VFTF1

So - I'm watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Here is my first impression: Pete

Where did you get Misa Hayese in panties!? Pete

Really? I had Car Robots Baldigus and this wasn't a problem with him. I also had the original Combaticons way back when and also not a problem. Pete

Yes - and George W is not an "ex-President" ... as of today he is still the sitting President. Although I was wondering whether that was a froth-at-the-mouth attack on the current POTUS or an intelligent jab at the record of his dad, who also presided over a war (although the "ape-face" term doesn't seem to fit)... In any event, it's an American tradition to name ships after Presidents and States it seems. And it is fitting to name an Air Craft Carrier after a decorated pilot. My interest in such things is vague, but I did read an article once describing what it was like to be on such a ship, and it sounds really awesome (as in awe-inspiring and in "woooww!").... As for the VF-1 actually happening - who knows? Given the Fourth Generation Wars that are now afoot, a variable armored fighter of some sort which could adapt to various terrains; be they rugged and mountainous or urban would actually be a very practical thing. Pete

Pish posh. I just got done re-arranging/moving my entire Macross collection and took both my "broken/cracked" Roy and not cracked/perfect Roy v.2s out of the box. The cracked Roy got transformed and he's still fine. It's a bigger crack than the one on the picture and I just mixed up some epoxy (a+b) and left it to dry for one night and it's fine. It also in no way ruins the look of the piece. Don't give up on the v.2 Buy buy buy:) You know in your heart you wanna And buy the DX too Pete

I think there was one guy who had a VF-25S with straight lasers on the head - but Bandai offered to replace it free of charge with a crooked/bent out of shape laser version - so no problem. I guess I'm just bumed about the lasers because I have Bandai's SOC Dancouga - and Big Mouth has a pair of "VF-1S lasers mounted on his Wooly-Mammoth mode head and Bandai made them out of bendy material since they are relatively small and... they aren't bent. They are fairly straight. Then again, Landliger's tank cannon is made of the same material and seems a bit bent out of shape... Oh well - have the people who've taken the pictures tried to - I dunno - straighten the lasers before doing so? Or was it just pose/click -done? Pete

Well written, and longer than what I write Good find. And yes - Gubaba does rule Pete

I now suddenly have the urge for a VT-1 with Misa Hayese Pete

I'm waiting on my HG RX-78-2 ... Now I'm really in a pickle. I am thinking of building the Zaku, the Gouf and the Z'Gok to get a nice Principality of Zeon force going All MG... In terms of Freedom and Destiny and the like - I generally am not a big fan of the "look at all my sharp wings and cannons and swords" type Mecha - although I do have a soft spot for Crossbone Full Cloth; but that's mainly because I like the pirate motif. Well - either way -I'm gonna build something as soon as I finish cleaning my room Pete

I would also add that I am not surprised because if you look at the vast range of Bandai products - then most of their SOCs have interchangable fists anyways. Heck - even Yamato has TV accurate hands with the v.2 VF-1S. As for the Gunpod strap - again I'll defend Bandai... Do we see Roy taking a strap out of subspace to attach Hikaru's damaged cockpit to his arm in SDFM TV? No. Does this mean that the v.2 VF-1 is somehow not perfect trransformation because it has a strap to do this? No. Perfect transformation basically means it is not a parts former - and it's not. I am curious - UncleNewbie dude who opened two threads that got locked in which he praised his VF-25S to high heavens - forgive me for not remembering your avatar - but question: Did your Ozma have straight lasers on the head? You praise the figure so highly that it seems it must have - or that it wasn't a problem straightening them out. I've come to accept the VF-25 by Bandai (since yesterday when I still hated it) - but those ugly ugly lasers really make it hard to be enthused about Ozma... Have people straightened their lasers out? The promo pics and even the blasted box pic show the lasers to be straight... Pete

Sorry to wade back into this, but I just watched DYRL last night on a nice big screen...well...ok - on a BIGGER screen than YouTube. It's also been about two years since I saw DYRL on youtube ONLY once... since then, I've seen SDFM TV about 10 times maybe... so clearly I thought that maybe my preference for the TV series was on account of having seen DYRL a long time ago and not with much accuracy. Soo.... here are some thoughts: 1. Initially, I was surprised just how much DYRL reminded me of Macross: Frontier. Naturally, it should have been the other way around, but there were some scenes (Minmey in sport chiche and Minmey and Hikaru's "night on the town") which just reminded me of Sheryl in a similar outfit and - of course - the episode Star Date. I guess since I've not seen DYRL that much, then when I watched Macross: Frontier, I missed these homages - and so, in a pleasant twist - I only realized them now. There were a few more - like, surprisingly, the character designs! Frontier's character designs were pretty clearly in line with Zero - but only now did I realize just how much Zero was in line with DYRL. So 7 and Plus really stick out in this regard. The character designs (by which my mean the general aesthetic of how humans are presented in art) is very different in Plus and Seven, but flows fairly smoothly from DYRL to Zero to Frontier. Interesting.... 2. Why do I care about these characters? Sadly - the answer was: because I watched the TV series. This was less true for the main trio; who seemed to have gotte 75% of the screen time - which, I guess, is not surprising given that the dilema of which girl to choose from had to be believable. Nevertheless, despite the film's efforts, I found myself investing the characters with what I knew of their past - albeit - even that was somewhat difficult, because of course in the TV series, Hikaru met Minmey - or at least saw her - in the very first episode; and fell in love with the normal girl she was at that point. DYRL changes this dynamic by basically making the love triangle LESS INTERESTING - because it is between the "love" felt towards idol superstar Lyn Minmey and the love felt towards weak, womanly, dish-washing and flaming hot Misa Hayes. Seriously - this does not present any sane man much of a dilema. Of course you'd want to kiss Minmey and oogle over Minmey and take Minmey to the motel. But you would not want to marry her. You'd want to Marry Misa because Misa - despite her crusty facade - is a real woman. While Minmey just ACTS like one - because its' her job. The only problem, however, was that it was hard to feel for Minmey the way you could in the TV series, where the process by which the regular spirited girl was transformed into an idol and distanced from others was played out far better. Here, in the film, it's kind of forced. All of the other characters basically get only cameos. Which I guess is fine; and to the extent that they are given screen time, it is used well and they are presented well - although this probably adds to why the film is less compelling. It basically thrusts the love triangle so far out to the forefront that the other characters get shoved to the sidelines and somewhat stereotyped. Case in Point: Roy Fokker. The film condensing each character into what is essential about their personaility. However, sometimes it is impossible to show a rich personality well if you have to condense. Thus - how do you show someone who is wise and drunk at the same time? How do you show off an ace fighter and have him die in one of the first (and relatively minor) battles shown in the film? How do you show that he deeply loves women while also being a playboy due to fear of death? DYRL just makes a bit of a mess out of Roy's character because his character is too complex to really portray in such short snippets. This is a pity. Macross Zero doesn't do this - and does a really good job of fleshing out Roy without subtracting from the main love triangle at all. DYRL is relentless in how it shows the love triangle. But of course - there is beauty in this. Misa and Hikaru's time on Earth is truly wonderful. And the sight of Misa letting down all her guards and just embracing her womanhood is very moving. Hikaru - on the other hand - is such a blank slate in this movie. In many ways, he's just a warm body. Ironically, he is also far more decisive than in SDFM TV. I guess that is what I truly like about this movie. I love the scene in which he explicitly chooses Misa. And I love how the story unfolds in such a way that he must then run after Minmey any ways. 3. The Animation I have compared it to other series; but I'd like to also comment on it by itself. It is FANTASTIC. AMAZING. A bit too many throbbing eyes full of passion - but these are not poorly animated, just over-used. In general however, it is an amazing achievement - really. 4. Peace? With whom? Why? This is the only part of the film that bothered me. How did the Zendradi convince Minmey to hum the song for them? Why wasn't Boldoza and his fleet effected by the humming just like the Meltrans were? Why did Boldoza sue for peace with the Macross? There is just so much contradiction in that... "We'll use Minmey as a weapon to neutralize the Meltrans - but we ourselves won't be neutralized...at least not until she adds lyrics!" (huh?) "We want peace with the Macross because...umm....we need a break so Hikaru can profess his love to Misa and Misa can translate the song?" (huh?) "Ok! No more peace with the Macross because we're going to destroy the Meltrans in one swift attack, which we could have apparently done at any time instead of humming a song to them, and then we'll need someone else to fight." (huh?) This is just way too garbbled and it seems that the plot somewhat falls apart at this point. Overall, it's a beautiful movie with a compelling theme and some very exciting and sweet moments. But yeah - without the background that is SDFM TV, I don't think we'd care much for most of the characters and we would probably be appaled at how rushed and convenient many of the plot point explanations are (I'm thinking here mainly of Misa being versed in ancient Protoculture language and being able to explain away the presence of the Island and talk to the computer)... But yeah - it's a tough call. 5. Most superfluous character/scene: Max and Milia. Yawn. Zero chracterization - it could have been a random fighter pilot fighting a random meldran pilot and then seeing eachother and being like "LOVE!" Oh - actually - it pretty much was. But...overall a lovely effort. It's hard not to like - but this is mainly because Misa and Hikaru as a couple are so wonderfully compelling. The love story is done perfectly. Pete

I sometimes want something like that to happen - but then I stop. I would prefer it if Encore systematically released everything from season 1, 2 and 3 before going into the exotic stuff... Hopefully Stunticons will be next. They need more Decepticons to even things out, and the Stunticons were always my favorites. or did I just say that about the Combaticons? Pete

Tee hee I just applied those transparent stickers with the red writing to my Wing Zero MG and it looks helluv better now I'm agonizing over who to build next... I really should finish building the remaining members of Celestial Being (I have Exia, Virtue, and Nadleeh built) - although I am tempted to do an enemy Mobile Suit (I have never built one)... but who? HG Taozi Tieren? Or perhaps I should build a Mastergrade Zaku II v.2? Or....should I venture into the craziness that is Gundam Seed and build Force Impulse Gundam MG? I must admit that my last build - Unicorn Gundam - went well and while I am pleased with the result, I am somewhat disheartened by just how UNfriendly Unicorn is to play around with... Hmm... I think I'm gonna end up building Force Impulse. I've heard ONLY bad things about SEED. That it's crappy, that it's just mindless action... bleh bleh bleh... can it really be that bad? Perhaps building Force Impulse Gundam will give me some perspective on this subject. Pete

Dag. Every time I look at more pictures of these guys I get depressed. As in "do I really have to buy THAT"... I think I'm going to put off buying thse for a long, long loooooooooooooooooooooooong time. Te bend head lasers on Ozma are just a joke. Come on. I understand everything, but what's with that? I mean... they surely did not intend on it? It must be a QC flaw? What is that? ... why... so sad Such a wonderful series and such craptastic figures. Pete

I dunno... I actually prefer it if they didn't mess with the releases too much. Encore is not supposed to be a "let's retool this to make it cooler" line - it's supposed to be a nostalgia - look you can buy this after thirty years again line... Things like giving Bumblebee a new head and tampoo printing are fine. But radical retooling of the mold isn't... I am happy to be able to get these Transformers of my dreams in beautiful boxes and have them be just like what I played with when I was a kid Pete

I only check this thread now and then to see how ass is doing. I notice that the percentages are gettng better, though ass is still in the minority. However, I get the feeling ass has a very vocal fanbase. It's not really fair to compare the two - no woman is complete without great ass and tits; and to try to denegrate one for the benefit of the other is not good form. That said - and I am reapeating myself, albeit with a twist - given a lovely girl with perfectly great boobs and ass, I would say that ass has a more stimulating effect than boobs Needless to say, I voted ass. Pete

This morning started with a bang. My Zendradi Quid Rau Mirya from Yamato had been perched on the top shelf since moving into a new room three days ago. I had always had my doubts about perching my Yamato figures on a shelf that is open ended - in the sense that there is no transparent glass or plastic "wall" facing forward, but only the traditional three "background" walls that shelves mostly have... But Poland has not had an earthquake since...hm...Poland has not had an earthquake - period! I don't have little kids running around shaking the ground and nothing could possibly ever cause any damage. Except, of course, my big fat FOOT. Yeah, that's right. Ever since I moved from the colder room to the warmer room in my house, I've been trying to get the furniture in order, and I happened to place the shelf right next to where my feet are when I sleep. I'm a fairly tall guy - ok - I'm too tall. I have trouble finding a pair of pants that I can fit into because I'm tall but skinny, and pants that are XXL are usually for folks that are tall and round... Anyways - my bed is pretty big - but I guess even I can manage, in that state of sub-consciousness between sleep and awakeness - to kick out. And kick out I did. Not hard, not violently - but enough to give the old shelf a bit of a stir. Suffice to say, none of the myriad Yamato figures on that shelf budged - except one. You guessed it. (and if you didn't - I'll tell you which one)... The 1/60 Myria was never a great example of a figure that could stand up. Its' actually not the fault of the design; although there is some complexity to it, but rather, the fault of Yamato not using ratchet joints to contect the hips to the upper legs. Thus, there's really no traction preventing the figure from keeling backwards or forwards. The slightest wobble to the shelf and... MELDRAN ATTACK!! One Meldran falling off a top shelf does not an attack make - that is - not until you realize that the nose of my 1/60 YF-21 was jutting out of the middle shelf (so still about two feet off the ground). GULD's Valkyrie had been snuggly secured with fastpacks (which contrary to what I read on the forum from some folks are a WALK IN THE PARK to attach, fit snuggly and are coool!) - and snuggly secured on his stand. Apparently Myria took a particular dislike to the notion that the Quid Rau design was incorporated by the Yak Deculture protoculture wannabes and decided that Guld was going down with her. CRASH! BANG! Revoltech Asuka Langly and one Regult also got caught up in the comotion and came tumbling down. I wasn't worried about them. And rightly so. Sure, a leg and a foot came off - but they just fit right back on to the revoltech joints and nothing was broken. I wasn't even worried about the Quid Rau. I figured - as I wobbled out of bed to check on her - that if she broke - I don't care. I think the figure SUCKS anyways. The static Myria that could easily have been made poseable is a let down, the lack of balance, the wobbly joints, the brickishness of the figure and the ungainly finish. Yeah - this is clearly a Yamato effort from long ago and it "looks" nice - but it doesn't handle well and there is much to be desired from the figure. "If you fell and broke then it's your own goddam fault" I mummbled to Myria. "I won't shed any tears for you." Well - Myria is unscathed. She survived a drop from roughly six feet high onto a hard wooden floor. No damage. Then I noticed that the YF-21 was also lying on the floor. OH FCUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that was my first thought, albeit with the letters in the proper order. I was certain this thins was broken. I imagined that at the very least, the tail fins had snapped off irreversibly, that the canopy had cracked, that something bad happened. I picked up my YF-21 with a hard heart, knowing it was dead and not really wanting to see its' mortal wounds... Hmmm... There's... Nothing... broken????? The tail fins were fine. The wings too. Nothing cracked, nothing snapped, nothing. No damage. Oh. Except that. Again my heart fell. Yeah - that sleek yellow antena thing was gone. It was lying on the floor nearby...it was... REMOVABLE!? Yes. You read that right. The yellow sleek antena on the fight can be removed. It is not molded in! The fall had made it come off - and one simply had to slide it back into its' place. Viola. Presto! I examined the YF-21 for a long long time (mainly to make it feel loved and better and to temper the shock of the attack/fall). I am happy to report that Yamato has made a superbly DURABLE YF-21! This baby fell straight down from two feet onto a hard wooden floor and is UNSCRATCHED. Needless to say - I am not recomending that you "test" your YF-21 or other Yamato products in this way. However if you or someone you know has a story of horror and heroism to tell, tell it here. We hear so much about QC failures on Yamato products - I am happy to report a MAJOR QC success. Pete PS: I moved all of my Macross figures into a snug closet with shelves and inner lighting - shelves that no one can fall off of because they are very, very veeeeeeerrrry loooooong (horizontally speaking).

OH MY GOD!!! I just took my 1A out of the box after having stored it while away on New Year's vacation and transformed it from fighter to gerwalk! It had only been transformed beforehand like...twice! And I am more delicate with my Yamato valkyrie than I am with women...and.... and... ANDD.... it's perfectly fine. No cracks on the shoulders. Durable and lovely. Just like my VF-1S and, hopefully, soon my VF-1J (as soon as it arrives). What did you expect? Cracks? Breakage? No. Sorry. Still in perfect working order with no sign of stress marks or any such rot. Oh - and the ONE VF-1S I had with a cracked shoulder hinge is also doing just dandy with his epoxy glued crack... So - yeah. Go buy these guys and don't worry. 1D come to me! Pete

Well, I hate to contradict my earlier blanket pesimissm, but given you live in Texas... you do have one Congressman in a nearby district who isn't a dick and who actually would do something about this kind of thing if you contacted him. Pete

And the cannon fodder 1A will probably be sold with SS parts anyways... Don't see the point to this thread Pete

I luckily don't have any Bruticuses whatsoever - and yes, the G1 is by far the very best. Pete

The Combaticons will go great with my Encore Metroplex. Given how interactive Metroplex is with the scramble city gestalts; this is indeed really good news. That and the Combaticons were always my favorite Gestalt team (second place for the Constructicons). Encore is shaping up to be a dream come true. Kind of like TFC, but..er...encore Pete

Quick! Somebody take a picture of DX Ozma with Bandai Basara and Chunky Munky Hikaru to make Bandai feel better Pete

If Yamato loves me yeah, then Yamato will give my bland TV Max a Nie Zendradi Coat to wear in Gerwalk mode Yeah Pete

I wonder what the basis for the Anti-Spiral's belief was? I think it was despair - I think they constructed this system or ideology to justify their psychological shortcomings. Their knowledge of death as the end of all evolution, combined with their fear of its' imminent arrival likely gave birth to vast resentment of other living beings who IN SPITE of the knowledge of imminent death still pursued a life of meaning and happiness. This resentment caused them to construct a religion or philosophical system whereby they were determined to "show others their own despair" - and they masked this very low and petty motive in the high minded rhetoric of "protecting the universe." In a sense - Lord Genome is a good example of what this despair looks like - he was a Spiral knight who was defeated and therefore tasted of despair that comes from great power (the greater the power, the greater the failure and the greater the feeling of despair stemming from the recognition that no matter how vast your power, you can still always fail). The humans living under ground lived very close to the anti-spiral ideal. The only difference was that the anti-spirals were simply comatose... Except that one fellow. Could it be that the Spiral Nemesis as we saw him embodied actually tricked all of the other Anti-Spirals into accepting a vegative state in order to take their power and become like a God himself? In any event - my favorite scene in the whole series is the one in which Kamina turns off the television where Yoko was watching her dream and they look at eachother in love and understanding. I truly adore that scene - it is the picture perfect example of how art is used to communicate powerful messages - almost theatrically - in this anime. And it's also very moving because of course it would be Kamina who saves everyone in the end - his spirit which lives on in others memories. I also like the fake Kamina of Simon's dream prison - because everyone, watching the initial episodes of this anime, had to think "that Kamina is so brash - why can't he try to compromise for once? Why can't he try not to be so in your face?" -- and so, what we see is what Kamina would have looked like had he been like that... and we suddenly realize that there's no better way to live than exactly how Kamina did live. Sniff. Oh - and one thing that bugs me: How is it possible for Lord Genome to grant Viral immortality, but not to grant it to himself? In fact - how is it possible for only Viral to have this gift? Wouldn't that ipso facto make him the most powerful being in the universe? And isn't this power greater than Spiral power? Simon refuses to use spiral power to bring back the dead - he places limits on his own power. In fact, he shows that after achieving a limited and set goal, a true hero should give up his power and "become nobody." That is good. Others would be wise to follow in his footsteps. A very moving adventure. I love and hate how it changes. It is like the opposite of what Macross does. Macross just stops at a certain point without resolving important emotional plots so that we can forever remember the characters "at their best" and the feelings that go with it. Gurren Lagann takes us through the whole epic from youth to old age, from childhood through death - and it is very moving, but I guess this is why it's all the more sad. It will be hard now - to rewatch this anime - looking at little Simon and cute Yoko - knowing how they end up. Pete