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kajnrig

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Everything posted by kajnrig

  1. Anyone have thoughts/insight on Violet Evergarden? I watched the first episode last night and didn't find it all that interesting, though the art sure was top-notch. I'm wondering if there's a reason for such a high-budget first episode...
  2. I saw this a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it... until I had to leave with ~45 minutes left after a family emergency (that turned out to be neither family nor emergency) came up. Will definitely try to catch it again in cheapo theaters if I can, or on BD/streaming if that's what's left.
  3. Turned way around on this whole Re-Edited for PG-13 Deadpool thing. They just know how to keep sucking me back in...
  4. I'm pretty sure it was always $89. What I'm not sure on is what "digital preorder bonuses" implies. Going back a few pages, that phrase seems to cover all the preorder bonuses... - F-4 Phantom playable craft - F-104 "Avril" scheme - 3x additional skins - AC5/6 ...and excludes the season pass from the deluxe digital edition and the physical items from the Japanese/European collector's editions (physical patches, emblem stickers, the Arsenal Bird), but I'm still not certain.
  5. I thought all the Walkure sans Freyja's VA had done work in the anime/singing industry pre-Delta? I thought that was kind of the point? Hold an audition for the new talent that would mirror the audition for the new talent in-universe, meanwhile the seasoned vets are voiced/sung by seasoned vets? No---- *looks at Yoko, looks at C Viper, looks at Rei HIno* .......yes. Was that ever a thing? I remember her bringing up her past career no more than thrice over the course of the series, and I don't remember her ever being bitter over it. A bit wistful, perhaps, and maybe being part of Walkure is a bittersweet "consolation prize," but she's not, like, trying to sabotage things in order to get back her old life or anything. This too I feel like it's more something that we read into the characters in lieu of anything else to do. Again, when she talks about being a "failed idol" (which... I dunno, seems maybe she was something of a one-hit wonder? which doesn't seem all that bad, really?), she doesn't sound overly bitter about it. Her worrying about Mikumo usurping her role reads to me more as her seeing the danger that Mikumo's immaturity brings to the team's cohesion. I know they play with it in the movie, her rivalry with Mikumo, but even then it's shown that she's clearly the better leader of the two, Mikumo's just got more raw power. Like Leonardo and Raphael, so to speak. Not to say I wouldn't enjoy a story where this is the/a central conflict.
  6. Say what you will about the show and the characters and the singing groups, and I've said plenty, but I will never say no to more fanservice-y promotional art of Kaname or Mirage. I just wish the merchandise would go beyond that. What hints? Your implication is that there was a Sheryl/Ranka-style idolization/infatuation/lust/love thing going on, but I'm not sure if the material supports that thinking. Mostly I remember Mikumo just being a bitch to Freyja and oblivious about it. (On account of her being three years old and all.) Maybe I just don't remember it... Personally, I'd like to see a story arc where Kaname DOESN'T become an idol... and is perfectly okay with that. Like Myung, but with a happy ending. That was the vibe I got from her anyway... at least until they stopped giving any of them any vibes at all. She seemed to be perfectly settled into her role of mentor(/producer?) of the group, and her story seemed to be the burgeoning workplace relationship with Arad, yeah remember that? the interesting story thread they scuttled in favor of Moody McAngstface creeping on her and then awkwardly contrived what passed for them as drama? Blargh, I'm getting sidetracked again.
  7. Oh thank god. I'd been scouring the internets and couldn't find it for less than 200% its RRP. I was just about to place a bid on one for ~$65.
  8. kajnrig

    Macross figures

    Eh, I don't know if the figure looks BAD. If you look at some of the artwork, her face does change sometimes. Risa Ebata seems flummoxed by Sheryl especially sometimes, since her face sometimes goes from very angular with a sharp chin and nose (common in the anime) to... this (which seems to have become more common in the time since the series, especially in the movies and art for CDs, etc.). A longer face, with more curve to the chin and nose and fuller cheeks. Anyway, on another note, I just updated my thread getting rid of some stuff:
  9. It definitely feels like a last-minute creation. It has pretty much everything I absolutely wanted from a collector's edition, so I'm happy. Does anyone know if it comes with the preorder bonuses that other versions get? ie - F-4 Phantom - F-104 Starfighter (- extra F-104 skin for digital preorder) - preorder skins/emblems(?) - AC5/6 - preorder theme for PS4 - anything else I'm missing?
  10. Cosmic coincidence. In case anyone's interested, there's an art book with a whole bunch of Ishigaki's designs/sketches up through ~2009, titled "Robo no Ishi." (It might have Frontier stuff, might not.) If people remember the original Maganac mobile suit designs from Wing, that was him. His Gundam stuff is usually relegated to side MS/enemy grunt designs. He also worked on Gundam 0083 in some fashion or other. I personally know him best for designing the entire range of mecha from Xenogears.
  11. I don't think it is, either. But the similarities to those VF designs are too numerous to just be coincidence. I didn't mean to imply that it IS a VF, just that its design must have come from one/many. I don't know of other Macross designs, used or discarded or otherwise, that share these same features. I mean... it could very well be a ship from M2. And everything about it and its world just happens to be so similar to the Frontier verse that they get fooled into doing the right thing. A big old cosmic coincidence.
  12. Well, I'm sure someone(s) must have already brought up the ship's remarkable similarity to Macross II VFs, right? Some more pics of the craft in question: The prominent shape of the nose and the wide, forward-protruding main engines immediately reminded me of the VF-2 et al, and poring through the MMM, I wonder if perhaps this ship is simply a rework of one/many of those designs that was quickly modeled and textured for the animation. The never animated VF-XS:
  13. To summarize what would otherwise be a (not unusual, admittedly) wall of text: It trades out the original's Oshii-typical contemplative, metaphorical storytelling in favor of a run-of-the-mill modern action thriller. The fights get spruced up and the story and characters get dumbed down in order to make it ostensibly more palatable to modern audiences, but that just renders it kind of... generic. Soulless. The political backdrop is also understandably reworked, but the result is... unbalanced, to say the least. It renders the events of the movie just that little bit more unbelievable. It doesn't hold up as well under scrutiny as the original does, but as its own entity... I suppose it's just as good and bad as any other Korean action movie. Some spoilery nitpicks:
  14. I came across this just the other day, and I've listened through it about half a dozen times now. Linked to my favorite piece right now, but the whole thing is worth seeing/hearing.
  15. Yeah, this was mentioned in either another thread or the general TV thread. It's an explicit adaptation of the anime, so no, it's not a ripoff. Not sure about royalties, but just wanted to clarify that it's an above-board production. The anime has a very heavy sense of motion and a subdued, deliberate soundscape, neither of which translate well to live action. That's to say nothing of the usual pitfalls of recreating anime in live action shot for shot (the change in color, contrast, etc. is always especially noticeable). Something exquisitely animated usually feels cheap in live action. Watching a little bit of it, my predictions were more or less confirmed. It doesn't do anything particularly interesting with what it's got, and the shift to near-future Korea from alternate-history Japan makes what elements it does borrow from the original that much more bizarre. The armor doesn't have the same intimidating presence as in the anime, nor the same sense of weight. Again, the heaviness in the anime didn't make the transition. The characters don't sell the idea that they're trooping around in slow, heavy, but nigh impervious suits of armor. Once I finish it, I'll get back with an opinion on the story, but the bit I did see of the beginning isn't leaving a positive first impression.
  16. I'd PM you, as I remember your work even from other forums, but I wouldn't want to take away from others who missed out on these way back when and/or want them more than I would. Great to see you're doing well again!
  17. kajnrig

    Macross figures

    The EXQ Figure (ie the one I inadvertently preordered) is coming sometime in December. This other auction page gives a date of January 11: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h351642807 The Kuji Sheryl is, yes, releasing November 23.
  18. I think I'd have liked it better if it were.
  19. kajnrig

    Macross figures

    So, like a doofus, I mistook this for the Kuji figure and picked it up for what will ultimately be something like $40 plus shipping, thinking I was getting an amazing steal on its 5800-yen asking price... Oh well, it'll still probably be completely worth it, dem gams are mmmmmmffffff. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g304575430
  20. Could the lack/delay of a US Strangereal Edition have anything to do with the US tariffs on Chinese-made goods? Perhaps they would have to adjust the cost of the collection owing to the Arsenal Bird's inclusion. If that were the case, I'd be totally fine with "just" a US version of the Japanese Collector's Edition, too.
  21. ... ....... ...........hot????
  22. kajnrig

    Bandai DX VF-31

    https://hlj.com/led-sword-green-ver-kbymg-02
  23. Fair point. I Platinum'd without even realizing it, and was in the middle of completing the benchmarks when I finally checked and saw I'd gotten it. It's definitely not the hardest Platinum Trophy to get. I restarted and restarted and grit my teeth through all the infuriating drone chase challenges - how many were there, like four or five spread across the city? - chasing down and finally getting the Gold in all of them. Never again. Yep, I'm exactly the same way. If all the planes exist more or less at parity with each other, then that wouldn't be much of a problem, but that also would kind of defeat the purpose of having a variety of planes in the first place. A tiered competition system might help. Something similar to racing games, where entering different... cups? circuits?... determines what cars you can drive, the type and extent of tuning you can do to your vehicle, etc... I dunno, I'm sure someone who regularly plays multiplayer has a better idea than I do of how to create an ideal AC multiplayer.
  24. Interestingly, the two analyses of this trailer I've watched seem to interpret the contents differently, one discussing the customization/etc. as part of a multiplayer game, and the other discussing it as part of the single-player campaign. Looking at the trailer again, it doesn't clarify which of the two modes this upgrade tree exists in. I would imagine the game is single-player only, but one could just as easily argue for the existence of multiplayer based on just this trailer.
  25. Unfortunately, the bolded is not the case at all here. The audience didn't suddenly develop an aversion to grinding. The recent news that Spider-Man PS4 is among the most-Platinum Trophy'd games on the console is proof of that. Audiences have no problem with grinding for tokens, so long as those tokens and the rewards obtained with them are equally reasonably obtained. What has happened is that devs/publishers have intentionally crippled progressions systems of their games and then put these scummy cash system in place to "balance" it. When Star Wars Battlefront 2 (and Mad Max IIRC, and Shadow of War, and so on) took out its microtransactions, it forced everyone to progress at a snail's pace, resulting in a terrible game. It had to completely rebalance the progression system in order to actually make it good. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that there IS a real-money system in AC7 and Bamco take it out. It won't be a return to the upgrade systems of AC4/5/X/etc.; you won't unlock planes every couple of missions. More likely, it'll be closer to AC Infinity but without the ability to buy fuel to play more every day. Again, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.
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