Shaorin

as i stated somewhere he on MW in the past, i've never seen this Anime past Ep.1. while i'm heavily considering getting the complete collections, i'm honestly not so sure that the series' alleged "Zaniness" would appeal all that much to me. still, i'm finding myself ever more compelled to give the series a shot, all on the strength of one darling sweet little lady; yes, i ♥Love♥ Miss Mikuru Asahina!! i haven't really seen her series at all, but nevertheless, the moment i had first seen her, back around the series' debut, 2005/2006ish, probably in an issue of NEWTYPE USA (R.I.P.) it was an undeniable Love♥ at first sight. several years on, i finally get an internet connection (*Embarrassing*) and go looking for the Mikuru Figma, and happen instead across the MegaHouse Mikuru doll that i now have. oh, my GOD!! i HAD to have her♥ she was everything i had truly wanted, but had ended up settling on the Figma for, not realizing that a doll of her had even existed! when i got her, i was taken to heaven above. still i had one little problem; her GINORMOUS melons!! i must be the only man on earth that actually DISLIKES "Z" cups on a woman, god save my soul... i found, however, that Mikuru's body was made by OBITSU corp. and that they made stock doll bodies for hobbyists. i was elated to find and order a body with smaller, "M" size breasts in Mikuru's skin tone. the results are shown above. as a long time doll hobbyist, i found that Mikuru's lingerie wasn't quite as "finished" as i thought it should be, so i added lace trim to the bra and panties, as well as made her a pair of frilly socks and a coordinated garter. all of which can also be seen in the above photos. i ♥Love♥ my precious little princess, and i'm planning to make several outfits for her, starting with a japanese elementary schoolgirl uniform (white red and dark royal blue) a wedding dress, and possibly also a copy of Lynn Minmay's concert costume seen at the climax of MACROSS; D.Y.R.L. at any rate, i'll be rather busy...

-FROM WIKIPEDIA- Shaorin (守護月天 小璘, Shugogetten Shaorin?) A moon spirit who wears traditional styled costumes, she has little understanding of the human world after spending a few thousand years in the confines of the shitenrin. Throughout the anime her purpose is to protect Tasuke and she does so by summoning different assistants called Hoshigami (星神, literally "star gods") through the ring. She initially causes trouble for Tasuke by destroying harmless household objects in her efforts to protect him. She is banned from going to the school after destroying some of it. Because of this, Shaorin sends Rishuu to protect Tasuke at school. In the manga her misguided efforts to protect him the first day cause Tasuke to order her to go away, saying that he can protect himself. A bit later she apologizes and asks his permission to protect him from loneliness. On that basis the manga continues. She develops feelings for Tasuke and gets jealous when Kaori shows up in anime episode 12 and in the last 2 episodes, she finally realizes what she feels for Tasuke. In the manga, as a spirit, she profoundly does not understand these feelings. Her guardian, the hoshigami Nankyuko-Jusei, counsels her that these are feelings that she should not learn. He means that it will make eternity harder for her when she must part from Tasuke. Her given name might be Shao, with "-rin" being an affectionate suffix. Vol 5 of the manga shows that people casually familiar with her think that she's an ordinary person and her family name (last name) is "Shugogetten". (for more info, follow the link in my Sig...)

damn, that's cool. geez, most everything i have is important to me, so i guess i'd have to ask the nearest Zentran to pull my room away from the burning house. seriously though, i'd say it would likely be these;

i'm looking at a "Double Nuts" as my next Valk purchase. it will be my very first YAMATO 19 series Valk, the only other 19 series i've ever owned being the 1/65 BANDAI FIRE VALKYRIE and both of the 1/100 parts-forming BANDAI MAC 7 kits. i've wanted a decent, perfect transformation replica of the good old-fashioned MAC PLUS YF-19 ever since i got my very first "Transformable" Valk, the 1/100 BANDAI MAC 7 Excalibur, back in 1996. this "Double Nuts" variant looks just beautiful to me. better even than the original MAC PLUS color scheme, which was previously my 19-series standard. plus, i very much like what i hear about it's QC, fit, and finish. so, i do indeed believe that the Nuts is THE 19-series for me. i'll be trying to spring for it before the year's out...

i'd like one too!!

oh god, don't remind me of those!! i must have wasted about $200 on those things back in the late nineties! i was such a desperate-ass MACROSS fan back in those days. no internet, complete dependence upon whatever the local comic shops decided to stock!! WAAAHHH!! on a side note, i still have the little bastards if anyone is interested in buying the damn things off me. got GERWALK and BATTROID of pretty much all of the variants, plus the large vinyl Hikaru Ichijo in flight suit. will trade for any of the three YAMATO 1/60 MAC PLUS Valks, other offers considerable...

myself? all of YAMATO's early efforts, the early MAC. PLUS valks, the atrocious VF-11B with disintegrating hips, and most especially the 1/60v.1 VF-1. what a P.O.S. that turd was!! good Effin' riddance!! Yammie sure made up with the 1/48 VF-1 series though, the first VF toy/model to truly blow my doors off. and many years later they blow me away yet again with the 1/60 VF-1 v.II. every complaint i ever had about every VF-1 toy/model i've ever owned, YAMATO or otherwise, have been so beautifully addressed in the 1/60v.II. it's the VF-1 replica i pictured in my mind twenty years ago! as such, i heartily forgive YAMATO of their past sins, and am forever indebted to them for making one of my greatest dreams come so beautifully true...

any chance that you can provide an alternate source for that?

DAMN IT, I NEED ONE. along with the other two MAC PLUS Valks...

yeah, the 1995 "EXO SQUAD/ROBOTECH" re-release of that godawful "Guppy Valkyrie" was my first ever VF-1 toy. i actually modified it to do an "approximation" of a full transformation. i hacked the legs apart at the intake joint and reattached them with large cotter pins, and separated the "pseudo-arms" and their shoulder joints, and removed the hands from my hover tank and placed them on the pseudo-arms. for a time, i had a make believe transformable veritech that could "transform" into GERWALK. later, i took to the main fuselage, and approximated a folding torso with wire joints, and a movable chest plate. i could not figure out how to make the head shift to BATTROID, so i cut a pair of slots to remove it from FIGHTER position, and slide it's neck claw pegs into the slots i made, making an actual BATTROID head. so in sum, i had made myself this Frankenstein monster of a veritech that could change from a rickety, guppy-nosed FIGHTER mode, to a rickety, beer-bellied BATTROID that, while even more wooden than the original TAKATOKU/BANDAI 1/55, was also a floppy mess the REQUIRED hand support to remain in one piece in any of it's forms. once set down, especially in BATTROID, it would instantly collapse into the pile of junk that it truly was. it was laughable, in in fact... anyway, THANK GOD those days are over...

me and ARII MACROSS kits go way back. i cut my teeth as a MACROSS fan with an ARII kit, a GERWALK mode 1/100 VF-1J Hikaru T.V. to be exact. too bad those old ARII kits sucked so much, because they were the only VF-1 valks available to me for my first several years as a MACROSS fan, and i had so ravenous an appetite for VF-1 valks that i bought a bunch of those awful ARII kits. hell, i even tried to kitbash a variable VF-1S once from a pair of GERWALK and BATTROID kits, to no small ultimate failure. anyway, i feel it rather poetically elegant that my first YAMATO 1/60v.II, the first ever VF-1 replica in three dimensions to actually live up to my vision of the perfect variable VF-1, to be the VF-1J Hikaru T.V., my original gateway valk. good wistful memories...

i still have not had a problem with my 1/60v.II -1J Hikaru T.V. so this canopy problem surely must be a production batch issue. is there any way to get YAMATO to supply you a replacement canopy?

there seems to be a defective batch of 1/60v.II cockpit canopies out there. my VF-1J Hikaru T.V. is the old hip-latch version, and I've owned it for over a year now, with no problems developing on the canopy to this day...

perhaps i should consider franensteining my old 1/48 VF-1A Hikaru to make a Valkyrie Girl costume for my Little Shao... then again, the 1/48 might be a bit too big for that...

probably taking my Yammie 1/48 VF-1S fokker along with me when i stayed over at my grandma's for a month at a time. for a while there, i just couldn't live without the damn thing. that was several years ago, mind you, and hardly something i'd do today with my 1/60v.2 Hikaru T.V. VF-1J, what with my Grandma being a heavy chain smoker and all. oh, yes, and there is also the DYRL Minmay costume i handmade for the doll i have of my favorite Anime girl; ("Shaorin" from the 1997 Minene Sakurano Anime/Manga series "Mamotte Shugogetten")

oh, by the way vf1x; are you perchance Mr.Jerry Tsai from the old "VF-1x.com" ? i bought a 1/55 VF-1 left arm/shoulder joint module from him, back around 2001ish, for my very first variable valkyrie, a TRANS FORMERS JETFIRE with a missing left arm that i traded off all my old G.I. JOE toys from my childhood for back in 2000...

as you can see, it is the most accurate, well balanced variable replica of the VF-1 to date. a word of caution though; there exists a problem with the first run of Fokker 1S, the first 1/60ver.II release. the knurled pin in the shoulder joint can cause the joint to crack if it was improperly assembled in the factory. those with damaged copies have been able to get replacement shoulder joints here on MW, however... one more thing; there is a revision in the nosecone/hip latching mechanism. it was adopted sometime around the release of the Hikaru VF-1J T.V. with FAST packs, or thereabouts. it is beneficial to seek out this current revision, as it allows the hip section to lock together much more firmly. here are the differences; (OLD DESIGN ON FOKKER WHITE, NEW ON FOKKER DARK BLUE) bear this in mind, and, by all means, secure at least one of these for yourself. you won't regret it!!

it's like the difference between night and day; -YAMATO 1/60v.II VF-1J Hikaru T.V. Type- -OPTIONAL STAND AVAILABLE-

i'll say it again; the ideal "Porta-Valkyrie" perfect pocketable size for those who might like a VF-1 on-the-go (myself included) nevertheless, it is overpriced, a PARTS-FORMER (even if only in the loosest sense) has an ugly stubby nosecone all too reminiscent of the TRANS-FORMERS JETFIRE sculpt. final verdict; a nice alternative; pocketable and well made, but NO competition for the Yammie 1/60v.II...

that's some REMARKABLE shop work there, anime52k8... BTW; i think that my pet guinea pig "Aurica" is beginning to take a fancy to the VF-1; note the contented look in her eyes. just wait till i introduce her to the YAMATO 1/60 VF-1 v.II! it just might be too much for her little pea-sized heart to handle!!

oh, one more thing; does anyone have a partially built or loose, boxless, junk VEXAR or VF-1S kit that they could part with? i've been thinking about not only doing a VEXAR YAMATO VF-1S v.2, but also obtaining a second 1/72 VEXAR or VF-1S kit to build up...

ditto. the hip joint system on this turkey is fairly awful, though i suppose that it is the only way to make the mechanism durable in teeny 1/100 scale, outside of a hideous swing-bar system ala the 1/72 HCM... fairly homely looking little bastards, but they sure have some major nostalgia value...

i remember building a model of this thing out of Fisher-Price "CONSTRUX" over ten years ago. i recall it being somewhat larger than this model. i had managed to build it very close to the original design, actually. i remember letting my pet hamsters and rats roam around inside...

me and my sister just finished the first half of "CLANNAD"