How about just doing all the Matsumoto ships! I'd love to have a set. Too bad I've heard a lot of bad things about the Yamato/Star Blazers miniatures, otherwise I'd be picking those up.
It creates a parallel between them and the Samurai who drew their swords the same way??? Just a guess there.
Pretty much. The grips of the pistols jutting forward makes them look like samurai swords. It's one of the things people point out when they talk about the series' nationalistic agenda.
I'll leave the floor to you, Lord Breetai.
I'm kind of partial to Giant Robo, especially as he appears in The Animation. The nuts'n'bolts look and the Egyptian headdress just rock.
I also like the gothic armor/great helm look of the Escaflowne melefs and guymelefs; Sheherezad in particular.
In Uchuu Senkan Yamato (AKA Star Blazers in the US), what is the symbolic signifigance of the having their pistols holstered on the left to be cross-drawn?
Guess that was a tough one. The finishing move is called "Air Spin Driver".
Next question, Jeopardy!-style:
The story of this anime begins after a distant supernova wipes out majority of Earth's population.
What is Uchuu no Stellvia?
I haven't read much from them recently, but the little I have isn't too bad. Much, much better than their old stuff anyway. They've at least gotten away from trying to Americanize stuff, from what I can tell.
I actually watched the first couple of episodes and it wasn't too bad, actually. Not real big on the character designs (they look kind of sketchy), but the story was decent, if somewhat cliched. I'll watch more when I have the time.
The reason the retailers charged $140 is because they had to buy the toy from Japan at retail price then re-sell it here. With the Scopedog, Yamato is able to release the toy through the normal distribution channels, so US sellers don't have to pay full retail price and therefore can charge the lower MSRP with no need for Yamato to cut anything from the toy.
I liked the original, in spite of it being a musical. There were some really great lines in it all delivered perfectly by Wilder. I'm not real big on Burton's movies, but I'll see this if only out of curiousity.