Apollo Leader

This is the review of the Harmony Gold Macross VHS tape I did for Macross World back in the spring of 2001 (of course it is now available on one of the Robotech DVD boxsets): Though it sounds hard to believe, Harmony Gold originally intended on releasing Super Dimension Fortress Macross in virtually complete form, dubbed into English, to the US back in 1984. Before Robotech came into being, the first three episodes of Macross were dubbed into English using virtually most of the voice actors that would end up working on the Macross Saga episodes of Robotech. This single tape was available in either the VHS and Beta formats. All 36 episodes of Macross were originally to be directly released to home video. This English dubbing of Macross stays pretty faithful to the original material. Virtually all the content is intact (only the few seconds where Hikaru/Rick blacks out and dreams of flying with Roy is oddly enough cut), most of Haneda Kentaro's original soundtrack is intact, the SDF-1 is called the Macross, VF-1's are called Valkyries, the mid transformation mode for the VF-1 is Gerwalk, the island the Macross lands on is called South Atalia island, and there is no mention of the "Robotech Masters" or "Zor". A few of the notable changes include a few name changes (Hikaru Ichijo becomes Rick Yamata and Misa Hayase becomes Lisa Hayase) and the opening credit music and a few other scores are replaced by Ulpio Minucci music. We are also introduced to a little bit of the cheesy voice acting that would be common in Robotech (any moment I was expecting Rick to blurt out, "Gee golly willickers, Batman, oops, I mean Roy!" LOL:)) and Carl Macek's "styling" of adding dialogue where it previously didn't belong and making up technologies that didn't exist (since when did the Zentradi have "Phaser X" cannons?!?). As for the availability of this tape, I believe it is quite rare. During the last year and a half of watching Ebay, I have seen this tape pop up only twice. The first time I saw it, I was able to snag it for just $25. The second time I saw an auction for it, the final bid ended somewhere over $50. In both auctions, the tapes came with their original clamshell casings. No matter what you may think of Harmony Gold and Robotech, I would extremely recommend getting this tape. It is a very unique piece of Macross history and gives us a glimpse of what could have been in regards to Macross being properly established in the US.

For $500, I think they wouldve sold. I know some people cant put thier money whare thier mouth is. He wouldve made $25,000 if he sold 50 of them, not a bad income for what i consider a hobby. Off topic, but my buddy works for a hobby rocketry place and some of the rockets cost upwards of $30,000 and they dont guaranty recovery or explosion. They cost on average $2,000-$3,000 for each launch for the big ones,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,now thats an expensive hobby I'm into high power model rocketry big time. The hobby isn't THAT expensive. B) custom stuff for rich guys is , ive seen $2000 worth of carbon fiber and weeks of work go into thiese things, just on the body There are some projets, like those who are trying to reach the edge of space, who's projects may reach in the tens-of-thousands-of-dollars rangem so there are those exceptions. Some rocketeers flying H through M class have used Kevlar and carbon fiber (along with fiber glass) for strong, light weight construction. The thread may now return to its topic!

For $500, I think they wouldve sold. I know some people cant put thier money whare thier mouth is. He wouldve made $25,000 if he sold 50 of them, not a bad income for what i consider a hobby. Off topic, but my buddy works for a hobby rocketry place and some of the rockets cost upwards of $30,000 and they dont guaranty recovery or explosion. They cost on average $2,000-$3,000 for each launch for the big ones,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,now thats an expensive hobby I'm into high power model rocketry big time. The hobby isn't THAT expensive. B)

This game just handed Battlecry its lunch!

It appears Game Faq is the only place stating a US release for VF-X2 this year.

Runaway had Patlabor beat by 5 years or so.

The "bankofkev" on the previous page is an imposter. Before that post appeared, I have already swapped a few PM's with the real BankofKev (notice that some of the letters are now capped). Kev has not made a single posting to Macross World as of this time.

For the in-air or distant shots, I have my digital camera set to 1600 x 1200 with super fine resolution set. For this thread, I cropped the pictures to approxinately 640 x 480 to be consistent with the static display pictures I have posted here (saves memory, too). My camera has a zoom and a high speed mode (for taking pictures of moving objects) so that helps too. Offutt will always be SAC HQ for me just like the Strategic Air and Space Museum will ALWAYS be SAC Museum to me.

Sorry I'm a week late with this, but better late then never! At the end of the paragraph is a glimmer of a hope for a US release.

Is this just in the full animation cell or is this blooper in the actual animation (which usually crops off part of the artwork)?

I only got to see the first the first two movies once on the big screen. The 3-movie marathon showing sounds tempting.

Best one yet!

It's just a simple grill... the main thing about making the F-117 was making a non-curved, faceted, aircraft that would not only redirect electromagnetic energy away from a transmitting radar, but one that would also FLY!

Offutt is the home of the Strategic Command and the 55th Recon. Wing. SAC ceased to be June 1st 1992. 1. NEVER have had problems taking pictures of the F-117 at a show. What base/field did you run into problems? I remember at the 1990 Offutt Air Show when the F-117 made its first debut... there were two layers of security rope back in those days for the Nighthawk! 2. There was some odd criteria for which aircraft were roped or not. The F-15E's, the A-10's, the B-52, the F-117, the E-3 Sentry, the RC-135, and some other's were roped. The F/A-18 and the B-1B were not... it seemed real weird that the more modern B-1 was more accessible then the ancient B-52! On Saturday, they even had the boarding ladder open for the public to get a few of the B-1's cockpit! I asked one of the F-15E pilots about this and his answers were 1) the Air Force and Navy's rules were different about this, 2) the B-1 probably wasn't roped because much of the aircraft is high above the ground (unlike the lower sitting B-52 and the other fighters), 3) there was just "certain things on some of these aircraft that the Air Force didn't want people seeing or touching". I should add that in pass years, aircraft like the F-15E or A-10 had no security rope and anyone could come up and touch them... of course this is a post 9/11 world. 3. The E-4B mainly operates within the vicinity of Offutt and mainly stays within US borders. Probably not much concern for defense against IR missiles (that could change, though). 4. There has been a Nimrod at the show numerous times through out the years either on ground display or in the air. Also, German Tornado IDS's have been here on fround display a few time. There was quite a few NATO aircraft here for the 1999 show including Jaguars. 5. A B-2 has been part of almost every show going back to 1995. The B-1 is always cool to see. A Harrier performs here about every two or three years. 6. Though it's less manueverable, I love the sheer power of the F-15. 7. I liked the YF-23 over the YF-22 myself.

From what I can tell, the RX-78 and Char's Gelggog are still lined up for a September/October release.

I might get it this week. I will have to decide which version to get since I have both a PS2 and Gamecube. I'll probably go with the Gamecube version because the graphics are much sharper and its got Link.

Game Informer magazine has an article about the game. Bandai Ent. has been asked if they would release it in the US and the answer was that they would look into doing it. I'll try to get the article scanned this evening... I've had the mag since Saturday, but I've just been too busy!

I hope a US PS2 release of AEUG vs. Titans becomes a reality next year!

For me it's ADV this year... Excel Saga and Mospeada (even if the subs in Mospeada kinda sucked)!

I gotta bunch more pictures, but they are pretty much a repeat of everything you just saw. Again, if anyone wants me to e-mail them any of the movies I recorded, let me know. Gotta wait another year to the 2004 Offutt Air Show and Open House!

The Nimrod shows off its bomb bay where it's torpedoes are stored.

An RAF Nimrod performed on both days of the show. The Nimrod is a direct descendant of the old Comet airliner... Britain's and the world's first operational jet powered airliner. The Nimrod is used for anit-shipping and anti-submarine patrols.

F-16 makes a tight, high G turn.

A few more F-16 pictures! F-16 on a high speed pass.

This was a better picture I got of the F-117 when it flew on Sunday; it arrived back at Offutt just minutes after the T-6 had been cleared.