Radd

Truly? Excellent! I'll hold off on applying the stickers I have, then. But will these new FAST pack stickers cost 10 more bucks? Also, another thing I disliked about the Takatoys FAST pack stickers was that the skull emblem and the little coloured arrows had white outlines around them that were nearly impossible to trim off. I hope that gets fixed.

Like most others, I went with the Takatoys stickers, excellent quality. They look good even with my crappy cutting job. Find a copy of the Hasagawa sticker placement sheet when going for the FAST packs stickers, though. Takatoy's stickers seem to be the Hasagawa decals in sticker form, and Yamato's stickers do not match up at all for the armour. I used the Yamato stickers and the difference is appalling, but now that I have the sticker placement for the Hasagawa decals, I plan to scrawp off the Yamato stickers and apply the Takatoys stickers. It's just too bad that the Takatoys skull emblems are too small to fit where they should.

The website says November 28th. About 2 months from the end of this week.

While that would be nice, lookinbg at where it goes and how big it needs to be to be as sturdy as it is, well, it just wouldn't fit. There's no way to keep it incorporated, yet movei t out of the way for fighter or gerwalk modes.

Been following all of those for quite some time now. Stellvia of the Universe I've only seen one episode for. I wanted to get more, but was distracted by a ton of other shows that I wanted to get all at once. Seemed interesting. I've heard it described as "Harry Potter in Space". I plan to see more soon. Last Exile is a definite must-see. Pioneer will be releasing the show domestically, so you can bet the DVDs will be worth picking up. The story is decent, but nothing special up to where I've seen (around episode 12 or so), but it's not bad. The characters are interesting, though one just screams "Captain Herlock"! The animation is some of the best out there, though the quality does start to dip later on. It recovers slightly, but the first several episodes are still far and away better than the rest of the series. The world, on the other hand, is just plain incredible. Very steam-fantasy-ish ('m hesitant to call it steampunk, as it's only as steampunkish as Star Wars could be considered cyberpunk). The airships are beautiful, the character designs are gorgeous, the world design just wreaks of depth and style. Even if the story doesn't pick up (though some of my friends who've seen further than I assure me that it picks up in a big way not far from where I am now in the series), I'd want to watch the rest of the series just to see how the world developes. Wonderful Days seems interesting. Lots of people compare it to the Final Fantasy movie as far as the feel and mood of the story. I hope to see it soon. Stand Alone Complex is definitely what Ghost in the Shell fans derserve after the atrocity that was the movie. Perhaps I'm a bit harsh on the film, but I was a huge fan of the manga, and the film just...well, not only did Oshii not do Shirow's work any justice, he completely stripped the characters of any personality or depth, and replaced all of the techno-philisophical ideas and thoughts with horribly shallow pseudo-philisophical tripe. Then people DARED to compare the animation to that of Akira. You don't compare yourself to the best unless you can back it up. The animation in GitS wasn't bad at all, but Akira simply cannot be beaten, or even rivaled, for quality animation. Even if you hate the movie's story and characters, you cannot deny that no animated film has come close to achieving what Akira did as far as the animation itself. Anways, enough of my GitS rant. The show, Stand Alone Complex, starts of modestly enough with a series of self contained stories. Nothing too deep, but the characters act how they should. Sure, there's lots of fan service, but check out your copy of the manga again. Shirow did not shy away from the fan service. Anyways, my favourite part of the show, up until the Laughing Man story arch began, was the Tachikomas. One thing I always despised about the movie was the lack of the Fujikomas, SAC addresses that concern in spades. I love those guys, and of course how Batou interacts with them. I look forward to see where the Laughing Man story goes. It'll probably be a rehash of the original manga story to an extent, but told different enough to make it interesting. D.N. Angel I think I saw one episode of but wasn't driven to see any more. No real opinion on it, just wasn't interested. Gun Parade March reminded me a lot of Eva. I've had enough of Eva. I therefore only saw the first episode. I might see more in the future, just haven't gotten around to seeing if a second impression might change my mind. I did like the character designs a lot, though. Get Backers didn't draw me in, either. A friend of mine loves it, I'm not big on it at all. Again, only seen one episode, but it didn't grab me enough to make me want to see more. Ninja Scroll I haven't looked into. Not been interested. The movie didn't do much for me, the second movie was a horribly edited, chopped up mess, and I've just not had any desire to seek out any more. I'll certainly watch it eventually, if any of my friends pick it up. Legend of Black Heaven is old news. Saw it on DVD years ago. Horrible, awful animation. Wretched, cheesy, undeveloped sci-fi war story. EXCELLENT show. How does this work? The show is entirely character oriented. It's all about the lead character's relationship with his wife. If you seriously do appreciate character driven stories, I expect you'll love this show. Also, the side story about the drummer is classic. Have not seen ths Overman show, nor X-Hunters. What else is hot? Wolf's Rain should be a household name for anime fans by now. I've only seen like the first two or three episodes, but I liked what I saw. Yoko Kano fans will want to check it out for the soundtrack. The characters seem interesting, as does the world. The show become immensly popular in fansub circles and should be hitting american shelves soon. Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu is quite simply one of the best shows to come out of Japan recently. If you liked the humour in Excel Saga, but felt the jokes wearing at you towards the end, then this show is just the thing. I just finished watching the tv series, and not once did I feel any of the jokes had gotten stale or been done to death. Not only that, but Guu has a solid cast of interesting, well developed characters and a very coherent story that's actually quite touching at times. Captain Herlock: Outside Legend, Endless Odyssey is a must see for Matsumoto fans. This is the most impressive Herlock I've seen since the classic Arcadia of My Youth (which, itself, should be out on DVD next month). Tetsuwan Atom is back, and better than ever. The classic 'Astro Boy' has been redone, with a huge animation budget backed up by Sony. Despite the Rin Taro-esque visuals and impressive backing, the show remains true to the original stories, keeping the themes and style of the original show intact. Not quite new shows, but recently available fansubs include: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a classic anime. Giant Robo fans might take an extra-special interest in this show. Legend of the Galactic Heroes deserves a mention because it's still the best serious space opera war epic ever to come out of Japan. Possibly the best anywhere. The show is simply goodness presented in animated form. If you like character driven stories, intruige heavy political plots, and epic storylines, this is a must. Gao Gai Gar still reigns as King of the Brave robot genre. If you liked Transformers, you might want to check this gem out. Another series in the Brave genre, Brave Express Might Gaine has just started showing up in fansub circles recently.

I'm not all that impressed by the new Sonic show. Sure, it's probably better, by far, than any of the previous Sonic shows, but I didn't like them either. The Sonic OVA released in the states by ADV is probably my favourite Sonic show so far, and that wasn't even that good. How is it that the people making the GAMES are writing better stories than the people writing a show using the same characters? My biggest problem with Sonic X is that they make several of the big "no-no's" of using a videogame license to make a cartoon. The biggest of which is removing the characters from their own world, the second of which is introducing a stupid kid sidekick. The third is blatantly ignoring the stories presented in the already existing franchise. So Sonic get's transported to 'the human world', big mistake. Then Sonic get's a stupid kid sidekick, when he already had Tails, Cream and Amy. To top it all off, despite the fact that humans already existed in Sonic's own world, he's suddenly suffering from some amnesia that makes him forget what humans are! About the only thing I can give the show credit for is the excellent music (which has been sadly removed and replaced with crappy music for the American version), and the fact that they call Eggman, Eggman. I personally think Eggman is a much better name than the post-cold war lingering anti-Russian prejudice induced, originality-lacking, "Americanization" name; Robotnik. No style. The animation looks sharp, for a tv series, and the characters are well portrayed (Sonic and the rest of the Sega cast, that is. They at least act pretty much how they should. At least from what I've seen so far). One can only hope that at the end of this first season, they'll wrap up everything, send Sonic and company home, and forget this whole thing ever happened. Then in season 2 they'll concentrate on a more Sega Sonic style Sonic story and make not even a mention to the whole 'going to another world' thing. If they did that, the show could very well become the best Sonic show to date, and a huge treat for Sonic fans. If that happens, I hope they release the original, unedited version of the show to DVD. I've seen several episodes of the Japanese version, and this is my laundry list of complaints from that, the edited and dubbed version I don't even have the desire to watch.

Wow. I'm going to have to get a Low-vis, now. I mean, currently I have 3 1/48ths and 3 sets of FAST packs. I'm going to miss seeing them without the packs, because I'll never have the heart to take them off. Anyways, I've pretty much settled on the idea of gluing the micro missles into place on the racks. They're not going to come out once I put them in, anyways, and the armour looks that much cooler when you open it up to display the details. One question, anyone have the Hasagawa decal placement sheet and a copy of the Hasagawa decal sheet to use as reference? The Takatoys stickers for the FAST packs are almost completely different than those that come standard from Yamato. I didn't want to just place stickers at random, so I put the Yamato stickers on until I can find out where the Takatoys stickers should go. On a last note, I noticed differences between my Hikaru 1A and my Focker 1S, mainly in the backpage hook and the backplate panel. On my Hikaru, the back panel (the one with the locking hook for the backpack) snaps easily into place and holds well, even with the FAST packs attached. On my Focker, you have to force the back panel into place, and in doing so it only snaps into place too far back, meaning you have to force the backpack much more than I'd really care to. Even then, forced into place and locked together, it still doesn't hold that well, falling out of place far too easily. I've noticed that my Focker 1S is much more fragile overall when compared to my Hikaru 1A. When posing my Focker, one of the intakes pressed against the little fins sticking out of the underside of the fuselage, and broke that little piece right off (the whole thing, both little fins just popped right out). I super-glued it back together, and it looks as good as new (well, it seems to as sturdy as ever, but it won't quite fit back into place no matter how I positioned it into that thin slot it rests in), but it's made me very nervous handling the 1S. I must reiterate, I've had absolutely no troubles with my Hikaru 1A. Also, my troubles with the 1S back plate only really occur when I move the toy around, changing poses or transforming it, it seems to hold fine when left alone, though the backpack hinge still worries me in battroid, so I'll probably keep it mostly in fighter or gerwalk until I figure out some sort of fix for the back plate locking mechanism. Before anyone asks, the additional part Yamato included to reinforce that particular section only works once the back plate is locked into place, still putting the stress onto the backpack hinge. The additonal piece won't even fit without the plate locked into place. Next week I'll sticker up my Max 1A and the last set of FAST packs, give my thoughts on how that goes, and probably post some pictures of all three in all their glory. Pictures much better than this one, I hope.

Was that a Belmont I saw , too? Bomberman isn't even a question. Wow, this looks interesting.

I don't really get what people are complaining about, the price of the VF-1J+FAST packs is slightly less than what you'd pay for a 1/48 Valk and a set of FAST packs independantly. I imagine the lesser cost is due to the lack of a Strike cannon. Sure, ideally you'd want them to make the deal sweeter by giving a discount towards the cost of the two independant, but it's still not like they're jacking up the price.

I'd rather see them just release a V-1A DYRL? Kakizake to complete my Skull squadron. Still, I might pick up a reissue to customize. Then again, I've been saying that for how long, now? I need to practice on my bootleg 1/55ths first.

There has been no toy true to the anime. Having legs that are removed completely and re-attached is no more true than legs with misplaced swingbars that don't disconnect and slide back up. Given the choices, I think the 1/48 is the best compromise so far.

At first I was like, "I don't mind my big boxes, makes the toy all the more impressive when it shows up at the door!" But you're right, smaller, sturdier boxes would decrease shipping costs and risk of damage. How about it Graham? You might want to mention that any money we save on shipping is most likely going to more Valkyries!

Let's not forget Kakizaki!

I just got my own FAST pack sets in today! Just before I left for work, too! Luckily it was only a 4 hour shift, so I didn't have long before I was back at home, busily applying stickers. First of all, it's completely true. The 1/48 Valkyries are not complete without the FAST packs. In comparison, it's like owning half a toy. Less than that if you're a slacker like me that hasn't applied the stickers to your VF-1 yet. I applied my Hikaru 1A stickers last weekend in anticipation of the FAST pack sets and I'm glad I did, as the detail those stickers add is astounding (Thank you Takatoys!). My complaints? Only a couple. First of all, I've had no luck at all with the micro missles. I'll probably wind up leaving them on the sprue, or eventually gluing them into the FAST packs for the added detail. The Budweiser stickers wouldn't even stay on right. Second, Takatoy's stickers, while completely wonderful and flawless on the VF itself, don't quite work with the FAST packs. Mainly due to the white frame around some of the stickers. I would have loved to use Takatoy's Skull 011 emblem on the side of the FAST packs, as it looks much better than the standard Yamato sticker, but it was too small and the white border just made it hideous. This was the case with a few of the stickers, so I mixed and matched what I could. Third, the arm pegs aren't quite lined up right for the arm armour. It holds well enough, but still comes off a little too easy for my taste, and looks even more fragile. Also, getting the back leg armour into place was painful. Anyone else have that problem? Don't get me wrong, though, these are all minor complaints at best. Now that it's all stickered up and has the FAST packs attached, my Hikaru 1A is the pride of my collection. I seriously can't wait until both my Focker 1S and my Max 1A are all prettied up as well. I'll probably work on Focker this Saturday, then finish up with Max next weekend, once I've had plenty of practice.

Who said anything about Valkyries? I'm talking about Jedi Skull Squadron, leaping into the fray, lightsabers at the ready. Does no one else find the idea of Jedi Knight Kakizake to be hilarious?

Oh no! Intake covers! So much for perfect transformation! <_

Now all we needs is some good Macross skins/models. Why? Why not?!

(Mace, contemplating a disturbance in the force.) And at the dramatic climax of the film, just before Anakin is messed up, becoming Darth Vader: Anakin, "Which lightsaber is it, Master Windu?" Mace,"The lightsaber that says "Bad Mother****er."

The VF-0 transformation, that you seem to be referring to, uses a swing bar method almost identicle to the Bandai/Takatoku/Toynami toys, just more advanced in that the swing bar is much thinner and slides into the fuselage.

You know what? Let's take a little ride over to the Macross Compendium to see what Egan Loo has to say... *Cue the Mr. Rogers music*

You cleaned that thing up nicely. I have a dozen sitting in my closet waiting for similar treatment. Just need to get around to buying the materials and setting aside the time.

Being the only new film anyone on the Macross had been exposed to in so long, I sincerly doubt it flopped. Sure, it most likely cost more to make than it made in ticket sales, but considering it's purpose of boosting moral for a mere 50 thousand people, you can't expect a film that breaks box office records.

Yeah, this is very old news by now. At this time, though, no one really knows what's going on with this M7 Trash deal. The popular belief is that Tokyopop licensed the manga from Big West, and then invited Harmony Gold in to keep the legal battle from causing them any trouble. Of course now Tokyopop has removed all news of this deal from their website, which has lead to speculation that Big West may have pulled the plug on it once they got wind of Tokyopop's dealings with Harmony Gold in the matter. A smart move on Big West's part if they plan to meet Harmony Gold on the legal battlefield over merchandising and distribution rights to the Macross derivatives, such as Macross 7 Trash. Again, though, no one really knows for sure. It will certainly be interesting to see where this goes from here.

No, no. I think you hit the nail on the head.

Here...let's see if this works: http://www.theinformationminister.com/pres...hp?ID=612320373 You know, someone could have a lot of fun with that.