Graham

The fighter mode looks like the F/A-22 Graham

While not anime, the most Inept military in a live action movie has to by the Mobile Infantry (MI) in the craptastic Paul Verhoven directed Starship Troopers movie. From a military standpoint, that movie had so many things wrong with it that it is just laughable. I could write a long list, but instead to save me half an hour of typing I'll just quote from this site which lists most of the stuff that's wrong with the movie: - "Verhoeven et al decided to leave out the powered armor, the MI into a fairly conventional force, recognizable to any member of today's armed forces -- except of, course, for the complete lack of artillery, mechanized transport, armored fighting vehicles, squad-level automatic weapons and indirect fire weapons such as mortars, other squad-level support systems, or combat medical units. Tactics consist of running towards the enemy in a big mob, running away from the enemy in a big mob, and walking from point A to point B in a big mob. (I especially like the scene where the MIs form a big circle around a Bug, with fellow troopers in their line of fire, and shoot at the Bug in the center -- I guess they are not as picky about friendly fire casualties in the 22nd century.) A supposedly elite unit, the MIs would have a hard time defeating a unit of Campfire Girls, let alone the Bugs. Second, the Navy isn't any smarter -- they appear to be fundamentally incapable of preventing their ships from running into each other. On more than one occasion we see ships packed in such tight formations that when a ship is hit and falls out of its assigned spot, the result is the space fleet equivalent of a multi-car pileup. Wet Navy folk are traditionally very concerned with running their ships into things -- especially each other -- and spend a lot of time practicing so that it doesn't happen. It still occasionally does happen, but they take great pains to minize the likelihood, in part by spreading the formation out sufficiently. I can't think of any reason why their 22nd century space Navy descendants would view things any differently. Depicting them in a formation guaranteed to cause collisions is, at best, sloppy and lazy, and at worst stupid in the extreme. Note that there was a scene in the book where there was a collision of this sort, but it occurred when a highly complex, over-ambitious maneuver, attempted to gain the advantage of surprise, went awry. Verhoeven's Navy, on the other hand, was engaged in a maneuver about as complicated as a lane change. Between the Navy and the Army, I spent the entire movie thinking that if this is the best the Federation can do, the Bugs deserve to win. Third, the characters engage in the sort of showboating that would get real military personnel court-martialed in a heartbeat. I am thinking specifically of Carmen's little shuttle trip inside the framework of the ring station; it was a neat effect in the last Star Wars flick, but even a fantasy like Jedi portrayed it as a dangerous move undertaken in desperation, rather than something to be done because you were feeling especially perky that day". Graham

Safest place to be in the world? Smack bang in the middle of a 5-way firefight between GI Joe, Cobra, Autobots, Decepticons & the A-Team, cus you just know you ain't going be hit no matter how many rounds are flying Graham

Try sending a PM to Monkey-N (Rob). He successfully obtained a license from Big West to make a Zentradi Fighter Pod garage kit (see it here) for sale in Japan. Graham

Great work as always Kurt and I promise I'll add this to the MW Custom Toy Gallery soon, together with your recent Low-Vis 1J custom as well. One thing that's been bugging me about your photos though. I notice with all the photos of your customs, you always pose the legs straight vertically down in Gerwalk mode, rather than posing them in a more dynamic looking spread-leg stance. Any reason for this? Graham

Also not Anime, but the A-Team have to be the worst shots ever. Graham

Oh wow, beautifuul picture. That is the first time I have seen that lineart. Amazing find. What I find interesting is that the hip ball joint is clearly shown. Usually, Kawamori hides that part in his drawings. Graham

Referring to Blue Gender, I don't think it is known whether the Blue are suceptable to extreme cold or not, so this tactic may or may not have worked. Even if it did work, it may have only forced the Blue into temporary hibernation, so when the weather returns to normal, so do the Blue. Also, IIRC the Blue were spread all over Earth not just in one location, so you would probably need to drop a lot of asteroids all over Earth, not just one asteroid in order to achieve a significant global drop in temperature, i.e. a new Ice Age. Anyways, the humans on 2nd Earth probably didn't to wreak that much damage on Earth As for most inept anime military I know you said no Gundam, but I can't help it I'm gonna have to go with the UC Universe Feddie & Zion forces. I mean if an annoying angsty teenage brat with no training is better than the best Feddie & Zion pilots, that says a lot about the quality of their military forces And we're not talking about one isolated incident, the same scenario repeates itself in MSG, Z, ZZ, F91 & V (& SEED even tho that's AU) Graham

I still deny the existence of Robocop 2 & 3. They exist only in some nightmare parallel universe together with the Highlander sequels, Alien 3 & 4 & Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions Graham

It depends what you want? The Hasegawa VF-1 Battroid models are definitely the most detailed and proportionally accurate VF-1 Battroid models ever made, light years ahead of the old Arii and Imai kits and unlike Hasegawa's Macross Fighter mode kits, they are mostly snap together. However, unlike Bandai's Gundam kits they are not molded in the correct colors, so do require extensive painting to look good. Also, although they are fairly well articulated, the hip joints on the non-FAST pack kits are notoriously fragile and in fact Hasegawa came up with a stronger redesign of the hip joints for the FP kits. so, if you want an accurate VF-1 Battroid model and your painting skills are up to it, you can't go wrong with a Hasegawa VF-1 battroid, especially the Super & Strike kits. However, toys these ain't so don't expect something rugged that you can play with and continuosly pose. If you want a toy buy a 1/48 or 1/55. Graham

Yes, it's a model, but Toonz originally posted this topic in the Toy Forum and I moved it to the Model Forum. Graham

Models in the model forum, toys in the toy forum, those are the rules and we have them for a reason. Please respect and obey them. Posting in the wrong forum if it was an honest mistake is ok, but posting in the wrong forum just because you would like a quicker response is not acceptable. Graham

I don't think the VB-6 has any landing gear. None is shown in the line-art and in the VF-X2 opening movie, the VB-6 transforms from Shuttle to Gerwalk mode as it lands. Graham

Actually, I'm just wonding if the part I've marked on the picture below is a micro-missile launcher? Graham

the bayonet is shown in use by Isamu's VF-11B in the opening combat scene in Macross Plus OVA episode # 1. the bayonet is standard on the VF-11B. Later varients such as the VF-11C and VF-11D use a different type of gunpod without a bayonet. Graham Just a note, the Pink Peaker Squadron's VF-11s had bayonets. I don't think those were VF-11Cs (flashback from a long time ago)... but their gun pods did not look like the Macross Plus VF-11B's gun pod. Standard-looking VF-11[C] gun pod with a bayonet. I'l have to check when I go home, but I'm pretty sure that the eyecatch image of the Pink Pecker Squadron shows them with VF-11B type gunpods. Graham

the bayonet is shown in use by Isamu's VF-11B in the opening combat scene in Macross Plus OVA episode # 1. the bayonet is standard on the VF-11B. Later varients such as the VF-11C and VF-11D use a different type of gunpod without a bayonet. Graham

Not weird at all. Most quality automatic tactical knives have blades that swing out through 180 degrees at the push of a button. AFAIK, it allows for a stronger locking mechanism compared with the switchblade type. Graham

That settles it, I'm definitely getting one then. Now the only question is whether to order one from the US or wait for the Asian release whenever that is. Graham

Already got Sledge Hammer on preorder. The only other 80s series I want is all 5 seasons of Miami Vice. Graham

Outstanding! Graham

Yep, great work as always Jung. Graham

Happy Birthday to the greatest animated movie ever. Graham

Even today, Mari is still increadibly hot Graham

Battlecry has inaccurate mecha models. The Valks are missing wings in battroid mode. In fighter mode during the intro movie, the feet look like they are open when they should be closed and the plane nose look too stubby IMO. Sound effects are also horrible. The gunpod firing sound is completely wrong and when flying the Valk sounds like it's powered by a sowing machine engine rather than a nuclear turbine. Game play is not to bad, tho fairly repetative. However, there are certain moves that you can't do in fighter mode and I also found moving in Gerwalk mode to be very poorly done and not really accurate to the anime. I never completed the game, I got bored with it. On the otherhand I couldn't stop playing the Japanese P2 Macross game. I'd definitely recommend the Japanese PS2 Macross game to Battlecry. It has superior, graphics, gameplay, SFX, music and controls. the only area where Battlecry beats the Japanese game is that Battlecry has far more missions. Graham

Page 33 of Macross Design Works also has fairly detailed pictures of the VF-1's flaps. Graham