Review: Pastel Vol. 1 by Del Rey 2005 $10.95

**spoilers may apply, although I will not directly give away any major plot points**

The quick synopsis: a 16 yr old named Mugi Tadano is forced to break up with his girlfriend as she moves away to another city. He finds himself heartbroken and unable to focus day to day. His friend, Kazuki, drags him to a beachside snack bar, owned by Kazuki's aunt, for the summer to get his mind off the break up. While working there, Mugi finds himself running into a girl while she's changing into her swimsuit. The beautiful girl by the name of Yuu jokes with Mugi and insists he pay 120 yen for the peepshow. To which Mugi quickly pays and Yuu replies that she can now afford a soda.

Kazuki spends most of the summer vacation to spy on girls and score dates. He eventually sets Mugi and himself up on a double date. Kazuki jokes the "monster" of a girl will show up and Mugi will have no problems not falling for her if she looks as bad as they think. Yet, when the "monster-girl" arrives, Mugi is surprised to find that it is the girl he met earlier, Yuu. Kazuki realizes that she is much more attractive than his date and tries to switch girls. Mugi refuses and the two boys separate to continue their dates on their own. Realizing that he's in no condition to spend time with a beautiful woman, Mugi enlists the aid of Kazuki's younger cousin by telling Yuu he's responsible for watching over him. Yuu and Okuto take to one another and the three head toward the beach for the afternoon. After a nice time of talking, Yuu and Mugi realize that Okuto has gone diving in the water and hasn't surfaced. The two race to his rescue and find him just in time and revive him. Mugi and Yuu finish their "date" by walking the beach and wading in the water.

We next find Mugi sleeping in his room when Kazuki tells him that he must clean the showers of the beach house. It's the middle of the night but Mugi does what he's told. Kazuki is merely setting him up. As Mugi enters the Ladies Bath, he finds a naked girl. The girl is Yuu. Yuu is embarrassed and angered. She leaves. Mugi feels so bad he tries to apologize the next day to find that Yuu has left the resort to return home. So Mugi tries to chase her down. He barely misses the boat that leaves for the main land yet doesn't give up. He continues to follow her foot steps so he can apologize. He finds himself back at his house when he hears who he thinks is his father yet he opens the door to find another naked girl showering in his bathroom. He's shocked to find its Yuu, the girl from the beach. When his father comes home from work he informs Mugi that Yuu is the daughter of a close friend who has died and he's now in charge of Yuu and her sister Tsukasa. And the story continues from there....



I will admit that I'm a sucker for high school romantic comedies. And this story is a perfect example of one. As I read it, I could feel for Mugi. I felt sorry for him and also routed for him at the same time.

Toshihiko Kobayashi's art is elegant yet doesn't lack on simple details. The girls are drawn very cute and the fan service is abundant and steamy. The character designs are simple but familar. I found that the story moved along well and the panel layout was easy to follow and clean. The characters not only look familary but seem familar (maybe its my own memories of being a angst teen). The lead girl, Yuu, is cute, naive and vulnerable. Mugi is a typcial girl crazed teen who's too nervous to act naturally around Yuu.

Its a fun read and I enjoyed it! I couldn't stop and read it in about an hour. I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything so I read it again.




If you like a typical Shonen, this story may be for you.

So, Transformers was released this week! Possibly, it was the best big-budget movie of the summer '07. It didn't gross as much as Spider-Man 3 yet still broke $300 million. Last I heard, Spidey had grossed about $20 million more than the robots-in-disguise.

Now, I want this movie in HD yet I have adopted the Blu-ray format. So that means I'm just out of luck. Why did I choose Blu-ray? Because technology speaking it’s a better format. Why am I out of luck with a HD Transformers? Because Paramount (the studio that released Transformers) has adopted HD DVD as their sole format for their movies.

Now, the format war is similar to the old Beta vs. VHS war of the early 80s. Beta back then was the better format--technology speaking. Yet, VHS won for a couple of reasons. One--it was cheaper. And two--the porn industry adopted the VHS format for their adult videos. Now here we are again. Blu-ray (Sony) like Beta (Sony) is a better technology and allows for High Definition to grow. HD DVD enters the scene and has similar traits but falls short of the blue laser technology. When HD DVD debuted they stated it would be cheaper than its Blu-ray counterpart. Well, this is not true. If you enter any Wal-Mart or Best Buy and you'll see pretty much the same price on a HD DVD and a Blu-ray disc. They usually hover around $27.95 a flick. So, HD DVD won't win because it's cheaper. Will it win because its better?? (do I need to answer that?)

If you look at the numbers, Blu-ray is out selling its HD DVD competition. For most of 2007, Blu-ray has out sold their HD DVD nearly 2-1. Roughly 1.6 million Blu-ray discs have been sold while only 795,000 HD DVD discs. If you look back to the two format's launch, 2.2 million Blu-ray discs to only 1.5 million HD DVD discs have been sold. Some say this is because of the Playstation 3. And it should. This is why I went with Blu-ray as we are a Playstation family.

My only gripe. The studios! The studios will only hurt their own HD movie sales because of picking sides. Do we need 2 formats? No. But in this world of PC vs. Mac it may just be a 2 format society for a while. So I think the studios need to release their movies on both. Allow the Blu-ray devotees and the HD DVD followers to have both their cake and eat it too.

I guess if my salary had a few more zeros on the left side of the decimal, I'd buy both a HD DVD player and have the PS3. But right now, it's not in the cards, baby!

Sorry Folks. If you want to find some of the new issues from Red 5 Comics, you'll either have to pray for deliverance or beg your LCS to reorder them from Diamond.

I will admit that I knew about these comics about six months ago. I heard interviews with the owners/creators on several Star Wars podcasts before Diamond ever solicited them in Previews. At that time I wasn't a DCBS user nor did I have a pull box. I know I know. Not using DCBS or using a pull box at my LCS? The reason was I have really never had an issue finding issues (sorry for the pun). Really! I usually go to my LCS and just grab it off the racks. I have learned they don't order many of the Indies nor things that stray from mainstream DC or Marvel. But if I don't find it there, there is always a fallback store that carries everything on the other side of town. And in the worst case scenario I go online and use the one of 50 internet sales sites.

Yet, in this case, I have been to all the area stores--nothing! I have gone to my favorite online retailers--nothing! I tried to get my LCS to reorder them for me and the owner's wife wanted to argue that all their comics are ordered months in advance and they don't think they can order them. Here's the thing that pissed me off. They ordered me a bunch of 52 comics back in the 52 run when I was traveling and couldn't grab them on a weekly basis. So I know they can order 'em!

Now, I'm curious to why this situation is the way it is. Is Red 5 so popular it’s like trying to buy World Series tickets? Or was it so under-solicited that no one wants to take a risk or order them for a few fans? I contacted Red 5 and they said they had plenty of copies of Atomic Robo #1 and were sending Diamond more books, so why can I not find them!?

Well, perhaps this is a sign that I should just wait for the trades....

Rockies Win National League Championship

I know it’s Manga Tuesday but after spending a couple late nights watching the NLCS Diamondbacks vs. Rockies games 3 and 4, I'm afraid I haven't prepared my next review. Since I'm dedicated to updating my blog on a timely basis, I have decided to simply say...

CONGRADULATIONS!

To the ROCKIES!! NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!

swept the D-Backs in 4 games...

I was listening to an interview with Tommy Yune on Space Station Liberty and Tommy stated that his decisions to keep many story elements vague, i.e. alien vs. Zentraedi and alien drink vs. Tirolian Ale called Zirepa, was so the viewer wouldn't be confused by the description and wonder what the characters were talking about. Huh?

Hate to say it but this is a ridiculous reason. A viewer will not get so confused by this that they turn the DVD off or run for the hills. This type of description actually sets your story above the rest. Sorry to break this to Tommy and Harmony Gold but this sequel was not the bring-in-the-new-viewer platform movie. This was a sequel that fans wanted to see. And on the chance there are new viewers to Robotech, why be scared to give them details on the original 85 episodes. If they like what they see they will seek out those older episodes and watch them or even buy the DVDs.

When Alex says to Scott, "try this new alien drink." I find the fault of this bad dialog on the writer. Not placing an origin on the drink is either due to no creativity or you're dumbing it down for your audience. As for the "I'm half alien" dialog, this is also either an avoidance of the name Zentraedi due to legal issues with Big West or again the writer is dumbing it down for the audience. Either way, I find it poor writing and story telling. There's no reason to dumb it down nor avoid giving descriptions that tie back to the original series.

Tommy stated that he didn't want to mention anything (object or race) that wasn't directly involved or taking place in the Shadow Chronicles. He felt it would only confuse and mislead the viewers. Yet there's a great example of this working in Empire Strikes Back. When Han tells Leia, "Well, the bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell changed my mind." We never see this bounty hunter or even know where Ord Mantell is. Yet, this dialog gave the movie depth. These characters are real and have lives outside the here and now of the big screen. Perhaps a first time viewer of ESB might have wondered if he missed something from the first movie or just got lost in the bigger story.

As a writer and story teller myself, descriptions are the best thing going for one's story. They build a back bone to the universe being created. Don't be afraid to show the audience the best picture of that world. Even if it confuses them at first; they will treasure it later. So shame on Tommy Yune for not calling that drink a Tirolian Ale. And I'm sorry Maia is not half-alien but half-Zentraedi!

REVIEW: Bushi Tales #1 of 3 $3.95

After hearing good things about this comic on Comic Geek Speak and seeing some good promo material, I was really looking forward to this book. I went on a Comic Road Trip (kinda like toy runs in toy collecting) this weekend here in Denver and picked this up at a LCS on Wadsworth Blvd. This store bags all their monthlies so I wasn't able to browse the pages. Yet, from what I had heard and seen, I really didn't care...

...until I got home. Now I won't say it was bad. I actually liked it, but I wasn't blown away. I will give it the next couple of issues to pull it through. Yet, after only one book and knowing there's only two more, I'm worried on how this story will ramp up and then close. At first impression, it started in the manner of a title that is either an ongoing series or at least set for 6+ issues.

The art by David Betty and Lin Workman was very well done. Yet the presentation in the book was slightly poor. Lin Workman gets credits as a colorist yet the book is in black and white. It basically looks like this comic was fully colored then copied on a xerox machine in b&w. So basically some of the panels are dark and the tones don't give much contrast to the art which would be awesome in color. I found myself looking hard at the panels to see all of the detail. The last panel on page 5 confused me and I couldn't really figure it out until I saw further panels on page 9. I don't mind a b&w book but I want the tones to be done in consideration of such. Otherwise, the panel progression and pacing worked very well.

Like I sorta touched on, the story starts out a bit slow. Its premise is about a Bushido type clan set in the far future although it appears to be the past. It begins with two guards, Kitaro and Hagino, being attacked by a large wolf. Kitaro gets mauled and Hagino runs to ring the signal bell. As the other guards arrive, the wolf retreats. As the situation calms, they find Hagino is missing and Kitaro clings to life. The story then introduces a young woman named Akiyo and she swears vengeance on the giant wolves. A hunting party departs and quickly finds the trail of the wolves only to find them led by a giant. A battle ensues...

With only 19 pages of story, I left wanting more. The writing was good yet it seemed a bit simple and not much filler. Dialog told me a horse was named Strider which I wasn't too fond of. Sorry but I guess Lord of the Rings ruined the uniqueness of Strider as a name for man...or horse. Also, the story makes notations as what some terms mean, such as katanas, misogi and meijin. After the core story, the issue also includes a "who's who" style character break down on Akiyo. Also included is a 3 page prose story called "The Monster" by David Beaty and some nicely detailed illustrations. And the 32 page book ends with a "behind the scenes" sketch book and character design gallery. There is also a page of cool Bushi Tales swag and stuff you can buy from www.BushiTales.com.

Final Thoughts: Besides being a bit irritated by the contrast tones and wishing for a bit better presentation of the panel art, I did enjoy the character designs and art. The story has yet to truly grab me but I will stay with it until the 3rd issue. For the price, $3.95 an issue, I might suggest some to wait for a trade or all-in-one type publication. If you like bushido and fantasy stories, then I would recommend you pick this up and judge for yourself. Although being a bit harsh on the first issue, this could very well be the next Mouse Guard and these first printed issues will only go up in value and become more desired issues. ***

I'm Back and It's Costing Me A Fortune!

Actually, I've technically never left. Comics, I mean. I have read comics for the last 27 years. Some of those years (like the 90s) I only read a couple of titles. Most of those titles were either Star Wars from Dark Horse or a Superman or Batman book when I thought the art and writing looked good. I also had a compulsion to stay with the Teen Titans and picked up the 90s version although it wasn't that good. Maybe that's why it ended only after 24 issues.

As the new millennium started I grabbed a Wizard and was immediately pulled toward the CrossGen titles that I saw in a page ad. I was hooked again with a passion. I bought them all. Scion, Meridian, Negation, Sigil and The Path to mention a few of my favorites. I actually found my self liking non-super power books.(to which I still prefer) The stories were interesting, compelling and had a classic serial style. The books were always on time and the price was right for the art and quality of floppy. I was sad to see the company go down because of mismanagement and bad investments. I still think CrossGen had something with their business model.



Since, the CrossGen collapse, I returned to picking up a few books here and there. Nothing with a real passion. I mainly focused on big writers and artists. I got the Kevin Smith GREEN ARROW and J. Michael Straczynski's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The Hush Story in BATMAN was great. Jim Lee and pouches! Also, any old franchise books I picked up -- Voltron, Thundercats and GI Joe. Sorry I'm a kid of the 80s. Then one day DC announced a book called Identity Crisis. My DC books started to double then triple. That led to Infinite Crisis then 52 then Countdown.

At the same time that my book orders doubled and tripled, comic prices spiked from $2.25 to $2.50 to $2.99. (all within 3 years) Now there's a rumor more and more $3.99 titles will follow. Sorry but this is breaking me!! 52 was $2.50 an issue and happening every week. Then Countdown pulls the same weekly schedule but its $2.99. I'm really loving the hobby but I think I will have to sell a kidney or make some kind of fluid donations to keep up with the cost. Why can't DC or Marvel make these books affordable? Are the ads not supporting the books like it does for newspapers? When will the price increases stop? Will a monthly title priced at $5.99 be bought or will it crush the industry?



A lot of questions to think about. If I was a comic politician my platform would be the rising costs of comics in today's market. They say comics aren't a kids hobby anymore. They would be right as there's no kid out there that will drop the $3 an issue. A five book habit would run a 12 year old a minimum of $15 of a hard earned allowance. When I was 12 I was spending my $15 but I got 14-16 titles. That's a huge difference. I think we should try and get more kids into comics so they become adults into comics. Yet I think the rising cost of these monthly issues will only drive those new readers away.

Updates Every Wednesday!

It's the most important day of the week for a comic geek. Now, I have decided that it be best to update this site every Wednesday. What should you expect with each update? Well, each week I will throw some insight, opinion or gripes about the industry or my weekly books. I will give some reviews of the books I'm reading and give a recommendation or two. Now, there's dozens of sites that give you news and reviews, but perhaps I can throw out a unique spin on the hobby. But the updates won't just encompass comics. I will still hit topics like Star Wars, Galactica and Robotech. A team focus of mine is the TEEN TITANS so I hope to give a bit more attention to them over the JLA or Legion groups.

The TEEN TITANS is one of the reasons I have always stayed in Comics. I was a 8 yr old boy in 1980 when I picked up my first few issues of The New Teen Titans from Wolfman and Perez. I picked them up at a little newsstand that sold magazines, coins and tobacco. I was addicted to the drama and serialized story telling. I thought it was unlike the other comics from DC where you truly had to get every book to know the drama and lives of these young characters. Not to mention, it centered on kids with super-powers and I so wanted to have powers when I was 8. On the playground at recess I was always Kid Flash.

Seeya Wednesday!

Too much Countdown!

Browsing the racks at my LCS. I realized that the DC events are getting a bit out of hand. I noticed that there are dozens of books all connected to the Countdown series and all heading toward Final Crisis. And too be honest, I hope this will end the big events going into 2008. I know my pocket book is having a tough time keeping up and I know I have way too much to read on my stack. New titles such as Countdown to Adventure and Countdown to Mystery are sporting a $3.99 price. Yes, you're getting 48 pages of content. Yet times this number by 4 then by 2 and that is getting pricey just to stay in the know. I want to read these titles and see where my favorite DC heroes are going but I will have to wait for the trade and get it through In-Stock Trades. If I can't read the newest books, I guess I will focus on some of the books that I've allowed to stack up in my comic room.

Format and Updates

I think the best way that I can give this blog the attention it deserves is to focus on a weekly update vs. a daily or semi-daily update. If I put a spot on my calendar for working on my blog, I will be more likely to keep it running. Currently, I feel like I may be talking to an empty hall but hopefully that will change very soon.

New Direction

Interests and Hobbies have always been a rotation of my life. Sometimes it was Star Wars for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then it was GI JOE. Sometimes it was Superman or DC Comics. Recently, I have really been obsessed with manga and have purchased literally a bookshelf of manga and spent hundreds of hours reading it. I also have been listening to many podcasts on the hobbies I enjoy. Most concern comics, anime and Star Wars. I would like this blog to be more of a fan site of comics and manga vs. Star Wars and Sci-fi television. Yet, all is permissible here. Soon I hope readers will visit as often as they do other favorite information sites.

BG vs BG

I know I lost some momentum on this little rumble in space. I still want to revisit the idea but not at this time. Perhaps another week or month....

Let's get ready to RUMBLE!

“There are those who believe that the debate began here, far across the blogs, with tribes of geeks who may have been the forefathers of the Larsonites, or the Hatchlings, or the Mooreans. They may have been the architects of the great pop culture phenomenon, or the vast leagues of nerds at Comic-Cons or Wizard Worlds. Some believe that there may yet be fans of the original series who even now fight to proclaim that the new series missed the mythology and creativity of the first…"

Ladies and Gentlemen. Boy and Girls of all ages. This is the bout of the century! In this corner we have the ground breaking, classic, sometime corny, but the original Battlestar Galactica! Weighing in at 1 million tons, over 500 yarhens old and sporting dull grey shorts, this Galactica was accused of being a Star Wars rip-off and later became a pop culture extravaganza!




And in the other corner, we have the slightly cliché, re-envisioned, with characters that are way too flawed and graced with CGI effects is the new Battlestar Galactica! Weighing in at a marginal 1.2 million tons, only 50 years old and sporting the shining gun metal ribbed shorts, this Galactica is the hottest new show on television since Survivor!



Listen Galacticas, let’s keep this a clean fight. No launching Blue Squadron, FTL jumps, sneaking in Cylons that look human, or recruiting hordes of female shuttle pilots. This will be a battle of shows not turbolasers. Now, touch triad balls and come out fighting…

VS.

Coming Soon...

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's....

With concluding some of my thoughts on Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, I guess it was the ending that was my biggest gripe. By the way I guess I have spoiled some of the story and plot of this film. If you don't want to know the ending, you may want to stop reading and go watch it real quick.

Ok. You back. Good. So...Superman II: TRDC ends the same as Superman: The Movie. Ok. Today this is very cheesy. So cheesy I was looking for the crackers. But, in its defense, this was the original ending for Superman II. See back in 1978 Superman I and II were filmed back to back and Superman I was going to end with a cliff hanger and boom a year later, Superman II would premier. Well, the Salkinds didn't want that nor did the studio. So the ending of Superman II was quickly worked to be the ending of Superman I. So, if Richard Donner was going to finish Superman II a new ending was going to be needed. Perhaps he liked his original ending and did it again. Turning back time works for Donner. Magic kisses work for Lester. Since the turning Earth and time back was done, I think I like the magic kiss better.




Now, Donner knew he was going to finish his cut. Yet, why couldn't he do some kind of Special Edition CGI thing and come up with a new ending? It's an interesting thought. He needed something other than Perry White’s toothpaste in reverse. I know, I know, it’s impossible to re-shoot an ending for a movie that is over 20 years old especially when actors are needed. But if Han can walk around Jabba in A New Hope SE, then anything is possible. I also wish he would have excluded any Lester footage. If there was nothing to fill the gap then use Screen Tests (like he used for the Niagara Falls sequence) or do story boards or anamatic type filler. I would rather see how this would have been a Donner film rather than a Donner/Lester collaboration.



So overall, was Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut that great of a movie? Not really. I think it could have been better but I think money was the key reason it didn’t live up to what I expected. Millions were already invested in doing the DVD but millions of more dollars would have been needed for CGI effects and other enhancements. To be honest, I think if Donner wanted to do his cut of Superman II, he should have presented Superman: The Movie and Superman II like he originally planned. The DVD box set would have the movies that way we originally saw them or even the Superman: The Movie the extended cut. But on an additional DVD or two, Donner should have done the Director’s Cut. Thus, Superman: The Movie would end with the cliff hanger (as planned in 1977) of the second missile exploding in space and freeing the Super Villains. Then, he could present Superman II in all its glory and then have the ending of spinning the world backwards. I would have loved this concept more.

[for more production info, you should watch the bonus discs of the Superman Ultimate DVD collection.]



Well, that’s my thoughts for now. I may return to discuss Superman in future posts.

That reminds me; nothing I post is reflected as said and done or a definitive conclusion of my thoughts. I am always thinking and discussing the things I like and I may want to share those thoughts again sometime. Perhaps I will change my mind or find new evidence to support other opinions and conclusions.

Thanks for reading and join me again soon for some other good topics. I think that may be the rejuvenated Battlestar Galactica and why did we need it?

Up in the Sky...

Another interesting conversation I have had lately, is the possibility of the Super Villians (Zod, Non and Ursa) making an appearance in a Bryan Singer Superman sequel. But wait, didn’t they die at the end of Superman II? Well, it all depends on which version of Superman II you watch. Lester’s Superman II has them finding their demise in the frozen depths of the Fortress of Solitude. Yet, Donner’s Superman II has time being rewound and the last thing we see is the Phantom Zone still floating in space with the villains trapped inside. So, could we see this? I want to say yes but I really hope we don’t. The reason I state this is my appreciation of Terrance Stamp’s portrayal of General Zod. But I might forgive a recast just as I have accepted Brandon Routh as Superman taking over the cape of Christopher Reeve.



So, as I mentioned before, I think the new Superman film revival could cause a torrid confusion of where the time line falls. If someone has definitive knowledge that Singer is using Lester’s Superman II, publish this so we can forget about Donner’s cut in future Superman sequels.



Now, my next thought on Superman is: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Although cool, not too mention; it finally puts to rest the rumors of this better cut of Superman II, I found myself not liking it as much as I thought I would. I was expecting this entirely different movie. Yet, the film wasn’t that much different then the Lester cut. Now there is some unique scenes and better dialog in the Donner cut, yet some of the differences seemed a bit forced. And I am aware that there was just a bunch of stuff un-filmed thus creative solutions were used. The reason I criticize this is because I was under the impression that 70% of a Donner cut of the film was done, then 50% was re-shot so Lester could take sole directorial credit. That would leave only a fraction or 20% of the previous Lester cut that would have to be used in the new commercial Donner cut. I know that is stretching it but I felt the Donner cut was more like 50-60% recycled Lester footage. [to clarify when I refer to the Lester cut, I want to state I am aware that Donner was the originator but I am using it on a level of what we have been exposed to over the last 20 years—up until now, Lester’s Superman II was what we know as Superman II and Donner’s cut is the newer cut although it is truly the proto cut.] Is it just me or does the math not add up?

More Superman...

I won’t review Superman: The Movie as it has been well represented in the likes of Siskel and Ebert, Leonard Martin and Joel Siegel. Yet, I do have comments and personal ideas behind the themes and plot movements of both the movie and its sequels and quasi-sequels. And those will be presented over the course of this commentary.

So, I’ve talked about my past with Superman: The Movie and how it impacted my life. Now, where to start on my thoughts? I guess I will just jump right into it. Since the release of Superman Returns, I have had some interesting conversations with friends and fellow movie buffs about the new events in the movie and recollections of the original film with actor Christopher Reeve. Overall, I have also found a dislike for the continuity of the films and the obvious film blunders and story holes. Do I like Superman Returns? Yes, I thought it was a very good film. I’m aware that most Superman fans, those of the comic Superman, will state it was flat and lacked action. Yet, what these fans have overlooked is that this was a rebirth film and it was purposely filmed and produced in the vain of the Donner film of 1978. Thus, this filmed succeeded. Now this isn’t to state the next film won’t have that explosive action and super villains all Superman fans crave.



So what’s my issue with the overall franchise? I just have this fear that the franchise could end the way of Batman and need a reboot only a few years from now in the footsteps of Batman Begins. Yet, perhaps it can be saved. I think the biggest loop hole in this story is the introduction of the son of Superman and how it works into the prior films. Where did Bryan Singer base this possibility on? Is it Richard Lester’s cut of Superman II or Richard Donner’s Superman II?

Bryan Singer made no restraints to state he was making a sequel to the films of the 1980s with the exception of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest of Peace. I guess we can chalk those movies up to a late night Taco Bell Burrito Supreme hallucination of Lois Lane. Thus, Superman Returns relies on the events of Superman: The Movie and Superman II. With that, we could get a few continuity flaws. Here are the ones that really have given me some headaches.



The first is the Son of Superman idea as mentioned above. This topic has increased my suspension of disbelief more than any other situation in the films. When was Jason conceived? I have had some dubious conversations on how and when this was done. Now we all know that Clark (Superman) and Lois hook up and get their groove on. Yet, there are two different situations when this happens. Let’s look back on Superman II we all remember from the 80s and that is the Richard Lester cut. Clark doesn’t bed Lois until after he makes the decision to give up his powers and live as a normal human being. The second scenario is in Superman II Richard Donner Cut. In this version, Clark and Lois bed before he decides to give up his powers. Thus, he was still Super they get jiggy with it. So, we have two theories here. One: if Clark and Lois conceived a child from the Lester Superman II, would this child have powers? Logic would say no, as Clark was a normal human being here. Yet, we all agree that the Kryptonian DNA would still be present thus giving a possibility of dormant powers awakening. Now, the more logical scenario would be the Donner version. Yet, this is problematic as if anyone as seen that version, the ending has Superman rewinding time and thus the even hasn’t happened. So, I think the real burden of the situation is: which cut of Superman II does Bryan Singer want his movie to follow? [Singer did meet with Donner exclusively before he went into production of Returns, so one could only guess.]

Superman...

One story that has been true to my heart is that of the motion picture franchise of Superman.

As for my past with this, I have distinct memories of seeing Superman: The Movie at the theater when I was only 8. I stayed up late any and every night Superman would air on CBS or any other television network. The birth of the VCR created a new life for my love of this movie. My first copy of Superman was a recorded version from one of those TV movies of the night spots. Then CBS VHS Club allowed me to purchase the movie. I think I did wear it out.

I had the entire dialog memorized, the soundtrack was in my stereo and the merchandise was everywhere from the kitchen to my bedroom. I can remember a Superman glass I had with the poster art. I would stare at it while eating my dinner. I even would wish on that image in hopes I would gain Superman’s powers so I could fly away and fight crime in the name of Truth, Justice and the American way!




One thing I would profess was that the Superman: The Movie I saw as a kid had scenes that I didn’t have in my VHS copies. I directly remember Superman getting hit with bullets, fire and ice before entering Lex Luthor’s lair. My friends always would make fun of me that I was making it up. Then one fateful night right after the WB network debuted, they presented Superman: The Movie in an expanded two-night event. Thus, I recorded this and could once and for all prove to my friends I was right. Sure enough, they had inserted that scene back in—as well, the scenes of a little Lois Lane on the train where Clark would jump as a teenager. I wouldn’t see this cut of the film for another decade until it was re-released back in 2001 with the new theatrical cut of the film and the DVD release.

I will admit that I had little production knowledge of the film while growing up. I wouldn’t learn some of the great behind the scenes stuff until I was an adult and the DVD releases of both 2001 and 2006. In this era of my Superman appreciation I would learn of the reasons behind Richard Lester taking over production of Superman II from Richard Donner. I would also learn that the films were being filmed back to back until production delays and an approaching release date determined they focus on the first film foremost. Once I learned that Richard Donner had shot 70% of Superman II before being torn off it and replaced by Lester, I was disappointed. Yet, I didn’t realize that it was re-shot by over 50% so Lester could take sole directorial credit. So, this immediately got my curiosity up thinking of how Donner’s Superman II was different from Lester’s Superman II.




As 2006 came to a close, we were given the infamous cut of Superman II by Richard Donner. In some respects this was like an Episode I release for Superman fans. I rushed out that night and bought the movie. I went home, threw it in the DVD player, turned up the Home Theater and turned out the lights. I watched it with the intent I would a movie in a movie-plex. I was amazed and disappointed at the same time. Some of those likes and dislikes will be discussed later in my Superman commentary. (which will be presented in ths blog over the next few days).

Superman Week

To start off my Superman week of commentaries and opinions, I thought this little video would break the ice nicely.



This is hilarious!!

To clarify things...

I just want to clarify a post I placed a week or so back. I was stating that the voice actor that gave life to Dana Sterling in Robotech had died in the early 90s and could not reprise her role if the new Robotech was going that direction.

Per Tommy Yune (via Space Station Liberty), Melissa Newman, who voiced Dana, is still alive yet not in the acting or Hollywood community any longer. He stated if they do include Dana in the Shadow Chronicles he would like for Melissa to reprise the role yet they do have an idea for a fallback if she decides not to do it.

This is good news (her being alive) but let's hope she wants to reprise her role. Also, this is I think the biggest voice actor that pretty much lies in mystery on her whereabouts. If anyone has any info on her, most Robotech fans would like to hear it yet we'll respect her privacy.

Let's send the message that we love her as Dana and she must come back to Robotech!

Hobbits to Isengard

So, I was introduced to this by a Star Wars Podcast and I found this thing extremely addictive. I don't know if I can watch the movie again without singing this thing....





The creator is a very talented individual.

Ok. I have posted a few things from YouTube. This week I promise to start some commentary on an interesting note...

Do your part...

Yellow Dancer needs your help. Hop on your cyclone and race over to Michael Bradley's site and get his new CD!

I hear its better than a "Flower of Life" buzz!

So whatcha waiting for?

Only if George would take suggestions...

Saw this a while back. And I must say this gives me tingles everytime I watch it.



Once you view it, you'll understand. Once Luke says, "I'm a Jedi, like my father before me." I want to cheer!

When I was a kid, I wondered what Vader was thinking during this scene. I always thought he was thinking back to when he was first turned to the Darkside and how he had a familiarity with the pain that comes with that lightning striking one's body. Not to mention that he finally realizes that his son is calling for his help and his love is more powerful than the Darkside.

For over 20 years, I am still impressed that you can see emotion in that cold black helmet. Now, a film-maker's has incredibly inter-cut scenes from Episode II and III and all I can say it makes this scene better. Unfortunately, I don't see George Lucas taking any suggestions on a better cut of the scene.

Shadow Chronicles Review and Commentary Part V

The last part of my initial Shadow Chronicles Commentary has arrived. Don’t worry; I won’t stop talking Robotech, actually I tons of thoughts on the original 85 episodes and how it compares to today, etc; so stick around.




But, how would I change The Shadow Chronicles? Here are a few ideas:
[sticking with the story of TSC…]
* Change the beginning. Personally, I would not have wasted screen time to retell the last episode of New Generation, Symphony of Light. The audience didn’t need it. Marcus’ narration gives the newcomer enough information and honestly, if anyone wants to know how the New Generation ended they could go out and pick up the DVD or even Netflix it. Unfortunately, I do not believe TSC was solely a product to introduce Robotech to new viewers. TSC was a geek film that only existing Robotech fans raced out and bought. Not to say TSC didn’t create a buzz and possibly bring in a few new fans into the mix. Yet, why not wet those viewers appetite and force them to check out the original series—which they’re going to do anyways. To which, I really don’t know why Tommy Yune wanted this movie to be a stand alone film. Honestly, the movie can’t be a stand alone movie as it relies too heavily on source material of a prior show—viewers will need to know of the original to truly enjoy it.

* Introduce Scott Bernard much later. Actually the perfect spot would be when he rescues the Icarus from the Haydonite attack. Thus, remove any reference to him prior. The whole scene where Gen. Reinhardt contacts Scott is cheesy and stupid. What was the point? If we had gotten the intro I wanted, Scott’s return would have been more glorious, important to plot movement and simply put, would have given any Robotech fan the tinglies, “Yeah! Scott’s back!”

* Keep continuity. Focus every effort to respect the events of the Sentinels and other source material. I felt like George Lucas was involved and was changing his mind again and I didn’t like it. I’m sorry but Robotech fans have based their knowledge on the back story of prior incarnations of Robotech, especially the Sentinels. Janice was created on Tirol not Earth?

* Give the characters some substance and memory. No one seems to remember other characters, nor do names ring any bells. I would have bought Marcus’s intimidation toward Maia if he had said, “she’s Max and Mirya’s daughter. Her sister was like the hero of the 2nd Robotech War.” Isn’t the Sterling name as famous as the Hunter one? When she introduces herself, Alex and Marcus would have said “duh!”

* Nix Louie Nichols. Is he a brilliant scientist who gave us the Nichols Fold Drive or is he some stupid Star Trek science officer? If you want him there, give him some importance.

* Give us realistic looking boobs, geez! Is Robotech sci-fi opera or some softy porn hentai?

* Have it be anime from Japan. Sorry, but many of the character designs seem to be a bit Manhwa. Thus, some of the visual style distracts from the original series.

* Give Mark Hamill’s character more screen time. Here’s a great character yet severely ignored. He’s on screen for 2 minutes! Was I suppose to feel bad when he spit up blood and died? Also, Mr. Hamill gets top billing yet for what, “all units engage”, “ “follow my lead” and “oh, gawd, ugg. spit. burp!!”




* Redesign the Haydonite Masters. They look too much like Invid Enforcers.

[Starting from Scratch]
* Set the story farther out in the timeline. I would have preferred the story picking up much later in history. Perhaps have the crew of the Ark Angel searching for the SDF-3 for months or even years. Give us a new set of characters. Focus on these new characters over rehashing the lives of older ones. Create the sequel more like the original show—create a new generation of heroes. It could have been connected to prior generations through character references. Keep Maia Sterling as a thread back to both 1st and 2nd generation. Scott is in command of the rescue mission for the SDF-3. The Haydenite mystery and deception should be discovered as they get closer to finding the SDF-3—have this concept be focused around the SDF-3 and finding the last protoculture matrix.

The one thing that I liked about the original series was the leaps it made in time and place. Southern Cross was great as we knew it was a descendent of Macross and the RDF. With Dana, the daughter of Max and Miriya, we had a bold reference to its predecessor. The viewer was curious to find out what happened in between the destruction of the SDF-1 and the departure of the Robotech Expeditionary Force. And again, this was true when we made the leap to the New Generation after Zor accidentally released the Flowers of Life. New Generation was cool because we knew Rick Hunter would return yet we never got to see it. There was sort of a mysticism about it.

I was listening to Darkwater’s farewell podcast via Space Station Liberty and he agreed that the best way to do a sequel would have been to take Robotech ahead with a new New Generation. And I will totally agree with this concept. In all regards, this is the fomula for Robotech. It works best as a multi-generational story. The only success would be to leap to a new generation of characters. And only keep the references to prior ones through descendents or onscreen remembrances.



As for Shadow Chronicles 2 and the future of Robotech, I truly worry whether it could hold the audience. Will a series of OVAs work? Or does the fan require another TV show? There are simply too many questions and too many things that we have to teach ourselves to forget.

Shadow Chronicles Review and Commentary Part IV

Continuing my dislikes for The Shadow Chronicles....

The biggest complaint I had was the continuity issues. I admit that I have been in the backseat of Robotech fandom for about a decade. To which, I admit I don't know what is still canon and what is not. I do know that End of the Circle has been taken out of canon and some fans want the novels removed completely. Yet, I will declare that I stand by the novels as good source material and this is the only way (outside of the comics) one can know the story of the Sentinels.

Which brings me to a big continuity flaw of TSC, is HG and TSC pretending the Sentinels didn't happen? My opinion is that they must have decided to deny the mission to Tirol as "we" know it. As I found a big issue with the apparent flaw that Vince Grant didn't know Janice. I mean he didn't even recognize her nor did he remember her from his duty on SDF-3. As well, Louie Nichols seems to have suffered from massive memory loss as details and technology he would have known about while in the Tirol system has evaded him. He also seems to be unaware of Janice’s true identity.

Little continuity flaws bug me too. These can be the same as those seen in the original 85 episodes. But they had the ability to avoid them here in TSC. Gen. Reinhardt (not named in the Symphony of Light) acts like the SDF-3 is late and never arrives out of hyperspace thus producing a mystery at the end of the episode. Now we know that it had a malfunction to which Reinhardt knows of.

Shadow Devices in Symphony of Light were not a Cloaking Device as it is in TSC. A New Generation episode described that the Protoculture reactors were designed with a 4th dimensional configuration making them invisible to the Invid sensors. This makes it sound like that Shadow Fighters were always in a mode of cloak. TSC shows us that you have to turn it on and off.



Did Reinhardt or anyone from the REF fleet in orbit ever communicate with Scott during the battle? I thought the answer was no. Not only does Reinhardt do it but his crew even have detailed info about Scott and his team.

I could mention a few others but I won’t. Many are trivial and I won’t deny it. Yet, why does this plague me? Simply put, it does because it brings up too many questions and not good ones. It makes me believe that the new creators want to throw their own spin on something and not honor original continuity. I also feel I am lost in a universe I thought I knew a little about.

Well, my final installment on The Shadow Chronicles will be a little about how I would have started and continued a Robotech sequel. Till then….

I have learned a terrible truth...

I have strayed from my Shadow Chronicles commentary to mention something that I have just learned…

The voice actor that gave Dana Sterling life has passed away. The voice actor was credited as Melissa Newman aka Lisa Michaelson. While listening to Space Station Liberty during the Reba West aka Rebecca Forstadt interview, other listeners and Rebecca confirmed that the voice actor was in fact a girlfriend of Greg Snegoff and died in a car accident many years ago. I did my own research and found that Lisa Michaelson died in 1991. Although her death isn’t recent, I felt it was something new to me.

Many have thought she didn't do any other voice work after Robotech. Yet, if you pull up Lisa Michaelson on IMDB she did a few other roles in the late 80s. Some include: My Neighbor Totoro, Robot Carnival and Zillion.

This is sad news as we have lost a true talent and unfortunately, Dana (if she appears in any future Robotech movies) will be voiced by a new actor.

I remember back in the 80's I read somewhere that Lisa aka Melissa Newman was a friend of another voice actor working on Robotech and when producers just couldn't find their Dana, she had accidentally spoken up in the studio to which they knew that was the voice. Thus, she really wasn't a voice actor by trade. I feel we have a few more pieces of the puzzle…

If anyone has more information on this I would be interested in reading about it.

Shadow Chronicles Review and Commentary Part III

This part of the commentary will be broken down a bit more. I may over analyze some of the anime and franchises I really love, especially if it is being redone or reborn after a long absence. As for TSC, this was a nice reboot to Robotech. I personally did like it and gave it a good overall review.

Yet, there were a few things that I didn’t like. First the little things:

Why not bring Melanie MacQueen back to reprise her role as Marlene II/Ariel? I was very happy to see she voiced Marlene Rushe but it was odd hearing another voice on Ariel. It lost some of the magic. I know that may be a nit picky thing, but I would have preferred Melanie as both characters.

Was it me or was “Doctor” Louie Nichols a bit immature? Yeah, that was his character type 15 years prior during the second Robotech war yet he didn’t mature any in the harsh years afterward? I thought he would be a bit more calculating and intense since he was like the new Dr. Lang. Usually, intelligent individuals are very eccentric and sometimes cold. Also, he just doesn’t look like a character who would be wearing a cape. His uniform was very elaborate and seemed to over power even higher ranking officers. Now I may have to research this and I could be wrong (not to mention a lot has been taken out of canon lately), but I thought Louie had taken a Protoculture boost similar to Lang and Zand. Thus, I thought he would have changed. Instead, we were left with lines like, “it’s all numbers, there’s no letters in it.” This is so forced and contrived. Louie from Southern Cross was better.

The recap of the final moments of Symphony of Light was also well done but a waste of screen time. We didn’t need it. I know Tommy Yune wanted to allow this movie to be a stand alone flick and that he felt he needed to give the audience a recap but I don’t see too many anime fans watching this without seeing the original source material. Everyone that bought this thing was already a Robotech fan. Even if one hadn’t seen Robotech before, then having a bit of confusion and intrigue would only get them to go out and buy the 80s version. Simply put, we lost 20 minutes of film time on something I have already seen and the strange disappearance of all of the other New Generation characters just irritated me. ( I have an alternate opening that would have worked better—I will discuss that one soon.)

How did Marcus know Ariel was an Invid? He sees her glowing like an angel and bam! she’s an Invid. Only Scott’s team and Sue Graham knew that the Invid had adapted to human form so thus Marcus would have no way of knowing her origins. As far as he was concerned Invids were green slugs and protoplasmic creatures.

Why doesn’t Vince Grant know who Janice is? Now, as I recall, he was at the Hunter wedding where Janice did sing and later in the Sentinels books he would have learned she was an android. Did I miss something? Or did canon change again? Thus, that brings me to the bigger things….

Next time, the changes to continuity and canon that I just didn’t like….

Shadow Chronicles Review and Commentary Part II

What I liked:

After viewing Shadow Chronicles a few times, the one thing that stood out the most was the music and sound. Scott Glasgow’s musical score elevated the quality of Robotech into the echelon of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Gone is the 80’s keyboard music and replaced with 40 strings and brass. The fine musical score was well mixed with the sound effects of the old show as well with new ones.

The second thing I noticed was the 3D animation and the achievements of the computer graphics. The opening sequence was something out of a Star Trek episode. I was also quickly reminded of the opening of Superman Returns. Yes, this has been done again and again in science fiction but I definitely liked it. I did have doubts about the mixing of traditional 2D animation and the new computer driven 3D animation. But in the end, I was definitely blown away. The ability to escalate the special effects and enlarge the pallet is amazing. The battle to liberate the Earth at the beginning greatly out did the old animation of the New Generation. I was so impressed I rewound the DVD and watched it again and again. In the 80’s, I had to almost use my imagination to encompass the size of the battle fleet from the REF. But finally, I didn't have to think but be overwhelmed by the sharp and crisp scene playing out on my widescreen television.

If I was numbering these points, I would say the third most important thing I liked about TSC was the bringing back of so many of the original voice actors. It gave me chills and took me back to the summer 1985 when I heard Scott Bernard speak again, the first time in 20 years. Tony Oliver gave Rick Hunter an edge and realism. He didn’t just should like Rick from Macross but had the voice of age and wisdom. Dan Woren’s voice was welcomed back as Gen Reinhardt but I will admit he’s best as Roy Fokker. Other voices most Robotech fans will definitely appreciate are Richard Epcar, Iona Morris, and Melanie MacQueen. There was even some other famous voices like Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, and Chase Masterson. I would say the voice talents have only gotten better with age.

Did I like the story? Yes. The story stayed with the themes of Robotech. With the new sequel we got a new villain and enemy. Pacing and action was again in line with the old series. The battles were grand and filled with explosions. The ability to work actual dialog from the final episode of New Generation was also a plus in my book. The small things like that kept me involved and allowed me to remember back to good ol' early days.

All in all, I found this new Robotech very entertaining. I would have to give it a 7 out of 10. Or on a stars level, I would give it 3.75 stars. And as Ebert and Roper would say, two thumbs up!

In a future post, I will state my dislikes. And once that is on the table, I can begin to break down a few scenes and few larger topics that I want to bring around for discussion.

Shadow Chronicles Review and Commentary Part I

The Robotech sequel was put into production over three years ago. Why it took so long, I have no guess. The Sentinels fell apart in an economic collapse between the dollar and the yen. What plagued Shadow Chronicles? Distribution deals and Harmony Gold. Well, that is my guess.

As for the wait, I had anticipated the release of Shadow Chronicles like everyone else. I don’t think I took the release delays as hard as some other Robotech bloggers. I figured we’d eventually get it and left it at that. I think I took a passive approach to those delays as I didn’t want my anticipation to impact the perception I would have of the feature when I saw it. Some may understand what I call “the anticipation syndrome” of movies. Does anyone recall the American Godzilla feature film? We saw teaser trailers 18 months before the release. With such an early promotion campaign, the film collapsed under its own weight of hype and anticipation. The audience was geared up for the film so long that they wanted something that would blow the Japanese versions out of the water. And we know how that ended. The film tanked and was thrown in the classification of “worst films of our generation”—riddled with clichés and bad story movement. I’m surprised the Japanese didn’t attack us again just for the slaughter of their iconic character and story.

As for my opinion on the Shadow Chronicles delays, I think this most likely was Harmony Gold’s fault. From recent interviews and articles, it appears that Harmony Gold doesn’t exactly rush their negotiations to do anything. They’re the grannies of deal making. Palladium is suffering the same fate with wanting to release a TSC version of the role-playing game. We can only hope that the July-ish release date of a revamped RPG for Robotech will hold true. If Harmony Gold doesn’t work deals a bit faster, the fans may abandon any future projects or merchandising. You can sustain fans for future releases but you can’t riddle them with delays and deception. The Star Wars prequels had gripped fans with anticipation for Episodes I, II and III but we knew we would get them in 1999, 2002 and 2005. If George Lucas had delayed Episode III to 2006, would he have kept the fans eager and craving Star Wars? Yes, of course. But if he delayed it again to 2007 because he couldn’t find a distributor and then delayed it again to 2008 because he couldn’t decide if he wanted it to be a DVD release or theatrical release, then the fans would have been outraged and interest would have faded. What Robotech needs is a strict release schedule. And do everything to hit those marks this side of a comet smashing into North America. Then, slowly release footage and mecha designs to wet our appetites. One great example of just giving enough details without giving too much away was the Star Wars Insider’s content of the prequels. Since Lucasfilm guarded things so well, gave tiny tid-bits and never strayed from those release dates, the fans flocked by the millions to local theaters.

With the official word that a sequel to the sequel is in production, the first thing that popped into my head was, “so we’ll see this feature sometime in 2009 or 2010. Now that I think about it…2009 would be a great release date! Harmony Gold could use the tie in to the year the Zentraedi arrived. It would be grand….

Oh well, perhaps I should focus some commentary to the actual production of The Shadow Chronicles…. Stay tuned tomorrow for Part II.

Let’s talk about Robotech!

As I will review Shadow Chronicles shortly, I will discuss a few topics on Robotech.

Where to start? To give creditability to my review, perhaps some back story on my past with Robotech…

1985. An early spring day. It was Friday. KCOP, Channel 13 in Los Angeles premiered a 90-minute long episode of Robotech. I recall KCOP had a tendency for placing animated specials on Friday afternoons as if it were a treat for school kids to start their weekend. I remember they did this from time to time and especially would do this again the next year with Voltron: The Fleet of Doom special. The premiere was advertised for about a week before the airdate amongst episodes of Flintstones, Thundercats and Voltron, so I had an opportunity to see a sample and was well prepared to watch it that fateful Friday.

At the time, I was a Japanimation fan (although I would not know this until after Robotech. I mean I was a huge fan of Battle of the Planets, Tranzor Z and Voltron. Yet I didn’t know these were products of Japan. I was only a child back then, 12 to be exact, and was naïve about the production of many of my favorite cartoons and animated shows). This Robotech episode would be dubbed “the pilot” or in my words a very extended version of Gloval’s Report and I would be reminded a few years later that it was actually titled Codename: Robotech. It would be lost to me until the DVD box set release of Robotech. I will admit when I watched this episode I was hooked. I thought the visuals were breathtaking and designs of the mecha were right up my alley. Yet, I didn’t know what the freak this show was about. Honestly, I found the pacing very confusing and rushed. Thinking this was only a special, I wasn’t too happy with the end product. But…while watching the "pilot" show, advertisements for its daily incarnation, motivated me to give the show a second chance.

Thus, my interest in Robotech was born. Let’s say, from that first Monday through another 85 straight week days, I was addicted to Robotech. I would race home after school to watch it. (later, I would manage to tape all 85 episodes via the VCR—I still have these tapes to this day and many still have commercials. Someday I hope to rip them and get them on the good ol’ puter.) If memory serves, it was on around 4 p.m. (this would be mountain time—see my bio) This was now my new Star Wars (I will expand my past with Star Wars in a future post). To make a long history short, I searched out everything Robotech. I found the novels (which I enjoyed greatly and don’t understand the controversy—perhaps I will write about that soon), I played the role-playing game by Palladium, I bought the Robotech art books (at this point I started to understand the concept of Japanimation), I bought every issue of the Comico comics, I bought the VHS tapes and I would subscribe to Protoculture Addicts. I was a fan in the purest. I found that many of my school mates loved Robotech too and thus we had our little club of fans.

Although the show was riddled with inconsistencies and minor goofs, we didn’t think much of them and joked about it often. That is why I loved the novels so much as it tried to fix those issues. As time passed, Robotech faded in the background. I think it dominated much of my life from 1985 until 1992-ish. I was one of those kids who wouldn’t let it die even when my other friends did and mocked me for liking it still (at this time I was entering my freshman year in college). I did move my interests back to Star Wars in 1993 (a story in itself for another time).

Today, I own both the remastered and the original release of Robotech on DVD, to which, I prefer the original as it reminds me of how it was back in 1985. I currently have all 85 episodes and Shawdow Chronicles on my iPod. I’m not a new or passing Robotech fan, thus I think my comments and insight of both Robotech and Shadow Chronicles should be well supported…

A New Dawn....

…The Kastle Tower has been constructed. The power of the hobby kingdom will be discussed and explored…