Monkey Sensei

Finally it’s done. Its almost ready for animation too.

I swear I will finish this before 2008, I mean it!

I don’t mean to rant but this is bugging me. As a child, I grew up watching Robotech, I had to have been in 5th or 6th grade when it first aired. I remember rushing home from school day after day so I wouldn’t miss an episode. It was one of my experiences with anime. Some choose to flame it to no end due to the fact that it was dubbed by a company with shady business practices. All in all, it was a good series at the time and it stayed fairly faithful to its origins, Macross. Years later I rediscovered it a few months after it started being released on DVD. I quickly purchased all the volumes that were available and fell in love with it again. Now when I say I fell in love with it again, I mean the character and mecha designs, not the horrible voice acting that I was oblivious to as a child. I started poking around the net and began learning about its history. About how its American owners, Harmony Gold, had purchased the rights for it from the studio that had produced it, not the real rights owner, Big West. This led me to the original series, Macross, which in turn led me to all of the Macross offspring. I was already into computer graphic and 3D at the time but realized the mecha designs were far superior to 3d models I was currently creating. I began flushing out the old 2d mecha in 3D and had built up quite a following in both the Robotech and Macross communities.

After creating various mecha models, members of the Robotech community had talked me into seeking employment at Harmony Gold due to the company becoming more active with its “license”. I would login to their chat room daily, waiting for any of the employees to drop in. After a few days of this I finally catch someone. Introductions were made, I showed him my work and was basically told 3d models were not something they were interested in. My spirit was bruised. I continued on with my work but had moved more towards creating mecha from the original series, Macross, since there was more mecha to create. Months later a Robotech game was announced so I quickly log back into the Robotech chat room and show off my latest creations in hopes of getting a job again…. dreams crushed for the second time. Screen shots start showing up for the game on various gaming websites. I knew the designs fairly well at this point due to the months of late nights working my my own models. The studio that was involved with the game had taken a super cartoony approach to the designs and murdered the transformation animations. There I was, shot down twice. I tried to distance myself from Robotech as much as I could. I started working on models from other shows. About a year later they announce a new Robotech series is in the works. Slowly test shots and concept art start showing up on the Robotech site. You’d expect me to tell you about seeking work again but I didn’t even try. Instead I was horrified by what I saw. Remember when they told me they weren’t interested in 3d…. well, they lied. If you’ve seen Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles you will know where I’m coming from when I say the art sucks. Not just the 3d but the 2d as well. Simple textures, lots of models with no textures at all, satisfactory models and below par animation. Most people don’t like 3d in anime and if The Shadow Chronicles were the gold standard I would have to agree with them.

Now that all that is off my chest you’ve got a good idea where I’m coming from when I say the people in charge of the Robotech license have their heads up their asses. Much more could have been done with it in the last 10 years but idiots are at the controls. If anyone out their thinks the movie will be the greatest thing ever I’ve got some news for you. I don’t need to tell you though, have a look for yourselves. Crappy and expensive toys, 2 shitty games, a less then mediocre new series. I’ve tried to help with no success. If there is any hope for this film at all something drastic needs to be done. Don’t let Hollywood waste 100 million dollars on another crappy movie when there’s people like myself that can barely pay rent.

If you haven’t seen this before its worth a look. Its an 18.5 inch Tachikoma robot created by Robo Garage. I don’t know why these weren’t mass produced but they should have been. Maybe if we flood Production IG with emails they will put it out on the market.

Video 1

Video 2

My girlfriend really wants me to do a time laps video project where I capture the 3D modeling process start to finish. I wouldn’t mind doing it but I don’t know what to model next. If anyone has any idea what I can make please leave a comment. It doesn’t have to be anime related but I would prefer it. And, no Gundam or characters please. The mecha from Gurren-Lagann or Haruko’s Vespa from FLCL are examples of what I’m talking about.

I’m looking for something like this…..

youtube link-> OMG!

I know most people don’t like it when Anime company’s use 3D for characters, mecha or whatnot but this guy has some skills. Gallery here.

Its getting there! It may need new legs though. Arms still need to be changed to 2nd GIG style. Finally had a day to Get more done.

I don’t know why I never finished this. Opened it up this evening by chance and It didn’t look too bad.