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kajnrig

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Everything posted by kajnrig

  1. Atat sounds dumb, but so does A-T-A-T. Imperial Walker, on the other hand... Atst sounds even dumber. Atsat sounds just as dumb but also kind of better. Atstat, too. But when you have Chicken Walker, anything else just won't do. Pronunciations for Mospeada, go. Moss-Pea-Ada.
  2. kajnrig

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Honestly, you guys are just making me think of Vanquish, and I have no problem with that.
  3. They all have plot relevance, for sure, but they aren't a treatise on cultural drift, if you get my meaning. Music in SDFM has a tenuous connection with Protoculture, which was by and large presented (or at least in my head-canon) as just a sort of nebulous idyllic yesteryear (they were known to have existed, but mostly are treated as an intergalactic equivalent to "the good ol' days"), but other than that, music's power was intrinsic to music. Hm... Put another way, people liked music for music's sake, not because of its military applications or ability to regenerate spiritia or whatnot. The power of song isn't nearly as literal as it would later become, and so it has to appeal more directly to emotion. This is, of course, assuming that my years-old memory of SDFM still serves me well. It very well might be completely off base now. I never did much like the Protoculture subplot, anyway, and always did my best to ignore it altogether. Is... Is that really, actually what it is? That's... well, I suppose I can't say too much. My memories of Zero are almost as faint as my memories of SDFM.
  4. kajnrig

    Bandai DX VF-31

    grumble grumble yeah so you have a point shut up grumble grumble pout EDIT: I'd say even those are a bit too thick, even for 1/35, but meh, semantics. They look alright, I guess. If you blew them up to scale, though...
  5. Speaking of, one thing I do miss from the original SDFM is the theme of cultural exchange, and music as its symbol. Like, the entire series can be condensed into that final scene in DYRL not because the protagonists' enemies are fanboying (and fangirling, lest we forget the Meltlandi) over pop music, but because that pop music exposes them to new emotions, feelings, experiences. And all this comes as a revelation, as does the realization that there exists other options for dealing with this than what has been the norm for ages (ie snuffing it out). In almost all the productions that come afterward, they largely reduce music back to existing singularly for entertainment's sake. Sure, each entry puts their own twist on music, but it never again becomes about exchange across civilizations. Part of that, I think, has to do with the Zentraedi/Meltlandi being human in every way but name only. They're superficially aliens, but when it comes down to it, SDFM is entirely about human conflict. It's not like M+ where the ethics of AI are involved, or 7 with space whales, or Frontier with bugs (or 0 with... was it another Vajra queen?). The above quote is kind of ironic, because it seems to me that only in the newer shows has music explicitly become a form of psychological warfare; the original show was much less deliberate about using it to knowingly affect enemies. They certainly didn't use M2/Frontier-style tactics.
  6. kajnrig

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Beat me to the punch. Keep in mind that that landing gear is from the model kit, not the toy. Anyone who has ever built any version of any Gundam core fighter knows how bad Bandai model kits are with landing gear. If there's a joint in there, they'll focus all their efforts on reinforcing that joint rather than making it aesthetically pleasing. They will always err on the side of practicality rather than aesthetics if they can. That said, the toy I expect to look slightly better but only just. If it's not made by Hasegawa, I don't have high hopes for it at all. /snob
  7. So I was watching some Mac30 gameplay videos: The Super/Strike Packs were designed for space use only, right? I was comparing Mac30's gameplay to that of Robotech Battlecry (I consider it to be the best Macross game available, but then I haven't played any others), and in the above video Mac30 allows you to use Super/Strike Valkyries in atmosphere, whereas RBC doesn't. And while we're at it, something else that popped up on my feed:
  8. I know, I was just parsing the fine details. I really liked the look of Hayate's 171, but that was probably due to the vibrant tan coloring. I agree, the CGI work for the most part still leaves a lot to be desired. It's a step up from what it was before (and I'd call it a major improvement over Frontier), but they could stand to make the Valks a bit more vibrant to stand out against the dark backgrounds. There's still no beating M+.
  9. 1.) I thought the point was that it WASN'T practical? Or at least not yet? 2.) Also, both fighters and the Ghost were testbeds for active stealth tech, right? So it would make a certain amount of sense that they could both break through orbital defense systems using currently-existing technology (though I suppose Isamu does sort of have to brute-force it anyhow given he gets detected right away) yet have trouble with each other.
  10. Like you did? Not a bad idea at all. As for me, I'm likely to grab one of the itasha Valks. Klan or Ranka? Or both? (Did they ever release a Sheryl version?)
  11. I dunno, I sort of think you're all right to a certain degree. All the elements in this first episode were present in other series as well. The psychedelic visuals, the suspension of physics, and on and on. Basically everything Seto and Duke were arguing about. It's all been done before, to varying degrees. I'd go so far as to say that some episodes of Frontier topped this one in terms of sheer outlandish bombast. The movies certainly did. Is it a departure from "Macross norm"? You could spin it that way, but only insofar as it does all of the bombast all at once. It comes smothered in pop culture excess, and can seem overwhelming when compared to the rest of the franchise. But like others have said, it's only the first episode. Things will probably level off with time... or not, considering this is Macross and things only tend to get more chaotic. I remember watching Frontier and hating, absolutely hating, that it was Macross in name only. What is this "Another High School Anime (Complete With Its Very Own Panty Episode)" doing? How can it possibly be talked about in the same breath as M+ and SDFM? Frontier was MY Delta. I thought the main characters were terrible anime stereotypes, I thought the mecha combat was uninspired, the CGI was boring and poorly implemented, and the EX Gear was the stupidest thing to ever come out of the series. It wasn't enough that the AIRPLANES could transform, now the PILOTS had to, too? I mean, I got over it, but it was only for recognizing the phenomenon for what it was: Macross becoming mainstream. Macross WAS changing, and I could either change to accept it or not and abandon it. I chose the former, and I didn't particularly suffer for it. Do I think it's one of the weaker entries in the franchise? Yes, but then that's only because SDFM and M+ set the bar so high. Next to Zero and 7, it's no better or worse. So here comes Delta, and while I think that pretty much all of the critique has merit, I also don't see those critiques as necessarily being worth addressing. Anyway. My two cents.
  12. http://www.animeherald.com/2014/11/26/youre-looking-gundam-model-not-anime-cel/ There was also a hyper-stylized model I saw back during my days on Hobbyfanatics that took this to the nth degree. It went beyond the shading techniques here; proportions were highly exaggerated in order to achieve a very specific look from a very specific angle. I forget the source, it was years ago, but it was definitely something worth seeing.
  13. Aside from some scuff marks and such, the only thing I noticed was the big dent in the chest armor (possibly pushing the cockpit down enough that it's exposed to the open air).
  14. The 17(1) underwent some major slimming down in the transition from 7 to Frontier, yes? Is it strange that the discrepancy between the Yam/Ban designs would be so huge considering the former is working off of line art and animation cels whereas the other is basing theirs off a 3D model? That said I agree the Yamato 17 looks much more... aggressive? than the DX. More anime.
  15. Are you thinking of the non-transforming 1/100(?) fighter mode kits?
  16. Ah, dang it. I legitimately forgot his name again. What was it?
  17. kajnrig

    Bandai DX VF-31

    They're going for longevity. Something that can withstand some punishment rather than specifically looking accurate.
  18. kajnrig

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Well, the DX toys continue Bandai's tradition of not particularly good-looking landing gear, so I wouldn't expect them to look much better on the toys than the models. The knee armor looks to be empty space, and I think I can just barely make out a black arm (it blends in with the wheel and the aforementioned cavity) that connects to the wheel axle. So it looks like it can roll, but it certainly is a tight fit.
  19. Plastic thickness also plays a surprisingly large role. Thinner plastic means more accurate scaling means better proportions and better details.
  20. kajnrig

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Like wm cheng, I'm not surprised at the beefiness and "second priority"-ness of the landing gear. Bandai have always (well, for the most part) designed their model kits as toys, not as models. Their plastic tends to be thicker, too, and they avoid sharp angles at all costs. It'll still sell like hotcakes due to the transformation gimmick. And they're accurate enough. Say what you will about Bandai, but they're at least smart about getting right what needs to be gotten right.
  21. Once they develop the CGI models for them, I'm sure that'll be the case. Who knows, there might come a day when you see an inexplicable VF-0 flying around.
  22. Considering how loose Macross is with canon, it could very well be that the only "real" couple to date is Max/Milia. Everything else is Schrodinger's cat.
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