tekering

Wow, that's just beyond the pale. 

Either Youmex bought the song rights entirely -- in which case the original composers weren't properly credited -- or Kōji Makaino has a LOT to answer for.  

49 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

Wife picked the movie and watched THUNDER FORCE on Netflix.

...and that was the last time his wife ever got to pick the movie.  

Thankfully, my wife has learned to trust my judgment, rather than relying on her own intuition. 

I've been waiting years for this MP'85 Minibot lineup to finally become a reality! 

Seaspray was the last holdout, since none of the third-party options available were cartoon-accurate enough -- even FansToys' initial FT-27 release -- but at last, FT-45 "Spindrift" ticks all the boxes. 

5 hours ago, Bariaburu Faita said:

Jeanne Mas - Johnny Johnny

which I believe Bubblegum Crisis 5 Moonlight Rambler - Mysterious Night was a homage to.

Homage?  That's charitable.  I'd call it a blatant rip-off. 

It's even more shameless than their Streets of Fire "homages." 

Thanks for sharing!

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Yes, but he also doesn't say anywhere that it was disowned, disavowed, or "stricken from canon". 

It's just a question of semantics.  It was written and produced as a Macross sequel, then subsequently relegated to "a parallel world," and "not one that followed the same storyline as the others."  By choosing to ignore it in all further Macross works, doesn't that mean it was stricken from canon? 

1 hour ago, Keith said:

You think money would still be thrown into these productions if they weren't profitable?

I think you misunderstood me.  "Poorly-received" and "profitable" are mutually-exclusive... otherwise Batman and Robin could not exist. 

Macross Delta was poorly received because it disappointed fans, both in Japan and abroad.  That's a purely subjective statement, based on my own reading and discussions with other Japanese and English-speaking fans.  My opinion has no bearing on the financial success of the series (or its merchandising, which is another issue entirely).

Financial success can be measured objectively; perception and reception cannot.

2 hours ago, Keith said:

I agree, there's way too much personal hate that is passed off as fact.

There's also way too much opinion misinterpreted as fact. 

48 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I'm amused that the "disowned" myth keeps going around WRT II... even after Kawamori himself publicly refuted it.  I guess some parts of MW's toxic history simply aren't going to die easily. 

Egan Loo's published works on the issue predate MacrossWorld...

48 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Really, no Macross sequel has been poorly received overall.

How are we quantifying said reception?  Television ratings?  Home video sales?  Merchandising?  Published reviews?  Online fandom?

It's really difficult to qualify such a statement, especially when Japanese are discouraged from expressing criticism (particularly in public).

32 minutes ago, Keith said:

While I haven't seen Delta nearly as many times as 7, every sequel (except II) has been quite popular.

This page consists almost entirely of posts that contradict your statement... 

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I wonder if the more expensive post MP-44 figures haven't sold as well?

Optimus ver.3?  Starscream ver.3?  Bumblebee ver.2?

Is it any wonder they don't sell, when they keep redoing the same characters at higher price points? 

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Dino is probably the best version of the character we've gotten, and I'm including Alien Attack's Firage.

I don't see any way "Autobot Dino" is an improvement over "Firage."  Alien Attack's figure has more accurate proportions, bigger arm blades, much better articulation, and a proper 458 Italia alt. mode...

28 minutes ago, Keith said:

Macross II may have many faults, but stooped so low as to be "quasi-Robotech."

There should be a "never" in there somewhere. 

In hindsight -- with a Japanese Blu-ray release to appreciate -- its faults may not seem too egregious, but remember all we had for years was the US Renditions dub on VHS... and Robotech had a much better cast by comparison. 

I actually have a soft spot for Macross II myself ; I'd rather watch the whole series again than suffer through a single episode of Macross 7 or Delta.  As poorly as those sequels were received, they were never so reviled as to be stricken from canon entirely.

3 hours ago, Einherjar said:

Imagine putting the entire future of the franchise solely on a quasi-Robotech equivalent and it back firing spectacularly.  The rest of the world had to see that happen.

Oh yeah, I remember that.  It was called Macross II: Lovers Again.  The storyline was so derivative it felt more like a Robotech sequel than a Macross story.

Sales dropped off so sharply after the first OAV that you could actually see the budget shrinking episode by episode, and apparently only foreign investment saved it from outright cancellation.

I was hugely disappointed to hear they were pushing forward with a fourth season of Discovery.  3rd season was dumb, dumb, dumb, but at least it wrapped everything up in a neat little bow.  I have no interest in seeing more.

I was even more dismayed to hear they're going to do more Star Trek: Picard.  That's a dumpster fire with a much more noxious odor.  I couldn't care less whether John DeLancie, Whoopi Goldberg, or William Shatner himself was involved.  I won't be watching.

But hey, if they were to slingshot Discovery back to the turn of the 25th century, I'd happily watch a season of Burnham vs. Picard. 

8 hours ago, Lolicon said:

I really like the dino lol

2 minutes ago, Thom said:

The Search for Spock. They were neutralized pretty easily, but there were a number of ships between the Probe and Earth.

You mean the Probe from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home?

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

So it has English subs, then?

Moyai is doing a fantastic fansub, particularly considering what an obscenely difficult job they must've had translating the dialogue:

It's at times both extremely idiomatic and ridiculously technical, probably the most challenging script I've ever come across in anime. 

8 hours ago, Bolt said:

That looks horrible..

I've seen worse. 

The show's not bad so far.  It's a manic comedy, for the most part, with flashes of speculative sci-fi and a dash of forgotten lore to provide a mysterious backstory for the protagonists to investigate.  The plot concerns the appearance of pterodactyls the locals call "radon" (or as it's subtitled, "rodan"), animated through CGI along the same lines as the Vajra.  

I really like the artwork and the character designs, although the characters themselves (and the voice actors portraying them) ought to tone it down a notch...  Like a great deal of anime these days, it's a little too high-strung for its own good. 

Thanks for that.  I don't begrudge them going with that scale -- the CMs, Toynami, and Sentinel Legioss are all the same size, so that's where the largest demand is likely to be -- but having already sunk thousands of dollars into Moscato Invid kits at that size, I was hoping to have Invid toys that would at least scale with my CMs ride-armor figures (if not the MegaHouse or Sentinel figures)...

Even a Scout/Eager at 1:18 would be a big toy (a little bigger than the Matchbox/Playmates, at least), but the size would certainly justify the cost. 

Wha-a-a... These are barely bigger than Moscato's kits? 

In that case, they serve no purpose whatsoever for me.

14 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

they needed Picard to try and draw the Star Trek fans back to watch the adventures of the show's pretense of aracially and sexually-diverse new cast

Ironically enough, I would've found it much easier to accept Picard as its own thing, if only it hadn't tried so hard to piss all over the legacy of The Next Generation.

Without TNG baggage, it's just harmless crap; but bring Picard et.al into it, and it's downright offensive. 

Well, that's certainly an improvement.  It's not nearly as good as their Grub, even, but I'm eager to see what a final production sample will look like. 

8 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

Look what James Mangold did with the last Wolverine film, LOGAN.

Well, Indiana Jones will never be Logan, but with a little quiet introspection and thematic depth, it could at least equal Mangold's The Wolverine...

...whereas all the old Indy formula would produce is something akin to Dark Phoenix. 

6 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

Indy in his 70's in the 1970's could be a good movie but it wouldn't be an Indy movie.

Yeah, but I think that's precisely the kind of mature direction the series will have to take at this point.

Consider belated sequels like Rocky Balboa (that came to terms with aging), and Creed (that focused on the younger generation).  They're good films because they acknowledge the passage of time -- and don't try to recreate the '80s formula -- instead using the old films as a rich backstory to build a new legacy on.

A '70s China setting, perhaps centered around the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors, could be a good story...

...but not if the Terracotta Army magically came to life or something. 

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull proved you can't just update the setting and hope the old '80s tropes will still work.  A more grounded, realistic tone is necessary.

13 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I've got a several TFs on my desk right now, and of those Dinobot, Arcee, and Scourge are the only ones without a closed fist with a 5mm port running through them.

Well, damn.  I thought HasTak had outgrown that a decade ago.  I mean, the 2010 Reveal the Shield figures (like Wheeljack, Jazz, Tracks, Windcharger, Inferno or "Grappel") didn't have that problem... and since then, third-party figures have avoided it, too.

When (and more importantly, why) was the "open hand" look abandoned? 

Oh, that's much worse than we'd been led to believe.  The proportions are laughable, the Matrix is tiny and misshapen, the fists have perfect holes in them, and the arm cannon's practically dragging on the ground! 

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

I got this one today: 

By not identifying the figure, determining the scale, or even providing the name of the manufacturer, were you just hoping somebody was going to ask...? 

Or is everyone reading this thread already capable of recognizing New Age's "Harry," despite my reservations?

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

I do find it a bit small, especially when compared to the Decepticons (Starscream and Soundwave) at least.

After their inaugural Bumblebee release, "Flipper," was very well-received, New Age obviously decided that establishing their own scale was the way to go, ignoring what Iron Factory, DX9's "War in Pocket" figures, Magic Square's "Brobdingnag" series, Generation Toy's GT-model, and the official Legends/Legion/Cyberverse/Core-class had already established. 

Can you tell I'm still salty about it two years later? 

Honestly, I stopped buying anything from New Age at that point, fearing it wouldn't scale with any of the existing figures in my collection... but with Hot Soldiers and MechFanToys further muddying the waters, it's become really difficult to determine which figures from any company are likely to be compatible.

I just wish there were more reviewers like Mike (or EmGo) buying figures at this size class, so I'd have a better idea of what I should buy.