T.V.

Isn't that just a 'dating' sim with a mech tacked on?...

Told. You. So? Macross SEED it is, then.

It's a design compromise. They used the weapon gimmick in favour of 'normal' hands, while LAM Starscream has transformable forearms revealing the weaponry, much like any other movie TF. LAM Starscream uses the forearm mounted missle launcher, as seen in the toy, in the movie to destroy the powergenerators of the Hoover Dam.

The designs don't cheat on the exteriors. The are very complex. a lot of parts split up into many fragments (including the rear windshield on BB, etc.) and bend or fold. They don't morph like T-1000, however. Their exterior parts can behave like cardboard or various plastics in terms of elasticity and deformative ability, but don't possess clay-like properties.

That one actually looks pretty good, as far as I can tell based on low res pictures. However, the prototype has the engine nacelles mounted wrongly.. The left engine is on the right and vice versa. Also, it looks a bit less boxy than the actual V-22, closer to the XV-15 prototype. Especially the empenage.

Here's an article about the CGI behind the movie: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology...826.html?page=1

Who said TFs are made solely out of metal? Who said the windshields on TFs are glass? TFs, like any robots are probably made out of various materials, including carbon composites with various (changing) qualities. Emulating rubbers, plastics and transparent materials wouldn't be impossible. As for the interiors, I guess they're split up in many parts and tucked deep inside.

They are engineered as much as can be with a visual FX model. Prime consists of 10,108 parts. All of which are chained together to have a properly working bot model and transformation. The CG artists admitted their is some cheating, saying the the robots are made out of more parts than there are actually in the vehicle. However, that sounds like Alternators' level cheating, where they have to fill the boot and engine bay with non car parts to make the bot mode work, but they're nonetheless all pretty size consistent. However, the movie vehicles aren't modified with robot kibble filled boots and engine bays to reflect it.

Consider me interested. I'm probably one of the few that relishes Oshii's laid back style. I'm a fan of slowly unfolding exposition and bird flock scenes.

Which is funny since X-Men (2000) inspired Ultimate X-men. Ironman seems to be crackin' good. ILM sure is a good addition, if only judged by their recent work on Transformers.

And even then, the Protodevlin were sentient weapons developed by the Protoculture, so I recall. Anything with a 'truley' unconnected alien origin didn't play a major part.. Or it must have been Gugava.

Hear hear!

Gurren-Lagan, Gurren-Lagan. He can do what no Ganmen can.

Scorponok fill the role Ravage and the other cassette minions have in G1..

There's more of this stuff? Is there a thread with all this animated funnies? At least I'd like a pic with the beer can missles. Btw, isn't Kawamori crushed in the first ep? Along with the Studio Nue building?

Gah. Hasbro's MP Starscream looks gastly with that horrid 'real life' smear and leakage patterns. They should've just gone with standard Air Force light grey, no or little weathering (in the right spots!) and have the hinges in the same colour. As it stands, my teal MP Screamer looks better, despite his not-so-blue livery. I'd say the Pussywagon. Looks like a GM-ish pick up. All the movie tie-in characters aren't associated with existing vehicles. The GM contract probably only extends to the characters with movie screen time.

Ah.. might be a goof up on my side then. It has been quite some time since I watched Macross and I always found the justification for transforming the SDF silly. I guess my mind is playing tricks on me trying to remember what parts actually went missing in the fold, apart from the fold drive itself.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it a case of missing targeting computers as well?

SDF-1 was already cheesy enough in that regard. The Battle 7 design simply says to me the designer just embraced it full stop. "We already went overboard the first time, so there's little reason to hold back now." The primary difference IMO is that the Battle 7 design is more sophisticatedly humanoid, with the ejectable gunship and posable hands. Is the gunship sillier than the gunpod of a Valkyrie? The SDF-1 had taylormade grafted ship arms with front ends that mimiced hands all too obviously already. The SDF-1 and Battle 7 are IMO similarly wacky, but with M7 they simply removed the pretense of functional design, primarely by leaving out a few lines of dialogue concerning the on screen justification. Edit: How can transforming compensate for lost parts, which function is not mechanical/structural in nature? A mechanical reconfiguration doesn't negate the loss of a targeting computer...

LMAO at people thinking the Battle 7 is ridiculous but the SDF-1 somehow isn't. The SDF-1 has a similarly poor excuse for transforming as the Battle 7 does. The transformation somehow being able to compensate for the loss of targeting/fireing components doesn't make any sense. Just because it's canon doesn't excuse it from being a poor excuse IMO. If anything, shooting the cannon in humanoid mode would prove to be a bigger problem than shooting it in ship mode for both the SDF-1 and Battle 7. What a brilliant idea to shoot a massive weapon that's not aligned with the center of mass.. Edit: Not saying that silly things can't be legitimized in a story, but the willingness to suspend disbelief has it limits and "just because" is one of the sillier reasons one can get. Macross shouldn't be taken too serious on its own.

It's physical though. Megatron crushes a part beyond (immediate) repair.

Sweet jesus!

Guys. Half assed sketch. I messed up, okay?

We wouldn't have given a damn, because we were kids who didn't know about Macross yet. Like others said, this is just preliminary stuff. Way too early to tell. Animal sidekicks do not ruin a show or make it great. That's all down to the writing and direction, which can't be gauged by finished art even. The most that can be said about the cat is that it is an attempt to make the character cute, which isn't neccesarely a bad thing. This production being aimed at teens was to be expected, considering that's always been the prime market for (mecha) anime.

Simpler would be a simple display piece (on a pole). Just like current day practice, having the VF displayed as a museumpiece, showcasing its chapter in history. "Half assed" at it's best. I could say that the inlets lead into ducts feeding both the top rear and bottom rear engines (4 engine layout.. in the legs and on the back) in fighter mode and the top slits being the intake in battroid mode, but that would be BSing you. Just out of curiosity, it would be interesting to see a single engine layout design IMO. Not thinking Kawamori would move away from his tried and tested 2 engine layout, but it would be a novel idea at least.