Skull Leader

They've had Tomcats with a diamond on the back before too, haven't they? I seem to recall seeing one that had a red diamond up around the TACAN and UHF antennas... maybe I saw something wrong?

we might if one existed. So far as I know that 2-seater pic is the closest thing to actually be built. I could be wrong though.

nevermind...

I think all of the discussion about which game is "better" is really a moot thing. Everyone seems to seek something different from their shooters... so it's basically more of a question of what bends your taco the most. Macross for the Famicom had everything I really wanted out of a simple shooter... especially being neverending. The variable-dynamics are actually employed in the game pretty well, all things considered. Probably almost a revolutionary thing for that time in gaming history. I do agree that the game is not for feebs who cannot see past the fact that the game does not have an ending... racking up the top-score used to make you the stuff of legends in local arcades (my local Walmart was constantly graced by some guy with the initials LTH... and he was damn good... I never got to face off against them, but I was always dueling to beat his scores, and only sometimes making it). I'll sum it up in one phrase: Any feeble-minded donkey with a strategy guide can blow through HALO2 and beat it... it takes real skill to continually maintain the top score on a hot arcade game for more than a few weeks. Whine all you want, I think they did it right DYRL does rate as one of my all-time favorite shooters. The gameplay is very well executed (the modes are easy to master, and can be accessed at just about any time), the graphics are gorgeous (I could've delt with a slightly smaller valkyrie for more on-screen action, but what they did is fine), the soundtrack couldn't be any more perfect (hell, they pulled it direct from the movie!), and the stages follow the story pretty well (and the add-on filler stages are tastfully applied, I think). DYRL is very much the end-product evolution of the original Famicom Macross, and both are magnificent games. I have the PSX version of DRYL ( comes with a VF-X2 and Patlabor demo) that I considered getting rid of for the longest time... now I'm not so sure I wanna get rid of it I think I just talked myself into keeping it!

wow.. that Tifa figure is "the suck" compared to the others... I have to admit that the craftsmanship on the Sephiroth figure is nice, if only they could've picked a more enigmatic character to do. I agree with KingNor... $@*# Final Fantasy VII, give us figures of Characters with personality and style! (Final Fantasy VI)... and wanna do one up from that? do FFIV characters!

I prefer the R-32 also... I think it looks just right. The R-33 is too round, and the R-34 (while still badass) is too blocky

My appologies if I came off too strong on the situation, it just sounded like you were generalizing about American-asian guys who own sports cars. Whatever your personal beliefs, Skylines are very much a high-end sports car and have earned their place amongst the better and more popular street racing cars.

Ruby: "So tomorrow from the hours of [can't remember, but the duration of his show] can you PLEASE pretend you have more than a TWO WORD VOCABULARY!?" I loved this movie. Nothing big or flashy, just a neat story with just enough action to keep it alive.

Agent One, that was quite possibly the most bigoted and discriminatory argument I have ever seen about anything on this board. You are acting rude, self-centered, and are more or less being a jerk. I would've thought you'd have more sense... being that many of the members here have some sort of asian heritage (many from places like Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Phillipines and so on), that comments about "4 ft. tall" people is not just "off-color", but shallow-minded. First of all, not all asians are "short", and second of all there are far more people in other countries who also own skylines (They're one of the street-racers of choice throughout Europe and Australia as well as Japan) I rather think you owe the board an appology, but that's just my opinion.

......... I just found my next must-have.... (I wonder if they'd give me one for my low-vis?)

Actually, it ISN'T a question of numbers. It only takes one aircraft (you can take your likeliness/feasibility argument and drop it in a river. I'm not arguing whether or not it WILL happen, but that it CAN happen) flying below the radar to sneak in and lay an Iron on a painted target. While we can't cover every square inch of border in equal effectiveness, I would like to know that I have the best interceptors possible to be able to get to a given point as quickly as possible. What's more, I want as many guarantees as I can that my fighters are going to have a definative edge over his. Cookie-cutter/cannon-fodders-of-the-future F-35s aren't going to give that to us, at least not in the degree that the F-22 will. I will be the first to say that we shouldn't be relying solely on one or two types of aircraft for our defense needs. It may look good on paper and in an economics discussion, but reports and money are nothing without the people we're trying to protect. It's PART (not all) of the reason why the Tomcat is now in the bitter twilight of it's service. Most of the pencil-pushers making the policy don't understand that diversibility of roles in specialized fighters can be worth the slightly added expense.

a bit Off topic: If that ever happens, we might be seeing valks flying by 2009 in time for the the zentraedi invasion. Ummm, this is the ONE thread where that aircraft should not be mentioned In fact, that's pretty much why it exists, to discuss real-life aircraft in combat roles, hypothetical or otherwise. Just to head off any potential snowballing!

Just a reminder to those who might be getting worked up, let's step back and take a nice, deep breath. This is friendly conversation, no more. David and Nied have a point. Most of the Eagles are just as old as the F-14 Tomcats (remember, even some B and D tomcats are nothing more than remanufactured As) and their service life is leading them well beyond what the Tomcat will see. Already it holds one of (if not *the*) LONGEST service records amongst United States fighter jets. The F-22 has more than proven itself as the F-15 successor (at least ONE branch of the service isn't getting butt-raped on new planes to fly, but that's a different argument). Much like the Tomcat, the Eagle has had a LONG and distinguished record. Now that a worthy sucessor has been found, they can hand off the torch. Noyhauser, how can you speak of there not being a threat? There are any number of nations that don't like us flying something we call a FLANKER. While they may be technologically inferior to most US aircraft, in the right (trained) hands, they can give anything the US armed forces currently flies (with the possible exclusion of the F-22) a serious run for it's money. What the US fighters achieve through advanced technology, Flankers achieve through brute force. I would say that the F-22 is not only justified, but maybe even REQUIRED.

Whoa, slow down there, Turbo. Fearyaks worked hard to establish himself as a credible member at a time when Macrossworld was at it's most paranoid. He's contributed regularly ever since then and that's earned him the right to speak his mind a little, within reason anyway. I notice you yourself (by your join-date and post count) are not far out from the newbie category. I'm not saying you don't have the right to say what you want, I'm just saying you're not doing much besides burning bridges. Whether we agree with Fearyaks or not, he's earned the right to say his piece. It's not for you to tell him what to do. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Moving on: These prices are WHACK... you could easily pick up a Vintage Takatoku Supervalkyrie MIB for that price (which most of us would rather have) I love my low-vis and I paid a pretty penny to get it (ask Godzilla, he's being brought up on charges of raping my wallet! ). I hope somebody plays Rochambeau with this guy and gets to go first.....

So David, when do you think we'll first "hear" about F-22s fighting on the front lines? I suspect there may be some we don't know about already, but I wonder when it will begin to become commonplace?

I think it's getting to the point that the price difference is insignificant enough that you might as well pay the extra few million and go with the stealth... then again, F-22s have yet to be thoroughly tested in an air-superiority role. It's RCS reduction capabilities probably give it all the advantage in the world in BVR combat, but once it becomes a true ACM situation, where the pilots are going to have a good idea of where their enemy is, it probably won't make that much difference (the Raptor would likely be engaging in maneuvers counter-productive to it's passive stealth capabilities anyway) Basically? I think Stealth is going to be what keeps us ahead of the game in a first-strike role, it would seem that the days of dogfighting are all but gone. It's also important to note that even if the technology did exist to detect stealth fighters, there is always the chance that a given enemy would not yet be advanced enough to own it, or employ it at the correct time.

Well, not quite as weak as what they WERE sporting, although I think they could've done better. That Euro/Gunship Grey (it's the same shade that is on the VF-103 low-vis 'cats) over red really messes with my eyes

Hmmm, this cannot be a good thing. I knew they were cutting some funding to the carrier battlegroups, but I never realized the air force was gonna get ass-raped by being forced to rely on the F-35 Flying shitbox. Our Generals and Admirals serving on these comittees would make FAR more educated decisions if they were the ones having to use the hardware... JSFs and Super Hornets: Soon to be the only fighter-capable aircraft the United States military fields.....

I rather enjoyed the game for it's simplicity myself....

perhaps if you mentioned what mechs you wanted stats on in particular? I've got all of the early (pre-edited) Tech readouts that have all of the "lost" designs. Just tell me what you want to know

Man oh man.... any woman who tells me to toss some of all of my collection has basically just told me how impersonal our relationship is. Granted, I tend to keep a pretty small and select collection (I just don't have the room to swing some of these giant collections some of you guys have), but it's very important to me... as important as to help define the person I am. I don't really classify myself as a "geek" ("project phoenix" and myself could SHOW you some anime geeks.... there's a whole club full of them on our campus that both of us refuse to associate with... mostly because we don't particularly enjoy masturbating to Rei Ayanami pics), but I think grown, mature, men (or women for that matter) can have such things. It's no different from a passion with cars, collecting stamps, or coins really. If your collection is truly a part of you (and from just the partial list you described, it would certainly seem so), then she should be willing to match you item-for-item when it comes to a removal.

yeah, you'll say that until Master Windu steps up and opens a can on ya....

Being an "operations manager" of a company that probably numbers less than 30 people strong (that's NOT including anyone they contract from toynami, ADV, or any other company that isnt SPECIFICALLY HG) isn't a huge accomplishment. What's more it's not even a highly specialized job requiring intense training (must be really stressful, watching over a show that hasn't aired in the US for a really long time, and developing a new vaporware series that will only air on this new type of media called "YOUR F-ING IMAGINATION!!" (they can name all the names they want for people "involved" in the project, all the numbers or whatever... until I see a pilot episode or pilot animation that DOESN'T draw on a previous animated series, I'm not convinced.) I wonder how it feels to be the captain of a sinking ship? Here is one who could certainly tell us. Kev, we've had some civilized conversations in the past, and I'll admit talking to you is like trying to convince a southern baptist that there is no God (purely a simile, not a practice I perform!). But creating a 'blog to do nothing more than place yourself on the Robotech pedastal is taking it a bit too far, don't you think? btw, Myriad, thanks for posting that map! I had long forgotten how to get through the lost forest

Are you talking about his famous "Where is rider... Where is the horn that was blowing?...." soliliquy? I thought it was appropriately timed in the movie. The version in the book is much longer, but I think the one he said in the movie was almost more like a prayer or mantra of some sort. It spoke of the loss of all hope for the party at Helms Deep and really set the mood.

Agent One raped my childhood