1/1 LowViz Lurker

lol he must totally hate his fans. Killing hikaru and misa, not wanting to make the new transformable plane mecha into a macross sequel, generally giving us joke endings in macross zero so we would think there was an extra episode covering what the hell happened after the alien head vanished....but still never giving us one. etc When is there going to be a 8th MS Team sidestory for macross with the destroids? I'd go for that. Maybe they could cover what happened to misa's boyfriend on mars or something with destroids fighting in sandy desert environments struggling to hold off the anti-un forces.

Haha dial up. The days when people's porn would load the image one line chunk by one line chunk at a time.

Any pics of the fold booster lit up? How bright is it?

Probably because you are actually buying them? I think the concept is very cheesy, but it does meld two franchises that are already popular so I'm not surprised.

As an homage to the animated movie: for sure. But given how alien all the transformers look in these pics, it would be suitable for us to expect strange and unique forms of communication and alien writing. When you look at an alien computer, should it have words in english? The Predator didn't speak english in the Predator movie (apart from the mimmicking of human voices) and the audience understood. When the predator opened up the self destruct wrist computer, arnie didn't seem to know what it was at first. Again: helps reinforce that they are alien robots with alien tech. At some point they "learn" and become more humanoid but not in the beginning.

double post..been experiencing problems with the internet connection all day

Ah but but for all the ones with aliens in them, all kinds of new futuristic tech means different strategies to win from the ones in the real world. They may use strats that don't even exist yet. Which means there is a lot of made-up science - eg minovsky particles in mobile suit gundam are made up, so the gundam UC stories are only realistic for thier universe that plays by its own rules. So in order for the average joe to think it is truly realistic, it would need to scrap all the made up stuff. A bit like how some of the characters can't except the floating alien in macross zero. It's too unscientific to the scientists in macross to understand to be able to really happen. (except for a select few) But if the tech were understood, it would mean you could fight against that type of creature more effectively and use the new weapons to change how people fight in future. The strategy might be basically the same, but with new technology some old strategies are superceded by better ones based on the level of "fictional alien tech" the humans have access to. IF the SDF-1 were real and we could wipe out whole fleet of alien ships, people would look back at old history books and say: "well those were strategies that worked well back when people didn't have these new weapons.." "the battle formations we have has to change if we are to better survive" ..so it's not easy for me to understand what people usually mean by "realism" in science"fiction". If it is grounded in current tech and near future tech then that's usually how I interpret it when they say "real". But anything with ficitional races or fictional tech with made up rules is harder for me to accept as realistic since many times you will have them doing stuff that isn't even possible yet. (antigravity for eg. Where are our real life flying cars and floating cities?)

I hope they get the metal gear looking really good for the movie. I am going to imagine it is a destroid from macross.

It would be good if the TF had an alien language and like in a mel gibson movie, you had to watch the entire thing with subtitles because it was trying to be authentic. This way people would be reminded that these are from a different world. Alien robots not human robots. Totally unique technology from the stuff humans have. With star wars it made the movie more realistic becaue you had to have c3p0 translate what people kept saying. Always reminding us the aliens have different ways of doing stuff. Prime would have to learn to speak and humans would have to create something to translate the language. Much better than have him start to speak english at the beginning of the movie.

Ok gotcha. Ok so long as there are fictional rules governing the fictional technologies so strategy remains realistic within the rules created. So gundam would get away with it because it has made an explanation for why the guidance isn't perfect under some conditions using the rules. But star wars doesn't since it didn't explain it and why the tech is used unevenly. Maybe all george lucas needs to do is come up with some explanation for why people don't trust droids. Fear of a robot revolt or AI taking control from humans? The replicants were pretty dangerous once they got too smart in BR, so I'm thinking people in the star wars universe may have a law about guided weapons in star wars like we have with WMD? I'm only kidding around. But in shows like macross they had something like it with regards to AI getting too smart and it being illegal or something due to self awareness. Maybe they need something like that for Star Wars? (only much more paranoid: only the elite can use them to control the flow of power, a bit like how the zentradi have the biggest giants as leaders rather than everyone being the same size) Otherwise why NOT allow "Sharon Apple" free reign to control a whole battleship the same way that "Cortana" can in "Halo" or HAL can? Humans can then concentrate on more important things and if the crew dies, the AI at least can take over from the dead humans. Macross got away with it to a lesser extent by creating a half-believable reason. (so all star wars would need is "it's illegal", "dangerous", "elite are deliberately preventing it from being released")

That's what I like about macross - there is no choice. Zentradi if they were real would have enslaved us without a "hero" ship with a big arse gun. And tactics and strategy can change depending on the level of tech for the "universe" that the sci fi is set in. (ie gundam is supposed to be a realistic robot show, but they made up a rule where in UC the ships can't even lock on with missiles effectively.) If you get "too realistic" you are limited in what strats would work. If you are not given a choice, (the military is outnumbered but doesn't want to give up freedom to the zentradi) maybe the Deadalus Manuever (essentially a giant robot punching holes in ship to blow them up from inside) would be suicide, but NOT if the humans had technology from a more advanced alien race. It would be "realistic" for that universe since it is explained reasonably how it would work. Pirates boarding the ships? That is a real strategy and you see that in macross too. (when the zentradi use the deadalus to thier advantage to attack the ship from inside). What might be dangerous and risky for one universe isn't a problem for another. (again in macross they had no choice: they are the only chance the human race has to survive so all those dangerous ideas global and misa used actually made sense..for that universe) If we say 'realism' for our current tech level, then the strategies are realistic. But so much sci fi always has stuff with made up technology. My question is: So where do you draw the line between a "realistic" depiction of space war and a "non-realistic" depiction of space war? At least with world war movies we have a real world war to compare them against, right? We can consult the historians and vets on what would pass as authentic and true to the real thing. (ie "that scene with the soldiers was too clean, thier uniforms should have been much more dirty", "that gun was not the right type and the damage shown is not consistant with what a real one would have done" etc and then go and compare the movie with what a real one looked like or watch real war footage of it etc Things like the speed of the ships, the armor, the weapon effectiveness is all made up, so how can it be 'real'?)

There was a pic showing this where you have to have the trap door NOT sit flush with the back. So that it is actually sunken in. When you look at the battroid from a side view, the back should be straight and not sitting at an angle. (ie the tips of the wings shouldn't be pointing towards the legs but towards the ground instead) Then for extra security you have "the little couch" as some like to call it, that sits on top of the shoulders for reinforcement. I always get a little nervous taking the FP off.

For the 21, I plan on getting 2. 1 canon, and 1 non-canon if they can come up with something good. (I know I said no more non-canon schemes, but this is the 1 exception) But I won't buy the non-FP releases of 21 and 11.

I'm crossing my fingers that it will be the 19+FP combo pack that starts with it. But to be honest I can wait really long time for yamato to get it right. You see I have other expensive hobbies too like games consoles and massive hole in the pocket as a result of all the macross and transformers, and other stuff I got to get. (at some point I want to get a ps3 - these are so expensive) Now I'm thinking: by the time I have enough saved for another 19...hopefully heaps of time will have passed and the early probs will be non-existant..Yamato will be filthy rich by this time and be working on my vf-4. Just having one 19 is so expensive for the poverty-striken fan. It's so important that yamato get it right early this time imo. I don't think I can afford more than one of each macross valk now.. (no more non-canon paintschemes for me) SV-51 is going to really be the test for yamato. Maybe there will be some collectors out there willing to sell thier first release cheap as they upgrade to fixed, later releases? You would need way more than that.. 1 for fighter. 1 for battroid. 1 for gerwalk. 1 for fighter with fast packs. 1 for battroid with fast packs. 1 for GERWALK with fast packs. 1 for fighter with fold booster. 1 for custom to make a battle damaged yf-19 after the Battroid brawl. etc then there is another set for the game edition, the sinistar ninja stealth scheme, the low vis, mystery credit card valk etc..

The fast packs look pretty good in robot mode. Looks more complete as a valk with meat on its legs.

There has never been a realistic space battle in real life has there? So I doubt any of them are realistic because how would we know if they are truly realistic, unless there was something in real life like a space war to compare the fictional show against? (macross 7 might be seen as realistic if in the future we have the tech to spacefold if that is invented for all to use. Ah yes, spacefold some bombs onto people's ships at the moment they are about to blow up, rather than shooting them from a close distance. Brilliant strategy, Protodevlin!) Someone mentioned no sounds in space for example. Not many sci fi takes that into account. Probably because it also has to be entertaining too.

In movies like independance day the world was saved by americans not the united nations like in macross. Hollywood movies always have americans as the good guys, and everyone else is evil. Didn't you already know that? It's always been that way! I'm glad that games like Halo feature australians in it to show there is more than just yanks saving earth from aliens. (oh no offense to future alien races that read this that we might make peace with in future. Aliens aren't always evil either but in most of my faveourite scifi movies they happen to want eat humans, invade earth, or destroy us if not enslave.)

They don't really have to remake the original macross, just redo it through a AU like the way gundam seed did for MSG. (hell they even recycled old mecha designs like the zaku as an homage to the old) Even if it sucked I bet people would still watch it. Worried about it being out of the control of SK? Don't worry, it wouldn't spoil the original macross because it is not part of that universe. (no more than wing destroys the universal century series of shows. You can still have your cake and eat it. Just don't watch wing if you hate it) But who would come up with newer valk and alien transformable mecha designs? I thought macross II had a decent valk in it. Why not TRY it? I don't think it would hurt the Macross name. It's already a dead franchise, anyway, right? SK can always come back and return to continuing the macross story through a new future ova or tv series, many years later so long as people are clear on the differences of the original and Alternate Universe stories. I actually think of mospeada in a sense as an alternate macross to be honest. It has many similar themes, (aliens and humans getting along, earth invasion and destruction, a musician, alien races older and more advanced than ours coming to live on earth and wanting to stay etc) and a mecha that has the 3 mode transformation. But also ADDS other things like transformable powered armor. So you get bubble gum crisis and macross with a bit of space battleship yamato in a single show. (the whole "alien race coming to earth as thier new home without asking us permission" theme.) Some of my fave mecha in gundam are actually from gundam wing even though I like the UC gundam shows more. So it's a give and take. A newer AU show would result in more newer and modern looking designs, but it might also have a less well thought out story.

Eric Bana looks like snake. I looked at the gamespot link and all the comments say Hugh Jackman. But does hugh look like snake? He did a good wolverine but I think Bana has a more suitable face for a movie Snake. Also snake is a calm killer who sneak up on things. Not a wild berserker like *rambo or wolverine. I'm scared they'll make snake into a wolverine. Kurt russel should make a cameo appearance definately. Just as a homage to the original snake "call me snake" plissken from Escape From New York. *I'm talking about the rambo after "first blood". First blood was the sneaky, stealthy, rambo who HAD to use quiet weapons to survive. Two different things.

I still have it. Let me see if I can find it. Been a while since I looked at it... edit: I reuploaded it: Let me know if there is any problem. As usual you will need to unzip the files to a temp directory. Then just get a webbrowser (like the thing you are using to view this site) and drag and drop the .htm file into the browser window to view.

But would it win in a fight in space against the vf-1? No strike cannon option, less powerful engine always running out of fuel, the feeling of it being rushed because the anti-un had better planes.. and too big. Probably slower overall and easier to hit in a combat situation on the ground. Bigger means you can't fit as many and the zentradi outnumber humans. It's not always what a machine looks like on the outside that gives it power, sometimes the insides are overlooked. But yeah I am only semi-serious. I still think the vf-1 manages to win because of the super valk upgrade kit that beefs up the firepower and speed. The ghost looks only semi-useful for both battroid and fighter. (it's heavy and the thrust isn't good, plus the vf-0 is already bigger than vf-1 so that compounds the problem. Ghost booster = half-assed experiment like the underarm gun for the yf-19) So the vf-1 has more usefulness against giants, (smaller but faster) mecha (more manueverable for space which you'll need against Qrau) and dogfights. (no more time limits - the most annoying fault as seen in the show) Another thing I forgot to mention is how I like the way a pilot comes out of the battroid through its head in battroid mode vs coming out of the chest plate/stomach in vf-0 battroid mode. Standing on the shoulder is going to give you a better view. VF-1 being more complex wins again. Imagine if you were to fight a giant, he pins the robot against a wall, and you can't move? What do you do? Jump out from the height of the robot? I'd rather eject and fly up into the air on a seat with boosters hoping the self destruct takes the giant with the robot. Not as much running imo. UN Spacy didn't design the vf-0 to be good against the giants, more as a stopgap against humans. (in this case anti-un)

A pink valkyrie. After the Pink Pecker squadron in macross 7.

It's a coin toss between the 19 and vf-1. 19 looks "cool" in battroid mode and fighter mode, but the transformation look complex. Almost too dangerous if it were to happen slowly because it seems so messy. The vf-1 has that simplicity that I like in a transforming robot whereby each mode is quick and efficient between transformations with little fuss and each weapon like the head laser can still be useful in each mode. When FAST packs are added they actually look pretty cool on a vf-1. The super valkyrie with its strike cannon and micromissile launcher has a beefy "well armed" look to it that complements the barebones appearance of the battroid mode. Other valks like the vf-11 look a little strange in battroid. Ugly selection of heads. The vf-0 is really the updated vf-1 (without retracting hands and heatshield) but to me is just "more of the same". The ghost drone booster looks more streamlined than the fast pack but did we ever see that useful for battroid mode like we did the FAST pack which acted like a big jetpack and an over the shoulder weapon? VF-1 FTW. VF-1 seemed to have lots of different extra added to it: GBP - for a more armored tank look on the ground or floating in space normal valk - for those fancy dogfights in fighter. Looks very light. super - more firepower, speed, ammo without destroying the transforming ability of the mecha It may not look as cool as later versions (like the GBP for the VF-11) but it's old school so it wins a few extra points with me. None of the conehead appearance of later designs or having parts of the shoulder look like they are different on different sides of the battroid mode. Also not so much anime magic. For eg the "boob" in the 19 would stick out too much if it wasn't shortened when transforming into battroid. Other valks I like are the 21 (it looks cool with a single big eye with many smaller ones and a hood in battroid mode - reminds me of a spider or something) and the vf-4. (like the fighter mode)

..but a noob to yamato toys (looking for advice) might rely on it. Why should they take a massive risk on something that they can't get support on? It's not the same as megazone 23 or votoms. Those are ok. It's just macross due to the HG issue that you 've got to be extra paranoid and play conservatively for. Even with toynami's you at least have the ability to get a replacement piece. It's only those who go in knowing the risks, want the toy now, and can live with the minor issues that really imo shouldn't worry so much. ie those who may have bought say a konig monster, fell in love with it, bought a case of them, and tend to leave it in the box (no need to open all of them) and only occasionally transform one of them for display and then leave it alone for months at a time. Some people are quite happy just buying them as collector items and that's it. (like the toynami masterpieces which really if you are one of the MIB collectors you shouldn't be opening up at all. That's probably why the box looks so nice on the outside. if you never opened it, then "what you don't know, can't hurt ya") This is no different from say people who hold thier money off 1 year before buying an xbox360 console because they know the early one have issues with noise and that the next round will use quieter drives and wait for the benefits of the later ones, knowing and being aware of the problems beforehand. That doesn't mean they are necessarily better off, (they can't play any games for 1 year) but in the long term it is a wiser choice and the payoff for being patient is worth it imo. When you go into a shop like clothing store or a shoe shop, you can at least try on the good before deciding on whether to buy them. When you buy a product from some places and discover the quality isn't up to claimed standards, you can go back to the place for a return. When you buy a game at electronics boutique or whatever you have a 7 day garuantee that if the game isn't to your liking you can exchange it for something a bit more to your tastes. When you buy online you can only go on graham's reviews and other people's impressions and not your own. For macross, the risk is a little bit higher than normal, (not yamato's fault) but this shouldn't change your long term buying habit so long as thier attitude is to keep improving. That's the stance I take. Rather than get angry and constantly say I won't buy another yamato toy again (and then keep buying them) I would rather they take thier time, try to fix whatever early issues there are and hopefully let other fans benefit from it when those improvements get put into the toy. Whether its negative or positive feedback it's all good in the grand scheme of things if the issues do get addressed. Yeah people do have a right to be angry, I'm not saying they shouldn't but just getting emotional won't do stuff. There's not much fans outside japan can do but support companies that do make macross toys and hope standards get better for later releases as we are seeing now with the change in materials, slightly better stickers, more details, and attempts to stiffen some joints for posability. It all counts in the long term.

Probably under nda to not let anyone know anything about anything until waaay into the future when it all hits at once and people are swearing because they still haven't had time to buy all the stuff from a year ago and can't keep up with all the new stuff. Ah wish I had a time machine.