GabrielV

Just noticed this over at mfc.

http://myfigurecollection.net/item/395237

and this:

http://myfigurecollection.net/picture/1467654

I'm not GK collector\expert but if they were PVC figures they would be no-brainers.

I like the general idea of the first one, but something looks wrong with it. However, I'd definitely buy a pre-painted fig of the second one.

And so, it begins.

But there was never really any doubt, was there?

Sure, but those don't feature 16 year olds as active duty military pilots of all things! I think the west tends to be a bit less improbable as far as that goes. Harry Potter is about kids at a school, after all. Not kid wizards already employed by the Ministry of Magic.

I would definitely include "sub-18 year-olds operating military vehicles as a part of the military, and not in a child-soldier kind of way" as an anime trope. It's long-winded but it's a thing, for sure. In SDFM it's one thing, being all-out-war. But the kids in Frontier being SMS combat pilots...it's a stretch. (I don't particularly mind the trope, just saying it's certainly more prevalent in anime)

Yeah, that was basically what I was trying to say when I called it an anime trope.

I thought it was fairly common the world over for stories aimed at young adults to feature young adults as the main characters...?

Lmao! No idea why you thought that

Possibly bad info from the Robotech RPG that has filtered through the ether. Like WEG's Star Wars RPG and the EU, Palladium filled in details of Robotech with their RPG. For instance, Lisa Hayes is in her 30s during the Macross Saga according to the RPG.

To be honest, I never thought Max was any less than 18 when we first see him. But considering characters of that age are a standard trope of anime in general, I'm definitely not surprised.

Christ, they WOULD get that meta. Not like it's anything new to them, though. I'm still wondering if Michel is dead or not... and if Brera is alive or not... and basically everyone from Frontier could be dead or alive depending on how Kawamori's feeling that day.

"They're really not dead, as long as we never decide which bit of film is canon."

Hmmm. McCoy's line from the end of Star Trek II just doesn't have the same ring to it when you change it that way.

I am pretty sure you are on the minority here.

That's fine. I'm not saying I have the one true preference above all others. I'm just saying I don't like that kind of thing on MY valkyrie, and doing a poor job of explaining why.

So if there are versions with idol star paint jobs. Those aren't for me.

The ones with big symbols painted on the back. Meh. I'd prefer to not have those.

Valkyrie painted in basic colors? That's the kind of thing I prefer. So, if I bought one, one without the icons or idol singers would be top of my list. If one like that isn't made, well that's my problem and my problem alone.

Yeah, I already dislike the giant icons on the back. I didn't like it on Ozma's VF-25 and I don't like it here. But having pictures of the singers painted on them would just ruin it for my motivation to own the toy.

Anything is possible. Maybe tomorrow I will see the most awesome job ever done of painting one of the characters on the fighter, and I will change my mind. But for right now, to me, that kind of thing makes the Valkyries look like some kind of custom space van or something. It just isn't the kind of thing I want.

And since these things would probably cost me $200 minimum each, they better be exactly what I want.

The default gunpod (not the custom one Nexx uses) seems to have an open area on the underside of the front quarter of the barrel.

The Bandai model kit is of Nexx's fighter, but it does have a standard version of the pod as well as the special version. I no longer have the standard pod for my model I've had since 1992, but the parts I have in an unassembled kit look like if the gun pod is put together it has something like an open area along the front quarter of the barrel.

The main cannon is definitely open on the bottom all the way up the barrel. The lineart uses the same crosshatching to represent this open area as is used on the standard gunpod to represent what is going on in the front underside quarter.

Now I need a white turtle neck with a yellow stripe on it, so I can cosplay as a VF-2SS.

I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say my interpretation is the "exact opposite" of what the OAV is portraying. I don't even have any issue with the theory as presented by the OP and you.

I've tried to compose a further explanation of my view, but what I keep running up against is that I don't precisely recall when Ingues first mentions the Ship of the Alus. I need to sit down and watch the whole thing again and take some notes. Plus, I'll make a point to watch the subbed version again instead of the dub version I'm used to, under the assumption the sub should have fewer inaccuracies in the translation.

But, to be honest, I just recently watched the first 4 episodes with subs, and then received the Blu Ray set and watched the whole thing again without any translation. So, I'm a little burnt out on the show right now.

I want to get back to this, though, because for all it's flaws, Macross II is one of my classic favorites.

I was going to order a VF-0S instead of the A which I did get. I leaned a bit towards the A, because I liked the color of the VF-0A better. Plus, I've always had a soft spot for the single laser A type head on the VF-1. Ultimately, my decision was made when the VF-0S sold out as I was browsing. So the VF-0A it was, and I really didn't have any problem with that.

Of course, if I had known the leg was going to pop off, it probably would have influenced my opinion a bit. Even that is my fault though. I had been looking at this thread and I just didn't read it enough.

My VF-0A is in jet mode, perched somewhat securely on my VF-19 Advance stand. It still looks great, and I can't help but be happy that I got it. But it maddens me that the leg is busted on it and I can't play with it. What's the point of a $250 toy I can't play with?? WAAAAAAAAAH!

My part shipped from Shapeways today. Just a bit longer and I can re-enter the surgery center.

I was watching Macross II for the first time in a long time recently. In fact, I think it's the first time I've ever watched the subbed version as opposed to the dub.

I honestly never noticed how horrible the dub was until now. I was just used to it, I guess. It isn't all bad. It has these little snippets of greatness. Feff is much better cast in the English dub than the original. Hibiki's line of "It's such a spectacle, it MUST be Nexx." is so much better than the sub translation.

Anyway...

All I know about Macross II is what I saw on screen, and was able to determine from poring over animation model sheets in my This is Animation Special: Macross II art book back when I was playing Palladium's RPG and trying to patch their bad info. So, I don't know what an associated manga says or what the creators have said in interviews.

Just by going by what is on the screen, Macross II feels like an OAV meant to set up a new series or a string of more OAVs. By the end, the Macross is pretty definitively not the Alus. There's also the question of what the ship Ishtar keeps having visions of actually is. As the OAV ends, it isn't explicitly stated, but Ishtar and the Marduuk's departure seems to be in order to quest for the legend of the Alus.

Macross II was clearly meant to be expanded. Feff's whole subplot is left flapping in the breeze at the end. You have characters like Nexx and the Faerie Squadron girls who are completely extraneous in this, but would definitely have had reasons for being in the story had it continued. Then there's Hibiki, who is pretty much a spectator in the second half of the OAV, but since he was morphing into a "truth seeker" then he fits in perfectly with helping in a continuing story hunting down the Alus.

Anyway, that's my take on it. The Ship of the Alus is a dangling plot thread left intentionally unexplained for a later installment which never materialized.

Thanks F360. I had been hunting the thread and not having much luck when I saw your post.

Because right after I posted earlier I took my VF-0A and transformed it out of Jet and the leg came off again.

I've already stepped through the fix instructions without the Shapeways part. They walked me through the process quite nicely. So, I'll know what I'm doing when the part actually gets here.

Of course, now the leg is as loosey goosey as a KO figure, but it is hanging on there for the moment.

Sorry if I needlessly scared any VF-0S owners. I figured the hip joints would be the same on both figures.

Well. I guess off to Shapeways to order a part. I have to admit that I'm extremely happy that's an option.

A warning for those with the VF-0.

When I first transformed it, I had some problems with the arms and the chestplate. I wasn't clear on what the instructions were telling me to do. So, I watched a YouTube video. It helped me learn these two quirks of the transformation and it was very helpful.

Today I watched the rest of the video and learned that the hips can pull out on the metal bar for added posability. I wanted to play with my VF-0A and decided to check out this hip joint feature. So, I pulled and...

The whole leg came off in my hand.

Looking at it, the metal bar has a sort of disc on the end which plugs into something inside the leg which looks like a sort of rubber piece. The rubber piece inside the leg seems like it can move back and forth. I tried to pop the metal part back into the slot, and while I didn't ever get any sort of satisfying feeling of it popping and locking back in place, the part held together. It did so even while the legs precariously dangled mid-transformation.

So, anyone with one of these VF-0 figures, if you plan to use the extra hip articulation, be extra careful. I will not be attempting to use that feature on mine again at all.

To be clear, I'm not blaming the video for this event. But I do want to warn new owners so they can avoid my experience.

Same here. The left one behaves fairly well, but the one on the right has popped off every time I've transformed the figure so far.

Vifam7,

we had that happen once in our Robotech RPG game. The Quadrono got her mech trashed a few hundred miles from base. So she surfed on top of the Veritech on the way home.

Got my VF-0A yesterday. I've transformed it a few times. I'm very happy with it. Good solid feel to it. It just has that feel of quality.

The chestplate and arms are tricky, but its so much more fun to transform than the VF-19 Advance.

I had no idea this set existed until last week. It was an immediate order when I did learn about it. All I had to read was that it had subs and it was a must own. I didn't even pay attention to anything else. It arrived yesterday.

Wow. Freakin' WOW! THIS is how you do a deluxe set.

When I saw "art book" I envisaged some dinky little pamphlet book like what gets distributed in "collector's edition" video game releases. I was blown away when I saw not just one, but two full sized art books. They're quality stuff.

I haven't watched the movies yet. I got to watch about 30 minutes of False Songstress, and those subs are a godsend. Today I've been puttering around on the bonus disc, and as I type this I'm waiting for the Play View thing to install on my PS3.

When I bought both of these movies new separately, they were about $90 apiece. So even though this box set was about $180 when all was said and done, I didn't mind, because subs and cool artbooks. I would have liked more Valk art, but all the pencil drawings in the one book are pretty fascinating to me. And I have to admit the artbook with all the pics of Sheryl and Ranka is pretty welcome too.

Got my shipping notice for my VF-0A today! I honestly wanted the VF-0D more, but I can't seem to catch a break on that one.

Lol what?

He's dancing around in a clumsy loader mech. You really don't see that level of agility except in experienced pilots like Max, Isamu, and Guld, and then only in significantly more agile machines. And Hayate can only be assumed to be a self trained novice at this point.

Edit: And to be clear. If no one else agrees, that's fine. But it definitely was my impression when watching the show that Hayate's piloting skill was being way oversold.

I'm going for Delta 2 or Delta 4.

I think I like Delta 2 more, but doesn't it have a weird head? Plus, I don't like that symbol on the back.

If Delta 4 is Red and symbolless, that would edge it past. But in the show it looks more purple.

By comparison, we've seen what happens when "visionaries" take the idols out of the equation altogether to make something more gritty and American.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-brief-history-of-5-failed-robotech-sequels-1608968158

Man, that sidebar recommendation in the above link.

Well, I'd say the problem is more that Harmony Gold never follows through on anything rather than any particular necessity of idol girls. Maybe if Harmony Gold ever DID anything and didn't stop halfway through then something might happen. No, I'm not really defending them. I'm completely sick of Harmony Gold at this point too and desperately want to see them go bankrupt and lose their license somehow.

Anyway, Macross Delta first preview episode:

I watched it without any subs. I just had to infer what was going on.

I strongly disliked Freya on the first viewing. Hayate's mad skillz completely beyond the piloting ability of any character I've seen in the franchise also irritated me, but he was effectively a non-entity otherwise.

Since the first half of the show was all about them, I didn't like the first half. On rewatching, they weren't as irritating, but they still weren't particularly likeable.

In the second half, I liked what I perceived as a distinct not to Macross II and the emulator preistesses. The panning shot up the stairway thing even reminded me of an Alus Nova.

I loved the VF-31s. I will have to get one of those when the toys are released. Seeing Regults was also extremely cool. The mecha action was fairly neat. It was cool just to see new footage of variable fighters doing things.

As for the magical girl stuff, I'm not sure what I think. Something about it rubs me the wrong way, but I'm just not entirely sure what I think about it in a broader sense. It's clear the purple haired idol singer is the nearly supernatural one and the others are vastly lesser skilled.

When I first watched the show I was ready to give up on the franchise. After watching the music video into the ground (I like that song), and rewatching the episode a couple of times, I'm markedly less negative, but still not sure.

Hi everyone. I've been lurking on this thread for several months. It was how I discovered about this toy release, and it is my primary source of info for news relating to it. Thanks everyone for the great info and pics!

I've wanted a VF-2 toy since I watched my first US Renditions Macross II VHS tape. I was initially sad that the VF-2 wouldn't have the SAP, but I pre-ordered from HLJ anyway, because... well it was a VF-2. Someone upthread commented that the quality looked like Kronos (a third party Masterpiece Skyfire), and I have to agree with the general sentiment behind that comment. I'm not wowed by the quality I'm seeing in the pics. If this were anything other than a VF-2, I would not have ordered it at all. But since it is. Well, I'm a fool and I seldom have any money.

Anyway, I imagine HLJ had to list the toy. I know that as soon as I learned of the SAP version I cancelled my order for the SAPless version. Maybe the Icarus would be fine as just the fighter, but the VF-2 simply must have the armor pack or it's not the same. Surely I can't be alone in that sentiment. I'm guessing HLJ had a lot of other cancellations the day the SAP version was announced.