New Robotech Blu-ray coming soon from Funimation

[Thom]

What I keep wondering is why people keeping waiting for Robotech stuff when they know it is just watered-down Macross? I know HG had a lock on the Western market, but I still managed to get the original series DVDs on my shelf.

[Gamma00Ray]

3 minutes ago, Thom said:

What I keep wondering is why people keeping waiting for Robotech stuff when they know it is just watered-down Macross? I know HG had a lock on the Western market, but I still managed to get the original series DVDs on my shelf.

I like Robotech. I just wish they'd finish it. There being nothing after The Shadow Chronicles for over 10 years has been so disappointing.

I also like Macross. I'm happy with it going in its own direction.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Gamma00Ray said:

I like Robotech. I just wish they'd finish it. There being nothing after The Shadow Chronicles for over 10 years has been so disappointing.

Flying it into the ground so hard HG stops funding it internally counts as finishing it, right?  In the Mortal Kombat sense of "finish".

 

1 hour ago, Thom said:

What I keep wondering is why people keeping waiting for Robotech stuff when they know it is just watered-down Macross?

Because having something come out, even if it's obviously of poor quality like this Blu-ray release, is enough for the remaining die-hards to validate their continued faith in it.  With the average quality level being so low, even the bare minimum improvements like rereleases in a new format can superficially look like improvement.

[Thom]

Despite their divergent courses, and HG's choke-hold on the West, Macross itself has only grown and expanded while the Robotech branch has stagnated. I think there has only really been the three chapters in Robotech, the Macross Saga, The Masters and the Third Robotech War. All constrained in their story telling, esp the last two, seeing as HG were using visuals from three completely different anime. Not the best start but also not bad either, at least from my then13 year old perspective. But that's been it, and it has more to do with HG's lack of creativity and the need to continually ride on Kawamori's coat tails. HG has had a number of sequel ideas over the decades, but that has been all they've been, just unrealized ideas and continued boasting of something grander on the way.

Shame really, as I recall reading the books by Kinney, again my 13 year old self, and they were at least alright.

But then compare that to M7, the tie-in games, Frontier and Delta and the rich history they all came from. HG had a chance, but they let it slip away.

Edited July 4, 2022 by Thom

[Big s]

They did try to work in the Megazone stuff as well, but it’s mostly the big three or a derivative of those three

[Gamma00Ray]

9 hours ago, Thom said:

Despite their divergent courses, and HG's choke-hold on the West, Macross itself has only grown and expanded while the Robotech branch has stagnated. I think there has only really been the three chapters in Robotech, the Macross Saga, The Masters and the Third Robotech War. All constrained in their story telling, esp the last two, seeing as HG were using visuals from three completely different anime. Not the best start but also not bad either, at least from my then13 year old perspective. But that's been it, and it has more to do with HG's lack of creativity and the need to continually ride on Kawamori's coat tails. HG has had a number of sequel ideas over the decades, but that has been all they've been, just unrealized ideas and continued boasting of something grander on the way.

Shame really, as I recall reading the books by Kinney, again my 13 year old self, and they were at least alright.

But then compare that to M7, the tie-in games, Frontier and Delta and the rich history they all came from. HG had a chance, but they let it slip away.

They did make Robotech II, Shadow Chronicles, and one more short film, but all of them were still as much of a dead end as the final episode was back in the 80s. II got struck from canon, IIRC, but they made Shadow Chronicles with the idea of there being more sequels. They never happened. That makes me sad I hope something comes about in this surge of Robotech/Macross in the USA that finishes the Robotech story.

I've heard good things about the novels, too, and they actually bring the story to as much of a finish as there could possibly be from what I've heard. If reprints come out, I'm picking them up.

[Big s]

2 hours ago, Gamma00Ray said:

They did make Robotech II, Shadow Chronicles, and one more short film, but all of them were still as much of a dead end as the final episode was back in the 80s. II got struck from canon, IIRC, but they made Shadow Chronicles with the idea of there being more sequels. They never happened. That makes me sad I hope something comes about in this surge of Robotech/Macross in the USA that finishes the Robotech story.

I've heard good things about the novels, too, and they actually bring the story to as much of a finish as there could possibly be from what I've heard. If reprints come out, I'm picking them up.

I have a feeling that you’re more likely to see a reboot than a continuation.

for now just celebrate real Macross stuff beyond plus finally coming here

[M'Kyuun]

4 minutes ago, Big s said:

I have a feeling that you’re more likely to see a reboot than a continuation.

for now just celebrate real Macross stuff beyond plus finally coming here

True, and bottomless yes.  Die-hards will be die-hards, but I think once the rest of Macross becomes readily available in DVD/Blu-Ray, and RT fans see how much the OG Macross Series has grown and expanded both in terms of story and visuals, many of those RT fans will change their preference.

I despise Harmony Gold, but that's for the stranglehold they've held over Macross in the West for decades. I don't hate Robotech, though I do recognize it as a censored and poor amalgamation of three separate anime into one weird series. However, although I was aware of Robotech as a kid, thanks mainly to the good ole Sears and JC Penny catalogs (likewise Voltron), for whatever reason, neither Voltron nor RT were broadcast in my area, so I never got to watch them. I remember watching the odd ep of RT when I was stationed in FL in my mid-twenties, but never the whole series. In '94 or '95, I picked up a copy of Hobby Japan magazine and inside there was an ad for the upcoming Yamato 1/72 fully transformable YF-19, and my heart was set ablaze. Not since the VF-1, which was ubiquitous in the 80s, had such a magnificent and streamlined transforming jet existed.  I believe the Macross Plus OVAs released on VHS later in '95. I bought them and watched them with absolute amazement. Other than Transformers: The Movie in '86, and possibly Ghost in the Shell, I hadn't seen animation at that level before, and the story of M+ sang to my heart of hearts, as only four or five years prior, the YF-21 was competing against the glorious and in-every-way-possible superior YF-23 for the ATF contract. This was an obvious nod to that RW contest, and in M+, IMHO, the deserving plane won, if only b/c Guld sacrificed himself and the YF-21 to stop the X-9. I digressed a bit there, but had I been able to watch RT in my youth, I no doubt would have glommed onto it too, and I understand fully the draw of nostalgia. Too, it introduced the West to Macross, and even in its abridged form, I can't fault HG for seeing an opportunity to bring something cool from Japan and making it available. It's everything they did afterwards to secure their hold on it that makes them despicable as a company. Had they the good grace to be satisfied with the success of RT and move on, allowing Big West, Bandai, Yamato/Arcadia to bring Macross outside of Japan 30 years ago, Harmony Gold would likely be looked upon favorably for having introduced generations of kids to Macross and opening the door to that world. But greed, poor management of the trademark, and lots of empty promises earned them much-deserved vilification and derision, especially by fans of the real Macross Saga. I honestly didn't think I'd live to see the day in which all facets of Macross would become available in the Americas, so tenacious did HGs grip seem. I'm only 51 (tomorrow actually), but I'd about given up hope. It's understatement to say I'm ecstatic to see Macross slowly taking bloom here, and I hope to see it continue- all the media and all the lovely toys. It's been a long wait, but better late than never. Glad it's w/in my lifetime.

[Keith]

No livestream of the robotech panel, just twitter posts it seems. Starting-ish now.

- First announcement: Stranglehold is in full effect for some time into the future. (This is not news).

- Apparently for some reason they showed a trailer for "Hawkeye" ....

-Grandstanding again on their hold over the original series...

- Oh wait, Crunchyroll will be handling distro of the original series it seems, this is good.

- Another live action script is supposedly done. Way to bury the lead that in all likelyhood, Crunchuroll/Funimation will release Macross. Classic HG.

- By the writers of "Uncharted." Should we start taking bets on Mark Wahlberg as Roy now?

- T-shirts comprised of Yune "art" and line art that looks straight off of MAHQ.

Well, theoretically hang on to those theoretical bootlegs a bit longer, but there's a bit more hope of the original series now, kinda. Crunchyroll is hosting their own event in August, so looks like that"s the earliest we'd hear something.

Edited July 4, 2022 by Keith

[Seto Kaiba]

33 minutes ago, Keith said:

No livestream of the robotech panel, just twitter posts it seems. Starting-ish now.

So... when all was said and done, the Harmony Gold AX panel was the usual nonevent full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Just another hour or so of quiet desperation as they try to feign relevance to an industry that had already decided they and their series were a joke thirty years ago, accompanied by some wishful thinking and deliberate misdirection as they report having spent fifteen grand to have someone successful pen another disinterested story treatment for a movie that has been in development hell for 15 years so far, and a single announcement that would almost have been newsworthy if it hadn't already essentially been announced four months ago by Crunchyroll and over a year ago by Funimation.

(Seriously.  Funimation announced they had the streaming rights to Robotech and related materials back in June 2021 and that their entire streaming catalog was moving over to Crunchyroll on March 1st, 2022.  It takes no great feats of deductive reasoning to figure out that stuff was coming to Crunchyroll in the near future.  Esp. after Funimation stated they'd put the brakes on streaming all but new titles on their service while things were migrating to Crunchyroll.)

[Thom]

All fans of Robotech, you are not to blame. Do yourself a favor. Come to Macross. They have cookies!

And on the plus side, (spoilery)

Spoiler

The Bridge Bunnies did not die at the end of the first war.Nor did Captain Global! Oh, glory be!!

 

[Gamma00Ray]

I'm guessing this "original series" that's going to be on Crunchyroll is the original Macross. Is that correct? Harmony Gold's screwy enough that I could see this being Robotech is coming ot Crunchyroll.

[Keith]

19 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

So... when all was said and done, the Harmony Gold AX panel was the usual nonevent full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Just another hour or so of quiet desperation as they try to feign relevance to an industry that had already decided they and their series were a joke thirty years ago, accompanied by some wishful thinking and deliberate misdirection as they report having spent fifteen grand to have someone successful pen another disinterested story treatment for a movie that has been in development hell for 15 years so far, and a single announcement that would almost have been newsworthy if it hadn't already essentially been announced four months ago by Crunchyroll and over a year ago by Funimation.

(Seriously.  Funimation announced they had the streaming rights to Robotech and related materials back in June 2021 and that their entire streaming catalog was moving over to Crunchyroll on March 1st, 2022.  It takes no great feats of deductive reasoning to figure out that stuff was coming to Crunchyroll in the near future.  Esp. after Funimation stated they'd put the brakes on streaming all but new titles on their service while things were migrating to Crunchyroll.)

Precicely. They literally wasted the opportunity to cap off a weekend of epic announcements with the penultimate announcement. 

3 minutes ago, Gamma00Ray said:

I'm guessing this "original series" that's going to be on Crunchyroll is the original Macross. Is that correct? Harmony Gold's screwy enough that I could see this being Robotech is coming ot Crunchyroll.

In all probability yes, "but" there is still a decent chance that Crunchyroll is in a position to negotiate for proper HD masters to release Macross as well. They're not a foolish company, unlike some other foolish companies... The breakdown is essentially this:

- Sony owns Funimation.

- Sony owns Crunchyroll.

- Sony owns the Live Action rt movie rights.

-Crunchyroll has been handling streaming for Nozomi/Rightstuf properties.

- Crunchyroll will in all likelyhood be streaming Frontier, Delta & 7.

All that math to me adds up to Crunchyroll wanting a decent version of Macross to go along with everything else, and they're in a prime position to make it happem. But we'll see.

[Einherjar]

For the first time since they started the convention tours, they got overshadowed by someone else's bigger announcements.  Nothing from their old bag of tricks could have saved them from that.  Well, maybe some humility for once.

[azrael]

1 hour ago, Gamma00Ray said:

I'm guessing this "original series" that's going to be on Crunchyroll is the original Macross. Is that correct? Harmony Gold's screwy enough that I could see this being Robotech is coming ot Crunchyroll.

Crunchyroll is just streaming the original 83-episode series. Meh and 🥱.

Another year. Same olde panel.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Keith said:

Precicely. They literally wasted the opportunity to cap off a weekend of epic announcements with the penultimate announcement. 

It's very much on-brand for them, though.

If there's one word that has been synonymous with Robotech from its inception, that word is "ineptitude".  The annual Robotech convention tour is invariably a public display of that reality, whether they're getting heckled by their own fans over the latest embarrassing failure to resuscitate the animated series or simply brought nothing to show for another year of "work".  It's an annual self-inflicted public humiliation.

I can imagine they probably didn't want to announce a HD remaster of the original Macross series at the same time Big West was announcing all of those other Macross licenses, since it'd give their audience the (entirely accurate) impression that Robotech is basically nothing but a footnote in Macross's history now.

 

19 minutes ago, azrael said:

Crunchyroll is just streaming the original 83-episode series. Meh and 🥱.

Another year. Same olde panel.

Yup... and because it's not a new acquisition, they won't even announce it except on the weekly blog post noting which pre-existing licenses have been migrated from Funimation's service to Crunchyroll's.  It probably won't draw much attention at all until the Macross sequels land and the comments section proceeds to rip the Robotech version of the original series apart the way Hulu's comments section did to Shadow Chronicles.

[Gamma00Ray]

42 minutes ago, azrael said:

Crunchyroll is just streaming the original 83-episode series. Meh and 🥱.

Another year. Same olde panel.

So it is the Robotech episodes. Oh well.

I might be the outlier here in that I actually like Robotech a lot, but I would appreciate the original form of Macross getting a good US release again, too. Sadly, I missed the boat on the DVDs from around 15 years ago. I would have loved to have gotten the English dub set. I didn't know jack about Macross back then, and I wasn't exactly rolling in the money to buy such a set.

[Keith]

45 minutes ago, Gamma00Ray said:

So it is the Robotech episodes. Oh well.

I might be the outlier here in that I actually like Robotech a lot, but I would appreciate the original form of Macross getting a good US release again, too. Sadly, I missed the boat on the DVDs from around 15 years ago. I would have loved to have gotten the English dub set. I didn't know jack about Macross back then, and I wasn't exactly rolling in the money to buy such a set.

Hang out 'til August, I still see that changing. I'm starting to get a strong impressiom that HG had to give up a lot more than they're letting on in the Sony deal. Something is very odd about their overall phrasing of partnerships and mergers, along with Crunchyroll being involved with the creation and licensing of content.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Keith said:

I'm starting to get a strong impressiom that HG had to give up a lot more than they're letting on in the Sony deal. Something is very odd about their overall phrasing of partnerships and mergers, along with Crunchyroll being involved with the creation and licensing of content.

That much was given away in the initial announcement that Big West and Harmony Gold had struck a deal.

Last year's joint announcement by Big West and Harmony Gold talks quite a bit about what Big West got from the deal.  Big West got a clear path to distribute Macross worldwide and gained partial control over Robotech's distribution in partnership with Harmony Gold, but the only thing it mentions Harmony Gold receiving from the agreement besides a pro forma acknowledgement that its license from Tatsunoko is valid (which wasn't in dispute anyway) was a promise from Big West that they wouldn't obstruct the release of a future live-action Robotech movie should one be made.

That, combined with what we know of the prevailing legal situation right before the deal was struck, fairly screams that Harmony Gold was (justifiably) feeling cornered by rulings against them and gave away a lot in the negotiations to protect the proposed live-action movie.  Harmony Gold themselves told us the "why" of it back in '07-'08.  After RSTC spun in, their management shifted its focus to the live action movie as a way to reboot Robotech again and make a clean start with all-original IP.

[JB0]

16 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

After RSTC spun in, their management shifted its focus to the live action movie as a way to reboot Robotech again and make a clean start with all-original IP.

And they've done a SPECTACULAR job at rebooting it. They really need to check if it is plugged in instead of just mashing ctrl-alt-del repeatedly.

[Keith]

55 minutes ago, JB0 said:

And they've done a SPECTACULAR job at rebooting it. They really need to check if it is plugged in instead of just mashing ctrl-alt-del repeatedly.

That's not fair, they did manage to churn out "Robotech: Love, Live, Lifesupport" too.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

And they've done a SPECTACULAR job at rebooting it. They really need to check if it is plugged in instead of just mashing ctrl-alt-del repeatedly.

It's not a bad idea in theory.  It's just not a theory that'll hold up in practice because it's built on too many hideously unrealistic assumptions.

Basically, for that theory to become practical, Sony Pictures (fmrly. Warner Bros) would have to be willing to sink hundreds of millions of dollars into developing and producing an all-original giant robot movie AND unnecessarily pay Harmony Gold license fees and millions upon millions of dollars in royalties on distribution and merchandising for the film in order to use the title of an incredibly obscure and generally unsuccessful 1980's cartoon series dogged by an enormous amount of bad press for their totally unrelated all-original film and any sequels, spinoffs, etc. that come of it.

In short, only a crazy person would expect anything to come of that.  It's a ridiculous pipe dream in which Sony is willing to do all the actual work and give Harmony Gold millions of dollars for essentially no reason because they can't actually adapt Robotech for legal reasons.

[camk4evr]

I'd laugh if it turns out that, when HG's license comes up for renewal, if Sony/Funimation ends up licensing Macross directly from Tatsunoko instead.

 

It'd be really funny if that turns out to be Sony's plan

[Keith]

1 hour ago, camk4evr said:

I'd laugh if it turns out that, when HG's license comes up for renewal, if Sony/Funimation ends up licensing Macross directly from Tatsunoko instead.

 

It'd be really funny if that turns out to be Sony's plan

At this point sony has HG by the balls regardless. I wonder if there was some kind of breach of contract when HG sold Sony the rights to designs they couldn't actually use outside of re-releasing pre-existing content and merchandising from that content. Forcing the current resolution was likely the most beneficial middleground, rather than waiting for the rights to revert from a dead company.

We'll know for absolute sure when BW, Kawamori & Satellite decide to make a post-Delta series/movie. If it's got the U.N. Spacy kite represented in any way (such as a pre-NUNS colony), or my personal hope, "Macross The First" styled TV srries or OVA, then we'll know all is right with the franchise.

Also acceptable, a freakin' VFX 2 OVA that covers the transition from Spacy to NUNS in something more substancial than a long out of print videogame.

Edited July 5, 2022 by Keith

[tekering]

14 hours ago, Gamma00Ray said:

Sadly, I missed the boat on the DVDs from around 15 years ago. I would have loved to have gotten the English dub set.

Be glad you didn't, buddy. 😑

We tend to bash Robotech pretty fiercely 'round these parts, but (apart from "Reba West") the voice cast did a remarkable job, especially given the scripts they were working from.  The ADV dub is demonstrably worse in just about every respect (except for, ironically enough, Mari Iijima's Minmei). 😅

 

[Seto Kaiba]

8 hours ago, Keith said:

At this point sony has HG by the balls regardless. I wonder if there was some kind of breach of contract when HG sold Sony the rights to designs they couldn't actually use outside of re-releasing pre-existing content and merchandising from that content.

Definitely not.

While we might gleefully poke fun at the Harmony Gold staff's many inadequacies and moments of idiotic behavior, one thing that can be said in their favor is that they have a very clear understanding of what rights they do and don't have (even when deliberately doing a bad job of explaining it to fans) thanks to their many experiences in court defending the Tatsunoko license over the last twenty years.  You can bet your bottom dollar that all appropriate disclosures regarding their rights under license and the limitations thereof were made while negotiating their deal with Sony.

Now, you can probably safely assume that Sony didn't pay very much for the rights... given their limitations and the extremely limited value they have outside of maintaining the now-defunct Macross embargo.

 

8 hours ago, Keith said:

We'll know for absolute sure when BW, Kawamori & Satellite decide to make a post-Delta series/movie. If it's got the U.N. Spacy kite represented in any way (such as a pre-NUNS colony), or my personal hope, "Macross The First" styled TV srries or OVA, then we'll know all is right with the franchise.

Also acceptable, a freakin' VFX 2 OVA that covers the transition from Spacy to NUNS in something more substancial than a long out of print videogame.

Really, that'd depend on which version of the NUNS's origin they decide to go with.

Technically, the NUNS has existed since the original series 2 years after arc.  One of two competing stories regarding the insignia change is that it was brought in as a result of the reorganization of the New UN Forces following the Second Unification War, while the other holds that it was like that almost immediately after the First Space War and only certain particularly hidebound planets like Earth and Eden retained the old markings out of pride until the Second Unification War (which explains why Ozma is shown flying a VF-171 that has the Frontier-era NUNS markings in the 2040s).

That's the problem with a multiple-choice past.

[Gamma00Ray]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

Be glad you didn't, buddy. 😑

We tend to bash Robotech pretty fiercely 'round these parts, but (apart from "Reba West") the voice cast did a remarkable job, especially given the scripts they were working from.  The ADV dub is demonstrably worse in just about every respect (except for, ironically enough, Mari Iijima's Minmei). 😅

 

Then I could've watched it subbed instead. No big loss.

[Einherjar]

On 7/4/2022 at 8:00 PM, Keith said:

That's not fair, they did manage to churn out "Robotech: Love, Live, Lifesupport" too.

There was also that one time someone "accidentally" got inspired by Macross 7 and thought it would be a great idea to turn it into a comic book.

Edited July 7, 2022 by Einherjar

[Gamma00Ray]

8 hours ago, Einherjar said:

There was also that one time someone "accidentally" got inspired by Macross 7 and thought it would be a great idea to turn it into a comic book.

Please tell me more! This sounds amazing

[tekering]

4 hours ago, Gamma00Ray said:

Please tell me more! This sounds amazing

@Einherjar has posted about it in numerous threads over the years:

 

[Keith]

18 hours ago, Gamma00Ray said:

Please tell me more! This sounds amazing

I read the descriptions of that when it happened. It was not. Essentially, someone took the Jack McKinney sh!t, and mixed it with modern multiverse & snagged a bit of 7, and just....no.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Keith

[JB0]

30 minutes ago, Keith said:

I read the descriptions of that when it happened. It was not. Essentially, someone took the Jack McKinney sh!t, and mixed it with modern multiverse & snagged a bit of 7, and just....no.

I mean, it WAS amazing, but not for ANY of the reasons they intended. It was amazing in the same way a train crashing into a swimming pool is amazing. You can't stop looking, and you can't stop wondering how this happened either.

 

Alas, we will never see the gripping conclusion to the epic saga of Sad Dana.

[Keith]

5 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I mean, it WAS amazing, but not for ANY of the reasons they intended. It was amazing in the same way a train crashing into a swimming pool is amazing. You can't stop looking, and you can't stop wondering how this happened either.

 

Alas, we will never see the gripping conclusion to the epic saga of Sad Dana.

I'd like to think of that as the ultimate Orguss reference, like Kei & Olsen traveling back to kill Kei & Olsen who in turn kill Kei & Olsen for traveling back ti kill themselves.

[Seto Kaiba]

17 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Alas, we will never see the gripping conclusion to the epic saga of Sad Dana.

I admit I'd have liked to see how that one ended too... if only because of how audacious it was for the publisher to use the Robotech license to print a borderline troll fic aimed at taking the piss out of Robotech and its fanbase.  

They literally made it a plot point that every previous Robotech work up to that point represented a nightmarish bad future of unending war created by a stable time loop in which all the characters are messily killed, and then made the good future timeline after they broke out of the time loop an unauthorized Macross spinoff.  Bonus points for the unauthorized spinoff having a lengthy aside at least once per issue for someone (often Sad Dana from the penultimate time loop iteration) to hang a lampshade on how stupid some aspect of the "classic" Robotech story was.

It felt almost like an End of Evangelion-style demonstration of contempt for the audience and the material.

[Einherjar]

1 hour ago, Keith said:

I read the descriptions of that when it happened. It was not. Essentially, someone took the Jack McKinney sh!t, and mixed it with modern multiverse & snagged a bit of 7, and just....no.

In more simpler terms, the whole fiasco started with someone going out of their way to make quite possibly the grittiest/ugliest version of Macross Saga ever attempted and ended with the cheapest imitation to a recent Macross show will ever see in comic book form.  And somewhere in the middle there was a lot of comic book logic multiverse BS with far reaching implications that in hindsight was not a good idea for the comic to resolve the way it did.