LePoseur

Man! Thanks for reminding me to cancel my account! I haven't played since the first day I tried it and had completely lost track of time. I don't want to rip on it just because it's not my cup of tea, but I had got KotOR in the same package and well... Then, after I finished that, I completely forgot I had Galaxies sitting on my HD. Doh!

Reading, my young Gubaba padawan grasshopper, can be a powerful tool. Getting a little snarky at work here, aren't I? Just kidding ya Gubaba.

Just one thing too to clear up any misconceptions, by owning the rights to the TV Tatsunoko owns it all, that means video and sound, exploitation rights, and so on, the whole shabang. There would never be any case of they own the video and not the sound. When they say "the TV animation" it's the show, the whole set. Hope that stems some of the speculation. And yes, someone will have to take HG to court before things really clear up over in the US I think.

Go for the set Ben, it's worth it. The only other bad point, besides what Keith mentioned, is the box... which I hate. If you like Alpha cases then it'll be no problem, but after giving up on buying 2 loose bootleg cases, I've decided to go with 3 dual disc Amaway cases and custom covers (that way and can have a 1&2, 3&4 and 5+R2 disc 6 (with LLA) all together.

OK, OK, here you are... not as good as any Meltrans we might know (miss ya girl), but here's the best I can do while I'm hiding my monitor from my boss. Long story short, this appeal to the earlier January ruling couldn't overturn it, leaving Tatsunoko with the rights to the animation. So Keith's basicly right, nothing has changed, except that we can pretty much guess that nothing more will. After losing the first case and the appeal I can't really see Studio Nue pushing it any farther. Tatsunoko Pro = Original Macross TV Show footage Studio Nue = Character and Mecha designs and everything else Macross (7, +, 0, etc.) Here's the whole thing.. check my work. Tokyo High Court Sides with Tatsunoko Again on Macross Copyrights The suit between production house Tatsunoko Productions and animation house Studio Nue contesting the ownership of copyrights to the popular TV Animation Super Dimension Space Fortress Macross was settled by the Tokyo High Court on the 25th (of September 2003). In remuneration for Tatsunoko Productions' work in bringing the series in under deadline and handling financial aspects Presiding Judge Yamashita Kazuaki (not sure on the given name) upheld the earlier January verdict that had awarded them the rights. (The second line in this paragraph actually has a quote, but I'm too rushed, and lazy, to spend the time properly phrasing it, hence it was paraphrased into the sentence). In another suit the copyright to the character and mechanical designs was awarded to Studio Nue, splitting the copyright to the show from the rights to the designs that were returned (to Studio Nue). Kobayashi from the Mainichi Shinbun (Sept. 25th 1:17pm) uƒ}ƒNƒƒXv’˜ìŒ @‚QR‚à—³‚ÌŽq‘¤‚É@“Œ‹ž‚Ù @l‹CƒeƒŒƒrƒAƒjƒ[ƒVƒ‡ƒ“u’´Žž‹ó—vÇi‚悤‚³‚¢jƒ}ƒNƒƒXv‚Ì’˜ìŒ ‚ð„‚èA§ì‰ïŽÐu—³‚ÌŽqƒvƒƒ_ƒNƒVƒ‡ƒ“vi“Œ‹ž“s‘•ªŽ›Žsj‚ÆŠé‰æ‰ïŽÐuƒXƒ^ƒWƒI‚Ê‚¦vi—û”n‹æj‚ª‘ˆ‚Á‚½‘iׂ̔»Œˆ‚ª‚Q‚T“úA“Œ‹ž‚Ù‚Å‚ ‚Á‚½BŽR‰º˜a–¾Ù”»’·‚ÍuŠúŒÀ‚܂łɃAƒjƒ‚ðŠ®¬‚³‚¹‚é‚È‚ÇŒoÏ“IÓ”C‚𗳂̎q‘¤‚ª•‰‚Á‚Ä‚¢‚½v‚Æ‚µ‚ÄA“Œ‹ž’nÙ”»Œˆi‚PŒŽj‚É‘±‚«A—³‚ÌŽq‘¤‚É’˜ìŒ ‚ª‚ ‚邱‚Æ‚ð”F‚ß‚½B @•Ê‚Ì‘iׂÅA“oêl•¨‚È‚Ç‚Ì}•¿‚Ì’˜ìŒ ‚ÍA‚Ê‚¦‘¤‚É‚ ‚é‚Æ‚·‚é”»Œˆ‚ªŠm’肵‚Ä‚¨‚èAƒAƒjƒì•i‚Æ‚»‚ÌŠî‘b‚Æ‚È‚Á‚½ƒLƒƒƒ‰ƒNƒ^[‚Å’˜ìŒ ‚Ì‹A‘®‚ª•ª‚©‚ꂽBy¬—Ñ’¼zi–ˆ“úV•·j [9ŒŽ25“ú13Žž17•ªXV]

If I recall right, the bit about Yuri and the producer, as well as lead up to Shogo and Yuri's love scene were cut, but it did feature them waking up in bed together when the news of the coup comes. Even being in bed together and not doing anything was enough to get parents riled I'm sure. I could be wrong though, it's been years since I saw it (and even then mostly in Fast Forward) and there's no way on Earth I'm gonna watch it again to check.

The first Megazone was hacked up and a new ending put on it to make the Robotech movie. As I grew older I quickly discovered that most things like vampires and boogey-men were just myths to scare children, but imagine my shock when I learned the stories of a Robotech movie was true. Some words of wisdom I think bear repeating now: Friends don't let friends watch Robotech: The Movie.

What can I say, my toy room is run through peer-pressure and bullingly...

Blurry blurry blurry... no time for a reshoot, sorry! The MSA is new as well, but I suspect he's bitter about not getting played with.

Problem's confirmed...

Well, not the YF-21, but here are a few more... then I'm off to City Hall. BTW, I need to reinstall PSP soon... editing images without it gets me down. Anyhow...

And Starscream?! Well, he'd better find some autobots more his size to pick on.

Of course, the upcoming Masterpiece will fix Prime... but Prowl is a flipping mini-rig now...

Size shots... Prime never looked so small...

Here's some pictures as per request, but one warning, I am the worst cameraman in the world. Anyhow, here you are.

*** Warring! Long rambling post coming *** Ok ,not to nitpick and cause friendly fire, as I really can't stand 0083 either, but the 0083 movie and F91 did not come out at the same time. I first moved to Japan in September 1993, at which time F91 and the 0083 OVA and the movie had already come and gone, with Victory was well into its run -- so things were still pretty fresh in people's minds. F91 came out in March 1991, The 0083 OVA started soon after at the end of May and ran for a little over a year. The 0083 movie didn't come out until the end of August 1992. One thing worth noting though, the movie contains (I hear, I've never seen it as after the OVA I had had enough) almost no new footage and came out almost one month before the last OVA -- two things that kinda of pissed of a few Gundam-fan friends I had on campus. Not that this really means anything, but coming when I did I think I saw just the fallout, and not the actual splitting of the fandom. While a few chose to carry on, most of the fans I knew at the time had already decided that Zeta would be the end of the story, with 0080 being a lucky fluke, ZZ, F-91, 0083 and even CCA(which I still like) were all kind of tossed into the rubbish with the same contempt as when your favorite band sells out. The general attitude was something like, well, I have my Gundam and all the junk coming out now is not for me. Of course it could be that, considering their ages, this could be viewed as just boys finally putting away their toys, or it could have really been the schism it felt like. I mean, I could pack the campus center movie room with a Meguri Ai showing, but no one would even stop to watch V Gundam when it was on the lounge's TV. Last thing -- V Gundam is finally coming to DVD (in Japan) in January 2004! Still, the price of 66,300 yen at Amazon.co.jp for 13 discs is steep enough (yet much, much cheaper than any previous Gundam set) to keep me away. It does open the door for a R1 release though, which is what I'm hopping for.

Having just got mine last night, yes, it is a handful. I was going take a size picture with him next to Prime and Prowl, but since we already have the shot above, there's really no reason. Drifand is right, take your time with this thing, the instructions are not as helpful as they could have been, but I made it through by going very slow. There were many "I can easily see how this could break something!" moments though, especially around the windows and getting the chassis to unlock. In fact, while I was fiddling with getting the front body to unlock from the rear, I knocked/bent the drivers side door off with my gangly hand. While it did manage to pop back on no problem I haven't been that panicked on a new toy since my 1/60 DYRL Hikaru's shoulder hinge come undone during it's first transformation. But... BUT, this new Smokescreen is so cool, I have visions of the Transformers returning into my life to drain my wallet. I'm even receptive to the new Sideswipe now. But being on these boards you know I must have some complaints, some petty nitpicks, right? Well I do, but they are small. 1) The hood needs a way to be locked down, especially as it's metal. It's just making all these flip-flop noises all the time. Just hope there are a lot of bumps in the road! 2) Arm articulation is missing a forearm rotation point. All in all the articulation on this baby rocks, especially the legs and head, but even as good as the arm's are, I really found myself missing some forearm rotational ability, then he'd be next to perfect. 3) That gun! First off, the good news, they did what I can't believe Yamato didn't do for the 1/48 -- they have the gun attach to the hand with a securing peg. Yamato! You already had a hole in the gun, why not a peg in the hand?? OK anyway, also some mad props for making it part of the car, and it looks cool as the engine, but as a gun it looks a little dorky. While I can't fix much about it, I will have to find a kibble bit I can slip into the bottom to cover-up the hole. 4) The NAMES! I know this is petty, but I can't help my deep-rooted childhood memories. This car screams to be Bluestreak instead of Smokescreen, as the upcoming Sideswipe fits my image of Tracks rather than who it is, but I sure I'll get over this little bit of reprogramming my brain needs. All in all though, awesome. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Sideswipe and Masterpiece Prime just as much as my wallet will be reeling from them. But what's more, I can't wait to see the next designs... that's how I know I'm hooked.

Not that this means much of anything but there was a noticeable shift in Yamato's policy after the release of Toynami's MPC. Up until that point we, through Graham, had production model shots and what not well ahead of the toy's release, like well over six months in some cases. Why this has changed could be any number of reasons... Yamato was an up-and-comer who needed to generate support well before a new product's launch - now it doesn't have too, or, at least, not as much. (Good reason I believe) They might have gotten tired of us constantly nitpicking and complaining about their work. (doubtful, but still possible) and the final one, and I don't really mean this as a slam on Toynami, but early MPC pictures showed a "bandai-style" backpack this was later changed, sometime after the release of the 1/60's pictures/product and the final release of the MPC, to follow the same style Yamato used. In return, Yamato seemed to hold all their pictures of the 1/48 FAST packs until after the MPC ones were released - not to mention the 1/48 itself, news of which was spilled in the forums months before an official announcement (oh and nice cover-up guys, special hat's off to the Captain ). I think Yamato just doesn't want to show stuff when they don't know (or maybe do know) who might be listening.

See that's just the thing, while Max's 1S heatshield is undoubtedly black in any scene the official color blue. In a past heated debate about this I asked if anyone could should an official picture (outside of the movie itself) or product of Max's 1S with anything other than a blue shield and there was no answer. The challenge still stands... and as far as I care, either color is fine. Yet as Hikaru's is now officially red it seems to follow that Max's should be blue. Of much more interest to me is the changing of Kakizaki's to a deep green... yet no one really complains about that. Odd...

Man, that was a spray my coffee across the keyboard moment. Thanks. We now return you to our normal broadcast schedule, already in progress.

Although it will never happen, one of the things on my "things to do if I win the PowerBall and become filthy rich" is to contract a private redo for the Aninme Fiend episodes - nothing fancy, and no CG, just match the other half of the show. In fact, it'd be beyond cool to bankroll the entire production through Studio Nue itself -- on the condition that they can't farm it out again. But, due to the copyright problems it would cause, I'd never be able to share it or even fess up to it, so even if I did have it... On the other hand, if anyone has actually done this... well, nah, forget it.

Of course it's not really based on anything, but I've always joked that anything in America costs twice as much in Japan, so working backwards from that, a 7,000 yen toy would be the same as a 35 toy in the US - which I think is about right. Remember, I'm not talking about exchange rates, but about real value. I have about the same hesitation and reservations about picking up a 7,000 yen toy here as I would a $35 dollar one back in the States. For reference, I went out last Sunday for a two hour dinner with four people and dropped about 25,000. Granted I paid for most of the dinner - but not all of it. If I did something like that in the US, I would have to have lost my mind first!

Well, I guess I should preface this by saying that I'm not a Star Trek fan. I'll watch it if my friend is, but otherwise, nothing besides the original series and two of the movies (Wrath and Undiscovered Country) ever did anything for me. My first suggestion is to kill the series and let it rest for about five years. It's important though not to waste that time, but to use it to develop whatever "good" ideas they have now into something super. I like the idea of an overreaching direction that the smaller story arcs can fit into, with all this wrap-everything-up-in-60-mins crap being left to a minimum. I'd also like to see a return to the original series style of stories that actually were relevant to the day. I think it was their willingness to challenge audiences with stories about cold-war style governments, racism, and the like that really make the original series entertaining to watch regardless of the crappy production values. Star Trek since then, at least for me, has only been a story about the lives of a bunch of people in space. I'm not saying that's bad... but only that is bad. Characters are usually only interesting when interesting things happen. Forgot to add, if I didn't have to deal with the Undiscovered Country's "Scooby-Doo" ending it would have been much better! Still though, it's almost perfect timing with end of the cold war more than over came that flaw. I think it was only possible to get that kind of resonance because of the original series' willingness to delve into those types of topics in the past. I can't imagine Riker, or anyone from Voyager *shudder* being able to do something like that with, say terrorism or out of control governments -- they just don't have the background to make it fly for me.

last one. Back shot, not much to see here except how, like on the Elint as well, the cool wings don't allow them to fold flat... kind sucks, but really can't be helped. Ok, hope you enjoyed the show, I'm off to clean up.

It took me forever to get this beast into battroid! I've been working with 1/60's since they've come out and this was, bar-none, the hardest transformation I've ever had. The sad part is, it was all spent on the chest plate. Think the 1D was hard to lock down?? Bwhaha, just wait! Now it could have been mine alone, but I tried everything, went the whole "don't force it" method, passed through the "damnit, your going to move even if I have to break you" period as I used the floor against the nosecone for leverage, but all it did was leave my thumbs screaming in pain from trying to strech the metal frame of the chestplate so that it could slide down. Finally, for the first time ever, I resorted to sliding the chestplate into position first and then locking it down on the shoulders and back of the nose cone... Yikes! never again I tell ya. Besides the battroid mode ain't worth it. Head could use some paint too. Still, don't get the wrong impression, I love my Super O. I'd just love it more if it din't make me bleed.