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Part 2 - Macross F 2025 concert Soft lighting then filled the stage and Megumi returned. Dressed in a white, she sang ‘Sou da you’ - soft and sweet. Next was May’n turn, she too had a costume change but this time it was a little weird. She wore a pink furry short sleeve coat. It looked out of place. She sang ‘Ejen ni’ passionately. The stage was bath in soft pink lighting. Next was another crowd favorite - Universal Bunny. She walked down from the top tier stage to the SMS stage while an extended opening version of the song was played. The crowd cheered as she sang in 2 distinct voices representing the White and the Black. Moving Gears and 4 circular mirrors (each one has a video feed of May’n singing inside) covered the main screen. A great performance by May’n. Next was Megumi singing the cute teddy bear song - Nijiiro Kuma Kuma. The main screen was showing the same scenes in the 2nd movie when this song was being played. However the colors dull a little. Back to May’n, she looked distressed! She’s dressed like Sheryl in the 1st movie (butterfly costume) - the opening of Oberlisk! She ran down the stairs into the Arena area, running past hundreds of cheering audience! She made a left turn after running the depth of 1 block and another left up to the SMS stage. All the while Camera san tried to keep pace with her. Once she reached the Main stage, she sang a line and then she’s on the run again to the furthest corner on the right. All this while singing the song! She sang without a hint that she’s tired from that long run! She just had lots of stamina and knows how to hide her breathing. A short while later, she returned to the center of the stage and completed the song! Next was Hokage Overflow by Megumi. The main screen showed the YF-29 battled it’s way back to the planet together with Macross Quarter. Toward the last quarter of the song, the stage turned red as Megumi turned to face the YF-29 plane which slowly descended with fireworks shooting downward. The plane was really huge now that we’ve got Megumi as a reference! The stage goes dark for a few seconds and then returned with the main screen showing the ruined city of Island 1 and the Quarter landed in the city. I was expecting Sheryl’s voice to do the opening of Sayonara no Tsubasa - end of triangle (iyrics from Northern Cross) but they just jumped straight to the song. Megumi was at the right side of the stage and May’n was at the left. Once they completed the 1st verse, a dozen search lights emitted from the YF-29 as it’s nose tilted downward. Fireworks started to shoot up on the main stage as well as from underneath the plane. As both singers walked toward each other, the plane rose higher and tilted to the left and right as if it was making turns in the air. Both of them then walk to the SMS stage and turned back to look back at the plane (and Alto), they both sang ‘’Ashiteru’’. May’n as Sheryl stepped forward as if to reach out to Alto just as the song ended. The last song for the day was LION! The crowd goes wild! Both of them returned to the main stage and started singing. The funny thing was both of them were off key! But as the song progressed they’re both went back on track. Half way through, they both split and walked to their respective sides (May’n left and Megumi right). There were fireworks on stage throughout the song. The whole concert hall was a sea of Pink and Green light sticks moving to the rhythm of the song. They joined back for the end of the song and it was good ending to the concert! They both left the stage. The stage darkened and the crowd began to chant non stop ‘Sheryl!’ and ‘Ranka’. Light sticks were Pink and Green. It sounded a little like a competition! This went on for close to 7 minutes! Then all the lights on stage were turned off! From the top tier of the main stage, a light source shone upwards through an opening. The Guest of the day came riding up an elevator with a piano! It’s Yoko Kanno - the music/song composer of Macross F! She playing ‘Prologue F’. May’n appeared on the same level and sang Diamond Crevasse accompanied by only the piano played by Yoko Kanno. 2/3 way through, the notes changed and it’s the song ‘’Yosei’’!, but only 3 lines and then it’s back to Diamond Crevasse. Big applause by the audience. Megumi’s turn - Songbird, also just accompanied by the piano. At the end of the song, another note change - Love, Do you Remember (from the 1st Macross SDF Movie) Megumi sings ‘’I Love you soooo’’. May’n returned and sang the same! Both retained their last costumes. They then both sang ‘’I Love you soooo’’. With that, the 1st Encore ended. After that May’n stretched her arms out, indicating that she wants a hug. Yoko Kanno stood up and all three hugged. The audience, burst out in a cheer! Both May’n and Megumi were like her proteges, both got their big break under her tutelage! It was some time since all three had a concert together! May’n quickly wiped tears from her eyes and introduced Yoko as the Special guest! Yoko Kanno spoke in a cute voice. You can tell she’s really shy. Let’s make some music together! All 3 came down to the main stage! A musician handed Yoko a keyboard guitar which she strapped around her shoulder. May’n then asked the audience are they ready ? May’n and Megumi asked floor by floor and those watching the LIVE Telecast! The audience cheered accordingly! The 2nd Encore - Nyan Nyan Medley (TV ver. - same ending as in 2008 at Budokan). They moved to the SMS stage and started singing. Through out the song they exchange places and would later return to the main stage for the ending! Sure brought back memories of Macross F. I’ve always like the TV ending - May’n sings one song and Megumi sings another at the same time but somehow both would match into one! An extended ending! All the musicians came out and played among the singers! The audience goes wild and the cheering goes louder! And Megumi slipped and fell! (Apparently she fell on both days!) May’n invited everyone to jump at the ending note. As they did, confetti popped and rained on the stage! A very high spirited ending! Unfortunately all things must end. May’n invited all the musicians to come forward to be introduced to the audience! After that they all held hands and shouted (without mikes) ‘Arigato Gozaimasuta!’ and bowed. This is probably where the Blu-disc ver. will cut off. The musicians, including Yoko Kanno left the stage and only May’n and Megumi remained. Playing in the background was the SMS Team song - That Girl is an Alien!. Some funny moments followed as both singers went the the left side of the stage to thank the audience. On route, they were surprised that the audience sang along the SMS Team song. Once they reached the end of the stage, they held hands and shouted ‘Arigato Gozaimasuta!’ The audience responded with a loud cheer! On their way to the right side, they tried to wave to as many fans as they could. When ever the song would reach the last word of the lyrics, the audience would shout ‘Alien!’ Once they reached the right end, they waited for the song to end before shouting ‘Arigato Gozaimasuta!’ On they way to the SMS stage, both of them hummed/sing the song too. Here too they waited until the song ended before shouting the same. A really fun moment to see the interaction between the audience and the singers! Both returned to the main stage and shared their experience working on Macross F, May’n - since her debut, she has decided not to sing to make a living. But since meeting Sheryl, she has learned to live n inspire people through songs! So she would keep Sheryl’s song alive for all times. As for Megumi, she felt lonely in her musical career that was until she met May’n and Macross F. Megumi declared that meeting May’n was the greatest gift in life! Both envision a Macross F concert in 2059, and will probably stop singing then. They then made a vow to meet back and do the concert in 2059! They both hug and the audience cheered them on! May’n then whispered to Megumi for a closing stunt. They both shouted ‘Listen to my Song!’ (an iconic line by Macross singers) They thanked everyone and proceed to climb the stairs to the top tier. The audience continued clapping. Upon reaching the top, they suddenly stopped, the both held hands and shouted ‘Arigato Gozaimasuta!’ without the mike and bowed. They then waved to everyone as the elevator lowered both of them down. Everyone love it and continued clapping until both disappeared under the stage. All the while the background music was playing ‘Innocent Green’. Just when you thought the concert was over, a picture of Ranka (left) and Sheryl (right) appeared on the main screen much to the surprised of the audience. The center was empty! Then the word ‘Congratulations Alto!’ appeared! A background scene appeared in that empty space and the sound of an airplane flying by could be heard! Alto’s picture faded in between Ranka and Sheryl. With the words ‘Thank you Everyone!’ and the Macross Quarter appeared on the Main screen and the 3 hour plus concert ended! It was a really enjoyable concert. Hope they keep this part in the Blu - disc release!

Thanks

Real nice art and a lovely looking Elint @Papa Rat!

Hahahahaha. Hey thanks. A little history background tangent…I have always liked drawing and sculpting/pottery since I was little. I have a BFA focused on printmaking, mostly intaglio “etchings” and have done a little oil painting, but no prior model experience until I joined this forum over a year ago. Visual art is a huge part of my life and I have had a few art shows over the years. I work full time as a letterpress printer and it involves very tight registration and a high level of attention to detail with inking and impression etc… Here’s a few non model related Image, some for clients, group art shows/print exchanges and some cause I can’t help myself etc…

You know, I was really hoping for a sequel to the Vikander movie, but they got me at Sophie Turner and series.😁

Yes, it's the Academy 1/72 bird. I'm going the NATO Black now, going to mask some panels as you suggest with some very dark greys and then try some light oil washes for streaks and white chalk, but like you mentioned, I've had that disappear with clear coat. @Papa Rat - I still say you're waaaaay more experienced than you let on! But if you aren't, you have some serious God given talent for modeling! That Elint looks GREAT!

Looks awesome! Great job! I love the Mars base theme.

This could go either way...

Inspiring work as always, Brett. I particularly like the Valkyrie pilot. Did you bother detailing the Glaug cockpit?

I completed this kit last year but only got.around to taking photos this week. I present you a Glaug in proper 1/72 scale!

Valkyrie armaments & ordnance have arrived. Looking good!

I’m totally sick of hearing her. I think she got overdone in Stranger Things sorta like Jack in the Box trying to give ranch with every purchase

Nice purchase, I have been thinking about getting that one as well

I get the feeling that that’s basically a generic term for an alien creature, not so much just the big chap or their kind. and the numbering is more about the known type. But then again they could’ve run into these things during capture. I think they mentioned some casualties during that process.

I have some ideas, but idk if they work or make sense at all I think lines in the following bracket shape might give the illusion of a contained width profile.〔 〕 Especially lines tapering inward toward the front makes things look sharp in general. Shark gills might look more aggressive if they took a sharper angle like those brackets. They might look better ahead of the canards, and get to show up in battroid mode too. The red yellow on the canards might be one color combo too many. I think it makes the canards look too much like they are slapped on after the fact. I'm thinking they might look good the navy white combo you already have. Maybe the Stabilizers could follow for extra coherence, idk tbh Maybe less white on the bottom/battroid front, to look less the transformer trope of robot hanging under a plane lol The ankle guards, I get that they look good in white, but I also always thought it was strange that some valks had distinct and vibrant engine collar things on lol. Maybe being in the same color as one of the surrounding parts makes the engines or even the whole plane look more discreet and serious. I'm not sure if I'm just seeing things, but the feet/exhaust already look kind of blue. Just wondering if it would look better in a slightly more distinct dark blue/gray hue As for the main/heavy stripe, I think there's lots of room to try all sorts of things on the top of the fuselage and wings. Don't worry about looking good and slap together a bunch of w/e designs since you ar just testing A thought I just had unrelated to everything I just wrote lol, is one broad stripe down the middle, possibly with some geometry to the edges, and then something accompanying it in another color toward the wings without reaching all the way, perhaps only outside past the engines or even right over them. Sort of like a giant abstract sword with narrow crossguards.

I can almost see the finish line. It’s been a journey and actually not my favorite one. I think it’s looking ok for my first 1/72 scale aircraft, but I’m not stoked on it. I managed to scratch the nose while applying decals. Oof… Not sure how it happened but I don’t want to fix it. I say it’s weathering/damage while on duty. Hahahaha. I just need to do some small detail hand painted gloss paint here and there along with final assembly including painted clear parts. I still need to get a generic stand. At this point I might just drill out a 3mm hole on the bottom and make my own? Not sure. I do enjoy the side profile of this build. I think it will be even more dynamic with the upper and lower radar attached

Now, all we need is Kate Bush singing in the movie

Your Blackbird is looking great! I used Tamiya XF-69, NATO Black. I've built two so far: an Italeri one and a Hasegawa one. Oh yes, and a Hasegawa Eggplane one. Yours is an Academy by the looks of it, am I right? What you're doing is great. My advice from my experience is to mask off corners of the panels with some sticky notes, then shoot the corner very quickly and lightly with some medium or light gray paint. I actually used chalk, but the lighter-colored chalk seemed to disappear after the clear coat went down. If I was to do it again, I'd use some gray paint in an airbrush instead since it won't disappear on me.

Still waiting on Mixmaster, but I in the meantime I got Takara's Synergenex Rathalos Prime. Rathalos Prime is a remold of Kingdom Airazor, though as near as I can tell they only share the same arms, legs, and basic engineering. I'm not into the Monster Hunter games, but as near as I can tell from the new shoulder pads, the extra forearm armor, the new torso, the visor, and the large spike on Prime's head he's supposed to look like Optimus Prime wearing the Rathalos Armor set. From some angles, the wings even look like the skirts on the Rathalos Coil part of the set. From other angles, though, it looks like an Optimus head on a feminine body with a wyvern on his/her butt. And the wyvern makes him/her overly back heavy with the wing/skirt moved out of the way. Speaking of, you can see that there's a new panel on the side of the leg. It exists solely to open in robot mode to reveal a little more blue color, but honestly I think it looks less out of place if you leave it folded against the shin, where it looks slightly more like Rathalos Greaves. Rathalos Prime comes with the aforementioned forearm armor, a sword, a shield, and (because Prime just isn't complete without one) a Matrix. Prime's head is on a ball joint, and can look down a bit and tilt sideways slightly, but nothing really upward. Shoulders rotate and can move laterally 90 degrees if he/she's not wearing the forearm armor, otherwise it gets caught on his/her shoulder pads. Elbows bend a little over 90 degrees, and his/her waist swivels, but there's no wrist articulation. The front of his/her pelvis can hinge forward, giving him/her the clearance to move his/her hips about 60 degrees forward, 45 degrees backward, but well over 90 degrees laterally. Thighs swivel, and knees bend nearly 180 degrees. The feet are on ball joints which allows them to swivel in addition to giving them some decent up/down tilt, but unfortunately the ankle pivot is pretty limited. At the most basic, the sword's handle can fit into either fist, and the shield has a 5mm peg that flips out to be held in the other fist. I'll note, though, that you can store the forearm armor on his/her thighs (which is where they go in alt mode anyway), freeing the ports on his/her forearms to plug the shield in there, either open or closed. You may have also noticed that there's a slot near the tip of the sword. You can open the shield up and plug it into that slot to create something more like an axe. As for the Matrix, cutouts on the handles allow it to plug into his/her fists. His/her chest doesn't open, though, so to store the Matrix you have to open up the backpack, where it stores in the base of the wyvern's neck. It can stay there in alt mode. Speaking of alt mode, the transformation is mostly the same as Airazor, with the added steps of closing the flaps on his/her shins and partsforming the forearm armor onto the thighs if you haven't done either of those things yet. Technically, you also have to bend the arms at the elbows so that the fists go up behind his/her scapula's instead of tucking into the waist, because the torso doesn't extend the same way, and the head only folds back 90 degrees instead of 180. But that's fine because you don't fold the alt head out of the chest, it's just part of the backpack, which double-hinges over his/her back and robot face. The sword and shield combine to form the end of the tail. To be fair, I think this is about the best you're going to get out a remold of a Deluxe-class Airazor. The head, back, and wings look pretty great! The tail is kind of short, though, and the robot torso and thighs all bunched up make for a rather plump-looking Rathalos, with little bird feet instead of the more muscular dragon legs you'd normally expect. Articulation's fairly limited, too. There's an up/down hinge at both the base of Rathalos' skull and neck, but no swivel. The jaws open. The wings are hinged at the base, immediately beside that first hinge, and a third time a little further out for bend and flapping, then there are rivets at the "thumb" spike that tuck the wings in. Just like Airazor, you can bend somewhat at the knee with an additional digitigrade joint, plus the ball joints in the feet for posing the legs, but the hips are locked in place. The tail, (which, again, stores the sword and shield) has no articulation at all. Like I said, it's probably about the best they could do with a remold of Airazor... but it also begs the question, why remold Airazor? Basara Prime and Shield-D Prime from the same line are brand new molds, why couldn't Rathalos? If they absolutely had to remold a figure, why not Legacy Evolution Megatron, which seems like a closer starting point? Rathalos Prime is kind of a mediocre Deluxe-class toy at a Leader-class price, which makes it a hard figure to recommend even if the alt mode is pretty cool. That said, in my head-canon Rathalos Prime is a female member of the same group of Convoy-types that include Lio Convoy and Big Convoy from the Beast Wars II/Neo era of the Japanese continuity.

M.A.S.H.; "The Interview" (Season 4, Episode # 25). Watch it sometime.

Now that's an excellent question with no clear answer.

Wanted an extra DX VF-1J to display in battroid mode with no add-ons. Luckily one of those Tamashii store limited ed. popped at Mandarake a few days ago. Opened, used for 22k yen. Pretty nice deal since first release are still above 30k yen. Also got to hit 2 brownies with one stone, 14th and 15th, also from Mandarake.

Added Pre-Built VF-22S Conversion kits: https://www.ebay.com/itm/167766712437 The asking price for a pre-built kit for MWF members is $110 (before G&S, shipping fees, etc.). Added Pre-Colored/Painted AAL Antennas: https://www.ebay.com/itm/167766541993 The price for pre-colored AAL Antenna set through MWF is $10 Added NOT RED PAINTED AAL Antenna listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/167766586128 The price for NOT RED PAINTED AAL Antennas through MWF is $8 Also reduced the price of the hobby kit (un-built) version of the VF-22S conversion kit (both here on MWF and on eBay), sorry still have not gotten around to Etsy.