Penguin

"Little?"

I think you hit the nail on the head, there. My players and I always found the Palladium system to be fragmented and lacking cohesion, like 1st edition D&D. Old D&D had a bit of an excuse, since its rules were tacked on over time as the hobby itself evolved. But in a world where most other game companies were developing uniform rules, Palladium stuck to a system much more like old D&D in approach when it could have opted for something sleeker. Then there are the pet peeves of individual tastes: attribute scores that are meaningless in any sort of "average" range, an ridiculously huge skill list, MDC, characters with so many actions that resolving 5 game-minutes of combat takes 3 hours, etc... I can't say I'd mourn the loss of Palladium too much. Sure, we had some fun with a variety of its titles, but in the end the system just wore on us so much we couldn't stand it anymore. My players still like the Rifts concept, but hate the system (and now want me to do some d20 porting... like I have the time ).

Quite true. I forgot to mention in my steps that I did use a gloss coat first, then added decals, then added the flat coat.

Amazon.com's got the first one in both a limited edition, multi-disc extravaganza and a regular version. The second (my personal favourite of the two) isn't up for preorder there yet, but it will be.

Okay... flashback to last year and Manga's "Macross Plus 10th Anniversary Box Set". When I heard of this, I briefly thought "this is the kind of thing companies do to grab a quick buck before they stop production on something". I didn't think much on it after that. Now, Image Entertainment has just released a remastered version of the first Patlabor movie, and will be releasing the second one this summer (my Patlabor-lovin' heart sings at this ). Both of these are former Manga Video titles. So, it occurred to me that maybe Macross Plus might be sliding out of Manga's grasp too, opening up a chance for a remastered movie version sometime in the future. Since my fingers are far away from the pulse of the anime distribution industry, has anyone else encountered any evidence that could give us hope for an improved qualty release of the Macross Plus titles? Or would HG try to kill any such re-release if Manga released/lost the property?

Hey Noyhauser. I pretty much hand brush with acrylics exclusively (don't even own an airbrush), so I've encountered your woes. Here's what I've discovered regarding handbrushing and top coats. As you noticed, adding a top coat (of any lustre - dull coats seem the worst) seems to bring out brush strokes rather starkly in a lot of cases. I've found it has a lot to do with the type of paint and the type of stroke. Pollyscale acrylics go on so smooth that I can barely make out my original brushstrokes, and top coats go on smoothly without any marking. When using Tamiya or Gunze acrylics, I always use a wide, camel hair brush to apply the paint smooth and even, using strokes in the same direction and trying not to overlap very often. This seems to work well and I don't get the streaks showing up after the top coat. Any time I have to resort to a smaller brush, the streaks get more prevalent. I've also found that a lightly-sprayed primer or base coat works wonders, since the colour layer after it goes on smoothly in one coat. I did my DD Ivanov SV-51 this way, using a flat black Tamiya lacquer spray as the base, Gunze acrylic RLM66 grey next, and a Gunze spray flat coat on top. The result is so smooth, I can't even see my original brush strokes. Hope this helps.

As far as we've seen, there are no "other countries" on Earth, post-Space War I. With humanity reduced to a tiny fraction of its prewar population, the UN Government is the Earth's only government. The SV-51 isn't Russian, but in fact an Anti-UN design (although clearly inspired by Russian design aesthetics as opposed to the UN's western/American look). The closest we get to "countries" are the colonies, although they all still answer to the UN Government, so perhaps province/state would be a better analogy than country. So far, we have not seen any non-UN-manufactured VF designs in the canonical Macross universe. There are civilian-sale VF models, but they too are based on original UN designs. Macross II had the SNN civilian Valkyrie, but as far as I've seen, no other human group produces unique VF designs.

And yet, I bought the first 1/48, and never picked up another since (although I might just get the stealth VF-1J...). While vastly cool, I just couldn't shell out that much $$ for another series of VF-1s, no matter how sweet... not when I could pick up 4+ Hasegawa VF-1 kits for the same price (shows where my true heart lies ). I gotta disagree with jenius on MPC vs. the Yamato 1/60s, though. I've got the complete set of 1/60s, and I like them a lot. I bought the first MPC, and then promptly ignored the rest of them until the YF-1R, which I did pick up as a quaint anomaly in Macross history. The 1/60s do have some of problems, but they look many times better than the MPCs, IMHO.

Actually, the numerical sequence is followed... they just don't always make it into production. There was a YF-17, XF-20, XF-21, etc. for all the missing numbers (F-19 being a mysterious one, since what it was applied to has never been released publicly). Numbers are taken out for experimental and prototype designs too. As for the F-111, F-117, etc., they were continuations of the Air Force numbering that goes back to before World War II. The "unified" numbering scheme (that crosses all armed forces) that was put in place in the 1960s which "rebooted" the numbering at 1. Some designs, however, had already been in design or production under the old numbering system, and so retained those numbers. As far as the B-52 and B-2, again it goes back to the unified numbering scheme. When they introduced it, they started all the numbers over again at 1 for bombers too. I wasn't meaning to exclude the VF-4... I just meant the writers of Macross II probably ignored it and went to VF-2 to follow VF-1. In canon (such as that is for Macross II) it is a part of the timeline, as you mention. I know... I was just trying to apply some kind of consistency to match the VF-2SS and VF-2JA. Most militaries don't add lettering that's an abbreviation of the plane name. From what I understand, the VF-XX was supposed to be an advanced technology demonstrator. After the Neld fleet invasion, the UN Spacy used the VF-XX to examine new technology prior to creating the VF-2SS. Since we're just hypothesizing, I guess any timeline's as good as another. You could apply a similar notion as the US restarting of the numbering. Maybe, after so long without any VF development, the UN Spacy decided to ignore all the model numbers that had come before, except the VF-1 (out of respect for the venerable fighter's long history) and start over at VF-2. That would fit with using VF-3 for the Metal Siren, and makes as much sense as anything. Makes more sense, to me, than going "backwards" to VF-1MS.

As far as I've seen, the VF-1MS is purely a creation of ye olde Palladium RPG, and the VF-4 numbering tends to come from people's misinterpretation of the VF-X-4 Siren reference in the Macross Compendium, which is a reference to an old video game (2036 or Eternal Love Story... I don't remember) that featured the VF-4 Siren with a different, much more VF-1ish, battroid mode than Kawamori's eventual VF-4 Lightning battroid. The "This Is Animation" volume you referenced earlier doesn't give the Metal Siren a designation, so I'd say that, according to the "canon" sources for Macross II, it doesn't have one. The designers of Macross II didn't seem to have a lot of consistency behind their numbering. I believe they picked VF-2 'cause Macross had VF-1, forgetting about the VF-4 entirely. The dual lettering used in Macross II has the first letter for head style and the second for "air"/"atmosphere" or "space" (e.g. the VF-2JA has a head reminscent of the VF-1J, and it's atmosphere only). Lettering by head style, again, seems just to link it back to Macross rather than any attempt at a consistent approach. Then there's the VF-XX, which seems pulled out of thin air. (What... they'll never have another experimental VF? Will the next one be VF-XXX? Have to ship that one in a plain brown crate...) If we were to speculate, though... - Since the Metal Siren is supposed to be brand new, in theory it would have had a new number taken out for it. Thus, it would be a "5". Of course, by that rationale, they should have used "5" for the VF-XX. But anyway... - The plane is more or less operational but not in production, so I'd say that makes it a prototype. Macross more or less follows American military naming conventions, so it would be a "YF". - The Metal Siren has a unique head design, and we only see it in space, but that doesn't mean it isn't meant for dual-role. So, it's a toss-up. Maybe "MS" is as good as anything since it's a new head style ("M"?) and "S" for space. So, maybe YF-5MS? Or YF-MS, if we assume no numbering like the VF-XX? Of course, if you wanted to apply Macross numbering to the whole thing, it would actually look like this... VF-1 Valkyire VF-X-2 (never manufactured) VF-X-3 (never manufactured) VF-4 Lightning/Siren VF-X-5 (instead of VF-XX) VF-6A Valkyrie II VF-7A Icarus YF-8A Metal Siren Edit: Spelling

... and capable of crushing small children should it fall on them.

The 1/72 Hasegawa flight crew figures I have run around 25 mm tall (hence the reason 1/72 is called 25mm scale in miniature gaming). I've never seen a 1/200 figure, but doing the math you're looking at 9-10 mm.

Well, since I'm just a sucker for all things fighter mode, I'd pay good money (what does that mean, anyway... is there such a thing as "bad money") for 1/72-scale fighter modes of the: - VF-14 - VF-17 - VF-5000 - Neo or Variable Glaug The VF-17 at least needs FAST packs as optional add-ons, so we can all buy two... one to model with FAST packs, and one without. On a more speculative side, I'd also be interested if someone with some impressive creative juice did a model of what the VF-16 High Performance VF might look like. While I didn't care a lot for Mylene's VF-11 Kai, the delta wings on a VF-11 were kinda nifty, and as I recall they were from the VF-16.

The image of a gerwalk-mode VF rolling over and diving or skating along the ground is, for me, an integral part of the Macross look and feel. Fighter mode will always be my favourite, 'cause I'm a military aircraft fan at heart, but I also love the look of the VF-1 and its direct "descendents" transformation-aesthetic-wise (VF-5000, VF-11, et al.) in gerwalk mode. It's also the only mode a Toynami MPC VF-1 looks good in, IMHO...

Okay... second try at this since a big power hiccup just reset my PC. I vaguely remember a thread (which I can't seem to locate) in which someone mentioned adverse affects of high humidity on flat coats. Since I usually let stuff dry on my balcony, and we've had 100% humidity and fog the last 3 days (weird enough for my landlocked province, but there it is), could someone confirm or deny this before I start doing some painting this weekend? Much obliged.

On the "technical" side, I think they're a keen idea. Aesthetically, I definitely prefer those with a sleeker look to those without. I like the VF-17's FAST packs, and the smaller add-on modules on the YF-19 and YF-21 in Macross Plus. The SAP for the VF-2SS was really nicely integrated into the whole design of the mecha as well. There were some non-canon FAST packs with one of the VF-5000 resin kits that were nicely designed too. Gotta agree with Awacs on the VF-22. It's my favourite VF, and with full-on chunky FAST packs, it ruins the flow of the airframe for me. Damn straight.

The Matchbox battlepods, designed to hold 3/34 inch figures, are more in the 1/55 - 1/60 scale. I had a picture of one of my Bandai VF-1s next to a friend's battlepod, and the scale was pretty close. I'll see if I can dig it up. The Bandai 1/100 officer's pod is pretty good. It's posability is a little limited, but it looks sharp when completed, IMHO.

You're funny looking and you dress off-season... ...just kidding.

We haven't seen anything non-transforming since the Quaedlunn-Rau, and I don't know how well that sold. So. I'm not holding my breath for anything other than the VF-0 and maybe SV-51... although I'd be a little concerned about possible fragility on the SV-51. I'll only pick up one of the toy VF-0s... saves me money for more model kits.

Mine too... now the Canadian Customs wait begins...

Guiltiest... pleasure... ever... I often wonder about that too. Even Star Trek fandom in North America isn't rabid enough to put up with lackluster quality forever. When I look at the toy collectors, at least those I know, they are getting fed up with exclusives and short-packs. People just want to collect the cool stuff they like, and resent having to jump through hoops and pay inflated prices to get them. When the crash comes, I think it'll stem from those artificial scarcity scams. I know that I've already reached the point where I can't be bothered to pay the jacked-up prices people expect for them on eBay. My local comic/toy store is pretty good about not upping prices on random and short packs unreasonably, although they do a little, but they seem to be the exception.

Ok, maybe this is the wrong topic to throw this under, but since it's not Macross-specific I tossed it here. stram8777 and I were briefly PMing about the comics crash of the 90s and whether it (or something similar) is comin' 'round again. I definitely don't see things as bad today as they were in the 90s. Back then, the surge in collecting was largely due to an influx of investor-only purchasing, driven by the stories coming out in the media about olds toys and comics being sold for megabucks (thanks in no small part to the rise of eBay and it's ilk). But I don't know whether this is likely to happen again in the same way. Back in the 90s, those huge sales were mostly by former children of the 70s and 80s, now grown up with disposable income and finding some value in nostalgia. Star Wars had given birth to a new merchandising paradigm that had action figures and comics out for just about everything around then (I've even got a Marvel Super Special for the Olivia Newton-John/Gene Kelly musical "Xanadu"). All that stuff was treated pretty ruggedly by the kids (my own Star Wars figures are in pretty rough condition from years of play), so mint examples were rare. Same thing with the classic comics. Thus, high prices ensued. In come the collectors, seeing only "35-cent / 2-dollar investment in 1970 turns into $1000 20 years later", and they began to snap stuff up. But the toy and comic companies increased production to meet the demand. With everyone buying these things and sealing them in mylar, there was no scarcity. When the first investors tried to liquidate some of their collections in the late 90s, they found they had all dropped in value, in some cases steeply. And, the bottom dropped out. Marvel had to file for Chapter 11 and was bailed out by Toy Biz. With Time/Warner backing them, DC was cushioned but still hurt. These days, I don't see my local comic store flooded like it was back then. Plus, the toy and comic companies started servicing the collectors more directly through artificial scarcity. The short-packed or store exclusive toy, convention exclusives, rare alternate covers... all these exist to try to prevent another crash. So, is it working?

I think stram8777 is right on the money, as far as the huge upswings in value are concerned. I don't think the newer toys will appreciate to the same degree that we see in toys from the 70s and 80s, simply because of greater supply and access, and the tendency for collectors to keep items mint in box. If everyone's got MIB toys, the demand just won't go up. Which is why we now have short-packed figures... artificial scarcity for the collectors. And by the way stram8777... it already happened in comics in the 90s and bankrupted Marvel when the collectors realized their books weren't appreciating like the classic books... but that <i>is</i> another topic...

Truly outstanding work! I can't wait to line this bad boy up beside my VF-1s.

I couldn't find it on HLJ, which it should be if it's coming out so soon. That's why I used Amazon JP instead.