Renato

Summer 2010 is all the info out so far.

PSP-3000s can be hacked, too, they just have to have an older version of the Firmware installed. I have a 2000, and have no regrets, though. I do not play consoles at home, so I usually use it on the train. I watch TV shows, read books I downloaded, listen to music, and with the hack, I also play all the PS1 I have as well as re-living the fun of the SNES and Gameboy games I wasted my entire childhood on. But if you do not care about any of that, then Macross Ultimate Frontier is a good enough reason to get any of them, 1000, 2000 or 3000. As has been stated, the PSPgo is useless if the games aren't on the PSN Store, and MUF isn't, so forget it.

Also, they'd better fix those panels which are supposed cover the back of the head in fighter mode. In the photo they're sticking up halfway because of the lasers. What I would like is for Revoltech to do the whole Sound Force team. The 1/144s are not poseable enough, and you just know that no company will ever produce a transforming Mylene or Ray valk, so I'm just hoping for SOMETHING here. Revoltech does a good job with the Super Robots so the Sound Force valks should fit right in. And the Blazer would go well with the YF19 and the 21.

Heh. Bandai is all about "not wanting to".

Oh? Which one was it replaced by? Because Gundam's was run by Joshin. They pretty much run that entire district, as far as I can tell, what with all their variant stores.

Yeah, I guess with everything these days, you just have to be selective. Hell, that's the only way I made it through Macross Frontier, plenty of juvenile content there. Here's a thought: maybe Jeremy & gang thought it would be funny to have life imitate art and put in some random odd misplaced sexual scene in an otherwise intellectual work, so that the listeners would say it ruined it, just like Wings of Honneamise! Genius.

Meanwhile, the GUNDAM'S store closes down in Nipponbashi....

So, the first five seconds? Why not just skip over it? It's not as if any of us read every post on this forum. You missed an excellent analysis of a unique masterpiece.

After listening to the podcast, I have to say I absolutely agree with almost all your views, as usual. Regarding the music, I agree it's off-putting, though I don't hate it. Although perhaps I have just seen this movie so many times I probably have just grown accustomed to it. The piano number when Shiro takes his first flying lesson is very nice, and the ending theme is pretty cool. My only true disagreement with the closing montage. I absolutely loved that. It shows how far we've come, the stuff we created, what we destroyed, it juxtaposes his life with that grand narrative and shows his most vivid memories, then makes us face how trivial this all is in the face of the vast void of space, and how we have a chance to start on a clean slate. Then for a brief moment, we're back on the surface, looking at the girl, and joining her in her interminable duty to spread the word of God, in the hope of salvation. That hit me hard when I first saw that, and it does so every time. Concerning the names, I only remember Shiro's name: Shirotsugh Ladhatt. I do not remember if the spelling is correct. The pronunciation of his first name is very much a Japanese name: "Shirotsugu". That said, they made the rest of the world look and feel as un-Japanese as possible. This is one of my favorite anime movies, much better than Akira, and as many people have mentioned in the past, was way too far ahead of its time. It's a shame it never managed to expand the market for anime, or we may have had more beautiful, thought-provoking, intellectual movies like it. IMO, Gainax only went downhill from here. Gunbuster was great and everything, but they never attempted something as monumental as this ever again.

Looks like these are two sets; one for the sound booster and one for all the other junk. The Sound booster, OK, fine. But seriously, I hate Bandai for not including the other stuff in the first place. It makes no sense. Even the fists, for god's sake. Is the Blazer gonna come without a head?? How about just one leg? Why the hell not?? "Hey, let's make the wings exclusive!" And no info on the price, nor release date. This is the stuff I want, I have waited for for years (over a decade), and it makes me sick that I will be handing over money to these extortionist con-artists. Just Ban-die, already. I really like it when a toy comes with all sorts of options and accessories, like much of the Revoltech stuff. Maybe I've grown a little too accustomed, but this is ridiculous. We're in Afterthought City here. I mean, it took an entire year for them to release the damn thing after the original announcement anyway! I cannot understand what happened.

I'm listening to it now. I think I got the whole thing downloaded in one go this time. OK, I'm still near the beginning, it seems none of you know the character designer? Heh, I don't remember his name either! But anyway, IIRC it's the guy that did the designs for Nadia and Evangelion.

The second movie? Who knows. I certainly haven't been able to find any source of that info. Just to clear up any confusion, the "Kresphy scoop" in my last post was referring to the book.

Kresphy, thanks for the scoop, as usual! OK, so here we have a new book of designs. The note attached on the page reads: "Please note that the mecha designs are not included". Well... so much for that, then.

Sergorn, I think you're walking into a trap. Sketchley is probably only going to tell you that it is your responsibility to learn Japanese, or else you're not a big enough fan. Just shrug and walk away... Sketchley, OK, you play your part in the fandom both off and on this site, but I think your general attitude could often be a little more forgiving. We all get stressed out at times, but my impression is that you seem to want everybody to have identical points of view as yourself. Where's the fun in that? Let us just learn off our differences and get on. I cannot say that you are lucky to live in Japan and speak Japanese etc., because I know the chances are that you will respond with a debunking of "luck", and a championing of "effort". Do not misjudge others by assuming that they are not making as much effort in life as you. Do you realize that you have just told someone to make a major life change? We all have our priorities, things to do, and tasks to fulfill, and our time spent on Japanese cartoons from the 1980s varies from individual to individual, some may deal with it professionally, others in their spare time. Everyone decides how to enjoy it as they wish. Please do not ruin what is essentially leisure time for most of the people here by causing more stress for them. Let us just try to enjoy Macross. That's why we're here. Anyway. As for the Frontier movie, I might get the DVD/Blu-Ray when/if it comes out, I have not decided yet. I think any added extras, like storyboards and stuff (in proper book form, like the DYRL remaster, not crappy on-screen images) with be the decider for me. Then again, if it just comes with something silly like an Ai-kun phone strap, then forget it. An extra one or two discs of production stuff, interviews, etc, would be great.

Wow, nice price. I still haven't played mine yet. My wife is back at her family home in Aichi prefecture and asked if I wanted her to send her brother's Saturn over, but I declined because, seriously, it'd just be 5 minutes of playing and then back in the box, so a big waste of effort to send it all the way here. I'll take the CD next time I go over there and will play it then.

I've not downloaded this one yet, but count me in as one of those people who sometimes cannot download the whole file. The funny thing is, it never stalls, or says "error" or anything. It downloads fine, says it's finished, and the file plays, but it's usually a small file which just ends abruptly. I download it from the website. Please do not recommend I use Itunes, like all of Steve Jobs's creations, it aggravates me no end. As for the Honneamise rape scene, there is a version of the movie with it cut out, released by Manga Video in the 90s. That was the one I used to own. I do not know if it later came out on DVD or not, though. The first time I watched the "uncut" version was actually on TV in Japan back in 2001 or so. It wasn't a late night showing or anything, I distinctly remember it being 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and it was cartoon rape time. Y'know, for kids! That was really bizarre.

I always found that odd. I remember reading somewhere that it was the same girl who did the Flower Girl, though I don't know how accurate that is.

It's funny that this scene brings up so many interpretations, I didn't think it was really that ambiguous. I think we need the Robotech narrator to come in here and explain the situation. "But as Gamlin looked on at the wife of his fallen comrade canoodling with some hunky neighbour, he realized that his friend would have wanted his family to be blissfully unaware of his passing, and thus opted out of making a cockblocking ass of himself." You know, for kids. (The alternative being, "Yes, Gamlin, only a dream".)

RIP, Carl. I got into all of this because of Robotech, too. He was too young to go. My condolences to his family and friends. He certainly played a large role in the early, dark ages when nobody knew what anime was all about and it was all fresh and exciting. I am extremely grateful, even more so now, for that recent ANN interview, an extremely informative insight.

I just want to add: it is probably going to be crowded as hell while you're over here because it will be "Golden Week", which is like an entire week of work for everyone working regular hours. Be prepared to ride some very packed trains and queue for pretty much anything, even an ice cream. Also, we're having some extremely irregular whether, it actually snowed a bit today, even though it was short-sleeve summer weather earlier in the week. I am not sure about the coming week but I'd pack a couple of warm wear items just in case.

ORGUSS!!!!! OK, time to buy a PS3.

Check it out. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...st&p=833491 And when I got it back from Yamato, the floppiness on the joint was fixed, but the leg itself still pops off easily. Not as easily, but more than it should.

Bumping this because it's this Thursday.

Those are HCMs (High Complete Model). Hi-Metal was originally the name of the Bandai reworkings of the Takatoku molds, i.e., the 1/55s.

A niche series like Macross 7 is going to carry a premium price tag precisely because it has considerably less potential buyers than whatever transformer they're making for the kids these days. Plus Bandai had the added advantage that there was no rival making another version of the VF-19kai (back then) so they tried to maximize their profit margin. I agree, it is still too much for such a small -- and INCOMPLETE: i.e. lack of fists and base for stand -- toy, but I can see why Bandai did it. Meanwhile, they seem to be pricing the other 1/100 offerings, the VF-25 and VF-1, closer to the 4000-5000 yen mark because they expect more buyers. The VF-1 in particular cannot sell for the price they set for the VF-19kai because Bandai knows the buyer will see a better deal in the superior 1/60 Yamato for not much more money. Keeping their lower price point competes with Yamato, but when you consider that the other recent transformable VF-1 offering, the Revoltech, went for around 2500 yen, Bandai can feel like the customer will accept the higher price tag when presented with a higher quality and better engineered product in comparison, even if the size may be similar. So I agree with you in terms of these toys being overly expensive, due to the nature of a toy being a luxury commodity rather than a necessity, but when you look at Bandai's pricing in terms of the market factors at play, I can understand why they went the route they did. Yamato and their 120,000 yen SDF-1, however... yeah, that's just crazy talk. In any case, prices usually do come down. By the time these Hi-metal guys come out, the 1/60 Yamatos might be on sale for around the same price! The only issue is when we find out all too late that production runs were more limited than we had expected...