Renato

As I mentioned in a few older threads, apart from leg floppiness and droopy wings, my Ivanov's thigh exploded for no reason after the second transformation and I had to send it to Yamato to fix. It was fine for a while, but it happened again recently (after about a year or two) and then I fixed it myself with some carefully placed superglue. It's OK right now, but understand that I no longer transform it very often, so make of that what you will. EDIT -- I just remmbered that mine was not an isolated incident and others here have mentioned similar thigh breakages (from the inside). Alex mentioned that one of the Ivanovs on display in a shop here in Tokyo also had its leg spontaneously explode.. right there on the showcase, without even having been touched. When you look inside that leg and realize the tensions and tolerances at work there you will see why this is flawed. That said, the toy looks awesome when it stays in one piece.

OK. Having read the first two posts, I now know that this is not a thread I want anything to do with. Shame, really, because I wanted to check out what people thought of the extras on the BR/DVD before I decided if it was worth the purchase.

Hi, Ukyou, I remember you from the old boards. I agree with all your advice, and obviously you know your stuff very well. If I could add a couple of things, though: In my experience, people should be aware that the option of writing theses in English not only varies from university to university, but it also depends on the graduate school within that university. Most of my friends in Law or Engineering spoke minimal Japanese and wrote their theses in English, but I was in the School of Letters, where they only accepted Japanese. So definitely, that's something to watch out for. Secondly, the monthly MEXT scholarship stipend decreases pretty much every year. However, it varies depending on the region you choose: though the basic amount is standardized, you get extra allowance if you live in certain specific areas and Kyoto was one of them, so I got a little bit more than people in Osaka at the time, for example. But like I said, it dropped every so often anyway. Lastly, the insurance reimbursement: I think it was around 80% when I started, then it dropped and for my last year it was 30% or so. So they are definitely cutting back considerably. My advice is to make sure all of your information is up to date, because many things are changed every April.

I know, THANK GOD. All the more reason to make this into a movie than remake a 30-year-old film, yet again. (And I don't know if you noticed but that article states that the creators took the name and re-worked the character into a "hero" later, so it's just a little more than something which just happens to share the name randomly.)

I think he's talking about this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reign_of_the_Super-Man Yeah, I'd rather see a movie about this, rather than see more guys in tights shooting CG outta their asses. Enough is enough.

I think they look OK, with the exception of Hot Rod's opaque windows. That pretty much ruins the entire aesthetic, plus it makes a waste of the internal molded seats, which I thought looked great in the original figure.

Funny, I thought I responded to your thread. Oh well. 20 years, huh. Dunno where you've been looking, but it may be right under your nose. If you search around, you will find it.

That looks suspiciously like a UN Spacy white Koenig Monster to me... But it's hard to tell.

Yeah, it does look vaguely like it's a UN Spacy white scheme. And no mouth! I'm not sure about those guns, but I think it's a given that Bandai will release this variation too, at some point. Hope it's not exclusive...

OK, here we go, Wikipedia to the rescue! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Minmay_%28Macross%29 Macross creators Mikimoto Haruhiko and Kawamori Shoji have stated that Minmay's popularity in both sides of the war is partially inspired by the song Lili Marleen, a German love song which was popular on both sides during World War II.[1][4][6][11] The footnotes refer to the liner notes on the Animigo and ADV releases, which in turn were likely Egan Loo's translations from, as I thought, Perfect Memory, which is the other reference. Heh, that was some pretty smooth investigating right there. Well, then, Robotech to the rescue! EDIT -- Though, again, they probably just got it from Perfect Memory, too.

Argh... Yeah, I forgot where it was exactly. But I'm sure it's in a number of sources. I will take a look in Perfect Memory, since that has an extensive section on the making of the show, from concept through production. In any case, I recommend you listen to the album!

Okay, as far as I know (though I'm no expert) Osaka University is probably the place to go for robotics. They have some incredible stuff over there. Since I'm a letters guy, obviously I'm in no position to give specifics, but I had a friend back then from Portugal who did his post-grad in Robotics there, and he told me all about the lifelike newscasters and whatnot that they're developing. By the way, the Robocon guy, I forgot both his name and the name of his company, the guy who is often featured in the "How long until we get a real, working Valyrie?" section of Macross Ace magazine, is based in Osaka, too, and I know he has a close relationship with the academic institutions in the Kansai region. In fact, he gave a talk in Kyoto last week or so, which I really wanted to go to but I was there for another conference the previous week and I couln't extend my stay any longer. Check him out, when I get his name I will post it here.

You Inoue, RIP... I thought it was always obvious that she was Gepelnitch (as well as the Macross 7 narrator for the first arc). However, Urusei Yatsura is on reruns here in Tokyo and as I was watching it the other day, I noticed that Oyuki sounded familiar and I thought it was her... but it turned out to be Noriko Ohara (Claudia LaSalle)! What's more amazing was that Inoue WAS in the episode, but as Ran, who sounds nothing like Kanuka Clancy nor Gepelnitch, to my amazement. Also, Akira Kamiya pops up in there too, as Mendou. Ah, but I think Arihiro Hase also holds that record since he also played three characters throughout the Macross series: Hikaru, Bobby the Jammingbird and, lastly, Zomd. Or is it Goram? Who cares? "Hooo hooo hooo...."

Actually, it IS specifically related to Macross, in a way. It's been said that "Lili Marleen", the tune he plays on that trumpet, is what the creators of Macross based the concept of "Lynn Minmay" on, because it was the song that brought two warring peoples together, if only for a brief moment. You can even hear a Japanese version of the song on the "Macross vol.III: Miss DJ" album, sung by Minmay.

Sketchley, Funkenstein is talking about joining a Master Degree course, that is a totally different kettle of fish. I was in the Kyoto University graduate school for a total of five years doing a Master and Doctor course plus one year in Osaka University and I can tell you, few of those things you mentioned regarding campus life are applicable, even less so considering we are talking about the top academic institutions in Japan. As for Tokyo University, I'm not sure the exact situation but I know several lecturers there and I believe the rules and requisites vary depending on faculty like they do most other places, but the key issue is "do they offer what you want?" And I mean that in terms of course content as well as how good they take of their foreign students. Both Osaka and Kyoto Unis had good facilities and activities for foreign students, in particular Osaka has a well-developed student lounge and organizes language programs and other such special services. Also, remember that there are other universities aside from Tokyo Uni with outstanding reputations like Waseda, Keio and Meiji (which I have to shamelessly plug because that's where I lecture! ) Lastly, I would look into finding a scholarship before you leave. There is the Monbukagakushou (MEXT) Scholarship for foreign students where the Japanese government gives you a monthly stipend, covers all tuition and examination fees and reduces your public health insurance payments. That is the first one you should look into. The application procedure is long-winded, time-consuming and a general pain, but the effort pays out (literally) in the end. Look it up as soon as possible. Good luck!

I remember reading an interview in which he said he "fixed" the design somehow, as they were having problems with the transformation. Then he got to work with a few of the other Diaclone toys, but doesn't remember specifically which ones, other than the Robot Base X thing. My memory is vague, but the text can be found in one of the Japanese trasnformer books, like Transformers Generations or something. I think it's the one that is in landscape format.

"Let me guess"? WHY?? This is the information age, for God's sake! I think we're way beyond "Google is your friend" at this stage. Have you ever even been on the main MW site? OK, you know what, why not go ahead and call it Jetfire. In fact, it's just "PlaneBot". This entire site should just reopen as planebot.com tomorrow, and you can be the admin.

Why did you use inverted commas there? And are you saying they are not mechanical?

If they're using the same molds as the 2001 reissues (which I am almost certain of), then the arm armour on the reissues is incompatible with the arms of the original Takatoku 1/55s.

It didn't surprise me. Itano just loves to be loved.

And he also shows his love for "District 9"! I enjoyed Macross the First, but the Ohara Noriko and Ishiguro Noboru columns seem to have been cancelled or on hiatus. And yet we get that recycling of a manga from only a few issues back. Colour me disappointed. For me the columns and articles are some of the most interesting things in the magazine and if they go, I'll eventually just switch to buying the single volumes of Macross The First.

I agree the contrast is much more dynamic on the original, but two things make the "Remaster" better in my opinion: 1) The brightness means you can spot a lot of details. I adore the backgrounds in this movie, and I realize now how much I had missed most of the details in the dark scenes such as when they're trapped in the Macross's engine block. 2) No terrible interlacing. Even in normal scenes, all the animation is compromised, it blurs together in a mess of lines, and in the action scenes, well, forget about it. It really is off-putting for me to the extent that I cannot make it through the entire movie, it's like watching an untuned TV station. The remaster has its own issues with grain and whatnot, and I was disappointed originally because I was expecting cel-perfect visuals like the Macross 7 discs, but all in all, I think it has definitely improved the viewing experience for me.

Interesting photos... but again, it looks like the feet are still mistransformed. Does this mean that the toy cannot be properly transformed into "Destroid"/Battroid mode??

I can kind of forgive the Bandai Macross 7 stuff from back in the day, but with the way the collectors' toy market is now, I really think the VF-25 DX Chogokin is inexcusable. Absolutely the worst modern toy, it's like Bandai did no research on their customers nor their competitors whatsoever.

Do you mean that you got the standard DVD later, or at that time? The reason I ask is that I was under the impression that they were around the same price (about 8000 yen)...