Chronocidal

Hmm.. yeah, the X-Wing there isn't quite 1/18.. the figure may be that scale, but he only fits in the cockpit because there aren't any other things like consoles and joysticks (and seat cushions) to get in the way. The actual scale of those X-Wings works out to something like 1/22. The actual film miniatures in ANH were a little bigger than the FX scale ones, I think a little over 2 feet long, but still only around 1/20th scale. Actually, judging by the photos I've seen of the movie props, the ships may have used pilots that were only 1/24 scale.. The cockpits of the props were never actually seen well during filming, so they didn't ever bother to make them match the sets used for the cockpit shots (which is why the ERTL X-Wing kits had such fugly cockpits and pilots - they were based on the props alone, with no attention to the movies). The props always looked like they used some sort of race car driver figure judging by the helmet and posture (maybe gripping a steering wheel). Btw, that full-sized paneled tie fighter is awesome. I have the old midget version somewhere, but I'm tempted to get another one now. Tell me though, did they ever fix the back end to be accurate? My old one has some funky looking box stuck on the back (hyperdrive mod?), not the round hatch-looking thing with the black hexagon on it.

Hmm.. you're right, although her having amnesia may play into that. My thought was that from the way they described the incident, there shouldn't have been any survivors. Still probably up in the air from differences in translation. They may just be worried about her relationship to SMS getting made public.. I can't tell yet if they're supposed to be a secret organization or not.

K, glad someone is keeping track of the dates, I forgot when Mac7 took place. Good to know it's not a possibliity then. The fold dislocation I would assume just means a miscalculation of some type... possibly ending up with the ship defolding within an occupied region of space (ie, the middle of a planet). It could also mean something like a misalignment of the fold region.. like with the SDF-1 taking a chunk out of Earth with it. Instead of bringing extra stuff along with it, maybe individual fold fields intersected in some way that had a swiss-cheese effect on the fleet, only transporting certain portions of the ships. As for the emotion angle, I think that's essentially what spritia was always meant to be anyway.. don't think it has to be connected with music (mostly, drums aren't vocal or melodic, they're essentially just hitting things to a rhythm but that didn't stop Veffidas). Emotion just happens to go right along with music most of the time. It's more the involvement of the person in the music that brings out the emotion. I don't really think they suspect Ranka of having some sort of power yet though, otherwise they'd probably be studying her more already. Right now it just looks like they want to cover up the fact that she somehow survived a disaster that they want to keep as secret as possible.

Stupid, idiotic, impossible theory time. K, Ranka's 1/4 zentraedi, her voice has weird powers, etc. etc... *pause for effect* So she could be Basara and Mylene's kid, right? *ducks flying vegetables and other assorted blunt objects* As ridiculous as that may be, it fits in a few more ways than I care to think about... if the research team was actually conducting experiments in deep space about spiritia, and just happened to accidentally attract the vajra... As much as I hope this isn't the case, I do think its at least vaguely possible. That would also explain Ranka's weird abilities. And actually, aside from any possible relation, Leon's supposed rigging of the votes does make a lot of sense from the military side of things... They have her blood sample, and probably know she's a survivor of that lost research group. If she ever got into the limelight and revealed that there were survivors of that incident, the military would be in a serious pickle. You kinda don't just accidentally survive when your fleet blows up or gets lost from a bad fold. Any proof of survivors kills the current military alibi.

Looks pretty good, but as fast as he's going, the methods he's using can result in a pretty inefficient model if he isn't careful (lots of excess polygons from divisions, etc). He obviously has great command of the 3ds Max interface, but I'm surprised he isn't using more splines. No doubt it's pretty though. Looks like he's sticking with a pretty low polygon count, so this might be for a game of some sort.

I believe I'll happily trade some action to get to see Ozma pelted with various kitchen utensils by a jealous Ranka. Love how he dodged the flying knife, only to get clobbered by a wok. And yes, I second that avatar comment. I watched that scene about 20 times. I didn't realize it at first, but it looks like KK has the same movable hair feature as Ranka, judging by the part where she starts fuming.

My guess about only firing the shoulder cannon once would be either it's high power gives it a longer recharge time, or she was just startled by it not working the first time. The shot that sent her spinning later looked like it damaged the suit as well, so she may not have been able to shoot after that. The various weapons fired by the vajra so far have very nearly matched what humans have, at least up to reaction weapons. What I really wonder about though is the strange burst countermeasures they used in the first episode.. it was hard to see them, but they looked like a cross between chaff and a forcefield. The way Ozma was dodging, it looked like they were semi-solid objects that appeared. Also, the glowy nature of the vajra missiles reminds me a little of the weapons used by the Aphos. We have yet to see them pull any punches the way Sara was able to do (making the weapons just disappear into thin air), but it wouldn't surprise me if they have the ability to do so.

Wow.. that shuttle is a beauty What makes the large scale x-wings appealing is that they seem to be about studio scale, minus a few interpretive changes. The action figures really are still slightly too big for them, but the ship is large enough that it doesn't matter, and they still fit in the cockpit. The y-wing is another story entirely.. if it were made in scale with the x-wings, it'd be easily another 6-7 inches longer, making it about two and a half feet long. The toy y-wing they did produce looks like an SD version. Actually, a lot of the off-scale vehicles tend to remind me of Joke Machines. I don't worry about the vehicles being in scale with each other so much as I do them being in overall correct proportions.. The sizes of some vehicles makes it very easy to make them accurate, while others just get butchered. They did really well with some, like the A-Wing, Snowspeeder, and Naboo N-1 (the N-1 is huge, it may actually be in full scale with the figures, since the ship in the movie really isn't that big compared with an X-Wing, but it's bigger than the FX scale one). Even the Tie fighters are pretty good, if you exclude the shrunken panels on the standard fighter. The interceptor, bomber, and DV's Tie all looked pretty decent.

The big question is, did you catch the flying model VF-25?? The minmay doll was at least on screen for more than one frame, but I managed to freeze one frame where you can see a VF-25's leg with purple trim, right below the flying pan. As for reaction weapony though, I always thought that referred spcifically to nuclear weapons. I'd have to watch SDFM again to be sure, but I think the point where they recognize reaction weapons being used on them is when one of their cruisers gets nuked. They're pretty startled by it, as if it had either been forbidden for them to use, or they had lost the technology long ago. I don't remember seeing any similar reaction when the Valks started blowing micro missiles every which way.

I do like the big stuff, but really have no room to display a lot of it (which is why 3 of my four x-wings are taken apart, and in a box). I would LOVE to get a b-wing one of these days. What always boggled my mind though was the old imperial shuttle toy.. it was huge. The wings must've made it over 3 feet across. I saw one hanging from the ceiling in a collectibles shop once and almost fell over looking up at it. For display though, I just hang onto my collection of Action Fleet stuff. Some aren't very well proportioned (x-wing in particular), but they make nice desk models.

I have to say too, the more I hear of the end theme, the more I think of Cowboy Bebop.. the intro to the song is more strings, but the second half picks up that same kind of swing/jazz-ish groove that the Bebop ending (Real Folk Blues) has, only even better. I love when Kanno does jazzy.

Sorry bout that, forgot that wasn't common knowledge yet. Fixed now.

Oy, I knew Klan-what'shername's giant blue hair reminded me of someone. I apologize for this, but I was bored waiting to watch, and couldn't help myself.

Not really a spoiler, no. But the pic itself gives away quite a bit (in more ways than one). And thank you for that awesome gif. I give it ohh... maybe 15 minutes before we have a leekspin rave version on youtube.

Don't know if this will help any, but now that I think about it more, I'm pretty sure I swapped the gun barrels around between wing mounts.. like, I tested all four gun barrels in each of the four mounts. Inconsistencies in molding mean that even a bent barrel may wind up straight if the locator tabs in the mount are bent the other way. I swapped barrels between mounts until the guns were all mostly straight. I also might have just heated them up with a blowdryer, and set a dictionary on them to straighten them. Btw, you're right, the lights/sounds would've still worked. I really just like the empty one because it's perfect for customizing. I can take it apart and reassemble it without fiddling with the wires and circuit boards. The FX version is such a wiring disaster inside, you can't take it apart without cutting wires.

Ummm... wow...

Well, with an action figure in the cockpit, I wouldn't expect much cockpit detail. Improvements to the wings would be great though, and I hope they bring back the sharp nose. One thing I'd really like to see is for them to fix the rear portion of the engines.. they're supposed to be mounted a bit higher, and that's always bugged me. Course, I'm just funny that way with little things.

Hehe.. I beg to differ- it's a big empty accurate toy, at about 1/3 the cost (the original FX cost upwards of $75 new). I didn't mind the lights/sounds so much, but the stupid flight handle/missile launcher gimmick bugged the crap out of me. Aside from the fubared nosecone, I really prefer the fuselage details on the saga versions, not to mention the removable pilot/astromech. Here's my custom job waiting to happen, personally I think it's pretty when it's all cleaned up.

You know, every time I see these types of pics, I wish Yamato had just blanked out the insides of the intakes. No supersonic engine would have a fan that visible.

I can confirm about the T-16, my brother has one still. The wing mechanism is really very similar to the new "clicky" joints used in the Star Wars Lego sets, but the ridges meant to add tension to the pivot are far too small, and they eventually wear down. The plastic is also rather soft, so the ridges will eventually break down under the stress of moving the wings. I've always displayed mine the same way, sitting on the engines. Keeps the stress off the wing mounts. I can definitely say though that the all the parts are identical between the versions, even going back to the original FX version (save for the altered nosecone and redesigned fuselage for the saga models). The non-FX ones still have the same assembly for the engines, right down to the clear lenses (looks goofy with no lights in there ). I've taken these things apart thoroughly (and I mean very thoroughly.. as far apart as I could get without breaking pieces in general, and sometimes beyond that ), and the cause of the droopy wings is the way they're mounted, not necessarily the materials. The soft plastic obviously doesn't help since the weight of the guns will warp them over time. But the wing mount is just plain loose, and the internal wing mechanism is utterly slopply (completely unlike the older stubby midget X-Wing vehicle toy.. the one thing it DID have was a nice sturdy wing mechanism). The wings actually flop around in the socket, since pressure is only applied to the tabs from one direction. If you ever flip the ship upside down, you'll notice the wings suddenly droop the other way. Btw, I discovered a few tricks to straighten the guns. If you unscrew the gun mounts, you can see that the soft plastic barrels are an insert that get placed inside and sandwiched, with a couple of plastic ridges to attach to. I found I was able to make the guns decently straight by swapping bent pieces to the opposite sides, and making sure the barrels were aligned correctly before screwing the guns back together. It's not perfect, but it's leaps and bounds better than out-of-the-box condition. If anyone wants, I'll take a few pictures to show what I did. I keep the stripped model out on my desk for kicks (and the occasional computer model reference). If I ever get to eventually modifying it like I want, I'll try to remember to keep a record of what I do.

You should play the game Chrono Cross, or just look up the character Nikki. Not necessarily because of low pants, but Brera looks postitively manly by comparison.

Glad to see someone make a thread about this stuff, it's fun to see (even if I can't afford it). I'm gonna have to keep tabs on that new a-wing. I like the new engines on this one, probably have to get one or two eventually (About time I got something to go with all my ginormous x-wings ). As far as movie accuracy goes, I think this one even tops the large scale X-Wings. Personally, I've been on a crazy quest for a detailed x-wing, without the ridiculous cost of the movie replicas. I've got 4 of the large scale x-wings sitting disassembled in a box: 2 red leader versions, one good FX version, and one incomplete FX version for spare parts. I was happy to get the incomplete FX for about $5 (wanted the pointy, non-child-safe nosecone ). My eventual hope is to rebuild one of the red-leader versions into a decent display model. It's already been stripped of stickers and some paint, and the nose swapped to the accurate one. I may leave the rear greeblie deck alone, but I really want to rebuild the wings/engines some. I've always hated how the wings constantly droop on the large x-wings, hopefully I'll find a way to fix that, even if it means building new wings from scratch.

It actually is really close to the anime proportions, I've just never cared for the shape of the nose on that YF-19.. just looks too flat on top to me, and the black part on the canopy looks too long, making the nose look kind of like a duck's bill from the top... the red sensors on the side are kinda wonky too. The Hasegawa 1/72 kit is another animal entirely, since it was made with absolutely no regard for the battroid mode, making it as sleek as it could possibly be. It's these sort of design compromises that make all the YF-19 iterations look so different from one another, Yamato's included. Now, what I'd like to see is what sort of battroid that 1/48 kit would make into (provided someone would sacrifice a good kit to try that ).