1/1 LowViz Lurker

I guess after all this what I wanted to say was I wanted Diehard in space. The imperials would be the terrorists with the upper hand, while the rogue might play a underdog type character trying to escape from various dangers like bounty hunters, or storm troopers or people he has had to rip off. The troopers would be like Elite SS and the character would need to do what he could (use his wits and experience and have a smug attitude) to survive in the bad situation he is in like Mclane in the Diehard movie. Basically the action would flow like that and you would wonder how is he going to get outof this one? So you keep watching and watching because of this sense of danger the reckless cowboy has gotten himself into and how the underdog has to beat the odds against these elite soldiers. That's what I got in OT: lots of variety but always flowing so your attention was glued to the screen wondering "what is going to happen next?" The character also has to have a sense of humor about it to relieve stress, so it feels like an adventure more than suspense, because the main character might actually be having fun. (not intentionally trying to harm people but having to break all the rules to live) He wouldn't be an 'antihero' (there is plenty of room to add a wolverine style cowboy in there in another character if they want) but more like a guy just trying to live in a bad situation that he is in which is out of his control.

More fast dogfights! Not slow ones like in EP III. (see macross Zero ova for 'fast' and 'speedy' examples) Where BSG tries for realism I want this to be solely fantasy with fantasy physics and unrealistic stunts and stuff. I liked the old trilogy action scenes because of the blistering pace that things moved at and the surrounding area, not necessarily the fx alone, or light sabers. In fact I am one of the few that liked PT for fast light saber duels (much better then OT) but loved the fighting in space and other stuff from OT. Now is their chance to give regular doses of action and drama. But not so dramatic that we see the typical angsty teen with girl probs or stupid stuff that little kids couldn't care less about. It's primarily action and fantasy that I go into star wars for. Not the science, the realism, or because of the acting talent. (although that is important too) If they do it right (like the clone wars toon which oozes cool) then I will be watching it all. I want a character who is strong, knows wtf they are doing, is in danger of being hunted, killed, imprisoned, lost, shot at by droids, chopped into pieces, eaten by a monster, captured by aliens etc that we got from the OT but made for tv audience with a cliff hanger on each ep and definate beginning middle and end from ep1 all the way up to ep 100, so you would be forced to not miss an episode and to not miss the story for fear there would be a huge gap there. (as opposed to the enemy of the week aproach) I like drama but they screwed it up in the PT and the action in that felt watered down due to only focusing on light saber duels and less on the 'action/adventure' feel of the OT. (space, ground, desert, snow, inside ship, between fighters, gun fight-type action) What might seem like mere 'filler' to other people is 'reason to keep watching' for kids and fans of the OT. My guess is if they are going for a more Rogue centred character make that rogue cool enough to care about. He should essentially be a cowboy in space managing to escape danger in every situation he is in. (and somehow surviving each encounter and learning something out of it) That's what I mean by 'adventure', which I feel was was missing from PT. The fantasy element is what makes star wars cool because it is an escape from the real world. Don't let the real world intrude too much on the series if they want to appeal to the younger generation because I have a feeling that's not what they would want. Given the amount of CG aliens in your typical star wars movie these days, will it matter that much? I just realised that apart from the main characters, the humans weren't really the 'stars' of the star wars movies so much as the 'characters' in them (yoda, the slimey mercenary dude in the burger shop, the alien jedi, the cg battle droids, the cg villain with four arms 'grievious', etc etc) and what they do. If the series was about Jabba the hut and his criminal organisation and it turned out to be a star wars Sopranos I actually thnk this would be entertaining enough. Each ep a bounty hunter would be hired to bring back a certain alien that owes jubba the hut money and this gives a chance to see han solo and some new aliens in a darker setting. Maybe it will show a more gritty side to the universe and instead of hope (ep IV) the whole story is doom and gloom with lots of death and suffering and opression and slavery due to the corruption in the underworld as well as within the empire. (now that Jedi are seen as criminals to be hunted, there is no one to really 'protect the innocent' apart from rogues with a sense of cunning who may have the wits to survive in the world - like a 'thief' type character who has to be selfish to get by rather than 'Pure' and always following some ideal or order like the knights would)

But you can see a legs together pose on the getter where he is flying. Oh well there goes my money for BGC figs..

My main gripe has to do with the way ivanov died. Would really like to have seen him and roy face off to see if roy could overcome his teacher. (similar to how shin kicks Nora into the water in gerwalk) The Monster was cool! Really get to see its long range ability in this. It turned the fight around in favor of humans so it comes out as the true hero of macross zero not roy or shin. Whoever piloted it got no credit!

No need to be insulting there. I find that some people just prefer to hear the guy say the words while not focusing at any one spefic thing in the image at a time. I have also had friends who can't play certain vertically scrolling shoot em ups in the arcade because thier eyes are distracted by the bits of shrapnel and they get confused by the busy screen. Also it is interesting that one of the types of games that are popular in the west (like first person shooter) are unpopular in japan because of the claim that japanese people get dizzy and sick from playing them. I also get a bit sick when I see a monitor with a low refresh rate. (ie I was watching this guy play a game boy emulator on a laptop a long time ago and everytime I looked at the screen I felt a bit sick) ...So although it might no be a problem for you realise that different people have different preferences for things based on thier eyes. Some people get epileptic siezures just from blinking lights. It might be something to do with the way some people's brains are wired. Does that mean they are dumb? I'm just sick of the insulting and rude comments. People who prefer dubs are willing to admit that the original voices are better but for other reasons might just like not looking at the bottom of the screen. It is not an "excuse", just how they prefer to watch something. (no different from how some people can't stand other people's settings on an operating system which uses big icons or has the mouse setting on very high sensitivity - different strokes for different folks) In any case I believe it is always good to have more than 1 option, and dvds are great for offering all that. Sometime for games like Shenmue I WANT the original VA over the dub ones and if given "choice" I would like to have japanese audio with subtitles on the bottom, but that doesn't mean I will go right out of my way to deny people wanting to hear the dub just because the dub might not meet the standard of the original VA. More choice is better. End of discussion. I would rather have a release that has BOTH. I've heard the arguments of the other side and think they are missing the point and are not understanding the logic of having X option + Y option = more, so more people are happy. While having X option only = less, so less people are happy. If you don't like the dub you don't need to choose that option but stopping others from wanting to choose it is only going to turn off those who like watching without sub. The question isn't whether dubs usually suck (I would agree with you) but: If you want to please everyone, why not include both so you appeal to all fans? Can anyone give me a good reason for not having more options so that more people are happy?

Ah never knew this. I thought it might have added a bit more protection too. (I guess that is what the shield and PPB is for in later valks) I always wondered why some people kept reffering to the Super Valk parts as arm "armor" and leg "armor" when it wasn't designed to protect.. As for bulkiness = more agressive: I think it makes the valk looks cooler in a "more firepower means stronger offense and more damage in shorter time, therefore faster kills" sense, than because the "chunky pack makes it meaner and heavier" sense. (one of the reasons I like the big cannon equiped mech designs) But I still love them skinny valks and prefer them to be fast and light in fighter mode. (the vf1 fast packs are so heavy looking that it is almost seems oversized) I also imagine that being light in robot mode means they move around faster in enclosed space like how a slower race car with low top speed might have better cornering ability and tighter handling, and can strafe and hover with less effort, but thier main weapon (gunpod) up close is all that is necessary to penetrate the armor of anything the zentradi throw at humans. (so extra backpack weapons like strike cannon is unecessary in this sense and would just go to waste - who needs that much firepower if the enemy dies quick with a lighter weapon?) Theres also the question of whether a pilot will fly around at the fastest speed in the first place, or have the skill to fight at topspeed to make thier total number of enemy shots higher. (so will the weight and bulk just get in the way?) It's why I say adding so much chunky extra stuff just highlights that the early valks were slow and weak compared to later ones that didn't need the extra booster for speed. (and good for both atmosphere and space combat due to better engine. They can just fly from earth into space with no extra booster on thier backs whilst still having a small profile and being generally harder to hit targets for slower mecha)

Speaking of Master piece transformers: wouldn't it be cool if they released plastic versions of MP similar to what they've done to alternators? The money they save bringing out plastic MP would then go towards creating the proper ultra magnus. (not the dreamwave magnus which is just white prime)

1/48 = MP Prime but mainly plastic instead of diecast. Unlike other toys though its joints are also very tight so you will not get the floppy limb syndrome that pisses off people who like bot modes doing dramatic stance but who can't do them due to balance, loosness and weight reasons. (important as toys go to larger size) Ratcheted joints help make posing in battroid worthwhile. If you do get roy, do look for a floppy head turret. The one I have I think is 3rd release and the head sort of flops about in fighter. Not happy with that.

So true. It is the only archilles heel of the 1/48 imo. (along with the fake feet thruster which is visible in fighter mode but isn't noticable in battroid. This is fixed on the vf0 though) 1/60 are great in battroid mode from a distance but not as detailed as 1/48. (you will crap your pants when you see the fast packs! Once in a while I like to remove the covers and compare the inside with the lineart - I wish one day we get a toy that is designed like the fast packs but for the whole valk so you can see the internel workings like one of the claudia flashback scenes in the tv series. If they ever do a line of high detail destroids I want that level of detail. All the money should go to making it look 'mechanical' and accurate given it is non transforming) Sell your 1/60 and get 1/48. Also sell any 1/72 now before yamato really does decide on new macross plus toys in future and the value of them goes down. (I pointed out earlier that mint vf11b w fp is going for 1/48 prices so it might help you still afford your xbox360) The one thing I like about the tv series valks is that they look recognisable in a group of plain white DYRL valks. They aren't just a VF1J in a group of VF1J. Nooo, they are max and milia VF1J who are the best pilots in the show! Along with the Stealth VF1j, and Hikaru 1J inside GBP armor, they would make a cool 1J elite team standing next to each other decked out in all thier gear. I personally like TV series valks for the 'color variety' reasons. It is one of the reasons I wanted the cannon fodder because you see these guys get blown up all the time onscreen in the tv series. But when you do see them they are instantly recognisable from a distance for thier color.

Still you gotta admire the detail that squeezed into that little thing. Wow big difference compared to pepsi prime. He looks best as a posable action figure judging by those pics.

I still haven't seen the second season. Sh!t must catch up.

Yeah would like to see a review of them. I love toys with posability to match the look you see in anime. (crouching poses, legs apart poses, hips and chest at funny angle type poses, feet angled flush to the ground etc) When you have something on display you want them doing something which is why I avoid the Bandai chunky munky macross toys but like their gundam GQ line.

I think it is only for a limited time? Like we see Roy hovering in battroid mode in macross zero while looking for nora. But I don't think you can 'fly' in that mode at a decent speed. Just sort of float. Just seems like a waste of energy (especially for the vf0 which needs fuel and given that it is heavier compared to a vf1) I still want to know how the VB6 is supposed to take off with no landing gear? Is it launched similar to how the VF1 is launched into space using that truck and an extra booster atached to its rear end? (I can see it landing in gerwalk but what about take off? It just hovers and then transforms while in midair like the vf1 right?)

That's what I imagine. See it was the episode in the tv series when milia first kicks ass in her powered armor and does all kinds of crazy manuevers with ease that I get the feeling UN spacy might have thought they needed the extra armor, weapons, nozzles and speed. When you see the amount of missiles inside the qrau, it is essentially like a destroid but with the boost to make it fast and manueverable enough to not have to float there and take damage. (destroids with the exception of the monster are like cannon fodder in the series) The gbp, although well armed, just looks like a chunky brick. When it walks it looks sorta slow and bulky and heavy, and when it uses up all the missiles you can't but help want to eject the armor because it restricts the mode you can fight in. This is where Super armor comes into play: combining speed with more powerful weapons but without restriction on variable fighting methods. (ie changing from fighter to robot and back again for different ranges and situations as shown in macross zero) Sure they coulda made a whole new robot or fighter, but these upgrades = nice gradual powering up that can make use of existing design. (no need to start from the beginning again and giving UN spacy more flexible options on what to do with all the stuff they already mass produced. Much cheaper to just have a bare bones naked robot and build up from that with various extras to tailor it to the mission and environment)

Yeah that's what I think. Maybe by putting the "Low Vis II" title they can attract fans of the low vis but not necessarily collectors. Hoping that fans of unofficial low vis paintschemes or camo will keep buying more 1/48 valks once all the other official paintschemes have been milked to death. hehe I think what happened with cannon fodder was that it was more because the brownies and 1A head is thought to be unpopular? So they had to make limited numbers of them for fear they would go unsold? (and then once demand for this would rise again they wouldn't be restricted from re-releasing more to meet the demand unlike what happened with low vis I ) In the short term they might lose out from collectors(attracted to LE releases), but by keeping options open for the future, it keeps the price to normal range for the masses, and allows more non-collector types who are fans, to jump on the bandwagon late once they saved up enough to be able to buy one in future. It would be good if they release an angel birds scheme or one of the tv color mistake paintschemes. (using cannon fodder pattern but in max color like the customs that have been done. Customs run the risk of having the paint come off - I want molded color)

I think what would happen is the "FP with stealth" = having super + strike parts but in a single package? (like the tv super valks perhaps but with bonus cannon?) I hope so, anyway.. Graham?? Maybe to milk it even more they will create a third version: 1. Stealth (naked with pilot in a grey TV flightsuit like the low vis pilot) 2. Stealth with TV armor and FP (no strike cannon, pilot wears DYRL spacesuit since this is a space "super valk" upgrade even though the tv series super valks had pilots wearing flightsuits still) 3. Stealth with DYRL Super + Strike Parts (dyrl arm armor, pilot wearing spacesuit) I hope they all come with clown hands like the CF release though. Cannon Fodder was a cross between a TV valk (clown hands and tv flightsuit pilot) and DYRL valk. (the arms had the DYRL stripes on them)

TV 1/48 Vf-1J (Miria FP): 001 1/48 Vf-1J (Max FP): 001 DYRL 1/48 Vf-1S (Roy): 001 1/48 Vf-1A (CF): 001 Variations 1/48 Vf-1A (Low Vis I): 001 Accessories 1/48 Vf-1 GBP (Blue): 001 1/48 Vf-1 FP: 001 Others 1/60 QR Mirira: 001 1/100 VB6 Koeing: 001 1/72 YF21 w FP: 001 1/72 VF19 (game edition): 001 1/72 VF11 w FP: 001

That's cool. I've seen it before but it is fun watching again. I think what they should have done is have a blaster and soundwave dance comp. Soundwave gets points for having the coolest voice in the show. "Soundwave Superior, Constructicons Inferior"

Hikaru actually lost his arms in SDF: Macross in the episode when the earth gets scorched. He managed ok without the arms as we see him come to earth. I imagine that gerwalk mode would be a good way to land safe as this is what it is used for when rescuing people on the ground with no landing strip. (ie all those times he had to rescue minmay and misa) If that fails, just transform into battroid like in ep1. (I always found it funny he didn't just eject and chose to crash) If all else fails and the armor of the robot mode doesn't protect you from a fall or a crash landing, (and you have lost legs on say the vf22 and the landing gear is gone) do what they did in macross plus and get a vf11 to piggyback you for a slow descent.

I've thought about this: Soundwave himself would actually be a normal robot that uses laser beak to spy on the enemy as a tiny drone (just like in the animated movie) and can control laser beak remotely. Rather than an 80s cassette player, he would transform into a yf21 or spyplane or something cool that you'd want to see as a toy. (you can never have too many flying vehicles)

I think the problem with TF is by being a cartoon it doesn't have to explain all the shrinking and stuff. What they need to do for the movie is remake the entire franchise from the ground up as a standalone movie seperate from the cartoon or whatever fans think of as the canon. So instead of having the robots go back to normal size (ie starscream shrinking) let them be a giant robot and not afraid to have various sizes of decepticons rather than trying to make them stay to scale with the autobots. (who when they transform from car to robot stay roughly normal size) If star scream wants to fight in robot mode he has to go outside as a giant but suffer from being massive and slow. (like the dinobots who given thier size and heavy weapons, you wouldn't want indoors anyway) Have it so that if they want to walk around digsuised amoungst humans they just upload thier consciousness into a humanoid-like robot body. (gits style) This way they have more than one way of diguise apart from being stuck inside thier vehicle bodies or the robot mode of that body. (they can have replacement forms sort of like the way skynet takes control of all sorts of weapons in terminator) As long as people remember that the TF mistakened human vehicles as the native aliens living on earth, this is a plausible explanation for why they began to be vehicles instead of humanoid sized robots.(like the terminators) This way Megatron could still be a giant robot gun that Devastator grabs in his hand to fire, without the need for shrinking. (because the transformers use all sizes of machines) And when constucticons combine, instead of jumping in the air, they need a giant robot the size of starscream to manually grab each robot and put it together. Once done, megatron can transform into the gun that devastator uses. (rather than the transformation of megatron being a disguise, it becomes a function of another giant scale robot) I always hated the nonvehicular transformers that kept changing size. I think that from now on: the robot mode is not thier normal body (transformers backstory should be that they evolved from nanotech viruses that aliens invented or something) but rather it is merely thier preffered "soldier" form. While their vehicle mode is more thier specialised combat form (think of all the gadgets in the james bond cars) rather than just a disguise alone. If the TF universe was remade to be more realistic from the cartoon version (which itself was hamstrung by the fact that the toys themselves were just toys without being designed for a backstory) then people could start believing in it and taking it more seriously.

It's the same reason why when the Transformers movie came out, people who don't know who all the robots are can see that it was obviously aimed at an audience who were already familiar/attached to/knew who all the characters were, so it is hard for a fan of the franchise to see it from a non-fan perspective as a critic of the movie on it's own merits. They are too busy going: "That looks so cool who cares about details" there are many good points brought up here about why the transformers movie sucks for someone who doesn't know or is not attached to any of the characers in the show: http://members.tripod.com/~repowers/manic/s-movie.html A non fan can see the flaws in a movie that a fan might not be able to. The same applies to DYRL where all this explanation is necessary for people who did not see the tv series. Sure, DYRL is a work of beauty but it isn't perfect. I still hold that the tv series, for this reason, is important for getting a broader picture of what's going on and why stuff is happening. Its a great retelling of the tv series, but details about why they are the only ship left alive, why the ship turns into a robot, and why the culture shock even worked are important upon closer scrutiny. But from a fan perspecitive I love it just as much as the next guy for the animation quality and detail alone. (much easier to watch over and over again than the tv series that is for sure)

Actually weren't the TFs originally all vehicles that were non terrestrial because they lived on cybertron? (the disguise was used only after they came crashed on earth when they mistake the aliens lifeforms to be the shape of cars?) I think this makes sense for the autobots being protectors then choosing disguises that would work close to civilians, while the decepticons wanting more power, choosing disguises closer to military vehicles and weapons. Not the biggest tf fan but I wouldn't mind seeing some fake space plane if done tastefully. (ie jetfire becomes a yf19 joking)

Yeah I got the feeling too, ever since the black version of the nirvash made its apearance. There are always mecha that are one-of-a-kind (and have an evil clone for a good excuse to see some fighting) in these kind of shows. And the whole Renton's daddy being the saviour of the world thing at the start is a big hint that renton becomes the hero and saves the world using the robot in some way. (but of course he is sensitive and all that so is reluctant at first - otherwise we wouldn't be watching the show since there would be no excuse to see some fighting ) Yeah I get the feeling the surfers broke away for a reason and sympathise with the aliens so something like that isn't out of the question. The aliens can be bad but have good people amoungst the mass majority, and the humans can be bad but have good people amoungst them too. So the surfers are the faction that wants peace and love and all that. In Aquarion for example, the military decide to take matters in thier own hands and fight the dark angels exploiting the human as guinea pigs, while the aquarion comes in to save the day cuz it's got the special uber powers. I suppose something similar will happen in this. Same thing in rahxephon: the mulians were not bad guys since the main character was half and half so it was inevitable they would conclude the show with a merging of both sides..

These were my exact thoughts. I love cg when it is done well and think all the bad cg just gives cg in general a bad name. As it matures maybe it will eventually come into acceptance? I like both kinds for different things. (ie those nice camera pans in Appleseed of the city for example or the use of it in macross plus.) I don't see it as a replacement for 2d but like a tool that can enhance something. (I mentioned before that I am totally ok with cel shaded objects like mecha in Gits SAC for example)