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  2. mikeszekely
    I upgraded from the original Ally to the Ally X during a black friday sale. The slight performance bump due to more RAM and the being clocked slightly higher at each power level was nice, but the bigger battery and second USB port were what made all the difference. The battery on the Ally X is big enough that I can play on the 25w profile for a solid hour and a half while my daughter's in her Monday dance classes, and the second USB port means I can use my Viture glasses while the Ally X is plugged in. I see that the black Ally 2 has two USB ports, which is great, but if the battery life is worse than the Ally X that could be a non-starter for me.
  3. jenius
    Anyone know a shop still selling the next reissue of the Eta? The only place I could find was Nin Nin and I don't really trust them.
  4. Today
  5. Seto Kaiba
    My group just finished watching Andor's latest batch of episodes about 30min or so ago... That was INCREDIBLE. I am blown away. Just absolutely jaw-on-the-floor blown away. Having now watched it myself, I have to ask... "Just one?" Andor has, in my opinion, firmly cemented its position as the single best Star Wars series ever made and combined with Rogue One the best Star Wars story ever told. To hell with the moral absolutes of the glowstick enthusiast society... this is where Star Wars should focus its efforts. Not on high-and-mighty space monks fighting battles over destiny and prophecy, but on the regular people of the galaxy struggling against tyranny and oppression. This series stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best of Star Trek in terms of socially aware and relevant allegory and commentary. This hit like a sledgehammer. I do love that they took the time to, very quietly and subtly, tie Mon Mothma's escape into the Rebels episode by mentioning Gold Squadron had been dispatched to escort her to Yavin IV. They didn't make a meal out of it or use it for cameos, but the connection is there.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Oh, I am very familiar with it... it took a very long time and a lot of judicious importing of hobby magazines to get much of any information on the game (and its TRPG nominal sequel Eternal Love Song), since almost all the coverage of it is in hobby magazines for the PC Engine game system. It was my second-ever big foray into researching and translating Macross publications, kickstarted by my initial project for Macross II: Lovers Again based on oh-so-many inaccuracies in the Palladium Books RPG. How time flies. That was more than twenty years ago now. Incidentally, to answer your question about the designation... the VF-1AR/JR/SR designation comes to us primarily, but not entirely, through Bandai Entertainment Bible No.51. It is most commonly referred to as the "Attack Valkyrie", but sometimes/rarely as the Refined Valkyrie... which is where the R comes from. It is a late 2010s/early 2020s-era major upgrade to the VF-1 Valkyrie. Its boosters are a semi-permanent attachment called the Super Pack II that combines the functions of the Super Pack and Strike Pack. There are 3 primary variants, same as the base model VF-1. Komilia's VF-1SR, Lott's VF-1JR, and the grunt model VF-1AR. Same as in Macross II. The UN Spacy had a LOT of Zentradi and Meltrandi defectors on its hands after the First Space War, and so in the Macross II timeline they make use of a great many Zentradi ships that are retrofitted to accommodate Variable Fighters and miclone crews alongside giant Zentradi. By this point in the timeline, Humanity has started incorporating both Zentran and Meltran overtechnology into their own ships and weapons. A slow process that will culminate in the post-2054 major revamping of the UN Spacy fleet and the creation of the Macross II designs. The Daedalus II-class is an Advanced ARMD that's one of the post-war developments. There are at least 18 of the things kicking around in 2036-2037 including the Daedalus II and the Prometheus II. They were developed to support extrasolar exploration fleets led by Macross and Megaroad-class ships. Yep... they're not meant to be as big as the game represents them, with the exception of Quamzin's personal machine which is a mobile suit that's practically Sazabi-scaled for a Zentradi. In the main, this game and its TRPG sequel Macross: Eternal Love Song, really cemented the idea that there were a BUNCH more Zentradi designs out there that various fleets had that Earth simply hadn't encountered yet. The sequel as also the first time any official media depicted the VF-4 transforming or gave it a name (VF-4 Siren). That original name remains a canonical in-universe nickname of the VF-4's. The backstory implies that Quamzin survived the events of DYRL? and went on to lead an insurgency in a similar manner to what he did in the TV series, but instead of making his suicide run he legged it into space once he got his hands on a ship. He comes back to Earth twice... the first time looking to Get Revenge for the defeat of the Boddole Zer fleet by bringing the Neld Main Fleet to Earth. When THAT doesn't work, he tries to weaponize Earth's culture against a Meltrandi fleet and that backfires too. Both games help set up/corroborate a plot point in the Macross II: Lovers Again about how Earth comes under semi-regular attack by Zentradi (and Meltrandi) fleets and that the task of fighting them off has become routine enough for the military to become complacent. By 2092 in that timeline, Earth had successfully fended off at least five Main Fleets from the Zentran and Meltran forces (Moruk Laplamiz's doesn't count, IMO, since Boddole Zer did that) and was being attacked every couple years by smaller straggler forces of rogue Zentran and/or Meltran ships left over from the defeated main fleets.
  7. azrael
    My only complaint about the Ghorman scenes were, in particular, the city plaza felt too small to be a city square. I know they made a 500 sq ft set at Pinewood Studios but was there no other location in the world that would have made a more grander city square? For a city that dominates an entire entrance to a valley, that city square felt more like a town square. It felt more the size of the Cour Carrée outside of the Lourve Museum in Paris and less like a Millennium Park in Chicago or New Have Green in Connecticut. I felt it should have been bigger.
  8. MKT

    Strike A Pose! revisted...

    MKT replied to dapro's topic in Toys

    An old test shot. Just wanting to highlight the fuselage and intake curves.
  9. MKT
    Just checked both ETAs on display and not noticing any cracks too. Others red & green still in their boxes, hopefully are ok.
  10. davidwhangchoi
    i hope the battery life is serviceable with all that power. looks interesting.
  11. Gabe Q
    Killer paint job! I agree, worth it!
  12. Papa Rat
    More brush painted goodness vie HJWEB
  13. PixelatedShinobi
    I just finished "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross 2036", a shoot-em-up set in the DYRL-Lovers Again timeline starring a grown-up Komilia, and I'd like to shine a spotlight on some of the excellent mechanical design present in it. The "Attack Valkyrie" or "VF-1KAI", a modified VF-1 with new head units, new inbuilt Super Packs, and a really nice proportional facelift from Koichi Ohata, is a standout (and naturally should be, being the lead machine). Komilia's unit (in red) isn't designated as anything in particular by the manual from what I can tell, but the Macross Wiki gives it the designation of VF-1JR (despite having a head more reminiscent of the 1S!). Conversely, her partner Lott's machine (in yellow) has a head more reminiscent of the 1J (and the wiki gives it the designation 1SR, for some reason. I assume this is some fan conjecture, because it's a wiki and they get things wrong all the time.) A grunt variant also exists, appearing in 2036's sequel, Eternal Love Song. (The wiki calls it the 1AR, for obvious reasons. Still don't know where the "R" came from!) While the U.N. Spacy fleet is primarily comprised of Zentradi ships (since the surviving human population in DYRL's version of Space War I was... small, to say the least), that doesn't mean they have zero presence. The Daedalus II type debuts in 2036 and returns in Eternal Love Song, a ship designed with the express purpose of accelerating to ramming speed and performing a solo Daedalus Attack on enemy ships, in one of the most metal things I've seen this year. On the opposing side of the Zentradi, spearheaded by a miraculously alive but very beat-up Kamujin/Quamzin/whatever, is a slew of elaborate and very oversized machines to serve as the game's bosses. While the stage minibosses don't tend to feel like they're from Macross (I love that they feel like Thunder Force rejects myself), the bosses are a wild and diverse bunch of Glaug, Queadlunn, and Nousjadeul-Ger evolutions with all sorts of wacky gimmicks. Kamujin's personal machine is a REAL bruiser. Unfortunately, he's one of the easiest bosses in the game to beat if you know good positioning. OUAREHRAHGH GH HPROOOOTOOCULLTAAAAA (dies) 2036 was a fun game! It ranks high in the list of Macross games for me. It's a very solid shmup in addition to having all this great mechanical design, has a fun story that while a bit basic, does have the standout personalities of Komilia, Britai, and Kamujin keeping it engaging. I'd definitely recommend to any fans looking for some new DYRL/II style content.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    I fear I may have caused a misunderstanding. It doesn't happen in the TV anime itself... it happens in a side story set during the series that was published in Macross Ace. In that side story, Akira Kamishima (the actor Alto stood in for) gets some help with reshoots of his cockpit scenes from SMS. Alto takes him up in a VF-1C so he can experience being in a real Valkyrie instead of a cockpit set.
  15. Graham
    Anybody heard any news about when the Macross II game will be released?
  16. Mommar
    None of my six (2 blue, 2 red, 2 green) have that crack.
  17. Big s
    That’s what Psycho Goreman and Turbo Kid are for
  18. Froy
    Holly. My eta has been sealed to be finally opened when the tread arrives in July. Picking up a used zeta I got at Mandarake last week I'll pop it out out of the pix right away for inspection.
  19. TangledThorns
    IKR. Can't I just watch films that makes me take a break from reality? lol
  20. Urashiman
    Upgrading over 35 years old TT model trains today. The double deck wagon will receive lights. I had to build in connections so it can draw power from the wheels, and then build a full bridge rectifier from diodes so the light inside is always on (not just one way… because diodes). hahaha and I build a new motor into the locomotive. It didn’t work, and took me three hours to figure out the issue. Bad connection to draw power. Hurgh… doing these for my older brother. I am more the h0 nerd.
  21. Big s
    I always think of the og hunger games as either Running Man or Battle Royale
  22. VF-1A Grunt
    I’ve noticed that it’s hard to find pilot names in white font. Most real U.S. aircraft have black lettering on grey fuselages. I noticed recently while watching a modeling video that the F-117 had white names since the aircraft was black. I’m going to pick up a decal sheet to supply some names for VF-1s. The model is looking great!
  23. Yesterday
  24. Rock
    Remasked. Reshaded. Recandied. White, post shaded with Tamiya Black. Filled the white in with the FS blue (Mr. Color 328) called out in the manual. Added a few drops of black to the blue after preshading/covering the white to blend in with the black. From there I mixed in some Tamiya Racing Blue Metallic and some Mr. Color EX Clear Blue. The mix thinned heavily with Mr. Leveling thinner to allow a wetter coat with more translucency and gave the whole thing a few coats to tie it together. In the sunlight she pops and the shading is still visible! From there remasking (hell) begun for the gold accents. I choose to stick with Mr. Color 9, so that the gold would match the gold used on the decal lettering. I don't generally like this gold compared to Gianotes or Starbrite, I have to admit it does look sharp on this planes livery!. Sometimes it is best to cut the tape to the thickness of the stripe you want and then mask around it to get uniform/even spacing. You'll waste a bit of tape but, much better knowing everything it 100% the correct thickness! Just keep masking! Had to remember to periodically reassemble the kit to make sure the arm's and underside body's lined up. 2 parts thinner to 1 part color did nicely over my white shaded paint (no gloss black undercoat required!) Surprisingly, not many touch-ups and corrections were needed. About 14 total, nothing major. All said and done, about 7-8 hours of masking! But!!!! SO WORTH IT!
  25. electric indigo
    Feeling a little too good lately? Take a look at the OG Hunger Game.
  26. Hikaru Ichijo SL
    I am nearing the end of Azumanga Daiou The Animation and it has been great.
  27. sh9000
    Looking forward to still receiving mine with undamaged packaging.
  28. sh9000
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