1/1 LowViz Lurker

"Buy 2 alphas to get a beta". Sorry couldn't resist. Old robotech.com joke

Yeah but they could call these older ones "power" suits or something different. Sort of like how you had "normal" suits before the mobile suits. So before the normal suit, you had big chunky power suits that were a cross between a normal and mobile suit. (ie like the power loader in aliens maybe?) And they would be small robots to help build, repair, and construct ships like the labors in patlabor. So easy. They wouldn't be common though like the petit mobile suit. They would be an experimental idea like the brain wave controlled yf21 in macross plus. (which was changed around later in the form of vf22 as seen in macross 7) If macross got away with it, don't see why gundam couldn't..(not that it matters much to me, just interesting to think about )

I didn't buy an alpha, so I think I might be more likely to get the cms. The new brightly colored alpha looks tempting though. I wonder if robotech.com will sell those as mospeada toys on the site?

impressions/reviews/thoughts of what stinks didn't stink/recommendation to see etc

All the people buying it: posting your pics when/if the breakages occurs would help anyone thinking of maybe buying one based on factors of durability and "scariness to touch". We need to share info to know if it was just an isolated case or widespread. (similar to the xbox 360 overheating issue) *crosses fingers that these don't 'self destruct' one day just from looking at them* Getting all their stuff to be around 1/48 VF-1 levels of durability, would be a good goal for yamato to measure their newer releases against as I am happy with all the ones I have of this, and given how it has been out longest for thier large sized mecha. The bigger something gets, the overall danger increase of one part failing (small hinges needing to support heavier, generally 'longer' bits which need pressure applied to it during transformation), and more anger (due to increased price of the toy) when something bad happens. If parts were chunky and short rather than long and skinny, the leverage applied to one area to get it to move in a direction, puts less pressure on a single point for that point to snap. Similar to a short stick in your backyard, being much harder to break in half than a really long stick of equal thickness. (your hands can grip it from spaces further apart from the centre of the stick to help add pressure, making it easier to snap it in two pieces than the shorter stick which would force you to use your own strength as your hand is now forced to try to grip it from the centre of the stick to break it. Doesn't make it unbreakable, but it requires more effort to break as your hand has less leverage on shorter sticks than for 'long' sticks for it to snap easily.) So anything that starts getting real big in size with smaller hinges needing to support it, longer pieces for you to grip, and stiffer joints for you to have to need to push/pull heavily to get to move: ...generally need much more strict tests than the smaller toys, because of the extra pressure you will apply (due to *longer pieces) in any kind of transformation just to get parts to move around naturally or as a result of joints just being stiff, which requires your fingers to grip harder and push and pull harder just to pose them. *for example having a stiff shoulder joint, and choosing to grip the wrist of the arm to pose the shoulder vs gripping the shoulder directly to pose it. Less pressure on the shoulder if you gripped it from the shoulder of the arm directly rather than from the extreme end of the arm at the wrist. the longer the arm, and the further from the joint you apply the pressure, (like gripping the arm from the wrist) the more easy to break.

timeline from gundam official: http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/uc/ba...d/timeline.html So they must have had some other caldendar system before they decided to colonise space due to overpopulation. Maybe the name Gundam 00 sorta conjures up this idea that this is the equivalent to macross Zero which is a prequel to sdf:macross, which is where people make that link to UC? Even if they made a prequel it wouldn't make much sense to have MS since the first ones were designed as plain worker suits for space weren't they? And that's where the military decides it can use these external suits for military applications. Zeon started this idea first, and then the feds build upon the concept and improve it with their secret gundam project using the new beam rifle weapon tech for better attack damage against Mobile Suits. What they could of course do is say that the MS idea was actually started by the federation first (well whatever government decides it is a good idea to play with robots as weapons) in the AD years of the calendar, and at the time this tech was stolen or destroyed in some accident before the colonisation programs. Make the robots really primitive, slow, and clumsy before they are destroyed or the project is scrapped. (like the yf21/ghost in macross plus ) They wouldn't be called mobile suits, just powered suits or something. (with many competing designs which must prove the idea against real threats, but which also end up going out of control or too dangerous to be useful ie ED-209 style ) A UC prequel in the years just before space colonisation wouldn't be too bad.

Well I open my stuff, since I'm not one of the MIB type people that buy in large qauntity and store them. I'm more a display guy. I also don't preorder stuff as I prefer waiting for impressions and reviews before deciding if I want to buy. If the review is negative, I just wait until the next release, hopeful (there is that word again everyone hates) that the later ones are improved. It's the most safe way for anything macross. (no support for import stuff. Same with game consoles: it's risky buying these imported since you miss out on any *1 year warranty that you would get if you bought locally here in australia.) I wish it were as easy as the garland replacement pieces. That would make it less scary buying first release if you were reassured they were there to take care of you provided you could convince them that the breakage was due to fragile parts and not due to some abuse of the toy. IF enough people can organise complaint so it adds legitimacy to the individual claims, it may be enough to get them to listen. As opposed to one guy just repeating his problem, just have many different people state the problem they have to show it really is a widespread thing and not just one or two people who are vocal - as an example many newbie owners of xbox360 still come up with the defense that the people complaining must just be a vocal minority....until it happens to them. Most people know that the problem is much larger than what MS want you to think so they post about it and know others who have had it and how wrong the people who say it's not widespread are. Over time when enough people have it, then they will be forced to admit it is a larger problem than claimed if they wish to maintain a positive image. Some problems might only pop up just after a certain time (like 1 year or a few months later) and they might not be aware of it when making the first release so couldn't catch it in time before it arrived on shelf/in your hands. Now that they've stated they are aware of it, they can't use that excuse of "we weren't aware of this problem" for future releases that should have the fixes. As I say: patience. It will get better. There is always hope. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be disappointed, just that it's a process we should get used to where first releases will not be as good as later ones due to yamato finding out certain problems in the first release too late in time. What I do is just assume that every new mecha that comes out, will on first release be likely to have a problem and wait for reviews, rather than assume that yamato should know about every problem before the first release hits the shelf and assume that they will make perfect flawless toy right from the beginning. Yeah people can say they've had practice with vf-1, so then that means they can't possibly screw up with the vf-0, but that is a different toy. Each one should be taken on a case by case basis. Just because vf-1 is mostly hassle free doesn't mean we can assume any future mecha that comes out after it; like vf-0, will be too. Instead take the view that it's actually common for the early adopter to take a risk buying the earlier releases, to have an issue that just won't be there for the later ones as these problems are addressed in time and fixed/improved. Even bandai improved its mac 7 stuff by printing more detail on later releases, rather than leaving markings as stickers. So you could say that the earlier ones are less "complete" than later ones in that instance.

I knew someone would respond with "free my ass, ads pay for the show you see on free-to-air tv" Which is why in the brackets you see: "(for people to see)" because I knew someone would say but they are not really free. As long as I myself don't watch the ads or buy the products in the ads or allow the exposure to get to me, to me it was free. People love to say how what you watch on tv is paid for through ads, but what I mean is the end user watching it actually pays nothing to see it. But you know what I mean: tv is a different standard to movies. Anyone expecting movie level quality for tv is going to be let down.

Definitely. Hopefully they ensure better QC for future releases with proper materials. I prefer that they take their sweet time to make it good first release if possible, than to rush it because people are eager to get it early. Come on yamato, check the toys.

Yeah but you never see his blood on the blades so it wasn't obvious to me. heh For some hole that big you would expect to have blood dripping from his hand.

ouch. I always thought he had holes or something. So everytime you hear the "snikt!" it's cutting a bunch of holes in his flesh which then heals immediately after retraction? messy! Yeah I just can't get over how massive they have to be. I'm sure it has the effect of making him look all the more tough in robot mode but it spoils the look of the fighter imo.

What about a sexy female pilot of a giant robot with bounce? Maybe something like the girl in that "war in the pocket" ova?

It's a nice match for the stealth valk. Would go nice next to any future non-canon black yf-21 (close to black vf-22 gamlin) that yamato might do in future and next to ivanov sv-51.

4 0s eh? I'd be really careful not to break any of those. Self destruction might be timed once you open the box exposing it to the harmful air that cracks the materials. If only they'd use strong materials in the beginning.. you could buy a TF alternator for a replacement part.

Hopefully there will be singing plants and cute furry aliens and rocks that float, with valks that have transformer style faces on them. The valks will combine like the legioss and tread to form a four-legged gerwalk mode that looks like a sony aibo dog. Japan will love it! Make it have lots of bright coloured mecha and have the ships transform into a giant minmay doll that sings to fight aliens who go crazy because the same song is used every episode. One ship is minmay's right leg, the other ship is the left leg, and the other two form each arm, and a final one is the chest and hips. So it will be like aquarion but on a massive scale. Dr Chiba is the captain of the ship after the military realise how helpless they are against PD.

Maybe they came to the conclusion that the reason for the breakages was the customer's fault and not that the product itself was defective? So they are treating it like you are buying spare parts vs "fixing" their own faulty release? Buying Macross stuff is so risky. Did the people who bought the first garland go through this? (wouldn't be the same since there is support for that outside japan)

The thing that stood out for me in seed is the sexy female captains with a bit of bounce. That will get me to watch. Sexy females with nice breasts that bounce when the ship gets hit or crashes into something, in a nice sexy military uniform with lots of fan service. Will those be in it? I remember in the commentary to macross how the only reason there was an all female crew who sat higher up in the bridge was so you could get a nice look at their booty.

But if it's crap you'll admit it in your review to warn us all, right? Not try to spin it as good when really your inner childhood was raped by the curse of the "hollywood adaptation taking too many liberties with the popular name to milk the fan of his money"? I might go see it after others have and told me. I think it wil end up being popcorn movie good, but set my expectations neutral. (neither too pumped or too cynical) I still think my idea of setting it in the 80s like the Wedding Singer and making it into an action comedy would have been better. I think if popular games like GTA:Vice city can go retro and appeal to the older crowd, why not do it with TF at a decade where the cartoon first began for nostalgia power? They can make it cheesy on purpose and have all the old sounds and stuff to remind us of the cartoon again. Maybe even cel shade the robots and make them all flat g1 cartoon colors. (megatron won't be a cg shiny gun but a white gun for the deeply religious fan )

I see what you mean but when key members of people who fought for the feds join it, the line is blurred a bit. from gundamofficial: http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/uc/ba...tions.html#aeug ---------------------- AEUG An anti-Federation movement which opposes the oppressive tactics of the Federation's elite Titans taskforce. The AEUG's ultimate political agenda is to reform the corrupt Earth Federation government, but after the Colony 30 Incident of U.C. 0085, the organization becomes focused on the more urgent task of fighting the Titans with military force. Many AEUG members are dissident Federation Forces officers, including its leader Commodore Blex Forer and his trusted advisor Lieutenant Quattro Bajeena. Its primary sponsor is the lunar manufacturing corporation Anaheim Electronics, and the group is supported by the space colonies of Side 2 and many of the lunar cities. The AEUG also maintains a secret base at the Sweetwater colony, where its flagship Argama was constructed. [Zeta Gundam] -------------------------------------------------------- The goal maybe to oppose titans but only so long as the titans are within the federation itself as their elite soldiers.... The idea is very similar imo. The gundam represents freedom, like a noble knight fighting for ideals (freedom, peace) vs a soldier hired to kill things for a specific group. (even though all the robots are based upon the design) It's like the jedi in star wars who can't just be used for selfish reasons or be considered as a soldier. They try to maintain that image of fighting for freedom. When the republic fell that freedom was lost and they became "rebels" to the emperor who many will sympathise with. I just think of Zeta gundam more than I do FMP. You could say that mithril is just AEUG at a different time. The goal to me is very similar: to whine that people are killing each other and that killing won't solve problems, just make them worse which mean we got to use force to avoid making problems worse. (megaweapons of mass destruction are created and used by one single dominant side which then causes a global cataclsym if two sides have them and are prepared to actually use them, instead of only to threaten to use them) If the "good guys" allow balance: both sides are capable of defense through "a threat to use them" but not likely to want to actually use the Weapons of mass destruction which takes out all the innocent civilians who had nothing to do with it, and choosing instead, to communicate their problems, then there is more hope for long term peace. (and after this is achieved: then you can destroy the gundams like at the end of Wing or just reduce their manufacture, so that their immense power doesn't end up falling into the wrong hands) *I think the theme of communication is the important thing about the newtypes in the story. They are the sensitive new age hippy with all the answers where the insensitives ones (us normal people) are the bad guys. Because the newtypes sense "people's feelings" they are better communicators and why the female characters love the charismatic (char) noble type characters in the story. Every single show has this same theme even ones where there is no mention of psychic powers. You could say that the good newtype is like charles xavier in x-men (trying to fight for peaceful co-existence, not consider by the audience as a "military organisation" just like how AEUG were easier on discipline compared to the government military) and the BAD new type is like the kid in "Akira" who wants to use his powers to "teach us a lesson" through their divine punishments on humanity as if they were God sitting on the throne to judge us all. (even though they went through some childhood abuse or some horrifying event to become how they are so we feel sorry for them having to die because we now feel they were forced to go that path due to their unique circumstances)

Movie prime is really hotrod's ghost spiritually taken possession over prime's body. The flames on the truck must be the giveway. /conspiracy theory The real prime would be proper red.

I think he means Fan made CG animation by talented amateur vs professional (being paid to make) cg animation. But really guys, tv series animation shouldn't be compared to movie quality. TV is free, (for people to see) while movies you pay for, so you should expect massive difference in quality. Regardless of the talent.

Lots of people are throwing around the idea that it is FMP-ish. But remember that the whole fighting for peace idea, was in the gundam zeta story when aeug could no longer tie themselves to the Federation due to it being power hungry and cruel (ie The Elite Titans were eee-vil). So yeah I can see the connection, but the idea of gundam fighting for justice and peace and to end wars (not just for a particular country based on race, nationality) that was actually a part of Gundam all along. (difference in the newer kiddy gundam shows is that the kids are heroes instead of ordinary people who whine everytime they kill something Maybe due to the number of things the overpowered weapon can kill simultaneously - "SDF1 buster cannon of death" making everything explode without a need to engage in a proper gunfight) Zeta is a part of UC too you know..

haha it always makes me laugh when someone says: "wtf did you just say there is a new tv series being made??" when they are on a forum from a fansite for macross, totally oblivious to any new news/info. You would think it is a huge event, that they'd be thirsting for as much info as they can find. But it's more like: "say what? Oh! I thought people were talking about some dvd release of macross plus or something.."

Another thing about wreckage: you really have to push the shoulder swivel all the way up as hard as you can to make it as stiff enough so you don't accidentally autmorph the robot back into vehicle while posing the shoulders. I found that at first every time I tried to move his shoulder for a pose I would accidentally swivel the automorph thing and cause the chest piece to fly back up. Now that I have it really tightly nudged up all the way so it is stiff, I have no issues with the chest piece flying up accidentally when posing the shoulders. There is no audible click to indicate you have it swivelled as high as you can go, so just use as much force as necessary to make sure it isn't loose. (you are not going to break anything) Combine this with the other trick I mentioned about using your thumb to change the tooth that the automorph wheel is set to push the chest piece, (make it so that the automorph pushes the chest down on an earlier click, by using your thumb to push the chest plate down while forcing the swivel to push the chest plate up resulting in the chest reacting to a earlier *click so that the chest now sits flush on the chest cannon instead of bouncing up) and the toy isn't as bad as the reviewer on BWTF makes out. Once you do these two things it should be boosted to "highly recommended" status imo. (that is if you like eva type robots ) *you can actually see the teeth of the automorph thing when you look at the chest from above. You want to slide one tooth to make the chest go down early in the automorphing sequence. I had to do it since I found that the chest keeps popping up after transforming for the first time in robot mode which can be annoying.