ff95gj Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 Despite the historical connotation to females and Valkyries I do not see female traits in the majority of VF Battroid modes. Certainly not in the original VF-1. While not hulking it's a bit butch for a lady. Hmm.. Strange. I happen to think that the VF-1 design has a feminine tone. I even thought that was obvious. Not feminine as the Sailor Moon Gundam, but feminine in the sense of modern military. Slim, nimble, versatile. Can't say the same for YF-19 and YF-21 though.
jenius Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 Perhaps you are thinking of the dimensions of the VF-1 Yamato V2 toy rather than the line art. Think of the hands from the cartoon... those girl hands to you?
Twoducks Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 The latest hobby mag show the upgrades from the VF-25 to the 29 toy and... Articulated hands, yeah baby! I really hated those stupid karate chop hands. Hope they can be used while in fighter mode.
Mommar Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 Hmm.. Strange. I happen to think that the VF-1 design has a feminine tone. I even thought that was obvious. Not feminine as the Sailor Moon Gundam, but feminine in the sense of modern military. Slim, nimble, versatile. With that broad chest and shoulders? I don't think so. The Valks are slim and nimble and versatile but so was Bruce Lee... and he sure didn't look like a woman. That's always been my feeling about most Valks, they're more like a slim but muscular martial artist. Except for the RVF-25. That one, maybe due to the head, seems to remind me of a woman more than the others. Perhaps you are thinking of the dimensions of the VF-1 Yamato V2 toy rather than the line art. Think of the hands from the cartoon... those girl hands to you? She's got man-hands!
Jasonc Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 I don't see feminine in the Valkyrie at all, save for the name. I don't see it in any of the designs, except for the 11-MAXL. Put a picture of both the VF-1 and the 11 MAXL and you'll probably be able to figure out which one you can see as feminine.
Reïvaj Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 IMHO, all Valks have very masculine bulks, covers or even really phallic nose cones around the croach area in battroid mode as to be considered any feminine; let aside the fact that they are war machines and war has always been a man’s matter –even though that’s not the case in the Macross series. Then you’ve got the shoulders, lower legs, feet, heads, etc. that don’t look feminine at all. To me, they look more like some kind of modern mechanic samurais.
Mommar Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 I don't see feminine in the Valkyrie at all, save for the name. I don't see it in any of the designs, except for the 11-MAXL. Put a picture of both the VF-1 and the 11 MAXL and you'll probably be able to figure out which one you can see as feminine. I suppose technically if you want to ignore the wings as the back the VF-1's shape is semi-hour-glass. That ignores the rest of it's body type. I could see some of the 25's, and maybe the 29 being more androgynous or feminine.
jenius Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 It's called a Valkyrie for a reason You know, when they did the "name the VF-25" competition. I was like, "Why bother? That thing is a dead ringer for Jesus. They should either call it the VF-25 Jesus or the VF-25 Messiah. It came as no surprise when "Messiah" won.
Mommar Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 You know, when they did the "name the VF-25" competition. I was like, "Why bother? That thing is a dead ringer for Jesus. They should either call it the VF-25 Jesus or the VF-25 Messiah. It came as no surprise when "Messiah" won. And how come the 19 doesn't look like a giant, flying Broadsword jammed into a stone?
Archer Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 And how come the 19 doesn't look like a giant, flying Broadsword jammed into a stone? lolz, that actually made me laugh
Vifam7 Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 Aren't all military weaponry feminine? It's always "she's a beauty". Ship captains, pilots, tankers, machine gunners etc. They all call what they control/command in the feminine form. However, if were just talking aesthetics, both the VF-1 and VF-25/YF-29 are obviously male. Look at the schlongs they have! Unless you want to say they are dickgirls...
jenius Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 Unless you want to say they are dickgirls... Pure awesome. I laughed a bit harder than I should at work.
ruskiiVFaussie Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 She's this, shes that, she'll be right mate, all typical slang for the aussie bloke, I dont want to refer a valk as a he, wether its a vf1 or vb-6 koenig! my car is a she, I utterly refuse to drive a car with a penis.
charger69 Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 She's this, shes that, she'll be right mate, all typical slang for the aussie bloke, I dont want to refer a valk as a he, wether its a vf1 or vb-6 koenig! my car is a she, I utterly refuse to drive a car with a penis. At least, 2011 Dodge Charger is not a female form of 4 wheeled beast for sure. Some VF's are female and some others are male IMO. And all the references about weapons being female are the result of being away from real women for months or years, for example in case of WWI or WWII
anime52k8 Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 So yeah, DX Chogokin YF-29... I don't want to shell out $200 sight-unseen given the track record of the DX line, but I don't want to be stuck having to pay ridiculous mark up prices because I didn't jump on a preorder. It's cool looking, but $200 is a LOT of money to pay for floppy joints and chipping paint.
jenius Posted May 2, 2011 Posted May 2, 2011 You should steer clear of it. You're not going to like it. Eugimon also. If you've been burned by the other DX toys and hate them then this thing might "suck less" to you if you're lucky but I find it highly unlikely you're going to be stoked on that big a purchase. It looks like it has lots of improvements but I'd bet dollars it's going to feel very familiar in your hands. If that familiarity makes your recall your contempt then it will be a very short-lived honeymoon.
ff95gj Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 I suppose technically if you want to ignore the wings as the back the VF-1's shape is semi-hour-glass. That ignores the rest of it's body type. I could see some of the 25's, and maybe the 29 being more androgynous or feminine. That's my feeling. Small waist and the clean design. I am not talking about sex organs on a machine... Just the tone of the design. Well, I still believe that Kawamori didn't call it Valkyries for no reason. P.S. Bruce Lee practiced the Kung Fu (Wing Chun) that was practically suitable for women.
jenius Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Seriously guys... the name is irrelevant (although, to be fair, this whole conversation is also irrelevant). It's not called a Mustang 'cause it looks like a horse. It's not a Messiah 'cause it looks like a king with a fiery sword. It's just a cool sounding name... sure, all of them are appropriate in their own way but you're stretching it to say that Kawamori wanted us to view the battroid as a big boobied Norse woman with a shield, flowing golden hair, and wings. I think it was more the whole "winged warrior" thing (or, if you go into the mythology, there are even cooler things you could read into it). That said, if you see the shape of the VF-1 in battroid mode an you think "that looks feminine to me" then more power to you... Lord knows women (like men) come in all shapes and sizes anyway. I still think the VF-25 looks frail and spindly. I don't hate the design by any means, just not my favorite.
raptormesh Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 (edited) So yeah, DX Chogokin YF-29... I don't want to shell out $200 sight-unseen given the track record of the DX line, but I don't want to be stuck having to pay ridiculous mark up prices because I didn't jump on a preorder. It's cool looking, but $200 is a LOT of money to pay for floppy joints and chipping paint. $150 isn't too bad if pre-ordered with Amiami, though if you have serious doubts may be better off saving the dough for Basara's ride @Jenius: QFT! Edited May 3, 2011 by raptormesh
Graham Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 Actually, I'm really looking forward to this toy now. Too bad I'm gonna be on holiday in Greece when it comes out. Going to have to ask one of our HK members to pick it up for me. Graham
anime52k8 Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 $150 isn't too bad if pre-ordered with Amiami, though if you have serious doubts may be better off saving the dough for Basara's ride @Jenius: QFT! $150+what AmiAmi is going to charge for shipping = about $200
1/1 LowViz Lurker Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 (edited) On the whole "valk being girl robots" debate it's possible for a woman to wear armor and observers not know what sex the warrior is until after they take off the helmets you know. eg: Samus from the metroid games. The blonde biker girl from mospeada for example. Just because the armor is bulky doesn't mean the pilot or the person wearing an armored suit (and mechs are a kind of giant version of a powered suit) must be a male heh. The robot mode of a valkyrie could just be thought of as a female knight who just look male because she is hidden under male-looking armor. In macross I just think of the robot mode as a generic knight in shining armor who jumps into danger to rescue the princess and fly away to safety and the aliens as monsters. But that the pilot must have some connection to female side of himself and understand the machine he controls which protects him like a mother. (cockpit is its womb) Sort of like the machine is the horse and the rider must connect himself to the robot in some sick way in order to understand its feelings - that kinda thing. This is something very common in these mech shows which feature an emo kid character who is weak in real life but can survive because he knows the secret to controlling the horse. This appeals to the tech obsessed nerds who want to be super heroes but must rely on giant machines to realise their fantasy of flying and having super strength thanks to advances in aliens wars. Macross is probably heading in this direction by the looks of things. (alto being non-macho, the alien floating rocks thing we saw in macross zero, basara tapping into his anima feelings using music instead of killing etc etc ie the sensitive new age guy wins by having intuition of some sort that gives him the edge in a battle) I agree that the robots whether skinny or fat are more androgynous. (ie no sex) It's just that for me a fighter plane is like a bird which are supposed to be light and agile, and a ground machine is a hulking brute weighed down with heavy weapons and I like things that way. The more hulking armor a robot has on its body the harder for it to do cool things like dodge fire or dive to cover like the vf-1 does in the SDF:M intro. Having quicker reflexes and not being where the opponent thinks you will be in order to defeat them is what I like about the valkyrie because it can do complex moves. In the same way a high performance sportcar's power is not in the strength of the body, the valks appeal is not in the amount of bullets it can take before blowing up. If it was bulky it would suggest to me that the valkyrie must be slow like a truck with crap acceleration, not fast and light like a F1 race car. The best way to sum it up is this: being skinny and hard to hit is what makes those acrobatic stunts that hikaru does in the end of DYRL the key to avoiding danger. If he had a bulky robot that flies slow but takes a lot of damage it just wouldn't be as fun to watch and the character wouldn't need skill. Since the robot takes all the credit for having great armor. Hikaru and Luke Skywalker save the day only thanks to lots of money funding the resaerch into better technology not because they have "the force" or the female intuition thing that lets them sense danger and avoid it by reacting early to make them hard to predict. If you've only got a tiny amount of space to move around but still have a lot of bullets to dodge, being fast and accurate and delicate/sensitive/careful is important. Not just having good shooting ability. You can't fly as well with heavy armor and moves are not as fine and accurate with poorer handling, so it actually works for macross that the robots look a bit anorexic. Getting to a location on time and then getting out quickly before the place explodes is just as important as being able to crash without wrecking the robot. Edited May 3, 2011 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker
raptormesh Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 On that note, i do understand why they frequently choose emoteens as the protagonist, but really, give us another Isamu(or Gamlin), a military fighter pilot please. Pretty sick and tired of whiny kiddies saving the world and all that. On topic, I do think the Durandal looks a bit unwieldy in Gerwalk mode so I doubt i'll ever be displaying it like that.
Mommar Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 On topic, I do think the Durandal looks a bit unwieldy in Gerwalk mode so I doubt i'll ever be displaying it like that. I haven't seen the movie but all of the press pics makes the 29 look a little more compact in Gerwalk. That's usually my go-to mode but this toy's ass looks HUGE in it.
raptormesh Posted May 3, 2011 Posted May 3, 2011 I haven't seen the movie but all of the press pics makes the 29 look a little more compact in Gerwalk. That's usually my go-to mode but this toy's ass looks HUGE in it. Yes in fact, it looks a bit like a friggin' peacock.
ruskiiVFaussie Posted May 4, 2011 Posted May 4, 2011 At least, 2011 Dodge Charger is not a female form of 4 wheeled beast for sure. Some VF's are female and some others are male IMO. And all the references about weapons being female are the result of being away from real women for months or years, for example in case of WWI or WWII Your crazy, even a freaking rear loader mining truck is female if your a dood driving it!!! SDF-1 is a she.
Graham Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Latest pics from the new July issue of Hobby Japan magazine just out today. First look at the new pilot sculpt. Poseability looks good on this toy. Graham
raptormesh Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 I really like the left battroid picture. Screams "Come get me, ya punks!", which is kinda not Alto. I'll just make believe that it's some other military pilot with Isamu's personality.
Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0 Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Thanks for the scan Graham. I see a blurb there for a Tamashii webshop item for 5000+ yen for October. Super parts?
1/1 LowViz Lurker Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 (edited) It has a powerful look to it but compact and light. Kinda like when fast packs stopped being chunky blocks strapped to the top of the vf-1 and slowly got smaller and smoother and took less space. (ie vf-11 FP) This has that "speedy but armed with power" look to it. I'm starting to like the design a bit more than before. I want to buy one but I got to save up. I bet the pilot is drunken (roy) or reckless (isamu) or maybe a rockstar who is prepared to die for his belief by not bringing weapons into a battlefield (basara and the guy in macross zero) But I doubt its the latter given it has all the weapons on its back. It's probably a relative of the old guy in macross 7 who piloted the monster and almost blew a hole in the hull of the ship by accident during the robot convention. Edited May 24, 2011 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker
reeoyuy Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Is that the same pilot figure from DX VF-25? I don't really care small stuff like that but they can do better. I hand painted tiny Alto figure in my 1/100 YF-29 kit and I think the result is more color accurate than that white blob. It's almost like Alto is wearing a white T-shirt over his pilot suit . Still, having build the kit I fell in love with the overall design. Will get one if I can spare my budget.
Dobber Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Looking good, Guess I'll have to wait for a rerelease since it's pre-order stop most places. I wasn't sure between this or the 19 Kai, but this is looking very good as did the Kai (just can't stand the colors of the Kai)but while the Kai is still available just about everywhere, likely due to it's freaking ridiculous price, the 29 is a bit more affordable but sold out. Chris
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