Sundown

You'd think the guady red and pink paintjobs and lightning bolts would be somewhat adequate.

I would hardly say "maturity" is the factor that determines whether one's interested in fan fiction or not, especially considering that this site caters to 30-somethings who are interested in collecting toys and a 20-year old Japanese cartoon from their youth. I mean, I don't know what automatically makes a literary work immature just because the original creators didn't write it. On the other hand, much of fan fiction isn't very good, and some of it goes places better left alone, or is just disturbing to read. And Macross, in my opinion, just isn't a very fertile ground for that sort of thing. Riiight. We who buy overpriced Macross toys, pine over underaged girls with pink hair, and go on and on about boobies and faces on robots and the technical issues of air and spacecraft that don't exist are so much better a breed.

Hah, well then, I'd rather take Eric Stoltz and Ice Cube. Even if Eric Stoltz just ends up lying around comatose after being bitten by a snake.

But that would make the movie bad. Besides, she was already in a snake movie. Anaconda. And although the movie was pretty lame, she was the only one in the cast who was watchable. Back then, she was hungry and actually acted.

HELL YES! 384755[/snapback] Starring Will Smith. Oh, HELL NO!

Ah, gotcha. If the story's solid and the path itself is engrossing, it sounds like a winner. I love openness as a means of finding the adventure written, prepared, and polished, waiting to be found... but I'm not a big fan of when developers tell you to "create your own adventure" with their generic sandbox as an excuse for not providing any content of their own. If it's anything like GTA, with real progression and a living world, a game in itself, to do it in, it sounds pretty solid. And repeating dialogue's not bad so long as it's apparent that the developers are trying to keep it to a minimum and aren't just being lazy.

Is there strong direction in the game if you want to follow it? I've always been someone who needed a story, a meaningful experience, a feeling that I made a difference in the world to characters with personalities that are their own. It's very easy for me to spot the patterns in a generic simulation of a world, and when that happens, the illusion of a real living and breathing world dies very quickly-- and it's only the story and character interactions that can provide unpredictability and meaning at that point. So I guess I'm a bit of an opposite, since purely open-ended games have never left me very satisfied in the end. Instead of wanting to be lost in a game, I tend to want to find something compelling in it. So I can only play so much of games like The Sims, and whenever a developer tells me their game is more of a creative sandbox than a "game with shackles", I want to stab them repeatedly. At the same time, the games I've loved the most have married story with openess. I think one of my all-time favorite games was Ultima 6. The writing was fantastic, the plot interesting, and there was serious direction and a satisfying climax. However, the design of the game had you follow up hints, explore, and pick up direction when and where you felt like it. Alternatively, you could choose just to wander, kill things, or loot villages if that was your thing (with karma penalties that made it impossible to finish the game if you turned into a psycho murderer, I believe). Nearly every character had unique appearance and dialogue, and there were plenty of them. Even though there was solid direction, requiring you to be more proactive in following up leads granted the illusion that you were doing things on your own initiative. It didn't force you from level to level and railroad you from NPC to NPC in order to get the story to progress. I miss a good, epic, game like that. Does Oblivion offer an engaging and meaningful story that's actually worth doing, with characters that are actually worth remembering? I loved the idea of Daggerfall way, way back, but just couldn't get myself to play it for very long. A whole town of NPC's that were obviously randomly generated and all say the same thing killed any illusion of a real, meaningful world fast.

Well, I can't say I owned three, but I did manage to break both of them and then never found a replacement. One of Thundercracker's wings broke off in a dropping-on-cement mishap-- and now I think about it, I might not have broken sideswipe. I might have just traded it away like the dumb kid I was. I think I managed to get an Optimus Prime for that one-winged Thundercracker though. But I remember the good toys being impossible to find after a little while, and I never was able to get another Swideswipe until now. It doesn't make any sense to me now how they could make toys that kids want badly, then leave existing demand unsatisfied even many months afterwards. Instead, they just moved onto weirder and uglier versions. Same experience with G.I. Joes. There was a time where all the good toys were widely available. Then they'd all dissapear, only to be replaced with rows and rows of that Zartan chick or some other figure no one wants.

Uncanny. I think Tundercracker and Swideswipe were my two firsts too.

True that. Did that weird F4-gerwalk model kit come before or after Macross? I actually displayed my one 1/48 Valk at the time in that Fighter-walk mode for a long while-- you know, Gerwalk without the arms. The way the legs spread and the toes point on the toy... Nothing in toy or model land has ever conveyed the look and feel of that mode as well.

Gerwalk is amazing on the VF-1. The chicken legs. The A-stance. The way the toes point downward when the gerwalk's on the ground. The mode captured me the first time I saw it-- it blew me away that this kludgey half and half configuration just looked so right. And Gerwalk looks best on the VF-1... you know, that Valk that you hate with a passion. *cough* Mospaeda. And South Cross, if that walking tank mode can be considered "gerwalk". Coincidentally, all three parts of Robotech. *runs*

But that's so fuuun. I guess I stand corrected. But mecha boobies are still unexcusable, and so is the fact that Kawamori had anything to do with it.

I know that... but it seems like a lot of other players were involved in SDF going where it did. Sort of like the Lucas/Star Wars syndrome. The visionary comes up with a brilliant, overarching idea but needs others to ground it sensibly and execute it properly. On his own, said genius just goes mad, off on his own.

Battles weren't much faster in the OT. If anything, they were slower and had more plodding setups and buildups that resolved in fast action in bits and in suspense at other times. The difference between the PT and OT space battles were that the OT's had a point. Or rather, it at least let you follow the tactical development and it mattered who won, and wasn't just a setup for uber-j3d1 lightstick antics.

Love them both. No fast packs for the sheer elegance of the VF-1, uncluttered by strapped on extras, and the utilitarian, cumbersome, butt-kickingness of the fast packs for the special occasion when you just need to lay down the smack. No fast packs also reminds me of the ground battles with the valks in battroid, and fast packs on land just seems kind of ungainly, especially in urban combat. Basically whatever the mission calls for, and I'd hate to settle for one or the other. But if I had to pick one that I had to look at forever, as a toy to display or something, it'd be the VF-1 without fastpacks.

So that's how we got from SDF to Valk boobies and froating rocks. Kawamori. Any idea who was responsible for DYRL?

I've got an MP Prime too, and from what I can remember, the quality is similar but different. MP Prime's heavy as all heck, and its metal parts and glossy paint and finish scream $$$! The 1/48's finish is slightly textured and rougher (the grain's intentional-- it's not because of shoddy workmaship), and the toy's relatively light in comparison, so it might not at first feel over a hundred bucks until you really start noticing how well engineered and intricate it really is. What really takes my breath away is how the intakes click satisfyingly into their wells under the chest plate in fighter mode and how flush everything is afterwards. The legs even lock to the backpack, and the arms to the legs through small shallow pegs, but these don't lock as tightly as the other parts. It only takes a little bit of force to separate them, but the valk should hold together firmly as one solid mass once you give everything a slight squeeze. The easily separated legs are where you usually start in cracking and peeling the valk apart for transformation, so the shallow pegs are probably by design. The MPC's fit is impressive, but that's sort of expected for something that essentially transforms into a cube. What amazes me about the 1/48 is how well parts fit together that I just didn't expect to. The screws are for the most part in out of the way places. The most obvious ones are behind the shoulder blocks. A word of warning: one of the more problematic parts of the 1/48 design is the rubber cap designed to provide friction to the inner thigh socket. When the joint is too tight, moving the leg can crush the rubber cap and cause rubber to seep out of the socket. Just make sure to be careful when rotating the legs the first time. Go slow. Watch for rubber seepage, and as soon as you see any, remove the socket (it's detachable), and loosen the screw a tiny bit. This'll loosen the joint a little bit and prevent seepage from getting severe. You might want to just go ahead and loosen the socket the first time out.

Kawamori didn't write SDF? Who did? This would explain sooo many things.

Wow. I'm shocked you don't have at least one already. I only own one 1/60, bought before the 1/48's arrived, and a few 1/48's. I have to say that the difference between them is night and day. The 1/48 is in an entirely different league-- not only is it larger, but the fit, finish, and detailing is vastly superior. It's something else when you take the 1/48 out of the box for the first time. The first thing you notice is how tight everything fits together in fighter mode. The thing feels like a brick. It's as if was designed as a variable fighter and every part was intended to fit flush with everything else, not just a bunch of arms and legs slapped together to resemble an aircraft like other valk toys. The finish is also much better. The 1/60 has this sort of cheap plasticky translucency about it, and sharp edges are sort of rounded off. I hate the front gear doors... they're these blobbly pieces that look like they've been melted a little. Not the case on the 1/48. Gear door edges are sharp and fit flush. It even boasts opening doors laid out identically to the anime. The whole thing just reeks of precision crating, and makes my 1/60 look like poop. I'd have to disagree that the 1/60 has more accurate anime-porportions. It's got too much of a needle nose for me and it's much cruder in compariosn. In fighter mode, the 1/48 wins by a long shot, although some folks are bugged by the slightly wide canopy frame and the slightly large shoulder blocks. In battroid, the 1/48's chest is a *little* bit wide, and its arms are a tad skinny, and its hands too small, but as a whole, it just feels a whole lot better. Gerwalk's unmatched on the 1/48-- it's chicken-leg a-stance is the best I've ever seen on a valk toy or model. So, maybe the 1/60 is debatably closer porportionally in battroid volume-wise, but the 1/48's lines, curves, and general feel is much closer to the anime. I'd consider getting a VF-1S simply because it has the best VF-1S head sculpt of any model or toy ever made. The 1J's is passable, but like Froy mentioned, there's something about it that's just too angular and doesn't give me the same feel the line art does. The 1S's head also has an added bonus of being just big enough to hide the chunky arm blocks in fighter mode. And if the small posable hands bug you, you can always get Eternal D's DYRL hands or get one of the VF-1J's (including Milia's) that come with fixed-posed TV hands. Maybe someone's still selling TV hand recasts if you do opt to go for the Roy. Some folks would definitely find the 1/48 pricey, but it is several levels above the 1/60, in my opinion.

Neat! Except for a moment I thought I was watching Red vs Blue. The voiceover sounds like Caboose doing his best William Shatner. The designs are a little uninspired and generic-- not quite up to the level of those in Heavy Gear. Was hoping for designs that resembled those from Gasaraki or something.

That actually sounds vaguely interesting. Only fear is, the more they show about the Star Wars universe, the more they manage to screw it up. If we're lucky, it'll be a self-contained story that doesn't step too much on the status quo.

To tell you the truth, I actually liked both movies. I, Robot turned out better than expected, and I enjoyed The Island, so long as I didn't start thinking about expectations and what sort of movie it's "supposed" to be. But I do agree that the transition was a little odd. I didn't mind it, and I liked the fact that it added some slightly cerebral bits and followed it up with action, but I did feel the change of pace. And yes, that whole shared memory thing made no sense, and would be one of the major problems I have with the movie, but I pretty much ignored it so I could enjoy the parts of the movie I liked.

This forum is way cliquish. Everybody says use the search feature which I do,but then get mad for bumping up an old thread. You cant win either way. Its a wonder why no newbies stay in these forums. Just kind of visit, get bagged on, so they leave and never come back. hmphhhh. 382297[/snapback] I never said it like it was a good thing. But true. For a new member to stick around, they either have to have something-- material or information-- to offer that makes them whole heartedly welcomed, or have to have a pretty thick skin and enjoy hearing themselves talk.

Graham 382129[/snapback] Yamato. You will make a TV Max VF-1A. And a VF-1D. And a GPB in canon CF colors. And a TV Green Q-Rau. And Destroids. Lots of them. *waves hand*

I believe they're called "new members". Sure, Macross World is a close knit, semi-cliquish, family of sorts, but it's still a public forum. It's the nature of a public forum that new users bring up old topics that we who've been here years have done to death. But that doesn't stop them from still being interested in talking about it. If we're going to rip every new member a new one for talking about something we're bored of, if they're automatically some "whiny bored kid" instead of the slightly-less-whiny, bored, 30-year-olds infatuated with a 20 year old anime that comprise the rest of the forum, then we might as well just close off membership. But a pinned thread would probably be a good idea.