Hiriyu

I've got an extra copy up for grabs if anybody wants it. $40.00 plus shipping. It's an original OUT-8 reissue with the poster.

Cliffhanger? That's not the word I would have chosen The ending is meant to be an illustration that all has been put right within the super-multi-dimensional-general-mishmash of things, by the actions of Kei and Olson. The effects of the Super Dimension bomb have been cancelled out, and all possible worlds have reverted to... well, their own worldly possibilities. Hence the slide show at the end, which shows the [possible] result(s) of the non-existence of the singularity set up by the bomb in the first place. Pretty simple, really

>EXO< is 100% correct. Unless the legs were cast from solid lead, and the rest of the toy from hollow plastic, there will be balance issues. The old school Gakkens are no different in this respect - the lack of balance is a given by design. While the MH and CMs have nice detail, I still stand by the Gakken as the absolute epitome of the Ride Armor design... Though the Beagle is looking like a very strong contender for the title at this point in time.

I am all over the Beagle like white on rice. It will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine. Thanks for linking these newest pics.

Dude!! The Model Works?! As a twelve and thirteen year old kid living across the street from CalTech in 1985, I used to walk or bike up to The Model Works whenever I had a little money (rare for me in those days), and pore over all of the imported model kits. Occasionally, I could even afford to buy one or two of them - in fact the only two models which I built back then that are still with me today are ARII 1/100 VF-1S Super and Strike valks I got there. I really loved that place. From about '83 on, my friends and I were really into model building, and we started building mecha with the Revell RT model line before there was a show. When RT came on the air, it was so much the better. Then, we started coming across all of these really cool imports with strange names, beautifully gritty artwork, and a deep sense of mystery. How did these fit in with the show? What the hell was a Regult? Who was this Ichijo guy? It didn't matter, because the models were kick-ass. The influence of the Macross model kits got me into other imported lines too - Dorvack and Orguss chief among them. Karl's was terrific in that regard, because as you've mentioned, they had a huge amount of those models for just a few bucks apiece, and for even less when on sale. I frequently entered their model contests and got to have my models displayed in their big glass counter/display. They even had all of the Gakken and Takatoku stuff, which I used to lust after, but could never afford (I spent one entire summer saving up to buy a Ride Armor, but by the time I had the money, I had grown out of my desire for it ) . By mid '86, I was into other things, though some of my friends had educated me on some of the finer points regarding DYRL, and RTs relationship to SDFM. I never did see the movie back then though. Essentially, through the dark ages of Macross, it fell completely off of my radar, though I still had a few trinkets stored away. It wasn't until '02 or so that, completely by chance, I stumbled upon some new-fangled Valkyrie toy on Ebay. Looking up information on it brought me here, where I lurked for a while and read up on the real history and developments in the franchise, and which ultimately lead me down the path to my current valkaholism. In my case, if not for the internet, all I'd have were those early memories (and a lot more cash).

Didn't the original Megaroad launch with an escort of upgraded/updated Nuptiet Vergnitz and other Zent ships (sorry, I can't quite recall the specific name used for the upgraded Vergnitz)? With the capture of the factory satellite, it would seemingly make sense that at least for the early colony missions, modified Zent designs could be used to provide the bulk of escort forces.

Pretty cool random sighting, and a somewhat odd thing to run across

Pardon my intrusion, but isn't the above an exact confirmation of what Togo's been going on about here for the past couple of months?

I salute you, Chronocidal.... Or was it Eugimon?

I'd think that she's actually a goner this time. With Galaxy disposed of, where would her consciousness be stored for the next "download"? An interesting tidbit that I had missed the first time on the low quality stream, and picked up on the HQ raw: there were several other figures in silhouette floating around Grace whilst in the network interface. I think that these must have been the other members of Galaxy Anonymous. I'd bet that their physical bodies were in the other cells surrounding the one that Grace was patched into. I still think that Hikaru wins the award in the end. Hikaru totalled 4 valks during SDFM, and twice got limbs blown off of the valks he didn't manage to outright destroy

Grace? Coming back again? Like Michael? Hahhahhahaa

I owe you a beer, Duke. Though, there was still some unexplained PC imagery right there at the end... I guess I'm hedging too.

Four, actually (Hikaru lost the 1D in the second episode, his first 1J to Breetai while onboard the Nuptiet Vergnitz, his 2nd 1J to Rolli, Konda and Warera during the Miss Macross contest, and his third 1J to Misa's flubbed Daedalus attack while on Earth). Hikaru's still the king. Great ending episode. I had several "Oh Carp!" moments while watching. I didn't mind the lack of a resolution to the love triangle, just because I wasn't really that wrapped up in that particular aspect of the plot. The Vajra being basically in heat actually makes a lot of sense now within the context of what we've been shown. As Duke has been saying, this does seem to limit somewhat the connection to the events of Mayan during Zero... however, there is still a link there that has not really been explained. With regard to Dicky B., it does seem as though he thought that he might get to meet Minmei via the connection of the fold network. Maybe Dicky knows something we don't. Overall, I quite like what this series gave us. On to the movie!

Thanks A7. I saw that information in the link you provided - I was just hoping for more specifics (ie; manufacturer of the race-proven 7.8 and 10.0L engines) Looks like a beast of a car nontheless, resemblance of a late 90s Camaro notwithstanding.

Wow, I didn't even know that Vector was still around. I can remember freaking out as a kid when I saw a Vector W8 at a gas station in the North County back in the mid 80s. What are they using for the powerplant these days?

QFT. I've been quite hesitant to check this thread the last few days, for the obvious reasons. I still have my NamiToy Beta on preorder and with any luck, will have it about the same time as Jenius. I'll be sure to post my impressions when I get it. Jenius, who did you order through? Mine will be coming via BBTS. Anyone, any news on developments or release date re: the Beagle?

You very well may be right, and there's no doubt we do have a tendency to look deeper into this silly stuff than we need to. I've tried to keep my own speculations about Frontier to a minimum, so this is kind of my one heroic stab at it Next week's episode will tell us for sure.

Sqidd, I ordered it through Valk Exchange. I got some time to play with my new MH VR-041H, and while my overall impressions are positive, there are some issues. Like the other MH ride armors it's a bit weak in bike mode, visually speaking, but this seems to be common knowledge, so I won't go into that. I really like the appearance in armor mode - whatever proportional problems the toy has in bike mode disappear almost entirely in armor mode. The details are very nice and overall, it just looks great. The opening missile hatches and extending bayonets in the gauntlets are very cool. I've been waiting a very long time for a Blowsperior toy with these features, and I'm glad to have it. The much-ballyhooed larger tires on this model are actually a little problematic for me, due to some complications that they present: In armor mode the tires contact the shoulder armor, with the result that movement of the arms, which in turn affects the movement of the shoulder armor, can cause the wheel assemblies and swingbars to pop out of position. This was not a problem on my MH Rey toy. It can be fairly frustrating when attempting to get a cool pose going, due to the fact that the capture for those parts is not the strongest, so expect to have to do a fair amount of fiddling and fidgiting with it. Fortunately, it looks like doing the chest mod that Spedfish posted here a few weeks ago (in the old thread) will help generate a little more shoulder clearance, as well as sharpening the appearance. If it doesn't, I'll figure out something to keep the swingbars a little more securely fastened. The only other little issue I've had is a right forearm with a loose pivot. With the forearm gauntlet mounted, it tends to swing around pretty freely, and makes it difficult to stick in a pose. Standard joint-tightening with white glue ought to take care of that one. That's my $.02

I'd beg to differ, in that we have a main character who is a direct descendant of Mao Nome, who herself had a blood transfusion direct from the Birdman. There must be a reason for the inclusion of that lineage. I'll be surprised if something doesn't pop up in the next episode.

Got my Yellow RA today - Yay! Too busy with Frontier at the moment, but I'll weigh in on it after I've opened and played with it a bit.

Really excellent work. I thought that the picture below was a screen capture from the animation, until I clicked/maximized it!

Hmm. Is there something about yourself that you would like to tell us, Dante?

Do let us know what you think of it once you've read it. I only read the first two books, a very long time ago, upon the insistence of friends. Those people are no longer my friends (that's a joke, son). I am apparently the only person in the world, or at least on the internet, who didn't think much of them ... Though I think that my dislike of the books really stem more from the author's writing style than from the actual story content. While Card was originally praised as having a "Brash, Avant-Gard" writing style, I myself found it rather unsophisticated and annoying.

My thoughts in a nutshell. If I were to speculate a little further along those lines, I might suggest that the virus was actually intended for use as portion of a control mechanism for something like, oh, I don't know... The Birdman? . It can't be any coincidence that Mao was not only present on the 117th Research Fleet, but had also received a healthy dose of Birdman blood, and all that potentially comes with it. I'd say that would explain the viral source pretty neatly, speculatively speaking. The Vajra could have already contracted the virus at some point by their own devices, or more likely, could have had it introduced to them by Mao. A hive or swarm type species would make an ideal test-subject for experiment in unified consciousness, wouldn't you think? /end speculation

It's a meta-harmonica. Don't ask Regarding the v-type bacteria/virus: Remember the discussion of the 'Viral Evolution Theory' in Mac Zero? This concept wasn't really fleshed out in that series. It could be that the Vajra were [and are] an unintended host for a previously developed Protoculture tech, or a part thereof. Exposure could have been by chance, or due to human intervention. Dr. Mao, anyone?