Batou

What the heck was Macross Zero? I agree it doesn't impress as much (by a long shot). The thing is you can do cell shading so that it doesn't look so forced and plastic - GITS: SAC comes to mind. I've seen stuff in commercials the local community college's computer animation program that looked as good as this.

I've used both as well, and I tend to prefer Takatoys'. If you're going to do a full repaint and customize the heck out of it, I can see getting Anasazi's decals, and this would probably yield the best results from what I've seen on these boards. His stickers just don't hold up as well under repeated handling as Takatoys' for me, though, and I refuse to be bothered to repaint and/or seal my valks in clear coats after decaling (I have tons of unbuilt Hasegawa's for that). Of course, YMMV.

The 21 became my favorite valk immediately from the first second I saw it ... call it fanboy love at first sight. My jaw just dropped. I'd sell my spare organs on the black market for a good quality 1/60 22 in Max or Gamlin colors ... don't suppose that's ever going to happen, though. The 19 is a close second. Truth be told, I'd buy any and all of the above. Well, maybe I'd pass on the ghost ... I just can't get that excited about something you only saw in one episode of Mac+ and even then only whipping by so fast you never really get a good look. Meh. I am much more selective about what I get these days and am thrilled Yamato is starting to put out new molds instead of milking the 1/48 with repaint after repaint. Now bring on the enemy mecha ... I'd kill for a 1/60 Glaug.

Austin isn't LA or NYC, but we get a lot of them in town for SXSW and other film and music festivals. Dennis Quaid, Sandra Bullock, et al are regulars at a restaurant my younger brother used to sous chef at. Notables: Micky Rourke and his bodyguard (as if he needed one) nearly knocked me over trying to hail a cab on 6th Street a few years ago. You see Lance Armstrong here and there. It's actually pretty casual and low key about it here - no one hassles them and gives them their space. Oh - the one time I was really kind of star struck was after bumping into George-Frickin'-Lucas in the hotel lobby of the Hilton in downtown San Francisco. I said "how's it goin' man" as he walked by maybe 3 feet away from me. I had had a few beers by then so I wasn't really sure it was even him until we were chatting up some of the waitresses in the lobby bar later and they confirmed he was staying there that weekend.

Oh hell ... no more VF-1'R' incidents ...

Wow what a difference real 3d and some paint make - that does indeed look amazing compared to the CAD wireframe art. Thanks for the pics, Graham. Anyone have any firm info (guesses) on a release date? I suppose we've been waiting long enough for this one to allow them to iron out any kinks at this stage, but now that I've seen the real deal ... I want this now!

I voted for the SDF-1, but I'd love to see just about any or all of them made. High on the list are the Glaug, Nousjadeul Ger, SV-51 and some destroids ...

Amen to that. I got bored with the VF-1 a while back, after the Hikaru VF-1J came out. I quit buying these until the GBP and VF-0 came out. The bottom line is that it's getting harder to get my money when I have literally a friggin' fleet of these things and it takes more justification to buy another and another. I'm not content with just a simple repaint of an existing sculpt anymore, but a whole new mold still gets my attention in a big way. I mean, how could I NOT get a 1/60 19? Or an 11 or a 21? (Or a 17 or a 4 for that matter ... )

I think the 21 would be almost (but not quite) as much a draw as the 19. If it sells even moderately well, I bet a 21 will follow within a year or so. I'd imagine they've at least given it some serious thought if they aren't already designing mockups in CAD. The 11's much more iffy ... Amen to that. On the other hand, I never thought in a million years we'd see this one get made.

1/48 for me, thanks. You've got to remember that most of the destroids (at least from the TV series and DYRL) were quite a bit shorter than the VF-1, making them pretty tiny (comparatively speaking). Your Q-Rau would dwarf one of these things. Plus, if you're going to do it, do it right, and I don't think you'd be able to get the level of detail we've come to expect from Yamato on a tiny 1/60 scale destroid. I'd love to see opening hatches, removable missles, etc, that the 1/60 would just be too small to feasibly fit all that on without making it too fragile.

Wow ... I wander off for a few days and look what shows up. I thought the weather report from Hell looked a little chilly. I don't have the patience to read through all 17 pages of this thread so far ... Why does everyone keep mentioning the 21 and 11 as if they've been confirmed? Did I miss something? I'd imagine the 21 is a no-brainer if this one sells well (which - duh - it will), and they've probably got one in the works as well (at least as far as a CAD design ... easy to cancel if this thing flopped ... like that's even possible). Oh what I wouldn't give for a 17 while you're at it ... Hey, they did the VB-6 and that was out of left field ... They _do_ have the license for it, after all ... I agree they should release this thing with the FP's. It's just a pair of leg and shoulder covers and hardly seems worth a second fp-release or an add-on kit unless they include a fold booster or something with it to make it worthwhile. Or something along the lines of that resin weapons kit someone put out a while back (Wave maybe? too lazy to go look it up) ... It's hard to tell if there will be any hardpoints on this sucker without a clear view of the bottom ... I hope at least you can pull out a missle or two from the leg missile bays ... Can't wait to find out what gimmicks they have in store for this one. Anyway, holy crap is this fantastic news. And curse you Graham for keeping this from us ... not that you could help it. I just hope the rest of the secrets you're keeping from us are this exciting.

Count me in for a set of the 1/60 stickers. I'd also buy at least one of the 1/48 GBP sets if you make them, for what it's worth.

Definitely Kusonagi. Nobody - and I mean NOBODY - does anime babes like Shirow. She'll never get old and flabby, she's into chicks, and is about as far opposite of needy as you could ask for. And I'm pretty sure you can't get her pregnant. Never mind she could pull your arms off or fry your brain if you catch her PMS'ing ...

Sorry - hadn't been on the site for a few days. We actually trade off ... I'm lead on some songs, he does the others. He's actually a pretty good player, which was a surprise going in and not at all what I was expecting. Very definitely holding his own. This is really his thing, though ... The choice of tunes we do aren't exactly my first choice, but how am I going to pass up a chance to play gigs like this? You can't even see the back of the room for all the warm bodies out there. I was walking around like a teenager in love for a solid week last year after the first show ... just a huge stupid grin on my face ... Especially when all the cute realtor girls would come up and say "You were that guitar player, weren't you?". Bliss, my friend. Utter Bliss.

Unix administrator, and general purpose IT whipping boy. Get this - the COB of my company plays guitar and had a wild hair to start up a cover band about a year and a half ago. He's a millionaire, and can do whatever the hell he wants, so why not, right? So he finds out I used to teach guitar and gig all the time years ago, and now has me playing with them and so he books us gigs at this big convention we hold in Vegas every year (his name is on the building, so who's going to tell him "no"?). We're playing two dates next month in front of 13000 people ... It was 7000 last year ... So I can add that to my list of job responsibilities, anyway. It's completely crazy to think that I waited my entire life to play a crowd that size, and where do I get my chance? Working for a real estate company ... Life is nuts.

Oh fuh sho. I'd be down for 2 or 3 sets depending on what they cost ...

Heh ... I just picked up a new PRS Artist Series that took a significant chunk out of my holiday bonus ... Oh, man it was sooo worth every penny, though. I already want another. And who said strippers?

Heh. I thought my ears were burning. I saw it at the local university theater on sunday (small screen, hard seats, lackluster sound, paid parking, yada yada) ... I'm very glad to say I saw the subbed version. I have to say I was absolutely amazed by it. More so than anything I've seen in quite a while. The animation quality was just breathtaking, and I think the storyline flowed much better than the original. Someone mentioned a fansub floating out there ... can anyone point out where to look? I don't particularly feel like waiting for the DVD to catch this one again. Also, does anyone have any idea who's going to get the US release rights?

Congratulations, Kevin.

I'm definitely interested in the YF-19 weapons set & booster. Any idea as to cost yet?

Yeah, as everyone else said, the remastered Animeigo disks have by far the best image quality. The sub quality on all of the boots I've seen leaves quite a bit to be desired. I have one set (forget which), and the dialog is completely nonsensical. If you weren't already intimately familiar with the story, you'd have absolutely no idea what was going on. Just awful. Definitely go for the Animeigo sets. If you really want a quality Macross TV set, it's the only way to go.

Very interesting. I love the bits he's been doing on CN lately. McFarlane definitely deserves all the success he can muster - the resurrection of Family Guy is a bewildering and unexpected schock to one so jaded by network cluelessness. It was easily the best show Fox put on the air since the Simpsons, IMHO, and I think anyone who's seen it will agree it was taken away WAY before it's time.

Got a call from EB earlier today - they're getting it in tomorrow afternoon. I think I'm (cough cough) coming down with something nasty. Better not go to work or leave the house for the next few days.

This looks just complely unbelievable so far, John. Outstanding. I'm only waiting for payday to make my contribution. Any idea as to how much this sucker is going to cost us when all is said and done? I love the idea of that launch vehicle, too, but I'm afraid it might make the price a little out of reach for some of us - from the pics I'm looking at in Perfect Memory, that addition would make this one BIG kit. I'm in either way.

I saw it - liked it better than the first, in fact.