kajnrig

Might they make her VA affect a stereotypical Russian accent?

1) No, they are not. (I asked the same thing in the DX thread.) 2) Ding ding ding ding!

I... I need to do that.

Where's my MG Stargazer, damn it!?!?

I don't blame you. Bandai consistently overengineers their kits (hence my trepidation with the -31 kit), which is great for an initial wow factor, but they make for damn terrible models... or even toys, for that matter. The various Hase/Wave kits continue to be better models, and the various DXes/Yamcadia releases continue to be better toys. EDIT: A question, somewhat related: I seem to recall the Tamacolle keychain stands with the model kits behind them. Does anyone know if they come with a small stand and/or are otherwise capable of supporting VFs? I know the Figure-rise busts are supposed to be compatible with either Action Base 1 or Action Base 2 (for smaller kits), but I forget if it's the same with the Tamacolle stands. I'm considering picking up the Kaname stand (because Kaname) to pair with my -31J.

I don't know who you're targeting there, but as one who voted negative on this episode, I can't help but think I might be in those cross-hairs. In which case, I'm hardly disliking the series. I've been and was just and will continue to be critical of it, but that doesn't mean I dislike it. ...though that being said, I am caring less and less about it, which isn't the same as dislike but it's in the same ballpark, I suppose. She doesn't need to be ace levels of good. I actually quite liked that she's struggling to live up to her family name. But she isn't even KEEPING UP with the boys at this point, despite all early evidence pointing to that being the case. The contradictory information the show has been feeding us on her is one of my biggest complaints. I'm fairly certain they'll go the route you predict, but I personally hope they don't. Aside from being the most predictable and boring thing to do, it would also be more of that super casual sexism at play. But actually I'd have liked the show to linger more on her feelings of jealousy and resentment towards Hayate. Through small actions here and there, or a more biting tone at points. A bit like Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion, when she starts getting outpaced in battle prowess by the boy she likes. That would have certainly made the show more interesting, and her more of a living breathing character rather than an obligatory corner of the triangle. Gah. I'm too stuck on this. Time to brush off my fanfic-ing skills and write up my own alternate retelling of this story? Maybe.

Eh. The stickers on the -25s are just as good as recent Gundam ones. It would make absolutely zero sense for Bandai to make them otherwise. The decals do suffer from the dot-matrix problem - also known as half-toning - but if you're going to be using the stickers anyway, that's hardly something to worry about. (The problem, at least according to my aforementioned tetsujin post, is that Bandai throws a whole bunch of colors onto the same decal sheet, and so markings that should be solid colors using specific color ink printers instead have to be printed on all-purpose printers which is where the dots come from.) The problems I see with the kit so far, almost all of them identical to the -25 kits: - Ugly landing gears, need replacing with F-18 ones. - Ugly nose gear bay design, too, and entirely inaccurate. I get that this probably makes for an easier and simpler build, but it's a serious design flaw nonetheless. At least on the -25 those doors actually folded downward and you could see them when the gears were extended. - Bad cockpit design. Should have gone the Hasegawa route and molded the seats and pilots separately. It's not like it would have made the kit substantially more difficult. Because I might want to display my -31 on the runway with canopy open. Speaking of... - Canopy can't be built open. Boo. Come on, Bandai. You were already going for full transformation, why not make these small improvements as well? It's not like you don't know how; your DXes are evidence of that. I'll be snapping mine together, then fiddling around with it for a bit, then more than likely I'll just get rid of it and wait for the Hasegawa version. EDIT: They released the -1S/A kits way after the Frontier kits, I believe. I think the -25s were 2007ish, during the run of the show, and the -1A/S was like 2013?

https://youtu.be/cLiX3dD2qfU?t=11m05s HLJ takes a (very brief, unboxing only) look at the -31J. Build/impressions will likely come next episode in 2 weeks time.

Enjoyed the episode well enough. Voted negative. Some thoughts on this and the previous episode, which I binged together just now (skip if you don't want to read tons and tons of criticism):

Hm... First impressions are cautiously optimistic. I still don't trust it to look any good in-hand and up close, but at least it's fine from a distance. (Then again, the same can be said of the Bandai VF-25...)

A while back we were talking about the landing gear, especially the rear ones. What were the suggestions for replacing them again? I seem to recall talks of Hasegawa F-18 and YF-23 kits because of them having similar landing gear designs and a similar opening mechanism...?

Not totally on-topic, but as far as the just-released transforming model kit is concerned, the landing gear doors (on the nose, at least) don't swing downward as per tradition. Rather, they hinge up into the gear well. I don't know if this is how it's appeared in the anime, but there you are. From this video build: https://youtu.be/hjLwEBE2q8w?t=6m55s

Connector pieces? Are you talking about the pegs for the snap-together mechanic? If so (haven't seen much of the video yet), then usually that's done to simplify the disassembly process (the pieces hold together less firmly) for those who prefer to cement/paint/mod/otherwise build the kits "traditionally." Snap-build pegs and sockets are great for, well, snap-building, but they also mean lots of extra plastic that tends to get in the way of a modeler. Otherwise maybe the person's just not paying attention due to speed concerns.

Could have just not had them in the first place. Y'know, like the YF-19. Just extra verniers/missiles/propellant. Alternatively (also borrowing from the YF-19), maybe the Super Packs could include arm cannon replacements. They would require the arms to transform slightly differently, which could free up some space on the lower fuselage for boosters. Keep the two on top and add two beneath and it would at least look more... symmetrical? Probably a bit too bulbous, though.

http://scope-eye.net/?p=838 There's a link to a blog post by gunpla builder tetsujin discussing some of the problems with Bandai (Gundam) decals. EDIT: How do the Bandai 25 decals compare to Hasegawa's in terms of fit/shape? Understanding that the Bandai ones are meant for a transformable kit and the Hase ones aren't, obviously. I'm interested in how easily one could use Bandai's decals on a Hase 25, and vice versa.

It occurs to me that the VF-31 looks quite a lot like the X-02 Wyvern from Ace Combat. And like the Wyvern, it looks best in its "diamond" delta-wing configuration, and worst in its FSW configuration. I doubt a kit of the 31A will ever become reality (or if it does, it'll be a P-Bandai exclusive), but I'm already dreaming up ways to mod the FSW version into something that approaches it (and/or the YF-30 and/or the X-02).

Dang it. I had had that on my backorder for so long before finally biting the bullet and getting one on the forums (thanks Duymon!.....I think?). And not one month later it comes back in. Though it's again listed as backordered, so who knows. In other news, got my payment request for the 31J. Into PW it goes for a couple days, then I'll see how improved it is, if at all, over the Frontier kits. I've made no secret of how disappointed I was by the Bandai 25s.

Who's the one who constantly seems to be at odds with the rest of the Aerial Knights? The silver-haired one with the glasses? He seems like my candidate to defect. Then again I haven't been paying as much attention to the show as I probably should. Definitely need to binge the series so far one of these free weekends... EDIT: Damn you, phone, learn how to spell.

Isn't Bogue the one constantly trying to blow them to smithereens?

Agreed completely.

http://hlj.com/scripts/hljlist?SaleGroup=SUMMERSALE2016ACT&DisplayMode=images&Dis=2&qid=MWQ71E2FVJEXCQ&set=1&SeriesID2=934 VF-2SS and VF-4G Lightning III on sale. Also the Arcadia YF-19 from earlier this week.

http://hlj.com/scripts/hljlist?SaleGroup=SUMMERSALE2016ACT&DisplayMode=images&Dis=2&qid=MWQ71E2FVJEXCQ&set=1&SeriesID2=934 VF-2SS also on sale. Also there's the previously mentioned Arcadia YF-19 from earlier this week (which I think is still on sale). I think that's it for toy discounts...

Right, apologies. I had only asked because it was a cursory interest; won't dwell on it.

One of the AU mangas has Ranka hooking up with her brother (because of course she does).

It's an idea Macross has been toying with for a while now, and while I don't think Kawamori will ever just outright make it so, I do think it's worth straying from the "two people fighting over the third" trope. It seems he shares this sentiment/desire as well, with one of his ideas for Delta being to not have romantic entanglements at all. And while I think they will be making the triangle A Thing That Happens, I also feel that it's going to be (and indeed has been) not nearly as strong as previous triangles. You can feel his resistance to the idea in how the characters play out with each other; there's less romantic tension and more camaraderie. But mostly I just think it's uninteresting when two members of the triangle don't share much aside from their mutual interest in the third. Part of what made the "triangle" in Zero so unspectacular was that Mao and Sara shared almost nothing except for their supposed interest in Shin. I mean, they're sisters too, I guess, but nothing comes of it; there's no intersection of their sisterhood and their romantic competition. SDF had sort of the same problem (you can't really imagine Misa and Minmei sharing a hobby or something), but it had the individual characterization to make up for it. Frontier and Plus do their triangles the best, and in different ways, but both of them treat all three characters as wholes unto themselves and not just The Competition. I said this before, but a Kaname/Arad/Messer triangle could have been great, especially since it's one where everyone harbors an attraction, romantic and/or otherwise, to everyone else, and the possibility of romance isn't ruled out for anyone with anyone else: Arad and Messer clearly have a strong comrade-in-arms thing going on, which might or might not be more as well; Kaname and Arad work well together and it's already been noted that she has an eye for him; and Kaname and Messer play out a bit (but not too much, importantly) like the "redeemer" and the "sinner," respectively. In fact, I'm realizing it's similar in many ways to the Bruce Wayne/Rachel Dawes/Harvey Dent triangle in the Nolan Batman movies. Perhaps Messer HAD to die for the sake of the story. He and Arad and Kaname are Delta's Mercutio; their triangle had to be killed or else they would have killed the show. Anyway, I'm rambling now. Same-sex triangles? Sure. It's a neat idea, at least, but neat ideas don't necessarily translate to good execution, so... eh. I don't think Kawamori would be able to pull it off well, at any rate. He and Macross are too entrenched in the anime mainstream, as it were; there's too much cliche and trope they have to stick to.