VFTF1

Why not? English words often enter the lexicon of foriegn languages nowadays due to so many foriegners learning english and so much television/movies made in english. English words and idioms become part of other languages. That's at least been my experience overseas. Pete

But to be anime accurate, Sheryl would have to come in a skimpy purple mini, with optional panties and a little green Vajra Pete

I kind of appreciate that the only "unrealstic" thing about Macross 7 that people keep complaining about is the guitar-piloting mechanism Basara uses, which, as Deebot mentions, is no more unrealstic than what we have in the real world - namely a joy stick and a couple of levers. Just like spinning a wheel in a car is also "unrealstic" but it works. From a technical stand point, I'd think that cross-dressing devil-men from an alternate dimmension would rate higher on the "unrealstic" chart than Basara piloting via his guitar Pete

I like you Keith Pete

For my part, I should have Mikhael and Luca sometime next week - which means I'm also going to have stands. At that point, I'll make good on my promise to show off the VF-25's great Gerwalk poses We'll see whether or not I get laughed out of the room But I'm generally happy. Note to modelers: I have not dumped you. I'm also still getting the remaining 1:72 models and planning on building them. At worse, I'm just sleeping around. Pete

I know - that's why I wrote: The idea of finding someone "innocent" is anathemic to American law. And good - because people shouldn't have to prove their "innocence." The burden of proof always rests on the accuser. But my point wasn't to argue about whether or not he was or wasn't innocent, but rather the end portion of my post was my point. It has always amazed me how people tend to think that being right justifies them in thinking thoughts that are wrong. Pete

Given some of the comments in this thread, I begin to understand why MJ left the US. I never had any attachment to the man's music. My only memory is of being at a friend's house when I was a kid and her brother had Thriller and I think we listened to it for a while. Then, later, I remember his "come back" with Black and White, which I found mildly entertaining. I was always amused by his style and looks (amused in a positive way). His music wasn't bad, but it just didn't move me. I was into ass rock way more than into MJ. Truth be told - I developed my biggest sympathy for MJ when he was being pulled from court to court, accussed by everyone, used and abused by everyone, and appeared to basically be looked upon as a walking ATM or a freak just because of how he looked/dressed. So - I guess you can say I'm a "Later-MJ fan" because I don't like when people are ragged on. Michael Jackson got a full blown court trial - he was acquitted, but the whole affair basically ruined his publicity state-side and compelled him to go into exile. I think that's sad. Second of all - because OBVIOUSLY I don't know for a fact that he wasn't a pedophile - although I do know as a matter of law that he was not proven guilty, which means that legally he is innocent - I still would like to make the point that when a human being dies, it is impolite (to put it mildly) to rejoice at that death. Every one of us has something to be ashamed of - and I'm sure there are people who have gone through our lives who can point their fingers at us and say "he's the one who...[fill in the grudge]" - but I still say that all of us deserve some basic respect. At worse - fine - yes - pedophiles are bad. Liars are bad. Crooks are bad. They are all terrible. If this guy was one of them - he too is bad. But you know who else is bad? People who spit on the dead instead of taking the time to for a moment step outside of their justified or unjustified view of that dead person and pay their respects. Which is what this thread is about IMO. Pete

I think it's pretty obvious that the decision was made to "milk" Alto a little bit and make all the add ons exclusives. This makes some business sense since Alto is the main character so people will likely want to buy the add ons. At this point, I'm resigned to it. I'll ge the add ons eventually. Pete

Thankfully. Pete

Is that light up effect anime accurate? But seriously - this thing is inspiring. Especially the pics with the real people in them. This means we could concievably build real working super robot mecha. I want somebody to build a 1:1 Arc Gurren Lagann and fly us to the moon... dreams, dreams... This thing is awesome. Did Bandai finance this in full or were there other inverstors? Lovely. Technically we talked about it in the Gundam thread - but maybe it does indeed deserve it's own thread. Oh - and the detail in that rocket pack is insane. I love it. Pete

Very lovely. Kaiyodo needs to hurry up and make Minmey figures so I can start guarding them Pete

I'm happy this thread was created, because I can ask the following dumb question that I've been too embarassed to ask before: Is the Minmey guard a fan custom? Or did Yamato actually make some of those for exclusive/limited release? Pete

From latest Hobby Japan interview with Shoji Kawamorii (translations by some guy named Shaloom from some other Macross site): That pretty much explains it all Pete

That's great news! Finally we get the Konig Monster! Yes! Oh wait...it's in like 1:3 million scale?? Oh well - still great news. Seriously- this is a very very good idea on Bandai's part. Happy they did it. Little extras like this always make stuff so much the sweeter Pete

I wonder to what extent this is true? This is how Sheryl would like to see things (and herself) - but in reality, the Corporation (Grace et. Co.) was pulling the strings the whole time. In fact; one could even say that what distinguishes Sheryl's music from Ranka's is that Sheryl's is kind of "manufactured heart" while Ranka's is all heart - which is something I think I opined at the very beginning of Frontier. This doesn't mean "Sheryl's music sucks" - but I think it really goes to show how much work was put into Frontier when they sat down and composed the music for Sheryl and then for Ranka, because Sheryl's music has much more structure to it. It relies heavily on form, structure, and propriety - all of these elements are driven to perfection and it's that perfect execution which is moving, not the music itself (don't know if I'm being clear on that point). Ranka's songs don't have so much rigor in them. They are "easy listening" - but they have tons more heart to them; something special that can't be grasped. Sheryl is, in that sense, a lot like Myung+Sharon. She has talent, she has a bit of heart but she is also manufactured and the music can be stale sometimes - just like Sheryl. Ranka on the other hand is truly like Minmey - her music comes from the heart. Yeah, yeah, Minmey took lessons and had to learn the ropes of the business - but all throughout she was cutesy in a way that Ranka is more than Sheryl... at least the Minmey of SDFM TV ... Hmm... Which makes me realize something: Minmey SDFM TV ---> Ranka Minmey DYRL ---> Sheryl Amazing - but seriously - in DYRL she is way more like the aloof manufactured IDOL whereas in SDFM TV she has time to develop as the "girl next door" type... In any event - I still say Bassara and Sheryl would fall madly in love Pete

I guess given all the Ranka-Love that I have been spewing for over a year, my guilty conscious got the better of me and initiated a cathartic pro-Sheryl outburt that targeted random bystanders Pete

There is a little Basara inside Sheryl, just like there was a little Basara inside Myung. But I don't see Sheryl as badly as all of you. She STILL kept singing even after her professional life fell apart. Remember - she had her bout of depression and doubt, and a lot of that could have been laced with her knowledge of having the V Virus and her imminent death - but she didn't stop singing. Remember when Sheryl stood up in the shelter and sang to comfort people after the Vajra attacked and Ranka Lee was no where to be found or heard? Give Sheryl some credit. She was MADE by Grace to be an idol - but in reality she is an idealist. The only reason she yearned for idol status was because of her lingering insecurities. She had no parents, no family - she was a poor starving orphan. The life of an idol was the only world she knew where she could feel loved and safe. The prospect of that world falling apart meant returning to a world where no one knew her or cared about her. For most of us who have familieis and friends - even if we lose our jobs or have some similar hardship - people still love us. Sheryl had no one to love her beyond the fans. But that's when Alto stepped in - and it's Alto who showed her that she doesn't need to worry about being an "idol" to feel loved - but she should simply sing because it's what she does (just like flying is what Alto does) [reference episode 5 and the discussion about why people sing/fly etc with Klan/Sheryl/Alto]. So... I think you guys are basing your view of Sheryl merely off of the beginning of Frontier - particularly episode 1 - where she did come across as a typical vapid idol... Oh - and final argument: Look how Sheryl treats Ranka - encouraging her, helping her, but also knowing when NOT to "lend a hand" in order for Ranka to experience some hardship in making her own path. If Sheryl weren't an idealist - she wouldn't care about helping Ranka as much as she did. Heck - perfect example: episode 10, the set of Birdman. The winner of the Miss Macross contest walks up to Sheryl - "oh - sheryl-san..." And Sheryl doesn't even say "hello" - she just walks past her and goes up to Ranka and then makes a show of forcing Alto to be nice and say encouraging things. This isn't the behavior of a pragmatic pro. This is the behavior of an idealist. She basically told that chick "the only reason you won the contest was because of your boobs [which are smaller than mine!] and the only reason you star in this movie is because of your boobs too." while she knew that Ranka was someone who had a future and was someone special. So... Basara and Sheryl would likely get married if they met - perfect fit! Pete

I would probably have gone for the double dip anyways - but truth be told, beyond the super duper poseability the new Mazinger Z just didn't scream out "take me!" to me as much as some other stuff. He was kind of like Reideen - a nice figure, but nothing spectacular. Then the DX set came out and ...err... well that's STILL on my "must get" list But now, this Mazinger Fisting Version is very lovely and I will happily take him It'll be only my second Mazinger Z figure. The only one I have now is the Mechanic Collection snap fit model, which is actually pretty nice and I love how Bandai used rubber to fascilitate the anime-accurate super robot poses Pete

Agreed. Excellent, excellent review. Makes me want to go see ROTF Pete

Here's Scramble City as it was meant to be. Trypticon also has this ability; and the connections also power them up in robot mode: Just goes to show AGAIN that the Japanese had a great idea. Why this feature was not hyped up and used by Hasbro in the US comic or cartoon is beyond me. Then again - Metroplex never even appeared in the US comics.... Pete

In the end - only pictures will allow for a convincing conclusion Pete

What is it called, what company makes it, how much does it cost and when does it come out? I'm sold. Pete

I would just as soon go for a parts former SOC from bandai. With super robots, where you know that it's mainly anime magic, the parts forming doesn't bother me. Besides, the Studio Half Eye PT Getter Robo, while certainly amazing, isn't exactly anime accurate I like what Bandai does with the SOCs. fun fun fun super robot fun Gurren Lagann is all about that - only MORE so! Pete

Will be a merry Christmas after all Pete

Again we have a difference of interpretation. I never got the impression Guld found Isamu and Myung "as a couple." Guld found Isamu and Myung making out/hugging/close/in an intimate situation. This is far from suggesting that they were a couple. In fact, I'd venture so far as to speculate that they WEREN'T a couple. If they were - then Guld wouldn't need to "find" them together. They'd be together all over the place; going to the movies, dancing, on walks - people would know that they were together. What I think happened is that Guld and Isamu both had feelings for Myung; and she had feelings for them, and she happened to be alone with Isamu and for whatever reason they became intimate - and poof - in walks Guld, who is naturally jealous anyways, but all the more so due to lingering Zentran bio-engineering which makes violence a "natural" course of action for him. Point? Point is that Guld didn't therefore realize that the two were a "couple" and that Myung loved Isamu "all along." If Myung REALLY loved Isamu - she wouldn't have left to pursue her career. She would have stuck around like that other girl who married that guy and had two kids. And she certainly wouldn't be so determined to "put the past behind her." Notice how she calls both Isamu and Guld ridiculous at one point and scolds them and tries to make clear that she's not the same person they knew. This isn't the language of a woman who was with Isamu. It's the language of a woman who couldn't decide between the two of them and in the end, gave up on true love (just like she would later give up on her singing). Myung didn't decide because love was to difficult (just like pursuing her own singing career was too difficult). Remember - Myung is kind of like a corrupted version of Minmey. She's kind of like what Minmey might have become had she developed Kaifun's approach to singing from the second part of SDFM TV - where it was all about the booze, the prestige and the money - or at the very least the free UN Food rations (since people had no money to speak of). With the Earth relatively rebuilt and other planets being colonized; the FORMAL civic religion is still culture with song being revered the most. However, in practice, everything is more commercialized (kind of like the Miss Macross contest in MF) and it's harder for someone with a real passion and love for song to actually break through (unless he lives on Macros7). People sell out to get by or get so attached to luxuries that they forget their dreams. Myung did this both in her love life and in her professional life. But both of them came back to haunt her - her unresolved love life in the form of Isamu and Guld returned, and her giving up singing and just how bad a decision that was also returned - all in the form of the messed up jumble of latent emotions of the computer program Sharon - which was kind of like a catharsis for Myung. In the end, with everything artificial (by which I mean the structural relations of inter-dependency in society; the relations which "cage in" Myung because she has to answer to producers, the market, her peers, fashion, popularity etc etc) destroyed and compelled to either chose song and love or watch Sharon kill Isamu and destroy Earth, Myung rediscovered her young heart and sang her sad love song. I think it was sung just as much for Guld as it was for Isamu. Again - Guld died because dying comes easy to Zendradi - it's just that this particular Zentran wasn't motivated by the passion of the fight, but rather by the desire to protect the woman he loved. His "flash back" and realization that he was the aggressive one in the past didn't - IMO - make him think "oh gee, I'm a bad person - I should go die and let this other dude get the girl" It just made him finally find peace and appreciate how much Isamu AND Myung both loved him for hiding that ugly truth from him. Because they probably realized that it wasn't Guld's fault - it was the fault of latent bio-engineering - a kind of demon that all Zentrans had to deal with. This theme is also not new to Macross. Remember how Hikaru got kicked around by those Zentrans in the town, but when the Destroids were going to fire, he stood in teh line of fire and ordered them not to. That action moved the Zentrans so much that they backed off and left. I think Isamu and Myung; after the violent incident, did something similar - they didn't report him, they didn't blame him - they just let him be: because that was the sacrifice they had to make to help Guld assimilate into human society. Pete