Gamma00Ray

The Ranka figure is my latest Macross toy purchase. She'll probably be my only Ranka ever, but she's an adorable Ranka! I got her used on ebay a while ago. She fits onto the base that came with my Sheryl, so it's possible to display the two of them together. I had to hit her with a Mr. Clean magic eraser in a few spots, but she's super presentable from the front now! There are still a couple black spots on her back, but I can live with that. I don't know what her previous owner put her through that she got some black spots on her. I've had the Sheryl figure for a couple years. I decided to finally get the matching Ranka so I could display the two of them together. They're so cute together!

Here are my Macross figures! I saw this figure at Book Off in New York City one day. I decided to go to the store on the day of a doll meet to see if she was still there, and she was. Yes, I was attracted to her for obvious reasons And she wasn't in the best of condition. But gosh darn it, I just loved her. I didn't even know what franchise she was from back then. I just knew I wanted to bring her home. It turns out she's Sheryl from Macross Frontier, and it began a love of Sheryl and Macross in general. This Christmas Sheryl figure on the right was a Christmas gift from a lady who is very special to me. She's proudly displayed above my computer. I found out that the stand she came with was a combo stand, so I could get the matching Ranka figure and display them both. I'm not the biggest Ranka fan, but she's adorable and is a cute addition next to her friend Sheryl. This is the crown jewel of my figure collection. Yet another Sheryl. This is her mid-transformation between her black and white bunny costumes. More than a little cheeky She's a higher end take on my first Sheryl figure. The details on the figure herself are spectacular. There are portions of both of her costumes in use, and they're both sculpted top notch. Sheryl's lovely hair, gorgeous body, and beautiful face make for an unforgettable feminine sight. The whole setup is impressive, too. Intricately arranged gears and cabling that complete the theme in both visual and functional manners. I've had figures that have bases that aren't simply flat ground, but the whole support structure is used to a whole different level here. I'm also not 100% sure exactly where Sheryl herself is anchored in the setup. I think she's mostly secured from the top, of all places, but I'm not 100% sure. Whatever's going on, this Sheryl has some serious magic that makes me smile every time I see her Finally, this one actually isn't mine, but I used to run a monthly ball jointed doll meetup in Central NJ, and there was a person who had a Sheryl Dollfie Dream and brought her to the meet. This was long before I knew who Sheryl was and only had a passing knowledge of the difference between Robotech and Macross.

I'm happy for this news. I'll definitely be picking them up as I'm able. Even Plus, which I'm not a big fan of. I don't really have anything to add here except to say that I have just one Rightstuf/Nozomi Ultra Edition, and it's massive. It's the Gundam Wing one. I figured it would be the only Ultra Edition that I'd ever get, just because Wing was such a huge part of that time of my being a teenager, but I might have to shoot for at least Frontier's Ultra Edition. The Wing one came with a whole-ass book filled with a boatload of art and some interviews. It wasn't a small DVD sized book like in other special editions like Outlaw Star or whatever. It was a full fat book. I liked it, but I wish it covered more of Wing's road to being shown in the US, the US response to it, interviews with the English voice actors, etc. It was pretty much just the same old interviews with the Japanese people involved in its original mid-90s production for Japan. Also, and this probably isn't anyone's fault, just packaging reasons with respect to practicality for fitting a whole-ass book in the Ultra Edition set along with all of the discs and the other knick-knacks, the box actually had a lot of empty space. I was able to fill this empty space with my two mid-00s Anime Legends TV series DVD sets, and I was even able to squeeze in the Endless Waltz DVD from back in the day. I'm hoping that the Frontier and Delta boxes aren't quite so huuuuuuuuuuuuuge. I think the other Gundam Ultra Edition boxes ended up being Wing huuuuuuuuuuuuuge, though. I don't believe the Revolutionary Girl Utena limited complete blu ray box set was considered an Ultra Edition, but if they made something like that for the Macross boxes then that would be fine for me. That actually fits on my anime shelf!

I went to both Frontier movies over the past couple weeks. I didn't go to Plus because I'm not really a big fan of it plus because I wasn't going to theaters at the time of its release due to covid concerns though I was vaccinated. I figure by now I must've had it already due to all of the dingbats I'm around all day long and was completely asymptomatic plus being vaccinated, so I'm living my life more. I went to Cinemark in Hazlet, NJ for both. It was a pretty small crowd for both, but it wasn't abysmal. Everyone was there on time for the first movie, but strangely people were coming in late for the second. I figured they were going to considering I saw that practically the same seats for both showing were sold. Maybe they were getting caught up in early shore traffic. I know I did, but I also made sure to leave home early enough. Cinemark's showing was fine. All of the previews and bonus stuff were shown. There were two brief sound dropouts during the second movie, but it was nothing major. The video was fine on both showings. Maybe not the highest quality video ever, but plenty fine. It was enough to make me happy, and the movies made me happy. I absolutely love Sheryl, so getting to see her on the big screen was awesome. I mostly ignored reading the song lyrics subtitles, but I've got to echo the comment about Sheryl's lyrics being thirsty. My dad joked to me that I was going to see a dirty movie, and then Sheryl's first song in the second movie starts with "Mix your DNA inside of me!" I just about died Nobody else in the theater seemed to be a fan of Macross in particular, though there was at least one fan of anime or at least Japanese culture in general because I saw one guy wearing a Band Maid shirt. That was cool. I think the people in my row weren't fans and found some of the animeness of the movie amusing (they thought Gothic Lolita Alto was hilarious), but they weren't annoying about it. I hope the two movies served to open up the world to anime to some new people. Reading all this Regal displeasure makes me think they're just not good with Fathom Events showings. I saw the GI Joe 80s animated movie (I'm a huuuuuuuuuuuge Joe fan) last weekend at the Regal in North Brunswick, NJ, and like was mentioned by someone else here, they didn't turn on the projector until the movie itself was just about to start. I missed the bonus content because of it. I wonder if the "surround sound effect" in one of the Frontier movies was just an illusion. I think it's possible all Fathom Events movies are shown in stereo. Every one I've seen has been like this. Especially the Transformers 80s animated movie that I saw when they randomly showed it in 2018 or 2019. I have the Australian blu ray from before Shout Factory made a US version, and the surround sound track on that blu ray will melt your face. I don't have the Shout Factory version, so I don't know if maybe they didn't have access to the surround sound track and that carried over to the theatrical showing, but it's certainly a trend in the Fathom Events showing. It wasn't the slightest of dealbreakers for me, though. Sheryl in stereo was still heavenly. The Frontier bonus content was sweet. Yes, the second movie's intro bonus content was similar to the first's, but it was apparently different when the lady started talking specifically about the second movie. The Proplica ads were ads, but they were cute. I don't know, I might get the Proplica microphones. I would never realistically use them for a multitude of reasons, but I'm just feeling a soft spot for them right now. They also showed a Veritech fighter at some point and said check out Sideshow Collectibles for Macross merch. It was the only place I saw Robotech and Harmony Gold logos, too. The Veritech fighter looked really, really cool. I see there's some stuff on the Sideshow Collectibles website now, and some of it is EXPENSIVE I see Rightstuf has the Proplica microphones for much less money. Not cheap, but it is what it is. Most of the people in the theater didn't stick around for the music videos after the credits of the second movie. They were missing out! A few minutes of extra sexy Sheryl content is always worth waiting for! Seeing these movies has made me want to watch the TV series again. An official US release has just been announced, but I don't know if I can wait that long! I need more Sheryl in my life! She gives me dreams and desires!