Shaorin

GOOD GOD!! did i actually read that right? the Yen equivalent of around $95.00USD for Vol. 2?!?! geez, i'm sure glad i picked it up for around $20.00 on EBAY a couple years back...

exactly. i used to wonder how HG had managed to stay afloat all this time on the "strength" of the non-entity that RT has been for almost all of the past 20+ years, until i found out that HG is first and foremost a Californian real-estate firm, and that ROBOTECH was but a fun little diversion on the side. it's too bad, really, that HG has itself so safely ensconced, as i tend to feel that the best possible thing that could have happened for U.S. MACROSS fans (and RT fans, whether they realize it or not) would have been for HG and RT to have died out before the big Anime boom of the early 2000s, clearing the way for pure, unadulterated MACROSS to establish itself in the U.S. in all of it's variations...

i was planning to get one of these kits to build-up in a ROBOTECH VEXAR scheme sometime last year, but i pretty much decided to can that idea. nevertheless, i'm interested in picking this kit up someday, just for the inherent fun of building my own 1/60v.II as one would a plastic model kit...

pretty much what i went through during my short lived U.S. comics fandom of the mid/late nineties. i believe i started WIZARD in 1996, and seldom missed an issue 'til about 1999ish, when i fell out of U.S. comics completely, and went full bore into my true passion, Anime and Manga. i had managed along the way to collect the entire series of collector cards that WIZARD had included every issue starting in '96, and lasting for about 20-odd issues IIRC... pretty much the same here for me. i followed TF for quite a few years, but my decidedly japanese taste in toys started outgrowing the magazine's mostly USA-centric content pretty damned fast by the early 2000s...

the CMs "GUTTO KURU" ("Good Cool") statue; anyone have one to sell?

please do. you'll be doing yourself the greatest favor as a VF-1 fan. trust me on this...

YF-19(all new mold AKA V2 1/60 YF-19)/VF-19A

- EDIT; 1/25 11 - hey there, gang. here's my old 1/72 variable VF-1s, both of which i had picked up at a collector's toy shop in PORTLAND, OR. ("Billy Galaxy" LONG GONE, AFAIK)(TAKE THAT BACK, HE'S STILL AROUND: http://www.billygalaxy.com/index.html ) in a trade deal, back around 2001/2002ish. i had a moderate sized lot of TRANS FORMERS that i did not want, and B. GALAXY had an unbuilt variable IMAI VF-1A and built-up but unpainted BANDAI variable VF-1S that i very much wanted at the time. he traded me a value of $125.00 credit in his shop, and i used it for both of these kits, in addition to a handful of other items. i recently picked up an unbuilt REVELL/CEJI ROBOTECH "VEXAR" IMAI VF-1S repackage, due to sentimental reasons, and decided to combine it with the finished BANDAI 1S to make myself a bit of "sentimental fanservice" like i said, i painted and decaled that built-up 1S, and hung on to the IMAI VF-1A until about four years ago, during a boring period, when i went ahead and built it up. here are the results, though surely nothing to wet one's pants over... the worst things about these are that whoever had built the 1S had installed the die-cast MAIN landing gear backwards, so i had to pry the legs open to fix that. further, he/she had ALSO managed to glue one of the two said bays shut, and i had long since busted the hinge, i had thought irreparably, in order to fix the gear. years later, i returned to it, and managed to rebuild a fully functional hinge into the door. i had applied the included fully unused decals on the 1S, and sealed them in with some of my father's old dullcoat lacquer, which, as you might have noticed, has rather yellowed badly in ten years... now the IMAI VF-1A i built from the parts-runner up. i attempted to do as good a job on it as i knew how, however, i was forced at the time to implement some rather questionable flat white paint that dried with a decidedly ugly finish, ruining any chances if anything evenly remotely approaching a semi-pro like paint job. to hell with that, i decided, and just finished the damned model. i started decal application, and, after somehow barely managing to successfully apply the "PILOT-MAX-GENIUS" on either side of the finished canopy, i couldn't get the U.N. SPACY kite emblems to take hold, and they got ruined. i gave up on the old decals, and left the model as-was, until i found that, after finishing decal application on my YAMATO 1/60v.II, that there were just enough of the right types of decals left on it's sheet to fully replace the bad waterslides on that old IMAI 1A. the result, of course, was seen up above...

hey there, gang. here's my old 1/72 variable VF-1s, both of which i had picked up at a collector's toy shop in PORTLAND, OR. ("Billy Galaxy" LONG GONE, AFAIK)(TAKE THAT BACK, HE'S STILL AROUND: http://www.billygalaxy.com/index.html ) in a trade deal, back around 2001/2002ish. i had a moderate sized lot of TRANS FORMERS that i did not want, and B. GALAXY had an unbuilt variable IMAI VF-1A and built-up but unpainted BANDAI variable VF-1S that i very much wanted at the time. he traded me a value of $125.00 credit in his shop, and i used it for both of these kits, in addition to a handful of other items. i recently picked up an unbuilt REVELL/CEJI ROBOTECH "VEXAR" IMAI VF-1S repackage, due to sentimental reasons, and decided to combine it with the finished BANDAI 1S to make myself a bit of "sentimental fanservice" like i said, i painted and decaled that built-up 1S, and hung on to the IMAI VF-1A until about four years ago, during a boring period, when i went ahead and built it up. here are the results, though surely nothing to wet one's pants over... the worst things about these are that whoever had built the 1S had installed the die-cast MAIN landing gear backwards, so i had to pry the legs open to fix that. further, he/she had ALSO managed to glue one of the two said bays shut, and i had long since busted the hinge, i had thought irreparably, in order to fix the gear. years later, i returned to it, and managed to rebuild a fully functional hinge into the door. i had applied the included fully unused decals on the 1S, and sealed them in with some of my father's old dullcoat lacquer, which, as you might have noticed, has rather yellowed badly in ten years... now the IMAI VF-1A i built from the parts-runner up. i attempted to do as good a job on it as i knew how, however, i was forced at the time to implement some rather questionable flat white paint that dried with a decidedly ugly finish, ruining any chances if anything evenly remotely approaching a semi-pro like paint job. to hell with that, i decided, and just finished the damned model. i started decal application, and, after somehow barely managing to successfully apply the "PILOT-MAX-GENIUS" on either side of the finished canopy, i couldn't get the U.N. SPACY kite emblems to take hold, and they got ruined. i gave up on the old decals, and left the model as-was, until i found that, after finishing decal application on my YAMATO 1/60v.II, that there were just enough of the right types of decals left on it's sheet to fully replace the bad waterslides on that old IMAI 1A. the result, of course, was seen up above...

oh. my. gawd. i mean, i realize it was a time trial and all, but, UGH!! i could NEVER stomach manipulating my 1/60v.II so ham-fistedly!! at least that frightening video just proved to me just how rugged a properly manufactured 1/60v.II VF-1 actually is!!

i'll have both of those in about a week from today or so (1/23/11) and i'll be posting pics here...

do you have any of her wearing the outfit she wears at the end of DYRL to spare?

i can most deeply emphasize with what RT fandom must surely be going through right now... still, as a modern, sophisticated MACROSS fan with full access to the net and all of the advantages therein, i for one, am sure mighty thankful to be largely free of HG and their ROBOTECH oriented incompetence. i mean, in my dark ages of early MACROSS fandom, (1990's) i would have died of pleasure convulsions to have something like the TOYNAMI MPC VF-1 series. hell, i was highly keen about them when they first came to market in the early 2000s. i had no net connection back then, aside from getting to infrequently stay at my grandma's and use her connection. even then, i found the BANDAI VF HCMs to be the pinnacle of VF scale model design, the TOYNAMI MPCs, being somewhat loosely based upon them, the only thing that really came close at the time. despite the early enthusiasm, i had somehow ended up at the time with a YAMATO 1/60 VF-1A DYRL Hik. instead of any of the VF-1 MPCs despite the fact that i was MOST unhappy with it's PARTS-FORMING design. what can i say? i was a fan of VERY LITTLE means at the time, rather used to the suffering of an SDF MACROSS fan throughout the GUNDAM-centric nineties, and therefore quite willing to gratefully and enthusiastically take what i could get... fortunately, that travesty of design was soon to be replaced with a Yammie 1/48 VF-1S Focker a couple years later. the 1/48 became my VF standard bearer until 2008ish... today, after "Making Do" for so very long, i am most happy to finally have the means (no thanks to HG and RT) to get EXACTLY the MACROSS items i have wanted for a VERY LONG TIME now, and, by FEB. of this year, i plan to have my personal VF-1 collection completed, encompassing what i feel to be the best of the 20th century, as well as the 21st to date; * the YAMATO 1/60v.II VF-1J Hik. T.V. which i have had for a couple years now. * the 1986 BANDAI HCM of the same, which i'll be buying this week. * the 1983 IMAI 1/72 variable model kit of the same, which i plan to obtain in FEBRUARY. with this foundation complete, i intend to start making up for lost time as a MACROSS fan by pursuing some of the artbooks and technical materials, hopefully completing a tidy little overall collection within a couple years or so. while i'm starting to feel a little spoiled and reckless, i know that i'll be deeply appreciating for life any and all of the MACROSS collectables i have yet gotten, and others that i might have the opportunity of owning in the future, as i have NEVER ONCE forgotten the deep starving desire i was forced to endure during the lion's share of my time as a MACROSS fan...

THE BEST OF THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT (CD, ARISTA, 1983) KITARO; THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRIT (CD, GEFFEN, 1987) found both CD albums, both original first editions, at a thrift for $2.50ea. i would have rather found a copy of A.P. PROJECT's "I ROBOT" album on CD, but at least the greatest hits collection here provides me a full length copy of "EYE IN THE SKY" and KITARO? excellent sound quality and all, but definitely mood music, meant for when you're in JUST the right mood...

i recommend you go with TAMIYA COLOR exclusively. in my personal plastic modeling experience of twenty years, i've found the TAMIYA brand to be the all-round best quality of plastic model pigment, with the best designed bottles in the industry, hands down, and the paint itself MOST easy to work with... speaking of; i'm gonna have to hit my local HOBBY TOWN U.S.A. to pick up some TAMIYA gloss-pink, semi-gloss black, and semi-gloss flesh, to paint up the little unfinished DYRL Minmay-chan that comes with the 1/72 1986 BANDAI HCM VF-1J that i will be buying this week...

indeed! cant wait to experience it on CD through this;

just got to see TRON LEGACY yesterday (1/16/11) with my family for my upcoming birthday (1/23/1982) it really was special for me, as, while i was but an infant when TRON hit theaters in '82, i had always enjoyed the movie throughout my childhood in the late 1980's and all through the 1990s to present. it brings a further sense of deep spiritual connection to me, that i very much appreciate. only way it could have been any better is if we had seen the film on my exact B-Day, but never mind that. i went to the movie with no small trepidation, expecting a vapid "Summer Popcorn Movie" in the dead of winter, however, i left the theater finding myself impressed instead. for me, this really did feel like a meaningful sequel. i feel they did an excellent job of reflecting the modern state of computer tech, in just as effective a fashon as they did with the first movie. they showed you that, while the computer world has advanced remarkably far in the thirty years since the original, far more than anyone might have imagined in 1982, it is still a very imperfect place. there was also a real heart and soul to this sequel, and i won't give it away to those who haven't yet seen it. i have the old 2001 20th Anniv. DVD release of TRON (1982) as well as it's accompanying CD soundtrack, the very first ever release of the movie's soundtrack on CD. i'll be adding TRON LEGACY's DVD and BRD releases to my collection, as well as the CD soundtrack...

the link seems to be broken on my end...

hell, i dunno, Hikaru Ichijo? 'cause he flew my favorite VF-1 variant;

well, actually, the Middy Blouse of this style of japanese schoolgirl uniform is supposed to be loose-fitting. i DID, however, take a bit of liberty with the sleeves, making them a bit fuller than they're supposed to be. a personal preference. and yes, her generic OBITSU body is inaccurate. however, that does not seem to bother me at all, DESPITE the fact that i've seen and collected TONS of Mikuru official art, fan art, and screen caps, making myself in the process quite familiar with Mikuru's canon physiognomy...

'fraid i prefer the 1/60 YF-19v.1 design. i was considering waiting for a YF-19v.II based on this mold, but it is far to squat and bulky for my taste. i'll be getting either the VF-19v.1 or -19DN...

i don't really MIND any of the new stuff all that much, i just prefer to stick with 1980's vintage as long as i possibly can. and yes, that ONKYO kit is quite fetching, though i am a PIONEER loyalist...

nasty old photos of my Quarter-A$$ed collection. i'll get around to taking some new ones, once i get an HCM VF-1J Hikaru to go with my 1/60v.II of the same...

great job!! reminds me of when i attempted a VF-1 papercraft model five+ years back. never got too far before giving up on it...