose a hypothetical situation: If these didn't say robotech on them and someone posted these in the fan works section saying "hey guys, what do you think of my fan art" what would you have to say about them then?

I would not have used the word hideous.  Otherwise the gist of it would be the same.  More along the lines of what I did with that photoshopped picture of "Misa" in the shuttle looking out at Hikaru's fighter.

[no3Ljm]

14 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

let me pose a hypothetical situation: If these didn't say robotech on them and someone posted these in the fan works section saying "hey guys, what do you think of my fan art" what would you have to say about them then?

You noticed that I didn't put any remarks or whatsoever when I posted that, right? But since you quote my post, let me answer your hypothetical question: "Hey guys, what do you think of my fan art?" My answer would be: "Great drawings, sir!   It doesn't look the same like Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay we know, but it looks great overall. Esp how it was colored. "  

Why you might ask? Robotech or not, if someone knows how to draw like that, I appreciate it because I don't draw as good like that. And if I'm going to like the drawings included in that Visual Archive, I might buy one.  

 

[Einherjar]

2 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Why you might ask? Robotech or not, if someone knows how to draw like that, I appreciate it because I don't draw as good like that. And if I'm going to like the drawings included in that Visual Archive, I might buy one.  

 

Those artists may never see any money from sales of this art book.

[no3Ljm]

3 minutes ago, Einherjar said:

Those artists may never see any money from sales of this art book.

Well, technically, they don't need any money from the sales. They're been hired to draw. The only reason why there will be money from sales if ever there was an agreement of royalties in the beginning. But if you were hired just to draw, then you will just get paid for what you've draw. Unless, they added something and there were an written and signed agreement.

 

[Einherjar]

I thought you were trying to say if the artist you like somehow benefits from sales of the book, then it's worth buying.

[no3Ljm]

1 hour ago, Einherjar said:

I thought you were trying to say if the artist you like somehow benefits from sales of the book, then it's worth buying.

Nope. I didn't say that. And I didn't mean it like that. I said, if I like the drawings included in that Visual Archive book.

 

[Einherjar]

On 6/5/2017 at 4:04 PM, no3Ljm said:

Nope. I didn't say that. And I didn't mean it like that. I said, if I like the drawings included in that Visual Archive book.

 

Got it.  "I don't care."

[Chronocidal]

Eh, best case, at least the artists involved maybe got their names out into the marketplace, for better or for worse.

Art-wise?  The Rick and Lisa aren't terrible drawings.  Not a particularly attractive style maybe, but not objectively bad, aside from some questionably creepy facial expressions  Though, I don't know why I get the impression that the Lisa pose was taken from a Taylor Swift photo-shoot.

The Minmay on the other hand just looks bad altogether.  The face alone bugs me for the way her expression makes her look insane, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how her body is positioned under that dress.  Maybe her pose is fine, but the dress is drawn wrong?  I don't know, it just looks like she has insanely long arms, impossibly angled thighs, and no torso.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Chronocidal

[no3Ljm]

3 hours ago, Einherjar said:

Got it.  "I don't care."

Sure. "Whatever."

 

[sh9000]

[jenius]

 stills from the show? No thanks

[Seto Kaiba]

3 hours ago, jenius said:

 stills from the show? No thanks

Somebody better pick up that phone... because I called it.

They're using almost exactly the same format they used with their last artbook, The Art of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles.  They've got barely enough text for a pamphlet, most of which will doubtless be reprints of pages from their old website, so two-thirds of every page is given over to screen captures to pad the page count.  It looks a tiny bit more professional than their last one, but it's still pretty clear Udon's phoning this one in.

[Negotiator]

The art style is all fine and good...for other subjects.  It's not capturing the essence of the characters.  You can do very different styles but still should represent the character in the show.  Its not a reboot or retelling. Nothing has changed for those 3 in robotick.  Artgerm did not stray so his is a good rendition imo.

[sh9000]

I might get the book for free with points.

Edited July 4, 2017 by sh9000

[JetJockey]

Parka got it early and did a review and his usual page through.

 

https://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-robotech-visual-archive-macross-saga

 

 

He's right and there are some small pictures in the book. But and here is my disclaimer as they say sometimes. I like Robotech and have only watched the original Macross once. And still haven't watched the original Southern Cross or Mospeada completely yet. Anyone have the Robotech Art 1 book around and their Japanese Macross artbooks to compare the quality and overlap? I have Robotech Art 1, 2, and 3 boxed away somewhere. But I think with Amazon discounts I might pick up these Visual Archives when they finish the ones for the Robotech Masters and New Generation. Maybe by the time these are finished they will have a Robotech Blu-ray available and then I'll be finished with Harmony Gold.

 

Edited November 4, 2017 by JetJockey

[tekering]

It's an improvement over Robotech Art 1, to be sure.  There are a lot more screen captures, and considerably more animation model sheets reproduced as well.  Anyone who doesn't have the Macross "Roman Albums" should consider picking this up.

The interview with Noboru Ishiguro is a surprise, seeing as he passed away back in 2012...

[davidwhangchoi]

Robotech is so good. i can't wait for the movie to be released before the rights expire. I wouldn't want anyone copying Harmony Gold's original content.  

the 2 mech designs from Robotech Academy were top notch. i can't believe they're not included in this book. maybe Art 2 will have it.  

[TehPW]

10 hours ago, JetJockey said:

Parka got it early and did a review and his usual page through.

 

https://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-robotech-visual-archive-macross-saga

 

 

He's right and there are some small pictures in the book. But and here is my disclaimer as they say sometimes. I like Robotech and have only watched the original Macross once. And still haven't watched the original Southern Cross or Mospeada completely yet. Anyone have the Robotech Art 1 book around and their Japanese Macross artbooks to compare the quality and overlap? I have Robotech Art 1, 2, and 3 boxed away somewhere. But I think with Amazon discounts I might pick up these Visual Archives when they finish the ones for the Robotech Masters and New Generation. Maybe by the time these are finished they will have a Robotech Blu-ray available and then I'll be finished with Harmony Gold.

 

odd: The Destroids are using the SDFM names i.e. Spartan, Defender (not the names from the Palladium RPG i.e. Gladiator, Raider X). Is that a clear & intentional snubbing towards the RPG (and the Miniatures game)?

[renegadeleader1]

55 minutes ago, TehPW said:

odd: The Destroids are using the SDFM names i.e. Spartan, Defender (not the names from the Palladium RPG i.e. Gladiator, Raider X). Is that a clear & intentional snubbing towards the RPG (and the Miniatures game)?

They changed this back when they first launched the website in the early 2000s. It's not anything new. The miniatures game even used the SDF:M.

Edited November 4, 2017 by renegadeleader1

[Seto Kaiba]

Looks like we were bang on the money when we predicted this was gonna be Harmony Gold's cheap knockoff of Macross: Perfect Memory.  The tech pages are pretty just art from Perfect Memory with text copy-pasted from the Robotech.com Infopedia, same as The Art of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles with lots of screenshots and reprinted text.

 

1 hour ago, TehPW said:

odd: The Destroids are using the SDFM names i.e. Spartan, Defender (not the names from the Palladium RPG i.e. Gladiator, Raider X). Is that a clear & intentional snubbing towards the RPG (and the Miniatures game)?

Not in this case, no... but such snubs have been delivered in the past.  When Harmony Gold launched the Robotech official website back in '01 and decided to build an official encyclopedia into the site, the lion's share of the information was drawn from Japanese publications for the original shows rather than from any Robotech publication.  The main exception being Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, which had no detailed tech specs and only minimal reference art, leaving them to swing for the fences armed with only the minimal detail from a few pamphlets and This is Animation 10: Southern Cross when writing their Masters Saga material.

They copied so energetically and so blindly from Japanese sources that they accidentally copied things that don't even appear in their Robotech adaptation, like the VF-1 Valkyrie's UUM-7 micro-missile pods from DYRL?.  (Most Macross sites don't differentiate between equipment for the TV and movie VF-1s.)

The snub came about five years later in 2006, when Palladium Books reacquired the Robotech license from Harmony Gold and the Harmony Gold representatives did a podcast interview about the new license and forthcoming "2nd Edition" RPG.  They didn't pull any punches there, and basically dismissed the old RPG as a poorly-researched, low-quality mess that was Robotech in name only and would never have gotten approved for publication had management not been asleep at the switch.  That was their lead-in to grandiose promises that the new edition would be much more accurate, because Harmony Gold would be exercising an editorial approval over everything before it went to print to ensure Palladium didn't cock it up again.

[Roy Focker]

You mean the same 2nd Edition RPG that decided the Tomahawk has a crew of 2 despite line art and animation showing just one seat?  Harmony Gold approved that?

[JB0]

3 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

You mean the same 2nd Edition RPG that decided the Tomahawk has a crew of 2 despite line art and animation showing just one seat?  Harmony Gold approved that?

Only because they were asleep at the wheel and no one was minding the store.

[Seto Kaiba]

20 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

You mean the same 2nd Edition RPG that decided the Tomahawk has a crew of 2 despite line art and animation showing just one seat?  Harmony Gold approved that?

Yup... though that's far from the most extreme deviation that the 2nd Edition Robotech RPG contains, and that particular factoid happens to be supported by Macross Chronicle's own Mechanic Sheet for the MBR-04-Mk.VI Tomahawk (Mechanic SDF:M UN 08A).

Harmony Gold seems to have generally lost interest in the Robotech RPG's 2nd Edition around the time they ran out of material that was actually based on the show (c. the publication of the New Generation sourcebook) and their management officially abandoned the pretense that they were still pursuing a Shadow Chronicles sequel by abandoning all the trademark filings they'd made for the sequel's title.  Without serious oversight, Palladium Books promptly lost the plot completely and delivered a monster manual, followed by a book that might as well be titled "Robotech 1 7/8ths: Not The Sentinels, Honest" full of designs nicked from the MOSPEADA portion of the Imai Files.

Udon's feeble squirt of an artbook is basically another installment in that franchise's Macross-centric "let's get every buck out of it that we can before we lose the rights" death spiral.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Seto Kaiba