VFTF1

That gallery of Yamato's 1/24 shows just why Yamato is not "becoming" but pretty much already IS my favorite company. The prices are "insane" - except that they are actually not "THAT" insane - becaus SHE's prices were usually double what Yamato charges. Yamato has suceeded in bringing us what was once thought of as limited garage/SHE quality items for a price that - while certainly pushing the envelope in terms of upper limit - does not bring the cieling down on our heads. The only thing stopping me from getting that Ingram is one sad little truth: I HAVE NO INTEREST IN THE DESIGN!! I just don't like it. I watched a couple of episodes o Patlabor and it was relatively fun. Maybe I'll watch the whole series eventually. I have a few of the Revoltechs - well - most of them except the Ingram, which is my least favorite. And I also have a list of more lovable (to me) mecha which take precedent over this guy... But rest assured, if a Gene were to come slithering out of a bottle and grant me three wishes - the 1/24 Ingram would definitely be number three. Well...ok... It would...be on the list... of wishes... after wishing for - er - you know - many more wishes... oh - blimy If I had more money I'd get him Pete

Interesting that so many of you guys are game developers It almost makes me want to get into video games. I rememberi n college we had a Dreamcast and our dorm (which was the smallest dorm on campus - very cool, only about 20 guys in total in this one little house) - would all get together and play Soul Caliber. Beyond that, as a child of the 80s, I am a huge fan of the original Nintendo Entertainment System and have emulators of all of the games. Call me crazy, but I love Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Super Mario 2, and the whole shabang of offerings from back then - and prefer to play that old stuff to newer games with better graphics. Ah - I love hearing about Ireland's misery nowadays - not because, heaven forbid, I wish you ill - no. But early last year there were elections held in Poland, and the party that won had this campaign slogan "we'll give you an economic miracle" and their main stump speech line was "we'll make Poland like Ireland" (back then, Ireland was still worth pointing to). Well - as I like to say: they suceeded. We too are mired in debt and headed for depression We're just like Ireland Pete

First time I've heard of something like that happening. The shoulders on Frauleins can be a bit "loose" - but they need to be to get that more human movement going in that area and make some really good poses possible. However - once you put her in a certain pose - you should be able to fasten every joint securely to keep her in that pose. But to have an arm just "fall off" - sounds suspect. My Yoko is fine - as are my Tohsaka Rhin, Rei Ayanami, and Asuka Langley. In any event - welcome to the Forum. Pete

I like the box art on the 1D. I prefer that kind of box picture to the generic "here is the airplane" on the earlier valks in the 1/60 line, let alone to the wierd abstract strangeness of the 1/48s and M+ 1/60s - and the generic zeroes too... Hopefully, with the Destroids getting some nice art, and this 1D - it'll set a trend. Boxes should be nice if they're going to take up this much space. Pete

Reaction: TO YAMATO: A) 1:2000 SDF-1: good job. Please don't issue it until next January so that I don't have to become a gay prostitute just to buy it. B) Mac+ Repaints: YES! Very good idea. These are great molds, but how many of the same color can you have? I hope the repaints are interersting and light blue for the YF-19 C) 1/100 Valkyrie: Understanable in today's economy that you'd start doing this. Hopefully you will give Toynami and Bandai a run for their money here and make some outstanding pieces. I will definitely be interested in them. GUNDAM VS. VALKYRIE !!! YAY!! Pete

[puts on nerdy glasses/engages squeeky voice] Now how can you say that Yamato's new v.2 1/60 VF-1D two-seater with Lyn Minmey in cute dress is not essential? Pete

If I were going to be humble, I'd say I was lucky - if I were going to be arrogant, I'd say I was smart. The reality is probably somewhere between the two. Two years ago, I was convinced that this crisis would hit us sooner or later because my understanding of economics told me that when central banks keep pumping low interest fiat money into the economy, when war brings on higher and higher deficits funded by more and more treasury bills being sold and when all of this happens while taxes go down, but entitlements go up, and the governments of the world generally have policies which guarantee against bank failure (thereby encouraging banks to give out credit cards left and right) and guarantee deposits but permit fractional reserve banking... then it WILL collapse. I consider it a point of pride that when my girlfriend was thinking of re-financing her mortgage and converting her debt to swiss franks to "take advantage of the exchange rate" I stopped her. She always thought my views were a bit crazy until it saved her a hundred thousand bucks to listen to me. This is why two years ago I also started to scale back (and eventually quit) my job as an english teacher. I saw that when Poland entered the EU, millions of my potential customers (students) just left for the UK. It makes sense - if you want to learn english - why sit around Poland and pay me when you can get a job at Macdonalds in the UK or Ireland and learn there? So I figured that the english teaching market, which was very good to me for the past few years, was going south anyways. Rents were rising, and the price of food was going up too. It became obvious that teaching was going to be a bum industry soon. And while there was some job security in it (given that there aren't a lot of native speakers here), feeling secure in a job that paid nothing was not going to be fun. So - I took a little risk and started my own business. The Yen was mega cheap, the dollar was too. Credit was still readily available - but I wasn't about to take out a line of credit to buy real estate because I knew that market was one big over-inflated balloon. Especially since 70% of the credit offers for apartments were offers in Swiss francs - with banks and legions of people "taking advantage" of the exchange rate to pay lower monthly rates for their mortgage. I knew that it was sheer stupidity to tie your mortgage to exchange rates. And hey - presto - now those people have houses and apartments whose value is falling well below the price they paid for it in Polish money, but their mortgage agereement is penned in Swiss francs - and so they now have about 50% higher mortgages and a higher real debt to pay off to the banksters. Meanwhile, I took out a line of credit to start my own business - a toy store. built a webpage and moved back in with my parents in order to save money. All my money from my translating job and all revenues from my business were re-invested into my business throughout all of 2008 giving me a nice little warehouse which - given today's exchange rate - it would be impossible to accumulate. Oh - and my business plan foresaw paying off my credit by the end of 2008 - did that too. So - I suffered throughout all of 2008 -didn't go anywhere, saw my girlfriend once a month, enjoyed a beer and a movie at the cinema pretty much once a month. Did nothing but keep working to kick start my business and - above all - accumulate as large a warehouse as possible. I figured if there was a depression coming, I better start suffering now rather than let it kick me in the ass while I'm partying. Now - even if things get worse, I have an established business and a large warehouse. Sure, consumer demand is down - but it's tons better being a business with a warehouse in a depression than it is being a worker who can't make ends meet, has no savings accumulated and has nothing going for him. Finally - since I believe that money (paper money) is worthless - I think the only thing worse than being in debt is having too much cash on hand. Liquid assets are completely worthless these days. What will you do with them? Keep them in a bank? Those keep going bankrupt. Invest in stock? Hah hah. Convert them to a better currency? Currency exchange rates are wild. Buy non-liquid assets? Invest in Oil? Yeah - it was 175 USD a barrel a couple months ago - now it's 35USD... Everything is chaotic. I think the best thing you could have is a house or apartment which is your and paid off (value might be declining but at least you have a place to live) and a business that is yours and which can SURVIVE the depression. I do - so I'm happy. As a side note - I also continue doing translations - but since I'm self employed I get to be paid gross rather than net and do my own taxes. This sounds bad until you realize that in Poland self-employed businesses are taxed at a flat 19% rate independent of whether they make ten bucks a year or ten million bucks a year. Also, it is better because the 22% VAT tax becomes neutral for me rather than being something I actually have to pay. Needless to say - I don't need to sell any of my personal collection. I hope that when the depression finally goes away, I'll be in a good position to start making lots of money. The key for me is: never trust the politicians and the experts, always use your own independent thinking and even if people laugh at you - don't let it influence your decisions. Pete

I'm on the fence about Inferno. Since I only collect Henkei, I'll wait for pics of the Henkei version - but in general he looks a bit TOO boxy/pre-schoolish. The G1 Inferno was actually quite slend with those long legs and the fire engine mode was relatively more interesting too. Pete

I dunno. I don't like the tube top/suspenders combo either. The hat can stay, but the red suspenders just don't work. I understand the idea of playing around with "classical" military dress - but it doesn't look very feminine and delicate. Maybe that's why I prefer Ranka most of the time. To the extent that Ranka is not womanly but often times merely "girly" - Sheryl is often times also not womanly, but instead MANLY. I prefer girly to manly, because in girly lies the seed of womanly. If there were an outfit I'd like Sheryl in it would be one of the two following: a) The one she wore in the second opening when they sang Lion (the kind of maid's outfit thingy) b) The dress she wore at her concert in episode 7, when Alto and the others were sent out on their first assault against the Vajra. The faux military get up is just boring IMO. But - then again - other than that one company (forgot their name) and the small HGIC gashapons - the bigger statues haven't been giving us what I personally would want - that is Ranka in her white dress with those big boots and Sheryl in her "Star Date" get up, or in a nice concert dress. Bot the 1/8 Ranka (Monster girl) and Sheryl happened to choose the worst possible clothes/poses for the figures - at least from my point of view. But at least Monster Girl Ranka is kind of a funny joke and relates to a painting on the nose of a monster instead of a fashion disaster during a concert performance. Pete

The Revoltech is ok A bit beefy now that I consider it... Pete

Oh wait - he was made a squad leader for resucing Misa from Goodbye Mars. But that still doesn't explain why he trained in a 1J. I think it was an animation error. Pete

16) A moderator threatens to close the thread unless everyone gets back on topic 17) Graham says he spoke to Yamato about a Misa cast-off and that "something big which takes off its' clothes is coming soon." 18) Rabid speculation starts that it must be a Klan-Klan cast off 19) Someone points out that Bandai has the license for MF 20) Someone bashes the DX Ozma for bent lasers and turtle necks 21) Someone tells the above someone that his mom has bent lasers and a turtle neck and to just get a blow drier 22) Someone posts a pick of their mom with a blow drier, heating Ozma's bent lasers 23) Someone else says that this is Macrossworld, not MILF world. 24) Someone gets offended that someone else thinks their mom is a MILF 25) A noobie writes "Can anyone tell me if Rick Hunter will show up with the Megaroad One in the Macross Frontier movie, or did the Invid that appeared in the series definitively kill him off?" Can't wait for the VF-11B Pete

Maybe for the same reason Max makes squad leader - everybody else is dead. Pete

You're probably right. I couldn't remember which one he had by then - although.... correct me if I'm wrong but did he even have a 1A in the TV series? Pete

Always happy to welcome a new member of teh Dai Gurren Brigade! Pete

I'm lucky enough to have a girlfriend who make 5 times more money than I do, and already has all that stuff. She just loves me cause I make her laugh. Been together 4 or 5 years now and it's great This also means I can focus on making moeny to buy a RealDoll I would even go so far as to have them make a custom Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier - which honestly was the first thing that came to mind, despite the fact that I prefer Ranka as a character and I prefer her songs, and I love Misa and I like Minmey... but just on the face of it - Sheryl seems to be the most perfect fit for transformation into a RealDoll Hm - guess that really does mean I have a low esteem of Sheryl: only good for one thing Pete

It would be funny if - by the time the SDF-1 came out - the exchange rate improved and it turned out that counted in non-Yen currencies, we spent more money on our Lyn Minmey statues or on one VF-1 1/60 than on the SDF-1 It actually is possible.. . Pete

I think the idea of removable panels to show details is a great great idea for the SDF-1. I just hope the release date is like..December 2009 otherwise I will have to ...I dunno....do something...to afford it Pete

It's nice to know there are Cherry2000 fans out there:) I remember watching that movie over and over when I was in college. It was great... I never new about RealDolls - at least not until five minutes ago Those are awesome! And at only 7500 bucks a pop...that's really cheap when you consider the quality of those things. Maybe my girlfriend can get me one eventually as a present The problem with RealDolls though, is that they don't have much of a personality... well - ok - they do - I mean - there's a lot of character in those girls, true - and it's a leap forward - but... you can't really take them out to dinner or dancing. However, I would love to fill the house up with those. In any event - there is a reason to work hard, save and be ambitious after all um... and Ranka 1/8 is cute and great Pete

You know - what I really want is a 1/60 Koenig monster! That would make me really happy Pete

Yep. I agree. A Virgin road Valkyrie would be great. Just like a Goodybe Mars Hikaru 1A would be great. Funner than just repaints.

Well, I'm six feet tall, so, horizontally speaking, only about 10 of me could fit in it if we all lied down? That's a pretty small living quarters. It's like a trailer of something. How tall would it be? In any case, I have 65 feet easy with just grass - well now snow- trees and stuff on it, so I could just plop it there. Heck, I could even build myself a nice 1/60 Atari Island "city diorama" around it. My 1/60 Yammies would then be able to play... weee that would be fun! Do it Yamato:) Do it:) Just make it so that payment can be via a loan and paid back in monthly rates. Pete

I thought Quickstrike and especially Sky Shadow were really great. Skyshadow in Takara BW Neo colors as Drancon the Minion of Unicron looked even better. I wonder what gives you such low esteem for "normal" beast wars? Or maybe it was the very first wave that ended up containing most of the show characters? I'll grant that compared to what came later, the first BW toys were very very "bad." No poseability on the animal modes and lots of undercarriage and compromises made - but already by the second wave - guys like B'Boom for instance were - IMO - great. In fact, the BW II line (wave 2 in the USA) was full of good moulds I think. The inverting of mech/organic on the Transmetals was always a bit wierd IMO. They basically were no longer robots...although they were...although they weren't... it was just wierd But then again, as Rattrap once said "Man, I'm tellin' ya - the things comin' out'a those pods get wierder and wierder..." In retrospect, a really good show and a fantastic toy line. What about Transmetal Depthcharge and Rampage? I really loved the fact that Rampage had a great tank mode (unlike most of the others whose "vehicle" mode was...not ....really there)... but Rampage's tank mode looked awesome and the toy actually had real wrap-around treads which - judged in retrospect on the basis of lots of Hasbro's current lame offerings is a HUGE plus. I guess I just am really sad that Hasbro has dropped the ball so low. When I think about the advances they once made year-by year - seriously: I was awe struck. Each year they would serve up some new great innovation. The only thing that has struck my fancy now has been Animated, but even then, when compared with Beast Wars - it actually doesn't compare, because Animated is..well...Animated. It's an abstraction of a robot and an abstraction of a vehicle. A nice one; a good artistic statement/interpretation of vechiles and G1 incarnations - sure - but the fascination isn't really there because the designers don't really have this challenge before them of taking something real and making it convert to a robot and back again... Just some of the magic is missing. Pete

Given how many people are loosing their homes, Yamato could cash in. I mean - a 1/60 scale SDF-1 would STILL cost way less than even the most depreciated housing unit (unless you count those going for a dollar I guess)... At the very least, people could probably sell their houses now and buy a 1/60 SDF-1 for the money (would probably be worth the same). I imagine a 1/60 SDF-1 would sell for as little as 10 to 20 thousand USD - 25 thousand tops. I'd buy it and live in it. Of course then I'd NEED Yamato to make me a VF-1S voice changer helment...or at least a Zendradi uniform - then I can be "the last survivor" from the Supervision Army That would be fun. Pete

Yes. Pete