VFTF1

Yeah, but I'm incapable of short and sweet. Yes, but BW could have licensed their Macross Brand to..oh...say....Craptastic Incorporated - specializing in the production of low cost, low quality quick buck crap. instead, they gave the thing to Yamato. Meanwhile, I think they gave Frontier to Bandai because Bandai probably managed to outbid Yamato. But Yamato getting the licenses to all the previous Macross stuff is good because it sets the bar pretty high. I dunno... I guess I just appreciate that they are not treating their brand like low quality crap. Then again - I guess I can't really blame HG... they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. I always prefered Wendys. Those guys KNEW how to make Burgers! Although recently - just today - I was in Macdonalds and had their NY big beef burger or whatever it's called - good stuff. I could never really like the Big Mac... always prefered regular Cheeseburgers... they also have something called a McRoyal here...maybe that's a Big Mac only with a different name? Beats me. Anyway - I have the distinction of being part of history because: 1) I was at the opening of the very first Macdonalds in Poland - in ALL of human history! There were hundreds of people in line and they were only selling fries and cheeseburgers or hamburgers .... that was like 1992...or 1993.... 2) I was one of the lucky few to be at the world premiere of Attack of the Clones which - for some bizarre reason - premiered in Warsaw one day before it got shown anywhere else... very wierd... but it did happen. When I die - I expect that above two super important facts to be entered into Wikipedia under my name, so that future generations of human beings can marvel at my achievements. And Yamato doesn't charge high prices. We just don't make very much money is all... Pete

Very interesting thread, and surprisingly interesting artistic rendition of Minmey - I did not know about the two minmey thing. Very interesting. I like it. Pete

Damn.Reading all this I feel really small with my silly little Sony 3.3 mega pixel digital camera... I mainly got it because it was...well...digital...and therefore easy to use with a computer. My ex-girlfriend then got a digital camera mainly because of how it LOOKED - it was small and feminine and girly and kind of like designer jewelery... it sometimes took better pictures and sometimes worse... I definitely need to get a good camera - but that's probably something I'll be able to think about realistically next year...maybe for my birthday... Pete

No. The best solution would be for the President and CEO of Harmony Godl to cross that field and apologize for a hundred years of rape, pillage, and bloodshed before hoisting his flag and going hom. And then, their commanding officer can put his head between his legs and kiss his own arse. Wait...sorry...sorry...channeling Braveheart... But seriously - or maybe not so seriously;) - the best thing would be to wake up and find the following communique on Robotech.com: Pete

Yep. And you can mark my word it'll be in short supply. It's going to be the first 1/144 that I'm going to treat seriously enough to build and keep in my collection. I'm also looking forward to the new HG Unicorns - since they are non-variable, they supposedly have better leg articulation than the MG KA version which is awesome but can't really bend those knees when the armor is on (the legs ARE more poseable without the armor)... Pete

I was looking for pictures of the HG Gelgoog "cannon" - whatever that's supposed to be? Pete

Is that the HG Gegloog Cannon? I've been looking for pics of it if it is... Speaking of cannons... I've got my MG Guncannon - but I'm wondering... will there be a version 2.0? Or should I go ahead and build it and be content? Pete

Geez. EVEN the Chunky Munky VF-1 from the 1980s looks better than a modern Transformer. It's just THAT GOOD a design! Pete

I highly suspect that Shin and Sara are traversing the universe just like Bassara and Sivil did. In fact, that was one of the few retroactive (although chronologically NOT) homages to M7 in Macross Zero. Remember when Shin and Sarah are falling after their ride gets all shot up? They're falling to their certain deaths, then we see a bubble thingy envelope them for a moment and glimmer - and then suddenly Shin's waking up and Sarah's tending his wounds. We saw that bubble thingy "before" (in the future) - aka in Macross Zero - it was the same one that Sivil put Bassara into and helped him travel through the universe. It's a super dimmensional uber bubble that is faster than the fastest fold booster and is reserved for only the most passionate love hearts. It's a capsule where true love can break through any boundary, pierce the heavens themselves and traverse the dimmensions! It's a love-bubble of epic proportions! It's the shooting star that you see out the window and that fires the blazing inferno of your tetsugeki love heart! It's the passionate consumation of protoculture's predestined processions through purgatory and beyond! It's the gateway to xanadu, the lightning rod that illuminates the blackest depths of the farthest recesses of the most sublime penumbras of the void! That's where they are. Pete

I'd fork over 2000 bucks for it if the thing wasn't so boring. I mean - this HAS to be a result of the 1/2000 NOT being mass produced and indeed just a case of Yamato doing it "per individual order" - period. Anyways...I'd rather Yamato made a 1:1 Minmey Doll with oral motor capabilities in her mouth. .... for singing of course... Pete

Man - you can tell that it's a transvestite from a mile away. Transvestites always wear red dresses and black lingerie. At least all the newbie ones do - or the ones that sing in cheap tranny bars. But I really can't do anything but read you guys and take it all in... I haven't seen enough to think anything one way or another... Pete

Its been ages since I've actually posted pics - and STILL I don't have any to share... But, I am now on the verge of it... Having sold half my TF collection, I've taken them all off the shelves and...hey presto! Look how much room there is for Valkyrie! I'm re-posing and re-displaying everything right now... will have some hopefully nice pictures to share soon... Anyways... the one thing about the Valkyrie is that they really are big pieces and each one of them deserves a little bit of room to bask in its' own glory..although bunched together they also look good! Pete

Re: Maizinkaiser... I guess I'm just happily alone in not wanting to die for it. I just can't help but prefer the original Mazinger Z - particularly with wings, turning into a fist... Pete

Yeah...that..anyways... I'm going to bed this time for sure... But first - my final rant of the evening: BEFORE Cpt. Donovan showed up, if you'll all recall, we were having a multi-page discussion of the Robotech novels. While there was a lot of bashing of them, it was also evident people had read them or were trying to get the stories traight in terms of what was presented there in. Enter the Robotech fan. Does he help us understand Robotech better? No. Elucidate the novels in a way we're not grasping? No. NOTICE that we've actually been attempting to discuss the merits and demerits of the novels? No. Instead he whines about how he's being mistreated even though nobody's done anything to him, then asks why the SDF-1 is 1200 meters long, then goes away. What the hell? Goodnight MW Pete

Oddly enough, the only thing that I find really "interesting" about Robotech is the extent to which it's so messed up. I kind of sit there wondering - what will they screw up next? Pete

I can't be a bona fide UC is the only Gundam guy since I fell asleep to Char's Counter attack... I watched 5 episodes of Gundam OO. I like the opening theme music and the basic premise... but somewhere along the way I fell asleep to that too... I just couldn't watch any more... not when there was other stuff out there... I might return to it though... Pete

Yep - that was a good scene. In fact, I also found the interaction between the Regent and Tesla to be rather well written. But again - this was the beginning... and the novels managed to really make a mess out of it. I mean - Planet Killers was just crazy. Bad descriptive writing...I felt like the descriptions were about some kid's bedroom floor. Glowing blue crystals...dudes floating around on rugs like in Super Mario Bros. 2... Well...whatever..I'm going to bed. Sad, really... but I feel like if we continue with out discussion, Macrossworld will become a better place for intelligent talk about Robotech than RT.com... I mean - again - if the highest level of inquisitive consideration that Robotech fans are capable of is wondering about the length of the stupid SDF-1... then Robotech has a problem - because for all its' faults - there had to be something more to it than...that? Pete

This would be a great time for a bona fide, card carrying, full blown Robotech fan to jump in and enlighten us as to why there's more to the magic... Although - I could go on...so I will... 1) Senintels. Now, insofar as I hate Planet Killers and generally think that the ending of this arc (as it was planned) is just horrible standard sci-fi fodder, I did like the set up. I have Robotech Art III, where you have a write up of all the episodes and then some mecha art (heh...notice how a book called "Robotech Art III" has "some mecha art" ...er..but I digress), and I found the general idea compelling. I also remember watching the first three episodes that were animated to Sentinels - and while I hated the opening, with Jack Baker in that stupid flight simulator, the cheesy-as-hell nintendo music playing and then Max and Rick chuckling like school girls....I did think things got interesting when we switched to Cabel and Rem. The Hellcats were again a tad generic - but whatever... Also - the music track when Cabel and Rem were doing their things was good. The thing that made Sentinels fall apart is that it just got blown out of proportions. Suddenly it was Star Wars, Star Treck, and Battle Star Galactic with Transforming robots. Plus - although Minmey came with Rick...it seemed her only purpose was to be a sex fantasy for Johnathan Wolff rather than a girl with dreams of singing... Oh yeah - that brings me to my next problem with Sentinels. Just like Rick and Lisa, who already got diluted by the bad writing for the Macross Saga, were later diluted even more as Robotech went on (ultimately devolving into the card board fanwank "wow!" moment in Shadow Chronicles when "Rick Hunter" appears for his 25 second "This is RICK HUNTER!' communique)...so too Minmay went from being a cute down-to-earth girl with dreams turned idol to a wet dream. I mean...what possible role did she have in sentinels? In the rest of Robotech? Oh - oh yeah. She was the 'Mother of the Universe' the time traveling poon-tang that was the Alpha and Omega of everything - she was THE STORY ARC. Well - truth be told - I like my human characters, and particularly my female characters - to be a bit more human. That is to say - when Minmey stops being a girl and a singer and becomes a Saint - as in...she stops being a "regular" character and becomes like...I dunno..The Matrix of Leadership. She becomes a talisman with boobs. Nothing more. She's the Prime Mover of the Robotech universe and in that role she is, as Aristotle says of the Prime Mover "All Alone." That is to say - she's lonely - she's no longer a woman...you can't identify with her..there's no more story to tell. She just becomes a chronological arc. Minmey must be here now, with these people, getting banged by this guy, because the Chronology demands it. Next, Minmey must be here, with these other people, getting banged by this other guy, because the Chronology demands that too. And on and on it goes. It's not just that it's predictable - it's that the "story arc" portion of Robotech suddenly eats away at the characters to the extent where you feel that they do things simply because "that's what has to happen." This COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED with better animation. By "better animation" I mean better sequencing. Like in Gurren Lagann - if you've seen the series, you pretty much know by now that Gurren Lagann was unstoppable from the beginning - and that NOTHING that the Helix King or the Anti-Spirals might have done would have stopped Gurren Lagann. BUT Gainax NEVER let you think that when watching it for the first time. Over and over and over they would set up these situations where you - the viewer - were like "shyt! No way they're getting out of this one!" and then BANG! something totally crazy and unexpected would happen and you're like "OH MY GOD!" Sadly, Robotech just got lazy. Robotech - in terms of story and animation - was basically SOOO tied to "sticking strictly with the chronology" that it seemed to become scared to introduce ANY sense of mystery or APPREHENSION. Because - you know...if at any point in the novels or TV shows we had...oh ... I dunno...for example had scenes implying that maybe Rick and Lisa's marriage wasn't going to last...or implying that maybe something...ANYTHING unexpected was going to happen... then that would have meant...that Robotech would...be open to different interpretations - and that means...maybe people would not be totally clear on the time line, the chronology...that there would be debate ... But in my view- this is Robotech's main weakness. It's like...there is no dramatic tension there. Heck - look at Shadow CHronicles. I mean - is there any dramatic tension whatsoever? EVEN the Ariel plot point - with the whole "how could you bring this alien bitch aboard when my buddy died" evolving to "oh this alien bitch is cool because she's risking herself for us".... was pretty predictable. Wasn't it? Certainly the Haydonites being the bad guys was pretty predictable given how they were cloaked in dark evil... And all of this bad stuff just goes to show how quickly you can ruin a good concept - because the beginning of Sentinels - the concept behind it - namely the SDF-3 going to search for the Robotech Masters homeworld...that's somewhat interesting. That's like a good basis for creating a story. But the story can't JUST be about the ARC - it has to be a story about a bunch of people on a space ship... kind of like the Macross Saga was and SDFM TV was. Notice all the stuff that happens to the Macross on its' way from Pluto to Earth. Notice how the characters develop. Notice how even during the story arc where we learn about Protoculture and the Zendradi - the story manages to do an amazing job of developing the relationship with Hikaru and Misa... Robotech doesn't do this. Robotech bypasses character development in favor of the "big picture" - in favor of showing "what needs to be shown." That's a major weakness. Pete

What is it with Gundam pilots and cross dressing? Anyways - I wonder whether I should watch this anime... it's on my to-do list.... and it's a long long freakin' list! Pete

Hm. First I completely miss the meaning of "It hurts and feels like it's going to rip" scene in My Fair Minmey... And now this... I know the scene you're talking about, but I never noticed the scandalized waiters and others... Maybe I was too focused on what they were saying, or maybe I was drunk. I watched Macross 7 a lot when I had my own place - and I'd used to go to the store and buy a six pack and order two XXL pizzas with double cheese and pepperoni and just watch Macross 7 until 5 am. I'd walk the dog at 6. Then I'd pass out and get up at 12 and walk the dog again...then I'd basically go to work around 5 or so...be back at 10...walk the dog...get more beer and pizza...and keep watching Macross 7... Good times! Pete

Thank you. And it's hard to argue with that premise - I still remember being a little kid and stumbling on the Zendradi Rebellion in a bookstore. I read it on the floor (my mom used to deposit me in bookstores while doing her own errands because I'd usually find something to read and sit there for hours reading)... Anyways - back then, little 8 or 7 or 9 or whatever I was old me found it all so very compelling - particularly the opening with the romantic scene between Rick and Lisa. I remember thinking "wow! Giant Transforming robots AND a guy kissing a girl! The shock!" I mean...Transformers usually gave us pretty generic human characters running around. The Transformers themselves were more developed as characters than the people around them... But that's neither here nor there - the point was - I did like that. And yes, I do appreciate that the novels have this huge arc going... Although by the time Planet Killers rolled around the Arc had become somewhat of a hinderence in my view because despite the changing landscape in terms of human society, politics etc...one thing never changed: Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes and their endless quest to do-good, kiss, and call eachother pussy cat. And to me - that's one of the biggest failings of Robotech. It not only terminates lots of the momentum, sensuality and intelligence of the original love story between Misa and Hikaru - it FURTHER goes on totally trounce the love story; making it a complete parody of a relationship. Rick and Lisa are in love because that's just their character "techspec" - that's their MO. There's no more love triangle tensions, and there's not even any longer any of the tensions that take place within a budding relationship. You don't see them mature as characters. Oh sure - in Sentinels, Rick goes through the routine "Oh - the burden of this heavy responsibility on my shoulders" thing that "leaders" go through... but even that makes me kind of pissed. I mean - Hikaru loved to fly and he loved Minmey. He later came to fall in love with Misa and to take seriously the idea that he wanted to end the war by using culture (and he never liked the war in the first place and was always looking for something to justify him being mixed up in it...he joined the military only because he didn't want to look a coward in Minmey's eyes, and he stayed sane in it by telling himself he was fighting to protect Minmey...) But the point is - Hikaru was never going to become a "leader" - not in the same sense that Rick suddenly became one - because all Rick became was Captain Kirk with a wife on board, piloting the Battle Star Galactica, teaming up with aliens a la Star Wars, and galaxy hoping to fight an interplanetary war about a flower and some slugs. This just shows how wise Kawamori was to leave the original cast of SDFM TV alone. With the exception of Fokker's retroactive "return" in Zero, which was quaint and in no way lessened the character, the original cast was left alone and new characters kept being introduced - and Macross became a kind of vehicle for Kawamori's latest ideas in terms of mecha, anime and story telling. There's always some new twist. As for the meta-story vs. the arc... generally I tend to prefer arcs - true. But in this case, because the characters become so diluted...I prefer the meta-story. But see - even these reasons you give for liking Robotech are kind of weak and similar to my "when I was 8, I read this Robotech novel and generally thought it was amazing" because now I'm 30 and I demand more mature and intelligent content. Like singing green haired lolis in skimpy outfits. Pete

Yes. IIRC, BBTS had the Shadow Alpha fighter or some such as being recalled. Pete

I have one of those I can sell you for 50 bucks + shipping. All the parts are sealed. Version KA Personally, I prefer the titanium version. Also, I am happily awaiting the HGUC with hopes that its' knees can bend more properly than the transformable MG. But why would you need a genie to get a Unicorn? Pete

Heh. I had all the Henkei, all the Masterpiece, and THS - and none of it worked for me. And it was all mainly for one simple reason: the story just kept dying year by year and the original shows and comics just kept getting lamer and lamer every time I went back to them... Also, I pretty much realized that I had been living in a closed little world where big corporations filtered awesome stuff from Japan to me. As soon as you see the awesome stuff for yourself... it just...puts a new perspective on things... But...um...not to derail the thread here - since it's a SOC thread... I highly recomend Daimos. I have him and he's amazing. At least I think so. Some people gripe about his poseability not being as good as it could be - but that's likely due to the fact that they effectively made him perfect transformation rather than parts-formation... Anyways... Oh - as for human figures - see... this is probably why I can't have Transformers... On top of all the Gundams,Macross and SOCs I just totally love Haruhi Suzumiya and must have all the Figmas and Revoltechs, and then I'm also into statues - so far just Yoko and Minmey...but I want to expand... Plus, Transformers has this really bad "collect them all" vibe to them - like you really can't just have one or two ...I dunno.. um...back to SOC... I am looking forward to my Tekkam Blade with Pegasus - even though, again, I've heard mixed things about it - I like it. I like how it looks. I generally like all my SOCs. One day, I'm gonna make a comic book with all my different anime figures and toys and not one single Transformer. Pete

I think the labour isn't a priority because it's blue. Do you have the original white one in 1:24 scale? I'd say that's enough. Why would you want the blue one? I haven't seen Patlabor (yet) so I guess I wouldn't know... But I always liked the Griffon design...and the Broken... maybe better to wait for those in 1:24 scale. Plus - look at your unhappiness with Big O. Trust me - I've been there - it's called impulse buying. It's hard to avoid - but you just have to really think about what matters for you. Recently, I've made a list, and it looks like this: 1. I like way to many anime to have it all - therefore, I need to be selective 2. Gundam? Well - I like MSG, Turn-A and Unicorn. Turn-A and Unicorn have like a couple mecha each. MSG has three main mecha and the enemy mecha. I want them all in MG. I will probably end up having Unicorn in HG as well because of the Kyashukia. Fine. 3. Gurren Lagann - nothing but Revoltechs - so Revoltechs they shall be. 4. NGE - Revoltech Fraulein and SOC Spec. RAH for Shinji. Not sure if I want to keep a pair of the 2.0s...probably not since I love the original 26 episodes best of all. 5. Macross - everything - because there actually is NOT a lot of it. The most is SDFM TV + DYRL. 6. Transformers - I have to think about this. Maybe once I get rid of my collection, I'll hunt down some MPs? I dunno. Really hard to decide what to do with these guys. 7. Haruhi Suzumiya - all the Figmas and Revoltechs 8. SOC - now SOC is great because it focuses a lot on one-mecha programs. So Ideon, Zambot 3, Dancouga, God Mars, Daimos...one big all mighty mecha... you get that one - and you're SET. The key is not to get petty - don't think you need to get ALL of the various incarnations of Mazinkaiser etc... Just pick the best one... Also ,pick the one whose friends are in relative good scale... It's hard work being a collector...so much to choose from, so much... Pete