VFTF1

Have there already been pictures shown of the VF-1D Virgin Road? Pete

I agree. I think that people do this on purpose if they don't like Milia. They just write in 'Maia Sterling' and automaticaly Milia is out of the running... Pete

Hell is where all you get are 1 gazillion 1/72 VF-11Bs. And you spend ALL eternity opening them, only to have their legs fall off as you take them out of the box. So you move on to the next box...and the legs fall off of the next one... and on... and on... into eternity! That is hell. Pete

My favorite is the top right hand corner - the three of them. Ranka for the win in this picture. Pete

Oh - yeah. I'm not complaining. I could care less about the outages. If Shawn can't find out what the problem is, then he shouldn't have to bend over backwards trying. Maybe it'll sort itself out. The site works fine 99% of the time. The outages are short lived. So - just to be clear that I wasn't complaining or nagging "fix it!" - It's not that big a deal. Just a kind of FYI thread. Pete

Didn't we already do this? I voted for Basara obviously, who by far given all we see on screen IS the best pilot - although I agree with Mike. Sheryl is the best pilot if by "best pilot" you mean "hottest pilot" Pete

I just wanna point out this problem: Merc Morph writes: But dude - call me weak willed - I start drooling whenever I see your slide-show avatar! All the Macross girls flash before my eyes in seconds So - you started it Pete

Exo wrote: Me: I'd go to Hell and take 'em all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pete

That girl is hot, except for the un-dead look in her eyes I need to try to secure some of these prime Japanese movies I've never heard of Pete

Boo hoo Then there's only one alternative! I need to get really rich and be able to bring those guys to Europe .... one can dream... But have any of them ever actually done overseas concerts? I mean, I know Marii Ijima did, but what about Fire Bomber? Pete

If only they added a Bobby Gashapon to the package... Still - nice Macross Quarter! Happy. Pete

Here's my favorite: No. Actually - I'm kidding (obviously)... But I've been sitting here staring at the monitor for 15 minutes trying to figure out which is my favorite Valkyrie - and I give up! I don't know! I can't chose just one! If I had to be pressed, then probably the VF-1D because it has Hikaru and Minmey, and has Hikaru in civilian clothing and Minmey in her cute SDFM TV dress - something I've dreamed of for a long time. Plus, I like the head unit on the 1D... Would also nominate the VT-1 if it actually had MISA with it... But seriously - I can't chose one. All of them are awesome. It is painfully impossible to chose a favorite. Pete

That's because Sheryl is a manly woman. Alto is a girly boy and Sheryl is a manly woman. That's part of her appeal a popular character who...is a good looking woman. I mean - we don't exactly love Macross Frontier Sheryl and Ranka because they have great fashion sense. If MF actually meant "Macdonalds Feast" and featured Sheryl and Ranka chowing down on chicken magnugets and Big Macs for breakfast lunch and dinner and sitting in from of a TV on a sofa from morning till night until the cholesterol filled veins started exploding on their foreheads... then it wouldn't matter how great their costume designs were either I dunno. I think drooling over girls is part of what cosplay is about. Besides - whenever there were cosplay pics of guys people also drooled. I mean - I was quite impressed by one dude doing Leon a couple of pages back... I dunno. I mean - I prefer drooling to cold, clinical aprobation. "This cosplayer has succeeded in accurately depicting the characters." "Yes, indeed. The clothing matches the line art by 97.0042%." "However, facial mimicry sadly only matches by 85.3%" "Yes, but when adjusted for light..." and on and on... It's just good fun. Hot girls dressing up as our idols Well - I respect where you're coming from. But I just can't subscribe to this point of view. Making an effort on the costume is important. But so is making an effort on exercise, dieting, weight lifting and taking care of your health. I've had times when I looked less than stellar, smoked too much, drank too much, ate too much, and didn't exercise and looked like crap and felt like crap. My girlfriend would badger me about my weight and I didn't feel good. I stopped smoking and started working out and now have managed to restore my form to its' previous glory (ok - overstatement - I'm just not fat anymore, but rather somewhere between slim and athletic). I dunno. I just don't subscribe to the "ugly girls deserve respect for making the costume" argument - because honestly, there are very very VERY few truly ugly girls. More often than not, it's a matter of personal hygene, exercise, and taking care of your hair. Having a good hair stylist helps. My friend runs a beauty salon and I have seen hundreds of people go in and out through his place - not all of them are super models - but he has a good eye for making everyone look good. The key is just making an effort to take care of yourself and do the best you can. Everyone has an imperfection. Heck - that imperfection is also reflected in the Macross universe. I mean, there are different characters with different attributes and different looks. Not every girl has to dress up like Sheryl, and personally, if someone is physically radically different from Sheryl, I should think it would be better if they dressed up as a character that fit them physically. Maybe it's also because I've worked a bit on reporting theatre as well that I'm also used to people being judged on the basis of their physical appearance - not just say, their acting skills. If the role calls for a hot blonde, then sorry - if you're an unattractive red head... you won't get it. You MIGHT get it if you're an attractive redhead who's a much better actress than a hot blond, because ultimately it's possible to dye your hair blonde or put a whig on you - but directors look for physical capablity and proportions. And this also goes for men. I once saw a performance of a Clock Work Orange. The director chose a guy who had a monsterously massive physique - just totally ripped - but not like Mr. Atlas/Ahnold ripped - no - it was even more powerful looking because it was toned. He basically looked like a street fighter - and that was the point, because in the play there was lots of physical contact - lots of fighting and wrestling and throwing people around. So the lead role had to look the part of a hooligan. For balance, his pal had a pot belly People have imperfections and different body types. Girls who don't look like Sheryl shouldn't regret it. Maybe they look like Nanase instead? That's not a bad thing. But striving for equality in looks is - IMO - a bad idea. A hot girl who looks like Sheryl and does Sheryl deserves more praise than somebody who doesn't have what it takes to look like Sheryl. Pete

I think I'm gonna have to start looking for a nice little Mylene figure to go with my Sturmvogel when I actually have it... Anybody care to show of their Sturmvogel with a Mylene? Anybody HAVE a Mylene for that matter? Pete

My first release OS is just fine, but I could always use another one of those sweet birds. Thankfully - looking at what the Japanese anim/figure market has looked like for the last few decades - it seems that just because an anime is "old" doesn't mean that someday somebody won't revive it and release a better version of a figure or something...so... I'm hopeful. The problem - and fear - is that companies like Yamato don't misinterpret poor sales on some items as signifying low demand, but rather, as signifying a bad economy. It would be a pity if they said "screw it! They've been screaming 'destroids! destroids! SV-51! for years -w e give it to them and look what happens?' But somehow, I get the feeling that Yamato's game plan is to design something that - as a design and subsequently as a production model - can last the test of time. I mean - I can honestly see the SV-51 being produced still in three years and being able to compete with whatever else is on the shelves. The fact that they have so few valkyrie to actually design seems to mean that they decided to make it the very best possible - and just run with it (or "milk it"). On the other hand...yeah..the v.2 VF-1 shows that you can never have "too perfect" a design. How many of us expected the v.2 after getting our hands on a 1/48? Heck - we probably thought Yamato would sooner do a rainbow color VF-1 1/48 than redesign the entire thing... Unpredictable are the ways of Yamato... Pete

Hm... October 17th and 18th? Wonder how much it would cost to go to Japan for two days... How much are tickets? Pete Edit: KLM has flights that leave on the 15th of October, arrive in Tokio on the 16th, and then leave Tokio on the 22nd. Round trip for two is about 2 thousand USD when converted into dollars from my crazy currency. That leaves wondering about hotel costs for a week... and the question stands: how much are the tickets?

Oh well. Double post again - can't be helped. I've basically become a one man Chinese Factory and am churning these Gundams out at speed. Started on RGM 79 version 2.0 today. After building the main body and head my first reaction was to grab another box for a second build - because the inner frame DESERVES to be displayed on its' own - or at worse I'll have two Jims to stand around looking tough... But seriously - these 2.0 Gundams are amazing. The pistons, the hydraulics - it's astounding and it works best on the original 0079 MSG Gundams and Zakus, which don't have any fancy pants transformations or Super Gundam Buster Boom Boom weapons - but are just nice clunky heavy war machines. The designers therefore didn't need to focus on the gimmicks and instead focused on making the inner frame as workable and realistic as possible. I utterly LOVE the Jim's "Terminator style" "colar bone" pistons - A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! Also, just like the Force Impulse Gundam from 2008, so too this Jim's colors are AWESOME! Seriously - no paint necessary - this looks great. This does not look like bland plastic that needs color to make it "shine" or "metalic" or whatever. This is what the MG line was meant to be and aiming for for a long time apparently - no need to glue, no need to color - and lots and lots of mechanical detail - and real working hydraulics. Char's Zaku II version 2.0 was great. Jim is great too. Can't wait for the new 2.0 Goof, Guntank and hopefully others. Pete

I wanted to write that I had an outage, but then I had another outage when I clicked "add reply" I think it's all yahoo mail's fault. Because obviously my yahoo mail didn't work either. Now both MW and Yahoo mail work fine. Maybe someone is doing an EMS attack... or EMP? EMP. It's an EMP attack by aliens. These are the first signals. Oh man! Think about it! These are the warning signals. And we will scratch our heads and ignore them. But then, in five years - the aliens will come and eat us all! We have to spread the word now! These can't be any ordinary outages! There is no rational explanation for why Yahoo mail and Macross world are the only ones having outages? It must be aliens trying to access our emails to learn about us, and mistakenly thinking that Macross world contains pictures of real life mecha that Earth has to defend itself! It's like Galaxy Quest! Pete

Mmm....the plot thickens! How about bad weather? It's summer here, but it's been raining for two months pretty much non stop. I'm trying to deduce causality... -Sherlock Holmes

Question to all the people who have MW outages sometimes: Do any of you have a yahoo mail account, and do you also experience yahoo mail outages? I just realized that for the last three months, only Macross World and my Yahoo mail account have been on-and-off experiencing outages. -Sherlock Holmes

Pete the Amateur who has never painted a model in his life nonetheless gives advise on how to do it: Just tape around the SMS portion that you want to paint and spray away. This one shouldn't be too difficult. Hmm... Oh well. I have a regular v.2 Alto and I'm happy with it. Don't really need the super pack version. Might pick it up in distant future. Pete

More than I can count! If I had a dollar for every time I've been shot down in life, I'd be a millionaire by now Thankfully, just like Hikaru - there's never any permanent damage done Nanase- yes. Klan...I'm just not into 50 foot women Case in point: 1 am in the morning. I'm sound asleep. RING RING RING! OBOETEIMASUKA!... (my cell phone has Minmey singing as the ring tone...). It's "my Misa." Me (groggy): 'what is it...?' My Misa: "We have to talk about those Revoltech Haurhi Suzumiya figures you keep by your bedside. They're so sleazy!' Me: 'You called me at 1 in the morning because you're jealous of my Haruhi Suzumiya figures?' My Misa: "I can understand giant robots, but those ugly dolls are so disgusting!" Me: "Have you even seen The Melancholy of Haruhi suzumiya? Do you know why she's wearing a bunny outfit? My Misa: "I'm not talking about that one, but the one without a skirt!" Me: "Oh, Asahina? She has a skirt, I just removed it..." My Misa: "That's disgusting!" Me: "But it fits with the story, because Haruhi is awlays undressing Asahina..." My Misa: "But how can a man have dolls!? Why can't you just put some robots next to your bed! What will people think?!" Me: "What people? Besides, Haruhi Suzumiya is really good. You should check it out. There are no robots and there's no fighting..." My Misa: "Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I think it's sleazy!" And then she let me go back to sleep Jeeeezzz... Sheryl looks great in Chinese waitress dress and semi-Minmei hair And that ...er...lingerie thing on her leg is precious! Pete

I'm not going to quarrel with Killer Robot over sequence of events - because obviously he is correct. I think what it ends up being is a matter of motive. See - I obviously agree with the sequence of events you've laid out - but we differ a bit on interpretation. I think that it was her encounter with Alto, then Ranka, then the whole gang from the high school - that made her into a better person and led to all those great things you noted. She tells Alto in Episode 6 about how she hated Galaxy and was all alone there. Why do you think she decides to enroll in high school? Why does a super star idol decide to go hang out with regular high school kids? She's obviously lonely and alone - and this in large part contributed to her being so cold in the beginning. I agree - the impression that she is fake and aloof is not correct - and I agree that it's an impression I had when I watched Frontier first. But - that doesn't mean she was really a warm loving person inside either. I just interpretted her being cold as a sign of the "diva/super star corrupt idol" thing - but it turns out that actually, it was the result of her being an orphan and being brought up alone on Galaxy - with no friends or anything. I mean - do we EVER see Sheryl talking on the phone or texting or recollecting about ANYBODY on Galaxy? Nope. In fact, her whole life she's pretty much spent going from one Macross fleet to another singing. She doesn't have friends. She has Grace. Her life changes for the better when she comes to Frontier. It is the one colony that makes an impression on her (episode 5) and the people there also move her heart. So - I think you're right in much of what you say - particularly about how you interpret her coming to terms with Grace's betrayal. But a lot of what gave her the strength to come to terms and carry on was - in my view - her coming to know Ranka, Alto, Ozma - and everyone else on Frontier. It was her first real family and they were the ones who warmed her up IMO. Pete

You jus had to rub it in!! But then again - given all the work you do on translating - it's only fair that the Heavans reward you with a 1:1 Gundam, a Yoko Kanno concert and EVA 2.0 all rolled into one. Pete

Yeah - the KA is dated as 2000 IIRC - or 2001. I guess that predates the stands. Sucks. Oh well. Off to sleep. Tomorrow begins the RGM-79 - version 2.0 ! Pete