One of Japan’s popular manga magazine is said to publish a new Macross manga series. And it’s the third manga of the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross Universe series, taking straight adaptions on last year’s popular tv series, Macross Frontier as artist Megane Kikuya mentioned.
They also mentioned that they have plans to retell the entire story of the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross as in a manga version and celebrites interviews will be conducted by the magazine editorial staff on the very special people that brought you the great success of Macross including the infamous Macross character voiced none other by Mari Ijima! It’s next issue will be available by mid November. (click here for more info)

Source: AnimeNewsNetwork.com

Goodness!  As if the Gundam project wasn’t enough, there’s been some talks of constructing another giant robot in Japan, which I just learnt a few days ago.

Japan’s plans for the 18 metre, 50 ton giant robot Tetsujin 28 (aka Ironman #28 or Gigantor in US) to be constructed at Wakamatsu Park in Kobe, are currently underway.

From this video, we can see that a lot of body work and welding work have been done. Tetsujin’s head, body, arms, hands, legs etc. They’re all there waiting for the construction engineers to put all the pieces together so it ends up looking like the picture below.

Artists Impression of Tetsujin 28 in Wakamatsu Park

The purpose of the project is celebrate Kobe’s history of breeding successful anime and manga artist, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, a Kobe-born resident at the time, brought us Tetsujin 28 that carried on for many generations so the people will remember him great for the great works he produced. Also having the statue is symbol of revival for the Kobe community as there was an earthquake that happened there many years back and the process of recovery was difficult to go through for the community as a whole.

I must say they’re quite a marvel to look at and it’ll be very exciting when it gets completed for the glaring eyes of the public to see! It was supposedly scheduled for completion in August 2009. However, it’s delayed further for at least 2 months ie more likely either towards end of September or beginning of October as the expected completion dates. Whatever the reason for the delay, hope it’s worth the wait.

For more amazing photos of Tetsujin 28 project, check this link out from CartoonLeap.com.

Source: AnimeNewsnetwork.com, CartoonLeap.com

Was working in my office yesterday, and as I was talking to my colleague to watch Transformers:ROTF with a group of friends he shared me this awesome Youtube clip video of a MacBook Pro Transformer. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this. It was pretty amazing! Truly convincing even though I could tell there’s plenty of clever CGI work done on this. But nevertheless, it was a job well done by our French robot fan here.  Enjoy!

As many of you know this sad and tragic fact that Michael Jackson (MJ), the “King of Pop” passed away on 25/06/2009 at 2.26 pm Pacific Time with a cardiac arrest after being rushed to the UCLA Hospital from his rented home of Holmby Hills in LA. This is definitely most distressing indeed and it’s obvious the whole world is still in shock to get a grip with this “unprecedented” aspect of reality. I’m in the state of shock as everybody else’s. People in all walks of life will say those 4 dreaded words.

“M.J is dead“. Over and over again.

A covershot of Michael Jackson for the making of 'Thriller' album

This is the saddest news for everyone in our lives. I thought it would be important for me to express my thoughts on MJ in my mind on Generation Mech’s Journal blog pages, as in early parts of my life, I grew up in the 80s and MJ was truly a global sensation after the phenomenal success of his “Thriller” Album with record sales of 705 million copies worldwide at the time. He sure made the 80s an era that worth a living for and I’m glad I’m part of that generation to experience it all. MJ captured our imaginations of his songs, music and, not to mention, his memorable out-of-this-world dance moves that everybody attempted to copy or imitate. What an electrying performance. And who wouldn’t want to, after watching this highly reputable “Thriller” music dance video that’s dubbed the greatest music video of all time?

He’s definitely music genius that truly deserves his legendary status amongst the great pop icons of our time. But yet, sadly, nothing can prevent the swarm of allegations on his child molestation charges that plagued him for many, many years from mounting and his seemingly “perverted” lifestyle that makes you think twice about setting an example as role model for many young (and old) generation of MJ fans. It’s difficult for me to imagine a great pop icon like him to, on one hand, experience one kind of fame to the extreme, and on the other he gained notoriety for being eccentric and living together with young teenage children (especially boys) that begs alot of controversy over it. I don’t wish to discuss my views on MJ here on Generation Mech’s Journal as my blog’s not for famous celebrities gossiping. But what I can say, overall, in my opinion on the whole chain events that’s happened within the last 36 hours, is that Michael truly defined his music sensation that’s heard worldwide during the 70s, 80s and early 90s which permeates into the very fabric of our lives and the societies of the world and I gave him credit for his achievement, not the later part of his life as we know of him. I wish to express my deepest respect for the man who’s made such a remarkable contribution to the world where no other music artists have ever done at such magnitude. Casting aside my reservations on his split-personality symptoms, I commend Michael for making such difference to everybody’s lives and he will be sorely missed and be remembered always in our minds and hearts.

We will remember you, Michael.
Our King of Pop.
Rest in Peace.

Well… Actually it’s on since yesterday, according to our New Zealand time (our current date is 25th June at the time of writing). And many people lining up to watch the film in cinema complexes over the country, and you would expect to see long and massive queues just pilling up at every corner of the cinema entrance, teenage kids screaming hard out at their parents, begging them to watch the must-see-film of the year. One long queue after the other. Rest assured, even late night session would be sold out by now. So think twice before you head down to the theatre and finding yourself dumbstruck to be left stranded in the cinema complex.

Sources indicated to me that the film went very well. I checked out on Facebook and I saw many avid fan’s profile status written with their excellent comments of the film. And reading this link on Hollywoodinsider.com, it sure is very promising to hear, considering the common notion of how sequels notoriously have the potential to be a greater flop than the original films. And (this is me) on a more personal level, sequels are worth to make if they can come up with something new and refreshing that the original do not have. I’m thinking if Transformers 2 were anything like how Terminator 2 pull off their massive results those 20 years ago, that would be definitely make my day!(or night) And I’m planning to watch tomorrow night with some friends. Can’t hardly wait! We’ll see it…

In meantime, here’s a couple of postive online reviews below by movie critiques that were submitted less than 24 hours since its debut in other parts of the world, I love to share. Very insightful comment, especially one of the critiques was saying something about GM’s concept Camero car (and others) put into its final promotional spin before the company’s going out with a big bang.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Features/20090625082133/Article/indexpull_html from New Strait Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/movies/24transform.html?bl&ex=1245988800&en=948520d3f4de6dd5&ei=5087%0A from The New York Times

Do you ever ask yourself why is that you love to watch so many cool movies, tv shows, comics or (like me) anime, and then you decided that the show “works” well for me to enjoy further? You like them so much, you started to talk more about them, you want to share your favourite heroes, characters with your friends, you want to learn everything else about this new found hobby, and get yourself a little wee bit obsessed with them. In other words, you’ve just turned yourself as a fan.

Becoming a mecha fan is no different to the rest of mainstream we all see in this modern pop culture of anime. The question remains now for you is that how do you become mecha fan in the process when there’s plenty of young ‘guns’ out there who’s never heard of the word “mecha” but they do wish to get into it.  Well,  to the reader of this source, your answers lies here.

Here are the 5 best ways you can start to become a mecha fan.  Here are the 5 best ways you can start to become a mecha fan.

1. Watch mecha anime. Lots of them.

   That’s right. The first and foremost step in developing your interests in mecha anime is watch them. That’s the simplest thing you can do to begin with. I watched several mecha anime on TV in my early childhood life and I must say I dearly enjoyed them and I’m glad to be a fan of many of their shows. Go to Youtube.com and search for “mecha”, and you find there’s hundreds or thousands of Youtube link videos of countless mecha from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Most of them are either opening scenes or closing of the mecha episodes. If there’s too many to choose from, start from Transformers cause the most common and blatantly obvious for many fans to get interested into mecha, so get into it, learn about their characters and then purchase any dvd releases once they’re on sale such as Amazon.com, Play-asia.com etc.

2. Buy robot toylines from any toy store, offline and online. (And it doesn’t have to be Transformers)

   Well you can, if you want. So if you do see any Transformers toy stand in the stores, buy them, regardless of your age. That’s right. You heard me. Buy them regardless of your age. I don’t care how crazy you think this idea is to you but you just have to get it. (I have done it. And I feel proud of owning my 1/36 scale Transformer vehicle. Did I mention it’s yellow?) Doing so will encourage you to appreciate the ownership of small scale models and understand why ‘true’ fans do pursue mecha merchandising as a hobby.

3. Attend anime/sci-fi/comic book convention centres

   Pretty straightforward. Just go to any public relations places where they announced the next wave of sc-fi/comic book convention centres to be held at your locality just like ours in NZ. The major advantage you get from this is that you will have greater exposure on several mecha anime figurines and merchandise and more than 70% of the time you will have easier access to them as compared to buying them online. If you like me, living in New Zealand, check out this Armaggedon website for more details on the functions services catered on the days of the convention centre. Otherwise, check out Animecons.com on http://www.animecons.com/ where you can find other convention centres around the world, and pick the ones that’s closest to you. You can also submit the convention centres through there as well, if you couldn’t find any.

4. Join any mecha-related forums or blogs

   I recently started doing this a few weeks ago on MechaTalk.net forum. After signing up, I started to learn more about the common topics people discuss in relation to mecha as a hobby. From there, you will pick up more and more areas on mecha not many newbie are aware of such as modelling, crafting, painting, artworks, your favourite mecha, etc etc. And best of all, they’re free for you to sign up, and doesn’t cost you anything to go online and start making comments on anything you could think of regarding mecha.

5. Start your own mecha-theme collection

   This is new to me. But I thought it would make sense to pursue this area of fandom, as I notice websites like Collectiondx.com that offers wide-range of mecha toys, most of them come as die-cast metal alloy (aka Soul of Chogokin) that I used to like having them around during my childhood years. Now having bumped into them, you’ll find that websites catered for people in my age group (currently in my late 20s) wanting to buy mecha toys, but only for colleciton purposes. I like that idea and I’ll start planning to make purchases on all the old (and new) mech toys in the long run.

That’s it. Those five simple and easy ways to get into mecha fandom should get you a bit of an idea. And the most important thing during this process is that you get to have fun them. With fun, you’ll enjoy your time more with time and you let yourself know why you’re enjoying this in the first place.

Less than 12 days ago, I recently subscribed one of the best anime/blogs on the planet (DannyChoo.com). This young Malaysian man by the name of Danny Choo (who is also the son of the world’s infamous women’s shoemaker, Jimmy Choo, would you believe it??) is really amazing. His portal is the gateway to everything about Japan from its food, culture, music, figurines and novelty festivities and he knows how to astound people outside Japan so many incredible facts and stories in Japan, especially in anime since he’s a full time otaku.

And one of his great stories he’s shared with the community recently is that there’s 1/1 scale of an actual Gundam model which was erected in a park named Odaiba, situated in Tokyo.  From Danny’s link,  he’s gotten the amazing footage of the 18-m foot giant robot standing so tall, looking across the horizon of Tokyo City and the normal citizens of Tokyo city looking at it with great awe. (see below)

I must admit that this really blew me away, swept my legs off the floor as soon as I flicked his blogging pages. The designs, the precise measurements, the exact match of the colours vs the classic Gundam model in 70s TV show, the Gundam head etc etc. Everything! Top to bottom! No mistake about it.

Sad thing about this project (codenamed Green G Project) is they’re planning to take it down part by part by the end of August 09. But why, oh, why, or why??? Why took so much effort and crazy man hours to construct such an incredible feat to show the rest of the world, and only to put it on display for a measley 10 weeks? Come on! Don’t take it down! In my humble opinion (which I stand), this is supposed to be one of Japanese’s treasured landmark figures just as the USA with their Status of Liberty. At least they got something to compete with them now, even though its historical influence does not have as much significant bearings as the States’, ie socio-political or economic impact etc etc.

Nevertheless, the drive, the passion and the ambition that the project team had clearly turned the ‘impossible’ into a reality and its success warrants the recognition by the public that Japan’s got something to showcase for the tourism industry to see. If only longer than the 31 August deadline, that is….

For more photos from Danny’s amazing capture on his travel to Odaiba, here’s the link.

http://www.dannychoo.com/adp/eng/1717/Gundam+Odaiba.html

Source: DannyChoo.com, TheWesterworld.net, Zuco.org

Still, there’s aplenty of bad news reaching the shores of Japan, so says this news source from CartoonLeap.com.

Its anime industry is heading towards a downhill curve with more and more Japanese are turning away from seeking animation as a profession as several anime production companies are choosing to hire people outside Japan to do animation work for cheaper costs. In other words, outsourcing is the name of the game for many businesses, and anime industry is no different to others. This makes it very difficult for people who seriously want to make a career in anime industry especially when a lot of successful anime works/programmes were done mostly by Japanese. It’s been a major drought for quite sometime now and who knows how long will we expect to hear any recovery from this. Nevertheless, Tokyo Metropolitan Government is working hard to revitalise the industry by injecting its special programme to encourage taking anime as a career.

To read more, click this link post.

http://www.cartoonleap.com/2009/01/06/outsourcing-a-disturbing-report-on-japans-anime-industry/

Source: CartoonLeap.com

Now that Transformers 2 is edging closer and closer to reach our cinemas in New Zealand (and the rest of the world) I decided to take stroll into one of our busiest shopping centres in town, and wondering if there’s any good merchandising sales on Transformers. You would normally expect advertising companies will be promoting all of Hasbro’s Autobot/Decepticons characters in every shape or form such as video games, apparel clothing, toys, mugs, stationery etc some weeks prior to the official date release of the film. And sure enough there’s plenty to go around when shopping.

And today I got myself a couple of neat men’s Transformers-themed apparel, here!

Transformers T-Shirt in Red

Transformers Apparel with a hoodie

I was excited to have them after putting them on, making sure the sizes do fit well for me.  And they sure do.  It’s very refreshing to find that they bringing back the good old days of Transformers G1 when it was such a boon and everybody at the time were so hooked watching them and every kid would just go to the stores and buy all the Transformers toylines manufactured straight off by Takara they could get their hands on.  And now, over 20 years later, the history somewhat repeats itself and we see the return of their major toylines in many toystores worldwide but this time it’s catching up well with 21st century modern trends and fashion very well, such as these.  Check out their amazing embroidery of these clothes.

I’m so gonna enjoy wearing them on the night the film is released. :)  Autobots, roll out!!

I went to one of those novelty fashion shops, minding my own business while browsing for any suitable clothing that fits my taste of fashion, which normally falls under the category of being out-of-ordinary or strikingly sophisticated. But I fear this shop doesn’t have anything like that so I knew I was going to turn my head around, looking for for the exit sign.
But before I even turned my head at a full 90 degree clockwise direction, something did capture my attention and my eyes could not stop staring the full 30 seconds. And there it was.

The Transformers Tees…

(Apologies for the picture quality. These photos were taken straight from my Samsung cameraphone. I was gonna try to adjust the contrast/brightness better to take a couple more shots. However, a salesgirl stopped me from taking them further… Apparently, taking photos in a public merchandise store is a straight violation to their store policy. I don’t know the precise details of the reason(I didn’t ask) but I believe they’re were thinking I’m planning to do something illegal trading with these, thus creating bad retail competition. Or to be put it more accurately, black market. Fair enough…)

They are incredibly cool. I just love the fitnesse and fabric designs of these t-shirts. Especially with this one, to start off with.

Optimus Prime T-shirt

It’s one of those casual trendy shirts where you have large emblem drawn in the background with an animal symbol sitting in the middle usually an eagle, bear, lion (Think Harley Davidson’s Logo). But in this case, we know have our brave fearless leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, taking centre stage, wielding his weapon upclose and standing very strong and bold. And it’s got the Autobots insignia below him and a great background that comes with flowery patterns as if they’re inspired from an Olympic flag. Totally awesome. I really wish I had the chance to buy these as well as the other two below.

Transformers T-shirts with Autobots andDecepticons emblems

Transformers T-shirt with Autobots emblem

I could have taken another shot for the other shirt with Decepticons insignia. But no. I was stopped short cause I was caught red-handed by the sales girl and she warned me to stop taking more photos with them. Bugger!!

Oh well. At least, I did get away with having these amazing shots. And with the upcoming Transformers 2 movie going to be released less than 8 days time, I think I might as well grab one. :)

They’re currently selling at a retail price around NZD $25.00 (that’s in USD $15.50).