Hi all!
First I want to say THANK YOU to everyone here for all your support to The Protoculture Times. I condsider the show's success a combined effort as the people here kept me level headed throughout the stormy waters in this journey.
As you guys probably know, Memo1Dominion and Maverick_LSC, the Fric and Frac of the Robotech fandom have have sought fit to "neutralize" the promotion of the podcast on Robotechx.com. Funny, as this happened just as soon as Maverick was installed as a moderator there. That means the "culture" of Robotech.com has filtered over to Robotechx.com and we've seen how that works. I know many of you had seen this coming for awhile. I should feel flattered that they consider me such a threat to their standing in the fandom, not they ever had one except that of ridicule.
This, along with the bannings of Seto Kaiba and HappyPenguins , Memo's relishing in all the "drama" while raising his "holy hands" in innocense and "other things" (and I STRESS THINGS...lol)!have led me to the decision of no longer advertising the show on Robotechx.com. It's sad as the environment there was ruined by one person's personal crusade to demonstrate that they were someone that others MUST listen to and take their gospel as a holy creed.
Ultimate fail....as in just a few days, Robotechx has turned into a ghost town with Memo posting to the dead air.
With all that has happened, how does this affect how I do the show?
Not in the least bit!
These are some great times for the show. With the interview with Michael Bradley coming up, we have really hit a high point.
A special note of thanks and appreciation to Vivian Lanza, who has been such a sweetheart and a friend to The Protoculture Times and the catalyst who "worked the phones" to make it happen! She's a die hard Robotech fan and as ourselves has seen the spiral downturn of the franchise!
And I say
WE have hit a high point because throughout this whole process, it was the members of this site and people outside the site who believed enough in this project when I wanted to quit, who encouraged me to take the higher road and keep going. A big part of the reason why the show has continued was because of you guys and girls! If I had quit for the
wrong reasons, I'd be kicking myself this very moment. So, The Protoculture Times high points and victories are also yours.
I have some ideas for the near future and I wanted to share them with you.
I do realize, more than ever, that the future of the Robotech franchise is highly in question. I may be a fan of over 2 decades, but I am realistic. Harmony Gold puts forth no effort towards it and the standard answer has become tow things, "Oh we got The Shadow Chronicles and the PROPOSED Live Action Movie!" Tommy Yune and company have shown an utter incompetance and have promoted a culture of "If you don't follow us blindily, you're either stupid or a Macross Purist.
With the 25th anniversary next year, Tommy and his acolytes will visit conventions, show us some slides, and feed the fans the usual song and dance in an effort to keep conning the fans. Basically, wash rinse and repeat.
Being the current situation and the reality of it. I plan to move forward with the show and celebrate Robotech the best way possible without looking into its future because I'll tell ya....it ain't bright in my opinion.
Now about my idea. HappyPenguins has insisted that I consider this site as our community. I was thinking of all of us working together to turn this into a kick ass place where fans can come without all the politics and BS that Robotech.com and Robotechx.com have shown.
Sometimes, things need an upgrade to give it an improvement, even if it's small, but in the right places...
Robotech Fandom 2.0Relevant discussion
BIG Promotion of Fan productions (art and fiction)
Interviews of the people making it happen...the FANS.
Live round table discussions (conference call type of thing I'm looking into)
Seto/Mike's idea, a TRUE fan based infopedia.
(I've always loved his idea on this!)PROMOTION PROMOTION PROMOTION!
The way I see it....ONE FINAL ROAR FOR THE 25th anniversary by people who don't drink the Kool-aid nor use hate and bigotry as their platform. But instead, by people who take it for what it is and enjoy it.
A possible slogan or motto for it could be
"Ignoring the ignorance!" ....
...YOU GUYS taught me how to do that! LOL!
I think something like this would differentiate us in a very high positive way to the choices out there right now.....i correct myself, we ALREADY are different than those choices!
I know it's idealistic...I know it may be crazy...but let me know your thoughts...because since this is OUR community...let's take it to the max!
Other than that, I look forward to the upcoming interview and future episodes of the show!
Talk to you all later!
Zen72-JT