AngelBird4

I know Fanime is bet now and then too, and that Sac seems to be a relax-a-con and cosplay event more than anything (haven't been to one), but Mari's scheduled to perform. Wondering if anyone's going and if a sm. MW gathering is in order? Sept 3-5, Radisson, Sacramento http://www.sacconventions.com/ http://www.sacanime.com/

Oh those wings... gah... all right, so they're 'getting it right'. Driving me nuts is just an added bonus. Thanks for the reply...

I was checking a few things bet my HAS. VF-1S Strike and the Minmay Guard Battroid... and man are there some differences in the size of some elements. I don't recall any reason why this would be so. Specifically looking at the lower legs, which have even more of a difference bet the fighter/battroid than the leg add-ons do. Just curious if this is a weight/balance need, an aesthetic decision... or...???

I suppose this happens when your books are 2000 miles away... I am trying to find character sheet or line art of Hikaru in the DYRL flight suit. I have a sculpture that I'm starting soon and need to get the armature started this week. This is a way of saying that I'm hoping to get ref tonight or early tomorrow AM, so I can work out scale and any quirks. All of my ref is in Houston, I'm in northern Ca. A character sheet would rock, having a hard time (even in Chronicles) finding anything, especially the hard surface elements. Any links, tips, or such would be really appreciated. I'm on the clock for this one and will have it done in time for the Mar. 20 SF meet-up. Many thanks in advance.

I'm in, I'll be staying over the 19th and maybe 20th.

You intrigue me, please elaborate further. I'm not a fan of remakes either, or of trodding on what's been established previously. So I suppose all I can do is wonder, 'What could be accomplished?' with a remake that we only had hinted at or would like to be expanded upon, etc? Would you look more into the Zen/Mel backgrounds? Start the story sooner? Remove flashbacks and actually cover those time periods? I'm not a fan of multi-generational arcs, so that'd be tough to do and have it be satisfying. I don't see anything wrong with the mecha designs, but some systems could be added (talked about vector thrust, etc) and sure, bring some bits to prominence. But this is a story about heroes and people who are 'worth writing about'. Bring it all up to one level and it gets boring. I don't give a damn about Joe Blow in the VF-1A that got blowed up real good, or the same in the Monster who got fragged or whatever. Focus on the right characters and what they need/use to tell the story. Got a fave bit of hardware that's stuck in the background? Sorry, that was its role. For any animation house, the look and feel of CG mecha anim has improved a great deal, though still sticks out. If you go that route, as with F, then you've got to get a character animation team in that can match the fluidity and consistency, but keep them grounded.

For me, after the 19th... heck the 20th is my BDay, and I'll be finishing up 6 weeks of sculpting and dying to get out for a while :-) Anyone else? btw, should mention this is preference only, I'll head down for it at about any time, but a bit of notice to make accommodations would rock, so later also helps there.

Thought I'd throw another, 'Anyone know if the trailer for False Songstress has at least made it into theaters?'. My best friends in Japan... are here in the US for another month. :-p

So far behind... just catching up on Macross F and Gundam 00 (have only watched S1, not sure I want to get into S2) and re-watching Onegai Sensei. Enjoying being able to watch a few episodes of MF at a time, on my pace, but going to catch up to the fansubbers soon. :-) Lined up: Hikaru No Go Strike Witches Bakuretsu Tenshi (too busy to catch it a while back) Reading: Battle Royale novel. Contemplating re-visiting a load of '80s and early '90s when my CW contract ends (if I don't get over to Singapore) So that'd be: some Yamato Urusei Yatsura fight iczer-one and more recent titles too.. anyone have any 'must-sees of the last five years or so? Work really got me down to only catching a couple of series a year.

Have to jump in with more M7 harping... never saw it, never will... I plan to re-visit MII at some point to get it all under my belt so to speak. Re-watching F now, and will rewatch Macross in its new remastered state with friends who haven't seen it or DYRL... and then see about MII. Crazy. Takes a lot of energy to be a fan!

Either Santa Rosa, San Rafael, Nicasio or San Francisco, CA... or maybe Singapore soon. Have Valkyrie will travel. Or something...

Just a little fuel for the caption fire... personally I just haven't come up with one yet, but I'm sure there are a few ideas around...

We almost have Cedar Rapids completely surrounded! Okay, erm, we just aren't that close...

JBO You hit a lot of it right on the head... I work for a developer, and if we spent time making the things that the fans screamed for, we'd get our asses laughed off and we'd tank in about two quarters. Most developers can't think beyond what's out right now, the thought of creative directors going no further than 'Give me Prince of Persia meets Tetris' or some such. The fans, oh please... worse by a long shot. If you watch a mod community there may be glimmers of hope, but by and large, developers have got to get it together to break out of this cycle. I think a radical tech infusion may cause some ripples down at the software level. Don't want to pay 600? Fine, prepare to get left behind... gone are the days when teh companies could suck it on the hardware and hope that titles made up for it. They let that ship sail for too long. You gotta pay for the system now, same as with PC gamers. That's part of why they try to integrate other useful bits (DVD functionality, etc)... anyway, don't like it? All right, but I can name 8 companies that won't be developing for PS2 and XB after 2007. (uh, rephrase, can but I think it's a no-no) Anyway, it's nearly a no-win situation, and unfortunately too many folks pay attention to what the fans want (as voted on with their dollars) and crank out same old same old... and it's another fine line to walk, knowing when to break free from a convention and safe and marketable (and hopefully profitable) genre or title, to go after something groundbreaking. These days, when anyone's got a great new title or piece of hardware, all of a sudden half a million 'experts' who claim to have seen or know something (...do these guys think we don't read the forums... to laugh at them?!), or who think they need to be hip and cynical, start trashing you. So advanced word of mouth (yeah, right, based on nothing) gets you second guessing yourself, so maybe you back off of a feature, a new piece of tech, a new gameplay idea... and get smacked by your 'fans' for not going far enough, or for being reviewed as 'well, this is really just XYTitle with a new coat of paint' or some garbage. My take: good on Nintendo for telling it as it should be and taking this all the way to release.

Hmmm... guessing this comes in under the newbie header, as it's a hunt for info that may be out there (didn't see zip about it) I'm trying to put together a Macross pilot roll call for a couple of illustrations, just the original series or DYRL. Aside from the usual group of idiots, are any of the others (I'm guessing pilots as they're in flight or pilot gear) named? Scenes in the TV series (dashing out of the restaurant to get to the Prometheus) or in the DYRL concert audience or getting squashed, etc... So far: Focker Ichijo Jenius Kakizaki Warmaker Jenius I do mean fighter pilots, but even Defender or CAT or even the pilot who got tagged by an asteroid (Misa's chauffeur) or such...? I don't have any of the box art illos of the old kits that may have a call out (except for the above K Warmaker on a... 1A?)... so if anyone's got anything, I'd really appreciate finding out. I'm going to watch DYRL again tonight to listen to the background chatter and see if I pick anything up, but thought I'd toss this in here as well. EDITED for goofed spelling and to try to clear up a point...

Okay, heck of a first post topic (Hi) but none-the-less, a good one, and I've got some familiarity with these so... yeah I'm biased. BUT... to back myself up. I figger Roy's the kind who, lush as he is, still has a bit of 'might not be here tomorrow' awareness to him, and I'd think that as he can get it, he'll aim high each time. That been said (and no, I don't mean he's buying the best stuff every night, just... you know, a litle one-upmanship at the bar...) Glenfiddich or Edradour. Probably a local sake, if he can't get one he might have grown up with. Sapporo or TsingTao... would hedge to Sapporo. I'm sure he's led the squadron in more than a few rounds of sake bombs... probably got a special Skull Bomb named after them or something. :-) I don't see him being a mixed drink type, unless he knows he's flying in a few hours and gets something a little less nasty (but Claudia did say... well, the man can drink) Anyhoot, hi to all...