Sundown

Hah, now that you mention it, he does have Conan's guant jaw thing from the eyes down. Now all you need is to enlarge his head to grotesque proportions and give him a frock of red hair.

Heh. I know we asians all look alike... but Cho and Takei don't resemble each other much at all-- you'd probably get a slightly better Sulu from B.D. Wong, though he's quite a bit older. Even Daniel Dae Kim would work better. Cho has an entirely different look. I'm not sure I'm going to see a Spock in Sylar. I'll be screaming "watch out! He'll eat your brain!" everytime he closes in for a vulcan nerve pinch. He does bear a closer resemblance to Nimoy than the others do to their precessors though.

You're not alone. I'd always gotten the impression that Jedi masters had outgrown the usefulness of lightsabers as well, as they could channel the force and use it directly as a weapon, most exemplified by the force lightning trick.

Not sure I dig it. It's not horrid, but it's a little too busy and techy for my taste, and I like the distinctive one piece cowl from the books... if they could only figure out how to have Batman be able to turn his head.

Maggie Gyllenhaal looks like a cross between Katie Holmes and Kirsten Dunst.

Actually I'm betting a lot of the guys here come from moderately happy homes where it was shown to them that good women exist and how a man is supposed to give himself to her (which isn't the same as caving in to her). My folks are moderately happy, and my mom is incredibly self-sacrificial. My dad's devoted, even if he has his quirks and lapses. If anything, it's my mother who compromises, and it's in seeing that that's taught me the importance of compromise both ways. I mean, are we to similarly deduct that folks with a philosophy similar to yours grew up in homes where a father uses a mother only for his sexual pleasure, then banishes her to the kitchen? And I don't think it would be reaching to say that the rise of divorces is precisely *due* to couples being unwilling to compromise and unwilling to give anything of themselves to the other, and see the other partner mainly as the answer to their unmet needs. Are we going to talk about what makes a man a good one? I'll avoid using the term "real" man because it's a bit insulting and implies one isn't at all if he doesn't match up to some narrow ideal. Okay. A good man compromises and gives because he can. He has plenty strength left of himself for himself, and he has enough in abundance to spend it on others. I'm not sure I could hold someone who jealously refuses to compromise out of fear of losing what malehood he has left as an ideal man and a stunning example of one secure in his identity and masculinity. A good man does not cave. But a good man also knows that not all compromise is caving, and that real, intentional compromise is actually a demonstration of his strength.

I just have to say this. If you only see women as objects to gratify you, you'll only ever find life-sucking women who see you as objects to gratify their need for money, affirmation, and security. And if you just see them as a piece of tail that you don't need to give anything real of yourself to, then you only leave them the option of being gold-digging, manipulative, insecure wenches. I'm not married myself but I know plenty wives who are anything but. Yes, women feel the need to improve you (and frankly, I suspect that's part of their God-given purpose), but even more so, they need to feel that they're a priority and that they're sought after-- that they're not just a piece of bedroom furniture or a live-in cook. Yes, some of them pick their battles in all the wrong places, but they need to see that they're fiercely fought for. And some women, in detecting that they're not and that they're merely a sexual and emotional convenience, will revert back to manipulation, guilt, and dominance to get some control back over their lives. Anyway, it's when we see chicks as objects for physical gratification and never draw from their souls that ours dies a little each time.

That new Legioss looks heinous. It seems to look new for the sake of looking new and kewl rather than for the sake of having an elegant, believable design. I kinda like the new Tread though.

I also hear sound effects from the Rainbow Six series randomly on TV. I'm guessing both games used public domain stock sound effects that were free or cheap or some such.

I feel your pain but I had to laugh out loud at that one. That's hilarious. And awfully wrong. So wrong. And I'm also baffled that someone who thinks the 1/48's so underwhelming would have *seven*. That's almost $1000 in multiples of a toy that you don't really like! O_o Do the SOCs boast complex transformation that comes close the VF's? (I really don't know, but I suspect that they don't transform.) Sure, the Chunky Monkey's built like a brickhouse. But it looks like one too. It's not hard to build something to be durable when you forgo all accuracy, elegance, and grace originally present in the line art and animation. That's hardly a fair comparison at all, but I will concede that it was a quality toy. It's too bad that even as a kid, I couldn't help but notice its glaring flaws every time I picked up my old Jetfire. I guess for some folks, weight, finish and durability are more satisfying than accuracy and design ingenuity. Fortunately we have toys like the CM Patlabors that feature both. Unfortunately, they run 80-100 bucks for a non-transformable figure about the size of a 1/60.

Yamato's other releases have been problematic, but the QC on the 1/48 was pretty solid from what I can remember. The only issue my original release VF-1S had was rubber seepage due to their weird hip rubber design. I know some other guys had issues with a more prominant head seam, crooked tail skulls, and a few BP8 failures, but that was about it. The last one was probably the most catastrophic, but I believe it was pretty rare. There were a few design niggles, like loose radomes and flaps, but those issues were cleared up in subsequent releases. I'm not exactly sure where people are looking when they compare the 1/48 to other toys. I don't know of any other that boasts such a complex transformation that attempts to be as faithful to the line art and animation and still handles well and fits together so solidly in every mode. The binaltechs/alternators/MP's come close and are quite a bit cheaper, but they're also quite a bit smaller and have much simpler transformations, though well executed. And ironically, when I got my 1/60, I was underwhelmed by the smallness of the toy and cheapness of the design and engineering, and even how cheap it felt in my hands. The little bit of diecast and weight didn't somehow make me feel like it was worth more than it was, and it still left me somewhat unsatisfied. When I got the 1/48, it felt a little odd to pay so much for a mostly plastic toy, but after transforming it, I was astounded by the elegance and brilliance of its design and engineering. I mean, come on, an internal heat shield *and* an ingenious hip transformation without ugly swing bars that looks completely anime accurate in both modes, finally achieving both holy grails of Macross toy design for 20 something years? BoB, did you actually own a 1/48? Did it go to pieces on you or something? thegunny, did you feel that the transformation and design of the 1/48 was at least in its own league when compared to the 1/60? I know someone looking for heft might balk at the price he just paid though, and the toy is pretty plasticky, even though it's a pretty nice, solid plastic, and doesn't look goopy like the 1/60 did.

Just because young characters look older doesn't mean that older appearing characters are necessarily young. Since you agree that Misa looked older as well would suggest that Milia does appear physically mature despite her actual numerical age. The compendium, as great as it is, isn't the end all and be all of Macross. Unless this is a direct translation of canon material in Japanese, it can't be taken as gospel. And if Milia had the equivalent intelligence of a primary school child, she would mentally be 6-9, while living most of her life physically as a 17-25 year old. So which is it, is she a 15 year old, or a 6-9 year old, or a 17-25 year old? Whichever she is, it's obvious that her development has no analog in Earth society, making our statutary rape laws somewhat inapplicable, at least without major adjustment. I suppose one could paint Max as having taken advantage of a girl/woman while she's at a fragile, juvenile mental stage, however. Futhermore, the fact that Zentradi have the potential for higher intelligence simply from human contact (if we take the compendium to be true) would suggest that they are not actually children, even if some of their thought processes are child-like, but rather developmentally stunted and developmentally resilient adults, whose mental conditions can easily improve. Highly "juvenile" if she had grown up in human society, but perhaps appropriate in a war-like culture, in which case her behavior might have little to do with her actual or mental age. I can buy that. But Milia's akwardness still has very little to do with being physiolgically young. The compendium suggests that it is the result of cultural isolation and the Zentradi way of life, and that it's something that can be corrected with exposure to (Earth) human culture. We see her acting much more mature and together after being with Max for a short while than other young characters like Minmei. While Milia's mental age is arguable, it does say something when the leadership of the SDF-1 consider her at an appropriate stage for marriage and service as an officer, but regardless, I took issue with this in case this was some sort of back-door argument to arguing that Mylene wasn't jailbait. =P

I dunno... Milia looked and sounded mature, had been a fully developed adult at least physically for 15 years, and been a functional member of the Zentradi military in what we can consider an adult capacity for some time. She was socially akward not because she was young, but because she was an uncultured alien. Our ideas of what constitutes statutory rape doesn't seem very applicable when it comes to alien humanoids who differ vastly from us in physiological, psychological, and social development. But regardless of whether Milia can be considered "jailbait" or not, Mylene still certainly is, as far as most modern, developed civilizations are concerned.

I seriously doubt "homage" or older audiences was what they had in mind when they resurrected Thundercats. More than likely someone in production remembered Thundercats from their youth, and knowing that it was at least a somewhat successful property, thought it would be a good idea to save development costs and reuse a workable concept proven to be somewhat popular with kids. They then decided to "update" the concept for our youth-centric, hopelessly-hip culture of today, because they deemed that no one wants to watch musclebound anthropomorphic cats in cut off shorts anymore, cause that kind of thing is so 80's. Also, while the old Thundercats was primarily targetted at a male adolescent audience back when there were obvious boy shows and girl shows, the new Thundercats is typical of modern unisex shows, featuring a rockstar prettyboy main character who could potentially appeal to girls instead of our beefy-cat-man who's ready to open a can of shut-up-your-face on Mumra. Thundercats is obviously not for us. It's for kids made by people resurrecting a property because it worked once, who either don't understand or don't care about what it was that made Thundercats Thundercats to us. Or maybe they're hoping parents who remember the show from their youth might pick it up out of nostalgia for their kids. Of course, they might hate the changes done to the show, but if the kids latch onto the show, by then it doesn't matter anymore. Sure, the new Thundercats is horribly executed if they're wanting to capture and retain older fans. But there are so many other reasons to bring Thundercats back. If they can get a non-discriminating-non-Macrossworld-reading parent type to pick up a DVD at wallmart out of nostalgic curiousity, then the old property association has done its job.

There aren't many places she can't reach when she's a 60 foot tall alien. Hah. Not inconceivable. The possibilities are endless!

Given that R's and L's in Japanese are pretty much interchangeable, the new series could just as easily be Macross Fryer-- you know, a series about Max and Milia's cooking misadventures.

I don't think some of what you've listed is unique to those seemingly opposite approaches. We all copy those we admire, we all experiment with truth, and we all choose who we will listen to and who we won't. I think the real difference in the two approaches lies in how we view others, whether they're worthy of dignity and respect, and how we think they fit with the truth we hold. Our methods fall out from whether we think truth is to be shared with others for their own sake-- that this is actually an integral part of the very truth we seek-- or whether they're purely distractions to our own search. Heh. Problem is, the odds are 6.5 billion to one that we're one of these other people. Isolating ourselves to our own thoughts is a sure-fire way to be wrong. And the odds are getting worse by the minute.

Silly. Mohinder could have defeated Sylar simply by TALKING VERY LOUDLY. Sylar: "You might even do some good before you di--" Mohinder: "LALALALALALA" Sylar: "Ow. Ow. Stop that." Mohinder: "LALALALALALA"

I don't know enough to have a very strong opinion of Gandhi, but he was one of those that I had in mind. My main point was that those like him demonstrated humility even as they practiced peaceful resistance. Your description of him highlights that he could see past his own methods and was able to acknowledge others that dedicated their lives for a greater good, even if he disagreed with the specifics of their methods. Others I had in mind were Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch there. We're unempathetic because we think a certain anime character is annoying and his only vindication is the fantasy world built up to artifically justify his actions? Who are we unempathetic with exactly? Basara? If so, then I'm guilty as charged, and that's precisely my point -- that he's written in an unrealistic manner that makes him hard to empathize with if he were a real living person in our real life world. And if I were a writer, then the blame would be on my work when the audience fails to sympathize with a character, not on them for being unempathetic human beings. I notice that you left out "devoid of empathy for those closest to him" from the list. Not that I'm personally offended or anything, but I do see lots of logical wrangling done here to paint real-life folks in a somewhat unflattering light just because they cite specific reasons for not liking the presentation of a fictional character. Also I'm not sure what "alternate viewpoint" you're offering that I'm not able to accept and empathize with -- that self-absorbed, self-righteous, uncommunicative, uncompromising pacifists *can* and do change the world, and that approach does win men and hearts in real life? Anyway, I think I can make observations from history and note how portrayals of certain fictional characters are inconsistent with those observations without being "devoid of empathy". But I guess you're uncomfortable with me stating them as if they were irrefutable fact. My observations could be wrong. If so, then I'm welcome to why you think a self-absorbed, uncompromising pacifism is workable. EDITED: For grammar. =P

*Blush* I'd shake your hand if it weren't too small. And up to now, I'd come to believe that you were an ever vigilant lurking tiger, never seen until you pounce and satiate your bloodlust upon those fanboys silly enough to reveal themselves on the Macross World forums. This may be much more frightening. I assume you mean that Urotsukidoji isn't representative of anime, and that it gives a false impression of what anime entails when seen by its freaky purient itself. Otherwise, I'm not sure what context Urotsukidoji can be viewed in where it wouldn't be considered freakishly weird by most people, Japanese or otherwise.

Despite issues I take with Kawamori's own storytelling tendencies lately, he does say something that I can agree eagerly with, and does demonstrate quite a bit of humility in regards to anime.

Yeah, they'd never do something like this. =) Anyway, I've noticed that Japanese storytelling is often anticlimatic and doesn't resolve as well as western storytelling. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I do get a little tired of making excuses for certain Japanese creators. I know they're not making things for me, and I can adapt and accept certain Japanese conventions, but when I see stuff like Ghost In The Shell Innocence, which is completely devoid of storytelling and is basically just a platform for the director's philosophical meanderings, I get to call it as it is. It might be culturally narrowminded for me to say this, and I'm sure some will object vehemently, but I believe there's such a thing as a good story, and instances of bad storytelling and bad writing can't always be excused by appealing to supposed cultural misunderstandings that make the greatness of that story somehow inscrutable to all but those that "get it". Western culture pumps out a lot of crud too, and some of it is wildly popular and exportable. So just because something's Japanese and pretty, and we don't happen to be Japanese ourselves doesn't make all its observed failings go away. Anyway, in so far as this relates to Mac 7 (and doesn't relate to the topic =P), Basara *is* annoying. Perhaps that's the creators' intent, and if so, they did a great job of making him borderline aggrivating even to most of the supporting characters. That's good writing. Yet, he remains popular because he has neat hair, cool specs, sings J-Pop, and because he happens to be correct in the contrived fantastical universe he lives in. So if the writers intended all his silliness to be vindicated because of the artificial construct they've created, then they failed to address that you can be right and still be an obnoxious self-centered arse, and being a self-centered arse rarely serves one's purpose and cause. And that's poor storytelling and character writing in my book. I'm never sure if Basara is singing to people or singing at them. I mean, dude, have you ever considered maybe they don't want to listen to your freaking song?

Basara annoys not because he's zen-non-confrontationally-cool. He annoys because he's arrogant, self-absorbed, devoid of empathy for those closest to him, unwilling to understand alternate viewpoints, one dimensional, and is convinced that he alone is in the right while completely lacking the humility of those in history who made peaceful resistance effective and attractive. And he has horrible fashion sense. His actions and attitude are justified only because of a contrived, fantasy plot device known as Spiritia that others aren't as able to leverage. So he's disliked not because of his approach. He's disliked because he handles his approach so poorly. I never liked Dyson much, but for all his flaws, I find him much more believable and palpable than Basara. Ambitious men of action and humble visionaries change the world. But uncompromising, self-rightous peaceniks just annoy everyone involved. I've only seen about a third of Mac 7, so maybe Basara grows in ways I don't know about.

Oh, the mods do enforce rules (albiet sometimes very slowly and only after multiple offenses), but they also have eyes, and can tell when someone is being billigerent and provocative then takes cover under the forum's "rules" when they get a response they don't like. Just for future reference, this isn't really a place to piss on a member's knowledge and then piss on his passion when he brings to bear the weight of his knowledge to correct misunderstandings. You'll also find this true anywhere else where people know their stuff and are passionate about it too. We're all entitled to our feelings about what's acceptable and what's overly retentive when it comes to geeky fandom, but unless we're doing it for the other person's health, playing the Oh-My-Goodness-What-A-Geek card when we're shown to be incorrect looks pretty disingenuous.

And enjoys captaining the Excelsior and Tim Hardaway on the weekends.