Roger

The initial Southern Cross designs just focussed on the armor, there were no transforming robots. It was just a samurai epic set in space with futuristic armor. Later on it seems that the sponsors like Imai encouraged the addition of robots, and the "Super Dimensional" moniker was tacked on due to Macross' success. The thing that never made sense about Southern Cross to me: why did they have such a huge mechanized army? Who were they expecting to fight? No wars between colonies were ever mentioned, nor did they mention any aliens that they might be at war with. And when the aliens arrived, their robots just happened to be the same size as the humans' robots. How convenient.

I'd think that reading about giant robots is much less interesting than watching it. Joe Haldeman's The Forever War and the sequel Forever Free has what I believe is the best realization of the powered suit concept, although they're just treated as set dressing (as they should be). Forever Peace (no connection to the aforementioned novels) is also very good. There's also a good anthology out there called Body Armor 2000 that was edited by Joe Haldeman and contains some neat short stories.

(Incidentally, the languid attitude being displayed here is one of the aftereffects of discussing Southern Cross. ;p)

There used to be a picture of the bootleg that Ginrai mentioned at Rob Morgenstern's Southern Cross Universe, but the site seems to be gone. Maybe someone less lazy than me can find it at archive.org.

There was another series called Bt'X that had similar toys to Saint Seiya.

Every time myself or someone I know has gotten a chance to ask a MOSPEADA licensee about Inbit toys, the answer has always been "no way," usually followed up by something to the effect of, "you really think people would buy them?" Then there's usually a bit of polite laughter. I would lurve to see a company take on Inbit.

It's possible that part of the Hybrid's prophecy is right in front of us: that Kara being the "harbinger of death" is a reference to the events she's set in motion. The rebel cylons now have an appreciation of what it means to lead a mortal life, and are on a course to make sure that it happens thanks to the alliance between them and the humans, something that wouldn't have been possible without Kara. Also, if you rewatch the episode, check out the scene where Kara talks to the President in sick bay about her visions. There's a thermostat or something on the wall that looks a wee bit like the mandala. This could just be coincidence, though. I have a hard time swallowing some of those spoilers. I hope the bigger ones turn out to be hogwash, or better yet, poppycock.

Matt Alt told me that Shizuoka was a pretty small show, and there weren't a lot of things on display. I'm pretty sure you've seen pictures of every Macross item that was there.

Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend. Folks travel, ratings go down, so why broadcast new material when you can make more money by holding your episodes a week. The same thing usually happens during other holiday weekends. It's entirely possible that Natalie will come back, if the Resurrection ship is close enough to Galactica. Of course, it will be with Cavil's fleet. Little Hera reminds me of this kid a little bit:

Really? Then what was he doing with Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Zero, and Macross Frontier?

(Just trying to fill my quota. ;p) But really, this is the first time in over 10 years that a new Macross series has been on television and there's actually merchandise being produced for it while it's on the air, and yet people are somehow finding a reason to whine...

Jesus Christ in a rocket powered wheelchair, Toynami had nothing to do with Aoshima's travails with the Legioss toy. They were the authors of their own demise on that one.

Will you keep the Valkyrie in direct sunlight? That's the real test.

If things ever got hunky-dory between Toynami and Yamato, and Harmony Gold and Big West, then Macrossworlders would lose 90% of things to gripe about. ;p

I doubt there's anything BW could do about it. Bandai's factory is selling toys to an American company that has been authorized to distribute them by the American license holder. It's the 1980s all over again. Tatsunoko and Big West didn't get any additional money when Matchbox used the Macross and MOSPEADA toys from Bandai and Gakken's factories. Yamato could sell their Macross toys in America now if they wanted to. All they'd have to do is get a license from Harmony Gold. It was rumored that they were going to attempt just that, with or without the license, when they established Sunwards, but for some reason they didn't go through with it.

I think they're talking about your posts about missiles.

Bandai has been doing this "mecha single sourcing thing" though, going back as far as the first Gundam SEED show. From the beginning the on-screen CGI designs were designed to be utilized by the CAD design teams who were developing the model kits and toys. If this isn't the case with Macross Frontier it's probably because they don't have the same level of coordination, for whatever reason. Any chance we'll get Queadluun-Rae toys?

Ah, I see. That was actually a reference to the classic horror movie The Fly. "Help meee!!!" TMNT may have referenced The Fly with the Baxter Stockman, I really don't know.

I totally missed that. What was it? Give the guy a break. He just found out that he's a cylon, the very thing he despises, and his deceased wife came back from the dead to torment him even more. I think his decision making abilities might be a little impaired.

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." ;p

Really? It took a year and a half from announcement to release (April 2003 to November 2004) for Yamato's Scopedog, and that didn't even transform: http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?1,65330,65330 http://zincpanic.com/toy/17387.html

You're a real hero, you know that?

Another example. The fingers on the left hand are yellowed, but nothing else: See Vifam's right arm, left hand, and CROTCH in this pic: Another Neofam, left arm only thing yellowed: I really don't think there's any way to fight yellowing. It's like capacitor plague. It just happens and you deal with it as it comes.

Here's one that illustrates what I'm talking about: See how the left foot is gray and everything else that should be gray is browned? I see lots of them like that. If I can dig mine out I'll get some better pics of the phenomenon. I believe all of the gray parts on mine are browned except for one of the bicep halves, which is the original pristine gray. Makes no sense at all.

I've seen a lot of yellowed toys that were never exposed to light, but were stored in a location where there were extremes in temperature. I also think it has to do with how the plastic was handled at the factory that day. The right mixture of additives is off, etc. and you get something that's more prone to yellowing. Anyone here seen an HCM Neofam? Ever notice how some of them have had 90% of the gray parts turn brown, but for some inexplicable reason one or two pieces are the original color. I think the issue is part "nature," part "nurture" and we don't have much control over it.