Skull Leader

yeah, it's often referred to as "My first valkyrie"... although it hardly rates the honor. Poorly sculpted and poorly equipped/detailed. It comes with fastpack boosters, but not the fuel tanks for the legs (which can't even bend to take the fuel tanks of they existed) Matchbox initially meant to make this partially transformable (the 1st prototype that was made could switch to gerwalk mode), but never followed through in the production models. It can hold the 3 inch Robotech action figures. Neat-o as it might sound, don't be fooled. This thing is asscheese pure and simple.

Well, it was kind of speculation that it is underpowered. The airframe is larger in almost every way over the F-16C/D and carries more fuel, therefore it is likely a great deal heavier. The engine used is the same as the F-16 and probably does not perform AS WELL on the F-2 as it does on the F-16C. This is why I think they should've gone for a larger engine, then the F-2 could really behave like the small fighter it imitates.

I couldn't stop watching it for almost half an hour... that's great!

Thanks for the solid "devil's advocate" stance Hikaru, I'm trying to hone my knowledge about the F-2 and you've helped me a great deal, giving me things to check against! What's more, those F-4Js will look really nice to other countries looking for some good second-hand fighters... the Japanese managed to keep the F-4J as a viable and deadly weapons platform well into the 1990s (and really into the new millenium) and I have little doubt that one could hold it's own reasonably well in a dogfight (if a Rafale or whatever walked up on it though.... well, draw your own conclusions) Either way, I guess I'll just enjoy the F-2 as the "limited edition" fighter that it is... as I said, I think there's a lot of potential for the platform, if they'd just sit down and think about it a little bit.

lol, I think I downloaded just about EVERY picture they've got on there... but thanks for the link, Hikaru. The first link doesn't work. I know what I see on the back of the fuselage on just about very Viper Zero pic I see, and I would be inclined to agree with your analysis. All I know is that virtually every article I've read states they can't refuel in the air. This *could* be a simple misuse of words and what they meant to say was "it can't refuel in the air because Japan currently doesn't possess any tankers" or some such thing. I admit that their statement about it is rather ambiguous. I would stress at this point that we should be careful not to take this discussion into the realm of the political, even if it IS fighter-related That said, just because there aren't any more being made now doesn't mean that their won't be... the production number they've arrived at now is probably a political one, because of outward appearances of being too "aggressive", but it's not as if they've destroyed all of the tooling like Northrop/Grumman was told to for the Tomcat. I can understand why others might worry about the F-2, even with only Mk.82s, it can still carry 18 of them at one time (three racks on each wing)and still have enough a/a armament to defend itself if need be. Dumb bombs or not, 18 Mk.82s will seriously mess up somebody's world. Now imagine an entire squadron with a loadout like that... pretty wicked in my book! I guess I would put down the F-2 as a fighter with a lot of wasted potential. It may be that the F-2s day has not yet arrived really, and I certainly hope that's the case. Unless I am mistaken, they didn't change out the engine from the F-16C/D (they both pack the F110-GE-129)... and I think the airframe could definately benefit from a larger engine

I know and understand WHY they were made to not A/A refuel, I was simply saying it was one bad mark against the F-2. That is also why I mentioned later that many things would have to happen before an ADV variant came into being.

I think it probably wouldn't take very much to bring the F-2 up to speed in terms of new ordinance. Given today's technology and given that a good portion of the plane is still american-built, I'm thinking a minimal upgrade would be involved. Hell, for all we know it may have the means to carry other ordinance, Japan just probably doesn't have a great deal of it to use. I DO understand that ordinance specifications were placed with it's coastal-defense role in mind though. Remember though, it doesn't just pack their ASM-1s and AAM-3s, they can also pack Rocket pods, CBUs, and Mk82s loaded on TERs. The inability to air-to-air refuel *is* a serious strike against it in terms of range and effectiveness. From what I can gather, they could reach mainland Asia, but they wouldn't get far after that without putting down for more "beverage". I've been able to find VERY little about the performance of the F-2, to say nothing about pilot opinons (unless any JASDF pilots happen to frequent the boards ) but it seems to me that the Japanese MUST be happy with their (very) expensive toy on some level. As of this june they had just shy of 60 of their initially ordered fighters and the article I read at that time mentioned that they were pretty eager to get the rest. The only downside they mentioned was that their influx of new Zeros was outpacing their decomissioning of Phantom-J kai's. They *have* been discussing an ADV variant of the F-2, but that seems to be a bit of a pipe dream at this point, as a great many other things (political and otherwise) will have to happen first.

why not?? lol too expensive?

well, if it were me I'd call it the F-35 flying Sh*tbox, but F-35 "Lame Duck" also would work ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, I have a performance matchup I'd love to hear: In the strike role, which is really better? The Mitsubishi F-2 "Zero II" (as near as I know, that nickname is unofficial so far) or it's progenitor: The General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16C/D? The Japanese believe they've taken something of ours and made it better, and I'm inclined to believe it this time, but I'd love to hear what my fellow aircraft junkies think. MY opinion is that when Japan set out to establish a dedicated coastal defender they produced the ultimate derivative of the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Bigger in just about every way (cost especially... a factory-new F-2 will run you as much as an F-15E), but the huge fuel drop-tanks still leave plenty of wing-pylon space (they have a whopping 13 hardpoints, 1 centerline, 2 wingtip, and 5 under-wing). Not to mention it's got one of the coolest paintschemes around! opinions? discuss amongst yourselves!

It's a common tactic of Hasegawa to jack up the price of the newest boxing of a kit, regardless of extras it may or may not have.

yep, definately smelling something..

I really think the poll is a bit one-sided, but just my opinion

*sniff sniff* you smell somethin'?

you have in your possession already the only pic that exists for this variant I think. I tried looking for it a while back but found no other.

and now a very poorly rendered tomcat as it catches a three-wire.

While we're doing sim screenshots... (from F/A-18 Precision Strike Fighter)

I agree with Keith. While the plot has more problems than my ex-girlfriend, there are a lot of things about MII to appreciate. The music was most excellent, I guess it must've impressed someone because almost without exception it all made it into Macross 7 The character designs for the most part are pretty well done, Hibiki's producer (the fool with the shades) never looked very well drawn, but most everyone else looked pretty good at points. Feff would've been badass as a Zentraedi commander in the real timeline (lol, I mean c'mon... the guy flatlined his own science officer when he wouldn't shut the hell up) I'm in a love-hate classification when it comes to the Macross II Mecha. Some designs are really well thought out while others just didn't make the grade to me. -The VF-2SS Space Valkyrie has all of the makings of a really sweet valkyrie... but we get to see very little of the base-model VF-2S... in fact, except for the opening and the commercial breaks, I can't recall a time in the animation where you see a VF-2S without it's SAP augmentation armor. I'll call that "wasted potential", because I think the base-model in itself is a pretty hoss design and was worthy of more screentime/action. -The VF-2J Icarus is likewise really well drawn. I have a personal distaste for the really long forward-swept ventral fins, but they're well animated... again, more screentime would've been nice. -The VF-MS Metal Siren got the worst luck of all the variable fighters in the series. Poorly drawn from the get-go, the only real moment where the craft doesn't look poorly drawn is the sequence where Nexx removes one of the BC-50s (the MS derivative of the standard BC-60 beam cannon in Macross II) from the wing of his own MS and begins firing.. and THAT sequence is poorly lit! From what I've seen, the jury (among MII fans) is still out on whether or not this really IS a cool design... I won't make a huge statement on it, but I think they could've done better WITHOUT the energy-spear (seems rather un-macrossish) These valkyries, without exception are exclusive to the OAV series... they've yet to come up anywhere else and they probably never will (which is either a good or bad thing, depending on who you talk to), some minor design elements of the VF-2S can be seen in the VF-0 "Phoenix" from "Macross Zero", but no one really thinks they were inspired from there. We never see enough of the Ground-Based mecha enough to really appreciate or criticize them... again, they're all exclusive to MII, although design elements of the Tomahawk Mk. II have shown up in "Macross Zero" on the Cheyenne destroid. While I understand that all of the zentran mecha are supposed to be offshoots/evolutions of older designs, they don't really appeal to me. Zentran/Marduk mecha and spaceships look (strictly to me) as though they were designed over the course of one weekend. Other's opinions my differ, though. The Macross suffered from one main problem... it NEVER LOOKED THE SAME. Seriously... compare any two screenshots of the macross (the frontal view often seen, the cannon firing, culture park shots, in the air). Despite the fact that all the pictures of the Macross were pretty well drawn (in fact, most of my favorite SDF-01 Artwork is from MII), it was never consistent. People largely dislike the additions to the main cannon seen in the last fight (the focusing units on the legs and the underside of the ARMD platforms) and I'm inclined to agree. At the beginning, when the Macross fires (just prior to "Operation 200"), we get a textbook look at what the Macross should look and sound like when the cannon goes off.... it kinda goes out the window at the end, but then... so does the Macross

So far as I know (and I could be wrong) there are only two printings of "Macross: The Complete" the only *true* release is the victor records one, which comes in a 3-disc jewel case (as per standard 3 disc sets these days) with one booklet with no pictures to speak of. There was a second release of this set by SonMay which is classified as a bootleg item- The only way to distinguish between the two is the record label at the bottom of the front cover of the jewel case (again, I only have the original, and I've only seen the front of the SonMay set, so that's a limited experience) There may have been a limited release box-set but I have never seen or heard of such an animal in my time here at Macrossworld. (edit: Appears I was wrong! I've never heard of a boxed set, but I would pay an obscene amount of money to get one.)

It won't happen because that's not his definative vision of the trillogy... REGARDLESS OF RIGHT OR WRONG. I won't release my opinion here on which is the correct form, but I think people are beating the hell out of a very dead horse when they mention that.

lol

And it IS beautiful. I understand, when I need inspiration I look at me also. Beautiful? Son, back in the war we used to eat guys like you for breakfast! LOL, where I'm at we think EVERYONE in California is gay... (or far more liberal at least) By all appearances, the Duke is jealous of the current disposition between Max and A1, can this be??

DAMN that's tight!!! I so wish I had the money for some more 1/48s right now, I'd be all over that like thigh-fat on a dixie chick!

yeah, the F/A-18 is about the LEAST interesting aircraft to perform this... ahh well, let's hear it for great photography of a really bad plane... Also, who said anything about Macross Plus lying in it's animation?

Hey Blaine, that soundtrack listing leaves a lot out. That *IS* the officially released sountrack, but there were a number of tunes (not to mention a kickass score) that never saw official release. Blackaces, you were close! He fires a Maverick while on the ground ("DAAAAAAD! Will the maverick fire if we're still on the ground!?!??!" "I don't know, I've never tried... why?" "Because something big's about to eat us for breakfast....") ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some of the Israeli Air Force's finest moments on camera though.... the USAF wasn't too keen on a script where a kid dupes the entire USAF security system, so Tri-Star went to the IAF for their flight scenes (which were used by a successive number of B movies on down the line, like "Flight of Black Angel") I thought it retarded that they killed "Doug" off at the beginning of the second film, only to bring him back in the (not even really)B Move 4th installment of the Iron Eagle series.

my response was pretty much aimed at the Japan following at large, I simply used US examples as comparisons.