Hurin

Yes, the FAST Packs are well worth the price. I have only one set right now. But I have two pre-ordered. I had to pay a scalper for the one set I got! And don't worry about not getting the Hikaru 1J w/ FAST Packs. I don't think you save much money when you buy them as a set. Isn't it only like $10-15? Best Regards, H

I've never noticed any permanent residue from TakaToys stickers. H

LOL. Dude, you are too funny. I have seen all the before and after shots for each remastered release. Those images were always on a specific website detailing the restoration process and were explicitly described as "before-and-after" shots. What you seem to refuse to acknowledge is that this image was not one of those. This was an attention-grabber that was (in my opinion) obviously touched up and not truly a "side-by-side" demonstration of the restored footage. Just for fun. . . go to the RT site right now. There you will see a news entry for the Southern Cross remastered DVDs. Beside the news entry is tiny image. Here it is: Do you think that image is indicative of what we'll see on the Southern Cross Remastered DVDs? Of course not. Geez, someone took a shot of Milia, drew a line through it, and brightened up half of it in Photoshop. They didn't say this was a demonstration. It just said: Robotech Remastered. I just don't see how anyone could look at that Milia image and think: "Hey, that's indicative of something. . . and now I can safely rule out x. . ." Obviously, you have a lower standard for proof and evidence. And, obviously, you don't think that being demonstrably wrong should make you re-evaluate your reasoning and/or evidence. Just the idea that HG would go through the expensive process of remastering Macross themselves after Animeigo had already done so should have struck you as so implausible that it would make you think twice before jumping to conclusions based on one tiny image used as an attention-grabber for a news item. It takes two buddy. I seem to recall you arguing (or at least just asserting that certain conclusions are "fact") vehemently in the Macross 7 thread. And in the Macross Plus Ending thread. So, uh. . . those in glass houses. . . Either way, I'm done. I'm just tired of seeing so many people jumping to simplistic, ill-informed conclusions, and then boldy asserting them as irrefutable fact. It happens all the time in the Toys forum. . . and it gets old quickly. But then again. . . so does this petty bitching. Which is why I'm done. H

LOL. Okay bud. Sure. The point is that it obviously was not and actual shot from the remastered video. . . and the site made no claim that it was. It's quite funny that you made a bad assumption and jumped to conclusions, and have been proven incorrect. . . oh, but you didn't make any mistakes. You said that it was a shot of the actual remastered footage (wrong). You said that it wasn't zoomed out, so it couldn't be Animeigo (again, wrong). Assumption? To say something is "safely ruled out" is to assert a conclusion unequivocally. To say something unequivocally with such limited, questionable, and inconclusive evidence is almost always a bad idea. When the unequivocally asserted conclusion is later proven wrong, it's never pretty. Sheesh. . . H

I'm not terribly interested here either (just bored at work). I don't ever planning on buying anything RT ever again now that I'm a Macross guy. But, I think the difference here is that HG came straight out and said, point-blank: "There will be no remastering." In other words, they essentially said: "This is as good as it will ever look. So you might as well buy now because it won't be getting any better." That is very different than a studio releasing successive versions of Terminator. Unless, of course, they told you concurrent with every release that "this is the best one we will ever make. After this, it's over." The only video that has come close to doing that, that I know of, is The Star Wars THX release. But even there they left themselves an out. They used the word "original" and also "video". . . something like "Last Chance to Own the Original Trilogy on Video." So, by using those two words, they left the door open for DVD or even future video releases of the Special Edition (which they already did). H

A guess is one thing. Claiming something is "safely ruled out" on the basis of what you now claim is "bare bones information" is another. My only point was that to make any guesses based on that website news tag image was insane. That image constituted no information, not just "bare bones." The image was tiny, made no claims of actually representing the restored footage, and was only there as an icon tag for the news item. I may have been a week late. . . but that's better than jumping to ludicrous conclusions on what is actually, to a discerning eye, much less than "bare bones information." Sorry if I'm splitting hairs here and coming off like a jerk (again). But these boards are always just so chock-full of crazy theories, bad logic, and "evidence-that-isn't-evidence", that sometimes I just have to vent. I just wish people would be more careful in making their bold assertions of fact when just a cursory look at the evidence available would render that assertion invalid. . . or at least doubtful. The arguments made, and facts asserted on these boards would be a lot less aggravating if people would be so kind as to sprinkle a few "maybes" or "in my opinions" in with their bold assertions. For example, how about: "Well, if the image that forms the 'tag' for the news item is actually representative of the difference between the remastered and original, then we can assume that they did not use the Animeigo footage because the restored side is not 'zoomed out.' However, that's a big 'if.' That image is probably just something somebody Photoshopped to grab the eye. Further, they might have 'un-zoomed' it to make it look more appealing on the website even if it is footage from the Animeigo restoration." H

It's also the theory behind another form of anti-gravity: Constant acceleration/deceleration. If you can just keep applying thrust (whether accelerating or decelerating), you'll have a feeling of gravity. Of course, you'd have to orient the "floor" of the spacecraft appropriately. H

Do you pull Gs in space? Yes. You do. Gs are not caused by gravity. . . but by inertia. If you are in deep space going 1000MPH in one direction, and then instantly do a 180 and apply thrust in the opposite direction, you'll definitely feel it. Gs are a measurement, but they are only that. . . meaning: "4 Gs" just means that you are feeling 4 times the amount of pressure as the earth's normal gravitational pull at sea level. You can feel Gs without earth's gravity being the cause. . . you can feel Gs while pulling out of a climb just as easily as when you are pulling out of a dive. Thank you AeroTech (Battletech game of Space Combat) for teaching me this those many years ago. H

Uh, it looks like there is further information available. . . but I just have to say that basing your conclusion on one image on the RT site is a bit, uh, inconclusive. If you're talking about the image of Milia that is split (that is no longer showing up on the site, btw). . . there is no indication whatsoever that this is an actual representation of the restored image vs the actual image. Rather, it is most likely a simulation. Indeed, I even have my doubts about the "split" demonstrations they did for the Animeigo DVDs. Are they true side-by-side representations or are they "simulated?" In any event. . . that promotional shot of Milia's face being split down the middle doesn't indicate squat. H

LOL!

Simple solution there: Stickers.

Which all begs the question: How the heck do they put the canopy on in the first place?!?

The scariest part for me is always when you have "crack" the nose off. . . to get the whole thing to loosen up and come apart. Or, am I doing it more roughly than I should? Ya know, you grab it at the cockpit and press down and pull until the whole nose section come loose. . . and then you can slide the chest plate, etc. Be careful out there! H

I think we need to differentiate between what Hollywood does with many DVD releases, what New Line Cinema is doing with Lord of the Rings, and what HG is doing with Robotech. 1. Yes, it is annoying that several different versions (Special Edition, Super-Special Edition, and then Superbit Special Edition with Super-vision) come out for many DVDs nowadays. But, in reality, the actual feature is completely unchanged from DVD to DVD. Meaning, the digital transfer of the movie is identical between releases, for the most part. So, you're given a choice. If you want to buy a later edition (perhaps for the extras), that's your call. And, in the end, this really doesn't compare to the Robotech issue becase we're usually talking about $20 here, while the Robotech releases go for much more. 2. Lord of the Rings Extended Editions are a whole different animal. I see nothing wrong with releasing two different versions of the film when one is substantially different (46y minutes is not a minor diffrence). Especially since it has never been a secret that extended editions have been on the way. Having a choice is a good thing. I go off on this topic rather vehemently here. 3. The big difference here is that HG apparently lied directly to its fanbase in order to encourage sales the Robotech DVDs. If that is true, that is despicable. But is par for the course. Though, really, I wonder if it was actually planned. I wonder if they really never did have plans to remaster the DVDs and really did believe it was beyond their capability. But, when Animeigo remastered Macross, they realized that they had a chance to do it "on the cheap" and changed their minds. Either way though. They said it was not possible (I'd love to actually see a quote. Though, if it's at RT.com, I'm sure it has been purged). That was obviously a lie, iether way. Best Regards, H Edit: Typo that fundamentally changed the meaning of the "They said it was not possible. . ." I had a double-negative in there.

Well, in a word: No. I'm not sure how covering the joint with glue will actually help. The damage is done when the pin breaks the loops from within. So, well, putting something on the outside of the loops isn't going to help IMHO. . . unless it's super-hard, strong glue that dries incredibly solidly. I think you'll just end up with a valk with a bunch of goop on its backpack. Just be careful. H

For the record, I hated what PJ did to Theoden. And I didn't like the fact that there were essentially no real soldiers of the Rohirrim at Helm's Deep. Nor that in the movie, it looks like Rohan is a land of about two thousand people. . . tops. But, all that aside. . . I have to take issue with the quote above. Most of the stuff that they add in the Extended Edition is stuff that was in the book, but was cut. I only watched until Gandalf showed back up. But there was tons of stuff from the book that did not make the theatrical release. . . and I was glad to see it back. Just off the top of my head. -- Sam's elven rope coming undone by itself -- Extra Gollum scene where dialog is directly from the book -- You see Theodred's body at the Fords of Isen being discovered. Yes, they still say he was "ambushed by orcs" but it no longer looks like he was just out for a stroll and got jumped. It looks like he was defeated in a large battled (as he was in the books). -- Merry taking draught of the orc drink -- Gandalf saying (word-for-word from the book): "Yes, I am Saruman. . . or Saruman as he was meant to be." That's just a taste. It has been my experience that the Extended Editions are the ones that the book-lovers like the most. Now if I could just get over the fact that Frodo looks like he's seventeen years old. . . H

the arms just sorta rest loosely against the valk. . . You get the sense of them being solidly connected by first pinching the arms together at the forearms until the peg on one forearm goes into the hole on the other. Then, you move both arms as a unit up and place them between the legs. The legs have pegs on them down near the ankle. Those pegs also pop into holes on the forearms. It is all rather snug and nice once you figure it out. But, at the shoulders. . . they just sorta lie there with no "snapping in" at all. Best Regards, H

Has anyone else noticed that a BlackAces has been writing in Haikus for the last several weeks? H

Yeah. . . I'd have to agree here. The parts being used are probably identical. . . so it's really just a question of how good/bad a day the person glue-ing/assembling the parts was having. Same goes for the QC checker. H

semi-related: Why in the heck didn't Bandai ever release FAST Pack kits for the 1/55 reissues (after the VF-1S Super of course)? I mean, if they still have their license, I bet they would sell well even now! Think of all the people willing to pay $20 each so that they can FAST Pack all their Bandais without having to buy the VF-1S Super over and over. The only complicating factor I can think of is that they would probably need to make them fit the reissues and the originals. . . lest confusion ensue. There's gotta be some reason that Yamato and Bandai don't do this sort of thing. Alas, I doubt any of us have the requisite knowledge or business/manufacturing experience to really know why. . . But, if it made sense to them from a profit stand-point, I think they'd do it. H

Hey now! Don't be thinking I didn't know that!

Uh. . . that's not an argument. That's just saying: "I don't like that! So it must not be true!" Which is all too common in the toys forum.

Oh, and why not!?! Put some pinpoint barriers on the front of an ARMD and it would kick some @$$. H

Well, about the Daedelus and Prometheus being replaced by ARMDs. . . I think this is just one of those things that we're all supposed to just say: "Ah hell, let it go. . ." I've seen it posted that the ARMDs were refitted onto the Macross when it was repaired after having its right arm torn off in the final episode. But, really, I think it's just a case of the artists saying: "Hey, they told us to use the new line art from here on out. . ." Thus you have the DYRL designs. Isn't it "canon" that the TV series is the official timeline? I thought that was "official" to some degree. Did Kawamori or Big West or anyone else originally say this? H

Well, humanity in Macross had the advantage of overtechnology dropped in their laps via the Macross dropping into the Pacific.