Eighty pages of Mikimoto Macross manga is nothing to sneeze at.

Anime News Network reported last Friday that original Macross character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto will be writing and drawing a new Macross manga series for the new, now announced as quarterly, Macross magazine Macross Ace. Tentatively titled Macross The First (shades of Gundam character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Gundam The Origin), it will be focused on Lynn Minmay and, I presume, will cover Space War I through her eyes. Eighty pages of the series will be published in the first issue of Macross Ace, which will appear on Japanese newsstands January 26, 2009.

Hey, DC Comics -- how about you and Harmony Gold go talk to Kadokawa and help us get this stuff over here? I'm sure it'll sell a CRAP-TON better than those musty old Comico collections!

Other minor bits of flotsam I've picked up across the internets:

• Artist Eamon Dougherty reflects on Duc Tran's Antarctic Press ROBOTECH series Vermilion, one of that publisher's stronger efforts, as I've no doubt remarked upon dozens of times over the past ten years.


• Anime blogger 21st Century Digital Boy places the original Macross animation at the top of his "Essential (non-GAINAX, non-Miyazaki, non-Satoshi Kon) Anime" list. (For the record, I've watched at least one episode of ALL but two of those shows; I've seen six of them in their entirety. And I'm pretty sure I'll get around to watching all of Honey and Clover one of these days, and would very much like to bask in the glory of Rose of Versailles in its entirety.)

A Link To Not Quite A Review Of Not Quite The Masterpiece Cyclone.

Adrian A. Lozano snaps some pictures and shares some thoughts on Beagle's 1/10 Mospeada Ride Armor -- the toy that, with a different head, will become Toynami's first Robotech Masterpiece Collection Cyclone -- HERE at Over-Drive-Inc.com. This is only the first part of his review, covering the teal-haired rider figure.

Half a month of Robotech & Macross links.

The pics have got nothing to do with the links; I'm just in a Masters kind of mood. It's probably that I'm on a "Holy crap, Palladium knocked that Macross book out of the park -- can't wait for the Masters book!" high ...

I just finally cracked open my copy of the Macross Saga Sourcebook today. A couple of opinions on it can be found here (from a self-described "tamed" Macross purist), and here (from my old pal Tolarin; if you've checked the comments for my post on Lonely Soldier Boy II, you may have already read this). Both reviews bring some interesting insight to bear.

Me, I think I need another couple of days to digest the book. Lots of interesting revisions, retcons, and rewrites throughout.

From the end of last month: a ToonZone review of the Shadow Chronicles Blu-Ray disc. Mind you, if you've seen one review of Shadow Chronicles, you've seen 'em all ...

Unless you've been internet-deprived all day long, you've probably heard from one of a dozen or more sources that Warner Bros. ROBOTECH film has picked up some new screenwriters, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who you may be familiar with as the long-standing showrunners for the WB (later CW) TV series Smallville. Kind of a step down from Lawrence "two-thirds of the original Star Wars trilogy and the first/best Indiana Jones movie" Kasdan, if you ask me. (Tip of the hat to fellow Roboblog World Headquarters resident Evan Cass, who e-mailed me the news this morning.)

Anime News Network reported last week that Kadokawa plans on launching an all-Macross, all-the-time magazine in January. These are the same folks who've been cranking out an all-Gundam, all-the-time manga anthology, Gundam Ace, since 2001. The article was unclear whether or not this would be a manga anthology as well, though heaven knows it'll probably have at least one monthly manga serial.

Meanwhile Bandai has decided to hitch their wagon to umpteen nifty Macross Frontier toys. (Though I gotta say, not a fan of the green one. Really don't care for the head. Also, FAST packs as a store-exclusive? Poor Frontier collectors. I weep for them.)

And finally ... the green Tomahawk, it is so pretty. Once again, shame I don't have any f***ing money!!! ARGH!!!