VF-1James

Another shot.

An update about the Roy, finally! I sent the body off to Hong Kong so the suits can be made, but not everything is going as I would have liked. First off, the guy said he doesn't want to sculpt new legs for the body, since it would take time and a lot of labor costs . Still, we'll see... His idea it to make the leg armor of the flightsuit really tight, so the leg doesn't fit all the way in to it, and thus make the figure taller. However, that won't work, since my other Roys wouldn't be the same size then. Secondly, I think I'm going with his headsculpts. I really like parts of it, but there are sure parts I don't like as well (face too realistic, the hair isn't that cool). However, he says the hair comes off, so you can attach the helment! When I think about it, I would swear that he just got ahold of the CM's figures, since the heads look so simalar to them. Anyway, take a look at the pics, and let me know what you think. I hope to bring the finished figure to Macross World Con 5, but we'll see. Hope to have the hair changed as well as the face a bit too, but we'll see if he's willing to do that. Let me know if you're interested in this project too, just to see if the interest is high or not. Thanks, and take a look!

I was pretty much done with this topic (thanks to those who have helped out so far), but I was watching the movie the other day, and I noticed a lot of differences in the costumes from scene to scene. First of all, I am most interested in Roy for the moment (being that I'm having a custom figure of him made first), so I wanted to ask the following about him. 1. Do his reds all match up? Sometimes his red areas are alll the same color, and sometimes they're 2 or 3 different reds. I noticed that his basic red stripe (that goes down the front of his regular movie uniform) is always red. However, that little circle thing on the collar is sometimes orange, and it is the same way with Hikaru as well (color changing between orange and red). And finally on the color subject, his rank insignia is sometimes really light red, and then other times just a regular red to match his uniform stripe. If somebody knows the correct colors of Roy's regular costume, that'd help out a lot. 2. Does anyone have pictures of the little symbols on each person's flight suit (on the little computer monitor on the chest- you know, in the red circle part of it)? I can't see good pictures of them. Again, I'm mostly just interested in Roy's for now, but the other characters' wouldn't hurt either. 3. Back to the basic suit, I have one last Roy question. His rank insignia keeps changing sizes! Sometimes both bars are the same size, and sometims the vertical one is larger, and then other times the horizontal one is larger. Does anyone know which is the most accurate? There are 3 different looks in the movie! Thanks, if anyone could help me with these things, I would so appreciate it. Thanks again!

Thank you soooooooooooo freaking much!!! That's exactaly what I needed. Roy's suit is the same, other than the colors and the red stripes on the front (those are for his rank?), right? Just checking, but that picture is PERFECT for what I wanted. Thanks a lot!

Yeah, that's the one I want, thanks! Do you have any non-color images of that costume? I really want to see the back, not in color if possible (so I can see all the designs on it, and show it to the guy making the costumes). Everyone (meaning ME) wants these costumes to be as accurate as possible, so nice images to work from is a huge help to me. Thanks, and keep them coming if you can, I really appreciate it!

Hey, thanks a lot! 2 questions though: 1. Can you enlarge the second image, that is the back view? 2. Do you have any nice images of the regular movie costumes (mostly the backs)? The guy making the costumes has a CMs figure of Roy to copy the flight suit, so it should be okay. However, I'm more worried about the regular costumes, since it's been really hard to find images of those. I ordered a movie artbook from a guy in Hong Kong, but the way he shipped it, he said it would take around 2 months to get here! (It was shipped surface mail). So........ Anyway, thank you very much, and keep the pictures coming!!! Err... please?

Well, 4 OVA eps. at 35 minutes cannot fit into one 115 minute movie. They cut some stuff out, but they also added/replaced a scene or two. The story is the same though. I thought that the OVAs only came out dubbed, while the movie only came out subbed (I am referring to American releases here). So if my memory serves correctly, things should have sounded pretty different between versions, but not because it was redubbed. OVA came out both ways. Movie was japanese only. I thought he meant the original dialouge recording. Yeah, I mean the Japanese dialouge. I don't think the movie had an English version anyway.

The movie was entirely redubbed too, wasn't it? I swear, I just kept thinking "hey, I know he said that line with a different tone before!".

I'm looking for line art and color images of the suits from DYRL, since I need to show them to the person doing my custom 1/6 uniforms in Hong Kong. If anyone has pictures of them, I'd really appreciate it! I saw the line art height chart in another thread, so I don't need that (but hey, it helps too!). I really need to see pictures of the backs, line art is better, since it's harder to make out the designs when they are in color. Thanks everyone!

Really? I just watched yesterday too! I just got the movie version, since I found it for a really good price, and just had to see what was different about it. Actually, I like the OVAs better.... But yes, what a sweet incarnation of the series.

The best way to not get charged for the merchandise, is to declare it has little or no value, say it is a gift, and the big one, say everything is used under the description. That's how I get my stuff to a friend I have in Canada, since we were having the trouble of getting charged every time, before discovering what to do about it. And no, it's not cheating, the stuff I sent really was used. Sounds like maybe it was with you too. Why not try and save that money by disputing it with the post office? Tell them what happened, that you didn't realize you were going to get charged so much, or at all.

Wow... that's a good way to put it.

Thanks for the tip! Actually, I ordered some steel wool (thanks to EXO's advice), and it's doing a damn fine job of cleaning him up. He's photographing well now, seeing as how the steel wool has made him nice and smooth (no residue anymore, yea!!!). Not sure when he'll be done though, but when I finish him, I'll post some more pics. Oh yeah, and thanks for the kind words, they're always welcome.

I like them a lot, but I wonder, why doesn't anyone use the actual TV show arms?

And finally for tonight, a size comparison shot for EXO, since he wanted to see the bodies next to each other. Roy is modified to be a bit taller, but I guess it's not by that much. The skinny body is the same size as the one I want to use for Hikaru, so we'll have to see about making it even shorter I guess. Let me know if you have any ideas about it, EXO.

Another shot of Roy; notice that the eyebrow isn't very nice, and I just put it on there for the picture, to give people an idea of the expression I'm going for. The eyebrows will be the second to last things I put on probably, the last being the front of his hair (I broke it off, since I decided to try and redo his eyes, and I had to get in there ).

Here's a bit of a Roy update, so everyone can see how he's progressing. He's still really rough, but he's coming along. My biggest problem right now is that I can't seem to find any sand paper that is fine enough to use on him where I live. It's hard to believe, but I have gone to three home supply stores, and I haven't found any sandpapers that have a grit above 400. I'm going to see if I can special order some though, but it's still annoying. So, here is Roy, without me being able to really fine tune him yet.

I think sculpting and then recasting bodies is going to cost way too much. The body for Roy is about $30, and so is the body that I stole the leg parts from (which I should probably also get recast, to save everyone the hassle of buying two bodies). The body I had in mind for Hikaru and Max was between two of them, and that body is only $15 a piece (roughly). I'll PM you about it a bit later, and I'll try and take some pictures of a size comparison soon with the Roy body as well. I am pretty interested if you're going to recast the "armor" parts of the DYRL flight suits. The boots, the arms, the chest piece, and the helmet are all a bitch to do I think. However, if you were going to sculpt those yourself, then all we'd have to do is make the fabric part of the uniform, paint the sculpted pieces, and attach them, that would be really sweet! I didn't want to do this version, because I thought it would be a total hassle, but if you recast pieces of it, then it's totally possible I think. But before you start to actually try and sculpt the parts to fit the bodies, let me take pictures of the bodies I was thinking about for you, since I think they'll work just great for this. BTW- You said "take it to the recaster", but what do you mean by that? Do you mean a person on these boards, or do you actually mean a service available in your city or something? I haven't talked to anyone about recasting the Roy head I'm sculpting yet, as I want to finish it first. I really do want to get it recast (to have a sturdy version of the sculpt that won't break so easily, and so everyone that wants one can have it). Edit- I just thought of something, and that's you should use the CM's figure of Hikaru or Roy to base your sculpt on. They seem pretty good, and I just ordered a set of series 2, so I should get them soon. If you want, I can take detailed pictures of it for you, but it might help you even more to have it in front of you when sculpting. If you don't have it, and don't plan on getting one, I could always ship the Roy to you to help you out with the process. Let me know.

Hey, very nice Hikaru! I was planning on making a movie Roy head, then a Max, then a Hikaru (based on the order I like the characters). Can't wait to see that Hikaru finished! Maybe we should all work together on these 1/6 scale figures? Such as: First, let's do Roy as a starter, since I'm already talking to a guy to do his suit. If this guy is trustworthy, and makes good stuff, maybe we could have him make the suits of Hikaru and Max as well? It's a thought... Anyway, great Hikaru head! By the way, EXO, what body do you have planned for him? Are you going to recast it as well? I have a good idea for a body, since you were concerned about his height in relation to the other characters. For Roy, I'm using a Volks Neo Guy with legs I took from another figure to make him even taller (so now, he will be the correct size next to Hikaru and Max). High quality is kind of a big deal to me, so I only use the best bodies made out of resin for my custom stuff, and I do think it adds a lot to the finished piece. EDIT- YOWSER!!! I just got the e-mail from the guy in Hong Kong, and he was a bit pissed at me since he went to a lot of trouble to try and get a bulk order going with this suit- he did however agree to do one so everyone could see it, and in hopes that more people will order one as well. So, I guess I get the prototype... I just PayPaled him the money, and I will send him the figure body soon so he can size the costume to it. Now, the price.... Crap, it's way more than I thought it would be. I was worried about this, but he said it's going to be the nicest quality possible. He asked for $135 for mine (that's $120 to do it, and $15 to ship it to me). So this thing better impress the hell out of me!

Edit- Due to some common sense, provided by fellow 1/6 scale fan, xstoys, I have decided to ask the guy in Hong Kong to make my Roy costume first, so everyone can see the quality of the finished product. Really, it is probably a bit much for me to ask everyone to rush into something, so this way people will have an idea of what they're ordering. I have no real idea of the price, but I'll let you know what he quotes me later this week. Also, I'll post some new pictures of the Roy head-sculpt later this week too (complete with action poses, woo-hoo!!!). And please note the new mouth on him, since it's a bitch to sculpt. It does, however, look much better now, and a lot more like Roy. I'll keep everyone updated, and thanks for your support.

How many do you think we'd be talking? I still don't have a price from them yet, but I'll ask if they made a few of them. I was thinking.... 10 maybe? How many people actually want a Roy? Edit- here is the site: http://actionfigure2002.com/ Edit #2- I decided to try and sculpt the lips on the head, so they wouldn't be as girly, and I'm giving him a smirk to his left side (opposite side of his hair in the front). It's going pretty well, and I hope to have some more pictures soon (I'm going to try and refine him a bit more, and finish sculpting the back of his hair, since it was giving me a bit of trouble before). Now, as for the DYRL flight suit, you guys do understand that would cost like $200 or so just for the suit, right? I mean, that is one complex uniform to make! For now, let's just worry about finishing the TV version in his regular uniform. I also have the head from the 1/6 Hikaru model that I cut up so that it's just a helment. I will see if I can get that recast for everyone too hopefully.

More news about Roy; I am in talks with a company in Hong Kong to custom make his uniform. I found them through Ebay, and they make really detailed costumes for 12" figures. When I asked if they knew the character, the person responded, "Major Focker, of course we know him!". I'm feeling this custom coming together now. I'm going for the TV uniform, as my head is based on the TV design, not the movie. However, I'm thinking of doing a movie one too once I get this sculpt finished and cast, since I would just have to change the hair a bit. Not sure about that though.... Anyway, yay for Hong Kong!

Are you kidding? I think anime is already in the "boom" phase. When I turn on the tv on Saturday morning, all the shows are from Japan. Cartoon Network can't seem to get enough of it either, and same goes for Tech TV. Don't forget the Action channel either... No, I think anime is booming now. I miss being able to get a series for a low cost through fansubs, now series seem to be over here dubbed in English within months of their original broadcast in Japan. I sure love anime, but I really miss the days when I was bizzare for liking it. You know, it's like when you discover a new band and it becomes your favorite: When the band goes commercial and everyone likes them and asks you if you've ever heard of this band (keeping in mind that you've liked them for a few years), you tend to be at least a little resentful. In any case, anime may go bust in the near future as well. With anime saturating the market, people will start to notice repeating themes, and that the shows they thought were so original really aren't. (Now Macross, that's original, aside from the transforming robots). I personally want to see more cartoons made by the US, like we had in the 80's (even if they were drawn in Japan anyway). US cartoons can learn from Japanese cartoons to be serious and actually let characters have realistic fights and die (and stay dead, no more of this clone crap). Sorry guys, what a pointless rant. Basically, I know a lot of people are also tired of anime (point I'm trying to make), and I think our figurative entertainment life raft can only hold so much before it reaches it's maximum capacity and sinks. And if they want to revive Macross, they need to make a show where the Valkyries are used to fight each other to see who's the best in some dumb tournament, while getting elemental power-ups and such from a card game. It's possible, right? Hey, after seeing that Pachinko Macross intro, anything is possible!

The face is a bit.... It's a bit pretty I guess, but I'm trying to sand the top lip a bit, so it will be less pursed. I have to be really careful here though, since I don't think I could fix that if I messed it up. In any case, sanding the lip should take care of his "girly" pout, but the rest of what may look girly is the choice of paint I used on the head before (remember, it was originally going to be used for something else). I'm going to try and fix the eyes to be more anime styled too, so it will make them easier to paint. Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in him, I appreciate it a lot! When I finish him, I want to get him recast to make him sturdy, and hopefully, he will be available to anyone who wants him. Just let me know if you're interested or not, since maybe it will help inspire me to actually get it done.

Here is my progress on Roy. It's really just for me, since I can't sculpt very well at all, but I hope it will generate some interest in character figures. Please, pay no attention to the colors or some of the paint (It was a head that I wrecked, so I decided to fix it into a Roy- the sculpey is just all I have left around the house, and I didn't feel like getting more). Also, he may look a bit messy, but it's just some of the residue still on his hair from the sanding process that I'm doing right now. I just picked him up and took a photo so people could see him, since I've had at least two people ask for me to show him as of yet. There's still a long way to go before he's ready for me to paint, or possibly get someone to cast him. Anyway, don't be too upset- after all, it is ME sculpting him, not a pro.