Radd

I agree that the proportions are funky. It looks unbalanced. Of course, that might also be the angle of the shot, so we'll see. I agree that it looks odd with the neck section so far back, but sh002's Photoshop edit places it too far forward. I think midway between that and the actual placement would look best, personally. One thing I find kinda odd, there's a very distinct difference of design aesthetic between the saucer and the rest of the ship. Like the saucer is trying to fit in with the original movie aesthetic, but the rest of the ship was designed by someone else entirely. Of course, that's precisely the case, but design-wise it could be less obvious. I doubt it's something most people will notice, though. I do like that they're going for that "New 70's" look with the Apple style bridge, and all the curved surfaces for this movie.

Er, I'd have to say it's far more reasonable to expect that the entire battle was faked. Saying that the perfectly fine Galaxy fleet shown in the recap episode was an "animation error" is stretching credibility well past the breaking point. From a storytelling standpoint, all the cues point towards the battle being fake, and a quick comparison between the badly damaged Galaxy colony ship seen in the "battle footage" compared to the same ship appearing several episodes later looking to be completely intact is pretty explicit.

I'm fine with that! I still doubt it's going to happen, but it would be pretty sweet.

We don't need any of your nay-saying here!

I think the comments on the improvement, certainly my own, are more of an indication of how bad the 1/72 was. I agree with a lot of the observations you make. Especially the note on how boxy it looks. The VF-11 lineart, and many of the models, are very rounded in appearance, where the Yamato toy seems to have sharper, more defined edges. I prefer the more rounded look. I wonder how large it will be? Given its appearance in the photos, I would guess possibly larger than the 1/60 VF-1, but still significantly smaller than the 21, 19, or SV-51.

I'm disappointed with the tail fins, but everything else is a remarkable improvement. Fighter mode looks a bit (pardon the unintentional pun) plain, I'm hoping that's just because of the lighting or something, preventing us from clearly seeing the panel lines which would make all the difference. I'd love a repaint, like that Club-M. That's the VF-X2 colour scheme, right? I'm digging the FAST packs. I'll probably display mine with the FAST packs, making the tail fins less of an issue. I still wish they'd been able to do more with those, though.

When I pre-ordered with Overdrive, the site said the DX would be out late November. Just checked, still says late November. Was the release date pushed back? Or has a release date not yet been confirmed, and OVerdrive is, perhaps, being a bit too optimistic?

Come on, tell us how you really feel. But seriously, lighten up. We're talking about a toy here. No need to go about making personal attacks. The thread would have gone this way regardless of the thread's subtitle. People here have always been opinionated about what they want to see in a toy, and whether you agree or disagree with their opinion, there's nothing wrong with that. In a world where no one complains, nothing ever gets fixed. I do agree, though, that we could use a thread just for pictures. That's a good idea.

Alright, as of the 4th episode I'm officially a fan. It's a lot like LotGH in a lot of ways, without being the same thing all over again. I like the characters a lot, too. I agree with Roy, though. The animation certainly isn't what has me looking forward to each episode.

There's a lengthy thread about these toys already on the front page of this forum. Just scan the thread titles, shouldn't be hard to spot.

Peeking at any thread where the Bandai DX VF-25 toys are mentioned usually gets the whole debate going over whether people want model-kit quality looks, or a sturdy, problem free toy. I know that Yamato has something of a reputation for poor QC, but to be honest, I've rarely had any worse luck with Yamato toys than I've had buying Transformers, or other such toys. I've only had two instances that I'd call serious QC issues, and one of those might be more of a design issue. The first was my 1/72 YF-21 FP edition. One of the gunpods was glued shut. Won't open. Can't seem to do a thing about it. The second was the 1/100 Koenig Monster's leg hooks that lock the legs into place in shuttle mode. Never really understood if that was just a design compromise, or if somehow the hooks had all been installed backwards. Beyond that, 5 of my Yamato toys have joints that are far looser than I'd like, making them a pain to pose. That would be the 1/60 Q-rau, Ivanov's SV-51, Roy's VF-0S, the 1/60 YF-19, and the 1/60 YF-21. It's nothing very serious in any of these cases, just annoying. It's particularly bad with the M0 toys, enough to put me off buying any more of them. All four of my 1/48ths, and both my new 1/60 v2 VF-1S and 1/60 Tomahawk are practically perfect toys. Durable, poseable, the joints aren't too lose or too tight, they're just absolutely wonderful. I don't really have any complaints about the rest of my collection either, and I've got 17 Yamato toys in total. Of course, because of the horror stories I've heard, I do tend to be a bit on the patient side, waiting for second releases for the most part. Even that's only really true for about half my collection, though, and several of my practically perfect toys are first releases. I don't doubt that there's a lot of people who've been burned by Yamato's poor QC, and so I can certainly see why anyone who has would be more than willing to give Bandai the benefit of the doubt and sacrifice some looks for a toy that might not fall apart as it's being removed from the box. I've still got my pre-order on, and I'm interested in seeing if they hold up, quality-wise. I suppose my question is, are there many more people who've had similar experiences as myself with Yamato's toys?

I'd agree that the way Sheryl is developed over the course of the series makes her one of the more interesting Macross characters for the same reasons d3v states. On the other hand, I don't agree with the Ranka-Jesus comments. I really don't see how Ranka slapping Sheryl was any more "just because" than Sheryl slapping Ranka earlier. I'd also disagree that the overall plot "pales" compared to SDF:M. The story in SDF:M was a lot simpler and straight forward, both in concepts and in presentation. I could do without the fan service. I didn't feel it was so over the top as some people seem to feel. We didn't have anyone spinning around nude in a zero-G shower or, or a completely out of context lesbian rape attempt. But, sure, could have done without Klan's "genetic deficiency" for one thing. I do wish nearly every character had more development over the course of the series. I suspect the series could have been twice as long and filled out well with that kind of development without overstaying its welcome. I do think that the Vajra, and the way they were handled, makes them one of the most interesting elements of the show, but due "twist" nature of the Vajra and their role, as well as Grace, and "Galaxy Anonymous", we never got the sort of "other perspective" that we got in SDF:M, where we would constantly see things from the Zentradi point of view. Giving us that perspective with the Vajra simply was not possible. Though, if the show had gone on significantly longer, it may well have been possibly to lead into more with Grace and Galaxy. That would have been nice. I'm actually kinda surprised, given the incredible success of the show that it wasn't green-lighted for an extended run. Of course, I'm not certain exactly how successful it was, but from the way people have been posting all over, it really seems to have been the big anime event of the year.

I agree. In reality, romance rarely, if ever, wraps up as neatly as it usually seems to do in fiction. Now, there's merits to having such an ending in fiction, but it does not always have to be that way. In this case, the "conflict" presented by the love triangle was more or less resolved by the end of the series, even if the romance itself continues on without a clear ending. The characters yet have their lives to live, and it's shown that the relationship between all three has moved to a more open and emotionally mature level.

REAL science, son! REAL science! </Dr.Membrane>

This is more simple empathy/cartoon show character quirk. I really wouldn't place too much emphasis on this. I'm pretty certain it was mentioned in the Compendium or something (which, unfortunately, has had huge holes in it ever since the switch to a wiki format) as an evolutionary trait. So, sure. Like every other quasi-mystical element in M0, Protoculture technology at work. Given the minor retcon going on, entirely possible that a protoculture fold quartz network is a part of it. Of course, the vajra do not have a monopoly on purple/red crystals, so it's entirely possible the fold quartz was added to Sheryl's earrings by Grace, and the "originals" seen in the new release of M0 are just pretty stones. That's a conversation for another thread, though. Like everyone else said, a mic was left on in the room. This was illustrated pretty clearly in the show. Vajra/fold quartz network very similar to what Grace and Galaxy anonymous was using the entire time. Nothing mystical about it, and nothing to do with song energy (which isn't as mystical a property as most seem to think it is). There's nothing magical or supernatural about culture shock. Science-fictiony, sure, but not supernatural. Also, not simply music, I suspect. Sharon was also making use of visuals, taking over holographic displays all over the place. More science-fictiony than supernatural. See previous comments above. I'm convinced that if Macross 7 ever got the DYRL remake treatment, it would be sans the rainbow colour magic beams. I chalk these up to the series visual director, and place them in the same category as sparkles appearing around a pretty character in a shojo-anime. Not something to be taken literally. You never see this effect outside of M7 and The Galaxy is Calling Me, not even in Dynamite 7.

There are some things better about what we've seen of the 1/60 toy so far. Most of it has to do with the larger size allowing for more detail and a more solid appearance. However, ja, the 1/60 has some very awkward looking joint placement, and highly questionable proportions. I'm still planning to get at least one, but if my opinion doesn't change once I have it in my hands I may pass on the others.

I sincerely doubt it. I came away from the series with the impression that Galaxy was crewed by people in cahoots with Grace. The crew of Galaxy, and the other Galaxy fleet ships, the pilots of Galaxy's VF-27 forces, all a part of the cybernetic fold network Grace was hoping to expand with the conquest of the Vajra and mankind. In several shots in the final episode you see a lot of people floating in the background around Grace. I think it's fairly clear that this was "Galaxy Anonymous" and the ship crews and pilots.

I'd love to see Battle 7 redone in higher quality presentation. Darken the colours a bit, replace the big red "M" with the old U.N. Spacey emblem. Give it the DYRL treatment. As others pointed out, the original TV version Macross has the same colours. Primarily blue and white, with red and yellow highlights.

I have to disagree that M7 is better in terms of backgrounds, and I'm undecided in terms of character animation. Certainly, I love the art style used for the characters in M7 much more, and I would have to say that the characters stay on-model more in M7 than they do in Frontier. Still, one of the things that makes it easier to forgive the inconsistent 2D animation quality of Frontier is the absolutely gorgeous background art. As far as background characters are concerned (such as concert-goers and whatnot), M7 is at least as bad as Frontier. I would say that I disagree with VFTF1's comparison between SDF and M7. SDF, as much as I love it, looks like a cheap, rough around the edges and often rushed production. M7, while lacking the great directorial skills seen in SDF and the exciting battle animation, was far more consistent a production. I've said before, M7 never reaches the heights of SDF, but it also never reaches the lows. Both tv series seem like they were made on a restricted budget to me. Frontier, on the other hand, looks like quite a bit of money went into its production. I would say that despite it's inconsistent animation, it never reaches the lows of SDF, but it certainly has some glorious high points. As for comparing a remaster to a tv broadcast, with so much time between the two shows, and how much technology has changed, I'd say it's about as fair a comparison as one can get. M7 was made for much lower resolution "standard definition" broadcast, while Frontier's tv broadcast was made for HDTV broadcast. Because of this, even, M7 is visually at a disadvantage, as cleaning it up with a remaster and watching it on an HDTV or computer monitor is just as likely to expose more flaws which standard definition tends to hide, whereas Frontier was made with HD in mind, and will be more capable of standing up to the scrutiny the higher resolution allows for.

I'm still hoping we'll get an OST including the song from the final episode, when the Vajra are appearing all around the galaxy. It's either spliced together with "Transformation", or another variant thereof.

I agree with Killer Robot. I thought for sure that Battle Frontier would wind up an "enemy" before the end of the series because of how menacing it looked. The all dark colour scheme, with the blood red bridge dome. But beyond the colours, it looks a lot like Battle 7. Presentation goes a long way.

This part is fact. Sure. This part is speculation. However, it's more or less reasonable speculation. You may have the tail wagging the dog here. We don't know that the APHOS is the basis for human genetics, and hence the blood type match with Mao. It may be that the APHOS was set up to match the DNA signature of the Mayans. We don't know. You're stretching a bit, here. We've simply no idea, and nothing to go by for this. We don't know that humanity sprung from the Mayan's islands. These might just be the people singled out to interact with the APHOS the Protoculture left behind.

I like Zero well enough, but it's hardly my favourite piece of Macross. Oddly enough, I've a lot of friends who loved Zero, liked it better than DYRL or Plus, and they're not very big into Macross at all. As for explaining it, I'm not certain what there is to explain. It seemed to me that the Protoculture had a colony of sorts near the Mayan islands. In the underwater sequences you even see a lot of underwater structures that are very reminiscent of the Protoculture city in DYRL (In fact, it may be that very same city, who knows?) Certainly there was the APHOS itself present, and the anti-gravity and other "supernatural" occurrences seemed to be related to it, specifically (just as the APHOS lifted the U.N. and Anti-U.N. ships out of the water). With all the talk about blood types and whatnot, I got the impression that there was something special about the Mayans, linking them to the APHOS, but nothing more than that is every stated for certain.

It makes for a rather silly argument. It's like seeing a laundromat get plugged full of holes for refusing to pay "protection money" and saying, "Well, it's just as much their fault as the mobsters' Takes two to tango, and all that!"

Only really watching Tytania right now, waiting to see if it really grabs me the way LotGH did. Spoeaking of, I started rewatching LotGH.