VFTF1

I keep waiting for one of these people to explain why three random anime series that have nothing to do with eachother, strung together loosely into a series is better than the first of the three anime series in the original as well as all of its' subsequent original sequals. Somehow -that never happens. On the other hand, there are hundreds of pages of analysis of the various Macross sagas on this website which demonstrate how interesting Macross is. I think the "people have a right to different opinions" line in this guys' essay is a cover for "I have a right to cling to my opinion without providing any arguments to back it up, without giving any coherent reasons. I can believe that blue is green if I want to." And yes - yes you can believe that blue is green if you want to. That is your right. But that is also boring and kind of pointless. Also - one last point: Can he at least LINK to some of the posts that the people he singles out and calls names actually wrote something that could qualify as offensive, out of line etc etc? Usually, when making an accusation, people don't just randomly fling about accusations but they point to specific posts, they give specific quotes. And finally - the thing about us being jealous of Robotech, and Macross being "related" to Robotech is just laughable. Macross is "related" to Robotech??? How can the basis of Robotech - the thing which is the foundation of Robotech - be "related" to Robotech? That makes it sound like Robotech was thought up and created first, and then the Japanese made this thing called Macross which just happened to also have an SDF-1 and some triple changing airplanes and this singing girl in it - it's related you see... I sometimes feel as if Robotech.com is the Flat Earth Society and Macrossworld is the Round Earth Society. Both of us believe that our vision of the Earth is the TRUE vision. The FLat Earth Society is tolerant enough to allow that those crazy people over at the Round Earth Society have a right to their "opinion" and that, in some sense, the theory about the Earth being round is "Related" to the theory that the Earth is Flat. But they seem not to understand that while yes - they can believe in nonesense - there is still a difference between fact and opinion. And the fact is Macross came first. Now - IF someone could please demonstrate to me that Macross sucks, but the American dubs and the American re-formation of it into Robotech made a sucky anime GREAT - then I will concede the point; I will admit that Robotech has merit on its' own. But so far - I haven't seen it. All I've seen is a really bad dub of Macross in the form of Robotech "The Macross Saga" and then the random introduction of a completely different anime (Mospedia) and the culmination in a movie with out-dated mecha, bad singing (which - in all fairness - was necessary t make it compatable with the original Robotech series), boring animation and piss poor plot.... Pete

So... your argument is basically: Grace WOULD BE cool IF she wasn't a villain - a villain by definition does not allow the free choice that you speak of. Look at the path Ranka took to get people to listen to her music - she worked hard and sang for nothing in Fomo from her heart and sang while singing carrots, and sang on the street handing out her CDs... If Grace had started an internet campaign to get everyone to join the network, pointing out how great it would be - that's fine. Maybe it would be a preferable form of life and more and more people would join - but they would make that choice for themselves. What Grace did was pretty much the same as what the people behind Sharon Apple tried to do. I have sympathy for Grace. I think she's a tragic character. "provincial cliche?" No. I see no sign of her being treated that way in Macross: Frontier. It is well established that her ambitions were thwarted by the Vajra, that her womanhood was taken away (having your original gorgeous body burned is a terrible trauma and no matter how much you are restored as an artificial life form - you loose your female intuition, and your femininity - which is a very painful thing). Grace's story is a tragic story about the perils of unchecked science gone awry. Whether her vision has merit or not is a matter for deliberation - something she herself does not allow. I can't see how this can be called courageous or be in any way heroic. A hero is someone who believes so much in their vision that they are willing to risk that other people will turn them down and turn their backs on them - and when they do - the hero sings louder, tries harder - does everything to convince others to their vision - because he knows that only when others freely choose to follow does he truly win. Strapping the Zendradi in chains and forcing them to listen to Minmey sing Do You Remember Love? would have been beside the point. The song changed their hearts. Clearly the Macross New UN government - for all its' faults - is open enough to allow for the existence of various cultures in the colony ships. So, you have a more technological and science oriented culture on Galaxy, and a more environmentalist and naturalistic culture on Frontier. Lots of different colony ships probably have their own particular paths as well. This is good. Grace wanted everyone do serve her and do what she wanted and to control the universe. That is bad. That is why she is the villain. Her only salvation is that she is a tragic villain. Nobody cried for Grace's loss, and nobody even tried to help her. Pete

Yeah well - all I know is that some chap on Macrossworld in the For Sale thread was selling a version two Alto and started with "Got this version 2 Alto from BBTS yesterday but don't want him anymore" ... and since there's only one Alto at BBTS to be had, and Ozma is sold out (as well as Luca) - and that Alto is a "New Release" on their site - then I'm guessing it is the version two. Will be a tad dissapointed if I'm wrong Pete

Milspex - I hereby award you with the Mr. Lingerie Most Humorous Post of the Year Award. I am outdone And Milia - excellent Kitbash on that...thing...what do you call it? Red Rover? Pete

I could be wrong, but doesn't BBTS have the version 2 Alto the whole time? At least that's what I thought I was getting... I guess I'll find out next week Pete

Well - I sold "all" of my v.1s - which is to say the ONE that I had. It was VE-1, which I really treasured because I love the ELINT Seeker Valkyrie but...the v.2 is what I really want. I have mixed feelings as to whether or not the v.1 will appreciate in value. You've got to basically look at three factors here: a) In this depression-economy, EVERYTHING is deflating and very few things are appreciating in value. What little value there was in vintage toys and figures has also been cut away as companies reissue the retro toys that are considered vintage (look at Bandai Chunky Munkys and the TF Encore/TFC etc). So - the margin for appreciating value on vintage goods like these is fast dwindling. Add to that the fact that at one point, these vintage goods WERE IT. That is; there wasn't any other product to be had if you wanted representations of the characters. Now companies are tripping over eachother to give us better and better representations of the characters/mecha. All of this is going to push the prices of vintage items DOWN. b) However - it is possible that the V.1 will have value for being a piece of "history" - a step towards the production of a perfect transformation VF-1 that didn't use swing bars and was also more anime accurate. In that sense, it might well have collectable value in the future. c) If you already HAVE a large collection of v.1s then, unless you're Santa Graham, you might want to keep them - not just for the value, but simply for the fact that you already have the whole collection. Me? I had one. So it wasn't a big deal - it didn't fit with anything else and havign just one v.1 was kinda pointless. If I had all of the main characters and then some - I would probably keep them. Same with my 1/48s - I only had about 4 - so getting rid of two of them wasn't a life and death decision. The two I have left are token - one of them is Hikaru's 1J - which is nice to have in 1/48 scale just by itself and the other is a woodland color which I keep in fighter mode to show of the 1/48 as a fighter. So - just token valkyrie. Again - had I already had 20 1/48s - I likely would have kept them. I am avidly collecting the V.2 though and I likely will not get rid of them ever - even if a v.3 or whatever comes out because I am working on having a big fleet. So - it's a tough call - very individual. I wouldn't, however, discount the possibility that the v.1 will appreciate. Remember - the falling prices don't necessarily mean that the item is a money-loser - it rather just means that there is a liquidity problem in the economy and it's got little to do with the V.1 Valkyries in particular - it's rather a macro trend that affects just about every branch of industry that mass produces something. In any event - I wouldn't be surprised to see the v.1 be a valuable collectible in the future - that said - I don't see them being reissued any time soon. At least not judging by Yamato's "R&D Extreme" approach which seems hell bent on creating better and better valkyrie rather than doing what Bandai did which was basically dump the old VF-1 on us... Pete

I love how everything is organized by series. Dag - that really helps put things into perspective Pete

What are you talking about? The future of the universe, of life on Earth, of all the children and the children's children depends on the outcome of this vital debate. Pete

Isn't it "the force is strong with this one" ? But yeah - nice collection Pete

Are you refering to the improved HGUC RX-78-2? That's not exactly the same as releasing an HGUC 1:1 Gundam... or am I confused? (possibly) Pete

I wish she was, but judging by the fact that she keeps lamenting the fact that she already has one kid and what a pain in the butt that is, I doubt she'll want another As for how improbable a chick crying at Terminator is - well - she is MY girlfriend - and she has been with me for 5 years now (each of our 20 or 30 break ups lasted on average between 1 to 7 days). A girl's gotta be wierdo to be with me for 5 years anyway - so to me it makes sense that she cries while watching Terminator 4 The funny thing though, is that she told her girlfriends at work (she works in interior design and there are pretty much like 30 hot chicks and two gay guys at the office) that she loved Terminator and they went on an internet hunt for nude pictures of Sam Worthington - (correct name?) - the guy who played Marcus and ended up emailing pics of him back and forth between eachother Women are crazy I wouldn't be surprised - but there are actually quite a few such token gas stations in the Terminator Lore. There's the gas station Sarah, John and Ahnold stopped into pull bullets out of his back and sew up Sarah, and then I think in T3 there was also a gas station?... Ahnold went "shopping" there... But yeah - would be worth checking on the DVD version:) Pete Oh - and Kieth - I don't smoke regularly - just when I go out for movies/dinner - meaning on average once a week. One pack per two weeks average. Down from lots more in my youth - but thanks for the nod to health

As is my usual fare, I'm gonna wait until the whole second season is done before seeing it. Watching Macross: Frontier one episode at a time was terrible enough for the days of anticipation. I prefer seeing series in full. That said - I'm quite content to watch season 1 over and over again. I showed episode 00 "Adventures of Mikurua Asahina" to my step-daughter yesterday - my girlfriend looked over our shoulders for about five minutes to make certain I wasn't showing her daughter a porn flick or something (geez...) but was satisfied that it was harmless Judging by my 12 year old's reaction - Melancholy is definitely for the grown ups. There's not enough "happening" and at the same stuff there is too much "subtle" stuff happening to make it "enteratining" to someone who isn't an anime fan already or has a love of such stories anyways. Not that she DIS-liked it; but I could tell it was a tad too demanding for her - besides, a big downer was the lack of horses, cats, dogs, and assorted animals (she's into animals)... Oh well... Guess cartoons are for grown ups these days Pete

Stop worrying and just get all of them. Start with the one that's most affordable right now and then keep going until you have them all. Pete

Thanks JBO. I am also supporting the Brigade and am awaiting arrival of my first shipment of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya figures - went with Revoltech in the end ... Anyways - just watched episode 14. I liked it. I should have expected that kind of ending - and there was a point in the series where I thought I recognized Haruhi's specific "condition" for what it really was - lack of sex with someone she loved A kiss in dark space or whatever it was isn't exactly what she needs to shake her out of her condition - but it's a good start And now I kind of understand why Asahina is so careful not to get close to Kyon - she's probably afraid that Haruhi will destroy the universe in a fit f jealous cosmic rage My favorite part: Yuki writing to him that "I as an Individual also desire your return" Yuki has fast become my favorite of the girls. She IS the cutest of the three and I like quite good looking girls All in all - a fanstastic show. I am happy that stuff like this is still being made and that it's not always necessary to travel back to the 70s for good anime Pete

If you point me in the right direction - aka - where can I get the novels online? - then that would help me read them quickly Meanwhile - I've managed to DL episode 14. Will watch it tonight - yay Now...where can I find season 2...hmmm... other than youtube? Pete

I got lost somewhere around where the black lines started... Pete

Of course Are you suggesting I'm a push over? Well... I guess you'd be right! But seriously - I did like Terminator: Salvation. The ONLY thing about it which was kind of clunky was the fact that anybody who had seen the previous Terminators and read some of the Dark Horse comics kind of "knew" what was going to happen anyway which made the plot seem kind of clunky. It was almost kind of like seeing something you'd imagined happening finally visiualized. There were few moments in the film where I was like "oh wow!" - and even the action sequences - due to them mostly being homages to the original three films - were predictable - sort of. But this predictability in no way took away from the movies' enjoyment. In a way I envy my Girlfriend. Imagien if you had NEVER seen or heard of Terminator AND you had NEVER been to an action film (other than Transformers,which was pretty comedic by comparisson) --- and this was your first taste - you'd really love it I think Pete

Saw this movie last night. Background/Context: Initially, I had been planning to see this on Friday when it premiered here in Warsaw. But of course, last week, me and my girlfriend had another fight and broke up - again (I lost count, but I think we broke up like 20 or 30 times already in the last 5 years). Anyways - when it's my fault, I usually grovel and beg for a week and get forgiven. But when it's her fault she goes into a mega depression and breaks off all contact. When this kind of stuff first happened, I took it seriously enough to start looking for a new girl and basically go through the "oh my aching broken heart" thing. But, after 20 or 30 times of this, it wears pretty thin - and you get some steel skin. So... I gambled and didn't go out with any other girls - didn't even go see Terminator Salvation when it premiered. Basically - I stayed home and built Gundams. Saturday afternoon... Ring Ring. My ex-girlfriend calls up and - as is her habit - makes absolutely no mention of our fight, makes no apologies, nothing - but instead says: "I want to take you to see Terminator Salvation. Come over." So - she takes me to dinner first - which I end up paying for because even though she's treating me, it still somehow didn't feel right not to pay for it anyways. Oh - back up - I pulled up at her place in a cab to pick her up - and she'd really gone the extra mile to make herself look pretty for me. All the elements were there - long high heeled trendy boots, a nice cleavage line with black lingerie laced with pink; great hair - the whole nine yards. I was impressed. It's not that she doesn't dress nice or look pretty anyways - but you know how it is... if you're with someone for a long time - you kind of let yourself go every once in a while - you're not that concerned about "making an impression" because you've been together, you know eachother - you know you'll be "forgiven" and "understood" (no time, nothing clean blah blah blah) - but she was really really making an effort. During the dinner - she drank lots of wine and let me do the same without making snide remarks about me being an alcoholic. Narry one word did I hear about my shirt not being "properly" ironed or my shoes not being washed "well." And the coup de grace: she asked me to buy her a pack of women's cigarretes and joined me in my pleasant smoking without making an unpleasant face, waving her hands around, coughing and hacking and complaining about me smelling of nicotine. As we walked to and from dinner, she cuddled up and acted like she had the greatest guy in the universe by her side - which was nice. Then - when we got to the cinema - SHE asked for two tickets to Terminator:Salvation. This was frickin' awesome because all the other couples basically looked like this: Excited guy/Bored girl. Guy asking for tickets to Terminator:Salvation/Girl looking at watch and praying for this to be over soon. Not me. Not only did she ask for the tickets, but she did it with bubbly anticipation and excitement as if she were looking forward to the movie as much as me. Heaven Anyways - she courageiously sat through the previews - which were ALL slasher/horror flicks. My girlfriend doesn't watch horror flicks and she is very very easily frightened. She likes psychological movies, artistic movies, comedies, romantic movies - not dark slasher bloody movies. But - she made it through the previews and was relieved when they showed the preview of Transformers: ROTF. At least it wasn't a slasher flick... And then...the movie began. So - I'm watching and enjoying and I look over at her to see how she's enduring. Keep in mind she's seen NONE of the Terminator movies and didn't even know it existed until I told her about it like a month ago. Anyways - I look over at her - in anticipation that she's got a bored look and will at least flash me an "see how much I love you, I'm sitting through this crap for you" smile... Nope... Get this: SHE'S IN TEARS!!! She sobbed through the whole movie It was frickin' great! She loved the Marcus story and was totally moved by the character, as well as my the plight of John Conor and of humanity in general and by the desperation - she was totally awe struck by how much people had going AGAINST them in the movie - and she completely loved the mini-love story between Marcus and the pilot. Anyways - I was amazed. I mean - she freakin' bawled through the movie and was thanking me afterwards for the chance to see it and saying stuff like "I never imagined a movie like that could be made" and "I wasn't prepared for it being about that." It was music to my ears. Naturally - her excellent behavior and special way of apologizing and making up extended far far into the deep reaches of the night But - back to the movie. I suppose my impression is going to forever be colored by this context. That's just the way it is. So no way I can say anything critical about this movie. Besides - I liked it - really. I thought the plot was great, the action was perfectly paced. And - as my girlfriend says: "The best part was the robot with the big human heart" What can I say? This was good stuff. Much better than Transformers IMO. Pete

Well - this all goes back to what I wrote earlier; that the entire series can be summed by by Kyon's words from the beginning of the first episode - "I learned to accept reality while also holding on to my beliefs." This is something that Haruhi has yet to learn. Kyon isn't apathetic - I think - instead - Kyon is as he says, someone who accepts reality but also holds onto his beliefs. This is why he is capable of being on "both sides" of the divide and moving between them so fluidly. I don't think it's a matter of super powers. I think rather that we're dealing with solypsism here; and solypsism as a way of existing at that. I think that this anime is fairly close to what our real every day lives are like - if you're an anime fan, an otaku, a comic book/sci-fi fan - a dreamer. There was a movie with Captain Kirk in it - I forgot the title - but it was about two Star Wars fans who lived out their belief in the existence of the Star Wars universe, and Kirk came along to help them discover how to live in a way that "accepts reality while still holding onto your dreams" - it had a lot of the same themes as Melancholy does - albeit it wasn't as well organized and didn't have so many pretty girls in it. Or - another way of putting it: If Kyon IS the one with "super powers" - then his power consists in being able to do as he says he does in Episode 1: "Accept Reality while still holding on to my beliefs." Given how tough life is - I guess that IS a super power. Pete

Very nice Chunky collection above - realyl nice And nice...Ass Tray Red Frame? (I'm assuming?) .... And nice Luca... Nice everything Wow I love this stuff Pete

I like them for the same reason I like low budget porn - so I guess that qualifies as a positive Pete

I watched all the way up to episode 14 yesterday - didn't see the last episode because I'm having trouble downloading it. But the others were ace. Day of Saggitaurius was indeed very fun. I like how Yuki becomes more human - in her own quirky way - as things move along. The Computer Society should be happy to have her...oh ...wait... Is it possible that Yuki engineered the whole game/contest in order to get INTO the computer society because she was bored and wanted to play with them?.... I also liked Haruhi's softness with Kyon in the episode where he carried that heater up to school for her. It was quite a contrast to her coldness during the railroad walk- although I guess Kyon wasn't exactly showering Haruhi with empathy over her story of insignificance either. "Soka"... In any event - dag - this is really really great stuff... Oh yeah - and the Culture Festival... It's a tad bit unbelievable that Haruhi can sing so well. I know, I know - technically it should also be unbelievable that she can pitch so well too - but for some reason - to me at least - it is easier to pitch than it is to sing. Maybe this is because in my youth I had a bit of aptitude for sports (made the high school basketball team yo!) while having no aptitude for music (that is to say; I loved listening to it, but whenever I tried singing it people would run screaming)... And it is interesting how she reacts to getting praised. So - could this be the real cure to dark space or closed space or whatever it's called? That is... if Haruhi finds a place on Earth where she is after all special and unique and not just like everyone - then she will stop being bored and stop destroying the universe? While possible; there is no situation that is static - so likely she would become bored as circumstances change .... In any event - marvelous wonderful amazing lovely supa dupa anime. Pete

Yes - now that Gubaba has jogged our memories; indeed Birdman was also a reference to the equivalent episode in M7, where Bassara plays Ichijo Hikaru, and they put retro VF-1 fastpacks on the VF-19. However, as filming is underway, the protodevilin attack and Bassara needs to go sing to them. But there are other more explicite M7 references in MF - most notably episode 12 where Ranka saves the day and Micheal's VF is equiped with Sound Force like speakers. As for other obscure references to M7... Did anybody else think of Physica from M7 when Alto got the "lucky charm" from Sheryl? Pete

To my eye it looks like Platform G-Delta of the Star Ship Orcamica... Pete

I'm gonna watch Day of Sagittarius tonight along with the rest of the final episodes As for the book forms - are these in english? Or only Japanese? And is there manga as well? Pete