Mr March

AC, you dirty minded sod Speaking of dirty minds, is anyone else getting a Faye Valentine vibe from Sheryl's costume in the magazine spread? I guess it's the suspenders

Some more relevant news for this discussion, courtesy of ANN: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention...icv2/whitepaper

Looking wonderful! Great pictures!

Thinking the same thing. It all makes a lot of sense that way. Damn, I can't wait to see how all our speculations turn out. Probably most of them will be wrong, but we've got to hit the mark on a few at least

As always, fantastic work. It's always great to see new Valkyries in the old classic VF-1 color schemes

Best thread EVAR!

Well, if that isn't a warning sign of the picture's imminent arrival...

It's funny how every walk of life has that successful hack personality you just love to hate. Comics has Rob Liefeld. PC gaming has John Romero. Film has Uwe Boll. At least they provide entertainment outside of their respective industries if not within

Clean it up. There's only going to be more material as time goes on and the further along it goes, the more you'll kick yourself for not dumping all those duplicates and low res pictures earlier. Eventually it'll get so big you'll wish you had maintained it earlier so there wouldn't be so much work later. Trust me

Hahaha! Dante you trouble maker

Rob Liefeld = the Michael Bay of comics?

"Police. Is this some kind of bust? Yes, very impressive!" Awesome work Kicker773! The "just married" decal is a nice touch.

Great new stuff! The new date set as 2059 is great. It solves most of the problems of variable fighter progression that were brought about by a 2070 date. I'm not too concerned if we don't see any more of the VF-19 Excalibur or VF-22 Sturmvogel II. After Macross Plus and Macross 7, we've seen more than enough of those designs in animated productions. I have to say it would be unusual if the VF-19/VF-22 were already out of active service after only 14 years, but seeing the VF-171* means that not all the older valkyries will go unrepresented in this new Macross series. And it's possible the VF-171* became a much more mass produced fighter than was originally intended for the Nightmare. It's interesting to see a new ship design. That big blue craft in the fleet battle looks interesting and I can see Bolognese Class Stealth Frigates in the background! That's good because I love those designs I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were two armor sets. Most of the other Macross productions featured a Full Armored varaint and a Super variant, so it's to be expected. I agree that the leaf-shaped object on the top/rear of the "armored" VF-25 looks like a radar of some kind. It looks very similar to the VE-1 Elint Seeker radar unit. So far, I'm adoring the character designs. Sheryl Nome looks great. I'm not all that worried about fan service in Macross. Macross has always had it and likely always will, but for the most part it's been kept well within reason. Just as long as the fan service doesn't become intolerable like many a poor anime, I can live with fan service. I'm not going to have any problems looking at Sheryl

Worst 40 = Comedy Gold

Very nice work. I especially like the color scheme and hull decals.

I'm a film geek, so I'm confident enough in my film choices that I usually don't have to worry about my two scenarios listed above. It's the average consumer that suffers bad film more than a discriminating fan like myself, with all humility. Personally, I've never understood the attraction with downloading anime/film. To me, it's always been a last resort, like eBay; something you do when there is no other option. I find downloading slow, aggravating and ultimately very low-quality. I don't want to watch some poorly ripped video that's been compressed gawd knows how many times, especially after it's taken me the better part of a week just to download the damn thing. One of the reasons I love DVD is because its high quality and I'd rather pay to watch a decent DVD of a good anime/film. And the whole "free" thing is just a bunch of crap. If a movie/anime looks so bad you wouldn't pay to see it, why the hell are you even bothering to download it? The vast majority of everything is crap, indeed, but there is so much product even the quality minority represents more film/anime than one can watch in a lifetime. There's no way I'm going to waste time downloading garbage just because it's free. I wouldn't watch it anyway! In fact, you couldn't pay me to watch that trash! Don't people get excited over stuff anymore? Take Five Star Stories for example, something I'm just starting to get into. I've been reading through gearsonline for the last month and I'm so excited, I have to have more of this series. I purchased the first manga just the other day and I'm currently hunting down the DVD. But that's like anything, whether FSS, Gundam, Patlabor or Macross. When I get into something I really like, a downloaded video isn't going to do. I want the DVD special edition, boxed set, dozen-disc uber-version with all the bells and whistles. I want imported soundtracks and official manga in bright, pretty colors with a bow on top. I want a highly detailed action figure of my favorite characters and mecha with 100 points of articulation I'll never use. Hell, I'd buy UN Spacy printed toilet paper if only they'd sell it Oh alright, I wouldn't, but you get my point Perhaps it's a generational thing and it's people younger than myself that will behave differently. But even those younger friends of mine who are notorious downloaders (I even have one of those hoarders with meter high DVD stacks in his closet) are also just as notorious retail whores like myself. As I said, I think it's the reduction in sales for garbage entertainment that is noticeable. I can understand concern, but the only way you're going to sell disposable entertainment is if it's fast and easy, like downloads are (supposedly, guess they must be childproof; explains why I have so much trouble).

Hahaha Where is that from?

If the gun really can't be fit inside the leg while closed, that's kinda disappointing. Still, I don't own a Unit 1 Patlabor, so it's really not an issue either way. I had already planned to eventually purchase a Unit 1 anyway before the announcement of this new movie version.

I agree, like the recent announcement Warner Bros. would not feature women in the lead role for their future films. Could it be the films are lousy and not the women? Especially given the fact we're talking about dead-gorgeous females, I can assure you it's not the women I'd bet good money I know EXACTLY what the media companies are crying about losing with respect to piracy. They lament the apathy dollars; aka money spent on crap not because people want to, but because they need to. Combine the anime/film junkies who live garbage entertainment with the vast majority of consumers who watch anime/film/tv when the "mood strikes them" and you have a large market built around stopgap entertainment. Now with the advent of the internet, people don't actually have to pay for their mediocre entertainment anymore and suddenly many consumers are only paying real dollars when worthwhile entertainment is released. I've heard it hundreds of times: Sound familiar? It should. Not so long ago the conversation went something like this: I'd wager discriminating purchasing habits are actually what is hurting things the most. How ironic indeed that good taste is to blame

Jeremy007 I think this is the very heart of the issue. Leifeld's style of art has always been very divisive among comic book fans. That's the problem. Unlike Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Todd McFarlane, et cetera, Leifeld's work is inwardly more esoteric. Some fans call it accomplished and even declare it their favorite style (such as yourself), but for a significant portion of general fandom his work suffers from aesthetic faults that really rub people the wrong way. Leifeld as a person is really secondary to the point, though if one is an artist with a "love it/hate it" style to begin with, courting controversy in ones career probably isn't the best way to make a lot of friends

I think a lot of the problem for studios and even the consumers is to dwell upon what isn't possible instead of trying to figure out what is. I mean, if one business model is failing, where is the next one? To paraphrase one of my favorite films; "The new law of evolution in media distribution seems to be, survival of the unfittest." Yes, it's a shame no one saw this coming when the internet first came into being (except for the guys who did and are now rich because of it) and it's tough that it's causing hardship for existing businesses. But really, all I see is ever more frivolous lawsuits burdening the courts in an attempt to enforce legality upon a media distribution world that is no longer the same landscape as it once was. And this issue is reaching some 10 years old now. If traditional methods of media distribution aren't working, new ones should replace them. Like a wise politician once said, business (unlike government) has a remarkable ability to change very quickly to new industry rules, so long as those new rules stay the same afterward. For example, co-productions and partnerships for distribution have been the norm in film and television for ages. Niche market or no, anime has certainly reached a point where it's worthwhile to sell outside Japan. The international anime distribution industry was built on that premise and has thrived for over 15 years, despite the recent trouble. Foreign companies need to seek deals with domestic Japanese anime studios to get on board with new anime productions as end-deal co-financiers. These international distributors are like silent partners, helping to offset costs and thus increase production values of an anime show but have no influence upon the production itself. What they get is instant access to the post-production, preparing the anime for international distribution with subtitling, advertising, the whole thing. Then when the show is released in Japan, the deal can stipulate simultaneous international broadcast, home video release or even release delays of only a few months. The whole process is shortened and simplified, resulting in fewer costs and faster turnover. Investment by foreign distributors also provides financial incentive for the Japanese anime production companies, the one thing they want most. It could even create growing interest from Japanese production companies as they seek out foreign co-financing for more specialized, niche anime (read: Cowboy Bebop) which are not as popular in Japan but are very lucrative for international anime distributors. I think the problem is, someone has to take the risk somewhere. It's a new business model in a new media distribution landscape and it may either be too soon or it could be long overdue. Either way, it's a risk. But really, isn't that what business is all about? You see an opportunity, you have the understanding and will to do it, you start your business and the rest takes over. The really messed up part of all this is, I'm not a risk taker. I usually don't think like this and I'm not really a business minded kind of guy. If the situation is this apparent to a layman like me, there's something obviously wrong and this opportunity should have been seized by now. Or maybe that's why it hasn't been seized, because I am a layman who's seeing it all wrong

HAHAHA! Looking at Leifeld drawing the bible is like Guy Ritchie set to direct a remake of The Sound of Music. Could their be anymore of a tragically silly creative dichotomy? Digressing, I don't recall having any strong objection for Liefeld's art, but his work was only ever "kinda good" to me. He was never in danger of becoming a Jim Lee. I do strongly dislike the way Leifeld draws wrists and ankles. I know it makes me sound like a nitpicking fanboy screaming out, but the larger artwork suffered a great deal from the flawed form. The thousand pouches and hundred-tooth grin were just passing fads; notable because they looked different at the time, but annoying for their blatant lack of logic once they become familiar.

Well done! Sharon is very tall

Neotard! It's like neocon or neolib, only less useful, if that's at all possible

If they make an SDF-1 toy, it better be able to a hand stand with it's legs crossed, otherwise it's garbage.