Roboculture

Yessir. I've hit another dead-end with my obssession in all things Robotech. But then, this has always been a part of being a Robotech fan. You have to wait for just about anything good to happen (I won't say any cliches). And you know what? Waiting SUCKS.

Man, even the characters in my fan art are getting nervous! (or antsy, it depends)


Wait, what am I waiting for? Well, the FRICKIN' DVD for starters. Yeah, I don't have the new Robotech: Shadow Chronicles DVD yet. My hopes were recently dashed after checking no less that three major malls for the DVD, none of the salespeople have ever even heard of Robotech. This is my second attempt, and probably my last for awhile So yes, I am missing a lot of Robotech discussions going on in the net. So here I am... twiddling my thumbs...

Another thing I'm waiting for right now is for (whaddaya know) my fan art to get approved! Yes, I have at least four in the waiting list. Goshdarnit, why does it take so frickin' long for those Commanders to approve?! I've heard the excuses before, that these guys have so little time to spare in approving fan art. Why are they the ones being given the flippin' job? It doesn't make sense. Why not get a more eager and dedicated Sergeant or Master Chief (it's the Robotech.com ranking system) to approve them? Why do we have to settle for these guys who take forever to approve?

Ugh. Forget that. Why can't Robotech.com be more like DeviantArt? No one ever posts on that crazy Robotech.com Fan Art section anyway. All I keep hearing are these excuses. Even my art expresses this anger. I think. No... Maybe not. But still.

So here I am... Tum dum dee dum... So boring. (Why can't those guys just approve my art?) Real encouraging guys.

I'm working on some sketches for my fanfilm, but progress is slow. I'm almost to the point where I won't really begin animating until I have the DVD on my hands.

Oh well, lets change the subject of me being a whiny fanboy, to me being a whiny artist. Wow it's hard to get Maia Sterling right! I mean, wow. I draw her in a very different way, so if some people don't recognize her, my fault. My bad. And you know what? Don't get me started on how to draw the new Rick Hunter.

I heard this term thrown around by some guy so I might as well use it as the heading fo today's entry. As you all know by now, Funimation will be officially releasing the DVD tomorrow on American soil. Unfortunately for me (bet you didn't see that coming) I won't be seeing it for a long time - which might jeapardize this:

Anyway, if that doesn't pan out the way I want to, there are always fallbacks. I could always go back to the Southern Cross universe, a place untainted by Tommy Yune's influence at this time. I actually recently purchased a heavily discounted book all about "Webcomics". Yes, webcomics. I haven't gone through the book, only scanned it but wow!

The book is really, really informative. It contains stuff about the rise of the art form, and how it has evolved. The best part is when they interview artists and how they developed their stuff. There's like these little diagrams and charts which show the story-making process, the script-writing phase, and all kinds of junk. It's really, really inspiring. Not to mention easy, man, I wouldn't have to animated again!

The only problem I ever see with this is how to reach my intended audience. How does one do that? There's an article somewhere in the book but I have to read it. Posting in the Robotech.com forum would be the first step, but since nobody really cares about the stuff I do there (I posted some threads about my works and voila, no one replies) I might have to branch out to different areas. Which makes me wonder, how could I possbily market this thing at all it being what it is!

I mean, okay, making a webcomic on the Southern Cross universe is risky. Nobody likes it. Not the mainstream folks anyway... And hey, I'm no writer. Like Tommy Yune, I'm just a lowly artist, who, when writing dialogue, use tons of cliches, lame comebacks, and been-there-done-that dialogue exchanges.

Now I have encountered some folks (probably one or two!) who are supposedly better writers than me, but it remains to be seen since I haven't seen there works yet. Again, should I post at the Robotech.com forum where nobody would give a rat's arse? I'll try, but I'm not hopeful. Who'd wanna help a bloke named MedMapGuy? Sheesh, I should choose a better name, but I've used this name for some time now so it hold nostalgic memories for me, so it stays, no matter what (I might talk about my history on creating fan-crap sometime in the future when have nothing better to do.

So in the end, the key to making a successful series would be to create very character driven stories. Find a good writer for that, and I might start a webcomic that could reach a wider audience than the one found in Robotech.com.

Incidentally, Robotech_Master 2000, creator of the Robotech Talkshow, also encountered some good webcomics. I don't know if this influenced me, but it really made me consider it.

SPACE STATION LIBERTY ICONS!
Robotech Master 2000's Talkshoe Internet Radio Show

Well, here I go again, talking about Robotech_Master 2000's Talkshow. I'll try to make this quick. As you know, Mr. 2000 is probably the only active member in the fandom doing the whole radio show thing.

With that, the guy has begun to make prerecorded shows similar to what Justy Ueki did with RDF Underground. Wow!!! Right? Yes, RDF Underground is back from the frickin' dead!! Wooot! And this time, Masters even has the weirdly geeky Talkshoe intro to go with his show! Wow! And music, seems strangely different from the usual rock choices that Justy picks. It's refreshing, its good, maybe this time Justy should guest star in Master's show.

I liked his latests efforts so far, and I hope the guy does more shows, because a fan like me needs his Robotech fixes regularly.

Unfortunately again, Masters said it won't be a regular thing, so sadly, I won't expect too much from the show. I wished though that there would be shows that would involve the ol' Robotech hardcore geek stuff that was prevalent in the old episodes. Man, those were the days - I just hope no one talks about how big a galaxy is cuz' that stuff weirds me out a bit. But it's still interesting, in a strange way.

So anyway, I mentioned something about icons? Yes, I made a few of them for Master's show. Y'see, the guy's requesting new icons so he can advertise his wonderful show to Project Wonderful. I don't really know what it is, but he wants to do it, it also involves art, so I'm interested.

According his thread, these are the requirements:

Button - 117x30
Square - 125x125
Half Banner - 234x60
Banner - 468x60
Leaderboard - 728x90
Skyscraper - 160x600

As you can see, I've made 4 icons, all 125x125. Again, I'm not icon maker, and some folks such as
Darrtallion and Valkyrie22 have 200 times more skill that I do in making this stuff, so I guess it wouldn't matter if Robotech_Master hates the stuff I made. Whatever.

If in the event he doesn't like them, I could always use them to promote stuff I made, which isn't a bad thing actually...

But ya' know what's weird? I also made an icon for RDF Underground, it was supposed to be for a website dedicated to Robotech, but was put on hiatus due to lack of development time and available content.

It's pretty nice actually, but with RDF Underground sleeping with the fishes, I don't think I'd use it. It's a good thing that Mr. Ueki decided to keep his site open for now, so maybe having this icon link to his site's archive would still be a good idea.

And c'mon, doesn't it look like a nice icon? The design is based on the TS-25 satellite that was seen briefly in the Southern Cross Saga of Robotech. I figured it looked like a transmission thingy so I used it to look like the RDF Underground's headquarters or something.

What do you think? Does it look good?

Finally, I've started writing up junk for "Yaki-Udon Part II" which would probably gloss over the art pieces I've seen at the Udon Crew's Art Page. It will also include my postive review of "From The Stars", a comic brought to you by Tommy Yune and the crew. Thanks to Captain JLS for pointing out some things for me. 

(The only original art you will ever see for the show. This is the only art being used for the DVD, the coffee table art book, the soundtrack, the poster, theatrical release, mousepad - okay, scratch the last part, there isn't any merchandise yet)

The most hyped film of the millenia is here, Robotech: Shadow Chronicles. People have begun to receive their preorders from almost out of the blue. Darkwater, a highly influential fan of the Robotech world, has reportedly gotten his copy and is probably toying with it at the moment.

What the hell does this mean to future Studio MMG? I'm not sure. But given the current Shadow Chronicles bandwagon is charging at full steam, I might actually hitch a ride.

Bad puns aside, it means I might actually make a fan film for this fucking movie. Yes, I want to achieve the title of 'first' Shadow Chronicles fanfilm. I know I originally planned to make a film based on the oft-ignored season of Robotech, The Masters Saga / Southern Cross section of the show, but hear me out.

BACKGROUND 

If you aren't familiar with the Masters Saga / Southern Cross section of Robotech, I won't blame you. The show is often shrugged off as the most badly written and unlikable of the three parts of Robotech. (The most popular being the Macross and Mospeada / New Generation) These criticisms might be true to some, but in my opinion, its probably the darkest, deepest of the three, and the epicness appeals greatly to me. The others are also great, but the idea of being a Southern Cross fan sets me apart from everyone, and I don't mind that one bit.

OKAY, SO WHAT? 

Alright, I said I wanted to make a Shadow Chronicles fanfilm. And I said I'm a big Southern Cross fan. I now want to make a film which reunites characters from Southern Cross during the set timeline of Shadow Chronicles. I want a film which has (probably, since I haven't seen the film yet) Admiral Reindhart giving orders to reestablish the 15th Squadron as a premiere tank division thingy (I don't know the proper designation). This would bring back certain characters like Angelo, Dana, Sean Philipps, Bowie Grant and maybe a new cast of unknowns. It's in the drawing board at the moment, but the story would probably involve the 15th handling a possiblity of civil war on Earth with the return Robotech Expeditionary Force. It would probably have little to do with the overall story of Shadow Chronicles (the conflict with the new alien menace), but this remains to be seen. 

Basically, it all comes down to whether I enjoy the new story of the new film. It's difficult to say at this point, but we'll have to wait and see. For now, I will work on sketches for old Robotech characters with the new Shadow Chronicles gear. While I'm not that good an artist, I will try my best to copy the look of the new film...

DID'YA KNOW?

Before I came up with this idea, I was going to work on a South Park-style Robotech show? It was going to be a dumb comedy which stars the Southern Cross characters and their bitter rivalry with the Macross and New Generation characters. It's also in planning phase, but I got some interesting ideas... If you've got suggestions, why don't you post a comment?



As you know, I'm not much of an animator, but man, if I do something as cheaply as South Park, it would be a hoot! If only I could get the comedy right now...