Roboculture

Normally I would post stuff that would often involve the creative side of the fandom, or inane rantings, but my last post about the release of the Toynami Masterpiece Collection Cyclone Toys seems a bit redundant. Lets look at it this way, there's Darkwater, JLS or Master. Three of the biggest names in hardcore Robotech fandom providing any scrap of mainstream Robotech news they can find to the hardcore Robotech fans. I am MedMapGuy. And this is Studio MMG. I should at least try to set myself apart from these guys or else the fandom would end up being kinda boring. Or something. Anyway, at least my article related to art in that I want to use the Toynami toys as reference for drawing the Alpha...

NEWS FROM THE FANDOM!

Nanashi's at it again, with an update to his promising fan-made OVA: Macross: Gamma Crisis!

Nanashi, the man known for beginning the entire Robotech flash series in Newgrounds, has just released a brand new trailer showcasing the amazing effects of his film. It features technowizardy never before seen in the Robotech/Macross franchise. He's also opened the official Gamma Crisis website:

Macross: Gamma Crisis
http://www.robotechflash.com/Gamma/index.html

Gamme Crisis: Second Video Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NgdadjHgbc

Just so we're clear, this film is based on the original Macross japanime, and not the Robotech universe. But that doesn't mean its Macross Zero bad, on the contrary, this film might actually be before-Arjuna Shoji Kawamori good!

The blurb of the story is particularly interesting
"In the year 1999 the human race came to the conclusion that mankind's greatest threat would be the alien rance known as the Zentradi... They where wrong."

It's been hinted that the story would revolve around another technologically superior alien known as the Tannrah. Thankfully though, it will not involve the Supervision Army, or Protodevlins, or any of that mumbo jumbo. This might turn out to be more Babylon than Macross, but who knows?

Nanashi has recently acquired the ultimate PC-rig which would defintely aid him in rendering this sucker. The setup includes the fastest video card known to man, the GX8800. Okay, not really, but it is the really, really expensive.

ROBOTECH: EXODUS

This next fan project, while hardly related to Gamma Crisis, is interesting in its own right. It's an old pure CG film with cross-generational mecha fighting each other. I've seen a similar video before, one about the invasion of Tirol, but I saw this one in Youtube, so for the heck of it, I'll write an article about that one.

This video is old. The animation is stiff, the texture-less models and backgrounds are just... old. The lack of sound effects doesn't give the film the punch you expect. The story is senseless.

Robotech: Exodus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEa_fUpI-m0

But the cool factor this film offers if unparalleled - You have the chance to see Valkyries fighting alongside Bioroids. Lancer fighters duking it out with the Invid. Valkyries pummeling the Regent's carrier. It's just plain weird - in an awesome kind of way.

If you want to see how Robotech 3000 might've turned out, watch this! Naw, just kidding. This stuff might actually be better... And for a fraction of the cash they threw to that White Elephant.

Today's feature is the fairly impressive trailer by one-man fanfilm juggernaut, Nanashi. It features decent Computer Generated Graphics of VF-1 Valkyries doing what they do best - transforming into humanoid robots and shooting stuff.

First of all, who is Nanashi? Well, as you might not know, was once known as ARMY_Ranger in a fairly popular site called Newgrounds. Newgrounds is a repository of all things Flash. Flash is basically a web movie of sorts.

Army Ranger basically began the whole Robotech series on Newgrounds back early 2001. He has since produced such classics as "Birth of Robotech" and "Macross: Unsung Heroes", and many more.

Here's a short list of the current Robotech flashfilms available on Newgrounds:
http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/robotech.html

ARMY_Ranger/Nanashi's more notable contributions:

Macross Classic Revisited - A fairly entertaining dogfight sequence between a VF-1 Valkyrie fighter and several battlepods. Heavily influenced by Macross Zero.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/344395

Birth of Robotech - An interesting reimagination of the first two or three episodes of the Macross Saga. Fairly entertaining with great dogfights.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/search.php?terms=birth+of+robotech&kind=j&x=0&y=0

Nanashi is also one of the key founders of the United Earth Group:

The group is best known for the Robotech: Genesis project. A project which last I heard, was cancelled due to internal conflict among its members. I have heard it said though that a new project is being developed, and it is only a matter of time when it would be released.

What is Gamma Crisis then?

Macross Gamma Crisis is a short (15 min +) video OVA based off of the anime SDF Macross, Macross Plus, Macross Zero and Macross DYRL. Knowledge of these anime is not necessary to apply for this part! The story is set around 2015, and covers the growing friction and dysfunction in a society of humans who are trying to adapt to living with and integrating with a species of alien.

Youtube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk7mrVE56zc

Based on what I saw in the trailer, the project is light years ahead of whatever I can achieve at this point. I don't know anything about making CG, so this stuff is pretty impressive - for a fanfilm. A lot of Pearl Harbor influences can be seen in the trailer, with some interesting action sequences involving one VF-1 Valkyrie Battroid.

Currently, the film is wrapping up casting voices for certain roles, if you are interested in how that went, check it out at:

Voice Acting Club
http://voiceacting.proboards62.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1164671128&page=1

For more details on the project, as well as Nanashi, check out his website (It's a flash-based website, so you'll need a Flash player)

Robotech Flash
http://www.robotechflash.com/