TheLoneWolf
-
Posts
2440 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Everything posted by TheLoneWolf
-
Manga stated that their master dub track for episode 4 accidentally got trashed during the dubbing process, so the entire audio track had to be rebuilt from scratch. Since they inserted new foley and omitted some musical tracks in this dub, I wouldn't be surprised if Big West and Bandai forced them create an accurate English dub for Japan for legal reasons. Not to mention that it'd be a little insulting to the show's Japanese directors.
-
If big VF-1's are what you're into, you may want to wait a little bit and see if Bandai releases their monstrous 1/35 VF-1J. Unfortunately no release date has been set, nor is there any guarantee that it'll ever be released. But since this year is Macross' 35th anniversary, I can see Bandai releasing a 1/35 toy on the show's 35th anniversary. Coincidence?
-
That's interesting, I had always assumed that the leaked beta was the furtherst that Star Fox 2 had made it along. I'm astonished that Nintendo was sitting on a 100% completed copy all this time. Yeah, I thought it was pretty dumb to cancel it. But then I read that there was still serious animosity between Nintendo and Sony concerning the cancellation of the Nintendo Playstation, so with that in mind, it makes sense that Nintendo was worried about their 3D being compared to Sony's Playstation.
-
The SNES classic was an easy pass for me, until I saw this. I played the leaked beta and liked the direction the game was going, but didn't think it would ever be finished. Has there ever been a situation where an incomplete game was actually finished (not remade) two decades later? I tip my hat to Nintendo for remembering Starfox 2; they'll be getting my money for sure.
-
With the VF-2SS, we'll finally get a chance to see what the High Metal-R line is really made of. While the Destroids and Zentradi mecha were all top notch, neither of them are transforming toys. And I don't consider the HM-R VF-1's to be true HM-R toys, since they're really just old High Metal toys that got grandfathered into the new "R" line with some tweaks. If Bandai can cleanly handle the VF-2SS' crazy transformation, the sky's the limit for them. I have confidence in Bandai and will be pre-ordering on day 1.
-
At that price range, I'd say it's the Hi-Metal R and 1/55 lines, hands down. Personally, I'd go with the Hi-Metal R line since it's such a varied line with, Destroids and Zentradi mecha to complement the VF-1. Just make sure to avoid the old Hi-Metal (sans the "R") toys since they aren't as rugged as the newer Hi-Metal R's. About half of my old Hi-Metal toys developed loose ankles after 1 or 2 transformations.
-
Legally speaking, that's not a good analogy to make. While Big West, Bandai, et al. can't ship Macross toys outside of Japan, re-sellers in Japan (eg: HLJ) are under no such restriction. So if you buy a 1/60 VF-1S from HLJ and they ship it directly to you in the USA, then none of Harmony Gold's rights are infringed. In addition, these types of restrictions don't apply to private individuals with intent of keeping the goods in their private collections, since the damage to Harmony Gold is deemed negligible. That's why Harmony Gold hasn't sent HLJ any cease & desists, nor have they tried to shut down MacrossWorld's For Sale forum. However, if store located in the USA, such as BigBad ToyStore, were to buy one hundred 1/60 VF-1S' from a re-seller in Japan, and then market those VF-1S' here in the USA, then Harmony Gold's rights would be infringed for two reasons. First, a Macross branded toy is being marketed in the USA without HG's approval. Second, as a large scale retailer, BBTS can't make the argument that they're simply engaging in a small, private transaction; their intent was clearly to resell those VF-1S' in the USA on a mass scale. As for a bit of trivia, BBTS did receive a cease & desist a while ago, which is why they now only sell Harmony Gold/Tatsunoko Production branded Macross toys. On an unrelated note, why does the topic refer to these bootlegs as "gray market" toys? There's nothing gray market about them.
-
I'm guessing the Hikaru and Max HMR 1J's are still available because they were already released back in the old High-Metal line (sans the minor HMR improvements). Compounding matters for Hikaru's 1J, prospective buyers might be more interested in purchasing the HMR VF-1J + GBP combo since that VF-1J is nearly identical to Hikaru's TV VF-1J.
-
About the scaling issue, you have to keep in mind that HMR line is non-scale, so expect some discrepancies to appear when you line up the toys side-by-side. IIRC, the old ARII/IMAI model kits are legitimately 1/100. That said, I'm anxiously awaiting for my Spartan to arrive. Up until now, it's been a shame that the Matchbox/Playmates Spartan toy has been the only decent one on the market.
-
Do you have to apply a clear coat afterwards in order to preserve the panel lines? Or is Flory's naturally resistant to fading and smearing from everyday handling?
-
Macross DYRL TV Special Finally online! Have to watch!
TheLoneWolf replied to Shawn's topic in Movies and TV Series
Thank you for not forgetting about this, Shawn! I always thought it was a tragedy that so much work was put into getting this translated and subbed back in the day, only for it to get "lost." -
There's a post on the Macross World Facebook page from someone who ordered a Fold Booster knockoff. They said it's made out of brittle plastic and broke right away.
-
My guess is that Nintendo is discontinuing it due to the system's Third Party licenses. I doubt that Capcom, Konami, et al. could've foreseen the Classic Edition's wild demand. So I wouldn't be surprised if they increased their licensing fees in response to this demand. Rather than allow all of these increased fees to cut into, or even wipe out, their net profits, Nintendo discontinued the system. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo releases a Classic Edition 2.0 later this year that's almost entirely First Party titles and maybe one or two Third Party titles at best.
-
Ah, that makes more sense. Thanks.
-
I'm just surprised that Arcadia directly provided a US company with an early sample to review. It's a pretty gutsy move, considering how litigious Harmony Gold is.
-
Ethical considerations aside, I'm highly skeptical of these v2 1/60 VF-1 KO's. If you look at the v2 assembly kit version that Yamato released, you'll see that it has dozens of small, intricate parts would be difficult to copy on the cheap. Furthermore, the toy has small hinges and locks that bear a lot of pressure during transformation. Arcadia can rely on these small parts due to the high quality plastic that they use. But, if bootleggers opt to use cheaper plastic (eg: Toynami plastic) on their versions, it could result in cracks or outright breakages. Moreover, the Macross fanbase is considerably smaller than the Transformers fanbase, so I find it hard to believe that bootleggers would be willing to invest as much capital in Macross KO's as compared to Transformers KO's. The Fast Packs would be a different story, since they're much simpler than the main toy. While I don't need any more Fast Packs, I'm curious to see how they'll stack up compared to Arcadia's.
-
While I'm glad that someone is giving the TV SDF-1 some attention, the horrible color palette and line art inaccuracies make this an easy pass for me.
-
The only word to describe that cockpit is breathtaking. If the mass production versions can maintain the amount of painted details as this prototype, I'd seriously considering buying one. Harmony Gold royalties be damned, Kids Logic deserves to be paid for their work. If sales are brisk, I hope Kids Logic explores the possibility of accessories for this diorama. Figures such as Ryuji's 1/8 Misa Hayase (NSFW version here) would perfectly compliment this cockpit, if scaled up. (photo courtesy of Celso Ryuji's DeviantArt page)
-
The color schemes haven't always been questionable. After 2003, the color schemes remained consistent amongst various manufacturers for well over a decade.
-
But if Bandai was simply trying to differentiate their products from the competition, why limit their alterations to just Max & Milia? Why not Roy Focker's VF-1S, the GBP Armor, or the Cannon Fodder (which could really use some panache)?
-
It began in 2002, when Yamato was preparing to release their v1 1/60 Max & Milia Super VF-1J's. Like us, Yamato noticed that the colors of Max & Milia's FAST Packs varied from episode to episode. Even the official artbooks contained inconsistent colors. Wanting their toys to be as accurate as possible, Yamato asked Kawamori himself what colors they should use. Kawamori answered their inquiry, and in 2003, Macross fandom finally found out what colors Max & Milia's FAST Packs should be when their respective toys were released. That color scheme was used in Yamato's subsequent 1/48 and v2 1/60 releases. We thought the issue was settled, until Bandai recently released their new 1/72 Max & Milia model kits, sporting new color schemes. I thought that those might've been one-off, commemorative color schemes, similar to Yamato's v2 1/60 Low Visibility VF-1S Roy Focker. But this new color scheme's continued use in the High Metal R line suggests that it's the new standard. Since these toys have to be approved by Big West and Studio Nue (read: Kawamori), it appears that Kawamori has changed his mind on Max & Milia's FAST Packs. At the very least, if these new colors are entirely Bandai's doing, then he's approved their use. It'll be interesting to see what happens if Arcadia reissues Yamato's v2 1/60 Max & Milia Super VF-1J's.
-
No, but interestingly enough the pilot in my TV VF-1J wasn't glued down at all. As there's not even the slightest bit of glue residue, it's clear that Bandai didn't glue the pilot onto its seat. Personally, I like having removable TV pilots since they're absurdly out of scale with the rest of the toy. But, as your experience highlights, Bandai needs to reconcile their QC in order to account for removable pilots. Huzzah!
-
In order to avoid fixed shipping rates, don't sell your items under eBay's video games category or provide a SKU. Just list them as Other or Miscellaneous. eBay will tell you that you'll be missing a lot of your target audience if you use the wrong category, but I've never had any problems attracting bidders and I've been selling for years. Using a scale to weigh items is a necessity, otherwise you could end undercharging or overcharging your customers on shipping. I've tried guestimating shipping a few times and failed spectacularly. I now use a digital food scale with a 15lb limit and it's made shipping so much easier. Plus, if you know your item's exact weight, you can print prepaid shipping labels from your computer, saving time waiting at the post office. Finally, you're usually given a small shipping discount if you print your own labels, so if you sell enough, you could pay off the cost of the scale.
-
The scale problem isn't the Monster's fault. The problem is that the VF-1 HMR is approximately 1/88 scale, so it's only natural that it'll make the Monster appear smaller.
-
In Takatoku's defense, their Destroid Conversion Kit is actually 1/100 scale. The reason that the VF-1 HMR towers over it is that HMR is about 1/88 scale, despite the fact that it's marketed as "1/100." Wise words, my friend.