drifand

From the tech specs on my old 1/60 Ingram toy: 37mm Revolver Cannon, 90mm Shotgun BTW, if you own the Patlabor WXIII special edition DVDs, the extra Mini-Pato feature has one episode with Goto explaining EVERYTHING about the Patlabor firearms. Very otaku (scripted by Oshii), pretty funny.

Looking real good, but I wonder if Edna Mode would approve... of the cape, that is.

Yup!

Thanks to "Valkyrie" for a very informative post about the evolution of the VB-6 from model to toy... The observations about the nose cone are particulary interesting; if Yamato manages to improve this for a v2.0, I might seriously consider a second purchase. Please do post some comparison pix when you can. :-)

I knew something was missing. My Monsters are stuck at customs. At least they are here I suppose. Can someone tell us if we can fire the rail cannons in Battroid mode? According to the Macross Compendium's page on the VB-6, there's no indication that the rail guns are disabled in Battroid-mode. Fire away!

That is correct: 1/48's don't mean much to me. Lot's of reasons, but it boils down to the fact that I place greater importance on the Battroid mode over the Fighter mode... and the 1/60's have got the overall proportions done much better for my preferences. Anyway... I decided to see how I could fit the VB-6 in Battroid mode! Afterall, that's why I had to raise the shelf in the first place: Very tight fit made possible only by shifting/squeezing the whole 1/55 line-up to the left. Once VB-6 was in, I decided the two 1/100 destroids (from the TT Conversion Kit set) made the perfect complements. Now I definitely wish I can obtain one more 1/100 Defender. :-) A closer look: With the right mods, the 1/60 VF-1J's can achieve excellent Battroid poses without support... I like them! :-)

Rummaging thru my meagre VF-X2 graphics collection, I came across these 2 beauts: Who knows? If the sales for the VB-6 are good, we might soon see something like a "limited edition TRU Player-2 colors" version... :-)

Zilch for 1/48's... they do nothing for me. (And let's not go into any debates, ya?) Top shelf is pure ORGUSSmic mecha pleasure: :-)

On account of the big guy, I had to raise my mid-level shelves by 2" to accomodate it... Could've displayed it in battroid mode with the cannons pointing forward, but it would have totally blocked off some of my 1/55's: Also decided to junk the 1/60 GBP armor and leave Hikaru's 1J in its original glory - it poses much better now. :-)

Can you post some pix of the damage?

I guess the el'cheapo cover art for R1 Innocence should've been a warning... but I'm already waiting for my Amazon package to arrive. Seems any GITS related VOL. 2 DVDs are jinxed. But until a better version is released, this is the best we can hope for...

If you've dared to disassemble pricey vintage mecha toys before, the Gakken 1/35 is no problem at all. I think the only worry is how to deal with the irreplaceable stickers that cover across both halves of the leg. For folks who don't care about "MIB" resale value (like me), simply use an exacto blade to slice the stickers neatly down the middle along the seam line before taking the leg apart. No one will really notice after you put them back together, AND it prevents any unsightly peel-off marks and sticker-curling. As for the foot, you'll find that it uses a small plastic "clicker" rubbing against a row of raised grooves (also plastic). On some Alpha's, these grooves/studs have worn out (bad!) and the floppy foot won't lock in any position. OTOH, some toys have the clicker rammed-up tight against some of these grooves at a sharp angle, like in your case. Forcing the issue will probably either destroy the clicker or grooves. So you should take it apart, then apply some lube to the grooves (Teflon lube for bike chains is not bad). I've done the same for 2 of my Alphas, as well as repaired the broken hip-joint "clickers" on another. That's why ALL-PLASTIC construction isn't as appealing to me - durability suffers! Good luck!

"PC problems" = 356,000 "Mac problems" = 10,700 The "winner" is PC!

I'm getting the SE because I don't like the measly Dolby 2.0 Japanese soundtrack on the original Manga release. The new anamorphic video transfer SHOULD be better than the original, which was not bad in its own right. One thing Manga did right with the original DVD was that the English subtitles were a transliteration of the Jp dialogue, NOT a dumbass transcript of the crappy English dub. ie, Watching the film in Japanese, you don't see the subs going "I don't BELIEVE IT! Thermoptic camoflage!" when Motoko vanishes during the opening act. (Always hated the dub for that bit of stupidity. WHY wouldn't govt troops "believe" in TO camo? S6 used it themselves!) Why I mention this is because some friends purchased the recent pricey Japanese R2 SE DVDs that came in a VERY nice silver-tinted slip-case and included a special booklet. Unfortunately, the video quality was only average(!) for a "SE" release, and the staff curiously chose to use the lousy English dub as the basis for the subtitles as well. Terrific sound quality but un-meaningful subtitles. Bad move. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for THIS Anchor Bay release. They've done some excellent work before, especially on the Black Hole, Final Countdown and other "cult movies". Ideally, it should have 2 sets of subs, one for each language presented.

Cool pix! Gotta be 12 inches at least.

Low Viz?! This MONSTER will never be low viz!

The box art does suffer from the generic cookie cutter paint programs where filters is their one button does it all desktop publishing answer. Who the hell is in charge at their art department? I can't stand that Brush Script typeface. Oh the hell with it. If they do more to the box then they'll have some genuine excuse to jack up the price. Damn, would it hurt for them to put some CAD drawings of the toy rather than the photoshopped filtered images. I would really like it if they commisioned Tenjin to do some illustrative work. But we all know we ain't buyin this just for the box but rather the masterpiece inside. Yamato's design staff used up all their artisic license on the packaging for the 1/12 Scopedog, and so reverted to default Photoshop filters for Macross products once more.

iTunes and iPod support the highest quality available for portable music files: AIFF and Apple Lossless Audio Encoding. If you absolutely do not want to compromise, why settle for OGG or whatever? AIFF is exactly what you're getting on CDs now... you CAN play it back on iTunes and iPods, though the HUGE file sizes gobble up space and battery life. In which case Apple Lossless, based on wavelet compression technology does the same job in about half the size. So don't ever say Apple didn't give the quality sticklers a viable alternative. The RIAA is here to stay; want to do business and thrive? Better find a good compromise between appeasing the rights owners and the customers... Like Apple. As for design and taste... why argue? "Simple and timeless" to some will always be "too plain and boring" for others. "High-tech and dazzling" to another crowd will look "geeky and inelegant" to the next. Same for the usabilty-versus-"i don't need it" arguments over iTunes. Some folks just love doing things themselves... from keeping track of hundreds/thousands of music files, to on-the-fly playlists (which the latest iPods CAN do). I've heard so many people spell out why they refuse to get an iPod... and YET, I've never met any iPod owner who hates his purchase with such vehemence. They're usually too busy having fun.

I'm with Radd with regards to how GOOD CG animation should look. From the moment I saw the preview, I kinda expected Appleseed to turn out the way it is... overly clean and too sharp, like there wasn't any atmospheric blurring between the audience and the distant buildings. (Heck, the Blade Runner FX crew solved THAT issue with analogue means back in the 80's!!). At least in the SAC series, Production IG didn't let that happen too often (if at all)... and Appleseed is a movie! As for Innocence, the "too sharp" issue only happens in a couple of instances - most memorably the tilt-rotor plane's flight (beautiful BR-inspired landscapes, but plane and birds too stiff), and the robot parade (offset to some degree by the slow camera panning and sheer eye-candy).

The original GX-01 Mazinger had a whole bunch of parts that you had to cut off the sprues and assemble, even for such usually pre-assembled things as the forearms. Many Japanese fans hated that 'coz it mean't the toy could never be "C-10" once you've decided to actually play/display it. The revised version corrects this "gunpla mentality" oversight - I believe no assembly is require to enjoy the toy, except for the stand. All this and of course the slightly better proportions too.

War machines on a Christmas tree... Hmm.

If the VB-6 gets released before the cut-off date, it would make a worthy nominee - not that many people would have a chance to own it and form a good opinion. The Q-rau would also qualify as a nominee, unlike the re-colored 1/48's; so if you really, really love it - go ahead and register as a member and cast your vote. :-) I gave my nomination vote to help second the SOP Kaneda's Bike, but I think I'll give my TOTY vote to the SOC Garada K7. THAT is one funky toy.

I think it's been reported elsewhere that Yamato plan to release the "Round-mover" and "Red-Shoulder Custom" packs separately, ala 1/48 FP Armor sets... I really like the improved articulation in the ankles, but will wait for the actual toy to arrive before making a decision. I'm much more likely to be buying the OTHER pricey Yamato toy this December... de Konig M.

Brings to mind the previous thread with the totally awesome Kaneda's Bike, complete with blue-LEDs in the wheel-rims. Inspiring! :-)

Well, I only went for the SOC EVA-03 and 04 myself... the toys are basically the same, but different, you know? ;-)