Saturday, April 21, 2007

Art of Shadow Chronicles Preview at A.P.E.

Stone Bridge Press will be at the Alternative Press Expo this weekend (April 21st and 22nd) in San Francisco, at Booth 427. A complete version of the forthcoming The Art of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles will be on-hand at the Expo, along with prize drawings, glossy promo cards, and the array of books illuminating Asian culture.

If you happened to actually go and see the book, leave us some comments about it!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a yearly participator in A.P.E., it disgusts me to see that Robotech can get it's foot in the door. I'm not doubting that perhaps this "Stone Bridge Press" company maybe isn't as big as, say, Del Rey, but then again, Del Rey wouldn't be at A.P.E. due to their size.

It's all clear, I suppose. Whatever Harmony Gold wants to try to convince people about The Shadow Chronicles being a success, they're still fighting hard to try to get whatever niche market they possibly can to start to care about it. This book isn't going to attract anyone but Robotech fans, as it is, so why even try to hype it?

For my bets, it's people in denial of the market and their product's place in it (the bottom rung).

Yours in the protoculture,
Khyron_Prime

Praise Haydon!

PS- I'd be surprised if anyone except the webmaster reads this.

Anonymous said...

Your kidding right? Of course people read these comments you moron!

If Harmony Gold wasnt' doing well with the Robotech franchise, they would've closed shop long ago.

Have some common sense here people!

Robotech the Shadow Chronicle might be a piece of crap, but people are still spending their cash on such garbage. It's obvious!

Anonymous said...

P.S. I might hate robotech with a passion, but atleast you have to give credit to HG for still making money out of something that is still totally garbage.

People who refute this are being ignorant to the obvious!

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't argue that nobody buys this stuff, it's just that the sales have to be FAR below the miscellaneous animé-fanboy targeted crud (i.e. $40 Naruto artbooks) that stands as potential competitors to this artbook.

Sure, if Harmony Gold only asks Stone Bridge Press to print 1000 copies of the artbook and it sells-out, they're gonna declare it a success. What I would argue is that, unfortunately, the expectations have gone down so low that what would be a "tank" for other franchises is a moderate success for Robotech.

And that sucks.

Yours in the protoculture,
Khyron_Prime

Praise Haydon!

Anonymous said...

If it were only a thousand copies, why even bother if you're going to end up in the red. Only 1000 sales of the Art book wouldnt' pay the costs in making and designing such an Art book.

Nah, sensibly speaking its gotta be in the tens of thousands in order to consider it a success.

HG knows that! I dont' know where you are getting your facts and figures from. But they are all wrong, bub!

Anonymous said...

> HG knows that! I dont' know where
> you are getting your facts and
> figures from. But they are all
> wrong, bub!

My words were (for those of you who are incapable of perceiving "conditional" dialogue):

"I'm not doubting that perhaps this "Stone Bridge Press" company maybe isn't as big as..."

"Sure, if Harmony Gold asks Stone Bridge Press..."

"What I would argue is that, unfortunately, the expectations have gone down so low..."

I may make harsh statements, but I take great care to voice them in a way that does not assume I am absolutely correct. Your statements, on the other hand, insinuate that you know all the truths in the Robotech universe.

This being the case, would you care to cite your source which discredits my hypothetical arguements, Mr. I-Can't-Give-Even-A-Screen-Name?

Yours in the protoculture,
Khyron_Prime

Praise Haydon!

The Masters said...

Khyron, your opinions are always strong and negative. Obviously these people aren't interested in debating the topic. If you want to debate, you should go to the boards.

I agree that the Art book likely won't sell hundreds of thousands, but this is Robotech afterall. Robotech is not huge and overly popular. You can't expect any of these products to be run-away successes. However, they are for Robotech fans. You gotta make do with what you get. I understand if it's a continuity issue and one wish you disregard a product though.

So, let's stop bashing products and just be happy they're making stuff. It's not like we're gonna get anything else in return. If you want to just kill Robotech merchandise altogether, just keep doing what you're doing. We're a niche, and we want crap. We want good crap and we haven't seen if this book is anything yet. On the other hand, Toynami's stuff isn't that great. So, that's agreeable.

Support Robotech!

Anonymous said...

I've held it in for so long, I might as well say it...

> Khyron, your opinions are always
> strong and negative. Obviously
> these people aren't interested in
> debating the topic.

My opinions are strong and negative because that's the way I feel. If you don't like it, then don't make a blog where people can comment. Frankly, I comment when I come here because it's freakin' boring otherwise. I'm not even being vain when I say that at least my comments give this blog something interesting to ponder aside from the continuous repostings of articles listed on Robotech.com and the butt-slapping that usually follows.

> So, let's stop bashing products
> and just be happy they're making
> stuff...We're a niche, and we
> want crap.

Don't you understand that it's attitudes like that which MAKE THEM THINK THAT THEY CAN KEEP DOING THIS?! Sheesh! If you have such a blind "let's all join hands and support Robotech" attitude, then of course Harmony Gold's gonna put quality control on indefinite hiatus, or worse, not hire any new blood when something is clearly wrong!

It's your attitude that needs re-thinking; I call everything like I see it and I voice a belief that it is clear that Harmony Gold's handling of the Robotech franchise is not the best that it could be nor is it self-humbling enough to self-impose giant steps of change upon it's parent company's policies.

I often recall how 'The Masters' decided to insinuate how vain I am for speaking like this, but if I truly am the minority here, then why are the very message boards that you suggest I move-to so very dead of fresh activity amongst the Robotech loyal that I have made a conscious decision not bother to waste my time?--Certainly, if Robotech were doing better NOT in the eyes of Harmony Gold BUT in the eyes of the longtime fans--who, one must concede, are a far more important demographic than whichever group Harmony Gold's non-marketing campaign for this new series has attempted to create--then maybe we'd see some decent interest. Alas, we don't.

So here I am. Passionate about Robotech but not stupid, old, or complacent enough to act like everything's okay, seeking to speak with other Robotech fans who are willing to look at mistakes and, instead of being total wusses about it and denying the truth, will actually stand-up and call Harmony Gold's bluff.

Yours in the protoculture,
Khyron_Prime

Praise Haydon!

The Masters said...

If all your posts were like this, Khyron, then I wouldn't have a problem at all. I prefer well thought out entries that state exactly why things are or how you feel. This goes for everyone. We don't need people in general to just do what they did years ago of "Harmony Gold Sucks, end of story". I think we're well beyond that.

This recent entry is respectable and good. My short reply to it is this: You really don't know my opinions on Harmony Gold or Robotech exactly. So, you think I'm just pro-Harmony Gold.

I fully know that Harmony Gold doesn't do the best job, they don't fully understand or recognize the fanbase of both casual and hardcore. They have a lot of problems that they're slowly getting better at because of people like Darkwater and others. My issue has always been continuity. I'm a TV universe fan, period. Not novels or sentinels or anything. That's all I want them to do right, and that's always been hard.

I fully agree with you on most of these points to a rough degree, but I'm tired of the old days of just flames, bull talk, and others. It's not helpful for either party. We need serious discussions that are intelligent and respectable for Harmony Gold and other companies including fans to even want to back us up.

I know the fandom is returning to a stasis, its been deader than it has been for some time. The biggest problem with the fandom overall is it's inability to recogize that it can alone carry Robotech. We can follow whatever canon we want, create our own projects, and be a community. It seems after Robotech.com was created, people forgot about that and went to the dark ages.

So, if you understand anything I say. I understand, mostly agree, but I want to see a civil community. Harmony Gold isn't going to listen to us, no matter how much you bash them. They do listen if fans are more focused, respectable, and such. No, not completely, they're a company, but either way. We are the fandom. We have to stick together and support Robotech in our own way.

The Masters said...

Additional note from my not so short entry. Khyron, maybe we can have a calm conversation on AIM and come to equal grounds. You don't know me well. I used to be far more vocal years ago. So, lets talk.

Anonymous said...

All is agreed. Name the time and place. :) My AIM name is "KhyronPrime" :-0