SuperSenpai
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Everything posted by SuperSenpai
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Honestly, I hope they don't do the redemption angle for and keep him as a . It just seems to cliched if they decide to go back on it. I'd rather they keep it as it is, but make him conflicted.
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You can definitely go down the rabbit hole with trying to point out implausible elements of any type of genre fiction. Suspension of disbelief is a given. That said, genre stories that do the best jobs are the ones that require suspension of disbelief with a given premise, but then maintain internal consistency within the established parameters. Otherwise you are just requiring the audience to suspend their disbelief at any arbitrary point in the story. That's just lazy writing. My point with tech or item-based superheroes wasn't so much to do with suspension of disbelief, but rather that I personally find them to be less compelling than characters that possess some intrinsic quality that makes them special or unique. This is why, even though I'm a big comic and superhero fan, I was never really that into characters like Green Lantern or Iron Man. But given the right writer or story, I can even find those characters compelling (I loved the Iron Man movies). -
Macross Collectibles Market Watch - Current Auction/Store SOLD prices
SuperSenpai replied to jvmacross's topic in Toys
I'm surprised it took this long, what with all the people on this board seemingly underwhelmed by it. From what I recall, the Isamu YF-29 started showing up within a few days of release. -
I enjoyed Falcon as a character, but my problem with superheroes whose abilities are largely tech (or special item) based is always the question of "Why can't someone else just use the suit/wings/armor/magic ring/etc?" Like with Iron Man -- why don't they just make a dozen copies of the Iron Man suit to be piloted by a special ops team? At least with characters like Batman, Hawkeye, or Black Widow, their uniqueness is partially based on their unusual level of skill at whatever they do. They pretty much admitted this in the film, when it was revealed that Falcon was part of a platoon of winged commandos. They should call up Tony Stark to hook up all of Falcon's old buddies too.
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Watched the last episode on Hulu the other night. So in the scene where they are carting Agent Garrett off, was it just me, or did anyone else notice that Agent Coulson gave Ward a little nod or glance before he boarded the plane? Or am I reading into that scene? Because if that did happen, then are we meant to conclude that Ward's "betrayal" was in fact a ploy?
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Interesting. I've read that for G1 Transformers, they started from vehicle mode and designed the bots out of that, which is why bot mode on G1 toys is rather simplistic and often looks clunky. I also heard that SK had a hand in designing a lot of the G1 toys, so my assumption would have been that he did the same for the VF-1. Considering that the VF-1 is a very obvious homage to the F-14, that would seem to make the most sense. But who knows.
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The VF-1 design looks as if it was intended to support all three modes, as if Kawamori had all three modes in mind, and then designed a shape and transformation mechanism that would make all three work. With a few exceptions, the rest of the valks look more like they were trying to be really cool looking fighter planes that could turn into robots, and Gerwalk was tacked on because they had to, otherwise it wouldn't be a proper Macross valk.
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Nah, man from the sounds of it you're going to need those chain mail gloves they give to people who work in the meat packing plants.
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Macross Collectibles Market Watch - Current Auction/Store SOLD prices
SuperSenpai replied to jvmacross's topic in Toys
Is this the same incident that I responded to before? I didn't realize that you were trying to email the Fukuoka store directly. I've only ever e-mailed at the international address, and I always got quick responses. I never saw a direct e-mail for any of the stores -- I assumed that the international address got routed to the appropriate store. -
What's with all the folks getting wounded while trying to transform a valk? This has got to be some kind of record.
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I like Gerwalk mode quite a lot actually -- for certain models. VF-1 and VF-25 definitely are my favorites. I think it's rather unique in comparison to a lot of transforming robot mecha toys, and something that definitely screams "Macross" (granted that Mospeada also employs a Gerwalk-like mode). In toy implementation though, it depends a lot on having good articulation. I remember as kid thinking Gerwalk mode was so cool in the show, but being sorely disappointed in my Jetfire's rendition of Gerwalk Lack of a knee twist and ankle articulation definitely made Gerwalk look pretty busted on the ol' chunky.
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Count me as still interested. It would have been cool to get a display stand with the Macross kite or SMS logo on the base, but if making them more generic while accommodating adapter pieces for valks means that they will be more affordable, I'm all for it. I think the basic articulation mechanism you've designed is great. By the way, you've probably already considered this, but thought it would be worth mentioning all the same: One way to definitely broaden the market would be to design an adapter piece to hold larger action figures -- I'm thinking 6" and above collector figures, including things like Hot Toys or Play Arts Kai figures. I think it would be pretty easy, just a mandible-type grip piece that could hold the figures around the waist, allowing for flight or jumping types of poses.
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Received my YF-19 this morning from HLJ. I had it sitting in Private Warehouse for a bit, and then requested it to ship on Monday morning, so it took about three days to get it via EMS. It was packaged in a shipper box with those big air-bubble cushions, but no bubble wrap. I didn't transform it or otherwise handle it too much, but I did open it to inspect for damage and for first impressions, since this is my first YF/VF-19-type valk. Thankfully, there was nothing broken, and I didn't notice any obvious scratches, gluing mishaps, or other blemishes. The only very minor thing I noticed was that were spots of oily residue here and there -- I'm told they use that as a releasing agent to get the parts out of the mold? My first impressions are that it's a great-looking valk, with good heft, and feels solid. I do echo wmcheng in that I feel they should have done more pre-painted detail, especially for the price they are charging. Having taken a look at all the missiles and FP parts, I can honestly say that it's sort of nice that they included them, but truthfully having them was not that big a priority for me and I think in retrospect I would have been a lot happier if they had an option for a stand-alone valk release for about $100 cheaper. After seeing what Arcadia has done with the latest VF-1 and now this toy, I think I've arrived at the opinion that I'm one of those guys who'd rather save some money and just get a nice, solid, stand-alone valk with some basic accessories -- esp. "canon" accessories that get screen time, or something useful like a decent stand -- than pay a lot more money and get a lot of stuff I don't necessarily want. I'm still glad I got this one, since it's a nice valk and my first of this model, but if Arcadia's future releases are going to continue to include lots of extra accessories and exceed the $200 mark, I'm not sure that they'll be getting more of my business.
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Levitating stands so people won't have to worry about paint stripping.
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Agreed. Captain America is Marvel's answer to Superman -- not in the superficial characteristics like origin, power set, etc., but more in terms of the ideological, "moral compass" sense. "Truth, justice, and the American way" is Superman's line, but it could just as easily have been Cap's. For years the argument has been that Superman is too much of a boy scout and doesn't appeal to today's more jaded audience, but I think the Marvel movies show that this just isn't the case. Captain America is every bit the boy scout that Superman is. And if you want to make a darker, sophisticated, more modern tale, you don't need to make him darker to appeal to the more cynical fans. Darker supporting characters and circumstances yes, but you leave his character alone to show why he's the moral compass. Marvel is basically doing a better Superman than DC! I thought the reason why it made sense for Cap to trust him was because he was an outsider. Since it's been established that SHIELD has been corrupted, he can't go to anyone within the organization for help, so it makes sense for him to go with an outsider. Not that it would have been beyond the realm of possibilities for Falcon to be a mole (like Agent 13), but I think his outsider status plus the fact that he was just another solider on the battlefield (and not a covert ops agent like Widow who lies for a living) lent a greater sense of authenticity to him.
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That. Is. Awesome.
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Thanks Derex. By the way, been meaning to ask you -- where did you get your avatar pic from?
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Did you use EMS? How quickly did it get to you from shipping to door? I noticed you live in Bowie so I figured our ship times would be similar.
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So for those who have been getting theirs from HLJ -- how fast have they been shipping these things out? Are they turning them out pretty quick or sitting on them for a few days? I've got one sitting in Private Warehouse, but am debating on asking them to ship it.
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So it seems there's a lot of interest, the big question is whether it will be cost-effective. I'm wondering if it might be cheaper to do it as a kit, where you fabricate the arm parts (since those are custom) but make the holes and adjustment points able to plug generic parts available at the hardware store or something. Also, perhaps there's a way to make the base less expensive -- it seems at least for the Bandai valks you could just sell the arm parts that people could plug into the existing bases, similar to what you have pictured.
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Would a clear or semi-transparent version be workable? I forget if you covered that already. Personally, that's one of the reasons why I like the Flightpose stands because it helps them blend into the background and gives the illusion that the valk is really flying.
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Perhaps... but I also wasn't a big fan of how they introduced the Slade-loves-Shado element either. It just didn't seem to work with his character as established at the time. Up until that one scene where we see Slade doing the voyeuristic-watching-Shado-and-Ollie-making-out thing, they were portraying him as this hardened, no-nonsense, special forces military guy. Then all of a sudden he becomes this sentimental, John Hughes-esque, third-wheel best friend who crushes on his female friend. I think it would have worked better if they made him a bit "off" already, and his crush on Shado was more of a weird, stalker/psycho creepy thing that gets amplified by the mirakuru. The other thing was that it reminded me a lot of how the writers of Smallville decided to ultimately turn Clark and Lex into enemies. We all knew that they had to end up as enemies, just like we all know Deathstroke and Arrow have to end up as enemies. But making them hate each over a woman just seemed a bit cliched.
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Nice work, and definitely would be interested in picking up a few if these are made available for sale. One question though -- any possibility of running afoul of licensing issues that would shut this down (I assume the kite symbol and SMS logos are trademarked)? I guess the workaround would be just blank bases...
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Just saw this week's episode on Hulu. Holy cow, they really brought it. Can't wait to see what the season's end brings. As much as I'm loving Slade as the villain for season 2, I'm not really digging his Deathstroke costume... a little too much going on there, what with all the pouches, harnesses, and holsters. I'm having major flashbacks to Liefeld-esque 90s comic book art. I also have a hard time with his motivations for wanting to destroy Oliver. Look, I get that he was into Shado, but he only admired her from afar and Oliver was the one who actually had the romantic relationship w/her. It just doesn't feel authentic that he would have such a grudge over it. Maybe you could chalk it up to the Mirakuru messing with his head and making it out more than it was, I guess. I dunno, it's just the one aspect of the plot that doesn't quite work for me. I'd also like to officially nominate Oliver Queen for the Matt Murdock Award for Worst-Kept Secret Identity.
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Well, at least you get government-funded health care right?