1/1 LowViz Lurker

Well if this thing was "limited edition"-only I'd be pretty pissed though. "Last of the vf1a type releases" I can handle. But limited edition, man that is wrong. CF should stay as a normal release imo. This way if by some freak chance lots of people want them, or they have a shortage then they don't limited themselves and the profits they can make in the future because it can be reissued. Look what happened with the release of roy 1s. Lot of noobs who came in late who wanted to get one but couldn't, then they reissued it and everyone was happy.

That's why I kinda cheered when hikaru bitch slapped minmay in the movie. This is what hikaru should have said: "Grow da fk'up you fkn spoilt princess! we're all gona die thanks to you not singing!" I think this is why ppl hated Kaifun's treatment of her in the tv series though. But think about it, she deserves it as a way to correct her and wake her up to reality. The positive is that in the end it worked.

Well they turn the barrier off before it blows and rely on pinpoint when it reaches a certain limit. Remember kamjins first attacks were successfully absorbed. It was only when he kept up the attacks constantly and the sdf1 did nothing but sit there and the barrier was abused that it lead to an overload. (the valk will be moving while the barrier is on unlike the sdf1) It won't happen all the time. With more research and time finding ways to make it safe (like antigrav) it will be worth it. The reason why all the problems with the main gun going off by itself, the antigrav generators going off, and the fold drives disapearing was because the ship was untested, scientists were still halfway trying to reverse engineer things and the zentradi arrived early. Humans needed more time to figure it all out. Now fast forward in time, they have ironed out the glitches in the AG and can use them properly, we now see portable pin point barriers, and folding isn't such a bitch anymore leaving people stranded in the middle of nowhere. What was unsafe before becomes controlled later. What mistakes were made in the past they can learn from in the future with controlled testing. (ie global's accidently folding a part of earth with the sdf1) Space is vast. Keep a certain distance should work since the explosion won't be as massive as the sdf1's barrier overload was. (I seem to remember vf1's being fast enough to clear the area before the big sdf1 barrier explosion went off, so with the speed of newer valks it isn't such a huge demand for them to haul ass to a safe distance with a smaller scale explosion) Or just group all the fighters together inside the barrier at the centre where it is safe. (maybe they could all dock together and share the load? Each one having a full barrier that acts as backup that gets used before the first one reaches its limit? It's only a qrau attacking FFS) If needs be, have it so your fighters fold to the location after the explosion rather than be so near to the GBP valk. You wouldn't want them to get near the GBP anyway when it unleashes all it's missiles. As I recall Hikaru took on the zentradi scout ship all by himself with no help from wingmates or drones or anything. So when it goes off, the enemy will be the one to take the damage. It seems to me the Protodevlin really abused the idea of folding away from the battle field and even folding explosives to new locations once those explosives were planted. It seems to me they'd need to seriously research something like a safe full barrier in the future in case all sorts of terrorist bombers break through defenses and plant bombs in unprotected areas through folding in like that. The barriers would offer security if the target the enemy was trying to destroy was strategically important and the drones which spotted the enemy with the bombs alerted people to the danger first so they could be able to turn it on in time. All they'd need to do is to plan how far apart these important areas should be spaced apart in case of an emergency when the barriers did overload. When the bomb goes off, the barrier would protect the important target. If it overloads because there were a series of bombs, the space between each protected area will be far enough that it won't destroy other things once the barrier overloads because the radius isn't large enough.

Well the idea is that when that happens, (barrier overload) your wingmates also have omnidirectional barriers that go off automatically when yours is about to explode, as a way to protect them. They just keep a certain distance. heh If they could somehow make one that doeasn't go off with more research, (ie the sdf 1 got it working properly by the time they killed the zentradi supreme commander - why did it work here? Perhaps like the antigrav generator they finally figured out ways to make it work over time?) then maybe they could avoid that prob. Once an enemy has finished unloading its swarm, it only has its guns. You only need the barrier for short time until you can shed the armor and be fast and manueverable again. Ah but it would be useful inside an enemy ship where there is limited space and flying will get you noticed in fighter mode if you are not careful. You are not just there to combat enemies and kill them but to complete a specific task to have a succesful mission. (ie being able to sneak into an area that is well-guarded and a certain thing is well hidden enough that you need to see it first. You have no interest in killing every enemy since you probably don't have enough ammo to take them all on anyway) A ghost drone would be useless here since it only fights, doesn't think about the situation it is in. Sometimes flying around in fighter is dangerous since too much speed can result in crashing into stuff. I'm thinking like a mini-main gun type weapon but focused onto a small spot. You don't want to use missiles because say for example in a hostage situation the friendly vf1 might get hurt. You want precision and long range but not the recoil of a machine gun spoiling things. (see early episode of macross where hikaru is shooting an enemy pod and the shots go all over the place on its body rather than on a specific area. A sniper might only want to hit a part of the leg to disable the machine, not blow up the whole pod.) Pretty much anytime the good guys managed to sneak onboard a zentradi ship they switched to battroid mode so they could see wtf they were looking at by scanning the area and sneak around. If they only had fighter mode they'd be banging into walls and stuff and attracting attention unless they needed that speed as a quick getaway once they were seen. Also if they are moving slowly and can't see well it might increase thier accuracy because the area might be full of obstructions and obstacles that rushing through like rambo in fighter mode would be reckless. This is why in macross zero the variability of the valk was so important. Sometimes sneaking in robot or gerwalk mode and hiding in the environemnt can help you get close to the enemy or gain an element of surprise. (ie shin's ground attack earning him a free hit on nora from behind the trees when he was in gerwalk)

That's what Dyson did when guld went psycho and had his flashback. Not as good as max's "fly right into the swarm (rather than away from) with a slower vf1 and dodge milia's missiles swarm in SDF: macross", but good enough. This is why I think if the vf22 had that BCS yf21 system, average pilots might stand a better chance because they could dodge easier. Too bad it was taken out. If I had it my way I would continue research into making full barriers for all valks like the sdf1 used in the tv series to beat the zentradi commander, and how the afos had that purple shield. This way you could send a slow GBP-equiped valk into a battlefield without support, and when a swarm would come, instead of wasting the missiles to intercept the enemies missiles, or shooting them down with the gunpod the way roy does, you just turn on the full barrier to absorb thier swarm, then let loose with your own missiles to do more damage to the enemy. Won't matter what angle it hits you since it offers full coverage. Whatever failures in the barrier to absorb everything, the GBP armor will absorb the damage and you can eject it later. (I just find it hard to believe people are going to use a bullet proof shield to block machinegun fire and missiles the way basara does since it won't cover everything. This is why dodging should wiegh in heavily and the reaction speed and manueverability of yf21 was so cool) See but the problem with macross is that enemies have better stuff, and can escape. (the constant folding out of the battlefield in macross 7 for example.) To prevent all this: What they need are covert teams that can avoid detection and sneak aboard the enemy ships, and blow them from within and escape before the enemy knows anything. This way, if the enemy tries to fold out it brings your guys with it. A team might consist of a slower heavy weapon valk with gbp and explosives, a fast agile one with light weapons and strong up-close ability,(a master at using pinpoint barrier manuevers and the speediest) a machine-gun valk, and maybe a sniperish long range valk. This way as a team they cover all thier bases and because it is a small group it lessens chances of being noticed. Before you grumble about "breeding weakness" these guys are the best of the best and each member will have exceptional abilities at ALL roles, (they can switch to a different role if one is hurt, and the replacement can still outclass even good enemy soldiers in that area) ..but ALSO masters at what they specialise in. The thing I liked about the zentradi pods is that they had a variety of ways of scheming and attacking in the tv series. And not all of them carried the same weapons. Some had light weapons, others had heavy ones, some had missiles, some were just scouts etc. The leaders looked like they have more firepower and better tech. And not just that but they used sneaky tactics like using thier environment to its advantage. (eg in bye bye mars when they hid in the ground or in the episode where they submerged in the water, or snuck down to earth while diverting attention to space.)

The hands look good, wonder if they will include a hand to hold the gunpod similar to the tv hands? (that is if it can even hold a gunpod properly while wearing the fatsuit.)

That's a good point. People who are fans want everything they don't have. And what isn't selling sends a message to thier brains that it will be there forever waiting for them to buy later on, making them put it on low priority in thier shopping list. Now if the goal is to move the stuff as quick as possible due to space limits, maybe calling it LE will quicken the sale. Maybe just as a test or because they figure the brownie CF may not sell as much as a 1s or something. If this doesn't sell well as a normal release, like the low vis before it became rare, it will just sit there waiting and waiting. Fans who say they will buy 10 might still only be the minority of total sales. Oh well enough speculation, just hope this isn't LE-only and that it will be widely available and easy to get. If it isn't, that would be a shame but understandable. The release of CF is a big surprise because I thought they were done with macross.

Not if you have force powers or magick which Sara and Mao started to have. Remember they may be the descendants of PC, an advanced lemurian/atlantean civilisation that may have awakened dormant powers of the mind and passed this knowledge to the select few in a sacred bloodline who would use it wisely and not abuse it. You can just use the force to read where the shots will hit, and instead of using your hand to move the controls, just push it with your mind. Now ppl, don't forget that shin managed to do this of his own power when he levitated the vf0 of his own power so I'm not making this one up. Roy knew it, he was there at the time but probably couldn't say anything or he'd be killed. The government needed to cover up the event to avoid panic just like they did about the aliens at first. No wonder they didn't know how to use the antigravity generators. Who knows? Maybe even max has the newtypian gift but doesn't know it.

huh? But cloning mylene would work well enough. (the zentradi themselves are just giant clones from alien genetic engineering aren't they?) After the holocaust when the population shrunk they used cloning to solve people shortages. She has natural piloting ability, no formal training and yet she holds her own with the other band members which i thought was funny and unrealistic. I suppose because she has max and milia's genes, we must automatically accept that pilot skills automatically get transferred? But going by this idea, (and how she learns quick - sorta newtypish in a way) why can't un spacy just do what the zentradi did and start a secret program involving breeding and then cloning the best stock, putting them through a harsh training program to become elite soldiers (they can do this in masses like the clone soldiers in star wars episode II ) and finally condition them to gradually accept the BCS in simulations? By the time they come out with these secret "super soldiers" used for special operations, (UN spacy can just deny the existance of this group to the public like they hid the exisitance of the vf1 information, or the events that took place in macross zero) they will have solved the problem of the stupidness of AI, and given human pilots thier jobs back, as well as boosted the skills of thier elite soldiers. (much more accuracy, faster reflexes, ability to take in more information at any time, more intuitive use of the valkyrie etc which will increase the rate of mission success thanks to vf22 given the works.) You can still have your regular soldiers, but use the elite ones for the special operations requiring sensitivity (like the "vf1 taken hostage" situation for example) and use ghosts for easy tasks like defense of areas. By holding back on cool features, they only weaken themselves because in the future if an alien race fights against them they may not hold back since thier sense of fairness is different (ie no regard for thier own safety; all happy to volunteer on suicide kamikaze missions) or they just might plain outnumber the humans again in people and resources like how the zentradi did in SW I. Anyway I just get the feeling that vf22 is a held-back yf21, and in some ways a downgrade. Whatever upgrades it did have were not as many as the upgrades that the 19 series got and so that is why I believe they wouldn't be on equal footing due to holding the potential back of the genral galaxy design and for funding reasons. (only 1 can win the comp and get the go-ahead after all. The losers will get less chances to keep refining and improving thier design if theres no one to sell to and if the government can't afford the more expensive stuff)

I have the same general feeling. We are being rushed into the next gen imo. I hope that when the first generation of games comes out, like with my purchase of the dreamcast after seeing soul calibur, or like with the xbox upon seeing the graphics of dead or alive 3, that the system has killer apps to make the system an impulse purchase. An impulse purchase for me is when a game blows you away that you just got to buy the system to play it. This is the key for a successful launch: give us something that the other systems can't, and make it irresistible to refuse and I'm sold. But if all they do is release a sequel with slightly improved engine instead of something built from the ground up, which does not demonstrate the system power, I won't be impressed and will just sit back and wait for a price drop. It's all in the quality of the software to me.

Yeah we mustn't forget the hype campaign of ps2 launch! At least with XBOX whenever a screenshot of a new game was out, you could tell the system was capable of those graphics and that what you were looking at was not a photoshop-enhanced screen to cover up the graphic weaknesses of the system. Sony would always doctor thier ps2 images to avoid criticisms from those disapointed with its games in the early phases when people would compare screen shots of games with the best the other systems could offer. But to thier credit sony have delivered a fine portable with psp. Yes given it is just like a ps2 handheld, it at least shows more potential than a portable n64. Power makes a difference to mainly those big developers trying to make the best looking game with the highest detailed environments and most number of objects on screen running at the highest resolutions and smoothest framerates while mainting realisitc physics and creating a convincing atmoshpere. (eg halo 1 blew me away when I first played it - both the gameplay and graphics. I had the same feeling of joy with that as when I first played golden eye on n64) Atmosphere makes a big difference to me for certain gametypes as it adds value to the experience. I want those environments and characters to look photorealistic and behave convincingly. For this there will always be the pressure to have the most powerful machine. We aren't all ignorant of gameplay though. It's just that you can have your cake and eat it. (good well thought-out gameplay as well as beautiful graphic effects that make you whizz your underpants. Check the outdoor levels of some of the levels in halo - really beautiful. Especially when you know that when you look in the distance it is not flat sceneary but an area that you can be running around in and exists in realtime from where you are. Immersing the player into the world is the key. The first time I used my sniper rifle to shoot enemies from a bridge hundreds of feet in the air beyond the ability of an enemy to see me, was a great feeling. A good optimised engine on a powerful machine helps create that. And lighting effects and what not also contribute both to atmoshpere and gameplay since it is used to encourage stealth tactics that affect how you will sneak up to enemies. Sound too makes a difference as you will not beat the game on legendary difficulty without bing sensitive to enemy hearing and sight.)

That's why I'm saying if they'd created thier own delta team with elite abilities (think of the newtypes in gundam) and gave them the BCS it would be more effective for special operations where a drone might be a little clumsy and thoughtless in how it achieves a mission deep behind enemy lines where it might risk detection and screw up the mission. (the scene with the vf1 being taken hostage comes to mind) I can imagine a small elite group of low flying yf21 who attack at night and strike suddenly as opposed to being a mass producted main fighter for everyone. Maybe if Guld was in the yf19 (are his skills the same as dyson's?) all the fancy flying (the drawing of the dinobird in the sky) may not have been possible and given the less skilled ability of the pilot, they may not have won. I think once shinsei won, there was no incentive by general galaxy to advance as much since they needed money to do so to get a return on thier hard work and time they invested in it. Perhaps the guys lost thier jobs and went into another business and that's why the vf22 is a generation behind using the older stuff? (slower speed than the vf19s. Not as many refinements and advancemencts from the original and being 1 gen behind from the vf19s)

He probably got a job making virtual reality sharon apple hentai that seduces the battroid pilots when they are bored and have nothing to do. Don't you guys find it a bit funny how he was made to "ejected" (ejaculated jk) after the VR sharon really flirted with him? After landing in the ocean somewhere he probably cooled off and the hypnotism broke but after that experience he was never the same person and decided he would change professions and focus on Holographic VR pron. Sexually-repressed zentradi males who were having trouble finding women and keeping them were his main clients and he became rich.

Nobody said it couldn't. But it would be getting two times as many improvements as the 22s series one time improvment. (think of the loss of BDS as -1 point of advancement) Taking what worked from one generation and using it in later generations. The yf21 to me looked superior in macross plus when the two sides were on equal footing and the decision wasn't yet made on which was superior. The 19 won the competition because it got the chance to kill sharon apple, (remember the ghost looked like it was going to beat both of them until guld killed it) and so most of the money went to the winner which enabled more chances to continue the research. To rub salt in the wound then what happened was the stuff that was cool was taken out, like the BCS so you can think of it in some areas as a bit of a maneuverability/tech downgrade, while the 19 got upgrades (like head turret with extra guns whereas the 22 had a minimal change in head etc) I would think being able to control a giant robot as if the machine was a part of your own body would have to count for something right? If there was a new space war and the enemy took advantage of technologies and spent twice as much as UN SPACY on weapons development and research do you think they would downgrade thier stuff? Maybe like the kamikaze pilots these alien pilots wouldn't care about safety and like stuntmen, be honored to take these daring risks without the need for limits placed on them because it meant by doing this, they could achieve more. They might not survive, but life might be cheap to them. (think of terrorist bombers who are willing to kill a greater number of enemies at the expense of thier own life. It might be a numbers game for the losing side who is more desperate to sacrifice themselves just to let the winning side know they ain't budging.) the same thing that stopped the 22 from getting mass production BCS or the ghost from having a super duper intelligent ai that made it "superior" (in the mind of un spacy) to either fighter. Too dangerous/finite resources/not enough chances given to fix probs. The story depends factors such as: -skill of the pilots (isamu's own skill counts for the survivability of 19 as much as yang's design) -what circumstances led to the loss of comp. (the superior one didn't win) -how much money can the government throw into further development. (the more advanced fighter may have been more expensive but the value you get from those features may outweigh thier expense. -what is cooler to have as an event that is interesting to an audience. (would the audience have liked it if isamu was the one to die? Maybe it's like the movie "rocky"? Where the underdog somehow manages the impossible? Or rambo where the guy can dodge anything and run into a fight with guns blazing and not die? -politics: less loss of life with drone fighters meaning people are more comfortable with the idea of going to war if it can lessen casualties. But the "what if" game can have limits within reason. Given that the BCS started on the yf21 first, it might have been more convenient to let general galaxy be the one to advance it since they would be ahead of thier competitor in this field of research. In the real world companies can protect thier secrets and keep thier competitors guessing to ensure they stay at the top in an area they specialise in. My reasoning for that has to do with the idea that in DYRL the zentradi had people's brain wired to giant spaceships so maybe they had more understanding in this field than humans? Maybe, but wouldn't you like to know what machine would win if two equally skilled pilots, two different companies with different designs and diferent weapon choices would win in a match? Just because the supernova project wasn't won by the superior machine ("superior" doesn't just mean it can move slightly faster in fighter) in the story, doesn't mean we can assume UN SPACY makes the best wisest choices. Remember they were going to replace humans with True AI and humans still kicked the AI's ass. The stats probably say that humans are inferior based on having slower decision-making ability than a computer or have slower reflexs than drones, right? But what about other things like determination to do better that robots lack, our creativity(making songs), the willingness to kill yourself just to protect somebody; things the drones and AI don't have? What does that tell you about UN SPACY? Maybe they just settled with the less cool machine just because they felt at the time it was reliable and "good enough" for thier needs? (even though they could do better.) I know but....certain bits might be seen as a downgrade meaning the comparison doesn't feel fair due to the idea that one is favoured over another by UN SPACY or the creator who made more changes to 19 to even it out. heh Which is why I value cool features as well as manueverability and speed and take these into consideration in a VS match. If max/milia could make use of the BCS/BDI without any penalty to his/her sanity, he/she would be better in performance than if he didn't have it is all I'm saying. In a war you'd want as much of an edge over your enemy as possible. The humans didn't stand a chance against the zentradi in Space War I and they almost got wiped out. If they had unlimited funds every pilot would be getting VF1S instead of having to earn it by starting out on 1As. But the elite always get the best stuff so I'm leaving possibilities open to the idea that if more money was spent to improve the existing designs (and fix glitches) so that they became mass production valks, the performance gains would be worth those extra costs and custom upgrades. Which is why I said that the elite would be better with upgraded 22s + BCS/BDI + speed to match 19 + increased power, in the future. Sure its not canon, but its a reasonable what-if, given the trends of the past and the idea that people will upgrade things and leapfrog each other to stay competitive. (mobile phone, cameras, cars, personal computers) Otherwise why give more-important people the Glaug instead of a Regult? Because those advancements make it worth it and the better pilots are able to max out the limits of the standard machines. By giving them a better one they can push thier performance to greater levels in combat even more. But if the important ones got standard machines, they might feel hamstrung in what they can do based on the limit of the tools given. The way I see it, if you downgrade the tool, (take out BCS, deny matching features that are easy to add) you are limiting what the best pilot can do with the machine. yf21 gets downgrades, 19 gets several enhancements = unfair. Given that the 21 almost matches speed of 19 I still would have chosen the 21 based on cooler design and its features. There was enough speed in the 21 that could kill the pilot and take out a ghost so at some point that stat becomes less relevant in the grand scheme of things. The Qrau maneuvering in battroid mode might factor into combat too. I'd think a an average skilled pilot might do well against an expert in an older machine given tech upgrade in this area. The FAST pack analogy is just to show that the upgrade; not being standard yet, was handed to those who could best make use of the upgrade (the leaders and aces) given that they were not common use by all at the time. That upgrade is just a way of saying: here is something that will increase the general performance of the valk. The people who get to use them first are the experienced pilots from what I remember. Hikaru, Max and Milia make use of the fast packs. They are standard in DYRL for space, but in the tv show they are seen to enhance the ability of the valks (making a valk into a super valkyrie) who would normally fight without these in space for a majority of the time. So I see them as a "performance upgrade" in the tv series as opposed to being standard use by everyone right from the begining like in the movie.

Well I still think the features of the yf21 cooler (who cares what the creator thinks, the thread asks us, the fans ) than features of the 19 given that all the creator did was deny improvments of the basic stuff for the 22 and take out the cool things from the yf21. -take out bcs so the 19 could compete. (yet in dyrl an alien had its head wired into a giant ship for thousands of years with no probs) -making it almost lose in a hand to hand combat in macross plus when the machine has arm guns, and two shields built-in + 2 gunpods whereas the 19 only has 1 gunpod (with clips I might add) and 1 sheild. doh! (what was guld thinking? He could have mowed that 19 down with both gunpods held at the same time, then finished it off with ppb punch and arm guns) -not upgrading as much just to give the 19 a chance. So the 19 has its problems "fixed", but the 21/22 doesn't? Not fair. What if an alien race that doesn't care about pilot safety uses the design of the BCS/BDI to fight agianst un spacy in a future war? (stealing one and reverse engineering the tech and mass producing them - un spacy would be doomed.) We can just say that with more funding and suport in future, general galaxy may have been able to fix problems they were having with the BCS (selling to other clients) and thus max and milia as ace pilots + BCS + "enhancements that 19 series got that the 22 didn't", make 21/22 better. An enhanced 22 with ace pilots (if somebody like guld could pull off those manuevers to beat the ghost with BCS, then imagine what max could do?? ) with the removed features would tip the vf22 as da best mecha making the 19 the cannon fodder of the future and the 22 for the l33t aces. The logic being the cooler valk is always piloted by the aces (whose opinion matters more then the average ppl) who are worth the extra expense. (eg fast packs only given out to the best pilots in the tv series at first before being standard) The funny thing is that Mylene being the daughter of milia automatically has naturally-good piloting ability despite no experience. I would think if you could just bring back cloning and take the best stock and make them your super soldiers you would have a kick ass valk delta assasin team. Fold in, take out important targets with the elite forces, then haul ass before the main forces get there to take care of the rest. With special mind conditioning and drugs to accept the BCS and get used to it, this would be better than sending stupid ai controlled robots which aren't sensitive to all situations and tactics that would need a human. (ai is only as smart as the programmer makes it. The AI might be too trigger happy and give position away too early, or be too predictable for example)

I see it from the point of view that if they bothered to release 1/60 valks, then any 1/60 enemies would be equally accepted for them to release if they were looking to take advantage of the license. Having a 1/60 glaug and 1/60 Qrau and 1/60 valk displayed together in a battle would be cool. The two main recognisable enemies who pilot mechs are kamjin (battles hikaru in the tv series) and milia (battles max) Now from the point of view of a collector it would make sense that you'd want the rivals (max and milia) fighting against each other in thier respective mecha. It just goes together well. Or maybe kamjin vs hikaru: Glaug against Battroid? (the scene where thier arms are blown off? Kamjin survives right to the last episode of the tv series and almost succeeds in killing everyone.) BTW I don't think it should matter whether its from the the tv series or movie. They are both interconnected anyway. (just because you don't see a glaug onscreen doesn't mean it didn't exist in the DYRL "universe". I mean we only got to see regults for short time in the movie and it makes sense that glaugs really exist too given that the universes are tied together. Maybe slightly modified for a movie version but .....as I said, doesn't really matter to me, just release one: tv or movie. In fact if given a choice to choose a green qrau or red (lets just say they were released at the same time) I would have gone with green from the beginning. (I liked the idea that the zentradi were already united, but the sexes were seperated from each other to keep them under control vs the "forgotten memories" idea where they instantaneously stopped fighting. The movie version of events is just too cheesy. Tv events are much more believable)

I think in the long term they will just milk this line and release DYRL Kakizaki. I really can't think of a reason why they wouldn't if they bothered with CF. It just makes sense if they want sales from the completist. Now imagine having the all the central characters from the movie displayed? (think of all the fast pack kits they'd sell?) By releasing as many different variations of of the vf1 that made appearances and spreading them out wisely, they can appeal to the hardcore fan who wants everything. I don't think we'll see a 1d until they've totally milked the existing one seaters. If they did release a DYRL Kakizaki or any other valk, I hope they would come in fast packs bundles too. I don't see the point of having to buy the fast pack seperate and given that they might be harder to find I don't want to have to pay high price to dress a naked valk. I would much prefer a set with the fast pack included similar to what hapened with max&milia and tv 1j hik. (I'm still hoping for a off-white tv vf1s Hikaru w FP. ) And free rubber hands for all future DYRL releases as a thanks to the fans!

I have the red. Just happy the enemy mecha are being released so I won't complain. Love how the cockpit opens up and all. Looks kind of cool from afar but basic up close. (they could probably make cheaper bootlegs of it) But its good to have if you have 1/60 valks that you want to have fighting against something. Whether it is worth it depends on who you are. (how much value do you place on the mecha? do you only like the valks and transformable vehicles?) I think it would have been cooler if the pilot was a poseable action figure though. My qrau seems to have slightly loose hips which unless you have it standing leaning forward, it tends to tilt back and fall over. Maybe they could do a Glaug next? Doesn't look like a hard toy to do. I would like to see a zentradi pilot which is poseable, (Kamjin?) can take its helmet off, wearing body armour/suit and has it's own rifle. Maybe they could also release the glaug booster which combines to its ass as an add-on?

I would think due to direct brain control of the plane it would be like the plane itself was his own body and his real eyes that were closed was like him being in Virtual reality mode. Plus he would be able to "see" things from different directions simultaneously (the various sensors on the body of the plane) rather than having to turn his head so have better repsone. All the minimissiles he could just dodge since the paths would be given in realtime to his head allowing him to perform manuevers only aces could get away with. (ie max's dodging through a swarm of missiles) Maybe it would be like he was a bit psychic and the computer could give a crystal ball vision of the future, or act as a spiderman "spidersense". (imagine a birds'eye view of the battle playing in your mind like a RTS computer game.) Also another disadvantage of the 19 might be if one of the clips needs to be loaded into the gunpod, he would need to change into battroid mode and reload and then change back into fighter again. That delay might cost life. Much better to have 2 gunpods in fighter imo If a team of elite Qraus is on your tail they might not give you the chance to find a spot to hide and then reload your gun anyway.

I have a question: why did guld tell Isamu that "he has a better chance" of defeating the Sharon Apple-hacked ghost drone? Was he just being arrogant because his plane seemed more reliable and he thought he was a guy who kept his cool better than the "hothead" rival from dalumucia high? .... or was it based on some stats that UN spacy did that suggested the YF21 was winning the comp due to BCS? In terms of maneuverability the yf21 seemed like a more reliable machine to me if the combat took place in space. The 19 seemed to lack firepower in fighter mode compared to the 21. You got those two gunpods, two arm laser thingys,(can even fire them backwards!) all those micromissiles all firing at once and because it has Qrau-style space manueaverability in battroid and fighter modes, it might be quicker to respond in more situations. The wings and fins are also bendable which is a cool thing. Ok ok I forgot to mention those wing root lasers in the 19, but from playing the macross plus arcade game you will see for yourselfs that the yf21 is far superior to the yf19 in general speed! The way the yf21 barrel rolls across the screen is insane that only a good pilot would be able to handle it in tight situations due to how quick it can move. Whereas the vf11 and vf19 are slower than 21 here. But slower speed in the game doesn't automatically mean better performance as if you go too fast you can't control the plane when enemy fire is close together. Maybe only a skilled pilot can handle all that agility since you will crash into things easier if the speed is too great. I think if milia and max had twin brothers or sisters and the twins were forced to fight against each other, the ones that were in the 21 would win in a space dogfight due to them having the skills and reflexs to be able to handle the extra manueverability. Order of goodness in the game: vf11, yf19, yf21 Even if the 19 was better for atmoshpere I would still choose a yf21 since it can match its speed and sneak around with stealth. It seemed to me in the anime that the yf21s features were more advanced (probably more expensive too since only max and milia use the vf22 in macross 7, and all the eye cameras on the body of the plane would be handy feature to me when in space, especially the one on top of the battroid head or the one under the nose of the plane which eliminates a blindspot from a sneaky person. No need to move the head turret due to seeing everything at once) but that the BCS was too dangerous. At the start the zentradi team were confident they were going to win the competion and had a pretty relaxed attitude. (probably due to all the pilot deaths from the 19 and the recklessness of Dyson)

That's very true. So many original, fresh titles, often beautiful (I loved Ecco) and well crafted software. (take Project Gotham Racing - the prequel was called MSR on dc - for example this was the true Gran turismo killer imo since the street racing aspect added more fun gameplay and more interesting settings to drive cars in as well as more realistic physics and damage modelling. Too bad it was a sega dreamcast game which nobody wanted to buy) The thing about sega and nintendo was they got taken by surprise by sony in the n64,ps1,saturn era. This was what allowed them to dominate to this day as the hype machine is good enough to scare competitors. Now that sega is gone, and nintendo are happy enough not necessarily competing in the same adult market, (they tend to structure systems and peripherals around thier own games rather than the other way around) it's really about MS and Sony. But there are no surprises (n64 and saturn era) or head starts (ps2 era) this time. And if the competitors aim to release systems around roughly the same time they will be challenging each other on equal footing. *note I believe sega dc lost its own fanbase partially to its own fault with saturn,32x and platforms that fragmented thier own userbase and pissed off thier own fans who lost trust and faith in sega from the series of failures before the DC came about. IT WASNT just sony that helped kill them, but a sense that whenever you bought a sega console, you felt kind of cheated like the GBA owners who felt cheated after the announcment of a new GBA, GBA SP. Almost like a punishment for being an early adoptor. The company would make a system to get money off you in desperation, then quickly supercede that system with something better making you feel like you wasted your money because all the developers would abandon the older system quickly to make games on the newer system. But the criticism of the saturn lies more in that it was designed poorly. When sega found out sony's machine was focusing more on 3d games (take the arcade games like tekken and ridge racer which were apealing to the masses at the time) sega chucked in another chip which complicated how the developers would make saturn games. It was a last minute decision to make the system (which was originally focused more on 2d power) seem artificialy more powerful as a way to compete with the ps1. It didn't work though because this made it a headache for third parties to make 3d games for the saturn (I won't go into too much detail) and all the developers went to the ps1 because it had user-friendly libraries to make 3d games that made making games easier and quicker. (this is why many early generation 1 software for ps1 all had the same 'feel' to them. You didn't need to be that skilled to create good looking games.) When you think back to the Saturn, don't just think of the system itself, but also how much sega fragmented their own userbase by making so many different machines like the mega cd and 32x and all that nonsense which pissed people off. (I'll refer to this as the "Hardware Stepping Stone syndrome") Upgrading is a headache for people on a budget who just want one solid platform with a dedicated support of developers who make consistantly high quality software. When sega decided to make the DC which had an equivalent in the arcades at the time, people were too tired to risk thier money on another sega platform and so sega, (even though thier software was AAA quality compared to the equivalent sony stuff at the time) was doomed from the begining. Sony did squash them, but not necessarily only because they were giant, but also because sega were incompetant at the time and had management problems. Fortunately for nintendo, they didn't have this problem of changing systems and pissing off thier existing userbase because they are generally slow-moving to change unless they want to do something innovative or gimmicky. (Virtual boy, power glove peripheral etc)

But with a company like sony, it can mean you give them an easy start. (easy start meaning "no competition to fight against") MS being the second place here, need to match the timing with sony to at least keep them busy and to turn attention away from the next playstation which, as a brand, is more recognised. While the introduction of the Xbox was microsoft's introduction into the console games industry and merely getting their foot in the door to the hardcore gamers, this next xbox will hopefully be what sega was to nintendo during the 16 bit console era where it was 50/50 split and developers were about equal in loyalty to the competition and there was incentive by devlopers or consumers to not make one system too good or too all-powerful and have too much leverage over us by limiting our choices and overall crap treatment. (well that's what I'm hoping for anyway. It's not like we can rely on nintendo since as many have said, they tend to be stubborn and want to do things thier own way rather than listening/adapting to thier fans, the developers, and critics.) Timing did make a difference in the PS1 days which is (later on down the line after it's dominance of n64 and saturn) what helped in mass gamer suport of ps2 in the early days of its infancy due to the "go with what you know succeeded in the past" mindset of the masses. Yes it is true that some were excited about using for a dvd movie player, but this timing of release/announcment is I believe an important factor as well. Timing does make a difference which is why I think many people see the nintendo DS as a kneejerk reaction to PSP to stop sony from invading thier market. They need *something* (anything) to at least compete against psp to keep sony busy in the mindshare of public. And the timing of DS was probably their (nintendo's) way of saying "we are still here" and will try to compete with you. If sony were able to take the next gen userbase early on, developers might start to treat that platform with more loyalty and anounce thier titles exclusive to it. At least by matching the timing by being there when they do, you got a better chance of preventing an early start for them again. This is why I call it a "necessary evil" because although a lot of xbox gamers are happy with this generation of hardware continuing on uninterrupted with new hardware, the PS2 is now aging and sony will want to make thier move soon, so MS will need to match the timing with announcments and hype of some sort. (hopefully not of the vaporware kind)

Yeah I see this as a necessary evil. The next gen will have to come early because as the ps2 (which dominates now) ages in graphics performance; with sony getting ready for a new system, MS will need to counter early to prevent a repeat victory in the mindset of the masses. Hopefully this does not anger late adopters (who may be on a budget) to the current xbox who might in some way feel forced to upgrade earlier than usual. It is still profit. (it is still amazes how you can still buy ps1s to this day. Ordinarily I would have thought that by now, it should not be available anymore) I also think backwards compatibility will be an important factor since developers will want thier games to be ale to be sold to as big and widereaching a userbase as possible. What you don't want is games you develop on your next gen system (Xbox360, ps3) actually competing with games you make on your current gen system (xbox, ps2) as rival platforms. This will cuase another split and fragment things further. Better to have a next gen system that can play older games and also newer games still devloped for the old platform, as well as next gen titles made for the next gen system, rather than punishing people still happy with the games on an older gen. Take for example sombody who is quite happy to play a simple old 2d one-on-one fighter which does not really gain any advantage on cutting edge hardware. Gameplay doesn't automatically evolve with the advancement of more impressive specs. It's mainly those massive epic GOTY titles with enormous budget using the latest technology and the beefiest graphics and physics engines that will benefit - and even these take time to be made to tap into the hardware's max potential. But a game with the most realistic and impressive graphics, sound, detailed environments, physics etc DO make a difference on the early adopter. It gives a good excuse to upgrade and justifies the expense. The early adopting crowd kind of paves the way for the more casual games crowd to make the system eventually affordable. First impressions will be everything which is why the title must be AAA on launches or close to launch as a first gen title as a demonstration of system power, as well as a guage to see how close it matches or doesn't match up to the mass media/propaganda hype. The people who buy the most games and spend the most money, will obviously be looking at these specs and comparing, but for the masses: hype will be an equally-as-important a factor in thier decision-making. Which is why in my earlier post I point out the DC failure since it had great AAA titles but sony's very brand image and announcement of thier next system (PS2 at the time) was enough to make the masses hold onto thier money for a bit longer and wait. People will not automatically support the system which can live up to the expectations of its hype but "go with what they know" (even if that means they are forced to except a technologically disapointing system which is inferior in some key aspects the developers and supporters of those systems themselves have already publicly admitted to.)

My story is that I never intended to "collect" all the different 1/48s because of how expensive they are, (thx HG) but I can't resist wanting to have them all displayed together as a group. Which is why I'm happy that there is a CF release. (not that I value it above the other releases or anything like that - if released at the same time as the others it would be low priority) Like 1 CF guarding an area, another one of higher rank and noticable colour next to it, (the flashy tv ace colours with tv fast packs) and the leader or hero (skull 01) looking elite amoungst the more plain valks to create a kind of battroid team in various poses. (actually I like fighter mode too but there is something about batroid mode latley that looks imposing when standing together) I hope they give the Qrau some TV love too. (I want a green one more than I do a purple DYRL one) Maybe if people buy these up the max tv 1a will come out? The timing is so sudden. I think by spacing these things apart (as opposed to releasing it all at once) and milking it as much as possible, they gain special attention (oooh never seen it before!") and more desirability once people have had thier big chance to get all the other things. Guage interest, then announce release when it looks like interest in old stuff reaches its peak.

Looks nice. CF will always look great when standing near 1j and 1s. If you are trying to create a scene from the tv show you need these guys! Glad yamato is going to be giving tv series more love. Never expected it would be released although it makes sense since all they needed was change in paint to milk the 1/48 line. This might mean we see DYRL Kakizaki if people are still buying 1/48s and treating them as the standard scale. I hope they don't make the CF brownies LE-only though. Maybe it'd be better to just do that with a future Angel Birds release or something imo. (since only the hardcore fan would really want this given how little it appears)