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sketchley

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Everything posted by sketchley

  1. sketchley
    Again, they are. You must always keep in mind that Japan is not the United States or other English speaking countries where entertainment properties stay in the minds of all but the most devoted for decades. In Japan, once a series has ended its broadcast run, its popularity drops off quite abruptly. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. However, if you go to any major, nationwide store (ie Yodobashi Camera, or Joshin), at present, the only Macross related items are the Hasegawa kits - and even then, not many. And of those, the majority have been sitting on the shelves gathering dust for at least half a decade. (I once saw one of the Bandai hi-metal (or whatever) VF-25 toy (the ones that are half the size of a Hasegawa model) at Yamada Denki, but that was way back at the height of Macross F's popularity - just after the series ended). Votoms? Nothing. Gundam being the exception. And Toys r' us? Well, they had a few of the Bandai VF-1 kits and weapon sets when they were just released. But their modelling section has steadily eroded, and at present its just Gundam and Yamato related kits. So, what's popular these days? What's the latest Kamen Rider/Ultraman sentai series running after school? THAT'S what's popular in the mainstream. Wolfx: what is your source that "major" hobby stores are ordering on consignment? And ordering specifically 50-100 units each?
  2. sketchley
    Some movement on the translation front this week: SDF-1 Macross: A Thorough Analysis This has been sitting on the back burner for ages now (T.T). Nevertheless, it's now up to date with all that I've translated for it... http://monkeybacon.mywebcommunity.org/OTmiscbooks.php Model Graphix #215 What is the VE-1AEW Alvitr? Well, hopefully this will answer it for those who, like me, have been stumbling across it in the magazine section of [classic] MW. http://monkeybacon.mywebcommunity.org/OTmiscmagazines.php
  3. sketchley
    What about the stuff that you can't even get at local comic shops? That's the category that these products fall into. Nevertheless, as your definition of niche vs. main stream is quite... unique, we'll leave it at that. Dear other readers: hopefully you've gleaned something from this side discussion on the distribution and retailing of these products, no matter what your definition of limited distribution (aka niche) is, or not.
  4. sketchley
    I've never seen Yamato/Arcadia toys at Yodobashi Camera. Maybe they're limited to one particular branch? The other establishments are all mail order. 2 of them have only a single store. And they're all extremely niche retailers.
  5. sketchley
    I'm not sure about the 500 to 800 passenger size, but there was a show on the Discovery channel about using a modernly designed airship for heavy transport. Given such a capability, it shouldn't be a problem for up to a quarter of your inquired passenger number. Mind you, as its a modern design using modern technologies, the airship shape is quite different from the classic zeppelin design.
  6. sketchley
    Thanks for the translation. It was on my "it would be nice if ..." translation to-do list, and I'm glad that you got around to it, what with your better understanding of the production side of Macross. If anything, I'd like to highlight the visual design part of the interview (using a carrier for scaling, but only 1, as 2 would be boring) - which echoes comments from Mr. Kawamori about the Studio Nue design methodology and how the VF-1 came to be (comments via Tochiro).
  7. sketchley
    Some of us are trying to make our RPG sites as correct as possible :cry:
  8. sketchley
    Variable Vehicle is the cover-all/catch-all term. Everything else (sans Variable Mecha) is a specialized variation. What anime fans term "mecha" is defined in-universe as "Mobile Weapon" for some powers (i.e.: the Zentraadi), "Valkyrie" (for the Variable Vehicles), or Destroid.
  9. sketchley
    No, they're not. They're only sold in specialty hobby shops. It's the Bandai and Hasegawa stuff that gets sold in some of the major stores, if that. And even then, it's an EXTREMELY limited selection at best.
  10. sketchley
    Found: UN Army Soldier OCC UN Army Officer OCC Creatures Stats (Galactic Whale, etc.) Special thanks to Nathan for providing the stats!
  11. sketchley
    Any assistance would be much appreciated!
  12. sketchley
    It's worse than that - lack of usage [that's an educated guess at best, as I've been trying to sort it out for the past few days, and, well, free hosting. You get what you paid for, especially when it comes to host responsiveness]. ANYWHO, new host, same site content: http://monkeybacon.mywebcommunity.org/ Please update your favourites. And I'm making a personal commitment to change my free time habits and invest a bit more time into transferring the backlog of html files into php on the site - up until now, when I've been doing that, the site has exceeded the host's lower traffic limits. Nevertheless, fingers crossed with this new host!
  13. sketchley
    For the most part, that is true. But there are some sections that do require a bit more logic than the average child has to figure out -if one doesn't speak Japanese, of course. I'm referring to such things as the sections that explicitly state not gluing certain areas of certain parts together when joining them to the model, and so forth.
  14. sketchley
    Is that Pg 076? One of the few things I translated on that page... http://www.monkeybacon.host-ed.me/OTvfmf/VFMFvf25messiah.php#FAST
  15. sketchley
    That reminds me (was going to post earlier, but misplaced this topic): The James Bond OHMSS theme (if memory serves) as one of the main actiony themes in Evangelion, and one of the pieces in "2010: The Year We Make Contact" showing up in Gundam 0083!
  16. sketchley
    As one of the translators, I'll throw in my 2 cents: When in doubt, I fall back on the Macross Compendium's list in that link. But let me remind us all that not all of us come from the same country nor speak the same English. So, some of the confusion may be stemming from Commonwealth English using different terminology than American English, to name but one difference. That one could be stemming from the autocorrect feature - as both "commanding officer" and "commander" should probably not be capitalized in this case - that's one more difference in Japanese: there's no capitalization to clarify if something is a proper noun or merely a descriptor!
  17. sketchley
    Funny, that's the mode I keep mine in, too. Which GERWALK version, though - arms in, or arms out?
  18. sketchley
    It's an in-joke.
  19. sketchley
    And here are the first few pages of the instructions: http://www.monkeybacon.host-ed.me/OTMiscBooks/SDFMacrossPapercraft.php Hopefully they'll be helpful to you guys that are also working on this kit.
  20. sketchley
    And... the first few pages are up. The instructions are pretty dry going at times, but hopefully they'll clarify some of the questions I had when I started this kit "tekito" style. http://www.monkeybacon.host-ed.me/ -> Other Books -> SDF-1 Macross: A Thorough Analysis [the SDF-1 Papercraft]
  21. sketchley
    The way you've phrased it is that the external equipment is responding to output from the brain, not vice versa. Nevertheless, the problem is that "functional map of human brain" - as everyone's brains develop differently (in the sense of the connections between neurons), beyond the basics (these general functions are performed in this general area), the mapping would have to be on a per-person basis, and updated in almost real time. I don't want to completely disagree with you, as there have been cases where input has been applied to the brain (either directly or indirectly through the nervous system), but so far it has been, for the purpose of our discussion, extremely general. So, IMHO, I think it would be far easier to 'fry' a person's brain than to subtly manipulate it.
  22. sketchley
    There were a few other exhibit related items - but aside from the book and a few DVDs (if memory serves), nothing Macross related. Righty-oh! If memory serves, that was another one that wasn't present. (Though, I can't remember if Kawamori-san penned any of the mechanical designs in that series, or not. If he didn't, that would explain why it wasn't present.) I'm going to defer to Renato's post, and finish this tangent off with another vague answer: each person's reasons are as diverse as each person is.
  23. sketchley
    In short, if you are not fluent in Japanese, your options are extremely limited. Teaching English being the most common employment. Of course, if you have both fluency and trade skills* that are in demand, your employment options expand considerably. * Not just technical skills. E.g.: there is a high demand for skilled care workers for the elderly. EDIT: to get a working visa, you're going to need some sort of university degree. The other option is the spousal visa, but of the two, that's probably the harder one to get.
  24. sketchley
    It's more complicated than that. To the point that one wonders if a "one size fits all" approach to the interface language when wiring up the brain is even possible. Just ponder for a moment when you hear a word. For example: apple. What comes to mind first for you? Shape? Colour? Texture? Flavour? Good or bad experiences? Positive or negative emotional connotations? That order of questions gives you a hint on how my mind works, but it still leaves a lot of things vague - what shape? What colour? Etc.. Even if your order is the same, the variables are probably extremely different. And that's just one word, with no modifications (ie: an apple, a spotted apple). On the one hand, that example shows how memory is stored and accessed in the brain, and it also explains why one is able to recall everything BUT the name of a person or an object ("Hey, it's THAT guy from THAT movie!"). On the other hand, it signifies how difficult it is to wire up and connect a computer to a brain, as the bits of memory and their associations are all over the place, and they very extremely from person to person. (I don't disagree that it should be possible to train someone on how to interface with a wire into the head, but until parts of the brain are converted over to such things as microchips that have a standardized computer language on them, I disagree with the idea of it being possible to hack or upload viruses into brains). As you can see, I've thought a bit about this as something very similar crops up in my work - teaching language. If you use the above example thought process, you can more easily learn a foreign language - associating the target language word with the things your brain most strongly associates with the English equivalent word, and skip the translation headache (that word means this in English, which means that in my mind)!
  25. sketchley
    We're all motivated in some way or another to do what it takes, and in other ways too stubborn to toss in the towel and return to our native country when things get up to the Nth degree. If you are contemplating on taking the plunge, here are 2 quotes that have stuck with me: "Japan is a place where you can blow through a life's savings in less than a week.", and "If you come to Japan with any expectations, you're bound to be disappointed." Your mileage on those may vary.
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