Hiriyu

Just wild fan speculation/conspiracy theory here, but while reading ewilen's latest comments a moment ago, I thought of an odd scenario which might be possible, but relies on a series of unsubstantiated assumptions... And making it fit right in here, I think Ok, first assumption, and a dirty little assumption at that: HG/TP's licensing contract does, at least semantically, appear to award exclusive international (outside of Japan) distribution and merchandising rights to HG. HG goes on to use dubbed and edited SDF:M footage as the first chapter in the R-show. However, all marketed merchandise/derivatives are released under the Robotech name, not under the Macross nomenclature. This continues for some time. Rather suddenly, about twenty years on, as yesterday's kids reach affluence, the original franchise sees a market boom. There is suddenly more money to be made from the franchise and HG takes notice. Someone at HG takes another look at the old contract to determine how they may cash in. HG realizes, perhaps due to the wording of the contract, they may possibly be able to assume a defensible full copyright for Macross, in the US at least. However, in order to do so, they need to establish precedent in trade using the Macross nomenclature. Up to this time, all retail products have appeared under Robotech umbrella. So out come the DVD sets etc. Once HG-licensed Macross product are in the retail channels in the US, under the Macross name, HG has backed their claim to domestic US copyright to their own satisfaction (no one else is or has been selling Macross here right?). HG feel they are then free to market any other merchandise bearing the name Macross in the US, because after all, they can now "prove" to the US courts that they have been the sole purveyors of US Macross product, and are therefore the rightful recipients of US copyright or trademark. I know that the above is wrong on so many levels, but what if that were actually what they were thinking?

Cool, thanks - neat to see it again, albeit in a less 'Saturday Night Fever'-esque type pose What did you use for the panel lining on the 1/48? Looks great.

I'd like to see those pics too. Congrats on the score, EXO. Definitely hardcore nostalgia material. Thinking about it now, I believe that mine was the 1S version too. Might I ask where the auction ended $ wise? It was about $10.00 when I saw it...

Boooo!

Same here. Make that a hat trick. Me too

Just got back home... Wow, what a morning. I am close to speechless... It was like total 'Geekstock' up there. Everything went off well, a couple of slight "hitches", but mission accomplished. I had goosebumps nearly the entire duration of the mission. The live radio "coverage" was very disorganized, the PA system sucked, but that's real grass-roots level organization for you. You guys should have seen the ovation that Mike Melville was given when they towed his craft down the runway, Mike riding on top of it like a space cowboy. He was woopin' it up pretty good Those Scaled Composites [Rutan] birds are things of absolute beauty. As odd as some of them appear (much like some of Kawamori's designs), you wouldn't expect that they'd actually fly, and stay in one piece while doing so. It's one thing to see pictures and models of them, quite another to see them actually taking off and swooping overhead. Sensory overload.

Well, you yourself likened it to the X-15 project , except that this one is capable of carrying 3 passengers, and was developed by a non-governmental agency using relatively small amounts of 2004 dollars. I think that's a fine accomplishment for what basically amounts to a group of [suitably harcore] civil aviators. I agree that this particular project doesn't really advance the state of the art in modern rocketry, but I don't think that was ever really the point. I personally see the point as being a demonstration of applied discipline and science over bureaucracy. I didn't think I brought up anything about the commercialization of space... Must have been the media. Oh, well, off to watch shiny things go "vroom" in the desert

Well said Skull Leader, thanks. Keep in mind, this project was financed through private funds (Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft ponied up the lion's share), for about the same amount of $$$ it would have required NASA just to do a feasibility study on paper. As a proof of concept, I'd say they've done remarkably well. ...And as Skull Leader says above, "Baby Steps"...

Anyone else going? http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/

Ah, yes, I am aware of this, however as I am the manufacturer of said part, the "worth" is whatever I bloody well choose it to be , and on the plus side, I have some very cooperative customers . At any rate, the package arrived safely at my customer's doorstep, so it's immaterial anyway.

Actually, I rather like the 'Hefty' properties of the 1/60. Incidentally, I traded off my sole 1/48 VF-1A precisely because of its lack of heft . I also find the 1/60 plenty 'Solid and Durable', provided that all of the fasteners are tightened down properly, which they are often not right out of the box. But then, they would not be 1/60 scale anymore, no?

Ran across this while browsing Ebay. This is an old boot in 1/100. I had one of these back in the old days circa 1984 - it was actually my first valk toy, though I had many of the old plastic model kits. Lots of diecast, but some of the plastic parts were pretty poor. The shoulder and back hinges were quickly broken on mine, within a week or two as I recall.

No need to get embarassed. At least you got something. Actually, in this thread, I think the embarrassment works inversely : the fewer you have, the less embarassed you should be

Update on mine: 1/72 : 0 1/60 : 15 (+1 incoming GBP armor set if that counts) 1/48 : 0

Good info Graham, thanks! Also, thanks for the Japanese review link Southpaw - It states pretty much what Graham said earlier, but with lots of sexy pictures

Huh, anybody else notice the shoulder 'slip-over' pieces? Guess the conjecture here on MW wasn't too far off . Notice that they're grey instead of white this time around?

Great news - nice little birthday present for me from Yamato. I'm waiting to hear from Kevin too Now how about that M0 Part 4 that was supposed to be released today?

(Somewhat on-topic re: shippers) I tried something new today with UPS as a kind of an experiment . I have a UPS corporate account which I use to ship 15-20 packages a day, of which roughly about 3-5% have some sort of in transit mishap. I was shipping a particularly fragile fiberglass part which, while not especially valuable, I did in fact want to reach my customer undamaged. Knowing that marking the box as 'Fragile' is usually an invitation for the idiots in the loading depot to kick/punch/throw/jump on/drive over whatever it is that I'm shipping, I decided to try another tactic. So I insured it for $1000.00 and marked the box in big, block letters: CAUTION - HEAVILY INSURED. We'll see how it goes

No, but I've got a 1/60 Hikaru 1S Strike "custom" almost done. Not really tough to do, as parts-swapping is all that's required. Will show pics when finished.

You just may have something there. What really annoyed me was how she'd push me out of cover, run out into the open blocking my shots and drawing attention, all the while shouting "Look out Jack!" and "These guys are good!". Really fun game though, petty annoyances notwithstanding.

2004 - 1990 = 24? Me am Bizzarro. 2004 - 1990 = 24! In reality, SNK was around as a developer/publisher looong before the Neo Geo hardware was ever devised. Their earliest title I'm aware of was Ozma Wars, which came out in 1979. This is probably what MilkManX was alluding to. The Neo Geo was pretty long-lived, though I believe that SNK themselves were sold/bought out a couple of years ago. 14 years in the arcades is nothing to sneeze at, at any rate. There are still many great Neo Geo titles I will continue to play for some time to come, the original Samurai Showdown/Samurai Spirits and Neo Turf Masters are for example a couple of my absolute favorite games ever.

That's funny Blaine (but not funny 'ha-ha'). My non-TRU CF Valks have the FP arms and FP left legs, but the backpack and right legs are not FP capable out of the box. I've heard of CFs with the FP type backpack, but I have yet to see one. I guess they used whatever was available during that transitional period. Uxi, I agree. I think the telescoping feet are really the one 1/48 design trait that really should have been included in the 1/60s. The others you mention would be nice too.

Or, you could sell/part out your standard 1S Roy and pick up the 1S strike which is fully FP capable.

Macross subs/scripts for episodes #1-8 are available at http://www.scriptclub.org. You must be a signed and approved member to access them. The other 24 or so TV episodes haven't been done, but there is a wealth of other files available, from MacII to DYRL, Flashback 2012 to Mac+ and Mac7. Hope this helps!

Not quite the only flight sim to model the whole of Earth and other planets... The 'Orbiter' sim is open source and has modeled much of the solar system. It has atmospheric flight models as well as space launch and space flight simulation. Orbiter is very technical in nature, allowing the user to build/design/construct craft and missions with near-limitless scope. Orbiter WARNING - PHD not required, but highly recommended *edited bad url*