nautilus

Sadly, though they are authentic, they were not 100 yen (plus tax). Though, 890 yen was still a bargain, even with the water damage to the boxes. However, this not not such a surprise, as the local Daiso sells a good deal of 'end of lines' and spoiled stock, especially in their toy/hobby section. I learned a long time ago to swing through there often on my way home, as you never know.... Never seen Macross in there though,

I wish I had taken some now. I could try and recreate it, as the beasts still hunger.... Though someone would have to donate a Battlepod. Edit: However, by the magic of Paint and Scotch whisky, I give you a recreation...

Gods, they sold those (and many more) in the late 80s at the old Space Centre, back in Sheffield. There were some official Robotech ones, but the majority were knock-offs of one sort or other; everything from Macross, to the Dirty Pair to Gundam and beyond. They were pretty popular at a time when memorabilia for anime fans was almost non existent. Edit: Ah.... The Boys from the Centre. What a good bunch of lads they were.

A rescue job on a Toynami battlepod which had fallen foul of my Kittens. I don't know what they are putting into the vinyl that made it so tasty, but the poor thing needed much filler, sanding and new paint. Also, the next projects. A pair of nice Tamiya ships, found in the toy section at the local Daiso (Dollar store).... *_*

Though, do be careful. One of mine was clipped by the back spine of the BD case. Not the Cell, but the folder.

Tell that to the BFI, AFI, Kodak, 3M, ILM, SONY Pictures, etc. etc. etc. There is some difference from company to company, but remastering involves only improvements (made initially though mechanical means, and now through software processes) to standard stock. Restoration is defined as a return, as far as possible, to the individual elemental negatives. The confusion lies in the media of today. The terms were coined and defined at a time when film stock was the only source. Remastering in those days meant simply digging out the transfer prints and making up a new master from which to make copies. Restoring actually meant taking those negatives and cleaning them up before making new transfer prints. Its all a little complex, but if you take a film to any company specializing in this sort of this, such as ours, you'll get more or less the same answer. Ask for a Remaster and we'll ask for your transfer prints and some time. Ask for a Restoration and we'll ask for your negatives, a good deal of time and a great deal of money.

It is true that DYRL was only 'remastered', and not restored. Bandai paid to put the best original print they could find through a frame-by-frame cleaning process to create a new digital master print. Not cheap, to be sure, but still not as expensive as a full restoration. The downside is that whatever flaws remained in the print would be in the new master. Restoring, like the name implies would have involved going back to the original negatives, making corrections at that stage and doing some serious work on the bad sectors. I believe that it is technically possible, but I do not think that Bandai are willing to dig that deeply into the pockets. The easiest way to sell old stuff is to re badge it 'remastered' and hope we all confuse it with 'restored'.

Jesse's Anime. This Season, I are be mostly watching, Secret of Blue Water BDs, Tomorrow's Joe, Emma and Three Kingdoms.

"Them young Whipper-snappers", we'll say. "They don't know they have it so good. When I were a lad, all we had was one camera-copied BETAMAX of 'Do You Remember, Love?' to share between an entire club. At least, I think it was Macross. There was so much snow on the screen that it could have been an episode of Emerdal Farm and no-one would have been any the wiser..." And anyway, you know that in another few years, Bandai are going to hire Michael bay to do to our beloved what he did to Transformers... Edit: ....... I'll get me coat!

It might be too little, too late but there seems to be a concerted effort on the part of a number of small retail associations - and, which is more critical a couple of major players, such as Animate and Yodobashi Camera - addressing the complaints they have received to their Bandai reps. It might not have any effect this time, but the ostrich has had its head pulled from the sand and slapped by a not inconsiderable number of, normally quiescent fans... One chap, who posted to the retail forum to which the Missus subscribes commented on the seemingly random, and subjective nature of the edits as well. He found the, now infamous head-stomp few less shocking than Milia melting the face off one Zenty (not editted) or fabulous swan-song of Roy (gunpod to the spine, blood to the visor)... He further commented on the disturbing nature of even this minor revisionism (and yes, he did cite Lucas) as an unnecessary meddling with an already established cultural product - though his comparing it to book-burning went into hyperbole... I just hope that the momentum (personal and industry) keeps up here, because Josey Wale's famous saying applies all over the World and at all times: "Don't p*** down my back, then tell me it's raining!"

Amen... You'd have thought, by now that they would have been able to sort out these firmware updates.... Oh wait.... Did I just use logic connected to Sony? I am so very sorry. Not just PS3, as well. My stand-alone needed an update before it would play.

The gob. It is smacked... Just shows you what real affection can achieve.

There has been a bit of a fuss over pre-orders for the Box here. The missus runs an AV shop and had her box pre-orders cut to a third of what it was in the initial solicitation - disappointing many. Even larger concerns have been affected. Family Mart (convenience chain) had a special pre-order event, and though they were not as badly effected they still had their numbers cut. Seems that someone either at Bandai, or further down the distribution chain corked up the figures. That has to have had a knock-on effect on overseas resellers/shops. The good side seems to be that the initial run of the box is being extended - add to that the number of second-hand boxes already surfacing following the nerdrage of Thurs... I am sure it will all come out in the wash...

It is not a bad little gamelette all told and - despite my constant whining about the film quality - it has me nostalgia-izering like a good-un. Considering everything, I'd still say the box is not a bad deal, especially as (perhaps because of the volume of gripes, even here) I have noticed that the pre-sale hyped prices have slipped back to more reasonable levels.

It has been a constant gripe of mine that we get no pod-love these days (I know, I know scale issues and so on), but this build has also inspired me to get back to getting back and have a go at those kits which have been gathering dust for decades... Grand job done there sir!

Currently tweaking some of the old RC gubbins in preparation for the Summer gatherings. Not exactly futuristic, but they are good fun - except when the cat takes exception to them, and declares war (the Jagdpanther still wiffs from its drenching).

Here, just take my money. Why won't you just take my money? 10/10

I dunno... Perhaps I am getting old, but I found SnT less graphic (not and certainly not offensive) than DYL, but that is not the issue. However one looks at it, the mangling of this version is, to this little black duck, wholly unwarranted in the face of things. Though, as for young-uns not buying this blu-ray, our survey says.... X, and it is interesting that when the missus received POS and promo materials for the shop, they came with a polite request from the distributors to site said materials prominently amid the "family gaming" section as well as among the film media. Like it or not, Frontier has won a younger market for Macross, and that means many things... not least of which might be a tinfoil hat for me. Still, whichever way you look at it, that does not explain, or justify these daft little tweaks. I am sorry if I seem strident, but it just saddens me that something so important to me (and to others) should be treated in this cavalier fashion by people who we thought would have protected it... At least I get to into town and bitch to the Bandai area rep today.

On the issue of cutting, I wonder how much for this was actually forced upon the movie because it was being directly associated with a 'gamelette' aimed at kiddy-winkies? Clutching at straws? Perhaps, but the Japanese ESRB brought the hammer down in 2009 on what can be depicted in games, and I remember how the fallout upset not just the anoraks who play rape sims, but also that middle-teen ground who had a great many of their games seemingly pruned without reason...

Not a Valkyrie, but I did sit on the only Toynami battlepod I have ever been able to find locally - and on the day I brought it home. I should have been aware of what one of the little darlings was doing. It is a tougher thing than it looks, but not strong enough to survive two bears wrestling in a bin-bag descending upon it.

Perhaps certain among the Frothing Japanese public have had unrealistic expectations about the quality of the final Blu-ray print, but after following this release since last Crimble in a variety of media, I had expected something that, in the words of my co-worker "did not look as if it belonged on a DVD". I am still undecided about the picture issue, as I do think it is generally sharper and clearer than the 20th Ann DVD I bought a while back, but that very issue has seen four friends return their boxes to Family Mart this afternoon in a (perhaps unreasonably) peevish show of outrage for middle-aged Japanese lads. All in all, I hold with Renato, this one is going to bite Bandai in the rump, and I too look no further than Kawamori. In conversation he is a little odd (though, I think my keigo got to him) and, I feel, prone to thinking that Macross has always been his baby, is his baby and will always be his baby... Ho hum.......