VOTOMS

[promethuem5]

Alright... so HLJ should get theirs in a day or two? Is that usually how it works?

[kung flu]

I finally got the Ammo Tin DVD set, now I can sell my old nu tech versions. I watched the specail features disc and I have to say I'm glad they did not continue making an english dub version, the opening music is such a big mess. Watching votoms again has resparked my interest, I might paint my Yamato Melkia Scopedog into a Red shoulder. I'm also thinking of buying the OVAs, but are there any english translations like fansubs for them?

[Majestic]

The Wave kit for the "Chabby (Chubby)" from Pailsen files looks really good.

I hope Takara releases a 1/18 version!

Scale looks like 1/24:

http://www.hobby-wave.com/LINE_UP/gennteis...w_at/index.html

Edited October 3, 2007 by Majestic

[promethuem5]

Yeah, that new 1/24 kit looks awesome... glad to see the 1/24 Turtle kits are being re-released as well, and Adler's Nest and Wave have both already issued tweak sets to improve them... now all I've got to do is find a Max Factory vinyl Fatty kit...

My RSC yamato is FINALLY processing for shipping from HLJ... mean's it'll be there within two weeks, right when I get home for college break... so many goodies are waiting for me at home... (SV-51, THREE Yamato Scopedogs...)

[ShadowerV2]

The Wave kit for the "Chabby (Chubby)" from Pailsen files looks really good.

Indeed. That Chabby has a very nice design.

[promethuem5]

Got my Yamato RSC today and it's mostly amazing!... couple funny things tho. When I opened up the big box, there's the box for the custom parts like if you had bought that seperately, and then the Scopedog in box, but it's weird bc/ it's the version 1 Scopedog, so I was worried at first that it was a surplus v1 'Dog and would suck and nto be able to support the weapons... when I opened the 'Dog up, the tapes on the tray had already been peeled back and folded over, and while the Scopedog looks just like my other v1, it has the improved feet and ankles of the v2 releases... it almot lookis like they are retrofitting surolus v1 'Dogs with improved v2 legs (the arms and hands still have the same v1 quirks). I'm so spoiled with my other 'Dogs having all the small mods I've done to them (extra elbox articulation, tightened shoulders and ankles...) that I've forgotten how weak an OOB 'Dog is. The weapons parts all fit on gorgeously and look great, altho the shoulder launcher missiles are loose just like the handheld launcher from the weapon set.

[Chet]

Are you talking about the Takara DMZ RSC?

[promethuem5]

No the Yamato 1/12 RSC.

[the_foul_fowl]

Vol 1 of Pailsen Files released today in Japan!

http://www.votoms.net/pailsen/dvd/dvd1.html

Hope to see some vids soon!

[promethuem5]

Hooray! Too bad I cannot torrent at school... hopefully someone like, megauploads fansubs...

[treatment]

My R2-J arrived today, but I haven't had time to watch it, yet.

At any rate, here are the pics:

the dvd stuff

the 1/48 ScopeDog-figure it came with.

the 1/48 ScopeDog size-compared against a 1/48 Yammie VF-1A Valkyrie in GERWALK-mode.

the 1/48 ScopeDog size-compared against a 1/48 VF-1S Yammie in Battroid-mode and against the 20th-anniv Optimus Prime.

[konimon]

My R2-J arrived today, but I haven't had time to watch it, yet.

Can you tell us if that 1/48 scope dog has diecast feet? Is Chirico is painted or plain plastic?

Thanks!

[Jeremy007]

im thinking about getting a 1/12 Yamato Armored Trooper Votoms, does anyone here have one that they can tell me about? Likes, dislikes, diecast content...etc.

thanks.

[promethuem5]

I have 6. (Original Scopedog, Melquia forces, Brutishdog (my favorite), 2x Red Shoulder w/ clear armor parts, RSC) (and every weapons and accessory set)

Most people prefer the 1/18 DMZ Takara Scopedog toys, but I love the Yamatos... they are huge, mostly plastic (die cast is basically just the handles on the chest and knee and the hip joint piece)... but they are super detailed and have an amazing shelf-presence. One thing tho... make sure to get a later release (not the original Scopedog or purple Melquia regular forces one) bc/ the initial releases have very loose joints (esp. the ankles) compared to the later releases (RSC, RS w/ clear parts, Scopedog II I THINK, Strong Bracchus, Brutishdog...) The only other thing that kinda stinks is the price of the accessories and pilot figures... altho the pilot figs have gone down in price, and they really are amazing figures (incredibly articulated and detailed) and you'll def want a pilot for whichever 'Dog you get. The Yamato Scopedogs are closer to big durable models rather than so much toys (think 1/48 VF-1 vs 1/55 VF-1) when compared to the DMZ... I'm going to be fully painting and decaling and detailing mine sometime in the future tho, so I don't mind.

Edited October 26, 2007 by promethuem5

[treatment]

Can you tell us if that 1/48 scope dog has diecast feet? Is Chirico is painted or plain plastic?

Thanks!

Unfortunately, no. It's all plastic, afaict. The only non-plastic parts are prolly just the screws.

Here are the other parts (with an unpainted Chirico):

Here's Hikaru trying to jack the ScopeDog :

[konimon]

Unfortunately, no. It's all plastic, afaict. The only non-plastic parts are prolly just the screws.

Here are the other parts (with an unpainted Chirico):

Here's Hikaru trying to jack the ScopeDog :

Thanks for the info. I wanted to see if that's AG-NEXT scopedog, but I guess not.

I see that a heavy machine gun is painted though. So it's like somewhere between the original scopedog and the turbo custom.

I can't believe Hikaru is smaller than Chirico

[treatment]

I can't believe Hikaru is smaller than Chirico

Actually, you got it backwards. Here:

Hikaru can't fit inside the 'Dog. He's got longer legs.

Edited October 27, 2007 by treatment

[Chet]

Hmmm... So which one is really 1/48 scale?

[konimon]

Actually, you got it backwards. Here:

Hikaru can't fit inside the 'Dog. He's got longer legs.

Oh, yes. I did get it backwards. Chirico is the smaller one.

Though Chirico doesn't seem to be a big guy, Hikaru can't be that much bigger.

Hmmm... So which one is really 1/48 scale?

I think Chirico has to be a little bit bigger to be 1/48.

I've heard that scopedog's cockpit is tight as Garland's.

[Renato]

Saw the new show. Not liking it so far. It's pretty boring and slow, lacking focus. It feels like it's going nowhere. Things start to pick up near the end of the second episode, but the whole set-up is a mess from the beginning. I felt the same when I saw the first episode of Flag (good premise, shallow lacklustre execution), the other recent Takahashi OVA anime. I love the original Votoms, but this is so far what Macross Zero is to SDF Mac: A nice-looking, empty shadow of a great show. That said I will be watching the rest to see if it gets good, unlike Flag.

[promethuem5]

To be fair, the original VOTOMS series starts off kinda boring for the first few episodes after the first... I found alot of Uodoo City kinda boring compared to the rest of the series, which I am about to finally finish.

[promethuem5]

Hi gang!

This is the Wave reissue of the Takara 1/24 Scopedog Turbo Custom with newer tooled parts to fix some of the goofier bits on the mostly awesome and venerable Takara kit. I also decided that it was a bit stiff looking of a kit, and decided to do as much joint-mod work as possible... between the included polycaps, some Yellow Submarine ball-joints, and some Kaiyodo joints, I redid the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, and wrists. LMK what you think of the new articulation from the photos...

I also replaced the gun barrels and main zoom camera and turbo engine nozzles with Adler's nest turned metal parts, and redid the shoulder smoke-launchers from brass tubing. Some various tidbits of PE and plastic details were added, as were weld marks from Aves epoxy-putty. The lenses are Wave option lenses. I also added a few extra greeblies to the camera area, figuring they could be extra sensors to deal with the magnetic interference from an urban enviro. The stowage is some various resin bits, most all from Verlinden's WWII US M3 halftrack set.

The camo is a funny mix of influences meant to take the Berlin Brigade camo scheme seen here:

http://www.panzerbaer.de/colours/pics/uk_p...ar_camo-006.JPG

And make it more urban-camo feeling and more scaled to a large walking machine. I painted the camo with Apple-barrel craft paints, Tamiya acrylics and P3 formula colors... weathering was done with oil paints and drybrushing, along with Citadel acrylics and Tamiya weathering powders and a graphite pencil...

[mpchi]

Just finished watching the DVD vol.1 of Pailsen Files. Have to say its a mixture of goods & bads.

Bad: I am totally not digging the OP & ED songs, especially the ED. Just don't know if it fits the style, and the ED song sounding all happy and jumpy singing "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" when the screen is showing a bunch of soldiers carrying coffins of dead comrades is just wrong...its like they try to make the military theme more westernized, but don't think its that appropriate. The songs definitely lost the Votoms feel to it. The original songs are still the best, while the songs in The Defrost OVA is still pretty nice. Another bad part is the character design, especially on Chirico. In the old TV, and different OVAs, Chirico has a definite look, and a style of the main character designer's drawing. The style changes from series to series, but they are consistent within the series since the character deigner guy is also the key animator of the show on the episodes he work on, with The Defrost one looks the best. But in here, you can't see that definition of Chirico's face. He looks different in every freaking scene! And he doesn't look as good. Not even as good as the old TV series (compare to the well drawn episodes), and looks off very often. All other sub characters look better than him in this show. They are more defined than he is. Even Pailsen looks like someone else, and also not that accurate in different scenes. Took me a while to be sure thats him they are showing. So strange. Animation on the human characters side is only average. Nothing to write home about. Even feel a bit low budget at times. Which is a bit disappointing. Story start off with a good battle, then things gets slower and slower in episode 2.

Good: Great detail in the battles showing a much more realistic side of Votoms in battles than any previous series. You see a lot of realistic 'mishap' in the battle that causes casualty, make you realise that its not all that cool piloting a scopedog, and there are way more things other than stray bullets that can take one's life. Thats very neat about the battle scene. And now that its CG, they can fill the screen full of them. You'll see the most dogs ever in a given single shot on screen. Animations on the CG & mechs are great. Convey a sense of heaviness when they move around slowly, but can dashes real fast once the gliding wheels on the feet kicks in. Textures on the CG are detailed, with a lot of wear on the scopedogs, which can't be done with cell animation alone. Though sometimes, the CG does look a bit too...CG. Not so much within the episode when all the action is going on, but more in the OP intro, when there are a lot of stills and slow motion.

So its really a mix bag of some cool stuff with some very average stuff. Unfortunately not as kick ass as I would hope for. The story also takes its time, so not a whole lot had happened yet, and leaves a lot of room for story and character development in the coming 5 DVDs. Just hope that things do pick up soon in episode 3 (another battle), or it will be a pretty boring show that only gets good when it gets to the battle scenes. Hope its not one of those, as collecting these DVDs is going to cost me a lot.

The DVD extra also showed a long trailer of the upcoming PS2 Votoms game. Looks the same without much different from things they've shown before, but the rendered detail CG opening looks kind of bad, with Chirico look like ass... The in-game low res Chirico actually look a lot better. The game sounds fun, but has some questionable art direction.

[bsu legato]

Just an FYI, there is now a torrent out there of the first volume of the Pailsen Files, containing both eps 1 and 2. Also, I've found a torrent of not only The Last Red Shoulder (previously available this past summer) but Big Battle and Roots of Ambition. They're all raw, unfortunately, but it's better than nothing.

[Jeremy007]

holy crap! Promethium5...that is fantastic work! Outstanding custom. I wish there was an official kit like this so i could buy one for my self.

job well done!

[yellowlightman]

That looks awesome prometheum5. How'd you do that camo job?

[promethuem5]

The camo is actually hand-painted, which is why it's so shaky...

[Majestic]

Can anybody tell what's going on in this "detail up" Yamato 1/12 modification?

I never liked the lenses on mine - would appreciate a translation of this mod. Is it simply modifiying existing parts and adding foil?

Edited November 7, 2007 by Majestic

[promethuem5]

Looks like a they replace the two one-piece lenses with a two-part outer lens and inner focusing element affair... I'm more curious why it looks like they added some turned metal bits to the mounts... where'd you get this scan from?

EDIT: If you're looking to improve the lenses on yours, my best recommendation is to get yourself some Wave H-Eyes from HLJ and use some super bright silver paint on the inside of the scope area... altho I've never been a fan of the silver backing for lenses, as it makes them look illuminated like lights, which they shouldn't be.

Edited November 7, 2007 by promethuem5

[Mercurial Morpheus]

I've finished and loved the TV series recently. I grabbed a raw torrent of Pailsen Files. I haven't watched it completely, so I can't be as thorough as mpchi, but here's the quick impression.

Generally, I can't really stand the look of the CGI. It just screams "I'm CG!." It looks like a video game to be honest. This is disappointing as I agree with mpchi on the battle organization. The concepts are awesome. I like how the Scopedogs don't just randomly explode any more (one of my favorite shots was one just freezing position after being pummeled by gun fire). The scenes are imaginative, and the CGI is used to great effect, justifying it, but the look itself is downright awful. The cel animation doesn't blend with it at all either. There are a few shots that look like painted backgrounds and look great (the shot with two ATs in front of a well done fire), but most look very bland and PS2-ish. I also agree that the songs could be better.

I won't really know much else until a fansub appears, but I'm not digging the look much. It's disappointing when you see all the clever things done otherwise.

[promethuem5]

I was kinda thinking the same thing... there've been alot of shots lately of the PS2 game coming out, and then you'll see Pailsen files image, and they can be tough to tell apart... still, provided the story is good I can live with it... I've got one disk left of the original series, maybe I'll finish it off this weekend.

In other news, am I the only one who didn't know anything about this 1/6 Scale Scopedog coming out!?

Edited November 12, 2007 by promethuem5

[mpchi]

Yeah, the CG does stand out in a 'not very good' kind of way. But not to a point it bothers me a whole lot. The 2D character animation bothers me more actually, very inconsistent in facial accuracy (Chirico especially). At least the CG helped making the battle scene more epic, since they can allow more action happening at the same time, without redrawing every little thing frame by frame with cells.

For DVD vol.2, the limited edition comes with another green Scopedog. But with a new gun and has a missile pod mounted on the same backpack came with Vol.1's figure. Now I felt that I got gipped getting the figure from vol.1, as this one is the same, but with better accessories. However, I got too many 1/48 scopedogs that just one with Pailsen backpack is good enough. Got a bit tired of the tricky business to lure you get the figures every time. First, give you the sucky hybrid body (new elbows, old legs) but has a Pailsen Files type backpack. Now give you a cooler gun, and a missile pod. But how different is it compare to my other 6 or 7 various green scopedogs with different accessories? Not much really...

Edited November 12, 2007 by mpchi

[promethuem5]

I find the little 1/48 figs way too small and miserably unplayable anyways... but that stinks to hear that there's not much variety btw/ the Spec.Edition releases...

[mpchi]

I like the 1/48 series after collecting a few. They didn't impress me a whole lot per se, but not quite lacking either. I guess they are not as playable as the big guys for sure, but since the Votoms mechs got so much varients, its one of the best way to get multiples, without hurting the wallet too deep. With a squad of dogs equiped with varied weapons and stuff, it does make a very nice display, without taking up too much space. Wouldn't work too well with the 1/18, 1/12 even worse, unless you have empty giant shelves. I do find some of them a bit inconsistent in the QC. Certain joints can be a bit too loose and needs some minor superglue fixing. Fortunately, its very easy to take apart, as if its a plastic snap together model kit with a few screws.

But not too sure if TakaraTomy has the right strategy on THE NEXT AG series. While the Burglarydog is cool, so people are willing to pay the high price. It might hurt the toyline if they keep the high price on every upcoming release, like the Purple Bear set. I still have a lot of 1/48 dogs(other than Scopedogs) i want to get, so I definitely don't want to see this line dies off just yet before they release those. The Fatty Ground types are great, as well as the recent Turtles. Feels more solid and sturdy overall.

[promethuem5]

See, I would get the BurglaryDog, because of the fact that it's actually a BurgDog toy! if it weren't soooo expensive. I wouldn't mind still picking up an AG Fatty for fun, but after getting the Turbo Custom AG, I don't have alot of interest in having anymore AG Scopedogs... the Fatty and Turtle are less fiddly on such a small scale. I do still really like and appreciate all the support vees and diorama potential of the AG line... there's now doubt that a fully kitted up and painted Turbo Custom scene deploying from the Big Carry would be amazing.