| Cuteness. |
[18 Dec 2009|01:08pm] |
These days, I have to be careful: I have plowed through so many Zentraedi-related topics that I might end up repeating myself if I start revisiting older ones. For instance, I recently wrote something about Richard Birler the Zentradi mogul in Macross Frontier, only to realize that I had made basically the same points in an older post about him. Being starved for new material, and having a tendency to keep repeating things because of my fixation on them, can be a deadly combination.
But sometimes, there is a point at which you can revisit an old topic and find you have more to say.
For some reason, I've lately been on a bit of a kick for Rico, Bron, and Konda, a.k.a. Rori, Warera, and Konda, the three Zentraedi spies from the Macross series. It might be because I was looking for a "definitive" picture of them for my essay, and ended up capping more than a few silly faces and macro-worthy images from the episode "Blue Wind", chuckling all the while, but the truth is that I've been attached to these characters for a while now.
It's been over a year since I decided that I liked the spy trio as, uh...individual beings. My previous entry about the characters was written in September of 2008, which surprises me, since I had thought it was my RAEG at finding out how the Macross universe decided to handle them which had clued me in to the fact that, "Hey, I like these guys".
(For those who don't remember, an old Macross publication revealed that the three of them had become bitter, burned-out alcoholics, with Rori married to Vanessa but refusing to work, and therefore leaching off her. I am totally not making this up and I really wish I was).
Like I've said before, I'm aware that the three characters are never really rendered distinct from one another and that their role is largely comic relief. Sure, you get moments were one's the ringleader, and one's the more conscientious one, etc., but such traits are never consistently followed up on, and for the most part, their reactions, opinions, and mannerisms are so similar that their lines seem almost interchangeable.
But there are reasons why I like them as a collective trio. It's another one of those things where my feelings about the characters seem to be at odds with the way most fans percieve them, but I can also back up those feelings with evidence from the show. Sometimes I feel a tad off-kilter for finding anything beyond lulz in these characters, but at the end of the day, it's what happens.
( Read more... )
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| Look! Something seasonal! |
[17 Dec 2009|12:20pm] |
Robotech Christmas by *EastCoastCanuck on deviantART
I've seen this drawing loads of times before, and it was always fun to try to see if I could name all the characters in it. It's a little hard at first, given the number of characters who are just slightly off-model (and that many seem to have the same body type).
However, I like that the characters are actually doing various things and interacting with each other rather than standing around, which is key to any good group shot.
Plus, Exedore dressed as an elf never fails to crack me up. XD
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| Childhood Trauma |
[14 Dec 2009|12:38pm] |
Sadly, I think it's safe to say that The Muppet Show hasn't clicked with me as strongly as I wanted it to, after "rediscovering" it through toplessrobot.com's The Muppet Show's 10 Weirdest Moments. Rather, it's just that when the show busts out with something memorably surreal I'm totally hooked, but a lot of the time I'm just not into it.
But I'm still a little fascinated with Uncle Deadly, because part of the time I think he's completely awesome, other times just a little freaky to me, as if I was still a wee brat staying up late to watch Muppet Show reruns on YTV in the early nineties.
Sometimes Uncle Deadly's creepiness is defused by realizing he's just as silly and hammy as every other Muppet, other times he just reminds me of Photoshopping a scary thing into an innocent picture for yucks, an equivalent to the "shit brix" phenomenon, but with puppets, as you can't quite believe a Muppet that looks like that *exists* and is interacting with the more familiar faces.
Anyway, I brought this back up because I discovered that some kind soul has uploaded the episodes of the Muppet Show containing the "Muppet Melodramas", which were probably the last Uncle Deadly-related videos I had to get around to seeing in this day and age, but at the same time, the first place where I remember seeing Uncle Deadly, way back when.
I've got no time machine, but my brain is damn sure that this Muppet Melodrama was the one in question.
Despite how hilarious this is, it's easy to imagine a small child finding Uncle Deadly frightening, in an, "OMG, what is that??" way--which was pretty much how I reacted.
And he would merely have said, "A thespian". XD
But another fact: watching the Vincent Price "You've Got a Friend" skit never fails to cheer me up.
In the end, Uncle Deadly edges far closer to the side of awesome for me, but my inner child is still a little spooked.
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| SDFM 31 - Lone Review |
[13 Dec 2009|06:08pm] |
Okay, my review of "Satan's Dolls", episode 31 of the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (a.k.a. "Khyron's Revenge" in Robotech), ran a little long. So I'm going to present it as a separate piece. Enjoy!
( Read more... )
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| Exosquad Series in Review |
[12 Dec 2009|07:48pm] |
Exosquad Series in Review
Yes, for those of you keeping track, I am aware that Robotech toys were sold under the Exosquad banner, and I have been mentally comparing the Neosapiens to the Zentraedi ever since I saw the first episode. But the overlap between those of you who read my journal and have seen both Macross and Exosquad is so small that I might not bother.
Though I’m a big anime fan, there’s something about a well-produced American action cartoon that gets my motor running, and Exosquad has been one that I’ve been searching for a while. I can never remember seeing it on TV up in Canada, and it was only through Internet word-of-mouth that I figured out that this show existed. I really looked forward to the DVD, and a viewing of (most of) the rest of the series on Youtube followed, Hulu still being inaccessible to a Canadian.
Now that I’ve seen it, I realize what everyone was going on about. There are some flaws, but this is overall a really good show, even if it was one that I didn’t entirely connect with.
If you haven’t seen it, the premise goes like this: humans in the far-future engineered a race of labourers, called the Neosapiens (who look like big blue humanoid aliens, but are quite local). The Neosapiens rebelled and the rebellion was quelled, leading to a state of ostensive peace between the two races, which is still going on as the series opens.
( Read more... )
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| Zentard Grab Bag |
[07 Dec 2009|03:49pm] |
First, since ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) miriya_b is reading this, check out the VF-1D Virgin Road Valkyrie. "Virgin Road" is the original name of the episode "Wedding Bells", and here we have a toy based on the machine that Max and Milia (Miriya) flew to their wedding.
And yes, it's $102.99. Makes me glad I don't really like Valkyries/Veritechs, since there are buttloads of them at these high price points...and high quality. Though if I did like these, I'd probably just buy a small and cheap one, and ignore the triple-digit prices, like I do with the Sandman and Evangelion collectibles.
(Also some really big pictures)
Also, thanks again to J.T. of the The Protoculture Times podcast for another shout-out to me and the this I do. It's in episode 10, and he apparently thinks my review of the Malcontent Uprisings blows his out of the water.
*pumps fist*
Yeah, it's something of a big-fish, small-pond effect, with nobody else in Robotech or Macross fandom doing much writing about the Zentraedi, but we are happy to have fun where we can, am I right?
Also, my term "Zentard" made it to air, which makes it official, I guess. I think it describes me pretty well, given my sometimes oddball fixations and opinions, and my exclusion of nearly everything else. Somebody might argue that my areas of interest in the Zentreadi are themselves too narrow to be considered a proper obsessive, but for me, it's the depth of feeling, not how far it's spread around.
THAT Animeblog continues its retro review and with this installment, they've caught up to my point. My review of the last chunk of episodes is nowhere near as ready to go, so by this week, they're probably going to surpass me.
One thing that can't escape my notice is that the writer appears actually enthused with Britai, happy that he escaped the final battle (the suggestion that he might not have, and that such an event would be given no time or importance at all, was something that never occurred to me at all.)
Now, I truly do understand why the majority of human-allied male Zentraedi are not popular. They're more dorky than they are "hot" or "awesome" (hawtsome?): Rori, Konda, Warera and Exsedol...I know why I like them, and why I feel they're more than just comic relief plot devices, but my instincts just tell me that they're not the kind of characters who get popular.
(Though sometimes I'm still crushed by the sense that in Macross fandom there is nobody interested in them at all, instead of their just being rare, while when it comes to Robotech fandom, I can find a few who share my tastes. Moreso with Exedore)
Britai, however, I'm often stuck wondering why he isn't more popular, given that he totally kicks ass. He's cool, he's got his shit together, he develops during the course of the series...what's not to like?
And yet finally, there is a poster who acknowledges Britai's weapons-grade awesomeness. Thank you lord!
I'm still not interested in talking to Macross fans, but this is nice, anyway.
(Still hate Neo-Britai's character design, though. Blurgh)
And finally, I'm almost done writing up a real long, ovaries-to-the-wall, no-holds-barred, soul-bearing take on why I am such a Zentard, why I am not a Macross purist, why I dislike Do You Remember Love?, and everything else. It's a distillation of all that I've said before, with a few recent alterations for spice. I don't know when it will be done, but you're going to hear about it, yes indeed.
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| More Katana Fanart |
[06 Dec 2009|12:24pm] |
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 chipper |
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I thought the time was over, but now we have more art of the first canonical beaked female in Gargoyles, and the bane of Brooklyn-sues everywhere:
Katana by ~Neomae on deviantART
And by none other than Neomae, who's a great fanartist (I especially love her and her partner's attempts to redesign Disney gargoyles to appear more realistic, though this Katana is geared more towards the TV series style)
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| They See Me Trollin',They Hatin' |
[05 Dec 2009|05:59pm] |
Toplessrobot.com: 8 Reasons Why Robotech is Better Than Macross
I'm leaning in favour of this being a put-on at least in part, 'cause the writer(s) of this site have posted several pieces of Macross-related news before, and every time, they state how much they prefer Robotech, or put the "Robotech" label on a place where it doesn't belong, such as in the selling of a new piece of Macross merchandise, and get hordes of comments from angry people who probably refer to themselves as "otaku" unironically.
He's pokin' the Pomeranian cage (angry nerds are worth no larger descriptor), there, though his reasoning is largely shallow.
If I might get Serious Business, I'm glad at least somebody finds how Max and Milia got together to be unsettling. I don't care if I have to turn in my Vagina Card, my Zentard Card, and my I Totally Understand and Appreciate the Idealistic Nature of Macross No Really Guys Card...watching episode 25 is like chewing tinfoil.
Though the writer could be lying about that, too, given that another article on the site expressed a smirking sense of absurdity at the pairing.
Of course, Robotech can't get a leg up on anything in that department, though there's not much they could have done to soothe that ache, no matter how much TR tries to pretend otherwise.
Though anyone who'd call Macross 7 Milia a bastion of feminist badassitude I'd also disagree with. She could have been, but just has too many moments as a screeching harpy or a comic relief character whose joke depends on the fact that she's an older woman and being sexual/opinionated.
And "Max Jenius" and "Max Sterling" are equally cornball names when you think about it: a heroic character named "Max Sterling"...makes you think of "Max Power" from The Simpsons, doesn't it?
I'll be just over here in the shoulda-been-a-Macross-purist-but-wasn't corner. I can't call myself a fan of one or the other, because there is now a conflict between overall artistic quality, and what makes me feel like I can "be myself". The latter feeling lead me to feel closer to Robotech in the past, but now it's just more complicated.
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| And then a happy thing |
[05 Dec 2009|02:23pm] |
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I caught a strep (or it caught me, really). The doctor gave me something yesterday at last. But he warned me that I should start feeling better by tomorrow. So, I'm a little down. On top of that I read some very disturbing news...
Anyways, I gotta remember the good things and along those lines... A happy thing happened too.
 <-- LOOKIES!
I'm surprised and very happy I got a nomination. Thank you, whoever nominated Touch! *hugs* go to you. :)
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