This Is My Life In The Crazy Robot Man Reservation

Something that I stumbled upon while browsing the Contemptible Cover article on TV Tropes. I was reading about Boris Vallejo doing art for FASA's Battletech sci-fi wargaming franchise's tie-in novels. And one link, mentioning how Vallejo's approach to the 'Battlemechs' of the series wasn't exactly detailed... or realistic... Well, the below cover caught my eye, but for no reason that involves Battletech whatsoever. 

The 'mech' on the left, I have no idea what the fuck it is. (Realism, Vallejo, realism!) But the 'mech' on the right... it's a dead ringer for the Glaug Officers' Battlepod of Robotech/Macross fame. What the fuck is a Macross mecha doing on the cover of a Battletech novel?

It's actually quite simple. When Battletech was being developed, the designers 'borrowed' giant robot and mecha designs from various anime series including Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which had not been licensed in America at the time. Speculation abounds (though I can find no hard reference) that there was a lawsuit brought or threatened by Harmony Gold, owners of the Robotech franchise (which included the original Macross series) which prompted FASA to abandon the 'borrowed' material. A later owner of the game property claimed that they had secured the rights to all of the so-called 'Unseen' mechs, except for the Macross properties. Harmony Gold put paid to that.

They Climbed Aboard Their Starship And Headed For The Skies

Drew at Back Of The Cereal Box posted an amusing anecdote about wearing a certain hat into Home Depot. I think it's a cool hat, despite never having watched Gravity Falls. That said, it reminded me of a similar thing that happened to me - way, way back in 2005 while I was a Penn State New Ken student.

See this hat?

I even have the officers' oak leaves! I expect a salute next time. 

It's a piece of merchandise from the Robotech universe. It is in fact designed after the command ball caps worn by U.S. Navy personnel, mainly officers (though I can find precious little info on them online). The SDF-1 Macross is the freaking huge spacecraft from Robotech canon that, in 1999, falls out of the sky, crash-lands on Earth, and brings World War III to an abrupt halt. After kicking the tires and taking a peek under the hood, Earth's military decides to fix it up a little and press it into service. Ten years later, on its launch day, the insanely powerful alien fleet that's been trying to track it down makes it to Earth. Needless to say, hilarity ensues. (No. No it does not.)

Not long after I'd received it - this was a birthday present, I think - I was getting ready for class at PSNK and was running behind. For whatever reason, I still had wet hair and the day wasn't very warm. So on the way out I grabbed the hat, slammed it on my head and away I went.

First class of the day was Intro to Chemistry with Dr. Clarence Finley. Luckily I popped in just as he was starting class. Dr. Finley's a pretty cool guy and I knew he didn't mean anything sinister when he cheerily quipped "Glad you could join us, Derek," as I took my seat. My friend Mike and I had actually discovered that he was another railfan, and could be our faculty advisor for the railfan club we started. It would have taken a bit more than just being a few minutes late to class one day to make the man unhappy with me, I believe. I think I simply apologized for being late, and so class started properly.

Dr Finley started by introducing what we'd cover in class that day, and asked a question. I had actually done my homework (figuratively and literally, mind you) and knew the answer. Up may hand goes, and I'm given the chance to answer - which I did correctly. Dr. Finley thanked me.

And then he asked me, "Are you a veteran?"

I had no idea what he was talking about. And then I remembered that I was wearing a hat. My Macross hat. Like the official Navy hats. And a lot of Navy veterans wear similar hats. As a matter of fact, my grandfather has one - he served aboard the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain between '53 and '56. I think he might even have a spare.

I froze for a moment. I respect the men and women that make up our fighting forces for their willingness to give their time and possibly their lives in service to their country (although I admit to increasingly questioning the validity of the tasks which the federal government asks of them; but that's a hysterical rant for another time), and the idea that I might end up diverting attention from them with my hat made me feel a little guilty. I should have grabbed the Mon-Valley System trucker hat. Fictional railroads are a lot less controversial. (They may actually be the least controversial thing to exist, ever.)

I still had to answer the question, though. "Oh, uh, no. The hat's just from an old sci-fi TV show."

This is probably why I've only worn it once or twice since I got it.

Train Of Love's A-Leavin', Leavin' My Heart Grievin'

As an addendum to the previous post on the animesque anthropomorphic personifications of the iron horse...

I'm especially intrigued by the incorporation of the headlight as the 'cleavage window' on her shirt, and the marker light mounts with painted stripe as the epaulets of the jacket. Her belt also appears to be patterned after the pilot truck. 

Japan is weird. 

The Passengers Will Please Refrain

Japan is weird.

That's a heads-up for those of you, reading this post now, who feel some measure of cultural Japanophobia. However, for those in that group who are also railfans, you may be interested (disturbed) by what follows.

Japanese popular culture has had two oft-maligned trends in recent years which I'm about to discuss: moe anthropomorphism and obsessive fandom (the otaku). I'm mainly going to discuss the former, and yes, I will get to the latter and railfans in good time.

If you ever needed a name for the trend of things Japanese to end up indisputably cute even when it's unnecessary, you'd be best served by the term 'moe anthropomorphism'. It's the trend of personifying inanimate objects as incredibly cute ladies, such as 'Mecha Musume' which features fighter aircraft. Also of note are the 'OS-tans', who are a group of characters first personifying Microsoft's operating systems, and later some programs and websites including Firefox and Wikipedia.

You know that header indicating a Wikipedia article needing cleaned up? Guess how and when it goes away. 

There are many examples in popular anime series, but one notable title consists entirely of this by way of nations; this would be the infamous Axis Powers Hetalia. I have no idea what it's like, but any nation-state entity you can think of seems to have been personified somewhere in its canon. An aside; Hetalia's personifications are all male.  

And, apparently, Japan has its share of railfans. Guess what they do to their beloved trains?

You guessed it - they picture them as incredibly adorable girls. I picked this group to represent this phenomenon because the trains they personify are depicted alongside, and you can see the resemblance. I do recall a few American railfans attempting to personify the EMD F40PH, but I also recall being unimpressed with the result. 

Ten Years Gone

I can't believe it's been three years since I posted on this. This is ridiculous. Naturally, ninety percent of the things I wanted to write about are nowhere near started, if I'm still thinking about them.
That said, one thing that is up and running is my Robotech Republican Compendium. (Fear not, Democrats, if you can put aside politics for some good bad science fiction. This compendium is republican with a little 'r'. Mostly.) While the first chapter isn't quite up yet, one can glean some idea of the world that the story takes place in by reading the synopses of the various combat equipment used by nations appearing in the story.

I'm also actively building LEGO trains again. The Spirit of 9-Volt contains my creations. Of interest is the 2-6-2 Prairie steam locomotive, and passenger cars.

Last but not least I hope to start doing album reviews. I've plowed into a pile of new music since abandoning this blog all that time ago, and it really needs talked about. Also I plan on at least recording a demo of some music I'd written in college for a band project I referred to as The Tunnelmotors. I figure I can share that here, too.

Anyway, I guess I'm back.

Donna Ashita Ga Kitemo Kono Omoi Wa Tsuyoi

I wondered if this was available on the Tubes of You. Younha is damn cute too.

I first heard Houki Boshi as an ending theme for a portion of the Bleach anime. The intensity was what got to me first. For a Japanese pop record, the execution of the wall of sound is top notch (not that I know enough about Japanese music to say so with authority, but it reads well). Her voice is beautiful too. I almost want to cry at certain parts of the song-and then, in the very next note, I want to laugh like I've never been lonely. It's an emotional roller coaster, or is for me at least. I love the sound of her piano, as well. It sounds synthesized, but like it's an antique synthesizer. The video is really cool too. Younha sitting on top of the world, literally. The shots of her at her piano, showing us just how cute she is (like so many Japanese chicks. Japanese chicks are the cutest of all the hot Asian chicks, no question) and the bits where she's holding the box with the little diorama in it are enthralling.

My little sister is going to love this.