by the fans for the fans

SIGHUP wrote:

And this thread was doing so well.

Let me remind you. Stay on topic. Its not a lets bash hg or seto thread. Its about the fans describing how you could do it better. A few people understood that on earlier posts.

Forgive me for stating the glaringly obvious, but the reason you keep having these problems is because you never take any action when Pizza the Hutt attacks people for voicing their opinions and legitimate criticisms. That's why so many of your most prolific contributors have left... but you'd have to be blind, stupid, or both not to see that.


Now, getting back to the topic at hand...

Can I do a better job with Robotech than Harmony Gold has?

Yes and no.

I would think that the real question should be "Can you manage Robotech's creative process better than Harmony Gold", since it's not a one-man effort.

I can't draw for shit, so I wouldn't be able to do the character and mechanical designs myself. Of course, I'd need to bring someone in to do that part of the creative process, but no biggie. Instead of bringing in a mecha virgin like Tommy Yune, whose design skills are limited primarily to American superhero comics books and lame cheesecake books, I'd be actively trying to poach one or more artists from Dreamwave... since they have a pretty good set of artists who have a lot of experience with mechanical design.

Writing... honestly, I think the biggest mistake made in the creative process of Shadow Chronicles was to allow Steve, Tommy, and co. to write it. Because they're fans, it reeks of "fan-film"... the writing is clunkly, awkward, and the dialogue can only fairly be described as a mess. The LAM's writer selection just further reinforces the argument that they wouldn't know a good writer if one bit them in the ass. While I could easily do a better job writing than they did, the smartest maneuver would be to bring in someone who is not a fan, who has experience in writing war dramas (my particular favorite for the job would be Dan Abnett), pack them off with a box set of the original series to familiarize them with the universe, and let them expand on it. Building a whole new story from bits and pieces of Carl Macek's Robotech II: the Sentinels is a big mistake.

The decision Harmony Gold made to farm the animation out to a Korean studio that specializes in tweening as a money-saving measure was an extremely poor one, as it compromised the quality of the final product. I would definitely contract Tatsunoko Productions to do the job, which would also eliminate a large portion of the tedious legal paperwork, because of their pre-existing involvement in the Robotech franchise, and their abundant experience with mecha shows.

Customer relations... whooboy did Harmony Gold ever drop the ball on this front. Many are the complaints about the poor state of affairs on Robotech.com. I would definitely order a complete redesign of the site to improve overall performance while also adding a few extra features like a "mark all topics read" button and replace the HTML tags with less awkward BBCode tags. Another major improvement would be to expand the Infopedia. A simple, no-brainer move if ever there was one... put some time in against improving the mecha and character stats pages, finish the Shadow Chronicles section, add descriptions and synopses of each comic book series and novel in the bibliography and a contents list for each other book. (Of course, this I've already proven willing and able to do, as I've offered to do this for Tommy at no cost several times). The experts needed to be tapped are already in close communication with me, so that's pretty easy too. ('course I could really cheat on this one by awarding the site design contract to my own company... I know they know how to design web interfaces exceptionally well) A different service needs to be contracted for the store, since customer service there is crap, no buts about it. I have contacts at a few Amway affiliates that could dramatically improve both the shipping speed and the warehouse turnaround times for orders.

On the PR front... strike a deal with the creators of Battletech and MechWarrior, authorize their use of the Macross designs in merchandise (namely, the two games) to kill the brouhaha over the C&D letters, with the caveat that they're obligated to accept the contract to do the next Robotech vidoegame, and include trailers for Robotech and Macross in the videogame's extras section. Reopen talks with Big West for the licensing of the remainder of Macross in the US, effectively killing 99% of the complaints about Harmony Gold.


Most of the ways Harmony Gold could do better are, as you can see, no-brainers. That they somehow escaped notice by the creative staff there is somewhat depressing.

Forgive me for stating the glaringly obvious, but the reason you keep having these problems is because you never take any action when Pizza the Hutt attacks people for voicing their opinions and legitimate criticisms. That's why so many of your most prolific contributors have left... but you'd have to be blind, stupid, or both not to see that.

He's blunt, but he's got a point.

Honestly, Sighup, you asked a loaded question, with an obvious outcome that a blind man could see a mile away, but then you chastise the wrong people.

What the hell is the matter with you?

Seto Kaiba

strike a deal with the creators of Battletech and MechWarrior, authorize their use of the Macross designs in merchandise (namely, the two games) to kill the brouhaha over the C&D letters

HERE IS TEH THING, WHY MAKE A DEAL FOR A FEW FANS WHEN WB CAN TAKE IT MUCH FURTHER THAN MECHWARRIOR, WICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ROBOTECH, OTHER THAN USE THE ART?

WITH A WB DEAL MORE GAMES CAN BE DEVELOPED AND CATERING TO FANS AND DIFFERENT AGES ACROSS THE BOARD. AND IT COMES WITH A GREAT DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING WITH IT.


THE DEVELOPER WILL HAVE TO COMPETE FOR THE DEAL WITH HG AS WELL AS WB. GIVIN THE CHOICE BETWEEN THE TWO I THINK WB WILL PAY MORE THAN WHAT THE OTHER GUYS WILLING TO OFFER.

MEMO1DOMINION wrote:

Seto Kaiba

strike a deal with the creators of Battletech and MechWarrior, authorize their use of the Macross designs in merchandise (namely, the two games) to kill the brouhaha over the C&D letters

HERE IS TEH THING, WHY MAKE A DEAL FOR A FEW FANS WHEN WB CAN TAKE IT MUCH FURTHER THAN MECHWARRIOR, WICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ROBOTECH, OTHER THAN USE THE ART?

WITH A WB DEAL MORE GAMES CAN BE DEVELOPED AND CATERING TO FANS AND DIFFERENT AGES ACROSS THE BOARD. AND IT COMES WITH A GREAT DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING WITH IT.


THE DEVELOPER WILL HAVE TO COMPETE FOR THE DEAL WITH HG AS WELL AS WB. GIVIN THE CHOICE BETWEEN THE TWO I THINK WB WILL PAY MORE THAN WHAT THE OTHER GUYS WILLING TO OFFER.

You are working under two assumptions that you may be wrong about. First you imply that there are fewer Mechwarrior/Battletech fans than Robotech fans, which is still no excuse even if you are right. The other is that the LAM is definitely coming. What stage of production is it in? When is it coming out? From what I read it is still in early pre-production. Is this movie even going to be good? Will it be a hit? The idea that WB is going to swoop in and save Robotech is not a sure thing. Meanwhile HG is throwing a monkey wrench in some other companies production. Even if we get a movie in the next couple of years the law of movie tie in licensing means that it will probably be a cheap cash grab.
We could be waiting 3 or 4 years for nothing.
Honestly, I hope the MW5 developers drop the similar designs that HG isn't using and WB will probably not use and complete their game. I don't really care about the crap that WB will 'make.' I'm more interested in quality than deep pockets or perceived market share.

Viper wrote:

He's blunt, but he's got a point.

Honestly, Sighup, you asked a loaded question, with an obvious outcome that a blind man could see a mile away, but then you chastise the wrong people.

What the hell is the matter with you?

Apparently it is my mistake for thinking that you guys can be mature enough about discussions like these without bringing up personal vendettas. THAT INCLUDES EVERYONE (Jesus a bunch of babies in here!)

Thanks to those who actually replied with their ideas on HOW THEY COULD DO IT BETTER THAN HG, which was the original topic without pointing fingers and describing in so many ways why HG sucks. We KNOW why! The purpose of this thread was an exercise in voicing your ideas on what YOU would do better.

With that said, keep the ideas coming.

SIGHUP wrote:

Apparently it is my mistake

The first mistake you made was to post a thread asking for ideas on how you could handle Robotech better than Harmony Gold without realizing that in order to establish where and how you could do a better job, you first need to establish where and how Harmony Gold's efforts have been inadequate. That's just the fundamental nature of the question!

Your second mistake was to get annoyed when people did so.

I could keep going like this, but I think you get my point.

But I thought we knew that already?

SIGHUP wrote:

But I thought we knew that already?

Everybody has different opinions of how and where Harmony Gold's performance has been deficient. It should go without saying that those opinions would shape their thoughts on how and where they could improve things.

Once again, continue with the ideas. . .

Seto Kaiba wrote:

you never take any action when Pizza the Hutt attacks people

So wrong you are.I will not go into detail but moderators has taken ACTION for my misconduct.

That's why so many of your most prolific contributors have left..

Seto,what are you talking about?,Our best members/contribitors Isamu,Lancer,Lobizon,Maverick,Memo,HashiNoUsagi,Dartillion and Seifriette Weisse and many others are still here! And I can't see how this place would do without them,just cuz they do not post alot does not mean they are gone.

back on subject
I was serious when the one thing that could help Harmony Gold is taking a leap on faith that if Carl Macek was allowed back just to do Robotech:The untold story.Or better yet.Post a legit poll on what fans would like to see happen that can be done immediately,For example.,Untold story re-do,Comic re-issue,affordable sale on most items,chess boards or "monopoly" or "life" games and then try to make it happen.

Pete