VFTF1

This is an elaborately stupid question to be asking on this board...but... I just got an unforeseeen large sum of money and am trying to decide what to purchase... my options: 1) BBTS (bigbadtoystore.com) has just put up pre-orders for tons of Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo MISB toys they found in some wharhouse... I can have tons of japanese BW toys...well...19 to be sure... or 2) The Gumma ivanov - and possibly Shin's VFOS. What should I buy? Here's my thinking: I am constantly distressed - not dissapointed - but distressed - by Macross toys from Yamato. They are really beautiful - but they just cost so much and effectively I'm scared to do much of anything with them... although I do want to have a solid enough collection to finally split my forces and have them go to war with eachother I dunno... Usually I wouldn't be able to afford the Gumma, what with me having just gotten back from vacation... but maybe this money dropped from the skies for a reason? VFTF1

Ok, ok - alien technology, Zor's science, Protoculture... the point still stands - they had transforming mecha but no cell phones VFTF1

But Hikaru had an authentic problem - compounded by the fact that he was incapable of expressing himself... and the fact that Robo-Technology, while giving mankind the capacity to create transformering jet fighters and star ships... never went beyond the pay phone and therefore created situations like these (nowadays we'd just text message "sorry, can't meet, something came up!")... Minmey tells Hikaru that he can see Misa any day since she lives on Macross, whereas Minmey is rarely available - and that's what makes Hikaru opt for seeing Minmey - the fact that indeed, he can see Misa any day... He calls Misa, who doesn't pick up - and then I guess he hopes she leaves the coffee shop... and then when it turns out she's still there, rather than confess his love, or at least explain the situation, he walks with her and makes the mistake with the scarf (hikaru didn't know it had the inscription on it)... So he's torn, unable to verbalize his feelings and the situation, and Robo-Technology hasn't made mobile phones yet.... All of this just lends more wonderful drama - as Misa's theme in this episode is just so touching. VFTF1

Well - I'm not going to be very original here... But Misa all the way - and I think that the love story in TV is better than in DYRL precisely because it's not so obviously "set up" -- it takes Hikaru a long long time to realizze that Misa is the right woman, and it takes Misa an equally long time to accept and acknowledge her love for Hikaru... In fact, if you look at the story from Misa's point of view, being with Hikaru is just as much of a "fantasy" as Hikaru being with Minmei... What makes it possible is Misa's maturity - which gives her the requisite dignity, patience and tenderness that ultimately brings Hikaru around with no fanfare, but the kind of loyalty that makes a relationship work. VFTF1

Maybe I've been misunderstood -- I meant to say that SINCE I have seen so little of both, then I admit it's possible that they are wonderful - and that the wonderful stuff is yet to come (aka that the "shakesperian/oscar-winning/insert euphamism for great" stuff is out there but I just didn't bother watching it)... I agree that you can't judge a production without seeing all of it - I guess I was just giving a first impression which, particularly in the case of M7, was not that good. I'll eventually watch it all, I'm sure. But I think engaging in conversation is useful, since I can hear other people's views on why the like it as arguments against my impressions - and that might get me to be more enthusiastic about seeing the rest of it. VFTF1

Oh yeah - I forgot Kakizaki... his death is the only one which I think was done better in DYRL than in SDF M TV IMO. And yeah, He's like the eternal Redi Shirt VFTF1

My comments are based on having seen the opening to M2 and half of the "Galaxy is Calling Me" M7, so maybe I'm missing the Shakesperean masterpieces that followed the opening and the oscar-shoe-in ending of the M7 movie, but here goes:.... M2: The music is crappy, the robot looks like an unnecessarily beefed up Valk and I can't seem to find any of the original cast nor any themes that are similar beyond the shadowy SDF1... so...what's this about? I'm not judging it as bad since all I have to go by is the opening... but it doesn't look thrilling either - largely because I really liked Minmey's stand out songs and this just has some ra ra ra music. M7: Mmmm....they ride around their valks wearing 80s rocker outfits and steer the jet by playing musical instruments? No thanks. I guess the only stuff I've enjoyed so far has been SDF1 TV and Macross Plus. Even DYRL I didn't like that much. VFTF1

Eeek I'd never do that to my stealth J... although I like the idea of Red Roses team... all those colorful stickers on a black jet just light it up too much for my taste.

I am generally not a fan of black valks either, although my Stealth 1J is possibly my favorite valk in my collection - I think though it has more to do with the awesomness of the 1/48 than with its' being black... That said, I don't like the dark blue hue of the YF-21 either... The best coloring is on the 1/60 19; it's the most realistic. VFTF1

I didn't know Ribber (sp?) was dead... I got the impression from SDF M TV that Misa had some hope that he was alive on Mars even though the place was vacated/whiped out - whatever... I thought Misa hoped he might just be alive? ... Or was it that she was just taken in by memories and wanted to see how he lived, what was in his room etc etc? Sorry for slight Off-top... VFTF1

This might have been asked before but: Is it possible to pull out the antena from the backpack on the 1/48s? It looks like it is, but I don't want to break anything. VFTF1

Good that you mention Fokker... One thing that really makes DYRL a let down for me is Fokker's death scene... It's ironic that a serialized animated cartoon gave us almost two dozen episodes building up a great Fokker character, a poetic death in Pineapple Salad and then some more background info via Claudia in the epilogue episodes while a supposedly more mature, film like DYRL gave us a drunk, womanizing non-entity who goes out in Battloid mode and a cliched line about telling Claudia something. Fokker's death in SDFM TV was brilliant, Fokker's death in DYRL was just bad, and the character was totally under developed. That really spoils a lot of the movie for me... Also - on that note - Misa and Hikaru spend way to much time together in DYRL, which - for me - dilutes from the love that oddly, slowly grows between them... In SDFM TV Claudia tells Hikaru on the park bench about loving a person you never notice on a daily basis but who is always there - and there's just so much tension and excitment built around Misa and Hikaru's love because it's mature, real, slow to progress, well grounded and wonderfully contrasted to what I feel is the inevitable "warm fuzzy feeling" fling that plagues Hikaru with Minmei.. DYRL turns that whole dynamic inside out by forcing Hikaru and Misa to get to know one another on Earth rather than fleshing the relationship out in the improbable way that SDFM TV did... Every time I think of strong points about DYRL all I can think of is the Mecha and the more "bio-mechanical" Zendraedi - which are nifty and neeto... but just don't really fly my kite. VFTF1

Well... maybe I should clarify - DYRL has better visuals, that's obvious... But when I watch it, I can't avoid the feeling that a large part of the reason why I'm saying "wow!" is because I am seeing my favorite characters in action - just better animated... But why are they my favorite? Is it because of something DYRL did? No - it's because of SDFM TV... I guess that's all I was trying to say - that ironically DYRL doesn't stand on its' own... My favorite scene from DYRL is the shot of the Elint Seeker (stupid, I know! ).... But I love the VE1s and I don't remember them really getting featured in SDFM TV VFTF1

If the Zen didn't show up, Hikaru would be working in the circus, Misa would eventually move to Mars to look for her boyfriend, Roy would become Admiral and marry Claudia, and Minmey would go into the porn business. I think. VFTF1

"Why? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, despite what some might say." Yeah - but I am a person who usually has strong opinions because I'm impulsive, but (in the case of Macross), not a lot of good knowledge since I've just seen the series once, so I'm prone to make strong arguments with weak evidence Ergo - best to always attach a sweet ending so no one thinks I'm acting like a know it all when I don't know much VFTF1

I voted Macross TV. It's a perfect story with just enough restraint on its' part - strangely, my favorite episode is the one where Misa sits around at the cafe waiting for Hikaru to show up all day and then forgives him and then is doubly hurt when she sees the writing on Hikaru's scarf from Minmey... That episode was able to pull heart strings largely because for the past 30 plus episodes we'd really come to know and feel for the characters through a vast complex story line... and then they're in this situation with us just sitting there feeling the tension and - well - me personally - feeling really sorry for Lisa who seems far more mature and intelligent than Minmey who is a bit of a cry-baby... Anyways - DYRL relies on us having this deep emotional attachment to characters from Macross TV for it to work... But of course - that's just not right... by skimming over stuff and focusing on battles, DYRL dilutes our emotional attachment... I personally prefer things like Macross Zero, where we get a really good Roy Fokker story without having to bucher the Fokker we know from Macross TV too much. VFTF1

"Haha, actually, I enjoy working on them... I just finally bought an MPC Alpha, and I'm planning out what will need fixing before it's even arrived" Yeah... For all the complaining, none of my Yamato toys have broken whereas my Toynami VF6HA (or whatever the numerics were on Scott Bernard) has been a byach from day 1!! Just yesterday, its' foot fell off - going to have to fix that... Sure, my VF-11B from Yamato just didn't want to fold together into jet mode properly and its' leg fell off - but I think I must have just gotten a dud... None of my other Yamato toys have had trouble - Plus - I preordered my YF19 from the initial first run from HLJ and it is flawless. Delicate toys, but certainly not brittle like Toynami... Though toynami has the problem with the Alphas; my VF1S from them is solid - stupid and chunky - but solid. Having seen Macross Zero, I look forward to the SV-51! VFTF1

I think my YF19 is one great toy, a true improvement over the vaunted 1/72 scale that puts my old VF-11B to shame and also make my YF21 fastpack kind of obsolete at the same time... And I like the fold booster and plan on buying it. I've learned to live with the prices... One thing I do want this year, however, is a Quid Rau VFTF1

Three points: "money for the most part, especially for a movie would be irrelivant on the Macross" - This sentiment, in my view, is not wholly correct, as the Zendrati Ambassador notices that things are bought and sold for money when he first comes aboard the Macross. As for the kung fu movie, first of all - we never really got to see the whole thing, so who knows how good/bad it was... I tend to interpret what we see in Macross as snippets of a larger picture that we don't see. I think that this is one of the strengths of the anime - namely that even though they have to fit this epic story into a limited space with a limited animation budget, they manage to make it a great story by inserting things which hint at a much larger and more complex history. So, Shao Pai Lon does not necessarily have to be a bad movie just because what we saw of it was sub par... the Zendradi clearly thought Kaifun's character had super powers and there must have been more to the movie to make them think that than the brief missive we were shown. I think you need to have some imaginative leeway when viewing Macross and can't just go by what you see - since that would mean that car and people don't move a lot of the time when they're supposed to be moving... That said - I agree with people that the film had clear propaganda usage - but I'll remind you that Minmey, bimbo that she seemingly was, had the bright idea that the Military would HELP her aunt/uncle open a restaurant because they would realize its' propaganda value... So maybe Minmay wasn't that dumb - it was just an act she put on... and it worked. In reality, she was well aware of howto play the military and establish herself. just some thoughts - feel free to disagree and point to my blatant errors and misjudgments VFTF1

Very nice! I just got my first 1/48 today from HLJ - it's a VF-1J Stealth with strike parts! VFTF1

Here's my suggestions: 1) 1/48 VF-1S. I got the VF-1J Stealh plus Armor ordered, but this is only because I have an MP IS and a 1/100 1S and just coudln't justify it, so went with the stealth 1J - but since you're just starting your collection, then definitely get the 1S as a 1/48 since that's the best 1S out there. 2) 1/60 VE-1 Now this is very delicate, but also very fun. I like Elint Seekers; they're unique, they're intel and not combat oriented, and they are therefore integral to a mature collection - basically I don't think it's good to go only for the "big brutal" toys - get some unique mecha too. 3) The Quid Rau - I want this, either version, but simply can't justify it when I have the VF0 plus Ghost to look forward to and just ordered the Stealth 1J in order to have one of the 1/48s. But again, if you're just starting from scratch - go with this. I should have gotten one of these instead of two MP Alpha Fighters... 4) MP Shadow Alpha. This is Toynami and Robotech, but IMO a very good toy and it would diversify your collection. The above four would be a great start to your collection... it would also give you pretty good idea of what's out there. The 19 is wonderful and I would get it too if you can. VFTF1

Re: Babying toys I think babying the toy results from the fact that they are so expensive. It is easy for me to replace a broken Transformer, but replacing a broken YF19 would not be that simple - and I'm really not a fan of buying spare parts - I like the idea of having a well cared for mint toy, so I take care of my veritechs and well...yes...baby them That said, my wife got me three Robotech books for Christmas, and I'm now reading "Zendraedi Rebellion" about the Southern Cross wars... I always loved the Southern Cross RPG, so this is a great present. VFTF1

I got mine too. Great piece of work! First Yamato toy that I feel is well made enough not to make me scared to death of playing with it. Great transformation...great toy...great everything! Can't wait for the OA ghost! Oh - and the "crooked" gunpod doesn't bother me... this way he can shot even with the landing gear down! VFTF1

My YF-19 just arrived a couple hours ago. First thought: I was expecting a bigger box... I guess the trauma of getting the VE1 last year still hasn't passed and I'm just expecting these huge boxes to show up... Anyways - he's wrapped and under the Christmas tree. This way I can pretend my wife bought him for me instead of coming to term with the fact that I think she got me some shaving razors :) On that note - she did get me a MISB God Ginrai for my birthday last year, I guess she just figures since I spent the year buying myself TFs and now got this Macross toy, I don't deserve much else VFTF1

Very nice... I think I might have to finally pick up a 1/60 1S or something of the sort...maybe stealth type ... VFTF1