Graham

I also don't get fan fiction, but then again I don't get cosplay either, although I don't mind looking at pics of cute female Asian cosplayers Graham

Back in what was it 2002, when we first heard about Macross Zero, I pleaded with Yamato to suggest exactly this to Big West, but obviously nothing came of it. The Japanese are often so short-sighted (or just don't care) when it comes to the international market......sigh Graham

For non-Macross toys, I usually only buy 1, unless it's something that I really like and then I'll buy 2. However, these days I very rarely buy anything non-Macross related anyway. An exception this year will be the MPC Alpha. For Macross toys, especially the Yamato transforming Valks, I used to have the collector sickness, which meant I had to buy at least 5 of every Valk. Ya know how it goes, 1 to display in Gerwalk mode, 1 to display in Fighter mode, 1 to display in Battroid mode, 1 for general playing with and transforming and 1 to keep mint-in-box. For a while with the Yamato 1/72 Macross Plus and 1/60 VF-1 line I got really crazy and the most of one type I ever bought was 11 pieces for the VF-11B! Obviously, this sort of habit got expensive real quick. And of course there was no way my finances or storage space could keep up once the 1/48 line arrived These days I'm much better at controlling my spending and usually only buy 1 or 2 pieces of each new Yamato product as I realized it's pretty pointless having so many multiples of the same toy. I've also sold off a lot of my collection on ebay to make room for the baby. Graham

I'll have to rewatch Macross II, as it's at least a couple of years since the last time I saw it. IIRC, it looked like the Metal Siren (ugliest valk ever IMO) used some sort of expanding spherical engergy discharge (which may or may not have originated from the arm-mounted blade weapon) to destroy the Marduk ship. As for the Palladium Macross II RPG, that thing is a joke IMO. The author(s) got so much wrong about the mecha that I'm wondering did they even watch the anime. Graham

Ya know I quite liked the Astray's design when I first saw it. IMO it was quite new and refreshing for a Gundam design. However, all these Astray Mobile Suit variations that have been appearing in Dengeki & Hobby Japan are just getting plain silly if you ask me. Graham

the bayonet is shown in use by Isamu's VF-11B in the opening combat scene in Macross Plus OVA episode # 1. the bayonet is standard on the VF-11B. Later varients such as the VF-11C and VF-11D use a different type of gunpod without a bayonet. Graham Just a note, the Pink Peaker Squadron's VF-11s had bayonets. I don't think those were VF-11Cs (flashback from a long time ago)... but their gun pods did not look like the Macross Plus VF-11B's gun pod. Standard-looking VF-11[C] gun pod with a bayonet. I'l have to check when I go home, but I'm pretty sure that the eyecatch image of the Pink Pecker Squadron shows them with VF-11B type gunpods. Graham I checked the Pink Pecker/Akiko eye-catch in TIAS Mac 7 Animation Materials last night and it definitely shows the Pink Pecker's Thunderbolts armed with the VF-11B 'Macross Plus' type gunpod. However, I'll have to rewatch the actual episode where they are shown, to see what type of gunpod is carried. Graham

AFAIK, the shoulder FP is just an additional fuel tank only and nothing to do with support of the forearm weapons module. Also I do not think that the additional weapons are housed inside a replacement forearm. To me it clearly looks like the weapons module attaches to the outside of the YF-19's standard forearm. The weapons module obviously has open and closed modes, with covers that open up to expose the weapons within. Given the transformation method of the YF-19, the forearm weapons module would prevent a transformation to Fighter mode as long as it is attached. Presumably the weapons module can be jettisoned on command. Graham

I bet the GFF ZZ will just be a repaint of the FAZZ GFF. Of course Bandai will still have to sculpt some new parts for it, like the ZZ's arm shields, which were not included on the FAZZ. And the ZZ's head is slightly different to the FAZZ head as well. I seriously doubt that Bandai will go to the expense of retooling to make a transformable ZZ GFF, especially as they already have the transformable Kahen-Senshi ZZ Gundam, which by all accounts is a very good toy. And I hope that the Zeonography line is gong to get out of this Zaku/Dom rut soon. They really need to start making some more interesting figures, like a Gauf Custom, convertible to the Gauf Flight, a Kampher and of course the Xeku Eines and Zwei from Sentinel. Graham

The fighter mode looks like the F/A-22 Graham

While not anime, the most Inept military in a live action movie has to by the Mobile Infantry (MI) in the craptastic Paul Verhoven directed Starship Troopers movie. From a military standpoint, that movie had so many things wrong with it that it is just laughable. I could write a long list, but instead to save me half an hour of typing I'll just quote from this site which lists most of the stuff that's wrong with the movie: - "Verhoeven et al decided to leave out the powered armor, the MI into a fairly conventional force, recognizable to any member of today's armed forces -- except of, course, for the complete lack of artillery, mechanized transport, armored fighting vehicles, squad-level automatic weapons and indirect fire weapons such as mortars, other squad-level support systems, or combat medical units. Tactics consist of running towards the enemy in a big mob, running away from the enemy in a big mob, and walking from point A to point B in a big mob. (I especially like the scene where the MIs form a big circle around a Bug, with fellow troopers in their line of fire, and shoot at the Bug in the center -- I guess they are not as picky about friendly fire casualties in the 22nd century.) A supposedly elite unit, the MIs would have a hard time defeating a unit of Campfire Girls, let alone the Bugs. Second, the Navy isn't any smarter -- they appear to be fundamentally incapable of preventing their ships from running into each other. On more than one occasion we see ships packed in such tight formations that when a ship is hit and falls out of its assigned spot, the result is the space fleet equivalent of a multi-car pileup. Wet Navy folk are traditionally very concerned with running their ships into things -- especially each other -- and spend a lot of time practicing so that it doesn't happen. It still occasionally does happen, but they take great pains to minize the likelihood, in part by spreading the formation out sufficiently. I can't think of any reason why their 22nd century space Navy descendants would view things any differently. Depicting them in a formation guaranteed to cause collisions is, at best, sloppy and lazy, and at worst stupid in the extreme. Note that there was a scene in the book where there was a collision of this sort, but it occurred when a highly complex, over-ambitious maneuver, attempted to gain the advantage of surprise, went awry. Verhoeven's Navy, on the other hand, was engaged in a maneuver about as complicated as a lane change. Between the Navy and the Army, I spent the entire movie thinking that if this is the best the Federation can do, the Bugs deserve to win. Third, the characters engage in the sort of showboating that would get real military personnel court-martialed in a heartbeat. I am thinking specifically of Carmen's little shuttle trip inside the framework of the ring station; it was a neat effect in the last Star Wars flick, but even a fantasy like Jedi portrayed it as a dangerous move undertaken in desperation, rather than something to be done because you were feeling especially perky that day". Graham

Safest place to be in the world? Smack bang in the middle of a 5-way firefight between GI Joe, Cobra, Autobots, Decepticons & the A-Team, cus you just know you ain't going be hit no matter how many rounds are flying Graham

Try sending a PM to Monkey-N (Rob). He successfully obtained a license from Big West to make a Zentradi Fighter Pod garage kit (see it here) for sale in Japan. Graham

Great work as always Kurt and I promise I'll add this to the MW Custom Toy Gallery soon, together with your recent Low-Vis 1J custom as well. One thing that's been bugging me about your photos though. I notice with all the photos of your customs, you always pose the legs straight vertically down in Gerwalk mode, rather than posing them in a more dynamic looking spread-leg stance. Any reason for this? Graham

Also not Anime, but the A-Team have to be the worst shots ever. Graham

Oh wow, beautifuul picture. That is the first time I have seen that lineart. Amazing find. What I find interesting is that the hip ball joint is clearly shown. Usually, Kawamori hides that part in his drawings. Graham

Referring to Blue Gender, I don't think it is known whether the Blue are suceptable to extreme cold or not, so this tactic may or may not have worked. Even if it did work, it may have only forced the Blue into temporary hibernation, so when the weather returns to normal, so do the Blue. Also, IIRC the Blue were spread all over Earth not just in one location, so you would probably need to drop a lot of asteroids all over Earth, not just one asteroid in order to achieve a significant global drop in temperature, i.e. a new Ice Age. Anyways, the humans on 2nd Earth probably didn't to wreak that much damage on Earth As for most inept anime military I know you said no Gundam, but I can't help it I'm gonna have to go with the UC Universe Feddie & Zion forces. I mean if an annoying angsty teenage brat with no training is better than the best Feddie & Zion pilots, that says a lot about the quality of their military forces And we're not talking about one isolated incident, the same scenario repeates itself in MSG, Z, ZZ, F91 & V (& SEED even tho that's AU) Graham

I still deny the existence of Robocop 2 & 3. They exist only in some nightmare parallel universe together with the Highlander sequels, Alien 3 & 4 & Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions Graham

It depends what you want? The Hasegawa VF-1 Battroid models are definitely the most detailed and proportionally accurate VF-1 Battroid models ever made, light years ahead of the old Arii and Imai kits and unlike Hasegawa's Macross Fighter mode kits, they are mostly snap together. However, unlike Bandai's Gundam kits they are not molded in the correct colors, so do require extensive painting to look good. Also, although they are fairly well articulated, the hip joints on the non-FAST pack kits are notoriously fragile and in fact Hasegawa came up with a stronger redesign of the hip joints for the FP kits. so, if you want an accurate VF-1 Battroid model and your painting skills are up to it, you can't go wrong with a Hasegawa VF-1 battroid, especially the Super & Strike kits. However, toys these ain't so don't expect something rugged that you can play with and continuosly pose. If you want a toy buy a 1/48 or 1/55. Graham

Yes, it's a model, but Toonz originally posted this topic in the Toy Forum and I moved it to the Model Forum. Graham

Models in the model forum, toys in the toy forum, those are the rules and we have them for a reason. Please respect and obey them. Posting in the wrong forum if it was an honest mistake is ok, but posting in the wrong forum just because you would like a quicker response is not acceptable. Graham

I don't think the VB-6 has any landing gear. None is shown in the line-art and in the VF-X2 opening movie, the VB-6 transforms from Shuttle to Gerwalk mode as it lands. Graham

Actually, I'm just wonding if the part I've marked on the picture below is a micro-missile launcher? Graham

the bayonet is shown in use by Isamu's VF-11B in the opening combat scene in Macross Plus OVA episode # 1. the bayonet is standard on the VF-11B. Later varients such as the VF-11C and VF-11D use a different type of gunpod without a bayonet. Graham Just a note, the Pink Peaker Squadron's VF-11s had bayonets. I don't think those were VF-11Cs (flashback from a long time ago)... but their gun pods did not look like the Macross Plus VF-11B's gun pod. Standard-looking VF-11[C] gun pod with a bayonet. I'l have to check when I go home, but I'm pretty sure that the eyecatch image of the Pink Pecker Squadron shows them with VF-11B type gunpods. Graham

the bayonet is shown in use by Isamu's VF-11B in the opening combat scene in Macross Plus OVA episode # 1. the bayonet is standard on the VF-11B. Later varients such as the VF-11C and VF-11D use a different type of gunpod without a bayonet. Graham

Not weird at all. Most quality automatic tactical knives have blades that swing out through 180 degrees at the push of a button. AFAIK, it allows for a stronger locking mechanism compared with the switchblade type. Graham