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Huh. I guess I've been under a rock because I didn't know Super Robot Wars Y was even out. 😆 Anyway, that noise you heard was my brain changing gears without a clutch because I honestly could not remember of the J改 was exclusive to the TV series or not. Turns out, yeah... it's not a thing in the movie timeline. The VF-31J改 only exists in the Macross Delta TV series version where Hayate's original VF-31J is destroyed on Ragna when the New UN Spacy attempts to sink the Sigur Berrentzs with a thermonuclear reaction bomb. Hayate uses Messer's VF-31F for a while after that and then switches to using the VF-31J改 for the series finale. 'course, I wouldn't be me if I stopped there would I? I decided to look into whether there are any actual differences between the VF-31J and VF-31J改... and the answer I found is "Not really". The identified differences all relate to software and calibrations, with the flight control program including some data from when Hayate was using Messer's VF-31F. The rest is just the settings of the programmable anti-beam coating the VF-31s and Sv-262s use in lieu of paint. The aircraft's colors and markings are just settings programmed into what is essentially the lovechild of an e-paper flexible display and a vinyl vehicle wrap that covers the entirety of the aircraft's armor skin and also functions as ablative armor against energy weapons. Theoretically, Hayate could change the colors of his VF-31 just as easily as Mirage changes the colors of the Sv-262Ba she steals in Passionate Walkure. If he wanted to add some black accents and a personal mark to commemorate Messer, it wouldn't require anything except a design to feed into the system and he could change the settings back whenever the mood struck him. So it's a continuity error caused by recycled footage, but also something that can be explained away very very easily.

Here's something interesting/annoying (your pick, really) SRWY has got me thinking about the 31JKAI for the first time in a while, and I noticed something - it doesn't actually appear in Zettai Live? In the opening battle of Zettai Live against the Vivasvats, the Delta Flight Siggys are all equipped with LilDrakens in a fun bit of crosscultural cooperation - but interestingly, Hayate appears to have the wrong VF. Consistently (I've checked multiple shots), his VF appears to be his base 31J with LilDrakens equipped as opposed to his 31JKAI from the end of Delta TV. I'd think this is just a thing where they wanted to keep that exclusive to the TV anime, but (due to footage reuse at the end of Passionate Walkure), the 31JKAI *does* appear in the movie timeline. I don't think there's really a point to my post, but it's interesting, at least?

Had a lot of great times thanks to Itagaki-san's work. When I was in HS, a bunch of us band kids used to sneak into unused classrooms after school to play video games using the big old CRT TV carts while we waited for tuesday night marching band practice to start. Dead or Alive 2 on the Sega Dreamcast was one of our go-to games for years. From what I've read about him in the past, it always sounded like he would've been a blast to work with. The industry has lost one of the real ones.

💩 I do like the look of the kit more for sure. To bad they don’t make have a bonus kit of the vehicle mode

I understand he wasn't always the easiest to work with, but when a lot of people were getting into Tekken I was a big time Dead or Alive fan. I only dipped out after Itagaki and Tecmo parted ways and DoA 5 was riddled with expensive microtransactions.

Hahahaha. I see what you did there. Lol Arcee is looking great! Is the Starscream from the same producer? I’m very excited to see more. 👍

@Papa Rat Keep an eye on the dog and you might find it again... Alright, Arcee is done! May need a little extra touch up here and there, but she is in the altogether. And next to the transforming toy I bought from Wallyworld. It's a trade-off, the toy has better size but the model has better detail. Think I'll keep both. As for Starscream, I'll put him together another night soon. It's getting late and there is a model show to go to tomorrow! Thom

I have notifications on from many retail sites for any restocks so one day I might get to try it out. I have the larger 1/100 KOG with buster in my stash. I‘M saving that big boy for the Gaia. 🤩

Gaia colors are very tough to find these days. But some of them are absolutely great. Star bright gold is pretty cool and I got the star bright brass because I saw a barbatos Rex video showing it and that one looked really good for something more yellowish in the spectrum and figure it may look really good on a Hyaku Siki or Jagd Doga. Supposedly they come out super smooth more like chrome if you do a five or more parts thinner to paint mixture and end up highly durable. Downside is just getting either of those colors

Thanks. I never found it. I assume my dog must have ate it. Otherwise it would be around the general bench area which I tore apart looking. I also reached out to Volks US site to request a replacement sprue. I guess you can sometimes purchase them if they have them. We will see if they can help me out. Otherwise the small piece I built will suite the purpose fine. Until then I will work on getting the gold down and small hand painted details here and there. The color callout for the gold is a Gaia star bright gold which is as rare as a unicorn so I went with this MR Color Rough Gold. It has an interesting texture and sparkle to it, but I think it looks nice. It’s difficult to photograph but here’s a look before I put a gloss over it.

Finally a new announcement in the Aoshima ACKS line. No real surprise to see the griffon, just hope they also get to TV unit 3

He was a rockstar in the video game industry, R.I.P.

Just some high-level fanart from the box of Tamiya's latest F-14D release for you Tomcat lovers. (Not Tenjin's work, btw)

I was totally devoted to the og Nintendo version of the game. And it’s sequels. I beat it only because I had youth on my side, but trying to do it on the switch and somehow I felt like the stupidest gamer ever, failing several times in just the first level was embarrassing. I still knew pretty much exactly what to do, but somehow kept screwing up the timing of just about everything. Modern games made me soft I guess still looking forward to this revoltech figure and I guess it will feel a bit more special unfortunately

This is probably the kit I’m most excited for this year or maybe even this decade and possibly this millennium so far. Can’t wait to get it in hand, and really curious about the Mercy Rabbit box art. Hopefully shipping will be a little cheaper by release time🤞

This is looking interesting so far. Don’t see too many builds of transformers kits

Looks really cool can’t wait to see it finished. Did you ever find that missing piece?

Went back and finished that third episode of Let's Play... and I have to say that the series is thought-provoking in its own way. That said, the thoughts it's provoking aren't necessarily the ones the original author intended to provoke. There are two things that it most strongly reminds me of: I'm probably going to drop this one, mainly because its story frequently devolves into pure cringe fuel. The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest is hitting all the most generic and formulaic plot beats of the "The Protagonist is Horribly Overpowered and We're All Just Lucky to Have Them" wish fulfillment story. It's not bad. The animation's fine and the story is competently organized and presented. There's just no spark of creativity to it. It's all the boring and conventional overpowered hero tropes proficiently laid out end-to-end in an almost mechanical procession devoid of human feeling. It feels cynical, like a story the author wrote because they lost a bet or wanted to prove that anyone could get a suitably generic trend-chasing fantasy story published. Let This Grieving Soul Retire does a little trolling this week, and it's actually pretty fun. Got some good chuckles out of it too.

Thanks ! So why no more Macross speaker podcast??

I’m Ready! She’s beautiful. ♥️

Some pics from All-Japan

Only 58. I still never finished the original Ninja Gaiden... https://www.famitsu.com/article/202510/55345 —Itagaki’s final message (English translation)— Words I Leave Behind The flame of my life is finally about to go out. If this message has been posted, it means that the time has come. I am no longer in this world. (This final post has been entrusted to someone dear to me.) My life was a series of battles. And I kept on winning. I know I caused trouble for many along the way. But I followed my convictions and fought to the very end. I have no regrets. Only one thing weighs on me — I’m deeply sorry to all my fans that I couldn’t bring you a new work. I truly am. That’s just how it is. So it goes. Tomonobu Itagaki ——-

Boy I hope Jazwares reconsiders their packaging for the Tie Defenders in the future. Good thing I picked up a pair. I was only able to pull together three (mostly) un-warped wing panels between the two. Seriously, those plastic molds had a death grip on the ships, I had to cut them out with my sprue clippers.

Please make a female version. I'll buy them.

"Not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent."