Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0

Yes fellas, THS-02 is by Kawamori! Knew SOMETHING was familiar with that design! And for portfolios, Alice Carter came down for a lecture and told us that for ILM they do NOT want to see star wars stuff if you apply to them for a job or internship as a concept artist. They want to see that you can draw. Draw everything around you, life drawing is the most integral thing.

Any of you guiys excited for OverG/World Air Force? Now THAT my friends, is one of the many reasons I want a 360. I hope it makes it to the states, if sega doesn't make another aerowings, then OverG will be my fix!

I have seen the prototypes of the figures that are due out in spring, saw these a couple months back when they were leaked from a site overseas. Now they are not indicative of what may be the final product, but if they toys were any indication, some of them have costumes heavily influenced by the Ultimate Xmen book. Again the prototypes probably recieved massive revisions so who the hell knows, but ultimate x men to me is way better than that leather bullshit from the past 2 movies.

Very true about the F-22. Close in its pretty murderous as well. David did you see the F-14 in the Ace COmbat zero trailer? The scheme on that is a lot better than the AC5 schemes. The only good F-14D scheme in ac5 was the razgriz one.

He didn't design guymelef escaflowne. The latest design he has made is THS-02 Convoy...the redesigned G1 Optimus prime. It came out looking detailed but rather chunky. I think he is good and I do like his older designs. When I saw his macross 7 sketches I knew a lot of quality was lost in comparison to the older designs(the preproduction ones with the faces and guitars...YUCK!).

I was mainly referring to the ace scheme, that looked too girlish for me. I did not like that or the F-4G ace scheme at all. The ace scheme in ace combat zero looked awesome in the trailer

The article did say that some of the advantage was to the IAF. They US was not able to use its BVR capability for the most part. I think the F-16 had a better turn rate than the MKI but the thing is the MKI is assisted by thrust vectoring, which no doubt increases turn rate. But yes you are right the AOA capability of the MKI is higher. It is really an unfair comparison, the F-16C made in the 80s and the MKI showing up in the late 90s. Even the last excercise, where the Su-30s supposedly nailed the US F-15s, that was also fought on unfair/unbalanced terms.

New Ace Combat Zero trailer http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20051202/acz.htm There is a link near the bottom so you can watch on ur comp instead of streaming! Movement looks a lot more fluid, the F-14 FINALLY gets a nice ace scheme, and the trailer is awesome. I should upload some shots from the oceana air show this weekend....wow its been a while! Knight what are you flight testing@ Edwards? Will you get to see the YF-23?

Yea what the hell was up with that? My brother told me about it a few days ago, its so disrespectful for them to do that!

Slammed the brakes? Me thinks he should have just changed lanes...

Guys is the thing shown for those special edition DVD's with like the first volume, with a box for the whole series and foam insert? Or is the boxset being sold simultaneously with vol 1? I'm so out of the loop. What are the prices?

The gripen must be that good for Sweden not to need the Viggen any longer! At least we can play the draken in ace combat zero. I always thought the draken and viggen were very cool loooking, the viggen being particularly menacing.....as Scorch's plane in ringraiders. BTW Flyingmule.com has pics of the 50th anniversary VFA-102 Diamondbacks CAG F/A-18F, and VX-9 F-14D black tomcat. (The playboy bunny VX-4 F-14A is a Cyber hobby exclusive). And Forces of Valor has a presumably redesigned F-14A coming in febuary....looks different but the shot was from far away. Its a VF-154 black knights bird.

You do realise that the 1/60 VF-0S is actually larger than a 1/48 don't you? 1/48 VF-1 = 30cm in fighter mode 1/60 VF-0 = 32cm in fighter mode The VF-0 is a big bird, far larger than the VF-1. Graham 346137[/snapback] No, I did not know that. Thanks Graham, I may have to reconsider. I thought the VF-0 was the same size as a VF-1S. 346325[/snapback] 346802[/snapback] Because if you placed a VF-1 next to a VF-0, the VF-0 is a lot bigger, like a F-14 is much bigger than a F-16. The Vf-0 and VF-1 are NOT the same size in true scale! That is why the 1/60 VF-0 is somewhat bigger than the 1/.48 VF-1. If it were in 1/48 scale, the VF-0 would be MUCH MUCH larger than the 1/48 VF-1.

While I would love for the 1/48 mechanism to be shrunk down and mashed to the 1/60, I doubt it would be easy to accomplish, although it may sound like it. The parts in the nosecone would be TINY. And even if the hinges and Tbar were made out of diecast they would be very very thin, and prone to snap. A new more simple method of transformation might work better than to just copy the 1/48 mechanism. If anything, an all new mold high diecast perfect variable 1/60 would be more efficient. This might also increase 2ndary value of the original 1/60s in the collectors market since they could be valued for what they were and would be substantially different from the PV 1/60, similarities only in name and look. But like I said, I am all for it, especially if its cheaper and has uninhibited articulation. I think a highly realisticly detailed, perfect variable 1/18 VF-1 would be the be all end all of all macross toys. Before you all get paranoid and say its too huge, remember, in scale a VF-1 is similar in size to a F-16. The BBI F-16 was 1/18 and its wingspan and legnth were both a little over or under 3 ft. Plus it includes a gijoe size articulated pilot figure. The bigger size enables yamato to work larger and this of course makes things easier for them. Plus more room to hide hinges and such. For all I know its a pipe dream but it would be awesome if a japanese company became incredibly ballsy and produced a big ass toy like that. I doubt it will ever happen but it would be awesome if it did.

As long as yamato positions the wings in mid sweep(which I doubt they will but who knows, since they like to have it at near full sweep for display purposes I believe) the box should be a lot less wider. That could cut some shipping costs by a bit and I know tam and kev would love this. The VF-0 for the most part is seen near full sweep forward so I dunno I guess that is how they will position this. The 1/48 could have had a much smaller box with the wings swept all the way back, but this would not look as impressive on the shelf, and yamato probably places on shelf appearance to be important. Its all about presentation I guess.

If the pitot is not removable, yamato faces 2 obstacles. 1-Risk droopage by using PVC as this part is thin and likely to break.(easy to snap off I imagine) 2-Risk breakage by using ABS since it will eliminate droopage but prone to being snapped off. It's not like the gerwalk antenna on the 1/48 where they could just leave it droopy over time since by it was just an antenna which does not necesarily need to stay straight all the time. A pitot tube however, NEEDS to be.

I was about to say the exact same thing Graham said. So yup boys, NO parts swapping! You can tell, look at the shield in battroid mode. That area near the chestplate is hidden in fighter mode. Clever! And the mishmash is what I like about this design.....definitely bridges the gap between concenventional fighters to variable fighters.

I think it is possible for the rotating seat to be utilized..... I looked at the pics even more and it is cleverly deceptive if I am right. I think if the mechanism is retained in these prototypes, the seat has to be pushed downward at a 15-20 degree slant, so it kind of slides downward and forward at the same time., and then it can rotate, and then pushed back up. Kind of hard to understand but just visualize it, I think you might be able to get it. Overall the prototype is in white, would you all prefer it to be light grey instead? I think it would look better....more rugged and stuff. And its light gret in the anime.....but then again maybe that was just the light. I REALLY hope we get a SV-51 and VF-0D/A out of this!

I assume the pitot tube is removable.....seems it would be fragile to retract. And if it was PVC it has the problem of possibly drooping as time passes. Where is the rotating seat you guys are talking about?

Wow look at that battroid pose in the 2nd scan....now that looks more badass than a VF-1 IMHO. Great pics!!!

Hey guys head on over to tfw2005's frontpage, they got a pic of pepsi prime and I actually think he looks cool! Very nice touch. They also have pics of takara's remolded optimus primal and megatron for beast wars 10th anniversary, those who went to botcon say these are NOT the entirely new mold dlx primal and megatron hasbro is slated to put out over here for the 10th anniversary.

Apparently he recently celebrated his 4th year of being sober a week before he passed. So he did beat the demons and stayed clean. Here is what Test had to say(if any of you remember him) "I'm actually wondering who's next? Who's next to die? I can think of at least 15 to 20 people who have died from various things - mostly prescription pain killers. For all you wanna be wrestlers who wanna get in this business, especially now when WWE doesn't pay you anymore than you would make at a 9 to 5 job, let me break some things down for you. When I started wrestling I had never seen or heard of Vicodin or Percocet or Soma. How come so many wrestlers die from these medications and football players and hockey players don't? The answer is simple - wrestlers, especially WWE wrestlers, work five days a week all year long taking bump after bump in the ring. A doctor explained it to me like this: Every time you take a fall in the ring it's like getting rear-ended by a car going 20 mph, so how many bumps in the ring a night do you take? Multiply that by how many times a week you work all year long. That's a hell of a lot of whiplash and pain. I can remember hearing a conversation from some unnamed WWE head guys talking about how this certain person needs to go to rehab but they couldn’t send him because he was to important to the show. That's the reality people that is how we are treated. Look at me. I break my neck in the ring had to have two discs taken out of my neck and a steel plate put in and was told at the time by Johnny Ace when I asked if my job would be in jeopardy, 'We don't fire people with injuries like that.' Hmm, that's funny, because two months after surgery I got fired because I wasn't working. My seven years of busting my ass for them and putting over the boss's son while my foot was broken in a cast was all forgotten about. When Johnny Ace called me and told me they were releasing me - which of course he put all the heat on Vince - I said to him, 'What kind of message are you sending the boys that if they get hurt they are going to get fired?' So all the guys who don't want to lose their jobs, what do they do? Pop a couple of Percocet or Vicodin and mask the pain because god forbid they say they are hurt and lose their job. I'm not going to name any names, but I know at least a dozen or so wrestlers who are addicted to these things for that very reason. Get hurt, lose your job. I just turned 30, my back aches everyday, I have a metal plate in my neck, and yes I got in the business at the right time and have a lot of nice things, but is it all worth it? You guys don't see the ugly side of this business. Yes, wrestling is entertainment, but the bumps and bruises are real and sometimes they don't go away. So think long and hard before you get in this business because I can tell you first hand that if you're not working or making them money they don't give a sh** about you and the sad part is Eddie was clean and I guarantee he won't be the last one to die in the next 12 months. So that's why I say who's next? Don't take your life for granted it's a gift. Don't go to bed mad and tell the people you care about you love them because you never know. Take care" And the death has been attributed to his past drug abuse and drinking...but bear in mind during recent times, for the past 4 years..he WAS CLEAN! All things add up and it took a toll on his heart. Here is what his wife said in regards to the cause of death. And Btw I got most of this from TNI forums. "The following is from WWE.com After the untimely passing of Eddie Guerrero, WWE and the entire sports-entertainment community is still reeling from the devastating loss of a champion. The initial autopsy reports on Guerrero have come in. WWE.com spoke with Eddie’s widow, Vickie Guerrero, earlier today. “It was heart failure. It was from his past – the drinking and the drug abuse. They found signs of heart disease. She (the examiner) said that the blood vessels were very worn and narrow, and that just showed all the abuse from the scheduling of work and his past. And Eddie just worked out like crazy all the time. It made his heart grow bigger and work harder and the vessels were getting smaller, and that’s what caused the heart failure. He went into a deep sleep" As soon as they saw his heart, they saw the lining of his heart already had the heart disease. There was no trauma, and Eddie hadn’t hurt himself in any way. It answered a lot of questions. I knew Eddie wasn’t feeling very good for the last week. He was home and kept saying he wasn’t feeling good and we thought it was just “road tired.†So we thought he just had to rest. It answered a lot of my questions, too, because he was just so exhausted. She said it was normal because the heart was working so hard. When he didn’t call me last night and the night before I knew it was for real, because he would call me every night. I miss his phone calls. I cried through the whole thing (last night). I loved his laugh. His laugh was the best. We just celebrated his four-year sobriety last Thursday. We just thought we had life by the handful. We thought we had it all figured out. He worked so hard to make a better life for us. I’m just overwhelmed by how people are coming out. It’s touched my heart a lot. Everybody was just in awe last night in how beautifully everything was put together. All my life was wrestling. All he did was take care of them and live for that. And I don’t know what to do now.†We know for sure the man worked hard, he showed up nearly ALL the time for smackdown ever since he was signed onto the show.....Me and my bro and dad always loved watching him perform, crazy guy, and BRILLIANT performer, whether he was playing the bad guy, the good guy, whichever, he still had a way to get the crowd laughing. I will miss him a lot.

I thought he was off the drugs as well, but I am thinking maybe he died of something else unrelated to drugs, he was pushing himself a lot in the ring and all, and it is strenous. Maybe all the stress and traveling back and forth took a toll on his heart. Truly sad though, and totally unexpected~! So young too!

I argue that the 1//48 was a ton more durable than most thought, and I think this thing will be even MORE durable! I love chunky valkyries!! Can't wait to stand this thing next to my 1/55s!

The MIG-29 Volume from the Warbird Tech series of books is out, I skimmed through it @my local BNN. Any of you read it yet? I found it intriguing, Yefim Gordon worked on it and others. It turns out, Russia actually proposed MIG-29s for the philippines! I am not surprised they did not get them. Anyways, they did show the OVT prototype from 2001, the one still flying with the swifts team, but back in 2001, get this, it had WINGTIP missle rails! Anyone else have pics of fulcrums with wingtip rails? This is awesome! Makes it look like a hybrid fulcrum and falcon.....very cool looking.