Lord of Tetris

It's common in anime and American cartoons. Before puberty, boy and girl vocal chords aren't all that different. Boy actors have the inconvenience of hitting puberty sooner or later, and they don't sound like boys anymore. A woman's voice will always be higher than a man's, so they commonly voice boys. More than you'd think. For example, in the Simpsons, women actors play Bart Simpson, Milhouse, Rod and Tod, Kearny, Jimbo, Ralph Wiggums, and probably a lot more. Ben from Ben 10 was voiced by a woman until the story had him age a few years, whereupon his actor was switched to a man. Popular male anime characters voiced by women include Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin, Dilandau from Escaflowne, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and more. I don't really understand why Kenshin was voiced by a woman, since I believe he's supposed to be in his late 20s/early 30s in the series. Ah well. I guess Kenshin hasn't hit puberty yet.

I think the blue figure is either Punisher or Mr. Fantastic. Red one is probably Daredevil. Punisher, Mr. Fantastic, and Daredevil might be Marvel characters, but the movie rights to those characters are not owned by the same company that owns the Iron Man rights. Confusing, I know. Same reason why we won't be seeing Spider-Man in the Avengers movie.

The Indy movies are standalone adventures that have very little continuity carrying over from them. KOTCS will be perfectly viewable without prior Jones knowledge, although you will be missing several in-jokes and character relationships. But don't worry, it's more like James Bond, and less Godfather.

I'm going to just pretend that all instances of "How did Indy survive THAT?" can be attributed to him drinking from the Holy Grail in Indy 3.

There was a funny interview with Lucas and Spielberg on Jo Blo, which I will summarize/paraphrase below: Lucas: "Don't be surprised if this movie isn't what you were expecting. I've been through this before, and I can't guarantee this is what fans will be looking far. The movie might not be that great." Spielberg: "Don't listen to him. I directed it, and I think the movie is pretty good." Pretty hilarious. This interview was text only, no video, but I think Spielberg was jovial while Lucas was genuinely reliving the summer of 1999. As for Indy 5...I'm of the mind that any Indy is good Indy. Indys 1-3 are classic film making, and, well, the reviews for Indy 4 might be mixed, but Spielberg has never let me down. As long as Spielberg thinks he can keep making good Indy movies, I say we're ready for another Indy trilogy. HOWEVER! I said that any INDY is good Indy. INDIANA JONES. HENRY JONES JR. Mutt is not "good Indy." He's not even Indy. Having Shia LaBeouf's character become the new main character precludes Indy 5 as being Indy 5. It would be like Q becoming the main character of the next 007 movie. These movies are about INDY! I'd rather see Indy recast as a young 30-something, or to have Sean Patrick Flannery take over the role, than to see another character in the title role. I know lots of people think having an Indy 5 is preposterous, and I can see where they're coming from. Personally, I think as long as the movies remain GOOD and about Dr. Jones, I'll watch them. I'm not agreeing with the haters, but if Lucas proceeds with Shia as the main character and Indy becoming like Sean Connery's character, then jeez...hand me the pitchfork and torch, and I'll join the next man in protest of Indy 5. I haven't read any spoilers, but I sincerely hope Shia's role is more like Short Round (a supporting character) than like Ryan Reynolds in Blade 3 (a "supporting character" that was clearly being primed to have the "main character" torch passed along to him). Speaking of Short Round...anyone miss him? Again, I haven't read any spoilers, so I don't know if Shia's character "Mutt" is Indy's son, his student, some kid, or whatever. But from the looks of things, it looks like Mutt is yet another kid sidekick. Why not get Short Round back? I know he's almost 40 by now, but I thought Indy and Shorty made a great team, and their comraderie was second-to-none.

This is true. Such is the woe of parts-formers. Eventually, you either don't bother switching the parts out, or you lose the parts.

I have a question too... Why is it the chunky "monkey"? I understand the chunky part, but not why "monkey" is the animal of choice. Feels kinda like MGS, when Revolver Ocelot says, "And now, I will show you why they call me 'Revolver.'" Same reaction: "I KNOW why you're called 'Revolver,' I want to know why they call you 'OCELOT'!"

Couldn't just let them stand there without some sort of dialogue happening:

My humble offering: Roy and Starscream are fighting over the fate of Dr. Arkeville. I would've used the 1/48 VF-1, but I like the fact that the old 1/60 is practically the same size as MP Starscream, making for neater two-fer pictures.

I think you're going to get 2 kinds of replies here, so I guess I'll do my best to present either point of view. 1. You could buy the 1/48 Yamato has been putting out. These toys are probably the most durable transforming planes of this scale and detail, but this doesn't mean you can treat it like a toy from Transformers Armada. The size and play value are surprisingly great. Lots of neat parts, like detachable nose cone, moving flaps, air brake, landing gear, etc. You'll love it. Kinda costly, though, and you WILL lose 10 years off your life each time you try to attach the FAST packs. It's THAT scary. They will cost you about $120-$150 each. And these seem to be obsolete at the moment because....... 2. There are new 1/60 VF-1 toys due out. 90% of the board is convinced that these new guys are way superior to the 1/48s, and the other 10% (myself included) feel that the improvements over the 1/48 are there, certainly, but it isn't worth buying another VF-1. There certainly are improvements, like more posability in the arms, shorter nose cone-wang in robot mode, better FAST pack placement, in the same scale with the rest of Yamato's products, etc. I'm not sure how much these cost, but it seems that they do cost less than the 1/48, but many people seem to be disappointed that it doesn't cost that much less. In other words, you do save, but not a lot. If you never had a 1/48 Yamato, I would almost 100% recommend that you skip the 1/48s and get the 1/60s right off the bat, EXCEPT.... If you're in a rush to get the new 1/60s, be aware that it'll be a first-run of this model. I'm aware of Yamato's assurances that the quality control will be good. I'm aware that there is a new QC guy. But Yamato's track record with first-release toys is, well, awful. I'm afraid to touch my first-run VF-0S, and from what I hear, the first run of the YF-19 isn't exactly a Powermaster Prime in terms of stability. If you buy the new 1/60, be aware that you're buying a first-run product from a company that always tries to placate problematic first-runs by promising to fix it for the next production run. So to summarize, the way I see it, the pros and cons are: 1/48 scale: Great all around. This model has been out for years, so you can be comfortable with the knowledge that your 1/48 Valkyrie probably won't have any strange breakages or QC problems. While the 1/60 does have better proportions in robot mode, I insist that the 1/48 isn't too darn shabby either. And the 1/48 has a better plane mode. 1/60 scale: Great all around. First-production run, meaning you risk getting a floppy/malfunctioning/breakable product. Improved robot mode, more posable, FAST packs won't give you a heart attack (I'm guessing), and (in my opinion) inferior plane mode. And please be aware that the new 1/60 model is what you get. There's an old 1/60 model out there that was OK for its time, but (in retrospect) doesn't really look all that great compared to either the 1/48 or the new 1/60, and (yuck) requires that you detach the legs to transform. My personal recommendation? Get the 1/48 VF-1. My opinion is that the improvements made to the 1/60 Valkyrie simply isn't enough to convince me to buy. I'm also not comfortable getting any first-release from Yamato anymore. If you're in a rush to get a VF-1S, you won't go wrong with the 1/48 scale.

Anyone want to translate for us? I can see that certain parts are highlighted and labeled, and I kinda want to know what it says...

I really ought to add to this topic... Whenever I get a new transformable toy, I put it in various Christopher Walken poses. I put my 1/48 VF-1S into the entire music video by now, but I never bothered photographing it. I really need to photograph that Valk doing those fancy Walken moves. I really like the hinged wrists, because it enables Walken-esque poses better than many Transformers. Here's to prove that I'm not making up the Christopher Walken stuff:

I heard a rumor...and just that, an unsubstantiated rumor...that the toys are being "leaked" early by Hasbro. Collectors will get their fix early on, through Ebay, secondary markets, and "unauthorized" sale of these toys in the store. If this rumor is true, it means that Hasbro doesn't want a repeat of TFTM07, where Little Timmy and Little Suzie walk into Toys R' Us after seeing the movie, totally thrilled to get a Bumblebee, and crying that all they found were those stupid 3" Titaniums. If the collectors get their toys early on, then Little Timmy and Little Suzie will be able to get the toys they just saw on TV. Everyone wins. Except the scalpers, I guess.

Psh. I thought of the name several pages before you.

I got one. VF-25 Veritech. (hides)

I guess this isn't really adding to the topic of the 1/60, but I just had to put my 2 cents on the Roy debate. I think he'd go for the YF-19. Taken literally, if Roy hadn't died, he would be 30 years older, making him...50? 60? in Macross Plus. I doubt he'd be too fond of the YF-21's robot mode. If you talk to any middle-age or senior veterans, you can see that they harbor a lifelong dislike of their former enemy, regardless of their status today. EG, you probably won't find too many WW2 soldiers praising the hell out of the Mercedes. YF-19 just looks more like the "good guy" mecha from his war period, and YF-21 simply has too many aesthetic similarities to Zentradi battle suits. For that reason alone, I'm pretty doubtful that Roy would pick the YF-21. Of course, Roy's a good soldier. I'm sure he'd accept whatever plane was given to him without complaint. Even if (IF!) he disliked the physical appearance of the YF-21's robot mode, he would surely appreciate its technical abilities and maximize them in battle.

Well, and this is solely my guess... The magazine makes a hint about having 5 toys to show us, and Onslaught is merely the one that made the cover. Maybe the other 4 are Brawl, Vortex, Blast-Off, and Swindle?

^^^I think that's just the camera angle. I'm looking at my 1/48 VF-1S right this very moment, at the exact angle as the 1/60 head. I don't see a difference.

I would greatly appreciate that. Thanks. Again, my concern is how the backpack looks without the hook keeping it in the correct position. As is, the only way the backpack stays parallel is if I use my finger and force it flat against the back so that the hook clamps onto it.

Okay, so tell me if this is a good idea: I've methodically taken the backpack off the Valkyrie. I pried open the little T-shaped panel and unscrewed the backpack. Very easily reversed. I'm going to widen the hole where the BP8's metal bar hinges with the backpack. What used to be a circle, will now be an oval that allows the backpack to slide about 1mm away from the Valkyrie's body, allowing the backpack and BP8 to form the acute angle. I'll post pics when I can, but here's some artwork: Steps 1 and 2 show the backpack, unmodified. The blue is the BP-8. The problem is that "BP8-to-backpack" is at a 90 degree angle. This can't be changed, because the plastic physically gets in the way. I simply do not understand how everyone gets theirs into an acute angle. The "body-to-BP8" hinge is at an obtuse angle. I'm told that forcing this angle any further will snap the hinge. In step 3, I plan to shave out a little of the "light green" hole into the area occupied by the dark green. This will create an oval, which allows the BP8 to form the acute angle I see in all the pictures. Before I proceed...is there any reason I shouldn't do this? I'd like to finish this post by saying that the backpack, unmodified, DOES close parallel to the body, but only with the hook. Without the hook, it juts out in the 20-degree angle I have depicted in the pictures. When hooked into the "flat" position, there is some serious plastic bending. Before I make this modification...is it normal for the Valk to be this way? If everyone's Valk needs the hook to close, then I'd like to know before shaving away some plastic...

I think we're in the same boat. Searched this site and various others, and I'm apparently the only one with a VF-1S that won't have its backpack close. You have my sympathies, and I mean it literally when I say that I'm very familiar with the sense of panic and "What am I doing wrong?" you're going through.

I've opened up the backpack. I'm going to sand down the hole that takes the metal bar so that the backpack can slide out about 1 mm. Then, it'll have no problem going into an acute angle. Is there any reason I shouldn't do this?

Heh. Well put. I'll put some top-down pictures next chance I get. In the meantime, can someone tell me how I'm supposed to open up the backpack? I couldn't find any screws...

Just tried it. Didn't work, because the fins weren't getting in the way to begin with. The problem is that the backpack itself is getting in the way, and the only way to get an acute angle from the backpack and BP8 is to get out the dremel and do some shaving. Sorry if I seem argumentative. I really do appreciate your efforts to help me out, Eugimon.

^^^I don't see how that helps, though. Here's some comparisons: In Graham's picture here, there's no hook, and the BP8 seems to bend at the backpack to an acute angle (green). The other joint (not in green) seems to be an obtuse angle. These angles appear to be supplementary, and the result is a parallel fit. On mine, it's a right angle. Right angle+obtuse angle=/=parallel fit with the body. The "backpack-to-bp8" hinge (EG, the ones on the side away from the bump) seems to only want to hinge 90 degrees. There is no way for mine to go past 90 degrees, because the plastic pieces literally stop each other. It'd be like trying to get MP Prime to do a bicep curl; his arm simply won't bend past 90 degrees, and neither will the backpack. I don't see how opening up the backpack will help, because I can see right on the outside that a 90-degree angle is the maximum possible angle it can achieve. I hate to sound so n00b, but I simply don't understand how people's joints (the ones I made green) are sitting at acute angles.