VFTF1

I've heard this trash about Macross Frontier before. It's no coincidence that he mentions the UC timelines from Gundam either. Sorry to bash Gundam fans all of a sudden - but I get the impression that Gundam fans are some of the people who go bashing Macross Frontier in favor of Robotech, because Robotech is more like Gundam insofar as it's just warwarwarwarwar and the whole singing/music/culture aspect is pushed into the background and ultimately really just DROPPED by Shadow Chronicles. This is typical Mecha-head talk where the only exciting and worthwhile thing about Macross is lots of warfare, and where there is a delusional view of Macross (SDFM TV) being all about war and battles - when of course it really isn't. The hostility towards Macross Zero is also pointless. And finally - I guess the idea behind the 'people prefer 7 and II' is that those were more original than Frontier. But as has been stated on numerous occasions, Frontier was an homage and celebration of 25 years of Macross - so really it was explicitly aiming at paying tribute to all the previous Macross series. Within that context, it had some great original character work. Finally - and I'm not gonna write this for the ten zillionth time (check the Macross Frontier episode threads for my full exposition on this) - but the characters and story lines in MF are not carbon copies of things that happened before. Even the "new enemy and idol singers save the day" tag is wrong... but whatever... As for WB/HG/LAM...yawn...again...whatever... it's coming to the point where making the arguments is useless.

Well my collection is set to grow in a couple of days... Although - mainly figures, not statues. I like my girls poseable The only statues I have are the Gutto Kuro Minmey and two Yoko's (1/5 doing up her hair and 1/8 with the sniper rifle) - I DO plan on getting the upcoming 1/6 Asuka Langley Shikinami School Uniform... But generally I'm not big into non-posing statues unless they are REALLY REALLY extremely well done renditions of my most loved anime girls... That said, I am totally into the figma and Revoltech girls - and I'm about to become the happy owner of just about the entire figma SOS Brigade range!! I can't wait. I'm strangley enough particularly exited about Ryoko san...even though she's a bad girl...and doesn't have much of a role (although she apparently returns in the Movie!)...She DEFINITELY is AAA+ and I really like her But then...I just love the whole cast from that anime Pete

Well - looking at the promo pic of the Battlepod- it looks stiff. It's not dynamically posed - and if it COULD be dynamically posed, then you'd think the promo pics would highlight that. I mean - most people can tell that Revoltechs are dynamic just based off of promo pics - even before the product is actually out The pic of the Battlepod looks like it doesn't have much range of motion. Pete

I might have misread this, but I assumed that if the pilots for Diaclone were "approximately 1/60 scale" then it would follow that the cars were too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaclone Besides - just put G1 Prowl or something in car mode next to a Masterpiece Seeker in jet mode - and you have approximately a 1/60 jet and a 1/60 scale car Pete

Yeah - but the diaclone cars that became the Autobot cars were actually 1/60 scale Pete

I don't think it's a gimmick. Again -How many of you guys download movies instead of going to the cinema to see them? I remember ONCE ONE TIME my girlfriend got a pirated copy of a Woody Allen movie from somebody at work and insisted we see it on my laptop while we were spending a week on Easter vacation in a remote rural Polish village where there were no movie theatres. I guess she thought it would be neat to watch it in our little cabin room with dinner and wine. I kind of frowned at her for it, like there weren't enough legal movies to get on DVD...but she insisted...and it kind of made sense given the circumstances: She wanted two things at once: 1) to be there, 2) to watch the new Woody Allen movie. Fine. Whatever. I also remember watching Rocky Balboa on Youtube while it was in theatres. BEYOND those two instances, I have always either gone to the cinema and paid for a ticket or bought the DVD. I haven't the time nor the patience nor the desire to pirate DVDs. Although I DO remember the days when a DVD could cost upwards of 50 USD. Now it costs a fraction of that - partially due to better technology, but largely due to the fact that legal companies have to compete with the illegal pirates. They compete by offering lower prices as well as better quality. And - wow - surprise - it actually works. The vast majority of consumers DON'T WANT cheap crappy bootleg DVDs. My step dad once brought a whole bag of this crap home from China - I threw it all away after TRYING to watch it. You had movies that had been split into three parts - wher you watched like 20 minutes and then had to put another DVD into the player. You had movies that were abruplty cut in the middle, with no menus and no possibility of switching or resuming or going from scene to scene. You had lousy sound and picture quality... I could go on - but do I have to? The ONLY reason that anime gets "pirated" so much is NOT because anime fans and otaku are pirates and evil. It's because between the time that an anime comes out in Japan and the time when some corporate suits sign a licensing agreement and issue it in Europe or the USA, you usually have a lapse of at least a year - sometimes two or three years. And somtimes - like in Poland - it just NEVER gets licensed. So what? Am I supposed to pretend it doesn't exist? Fly to Japan? Heck - I can't even buy the legally licensed US DVDs off of Amazon, because Amazon doesn't deliver to Poland. I COULD buy off Ebay...but how many people on Ebay have legal businesses that pay their taxes? The fact is that the system is screwed up. Nobody wants to steal or cheat people out of their earnings. But let's put it another way: When a Japanese-only anime is produced - it is produced for the Japanese market. And nobody goes to a Japanese production company and sells the anime by saying "it'll make millions in Brazil!" or something. They look primarily at their market. Overseas is an after thought. Then - suddenly - they are shocked to discover that via the internet - their Japanese only anime has developed a fan following - and so they get the ball rolling to put out DVDs and make money off of it. Do they REALLY want to bite the head of the fansubbers off? They got wonderful free global marketing thanks to the fans. They are smart. They know it. They would NEVER get the profitable marketing that they get FREE from fansubbers and fan websites from an official PR company. The dynamic works different for Harmony Gold though. Harmony Gold has a financial interest in perpetuating human IGNORANCE. Harmony Gold does not want you to surf the internet. Harmony Gold hates the internet because it brought down their monopoly in the USA on whipping their asses with Japanese anime and then selling it in the USA as a Harmony Gold original product. Now fans can go to the internet - see the original and choose. And because HG produces crap - fans are choosing original Macross. They will never go the way of Bandai because the truth is that NOBODY is marketing Robotech for free for them. There are no huge mass internet movements marketing Robotech. There just aren't. It's not an internet phenomena. What IS an internet phenomena is Macross - and that's cutting into their profits, not increasing them. And they are in a bad situation where they have to actually free themselves from Macross and make Robotech something independent. Thus the LAM efforts. Pete

I dunno...I still like my SOC better. What's the point of articulating the neck if you don't have a UFO to put the robot in? Pete

Well - in Mari's case she just looks very beautiful without the glasses This doesn't always hold true (Nanase being a prime example of beautiful WITH glasses)... but the thick red rims...and their shape...just didn't fit her well.... I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know what kind of character she is of course... Pete

I needed to see her naked without glasses - my chief criteria for judging any woman of course! Pete

The Japanese version of season 2 contains english subs?? Yay! Thanks for the info! Peter

There's a segment of the Transformers fandom that has developed a theory called Mass Shifting to explain how it is that Megatron, Soundwave, Reflector, Blaster, the cassettes and other TFs turn from robots into things that are much much bigger than they are. This phenomena can actually be seen taking place in the 2007 movie when the Cube transforms from a humongous thing about twenty times as big as Bumblebee into a box that even Sam can carry. Maybe wiki has something more elaborate about the theory beyond the name... Most often it is also kind of tied to the notion that Transformers are non-scale toys - and yet still "compatible" ... But that's not completely right either since the original Diaclone were done in 1/60 scale (roughly)... The problems you mentioned are not confined to Transformers: The Movie. They were already in the cartoon and the comics too. A related issue was the problem of where Optimus Prime's trailer goes when he turns into truck mode - this led to another theory - that of "subspace" being created. Subspace is...er...some place...where...Transformers store excess mass that they don't need in one of their alt modes... That's very interesting.... I hadn't heard of that explanation before. As to Astrotrain colluding with Starscream - it wouldn't be the first time. In the TV episode Triple Take Over, Astrotrain and Blitzwing helped Starscream overthrow Megatron... Pete

R2 is Europe?? Where ?? Just don't say amazon... they don't ship to me... Maybe I ca just paypal you some money and you can send me a box?? Pete

Wow. Amazing. Look at this: http://www.asosbrigade.com/ Episode 01 Bandai Entertainment are SMART. Do they piss on the fans for downloading, fansubing and torrenting their favorite anime PRIOR to the 'official' licensed release? Nope. This is excellent excellent PR. It's smart, it's down to earth, and it will get people to buy the DVDs. Haruhi: "I even heard there are people in America already watching it through internet fansubs...which is cool...but don't forget to get the DVD because there are even cooler extras on that." And then Yuki's whole bit about "primative form of data transfer called Bit Torrent" and how only using a more advanced data transfer device (implied: DVD player) can fans truly appreciate the series. BRAVO Bandai!! That is EXCELLENT business sense. It's so much better than either IGNORING internet fansubs or trying to arrest people for actually daring to LIKE an anime and wanting to see it earlier than two years later when corporate leaders might sign a contract. It relies on people who love the anime to support the anime when an official product is offered and understands that the motive behind downloading fansubs was not evil intent and piracy, but a desire to enjoy something that was made for people in Japan to enjoy. This is a great example of how to act in light of events like these - an example HG needs to learn to follow. Pete EDIT: HA HA!! AWESOME!! As linked below in the pictures --- she says "renounce fansubs and buy the DVDs" and gives a spiel about taking rice away from animators...while at the same time they spoof the fact that the episode is already being Torrented!! EXCELLENT BANDAI!! HG BLOWS!!!

Well it's just a minor complaint really, since the chick is totally hot and I love her Method Acting Mikuru is ok...but I wish she were in the waitress outfit because the maid outfit just covers up way too much. Yuki...all wrong IMO. Still, the spirit of it all is great. I wish there was a PSOS brigade here in Poland that I could play with Pete Edit: and is that chick really the Pink Ranger from Power Rangers?

I have an Apple Mac II from 1986 up in my attic. It still works great! Pete

I liked Alien3 ... As for Predator...I found Predator 2 to be watchable...like...if I was alone, had nothing better to do and wanted to look at something while consuming beer and pizza. As for this movie - I probably won't see it unless it turns out to be really awesome. I'm getting the feeling that people are giving too many crap films these days a pass just because of their titles or surface content. Besides - generally... it is true that most movies are only good in their first incarnation.... Why does everything have to have a sequal these days? Movies are becoming indistintiguishable from TV series... like a movie is no longer a movie - it's "another episode" of a franchise now... Pete

D'oh!! Pmed the wrong person...rectifying now... Pete

Talk about bad luck. His only hope now is to marry Jennifer Lopez as quickly as humanly possible. CocoJ-Lo sounds good. Pete

I'm confused. www.asosbrigade.com is run by Bandai? In either event - it looks great!! So fun!! I wish more people were into this anime... Ah - and one critical word of note: I have yet to see a Haruhi Cosplayer get the hair right. Haruhi has one strand of hair on both the right and left sides that overlaps the yellow hair band. Every cosplayer - including this one - keeps getting it wrong. Pete

There's also apparently a new Megatron coming out. Pete

Pizza the Hut got banned at Robotech.com? That's funny Pete

PM sent. I have a DX Alto and Michael I can sell you. Pete

Ok - I have officially changed my mind and embraced the new girl from EVA 2.0: Pete

Conan lets himself be called "Coco" ? I take back my earlier praise of him... Pete

I always had a soft spot for Colonol Edwards. Imagine living in a universe where Minmey puts out for EVERYBODY except...YOU. Hell, I'd turn evil too. Pete