by the fans for the fans

Just got the official acceptance notification today for our Macross Origins panel at Otakon this summer!

We're making a few updates to the panel since our presentations at Setsucon and Zenkaikon.

We'll discuss series in both the Macross and Robotech universes.

If you're cosplaying as a Macross/Robotech character, stick around at the end for a group photo.

See you Baltimore at Otakon!
www.otakon.com

Post-panel picture with some other Macross cosplayers from the audience.

Family Portrait

Saturday

Awesome! thanks for sharing.

GREAT PICKS. HOW WAS THE PANEL?

Our experience at Otakon was great. As a first-time presenter at Otakon, I can't thank the staff enough for their trust in selecting our panel and their assistance & support.

We had a few snafus and there are certainly areas for improvement. It was a larger venue than we've done before so there was some nervousness. Plus we were presenting to some really hardcore Macross/Robotech fans that know their stuff. I adapted our original plan on the fly and as a result ended up doing the majority of the speaking. Miriya will forgive me this time but next time I think she'll bring out the knives again :^)

We ran the presentation right to the time limits so we took a quick photo and then did some Q &A outside the room with anyone that hung around.

Despite the flaws (we are always learning & improving for the next time) I think it passed muster and we have a chance at presenting again at Otakon for their 20th anniversary.

Anyway, here's some feedback we received in the Otakon forums from a more experienced presenter:


Daryl Surat
"If I was being glib, I'd say the best panels I went to were Anime's Craziest Deaths (full title listing here), Great Anime Openings, and Lupin the Third: 40+ Years of Heists and Hijinks...but I ran all of those, so that wouldn't help much. What's more, it wouldn't even be true; I mistakenly structured and conducted my Lupin panel thinking I had more time than I did, so when the 10 minute warning came I ended up skipping several years and points just to wrap things up.

In terms of content, the BEST panel I went to was Macross Origins on Friday evening, as presented by a couple costuming as Max and Milia from the series. Admittedly, there were places for improvement: "Milia" didn't actually speak once the panel commenced and "Max" spoke with a quiet even tone one might use when reading the phone book aloud. (To be fair, he was reading from a massive script.) But from a purely technical and informational standpoint this blew away pretty much anything I have ever done or ever will do, and as such I'll forgive it. They authored a DVD consisting of multiple segments, each of which clearly required a COLOSSAL undertaking to edit together. The segments largely consisted of match/juxtaposition cutting between the various incarnations of Macross and Robotech created over the years, as well as live-action footage of idol singers and (amusingly) the live-action film Flyboys. Creating this requires knowledge that can't simply be gained from Google or Wikipedia: you would need precise recollection of specific scenes and exact lines of dialogue from installments spanning decades worth of anime, plus the time and know-how to compile it all. At times it reminded me of the X-23 fan films of...wow, that reference was from over 20 years ago, so I'd better stop! Point is, these guys went WAY above and beyond the call of duty without crossing over into the realm of "crazy people." They didn't get to show everything of theirs due in (tiny) part to pre-allocating the final 5 minutes of the panel for a live-action karaoke performance of Lion by two Macross cosplayer friends of theirs, but I'm quite confident they'll be back at next year's Otakon. I'll be sure to see it."

Paul Starr tweeted:

"My favorite panel at Otakon was the Macross Origins panel. Incredibly well-researched and -presented. Made me want to rewatch the shows"

JaesonK wrote:

Anyway, here's some feedback we received in the Otakon forums from a more experienced presenter:


Daryl Surat

Daryl Surat...? The guy who called Kawamori the "George Lucas of anime" and believed (all evidence from EVERY party to the contrary) that Noboru Ishiguro did all the work on DYRL and Kawamori took all the credit...?

I dunno, man...no offense, but a good review from him could mean ANYTHING.

Daryl wasn't 100% supportive of our panel, which is good. I'm looking for critical feedback too. I agree with the deficiencies he points out and it will help us improve it. There are also some other areas that we'll address.

As for other comments...

If you watch for Kawamori's cameo in Frontier, he appears as director Jōji Yamamori. It's both a play on Kawamori's name and George Lucas'. The visual is a mix of the two (young Lucas) and the mannerisms certainly mimic Lucas'. Kawamori may not be the Lucas of anime but the Lucas of Macross he is.

As for DYRL, I dunno. Who should get more credit for Empire Strikes Back? Lucas or Kershner? Maybe Kasdan? If Lucas directed, I don't think it would be nearly as good. But Kershner didn't write the story, he just breathed life into it in a way that Lucas could not do himself. So everyone contributed their best and the stars aligned. Not so fortunate for the newer episodes that Lucas directed.