Brooklynwolf

Oh man...Optimus is taking them on by himself?? Oh boy..... ...they're gonna need backup.

Yessir!!

Came back from HK yesterday, and this is my haul (Upside down, sigh...oh well) Originally went there to pick up my 2nd 19F from HKcollectibles, then went toy shopping and got the others in the pic. T'was a good day.

On the subject of the dog fights: I'm gonna continue gushing over Plus. the fact that it was hand drawn is a testament to how amazing the animators were back then, especially with the director on how he framed the action. They were able to convey a sense of speed whilst allowing the audience to truly see the valks and appreciate the action. It's all about framing and editing. Someone bought up Michael bay, so I'm gonna try and use him as an example. When you compare the chase sequence of "The Rock" to "Bad Boys 2", it's like night and day. The Rocks chase sequence was just a jumbled mess of tight close ups of the driver with shaky cam, with the occasional tight close up of a car ramming into something...like, it was just boom boom boom. No build up to anything whatsoever. It had no excitement whatsoever. I loved the movie, but the chase was the films weakest element. Now we fast forward to BB2. Wow, what an immense improvement. You actually see the chaos. You see the cars. It was intense. There was excitement in the way it was framed and shot. IMO, and this analogy will likely piss some off, but don't let it... The dogfight in Plus is BB2's chase sequence whereas Frontier's is The Rock's. With today's advancements in animation on all fronts, cel, CG, I thought i was gonna get kicked in the throat with awesome dog fights in frontier. Well...It wasn't a kick. It was more of a nudge. It had some cool scenes...bit overall it was messy.

Exactly!! Right on the target!! Except for the less contempt thing. Still can't accept F series ending, therefore won't watch it until the next series has a satisfying closure, then I'll backtrack.

Awesome haul! Recent purchases? And where from? I'd like to expand my collection by adding some classics to it.

Well said my man. Couldn't agree with you more. However, At this moment...I can't make peace with frontier. Even with kyps picture of Sheryl reuniting with alto...it's just not enough for me to give the series a chance...because that pic's canon..icity(I'm making up words) is still up in the air (although I could do what kyp did and say eff it, it IS CANON), also I don't know which one is more canon-er??? the series or the movies lol? IF shoji somehow pulls all the stops and miraculously surprises the **** outta me and brings back the spirit (IMO) of what made macross one of my beloved franchises...then for sure, I'll go through the Frontier series. Hell, I'll go through zero,while I'm at it. It's weird, I know... and frustrating. It is a stubborn approach to it. But personally, i can't and won't accept unresolved endings over and over again. Not meant to be a line drawn in the sand...but the day shoji gives me a more crowd pleasing finale is the day I make peace with the shows I missed. It's a weird principle I'm living by lol. And dude...being accused of not being a "real" fan is just....*jackie chan mind blow jpg*. Fortunately I haven't come across that as of yet, and hope I never do. Nothing is more annoying than a supposed "super fan" covering his ears and willfully being ignorant to fair, legit criticisms. Straight up, I'm not a teacher at a day care center. I'm not here to take care of anyone's feelings. We're all adults. As long as our stance on certain issues don't involve anyone's mothers, we should be able to speak our minds. As long as the words we say hold substance, we should be as passionate as they are. They can't handle that? Well, not my problem. Instead of pointing fingers claiming someone has sullied these holy grounds...perhaps they should take a step back and reevaluate their life. if the people I've been talking to here in this thread are anything to go by...I shouldn't worry about a thing. Granted I haven't met EVERYONE at MW yet...but I ain't worried or intimidated...'cause so far, everyone here rocks hard.

Lol, word. I'm happy to have been able to have a meaningful conversation with everyone here. Very inviting atmosphere...with a little stumble at the beginning though hehe. I desperately wish the next series would give me a story AND conclusion that's more in tune with DYRL and Plus. I just wanna relive the joy and excitement I once had with the franchise. If shoji decides to yet again fulfill his desire of "leaving this up to your imagination"...well, shoji, i am disappoint. I'll just stick with the toys...again. Not that it's a bad thing, those always kick ass.

Hah! You only lasted halfway through ONE episode?? Bruh, I went all DA WAY!!! ...and no, it doesn't pick up...at all...in case you were wondering. The thing with WoH was that it was so unlike many other anime at the time. It wasn't action packed. The trailers would have you believe otherwise. It wasn't exciting in the sense that since it was anime, you'd expect to see some crazy ****....but nope. It was all about some dude that wanted to go to space. It had a great story followed with great animation. One of my faves. And Old Boy....that's a movie that definitely kicks you in the face and leaves a footprint on your tongue. Heavy heavy ****. And it's also another one of my faves. That's another example of a finale that makes sense to me. It was bleak, but I can get behind bleak endings such as OB, only because it appropriately matched the tone from the rest of the movie. Lol so I hope that clears up my "need for happy, resolved endings"...I like effed up endings as much as the next guy, but it just needs to gel with the movie itself. Also, it can't be overused. Lol man I'm beginning to sound like a broken record player. Apologies to everyone.

Yeah that's cool that you liked, or even loved EVAs finale. I respect that. I'm glad you didn't jump down my throat telling me "you don't know jack **** about EVA". I personally just don't like finales that are too experimental or...obscure, know what I mean? It's awesome you mentioned ninja scroll and wings of honeamise! Both were...no, are kickass movies. Kinda bummed with the ninja scroll follow up. So bummed, I don't even remember its name.

A finite ending where everybody dies? Honestly, no, I wouldn't be ok with such an ending, but if done in a way that's not for shock value and fits the theme of the story? Sure. It would fall under the "grim...but acceptable" category for me. Disclosure time...I didn't finish EVA. Does that put my anime credentials into question? I never got into it because of it's over exposure. It was EVERYWHERE. Everyone I knew and their mothers were like "OMG EVA". It turned me off from it because at that time, my other fav anime were overshadowed by the typhoon that was Evangelion. Same goes for gundam wing. I was like...but what about macross?? And of course, many were like "macro wut?" That's not to say I didn't give it a shot back then. I did watch a few episodes, but it really didn't grab me. So, I let it pass me by. I was rooting for macross 7 at the time, the underdog. Then dynamite happened.... Anyway...I heard rumblings about EVAs finale. Complete head scratcher. I Wikied it not two days ago, and once again, I feel like it's another failed attempt by another storyteller to "elevate" the medium. It's almost as if he thinks he's above it all and has convinced himself that his ending or whatever the hell you wanna call that was "smart, provocative!" I KNOW I'm not the only one that's bothered by that ending. There was so much backlash about it that even I, a non fan, got wind of. (EVA fans, these are just MY opinions ok? Let's not tread down that road again lol.) That wiki article gave me a lot of insight as to what led the creator down that path. It's...interesting to say the least. I find it amusing that even the voice actors thought he was weird and didn't understand what he was trying do or say in regards to the finale. I dunno, IMO, I feel as if those that loved the ending to EVA are kind of in denial. Say one person that decided "wow, what a daring way to end this popular series. It's provocative, edgy, novel, different! Whoever fails to see it's brilliance fails in life!!"...then the next person who still doesn't quite get or liked the ending didn't want to "appear" like he didn't get the ending jumps on the bandwagon. So that little group that defended the finale eventually snowballed into an army and took a life of its own and became a narrative onto itself. (All MY OPINION) I didn't get the ending. Initially I thought it was another mecha anime that once again starred an unassuming youth piloting a robot...little did I know it would become an anime about the human psyche. People can say EVA is beyond my comprehension...fine, whatever. A deconstruction on the genre? Cool. But if I wanna learn about the human psyche, I'll register for a class for it. I just wanna watch robots in action with a cool, simple storyline with characters that don't masturbate over a comatose "love interest". That's just me. And I agree with your "bitter sweet" analogy. Lol but like I mentioned before, I love steak. A perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned dry aged rib eye is an euphoric experience. But having it so frequently, it loses it's impact....not to mention dangerous to your health, but you know what I mean.

My buddy did something similar. He showed this chick he was seeing DYRL, M+, and then frontier. Breakdown of what she said: Loved DYRL. Liked M+ Confused with frontier, therefore, didn't like it. Honestly, this does take a bit of the sting away. But why couldn't it be included in the ending itself? Oh that's right! Shoji wants us to "think".... Sigh....

Thanks for your input man. While it's awesome you shared that with me...it still doesn't sit well with me. It's cool that shoji wanted to inject a deeper meaning into this particular ending...however I can't help but feel "wow, how convenient, out of all other myths, legends and themes, he so happened to be inspired by THIS one". Once again, I'm really not looking for more reasons to hate on either the man and his choices, nor the show itself. I just want variety in a beloved franchise and it's "conclusions". If zero had a more crowd pleasing ending, and then frontiers ending stayed the way as is...I am positive that I would be more forgiving than I am right now. I love steak, but I can't have it every night. Also, I am aware of Japan's love for romantically tragic, or star crossed lovers and what have you. That's why we see it so much in their fiction. I DO see it's merits and can occasionally enjoy it from time to time. One of my favorites back in the day was the ruroni kenshin prequel OVA. Doesn't get more tragic than that (actually it can, but it was damn rough on my heart). If it was just a stand alone piece and the original tv series/manga didn't exist, I would still be haunted by the ending, in a good way. The story for frontier can be amaze-balls for all I care. I just don't think I can bring myself to watch it, knowing how it ends. I just want a conclusion that is finite. Call me stubborn, ignorant or whatever. I've seen enough anime (I frigging grew up on it) in my life time to be officially jaded on their story telling tropes. Am I losing out on potentially life changing stories? Absolutely. But I choose to not sit through 20+ episodes of a story only to imagine the ending. ESPECIALLY when it happens again and again and again and again...if I wanted to imagine something, I'll just day dream. Thanks again for contributing man, if I wasn't so against shoji's consistent use of "romantically tragic" endings, honestly it would've blew my mind.

....oh boy...that's not very good. Any hints to what it is? If not, when should we expect it? As for the yf-19...that's sucks man. Big time. Been looking forward to it for a loooong time.

If they went all out and pulled a DYRL full blown movie like how you suggested...IMO it probably would've been a much tighter story. Btw, off topic for a sec...your vid reviews, tutorials and articles are awesome man. In depth and very thorough. I don't have the balls to transform my valks for fearing of breaking them, so I enjoy them vicariously through your vids lol. You rock bro. And where is my arcadia yf-19 review man?!

To my understanding, wasn't the bulk of the 1st frontier movie recycled from the series similar to plus?

I had read through some of those threads. My god man...bandai done goofed with the V1 releases! It kinda sucks I was late to the game...however the bright side is I was fortunate enough to not be boned by their V1 toys. Epic blunder on bandais end. They are lucky as **** that early adopters were so forgiving and still picked up the renewals. I mean, it wasn't like releasing a patch or update for a game for crying out loud! Mind boggling. The way the frontier movies separate themselves from the series is downright confusing man. I mean, going back to the earlier series I.e. SDF, DYRL, MPOVA, MP movie ed...they made changes due to run time or took things out because they served no purpose within the context of the movie versions...but at least the core was still there! Major events from the series remained intact in the movie versions, or at the very least, retold while retaining the original intent. I mean, having Michael live is almost like keeping focker alive in DYRL, or rather than have guld heroically sacrifice himself to stop the ghost, he doesn't. Complete head scratcher. Was Michael THAT popular and was allowed to live due to fan backlash? And I take it that ozma's badassery remained unchanged right? He was pretty badass in the films. IMO, that goes beyond retelling a story. It's downright retconning. And based on some answers here, there's no true answer as to which one is more...canon..er.... I'm not looking for more reasons to hate frontier. It's just...bwuhuh? What?

Suggestion noted. Yes I am definitely a toy guy haha. Ever since I started collecting valks again, I actually went through 3 year old threads just to get a sense of the excitement I missed out on. Yamato's releases, arcadia, bandais renewals and yf-29 series...but let's leave that for the toy section hehe. And thanks, it's good to be here.

Now that's something that would've made this pill easier to consume. So for further clarification...the visual collection is...cannon yes? I think the original series simple (by no means an insult) storyline was what allowed DYRL to work as a 2 hr movie. Since I haven't seen the frontier series, i can't comment too much on whether things were rushed or not. The first movie did seem unrefined, whereas the 2nd felt better in terms of a 3 act structure; beginning, middle and end. First off, thanks for welcoming me. I am having fun talking to others about a franchise I adore, as well as browsing the toys threads. Secondly...I was aware my initial post wasn't gonna be a great way to introduce myself. But I had confidence that there would be those, such as yourself, that can tell I'm NOT insulting anyone. Like I said in my last post...if people got offended, not my problem. Finally, dude, I had no idea what I was getting myself into with the movies. Had I known before hand, I would've either just skipped it entirely, or still watched it just for Valkyrie action. As for getting into other things macross? Well, I'll still have DYRL and plus. Classics never die. And I'm not entirely sure you read through my replies. Granted I'm not expecting you to, since I have written A LOT. But my horizons are pretty broad. I'll try and sum up what I said earlier. I do enjoy the occasional cold ending, cliff hanger, mind ****, unresolved loose end type finales. I honestly do. But there's a time and place for that and shouldn't be used EVERYTIME. It's lazy, uncreative and it loses it's impact. It's like having Godzilla show up every 3 mins. Eventually his appearance won't have that "holy s***" moment half way through the movie. These endings are a story telling device that should be used to service the story, not thrown in there for shock value or "just because". If a director like say...Spielberg, who definitely has his own style and has plenty of director trademarks, relied on the same story trope in EVERY SINGLE MOVIE he directs, it'll get old, boring and show he hadn't grown as a storyteller. It's not some rigid demand or whatever it is you may think I have, it's just common sense. I mean, there are those that defend every decision shoji makes...ok, that's fine. I have a great amount of respect for the guy too, but I'm not gonna pretend that everything he touches is gold. I did that once with George Lucas when he made the prequels...but then I grew up and realized just how awful the PT truly was. I do feel excitement for the next series...but that's more for the Valkyrie designs, not so much for the story...considering how the last few series went. So I'm gonna wiki the ending and if it's another unreosolved ending, I'm gonna pass once again. Yeah. No big loss on your end, i know. I'll just rewatch DYRL and Plus. IMO, THAT was some quality stuff.

Ever walk out of a movie theater feeling utter disgust and blood boiling rage? And then say out loud to a friend "wtf did we just watch? I want my money back!" If not, then, I don't know what to say. I'm sure others here have. I mean...I KNOW I'm not the only that has walked out of a theater and felt the urge to take a hot shower to scrub away the experience of watching a horrible movie. You may not have felt the way I did about frontier, but I sure as hell did. And no offense to you, but if people mistook my "lashing out" at the movie as an insult to them...well, that's their problem, not mine. I wasn't insulting anyone nor was I insulting their family. I've mentioned this before, if I straight up said "whoever liked this is a moron", then I shouldn't be confused as to why folks would treat me rudely. And if you've been following this thread, have I not been having a calm conversation with other members? Lol you make it sound like I'm a raging beast trying to bring the walls down around us and the cool members here are keeping me in check. C'mon man. And it's thanks to those that DID have a clue as to what I was going through are we all able to keep this going. And I have in fact gained a clearer answer to not just frontiers ending, but other things as well. Should you or anyone start a topic bashing the **** out of something I liked, I wouldn't act like a jerk and would try to see why it is you felt that way. But if you're rude and start making comments about my personal life...well, I'd either respond in the same way or I'd just ignore you. Not meant to be an insult, but there are people that are way too sensitive when it comes down to things that, ultimately, have no connection to their personal life. Instead of strapping into a valk and blasting all those missiles, they should take a moment to read what is actually being said. Ironically, some felt I judged the movie too rashly...didn't they do the same thing themselves and judge me?

Point taken. I usually do ignore them. Sometimes though, you just can't help yourself haha. Oh that goes a/o saying that in order to truly get a film, you have to view it in a format you understand. The foreign films I watched and was satisfied with, I always find a subbed version of them and rewatch it so I can appreciate EVERY thing about it. Likewise...when it's done properly though. It can't be slapped on like duct tape. One ending in recent memory that drew quite a bit of controversy was the sopranos. That ending I liked. Could journeys "don't stop believing" have anything to do with it? Lol probably. But the way the show was designed, the themes, motifs and overall tone and structure made the finale feel....appropriate. Like I wasn't pissed. It was more like...wow. That was very well put. I like how your examples show that there can be extremes on both ends, and it's quite a challenge to find a happy medium. Lol i don't want a Disney fairy tale type ending in all of my fiction. I just feel that shoji needs to take a step back and approach his finales from a different angle. Frontier 2's ending wouldn't have hit me that way if there was another sequel in the works. I honestly hope that he mixes it up and can give a satisfying, more conventional type ending with the next macross series. Ugh...I dunno. If dynamite had a story that was as engaging as the effin intro, maybe...just MAYBE the ending could've reached "annoyingly acceptable" status for me. IMO, macross is always defined by 3 of its staples that separate it from other anime. Love, music, holy **** that's a sweet looking mech. 7 and dynamite truly missed the mark with the love aspect. But when the material is locked to one country, it's frustrating as a fan....**** you HG!!!! When so many details for a fictional universe are spread out over different mediums, I agree that it can be fun putting it all together neatly in a collection. Like...you just built the ultimate library for all things *insert your choice of fiction*. But again, when it's locked to one language...it's depressing, knowing that there's so much more you can't access.

But isn't the ending with alto and Sheryl ambiguous? Aceoftherebellion mentioned you don't hear what is said...so once again, it's not solid enough for a full closure. For my tastes, I'd like to see something more solid, fleshed out. Similar to what we've seen in DYRL and plus. I mentioned numerous times that anime/Japanese sensibilities always leave a lot to be desired when it comes to their choices in a story's "conclusion". Again I can't compliment on the frontier TV series since I haven't seen it, so I'm gonna have to take your word for it. However, Knowing how it ends through wiki and having been told here, well, I'd be super pissed off again. Despite your efforts, The ending still doesn't sit well with me, but I appreciate it nonetheless...even though you did post that max facepalming jpg...but it's cool since you took the time out to provide an explanation. Now I'm not about to apologize for my initial post, because like I said earlier, I've seen a few unsubbed films and walked away satisfied, and eventually sought out a subbed ver so I can gain an EVEN better understanding of the story. the second movie was one of a few foreign films I've seen w/o subs that pissed me off, and once again, I've been away from macross for so long and desperately wanted to get back into it. All I wanted was for shoji to change it up and surprise me with a conclusion in the spirit of DYRL and Plus. And when I didn't get it...well, I was super pissed. I felt robbed again. You can defend shoji all you want, but in the end, it was MY OPINION. I wasn't hurting anyone y'know? This next line might upset you, but don't let it... It's like the prequels. Universally hated, panned, and is widely believed to be proof that Lucas done goofed. Then you have those that still support him. I'm not gonna call those supporters idiots. It's their choice. Maybe they saw something in those films that I don't see. EVERY SW fan just wants a series of SW films that has the same spirit of the OT. In my case, I just want a macross story that has the same spirit of the two movies I grew up with and loved...dearly. I can't believe I just remembered this as I was typing...and I swear, this is true. The first time I saw DYRL was on a VCD...Chinese subtitles. At that time, despite being a Chinese American, I couldn't read a lick of Chinese (well I still can't now, but I know more than I did back then). I STILL got the story. Little details such as minmay growing up, hikarus hinted past, fockers lady advice wasn't made clear until I finally got a properly subbed version...and that was a yr or two later. But overall? I got what the movie was saying. I smiled at the end. My heart broke when minmay realized Hikaru no longer loved her, I was shocked when focker died...but I walked away smiling, satisfied. I didn't get any of that with the 2nd movie. My frustration was aimed at the movies ending as well as shoji's past choices. It's not like I screamed out "whoever likes this is a moron that doesn't understand story telling!!". I'm sure there were films (western or foreign) you hated and immediately wanted to vent out your anger. I don't see any reason why anyone has to react in a nasty way because I just so happened to be deeply dissatisfied with a movie. What the deuce?? That is...interesting. Is there more behind it?

What you've shown me is salt on a very open wound haha. I bet you saw the 2 pics from the designer where he kit bashed the old UM parts on an MP10. It looked....glorious. Instead of that, now we are getting a Magnus that consumed a bit more creatine than recommended and looks swole as f***...he looks like a blue box with arms and legs...oh and with a butt flap. With so many advancements made in transforming robots...they seriously couldn't figure out a way to get rid of the butt flap? Sigh...back on topic... I finally got my 3rd yf-29 isamu variant. I just love that color scheme!

I'm gonna go ahead and say this....It was pretty to look at...when the camera and cuts didn't go all coke-head on your eyes. It was too fast and messy to follow. Macross plus was, no, IS the pinnacle of hand drawn dog fights. People should go watch it again. Tell me that isnt poetry in motion?? I was hoping for the director to slow down the fights and let our eyes drink in the imagery....but nope, no time to breathe, gotta show how fast these valks go. There was a method to the camera angles, the wide shots, tight shots, and overall language to how things were framed with plus and DYRL. There were So many instances in frontier where I said out loud "wth? Dammit, get Hikaru, Roy, max, and isamu in there! They'll show these guys how do it!"

Bro...you SERIOUSLY broke my heart. OMG....OMG!! I didn't know about this!!! I wish I had never got a behind the scenes look at what could've been. Dammit!!