Shaorin

just finally bit it yesterday (9-15-11) on a PS3 "Move" bundle, as that was the best overall deal in my area. well, "It only does Everything" whatever the hell that is supposed to mean, and i already have several games for it that i bought months ago when they first came out, so it was high time i picked one of these incredible, magical, sexually-charged "Everything" machines up for myself, i suppose. at any rate, despite the fact that i had just dropped $350 on the damned console, plus another $20 on MGS4 GREATEST HITS, i just couldn't seem to help but drop another $50 on this, what with it's rather Adorable female chara designs and all; comes with a very nice Artbook and a fairly useless (to me, at least) Omake box containing a couple decks of cards (one with "spirit elements" from the game itself, the other a standard deck of playing cards with photos of the characters on the K/Q/J/A cards) at any rate, the first games me and my sister tried were the CASTLEVANIA; LORDS OF SHADOW that she bought earlier this year since she is an ardent CASTLEVANIA fan, and MGS4, as i am something of an MGS Veteran, having gone completely through every MGS so far save for 3, which i never cared for, and, of course, this fourth installment. what can i say? graphics are awesome. the game manages to look and feel so hard-boiledly realistic that it can get somewhat disturbing to me at times. still, i'm managing, and am about three hours in at present...

JUST TRY IT, PAL...

EXACTLY. my point was; that the Yammie 1/60v.II is the closest anyone has yet come to date to crafting an accurate, fully transformable VF-1 replica that comes as close as possible, for it's scale and price point, to precisely depicting exactly what the VF-1 would end up being designed like in the real world, as an honest to goodness three-form variable airframe, if such a vehicle was even possible. YAMATO's engineers bent over backwards to attempt to design a fully variable VF-1 replica that nose-tip to tail-tip, wing to wing, takes into exacting account that it is a sleek fighter aircraft that transforms into a somewhat less-sleek "BATTROID" humanoid robot form. as such, i personally see the 1/60v.II FIGHTER mode's proportions not as "chunky" "inaccurate" or "compromised" but as an exacting depiction of just what a real-life VF-1 would most likely look like, were it to be capable of everything that it is supposed to be. in the end, i suppose that some MACROSS fans are content to pretend that the VF-1 is an aerospace fighter that DOES NOT transform, or perhaps that it actually does, but that the smaller, "Sleeker" elements to be found in the many "Fanciful" replica depictions of it's FIGHTER mode somehow magically grow in size and/or modestly change shape when the vehicle shifts to it's BATTROID form. myself, however, after SO many years of being forced to live with "Anime Magic" in my MACROSS replicas, i am quite sick to death of it, and am ever so thankful to YAMATO, for all the amazing engineering miracles that they have managed to accomplish to date. after all, if all i ever wanted was a model of a fighter plane, i could go right on over to my local HOBBY TOWN USA today, and pick up a very nice 1/72 HASE F-14 kit for around $33 and change. that's ONE HELL of a lot cheaper than the average 1/60v.II. but then again, the 1/72 F-14 is a model kit of a sadly defunct, real world military vehicle, while the 1/60v.II is all that, and so much more... well, i'm well into starting on it, so it's much too late for selling...

actually, the 1/60v.II IS a more realistic portrayal of the VF-1. why? because it is carefully and precisely proportioned to reflect exactly what a VF-1 would have to be designed like in order to pull off a three form transformation in the three-dimensional, physical real-world, had technology advanced far enough along to make such a variable-form military vehicle possible in the first place. i, for one, see the 1/60v.II as no simple "Toy" but a precision scale replica of a theoretical advanced combat vehicle design that is simply not possible to realize with current technology, but nevertheless functions beautifully as a functional scale mock-up...

me, i'm just ever so glad and thankful that it's the 21st century, and HG and their ROBOTECH Hyperbole is far from the only game in town for us Western MACROSS fans. HG can knock themselves out to their heart's content on the "Stone Age" of Anime fandom, for all i care anymore...

cause i was always curious about the 1/72 HASE kits, ever since they first came out, and have always had a nagging yen to give one a shot one of these days. i started out in MACROSS fandom with the old, awful fixed-mode 1/100 ARII kits, back in the early 1990's, and ever since the HASE's came about, back in 2001, i had been feeling that i should come full-circle, so to speak, and give the "New" 1/72 FIGHTER, and perhaps the BATTROID as well, a spin. alas, i underestimated the high standard that the current Yammie 1/60v.II has set for me, and as elegant and beautiful a FIGHTER as this 1/72 makes, it simply does not come even close to accurately imitating a portrayal of a properly proportioned, fully functional replica of the three-form, variable fighter that is the VF-1, as the 1/60v.II so elegantly accomplishes. to be honest, after nearly 20 years of having to make-do with fixed-mode VF-1 models, none of which have ever taken even remotely into account that what they are so poorly attempting to portray is in fact a sleek fighter jet that transforms into a sleek humanoid Mecha, i just simply burned myself completely out of VF-1 models that cut a "Romantic" and mutually incompatible portrayal of the war machine in each of it's three variable forms. in sum, i thought i could set this mindset of mine aside, and enjoy attempting this 1/72 as a sentimental "Tribute" to how it all started for me with MACROSS, but what i did not fully realize, until i got this kit, was that my 1/60v.II VF-1J Ichijo T.V. did ALL of that for me, and more, in ways that this 1/72, nor any other fixed-form HASE VF-1 kit, it would seem, ever could. sadly, all this model has done in effect is "Backfire" on me, and open old wounds of a long period in which i had long lusted for, and dreamed of, something quite exactly like what the Yammie 1/60v.II is, but had to make-do, for WAY too damned long, on deeply flawed old fixed-mode VF-1 model kits. don't worry; i've learned my lesson; the 1/60v.II is my GOLD STANDARD for VF-1 replicas, and there simply is no going back for me...

just received this thing a couple days back. i can already tell that, while this is definitely the best fixed-mode VF-1 model that's ever crossed my way, and it definitely does a superb job of simulating a variable-form aircraft, by early-2000's standards, it very much pales in comparison to a modern meisterwerk such as that of the YAMATO 1/60v.II, in it's precisely-balanced overall proportions, and accuracy in portrayal of an honest-to-goodness, fully functional scale replica, in three dimensions, of a fighter jet that happens to transform into a robot. in effect, the 1/60v.II has very much spoiled me for any other scale replica iteration of the VF-1, as it is, IMO, the FIRST, and ONLY VF-1 replica to date that has been carefully and accurately engineered as a fully functional transforming aircraft in three-dimensional, real-world physics, with absolutely no compromise. engineered in service to itself, as a variable Aircraft/Mecha, not in service to the ultimately flawed original early-1980's line art, nor in service to looking "Best" in one specific form. in sum, to restate myself, all this has totally spoiled me for any other scale iteration of the VF-1, and has totally destroyed my ability to suspend disbelief in any fixed-form VF-1 model that attempts to fool the eye into belief that the model can transform when it in fact cannot. that said, perhaps the HASEGAWA's new 1/48 version can succeed where this older 1/72 has ultimately failed?

ah, thanks. it's too bad, really, as even though the MAC II designs aren't exactly my favorites, and i happen to absolutely DESPISE the "METAL SIREN" i really wouldn't mind seeing a nice 1/60 Yammie VF-2JA in addition to the obligatory VF-2SS; VF-2JA VF-2SS

oh gawd. those ANTARCTIC PRESS ROBOTECH comic scans just bring back BAD memories for me. pure pain, to be quite sure. not so terribly long ago, (a little over a decade) i was but yet another pathetic, criminally-malnourished MACROSS/ROBOTECH fan, jealously devouring every little fraction of even loosely based MACROSS/ROBOTECH material i could manage to desparately dredge up, including those godawful AP comics. it's a strangely interesting, yet exceedingly painful mental condition to be in; to be a fan so psychotically desperate and under-fed in their particular fandom, that one enthusiastically and gratefully accepts even the slightest and most woefully inadequate tidbits that HG had deigned themselves to toss out in the existing ROBOTECH fandom's general direction... ...Youth is, as they say, rather Wasted on the Young...

doesn't BANDAI/EMOTION still have some sort of long-term exclusive rights going with MACROSS II? that could explain YAMATO's inability and/or lack of interest in producing MAC II products. that, and possibly japanese fan-apathy towards MAC II in general. IIRC, MACROSS II fairly went over like a lead balloon in japan during it's initial release...

i love both...

yep, gotta love the Awesome OST...

i still have a little work left to finish on that 1/35 AS-5E3 LEYNOS and it's Faux pilot fig. aside from that, i'll actually be getting my very first HASEGAWA MACROSS kit soon, thanks to a fellow MWer; at one time, i had sworn completely off of fixed-mode MACROSS models, but i've finally come to the point where i've changed my mind, and after living through over a half-dozen 1/100 ARIIs of all three modes, 1J/1A/1S types, and one each of the IMAI/BANDAI 1/100 SUPER BATTROID -1S, 1/72 SUPER FIGHTER -1S and 1/72 BATTROID -1S, all of which i did throughout the 1990's and into the early 2000's, i think i'm finally ready to tackle one of HASEGAWA's 21st century MACROSS offerings. this ought to prove quite interesting... as well as a quantum leap forward from all those ancient kits i attempted so long ago...

and see where it got them back in WWII? it damned well better have!!

"i can't stand it" "it's a crap toy" WOW, would you mind donating it to me, then? srsly? more like; "it's a crap review" but one thing it DID do was demonstrate, once more, how absolutely AMAZING this "Toy"'s engineering is. makes me really want it, RIGHT THIS MINUTE, McDonalds VF or no. if i was even mildly comfortably financially well off, i'd think i'd drop the $250+ right this moment on the strength of that "review" alone!! i'll be getting my own 1/60 YF-19v.I for the very first time soon, and i'm quite certain it'll satisfy, but there is nonetheless no doubt in my mind, after that video, that the new 19 chassis is a QUANTUM LEAP forward indeed. it is just too bad that YAMATO's new standard MSRPs are just SO damned far out of my range for what i can consider reasonable for a "Toy" in my current general financial state. if i ever get to the position in the not-terribly-distant future where i can excuse dropping that kind of cash on a new YAMATO Valk, it will definitely have to be on a YF-19v.II, which MAY or MAY NOT happen an unforeseeable number of years from now, perhaps maybe just in time for me to actually be in a position to afford one. in the meantime, i'll stop holding my breath and attempting to bank on what is essentially nothing more than an uncertain future possibility, and finally settle down for a YF-19 1/60v.I right now, while it still remains an option ...

this provides a good venue in which for me to finally get around to asking, i think; why is there so much general fan apathy towards MACROSS II, anyway? yes, the English dub is BAD, but that cannot be the only, or even primary reason why this entry in the MACROSS series has long been generally considered as the Ugly Duckling, can it?

PM'ed...

EXACTLY how i have always felt. the 1980's TOS cast movies were trek at it's finest, IMO, as was TNG. as far as ST Starship design is concerned, the 80's movies were as good as it ever got. TNG Enterprise-D is i fine vessel overall, a bit out of proportion, from secondary hull to saucer section, but a decent ship design on the whole. after that, however, ST ship design just got exponentially worse as the years went on, and, to me, the VOYAGER is the quintessential All-Time-Low. it's a hideous, hideous Starship, to my eye. consequentially, ST stopped being interesting to me after TNG ended. the TNG movies got pretty weak after FIRST CONTACT as well, IMO. as far as TREK is concerned, i wouldn't half mind being a kid all over again, taking in, for the very first time, the majestic beauty of what instantly became, and has remained to this day, my personal all-time favorite Starship design, ST or otherwise;

Really Now; who, might i ask, is this Miss "Grace" ?

the "Gullet" does not bother me an iota. what DOES bother me, however, is the new VF-19 series' "Bulbous" and "Droopy" nosecone profile; compare with the old YF-19's more tapered nosecone, with a far more gentle underside "Slope" that ends up looking more "Proportionate" to me, on the whole, overall; finally, some pics that i swiped that that fairly effectively illustrate the differences between the two; make no mistake; the new VF-19 series design is an engineering meisterwork. that said, i just can't seem to help but prefer the old YF-19 overall....

OH MY GOD, you must have one INCREDIBLY ♥Sweet Little Thing♥ for a Waifu!! you're one hell of a lucky guy. i think i'm gonna be Jealous...

Who's "Grace" ?

that may be, but i don't hardly believe for a second that his rather striking resemblance in that poster's depiction to one Alto Saotome of MAC. Frontier fame is any sort of mere coincidence. OR to phrase the same assertion much more simply; F&$K YOU, HG!!!!

thanks. wish i could find a bigger version of that pic, as it's my favorite of Mikuru Asahina of Haruhi Suzumiya fame...

i might... http://www.hlj.com/product/CMS65330