Sundown

Yes, the level of fan service is pretty tame compared to some other animes, but for a Macross, it most consistent and constantly present. There is a fair amount of boobage and already a few sexually suggestive scenes, all in the first five episodes, most of which can't be chalked up to simply being artful. Yes, Minmei and Sara were shown nekkid-- but as far as I understand it, the Japanese don't connect nudity with sexuality quite as strongly was Westerners do, and the tone there was more "artful" (though tittlilating) than it was sexual. Now there was some holographic nudity in a somewhat more sexual context in Mac+, and a few sexually suggestive situations, but it didn't felt quite as omnipresent. In Frontier, we seem to be getting 2-3 boobage jiggles/jokes per episode, and privately, we seem to find Ranka and Sheryl in a state of semi-undress on a semi-regular basis. And in the latest episode, we have an apparently aroused Sheryl to a vibrating phone (complete with classic blushing cheeks indicating such in hentai anime), and her grinding against Alto in a somewhat sexually suggestive manner from a provacative camera angle. I cannot find any other scene that compares in the rest of Macross. I'm thinking all this is just indicative of both our and the Japanese's more explicitly sexual culture today, but let's be honest here-- although it hasn't shown explicit nipplelage (yet), Frontier feature much more pervasive, consistent, and gratuitous sexuality than most Macrosses-- especially SDF, however tame it is compared to what else is out there.

See, I'm much more cynical. Karamori has already somewhat mangled the original material with takes on Macross that I'd hardly classify as "respectful", and it now seems that they're back to mining what worked in the original-- so closely it feels as if they're just trying to replicate the magic and charm of the originals, sometimes scene for scene, instead of bringing in new things with the same spirit, coherence, and creativity. The characters and dialogue are a step above Zero, and maybe Mac+, or even Mac 7-- Ranka's character is actually decently written and has some depth and maturity beyond the cutesyness-- but so far, I'm finding it a more stylized, more sexualized, less mature and paler imitation of SDF. It's still watchable and enjoyable, but the homages feel to me like a begging for a legitimacy it knows it's in danger of losing, or worse, just a recycling of material that worked for a generation that hasn't been exposed to it yet.

Saw it last night. Very, very, very good. Had wit and heart, fantastic and fun dialogue, and was pretty faithful to the comics to boot. I dare say that Iron Man just might be the best superhero movie, period. Only top 10? I'm not even sure I can say there have been 10 really soilid superhero movies, period. I count: Iron Man Batman Begins Burton's Batman Spiderman I (2 and 3 were fun but had their weaknesses) Superman I and II The X-Mens were fun but had nowhere near the depth, quality, and faithfulness of feel to the comics as the other movies. So now Iron Man is competing with Spiderman I and Batman Begins as my all-time favorite. I feel that in action, dialogue and story, it's more fun than Batman Begins and more craftily executed than Spiderman. And it was devoid of huge cornball gaffs that plagued the Supermans, like the magic amnesia kiss and flying-around-the-world-to-turn-back-time gag (though it was cool when I was 7). And I give it major props for making a faithful rendition of a second-tier character really work in a movie, when so many liberties could have been taken and it could have gone so wrong.

Except Minmay looked close to late teen-adult, and her fan service was somewhat minimal, whereas Ranka seems deliberately designed to look a nebulous 12-15 and she is rather often posed bending over with her ever so short skirt "innocently" hiking up and just barely covering her rear. It happens often enough that I think it's somewhat deliberate, and thus, disturbing. There's also a ton of non-Ranka expressively provacative boobage in the form of Sheryl, the Miss Macross contestants, and Ranka's co-worker. This was mostly absent (or at least very mild and subdued) in SDF. Even Mac 7 wasn't quite as explicit and regular in its fan service, "loli" or otherwise. Didn't someone mention that the character designer is responsible for a lot of moe anime? I can't help but see his significant influence in Frontier. Basically I agree with Togo-- I expect a little in Macross. M7 was a little borderline for me, because of Mylene's supposed age-- but she at least follows the anime tradition of looking and acting older than she is. Ranka's design seems to capitalize on the opposite-- she's innocent, cute, and child-like (and I have no problem with that), but she still gets placed in suggestive situations, and that for me is more disturbing. It seems almost every single prominant female character in Frontier has some sexualizing done to them already, and it distracts me from any deeper non-sexual character development there's supposed to be. Maybe because for most of them, there hasn't been any.

I'm enjoying Frontier more than I thought I would. I still think it departs from the elements I like most about SDF Macross and lacks some of the charm, but it's somewhat entertaining in its own right if I stop thinking that it's Macross, or should be what I've come to expect and want of it. The homages to the original are kind of nice, but I actually feel they parallel SDF *too* much-- in essence it relies too heavily on the exact plot elements and structure that made SDF great and as a result, brings little of its own. Some scenes are nearly identical to the original in specific detail and shot. It's the same story told with a completely different art style and presentation, which is almost exactly the opposite of what I want in a Macross sequel. I'd much rather have something that looks more reminscent of the original with a different story and the same charm. The slight twists they put on the homages are kind of nice: Alto catches the falling Ranka in a different way from the original, and Ranka actually loses in the Miss Macross competition, but it almost seems that the strength of those twists lie entirely upon having viewed SDF. Her rendition of "My Boyfriend Is a Pilot" was nostalgic though. Oh, and there's way too much fan service and boobage jokes for me in a Macross feature. Especially with fan service focused on pubscent girls like Ranka with even more pedi-factor than Mylene.

It sounds like your TV is a 720p that also takes 1080i input and downscales it? If so, it would make sense that a 1080p (or a real 1080i for that matter) TV would look much better. Still, a 1080i native TV set should be visually indistinguishable from a 1080p set for all video content at this time. But in either case, I agree-- get a real 1080p.

I can't explain why you seem to be getting 5.1 uncompressed through optical. That should be impossible. Only getting two channels with DD with optical set to linear pcm is expected, as I would think the DD would get decoded to pcm before being sent in stereo through the optical. Could it be that previous to the update, optical was set to use bitstream? Also, I should clarify-- I'm not sure exactly what happens on the PS3 when you select uncompressed audio on a Blu-Ray and use optical bitstream. I sort of assumed a compressed format got played based on Dangard Ace's observation. Does it send two uncompressed channels anyway? Does it downmix to DD? In the end, on the PS3, I would expect uncompressed stereo output (assuming the source is also uncompressed) when opitcal is set to linear pcm, and compressed multi-channel output when it's set to bitstream.

Actually, this isn't entirely true. Even TVs that only take up to 1080i input still display in what is essentially 1080p. And a Blu-Ray player that is configured to encode its output in 1080i will be properly decoded and deinterlaced by the TV so that the final output is identical as far as film and most TV shows are concerned, because they are usually filmed in 24 frames per second, and you can encode all the unique frame data into a 60 Hz interlaced format (with 3:2 pulldown). Where 1080p actually makes a perceivable difference is for games, where consoles can actually generate 60 progressive images a second. http://www.hometheatermag.com/gearworks/1106gear/ That said, I'd still get 1080p. That's pretty much the standard these days, and you futureproof yourself if we ever start moving to 1080p 60Hz content.

The reason for that is because optical doesn't have high enough of a bandwidth to transmit uncompressed audio in 5.1. So instead, it just trasmits the two uncompressed stereo channels. When you switch your optical output to bitstream, you're actually transmitting the 5.1 compressed DTS, not uncompressed 5.1 to your receiver/Logitech setup (which happens to decode DTS natively). The only way to get uncompressed 5.1 is to use an HDMI cable.

Are you talking about who I presume is supposed to be the Baroness? Where are her trademark spectacles? I half mistook her for a possible Lady Jaye. After all, everyone else is in black. You know there's something wrong with the costuming when characters aren't instantly recognizable. I wasn't even sure if Duke was Duke. Wait-- I just realized that her sunglasses are supposed to be the modernized hip-cool replacement for her glasses. I presume they're prescription. But instead of looking book-ish librarian-hot, she just looks like another Matrix/Blade/Underworld refugee. And I think it kind of silly they abandoned the opportunity to use the military colors the original designs used. A nice nod would have been to have Duke wear a bdu shirt in tan or desert camo and olive tactical pants and Covergirl in some sort of green jacket. Instead they seem intent on killing any color whatsoever on their characters, including having the Joes' camoflauge be that weird funky urban grey pattern. Now Quaid's just got a great look, but the Hawk/Flint/Fonzie costuming makes no sense. And Ray Park looks a lot chunkier than I realized. Almost too chunky for Snake Eyes, who I usually imagine as being pretty trim. I'm sure the action will be good though. Another blech for featuring the Hummer HX over a real all Humvee. One looks like something you go to war with. The other looks like something you take your trophy wife, 2.5 kids, and dog on a picnic with and pat yourself on the pack for having "roughed it". Sadly The Transformers movie featured more passable Joes than it seem this movie will. Hopefully these shots aren't indicative of how the characters will look throughout the movie. If so, it would be very visually boring.

Sigh. I love how "modernizing" in Hollywood just means putting everyone in black leather and latex. It was appropriate for Snake Eyes. Not so much for the rest of the characters, who are supposed to resemble the military more than Matrix rejects. I do wish they had worked in the classic color schemes.

I thought that fantasy world was 2002, but apparently I've been smoking something. Looks like I paid 14800 yen, which came out to around $120 at the time. But I distinctively remember a 89$ price tag for something along those lines. Maybe it was for the rumored 10000 yen price before it came out. Or maybe I'm remembering the box-less CF-1A I got for a deal ($110 shipped) from Black Aces. Anyway, I stand corrected. Senility sucks.

*Remembers the good old days when the 1/48 was $89 without shipping from HLJ on release.*

I feel the new 1/60 took some significant hits in fighter mode, most of which were unnecessary. The canopy is more bulbous and has a bump that breaks up the traditional sleek profile of the fighter, made slightly worse by a shorter nose. The latter is a necessary compromise but combined with the new canopy and the worse position and relative size of the new pilot causes the 1/60's fighter mode to lose a few points to the 1/48's, even if the new toy doesn't exhibit the 1/48's low hanging shoulder blocks. The 1/60's lower legs look great and more accurately reflect the line art-- but the new thighs are chunky, hard edged, and squared off and look worse and less accurate in all modes. I don't know why this change was made. And weird-- the line across the leg just below the landing gear door light is missing on the 1/60. In the end, it's hard for me to declare the 1/60 the winner in any mode, battroid included. It does have more proportionate arms and hands and a shorter nosecone, but it loses points in the upper legs which the 1/48 got almost perfect. Granted I've sort of gotten used to the 1/48's spindly arms, tiny hands (which can be fixed by some aftermarket parts), and slightly oversized chest, so they're no longer that much of an eyesore to me-- but the 1/60 brings problems of its own, with frustrating changes that seem to be made for the sake of change.

The comparitive height sketch shows a Tomahawk with a somewhat oversized missle launcher however. If the rest of the drawing is to scale, the 1/60 is pretty accurate. If the height in the sketch was to spec and the drawing itself disproportionate, then we've got a slightly out of scale destroid. Anyone have actual "official" height specs?

Oh right. I don't think the point of Sci-Fi is *to* predict either. Rather, thoughtful speculation is integral to the story-telling. Do that enough and you're bound to get a hit. I would say that Asimov is readable and relevant because the speculations central to his stories still haven't occurred, although, even though some of the peripheral predictions seem outdated today. And I think that list was really more of a "Oh, this is neat-- and these authors had great foresight." sort of thing, and not so much, "No flying cars? FAIL."

Actually much of SF, especially hard-SF, does concern itself with speculating on human, societal, and technological development and what it means for the human condition. And much of SF written by the likes of Philip K. Dick were commentaries and responses to societal trends at the time of their writing. Authors like Clarke do more than provide vehicles to tell a story. In fact, their speculations on technology and humanity *is* often the story. Sci-Fi is also known as "Speculative Fiction" by those who like to downplay the teen-male-geekiness of the genre, although sub-genres of Sci-Fi like Space Opera don't always concern themselves as much with realistic speculation and pertinant social commentaries (not that they can't).

Aliens should be on that list for the fully-functional exoskeletons that are currently being developed. Check out Sarcos on YouTube. I didn't think we'd see them so soon.

Hah, sorry. I guess I got carried away when my lovely 1/48 was disparaged. Reading "not as good as a collector piece as the Legioss" made my neck hairs stand on end. Hee. Wow, are those rare vintage pieces or something?

I think that's the disconnect some of us have with paying 250+ for what looks very toyish. I would argue that CMs, being a small company, should focus on making things that reflect the prices they charge, rather than making toy-ish toys and then being forced to charge expensive collector prices for them. Sure, it may appeal to you because they look playable-- and maybe 250 bucks is a drop in the bucket with those of us who have disposable incomes-- but the CMs Legioss ends up being a toy that looks durable-- but also cheap. So it invites one to play with it (which is good) but also invites them to treat it with less respect than its price deserves: "Play with me. Oh, by the way, don't break me as I cost 250 bucks. Even though you wouldn't know it." Yamatos 1/48 on the other hand are built beyond what their sculpts suggest. They are actually quite durable for collector toys with accurate, intricate sculpts and complicated transformations, and are cheaper and larger to boot. The 1/60's do sort of look and feel cheap, but at least they were only 1/4 the cost of the Legioss/Tread Combo at the time they were released. And I'm not quite sure I can make sense of you feeling the 1/48 a worse collector piece because it actually looks like a collector piece, and not as much like a toy you can play with. It seems to me that collector pieces should look like collector pieces: accurate sculpt, detailed, intricate, complex, expensive, and impressive to look at. Toys should be playable and should tolerate slightly rough handling. But it seems that you understandibly praise the Legioss for being a toy, but then fault the 1/48 as a collector piece for *not* being toyish rather than admit its collector merits, skewing the criteria of both categories to favor toys and the Legioss. Why not just say you like toys that appear fun and playable over intricate collector pieces and be done with it, instead of redefining all standards of measure in the Legioss's favor?

Fantastic. They really nailed the rider figure-- the riding posture he's capable of looks great. The face sculpt is also well done-- much better than the kiddified sculpt on the MH. Minor nitpicks-- the bike's front faring seems to curve slightly downwards, when it's completely straight in the line art. It still looks good, but it's artistic interpretation that I could do without. It makes the bike look less beefy than it originally did, but it is very minor and very tastefully done, and does lend the design some realism and grace. A few of the surfaces and edges also seem to have been smoothed out, sort of like what CMs did with its Legioss design-- again, I would have preferred them to be more angular, but it's a valid artistic interpretation. I still would prefer beefier legs, and the prominant position of that foot screw is pretty screwy. Maybe they'll cover it with a cap. Overall, pretty incredible. I have to see this thing in Armor mode.

Actually I see the same thing. Except to me, the Tomahawk's head unit looks kind of like a lizard/dragon head. Which is slightly more cool than a happy face. Hmm, at 1/60, and being shorter than a Valkyrie, the Tomahawk is going to be pretty small. Still awesome though... but this would really rock in 1/48.

Mexico is filled with gravy? Nice!

A "low-viz" charcoal grey YF-21 would be incredible-- and would be a great homage to the real life YF-23 that the Macross YF-21 was based on.

JsARCLIGHT, that was especially enjoyable to read with the avatar.