sketchley

I'm tempted to agree with you that when it comes to anime that was released in 1998 on DVD being expensive, HOWEVER: Ghost in the Shell 1998 ￥3,800 GiTS, being releases in the same year, for about 1/2 the price, doesn't support that assertation. Neither do the highly varied costs of the other DVDs released in the same year support the assertation. Also, considering that I can currently get DVDs like Innocence (イノセンス) for ￥3,121, The Indian Jones Triology Box set for ￥5,000, and oodles of Hollywood movies for beteen ￥500 and ￥1,200, DYRL? is expensive. The fact that I purchased a new 1998 pressing of DYRL? (BCBA-0238*) also attests to its lack of popularity - as in it never flew off the shelves; instead sitting their, gathering dust for 7+ years. Yes, it gets credit for having 2 repressing after the original release - but that could also indicate that it had low print-runs; something indicated by the high cost per unit. Market forces at work, my friend. Small print run = high cost per unit. * Pressing 1998 July 25

It's already on DVD... and by the looks of things, it wasn't a big seller (expensive sticker price - almost as much as one of the the 4 disc LOTR extended edition box sets! And I still spot them in the new (well, previously unowned) sections of DVD stores.)

Well... that new multi-player looks tempting. Though, it really depends on what titles are available for which format; because right now, the only titles I am remotely interested in acquiring, are in Blue-Ray, and I am already tempted by the PS3, because it'll play the PS1 and PS2 Macross games that I have. At least for me, I'm going for the Blue-ray (in addition to the above, there's the larger amounts of data storage available on them...) Nevertheless, a new TV comes first and there's no rush...

All (save the last two or three) can be found in the Macross Hobby Handbook, along with alternate designs of the Destroids, the Earth Trekkers, alternate/new/experimental VF FAST and Armoured sets, and the only *official* print of the VEFR-1 Funny Chinese that I have seen (and I have a lot of Macross books...)

Was the box sent air or surface? Surface mail is the far cheaper option, but one will still have to wait about 30 days or longer. And yes - heavy stuff costs more. Japan is also undergoing an interesting phenomenon at the moment - the Koizumi government privatized Japan Post, and there is currently at least one company starting to directly compete with Japan Post in mail delivery. The company - Yamato Transport. It was originally a courier company, and I know that it had offices and delivery trucks in Vancouver and Victoria. You may want to find out if they offer comparible, or better rates. Remember to also write your information (sender, receiver, etc.) in BLOCK LETTERS, as despite many people in Japan knowing English, English, and its associated alphabet are not as well known as the three Japanese alphabets; and I have had mail sent to me with the address written in English, being returned to sender. Usually writing the country in BLOCK LETTERS will suffice (and that's the correct name of the country, not the common. Eg. Republic of Korea, not South Korea.) Don't forget to write 'Air Mail' on the package, lest you pay for it, and someone else in the shipping process puts it into the surface mail bin... And I'm surprised that no one has given any links for transit options in Tokyo. KNOW THEM, they are your friend: http://ktransit.com/transit/Japan/tokyo.htm http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/200...Tokyo%20Transit http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2017.html http://www.google.ca/search?hl=ja&q=tr...tation+in+tokyo Handy googlemap (zoom out to see the extent of the city): http://www.google.ca/maps?ie=UTF-8&oe=...p;tab=wl&q=

You mean 'hourly' vs. 'allnight'.

Always ask before taking a picture. It is against the law to take people's pictures without consent (here in Japan.) Re: places to stay/eat/shop The general rule of thumb is that the more convenient/closer to a train station a hotel/restuarant/shop is, the more expensive it will be. The three places listed are going to be mighty expensive. It'll be cheaper to get a hotel somewhere else, and take the train to where you want to go to. Depending on how far you are from the city center, you could also use JR, or one of the many private rail lines. In general, the private rail lines are cheaper then JR. Rail lines are also faster than subways, as they offer express services that don't stop at every station. Even within Tokyo, one could always take the JR Yamatone line from Akihabara to Shinjuku and Shibuya. I stayed at a nice business hotel in Shinbashi. Though, it was on the weekend, so I'm not sure of the availability during the workweek, and if the price increases dramatically or not. To be honest, I'm not even sure if Akihabara and Shibuya have hotels - as they are commerce/business areas. Roppongi - limited to love hotels and capsule hotels, if you ask me; but as I'm a local of Osaka, my knowledge of Tokyo is limited. If you're willing to risk the embarrassment, staying at a love hotel may prove to be a cheap alternative - though don't expect much in the way of services, and don't expect the usual hotel experience (check out every day, etc..) And it cannot be stressed enough that the more convenient a place is, the more expensive it'll be.

I'm just guessing, but maybe he means the bluish highlights along the underside of it? On the nose, missiles, and most of the white parts.

1 and 3 look the most accurate. 2 is from Macross II, if I'm not mistaken.

Agreed. Though it may be only the original visual interpretation by the creators of Macross, as vectored thrust is retroactively added to the VF-1 with the release of the DYRL? game for PS1 and SS in the mid-90's. Also, if I remember correctly, the VF-0 in Macross Zero is seen with the vector plates together in gerwalk and battroid while flying/hovering (eps. 2 & 3). EDIT: though, if they act as heat diffusers, it does make sense. It kindof supports the 'afterburner' setting in the throttle - heat is pumped into those things (when it normally isn't) to add just a little more heat expansion/thrust at the back end of the engine, in addition to providing a little more finely tuned vectoring to the thrust. Or something like that. Anime isn't reality afterall.

I'll attempt to answer some of the questions: First off (...) Macross is made in Japan, by Japanese, for Japanese. For all we know, they are following Japanese nomenclature, or being confusing just to be confusing (as has been known when it comes to the incorrectly romanized English versions of the names of Zentraedi people and equipment.) 1. Hypothesis sounds good. However, reading the development of the VF-1 will clarify things. VF-X (non-transformable) -> VF-X-1 -> VF-1. In reading just the 'Early 2003' statement, it implies that there were both a VF-X-1, and a VF-X-2. The VF-X-2 being designed to compete against the F-203 fighter, in, what I presume was, a fighter flyoff or competition, a la the F-21 vs. F-23, JSF F-35, Macross Plus, etc., etc.. This is supported by the existance of the VF-X-3, which competed with the VF-X-4; the VF-X-4 becoming the VF-4. http://macross.anime.net//mecha/united_nat...vfx3/index.html 2. The VF-0 only came into existance after the VF-1 had completed the designing process, and manufacturing had begun.* The reason it exists is because the thermonuclear engines of the VF-1 were delayed (design? manufacturing?). The VF-0 carries conventional, albiet overtuned, jet engines - which explains the larger body size: engines require more space, and the fuel they drink needs more space as well. * The reason for this overlap is that the VF-0 was rewritten into the Macross timeline some 20+ years after it was originally written.

Who knows. OTEC armor, OTEC weapons... the arms race continues well into the space age. It may not be that the bullets are *heavier* than current bullets of the same calibre. They may be firing faster (OTEC in the gunpowder? rail gun type magnetic accelerator in the barrels to assist the chemical propellant?) The bullets themselves are probably coated with the OTEC version of teflon, with some type of micro-HEAT or HESH warhead. Though the limitation of SW-AG tech does make sense. The molecular bonds are strengthened so that the material as a whole can perform feats above and beyond what it normally can, however, SW-AG energy conversion has no effect against 'pin pricks' by bullets and energy weapons. That, or all the mecha in Macross have their propellant or reactant stored just under (or even inside of!) the armour, so any AP round that penetrates sets of a catastrophic explosion...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6230925.stm BBC reports that they will both be there. Agreed that HD-TV is here to stay. Almost every TV channel here in Japan is broadcasting in High Vision (the local name of HDTV) and the only TV sets one can by new are HDTV types.

The silhouet of the F-14 would work fairly easily. The Harrier image, though cool, would require a lot of work to make a good image - the problem is the clouds. But that's just my take on it.

Wasn't this originally released on CD-ROM? The copy that I've seen had sound effects, and rudementary animation. I wonder how Dark Horse/Studio Proteus worked a manga out of that...

Not necessarily. How long has the war between Zentraedi and the Supervision army been? It's possible that the Supervision Army did attempt to revive them, possibly wiping out the remaining Protocultures in the process. However, sooner or later the Zentraedi would've erradicated any Supervision Army forces nearby, as the revival of the Protodevlin was too much of a loss of military power on their side. This was either hinted at, or directly stated in DYRL?, that they either attempt to take new war technology, or destroy it, so that none of their rivals can. There also wasn't that many of the Supervision Army left - a huge amount of their forces would have had to be acting defensively to protect the Protodevlyn, and getting destroyed in the process. It's very possible that the Protoculture forces that attacked the Supervision Army fleet could have been composed entirely of Protoculture ships. After defeating the Supervision Army defensive fleet(s), and imprisoning the Protodevlyn, it's very possible that the Zentraedi swept through the system, and destroyed everyone and anything - scortched earth tactics that they seem to love, et al.

Good point on the AFOS. However, I must ask the question: why would the protoculture design and artificially build the galactic whales, when it has been shown that they are (more?) interested in humanoid creations (Zentraedi, humans, Zolans, Protodevlin, etc.)? What if the original planet of the protocultures had something similar to the galactic whales coming every year, and they prompted and allowed the protocultures to develop space fold technology? If this later rhetorical question is true, then the Zolans, or at least the space poachers, are following in the footsteps of the protocultures. Not only that, it puts a new light on Dynamite, as it starts showing a conflict between (technological) progress at the expense of nature vs. conservation of nature at the cost of (technological) progress. IMHO, that conflict is closer to the theme(s) of Macross Zero... perhaps even that of SDF:M & DYRL?, with it's complete destruction of nature due to technological progress.

Protodevlin accident. It's only when the Protodevlin are accidentally released by a human exploration/science team on the planet Varuta, that they establish the Varuta war machine. Otherwise, excellent post SpacyAce2012. Many good points that I agree with. Macross is not "Space: 2001" with it's black monoliths to prompt technological advancement/test humanities level of technological advancement. Yes, AFOS/birdman was a test. But everything else? Leftovers from a fallen empire. I just rechecked Zola on the compendium, and it only appears in the timeline (when Dynamite happens) and in some of the VFs - which are custom/lesser able versions. (For example, in the legs/engine nacelles of the VF-19 the Zolan version only has built in micro-missiles, whereas the UN Spacy version has variable weapon pallet bays covered by micro-missile equipped FAST packs!) I don't see Macross Zero as much of a rewrite. If anything, it follows Kawamori's mentioning that Macross sequels (and prequels) don't necessarily follow continuity 100%...

I was thinking that the light reflected off of the carrier deck would account for that. Though... perhaps it is a tad 'too' bright and should be a tad bit 'gray' to account for the material being reflected off of.

Can I suggest graffitti on the ordinance? 'Die alien-scum' etc.. I think that's fairly common in real life.

Oo! Much, much better. The only thing I can really mention now is the same that I want to say to those who make movies: the resolution of the CG is much higher than that of the background image. I'm not really sure how to overcome it myself, and I'm not sure if it's worth the effort either.

I don't think it was 'done' in any sense of the word other than pasting together images of the retractable roof over the beach opening. Follow the link on the first post (and mind the pop-ups) and you'll see what the ceiling really looks like. Trees? What's that? Seriously, I came from a temperate rainforest. Let me recommend Cathedral Grove to you: http://images.google.ca/images?hl=ja&q...sa=N&tab=wi I've actually had too much of trees, and too much of rain. Cut 'em down, I say. Flatten the mountains, too, and make it level for that tree museum. Seriously, I'm more interested in going back to see Sanjusangendou, Kiyomizudera, Todaiji, Kinkakuji, and Himejijou. Much more interesting, and historically significant, then disposable chopsticks...erm, trees, and indoor swimming pools, if you ask me.

ãƒãƒ¼ãƒ‡ã‚£ã‚¢ãƒ³ = Haadian (Hah-diane). Excite isn't very accurate either. My wife (Japanese) recommends this: http://www.alc.co.jp/ Though, one has to have at least a working grasp of Japanese in able to use it. One must also remember that Japanese does not have articles, so when translating, articles have to be added. Eg: The strange looking life(form) "Haadian" appeared in front of the ever prospering human race in 2031 AD.

Not so crazy when you take into consideration things like winter cold, summer heat (climate controlled beach, anyone?), and the Japanese penchante to NOT want to worship the sun, and get skin cancer as a byproduct of getting a tan. There's also pollution in the ocean. Japan is a relatively clean country (especially over the past 30 to 40 years.) However, they have some nasty habits - like throwing garbage away in some of the most mind boggling places (I've seen some guy tossing rubbish into a river before. @.@ ) Not to mention potentially annoying (jellyfish) to potentially fatal (shark) sea animals... It makes quite a bit of sense to me. Of course it's down there with the indoor skihill on my list of places to visit in Japan.

The fin folds up into the cockpit (into the pilot's butt???) The upper part of the leg compose the underside of the wings between the cockpit and the engine nacelles. When it transforms, the knees move from the midpoint of the nacelles to their front/top. The rear-view of the battroid shows the louvres(???) that fill in the space behind the knee joint as it moves up the leg.