Sumdumgai

I don't know if there's a VF-0 video, but you could watch a 1/48 VF-1 transformation video. The transformation is almost the same. Locking the arms in fighter mode requires carefully storing the hands under/inside the backpack, and matching the indents on the arms to the small tabs on the inside part of the back legs. To free the arms, spread the legs apart to disengage the backpack. Swing backpack up and away from the arms. The arms should disengage from the backpack and the legs. Do the rest of the transformation based on the videos or instructions.

How about this dub? I dislike dubs, particularly when I can compare it to the Japanese version and tell there are discrepancies in scene performances. Macross Plus is one of the few dubs I think did a pretty good job, when compared to most other dubs. In particular, I found that Isamu and Guld's English dub voice actors got into the spirit of their prospective characters very well. I didn't like Myung's voice actress. Her voice grated on my ears too much, and I couldn't believe that she could have ever been a singer with a voice like that. The addition of Isamu's squadron panicking during the firefight at the beginning of episode 1 dubbed seemed like a dumb addition. Everyone's screaming and yelling over the radios, having constant mechanical failures... WTF? Other than Isamu freaking out another pilot by shooting past him after stealing a kill, there was only the problem of a fellow pilot needing to be saved because his gunpod jammed and he froze up. The dub made Isamu's squadron look more like the NUNS pilots...

The last 40 or so minutes of the movie definitely beats out OVA episode 4 for me hands down. I'd have to disagree with Vic Mancini on Guld qualifying as even "somewhat responsible", just by pointing out his part in pursuing Isamu into a populated city and doing massive amounts of damage to the city. They both probably injured a lot of people, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were responsible for a lot of deaths (if any of the shot out buildings were populated, cars being stepped on, and the bus that Guld lands on). Guld spent the whole series/movie dodging responsibility for past actions while pretending to be this cool, in control, responsible guy. Vic Mancini has excellent points. The part I bring up is a technicality. I particularly agree that Guld's appearance of responsibility causing him to be sent on the mission to pursue and halt the Isamu in the YF-19 is consistent with his character, the storyline, and sets up the final act. In particular solving the mystery of his animosity towards Isamu, solving the mystery of what happened to cause the three to separate as friends, and brings a resolution to all the characters.

Now that's a horrible curse to lay on someone!

I'm with Jenius on this. I prefer secretive letting out tidbits of info, rather than "this is what we're going to do" and never gets it done.

Hot damn, that's the 1/144 VF-11C?! It looked fantastic! I put mine together and played with it too much as a teenager. So mine was just snapped together and didn't look anywhere as near as good as yours was.

Okay, rephrasing it. I like Macross 7 better than Macross II. I like some character designs in MII, the music was awesome... And, uh that's it for me. I like most of the character designs in M7, the music was fantastic (though Planet Dance got monotonously repetitive), had enough story to keep me interested in seeing what would happen next, loved some of the mecha, and mmmmmmmm Emiria... It was interesting to see more Max and Miria, despite how Miria often times made me cringe. And M& brought us the VF-17, VF-14, VF-19P, VF-22, and VF-5000 valkyries.

The YF-1R is a lie. We're talking Macross here, not Robotech and their lame butcheries of everything. As long as they're not overly blatant mistakes that stick out like a sore thumb, I'm fine. If they ever had Alto's valkyrie blow up completely into itty-bitty little bits, then have it whole and on fire in the next shot, I'll be bothered. But short of something blatant like that, it's all good as long as they don't do too many more scenes of Brera vs Eden Hydra (chimera? forgot its name) quality.

Now that I think about it, has anyone spotted any factory type ships in the Macross Frontier fleet? On the subject of valkyrie repairs, I wonder if they have a factory for producing valkyries on a separate ship, or if there's a facility in Frontier or one of the island ships.

On the topic of if Bandai still does a 1/100 VF-25. I wonder if there'd be any metal content in it not including the pins and screws and all that.

Ooooh, nice YF-19 Supernova scheme. Those two look fastastic together Ghostkiller!

GN-U Q-rau?

Nice customs physioguy! What's that VF-11 you have in the pic of 3 M+ valkyries?

Yes, Toynamis are really that bad, and that company should never be allowed to touch anything Macross ever again. I would be interested in seeing what Bandai was planning with the 1/100, if it was going to be like the 1/100 VF-0 (take apart to transform and put new pieces), or if it was just going to be a small VF-25 that was transformable without reassembly.

Oooh, the YF-19 looks really nice in those pictures. The VF-1 looks like a pass with the messy-ish panel lines. I guess I'd have to see more pics.

I've watched all of Macross 7 (TV series, OVA, and movie), as well as the Macross II Movie which I still have somewhere on VHS... I strongly dislike Macross II and have disliked it since I first watched it. I did like some of Mikimoto's character designs, and I loved the music. But the story and mecha design was ick. Macross 7 has enough of its own problems on the other hand. I still overall liked it, even if I cringed a lot.

We still haven't seen any prototypes or even a peep about the 1/100 line since though.

I just realized that the VF-19 looks like a cross between the VF-11 (large canards to the section from cockpit to nose), YF/VF-19 (Forward swept wings), and SV-51 (head). The SV-51 head part I never noticed before.

I had to pick up all the Macross Plus soundtracks I could find to get all the music from the anime. Macross Plus For Fans Only has the cello version Voices that I was so dissapointed was not on OST 1 or 2. It also has the dogfight track and Wanna be an Angel, which was the first time I heard either of those two themes, considering that at the time I didn't even know about the movie edition! Then there's the Sharon Apple CREAM PUFF CD that has Information High. Damn I love that scene it's used in. There's the Macross Tribute CD that has another singer singing Voices, which I found to be very cool and refreshingly different. Plus it has the same instrumental background track than the original song, and isn't a completely different arrangement. I'm pleased beyond words that Yoko Kanno's returned to do the music in Frontier. What's definitely missing from the Movie Edition M+ is the VF-11B battle from OVA episode 1. While the brawl at the end of episode 2 is amusing and puts into play the whole thing about what Guld would do to get Isamu off the project, I prefer the way it was handled in the Movie Edition.

Damn that was disturbing to see Alto in a bikini like that. Made me laugh though.

I'm absolutely certain that the mysterious agent that met with Leon is Grace. Besides being in the credits despite not appearing in the episode as Grace as we know her, if you listen to her voice it sounds very much like the deepness of Inoue Kikuko's performance of The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3. I wouldn't be surprised if this agent crossdresses to become Grace. There's certainly enough of that with Alto-hime and his Sakurahime Azuma Bunsho thing. Alternately I wonder how advanced Galaxy's technology is. Maybe this agent is Grace inhabiting another body, not unlike what can be done in Ghost in the Shell, swapping your brain between bodies. Either way it's Inoue Kikuko's voice. As for Mao's actress, maybe she was off shooting second-unit scenes on another part of the island and when they got into that accident they were coming back to shoot with the first-unit (or whatever the primary group is called).

I was going to say "Kusanagi shoots first" too. Not on my must see list. I liked Patlabor 1 and 2. Patlabor Wasted XIII was a steaming pile of $h*t to me. It was like they called it Patlabor to try to get more people to watch it, or threw it in as an afterthought. If it were another movie, it wouldn't have been as bad, but as a Patlabor movie I expected something a lot better.

Well also in DYRL, Hikaru was just a grunt pilot along with Max and Kakizaki. It didn't look like he got the junior squad leader role like in the TV series. Not to mention that in DYRL they all got color schemes like Roy's to differentiate them even more so from background cannon-fodders, so having a 1J may not have been as necessary (though they could have gone the 1J Max and Miria route). All just guesses on my part.

Oh well if it's a pack of fighter, battroid, and gerwalk, and it's decently priced I'd probaby pick up a few sets. At the least the idea of GNU Fighter mode valkyries is very nice. Keep pushing on that idea Graham! Mmmmm, the idea of a fleet of different valkyries in Low Visibility or Stealth colors is very enticing... VF-1A, VF-4, VF-11B, VF-5000, VF-14, VF-17, VF-19A, VF-22.... In any case I'll wait to see what Yamato does with these 1/200 figures. It looks like this may get interesting. Especially the news that they have a VF-9 Cutlass coming out. Guess they got a license to produce Macross M3 valkyries?

Awesome video, I'm definitely going to be referencing it the day I get a YF-21. Great video peolsedru!