Bonus! Zillion Review

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

What the heck is Zillion doing here on the Robotech 2012 Blog?! While I am reading the Robotech novels (before watching the show or reading the comics) I got a little lonesome for some Anime. This last week I began cleaning out some old VHS tapes I had in the entertainment center and lo and behold what should I find but my Zillion tapes! I thought this would make a nice quick break and give me some much needed classic animation while I am busy reading during the week.

Zillion is here because it was one of the early Anime titles I picked up after getting into Anime (which was started by my Robotech fandom in the late 80's). Zillion was another Cark Macek adapted show but this time around it was much closer to the actual story and not a mash-up like Robotech was. Macek had his success with Robotech in 1985 and was looking for something new to bring to the US for the older fan. In Japan there were 31 episodes so I am guessing sales in the US were lackluster so there were only the 5 episodes and special released here. You can even see a bit of Zillion in Michael Jackson's Scream video.

Being the much eager Anime fan I got this set plus the movie 'Burning Night' and utterly failed to get past the 2nd episode. That was 20+ years ago... It's time to put things to rights and watch the whole damn thing.

My enthusiasm is much higher now that I am into 'older' Anime series. I do like the flashy new stuff but the totally hand drawn classic anime holds a special place in my heart. This should be fun.

Episode 1 "They Call Me J.J."

What caught me by surprise when I first watched this episode was the much more adult stuff in it. There is some mild cussing and a lot of people dying... alot. There are even babies getting jacked in this show! It was nice that Macek didn't try to edit this to death.

Since this was an OAV (Original Animation Video) it looks better than the regular TV stuff since it was shorter and they had more money to produce nicer animation. You will also notice animation looks very Macross Saga too. That's because Studio Tatsunoko did this.

The enemy in this series (the walking battle suits) look a whole lot like the Invid's Organics... a WHOLE lot. Infact I am willing to bet they are designed off of them.

You will recognize a lot of Robotech voice actors in this. Back in the day there was a smaller circle of voice actors to choose from so most anime back then shared a lot of the same people.

The White Knights are told early on that there is only a limited amount of Zillion energy but they shoot with wild abandon.

Episode 2 "Hang Fire"

The Noza (the almost faceless enemy) are pretty cool looking but you don't ANY personality out of them (since they have a mask-like face).

The schematic of the Zillion guns show a 'black box' that scientist can't figure out. On the display screen it lists the black box as 'unfathomable'... lol.

What the heck is that floating thing that hangs around Amy?

Apparently if you want to be a White Knight you will need to learn how to drive a motorcycle with a side-car thingy.

This was such a waste of an episode! What the heck happened here? There was this massive Noza invasion of a power plant and in the end the White Knights only had to deal with like eight of them! Suddenly that's all, the episode is over! There was no real story development here at all, just some pretty animation.

Episode 3 "Split Second Chance"

Some of the laser sounds from the first of this episode sound pretty cool.

As soon as the massive reinforcements showed up, flying in tight formation, I saw the result coming a mile away!

Was it really necessary for JJ to backflip to get out of his pilot's seat?

Champ is the only thing that keeps JJ alive. He is the voice of reason and often saves JJ's ass.

There's an eclipse on Maris every freakin' fifteen minutes!

The Noza's leader's eye blink (kinda) when he is giving orders to his cannon troops. This must mean it's not a mask but his actual face.

So JJ and Champ just jump out of the sub on the motorcycle, take their time aiming, shoot, and Apple catches them again on the top of the sub... man, those are some heroes!

Episode 4 "Target, The White Knights"

JJ is butt-naked at the first of this episode!

That Noza ugly-ass survellience bird is here again. This is the most unpleasant looking creature in the galaxy.

While JJ's hormones are getting him into trouble that flying ball thing is finally put to use.

Well, now that the plot has been setup and there was plenty of pre-action stuff, the rest of the episode should just fly by without much more plot or character development. lol.

Champ makes a big deal about not using their guns so the Noza won't know they are there but then immediately uses it.

Apparently Apple is a perv too.

Waterskiing Noza!

Episode 5 "Judgement Call"

This is the last of the US adapted episodes (besides the 'Burning Night' special).

That cat thing that the scientist has sounds so pathetic... poor thing.

Champ is the one always getting shot and hurt.

That cat thing is hiding in Apple's bosum... yuuuum.

Well, that's all for the regular released US episodes. If you are interested in wanting more YouTube is the place to go. I think I'm gonna pass. I can see why the US released didn't do so well. The episodes are too self insulated, no real running story arcs or anything. They were $15 for each episode back in the day so I can see people giving up pretty quickly on this set.

OAV: Burning Night

This is the 45 minute OAV I assume was released after the series completed.

To start with the White Knights have apparently become a band since the last time I saw them (with Amy on Keytar).

Champ looks like he belongs in Duran Duran.

Apple has become useless. She used to be such a ass kickin' fem fetale. Now she is just a helpless girl.

The action in this show takes place in some place called the 'zone'. It looks like an old run down crap-hole and some big time family runs it. I don't know if they are a port from the show or a new creation from the OAV.

The team is working at that bar they started the show in (even their boss is reduced to being a bartender). After they defeated the Noza (which apparently left Maris one big junk hole) the White Knights were just abandoned to obscurity.

The Zillion weapon systems were used up during the Noza wars so the teams are reduced to normal weapons to go in a save Apple.

When JJ tries to stop the wedding it plays out like that scene from Wayne's World 2 where Wayne is banging on the glass wall above the ceremony.

Apparently the old woman controls dead Noza like zombies. They jump around like the living dead in Chinese ghost movies.

In closing, Burning Night is pretty but pointless (as was much of the regular episodes). The money was there but the story lacked. There doesn't seem to be much point in it.

Overall Zillion (in all it's forms) suffered from lack of story. There needed to be story arcs and an overall story line that actually meant something. This is the big difference between Zillion and Robotech is the story. There is a main storyline and several arcs where there doesn't seem to be anything like that in Zillion... pitty. It's not too much of a mystery why the series only 5 episodes here in the US. Along with a less than exciting storyline and Carl Macek ripping young kids out of $15 per episode Zillion flopped fairly quickly.

The Toys:

There were some Zillion toys released in Japan back in the 90's. Apparently they were very  rare since the only set I saw (from which I got these pictures) was from a very expensive Ebay auction. They look pretty cool. There was also a game gun for the Genesis system.

 

My Robotech Stuff

by Nathan Stout (of According To Whim.com)

While we all wait for the next part of my 2012 Robotech Experience (I'm up to the cartoon episodes 7-12) I ran into a little bit of a road bump. This last weekend I was down at my mom's lake place and took the book (Battlecry)... yep, I left it... well at least I think I did. I am still searching. Anyway I decided to have a filler post since I was going through all my collectibles and ran across the Robotech stuff. Today's post is all about my Robotech collectibles. I don't have a tons but I do have a bit. Let's take a look, shall we?

First off is a little shadow box with some Macross pewter (or some such similar metal) figures. I have Rick, Lisa, Roy, Max, and Gloval (who you can't see at this angle). I have a couple of the little Mospeada riders from the Gakken Alpha and some Battletech miniatures from the 80's (when they used the Macross designs for their stuff). There is also a 1/144 scale Super Battloid model there. Just in case you were wondering there are some D&D minis, Ral Partha minis, D&D game pieces that were painted, Warhammer 40K minis, and some Jurassic Park Lost World micro figures. Oh yeah, there are some Star Wars minis there too. Oops, I almost forgot, there are some Heavy Gear minis on top. Now on to the bulk of the collection:

Here we see some toys and a pile of sad model kit parts. In the back is the insanely huge Master Piece Beta, a Gakken Cyclone and some Macross Models still in the box (more on those in a minute). There are bunch of the 90's re-release of Matchbox Robotech toys (from the Exo-Squad line). There is also a super poseable and a smaller Gakken Alpha (which only transforms from Armo Solider to Armo Diver), a super deformed Valkyire from the 80's and the rest are model parts. The 1/72 gray colored Veritech is the oldest model I own and has so many layers of paint on it you can't use it for anything but maybe a wrecked plane. There are many different kits here from 1/144 to 1/72 kits as well as some tiny deformed kits I got years ago and I can't remember where.

As for the new/sealed model kits... you may know (or may not) that I have a business where I sell import model kits. The site is RenegadeAnime.com and I have a bunch of stuff there. Macross models are one of the main 3 lines I carry (along with Gundam and Yamato). I am almost out of all my Macross models but thank goodness Bandai is re-releasing most of the old kits for the 30th anniversary of Macross! That means I will be getting a LOT of kits for sale. I might have to even make a few myself (although I am not very good at it).

I also have the Robotech Legacy edition DVD set as well as the Perfect Collection CD set. The Legacy DVD set is the first DVD set they released (not the remastered one). As you may have read from me I don't like the remastered versions with added crap. I prefer they older set. As for the CD set, you can read about it and the other stuff I used to have (like the F.H.E. VHS set) at this post from earlier in the year.

Finally I have some of the comics, fanzines, and all of the original RPG books. At one point I had probably 90% of the comics but sold them. Now I have very few since I can get what I need online. I have the first 10 issues of the only Robotech Fanzine out there: Protoculture Addicts. What a great mag! I will post a blog about it one day soon. Also, I love the Pallidum role playing books. They were my real re-introduction back into Robotech in early 90's. The artwork is great and I had lots of fun playing the game. Last year (at our other blog) we had an RPG week and I talked about my Robotech RPG fun there. Check it out. It's very entertaining!

I have had other Robotech collectibles over the years that I got and sold or what-not. Out of all the Robotech stuff I have had I would have to put the following at the top of my 'favorite list' (in no order): RPG books, Protoculture Addicts Fanzine, and Soundtrack. Those are my favs but I like it all!

What do you have? Anything cool or unusual? Leave a comment!

Licensing in the Robotech Universe

by Nathan Stout (of According To Whim.com)

Robotech seems to be the victim of cheesy licensing. I guess back in the 80's it wasn't too much of a big deal who you gave your license to. As long as the money came in, you were good. I think George Lucas changed that with his Star Wars lines in the late 80's through today. Perhaps it was just inevitable that rights holders would pick and choose and have final say over what their creations showed up on. Back to George, apparently Lucas chose to take (as part of his pay on Star Wars) the rights to the merchandising. THAT was a master stroke. He raked in the money with everything from the toys to party supplies. Over the years I have heard that Lucasfilm has been very picky about who they grant licensing to and what products come out (and the quality of those products).

Robotech (as a brand) was and is held by Harmony Gold. Harmony Gold sold Robotech out like a cheap pimp back in the day. There was the usual products sporting the Robotech theme such as party goods, toys, and the like but they didn't seem to care who bought those right or how well (or poorly) those products were.

This blog is about some of the items that Harmony Gold let their Robotech brand get slapped on. First I will pick the biggest chunk of the licensing... the toys. Matchbox bought the rights to the line and boy o boy did they do a job on that! Robotech figures were... how shall I say it... poorly executed. Sure, this was the early 80's but there were plenty of examples of how to do an action figure RIGHT. It looks like Matchbox chose to pick the G.I. Joe line as the basis for their figures. The construciton looks very similar but the end result is hideous...

The seem to have been built alright but the oversized heads and the short torsos made them look like circus freaks. The other toys in the line like the ships all appear to be re-releases from their Japanese counterparts which means the look pretty badass.

So the action figures and vehicles were alright (not great but not too bad). Where Harmony Gold really dropped the ball was pretty much everywhere else. I am not including the Comico comics in this since they seemed to be about par for comic books at the time.

Here is some examples of what I am talking about. First up is an old favorite... Have you ever seen those stoybooks that came with tapes or records, a read-along book?

The Robotech read-along was made by Peter Pan and it is quickly apparent that whoever produced this item did not know anything about Robotech. I won't even mention the art work inside. If you are interested in checking out the inside of the book, read it here at the 'Let's Anime' Blog. Thanks to them for the image above.

My next item is a 'Press and Stick' Robotech set. Look at this thing...

Most notibly the SDF-1 is upside down, you are seeing the bottom of it. No biggie but it is apparent that the producers of this set didn't realize the art was a bottom up view of the ship. Did I mention that an Alpha fighter is marked as a Veritech. It's just another example of a company that knows nothing about Robotech putting out a Robotech product. Oh yeah, and why the hell is Henry Gloval in there? He is a captian, not an action-type charcter. I guess smoking a pipe is action enough.

Oh crap! That would scare me to death on Halloween.

Next on my list is are not even poorly made items, just stuff that has NOTHING to do with Robotech at all! This stuff just seems to be random toys that Harmony Gold said 'sure, go ahead, slap the Robtech name on it'.

What the heck are these???

Huh?

 

What the???

Aqua-what?

Uh, cool but what the heck?

So I figure you get the picture here. Harmony Gold was out for the quick cash and knew that they better get while the gettin' was good. As a fan and sometimes collector I find all this fun but dissapointing at the same time. By the way the gun shown in this last picture has a bit of a history to itself. The white part was modified and used to make the guns the aliens used in the 80's TV series 'V'.

 ♪The Women of Robotech ♪

Do yourself a favor and click on the link above. These are classic commercials! I particuarly enjoy the last one on the video. Dana Sterling kicks ass during the day killing so many of the Master's troops then spend the afternoon working out. Also, notice how Rick Hunter is such a man-whore.