RosarioLuv

So even though DYRL is a movie within the world of the TV Series, the explanation for post-tv-series sporting the DYRL designs is what? The TV Macross was refitted and thus appears now like the DYRL Macross in the movie? And Exedol now has a giant pulsating green broccoli head brain like in the movie because wha? Did he watch the movie and go, "man, I look good like that. Someone macronize me and gimme a big brain like in the movie?" -longtime macrossworlder and fan, but newbie technicality-nit-picker.

wow, I hate all you pretty people. I wish I were pretty. Although Mr. Lee there gives me hope. The wifey there is nice to look at, but man, how exciting can she be? Her aspirations are to not work, travel around, drink lemon water, and sleep? Conclusion: Useless but Pretty Girls match well with Nerdy Rich IT Dudes. Moral of the Story: FOR GIRLS: If you're useless, you better be nice to look at. FOR GUYS: If you're not nice to look at, you better be "useful." Food for thought: Can two useless but pretty people maintain a happy marriage? More Food for thought: Would two useful-but-ugly people ever go for each other? I only ask because it is out of my domain; I am neither pretty to look at nor useful. I guess I'd be the nerdy poor dude. The only thing I have going for me is my custom extended nosecone, lol.

Yeah, Yamato does seem to kinda be all over the place. Can't pic a series, can't pic a scale, can't pic a sculptor. Kinda frustrating for completists who would like to have all the relative mechas from one line of each series in a particular scale. Makes it hard when Yamato jumps around in scales and series lines and doesn't finish them. (eg: FP 11 and FP 21, but no FP 19, 1/48 1 seaters, but no 2 seaters, VF-1X game colour 19, but no other video game valks in the same scale(WHERE's my VF-17?!), 1/60 GBP but no 1/48 GBP.) Ya know what's always bugged me the most? I can NEVER complete a Vermillion Squadron without customizing! They always make Hikaru's VF-1J, but then no Max or Kakizaki 1A's to go with it! Instead they always follow up with M&M VF-1Js, which are cool, but they're not part of the Hikaru-Max-Kakizaki Vermilion Squadron! Grr! Why ignore the TV 1A? They were there for like half the series before Hikaru took over Skull Squadron.

of course, buying toys is perfectly normal, but actually PLAYING with toys? That's just insane! Lol As far as the sculpt on the VF-0, how many beers did it take before it started to look "good" to you? Better make sure you have a couple buddies around to give you a second opinion before you decide you've found the girl of your dreams and future mother of your children, hehe....or ask your optomitrist for your money back. j/k. Just look at a hasegawa VF-0, then look at the yamato and tell me it still aint ugly. Either that, or lay off the juice, hehehe. Actually, I find the Battroid mode kinda ok lookin. And if it is as tall as a 1/48, I'd probably buy it just to have since it's a unique valk, but fighter mode is just plain messed up. And what bugs me about Gerwalk mode is the legs don't seem to have nearly enough articulation to have the full bent gerwalk stance that makes it a "gerwalk" rather than simply a jet with arms and legs hanging off of it. I'm hoping at least that Battroid is VERY poseable to make up for the other modes. But judging from the HLJ vido footage, I think the only thing impressive about this toy is perhaps its size (which appears to be bigger than a 1/60, and possiby as big as a 1/48, hard to tell.), and I'm hoping the price doesn't match its enormity.

***ungh**** (gnashing my teeth) Firstly, nice looking boy thar. Cool lookin valk too. That being said, I fear for both the boy and the valk. 1/60 is heavy, and pointy. If a leg fell off even at a 2 year old's height, it could seriously hurt his head, or even if it just fell on his foot. VF-1A head laser and nose can poke out an eye. Landing gear doors can cut. Wing headlights can come off and be swallowed. not to mention he's handling a painted valk that can chip or get smudged onto skin. Just not a good idea IMO, being a parent myself. Landing gear wheels can also come off and be swallowed. But really, just dropping it on his own feet can really hurt. Holding it by the wing like that is just asking for it. Not to mention, even if you don't want the valk anymore, even if it maybe only cost $35 at the cheapest, that's just too much money and quality toy to cast to a 2 year old....hold it for him till he's older and can appreciate it better. In the meantime, give him a plastic bootleg, a 1/65 (like Graham said), or MAYBE a chunky monkey (minus landing gears). But for goshsakes, I fear for what could happen with that fan-painted sharp pointy heavy diecast collectible in the hands of an innocent toddler. Just my two cents. By the way, Nice looking son you got there, again. (btw, I started my daughter on a 1/65 blazervalk (with supervision), which, she was able to transform on her own at age 4). Yesterday she drew me a valk coming in from the sky in fighter mode shooting missiles at a glaug unit on the ground. It is every macross parent's dream! My little Meltrandi!

Botoru Pilot getting shot point-blank in the face by Milia's Fist guns, then used as a human (zentradi) body shield, thrown aside, cut in half, and then stepped on his head crushed like a melon. (actually happened to several at once, so I don't know which ones died in which of one or more manners combined. Either way grotesque. DYRL Max ripping zentradi out of glaug and firing point-blank into his helmet which cracks open and his face explodes as it depressurizes in the vaccum of space (and his eyeballs pop out as he screams) DYRL civilian decapitation during Macross transformation TV series Misa watches CF pilot get blown out of the cockpit and suffocate in the vaccum of space. TV series catseye pilot gets crushed to death from crashing into asteroid debris TV series CF pilot gets shot point blank in face by glaug WORST EVER (for me to watch): TV series little girl and daddy soldier get blown away during zentradi blitzkrieg.

Not sure about DVD's and such, but as far as toys go, I think a lot of bootleg toys are being ripped straight at the factory by the workers (such as the Illustrious 1/3000 SDF-1 Bootleg made from actual bandai/taka parts but packaged in a bootleg box and sold under a different name). I've always thought the 1/65 Mac7 valk boots were also ripped in this manner. And some of those ripped Yamato Prototype (test run) valks that ended up on ebay are another example. Here's a thought: Hey Japan (and USA, while I'm at it), go back to manufacturing your own quality products instead of outsourcing them to China for cheap labor. If you insist on outsourcing, at least hire better quality workers and give them better pay. If you go cheap, eventually you'll still end up paying the price later in some other way. I miss the days that my anime products actually read "Made in Japan" on them. Here's another thought: Hey Japan, why don't you acknowledge that anime fandom now has an economically-viable global fanbase, and expand your anime industry to include the world outside of Japan so that it isn't so hard to get your products to the point that diehard fans would claw for even a bootleg version of your product? And for Godsakes establish JAPANESE business ambassadors in outside countries who can take charge of and control their own out-of-country license for your products. STOP selling your licenses away to other countries who go and distort your anime storylines, make their own ugly versions of your products, and reap all the income from it that could have potentially been YOURS in the first place (HG case in point, among other companies). In other words, rather than the reflex response of trying to stop bootlegging, why not take a proactive response that ESTABLISHES licensed releases of your products in countries outside of japan. For once, please get out of this SUKOKU mentality and acknowledge that Japan is not the center of the universe, and that the Sun rises in all parts of the world, not just Japan.

Yeah, I think he means GenX'ers. BUT, it was the babyboomer generation that created these wonderful storylines and (original) toys for us succeeding generations. The babyboomers were a generation of poets and profits. A lost era... btw, I always thought I was a GenX'er. But if 1975 is the cutoff, and I'm born after that, does that mean I'm an MTVgen? I didn't really grow up in the 80's persay, but more the 85-95's, if that makes any sense. My first car, btw, was a 1986 Honda Civic Hatchback....and it was 1993 when I got it.

about 4 or 5 years ago I had to go to New Mexico for an improptu vacation at my mom's, right in the middle of a custom 1/55 VF-1A I was working on that I hadn't finished decaling and hadn't taken pics of yet (for ebay). So I put the valk and armour in "compact mode", along with a digicam and installation hardware, all in a little handy toolbox so I could have it as a carry-on on the plane (since I didn't want it getting crushed by baggage handling.) I too got stopped by security, and they thoroughly examined my box and even called other security guards to come look at it for a second opinion. Then the guard turns to me with a smirk on his face saying, "a toy and computer hardware....in a toolbox?" I was held up like 15-20 minutes just for that (this was before 9-11). I dunno what they were all fussy about anyway...heck, it was made with the blunt jetfire nose too, and I hadn't extended it yet either. Maybe they were afraid it could poke someone's eye out too. Oh, btw, they finally let me go, after giving me wierd looks. What, doesn't everybody carry around a toolbox with a toy and digicam hardware in it to the airport? What?

Where in the toy section do you find this at WalMart? With the name brand stuff like GIJOe, Transformers, etc? or is there a generic toy area? I went to my local Walmart and found nothing....where do I look? EDIT: now that I looked at your pics of Battroid mode....*ungh* LOL, that robot mode is hysterical! LOL, I can't stop myself. Now I MUST go see this freak of nature out of morbid curiousity!

Where in the toy section do you find this at WalMart? With the name brand stuff like GIJOe, Transformers, etc? or is there a generic toy area? I went to my local Walmart and found nothing....where do I look?

The VF-19A and the YF-19 have the same diecast parts, so won't the scheme look the same if you're just painting the diecast parts? BTW, can you chrome plastic parts? Auto customizing places often offer chroming services for car hood ornaments and other parts of the car that may not be metal by first metalizing the part and then chroming it on top of the now metalized part... I own the Starwars Episode 1 Royal Starship (THE BIG ONE) and I've always wanted to chrome it. How much would something like that cost to do, if you can do it?

Why is it that everytime Kawamori designs a new valk, it gets bigger and BIGGER and BIGGER than the previous one?

I've always wanted to see a valk in Blue Angels garb....now especially the SV-51. BTW, my favourite plane is the F-18, because, for some reason, of all the real-life planes, including the F-14, the F-18 is actually the one that looks like a real-life valkyrie to me for some reason. I always wanted Kawamori to do a valk after the 18, and the SV-51 looks a lot like it. Someone outta get that kit and Blue-Angelfy it for me. Hehe.

Back in my customizing days I made a custom arm armour that fits both vintage and reissues ala outside clip like the elint arm armours. I made one mould of it and one cast of it. Since then the mold got warped. The new armour had circle vents on the side, along with armour trapezoid lights on the side, and new square fronts (dyrl style) with seperate missile cluster attatchments. Man I miss customizing. This was way before 1:48's were even known, but I also had ideas for redoing the rest of the 1/55 armours with new details and such. I even wanted to recast the exposed strike FP engines and adapt it for both boosters, and then cast clear resin covers for them. (1:48 eventually did the same thing). Ah, I miss those days....so many ideas. Yeah, I think now with 1:48's out, it's pretty pointless to try to improve on the 1/55's. Now it's best to collect 1/55's in their original vintage form, and appreciate them for the original design for its day. To try to make them more realistic wouldn't be worth the time or money now.

Sylvanian Families? "To Collect and Love" (***singing***) lol, I actually have a Sylvanian Families commercial on an old VHS tape I have from the 80's when I used to tap SMURFS as a kid. Has some Gi Joe commercials too, part of a Transformers commercial, and a commercial for that other Hasbro line of toys that featured hologram warriors (I can't remember the name right now)....back then I liked almost any hasbro commercial because they used the Transformer guy's voice (Vince Dicola is it?) and same library of sound effects as Transformers. There's even a Ghostbuster's Ecto 1 Playdoh set commercial too.... Who ya gonna call? "Ghostbusters!"

Took the words right out of my scheming brain. I SO want a 19P. Gimme gimme gimme!

"What happened to Heart?" I just finished watching MASH, the episode where Radar goes home. I wonder if there's anyone else out there like me who was originally turned off whenever the MASH opening came on with the song and the grainy film of the chopper carrying wounded....when I was a kid that show just seemed "old," and whenever I heard it I thought, "yuk, tsk, I guess it's time to go to bed." But somehow MASH has grown on me over this year especially, and I've really come to fall in love with the characters like they were a real family of friends that I knew. There's something to be said about oldschool drama. No CGI graphics, no fanatastic soundtracks or special effects, but true genuine heart and passion on the part of the actors. That's something rare these days, where character development is believable because the cast really does get to know each other through the show. I mean, the missing element in modern movies is heart...person-to-person heart. I miss that. People didn't have to try; they were just natural at it. It was a more humble time, where reality was nitty-gritty what-you-can-hold-in-your-hands-and-see-with-your-eyes real. Modern theatre has become too dependent on gigantism, the spectacular, the unimaginable....things that only come out of dreams, surrounded by so much extraneous "creativity," there's no room for what is real at the center, at the heart of the story, and more importantly, at the heart of each character, each hero. There are no more heroes these days. Just off-the-wall stories saturated with dense settings filled with intricate props....it's just too much of all the amazing extra things and not enough of the simple basics, the truly "human" element. I miss that. Anyway, this episode of MASH wasn't the first to make me shed some tears. I was all busted up when Radar couldn't even have a sendoff party because incoming choppers came and all the MASH folk had to go into surgery. Radar went into the empty mess tent and stuck his finger in the cake frosting and licked it, and even made a face at how horrible it tasted. It wasn't fancy, that's for sure, but it was made with 100% heart. Radar leaving also paralleled his passage from boy to adult. In a way, leaving the MASH unit was like leaving behind his childhood. But in a wierd way it WAS the MASH, or being in the army, rather, that forced him to grow up early and become a man. MASH has always touched on the reality that war is harsh, and war claims our youth (if not their lives). So many young folk who never get to be kids, because they get enlisted, have to fight and kill, or be killed. In a wierd way, Radar's character was unique because he had to endure the youth-robbing stresses of war, but he remained an innocent kid at heart all the way til the end. He was moving on to be the man of his household as his uncle back at home had died, to take care of the farm and his mom, and also to join a sweetheart he had met along the way. The last scene showed Colonel Potter, BJ, and Hawkeye in the "swamp" (BJ and Hawkeye's quarters) after a grueling term in O.R., and they find Radar's teddy bear left on Hawkeye's bed. Hawkeye looks at the bear and says, "Goodbye Radar." Man, I love those guys. The characters, the actors, the passion and compassion of that era. I wish I were part of those days. Born one lifetime too late. Whatever happened to heart? I miss that era of poets and profits. What we gain in technology and the fantastic, I hope doesn't come at the expense of that old school heart in generations to come. I wonder if I'll be able to pass that on to my daughter. I will do what I can, with genuine love.

Also, while we're on the subject, why do the 1/48 M&M's come with YELLOW-tipped big missiles instead of RED ones? The other paint gripe I have is that the little missile clusters were left blank white. grrrr.

Hmm, the 1/48 accessories are cool, but the printed-on (decals?) windows and support struts look kinda cheesy IMO. If we were going that route, I think I rather have a Robotech SDF-1 Playset to use instead. BTW, I've been looking for the early pics of the Yamato 1/48's that had them set up in 1/48 dioramas with flight crew, refueling vehicles, everything painted and decaled to look like UN Spacy standard issue equipment...... Does anyone remember where those pics are? I can't find them.

Here's one: Is it me or are PART of the side leg armours grey in that pic, towards the aft? Yammies have the whole side leg armour complete red I think. I also wonder what the official colours are too, because for some reason I have images in my head of the M&M's having completely "grey" (greyish green or whatever that colour is) side leg armours too.

Wow, that's a really clean looking cast! That BP8 part looks so cool I almost want to buy one, and I don't even need one! Great job. BTW, how come in one pic the cast seems to be missing the "circle-bar-vernier" but the other pic has it. Did it just not show up because of the lighting?

Actually, the q-rau itself to me doesn't look particularly "male" or "female;" looks generic enough that it wouldn't bug me if men or women pilot it. What DOES look funny though is Max dressed up in Meltran Pilot's Suit, which DEFINITELY looks very femme. Gives me that funny feeling I got as a kid whenever I saw Bugs Bunny dress up as a woman.....ooops, sorry, TMI. lol

(Decided to move this post from the other thread here, where it's more relevant.) Yeah, as a ferverent Macross fan, you look at all these other companies that churn out Transformers for TF fans and Gundams for Gundam fans a plenty, and you wonder, "Why doesn't Yamato do the same thing with Valkyries for Macross fans?" It seems like a no-brainer, right? But I do believe the art of making Valkyries is in a different realm than Gundams and TF's completely. I think the reason we all love Valkyries so much is because there IS an element of "Magic" that goes into Valkyries that isn't there in Gundams and TF's: Valks have to look like realistic, almost seamless believable modern-day aircraft, AND have to transform into a believable mech robot that doesn't look just like a jet with arms and legs and head (like most TFs do). Most Gundams don't transform, and the ones that do have a very limited transformation sequence, many of which don't even have true perfect transformation (a part detatches and reattatches somewhere, etc...), not to mention in their transport modes, they still look very modular (as oppossed to a valk that looks 99% like a jet you couldn't even imagine could turn into a robot.). TF's don't even bother with realistic vehicle modes (except for the handful of Binaltechs that do exist) OR well-proportioned bot modes. On top of all that, I'm pretty convinced that Gundam and TF toy sculpts are made FIRST, then the anime SECOND, as in the anime is made to sell existing toys, while Macross toys are made AFTER the anime and lineart are already made, which gives Valk designers an even extra task to pull out of their magic hat: To make something from a 2-dimentional magic anime universe into a solid real 3-D toy that looks good in all 3 modes. So much thought, zeal, time, money, and true understanding of engineering and physics goes into making even one of these, it's no wonder it takes forever for Yamato to come out with even one new sculpt at a time. They're doing such a great job in terms of going where no one's gone before in the toy industry, accomplishing feats and levels of detail and complexity once thought impossible, that we just want more. There is a saying in history: "Revolutions are started by people whose lives are getting better, but not fast enough." And that's where we fall into place as Macross fans. Yamato is doing such a bang-up job, that now we expect more from them, and more and more and more and more, lol. The problem with creating great things is that it is often difficult to maintain such a high level output forever, especially when others expect so much. If you were to chart most people's production levels throughout life on a graph, the line would start as a concave curve, slowly going up and gradually increasing its slope until it hits a near vertical slope somehere in the middle (probably in our 20's) where it then becomes a convex curve that continues up, but starts to diminish in its slope until finally it approaches a mathematical limit (it gets closer and closer to the limit, but never actually touches it, infinitely) where it almost looks like it's a horizontal line. There's bound to be a time where a person (or a company, in this case) has to level off. I think that's what Yamato is doing, at least as far as Macross is concerned (they also have other worlds besides Macross to explore.) Granted, as in the chart, the line never actually reaches its limit, which means, even when you reach close to the top, there is always room for improvement, no matter how late in the game. P.S. Don't you like my nifty chart? Yes, I have too much time on my hands. Lol, one of these days, someone outta write an academic book that delves into a study of the inner psychological, economic, and social aspects of the toy industry and underground "culture" of the toy enthusiast. Maybe I'll call it, "If Toys Could Talk." Oh wait a minute, someone already did a movie on that, called "Toy Story 2." lol

Hmmm, I wouldn't say quality is getting worse (as i declining), but I would say the rate of increase in quality is tapering off. In other words, if you start off with the Mac Plus Valks up to our current valks, you'll see that Yamato started out with a LOT of room for improvement, and well, they've done just that, improved, topping themselves off with the amazing 1/48's. Now how do you top THAT? You can top that, but not by as much as you could with earlier products like Mac Plus valks or even the 1/60 line. I'd say quality is still getting better each time around, but the rate at which it gets better is less inclined. With that said, somehow the VF-0 doesn't fit in there. It looks ugly and it has no perfect transformation. Is this a quality issue? Or just a case of impossible-to-recreate-anime-magic-into-a-real-toy? (Has Kawamori finally designed an anime mech that CANNOT truly be made as a toy?) Either way, the VF-0 remains an anomaly with current Yamato trends. Can I borrow a forklift now so I can pick my jaw up offa da floor?