VF5SS

Roy didn't have the teeth sparkle effect like Juuza of the Clouds. Michel did so clearly he is much higher class of womanizing than Roy :3

They're still being tweaked but I did get a chance to handle them and they were very solid.

Just watch the show like a normal person, sheesh.

Ah neat. I think the last time I saw that test VF-1 was back when the website was up. I used to use your Quake 2 model all the time. Some people were trying to kludge it into Air Quake 2 somehow. All these issues with the landing gear kinda beg the question of why does the VF-1 use realistic 1980's style struts and hydraulics when just the fingers and elbows must use fully functional compact actuators :3 I recently picked up the second VF-1 Master File and I can see what you're saying about some of their changes. Actually I that cockpit transformation diagram appears to be trying to reconcile the TV Battroid cockpit, which is best left forgotten in my opinion :v Have you tried working backwards from the VF-0 cockpit? Junya Ishigaki did a pretty good job realizing how it would work. Although the VF-0 is a big bigger so everything isn't as restricted by space constraints. The mystery of the main battroid viewing monitor may be why they went with the canopy acting as a display in Zero since they could no longer fudge the interior with more consistent CG designs.

Do you still have the cool TEST paint scheme for your VF-1 back back when it was a part of the Valkyrie Simulation Project :3

We had Macross 7 Trash. Sure was fun watching girls do stuff and Shiba looking pretty for seven volumes.

Actually both 0080 and 08th MS team had pretty good model kit lines when they were released. Every major Zeon design from 0080 got a plastic kit and there were three Federation kits. All of my original 0080 kits are marked 1989 and the OVA debuted in March of that year. Similarly, the 0083 kits are also marked 1991 which is the year the OVA debuted. The 0083 line was rather small though. The 08th line also coincided with the OVA's release. In fact the line was well received for providing the first modern 1/144th scale Zaku kit.

http://gamu-toys.info/goukin/gouki/vf100s/vfhimetal06/vfhimetal0601.html

Ahem "All Yamato Macross series products get free parts replacements*" *in Japan Unless you're Renato I guess :v

I put up a comparison video of the new and slightly less new VF-25.

I'll agree that 0080 is a wonderful character driven story but I feel 08th and 0083 are pretty shallow echoes of much better moments in the Gundam franchise. Either of the latter two would have faded into mediocrity without the Gundam brand. You're correct that all of them had a lot of help thanks to the Gundam merchandising machine.

That really just sounds like the existing post war episodes with a helping of niche appeal militarism.

He's got a pretty nice Valkyrie spread. Let me know if he needs some shoulder help, I can hook him up :3

dude the AT Collection Scopedog is awesome for scale parties

This article says it will still have the ABS and diecast lower legs. Gotta chillax, guys. It's allllllllllllright.

I feel like people are being rather selective about how blatant things are. Sheryl flaunts herself because she is a egotistical diva, but that's part of her character. We are introduced to her twin fold drives rather early one, but is that any different than Minmay whose first big scene involves Roy checking out her 80's three level shaded posterior :3 Let's not even go into how many times the guys who put together various books like Perfect Memory and the TIAS series that felt proud to have screen caps of every sexy moment in Macross. The Miss Macross episode is the best because it was more or less their way of doing a beach episode (which almost every giant robot show had done prior) without a beach. And Gubaba was telling me how much the fans loved every snippet of "kya kya" action with even the pinpoint barrier girls getting some love in the Miss Macross fan polls :3 Also Riber is really popular for some reason. Certainly the marketing has changed but nerds...nerds never change... We just have a better idea about what kind of perverts were making these shows and which ones watching them. We're probably heading towards another Macross 7 hate thread, but I will say that Kawamori himself has some interesting comments about the show in the interview section of Macross Design Works.

That's a rather arbitrary distinction. How many things in Macross could be on the side of non-believable? God-like aliens creating space giants? Could be 50/50. oh dear, Gubaba and I are on the same wavelength newtypes! edit: I would like to say that I find Basara not to be a messiah figure. He is in essence, Space John Lennon and does so much with a little help from his friends. Also the guitar control stick is something other characters comment on as being strange :3 And what's wrong with speaker pods? There's so much detail going into how they work. They're way more plausible than the giant robot that carries them.

Episode 5 , "Transformation" gotta know your canon I don't completely disagree with Mommar's sentiments but I just find the cherry picking kinda funny. I mean I do a lot too so whatevs. There is certainly an issue of escalation in Macross stories. It's the nature of fiction and a habit of the franchise. I appreciate that the Frontier movies toned back the threat of the Varja from galaxy spanning to mostly confined to one planet. After Macross 7's villain almost succeeding in sucking the life from the universe, there's only so much that can be done afterwards. However one cannot judge fiction wholly on the scale of the conflict. Judging a show entirely on what's at stake isn't gravitas, it's more narrative gamesmanship. See also almost everything Gainax did with robot shows from Gunbuster to Gurren Lagann :3 The original Macross always had that strange luck of getting extended past the obvious conclusion. While these episodes do give the series a somewhat unique touch (though I'd argue the last part of Dougram after the big rebellion ends is very similar in how it plays out), I think it's rather interesting that the writers had to scale back the supposed devastation to less than Hokuto no Ken levels. Earth is rather happily habitable after all those unforgettable images of genocide. It's a nice extended metaphor for hope and rebirth in the wake of destruction (kinda like what Aries said to Roy in Zero). I will agree that Macross hasn't really "grown up." Personally I think doing so would hurt its rather whimsical naivete. Sometimes it does dress itself up like an angry twenty something. I feel like the powers that be understand this but almost always give a sincere effort to crafting a story. I don't think it has come to point where the silly premise is being used as an excuse for stupidity. At least not on the level of "it's for kids, stupid! so we can be stupid!" like how some people in defense of other popular franchises ;3

Macross 1 accidentally a whole spaceship transform into a giant man and shoot guns at people :3

Macross arguably created most of those modern archetypes. It's the strength of a production that allows a show to use them effectively to transcend common pitfalls and trite storytelling. Let's not even get started on the moe in Orguss. I mean come on, Kei-sama :3 Naw we have Mylene Beat for that :v

Well that's just a sign of the times. High quality character goods used to be the purview of limited run Garage kit makers and a few low quality official products (see the ARII figures). The refinement of the PVC figure market has allowed for characters to get an equal share of the merchandising, which makes sense to me as they are very important to a lasting franchise. Almost every Macross series has the same potential as Frontier to push character goods. Imagine if the girlie figure market was there in 94-95 to render each of Mylene's two dozen outfits for waiting otaku :3

I don't think you remember what I said there at all.

Every Macross series is created to sell merchandise. It's a robot show and the essence of the genre is hocking the merch. If anything, Space Battleship Yamato was one of the first to push the idea of using popular singers to do intro themes and then selling the singles. Victor was really keen on capitalizing on this. One of my fellow writers on CDX is a huge vinyl collector and wrote a neat summary of the connection between anime and record companies http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/1982/armored_valkyrie#comment-24003

i dunno, that worked for DYRL :3

passes the Iron Man pose test