VFTF1

That is actually a great idea! Getter-1 combined with the O Raiser....good thinking! But to waste the Fastpack?...hmm... But seriously - this is a great idea! Thanks! Pete wondering if he has the skill to pursue this custom...

This is a great example of how easy it is to take clips from various anime, mix them together, and make something that it wasn't intended to be. This is basicaly what HG does... Pete

Openly compete? Uh..no. I WISH they would openly compete with Macross. What he's working on does everything possible to push Macross underground, make it illegitamite, illegal, unkowable, inaccessable. That's not open competition. Pete

I think I have BWS... [Editor: BWS - Build Withdrawl Syndrome] My hands are shaking...I hunger for polycaps, innner frames, and other forms of technological sophistication... But I have NOTHING to build!! the horror. the horror. All I have is a 1/72 scale Superpack VF-25F Alto custom with a screwed up panel lining job on the nose fusealage and three lost shoulder parts... but... according to the laws of Universal Causation SINCE three months ago I searched in vein for those shoulder parts and couldn't find them THEREFORE if I open the box TODAY and take everything out... they will be there. they must! And then...then I'll have something to build!! I did a great job on his head... too bad I put the rest of the Sheryl Nome decals on my DX (they do look good on him)... Now I'm gonna have to strip the decals that I did put onto the 1/72 and replace them with "normal color" decals... IF I can find those three shoulder pieces. 'cause if I can't...then...then... thee's no point in living. Dare I risk the dissillusionment of opening the box and discovering that they are STILL lost? Hmm... Did I have any other models/boxes out when I was building him? Maybe I mistakenly dumped those three pieces into my Unicorn Titanium box? ... what the heck else was I building back then? .... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Anyways - don't ever allow yourself to NOT have a model kit lying in a closet collecting dust in its' box...or...that is...the box is collectin dust... ok - again... Don't ever allow yourself to NOT have an unbuilt model kit in a box that is collecting dust in the closet... Only now...when I don't have ANYTHING do I realize the utter horror of having a quarrel with your girlfriend the day before New Years and NOT having a model kit to build...NOOOOO!! I MUST find those three shoulder pieces for the 1/72 Alto! Hmm...maybe I should put this into the Macross 1/72 Alto topic? But I think the post applies to Gundams as well. I'd sooner prefer to build a Gundam than open that dang Alto since I know that the three missing pieces won't be there - and it'll only make me feel worse. I mean - HOW could they be there? They can't! If they were - I wouldn't have put it away - but instead, I would have found it all and built it three months ago... I won't have any moe Gunpla kits until the end of January probably .... that's like... NEXT YEAR!!! I must have SOMETHING to build... *rumages*.... Oh great... I hav a 1:144 O Raiser - sans O Gundam!! Just the Raiser!! and in 1:144 scale at that!!! Oh...wait... *rumages some mor* GETTER 1 from Bandai's Mechanic Collection line!! It's so simple though...yet with those rubbery things it's so appealing (Mazinger Z was a fun build) .... Too simple though...not satisfying enough... The agony. Pete

Yeah -and this is perfectly acceptable (to a degree) in American comics. It's kind of a tradition. Retcons, re-dos, re-imagings, reboots... it's how the industry works, and it seems fairly different from Japanese anime and manga which seems to take better care of a story - although not always...Gundam has been retconned, redone, retooled, rebooted...there's a new Mazinger Z show out.... theoretically, Macross was also "retconned" insofar as Macross II or SDFMTV vs. DYRL is concerned... But in the context of just Macross - Kawamorii and Co. seem to have found a formulae for bringing in the new without demolishing the old - which is really great. And then there's Macross First, which is a re-imaging with many artistic twists - kind of like a classical play getting a new artistic interpretation by a new director. The problem is - these kind of ventures walk a thin line between caring, loving interpretation by people who understand the spirit of the originals and...crap. In Transformers - TF: Animated was an example of people who loved the original cartoon and comic bringing some of that spirit back while also doing something new. Other TF series have not been so fortunate... But again... the point here is that this whole "American comic" thing isn't to blame. I mean - working on Macross is not the same as working on Transformers, Spiderman or Superman.... Or X-Men. Macross doesn't have hundreds of comic book issues, made for TV movies, cartoons etc spanning back almost 50 years of history. Macross is actually not even "really" 25 years old because it hasn't been "ongoing" for 25 years like most other series which - if they took a break - made it relatively brief. Macross has just been SDFM TV, Macross 7 and Macross Frontier. That's it. THREE series in 25 years. Yeah, there was DYRL, Plus and Zero - but those were movies/OVAs - totally not the same as a series with seasons that runs year to year. Macross is special because it's irregular. I don't exactly know WHY it's so irregular. Was this intentional on the part of Kawamori? Did he not necessarily want to "go back to" and "continue" it right away? Did the lack of sponsors or Americans who turned it into a big global money maker happen to coincidentially leave it unspoiled for Kawamori to come back to every once in a while to tweak and move forward? I dunno. But what I do know is that Macross is relatively fresh because it hasn't been done to death. Whenever a writer or artist takes up a project- he needs to recognize the context... not everything can be approached in the same way... so...if Yune really is taking an "American comics" view of this ... well... So much for "bringing anime to America" --- I mean - that's a pretty empty idea there if this is the way the material is treated... And I'm not even talking about Macross itself... You see - I keep having to remind myself that EVEN IF I liked Robotech and became a Robotech fan... I'd have to deal with the fact that actually... the Macross Saga has effectively been retconned out of existence - I mean... lemme get this straight...the novels don't count any more...and really given Shadow Chronicles and HG's unwillingness to touch Rick Hunter/SDF-3 for legal fears .... that doesn't really count either... I mean - hell- at least Kawamori makes it explicitly clear that it's a LITERARY decision that he doesn't go back to Misa and Hikaru - fine. But HG --- they keep using Rick and Lisa as bate...but they will never deliver It's so two-faced! Pete

I wish Harmony Gold would just stop with the stupid Robotech. You know - NONE of us would complain about them having the license if they did the following: 1) Released a SUBBED version of the original Macross (that is to say - Tats did not just give them animation without voices and music. They got the whole anime and ditched the voices and music, but they CAN put out the original with the original voices and music with subs - no? I won't even go into the Yamato thing because I believe that's a moot point anyways. But what harm would it do if they brought out the original? Just ditch the stupid Mospedea/Southern Cross "it's an 85 episode series." Nobody cares anymore. They've retconned themselves into oblivion anyways. Just release the three series unscrewed with in the original form with dubs. If people want to tortute themselves, then by all means also include your cheesy Robotech story on the same DVD. That way everyone will have choice. Pete

*watches Youtube link* Bandai are God!! Seriously - and the old chunky munkies really do look like the most radically advanced technology in the universe... But hell - those commercials made me want Gobots even (Machine robo!) I saw "Leader 1" But...wow! Cool stuff! Pete

It was only 2000 USD and I'm sure that a super TTGL set like the one I envision could easily be produced and sold at 200 USD or there about by Bandai. I mean - it would be enough if Lagann was the same scale as the Revoltech Lagann. Then Gurren - then have them combine. Then make a moon that transforms into a ship that you can fit the Revoltech sized Gurren Lagann into - kind of like Bangfarter or whatever his name is - there is that one SOC where you keep putting guys into him...or that one other Ghokin - Shogun...where you put dudes into his legs... Anyways - then the moon/Gurren Lagan/space ship combination -which becomes Arc Gurren Lagann will have to fit into a third Mecha - the Terra Whatchamacallit... And then have that Transform into Super Galaxy GL. And then, using parts-forming - add on parts and stuff - have it be able to make Toppa Tengen Gurren Lagann. We're talking about a Super Robot here - so it doesn't need to be perfect transformation. I mean - sometimes that's possible - like with SOC Daimos. But sometimes it's impossible - just look at SOC Getter Robo. Now - I love that toy even though it's a parts former - because it's also anime accurate. And with super robots - that's really where the desirability factor is... there is no one standard rule for SOC. It's all about making something that has the spirit of the Chogokin - and each of those is different. So for Gurren Lagann - it would be possible. And it would only cost 200 bucks. Just look at Asgetter and Gozomagerflugel ...or whatever those guys from Super Robot Wars are called - the horse dude and his rider... There's plenty of examples of "the impossible" being done. Gurren Lagann screams out for someone to finally do him justice!! Pete

Holy sh!t !!! you're right: http://twitter.com/dyrl Pete

Hm... I already have the Revoltech... This is really something that would make for the most epic transforming toy in the universe if someone took a seious stab at making an in scale Gurren Lagann & All Spaizer Set... You'd have Lagann, Gurren - the two could combine...then you'd have the big ship that takes them to the moon...then the moon...and the moon would transform into Terra Cathedral or whatever it was called...and that would Transform into Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann...who could also then Transform in to Toppa Tengenn Gurren Lagann. I know it can be done. The finall TT Gurren Lagann would likely be two feet tall. But so what!! DO IT!! Come on!!! Somebody do it!!! Pete

What's really amusing for me is that in Robotech, they STILL haven't developed cell phones!! At least by Macross Frontier, humanity has learned how to text message! Pete

I emailed him, and here's what I got: Make of this what you will. Pete

Double Post: Ok --- THIS is epic!! It's like they took bad Italian Porn and mixed it with ...I dunno how to classify Rebecca West (or whatever her name is) singing... This is aweseomEE!! Go watch this guys - it has all the nationalities in the world mixed into one!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InSHeIuelNM...feature=related ROTFL ! Pete

I never even noticed that - but that might be because, not understanding Japanese, I don't have a good ear for intonation. Even when I'm trying to sing along and have romanized Japanese in front of me...my god...it's so difficult! (today I tried to sing along to Super Driver)... But you know - a good voice actor can do multiple rolls. It's not just about the sound of somebody's voice - it's also about the voice matching the character, and the dramatic situation. Truth be told, I have never even HEARD Global in Robotech...in fact... wait...lemme go to youtube and try to watch a Robotech clip just for giggles... hmm...ok... Dear Harmony Gold: Do you realize that because of your being so asanine - it's actually harder for me to watch Robotech on the internet than it is to watch Macross? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTfC4qxMUY8 Seriously...other than the damn Spanish version of Robotech - it's near ass impossible to find anything on youtube. I have no clue what hulu is and I think I wouldn't be able to use it anyways since I live overseas The legal youtube channel...beats me...I dunno..and iTunes...I'm not going there... it doesn't work where I live.... anyways... ok - I watched that clip and heard Global's voice. Well..fine...it's a voice. It's not as bad as I imagined it might be. In fact - in that clip, the translation is pretty faithful to the original except for in one important respect - namely when the Zendradi scout ships get blown to smithereens - in Macross, Breetai says "what kind of weapons were those!?" and Exedol says something about how they're Reaction weapons - this kind of sets up the idea that the reason the future Macross is so important is because of Reaction weapons.... Can't have that here, of course - since only flowers matter So we just get Breetai going "Look at that! That proves the ship is on the planet" and calling for his ships to advance... And the music score... hm... I'll grant the music score for Robotech is more dramatic in this clip than the stuff for Macross. But in Macross, the music score was more MYSTERIOUS. And good god that narrator at the beginning really spoils things. Sheesh. how about letting the story run its' course. Besides - the narrator says that the Zendradi were bio-engineered... in Robotech... who does that? The Robotech Masters? I'm so confused. I used to think dubs were great - until I started watching foriegn movies and TV and discovered how dubs often change everything around. None of this would have happened if Harmony Gold had just SUBBED the damn anime. And instead of putting the three of them together - they should have just done a Super Anime Show where they'd first show Macross, then Mospedea, then Southern Cross - just three anime shown one after the other.. Oh well.... I will say this: Robotech the Macross Saga sure is better than Shadow Chronicles Pete

Oh yeah...another thing I must buy!! AAAHHH!!! Ideon..Ideon...Ideon...focus...focus...Ideon... anyways... IF Alto turns out to be a one off - then I won't miss him. But damn me if it turns out that Bandai will give us Sheryl, Ranka, Luca, Ozma etc etc etc... Although... I would settle for some nice Figmas. I don't really need the elaborate EX gear and Armor Plus I think does multiple series; not just MF... we'll see... Pete

You know...what I really need to get my hands on are some goddam stands for all my Yammies... ever since my Gundam MGs got Gunpla stands - they've reall been happier. It lets them really flex their joints and do a lot of cool posing. My poor Yamato toys are pissed. In plane mode, their awesome streamlined undercarriage is invisible. In Gerwalk mode all they can do is look gerwalky and in Battroid mode they can't hover... Must finally get around to getting stands... aaaaaaarrgh! Sooo much to do! I need to hire people to help me play with my toys. Seriously. I wish I had a harem of girls whose only role in life would be to help build dioramas, pose stuff, transform stuff and generally help out with the collection... There's sooooooo much work to all this fun! Pete who still hasn't transformed his VF-11B... will get around to it...eventually...honest...

Oh - don't worry I'm not fishing for an excuse to get it if it's not worth it... I usually don't care about prices when I like something. I just want it. But first I need to really really like it... I would love a White Base - but I don't want a crappy one. Maybe Bandai will make a better one? I was hoping for a White Base that had the detail and scope of some of the Yamato (ships, not company) models that have come out recently... Pete

Wow. Yeah. That would be as bad as if they were ...I dunno...say... characters from two completely unrelated anime. Pete

Thaks for sounding off. Permit me to nitpick a bit if you don't have any pictures.... When you say that you'd take the 1/144 Dendrobium any day...is that because it's a better kit...or because you don't like the White Base itself as a design? Sad to hear about unimpressive details... Oh well... I generally really like the White Base and what with how important a role it played in what appears to be the only Gundam show I actually like (MSG)...I figure I should have one... What about the Bandai reissue 1/2000 kits? Are those hopeless? Pete

We just have a different interpretation of Macross then. But this is very interesting. See - I do agree with you that "the overall message of SDFM" is that "we can learn to get along DESPITE our differences, not that we are all exactly the same." The point where we disagree is what is meant by "differences." The way I see it - there are two distinct traits that people and, more broadly, sentient beings, have - 1) Authentic traits 2) Artificial traits Authentic traits are the things unique about each person or being. Artificial traits are those which get super-imposed on us by chance: where and when we happen to be born, the traditions and customs of a society, the language even. I think that Macross, like most anime, is wise to stay away from artificial traits in the real world. If Global is "Italian" - then within the context of what we see in Macross, "italian" means nothing - it's just a geographical signifier with some vague ideas that it might bring to our minds. But it's not like we see his "Italian" heritage play any role whatsoever in the character. In fact, the one time when Global does reminice about his past is in the elevator down to the bowells of the Grand Cannon, when he tells Misa of the time he served under her father. His memories, like the memories of all the characters in Macross, are not colored by associations that our minds are colored by when we hear terms like "America" or "Italian" or "Russian" or anything else. I take the view that - as shown clearly in Macross: Zero's opening - the crash landing of ASS-1 effectively whiped out everything that people once thought of themselves. The Unification wars, to repeat again, were only about power. It wasn't about Russians and Israelis being patriots and wanting to preserve their culture and heritage. The crash landing of ASS-1 and the eventual discovery that the Protoculture were the creators of Humanity put a total and complete end to everything - culturally and religiously - that makes any sense to people like us, in the real world, where no ASSes have tumbled down to Earth. It's like the "Ontario Region" that agrees to take in the refugees. Does anyone seriously think that this should be interpreted as Macross somehow propagating the opinion that Ontario and people in Ontario are humane while the rest of the world is cruel? No. It's just a place on a map, and the politics remains pretty vague. But it needn't be any more specific than it is. And most anime does use this tactic and I like it. Robotech erases this good aspect by givigin ethnic accents to characters and grounding the story more in "our" world than in the world of fantasy science fiction. The point is not that either we have diversity or homogeneity - the point is that the question really is: what kind of diversity does Macross show us? Macross shows us the differences between people as people with a particular focus on the tensions between a warlike technological society and a technological society that pursues culture. Within that framework - we get universal human archetypes: the brash cocky ace pilot, the sombre woman with a sad past a stern family tradition and a conflict between her inner-femininity and her duties as a soldier, a boy who is sucked into a situation bigger than he can imagine, a happy go lucky grunt who thinks he's a hot shot but needs his friends to pull him out of the fire, a super talented pilot and gentleman, a pacifist hippie with a vicious side to him, a girl with big dreams about singing... I could go on. But the point is - all of these human archetypes are rooted in an understanding of universal authentic human traits inherent in universal human nature and independent of artificial distinctions such as nationality, ethnicity and culture. This is something I really love about Macross and about anime in general - because it imagines a world - it gives us an image of the world where nothing that we take for granted exists beyond the human heart and that which is natural to the human heart. The context and artifices it builds around this world are totally alien to us - and in this sense they help pull us out of our artificial world and consider human nature as such. By giving Gloval a Russian accent and generally by more firmly implanting the show into known ethnic/national archetypes - Robotech takes away from the original grand vision of Macross as described above. So again - it's not a question of difference vs. homogeneity. But rather - what differences are we looking at. Or to put it anothe way: One guy is from Russia and the other guy is from China and they both have different languages, traditions, cultures etc etc etc. A movie about how they learn to get along in spite of their fake, artificial and pointless historical differences would be boring. Far more interesting - IMO - is what Macross does: relegate these places to Geographical facts and paint a picture of a character, a set of characters, interacting in a context where they are forced to be purely human - because that's really what the conflict with the Zendradi compels everyone to be. This is particularly true of the Macross itself; of Macross City - as Minmey says "we're citizens of the Macross!" and as those kids at the hamburger joint say "We were born on the Macross! We like it here! We don't wanna go back to Earth!" It's all about creating a totally new vision of human beings and a new vision of organizing human life and a new vision of what human love and happiness really are. Pete

Finally found some time to take my Elint seeker out of its' box. I had the old version 1.0 of this thing not too long ago. It was my one and only version 1.0 1/60 from Yamato. In fact - it was my FIRST Yamato toy EVER. I was impressed with it back then (this was before the 1/48) - although I did find it to be really spindly and floppy in all modes - but certainly a beautiful beautiful piece of work. I so love this version 2.0 - it's amazing. Seriously. The grace with which the super parts attach, and the dome...man - that is just beautiful. And there are soooooooooooooo many tampoo printings - little ones - all over the place. They really went the whole nine yards. Very very happy with this guy! Pete (deliberating whether to put the cats eye stickers on the super packs...)

I have still not transformed my VF-11B... Jesus. I took it out of its' box months ago...and I attached the fast packs... I took a picture of Mikuru Asahina (revoltech) looking over the instructions while sticking her butt out really sassy like. That is the extent of my play time with the VF-11B. I just find the Yamato version 2.0 VF-1 to be far far more appealing... it's so play-friendly! I can't believe I just wrote that about a Yammie - but really! It's true!! I really need to transform my VF-11B...or do something with it... I wish it was pink.... Pete

You know who needs some Figma love? K-on. The Aoshima poseable figures are atrocious....really not appealing... Or...do the characters look like cardboard cutouts? Pete

The problem with Eugimon's real world examples is that they have nothing to do with the fiction world of the anime. In that world, the Zendradi speak Japanese...but do they really speak Japanese? No. They speak Zendradi but in order for us to undertstand them - they speak Japanese. Same as how Transformers on Cybertron speak english. Therefore - do we NEED them to have British or Russian accents in this show? No. In Beast Wars, Rattrap had a bronx accent to mak him sound like a wise ass. That's fine. But in general - Gloval's accent was pointless. Pete

You know - this is just ANOTHER reason why I like the original Macross.... I mea - correct me if I'm wrong, but Global's Japanese doesn't have a russian accent, right? I HATE silly stereotypical accents... it reminds me of Transformers: Cybertron - where Hasbro decided that since the Transformer were from various different planets, then it would make them sound alien and foriegn if they had...you know...FORIEGN accents! Australian Jetfire comes to mind here... horrible... One of the things I really appreciate about anime in general is that it has an uncanny knack for reconstructing the world in accordance with the needs of the story and staying away from "real world" people, places, events etc - at least directly. Via designs, geo-political generalities and good story telling, there are of course real world parallels everywhere - but ultimately - it's not our world - and rightly so. To put a national stereotype character into Macross would, IMO, be stupid because if serves no purpose if there is no Russia or Soviet Union to speak of - and there isn't. Never once in Macross do we find out that there's an America or a Russia or a China or anything - we just don't know what there is - we know that there's a U.N. and that the Unification Wars likely whiped away all prior national distinctions following ASS-1's crash. The war was waged over power - who gets what technology. This much is clear from Ivanov telling Nora that the UN was naive for wanting technology to be globably shared. So - we get the idea from Macross canon that the war was fought over power - who would have the power - one world government (UN Spacey) or individual nations? Which nations doesn't therefore matter - because it had nothing to do with national heritage or culture or whatever - it was just about power. And in the end - yes - the UN Spacey did become a military dictatorship - but notice how intelligently this was shown in Macross - it was not shown to be opressing any particular nation or national cultures - it was just monolithic and therefore oppressive for humanity as a whole - as if to communicate that independent of where power resides - it will corrupt and grow tyranical. I really also like the fact that most anime look to the creation of a futuristic culture where human beings are not defined by nationalities and therefore I find the use of silly accents annoying. Finally - insofar as lots of anime is specifically or particularly Japanese insofar as some behaviors...I dunno...I don't know enough about Japanese culture to know. But I DO know that - as I've mentioned before - the character designs are universal and not ethnically particular, and the culture? It has absolutely nothing to do with any nation - its also universal. Its' particular aspects (like the reverence for songstresses that became a cultural mainstay on Macross colonization vessels) grows out of the particular experiences of humanity in a given anime - combined with a genral universal human yearning for culture, knowledge etc etc etc. Throwing in Russian or any other accents is arbitrary and shatters the magic of the futuristic science fiction vission IMO. Pete