GabrielV

Something I thought of is that I generally open AmiAmi packages from the bottom, because there's less stuff in the way of just cutting the tape and getting at my goodie inside.  So, I flipped the box over, did my cut, and took my YF-19 out also upside down.

But what if that moment was when my antenna was damaged?

I noticed there's quite a bit of give in the way the YF-19 is in the package.  Normally the valks are much more secure in the styrofoam and don't have so much space in the plastic cover on top.  There seems to be plenty of space for the antenna in it's bubble, but there's also plenty of room for shifting space under the plastic for the whole jet.  So, when I flipped it over, did the antenna bump in that moment and get the minor snap?

Semi-unrelated note...

I had attempted to order the YF-19 from HLJ, but I also got an order in at AmiAmi.  Later, HLJ sent me the cancellation email for my order, and they also sent me a 10% off code.  Well, I noticed that the Fate Formal Craft 1/7 figure was showing as released and figured I'd use my 10% off coupon to order it.  Instead, I discovered the code was not valid.  I thought I had until 2019 to use it?  So I went over to AmiAmi and ordered it there.

Mine arrived.  I've opened the box, but haven't taken it out yet.

My antenna is broken, somewhat similar to Foblander's pic above, but not quite as severe.  Doesn't matter as it will still have to be superglued.

Also, it doesn't look like things on the left side of the fighter are pegged in correctly.  Very gappy and out of alignment.

Edit: Opened it up.  It's really sloppily put together in fighter mode.  It looks like I'll actually have to brave transforming this thing just to get it put in jet mode correctly.  On the plus side, I don't notice any problem with the tailfins.

I'd personally prefer the X-Men stay separate.  X-Men stories were always at their weakest when the rest of the Marvel Universe got brought in.

Also, I'd rather X-Men movies not be Disney Marvel movies.  Marvel movies have a blandness to them that even at their low points (X-Men Apocalypse) the X-Men movies don't have.  The last few Marvel movies I've seen have felt like demo reels and prolonged trailers while the X-Men movies have been actual stories.

Not that I have any say in it.

Cool.  

I have the PSP Dracula X Chronicles.  I wish that it was playable on the PS TV without a hack.

I have Symphony of the Night on multiple platforms: PSP, PS1, PS3, and I even think I have it on 360.  Of those only the PS3 is still hooked up.

I have Rondo of Blood on the Wii, but that system hasn't been hooked up in a while.

Still, I'll probably pick up this bundle for my PS4.  These are worth a second or fifth purchase.

30 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

... does it really count as an arc if it never actually comes up and 99% of it occurs offscreen and utterly without explanation?

It does come up in the series.  There's some key dialogue.  It can certainly be argued that it's more of an outline than a fully fleshed out story.  But it is there.

Obviously I think there's enough there to support what I've presented as her arc.  All I've done is watch the series once, and that's what I came away with.

14 hours ago, Master Dex said:

Mirage is criminally underused... but not sure she should be an ace. It was a refreshing idea in the first half of the show that she was a Jenius who wasn't automatically exceptional and her character arc would be how she dealt with that and overcame her limitations... but she didn't have a character arc at all in the end.

I thought she did have a character arc in the series.  It just wasn't very well done.

Mirage's arc is that she doesn't feel anything.  She's not emotionless, she's just kind of someone who goes through the motions.  I think early on she's obsessed with regulations.  She's really only a pilot because she's a Jenius.  I think some character or other describes Mirage's flying as "like a textbook" or something like that.  She's not invested in anything.

Through the series Hayate gives her an example of someone who is truly passionate about things.  She has a crush on him, but it's clear he has no interest in her romantically.  She then sees Hayate and Freyja connect.  That frustrates her, and the two fumbling around romantically infurates her.  And that makes her really feel something.  That leads to the finale, where she admits her feelings, but it's more than that because she loves Hayate and wants him and Freyja to get together.  She's overflowing with emotion, and that's when everything clicks for her.

The rulebook said that if she confessed her love for Hayate, that the outcome was supposed to be that they have a happily ever after together.  She doesn't want that.  She wants Hayate and Freyja to get together.  Mirage finally fully realizes the rules are wrong.  She breaks them and shatters her own mask/facade concealing her inner self.

That's why Mirage is riding the wind with a glowy valkyrie in the final battle.  She finally unlocked her potential.  She's not flying it like a textbook anymore.  She's feeling it.

The last shot of Mirage with tears running down her cheeks combined with a smile while looking up at Hayate's VF-31 is because it's painful to be rejected, but she's also discovered herself, and she's finally happy.

Yes, she's criminally underused.  Yes, her whole arc is handled poorly.  But she did have one.

Onnasake, I'm so sorry.  Just seeing that makes my heart sink.  I sincerely hope the plan with Amazon works.

Something similar happened when I got an Arcadia VF-0A.  I had been raving about it for a day or two and then the leg just popped off in my hand.  Luckily, my VF-0A was easily fixed with a shapeway part.  But when the break happened, I was not a happy camper at all.

It looks like my YF-19 will arrive tomorrow.  Considering my feelings about the VF-19 Advance transformation combined with the experiences of others here, I may not even bother transforming mine.

I'm good with my 2199 version.  I just need an Andromeda to go with it.

19 minutes ago, onnasake said:

After 20 long years, since my first breathless viewing of Macross Plus, I finally own a fully transformable toy of the incredible YF-19.

 

The box was amazing.  The presentation of the toy and its parts are great.

I took it out...ever so carefully.  This is my very first Macross toy and I've heard how fragile they are. 

But I was gonna transform it.

 

 

What followed was perhaps the most frustrating, joyless, irritating four hours I've ever experienced with a toy. 

I'm sorry.  I'm definitely not reveling in your misery, but I can't help but chuckle about this.  I didn't exactly fume with hatred when I got my VF-19 Advance, but you describe a very similar experience to mine.

The Bandai VF-19 transformation is truly joyless as you say.  Like you, I found the figure just inherently unpleasant to handle, and getting everything lined up and pegged in appropriately is a augean task.  My VF-19 Advance has been changed to battloid mode two or three times total, and not at all in the current year.  Ever since the last time I tortured myself, it remains in jet mode.  When I want to transform a 19, I haul out my Arcadia YF-19, because the transformation, while complicated, isn't the clustermess the Bandai version is.

Like you, I waited 20 years for a 19.  The day the VF-19 Advance got here was an extremely happy one.  If you haven't already, I highly recommend watching a transformation video on YouTube, because I've found fan made transformation videos universally superior to modern included instructions for transformable toys.

I watched an episode last night.  It didn't particularly impress.  The battle was really unimpressive.

The hero mech reminded me of both Pacific Rim's Gipsy Danger and Detonator Orgun's Orgun.  It even copied some of Orgun's poses and moves.  So I guess it means it also copied Tekkaman?  (Haven't ever seen Tekkaman, but have been informed that Detonator Orgun copies it.)

There really wasn't much there.  I came away feeling it was a pretty standard modern anime, so basically not terribly engaging for me.  There wasn't any real hook in the episode that really made me care one way or the other about coming back for more.

Might watch the next episode.  Might not.

22 minutes ago, ScrambledValkyrie said:

Cool news about the PlayStation mini. As the first disk-based console to take this approach, I think it paves the way for more. I wonder if load times will be shorter since games will surely be on solid state form?

I was thinking back to my PS1 library, (which isn’t that extensive) and think that Gran Turismo should be on there as well as one of the Twisted Metal games. But I guess (like with Konami) it depends on who’s willing to license for it. 

As for loading, I'd imagine it would use the same kind of routines as found on the PS3 and Vita for DLC classic games.  It's been so long since I've had a real PS1 out, I can't say as I know what the original load times were like anymore.

As for Gran Turismo, on another forum someone observed that the mini comes with original style (not analog) controllers.  They said that eliminated Gran Turismo as a candidate since that game used analog control.  I didn't have that game back in the day and never bothered with the series as a whole, so I don't recall if it required the dual analog or not.

3 minutes ago, Convectuoso said:

Metal Gear Solid is a must 

Agreed.  I never cared for it, but it's definitely one of the titles iconic to the PS1.  Tomb Raider and Twisted Metal are in the same category.

I guess Metal Gear Solid's potential inclusion will depend on how petulant Konami is being lately.

Oh, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

It will be interesting to see the full game list.

Final Fantasy 7 is to be expected.  But there are so many other ways to play that particular game.

Tekken 3 is a good choice.  It's the ultimate evolution of the Tekken series on the PS1.  Also, PS2s and PS3s don't run it properly.  So it will be good for it to be on here, assuming it's correctly implemented.

Jumping Flash is an excellent choice.  I don't think many people have played it, and it was a pretty cool little game.

Ridge Racer Type 4...  Not the one I would have chosen.  Even though it's much more primitive, I definitely feel the original Ridge Racer would have been far more iconic to include.

Wild Arms.  Meh.  whatever.  Legend of Dragoon would have been a far superior choice.

We know Crash Bandicoot will be on there.  I can't view the official announcement right now, but I'm sure it has a Crash Bandicoot screen pic even if they didn't formally say which game(s).

What would be some of my picks?

Soul Blade.  Another big signature title and iconic to the system.

Klonoa.  Not really obscure, but kind of one of those games everyone missed out on back in the day.

Raystorm.  I doubt this will happen.  If a shmup ends up on the system, it will more likely be Philosoma than anything else.

Ace Combat 2?  Maybe?

Front Mission 3.  Because more FM3 is a good thing.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy?  Doubtful, but it would be nice.

Nice.  Now I just have to wait until BBTS gets stock in and decides to ship.

...

Yeah, I'm going to be waiting a while.

I just got my BD of the movie today.  I couldn't wait to watch it.  I'm fresh off my first viewing.

To those who liked it, please don't be offended by what I'm about to type.  I'm glad you enjoyed it.  I wish I could have.

I didn't enjoy the movie at all.  I felt it was bad even by the standards of a compilation movie.  I'm tempted to go into hyperbole, but I won't.  I'm just left feeling very disappointed.

I wanted to like it.  I really did.

On 9/9/2018 at 12:17 AM, JB0 said:

I've never played Radiant Silvergun, but I've played Ikaruga( “Our frothing demand for this game increases!"), which is supposed to be a "spiritual successor"(and was "Project RS2" in development), and... it is kinda crappy. Pretty crap, but still just a boring memorization game. I remain convinced that most of the attention it got is just because it was a high-profile scrolling shooter at a time when there weren't a lot of scrolling shooters coming out.

Yeah, I feel the same way.  I remember the hype when Ikaruga was coming to the GameCube.  I picked it up and was shocked at how bland and unfun I found it.  Yet, everyone else at the time was acting like it was the second coming of gaming and the greatest videogame every conceived by man.

I think Treasure is overrated.  They worked on Silpheed: The Lost Planet and it's not very good at all.  They also worked on Gradius V, which I used to think was spectacular, but when I played it again recently I was shocked at how uneven it played and how boring and bland it looked.

Not a fan of bullet hell.  The only bullet hell shooter I can think of which I like is Deathsmiles, and that's because of the art direction and the cool Halloween vibe it has.

I think shmups hit their apex in the 16-bit days.  Of those 16-bit shmups, I think Lightening Force (Thunder Force IV) is the apex.  Lightening Force kicks ass.

I also really like Raystorm.  It depends on the day you ask whether Lightening Force or Raystorm is my favorite shmup.

I remember Philosoma.  I think I have the disc somewhere, but it's been a decade or more since I played it.  I'm not particularly good at shmups, and I found Philosoma something of a vertical wall of difficulty.  It was kinda fun, worth me holding on to, but not a particularly great shooter.  The various perspective shifts in the game were somewhat jarring and disorienting.  It's not bad, just not fantastic or anything.  I think there was an invincibility code or something that allowed me to see the whole game.  IIRC, the game is somewhat front loaded with cool stuff and gets a bit lazy the further in you get.

Hopefully I'm not derailing.  I just feel the urge to talk about the RPG.

I skimmed the Southern Cross 2e book last night.  The core mecha (VHT, Logan, and AGACs) seemed to follow the same format that the Alpha did in the 2e corebook.  The MDC was multiplied roughly by 1.5 and the damage of non-missile weapons remained flat.  Actually, a few things got minor bumps up.  The Logan and AGACs even got auto-dodge which the Alpha didn't.  I dunno, first blush is that the 2e Logan and AGACs are slightly better than before.

The VHT is slightly worse.  Since 2e drops multiple dodge and makes each dodge against each attack cost a full action and drops phased combat anything that is outnumbered is at a crippling disadvantage that didn't exist in 1e.  However, it at least still has it's arm shields for parry.  They've been mildly downgraded to 500 MDC instead of 600, but the arm shields were ridiculously overstatted before anyway.

I didn't really look at the Battloids.  They never popped up in my old games, so I have no familiarity with the old versions.

Not really a fan of how they've done Mecha Combat since the end of 1e.  I liked the classic style like+2 attacks at first and another +1 usually at 6th and 11th level.  I dislike the Macross II and later style of a constant drip of extra attacks while leveling up with flat strike/parry/dodge bonuses.  Personally, I always thought they should have gone with a slow attack per round progression and put the drip feed of bonuses on strike/parry/dodge.

21 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

1st Ed., I take it?  

2nd Ed. made the Masters Saga a fairly unpopular prospect since the character generation was a big mess in that sourcebook and the mecha were pretty terrible as dictated by canon.

Yep.  1st edition.

Years ago I picked up 2e/Shadow Chronicles (Invid Invasion x1.5).  I dumped it because Siembieda seemed to have zeroed in on any element that made the game feel emulative of the show and ripped those parts out while exacerbating every other problem the 1st edition had.

I picked up the 2e stuff when they were on clearance.  I feel dirty for it, but I did it.  I did get the Southern Cross book but I haven't looked at it.

Even in the old game the Southern Cross mecha kinda sucked.  The reason was simple: lack of large missile payloads or lack of missile payloads of any kind.  The 1e versions have decent gun pods, but other than the AGACs (which carries MRMs, IIRC) they don't have any real alpha strike crunch power.  This is not good when the Bioroids have some pretty beefy MDC.   Just about any Robotech mecha other than Cyclones are superior in dealing with the Masters' forces than the Southern Cross machines are.

Ironically, the 1e Southern Cross mecha are awesome against Invid.  They are perfectly set up for eye shots as well as operating for extended periods without needing reloads.

12 hours ago, technoblue said:

It appears the next classic Doctor Who blu-ray release is Season 19: Peter Davison's debut. Although I was hoping for a Pertwee box set, this is also a very logical choice.

https://www.blogtorwho.com/doctor-who-the-collection-season-19-next-for-blu-ray-release/

I'm in. Just waiting for the pre-order links to pop up

I would have been more interested in another Blu Ray season of Tom Baker, but this is good news too.

Honestly, it's been ages since I watched the Southern Cross section of Robotech.  I don't enjoy that part, and don't like any of the characters.  When I first watched it in the 80s, I think I liked Louie and Musica, but that was about it.  I rewatched the section years ago when the series was released on DVD, but I've skipped it ever since.

So, I'm not a Southern Cross fan or well versed in that section of Robotech.

But I recall when watching the section initially wondering if Leonard was a traitor or an idiot.  There were a couple of spots where it very much seemed like he was in league with the Masters and was profiting in some way by getting Earth forces killed.  Other times he just seemed like a complete buffoon.  Ultimately, I decided he was simply a petty dictator who had acquired his position completely by politics which occurred before the Expeditionary Force left earth.  He wasn't traitorous, just completely unsuited in terms of training and temperment for his position and task.  But, is there a scene near the end where he flat out makes a deal with the Masters?  I think there's also a scene somewhere where the Masters privately transmit to him.

I used to run Robotech RPGs regularly.  Anecdotally, one of the things I always found odd when recruiting pickup players was how none of them ever wanted to be veritech flyboys like Rick, Max, or Scott.  Pickup players usually wanted to be veritech hover tank pilots with a tiny few wanting to be cyclone specialists.  I also met an amazing number of people who thought the armor for the Southern Cross armies was really cool.  What does this over two decade old personal experience mean for modern day toy sales?  Absolutely nothing.  But I also don't think we should entirely count out the idea of the smaller and smaller runs of Toynami MP toys were due to customers' bad experiences with the quality of the VF-1 and Alpha toys.  I had definitely completely checked out before the Beta arrived, and (unfairly) judged the Beta on the crappiness of the Alpha.

On 8/5/2018 at 10:55 AM, TrickyCustomer said:

Those definitely DO look good together in formation like that.  It almost makes me want a Messer VF-31.

On 7/30/2018 at 12:47 PM, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Good Smile is also making the Thunderforce fighters under the Figma line, but no release date yet.

Oh, this makes me happy.  I'm definitely in for a Rynex.

I'd also be in for an R-Gray from Raystorm and a SA-77 Silpheed if they keep on doing shmup ships.

I just got the Sheryl EXQ figure this weekend.  It has some good points and it has bad points one would expect from a prize figure.  I think it looks better in pictures than in person.

What bugs me about it is that in person it doesn't look like Sheryl's face.  It looks like someone has grabbed Majell Barrett circa 1968 and stuck her head on there.

I didn't know about that first one no3Ljm shares above.  I'll need to get that one.  

I'd like a 1/48 VF-1... but not this color scheme. So, I'm sitting this one out.

I'll be in when they do a Miryia 1/48 with supers, or a DYRL Hikaru 1/48 Strike.  I might even settle for the red and black scheme seen on the VF-1 in Delta.

Somehow I had gotten the impression this was going to be a live action series.

The images above look like most every other American superheroish cartoon has for the past 30 years, particularly those attached to DC properties.  Which, I suppose is better than Thundercats Roar at least.

For myself... not interested anymore.