Awacs

I've just paid up the money for this, after having it on preorder since my Birthday last year (it is my fortieth present to myself). I've wanted a -19 since the announcement of the first one back in the day, so there was no way I was missing out. Now all I have to do is wait for the days to crawl by as I wait for it to arrive. So of course I am torturing myself by watching Plus for the umpteenth time... : -) Karl

RIP Ishiguro Sama. Your work gave joy to many, you will be missed. I've been out of the loop for a little while and only just learned this. I shall raise a glass to toast his memory this evening. Karl

No idea. I'm not entirely sure personally that it is any better a scale than any other to be honest. To my mind you can do a super-robotish toy in just about any scale. I could envisage quite a good version of Mac 7 toys in 1/72nd, 1/60th, 1/12th or just about any other scale. I have to say that the price rise on the Fire Valkyrie pretty much puts it outside of the bracket I would consider. The VF-25's were at the upper end of the bracket once you add in shipping, VAT, customs charges etc, but I doubt I could justify paying the extra for the -19kai. Karl

I think what Pete is saying is that the Macross 7 mecha are more super-robotish than the Frontier designs, and that he thinks that will make the formerr work better aesthetically in 1/100th scale than the latter. Rather than 1/100th being more super-robotish than any other scale. At least, that is the way that I read it. Karl

I do think that one of the strengths of UC Gundam seems to be the sense that a lot of the folk on both sides in any given war are basically good people just doing their jobs, another proportion are basically people who have been led astray and only a few are outright and irredemably evil. It makes things much more interesting to have that ambiguity (and it makes it a bit more poignant to root for the heroes knowing that a lot of the cannon fodder they are cutting down are just folk who happen to be on the "wrong" side, not necessarily villians). That is a nice little subplot. It comes across as a bit rushed in the compilation movie, but I get the sense it was originally spread over several episodes so seen week on week I think it would have worked a bit better. It didn't quite make Kai my favourite character but it did give me a bit of an identification with him. I think that I probably share more with Kai than I do with Amuro or Char. (One of the thing I am finding with the UC material is I do find there are more characters I find myself liking than there were in Wing or SEED. Which is probably why I can watch the UC shows but gave up with the latter.) It is just a shame that there has been so little UC Gundam released over here, it disappeared in a tide of Gundam SEED, which was everywhere for about a yeat and then vanished into obscurity. That's the problem with these new-fangled things - no staying power :-) Karl

My reading of the ending of "Char's Counterattack" was that Amuro and Char both physically die, but their conciousness' may survive in some form. That is if Amuro's vision of Lalah Sune earlier in the film was in fact a vision and not simply an imagining of his tired brain...... But the film itself seems deliberately vague about whether or not they survive. I prefer to conclude that they did die, mostly because I think it makes a satistfying ending for Amuro to sacrifice himself to bring an end to Char's plans whilst saving the Earth in the process. He wants the peace, and in the end he is prepared to sacrifice himself for it - showing the empathy that Char demonstrates that he signally lacks (despite claiming as an important distinction that makes Newtypes like himself better). I've been watching what little UC Gundam is available in Britain recently. It is little enough - just the original series compilation movies, Afterglow of Zeon, Char's Counterattack and F-91. I did rather enjoy the movie edit of the original Mobile Suit Gundam - the first film felt like it meandered a bit, and just sort of stopped rather than reaching a neat break point, but I felt that the second two worked better. I think that I like the setting, and some of the story elements more than I like the story per se though. I like the relationship between Amuro and Ramba Ral, Ral goes a long way to humanising the Zeon - who would otherwise be a little too much one-dimensional "Evil Space Facists". Amuro's reunion with his mother is a moment that struck me as well - when she is bewailing what the war has done to her son it is hard for me not to see her point (but at the same time I can see the sense in Amuro's actions too). I did like the fact that the movies, whilst very much saying that war is not a good thing, were a little equivocal about it. It felt like there was a bit of nuance to the idea that whilst war is not good, it is sometimes necessary. From the MSG movies I headed to "Afterglow of Zeon". Hmmmm. Some things can be successfully condensed down to the length of a couple of hours, and some it would appear cannot. I think this is one of the latter. It felt like they had kept as much of they could of the mecha battles, at the cost of jetissoning anything that might have defined the characters and created any sense of identification with them. I didn't find that I really cared what happened to any of the cast, which made it a chore to get through. There were also a few sequences that became complete non-sequiters, stripped of any context and just left me scratching my head wondering how they were originally intended to work. "Char's Counterattack" I didn't mind - it felt like a decent final battle between Amuro and Char, with high stakes to add that extra sense of finality to it. I did like the fact that Char came across as somewhat of a hypocrite - telling Amuro that Oldtypes lacked empathy which is why they did bad things and should be wiped out so that Newtypes would replace them. Yes, good way to demonstrate that empathy there Char. As I had done with "Afterglow of Zeon" I didn't actually watch it all the way through in a sitting mind you. With both I split the running time roughtly in half and called it a day at what felt like a suitable break point. (Mostly due to my own schedule than anything else). What I'm not so fond of is the fact that the plot is "powered by stupidity" in places - the Federation government selling a large asteroid to a group of people with a history of dropping large objects on the Earth is bad enough, but to then allow them to change its orbit so that it moves closer to the planet borders on criminal negligence. Mind you, at least Amuro and Bright do actually comment on how stupid that decision is - so it is supposed to be a bad idea within the frame of the fiction as well. "Gundam F-91"... well, I am probably in the rarity in that I actually quite like it. More for what it could have been than what it is mind you. It certainly shows that this is what could be salvaged from an aborted television series. It is incredibly choppy in terms of structure and has to make enormous off-screen narrative leaps. Viewed objectively I don't think it is a very good movie at all, but I think that there is the skeleton of a perfectly good television series poking through in places. There are some ideas in there that I think I would like to have seen played out over slightly longer - notably "the seduction of Cessily Fairchild", her apparent growing attraction to the perfidious aristocratic nonsense of the Crossbone Vanguard would have made for an interesting bit of character development if it had more room to breathe I think. As a film I think F-91 is a terrible mess, but I think it would have made a fair remake of "Mobile Suit Gundam" if it had actually been completed. All told, I think I like some of the ideas floating around in UC Gundam more than I like it on a story level (if that makes any sense to anyone), and I certainly quite like the setting. I'm not sure any of it is more than a "watched once, reasonably enjoyed it" - not something I am likely to go back to I don't think. But that alone puts it a step above the AU stuff I have seen. I only made it through two episodes of Gundam Wing, and I think I saw two and a half episodes of SEED before bundling the disc back to the rental service with great despatch, so UC Gundam certainly has something going for it if it kept me sufficiently interested to watch it all once. (And I must confess - I'm not a huge fan of the aethetics of the Mobile Suits. I don't mind them but they don't really catch a hold of my imagination. I do like a lot of the spacecraft designs though - for some reason White Base, the Zeon and Federation cruisers and the visuals of the colony cylinders are actually things I remember more than most of the MS designs for some reason). Karl

Typical Mattel foolishness - forgetting to pay/bribe ones contractors is bad for business.... I'll have to join the chorus of folk who are deeply unimpressed with Leader Starscream. I suspect it will be reasonably popular with the target market - it is a big toy with lights and sounds, which is the kind of thing that parents like to buy for their children. (Before they realise that lights and sounds mean it will be making noises incessantly for several days until their childs attention wanders or the battery runs flat). However, as I am outside the target market I evaluate it by different criteria, and sixty quid for what appears to be a collection of kibble with with wings attached is far from value for money. The movie line aircraft tend to be suffering from a syndrome where they seem to be designed to be viewed from only a narrow cone of angles in their alt-modes - anywhere of that axis and their kibble starts to show quite badly. Karl

Yep, it was. The movie was.... hilarious in all the wrong ways. Trying to splice together footage from Megazone 23 and SDC:Southern Cross looks absolutely absurd even before you get into the plot. But, unlike the Macross saga they actually got someone in to do the singing who could actually stay in tune........ Karl

Well, I was beginning to suspect that this would turn out to be beyond my price range, but I wasn't expecting it to be so far out that even with high magnification optics you can't even see my price range from there. I guess I shall have to be content with my little matchbox repackaged Storm Attacker mode Macross that sits on my shelves feeling confused and disoriented that all the Valkyries are taller than it. Karl

I'm not really familiar with the rest of his work, but I have a long standing affection for "Do You Remember Love". This is very sad news. Karl

If I had to name one mode of the Mecha that got me into Macross then it would have to be Fighter mode. I grew up next to an airforce base, and still have rather a love of aircraft. The Valkyrie was a giant robot sure, but it was a giant robot that had the class to turn into a sharp, and very practical looking aircraft. Karl

Hmm. I had been thinking about getting the -11B, but now that I know that this is coming I think I will hold my fire and get this instead. It will make a nice complement to my 1/72 -B and give me the chance to do a "VF-11 Evolution" lineup on the shelf. Karl

Don't worry about it, I find that there are often lots of in-jokes I miss in things that are in my first language, English, let alone anything else, so I know how you feel there. Karl

Not having weighed in before, forgive for me not previously mentioning that I am impressed by your taking on the undertaking of translating these. I'm impressed with your dedication. (Been meaning to say that for a while but I have a bad habit of doing far more lurking than posting on most web-forums I'm on). On your point about footnotes, I have to say that I love them - for me it adds to my understanding of what I am reading when the cultural references and injokes are annotated. Karl

I'm fairly sure that there were some canadian pilots in the RAF during the Battle of Britain. I see to remember reading that there were several squadrons formed from volunteers from all across the Commonwealth. (But that's as I recall, and my memory may be faulty). Karl

It'd be the VF-17 for me. It is a design that I have had lot of love for since I picked up the old Bandai rendition (long before I actually saw it in any animation). There is something about the aesthetic of the design that I rather like. I can't quite put my finger on it but it just looks "right" to me. Karl

Also wonderfully distinctive. There was one at the airshow at East Fortune not to far away from me this year and even though I was inside at the time I could still tell without doubt when the Spit had arrived. There were quite a few folk who looked at each other, observed "that'd be the Spitfire then" and nodded. Karl

I am probably the only one, but I actually quite like those colours. I can't give a solid, rational reasons why, but something abot them just works aesthetically for me. Karl

None taken..... Funny, I have pretty much the same reaction to both Isamu and Basara to be honest. I have a certain amount of respect for both of them - Isamu is an irritating goof-off who has a colossal arrogant streak but when it comes down to brass tacks is at heart loyal to his friends to a fault, Basara is infuriating because he is full of absolute certainty about what he believes but I have to give him kudos for being loyal to his beliefs to a fault. That said, I would find socialising with either of them insanely irritating and we would no doubt end up shouting loudly at each other after a couple of drinks. Macross 7 I will admit to only seeing some of. I quite enjoyed what I saw - I thought the idea of having a lead character who was an out-and-out pacifist was an interesting way to approach some of the typical Macross themes. I also am quite fond of some of the music - not for nothing does my MP3 player have "Parade", "My Friends", "Seventh Moon" and "Heart and Soul" as permanent residents. For me the one flaw is the fact that Basara as a person seems to lack a plan for actually talking to people. I can see where he's coming from with his "more show, less tell" approach to spreading the word, but when it comes to actually trying to explain where he's coming from to people his approach seemed to come across to me as "stand there in my rightness and be right until everyone acknowledges the rightness of my point of view." I'm not sure though that Basara wasn't actually intended to have problems vocalising what he was getting at, so I may just be pointing to a feature rather than a bug. (And for the record I am quite fond of some of the humor of Macross Seven - the Max and Milia at daggers drawn over their marriage was played on just the right side of farce for my tastes.) Karl (I can honestly say that I haven't encountered any Macross series that I haven't been able to find something to enjoy in - and 7 us no exception)

I've been playing my way through H.A.W.X on and off for the last few weeks and I do find it is beginning to out-stay its welcome. I think the biggest problem is the "leveling" mechanic, which means that I am ending up grinding over the same couple of missions over and over again without any real feeling of achievement. Each time I get a few arbitrary points which move me closer to the point at which the game will decide what new plane or weapons package I am allowed to have. It probably doesn;t help that with my current set-up I am not able to go online with my 360, so I am only able to experience the single-player game. At least with AC6 I had the ability to chose which aircraft I acquired. (So of course I picked up the Typhoon and the Rafale at my first opportunity :- ) ) The flight model was also a bit more interesting. It would appear that it is impossible to stall in H.A.W.X unless you are in Assistance Off mode - which I avoid being in wherever possible - it makes the various aircraft all feel pretty much the same. I never have the feeling that I got in AC6 of fighting the 'plane a little on the edge of its envelope. I did want to hang onto H.A.W.X, at least long enough to unlock the Black Widow and the Berkut, but I am beginning to wonder whether I might just cut my losses, trade it in, and report back for duty with the Emmeria AF.... Karl

Hmm. Looking at the Luca and Mikhal versions I suspect that if I do get one of them it won't be displayed in Battroid with the Super packs attached. Perhaps in fighter, but in Battroid I would definitely be displaying them clean. (Now what I really want to know is whether they are poseable enough I can get a good, braced, shooting stance with that sniper cannon.) For some reason the landing gear on the DX doesn't really bother me too much. I know it isn't show accurate, and isn't entirely practical by the look of it, but it doesn't bother me that much. In fact, that side view is making me lean towards the idea of picking up the Alto version - the colours look rather striking in that lighting. Karl

Hmmm. I'm a big fan of the Destroids - both from the point of view of their showing in Macross and as some of the original mecha in the Battletech boardgame - so as a Macross fan and a long-time adherent of Wolf's Dragoons I am almost required to _like_ the first release in the line. It does look very nice - the sculpt is great and the opening hatches and launcher covers are a nice touch. However, like VFTF-1 I will probably skip them to be honest. I'm slimming down my toy purchasing anyway - my Macross, Mospeada and Transformers collections have finally swollen over the boundaries at which having more toys actually makes me enjoy them less. If I had more space, and more money I might have been tempted. But I shall probably not partake in this case. Karl

I think I shall store away the details of this fix myself. Not because I have had any problems with my T'Bolt, but against the day that I do.... Karl

Steady on. That's the sort of thing that can see you slapped with an Anti-social Behaviour Order there, old chap. Karl

Hmmm. I'm stuck in a quandry now. The Alto version looks nicer in Battroid mode - it is the head design, I quite like both heads but that one edges it. But the colours on the Ozma are so much better in Fighter mode. I still don't know which one to get. *sigh* At this rate I'm going to have to resort to the I Ching or tossing coins to decide. Karl