Arcadia 1/60 Perfect Transformation VF-0D for 2015

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Zero was probably the best at trying to explain why there were transforming functions in the first place. Yes one of the modes is for killing giants but in this ova it seems that speeds are the main reason. Dogfighting and locking on in fighter mode is the first speed, then gerwalk (hard braking so your opponent who is about to lock onto your tail will go past you and you can shoot his butt) and finally robot mode (used defensively by roy to shoot down micromissile swarms with laser beam from the head turret (great accuracy and swivel speed) and gunpod at close range.

By combing the strengths of each mode you can do stuff outside of the boundary that dedicated fighter or dedicated ground robot can do. Zero visually shows the tricks being useful in its one-to-one fights. (much like those martial arts movies where the main character starts getting his butt kicked due to old thinking until his new teacher can fill his brain with new information or ways of thinking to overcome the bad guy who is usually better than him at the beginning of the story)

Macross Plus on the other hand didn't do too much with GERWALK mode imo.

In Zero the use of drones as boosters made sense. I would like to see that make a return actually. Have the drone be like independent scout in robot mode to scan an area from above so the pilot doesn't have to risk getting shot down himself and can remain in cover on the ground. (by this time in the macross universe the drone are so cheap nobody really minds if they lose them. Does anyone remember that episode where kamjin is hiding in wait on mars to ambush the sdf-1 with gravity mine and they are hidden inside a valley? That could be one trick- send a stealth drone to peek while they sit in waiting. This would be UN answer to the ANTI-UN telescoping head gimmick on the sv-51.

Or how about this for space? A remote drone sniper. You don't need to be in the spot to snipe. The drone can fly behind a rock, you see from its camera and shoot your target from remote locations using the drone? Combined with holograms to distract the enemy for a while to make an easy getaway. Perfect for low viz assassin missions.

Edited April 9, 2014 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[ChaoticYeti]

Zero was probably the best at trying to explain why there were transforming functions in the first place. Yes one of the modes is for killing giants but in this ova it seems that speeds are the main reason. Dogfighting and locking on in fighter mode is the first speed, then gerwalk (hard braking so your opponent who is about to lock onto your tail go past you) and finally robot mode (used defensively by roy to shoot down micromissile swarms with laser beam from the head turret (great accuracy and swivel speed) and gunpod at close range.

By combing the strengths of each mode you can do stuff outside of the boundary that dedicated fighter or dedicated ground robot can do. Zero visually shows the tricks being useful in its one-to-one fights. (much like those martial arts movies where the main character starts getting his butt kicked due to old thinking until his new teacher can fill his brain with new information or ways of thinking to overcome the bad guy who is usually better than him at the beginning of the story)

Macross Plus on the other hand was didn't do too much with GERWALK mode imo.

Agreed. The fights in Zero are awesome.

[David Hingtgen]

Jenius was trying to let you know that the VF-0D was actually a Yamato product that moved to Arcadia after Yamato went defunct. That being said Graham had dropped a hint about it a while back before we all knew Yamato was going to sink.

Yup. It was known years ago that the next two molds Yamato was going to do, was a new YF-19 and a VF-0D.(though the VF-4 seemed to have snuck in there somehow first)

Somewhere, someone probably already knows the next 2... (though I'd be happy with a VF-11 re-release, in VFX-2 or Milia colors)

[sreichma]

Zero would have been a great origin story but it had the whole bird people and love stick thing that made you just skip to the next mecha scene. All that kept it from being a total failure was that the pilots actually piloted the valk rather than playing a guitar.

[sreichma]

The entire VF development though and the original F-14 battle is epic though, i guess my problem is really just about how it could have beeb, but they didn't write it just for me . I'd buy an Arcadia Zero F -14 in a heartbeat .

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Macross is always about love between two different cultures though. The priests that use magic and normal humans being in place of human marrying an alien in sdfm. You get used to it. It's not gundam show. Magick is linked to technology. Actually it does help to make aliens more mysterious. Remember that scene in DRYL where the atlantean civilisation's island rose up from the oceans? It's always had an element of mystery.

The ship itself at the start of sdfm was not of human origin and wasn't fully understood either. When they tried to lift off from earth the anti-gravity engines rose up into the air without bringing the ship with it and they ended up just using conventional tech. Alien science in macross isn't 100% fully understood. You could say that about floating machines in zero. It's not meant to make sense since these are people who isolated themselves from civilisation to preserve secrets. Not all sci-fi explains how things work. In macross 7 the alternative science are not respected by conventional and they are like mad professors who never get funding since nobody 'gets' them so they have to do things outside the established system.

The real life equivalent to this would be nikola tesla, who had great ideas but because it couldn't be made to generate a profit his inventions were supressed and died with no money. That's greedy america for ya.

Edited April 9, 2014 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[xrentonx]

Seeing as how my aircraft collection, as a result of Macross, is all 1/60 scale, I would buy an ton of modern day aircraft in the same scale. Yes, I know this scale is not popular for real aircraft models/toys.

Edited April 9, 2014 by xrentonx

[Gakken85]

I didn't like plus or 7. Sorry

[Kanedas Bike]

I didn't like plus or 7. Sorry

Apology accepted.

Now go watch Plus again for penance.

-b.

[mechaninac]

<snip>

The real life equivalent to this would be nikola tesla, who had great ideas but because it couldn't be made to generate a profit his inventions were supressed and died with no money. That's greedy america for ya.

Sure... Tesla's numerous patents related to AC current never went anywhere.

And it wasn't "greedy" America suppressing anyone. It was J.P. Morgan's financial interests in Thomas - wizard of Menlow Park / too smug regarding his own successes - Edison’s DC current fixation. Tesla was backed by Westinghouse, and surrendered his patents and financial interests, voluntarily, to his benefactor in order to guarantee investment money for the construction of the Niagara Falls hydroelectric power station (first in the world), electrification of the Chicago World's Fair (which finally convinced the skeptics that AC was the future), and fight J.P's/T.E's elephantine influence... Tesla and Westinghouse came out on top. Tesla died penniless because, although he was a genius, he was a horrible business man who pursued far too many outlandish ideas, like wireless power transmission.

Back on topic: I enjoyed Zero quite a bit. My only problem with it was it's short OVA nature (it sure could've used another 2 or 3 episodes) which necessitated a truncated story and led to the awkward, rushed, ending. But all the mecha designs that went into the production were superb. It's too bad will likely never see the Destroid Cheyenne, or Octos in 1/60 toy form.

Edited April 10, 2014 by mechaninac

[Mommar]

Macross is always about love between two different cultures though. The priests that use magic and normal humans being in place of human marrying an alien in sdfm. You get used to it. It's not gundam show. Magick is linked to technology. Actually it does help to make aliens more mysterious. Remember that scene in DRYL where the atlantean civilisation's island rose up from the oceans? It's always had an element of mystery.

So who was trying to boink the Vajra?

[ChaoticYeti]

Well, lots. Galaxy. Grace. If you count Ranka and Sheryl as Vajra, than Alto is guilty too.

Edited April 10, 2014 by ChaoticYeti

[derex3592]

Sounds like I need to watch Frontier next I guess...it's the only one I haven't seen yet. Well, Macross II as well...

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

So who was trying to boink the Vajra?

Love doesn't necessarily mean sex. You can love something about another culture without frakking the people. Eg the model kit sellers in sdfm liking the feeling they get hearing music and realising it is something they never have experienced before and wanting more of it by telling all the other aliens about it back on thier ship when they report what they've seen in the hope they can go back.

The bridge bunnies probably were about to do em though at the rate they were going having a chance to mingle. Sex is part of it but not the whole thing.

Edited April 10, 2014 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Sounds like I need to watch Frontier next I guess...it's the only one I haven't seen yet. Well, Macross II as well...

The quality of animation is great. It's only 26 eps I think? But it crams a lot into that time. Not as much repetition as macross 7 imo which is a good thing.

[skullmilitia]

It's funny that kids who grew up on Transformers and GIJoe have so much interest in picking apart well written Anime.

Chances are if you really don't like a specific series, it's because you didn't really pay attention.

It's like hating the red skittles, it makes no sense other than your personal distaste of red.

Doesn't make the red any less delicious.

[Scream Man]

Frontier became my favorite somewhere along the way. I'm not sure when exactly.

Then Plus then Zero. i dont even mind the weird ending.

Also is it just me or is the "Cancelling my pre-order" joke starting to get tired?

[Chronocidal]

Nah, don't think that'll ever wear out entirely.

I like all the various series for different reasons, Plus usually wins out as favorite because it was my introduction to the universe, and hit me in the serious soft spot I have for flight test related stuff, but they all have their strong points.

I think Zero really has some of the best fight scenes out of any of them though, because of how insanely detailed and semi-realistic it all was. The F-14s in the intro were awesome, plus the final showdown between Shin/Focker and Nora/D.D. really put Zero in a class by itself for dogfighting. The stuff in Plus was close, but none of the other series really makes it so clear what kind of g-forces those planes have to be able to pull to do all that fancy mecha-flippity combat stuff.

[MacrossJunkie]

Seeing as how my aircraft collection, as a result of Macross, is all 1/60 scale, I would buy an ton of modern day aircraft in the same scale. Yes, I know this scale is not popular for real aircraft models/toys.

I don't know if there's anything else, but the Transformers MP seekers are almost perfectly 1/60 scale (the original ones. Don't know about the newer reworked versions) going by my measurements of the toy and calculations. So at least there's that. I haven't personally found anything else that's in 1/60 scale though =(

[Chronocidal]

Honestly.. 1/60 is a nice scale for a lot of larger planes. F-14/F-15 size planes are a nice size in 1/60, and I'd love it if I could get a few more.

[David Hingtgen]

Very true. The F-14/15 are huge in 1/48, but 1/72 can be a little small. 1/60 is still plenty big for the -15.

[warrhead]

Seeing as how my aircraft collection, as a result of Macross, is all 1/60 scale, I would buy an ton of modern day aircraft in the same scale. Yes, I know this scale is not popular for real aircraft models/toys.

What's a good resource for finding planes in 1/60 scale? Do any have deploy-able landing gear or are they all swap-out style?

[Chronocidal]

That's just it, they really don't exist.

Only other place I think I've seen 1/60 scale is on old models from the 60s-80s, like this one. There might be others, but this is the only one I've ever seen in person.

[David Hingtgen]

Ah, box scale! You'll probably be able to find 1/58, 1/59, 1/61 if you look hard enough. But it'll be random scales of random planes.

Box scale almost defeats the point of a scale model collection, IMHO. Dark days back then.

[xrentonx]

What's a good resource for finding planes in 1/60 scale? Do any have deploy-able landing gear or are they all swap-out style?

Yeah, it's unfortunate they don't really exist in 1/60 scale. Mostly this is wishful thinking on my part because I dream of having really well done F-15, F-14, and Sukhois that can dogfight my Valks

Alas, only the bigger scales seem to be popular for real world aircraft.

[kensei]

Funny how they refer to it as Phoenix when apparently some higher ups said that the fighter is not Phoenix, but referred to only as Zero.

[warrhead]

I found some diecast H-60's made by New Ray. Their stuff is usually crap-tastic, but I'm still tempted to buy a few SH-60's (like this one here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SH60-SeaHawk-DieCast-Helicopter-Navy-aircraft-Military-1-60-10-inches-long-/231201109403?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item35d4a8f59b ) and throw some UN Spacy kite logos on them, to display with the VF-0D I intend to acquire..

...Then, there's always these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-60-China-J-31-J31-fighter-plane-/161268404104?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item258c588f88

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-60-J-20-China-J20-Stealth-Combat-Fighter-Plane-Aircraft-Model-Metal-/290980436542?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item43bfc91a3e

Some might think it's lame, but the only reason I don't buy those Chinese planes is their lack of deploy-able landing gear. Ya' gotta' switch 'em out.

Edited April 10, 2014 by warrhead

[anime52k8]

Ah, box scale! You'll probably be able to find 1/58, 1/59, 1/61 if you look hard enough. But it'll be random scales of random planes.

Box scale almost defeats the point of a scale model collection, IMHO. Dark days back then.

How does that work? Do they have one size box and it's "whatever scale it has to be to fit in that box"?

...Then, there's always these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-60-China-J-31-J31-fighter-plane-/161268404104?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item258c588f88

man, that has got to be the most inacurate F-22 model I've ever seen in my life.

[Scream Man]

Funny how they refer to it as Phoenix when apparently some higher ups said that the fighter is not Phoenix, but referred to only as Zero.

i thought that was later agreed upon as official. MMM has a note about it Im to tired to look up, there was an official book resource that called the Zero's 'Phoenix' which canonized it.

[anime52k8]

Macross chronicles uses Phoenix.

[Major Focker]

How does that work? Do they have one size box and it's "whatever scale it has to be to fit in that box"?

actually, "box scale" doesn't even stick to just one box size, but yeah, it's whatever will fit in the box. and the size of the box is mainly driven by how much material they think they can budget to make the amount of money they want to make off a kit.

Revell is well known/notorious for this. just check out their Star Wars line. what is particularly infuriating to modelers is that sometimes their "box scale" is already so close to a well established scale, one has to wonder why they didn't just follow it, or at least made their arbitrary scale consistent for subjects that are well associated with each other.

case in point: 1/112 X-Wing, 1/121 Vader TIE, 1/110 TIE Fighter http://www.revell.de/produkte/star-wars/star-wars-episode-iv-vi.html

[Gakken85]

Apology accepted.

Now go watch Plus again for penance.

-b.

Not gonna happen. No pointy noses for me.

My main problem with Plus was the plot, and the ending. I know it was an entry point for a lot of people who post here today, so they love it, but it didn't feel like Macross to me. I just went back at the start of last year and started with SDF and went all the way through to the end of Frontier. I skipped through most of 7, but I watched everything else.

The fact that I find most of the valk designs to be lame doesn't help either.

To each his own.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Gakken85

[Vifam7]

Yeah, it's unfortunate they don't really exist in 1/60 scale. Mostly this is wishful thinking on my part because I dream of having really well done F-15, F-14, and Sukhois that can dogfight my Valks

Your dreams can be realized if you switch to building 1/72 Macross kits.

It's what I've started doing because I too want Valkyries in scale with F-14s and F-15s.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Vifam7

[Scream Man]

I've wanted Yamato/Arcadia to make a 1/60 F-14 with Macross markings since i first saw Zero. Do it at a around $100 or so, and i'd buy at least 2.

[David Hingtgen]

How does that work? Do they have one size box and it's "whatever scale it has to be to fit in that box"?

In short---exactly. I think it had more to do with case assortments for stores. All the boxes will be the same size to fill up the shipping box. So that assortment may have two 1/41 scale, two 1/33 scale, and two 1/55 scale planes to fill up the "carton of six".

This has pretty much gone by the wayside now due to consumer demand for standardized scale/accuracy (leading to the "standard" 1:32/48/72/144 scales), but it was VERY common in the 50's and 60's. And AMT/ERTL.

Another issue to watch for is "metric" scale. Mainly Japanese kits---I know Fujimi did it, I bet Hasegawa did too. Certainly through the 70's and early 80's. Basically---they didn't care about the whole "12 inches to the foot" thing that lead to 1:48 and 1:72 scale. Many kits marketed in English-speaking countries as 1:48 and 1:72 were actually 1:50 and 1:70. And you can bet 1/96 and 1/144 were really 1:100 and 1:150. Usually subtle, but it could make a difference. Especially if you try to kitbash or swap weapons.