Radd

Yamato 1/48th customs. You know, seeing what people were able to pull off with those old Takatoku and Bandai Valks, I've been waiting to see people start whipping out some amazing 1/48th customs. I know this isn't the first thread on them, but from what we've seen so far, I'd say we're off to a very good start. Excellent work! Can't wait to see it with the FAST packs! Now all we need is for someone to make a Super Ostrich and Elintseeker pieces set in 1/48th scale...

That's the thing, it's meant for display and cosplay use, but it costs so freaking much. I can believe there's a small number of Macross Otaku in Japan that would shell out for one, but I just don't see this one being a hit with the overseas fans. Not for that much money. I really don't see it being a big seller overall, even in Japan. It's a niche item for rich geeks, and rich anime geeks are not in big supply. Where is the cost coming from? I just can't see it. I've seen costume/display helmets like this from other sci-fi/fantasy franchises for much less money, as low as the 40 dollar range, while still looking good.

Anybody else remember when America had this huge infatuation with Australia, back in the 80's?

I'm not a fan of the Leprechaun franchise, but it's like Corey said, man. You've gotten farther than me, so best of luck with that!

I have the best girlfriend in the world, she got me Tamala 2010 on DVD, and the soundtrack with a little Catty&Co. I-man Most excellent! Also got the Simpsons season 1 DVD box set and surround sound speakers for my computer! Amongst other presents. Got my roommate Double Dash for Christmas. Post-holiday I'm thinking of getting a new sound card to compliment those speakers, a GBA SP, and start collecting the Alternators. I also need to nab that MPC Convoy.

Excellent idea, I approve. Still, I think it would look better if it had a more 'mecha-sized' feel to it. It looks like you nabbed it off one of those 12" G.I. Joe figures. It has that look like it should be held in a human hand. You know? I agree with the others, too. Longer and thinner. I'd probably go with a less flashy looking blade. Something simple. Stabby-stabby.

A bit of food for thought. 1.) The mission of the New Macross 7th Fleet was not to find and colonize a single planet, the main mission of the fleet was the expansion of a galactic communications network. This is mentioned several times in the series itself. That's probably why the 7th fleet is shown to only have a single colony 'City' ship, while other colony fleets are shown to have more. That's probably also why the 7th fleet faired better against the Varuta than the 5th fleet, larger military compliment. 2.) I have never seen spiritua or how music was used in Macross 7 as any form of magic. I can definitely see how some people might, but it didn't come off that way for me. Basara wanted to move people with his songs. He wanted to spread his own ideals through his music. He was passionate about it, that was about it. It seemed that the original reason the military (a very small, yet influential part of the military) backed Basara at all (Max and Ray being able to provide him with a VF-19 custom and all) was to recreate the culture shock aspect of how Minmay proved so successful in Space War I. Part of that is the pure shock that caused the hesitation in Bodolza's forces in that final battle, but even bigger was the long term effect Minmay had on Britai's forces as the Macross fought it's way back to Earth. Slowly bringing about defections in the Zentradi forces, and eventually helping to bring Britai's entire force over to aid the Macross. A lot of people forget that aspect in the original SDF Macross. I get a bit of a chuckle at that, because the military in Macross 7 has the same reaction, yet the Macross 7 detractors never seem to notice that. I've always seen the light emitted from Basara and Mylene and Sound Force in general being an embellishment, much like hearing sound in space battles. I've always seen the Sounds Boosters as not literally speakers making sound in space, but transmitters, with speakers for atmospheric use. Meant to overpower enemy broadcasts and force them to listen to the music. Basically, high end electronic warfare equipment. 3.) Having gone back and watched some SDF Macross and some M7, I'd have to say that Keith's right about the amount of fan service. There's more of it in SDF Macross, DYRL?, and Macross Plus than there was in Macross 7. Well, to be more exact, there's more panty shots in Macross 7, and there's more outright nudity in each of the others. 4.) Macross has always seemed to me to be about 3 main things. A war/mech story, characters and relationships, and music. Different Macross shows have played with which of these elements take priority and to what extent, but these elements have been important to all Macross shows. Personally, I think Macross 7 went the furthest in deviating from the original, placing the majority of the emphasis on the characters and the music, and the least amount of emphasis on the war/mech aspect of all previous Macross shows. That's fine with me, but I can understand why a lot of people would be put off by that. 5.) Side note, I found what makes the VF-19 designs shown in M7 look so different from the YF-19, it's the legs. The torso and arms are pretty much identicle, but while the legs of the YF-19 sloped inwards in the front, on the M7 VF-19 designs, all of them, the legs bulge outwards in the front. It's a little detail, but it makes a world of difference, making the VF-19 battroids look a lot more 'bubbly'. 6.) A few other things, I like Macross 7 a lot, but on my first viewing I was more than a little put off by the first 5-10 episodes or so. Sure, they introduced the characters and a bit of information and a wee bit of plot, but the pacing was far to slow, too much filler. Now that I've seen all of it, when I go back to the beginning I find myself enjoying those episodes a lot. Still, I think that since no show is aimed at people who've already seen it all the way through (and I hope I don't have to explain why) that the initial pacing of the show could have been done better. Everything that was introduced in those episodes could have been handled in a much better way. People are welcome to agree or disagree on that, but I do think fans of SDF Macross and Macross Plus that currently dislike M7 to such an extreme may not have wound up disliking it so much if M7 started out more similar, emphasizing the mecha/war story aspect, whith a healthy dose of the character and relationship aspect, with Basara and company seeming like a side item, then instead of those filler episodes that we got, build up the music/character aspects and bring Fire Bomber to the forefront of the show while downplaying the mecha/war aspects to about where they were in the mid-to-later episodes of M7. This would not have diluted the theme of M7, nor overpowered it's identity, but might have provided more than enough of a bridge back to the SDF and Plus balancing of aspects to bring in a larger fanbase. All of the episodes from about where most M7 fans agree that the series hits it's stride could have remained pretty much the same (though some better battles and mecha action could have given the mecha aspect fans more reason to like the show, after all the battles are there, they're just not animated very well). 7.) I agree with Corey about the presentation. Personally there's a lot I like about it, and some things I don't like about it, but I can plainly see where the presentation would put off a lot of people. Mainly stuff like the special effects used for Sounds Force and the Spiritua elements, some of the uniform and character designs, and of course everything that I've previously stated about the first dozen or so episodes. Plus there's the whole spiritua thing. Is it magic? Is it science? I thought it was more of a social remark. I can see where some people would be confused into thinking it was some sort of magic, just in the way it was presented. Keith is right in that it's not all that different from SDF (culture shock) and Plus (mind control), but it is presented in such a way that it's understandable to see people not make the connection. There are a lot of people that mainly like Macross because of the mecha and action. They're not going to like M7 because it's mainly centered on the characters, theme, and music. The mecha can be colourful, the battles are poorly animated. There are a lot of people that will be put off by the character designs, the colony fleet military uniforms, Fire Bomber's 'glam rock' stylings, the 'monster of the week' looking (and I emphasize 'looking' because they aren't presented in such a way story/character-wise) Protodevlin. There's a lot of people that will just plain be unable to be able to identify with the theme, just like how not everyone in the show winds up swayed by Basara's song. Conversely, there are people that love character development and relationship stories more than mecha action. There's people that will love Max's pimping captain's uniform, Fire Bomber's 80's rock style, and Sound Force's stylistic mecha. And there's people that will fall in love with the theme of the show and Basara's ideals. It's just a shame that it's so difficult for people here to have a friendly discussion on what they like and dislike about the show. People aren't going to like it, and people are going to love it. There is no right and wrong. It's no more or no less Macross.

Wow, stylisitically it looks like they did everything right with this movie. I can't wait to see it.I love how all of the backgrounds, while done in CG, are specifically designed to look painted. Even better, I love how everything has that 'colourized' look to it, like it's an old black and white movie that got the colour treatment. Very stylish. I am SO looking forward to this.

While it's true that Basara himself changes very little over the course of the series (though he does change a bit, becoming more of a team player, if only just a little) the developement is in how the people around Basara change thier views of him and how they react to him. Basara isn't so much a character as he is an ideal, nearly a force of nature in the way he acts. That's the entire purpose of his character, to motivate the development of the rest of the cast. I'd say the most developement, or the most obvious at least, was that seen in Gamlin, how his views about fighting and war and "the way things are" change over time. Max and Millia's personalities and relationship get a lot of screen time, with a lot of that spent exploring how they came to be the way they are now as opposed to how they were in the original series, and showing that there's still a lot of hope for their relationship yet as time goes by. Gabil gets a fair bit of developement as time goes by, pretty much epitomizing the ideals behind Basara and how most other characters opinions of him and his ideas change over time, as well as providing most of the depth to the Protodevlin as a whole. Really, I find it hard to believe someone could say they didn't see much character developement going on in this series. The way I see it, while Macross Plus leaned more towards the mecha and the action, Macross 7 took the exact opposite route, emphasizing the characters and relationships over everything else.

I've heard that there's also some Gao Gai Gar bootlegs in the Galaxy Defenders line. I think I saw a downsized King J-der toy. I'm gonna poke around Wal-Mart and see what I can find.

Dynamite 7 is probably my favourite Macross OVA, moreso than Macross Plus or Macross Zero. It's got a couple nifty action sequences, but if that's what you're looking for you're much better off with Plus or Zero, as none of the M7 stories are really about the action, more about the story, theme, and characters.

One of the reasons I like Macross 7 so much is the character developement. Hands down it has the best character developement in any Macross series/movie/OVA, and some of the best character developement in anime that I've seen. There's so many relationships playing out that it would be difficult to name them all. Still the way most people in the show view Basara, and how their views change over time, seems to mirror how many people watching Macross 7 view him. Gamlin has some excellent character developement, it's great to see him grow and change so much over the course of the series. Max and Millia get a lot more story time in Macross 7 than they ever did in SDF Macross, which is a real treat because they've always been some of my favourite characters from the original series.

Bombah!

There's no way to take the overused cliche they replaced the Cylon backstory with and turn it into something interesting. That's probably the worst mistake they made with the series.

Wow, I liked the toy before, I mean it was ok but nothing special, but that one little change makes it a hundred times better. He looks so freaking old school now, like the Autobots of old! I must have! But why the Takara version? Besides the obvious increase in diecast, that is. Can the US Version not do that?

Yes. The difference is the VF-X-4 is sleek and nice, whereupon the VF-4 is ugly as hell. I'm certain there's plenty of people who'd disagree with you, myself included. While I like both designs, the VF-4 is obviously more refined, and it has a sleeker profile. Back to the topic at hand, from the common understanding of Tatsunoko's/HG's rights to SDF MAcross they are not able to make derivative creations. That includes the YF-1R and any possible battloid mode for the YF-4/VF-X-4. I also still stand by my belief that this includes comics. novels, and videogames, but law is a funny thing. Ketchup is legally a vegetable in the United States. In fact, one packet of ketchup is legally considered and entire serving of vegetables. Of course, HG could make a derivative of the non-transformable craft from MOSPEADA that looks all too similar to the VF-4/VF-X-4 design. They would have to go a different route than the VF-4's battroid design took. Let's not forget, either, that there has been two Kawamori designs for the VF-4 battroid (though only one is official) and then there was one from an old videogame that was not designed by Kawamori. HG might have to steer clear of all three designs, lest being too similar. Of course, all of this soley depends on whether or not Big West sees enough profit in bringing the legal battle overseas. If Big West just ignores the international market and holes themselves up in Japan then Harmony Gold can do whatever they want.

To clarify, you should not be applying 'a little force' to the backpack, only to the backplate, then slide the backpack up as normal and use the hook on the backplate to hold the backpack in place.

That really depends, as CG is a tricky beast. Good CG is actually more difficult to produce than good cel animation, which is one of the reasons why there's really not much good CG out there. Also, in the scenes with the cel animated armoured VF-0, there wasn't a lot of animation dor the duration of the scene. There were several shots of an unanimated or barely animated picture of the VF-0, broken up by some short, yet beautifully animated moments. That kind of cheating makes the process a lot easier, and a lot less time consuming. Overall, I'm happy with the cel animated mecha sequences in the show so far. Some short sequences have been jarring and poorly animated (only two actually come to mind for me), but others have been downright beautiful, looking better than the CG elements...and usually it takes a moment to realize the transition. I absolutely loved D.D. forcing his way through the door. Whoever said it was right, it really does remind me of that screne from Transformers the movie.

If even half of that is true, this will be the darkest, most depressing, and most deliciously evil films of all time.

It makes some sense now. SO its basically like the book. I just hope they skip that part with Saruman and the hobbits in the end. That totally ruined the book for me. I have the exact opposite opinion. The ending with Saruman and the hobbits is part of what made the books so damn good, in my opinion.

I'd snatch up a DYRL? Kakizaki before even the Hikaru 1J, just to complete my DYRL? Skull Squadron!

Based on the original series, it seemed Roy and Claudia met while stationed at the same base during the Anti-Unification war, but weren't all that serious. They then were seperated by assignments and didn't see each other again until they met up again on Macross Island...wasn't that just before Roy started test piloting the VF-1? I seem to recall they mentioned that several pilots had died test piloting it, Roy was drunk and worried, and wound up calling Claudia.

I'm gonna have to check and see how my bank account looks in a week or two, then I might be able to spare the cash for a 1J. The Hikaru 1J with FAST packs will be my final 1/48th VF-1 purchase, unless I wind up unloading my Bandai's...which I would seriously consider if the Max and Millia 1J 1/48ths came out.

I rather liked the original Cylon backstory over this new telling. The original story just seemed a whole lot more original. Humans at war with an alien race that's weaker physically, but stronger technologically, so they start making cyborg soldiers to stand up to human soldiers, eventually making completely robotic soldiers. Eventually the cyborgs and robots take over, wiping out the organic population to extinction, then turning on the universe and their old enemies the humans. What does the new BGS have? Skynet. Ho-hum, seen it before. Now, admittedly, the old show got real cheesy, real fast, and never lived up to the potential it had from the pilot episode. Bad acting, really lame sidekicks (anyone remember Muffet and that stupid kid?) and just tons of stereotypical 70's and 80's sci-fi cheese (I'm not even gonna start on BSG 1980)...but this new show has almost all of the weaknesses of the original show (just replace 70's cheese with 90's/2000 cheese, and some fancy, schmancy, yet still crappy CG that is the modern equivilent of the original's FX) but then goes ahead and adds even more weaknesses, like cliche backstory for the Cylons, sexaroids and whatnot. I miss the old Baltar. He was great.