Sundown

Helloo.. hellooo? And is it me or is lots of the new gear starting to look crummier and crummier, from an aesthetic perspective? Yeah, I know the of our soldiers' is to kick arse and stay alive, not leave really good looking corpses in cool looking gear-- but I've always really liked the US woodland. The new stuff, digital camo, ugly tan boots, weirdly shaped helmets with none of the mean aesthetics of the good old K-pot-- have us looking more and more like foreign militaries, who's gear has never looked quite as snazzy. This pic here looks soo... rag tag. German or Russian-like camo in digital, with a clashing tac vest. And the new Air Force BDU's are... well... *ugly*. Blue Vietnam Tigerstripe?! Sounds like a paintballer's wet dream. When's the last time the Air Force found itself in blue tropical jungle foilage-- not to mention that tigerstripe wasn't all that effective in the first place, even in green. I dunno... Air Force personel wearing woodland camo always gave even them a mildly badass look-- that they're US military, just like all the other branches. Wearing something that's actually marginally useful. Now it's like every branch wants to make their own fashion statement apart from the others. Maybe the Navy'll actually pick out something that doesn't look like "Me Too, but umm... Not really!" Ah well. Such is progress. -Al

It was all part of the Sentinals Arc actually *Cackles* Yep. It was actually supposed to be how The Sentinels ends... that somehow, Hunter and crew end up back in time (probably due to another spacefold mishap), and end up being the progenitors of those we eventually come to know as the Robotech Masters. The Macross Saga would then be shown after The Sentinels' airing, as the logical sequel to The Sentinels, leading to a perpetual syndicated time-loop cycle. Silly, kinda. Unless Ahnuld is somehow involved of course. -Al

So true. The digi-camo sort of defeats its purpose when the vest clashes so much against it and stands out like it does in that picture. It's kind of scary when the army is opting for gear that looks like it's picked out by an airsofter with a limited budget, grabbing and wearing whatever he can get The flags are backwards on the right shoulder only-- to appear as if they're waving in the manner that they would be if a flagbearer was carrying it while advancing. If the right shoulder flag-patch looked normal, then it would appear as if the flag was waving in retreat. Having the patches this way, the stripes stream backwards on both shoulders. -Al

What's funny is that this was one of the ideas for Robotech. But it was panned as mostly stupid. =) -Al

Because then they wouldn't have crazy folks buying multiple boxes to get that ever elusive "chase" figure they only have 50% chance of getting. I'm glad I got the cockpit, but now I'm pining for dark/clear haired Minmei. The solid wash one looks... funky. I'm not sure if dark-haired Minmei is supposed to be a "chase" figure, but she's as much of one as the cockpit, since they're both rarer than the rest, and neither are sure bets even if you buy a box (not to mention dark Minmei just looks better). -Al

Here's how it works for CM 2. There are two sets of "normal" figures, clear and solid: Basara Roy Sara Misa You get both sets of these in every case, for sure. Then there's a solid colored hair Minmei diorama, and a clear hair Minmei diorama. You always get the solid colored hair Minmei diorama in every case. There's also a VF-1 cockpit "chase" figure, which is pretty darned neat. If you get that, it replaces the clear hair Minmei diorama. So the only thing you'll be missing out on is the clear hair Minmei diorama, or the cockpit. Depending on your luck. -Al

I'm exaggerating a bit, yeah. But he's definitely quite a bit more understated, dark, and mopey than he gets in Ep. 4. I think the trouble I have with him is that he is a little bit manic-depressive, and especially manic in Ep. 4, which is somewhat jarring in the narrative. But then again, he just saw boobies. -Al

Really? Maybe just me, but this doesn't strike me as the best way to get folks peaceably on topic: Yes, it's obvious that rocks floating are related to Mayan markings and Sara's singing. But it's not completely obvious that it's flat out non-mystical protoculture technology. It certainly hasn't been presented that way at all-- in fact there's a heavy dose of mystical in the presentation-- and that's what folks don't care for. Fanboys paying attention might conclude that the magicky effects are protoculture technological in nature, but it hasn't been proven decisively either way. And those of us have issues with the presentation have issues not so much for whether those effects are magical, but rather, have issues with the series showing that sort of thing and not being given real explaination so far... and fearing that at most we'll just get "it's protoculture... and stuff" as clarification in the final episode. That's not a comfortable and satisfying ending for those who don't care for the mystical in their Macross. Hopefully that won't be the case. There are plenty of reasons to believe that SDF might not have been intended to incorporate the mystical, beyond simply not having the time or budget for it. But these of course, are too inconvenient too mull at length over, at least for those holding certain agendas and hopes. This is amusing... on one hand, M7/M0 defenders are claiming that there's nothing mystical at all about Spiritia and the weird freaky floating rocks in M0-- on the other hand, we have M7/M0 defenders claiming that they're outrightly mystical, so much so that in some weird way, it shows the mystical to be present in SDF as well. Then there are those stuck in the middle who just don't care much for the idea altogether, who were rather enjoying SDF and M+, before Kawamori decided to take a long hike towards Weird. -Al

Congrats much on the little bugger, Graham! Wait, did I just call Graham's kid something rather innappropriate in Brit-speak? -Al

MGS's story got really, really good. Then got incredibly, incredibly stupid. It turned into Chris Carter, X-Files fare... where there were so mean twists that the creator didn't know how to tie up, and it became obvious he was writing from his butt. This here video actually looks pretty good. It's obvious you're playing as Big Boss... I hope the mindscrew is that after Big Boss goes Russian (which is what it looks like), you *do* get to play as "our" Snake, in modern times, later on in the game. I can dream. -Al

Shudder. Pearl Harbor. I'm surprised Hartnett ever landed a job in Black Hawk Down after that. Shudder. It was silly that the main characters were at every notable engagement at the time. On the ground. In the air. At the Doolittle raid. If the movie ran much longer, we'd see them in frame, smiling and making peace signs to the background of Hiroshima. -Al

Ding ding ding. Much better and more concisely said than I could ever manage. Keith's previous demonstration showed how M7 *might* be compatible with SDF with certain interpretations of some lines of dialogue. I'll nod vaguely to that. But the leap he's making now, claiming that SDF most likely *does* refer to M7 Spiritia, just because there's no proof that it doesn't... is just that, a giant and implausible leap. Reality check. I don't think Kawamori actually *cares* that much about the issue, and whether Spiritia is in SDF or not. Not enough to plant throwaway dialogue that could be interpreted, by the loyal fanboy, to reveal his MASTER PLAN NOT TO BE EXPOSED UNTIL 15 YEARS LATER. That's just... silly, and claiming that these lines most likely allude to Spiritia (and hence, can prove that Spiritia is integral to SDF) is just overestimating one's own fanboy importance to the extreme. Of course, if pressed, he'll spin things in his enigmatic and charming way, thereby sending fanboys on both sides into a frenzy. For Great JPop CD sales. Take off every pink booby valk. -Al

This straight from Kawamori's mouth near SDF's release, or just a favorable and loose interpretation based on some things he'd said about Macross and Macross 7 much, much, much, later (most likely being the only way he could spin it, and explain how M7 could fit into SDF's continuity)? Because I'd count the latter as an assumption of sorts. In my observations, creators only ever need to explain things away as being "my idea all along" when those ideas fit poorly with their previous works. A good storyteller doing good storytelling doesn't need to do any of this. Exhibit A, George Lucas, and claims that he'd "always thought Stormtroopers were clones." Exhibit B, some fanboy claiming one throwaway line in A New Hope-- "Aren't you a little short to be a Stormtrooper?"-- is somehow proof positive that Stormy's were clones in Lucas's mind. Now who's assuming again? Basing absolute claims on supposed "No reason to believe" is an assumption. And many solid reasons to doubt these claims have been provided, and have enough weight to cast doubt that if SDF was 15 episodes longer, it'd somehow turn into Macross 7. Thinking that mystical elements must be integral to the SDF concept, despite the fact we see none of it in the series, simply because some other anime (I'm guessing we're talking about Gundam again) features magic and twinkledust is muddled reasoning. That's assumption upon assumption upon assumption. If we follow this line of reasoning, then we have no reason to doubt that magic should and does exist in Appleseed, Planetes, Patlabor and GITS either. The fact that watching SDF alone gets you absolutely zero of the vibe that there's anything Spiritia-ish at all about the subject matter-- when it's the basis and foundational concept of the whole series in M7-- says that the creators' aims and ideas have changed drastically in the span of 15 years. But I suppose Star Trek could have turned into Harry Potter if only a few extra episodes were added to the original series. -Al

Just would have liked to see more of the Shin-- now with levity, even in the first episodes, especially since he'd been joking about pranks he'd pulled in the past. Didn't notice the glowy deals under the totem. Need to look closer. The flying rocks stuff doesn't really compare that directly with Zentran culture-shock in lots of folks minds. Yes, singing is the vehicle that produces the effect. But one's psychological (albiet dealing with alien psychology, and if we ignore any M7 retconning), and one is, well... magical. Unless it's explained more clearly, or it's alluded to, how singing could cause rocks to defy the force of gravitation. Maybe the SDF-1's anti-grav pods, the ones "made on Earth" are just metal cylinders with a gaggle of Mayans stuffed inside, under threat of no soup if they don't sing. -Al

LMAO... I just clicked one of the "newscasts" in Chinese. Do you realize that none of these clips make any sense in their original language, either, and that the newscasters voice-over, and the on-site scenes totally don't mesh? Hilarious. -Al

And the new show sucked for it, making the old shows suck retroactively. Midiclorians is very Spiritia-y in the way it was presented, and the way it reframed the older shows, definitely. -Al

But what if I argued that Shin had indeed been all dead inside, and that it was his contact with Sara over the past 4 episodes that have healed him? He tells Sara that she's been so busy healing everybody else that she hasn't healed herself....why not include Shin in there somewhere? Guess that could be... but if it needs arguing for, rather than being made apparent in the narrative itself, then it points to something missing in the storytelling. It's pretty abrupt, either way-- Shin transformed from a vaguely annoying character without much personality or capacity for levity-- to someone much warmer and possessing an actual sense of humor. I would personally have preferred to see hints of these traits in pre-Sara and pre-Mao Shin, ie, joking more darkly and sarcastically with Edgar, or making the same sort of poignant observations about people around him, but through darker and more pessimistic eyes. Seems it'd make for more convincing development that way-- rather than transforming abruptly from "Every hates me, nobody likes me, you trust anyone and YOU DIE," Shin to love-happy-joking-sensitive-observant Shin. What I mean is that it's obvious Sara's affected Shin and is responsible for his new outlook. Floating rocks and boobies do that. But the actual transformation isn't as compelling as it could have been-- Shin seems to have traded personalities with someone in the matter of a single episode, rather than simply seeing things differently now than from before. -Al

The fact that Kawamori & Co produced some series 10 and 20 years later doesn't say where their minds were in 1982. The fact that there's singing valks with pink boobs-- when it would have been an abomination in SDF-- shows that they were in a decidedly different mindset. Even if elements of "vaguely mystical" were present or ever considered in SDF, it would have been presented rather differently. M7 style spiritia would have fit very poorly and been rather jarring in the SDF we do know. It's telling that the mystical ideas were shaved from SDF, if they were ever being considered. Apparently they weren't the key ideas the creator wanted to make sure he got across. He even left it out the second time around, in DYRL. And the third time around, in Mac +. Then it shows Britai and Exedor to be prone to confusion, and attributing anything powerful and unexplainable to the "legendary power". It also shows that the "legendary power" refers to more than things that look "mystical". It apparently also refers to giant explosions. And they were still more concerned it was a FREAKY SCARY BOOM-- because the protoculture seemed to have possessed something similar-- than they were over the fact that it was Spiritia-like. Spiritia is again, never part of the equation for their concern. Only the "weaponry's" resemblance to protoculture power and it's actual witnessed power. Spiritia only comes into the picture if you make "safe" assumptions. But the weight of what's supposed to be convincing "proof" can't be placed even on "safe" assumptions-- especially when those who disagree don't agree on those assumptions in the first place. "Much" might refer as much to the colonizing theme of M7, encountering the Zentradi's masters, and using Valkyries in the cultural-shock warfare in some much more subdued manner-- as much as it could have referred to Spiritia and pink singing-valk goodness. I know some folks have said that Kawamori's claimed M7 and its subject matter were closer to his "real vision". What the hell else is he supposed to say, that "it's just some leftover chopped up ideas we'd been playing with, that we didn't think would work that well in SDF, but that we've managed to make a lighter JPoppy, over-the-top series around... that we're dredging up now, because we want to sell you more CD's and merchandise, and I'm in a funny and exploratory mood?" Kawamori's smarter than that. -Al

Just saw it. Was okay. SPOILERS!! Good points: More character development. But it seemed almost forced-- as if Kawamori had been browsing the MW forums and noting the amount of folks clamoring for "more character development"... then set to cramming as much of it in as possible. It's just a lot all at once, when there was so little of it before (that you could really hook onto, anyway)-- and it's a little bit late in the game. At least he's trying, though it's fitting akwardly. Sara redeems herself bunches here. I strongly disliked her as a character in the last three episodes, since I hate "modern civilization bad-- machines evil-- sing to the birds-- can you paint with the colors of the wind?" type characters. But Sara proved to be more than that-- her simplistic reaction to all things modern actually comes from guilt over her own complicity with Professor Hasford, and because she blames herself for the strife that afflicts the island. This is good. She's the same as everyone else inside... and her struggle and behavior borns out of that. Also good. Pleasantly surprised. Now I don't feel so inconsistent for actually liking my CM2 Sara figure. Shin almost begins to be likeable-- but I keep thinking they should have showed more of his joking nature earlier on. Instead, he'd been plodding through the last 3 episodes as if he was dead inside. Was a vaguely nice touch to have him start singing-- now only if the cicada had promptly grown dim, shrivelled up, died, and dropped off the leaf when he did. That would have been gold. Roy's, well, roy. And Aires is Aires. It was obvious they were trying to give Roy a Roy-and-Claudia-esque moment, and Shin a Hikaru-and-Minmei moment. Except Aires isn't Claudia, and neither is Shin Hikaru. So everything felt a little canned, even though I appreciated the attempt. I just found it hard to believe that Roy would care to be a pilot because he saw some bird-a-saur. But it's a nice line with the ladies-- with hot palientologist ladies anyway. The mine scene was classic Roy, though... even though the pacing and camera was weird, and the cuts didn't flow or feel right-- but this is really just nitpicky director wannabe aspirations talking. The flying totem thing didn't bother me all that much, only because I'd been forewarned. What bothered me more was the fact that Shin's first reaction was to jump on a freaky flying rock. Then again, I guess he'd seen flying rocks before, and reasoned if it was Sara making it fly, it couldn't have been all bad. Still. Freaky flying rock. My first reaction wouldn't have been to hop atop it. A little bit lame that they didn't bother to explain why the totem was flying about-- I was half hoping that there was actually a protoculture device of some type encrusted inside. Because that would have almost made sense, and been vaguely cool. But no dice... just freaky flying rocks of the normal variety. There's been too much freaky with too little explaination or hinting. I'm not big on this style of presentation, especially with Macross... and we're running out of episodes to clear things up. Kawamorrriii--- you gots 'splaaainin' to dooo. -Al

Bodolza didn't freak because he thought the pin point barrier was "spritia"-ual in nature. He freaked because it was a SCARY FECKING BIG GIANT EXPLOSION-- the same reason the Zentradi were intrigued by the reaction weaponry the humans were using. The pin point barrier references lend nothing to the credence of the presence of spiritia and the mystical in SDF. Kaifun's "power" only elicited references to some sort of obscure power in legend. This may or may not be spiritia, and it's too vague to call either way. I've always interpreted the reference as some power the protoculture had, likely technological, that the *Zentradi* themselves saw as mystical and incomprehensible (or were fed and lead to believe that, to keep them fearful, in line, subservient, and stupid.) How the Zentradi saw Kaifun's power isn't proof for the existence of spiritia in SDF on any level. In fact, it shows that they're easily mistaken and unreliable judges of that sort of thing. Don't see it that way. Boldolza said it himself-- The deciding factor wasn't because they possessed mystical power. It was because the protoculture were simply dangerous to them. Spiritia as the "why" is never really in this equation. You're presently interpreting SDF through M7 glasses-- assuming that the protoculture *do* have spiritia powers (even in 1982)-- and thus any comparison of humans to them by the Zentradi are automatically concerned with the spiritia nature of those powers. There are a lot of assumptions here, and all of them are debatable. The only point that sticks remotely is that Kaifun's power looks a little like something the protoculture had-- and even then, it's from Zentradi eyes (who are apparently easily confused... mistaking just about everything as some weird or freaky power). The fact that the Zentradi are so prone to attribute these displays of "power" as something supernatural shows that they're rather poor judges at whether something is indeed supernatural, and whether the supernatural exists at all. Who's to say that whatever power the protoculture had wasn't confused for the mystical-- when it actually wasn't-- the exact same way human power had been? The Zentradi showed they were apt to do just that. I'm still willing to bet that the reference wasn't meant to refer to spiritia exactly as it's depicted in M7 when SDF was originally made. The 10 second throwaway scene is more likely meant to portray the Zentradi as largely ignorant, easily confused, and more than likely to draw odd conclusions by their simplistic views and interpretations of things unknown-- that they once possessed masters that awed even them-- than it is meant to lay the groundwork for actual mystical elements in some JPop oriented series where the main characters sing the enemy to death ten years down the line. -Al

I'm not sure how this works, as Lock-On is based off Flanker 2.0, the planes existing in Flanker 2.0 work nearly the exact same way they in Lock-On, and the American additions have even more complicated avionics and modelling than the jets of the previous game. No realism feature has been dropped in Lock-On that existed in Flanker 2.0.

It can be simple. Or extremely difficult. If you go off on the wrong track, you're hosed for a good while. My first inkling turned out to be right, except I didn't go far enough in that direction or think specific enough about it before I tried something else, to the tune of 20 minutes of frustration and feeling neither creative or very smart. -Al

I'm not passing up a chance to quote or reference one of my favorite movies. And another. "What's a nubian?" -Al

It's called "empowerment disempowerment". It's the use of hurtful words by minority groups in order to take the sting out of it, and in order to take the power of the word away from other groups. I guess it hurts a little less when the terms are no longer used excusively by those outside of the group in a derogatory manner. That's what you have African Americans throwing "nigger" around, and the homosexual community ribbing each other with "fag". According to "Chasing Amy" anyway. -Al

Too damn true. And that's why sexualized borderline youngsters in other cultures remains alarming and disturbing... because their draw is entirely the same as the draw they have in our own. And that's partly why I'm personally a little bit dubious of the "it's okay in their culture" argument on the issue. I venture that the appeal and excitement of "underage" girls has the same resonance within other cultures as it does with us. Or those of us who like that sort of thing. We just happen to have a sexually legal line that's higher and better defined than most other nations, and other cultures are more permissive of the subject in other forms of media. But anyone who's ever had even a brief glimpse of vaguely purient material that deals with young subjects-- from most any culture-- knows that the emphasis isn't always on the subject's sexual, mental, and emotional maturity. It's often focusing on the still-semi-child aspect. -Al